The Rise & Fall Of TNA | Wrestling Timelines
13. June 21, 2012 | Soaps & Mystery
Recognising that the madcap intensity of Vince Russo’s style led to nothing but scorn, derision, and flat viewing figures, TNA, booked now by former WWE figure Bruce Prichard - Russo had departed in late 2011 - starts thinking of a new directive. The new idea is to plot long-term storylines centred around mystery and soapy intrigue. 2012 is defined by the immediate awfulness of Claire Lynch, and the gradual awfulness of Aces & Eights. The year prior, TNA had renamed its flagship show Impact Wrestling and adopted the slogan ‘Where Wrestling Matters’.
On the June 21, 2012 edition of Impact Wrestling, an unknown woman (later named Claire Lynch) walks to the ring. To be charitable, when it is revealed that she is not a prominent actress and is at the level of Universal Studios stage shows, this comes as no surprise to the wrestling fandom. Lynch states that, despite insinuations made by Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles and Dixie Carter and not having an affair. Their secret meetings pertain to Lynch, an addict, and their attempts to help her.
This develops into a widely panned and hurriedly dropped storyline in which Lynch claims that Styles is the father of her unborn child, setting up a match between AJ and Daniels. If AJ wins, he is permitted to take a paternity test; if AJ loses, he must admit that he is the father and presumably take responsibility for a baby that obviously isn’t his. This whole thing is horrible, and the actress playing Lynch, Julia Reilly, is so mortified by the reaction to it that she quits.
On the June 21, 2012 Impact, Hogan references the attack on Sting perpetrated by three masked assailants the prior week. This is the beginning of the Aces & Eights faction. The very idea of a long-term, mystery-tinged pro wrestling storyline is such an incredible novelty in 2012 that many fans, who almost certainly know better deep down, take an interest in it.
They do know better; at Lockdown 2013, the vigilante motorcycle club, which had terrorised TNA for almost a full year, reveals its leader: Bully Ray. Bully had spent much of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013 hell-bent on taking what was revealed to be his own stable down. He explained that he had used Hogan, and his daughter Brooke, to gain trust and power en route to becoming TNA World champion. Aces & Eights member Taz had actually used the verbiage “higher power”, and much like WWE’s reviled storyline of 1999, the Aces & Eights requires you to ignore months and months of television, which is a wildly illogical misdirect. But you didn’t see it comin’, ya dumb marks!
In effect, Prichard’s creative is just as horrible as Russo’s; it’s just drawn out longer. Diarrhoea versus a fibre-deficient turd is one way of looking at it.