Fresh off their Slammiversary PPV on Sunday, TNA had big plans of bringing fans a special “live” episode of Impact on Tuesday night. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be, as technical difficulties from Pop TV! and/or TNA production team caused a near two hour delay! Poor TNA can’t seem to catch a break. Also unfortunate for Knockout fans this week, no matches took place! I guess a title switch from one of two PPVs doesn’t mean much for the women. Despite no match up or real appearance from newly crowned Knockouts Champion Sienna and gal pal Allie, there was still plenty of Knockouts sighting through out the night. Let’s look at the brighter side of things.
We first spy Reby Sky assisting her husband “Broken” Matt Hardy in his latest plot against Brother Nero ( a la Jeff Hardy). Matt lures his brother to the same set of stairs where Jeff delivered a Swanton Bomb from the heavens that brought out this “broken” side of Matt. Suddenly “Big Money Matt” doesn’t have a bad ring to it.
Unknown to Jeff, Reby would attack from behind with a fire extinguisher; guess it beats throwing a fake baby to your brother-in-law?
From one managing Knockout to another, we now turn to Raquel… changing in the Knockouts’ locker room? Thanks to some spy power camera and poor promotion crossovers for Big Brother: After Dark, reality stars Jessie Godderz and Robbie E can now spy all over the Impact Zone; from the catering hall, to stage area and, apparently, the Knockouts locker room. The BroMans lay claim that with this use of technology, they’ll win back the TNA Tag Team titles soon enough. Stay classy guys.
On to the highlight of our night: the official announcement for this year’s TNA Hall of Fame inductee!
Traditionally announced during Slammiversary, this year’s Hall of Fame announcement was held on a regular semi-live episode of Impact Wrestling. The TNA roster are all out at the entrance ramp to hear TNA President Dixie Carter’s announcement. Madam Carter begins by proudly stating that TNA is entering its fifteenth (bravo TNA, bravo) and says this year’s inductee came in looking for an opportunity that would blossom in to a family.
Without further ado, Dixie name drops Gail Kim as this year’s TNA Hall of Fame inductee. ALL HAIL GAIL!!!
Gail joins Dixie in the ring, as we are treated to a small video package that include some highlights of Gail’s statistics throughout her wrestling career. An emotional Gail is sung “Thank you, Gail” chants by the Impact Zone and her peers. Gail takes a moment to speak and thanks the fans as well as TNA for being that platform to display her wrestling skills. So richly deserved, congratulations Gail!
Our next stop is backstage, where Jeremy Borash is joined by the returning Marti Bell. After a quick recap of Marti’s interference at Slammiversary, where she would cost Jade her Knockouts Championship, JB asks for an explanation.
Martin stops JB from going any furthering, telling him that The Dollhouse was something she Jade came in with together. Never mind the amount of leaders that shifted in the group or how many members came in and out. At the end of the day, it was about their nine year friendship; all that was thrown away when Jade won the gold.
On that cue, enter Jade! The former Knockouts champion lunges after Marti, tossing her former to a bed of chairs before being pulled away by officials.
As “Gold Rush” night continues on Impact, where ever title BUT the Knockouts Championship is on the line, the TNA Tag Team successfully defend their titles against three other teams thanks to some screwy finishes by Rosemary, Raquel and even Al Snow at ringside.
After a celebratory moment in honoring Gail Kim, Dixie Carter night is suddenly twisted when she finds herself in a war of words against Maria Kanellis and hubby Mike Bennett. Maria has a conspiracy that her husband loss to Ethan Carter III was because of TNA management not wanting them to succeed.
TNA Executive Billy Corgan tries to reason with his Bennett friends but Maria wants Dixie Carter and calls her out! Dixie shuts Maria up and lashes out to at the First Lady of Professional Wrestling for her lack of contributions in the ring. After some thought, Dixie also considers taking away Maria’s role as leader of the Knockouts division.
Maria holds her own, claiming to be a self-made woman who has accomplished so much more in her wrestling career than Dixie ever could. When a passionate Maria begins to shove our Madam President, Dixie fires back with a slap that brings Maria to the ground! Let’s call this the “Darlin’ Special Slap” finisher?
Dixie departs the ring, leaving Maria and fans shocked upon her actions.
Thoughts: I do wish that TNA would have made more of an effort in establishing Sienna as the new Knockouts Champion. Having her appear very briefly during Gail Kim’s Hall of Fame announcement isn’t enough and my concern is that Sienna’s reign as champion will be similar to that of Jade’s; being treated as an afterthought. This shouldn’t be the case when you have two new fresh talents that can sort of spark a new interest for fans and bring something new to the table. It almost feels like Jade could have retained her title and begin a feud with Marti, territory that is already shaping in to place.
Speaking of Marti and Jade, I am so glad that Marti is back! Since the break up the Dollhouse she (and Rebel) have been MIA when there was so much that the three could have gone with. The feud writes itself and I’m really loving the attitude Marti is bringing in her promos! There’s a lot of hurt feelings from both sides and I’m glad to see TNA finally pick up the pieces of the puzzle.
My favorite moment of the night has to be the Gail Kim to TNA Hall of Fame announcement. Gail Kim is a woman who truly has done so much for TNA and wrestling as a whole. Wherever fans may stand on the whole “Gail Kim booking/push” debate, one thing we can all agree on is that Gail has contribute so much for this division and given her body to put on some of our favorite matches. She is a woman of passion and it is so rewarding to see that she will truly be honored and appreciated later this year.
And finally, there’s the Dixie/Maria sage to address. Normally, I’d like Dixie to minimize any TV time; simply because I feel her segments are often more misses than hits. This, however, was surprisingly entertaining! Who would’ve thought we would see Madam Carter throw a slap at someone, someone like Maria at that! I think being across Maria, who has been a shining star on the mic since coming to TNA, sort of helped gather that emotion investment for the segment. Of course, where do we go from here? Is Maria going to bypass her feud with Gail to challenge her own boss Dixie? Will Dixie play a role in the eventual Gail Kim vs. Maria match? Only time will tell.
