Hola Knockout fans and welcome to this week’s Impact Write-Up. I would first like to apologize for missing last week’s Impact Write-Up. Time was working against me between my work schedule and final exam preparations but nevertheless, we are back for our weekly dose of Knockouts action!
On this week’s program, TNA Knockout enforcer Sienna makes her in-ring debut, after two weeks of making some brutal attacks to the likes of Gail Kim and Knockouts Champion Jade. Also making a television debut this week is Maria Kanellis’ newly found apprentice in the form of Allie. I’m not a huge fan of the name change for Cherry Bomb but regardless, welcome to TNA Allie!
Allie is quick when it comes to completing orders for her new boss. After all, it is a cherry gig, right? I see what you did there TNA! Allie surprises Velvet Sky,who was told she had an important meeting with the leader of the Knockouts, to deliver some not-so pleasant news. On top of having to face Sienna in the ring, Velvet’s career will also be on the line. During a phone call with Maria, Allie explains that if Velvet loses this match, she will be fired! Hmm, TNA pretty much spoiled this match weeks ago, didn’t they?
Another woman in power dropping announcements is TNA President Dixie Carter, who announces that the main event between Lashley and Drew Galloway will be a lumberjack match! Well, that is one way to get almost the entire TNA roster on TV, isn’t it?
Our Knockouts match of the night is next:
After both women make their respective entrances, the bell sounds off and Sienna quickly charges after her smaller foe.
Velvet dodges out the way, going for two consecutive roll up pins when Sienna crashes to the corner turnbuckle but only earns a two count each time. When Sienna gets back on her feet, Velvet goes for the attack, landing a combination of kicks and right forearms. She runs the ropes in the hopes of bringing down Sienna but instead gets hit in the head with a big boot.
Sienna keeps Velvet down on the mat by vigorously stomping her at a corner. She brings Velvet back up and sends her to opposite side of the ring with a hammer throw Irish whip. As with the start of match, Sienna charges after her opponent but Velvet counters by getting her knees up to block the oncoming attack.
When Velvet fails to get the three count on Sienna with again, she runs the ropes to charge at Sienna but finds herself crashing to the outside when Sienna ducks out the way. Sienna joins Velvet to the outside area of the six sided ring and sets her sight on the very same steel steps she had previously used to attack Jade with.
Sienna whips Velvet towards the steel steps but Velvet reverses this, sending Sienna to the steps instead, shoulder first. Velvet tries to capitalize on this opportunity by tossing Sienna back to the ring and going for the cover. Sienna manages to kick out. Velvet goes for another pin attempt after hitting a triple kick and running neck breaker combination but, once again, Sienna manages to stay alive.
Things take a bad turn for Velvet when she goes for her number one stunner. The fighting Velvet begins to set Sienna up for her finisher but Sienna reverses this by shoving Velvet to the ropes. When Velvet springs back to Sienna’s direction, Sienna mounts Velvet over her shoulder, putting Velvet away with a shoulder flip facebuster and covering for the pin. The defeat marks the end of Velvet’s latest TNA run.
Finally, we have Maria Kanellis accompanying her husband Mike Bennett as he issues an open challenge to a TNA Hall of Famer. Hint: it isn’t Sting, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett or Team 3-D! Through the process of elimination, that leaves us with none other than Earl Hebner!
The senior referee proves he still has “it” when he manages to put up some fight against the Miracle and even stands up for himself when Maria tries to get involved. Sadly, even with a few lucky shots, Earl was no match for Bennett and lost. Hey, at least this wasn’t a loser-leaves-TNA match, right Earl?
As for Velvet Sky, TNA cameras caught up with the former two-time Knockouts Champion for a heartfelt goodbye. Velvet thanks her fans for the support throughout her career and also showed her gratitude to TNA for giving her the opportunity and platform to wrestle.
Thoughts: Whether you’ve read the spoilers or not, TNA themselves announced Velvet’s exit weeks before this match actually aired, so it was pretty much a given that she was going in to lose this match.
As far as Velvet’s departure goes, it didn’t feel like she necessarily brought something new to the table since her return last summer. She came back with a new attitude, look and a few new moves but it was still came across as a bit stale between the feuds and reunion with her fellow Beautiful People members Angelina Love and Madison Rayne.
So while it is disappointing to continue to see more talents make their exit in TNA, the bright side is that we are seeing new names come in replace the void. In this case, we saw Allie make her debut and Sienna continue to climb up the ranks.
It is a bit too early to make much of Allie’s gimmick but so far, I am glad that she is having this kind of introduction as Maria’s apprentice. It gets her name out there early and can build some early character development for whatever Maria may have in store. We know that Allie has the skills when it comes to performing in the ring, so I do hope that she doesn’t get too tied in a managing role.
A negative for me this week has to be the continuous habit of short matches the Knockouts are having. The match between Velvet and Sienna lasted only a little over three minutes and I wish we could have had a bit more time to see more from Sienna, given that she is being built as Maria’s muscle enforcer. I was also surprised to see Velvet get as much offense as she did throughout the match but the end result served its purpose; giving Sienna the win and making her look like a threat within the Knockouts division.
With two new women now under Maria’s belt, it would appear that her “vision” of making the Knockouts great again has some strides to it. Let’s only hope that TNA continue to keep things fresh and actually give their women time in the ring!
