Gail Kim is the *NEW* Knockouts Champion; Lei'D Tapa Under Her Employ

[ABMorales787]

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At Bound For Glory, Gail Kim defeated ODB and Brooke Tessmacher to become a 3 time Knockouts Champion. The inaugural champion regained her crown thanks to the aid of the "niece of the Barbarian" (Pray tell, TNA won't let us forget), Lei'D Tapa. For weeks she would assault the Knockouts, but it was revealed to be a simple act to secure the gold.

In my view, I don't give 2 damns about Gail Kim as champ. With no Awesome Kong around to have good matches with, she's been nothing but boredom. Tapa on the other hand is still not Ivelisse Velez and that's enough to say she sucks. She can't wrestle worth a damn to make it worse. This is a terrible move in my book but sadly, there's not much else to do with the division being more dry than a well in a desert. But of course, why hire an accomplished amateur MMA fighter with a great look, style, charisma and untapped ethnicity when we can go for the NIECE OF THE BARBARIAN.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

The problem is that this kind of move works on paper, but when you actually look at who is involved here, it just kinda sucks. Tapa is horrible. That's my biggest gripe. She's the female version of Giant Gonzalez. Based on look alone, maybe, just maybe it could work. Then you actually see her do so, and you realize why fans are still so upset over Ivelisse Velez.

What's worse is with Taryn Terrell pregnant (who knows if she'll even return), the best possible outcome of this (her coming out and defeating all the odds to win the Knockouts title) is unlikely to happen unless TNA thinks they can milk this thing for months and months.

 

[Cerebral Cyber Assassin]

I personally don't think that Lei D' Tapa is THAT bad. I definitely feel that there is alot of room for improvement, but she isn't exactly terrible to me. Why are you guys complaining so much about her? Atleast she is there. She is one of the many additions (hopefully) I see coming to that division.

My question to you guys is, what exactly was the appeal of Ivelisse Velez?, besides he in-ring ability. She doesn't provide a vibe for me, she doesn't exactly get me exited for a match or feud involving her. She didn't do or say anything that REALLY impressed me in her Gutcheck match or promo, other than the Quillotine Choke, and I don't think that she would live up to all this hype she gets. I have gone on record to say that, yes, TNA should have SIGNED THEM BOTH and this is because:

A.) We haven't seen a "monster" like Tapa since Awesome Kong and seeing that Kong wants to move on into WWE, this is probably the closest we will get.

B.) Ivelisse WAS more impressive than Tapa in the ring, and she would have provided a fresh face and style for the other Knockouts.

C.) The Knockout's Division just simply needs more bodies.

But, apparently TNA wants to pass on Velez and now we have to just wait and see what will come out of the insertion of Lei D' Tapa into the division.

Back to my statement before, I don't think Tapa isn't as terrible as people say. TNA is actually doing the right thing with pairing her with one of the best heel Knockouts to be in the company, instead of just throwing her into the match at BFG and having her win the title. She may not be as physically impressive as Kong was, but she will do. My ONLY gripe about Tapa is that she isn't nearly as aggressive as Kong was, and this (to me) is an essential part of being a "monster". Maybe she is "too girly" or maybe she just isn't familiar with the toughness of the Knockouts and she doesn't want to injury anybody, but bottom line is she NEEDS to throw her weigh around to be impressive.

 

[Mcase7187]

My problem is who is she going to face they have one face in ODB and V is I guess a face but she is w/ her man who is a heel (more tna logic) and taryn is out for at least a yr

Maybe tna will be smart and bring back love or a face kong but I'm sure they won't they fudged this up again

 

[Slash-LN]

My problem is who is she going to face they have one face in ODB and V is I guess a face but she is w/ her man who is a heel (more tna logic) and taryn is out for at least a yr

Maybe tna will be smart and bring back love or a face kong but I'm sure they won't they fudged this up again

How do you figure that's "TNA logic"?
The face female with a heel wrestler has been done before.
Liz and Savage
Mero and Sable
Kelly and Knox

I'm sure there are others.

There's only five active Knockouts so no matter who has the title there isn't much competition.

Of the currently active KO's Gail is my favorite so I'm glad she has the title.

They need to add some more workers to the roster in general. Maybe they can get some people from Shimmer or there are 6 female wrestlers on the roster in OVW. Maybe some of them are ready to come up.

 

[The Eighties]

I'm glad Gail is the Champion again as I can't stand ODB and given how limited the division is right now I think having the best worker as the Champion makes sense as she can get solid matches out of the rest, the big problem is lack of face challengers.

As for Tapa, the Giant Gonzalez comparison is apt, she's huge but doesn't have any natural presence, she just comes off like she's trying to be menacing but she looks more like an overacting panto villain, plus any monster heel needs their stuff to look devastating, her offense simply doesn't.

 

[Jstrike]

Is everyone in the iwc in love with Ivelisse? she had one match! 1 whole fricking match, quit saying she's the best ever! my gosh but people like kaitlyn is called sloppy? people don't like maryse? but like Ivelisse? im tired of hearing how great she is, she's pretty so is every other wwe diva in the world! so why the heck are we overrating on a girl we seen 1 time? now i know some will say i've watched her online, 20 percent probably has, the rest has seen one match!
are we ever gonna give le'd tapa a chance cause ivelisse had a match with her, everytime i bring up le'd tapa i hear ivelisse! im sick to death of hearing that. le'd tapa is a good wrestler, she's alot better than odb, who's highly praised, give her a fricking chance, before already downing her as if she's the worst wrestler in the world.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Is everyone in the iwc in love with ivelise? she had one match! 1 whole fricking match, quit saying she's the best ever! my gosh but people like kaitlyn is called sloppy? people don't like maryse? but like ivellise? im tired of hearing how great she is, she's pretty so is every other wwe diva in the world! so why the heck are we overrating on a girl we seen 1 time? now i know some will say i've watched her online, 20 percent probably has, the rest has seen one match!

They're not. They're completely out of love with Tapa. That's the problem with this. Based on the Gut Check match they had, it was clear as fuck to anyone with a set of eyes that Tapa not only wasn't ready, but that Ivelisse had something you could work with. This is a company who adore the MMA bridge, so why not capitalize on that with an actual MMA fighter in your knockouts division? You don't think there's money to be made there when you also factor in the fact she's fucking gorgeous?

 

[klunderbunker]

This sums up the Knockouts in general: we've seen this before.

Gail Kim has been Knockouts Champion before and no one cared. She's talented in the ring and has a beautiful face, but the girl is as interesting as watching paint dry. The division currently consists of I believe five girls:

Kim
Velvet
Brooke
ODB
Tapa

Am I missing anyone? Even if I am, six girls doesn't make a division. The other problem is other than Tapa, we've seen every combination of these girls. There's hardly ever a story for them and there's just nothing new there. Tapa being added isn't going to fix any of these problems because A, no one cares about her and B, she's just enforcing Gail Kim's latest boring title reign.

In short, there's nothing here that's going to fix the deep problems in the Knockouts division.

 

[Jstrike]

They're not. They're completely out of love with Tapa. That's the problem with this. Based on the Gut Check match they had, it was clear as fuck to anyone with a set of eyes that Tapa not only wasn't ready, but that Ivelisse had something you could work with. This is a company who adore the MMA bridge, so why not capitalize on that with an actual MMA fighter in your knockouts division? You don't think there's money to be made there when you also factor in the fact she's fucking gorgeous?

Bella twins are gorgeous everybody in the wwe that is female is gorgeous, almost all women in tna are gorgeous, so what's special about ivelisse from the already hot women we already have? she's decent in the ring cause she had a good match, i do wanna say thank you for clearing this up for me, that's it's the fact that people just don't like le'd tapa instead of being in love with ivelisse, however i think we need to watch lei'd tapa wrestle some more before we make a harsh decision on whether she's good or not, i've heard good thing's about her so she must be at least somewhat decent

 

[Jstrike]

This sums up the Knockouts in general: we've seen this before.

Gail Kim has been Knockouts Champion before and no one cared. She's talented in the ring and has a beautiful face, but the girl is as interesting as watching paint dry. The division currently consists of I believe five girls:

Kim
Velvet
Brooke
ODB
Tapa

Am I missing anyone? Even if I am, six girls doesn't make a division. The other problem is other than Tapa, we've seen every combination of these girls. There's hardly ever a story for them and there's just nothing new there. Tapa being added isn't going to fix any of these problems because A, no one cares about her and B, she's just enforcing Gail Kim's latest boring title reign.

In short, there's nothing here that's going to fix the deep problems in the Knockouts division.

your not missing one person, there is the exception of taryn terrell being on contract but she's pretty much done with tna for awhile, 1st off she's pregnant, then's shes gonna want to spend time with her baby instead of leaving it behind to work for a cheap paycheck, does she wanna come back? i have no idea, will tna keep her until she's ready i don't know, so your exactly right 5 knockout's in the company at this current time, christy is a knockout on their knockout page, but since she don't wrestle she's not one. so your right with 5!

 

[Lowdown]

One of the problems I keep reading is the comparisons between Tapa and Awesome Kong. It's night and day with them. Even if you disregard Kong, at the end of the day, Tapa is mediocre, and that's being generous. As far as Gail goes, she's eye candy and can work in the ring, but as soon as her mouth opens, it falls flat. I don't care for her as champ, but it is what it is. The way I see it, with only five KO's, and keep in mind Tapa is more a bodyguard, maybe TNA should retire the belt for a while. I doubt anyone is tuning in to check the KO's in the ring. Hell, I rarely hear of anyone talking about Velvet like they used to. And as much as I like ODB (a minority, I know), I miss seeing Mickie and Tara. Taryn was on her way up, but there's no telling how long she's gonna be gone. Forget about the KO title and maybe bring back the TV title or something.

 

[Alex]

Bella twins are gorgeous everybody in the wwe that is female is gorgeous, almost all women in tna are gorgeous, so what's special about ivelisse from the already hot women we already have? she's decent in the ring cause she had a good match, i do wanna say thank you for clearing this up for me, that's it's the fact that people just don't like le'd tapa instead of being in love with ivelisse, however i think we need to watch lei'd tapa wrestle some more before we make a harsh decision on whether she's good or not, i've heard good thing's about her so she must be at least somewhat decent

Are you mentally deficient??

Even if you're just going on about her having 'One good match' that's still more that Lei'D Tapa's had. As IDR pointed out, Ivelisse's MMA background would have been some nice cross promotion as TNA has a thing for MMA (Rampage and Tito). Tapa has her size and nothing else going for her. She hasn't shown anything to be invested in and will likely go nowhere once TNA realise no one cares. Say what you want about ODB, but at least she can A. wrestle well B. is decent on the mic and C. people give a crap about

As to Kim being champion She's a good wrestler and nice to look at but she is boring as hell. I fully suspect ODB to be occupied with Tapa (trying to drag a decent fued out of her) while Kim faces someone else which will probably result in some decent matches but a boring fued