Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. After an extensive and memorable UK tour, TNA have once again returned to the States and have relocated in Orlando, Florida; home of the good old Impact Zone. It’s been nearly a year since TNA first made the decision to leave their place of safety for good but as many things within the wrestling world, never say never. Perhaps their brand newly designed stage can help bypass a few of the faults that come with being inside the Impact Zone. Of course, one thing that we can always look forward to within TNA are their Knockouts and this week we are treated to a fresh matchup between Awesome Kong and Brooke as well as a follow-up featuring TNA’s latest super couple Magnus and Mickie James whose battle with Bram continues.
Before we get in to our Knockouts match of the night, we are treated to a brief video package featuring Awesome Kong. The mighty Kong is seen clutching her fist, standing tall with an agenda of making “all” pay but mostly the Knockouts Champion, Taryn Terell. Awesome Kong’s voice speaks (that’s right, AWESOME KONG CAN SPEAK) and she wants a shot at her title! On a rampage, Kong also makes the promise to make all the pretty ones suffer, including her opponent of the night, Brooke. No one will stand in the way of Kong getting back what’s hers! Message delivered loud and clear Kong.
On to our Knockouts match of the night, new mom Christy Hemme has returned to her ring announcing duties and introduces Brooke, who is spotting some new gear, to the ring first. As the spunky Brooke salutes the crowd, the woman with a mission Awesome Kong makes her way to the ring to meet her foe and at the sound of the official ring bell, Kong quickly goes for Brooke who only dodges Kong’s attempted clasp. Some more evasive dodges in between, Brooke begins her offense to Kong with some forearms to the head of Kong as well as some kicks to Kong’s lower body.
Running the ropes, Brooke looks to change up her mode of attack but it comes to a halt when she crashes and is knocked down to the larger framed Kong. Now in control of the match, Kong sends Brooke to a corner, looking to connect a running body splash but misses when Brooke is able to get out the way. With Kong now in the corner, Brooke climbs the second rope for some height over Kong and land a good few punches to Kong cranium but Kong only pushes Brooke out the way after a few shots.
Brooke circles around Kong and runs the ropes once again only to get caught by Kong on her way back and slammed down to the mat. With Brooke down, Kong toys with her, standing on her hair while raising her body up as Brooke scream in pain and only letting go before the referee’s count disqualifies her. Brooke looks to fight back, continuing to rely on running the ropes as her choice of offense to Kong, who only eats every blow Brooke manages to dispense.
A kick to the midsection, Kong is able to slow down Brooke and sets her up for what appears to be the return of the Awesome Bomb finisher but Brooke manages to counter with a high face crusher, bringing Kong down for the first time in this match. The crowd begins to fully rally behind Brooke, who climbs the top rope for one more good shot on to Kong. A high flying elbow drop later, Brooke goes for a pin but Kong manages to kick out at the count of two.
Testing her luck again, Brooke climbs the ropes and looks for a second high flying move to Kong but the risk doesn’t pay off this time around as Kong is able to catch Brooke midway, trapping her in to a chokeslam. After such a crash and burn, Kong finishes up this destructive match with an Implant Buster to Brooke picks up the win for the night. The referee raises Kong’s hand as a sign of her win but Kong isn’t having it and decides to push senior ref Earl Heber out the way to inflict more damage onto Brooke, landing a second Implant Buster to her.
As if that still was enough, Awesome Kong then steps outside the ring, not to leave but to check under the ring in search for a table! Once she manages to find what she’s looking for, Kong sets up the table in front of the ring and grabs a hold of the already harmed Brooke, slowly bringing her to the table set up for her. Before Kong can do any damage, from behind Knockouts champion Taryn, in some very casual street attire, is able to make the save attacking Kong from behind.
The two begin to brawl it out, Kong going as far as to swinging Taryn’s head to the steel barricade on the outside. Kong tosses Taryn back into the ring but it takes more than a blow from the steel barricade to keep this champion down, as she begins to bring the fight to Kong with several forearms and a dropkick from the second rope. In rage, Kong charges to Taryn but the champion ducks out the way and lowers the ropes to send Kong to the outside.
Back on the outside, Taryn flies from the apron in the direction of Kong but gets caught by Kong midway flight, who tosses her to the unforgiving steel steps. After being put out of action, Kong gets a hold of Taryn, directs her to table initially for Brooke and lifts Taryn delivers an all powerful powerbomb through the table, leaving the table and Taryn broken all while bringing full satisfaction to Kong for her actions.
From one powerbomb victim to another, Bram is back on Impact this week following a massive beatdown last week and is looking to deliver a message to Magnus and the mother of his child Mickie James. He starts by describing Magnus the best way he can, as a coward who hides behind his family. Bram mocks Magnus for having his fiancé fight his battles, calling Mickie more of man than Magnus will be and having bigger balls than him. Ouch Bram! There’s still one family member that Bram hasn’t touched yet and that is precious baby boy Donovan.
The mention of baby Donovan is enough to bring his parents out and defend his honor. Magnus reminds Bram that he is the reason he is with TNA now and that while he can handle being betrayed and attacked from behind, Bram over stepped his boundaries when he involved his fiancé and put his hands on her. Bram had what was coming to him when he was beat down over at London last week yet he continues talking. Bram responds by challenging Magnus to a fight inside the ring, to which Magnus agrees to, willing to fight anywhere he can, be that inside the ring, outside the ring, at the bottom of the ramp, at the top of the ramp, in parking lot and anywhere else possible.
Bram is all game and says the only fulfillment he’ll get from all this is seeing the tears that will stream down Mickie’s eyes when Bram kicks Magnus’ head in. Mickie takes the mic from her fiancé’s hand and replies to Bram by stating the only tears she’ll let out are tears of joy when Magnus snatches those pubes he calls a beard off his face and kicks his ass all over the Impact Zone!
Bram apologizes to Mickie in advance for leaving her to go home to an empty house but offers his doors of welcome that are always opened to her. With that being said, Magnus dashes into the ring the confrontation between himself and Bram begins. Bram looks for an easy way out by hitting Magnus with a low blow and using the time Magnus is down to find a steel tool from under the ring to bring back with him. Instead of going direct for the attack, Bram sights Mickie close at ring side and grabs a hold of her, bringing her into the ring to make this brawl even more personal.
He grabs the mic to let and demands that Mickie follow in the same steps as Magnus did a few weeks ago and kiss his boot. No, better yet, give him a good sloppy kiss instead! No lips are exchanged as Magnus is able to make the save with a German suplex from behind and a beat down to Bram and using his own weapon against him. With the psycho down, Magnus calls Mickie so that they may safely go backstage but Mickie has other ideas and for the second week in a row, delivers another hardcore country beat down to Bram!
Thoughts: Not too shabby for the first show back at the Impact Zone. While I’ve always dreaded the return to the Impact Zone, I must admit I think the new arena looks great with the new ramp and extra trons that were missing before.
I must say that I was very surprised by the video package put together for Awesome Kong. Not only was it intriguing in how it was displayed as a walk down backstage but it was also a nice surprise to see Awesome Kong actually speak in it! For almost her entire time in TNA, Kong has rarely spoken so to have a time where she actually speaks out with motives against the champion is a huge plus. It’s something I’ve always criticized TNA for when it comes to their “monster” Knockouts (i.e Alpha Female, Lei’D Tapa, Havok), being silent with motive and character pieces missing. Kong made her plans clear in this package while still looking very dominate, so I’d like to see these trends continue whenever possible.
The Knockouts match was decent for what it was. It was short and wasn’t entirely a squash match, which I feared would work against Brooke as she looks to make her way back to the Knockouts division full time. The bigger picture, of course, comes from the post match brawl between Taryn and Awesome Kong. I love that their feud continues to grow even after their big triple threat title match last week and has really been taken to the next level of annihilation with the addition of including the table spot on Taryn. It makes us wanting to see if Taryn will ever find a way of countering Awesome Kong’s power.
The Mickie James, Magnus storyline just continues to fascinate me. Up until now, Bram has pretty much done everything to get under the skin of Bram and Mickie but including their child this week really just keeps this feud more and more personal. I also love that Mickie isn’t playing a damsel in distress in this storyline and is actually willing to get her hands dirty and lash out against someone like Bram when need be. While I personally loved Mickie’s mic work as a Hardcore County heel, her work this week along Magnus really shows that Mickie can deliver on either side when she needs to. As announced, next week Magnus and Bram are in a Falls Count anywhere match, so it will be interesting to see where this feud can go from here.
That’s it for this week Knockout fans, hasta luego!
