Jack-Hammer
YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!!
WWE & TNA each have their own functioning heel factions right now. TNA has Aces & Eights, which seems to be something of a Sons of Anarchy/nWo themed heel faction. The WWE has The Shield, which is currently comprised of three wrestlers who view themselves as seekers of justice with a very heel friendly take on justice. Which one of them do you prefer or think is better?
Both companies have taken completely different paths with their respective factions.
TNA is well known for doing the sort of faction wars/power struggle storyline to the point of bland repetition. With Aces & Eights, they've gone a different route by keeping the identities of virtually all the members of the group a secret. They all wear various hoods and/or masks that hide most if not all of their features. Their M.O. has been very similar to the original nWo in the sense that they gang up on one or two wrestlers and attack them, generally using objects like hammers or steel pipes, in order to inflict "injury" upon them. Devon has been revealed as being the Sgt-At-Arms of the "club" and has been the literal voice & face of the group for several months now. As with other angles like this, Aces & Eights have targeted or have been targeted by most of the top babyfaces in the company.
The WWE doesn't do factions all that often. Aside from Nexus a few years ago, the last significant faction they had, if I remember correctly, was the Corporate Ministry back in the late 90s to very early 2000s. The Shield is different in the sense that it's comprised of three completely new faces to WWE audiences. Unlike Nexus, who had appeared on WWE television for months as part of the NXT program, The Shield members were unknown to most audience members. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns are three NXT wrestlers who've made a big splash in a short amount of time. They've attacked everyone on the WWE roster from lower card guys like Santino & Zack Ryder to main eventers like John Cena, Sheamus and Randy Orton. They're dressed in something that looks pretty similar to riot gear worn by police, without the shields & helmets and guns of course. They made their debut at Survivor Series by beating down Ryback and costing him the WWE Championship in a triple threat match with CM Punk and John Cena. Their only motive seems to be punishing those they feel are part of a huge injustice in WWE.
For me personally, The Shield is far more entertaining and has been booked to near perfection thus far. As I alluded to earlier, we've seen the nWo themed power struggle so much in TNA that it feels extremely stale. The group also has virtually no star power as Devon is, for all intents and purposes, the leader as of now. Devon just doesn't have the ability in the ring or as a character for this role, in my opinion. Aces & Eights have also looked consistently weak in TNA with strange booking. TNA wants fans to view them as a threat, yet they lose almost every match they have. The ones they do win are won only through substantial interference. They do fine in beating someone up when it's half a dozen against one or two, but it's opposite when they get in the ring to wrestle matches. It's hard to see them as a threat because of that. Aces & Eights have been around for about 6.5 months and it's just gotten so stale and lackluster that I don't see a bright future for them, especially with Sting returning to play the role of TNA's white knight & savior once again.
The Shield have only been around for about 6 weeks but WWE has done with them thus far what I think TNA wanted to do with Aces & Eights. The Shield come off like a dangerous threat to the roster not only because of their pack like mentality, but they show up unexpectedly when they attack. The few times we've heard them talk, they've done really well, especially Ambrose & Rollins. While The Shield is still very young, they've become strong heels that've generated a lot of heat. They were given a chance to elevate themselves at the TLC ppv in a six man TLC match against Team Hell No and Ryback. They took the ball, ran with it and spiked it. It was a heavily physical match that went to the near 25 minute mark. The Shield got the clean win in a basically a no DQ match without resorting to outside help. It was also done in a way to protect Ryback and the stock of Team Hell No. To me, the WWE has accomplished more with The Shield in those 25 minutes than TNA has with Aces & Eights in the 6.5 months since they made their tv debut.
I'm not saying that The Shield can't be screwed up as things go along. It hasn't been thus far though and everything about them, again thus far, just feels much fresher, more energetic and all in all is better than Aces & Eights.
Both companies have taken completely different paths with their respective factions.
TNA is well known for doing the sort of faction wars/power struggle storyline to the point of bland repetition. With Aces & Eights, they've gone a different route by keeping the identities of virtually all the members of the group a secret. They all wear various hoods and/or masks that hide most if not all of their features. Their M.O. has been very similar to the original nWo in the sense that they gang up on one or two wrestlers and attack them, generally using objects like hammers or steel pipes, in order to inflict "injury" upon them. Devon has been revealed as being the Sgt-At-Arms of the "club" and has been the literal voice & face of the group for several months now. As with other angles like this, Aces & Eights have targeted or have been targeted by most of the top babyfaces in the company.
The WWE doesn't do factions all that often. Aside from Nexus a few years ago, the last significant faction they had, if I remember correctly, was the Corporate Ministry back in the late 90s to very early 2000s. The Shield is different in the sense that it's comprised of three completely new faces to WWE audiences. Unlike Nexus, who had appeared on WWE television for months as part of the NXT program, The Shield members were unknown to most audience members. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns are three NXT wrestlers who've made a big splash in a short amount of time. They've attacked everyone on the WWE roster from lower card guys like Santino & Zack Ryder to main eventers like John Cena, Sheamus and Randy Orton. They're dressed in something that looks pretty similar to riot gear worn by police, without the shields & helmets and guns of course. They made their debut at Survivor Series by beating down Ryback and costing him the WWE Championship in a triple threat match with CM Punk and John Cena. Their only motive seems to be punishing those they feel are part of a huge injustice in WWE.
For me personally, The Shield is far more entertaining and has been booked to near perfection thus far. As I alluded to earlier, we've seen the nWo themed power struggle so much in TNA that it feels extremely stale. The group also has virtually no star power as Devon is, for all intents and purposes, the leader as of now. Devon just doesn't have the ability in the ring or as a character for this role, in my opinion. Aces & Eights have also looked consistently weak in TNA with strange booking. TNA wants fans to view them as a threat, yet they lose almost every match they have. The ones they do win are won only through substantial interference. They do fine in beating someone up when it's half a dozen against one or two, but it's opposite when they get in the ring to wrestle matches. It's hard to see them as a threat because of that. Aces & Eights have been around for about 6.5 months and it's just gotten so stale and lackluster that I don't see a bright future for them, especially with Sting returning to play the role of TNA's white knight & savior once again.
The Shield have only been around for about 6 weeks but WWE has done with them thus far what I think TNA wanted to do with Aces & Eights. The Shield come off like a dangerous threat to the roster not only because of their pack like mentality, but they show up unexpectedly when they attack. The few times we've heard them talk, they've done really well, especially Ambrose & Rollins. While The Shield is still very young, they've become strong heels that've generated a lot of heat. They were given a chance to elevate themselves at the TLC ppv in a six man TLC match against Team Hell No and Ryback. They took the ball, ran with it and spiked it. It was a heavily physical match that went to the near 25 minute mark. The Shield got the clean win in a basically a no DQ match without resorting to outside help. It was also done in a way to protect Ryback and the stock of Team Hell No. To me, the WWE has accomplished more with The Shield in those 25 minutes than TNA has with Aces & Eights in the 6.5 months since they made their tv debut.
I'm not saying that The Shield can't be screwed up as things go along. It hasn't been thus far though and everything about them, again thus far, just feels much fresher, more energetic and all in all is better than Aces & Eights.
