WMG / Impact Wrestling

Kevin Nash, Sting and now The Pope's angle is a Take That! towards Anti-Hogan/Bischoff regime fans.

Not so far off as it turned out!

TNA is paid for by Vince McMahon to turn people off of Indy and foreign style wrestling.

Come on! Only a genius at wrestling could create something so terrible.

• Alternative theory. TNA was on the road to putting itself out of business before Panda Energy stepped in. Then it started to find real success, enough to give the middle finger to ROH and the NWA. It was at that point Vince McMahon, fearing a repeat of WCW+Turner Broadcasting, stepped in to turn TNA into diet WWE. TNA showed that even at its worst it only resembled WWE superficially and so could always claim to be an alternative and occasionally stuff such as Global Impact proved they can even put on serious, logical, shows. Somehow, Vince blackmailed Russo, Mantel and the rest he knew dirty secrets about to only do stuff like Global Impact far away from his sphere of influence overseas.

The Fortune/EV2.0 feud is a Writer Revolt against the push of old ECW, WWE and WCW stars over homegrown talent.

Fortune is portrayed as a fun loving True Companionship of badasses who have a bunch of super popular stars like AJ Styles, Ric Flair and Kaz. EV2.0 has a bunch of washed up old losers who look like cowardly weak old men who have to cry to get their jobs back. What better burial of ECW then what TNA has done to it?

TNA post-Bound for Glory 2010 is a satire of WCW

Hogan's created a giant and unwieldy heel stable in the mold of the New World Order with Immortal. The Fingerpoke Of Doom was replayed with the Knockouts Title. Katie Lea Burchill (now Winter) seemingly has Warrior-style powers. The shows themselves have scaled back the wrestling even more than before. Expect J-Woww to pull a David Arquette any day now.

• And now we have a repeat of Starrcade '97 with a dejected Sting returning to take the World Title off the Big Bad, this time being Jeff Hardy. So, is Goldberg showing up in a year?
  • Crimson.

The writers are Obfuscating Stupidity

Fortune/Immortal really has been in the works since Hogan's first day at the company.

• If so, it was one of the most well played storylines in wrestling history. First make them have such low hopes that they're about ready to quit watching, then suddenly pull out a Crowning Moment of Awesome that got one of the greatest moments in TNA's history.

Immortal represents Satan and the Seven Deadly Sins

Jeff Hardy brought this one on himself with his "Antichrist" crap. Don't look at me that way!

• Eric Bischoff: Satan. Yeah, a case can be made that Hogan is technically the Big Bad, but he's been removed from an on-screen position and thus Bischoff is leading the troops now, as Satan commanding the forces of Hell. Even when Hogan was on-screen, it was Bischoff who tricked Dixie into signing away her company, Bischoff introducing the troops to the ring in a showy fashion, and Bischoff who sat at the head of Immortal's Thanksgiving table.
• Hulk Hogan: Pride. No matter how big his name is, his ego is just that much bigger, and he feels the need to constantly stroke it. Tellingly, he's "firing" EV2.0 members because Dixie Carter praised them in a way that insulted his ego. Not to mention his reason for screwing Dixie, not to mention admitting to it with no shame whatsoever, is all about the fact that she didn't placate his ego enough.
  • Kazarian, vain and self-centered, he joined Fortune to be with the elite of the elite.
  • Dixie Carter actually identified Hogan and Bischoff this way first. Exhibit A of this would be 1:40 to 1:57 of her confrontation in their office the Impact after Bound For Glory 10.10.10.
• Jeff Hardy: The Antichrist, self-identified.
• Ric Flair: Lust. Who went out to get bimbos during the Thanksgiving dinner? Ric Flair. Aside from the fact that he's already the most iconic Millionaire Playboy in professional wrestling history, he's also admitted to sleeping with a horse, plus he wakes up more in love with Hulk Hogan everyday, and loves him more than his ex-wives. Can't get much more lust-crazy than that.
• Jeff Jarrett: Envy. Or rather, jealousy. Why'd he start doing MMA crap? Jealous of Samoa Joe. Why'd he join Immortal in the first place? Jealous of Dixie's power in the company he built.
• Beer Money: Gluttony and Greed. It's in the name: James Storm likes drinking too much beer (gluttony), and Robert Roode likes money (greed).
• Abyss: Wrath. He's a big violent monster with a 2x4 that has nails hammered into it, a knockoff of Kane and Mankind, he's mostly in everything to bring pain and destruction. All but an Anthropomorphic Personification of wrath.
• AJ Styles: Sloth. Is talented enough to go out on his own and achieve solo success but instead clings to the legs of Flair like a chick to a mother hen.
  • Seems fitting, considering one of the reasons AJ originally joined with Ric Flair was so that he could keep a title belt the easy way.

The "They" Crimson is talking about is the Main Event Mafia.

The group Crimson is talking about has to be a power stable. Speaking of whom, every time he "informs" them of "they," he is always dressed in a suit, which was the Mafia's dress code. Sting and Nash, the original opposition to "Immortal," as well as Kurt Angle, who took advantage of the distraction after Crimson's announcement, were members. And a week later Scott Steiner, who was the person Angle made the phone call to and also a member of the Mafia, made his return rushing off Immortal, also dressed in a suit.

• They did make him an offer he couldn't refuse.
• Kevin Nash, Booker T, and perhaps even Sting may have have something to say about this one.
  • Jossed, "They" was actually Fortune, which was probably about 30 times more awesome.
  • Though the original plan was the Main Event Mafia. TNA denies it, but it's really not hard to see it was.
  • So, real life Jossed this one?

Ric Flair turned against Fortune for their own good.

As much as he cares about the stable that he helped created, Flair wanted to make sure that they were able to handle anything and everything that was thrown at them. By becoming their enemy, he could test them to see if they could handle the pressure on their own without his guidance, believing A.J. Styles was now able to lead Fortune. Flair turning on Fortune could be compared to a parent kicking their child out of the house once they've reached adulthood. Flair may appear to be pissed that Fortune decided to turn against Immortal without his consent, but on the inside he's proud that they decided not to play second fiddle to Immortal.

Ric Flair is in Immortal as a mole, and he is the man behind the network.

This goes into the above guess about him secretly being proud of Fortune, but is actually even bigger than that. Recently, the network has been subverting the control of Hogan and Bischoff over TNA. This is beginning to get attention from characters now, with Christopher Daniels commenting to Flair, ironically, that someone back there has been getting a leg up on Immortal. Hogan and Bischoff, discussing this frustratingly in their office, describe this by saying "they're thinking like a wrestler", and Bischoff is now out to intercept this all. Flair has asked "who is that talking to my boys!?" in reference to Fortune and Daniels, minutes after the latter's return to TNA, and in a promo the following week, the same one where Daniels, Hogan, and Bischoff noted the network pattern, he puts over the champions that Fortune are as well as how he "loved" them (but, of course, they made a "mistake" when they "decided to side with AJ over the Nature Boy").

• Good theory. I'm not sure, but wasn't he the one who said "They is Fortune?" during the second They foreshadowing?
• No. Here's the kicker, though. He said it during the first one.
  • Jossed when Mick Foley re-branded TNA Impact to "Impact Wrestling".

Tara will help Mickie James beat Madison at Lockdown.

• Madison is treating Tara like crap recently, and on the April 14th episode, she seemed on the verge of a The Dog Bites Back moment. What better way to do it than cost her boss the title?
  • Sort of. This ended up happening a month later at Sacrifice as the culmination of several smaller such moments in the Impact episodes following Lockdown, and now Tara is free from Madison. Probably because Mickie's real-life shoulder injury heading into Lockdown wasn't exactly conducive to a full match.

Mick Foley being "fired" is just another trick of his

He's faked out Hogan once before this. Either he sent a fake message himself or had the Network do it to trick them into trick them into thinking no one is watching them so they'll go back to their old ways and prove to the Network and get them even more furious at them. Think about it, why would they send a notice of Mick Foley being fired to them? Even in-universe it wouldn't make much sense unless there's something else behind it, and last week, the Network was on Foley's side. With as big of a Chess Master he's been lately, it'd certainly be in character.

• Jossed. He actually was fired. He's made several appearances on WWE programming since then.

Hulk Hogan is working for Vince McMahon in a plot to destroy TNA.

Taken from the WWE WMG page, but worth repeating here after the events of Bound for Glory 2011. Bobby Roode, after eight months of steady buildup for his rise to superstardom culminating in him winning the "Bound for Glory Series" round robin tournament to become #1 contender to the title at the show that TNA calls its WrestleMania, was ready to go into BFG and make his "boyhood dream" moment similar to Shawn Michaels, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and John Cena winning their first world championships at WrestleMania. This was an opportunity to not only solidly cement a new main event star, but also successfully make the BFG Series become TNA's version of the Royal Rumble, as well as really make BFG itself truly special in a similar vein to WrestleMania (though obviously not to the same scale, but that's a different topic altogether). This would've been a huge step toward legitimizing TNA as a structured, functional company with a grand spectacle event. But Hulk Hogan had them DUMP THIS CHANCE, claiming against all evidence at the last minute that Roode wasn't ready to be champion, instead directing TNA to have an injured Kurt Angle retain the title with a roll-up holding the ropes and completely underwhelm the entire program. At the very least we know he doesn't care about TNA.

• Jossed. Turns out he felt Roode becoming the babyface world champion wasn't a good idea, but a championship heel turn would be perfect for Roode's story and the way he performs. Frustrating circular route aside, this actually did work. Plus the importance of the BFG series would be emphasized through some changes in the way the series itself was booked in 2012 anyway.

Suicide is the secret Christopher Daniels is blackmailing Kazarian with.

By now it's pretty much common news that Kazarian and Daniels are the two men who most frequently portrayed the former character of Suicide. On-screen, the Guns have threatened to unmask Suicide years ago, first assuming Suicide was Daniels, but they managed to get as a far as a suspiciously familiar tan-skinned jaw before Daniels came out to make the save. Daniels knows Kazarian was Suicide because he's literally covered for him in the role, and he's holding it over Kazarian's head due to the hot water this could put Kaz in with management. Kaz has started showing signs of rebellion either because he's figured out a way to prove Daniels' involvement or he's starting not to care anymore.

• Jossed HEAVILY on May 10th, 2012.
  • Double Jossed. Turns out, even the original plan for what the blackmail secret was supposed to be had nothing to do with Suicide, but was about AJ Styles' sister. (AJ nixed the idea because something like that wouldn't have bothered him.)

Joseph Park (Abyss's brother) is in fact Abyss.

They're never seen in the same place at the same time, so...

• And Joseph has been known to lapse into strange laughter...
• This definitely have some weight, especially on the July 12th Impact, when Joseph saw the blood all over him after Bully Ray's attacks, and delivered a Black Hole Slam to him...
• Not to mention they're obviously played by the same guy.
• If they are the same person in kayfabe, then at Bound For Glory, perhaps Joseph will Hulk Out at a pivotal moment and lay waste to Aces and Eights, helping ensure their defeat.
• Well, he did have such a moment at BFG, and then again in a singles match against DOC at Turning Point. Neither resulted in victory, though.

Joseph Park, Abyss, yet another Chris Parks character, or all of the above, is the leader of the Aces & Eights.

Assuming the big man who speaks for the group in their table vignettes is in fact the leader, anyway. His body shape screams Chris Parks, and while less than 100% clear due to the distortion effect, the inflection in his voice sounds incredibly akin to a Joseph Park promo.

• Well, jury's still out on whether the character in question is played by Chris Parks, but he isn't the leader. That's Eric Bischoff.
  • Jossed. Said character, the VP, turned out to be D'Lo Brown.

Who are Aces & Eights?

Put guesses as to who they are here.

• Eric Bischoff, the former Luke Gallows, Wes Brisco, Joseph Park/Abyss, possibly Jeff Jarrett.
  • D'Lo Brown and Matt Morgan are starting to look pretty good if the latest Impact Wrestling episode is anything to go by.
    • As of Bound for Glory 2012, Brother Devon was the first revealed. Possibly leading to Garrett Bischoff (for no particular reason).
    • Oh, there are reasons. Not only was he Devon's former protégé and tag team partner, but Hogan recently slighted him for a TV title opportunity and he looked none too pleased. The fact that he's started hanging out with Wes Brisco doesn't help much. Not to mention his father is possibly president.
    • Now Luke Gallows / Festus / Isaiah Cash is the second, and his ring name is "DOC" (short for "Director of Chaos").
    • Mike Knoxx has been revealed.
    • Safe to say Joseph Park has been Jossed.
    • As of March 7th, D'Lo Brown has been confirmed as "VP".
    • "I'm Bully Ray! I am the President of the Aces & Eights! And I am the TNA World Heavyweight Champion!"

Karen Jarrett is involved in the Aces and Eights in some capacity, and will become head of the Knockouts once again under their regime.

This came about in the wedding episode. The wedding of the current head of the Knockouts division - Brooke Hogan - being attacked by Aces and Eights can only really mean a few things, most likely this one. And if you look at the tron after Brooke enters, you'll see the "Love" symbol which was part of Karen Jarrett's tron. Foreshadowing?

One of Aces and Eights is a mole working for TNA.

Basic conjecture, but Ken Anderson was never revealed or unmasked as a member. His appearance with the group, as well as a bit of shown static with their behaviors backstage raises red flags. That said, it's Ken Anderson. He's due to turn at least 3 more times this year.

• It's looking more likely that they do not have that guy right now but D'Lo Brown is gonna become that guy in a classic case of Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal. Maybe…he'll even be the one who ensures that Aces & Eights lose any and all opportunity to get AJ Styles on their side.

Bully Ray planned the Jeff Hardy incident at Victory Road 2011.

Outside of Kayfabe, Bully Ray only really received his main-event push as part of Immortal because of Jeff Hardy showing up to a match on drugs, and worked his way up to become a credible main even competitor. Bound for Glory 2012 would have been the culmination of his big plan, but, ironically, Jeff Hardy was there to stop him. So then came his brilliant Plan B.

All three of the current major stables running around in the "Big Three" promotions are in fact one and the same.

At the moment, the three biggest promotions in the United States- WWE, TNA, and Ring of Honor, are each running with one major heel stable- WWE with The Shield, TNA with the Aces and Eights, and Ring of Honor with S.C.U.M.

-The Shield were sold at one point, following the Rock/CM Punk match at the Royal Rumble, to have worked for Paul Heyman, the former ECW owner [who's never been, onscreen, sold as a WWE employee, merely as a personal employee of Brock Lesnar and CM Punk.]-The Aces and Eights leader, Bully Ray, plus members Devon and Taz, are ECW alumni, as are S.C.U.M. members Rhino and Steve Corino. Matt Hardy and Knux were also in WWE's ECW incarnation.

In addition, all three groups have members whose careers intertwined:

-Shield member Seth Rollins and SCUM member Jimmy Jacobs were previously partners in the Age of the Fall in Ring of Honor.-SCUM member Cliff Compton had gained notoriety on the Internet through a run in Nigeria as the tag partner of DOC. And they feuded in WWE, as Domino and Festus, respectively.

In addition, eight of the nine Aces and Eights members had been fired from WWE in the past, while SCUM had three members who were released from the WWE, two of whom [and an additional SCUM member] were also released from TNA.That wrestler, Jimmy Rave, appeared without question at the recent TNA One Night Only: X-Travaganza PPV.

All three stables have similar messages and motivations.

In addition, many of the Aces and Eights members who qualified, as well as Hardy, were recently added to WWE's Alumni section.

As such- The Shield, The Aces and Eights, and S.C.U.M. are all secretly one big inter-promotional stable, trying to destroy all three of the Big Three North American promotions in one go-round.

• Well, they are united in that each is against what their home company (supposedly) stands for but The Shield are tautological templars, S.C.U.M. are card carrying villains and Aces & Eights seem to just be a biker gang. That's a very odd super stable.
• Well, looks like they failed with the Shield being broken...broken up by The Authority of WWE.

Aces and Eights are going to drive Joseph Parks to 'accept his family legacy'

Joseph seems to be portrayed as the White Sheep of his family, IE, the only one of them that isn't a dangerously psychotic Wrestling Monster. We've seen a few traces of Abyss show up in him, particularly when blood in involved. Whether temporary or permanent, he'll go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge channeling his brothers (perhaps even channeling Judas Mesias and cutting up through the ring and dragging someone into it) against Aces and Eights, invoking plenty of Mook Horror Show along the way, embracing the dark side of his family out of desperation.

Abyss returned because of Aces & Eights taking out Joseph

Even if they're the same person in real life, in Kayfabe Joseph was the only one in their rather demented family that seemed to care about Abyss at all. Aces & Eights' abuse of Joseph and finally taking him out was Awakening the Sleeping Giant and now his brother is on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

• These last two WMGs work even better if the "brothers" angle really does turn out to be a case of Split Personality ala Doc from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Regarding the 2013 BFG Series...

From the 6/13 Impact - AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels have both qualified for the BFG Series. So my guess is that their match will end in double DQ because it wasn't meant to happen in the first place. That or another Aces and Eights run-in.

Why hasn't Bubba the Love Sponge sued Mick Foley?

As awesome as it was, Mick Foley did still assault someone in front of several witnesses and on national television, so why didn't Bubba press charges or sue him? There are three possible answers:1. Bubba can't prove that the punch wasn't a Work that was simply botched2. Bubba can't find a lawyer willing to take his case3. TNA management wouldn't let him. And by the time he'd been fired, it was too late

Crimson will fight alongside Sting against the Aces and Eights.

Also from the 6/13 Impact. Sting announced that he would form the New Main Event Mafia to fight off the Aces and Eights. Crimson returned the same day, and was immediately defeated in his Bound for Glory Series qualifier. If that doesn't sound convincing enough, think back to the would-be MEM reunion, where Crimson was first to announce the second "They", and made a habit of going around in suits and saying they had made him an offer he couldn't refuse, implying he was going to be part of the second MEM in the first place.

The recent shows are Stylistic Suck to draw heat on Heel!Dixie

All the things that made no sense (a Nepotism-filled squash match on PPV, for example) are deliberate, to annoy fans and get them to boo Dixie Carter. There's no other option. It has to be. Right?

This whole thing surrounding AJ Styles being gone from TNA and Jeff Jarrett quitting to start a new promotion will turn out to be a massive work with the result being a babyface invasion which will inevitably beat out Dixie's Carter Kingdom and rebrand the company altogether.

• But I thought WMG's weren't meant to be true?
• Apparently this one is. With TNA's financial woes, yet another talent hemorrhage, Jarrett's shocking return to win a "brand new" championship and now promising a "bright future" between TNA and his Global Force Wrestling company, Ethan Carter winning the TNA World title, and Dixie soon returning to TV (damnit), the assimilation of TNA into GFW is looking more inevitable with each passing second.
• And it's Jossed.

Samuel Shaw's current angle is an attempt to draw in Lifetime-loving women

Dixie has said they're looking at the untapped female demo, and this may be the means.

Gut Check's Ryan Howe will return to fight Ethan Carter The Third

When ECIII fired Rock Star Spud, he made special emphasis on the fact that he felt Spud was a loser. Now there isn't a more perfect loser in American wrestling than Ryan Howe after he lost both WWE Tough Enough and TNA Gut Check. Furthermore, Ryan Howe and Rock Star Spud have had history teaming together as "Double Platinum" in Ohio Valley Wrestling. ECIII claims to represent the 1%. But his lot was handed to him by his incapacitated Aunt. Ryan Howe and Rock Star Spud will therefore shine as a hopeful beacon for the 99% who still have to claw their way to the top, showing that it can still be possible, even after multiple failures.

Havok is a Superpowered Evil Side

Fear, setbacks, an inferiority complex and a tour of Japan caused Su Yung to degenerate into a Ju On state. After Havok's Last Stand at SHINE 21, Jessicka was assaulted by members of Valkyrie, including Su Yung, who spat mist on her. Gone is gloating Jessicka, justifying Jessicka, empathetic Jessicka. Jessicka was herself at TNA Queen of the Knockouts but after SHINE 21, Havok displayed only silent sadism in her Impact debut. Jessicka's gear and physical appearance even changed! The Grudge claimed Yung and saw opportunity to spread with Jessicka, who had gone through some of the same. But Jessicka's psyche was not as strained and Jessicka was already a monster, so she resists and becomes a more primal version of herself instead.

The grudge willingly suppressed itself when Jessicka reappeared at SHIMMER because it knows it can't control Havok and did not want to give Jessicka any more advantages in venues where she could encounter Yung and end the grudge at its source...which Jessicka might do, given she and Su made simultaneous returns to SHINE.

Awesome Kong will have a history angle with Havok

Before, Kong's return to TNA wouldn't make sense. They stripped her and Ayako Hamada of the Knockouts tag team title belts on a farce before giving them unceremonious releases. But after Havok dropped out of the Knockout title picture, Kong gained a golden opportunity. Yes, their last outing as a tag team was a failure but it was mostly due to Havok's conflicting loyalties regarding "Be Jealous", and was in another promotion anyway. Fresh roster, fresh start. Kong has an understandable vendetta against TNA, Havok's been assaulting members of the roster anyway, there's scarcely been a better time for them to team up.

TNA will become more critically acclaimed now that Dixie Carter no longer affiliates with the promotion.

Most notably, they have the "Broken" Matt Hardy/Brother Nero saga, which seems to interest people, whether it be because it is very different from what pro wrestling has done in the past or everything about it is So Bad, It's Good. It's definitely the most talked about storyline TNA has done in seemingly forever.

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