Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. As we learned last week, TNA has signed a new Knockout by the name of Sienna (AKA Allysin Kay) and this week, the latest addition to the Knockouts division makes her debut. We are also treated to a much needed Decay makeover session conducted by TNA’s own Harley Quinn Rosemary.
Mike Bennett and wife Maria Kanellis open this week’s show in full celebration mode after Mike’s win over the, now defeated, Ethan Carter III. A bit upsetting to have seen “the streak” end the way it did, on a regular of Impact no less. Anyhow, Mike gloats about his remarkable win over ECIII and argues that he is the rightful contender for Drew Galloway’s World Heavyweight title.
Jeff Hardy interrupts the Bennetts to insert himself in the title picture, recalling that it has been well over three years since he was TNA World Champ. Mike offers to go backstage to speak to his good friend Dixie Carter but Jeff attacks Mike instead, leading a match to commence between these two.
No need to go backstage to find Dixie Mike, as the TNA President would come on out after Lashley interrupted the Hardy/Bennett match. Lashley wants a shot the TNA World Heavyweight title and Dixie says he can have it if he wins a triple threat match against both Jeff Hardy and Mike Bennett. In order to make this main event match “fair”, Dixie appoints Drew Galloway as the special guest referee. Eh, guess you can’t be too careful with regular referees these days. Never know when one might want to pull out a screw job. *cough*
We turn our attention to Rosemary and the newly crowned TNA Tag Team Champions The Decay. Rosemary talks of needing to start an evolution for Crazzy Steve and Abyss, both whom have said they don’t fear change. With that in mind, Rosemary shoots a Kiss of Death mist directly in the mouth of Crazzy Steve and in the eyes of a now unmasked Abyss. Sorry Joseph Park fans; this isn’t the mark for the returning esquire. As over-the-top as this segment was, I have to say I l actually liked it!
The newly redesigned Decay stable come out to show off their new look. Abyss feels more “beautiful” and free with his face paint design while Crazzy Steve, shockingly, has been given a voice! The Decay are seriously my favorite thing going in TNA at the moment!
Maria Kanellis returns to our screens to deliver a warning to the Knockouts champion Jade. The new leader of the Knockouts division reminds Jade of the consequences Gail Kim suffered through last week when she tried to oppose Maria. For Jade’s sake, Maria hopes that the champ is a lot wiser.
After a commercial break, we find Maria in the six sided ring, continuing her campaign of making the Knockouts division great again. Speaking of great things, Maria invites Knockouts champion Jade to join her in the ring. TNA does the favor of ridding Jade of that outdated “Doll Parts” theme song but replaces it with the other dubstep Dollhouse theme song. Eh, not exactly my first pick for a new theme but it’s a small improvement?
When Jade does come on out, she is welcomed by cheers from the Impact Zone audience! Hooray for progress on a new face for the Knockouts division! Maria takes credit for getting Jade over and gets right down to business, calling Jade a scared little girl who needs to admit her mistake.
The still fired up Impact Zone fans disagree with Maria’s little girl name tag for Jade and start a “She’s a badass!” chant instead. Is it too much to ask for you guys to be this alive during most of TNA’s taping!?
Maria still has the Knockouts championship in her mind and tries to use her power to capture it, suggesting the title would look much better around her waist. Maria orders Jade to lie down on the mat and brings out a referee for what would have been an easy win. Naturally, Jade objects to Maria’s commands, stating she lies down for nobody! Let’s go Jade!
Maria has no problems with Jade defying her, as she already has another associate who shares her vision. Out comes Sienna, to an even more generic theme song, to confront Jade on behalf of Maria.
A brawl breaks out and the debuting Sienna brings the fight to Jade, tossing her across the ring and slamming her down on the match with pure strength. Jade tries mounting a comeback with some fast paced moves using the ropes but Sienna halts this with a big boot.
This fight then scatters to the outside environment, where Jade briefly gets an upper hand. The Knockouts champion sets Sienna for a packaged piledriver on the entrance ramp but Sienna counters by tossing Jade over her shoulders, inflecting some serious damage to Jade’s back!
Sienna continues her outside combat by sending Jade to the steel steps shoulder first. Sienna doesn’t stop there; she scoops up the champion to swing her head to the steel steps, knocking out (no pun intended) the lights for the champion. Sienna throws Jade back in the ring and completely puts away her away with her finisher all while the leader of the Knockouts division channels in her inner Shao Kahn and orders Sienna to “Finish Her!”
Maria and her new muscle leave the ring together, once again sending caution to anyone who dares to defy them again!
Thoughts: Just a quick mention of Rosemary.
I think she continues to captivate the audience in her role! Yes, some things come across as extreme but I think that’s the appeal of it. It’s different and you can really see how a Rosemary is the star of The Decay. While I would like to have seen her more active within the Knockouts division after her win over Gail last week, I think she’ll continue to do well with what she’s given. The repackaging of The Decay tells me there’s more to come from this group! Thumbs up for me.
Moving on to Sienna’s debut, I was really surprised as to how well things played out on TV. Based off the spoilers, I was concerned that Sienna would have had a rough start, since there was a a mention of a “losing” match when in reality, there was no match at all; just a good old-fashioned brawl!
I’m most excited to see that Jade had the crowd behind her, as a full on babyface. I’ve always felt that Jade should’ve come in as a face, so I’m glad that we are beginning to see that side come into light.
Since Jade won the title, my biggest worry has been that she would be stuck in a reign where there wouldn’t be a strong contender to challenge her aside from Gail Kim, who is already feuding with Maria.
Having Sienna debut the way she did, by taking out the champion, helps build Sienna as a real threat and, of course having the acting leader of the Knockouts in your back pocket has it perks! This was a great way to start off this feud and I hope that TNA can continue to build things up properly for when these two eventually meet one-on-one.
