Welcome, Knockout fans! I hope you all had an awesome Halloween! Did anybody take some of Diva Dirt’s suggestions of how to dress up like your favourite woman in wrestling? If yes, let me know in the comments!
TNA’s Halloween episode kicked off with President (of TNA, not the US. Calm yourselves.) Dixie Carter heading to the ring. Dixie is dressed in a bright orange turtle neck, which I can only hope is just in honour of Halloween because, well… just no. Anywho, Dixie starts off by saying that AJ Styles showed off his lack of mental aptitude etc last week. She handed him the world on a silver platter, and he just threw it back in her face.
Nobody, and she means NOBODY, walks out on Dixie Carter. From now on, he doesn’t exist to her and he is no longer her World Heavyweight Champion. Gasp! He can take the belt, and the car he stole, and keep them as a reward. She calls the belt ‘just a costume’ from her on out, and says something about him trick or treating with other little boys, dressed as world champ. What Dixie needs is a real world champion; someone great looking and with all the skills to make TNA bigger than it is right now. Yes Dixie, you definitely need that.
She names an eight man contest to determine the next World Heavyweight Champion. She names them one by one and they each get a little video package that, to be honest, is probably there to fill time. The only one I care about is Jeff Hardy. He was my boo when I was younger.
Out comes Bully Ray. I bet he wants his own video package. Brooke is by his side, gorgeous as ever. I spy the rest of the guys giving her the once over as she follows Bully Ray down the ramp. Dixie announces a gauntlet match to name the eighth person that will compete in the tournament. Bully is totes unimpressed. They begin a war of words, but ain’t nobody got time for that. The lights shut off and Anderson arrives. Dixie disappears and Brooke can only look on as her man gets his ass handed to him.
Dixie is backstage. Sting heads into her office, which has security posted outside the door. Nice touch. Why is Sting wearing sunglasses indoors? He looks like a douche. Dixie wants to lift a ban on him ever being involved in the world title picture to allow him to compete in the gauntlet match tonight. He says he has never had a sense of entitlement and walks out, leaving Dixie shouting after him.
“Does that mean yes?!”
The former Knockouts champion, ODB, is backstage and she has something to say. She says she’ll take on both Gail and Lei’D Tapa tonight. Apparently there’s nothing like a little three way for the ODB. Bam! Stay classy, O! ODB’s husband, Eric Young, isn’t happy about the two Sherlock Holmes clones hanging around his wife. She tells him she’s got something special planned for him later. A little bit of trick or treat!
It’s time for the Knockouts Championship rematch. Christy Hemme is all dolled up for Halloween, with a cute little top hat included. ODB is out first, followed by Gail, who is accompanied once again by her heavy, Lei’D Tapa.
ODB goes right for Gail, knocking her down and beating on her pretty hard. She throws Gail head first into two of the turnbuckles, then lands a big slap to the chest. ODB’s looking good early on; she’s throwing Gail around like a rag doll. She goes for the bronco buster but Gail slides out of the ring in time. She tries to escape up the ramp but ODB sends her back into the ring in no time. Gail lures ODB around to the announcer’s table where she tries to land the Eat Defeat, but ODB counters with a fall away slam. Ouchies. ODB throws Gail back in the ring as Lei’D Tapa saunters around to have a stare off. The ref gets in the middle of them, but Gail is already back in the game. She lands a drop kick on ODB from the ropes, and ODB goes head first into the announcers table. Definite ouchies.
Gail Kim locks in the figure four around the ring post. I’m a fan of this being in Gail repertoire, despite my interest in her slowly slipping away lately.
Gail goes for the pin and gets a two count. Gail’s in control for a moment, but ODB mounts a brief comeback. And I mean brief. Gail lays her out with a huge clothesline! Another two count for Gail. She locks in a a head scissors hold but ODB is fighting out of it. She turns it into a single leg crab! Gail reaches the ropes.
ODB is in the corner and Gail goes for a running drop kick but there’s nobody home! ODB is back on the offense, landing two big shoulder blocks, knocking the wind out of Gail. ODB hits a thesz press from the ropes, which leads right into the pin. ODB gets a count of two. Tapa is on the apron. She’s not happy. ODB pops Gail onto the top rope, then hits a big front suplex. Tapa is back on the apron; she’s not about to let her bestie lose the gold! ODB puts her money where her mouth is and squares up to Tapa, who smack talks right back. But it’s all part of the bigger plan as Gail rolls ODB up from behind, grabs the ropes for leverage and gets the three count!
Your winner, and still Knockouts champion, is Gail Kim.
That match was… slow, and dare I say it? A bit boring. It furthered tensions between ODB and Tapa, and I would like to see them face off soon. I also want a new babyface challenger for Gail. Preferably not Velvet Sky. I’m sure Sabin will have some tricks up his sleeve for the tournament, and she’ll undoubtedly be one of them.
Dixie is backstage with Chris Sabin and my childhood sweetheart. She thanks them for joining her. She introduces the #WheelofDixie. It determines the kind of match Jeff and Sabin will have next week. It’ll be a full metal mayhem, and Dixie has little to no confidence in Sabin for that one. My boo is gonna rule.
So, how did you guys like Impact this week? It didn’t win any favour with me. Aside from my crush on Jeff Hardy being reignited, I wasn’t bothered. The rematch for the title could have been a lot better. I would have preferred they wait for a while, built the tension between ODB and Tapa more and then have her lose. It would set up a feud between the two powerhouses much better, and take ODB’s attention away from Gail so she can feud with someone else. Maybe Brooke? Not sure how well that heel on heel would work though.
See you next week!
