The first Knockouts champion in the post-Gail Kim era of the division has been crowned.
Laurel Van Ness defeated Rosemary in the finals of a tournament to crown a new champion at last night's Impact tapings in Ottawa, Canada. This will air on the December 14 edition of Impact.
Bound for Glory was the last match of Gail Kim's career. Following her title win, she will vacate the title tonight on Impact after cutting a speech on her retirement. She will instead focus on producing and cultivating talent backstage, leaving the title vacant. A tournament will air out over the next few weeks on Impact, leading to the title match on the 14th.
Van Ness originally came on board on Impact last year as a rich daddy's girl. When she was rejected at the altar by Braxton Sutter, she became a mess, and eventually morphed into a psychotic gimmick. There was a brief moment in time where it seemed like that would be dropped, as Grado proposed to her and she accepted. But when Grado found out that she was Canadian and wouldn't save his visa from being terminated, he dumped her, leading her to go right back into the psychotic gimmick.