Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Division Is Once Again Rising

Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Division has been a vital part of the promotion’s sixteen year history. Thanks to a few recent additions, the Knockouts Division is looking stronger than it has in a while.

Women’s wrestling in the mainstream during Impact Wrestling’s early years barely registered a blip on the radar.

Impact Wrestling — then known as TNA — helped bring attention to women’s wrestling, featuring its Knockouts frequently on television and pay-per-views. Admittedly, it took five years for the Knockouts division to truly get off of the ground, but once it officially commenced at Bound For Glory 2007, it was well on its way to becoming something special.

Impact wisely built the division around Gail Kim who had previously spent time as the manager of America’s Most Wanted. Awesome Kong joined the ranks of the Knockouts as its fearsome powerhouse, The Beautiful People thrived as the division’s mean girls and ODB became somewhat of a cult favorite among the crowd.

In the following years, Madison Rayne, Mickie James and Tara wound up becoming multi-time Knockouts Champions. Eventually the depth on the Knockouts roster at the time led to the creation of the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. Despite its ill-fated existence afterwards, Impact Wrestling was still the first national promotion in decades to create a tag team division for its women.

Taryn Terrell—who hadn’t exactly set the world on fire before joining Impact—produced better-than-expected matches with Gail Kim. As a result of her increased ring prowess, she went on to break the record for the longest Knockouts title reign in Impact Wrestling history.

In recent years, Impact Wrestling looked to be on its deathbed but a few names helped keep the Knockouts division afloat and became the division’s foundation today.

Allie started out as Maria Kanellis’ dim-witted assistant but slowly developed into one of the division’s most recognizable names. With newfound confidence, she went on to topple Laurel Van Ness to win her second Knockouts Championship and have a captivating rivalry with Su Yung.

Rosemary—once Decay’s deranged wild card—took on a leading role in the Knockouts division until being sidelined a couple of months ago.

In addition to the women who have been the backbone of the division, the introductions of the aforementioned Su Yung, Tessa Blanchard, and Scarlett Bordeaux have shown that Impact is looking towards the future with the Knockouts.

Su Yung has quickly ascended to the top of the Knockouts division thanks in part to her eerie “Undead Bride” gimmick.

Tessa Blanchard has been nothing short of a gem on Impact, clearly being positioned as a potential breakout star for its Knockouts division.

Scarlett Bordeaux’s recent debut added immediate intrigue as to what direction Impact would take her “Smoke Show” character in. While she has yet to step in the ring, her first two promos have generated plenty of interest.

Impact Wrestling is looking stronger than ever heading towards the end of 2018. As Bound For Glory approaches, the talented women in the Knockouts division are sleepers to take center stage.