See, you answered your own criticisms right there. Bully Ray is not MEANT to be entertaining. Aries, Roode and Daniels are funny heels, at the moment. Bully Ray is a full fledged heel. No jokes, no puns, he's just an asshole. Like Roode was when he held the belt.
Oooh, he’s not meant to be ENTERTAINING. My mistake! I guess he’s supposed to be boring and make the audience turn the station, is that it? He’s supposed to be uninteresting? Since when are the only entertaining heels ones who are funny? I thought any heel was supposed to be entertaining… that’s what keeps the audience interested. That’s why the audience tunes in. If the heel isn’t entertaining them, even if they absolutely hate that heel, then that heel is failing.
Ric Flair wasn’t a funny heel, but he was certainly entertaining.
Roddy Piper wasn’t a funny heel, but he was definitely entertaining.
Hollywood Hogan wasn’t a funny heel, but he and the nWo were entertaining.
I guess the fact Bully Ray isn’t ENTERTAINING is the reason fewer people watched Impact this week after he was revealed as the President of Aces & Eights and won the TNA World championship. That makes perfect sense now!
Maybe Ray should’ve taken some pointers from Roode when he was a serious heel and champion, maybe then he’d be entertaining. Or better yet, maybe Roode should be champion right now. Yeah, let’s go with that one.
The fact that YOU don't prefer Bully Ray over guys like Roode, Aries and Daniels doesn't take away a SHRED of his overall ability as a heel. Look at the responses from the crowd, look at his ability on the mic. The guy draws heat. Period. It's not Vickie Guerrero heat, it's not X-Pac heat, it's your usual heel heat. He doesn't do it occasionally, he does it EVERY SINGLE TIME. That right there puts your bullshit opinion to rest.
When did I say Bully Ray doesn’t draw heat?
I’m pretty sure I said Bully Ray is pretty good on the mic and he can draw heat.
And yes, the guy that was nothing more than a mid-carder in the WWE is the TNA Champion. That's ridiculious? You do realize that he was nothing more than a mid-carder in the WWE because of the WWE right?
Oh, of course. It’s definitely WWE’s fault. I mean, they didn’t break up the Dudley’s and give both of them singles runs. Nope, not at all. They didn’t give Bubba Ray Dudley a chance to shine on his own, either. Hell, I don’t even think Bubba Ray Dudley had a match for the Heavyweight title in WWE against Triple H. Nope, that never happened.
Or maybe the real reason is because he’s a guy with a “name” in a small pond named TNA, and he has more influence backstage. Clearly if pushes in TNA were based off talent alone then Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray wouldn’t be the top stars in the company at this very moment.
Here's some truth for your hypocritic ass. One of WWE's greatest wrestlers was a nowhere near the Main Event in WCW and ECW. His name is Stone Cold Steve Austin. Currently, one of WWE's most amazing "superstars" was a NOBODY in TNA. His name is CM Punk. Their first Undisputed Champion was a walking comedy gig in WCW. His name is Chris Jericho. Guys like Benoit and Guerrero were also mid or upper mid-carders in WCW.
How am I hypocritical? You comparing Bully Ray to Steve Austin is laughable. It’s laughable comparing him to CM Punk, Chris Jericho, or Eddie Guerrero. His ability, on any level, doesn’t compare to ANY of these people you’ve named. Nor does his place as a STAR. You overrating Bully Ray because he’s a TNA guy now doesn’t make your point any less ridiculous.
While Steve Austin wasn’t in the main event in WCW, he sure as hell was successful. He definitely was in the main event during his time in ECW, and he would’ve been the World champion there if he didn’t decide not to win the title when he had the chance (before then being scooped up by WWE). Just because Austin didn’t reach the heights he should’ve in WCW, doesn’t mean it wasn’t obvious he was a “star”. The same goes for Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero in WCW. Everyone knew they were stars and had the potential they proved in WWE. Can the same be said about Bully Ray? I don’t think so. No one at all, back in the time he was in WWE, thought “why are the WWE holding him back? He could be in the main event. He could be the World champion!” You’re full of shit in your silly comparison.
CM Punk was barely in TN; if he had actually been involved in TNA to any degree his status there may have been VERY different. So that comparison is silly, too.
You talk about all of these stars: Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, CM Punk, not being given the chance to reach their potential in other companies UNTIL they got to the WWE where they reached superstardom heights. Why is that? Could it be because the WWE offered them that platform, gave them that opportunity, and allowed them to become those stars? They all became stars IN the WWE. You said it yourself. So what you need to ask yourself, for your silly point to have any meaning, is why Bully Ray DIDN’T become the same star as those other names when WWE gave him the platform, the opportunity, and the chance to become a singles star. And they DID.
He could only become World champion, and a star (in your mind), on a much smaller scale, on a much lesser stage, in TNA. Imagine that!
See how that works? Your whole point proves only one thing - WWE didn't realize Bully was this good, but TNA did. TNA did something with Bully the WWE couldn't. Make him relevant.
Wrong. Bully Ray couldn’t be a star in the WWE, because he wasn’t over enough. But he’s good enough to be over on a much smaller scale in TNA. Congratulations! Bully Ray is the next Ric F’cking Flair!
Now, on to how unexplicable it is that Aces and Eights all of a sudden "slaughtered" the entire roster, despite losing all their matches in recent memory. Here's the kicker - this wasn't a match. They just won a brawl and some of them had weapons AND Bully Ray, the World Champion, was with them. In fake wrestling world, that should mean something.
No, in the fake wrestling world continuity means something.
Whether you think it's stupid, whether you get it or not, facts remain - that was the purpose of this segment. It was to show YOU what Aces and Eights are now that the stable is complete.
Oh, I’m aware of what it was meant to show. But in my eyes, as I was pointing out, it’s far too late to show Aces & Eights as strong and dominant, since they haven’t been shown that way for nine months. Perception is EVERYTHING, and when the audience views something a certain way for a long period of time, it takes a lot more than one show and the silliness that was portrayed on this week’s Impact to erase that perception.
And while they've been losing matches, they've been losing matches one on one. However, as a group, it's either been 50/50 or they've done more damage TOGETHER. They took out Sting, Angle, Magnus, Hardy TOGETHER. It's why Bully was saying "When you're with Aces and Eights you'll never walk alone". The whole fucking point is that they're a PACK and they attack TOGETHER.
What’s your point? Everyone gets that. That doesn’t make them a credible force. That doesn’t make the audience suddenly believe they’re something more than they have been for NINE months.
But again, your total lack of common sense and understanding of a storyline with multiple layers, is not surprising. You're too used to "Me beat you, you lose to me" in the good 'ol DubyaDuByaEeh. Anything beyond that and your head pops like a damn grape.
I don’t understand your logic here. Nor do I understand why you keep referring to WWE, as if that’s some bible to me. I watched NWA, AWA, WCW, ECW, WWF, and so on throughout my life time, so my perception of wrestling is certainly not determined by today’s WWE. And TNA is certainly not doing anything groundbreaking. They’re certainly not changing the wrestling world or how it’s been done for decades.
All they’ve done is rehashed an old angle, done it with countless plot holes and ridiculous logic gaps, and suddenly revealed the last piece of a stable and hope that erases the past nine months.. and hope everyone suddenly goes, “This is awesome!” and forgets anything else but NOW. It doesn’t work that way with people who have a brain.
See, I love it how you people peek your heads in just when TNA does something RIGHT so you can run it into the ground for literally no reason. The stable is coming back to life (albeit late as FUCK), Bully Ray is a white hot heel and his hype is rubbing off on Aces and Eights. They did the website thing, they're pissing people off, they're starting to look far more dominant.
Who are YOU people? (No, I’m not quoting Tropic Thunder)
I’m not a die-hard WWE fan. I watch TNA as much as I watch WWE. I follow both equally. So if you’re accusing me of being some WWE fanboy, you’re an idiot. And very predictable.
TNA hasn’t done anything RIGHT here. They’ve failed with this angle for nine months, dragging it on and kicking a dead horse, and what they did at Lockdown and on Impact certainly doesn’t change that. It certainly isn’t doing anything right. This is what I don’t understand about TNA fans… TNA will do some horrible angle and constantly screw it up, and then they pretend to do some major swerve and reinvent the status quo, and TNA fans jump up and down praising it as if they’re the patient from 50 First Dates who loses his memory every five seconds.
Fact is, Aces and Eights are nowhere near epic. The storyline needs a lot of damage control and a lot of work which TNA is obviously willing to put into it. But to run it down like this? Give me a break.
You don't have to be a TNA die-hard fan to enjoy it. You just shouldn't be a die-hard WWE fan, and you're all good.
Clearly not. Lots of people, on these very forums, who aren’t die-hard WWE fans don’t enjoy Aces & Eights at all. And based off the ratings of this past Impact, much of the audience isn’t any more interested in what TNA’s supposedly doing “right” or enjoying Aces & Eights moving forward.
