If bully ray can successfully reinvent himself so can devon. This leads to bully ray joining A&8 somewhere down the line guaranteed. Swerves like this are why we became fans of wrestling.
Devon cannot carry the leadership on his own I suspect Jarrett is in the background somewhere.
For this angle to be successful they must not copy the bad bits of the NWO where half the roster joined
Devon as the reveal was okay. Personally, I think we needed to see the VP revealed also. As someone stated earlier, Devon was just a prospect. He had no Patch on the back of his leather Cut. You don't get the patch until you're a full member. Only 1 guy had the patch on the back last night. That was the guy we've seen as the VP (the talker in most segments).
What I would have liked to have seen was Devon walk down the ramp, reveal himself, and Bully get distracted. Have Bully run down the ramp after him, while he was chasing him, have the VP attack Sting and cost them the match. Then have Hogan come out and do the reveal just like they did with Devon, but have it be the VP (whoever that is going to be).
But, Devon shouldn't have been the entire payoff at BFG. He's just not a big enough star for people who shelled out $40 to be satisfied with.
I don't get all the hate Devon gets? Is it because of his failed run in WWE that makes everyone cringe when they see him? What makes everyone's hate toward Devon that makes him so awful? How is he a bad singles wrestler? Explain that to me and maybe I might agree. But what is it that makes him such a horrible person on the mic? He never really used to talk as far as I can remember; and when he did it wasn't all that bad like everyone is making it out to be.
Devon, can wrestle, it may not be CM Punk status or hell, AJ Styles' level of wrestling but he can wrestle. He was an after thought that just takes a back seat to his "brother" Bully Ray. I remember being behind Bully whilst everyone shit on him. It was talks of his name sucks, wtf kind of name is "Bully Ray"? Now look at Bully Ray, one of the best in the business and who knows, maybe Devon can climb the ladder too.
Devon, makes perfect sense and he really isn't all that bad. Don't let the 100% scripted down WWE run he had keep ya eyes closed to Devon. He could turn it around and it is one reason why I like TNA so much. It's go out there and do you. Devon looks like he could fit this character very well. He is a huge dude, he looks like he can whoop some ass and also would you mess with him if you saw him with a biker gang? Probably not. This could fit him very very well and I wouldn't be surprised to see Devon turn into a star. Granted, not a huge star but he will be over. More over in other states.
Just give Devon a chance before any of you can spew out the lines of 'did you see his WWE run; it was awful' and let us see how this progresses.
Didn't order the PPV so I'm just learning this now, but I was anticipating Bully Ray to turn on Sting during the tag match. Dvon wasn't even a possible thought. At least it wasn't a new member to the roster as they have plenty of guys not doing anything. (Where the **** is Crimson anyway?)
Again, TNA at its finest by using shock value for the sake of shock value. They tease for a while how Devon is leaving TNA. His contract status "leaked"... speculation on him jumping ship back to WWE... Hogan's backing him on every radio and television broadcast that mentions him...
Well it seems to me they played us well. We never saw it coming. And it's not like it doesn't make sense as the guy saw Bully get all the spotlight and the title shots. How rare in this day age people get to be swerved?
With all of that, I guess we should have seen it coming... but nobody did. And why? Because it's too stupid of a swerve and makes less sense than about 90% of the bullshit that TNA throws at us every year at BFG.
Devon (himself) is a completely shit product. Now they want to throw him and his terrible microphone skills into the main storyline? It's just an awful idea that did nothing besides make all of us scratch our heads.
But we don't know if he's gonna be the leader, cause only the leader has to be great on the mic.
From a storyline standpoint, if Devon is not the leader, the whole thing last night fitted right given that it was Bully that was in the ring fighting for TNA, so Bully will take it personaly. I imagine his wars with Devon and Aces & 8s will serve to make Bully a red hot face.
If the whole thing is done to put Bully over, i'm all for it.
I think enough time has passed for me to stop ranting and give an actual consensus on Devon being a member.
I hear a lot of people say he's not the leader but from what Devon was saying last night ("It was me all along") they really made it seem like he was the leader. More often than not when someone says that in a promo, it means they are the leader, look at Mr. McMahon being the higher power, Triple H being behind Austin being run over, ect. Even if he's not the leader he's most certainly an integral part in the group. He was wearing the same clothes as the guy who always talks for Ace's and Eight's anyways so its easy to assume he's the leader and if he isn't the leader, than he's the figurehead or a decoy for who the leader really is.
For myself I have 2 things about this I don't like:
1) Devon isn't good enough or charismatic enough to pull off the role he's been given. He's not that great on the mic and his career without Bubba Ray is mediocre at best.
2) Although its not fair for fans to assume that the leader would be revealed for Ace's and Eights since the last few years at BFG have shown the fans some big reveal of sorts you sort of expect it. If it was me (not saying I know better) I would have revealed someone a little bigger than Devon as the 1st reveal. Revealing Devon as a huge part of Aces and Eights is the equivalent of revealing Marty Janetty as the guy behind Aces and Eights. I just don't get why Devon is the guy you would choose for that role, I don't think he's good enough to make his role work.
Overall I think Devon being apart of Aces and Eights is fine, nothing wrong with that but even if he's not the leader he's at least the second hand man in the group (or at least that's how they built him last night) which is a role he's really not suited for. Maybe Devon will surprise me like Bully Ray did but I really don't think he has the charisma and mic skills to pull it off.
I think the crowd in Phoenix got it right last night, when they were chanting "this is awkward" over and over. It definitely was awkward, and it seemed that nobody in the live crowd really cared when Devon was unmasked.
Devon being revealed was "shocking", in the sense that I don't think anyone was predicting Devon would be unmasked. But.......just because we didn't see it coming doesn't make the reveal any better; we didn't see it coming because Devon never was (and still isn't) a logical choice to be "the inside man". Devon was still the TV Champ when A&8s arrived in TNA (at least I think), and it seems stupid that he was the one helping them all along. I guess we'll hear his reason for being in the group this Thursday, but Devon seems like quite a stretch to me.
Everybody seemed to think Bully was gonna turn on Sting last night, or whatever. Bully seemed like a red herring to me, and I figured it was gonna be Mr. Anderson who was revealed to be "the inside man" last night (NOT Devon). Especially seeing Bully donning the Sting paint on his way to the ring, I knew he wouldn't turn on Sting. It was too eerily reminiscent of "Bash at the Beach '96", and I thought we would see "the third man" emerge from the back and be revealed as an A&8 member (ie: Mr. Anderson, or Jarrett). It could have been worse overall, but I feel that Devon is pretty close to the worst choice TNA could have picked for the first A&8 member revealed. The only two choices I can think of that would have been worse are Garrett Bischoff or Gunner.
As far as other members in the group go, the speculation will obviously have to continue until TNA actually unmasks more of them. I agree with the majority, that the "arm breaker" is most likely either Mike Knox or Luke Gallows (I'm leaning more towards Knox, myself), the long-haired member is Wes Brisco, and Chris Masters is probably one of the masked men as well.
Now that Devon has been unmasked (and Aces & Eights has "full access" to the Impact Zone), he'll have to be the mouthpiece for the group on TV (even though he's not the leader; at least I don't think). It will be stupid, Devon's mic skills have never been his strong point. I'm not looking forward to this Thursday's inevitable explanation from Devon, but hopefully since my expectations are low the first "heel" promo from Devon won't seem as excruciating.
As far as the leader of the group, I know many are leaning towards Jarrett. I personally feel that the leader will be revealed to be Eric Bischoff. I'm not saying that Jarrett isn't involved at all, he could be one of the masked men who has been "terrorizing" the Impact Zone. The main reason I feel it's Bischoff, is because of that youtube video that's been floating around where someone sped up the audio of an A&8 promo. The voice of the A&8 "leader" is clearly Bischoff, when the audio is sped up. The guy in the video with his back to Hogan & Sting (wearing the baseball cap backwards) looks like Bischoff's bodytype as well. For those who haven't seen that video, I'll post it below in one of those spoiler whatchamacallits:
[YOUTUBE]Ug1kfHkxNEk[/YOUTUBE]
Now that Aces & Eights have "full access" to the Impact Zone, I suppose all the members of the group (aren't there five or six?) will have to be added to the "official" Impact Wrestling roster. I suppose they'll be put in matches on Impact, and they'll have to have names (so Taz & Tenay can call their matches). I imagine if they do get names, they'll be stupid motorcycle gang nicknames (like Snake, Knuckles, Ice, etc). Once they're unmasked, I guess that's when their "real" names might start being used.
That is what "full access" means, right? All the Aces & Eights members are now official TNA wrestlers? If that's the case, this will get even more weird since they're all anonymous wrestlers wearing masks. I hope it doesn't get even more convoluted on Thursday, but that will probably be the case. I doubt they'll all unmask this week on Impact, but the masks will have to come off eventually. The mask element will probably become a stipulation for a match (or series of matches) over the next few months; ie: if Aces & Eights loses, the mask(s) come off. TNA will obviously try to stretch this angle as long as they can.
TNA will probably do a "War Games" or "Survivor Series" type match in the semi-near future, with all the A&8s members vs. the same number of "pure TNA guys" (Storm, AJ, Joe, etc). They could add a mask-removal stipulation to that match or something, and that could even be fodder to reveal more "surprise" members of the group. Either way, I expect this angle to keep going on Impact for a while (although I wish we would have got a bigger payoff last night).
I wished for more last night too. Devon? Really? I don't hate Devon but come on! It makes zero sense at all, he was the TV champ at the time they arrived on the scene. What does the Rev possibly have in common with a badass motorcycle gang? Seriously think about it. To me this whole storyline took a serious kick to the giggle berries last night. To top it off have not seen anyone bring this up yet if you did sorry. Last night the gang dominating TNA for the last 5 months get entirely laid out by a 60 year old with one good leg? Come one Hogan put the ego aside it's not 1988 anymore.
The Devon Reveal was Brilliant. I'm no Devon fan... but Damn right.. give the dude a shot. A whole new look. Put the Pope in there with him. HOW BORING.. would it be to be jeff jarrett.. or Dixie ... or anyone "cool" I would have snoozed fested through a matt morgan reveal.. SNOOZE FEST. ... but DEVON... devon .. especially as the leader.. that has some intrigue... IF HE CAN CARRY THE BALL... management must believe in it. THANK GOD ITS NOT EASY E!.. THANK GOD ITS NOT A HOGAN TURN... THANK GOD ITS NOT ANOTHER DEBUT OF A NEW WRESTLER....
THANK GOD.. ITS NOT SOME SLICK ON THE MIC... POLISHED DUDE...
its Devon.. and thats actually BADASS.
What do you guys want? More of the same? more of the same kind of guy? Fk that.. I have seen the same.. I want different.. and I'm open to DEVON.. being the man... imagine an angle
where it doesn't matter if DEVON is less talented... the entire aces and eights crew keeps pushing and pushing.. helping him win... all the way to the world title...
its like NWO .. with all the power... but no... magic "hulkamania" .. just a whole crew pushing a regular busted down mid carder .. all the way to the TOP... that.. Could be badass
If TNA doesn't run with DEVON as the leader... then a huge mistake.. as long as DEVON.. can carry the ball.
So..let me get this right? A guy who is holding a title...is forced to give up that title due to not signing a new contract...end up being in A&8s to get some type of revenge? Wouldn't it been better if he "resigned" with TNA (still had the title) and still came out as the fighter for A&8s? Quoting The Miz "REALLY?!"
So, I haven't seen TNA consistently since the Aces & 8s storyline started, but, from what I have seen I don't remember an African American being one of the members in the "gang". Am I wrong in this? I mean if there has been then this is a pretty good swerve but if not doesn't this show the ignorance in TNA's logic.
There's meant to be dozens upon dozens of them, just because you haven't seen him on TV doesn't mean he wasn't part of the group, it isn't "ignorance in TNA's logic" lol.
The Devon reveal was brilliant IMO. No one saw it coming. He may be the "Sergeant At Arms" but that's about it. For the record, Wes Brisco, Luke Gallows and Jeff Jarrett were all at Bound for Glory in A&8s gear. I'm intrigued at where all this is heading. We need to see a few more reveals in the coming weeks to keep us interested.
Devon could have potential. i think had he shown up somewhere else and then returned to TNA, it would have had a bigger impact as people would have thought he left the company for good. I doubt he is the leader but i can see him in a second in command type position, the guy with experience who has wrestled a lot of the guys on the roster and knows how they work. give it a chance - who would have thought Bully Ray would have worked out as well as it has? given the right angle, you never know what might happen.
This has to be the most overrated surprise in wrestling that i've ever seen. What has Devon done in his singles career that i am suppose to care ? He's hopefully not the leader and there is nothing about his name that excites me.
Bully ray has done a great job, but its going to take a lot to convince me that Devon can get to that level. Granted there are not many options out there, other then the same old options and i don't have a better one. But this was not shocking, not exciting, and needs a lot of steam more me to buy into it.
I will give you some names.....at least give me John Morrison as the guy, Batista would have been shocking, Jericho (i know that can't happen). Something. Dig deep for it. Devon ? Just no !! Nice wrestler, a lot to prove to be a figure head in all this.
Devon is a prospect.
if you want to compare this to nWo, then Devon is similar to the likes of Scott Norton, Buff Bagwell, ect. he is one of the lower members.
his reveal at BFG was just for a surprise/shock. Hogan was shocked, Bully was shocked. this was shocking because it wasn't that long ago he was TNA TV champion, but then had his contract expire and wasn't resigned. Hogan even mentioned on his twitter that he was trying to get Devon back. his surprise at BFG was perfect. it wasn't time to reveal the leader, there's no need to rush to reveal the leader. once the leader is revealed, it's just that much closer to being over and unexciting. I doubt even the next guy to get revealed will be the leader.
the first reveal shouldn't be the leader. IMO additional member reveals shouldn't be the leader either. make it play out. now Aces/Eights have full access. as mentioned we will probably see them in action, masked. you will likely see TNA guys trying to unmask members, but there will probably/maybe be multiple times where someone is close to getting unmasked, but they wont get unmasked. fans want to know who is behind the masks, so make people wait, and watch.
I'm guessing/assuming the next feud will be a match between Devon and Bully.
I also don't think this makes Devon the speaker. I think the speaker will still be the big guy with the black mask that we have seen speaking all along.
Does this mean that Devon's sons are the other members? Remember those goons?
I dunno, it's Devon. No one will be excited by Devon. Now, if this was an Impact reveal before BFG, that would have been fine, but at BFG it's not acceptable. It's like playing Super Mario Brothers, getting to level 8, beating the game and still getting the "your princess is in another castle menu". When you get to the biggest thing, you need the big prize. This was where the leader needed to be revealed, especially when the angle was already dragging. That's the main issue here, not the fact that Devon was revealed. Pacing of the story is very, very problematic.
When I found out Devon was the big reveal I was shocked, and not in a good way. Now let me start by saying I have always liked Devon but he has never been anywhere near being one of my favorite sports entertainers. He has been a midcarder at best his whole career in every promotion he has worked for.
It makes no sense to me how he is the big reveal at TNA's biggest show of the year. They must have really had nothing lined up at all. I would have preferred Jarrett, Morgan, Abyss or really damn near anybody else not named Devon.
At this rate the next reveal will be at Lockdown and it will be Garrett Bischoff which will no doubt be far worse.
Perish the thought. I would say mean things to you here, but I suspect you may be correct. We can hope it is not Garret, but this would be par for the course at TNA.
"Hey! Why don't we make Hogan the leader?"
"naw, that would just invite 'it is the NWO/MEM all over again' criticism"
"we need it to be someone nobody could have ever seen coming."
"I got it! Garret Bishchoff. Nobody could possibly find that credible. What a swerve!"
I dunno. I'm trying to stay positive about this, but using D-Von for your first reveal of an important member? It's a deflating surprise, because let's face it, D-Von is a career mid-carder/tag team guy. On the mic, he's average at best, in the ring, he's average, and I honestly can't remember one true memorable moment from his solo career.
Yeah, I know. TNA never promised to reveal the leader, and the stipulations of the match were clear. If Aces & Eights won, then they earned full access to the Impact Zone, but if they lost, they were banned for good. I get that, but if you're going to reveal the first important member of the group for a storyline that's been going on for months during your flagship pay per view, at least reveal a guy, who can create some real buzz. D-Von isn't that guy.
Obviously, we'll have to wait to learn more info, but the Aces & Eights invasion has dragged for a long time now, and D-Von's reveal just killed any interest I had in this storyline.
After last night's episode of Impact, we had a few more questions answered about Devon's involvement with Aces & Eights. We now know that Devon is the "Sergeant at Arms" (or whatever it was that Devon's patch said, that Taz/Tenay kept referencing) for Aces & Eights, and there's also that article on WZ's main page that said the decision to make Devon the "surprise" A&8s member was made rather "last-minute" (within the last two weeks, I think it said). We also now know that Devon is not the leader of Aces & Eights, and Tenay/Taz kept talking about the group's "president" last night (and wondered who that president is/was aloud, several times...although neither of them speculated as to who it could be).
Again, I'm still thinking that the leader/president will be revealed as Eric Bischoff. I'm slightly more convinced of that fact since Taz & Tenay kept using the word "president" last night. If Eric was going to lead a group, you know he'd want to use the title of "president" as opposed to any other kayfabe title (ie: "the leader", "boss", etc). I don't know why a motorcycle gang would use the term "president" for their leader, but then again - this isn't a "real" gang. It's just another wrestling faction.
I guess we got a bit of an answer last night, as to what "full access" for A&8s means. Hogan said that since they now have full access to the Impact Zone, they'd either have to fight or "get the hell out of the company for good" (or something to that effect). In the future, I'd have to bet that the other A&8 members will have to wrestle as well. Like I said in my earlier post, they'll have to have names so Tenay & Taz will be able to call their matches. I hope they don't have stupid motorcycle names (like I said eariler: Snake, Ice, etc - just as examples), but since they're still anonymous wrestlers wearing masks I don't see any other option. I wonder how long it will take TNA to add all the A&8 members to their website, under the "roster" section. Now that they have full access, all the group members must be "official" IW wrestlers...right? I just checked the TNA website, they haven't even added Devon back to the roster page yet.
Motorcycle clubs...like hell's angels, the pagans and the banditos, all have presidents and vice presidents. I do not know what a motorcycle "gang" is, but most clubs have a president for each chapter.
I still think that the leader decision will be made not long before the reveal. I think they have multiple people lined up to be the leader, and have yet to decide which it will be. Sort of like the situation where sting was the backup third member of the NWO, in case hogan or WCW decided it would not be hogan, for whatever reason. I think they have scenarios planned out involving things like whether they can procure certain talent, how the audience us reacting to things at any point, and so on. And keeping things loose can ruin the impact of leaks to the dirt sheets, as well.
Motorcycle clubs...like hell's angels, the pagans and the banditos, all have presidents and vice presidents. I do not know what a motorcycle "gang" is, but most clubs have a president for each chapter.
I apologize for my ignorance on the subject, I really didn't know that each chapter of these motorcycle clubs actually has someone with the title of "President", "Vice President", etc. In hindsight, I should have figured that out on my own. TNA can be dumb sometimes when it comes to their angles, but they're obviously smart enough to make the leader of the group have the same type of title that other motorcycle clubs would have (like you mentioned, the Hell's Angels for example). Thanks for clearing that up, and again I'll apologize for my ignorance on the subject.
I still think that the leader decision will be made not long before the reveal. I think they have multiple people lined up to be the leader, and have yet to decide which it will be. Sort of like the situation where sting was the backup third member of the NWO, in case hogan or WCW decided it would not be hogan, for whatever reason. I think they have scenarios planned out involving things like whether they can procure certain talent, how the audience us reacting to things at any point, and so on. And keeping things loose can ruin the impact of leaks to the dirt sheets, as well.
I bet you're right about that. Not only will it keep things quiet so the reveal isn't leaked early and ruined (like you mentioned), but TNA can also pretty much change any details they want to on the fly. There was that report that said the decision to reveal Devon as the "Sergeant at Arms" (or whatever) wasn't made until two weeks (??) before it actually happened. I'd guess that the decision to insert Devon into the A&8 storyline was similar to how you speculated the situation for A&8's "President" will be (they had several options, and it probably was only a select few of TNA's creative staff that actually knew who that person would be).
My guess is that the President will be the last A&8 member to be revealed, since they're the "mastermind" behind it all. I mean that I don't think we'll find out who the President is until all the other members are unmasked first. It would be pretty lame to know who the President is, but still have some "peons" in the group that are anonymous. Obviously the President of A&8s is the most important member, and I don't think TNA is dumb enough to reveal him before all the "regular" members are unmasked.
The most logical choices for the President are still Jeff Jarrett or Eric Bischoff at this point (although another option is that both of them are members, one being Prez & the other the VP for example), but I suppose TNA could try another crazy swerve like they did with Devon. I hope they don't go that route, because Devon's involvement still doesn't seem to make a lot of sense (from a logical point of view).
There is only one person that I wouldn't mind seeing a "crazy swerve" from, and that person is Ric Flair! Now don't get me wrong - I wholeheartedly believe that Flair is done with TNA and everything, and wants to go back to the WWE...but it would be awesome if Flair decides "screw it" and goes back to TNA and is revealed as the A&8s President! I know that option is waaaaaay out of the realm of possibility, but that would be an awesome reveal. In all actuality (like I said earlier), I think Flair truly is done with TNA - and that's why his name never came up in these discussions. Like I said though, it would be awesome and shocking to see Flair unmasked in the ring, since it's been widely reported that he's "done" with TNA and wants to work for WWE again. It's very doubtful that Flair would come back for this angle, but that would be pretty awesome...and along the same kind of thing that TNA did with Devon.
Just sayin', never say never, yadda-yadda-yadda. Again, just want to say that the most logical choices for the President of A&8s in my mind (and pretty much everyone else's) are either Bischoff or Jarrett. Ric Flair would be an awesome surprise, even though the chances of him being revealed are too low to really even mention...even still, I thought of mentioning him anyway (since it would be in the same vein as how Devon was decided upon for a member of A&8s, and it would be another "shocking" swerve - except this time it would be someone we'd care more about, at least I think). Lol
typical nonsensecycal wrestling booking, not just TNA.
so a guy is pissed that 2 yrs ago his brother turned on him and he was ontop of the world (well as far as he was ever gonna get in singles) and the fans turned on him when he was at his lowest point being the TV champion with a constant crowd response? wtf...
I can understand if he joined because TNA wouldn't give him another contract or something but he apparently had become a member when he was still TV champion and he dropped that title why? why not keep up the mascarade and still turn on TNA at Bound For Glory.
and add that Joseph Parks is still doing the confidentiality shit, he needs to go away period and either bring back Abyss or get rid of the talent altogether that whole angle lost any interest along time ago.. Sure in time he will be revealed as a member too or atleast Abyss will be.
Anyway i think on the whole as others said it was all made on the fly and they had no idea who they wanted to reveal until the leadup to BFG and they wanted to keep him so they gave him an opportunity,
While Devon was not everybodys first choice to have unmasked at bound for glory, it was still a shock and there were other options that tna could have gone with that would have been a lot worse then devon if you think about it. At the end of the day the AA's and eights storyline has still got everybody talking and having devon revealed as a member only adds another layer to the story. As long as we get a big name as either the leader or the VP I think everybody will be happy and I still have my money on Kevin Steen being the VP.
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