Happy Thanksgiving Knockout fans! As we are aware of, TNA is currently on hiatus for what will be a six week period. Still, that doesn’t mean we aren’t thankful for what the women of TNA have given us throughout the years. With that in mind, every week we will take a trip down memory lane highlighting classic Knockout moments and matches until TNA returns with new content in their new home of Destination America.
In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, this week we will take a look back at the 2011 Thanksgiving edition of Impact Wrestling.
While it’s known to be an annual Thanksgiving tradition for the male TNA Superstars to compete in the TNA Turkey Bowl to determine who will wear the dreadful Turkey Suit, the year 2011 saw the idea of a new Thanksgiving tradition for the Knockouts. Instead of competing in a Turkey Bowl, the Knockouts would be competing in the first ever Lingerie Bowl or as I like to call it a Thanksgiving Thunder Thong Throw Down! (Trying saying that three times fast.)
Joined in the ring by the Knockouts Tag Team Champions Gail Kim and Madison Rayne along with her assistant Traci Brooks, the dearly missed Knockouts Vice President Karen Jarrett calls out the rest of the Knockouts to break down how this Lingerie Bowl would work. In this match, the likes of Velvet Sky, Tara and Brooke would team up to take on the team of Angelina Love, Winter and Madison Rayne. The catch? They would all have to do it their skimpiest piece of lingerie. This would satisfy the men (or in the eyes of Karen, the nasty, disgusting, horny, perverted freaks!) who would constantly forward texts, emails and tweets to her office.
Aside from Madison, this strikes a nerve to all the participants. After all they want to be taken as serious athletes and wrestling in your undergarments certainly takes that away. Unfortunately for everyone else, the only “real” athlete Karen sees in the ring is the Knockouts Champion Gail Kim and with that she dismisses the ladies so that they can go to their locker rooms and change appropriately.
Backstage (and not available in video), Christy Hemme interviews Tara, Brooke and Velvet to get their thoughts on this somewhat historic match Karen Jarrett ha put together. Unanimously, they oppose the concept calling it a disgrace to their division but promises to get through it and whatever else that monstrous Vice President may throw at them!
On the contrary, Gail Kim is seemingly all pro for the this Lingerie Bowl, praising Karen for her intelligent idea. (Though that must be easy to do when one isn’t actually participating in the match) To Gail’s surprise, Mickie James shows up and calls out Gail Kim on her very hypocritical actions.
Mickie tells Gail that she actually thought better of Gail with everything she’s said and done prior to returning to TNA. Not flattered by Mickie’s rant, Gail suggests that Mickie James leaves if she’s so upset and soon a brawl breaks out between the two.
It’s Thanksgiving Thunder Thong Throw Down time and before any real action takes place, the Babyface and Heel teams each start things off with a back to back pose off! After doing enough flaunting, the match begins with constant back and forth between both teams. Just when it would seem that the Madison would steal the win by hitting Velvet with her Knockouts Tag Team title while the referee was distracted, in comes hardcore country Mickie James to make a save. She snatches the title from Madison, snaps her from the ropes allowing Velvet to hit the In Yo Face for the win!
While this Knockouts Thanksgiving trend never really followed after 2011, it’s probably for the best. While a yearly tradition for the holidays sound like a good idea, I’d like to see something a bit more creative than the simple fan service that seems so easy to rely on and is something that usually doesn’t do a whole lot for the division.
Still, I must admit that I actually liked this inaugural Lingerie Bowl as there was quite a lot of story telling being told. The Knockouts Tag Team titles Madison and Gail held were being sought out by TNT and the team of Angelina and Winter. There was the main Knockouts title being feuded between Gail and Mickie James; two Knockouts that did not even need to participate in the tag match to build up on their feud. Lastly, there was the continuing tension building between Velvet Sky and her superior Karen Jarrett, which was one of my favorite feuds Velvet has had. I think she played her role as a solo face well across from the bossy queen of the mountain Karen Jarrett who too worked wonders in her role.
