After several weeks of all the talking behind each others back, all the backstabbing, and catfights, FINALLY it’s Velvet Sky vs Madison Rayne in a grudge match… with Angelina Love and Tara both at ringside. Instead of having the two fight woman to woman, my suspicions about outside interference were starting to look correct.
Madison Rayne is the first to make her entrance out to the ring accompanied by Tara on the motorcycle. I’m going to go ahead and assume that TNA Management seen my request regarding Tara and Madison because when they are on the ring apron, Tara decides to smack Madison’s a** before the two kiss each other. The beautiful theme song continues to play as Velvet Sky makes her way on to the ramp with her BFF, Angelina Love. They do the usual “Dancing With The Stars” routine before strolling down to the ring, smiling like they’re friendship has never hit a slight speed bump. While Velvet and Angelina were on the ring apron doing their vintage booty shake on the middle rope, Tazz makes it seems like Angelina has a bomb implanted inside of her boot. Wiring device? Really Tazz??
The match has finally started and it hasn’t even been a full 10 seconds before Tara takes it upon herself to grab Velvet’s foot before throwing her hands up innocently causing the ref to get distracted with her, giving Madison the opportunity to take a cheap shot at Velvet. Madison then takes Velvet and slams her head into the turnbuckle before using her boot to start choking Velvet. At this point I’m trying to figure out if the Impact Zone is chanting what I thought they were chanting or was it just me hearing voices because of Madison’s short shorts. After the ref warns her about the boot to the throat, Madison takes a shot at Velvet and turns around to Angelina, striking a pose while Tara begins to fan herself.
Madison goes to continues her beat down, only to be met with a stinging chop to the chest by Velvet. She delivers another chop before pushing Madison against the ropes for an Irish Whip attempt, but Madison counters and pushes her down by the head. Madison jumps on top of Velvet and starts to throw punches at her while Velvet puts her hands up for protection. Madison screams bloody murder at the ref for warning her about the close fists and shrieks again while she starts to choke Velvet out. Before the ref got to the count of five, Madison gets Velvet to her feet and starts to wrench her neck around like she twisting a cap off of a giant beverage. After figuring out that her head wasn’t going to come off, Madison throws Velvet back down on to the canvas and applies the “sexy” camel clutch submission.
Madison stands up, drops down on Velvet’s back, and drags her out to the middle of the ring to reapply the clutch. The ref begins the count and tells a confused Madison that she needs to stop clawing at the face of Velvet. Madison tries to jump down on Velvet’s back again, but instead gets two kneecaps into her goodies. Velvet holds on to her own goodies, mocking Madison and screams “Poor baby!’ before delivering a vicious slap.
Tara was having none of that as she gets on the apron chewing out the ref , temporarily distracting him while Velvet rolls Madison up for a pin. The ref slides back in for the count, but Madison was able to kick out before the three. Madison springs back up and stops Velvet’s momentum with a flying clothesline. Madison now has the match back into her control and starts to dig her fingers into Velvet’s skull. Speaking of skulls, Madison then wraps her legs around Velvet’s head, turns her over, and begins to drive her skull/face into the match while Tara hilariously bounces her hands up and down in sync with Madison’s skull bashing.
Thinking that Velvet is done for, Madison goes for the pin and Velvet kicks out. Madison goes for another quick pin, but again, Velvet kicks out. Madison backs Velvet up into the corner and Irish whips her to the opposite turnbuckle. Velvet reverses, sending Madison running into the corner. Madison tries to leap over Velvet, who is running behind her, but gets caught and slammed front first into the mat. Both women are out of it as their friends on the outside begin to encourage them to get to their feet. Madison is up first. She walks over to Velvet, trying to give her a double ax handle to the back but gets slapped in the midsection. She tries to go for it again, but Velvet repeated her slap to the midsection. Madison grabs her stomach in pain while Tara yells, “Come on baby!” (So freakin’ cute.)
Velvet runs towards Madison and tries to give her a clothesline, but ends up missing her completely (It’s okay, though. She apologized for it). Madison is quickly back on her feet, but Velvet is on her just as fast and delivers a nice clothesline. Madison tries to run after her again, but instead runs into a nice shoulder block from Velvet, who is completely fired up at this point.
Velvet grabs Madison and Irish whips her into the ropes. Madison reverses and bends over, looking for a big back body drop, but gets a kick to the face before getting hit with a spear. Velvet climbs on top of her and starts to drive Madison’s head into the mat repeatedly. Velvet starts to give Madison a taste of her own medicine by delivering similar shots to the back, which she was on the receiving end of earlier in the match. While Madison tries to recuperate, Velvet drives her face down onto the mat with the running bulldog.
Velvet goes for the pin, but is immediately pulled out by Tara. Tara grabs her helmet and tries to repeat her actions from this past Thursday’s IMPACT before Angelina comes to the rescue and delivers a kick to her lower back. When Velvet gets back into the ring, Madison tries to execute her finisher , but Velvet reverses and hits Madison with the DDT and picks up the win.
Despite the fact the fact that Angelina and Tara both accompanied their partners to the ring, I must say that I am pleased with the lack of interference. I liked it was just limited to a few basic things. Things that you expect to see when partners/managers on the outside. I honestly thought there was going to be an overload of interference, but Velvet and Madison were able to get a lot of time to wrestle on their own in the ring without any help from the two on the outside. Also, I felt that there was a clear vision of who was the face in this match and who was the heel. Nothing in between.
I wasn’t feeling the majority of this match. It dragged on a bit and I think Madison’s and Velvet’s styles both clashed. Velvet is more of a brawler than a wrestler and I think it showed for the most part. But I thought she was beginning to catch fire towards the end when the crowd really began to get into it.
So what next? To be honest, I can smell some sort of tag team match for the next PPV (maybe even sooner). I think TNA needs to get rid of the Knockout Tag Team Titles and start putting more women on TV. Revolving the division around these four women isn’t going to work forever and I think fans are starting to get a bite tired of it already. I know I am.
Match Rating: 2.5/5
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57 Comments
@YourHero: My statement, word for word was :
” Angelina has done plenty of jobbing and looking beatable since coming into TNA.”
This is true. Almost all of the early KO’s she wrestled went over her. Most more than once. Kong, Gail, Roxie, Taylor, ODB, (later on)Tara, etc.
“Including spending most of the first four months of this year getting beaten down by TBP2 and Tara.”
Also true. According to the Torch, Angelina was an under .500 wrestler from the time of her return till the injury that took her out of action for over month. Most of her matches for the first four months of this year were either defeats and/or involved her getting beaten down or needing to be saved. The stronger booking of her started with the revenge angle upon her return in June. She’s been on a streak since then. But not at the start of this year.
Despite warts like Jenna and Deaner, the division was still strong last year and usually entertaining. Including when she was either champion or involved in a championship angle. It started to decline some late last year after her release, the lack of build for a real tag division, and lack of proper use of other talents like Melissa and Sarita. It accelerated when the new regime came in and cut back time for the division as well as cut ties with several good performers. Little to none of which is talent’s fault, hers included.
Making a list of other wrestlers doesn’t address anything I wrote. No one is or was saying the division as a whole hasn’t been misused this year.
In my opinion, no current Knockout is better on the mic than Angelina. Hamada and Sarita are better in the ring. I think Taylor is a better ring technician. Though not as crowd inducing. Don’t agree that Tara, Madison, and Daffney are better wrestlers than Angelina. And you’re not going to get too much great work when the ladies are given three minutes on Impact to work. Her WSU work, where matches are actually given time to build, is quite nice.
@Sapphire Eyes
Alright, I’ll concede the first point. Taking into account her entire tenure, she has done some “jobbing and looking beatable.”
I still contest that she has done much of that lately. If her record is under .500 as of late, it is only because of blatant self-disqualifications, dirty finishes and the occasional weak partner. How many clean pins has she taken since coming back? Can’t be more than a few. And it seems to me that she treats the title like an accessory, secondary to her vendettas against the other wrestlers. It should never be “fine” when you are stripped of a title. She does not elevate the belt, and that is as much on her as it is on the writers. When you portray the title as being below you, you better be pretty darn superior to the rest of the division. I think she is in the middle.
The last few lines were just another tangent illustrating how she has had more than her fair share of title runs. I should backtrack and say I was fine with her first title run. But this is her fifth run, and none of them have been good. The championship is booked almost like a toy to be squabbled over amongst catty women. This is not really Angelina’s fault, but if she becomes a six or seven time champion before the year is up, the belt will be almost worthless. But I guess it’s been close to that since Deaner won it anyway.
@YourHero
As I said, According to the Torch, Angelina was an under .500 wrestler *From the time of her return till the injury that took her out of action for over month.* (And under .500 both overall or just counting Impact and PPVs.) This was from a Torch issue in May. It obviously couldn’t include things that have marked her TV return in June like “blatant self-disqualifications” ala chairing Velvet and Lacey. Any claim she was received favorable booking from her return till her injury in the spring is simply incorrect.
One of her few (three to be exact) Impact or PPV wins in the early months of this year consisted of a DQ over Daffney that led to her getting swung head first into stairs. Another was her return match over Madison that ended with her receiving the first of several beatdowns. Two of which occurred on the same Impact episode in March. (At which time she still hadn’t won another match since Madison in January.) She also lost clean to one of the few if only face she wrestled then in Tara. Who saved Love several times. Moreso than the other way around. And who successfully sneak attacked Love herself multiple times. Not exactly “support the performer / strike while the iron is hot” type booking for a looked foward to return of a popular person.
Not to mention Love not getting a single Impact mic segment during the whole month of January. This despite being involved with some of the best and most popular mic and character work the KO’s division has seen. And returning only to oppose her former stable. (Which is pretty good base material for mic work.)
As an *overall versatile* performer, I think one would be hard pressed to find many KO’s that are better than her. Elevating the belt? They haven’t been able to do that particulary well Angelina or no Angelina. Taylor’s run, despite it’s length, cost the belt some stream, it didn’t elevate it. Neither did things like title feuds involving Christy Hemme. Or ODB vs Deaner. After covering every ’09 PPV with at least one women’s match, they’ve had two PPVs this year, including the second one out of the gate, that haven’t featured one at all. And in neither case was Love the champion at the time. Were they elevating the belt by simply not having it on her despite also not featuring it at a PPV? I hardly think so.
You probably can’t effectively elevate something when the division’s time is cut to a bare minimum. Does anyone seriously think anyone else on the roster is going to elevate the belt on three minute matches and below Love and Sky level mic work? And can one really expect someone to elevate a belt when they received booking like described here?
Russo likes title changes and swerves. Taking the BP off TV any length of time will just decline the segment ratings. It’s not going to change current creative’s habits. Angelina would actually have fewer title reigns if it were up to me. But because of cutting back on creative’s love of swerves. Not because she doesn’t merit being champion. There was no reason,for example, to pull the belt off Angelina last year upon Tara coming in. But Dixie no doubt approved of it to try and garner an extra bit of ratings from hoped for WWE crossover fans. Which didn’t work. Ftm, there was no reason to go with the career or title gimmick that led to Madison losing the belt only to regain it shortly thereafter. But the gimmick was the problem there, not the performers. That angle should have been abandoned after what happened with Roxie. Madison could have gone over at Victory Road, with Angelina getting a rematch down the line and winning.
A smart plan moving foward should be something along the lines of leaving the belt on Love until Nov. or Dec. and then having her drop it to someone like Sarita. Who they build up in the meantime. Acts like Love and Sky are good for TNA. They are people TNA can legit claim are stars of their own making. (Though in truth, Angel and Velvet came up with the idea of teaming, but many fans don’t know that.) As opposed to Tara or Mickie, who saw their reps developed in the WWE. And who by putting over an entire division of Knockouts, one risks making their product look weak compared to ones competition.
One more point about an old question in this thread. Dixie’s WWE fascination seems largely concentrated toward people she thinks can act as “quick fixes” of sorts. Or to garner some crossover WWE viewers. Hence the immediate strong pushes of people like Bobby Lashley and Tara, for examples. That’s a much different thing than someone who was never on mainstream WWE TV and the vast majority of fans don’t associate with the E. And who climbed her way up the division over time, as opposed to being placed immediately near the top.
As a side note, ODB was in WWE developmental for a good length of time. She also saw her time cut back and parted ways with TNA on less than great terms.
@Sapphire Eyes
You don’t count winning the TNA Knockouts Championship as favorable booking? How many knockouts received a more favorable push during that same span? Maybe Tara. Most of them had no TV time whatsoever. And most Knockouts have never been booked as favorably as Angelina was during that span.
I don’t dislike Angelina Love. I don’t think she should immediately drop the belt and never win it again. I just don’t want to see her drop the belt and then win it again every couple shows. That she has won the belt five times over the last year and a half would be bad even if she did not miss considerable time. The men’s championship had 3 title changes over that same span. Also, just having the title be its own angle would help elevate it. As would treating the belt with a little more reverence. Besides perhaps ODB, Angelina has been the most insouciant “champion.” It’s her pretty little crown. Finally, TBP will draw regardless of championships. Their drawing power is not strongly tied to wrestling ability or credibility. That’s just how it is.
I don’t really disagree with the other stuff, and I think Sarita would make an excellent champion.
@YourHero
Do I consider, particulary as a face, gaining a pin on Lacey to win a key that unlocks a box and then losing said title upon one’s first defense of it less than two weeks later to be favorable booking? I honestly don’t. Kind to the performer booking would have been more along the lines of giving someone that is strong on the mic an interview on Impact shortly after said return to rev up feud heat vs her former stable. And allowing her to win said title in a better way that supports the performer.
TBP2 trio received more favorable booking than Angelina did from January through April this Year. Tara too I’d say given that Love was all but booked as her little sister. Daffney, well, no. But then, even there Tara pretty much handled her while the most if only memorable thing about Daff’s match with Love is Angelina’s face meeting stairs. The most positive thing we can say about Love’s booking in the early parts of ’10 is that she was on TV regulary. The booking quality didn’t gear well toward enchancing her character or standing though.
Though not the lead feature, if wrestling didn’t matter at all in regards to the Beautiful People, one would think Velvet ought to have received a solo reign of her own by now. But even in TBP 2, it was Madison not Velvet who took on the ring angle and solo title. Love has always been the more physically impactful of TBP1 duo. That an act draws doesn’t mean it doesn’t require support. The acts that draw are the acts that do things like spread your fed’s rep, get ratings, fill autograph lines, and hopefully get fans to look at other parts of your roster. Yes, they will be popular even if they aren’t champions. And I have no problem with Angelina or TBP not being champs at a particular time. But it’s to their credit that they don’t need to rely so much on belts to be interesting to fans.
It’s not so much that TNA is giving too much time to Love/Sky vs Madison/Tara. But rather, they’ve wasted a lot of time with other acts that either went nowhere or are too past it while not giving enough exposure to other members of the Knockouts division. As I’ve said already, I don’t condone or agree with time or direction being lost for other KO’s.
Winning the KO championship isn’t even a “push”? If it’s in the details rather than the results, Angelina didn’t lose the belt herself either. I think Madison pinned Tara with help from Lacey while Angelina was beating down Velvet in another stupid group match. When were the last times Angelina picked up a clean loss personally? Angelina was made to look a lot stronger than any individual in TBP, she even beat them all down a couple times. Angelina was the number 1a or 1b face in the division at the beginning of the year, and the clear number one since her latest return. They had a dozen knockouts at the start of the year. Some departed, some stood idle, Angelina won the title. She didn’t get a Goldberg push, (maybe Del Rey could pull it off) but she was still made to look like one of the top women in the division. Maybe she didn’t get the push you would have liked, but it was a lot better than what most of the KOs got.
Why are you seemingly setting aside that I’m not talking about since her return in June? That’s when she turned the tables on them. From January through April she was mostly on the receiving end. As I’ve detailed in previous posts. And I’ve already explained to you about the Lockbox situation. The details of which you seemingly don’t dispute either.
Goldberg push? What does that have to do with anything here? You don’t need to go to that level to get better than weekly beatdowns, a losing record, and a less than two week reign where you never defend the title successfully.