The Impact Wrestling Knockouts Division has had a lot to deal with this year, from Su Yung’s reign of terror to Allie’s deal with the devil. Yet one constant has been the resilience and fortitude of Kiera Hogan, The Girl On Fire, who should be getting ready to take center-stage as the Knockouts’ top babyface.
If you could sum up the atmosphere of the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Division in the year 2018 with one word, it would be “chaotic”. The Knockouts have been through a lot, mostly at the hands of the divisions’ biggest heels: the Undead Bride Su Yung has been trapping Knockouts in the Undead Realm left and right, and the Knockouts Champion Tessa Blanchard rules over the division with an impressive amount of entitlement issues.
Even Allie, the peppy and buoyant former Knockouts Champion has given into her demons, quite literally in fact, and her soul now belongs to the Undead Realm, Su Yung and the actual Devil (I’m pretty sure).
With the current state of the Knockouts Division, it should become harder and harder to find the true face of the division – the persistent hero who crowds are meant to cheer for and little girls are meant to look up to – among all the darkness that now surrounds the Knockouts.
It should become harder, but conveniently enough for us, the next heir apparent to the Knockouts top babyface spot has always been a beacon of light and positivity radiating throughout the promotion. She is, after all, The Girl On Fire.
Kiera Hogan made her Impact Wrestling debut in February, and it was apparent immediately that she was destined for great things. She defeated then-Knockouts Champion Laurel Van Ness (now NXT’s Chelsea Green) in a non-title match in her first Impact match.
Although she went on to lose her next match, which was for Van Ness’s Knockout Championship, her first matches on Impact paved the way for more great work from Hogan – including outstanding matches against Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie.
Most recently, of course, Kiera Hogan has become the new parter of Vigilante Allie as she wages a war against Su Yung. Now that Allie’s succumb the darkness completely, it looks like it will now be Kiera’s job to save her friend, just as Allie saved her from the Undead Realm. It’s an important role in one of the most compelling storylines Impact has had all year, and it’s one only Hogan is close enough to pull off.
It’s been a long time coming for Hogan to finally have a significant babyface role. Hogan has a great mix of positivity and attitude that, as discussed, was really meant to make an immediate impression on the Knockouts roster.
Hogan has really every attribute necessary to become the honest fact of the division; she has spunk, she has a firm moral compass, and she’s never afraid to stand up for herself and act in the face of adversity. Let’s not forget Hogan’s program with Tessa Blanchard, where she was never afraid to call Tessa out on her spoiled ways and go toe-to-toe with her, which, given Tessa’s impressive track record in the ring, can’t be an easy thing to do.
The Impact crowd has taken to Hogan as well. Her fearlessness has really won audiences over; she doesn’t back down for anything, and the crowd always pops for Hogan when she’s making statements in the ring (from hitting one of her signature kicks to telling Tessa Blanchard “screw you” during their No DQ match).
Now Hogan’s storyline with Allie is a tremendous opportunity for her to truly shine for the first time on Impact. If anyone’s going to save Allie, or at least try, it’s going to be those closest to her. Hogan’s never backed down from a challenge thus far, and I’m inclined to believe that in the weeks to come, she won’t have any trepidation in trying to snap Allie out of it.
Will she be successful? Well, that really depends on how far-gone Impact’s making Allie out to be. Still, Kiera Hogan has all the tools now to be the perfect person to step up to Allie, and in the process establish herself as the woman to watch (and the woman to cheer for) at Impact Wrestling.
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