TNA’s Knockouts Division Gets Knocked Out!

It’s been less than a year since Dixie Carter made the historic announcement that IMPACT Wrestling would be taking the show on the road. A move many wrestling fans had wanted for the longest, as it would grant the number 2 wrestling company to flourish. Now six months later, TNA has released a large percentage of its talent and staff due to a lot of poor decision-making.

This time we cannot blame Vince Russo as he no longer works for the company, but many have focused the blame on Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff and their brilliant “money-making” ideas. First off, let’s move IMPACT Wrestling to Monday Nights to ignite the Monday Night Wars. That burst of “IMPACTaMania” quickly fizzled. Then of course, Hogan and Bischoff whispered in Dixie’s ear and told her to open her daddy’s purse strings to spend more money in order to make more money. Without any established talents, or intelligible marketing campaigns, filling the locker room with former WCW and WWE talents didn’t help anyone.

However, those two get-rich-quick schemes pale in comparison to the devastating effect taking the show on the road live every Thursday Night has caused. Many talents have been released from the company, with the most recent being the former Knockouts champion, “Hardcore Country” Mickie James.

That’s right, Mickie James, the self-professed Knockouts Champion of the Century, parted ways with TNA Wrestling. On the September 19th edition of IMPACT Wrestling, Mickie James will drop the title to ODB, who–judging by the way things are going–could possibly be TNA’s final Knockouts champion.

The Knockouts have always drawn viewership, at times more so than the men. So why wouldn’t Dixie and friends use common sense and establish the division? Ensuring the growth of the Knockouts division should have been Dixie’s main prerogative.

With Mickie James gone, which breaks my heart because she has always been my favorite women’s wrestler, what is left of the Knockouts?

As of right now, TNA’s Knockouts division solely consists of: Gail Kim, recently crowned Queen of the Knockouts at TNA’s One-Night Only PPV Knockouts KnockDown; ODB, the current Knockouts champion; Brooke Tessmacher, who is currently acting as Bully Ray’s old lady (that’s SOA lingo); Taryn Terrell, who hasn’t been seen in weeks; and Velvet Sky.

The word circulating around the inner circles of the IWC is that TNA Wrestling will take IMPACT Wrestling off the road and station TV tapings either back in Florida or possibly California.

If that’s the case, then Dixie needs to bring in more women competitors into the fold. Even if TNA cannot issue out long-term contracts, then at least pay the additional ladies for appearances. They already work for appearances on the independent circuit, might as well get some TV exposure out of it.

Dixie should consider bringing back the talents that appeared on TNA’s Knockouts KnockDown event: Serena Deeb, Alissa Flash, Jackie Moore, Sojo Bolt, Ivelisse, Lei’D Tapa, Mia Yim, Trinity, Jillian Hall, Santana, Hannah Blossom, and Taeler Hendrix.

Answer the Question: What are your thoughts on the current state of the Knockouts division now that Mickie James has parted ways?

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[Watch the Exclusive Preview One-Night Only: TNA Knockouts Knockdown courtesy of TNA’s Official YouTube channel]

AJ Lee’s Pipe Bomb

Tuesday morning, Facebook and Twitter were beaming with posts from wrestling fans enthralled by AJ Lee’s pipe bomb on Monday Night RAW. The WWE Divas Champion’s pipe bomb was a mixture of truth and sour grapes towards the stars of the hit reality series Total Divas. It is no secret that AJ Lee has felt a level of resentment towards the Total Divas girls because as the champion, she wasn’t asked to be a part of the show.

She stated that she got into the WWE based on her abilities alone: That she didn’t “suck” up to the right people to get to where she was; or have a family lineage in the WWE to gain an easy entry. Clearly the first shell of the pipe bomb was directed towards The Bella Twins who are dating John Cena and Daniel Bryan; and the second shell is spear-headed towards Natalya Neidhart, the daughter of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart and niece of WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

While those were some good points to make, AJ’s “pipe bomb” comes across more as a cry for attention versus speaking the truth. When CM Punk–as everyone has already compared the two–dropped his pipe bomb in the summer of 2011, he had always been kept away from the main event spotlight because of WWE’s warped vision that John Cena was The Best. CM Punk not only made us believe, but we were able to take a peak behind the curtain to see the Great and Powerful WWE as a machine keeping down CM Punk. We all knew that CM Punk was great in the ring, but he made us question WWE’s tactics and with unrelenting animosity and determination, he knocked off WWE’s poster boy.

The difference between AJ and CM Punk is that at the time of the “pipe bomb” CM Punk hadn’t broken the glass ceiling, grabbed the brass ring… essentially he hadn’t been the WWE champion. AJ Lee, who has embraced her psychopathic gimmick, has valet’d some of the top WWE Superstars, had taken on a brief role as the General Manager of Monday Night RAW, and she is in current possession of the WWE Divas championship. AJ basically has everything that most WWE Divas would kill for.

Despite being the best technical wrestler, Natalya hasn’t been given the breaks one would assume coming from a family of such rich history. For a while, Natalya had to ride out a degrading backstage segment week after week of her breaking wind. This woman can fold you into a pretzel faster than you can blink and WWE had her as, literally, the butt of the joke.

Though The Bella Twins are easy, no pun intended, to point out their short-comings as wrestlers, they are an attraction to witness. Twins are a rarity in the business of professional wrestling, let alone a pair of hot twins. And let’s not cut out their wrestling abilities short because for Brie, dating Daniel Bryan has paid off in terms of upping her in ring skills. She’s actually applying submission holds, though she still relies on her sister Nikki to bail her out of trouble, that’s just the heel thing to do.

AJ Lee is an incredible talent and she deserves to be the top Diva in the division right now, but to hold a grudge against Divas who hardly received any TV time to find new live in a reality series is a bit cheeky.

Answer the Question: What were your thoughts on AJ Lee’s Pipe Bomb?

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[Watch AJ Lee’s Pipe Bomb courtesy of WWE’s Official YouTube channel]

WWE Crowns First NXT Women’s Champion

With WWE’s Divas starring in their own reality-series “Total Divas” on E!, and the Divas competing twice this past Monday Night on RAW–including a renewed rivalry between Divas champion AJ Lee and Kaitlyn–the Divas division is finally making some headway. But the most promising news regarding the division’s future was the crowning of the first NXT Women’s champion, Paige.

Follow Paige on Twitter: @RealPaigeWWE

Ever since WWE rebranded its developmental territory into NXT Wrestling, the focus has been on competition. Wrestlers on NXT compete either for the NXT championship or NXT Tag Team championships; but for the longest, the Divas simply competed for ring and air time. This all changed when WWE Vice President Stephanie McMahon made the announcement of NXT hosting an eight-women tournament to crown the first-ever NXT Women’s champion.

Paige and Emma, the two finalist, emerged from a series of grueling matches against Divas from the main roster to get to the final round of the tournament. Emma, WWE’s first Australian wrestler, defeated Aksana and Summer Rae; and Paige knocked off Tamina Snuka and former Divas champion Alicia Fox.

The two fan favorites met in the finals on the July 24 edition of NXT Wrestling to deliver one of the best women’s pro wrestling matches in a long time. The Full Sail University crowd were split between Emma and Paige, and even chanted that this was awesome. When was the last time the WWE Universe generated that kind of reaction for a Divas match on Monday Night RAW or Friday Night SmackDown? Unheard of.

Emma and Paige exchanged hay-makers, headbutts, submission holds, and near-falls. The caliber of the match was a bona-fide main event, fighting not only for the dubious honor of being crowned the inaugural champion, but also showing WWE brass and the WWE Universe why they belong. The match ended with Paige executing the Paige Turner finisher, swinging leg-hook fireman’s carry slam, to become the first-ever NXT Women’s champion.

In an emotional celebration, Paige was met in the ring by a number of the NXT Divas, and by a surprise guest, WWE C.O.O. Triple H. The Game entered the ring filled with the lovely Divas, and raised Paige’s arm in the air with his stamp of approval on the aptly nicknamed “Diva of Tomorrow”.

Paige, better known by her former ring name, Britani Knight, is an English professional wrestler who trained at the WAW Academy by her family: Klondyke Kate and Jason Cross. She’s competed in singles and tag team competition throughout Europe, including World Association of Wrestling and Pro-Wrestling: EVE. She has also teamed up and competed against her mother Sweet Saraya. Paige defeated her mom to become the WAW British champion, and lost to her mom for the HEW Women’s championship.

Paige made her USA debut with Saraya for SHIMMER Women Athletes as the Knight Dynasty in a series of loses. The two split up, and in Paige’s final SHIMMER match on Volume 44, she defeated Saraya in a No-DQ match. Then on September 2011, Paige signed a WWE developmental contract and reported to Florida Championship Wrestling and transitioned with the rebranding over to NXT Wrestling. The rest is history.

Answer the Question: Does the future of the Divas division seem brighter with Paige as the new NXT Women’s champion?

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[Watch Paige’ promo on NXT Wrestling]

Mickie James’ Hardcore Ego

Mickie James is the heartbreaking, history making, Knockouts champion of the century. At least that’s what she likes to believe.

Don’t let her Southern charm fool you; since defeating her former “besty” Velvet Sky for the Knockouts championship, Mickie James has developed quite the ego and a mean streak.

Her new attitude stemmed the night she blatantly took advantage of Velvet Sky’s recovering knee injury; an injury Velvet told Mickie in confidence. Then Mickie avoided giving Velvet her rightful rematch with the air of a caring friend looking after her friend’s best interest.

“You’re not medically cleared to face me,” harped Mickie James. Then, as Mickie predicted, Velvet failed to recapture the title because her knee wasn’t 100%.

Can you blame Mickie James for winning the Knockouts title the way she did? As a champion, Velvet Sky had a target on her back and a direct bull’s-eye on her knee. In the spirit of competition, Mickie did nothing wrong; but as a friend, there’s a reason why the saying goes, “It’s lonely at the top.”

But who needs friends when you’re also a famous country recording artist? Jeremy Borash remarked on Mickie James’ live concert from Nashville, stating the level of Mickie’s arrogance for wearing the Knockouts title around her waist throughout her performance.

Whether wearing a championship to a non-wrestling event is a sign of arrogance or a sense of pride; dismissing the significance of the Knockouts ladder match is arrogant. A few weeks ago, Mickie proudly stated that the history making moment of the week was her concert; not the physically demanding match between Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell to determine her next challenger.

In her latest title defense, Mickie benefited from an altercation between Gail and the KO referee ODB. Will that championship match go down in the record books as history making? Far from it. But we do have to give the devil her due for being opportunistic.

In order to get far in this business, one must make the most out of every opportunity: Mickie made the most of Velvet’s knee injury; and she made the most of Gail Kim’s short temper towards female referees.

Answer the Question: Is Mickie James the heartbreaking, history making, Knockouts champion of the century?

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[Watch Mickie James’ promo while perched on a ladder – courtesy of TNA’s Official YouTube Page]