AEW Dark
| AEW Dark | |
|---|---|
 AEW Dark logo | |
| Genre | Professional wrestling |
| Created by | Tony Khan |
| Presented by | Excalibur Taz |
| Starring | AEW roster |
| Opening theme | "Facedown" by Mikey Rukus (November 17, 2020 – present) "Falling From Grace" by No One Hero[1] (October 8, 2019 – November 10, 2020) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 144 (as of May 24, 2022) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | 60–120 minutes |
| Production company | All Elite Wrestling |
| Release | |
| Original network | YouTube |
| Picture format | HDTV 1080p |
| Original release | October 8, 2019 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | AEW Dynamite AEW Rampage AEW Battle of the Belts AEW Dark: Elevation |
AEW Dark, or simply Dark, is an American professional wrestling streaming television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). New episodes are uploaded every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on AEW's YouTube channel, with occasional additional episodes uploaded on other nights. The program features matches taped either before or after the preceding episode of Rampage (if it was live), a pay-per-view, or may be taped in bulk at Soundstage 21 in Universal Studios Florida. Previously, it was taped before and after the preceding episode of AEW's flagship program, Dynamite, and had featured segments highlighting the previous week's Dynamite and interviews with AEW personalities. The show was previously hosted by Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez in a studio called the "AEW Control Center".
History[edit]
On October 2, 2019, All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) flagship program, Dynamite, premiered on TNT. During the event, there were four dark matches, two before and two after the live broadcast.[2] During the media scrum following this event, AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan stated that the dark matches would become available to view on video in some form. On October 5, AEW Executive Vice President and wrestler Cody Rhodes announced a sister program to Dynamite called AEW Dark, which would be the home of AEW's dark matches. On October 8, the program began airing on Tuesdays at 8pm Eastern Time (ET) on AEW's YouTube channel. During the week of a pay-per-view (PPV), however, Dark would air on Friday as the go-home show; this continued until May 2021 for that year's Double or Nothing PPV. Unlike the dark matches of other wrestling promotions, which generally do not affect storylines, these matches on Dark are part of AEW's storylines and count towards the wrestlers' match statistics.[3][4][5]
During the November 5 episode, Tony Schiavone announced AEW Spanish commentator Dasha Gonzalez would be his co-host going forward.[6] Schiavone and Gonzalez hosted segments on Dark from the "AEW Control Center," highlighting matches and storylines within AEW.[7][8] On December 31, AEW aired a special episode called AEW Dark - 2019 Year in Review, featuring highlights of the show from the past year.[9]
On February 24, 2021, AEW announced that a new spinoff of Dark would premiere on Monday, March 15 titled Dark: Elevation. This is the promotion's third program, after Dynamite and Dark, and airs on Monday nights at 7pm ET, also on AEW's YouTube channel.[10][11] With the premiere of Rampage in August 2021, which also airs on TNT, Khan said that Dynamite and Rampage would be AEW's core properties, while their YouTube shows, Dark and Elevation, would be their peripheral properties, essentially their developmental shows.[12] Rampage airs in the 10pm ET slot on Fridays and replaced Dark as the go-home show for pay-per-views.[13]
On August 27, 2021, it was revealed that Dark would begin being taped at its own set within Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida at Soundstage 19, while Dark: Elevation would continue to be taped in conjunction with Dynamite.[14] The first set of tapings for Dark at Universal Studios began on September 11, 2021. AEW plans to do Dark's tapings about once a month, recording four shows per taping with each show lasting about 90 minutes. During the weeks that either TNT program (Rampage or Saturday Night Fights) airs live, AEW will tape Dark in conjunction with the that program.[15] AEW also taped Dark with Dark: Elevation; on the December 28, 2021 bonus event for New Year's Smash ticketholders at Daily's Place, which is part of AEW's year-end Christmas party.
Roster[edit]
The wrestlers featured on All Elite Wrestling take part in scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers are portrayed as heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. AEW Dark features both AEW contracted wrestlers and various independent wrestlers.
Commentators[edit]
| Commentators | Dates |
|---|---|
| Jim Ross and Excalibur | October 8, 2019 – October 15, 2019 October 29, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Taz | October 22, 2019 January 21, 2020 February 4, 2020 – March 24, 2020 April 7, 2020 May 12, 2020 – present |
| Excalibur and MJF | November 5, 2019 |
| Excalibur, Goldenboy, Arn Anderson, and Chuck Taylor | November 8, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Dustin Rhodes | November 19, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Shawn Spears | November 26, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Nyla Rose | December 3, 2019 |
| Excalibur, Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, and Britt Baker | December 10, 2019 |
| Excalibur, Vickie Guerrero, and Joey Janela | December 17, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Colt Cabana | December 24, 2019 |
| Excalibur and Chuck Taylor | January 7, 2020 |
| Excalibur and Dave Brown | January 14, 2020 |
| Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, and Excalibur | January 28, 2020 |
| Tony Schiavone and Cody | March 31, 2020 – May 5, 2020 |
| Tony Schiavone and Jimmy Havoc | April 7, 2020 |
| Tony Schiavone and Taz | August 4, 2020 – August 11, 2020 September 14, 2021 |
| Tony Schiavone, Taz, and Veda Scott | August 18, 2020 – August 25, 2020 |
| Excalibur, Taz, and Veda Scott | September 15, 2020 – September 22, 2020 |
| Excalibur, Taz, and Ricky Starks | September 29, 2020 – October 20, 2020 January 19, 2021 – January 26, 2021 |
| Excalibur, Taz, and Anthony Ogogo | October 27, 2020 – November 6, 2020 November 24, 2020 – December 15, 2020 January 12, 2021 February 2, 2021 – March 9, 2021 |
Ring announcers[edit]
| Ring announcers | Dates |
|---|---|
| Justin Roberts | October 8, 2019 – March 17, 2020 June 16, 2020 – present Live AEW event-based shows. |
| Dasha Gonzalez | December 3, 2019 March 24, 2020 – June 9, 2020 August 17, 2021 September 14, 2021 – present Studio-based shows. |
References[edit]
- ^ "AEW Themes 2.0". bandcamp.com. All Elite Wrestling. July 30, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
- ^ "AEW Dynamite off-air results: Four dark matches". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ^ "Post-AEW Dynamite Dark Match Results". WrestlingInc.com.
- ^ "BREAKING: "AEW DARK" begins this Tuesday! Featuring the matches you didn't see on Dynamite. Hosted by @tonyschiavone24". Cody Rhodes on Twitter. October 5, 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
- ^ Pratt, Emily (2019-10-07). "AEW Just Announced A Very Goth Number One Contender's Match". UPROXX. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ^ "AEW DARK REPORT | PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
- ^ "AEW Dark coming to YouTube, will be hosted by Tony Schiavone". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. 2019-10-05. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ^ "AEW Hypes Matches For Premiere Episode Of "Dark" (Photos)". Wrestling Inc. 2019-10-07. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
- ^ AEW DARK - 2019 YEAR IN REVIEW. YouTube – All Elite Wrestling. December 31, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (February 24, 2021). "AEW Dark: Elevation Announced As Third AEW Program, Will Air Mondays On YouTube". Fightful. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (February 24, 2021). "Premiere Date And Paul Wight's Broadcast Partner Announced For AEW Dark: Elevation". Fightful. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy (May 19, 2021). "Tony Khan Reveals New Details About Move to TBS, Says He Was Offered a Third Hour of Dynamite". 411mania. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Shrivastava, Arpit (June 17, 2021). "Tony Khan discloses interesting details about AEW Rampage". Sportskeeda. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Sean Rueter (August 27, 2021). "AEW Dark set to become a studio show (Updated)". Cageside Seats. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
- ^ Gagnon, Joshua (September 11, 2021). "First-Look At AEW Dark At Universal Studios". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved September 12, 2021.