Hello everybody, and welcome to this week’s edition of the Impact Write-Up! Let me start off by saying that I apologize in advance if this one isn’t to the newfound standard I’ve tried to set for myself when it comes to the recaps, but I got pulled away this morning and unfortunately I’ve had to start this rather late. And if you know me, I’m the worst person to do anything under pressure as I freak out and speed through to try and get it done on time.
Now that that’s out of the way, we can delve into the Knockout related greatness. Last week, if you recall, Velvet Sky shocked the world when she debuted a new bodysuit gear and scored a victory over Madison Rayne. This week, however, she’s looking to get a title shot against Tara. First, she must outwit, outlast, and outplay Mickie James, ODB, and Brooke Tessmacher in order to be chosen by our head judge, Brooke Hogan, to receive the title shot and a check for a million dollars. Err… maybe that last part is a little wrong as I’m still feeling the after effects of a fantastic season of Survivor, but you catch my drift (hopefully)!
P.S. – Apologies for the random order of the segments. And if the videos don’t show at first, give it a little time and they should be working.
We head backstage, as our Caucasian Tyra Banks, Brooke Hogan, sits with her title shot hopefuls. She wants them to all turn on Velvet Sky by throwing her under the bus as to why she doesn’t deserve to get the shot. Tessmacher believes that Velvet has been gone for a while and shouldn’t be thrust right into a title opportunity from the get go, but Velvet counters that by bringing up that she’s been there for five years since the start. Brooke Hogan then turns her attention to ODB and ODB’s husband who has a “bum ol’ foot”, and thus decides that ODB needs to take care of that before she can get a shot. (Wasn’t this the same reason ODB got eliminated the last time they did one of these championship style segments?)
NOW PAUSE THE VIDEO RIGHT NOW. Sorry about that, just had to get your attention because the video above completely skips the next elimination.
Brooke Hogan stands with Tessmacher, Mickie, and Velvet, as they try to pry into her personal life like the shining pupils they are. Brooke turns her sights on Tessmacher, citing that she has won the title twice which is proof she’s got the chops. Since she’s proven herself already, she wants to know why the other two don’t deserve the shot over her. Tessmacher doesn’t specifically think they don’t deserve the chance, but the difference is that she’s been here consistently over the past few months as opposed to Mickie and Velvet. She wants a chance to fight Tara without Jesse in the background or any distractions. Mickie chimes in and also doesn’t feel that she’s gotten a fair shot either, as both she and Velvet agree they came back so close together that it was a little bit of awkward timing.
Velvet does say that neither have really gotten to get their moment since returning as they’ve kind of overlapped each other. While Mickie came back first, they’re all here for the same thing. They seem to understand where the other is coming from, but Brooke Hogan is here for business. She likes tension, and really who doesn’t? Brooke kind of uses Tessmacher’s strengths as a way to dismiss her from the competition, bringing up that she’s been consistent and held the title twice, and because of that, she isn’t going anywhere. Right now though, it’s time for Mickie and Velvet to duke it out in the finals. Tessmacher seems pretty disappointed, but she vows to get another crack at Tara and prove all of them wrong.
Now we go back to the original video!
Skip to 0:55
Backstage once again right before the match, Brooke Hogan stands with Mickie and Velvet. She feels both have been working hard since their returns, but Mickie hasn’t gotten a fair shake just yet so before moving onto Velvet, we need to fix Mickie’s situation. Thus it will be Mickie James getting the title shot against Tara tonight! Velvet’s pissed to put it loosely, but Brooke instructs our bodysuit clad Knockout to simply watch and study Tara so that she can prepare for when her time comes. Brooke wishes Mickie luck, and Velvet follows suit rather sarcastically. Mickie, however, seems none too worried about Velvet’s lack of happiness for her as she skips on out to the ring to prepare for the big fight.
Christy Hemme and Taryn Terrell stand in the background, as Tara and Jesse walk out soon after. Color me confused, because if Brooke just basically said the reason Mickie is getting the title shot tonight is to give her a fair shot that she didn’t have at Final Resolution, then why is Jesse allowed out here again? Whatever the reason may be (I’ll assume Jesse is blackmailing our Knockouts Executive with embarrassing photos), our Impact power couple look ready to go as Taryn raises the belt up for the world to see. Once the bell sounds, Mickie scores with a quick set of roll ups for a few nearfalls. The two women bridge up and fight for the advantage to a backslide, but Mickie rolls out and nails a beautiful victory roll off the ropes. Mickie with a snapmare, but as she goes for a dropkick, Jesse trips her up and Tara goes for the pin but just attains a two count.
Tara throws Mickie across the ring and wipes the natural hair of Mickie off her hands. A shot to the back, as the crowd gets behind our country cowgirl. Tara just continues to dismantle the skull of Mickie, eventually backing her into the corner and scoring a few shoulders to the stomach. MJ is tossed into the opposing turnbuckle, with Tara now going to get a motivation kiss from her boo. After a near fall, the Knockouts Champ applies an arm submission, but with the power of the crowd behind her, Mickie fights out and counters a sidewalk slam into a headscissors! Mickie with a crucifix, but Jesse distracts Taryn. Tara hits a powerslam, but when that only garners a two count, she smacks Mickie in the face. As she attempts the standing moonsault, Mickie gets the knees up and now both are down. They trade shots in the middle of the ring, before it’s Mickie who kicks Tara in the abs and drills her with a set of clotheslines.
Arm trap neckbreaker gets a two count as Tara just kicks out. Tara goes for the Widows Peak… but Mickie backs out! Mickie absolutely spikes Tara with the DDT, but Jesse grabs Tara to the outside. Mickie ascends to the top rope and takes Jesse out with a Thesz Press! The crowd gets behind MJ as she slaps him in the face and rolls Tara inside the ring. He grabs her by the boot, which is just enough to distract her as Tara hits some sort of atomic drop where her face collides into Tara’s kneebrace for the victory! Tara and Jesse celebrate the win, while Mickie lives to fight another day.
Thoughts: Great night for the Knockouts yet again. I love the set up of the backstage segments and how they legitimately come off as every one of them wanting to get a title shot. It’s essentially everyone for themselves, and whether or not you’re friends with the other Knockouts, you do what it takes to make yourself look like the best candidate to get the title shot. Although some of the reasoning for the eliminations kind of confused me (Tessmacher’s two title reigns being used against her when Mickie’s also a two time champ, or Mickie winning to get a fair shot at Tara yet having Jesse interfere constantly and never get sent to the back) I still love how they come off in the long run. It makes the challenger look strong even before the match begins because they outlasted three other viable contenders to get to the spot they’re at.
The match was great as well. The finish kind of came off a little weird to me, but that’s only because of the camera angle. When the repeat hit and you saw Mickie actually collide face first into Tara’s knee brace, then it made perfect sense and actually looked like a really cool finishing move. Of course, one of the high points for me would be Mickie’s dive to the outside on Jesse, then proceeding to slap him in the face once for good measure as well. I still want to see Mickie get a one on one match with no Jesse at ringside, but I would most certainly not be mad to see a triple threat feud build up. Velvet didn’t look too pleased when Mickie was chosen over her, and I love that unpredictability of wondering what next week is going to be like between the two. Is Velvet going to get over it with time? Or is she always going to have it sitting in the back of her mind that Mickie got chosen over her just like the last time we had one of these championship opportunities back when Brooke held the title?
I’m not sure where things are going, and that’s a feeling I like having. Keep it going Knockouts!
