IMPACT! Knockouts Knockdown

Overall Rating: ★★★●★☆☆

I had been looking forward to this one, but it ended up being a bit boring. I'm not a big fan of the one-night tournament format. It feels lazy, from a planning/writing perspective, and doesn't allow for people to go as hard as they can if they're only wrestling one match. I'd much rather see a battle royale of some kind. Especially if you're going to have a bunch of "outsiders" involved who no one really believes can win it.

1. #1 Contender Tournament (Lady Frost vs. Rachael Ellering)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   Decent, but I felt like it dragged on a bit - too many false finishes. Lady Frost seems cool, but I've only ever seen her in one-off appearances like this so I don't know much about her.
2. #1 Contender Tournament (Chealsea Green vs. Renee Michelle)
   ★★★●☆☆☆
   Chelesea Green has been everywhere lately and I'm still not sure why I'm supposed to love her. I don't have anything against her, but I'm just not seeing whatever it is that everyone's apparently so excited about.
   
3. #1 Contender Tournament (Mercedez Martinez vs. Brandi Lauren)
   ★★★●☆☆☆
   Brandi Lauren is a zombie. Neat! But, a supernatural gimmick vs. Mercedez Martinez? No prizes for guessing who wins this one.
4. #1 Contender Tournament (Jamie Senegal vs. Tasha Steelz)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   "She's stalking Jamie like a Chihuahua" is an actual thing an actual commentator said during this match. Like a chihuahua.
5. Pick Your Poison Match (Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich)
   ★★★●☆☆☆
   What is a "pick your poison match"? Just a normal match, I think. Not a fan of the "USA" chants from the audience. Purrazzo is the bad guy; that doesn't change just because her opponent is foreign, guys. This match would probably have rated higher if I thought there was any chance of some rando beating the current champion, even in a non-title match.
   
6. #1 Contender Tournament (Mercedez Martinez vs. Rachael Ellering)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   I really don't understand the decision-making behind this show. Not one match so far where I had any doubt about the outcome. These two are both pretty great though and I'd like to see them again in a less obvious setup.
7. #1 Contender Tournament (Chealsea Green vs. Tasha Steelz)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   I wasn't 100% sure on this one, but I was about 90%. The only question was, did they maybe want to save Martinez vs. Green for later? Turns out they did.
8. Monster's Ball Match (Kimber Lee vs. Alisha vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Savannah Evans)
   ★★★●★☆☆
   What is a "monster's ball match"? And why isn't it a "monsters' ball"? Which monster's ball is it? Hitler? I hear he only had the one. I guess it's just a normal four-way match, but there are some weapons laid out outside the ring.
   I feel like you have to build up to a match like this. You can't go from zero to barbed wire. Why is this happening? Grace's muscle buster to Lee onto tacks was pretty great though. You get a bit over the thumbtacks; they're kind of standard. But that had impact (no pun intended).
9. #1 Contender Tournament (Mercedez Martinez vs. Tasha Steelz)
   ★★★●☆☆☆
   I could only see one possible outcome to this match. They should have had Green make it to the final. I'd have had no idea who was going to win then.
10. Knockouts Tag Championship (Decay vs. The Influence)
    ★★★●★★☆
    I had a pretty good idea how this one was going to go as well, but in this case I enjoyed it regardless. It can work. There just has to be a story that doesn't revolve around the question of who's going to win.