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The Month in Review
2/12/09-Destination-X
by FK9
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Welcome to a new feature in the KNOCKED OUT column that I hope to make a monthly tradition. Normally, I pick one topic and focus on it in depth, but here I can look at everything that’s happening with the Knockouts Division on the show and on PPV and give my thoughts on everything.
And I’ve got a lot of thoughts…
2/12/09 iMPACT
9 WOMAN GAUNTLET FOR THE #1 CONTENDERSHIP TO THE KNOCKOUTS TITLE
-okay, there were at least two referees at ringside. How is it possible that none of them saw that waste of skin, Kip James, saving the Beautiful People from being eliminated not once, not twice, but THREE times? I know the TNA referees are supposed to be blind, deaf and dumb, but this is too much. For God’s sake, why can’t they just get rid of this idiot? Can’t they at least bar him from ringside? Please explain to me how Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt get released but Kip James of all people still has a job. What sense does that make?
-couldn’t Velvet & Angelina just save themselves from being eliminated? This makes them look really weak and doesn’t mesh at all with their recent attitude change.
-Madison Rayne has been signed to a contract. I suppose they could do worse than one half of the SHIMMER tag team champions, but did the Knockouts division really need another blonde? If they did, I would’ve gone with Jennifer Blake. Rayne isn’t terrible, but she seems a bit green and nothing about her really stands out. She feels too generic.
-I expect Rayne will be added to the Beautiful People as there was a rumor going around about that. It makes sense to add a third if Daffney is going to be working with Taylor and Roxxi, but it’s going to take more than a new member to rebuild the Beautiful People.
-if Rayne does join the Beautiful People, can they please ditch Kip James?
-why wasn’t Daffney in this match?
-Rhaka Khan was first to be eliminated, thank God, but she was still in there way too long. In case you’re wondering, yeah, Khan still sucks.
-good attention to detail having Taylor & Roxxi and the Beautiful People focused on each other for most of the match and very refreshing to see Roxxi last the longest as Taylor is normally booked more strongly than she is – strange, since Roxxi is the more popular of the two.
-good move having Rayne be one of the final two. New talents should make a splash when they make their official debut and TNA almost always forgets this (ex. Consequences Creed, Kiyoshi).
-out of all the women who could have won this match they picked Sojourner ‘don’t call me SomeJobber’ Bolt? Why? I appreciate that the writers are making an attempt to build up one of the other women, but Bolt hasn’t had a single good match yet. So far, her wrestling has been mediocre at best. Shouldn’t she prove herself in the ring before they start giving her title shots? I know Christy Hemme didn’t have to but do you really want to make that mistake twice?
-if they wanted one of the Kongtourage (lord, how I hate that name) to get the title shot, possibly turn face and oppose Awesome Kong, it should’ve been Raisha Saeed (Cheerleader Melissa). Period. Even Don West thought so:
“Part of me would love to see Raisha Saeed go one on one with Awesome Kong. Who knows her better than Raisha Saeed?”
-Don West.
-listen to your color commentator, Mr. Jarret -- he’s speaking the truth. Melissa WITHOUT the Muslim gimmick is one of the best female competitors in the entire industry. Melissa WITH the Muslim gimmick is a jobber. But aside from that, Raisha Saeed winning the title shot would be a much more compelling story. She’s been aligned with Kong longer than anyone else, she’s closer with Kong than anyone else, she knows Kong better than anyone else. If Saeed/Melissa ditched the Muslim gimmick and made a face turn to oppose Kong, and if TNA presented it right (a big IF, I know), she could be Kong’s worst nightmare.
-why does TNA continue to waste Melissa’s talent with this go-nowhere Muslim gimmick? Somehow I doubt the female Muslim demographic is terribly coveted by SpikeTV.
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2/19/09 iMPACT
SOJOURNER BOLT BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-looks like Bolt is turning babyface sooner rather than later. Probably not a terrible idea since no one cares about her as a heel. Strange, since she just turned heel recently though. If they were going to do this then why turn her heel in the first place? It’s almost as if the storyline wasn’t planned out in advance. How very odd…
-it should be Raisha Saeed in this spot. Bottom line.
WIN A DATE WITH ODB VIDEO
-oh, good lord… is this the best they can come up with for ODB? I know she’s not a master technician in the ring or anything but she deserves better than this. If this is how they’re debuting Cody Deaner, that’s one thing, but did we really need to see footage of wild animals humping? Was that really necessary?
ROXXI, TAYLOR & DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-first ODB was the foul mouthed Knockout, then it was Roxxi, then Taylor, then the Beautiful People and now it’s all of them? Just pick one, TNA. It works best for ODB’s character, so let her cuss to her heart’s content and have the others clean up their promos. To have them all getting bleeped out so much is overkill.
-is it my imagination or did they just tease Knockout tag team titles? To be honest, I think that would be a bad idea, just like the WCW cruiserweight tag team titles were a bad idea. And though I love both of them, I definitely don’t want to see Roxxi & Taylor challenge Beer Money either.
-if Roxxi is giving out rides, can I have one?
-okay, at least they’ve explained why Daffney is still going by Governor Palin -- she’s doing it to piss off the Beautiful People. Guess what? I still hate it. The Palin craze ended when Barack Obama won the presidency and this just makes TNA look out of touch. Plus, it’s just dumb. Please tell me that when this feud is over they will drop this gimmick. I know the TNA writers have a habit of sticking with gimmicks long after their shelf life has expired but the shear stupidity of this thing is just too much to take.
-thank you, Taylor Wilde, for pointing out that, because of SpikeTV’s no man-on-woman violence rule, Kip James is effectively useless as an enforcer for the Beautiful People. A new female member would be able to do everything he does now, plus a lot more, and would make his role absolutely pointless (not that it isn’t already), meaning TNA would no longer have any reason whatsoever to continue wasting their money on this washed up loser.
TAYLOR WILDE (w/ ROXXI & DAFFNEY) vs. ANGELINA LOVE (w/ VELVET SKY & KIP JAMES)
-they’re definitely teasing a third member of the Beautiful People. Notice how Madison Rayne was nowhere to be seen this week? If it’s not her I’ll be shocked.
-thank you, Rudy Charles, for sending Kip James to the back. Why couldn’t you have done that last week?
-why is Kip James still alive? I’m serious. With TNA in the state that it’s in, with the country in the state that it’s in, with the world in the state that it’s in, how is it that this idiot, this no-talent has-been, this ratings killing sack of crap is still consuming valuable oxygen? Someone please tell me why!
-decent match, but these women are capable of much more. Did we really need THAT much outside interference?
-I assume Taylor going over Angelina here means Roxxi will be jobbing to Velvet next week. It would’ve been better to have Roxxi beating Velvet and then have Taylor lose to Angelina. If the writers are serious about rebuilding the Beautiful People, then they need to get a win over Taylor. They’ve beaten Roxxi before but they’ve never beaten Taylor. A win over Taylor would mean more for the heels.
-I expect Madison Rayne to join Velvet & Angelina next week.
-dare I hope that Sarah Stock shows up as early as the next TV tapings? I’m on pins and needles waiting for her to debut. Damn, I can’t wait.
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2/20/09 Webmatch
ROXXI vs. MADISON RAYNE
-yup. Sure enough, Rayne was in full on heel mode here.
-they’re advertising the Beautiful People vs. Taylor Wilde & Madison Rayne for next Thursday. Rayne turns on Taylor in that match, guaranteed.
-I have to say, I’m not digging Roxxi’s new hair style. It seems it little too Christopher Walken-ish.
-nice little match.
-they announced Awesome Kong vs. Sojourner Bolt for Destination-X. Still not looking forward to that one at all and I can’t pick a winner either. If Kong’s knee and back are hurting so much then they really should take the title off her so she can get that surgery she needs, but I definitely don’t want Bolt as champ. Unless Bolt proves that she can deliver a good match (which she hasn’t yet), then she should not be in the title picture, especially when there are far more talented and deserving women on the roster.
-according to Talon Thorne in the TNA 101 column, Kip James has a good chance of being released in TNA’s current talent purge. Please, God, make it happen. I’ll beg if I have to.
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2/26/09 iMPACT
TAYLOR WILDE & MADISON RAYNE vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ KIP JAMES)
-why did Rayne come out through the face shoot when she came out through the heel shoot for her webmatch and why is she suddenly acting like a babyface again? So if it happens in a webmatch it doesn’t count? A message like that is not going to endear you to the IWC, TNA.
-GET KIP JAMES OUT OF THERE! It’s the same damn thing every week with this idiot! You know exactly what he’s going to do so just send him to the back before the match starts for God’s sake! If you were going to have Rayne turn heel on Taylor then the referee distraction was completely unnecessary.
-nice women’s match ruined by the typical overbooking sure to piss a lot of fans off.
-at least the Beautiful People finally got a win over Taylor; they really needed that win. But Angelina should’ve been the one to get the pin and I can’t believe they didn’t make a bigger deal out of this. After all the times Taylor has kicked Velvet & Angelina’s asses, they finally beat her and the way it was presented made it look like it was meaningless, like just another match that meant nothing. They didn’t play it up at all, ergo, it will mean very little, if anything, in the long run. Why even do it at all then? What a waste.
-Taylor has bad luck with tag team partners turning on her. First Khan and now Rayne. She should just stick with Roxxi.
-speaking of Roxxi, why didn’t she and Daffney come out with Taylor this week after they made such a big deal about strength in numbers last week? Where is the consistency on this show? Oh, sorry... I forgot the writers don’t know that word.
WIN A DATE WITH ODB CONTEST ENTRIES
-ugh… idiots like these are why there’s so much stigma attached to being a wrestling fan. Did management purposely choose the absolute worst entries to show or were they all this bad? Please, just debut Cody Deaner so we can end this thing before it inevitably gets worse.
SOJOURNER BOLT & RHAKA KHAN PROMO
-why does Bolt talk about her momma in every damn promo? Please tell me they’re not going to make Momma Bolt a character on the show. Please… I don’t think I could take it.
-when did Rhaka Khan turn babyface? Seriously, when did that happen? She was on Kong’s side the last time we saw her and wasn’t wavering in the slightest and now all of a sudden she’s with Bolt? WTF? Sorry, TNA writers, but it’s going to take a lot more than a face turn to get people to give a crap about Rhaka Khan.
-why was Khan talking so tough all of a sudden? Someone needs to remind this woman that she’s never actually won a single match on her own. Did Khan just say that Kong has been looking for a way to defeat her? Who HASN’T defeated Rhaka Khan? Seriously! The Brooklyn Brawler has won more matches than her! This promo makes no sense! And why the hell is she talking in rhyme?
-I don’t know what’s more painful: watching Rhaka Khan try to wrestle or listening to her try to cut a promo. I think my ears are actually bleeding.
-the implosion of the Kongtourage happened WAY too fast. This whole thing absolutely reeks of a storyline that was slapped together an hour before the show was taped. There was obviously no long term planning here whatsoever. Way to drop the ball, TNA writers.
AWESOME KONG & RAISHA SAEED vs. SOJOURNER BOLT & RHAKA KHAN
-man, it hurts to watch this. With the breakup of the Kongtourage we’re seeing the two lousy members of the group who none of the fans care about turn face to oppose Kong. And Saeed/Melissa, the one member who is more talented than all of them, the one member who SHOULD turn face to oppose Kong is the one member who decides NOT to. Hey, you know how much sense that makes? NONE!
-during the match Mike Tenay felt the need to remind us not once, but twice, that Raisha Saeed will turn down any opportunity to win the Knockouts title just so she can remain aligned with Awesome Kong. That’s right, Tenay, twist the knife.
-the iMPACT Zone audience didn’t know how to react to this match at all and I don’t blame them one bit. On one side you’ve got a babyface team (that just cut a truly horrendous promo) in which one woman is mediocre and the other is god awful. On the other side you’ve got a heel team where both women are tremendous except that they’re hampered by injuries and a counterproductive Muslim gimmick that prevent them from wrestling to the best of their ability, and yet they STILL manage to outperform the babyfaces. The crowd obviously had no idea who to cheer for so they just crapped all over everything and they were right to do it. This match was lousy.
-Rhaka Khan got booed more during this match than she ever did when she was a heel. Yes, she really is that bad. There were three other women in this match with her and Khan somehow managed to drag all of them down to her level. Get this woman off my TV.
-the first performance of the Bolt/Khan tandem was a performance I wish I could forget. If the creative team is entertaining thoughts about continuing to push either of these two after Destination-X, I point to this match as a perfect example of why that would be a horrible idea.
-what a crappy night for the Knockouts.
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3/5/09 iMPACT
TAYLOR WILDE & ROXXI vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. AWESOME KONG & RAISHA SAEED vs. SOJOURNER BOLT & RHAKA KHAN
-Daffney came out with Taylor & Roxxi. Where was she last week?
-Roxxi was once again wearing the red plaid tights which I was hoping we’d seen the last of. She’s really not doing herself any favors with those things.
-Daffney was the first one to interfere in the match for some reason. Not very babyface-ish of her.
-chaotic match. Way too much going on and way too short, especially since there were only 4 matches on this show. A match like this needed to be a lot longer and it never even got a chance to get going. Most of it took place during the commercial break, which is idiotic. However, Rhaka Khan did almost nothing so it wasn’t all bad, but Khan not being in the match at all would’ve been even better.
-I like Daffney’s finisher, but her interference was unnecessary. So was Kip James distracting the referee. There was more interference in this match than there was wrestling. Surprise, surprise, it came off like crap.
-why was Roxxi booked so weakly in this match? Daffney interfered on her behalf twice and she still got pinned. Who did Roxxi piss off?
-if that Playboy bimbo from Survivor debuts before Sarah Stock I might just put my fist through the TV screen.
WIN A DATE WITH ODB VIDEO
-well, there’s Cody Deaner at least. What the hell is Sharkboy doing in there? They’ve said on the show that he’s married so why does he want a night with ODB? Another week of this and it’s not getting any less stupid.
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3/06/09 Webmatch
ODB vs. RAISHA SAEED
-passable match, but nothing special. It hurts to watch Melissa being booked like this. The whole Raisha Saeed Muslim thing needs to end as it’s ridiculously counterproductive and Melissa is capable of so much more than what this gimmick allows her to do.
-Tenay & West spent a lot of time talking about what Saeed must think of Sojourner Bolt getting a title shot against Awesome Kong. The only thing that could possibly salvage this angle is if Melissa turns on Kong at the PPV and unmasks. I’m not getting my hopes up though; that would be giving these writers more credit than I think they deserve at this point.
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3/12/09 iMPACT
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-I don’t like this little interview set TBP have. I know it fits with their characters, but it just looks cheesy. If the writers want to rebuild these women as more credible heels, this set with the thrones isn’t going to help.
-My Pi Sexy… MPS. That sounds like an STD, doesn’t it?
-the way their characters are written may be pretty horrible at times, but TBP are usually one of the better interviews in the company.
-why didn’t Rayne say anything? We already know the other 2 can talk. I want to see if she’s got any mic skills. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t, but she’s already justified her place in this group by partially blocking Kip James from view.
JENNA MORASCA BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-ugh… I hear some kind of paperwork issue is holding up Sarah Stock’s debut. In the meantime, we’re stuck with this chick. Oh, joy…
-she mentions a big investment she made. I wonder if she’s the big female investor TNA teased some weeks back. If so, the only consolation is that she’s a step up from Karen Angle.
-at least it seems like she can talk decently. Not that this is any reason to put her on TV, mind you.
TRASH TALKIN' WITH ODB
-well, it’s a catchier name than ‘ODB’s Angle’ anyway. Not that this segment isn’t still a complete waste of time.
TAYLOR WILDE (w/ ROXXI) vs. MADISON RAYNE (w/ ANGELINA LOVE, VELVET SKY & KIP JAMES). SPECIAL REFEREE: TRACI BROOKS
-why does Traci referee some Knockout matches and not others? There’s no rhyme or reason to this gimmick of hers.
-there were two people in the ring and FIVE people at ringside. There’s something fundamentally wrong with this picture. This would only work if it were a lumberjack match.
-I didn’t like the finish. Couldn’t they have cut out the part with Traci getting involved? It doesn’t hurt Rayne to lose cleanly to Taylor Wilde. Why have her go for heel tactics if she’s just going to lose the match anyway?
-this was ridiculously short. Typical blink-and-you-miss-it TV match with the post match antics getting priority over the in-ring action that this company has become famous for. Then again, maybe “famous” isn’t the right word.
-Rayne still hasn’t wowed me and she’s not going to have the chance to do so until she gets a longer match to showcase what she can (or can’t) really do.
-it’s not that I want Kip James to die. I just want someone to put him on a rocket to Mars, bury him in a deep cave under a huge rock, seal the cave with ten tons of cement and then nuke the cave.
-Sojourner Bolt & Rhaka Khan didn’t appear this week. After the way they’ve performed since the implosion of the Kongtourage, I’m not surprised, nor am I complaining. Kong & Saeed didn’t appear either, which is kind of suspicious. It seems like management doesn’t want to spend a lot of time promoting the Knockouts title match at Destination-X. Hopefully they’ve realized it’s a dud and most likely the bathroom break of the PPV. The only reason I’m looking forward to it in the slightest is my always present hope that the writers will finally get a clue, have Melissa turn on Kong and drop the Muslim gimmick.
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3/15/09 Destination-X
-I’m excited for the 6 woman tag. Hopefully it will be a good showcase for Daffney and Madison Rayne. No matter which team wins this match it should be one of them who gets the pin.
TAYLOR WILDE, ROXXI & DAFFNEY vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
-the Beautiful People left Kip James in the back. There is a God.
-is Daffney supposed to wrestle in a business suit from now on? That’s just idiotic.
-once again, Roxxi was easily the most over woman in the match and once again she played the babyface-in-peril role. Seriously, are these writers deaf?
-nice splash over the top rope by Daffney. Good effort.
-that’s it? This was way too short for a PPV match and Daffney and Rayne didn’t get nearly enough ring time. This match should’ve been all about the two of them and it wasn’t. Daffney made the most of what little time they gave her but Rayne hasn’t made an impression at all yet.
-the announcers made a big deal about how the Beautiful People have changed since acquiring their new badass attitudes and then they lost in short order. The whole thing seemed pretty pointless.
-Rayne should not have been the one to get pinned and if it had to be her then Daffney should’ve been the one to pin her. This was a lousy and incredibly ineffective way to get over two new talents.
WIN A DATE WITH ODB CONTEST
-is this really all the writers think ODB is good for? Why even keep her on the roster at all then?
-there had to be a better way to debut Cody Deaner than this. What an unbelievable waste of time. Please explain to me why this had to take up time on a show that people were paying money to see.
AWESOME KONG (C) (w/ RAISHA SAEED) vs. SOJOURNER BOLT
-this is exactly what happens when you take a woman who hasn’t delivered a single good match yet and give her a title shot on PPV; the match is a complete disaster and TNA management should’ve known better. This was easily the worst Knockouts title match in the history of the division.
-the fans cheered for Awesome Kong and didn’t give a rat’s ass about Bolt and it’s not hard to see why. What a miserable performance. She slipped and lost her footing on the second rope in a horrible-looking spot and there was no getting the audience back after that. This match completely killed the crowd, which makes it the second time in 3 weeks a Bolt match has done that. No more pushes for this woman, please.
-tonight Josie truly earned the name of SomeJobber Bolt.
-a word of advice for you, TNA. Round up every single lawyer you have and make it their sole mission to clear up Sarah Stock’s paperwork issues as soon as humanly possible. If this match proved anything it’s that you need Stock in the worst way to come and save the Knockouts division.
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