Tune in to NXT on the WWE Network and Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network, both at 8pm ET.
Discuss the shows in the comments!
SHINE 27 on iPPV This Friday: Santana vs. Mia for SHINE Title, Tag Titles on the Line, Brass Knuckles on a Pole & More
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This Friday will see SHINE Wrestling return to iPPV for SHINE 27, headlined by a SHINE Championship rematch.
The main event pits new SHINE Champion Santana Garrett against the woman she won the belt from at SHINE 26: Mia Yim.
The SHINE Tag Titles will also be on the line, as new champs Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee defend the titles against Brandi Wine and Malia Hosaka.
Also, in a unique stipulation, La Rosa Negra will take on Taylor Made in a Brass Knuckles on a Pole match.
View the full card below:
- SHINE Championship match: Santana Garrett vs. Mia Yim
- SHINE Tag Team Championship match: Kimber Lee & Cherry Bomb vs. Brandi Wine & Malia Hosaka (w/ Leilani Kai)
- Brass Knuckles On A Pole Match: La Rosa Negra vs. Taylor Made (w/ April Hunter)
- Jessicka Havok vs. Su Yung (w/ April Hunter)
- Andrea & Jayme Jameson (w/ SoCal Val) vs. Daffney)
- Leva Bates vs. Tessa Blanchard (w/ April Hunter)
- Leah Von Dutch vs. Thunderkitty (w/ Leilani Kai)
- Allysin Kay (w/ April Hunter) vs. Tracy Taylor
- Amber Gallows vs. Xandra Bale
SHINE 27 will come to us live from the Orpheum in Ybor City, Florida on Friday, May 15th at 9pm ET (2am GMT), and will be broadcast live on iPPV. To order the show, click here.
For more information on SHINE 27, visit SHINEWrestling.com.
TNA One Night Only: Xtravaganza in Review: The Knockouts Get Extreme
Greetings and salutations Knockout fans! We are midway of a brand new month, which means it’s time for a new TNA One Night Only PPV recap; which helps fill some of the void from the absence of TNA’s once regular monthly PPV. This month’s TNA One Night Only PPV is Xtravaganza, a special show featuring loads of X-Division action.
While this themed show brings the spotlight to the great talent in the X-Division, TNA have not excluded their Knockouts from a spot on the card as Madison Rayne, Angelina Love, Brooke, Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell compete against each other in an all out ladder match! The prize for this match: a contract for a future Knockouts Title match.
Before any physicality from this match can begin, Christy Hemme manages to get an exclusive interview from one of the contestants of the match; a woman who has already participated in such a match, Taryn Terrell. Ignoring the fact that she’s now a heel on the main show, Taryn puts on her (then) babyface game face and recalls her highly praised ladder match against Gail Kim. While Gail may have won that particular match but Taryn sees this Five-Way Ladder match as another opportunity to prove herself and catch everyone by surprise yet again.
With Christy Hemme busy conducting interviews backstage, ring introduction duties fall on Jeremy Borash (who is also serving commentary with Josh Mathews) as he makes first introduction to the Queen Bee Madison Rayne. The Killer Queen bows her head at the entrance ramp and makes her way to the ring but not without taunting a few of the audience in the Impact Zone. Out next is the record breaking six-time Knockouts champion Angelina Love, who pauses before entering the ring to take a quick glance at the ladders that would be used in this contest.
Bootyful Brooke music hits next (although Josh Matthews confuses it with Taryn’s ‘Hot Mess’ theme song) and salutes the crowd. Fourth participant Gail Kim finds her way to the ring next and the first Knockouts champion takes a moment to climb one of the provided ladders outside the ring as JB, once again, drops the idea of Gail being the first Knockout inducted to the TNA Hall of Fame. PERHAPS this all just foreshadowing a special announcement coming with Slammiversary just around the corner. Last but certainly not least is Taryn Terrell, who like Gail, includes one of the ladders as part of her entrance, climbing to the top with all the confidence in the world.
With all our participating Knockouts now in the ring and ready to go, the official bell rings, almost acting as a race horn as all of the women are quick to exit to the ring for a ladder! Angelina, Gail and Brooke duking it out for one ladder while Madison and Taryn fight it out for the other. Madison takes care of Taryn with a suplex on the entrance ramp, while Brooke best out in her collision to provide the first ladder in the ring.
Before Brooke can set up the ladder, in comes a charging Gail taking out Brooke with a flying forearm. With Brooke down, Gail decides to set up the ladder herself but gets a rude awakening when an unsuspecting Angelina attacks from behind, sending Gail to a corner causing her face to come in contact with the ladder in hand. When Angelina finds her way back to the six sided ring, Madison is not far behind and the two former Beautiful People teammates double team Brooke.
With Angelina and Madison occupied with Brooke, Gail sets up a ladder on turnbuckle before turning her attention to Angelina. Brooke joins Gail on the offense against Angelina, returning the favor from her two on one attack. Gail and Brooke throw in an incoming Angelina to the ladder carefully placed by Gail causing some hard damage to Angelina’s upper body. The team work between Gail and Brooke comes to an end when the two are in disagreement of who takes the ladder next. Fortunate for them, Taryn decided neither would have control over the ladder when she takes both of them out with a dropkick to the ladder.
Before Taryn can take new ownership of the ladder, Madison interjects to claim the ladder for her own. She strikes at Taryn and quickly sets up the ladder to a corner where she would send Taryn to face first. To add more bruises and scratches to Taryn’s beautiful face, Maddison decides to climb the cornered ladder and using her leg strength, hit Taryn with a sequence of face crushers onto the ladder.
Madison looks to be the first to set up the ladder in the ring but Brooke gets in the way and takes Madison out with a Tess-Shocker onto the ladder? Just when Brooke is able to get a hold of the ladder, Gail too reaches for the ladder. This ladder tug-of-war rematch ends quickly Gail hits an Eat Defeat out of nowhere! Instead of setting up the ladder, Gail carefully place the ladder onto the second rope where she has other plan that involve Taryn.
Gail sends Taryn to a turnbuckle and follows up with a fast corner cross body. Things look to be all going well for Gail until Angelina takes aim and lands a Botox Injection, causing Gail to fall off the ring apron and onto a floating ladder just above the ground!
One Botox Injection isn’t enough for Angelina, as she hits a second one on a ladder carrying Taryn. With everyone now down, Angelina becomes the sole woman to rightfully position the ladder in the center of the ring. She begins climbing the ladder with the hopes of retrieving the future Knockouts title contract and potentially setting a new record for Knockout Championship reigns.
Madison foils Angelina’s agenda, taking her down as she climbs up the ladder. When the two come to the ground, they exchange punches before deciding to take their battle up the ladder. While the ladder war between Angelina and Madison is taking place, Brooke kills two birds with one stones when she pushes the ladder off, sending the once Beautiful People crashing and burning.
The ladder is reapportioned in the middle of the ring again thanks to Brooke but just when Brooke turns around she is hit with a spear from Taryn! This match has just been full of non-stop action!
Taryn suddenly finds herself on close reach of the ladder and using every ounce of strength she has left, begins to climb upward. Gail is right behind Taryn’s trail and pulls off Taryn midway through her way to the top. It’s déjà vu when a bout between Gail and Taryn at the top of the ladder begins.
Gail reaches high for hanging contract but, unlike last time, Brooke inserts herself in this battle by pulling Gail’s leg from the middle ladder and trapping her in between the ladder. With Gail temporary immobilized, Brooke takes Gail’s position and climbs ladder. Once at the top, Brooke manages to push Taryn off the ladder. Being the only woman left standing on the ladder, Brooke reaches for the contract is able to remove it from the clipboard but it slips from her fingers when Gail pulls Brooke’s leg, causing her to fall off the ladder.
This ladder match now turns into a race for the fallen contract. Taryn climbs the ladder, unaware that the contract she seeks is now somewhere on the ring mat. When realization kicks in, Taryn climbs down the ladder as does Gail and just by a dive, Taryn is able to get to the contract first, thus declaring her the winner and a future title match for the Knockouts Championship… for whenever she may not be champion.
Thoughts: A very daring and physical match to say the least.
As already mentioned, there was a lot of action going on all through out the match, something I wonder how would play out with so many women involved. Still, the Knockouts pulled it off throughly and each of them deserve their fair share of props for the number of ladder spots/bumps each of them took.
As with the previous TNA One Night Only PPV’s, there may not be a storyline or a title in place to carry some of these matches but I think it’s always a nice touch when TNA is able to make the most of them and give us these “special matches” for the Knockouts. It can help serve as a break from all the action happening on TNA’s regular Impact Wrestling programming.
Since all of these One Night Only PPVs have been taped in advance, there will be moments when we have a situation when a talent, in this case Taryn, is playing a Face although they may have turned Heel, vice-versa, which can come across as contradicting from their present time characters but keep in mind that these PPVs mean close to nothing to what carries on to the main shows.
Speaking of these kinds of connections, I’m not entirely convinced that the contract Taryn won will actually be used down the line of the main show, where she is currently Knockouts Champion. Much like with TNA’s One Night Only Hardcore Justice where The Wolves won a ladder match for a future Tag Team title match against The Revolution, it’s very possible that these contracts were simply being used as props for the match. Then again, when it comes to TNA, you just never know!
Divas Match Confirmed for Payback
UPDATE: This match was confirmed on this week’s episode of WWE Main Event.
A Divas match for this Sunday’s Payback Pay-Per-View may be announced on this Thursday’s SmackDown.
Wrestling Inc is reporting that a tag team match pitting Brie and Nikki Bella against Naomi and Tamina Snuka was announced for the PPV during last night’s SmackDown tapings.
This information was not included in early spoiler reports. The news, if true, will be confirmed when SmackDown airs early in international markets.
Are you excited to see this match?
WWE Main Event Spoilers: May 15th, 2015
Below are spoilers for this week’s WWE Main Event, airing internationally and on Hulu:
Raw Redux (May 11th, 2015): Tamina Gives Brie a Pacific Pummeling
Howdy everyone and Happy Tuesday! Raw was sadly a quiet night for the Divas last night as we witnessed a reasonably short match between Brie Bella and Tamina Snuka. WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella and Naomi were at ringside, as was Natalya, albeit for a different match entirely! With just five Divas on the docket, we haven’t got a lot to discuss yet what we did receive was satisfying enough.
BRIE MOOODDDDEE!
Fans of autotune will have been happy as Brie Bella’s solo theme song opened up the Divas segment from last night’s Raw. Yay? The Bellas strut to the ring and do their trademark stage poses yet they made sure they checked behind them in case of a sneak attack. Hurray for continuity! Brie even goes as far as entering the ring differently as she tries to get over the pre-match beatdown from last Monday. Nikki tried to stop her, yet we’ll have to do without a rope flip this week.
The ama-may-ay-ay-zing combination of Tamina and Naomi are out next. Naomi looks stunning in her ‘Nope’ top whilst Tamina looks like she could stun you physically! The pair speak in another pre-recorded entrance promo (so glad they are getting the chance to do these) and Naomi sets the record straight. She says that if it wasn’t for Brie, she would be Divas Champion right now. She says that it is ok though, as now she has her equaliser. Tamina says that this week, Payback comes early.
The bout starts and Brie and Tamina lock-up to kick things off as Brie is feisty from the get-go! Despite being ruffed up in the corner, the former Divas Champion repeatedly whacks Tamina in the face with forearm shots and clubbing blows. Her persistence and emotions cost her as she runs into a boot to the midsection from Tamina, who then takes Brie down with a hairgrab backbreaker.
Teamina – as Michael Cole calls her (first he forgets her name last week and now he gets it wrong) – gets in the ref’s face before hitting a double axe-handle on Brie. She sends her ‘Brie Mode’ foe into the corner with a hard Irish Whip, a move she follows up with a short, and cringe-inducing rear chinlock. Not the most entertaining of moves yet thankfully it isn’t applied for long. Brie fights out yet Tamina cracks her in the kidneys and then hits a forearm against the ropes.
Tamina hits a couple of knee drops that don’t really amount to anything yet she dishes some more effective damage out by choking Brie on the middle rope. Tameezus uses Brie’s legs to throw her in the air yet Brie lands on her feet instead of her back! She hits a really nice transitional schoolgirl yet the Pacific Islander shuts her down with a clothesline. Tamina then tries to hit a back suplex yet Brie lands on her feet yet again and she starts to shift the momentum.
Tamina stumbles as Brie hits out with a clothesline and dropkick. Brie then hits an elbow in the corner and a missile dropkick. Whilst all this is going on, Booker T says that Tamina has put “eight pounds of muscle” on apparently, muscle that isn’t helping at this present moment as she has Brie Bella charging at her knee first! Brie hits one patented knee strike yet when she tries to hit another, Tamina shoves her off. Brie charges back at Tamina yet the leather-loving Diva responds with a monumental superkick for the win!
Later in the night, Natalya made a minor appearance as she along with Tyson Kidd accompanied Cesaro to the ring for his match against Big E.
Also, as part of the Raw Backstage Fallout, we see Brie Bella give her thoughts on Daniel Bryan relinquishing the WWE Intercontinental Title.
Thoughts: I wanted some badass superkicks and a badass superkick is what I got! Shame the rest of the match was kind of a mess. I honestly don’t feel that these two had enough chemistry to pull off a good match, which is sad to say. Whilst I liked Tamina not falling to the ground easily when hit with the clothesline and dropkick, I didn’t like the other rough, messy spots like the forearm from Tamina to Brie against the ropes. That looked sloppy, as did Tamina’s shoving of Brie when she reversed the running knee.
On the plus side I am glad that Tamina won clean without interference as that really showcases how dominant she is and how pivotal a force she be whilst at Naomi’s side. Also a loss is not always a bad thing, and an example of which is in this scenario. As Brie and Nikki are babyfaces, people will want to root for both of them even more now that Brie has lost, especially in the case of Nikki.
As Raw felt like an episode of SmackDown, let’s hope SmackDown feels like an episode of Raw and moves this story along some more. This match had to happen, and I’m glad it did as it served its purpose of making Tamina look destructive, yet now I want more of a storyline element. Whether it be attacking The Bellas backstage and stealing the Divas title or mocking Daniel Bryan and his championship relinquishment, there is plenty that The Family can be doing to get under Brie and Nikki’s skin. Or they can just beat the crap of them again. That would work to get fans behind The Bellas!
What I don’t want to see is Naomi and Tamina beating a random tag team. They have both been showcased as dominant and vindictive and now I want see them prove it some more.
Impact Wrestling Spoilers: June 3rd, 10th & 17th, 2015
TNA taped the June 3rd, 10th & 17th episodes of Impact last night. Spoilers below:
Raw Response: May 11th, 2015
Tune in to Raw on the USA Network at 8pm ET, as well as the pre-show on the WWE Network.
Discuss the show in the comments!
Impact Wrestling Spoilers: May 29th, 2015
TNA taped the May 29th episode of Impact last night. Spoilers below:
Impact Write-Up: (May 8th, 2015): The Full House of Knockouts
Hola Knockout fans and welcome to another weekly edition of Impact Write-Up. For the first time since their debut on Destination America back in January, Impact Wrestling comes us to live this week… or at least close to it with an hour or two air delay. Either way, there weren’t two months worth of spoilers for fans to avoid and/or pretend like they didn’t know what was going to happen had they decided to read ahead. Along with the announced Knockouts handicap match featuring the unlikely team of Gail Kim and Awesome Kong taking on The Dollhouse, we are also treated an early Mother’s Day celebration as well as the return of a former Knockout.
Ahead of their handicap match later in the evening, Gail Kim finds her tag partner Awesome Kong backstage and approaches her for a brief pep talk but Kong only has her back side turned to her longtime rival. Despite this unapproachable stance, Gail still tries to reason with Kong, acknowledging that while they have never been on the same page, Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell and her Dollhouse associates Jade and Marti Bell have not only made a mockery of them but they’ve also made a mockery of the division that they’ve helped build.
Business is business after all and Gail’s short speech seemingly speak to Kong, as she meets Gail midway and faces her as Gail asks Kong if they’re in it together. Kong only nods in agreement before walking away in the opposite direction of Gail’s, her back once again to her partner of the night. Will these two manage to put their differences to the side to take down their common enemies?
We move on to our next Knockouts related backstage segment and meet good old James Storm or as he would rather be called “Christmas” because he’s always giving! In fact, he has several gifts to distribute tonight, especially one enormous gift to a very special friend of his!
Saint James Storm takes his white and gold polka-dotted gift wrapped box with him as he enters the Impact Zone. Once he’s made his way to the ring, Storm is quick to grab a mic but rather than give a run down of what it’s like to be a cowboy such as himself, Storm would much prefer if we focused the spotlight on his dear friend Mickie James instead.
The Hardcore Country singer is all giddy as she joins her pal Storm, noticing the gift that is in the ring and still not sure of what to make of it. Storm begins this gift exchange by first recognizing Mickie’s transition from a wrestler to motherhood. The fans in attendance are in agreement as they begin chanting Mickie’s name.
Storm continue his Mother’s Day themed promo by speaking of his own mother who taught him from right and wrong; had it not been for her, Storm wouldn’t know where he’d be today! So on behalf of James Storm, may God bless all mothers. Cheap pops at its finest.
On top of Mickie James new life as a mother and legendary wrestling career, Mickie is also a threat when it comes to music side of things. As of token of their friendship, Storm has gotten Mickie a little gift to help keen in on Mickie’s musical side. After rallying up the crowd to begin an “open it” chant, Mickie begins unwrapping Storm’s gift while having a bit of playful fun with Storm.
The mystery gift box is opened and inside, Mickie finds a groovy custom guitar from Storm. Mickie James finds the guitar so awesome and really thinks that Storm didn’t have of trough so much trouble. After such a good feel moment, the only logical thing to do next is capture it with a selfie and post it on Twitter. Unfortunately, Storm doesn’t have his phone with on hand but does the next best thing and calls for a cameraman at ringside to take some camera shots. While this isn’t the exact definition of a “selfie”, Mickie and James are having fun taking these friendly photos with each other until party pooper and Mickie James’s fiancé Magnus has seen enough backstage and comes on down to the ring.
No need to feel left out Magnus, as James Storm has a gift for you as well in the form of a gladiator helmet, you know from the early days of your career. Magnus is not amused by Storm and his idea of a “gift”, refusing to go along with the games. He asks Mickie to exit the ring and follow him back to the backstage area, with full knowledge of knowing what Storm is up to. Just before Magnus and Mickie make it to the back, Storm lets Magnus know that he left behind one more gift- a gift for his son Donovan.
Storm instructs Magnus to give this small bedside gift to his son right before he goes to bed while letting him know it came from “Uncle James”. This turns out to be too much for Magnus, who marches right back into, grabs a hold of Mickie’s gift of a guitar and whacks it over the head of Storm, laying him out in ring! Mickie James’ face reads of astonishment, Magnus’ of anger and a recovered James Storm of satisfaction with a grin.
As problems begin to brew in the relationship between Magnus and Mickie, Gail Kim and her celebrity chef husband Robert Irvine are on cloud nine. Gail joined her husband at a recent live event at one of his cooking shows where at the end of the program, he referred to his lovely wife as not only being an amazing wrestler but also a genuinely good person who changed his life. #RelationshipGoals
After Chef Irvine’s cooking show, TNA cameras are backstage where Gail Kim and Jeremy Borash talk about how much fun they had at the food event. Right from the corner of Gail’s eye, one particular selfie-taking guest sets off Gail’s temper button! Taryn Terrell’s friendliness with Gail’s stepdaughters touches a nerve with her and when confronting Taryn about it, Taryn states that she is just innocently joining the show her doll of a husband is hosting. Not wanting to make a scene of anything, Gail demands that Taryn leave the area and Taryn obeys to avoid any more “over-dramatic drama” Gail likes to cook up. Taryn excuses herself politely and then glares at Gail before walking away with a flip of hair and swag in her steps. I’m so loving this side of Taryn!
TNA cameras are back at the Impact Zone as we are set for our Knockouts match of the evening. Out first are The Dollhouse, with leader Taryn Terrell sporting a new color of cotton candy blue ring gear to go with her pink ribbons. This time around, there are no ring games but there is still plenty of laughter and gossip from The Dollhouse trio. Gail Kim makes her way out next but she doesn’t enter the ring right away as she waits for her partner Awesome Kong to make her entrance to somewhat even the number odds of this match.
With Awesome Kong now by Gail’s side, the two founding Knockout are comfortable enough to get this match started, Gail kicking things off her team and Jade for The Dollhouse. Jade gets the first strike when she attacks Gail from behind, sending Gail to the ground early on. Jade quickly following up by sending Gail to a corner turnbuckle but Gail is a step ahead and evades Jade’s running attack. An arm drag from Gail to Jade gives Gail control and she continues taking down Jade with a running hurricanrana. This causes Jade to retreat to her partners and make the tag to Marti while over at the other team Awesome Kong tags herself into the match, surprising Gail.
Marti charges after Kong but only hits a wall when she hits the mat after a shoulder block from Kong. Awesome runs the ropes but now it is Gail who tags herself back in causing a shift between team Kim Kong. This miscommunication between Kim Kong is quickly handled when the two see an opening to attack Marti and Jade who begin their own dispute.
Kong sending Jade to a corner first, with Marti following seconds later. Awesome Kong sandwiches the two members of The Dollhouse with a running corner splash. Just when Gail seem to be in control of the match, Taryn gets involved and her first actions are to strike Gail with a blind attack before innocently finding her way back to the ring apron.
After the scramble, legal Knockouts Gail Kim and Marti do battle with relying on her heel like tactics and taking the back of Gail Kim. A running face crusher later, Marti makes a tag to Jade who was just asking to get in on the action next. After twirling her pigtails a bit, Jade cannonballs a cornered Gail and quickly goes for a pin but Gail toughens out at the two count. Looking for a different offense, hits a stiff kick to the back of Gail’s head and then another to her back.
Jade scoops up Gail and tosses her to the direction of her fellow Dollhouse team where they begin to toy with Gail; Taryn landing a good slap to Gail along with a double team attack from Marti and Jade when a tag is made to Marti. As Kong looks close by for an opening to make a tag, Marti continues working on Gail, sending her to the ropes and coming back to a clothesline.
Another quick tag is made to Jade and The Dollhouse look for another double team attach but Gail is able to counter this time around. Gail Kim makes the most of this quick break by picking herself back up and dashing across the ring to connect a Flying Dragon submission to Jade. The submission hold isn’t locked for long as the number games favor The Dollhouse when Marti distracts the referee allowing for Taryn to enter the ring and break Gail’s hold before retreating back in an innocent matter.
As Gail tries to get to her tag partner, Jade manage to get to her partner first and makes the tag to Marti once again. Marti pulls Gail further from Kong’s corner but tries to have a bit of fun with Kong, assaulting her from the apron. Marti’s arrogance works against her when Kong eats Marti’s attack and shoves her to Gail, who uses every bit of energy to hit a clothesline to take Marti down. With both legal down, it’s a race to make a tag as Gail at last gets to Kong and Marti to Taryn, getting involved for the first time.
Awesome Kong holds nothing back, taking down Taryn with clothesline shots and a power slam. Before Kong can hit the Implant Buster to the Knockouts champion, Marti and Jade did their way back to the ring, saving Taryn from Kong’s finisher. They double team Kong to a corner where Gail manages to slip a tag for herself. Kong takes out Jade and Marti with a double clothesline as Gail takes care of Taryn with a missile dropkick from the top rope. Gail goes for the pin but it is broken up before the count of three thanks to Marti.
All hell breaks loose in the ring when Kong hits an Implant Buster to Jade, Gail sets Marti for an Eat Defeat but is thrown off when Taryn rolls up Gail into a sneak pin and gets the three count for her team. Taryn quickly exits the ring and joins Jade but they’ve left poor Marti inside and things turn ugly. Gail successfully hits Eat Defeat to Marti and then it’s Awesome Kong who hits an Implant Buster, obliterating Marti all together. Sure KimKong can do all the damage they want but Taryn reminds them from a safe distance outside the ring that they still DON’T have her title! A very valid point from the leader of The Dollhouse.
We head backstage once again to see the aftermath following Magnus and Mickie James’s encounter with James Storm. Mickie wants to talk about Magnus attacking James Storm after promising he would keep his cool. Magnus reassures he loves Mickie, their family and would always let her choose her friends but just can’t seem to trust Storm. On top of the trust issues, Storm also disrespected him and that’s where the line was drawn. Mickie tries to understand but has trouble doing so now that she feels disrespected after Magnus’ actions tonight. Hug it out guys!
Our final good Knockouts segment of the night comes in the form of Ms. Angelina Love, who has a few things to say. She’s been badgered on social media with loads of questions ranging from her thoughts on the BroMans breaking up, The Dollhouse formation and the new team of KimKong. Basically everything but her recent engagement to Davey Richards.
She take this moment to put all those questions to the side to talk about something far more important- herself! She is the record breaking six time Knockouts Champion after all and the ONLY beautiful person in existence. How quickly did we forget of Madison Rayne?
At the drop of the beautiful person line, we see another beautiful face in the crowd of the Impact Zone as a returning Velvet Sky finds her way back to TNA to a warm welcome from the crowd. A surprised Angelina wonders what Velvet is doing back as she had been fired just two months ago. Seriously, how quick was that?
Velvet says nothing but enters the ring rocking a new look and some new hair color, to which Angelina admits not being a fan of. Velvet glares at Angelina and suddenly it kicks in that Angelina was a bit too happy when Velvet left after her Feast or Fired ordeal. Yes, Angelina did receive all the messages that Velvet had left but she was too busy being awesome to get back to her.
Despite all that, Angelina tries to welcome Velvet back with a friendly hug but Velvet remains silent, never nudging even when Angelina squeezes her hug. Realizing this new attitude, Angelina calls out Velvet, accusing her being “too cool” to hug her best friend now. Ms. Love reminds Velvet that had it not been for her, Velvet would be NOTHING!!!
Instead of words, Velvet’s action doing all the talking as she takes down Angelina with a spear and begins choking her before security breaks this beautiful brawl up.
Thoughts: Another action-packed week for the Knockouts this week! All semi-live nevertheless.
Always starting with the good, I really enjoyed this awaited match between KimKong and The Dollhouse. There was this uncertainty of how Gail and Awesome Kong would interact given their long history with one another. I think TNA did a good job of making sure Gail and Kong weren’t sudden best friends but had the common goal of defeating The Dollhouse as a business perspective. There was their segment before the match and even during the match where the two would tag each other in.
The match itself was fun. I absolutely loved Gail and Jade’s standoff with each other and I know many are just waiting to see these two go at it one on one. Taryn may have only been tagged in during the end of this match but she still played a vital role in making sure her partners did plenty of work and getting involved throughout the match when an opening was available. With the numbers on The Dollhouse side, it would make sense for them to win and their win came in the form of Taryn catching Gail off guard and rolling her into a schools girl pin. It protects Gail status, gives heat to Taryn and opens the idea that KimKong may need to find another partner if they want to even up the score and conquer the Dollhouse. Perhaps, someone like Havok who has been away for far too long now? Surely this won’t be the last time these women meet in the ring.
Speaking of Taryn, she has been playing her heel character just brilliantly. That little segment at Chef Irvine’s show was hilarious and so fitting of Taryn’s new character- antagonizing someone like Gail through innocent play all while carrying this mean attitude with her.
The Mickie James/Magnus/James Storm was a step up from last week. Storm has just been proving how great of a manipulator he can be through his face promos for Mickie and quickly shift into heel when it comes to Magnus.
This feud is much different from when Magnus and Mickie feuded with Bram, as back then both Magnus and Mickie were against Bram and his personal attacks to their family. This time, Storm is only an enemy of Magnus while Mickie still seems him as a friend. While I am very interested to see where this story line goes, it’s still a bit disappointing to see this angle pull Mickie even further from the Knockouts division despite it all being started after Mickie announced her “retirement” and Storm convincing her to have “one more match”.
I don’t know what to make of Velvet Sky’s return. On one side, she came into an easy storyline practically written for her but on the other, it’s a rehash of a past feud that really fell flat in my opinion. It was just around this time last year that The Beautiful People were relaunching themselves but even that was a stalemate. Are we sure this won’t be any different?
Still, this at least gives us fans another potential Knockout and maybe the absence any lesbian vampire can help the flow of this feud this time around.
These next set of taping will all be the building blocks to Slammiversary this year so it will be an interesting month to look forward to as well as what matches may play out during TNA’s upcoming pay per view.
That’s it for this week Knockout fans, hasta luego!
Impact Wrestling Spoilers: May 15th & 22nd, 2015
TNA taped the May 15th & 22nd episodes of Impact today. Spoilers below:
WSU Power Results: Cherry Bomb Wins the WSU Championship
[media-credit name=”Photo: CZWrestling.com” align=”aligncenter” width=”620″][/media-credit]
Today, WSU presents its latest event, Power, on iPPV. The show is headlined by a WSU Title match between champ LuFisto and Cherry Bomb.
Live results below, courtesy of Dave Muscarella:
- Sassy Stephanie def. Jenny Rose with the Kiss My Sass.
- Athena def. Niya with the O Face to advance to the semifinals of the WSU Spirit Title tournament.
- Leva Bates def. Veda Scott with the Pepsi Plunge to advance to the semifinals of the WSU Spirit Title tournament.
- Brittany Blake def. Hania via roll-up to advance to the semifinals of the WSU Spirit Title tournament.
- Annie Social & Kimber Lee def. Pink Flash Kira & Rick Cataldo to retain the WSU Tag Team Titles.
- Cherry Bomb def. LuFisto to win the WSU Title. A post-match rampage on The Office leads to LuFisto being suspended for the next show.
You can order a replay of the event on StreamCZW.com.
Vote for the Star of the Week Ending May 9th, 2015
Whose star shone brightest this week? You tell us!
With our Star of the Week poll, we’ll pick the week’s top five women in wrestling and let you choose who is number one.
The poll will open each Saturday and close on Sunday afternoon.
Let’s take a look at this week’s top five:
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Bayley |
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Becky LynchBecky Lynch got the last word in her Women’s Title contract signing with Sasha Banks on NXT, locking the champ in an armbar until officials pried her off.
|
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The DollhouseJade, Marti Bell and Taryn Terrell used their wiles to defeat the formidable team of Awesome Kong and Gail Kim on Impact, Taryn rolling Gail up for the pin.
|
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Naomi & TaminaNaomi debuted an impressive new ally this week: the returning Tamina Snuka. The Divas beat down Brie and Nikki Bella on Raw and laid out Emma on SmackDown.
|
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Velvet Sky |
Winner: Velvet Sky (30%)
Vote for the Star of the Week ending May 9th, 2015 (Poll Closed)
Total Votes: 388
NXT Diva Sustains Arm Injury
NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber appears to have been sidelined with an arm injury.
Fellow Diva Gionna Daddio revealed the news in a photo posted to Instagram, which shows Zahra’s arm in a sling:
Zahra followed up the post with a tweet of her own that confirmed the injury:
Watching #ToughEnough season 2 with nurse @WhosYoDaddio
— zahra (@zahraschreiber) May 9, 2015
No word yet on Zahra’s condition or what type of injury she may have sustained.
Zahra and Gionna were both hired last fall and reported to NXT at the same time. Neither have wrestled at live events yet.
Impact Wrestling Feedback: May 8th, 2015
Tune in to Impact Wrestling tonight at 9pm ET.
Discuss the show in the comments!
Report: Knockout Returning at TV Tapings?
The return of a former TNA Heavyweight Champion may bring with it the return of a former Knockouts Champion.
Bully Ray is rumored to be the mystery former champion returning to referee Eric Young and Kurt Angle‘s Heavyweight Title match on tonight’s live edition of Impact. According to PWInsider (via Lords of Pain), Ray’s real life girlfriend Velvet Sky is also rumored to be making a TNA return at the upcoming television tapings.
Velvet left TNA early this year, a few months after Ray’s departure. Her final television appearance saw her opening a “fired” briefcase she grabbed during a Feast or Fired match.
Do you want to see Velvet back in TNA?
SmackDown Redux (May 7th, 2015): Combine and Conquer
Welcome to another SmackDown Redux! Shall we call this the post-Tamina-return era? No? Okay.
Well, this is the first show since the intimidating Diva made her WWE return, aligning herself with Naomi to take out Brie and Nikki Bella on Raw. The Divas certainly looked in sync then, but the true test comes in matches: will Naomi’s new ally translate to total dominance?
Her first challenger comes in the form of the bubbly Emma, who proves that NXT and WWE might as well be different universes, because she’s a full babyface here, a night after playing heel on NXT. The beauty of the roster divide!
We join Emma already in the ring and are soon greeted by Naomi’s music, which I have to admit has grown on me. It definitely lends to the vibe of some super athlete who draws million dollar endorsement deals, is hot shit and knows it. That’s the kind of character I think heel Naomi could work the shit out of.
By her side is Tamina, who is putting in her first official appearance since the Divas debuted their alliance on Raw. She looks so much more intimidating now than she did back in her AJ Lee days. I think the music and serious vibe Naomi sends off helps. Oh, and the lack of skipping. That probably helps too.
In pop-up video, Naomi and Tamina address the WWE Universe, saying that people forgot what they can do, but now they know. Tamina speaks! This is definitely a step up from bodyguarding AJ. It helps sell them as equals rather than a reboot of Tamina’s old gig.
The bell sounds, and we’re off! Naomi doesn’t have the patience for a tie-up, immediately kneeing Emma in the stomach. Naomi toys with Emma a bit, grabbing her by the hair, slamming her face-first into the corner repeatedly and then stomping a mud hole into her.
The referee scolds Naomi, and she jaws with him a bit. This gives Emma an opening, and she attacks, hitting Naomi with some forearms and returning the favor with some corner face slams of her own. She tosses Naomi across the ring and leveling her with a low dropkick. She goes for an early pin, but Naomi kicks out.
Naomi is whipped into the ropes, but turns the tides with a kick to the stomach and a hard slam to the mat. She beats down Emma with some right hands and a neckbreaker. She kips up and punts Emma in the midsection, clearly carrying herself with more confidence and attitude than ever. I love it.
Emma seeks refuge in the bottom rope, but finds herself choked against it, Naomi bringing a boot to the back of her neck. Naomi relents when the referee chastises her, but continues to play rough, dragging Emma’s face against the top rope and shoving her to the mat.
Naomi pulls Emma to her feet and props her up before impressively nailing a close-range dropkick. Emma falls over like a chair that just lost one of its legs. Naomi covers Emma for the pin, but only earns a two-count.
Emma gets tossed into the corner but dodges Naomi’s ensuing attack, slipping out and back into the ring deftly and rolling Naomi up into a pin. Naomi kicks out and immediately is back on the attack, swinging wildly at Emma. Emma ducks it and pulls her into another pinning combination, but Naomi kicks out again. Emma nabs a third pin attempt in a row when she sweeps Naomi’s legs out from under her and bridges into a pin.
Naomi bridges out of the pin and flips them over, pulling Emma into a backslide pin. Emma kicks out. Emma ducks an attack from Naomi and runs the ropes, but finds herself blindsided by the Rear View. Naomi pins her and claims victory.
Tamina enters the ring post-match, joining Naomi in a good old fashioned beatdown on Emma. Naomi feeds Emma to Tamina, setting her up for a devastating superkick that flattens her. The two take their time leaving, Naomi basking in their dominance.
Elsewhere in Diva land, the rift between Lana and Rusev continues to grow:
Lana coyly (or not so coyly?) asks the fans to not cheer for her, as it upsets Rusev. When she finishes introducing him and he enters the ring, Rusev promptly banishes her. She leaves, looking upset. I’ll bet the farm on her having a master plan in the works. She’s enjoying her popularity lot more than she’s letting on.
Natalya also made an appearance, standing at ringside as Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Ryback fell to Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of The New Day:
Thoughts: This was a nice little way to demonstrate Naomi’s new attitude and mean streak. Yes, the match was criminally short (clocking in at under four minutes), but it worked as a Naomi showcase. I have a feeling that the series of pin attempts at the end of the match was supposed to be a lot quicker and more exciting, but other than that I enjoyed the match for what it was.
Naomi looked more comfortable and impressive here than she has in a long time. Heel Naomi may have started off a bit fuzzy, character-wise, but I think she’s settling into a groove here. Her move set is evolving, and where some moves stay the same (hi, Rear View), her overall vibe is selling the new attitude. The Rear View, for instance, is no longer a fun butt-in-the-face finisher – it puts a sudden stop to the action. She can hit it whenever her opponent has some momentum going and immediately shut them down.
The addition of Tamina has freshened up her character a lot. Tamina didn’t even have to do anything – having her at ringside showed that Naomi’s a true threat. It’s done what 20 second promos can’t: it tells us that her mission statement is inspiring enough to convince a powerful Diva to join her on it. The superkick was just icing on the cake.
No longer is Naomi a Diva with a bone to pick: she’s part of a two-woman movement to crack skulls and prove that they deserve the spotlight. If they aren’t given opportunities, they’ll take them, just as Naomi did when she dispatched Paige and took her spot at Extreme Rules. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. They’re united in their quest for plain old domination. Make a statement, indeed.
SmackDown Reaction: May 7th, 2015
Tune in to SmackDown tonight at 8pm ET on Syfy.
Discuss the show in the comments!
RELATED: SmackDown Spoilers: May 7th, 2015
NXT Redux (May 6th, 2015): Wednesday is a Winner for Charlotte, Becky & Bayley
Howdy everyone and welcome this week’s NXT Redux! Jack here, the voice of Diva Dirt’s Raw Redux and I am officially back to my old stomping ground as I am now covering NXT for you too.
I am majorly excited to be back recapping the action featuring NXT’s women’s division and what a week for me to jump back aboard this mighty fine developmental ship! A lengthy match between Charlotte and Emma is the opening contest and there is also an in-ring contract signing for TakeOver: Unstoppable between NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and the challenger Becky Lynch. Add to that backstage segments featuring Sasha, Carmella and Dana Brooke plus a tremendous Becky Lynch video package and a ringside appearance from Bayley, we have quite the jam-packed show!
Emma’s unmistakable entrance theme blasts through the Full Sail speakers to kick off the show and she is giving the fans none of what they want. Wearing Bayley’s headbands and t-shirt, Emma mocks her dancing and dismisses her usual entrance yet she is still as socially awkward as usual. I like that her character has only been subtly tweaked. It really works for me.
Charlotte arrives next and I was genuinely over the moon when I heard her music hit as I forgot this was even happening after I had read the spoilers 34 weeks ago.
Emma throws the headbands at Charlotte to start the match yet she completely misses. Good job otherwise she may have been disqualified. I kid, I kid. The pair lock-up before exchange side headlocks. Charlotte takes Emma over yet then Emma locks her legs around Charlotte’s neck but then the Queen City native kips up. Stalemate.
Charlotte clasps Emma’s head and neck with a tight headlock variation and knees her in the temple a few times for good measure. Emma then counters by using the middle rope to flip her legs up to rebound with Charlotte’s face. The former NXT Women’s Champion fights back for a short moment after an elbow strike yet then Emma sends Charlotte crashing from the middle rope the mat. Rough looking yet actually pretty believable offence.
With Charlotte’s left leg now in pain, Emma has her opening. She stomps and dropkicks the injured bodypart before letting it meet the apron framing and trying to writhe it from the socket by draping it over the bottom rope. A makeshift bow & arrow/curb stomp combo is Emma’s next play, a tandem she follows up by pouncing on top of Charlotte’s knee when it was positioned on the second rope. I am loving everything about this.
Emma’s assault continues by kicking at the leg and driving the knee into the mat. Emma then locks in a cringe-inducing single leg crab that looks incredibly nasty. Emma’s offence is great here. Once Charlotte somehow musters the strength to make it to the ropes, she reverses an attempted crashing of her knee into the mat. Everyone’s favourite ‘Woo Girl’ hits a knee lift and successive chops before hitting a variation of a hangman’s neckbreaker followed by a spear! I appreciate that the spear didn’t look too impactful as it shows that Charlotte was selling the injury really well.
Charlotte goes for the pin and the win yet can only muster a two count. Emma trips Charlotte next and is shoved off when she attempts a jackknife cover. A flustered Emma is then taken out in lightning quick fashion with the Natural Selection and the genetically superior Diva proves that she lives up to her name after she got to her feet first and bagged that win.
After that match, Bayley helps Emma up and hugs her, seemingly letting Emma’s past taunting go. The crowd are red-hot for Bayley and that seemingly inspires her to give Emma a taste of her own medicine. Bayley hits the Belly to Bayley (Rich Brennan has changed it to Bayley to Belly which really annoys me) and she then mounts Emma and lays into here! Charlotte hold Bayley back yet Bayley makes sure that she grabs her headbands and t-shirt back first! If Emma wants one, she can buy one from WWE Shop and give Bayley a cut of the profits!
Becky Lynch is in the spotlight yet as Rich Brennan described her as “eclectic” before the VT is on screen. I wouldn’t say that Becky is a “diverse range of ideas” yet whatever. Commentary isn’t Rich’s strong-point whatsoever.
The package is similar to the one that aired last week and features captivating snapshots of Becky’s past working in England and Japan. I’m gutted her past with Paige wasn’t referenced yet at least we got to see Katarina Leigh on WWE TV again and Sarah Stock for the first time! Shame they are just in pictures though. Damn you WWE! Overall, this was a must-see promo and a tremendous way to bring to light how passionate Becky is.
My new NXT favourite Sasha Banks cutting a promo backstage is the next segment of the night. Sidenote: I have her theme on my iPod and it is a great one to strut around to in the street and pretend you have some 2007 Kanye West sunglasses on. Don’t judge me!
Sasha is turned towards a picture of The Fabulous Moolah and said that she was the greatest Diva in WWE history… until she came along. *faces the camera* Sasha says she respects that Becky has travelled the globe to try and make it, yet as quickly as she helped make Becky, she can also make the fans forget about her, “like that”. *clicks fingers* Sasha says that if Becky wants to make NXT her “empire”, she needs the crown jewel, yet there is no way she is taking that from The Boss.
I am in love with that woman.
Our next sighting is of the self-proclaimed “Hottest Chick in the Ring” Carmella. She is scheduled to accompany Enzo Amore and Big Cass to the ring for their match yet they don’t quite make it. After their entrance music plays twice and they don’t arrive, cameras catch up with Carmella backstage who is totally beside herself. She berates Blake & Murphy, who have ambushed her boys in the backstage area. Certainly not F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!
William Regal is standing by in the ring in-front of a massive table, so I presume we’re about to have an NXT hot dog eating contest with Jason Albert and Bull Dempsey? Oh no wait, it is time for Becky and Sasha’s contract signing. My bad.
After entrances Becky takes to the mic and cuts a very tweener-ish promo. Bex talks about travelling the world and then pursuing careers in stuntwork and even as a flight attendant after she questioned whether she could make it to the big time. She said that thankfully, she has managed to claw her way to this stage, yet she isn’t here to take part. She is here to take over.
Sasha keeps her mouth shut for once and lets her actions do the talking. After using a ‘BOSS’ stamp to sign the contract (amazing touch) Sasha attacks Becky! She throws the clipboard in her before punching Becky, throwing her across the table and smashing her face into. She then stands on-top of Becky’s neck and the table and raises her belt high!
Not one to go down lightly, Becky takes advantage of an ‘in-the-moment’ Banks from dishing out more punishment and she applies her newly-established armbar finisher! Sasha taps out as the referees pull the two apart. Becky just put Sasha on notice. You make your own luckm and the luck (and skill) of the Irish was on full display.
Dana Brooke is the final noteworthy name of the night. And Devin is there. Devin says that Dana has been on “quite the roll since”…
“Since I was born!”
Killer line from the Killer Barbie! Dana gloats about her win last week before moving the conversation onto the recent WWE/Tap Out advert. The ‘Total Diva’ (stop calling yourself that) says that it was total wack that WWE chose Charlotte to star in the commercial instead of her, much like Devin’s wack body. You forgot to mention her wack performance in The Bachelor too Dana! I wouldn’t be seen dead being eliminated in the first round of a TV show…
Dana says that now that she is around, it is about time that she sends Charlotte packing from NXT. Holy foreshadowing!
Thoughts: Much like last week, this week’s NXT was another phenomenal episode for the NXT Divas. NXT has always given Divas a chance and this week was no different. The booking and editing of NXT has seemed so much tighter in recent months, allowing for so much more content to be included. This week was a perfect example of that as we got to see eight women on screen with two feuds continuing with a major hint being dropped about a potential third starting up.
I wasn’t a fan of Dana Brooke’s promo a couple of weeks ago yet I thought her performance this week was excellent. Her use of the word “wack” was pretty annoying, yet Dana is a cocky heel so the fact she annoys me is great. Her line when she interrupted Devin was hilarious too. Dana’s character is more of a deluded-level of cockiness as opposed to the brash attitude seen from Sasha and the sassy ways of Carmella. Whilst all heels, each Diva is still managing to come across a little different and I think that is a fantastic thing to see.
If only Devin could get a little more personality. If someone just said that my body was wack, I would have a right face on for the entire rest of the interview, not a scowl for a split second. When the graphic on the TV has more presence than you, that’s when you know you need to switch it up and give people some more.
From a woman in Dana who NXT seemingly know what to do with to Carmella, NXT’s answer to Natalya. Carmella is a heel in matches yet a face when managing her cronies and it is starting to irritate me. I was very impressed with Carmella’s acting and dialogue this week yet I really want WWE to let her sit on one side of the fence instead of on top of it. At least Carmella said statements like “Stop that right now, I swear to god” and “Are you serious?” that are quite feisty and defiant as opposed to generic ‘damsel in distress’ spiel such as non-stop screaming or “Oh no! Someone get some help!”. Despite her blokes getting their arses whooped, Carmella stood her ground and verbally wasn’t afraid of the NXT Tag Team Champions. At least now she knows their true intentions. However, do we know Carmella’s? I hope she turns on Enzo and Cass at TakeOver yet not align with anyone else. She needs to stand on her own two bad girl feet and then use them to make people tap out. Bad-a-boom, bad-a-bing.
WWE’s video package for Becky Lynch was absolutely fantastic. I love that WWE referenced Becky’s horrendous character direction when she debuted and it was really refreshing to see them actually use history to elevate Becky instead of just ignoring the past. The images of her days in England and Japan were excellent too and really cement her as a hungry, passionate challenger. I can’t say I am a fan of her turning face on a whim though. Moments of heeldom were displayed in the video package and contract signing, yet her in-ring promo was indicative of a face character. Let’s hope WWE care to give us a reason as to Becky’s sudden softening around the edges. She isn’t yet playing up to the crowd, so hopefully that is a sign that she is to remain a heel and is only a tweener for this program.
As for the contract signing, I was a really big fan of it. Having William Regal involved intensified the mood of the segment. This was going to be a big deal. Both Becky and Sasha were so strong on the mic too which I was very impressed with. When is Sasha not though? Becky being given more mic time as of late is definitely paying off though. Also, Sasha’s ‘BOSS’ stamp? Brilliant.
As for the physical element to the aforementioned segment, I am so glad it didn’t end with Sasha standing on the announce table. That would have been so unrealistic. Whilst she did rough up Becky pretty hard, she wouldn’t stay down after a cocksure kick to the head (which was more like a push to the ground if anything) and a few hits to the face. I thought the segment was going to end without anything majorly emphatic, yet it was Becky who delivered that, recovering and making Sasha tap out. All-in-all, that was a B+ segment – a very strong showing indeed. And Sasha stood with her title held high would make for a great social media cover photo.
Did I say how good Sasha’s promo was backstage? Oh yeah I did, yet I love her so let’s chat some more about how epic it was. I cannot believe how far Sasha has come. She is like an entirely different entity to the woman she was when she first debuted. I honestly found her so boring, yet now she can do no wrong. She is absolutely fantastic and one of WWE’s most exciting prospects.
Now that we have discussed the good, the bad and the indifferent, let’s talk about the moment of the night, the match between Charlotte and Emma, plus Bayley’s subsequent beatdown. The Bayley/Emma feud is really picking up pace and both of them plus Charlotte were used perfectly in this segment. I can only fault one thing, which I’ll get out of the way.
Charlotte needs to get a new finisher. The Natural Selection this week looked terrible. For a woman so athletic, gorgeous and talented, you would think her finisher would represent those qualities a little better. Her finisher is essentially Adam Rose‘s Party Foul with even less impact as her opponents don’t fall from as high a height. But other than that, this match was so good.
It has been a while since we have seen Emma dominate in anything so being reminded that she can in fact wrestle was awesome. Her viciously methodical dissection of Charlotte was great, and she certainly didn’t hold back. Her array of ways to work over Charlotte’s leg was impressive; from the initial game-changing trip from the second rope to whacking it off the apron beam and that wickedly clamping single leg crab, I was very impressed with Emma.
Bayley’s post-match attack was also unreal, and I love the relationship that Bayley and Charlotte have. They have had quite the history, yet Charlotte is always watching over Bayley and is willing to help her out. Bayley was killing it yet again with her character and I cannot complain about her performance. I just hope that she eventually gets to have that NXT Women’s Title.
Having said that, Emma cannot keep losing. If she and Bayley do clash at TakeOver, Emma needs to win, otherwise her heel turn has been a waste of time for her personally. She was meant to adopt a new attitude to put an end to her losing and being made fun of. Since she has turned on NXT, she has lost both of her matches. I’m all for Emma winning before then eventually losing to Bayley again in a #1 Contender’s match.
And who said Bobby’s ‘Thoughts’ sections were the longest?! I would love to hear your thoughts on the latest NXT drama in the comment section below. Despite her having nothing to do with NXT, you should also praise the almighty Tameezus Christ too. On that note, see you next week for Raw and hopefully some more superkicking!
New ‘Tough Enough’ Details Revealed: Lita and Paige to Play Big Roles
WWE Hall of Famer Lita and former Divas Champion Paige will play pivotal roles in the new season of Tough Enough, the WWE has revealed.
More details on the new season of the WWE reality show have been announced in a new press release. Lita will join Booker T and Billy Gunn as a trainer, while Paige will serve alongside Hulk Hogan and Daniel Bryan on a panel of experts.
Chris Jericho will host the show, which will air live from the WWE Performance Center and feature an elimination process described as “lighting fast”:
Unlike anything on television today, the lightning-fast hour of entertainment and competition will include live results every week, giving fans worldwide the power to decide who stays and who goes the very same night. Each week, one cast member will be eliminated until one man and one woman are considered “Tough Enough,” with each earning a one-year, $250,000 WWE contract.
Renee Young will also take part in the show, having revealed on Twitter that she’ll serve as Jericho’s co-host:
So stoked to be @IAmJericho's cohost for #ToughEnough!! I'll be the Paula Abdul to his Ryan Seacrest!! ???????????????? @WWEToughEnough
— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) May 7, 2015
The new season of Tough Enough premieres on Tuesday, June 23rd at 8pm ET on the USA Network.
The full press release includes information on voting, a Tough Enough App and a guest appearance by Stephanie McMahon. To read it, visit WWE.com.
Your Two Cents: Favorite Ring Gear
Your Two Cents is our interactive feature where we ask for the opinions of our Twitter and Facebook followers.
This week, we’re asking this: What is or has been the greatest ring gear in women’s wrestling? We’ve read your responses on our social media pages and picked some of the best submissions to highlight here on the website. As always, you can join the debate by leaving your comments!
- @96Dabanana: I love Nikki Bella‘s gear, its different and really highlights her athletic past!
- @aaldomdp: Trish Stratus‘s WrestleMania gear against Christy Hemme or the white one she used in her last match.
- Adrian Flores Kanellis: In my opinion they have to be Maryse, because of all of her sexy and catchy attires such as the colors that she used, and Maria Kanellis for designing a lot of what she wore, risky and classy.
- Alfie Gayagoy: I always thought when Natalya used to wear her Bret Hart-inspired leather jackets to the ring it was classy and admirable as it brought back many fond memories of The Hart Foundation.
- @AMJ93NUFC: Paige. It doesn’t need to be flashy or brightly coloured and shows that she’s not a Diva, she’s a wrestler.
- @ATweetFromScout: AJ Lee, purely for the Converse.
- @bachatero77: My vote has to go to the sensational Sherri Mattel in the 80s. More recently, the one and only Sarita.
- @CruzJullian: Hands down, Melina. No one has topped anything she has worn!
- @GildingToxic: Maryse! Every piece of gear she had looked amazing.
- @ItsCAViT: Tara‘s spider outfits. I’m in love with it.
- @Jei_Rahne: I personally loved Kaitlyn‘s gear when she started wearing regular clothes. She looked like a total badass!
- Joseph Roberson: I have to go with Akira Hokuto. Both her entrance and ring gear were outstanding. The kimonos. The wigs. The masks. She had an incredible presence.
- Matthew Hollie: Cheerleader Melissa‘s Matthew Paul Robinson designs are completely awesome in my opinion. Makes her look good.
- Michael Burmeister: Let’s take a moment to salute Aksana and Maxine‘s ol’ ring gear. They proved that often times the one-piece is even more attractive than the two-piece!
- @NattieArmy: Nattie! I love her heart gear! Her new gear is perfect too!
- @NyLegionofboom: I would say Santana Garrett has by far some of the coolest and creative ring gear ever in women’s wrestling.
- @supportingeve: Eve Torres‘s gear, especially when she turned heel. Her attires were Wonder Woman physique type.
- @xbestintheworld: Candice Michelle with those circles in her tights in 2007. Especially the pink one with the white wings on the back.
And now we turn it over to you…
Give us your two cents! Who has/had your favorite ring gear?
NXT & Lucha Underground Exchange: May 6th, 2015
Tune in to NXT on the WWE Network and Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network, both at 8pm ET.
Discuss the shows in the comments!
Global Force Wrestling Adds Two Former Knockouts to Roster
[media-credit name=”Photo: GlobalForceWrestling.com” align=”aligncenter” width=”620″][/media-credit]
Global Force Wrestling has added two women to its ranks.
The promotion, which is headed by Jeff Jarrett and has been in the works for over a year, held a press conference in Las Vegas this afternoon and began its roster reveal.
Among the talents are former TNA Knockouts Lei’D Tapa and Thea Trindad.
Thea reacted to the news on Twitter, tweeting:
Can't wait to work with @GFWWrestling on these shows! Will be fun! Who's going?! #JoinTheForce https://t.co/j9n5H9nZIz
— Thea Trinidad (@TheaTrinidadTMT) May 6, 2015
Karen Jarrett, who will play in instrumental role in the promotion, also tweeted about the news, confirming that GFW will build a women’s division:
“@CatherineNikita: @karenjarrett Is There Going to Be a GFW Womens Division??”YES!!!
— Karen Jarrett (@karenjarrett) May 6, 2015
GFW has alliances with 13 promotions on five continents and has promised to reveal more names in the near future.
Their first sets of tapings have been announced for Friday, July 24th; Friday, August 21st; and Friday, October 23rd. They will take place at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the July tapings go on sale May 15th and can be purchased on OrleansArena.com.
You can read the accompanying press release on GlobalForceWrestling.com.
Who do you think will join GFW?
Sandra Gray Leaves the WWE
WWE seamstress and fan favorite Total Divas personality Sandra Gray has left the WWE.
Gray made the announcement last night on Twitter, tweeting:
Goodbye @WWE thanks for the memories pic.twitter.com/BAN6joaYff
— Sandra Gray (@sgovintage) May 6, 2015
Former WWE announcer Jim Ross took to Twitter to thank Gray for all of her hard work with the WWE:
“@sgovintage: Goodbye @WWE thanks for the memories pic.twitter.com/E2BfvwP2Cx”
The MVP many @WWE fans will never know. A wonderful lady.
— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) May 6, 2015
Gray worked with WWE for more than 15 years and made many of the Divas’ attires. She also runs her own vintage clothing business.
No reason has been revealed for her departure from the WWE.