Of course the planned Knockouts match for TNA Genesis was supposed to be Awesome Kong defending the TNA Knockouts Title against Christy Hemme. TNA's attempts to turn Hemme into a title threat were simply ludicrous. Fans weren't buying it. But then it really went south when TNA announced that Hemme has two herniated discs and will be out indefinitely. The injury happened at the Dec. 15 TNA Impact tapings but because TNA taped so far in advance, they chose not to edit the Jan. 8 Impact when they probably should have said something. Then we learned that Awesome Kong hurt her back on the Misae Genki retirement show Dec. 31 in Tokyo. Now they're realy screwed. So they decided to have a six woman tag match. It was Taylor Wilde, Roxxi & ODB vs Raisha Saeed, Sojourner Bolt & Rakha Khan. They are calling them The Kongtourage. Whoever gets the pinfall gets a title shot. So why would any of the members of The Kongtourage want to wrestle their leader? Excuse my logic and then they forced Mike Tenay & Don West to speculate about that during the match. Fans aren't that stupid and it makes those two look like idiots. The match itself was nothing special though the ending was bad. Taylor Wilde did most of the work and didn't even get the title shot. And Rakha Khan is useless in the ring. Someone mentioned recently that she's not a WWE product but in fact she was in WWE developmental in 2006. Dopey promoters seem to be enamored with her look but she's not a wrestler. She's a model. TNA tries to hide her but she shouldn't be used as a wrestler. And Tenay & West has started calling Sojourner Bolt "SoJo". Ugh! With Kong's injury, TNA has to go into time wasting mode until she's better but their misguided plans for Christy Hemme blew up in their faces bigtime. They are fools. Check out the match video in two parts.
I can only agree. When the Knock Out division was at it strongest it had Gail Kim and Awesome Kong. They were what ensured the division to have watchable matches at a constant level. The KO division was what many people turned to TNA for, not the ever so lackluster main event scene (which have gotten A LOT worser! That beside the case, though).
ReplyDeleteWhen Gail Kim got a contract with the WWE (she haven't even debuted yet! (Dumb, when you consider what she have done for the KO division) the womens wrestling in TNA started to become much less interesting. It is like Amazing Kong is one of the few interesting things about TNA's women. If she is out, which isn't the first time as she seems rather injury prone, TNA simply doesn't know what to do. With all respect for ODB, who have been in the wrestling buisiness for quite a long time, she just isn't good enough to carry most female, let alone the whoe KO division. To sum it up, now with Gail gone, without Amazing Kong, TNA is screwed in the womens department...
The problems with the TNA Knockouts really began when Scott D'Amore left to run his bar in Windsor. Neither Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantell or Savio Vega have a clue about booking women wrestlers. Gail Kim was the only one who had decent chemistry with Awesome Kong. She shouldn't be blamed for leaving. TNA can't match WWE money. None of the faces have been booked to have proper chemistry with AK. ODB is a veteran but her character is a stupid cartoon. They continue to call Taylor Wilde the upset queen. They have to book her stronger. And Roxxi has been botched from the day she started there. As I have said before, the ultimate answer may be under Raisha Saeed's burka. Right now TNA seems to be married to concepts that don't work.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Wilde could have made a bigger impact if they built a more sustained feud between her and Kong. Instead she beats Raisha Saeed and a week later wins the title after a roll up, I believe. TNA's usual formula of blowing things up too quickly was written all over that one.
ReplyDeleteA Saeed face turn is the only thing I, too, want to see but TNA seem intent on keeping her the one to take the fall. Shame, Melissa's probably the top female talent they have.
Pushing Christy Hemme has been an utter failure. I daresay she's worse than Rhaka Khan and Velvet Sky. ODB and Roxxi have no credibility remaining as Kong's ploughed through them each time.