If you’ve seen John Silver on AEW TV at any time over the past few years, you’ve already been exposed to the various sides of his character. On one hand, he’s the Meat Man, Johnny Hungee, and has been part of some of the funnier segments on Dynamite or Rampage.
When it’s time for Silver to hit the ring, however, most often with tag team partner Alex Reynolds or other members of the Dark Order, he can flat out go. AEW knows it can rely on Silver to have good matches with a wide variety of opponents, which is why he’s been one of the busier wrestlers on the roster in 2022 — and had his hand raised more often than everyone but Jon Moxley, Max Caster and Dante Martin.
That kind of versatility isn’t something every pro wrestler has. But as Silver told Wrestling Junkie in a phone interview ahead of AEW Grand Slam in New York, it comes naturally to him.
“It’s really easy because I’m just being myself,” Silver said. “I don’t have to get into a certain mode, mentally, I kind of just do myself. I love comedy, I love making people laugh. So me just doing that at certain times in a match or in a segment backstage … very easy for me to do.
“Then also, I was an athlete growing up, and I train hard in the gym. So me going hard in the ring is also easy for me. It’s just what I am, it’s just what I do.”
Silver has also been able to avoid being labeled as “just” a comedic performer, which can happen on occasion in wrestling when talent becomes associated too strongly with more lighthearted angles. Danhausen is a good example of this tendency on the current AEW roster, with a vocal segment of online fandom dismissing him because of the humor he so often brings with him.
While Silver acknowledged the risk involved (“Any time you kind of be funny in wrestling, for some reason, some people look at it one way and they just refuse to look at it another way.”), he also pointed out that some of pro wrestling’s most iconic names have been able to make people laugh as well as cheer.
“The thing is, some of the biggest stars in wrestling have been funny also,” he said. “If you looked at The Rock, all his promos are pretty funny. Kurt Angle. These are people that can go in the ring that are the biggest stars ever, but they bring a lot of comedy to it as well.
“I really don’t worry about it. The real fans are going to appreciate the comedy, but also the wrestling. So I really don’t think about it that much.”
It may have helped that Silver was first introduced to the AEW audience as part of the original, more sinister version of the Dark Order in late 2019. As the faction morphed into legitimate babyfaces following the sad passing of Brodie Lee, it allowed all of the group’s members to show more facets to their personalities.
What really helped Silver break out and connect with fans were his semi-regular appearances on the “Being the Elite” YouTube series produced by the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. He credited those shows, and their existence on the periphery of “official” AEW programming for allowing him to blossom and show more range.
“When we joined the Dark Order, we were very serious, evil, brainwashed-type characters,” Silver said. “I always knew that I had more to show, but I didn’t know if I should show that at that point, like that was supposed to be my character.
“Once we eventually went on BTE, I kind of thought of that as a different world. Like it’s kind of connected, but it’s a different world. So I kind of gave myself a little bit more on there, and once I was seen doing that, even Tony [Khan] was like, ‘now we need you to do that on TV.’ So I loved it, I was able to just kind of be myself more.”
That interaction with The Elite also opened the door to something else Silver has loved, which is being part of the ongoing saga of Hangman Adam Page. In one of the longest running pro wrestling narratives in recent memory, Page has been on a character arc of friendship, betrayal and self-discovery that dates all the way back to the very beginnings of AEW.
It also grew over time to incorporate the Dark Order, who has been there for Page (and vice versa) when he needed them most. Even when those relationships have been put on the back burner for a time, AEW has shown it knows how to call on them again when needed, including recently when Page teamed with Silver and Reynolds to compete for the World Trios Championship against his old friends in The Elite.
As you might expect, Silver said having a role in that tale has been very rewarding.
“It’s been awesome,” he said. “It’s one of the big stories in AEW and it just keeps going, it doesn’t really stop: his relationship with The Elite, his journey and then us being a part of his big journey. He basically got kicked out of his friend group and then found new friends in people you’d never think of in the Dark Order.
“Being a part of that has been awesome because it’s led to a lot of cool moments. I get to work with Hangman, who is a good friend of ours, obviously. … Even just the moment in the trios title match when Hangman and Kenny faced off, the crowd was unglued. They went nuts, just for them to stare at each other, observing, before they did anything. So to be part of that all is just fantastic.”
The next set of big moments for AEW is set to take place this week at AEW Grand Slam. It will take place for the second straight year at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, Queens, not far from where Silver grew up in Wantagh, Long Island.
Though he wasn’t a regular at the facility by any means (“I’m not really like a tennis guy”) and never dreamed that he’d be performing there, his participation in last year’s Grand Slam drove home how special a venue it could be for AEW, and pro wrestling in general.
“The last time we went there, I was like ‘wow this place is massive,'” he said. “Definitely the coolest arena we go to. Last time I was there, I wrestled on Dark, and I think we had a four-minute, five-minute match. And just that alone, being in front of that crowd was amazing. The atmosphere is amazing.”
Silver will be there again this week, and in the days since he spoke to Wrestling Junkie, was revealed to be part of the Golden Ticket Battle Royale that will air on Rampage and will reward the winner with a future AEW World Championship match.
He won’t be a favorite to win, but if he does, it won’t be the kind of result that would be seen as something done for pure shock value. That, more than anything, is proof that his well-rounded growth in AEW has truly taken hold.