Joey Janela is not fond of one of his former home promotion’s show formats.
AEW: Dark airs on YouTube, typically involving several “squash” matches, in which one talent overwhelmingly dominates their opponent in a relatively quick fashion. This week, Rey Fenix and AR Fox headlined the show with “all-around competitive action-packed sprints,” according to former All Elite Wrestling star Joey Janela. “This is what dark should be,” he wrote via Twitter, “and maybe a one longer type storyline-based match weekly,” he suggested.
“The Bad Boy” pointed out the respective match as an exception to the usual “stale a**” show. “Squash matches do nothing for anyone in 2022, especially on a YouTube show,” Janela said. He continued on, explaining his frustrations with the show format, deeming it as a reason for “talent degression.”
“No one wants to watch fucking squash matches on YouTube in 2022,” he said. “I understand if you’re introducing a new wrestler on tv then I’m all for squash matches. This is the reason for talent degression doing nothing but pointless bullshit for the sake of it.
“I always made it a point to make my matches with local talents 60/40 or even 50/50, because I’m a fan myself and I know that I would never waste my time watching something presented like that & was constantly watching me get shittier in ring,” Janela wrote.
Despite the high frequency of featured squash matches, Janela “always made it a point to make my matches with local talents 60/40 or even 50/50,” to ensure that fans weren’t wasting their time “watching something presented like that.” In addition, Janela felt he was “constantly watching [himself] get shittier in the ring” through his work on AEW: Dark.
No one wants to watch fucking squash matches on YouTube in 2022, I understand if you’re introducing a new wrestler on tv then I’m all for squash matches. This is the reason for talent degression doing nothing but pointless bullshit for the sake of it.
— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) November 2, 2022
Janela went on to respond to several replies to his initial post, noting that TV squash matches make sense in certain situations. Janela also suggested that Dark could function as an indie promotion of sorts on the weekends, noting how it would be easy to implement.
“Then IDK tour dark like an independent promotion on the weekends, The shows will draw because the most over thing about AEW are the letters AEW. Small production, 2 agents, 2 hours of matches in a small venue. I see no difficulty in that for a million dollar company,” Janela wrote.
AEW originally launched Dark in the fall season of 2019, before later introducing its counterpart, Dark: Elevation. Typically, enhancement talent from the independent circuit appear to put over AEW’s contracted talent in a high rate of squash matches. Sporadically though, the show does feature a balanced competition, as evidenced by Fenix and Fox on the November 1st episode of Dark.
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