The AEW Faction Confusion
I mentioned before a while ago I feels like something is missing with all the factions on AEW, or they're booked really weirdly.
The BCC confuses me.
Disclaimer, I love Regal, in from the UK and spent many a summer in Blackpool so I have naturally gravitated towards him since I started watching WWF/E in 2000. I also really enjoy the work of the other BCC members.
What confuses me about then factions is there seems to be no natural loyalty to each other. Or it appears then disappears.
If Danielson is going for AEW gold, would BCC members want to push him, support him, be there for him at ringside or run in e.g. when Cage was wanting to do Danielson's arm in?
I dunno how else to explain it, Danielson should be a "team mate" to the BCC, they should want to protect him and bring AEW gold to the team. Instead they don't even mention it or acknowledge it outside of Danielson.
JAS is better at this and presents themselves as a gang or a large team and don't randomly forget they're in the same faction and actually know each other.
House of Black Vs Sting and Darby confuses me a little, again I really like them all, but I don't get the difference in aesthetic between them especially as Buddy Matthews was wearing skull face paint as well as Darby. Is one dark and the other light? Are we trying to tell this story? Are they just evil? It's like they can't quite work out how to present themselves as a Ministry style faction.
I also consider I am still seeing the world through nostalgia lenses and I'll never capture how I felt about WWF and wrestling in general in 2000/2001.
Just wondered if anyone else has pondered this and can word it better than I?
I should have gone with the customary: 'im going to get downvoted to oblivion for posting again' line
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BCC were never a faction of necessarily "have your back" types to begin with (though at times, they have of course done that).
That said, the show has laid out pretty clearly that Danielson is not on good terms with the others at the moment. Yuta had a pretty big disagreement with Danielson over his courting of Garcia and repeatedly getting fooled by the JAS.
Then Regal screwed Mox out of the title and in a sense betrayed the BCC, so Danielson sticking up for Regal is going to rub people the wrong way.
The easiest way to answer House of Black stuff is, "I don't know but their aesthetic is dope so I'm here to see what happens".
I think with the BCC the reason they aren't helping DBry is because he stood by Regal after Full Gear. Why would Mox want to help him after that? Plus weren't Wheeler and DBry beefing a while back? He's probably pissed at Bryan still
Fair point. It just seems to have been forgotten about or not even acknowledged as opposed to it having been a good disagreement leading to a blow off?
Faction aren't all the same
Some faction will stick together, help each other in match, just second, not be there.
In NJPW LIJ almost never come to help each other, same for CHAOS, while you have United Empire having each others back.
You have also the excuse that one wrestler may want to do it themselve, without his faction helping him.
Your point of confusion about BCC is intentional. You're supposedly to wonder how tight Danielson is with the others. I know they don't have 1000 video packages beating you over the head with it but surely you remeber Danielson siding with Regal after he screwed Mox. This week Yuta was clearly in the building but didn't come out to help. He is clearly Mox's boy so it makes you think. It's good subtle storytelling but I feel a lot people have grown up watching a company that doesn't do it so they forget to look for it.
Danielson hasn't been on good terms with Yuta and Claudio ever since he (Danielson) tried and failed to bring Daniel Garcia into the BCC. Mox and Danielson seem to have gotten over their rough patch after Regal's betrayal, but Mox wasn't there this past week as established in Renee's interview with Hangman. So basically, Danielson didn't have any BCC allies who he hasn't alienated at the show to back him up.
Sting and Darby are both pure faces, they just like to dress like that. Buddy Matthews doesn't normally wear the skull face paint, but was doing it this time just to copy Darby and try to get in his head. I'm not familiar with "Ministry style faction" (I haven't seen much old school stuff) but the House of Black is basically spooky evil dudes who are really into symbolism and acting mysterious and stuff. The aesthetic overlap between them and Sting/Darby is just a coincidence in this case.
Edited to add: I get the sense that Malakai Black has a lot of lore written for his character and the House of Black, but I'm not familiar with it and/or am too dense to catch the symbolism.
Yeah I probably think too deep about all this maybe.
Malakai Black is such a cool deep character I just feel like there's more there we could be seeing out of it.
Then again perhaps this is like me expecting them to put our blockbuster level films every week which would be an impossible task
I always took BCC as more of a “dojo”.
Well Buddy was just mocking Darby, so that's all there is to that one.
As far as the BCC is, they probably need a segment to clarify but basically there's a wedge between Danielson and the rest of the BCC over William Regal.
Without reading all the comments:
Every group has a different make-up.
(Kayfabe)
House of Black and JAS have a definitive leader (Black and Jericho) who are probably telling members to be there for every show.
BCC don't. So it makes some sense that Mox and Claudio didn't help Bryan this week because they just weren't there. Yuta also has an issue with him, so he might not have come out.
Also, as I said on a different post, you can't really expect all wrestlers backstage to be watching the show at all times. Yuta MIGHT have just missed the beat down.
(Non-kayfabe)
Brayn is the baby face going against the top heel. Doesn't make much sense to have his group come out to beat up the heel in the story.
Maybe it's because I'm a big fan but House of Black isn't really a supernatural group, but they want their opponents to think they are. Their main goal is to show everyone that violence is the humanity way and the purest state. So they manipulate, play mind games to provoke their opponents, either to make it easier to defeat them, or trick them into giving into their more violent tendencies they try to control. They use occult elements as a way to express themselves and their aesthetic is part of the intimidation factor. Buddy was mocking Darby.
Darby is painted with death as an extension of his character/the man surviving death but also not being terrified to the point he wears the symbol of it. In RL and in the ring, he is always taking risks and is not scared of the consequences, even the biggest one. He is let's say an alternative dude so black is very popular color among that.
BCC was started with Bryan and Jon wanted to influence the next generation. Teach them what they know. They aren't friends, just people who share a bond and an idea on what wrestling should be. Yuta proved himself to Jon and was taken in but Bryan lost his respect. And Claudio seems to be more connected to Jon than Bryan. Think of Bryan as the boss no one likes while Jon is the one everyone likes. He forces everyone to work together but while he isn't around, no one cares about Bryan because he is a dick to everyone and only Jon tolerates it.
BCC I find interesting for that reason. A faction that doesn't pretend to be friends, that fight each other to make each other better. Would watch a member struggle on their own to prove themselves.
I'm inclined to agree that the House of Black aren't really a supernatural group beyond being a sort of (at least aesthetically) Norse pagan-esque kind of cult.
I don't know that they're specifically out to show people that violence is the way - I kind of get the impression that their more recent stuff is more broadly revealing the true nature of their 'victims' (just my interpretation of course). Like in Eddie's case, Malakai believes current Eddie is a facade and they're aiming to break that down and reveal the more violent and sadistic Eddie that Malakai once knew; his true nature.
Its easier to not ask questions.
I feel they should address that considering how pissed Wheeler was at Bryan a while ago. He went to bat for an absent Mox but couldn't bother saving Bryan.
Factions are weak as hell in AEW and its one of their biggest issues for storyline. Mox sticks out like a sore thumb in BCC, House of Black have an aesthetic but that's about it?
The JAS are the only folk who seem to operate as a consistent group but that also means they're heavily lacking in organised opposition. Like, if they actually had Mox, Kingston and Ortiz together as more of a bruiser/strong-style group, they'd work much better than the currently nonexistent heat coming from BCC now Regal's gone.
Why Mox? If anything Bryan clearly sticks out...
More in terms of styling in-ring, Danielson is definitely the rogue element storyline wise. I've just always felt he's more of a brutalist but the others are presented more as technical wrestlers?
Yeah I completely get all of this and agree. House of black need a trio to fued with that are the opposite of them, or just want to bring them down so the HOB can either destroy them as heels. I can't complain too much as I'd have no idea how to book any of them but there is definitely something lacking here
Much like everything else in wrestling.. too much of something devalues it. There are too many groups and stables now which causes none of them to stand out. They are all just a bunch of mid groups that never get enough time to develop into more because there are too many other groups that need time. It works great in njpw. It doesn’t work so great here.
I think its more of “only the hardest mf’rs need apply”. Dont be crying for back up, and if we cross paths you better bring it. BCC members will always carry respect for fellow members.
Thats how I see it.