According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, Marty Scurll was the original choice to be the Dark Order’s leader. There was reportedly an idea for Scurll to be revealed as the leader at the end of the December 18th edition of AEW Dynamite but ROH ended up making him a great offer to stay with the promotion. Regarding the exclusivity of the contract, Meltzer noted the following:
“We were told it may not exclude him from AEW although others have said the deal will only exclude AEW and WWE.”
