Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact recap. Unfortunately, it’s another week without any Knockout matches a bummer after last week’s Under Pressure event. Instead, we begin to look ahead of this year’s Slammiversary, see the return of yet another Knockout and have a good old backstage brawl!
Earlier this week, Impact Wrestling held their Slammiversary Press Conference where it was mentioned that this year’s event, Su Yung will defend the Knockouts Championship against Madison Rayne!
Speaking of the Knockouts Champion, Yung gets a short hype video highlighting her new reign of terror of the Knockouts division.
Joining Madison Rayne and Katarina Leigh in making their return to Impact, this week it is LAX’s own Diamanté making a comeback following her injury from last July. She tries to play catch up with Ortiz and Santana at the group’s clubhouse on everything she’s missed since being MIA but raises an eyebrow at the mention of King taking charge. She begins to speculate on how convenient it is of him coming through as the top jefe after Konan gets taken out.
Speaking of King, he meets up with LAX and asks Diamanté how her knee is doing. She says her knee is just fantastic but asks for an update on Konan. King reassures her that he is good but tonight is about getting revenge for K-Dog.
As she has said in a recent interview, Rayne says that she came back to Impact to have light heart fun, see her Impact family and call the action from the commentary table but all that changed when Tessa Blanchard started acting like a bully. She adds that despite being a talented, third generation wrestler, Blanchard comes across as a brat.
Rayne called her win over Blanchard last week a defining moment and begins to set her sights on the Knockouts Championship, saying that it isn’t far out of reach. She has been on the cusp of winning the title more than once but this time a sixth Knockouts Championship reign is coming from the drive of wanting to prove something to her daughter.
After that touching spotlight on Rayne, McKenzie Mitchell is backstage of the Impact Zone to interview Tessa Blanchard. Blanchard brushes off her defeat from last week and instead, explains the differences between winners and losers. Winners, such as herself, knows who they are, what they are capable of and goes out there to make things happen.
Then there are losers, who are so insecure that they have to take a stroll down memory lane to relive their glory days. Enter Kiera Hogan who says she isn’t looking for a fight but at the mention of Blanchard first lost on Impact, a backstage brawl breaks out between the two Knockout that sees Blanchard standing tall in the end.
NEXT WEEK – after their backstage brawl, next week we're just going to turn them loose.
It'll be @HoganKnowsBest3 vs. @Tess_Blanchard in a No Disqualifications match! #IMPACTonPop pic.twitter.com/FCNV7oStFv
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) June 8, 2018
These two Knockouts will have a chance to finish what they started next week when they compete in a No DQ match next week!
Speaking of finishing what they started, Eddie Edwards is looking to truly end things once and for all with Sami Callihan in an Unsanctioned Street Fight in the woods! Eddie has “murder” on his unhinged mind and tries to destroy Callihan by busting him open only to be distracted by the arrival of Tommy Dreamer and Alisha Edwards. They plead with Eddie to stop
The small distraction allows Callihan to flee into the dark, enraging Eddie to the point that he attacks Dreamer with a bat. Eddie tells his wife to go with him to find Callihan as “it’s not over” but Alisha refuses and looks after Dreamer as Eddie’s hunt continues.
Thoughts: It’s always a bit hard to try to collect thoughts on a show that involved very little women. Hell, the Su Yung and Madison Rayne clips were up on Impact Wrestling’s YouTube show before the show even aired – which just feels like a pure filter when there isn’t any additional to latch on to.
Having said that, I am glad to see strides being made to at least build towards Slammiversary, one of few live PPVs we actually get from Impact throughout the year. I think Rayne hasn’t missed a beat when it comes to promos or in the ring and is an established enough star to mix it up with this new generation of Knockouts. Even if we are a month away from Slammiversary, I have to believe that Su Yung is going to retain, setting up for a bigger for when Rosemary heals up.
I was living for Blanchard building a case for herself as to why she is a winner while putting down Rayne for wanting to relive her “glory” days. Even though Rayne is closely finding her way to the title picture, I’d love to see these her continue this rivalry with Blanchard.
I’m disappointed to see no Allie on Impact this week. After her character took a step in consuming to the darkness and then losing the Knockouts title, I would’ve liked to see a follow-up as to where her mindset is.
I hope that next week’s No DQ match gets a fair amount of time. Impact has always let the Knockouts make the most of stipulated style matches and here’s a chance for both women to spark some of their own respective fire (no pun intended on Kiera!) since their Impact debuts.
What did you think of this week’s episode of Impact? Are you excited to see Diamanté back on Impact? Are you looking forward to this year’s Slammiversary? Let us know in the comments below?
