A battle between former partners? Cameras catching secret conversations? A leading group inviting a new recruitee? A struggle for power? Why, this can only mean that the return of summer’s favorite reality show Big Brother is upon us! While all these said events are the staple norm for the long running competition series, they also just happened to play out on this week’s episode of Impact! Let’s take a look at how.
Up first is Rosemary, who has scheduled a meeting backstage with her TNA Tag Team Champions The Decay. She tells Crazzy Steve and Abyss that they are in the midst of recruiting a new member, someone who fits their combination of beauty and derange. Is Winter making a TNA return? Instead of playing a guessing game, Rosemary insists that they all head out to the ring to reveal the identity of this mysterious person.
As the group enters the Impact Zone, Rosemary wastes little time in bringing out her potential addition to The Decay. She calls out Bram to join her in the ring, much to the dissatisfaction of Abyss and Crazzy Steve. Rosemary reaches out to Bram, telling him the group knows what it is like to be shunned out be society. Rosemary then triggers in on Bram’s solitude, having been betrayed in the past from his former mates; flashbacks to Eric Young and Magnus anyone?
Bram looks into Rosemary’s googly eyes and says while she may be “kind of sexy”, he is no freak! After declining Rosemary’s invitation, Bram would find himself a victim of The Decay’s wrath. Steve blinds Bram with a green mist and a double team beat down would follow. Rosemary concludes her interaction with Bram with some parting words, stating that he will decay for his actions. Rosemary always delivers interesting segments when given the time.
It’s time for out Knockouts match of the night:
As we get ready for this battle between former DFFs, we take a listen to Marti Bell’s newly adapted theme song, which is as generic as they come. Jade’s slightly better generic music hits and the former Knockouts champion is ready for a fight!
She hunts after an evasive Marti all around the outside of the six sided ring. After a half circle chase, the Knockouts meet in the center of the ring, where Marti takes Jade down and pummels her with several right fists.
Jade manages to fend off Marti with a headbutt and transitions to a rampage triple kick combination. Jade looks to continue on the attack but Marti kicks her away and retreats to the outside grounds. A second chase would take place, this time with Jade getting a hold of Marti and thrusting her back to an outside ring post. Jade shifts to some right elbows but Marti dodges one of them, causing Jade to knock against the steel post.
Despite the recoil damage, Jade is able to whip Marti to the steel steps and even follows up with a running dropkick. That’s some endurance Jade’s got. In classic payback fashion, Jade grabs a hold of the Marti’s baton of a weapon with full intent on using it had acting official Earl Hebner not got in the way. Jade tosses Marti back in the ring and remains in full control with a few good suplexes and running dropkick.
When Jade looks to set Marti up for the packaged piledriver, Marti is able to counter by shoving Jade to a corner and waits for an opening to take Jade down with a super kick. Jade gets back to her feet and charges after Marti, only to land back on the outside floors when Marti pulls down the second ropes.
The crash doesn’t faze Jade too much, as she is able to mount Marti onto her shoulders and drive her headfirst to the ring apron. Jade enters the reenters the ring to run the ropes but is hit in the head by Marti’s club weapon. Afterwards, Marti goes for the pin and the dirty tactic rewards her with the three count needed for the win.
Madam President Dixie Carter is up next to face the consequences of her actions last week, where she blankly slapped the face of one Maria Kanellis.
The Bennetts come out and criticize Dixie Carter, who comes out with Billy Corgan. They power couple threatens to sue Dixie, and Dixie says that they’ve lost their minds. Corgan sides with Maria and Mike, and tells Dixie to take a week off. Choose better partners Dixie.
Surprisingly, our Knockouts champion Sienna makes an appearance on this week’s show in a highlighted video package. She speaks of her wrestling career up to this point, her MMA background and of wanting to be bigger, faster and stronger than any other Knockout in the division. Hmm, at least get a semi-appearance from the champion?
Finally we tune in the latest chapter featuring The BroMans and local guru Raquel. Robbie E seems to be out on the loop on a little secret between Raquel and Jessie Godderz. From the sounds of it, Robbie isn’t missing out on too much; just some color fashion tips and enjoyment of being “very bad”. Great plug in for Pop TV’s Big Brother: After Dark, I suppose.
Thoughts: Despite only having one two-hour show a week, I am glad to see that TNA have managed to use their women in different aspects. It is sort of a relief given that looking at TNA’s current Knockouts division, it is the most bracing the division has ever looked in awhile!
Rosemary always shines in whatever she is given with. I think it is interesting that she’d be so open to having a potential new member join The Decay, mostly because I think they are fine just as is. Granted with TNA’s Tag Team division lacking a bit at the moment, this does give the group a storyline to work with until they get back on a full fledge feud with another tag team.
Speaking of tag teams, The BroMans look as though they may be in a stagger with this secret between Raquel and Jessie. Personally, I’d rather see Jessie and Raquel pair up for good and leave Robbie behind. Jessie was shining on his own when initially branched off from Robbie and I’d like to see him tap into that Adonis character with Raquel by his side. I don’t think it’ll happen since the pair did only recently reunite but I am curious to see what this is suppose secret is.
The Knockouts match between Marti and Jade was a bit slow paced for my liking. Jade really dominated most of the match aside from the dirty ending. To keep the feud going, I think the ending was the right call. It doesn’t completely kill Jade’s credibility and gives her another reason to go after Marti. I’d like to see more backstage segments or promos, which are Marti’s strengths to help elevate this feud beyond the back-and-forth matches.
It is disappointing to see that TNA still aren’t sure where they want to take Sienna since winning the Knockouts title. Jade is busy feuding with Marti, Maria has taken a break from her exchange with Gail to begin a new motive against Dixie Carter and there really aren’t any other credible contenders to take on Sienna. Perhaps beginning a feud with someone like Madison Rayne can help bring back some esteem to the Knockouts title picture again. Maybe have a debuting Chelsea by Madison’s side to counter out Allie at Sienna’s corner.
Watching the Gail Kim and Maria feud blossom since the start of 2016 has been such a treat to watch, more so impressive when you keep in mind that the two have yet to play off their anticipated one-on-one match. So to sort of see Maria begin to plant seeds with her husband Mike Bennett and Billy Corgan to overpower Dixie is a bit of a head scratcher. We’ve seen Dixie in disdain on TV already, just look at last year’s GFW vs. TNA storyline, so I don’t necessarily see a reason for it. Maybe it’s too early to brush this off, as the end game may all just lead back to the hot battle between Maria and Gail.
One can speculate right?
