So now they’re taking ideas from WWF and WCW.In addition to stealing the Vince/HHH/Stephanie story, now we have the following from WCW in 1997:

Bully Ray as Hogan

Sting as Lex Luger

AJ Styles as Sting

Bound For Glory as Starrcade

It’s been sixteen years so why not?

Apparently RVD’s contract is up and therefore he’s a free agent, meaning he could sign with WWE if he wants, or he could go anywhere else he would like.  This would be another high profile TNA star that has had his contract expire in recent days and the first to actually be remembered on time.

I wouldn’t mind if he left TNA.  He hasn’t had anything of note to do in months as he spent five months as X Champion and spent the entire time fighting Kenny King and Zema Ion in throwaway matches.  Why stick around when you’re just there to fill in a spot on the card?

This was a big story last night and deserves a bit more attention.First and foremost, I did like the end result of last night’s show.  Having Ray be revealed as the President of Aces and 8’s was the right move and was one of the few places they could go to extend the life of the whole stupid angle.  Ray screwing over the Hogans for the sake of winning the world title with it being a plan all along was perfectly logical as it’s Ray’s nature to be a self serving jerk.  The lines of “I used you and I screwed you” and “D-Von let her cry” were straight MONEY.  Also, IT ISN’T BISCHOFF.

However this doesn’t solve everything.  At the end of the day, Aces and 8’s have still been the most inept stable of the last like…..ever.  They never win anything of note and they lost again last night in their other big match.  Also, Ray is now basically the leader of the Eight Stooges.  They’re still a bunch of losers and you can’t use the logic of “now that they have a leader” because Ray has clearly been the leader for months.  Oh and one more thing: why did Ray give Hardy a chain?  I know he had everything in hand, but it was still an unneeded risk.

As for where this is going now, it appears that we’re headed for either Hogan or Sting vs. Ray at Slammiversary before we get to presumably AJ or Storm taking the title at Bound For Glory.  If we have to get one of those matches, Sting is BY FAR the better option, as he can at least, you know, move.  There are some other downsides to this development also.

Above all else, it means Brooke talking.  The story continues to be mainly about them rather than ANYONE else and Brooke just isn’t interesting at all.  She’s annoying, she’s whiny, she’s not talented, and she’s on TV more than any other female in the company.  Also I don’t really want to spend the next few months hearing about how Aces and 8’s are taking over and all that jazz.  The last thing we need is another corporate takeover angle.  Having them be the dominant faction is fine, but we don’t need another takeover.  It’s been done WAY too many times.

Overall, it’s good but it doesn’t solve all of Aces and 8’s problems, nor does it make up for the months and months of terrible stuff.

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/TNA/article10030226.shtml

So let me get this straight….Bobby Roode, one half of the reigning tag team champions and a guy whose run as the longest reigning world champion in company history ended less than a year and a a guy who had a world title shot on PPV THIS YEAR isn’t worthy of remembering to re-sign???  This is the kind of mistake WCW made back in 1990 with the Iron freaking Sheik.  Not only is his status for Lockdown up in the air, but it leaves an opening for WWE to sign him if they want to.  The lawsuit is over, so why not?  Maybe TNA can hire Bull Buchanan to replace him.

If nothing else, how could TNA let this happen when they stole another company’s tag team champion LAST FREAKING YEAR with Kenny King?

The jokes about them being amateur hour write themselves.

First D’Lo and now the Gut Check thing.  Let’s recap.
Ivelisse – Smoking hot, has an MMA background which is the hottest sport in the country and Ronda Rousey is arguably the new face of the sport, can move, can wrestle, can talk, has a ton of potential, WWE thought she was good.

Tapa – Can’t do much in the ring, doesn’t look great, but she’s Barbarian’s niece.

The complains write themselves.

I kid you not,D’lo Brown.  I’m literally laughing out loud at how stupid this company is.

On Impact Angle unmasked the second in command and was shocked at who he saw.  He said “how could you” as he looked down at the guy, which means it’s someone we’ve probably known all along.  The most likely suspects are:Hogan: He’s a suspect for the leader of any heel stable because that’s the best idea TNA can come up with.

Joe: It would be a swerve, which is what TNA does most often.  It wouldn’t make sense but it would be the most likely pick probably.

Park/Abyss: Again it would be a surprise, but can you picture either character as the leader of a biker gang?

Bully Ray: Yeah he was in the ring on a live show seconds before this happened, but why should that stop them?

Brooke: Not the size, but if it gets Brooke a more prominent role on TV, why not do it?

Matt Morgan: He popped up on Impact for the first time in months at the same time the VP arrived, which sounds to be too much to be a coincidence to me.

D’Lo Brown: He’s been mentioned for months as a member of the team and there were small hints to it being him months ago, but to call this an underwhelming development would be the understatement of all time.

Eric Bischoff: Same reason as Hulk.

AJ Styles: The motorcycle he rode off on would seem to be a clue, but AJ was doing fine when the whole story started which would make a lot less sense.  it would however give us a top star in Aces and 8’s, which is what they need more than anything.

Jeff Jarrett: He’s been mentioned as a potential leader for months but why would that shock Angle, who has feuded on and off with Jarrett for years now?

At the end of the day, I’m going with either Joe or Park as VP with Eric Bischoff winding up as the leader/mastermind of the whole thing.  Not that either of them would be a great pick, but this is TNA where the reveals of leaders are rarely anything good.

Thoughts/predictions?

Is this supposed to be funny or something?Let’s see: we’ve got a boss with a huge ego who has a good looking daughter.  An upper midcard heel marries said good looking daughter and will likely get a title shot out of it very soon.  The loud heel turns face and now has a quad injury.

In case you’re not making the connection, I’m talking about Vince, HHH and Stephanie.  Sound familiar?

Instead of everything being in the cage, only the main events will be.  That’s a good thing for one simple reason:It makes the main matches seem special.  I’ve explained this before, but having the same gimmick over and over again weakens the gimmick.  There are some matches at Lockdown that should be inside the cage, but most of them flat out do not need to be anything gimmicked.  This is a good development all around.

The rumor had been that he wasn’t going to be sticking around but apparently TNA got him to sign for a few more years.  That’s certainly the right move for TNA as he’s easily the biggest full time guy they’ve got.  No complaints here on this one.