TNA: Killing the Knockout Division one Knockout at a time

[psykohurricane]

It funny how five month ago, TNA had a four hours knockout special and how great the wrestling was. Then Hogan and Bischoff came in and the knockout division is pretty much dead.

Just look at who they releases in the last five month:

Alissa Flash: One of the greatest woman's wrestlers in the world and could work a match with pretty much everybody

Awesome Kong: Pretty much the corner stone of the division and the first woman'S in a major company to not look like a model.

Traci Brooks: Being with TNA since the beginning and a pretty decent wrestlers. Even did a playboy photoshoot to try to help the company get publicity.

Roxxi: Another great wrestler that didn't get a shot to show what she capable of.

Now instead of getting great wrestling with these woman's were stuck watching the beautiful people trying to wrestles every weeks while woman'S who can actually wrestles like Hamada and Taylor Wilde take a backseat to them. Last monday's six knockout matches was really horrible to watch and made the joke of a diva match look like a masterpiece compare to that.

Now the rumor is that Tara wants to leave TNA and might be interested in going back to WWE. If that'S true, that'S another big blow for the knockout division because Tara like her or not is a big name in woman wrestling and is the more reconisable face in the knockout division.

The knockout division as become a shell of what it was last year and it'S to bad because TNA use to be the place you would go to see great woman's wrestling, now it's just like the WWE woman's division. But at less while the wwe don't see to care about the woman'S division and most of the diva's are models, are les the divas want the learn how to wrestles and make the matches as entertaining as possibles.

 

[satchmokilnt]

i couldnt agree more. the loss of melissa and kong is massive. and news of maria and other wwe divas like ashley only make me feel ill.
it was clear to see early on, that this would be happening.
the programme between a heel alissa flash, and a face kong would have been epic. two girls who know each other inside out, producing great matches. and the back story with kong/melissa would be great. no one can slay the monster, apart from the person who bought her to tna. a storyline to push womens wrestling to new heights with all the right facets, was there to be done. as i say such a shame. r.i.p the knockouts. it was fun while it lasted.
tna should be embracing what it had that made it different and got it noticed in the first place. epic fail once more.

 

[Judgeman03]

The sad truth unfortunately is that in this day and age, the average fan doesn;t care about women's wrestling. They care about seeing hot women wear next to nothing in the ring. It's sad, but look at when women in wrestling were their most popular: the late 90s. this is when all you had in the WWF were half naked models prancing around having ridiculous stipulation matches. Sable, Terri, Debra, Trish. Sure, once in a while you were lucky enough to get a woman that can actually work (Ivory, Jaqueline, Victoria, Mickie), but for the most part it was mostly lingerie models. Look at who the most famous divas in WWE are right now: Kelly Kelly, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Melina, while workers like Natalya and Gail Kim are nothing but enhancement talent to make the talentless divas look good.

Now, before I get trashed on saying all that, let me preface that I loved the knockouts when they started. It was refreshing to see a women's division with some depth and talent. They had the best parts: good matches, interesting characters, and they were sexy to boot (except Kong). TNA "post-Hogan" is trying to be more like WWE, and that means trading in the likes of less marketable women like Roxxi and Allissa Flash in favor of proven draws like the BP, Maria, and Ashley Massaro.

Personally, if I was in charge of the knockouts, this is the roster I would have tried for:

Gail Kim
Tara
Kong
The original two members of the Beautiful People (fuck Rayne and Lacey)
ODB
Roxxi (always a fan of hers)
Sarita (for the international crossover appeal)
Alissa Flash
Traci Brooks
Daffney
Hamada (see reason for Sarita)
Salinus (gotta have at least one super hot knockout, even if she can;t wrestle well)

and I would try to get the services of Sara Del Ray and Mickie James just to round out the division.

PS: I would get rid of the knockouts tag belts. Having a divisionary tag title just seems too WCW for my taste.

 

[satchmokilnt]

is it what people want to see though judgeman? last time i looked, scantily clad divas matches in wwe are seen as toilet breaks and dont draw anything. the knockouts when on form, were getting the highest ratings in tna history. i think there is a market outhere for womens wrestling. to dismiss it as "hot women wear next to nothing" only serves to back the consensus that wrestling fans are idiotic, testosterone ridden, hillbilly sheep who like what they are told.

 

[Alex]

Apparently Hulk Hogan isn't fond of women's wrestling and since he's in charge he can change what he wants.

Also the Knockouts are apparently paid next to nothing, Tara asked for a modest pay rise (depending on how modest that is) and is likely leaving after her contract expires. Awesome Kong apparently got pissed that one of the British Invasion was getting more than she was when he just got fired. So some of the Knockouts probably feel they can be perform somewhere else where they can showcase their talents be slightly more financially stable.

 

[ABMorales787]

TNA needs to make new main event talent. Something has to go. They need all the time they can use to develop the likes of D' Angelo Dinero, Mr. Anderson, Desmond Wolfe, Matt Morgan and others. Last I checked a main event is more important than an undercard division. Just be glad it's not the X Division that's being derailed. That has a long history in TNA. I enjoy seeing the Knockouts go at it. Its refreshing seeing how superior to WWE's women. However with only 2 hours a week to bring up a truckload of new talent as well as developing for a PPV, some things are gonna have to be alienated for the time being. We never know, maybe in a few months, TNA will get its second show running and we'll see another Knockouts boom. They draw even during shitty segments like the Lockbox Showdown a few weeks back. So I'd say they may be at a low, but aren't dead.

 

[Fan_of_Wrestling]

is it what people want to see though judgeman? last time i looked, scantily clad divas matches in wwe are seen as toilet breaks and dont draw anything. the knockouts when on form, were getting the highest ratings in tna history. i think there is a market outhere for womens wrestling. to dismiss it as "hot women wear next to nothing" only serves to back the consensus that wrestling fans are idiotic, testosterone ridden, hillbilly sheep who like what they are told.

Yeah your right mate, TNA's Knockouts in their prime were pulling in the best ratings. The problem came when contracts started coming to an end, TNA just said no to negotiations over pay rises that I believe they deserved.

TNA seem to have no interest in rewarding the rating getting Knockouts... you could go down the sexist route, but you can't imagine why that would be when the owner is a woman, you would have thought she would herald successful women being a corner stone of her organization.

With Hogan and Bischoff there I really can't see the focus being brought back to the Knockouts, much like with the X-division. I think that when they had the likes of Flash, Kong, Kim and Roxxi they would have been well served having a few more knockout "specials" like New Years Eve to test the water about them having and Hour show to themselves, heck even Vince McMahon toyed with the idea of an all Diva show before the idea was dropped in favor for SmackDown.

I think unless they can beg and get Kong and Flash back in the office and talking over a deal, we will slowly watch the Knockouts turn into the way Vince would have us think a Women's division should look like.

I will always wonder what would have happened had they'd pulled that trigger on the Knockouts when they had all the stars.

 

[Fan_of_Wrestling]

Last I checked a main event is more important than an undercard division.

And why should the Knockouts be considered the "undercard"? when they have brought such strong numbers in the past, way more than the "main eventers". Why can't you push the women, and have them Main Event shows?

 

[ABMorales787]

And why should the Knockouts be considered the "undercard"? when they have brought such strong numbers in the past, way more than the "main eventers". Why can't you push the women, and have them Main Event shows?

Because the idea of wrestling is to sell. TNA's only revenue right now are PPV buyrates. Main Event matches are what people find interesting in said PPV and in so purchase said PPV. Without proper main event talent, PPV's won't sell too well. No PPV revenue means no money and no money means no pay for wrestlers. If TNA can't afford the wrestlers they leave and soon enough TNA will be a past tense.

The Knockouts do in fact draw. Its a proven fact in the ratings. But as long as iMPACT! remains a free attendance show its as good as nothing. Not to mention that ratings don't increase your revenue in the short hand.

 

[shattered dreams]

Knockouts division has clearly taken a hit but I would like to see where they go with it before condemning it. I think they are trying to combine both the look factor and the wrestling factor, which could be a smart move. We all said that Madison got a raw deal for months and that she deserved more since she was a solid worker. Now she has the title and no one is giving them credit for that. I think Lacey's character is misunderstood. Maybe I am reading too much into it but I think her character is one giant shot at the divas. People seem to get annoyed with her diva-esque actions because TNA is supposedly above that. The thing is she is booked to be stupid when talking so why should we not view the actions the same? Daffney, Velvet and Love all bring something good to the division. They are surely regrouping some with Kong and Tara going (the others are not really that important). It should be interesting to see if they get some replacements that pique our interest or not. Unfortunately, I think what the IWC loved about the knockouts is unlikely to ever fully comeback but that does not mean the division cannot still be entertaining.

 

[Judgeman03]

is it what people want to see though judgeman? last time i looked, scantily clad divas matches in wwe are seen as toilet breaks and dont draw anything. the knockouts when on form, were getting the highest ratings in tna history. i think there is a market outhere for womens wrestling. to dismiss it as "hot women wear next to nothing" only serves to back the consensus that wrestling fans are idiotic, testosterone ridden, hillbilly sheep who like what they are told.

First, can I just say that the myth that the knockouts are the biggest ratings draws in TNA is a little bit fishy to me. Just because the knockouts happen to be in the parts of the show that get the highest quarter hours mean nothing. Quarter hours are 15 minute spans. There was a time about a year ago where it looked like Scott Steiner was the biggest draw in TNA because the quarter hours that he popped up in happen to be the highest rated. I think the IWC puts way too much emphasis on quarter hour ratings.

Right now, I think TNA is focusing their knockouts division to be more marketable. Unfortunately in wrestling, a good portion of marketing when it comes to woman revolve around sex appeal. Which is why the BPs have been getting the spotlight almost every Impact. Same reason why Hogan wants to bring in Torrie Wilson and Maria, because they are highly marketable.

Now let me again end by saying that I agree with everyone on here as far as the knockouts getting the bad end of the deal. If I had my way, I would keep all the talented workers and forgo all the skanks.

 

[Kliq4Life]

Some so called "men" on here need to get over it! And Knockouts MAIN EVENTING? Come on seriously. Womens wrestling is what is, the demo for wrestling is 16-34 yr old males, and most men i know enjoy a little "TNA" to give us a break from dudes in speedos lol. And no one can comment on Taras contract, no one knows exactly how much she asked for, and Tara is not that BIG A NAME in wrestling and is only so-so in the ring and horrible on the mic, in the end GET OVER IT!

 

[thepalaceprince]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
O Im sorry are you done yet? Ok good. Who cares about the knockouts division? Tna is trying to make it more interesting by featuring the beautiful people instead of some fug pieces of crap like hamada or odb. The only reason to watch womens wrestling is because they are eye candy. If they arent attractive then theres no reason to watch simple as that. You may not like it but its the truth

 

[StopFantasyBooking]

TNA needs to make new main event talent. Something has to go.

Here's an idea: how about the old guys go? No more Flair/Hogan/Band crap.

The women's division used to be something that TNA did much, much better than WWE. Now they are about on par with each other - both awful.

 

[Tully]

To me, women's wrestling in any federation is alot like the WNBA: No matter how good the basketball player is, I'm still watching a slower, worse version of basketball than the NBA.

Same goes for wrestling. Yeah, Lita, Trish, Tara, Mickie, et al are "good women wrestlers" but at the end of the day, their wrestling abilities are still inferior to the worst males and thus, so is the product.

So gimme the eye candy of the Beautiful People over some "technical" match between Mickie and Tara because damnit - that's what I want to see. Sorry but the best female wrestlers ever still can't pull off a remotely-believable match.

 

[MCMGfoLife]

I'm gonna have to disagree here. First off, Kong didn't get the boot, she asked for her release, and recently in an interview said she was burnt out and that was her main reason for leaving, so it wasn't TNA saying "Kong isn't worth our time." I mean, they could have just made her stay and have an unhappy worker there who would never return after her contract was up. In letting her go, they are largely increasing the chance she will return.

And Traci Brooks?? Really? she was horrible to watch when she returned to the ring, so I'm really not seeing why that's a big deal. However, I will agree about Alyssa Flash and Roxxi.

Also, I think the division is having a weak time right now...it happens. There is still PLENTY of good female talent on the roster, even if Tara leaves. I would still ALWAYS prefer a knockouts match over a Divas match. Anyone who bitches about the Knockout division, you have no reason to, because TNA makes you want to watch the women wrestle, rather than drool over them, and TNA's ladies will always outshine the Diva's in the ring.

 

[psykohurricane]

Also, I think the division is having a weak time right now...it happens. There is still PLENTY of good female talent on the roster, even if Tara leaves. I would still ALWAYS prefer a knockouts match over a Divas match. Anyone who bitches about the Knockout division, you have no reason to, because TNA makes you want to watch the women wrestle, rather than drool over them, and TNA's ladies will always outshine the Diva's in the ring.

I'm trying to understand your point because i don'T understand how TNA make you want to watch the woman's wrestle, rather than drool over them.

Did you watch the knockout match last monday, it was a horrible mess and the only thing i did was made the fans not take the knockout seriously. Having The Beautiful Peoples on t.v. every weeks doesn'T make me want to see the knockout wrestles, it does make me happy because i got some good looking women's on t.v. but that's about it.

If you compare the knockout division from last year to the knockout division from this year, their is a huge difference. Last year, you had five star quality match, knockout doing hardcore matches and every knockouts aa equalt t.v time, this years you got the beautiful peoples being the center of attention and all the good wrestlers that aren't attractive are stuck jobbing to the BP's or are just not use anymore.

I watch both the knockout match and the really short diva match from last monday editions of IMPACT and RAW and let me tell you the even through it was a really short match, i was more interested in the Diva'S match. At less they didn'T botch the majority of the moves in the match compare to the knockout match.

 

[MCMGfoLife]

That was one instance. Also, TBP have only had the titles for a short time. They used to barely EVER win a match, and they mostly only ever do by cheating now. So, yes they are the champions, but they are heal champions. and they are just starting their run. Someone will beat them soon enough. Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough time to get any more than one match in each week for the Knockouts. TNA needs another show, even if it's only an hour.

And no, I don't think the BP as a whole are the greatest wrestlers, but Madison is pretty good in my opinion.

I never said Monday's match was the best ever, but there have been good matches this year...Tara and ODB's feud was great. I really think you are over reacting because the beautiful people had a bad match this week. In fact, Impact was a bit of a disapointment for me this week as a whole anyway.

Oh yeah, and I've got one last reason why I will never watch a Divas match ever again...

HOGSPLASH!!!! AKA the worst thing to happen to wrestling...ever.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

How do you save the womens' division? Simple, use the TNA dead hour- Xplosion (it's just a recap show anyway). Really, who watches it at the mo? At least if it was used to push the womens' div (and possibly the X or Tag ranks), Impact wouldn't feel such a cluster each week.

If they're at all committed they'll bring back Flash and Kong AND sign Mickie James (if she's available) and Nikita (the former Katie Lee Burchill).

They do this (and pay the girls fairly) and the two female wrestlers left on WWe might jump.

Given how poorly the Monday night gamble went, TNA really should be amping up anything they do better (that's reality 'do better' as opposed to the fictional 'do better' that Hogan and Flair rave about each week)