Background: Tara took great exception to the claims of TNA Knockouts champion Angelina Love that Love was dominating the division while avoiding the former WWE Women’s champion. Several physical, non-sanctioned altercations occurred between the two – causing an official title match featuring Love and Tara to be made for TNA’s second biggest pay-per-view of the year.
Slammiversary
Detroit, MI
June 21, 2009
Angelina Love vs. Tara
Angelina Love was able to humiliate Tara by tripping her into a series of slaps. Tara quickly popped Love in the mouth before using the champ’s blonde hair to sling Love from one side of the ring to the other. Tara scared off Velvet and Madison, leaving the champion wide open for Tara’s dropkick through the ropes; sending Love’s back against the steel guardrails. The referee was so busy checking on Love that he didn’t see Sky and Rayne grab Tara before she could reenter, whipping Tara back first into the railings. Cradle by Love gets her a two count. Love stayed on top of her challenger, knocking her down any time Tara tried to fight back. Tara got tossed to the floor so Love’s entourage could do some more damage. The champion had a slight temper tantrum when she couldn’t get a three count after the two on one assault. Tara started throwing wild clotheslines before slamming Love. Swinging sidewalk slam by the challenger, but no follow up pin. Instead, Tara decked Sky and Rayne. When Tara reentered, Love caught her with the bicycle kick. Tara fell across the middle rope, allowing Velvet to shoot hairspray in Tara’s face. The stumbling challenger spun right into the Botox Injection, giving Love a successful pin and title defense.
Winner: Angelina Love (6:51)
Is It A Classic: A solid match. The Knockouts division was one of the golden spots on any pay-per-view. The sad part is that died when they started reducing the time for the women’s matches during this period. Proof of that is here. Love and Tara were having a good match that could’ve gone into the great category when it ended. Now I know a lot of people will crap on the ending, but it was a perfect set up for a rematch down the line. Just wished it’d gone a little longer, though.
