If former WWE and WCW wrestlers wanted to re-invent themselves as characters, TNA was a great place to do it. There they could experiment with either a different gimmick (like Elijah Burke), or tweak their character in compelling ways (like Bully Ray). Devon didnt really do this. He was just kind of there, not really doing anything of note for most of his run in TNA. He probably earned some good money doing it, though. When he first joined the company it was a bit of a mixed bag. The Dudley Boyz had grown stale in WWE and were released from their contracts. After some time they showed up in TNA, and of course, went over the homegrown team of Americas Most Wanted. Bubba and Devon stuck together for the next five years, and besides a pretty entertaining feud with The Motor City Machine Guns, were just kind of boring. Later, when the first member of Aces and Eights was revealed, the company needed a heavy hitter to really take the angle to the next level. They chose Devon. It completely deflated the momentum they had going. Eventually, he was released, then brought back yet again for the summer of ECW in 2014. Will he come back when TNA makes it back to the air? Eh, well be okay without him. Let him and Bubba go back to WWE for one final table ride into the sunset.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
