(Exclusive) Rosemary: A Journey through the Valley of Shadows – PART 1
Photo Credit: IMPACT Wrestling
Outside Impact Wrestling. A long time "Jerichoholic", Mick Foley, Kurt Angle & Hardys fan, pop open a little bit of the Bubbly, read what's being written by me with an open perspective & enjoy.
- Impact Wrestling’s build to the big 20. Part 1 - February 25, 2022
- (Exclusive) Rosemary: A Journey through the Valley of Shadows – PART 1 - September 19, 2021
- Revival of the X-Division: Tale of the Tape - June 20, 2021
When you look at the Knockouts Division, there is an eternal list names that stand out as trailblazers such as Gail Kim, Taryn Terrell, Madison Rayne, Taylor Wilde, Velvet Sky, Awesome Kong, ODB (BAM!!!), Winter (Katarina), Angelina Love, Brooke Tessmacher or for a more comparative choice to the Knockout in question… Daffney.
But, since her debut on one faithful January night in 2016, nobody has stolen the spotlight as quickly, let alone hold onto it as much or as long as the “Demon Assassin” Rosemary. Turning all expectations of the Knockouts & Tag Team divisions upside down (literally) with an absolutely incredible allowance of creative freedom & natural charisma, over the last 6 years Rosemary has made her presence felt on Impact Wrestling. She has been a major player in the turnaround Impact has had. Allowing Impact’s writers & production team to think “outside the box”as soon as she arrived, going ahead with the outrageous, unbelievable & extremely entertaining. And to top that off, the devotion Rosemary has to stay in character wherever you may find her makes her one of professional wrestling’s Queens of Kayfabe.
From the saga of Decay to breaking out on her own to invite us into the world she has manifested, we’ve had terror, tears, laughs & nonstop entertainment since she arrived & if you are reading this (and have a lot of time free to continue), I asked you, the readers “what’s next?” & your wish* has been granted invite you to journey back into The Hive, walk through the Valley of Shadows as… We, look back at one of the most unique superstars (mortal or demon) to ever, come into professional wrestling, let alone TNA/Impact, which is where (part 1**) our journey begins dear Hivelings…
*A 1 week poll after my 5th blog put the choices of Moose, Sami Callihan, Don Callis (and Kenny Omega) or Rosemary out to you and the results have come in. https://twitter.com/JOKEmptySpace/status/1410515161161609218?s=20.
Thank you to everyone who voted & spread the vote out of the build up.
**Original intention was to have this run from Rosemary’s debut through to Slammiversary 2021. However several (personal) issues have delayed writing this & distracted attention on writing anything else.
Part 1 focuses on Rosemary’s debut through to Allie entering the Undead Realm at Bound For Glory 2017.
Rosemary’s return to Impact (Homecoming 2018), rivalry & relationship with Taya Valkyrie, Havok & Su Yung will be covered in Part 2.
Part 3 covers the return of the Knockouts Tag Team Titles, how that brought back Decay & the events up to Slammiversary/Bound For Glory 2021 or Homecoming/Rebellion 2022.
Timeline might not be 100% accurate so any corrections needed, comment or message me via Twitter & this shall be updated. Enjoy 😉…
Decay Chapter 1: “In our world, we’re all mad here…”
January 16th 2016. During a backstage promo TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves (Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards) are attacked by Abyss & Crazzy Steve. No one knows why or what prompted this, but it left our tag champions wondering if this was just a sporadic moment of Madness from The Monster, simply dragging Crazzy Steve along for the ride given how Crazzy Steve has always been the silent, fun loving Clown act of The Menagerie rather than any real competition at a time teams like Beer Money (James Storm & Bobby Roode) or the BroMans (Jesse Godderz & Robbie E) were hot on the heels of The Wolves.
January 26th after a night of mind games & memories still fresh from the recent attack the week before, The Wolves were once again confronted this time after their in ring demands for answers from Crazzy Steve & Abyss seemed to have been answered. As the lights darkened. A macabre clown like entity, would make her way onto the ramp. Talking in riddles, the atmosphere alone leaving fans stunned*. It quickly was revealed that Crazzy Steve was aligned with this mysterious woman but his appearance too was now completely changed into a much more terrifying visage & then Abyss would also walk out standing with Crazzy Steve & (who was later revealed to be) Rosemary. The era of Decay had begun, they would be taking no prisoners, showing no mercy, only unleashing decay… Decay… DECAY!!!
A match would quickly break out between The Wolves & Decay ending in victory for The Wolves by disqualification. But this victory wouldn’t even taste bittersweet as it had left them blinded by Poison Mist, unconscious from the Monster Abyss’ decimation & without their Championship belts, which had now been stolen from them by Rosemary.
The following week Decay, Bram & Eric Young would take on The Wolves & Beer Money in a Hardcore War, building up a strong (long term planned) rivalry against Beer Money, subtly pushing The Wolves out of their path & keeping The Hive’s calling to Rosemary for more unwilling to fall into Decay, soon her attention would be eventually be focused on Bram. But with so much focus in all directions, including an unwelcome guest from Rosemary’s past appearing, (making this pretty damn tricky to piece together, but We know, this is the way of The Shadow) Decay’s opening rivalry with The Wolves still set up the tone as to what we should be expecting from Rosemary moving forward** on top of more questions than answers as to how far will Decay go? Who else is in Rosemary’s past? Most fans would have heard of or read several comments about the history between Rosemary & Cherry Bomb, now signed as Allie (and at the time was working in storylines with Maria Kanellis-Bennett. Mike Bennett, Sienna & Laurel Van Ness) & were eager to see where Impact would take these 2 ladies should they ever cross paths (and damn, we weren’t disappointed!).
Beer Money would score a win over Decay on February 9th & Decay would fail to beat The Wolves in a Monster’s Ball match for the Tag Team Titles come March 16th after the challenge was laid out by Davey Richards to try & stamp out the darkness that had been chasing himself & Eddie Edwards over the last 3 months.
*Just take note of the ominous silence that takes over when Rosemary walks out for the first time. That, alone was absolutely incredible. Watching this at home along with a few friends in a group chat. Everyone was blown away by Rosemary’s opening promo. Someone & some thing special had arrived into TNA/Impact Wrestling.
**Rosemary would not step into the ring, in a match of her own, until she turned her attention onto Reby Hardy, although her first real showcase of in ring ability would be seen after stepping up to Gail Kim & Jade. Right now she is still the puppeteer behind Abyss & Crazzy Steve.
Decay Chapter 1.5: Demon from Rosemary’s Past
The Wolves had rid themselves of Decay. Beer Money would soon carry the titles forward & further down the line onto Decay’s sights. But before we can jump to that, Rosemary had plans for someone very special indeed.
As We walked you down the first step of Rosemary’s history, there was mention of an unwelcome face who would make several appearances in the form of Jimmy Havoc, longing to rekindle a discarded past relationship between himself & Rosemary, trying to snatch her away from Abyss & Crazzy Steve.
And this was met with severe pain & punishment after several weeks of attempted temptation, but how can you tempt the empty vessel of Decay? Jimmy Havoc would face Abyss in several matches as a part of Impact’s tour (at the time the majority of tapings was based at Orlando, Florida.
Once dealt with, Rosemary would swiftly turn Decay’s attention over to Beer Money & the titles that now hung over their shoulders.
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