Greeting Knockouts fans and welcome to this week’s edition of Impact-Write Up. Last week, Maria Kanellis double-crossed Knockouts Champion Gail Kim when she walked away from Gail’s offer to join her and Velvet Sky in their Lethal Lockdown match against The Dollhouse. This week, Gail Kim looks for answers, as well as a fight, from the so-called Miracle to the Knockouts division.
We first find Gail Kim backstage, where she is stopped by TNA’s camera crew/interviewer to try and get the first scoop on how she feels about Maria’s betrayal:
Gail says that the only person she wants to speak to is Maria. She considers Maria to be a selfish and conceded woman, who only cares about herself. The only thing Gail has to offer to Maria this week is a fight!
Also looking for a fight this week is Ethan Carter III, who wants nothing more than to kick Rockstar Spud‘s ass after his actions cost Ethan regaining the TNA World Heavyweight title:
The Hardy clan want no part in this brawl and meet with Dixie Carter to have this fight overruled. They throw blame daggers to the TNA President, stating Ethan wouldn’t be such a loose cannon had he been fired. Instead of feeling any sort of guilt, Dixie wipes her hands clean and declares this fight between Spud and EC3 to be unsanctioned!
As we come close to the end of this year’s TNA UK tour, so does the saga between Rosemary and Jimmy Havoc:
After being beaten down last week at the hands of The Decay, Jimmy goes one on one with the monster Abyss, in a no DQ contest. Sadly for Jimmy, he loses the match after taking a Black Hole slam through some barbed wire, leaving him all alone while The Decay continue to vast in glory.
The moment of truth has arrived, as Gail Kim makes her way to the ring to a very welcoming Birmingham crowd:
Gail starts off her message to Maria by stating that the Knockouts have always been about being the best at what they do, which is wrestling. It’s the very reason why Gail says she got into this business to begin with, for her love and passion for wrestling. Unlike Maria, who has just been all talk and no action, Gail is willing to sacrifice her body to raise the bar and she wraps things up by calling out Maria to come on out to the ring.
The arena darkens as Maria makes her entrance but she never actually steps inside the six sided ring for this confrontation with Gail. Instead, Maria stays within a safe distance outside the ring with a mic in hand. While Gail may be out looking for a fight, Maria isn’t and will stay evasive until she is finished talking. In regards to leaving Gail high and dry last week, Maria says that she couldn’t dare cross the line of stepping inside the ring. If she did, then she would be just like Gail. So does this mean Maria isn’t looking to become an active wrestler after all?
Maria continues running her mouth and accuses Gail of wanting to be just as “famous” as she is. After all, Gail did marry celebrity chef Robert Irvine and did have her wedding televised on the Food Network during that special “Wedding Impossible” event; which, by the way, was a nice and cute little episode as Maria described.
For her part, Maria embraces her fame and gloats over her appearances on Celebrity Apprentice alongside “the great entertainer Donald Trump” (I guess name dropping the Donald is bound to get cheap heat anywhere) and in Playboy magazine.
Most importantly, Maria is a lady and for that reason, she will never ever step into the ring as a competitor. She bids Gail goodbye and heads to the back but the Knockouts Champion is still looking for a fight! Gail chases after Maria but is unaware of a lurking Jade who sneak attacks Gail from behind.
After landing a spin kick to Gail, Jade grabs the Knockouts title and hits the champion over the head with it! Jade adds insult to injury when she grabs the mic left behind and lets Gail know that if she wants to fight someone, she’s found one in Jade who is on the hunt for some gold!
Being the lady that she is, Maria makes a second appearance on this week’s show in a more comfortable fold:
She stays at ringside during Mike Bennett‘s match against Drew Galloway, helping him escape a submission hold and providing a distraction so that Drew can be rolled up into a pin.
Thoughts: While it’s disappointing to see that there was no Knockouts match on this week’s episode, especially after last week’s exceptional Lethal Lockdown match, it was refreshing to see some storyline progression that isn’t all Dollhouse/Beautiful People related.
I’m enjoying seeing this heel side of Maria, as it is something that was never actually tapped into during Maria’s time with WWE. She does well during her promos and I am amused of her declaring Gail as the “problem” within the Knockouts division. My only real grip on this whole exchange between Maria/Gail is Maria declaring that she won’t wrestle at all. Why push her as a threat to Gail if she’ll never actually follow up on it? It just comes across a real roadblock for the Knockouts title picture, after a few teases here and there between these two women.
On the other hand, I was thrilled to see Jade step up once again this week. Since the sudden departures of two Dollhouse leaders, the group has been voiceless and lost in depth in terms of characters. It may just be in the beginning stages but I’m hoping we can see more of Jade taking on that new leader role for The Dollhouse if no one else is going to be added to the group. I can see Maria eventually be inserted, as it gives Maria a reason to continue feud with Gail without actually getting physical, but that’s still up in the air.
As announced, Jade will get her title opportunity against Gail Kim next week and I for one cannot wait to see this match-up! Gail has not had a lot of title defenses during this fifth reign as champion so I’m glad to see that things are being more focused around the title picture again. It’ll be a fitting way as we come to the end of TNA’s UK tour.
