Didn’t get enough Knockouts action on this week’s TNA Impact? Not worry, Xplosion is here and the women have (virtually) taken hold of this show! We have two matches on tap, the first between Sarita and everyone’s favorite psycho Daffney. The second is between former Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne going toe to toe with current champion Angelina Love. Plus we have promos from the women involved in each match. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
After introductions from Taz and JB, we see Christy in the back with Angelina. The champ proceeds to tear Madison a new one verbally, speaking on what real wrestlers do, which is wrestle – not run. Personally I can’t do the promo justice, Angelina comes across as uber pissed and ready to get her hands on Rayne again.
Next is an interview with Dixie Carter, and since she’s not a Knockout, I’m skipping over it. At 8:05, we see Christy with a returning Sarita, who’s sporting a yellow and red attire. Interesting colours. Sarita basically tells Daffney to bring the crazy because she’s feeling better than ever. Shorter than Angelina’s but to the point.
Sarita’s music hits and out she comes. Upon seeing it fully, the outfit isn’t as bad as I thought. Bright colors look good on her. She enters the ring, playing to the crowd, so I’m uncertain if she’s still a heel or a face. The reaction she gets is nothing compared to the pop that our second Knockout gets: the always unpredictable, incomparable Goth Goddess Daffney! Making her entrance, tonight she’s in her black and blue outfit, tiny top hat in place. As she enters the ring, she lets out a bellowing scream followed by a snarl. Sarita shows no intimidation, however. The bell rings and we’re off and running!
The two circle each other before locking up in a collar and elbow tieup. Daffney gets the advantage by latching on a side headlock. After a lot of jockeying for position, Daffney goes for a front headlock but Sarita twists out of it, going for a wristlock. The Scream Queen smartly cartwheels out of it and locks on her own wristlock, which Sarita proceeds to roll forward and nip up to escape. Daffney’s right there to meet her with a nice chop and powers her down to the mat, still clinging to the arm. Switching to a side headlock again, the two stand and Sarita trips Daffney. Before she can take advantage, Daff trips up Sarita, flips her over and goes for a pin. It’s only good for two, however.
Right back into a side headlock, the two jockey for position again, before Sarita grabs Daffney’s wrists and twists out of the hold, getting a couple of chops in. She whips Daffney off the ropes but Daff reverses, but upon impact, Sarita knocks Daffney to the mat. The Latina looks cocky before whipping herself off the ropes but this time Daffney catches her and gets in a hip toss. Once she’s down, the Goth Goddess pounces, latching on a single leg Boston crab. Sarita manages to grab one of her opponent’s legs and trip her up, then latches on a front headlock, trying to keep her grounded. She flips Daffney over and goes for a pin. The referee counts two before Daff kicks out. The two trade headlocks until Sarita hits a knee to Daffney’s gut, then whips her into the corner. Sarita follows, looking for a splash but Daffney ducks, then gets the brunette in a schoolgirl. The pin gets a two count.
Daffney hits a drop toehold, then wraps up Sarita’s legs and rolls backwards, stretching Sarita in a bow and arrow submission. It’s at this point we fade to commercial (great timing!). When we fade back in, JB and Taz fill us in that Daffney’s been on the offense the whole time. We see the two on their feet, Daffney delivering some hard chops to the chest, then throwing Sarita face first to the mat. She tries to lock in a camel clutch but Sarita makes her way to her feet, finally stumbling forward, causing Daffney’s head to go into the middle turnbuckle. Sarita recovers and goes on the offense, landing a kick before pulling Daffney up and dragging her face along the top rope.
Whipping her off of the ropes, Sarita connects with a beautiful dropkick but instead of going for a pin, she poses over Daffney and starts doing something that faintly resembles a dance..? Whatever it is, it’s costly as Daffney trips and rolls her up. Unfortunately the ref only counts two before a kickout. Sarita gets in some blows before trying a complicated pin that the referee refuses to count due to Daffney’s shoulders not being all the way on the mat. The Dark Angel gathers Daffney up and executes a hip toss, an arm drag and another hip toss before doing another little dance. Gathering Daffney up by the hair, Sarita corners her and basically starts slapping and chopping her rather lazily. At this point, our Goth Goddess has had enough. Channeling her inner Undertaker, she grabs Sarita by the throat with a ferocious look on her face. She goes on the attack with a headbutt (prompting Taz to state how you see few women using headbutts…has he forgotten about one half of the TNA tag champions, namely Hamada? And obviously he’s never seen a Sara Del Rey match..fail!), followed by fists and kicks, leaving Sarita to try to head for the outside. Daffney’s having none of it, dragging her back in and slamming her face onto her knee. She goes for a cover and almost gets that three but Sarita narrowly kicks out.
Daffney goes for a rear chokehold but Sarita counters, sitting out so her head connects with Daff’s jaw. After getting her wits about her, Sarita whips herself off the ropes but Daffney smartly counters, grabbing the leg and rolling into a one legged Boston crab again. The crowd starts chanting, “Tap, tap!” but the Dark Angel refuses, crawling towards the ropes. However, she gets dragged back to the middle of the ring. Opting to cheat, Sarita pulls the referee into her and Daffney, causing her to break the hold. Does the referee immediately disqualify Sarita? No, that would make too much sense. Instead, Sarita rolls up Daffney and holds onto the tights to get the three count.
Interestingly enough, first Daffney looked enraged but as Sarita celebrates on the ramp, Daff’s face changes. What appears to be sadness and fustration cross her face. My heart goes out to her, what’s it going to take for her to get a win? Or at least a storyline/feud that, you know, makes sense? This was a random match that pitted two heels together for no reason (even though, if we’re going by crowd support, Daffney was clearly the favorite, despite her heel status). No buildup, no story, just a match. It seemed to me that Sarita isn’t at 100% yet, either (although I could be wrong about this). I enjoyed the match, good work by both women, I just hate the fact that, other than the Beautiful People vs Madison & Tara, none of the women have any kind of storylines or feuds.
Speaking of the Beautiful People, the music hits and out comes Angelina. Apparently her match is supposed to be happening later, according to Taz, but it seems Love isn’t willing to wait. She marches to the ring, microphone in hand. She calls out Madison, saying she’s tired of Rayne running away. She wants her in the ring NOW. The Beautiful People’s music hits once more and out comes Madison, not running away this time, but meeting her head on. Angelina doesn’t wait for very long – she exits the ring and rushes up the ramp, wailing away on Madison with fists. She gets knocked to the ground, Angelina following up with kicks as Rayne tries to scurry away. Basically Angelina opens a can of whoopass on Madison, sending her into the guardrails, slamming her face into the edge of the ring, and finally tries to whip her into the steel steps. Madison reverses and Angelina goes into the steps!
After a moment where the referee tells the cameraman to get out of the way (seriously? I laughed!), Madison puts the boots to Angelina, who’s laying prone on her stomach. Dropping down to her knees, she flat out chokes Love until admonished by the referee, who gets screamed at for his troubles. Now it’s Rayne’s turn to slam Angelina into the edge of the ring and knock her about before finally rolling her into the ring. The bell (mercifully) rings to officially start the match. Madison puts one more boot to Angelina before going for a cover. Love kicks out at two, fustrating the former leader of TBP. She mounts Angelina and lands some hard fists, then holds Angelina down by the arms for a half-assed pin. No surprise that Love kicks out.
Sitting her up, Rayne grabs Angelina by the hair and just YANKS on it until the five count by the referee. Madison’s screaming at the crowd and the ref, outraged they would cheer for Angel. Trapping Love’s body in her legs, she rolls her over to smash her face into the canvas several times (in a move that Taz calls “Vintage Madison”…excuse me while I choke with laughter..). Attempting to pin Angelina, twice, both times she kicks out. Trying something different, Madison goes to the corner and climbs up to the second rope, waiting for Angelina to stand. When she does, Madison leaps but eats the canvas as Love ducks away. Angelina hits two VICIOUS clotheslines, followed by a stinging chop to the chest that sends Madison down! When Rayne gets to her feet, she’s met with a hard Botox Injection that earns Angelina the three count and the win! As we leave the air, Velvet has come out onto the ramp and when Angelina makes her way to her side, they raise each other’s hands in victory. Madison is left to glare daggers at the two.
Short but pretty vicious match. The chemistry between these two is excellent and I can feel Madison as a tough, bitch heel. She may be short but her facial expressions, her mannerisms in the ring and her out of control screaming make her a formidable force to be dealt with. Meanwhile Angelina continues to be on point and on fire as champion, hellbent on making sure Madison knows her place – as someone that the original Beautiful People made and as someone who they can UNmake just as quickly.
