TNA Knockouts Started The Revolution

 

Since WWE is the premiere wrestling company in the world they often get credit for wrestling trends. In the mid-2010's after the hashtag #givedivasachance became a trending topic on twitter,  they finally started taking female wrestling serious and birthed the Divas Revolution. That led to moments like retiring the Divas title and introducing the Womens Championship, the all-female ppv Evolution, all-female Royal Rumble, main events, tournaments and retiring bra and panties matches.

Long before WWE did all of these things, TNA wrestling had already kicked down the door and proved womens wrestling could be successful roughly ten years earlier. In the mid-2000's  TNA was still trying to craft an indentity and lane in pro wrestling, they decided to take womens wrestling seriously and hired some women who could truly kick some ass. 

The Knockouts division proved that women could wrestle just as good as men when given a chance, and could hit just as hard. TNA bought in talented women Gail Kim, Awesome Kong, ODB, The Beautiful People, Sarita, Taylor Wilde, and Mickie James to build around. Veterans like Jacqueline, Tara, and Daffney were bought in to bring credibility to the division during it's early days.

What followed were history making events. Despite all of the quick fixes and band-aids TNA attempted to try, the Knockouts were the most consistent in terms of quality wrestling and character development on their shows often being the highest rated segment of shows. They proved that women led feuds could be just as compelling and brutal as the male competitors, and not just bathroom break segments.

The Knockouts championship and Knockouts Tag Team championships meant something within the division. The Knockouts received their own Impact specials such as TNA Knockouts eve PPV in 2009 followed by Knockouts Knockdown in 2015. I could 100% be wrong, but the Knockouts were the first that I can remember to have devastating cage and last woman standing matches.

Even their Knockouts roster today could compete with any roster of female wrestlers past and present. It's the probably the one thing TNA/Impact has always done right, hiring talented female wrestlers and using them correctly. It's important to remember and give them credit that they truly created the revolution.