Precap to the Dec. 13, 2012 episode of TNA 'Impact Wrestling', or the one after 'Final Resolution'

Hardy! Roode! Aces & 8s! Mercenaries! Beat Downs! TNA World Heavyweight Championship!

Jeff Hardy retained his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Bobby Roode last Sunday (Dec. 9) at Final Resolution. It was a decent match between the two, although the whole affair was a little underwhelming.

It is what happened after the match, however, that deserves our attention.

Aces & 8s marched their way to the ring after the match, to deliver their boots to Hardy's painted behind -- I'm assuming Hardy has someone paint his butt to match his face -- for reasons that are completely unclear. You see, Roode had paid Aces & 8s to attack Hardy to close last week's Impact Wrestling (Dec. 6). One would assume that his payments were good enough to help cover Sunday's match as well.

This is some free legal advice to all you Cagesiders; make sure you get everything down in writing, especially when you are dealing with masked bandits.

Roode ended up eating a beat down for his troubles, and Aces & 8s closed the Pay-Per-Vier (PPV) looking strong. Which is really, really, weird considering they had lost to a bunch of midcarders earlier in the night. Usually, a heel stable has a clear place. It can be at the bottom of the card as a joke, chilling in the midcard as a way to get some heat on young talent and/or put people over, or it can be a dominate force taking out the promotion's top stars.

Aces & 8s, for some reason, is all of these things at one time.

The card based crew is working for someone, but they are looking out for their own interests. Their allegiance is apparently able to be bought and sold, but they can renege on a deal. They choose who they will attack by letting fate decide, or by letting someone tell them who they want put down. They attack in swarms, and there is somewhere between six and fifty-seven members. It is a group of bottom feeders who are picking off champions of all levels. A heat sink that is still the most hated group in the Impact Zone.

A joke whose punchline is a ball-peen hammer to the dome.

The masked group is going up, down, left, right, inside, outside, twisting and turning like a damn Möbius strip. The only direction it is not moving is forward. TNA continues to fail in advancing the angle in any significant way. Having Roode pay the gang off to become his personal army was an interesting direction.

Having Aces & 8s turn on him could be good television, if I had any faith in TNA to do something with it. Which, I of course, don't.

Now Hardy is caught up in the whole mix. I have yet to decide whether this is a good or bad thing. Impact was really fun to watch when Roode and Ausin Aries were battling for the title. Then it got really bad when Aces & 8s got significant airtime. Then it got fun again when Aries and Hardy were closing the show. Now Aces & 8s is poised to force their way back into the main event. This could end up being extremely boring and painful to watch.

But who the hell else is left for Hardy to feud with?

So, this is going to be an interesting experiment to see if TNA is finally serious about getting the Aces & 8s train moving, or if it is going to keep stalling until someone from that other promotion gets "wellnessed".

If you see a 5'6" luchador running around the Impact Zone, you'll know why it took so long for things to be unveiled.

Bully! Aries! Brooke! Hulk! Love! Hate! Protection!

Bully Ray and Austin Aries delivered the match of the night at Final Resolution. The pair went back and forth until Bully split his head open. Brooke ran out to the ring to check on her beau, because she is a sweet and caring girlfriend. Bully told her to leave the ring so she wouldn't get hurt, because he is a sweet and caring boyfriend. Hulk Hogan came down to the ring to retrive his daughter, because he is a sweet and caring father. Aries used the distraction to deliver a low blow and pick up the pinfall.

Because he is a dick.

I made an impassioned plea in Sunday's Precap that fans should really try to enjoy this storyline. It has the chance to jump the shark and become incredibly stupid, of course. But so does everything in pro wrestling. It's not fair to judge an angle based on what might happen. Hulk showed on Sunday that he can keep his presence to a minimum. Brooke has been fine in her role.

Plus, Bully and Aries have shown they are magical working together.

This is a fun storyline that is toeing the line between soap opera and campiness. This could get really dumb, really quick, and then I would look like an idiot for hyping it up. TNA has done it to me before, and they will probably do it again. Right now, though, this may be one of the funnest feuds in pro wrestling.

And who doesn't need a little more fun in their lives?

One More Thing!

Velvet Sky will be making her in ring re-debut tonight! Are you excited? BE MORE EXCITED!

Hopefully, this has prepared you for the night's festivities. Leave a comment below about what you are looking forward to, and please join Nolan, myself, and the entire CSS Thursday night gang in the live blog right here.