How Aces & Eights Should've Been

[Alex]

So Aces & Eights have finally died a death that should've ended way before it did.They didn't set the world on fire or even make that many sparks. But they could've.

The trouble was there was lots of potential in the group. Like it or not a invading faction no matter how old works and works well. The Shield showed you can have a group that can arrive, raise hell and leave.

But why was Aces & Eights a dud exactly. (I'm mostly going from memory here so forgive me for some haziness)


Starting To Early

I actually liked the Bound For Glory reveal of Devon. The thing with his contract may not have been 100% keyfabe but it made for his reveal to make sense. He was annoyed with the company and decided to attack them. That being said by the time they got to his reveal it didn't feel epic. If Devon was the first reveal or had been revealed in quick succession it would've worked. Basically they should've started Aces & Eights a month or two before Bound For Glory.


Doc & Knux

They were the first reveals and they were shit. Doc was Festus/Luke Gallows and Knux was the big bearded guy in WWE in 2006/7ish. Not exactly killer reveals. Personally I would've saved money and used Gunner and Crimson. They have the same body type and would've worked as enforcers. You could've played up how they were dissatisfied with their position in the company and were given an opportunity to move up.

Not Going After Any Of The Other Belts

Aside from Bully holding the World Title (which was good_ and Devon holding the TV Title (which was shit compared to his pre Aces & Eights run) The other guys were doing fuck all besides beatdowns. They should've had Garrett and Brisco or Doc and Knux (or in my mind Crimson and Gunner) go for the tag titles and maybe have Brisco go for the X-Division title. They may not all have had to win the titles but the threat of Aces & Eights having all the belts should've been there.


These are the only things I can think of off the top of my head which would've made Aces & Eights better in my opinion. I may think up some more but what are yours???

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

You pretty much said what I have been saying. DOC, Knux, Brisco and Garrett should have never been added in the group. You had three perfectly good candidates within the roster at the time like Crimson, Gunner and Matt Morgan that would have fit the group perfectly.

 

[Weems2k]

Yet I remember a lot of people on here complaining that if it were gonna be those 3 you mentioned, it'd be the same old "boring, and predictable TNA", and that nobody would care. Really, they could have had Cena be the ring leader, and the iwc knobs would still shit on it.

I actually thought Doc, and Knux were pretty decent for being the muscle guys of the group.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

The three guys they had internally who were doing jack shit who could have been immediately injected into this storyline were two you mentioned — Crimson and Gunner — as well as Matt Morgan. It would have fundamentally changed the entire purpose for the group as well, from a standard takeover, to a "we're pissed with how you are using us, so we're going to make ourselves" takeover. The latter, I'd argue, is far more interesting.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

The three guys they had internally who were doing jack shit who could have been immediately injected into this storyline were two you mentioned — Crimson and Gunner — as well as Matt Morgan. It would have fundamentally changed the entire purpose for the group as well, from a standard takeover, to a "we're pissed with how you are using us, so we're going to make ourselves" takeover. The latter, I'd argue, is far more interesting.

Agreed, plus I think Gunner and Crimson had the right look for the role too, much more so than Brisco and Bischoff, who fucking suck. DOC and Knux had the right look for "bikers" too, but were pretty much worthless also.

I definitely think the idea of "pissed off at how we are being used" would make a hell of a lot more sense for the storyline, and could have been used to actually elevate guys like Gunner and Crimson as well as Bully Ray as absolutely noone involed with Aces and Eights has become a bigger star (other than Bully) than they were previously, it's been a complete waste of time.

I think Alex is right also in suggesting that they went after other titles. It seems so fucking obvious. You wanna take over the company....so take control of all the championships, giving you the power in that organisation. I thought Bischoff and Brisco (as bad as they are) should have at least gone after the tag team titles, or DOC and Knux could have done that. Anderson would have been a perfect TV champion, and Biker gangs tend to have biker ****s too, so they should have added a female member well before Brooke Tessmacher who could have become the Knockouts Champion, and I am sure there is someone who could have been a member of the faction who was an X-Division competitor too.

It wouldn't have been hard to to at all, then at least Aces and Eights would have looked like a faction of some strength, not just a team of nobodies with little influence in the company. There was a lot of potential to the storyline, but once again each "big reveal" was a let down, and then nothing of note really happened.

 

[Cereal Killer]

When the Aces & Eights first arrived, everyone was excited and everyone wanted to know who was under those masks. At Bound For Glory, the match between Sting, Bully and the Aces and Eights (Doc and Knux) was probably the one everyone was hyped for as a big reveal for the group was expected. Think of it like this, they were a group which got in huge brawls with a dominant TNA roster, and caused conflict between the stars. While this was no nWo, they were a huge threat to the wrestlers.

At Bound For Glory, the first member was revealed. It was D-Von. He's a wrestler which not many people care about and he was the only person revealed. Nobody else. The other problem is that after this, the Aces were booked very weekly. They would lose a lot of matches and they were always on the show. As the months progressed and 2013 came by, all the members were revealed and were to a (high) degree, lackluster. Nobody in the group was believable to be the same men as the one's under the masks the year before. This was a group consisting of Mike Knox from the WWE, Luke Gallows, Wes Brisco, D-Von, Garrett Bischoff, D-Lo Brown, Mr Anderson and Bully Ray. While the last two are fun to watch, the majority make the group look weak and the fans don't have an interest in them. Before they were revealed, they were known as jobbers. Why were jobbers members of a group which was meant to dominate TNA for 7 months? 7 Months was reported as the original plan. I expected the reveal to be at BFG and then end to be at Lockdown. The technical start was at Lockdown- the PPV the mastermind of the group was revealed to us.

The following is what should have actually happened:

• They should have been booked stronger. Matches should have been won and all the members should have revealed themselves. A lot of them had their masks pulled off of their faces.
• The whole story should have ended at Lockdown. It all dragged on for too long and started to get boring. What were they expecting to do for over a year with a group like that?
• The members should have been different. I wasn't expecting a John Cena or an Undertaker, but as IDR said, Gunner, Crimson, Morgan and The Pope, Hernandez and (serious version of) Eric Young should have been featured. They all look like they can kick ass, have a lot of talent and were used poorly. This was pretty much the reason the Aces had certain members, their excuses were that they were held back. This should have been a lesson learned from Immortal.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I'm not a TNA lover by no means, but I tune in from time to time. I went through a brief phase of being addicted to it, but that soon fizzled out. One of the reasons I lost interest was minimal interesting storylines. Having said that, I think the same can be said for WWE. Anyway, the concept of Aces & Eights excited me. I thought of it as a fresh idea that plays on some previous wrestling storylines of an internal backlash from a stable, but it sounded good. Getting a good group of young, talented guys together looking to make a change. That sounds good to me.

The idea is great. The play itself was not. Again, I did not see too much of this group on television, but I can say that one of the main reasons the group and storyline derailed is because TNA never had a clear cut ending in mind. For a major storyline like this, they needed a whole script done. Members, wins, losses, championships etc. That way, they could build to a good climax. I think that's why The Nexus fucked up in the end. No ending was planned and it just kinda ended. Shame.

Anyway, back to Aces & Eights. This group needed to minimalize the number of members. Too many incoming, outgoing twists occurred that just ended with sour tastes in peoples mouthes. This group needed a set group of guys with a set goal in mind. After a while they seemed to just latch on to whatever, and while it was decent, if a solid years worth of programming was offered, I would be fine with whatever.

It's clear they went on too long. The death of the group had been inevitable for so long and the pay off wasn't as big as it could have, or should have been. I think the idea is great, but the delivery was poor. Just an outsiders point of view.

 

[Kris Benwa]

Crimson should NOT have been added to the group he is hot fucking garbage. I also think they didn't add him or Morgan to the group because it would have been easy to tell they were involved. I agree they should have went after some titles but Garret Bischoff Knux and DOC should not have been involved in the faction. Brisco was fine to me he should have been more of a part of the group. My main gripe was that with the exception of Taz and Devon you knew everyone else was involved in the group. It was obvious Bully was the leader (I thought he might have been working for Eric Bischoff though) it was obvious the long haired one was Brisco and the others were obvious too. They should have booked them stronger, had them go after some titles, they should have had different guys involved but not the ones mentioned in the OP they could have had either established guys or some of the younger guys on TNA tv who Bully or Anderson could have acted as mentors too and it also went on way too long.

 

[OwenHart]

The reason Aces and 8s failed is because Bully Ray was the leader!!! So simple! I mean come on! I love Bully as a heel and i believe he is one of the best in todays wrestling... but fans where expecting something BIGGER!! People where excited to see which dominant guys are under the masks who can kick ass and beat down all big TNA stars like Sting, Angle etc... and what did we get? The Dudley Boys... Taz.. D-Lo and a bunch of jobbers! And they should had never added Anderson to the group. TNA clearly had no finishing point for this storyline and they lost control over it. They just continued it with an attitude like "lets try and see how long its gonna last". The group after Bully won the Title screwing Brooke and Hogan had no real goal anymore. I mean what was their plan? None!

Even when the WWE product sucks... TNA still cant produce something that can get you hooked to watch for weeks!

 

[Lowdown]

For me it was all about the execution. Considering how big a "threat" A&8's were supposed to be, the whole thing was about keeping the strap on Bully. There was potential to take every title (except the KO title). Devon had a decent run as TV champ prior to his first departure before the big reveal. And he never really made a point to get it back after he lost it to Abyss. They did get a boost when Anderson came into the fold, but only a slight one. I'm with the masses in saying that Gunner and Crimson should've been in the fold instead of Wes and Garrett. Pointless to have D'Lo and Taz as well.

 

[overkill]

Agree with OP 100% on this, I'll add some of my own points

A few Clean Wins (would appear more dominant) - Did every single one of Bullies defenses have to be dirty wins through interference.
I know hes the heel, but the odd straight up win against the likes of either Angle, Hardy, Sting or even Sabin would have made him more dominant and respectable.

Entrance Music - Should be the lyrical version, that song is awesome.

Disruption - I would have liked more total show disruption from them, not just match interference.
A few shows were you think they have taken over everything, even the nights bookings.