Impact Feedback: December 3rd, 2009

Everything one can read online (like Lance Storm’s Q&A, Lita’s interview about the Ho sale, Krystal Lashley’s departure, Velvet Sky & Poison) seems to indicate that a wrestler just does what he/she is told to do if she/he wants to keep working, whether she/he likes it or not. So no, it is not likely that Tara could have easily avoided doing this segment if she wanted to. The question remains, did she actually want to ?

Second point, what’s the fuss about Tara calling divas barbie dolls on tv while on character ? Kayfabe wise, it’s nothing new, she did that thoroughly her late career in WWE. All of her feuds from 2005 onwards had for explicit theme Victoria as the badass/bitch vs the nice and newest “worthless” diva hogging the spotlight – eg Christy Hemme, Ashley, most of the checklist, Torrie Wilson, and the Bellas; she even called Kelly Kelly “Barbie” during a match (and not only because it’s her real name). And as we all know more than once she got totally jobbed in those feuds.

About the pot calling the kettle black : in 2000, Victoria was indeed a clueless diva ring wise, but she was only brought up as a valet. And even then she was put through a table. When was the last time a diva took such bump exactly ? And after that, WWE wisely did not put her in the ring and on tv til she was fully ready (like Gail and Mickie later). Those were just different times. These days Kelly toured with ECW at age 19 with an exhibitionnist gimmick, Eve is basically learning on the fly, Maryse is pushed solely based on looks and charisma with the hope she will eventually catch on with ring skills (much like Trish Stratus, but sadly there is only one Trish Stratus). That doesn’t look like the right way to do things.

The Tara/ODB segment is disturbing (for what it is) for the same reason the Lita/Matt Hardy shoot web interview was : because it blurs reality and fiction. It’s the feeling of facing a worked shoot based on real things. And not only it blurs, but it twists facts and feelings (the knockouts division being there for seven years, ODB ?). Tara has said similar things out of kayfabe, but not with such a strong and unbalanced wording. And apparently she likes most of her ex-coworkers. But if this segment induces a strong reaction, then that’s the whole point. Good or bad, you don’t make wrestling with tedious stuff. It works like comedy, exaggerating actual things to display them with maximal effect. Lisa Marie Varon talked about this segment as a therapy. That’s what it is : a catharsis, a blow-out way to put the WWE past behind her for good, in kayfabe and in reality. Because the angle of this feud is apparently Tara becoming a knockout for real and for good (TNA loves those respect angles isn’t it). TNA could not have done it when Tara faced the Beautiful People for obvious reasons; they’ve chosen to do it now while Tara is still quite new in TNA : she faces the KO champion ODB for the title, who is the antithesis of a diva. Like it or not, it’s a good opposition writing-wise and I can see why the writers took this path. And it works not because of the Victoria of the golden era winning titles in street fights, but mostly because she was a joke in her later years and therefore has something to prove.

Personally though I am not too fond of it. It’s really the easy-lazy way for a writer to use real life and what happened in other promotions to build angles. After the Kong match, it also comes too late : if winning cleanly vs Kong doesn’t earn kayfabe respect, I don’t know what will (ok, we have an ODB heel turn here, but still). At least we have a real heated feud for the title. And wrestlers are better anyway when they don’t have to act out of blue.

In that segment Tara offered her respect and praise, she got slapped and insulted in return. Then it’s quite logical to be shocked and disappointed, and to leave. You don’t hit someone seconds after wanting to show her respect. It’s not because you’re strong in the ring that you’re strong from an emotional point of view either. The psychology of the segment called for ODB keeping the upper hand. One would expect Tara to react strongly in the next weeks, otherwise the writers are just missing the boat and portray her actually like a crybaby diva.

On the issue of the knockouts bashing divas : once again, if only that could lead to WWE actually paying attention to their women division, I am all for the knockouts saying that divas are worthless trash at every single opportunity. Sadly it won’t be the case, but I am begging for it to happen.

Regarding the Hamada vs Saritaylor spotfests : well, they were a great display of athleticism and technique. It also shows what the knockouts and women in general can do in wrestling, they can be compared to the x division without shame, which is very good. And those matches are probably as good and entertaining as it can get for a 3 minutes match. But, much like the x division matches, they are not without issue, mostly due to time shortage.

First, the lack of selling, and the absence of long-term selling. Let’s consider the Taylor-Hamada match. We see there Hamada completely no selling Taylor’s Huracanrana and later the springboard armdrag. We see the excessive accumulation of spots and big impact moves : the first move that Hamada hits in that match is a jumping ddt that would make a decent finisher. Then a huge superkick to the head, then a perfect moonsault. That should end the match, like the crowd shouted, but no it continues, and therefore Taylor is basically forced to no-sell those moves as well : fifteen seconds later, she’s on her feet running and jumping everywhere like nothing happened. And for these reasons most of those matches have a random finish, because nothing that happened prior to the last spot means anything (to be fair, in the Taylor match Taz was selling that Taylor took too many hits to the head; that match had at least some kind of thread). We eventually get disconnected matches where the spots are just there for themselves. Wrestling not being only a sport, it is also about the art of selling something to maximal effect. From this point of view, the short and crowded spotfests actually underachieve. So it would be very interesting to see what the x-division style knockouts would do with more time.

This time the impact zone crowd seemed to really care for Hamada and Sarita, and not only for their spots like before; that’s a very good thing, and it calls for their characters to be developed more.