The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
What’s Next for the Knockouts?
The Kingfish Arnie Katz shares his views about what TNA will, and should, do next with the Knockout Division..
Big changes are underway in TNA’s Knockout Division. The most important:
1. The gimmick champion, Cody Deener won’t hold that spot long, so a new Knockout Division Champion is coming soon. ODB will likely win the title and then drop it fairly quickly.
2. The tag team tournament is moving toward crowning champions at Breaking Point, U thought the Beautiful People might either win the tournament or defeat the winner in a rematch, but all of that is dead now that Love Has Fled.
3. TNA has added performers to the division. I can’t say that they’ve made very good use of Hamada, Alyssa Flash or Serita, but they haven’t yet irreparably destroyed them.
The Knockout Division certainly has the ring talent, as the recent Daffney-Hamada match reminds us all. Awesome Kong is too big for her opponents and, maybe, Taylor Wilde and Christy Hemme are small, but the women, as a group, are superior to their Diva counterparts in their ability to work a match.
As usual, the booking hasn’t been very good in the past. For some reason, TNA creative hasn’t been able to see the performers as fully developed characters that need the same attention to detail and consistent support that the men get.
The stop-and-go plotting must be improved, because it wastes TNA’s edge in female talent. The addition of the tag team title may help organize the division, with all the performers involved in one quest for gold or the other.
Ironically, the best short-term solution to what is viewed as Angelina Loves temporary absence would be another of those TNA abrupt reversals. Madison Rayne could go back to the Beautiful People and work with Velvet Sky.
The Women’s Knockout Championship is a tough prediction. Tara is a good choice, because she hasn’t wrestled in too many meaningless matches yet. She probably ought to be a heel, though.
The Knockout Division has a lot of potential, as well as the top attraction in women’s wrestling in the person of Awesome Kong. The recent matches have given hope; now TNA has to follow up the in-ring triumphs with a coherent storyline.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back Thursday with a fresh installment of the Internet’s fastest-rising pro wrestling column. I hope you’ll join me then and, please, bring your friends.
— Arnie Katz
Executive Editor
[email protected]
(9/8/09)