In September it was announced by Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer, Gail Kim and Christy Hemme that Knockouts Knockdown would be making its long-awaited return with the promises of stars like Mercedes Martinez, Lady Frost and Renee Michelle showing up and a monster’s ball match in memory of the late former TNA knockouts, Daffney Unger. However, for new fans watching the Impact Wrestling product, how much do you know about Knockouts Knockdown and the history, it’s had within the company? Well in this article I’m going to tell you five things you should know about Knockouts Knockdown 2021 and some of the histories regarding this event.
5. The 2021 Show Will Be The First Knockouts Event In Years
It’s no secret to anyone that TNA/Impact Wrestling has the number one promotion when it comes to pushing women’s wrestling in the United States for the better part of a decade if not longer, so the idea of Impact running an exclusive all women’s pay per view shouldn’t come as a surprise.
Starting in 2013, Impact would have a Knockouts Knockdown event as one of many shows a part of the ‘One Night Only’ format, where these shows would allow wrestlers both on and off the Impact roster to compete in a series of matches that don’t necessarily affect the major storylines being told on Impact TV or PPV but it does allow the higher ups in Impact to use this show to scout and show off new talent.
The 2021 event will be the first Knockouts Knockdown to occur in the company since 2017 as the idea for this show and the other One Night Only events were scrapped following the new regime of Scott D’Amore and Don Callis, but know after four years of absence and a bigger focus on women’s wrestling in many promotions, the event is making it’s long awaited return.
4. The Ring Announcer and Commentary Team One of the biggest differences regarding this up-and-coming Knockouts Knockdown is the fact that everything regarding the show involves the Knockouts including the commentary team and ring announcer.
If you go back to the previous events you’ll have noticed that the ring announcer for the entire show was either, Jeremy Borash or Rockstar Spud, but for the 2021 event it will be former Lucha Underground star, Melissa Santos who will be doing the ring introductions and Santos is certainly no stranger in Impact as she worked as a ring announcer for the company before as well as a backstage interviewer and Twitch host for almost every episode of Impact.
The commentary team is also getting a change as the previous duos saw Mike Tenay, Josh Matthews, Taz, Jeremy Borash and Rockstar Spud calling the action but this time it will be an all female commentary team with former ROH and current AEW star, Veda Scott bring her commentary skills to Knockouts Knockdown (a show Veda has competed in over the years) along the way she’ll be joined by former Knockouts Champion, Mickie James who also competed at Knockouts Knockdown before and is also coming off from being the executive producer for the NWA Empowerrr event that also was female wrestling centered.
3. The Stakes Of The Tournament
In the previous years, the Knockouts Knockdown tournament would she the competitors fighting to see who would be crowned the queen of the Knockouts or be giving a contract with the company like how it was in the 2017 addition but for this year the eight women who will be competing in this tournament will be fighting for a shot at the Knockouts Championship with four current stars on the Impact roster taking on four unsigned wrestlers.
The four unsigned names being the previously mentioned Lady Frost, Mercedes Martinez, Renee Michelle and Jamie Senegal, who will be making her Impact debut on this event.
The four currently signed wrestlers who will be taking part in this tournament will be Rachel Ellering, Brandi Lauren, Chelsea Green (all of whom have competed at this event before) and Tasha Steelz who just like Senegal will also be making her Knockout Knockdown debut at this event.
2. The First Ever Title Match
Remember earlier when I said that the outcomes of the one night only shows didn’t affect the storylines going on with Impact TV or PPV, while the 2021 show seems to be going in a different direction and that’s due to the Knockouts Tag Title Match.
For those who don’t know, The Influence (aka Tenille Dashwood and Madison Rayne) won a number one contender’s match to get this shot at the Knockouts Tag Team titles which are currently held by the female members of Decay (Rosemary and Jessicka Havok).
What makes this match so important other than the fact that there could be the chance that new tag champions are crowned is the fact that this is the first time in the history of Knockouts Knockdown that a championship match has ever happened, which as you can imagine is going to make this match all the more interesting.
1. The Future Knockouts
Among everything else I’ve mentioned on this list, one of the great things that fans have a memory of when it comes to Knockouts Knockdown is the fact that many of the ladies who took part in these events would end up signing with Impact somewhere down the line.
Names like Scarlett Boudreaux, Mia Yim, Allysin Kay, Deonna Purrazzo, Veda Scott, Marti Belle are just some of the names who’ve appeared and later have gone on to work with or sign with Impact following their appearances on the show.
Considering the eight-woman tournament has eight unsigned ladies plus other matches that have yet to be announced, perhaps this year’s event might see a new wrestler getting signed to the Knockouts Division…But we will just have to wait and see.
So what do you think of the up-and-coming Knockouts Knockdown event and will you be waiting for it on the Impact Plus App or Impact’s Ultimate Insiders?
Be sure to leave your thoughts below and be sure to check out my other wrestling articles if you want more content from me