wrestling / TV Reports

Tremendous Tirades 9.06.13: TNA One Night Only – Knockouts Knockdown

September 6, 2013 | Posted by Larry Csonka

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Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.


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TNA One Night Only – Knockouts Knockdown

  • Opening video package. The PPV is presented by the recently departed Brooke Hogan, leave the memories alone.
  • They have all of the ladies come to the ring, big time tournament style. Brooke Hogan comes out; we’ll have matches tonight with the winners heading to a final gauntlet. The winner will be crowned the Queen of TNA.
  • We get highlights of Gail Kim becoming the first ever Knockouts Champion.
  • SoCal Val interviews Gail Kim. Gail says she is the knockouts division, and Madison Rayne appears. Rayne says Kim deserves to be the queen of the company.

    Gail Kim vs. Alissa Flash: Gail Kim vs. Alissa Flash is a hell of a match to kick off the show, and if they get time, it should be great. Alissa Flash was previously in TNA and is better known as Cheerleader Melissa, the current SHIMMER champion. This was a good opening match as they kept a good pace, as they mixed in some hard-hitting offense and submission work. Kim won at 8-minutes with eat defeat, and the only complaint I that I wanted to last a bit longer. This was the right match to open the show with. Gail appeared to tweak her knee following a missile dropkick from Flash, but finished fine.

    Match Rating: ***

  • They show the Gutcheck videos for Lei’D Tapa vs. Ivelisse Velez.

    Lei’D Tapa vs. Ivelisse Velez: Lei’D Tapa vs. Ivelisse Velez is a rematch from the Gutcheck (remember that) where Velez won the match but Tapa got the contract. Tapa has been working in OVW, while Velez has been working a lot in SHINE. The crowd was into this way more than I thought they would be. Tapa about killed Velez on a press slam spot, which was not good. Tapa’s offense was sloppy power stuff with a lot of screaming, while Velez came off, again, as more polished and sold very well. Unfortunately this was disjointed and sloppy at times, and felt like a huge departure from the opener, even though Velez worked really hard. Tapa won at 6-minutes with an ugly slam counter to the guillotine.

    Match Rating: *

  • We see Tara winning the Knockouts Title, and then introducing Mr. Pectacular.
  • Borash talks with Tara and Pectacular.

    Tara vs. Mia Yim: Tara is now gone from TNA and running her restaurant in Chicago. Yim has been getting a lot of praise for her work in SHINE, FIP, Japan and various other promotions. She had a great match with Leva Bates at SHINE 11 in their title tournament. They told the story early that Tara was the veteran and had the edge, and was constantly getting the better of Yim. Taz was very annoying here, joking about Yim’s name and ignoring the match. Jesse distracted Yim, who then missed a corkscrew moonsault and that allowed Tara to hit the widow’s peak for the win at 6-minutes. This was a perfectly acceptable match, but was never booked to show Yim’s strengths.

    Match Rating: **

  • Long commercial for the Knockouts website.
  • We then get highlights of Tessmacher winning the Knockouts Title.

    Miss Tessmacher vs. Santana Garrett: Tessmacher recently returned to TV as Bully Ray’s girlfriend, while Garrett has been impressing with her work in SHINE. Tessmacher won at about 4-minutes with the Tess Drive. This was a solid TV style match. Tessmacher can be hit or miss, but was on tonight. They worked a nice pace for the time given, and Santana looked good here. Solid but unspectacular.

    Match Rating: **

  • ODB promises to beat and out drink Trinity tonight.
  • We get the entire video of ODB’s wedding to Eric Young. All 14-minutes of it.

    ODB vs. Trinity: ODB is still an active member of the TNA roster and will be challenging Mickie James for the Knockouts Title. Trinity was part of the early days of TNA, and even had a short WWE run before retiring and working as a Stuntwoman and also doing roller derby. Interestingly enough, she and ODB faced off in the early days of TNA, where Trinity scored the victory. Trinity looks great for 41 years old, but the match was rough. ODB won wit the TKO at around 7-minutes. I liked the idea of the match, calling back to the old days of TNA and that they brought Trinity back, but it wasn’t all that smooth.

    Match Rating: *½

    Jackie Moore vs. Taryn Terrell: Jackie Moore’s history in wrestling is well known in USWA, WCW, WWE and TNA. Fun fact, in 1993, she was the first female to be included in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500. Terrell was formerly Tiffany in WWE, was released and went to TNA as a referee. She had two great matches with Gail Kim this year, but disappeared for “personal reasons.” She was primed to win the title at BFG, but those plans have been axed. From a standpoint of helping Terrell evolve as a performer, having her work with Moore is a great call, because at age 49, Jackie can still go. This was laid out well, and had more energy than some of the previous matches. Moore won at 5-minutes after avoiding a bulldog off the ropes, and dropkicking Terrell in the face.

    Match Rating: **

  • The show has no flow at this point, and all of the matches (outside of the opener) have that, “short but acceptable TV match” feel, which on PPV is not a good thing.

  • Hulk Hogan video talking British Bootcamp.

    Hannah Blossom vs. Sojo Bolt vs. Taeler Hendrix: Hannah Blossom was on the British Bootcamp show, and with her sister, has been in OVW. Bolt formerly was with TNA, and has been working in OWV for a while as her main promotion. Hendrix won a spot on the roster via the Gutcheck, but has since parted ways with the company. She still works in OVW and other independents. In theory this could be good since they are working in OVW against each other. Hendrix and Bolt heeled on Blossom and worked together early. That of course ended when they went for pins, upsetting the other. Hendrix got to show more personality in this match than in all of her Impact appearances combined. This was your typical three way match formula, heels work together, argue, they fight, then one on one with break ups. Blossom won with a bicycle kick at 5-minutes. Again, fine for the time given.

    Match Rating: **

  • I wish something would either be really good or really bad so that I would have something different to say about these matches.

    Velvet Sky vs. Jillian Hall : Velvet Sky has been a main part of the TNA roster for years, and was recently on Impact in a bad acting segment with real life boyfriend Chris Sabin. Hall previously worked for WWE, and released a Christmas Album through iTunes, which reached 120 on the Billboard 200. Hall has been working the independents, including Crossfire Wrestling, FWE and PWX. Hall did the bad singing gimmick here. The match was all Sky selling for Hall’s cheap heel tactics, stomps, hair pulling and stalling offense. The crowd generally didn’t care for 90% of this, Sky made her comeback, they sort of came to life, and Sky won with the In Yo Face at about 6-minutes, although it felt like 15.

    Match Rating: *

    Mickie James vs. Serena Deeb: Mickie James is your current, reigning and defending Knockouts Champion. Deeb made a name for herself in SHIMMER, and was signed to WWE where she shaved her head to be part of Punk’s Straight Edge Society. Following her release, she has been back with SHIMMER, worked for WSU, PWS, Tajiri’s SMASH and many other places. James and Deeb followed the code of honor and shared a hug before the match. Compared to Sky vs. Hall, this was a night and day type of thing. Sky and Hall have a lot of experience as well, but they have never reached the next level in their work. Deeb vs. James was crisp, well worked and had a great energy to it, similar to the opening match. This was fun as they played the mutual admiration society, until Deeb said fuck it and delivered a cheap shot when James was entering back into the ring. They did it at the right time as well, they worked a good face vs. face match, exchanging holds and having a “fair and balanced grappling bout.” When Deeb realized she couldn’t match James, she took he cheap shot and the advantage. It was well done. James scored the win at 11-minutes with the screaming DDT. This was a very good, and physical match, and would have been welcomed on any regular PPV. The show desperately needed this match.

    Match Rating: ***½

  • We get a recap of the earlier matches.

    Queen of TNA Gauntlet Match: Gail Kim vs. Lei’D Tapa vs. Tara vs. Tessmacher vs. ODB vs. Jackie Moore vs. Hannah Blossom vs. Velvet Sky vs. Mickie James: Hannah Blossom and Gail Kim. Great plan to have Kim in early, she worked early in the show and is the right woman to carry a large portion of a match like this. Km tossed Blossom and played Steve Austin, checking her watch for the next entrant, which was Tapa. Tara was next aster a sloppy section with Tapa and Kim, when Gail Kim cannot make you look good, you need a LOT of work. It’s clear that they wanted Tapa in the match to play the monster, but she just doesn’t know how to work and control herself that well, and it doesn’t work. James was then in next, and after some work, Team Former WWE Divas eliminated her. James actually hit the floor, but popped back in because she wasn’t supposed to be out yet, but it did not look good. Tessmacher was next, and went right after Tara, continuity! Jackie Moore was then in next, and things were rebounding after the horrible “try to make Tapa a monster” segment. ODB hit the ring next. Battle Royals and gauntlets are so hard to discuss, for the most part this is all fine in here, they pair off, they trade shots, they tease elimination and it works. Moore got tossed as velvet Sky hit the ring as the final entrant.

    Overall the gauntlet wasn’t bad, but I have seen the TNA ladies have much better efforts. I was waiting for the final four where they hit the next level, hit, tease and or counter some finishes and then get to the final two. Unfortunately it was very by the numbers to get to the final two. It’s not a horrible thing, but just not that exciting.

    The final two were Kim and James. As per TNA gauntlet rules, it then became a pin or submission situation. Kim took the victory, going wire to wire and earning the title as Queen of TNA. Gail vs. Mickie is pretty much money every time, they have worked each other so many times, and they simply tend to deliver. They had a good back and forth and Kim appeared to hurt her ankle, which made sense as she tweaked it in the opener. They played it up with the trainer and all, but then Kim rolled up James with the pull of the tights and won at 21-minutes. Gail Kim staying true to character, and considering her history with the company, she was the right call as far as the winner goes. This ended up better than most of the matches on the show.

    Match Rating: **½

  • Madison Rayne then came to the ring with the crown for Kim. Kim got crowded, and then forced Rayne to leave the ring. Heel to the end.
  • The PPV ended at 10:43PM ET.

    The Tirade

    This was a PPV I felt had potential, due to the talent booked, but never met expectations. Most of the matches were too short, and felt like generic TV matches. They also killed a lot of time with long video packages, which while I like some videos, I wish they would have given the matches more time since they ran so many. On top of that, it really killed the momentum of the show for me as it was way to start and stop. Seriously, I did not need to see the entire ODB-EY wedding again. I am not kidding, they showed the WHOLE 14-minute or so segment on PPV. That, along with the other long video packages, killed any and all flow the show had.

    Kim vs. Flash and James vs. Deeb were good matches, but the rest was really forgettable. The main thing I took away from this PPV was that Cheerleader Melissa and Serena Deeb would be a welcomed addition to the Knockouts Division.

    If you’re looking for good women’s wrestling, your money is likely best spent on SHIMMER and or SHINE.

    Show Rating: 4.0

    As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…

    0 – 0.9: Torture
    1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
    2 – 2.9: Very Bad
    3 – 3.9: Bad
    4 – 4.9: Poor
    5 – 5.9: Not So Good
    6 – 6.9: Average
    7 – 7.9: Good
    8 – 8.9:Very Good
    9 – 9.9: Amazing
    10: Virtually Perfect

    As a reminder, this is not a basic “how good was the show” number like a TV show, as I have always felt that a PPV is very different from a regular show. I have always judged PPV on how they built to a match, the match quality, crowd reactions to matches and angles, the overall booking, how the PPV leads into the future, PPV price and so on and so forth. I have added this in here for an explanation since so many have asked, and I have previously discussed it on podcasts. I understand that this may seem different, but that is how I grade. Obviously your criteria may be different.


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    Larry Csonka is a Pisces and enjoys rolling at jiu jitsu class with Hotty McBrownbelt, cooking, long walks on the beach, Slingo and the occasional trip to Jack in the Box. He is married to a soulless ginger and has two beautiful daughters who are thankfully not soulless gingers; and is legally allowed to marry people in 35 states. He has been a wrestling fan since 1982 and has been writing for 411 since May 24th, 2004; contributing over 3,000 columns, TV reports and video reviews to the site.

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