The TNA Knockouts

The TNA Knockouts are like a version of the WWE Divas with one major exception.

Most of these ladies came into the promotion knowing how to wrestle.

TNA's women wrestlers didnt come from Diva Searches of swimsuit magazines, they mainly came from Independent wrestling promotions like Ring of Honor and SHIMMER and some of the big Japanese wrestling promotions

You're not gonna see these ladies mud wrestling of pillow fighting (at least I hope not), these women are wrestlers.

Before coming to TNA wrestling, Kong wrestled for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) and was one half of a tag team with the legendary Jaanese wrestler Aja Kong.

I have a whole Hub dedicated to Christy, but even though this lady came in through a Diva search, she has worked hard to prove herself.

Before TNA, she was of course with the WWE. But while she was there she also wrestled for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). After the WWE she competed in the Queens of Chaos show in Paris, France.She has had several matches with the famous April Hunter.

Jacqueline Moore

This 6 ft. 4 in Amazon worked for the WWE, then she went to Japan's Pro Wrestling ZERO1-MAX, Full Impact Pro, Philadelphia's Women's Extreme Wrestling and the PGWA (Professional Girl Wrestling Association) before signing with TNA.

Another TNA Knockout with a vast Independant background is Raisha Saeed or as she is known outside of TNA wrestling, Cheerleader Melissa.

Angelina Love was born Lauren Williams on September 13, 1981, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Like the other Knockouts, she has an extensive wrestling background.

She has worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in their Deep South Wrestling program. She wrestled in Mexico for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración as the Canadian Angel. Angelina also worked for Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling, PGWA, WAW, IWA Mid South and Ring of Honor.

So she is more than just a pretty face.

Velvet Sky was born Jamie Szantyr on June 2, 1981, in New Britain, Connecticut.

Outside of TNA she wrestles as Talia Madison.

Trained by the famous "House of Pain Pro Wrestling Dojo" Jamie had an extensive background in wrestling before joining TNA.

She formed a tag team with April Hunter called T&A and wrestled all over the US and Mexico.

Velvet wrestled a match on WWE Heat, losing to Victoria. She also tried out for the WWE Diva Search but didn't make it.

Before wrestling at TNA, she wrestled for Defiant Pro Wrestling, Georgia Wrestling Alliance, Women's Extreme Wrestling, World Xtreme Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico.

Again, WAY more than just a pretty face.

Taylor Wilde was born Shantelle Larissa Malawski  on January 26, 1986 in Toronto, Ontario.  As with the other knockouts she has a solid wrestling background.  She started out wrestling as Shantelle Taylor back in 2003.  She has wrestled for Border City Wrestling, SHIMMER, Ring of Honor and the WWE's developmental program Deep South Wrestling.  Taylor even wrestled a few SmackDown!/ECW house shows as San-Eye, a masked Japanese wrestler! For awhile, she was the TNA Women's Knockout Champion.  

Josette Bynum is a new addition to TNA as Sojourner Bolt. And again, even though she is new to TNA, she's not new to pro wrestling.  She made her wrestling debut on April 11, 2003, and has wrestled for SHIMMER, MIW, PWA, MPW, SDW, ACW, WLW, DCW, NRW, R+R, CCWA, OVW and FLWA. Besides wrestling for these promotions, she's held the MIW Women's Championship, the NWA Midwest Women's Championship, the OVW Women's Championship four times and the WLW Women's Championship twice.  She is by no means a rookie.   

Shelly Martinez has gone by a lot of names during her career.  Desire, Shelly, Halloween Barbie, Cle-Ho-Patra, Ariel, Vampira, Koffin Kitten and in TNA, Salinas.  Like the other Knockouts, Shelly had a full background before hitting TNA.  She wrestled for several independent promotions like Revolution Pro Wrestling, Empire Wrestling Federation and Ultimate Pro Wrestling (where she was supposed to be the sister of Kyra, WWE's Melina). When she was in Women's Extreme Wrestling, she played the cousin of Mercedes Martinez. Then she signed a contract with the WWE and went to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), for further training, where she teamed up with Beth Phoenix, as co-manager for Aaron Stevens. In her debut match for OVW, she defeated Mickie James. She also appeared on WWE Heat and WWE Velocity before landing on ECW as Ariel.  On May 18, 2007 she was released from her WWE contract and on October 14, 2007, she appeared at Bound for Glory for TNA. Soon after she began working as Salinas, the valet of The Latin American Xchange At No Surrender on September 14, 2008 Mike Tenay announced that Salinas had been assaulted by Jacqueline and was taken to the hospital.  And that was the end of Shelly on TNA.  

Okay, Karen Angle wasn't a wrestler. But she was a TNA Knockout (technically) for awhile.  That is until she divorced Kurt.  She did make a pretty good "old school" heel manager there for awhile, and the camera loved her.  You know it's funny that when she first appeared on TNA back in the summer of 2007, her storyline was that she supposedly wanted to divorce Kurt, claiming that he was emotionally abusive toward both her and their children. Then on October 26, 2008, she got her divorce.  It kinda makes you wonder.......