Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this Impact’s Write-Up; that’s right folks, Impact Wrestling lives on… well for now anyway! We’re coming right off Bound for Glory, where we witnessed Gail Kim become a record setting six time Knockouts Champion. At the same PPV, we also saw the debut of Cody and Brandi Rhodes in what appeared to be an introduction feud against Mike and Maria Kanellis-Bennett. So, what is next in store for the women of TNA this week? Let’s find out.
Our show begins with TNA World Heavyweight Champion Lashley (coming off after one hell of a match against Ethan Carter III on Sunday) who puts himself at the top of the TNA food chain. Lashley’s rant draws out the rest of TNA’s champions: inaugural Grand Champion Aaron Rex (so is this the mid-card division title?), Knockouts Champion Gail Kim, TNA Tag Team Champions Broken Hardys (sans Brother Nero) and X-Division Champion DJ Z. Each title holder makes a case as to why their championship matters, Gail telling the boys that the year 2016 is a year of change and things are at a level playing field. She is proud to be the first female TNA Hall of Famer and Knockouts Champion again.
After every title holder defends their respective division, TNA President Cruella Billy Corgan (and here I thought the it was just his unfitted suits that looked bad) with newly appointed (?) assistant Aiden O’Shea comes out to congratulate his champions after Bound for Glory and declares that every championship will be defended tonight.
Gail’s opponent for the night Sienna is seen backstage during a confrontation between Maria and Allie. Maria blames Allie for disclosing “private doctor/paitent confidentiality” records that forced Maria to compete on Sunday, thus losing the Knockouts title. Maria threatens to fire Allie for her actions but Sienna promises to undo Allie’s error by winning back the championship for the group.
Before we get to our Knockouts match of the night, we relive Gail Kim’s TNA Hall of Fame ceremony though a short video clip.
Hang on a second, what is this that we’re hearing for this Knockouts title match? A female voice joining the commentary table alongside Josh Matthews and The Pope? Hello Madison Rayne! Not only is it great to hear a female’s perspective when calling matches but any break from Josh Matthews is a BIG plus for me!
Sienna makes her way to the ring, forcefully bringing Allie along with her. Gail is out next but before she can even make it inside the ring, she gets knocked off the ring apron when Sienna shoves Allie in her direction.
The challenger uses this chance to do some battle outside ring; using the ring post to inflict and target Gail’s back. After the short fun on the outside, Sienna tosses Gail back to ring and remains in control, whipping the champion from one corner to another.
Sienna begins to wear Gail down with a headlock as the Impact Zone chant for Allie. The champion fights out of the submission hold with elbow shots to the midsection but gets taken back down when Sienna connects with a powerful clothesline. Sienna tries to follow up with AK-47 but Gail reverses this to a neck breaker.
Gail runs the ropes to go for a hurracarrana but Sienna counters this by catching Gail mid-flight and slamming her to the mat face first. Still, Gail has some fight left in her and is able to retain the title after dodging a Silencer from Sienna and rolling her up for the three count.
The second that Jeremy Borash announces Gail as the winner, the entire Maria entourage come out for a numbers beat down on Gail, with the exception of Allie. Maria takes a mic to announce she is cashing on her Knockout title rematch clause in a no DQ match.
Our next title match sees The Decay trying to win back the TNA tag team titles from The Broken Hardys in a Wolf Creek Cage match; which turns out to just be a smaller version of Lethal Lockdown… with a chainsaw weapon thrown in the mix.
Rosemary tried to help recapture the gold for her team by interfering mid match and blinding Brother Nero as he was climbing up the cage. Reby Hardy would act as the neutralizing factor by taking out Rosemary by tossing her to the cage and slamming the cage door to Abyss as he was trying to escape. The Hardys remain your TNA Tag Team champions!
We meet up with game changers Cody and Brandi Rhodes in the six sided ring next. Cody talks of the changes in TNA, noting Gail Kim’s historic TNA Hall of Fame induction at Bound for Glory and The Great War between Hardys and Decay. He continues his speech by mentioning he didn’t wait to be “kicked out” of his previous home; he had left on his own. I see you Cody!
After admitting that TNA has given him a title shot to the TNA World Heavyweight championship, Cody is then confronted by Mike and Maria who comes out to let out some frustrations on how the Rhodes manage to waltz in to TNA with handed opportunity as opposed to working for them.
A brawl breaks out between the men, the first of many, with Cody besting over Mike once again and challenging him to a match next week.
Finally, we close the night with Maria looking to meet with her good pal Billy Corgan. She doesn’t get to him because of a door keeper O’Shea but she does receive the message that her title rematch against Gail was granted. However, there was a catch: should Maria lose her match to Gail, she will also lose the title of Leader of the Knockouts. Oh yeah, since Maria is no longer champion, I suppose there is no longer a “conflict of interest” as Dixie Carter had previously mentioned.
Thoughts: Most times, whenever TNA has finished up a PPV, they tend to drive off a “new era” or “reset” kind of a feel on the show afterwards. This week saw some of that (*SPOILER*: congrats to Eddie Edwards big title win!) but in terms of the Knockouts, we haven’t really dived in to anything completely new yet.
Sure Gail is champion again but she is still in this ongoing feud with Maria; managing to get through Maria’s muscles/obstacles week in and week out. I just would like to see a new contender step in to make the Knockouts title matter again because right now, there is a lack of drive behind it.
While I agree with Gail’s small mention of the change in level playing field for women’s wrestling at the start of this week’s show, TNA haven’t really given us that this year. Knockouts matches have been reduced in time, to really only two stars of the division and we saw that again this week.
The match between Sienna and Gail was all right; certainly not as sloppy as some previous matches we’ve seen from TNA but I think these women could do so much more if they weren’t limited to a less than five minute time slot. The post match beat down was all right to help involve someone newbie Laurel Van Ness but this bullying of Allie really should have ended at Bound for Glory.
Next week sees Maria get her title rematch under no DQ rules. Interesting enough, TNA actually acknowledges a rematch clause between the two; something we didn’t see before with the likes of Jade, Sienna and Allie.
In between Maria’s other feud with the Rhodes, as I’ve mentioned before, I would prefer, if this does turn out to be a couples like feud, the ring work stays limited to the men doing the ring work while the women carry the promos and occasional cat fights at ringside. I’m rooting from Brandi to make strides in her new wrestling career but it is far too soon to throw her in the ring; let’s just start with the small and simple things for now.
What did you think of this week’s episode of Impact? Are you looking forward to next week’s No DQ match? Where would you like to see the Rhodes/Bennett feud go next? Let us know in the comments below!
