TNA Impact 1: I love confused Lacey

Okay, so my girls the Knockouts didn't have a whole lot to do on TNA Impact, tonight, but they did their best to make an impact (haha) with what little time they had. Madison Rayne is really coming into her own as a nasty little heel, and playing Sarita as her compatriot/bodyguard might be really awesome. Sarita is tough as a nut (and cute as a button with her freckles and little upturned nose... how I love me some Sarita!) but isn't a particularly good talker, so putting her with someone who has an... overabundance of personality, I guess is a way to say it... like Madison seems to be a good idea. Velvet has amazing chemistry with Angelina Love--the amount they communicated with their eyes, alone, tonight, was incredible and their little glance at the end was so, so smoky... ho yay, as the good people at Television Without Pity would say, I guess. Lacey von Erich is growing on me each week, especially playing this role as the 'Rose' of the group, a kind-hearted innocent who just wants everybody to get along and be friends, and I really and truly do like Taylor Wilde, even if I pick on her a lot for being a blond Canadian midget and for having an Amazon wishlist on which I would not be surprised to find a personal space ship, one day. The biker thing is kind of starting to wear thin and they need to reveal who she is, soon... or maybe there should be several bikers? Not sure. I'd like a coalition of bikers, personally, made up of people who have scores of various kinds to settle with Angelina Love and/or Vel Vel. That may be too difficult to pull off, though. I'd also like to see more Rosie Lottalove and Daffney, but I'll just settle, right now, for seeing anyone who isn't a part of the Beautiful People.

Other things I've seen tonight that I've enjoyed have included 1) Angle's four suplexes on Hernandez, 2) the, er... 'incident' during Anderson and Morgan's match and 3) AJ Styles hauling a good match out of Rob Terry's big, stiff butt and no muscles pulling themselves off Rob's bones and 4) Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe in a Fly Boy vs. Fat Boy brawl that took it to the time limit. Shut up, Impact Zone, that was a some good wrestling you bunch of yabbos!

Although, Impact Zone, I do love how bloodthirsty you are. WWE would pay for a crowd that ferocious, man.

Other interests 3: Cheerleader Melissa screwed like Bret Hart?

I call absolute bullshit on this pathetic, low class, trashy decision by RCW. Melissa Anderson, also known as Cheerleader Melissa, Raisha Saeed, Alissa Flash and the Future Legend (she is one!) has been stripped of the River City Wrestling championship because her match went thirty seconds over the fifteen minute time limit. This is a sad little bush league decision by a sad little bush league promotion. Melissa is one of the best workers in the world, male or female, and brought more prestige to River City Wrestling than it's ever seen before and probably ever will again. Because she is the first woman to win any promotion's most eminent title it all makes Jeromy Sage's decision stink of the ugly sexism which pervades the dark corners of our sport, slinking around the spotlight, a spotlight which so recently fell on a tall, slim, beautiful, athletic brunette, smiling radiantly, golden belt upraised. We are not privy to the backstage discussions which precipitated this decision. Perhaps he or someone associated with his organization couldn't stand to share the spotlight with this woman, or believes she should be consigned to those shadowy corners acting as nothing but an object for masculine titillation. We can't know this; we weren't there. We can know this, though, Jeromy Sage: you cannot take that moment in the spotlight away from Melissa, the first woman chosen to hold a promotion's highest honor up to heaven's approval, and we can know that your small promotion's spotlight could never shine bright enough to adequately highlight her glory. Even if this is just a work, and it might be, it's still a bad work and it reflects poorly on the sport as a whole.

Other interests 2: One bad Cheerleader

Melissa Anderson, aka The Future Legend, Alissa Flash and Cheerleader Melissa, is probably the best woman wrestler working today... at least in my humble opinion, that is. To be honest with you, I believe that the Future Legend is better than most male wrestlers, and she proved it earlier this week with a win against River City Wrestling's Joey Spector when she became RCW's first female champion, and the first woman to hold any coed or male wrestling promotion's top belt. Anderson works a vicious style, which mixes occasional technical brilliance with aggressive, nasty brawling and power moves, and leaves her opponents reeling with an array of moves that draws on the Japanese, American and Mexican traditions.

For a short example of Anderson's style, check out http://tinyurl.com/39jqd8e. Her twitter is twitter.com/FutureLegendCF, and her official website is www.cheerleadermelissa.com. Her body of work, especially against arch rival and sometimes partner MsChif, is available on many of the SHIMMER and Chickfight collections, and I cannot recommend it enough. Watch this Cheerleader, ladies and gentlemen... she's hiding hard fists under those pom poms.