New 'knockouts' are big hit on TNA Impact
After weeks of hype, Sarita finally made her TNA debut on Thursday’s episode of Impact. She made a positive first impression, but her opponent, also making her debut (well, sort of), was just as impressive.
Sarita faced “Future Legend” Alissa Flash, who actually has been in TNA for quite a while. For those who don’t know, Flash does the Raisha Saeed gimmick. She also wrestles as Cheerleader Melissa on the independent circuit.
Flash is a fine worker and demonstrated a good heel presence in this match. Her aggressive style was a nice contrast to the high-flying maneuvers of Sarita, who picked up a hard-fought victory.
I liked the fact that TNA thought outside the box and booked Sarita to debut against an unknown opponent who surprisingly gave her a strong run for her money. Instead of creating a potential star in Sarita, the company now has two potential stars on its hands.
I’ve said in the past that TNA needs to write out the Saeed character at some point and bring her back with a new gimmick that could better display her talent. Saeed also was on Thursday’s show, so it’s unclear whether Melissa Anderson (her real name) will play both characters moving forward or if Saeed eventually goes away. Hopefully, TNA will not make Flash turn out to be a flash in the pan.
Other thoughts on Thursday’s show:
The Kurt Angle-Sting cage match was OK, but certainly nothing memorable. It was just a means of setting up the post-match beat-down on the go-home show for Sunday’s Victory Road pay-per-view.
Kevin Nash pinning A.J. Styles early in the six-man elimination tag match after a poke to the eyes and a Jackknife Powerbomb was ridiculous. It’s not a bad move to have Nash pin Styles since Nash is challenging for Styles’ Legends title at Victory Road, but it should never have been that easy. ...
In making the point that he wrestles for the love of the business rather than the money like Nash does, Styles said that he would wrestle for free. That has to be one of the dumbest lines I’ve ever heard, and I’m glad that Don West said as much. If I’m TNA president Dixie Carter, I’m asking Styles to literally put his money where his mouth is. ...
Speaking of dumb lines, Jeff Jarrett said that Samoa Joe’s turn at the Slammiversary pay-per-view was “a memory for the ages.” Uh, no. ...
I’ve been saying for quite a while that Robert Roode should get a big singles push. Who knows if it will ever happen, but Roode was booked to look strong during the six-man elimination tag match. He put up a good fight when faced with a three-on-one situation. ...
A video aired that made it clear that Tazz was coming in without directly showing or mentioning him. The worst-kept secret in wrestling is that Tazz is Samoa Joe’s adviser, but I hope TNA just goes with it rather than coming up with some absurd swerve to “fool the marks.” ...
Abyss cut a good promo that was made even better by the visual of him sticking thumbtacks in his arm. It was sick, but at least thumbtacks won’t cause brain damage. Once again, Lauren’s bad acting took the scene down a notch. ...
It’s nice that TNA finally got around to letting Tara cut a promo, although she didn’t really get to say much. I think TNA should bring back the “Rough Cuts” segments and do one with her. ...
TNA has done a good job of coming up with some original concepts over the years, but the Feast or Fired briefcase gimmick is just a cheap rip-off of WWE’s Money in the Bank concept. Still, having Homicide cash in and score a quick victory over Suicide to win the X Division title right after Suicide had been on the receiving end of a post-match beat-down by The Motor City Machine Guns was fine as far as setting up what should be an entertaining title program between Homicide and Suicide. ...
Did I just talk about a match between guys named Homicide and Suicide? What are the odds that Vince Russo books them in some type of death match? ...
The Suicide-Chris Sabin match was good but I wish they would have had more time. ...
Speaking of which, why is TNA wasting TV time on the Sharmell-Jenna Morasca feud? Neither one of the characters is likable, so why would anyone care? ...
I knew that director of security Mike Davis had to be somebody from the business, but I couldn’t figure it out. Dave Meltzer recently revealed in The Wrestling Observer that Davis is former wrestler Bugsy McGraw. I saw McGraw wrestle in the WWWF in the mid-70s. He also was a star in other territories, primarily Florida.
Comments
Kevin - I'd rather see two "old" knock-outs again ie; Traci Brooks.
Now c'mon Kevin , you'd write this blog for free wouldn't you ??
I know ,... you probably do :)
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | July 17, 2009 8:19 PM
Looks like the x division is finally going with the "Chris Benoit" program.
Yeah, I'm a horrible person.
Posted by: Andy | July 17, 2009 8:26 PM
Kev:
Bugsy McGraw had a brief tour on Georgia Championship Wrestling. He had a cool ring entrance to Judas Priest's "Another thing comin"
RESPONSE FROM KE: I remember that.
Posted by: Matt | July 17, 2009 8:39 PM
Hey Kev, have to agree with you on the 2 "new" Knockouts, they put the WWE Diva Roster to shame in a single match, yes the divas are hot, but I dont think any of them could compete in that match( well maybe Mickie). Also I think that everything WWE does wrong TNA is doing right. People want to see the violence, thats what the business has always been, they are doing the right thing with Tara and I cant wait to see them elevate Lashley Kennedy Umaga & Taz( to a lesser extent). Gets more interesting every week, I just wish I could say that about the "other" company.
Posted by: BigNInked | July 17, 2009 8:54 PM
1 more comment/ question. the gringo killer looks devestating, how soon til you see a serious injury from that?
RESPONSE FROKM KE: Between that move and Hernandez's Border Toss, I would not be in a hurry to get in the ring with LAX.
Posted by: BigNInked | July 17, 2009 8:55 PM
I too laughed when AJ said he'd work for free. Then again babyface=moron in TNA.
Also, they just shouldn't show Kevin Nash "walking" to the ring anymore. It looked rough.
I wonder if Redrum will come back to the X Division?
Posted by: James C | July 17, 2009 11:18 PM
The knockouts match was great,wish they coulda got 5 more minutes.
I remember Bugsy McGraw from the 70s,he even got (and of course lost)a title match with Pedro Morales.Next time I saw him was about 10 years later in WCCW where he was acting like Curly Howard from the 3 Stooges,barking and slapping his face,rotating on his shoulder and going "woo woo".It was pretty hard to watch but the wacky Sportatorium crowd was digging it.Glad to see he's still around and getting a check.
Posted by: Bill | July 18, 2009 12:29 AM
I too was disapointed with AJ "The Walking Cliche'" Styles. "I can bring my A-game","I'll take you apart piece-by-piece". Please. He truly is phenomenal inside the ring, if only he could talk, he'd be the biggest star in TNA.
And it looks like the knockouts have re-loaded since losing Gail Kim. Tara has fit right in, in TNA. The spider gimmick is funny, and it makes sense because she's always used a spider type logo and the "Widow's Peak" finisher. And I always knew there was something missing about Raisha Saeed. As Alissa Flash her emotion and sex appeal come across so much better without her face and body being totally covered up due it being a muslim character. I think they are on to something with her, and oh Sarita wasn't half bad either. She looks to be an even better high flyer than Gail Kim.
And I'm getting a little tired of "The over-the-hill-gang", AKA the Main Event Mafia. Heck, at this rate Robert Roode's gonna be over 40 too by the time he gets to the top of the card, and so will Matt Morgan for that matter.
Posted by: Maurice B. | July 18, 2009 2:24 AM
What are the chances that Samoa Joe's advisor is either Bobby Lashley or Ken Anderson?
Posted by: AverageJoe | July 18, 2009 3:19 AM
Andy's comment=instant classic.
Posted by: Kelvin | July 18, 2009 8:46 AM
i was disappointed with the MEM/BM & Styles match It was rediculious that Styles was the first 1 pinned and they really just destroyed them they should have just put them in with some jobbers if they were gonna book the match that way. i really hate what they are doing with TBP for months they ran all over the knockouts div. and now they can't stop 1 woman with a spider.
Posted by: frank from dundalk | July 18, 2009 10:37 AM
Didn't Bugsy McGraw also wrestle in World Class. I think in the opening scenes isn't he's being shown doing a diving headbutt on somebody and while he was their didn't he wear like a 40's airplane helmet.
Posted by: frank from dundalk | July 18, 2009 10:45 AM
I felt strangely conflicted. I was so happy that Homicide won the X Division title after obviously taking advantage of Suicide's condition but I always hate it when the heel does the same thing.
So, Joe is in MEM but he has a private advisor? Still does not make sense.
Posted by: Jay | July 18, 2009 1:43 PM
I really enjoyed Impact this week.
My only slight problem was that it took about 40 minutes before we actually saw a real match take place.
I know it was the go home show where the main priority is to build the PPV up, but 40 minutes is too long to wait for some in-ring action.
Posted by: John | July 18, 2009 6:54 PM
I have a sick feeling that the MEM will take all the gold at Victory Road. Having everyone hold gold in the MEM (except Samoa Joe for some reason) may provide a good visual for the first interview on Impact next week, but that doesn't justify burying the young guys in TNA.
Roode was great holding his own against three opponents. That could be the start of a slowly building main event push. Storm and Styles need a better showing in the future.
Sorry to complain, but I too was let down from having to wait some 30+ minutes for the first match to start. Thankfully Sabin's match really delivered. Homicide was great also.
TNA should trim the excess and have longer matches, something SmackDown does effectively. They can do this by not cutting to the back to get comments from those just involved in the opening promo and by dropping those "I will become" video packages.
Posted by: Another Wrestling Mark | July 19, 2009 7:03 PM