Good evening, afternoon or morning, Knockouts fans! Whichever time zone you’re in, hello. To the Americans among you, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re stuffed full of turkey, even today!
So this week we see Velvet Sky go one on one with the very intimidating Lei’D Tapa. Like, you might not agree with her being intimidating but none of you would feel particularly confident if you were facing her, and you’d just annoyed her. So there’s that. There’s also the continuation of #HeelDixie, which by now you should know the Diva Dirt Family is thankful for this year. Plus we’ll see the fallout of Brooke costing Bully Ray his match last week, and thereby being responsible for them having to disband.
Dixie Carter is starting the show. Things have been going amazingly for Dixie lately, according to Dixie. She’s been crazy busy, so she decided to hire herself a Chief of Staff. Who could it be? She’s been interviewing people for weeks, trying to find the right person. In the end, only one person had the very special attribute that Dixie was looking for. Turns out the attribute was that they had to be British, because the British know how to treat royalty. Cheers, Dixie! The accent is really stinkin’ cute, too. (Just by the by, not every British person has the same accent. Diva Dirt’s Jack and I could not sound more different and we’re both humble Brits! But this isn’t the place.)
The new Chief of Staff is: Rockstar Spud! The incredibly orange winner of British Bootcamp.
He tells Dixie, now that he’s in the US, she’s his queen. Oh yes. She’s thrilled.
But back to business. We’re down to the last four men in the world heavyweight championship tournament, one of whom is my love Jeff Hardy. The #WheelOfDixie was spun earlier today. I’m enjoying the way Dixie is walking the line of heel and tweener here, because while her character is not one the crowd like, she makes tables and last man standings matches between their faves, which they cheer for. Interesting. I like it.
Dixie’s talking about a game from one of her family’s ‘many’ companies. They play every year to help motivate their workers. They take the company, split the staff in half and make them compete against each other. So… wrestling, then. Oh no, it’s called Winner Winner, Turkey Dinner! Dixie hath decreed that whomever wins their matches shall be treated to a feast fit for a king. Splendid. And what of the losers? Well, it’s another of Dixie’s infamous one liners.
“They get nothing, because they’re losers!”
Dixie is trying to earn the thankfulness of her employees, who are unlike AJ Styles in that he has never shown her an ounce of thankfulness in his entire life. But enough about him. She brought him up but that’s enough about him. Dixie introduces her nephew, Ethan Carter III! Together, they say that ‘they’re the Carters, and the world needs them’. Lovely. Just lovely. Dixie heads out of the ring for her nephew to carry on with a match.
Moving on, Velvet Sky heads out for her match against the fearsome Lei’D Tapa. Out second is Tapa, accompanied by Knockouts champion, and her assosciate, Gail Kim.
The ladies lock up in the centre of the ring but Tapa throws Velvet back easily. Velvet isn’t having that and, showing a lot of heart, runs right back to Tapa for another lock up. Tapa makes quick work of her once again and throws her back, this time knocking Velvet off her feet. That is one powerful woman. But Velvet is a tough chick, and she’s quick. She dodges an attack by Tapa and delivers some quick kicks to Tapa’s legs. Good strategy; if she can knock her down, she can beat her. Velvet makes a mistake by going for a headlock. Tapa picks her up and drives her into the turnbuckle with a smash. It knocks the wind out of Velvet.
Tapa goes in for the kill but Velvet manages to get out of the way. Tapa hits the turnbuckle and Velvet jumps on her back, going for what appears to be a sleeper hold. Again, good tactics. Velvet may be outmatched but she knows how to play it. Tapa whips her over her head and back to the mat. Tapa lines up Gail for a big boot in the corner, but Velvet’s quickness comes into play and she’s well out of the way. Tapa gets hung on the ropes, giving Velvet an ample opportunity to get in some big kicks to her mid section and legs. Velvet is mounting an offense and runs the ropes, but Gail trips her from the outside – and in view of the referee! He’s not having that!
Gail is out of there!
#GirlBye
Tapa’s got the ref backed into a corner, distracted by her friend getting sent away. She doesn’t look happy. Velvet looks for a surprise attack but Tapa sniffs it out and nails Velvet with a shoulder block. Tapa is just dominating Velvet right now. She whips her into the corner and Tapa nails her again. Tapa drags Velvet up by her throat and sets up a choke, but Velvet fights out with some knees to the gut and a jawbreaker. Velvet with the kicks to the legs again, then the mid section and then the gut. She seems to be taking Tapa by surprise, and tries to run the ropes again but Tapa sends her to sleep with a massive big boot to the face!
She finishes it with the TKO and a three count. Tapa proves herself the dominant force in the Knockouts division right now. I look forward to her and Gail Kim’s inevitable collision, whenever that may be. I really enjoyed that match. It put over both ladies really well. Tapa was dominant and picked up the win, which she should have, and Velvet looked confident and resourceful and was painted as a fighter. It was great. She kept going right ’til the end. Solid effort by both.
Following an AJ Styles promo, we cut to Dixie backstage in the production booth and she’s not happy. She has some choice words for AJ Styles. She gave him that belt. It’s her intellectual property, not his. There are two things he doesn’t know about her.
“One, I have a lot of shoes.”
Dixie, never stop. ILY.
“Two, I have even more lawyers.”
She plans to use them to shut AJ down. He has one week to return the world heavyweight championship title to her. As of last night, AJ is on notice. Bam.
Dixie is backstage once again, checking in on Rockstar Spud (who I’ll now be calling Rock) and his turkey table for winners. Now that is something I never thought I’d say. Ethan pops in to be rude about the spread, saying the British don’t know anything about good food. Excuse you, Derrick Bateman. I suggest you cork it. Dixie says not to worry, she has a gourmet meal waiting on a private jet to take them to the family ranch. Dixie leaves Rock in charge of the meal, saying he must make it festive. She’ll want a full report after the show. What could go wrong?
Rock invites all the winners out for their meal. Chris Sabin brings Velvet Sky with him, so she gets some turkey despite losing her match. Also in attendance are Lei’D Tapa and Gail Kim, who wasn’t even in a match but never mind. Gail sits down in what should be Tapa’s place at the table. How rude. Bobby Roode has a problem with Velvet being at the table, and he’s not too polite about it. Sabin slams his fist in anger onto his plate, preluding one of my favourite bits of the night.
‘Bobby!’ *insert dramatic pause* ‘You are absolutely right, sorry Toots.’
Oh dear. But don’t worry Vel, he’s going to bring you a doggy bag!
Bobby offers the microphone around so they can tell us what they’re all thankful for. Gail – who shouldn’t be there because she didn’t even compete but I guess she’s champ so it’s okay – takes the mic next and says she’s thankful for Lei’D Tapa, for being so dominant. She’s also thankful for being the prettiest, most dominant knockout in the history of the company. Oh, and her family too.
Chris is thankful for many things, including but not limited to Velvet Sky. Whose name he may or may not have forgotten…
So everything appears to be going swimmingly, but Kurt Angle decides it’s time to interrupt the festivities. He brings out his own load of wrestlers, including Velvet Sky AND ODB! Lovely! Needless to say, things get a bit out of hand. Food is thrown, hair is pulled, dinner is ruined… you get the picture! Velvet goes right for Gail, and while Tapa is busy with ODB, she gives Gail a pie to the face. Brilliant! The good guys are left standing tall. Isn’t it always the way?
I enjoyed this edition. I liked the match, LOVED Dixie. My only gripe is that we didn’t get to see Brooke. I only hope that she doesn’t fade back into obscurity, and that the situation gets rectified one way or another. I’d be happy for Brooke and Bully to stick together – she’d still get main event exposure. Fingers crossed.
From me to you, I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!
