TNA: TKO Ep. #9

Welcome to TKO, the fictional, one hour a week, Knockout exclusive iMPACT spinoff.

ROSTER: Angelina Love, Brooke Tessmacher, Daffney, Jennifer Blade (Jennifer Blake), Madison Rayne, Mickie James, Sarita, Serafina (Christina Von Eerie), Tara, Trina Diaz (Divina Fly/Rosita), Velvet Sky, Winter

BROADCAST TEAM: Jeremy Borash & Don West

RING ANNOUNCER: SoCal Val

INTERVIEWER: Christy Hemme

DIRECTOR OF AUTHORITY: Traci Brooks

ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR OF AUTHORITY: Cookie

TKO abides by one rule: Absolutely nothing happens on the show that could not conceivably happen if it existed in real life.

Here's what happened last time: Setting the Stage, Ep. #1, Ep. #2, Ep. #3, Ep. #4, Ep. #5, Ep. #6, Ep. #7, Ep. #8
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COLD OPEN: A caption on the screen reads 'Last week'. We see footage of Mickie James being helped to the back by the trainers after her match with Daffney. She's groggy and not fully aware of what's going on as she's examined by the medical staff. One of the trainers is interviewed and he says that Mickie was lucky tonight, but she's riskng a concussion if she takes any more shots to the head like she took in this match.


OPENING VIDEO


iMPACT ZONE: JB & West welcome us to the show and run down tonight's card. In addition to the matches, Angelina Love has informed them that she will make a major announcement later. They move on to discussing Daffney's assault on Mickie last week and they both agree that the issues between these women are far from over. Then they switch gears and talk about what Sarita did to Trina Diaz 2 weeks ago. West says Sarita was so furious with Trina for costing them the tag team titles that she just snapped and Trina was lucky Serafina made the save when she did. As it is, she had to go to the hospital for observation after Sarita brutalized her.

Traci Brooks and Cookie come out and cut a promo from the stage. Traci addresses Daffney and Sarita, saying that she doesn't condone what they did to Mickie and Trina respectively. She can't have competitors deliberately trying to put each other in the hospital when she's got a show to put on and both of them will be dealt with. Tonight, Sarita will face Serafina, who's been dying to get her hands on Sarita for the last 2 weeks. And if Daffney wants another title shot, she's going to have to defeat Mickie in a non-title match tonight to get it.

JB says Traci is laying down the law, but West wonders if Traci didn't just do Daffney a favor. They all saw the condition Mickie was in last week; going another round with Daffney right now might just soften her up. It gives Daffney another chance to injure Mickie, and if she wins, she could have an easy road to the title when she gets her championship rematch. Either way, he thinks Mickie could be in some trouble tonight.


BACKSTAGE: Madison Rayne and Tara are in the middle of an argument. Tara is trying to explain that she'd just come out of a match and that's why she wasn't in Madison's corner last week, but Madison says that she doesn't want to hear any more excuses. She thinks Tara is forgetting her place -- she hasn't been on the same page as Madison for weeks now and she'd better get her head in the game, or else. Madison suggests that Tara watch what she does in her match tonight and take notes, lest Madison remind her who's the boss in this partnership.

Tara takes offense to this comment and she almost says something about it, but stops herself. Madison asks if she has anything she wants to say. Through gritted teeth, Tara says she doesn't. "That's what I thought," Madison snarks, walking off.

We see Jennifer Blade heading for the ring and JB hypes up Jennifer vs. Madison.

We cut to Serafina, who is working over a punching bag while Christy Hemme tries to get some comments about her match tonight with Sarita. Serafina says that with a personality like hers she doesn't have a lot of friends and really doesn't want a lot of friends, but the ones she has she keeps really close. If someone messes with them, they have to deal with her, and if someone happens to put one of her friends in the hospital, that's just stoking the fire.

She says she knew about Sarita from when she used to wrestle down in Mexico. They worked for different companies, so they never crossed paths, but Sarita and her mean streak had a reputation that everyone knew about. "But I've got a reputation too that she's gonna to learn all about tonight," she says. "You mess with me, I mess you the @#$% up." Serafina wails on the punching bag one more time. The bag breaks off and goes flying.


iMPACT ZONE: Jennifer makes her entrance as the announcers talk about the issues with her and Tara. She hasn't been able to beat Tara, but not for lack of trying. JB says it will be interesting to see how she does against Madison with Tara at ringside.

Madison makes her entrance with Tara following. She makes Tara hold the ring ropes open for her. Jennifer watches, disgusted by this.


JENNIFER BLADE vs. MADISON RAYNE (w/ TARA)

Tara taunts Jennifer throughout the match. Jennifer starts to get the better of Madison, but Tara trips her as she tries to run the ropes. Jennifer kicks Tara in response. Angry, Tara jumps up on the ring apron to get in her face. Madison tries to use this as a distraction, but Jennifer whips Madison into the ropes and she collides with Tara instead. Jennifer then gets the win with a roll up.

WINNER: Jennifer Blade in 5:43

Tara immediately hits the ring. She and Madison try to beat down Jennifer, but Jennifer rolls out of the ring and escapes, trash talking with Tara as she backs up the ramp. Concurrently, Madison starts yelling at Tara for costing her the match.

JB says Jennifer isn't backing down until she gets another shot at Tara, and from the look on Tara's face, she may just get her wish.


BACKSTAGE: We see Angelina Love heading for the ring. JB hypes Angelina's big announcement after the break.


COMMERCIALS


They air a video package chronicling the issues between Angelina, Winter and Velvet Sky since Angelina & Winter won the tag titles.


iMPACT ZONE: Angelina makes her way to the ring looking very serious. For a minute, she just stands in the ring, looking somberly at her tag team title belt that she brought out with her. Then she begins...

She says she's accomplished a lot in this company. She's the most decorated Knockout in TNA history. She's won more singles championships than any woman that's ever been through here. But when she looks back on it all, the first time she won the title was really the most special to her, and she felt the same way when she won this tag team championship because that was a first for her too. Unfortunately, problems have reared their ugly heads and have put her in a situation she never thought she'd be in. There are a lot of issues she's being forced to deal with right now and the only way she can think of to deal with them is by making a hard decision she really didn't want to make. She was hoping like hell she'd be able to avoid this, but last week she realized that she's got no choice.

Angelina says she hasn't discussed this with Winter yet and she expects Winter is going to be really pissed off about it, but she's made her decision and she's sticking with it. She talked to the boss and Traci Brooks has approved this. Next week Angelina is going to face Winter in a match, with the winner earning sole possession of the Knockout tag team championships and the right to choose a new partner.


COMMERCIALS


BACKSTAGE: The camera follows Velvet Sky who's looking for Angelina. Finding her, Velvet immediately asks what that was all about. Angelina says that Velvet was right -- them and Winter together wasn't going to work, so she decided to pull the plug. Velvet says that's not what she meant and asks why in the hell Angelina would put her tag title on the line like this.

Angelina says that it's not on the line because she knows she's going to beat Winter next week. What's more, the reason why should be pretty obvious -- she's doing this for Velvet.

There's an awkward moment as this just hangs in the air, then Velvet asks her what she means. Angelina says that once she beats Winter, she'll gain both the tag titles. Then she can name Velvet as her new partner. And if Velvet is one half of the tag team champions, management will have to give her a new contract.

Velvet doesn't seem to know how to take this news. She insists that she wanted to take care of this problem herself, but Angelina reminds her that this strategy hasn't been going so well. Velvet needs a big win and she hasn't been able to get one on her own -- that's why they need to be a team again.

Velvet asks what that's supposed to mean, sounding slightly offended. Angelina just says that Velvet has a better chance of getting wins if the 2 of them work together.

There's another awkward pause. Then Velvet asks if Angelina thinks she can't win matches by herself. Angelina insists that isn't what she said, but Velvet is already getting angry and defensive. "But you were thinking it, weren't you? Oh my God. I can't believe I'm hearing this from you of all people. I have to eat this crap from Sarita every damn week. You think that stuff just rolls off? It doesn't! I know what everyone's been saying about me behind my back. I know what people around here think of me. I just didn't think you were one of them."

Angelina is just trying to calm Velvet down, insisting that she didn't mean that and Velvet is twisting her words around, but Velvet isn't hearing it. "You know what?" she says, very upset. "Save yourself the trouble and call off the match with Winter next week. You want us to be a team again -- well, maybe I don't want to be part of this team anymore!"

Velvet storms off, leaving Angelina standing there, completely stunned.


iMPACT ZONE: The announcers discuss what just happened. JB says neither of them expected Velvet to react to this news that way. West says she's been under a lot of stress for months and that does weird things to people, but Velvet's pride may be getting in the way of her brain and it might do her good to rethink this and take Angelina up on her offer.

Serafina makes her entrance.


BACKSTAGE: Sarita is standing at the entranceway, waiting for her music to play. Christy asks her if she's ready to reveal who the mystery partner is that she talked about 2 weeks ago. "Nope," Sarita says. "But I'll give you a hint. In just a minute you're gonna cross someone's name off your list of candidates."


iMPACT ZONE: Sarita makes her entrance.


SARITA vs. SERAFINA

The match is back and forth. Serafina has a great showing, but can't overcome Sarita, who wins with a tigerbomb.

WINNER: Sarita in 8:23

As Sarita is walking up the ramp, Serafina flips her off. Angry, Sarita jumps back into the ring and attacks her again. Sarita locks Serafina in La Reienera (modified spinning backbreaker rack) and refuses to release the hold. She screams at Serafina to beg her to stop. Serafina just yells, "F#$% YOU!" every time she does.

The referee is unable to get Sarita to break the hold and finally reverses the decision of the match due to Sarita's actions, just like in her match with Trina 2 weeks ago.

WINNER: Serafina in 8:23

Sarita still won't break the hold. The referee calls for security. The guards manage to pull her off Serafina, who needs to be helped out of the ring by the trainers.

West says that Sarita is going off the deep end. JB points out that she was going to interfere in the tag title match last week, but Serafina stopped her. Sarita is obsessed with regaining the tag titles, and the longer this goes on, the more unhinged she becomes.


BACKSTAGE: Traci and Cookie watch this on a monitor. Traci isn't happy, but she doesn't look angry either. She looks more thoughtful than anything else.

We cut to Mickie James, who is getting her head rebandaged by a trainer.

JB hypes up Mickie vs. Daffney after the final break of the evening.


COMMERCIALS


BACKSTAGE: Outside the Knockout locker room, the door opens and Madison throws all of Tara's stuff (wrestling gear, street clothes, etc) out into the hallway. Tara tries to talk sense into her, but Madison shrieks that Tara can't do anything right, and until she does, she doesn't get to share a locker room with her. Madison then slams the door shut, leaving Tara in the hall with her stuff all over the floor.

As Tara starts to gather up her things, the camera pulls back to reveal Jennifer silently watching.

We cut to Mickie, her head now bandaged. She's quiet and subdued, but looks determined. She says that ever since this thing with her and Daffney started, nothing has gone right. Mickie's stayed in there with Daffney, but Daffney has taken a chunk out of her in every encounter. Now she has to face Daffney again when she's far from 100% and notes how interesting it is that Traci says Daffney is going to be punished, and instead gives her an opportunity to earn another title shot by beating someone the trainers are saying shouldn't even be wrestling tonight. That aside, Mickie insists that this will not stop her. "There's a reason why wounded animals are the most dangerous kind. Daffney may have hurt me last time, but her real mistake was not taking my head clean off."

We cut to Daffney and Christy by the entranceway. Daffney asks if Christy would believe her if she said there was a method to her madness. Christy says that, honestly, she wouldn't. Daffney asks if Christy thinks that Mickie would. Christy doesn't know.

"Really?" Daffney asks, grinning. "I'll see if I can fix that."


iMPACT ZONE: Daffney makes her entrance. Then Mickie, who forgoes her usual routine, instead walking slowly to the ring, stopping at the foot of the ramp. For a minute, she just glares at the grinning Daffney, then she hits the ring and they go at it!


#1 CONTENDERSHIP TO THE KNOCKOUTS TITLE
DAFFNEY vs. MICKIE JAMES (c)

Daffney spends the entire match working over Mickie's head. Mickie makes a valiant effort and gets plenty of hope spots, but ultimately her injuries are too much for her to push through. Daffney hits her finisher and gets the clean pin.

WINNER AND NEW #1 CONTENDER: Daffney in 9:00

Daffney takes the Knockouts title belt from ringside. She holds it up as she stands over the unconscious Mickie, then drapes the belt over Mickie, kneels down next to her head and screams right into her ear.

JB says that Daffney now has a clear path to the title and Mickie's problems just got bigger, as we...


FADE OUT