“Your Two Cents” is the new interactive feature where we gauge the opinions of our Twitter and Facebook followers on different discussions in women’s wrestling.

This week, we’re asking this: Do you think TNA’s Knockouts Tag Titles are necessary, what with the lack of competition for them? We’ve read your responses on our social media pages and picked some of the best submissions to highlight here on the website. As always, you can join the debate by leaving your comments!

Our Two Cents

Batting for Team DD this week, it’s Cryssi giving us her personal opinion on this week’s topic:

Cryssi | Personally, I’ve always thought the tag team titles were pointless. TNA has no problem finding storylines for all their girls, and none of them have ever really revolved around the belts in question. There’s never really been anything done with them from what I can recall. All they’ve been used for is to give people who wouldn’t normally hold a title a chance to be champion, like Rosita and Brooke for example. I’m not for or against that, but when you take a title away from someone who is doing a good job as champ and give it to someone upon their return who is already over, then I have a problem. The tag titles are useless and seeing as how Gail and Madison will probably hold them for the next hundred years, they’re even more pointless. Probably best to just get rid of them.

Your Two Cents

@bdlou | Those tag belts are a curse. When they stay on people too long, they usually get released.

Charlie Flickinger | I say do away with them, but do away with them in a meaningful, entertaining way. After Gail and Mickie finish feuding have Karen declare that she is doing away the Knockouts Tag Team titles and unifying the three titles. Have Karen tell Madison to lay down for Gail and then at the PPV Madison does. This cements everyone as a heel and lead into a feud with whoever finds this the most offensive.

David Damphousse | Is there better competition in the male division? Both WWE and TNA should stick with women tag teams. They increase rivalries, and in both WWE and TNA, these tag teams will help produce legit, valid storylines for ALL wrestlers.

Jhonmarco Velazquez | The fact that I can’t remember a decent tag title reign should say it all. The titles are just accessories at this point, I heard many people say with Gail being a tag champ they’d matter again but they still don’t! Tbh TNA never had enough teams to justify a women’s tag division. The only tag title matches I remember enjoying are TNT vs. Sarita & Rosita and Saritaylor vs. Kong & Hamada (epic match). They should just get rid of the titles, they’re really only just there.

Kelvin P. Long | The problem isn’t the talent, it is time. TNA only has one show. WWE has 4 including NXT. With that said, WWE doesn’t do a good job with its Tag Team mens Championship, even with 4 shows. Kind of stupid, I remember those Tag Team Championships meant something.

Zak Burke | The next random team wins the belts, holds them for 3 months, then lose them to the next random team. If they would recreate some quality match like Wilde and Sarita vs Hamada and Kong. It sucks considering the fact they have 14 Knockouts.

And now we turn it over to you…

What are your two cents on the debate? Do the Knockouts Tag Team Titles have a purpose in TNA? Tell us in the comments…

The win marks Tara’s first reign as Knockouts Tag Team Champion after four reigns as Knockouts Champ. She joins Awesome Kong (Kharma), Madison Rayne, Taylor Wilde and Angelina Love as women who have held both sets of belts.

Meanwhile, this marks Tessmacher’s first title reign.

If only the road to victory were always paved with gold. This past Thursday on Impact, we saw a six way match between The Beautiful People, Angelina Love and Velvet Sky teaming up with Winter to take on Cookie, Sarita and Angelina Pivarnick of the Jersey Shore. Yeah. That’s what I said..however, thankfully, TBP and Winter survived and now, the real Angelina and Winter must team up to defend their coveted TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championships. Who are their opponents, you ask? Well, only the Loco Latinas, Sarita and Rosita of course! I know you’re ready for this and I can say that I’m ready for this. So let’s do this!

The Knockouts action for the evening begins with a backstage segment with The Beautiful People and Winter, interviewed by Christy Hemme. The resident backstage redhead congratulates Velvet Sky on her win over Sarita and maintaining her spot with the company. She also points out that what seems the most surprising is not that win but the fact that Winter actually defended Velvet this past Thursday on Impact. Winter states that her actions last week proved that all she has ever wanted is for all of them to have friends. She says she doesn’t have an issue with Velvet but Velvet has an issue with her. She is just glad that Angelina has finally seen it all too. She is totally jealous of those leggings you’re rocking, Winter. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Velvet can’t believe it but given how Angelina just walked away, I’m wondering if she’s starting to as well… (Apologies for the lack of video).

Out first, with a shimmy salsa and fiery flip are the cousins, Rosita and Sarita. Both are decked out in gold and black, predicting their future perhaps? They move and swivel their hips down to the ring, jumping over the top rope to live it up on the mat. Quick on the draw, Sarita is handed a microphone by SoCal Val and it is time for a little pre-match trash talk. Just a little note, I’m loving Sarita’s hair. She states that tonight is a great night because she and Rosita are walking out of the ring as the Knockout Tag Team Champions. Sarita claims that she doesn’t know about the kinky love triangle going on between TBP and Winter. She says they are not focused and then starts rambling off in spanish. I’m sure I could decipher it if I took the time but my time is precious at this moment. Haha. I’m sure it was really important. Really.

Just know that Sarita says toward the end that she is bringing the titles home for Mexico. Viva La Mexico! I could say something about that but I’ll keep my mouth shut. Out last are the team of Angelina Love and Winter to the theme of TBP(odd huh?), dressed like some sort of sultry ninja and a nightstalker. I have no idea what’s going on with that getup. I’ve learned not to question Winter’s motives. Anyway, Angelina sticks to her nature and LETS THE PIGEONS LOOSE!…while Winter looks like she’s about to hit up an Olivia Newton John music video. Oh lets get physical. Physical!

These four women are definitely about to get physical and I’m curious to see how it works out. Starting things off first are Angelina and little Rosita, curcling each other in the ring before the lockup. Angelina gets the upperhand with a side headlock until Rosita throws in the elbows, pushing A. Love into the ropes. Bring up the rebound with a shoulder block then off to the other side to come back with a flying clothesline. Quick on the taunt, Angelina gives Rosita just enough time to get over to the corner to tag in Sarita, who comes in to a nice hip toss across the ring. She wobbles over to the opposite corner and Winter gets right in her face, causing to back off quick. I’d probably be scared too, Sarita. El Chupacabra!

Turn about she goes into a nice snap suplex from Angelina Love but Sarita’s run in the ring doesn’t last long. Rosita tags in and becomes victim of a drop toe hold while A. Love tags in her partner. Winter pounces into the ring and throws a feisty back elbow into little Rosita, vicious on the attack. A nice backbreaker across the knee and Winter goes for the first pin of the match, getting a two count. Rosita is quick to kick out and crawl to the corner, tagging in Sarita who comes into a flapjack from Winter. A very quick back and forth exchange before Winter lands a nice northern lights suplex bridge, going for another pin but Rosita sweeps in, taking out Winter’s leg to break it up. I think I just got a case of whiplash. I had to blink a few times to keep up with that one.

Winter wrenches Sarita into a nice side headlock and drags her over to the corner, tagging in Angelina. Love comes in with a kick to Sarita’s ribcage but gets taken down and dragged to the other side before momentum can pick up. In an odd attempt at a tag team maneuver, Rosita crawls up on top of Sarita’s shoulders and they set up for a dropping crossbody but instead, little Rosita gets dropped on her face when Angelina rolls out of the way. Sarita gets knocked to the outside and Angelina picks Rosita up, dropping her down with authority. Another pin attempt and another two count gets us yet another tag to Winter. It’s like riding a carousel. They just keep going around and around and around. Let me also point out that the crowd is now starting up a USA chant and I found it funny because Angelina is Canadian, Winter is British and Sarita and Rosita are portrayed as Mexicana. Mhmmm.

Winter is in, giving a quick kick to Rosita and tosses her into the ropes, going for a back heel kick but Rosita trips her up, tagging in Sarita. Across the ring and Sarita rebounds, coming back fast with a dropkick….right to little Rosita. So much for the teamwork effort, huh? Winter takes advantage and wrenches the arm of Sarita, flipping her over harsh. Yet another tag and Angelina Love is back in, keep each other fresh and clean. Still working on that arm, Angelina finally gets thrown across the ring, receiving a punk shot from Rosita from the outside. Tag on the Latina side and Rosita goes for that flipping leg drop but Angelina slides out, coming right back after her. A nice jawbreaker against the shoulder and Angelina goes for another pin attempt. A little slow on the take there with the attempted Sarita breakup. Enter slow motion action here.

The official orders Sarita out as Angelina gets Winter back into the match. A nice firewoman’s carry from Winter on Rosita and Angelina gets in a swift bicycle kick into the temple. Winter in for the pin but Sarita is up to her old cheating ways. She causes a distraction, gets Angelina in trouble and then creeps out, going for one of the tag team titles. Sarita brings in one of the belts but Angelina catches her quick, knocking her out of the ring. However, the belt lays center of gravity and Rosita picks it up, ready to use it against Winter, who has her back turned. The crowd is hyped up and just as soon as the noise becomes louder, Velvet Sky slides into the ring out of nowhere, snatching the belt from Rosita’s grubby hands. Oh no no no, she says and gets out of the ring with the title.

Winter goes in for the roll-up and it looks like she might have it but Sarita stalks her way back in, flipping the two women over which leaves Rosita on top. Oh geez. The referee catches attention and counts the three, which gives the straps of gold new owners. Angelina and Winter cannot believe it and neither can Velvet. She calls Winter a spaz and tells her to chill out but Angelina is more upset than anyone. She doesn’t even look at Velvet as she storms to the backstage area, Winter in tow. Both women are still arguing over what just occured but all I know is….

The winners of this match and NEW TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Sarita and Rosita!

Thoughts: Well, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I say that because Rosita is still so green when it comes to her in-ring ability and it just seems like Sarita has to carry her through matches. I get it. She’s new. She is also very, very tiny. I do have to say though that I was highly impressed with the chemistry that Winter and Angelina have as tag team partners. They make a great team and their dynamic is incredible. I’m hoping that Sarita and Rosita are able to come by some of that chemistry in their run as champions. It’s nice to see Sarita with gold around her waist again. It isn’t the Knockouts title but it comes in a close second. I am curious to see where this leaves TBP but I am sure we will find out soon. Major congratulations to the Loco Latinas on their win.

Match Rating: 3.5/5

On this week’s edition of Raw, WWE gave us yet another tag team match, this time featuring Tamina, Gail Kim and Divas Champion Eve against Melina and The Bella Twins. As an added treat, we got the #1 Contender, Natalya as a special guest commentary. Can Eve pick up her first as the newly crowned champ? Check out the match below and find out:

First out is the babyface team and I can’t take my eyes off Tamina’s gear… but I wish I could. Melina and The Bella Twins are out next, and strangely enough they get separate entrances. I guess WWE were gracious enough to spare a couple of extra seconds for the Divas tonight. We are not worthy.

While Natalya and Cole snipe at each other over the announce table, the match gets underway inside the ring. The Bella Twins use the numbers game to distract Gail, leading to her getting slammed to the mat with a vicious hair pull from Bella #1. Bella #1 pummels Gail with a few kicks, before slamming to the mat once again and dragging her to her team’s corner. Bella #2 tags in and they take Gail down with an effective team maneuver. Bella #2 stomps Gail out for bit and chokes her over the middle rope, before dragging her back to her the corner to tag in Melina.

Melina comes in like a house of fire, landing a couple of stiff forearms to Gail’s midsection. She follows up with a snapmare into a modified surfboard submission. Gail manages to fight her way out of the hold, but Melina sends her reeling with a axe kick to the top of the head out of the corner. Melina comes striding across the ring like she owns it, only to get laid out with a flying clothesline from Gail, sending them both down to the mat.

Gail finally crawls her way to her corner of the ring and tags in the champion, Eve. Eve comes in and lays Melina out with a flurry of strikes, followed by her patented standing moonsault. The champion goes for the pin, but the broke is broken up by a Bella. Before they can do any more damage, Tamina and Gail take both Bellas out, causing a fight on the outside of the ring. Meanwhile, Melina tries to capitalize on the distraction, but Eve reverses into a impressive corkscrew neckbreaker, picking up the win for her team.

I know a lot of people weren’t too impressed with this match, I actually enjoyed it. While it lacked the spark of last week’s tag match, it was still a decent match-up. Surprisingly enough, I felt that The Bella Twins were actually the stars of this match. I’ve been enjoying their storyline with Gail and I really think they come off a lot better in the ring as heels. This heel turn may be just they thing they need to finally come into their own.

Another aspect of the match of the match that I really enjoyed was the not-so-friendly banter between Cole and Natalya. While I may not be a faithful Cole Miner, I thought he did a great job of antagonizing Nattie, while still keeping the focus on the match in the ring, as well as the championship match coming up next week. I’ve said before that Natalya isn’t always the best on the mic, but she really held her own this week AND she managed not to punch Cole square in the nuts, which is a feat in and of itself.

All in all, a solid night on Raw, in my opinion. I’m really curious to find out what will happen in this title match next week and see how it effect Eve and Natalya’s relationship. I’m also anxious to see if we’ll get another Bella/Gail catfight. Hopefully, WWE can keep delivering some quality material leading into WrestleMania.

Could it be?! Oh yes! It is time for yet another edition of the weekly Impact Write-Up with yours truly. Last week, we witnessed a rather weird tag team match-up between two teams that had to have been picked out of a hat. However, with an assist from the Elbow of Death, evil prevailed once again. This week, we have a returning Knockout surrounded by major controversary. We also have yet another tag team match but this time, the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles are on the line. Will the current odd couple champions maintain or will the power duo come by yet another knockout victory? What kind of trouble will the former Mrs. Angle get herself into? You’re only going to find out by following me down the rabbit hole! Don’t be afraid. I’ll hold your hand and in the end, I promise to give you cookies. Yes, the soft kind. Now GO!

Our first glimpse into Knockout beauty this week, comes in the form of a returning Karen Jarrett. She starts out the show, as the Knockouts should every week, by arriving to the arena with her husband, Jeff. Karen looks gorgeous, as usual, fabulous in a bright blue strapless dress that I adore. New marriage does a body good, apparently. The couple canoodle and smooch before heading into the arena. A little while later, they are caught walking to the Immortal locker room when Jarrett stops her. He wants to make sure that she’s ready for this encounter. Karen says that she’s been sitting at home for two years and she’s never been more ready in her life. You go girl! Rawr!

Later in the show, Karen and Jeff Jarrett are seen walking down the backstage corridor. Jeff cuts a small promo on Kurt Angle, who just happens to be Karen’s ex-husband and his opponent at Genesis. Karen admires her man and he blushes on her just as much. He asks her to do just one thing which is not to lose her temper. Karen claims she’s as cool as a cucumber but by the look on Jeff’s face, he thinks otherwise. I think we all know that if your ex-husband was making your life hell and you’d sat back for two years watching, you’d be like a ticking time bomb. It is time to let the drama unfold!

For those who don’t know, Jarrett’s appearance in the ring is a “retirement” of his MMA career, if that’s what you want to call it. He comes out sans Karen, which is who I came to see. To sum it up, Jarrett talks about how great he is then finally says that behind every man of war is a great woman. It is time to introduce the lovely and vivacious, Mrs. Karen Jarrett! My how she’s changed. Now she’s bald with a salt and pepper beard. No, wait, that’s just Kurt Angle stealing the spotlight. He runs through Jarrett’s entourage and manages into the ring but Karen is not going to stand for it. She comes out screaming, even going so far as to drop the government name on Kurt Steven Angle. Because we all wanted to know that.

Karen says that she has sat at home while Kurt has played games with their personal and professional lives. It has been a bit of a blurred line. Angle turns his back but Karen demands that he turn and look at her. “Don’t you freaking turn your back on me!” God, she is gold on the microphone. I would love to see Karen take on another certain mouthpiece in an opposing company, if you follow. She says that Kurt will steal the joy from their lives no more. NO MORE! And next week, the entire world is going to hear her side. HER SIDE! She promises that it is going to be a night that Angle will never forget. Let me just insert here that if TNA doesn’t make Karen Jarrett a permanent part of their show, they are so missing out on a fabulous addition.

SHE’S A KILLER QUEEN! Out first on the coveted crotch rocket are Tara and Madison Rayne. Let me just say that I actually really love Madison’s new theme. I’ve got to get that ringtone. Haha. Anyway, back to the Knockouts. It seems our darling champion has finally switched it up in regards to her ring attire. Granted, we’ve seen it before but I am so relieved to see that she’s finally done a load of laundry. Tara, on the other hand, has on an outfit that looks like it requires a safe word. Her hair is looking fabulous, however, with her new soft brown highlights. It’s a refreshing change from the fire engine red. Kudos on a mature upgrade.

While Tara jumps in the ring, Madison waves and blows kisses to her faithful subjects, taken back by their…affection. Ahem. A short video package is shown from Genesis, highlighting the questionable finish to the Knockouts Championship match. Dirty and deceptive but she still manages to reign so humble over her kingdom. Okay. I have to stop because I’m being interrupted by a theme song we’ve never heard before that apparently, belongs to Winter. It’s eerie and comes along with a weird glow on the big screen. I can’t even begin to explain it further.

Instead of getting an entrance into the Impact Zone from one half of the tag team champions, we go backstage to Velvet Sky and Angelina Love. Velvet still can’t seem to understand how her tag partner and best friend ended up sharing titles with the creepy Winter. She wants an explanation and Angelina tells her she can’t, because everytime she turns around, she’s there. As if on cue, Winter appears and tells Angelina that they have to go and drags the Canadian beauty away before the conversation can continue. It’s like a bad episode of The Twilight Zone, without the strange noise in the closet.

Dragging Angelina out onto the ramp, Winter raises their hands only for Angelina to jerk hers away. Angelina is clad in her usual cut out pants and small matching top while Winter, living in her true style, is decked out in black and burgundy. I love her grey boots. I wouldn’t normally imagine that as proper ring attire but to each her own. Walking ahead of her stalker/tag partner/stalker and we get a video package of recent events, leading up to this match. Sarita and Velvet’s night of bondage. The sneak and steal from Winter on Madison. The whole shebang. Thought it couldn’t get any creepier? Winter totally pervs on Angelina with her eyes as she gets in the ring, ‘letting the pigeons loose’! Don’t pretend you didn’t see it!

Regardless of admiration, this match is going to happen. The referee rings the bell with Angelina and Madison starting things off with a lock up. A quick flip over roll-up from Angelina and we get an early one count pin attempt. I understand it exerts energy from your opponent but is it necessary to take the easy way out every time? With an answer to my question, Angelina goes for another schoolgirl but Madison isn’t going to take that route. The two women get back up on their feet and the Knockouts champion lays a knee to her opponent’s midsection. A closed fist to the chest and Madison sends Angelina across the ring into the ropes, but it backfires when Angelina stops her fast. A firem…woman’s carry and the defending tag team champion is in for another cover. One..barely a two and Madison is officially pissed. “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!” No, Madison. We have no idea..please, tell us.

Madison tries to kick Angelina in the abdomen but Angelina turns the tables, dropping her with a jawbreaker. A flying takedown, followed up by a flying heel kick and Angelina is revved up. Madison doesn’t know what to think and scrambles after the official, trying to plead that her face is hurt. This provides just enough of a distraction for Tara to get involved, slamming Angelina back by her hair. The first tag of the night and a double team effort ensues. Winter springs in the ring but the referee is quick to catch her, having no idea what’s going on behind his back. I always find that so convenient. They NEVER know. Ever.

Amidst the chaos, there looks to be a repeat of this past Sunday when Madison starts shaking out her gloved hand. Tara takes a firm grip on Angelina and just when it seems we could have another knockout punch…here comes Mickie James! She flies down the ramp and jerks Madison right out onto the floor, knocking her flat on her ass with a punch of her own. Tara tries to help her partner but ends up getting a shot to the face for her efforts. I can’t even begin to count how many times Mike Tenay said the word ‘knockout’ in a span of sixty seconds. Haha. All I know is Mickie is hellbent on trying to get that glove off of Madison Rayne. I’m sure she’s just as curious as we all are, dying to know what’s in there. But Madison isn’t going to let that happen and she manages to get away with Mickie in hot pursuit. Run, baby, run!

While Mickie and Madison are playing a game of tag, Angelina and Tara are still down in the ring. Winter is itching on the outside, waiting for a tag. This is a major spot for an advantage factor and thankfully, Angelina comes to her feet first. However, Tara is right behind her and goes for Angelina’s face with a swinging elbow, brace in full force. Angelina ducks, connects with a desperate bicycle kick and makes a snappy tag to Winter. This is the part that convinced me Winter is part monkey. She practically floats to the top turnbuckle and dives down onto Tara with a rough clothesline. And obviously, she pushed the rage button on the way down. Winter wastes no time straddling Tara and clobbering her left and right, screaming like a banshee. I definitely love a great psychotic character and she is very close to winning the prize. If I told you what that prize was, I’d have to force Mae Young on you. ;)

Winter, still screaming, slaps what looks to be a rear choke/body stretch submission of some sort on Tara. She is relentless and almost as soon as the referee checks on Tara, she looks like she’s out cold. A raise of the arm and the official calls for the bell but Winter is extremely reluctant to let go. With urgency from the referee, Winter finally flings Tara to the mat and Angelina cannot believe what she’s just seen. Neither can I. Winter is fierce, in every sense of the word. She is also quick to celebrate but Angelina is still far too creeped out. I’m pretty certain that everyone in the Knockouts division is just a little spooked.

The winners of the match and STILL TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Winter and Angelina Love!

Thoughts: THANK GOD FOR KAREN JARRETT! I love her. I love her character. She has always fascinated me. I’m so happy she’s back. TNA needs a fierce talker and there is nothing like seeing a fierce woman lay the smack down on someone. To see her go head to head in a scream-off against Vickie Guerrero would just be incredible. I am so excited for next week. I am dying to see Karen lay the smack down on Kurt. Their tumultuous relationship intrigues me almost as much as the fact that she married Jeff Jarrett.

I liked the tag match this week. Of course, there can always be more actual wrestling but it was interesting. We haven’t seen Angelina or Winter in action since they won the titles so it was nice to see them in the ring. Their storyline intrigues me and, as I’ve been saying, I am very curious to see where it goes. And let me just add here that I loved the end to the match. Yes, it was fun to watch Mickie chase Madison off but seeing a match end in an actual submission just makes my heart flutter. Winter was fierce as hell.

Until next week, my darlings! May you all be blessed with glitter slap bracelets and jolly ranchers! Much love!

The bond between Angelina Love and Winter grew a lot stronger last night on Impact as the former Katie Lea helped Angelina become one half of the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions.

In the finals of the Tag Team Championship tournament, it was set to be Angelina & Velvet Sky (The Beautiful People) taking on Madison Rayne and Tara. However, after a brutal beatdown at the hands of Sarita (with help from a leather strap) earlier in the show, Sky was unable to compete.

Instead Angelina went it alone for much of the match, taking punishment from Tara and the Rayne, until Winter ran down to ringside in her first appearance inside the Impact Zone and took Sky’s place.

Winter picked up a hot tag and a decisive victory over the Knockouts Champion allowing herself and Angelina to pick up the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

This marks Angelina’s first time as Tag Team Champion. Winter also makes history by winning a championship in her first TNA match.

Tonight the long anticipated return of Hamada to Impact took place and sadly for her, it was in very unspectacular fashion. She teamed up with Taylor Wilde to take on the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich, and the match ended up being one of the worst TNA matches of all time. Granted, it was no Jenna/Sharmell fiasco, but it was pretty damn bad. If you don’t wish to take my word for it, I understand. All the proof lies within the video so feel free to see the ugliness for yourself.

The tag match officially kicked off the wrestling portion of the show tonight, so while everyone sat around and digested the epic and highly personal promo stand-off between Raven and Tommy Dreamer, the Beautiful People began to make their way towards the ring. Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich were in rare form tonight, carrying their titles with confidence. Each girl looked great as well. Kudos to LVE for becoming the first ever Beautiful People member with actual ring gear! Velvet was dressed in one of her usual outfits, and it’s not worth describing to be honest. The show cut to commercial as the Beautiful People played to the crowd but upon it’s return, Hamada and Taylor Wilde made their way to the ring. Their entrance was cute, and a bit cheeky. Hamada twirled Taylor around and slapped her on the ass, a la the Beautiful People. Shame Taylor Wilde’s ring gear continues to make my stomach turn. The Beautiful People stood on the outside of the ring as Taylor and Hamada hyped up the crowd. Velvet screamed at them and made reference to the fact that her title wasn’t going anywhere. When the BPs returned to the apron, Lacey hopped into the ring to start the match off against Taylor. The referee held the championships up and the match began.

Taylor coaxed Lacey into turning around so that everyone could admire her new, sparkly outfit. Of course, Lacey fell for it and Taylor immediately rolled her up for a pin. Lacey scrambled out of the before the referee could even get down and count and Taylor flew to the ropes to gain some momentum. Velvet backed up Lacey by cheaply distracting Taylor, who promptly turned around to bitch. Lacey hit her from behind and went for a spinning heel kick but Taylor dropped down and swept her off her feet. Taylor once again went to the ropes, but Lacey was there to catch her. Unfortunately what could have been a gorgeous move was hampered by the fact Lacey struggled to throw Taylor over her head. Oh well. Eventually, Lacey did what she wanted to do, and Taylor rolled over to tag in the rarely seen Hamada.

Hamada came in and was met with a clothesline attempt from Lacey. She somersaulted through it and started going to town on the pretty blonde Von Erich. Lacey seemed lost and confused at this point, and Velvet started screaming at her. Lacey gave her tag team partner a look and for lack of anything else to do, Hamada finally knocked her down to the mat. Hamada went towards the rope and Velvet attempted to distract her. It didn’t work out so well for Vel Vel because Hamada temporarily subdued her with a jawbreaker on the ropes. Believe it or not, it did give Lacey some time to set up for a jumping knee strike (I make this up as I go…) and the minute Hamada whirled around, Lacey took her out. Lacey went for the quick cover, but Hamada powered out after the two. Lacey went to tag Velvet, but forgot to bring Hamada with her. After going back get the other girl, Lacey was finally able to bring Velvet into the match.

Lacey held on to Hamada while Velvet trash talked and took the free kick to Hamada’s gut. She chopped her once or twice, and Lacey let go and got out of the ring. Velvet measured Hamada up and then drilled her with a kick, only to follow it up with a failed pinning attempt. After wrapping her arm around Hamada’s neck, Velvet brought her to the BP corner and tagged Lacey back in. Hamada was subjected to a double team ram-rod move (Taz’s words, not moi’s) and Lacey went for another cover. She got a two count and stood up, thought for a few minutes, then tried to pull off her back-flip/elbow combination. Hamada rolled out of the way and made Lacey look like an epic fail. Lacey, bless her, tried again but once again, she failed. Both Hamada and Lacey took their time getting up, and once they made eye contact, Hamada sent Lacey a subliminal message that it was time to hit her again. Lacey got the picture and stumbled towards Hamada, which sent Hamada to her own corner. She tagged in Taylor.

Someone must have light a fire under Taylor’s butt because she came into the ring with a purpose and began to beat on Lacey. Lacey was unable to fight back and then found herself on the receiving end of a German suplex. She sorta bridged into a cover but Velvet came in and made the save. Hamada followed suit and took Velvet to the wood shed after bullying her back to the BP corner. Taylor set Lacey up in the opposite corner, called to her partner, and they attempted to whip the Beautiful People into one another. The blonde bombshells reversed this and sent Hamada and Taylor flying towards one another. Taylor and Hamada were able to link arms, swing each other around, and fly back towards their opponents. Velvet and Lacey both went down like a ton of bricks and the crowd finally big time popped.

Hamada and Taylor celebrated, but not for long. They went back to work on both Velvet and Lacey, but after a few seconds their attention was pulled away. Madison Rayne made her way onto the stage and Tara Mystery appeared out of nowhere and started revving up the engine of her motorcycle. Mystery Woman came to the ringside area which brought Taylor and Hamada toward her. Madison smirked from the ramp and Lacey and Velvet were finally able to regroup and get back into the match. Velvet took on Hamada inside the ring while Lacey sent Taylor to the outside. Velvet went for the whip into the ropes, but Hamada reversed it and sent Velvet flying. Both women collided with one another and both ended up knocked down. Taylor destroyed Lacey on the outside of the ring, and Hamada ended up coming out on top with her altercation with Velvet thanks to a fun spot with the referee. Velvet spazzed out and her fight with Hamada ended up spilling to the outside of the ring.

Taylor and Lacey made their way back inside and Lacey took down the Canadian with a double sledge hammer to the back. With the referee distracted with Hamada/Velvet, Mystery Woman saw an opportunity to slide a weapon into the ring. Lacey took the steel chair with glee and went to hit Taylor with it, but Taylor was waiting and drop kicked it right into Lacey’s face. Lacey hit the mat like a ton of bricks and Taylor made the cover. The referee got wind of what was going down and headed over to the make the pin. He counted to three over the chair (WTF? At least Taz called him out on that…) and Hamada and Taylor Wilde became the NEW TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions. On the stage, Madison looked pissed and Mystery Woman just shook her head in disgust. Lacey remained unconscious in the ring and boy oh boy, was Velvet ever pissed off.

Later on that night, a pissed off Velvet finally got to vent her frustrations to Madison. The TNA cameras cut to a shot of the backstage area where Lacey and several security officials were trying to break up a fight between the two Beautiful People. Lacey kept tying her best to get in the middle but Madison nor Velvet were having it. At one point, Velvet reached out and shoved Lacey, knocking her into a piece of equipment and sending her to the ground. Madison was taken away and Velvet went into mother mode. She rushed to Lacey’s side and started checking on her, and apologizing, and blaming Madison. She asked for someone to call an ambulance and the scene faded to the ringside area.

The Good: After three nice weeks of sunshine and roses Impact Write-Ups, I’m afraid this one is going to be full of doom and gloom. There wasn’t a whole lot that was good tonight, to be frank. I hate that, really I do. For once, it had nothing to do with writing. But we’ll have to save those complaints for the bad and the ugly, so lets try and find something good. First up, Hamada. So many people have been begging to have her return to Impact and when she does, she finally gets her rematch for the tag team titles that she never truly lost in the first place. An Impact Hamada siting is about as rare as the Lochness Monster these days so I’m sure her fans were happy. TNA picked a bad match for her to return in (more on that later) but at least the pay off was a nice consolation prize. Hopefully being a champion will lead to more Hamada on our Thursday nights and seeing as how last night was the first match of hers I’ve seen, I look forward to seeing her do more. I highly doubt what she showed in the ring last night is an indication of what she can really do, but props to her for dumbing herself down and doing her best to work with what she got stuck with in the ring.

The backstage segment was good for the most part. The fight between Madison and Velvet was long overdue and I like the fact Lacey ended up getting punished in the end. She’s always been the one in the middle of this feud and I feel like it’s going to escalate even further now. It would not shock me one bit to see Madison manipulate Lacey into siding with her, while Velvet is forced to turn to Angelina to even the numbers. Don’t be surprised if Velvet ends up costing Madison the title next week. I don’t really care to see the 800th Angelina Love championship reign, but whatever. If it’s done right, maybe I’ll deal with it. Personally, I’d rather see Madison confuse everyone and ensure that Madison keeps the Knockouts Championship, then take it for herself. That would hurt Madison more than helping Angelina take the title. I doubt TNA is bright enough to do that, though.

What else was good… hmmm. A Beautiful People member actually got legit ring gear. Good job Lacey! For all her mistakes and just general awfulness, at least she looked great and classy. Her ring gear was nice and sparkly, and like always, she looked gorgeous.

The Bad: Remember I said the backstage segment was good for the most part? Well it was, except for when Lacey took the big bump at the end. She braced herself for it to obviously and made it look rather cheap. I’ve seen her do it before, and I’m confused as to why she did it this time. Her chair shot at the end of the match was excellent. She took it so well. Bummer.

The Ugly: This match was just ugly. I don’t know why TNA felt that Lacey should wrestle the majority of this match. Lacey fans are not fans because she’s an amazing wrestler (at least I hope not). Lacey fans are fans because she’s got a great character and she looks fabulous. To have Lacey step inside the ring against Hamada was nothing short of a joke. Every flaw that Lacey has inside that ring was exposed and it was downright painful to watch. Whatever possessed TNA to have Velvet keep bringing Lacey in, I don’t know. I’m really baffled by that. Maybe it’s just me, but I could tell Hamada was doing everything she could to make sure she went easy on Lacey. Maybe she did it because she’s a nice person and she didn’t want to hurt, or show up Lacey, or maybe she was told too, but either way it wasn’t really fair. Velvet’s not exactly an in-ring goddess but she can sell her ass off and take a beating, and it would have been nice to see her and Hamada go at it. Taylor did a little better job handling Lacey than Hamada did. Their interaction on the outside of the ring was fun to watch. Perhaps Taylor is more used to dealing with Lacey types since she was in the WWE system for awhile.

TNA tonight was bad, but on the bright side, it can only go up. And hey, at least the KOs weren’t the worst part of the show. Ric Flair flashing the Impact Zone and Orlando Jordan having an affair with his finger were way above the Knockouts so there’s something right there to be proud of. There’s no match this weekend, but on the special Impact we’ll get our championship match with Madison and Angelina. I’m looking forward to that and hopefully all of you are as well.

P.S. Thanks to @johnhyperion for the brilliant title!

It’s just after 4 AM and I’m feeling quite sprightly at the moment. The French Open is on my television. Rafa Nadal is playing. The entire Impact show is up on YouTube so I don’t have to leave the comfort of my livingroom desk and big screen TV in order to recap the Knockout action for each and every one of you. At the time of this introduction, I have yet to watch the match itself but it features Lacey Von Erich. That fact alone makes this an epic in the making and I know that secretly all of you are closet Lacey fans. Without Lacey, you’d have nothing to look forward too or complain about! And speaking of our girl, she her part of the show involved a tag team title defense alongside the devious Velvet Sky. The two Beautiful People were in action against Sarita and Taylor Wilde, who to my knowledge have done nothing to earn a tag title shot, but whatev. At least they’re on television for like the third week in a row so I’m not going to complain.

The Knockout portion of Impact starts with a stupid promo for Halfpint Brawlers which isn’t a surprise if you read spoilers. Something named Puppet is sitting at the commentary table with Taz and Mike Tenay. Apparently he’s the owner of the new midget show and he puts it over before we go to the backstage area. Christy is standing by with Roxxi, who last week defeated Madison Rayne in a non-title match. Roxxi is wearing her ugly brown outfit again, but Christy sports a pair of fit jeans and a white wife beater. Christy talks about Roxxi’s victory over Madison and welcomes her back to TNA with open arms. Roxxi replies that it’s great to be back and that she’s looking forward to her time in TNA. As she’s talking, the video of her injury is being played. I’m totally shutting my eyes because it’s just far to gross to watch again. Roxxi says that the position she’s in now is a familiar one but this time, she’s not going to let her chances slip through her fingers. Roxxi’s pretty pumped and ready to go, and Christy decides to drop a bomb. She mentions to Roxxi that because of her (Roxxi’s) victory last week, Roxxi will be Madison at Slammiversary for the TNA Knockouts Championship. Roxxi gets all excited over the opportunity and basically freaks out. Christy is super giddy herself and Roxxi finally takes the microphone and tells Madison that she will meet her at Slammiversary.

Christy sends it back to the ring area where Sarita and Taylor are waiting for the Beautiful People. Puppet is invited to stick around for commentary (oh joy) and the BPs begin to make their way to the ring. I refuse to talk about their entrance ever again so to take up this writing space I want to say that Rafael Nadal is wearing my favorite color combination at this year’s French Open – lime green and turquoise. True story. Instead of discussing the in-ring action, the announcers and the midget begin to talk about Halfpint Brawlers. Shocking. Velvet and Sarita are looking to kick things off and Sarita catches Velvet around the waist. Velvet reverses whatever Sarita was planning and hiptosses her to the mat. Velvet’s super proud of herself but Sarita’s not down for long. She Shawn Michaels’ up to her feet and when Velvet turns around she shrieks and goes back at Sarita. Sarita brings her down and goes for a quick roll-up, but she only gets a two count. Velvet’s back up in a flash but is brought down with an elbow. Sarita makes the tag to Taylor, then splashes Velvet just to do it. Taylor mounts her first bit of offense by somersaulting on top of Velvet and she goes for the cover. Another two count.

Velvet is picked up by the hair and punched in the face. She’s sent to the ropes but reverses a whip. Sarita tags herself in as Taylor kicks Velvet in the gut and does a Power Ranger move to get the tag champ on her back again. Sarita drops an elbow and tries to get Velvet in position for a pin but she goes with a roll through instead and gets another two count. Velvet desperately tries to tag in Lacey but Sarita begins to work over the arm. Taylor gets tagged in and together, the innagural champions force Velvet into the ropes. They push her across and when Velvet comes back at them, Sarita takes her down with a drop toe hold and Taylor follows it up with springing kick to the face. She makes a cover but only gets a two. This is getting old. Velvet battles back to her feet, or maybe she’s helped, either way it doesn’t matter because Taylor just hits her in the face and tries to go for a whip. Velvet reverses it and Taylor ends up getting distracted by Madison. That allows Lacey to take the cheap shot and send Taylor down. Velvet uses the cheating to her advantage and finally makes the tag.

Lacey comes into the ring much to my delight and the Beautiful People sloppily double team Taylor Wilde. Velvet gets out and allows Lacey to take over. She puts the Claw on Taylor, picks her up and slams her down, then goes for the cover. Sarita doesn’t bother to break up the pin attempt and Lacey wins the match for the Beautiful People, and they retain their championships. Sarita gets Taylor out of the ring and the Beautiful People begin to celebrate. Puppet, you know, the midget on commentary, decides he wants to join the party in the ring so that’s what he does. Everything is fine and dandy for a bit. The girls probably think he’s cute, like one of those little purebred dogs you carry in a bag, so they dance with him. Eventually, Velvet’s over it and she gets out of the ring. As she does, the creepy perv Puppet runs over and slaps her on the ass. This pisses off Velvet and she backs the little critter into an equally offended Madison. The Knockouts Champion DDT’s Puppet into the ground and both Vel Vel and Madison begin to stomp on him. Lacey looks pretty upset because she clearly doesn’t believe in child abuse. She pleads for her friends to stop and that infuriates Velvet who orders Lacey to get out of the ring.

Lacey, however, is a grown up and doesn’t take orders from Velvet Sky. She drops to her knees and checks on the poor thing who’s playing up his injuries like some kind of war veteran. Lacey falls for the ploy and Puppet grabs her into a kiss. She ends up falling on top of Puppet while they’re making out. Eventually Lacey breaks free and she’s apparently pretty hot for this dude. She exclaims the word “wow” and begins rolling around on the mat with him some more. Velvet is horrified by this and is throwing up on the stage and I’m just left shaking my head. Oh Lacey. You amuse me so much.

Moving on!

On this week’s WCW (Weekly Chelsea Watch, clever right?), our favorite arm candy made her first appearance as the reluctant valet to her new owner, Abyss. Abyss was in action against Orlando Jordan, who interestingly enough had pasties on his nipples featuring Abyss’ face. Wonderful. Their match is pretty insignificant to me until the point where Orlando Jordan shoves Abyss into poor Chelsea. She takes the hit like a pro and in turn, Abyss gets pissy and starts to beat the snot out of Jordan. He sends Jordan into the ring post but before Abyss can check on Chelsea, the hotness that is Desmond Wolfe decides to attack Abyss with a lead pipe. A 2-on-1 attack on Abyss ensues until random Rob Terry comes storming to the ring to make the save. Desmond bails and Terry dismantles Jordan. Abyss finally gets the chance to check on Chelsea, who’s basically dead on the outside. He finally just scoops her up and carries her backstage. Yup, that’s it.

The Good: The first thing that comes to mind is Velvet Sky. She sold Taylor and Sarita’s offense pretty well and I enjoyed watching her play the whipping girl for the majority of the match. We criticize Velvet’s wrestling skills a lot, but she’s really good at taking punishment and her acting is always spot on. To me, Velvet is more of a performer than an actual wrestler, and Saritaylor are the opposite. That’s why this worked so well in my opinion. Taylor and Sarita were allowed to wrestle and Velvet took it like the star she is. The best part was at the end when Lacey was rolling around with Puppet. Velvet was seen standing on the stage and the look on her face was totally priceless. She was disgusted, sick to her stomach, and just overall horrified that Lacey was liking the midget and what he was doing to her. The fake throwing up in her mouth was great and Velvet was the Knockout MVP tonight. Dispute me if you like.

The Bad: Most everything else was bad this week. I hate that, but c’est le vie. Roxxi is another one of those “wrestlers” and her reaction to finding out she had a title match at Slammiversary was cringe worthy. I took drama for three out of four years in high school so I feel as I have a right to state that Roxxi’s reaction was seriously fake and way to put on. I don’t really know what she could have done to make it a little better. Maybe TNA’s crack creative team should have wrote her some better lines. Maybe Roxxi could have stood there and stared at Christy, and just kept saying “Oh my God” in a stunned voice. Anything would have been better than her phony excitement.

Lacey getting the win was bad and it hurts my heart to write that. I wouldn’t have a problem with this if Velvet Sky hadn’t been so spot on tonight. I don’t like that Velvet took all the abuse and let Lacey have the win. It doesn’t seem very Velvet-like, but TNA is known for doing strange things. I’m happy for Lacey and I love the fact she uses The Claw for her finisher, but again. She didn’t even take a hit in this match. At least sell a few punches or something before getting the win. This probably sounds a bit hypocritical and I’m sure I’ll get comments saying “Lacey never does anything anyway” but whatever. She’s been doing very well recently and I don’t think she got enough of a chance to show that tonight.

The Ugly: The Chelsea/Abyss stuff was awful tonight. As much as I love Chels, she’s not ready to take bumps and she proved that tonight. Abyss barely knocked into her and Chelsea went down very sloppy and never got up. If they wanted to do this sort of angle, then they should have trained Chelsea to take the hit and make it believable. Abyss is a big dude but he’s also a veteran of the squared circle. He should have done his part in making the whole thing more “real” as well. This storyline has been so hot and I was terribly disappointed to see that Desmond didn’t even bother to check on Chelsea. He went right to attacking Abyss and ran away as soon as Rob Terry hit the ring. I said last week that I didn’t want Chelsea and Abyss to end up together and I got the impression this week that we’re heading in that direction. My heart definitely hurts for that.

The stuff with Puppet was terribly ugly. It further proved the point that the Knockouts are the new Divas. This reeked of a painful reminder of all those God awful Hornswoggle/Diva segments on Raw. Why are midgets and women always put together in wrestling segments? Is it because chauvinistic male egos get off on putting something so insignificant and pointless with a woman to remind everyone that women don’t need to be taken seriously in wrestling?! Damn you Eric Bischoff. As hot as you are, quit TNA already please. And take Hogan with you just because. Talking about Puppet’s stupid show during the Knockout match was disrespectful and something I expect from the WWE. Maybe TNA let Lacey win the match for the Beautiful People to compensate for the fact she had to simulate a make out scene with this Puppet character. It’s nothing against midgets or anything like that. I’m just sick of seeing them overshadow Divas and now Knockouts.

TNA is so frustrating. A year ago they were the best place to watch female wrestling action. Now the Knockouts are nothing more than a sideshow act at some cheap carnival. I hate it for the girls and I hate it for the fans who watch every week and somehow remain devoted. I promise you guys I’m not PMSing this week. I was just general disgusted with what I had to watch. It did nothing for me but if you enjoyed it, then more power to you. I wish I could say the same, but I can’t, and like always, I’m not going to sugar coat things. Tonight’s Impact was a fail and that sucks because TNA has shown flashes of brilliance as of late. TNA is being a tease these days. They give you something good to keep you somewhat satisfied and wanting more, but they absolutely refuse to go all the way. When are we going to see the Knockouts perform at the highest level again? The girls there now are capable, that I would bet money on. They may not be Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, or even Tara, but they’re talented and they can work.

But you’d never know it judging by this week’s Impact.

When it comes to TNA, they always drop the ball when it comes to the live shows so imagine my surprise and shock when they exceeded even my low expectations this week. Announced over the weekend, was a title match where all three titles were on the line; The Beautiful People defending against Tara, Taylor Wilde, and Sarita. It sounds good on paper (sort of…) but it was an actual hot mess on television. The MIA tag team known as Saritaylor were mere stand-ins tonight and TNA’s weird booking once again came into play. If you want to watch the mess unfold, go ahead and click the video. If you don’t, then I don’t blame you. I want to forget Impact was even on television last night.

Even though it was a crappy night for the Knockouts as a whole, it was a decent night for the Beautiful People. Earlier in the show, Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, and Lacey Von Erich were seen backstage in their lockerroom. All three girls were either sitting or standing at their vanity table and they were messing with their make-up and just generally looking at themselves in the mirror. They were having a conversation about how hard it was to be a champion and Lacey starts talking about how her back is always killing her. She goes on to say that things aren’t so bad during the day but when she wakes up after a good night’s sleep she is basically in a world of hurt. Velvet gives her a look and politely tells her she’s not supposed to wear the title to bed. Lacey is like “I thought we weren’t supposed to take them off” and the other two girls just groan. Madison is a little annoyed that they’re being forced to defend the belts again but Velvet calms her down and states what we all know to be true: the BP are the entire Knockouts division. Velvet goes on to say that no one is a threat to them and this and that, and the segment ends with Lacey triumphantly announcing that they weren’t supposed to take the belts off and that she knew that all along.

Tara and Saritaylor are in the ring as the Beautiful People begin to make their way down the entrance ramp. I’m not going to bore you with the details of their entrance but it’s certainly sparkly this week. Tenay and Taz run down the rules for the match and when the bell rings, Tara decides she’s going to begin the match for her team. She tries to tell this to Sarita and Taylor, and when they don’t seem to get it, she demonstrates by shoving Taylor rather stiffly a few times to get her out of the ring. Taylor is like whatever and does what she’s told and Tara turns her back. Lacey is waiting for her and she’s looking pumped to start this match. The sultry blonde is decked in silver and black, and she’s ready for action. Lacey begins to dance around in the ring much to the chagrin of Tara, and Tara finally kicks her, doubling Von Erich over in pain. She slams Lacey down, rolls over her for a pin, but changes her mind and goes for a front guillotine choke instead. Tara shoots dirty looks over her shoulder at her partners while the referee tries to get her to let up on Lacey. Finally she spits at Taylor and Sarita, which is pretty unsanitary, and she picks Lacey up.

Using Lacey’s neck as a hand hold, Tara bullies the less experienced girl against the ropes and whips her across them. Lacey ducks a clothesline attempt and comes back at Tara with a very nice Streetfighter like roundhouse kick that would totally make Ryu proud. Lacey is so pleased with herself and she dances around in celebration while the other two BP smile happily on the outside. Tara is flustered now because Lacey got the better of her so she tags in Sarita, even if it’s a bit reluctant. Sarita gets in and goes for Lacey, but Lacey’s not having that and tags in Velvet. While that’s going on, Sarita has gotten distracted by Tara, who I suppose is shouting at her. It gives Velvet the perfect opening and she takes Sarita down from behind. She starts stomping away on the grounded highflyer, then picks her up and tosses her in the corner. Sarita finds herself thrown into the opposite corner next, and Velvet comes at her like a freight train. Sarita is able to get the boots up and Velvet lands flat on her back. Sarita busts out the flash just to throw Velvet up in the air and slam her face first into the mat. She goes for the cover but the tag champ gets out after two.

Sarita hurries to her corner and makes the tag to Taylor. They pull off a cute double team move which sees Sarita flip Taylor onto Velvet, and Taylor goes for another cover. Velvet is able to kick out of that as well. Taylor gets Velvet up and in position for a finishing like move, but Tara starts screaming at her, which distracts Taylor. Velvet takes advantage and starts fighting out of the hold. She gets to her corner and makes the tag to Madison. Madison comes in and is met with a rough looking German suplex. Taylor heads to her a corner for a tag and it looks like she’s favoring Sarita. Tara is bitching her out and demanding that Taylor tag her in but Taylor goes for Sarita anyway. It doesn’t matter to Tara. She steals the tag, gets in the ring, and everyone suddenly starts to PMS. Sarita slaps the crap out of Tara’s back not once, but twice. It’s an official tag and Tara is none to thrilled about it. The referee says it’s legit so what does Tara do? She turns around and knocks the hell out of Sarita, sending her off the apron. Taylor storms into the ring and mans up to Tara, and the two women have a little heated exchange. Of course Taylor turns her back and yes, Tara attacks her.

Tara goes to the outside to punish Taylor and Sarita comes running back into the ring. Lacey and Velvet are there to greet her and Sarita gets hit with a horrible looking DDT. I swear they crushed her neck, head, and everything in between with that move and ugh. Just ugh. Madison, who is the legal woman, goes in for the cover and the Beautiful People sneak out yet another win. Tara is completely furious and the Beautiful People celebrate their victory by using their title belts as a mirror to check their make-up. Tara starts playing the blame game and we’ve just been subjected to one of the worst Knockout segments ever.

Oh yeah, there is a backstage promo too. Basically what happens is a match gets made for the next pay-per-view; Tara’s career against Madison’s championship. At least that’s different.

The Good: What was good about Impact tonight? I seriously have to dig deep for this one. I was more into dreaming up faux storylines for Teddy Jr. and myself over on Raw. Can you just imagine how awesome I would be as his “Virgil”? No one ever said Virgil had to be a man and if I were a valet, I would be as deadly as they come. He would never lose a match on my watch. See how off topic that is? TNA went from having a hit last week to having a nasty little strike out this week and it’s so unfair to the girls. I don’t want this Write-Up to be all gloom and doom so lets just move on. Tara’s new hair style looked really good. Less red works for me and it totally works for her. At least she looked great tonight.

Taylor and Sarita were back. It’s always nice to see them on the actual show. I wish I could sit here and write more about their return but it was basically nothing more than a sideshow. They were just used as background characters for Tara, and to a certain extent, the Beautiful People were just background too. The whole match/segment was built around Tara. Nonetheless, fresh faces are always welcome/needed and this week was no exception. I hope we get to see more Sarita and Taylor in the upcoming weeks because if we’re all being honest, they’re the only two girls left on the roster who can challenge The Beautiful People for the tag belts at this moment in time.

Lacey got to show off some personality tonight. She was allowed to dance around in the ring, take a few bumps, and even got to be part of the finish. I wasn’t really liking how she and Velvet worked Sarita at the end. It was a little scary to me. I was totally concerned about Sarita’s health but at the time of this writing nothing has been reported so I reckon she’s okay. Even though it’s not really saying much, Lacey had one of the better showings of the night. She certainly looked the best out of everyone. The silver disco ball outfit was light years better than the gold one Velvet was wearing and I have no clue what Madison had on. The girls need to chill on the body glitter though. It blinded me more than Sheamus ever has and with Spike TV now in HD… sheesh.

From a kayfabe perspective, the back stage segment was pretty good. A Title versus Career match for the Knockouts is a great way to showcase them on the pay-per-view. I stand by preferring Angelina to Madison in this match, but shit happens and Madison is set up for what we feel is going to be a huge rub. I still think this match is going to end in some cheap way but you never know, I guess. I am excited for the match. This will be Madison’s first pay-per-view title defense and it’s a golden opportunity for someone who has been nothing but a workhorse for TNA since she debuted. I think I said this on the post show, the match will either be brilliant or an epic fail. So flip a coin. At least we’re getting two girls who can work and tell a story together inside the ring.

The Bad: You knew it was coming and honestly most things things that were good, were also bad. The backstage segment was so predictable for those of us who follow the Knockouts on great internet sites such as Diva-Dirt.com. Tara is leaving TNA at the end of the month so putting her career on the line didn’t shock me. I have to use my favorite saying here: “It is what it is.” Because really, what else can I say? I’m going to wait and see how they build this up in the last two weeks or so they have left. It deserves a huge build and Tara deserves a huge send-off. I really hope TNA delivers on this.

The match itself was a waste of time. I think this could have worked better had they thrown the match out and went with a segment instead. I’m not saying the girls shouldn’t have gotten in the ring. But as crappy as the booking has been on TNA as of late, this would have worked better if they played it like the match was getting thrown out. It was perfectly clear that Tara didn’t want to work with Saritaylor and instead of wasting time with an ineffective match, they could have had Tara arguing with Sarita and Taylor before the match even began and perhaps it could have led to a brawl between the three. The Beautiful People could have enjoyed watching their opposition beat down on each other and simply left the ring with all their titles. I don’t know, but anything would have been better than what we watched tonight. I wasn’t expecting the live show to go smoothly and despite my low expectations, I was still disappointed.

Taylor and Sarita haven’t been seen for months and they basically were used as jobber fodder tonight. These girls are two of the most talented people on the roster and they deserve a little better than what TNA is giving them. I know not everyone can get a push but how about showing them a little respect? Taylor is a former Knockouts and Tag Team Champion, and Sarita is not only hot, but she was Taylor’s partner when Taylor had the tag titles. These girls are both former champions but you’d never know it with TNA’s sparse use of them. They’re rarely spoken about by the commentary team as well. If Angelina and Daffney weren’t injured, then Taylor and Sarita more than likely wouldn’t have been on television this week either. I guess I should probably just shut up and be thankful we were all blessed with them this week, eh?

The Ugly: TNA’s booking continues to be crappy. This was a title match and Tara was basically booked to lose it for her team. She’s supposed to be all obsessed with getting the championship back but she completely blew it for her team by deciding to hate on Taylor and Sarita, who just wanted to help her. Tara is a heel, we know that. But last time I checked, Saritaylor were faces so….

I just don’t get what goes on in the heads of TNA bookers/writers/whatever. Consistency is not a hard thing. I keep my Write-Up consistent on a weekly basis. It’s always negative thanks to the crap I’m forced to stomach. My heart just breaks for the Knockouts because they deserve so much better. When Scott D’Amore left, the division was left to die. In my opinion, it doesn’t seem like anyone but the girls themselves care about the division and the titles. I tip my hat to the fact they go out there every week and try. Lord knows they’re not given much to work with. But they put their hearts and souls into performing for the fans and I hope someone over at TNA appreciates what they do. They’re the ratings for the company along with people like Jay Lethal, MCMG, AJ Styles, Desmonde Wolfe, ect. People don’t tune into TNA to watch Ric Flair versus Hulk Hogan, or whatever. They want to see young talent, hot girls who can wrestle, and just good storytelling.

We’re not getting the storytelling aspect with the Knockouts, not right now anyway. Tonight was just proof that the company has no clue what it’s doing. TNA was so much better before Hogan and Bischoff came along, and this is coming from someone who is actually an Eric Bischoff fan. The Knockouts flourished then and when I see what I saw tonight, and I think about the glory days, I just cringe. Can someone please tell me why Tara basically cost her team the match tonight and then got so upset that they lost? It was her fault, so she had no reason to freak the way she did. What would have made more sense is if she beat up on Saritaylor, cost her team the match, then laughed about it because she didn’t want to share the glory with the two other girls. That would have been a good heel move. That would have made sense. Challenging Madison to a title match would have made sense. But ya know, it’s TNA.

They should start cleansing their booking staff and management team, one ugly person at a time!

Also, I now have a Twitter if anyone cares. Follow me so I can talk to someone other than WWE stars who never reply; CRYSSIROCKS is the name!

For all the crappy booking we’ve been forced to watch on TNA as of late, this past Sunday’s Lockdown was a refreshing treat. The cage match between The Beautiful People and Angelina and Tara signaled the end of some old angles and the beginning of some fresh ones. We were privy to a Tara turn, a brand new Knockouts Champion, and the culmination of the Beautiful People who have now reached their highest peak. The thought of a face Angelina and pyscho Tara feud was salivating to say the least and the announcement of a Knockouts Tag Team Championship match for Impact with the stipulation that Daffney would have a mystery partner led to plenty of afternoon speculation of just who that could be. Impact looked promising and the Knockouts seemed to be floating leisurely up, up, up.

Then Impact aired and what we got was a horribly short, stupidly booked match that made little if any sense. An injured competitor made her return and it went unnoticed because she wasn’t given a ring entrance. Angelina and Tara were left off the show which lead to much shaking of the head. How can you have such a dramatic angle the night before and not have it picked up or even mentioned on the next show? We got to watch Lacey Von Erich wrestle instead of Madison Rayne, who’s Knockouts Championship win wasn’t given the proper respect. Then we had to watch a big, powerful woman go down to an aerosol can of spray and get pinned for her team. There wasn’t really anything good about Impact. There wasn’t anything bad, either. It was all ugly considering everything that could have been done.

As I stated earlier, Daffney and ODB weren’t given entrances. This random ass pairing is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. It’s great that they decided to use someone different, but to pair her with Daffney? These two have nothing in common and to my knowledge, no previous interaction with one another. Maybe TNA were going for the comedy effect by making these two oddballs a team but it simply didn’t work. They were already in the ring as the pre-match glitz came to fruition which made it even more strange because TNA went out of their way to promote this match as something that could potentially be interesting. Whatever, right?

As the Beautiful People come to the ring it’s clear that the new Knockouts Champion isn’t going to be wrestling tonight. Madison is dressed in a little black dress with strappy wedge sandals. Despite all this, the ring announcer says she is going to be in the match anyway, while Lacey is the one at ringside. Madison didn’t even try to hide the can of what we’re going to call hairspray for the sake of this recap. I mean you can just see it and tell she is going to use it and that’s how the match is going to end. After TBP did their thing, Daffney and Lacey are two who decide to start the match off. It takes all of two seconds for Lacey to change her mind about that and she tags out to Velvet Sky before the match even properly begins.

Velvet comes in screaming and goes straight for Daffney, but Zombie Hot takes her down with a drop toe hold that leaves Velvet grabbing at her nose for the second night in a row. Daffney is a quick worker and grabs Velvet in a headlock, using that so she can drive her knee right in Velvet’s gut. Velvet’s face then gets slammed on Daffney’s knee and she’s already on her back seventeen seconds into this match. Instead of going for the pin, Daffney elects to pick on Lacey and chases her around the ring. LVE slides into the ring with Daffney on her heels, but Velvet is ready. She unleashes her fists of fury on Daff, and throws her into the turnbuckle. The announcing is making me cringe at this point because Mike Tenay has decided to remind us all that Daffney picked stripping out of the Lockbox and LVE stole her thunder on that night.

Call me crazy, but something tells me Daffney really doesn’t mind that Lacey came out to the ring and started dancing around in lingerie that night.

But anyway, Daffney is now in the corner of the Beautiful People and Velvet makes the tag to Lacey. Lacey seems happy to get into the match now because Velvet just chunks Daffney down in the middle of the ring. She does a fancy little back-handspring, but since this is wrestling and I like Lacey, I’m going to say she did a standing moonsault. After LVE’s standing moonsault she drops an elbow, which is becoming her trademark move. Lacey prances and poses, happy with herself and life in general, but her smile quickly turns to a look of sheer terror when Daffney puts a death grip on her wrist. Needless to say, our perky blonde tags out to her angry, devil blond partner. Velvet kicks Daffney away from our girl Lacey (thank God!) and starts treating Daffney the same way she treated Tara last night which isn’t very nice. Daffney has her throat stepped on and her back slammed into the mat a few times, and Velvet is all smiles because at this point she feels like the queen of the TNA world. Velvet goes for a cover, but Daffney kicks out after two which makes Queen Vel Vel scream in anger.

For some ungodly reason, Velvet gets the bright idea to strut across the ring after viciously clubbing Daffney in the back and climb to the middle rope. She shakes her butt a bit before jumping off but Daffney greets her with a shot to the midsection. Velvet crumples over in pain and Daffney decides it’s time to make the hot tag to ODB. Velvet doesn’t want that to happen so in her distressed state she grabs a hold of Daffney’s ankle and tries to keep her from getting to the corner. Well to make a long story short, Velvet fails, Daff makes the hot tag to ODB, and the formerly MIA Knockout starts making Velvet her woman. She eventually tosses Velvet into the corner and absolutely crushes her with a huge splash. A woozy Velvet stumbles into ODB’s clutches, gets squashed thanks to a super fantastic slam from ODB, and the popular ODB leaps to her feet a la Shawn Michaels before he got super old.

A worried Madison Rayne jumps up on the apron and starts flirting with the referee. She just wants to get Velvet out of trouble, I suppose. It doesn’t really help because ODB has gotten Velvet with a roll-up. What does help is the fact that Lacey has disposed of Daffney on the outside and has taken that can of hair spray. ODB moves away from Velvet and goes to bitch at Lacey, but Lacey sprays her in the eyes which leaves the powerful woman blind. Velvet rolls up ODB and Madison jumps off the apron. The referee turns around and counts the 1, 2, 3 because ODB is in such distress she just can’t get her shoulder an inch off the ground in time. The Beautiful People have retain their Knockouts Tag Team Championships in a titillating three minute match.

Brilliant.

There’s really no need for me to launch into what was good, bad, and ugly because as I already stated, there wasn’t anything good or bad. I don’t want to be typecast as this week’s negative Nancy, but really. There just wasn’t a whole lot going on for the Knockouts tonight. I suppose I can indulge you all and try and pick out some positives but don’t expect very much. The Beautiful People looked amazing. I found Lacey’s ring attire to be questionable, but it’s Lacey. Who are we to judge her? She’s just smiley and happy, and glad to be out there so I’ll put my fashion police badge aside and give her this week’s free pass. I already said I loved Velvet’s outfit. It’s the same one she wore last night and it really pops in HD. Madison looked adorable and lets face it, it’s hard to go wrong with a little black dress unless you’re a WWE Diva. I’m not going to arrest Daffney or ODB either. They wore what they usually wear and it works for their characters. I enjoy any time I get to see Daffney on my television and welcome back to ODB. I wish TNA would give her more of a purpose seeing as how she is a former two-time Knockouts Champion, but that’s asking to much.

I’m really horrified by the lack of Tara and Angelina tonight. Something should have been said about that altercation they had at the end of their match at Lockdown. It made no sense to just forget about that and I’m actually glad Impact tapes tonight for next week so we can see if anything progresses from that. Overall, it was a crappy night for the Knockouts. They got the short end of the stick again and it just goes to show that you can’t look to far ahead when it comes to TNA. I’ll tip my Diet Coke with Lime in the air and toast to the Knockouts in hopes of a better week next week, and I encourage all of you Knockout fans and readers to do the same.

Both the Knockouts Championship and the Knockouts Tag Team Championships will be on the line at TNA’s annual LockDown pay per view this Sunday, it has been announced.

At this pay per view, where all matches take place inside a cage, The Beautiful People’s Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky will take on Angelina Love and Tara.

I predict that Ang & Tara will win, become the ‘odd couple’ Knockouts Tag Team Champions until their frustrations with each other reach boiling point, they end up unable to co-exist and will then battle for the Knockouts Title. Oops… did I just give away months worth of TV?

Tonight was a historic night for wrestling as round two of the Monday Night Wars kicked off and in grand fashion for both the Divas and Knockouts in my opinion. Both shows featured tag team action but on Impact we got a treat. With Awesome Kong basically done in TNA, the question has remained: “What’s going to happen with the Knockouts Tag Team Championships?” We got our answer and in spectacular fashion. Missing in action Knockouts Taylor Wilde and Sarita returned to television to take on The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky) and the team of Angelina Love and Tara in a triple threat tag team match.

Before the match gets underway, we’re told that due to the champions not defending the titles, Hamada and Awesome Kong have been stripped of them. That’s unfortunate for Hamada because she’s an innocent victim in all of this but life goes on and Tenay tells us new champions will be crowned tonight in a triple-threat match. Taylor Wilde and Sarita sort of get an entrance in the fact it’s nearly half over when the camera cuts to the ring area. They’re in terrible matching outfits but the fact they bother to coordinate their outfits give you a sense that they’re a real team. As the inaugural Knockout Tag Champs, it’s been far to long since they’ve actually gotten to perform on a televised show. The audience loves them and they receive a nice reaction as they play to the crowd and pose in the ring. Their posing is short lived because the theme music of the Beautiful People started to play and those three devilish Knockouts walked onto the ramp. They do their usual posing and flirting with each other, before finally getting in the ring and settling down for business. They know what a huge opportunity this is and how winning tonight could solidify this version of the Beautiful People as the real deal. Team number three consists of our Knockouts Champion, Tara, and ex-TBP member Angelina Love. Angelina is basically foaming at the mouth at the chance to get in the ring against her haters and Tara just looks fierce like usual.

Upon entering the ring, Angelina makes a beeline right for her former friends. Velvet and Madison are quick to get the heck out of dodge but a sluggish Lacey von Erich nearly gets caught in the clutches of a furious blonde Canadian. TBP start screeching at Angelina and Tara, causing an annoying distraction, and that allows Saritaylor to quickly go for a roll-up pin on both. The bell rings but before a count can be made, Angelina and Tara both kick-out. Nice explosive start to the match. Thankfully it doesn’t take long for the chaos to get sorted out and each team of ladies take a corner. Taylor and Tara are the two who officially kick us off. Taylor hits a nice kick to bring Tara down to the mat and she immediately goes for a quick cover. Tara kicks out after a one count but that doesn’t stop Taylor’s effort. She uses the ropes for momentum and goes to leap over Tara, but Tara catches her, holds her for a second, then just brutally drops Taylor down to the mat on her chest. In obvious pain, Taylor makes the tag to her partner. Sarita comes in, ducks a clothesline attempt, and delivers a nice modified neckbreaker to Tara, sending the Champ staggering. Sarita goes flying to the ropes to get momentum for a crossbody and Velvet smartly tags herself in. Sarita is unable to go for the pin on Tara and Velvet takes over.

Miss Sky goes for the pin in Sarita’s place but Tara kicks out. This irritates Velvet who starts screaming in that awful shrill voice she’s been using recently. After pitching a fit, Velvet grabs Tara by the hair and lugs her over to TBP’s corner where Madison tags herself in. Madison and Velvet double team the crap out of Tara before Velvet removes herself from the action and Madison is allowed to show us what she can offer to this match. Madison snapmares Tara to the seat of her pants and follows it up with a nice looking knee right between the shoulders. She goes for the cover, but Tara powers out which leads to more screaming from Velvet. The match gets a little crazy at this point because Madison bullies Tara towards Velvet, and the latter makes a big deal of pointing to Angelina then slapping Tara across the face. This brings Angelina into the ring, as well as Velvet, causing the referee to take his eyes off Madison and Tara. He argues with Angelina which gives TBP ample opportunity to double team Tara. Madison goes for the pin, but Sarita and Taylor quickly stop that and we have a two on two situation between Saritaylor and TBP. The girls fight for position but Saritaylor go for a double whip across the ring. TBP reverse the move, send Saritaylor across to the ropes, and we get our first taste of Lacey von Erich tonight as she trips the ex-champs and they eat a face full of mat. Lacey feigns innocence and TBP hit gorgeous double drop kicks to Saritaylor, knocking them right out of the ring.

The Beautiful People start taunting everybody, turning their backs on Angelina Love. At this point Angelina is pretty disgusted and she comes into the ring despite the fact she’s not even the legal woman and starts taking down Velvet Sky. Madison does her best to help out but she’s disposed off and the referee starts ripping into Angelina once again. He forces her back to the corner but Tara has come to her senses and has grabbed Madison for the Widow’s Peak. Tara gets Madison set up but unbeknown to her DAFFNEY has literally come out of nowhere, grabbed the Knockouts Championship, and has gotten into the ring. As Tara turns around with Madison in the air, Daffney takes the title and knocks her right in the side of the head with it. Tara goes down like a ton of bricks and Madison falls on top of her. The referee finally turns around and sees the unintentional pinning attempt so of course he goes to count. By the time anyone else catches what’s going on it’s too late and the bell has started too ring. The Beautiful People start to mark out and begin jumping around and celebrating while Angelina and Tara are in total disbelief. We cut to a few shots of Daffney who is absolutely beside her with happiness that she just pulled one over on Tara. Absolute brilliance on the part of TNA.

Wow!

I absolutely adored everything about this match/segment. It wasn’t the best Knockout action wrestling wise but it certainly delivered for everything it was supposed too. I guess I’ll start with the obvious and congratulate the Beautiful People on finally winning the Knockout Tag Championships. This has been a long time coming because I believe these titles were made specifically for this faction. If the drama with Angelina hadn’t happened, then she and Velvet could very well still be champions but now we have the team of Madison and Velvet carrying the belts. There are several directions TNA can take this storyline and I’m excited to see where it can go. Will any combination of two of the three defend the belt? Personally I would like to see Lacey end up left out. It’s not because of her limited wrestling skills or anything like that, it’s because Velvet is such a dominant personality and overbearing, and Madison is just… well she’s Madison. Together those two make a formidable team. They’re bound to overshadow Lacey, who should really do nothing more than valet for them. It would be interesting to watch the title win go to the heads of Madison and Velvet, and they could start to take Lacey for granted. Lacey could turn into the Madison of this incarnation of TBP because Madison was never a star until Angelina Love left. Lacey doesn’t seem like the type of girl that would enjoy taking that abuse. Since LVE has the least amount of history with the group, I’d like to see her eventually get fed up with the antics of Velvet and Madison, and turn on them. With Lacey’s family history she could eventually turn into a great babyface. If she actually develops some wrestling skills, throw the woman in a ring. There’s endless possibilities for this scenario! The Beautiful People winning the tag belts are the best thing to happen to the belts because now we have champions who will be there and who will be pushed, and we’ll be left guessing as to which way this title run will go.

It was nice to see Taylor Wilde and Sarita return to our television screens. If TNA is truly going in a superficial direction with their Knockouts then they need more Sarita in their lives. That woman is one of the most gorgeous people in wrestling right now and what makes Sarita so fantastic is she can actually wrestle, and wrestle great. Sarita has star quality and TNA would have to be blind to not see that. With proper booking, Sarita could get way over and I would love to see her and Taylor form a small faction with Angelina. That’s the best possible scenario for Saritaylor right now. They can get back into the tag title picture this way and Angelina needs allies. We can’t keep seeing Angelina try and fend off three-on-one attacks on a nightly basis. Judging from the way the match ended, Tara is now going to have her hands full with Daffney, so Angelina is going to have to start scrambling. If she partners with Saritaylor not only do the ex-champs get back in the title hunt, but Angelina has two strong partners who won’t back away from TBP. Wrestling in general doesn’t have enough stables/factions, so having two feuding female ones would be a treat to all women wrestling fans.

Reckon I saved the best part of Impact for last?

Personally, I was hoping for a Daffney appearance on Impact during the tag bout and my wish was granted. Not only did Daffney cost Tara and Angelina the tag titles, but her actions overshadowed the win by TBP. I said it last week in my article and my Write-Up that Daffney is basically the “it girl” for TNA right now and once again that was proven last night. Daffney’s presence and demeanor at the end of the match made it the best thing on television last night (unless you like old guys or Secret Life of the American Teenager) and as a fan it’s agonizing to me that I have to wait seven more days for another Daffney fill. I really, really, REALLY hope this is building towards a pay-per-view match for the Knockouts Championship between Zombie Hot and Tara. I know that it’ll be epic and I have a feeling that it will be done right if you know what I mean. The fact that Daffney’s interference was more of a big deal than the perennial pretty faces of TNA winning the vacant tag titles speaks volumes to me. I feel that TNA is 110% behind this Daffney push and that the best is yet to come for her.

Overall, I give tonight’s Knockout action one million thumbs up. A lot of people are going to slam it because of their disdain for the Beautiful People but I encourage everyone to look at it in a positive light. With those girls having the titles, it’s going to open a lot of doors. It could very well lead to the downfall of TBP. They’re not the best wrestlers on the roster, but heel champions are more beneficial because they don’t have to wrestle that much. They can bump and sell very well, and the babyfaces can shine. After two months of just “ehhh” Knockout action, last night proved that the division is still important to the fans. Things can only go up from here.

Agree? Disagree? Leave comments and storyline ideas because I’m curious to see what you readers want to see happen.

It looks as though the trio may be defending the belts under ‘Freebird Rule‘, a gimmick that was applied to the legendary tag team The Fabulous Freebirds some years ago. Under the Rule, any two members of the trio could defend the Tag Team Championships and it looks as though the same will be applied to The Beautiful People.

We discussed the idea of them doing this on the Post Show last night and I’m sure you’ll agree, it’ll make for interesting viewing to see who defends the belts on any given night — it would certainly spice things up. Good move in my book though Lacey VE as champion seems a little scary…

TNA crowned new Knockouts Tag Team Champions tonight in the wake of Awesome Kong’s departure from the company. In storyline, Taz and Mike Tenay announced that Kong and partner Hamada had been ‘stripped’ of the belts after failing to defend them in the past 30 days. In actuality, the move is due to Kong coming to terms with TNA over her release.

The new tag team champions, The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky) defeated Saritaylor and the team of Tara and Angelina Love in a triple threat tag team match to win the belts.

In an incredibly fun match, the TNA Knockouts sort of made up for the earlier title shocker as Hamada and Awesome Kong became the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions, defeating Sarita and Taylor Wilde.

This is exactly the type of stuff I wanted to see more of on the show, it took nearly one and a half hours to get a good match that shows why TNA is an alternative. All the women delivered. Definitely go out of your way to see this one!

This year’s No Surrender marked a staple in Knockout history.  Sarita and Taylor Wilde faced Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

Saritaylor debut some new music and a new entrance.  It isn’t any better, but hey it’s different.  In all honesty, now they really just look like a hot-n-heavy couple doing the tango.  Keep trying ladies, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually.

Tazz continues to spoil the outcome of the match (like he has done from the very beginning of the tournament), but it’s not like the result wasn’t utterly predictable.

The Beautiful People make their way to the ring in such a ridiculous manner that makes me absolutely miss Angelina Love.  Call me crazy, though I prefer “incredibly loyal.”  There’s no TLC without Left-Eye, there’s no Alice in Chains without Layne Staley, and there sure as hell ain’t no Beautiful People without Angelina Love.  Wherefore art thou, Love?  This entrance isn’t nearly the same without you.  Bleh…I guess I’ll just have to settle for this Knockout knockoff for the time being.

Mike Tenay hits the final nail in the coffin by mentioning Angelina Love’s release onscreen, which makes it “legit” in some way.  He even pulls the “future endeavors” line…which, as everyone knows, is the wrestling version of “Rest in Peace.”

Earl Hebner and his (oddly fitting Nazi-authoritarian) mustache assert themselves as the officiator to this match, playing off of Slick Johnson’s past history with the Beautiful People.

Sarita and Taylor Wilde waste no time in starting off the matchup.  Madison Rayne is sent to the outside while Taylor Wilde basically slams Sarita on top of Velvet Sky, in quite an unique showing of offense… if I do say so myself.  Velvet Sky kicks out.  Sarita maneuvers a brief headlock into an armlock into a series of pin attempts.  Madison breaks up the count, however, during.  Taylor forges a tag and takes advantage.  She and her partner take down Velvet with a double back elbow, and Sarita elevates Taylor into a moonsault for the 2-count.  Tsk tsk…that’s cheating, ladies.  Old Hebner knows no difference as Velvet tags out to Madison Rayne.

Taylor effortlessly breaks down Madison with a drop toehold and an elbow.  Sarita makes the tag this time and delivers an elbow of her own.  Sarita is whipped into the corner and suffers a sudden burst of gonash from miss Madison, resulting in a near fall.  Madison is perplexed, as she is not used to arguing with referees.  Madison takes Sarita into the corner, who endures a few kicks to the midsection.  Madison tags out.  The Beautiful People attempt some tandem action with a double straight jacket neckbreaker.  Velvet makes the cover, but Sarita kicks out at 2.  Velvet doesn’t go apeshit just yet.  Instead, she bides her time with a couple mat slams.  Velvet tries a sunset flip, but cowers out of it, avoiding a dropkick in the process.  So much for mat initiative.  Eh.  Velvet puts the boots to Sarita, but Sarita kicks out at 2.  After a modified curb stomp to the throat, Sarita kicks out again.

Madison tags in and puts Sarita in a headlock and then drops into a spinning neckbreaker for the 2-count.  The Beautiful People continue to cut the ring in half with the quick tags.  Velvet becomes a bit overzealous, allowing Sarita to recover amidst a float-over DDT.  Both competitors make the hot tag out to their respective partners.

Madison runs into a dropkick and a rollover fireman’s carry slam, as well as a swift backbreaker.  Taylor tries to ensure a victory for her team, but Velvet Sky breaks up the pin.  For the finish, Sarita lays a springboard dropkick onto Madison Rayne who is subsequently taken down with a German suplex for the win.

Sarita and Taylor Wilde make history as the first ever TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions.  Victory dance!  No?  Okay.  I guess Old Hebner and his ‘serious business’ ‘stache won’t allow it.

Next up commences a battle of the sexes for the TNA Knockouts Championship.

An overly friendly fan cops a feel as we prepare for the TNA Knockouts Championship match: ODB vs. Cody Deaner.  Give’r!

At the start of the match, ODB uses Cody Deaner’s attire as toilet paper and Deaner threatens to… “backhand” her.  Okay…

ODB avenges this with a series of seemingly stiff shots to the Deaner.  Deaners rolls out to the outside, and ODB follows up with a crossbody from the top rope.  ODB leads Deaner back into the ring and into the corner.  Deaner takes ODB down and continues to dominate for a considerable remainder of the match.  The turnaround in the competition comes when Deaner attempts a top rope move and his halted by a low blow.  The back-and-forth action continues until Deaner attempts to steal a win with his legs on the rope.  A couple pin attempts later, and ODB reverts the match back into her favor with the TKO for the win, solidifying her place as the official Knockouts Champion.  Took long enough, huh?

ODB boasts to Lauren about her victory, which I guess is the TNA equivalent to the Women’s Rights Movement.  Just another comedy sketch match, folks.  Nothing to see here.

The first ever TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions were crowned just moments ago. Sarita and Taylor Wilde defeated The Beautiful People in the opening contest of No Surrender.

For Wilde, this marks two lots of history as she becomes the first woman to hold the Knockouts Championship and the Tag Team Championship.

Check out the first picture of the new TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship belts! The titles will be decided this Sunday at No Surrender when Taylor Wilde & Sarita challenge The Beautiful People.

I’ve always thought TNA has the ugliest belts in wrestling, the unflattering Knockouts Championship and now this? That Divas Title sure is looking good right about now…

Jarrett reportedly was a firm believer of only having three titles in TNA before launching the Knockouts and Legends titles. The additional set of belts brings the count to six. For some crazy reason *cough* Jarrett felt that ‘the more belts you have, the less important they are’. Pshaw!

Perhaps most interestingly, if you like bullets to the brain: ODB and Cody Deaner may form a team in the tag team tournament to crown the first champions. The reason? Comedic relief.

They just keep hitting them out of the ballpark, don’t they? My anti-Dixie Carter list keeps growing. Cue Tyra-esque, “We were rooting for you.”

TNA is setting out to live up to their tagline, ‘Cross the Line’, but not in the ways you would think. In an attempt to push even more boundaries and utilize their ever-growing roster of Knockouts, they’ve decided to implement a tag team division. In the coming weeks, a tournament will take place to determine the first ever Knockouts Tag Team Champions. The question is will the division work?

Serious women’s tag team wrestling has been a niche for quite some time now. During the mid-80s, it was rare to see a women’s match let alone a tag team match. However, that didn’t stop the World Wrestling Federation from making a tag team division for the ladies. In 1983, Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria’s NWA Women’s Tag Team Championship belts were converted into the WWF Women’s Tag Team Championship when the two defected from the National Wrestling Alliance and joined WWF. In it’s six years of existence, the belts passed through the hands of several teams before they were captured by the Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno and Itsuki Yamazaki), who would be be the last women to hold the titles before they became defunct in 1989.

Women’s tag team wrestling became all but extinct until the mid-2000s, when all-female promotions such as Women Superstars Uncensored and most notably SHIMMER brought it back into the limelight.

In October 2008, both promotions introduced their own Tag Team Championships to further utilize their rosters. SHIMMER introduced their’s in a critically acclaimed six team gauntlet match, while WSU held a tournament. Both promotions met general success; WSU’s tag titles have been sought after by stars such as Taylor Wilde and current WWE signee, April Lee while SHIMMER’s tag team division’s most recognizable champion is TNA Knockout, Madison Rayne.

TNA hopes to replicate some of success those promotions have had, when they debut the Knockout tag titles in the months to come. To be honest, I’m sure TNA can surpass the achievements of others in this field, if they can take the necessary steps. So what can TNA do?

First off, they need to establish their division. Instead of just throwing random girls together, just for the sake of doing so, pair them according to their chemistry and compatibility character-wise. High flyers Taylor Wilde and Sarita are the best example of this. From the moment they stepped in the ring, they showed a natural affinity towards each other, while teams such as Tara and Christy Hemme seem mismatched and awkward.

Secondly, bring in new competitors. With the vast amount of Knockouts on the roster, it’s easy to form new teams from the current roster, however there are plenty of ready-made tag teams on the independent scene, particularly SHIMMER, that have years of experience as partners.

Teams like the Pink Ladies (Madison Eagles and Jessie McKay) and the Candian NINJAs (Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews) from SHIMMER as well as the Soul Sisters (Jana and Latasha) from WSU could bring a whole new dynamic, not only to the Knockouts division but to TNA as a whole. Other prime candidates include Team Blondage (Krissy Vaine and Amber O’Neal) and the veteran team of The Experience (Malia Hosaka and Lexie Fyfe). TNA could even reunite the newly liberated Madison Rayne with her old partner and co-champion, Nevaeh or team Daffney up with her old SHIMMER charge, MsChif.

Lastly, TNA needs to give the Knockouts tag titles the same attention they give to the male tag division. While in WWE, tag team matches are often an afterthought much like the Divas, TNA has always had a soft spot for them. It’s not unusual for TNA to create new and innovative ways for their teams to compete and that creative flare could draw even more attention to a division that is already a fairly unique concept. Why not have a Knockouts Monster’s Ball tag team match or a Steel Asylum Match? Much like the recent 10,000 Tacks Match between Taylor Wilde and Daffney, these match ideas could a fire under the newly created division.

In closing, the fate TNA’s Knockouts tag team division lies in the hands of management and the creative team. If given the care and nurturing that the Knockouts division recieved during its infancy, it can flourish into something truly revolutionary in today’s world of professional wrestling. Given the right tools, this division could be the factor that brings women’s wrestling back to it’s former glory. But given how the Knockouts division has been treated as of late, how likely is that to happen?

This week on Impact contrived quite a heterogeneous fatal four-way match: Traci Brooks vs. Awesome Kong vs. Christy Hemme vs. Sarita.  As well as some brief singles competition between Angelina Love and Madison Rayne.

Recent tensions among the Beautiful People lead to a contest between Madison Rayne and the former Knockouts Champion Angelina Love. As Madison Rayne makes her solemn way to the ring, she is attacked from behind by Angelina Love.  Madison’s head resonates against the steel steps and the ring apron.  Angelina continues the beat down before rolling Madison into the ring and pinning her. Velvet Sky prances down to the ring and proceeds to place the brown paper bag over Madison’s head.  Victoria and Christy Hemme come out in time to make the save.  I guess it’s back to square one for Madison Rayne.

Backstage, Lauren officially announces the inception of new TNA Knockout tag titles, and Victoria concurs that TNA is making history.  She also boldly mentions that “WWE would never think of this in a million years.”  Awesome!  Even more hilarious, Victoria takes a trip down memory lane, eluding to that infamous bikini contest when she went all psycho bitch on Christy’s ass.  Apparently, all has been forgiven.  Aw, I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy just watching this.  Taylor expresses her excitement as Sarita says something en Español.  I’m pretty sure it was something inspirational.  Three years of Spanish class has done me no justice, but it sure sounds lovely.

Watch the fatal four-way match & more after the cut:

At the sound of the bell, Awesome Kong immediately charges Traci into the corner; she takes Christy out as well.  Kong sets her sights on Sarita who outsmarts her with a series of unique offense and uses Kong’s own momentum to send her to the outside.  Sarita catches Traci in the corner and drops her with a hurricanrana.  We get the typical tandem action between the babyfaces when Sarita and Taylor Wilde dropkick Kong off the apron.  Traci blindsights Sarita with a clothesline and turns her attention to Christy.  In a somewhat awkward transition, Traci leads Christy out of the ring.  Pulling Christy by the hair, Traci sends Christy into the guardrail.  It is then that Kong knocks Traci down the ground.  Sarita lands a senton off the apron and onto Awesome Kong as Impact cuts to commercial.

Back from the break, Christy Hemme seems to gain a bit of offense on Kong.  Setting up for the FFG (Flying Firecrotch Guillotine), Christy is offset by a powerbomb attempt by Kong.  Traci and Sarita pull Kong’s legs out from under her, causing her to collapse under Christy’s weight, initiating the first pinfall count of the match.  Kong kicks out as Sarita and Traci take the fight to her.

In further awkward wrestling instances, this time dished to you Knockout-style… an opportunity for an innovative spot between Sarita and Traci seems to crumble right beneath them.  Sarita uses Kong to launch herself into a spinning arm drag against Traci.  However, Sarita loses her grip, forcing Traci to flip herself over onto Kong.  Oh geez… is this like Diva botch week or something?  Mike Tenay attempts to sell the mishap as Traci and Sarita “working together.”  If only that were the case.

Regardless, the match continues with Christy dropping Traci with a neckbreaker.  She performs the FFG successfully this time, but Kong pries her off before she can score a pinfall.  Kong sets Christy up for the Awesome Bomb, but Christy powers out.  Kong grabs hold of her again and plants her with the Implant Buster.  Kong takes the opportunity to celebrate, but is swiftly taken out with a highly impactful dropkick from Sarita.  Sarita goes for a springboard crossbody, but Kong catches her in mid-air.  Kong tanks her mercilessly and knocks the wind out of her with the Awesome Press.  Kong is the only Knockout standing and takes her initiative to the top turnbuckle.  Stopping Kong right in her tracks, Traci covers Sarita for the 3-count.  Traci wins the match and Kong tosses around a few steel chairs to express her frustration.  Mike Tenay announces the first round in the Knockouts tag team tournament for next week: Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed vs. Traci Brooks and Sharmell.

It had its downfalls, but overall, this was a pretty decent match.  In an interesting development, Tazz goes as far as to claim, “The TNA Knockout Division is best pure women’s wrestling that I’ve personally ever witnessed.”  Sure, the commentators’ constant appraisal may be just a tad sugar-coated, but it is nice to get some confirmation.  I have every faith that Tazz knows what he’s talking about, and I’d be hard-pressed to find a compliment toward the Knockouts that isn’t well deserved.  Not often do we hear WWE refer to its Divas as the best women’s wrestlers around… at least not with a straight face.

Watch the match below:

I am personally pleased with the confirmation of tag titles for the Knockouts.  It’s clear that TNA’s handling of the Knockouts title was its way of pulling it slightly out of the picture in order to hype up the tag titles for now.  I can only speculate that the spotlight now being set on the tag titles has contributed to ODB’s absence on last night’s program.  Many people seem to disagree with TNA’s booking of the Knockouts – with situations surrounding the title and bi-weekly feuds.  I have to say, I disagree with the criticism.  I personally think TNA’s handling of the many Knockouts on its roster has been cutting edge thus far and highly effective.  I appreciate TNA’s effort to circulate and change things up each week, as well as spreading out and sustaining feuds and rivalries.  As far as Impact goes, TNA does have its own unique way of managing its massive roster.  Whereas on RAW or Smackdown, I’m basically guaranteed some form of Mickie vs. Gail, Melina vs. Layla/Michelle, or Kelly/Alicia/Rosa in a tag match.  That gets old after awhile.  TNA’s booking may not always be consistent, but it remains ahead of the bipolar tendencies notorious of WWE’s creative.

Another aspect of the match that I appreciated was the multiple dynamics amongst the girls.  It’s apparent that the lines have already been drawn for the tournament, seeing as some of the women have already paired off: Traci/Sharmell, Victoria/Christy, Kong/Raisha, Taylor/Sarita, and perhaps Angelina Love/Velvet Sky.  If these favorable pairings are of any indication, I think we’ll be treated to a hard fought and entertaining tournament to crown the first ever TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions.

While it’s great to see more opportunities for the girls in TNA, the writers and the management need to get their affairs in order before they do anything new in the division. The Knockouts division has been all over the place in the past month — several title changes, feuds starting and stopping and now the launch of a Knockouts tag team division? It seems like a band-aid covering a bullet hole.

Nonetheless, Steven will have a more indepth look at the upcoming tag division & tag team women’s wrestling this weekend.

What do you think? Now we know it’s happening — yay or nay?

In a four page interview over at MiamiHerald.com, TNA Knockout Taylor Wilde discusses a host of topics including her studies, fashion and her fellow Knockouts. Hidden among the masses of text was this interesting nugget of information, which lends itself to the theory of TNA launching a Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

Minor spoiler for those who didn’t read the results from last night’s show, TNA announced a Knockouts tag team tournament which kicks off next week on Impact.

When talking about her tag team match with Sarita two weeks ago, the tag team division — and titles are brought up:

“The tag division is not something fans have gotten to see with the women professionally, and that’s what TNA is going to offer next, and I’m so excited about it.”

Hopefully that can lead to TNA Knockouts tag titles.

“I sure hope so,” she said. “I’ve got my fingers crossed because that’s something that’s not been done before [in TNA].”

This didn’t occur to me last night when I posted the spoilers, but it hit me this morning — Sarita and Taylor worked so well together in that match with Alissa Flash and Traci Brooks, they would have to be teamed up for this tournament right?! If so, I think my money’s on them to win the tag titles if they do pull the trigger.

Speaking of her partnership with Sarita, she says:

“We have great, great chemistry,” Wilde said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re trained with the same person or worked with them before, it’s all about chemistry. We have that which is super exciting to me.”

There’s a lot of interesting stuff in the interview, click here to read.