Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. For the past few weeks, the Knockouts Title scene has been heating up with Allie and Tessa Blanchard setting their sights on Su Yung, each for their own respective reasons.
All this led to a big confrontation between the three Knockouts last week, setting up for a future Knockouts Title match. This week, however, the spotlight shifts towards two fresh faces within the Knockouts division as Kiera Hogan (with Allie at her side) squares off against Alisha Edwards.
Before her match-up against Kiera, Alisha meets with her husband Eddie Edwards backstage. Thanks to the return of Moose, Eddie manages to escape another two on one attack from Austin Aries and Killer Kross. Alisha says she is just happy in knowing that someone has her “lunatic” husband’s back. Eddie makes a friend, gets the last laugh against his current rival and his wife is having a match this week? Things are looking up!
Our next Knockouts related segment sees an upset Katarina Leigh complaining about her boyfriend Grado‘s recent woes. She worries that they are becoming that laughing stock of the company, which is not what Leigh signed up for! The prestigious Joe Hendry comes to his friend’s defense…. sort of.
He shares a story of their primary three days, where Grado came in last place during an egg spoon race. The following year, after training all day and every day, Grado came in second to last in the said race! The moral of the story is slow and steady wins the race people!
Spirits are, seemingly, lifted but as the trio get ready for a macaroni dinner Scarlett Bordeaux suddenly appears, grabbing the attention of Grado! She mistakes him for a model but the loveable Scottish star corrects her, he is a wrestler. Bordeaux notices a frown on Grado’s face and asks what is wrong.
As Grado pours out his emotions, Bordeaux decides to invite him to The Smoke Show as she is an expert when it comes to women. In exchange for helping Grado, she asks for a favor of her own… which involves in Grado dancing on a pole for Bordeaux’s pleasure? On that note, let’s move on to our featured Knockouts match of the week!
Alisha starts things off with a side headlock on Kiera and then strikes a hard right forearm when Kiera tries to escape. The Knockouts each go for pin attempts but neither are able to score the three count. Back on their feet, they meet in the center of the ring for a sportsmanship handshake but get back in on the action trading waist locks to gain control.
Alisha runs the ropes to escape Kiera’s grasp and takes her down with a running boot. She follows up with some offense from the corner turnbuckles and gets the near fall after connecting a neck breaker. Kiera fights back with a jawbreaker and manages to get a near cover of her own after hitting a series of running corner attacks that include a splash, hip attack, and a sliding dropkick.
Allie cheers Kiera from ringside as she lands a kick to the midsection, snapmare and boot to the face sequence. She sets Alisha up for a Swinging Fisherman’s Neckbreaker but Alisha counters with a flatliner, sending Kiera face first to the mat.
Alisha climbs the top turnbuckle but misses a crossbody, allowing Kiera to take advantage with a running face crusher for a near fall. The Knockouts battle back from a corner turnbuckle where Alisha attempts to lock in a Boston Crab but Kiera fights out of it by kicking Alisha out the way. Kiera’s second attempt at the Swinging Fisherman’s Neckbreaker connects and she picks up the win.
Post-match, Allie joins her friend in the ring to congratulate her. Allie then asks for a microphone. She puts over Kiera and apologizes for taking from Kiera’s moment but Kiera encourages Allie to speak whatever is on her mind. Allie says she is a changed woman with a purpose to put an end to Su Yung. However, every time she tries to do that, she has to look over her shoulder as Tessa Blanchard always gets in the way. To solve this little wrinkle of a problem, Allie suggests that both Yung and Blanchard face her in the ring at the same time and lays down the challenge for a Triple Threat match.
Of course, never one to back down from a fight or stay quiet, Blanchard gives her input and says she’ll agree to the match if the stakes are raised. Let’s make this Triple Threat match for the Knockouts Championship. Oh and she warns Yung to not try and shove that disgusting bloody glove down her throat again, she’ll find out why they call Blanchard the Buzz Saw.
Thoughts: This week’s match was all right. While it wasn’t the smoothest of matches, I am glad to see new faces on TV. I think with more airtime and more character development, Alisha and Kiera can play bigger roles within the division as right now both women are stuck in their ‘sidekick’ roles. Kiera has a lot of spunk and fire.
If you’ve been following Impact Wrestling on Twitter, I’m sure you’re aware that Impact SPOILED the results to next week’s Knockouts Title match themselves. Of course, as with any title match, I would have preferred for it play out live but for the first time in a while, it feels like there is an actual build-up to a Knockouts title match – among three different kinds of wrestlers no less. All that being said, I am still looking forward to seeing how the full match plays out on television.
Scarlett Bordeaux continues to be one of the people (male or female) that I look most forward in seeing on Impact each week. Sure she may be the wrestling comic relief at the moment but I think her character has been a breath of fresh air for the Impact roster. With there already being some friction between Grado and Leigh, I’m interested in seeing if/how Bordeaux interacts with Leigh. Will she play an instigating role leading to her first feud? Will she try to be the voice of reason again? After all, her advice for KM and Fallah Bahh has worked out so far!
What did you think of this week’s episode of Impact? Are you looking for next week’s Knockouts Title match? How do you think the second edition of The Smoke Show will play out? Let us know in the comments below!
