John Silver Says Brodie Lee Gives Dark Order A Stronger Identity, Why You’re Seeing His ‘BTE’ Gimmick On TV
John Silver is finally getting a chance to show Dynamite viewers why he’s quickly becoming one of the most entertaining people on the AEW roster.
Silver recently spoke with the Living The Gimmick podcast about his role in All Elite Wrestling and the “Being The Elite” web series. Silver debuted in AEW with Alex Reynolds in October 2019 and later signed contracts with the company and joined The Dark Order stable, where he’s enjoyed his most successful run so far.
Silver spoke about how they’ve been able to come up with ideas for the BTE series, noting that a lot of their work together is a collaborative process but most of it comes from just throwing out ideas to each other. He went on to say that he initially tried to be a more menacing character on Dynamite, but someone suggested that he played things more like the BTE version of him and it’s paid off.
“I never knew that was expected or wanted from me, especially being in The Dark Order gimmick. You think of creepy cult guys that are brainwashed to be in this group basically, so I just did this look consistently, just tried to act vicious when I was in the ring. But then when I started doing the BTE, they were like ‘why aren’t you doing this on TV?’ I was like ‘(expletive), how was I supposed to know?’ So now it’s almost a challenge to be even more out there and ridiculous and outrageous now. It’s like okay, now I can just be me. Now you’re seeing John Silver be actual John Silver.”
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In regards to The Dark Order seeing more development on BTE than Dynamite, Silver understands the constraints of television and AEW having such a large roster. Silver says everyone is fighting for precious TV time right now, but the positive of the situation he’s in is that people are finally seeing him portray the same character in both mediums now.
“You’re fighting for two hours of time, and every minute is huge. So it’s just a time thing right now, I really hope we get an opportunity to have another show eventually just so that we can show off this stuff a little bit more. But I think now, you’re seeing John Silver on TV that is John Silver on BTE. Maybe not the 100% the same, maybe it’s a little bit, tiny bit toned down. But at least okay, now they kind of get what I am now, I guess.”
Brodie Lee was a late addition to the stable, being revealed as “The Exalted One” several months after the group debuted. Silver says Mr. Brodie’s presence definitely makes the group feel more cohesive, and it gives them a stronger identity on AEW TV.
“Once we started doing these bits, it was like natural chemistry, especially on camera. In real life too, but on camera you can clearly see it when something just clicks. But even backstage, we joke around, and he’s been great. He kind of helped us have more of an identity, especially on TV. Where it’s like okay, he is the leader, he is the big guy, he is the (expletive), the strong muscle (expletive) top dog, and we’re like his corporation almost, so it kind of made us feel like we knew more of our direction too just having that.”
If you use any of these transcripts, please credit Jon Alba of the Living The Gimmick podcast with a h/t to WrestleZone
Check out the full episode below: