Aces & Eights has been a major failure so far. In order to understand why it has failed so, we have understand what the angle is, in abstract terms. The angle has two major components to it. It is a dangerous group of outside invaders… and it is a mystery. The “dangerous group of outside invaders” part has been irreparably damaged by the atrocious booking, but, if the mystery is good, the angle will still seem exciting, especially in a case like this, where we have multiple mysteries going on at once: Who are they? And what are their goals.
The answer to the first has been a bit of a failure because the guys they have unmasked haven’t felt important at all, but the “what are their goals” mystery is still out there. A lot of what has hurt this angle, IMO, is the lack of any progress made towards solving that mystery. This is Aces & Eights’ EIGHTH MONTH on screen, and we know no more about the organization as a whole than we did when they first debuted. This being TNA, I have a strong feeling that, for no adequately explained reason, Taz will be allowed to keep his job doing commentary, which will give Aces & Eights a voice that will, hopefully, give us some insight into their goals. The problem is… this is Taz and he has absolutely sucked for all of his three and a half years on commentary in TNA, so he might just screw things up more… but maybe he won’t and this will help the angle.

Great read Reds, I have to admit, I loved the way Taz introduced himself as an Aces & 8s member. But I have to wonder how TNA are gonna end this storyline. It seems like they have just picked aload of names out of a hat.

Maybe the introduction of this new commentator will let Taz take on a role as a heel manager rather then commentator. Hopefully they will use him more as the main talking guy for Aces and 8s rather then the big fat guy!!

I have to admit I'm intrigued to how this is gonna pan out now

I don't understand why everyone thinks the Aces & Eights storyline is some kinda failure. If they revealed the guys to be big names fans would complain that it was an nWo ripoff. Instead they give us barely known guys and everyone complains that it's dissappointing. Then ppl complain that the angle is moving too slow, but if they sped it up there'd be no time to establish Knox, Doc, and the others (tba) and we'd just have a group of former WWE guys with NO personality of their own. We fans have been begging for slower builds and longer storylines for years, then we get a few and complain that they aren't moving fast enough.

I LIKE the slow build in this angle bc it's causing the storyline to bounce back and forth; instead of it being just an angle where A&8s invades and causes chaos, we're getting an actual feud between A&8s and TNA reps.

The big thing Taz joining does for this angle is answer the question of how A&8s has been able to get into the Impact Zone all these months. Devon was against A&8s until he was renegotiating his contract and didn't get what he wanted, so I never thought he was the guy who initially got them in. Taz is a great choice. Also, considering his spot in the whole Gut Check thing, it's obvious that he has some sort of power within TNA, which is the final thin this faction needs to cause a big stir. Obviously, Lethal Lockdown will be the culmination of this feud and I'm looking VERY forward to Joe, Angle, Sting, and others v. A&8s in Lethal Lockdown....

badnewzxl wrote: Taz is a great choice. Also, considering his spot in the whole Gut Check thing, it's obvious that he has some sort of power within TNA, which is the final thin this faction needs to cause a big stir. Obviously, Lethal Lockdown will be the culmination of this feud and I'm looking VERY forward to Joe, Angle, Sting, and others v. A&8s in Lethal Lockdown....

Exactly, I thought that they would leave it alone with D'Lo, but this was good too. This is how Wes Brisco (who will potentially unmask) got a TNA contract, for all we know Jay Bradley also may be part of Aces & 8s.

cero2k wrote:

badnewzxl wrote: Taz is a great choice. Also, considering his spot in the whole Gut Check thing, it's obvious that he has some sort of power within TNA, which is the final thin this faction needs to cause a big stir. Obviously, Lethal Lockdown will be the culmination of this feud and I'm looking VERY forward to Joe, Angle, Sting, and others v. A&8s in Lethal Lockdown....

Exactly, I thought that they would leave it alone with D'Lo, but this was good too. This is how Wes Brisco (who will potentially unmask) got a TNA contract, for all we know Jay Bradley also may be part of Aces & 8s.

Honestly, I was thinking Bradley would be the one eliminated, thus turning him towards A&8's and Gage would get the contract; then the two of them couls feud on either side (both guys were great; I'm sure they'll both get actual contracts).

What I REALLY hope is that Anderson doesn't become a full fledged member; I like him, Morgan, and Ryan being on the outside of this thing (actually, I'm hoping they get rid of Ryan soon; he's just NOT doing anything for me right now and I can't wait til Morgan just crushes him!)....

badnewzxl wrote:I don't understand why everyone thinks the Aces & Eights storyline is some kinda failure. If they revealed the guys to be big names fans would complain that it was an nWo ripoff. Instead they give us barely known guys and everyone complains that it's dissappointing. Then ppl complain that the angle is moving too slow, but if they sped it up there'd be no time to establish Knox, Doc, and the others (tba) and we'd just have a group of former WWE guys with NO personality of their own. We fans have been begging for slower builds and longer storylines for years, then we get a few and complain that they aren't moving fast enough.

The nWo was so successful that people will always complain that just about any invasion is an nWo rip-off. Unless Hogan, Hall, and Nash are involved in the invading, those complaints should be ignored.

People are complaining for a few reason:
1) because Aces & Eights have booked like complete and total chumps. If they had booked them well, Gallows, Knox, etc would feel like bigger deals.
2) Aces & Eights isn't building slowly... it's not building AT ALL. What has happened so far? Aces & Eights show up and attack people, then those guys eventually come back. So what? The whole big angle leading into BFG was that if Aces & Eights won, they would get access to the Impact Zone... but that didn't change anything either because they had been getting into the Impact Zone with no trouble anyway. Yes, some members of the group have been revealed... but we still have absolutely no idea whatsoever what their motivations are. They seem to have some vendetta against Hogan and Sting... but we knew that back in August!

3) Yes, some members have been revealed, but that hasn't mattered either. It hasn't mattered to the storyline at all, as there have been no consequences whatsoever to Devon, Knox, or Doc losing their masks, and it hasn't mattered to the characters, either. Knox and Doc have no more personality now than they did with their masks on (what is the different between them and any masked Aces & Eights guy aside from the fact that we know their names?), and Devon just feels like regular old Devon, but as part of a big stable now.

badnewzxl wrote: The big thing Taz joining does for this angle is answer the question of how A&8s has been able to get into the Impact Zone all these months. Devon was against A&8s until he was renegotiating his contract and didn't get what he wanted, so I never thought he was the guy who initially got them in. Taz is a great choice. Also, considering his spot in the whole Gut Check thing, it's obvious that he has some sort of power within TNA, which is the final thin this faction needs to cause a big stir. Obviously, Lethal Lockdown will be the culmination of this feud and I'm looking VERY forward to Joe, Angle, Sting, and others v. A&8s in Lethal Lockdown....

Having Taz in Aces & Eights explains nothing. I assumed that they were just barging in at first, and they have been show to have people inside of TNA, like the cameraguy Hogan & Aries were torturing, or Leva Bates (who showed up and maced Hogan and Sting, allowing the Aces & Eights guys to bring them to their secret hideout.
Since BFG they have had no need for inside help to get into the building because they won full access to the Impact Zone as per the stips of the match at BFG.
I'm not so sure that Lethal Lockdown will be the blow-off. TNA likes to do blow-offs to their big, overarching, year+ angles at BFG.