Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up – the very first under the new Jeff Jarrett administration. As it was previously announced, this week sees a new name make a splash in the Knockouts division as Rachael Ellering makes her Impact Wrestling debut against a, now, solo-riding Sienna. Let’s see how the second generation star does.
Tonight we celebrate our past, embrace the present and look towards the future. This is Impact Wrestling #MakeImpactGreat Tonight 8/7c pic.twitter.com/sKRypqghsD
— IMPACT WRESTLING (@IMPACTWRESTLING) March 9, 2017
Our show kicks off with a celebratory of video of Impact Wrestling’s history that includes a special shout to the Knockouts division for creating their own legacy when it comes to women’s wrestling. Even if this is the 100th time Impact has pressed the reset button to usher in a ‘new era’, it’s nice to the Knockouts, past and present, get a special nod.
Before we get to our Knockouts match of the evening, we run into McKenzie Mitchell who is backstage looking to get Maria Kanellis’ thoughts on the fallout of the wedding she orchestrated but was never meant to be. Instead of Maria, McKenzie runs into Sienna who mocks the interviewer’s journalism skills for not being aware of what has happened to Maria.
Apparently, Allie’s selfish actions from that wedding have caused Maria to have a nervous breakdown. No ‘fake news’ here! Pinkies are up as Sienna gives McKenzie a lesson in classiness and then turning her attention back to Allie, warning the lovable babyface that her happy fairy-tale ending will not last for much longer. Sienna plans to follow through with whatever plans Maria had cooked for.
Speaking of Allie, she makes an appearance alongside her beau Braxton Sutter during his Fatal Four Way X-Division match and surprisingly got involved in the match! After tossing Marshe Rockett to the outside ring, Allie would climb the top of a turnbuckle, behind the referee’s back, and deliver a crossbody to Marshe! You’re teaching Allie well Braxton!
Braxton then hits a Swinging Fisherman Suplex on Marshe that earns him the win and it’s a great start for Impact’s favorite couple… that is until an eerie Laurel Van Ness comes out! From the entrance ramp, Laurel is still in her wedding dress, wearing her shoes around her wrists and mouths “YOU!!!!!” as she points out to Allie and Braxton during Braxton’s celebratory win. Pull yourself together Laurel!
Time for our Knockouts match:
After both contestants make their entrances, the bell sounds off. Over at the commentary table, Jeremy Borash attempts to introduce Rachael to viewing audience at home but finds himself in a nagging war against Josh Matthews, which pretty much lasts throughout this entire match! *sigh*
After the women tie-up, Rachael lands the first strike to Sienna with a kick to the face. She then follows up two roll-up pin attempts and then takes Sienna down with a hard right elbow shot. Rachael goes for another pin attempt after connecting a Senton splash to Sienna but only earns a two count.
Rachael maintains control of the match and forces Sienna to retreat to the outside ring after being hit with an enziguri. As Sienna tries to regroup herself, Rachael climbs the top rope of a corner, only to be knocked off by a returning Sienna. Rachael gets taken down by a hard hitting clothesline, which is followed up with a kick to the back of Rachael’s head and numerous forearms.
Sienna sets Rachael up for the AK-47 but Rachael counters this with a suplex! Rachael nearly earns the win over the former Knockouts Champion with a series of offense that include chops, uppercuts, an STO and even a springboard leg drop.
In the end, it was Sienna dodging a running elbow drop leading to the Silencer that earned her the win over the aspiring Knockout.
McKenzie Mitchell is back on our screens again, this time to interview Eddie Edwards to ask how he feels about Davey Richards and Angelina Love’s betrayal. Eddie says he would never have imagined that Davey would stoop so low and tries to keep his wife Alisha out but in comes Angelina!
She tells Eddie that he better watch his mouth when talking about Davey. She blames Eddie for being the reason that fans “forgot” about Davey during his injury and slaps him across the face; this being a message from the Lone Wolf. Eddie takes the slap but then finds a way to insult Davey through this by saying that Angelina hits harder than her husband does.
And finally, for all you Broken Hardy fans that are still out there, the TNA Tag Team champions make one last appearance on our screens as they continue to teleport the space and world in their expedition for Tag Team gold.
Somehow, in the midst of Vanguard 1’s teleportation, we see The Decay backstage of the Impact Zone in possession of the TNA Tag Team Gold with Rosemary declaring that the Broken Hardys are now deleted, obsolete and decayed! Well, that’s one way of writing the group off I suppose?
Thoughts: For a show that was dubbed as a new start, this week’s show was a bit disappointing.
While it was great to see a new name in the Knockouts division, Rachael has gone to say she isn’t officially signed to Impact which more or less makes this match come across as filler/tryout. There isn’t anything wrong with that but I feel that for such matches, they should be left for Xplosion or even a One Night Only even rather than Impact’s main show.
The match itself was short and sweet; I really like seeing Rachael’s strength countering out of Sienna’s AK-47 and springboard leg drop! It’s just too bad that this match was overshadowed by the awful bickering over at the commentary table. It made this match unbearable to the point that I had to re-watch it by muting out the sound. Please don’t let this be a common thing during this Borash/Matthews feud.
On the positive, I did like Sienna’s interview with McKenzie. It addresses Maria being gone from Impact and gave a chance to show Sienna some character, which is needed as she breaks out as a solo performer. I thought she was humorous and laid some ground work in a potential feud with Allie. I’m not sure if Laurel and Sienna will part ways going forward or if they’ll bot target Allie but its a good start for some new feuds within the division.
I am surprised to see her get involved in Braxton’s matches, just because it felt very random and heelish for someone who is still considered a top babyface. I’m not sure what the point of the crossbody was but maybe it was to show that Allie is still “learning” to wrestle? The bigger take from the match was Laurel still carrying this “broken bride” persona. It’s a gimmick that has potential and is different from the spoiled brat we’ve seen so far but I’d like to see some more scheming from Laurel’s part.
There isn’t too much to say about Angelina this week but I continue to enjoy this new badass role she is portraying across Eddie.
One thing I did want to address was Impact’s desire to solve their identity crisis by ridding of their ‘TNA’ name and going by the name of ‘Impact Wrestling’ from here on out. I understand that they want a fresh start but I think the execution from Bruce Pritchard and Dutch Mantell could’ve been handled better without the need to complete shutdown some of the good of the past. This new administration have their own trouble following them and have made their own mistakes of letting talents slip away so far.
Let’s just hope things turn around in the coming weeks.
What did you think of this week’s episode of Impact? Would you like to see Rachael officially join the Knockouts division? How would you book Allie’s next feud? Let us know in the comments below!
