First of all… watch the following video from TNA… doesn’t it look like the Vice President of Aces and Eights is white between the 20-30 second mark?
Next… What a massive let down, this story line has become. I thought maybe Hulk Hogan running Aces and Eights all along, or maybe a big star like Goldberg was coming back, would of been great. But instead we get the non-existent D-Lo, who has such a small stake in this conflict that my reaction was pretty much “really… that’s why he has done nothing the past few months…. now he can do next to nothing”
While with others members such as Mike Knox and even DOC I was at least surprised. I also enjoyed youngsters Brisco and Bischoff’s turn at least here was a shocking betrayal of Kurt Angle’s mentor ship. Same goes for Tazz’s almost comical flip of the script. Even in the less secret recruitment of Mr. Kennedy Anderson we saw the turn to the dark side if you will. The only hope now is that a president or leader is unveiled, and that person ups the stakes.
Prior to the D-Lo lowdown I thought this story line was better than The Shields similar invasion in WWE. However, the recent turn has changed it, with the Big Show as an unwilling ally to Sheamus and Randy Orton (3 superstars who could find themselves in a triple threat for number one contender of the World Heavyweight Championship after WrestleMania).
This Aces and Eights story was so key because it represented a NWO type situation where TNA Wrestling could surpass WWE like WCW back in the Attitude Era, even if just for a short period. If they can not recapture the fire what are you left with? Well the Hell No type team of Austin Aries and Bobby Roode. What a great idea lets rip off CM Punk, Ric Flair and put em in a tag team… not so much. Aries is just so unoriginal on the microphone, it seems he has given up all hope of developing anything we have not seen before. As for Roode I do not hate him… or even like him at all, and that is the worst place in the world of professional wrestling. If your not hated or loved… your forgotten and Roode… well I forget. There is some novelty in Jeff Hardy being World Champion… TNA Champion… Impact Champion. But that quickly runs out, and your left asking yourself how Hardy has failed to get better in the microphone and how his move set has barely evolved over his career. People often complain about John Cena repeating the same 5-6 moves over and over again, but the despite Hardy having 2-3 times the moves of Cena, the repetition becomes the same after a certain point of time. I am left wondering if Hardy spent less time on his wardrobe and whacky face paint maybe he could learn some new moves. Oh and Bubba Bully as the HHH type character who marries the boss’s daughter… its interesting but its shoved down our throats so much, as if TNA thinks we have no attention span or we will forget. Its great to write a story line that parody’s your competition, but you do not have to remind me of it every hour of television you produce. It feels like Dixie Carter is on the couch with me watching Impact saying, “did you see that? Hogan is starting to approve of his son in law, just like you saw in WWE!” Yes you can’t miss it if you tired!
The Knockouts division does top the WWE’s Diva’s division, but that’s just until Kaitlyn puts her title on the line against Naomi, then its game over man woman! Get me Miss Tessmacher vs Gail Kim for the title ASAP, before its too late. Tara had a decent run as a heel but had very little legs to the story line that stuck only one note over… and over… and over.
But sadly, it is too late for Impact their recent decision to tour different locations, but to pre-tape multiple episodes at each location is a clear indication that they cannot compete fully with the WWE and are content to take a shortcut to appear to grow when realistically the company has likely hit their limit. It is a shame I like having an alternative but it has become too populated by a bunch of wrestlers who should be retired, or managing. While young talent like Magnus are overlooked. If Impact just became a fresh brand of young superstars that could do more in the ring and/or on the mic than WWE, I would enjoy it much more… but its not.
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