TNA Knockouts Korner #1: Sojourner Bolt, Beautiful People, Date with ODB

Knockout Korner: Edition #1

By Adam Testa

Welcome to the first edition of Knockout Korner. Some of you probably saw my first column "X-Factor" on the site yesterday. I hope to have a couple of columns going at any given time to foster healthy discussion about the TNA product.

I hope to eventually develop a regular schedule for these things to keep you guys informed and to keep myself motivated to write them.

I encourage everyone to provide feedback, ask questions, provide suggestions and flat out tell me if you disagree. Let's go.

Bolting up the Ladder

Sojourner Bolt. I first saw her wrestle a real match at Bound for Glory 2008 in Chicago when she teamed with Eric Young to face the Rock and Rave Infection in a dark match before the show.

I thought she showed potential, but to be honest, I didn't even recognize her from her prior squash matches as part of Awesome Kong's open challenge.

After signing a full-time deal with TNA, Bolt seemed to be just another babyface knockout brought into to job to the stars of what is arguably the best women's wrestling division in the world.

She teamed with Christy Hemme (who was turning face herself) in a loss to the Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and then lost to Hemme in singles competition.

After the loss to Hemme, Bolt attacked the fiery redhead and found herself in the midst of a heel turn. She was soon paired up with Kong, Raisha Saeed and Rhaka Khan, collectively known as the Kongtourage.

None of Kong's associates have really seemed to get over with the crowd, and TNA even experimented with making Khan a face (though that lasted about two weeks).

On this past week's edition of Impact, we saw Bolt win a nine-knockout gauntlet match to become the number one contender for Kong's title. This creates an interesting scenario that raises some questions about the future of Bolt and the Kongtourage.

One option, the less favorable in my mind, is to turn Bolt back into a face and have her try to legitimately challenge Kong.

Another option is this: Bolt refuses to cash in her title shot. She claims that she will take the shot when she is ready, and no one can force her to do it sooner.

Others including ODB, Roxxi, Taylor Wilde and even the new Madison Rayne could say they want a shot at Kong's title, but Bolt, Saeed and Khan could argue that no one gets a shot until Bolt gets hers.

This would allow Kong time to recuperate from injuries and just relax for a couple of weeks as she's coming off some injuries. The face knockouts could repeatedly challenge for Bolt's number one title spot but keep coming up short because of the other Kongtourage members.

In the end, Knockout Law Traci Brooks could get involved and force Bolt to put the title shot on the line.

This could develop into a storyline involving at least six knockouts (Bolt, Saeed, Khan and some combination of ODB, Roxxi, Hemme, Wilde and Rayne). It would also give Kong the break that she needs.

No matter what the story angle ends up as, Bolt needs to stay a heel and stay an ally of Kong.

A Beautiful Letdown

Six months ago, the Beautiful People were undoubtedly one of the hottest commodities in TNA Wrestling. And no guys, I don't mean that in the obvious way.

Love and Sky could draw heel heat from the audience better than many of the male heels could do. They knew how to work an audience, they knew how to work in the ring and they seemed to be on top of the world. Then something horrible went wrong, and it can be summed up in two words: Sarah Palin.

When TNA invited the former Republican vice presidential candidate to appear, it seemed like a smart publicity stunt. The move garnered national attention and made headlines. It seemed to be a success...until the imposter showed up.

TNA brought in WCW's Daffney to play Palin, and she wound up in a horrid story angle with the Beautiful People.

Love and Sky went from legitimate Knockouts title contenders to dumb blonds with no heat at all. The Beautiful People fell down the ladder and took their reputation with them.

The angle ended with Daffney (in cahoots with Wilde and Roxxi) repeatedly tricking the Beautiful People into very filthy situations.

The whole thing could have been saved had Daffney revealed herself and joined the roster as a full-time face. But instead, TNA still has her playing the Palin impostor.

This week saw Love and Sky returning to their old selves, and we just need to hope they can recapitalize on what they had going. A strong feud with them and some of the face knockouts could overshadow the title if it was well-crafted enough.

They have a long way to climb back up the ladder now, but it should be easy enough for the beautiful duo.

Final Thoughts

TNA has begun a contest where one lucky fan will win a date with ODB. To enter, you have to submit a YouTube video explaining why you should go on the date.

To me, this is a double-edged sword. First, it's sad to think the creative team has nothing better for ODB's character to be doing right now than this. But secondly, it is great they are promoting fan interaction, especially of this level.

I had the opportunity to interview ODB last year, and I think she could be an awesome person to hang out with and meet.

She really seemed like her character comes across as, and she said that's because that's really who she is "just with the volume turned way up."

To those of you vying for that date, best of luck to you.

Testa is a professional journalist in Illinois and a wrestling fan. Contact him at [e-mail].