If you’re anything like me, then you cringed a few weeks ago when Angelina Love won the right to compete for the TNA Knockouts Championship against Madison Rayne. The outcome was all to predictable and of course, TNA once again went with the obvious. Outcome aside, was the match a must-see?
The challenger was the first to make her way to the ring and for once, Angelina looked almost okay. Her outfit wasn’t a complete eye sore and the color combination (a nice turquoise and black) suited her. Madison walked out a few seconds later dressed in a pink and black two-piece outfit, complete with skirt (Skirt Madison?) and bad hair extensions.
It’s a good thing wrestling isn’t about fashion. Wrestling also isn’t about which Knockout can molest the second rope better, but hey. I’m not judging anyone!
Angelina made a beeline towards Madison as soon as she got in the ring, but Madison smartly put the official between herself and the challenger. She wasn’t exactly ready to defend just yet. Of course, Angelina didn’t care and attempted to attack Madison, and with the referee stuck in the middle the timekeeper showed some sympathy and rang the bell. Madison got the first definitive strike in on her opponent and Angelina went staggering back and to her knees. Madison followed it up but the offense was short lived as Angelina began throwing punches. She forced Madison back into the corner and tried to whip her across the ring, but Madison was able to reverse it and Angelina slammed her back into the turnbuckles. Madison charged at Angelina with full speed but the numerous times ex-champion got her foot up and rooted Madison right in the mouth. Madison went flying back, but caught herself, and went right back at Angelina. Angelina was able to kick both feet up this time but Madison was ready, threw them between the ropes, and yanked Angelina down to her back by her hair.
Pleased with herself, Madison appeared to be going for a cover, but instead she decided to mount Angelina and start slamming her head into the mat. The referee screamed at her to stop and Madison verbally abused him. She finally went for the cover, but Angelina was up at the one count like Madison’s flurry of offense didn’t even effect her. Madison looked understandably annoyed by this and she brought Angelina up to her feet by using a front facelock. Angelina attempted to fight out of the hold, but Madison kneed her in the gut a few times before bringing her down with a fancy pancy little swinging neckbreaker. Madison got to her feet and stepped her feet in front of Angelina’s shoulders. That led into her porn movie-esque move which probably made a lot of weirdos happy. Madison went for a cover when all was said and done, but again Angelina got the shoulder up. This time it was after the count of two. Irritated, Madison went for another one. The end result was the same. Madison decided to take her anger out on the referee and she not so politely told him she should have had a three count. Needless to say, he assured that she was oh so wrong.
Angelina started to stir, so Madison turned around and got her head back into the match. Angelina hit Madison with a modified jawbreaker that sent the champ backwards. Madison, who was clearly groggy, tried to strike back but Angelina took her down not once, but thrice by the hair. The third time, Madison was slow to get back to her feet but once she did, she was knocked right back with a vicious flying clothesline. Angelina went to the corner and waited on Madison to get up, and once she did, Angelina was ready with a martial arts style kick. It connected right to Madison’s face and Angelina seemed to be in firm control.
Low and behold here comes Mystery Woman. Angelina turned her attention from the match, to the bike, and Mystery Woman began to rev the engine. Eventually she got off the motorcycle and headed for the ring. The referee tried to send her out of the Impact Zone and Angelina invited her to get in the ring. However, it was Velvet Sky who came out of nowhere and destroyed Mystery Woman with a chair shot to the back. Velvet started ripping into Mystery Woman and berating her into absolute nothingness. Madison got out of the ring and got the championship, then re-entered and hit Angelina with the title. She tossed it away and went for the cover, but Angelina used her super human strength to kick out.
Meanwhile, Velvet ripped the helmet off Mystery Woman’s head only to reveal a mask. Womp womp.
Mass confusion reigned supreme. Mystery Woman tossed Velvet aside and got the heck out of dodge. Madison ripped Thomas a new asshole. Angelina called on Zordon and Alpha Five, morphed into John Cena, and hit Madison with her finisher. A new Knockouts Champion was crowned. Velvet held the helmet up in victory and silently saluted her former best friend and tag team partner.
I wish I could say all this was interesting, but it really wasn’t to me. For what it’s worth, I’m not going to sit here and follow the usual format. I don’t want to get into the good, the bad, and the ugly. I simply want to talk about what we watched tonight. A lot of people have been asking if Angelina’s last reign counted. I feel like it did because years ago when Melina first won the Women’s Championship, she lost it in a house show match to Mickie James in Paris. Whether she lost it because of a mistake or whatever, I don’t know and frankly, I don’t care. Details are not important to the point I’m trying to make. During that same show, Melina won her championship back and officially became a two-time Women’s Champion. She had to lose it in order to win it back, and technically, Angelina did win her last title match against Madison. In my opinion, the reign counted and I’ve heard Taz say it as well, so there ya go.
There’s no doubt in my mind that TNA is trying to create their own “Trish” out of Angelina. Bullshit similarities aside, you can’t ignore what’s going on. Angelina is champion once again, and it’s a shame because there was a perfect storyline going on between Velvet and Madison. You can criticize Velvet’s in-ring talent all you want, but lesser girls have held championships before and at least Velvet can bring a hell of a character to the table. It would have been an amazing pay-off to see Madison and Velvet feud, securing the Beautiful People break-up for good, and have Velvet finally take the title off Madison. There’s no reason to give Angelina the championship again except to bump her reign numbers up. What exactly is she bringing to the table? She’s a great wrestler, but her character is no different from some of the other Knockouts. We’ve firmly established that TNA only pushes Beautiful People and Tara, in addition to Angelina, so I guess this is going to lead to a feud between Angelina and Tara, with Velvet and Madison thrown into the mix.
There’s no speculating that Mystery Woman isn’t Tara. She clearly is. Everyone is going to think what they want to think regardless, but come on. The seeds have been planted perfectly for Angelina versus Tara version 9,570,828. TNA is once again going with the old (Ang/Tara) instead of with the fresh and new (Madison/Vel) and it’s a real shame. Even if Velvet didn’t take the title from Madison, it would have been nice to see someone different in the championship hunt rather than the same ole, same ole.
I wish I could give Impact two thumbs up but frankly, I’m just not excited. The match itself was fine. I’ve said several times that these ladies always work nicely together. Tonight was no exception. I just don’t care about what happened and I’m certainly not excited about what’s to come in the next few weeks.
But hey, it’s only my opinion.
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39 Comments
Good Review Cryssi. Honestly, I wasn’t too thrilled either. The chairshot on Tara was cool, but other than that…everything was kind of dull. I wish I knew what it was exactly..
I enjoy watching the ladies, but they need to freshen up some stuff because its getting repetetive. Where’s the real action? The intensity in a rivalry? The Kim/Kong encounters..that’s what’s missing. =(
“it would have been nice to see someone different in the championship hunt rather than the same ole, same ole”
well cryssi dont u even look at the divas division in smackdown?LOL they also did the same thing over and over again especially with michelle and michelle probably gonna be 8 times women champion soon :D
p/S: women champion has been around mickie,melina,beth,michelle for the last….i dont remember how many years so this thing in tna wasnt a big deal
My mother happened to catch some TNA when she was in Australia, primarily to see the Smackdown show in Sydney, and she thought that it was tame in comparison to WWE. We don’t get TNA in New Zealand at all, although we used to get the PPVs which alternated between being live and being on tape delay.
Having watched the match, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with it. It did seem a bit boring to me but that could be due to me only being able to see WWE on tv here.
I don’t watch Smackdown?
I haven’t commented all week long that I don’t wanna see Kelly/Tiffany vs. Layla/Michelle in any combination again?
I haven’t said I don’t want Melina to win at Summerslam because I like Alicia as champion?
I seriously hate what the Knockouts where… and their weaves… and too much make up…. its too trashy..
I also hate the way Angelina, Madison, Velvet, and Lacey enter the ring…. molesting the 2nd rope is just not good to see..
The match was ok…. well i liked the part where Madison got the kick from Angelina… I also loved how “the mystery woman kicked Velvet”
but come on…. the matches are predictable and no fun to watch already..
and Angelina TNA’s own Trish Stratus? wow… Trish is a legend because she had memorable title reigns… not like Angelina….
the good thing about love being champion is the possible feuds with daffney and sarita (who needs to heal up asap!). it’s a shame they likely will go with tara/ love again, though. we’ll also be getting tbp back together.. something a lot of people have been wanting since angelina cleared up her visa problems.
it’s funny. tara not staying in retirement has made me really not like her as much as i did.
@Kaledrina
What I wouldn’t give for title feuds featuring Sarita and Daffney!
OMG…Angelina? Really? She talks about Maryse copying TBP, whereas she’s copying Beth Phoenix with her attire style. Talk about a hypocrite. A Hardcore Match would’ve made this a better match, and because it was “The Whole F*N Show” It would make sense.
“they also did the same thing over and over again especially with michelle and michelle probably gonna be 8 times women champion soon”
Erm…so winning the Women’s Championship Twice is “doing the same thing over and over again”? I highly doubt WWE would ever let Michelle become 8 Times Champ. I think Melina will be the record-setting Divas Champion, but Michelle has already cemented her name in history being 1st Diva to win both Womens & Divas titles.
“p/S: women champion has been around mickie,melina,beth,michelle for the last….i dont remember how many years so this thing in tna wasnt a big deal”
Mickie won her first title at WM 22, Melina won her first in early 07, Beth won her first in late 07, and Michelle won her first in mid 09? These are all different time periods! The only time the gold has been passed around these Divas was from Jan 09, which is only 3 months before Angelina won her first KO Title!
Cryssi, I completely agree with you that the title deserves to be given to others in the Division, but take a look at the KO’s that haven’t won the title yet: Daffney, Hamada, Lacey, Rosie, Sarita & Velvet. The only ones that are deserving of title reigns are Daffney, Hamada, Sarita and possibly Velvet. Maybe recruiting new KOs would be the way to go?
This like Angelina’s 84th KO’s Title reign . . .
o_O
i agree with anything that anyone has to say about what’s wrong with the ko’s division
Personally, I also see Michelle McCool getting the Womens Championship more than 7 times. That is, unless she quits or she can’t wrestle do to injury, otherwise; Michelle will break Trish’es record. I know I ruffle some feathers of Stratus fans when I say this, but I honestly do believe its highly likely. It depends on the circumstances ofcourse…
Well the good thing about Angelina Love as Champion as some mentioned, is that it opens doors for rivalries with Daffney and Sarita among other ladies. And id love to see them use Hamada and the rest of the women before they hire anyone new. Well that’s something i wish would happen…but if I know TNA…they’re going to drag out this rivalry for a long while. I think Tara will lead the pack now. Maybe Sarita will return in September? And I miss Daffney!
Also, Lacey who’s usually amusing to watch, was not on there. She’s got a broken cheekbone, yea, whatever…they should have avoided using her in matches, but at ringside and backstage, she’s atleast somewhat entertaining. This time we didn’t have the Lacey factor and it made it all the more boring out there. Just an observation
match was fun, the ending was odd since Madison hit her with the championship, then Angelina just got up after :/
Tara shouldn’t have yelled wile Velvet was pulling off the helmet, to any one that doubted it was her it’s obviously her now
I agree completely Cryssi. The match wasn’t bad but I wasn’t excited for it at all. Angelina as champion doesn’t excite me one bit.
pause it around the 5:33/34 mark and you see tara’s half-face :)
“Mass confusion reigned supreme. Mystery Woman tossed Velvet aside and got the heck out of dodge. Madison ripped Thomas a new asshole. Angelina called on Zordon and Alpha Five, morphed into John Cena, and hit Madison with her finisher.”
OMFG, xD i laufhed so hard at this, i feel like a retard. xD
great write up(:
fail. laughed* >>.
that was terrible
I can’t even begin to broach how predictable – and embittering, for that matter – female feuding has been lately. I must admit though, I was praying that Daffney would just pop up behind Velvet and take a few hits to the back, just because she’s bad ass. <3 (And so that she'd get some well-deserved screen time) A gurl can dream, can't she?
@ANGELSAUR – Oh, I know! Cryssi's hilarious. (:
@OZZYV – It actually was baffling to have Lacey not appear at all in this match, considering she played a major "time keeper" role in the feud. The storyline of the beautiful descent is floundering in my opinion however. As Cryssi said, I don't see much point in giving the title to Angelina, other than to 'bump' her image… TNA's becoming heavily resemblant of the WWE. It's saddening, really.
I don’t know about Velvet in a title program and winning the belt. I doubt amazing is a word that would be seen much in circles who aren’t satisfied with matches by some of the division’s better workers.
The Love vitrol doesn’t really funnel well. Angelina and Velvet got some of the top pre-Hogan segment ratings of any act. And cut some of the finest promos and skits we’ve seen out of major company women since the Stratus era. Character? Love’s character was one of the big reasons the original BP clicked so naturally. And one of the major things it missed after she was gone. Putting Velvet and Angelina back together would be a good move. Angelina covered for Velvet’s ring shortcomings and they have naturally entertaining chemistry if given time to demonstrate it.
When Angelina was released last fall, she was one of the most over people in the company. She was significantly missed and welcomed back solidly. It wasn’t her fault that TNA squandered her early momentum by not giving her Impact talk time during the whole month of January. Nor her fault that she was turned into the BP2′s beat down subject and later, Tara’s victim. Which made no sense given that Tara’s name wasn’t even on a contact yet. If you’re just going to use Angelina as job material and a victim, which is largely what they did on Impact for months, what is the point?
She should have gone over here. The problem with this feud was the same as last year’s Tara vs Angelina one. Only Angelina got the unneeded title reign break there. Her first two reigns should have been one longer one. There was no reason to put the belt on Tara then. Here, there was no reason to go the career vs title route again. After what happened with Roxxi, the idea should have been dropped. Just let Madison retain in a manner that required a rematch there and then have Angelina go over here. That way, no interruption in Madison’s reign. I do agree they overbook the title changes. That tends to be a certain someone’s style backstage and the newer people probably don’t help matters much methinks. Madison had the second longest reign since fall 2008. There’s nothing wrong with Love having the title now. They largely have to not blow it again by switching it off of her in a matter of weeks or such. Give her a few months. Then transfer it to another star they need to grow further (like Sarita) for a few months.
Giving the Knockouts a couple of more minutes per match would help. So long as they are getting 3 or 4 minute quickies, you aren’t going to light up the star meter much. And I don’t really look foward to another Tara title challenge vs anyone. But they have that in front of them. Just make the biker chick someone younger and fresher like Rain or Alissa, and there you go. Interesting new feud.
It’s ironic Trish is being mentioned. The anti-Angelina tones remind me some of the ‘Trish shouldn’t be featured’ (or even around) ones from 2000-03/04. With at times similar undertones. And they were off the mark back then as well. Not to mention that placing Trish on a pedestal was only done by some in the IWC well retoractively after it became apparent they were wrong about her. After it was obvious she had personality and effective speaking ability, she was still getting lumped in with Stacy and Torrie by some. Women who she clearly was clearly better and had more potential than. Women who didn’t demonstrate Love’s level of talent, either. Not to mention the cruel “Trash Stratus” comments that prevaded the IWC for quite a long time.
Trish was generally given more supportive booking. Blame there goes toward people behind the scenes. They are the ones who subscribe to frequent belt hopping. Directing it if it largely ends up at the feet of a talented versatile performer who has the tools to be a member of your divison’s core is counterproductive.
I disagree that Angelina doesn’t look good. Ftm, even that this clothing was one of her better threads doesn’t really go for me. I don’t tend to like the half attached type tops. Either bare the midsection or don’t, usually. But I’m not going to complain there. All of the current and former BP look fine to me. I doubt their appearances are costing TNA viewers. But rather, that would largely be layed at the same place as the talent lost and lower ratings in general for most of ’10. Though hopefully with the tag belts on a better team, we’ll start turning a corner.
I haven’t seen the match bar a few end clips on TNA Reaction, so I won’t comment on anything with it, but great review Cryssi. I’ve said everything either on twitter or elsewhere on DD about my sickness of seeing Angelina this Angelina that, so I’ll just say that I’m not watching TNA anymore, and by that I mean solely the Knockouts of course, as I’d get a headache trying to watch a full ep, until they put anyone thats not named Love or Tara in the KO title picture.
I never had a big problem with Trish. She was fortunate with the way she was booked and she capatalized on every opportunity given to her. She was beautiful so her looks got everyone hooked and then it was, “Wow this chick can go in the ring too..” So Stratus did good in my opinion. She was pushed like Cena for a time. And sure she hogged the division, but if not her then who? She brought interests that Jazz nor Jacqueline could have done alone.
Angelina is another story..they’re not exactly classy…she’s rougher around the edges and everything is so obvious too.
It’s not like Tara/Angelina is a fued from 15 years ago that is being revisited. They still have issues they need to resolve from earlier this year. It’s not even going in that direction, yet. It is more about Angelina and Velvets issues with Madison right now. If two top knockouts/divas are in the same company for a certain amount of times their paths are bound to cross multiple times, especially if they have a history of past issues. I mean look at Lita/Trish. They were both with the wwe for like 6 years, and their rivalry was revisited often.
Anyways, great match between the two ladies, especially with how much time they were given. Was another great match on an awsome show altogether. TNA is putting out some good stuff right now.
I’m suprised TNA ReAction wasn’t covered on here since the Knockouts storyline was covered on it. It really explained the fued alot more, Velvet and Angelina talk about how they created a monster in Madison. Madison was really good in the segment. She is such a credible top KO now, its amazing to see how far she comes . ReAction is very creative and interesting. It is going to be a great addition to the thursday night line up.
I can’t believe that after watching Reaction, next week’s rematch is going to be a championship rematch. If you read the spoilers, you’ll know how long the time length is and is worst than this week. Well, on the bright side, I don’t see TBP holding anymore belts after that awful tag match. Just Angelina and ONLY her. No Velvet or Lacey. I’m not fully sure about Madison. But of course, we all have to settle for another Tara/Angelina feud which has sucked since Tara first debuted in Tna. Why Tara? Can she please just retire already? Or at least put some knockouts over (Daffney) I know some people complain about Angelina, but I would rather see her pushed than just about every knockout in Tna. The exceptions of Sarita, Hamada, and Daffney. Angelina deserves more of a push than every other knockout because either A. They suck in the ring (Velvet) or B. Have the charisma of a pencil (Wilde). Angelina has the total package imo, so I am not really bothered. Better than Lacey and Velvet holding championships. Although I do think that Angelina needs to have a long title reign. Every other title reign of her’s has been kept short, except for maybe her first one.
i thought it was a great match.
but thats about it
Madison should have retained at the end so she can fued with Velvet.
and that is sooo not Tara under the mask that is Roxxi haha
I love Velvet and it was awesome when she hit the biker chick with the chair I really like Velvet she is my favorite in TNA then Lacey. Angelina has had a lot of short reigns now which sucks I only liked her first one and second but I’d rather see her with the title than some other knockouts.
I am beginning to get bored with the TNA Knockouts. Angelina Love to be more specfic. She needs to turn heel again. She was fantsatic as a heel. Plus it gives more pizzaz to her umptenth title reign.
The match was decent. But I didnt like the camera angles. It was very confusing to see the ending.
so now is tna knockouts LADIES championship?!
..
the only good thing of this is that TBP has always be the best tag team of tna roster,
and now returning to 1.0 but in face.. would be intersting
Good: Velvet’s chair shot
Bad: Everything else
the match was boring and for a second there i thought velvet had revealed the myster women then i rembered the spoilers
Great write up.
But when did the Knockouts Title become the “TNA Knockouts Ladies Championship”?
And it was funny when Velvet Sky said “oh hell no” after finding out that the motorcycle woman had a mask.
And I still think the choices for who could be the motorcycle woman are Tara, Christy Hemme, Daffney, Miss Chessmaster, Chelsea, Dixie Carter, or Rosey Lottalove
@ILoveLita – Comeon now, you don’t really believe its Rosey LottaLove do you? I mean seriously, consider the obvious. She’s a BIG woman, so yea..unless she’s been hitting the gym like a psycho then I think we can rule her out. And Dixie? How old is she? She’s so frail and it just wouldn’t make sense even for TNA’s messed up storylines. Chelsea? She also doesn’t have the toned body that the mystery woman has….it would be hella cool if it was Roxxi but I doubt it.
@ozzyv, I was just trying to keep an open mind about it. Plus you never know!
And Rosey Lottalove could be using spanxs.
ok JP
thats Tara.
not to sound like a perv, but it’s definitely tara – her and MBC share a mole/beauty mark (whatever you want to call it), in the.. um, “upper chest” area.
honestly i didnt enjoy the match at all
angelina’s attire was nice its a very rare thing!!
madison remided me with torrie alot in this attire
This match was alright.. but I agree.. it was predictable which made it kinda boring in a way. To me the highlight was Velvet, she made me laugh with her HELL NO! and always gets me to believe what she’s doing or saying. As far as Tara goes.. everybody talks like she’s boring.. I think she’s one of the best and is still really good at what she does. Though I watch wrestling only for the diva’s/knockouts to wrestle… not by how pretty or prissy they are or their outfits.. to me if you want fashion and pretty girls tune into america’s next top model.
doesn any1 else notice tht the angelina vs madison fued is similar to the alicia vs melina fued i mean madison has never pinned angelina and same for alicia yet they have great matches with each other strange lol