Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. In celebration of the Halloween festivities, TNA is giving us a bag of tricks and treats. A word of advice to all of you planning to Trick-or-Treat (or in this case #TREATorDELETE) this year: don’t stop by the Broken Hardy domain unless you’re looking for a healthy helping of green beans and want to be chased away by the Van Guard 1 dressed as Boo Radley!
Anyway, last week the one and only Maria Kanellis laid the ground work for not only this week’s Knockouts match but also, what turned out to be, the main event! Allie is set to take on Laurel Van Ness while Maria joins her husband Mike Bennett to take on Cody and Brandi Rhodes in a mix tag team main event.
We first find Maria backstage, with TNA’s Jolene the Seamstress in the background, to gloat on the pain she inflicted towards Brandi last week. Maria adds that the Bennetts are the better TNA power couple but soon is on the run when Brandi runs in for some revenge. There will no running during the main event!
Up next is Allie, who gets called to a last minute meeting with TNA President Mr. Billy/Mr. William sir prior to her match against LVN. The TNA President reminds Allie, and the viewing audience, that Maria is not in charge of booking matches anymore, he is. Therefore, Allie is not required to compete in this match.
Allie is aware of the dangers that comes with entering the ring but insists that she needs to continue to stand up for herself and will therefore, go on with this match against LVN! Let’s go Allie!
Laurel also takes part in a last minute meeting, this being with Braxton Sutter. She tells Braxton that after she beats Allie, they can celebrate their victory together. Surely this has to be more exciting than the Team X-Gold that Braxton has been wrongfully placed in, right?
Time for our Knockouts match of the night, with Madison Rayne continuing her Knockouts commentary duty:
Once our competitors enter the ring, the Impact Zone immediately begin a “Let’s go Allie!” chant, much to the LVN’s detest. Laurel charges Allie to a corner before tossing her flat on the mat and stepping over her left hand. She taunts Allie on “wanting to be a wrestler” and repeatedly hurls Allie’s head to the mat, adding a few hair tosses in between.
Just when Allie manages to find an opening to slap Laurel across the face, she gets knocked down again via running clothesline. The action then spills to the outside ring when Laurel throws Allie through the ropes. Looking for some comfort after being head tossed to the ring apron, Allie rest by the steel steps.
Laurel sees this, takes aim and charges after Allie but crashes on to the steps instead when Allie rolls out the way. The Impact round behind Allie once again and when the Knockouts meet back inside the ring, Allie tackles Laurel down to unleashes her fist of fury! Allie goes for her first pinfall after tripping Laurel but only gets a two count.
Sadly for Allie, Laurel takes back control with a kick to the midsection and a running curb stomp that puts Allie away for the three count.
Moving on to our mix tag team main event of the evening; brace yourself guys:
The Knockouts agree to start things off, with Maria doing some warm up exercises before taking on any real action. All this is a fake-out as not even five seconds after the bell rings, Maria makes a tag to Mike and the men take over.
The match pretty much sees Cody/Mike going back and forth, with Maria only getting interfering to keep Cody at bay. Towards the end of the match, Cody is finally able to make a tag after Maria accidentally low blows her partner.
Brandi and Maria scuffle and eventually make their way to the outside of the ring, bumping to a ring post in the process. A chase around the ring leads to all four parties to meet back in the middle, with Brandi laying in her offense to Maria. The match comes to an end when the Bennetts find themselves each in a submission hold and forced to tap out.
The winning couple isn’t in the clear just yet. As Brandi and Cody head backstage, passing by congratulations from a few crew members, Lashley unleashes a brutal attack to Cody, telling him that no one enters his “home” without his permission.
Thoughts: This week’s episode of Impact had a filler feel to it: storylines continuing to be in play but with a very few steps going forward.
I did appreciate the little segment between Billy and Allie prior to the Knockouts matches. It not only address the misconception that Maria still has some “power” over the Knockouts but it also showed that even if Allie is a “novice” to wrestling, she is managing to keep that inner confidence going for her in this feud with Maria’s stable.
While Billy wouldn’t by my first pick to comfort Allie, it was encouraging to see others begin to join Allie’s side. I think a better fit with be another Knockout, perhaps the Knockouts Champion Gail Kim, who is absent from our television for yet another week. You would think that putting the belt back on Gail would allow it to be showcased more frequently!
The Knockouts match was very basic, nothing too much to take away from it aside from Allie. Again, the same problem existing with matches being cut so short. Laurel continues to make improvements on television and I was really glad to see her pick up this win on her own, without the need of having Maria or Sienna by her side. Oh and I am not sure who is involved with the onscreen graphics but referring to Laurel’s Twitter handle as @ResoluteRobust instead of the correct @ImpactLVN was a big no-no! How does that even happen?
As for the main event, well… let’s just see that Maria and Brandi aren’t ready to main event another episode of Impact. The women came across as clunky and the submission finish was just awkward. Maria is a great character and it would be best for her to just stick to that. As for Brandi, I think she has potential to improve but with time. Throwing her to a main event match, even if its a tag match where isn’t fully involved, is too soon.
Still, it looks as though the Rhodes will have their hands full with Lashley now targeting Cody.
What are your thoughts on this week’s Impact? Who would you like to see join forces with Allie? Did you enjoy Brandi’s Impact Wrestling debut match? Let us know in the comments below!
