In 2008, TNA fans began seeing vignettes for a new star named Brutus Magnus, who was billed as being a "modern-day gladiator". That's probably fine, in theory, but when you debut the guy and he looks like a gladiator... in 2009... that's when you may have gone a little too far in the marketing. If you want to make things even worse, Nick Aldis, the man playing the character, was as "green as goose s**t" back then. He had a good "look", but in no way was he ready for a spot in a wrestling promotion that was being seen worldwide. Sure, he would eventually go on to improve by leaps and bounds, going all the way to the top of the company and winning the TNA World Title nearly five years after his debut, but those early years were very rough. Pro wrestling is about a suspension of disbelief, and that's great and all, but looking at a "modern-day gladiator" in 2008? We're not talking about wrestling in the 1980's and early 1990's, where the sport was especially cheesy, with wizards, clowns, lumberjacks, zombies, mummies, sanitation workers, and race car drivers were involved as gimmicks. The business had clearly changed by 2008, and so had wrestling fans. They weren't buying the gimmick at all. About three months after he debuted on television, the gimmick was dropped, and Magnus went on to form The British Invasion with Douglas Williams and Rob Terry, which may have helped to save his career, as it was Williams that first worked with him to improve his in-ring work.
Columnist/Podcaster/Director at LordsOfPain.net for nearly seven years, with nearly 2000 total columns written. Interviewed and/or involved in interviewing the likes of Tyler Black/Seth Rollins (twice), Diamond Dallas Page, Jimmy Jacobs, Christopher Daniels, Uhaa Nation and more.
