WWE News: Former TNA star accuses Shield of stealing their gimmick

What’s the story?

On a recent edition of the Pancakes and Powerslams podcast, former TNA star Wes Brisco accused the Shield of stealing their shtick from the Aces & Eights.

Additionally, Brisco also opened up on TNA’s ‘Gut Check Challenge’, besides revealing the real reason why the Aces & Eights angle met an abrupt end.

In case you didn’t know…

Wes Brisco briefly performed in the WWE’s then-developmental territory FCW but was released in 2011 after only a couple of years with the promotion.

Brisco’s father, professional wrestling legend Gerald Brisco, has for long served as a talent scout and backstage executive in the WWE.

The heart of the matter

Wes Brisco revealed that TNA’s ‘Gut Check Challenge’ back in the mid-2000s was a 50-50 between it being a shoot and a work, in the sense that participants indeed had to engage in strenuous physical tasks but the ultimate outcome was determined not solely on the basis of said tasks but considering other variables which were not included in the tournament.

Brisco also explained that the primary reason behind the Aces & Eights storyline/act coming to a sudden end, was that the writers contributing to the act were fired by TNA and the two new writers wanted nothing to do with anything connected to the old writers or the latter’s works. Hence, Aces & Eights was scrapped altogether by management. Furthermore, accusing the Shield of stealing their Aces & Eights act, Brisco stated—

“All those guys that we were together with, we stuck together, we hung out together, we were together; I mean, we took this (seriously). We wanted to be very successful, (and) we wanted to treat it like it was our baby, our opportunity to set an example and create something totally different.”

"Because if you look at it, that's what started The Shield because of us. If you really look at it, we started before The Shield even came through the crowd, we had the mask on, (and) basically, (they did) the exact same thing."

What’s next?

Wes Brisco presently performs on the indie professional wrestling circuit. Brisco has been highly critical of the Shield on multiple occasions in the past, however, as of this writing, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose as well as the WWE creative team behind the Shield are yet to respond to Brisco’s allegations.

Author’s take

Wes Brisco seems to be holding a ton of negativity towards the Shield and the WWE as a whole.

The Aces & Eights was a great faction, but vastly differed from the Shield. Nevertheless, it’d be great to see wrestlers from rival promotions give credit where it’s due and show respect to one another rather than hurling mud at subjects undeserving of the negativity.

Stay positive, young man.