Neither Kurt Angle nor Devon worked Turning Point 2011, so this has to be considered at least a small step up for both guys. Right?
Whether you loved Bound for Glory’s surprise reveal, or absolutely hated it, we’re stuck with Devon as one of the primary members of the Aces & Eights. All continuity and logic aside, this is the present reality we find ourselves faced with. But somehow I find myself not asking the more obvious question, “why Devon?”. Instead the more perplexing idea to me is, “why Kurt Angle?”
At one point early on in the whole Aces & Eights ordeal, Kurt Angle was attacked by the group, much like all the rest of TNA’s main event players. The idea was to hit the roster from all sides, so you couldn’t tell what their end goal was, or who they were targeting.
Aside: In pro wrestling, it is my opinion that the vast majority of the time, you will want your fans to know who major factions are targeting, and at least have some sort of idea of their end goals. DX wanted to take down “the man”. The nWo wanted creative control, guaranteed money and to pretend screw over Ted Turner. What the Aces & Eights actually want, by this point in their run, I still have no idea. And therein lies my biggest frustration with the entire concept. Track TNA’s record of factions back through Fortune, to Immortal, the Main Event Maffia, and right on through to Vince Russo’s band of merry men. They have a really hard time piecing together umbrella storylines that have a fixed start and end goal, with reasonable check points along the way. And it’s not just TNA that has the problem; think Nexus and the issue becomes more of a commentary on the industry’s writing standards as a whole. This laissez-faire “throw everything against the fan and see what sticks” approach ruined the nWo, and ultimately killed WCW. Food for thought.
Anyway, I think we trying to figure out why Kurt Angle is leading the new wave of defence against the Aces & Eights. At the start he was attacked, just like James Storm, Austin Aries and the whole lot of them. But for one reason or another – mostly just to set up the Bound for Glory card – they all lost interest and went their own way. Now it’s a few months later, and suddenly Kurt Angle cares again? I’m also not sure if TNA wants Wes Brisco to be a legitimate shadow, or protege of Angle’s, or whether they are (poorly) teasing his inevitable alignment with the bad guys. It might be worth watching Turning Point to see how this unfolds, but I’d also understand if the whole angle (pun intended) has just run its course for you.
My Prediction: I figure Devon kind of “needs” a victory here for the ole’ Aces & Eights group to keep their momentum. They’ve been getting a hell of a beatdown from the TNA roster lately; hard to believe one of their key guys could lose a match after the meeting they all had following their recent failures. It’ll have to be done believably though; no small task considering his Olympic opponent.
