Greetings and salutations Knockout fans! Welcome to another edition of TNA Throwback Thursday, where we take a look back at some of the most memorable moments to come from the Knockouts division throughout the years.
While the year 2014 saw some highlighted talents return to the company, it was also the year that saw TNA bring back some of their old traditions. Of course, the most notable tradition, as voted by fans, was the return of six-sided ring. Another was TNA bringing back the stipulation that ALL matches at their Lockdown Pay-Per-View (one of the few actual PPVs TNA hosts) were to be competed in a steel cage match, something which was notably absent at last year’s Lockdown event.
What really makes these two TNA customs go hand in hand is the early memories of TNA’s Lockdown PPV, where matches would often be dubbed Six Sides of Steel matches and in the year 2008, TNA introduced us to a special kind of Knockouts match that was referred to as a Queen of the Cage match. In this match, all the Knockouts would start things outside the steel caged ring until two of them have climbed their way into the ring. From there, it’s a singles steel cage match where a won picked up via pin fall or submission. Participants in this first ever Queen of the Cage match included Christy Hemme, Salinas, Rhaka Khan, Traci Brooks, Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Jacqueline and Roxxi Laveaux.
While it seems ideal to climb the cage as soon as the bell rings, it is a tough task to complete as there are so many different characters surrounding you, trying to accomplish the very same goal. Still, Angelina Love manages to easily make her way into the six-sided steel cage ring, with virtually no one stopping her. So the question remains, who will join her next?
Velvet Sky has intentions of joining her Beautiful People partner in the ring but she’s going to have to race Rhaka Kahn, Traci, Jaqueline and Roxxi first. With Rhaka Kahn being held down by Christy and Salinas, Angelina kicking Jacqueline and Traci from the inside cage as they tried to climb and Roxxi besting Velvet in their climb off, it’s the Voodoo Queen who eventually meets Angelina inside the trapped steel cage.
With nowhere to run but inside, Angelina and Roxxi battle it out back and forth. Angelina managing to land a quick Botox Injection and a Lights Out to Roxxi but it’s not enough to put her away. After an attempted roll up pin from Angelina, Roxxi manages to kick out, flinging Angelina to the steel surroundings and hitting the Voodoo Drop for the three count crowning her the first ever Queen of the Cage.
The following year at Lockdown 2009, we saw round two of the Queen of the Cage match with brand new participants that included Madison Rayne, Sojo Bolt, Daffney and ODB. (Anyone remember blonde ODB?) However, with a notable smaller group of Knockouts this time around, the original rules of the match staring the match outside the ring were dropped thus making it a Fatal Four-Way Steel Cage match with the winner still having bragging rights of being Queen of the Cage.
With ODB sizing up to be larger than her three opponents, she quickly becomes the biggest target in the match, being double attacked throughout the match. Still, with her trusty flask and faithful companion Cody Deaner (who I always favored with ODB than Eric Young) ODB manages to strive and fire up in this contest, blinding Sojo Bolt at one point with her booze following up with a power slam for the win.
After the year 2009, TNA did away with their “Queen of the Cage” matches but there were still plenty of cage matches (and other extreme matches) that continued in the Knockouts division. That’s not to say that any of those other matches were bad but I really appreciated the creative idea behind the original Queen of the Cage match. It was different and a unique way to crown new number one contenders on a PPV level. Of course through the TNA years, things have changed and the idea of seeing another Queen of the Cage match seems unlikely now. Even more so, now that it appears TNA have dropped Lockdown as one of their major PPVs in favor of Genesis and keeping Sacrifice, Slammiversary (which really should be TNA’s WrestleMania) and Bound For Glory. A shame, in my opinion, as Lockdown truly was a special PPV for TNA that certainly was popular amongst fans. Still, perhaps we’ll still get Lockdown in 2015 even if it’s in the form of a special “Free PPV” that we’ve now grown accustomed to.
