Unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week, you know that the TNA Knockouts Championship changed hands on Thursday’s Impact. The wrestler formerly known as Victoria, Tara, now has the strap firmly in her grasp. Now while all that is just peaches and cream, I’ve found myself asking a question I’m sure is on everybody’s mind: Who’s next in line for a shot at the title? Here are my picks:
Angelina Love: This one is a given. No way is Angelina Love going to let her title go without a fight. I expect to see her in a rematch in the very near future.
Awesome Kong: Awesome Kong may have had Tara’s back during their tag match with The Beautiful People, but chances are she has her mind set on getting that belt back. Kong has been out of the title picture since losing it to Angelina Love and now would be the perfect time to get back in the game.
Our friends at Wrestlicious have sent us another batch of photos from behind the scenes of the new all-female promotion. We’ve been told that the company has a few announcements to come, and you guys will be among the first to hear the news so stay tuned!
In the meantime check out the new photos before and let us know what you think!
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After the cut, I’ve compiled a list of who the girls are in each photo:
Listen up all you SHIMMER Fans! The latest installment from the all girl promotion will be available this month. Notable appearances include SHIMMER mainstays: Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze and MsChif, as well as  TNA Knockouts: Awesome Kong, Madison Rayne and Daffney. Former Knockout Roxxi, better known as Nikki Roxx in SHIMMER, will also be making her return to the company for Volume 23. Last, but not least, WWE’s newest developmental Diva, Serena Deeb will be challenging MsChif for the SHIMMER Championship Title. This should be a good one!
In the meantime, hop on over to Shimmerwrestling.com and get your collection up to date, if you haven’t done so already. For those of you who love a good spoiler, Volume 23 match results can be found after the cut.
Just last week in our Roundtable, we were wondering when TNA had planned to introduce Ayako Hamada, who was signed several months ago. Well according to a new report, Hamada is set to debut at the next batch of Impact tapings — which will occur after Victory Road on July 19th.
As you know, TNA tapes their month’s worth of shows the week after their pay per views so Hamada will enter the Impact Zone later this month. When her debut airs on TV remains to be seen.
Hamada joins a recent slew of new Knockouts including Victoria and Sarita. Meanwhile, Raisha Saeed will be repackaged as Melissa Flash, making her a new-ish Knockout too.
One Knockout that is no stranger to Hamada is Awesome Kong, who she worked with in Japan. Check out one of their matches from 2004 after the cut:
In an interview with TNAwrestling.com, TNA President Dixie Carter talks about the company’s recent seven-year milestone. Yadda yadda, as interesting as it may be, we were much more interested to hear her comments on the Knockouts division — after all she is in a unique position of being a female head of a wrestling company. … Read more
In the mist of jam-packed Knockout action, TNA features ODB and Madison Rayne in a webmatch. As Madison Rayne begins to approach the ring, the first thing that strikes me is her unrecognizable entrance theme. In the very few times that Velvet Sky has wrestled alone, we’ve seen her enter with the Beautiful People’s music. … Read more
This just in from the SHIMMER office: Serena Deeb has officially inked a deal with WWE. Here’s the press release: Everyone at SHIMMER – WOMEN ATHLETES would like to congratulate Serena Deeb on officially signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. From the first day she stepped into a wrestling ring, it has always been … Read more
Earlier this year the ‘net was buzzing with the launch of a new all-female promotion Wrestlicious, led by Jimmy Hart with it’s hilarious and get-on-your-nerve catchy jingle embedded in all of our brains. Well Diva Dirt has teamed up with the folks at Wrestlicious to bring you exclusive content from the fledgling promotion ahead of … Read more
Looks like we could be seeing the last of Kong’s Syrian cohort in TNA. According to our partners at the Wrestling Globe Newsletter, TNA is dropping the ‘burkha babe’ character soon. Raisha Saeed, real name Melissa Anderson, will be taking on the persona of ‘Future Legend’ Melissa Flash. Just hazarding a guess, Flash will be somewhere along the lines … Read more
TNA has begun it’s promotional hype for the Impact debut of Sarita – better known as Canadian wrestler Sarah Stock. The following promo aired on this past Thursday’s Impact: Looks like the company will be pushing Sarita as a Latina character, with the use of Spanish in that promo. I can’t seem to recall TNA … Read more
As I’m sure you all know, we recently started covering Ring of Honor here at Diva Dirt. ROH, the big brother of all-female promotion SHIMMER, has been featuring SHIMMER matches on their cable show as of late. We were a little late to jump on the bandwagon, so needless to say we missed a few matches. Oops. But fear not, SHIMMER fans! I’ve rounded up all the ROH/SHIMMER action that we haven’t covered here yet. Watch below as Daizee Haze takes on Sara Del Rey:
It’s been almost a month since the last SHIMMER match on Ring of Honor, but the wait is over. Watch below as SHIMMER Champion, MsChif (with the equally creepy Jimmy Jacobs) takes on former SHIMMER Tag Champ, Neveah in non-title action:  MSCHIF VS. NEVEAH When I initially heard about this match, I was positive it would … Read more
For all intents and purposes, the Knockouts Title match between Angelina Love and Victoria (Tara) failed to properly live up to the hype and positive development surrounding Tara’s highly anticipated debut. It wasn’t, however, a wasted effort (imagine your mother’s matronly voice telling you that she’s not mad, just ‘disappointed’). While the aspiration seemed to be there, last night’s match just did not live up to the quality of work I’d expect from either competitor.
While we here at Diva Dirt were correct in predicting the outcome of the match, ayone who has ever prayed for brighter days in the women’s division would have hoped for a better showing of Tara’s experience and Angelina’s abilities. Now, we were not a complete loss as this was not a bad display by either lady. However, just as Tara begins to build momentum at the very start of the match, an interference from the Beautiful People occurs, which is to be expected in a match of this caliber. Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne make due of their purpose to keep the competition in Angelina’s favour with the help of good timing and negligent officiating. Though, not before Tara hits a snapshot-worthy spinning backbreaker on the Champion. Tara neglects a pin attempt for a piece of the Bratz dolls. Before long, many calculated attacks are exchanged between Tara and Angelina’s lackeys, which consequently takes away from the entire feeling and purpose of the match. At some point, it seems as though Tara makes a costly decision to eliminate outside interference by taking out Velvet and Madison, but wastes precious time in which she could have become champion. In the end, the heelish advances pay off when Tara receives a mouthful of proverbial hair spray and a devastating kick in the face for her troubles … and for the finish. Angelina lives another day, another accolade, as your reigning TNA Knockouts Champion. You like her, you really like her?
With Angelina retaining the Knockouts title and Awesome Kong slowly being pushed back into the title picture, the possibilities regarding the division have rendered themselves endless. Though, I wouldn’t count Tara out yet. This match just screams ‘stepping stone,’ and an apparent ‘holding back’ for greater things to come. Whether or not she will eventually earn the belt still seems to be without question. I’m not sure what kind of game TNA is playing here, but seems to revolve around specific timing and circumstance.
Watch the match below:
Thoughts on the Monster’s Ball & video after the cut:
The Beautiful People have made history as the first Knockouts to take the promotional campaign for a TNA pay per view. Knockouts Champion Angelina Love, Velvet Sky (“Vel-Vel” ugh!) and Madison Rayne are the poster girls for the company’s July PPV, busting out their patriotic best for the poster – despite the Knockout front and … Read more
Tonight, TNA holds it’s annual anniversary pay per view, Slammiversary with the Knockouts Championship on the line when champion Angelina Love defends against the one and only Victoria. Plus Taylor Wilde and Daffney continue their feud in a mixed tag Monster’s Ball Match, Taylor teams with Abyss and Daffney teams with Raven.
Be sure to check out the pay per view from 8pm ET. We’ll be providing up to the minute coverage of the Knockouts matches on our Twitter page.
Before the PPV tonight, our writers wrote in their predictions for tonight’s event. I’d like to take this moment to introduce the newest member of the Diva Dirt team, Tiffany who I’m sure you’ll come to know in the near future as our resident TNA writer. Tiffany will be updating our TNA coverage with a weekly Impact column and monthly pay per view columns.
Knockouts Championship Match: Angelina Love (c) vs Victoria
Erin: I know in these circumstances, both TNA and the WWE have shown a tendency to throw the title on the hot newcomer in order to capitalize on the initial buzz of their arrival. However, I’m going to guess that TNA wants to delay the inevitable a bit (because you know Victoria is going to eventually win the title) and have Angelina win. That way, they can milk this feud for all it’s worth while giving rubs to all three girls in the Beautiful People, as well as Victoria. Madison Rayne can continue to grow into her role in TBP, being shoved into altercations with Victoria while the Vicious Vixen develops her TNA persona and gradually builds up to a more grandiose title win.
Melanie: Since joining TNA, Victoria has been on such a hot streak that logic almost dictates that Angelina must retain here just to off-set it. Usually it would make sense to do that but in this situation, with this particular person – I am actually going to go ahead and call a title switch tonight. By having her come in on such a high and then have her losing here, I think it’d be too much of a loss for her to recover from – unless they do some shady finish with someone costing her the title. I think giving her the win and the title puts her over as your new face of the Knockouts division which is the ultimate goal. I’m banking on Victoria here.
Steven: Last week, my bet would have been Victoria for champion. Her acquisition has brought alot of attention to the division in the last month or so. I could see TNA making her the new face of the Knockouts and rightfully so. However, the staredown between her and Awesome Kong has me thinking otherwise. I see Kong playing a part in Sunday’s match, possibly costing Victoria her shot and adding another layer to this feud. If Victoria manages to snag the belt, I see Kong making a post match run-in and taking out Victoria. Kong made it clear she wants the title on Impact! and I don’t see her having a problem going through Victoria to get it. Expect a 3-way at TNA’s next PPV. Another factor is the other members of The Beautiful People, who will undoubtedly run some sort of interference. In short, I would be shocked if Victoria came out of Slammiversary as Champ. She will definitely be champion sometime in the future, just not Sunday.
Diva Dirt is dusting off an old classic, which just so happens to dust off old classics itself. Welcome back to YouTube Classics! Everyday (read: whenever we feel like it) we’ll be posting a classic Divas match/segment/moment from our trusty friend, YouTube! Tonight at Slammiversary, the former Victoria faces off against Angelina Love for the … Read more
You may have heard reports that Serena Deeb of OVW and SHIMMER fame has signed to WWE. It is noted on her Wikipedia page that she recently debuted in FCW in tag match defeating Rosa Mendes and Alicia Fox. Well it turns out you can’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia (Go figure). Despite appearing in … Read more
You know what time it is people! Really? You don’t? Well I’ll clue you in. It’s time your weekly dose of SHIMMER goodness. Every weekend, I’ll be bringing you profiles on the hard hitting ladies of SHIMMER. Everyone from the major players like MsChif to the up and coming rookies like Ashley Lane and Portia Perez. So lets get to the good stuff, guys.
Accomplishments:Can-Am Wrestling Women’s Championship (1 time); FILL Women’s Championship (1 time)(Mexico); LLF Juvenil Championship (1 time)(Mexico); Ranked #24 on Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Female 50
A few months months ago, news hit that TNA had signed canadian luchadora princess and SHIMMER star Sarah Stockto their roster of Knockouts. Fans of her work in SHIMMER and in Mexico were excited to see what her high-flying, lucha libre style would bring to the diverse Knockouts division. More on that later.
Stock originally started in the canadian indies, debuting in Can-Am Wrestling and winning the Can-Am Women’s Championship in her first match. Her rookie year also saw her compete in many other promotions including: Real Action Wrestling, Main Stream Wrestling and Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling. Stock’s biggest success in America came while she was in Afa Anoa’i’s World Xtreme Wrestling promotion in Pennsylvania. There she competed against fellow indy stars Charlotte Webb, Valentina and future SHIMMER phenom, Mercedes Martinez. She also participated in a high profile feud with indy wrestler Kyle Kruze, including Bra and Panties and ‘Kiss My Ass’ matches.
In 2003, Sarah moved to Mexico to further develop her skills in the ring.  Much like fellow ex-Knockout Gail Kim, Sarah found success in a masked persona known as ‘Dark Angel’. Even with the obvious language barrier, Sarah managed to put on great matches with likes of Princess Sugey and fellow American wrestler Simply Lucious. She split her time between Mexico and well known promotion Ring of Honor, where she had a match against SHIMMER mainstay Allison Danger. In December 2008, she wrestled for OVW under the ringname Sarah Griffin in a losing effort to Passion. Staying true to her roots, Stock continued to wrestle in Canada, feuding with WWE Diva and SHIMMER alumni, Nattie Neidhart.
In 2007, Stock debuted in SHIMMER as part of a tournament to crown the first ever SHIMMER champion. To the surprise of many, Sarah managed to eliminate SHIMMER originals, MsChif and Cheerleader Melissa who were favorites to win. She was eliminated by the eventual winner, Sara Del Rey, but earned a title shot in a later volume by defeating Daizee Haze. Sarah came up short once again, losing to Del Rey in a two out of three falls match.
In April, Sarah competed in two dark matches for TNA under the name Sarita. She lost to Awesome Kong, but picked up a win against former Knockouts Champ Taylor Wilde.
As of this writing Sarah has yet to officially debut for the company. It’s rumored that she was slated for the top babyface slot, but was bumped for the incoming Victoria/Tara. Personally, I would rather see Sarah make moves in WWE. With her high flying arsenal, she could easily be the Evan Bourne of the Divas’ roster. I think she could breathe new life into the increasingly stale Raw title picture by pushing talent like Beth Phoenix, Mickie James and even Maryse to a whole new level. Â
As usual, here’s a vid or two to get you familiar. Enjoy!
Former pornstar-turned-wrestler, Trina Michaels has hinted on her MySpace page that she could be joining TNA. Michaels retired from porn last year and sent out a press release in which she said, she was “giving up gangbangs to enter battle royals.” She writes: “You can’t spell Trina without using the letters TNA… Find out THIS … Read more
Last month, Melanie got to talk to former Knockout and current SHIMMER star Roxxi about her release from TNA, backstage altercations and more. Well since that was a resounding success, I’ve decided to try my damnedest to bring you more exclusive interviews from the world of SHIMMER. Vote below for the SHIMMER star you’d like … Read more
The Internet is buzzing about a dark match that took place during the three-day Impact tapings last week. The match saw former Knockouts Champion, Awesome Kong face her manager, Raisha Saeed who wrestled under her other gimmick, Cheerleader Melissa. Read the report below: People were raving about the Melissa Anderson vs. Awesome Kong match that … Read more
While all us Diva and Knockout fans may be all about Victoria‘s (I don’t care what TNA says, I’m NOT calling her Tara) debut, but there’s one person who may not be too crazy to see her in TNA. Sarah Stock. According to online reports, Victoria’s sudden appearing has effectively bumped Sarah (or Sarita) from … Read more
I know that we don’t usually cover Ring Of Honor on Diva Dirt, but they’ve thrown us a curveball in the form of a triple threat match. Watch below as SHIMMER Stars Sara Del Rey and Daizee Haze take on SHIMMER Champion MsChif in a 3-way match: ROH/SHIMMER 3-WAY Steven’s Thoughts: If you aren’t a … Read more
Shit! Just as we thought we were out of the woods! TNA’s official website has a revised preview of tonight’s Impact and a new graphic to boot (see above) – where they refer to the Diva formerly known as Victoria, as Tara. In all earlier references, they had referred to her as ‘Lisa Marie’, which … Read more
For those who haven’t gotten enough women’s wrestling this week, here’s a fresh TNA ‘webmatch’ between Sojo Bolt and Raisha Saeed filmed at Wednesday’s Impact tapings.
