Impact Wrestling currently sells their Knockouts division as arguably the most important part of the show. The older years of TNA also placed a greater emphasis on the women’s division than WWE did in the late 2000s and early 2010s. WWE has more than made up the gap since then, but TNA has remained a respected entity for women’s wrestling in the United States.

RELATED: 10 TNA Knockouts Champions, Ranked By In-Ring Skills

Many of the all-time great women of the recent era have held that belt and tried to make it feel more important than any other female title. Quite a few interesting stories have surfaced about the title scene and that belt’s presence in Impact’s history. The following tidbits will provide a deeper glance and understanding of the Knockouts Championship.

10 Gail Kim Fought Management For Years To Create Title

Gail Kim TNA Knockouts Champion

TNA introduced their Knockouts Championship for the first time in 2007 with Gail Kim winning it in a gauntlet. The choice of Kim becoming the first woman to hold that title felt right for many reasons both on-screen and behind the scenes.

RELATED: 10 TNA Knockouts Champions, Ranked By Promo Ability

Gail, Christy Hemme and Traci Brooks made up TNA’s entire Knockouts division for a short time. The wrestling background of Kim saw her talking to management constantly about creating a title until it finally happened when expanding the roster in 2008.

9 Three Members Of The Beautiful People Won The Belt

The Beautiful People

The Beautiful People became one of the first major female acts for TNA when Angelina Love and Velvet Sky formed the team. TNA did book many segments that no longer hold the same appeal today between the two, but they were a legitimate ratings draw for a short time.

Madison Rayne joining The Beautiful People as a third member saw her rising up the ranks faster. All three ladies held the Knockouts Championship at one point. Lacey Von Erich was the one woman in the group to not hold the top prize due to her weaker in-ring work.

8 Using It As A Prop For Maria/Allie Feud Worked

Maria Kanellis Allie

Many fans criticized TNA for using the Knockouts Championship as a prop for the storyline between Maria Kanellis and Allie. The authority figure role of Maria gave her power that she abused, including hiring Allie as her assistant she bullied quite often.

Allie won the Knockouts Championship by luck in a multi-women match, but fans wanted to see her thrive as a beloved character. Maria demanding Allie get into the ring and lay down for a pin disrespected the title’s history for a non-wrestler winning gold. However, it worked perfectly in the story to get Maria heat before losing the belt to Gail Kim and putting over Allie down the line.

7 Only Three Knockouts Champions Also Won WWE Women's Title

Tara TNA

Quite a few male wrestlers have won world titles in both WWE and TNA, but the same can’t be said for the women. Only three total women have won Women’s Championship belts during their stints in WWE and TNA.

Gail Kim, Mickie James and Tara are the only former Knockouts Champions to win one of the main roster titles in WWE. Even with the accolades, Gail wasn’t as successful in WWE as TNA and Tara had the opposite scenario. James is the only woman to really have strong pushes as champ for both companies.

6 Cody Deaner Competed For The Title In ODB Storyline

Cody Deaner

One of the lowest moments for the Knockouts Championship came when a lower mid-card male wrestler was involved in the matches. Cody Deaner having a romantic storyline with ODB saw the Knockouts Championship on the line in a tag match.

RELATED: Impact Wrestling: 10 Women You Completely Forgot Were TNA Knockouts Champions

ODB won the title due to Deaner pinning a member of The Beautiful People to give her the gold based on the stipulations. Deaner claiming he deserved the title led to the belt being vacated and ODB defeating him to officially become Knockouts Champion.

5 Gail Kim Retired As Champion

Gail Kim Hall Of Fame

Gail Kim is easily the top answer for the greatest Knockout in Impact Wrestling history and could be argued for the Mount Rushmore of all TNA wrestlers. Impact tried to utilize that to their advantage by having Kim chase the gold one more time in her expected final match.

Bound for Glory 2017 saw Gail becoming Knockouts Champion for the seventh time in a triple threat match against Allie and Sienna. Impact wanted the emotional moment of Kim winning since the show was in her home country of Canada and she vacated it the following TV episode, much like Trish Stratus for WWE in 2006.

4 Mickie James Recently Renamed Title

Mickie James Royal Rumble 2022

Impact Wrestling has benefited from having Mickie James return to the company after her recent WWE run ended. James was arguably the biggest female name outside of WWE to make Impact put greater importance on her success.

The shocking Knockouts Championship win for Mickie over Deonna Purrazzo gave her another great run in Impact. James actually slightly changed the name of the belt from the Knockouts Championship to the Knockouts World Championship to make it feel equal to the male world title.

3 Taylor Wilde's Upset Title Win Was Meant To Make Her Star

Taylor Wilde Impact Wrestling

TNA played with fire by having the relatively unknown but talented Taylor Wilde winning the Knockouts Championship from Awesome Kong. The heel monster gimmick of Kong was working perfectly at the time to make a title change quite risky.

Kong had a weekly challenge facing anyone from the crowd with the title and a lot of money on the line. Wilde was the name selected to upset Kong as the payoff and start her run as the Knockouts Champion. TNA fans did like Wilde, but she never reached the level of Kong.

2 Taya Valkyrie Was The Only Woman To Hold The Title For Over A Full Year

Taya Valkyrie

The history books will show that Taya Valkyrie holds the top spot for the longest Knockouts Championship reign in Impact Wrestling history. Even though other respected names also had long and successful title runs, Taya holds that record even deeper.

Valkyrie is the only woman in company history to have a Knockouts Championship reign last over a full calendar year. Deonna Purrazzo fell just about three weeks short from reaching a full year before dropping it to Mickie James and kept Taya’s record going.

1 TNA Gave Up On Big Velvet Sky Push When Gail Kim Returned

Gail Kim holding TNA Kockouts Championship

Velvet Sky was never the most gifted in-ring wrestler, but she certainly got over with the crowd in TNA. The Beautiful People was already a successful fact to show her heel character’s strengths. However, it was a face turn that led to her strongest connection with the audience.

TNA fans treated the big moment of Velvet’s first Knockouts Championship as a big deal with the story culminating at Bound for Glory 2011. However, the shocking return of Gail Kim just three weeks later led to an abrupt title change since TNA lost faith in Sky after a few weak matches and the chase no longer keeping her over.