Hello all, and welcome to the Impact write-up. It’s a lovely day. Birds are singing, the sky is blue and last night, Taryn Terrell made her debut as an official TNA Knockout. If, like me, you were a fan during her tenure with WWE, you’ll be pleased with recent developments. If, like me, you’re also a huge Mickie James fan, then you’ll be disappointed this week. Sadly, our favourite former-psycho did not make an appearance. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good show! Onward!
This week’s Knockouts segment kicked off with a brief recap of what happened last week, when Brooke Hogan announced that she’d signed Taryn to an official wrestling contract. Chaos ensued between Taryn and Gail Kim, with the blonde attacking the self-proclaimed ‘greatest women’s wrestler that ever lived’. Very tense.
Following the recap, Taryn makes her way out to the ring in brand new blue and pink gear, slightly reminiscent of her old pal in WWE, Kelly Kelly. I’m not a huge fan of the outfit, but this isn’t somewhere for me to vent about my feelings on people’s ring attires. Moving on! It’s Open Fight Night at Impact, and we all know who Taryn is just itching to get her hands on. She grabs a mic and is all smiles.
‘I am so excited,’ she says. ‘It is my first official night as a Knockout!’
Taryn goes on to talk about how there is one woman who has ridiculed her, who has physically assaulted her and even cost her her job as the Knockouts referee. It’s not a secret; she’s calling out Gail Kim! Gail’s music hits and she makes her way out to the Impact zone with a sassy look on her face. She walks around the ring and grabs a mic before making her way in to join Taryn.
‘Taryn, Taryn sweetheart… first off, rookie mistake, honey!’
Yep, Gail is all about the sass tonight. It’s fabulous. She demands to know why Taryn thinks she can just call out the ‘greatest female wrestler that’s ever lived’ on her first night. Gail laughs it off, but Taryn keeps her confidence. Gail is having none of it, and tells Taryn that she’s embarrassing herself on national television. Not only has Taryn rubbed Gail the wrong way, but plenty of others too. One of them even wanted to call Taryn out tonight, apparently.
Gail summons Tara to help her take care of business!
Tara’s music hits and she makes her way to the ring, declaring that she will break Taryn in half! Oh my. This doesn’t look good. Gail nails Taryn from behind and Tara rushes in. A two on one attack ensues, and it looks like they’re going to get the best of Taryn this week…
But here comes the champ, Velvet Sky, to even things out! She rushes in to the ring and takes out both Gail and Tara with successive clotheslines. Gail makes a hasty escape up the ramp, outraged! Tara hurries after her and the four ladies continue to shout each other down as we cut to commercial.
We’re backstage with Velvet and Taryn as they’re being interviewed about the night’s events. Velvet says she was just trying to do the right thing by Taryn. As she goes over how badly Taryn has been treated lately, Taryn suddenly rushes out of shot. She’s spotted Gail backstage and has run after her! She takes the former Knockouts champion down and the two brawl in the hallway. Tara and Velvet have to drag them apart, but not before Taryn throws Gail head-first into a wall! Ouch!
Thoughts: I enjoyed the showing tonight, even though it was a little shorter than I was expecting. I thought we might get a match, perhaps between Taryn and Tara, but I’m sure that will come some way down the line. They’re building and teasing a Gail/Taryn match well. The crowds are getting behind the feud and everyone’s interested in where it’s going. Given that their feud is front and centre in the Knockouts division, I wouldn’t be surprised if it led to a four way between Gail, Taryn, Velvet and Tara for the title. We’ll have to wait and see.
There was no sign of Brooke Hogan this week, either, and I wonder why…
This week was good, and Gail is just great. She’s mean but she’s fabulous, and that’s my favourite kind of character. Eleri out!
