Former TNA Knockout, ODB, spoke to Alex Marvez in his syndicated column regarding her TNA departure. She also gave her thoughts on the current direction of the Knockouts division.
Kresa and the monstrous Kong (real name Kia Stevens) were two of the diverse female characters who struck a chord with TNA fans. But once the Bischoff/Hogan era began, it quickly became obvious that beauty was going to get pushed over brawn. Kresa, Stevens and Nicole “Roxxi” Raczynski are three of the original Knockouts released by TNA this year.
“I’m not dumb,” said Kresa, who was a college hockey player at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota before becoming a pro wrestler. “I noticed the change in the Knockouts division with Kong being gone and a lot of girls leaving. I was the next one.
“We were the ones who built the Knockout division. People wanted to watch because we were all so different. That’s what guys like. They’re going back to the cookie-cutter (performers), I think.”
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21 Comments
It’s so sad because it’s true. I mean who wants to see a Wwe version 2. What ODB said is why we loved the division. I was different and something that we’d never seen in wwe. It is just like the six-sided ring. Why get of things that makes Tna different. Tna needs to be their own company and stop trying to be like the Wwe.
Couldnt agree more.
cause wwe & tna are stupid & think looks can make up for next to nothing wrestling skill…
She was so over with the crowd, it’s just ridiculously obvious how she was next in line to get released and that’s really sad. They rather focus on less talented girls, which is quite stupid, I mean, when was the last time we even saw Hamada in action?!
i couldn’t agree any more. Well said ODB.
The thing with TNA is that their KO’s can wrestle, it’s just the way they are using them. I think they need to hire back Kong, ODB, Alissa, Gail, Roxxi & go back to the way that it was before.
i don’t think odb had a single memorable match. yeah, she was over with the impact zone (who isn’t?) and she wasn’t completely sucky in the ring, but she didn’t really add anything to the division. for me, she made it a bit more tacky and novelty-esque than it already was and really brought it down with the overt sexual behaviour. odb having a bit of muscle, shouldn’t have been reason for her to stick around.
in any case, she still sounds in good spirits and good luck with her movie career. still find it odd that tna haven’t removed her and a few others from their roster page, though..
I agree with Kaledrina.
ODB wasn’t anything too special and it’s clear she could only do one character which got old. TNA is on a station that’s targeted to men that are college age guys to older men. The women on Spike TV are sexy dressed playboy models jumping around. If you want ratings, hire some hot chicks or hot wrestlers. At the end of the day you have to realise it’s a television show and you have to make changes to make that show successful. Wrestling fans liked the “diverstiy” but the audiance likes TBP-looking girls.
ODb, i couldnt have said it better myself, TNA was different from other wrestling companies because they welcomed the weird & wonderful looking women, in the form of Moose Knuckles, Voodoo Girl Roxxi & ODB.. they competed in matches you would never dream of seeing Divas perform in, Queen of the Cage (dont know where that disappeared to in 2009) & multiple Bimbo Brawls
i just have to say that Hogan has dug a giant hole in the Knockouts Division & even if he does hire all those women back, the hole will certainly not be filled completely as they will still feel uncomfortable in TNA because of their first firing
also, i heard during that interview ODB said TNA didnt check what she put in her flask so she sometimes but Jagermeister in when she was battling Awesome Kong
i meant to say (dont know where that disappeared to in 2010)
Maybe tna got tired of talented women.
Tna if u like hott chicks right now then hire chicks from shimmer like navea,tennily,Jesse mekay,jessica James,etc.
Kaledrina- Taylor Wilde has never been over with the Impact Zone and she has been in the company for two years now lol. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist saying that.
“Taylor Wilde has never been over with the Impact Zone and she has been in the company for two years now”
Not entirely true. In her 2 years there have been 2 long breaks where TNA didn’t use her on tv, almost totallying a full year. Then she had the problem that she was pushed as a replacement for Gail early on, fans dont want to be told what they should like. That naturally didn’t help her either. But in the periods she wasnt involved with the title the fans got behind her, see her feud with Daffney which the fans really enjoyed. And her teaming with Sarita also had a very good start, just look at their match against Kong/Hamada (one of the few good knockout matches past 2 years).
So there definately have been periods where she was over with the crowd. But when TNA doesn’t use you regularly and just throw you into random feuds, then it’s hard to STAY over with the fans, because they sooner or later stop caring.
Mikas- I will give you the Taylor/Sarita vs. Kong/Hamada match because that has been my favorite match my in wwe/tna in 2010. I have to disagree however about the Daffney. Daffney was the sole reason why people enjoyed. They had the mixed tag match at Slammiversary and Daffney took all the big bumps. This is why fans love Daffney so much. Daffney always took the big bumps during her hardcore matches for the fans to care. Taylor reminds me of why I don’t like John Cena. She is basically Supergirl as she overcomes the odds match after match after basically doing nothing.
TNA needs go out of their comfort zone and stop hiring wrestlers who have been release from WWE, to become WWE 2,and hire young wrestlers who haven’t been in the WWE,when it comes to hiring Divas that there have been times that WWE can be also guilty of charge of hiring models or having a Diva Search instead of hiring wrestlers from the independent scene.TNA has variety of women wrestlers and now it is the same practice in the WWE that it is totally one sided type hiring.
True enough. TNA is trying too hard to compete with WWE. First, they bring has beens like Bischoff and Hogan, and now they’re trying to revive ECW. Didn’t ECW die twice already???
I agree with ODB, the Knockouts division from 2007-2009 was awesome, they had a lot of talent, decent bookings, and it was diverse as far as looks and wrestling style (for the most part), and now in TNA, we see the same 6-7 women on TV, and though I love the women I see (especially Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich!), it gets boring seeing all these “cookie cutter” women week in and week out.
It is like saying enough already of trying to be like WWE,if TNA wants to be like a competition then act like it,by bringing younger talents who are in their 20′s and not continue to bring talented who have release or has beens.TNA is like WWE meets Deal Or No Deal Models meets Rock Of Love Girls from the first season.Next Month Pay Per View that they want to bring ECW wrestlers for an one time thing,it is like yea right,let ECW Rest In Peace to enter eternity of defunct wrestling organizations,I mean you don’t see WWE are planning to bring back AWA or WCW to resurface once again,once an organization is gone,it is to leave as it was and to leave it in the past.
“ODB wasn’t anything too special and it’s clear she could only do one character which got old. TNA is on a station that’s targeted to men that are college age guys to older men. The women on Spike TV are sexy dressed playboy models jumping around. If you want ratings, hire some hot chicks or hot wrestlers. At the end of the day you have to realise it’s a television show and you have to make changes to make that show successful. Wrestling fans liked the “diverstiy” but the audiance likes TBP-looking girls.”
But look at the bigger picture when Hogan came in and the ill-fated move to Monday: Ratings went down.
The Knockouts have always pushed TBP prominently, so I don’t see why they can’t use others too. In 2008 it was a right mix of wrestling and eye cancy with TBP as the main heel act I might add.
TNA before them has always targetted itself to a very b*tchy, very whiney internet fanbase. You gotta have the flippy flip spot “I can’t strike or sell or play a character” a-holes of the X-Division. You gotta have a bunch of unknown indy workers because “they can wrestle”. You gotta have “credible” women to push instead of the “models”. And anything outside of that sucks because they don’t like them and don’t want to see them. Pretty much everything you ain’t gonna see in the WWE HAS to happen in TNA, but guess which has a more loyal (aka willing to spend money) on the product? Yeah.
TNA has to change its business model if they want bigger ratings. So, Bischoff and Hogan came in, but I think it was too late. I am a TNA fan and have been since 2002, but that company is so royally screwed at this point. From the writing to the wrestlers themselves. The audience TNA has cartered to for so damn long will never be happy and TNA is still unknown to a majority of wrestling fans because TNA hates promotion or something.
ODB may not have been an important factor to the Knockout Division, however, she is one-hundred percent correct.
Everyone is saying TNA should stop hiring WWE’s leftovers, however, even some of the first Knockouts were with WWE. Christy Hemme, Angelina Love (a WWE territory – she would have been a Diva if they had kept her around), Salinas, Gail Kim, Jacqueline, Rhaka Khan (a WWE territory), and Velvet. I’m certain that almost -not every Knockout has or was once working for the company. So, there is nothing wrong with hiring the WWE’s leftovers if you use them properly. So, stop blaming it on them hiring the WWE’s leftovers, because almost all of their Knockouts are leftovers.
It is how they are using the Knockouts that make them no better than the WWE now.
As far as TNA hiring cooky cutters, aside from Lacey and Brooke, I don’t see anything different about the division and who they have hired. The Beautiful People were and have always been the sex symbols, bringing in ratings, and that is how they are even presently. Maybe not as much as before, but I don’t see anything different.
I mean, yes, they have lost some of their best Knockouts; Gail and Kong, but if they used the Knockouts that they have now correctly than all would be well.
The Knockouts are far superior to the guest host groupie divas.
The Divas are a joke and toned down filtered with tv-PG.
The TNA Knockouts get to compete in cage matches and matches with brutality just like the guys. Also TNA is equal opportunity with a female Tag team division.
All of the TNA knockouts have indy backrounds unlike most of the dancer, model, x-cheerleader Divas. Sarita, Ayako Hamada, Angelina Love, Mickie James, Tara, Daffney, Taylor Wilde and Madison Rayne are some of the best female wrestlers in the world. They have been stealing the show lately on impact! They released Lacey Von Erich and brought in Katie Lea aka Winter. Also some tryout AAA lucha wrestlers Christina Von Eerie & Jennifer Blake would add to the division. Also TNA has the BP’s sell sexiness and they can wrestle. Awesome Kong coming back would make it better than ever. She can have great feuds with anyone like she did with Gail Kim. And lets no get into what she is doing now in the E.