By Ryan Kester

Aces and Eights

TNA really needs to put in some work with this faction before Lockdown. They've been treated as a joke the past several weeks, if not months, yet they're being called upon to help sell a PPV.

Aces and Eights needs wins. They need to be treated like a threat inside of the ring and out. The last thing the faction or TNA needs is to have them chased off by a single wrestler. TNA has done a lot to undermine this group since its inception and it's to the point that I find it difficult to invest in anything they're involved with. For TNA's sake, I hope they can win over people like me if they're wanting them to buy a PPV to see Aces and Eights potentially get beat.

Bully Ray

Bully Ray continues to do great work. No matter my feelings of a particular episode of Impact, Bully Ray is consistently entertaining and consistently compelling in whatever role he's given. While he has surprised me with his babyface run, I still consider him being a heel is the best use of him.

Thankfully, TNA is starting to show the signs of his eventual turn. The way Aces and Eights backed down and didn't attack when he showed up with a chain was one thing, but Ray forgetting to wear his wedding was about as overt foreshadowing as we could get. It will be interesting to see where TNA goes with this storyline over the coming weeks.

Austin Aries and Bobby Roode

I'm sorry, but I just can't get invested in this pairing or the feud they have with Chavo and Hernandez. The former are so much more valuable to TNA as top singles heels, and the latter haven't done anything valuable in quite some time. I respect TNA trying to breathe, life into the tag team division, but not when it comes at the expense of two of their top heels.

What really strikes me as odd about the entire storyline is the feeling of rehash that hangs over the entire affair. Some nights it's WWE's Team Hell No, others it's TNA's own Bad Influence, but the end result is that it feels like TNA's trying to have Aries and Roode do something that's already being done and being done better by other people.

Overall Show

This was a better show than we've had the past few weeks. The crowd was into the action and the pacing was better on TNA's part.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter.

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