Mike Knox Revealed as Aces & Eights Member

[Rayne]

However, taking into account of what the OP said, which makes perfectly sense, I want you to reconsider some things. First of all, except Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett and maybe Bully Ray, who else do you expect to see as a member? I mean, who's available at the market store at this moment who can be a big enough reveal for you? Snitsky? Ezekiel Jackson? Maybe Hulk Hogan's son, Nick? Or do you want to see Kevin Nash? -again- This isn't 1996. All the big names are with the WWE and will continue to be for a long time. Only John Morrison is available, but as the OP stated, I can't buy the "Shaman of Sexy" as a beer drinking, ass kicking s.o.b..

I agree with this, but then you have to ask why to run a 'reveal' style storyline in the first place. A huge part of the interest for people has been in the reveal for who these masked guys are; unless they're Mexican, that's always been a huge interest for people. So if you know all of your surprise reveals are going to suck, why run with the angle in the first place?

From the WWE, I'd expect this. Their booking is an absolute mess these days. TNA, however, has tried to pride itself on intricate, detailed storylines. Why set yourself up to disappoint people?

 

[midgensa]

I like Mike Knox in the group ... but honestly, who the fuck cares? Nobody.

This entire Aces and Eights run has been crap. They have revealed THREE members and they are Devon, Luke Gallows and Mike Knox. REALLY? I mean, seriously? That is what you got?

With both DOC and Knox the announcers had to explain who the fuck they were and why they mattered and the in-house crowd clearly had no clue what was going on.

Why are these guys wrestling? They don't seem intent on taking over the company. They don't seem to care one bit about titles. What the fuck is their point?

It is quickly running its course and revealing people that nobody in the audience could give two shits about ... seriously ... is just going to drag it down.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If you make a comparison to "the corporation" from 99 in wwe, not in storyline but in the group structure. The way I see it, Knox & DOC as people in the Big Bossman role. An imposing figure acting as some muscle to make the group look tough, but ultimately they are purely there to make hits, and lose to the faces as a stepping stone to the big bosses.

The problem though is when you look at the pieces that make up that group structure. Right now, Aces & Eights has Devon, DOC(AKA Luke Gallows) and Mike Knox. The Corporation had guys like Triple H, The Rock, The McMahons, eventually guys like Edge & Christian, The Undertaker, etc. The faces of The Corporation consisted of major players and up & comers. Right now, the faces of Aces & Eights are a tag team legend pushed beyond his capabilities and two guys are are complete nobodies apart from being lower card wrestlers in WWE.

Sure, WWE had tough guys & lackeys as part of The Corporation but The Corporation didn't come off as being comprised entirely of lackeys. Aces & Eights does. When The Corporation was formed, WWE didn't have the faction spend its entire existence losing matches everytime one is wrestled. The ones Aces & Eights do win only seem to do so when there's heavy interference. I agree that guys like DOC and Mike Knox can be good as the heavies of a group like Aces & Eights. The only problem is that your big, imposing figures no longer come off as imposing when they get beaten every single time when it truly counts. Right now, Aces & Eights comes off as threatening as a litter of newborn kittens. Sure, they've gotten the upper hand some times after attacking individual wrestlers with 4 or 5 against 1 and with hammers & pipes. The Corporation employed that sort of stuff as well but they also got into the ring and won matches. Last night, we saw every member of Aces & Eights taken out by a single 53 year old man armed with a baseball bat. On top of that, he took out most of them with nothing more than a jab to the gut.

If the group had been booked to look strong throughout its time, then Sting showing up on his white horse last night and earning a small victory for TNA would've been perfectly fine. But A&E's haven't been booked to look strong. They haven't dominated TNA or decimated its roster. I would go so far as to say they're on the same level as The Corre was.

 

[wrestlingfan]

I don't see the point in having both DOC & Knox in the same stable as enforcers but whatever

Knox was a decent wrestler back in WWE. I was liking the Kinesiology gimmick and he was a decent ring worker who had had speed for a man of his size. Hope TNA capitalize on his talent. Could be a good mid-carder for them in the future.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Knox is just another guy, who can't rise above the status of a lackey. TNA could've revealed someone else, who's lower on the totem pole for name value in pro wrestling, and his presence would have the same "meh" feeling.

In WWE, I can remember Knox cutting these brief pre-taped video promos before matches. Knox would talk about his obsessions for inflicting pain on the human body. Knox showed some potential for being a different type of intimidating big man with a creepy intellectual persona, but he's just going to be another punching bag in Aces & Eights.

I don't sense any direction for the Aces & Eights storyline. I could understand someone making an argument for Sting's return providing a much needed spark for this angle, but what's next? Besides a bunch of stand-offs, brawls, and mediocre tag team matches, I can't think of a reason to have any optimistic feelings for the future of Aces & Eights.

A big or shocking reveal for the leader or mastermind behind Aces & Eights might breathe some life into this angle, because the mystique of Aces & Eights disappeared a long time ago.

 

[GameOver]

he looked weird without the hair and beard lol but for me he's more of an asset then Luke Gallows who's accomplished Zero in his career without being behind CM Punk i can't see Mike doing the gimmick he had in WWE tho of being a doctor of pain, i actually like those vignettes.

WWE invasion of TNA it's inevitable now, WWE will take over TNA and it will be a story created by TNA writers. commentry even had to mention that Gallows and Knox were from WWE previously or noone woulda known who they were "if they didn't know of WWE talent in the past 6yrs".

something else came to mind, so they've been unmasked, big deal, with the exception of D'von the roster wouldn't know who they were anyway and couldn't they just remask when they go to the back OMG noone thought of that.
Just another crapshoot were A&8's are taking over but they have no control and don't even dictate what matches they are in or stipulations, so what control do they have now? answer Zero, Nada, Zilch. THey aren't going after the titles like the nWo did, they aren't trying to take over the commentry or control of the company, all they are doing is beating people up for no apparent reason and not even doing a good job of it.

SO who's the next pick for being revealed.

off topic Sting coulda made a better entrance in that match like descending from the Cieling in full black attire as he was in the vignette, but good to see he's finally done away with the ugly joker face paint that was nausiating to look at..

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Okay, it's about time that this was said - there is no big names out there anymore! John Morrison, MVP, Carlito? All guys who never got any higher than Mr Kennedy and would have no more draw than him (in fact, I would argue that Mr K occupied a higher spot than all three "up North").

Were Mike Knox and DOC big reveals? No, but look at all the big names that have reappeared over at WWe recently... Tensai... ... ... nope, I'm out (and no, I'm not counting glorified cameoers Rock and Brock). This isn't the Monday Night Wars era, we are a whole generation of viewers on from that now and WWe hasn't made a plethora of names casual fans know and TNA itself hasn't made a big enough market for itself that any of it's own past guys would create any major news.

IDR's point about continuous losses weakening the faction is very valid but, at the same time (and this enforces his point about A&8 ≠ nWo) wins might strengthen our vision of them but what would it say about the TNA guys if they were the ones getting defeated week on week when the "WWe rejects" are revealed?

Will Aces & Eights be a roaring success? I don't know but TNA has suffered without an abundance of feasible heels this last few years; if all that comes out of the plot is a couple of these, I'll be happy because that means that a top line face can also have a lengthy title reign without running out of credible heels after the first couple months. DOC has already shown signs of being a pretty good big guy heel, if Knox can do the same that strengthens the bad guy / good guy dynamic in the company (plus, at 29 and 34 respectively, both guys have several good years ahead of them).

 

[New Hot Fed]

The whole thing with the supposed mystery and the masks shows how "disconnected" TNA are to Social Media and how the World work. Weeks into the storyline people knew who the Aces & 8s members were. And when they succeeded in swerving people they came up with Devon. lol Also If the guys under the masks are not gonna be stars, why give them masks to begin with? Poor Mike Knox never had a chance.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

The whole thing with the supposed mystery and the masks shows how "disconnected" TNA are to Social Media and how the World work. Weeks into the storyline people knew who the Aces & 8s members were. And when they succeeded in swerving people they came up with Devon. lol Also If the guys under the masks are not gonna be stars, why give them masks to begin with? Poor Mike Knox never had a chance.

"People"? You mean a few thousand Internet fans? Which is nothing considering TNA is viewed by 1+ million people?

Yeah, TNA fucked up big time.

 

[Just Do It]

This storyline has dragged on far too long and I've completely lost interest. Everybody involved has lost steam.

Textbook example of AWFUL booking.

 

[Harthan]

Full disclosure: the first and only episode of Impact I've watched since 2010 is last week's. I'm downloading and am going to watch yesterday's soon.

I thought I would hate Aces and Eights going in, as I've read plenty about them and I've heard the storyline drag on forever. I thought "Devon leads this group?" and really thought it was going to be just terrible. And maybe it's just because I haven't been watching this whole thing unfold long enough to get sick of it, but I actually really dig how these guys look. Their costumes are really good, especially those who still have masks. And the guys who don't have masks are doing a really good job selling utter badassery in their characters. I was incredibly impressed with Devon's promo work last night, and I think that as more characters of this group are unmasked, he'll have to work in the ring less, since he's probably the weakest in-ring (solo) guy that they have unmasked so far. Of course, his having the TV Championship is a little bit of a wrinkle in that, but nonetheless. And I look at the lineup of guys they're getting - Luke Gallows, Mike Knox, Mr. Anderson - and I'm seeing a bunch of really good, underrated guys (except for Anderson on the underrated bit) who've been struggling to get places, and I'm digging this stable more and more.

Mike Knox is just another example of that. This guy had real potential in the WWE to go places, but got derailed in the midcard and couldn't get anywhere, eventually crashing and burning with his terrible Professor gimmick. I haven't seen any of his promo work unmasked yet, but I think he'll fit right in with what I saw out of Devon and D.O.C. last Thursday. I know he brings solid talent to the ring, and now that there's like four unmasked guys, he can start bringing his talent to tag team matches and stuff like that.

All in all, I'm liking this group and what they're doing. I get that for those who've seen them since their inception, they're probably getting old, but so far, I think they're pretty solid. Mike Knox is a good addition to the group, and I hope that as more members are unmasked they get to be of a similar talent and background as he is.

 

[Just Do It]

Mike Knox is just another example of that. This guy had real potential in the WWE to go places

What on earth makes you think this?

It's come to me: must be that time shortly after his WWE debut when Shawn Michaels kicked and pinned him within 5 seconds, and then proceeded to be confused not knowing whether he was a wrestler or not. Because this is as memorable as he ever was leadign up to his very last match: a loss to JTG on Smackdown.

 

[Harthan]

What on earth makes you think this?

A great look, some competitive matches on ECW, reasonable mic talent for a guy who never got to talk. All around a guy who I wanted to see more out of but never got the opportunity to in WWE, because they never gave him a serious try. He was always back and forth between jobbing or having some mini feud that he inevitably lost. I saw a lot of potential in Mike Knox, but he never got to realize any of it in the WWE; I'm hopeful that he'll have a shot in TNA to showcase some of that talent.

 

[Just Do It]

A great look, some competitive matches on ECW, reasonable mic talent for a guy who never got to talk. All around a guy who I wanted to see more out of but never got the opportunity to in WWE, because they never gave him a serious try. He was always back and forth between jobbing or having some mini feud that he inevitably lost. I saw a lot of potential in Mike Knox, but he never got to realize any of it in the WWE; I'm hopeful that he'll have a shot in TNA to showcase some of that talent.

A great look? A tall guy with a beard and a big belly. In some generic black shorts. If that's a great look, I think I could achieve it with plenty of time in the kitchen and no shaving for a while.

The reason he was never booked to win, or ever booked to do anything is simple: he didn't have the talent to hang with anybody important. He will go nowhere in TNA. Nobody does.