This Impact Write-Up is bittersweet for me. As great of a night as this was for the Knockouts, I think of the repercussions it had. We learned last week that at this particular taping not one, but two Knockouts were ultimately injured and it’s unclear when they will return. One of the stars of tonight’s Impact, Angelina Love, suffered a few injuries thanks to the segment we will get to see. I’m not sure how bad her injuries were or if she will miss any time, so maybe someone in comments can clear it up for me. I want to dedicate this Write-Up to Angelina and our Zombie Hot goddess, Daffney. Get well soon and get back ASAP. TNA needs you both and so do all of the fans!
Now with the sap out of the way, lets get down to business. A lot of us were annoyed last week with the lack of Tara and Angelina in our lives and thankfully, TNA made up for it this week. Angelina and Tara squared off in one amazing post match fight that gave Knockout fans from around the world ample opportunity to get to their feet and cheer their faces off. But prior to that, there was a match featuring brand new Knockouts Champion, Madison Rayne, defending against the two former champions; Tara and Angelina.
Skip ahead to 3:45 unless you want AJ Styles hotness!
Before the match starts, we’re treated to a backstage segment featuring the Beautiful People and to say they’re unhappy about Madison’s title defense would be an understatement. The BP are downright furious that Madison has to step into the ring against two former champions. As Madison rants, she points out that doesn’t even need to be pinned in order to lose her Knockouts Title and Velvet makes a highly disgusted sound. They talk about how it’s total BPD and after a minute, Lacey is like “oooh. Boston Police Department.” An awkward silence ensues for a half second before Lacey starts getting stroked and informed that BPD stands for “Beautiful People Discrimination.” Velvet claims that the minute the Beautiful People get things under control, TNA management literally starts falling over themselves to try and find ways to screw over the group. Lacey declares that no one can screw them and Velvet very gently reminds her that they can’t screw the Beautiful People “over.” Lacey agrees to that as well as Madison stands in the background shaking her head. Velvet’s getting super upset so Madison intervenes and says that as the new Knockouts Champion she is going to take care of both Angelina and Tara tonight. With the way the two of them have been barking over the title as of late, Madison will easily be able to cleanse TNA of not one, but two ugly people tonight.
A video package is played highlighting all the events that have led up to Angelina and Tara feuding and finally it’s time for the match. Angelina is the first woman to make her way to the ring and the crowd gives her a great pop. We’re reminded that she lost her title at Lockdown without getting pinned or submitting, and Tara comes out next. Tara has her mascot in hand and the cameras cut to a view of the ring where the referee is having to restrain Angelina from running down the ramp and attacking Tara before the match even begins! Tara reminds stoney-faced and taunts her rival, while the music of the Beautiful People begins to play. As usual, they make their way to the ring as the solid, cohesive unit they are and I must say, I want Velvet Sky‘s shoes added to my closet right freakin’ now. Can someone please find out where she got them? Anyway, they do their usual thing but in a fun twist of events, the referee ejects them which leaves Madison on her own for this match.
Of course the Beautiful People protest this move but the referee’s not interested and Madison finds herself facing two angry challengers alone. The bell rings and Madison makes the split second decision to get the heck out of dodge. She flies out of the ring and takes off running, but Angelina is right there on her heels. She finally runs back into the ring but has her head taken off with a clothesline via a waiting Tara. Angelina is back in the ring as well and she bumps chests with Tara. The two heated foes are nose to nose and start talking trash to one another. Angelina is the first to strike with a nice right hand to Tara’s face. Tara fires back with her own right and Angelina answers it and then attempts to whip Tara into the ropes. Tara reverses it and sends Angelina across the ring, but the Canadian bounces off and levels Tara with an absolute sick spear. Instead of going for the immediate pin Angelina mounts her dark haired opponent and starts wailing on her. Her attack is so vindictive that the referee has to pull her away and Madison sneaks into the ring and attempts to steal the win. Angelina puts a stop to that and throws Madison in the corner. She starts kicking her before Tara comes up and makes the unintentional save.
Madison takes the free time to catch her breath while Tara starts to use Angelina like a rag doll. Tara pulls Angelina up by the hair and lets her hang in the air before flipping her over and dropping Angelina on the ground. Tara is getting a nice little mix of jeers at this point and she goes to cover Angelina. Madison shows up and stops that from happening by pushing Tara off the ex-BP member. With Tara caught off guard, Madison takes control and does a nice little side roll on Tara to place her in a pinning position. The MMA fighter powers out but Madison isn’t distressed. She simply nails Tara with a decisive kick to the head, and that sends the Californian out of the ring. With the Knockouts Champion firmly in control, TNA decides to go to commercial (which doesn’t shock anyone anymore).
When Impact returns, Angelina is in control of the ring action. She slams Madison’s head off the turnbuckle then drags her to the opposite side and does the same thing. Madison is pretty dazed but she still tries to have a go at Angelina, but that’s just not in the cards right now. Angelina knocks her flat, goes for the cover, and gets a two count. Tara is seen trying to drag herself up but she’s not really having any luck. She’s a bit woozy herself, not that we would know or anything because Impact went to a commercial break. She’s moving her jaw around a bit so she probably got clocked pretty good. Back inside the ring, Madison is trying to plead with Angelina to just leave her be. Angelina’s not going to adhere to that plea so Madison tries to escape. She’s caught and pulled back into the ring by her ankle. Angelina scoops her up and hits her with a vicious slam. This takes a lot out of the champion because when Angelina goes for the cover, Madison barely gets her shoulder up in time. She does, which is good news, and promptly rolls out of the ring to try and regroup.
Angelina goes to follow her, unaware that Tara has popped up again, and she’s bitchslapped like a cheap whore and thrown head first into the steel ring post. Angelina sells this so well and Tara climbs on the ropes to survey the damage she has done. Madison sleeks into the ring, rolls Tara up, but Tara is out after a one count. Tara takes her unhappiness out on Madison and lays a kick to her midsection. Madison doubles over and gets rolled up into some type of front face guillotine choke hold. Yeah, that sounds good. Tara is screaming like a banshee and eventually both women drag one another to their feet. Tara chest chops Madison to the ropes and whips her across to the opposite set. Madison ducks a clothesline attempt, comes back from the other side, and takes Tara down with a hair mare (is that even a move or did I just become super creative?). Madison can’t capitalize because she’s hurting and Tara isn’t feeling much better at this point. Angelina is still on the outside trying to figure out if she’s in Orlando or Luxembourg, and the crowd is solidly into this match and trying to rally everyone to their feet.
In true storylike fashion, all three women end up on their feet at the same time. Angelina claws her way back into the ring and lays out Madison and Tara with a double clothesline. She’s gotten her second wind and precedes to lay out Tara and Madison with some great shots to their faces and whatnot. Angelina turns her attention to Tara and pulls off a beautiful modified jawbreaker which causes the fans to oooh and ahhh. Madison meets a similar fate, although it wasn’t as spectacular, but she makes the mistake of turning her back on Tara. Tara picks her up and sidewalk slams her down. Tara has all the momentum now and she’s looking to put Angelina away for good. She waits patiently for Angelina to stagger to her feet but at the same time Madison is getting up as well. The devious Knockouts Champ sees an opening and she shoves Angelina into Tara, sending Tara through the ropes and out of the ring. Wasting no time, Madison pulls Angelina into a roll-up, grabs a handful of tights, and gets a very shady three count to retain her title.
As Madison celebrates and rubs her victory in the face of the other two girls, Tara is furious. She starts unleashing her anger on Angelina and Angelina is quick to fight back. TNA security rushes the ring and does their best to pull these two women apart. They get them separated but both are trying to get away. Angelina eventually breaks away and goes back at Tara and the fight is back on! Security has to scramble but they take a few bumps in the process. Angelina’s even taken to the ground at one point but that doesn’t help. She gets right back up and she and Tara are at it again. It’s absolute madness in the Impact Zone and the crowd is eating up these two women like they’re delicious pieces of succulent chocolate cake. It’s pointless to try and keep them apart so finally they just stop trying. Tara begs Angelina to leave her alone and even starts crying, saying that she is sorry. Angelina puts on her WTF face but nonetheless backs off. Deciding to be the bigger person, Angelina turns and walks away but just like at Lockdown Tara cheap shots her and Angelina is sent sprawling up the ramp thanks to a monstrous club to the back. That basically ends the Knockout portion of Impact and all I have to say is wow!
The Good: It definitely benefited me to watch this match a second time and while in a better mood because it came off as flawless. Sometimes triple threat matches are absolute madness and not in a good way. This one had the right mix of madness, wrestling, and well, talent. Tara and Angelina are hot and I look forward to seeing where this feud is going to go. Their first feud never really did anything for me, but the emotion in this one is great and I’m totally into it now. I’m wondering how Angelina’s injury is going to play into this because like I stated earlier, I’m not really sure how severe it is. Impact was totally hot tonight and it’s thanks to the these two women.
The Beautiful People had a fun backstage segment. I’m glad they were showcased since the match wasn’t booked around them for a change. I like watching them talk because Lacey is pretty funny, and Velvet is just such a bitch. It makes for great television because all three have different personalities, yet they’re the same in so many ways. They remind me of the snobby cheerleaders no one really liked in high school and this win for Madison was a great one. I didn’t mind the roll-up pin that much because after re-watching this, I noticed that all three women did about the same amount of work. Madison took a lot of bumps but she usually does in her matches. Sneaking out the win at the end is a good thing for a heel to do, but I hope it doesn’t become a habit for her. For her first title defense, this is about as good as you can get so props to Madison.
I also liked the ejection of the Beautiful People. Had Lacey and Velvet stayed at ringside it would have been to much of a distraction. This match was not about them and honestly, it really wasn’t about Madison either. It was booked pretty much to perfection in Angelina/Tara terms and the Beautiful People still came off strong as well. I didn’t find anything bad or ugly about tonight for the Knockouts, and next week should prove to be interesting. We should find out who is going make up for the losses of Daffney and Angelina, and we should find out what will happen with the Tara/Angelina sage, and the Knockouts Championship. On a night where we got surprising draft picks and great Diva action, the Knockouts lived up to expectations and I take away my middle stance on this match and give it two solid thumbs up. I hope TNA can deliver something hot for next week with or without their injured Knockouts and finally do the girls justice on a live show.
