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The Month in Review
4/24/09-Sacrifice
by FK9
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Ahem…
“TNA presents their women’s division like it actually means something and the WWE does not.”
-FK9, KNOCKED OUT: Presentation is Key.
4/21/09 ECW
“Natalya pushed Hornswoggle around the ring for a bit, and pushed him against the ropes, where he rebounded with a spear and took her down. Kidd tried to interfere but Finlay pulled him off the apron. Hornswoggle rolled up Natalya for the 3. Finlay and Swoggle picked some kids out the crowd and brought them into the ring to dance around.”
-Source: pwinsider.com.
“There have only been two Diva matches on WWE pay-per-views in the last six months. Even more alarming, only one title defense has taken place within the last eight pay-per-views. This has been intentional, as Vince McMahon is said to be down on the women's division at the moment despite Diva segments usually being the highest rated segments on WWE TV each week. There have been a number of sloppy matches on television of late, which likely is a factor in his outlook.”
-Source: 24wrestling.com.
I rest my case.
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4/24/09 iMPACT
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-after Angelina’s title win at Lockdown, My Pi Sexy is partying like it’s 1999, just as they should. Rayne still gets no mic time but I definitely heard her voice in the background. That’s progress, I suppose.
#1 CONTENDER'S LADDER MATCH: SOJOURNER BOLT (WHY?) vs. TAYLOR WILDE
-what in the world is going on here? Bolt delivered an appalling performance at Destination-X and put the fans to sleep at Lockdown. So now the writers think she deserves a THIRD chance to embarrass the TNA organization on PPV? Seriously, what the hell?!
-Bolt was destroyed in her title match against Kong and got pinned in Queen of the Cage. Shouldn’t that put her at the bottom of the ladder? How does this work?
-here’s another problem: Bolt got pinned in the Queen of the Cage match by ODB. So then on IMPACT, Bolt gets put in a #1 contender’s match and ODB isn’t even on the show. Why wasn’t ODB facing Taylor for a title shot? I wouldn’t be crazy about that either but at least it would make sense. This certainly doesn’t.
-what on earth do the TNA writers see in Bolt? She hasn’t gotten over, hasn’t delivered a single good match. They give this woman chance after chance and she drops the ball every time. Every single time. And now here she is getting yet another chance while someone undeniably talented and popular like Roxxi is not even being used. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Oh wait… it doesn’t.
-why was this a ladder match? What was the purpose of this? Why couldn’t they just have a regular match? You have to justify the existence of a gimmick like this if you want it to make sense and mean something. You can’t just have a ladder match because you feel like having a ladder match; there has to be good reasoning behind it. Why even make this a ladder match in the first place if you’re going to give it practically no time whatsoever? You can’t book a ladder match on free TV, not hype it up at all and then give it less than 3 minutes because when you do that you’re booking it in such a way that actually PREVENTS it from drawing ratings. So why even do it at all then?
-I can’t comment on the quality of this ladder match because I didn’t see it. I blinked my eyes and I missed the entire thing. It was that short.
-Don West said Bolt gave a great performance at Destination-X and my jaw hit the floor. Don, I don’t know what Knockouts championship match you were watching at that PPV but it sure as hell wasn’t Bolt vs. Kong. To say that Bolt gave a great performance at Destination-X is just flat out insulting the fans’ intelligence. Plus, on the first iMPACT show after Destination-X, Don West said in no uncertain terms that Bolt proved that she had no chance at all against Kong, and now all of a sudden he’s saying that she gave a great performance and that’s why she’s getting this shot? Revisionist history is one thing, but this is absolutely insane.
-Bolt uses brass knuckles to win the match. So Bolt is a heel again? Already? You know, I hate to point out the glaringly obvious here, but this is part of the reason why this woman can’t get over. In the few months since she’s been in TNA she has gone from face to heel to face and now back to heel again. Good lord, just pick a direction for this character and stick with it. She changes sides more than the Big Show.
-if Bolt is a heel again then her and Angelina will be heel vs. heel and that usually doesn’t go over very well. Add that to the fact that Bolt’s singles matches (and all her other matches for that matter) have all been pretty lousy so far and you’ve got the makings of a potential disaster. I’m calling this right now -- during that match the crowd will either cheer for the Beautiful People or it will just be completely dead.
-the one saving grace about this is that with the way the Beautiful People are being pushed right now, Bolt does not have a chance in hell of winning the title. Hopefully, Bolt is just being set up as Angelina’s first sacrificial lamb; something to make her to look like a strong champion before Sarah Stock shows up. If that’s the case, then I’d rather Bolt be sacrificed than Taylor. Nevertheless, the fact that Bolt now holds a win over Taylor makes me physically ill.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE CELEBRATION
-I like that they’re having a celebration. It makes Angelina’s title win look important.
-DAMN! Nice outfit, Velvet!
-Madison Rayne is now an official member? Did V & A forget that she hasn’t actually won a single match yet? Whatever. At least Rayne has gotten over, unlike Bolt.
-Angelina’s speech was pretty funny. That lady has a lot of It factor and I’m glad she’s finally getting a run at the top.
-Awesome Kong disrupts the festivities and awesome bombs one of the dancing boys. I second Mike Tenay when I say thank God. Looks like Kong is officially a babyface now. This will do her character a lot of good and people are already responding to her in this new role.
-I was actually surprised to see Kong come out. I thought with her losing the title it would be the perfect time for her to go off and get that knee surgery. I have no idea where Kong is at physically right now, but if she’s sticking around then maybe her knee isn’t that bad. Who knows…
-so is the Knockouts title match at Sacrifice going to be Angelina vs. Kong or Bolt? I’m digging Kong as a babyface and that one would make more sense. Maybe they can get Bolt’s title shot out of the way on iMPACT as a warm up before Angelina’s real competition or something. OR, it could be another triple threat with Bolt positioned to do the job so Angelina can keep the title without pinning Kong. That wouldn’t be a terrible idea, I suppose. And if that is what happens and Bolt ends up being thrown to the wolves for the third PPV in a row then it would appear that the writing is on the wall for this character.
-WHERE’S ROXXI?!
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4/30/09 iMPACT
-Roxxi was released from the company this week. Damn. Damn, damn, damn. This sucks. I don’t understand TNA’s reasoning here at all. Roxxi is a great wrestler who’s always been able to get over no matter how badly she’s booked. So instead of using her, the writers would rather give title shots to a woman like Sojourner Bolt who, from what I’ve seen, is neither over nor a good wrestler. What sense does this make? I’ll tell you. NONE!
-GET EMAILING, PEOPLE! info@TNAwrestling.com Let them know you want Roxxi back!
-sign the petition to help Roxxi get her job back: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/wewantroxxi
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-another funny promo from Angelina. She’s a natural in her new role as the champ. It makes me wonder what took TNA so long to push her to this level.
-Madison Rayne speaks this week! It was only 8 words, but that’s 8 more than she’s spoken so far. Baby steps…
-Velvet and especially Angelina keep overshadowing Rayne. And now with her being booked in this match with Kong they’re portraying her in a sympathetic light all of a sudden. Are they building an eventual face turn here? I’d be against that. Rayne hasn’t even been a heel for that long and this current character is working for her. To change it so quickly would be sending her down the same road Sojourner Bolt is currently on and the writers don’t want that. Keep her a heel.
STRETCHER MATCH: AWESOME KONG (w/ RAISHA SAEED) vs. MADISON RAYNE (w/ VELVET SKY & ANGELINA LOVE (C))
-ladder matches, stretcher matches – what’s going on? It seemed like the creative team was getting away from all the random gimmick matches for a while there and the show was much better for it.
-I would’ve been more interested in this match if Kong hadn’t beaten Rayne AND Velvet Sky in a handicap match in about 80 seconds a few weeks ago. Joining TBP has gotten Rayne over, but her credibility is nonexistent.
-Tenay says that V & A have shoved Rayne into the background and he’s not kidding. She comes off like a flunky rather than a third member.
-thank you, Rudy Charles, for sending the 3 people at ringside to the back. That means we get a clean finish, which is a rarity with TBP’s matches. This needs to happen more often.
-complete squash. Rayne was buried. It was a nice showcase for Kong’s dominance after My Pi Sexy got over on her at Lockdown, but it would’ve been nice for them to let Rayne get in a little offense first.
-the crowd is already really into Kong as a babyface, but she and Saeed are still coming out through the heel shoot, which is odd. Just a wild guess, but this face turn may not even be a face turn. The writers may just be teasing a face turn by having Kong fight TBP for the time being, and then when Sarah Stock shows up it’s back to business. I expect we’ll know soon enough.
-strangely, V & A act really concerned for their flunky, Rayne, backstage. Where was their concern before the match?
-Sojourner Bolt won a title shot last week and didn’t even appear this week. Stuff like this seems to happen a lot with Bolt. Given her increasingly sporadic appearances it seems like the writers are losing interest in her. All the focus in the title feud is on Angelina & Kong and I’ll be shocked if Bolt doesn’t do the job at Sacrifice.
ODB ACCOMPANIES CODY DEANER TO RINGSIDE
-what’s with ODB’s hair? Seriously, that’s messed up.
-I’m not a huge fan of this ODB/Deaner relationship but it’s getting over quickly. This could do something to refresh ODB’s character, which is really needed at this point. I’ve grown bored with her and this might help change that.
DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Daffney’s acting pretty heelish here. That seems like a mistake to me. Daffney’s been showing signs of getting over as a babyface so why go against the grain?
-I’m glad the Abyss/Daffney association wasn’t just a one night thing. Those 2 characters fit well together.
-looks like another love triangle storyline is in the works. This one might actually work out as opposed to Lethal/Val/Dutt and AJ/Karen/Kurt because it’s kind of a wacky storyline to do in pro wrestling and Abyss & Daffney are wacky characters to begin with. Plus, Lauren has shown some acting ability in recent weeks. I’m intrigued.
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5/01/09 Webmatch
VELVET SKY vs. ODB (w/ CODY DEANER)
-Don West likens ODB’s latest hair style to Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. It’s hard to disagree with him on that.
-both these women are over because of their gimmicks, not their wrestling, and it shows. Not that this was a bad match, it was just kind of dull and uneventful. The women hit their usual spots and there was a funny bit where ODB wiped down the rope after Velvet’s signature crotch rope rub, but it was nothing to get excited about.
-it was more enjoyable than you’d think though, because the crowd was hot for it the whole time. That’s one of the reasons why it’s easier to get into TNA’s women’s matches. If WWE crowds were ever this hot for the Divas, those matches wouldn’t seem so boring. A hot crowd can make a world of difference.
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5/07/09 iMPACT
-there are a lot of conflicting rumors about the Roxxi situation. She has now confirmed on her official website that she did NOT ask to be released, in fact, she wasn’t even told she was suspended. The events that led to her release seem to vary depending on which report you read, but the one constant is that Rhaka Khan is the one chiefly responsible for getting Roxxi fired. The end result is, Roxxi loses her job, but Khan still has one because of her association with Kurt Angle. So TNA fires the woman who is both a great worker and very popular and they keep the woman who the fans couldn’t care less about and can’t wrestle her way out of a paper bag, all because of backstage politics. What a load of crap. I’ve heard that the general feeling from a lot of people in the company is that Roxxi got screwed over. No kidding.
-once again, the petition to get Roxxi her job back is here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/wewantroxxi
-here’s some more bad news. Apparently, TNA management wasn’t impressed with Sarah Stock in her two Xplosion matches. Forgive my bluntness, but I find that absolutely ludicrous. The same people who pushed losers like Christy Hemme and Sojourner Bolt suddenly think SARAH STOCK is unimpressive?! Did I step into the Twilight Zone without realizing it? What the hell is going on here?
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-they’re not using their little set with the thrones this week, which is good because it looks really dumb.
-I like that Rayne is at home selling the beating from last week and Velvet is freaked out about facing Kong because of it. Too often in TNA people take suicidal bumps and then they’re back the next week like nothing happened. Keeping a wrestler off TV for a while to sell something like that can help a lot.
-a more serious interview for Velvet while Angelina is still playing it cool.
TAYLOR WILDE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Taylor has a secret admirer, which for some reason has transformed her into a bubbly 13-year-old. She’s taking Lauren along when she goes to meet the guy. If Roxxi hadn’t been unfairly fired, it would be her doing that. Sigh…
AWESOME KONG & RAISHA SAEED BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-holy crap… Kong actually talked! That’s 4 more words than she’s ever spoken in TNA. Is this a prelude to something? Are the writers going to start letting Kong talk for herself, which would eliminate her need for a mouthpiece, which would lead to Saeed breaking away from her, which would lead to Melissa finally dropping the Muslim gimmick? I doubt it. But, damn it, I can dream, can’t I?
-come on, TNA. You fired Roxxi while keeping the atrocious Rhaka Khan and then you teased me with Sarah Stock only to put me in doubt that she might even be brought in at all. You have to give me something. Unmasking Melissa would be a nice make-good after all that crap.
-I can’t believe the announcers didn’t make a bigger deal out of Kong speaking for the first time.
STRETCHER MATCH: AWESOME KONG (w/ RAISHA SAEED) vs. VELVET SKY (w/ ANGELINA LOVE(C))
-good lord! 5 implant busters and an awesome bomb. Velvet’s going to be sore in the morning.
-matches like these are a nice showcase for Kong’s power, but it doesn’t help the rest of the roster look credible when she’s constantly steamrolling everyone like this. A recapper on pwtorch made a good observation about this match when he said that there were no other women in the company being treated as if they were even in Kong’s league. They wouldn’t be in such desperate need of a “Gail Kim” type babyface if they let the other women actually get in some offense on Kong rather than her completely destroying them.
-Velvet’s offense looked pitiful, which is exactly what happens when you book someone to be so much more powerful than everyone else on the roster. After a while, NOBODY looks like a credible challenger anymore.
-it’s no wonder TNA management didn’t think Sarah Stock looked good against Kong. When Kong’s matches are constantly booked like this her opponents NEVER look good, and that’s the whole problem. TNA put themselves in this position by having Kong single handedly bury the entire Knockouts roster and now they’re paying for it.
DAFFNEY JOINS ABYSS ON DR. STEVIE'S COUCH
-my opinion of the Dr. Stevie stuff hasn’t changed, but I’m interested to see where they’re going with Abyss and Daffney.
-Knockouts Monster’s Ball at Sacrifice. Um… why? Seriously, that has no context. How and why did this match get made? What is the reason in the storyline for it to exist? These questions need to be asked.
-looking at the current roster, most of those women are going to be completely out of their element in a Monster’s Ball, and the one most suited for it, Awesome Kong, won’t even be in it. Not to sound negative or anything, but that match could very well be an absolute disaster. I mean, are they really going to put women like Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne and Sojourner Bolt in a match that has a history of being incredibly violent to the point where people get put through flaming tables? Seriously, how is that going to work?
-this sounds like a really bad idea to me, because even if they throw Sarah Stock and Ayako Hamada in there too, I just don’t think they have the right mix of talent to pull this off. Not that Stock and Hamada wouldn’t help, mind you – Hamada’s tough as hell and Stock can hit some really sweet high spots, which people will be expecting in a Monster’s Ball. Still… I’m nervous about this. I hope the writers have thought this through very carefully.
ANGELINA LOVE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Angelina’s not playing it cool anymore. She’s freaking out and rightfully so. She gets a phone call from a guy who she wants to be there to protect her next week.
-so help me, God… TNA, if you bring back Kip James, I will… no… no… I’m not even going to go there. They won’t bring him back. I know this creative team does some pretty questionable things sometimes, but they couldn’t possibly be that stupid. Could they?
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5/11/09 Spanish Language Youtube Video
-SARAH STOCK!! SARAH STOCK!! SOMBODY CALL MY MOMMA; I FEEL LIKE DANCIN’!! ...... ahem… er… yeah… so… anyway.
-very clever, TNA -- introducing her in a Spanish language video. Nice touch.
-I like that they’re formally introducing her like this before she debuts on TV. It makes her arrival look like a big deal. Granted, it does take away the element of surprise, but maybe that’s not what they’re going for.
-it looks like they’re calling her ‘Sarita’. I don’t hate it. As ring names go, these writers have come up with much worse ones than that (ex. Sojourner Bolt, Rhaka Khan).
-I don't want to get my hopes up that she's going to debut at Sacrifice, but, damn it, I’m excited now!
-they show a picture of her on the cover of Super Luchas magazine. I hope the announcers mention that when she debuts. They’d be stupid not to.
-I wish I spoke Spanish. It would be really nice to know what they’re saying here.
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5/14/09 iMPACT
-the Knockouts title match for Sacrifice has been announced as Angelina defending against Awesome Kong, so Bolt’s not going to be in it. Part of me is really glad about that, but the other part is a little scared that they’re not getting her title shot out of the way quickly. If Bolt getting the title shot wasn’t done to give Angelina a way to keep the championship without pinning Kong then what else could it possibly be for?
-another problem with this is that, with the way Kong has been pushed lately, there’s just no way in hell that Angelina can realistically win that match, one on one, short of running Kong over with a car. She looks like a lamb going to the slaughter right now.
ANGELINA LOVE BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-she brought back Kip James. Shoot me.
-“Kippin’ it real”? Dear, God… words cannot describe how much I hate this idiot. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to bring him back to TV?
-the one silver lining about his intergender match with Awesome Kong tonight is that TNA is still operating under SpikeTV’s no man-on-woman violence policy. That means the only way this match can possibly take place is if Kip gets in no offense at all. I’m predicting complete domination by Kong and I’ll be laughing every second of it.
TAYLOR MEETS HER SECRET ADMIRER
-the secret admirer is Daffney. She set Taylor up as payback for not helping her when she got her hair cut off by the Beautiful People. Woah… actual continuity. I honestly did not expect that.
-I still think it’s a mistake to have Daffney be a heel right now, but segments like this will get her over as a heel really quickly. She’s very convincing in this role and I like that they did this with her here. The fact that Taylor didn’t help her when she was getting her hair cut by TBP was a dangling plot thread that I thought the writers were going to leave dangling. It makes perfect sense that Daffney would be pissed off that Taylor didn’t help her.
-Daffney mentions the Knockouts Monster’s Ball at Sacrifice. I still don’t like the idea of that match, but at least they’re making an effort to hype it now rather than having it be completely random.
-Lauren continues to do surprisingly well in these types of segments. I hope the writers will continue to use her for stuff like this. She can do a lot more than just interview people and her acting isn’t half bad.
-I expected this segment to be awful and it was actually very good. Daffney’s character has always been the best when she’s allowed to be as crazy as she can be.
AWESOME KONG (w/ RAISHA SAEED) vs. KIP JAMES (w/ ANGELINA LOVE)
-HAH! Kong destroys Kip James like the jobber to the stars that he is. Kong just became my favorite person in the world. Peace out, Kip. And never darken my TV screen ever again.
-Don West mentions that SpikeTV waved the no man-on-woman violence rule for this match because Kong is so out of control. The heel Don West is awesome. Obviously SpikeTV did no such thing, but the fact that West tried to give some type of explanation for why this match could even take place when the network normally wouldn’t allow it was just great.
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5/21/09 Webmatch
DAFFNEY vs. RAISHA SAEED
-right now Daffney is a heel who comes out through the face shoot and Saeed is a face who comes out through the heel shoot. My head hurts.
-wow, Daffney is really over already. Lots of “Let’s go, Daffney!” chants in the crowd. The fans want this woman to be a babyface. It’s too bad she’s going to be playing the heel when she faces Taylor this Sunday.
-why do the writers continue to persist with the Raisha Saeed Muslim gimmick? This gimmick gets no heat at all; ZERO. Do they not remember how over Melissa was during her iMPACT match with Daizee Haze last year? Why do I bother?
-Daffney’s more flexible than she looks. Saeed nearly bent her into a pretzel with that Boston crab. Maybe she’s been getting stretching tips from her buddy, MsChif.
-solid match. This was really the first time Daffney has been able to show what she can do in a match that wasn’t a 6 woman tag or mired by stupid gimmicks and/or tons of interference. Big surprise, it was easily her best in-ring performance yet. Presentation makes all the difference, people.
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5/21/09 iMPACT
-apparently the Knockouts Monster’s Ball match is only going to be Taylor vs. Daffney. Good lord… where do I start?
-1st: I think this is an even worse idea than having all the Knockouts in the match like I originally thought was going to happen. Granted, many of those women couldn’t be less suited for a match like this if they tried, but there are spots you can do in a multi-person match – spots that the fans will be expecting in a Monster’s Ball -- that you just can’t do when it’s one on one. With only 2 people in there they won’t even be able to do the tower of doom. This already sounds like the most watered down Monster’s Ball in history and I haven’t even scratched the surface yet.
-2nd: why is this a Monster’s Ball in the first place? I get that Daffney is pissed at Taylor. It makes sense that she would want payback for Taylor not helping her. But how on earth did the writers go from that to Monster’s Ball? Was there something fundamentally wrong with the 2 of them having a regular match? Even a normal hardcore match would’ve been acceptable, but in a Monster’s Ball the fans will be expecting carnage that I just don’t think these 2 women are capable of delivering.
-3rd: while I am a fan of both these women, neither of them are cut out for a Monster’s Ball. They are not hardcore wrestlers. Who’s going to take the bump off the stage onto a million thumbtacks? Who’s going to go through the flaming table? That’s the type of stuff people will expect in a Monster’s Ball, but can you honestly picture either of these women doing that? I sure as hell can’t. If you want to do a Monster’s Ball with women then you need women who are B-A-D-A-S-S. Someone like Mickie Knuckles (Moose), Awesome Kong, or even Lufisto would be ideal for something like this. Have Taylor or Daffney even been in a hardcore match before? I have no doubt that they’ll work hard and give it their best shot, but they’re just so far out of their element here, it’s not even funny.
-4th: if you’re dead set on having a Monster’s Ball then why do it NOW when you only have 3 weeks to promote it and have only given it a few seconds of build up per show? Why not tease it for a while and build up to it over several months so it will actually mean something when it happens? At the very least, the idea of a women’s Monster’s Ball has some novelty about it, so why are you going out of your way to kill that novelty by throwing it away without making it look and feel important first?
-5th: why in the blue hell is this feud STARTING with Monster’s Ball? This type of match is something that you use to END a feud, not START one, because once you have a Monster’s Ball, there’s nowhere for you to go after that. You can’t exactly have a regular wrestling match after you’ve had a Monster’s Ball. What’s next? Are Taylor & Daffney going to have a Barb Wire Massacre match at Slammiversary and then end their feud with an Exploding Japanese Death match at Victory Road?
-who in their right mind would book an angle like this that is so inane, so ridiculously counterproductive that it defies not only every traditional booking convention, but all manner of logic and reason on top of that?
-I hate to sound so negative, but this sounds like an absolutely horrible idea. No matter how I look at it, I can’t see this match being anything other than a complete and utter train wreck. Why would the writers book a match like this if they were going to give it almost no build up whatsoever? Why are they doing this when they stand to gain so little from it? And most importantly… WHY IS NO ONE IN TNA MANAGEMENT ASKING THESE QUESTIONS?!
AWESOME KONG/ANGELINA LOVE (C) CONTRACT SIGNING
-I like this. The WWE would never bother with a contract signing for a women’s title match. Stuff like this makes the Knockouts championship look so much more important than either of the WWE women’s titles.
-this segment might have been the most entertaining thing about the entire show this week. I can see why Angelina got good reviews for her performance here; the fake sincerity in her promo was hilarious. Kong was great too with the way she reacted to everything. And what made it even funnier was that the announcers stayed silent through the whole thing. Unlike Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler with their over the top fake laughter during the God awful Santina segments on Raw, Tenay & West understood that if you feel the need to tell the audience that something is funny, then it really isn’t. Great segment.
-Angelina has been terrific since winning the title last month. I really hope she retains this Sunday. She deserves to have a good, long run with the belt.
-point of interest: in the Awesome Kong video package that preceded this segment one of the women getting Awesome Bombed was Sarah Stock.
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5/24/09 Sacrifice
When they were running down the PPV card on iMPACT last Thursday, they mysteriously left out the Knockouts Monster’s Ball. The last PPV match they neglected to mention like that was Awesome Kong vs. Sojourner Bolt at Destination-X, which turned out to be smart damage control on TNA’s part because that match was a complete disaster. I wonder if TNA management is starting to think that this Monster’s Ball match might not be a great idea.
MONSTER'S BALL: TAYLOR WILDE vs. DAFFNEY (w/ ABYSS & DR. STEVIE)
-now we know why there was hardly any promotion for this match – it was about the length of a typical iMPACT TV match, meaning it was ridiculously short.
-this was just a typical hardcore match; nothing about it screamed “Monster’s Ball”. And it was stupid for the announcers to keep saying that this was the first time the Knockouts had ever been in a match like this when they had quite a few matches just like this last summer. The only reason they called this a Monster’s Ball in the first place was because they needed a way to associate Abyss with this match and intertwine these 2 storylines. This was a Monster’s Ball in name only.
-keeping that in mind, the match was actually pretty good for the brief time that it lasted. The women gave good effort and Daffney took some pretty stiff shots. It was an acceptable hardcore match, but it never even came close to being a good Monster’s Ball. Of course, I never really expected it to.
-this was another case of TNA giving priority to the post match angle rather than the match itself. Ordinarily, I hate when TNA does that type of stuff, but I actually liked this. It could’ve easily been a train wreck, but somehow it worked, thanks in no small part to the hot crowd and the performances of Stevie Richards, Abyss and Lauren.
-Lauren has done really well whenever they give her stuff to do beyond simply interviewing people. Who would’ve thought that the woman formerly known as “Not Crystal” would turn out to be such a good performer? Give Lauren more storylines!
-this wasn’t the debacle I was expecting, but Daffney really should’ve gone over. TNA need to start building up some new female stars and Daffney is one of those people. Losing this match wouldn’t have hurt Taylor that much but Daffney would’ve really benefited from getting the win.
AWESOME KONG (w/ RAISHA SAEED) vs. ANGELINA LOVE (C)
-this was better than I thought it would be. Angelina was allowed to get a lot more offense than I expected.
-Saeed/Kong have a miscommunication and Angelina capitalizes with the hairspray to the eyes. I am officially shocked that Angelina retained the way she did. I thought the only way she was going to keep the title was if her TBP cohorts returned to help her or by some DQ finish. I did not see her winning on her own at all, but this was really the only way that could happen. She wasn’t going to beat Kong straight up because the way Kong has been pushed lately made that impossible, but she managed to out-heel Awesome Kong here. It’s a damn shame they cut away from this so fast because this put Angelina over HUGE.
-kudos to the writers for finally deciding to put a chink in Kong’s armor, and for doing the right thing in putting Angelina over.
-Kong gets a measure of revenge, but Angelina keeps the title and is now freed up to feud with the soon to debut, Sarah Stock (I hope).
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