Hola Knockout fans and welcome to another edition of Xplosion Write-Up. Now I know that despite my 2017 New Year’s resolution (does anyone actually follow through with those?), I haven’t been consisted when it comes to covering the Knockouts matches taking place on Impact’s B+ show or One Night Only for that matter. Again, it just goes back my poor time management skills and feeling that I always wait too long before that window of time relevancy closes.
But much like Impact, I’m going to press the reset button in the hopes of a second chance to learn from my mistakes and do better in the future. With that being said, let’s take a look at this week’s Knockouts Xplosion match which sees Angelina Love take on one of the newer faces to the Knockouts MJ Jenkins. If you recall, MJ first made an appearance on Impact Wrestling as part of a group of Knockouts gunning after Rosemary last month and later competed in a number one contenders Gauntlet match.
MJ makes her entrance first, saluting the Impact Zone and flexing her muscles as we wait for Angelina to make her entrance next. Angelina, who is sporting some new gear along with a new entrance theme song, is being accompanied by her husband Davey Richards for this match.
The bell sounds off but Angelina’s focus remains on Davey despite their affectionate style entrance. MJ shouts out that she is here to wrestle and swings Angelina around, telling her to take that PDA with Davey to the hotel. Angelina shoves MJ but MJ shoves Angelina back with so much force that it causes Angelina to fall.
Angelina recomposes herself and begins to work against MJ with a chop to the chest and landing in a few good kicks. Angelina whips MJ to the ropes but MJ is able to turn this around up return with an arm drag.
MJ keeps Angelina momentarily grounded with an arm submission but Angelina gets to her feet and escapes the hold with a knee shot to MJ’s midsection. Angelina whips MJ to the ropes for a second time but MJ once again is able to turn things in her favor by dodging a clothesline and hitting a back handspring back elbow. This causes Angelina to roll under the bottom ropes and escapes to the outside as we head out to a break.
When we return, we find Angelina slowly making her way back to the six sided ring after driving MJ’s head through the top rope and proceeds to tackle and kick MJ at a corner. The Knockouts meet in the center of the ring where Angelina goes for a suplex but MJ reverses this to a small package that earns her a two count.
Angelina takes back control with a strong clothesline that knocks the wind out of MJ. She then charges after MJ, who is regrouping at a corner, but MJ manages to get her boots up in time to fend off Angelina. MJ follows up with a dropkick leading to another near fall.
A newly confident MJ runs the ropes but gets taken down with a toe hold from Angelina, who proceeds to grab MJ’s arms and kicks her face first onto the mat. Angelina crawls to a corner where she rejoices in an intimate moment with her husband. Angelina takes MJ to the ropes but MJ fights back with a leaping forearm. She then maneuvers to the ring apron, taking careful aim of Angelina and connecting a springboard dropkick from the top rope!
The crowd is fully behind MJ, well except for Davey Richards who jumps to the ring apron to an angry outburst on MJ. This distracts MJ who goes on to eat a mean right forearm from Angelina when she turns around that puts her away for the three count. Angelina celebrates her victory with Davey by her side.
Thoughts: I’m so glad we got to see more of MJ here than we did during her two appearances on Impact’s main show. I sound like a broken record at this point but this should be the serving purpose of Xplosion: tryout matches for new aspiring talent and allowing new signees to be introduced to fans through exhibition matches.
I’m not all familiar with MJ’s work but between some of the new names that we’ve seen come to the Knockouts division on Impact in Alisha Edwards, Brandi Rhodes, Diamanté and Ava Storie, MJ has impressed me the most in terms of ring work here. She is athletic, a fresh face to the Knockouts division and can keep working across a veteran such as Angelina. Even though the ending of this match was anti-climatic, I was expecting Angelina to win with a Botox Injection, it was a good back and forth paced match.
I’d figure Davey would get involved here but I’m glad it was kept to a minimal degree that it didn’t too much away from the Knockouts. I’ve enjoyed seeing this evolution of Angelina since pairing onscreen with Davey; it is a different take from her Beautiful People persona we’ve seen rehashed for years. We’ll be sure to see more intensity from “The Natural Born Killers” as they continue their feud with Eddie Edwards and Alisha on Impact.
What did you think of the match? Have you been enjoying the onscreen Angelina/Davey pairing? How would you book MJ on Impact’s main show? Let us know in the comments below!
