I think there's an underlying story going on with the House of Black that needs more attention: their matches are tests of the bond between their opponents.

As a team in AEW, they've only lost three times since forming in March 2022. The first time was against Dark Order last August, who have a permanent bond forged by the legacy of Mr. Brodie Lee. The other two losses both came last fall at the hands of Sting & Darby Allin, which might as well be a guy and his adopted son.

In that same timeframe we saw them beat Death Triangle when Fenix and Pac wouldn't get on the same page, consequently being washed out of the Trios tournament in the first round due to the same issue.

Then they beat The Factory which now doesn't even exist anymore.

Then they annihilated The Wingmen with Ari Daivari, and Daivari has been in like three different groups since then but never once the Wingmen anymore.

Then they beat The Elite who have since seen huge, long-dormant cracks in their relationship reopened. Their bond hasn't been tested this much since Cody was gaslighting them and dividing them in 2018.

Then they beat JAS who all, for the first time ever, started doing things outside of Jericho's objectives. Sammy's pursuing the world title, Garcia first challenged Cole now he's chasing OC, and 2point0 with Hagar went after The Acclaimed.

Now you've got Anna Jay AS completely isolated, and Julia cuts that promo about how Anna doesn't have a real family.

tl;dr The House of Black is a force of nature that will rip your group apart if the bonds aren't strong and pure.

I'm worried about tomorrow night since OC isn't gonna be there with Chuck and Trent :-\