Thursday on Impact Wrestling, a mysterious group of six masked men known as “The Aces and Eights” intervened on three occasions—at least four are former WWE wrestlers.

The Bound for Glory series points leader “Cowboy” James Storm called out Kurt Angle in the evening’s first match on Open Fight Night. Angle, however, never surfaced; instead he was left laying on the floor backstage after a vicious attack from the gang.

Midway through the show, TNA “Gut Check” contestant Sam Shaw was beat down during his pre-tryout match interview with Jeremy Borash. His scheduled contest was canceled as he was assisted to the back by medical personnel, Bruce Prichard, Al Snow and Taz.

With Aries seemingly moments away from finishing Bobby Roode in the main event, the nefarious gang appeared for a third time as they took down the World Heavyweight Champion while Roode watched from the corner of the ring. Roode extended a friendly hand to the gang, but was instead attacked with kicks and punches.

One of the attackers was former WWE Superstar Mike Knox, who participated in a dark match for the promotion in May. He was joined by three other former WWE talents—former developmental wrestler Wes Brisco, the wrestler formerly known as Luke Gallows, and D’Lo Brown, who works as a road agent for the organization. Organization officials are rotating wrestlers who won’t be part of the eventual reveal into the attacks to make it harder to guess who is involved.

Gallows has participated in all of the group’s attacks while Brisco debuted last week. Brown is not expected to be part of the group’s final roster.

Meanwhile, sources close to Ohio Valley Wrestling talent Cliff Compton, who appeared as Domino for WWE in 2007 and 2008, has not participated in the angle after competing in a dark match for the promotion in late May. Former WWE Superstar Chris Masters, who has been campaigning via Twitter to join the organization after working a dark match last month, has also not participated in the angle.

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