8. Knockouts
The use of women as eye candy in professional wrestling (and pretty much every form of entertainment) goes back decades. But women who could look sexy AND wrestle? In 2007 TNA launched its celebrated Knockouts Division. The first champion was Gail Kim who is still considered today as one of the top female wrestlers in the world. She was joined by other great wrestlers including OBD, Roxxy Laveaux, the Beautiful People and of course Awesome Kong (soon to be known as Kharma in WWE). The Knockouts could not have been any more different than the WWE Divas. While both divisions boasted some of the most beautiful women on television, the Knockouts could actually work a decent match. To be fair though, that was due to TNA giving them ten minutes to work with instead of two. It was having the faith of the people in charge which gave those women confidence to deliver some of the best women's matches seen in the US outside of the all women promotion Shimmer. What further added to the Knockouts appeal was that each wrestler had a different character and wrestling style. Part of the reason why women like Lita, AJ Lee and Paige got over so quickly is because they stood out from the hired mannequins around them. In TNA every Knockout brought something unique to the table and that was why their matches were often the most watched portions of the episode.