10 Moments When TNA Was The Hottest Wrestling Company In The World
4. Knockout
Before NXT binned off the 'Divas' and WWE forged ahead with a 'Women's Revolution', TNA took a giant leap forward with the Knockouts Division.
Attempting desperately to capture the post-Attitude Era sex appeal of WWE's female league had failed miserably for the company in their early days, with bikini contests and catfights looking even more like tired relics on the smaller stage than they did under Vince McMahon's bright lights.
Assessing the landscape of the industry in 2007, TNA correctly observed that women's wrestling was not being serviced fairly by a mainstream organisation. Then established as wrestling's 'Number Two' based on television presence alone, the company were well placed to present the best of the women's independent scene, and brought in a selection of the industry's best to fill out their division and crown a champion at October's Bound For Glory pay-per-view.
Spearheaded by Gail Kim thanks to her superlative in-ring ability and in-built connection with the audience after several years with both TNA and WWE, the division put the focus on the serious business of wrestling rather than, ironically, 'T&A'.
Much like some of NXT's historic checkpoints in growing a league, the Knockouts Division required a standout match and programme to leave a footprint, and did so when Awesome Kong and Kim battled in three spectacular contests that culminated in Kong dethroning Gail on a January edition of Impact.