The Return of the TNA Knockouts

[wrestling fan 666]

I know that before I even start, there's going to be some haters out there for women's wrestling; this thread is not for you. After watching the Gail Kim and Teryn Terrell ladder match, the feeling came that this is what the Knockout division was before it turned into a lame sideshow that it did. When the KO's debuted, they were tough, rugged, and kicked some serious ass which is why it became so popular. When the Hogan/Bischoff team came over and pretty much made it into their version of WWE's Divas.

This being said, do you think that they are on the verge of a comeback? Or do you feel that it's too late to try to revive it?

I feel as though they're on the crossroads to make it or break it; how do you feel?

 

[Lowdown]

Maybe I'm not qualified to comment on this being I've only seen one or two KO matches from before 2010. But this "comeback" that you speak of, well it doesn't seem that way. The chicks TNA had back around 05-08 seemed to have had more talent, like with Kong. Angelina Love was solid as well. Now they do still have Gail Kim, Tara, and Mickie as savvy veterans, and ODB isn't too bad but not great. And I see some potential in Taryn. But you really can't get a stellar match out of Velvet and Tess, though it could be worse. You're basing your assumption on Taryn and Gail's recent matches. While both were good, that doesn't really set the tone for the division on the whole. Keep in mind they also just let go of and up and comer in Taeler Hendrix. The KO's are alright for now, so it just depends on how they can capitalize from here.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

In all honesty TNA is doing great things with the womens division. The matches between Gail and Taryn have been spectacular. Mickie James has been given ample time to shine as well.. I believe WWE has taken notice... AJ and Kaitlyn at Payback was a damn good match and the leadup to the rematch has been fairly good as well. If this match is as good as the original then I give credit to TNA for rebuilding womens wrestling

 

[Olan]

Loving what TNA is doing with the Knockouts. Heel Mickie James is incredible and the fans are seem to be loving it. Gail Kim and Taryn Terrel have had some incredible matches. Will be interesting to see what they do with heel versus heel Mickie vs gail.
But before they can compare to what they uses to be they need numbers--you just can't have a division with 6 active wrestlers. There also needs to be some non-title related feuds

But TNA is bringing the KO's back and that in turn is making the WWE turn up the divas and that is a good thing for all concerned

 

[wrestling fan 666]

Olan, I can't agree more with the Mickey heel turn. I see improvement with the division, but they need some more work. You are so right about the 6 person division, when they were determining who would wrestle for the title and there were only 5 (Tara's been out of action); I was skeptical. I just hope they listen to the fans.

 

[GameOver]

Dont know about a resurgeance since really there's only 3 Knockouts that are doing anything

Mickie is Mickie, the's a stable go to girl who isn't the best of the best but she can certainly fit in with the best

Gail is the best of the best (in ring) as far as WWE/TNA is concerned but i'm not gonna argue with anyone who sais both or all three of these girls are better then anything WWE has to offer.

Terryn has come along way from the GM of ECW

for me the past month Gail vs Terryn series have been the most entertaining matches in the women's division's of WWE or TNA nothing is even coming close they are even beating a good portion of the rest of Impact matches

Anticpating another match from those two.

 

[MWRedskins]

agree and disagree. agree in the sense that the tna knockouts (lately) are having really good matches and telling great stories. the turn of James was awesome and worked. Kim and Tarrell had two great matches and they are compelling, BUT I cant disagree about a return because it's kinda hard to get behind the knockouts in TNA when there's only like (what seems to be) 6of them. I think tna needs to hire some more knockouts so they can have more/fresh matches. WWE is also improving with their diva's division. giving Kaitlyn some air time was a good move and giving the title to AJ was great as she is great. WWE and TNA both have their issues and both need to either hire (in tna's case) or call up (in wwe's case) some ladies. TNA has a talent to call up, but they need to (if they can afford to) hire more knockouts and WWE needs to call up some divas in the future, mainly paige.

 

[davy g]

As good and beautiful as they are, it was better when they had Madison Rayne , the beautiful people (all 3) Daffny, the two latinas that were with LAX etc, in other words its hard to judge with the limited knockouts, as odb & tara are not competing, but the ones they have put on a way better show then wwe by far, wwe women cannot compete with tna women at all

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't know if I'd call this a full blown resurgence, but I do have to say that I've enjoyed the KO Division more in the past few months than I have in the past few years.

Mickie James has very much surprised me. She's easily doing the best mic and character work of her career. Frankly, I didn't know she had it in her. For many years, she's been a pretty bland, generic babyface but she's done a great job with her current heel character. It's certainly the most interesting she's been in a long, long time.

Gail Kim & Taryn Terrell have delivered the best KO matches that TNA has seen in quite some time. I don't think that can be genuinely denied. Both women have some shortcomings but, then again, nobody's perfect. Gail Kim has always been good in the ring but as a heel or face, in my eyes, the gal's just downright bland. In terms of Taryn, she's got heart. Frankly, I was expecting her to be more in line with how she looks: a living Barbie doll. Her matches against Gail Kim have shown that she's got heart but I do think she needs some more work. She's got the typical presence you'd expect of someone like her, which is basically an extremely hot girl running around in the skimpiest outfit of any woman in the Knockout Division. But, all in all, that's kind of generic and I'd like to see her be more than a standard, mostly naked, babyface blonde bombshell. I think that MIGHT hold her back generally in the long run. Right now, she doesn't have the presence or charisma of someone like Velvet Sky or Angelina Love or the in-ring ability of someone like Gail Kim or Mickie James. If she can develop something of a connection with fans that goes further in the long run, then she might be that fresh star the KO Division has needed for a while.

 

[R.K.O]

I don't think it's a resurgent. Look past the recent slightly more edgy matches and you can see that the KO roster is really really really thin, and that is before taking out the KO that doesn't even wrestle. (Cal Val and Christy, the release of Madison Rayne and Hendrix adds to it too) There's only so much they can do with the same few KOs before it gets repetitive.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

TNA has two absolute babes of good wrestlers that they got from the WWE. I'm talking Brooke Tessmacher and Taryn Terrell.

Both of these young ladies have grown into way better wrestlers than you could ever imagine they would become in the WWE. They are the future of the knockouts division. I know the idiots who have hardly watched TNA as much as I have are going to disagree.. but trust me, these ladies are beautiful and their just as good as some of the other knockouts in TNA. They have both put on great matches.

So with those two outstanding young wrestlers, we also got Velvet Sky(who I'm going to say isn't as good as Tess or Taryn, it's more of a natural athleticism thing. Velvet just doesn't also seem as comfortable in the ring still. Like she's going to "hurt" her opponent.)

Taryn is a house of fire who just explodes at you and isn't afraid to attempt a move. Tessmacher was a little more finesse, less fire. But she'd hang in the match and she would do good counters and such.

I don't look at either of those two as weaknesses, I say they are the young, beautiful, and talented strength of the Knockouts division.

You got ODB in the "next up to bat" position. At least if your smart you do. Fans' have been calling for ODB again, surely she can wrestle as good as ever, but she just hasn't been given TV time for these new babes I was talking about. Putting her as the ref is good, I believe she helps these knockouts wrestle better than most of you can even understand by helping them move the action along during the match. But you know she's just waiting for her moment to break out of the ref role and challenge the champ when thing hits the fan.

Gail Kim is amazing, one of the best woman technicians.

Mickie James is a star and a pretty good heel, she puts the title on a pedestal. She should have stopped using the Chick Kick after fucking it up for the 1000th time.

Tara is always a threat and a good wrestler.

They have a very solid and capable roster. Literally every female wrestler I listed is better than literally every female wrestler in the WWE. (At least based on what the companies allow on their females to do.)

Hendrix got released? News to me, shame too. She might have been the weakest on the roster, but she was gaining experience and she was always a pleasure to see.

What happen to Sarita? I was a big fan of her in-ring work and her butt.

Ivy Velez? Well she didn't win gut check but I must mention her because she is probably the best free agent female wrestler roaming the World. Just looked amazing in the ring, like a female Austin Aries. (maybe not quite.. but still damn good)

The KO's division has been rebuilt around Taryn though, you can tell. Not a bad move considering she brings it. They put the title back on the number one draw, the number one true heel is moving up the rankings, and Taryn is waiting for Gail to fail so she can beat a more bolstered champion in Mickie James and get over.

 

[joeg]

To answer your question, NO.

The matches with Gail Kim simply indicate she is spoiled & TNA is always giving her what she wants. Basically it's the GK Division at the moment.

• Gail's feud with Tiffany was mainly supposed to put her in the spotlight as how she's the "best in the world" simply by having her matches drag out for a very long time & take extreme bumps. I don't even think any men's matches are as long as her's & that's sad to admit.
  
• Mickie & Velvet's feud was extremely overshadowed by Gail Kim/Tiffany. Their match wasn't even on the card for Slammaversary.
  
• Any matches that don't have Gail in it are always bland and forgettable, likely because they don't want anybody to upstage her.
  
• Gail Kim has been appearing the most times out of any other KO & has never been left off TV like Brooke Tess. & Tara.
  
• Not to mention, any "gauntlet" with Gail in it will have her in the match from start to finish.

So to answer your question again, the only KO benefiting from booking all the time is Gail. I mean this is the same brat who won both women's titles in her first month back. She is like the T.O. of women's wrestling.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

To answer your question, NO.

The matches with Gail Kim simply indicate she is spoiled & TNA is always giving her what she wants. Basically it's the GK Division at the moment.

• Gail's feud with Tiffany was mainly supposed to put her in the spotlight as how she's the "best in the world" simply by having her matches drag out for a very long time & take extreme bumps. I don't even think any men's matches are as long as her's & that's sad to admit.
  
• Mickie & Velvet's feud was extremely overshadowed by Gail Kim/Tiffany. Their match wasn't even on the card for Slammaversary.
  
• Any matches that don't have Gail in it are always bland and forgettable, likely because they don't want anybody to upstage her.
  
• Gail Kim has been appearing the most times out of any other KO & has never been left off TV like Brooke Tess. & Tara.
  
• Not to mention, any "gauntlet" with Gail in it will have her in the match from start to finish.

So to answer your question again, the only KO benefiting from booking all the time is Gail. I mean this is the same brat who won both women's titles in her first month back. She is like the T.O. of women's wrestling.

They need to make Gail Kim look like a threat and have SOME credibility, otherwise she mind as well not even attempt to put the other knockouts over.

Like I said in my post, she's just looking good so she can make Mickie James look good who will ultimately make Taryn Terrell into the Knockouts Champion. Or Mickie can not beat Gail, not gain credibility with her title reign, lose the title to Taryn, and it will be a little less exciting because of what she had less to overcome.

 

[joeg]

You mean she didn't already have credibility? What's wrong with Tara? I think she is better suited to legitimize younger women & she hardly ever botches in the ring. Why is she at her restaurant all the time? Or else why not sign some more Indy women that have experience and can work with them? Now that they only have like 4 women now & they've all been with the company for a while it should be time to make the roster fresher & younger.

And who ever said that Mickie's going to beat Gail? This likely will be a feud to turn Gail into a superheroic babyface for the ridiculous reason that she is the "savior of women's wrestling" under the belief that she "single-handedly revolutionized" it. Knowing what kind of attitude she has I wouldn't be surprised if this happened.

And also notice that I mentioned how the X-Division & some of the BFG series matches are never given as much focus as her when she's in her matches. If TNA wanted to issue "credibility" as you say to some of the young men they still have, they simply could. But knowing that Gail has publicly burned her bridges with WWE & has always has been booked superior compared to MANY of TNA's talent, I can't help but accuse her of being a serious political ego.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

To answer your question, NO.

The matches with Gail Kim simply indicate she is spoiled & TNA is always giving her what she wants. Basically it's the GK Division at the moment.

• Gail's feud with Tiffany was mainly supposed to put her in the spotlight as how she's the "best in the world" simply by having her matches drag out for a very long time & take extreme bumps. I don't even think any men's matches are as long as her's & that's sad to admit.
  
• Mickie & Velvet's feud was extremely overshadowed by Gail Kim/Tiffany. Their match wasn't even on the card for Slammaversary.
  
• Any matches that don't have Gail in it are always bland and forgettable, likely because they don't want anybody to upstage her.
  
• Gail Kim has been appearing the most times out of any other KO & has never been left off TV like Brooke Tess. & Tara.
  
• Not to mention, any "gauntlet" with Gail in it will have her in the match from start to finish.

So to answer your question again, the only KO benefiting from booking all the time is Gail. I mean this is the same brat who won both women's titles in her first month back. She is like the T.O. of women's wrestling.

Okay, it can be seen as though Gail is the star-OR it could be that they are actually trying to legitimize the division. It was said numerous times that no woman's division was stronger than the one with Trish and Lita; two great wrestlers that made every woman want to step it up and be more than eye candy. They proved that they could be beautiful AND tough. I see Mickey and Gail trying to attempt the same resurgence.

In it's height of popularity of the KO division, the talent was so strong, women from other areas were flocking to join for they loved the competition. I truly feel that if Mickey and Gail succeed, they can get women wrestlers back to join IF they keep a very competitive atmosphere and build up new comers (Tara would be an EXCELLENT talent relations person).

Yes, they need more people to have more story lines besides the title. The Beautiful People, the hard core Roxie, the demented Daphney, the unstoppable Awesome Kong; these were stories that we as fans could get into. I hope that they succeed and rebuild the division.

 

[joeg]

Okay, it can be seen as though Gail is the star-OR it could be that they are actually trying to legitimize the division. It was said numerous times that no woman's division was stronger than the one with Trish and Lita; two great wrestlers that made every woman want to step it up and be more than eye candy. They proved that they could be beautiful AND tough. I see Mickey and Gail trying to attempt the same resurgence.

In it's height of popularity of the KO division, the talent was so strong, women from other areas were flocking to join for they loved the competition. I truly feel that if Mickey and Gail succeed, they can get women wrestlers back to join IF they keep a very competitive atmosphere and build up new comers (Tara would be an EXCELLENT talent relations person).

Yes, they need more people to have more story lines besides the title. The Beautiful People, the hard core Roxie, the demented Daphney, the unstoppable Awesome Kong; these were stories that we as fans could get into. I hope that they succeed and rebuild the division.

TNA has to realize that you can have acceptable matches without Gail doing all the work & taking all the credit & hogging all the spotlight.

In order for a "resurgence" to take place TNA would actually have to be committed to it, which doesn't look like that will happen now that they had to retire the tag titles & there are only 4 women currently in contention. How can you "rebuild" with only 4 women? & they've all feuded with one another already. This isn't 2008. They keep the same women around forever & what is going to happen when they all decide to leave or retire? They'll be left with just Gail & possibly Velvet. They need the money to sign a bunch of young, original talent. Sure you may like it that TNA signs former WWE guys but they will expire a lot earlier.

Back in Trish & Lita's time you did have some women with very little experience & they did indeed have matches that were horrible. In WWE, fans were anticipating AJ vs. Kaitlyn but there was NOBODY that had legitimized them in the ring. Fans just knew that they were kayfabe friends for a long time & one of them turned on the other. You could debate Eve legitimized Kaitlyn but their matches hardly drew at all.

Many former KOs like Kong & Love have already said they're not going to return to TNA, & I highly doubt anything Wonder Gail will do will change their mind because:

1. I'm certain they want to be the ones to open doors for women in the industry & not just go to the place with the most talented women.
2. After all it's TNA, & they've come to realize that no matter how many times they won the title the ceiling was pretty low.

They could have won the title 20 times & still not be as big (or rich for that matter) of a star as Trish was. I am hoping that they are eventually able to return to WWE where they could bring the much needed appeal & interest the Divas division seriously lacks.

 

[Jay Jayerson]

I know that before I even start, there's going to be some haters out there for women's wrestling; this thread is not for you. After watching the Gail Kim and Teryn Terrell ladder match, the feeling came that this is what the Knockout division was before it turned into a lame sideshow that it did. When the KO's debuted, they were tough, rugged, and kicked some serious ass which is why it became so popular. When the Hogan/Bischoff team came over and pretty much made it into their version of WWE's Divas.

This being said, do you think that they are on the verge of a comeback? Or do you feel that it's too late to try to revive it?

I feel as though they're on the crossroads to make it or break it; how do you feel?

I'm fairly happy with the division right now. Kind of upset Rayne is gone.

Terrell and Kim have been tearing it up and as someone who watched Kim go through what she went through at her 2nd WWE run, Im very happy to see her get to strut her stuff and show that she definitely deserves to be out there. Terrell, has also made a ground breaking debut for a female performer and I have to say I was one of her doubters (not to be confused with haters) but she made me a believer and I fully own up to it. I was wrong.

I feel like ODB could do more but if this is all they have for her right now maybe thats ok as long as she gets another run in the future. They could try a Joseph Park like reinvention.

I'm also very happy with Mickie James lately. To be honest I hadn't seen anything I really liked out of her in a long while. She feels fresh and Im enjoying her slow turn to heeldom. Though it is a little reminiscent of Madison Rayne's Queen Bee persona, I wont hold it against her and just enjoy.

Lastly, for me the dark horse here is Brooke Hogan. This probably wont be a popular opinion, but I'm actually kind of impressed with her. I had such low expectations of her that actually she turned out kinda ok in my books. No she's no oscar winning actress. But when I watch her, its hard to ignore the signs that she has the business in her blood. And yes her character is hard dose of ham and cheese but isnt that a part of what wrestling is all about?

 

[joeg]

Terrell and Kim have been tearing it up and as someone who watched Kim go through what she went through at her 2nd WWE run, Im very happy to see her get to strut her stuff and show that she definitely deserves to be out there.

You know why? Because nobody cheered for her or even wanted to see her. When something goes wrong, "Sure! It's WWE's fault! Shame on you, Vince! Shame on you for not pushing a Diva that draws next to nothing."

 

[Jay Jayerson]

You know why? Because nobody cheered for her or even wanted to see her. When something goes wrong, "Sure! It's WWE's fault! Shame on you, Vince! Shame on you for not pushing a Diva that draws next to nothing."

Your response implies I labelled the cause of the failure of her 2nd run. I did not. I only said that I was happy she found somewhere she could be happy herself plying her craft.

 

[Wrestlefan27]

I cannot call it a return to form unless they re-hire the talent that they have lost.

-Angelina Love
-Roxxi
-Madison Rayne
-Awesome Kong
-Sarita
-Taylor Wilde

These were the women in the division when I started watching. They were the reason I started watching TNA. Along with Velvet, Tara, Mickie, and Gail, these are talented competitiors and made the division really look and feel as if it were far superior to WWE.The current product is good, but there are too few knockouts and the matchups get stale quickly.

Unfortunately, with all the cuts TNA has made, it looks like the company may be a sinking ship. They need to make cuts from the top instead of the bottom and get rid of the old, higher paid talents that can't perform in matches frequently anymore. They need to focus on the future if they want to survive.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

Angelina Love is pretty over rated in my book, maybe slightly better than Velvet. She looks like a jacked up doll too.

I always remembered her being kind of weak in the ring, occasionally botch moves and such. A bit on the prissy side.

 

[joeg]

Your response implies I labelled the cause of the failure of her 2nd run. I did not. I only said that I was happy she found somewhere she could be happy herself plying her craft.

I'm not deputing that with you. It's just something that people need to know before they jump to conclusions.

 

[joeg]

Angelina Love is pretty over rated in my book, maybe slightly better than Velvet. She looks like a jacked up doll too.

I always remembered her being kind of weak in the ring, occasionally botch moves and such. A bit on the prissy side.

She's sweet. I'd love to have her back on TV & I would choose her easily over Gail Kim. She may look like a skinny freak with a fake face, gaudy tattoos, & strange abs but without all those things she's just like every other generic female wrestler. I'd love to see her appear on RAW & beat AJ as she's too valuable to be any place else. I think it would be a shame if she ever decides she wants to return to TNA or stay Indy because there is nothing left for her to accomplish in TNA & I wouldn't think she would keep evolving for 10 years for nothing.

 

[Wrestlefan27]

Angelina Love is pretty over rated in my book, maybe slightly better than Velvet. She looks like a jacked up doll too.

I always remembered her being kind of weak in the ring, occasionally botch moves and such. A bit on the prissy side.

I find that odd. I thought she was good in the ring. In fact, most of the matches I saw her in, I thought she had excellent timing. One match she had with Mickie on Impact was one of the best women's matches I've ever seen. I've never had a problem with her ring work, and she's good on the mic as well. The problem is that I can't see her in any role other than narcissistic heel.

I can't disagree with you on the jacked up doll thing though. Her body is fantastic, but she meesed up her face with botox and such. She looked way better before that.

 

[joeg]

I can't disagree with you on the jacked up doll thing though. Her body is fantastic, but she meesed up her face with botox and such. She looked way better before that.

I question how she managed to have the money for Botox when she couldn't even afford to see a doctor when she had that head injury.