Greetings to all, and allow me to welcome you to a special episode of TNA’s secondary program that sadly only airs outside of the United States, Xplosion! The last time we met for one of these, Madison Rayne was squaring off against Brooke Tessmacher… and that was about two months ago. As you can see, the Knockouts aren’t a frequent guest here, but whenever they are, they certainly make an impact!~ This week it was a Beautiful People reunion as former Knockouts Champions, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love collided with each other in what’s sure to be a great showing. With Winter nearby though, will she play a deciding factor in the end result? There’s only one way to find out…
We head to the ring where the addicting rock theme of the former five time Knockouts Champion, Angelina Love, hits, and out walks both she and her cohort in crime, Winter! Following some stage posing, they head down to the ring and crawl inside the squared circle as Taz and Mike Tenay discuss their partying life. Thankfully for us, Velvet Sky interrupts their babble and steps out onto the ramp for all the world to cheer! She slaps some hands of the fans and skips over to her patented side of the stage. Following some brief booty shaking, the pigeons are let loose as Sky steps over the middle rope to hop in. She ascends to the second rope to pose for the camera, and as soon as she steps back down Angelina Love charges towards her at full force!
Unfortunately for Love, Sky knows her former partner all too well and manages to dodge the possible attack and slam her head into the turnbuckle. Some boots to the abdomen follow, as they trade Irish Whip attempts until Sky is sent off the ropes and comes back with a shoulder tackle to send Angelina down. She proceeds to run the opposite side of the ring, hop over Angelina, and reverse a hip toss attempt into one of her own! A clothesline follows up, alongside a headlock takedown that Angelina tries to reverse into a pinfall for a one count. Velvet keeps the hold locked in until Love manages to trap her legs around the neck for a possible submission hold.
After some struggling, Velvet finally breaks free of the hold and scores with another side headlock takeover! A brief “Velvet” chant starts up, as Angelina goes for the hair and screams for Sky to get off of her. She finally gets to a vertical base and backs Sky to the ropes, before connecting with a kick and slamming her down to the canvas by the hair. Some taunting follows up, before Angelina picks Velvet up and tosses her outside the ring. Suddenly, Winter begins to kick Sky in her side as the referee has his back turned by something I’m guessing Angelina is doing, and we head to a commercial break!
Once we return to the action, Angelina Love can be seen charging off the ropes and connecting with a running dropkick to the face for a two count. Velvet attempts to fight off with some chops and kicks, but Angelina gets a quick shot in to send Velvet to the corner. Love grabs her by the hair and slams her head into the turnbuckle pad before locking in a foot choke by the corner. Love proceeds to distract the referee, which allows that dastardly Winter to choke Velvet up along the second rope. Angelina Irish whips her into another side of the ring, and upon going for a running clothesline, Sky dodges out of the way and connects with a drop toe hold into the turnbuckle! Velvet with a quick roll up, but only for a two count.
She tries to regain her composure, but Angelina quickly springs forward with a wicked clothesline out of nowhere. Love follows it up with some relentless punches and a sick backbreaker for a two count. She then applies a choke hold around the throat, as a “Let’s Go Velvet” chant begins and she starts to mount a comeback with some elbows and a jawbreaker! She ducks a clothesline from Angelina and hits a few of her own, before connecting with two facebreakers to the knee and a bulldog! Velvet goes for the Sky High, but Angelina reverses and goes for the Break-A-Bitch, which is again countered, this time, into the Snap DDT! Velvet hooks the leg and gets the one… two… three!
Sky celebrates her victory in the ring, as we then advance ahead in the program to Jeremy Borash backstage. He welcomes Velvet Sky to join him, as he questions how it felt to beat her former tag team partner in the ring tonight. Sky asserts that she is a lover, not a fighter, and that as much of a falling out as they’ve had, it felt good to finally get a good win over Angelina. Borash then plugs the United Kingdom tour, as Velvet discusses her love of their fan base in the UK and how excited she is to let the pigeons loose across the pond!
Thoughts: Pretty enjoyable contest between Angelina and Velvet. I think it’s remarkable how much Sky has improved since she started with TNA in 2007, at least in my eyes. It’s great to see the two be given such time to go out and deliver a match, which surprisingly, wasn’t hindered by a commercial in the middle of it too much. Winter’s involvement was kept to a minimum, but focused on enough that it made an impact in showing how the underdog can prevail even if the odds are stacked against her. I really hope these two can have more matches together, preferably at a larger stage such as a pay per view or something.
