You know, the missteps and mistakes that WWE tends to make regarding their talent, especially their female talent, always seem to put smiles on the faces of TNA fans. Viewers and followers of TNA always love to point out everything that WWE does wrong as far as the utilization of their talent is concerned. Not so fast, my friend. While WWE has an awful habit of overlooking certain guys and girls, it's not like TNA has it all figured out, either. I've seen many stars, both male and female, denied the elevation that I and many others feel that they truly deserved. One such star I feel should have been Knockouts Champion at least once has to be the phenomenal Sarita.
After several years competing in Mexico, Japan, Canada, and SHIMMER Women Athletes here in the States, Sarita finally joined TNA in 2009. Within her first few months, she was paired up with Taylor Wilde, and the pair went on to win an eight-team tournament to crown TNA's first ever Knockouts Tag Team Champions. The duo would hold the titles for the rest of the year, with their reign ending on January 4, 2010.
Sarita's TV time became sporadic after losing the titles; as she was relegated to appearances on Xplosion. It was on that program that problems were teased between Sarita and Taylor, and it led to Sarita turning into a villain on July 1 when she was shown backstage attacking her longtime tag team partner. As to why she attacked Taylor, the evil Sarita stated that she was tired of losing matches and that Taylor was holding her back. The former partners faced each other on two separate occasions shortly after Sarita's heel turn, with one of them being in a Street Fight. Sarita won both times, and I thought that the victories and her newfound heel character would lead to big things in TNA.
Boy, was I off.
For months and months, I was waiting for Sarita to finally be pushed toward her first Knockouts Championship in TNA. Instead, she was put in a meaningless feud with Velvet Sky which lasted for several weeks. The biggest setback to her stock, IMO, was pairing her with Rosita and establishing both of them as members of the villainous Mexican America faction, which included Hernandez and Anarquia. The dumbest thing about that angle is that we, the viewers, had to completely forget that Sarita is from north of our border, not south. Sarita would win her second tag team title with Rosita as her partner in March of 2011, but after they lost the titles to Tara and Brooke Tessmacher, both Knockouts appeared to be MIA from TNA TV. Instead of taking the time to push Sarita to the Knockouts Championship, they kept her off TV after last year's Lockdown PPV. Sarita would become the first KO released this year.
I still cannot figure out how and why TNA never pushed Sarita. I don't get it. She was one of the best KOs on the roster, she was internationally known, and she was over with the fans. Sarita was truly deserving of the presitigious Knockouts Championship, especially after her heel turn. Sadly, she's not the only Knockout to be overshadowed by TNA, but I'll save that blog for another time.