Aces and Eights/NWO Comparisons

I noticed that there have been a lot of comparisons between the NWO and the Aces and Eights as of late, especially now that AJ Styles is involved with the Aces and Eights storyline in a fashion similar to how Sting was involved in the NWO storyline. While it's true that there are similarities, what's odd to me is that sometimes these comparisons are being done in a complaining, "This is a knockoff, I've seen it" manner.

The NWO and Aces and Eights storylines were created by the same person- it's legally impossible to steal from yourself, so the Aces and Eights storyline is not a knockoff. It's not even a form of recycling, since the only similarity that both storylines share is the, "gang and peer pressure" theme, with a group of associates claiming territorial control while attempting to recruit a loner. The theme was very successful in WCW, and anyone who is successful in business knows that if an idea works, it should be used until it no longer works.

Another point that should be mentioned is that TNA's main target audience are viewers between the ages of 18 and 34. The youngest viewers (18 years of age in this case) are the most valuable because they have fewer financial responsibilities than the older viewers and therefore are more likely to spend money on the TNA product. The NWO storyline was in it's prime in 1997, which was 16 years ago- TNA's youngest target fans were 2 years old at that time! They were too young to truly experience the NWO storyline back then, so the Aces and Eights storyline is a fresh and completely new style of storyline for them.

I'm sure that somewhere on an Internet forum right now there is an ongoing debate between NWO fans in their 30's and Aces and Eights fans in their teens/early 20's regarding which storyline is the best. In truth, they both are- the NWO storyline was the most-discussed WCW storyline during its period of existence, just as the Aces and Eights storyline is the most-discussed TNA storyline currently.