Compare and Contrast – AEW’s The Dark Order & WWE’s Ministry Of Darkness

There has long been a saying in wrestling that nothing is original anymore. After over 50 years of content where storylines have been apart of the sport, it’s not surprising either. Despite WWE’s insistence on bringing in soap opera and outside writers, there has been a general overall lack of originality on their side of the spectrum for years. Even when something new and exciting happens, the overall reaction of a jaded internet wrestling community is to dissect, compare and contrast it to something that came before. And despite the general insistence on letting AEW slide through the cracks when they do something familiar, it’s clear that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Case in point, AEW’s middling faction of The Dark Order.

Originally formed by the team of Player Uno (now known as Evil Uno) and Stupefied (now known as Stu Grayson) the group was known as Super Smash Bros. on the independent scene. Upon their arrival in AEW at the Double Or Nothing pay per view in 2019, the group was repackaged as The Dark Order in order to avoid the obvious lawsuit from Nintendo. The team was originally maligned by most fans as they slowly tried to come into their own, adding several Creepers (another likely video game reference to Minecraft) to the group. Eventually, the group started airing cryptic ads during AEW programming and online recruiting members for The Dark Order all while heralding the arrival of The Exalted One. 

In late 1998, The Undertaker reunited with his former manager Paul Bearer and began to form the basis of what would become The Ministry Of Darkness. Originally beginning as a vehicle to help enhance other talents by placing them alongside the legendary Dead Man, the group would sadly never become much more than cannon fodder for the different people they were feuding with such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon himself. During this time The Undertaker would lean more than ever into his evil persona, most notably during a segment where he and Paul Bearer tried to embalm Steve Austin alive….what can I say, it was the Attitude Era and the height of Vince Russo’s insane booking. While some will look back fondly on the Ministry it never really took off the way it could have. To this day the only things people remember are the aforementioned embalming, The Brood assisting The Undertaker in hanging Big Boss Man from the Hell In A Cell at WrestleMania, Undertaker setting a teddy bear on fire and of course, the abduction of one Stephanie McMahon. Yes, the Ministry Of Darkness is responsible for introducing Stephanie as an on-screen character. 

Now much like the Dark Order, the Ministry of Darkness had a ton of potential as an idea. The issue that ended up plaguing both stables, in the long run, was an unforeseen inclusion of the corporate entities surrounding it.

As the Ministry of Darkness storyline moved forward, The Undertaker began heralding the arrival of the ‘Higher Power.’ Given that this all happened at the time that the Ministry abducted Stephanie and planned to hold a dark union between Undertaker and the young McMahon. Of course, as we all know this led to a brief union between Vince McMahon and his sworn enemy Stone Cold Steve Austin, who crashed the wedding and saved Stephanie. Following this moment, the Ministry Of Darkness would unite with the Corporation, run by Shane McMahon at the time, to form the Corporate Ministry. At this point, it was clear there was no long game in mind. This would finally lead to the reveal of the Higher Power who, well….

In a moment that spawned hundreds of memes, the Higher Power, which somewhere along the line became muddled into the Greater Power, was revealed to be Vince McMahon. Yes, he set up the abduction of his own daughter to get back at Austin. From this point the Corporate Ministry continued for a little while longer but petered out. The Undertaker ended up being the only one from the original Ministry who was able to survive and continue without harm from the angle (not including The Brood, who had departed the Ministry long before).

Flash forward to 2020. After a long build, the Exalted One was revealed to be Brodie Lee (formerly known as Luke Harper in WWE). Similar to the reveal of the Higher/Greater Power, who was rumored to be anyone from Christopher Daniels to Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, this was a bit of a bait and switch as everyone was expecting the reveal to be ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy (who in an odd twist of fate debuted for AEW later the same night). While initially a very exciting moment, especially for fans familiar with Lee’s abilities, an odd decision was made that is still personally baffling to me. Instead of going a similar route to an Undertaker or cult leader role, Brodie Lee became a parody of Vince McMahon himself. Segments were produced showing Lee interacting with his Dark Order minions showing many of the long-rumored idiosyncrasies of McMahon, such as an apparent disdain for sneezing as it is a sign of lost control. 

With time thankfully, the Dark Order has moved away from it’s singular focus on the Exalted One by adding more talent, including Colt Cabana in a role where he is a fringe-member of the group as well as the spectacular Anna Jay. Rumors currently abound that following several failures as leader that Brodie Lee may himself be expelled from the group in favor of being led by Anna Jay. Whether or not this happens or is simply fan speculation remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. If The Dark Order is going to remain a force in AEW, severe changes need to be made so that they do not go the same route as the Corporate Ministry. 

After all, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.