Showing posts with label knocked out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knocked out. Show all posts
October 12, 2010
September 24, 2010
Defenders of Madison Rayne are WRONG!
In the most recent edition of the Ask the Professor column (on TNAwrestlingnews.com), Professor Newton Gimmick was asked what his thoughts were on Madison Rayne. The following was his answer to the question:
I respect Newton Gimmick a great deal, but this response was so inexplicable to me that I simply had to chime in with my 2 cents. I suppose it's a character flaw of mine that I just can't seem to let things like this go. At any rate, I will proceed to respectfully disagree with the Professor's opinion of Madison Rayne and explain exactly why I believe him to be in the wrong on this particular issue.
Let's just go over this point-by-point, shall we?
Ooooooooh boy...
I would argue that Madison Rayne is actually one of the worst things about the Knockout division right now, and that is 100% the fault of the writers. The woman was booked as a complete jobber for the first 18 months of her TNA run. Then, from out of nowhere, she wins the title despite the fact that she had never earned even ONE singles victory prior to this and had zero credibility.
This was done in an ill-conceived and completely transparent move by the writers to make the Beautiful People the top heels in the wake of Awesome Kong's departure, even though this particular incarnation of the group was comprised of the 3 worst female workers on the roster. Granted, Madison Rayne was and is a better worker than Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich, but being the lesser of 3 evils doesn't mean you deserve a championship. They gave her the title when she was nothing more than enhancement talent and then went so overboard trying to make her credible afterward that they forgot to think first.
All of a sudden, Madison Rayne, a woman who until then couldn't win a match if her life depended on it, was going over EVERYONE. And this was a big problem because, as a wrestler, she's really not that good. She doesn't even have the look of someone who can beat other women. Madison can't be much more than 5 ft tall and looks like she weighs about 100 lbs. And yet, she was constantly beating women who were not only much larger and more powerfully built, but clearly much more athletic and better workers than she is. This simply did not work because she couldn't make any of these wins look convincing.
Had her character been some kind of chicken shit heel who talked a big game, but then had to weasel her way out of losing matches in order to keep the title or outsmart her opponents because she obviously couldn't overpower them, her title reign might have been much more effective than it was, but that's not what happened. The writers tried to turn her into a dominant badass, not understanding that this type of character was completely wrong for her. Do you really think "badass" when you look at a woman who is dwarfed by Velvet Sky? Hell no! This was the push they should have given Alissa Flash. Madison Rayne just does not have the physical tools to pull off that type of character and she never did. This is why her title reign didn't work; it just wasn't convincing in any way.
That's a matter of opinion. There might be people out there who find her entertaining. I don't. She's improved on the mic, but her acting could use a little work. When Angelina cuts an angry promo, she actually sounds angry. When Madison tries to act angry, she ends up screeching all her lines. Maybe this works for some people, but I just don't care for it.
No.
No. No. No. No. No. Just... no. Hell no.
With all due respect, Professor, I absolutely refuse to believe that this is what you really think. It is simply not true.
Anyone who thinks Madison Rayne is one of the best workers on the Knockout roster, I ask you this question: How many standout matches has she had in TNA?
Answer: NONE!
She's had some good matches, she's had some solid matches, but that's it. And pretty much every time, she was 100% carried by her opponent. If the best thing you can say about her as a wrestler is that she can be carried to a good match if she has a good opponent, that does not make her a great wrestler herself.
Did she have a single match during her title reign that was even worth talking about? Her defenses against Tara at Sacrifice and Roxxi at Slammiversary were probably the best performances he had, but in both cases the other woman carried the action of the match, so you really can't say either match was good because of Madison. And once she started feuding with Velvet & Angelina the quality of her matches went down the toilet. Did you not see her embarrassing bout with Velvet at No Surrender? That's exactly what you get when it's up to her to carry a match.
And just in case anyone is wondering, if we're rating the Knockouts from best to worst in terms of wrestling ability based on the quality of their matches, it would look something like this:
1. Hamada
2. Sarita
3. Taylor Wilde
4. Tara
5. Daffney
6. Angelina Love
7. Madison Rayne
8. Velvet Sky
9. Lacey Von Erich
That's right, people. 3rd from the bottom is where Madison rates. If anyone out there disagrees with me on this, by all means, show me a match, ANY match which proves that she belongs higher on this list.
Professor, the woman hasn't even gotten over. Have you been watching her since she won the title at Lockdown? It seems pretty obvious to me that how over Madison Rayne is at any given time depends entirely on 2 things:
1. Who her opponent is.
2. Who her allies are.
She got heel heat at Sacrifice because she was facing Tara, who was over as a face. She got heel heat at Slammiversary because she was facing Roxxi, who was over as a face. She got heel heat when she was standing next to the other members of the Beautiful People because the Beautiful People were over as a heel faction. But what happens when she's out there by herself with no one to get heat off of and has to do it on her own? Usually, she gets very little, if any.
Seriously, what are you basing this on? She's had a lot of time devoted to her this year, but that doesn't mean it's been time well spent. I would actually say that Madison has been one of the most INeffective heels the Knockout division has had and point to her subpar matches and the lack of crowd response she gets when not standing next to someone more over than she is as 2 of the main reasons why.
I'm not the biggest fan of Angelina Love these days, but I will say that Angelina as a heel was FAR more effective than Madison Rayne has been up to this point.
Here's something we agree on. One need only listen to Angelina's recent 'babyface' promos on ReACTION to know that Angelina obviously and desperately wants to be a heel. Her face promos come off as more heelish than Madison's heel promos, which, I might add, is just further evidence of not only Madison's ineffectiveness as the top heel, but both Angelina's effectiveness as a heel and INeffectiveness as a face as well.
Stop. Stop. Stop. Now you're just flat out making stuff up.
Angelina has been over since the day she turned heel in early 2008. Just listen to the audience when she comes out. She was over as a heel. She's over as a face (though I'm not really sure why since she's so naturally heelish). I may not be a huge fan of hers personally, but I won't deny that the woman gets mad crowd response.
I've already explained why Madison Rayne is not over, but I'll give 2 examples to illustrate this.
1. In her and Tara's match with Velvet & Angelina on the 9/02/10 iMPACT, there was a moment when Tara had been thrown out of the ring and Madison was surrounded by the babyfaces. If she were as over as you say she is, this would have been a really hot moment with the crowd going nuts in anticipation that Madison was finally going to get the beating she had deserved for months, but that's not what happened. The crowd was dead for this. They didn't care. Just like they didn't care at...
2. No Surrender when Madison faced Velvet Sky in a match the crowd slept through. And let's be honest, that's really hard to pull off. The iMPACT Zone fans will pop and cheer for just about anything, even if they're only doing it to entertain themselves. For a match in the iMPACT Zone to get NO reaction like this one did is really telling. You'd think a match featuring the supposed top female heel in the company would illicit SOME kind of crowd response, wouldn't it? But it didn't. The crowd popped for the Beautiful People's entrance, but once that was over and the bell rang, they just didn't care.
In fact, I would offer this match as the final proof that not only is Madison Rayne not a very good wrestler (that match sucked), but she's not over as a heel either.
Well, here's the thing about that -- they already have effective face characters, but they never bother to use them. Hamada is over as a face. Daffney is over a face. Taylor Wilde used to be over as a face, but doesn't seem to be anymore, which I'm sure is due in no small part to her being depushed into the toilet for months. Even her and Hamada capturing the Knockout tag titles recently doesn't mean much because they once again disappeared from TV immediately afterward so all the spotlight could continue to be on Madison Rayne and the Beautiful People.
The writers have several good options for babyface Knockouts. The problem is nobody really notices this anymore because the entire division has revolved around the Beautiful People (past and present members) and Tara for the last year.
Creative is constantly running into this problem because they've never learned the lesson they should have learned a long time ago. As I've often said, they have tunnel vision with the Knockouts. They build up a top heel and a top face to focus on, and every other Knockout is treated like a non-entity. And then when something inevitably happens to said top face or heel, they're left with nothing. It happened when Gail left, it happened when Kong left, it happened when Tara left (before she came back).
The writers could very easily fix this problem by simply making use of the whole roster and building the other Knockouts into strong characters so they would have women who could step into these roles when they need to be filled by someone new. Unfortunately, that would require a certain amount of thought and effort that I just don't think they feel like putting into the Knockout division these days.
And if they're not smart enough to do this, then they'll have to bring in new talent to work as a face. I hear they just signed some chick named Mickie. Would she ever work as a top babyface? Only time will tell. lol
Well, then I must be blind because I don't see it. In fact, Professor, I accuse you of seeing things that simply are not there. The last several months have done little more than expose Madison Rayne as not being suited for the spot she was in. She's not a particularly great wrestler and she's not particularly over. Her title push was a failure and she doesn't have what it takes to be a top star.
The end.
I say good day to you, sir.
"I think Madison is the best part of the TNA Knockouts division at the moment. She's the most entertaining character, one of the best wrestlers in the division and the single most effective heel they've had in the entire division, not named Kong. Madison has worked her character to perfection and if you can't see how oozing with charisma her persona is, you must be blind.
The problem that TNA faces is that they don't have much of a face opposition in Angelina Love. Angelina isn't very comfortable as a face and some of the chemistry is disjointed between Rayne and Love. Rayne is over like rover and Love is only over when she acts as a counterpart to Rayne. TNA needs to get some effective face characters into the Knockouts division and soon."
-Prof. Newton Gimmick.
I respect Newton Gimmick a great deal, but this response was so inexplicable to me that I simply had to chime in with my 2 cents. I suppose it's a character flaw of mine that I just can't seem to let things like this go. At any rate, I will proceed to respectfully disagree with the Professor's opinion of Madison Rayne and explain exactly why I believe him to be in the wrong on this particular issue.
Let's just go over this point-by-point, shall we?
"I think Madison is the best part of the TNA Knockouts division at the moment."
Ooooooooh boy...
I would argue that Madison Rayne is actually one of the worst things about the Knockout division right now, and that is 100% the fault of the writers. The woman was booked as a complete jobber for the first 18 months of her TNA run. Then, from out of nowhere, she wins the title despite the fact that she had never earned even ONE singles victory prior to this and had zero credibility.
This was done in an ill-conceived and completely transparent move by the writers to make the Beautiful People the top heels in the wake of Awesome Kong's departure, even though this particular incarnation of the group was comprised of the 3 worst female workers on the roster. Granted, Madison Rayne was and is a better worker than Velvet Sky and Lacey Von Erich, but being the lesser of 3 evils doesn't mean you deserve a championship. They gave her the title when she was nothing more than enhancement talent and then went so overboard trying to make her credible afterward that they forgot to think first.
All of a sudden, Madison Rayne, a woman who until then couldn't win a match if her life depended on it, was going over EVERYONE. And this was a big problem because, as a wrestler, she's really not that good. She doesn't even have the look of someone who can beat other women. Madison can't be much more than 5 ft tall and looks like she weighs about 100 lbs. And yet, she was constantly beating women who were not only much larger and more powerfully built, but clearly much more athletic and better workers than she is. This simply did not work because she couldn't make any of these wins look convincing.
Had her character been some kind of chicken shit heel who talked a big game, but then had to weasel her way out of losing matches in order to keep the title or outsmart her opponents because she obviously couldn't overpower them, her title reign might have been much more effective than it was, but that's not what happened. The writers tried to turn her into a dominant badass, not understanding that this type of character was completely wrong for her. Do you really think "badass" when you look at a woman who is dwarfed by Velvet Sky? Hell no! This was the push they should have given Alissa Flash. Madison Rayne just does not have the physical tools to pull off that type of character and she never did. This is why her title reign didn't work; it just wasn't convincing in any way.
"She's the most entertaining character,"
That's a matter of opinion. There might be people out there who find her entertaining. I don't. She's improved on the mic, but her acting could use a little work. When Angelina cuts an angry promo, she actually sounds angry. When Madison tries to act angry, she ends up screeching all her lines. Maybe this works for some people, but I just don't care for it.
"one of the best wrestlers in the division"
No.
No. No. No. No. No. Just... no. Hell no.
With all due respect, Professor, I absolutely refuse to believe that this is what you really think. It is simply not true.
Anyone who thinks Madison Rayne is one of the best workers on the Knockout roster, I ask you this question: How many standout matches has she had in TNA?
Answer: NONE!
She's had some good matches, she's had some solid matches, but that's it. And pretty much every time, she was 100% carried by her opponent. If the best thing you can say about her as a wrestler is that she can be carried to a good match if she has a good opponent, that does not make her a great wrestler herself.
Did she have a single match during her title reign that was even worth talking about? Her defenses against Tara at Sacrifice and Roxxi at Slammiversary were probably the best performances he had, but in both cases the other woman carried the action of the match, so you really can't say either match was good because of Madison. And once she started feuding with Velvet & Angelina the quality of her matches went down the toilet. Did you not see her embarrassing bout with Velvet at No Surrender? That's exactly what you get when it's up to her to carry a match.
And just in case anyone is wondering, if we're rating the Knockouts from best to worst in terms of wrestling ability based on the quality of their matches, it would look something like this:
1. Hamada
2. Sarita
3. Taylor Wilde
4. Tara
5. Daffney
6. Angelina Love
7. Madison Rayne
8. Velvet Sky
9. Lacey Von Erich
That's right, people. 3rd from the bottom is where Madison rates. If anyone out there disagrees with me on this, by all means, show me a match, ANY match which proves that she belongs higher on this list.
"and the single most effective heel they've had in the entire division, not named Kong."
Professor, the woman hasn't even gotten over. Have you been watching her since she won the title at Lockdown? It seems pretty obvious to me that how over Madison Rayne is at any given time depends entirely on 2 things:
1. Who her opponent is.
2. Who her allies are.
She got heel heat at Sacrifice because she was facing Tara, who was over as a face. She got heel heat at Slammiversary because she was facing Roxxi, who was over as a face. She got heel heat when she was standing next to the other members of the Beautiful People because the Beautiful People were over as a heel faction. But what happens when she's out there by herself with no one to get heat off of and has to do it on her own? Usually, she gets very little, if any.
Seriously, what are you basing this on? She's had a lot of time devoted to her this year, but that doesn't mean it's been time well spent. I would actually say that Madison has been one of the most INeffective heels the Knockout division has had and point to her subpar matches and the lack of crowd response she gets when not standing next to someone more over than she is as 2 of the main reasons why.
I'm not the biggest fan of Angelina Love these days, but I will say that Angelina as a heel was FAR more effective than Madison Rayne has been up to this point.
"The problem that TNA faces is that they don't have much of a face opposition in Angelina Love. Angelina isn't very comfortable as a face and some of the chemistry is disjointed between Rayne and Love."
Here's something we agree on. One need only listen to Angelina's recent 'babyface' promos on ReACTION to know that Angelina obviously and desperately wants to be a heel. Her face promos come off as more heelish than Madison's heel promos, which, I might add, is just further evidence of not only Madison's ineffectiveness as the top heel, but both Angelina's effectiveness as a heel and INeffectiveness as a face as well.
"Rayne is over like rover and Love is only over when she acts as a counterpart to Rayne."
Stop. Stop. Stop. Now you're just flat out making stuff up.
Angelina has been over since the day she turned heel in early 2008. Just listen to the audience when she comes out. She was over as a heel. She's over as a face (though I'm not really sure why since she's so naturally heelish). I may not be a huge fan of hers personally, but I won't deny that the woman gets mad crowd response.
I've already explained why Madison Rayne is not over, but I'll give 2 examples to illustrate this.
1. In her and Tara's match with Velvet & Angelina on the 9/02/10 iMPACT, there was a moment when Tara had been thrown out of the ring and Madison was surrounded by the babyfaces. If she were as over as you say she is, this would have been a really hot moment with the crowd going nuts in anticipation that Madison was finally going to get the beating she had deserved for months, but that's not what happened. The crowd was dead for this. They didn't care. Just like they didn't care at...
2. No Surrender when Madison faced Velvet Sky in a match the crowd slept through. And let's be honest, that's really hard to pull off. The iMPACT Zone fans will pop and cheer for just about anything, even if they're only doing it to entertain themselves. For a match in the iMPACT Zone to get NO reaction like this one did is really telling. You'd think a match featuring the supposed top female heel in the company would illicit SOME kind of crowd response, wouldn't it? But it didn't. The crowd popped for the Beautiful People's entrance, but once that was over and the bell rang, they just didn't care.
In fact, I would offer this match as the final proof that not only is Madison Rayne not a very good wrestler (that match sucked), but she's not over as a heel either.
"TNA needs to get some effective face characters into the Knockouts division and soon."
Well, here's the thing about that -- they already have effective face characters, but they never bother to use them. Hamada is over as a face. Daffney is over a face. Taylor Wilde used to be over as a face, but doesn't seem to be anymore, which I'm sure is due in no small part to her being depushed into the toilet for months. Even her and Hamada capturing the Knockout tag titles recently doesn't mean much because they once again disappeared from TV immediately afterward so all the spotlight could continue to be on Madison Rayne and the Beautiful People.
The writers have several good options for babyface Knockouts. The problem is nobody really notices this anymore because the entire division has revolved around the Beautiful People (past and present members) and Tara for the last year.
Creative is constantly running into this problem because they've never learned the lesson they should have learned a long time ago. As I've often said, they have tunnel vision with the Knockouts. They build up a top heel and a top face to focus on, and every other Knockout is treated like a non-entity. And then when something inevitably happens to said top face or heel, they're left with nothing. It happened when Gail left, it happened when Kong left, it happened when Tara left (before she came back).
The writers could very easily fix this problem by simply making use of the whole roster and building the other Knockouts into strong characters so they would have women who could step into these roles when they need to be filled by someone new. Unfortunately, that would require a certain amount of thought and effort that I just don't think they feel like putting into the Knockout division these days.
And if they're not smart enough to do this, then they'll have to bring in new talent to work as a face. I hear they just signed some chick named Mickie. Would she ever work as a top babyface? Only time will tell. lol
"Madison has worked her character to perfection and if you can't see how oozing with charisma her persona is, you must be blind."
Well, then I must be blind because I don't see it. In fact, Professor, I accuse you of seeing things that simply are not there. The last several months have done little more than expose Madison Rayne as not being suited for the spot she was in. She's not a particularly great wrestler and she's not particularly over. Her title push was a failure and she doesn't have what it takes to be a top star.
The end.
I say good day to you, sir.
September 18, 2010
Comment Responses
"I write comments on the internet. That means I'm right."
-Nostalgia Critic, thatguywiththeglasses.com.
In the comments section of the last edition of the Month In Review column I received some surprisingly negative feedback. To be honest, I really didn't expect this since I always try to be fair and even-handed when I write one of these columns. Also, I thought it was pretty much the general consensus in the fan community that the Knockout division is a shell of its former self right now, and IMHO, I didn't say a single thing in that particular column that wasn't true. So, me being the opinionated person that I am and loving a good debate, I thought I would take some time today to respond to my haters in the comments section.
And yes, smartasses, some of these responses are going to be copies of stuff I myself wrote there. Unfortunately, I find that the comments section often doesn't work for me. I'm doing this as a courtesy to others who may have the same problem.
"what a negative son of a b*tch! I really hate these posts, this person is a f*cking idiot!"
-bkgmsu73p.
I bow to the master wordsmith.
Seriously, man, feel free to email me and point out anything I wrote in the column you were referring to that you felt was even remotely untrue and I will be more than happy to explain why you're wrong.
"That is not exactly objective commenting on Becky Bayless.
Beside the facts that it is old footage and not recorded by a financially supported camera crew. If the douche paid attention he would have noted that it was the blonde who didn't sell the suplex right or get a good jump on the neckbreaker."
-jobesukulele83p.
This comment was in response to my criticism of the signing of independent female talent, Becky Bayless, and my decision to embed an old match between Bayless & Velvet Sky from several years ago to illustrate to my readers Bayless's lack of wrestling skill.
Was it Velvet's fault that match wasn't any good? Of course, but she wasn't alone in that ring. Velvet Sky is not a good wrestler. We all know this. It's not new information. That wasn't the point of showing the match -- the point was Bayless. It's not like Bayless elevated the match at all with her performance. They were both awful. Don't believe it? Here, watch the match again.
"The idiot said it himself that she was tried out as a valet, and she has been doing valet work and interviews in RoH since 07, so who is to say that she won't simply be a valet."
-jobesukulele83p.
Evidently, sir, you have not read the reports from the TV tapings that mentioned a tryout match Christina Von Eerie worked against Bayless which was described as being hilariously bad due to Bayless constantly botching spots. If Bayless is only going to be a valet/manager, then why are prospective new talents working against her in dark matches instead of someone, you know, good?
Bear in mind, people, this is the company that allows LACEY VON ERICH to wrestle. They once let JENNA MORASCA wrestle, for God's sake. If you think that they're not going to have Bayless get in the ring at some point and let her make a complete fool of herself then you need to think a little harder.
"It is all good to have an opinion. But when you're a reporter you can't be dead set on an opinion without weighing in on both sides of the argument. That's what our comments are for, not the staff's."
-jobesukulele83p.
And you would be right except for the fact that I am NOT a reporter and this column IS about me giving my opinions, and it has been since I was brought in to write it well over a year ago. I've said many glowing things about the Knockout division since then, but I'm not going to sugarcoat something if I don't like it. I may only be stating my opinions here, but I assure you, they are always HONEST opinions. If Velvet Sky has a stinker of a match, am I supposed to say it was great just to be nice? Sorry, but if that's the kind of kid gloves crap you're looking for, you're not going to find it here.
"While I'm not a Rosie Lottalove fan, I had no problem with the gimmick. She was just a women representing for plus size women which is not a bad demographic to target but TNA didn't follow up with the character. He sits there and calls her a a cartoon character but what is so cartoonish about being a plus size pin up lady? I saw nothing cartoonish about it."
-TROOF.
Let me be clear -- I see NOTHING wrong with being a plus size woman (FTR, I LOVED Awesome Kong). Regular readers of this column should know by now that I really don't care that much what the Knockouts look like as long as they know how to wrestle. However, from what I saw, Lottalove didn't seem to be very good in the ring.
Also, I really did not care at all for the name and character they gave her. Her being a 'big' girl doesn't bother me as long as her weight doesn't affect her in-ring performance, but when you dress her up like a burlesque dancer and have her play this completely over the top personality, that's a big turn off for me. I like gimmicks to be more down to earth and realistic as that's the way the wrestling business has been heading IMO.
I find silly, campy gimmicks really hard to take seriously and I said that gimmick belonged in Wrestlicious because Wrestlicious doesn't even try to take itself seriously. Characters like this just feel awkward and out of place in a mainstream company in 2010 and I just don't think they belong in TNA.
"He even goes on to say she injured Daffney but Daffney herself on her twitter said it was actually her fault while the injury happened. I'm just saying, if you're going to write an article, have all of your facts down."
-TROOF.
From what I heard, there was a miscommunication in the ring and they were both at fault. If that's not what happened, then I apologize. But the bottom line is that someone wound up in the hospital with a concussion, stinger and bruised sternum. When a wrestler's tryout match results in injuries like that for ANY reason, regardless of whose fault it was, that's someone you should think twice about signing. And lo and behold, it didn't take long for TNA to release her, citing the reason that they didn't think she was good enough in the ring. What does that tell you?
"Sara Del Ray is a good wrestler but give me a break. She's no monster. She looks to be about the same size as Tara."
-TROOF.
That's completely a matter of opinion. My point was that if TNA were looking for a woman who could fill the role Awesome Kong once had, they were ignoring the best and most obvious choice. Del Rey is a powerhouse and a total ass-kicker. Same size as Tara? Maybe, but she has about twice the muscle mass. Like Kong, Del Rey is also a tremendous wrestler, which Lottalove is not at this point in time.
IMHO, when Awesome Kong left the company, TNA management's first order of business should have been to get Del Rey on the phone as she is the woman best qualified to fill Kong's shoes. I think Alissa Flash could have done it just as well, but the TNA writers never bothered to give her a chance to do so. If you disagree, go right ahead.
"Also what does this guy have against Madison Rayne so much? Yes, I agree the KO division needs new wrestlers and maybe stop focusing on TBP so much but I didn't have much of a problem with Rayne as champ."
-TROOF.
The issue I had is that the writers spent months trying to push Madison Rayne to a level I simply don't think she can perform at. I've said this before many times -- Rayne is a beta; a top star needs to an alpha. She can be an acceptable midcarder, but she just doesn't have the tools to be a top star. When they have her constantly going over women that are clearly much more talented, more athletic and better workers than she is and she can't even make it look convincing, that's a big problem.
She never did a single thing to justify the push she got. Her matches didn't deliver, she never distinguished herself as a character, she didn't even get over unless the other members of TBP were standing next to her. And yet, inexplicably, her push just kept on going and going and going. They should have killed the push when it became obvious that it wasn't working, but they stubbornly refused for reasons I still can't figure out.
Didn't you find it odd that the entire crowd was dead when Velvet & Angelina had Madison surrounded in the ring on iMPACT recently and were teasing that she was finally going to get what she had coming to her? How about when the audience fell asleep during her match with Velvet at No Surrender? If Madison's push had been even remotely effective, she would be getting more of a reaction than this by now, but it wasn't and she's not. Ergo, her push was a failure.
"The KO division has taken a fall but I do not mind the story rivalry between Velvet, Tara, Angelina, and Madison. I think it's one of the consistent and better followed up angles in TNA or in the Knockouts division period."
-TROOF.
I didn't mind this storyline in the beginning either, and if you'll recall, I said in a previous column that I actually did think it was interesting at first. But it has gone on FOREVER. How can you possibly justify spending this much time focusing on the same group of women when there are several infinitely more talented women sitting on the bench doing nothing?
The Knockout division has been the Beautiful People Show for almost TEN MONTHS now and none of them have delivered a single match worth talking about in all that time except for the ones that were memorably and horrifically bad due to the human botch machine that is Lacey Von Erich. I mean, good God, how long is this freaking push going to last?
The writers have been shoving TBP down our throats for so long now that they've become ridiculously overexposed to the point that I just don't care about anything they do anymore. I'm absolutely sick of them. I don't care if they're heels, I don't care if they turn face. I just want them to go away so some of the other Knockouts can get some damn screen time and actually have a chance to put on a good match for once. Because in case you haven't noticed, we haven't been getting any good matches from TBP.
"Hamada can wrestle, Taylor can wrestle, Sarita can wrestle, evan Daffney & Tara can kinda wrestle, but I don't think thats what Hogan & Bischoff want. They seem to want eye candy rather than good wrestlers. That's what makes the WWE Diva's so bad, but it seems that creative have their heads up their asses on this one."
-Hangers.
Exactly my point. That's why I've been so critical of this division lately. The day it was announced that Bischoff & Hogan were coming to TNA, I said to myself, "Terrific... Dixie just killed the Knockout division." And that's what happened!
Bischoff has openly said in interviews that he doesn't care about women's wrestling and thinks it's stupid. Granted, he's been more tactful about that since he joined TNA, but it's clear his opinion hasn't changed. And Hogan? Hogan stated on live radio that Lacey Von Erich didn't even know how to lock up properly, and yet, since Hogan joined TNA, Lacey has received more match time and more screen time than ever when all reports said that she was on thin ice and the company was about to drop her before Hogan came in.
Add that to the fact that TBP have been the recipients of a never-ending push this year despite their matches being subpar at the best of times and completely wretched at the worst, and that tells you all you need to know about the state of the Knockouts these days. The current regime doesn't care about the women being wrestlers anymore; they just want eye candy. In other words, they want the Knockouts to be carbon copies of the WWE Divas and that's why this division sucks right now.
"I dont think this person is being negative. I think this person is truly passionate about the KO division, and has seen it go to hell. When i first started wathcing TNA about a year ago, i was SO excited to watch the KO division. Matter of fact, it was something that truly drug me into TNA! As months passed and the Hogan Bishoff era has started, it doesnt take a genious with a degree in mechanical engeneering who has worked for NASA for 10 years to see that the KO division has really tanked. For me now, its HARD to watch their matches.....I mean litteraly HARD. Most of the time i take a bathroom break or get some food when the KOs come out because its just so stale......"
-RealFiregod.
You just summed up my feelings perfectly. A lot of people think I'm being negative just for the sake of being negative or because I'm secretly a WWE fanboy or something. This could not be further from the truth. What I am is pissed off that something I loved about TNA, something I used to have such a high regard for, has turned to crap. There is a big difference.
"to FK9, good work. it's not easy to tell the truth, especially when your constantly ridiculed for it."
-godoftna.
No, it's not. I thank you, sir.
I love all my readers. Yes, even the haters. Keep right on hating, people, because I'm always going to be out there telling it like it is and I'm not going anywhere.
Peace.
September 08, 2010
the Month In Review 8/19/10-No Surrender
8/19/10 iMPACT
-Apparently, TNA has signed independent women's wrestler, Becky Bayless. Some of you may remember her as one of the women who showed up for the $25,000 Awesome Kong fan challenge the night Daffney was selected to face Kong. I'm really not happy about this news. TNA are barely using many of the girls they already have, most of whom are relegated to job fodder for TBP as it is, not to mention that they just passed on a pretty solid talent in Mia Yim, and suddenly Bayless of all people gets a contract?
-From what I know about Bayless, she's nice to look at, a good interview, has a lot of personality, but her wrestling skills are about Velvet Sky-level, and I mean that in a bad way. Also, her tryout involved her working as a manager rather than a wrestler. So her being signed had nothing to do with any athletic ability she may or may not have. Sadly, I find this to be pretty indicative of the direction the Knockout division has been going in 2010. This has Eric Bischoff's fingerprints all over it.
-To give you an idea of Bayless's skill level (cough) in the ring, here's a match she had with a pre-Velvet Talia Madison:
Doesn't paint a pretty picture, does it? Well, better get used to it, people, because that's what we're in for.
-The most depressing part about this is that I'd been watching videos of (new SHIMMER champion) Madison Eagles for a few days before this news broke and I was very impressed with what I saw. That lady is damn good in the ring and I was starting to really wish TNA would sign her. Instead, we get Becky Bayless in a Jersey Shore parody gimmick. Sigh...
-In other news, TNA has updated the roster page on their website and it appears that Rosie Lottalove is gone. Can't say I disagree with that one. The Lottalove gimmick was a cartoon character and had no place in a company that wants to be taken seriously. A character like that belongs in Wrestlicious, not TNA.
-Lottalove confirmed her release on her twitter account, so it looks like this is official. The word is TNA didn't think she was good enough in the ring. I'll agree with that, but bear in mind, this is the same company that employs Lacey Von Erich, so hell if I know what's going on here.
-If they were so down on Lottalove's wrestling ability, one has to wonder why they signed her in the first place, especially since she injured Daffney in her tryout match. As I understand it, she initially got hired because they were looking for someone who could replace Awesome Kong as the big killer, monster Knockout. Good grief, did these people lose Sara Del Rey's phone number or something? Idiots...
ANGELINA LOVE BACKSTAGE PROMO
-How is Angelina a 5-time champion? Are we really counting her last run where she had to relinquish the title back to Madison Rayne after 2 weeks? That's really pushing it IMO. Also, it's not nearly as impressive as it sounds when you consider how short several of those title reigns were, not to mention the little fact that one of them came from her pulling the title belt out of a random lockbox.
KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH:
MADISON RAYNE (w/TARA BIKER CHICK) vs. ANGELINA LOVE (c) (w/ VELVET SKY). HEELS BEAT DOWN THE FACES POST-MATCH
-Really? That's it? That match couldn't have been much longer than 90 seconds. I know I've been criticizing the push of Madison Rayne as the top heel, but it's pretty shocking to see her booked this weakly after they tried so hard for months to make her look like a badass. Sure, her push didn't work, but I didn't expect them to just throw it all away by having Angelina bury her like this. Like it or not, Madison is a former champion, and a match between her and Angelina should have been given a little respect and had more time than this.
-With Madison getting disposed of so quickly and easily by Angelina, the only explanation I can think of is that the writers are basically acknowledging that Madison's entire title push tanked (which it did). I really hope this doesn't give way to another push for Tara; I have no desire to see that again. If that's the only alternative, then I'd honestly rather they continue to role with Madison until Sarita comes back from her arm injury. At least Madison's a young homegrown talent; can't say the same about Tara. However, both of them need to step aside once Sarita's healthy.
-In other news, the new Knockout tag team champions, Taylor Wilde & Hamada, once again sat this show out.
-Heal up fast, Sarita. You're badly needed right now.
-----
8/26/10 iMPACT
(ORIGINAL) BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, MADISON RAYNE &TARA BIKER CHICK IN-RING PROMO SEGMENT
-Tenay excitedly points out that the original TBP are back. I fail to see why I or any other fan should get excited about that since the entire Knockout division has pretty much revolved around these women for the last year.
-Angelina & Velvet were good on the mic as usual, but they really outshined Madison, who was screeching all her lines. I get that she was trying to sound angry, but she was trying too hard and it just didn't feel real.
-Decent segment, but not at all interesting. The fact is that TBP, in any incarnation you want to put them in, are stale as hell. I just don't care about this faction anymore. What can you possibly do with them that is new or different at this point? These four women (as well as Lacey) have been pushed to the moon and beyond for ages, every other woman in the company has become an afterthought and it is way past time that this changed.
-Remember Taylor Wilde & Hamada, the Knockout tag team champions? I hope so, because I don't think the writers do.
-----
9/02/10 iMPACT
-Well, love it or hate it, TBP were the highest rated segment of the show last week by a pretty big margin. Suck it, LayCool.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. MADISON RAYNE &BIKER CHICK TARA. HEELS BEAT DOWN THE FACES POST-MATCH AND TARA UNMASKS
-Wow, that was anticlimactic.
-First of all, this match was lousy. Yes, I know Velvet & Madison have a match at the PPV, so they shouldn't have given too much away for free, but even the stuff that did give us sucked. There's never been anything impressive about Velvet as a worker and if Madison's title push accomplished anything, it was exposing her as really not being terribly good either. And they were the ones who carried most of this match! Tara, arguably the strongest worker of the four, did almost nothing, and she didn't even look good doing that. This was a nothing of a match and certainly a prelude to what we're going to get (or not get) from these women at (I'm assuming) Bound For Glory. I repeat my earlier position -- these four particular women are never going to deliver anything memorable in the ring together and the writers really need to stop trying to make that happen.
-As for the supposed payoffs for the angles involved here, there were two big ones and neither one of them worked. The first involved Madison Rayne getting some comeuppance. The problem was that when Velvet & Angelina had her surrounded in the ring with Tara taken out on the outside and they were teasing that Madison was finally going to get what she deserved, the crowd was dead for it; they didn't care. Not surprising, since Madison's title reign really didn't get over for all the reasons I've stated many times now.
-The second "payoff" was the reveal that Tara was Biker Chick. Problem #1: every fan watching already knew it was Tara and had for a long time. Problem #2: the writers dragged out this "mystery" for so long that people stopped caring about it weeks before they even reached this point. Problem #3: there was never a single logical reason to conceal her identity in the first place. Or if there was, the writers never told us about it. And just as you'd expect with all that stuff working against it, the fans in attendance really didn't react to her unmasking that much. Sure, they popped, but it was a half-assed, lukewarm pop, much like the reaction to this entire segment.
-This was lame. Lame and really uninteresting. I'm not looking forward to their match at No Surrender as this entire feud has been beaten to death over and over. They NEED to scale back TBP, they need to get the other Knockouts back on the show, and they need to sign some new female talent because this division really couldn't get more stale and boring than it is right now.
-And for the record, when I say they need new talent, I'm NOT talking about Becky Bayless a.k.a. Cookie. She doesn't count. And why? I expect you'll find out pretty soon.
-Tara just tweeted that the explanation for the whole Biker Chick "mystery" is coming up on the ReACTION show. They're going to need a really good explanation for this to make sense.
REACTION
-Okay, that could have been worse. They covered most of their bases fairly well. They explained why Madison brought Tara back. However, they never explained HOW she could bring Tara back after Tara lost a match where the stipulation was 'if you lose, you must retire from wrestling,' and I expect they won't even bother. That will probably just get swept under the rug. I think, "It was just a stipulation," is the most we're going to get.
-It's definitely a credit to quality of the ReACTION show that this situation was explained as well as it was. It wasn't perfect, there are still some holes in this story, but it was better than I expected it to be.
-I have serious doubts that a babyface version of TBP is going to work for long. Velvet & Angelina were acting FAR more heelish than Madison or Tara during these interviews. That's a problem with them getting a face push because TBP's natural inclination is to be stuck up, catty bitches. You can't cleanse the world one ugly person at a time when you're a good guy. It will work fine against Madison & Tara, but after that, then what?
-----
9/05/10 No Surrender
MADISON RAYNE (w/ TARA) vs. VELVET SKY (w/ ANGELINA LOVE)
-Pretty short match. For once, that was a good thing.
-Booooooooooooooriiiiiing! Did ANYONE think this was going to be any good? It's an uphill battle for Velvet and Madison to have good matches even when they have a talented worker as their opponent. When they're facing each other? Phhhh. Not a chance.
-As soon as the bell rang, the audience started chanting "Mas-tur-ba-tion!" This was pretty much the only heat the match got. How freaking sad is that? Nine months ago, the iMPACT Zone crowd was chanting "This-is-awe-some!" at a Knockouts match. Christ almighty, how did things get so bad, so fast?
-There was an unintentionally hilarious spot where Velvet tried to hit Madison with a clothesline, completely missed her and said an audible, "Sorry!" Wait, did I say hilarious? I meant depressing. While you're apologizing to Madison, you might want to apologize to the audience for making them suffer through your crappy match, Velvet. For God's sake... TNA, this is why Velvet has never had a singles match on PPV before! BECAUSE SHE SUCKS!!!
-I don't think Madison is over at all anymore (was she ever?). The crowd was giving her absolutely nothing here. Gosh... it's almost as if her massive, interminable heel push didn't work due to her not having the tools to pull it off. Who could have ever seen that coming? Besides me, I mean.
-To be fair, the crowd wasn't giving Velvet much of a reaction either. Once TBP's crowd-pleasing entrance was finished, the audience fell asleep. Not surprising, as the action in the ring didn't give them anything to stay awake for.
-This match sucked. Madison has now jobbed to V & A several times in a row. I hope and pray that this means her push is mercifully coming to an end at last. If the writers want her and Tara to go for the tag titles, that's fine, but no more singles pushes for Madison, please. And while we're at it, no more pushes for Velvet either.
-Apparently, TNA has signed independent women's wrestler, Becky Bayless. Some of you may remember her as one of the women who showed up for the $25,000 Awesome Kong fan challenge the night Daffney was selected to face Kong. I'm really not happy about this news. TNA are barely using many of the girls they already have, most of whom are relegated to job fodder for TBP as it is, not to mention that they just passed on a pretty solid talent in Mia Yim, and suddenly Bayless of all people gets a contract?
-From what I know about Bayless, she's nice to look at, a good interview, has a lot of personality, but her wrestling skills are about Velvet Sky-level, and I mean that in a bad way. Also, her tryout involved her working as a manager rather than a wrestler. So her being signed had nothing to do with any athletic ability she may or may not have. Sadly, I find this to be pretty indicative of the direction the Knockout division has been going in 2010. This has Eric Bischoff's fingerprints all over it.
-To give you an idea of Bayless's skill level (cough) in the ring, here's a match she had with a pre-Velvet Talia Madison:
Doesn't paint a pretty picture, does it? Well, better get used to it, people, because that's what we're in for.
-The most depressing part about this is that I'd been watching videos of (new SHIMMER champion) Madison Eagles for a few days before this news broke and I was very impressed with what I saw. That lady is damn good in the ring and I was starting to really wish TNA would sign her. Instead, we get Becky Bayless in a Jersey Shore parody gimmick. Sigh...
-In other news, TNA has updated the roster page on their website and it appears that Rosie Lottalove is gone. Can't say I disagree with that one. The Lottalove gimmick was a cartoon character and had no place in a company that wants to be taken seriously. A character like that belongs in Wrestlicious, not TNA.
-Lottalove confirmed her release on her twitter account, so it looks like this is official. The word is TNA didn't think she was good enough in the ring. I'll agree with that, but bear in mind, this is the same company that employs Lacey Von Erich, so hell if I know what's going on here.
-If they were so down on Lottalove's wrestling ability, one has to wonder why they signed her in the first place, especially since she injured Daffney in her tryout match. As I understand it, she initially got hired because they were looking for someone who could replace Awesome Kong as the big killer, monster Knockout. Good grief, did these people lose Sara Del Rey's phone number or something? Idiots...
ANGELINA LOVE BACKSTAGE PROMO
-How is Angelina a 5-time champion? Are we really counting her last run where she had to relinquish the title back to Madison Rayne after 2 weeks? That's really pushing it IMO. Also, it's not nearly as impressive as it sounds when you consider how short several of those title reigns were, not to mention the little fact that one of them came from her pulling the title belt out of a random lockbox.
KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH:
MADISON RAYNE (w/
-Really? That's it? That match couldn't have been much longer than 90 seconds. I know I've been criticizing the push of Madison Rayne as the top heel, but it's pretty shocking to see her booked this weakly after they tried so hard for months to make her look like a badass. Sure, her push didn't work, but I didn't expect them to just throw it all away by having Angelina bury her like this. Like it or not, Madison is a former champion, and a match between her and Angelina should have been given a little respect and had more time than this.
-With Madison getting disposed of so quickly and easily by Angelina, the only explanation I can think of is that the writers are basically acknowledging that Madison's entire title push tanked (which it did). I really hope this doesn't give way to another push for Tara; I have no desire to see that again. If that's the only alternative, then I'd honestly rather they continue to role with Madison until Sarita comes back from her arm injury. At least Madison's a young homegrown talent; can't say the same about Tara. However, both of them need to step aside once Sarita's healthy.
-In other news, the new Knockout tag team champions, Taylor Wilde & Hamada, once again sat this show out.
-Heal up fast, Sarita. You're badly needed right now.
-----
8/26/10 iMPACT
(ORIGINAL) BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, MADISON RAYNE &
-Tenay excitedly points out that the original TBP are back. I fail to see why I or any other fan should get excited about that since the entire Knockout division has pretty much revolved around these women for the last year.
-Angelina & Velvet were good on the mic as usual, but they really outshined Madison, who was screeching all her lines. I get that she was trying to sound angry, but she was trying too hard and it just didn't feel real.
-Decent segment, but not at all interesting. The fact is that TBP, in any incarnation you want to put them in, are stale as hell. I just don't care about this faction anymore. What can you possibly do with them that is new or different at this point? These four women (as well as Lacey) have been pushed to the moon and beyond for ages, every other woman in the company has become an afterthought and it is way past time that this changed.
-Remember Taylor Wilde & Hamada, the Knockout tag team champions? I hope so, because I don't think the writers do.
-----
9/02/10 iMPACT
-Well, love it or hate it, TBP were the highest rated segment of the show last week by a pretty big margin. Suck it, LayCool.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. MADISON RAYNE &
-Wow, that was anticlimactic.
-First of all, this match was lousy. Yes, I know Velvet & Madison have a match at the PPV, so they shouldn't have given too much away for free, but even the stuff that did give us sucked. There's never been anything impressive about Velvet as a worker and if Madison's title push accomplished anything, it was exposing her as really not being terribly good either. And they were the ones who carried most of this match! Tara, arguably the strongest worker of the four, did almost nothing, and she didn't even look good doing that. This was a nothing of a match and certainly a prelude to what we're going to get (or not get) from these women at (I'm assuming) Bound For Glory. I repeat my earlier position -- these four particular women are never going to deliver anything memorable in the ring together and the writers really need to stop trying to make that happen.
-As for the supposed payoffs for the angles involved here, there were two big ones and neither one of them worked. The first involved Madison Rayne getting some comeuppance. The problem was that when Velvet & Angelina had her surrounded in the ring with Tara taken out on the outside and they were teasing that Madison was finally going to get what she deserved, the crowd was dead for it; they didn't care. Not surprising, since Madison's title reign really didn't get over for all the reasons I've stated many times now.
-The second "payoff" was the reveal that Tara was Biker Chick. Problem #1: every fan watching already knew it was Tara and had for a long time. Problem #2: the writers dragged out this "mystery" for so long that people stopped caring about it weeks before they even reached this point. Problem #3: there was never a single logical reason to conceal her identity in the first place. Or if there was, the writers never told us about it. And just as you'd expect with all that stuff working against it, the fans in attendance really didn't react to her unmasking that much. Sure, they popped, but it was a half-assed, lukewarm pop, much like the reaction to this entire segment.
-This was lame. Lame and really uninteresting. I'm not looking forward to their match at No Surrender as this entire feud has been beaten to death over and over. They NEED to scale back TBP, they need to get the other Knockouts back on the show, and they need to sign some new female talent because this division really couldn't get more stale and boring than it is right now.
-And for the record, when I say they need new talent, I'm NOT talking about Becky Bayless a.k.a. Cookie. She doesn't count. And why? I expect you'll find out pretty soon.
-Tara just tweeted that the explanation for the whole Biker Chick "mystery" is coming up on the ReACTION show. They're going to need a really good explanation for this to make sense.
REACTION
-Okay, that could have been worse. They covered most of their bases fairly well. They explained why Madison brought Tara back. However, they never explained HOW she could bring Tara back after Tara lost a match where the stipulation was 'if you lose, you must retire from wrestling,' and I expect they won't even bother. That will probably just get swept under the rug. I think, "It was just a stipulation," is the most we're going to get.
-It's definitely a credit to quality of the ReACTION show that this situation was explained as well as it was. It wasn't perfect, there are still some holes in this story, but it was better than I expected it to be.
-I have serious doubts that a babyface version of TBP is going to work for long. Velvet & Angelina were acting FAR more heelish than Madison or Tara during these interviews. That's a problem with them getting a face push because TBP's natural inclination is to be stuck up, catty bitches. You can't cleanse the world one ugly person at a time when you're a good guy. It will work fine against Madison & Tara, but after that, then what?
-----
9/05/10 No Surrender
MADISON RAYNE (w/ TARA) vs. VELVET SKY (w/ ANGELINA LOVE)
-Pretty short match. For once, that was a good thing.
-Booooooooooooooriiiiiing! Did ANYONE think this was going to be any good? It's an uphill battle for Velvet and Madison to have good matches even when they have a talented worker as their opponent. When they're facing each other? Phhhh. Not a chance.
-As soon as the bell rang, the audience started chanting "Mas-tur-ba-tion!" This was pretty much the only heat the match got. How freaking sad is that? Nine months ago, the iMPACT Zone crowd was chanting "This-is-awe-some!" at a Knockouts match. Christ almighty, how did things get so bad, so fast?
-There was an unintentionally hilarious spot where Velvet tried to hit Madison with a clothesline, completely missed her and said an audible, "Sorry!" Wait, did I say hilarious? I meant depressing. While you're apologizing to Madison, you might want to apologize to the audience for making them suffer through your crappy match, Velvet. For God's sake... TNA, this is why Velvet has never had a singles match on PPV before! BECAUSE SHE SUCKS!!!
-I don't think Madison is over at all anymore (was she ever?). The crowd was giving her absolutely nothing here. Gosh... it's almost as if her massive, interminable heel push didn't work due to her not having the tools to pull it off. Who could have ever seen that coming? Besides me, I mean.
-To be fair, the crowd wasn't giving Velvet much of a reaction either. Once TBP's crowd-pleasing entrance was finished, the audience fell asleep. Not surprising, as the action in the ring didn't give them anything to stay awake for.
-This match sucked. Madison has now jobbed to V & A several times in a row. I hope and pray that this means her push is mercifully coming to an end at last. If the writers want her and Tara to go for the tag titles, that's fine, but no more singles pushes for Madison, please. And while we're at it, no more pushes for Velvet either.
August 14, 2010
the Month In Review 7/15/10-the Whole F'n Show
7/14/10 iMPACT
-At the beginning of the show, they announce a Taylor/Sarita street fight for later in the night. Hot damn! The show just started and we're already doing better than we were this time last month!
TAYLOR WILDE & SARITA BACKSTAGE BRAWL
-Wow, they're already going at it. I like where this is heading.
-Sarita says that she beat Taylor last week. I guess their first match took place on Xplosion. Sigh... If TNA is going to continue to build angles like this on Xplosion, they really need to upload that show on their youtube page until it starts airing in the U.S. In the meantime, I'm going to have to download that match somewhere; I bet it was awesome.
-Not to sound like a typical guy or anything, but DAMN, was Sarita rocking those tight jeans or what?
STREET FIGHT:
SARITA vs. TAYLOR WILDE
-YES! FINALLY something interesting! This was just what I've been asking for! This was, hands down, the best Knockouts action on iMPACT in ages. And the crazy thing is that there wasn't even any wrestling -- just two women beating the snot out of each other, and it was great!
-I really hope this feud goes for a while because these two are going to make just as great opponents as they were partners. I'm still bummed about the implosion of their tag team, but I'm really excited to see where their rivalry goes.
-After one segment, the heel Sarita is already better than the heel Madison Rayne. And why? Because Sarita can actually sell action like this convincingly. I love the vicious streak she showed with choking Taylor until she passed out. Can you even imagine what a lame spectacle it would be if they put Madison in a street fight? Screw Madison Rayne! Make Sarita the top heel!
-And what a great capper -- not only does Sarita finally win a match on iMPACT, but she's gone back to her awesome original music. I really loved her and Taylor's music, but it's not like this is a change for the worse.
-What a breath of fresh air this was. Let's hope they keep it up. Heel Sarita FTW!
VELVET SKY & LACEY VON ERICH BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Interesting. Velvet is pissed off about Madison's attitude towards the two of them lately as well as her bringing in Tara, er... I mean, that mystery woman to join the group without telling them. This could be the teasing of a face turn for Velvet & Lacey or it could be the implosion of TBP (or rather their current incarnation). Either way, God help me, but I'm actually intrigued.
MADISON RAYNE IN-RING PROMO
-Madison is protesting the referee's decision to award the title to Angelina because neither Velvet nor Lacey were the mystery woman on the motor bike at Victory Road. Yeah... and you could have easily proved that by simply asking her to remove the helmet concealing her identity at the PPV. Why didn't you just do that in the first place, you moron?
VELVET SKY, LACEY VON ERICH, MADISON RAYNE & ANGELINA LOVE IN-RING PROMO
-I'll be damned. I actually really liked this. With the heels teasing legitimate tension that was built up in a logical way over several weeks, TBP finally became relevant for the first time in God knows how long. It looks like the current incarnation of the group may be about done, and that's just fine with me. Velvet & Lacey might be turning face which, if nothing else is something different than what we've been seeing for a long time now. Meanwhile, Madison actually looked like a stronger heel than she did at any point during her title run. It's also worth mentioning that this was probably the most comfortable on the mic Madison has been so far.
ANGELINA & MADISON BRAWL.TARA MYSTERY BIKER CHICK APPEARS AND BEATS DOWN ANGELINA
-Another bullseye. Were the Knockouts booked by a different creative team this week? Seriously, it's so rare these days that everything clicks like this. If Madison had been booked this way all along, her title reign might have actually worked. This was the first time she's ever looked dangerous and it didn't come off as being completely transparent or manufactured. The only problem was that when she was standing face-to-face with Velvet & Lacey, she looked like a midget. Geez, that woman is tiny.
-It's very telling that the Knockouts actually got two segments devoted to them (like they used to get every week) and solid screen time for both on a night when Hogan & Bischoff did not appear on the show. The Knockout division turned to crap when those guys showed up in January, then they take the week off and suddenly it gets better. Coincidence? You tell me.
-I can't wait to see what happens next week which, according to the spoilers, Hogan & Bischoff will also not appear on.
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7/22/10 iMPACT
-I was able to find the Sarita vs. Taylor match from Xplosion (thank you, diva-dirt.com) and it was awesome. Great action, chain wrestling, tons of near falls, basically lots of stuff you're never ever going to see in a TBP match. And just because this is my blog and I can write what I want, I'm going to embed it on here for those of you who, like myself, live in the states and aren't able to watch Xplosion on TV. Enjoy!
-It's a shame that didn't take place on iMPACT, as it was easily the best Knockouts match since Sarita & Taylor vs. Kong & Hamada back in January.
-I can't wait for Xplosion to start airing in America because, from what I've seen from downloading the show, the matches tend to be a lot longer than the ones on iMPACT. Hell, this had to be the longest Knockout match TNA has put on in months and it was much better for having that extra time. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that the bulk of this feud is taking place on Xplosion; the booking seems to be a lot better on that show.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE & SARITA BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Fine segment for what it needed to do. I guess TBP break up isn't official just yet. That's fine. The teases continue to be well done.
-So Angelina has to give the Knockouts title back to Madison tonight because of the "controversial" title change at Victory Road? You know, I hate to point out the obvious again here, but Madison could have easily avoided this by simply askingTara her "bodyguard" to unmask at the PPV. The referee would have seen that she wasn't Velvet or Lacey and the title wouldn't have changed hands. So why didn't she just do that? What is the point of keeping Tara's the "bodyguard's" identity a secret. There IS no point. Good grief. You'd think a a 5-year-old wrote this.
ANGELINA LOVE (c) & TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE & SARITA. MADISON,TARA BIKER CHICK & SARITA BEATDOWN THE FACES POST-MATCH. VELVET & LACEY WATCH. LACEY LEAVES WITH THE HEELS AS VELVET & ANGELINA STARE EACH OTHER DOWN
-Taylor & Sarita on iMPACT two weeks in a row? Both of them in a match with actual feuds and storylines attached? Me likey!
-Angelina has to give the belt back to Madison before the match. I wonder if we'll ever have a title change in the Knockout division that isn't complete BS.
-The heels lost the match and it was Madison, not Sarita, who ate the pin. Thank you, TNA writers.
-The match wasn't very long (big surprise). This was classic Russo booking where the post-match antics completely overshadowed the match itself. Fortunately, the post-match stuff was actually well done this week. The bodyguard's identity is obvious if you just think about it for a minute, but they're doing a decent job of building the mystery of who it is, and it's being used as a catalyst to shake up the status quo in the division.
-I actually really like how this is going right now. I still don't buy Madison as the top heel, but this is the most interesting her character has been now that she's teaming with Sarita and sowing seeds of dissent in TBP. I expect this will lead to Velvet & Angelina reuniting, but that would at least be something new if they do it as babyfaces. I didn't like the title change, but damned if I'm not interested to see where this all goes.
-----
7/29/10 iMPACT
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-The split continues. As sick as I am of TBP, this angle is being done well. Good performances from all three women here. The story is that Madison is the instigator whose ego is causing friction between her and Velvet, and Lacey is the one caught in the middle, doesn't know which side to take and just wants them all to get along. It's pretty basic character work, but it's been handled surprisingly competently so far, and TBP are playing their parts well in these segments.
#1 CONTENDERS MATCH:
SARITA vs. ANGELINA LOVE
-It's refreshing to see an iMPACT match between two of the women who actually know what they're doing in the ring. Yes, dummies, that was a shot at TBP.
-Too short, but very nice while it lasted. I really wish they had cut the HORRID Orlando Jordan match that came after this and gave Angelina & Sarita a few more minutes. They could've had a much better match with more time and it probably would have drawn more viewers than Jordan drove away by being the no-talent, ratings-killing piece of garbage that he is.
-Angelina wins the match, so she gets the title shot. Again. This is hardly surprisingly, nor is it remotely interesting at this point. If the writers really wanted to stir the pot, they could have had Sarita go over here. Yes, her and Madison are both heels and supposedly aligned with each other now, but they could have made a story out of that AND it would have been something different. It's high time the writers got behind one of the Knockouts who are not TBP-related. But, hey, at least Sarita was on iMPACT for another consecutive week; that's better than her sitting on the bench.
-That being said, Angelina's never-ending push has got to stop sooner or later. If the writers are so damn high on her, one has to wonder why she was Gail Kim and Taylor Wilde's bitch for the first year of the Knockout division.
-Good crowd reaction to this match. The fans are responding to Sarita as a heel. That's a good sign.
-----
8/05/10 iMPACT
-News is going around that Sarita was taken off a CMLL card because she has some type of arm injury. Damn it! What horrible timing! Just when TNA was finally starting to use her again! I really want to scream right now. I hope she won't be out long. If she is, it will probably mean an even longer push for Madison Rayne andTara the mystery biker chick, which is the last thing I want to see right now.
KNOCKOUT TAG TITLE MATCH:
TAYLOR WILDE & HAMADA vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (c).TARA MYSTERY BIKER CHICK TRIES TO INTERFERE. MADISON RAYNE WATCHES FROM THE STAGE
-Wow. For once, in a TBP match, the babyfaces did NOT have their entrance cut out. This is the first time that's happened in a long time. What's even weirder about this is that TBP came out first when the title holders traditionally come out last. This can only mean one thing: new champs are about to be crowned. Thank God!
-HAMADA! Holy crap! How long has it been since we've seen her? I'm not sure exactly, but it's been a couple months. I believe the last iMPACT match she appeared in was the one where she was pinned by Velvet Sky during a commercial break, and now here she is in a title match against Velvet. It's kind of ironic when you think about it.
-Dear God in heaven... Lacey. Is. Awful. Absolutely AWFUL! A-W-F-U-L! AAAAWWWWFFFFUUUULLLL!!!! For the life of me, I don't know what TNA management are thinking even putting this woman in the ring when she obviously has no clue what she's doing. And she was tagged in nearly the entire time, which means this was one pretty damn ugly match.
-Lacey, when even Ayako Hamada can't carry you in the ring, it's time to find a new line of work. Seriously. Just stop trying. I mean this more than anything. Be a manager, be a valet, be an interviewer, be a swimsuit model, be ANYTHING else. Just quit wrestling before you embarrass yourself any more than you already have and, more importantly, before you injure yourself or someone else. You suck. Plain and simple.
-This is not even a case of someone who has been trained to wrestle but just doesn't have the athletic ability to do it. Lacey has clearly received virtually no formal training, and it shows. It really shows. It's not simply a matter of her delivering bad wrestling matches. This is about Lacey being a danger to herself and others in the ring due to gross incompetence on her part and gross negligence and disregard for the safety of their female performers on TNA management's part for even putting someone like her in the ring in the first place.
-This atrocious match is better left forgotten, and that's putting it mildly, but the end result was what should've happened months ago. The belts are off TBP, finally. And thank God for that; they were horrible champions. They didn't have a single match that was any good at all during their title reign. The titles practically disappeared while they had them. It was the female equivalent of Hall & Nash being the tag team champions before TNA management came to their senses, stripped the has-beens of the titles and put the belts on a real team, the Motor City Machine Guns. I don't expect Taylor & Hamada to have the same effect on the Knockout tag team division that the Guns & Beer Money have had for the men's division since all the focus continues to be on TBP members former and present, but this is sure as hell one big step in the right direction.
VELVET SKY & MADISON RAYNE BACKSTAGE BRAWL. LACEY IS INJURED
-Yep, more TBP stuff. God forbid we check in with the new champions or anything trivial like that. Sigh...
-Christ almighty, Lacey doesn't know how to bump in a backstage brawl either. Is it too much to hope that she'll be off TV, selling this injury until her contract runs out?
-And just to show my readers that I am not alone in my completely fair and justified criticism of Lacey, here are some tweets made by Dustin Rhodes after this week's show:
8/12/10 The Whole F'n Show
ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c).TARA BIKER CHICK APPEARS, BUT GETS ATTACKED BY VELVET SKY
-Mike Tenay says that Lacey will be out of action for weeks with a broken cheekbone. There is a God. :)
-Not a whole lot to say here. An okay match, which is about all that Madison Rayne delivers at the best of times unless she has an opponent talented enough to carry her to something better (ex. Roxxi). I'm very happy her title reign is finally over because she just wasn't cutting it as the top heel and she was never going to.
-Having said that, I REALLY hope this doesn't give way to yet another push for Tara. If we're looking at yet another Tara vs. Angelina match at Bound For Glory, I can't think of anything that would interest me less at this point. That feud has been done to death.
-Why do the writers continue to keep the biker chick's identity a secret? Why don't they just reveal it already? They have to know they're not fooling anybody. EVERYONE knows who she is. The crowd was chanting Tara's name when she appeared. To have the announcers and wrestlers continue to feign ignorance is just ridiculous. The cat is out of the bag. Besides, there was no reason to even try to keep her a secret in the first place.
-Considering it took place on a show that was advertised as being all action, this match was pretty short. I'm just saying.
-----
-At the beginning of the show, they announce a Taylor/Sarita street fight for later in the night. Hot damn! The show just started and we're already doing better than we were this time last month!
TAYLOR WILDE & SARITA BACKSTAGE BRAWL
-Wow, they're already going at it. I like where this is heading.
-Sarita says that she beat Taylor last week. I guess their first match took place on Xplosion. Sigh... If TNA is going to continue to build angles like this on Xplosion, they really need to upload that show on their youtube page until it starts airing in the U.S. In the meantime, I'm going to have to download that match somewhere; I bet it was awesome.
-Not to sound like a typical guy or anything, but DAMN, was Sarita rocking those tight jeans or what?
STREET FIGHT:
SARITA vs. TAYLOR WILDE
-YES! FINALLY something interesting! This was just what I've been asking for! This was, hands down, the best Knockouts action on iMPACT in ages. And the crazy thing is that there wasn't even any wrestling -- just two women beating the snot out of each other, and it was great!
-I really hope this feud goes for a while because these two are going to make just as great opponents as they were partners. I'm still bummed about the implosion of their tag team, but I'm really excited to see where their rivalry goes.
-After one segment, the heel Sarita is already better than the heel Madison Rayne. And why? Because Sarita can actually sell action like this convincingly. I love the vicious streak she showed with choking Taylor until she passed out. Can you even imagine what a lame spectacle it would be if they put Madison in a street fight? Screw Madison Rayne! Make Sarita the top heel!
-And what a great capper -- not only does Sarita finally win a match on iMPACT, but she's gone back to her awesome original music. I really loved her and Taylor's music, but it's not like this is a change for the worse.
-What a breath of fresh air this was. Let's hope they keep it up. Heel Sarita FTW!
VELVET SKY & LACEY VON ERICH BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Interesting. Velvet is pissed off about Madison's attitude towards the two of them lately as well as her bringing in Tara, er... I mean, that mystery woman to join the group without telling them. This could be the teasing of a face turn for Velvet & Lacey or it could be the implosion of TBP (or rather their current incarnation). Either way, God help me, but I'm actually intrigued.
MADISON RAYNE IN-RING PROMO
-Madison is protesting the referee's decision to award the title to Angelina because neither Velvet nor Lacey were the mystery woman on the motor bike at Victory Road. Yeah... and you could have easily proved that by simply asking her to remove the helmet concealing her identity at the PPV. Why didn't you just do that in the first place, you moron?
VELVET SKY, LACEY VON ERICH, MADISON RAYNE & ANGELINA LOVE IN-RING PROMO
-I'll be damned. I actually really liked this. With the heels teasing legitimate tension that was built up in a logical way over several weeks, TBP finally became relevant for the first time in God knows how long. It looks like the current incarnation of the group may be about done, and that's just fine with me. Velvet & Lacey might be turning face which, if nothing else is something different than what we've been seeing for a long time now. Meanwhile, Madison actually looked like a stronger heel than she did at any point during her title run. It's also worth mentioning that this was probably the most comfortable on the mic Madison has been so far.
ANGELINA & MADISON BRAWL.
-Another bullseye. Were the Knockouts booked by a different creative team this week? Seriously, it's so rare these days that everything clicks like this. If Madison had been booked this way all along, her title reign might have actually worked. This was the first time she's ever looked dangerous and it didn't come off as being completely transparent or manufactured. The only problem was that when she was standing face-to-face with Velvet & Lacey, she looked like a midget. Geez, that woman is tiny.
-It's very telling that the Knockouts actually got two segments devoted to them (like they used to get every week) and solid screen time for both on a night when Hogan & Bischoff did not appear on the show. The Knockout division turned to crap when those guys showed up in January, then they take the week off and suddenly it gets better. Coincidence? You tell me.
-I can't wait to see what happens next week which, according to the spoilers, Hogan & Bischoff will also not appear on.
-----
7/22/10 iMPACT
-I was able to find the Sarita vs. Taylor match from Xplosion (thank you, diva-dirt.com) and it was awesome. Great action, chain wrestling, tons of near falls, basically lots of stuff you're never ever going to see in a TBP match. And just because this is my blog and I can write what I want, I'm going to embed it on here for those of you who, like myself, live in the states and aren't able to watch Xplosion on TV. Enjoy!
-It's a shame that didn't take place on iMPACT, as it was easily the best Knockouts match since Sarita & Taylor vs. Kong & Hamada back in January.
-I can't wait for Xplosion to start airing in America because, from what I've seen from downloading the show, the matches tend to be a lot longer than the ones on iMPACT. Hell, this had to be the longest Knockout match TNA has put on in months and it was much better for having that extra time. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that the bulk of this feud is taking place on Xplosion; the booking seems to be a lot better on that show.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE & SARITA BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Fine segment for what it needed to do. I guess TBP break up isn't official just yet. That's fine. The teases continue to be well done.
-So Angelina has to give the Knockouts title back to Madison tonight because of the "controversial" title change at Victory Road? You know, I hate to point out the obvious again here, but Madison could have easily avoided this by simply asking
ANGELINA LOVE (c) & TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE & SARITA. MADISON,
-Taylor & Sarita on iMPACT two weeks in a row? Both of them in a match with actual feuds and storylines attached? Me likey!
-Angelina has to give the belt back to Madison before the match. I wonder if we'll ever have a title change in the Knockout division that isn't complete BS.
-The heels lost the match and it was Madison, not Sarita, who ate the pin. Thank you, TNA writers.
-The match wasn't very long (big surprise). This was classic Russo booking where the post-match antics completely overshadowed the match itself. Fortunately, the post-match stuff was actually well done this week. The bodyguard's identity is obvious if you just think about it for a minute, but they're doing a decent job of building the mystery of who it is, and it's being used as a catalyst to shake up the status quo in the division.
-I actually really like how this is going right now. I still don't buy Madison as the top heel, but this is the most interesting her character has been now that she's teaming with Sarita and sowing seeds of dissent in TBP. I expect this will lead to Velvet & Angelina reuniting, but that would at least be something new if they do it as babyfaces. I didn't like the title change, but damned if I'm not interested to see where this all goes.
-----
7/29/10 iMPACT
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-The split continues. As sick as I am of TBP, this angle is being done well. Good performances from all three women here. The story is that Madison is the instigator whose ego is causing friction between her and Velvet, and Lacey is the one caught in the middle, doesn't know which side to take and just wants them all to get along. It's pretty basic character work, but it's been handled surprisingly competently so far, and TBP are playing their parts well in these segments.
#1 CONTENDERS MATCH:
SARITA vs. ANGELINA LOVE
-It's refreshing to see an iMPACT match between two of the women who actually know what they're doing in the ring. Yes, dummies, that was a shot at TBP.
-Too short, but very nice while it lasted. I really wish they had cut the HORRID Orlando Jordan match that came after this and gave Angelina & Sarita a few more minutes. They could've had a much better match with more time and it probably would have drawn more viewers than Jordan drove away by being the no-talent, ratings-killing piece of garbage that he is.
-Angelina wins the match, so she gets the title shot. Again. This is hardly surprisingly, nor is it remotely interesting at this point. If the writers really wanted to stir the pot, they could have had Sarita go over here. Yes, her and Madison are both heels and supposedly aligned with each other now, but they could have made a story out of that AND it would have been something different. It's high time the writers got behind one of the Knockouts who are not TBP-related. But, hey, at least Sarita was on iMPACT for another consecutive week; that's better than her sitting on the bench.
-That being said, Angelina's never-ending push has got to stop sooner or later. If the writers are so damn high on her, one has to wonder why she was Gail Kim and Taylor Wilde's bitch for the first year of the Knockout division.
-Good crowd reaction to this match. The fans are responding to Sarita as a heel. That's a good sign.
-----
8/05/10 iMPACT
-News is going around that Sarita was taken off a CMLL card because she has some type of arm injury. Damn it! What horrible timing! Just when TNA was finally starting to use her again! I really want to scream right now. I hope she won't be out long. If she is, it will probably mean an even longer push for Madison Rayne and
KNOCKOUT TAG TITLE MATCH:
TAYLOR WILDE & HAMADA vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (c).
-Wow. For once, in a TBP match, the babyfaces did NOT have their entrance cut out. This is the first time that's happened in a long time. What's even weirder about this is that TBP came out first when the title holders traditionally come out last. This can only mean one thing: new champs are about to be crowned. Thank God!
-HAMADA! Holy crap! How long has it been since we've seen her? I'm not sure exactly, but it's been a couple months. I believe the last iMPACT match she appeared in was the one where she was pinned by Velvet Sky during a commercial break, and now here she is in a title match against Velvet. It's kind of ironic when you think about it.
-Dear God in heaven... Lacey. Is. Awful. Absolutely AWFUL! A-W-F-U-L! AAAAWWWWFFFFUUUULLLL!!!! For the life of me, I don't know what TNA management are thinking even putting this woman in the ring when she obviously has no clue what she's doing. And she was tagged in nearly the entire time, which means this was one pretty damn ugly match.
-Lacey, when even Ayako Hamada can't carry you in the ring, it's time to find a new line of work. Seriously. Just stop trying. I mean this more than anything. Be a manager, be a valet, be an interviewer, be a swimsuit model, be ANYTHING else. Just quit wrestling before you embarrass yourself any more than you already have and, more importantly, before you injure yourself or someone else. You suck. Plain and simple.
-This is not even a case of someone who has been trained to wrestle but just doesn't have the athletic ability to do it. Lacey has clearly received virtually no formal training, and it shows. It really shows. It's not simply a matter of her delivering bad wrestling matches. This is about Lacey being a danger to herself and others in the ring due to gross incompetence on her part and gross negligence and disregard for the safety of their female performers on TNA management's part for even putting someone like her in the ring in the first place.
-This atrocious match is better left forgotten, and that's putting it mildly, but the end result was what should've happened months ago. The belts are off TBP, finally. And thank God for that; they were horrible champions. They didn't have a single match that was any good at all during their title reign. The titles practically disappeared while they had them. It was the female equivalent of Hall & Nash being the tag team champions before TNA management came to their senses, stripped the has-beens of the titles and put the belts on a real team, the Motor City Machine Guns. I don't expect Taylor & Hamada to have the same effect on the Knockout tag team division that the Guns & Beer Money have had for the men's division since all the focus continues to be on TBP members former and present, but this is sure as hell one big step in the right direction.
VELVET SKY & MADISON RAYNE BACKSTAGE BRAWL. LACEY IS INJURED
-Yep, more TBP stuff. God forbid we check in with the new champions or anything trivial like that. Sigh...
-Christ almighty, Lacey doesn't know how to bump in a backstage brawl either. Is it too much to hope that she'll be off TV, selling this injury until her contract runs out?
-And just to show my readers that I am not alone in my completely fair and justified criticism of Lacey, here are some tweets made by Dustin Rhodes after this week's show:
"Lacy has no talent whatsoever"-----
"She is horrible"
"Great family but her no"
-Dustin Rhodes, www.twitter.com/WWEGoldust
8/12/10 The Whole F'n Show
ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c).
-Mike Tenay says that Lacey will be out of action for weeks with a broken cheekbone. There is a God. :)
-Not a whole lot to say here. An okay match, which is about all that Madison Rayne delivers at the best of times unless she has an opponent talented enough to carry her to something better (ex. Roxxi). I'm very happy her title reign is finally over because she just wasn't cutting it as the top heel and she was never going to.
-Having said that, I REALLY hope this doesn't give way to yet another push for Tara. If we're looking at yet another Tara vs. Angelina match at Bound For Glory, I can't think of anything that would interest me less at this point. That feud has been done to death.
-Why do the writers continue to keep the biker chick's identity a secret? Why don't they just reveal it already? They have to know they're not fooling anybody. EVERYONE knows who she is. The crowd was chanting Tara's name when she appeared. To have the announcers and wrestlers continue to feign ignorance is just ridiculous. The cat is out of the bag. Besides, there was no reason to even try to keep her a secret in the first place.
-Considering it took place on a show that was advertised as being all action, this match was pretty short. I'm just saying.
-----
August 11, 2010
Lacey Von Erich Must Be Stopped
"Lacy has no talent whatsoever"
"She is horrible"
"Great family but her no"
-Dustin Rhodes, www.twitter.com/WWEGoldust.
"Lacey Von Erich just needs to stop. She can't wrestle; that's the understatement of the decade. With Lacey Von Erich... there is no hope."
-Noah 'Spoony' Antwiler, www.wrestlewrestle.com.
Once upon a time, I started writing this column because the Knockout division was one of the best things about TNA. In the first year of its existence, it was not uncommon for the Knockouts to have the best matches on any given TNA PPV. Things certainly have changed since then, haven't they?
In previous columns, I examined the appalling devolution the Knockout division has undergone since Hogan & Bischoff joined TNA and this entry is an extension of that. This column was inspired by a Knockout tag team match that I witnessed a few days ago, a match so atrocious that it made me want to stop writing this column altogether out of sheer disgust. Shockingly, this match actually included Hamada & Taylor Wilde, two of the most skilled workers the Knockout roster has to offer. The problem was that on the other side of the ring stood the Beautiful People, one of whom was Lacey Von Erich.
I have always had my share of critics in the IWC, on TNAwrestlingnews as well as on youtube -- people who disagree with me, people who think I don't know what I'm talking about, people who think I'm just plain nuts. But even my most vocal contingent of haters cannot possibly disagree with me when I say that this was the worst women's match in TNA since the now infamous Sharmell vs. Jenna Morasca debacle.
Taylor Wilde is an extremely talented wrestler and the number of bad matches she has had in TNA can be counted on one hand. Hamada is widely considered to be one of the best female competitors in the entire world. When even these two women working together cannot carry Lacey to a watchable performance, that's saying a lot.
And yet for the last several months, this buffoon has been, not only one of the most heavily featured Knockouts in TNA, but to add insult to injury (until she lost it in this match), she was walking around with a championship.
WHY?!
Let's talk about Lacey's background for a minute here.
This is a woman who washed out of WWE developmental. That's right -- the same developmental system where non-talents like Maryse, Alicia Fox and the Bella twins have somehow managed to pass with flying colors. These are women who habitually stink up the ring and make a mockery of professional wrestling on a weekly basis, and yet they not only graduated from said system, but have become mainstays on the main WWE roster.
Let me repeat that so we're all 100% clear on this.
Lacey was cut from the same developmental company that graduated MARYSE, ALICIA FOX AND THE BELLA TWINS.
Just think about that for a minute...
The WWE hasn't taken their women's division even remotely seriously in years. Any feeble, half-assed attempts on their part to make it at least bare some vague resemblance to a legitimate wrestling division ceased the day Trish Stratus left the company. Ever since then, and for a long time before that to a great extent, the WWE Divas have been about one thing and one thing only, and being 'smart' and 'powerful' has nothing to do with it.
The WWE Divas are not meant to be taken seriously as wrestlers. The only reason they're on the show at all is to provide titillation (albeit PG rated now) for the horny male demographic. To be blunt, the Divas are there to stick their tits out. And don't even try to argue this point; anyone who honestly believes otherwise has simply not been paying attention.
The Divas are there for their looks, plain and simple. If they happen to possess some actual wrestling talent, great, but it's hardly a prerequisite for success, and not having any does nothing to prevent them from getting pushed as long as they have the right look.
Alicia Fox is the current Diva's champion even though she ranks among the sloppiest workers on the entire roster (male or female) and has never NOT botched her finishing move. Maryse is a multi-time champion despite the fact that she couldn't wrestle her way out of a paper bag if the fate of the world depended on it. And the fact that the Bella twins are even still employed in the wrestling business at all is a fact so inexplicable to me that it's enough to make my brain collapse in on itself like a dying star.
These women all went through WWE developmental. These women all graduated from WWE developmental. And why? Because they're gorgeous, and that's all WWE management cares about with their female performers.
In the looks category, Lacey Von Erich puts every single one of them to shame. A youtube shooter by the name of Truthslayer put it best when he said that Lacey, "doesn't look like a million dollars; she looks like a billion dollars. BUT..."
Truthslayer was dead right. Lacey is a stunning woman with a body that's as close to physical perfection as human genetics allow. And yet, her total and utter lack of talent, her inability to learn even the most basic of wrestling fundamentals was so extreme, so discouraging, so dangerous, that it was enough for the WWE, a company that hires women for the most superficial reasons imaginable, to think she wasn't worth the time and effort, and they cut her.
Between then and signing with TNA, Lacey decided to forgo further training and instead began to routinely embarrass herself on the independent circuit in a series of matches that some reports say totaled around only 20 over the next 2 years.
This is a woman who had very little formal training and virtually no in-ring experience prior to signing her TNA contract. A woman who possesses super model looks and the body of a greek goddess which WWE officials deemed not enough to compensate for the fact that she has a bottomless, gaping chasm where wrestling talent should be. A woman who was rumored to be signed by Dixie Carter personally simply because Dixie thought she was gorgeous. A woman who reports say is unpopular with TNA road agents because, no matter what, "she just doesn't get it." A woman who Hogan & Bischoff publicly acknowledge as not even knowing how to lock up properly. A woman who has openly admitted that she embarrasses herself in the ring.
All this leads me to one very important question that I want to ask TNA management: If the general consensus is that Lacey is an absolute train wreck as a wrestler, THEN WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU LETTING HER WRESTLE?!
This goes far beyond the simple superficialities of pushing a woman on the basis of her looks, rather than her talent. We're not talking about a woman who was trained to wrestle, but just doesn't have the God-given physical tools to pull it off. If that were the case, she would at least have some idea of what she's doing in the ring and fans wouldn't have to watch her through the cracks between their fingers, constantly terrified that she's going to injure her opponent or break her own neck through sheer incompetence.
This is about a woman who, from all indications, has neither talent nor sufficient training to compensate. This is about a woman who simply does not belong in a wrestling ring and it's incredibly irresponsible of TNA management to put her in one.
Fans have to put up with bad wrestlers all the time, but even bad wrestlers need to know how to bump and execute moves correctly. Even bad wrestlers need to know how to protect themselves and their opponents. Lacey is worse than a bad wrestler. Lacey is a danger to herself and every person she steps in the ring with.
Mark my words. If this company continues to utilize Lacey Von Erich as an in-ring performer, it will only be a matter of time before she hurts herself or someone else.
Maybe then, TNA management will remember something that they used to know in regards to the Knockouts: Looks don't mean squat if you can't wrestle.
I just hope they remember that before Lacey cripples someone...
July 13, 2010
the Month In Review 6/17/10-Victory Road
6/17/10 iMPACT
-Well, here's some not-so-surprising news to start off the month. According to ODB's twitter page, she asked for and has been given her release from the company. If you've been paying attention then you're probably about as surprised by this as I am (not very). I can't even remember the last time she was used on TV, and last we heard from her, she was lamenting the current crappy state of the Knockout division on her facebook page, so this hardly comes as a shock.
-Not to sound cold or anything, but I'm not going to lose much sleep over this one. I'm not one of these internet marks who hate ODB or anything (though there are quite a few of them out there), but ODB didn't really do much for me as a wrestler. She could be entertaining in small doses, but I think the writers had long since run out of things to do with her. There really didn't seem to be anywhere left for her character to go and it's not like she had been prominently featured in the last six months. Although, it is troubling that one of the only really over female babyfaces the company had left is now gone.
-I imagine this means we're going to see yet another push for Angelina as we wait out the clock until Mickie James's 90 day no compete clause expires. Oooh, pinch me.
ANGELINA LOVE PRE-MATCH PROMO
-Angelina's been out for weeks and she doesn't even get her entrance shown on her first night back? That's just ridiculous.
-I like that they announced the match for Victory Road as early possible, but Angelina has been out for a while with an injury, so what did she do to earn a title shot?
ANGELINA LOVE vs. LACEY VON ERICH (c)
-Lacey Von Erich in a singles match? For one night, the ridiculously short matches the Knockouts get these days turned out to be a blessing. Lacey's matches should be kept as short as possible for obvious reasons.
-Mercifully short and Angelina gets herself DQed with a DDT to Lacey on a chair. Intriguing finish. This could turn out to be interesting if they play it like Angelina cares more about hurting TBP than beating them or it could turn into some really stupid angle that results in us never getting a clean finish to her matches. I'll forgive it this time since it was Lacey and she's awful, but I hope they won't try for a finish like this when Angelina gets Madison in the ring with the title on the line.
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6/24/10 iMPACT
-There's news going around that Tara may be returning to the company soon. Um... what? Didn't she just lose a match where the stipulation was that her career is over if she loses? Maybe they worked out a new deal, but if there was a chance of that happening, why do the "career ending" stipulation in the first place? If they bring someone back just a couple months after she lost a match with her career on the line, it's just going to look stupid.
-Disagree with me all you want, but I hope Tara doesn't come back. Her first run in TNA was extremely underwhelming and I really have no desire to see her again. I might feel differently if she had delivered on a level proportionate to the push she received, but she didn't. She never really had any standout matches. Even the cage match with Awesome Kong wasn't that great. The only reason that match was memorable was because of the cool finish with her diving off the top of the cage -- take away that finish and the rest of the match really wasn't anything to write home about, just like her entire run in the company. I'd much rather they have kept Roxxi around instead.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Some interesting things going on in this segment. Madison making a crack about the absent Lacey and, more interestingly, Madison seeming cocky and unconcerned about Angelina while Velvet was clearly on edge. Madison even started bossing Velvet around. Did Madison become the leader of TBP and forget to tell anyone?
ANGELINA LOVE vs. VELVET SKY (c). MADISON RAYNE TAUNTS ANGELINA POST-MATCH
-Nice touch with Velvet selling her concern by not doing her usual entrance.
-I like this gimmick of Angelina being more concerned with hurting TBP than getting wins over them. If that leads to TBP being off TV while they sell the injuries, then more power to her. TBP are ridiculously overexposed at this point and they need to get some of the other women some screen time already.
-Not a great match, but it was passible, I suppose, and that's about the best you can ask for from a Velvet Sky singles match. But I'm just so tired of TBP that it's hard to drum up any enthusiasm. This faction is so damn stale right now, it's not even funny.
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7/01/10 iMPACT
TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c). ANGELINA LOVE ATTACKS MADISON POST-MATCH
-Once again, Taylor doesn't get an entrance. I know a lot of people haven't been getting their entrances shown tonight, but still, this really bugs me.
-A typical Madison Rayne match. She gets outwrestled by her opponent, then wins in unconvincing fashion. I really don't understand why she's getting pushed so much. Based on the crowd tonight, she hasn't gotten over at all as a singles competitor. Take away the other members of TBP and you only shine a light on how generic a character and wrestler Madison really is.
-They were actually having a pretty good match, but unfortunately the whole thing ended up playing second fiddle to the ECW guys showing up in the crowd, distracting from the in-ring action. For the record, I would have complained about this no matter what match it happened during. It's just typical Russo booking with the wrestling being the least important thing about the show.
-Forgive me, but I couldn't care less about an old school ECW faction in 2010. Yes, ECW was great in its day, but the company has been dead for a decade now. For God's sake, why can't people stop raping its corpse and just let it die? The only chance this would have of being any good whatsoever is if Paul Heyman were booking it, which seems pretty damn unlikely even if TNA is actively trying to sign him. Be honest -- does ANYONE want to see an original ECW faction booked by Vince Russo, or worse, Kevin Sullivan? Yeah, I thought not.
SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Sarita attacks Taylor... What the... WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?! They never teased this! They never alluded to this! This was completely unprovoked! This made no damn sense!
-According to the announcers, this break up was teased on Xplosion. Well, someone should tell TNA that Xplosion DOESN'T AIR IN AMERICA (not yet anyway)! Why the hell are they trying to pay off angles that only air on a show that no one in this country has seen? What kind of sense does that make? NONE!
-This just goes to show how absolutely meaningless the Knockout tag team titles are now because TNA just broke up the only team TBP had to feud with, and no other makeshift team the writers could put together from the women they have is going to be anywhere near as good together as Taylor & Sarita... unless it's Sarita & Hamada, but that would require Hamada actually getting TV time and it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. This is absolute horse shit.
-I suppose there is one saving grace here. If you'll remember, when these two were originally teamed together, I said that the only downside to it was that we wouldn't get to see the matches they could have against each other. I assume that match will happen now, but it will most likely happen on Xplosion, which means we won't even get to see it, so the whole thing is entirely pointless! What a God damn waste.
-Well, at least the writers are actually doing something with Sarita & Taylor now. Sure, it's frustrating as hell, but at least it's something. And if they're feuding with each other, it means that at least one of them will actually get to win a damn match.
-If this segment was any indication, Sarita should make a great heel. Hopefully, this will lead to her getting more TV time. I really doubt it, since Angelina and TBP are the only women TNA seems to give a rat's ass about anymore, but there's always hope, I guess.
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7/08/10 iMPACT
DAFFNEY vs. ANGELINA LOVE
-Daffney doesn't get her entrance shown and Angelina has a title match at the PPV this Sunday. Gee, I wonder who's going to win this match... [/sarcasm]
-Surprisingly, Daffney actually seems to be more over as a face than Angelina. Her crowd pops/chants were much louder.
-Decent action while it lasted, but once again, just way too damn short to mean anything.
ANGELINA & MADISON RAYNE POST-MATCH PROMO
-Madison challenges Angelina to put her career on the line this Sunday and Angelina inexplicably agrees to it. Um... what? Again with this crap? How the hell does Madison keep convincing her opponents to do this when they don't have to and why in God's name do they keep agreeing to it when they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by doing so? All this does is make the babyface Knockouts look like a bunch of idiots. Angelina apparently anticipated this and was ready with a stipulation of her own, but it doesn't make her any less of a dumbass for agreeing to this. I have no problem with the 'wrestler puts their career on the line' stipulation as long as it makes sense, but this does not.
-Since Angelina isn't leaving the company and has a contract good for another couple years, I guess this means we'll have a new singles champion after Victory Road. I really wish they would get behind Sarita or Hamada like this, but Angelina is certainly a step up from Madison at this point.
-If Velvet and/or Lacey are going to turn on Madison at Victory Road, they just completely telegraphed that swerve with this stip of an automatic title change if they interfere.
-At least they put importance on the title by having Angelina say she wants to be the first ever 4-time singles champion. Putting importance on championships isn't something you normally see on a show written by Vince Russo.
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7/11/10 Victory Road
KNOCKOUTS TITLE vs. CAREER:
ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-Wow. Both women actually got their entrances shown. I guess that can only happen on PPV these days.
-The match was okay at best, not PPV quality due to not getting enough time and the stupid finish certainly didn't help.
-The way the title changed hands was asinine, but at least they finally got the belt off of Madison Rayne. This business of pushing her as some kind of badass career killer wasn't working and it was never going to work. She just isn't equipped to pull off that kind of gimmick. No one was buying into it and she shouldn't have won the title in the first place. She was booked as a jobber for over a year prior to becoming champion and then they tried to make her credible afterward. It just doesn't work that way.
-It was confirmed almost immediately that the mystery woman who tried to help Madison was Tara, which really doesn't interest me at all and frankly, it doesn't make any sense either after Madison "ended her career" a few months ago. Tara has underperformed since the day she walked into this company and I really have no desire to see her anymore. I'd much rather see Roxxi or Alissa Flash be brought back or a new signee get a shot. Seriously, was her previous stint in TNA not boring enough? Did they have to bring her back just so she can cut more horribly acted promos and have another 10,000 lackluster matches with Angelina? Ugh...
-I can't believe that the last three Knockouts title changes in a row have happened without the champion getting pinned or submitted. It's like they actually WANT that belt to be worthless.
-Angelina is now the first ever 4-time Knockouts champion. Sadly, that means very little at this point, especially when the title changes hands in such a screwy, gimmicky fashion.
-Well, here's some not-so-surprising news to start off the month. According to ODB's twitter page, she asked for and has been given her release from the company. If you've been paying attention then you're probably about as surprised by this as I am (not very). I can't even remember the last time she was used on TV, and last we heard from her, she was lamenting the current crappy state of the Knockout division on her facebook page, so this hardly comes as a shock.
-Not to sound cold or anything, but I'm not going to lose much sleep over this one. I'm not one of these internet marks who hate ODB or anything (though there are quite a few of them out there), but ODB didn't really do much for me as a wrestler. She could be entertaining in small doses, but I think the writers had long since run out of things to do with her. There really didn't seem to be anywhere left for her character to go and it's not like she had been prominently featured in the last six months. Although, it is troubling that one of the only really over female babyfaces the company had left is now gone.
-I imagine this means we're going to see yet another push for Angelina as we wait out the clock until Mickie James's 90 day no compete clause expires. Oooh, pinch me.
ANGELINA LOVE PRE-MATCH PROMO
-Angelina's been out for weeks and she doesn't even get her entrance shown on her first night back? That's just ridiculous.
-I like that they announced the match for Victory Road as early possible, but Angelina has been out for a while with an injury, so what did she do to earn a title shot?
ANGELINA LOVE vs. LACEY VON ERICH (c)
-Lacey Von Erich in a singles match? For one night, the ridiculously short matches the Knockouts get these days turned out to be a blessing. Lacey's matches should be kept as short as possible for obvious reasons.
-Mercifully short and Angelina gets herself DQed with a DDT to Lacey on a chair. Intriguing finish. This could turn out to be interesting if they play it like Angelina cares more about hurting TBP than beating them or it could turn into some really stupid angle that results in us never getting a clean finish to her matches. I'll forgive it this time since it was Lacey and she's awful, but I hope they won't try for a finish like this when Angelina gets Madison in the ring with the title on the line.
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6/24/10 iMPACT
-There's news going around that Tara may be returning to the company soon. Um... what? Didn't she just lose a match where the stipulation was that her career is over if she loses? Maybe they worked out a new deal, but if there was a chance of that happening, why do the "career ending" stipulation in the first place? If they bring someone back just a couple months after she lost a match with her career on the line, it's just going to look stupid.
-Disagree with me all you want, but I hope Tara doesn't come back. Her first run in TNA was extremely underwhelming and I really have no desire to see her again. I might feel differently if she had delivered on a level proportionate to the push she received, but she didn't. She never really had any standout matches. Even the cage match with Awesome Kong wasn't that great. The only reason that match was memorable was because of the cool finish with her diving off the top of the cage -- take away that finish and the rest of the match really wasn't anything to write home about, just like her entire run in the company. I'd much rather they have kept Roxxi around instead.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Some interesting things going on in this segment. Madison making a crack about the absent Lacey and, more interestingly, Madison seeming cocky and unconcerned about Angelina while Velvet was clearly on edge. Madison even started bossing Velvet around. Did Madison become the leader of TBP and forget to tell anyone?
ANGELINA LOVE vs. VELVET SKY (c). MADISON RAYNE TAUNTS ANGELINA POST-MATCH
-Nice touch with Velvet selling her concern by not doing her usual entrance.
-I like this gimmick of Angelina being more concerned with hurting TBP than getting wins over them. If that leads to TBP being off TV while they sell the injuries, then more power to her. TBP are ridiculously overexposed at this point and they need to get some of the other women some screen time already.
-Not a great match, but it was passible, I suppose, and that's about the best you can ask for from a Velvet Sky singles match. But I'm just so tired of TBP that it's hard to drum up any enthusiasm. This faction is so damn stale right now, it's not even funny.
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7/01/10 iMPACT
TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c). ANGELINA LOVE ATTACKS MADISON POST-MATCH
-Once again, Taylor doesn't get an entrance. I know a lot of people haven't been getting their entrances shown tonight, but still, this really bugs me.
-A typical Madison Rayne match. She gets outwrestled by her opponent, then wins in unconvincing fashion. I really don't understand why she's getting pushed so much. Based on the crowd tonight, she hasn't gotten over at all as a singles competitor. Take away the other members of TBP and you only shine a light on how generic a character and wrestler Madison really is.
-They were actually having a pretty good match, but unfortunately the whole thing ended up playing second fiddle to the ECW guys showing up in the crowd, distracting from the in-ring action. For the record, I would have complained about this no matter what match it happened during. It's just typical Russo booking with the wrestling being the least important thing about the show.
-Forgive me, but I couldn't care less about an old school ECW faction in 2010. Yes, ECW was great in its day, but the company has been dead for a decade now. For God's sake, why can't people stop raping its corpse and just let it die? The only chance this would have of being any good whatsoever is if Paul Heyman were booking it, which seems pretty damn unlikely even if TNA is actively trying to sign him. Be honest -- does ANYONE want to see an original ECW faction booked by Vince Russo, or worse, Kevin Sullivan? Yeah, I thought not.
SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Sarita attacks Taylor... What the... WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM?! They never teased this! They never alluded to this! This was completely unprovoked! This made no damn sense!
-According to the announcers, this break up was teased on Xplosion. Well, someone should tell TNA that Xplosion DOESN'T AIR IN AMERICA (not yet anyway)! Why the hell are they trying to pay off angles that only air on a show that no one in this country has seen? What kind of sense does that make? NONE!
-This just goes to show how absolutely meaningless the Knockout tag team titles are now because TNA just broke up the only team TBP had to feud with, and no other makeshift team the writers could put together from the women they have is going to be anywhere near as good together as Taylor & Sarita... unless it's Sarita & Hamada, but that would require Hamada actually getting TV time and it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. This is absolute horse shit.
-I suppose there is one saving grace here. If you'll remember, when these two were originally teamed together, I said that the only downside to it was that we wouldn't get to see the matches they could have against each other. I assume that match will happen now, but it will most likely happen on Xplosion, which means we won't even get to see it, so the whole thing is entirely pointless! What a God damn waste.
-Well, at least the writers are actually doing something with Sarita & Taylor now. Sure, it's frustrating as hell, but at least it's something. And if they're feuding with each other, it means that at least one of them will actually get to win a damn match.
-If this segment was any indication, Sarita should make a great heel. Hopefully, this will lead to her getting more TV time. I really doubt it, since Angelina and TBP are the only women TNA seems to give a rat's ass about anymore, but there's always hope, I guess.
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7/08/10 iMPACT
DAFFNEY vs. ANGELINA LOVE
-Daffney doesn't get her entrance shown and Angelina has a title match at the PPV this Sunday. Gee, I wonder who's going to win this match... [/sarcasm]
-Surprisingly, Daffney actually seems to be more over as a face than Angelina. Her crowd pops/chants were much louder.
-Decent action while it lasted, but once again, just way too damn short to mean anything.
ANGELINA & MADISON RAYNE POST-MATCH PROMO
-Madison challenges Angelina to put her career on the line this Sunday and Angelina inexplicably agrees to it. Um... what? Again with this crap? How the hell does Madison keep convincing her opponents to do this when they don't have to and why in God's name do they keep agreeing to it when they have everything to lose and nothing to gain by doing so? All this does is make the babyface Knockouts look like a bunch of idiots. Angelina apparently anticipated this and was ready with a stipulation of her own, but it doesn't make her any less of a dumbass for agreeing to this. I have no problem with the 'wrestler puts their career on the line' stipulation as long as it makes sense, but this does not.
-Since Angelina isn't leaving the company and has a contract good for another couple years, I guess this means we'll have a new singles champion after Victory Road. I really wish they would get behind Sarita or Hamada like this, but Angelina is certainly a step up from Madison at this point.
-If Velvet and/or Lacey are going to turn on Madison at Victory Road, they just completely telegraphed that swerve with this stip of an automatic title change if they interfere.
-At least they put importance on the title by having Angelina say she wants to be the first ever 4-time singles champion. Putting importance on championships isn't something you normally see on a show written by Vince Russo.
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7/11/10 Victory Road
KNOCKOUTS TITLE vs. CAREER:
ANGELINA LOVE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-Wow. Both women actually got their entrances shown. I guess that can only happen on PPV these days.
-The match was okay at best, not PPV quality due to not getting enough time and the stupid finish certainly didn't help.
-The way the title changed hands was asinine, but at least they finally got the belt off of Madison Rayne. This business of pushing her as some kind of badass career killer wasn't working and it was never going to work. She just isn't equipped to pull off that kind of gimmick. No one was buying into it and she shouldn't have won the title in the first place. She was booked as a jobber for over a year prior to becoming champion and then they tried to make her credible afterward. It just doesn't work that way.
-It was confirmed almost immediately that the mystery woman who tried to help Madison was Tara, which really doesn't interest me at all and frankly, it doesn't make any sense either after Madison "ended her career" a few months ago. Tara has underperformed since the day she walked into this company and I really have no desire to see her anymore. I'd much rather see Roxxi or Alissa Flash be brought back or a new signee get a shot. Seriously, was her previous stint in TNA not boring enough? Did they have to bring her back just so she can cut more horribly acted promos and have another 10,000 lackluster matches with Angelina? Ugh...
-I can't believe that the last three Knockouts title changes in a row have happened without the champion getting pinned or submitted. It's like they actually WANT that belt to be worthless.
-Angelina is now the first ever 4-time Knockouts champion. Sadly, that means very little at this point, especially when the title changes hands in such a screwy, gimmicky fashion.
June 17, 2010
the Month in Review 5/20/10-Slammiversary
5/20/10 iMPACT
-Though I admit I've become more than a little skeptical about TNA's booking of the Knockouts in the last six months, I have to say, I'm curious about what they're going to do now with departures and injuries taking out every female babyface the writers seemed to have any desire to push. I expect the new signee, Betsy Ruth, will debut sooner than later, though it would probably be unwise to plug her into the top spot immediately. I think it would be a good idea if they avoided doing that with her because there's bound to be Awesome Kong comparisons and it might help her chances of catching on with the fans if she came in under the radar rather than as an unstoppable monster like Kong did.
-But that leaves the question, who do they use as top babyface now? They need someone who is credible and can connect with the audience, but thanks to TNA's shortsighted booking and their stubborn refusal to build up anyone to take Tara's place in the event that she ever left, none of the remaining girls fit that bill. Angelina & Daffney -- out with injuries. Sarita & Taylor -- buried. Hamada -- last seen getting pinned by Velvet Sky during a commercial break. ODB -- currently in the doghouse for daring to tell the truth about the sorry state of the division on her facebook page. That's pretty much everyone. Beats me what they're going to do now. Either way, this should be interesting...
ROXXI vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-Wha... ROXXI! HOLY CRAP!
-Nice to see Madison come out without Velvet & Lacey for once. It's also nice to see that Roxxi is no less over despite another prolonged absence; she's like ODB that way.
-Surprisingly, the announcers explained Roxxi's absence with exactly what caused it in the first place; she broke her ankle in a match with Hamada on the New Year's Eve show. Unsurprisingly, they neglected to mention that she was released from the company while rehabbing said injury, which is why she didn't return to TV when she was cleared to return to the ring months ago. Gotta love that selective memory.
-I noticed they dropped the "hardcore Knockout" gimmick. I'm glad about that. It always sounded awkward and it didn't really fit her anyway. When we interviewed her on QCWradio last summer, Roxxi said it wasn't something she wanted to be labeled as. Besides, she's proven that she doesn't need a gimmick to get over.
-Damn... pretty short match. So much for Madison milking the, "I ended Tara's career," angle to get heel heat. What a wasted opportunity that was. They had a great way to really get some legitimate heat on Madison in her own right, not just as one third of TBP, and instead they have her lose her very next match in short order, with no fanfare, sweeping that whole angle under the rug immediately. After a brief bout with sanity and logic with the Knockouts last Sunday, I guess it's back to the writers booking the women with the, "Everything is counter productive and we don't care!" philosophy. Sigh...
-On the other side of the coin, this does immediately reestablish Roxxi as a strong competitor and a threat to the title, so it accomplished that much. It did come at the expense of neutering the champion, but we have to take what we can get these days.
-These two had a webmatch last year that was better than this. And the reason this match wasn't as good was... you guessed it! Once again, the inferior wrestler (Madison) carried most of the action. For the life of me, I don't understand why the bookers keep making the same mistake over and over again. When the better worker carries the action, you get a better match; what about this is so damn hard to figure out?
-After looking into this, I have two theories on why TNA brought Roxxi back again. The first is that this is a situation similar to the one with Shane Douglas last year, where management wanted to bring back someone who helped the company get to where it is today for a match at Slammiversary. The second is that they're doing damage control, since Tara is now gone and the only other babyface they bothered to devote any time to whatsoever in the last six months is on the shelf with a torn bicep. The former seems unlikely since they're currently trying to cut costs wherever they can, so I'm guessing the latter is what's going on here.
-If they wanted to bring back a former Knockout (one that didn't leave over pay grievances) who could get over quickly and be believable in a top spot, they couldn't have made a better choice, IMO. Roxxi was always very popular with the fans and, in terms of character, she was the best opponent TBP ever had. TBP's whole shtick is that they think they're more beautiful than everyone else, so they work best when they're played against the more unconventional looking women. It was turning on Roxxi originally that got them so over as heels in the first place, but put them in the ring with women that are just as hot or hotter than they are and their gimmick isn't as effective, which I think is one of the reasons why their feud with Sarita & Taylor didn't get over as well.
-For the record, I am by no means implying that Roxxi isn't hot herself. I wouldn't kick her out of bed in a million years. I'm just trying to make a distinction between women who have their spot in one of the big companies because of their looks and women who have their spot because of their wrestling ability.
-Roxxi works so well against TBP because she's one of those women who is there to be an athlete, not a model. She has that girl next door, everywoman vibe about her, which TBP can just dig at endlessly -- the Betty Cooper to TBP's Veronica Lodge, to use a comic reference. Plus, she's also a skilled enough wrestler to carry Madison and Velvet to watchable matches. Not Lacey though unfortunately; Roxxi's good, but she's not a miracle worker.
-Yeah, I was hoping that Sarita would get this spot, but that's because I never considered that they might bring Roxxi back after the way they cut her when she was injured the last time she was there. I'm not unhappy about this move at all. Hell, I think it's great! Roxxi was always my favorite Knockout and TNA really dropped the ball with her more than once. Congratulations to her -- she certainly deserves to have some good things happen to her after getting constantly jerked around by this company over the last few years.
-The Knockout roster is still pretty thin right now, but it just got a little better. Yay!
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5/27/10 iMPACT
ROXXI BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-It makes me role my eyes every time they make reference to Roxxi's broken ankle putting her out of action and yet don't mention the fact that she was released from the company while she was rehabbing the injury.
-Roxxi's getting a title shot against Madison Rayne at Slammiversary? Awesome. Although it does call into question why in the world they gave the match away for free last week if they wanted us to pay money to see it on PPV. I don't know why TNA does this so much; it can't possibly help their PPV buyrates.
-Some people might criticize this interview, but this is one of the reasons why I like Roxxi. So many wrestlers these days are trying (and failing) to play some kind of character. Yes, having a character is important, and if they can sell it, that's great. But if the wrestler can't play it convincingly, it just seems like they're trying way too hard and it ends up feeling really fake. Roxxi isn't a character; she just comes off like a normal person. I see an interview like this and I see her having a natural reaction, not some scripted promo. She's very likable and relatable in that aspect.
-Having said that, I think Roxxi is one of those people who would probably benefit from that worked shoot documentary style the production team has been using to film backstage promos lately. The wrestlers generally seem to feel more comfortable on the mic in that environment.
-I'm glad they're announcing this match so early; it gives them some time to hype it up. A lot of the time, the writers tend to take the baffling route of waiting until the last minute to announce PPV matches, which really doesn't make any sense. The earlier you announce the match, the more time you have to promote it.
SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ MADISON RAYNE)
-Saritaylor don't get their entrance. Booo!
-Tenay reminds us that TBP hold all the gold. That's right, Tenay, twist the knife.
-Sarita & Taylor did their best with what little time they had, but there's only so much you can do with Lacey & Velvet.
-Lacey holding a clean pinfall over Taylor makes me want to spew bile all over my TV screen.
-Why didn't Sarita try to break up the pin? She was just standing right there on the ring apron watching it happen and didn't try to stop it. They needed a better camera angle there.
-The writers need to get off their asses and make some new Knockout tag teams already because TBP only have one team to feud with right now, who they just beat in two minutes.
-I do NOT need or want to see midgets in a TNA ring. There's already enough people saying that TNA tries to be WWE-light. They don't need fans watching iMPACT and thinking of Hornswoggle. At least they had TBP kick the midget's ass. God, I wish someone would kick Hornswoggle's ass.
-Another tease of a possible Lacey face turn when she makes out with the midget... I can't believe I just typed that.
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6/03/10 iMPACT
-Once again, the Knockouts match scored the highest rated segment on iMPACT last week. This is just hilarious to me. They put the world title on Rob Van Dam as an obvious ratings ploy, one week later the show scores the lowest rating in its entire history, prompting SpikeTV to move it back to Thursdays, and now the Knockouts, who have been treated as more or less an afterthought for months, are outdrawing Van Dam despite getting only a fraction of the screen time he gets. How's your self esteem these days, RVD? lol
-Late last week, Roxxi's profile and some new pictures of her were added to the TNA website. It's worth noting that this was never done when the company brought her back last year. At the time, she was working on a pay per appearance deal. But if they're putting her profile back on the roster page, hopefully that's a sign that she'll be sticking around this time.
ROSIE LOTTALOVE vs. ROXXI
-Rosie Lottalove? Seriously? Holy crap, that name is made of EPIC FAIL! And then there's her burlesque dancer ring attire to consider. This is just embarrassing. What is it with these writers giving so many of the Knockouts these laughably ridiculous names? How is anyone supposed to take this woman seriously with a name that stupid? Hell, if that name isn't a rib on her, then it must be some kind of private joke that no one outside of the writers room is going to find funny or even understand. With a handle like that, she should be on Wrestlicious or the set of a porn movie. Probably the only good thing you can say about it is that it doesn't sound quite as asinine as 'Sojourner Bolt' did. Sigh... only in TNA, folks.
-This was not a good match, but it wasn't the fault of either woman. As usual, the booking was crap. A debuting new talent's first match and they have it end in a screwy finish after less than two minutes. I don't know what management was expecting out of this segment, but they couldn't possibly have thought it was going to be anything even remotely good. What a train wreck.
-The only thing this segment accomplished was making me really miss Awesome Kong.
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6/10/10 WEBMATCH
TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-At least Taylor actually got her entrance this time. Unfortunately, Sarita didn't come out with her. Boooo! Nevertheless, half the entrance is still pretty damn hot.
-Mike Tenay says that Madison Rayne has been very impressive since winning the singles title at Lockdown. I'm really not sure what he's basing this on. Just saying that doesn't make it true, Tenay. The only reason why her title reign hasn't been a disappointment is because there were no expectations for it to begin with.
-If this crowd is any indication, Madison Rayne is not over whatsoever unless the other two thirds of TBP are standing next to her. That shows just how badly the writers have dropped the ball with this woman. After retiring Tara, she really should be getting more heat than this. Maybe she would be if the writers had played up the "ending Tara's career" angle instead of sweeping it under the rug and jobbing out Madison in her very next match, thus making her win over Tara look like a fluke. I'm just saying...
-Why are the webmatches just as short as the TV matches, if not shorter? They don't have to conform to the TV format or be crammed in with a bunch of other segments, and yet they hardly ever get more than 2-4 minutes. Hell, this match barely lasted longer than the women's entrances!
-Taylor wrestles circles around Madison for 2 minutes, Madison hits a weak-looking finisher and Taylor gets pinned after one move. It's so stupid for Taylor to be beaten that easily by someone like Madison Rayne. If she were taking a powerbomb from Awesome Kong, then it would make sense; that's a devastating move. But Madison's offense, much like Velvet & Lacey's, is extremely weak -- it doesn't even look like it hurts, so the audience is left wondering why Taylor didn't just pop right back up.
-Oh well. Nice to see Taylor in the ring again at least. Why we don't see her more often these days is just baffling to me.
-Inexplicably, the fact that Madison is defending the singles title at Slammiversary this Sunday was never even mentioned in this segment. You figure that out. Sigh...
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6/10/10 iMPACT
-Here's an interesting news item. Apparently, Sara Del Rey will be working another TNA house show in Jersey next month. They used her once before when they ran a show in that area late last year as part of some kind of cross promotion venture with JAPW, of which I believe she's still the women's champion. While I'm skeptical that this will be about anything more than what it is, it's certainly encouraging that Del Rey is on the company's radar. Plus, TNAsylum.com has reported that the company will be taking a "long, hard look" at her... so who knows. Del Rey is a tremendous worker and the Knockout division would benefit enormously from having her there, especially if the rumors of Hamada being cut from the roster are true. Who better to fill the 'monster heel' void left by Awesome Kong than Death Rey?
ROXXI & ROSIE LOTTALOVE vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ MADISON RAYNE) HEELS BEAT DOWN THE BABYFACES POST-MATCH
-This match took place at the TV tapings, but it never aired on the show. My guess is that after the interminable Jeff Jarret video packages that never seemed to end, they were short on time and had to cut something. So apparently, the Knockouts title match at Slammiversary is less important than a guy who isn't even advertised for the show. Thanks a lot, Double J.
-For the record, Roxxi vs. Madison for the Knockouts title was not even announced when they were running down the card for Slammiversary. So I guess it's back to business with Roxxi getting pissed on. Damn, that happened even faster than I thought.
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6/13/10 Slammiversary
MADISON RAYNE PRE-MATCH PROMO
-Madison somehow convinces Roxxi to put her career on the line in this match for no reason at all, even though Roxxi would have everything to lose and nothing to gain by doing so. God, I hate it when these types of angles are done. Writing like this doesn't make the heel look like a despicable person, it just makes the babyface look like a complete dumbass.
-Why would any babyface in their right mind ever agree to such a thing when they don't have to? Why would the writers add a stipulation like this to a match without announcing it ahead of time? Do they not understand that announcing things ahead of time adds intrigue to a match and might entice fans to watch it? Why add the stip right before the match starts when the whole point is to get more buys for the show and anyone who's watching the PPV has either already bought it or is one of the growing number of fans so frustrated with TNA's ass-backwards booking that they're watching the show online so they don't have to pay for it?
-I'm sure you can all guess what happened next...
KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH:
ROXXI vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-TNA really need to stop booking nine matches on their PPV cards because every time they do this, several matches end up being too short to really be PPV quality, and unfortunately that's what happened here. Madison's promo got the crowd fired up and the match was solid while it lasted, but it wasn't nearly long enough to mean what it should have meant considering there was someone's career at stake. When a wrestler's career is ended following a four minute match, it makes the whole thing seem really anticlimactic.
-So Madison Rayne has now ended TWO women's careers. Anyone else think this will help her get over about as much as retiring Tara did? Yeah, I thought so.
-I know I've said this a lot, especially lately, but I'm going to say it again: the writers are wasting their time trying to make Madison Rayne (or any of TBP for that matter) look like a badass because 1) they're obviously not smart enough to do it right, and 2) Madison simply doesn't have the tools to pull it off. They had a chance to turn her into something and they blew it. She retired Tara, and instead of playing that up, they barely mentioned it and then had her lose her very next match, all of which came after over a year of being booked like a jobber prior to winning the title. No one is ever going to take Madison seriously as a force because, as much the writers probably wish it didn't, the first year and a half of her TNA run still exists.
-And if you think for one second that I'm wrong about the writers not being smart enough to do a "career killer" gimmick right, just think about this: Roxxi was really emotional after the match, but instead of actually showing that, instead of focusing on her reaction to milk the drama of the situation and get heat on Madison, instead of having the announcers shut up and letting the moment happen, Tenay & Taz talked over the whole thing like was just another every day occurrence and then the production team cut away from it way too quickly so they could show a video package for the next match. Still think I'm wrong?
-This is such garbage. Diva-dirt is reporting that there was major heat backstage from a lot of people when Roxxi arrived at the building and found out that a late breaking decision had been made to cut her AGAIN and I'm not surprised one bit. The way TNA have treated Roxxi has been disgusting and classless.
-So Roxxi's gone. AGAIN. My God, that poor woman is making a career out of getting screwed over and jerked around by this company. It's absolute bullshit. Roxxi deserves better and so do the fans. Did the idiots in management not hear the pops she was getting? Why the hell would you want to get rid of a woman who gets that kind of reaction?
-The way I feel right now, I'm suddenly hoping that Sara Del Rey does NOT wind up in TNA. She's too good for them. They don't deserve her and they certainly don't deserve Roxxi.
-Though I admit I've become more than a little skeptical about TNA's booking of the Knockouts in the last six months, I have to say, I'm curious about what they're going to do now with departures and injuries taking out every female babyface the writers seemed to have any desire to push. I expect the new signee, Betsy Ruth, will debut sooner than later, though it would probably be unwise to plug her into the top spot immediately. I think it would be a good idea if they avoided doing that with her because there's bound to be Awesome Kong comparisons and it might help her chances of catching on with the fans if she came in under the radar rather than as an unstoppable monster like Kong did.
-But that leaves the question, who do they use as top babyface now? They need someone who is credible and can connect with the audience, but thanks to TNA's shortsighted booking and their stubborn refusal to build up anyone to take Tara's place in the event that she ever left, none of the remaining girls fit that bill. Angelina & Daffney -- out with injuries. Sarita & Taylor -- buried. Hamada -- last seen getting pinned by Velvet Sky during a commercial break. ODB -- currently in the doghouse for daring to tell the truth about the sorry state of the division on her facebook page. That's pretty much everyone. Beats me what they're going to do now. Either way, this should be interesting...
ROXXI vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-Wha... ROXXI! HOLY CRAP!
-Nice to see Madison come out without Velvet & Lacey for once. It's also nice to see that Roxxi is no less over despite another prolonged absence; she's like ODB that way.
-Surprisingly, the announcers explained Roxxi's absence with exactly what caused it in the first place; she broke her ankle in a match with Hamada on the New Year's Eve show. Unsurprisingly, they neglected to mention that she was released from the company while rehabbing said injury, which is why she didn't return to TV when she was cleared to return to the ring months ago. Gotta love that selective memory.
-I noticed they dropped the "hardcore Knockout" gimmick. I'm glad about that. It always sounded awkward and it didn't really fit her anyway. When we interviewed her on QCWradio last summer, Roxxi said it wasn't something she wanted to be labeled as. Besides, she's proven that she doesn't need a gimmick to get over.
-Damn... pretty short match. So much for Madison milking the, "I ended Tara's career," angle to get heel heat. What a wasted opportunity that was. They had a great way to really get some legitimate heat on Madison in her own right, not just as one third of TBP, and instead they have her lose her very next match in short order, with no fanfare, sweeping that whole angle under the rug immediately. After a brief bout with sanity and logic with the Knockouts last Sunday, I guess it's back to the writers booking the women with the, "Everything is counter productive and we don't care!" philosophy. Sigh...
-On the other side of the coin, this does immediately reestablish Roxxi as a strong competitor and a threat to the title, so it accomplished that much. It did come at the expense of neutering the champion, but we have to take what we can get these days.
-These two had a webmatch last year that was better than this. And the reason this match wasn't as good was... you guessed it! Once again, the inferior wrestler (Madison) carried most of the action. For the life of me, I don't understand why the bookers keep making the same mistake over and over again. When the better worker carries the action, you get a better match; what about this is so damn hard to figure out?
-After looking into this, I have two theories on why TNA brought Roxxi back again. The first is that this is a situation similar to the one with Shane Douglas last year, where management wanted to bring back someone who helped the company get to where it is today for a match at Slammiversary. The second is that they're doing damage control, since Tara is now gone and the only other babyface they bothered to devote any time to whatsoever in the last six months is on the shelf with a torn bicep. The former seems unlikely since they're currently trying to cut costs wherever they can, so I'm guessing the latter is what's going on here.
-If they wanted to bring back a former Knockout (one that didn't leave over pay grievances) who could get over quickly and be believable in a top spot, they couldn't have made a better choice, IMO. Roxxi was always very popular with the fans and, in terms of character, she was the best opponent TBP ever had. TBP's whole shtick is that they think they're more beautiful than everyone else, so they work best when they're played against the more unconventional looking women. It was turning on Roxxi originally that got them so over as heels in the first place, but put them in the ring with women that are just as hot or hotter than they are and their gimmick isn't as effective, which I think is one of the reasons why their feud with Sarita & Taylor didn't get over as well.
-For the record, I am by no means implying that Roxxi isn't hot herself. I wouldn't kick her out of bed in a million years. I'm just trying to make a distinction between women who have their spot in one of the big companies because of their looks and women who have their spot because of their wrestling ability.
-Roxxi works so well against TBP because she's one of those women who is there to be an athlete, not a model. She has that girl next door, everywoman vibe about her, which TBP can just dig at endlessly -- the Betty Cooper to TBP's Veronica Lodge, to use a comic reference. Plus, she's also a skilled enough wrestler to carry Madison and Velvet to watchable matches. Not Lacey though unfortunately; Roxxi's good, but she's not a miracle worker.
-Yeah, I was hoping that Sarita would get this spot, but that's because I never considered that they might bring Roxxi back after the way they cut her when she was injured the last time she was there. I'm not unhappy about this move at all. Hell, I think it's great! Roxxi was always my favorite Knockout and TNA really dropped the ball with her more than once. Congratulations to her -- she certainly deserves to have some good things happen to her after getting constantly jerked around by this company over the last few years.
-The Knockout roster is still pretty thin right now, but it just got a little better. Yay!
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5/27/10 iMPACT
ROXXI BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-It makes me role my eyes every time they make reference to Roxxi's broken ankle putting her out of action and yet don't mention the fact that she was released from the company while she was rehabbing the injury.
-Roxxi's getting a title shot against Madison Rayne at Slammiversary? Awesome. Although it does call into question why in the world they gave the match away for free last week if they wanted us to pay money to see it on PPV. I don't know why TNA does this so much; it can't possibly help their PPV buyrates.
-Some people might criticize this interview, but this is one of the reasons why I like Roxxi. So many wrestlers these days are trying (and failing) to play some kind of character. Yes, having a character is important, and if they can sell it, that's great. But if the wrestler can't play it convincingly, it just seems like they're trying way too hard and it ends up feeling really fake. Roxxi isn't a character; she just comes off like a normal person. I see an interview like this and I see her having a natural reaction, not some scripted promo. She's very likable and relatable in that aspect.
-Having said that, I think Roxxi is one of those people who would probably benefit from that worked shoot documentary style the production team has been using to film backstage promos lately. The wrestlers generally seem to feel more comfortable on the mic in that environment.
-I'm glad they're announcing this match so early; it gives them some time to hype it up. A lot of the time, the writers tend to take the baffling route of waiting until the last minute to announce PPV matches, which really doesn't make any sense. The earlier you announce the match, the more time you have to promote it.
SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ MADISON RAYNE)
-Saritaylor don't get their entrance. Booo!
-Tenay reminds us that TBP hold all the gold. That's right, Tenay, twist the knife.
-Sarita & Taylor did their best with what little time they had, but there's only so much you can do with Lacey & Velvet.
-Lacey holding a clean pinfall over Taylor makes me want to spew bile all over my TV screen.
-Why didn't Sarita try to break up the pin? She was just standing right there on the ring apron watching it happen and didn't try to stop it. They needed a better camera angle there.
-The writers need to get off their asses and make some new Knockout tag teams already because TBP only have one team to feud with right now, who they just beat in two minutes.
-I do NOT need or want to see midgets in a TNA ring. There's already enough people saying that TNA tries to be WWE-light. They don't need fans watching iMPACT and thinking of Hornswoggle. At least they had TBP kick the midget's ass. God, I wish someone would kick Hornswoggle's ass.
-Another tease of a possible Lacey face turn when she makes out with the midget... I can't believe I just typed that.
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6/03/10 iMPACT
-Once again, the Knockouts match scored the highest rated segment on iMPACT last week. This is just hilarious to me. They put the world title on Rob Van Dam as an obvious ratings ploy, one week later the show scores the lowest rating in its entire history, prompting SpikeTV to move it back to Thursdays, and now the Knockouts, who have been treated as more or less an afterthought for months, are outdrawing Van Dam despite getting only a fraction of the screen time he gets. How's your self esteem these days, RVD? lol
-Late last week, Roxxi's profile and some new pictures of her were added to the TNA website. It's worth noting that this was never done when the company brought her back last year. At the time, she was working on a pay per appearance deal. But if they're putting her profile back on the roster page, hopefully that's a sign that she'll be sticking around this time.
ROSIE LOTTALOVE vs. ROXXI
-Rosie Lottalove? Seriously? Holy crap, that name is made of EPIC FAIL! And then there's her burlesque dancer ring attire to consider. This is just embarrassing. What is it with these writers giving so many of the Knockouts these laughably ridiculous names? How is anyone supposed to take this woman seriously with a name that stupid? Hell, if that name isn't a rib on her, then it must be some kind of private joke that no one outside of the writers room is going to find funny or even understand. With a handle like that, she should be on Wrestlicious or the set of a porn movie. Probably the only good thing you can say about it is that it doesn't sound quite as asinine as 'Sojourner Bolt' did. Sigh... only in TNA, folks.
-This was not a good match, but it wasn't the fault of either woman. As usual, the booking was crap. A debuting new talent's first match and they have it end in a screwy finish after less than two minutes. I don't know what management was expecting out of this segment, but they couldn't possibly have thought it was going to be anything even remotely good. What a train wreck.
-The only thing this segment accomplished was making me really miss Awesome Kong.
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6/10/10 WEBMATCH
TAYLOR WILDE vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-At least Taylor actually got her entrance this time. Unfortunately, Sarita didn't come out with her. Boooo! Nevertheless, half the entrance is still pretty damn hot.
-Mike Tenay says that Madison Rayne has been very impressive since winning the singles title at Lockdown. I'm really not sure what he's basing this on. Just saying that doesn't make it true, Tenay. The only reason why her title reign hasn't been a disappointment is because there were no expectations for it to begin with.
-If this crowd is any indication, Madison Rayne is not over whatsoever unless the other two thirds of TBP are standing next to her. That shows just how badly the writers have dropped the ball with this woman. After retiring Tara, she really should be getting more heat than this. Maybe she would be if the writers had played up the "ending Tara's career" angle instead of sweeping it under the rug and jobbing out Madison in her very next match, thus making her win over Tara look like a fluke. I'm just saying...
-Why are the webmatches just as short as the TV matches, if not shorter? They don't have to conform to the TV format or be crammed in with a bunch of other segments, and yet they hardly ever get more than 2-4 minutes. Hell, this match barely lasted longer than the women's entrances!
-Taylor wrestles circles around Madison for 2 minutes, Madison hits a weak-looking finisher and Taylor gets pinned after one move. It's so stupid for Taylor to be beaten that easily by someone like Madison Rayne. If she were taking a powerbomb from Awesome Kong, then it would make sense; that's a devastating move. But Madison's offense, much like Velvet & Lacey's, is extremely weak -- it doesn't even look like it hurts, so the audience is left wondering why Taylor didn't just pop right back up.
-Oh well. Nice to see Taylor in the ring again at least. Why we don't see her more often these days is just baffling to me.
-Inexplicably, the fact that Madison is defending the singles title at Slammiversary this Sunday was never even mentioned in this segment. You figure that out. Sigh...
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6/10/10 iMPACT
-Here's an interesting news item. Apparently, Sara Del Rey will be working another TNA house show in Jersey next month. They used her once before when they ran a show in that area late last year as part of some kind of cross promotion venture with JAPW, of which I believe she's still the women's champion. While I'm skeptical that this will be about anything more than what it is, it's certainly encouraging that Del Rey is on the company's radar. Plus, TNAsylum.com has reported that the company will be taking a "long, hard look" at her... so who knows. Del Rey is a tremendous worker and the Knockout division would benefit enormously from having her there, especially if the rumors of Hamada being cut from the roster are true. Who better to fill the 'monster heel' void left by Awesome Kong than Death Rey?
ROXXI & ROSIE LOTTALOVE vs. THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (w/ MADISON RAYNE) HEELS BEAT DOWN THE BABYFACES POST-MATCH
-This match took place at the TV tapings, but it never aired on the show. My guess is that after the interminable Jeff Jarret video packages that never seemed to end, they were short on time and had to cut something. So apparently, the Knockouts title match at Slammiversary is less important than a guy who isn't even advertised for the show. Thanks a lot, Double J.
-For the record, Roxxi vs. Madison for the Knockouts title was not even announced when they were running down the card for Slammiversary. So I guess it's back to business with Roxxi getting pissed on. Damn, that happened even faster than I thought.
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6/13/10 Slammiversary
MADISON RAYNE PRE-MATCH PROMO
-Madison somehow convinces Roxxi to put her career on the line in this match for no reason at all, even though Roxxi would have everything to lose and nothing to gain by doing so. God, I hate it when these types of angles are done. Writing like this doesn't make the heel look like a despicable person, it just makes the babyface look like a complete dumbass.
-Why would any babyface in their right mind ever agree to such a thing when they don't have to? Why would the writers add a stipulation like this to a match without announcing it ahead of time? Do they not understand that announcing things ahead of time adds intrigue to a match and might entice fans to watch it? Why add the stip right before the match starts when the whole point is to get more buys for the show and anyone who's watching the PPV has either already bought it or is one of the growing number of fans so frustrated with TNA's ass-backwards booking that they're watching the show online so they don't have to pay for it?
-I'm sure you can all guess what happened next...
KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH:
ROXXI vs. MADISON RAYNE (c)
-TNA really need to stop booking nine matches on their PPV cards because every time they do this, several matches end up being too short to really be PPV quality, and unfortunately that's what happened here. Madison's promo got the crowd fired up and the match was solid while it lasted, but it wasn't nearly long enough to mean what it should have meant considering there was someone's career at stake. When a wrestler's career is ended following a four minute match, it makes the whole thing seem really anticlimactic.
-So Madison Rayne has now ended TWO women's careers. Anyone else think this will help her get over about as much as retiring Tara did? Yeah, I thought so.
-I know I've said this a lot, especially lately, but I'm going to say it again: the writers are wasting their time trying to make Madison Rayne (or any of TBP for that matter) look like a badass because 1) they're obviously not smart enough to do it right, and 2) Madison simply doesn't have the tools to pull it off. They had a chance to turn her into something and they blew it. She retired Tara, and instead of playing that up, they barely mentioned it and then had her lose her very next match, all of which came after over a year of being booked like a jobber prior to winning the title. No one is ever going to take Madison seriously as a force because, as much the writers probably wish it didn't, the first year and a half of her TNA run still exists.
-And if you think for one second that I'm wrong about the writers not being smart enough to do a "career killer" gimmick right, just think about this: Roxxi was really emotional after the match, but instead of actually showing that, instead of focusing on her reaction to milk the drama of the situation and get heat on Madison, instead of having the announcers shut up and letting the moment happen, Tenay & Taz talked over the whole thing like was just another every day occurrence and then the production team cut away from it way too quickly so they could show a video package for the next match. Still think I'm wrong?
-This is such garbage. Diva-dirt is reporting that there was major heat backstage from a lot of people when Roxxi arrived at the building and found out that a late breaking decision had been made to cut her AGAIN and I'm not surprised one bit. The way TNA have treated Roxxi has been disgusting and classless.
-So Roxxi's gone. AGAIN. My God, that poor woman is making a career out of getting screwed over and jerked around by this company. It's absolute bullshit. Roxxi deserves better and so do the fans. Did the idiots in management not hear the pops she was getting? Why the hell would you want to get rid of a woman who gets that kind of reaction?
-The way I feel right now, I'm suddenly hoping that Sara Del Rey does NOT wind up in TNA. She's too good for them. They don't deserve her and they certainly don't deserve Roxxi.
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