5 Times IMPACT Wrestling Was Ahead of the Womens Evolution

In Recent years fans really have seen women’s wrestling come so incredibly far! From historic moments in the WWE to a completely different overall view and portrayal of women’s wrestling across the scene. However, while we are only recently seeing promotions around the world step up when it comes to the treatment of females in this industry there is one place where women’s wrestling has been shining brightly from the get-go and a promotion  whom has been ahead of the women’s evolution for years; IMPACT wrestling. The IMPACT knockouts division has been on fire from its debut and fans have seen female talent used smartly and effectively proving that the IMPACT zone is where women’s competition has always been a step ahead of everyone else and here are just some of the prime examples of that.

Tessa Blanchard Becomes IMPACT World Champion

We kick start this list off with the most recent historic IMPACT wrestling moment, the night Tessa Blanchard became the first-ever female IMPACT World champion after dethroning long time rival in Sami Callihan. Now, IMPACT wrestling has not been a stranger to intergender competition over the years but during the past twelve months in particular we have seen the promotion go a step further and showcase intergender wrestling in incredible fashion. Despite the controversy surrounding her Tessa Blanchard made for the perfect woman to put forward to showcase just how well intergender wrestling can be and the place it really does have today. Her rivalry with Callihan along with stepping away from Knockouts competition and working with the men proved a vital point and raised a conversation in the wrestling world. Intergender action will always be a controversial topic but IMPACT has shown it has a place, it works and when you put two incredible athletes in the ring together magic can happen regardless of the gender of the two opponents. Blanchard makes for a legit, believable champion and she and Callihan took part in one of the best angles in recent memory, and while we may be years away from seeing this kind of booking in other promotions this is a prime example of just how ahead IMPACT is.

Tag Team Titles

Last year the WWE introduced the women’s tag team titles and while it was long overdue and we have since seen some incredible tag-team encounters IMPACT wrestling introduced tag team titles to its women’s division back in August of two thousand and nine a whole decade before the WWE introduced the same idea to its female talent. Now, we may not have seen the Knockouts tag team titles around for long and the smaller division meant it was difficult to keep the scene packed but the fact remains that these titles were introduced way before such a decision was even thought about in other major promotions. Of course, we had seen women hold tag-team championships in the past across the wrestling scene but during this certain time for female competitors it was hard for  those women who stepped into the ring to get five minuets to compete let alone have more than one title in their division on a brand. First-time champions Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky would go on to make history of their own which we will be talking about a little later on but it's important to remember what the introduction of thee titles meant for the knockouts and women's wrestling around the world and its a shame women's divisions around the wrestling scene were not big enough and booked strong enough to also have tag titles. Again, these titles may not have been booked perfectly at the time they were introduced but it showcases how far ahead IMPACT was in their thinking process compared to some other promotions.

The Model Image Questioned

Having a diverse women’s division really is such an important factor. I remember growing up watching wrestling and being bombarded with the model image of a female wrestler with not many differing from the blonde tanned image we saw so often. Over the years IMPACT wrestling has sure had its “model” ESC knockouts but watching when I was younger I found myself far more interested in the knockouts division than the WWE Divas division because of the diversity that was being presented. From tattooed females to different shapes and sizes from the likes of Awesome Kong and ODB TNA/IMPACT was putting forward varying different types of women that made the division feel more entertaining. IMPACT Wrestling has always presented fans with a diverse knockouts division full of different characters and images that separated other promotions at the time. Over the years Awesome Kong, Rosemary, Angelina Love, Havok and so many more have stood out for being so different from what we have seen elsewhere and that’s something that we are only seeing more recently in other promotions with the likes of Paige standing out for this particular reason when she began her journey in the WWE.

The Beautiful People

Factions within women’s wrestling are something we still most certainly do not see enough of! It’s a creative angle I’m desperate to see promotions including AEW and WWE jump onboard alongside other promotions on the scene today but it must be said that IMPACT wrestling has already achieved this in the past. Of course, it would be great to see more of this done today and there are certainly the names and numbers to create an intense and entertaining faction that could shake up women's divisions across the industry. The Beautiful People in particular are sure to go down in history not only for TNA but for wrestling as a whole. No female faction has made an impact like the Beautiful People. Madison Rayne, Angelina Love, and Velvet Sky are key figures within the history of the knockouts division and the work within the Beautiful People creating something completely different to what we have ever seen from women’s wrestling and to this day there is yet to be a female faction to make the impact these women did. Since then IMPACT has looked to book other female factions including The Dollhouse several years back and a showdown between those women and The Beautiful People highlighted just how much of an impact the latter really have had.

Cage Matches

It's only over the past few years that we have seen the WWE book bigger stipulation matches from falls count anywhere to last woman standing and cage matches however the Knockouts of IMPACT wrestling have been working these intense more hardcore bouts pretty much from the get-go. From classic cage matches between Mickie James and Madison Rayne to Gail Kim and Taryn Terrel’s memorable last Knockout standing contest the women of IMPACT wrestling have had the chance to work these more intense matches for years that we are only just seeing women have the opportunity to work over in the WWE and other promotions.

While IMPACT still has areas to improve on within its Knockouts division over the years the company has proven to be incredibly far ahead of everyone else in terms of the women’s evolution. Stacked diverse rosters with intense matches, hardcore stipulations, and varying characters and storylines IMPACT has led the way for other wrestling promotions and continues to do so today.
It must also be noted that IMPACT wrestling has had its controversial and problematic storylines involving the women's division/female talent.

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