Hello, my fellow Claireheads! Welcome to your one stop shop for all things Impact Wrestling related, the weekly (unless TNA decides to shaft us of women) Impact Write-Up! This week, we were not blessed with too much, but was what we did get worth it? Brooke Tessmacher (I refuse to call her “Miss”, sorry Brooke Hogan) meets her arch rival, Gail Kim in singles action, but her new foe, Madison Rayne also makes her presence felt this evening as well. Not only that, but everyone’s (and by that I mean my own) pride and joy of women’s wrestling, Claire Lynch, also bestows upon us another show stopping, Emmy winning performance! I can hardly contain my excitement, so we’re going to have to start pronto.
We return to the ring to see our weekly pan up shot from everyone’s favorite red headed ring announcer, Christy Hemme. That, ladies and gentlemen, can only mean it’s time for the Knockouts to take center stage. Gail makes her way out first, followed by Brooke… but as Brooke poses on the ring apron, Kim tries to sneak attack her from behind with a dropkick to no avail as Tessmacher moves out of the way. Brooke quickly fends Gail off, before facing the effects of Impact’s own ninja as she drops the champion on the top rope and scores with some kicks. She blows a kiss to her loyal fanbase, as Tessmacher tries to make a come back. Gail continues her dominance though, with a gutbuster across the knee for a two count! Kim with some punches, before following it up with her elastic type move in the corner. Gail then transitions into an awesome standing choke hold until the count nears five, at which point she’s forced to let go.
The crowd tries to get behind Brooke, who takes Gail down with a flying forearm. This only stuns Kim, though, who eventually takes Tessmacher to the canvas. She reverts into a leglock submission, but Brooke tries to fight out. Gail doesn’t seem to give her much of a chance sadly, hitting yet another gutbuster across the knee and taunting the fans. Finally, Brooke starts to make a comeback! She levels Gail with a few shots and clotheslines! A dropkick follows, and then a great leaping clothesline from the ever improving champ. Tessmacher then bops in the Asstastic, but Gail then kicks her away and looks to go for her second rope crossbody! Brooke chops her in the back of the knee to prevent the move, and then from there sets up and perfectly executes the Tess Shocker for the victory! She celebrates her big win, as Madison Rayne now heads out to the ring. Once inside, Rayne eyes down Tessmacher’s title and then proceeds to dip Earl Hebner and make out with him as if to show Brooke what she’s up against this Sunday!
And as always, follow up on our resident addict/adulterer, Claire Lynch below:
Skip to 35:22
Thoughts: I thought the match between Brooke and Gail was fantastic, and one of Brooke’s best to date. Personally, I’ve always felt Gail had the best chemistry when working with Brooke (although we’ve hardly seen Brooke face anyone else), and I think tonight’s showing may tie their first pay per view bout as my favorite between them. The finish was done perfectly as well. Brooke’s Tess-Shocker is my favorite of her finishing moves, although I get why she changed it because nobody aside from Gail seemed to be able to take it well. I’m at least glad to see it made it’s return tonight in the right moment. I really like how the Knockouts get to have actual matches which feel like actual matches in terms of the time they are given each week. I just wish they would get more segments backstage like in the division’s heyday when you could have multiple females shown in various skits. I would personally love to see Rosita as a singles competitor if Sarita is away in Japan and Mexico. The freshness of any match Rosita could be in is endless, and I really really hope TNA bring her back to TV. I’ve pretty much lost hope with Winter, and I don’t even want to discuss anything Gut Check related or I may go off on a tangent with the whole “what’s the point” type shtick, but Rosita is someone I feel like should be back on TV and who won’t choose to leave like Angelina or Velvet because she hasn’t gotten to accomplish as much just yet.
Phew… okay, now back to tonight’s show. The aftermath was also interesting. I will say that I’m glad they had Madison come out because when Brooke was celebrating I was waiting for the Killer Queen to do something and started to believe they may not have her appear at all. Thankfully we got a little build up to the match Sunday, although I’m still not personally sold on the story itself. I think it’s an interesting concept that hasn’t been done to my knowledge, and it does leave me wondering how on earth Brooke is going to be able to overcome the odds Sunday. At the same time, though, I’m also wondering why TNA would let Earl referee their title match if he’s clearly been showing favoritism to Madison. Either way, I’m excited to see how they do Sunday, but I really hope Brooke retains the title for the time being since her reign has essentially only started rather shortly ago. She’s defended her title a few times, and even more defenses can only add to her reign as a whole. There’s still Knockouts left waiting in the wings, so she’s not hit that Gail position yet where I begin to wonder if there will be anyone left for her to face. Overall, I’m enjoying Brooke’s run as champion and I hope it continues!
I love Claire. I love psycho gimmicks. If Claire develops into a psycho persona I’m honestly afraid of anyone that reads any future write-ups because they may be filled with my overjoy and celebratory emotion (okay, I’ll be able to control it because I don’t want to aggravate anyone who reads them.) I’m not afraid to say it, but Claire Lynch is honestly the person I look forward to seeing each and every week when it comes to TNA. That’s not the fault of any of the other women, but Claire is in an actual angle that I find amusing/entertaining. Say what you will about it, but it makes for hilarious TV and it doesn’t bore me in the slightest. Each week, I laugh (with her of course!) at what goes down and I’m generally looking forward to seeing more of her and her beautiful performances. It’s never been a secret that I tend to gravitate more towards people in non-wrestling roles because since they don’t compete, they’re usually always in a storyline or getting to show some sort of a character which I prefer. Whether you hate her or love her, Claire is definitely interesting television and something that fans are talking about. Maybe the fact that Claire has had more put into her development as of late than unfortunately anyone in the division, aside from maybe Madison, should show TNA what’s lacking with the other females, although it probably won’t. Nontheless, the cheesier these segments get, the more I love watching them.
