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60%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #15,499
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This is the TNA DVD release every red-blooded male has been waiting for - the lovely knockouts of Total Nonstop Action! The sexy femme fatales of TNA Wrestling Christy Hemme, Traci, Gail Kim and Jackie are guaranteed to heat up your screen as they show off their sensual curves in and out the ring!
--TMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: May 16, 2013
I've always been a fan of professional wrestling, even though I sort of go through phases with it. I used to be heavily into it, never missing a show and keeping up with all of the news, and there were times when I just didn't care at all. I've been sort of interested in it again here lately, and with TNA recently launching their paid YouTube channel, I decided to check out a few of their offerings during the free trial. The first one that I watched was Knockouts: The Ladies of TNA Wrestling, Vol. 1 (there never was a second volume), as I had always heard about how great their women's division was back in the day. I knew about some of the ladies involved during that period and I've seen a few matches on YouTube over the years, but I missed the vast majority of that time period. So, I figured that I would get to see some of that here, but unfortunately, I didn't notice that this was released in 2006 - back before their women's division actually took off. Whoops. Well, I did sit through the entire thing, so here's a review of it anyway.
Knockouts is not a collection of matches, and it's also not a documentary about the division or anything like that. It's simply an introduction to five ladies of wrestling along with some photo shoots and still pictures, so if you're expecting anything more, you can stop reading now. For those that are still here, the disc plays out a little something like this.
Montage
First off, we have a five-minute montage of clips of each of the ladies that will be featured throughout the remainder of the disc. All of this is footage that we will see once again during the respective women's sections, so there's nothing here that we won't see in full later. Still, I guess it's a decent way to kick off the disc.
Gail Kim
Now that the disc is actually getting started, we are introduced to Gail Kim. Gail is one of the better women's wrestlers, and she got her start in WWE before going to TNA (this disc was shot during this time). She then left TNA to go back to WWE, spent a few years there, and then came back to TNA. First, she talks about her personal life, growing up, getting involved in sports, her family, things of that nature. Nothing terribly exciting or deep here, it's your standard biography as told by the lady herself. This segues into some video clips of various photo shoots that she has done during her time in TNA, with bikinis and barely-there clothing being the order of the day. This goes on for roughly ten minutes with some of the clips being repeated numerous times, and finally, we wrap things up with a collection of still photographs. Oh, there's also a trailer here for Royal Kill, a movie that Gail Kim appeared in that was released in 2009.
Jackie Gayda
Next up is Jackie, and her section follows the exact same formula that Gail's did. Jackie is the co-winner of the second season of WWE's Tough Enough, who was eventually released from her WWE contract. She talks about her time in WWE with more than a little bitterness, then she talks about the same things that Gail did: her family life, growing up, how she got into wrestling, the usual. Much like the previous section, there's really nothing terribly exciting here. This segues into some video clips of various photo shoots that she has done during her time in TNA, with bikinis and barely-there clothing being the order of the day. This goes on for roughly ten minutes with some of the clips being repeated numerous times, and finally, we wrap things up with a collection of still photographs.
Traci Brooks
TNA original Traci is next on the list, and although my expectations were set a little low after the previous sections, I was sort of looking forward to this part as Traci is the only lady on the disc that I knew nothing about. I know of her and I've seen her in a few assorted clips, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Traci is actually pretty damned entertaining to listen to, and while the subject matter that she discusses isn't all that exciting (getting into wrestling, family, the standard formula), she is a decent storyteller. There's also a rather lengthy section here showing her appearance at a minor league baseball game in Nashville, which I thought was the highlight of the disc. Traci is goofy as hell when she's just being herself, and there were more than a couple of genuinely funny moments here. This is capped off with... well, let me copy and paste again. This segues into some video clips of various photo shoots that she has done during her time in TNA, with bikinis and barely-there clothing being the order of the day. This goes on for roughly ten minutes with some of the clips being repeated numerous times, and finally, we wrap things up with a collection of still photographs.
Christy Hemme
Next is Christy Hemme, former Playboy playmate and the winner of WWE's first Diva Search contest. Her section is actually pretty interesting, as she is fairly entertaining to listen to and she also has some interesting stories to tell. Obviously, she briefly mentions her time in WWE, and there is the standard talk of her family life and her childhood, but then we get to hear about her time as a Hooters girl, her time on The Man Show as a "juggy", her time with a burlesque dance team, and other such topics. The woman has definitely led an interesting life, and on a personal note, she is by far the most attractive lady on the disc. Oddly, this section repeats a number of her quotes - I'm not sure why the editors didn't catch this, but there you have it. This segues into some video clips of various photo shoots that she has done during her time in TNA, with bikinis and barely-there clothing being the order of the day. This goes on for roughly ten minutes with some of the clips being repeated numerous times, and finally, we wrap things up with a collection of still photographs.
Sole Magazine photo shoot
Sole is a magazine devoted to tennis shoes? Maybe you knew that, but it was news to me. There's also a bar devoted to tennis shoes somewhere in the country (sorry, I missed the location), and what compliments shoes and bars perfectly? The ladies of TNA wrestling, apparently, because they get together to promote... I'm not sure if they were promoting the magazine, the bar, or using the bar to promote the magazine. Anyway, this is a lengthy section showing a photo shoot involving all of the aforementioned ladies, with the exception of Gail Kim (who is replaced here by So Cal Val). There's a lot of footage of the girls interacting and some behind-the-scenes stuff, and each girl gets a little time to shine on her own. Of course, they're all wearing revealing clothing throughout the shoot - did you expect any less? It's as exciting as it sounds, and you can either take that positively or negatively.
Gail Kim vs. Traci Brooks - May 15th, 2006
This DVD-exclusive match is... well, it's a match. There's nothing terribly exciting here; there's nothing to complain about, but there's certainly nothing to brag about either. It's your standard women's wrestling match with the standard spots. America's Most Wanted interfere and give Gail the win, and some more time on the disc has been killed.
So Cal Val
Finally, So Cal Val gets her own section on the disc. Why was she placed after all of the bonus features? Who knows, but here she is. She discusses getting into the wrestling business at the ripe old age of fifteen, working for various southern California wrestling promotions (hence the name), and various other nuggets of information about her life. Again, nothing terribly exciting here, but it's an introduction to the lady if you'd never heard of her. As always, here comes another copy and paste. This segues into some video clips of various photo shoots that she has done during her time in TNA, with bikinis and barely-there clothing being the order of the day. This goes on for roughly ten minutes with some of the clips being repeated numerous times, and finally, we wrap things up with a collection of still photographs.
So, there you have it: the first and only volume of Knockouts: The Ladies of TNA Wrestling. I can't "knock" TNA for releasing a DVD like this - WWE also released countless DVDs with the same type of material, but it certainly wasn't what I was hoping for when I clicked play. I guess that's my fault for not reading more into this, so I can't truly bitch about that either. So, I'm going to go with an average rating here: if you want to see these five ladies of TNA briefly introduce themselves before modeling bikinis, check it out. If you want to see some of the entertaining women's wrestling that TNA is known for, avoid. It's that simple. 5/10.
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