TNA Unveil Big Addition to Roster: Aron Rex (Formerly Damien Sandow)

[It's Damn Real!]

It's only August and 2016 has already been a hell of a hectic year in the wrestling world with big names coming and going all over the place; some from Japan to the States, others getting called up from the developmental, while some top talent were let go by their respective promotions, leaving many fans to scratch their heads trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. That, and where would that top talent go to next? We aren't talking old guys from the Attitude Era, but legit players who could make a serious run if given the shot by the powers that be.

There might be some answers on tomorrow's episode of TNA Impact Wrestling, according to this new promo that Rolling Stone is debuting. Not trying to give anything away, but if our predictions are correct, tomorrow is going to be a really special night on Impact Wrestling. We will leave it up to you to guess who will be making their way down to the ring, but there's really only one way to find out for sure who it is: tune in.

http://origin.rollingstone.com/sports/tna-sign-top-free-agent-wrestler-w433786

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Uh, any ideas here? Riccochet? Ospreay? I'm not sure who they could be picking up right now. Based on the music, Sandow, perhaps?

Please, please, please, fucking please do not be Ryback!

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Update:

Damien Sandow has effectively let the cat out of the bag:

 

[Richard Blonoff]

I'm popping in to say Sandow. I've read a couple of reports that it is going to be him, Sandow himself has made a couple tweets regarding the debut, and like you said, the music used was a sample of his WWE music. I know he had some indy appearances at the end of July, but to my knowledge he didn't have anything major lined up in the coming weeks.

Sandow isn't going to be a guy who changes my opinion on TNA completely, but he has some potential. If it is him I will tune in to see how they initially handle him. He was underutilized in WWE, especially considering he got over twice. I'm not going to use the buried word, but someone in the back had to take issue with him because he was on the low end of pushes despite being very popular.

Now Ricochet could be an option, as his LU career as Prince Puma is over, but that is weird music for a guy like Ricochet. He would get me to tune in though. He has long been one of my favorite guys outside the WWE, and when the Ricochet to WWE rumors come up, they die down quickly die down, quicker than most rumors, so it seems to me that WWE doesn't have much interest in him.

I wouldn't worry much about Ryback. I think he knows his biggest money making venture, for now at least, is going on an indy tear as the anti indy wrestler.

 

[Starkist]

I welcome Sandow to the roster as long as he does not show up out of shape like Chris Harris did back in the day. He is a good wrestler who is also good on the mic. I just hope he does not get sky rocketed to the main even scene like all other former WWE guys. Only question I have is who will he be feuding with when he debuts. If Anderson was still with TNA, I think those two would have some good matches and promos. I am curious as it turns out since I no longer have POP TV so only thing I can do is read the results. Again, good signing by TNA. Now if they could get Cody Rhodes, then they can add another sold tag team to the roster.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

I say Sandow also. (He pretty much gave it away with his Tweet) Team him up with Cowboy James Storm and make a new redneck/hillbilly/hick tag team. I hope he doesn't become another comedic character aka Eric Young. Young was awefully in that comedy role. Welcome to the roster Mr. Sandow.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I really hope that it won't be sandow because the guy is too good to be wasted his time in tna especially since I wouldn't be surprise that they found a way fo him to continue his old wwe gimmick. I wouldn't mind if they would bring the big guy formely known as ryback in tna because while I don't really care about him, at less he's a big enough star get this type of hype and I don't care if ryback waste his time wrestling for tna.

 

[stingray11214]

Well, Dixie can say that there is a "Savior amongst us!" Yeah, Aaron Stevens aka Damien Sandow will appear on Impact tonight. Dixie must have broken out the ol' piggy bank to sign him, because I can guarandamtee you that he cost far more than Moose did. That said, I am shocked that he did not stay in the Indies longer, because he was making serious bank. Granted, TNA is serious money as compared to the Indies. However, Sandow was in complete control. It will be interesting to see what TNA does with him.

As for Ryback, he is doing something smart and negotiating with New Japan. Watch The Big Guy, Ryan Reeves, become the newest member of the Bullet Club, and by the end of 2017, win the IWGP World Strap.

 

[Lowdown]

While I really know nothing of Sandow's work with WWE, I've read some ggod things about him. I'll be honest though, I'm rather disappointed it's not Ricochet. His work has been good in Lucha Underground, and he's someone I wouldn't mind seeing in TNA. Still, there's nothing wrong with a fresh face coming on board.

 

[ShinChan]

While I really know nothing of Sandow's work with WWE, I've read some ggod things about him. I'll be honest though, I'm rather disappointed it's not Ricochet. His work has been good in Lucha Underground, and he's someone I wouldn't mind seeing in TNA. Still, there's nothing wrong with a fresh face coming on board.

As much as I know, Ricochet is surely present for 3rd season of Lucha Underground. Plus, signing him is going to take a hell lot of amount so I am doubtful about it.

So Sandow's new name is Aron Rex. Name is very unique atleast for me. He is going to be one of the reasons for me to tune into TNA every week. I hope that TNA doesn't shoot him straight to main event scene. Let him build his credibility in midcard first, then he could inevitably move on to main event picture.

Extremely happy.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Solid addition. Brutally miscast and underutilized, despite getting over twice, while 85% of the wwe pet projects struggle to register at all. Good on TNA here.

 

[stingray11214]

Solid addition. Brutally miscast and underutilized, despite getting over twice, while 85% of the wwe pet projects struggle to register at all. Good on TNA here.

If his promo is an indication of how he will be used, his future is bright. I completely marked out during his promo to the point that I was banging on the dresser and jumping up and down like a kid. My wife thought there was an earthquake the way I was jumping.

 

[ShinChan]

If his promo is an indication of how he will be used, his future is bright. I completely marked out during his promo to the point that I was banging on the dresser and jumping up and down like a kid. My wife thought there was an earthquake the way I was jumping.

Exactly.

Sandow's mic work is very smooth. Which makes the listener comfortable enough to listen him. There's an uniqueness about him which was wasted by WWE. WWE had multiple opportunities to make a star out of Sandow and instead they released him while keeping some guys who are nowhere near Sandow's level of talent.

Sandow got great reaction from audience whenever he appeared but he never got what he deserved in WWE. I hope that he gets it in TNA.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I'll admit, my experience with Damien Sandow was next to zero. I don't recall ever seeing him wrestle a match, and really only saw a handful of promos here and there when a friend of mine, who is a big fan of his and still watches WWE, sent them to me. I'd compliment him on being a great talker, but it wouldn't be enough to bridge the divide to get me back watching WWE again. I knew he was a good talker, but I thought Rex's promo was phenomenal. I've still got a lot to learn about him as a wrestler, but he won me over big time just on vocal star power alone, as most of you know I hold it in extremely high regard.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Good promo. And he kept it pretty clean too.

Hopefully though I hope he doesn't lose his humor completely. It was part of his charm, even as the Idol of the Masses.

 

[BaconBits]

"Free Agent's". Who does their tweeting for them? Do they even English?

On the real though, very solid signing for TNA. He's a solid wrestler who should appeal to their audience in spades. I don't really see him bringing very many new eyes to their product or anything, but he will definitely add to the show for the people that already watch.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I knew he was a good talker, but I thought Rex's promo was phenomenal. I've still got a lot to learn about him as a wrestler, but he won me over big time just on vocal star power alone, as most of you know I hold it in extremely high regard.

There is enough documented history to trust that his mic and character work will continue to be at the very top level; just don't expect him to impress you in the ring or you're likely to be pretty let down. He is a very average worker, and that's me being extremely generous.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

Entertaining as hell, but as others have said, fairly average in the ring. He's not going to deliver any match of the year candidates, but he's worth being on your TV.

Be interesting to see what they do with him. I don't think this initial promo is any actual indication of his character. He held the mic like a wine glass as he primarily did with his intellectual saviour gimmick. Personally I thought his best work was as a comedy character, so hopefully they go that route.

Being the intellectual saviour in Impact could be interesting, but then there's his in-ring work. Having him be himself could be okay, but he's far more entertaining as a comedy act. I hope for all our sakes he doesn't use the stuntman gimmick, as it's super played out.

Aron Rex got over in WWE because he was entertaining and had the underdog factor. In Impact if he's pushed, he'll lose that underdog quality. With the taped show and the tighter fanbase, that may not become a thing.

 

[harrythem]

In the ring he's a less high flying Christian and, on the mike, I'd say he's similar as well. Let's hope they use him half as well as they did Mr Cage back in the day

 

[Psykohurricane55]

i thought his debut was really well done and i look decent, not like a main event star like TNA wants but still a good midcard talent. The problem is that like all others former WWE talents that TNA sign, they will push him to the main event picture to quickly and he's going to burned out and become irrelevant by the end of the year.

 

[JJohns]

I really, really want to see him succeed, but to me, his debut fell flat. The promo was well done, and they should have left it at that. Or he should have come out at the end of the show as a taste of things to come, and then do the promo on the next show. But that isn't how it happened, so that when he came out at the end of the show, it kinda lessened his impact(no pun intended).

The problem that I see is that TNA is hoping that what it was that made Aaron Stevens a moderate success in WWE will carry over. I don't think it will. Remember, before he was Damien Sandow, he was Idol Stevens. Before he was the Intellectual Savior of the Masses, he was a Colonel.

TNA's creative has not done a great job in bringing intriguing characters in over the last few years. For every EC3 we get, we see a Bro-Mans and a Tribunal. After all, this is a company that has used their Hall of Fame to try and forward storylines, instead of using it to really honor those that deserve to be there.

I hope I'm wrong when I say that I think Aron Rex is going to be another miss by TNA because of their infatuation with WWE castoffs. I hope that I'm wrong, and Aron Rex will be just like Christian Cage and Kurt Angle before him, the former WWE star pushed them up to another level.

I really hope that I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.

 

[laodaron]

Oh look, a former WWE talent joins TNA after being a midcarder in WWE and then does some nonsense worked shoot in a TNA ring. His name is terrible, his promo shooting on WWE was terrible, and at his absolute best, Damien Sandow was a midcarder that was a pretty good promo. He was utilized wrong in WWE, but not at the level he was at, but he should have been used to promo on some other midcarders to help them get over.

He'll be the TNA champ in 6 months, it'll be another failure of TNA trying to push a WWE midcarder to the top, and everyone here will continue blaming WWE for TNA's problems.

 

[ShinChan]

Just watched Rex's debut promo.

This man is just gold on mic. Just damn gold. Remember Goldberg and his intensity in the ring? Rex had same high intensity while he executed his debut promo. It all felt so real and that was an icing on the cake along with Rex getting signed to TNA.

Just give him enough time to build his credibility and don't shoot him straight to world title picture. Aka EC3-esque booking.