Known as the Super Smash Brothers on the Independent scene, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson made their AEW debut at AEW Double or Nothing 2019 as the Dark Order.
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) were big proponents of Uno & Grayson, having wrestled them multiple times on the Independent scene.
Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Uno & Grayson recalled how ROH used them as a negotiating tool in trying to re-sign the Young Bucks as their contracts were expiring at the end of 2018.
"[Young Bucks] would work for Ring of Honor in Toronto and we'd end up on those shows and we would talk. At the time, I don't think they knew they were going anywhere but they were really trying to get us in Ring of Honor and Ring of Honor was kind of holding our contracts over their heads because they were trying to re-sign the Bucks. They didn't want to sign us unless the Bucks re-signed. We were kind of like a [negotiation tool]. It was like that for eight or nine months. By the end of it, they wrestled in Toronto again and Nick and Matt had known at that point they were going to do something else and they told us, 'If you get offered anything, let us know because we are going to offer you something soon. We can't tell you what it is but it is coming around.' Three days later, Ring of Honor offered us a contract for three years. We messaged Nick and Matt and they were like, 'this is what's going on, this is our offer, you'd have to wait five months before you do anything though, is that okay?' Of course, I had waited eight years," said Uno.
Grayson added, "All they had to say to us was 'trust us' and we were in. We've been friends for a long time and we knew they had our best interest in mind."
Though Uno & Grayson didn't debut to much fanfare and 2019 ended poorly for the group with the infamous "phantom punches" incident, the ship was steered in the right direction when Brodie Lee was revealed as the Exalted One in March 2020.
You can find Dark Order's comments on the "phantom punches" segment by clicking here.
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