Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of your Impact Write-Up. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, and the Knockouts are feeling good as they square off in a little tag team action. The previously scheduled title match between Miss Tessmacher and Gail Kim has now been pushed back a week due to Kim’s lawyer finding a clause in her contract that states she must have a week’s notice prior to any title match, thus tonight we will see each woman pick their best friend to team up in a tag match of epic proportions as Tessmacher and Tara square off against Gail and Madison Rayne. Also, after weeks of anticipation, Madison’s “crush” is revealed. Nothing involving Brooke Hogan or Claire, which saddens me and probably makes everyone else happy, so let’s get started!
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We head backstage to spot Tara and Miss Tessmacher standing by in their dressing room, as the camera man asks Brooke about Gail’s legal maneuvers. She claims Gail is scared to face her, and she will beat her no matter what Gail tries to pull. What’s great about tonight though, is that she gets to team up with her best friend, Tara for a little tag action. They hug, as Tara says that Brooke makes her and all the women who have held that belt before her proud. Tessmacher says she wouldn’t have won it without all the help Tara has given her, and the two hug once again to end the segment.
Following a really nice video recap on Taeler Hendrix‘s contract win last week on Gut Check, we’re taken to the ring for our weekly pan up shot of Christy Hemme as she introduces the team of Madison Rayne and Gail Kim. The two walk out, looking more focused and attentive this week. Nonetheless, they are still cut off by the addictive theme of our champion and her BFF, Miss Tessmacher and Tara. They step into the ring as the bell sounds and Madison ambushes Brooke from behind. She tosses Tessmacher outside the ring and then proceeds to Irish Whip her into the barricade! Awesome. Rayne throws Brooke into the ring and locks in a choke hold, before slamming her down and tagging in Gail.
Champion and challenger now legal, as Gail kicks Brooke around and forbids her from tagging in Tara. Kim scores with a huge clothesline, but only gets a two count. Knee to the face, as Brooke tries to fight out. A brief moment of glory comes her way, but Gail remains in control. Kim then leaps onto the second rope and attempts a crossbody, but Tessmacher dodges out of the way and soon both Rayne and Tara are legal. Tara goes to town on Madison with some punches and clotheslines. A suplex follows, with a kip up and sidewalk slam as well. She only attains a nearfall, but this sparks her to go for the Widow’s Peak. Kim breaks the move up, though, so Tara shoves Madison into Gail, knocking her out of the ring. From there, she hits the Widow’s Peak! Tag into Brooke, who plants Madison with her clothesline/neckbreaker type move that I wish I knew a name for, and then pins Madison to the mat for the three count. TNT celebrate their win, as Kim looks to strike next week when the title’s on the line.
Also, check out the reveal of Madison Rayne’s “crush” below:
Thoughts: Not as wild a night for the Knockouts as we’ve grown accustomed to lately, but I’m perfectly fine with that because there wasn’t much more they needed to do. Gail and Tessmacher’s match was built for next week through the tag. Tessmacher pinned Madison to look strong heading into it, and we finally got Madison’s crush revealed as well. Things got accomplished in a few segments, and that’s fine and dandy.
Brooke got to speak, as did Tara, which is what I’ve been asking for in terms of Tessmacher’s title reign needing more promos. I thought the tag match was fine and pretty much what you’d expect from it since we’ve probably seen Gail and Madison face every possible combination of two Knockouts you can imagine outside of the few who you unfortunately kind of forget are even employed half the time. I liked it starting out with Madison ambushing Brooke and throwing her into the steel barricade, which was definitely the part of the match we hadn’t seen multiple times before, so I love that they incorporated something different into it to make it stand out from all their other tag matches against various Knockouts.
Also glad they at least gave us a video recap of Taeler’s victory in the Gut Check challenge last week because I already feel worried she won’t get much TV time. TNA have so many talent that already don’t get used, which is why I still don’t get the point of debuting so many new stars as of late, but I really like Taeler so I want her to succeed.
And all I’ll say is that Madison should be commended for doing whatever it takes to not join “Team Underused” with Sarita, Rosita, ODB, and Winter (perhaps soon also Velvet and Mickie). She’s not in the title picture, thus her position in the division was at stake so she thought quickly about what to do and figured that Earl Hebner is guaranteed to be on TV every week. Good on her for locking lips with him to keep herself on screen!
