User blog:CEDJunior/Velvet Sky: Face or Heel?

This week's latest "Face or Heel?" will center around former two time TNA Knockouts Champion, a fellow Yankees fan, and one of my favorite Knockouts, Velvet Sky.

Face Velvet:  Just like with Angelina Love, Velvet kicked off her TNA career as a babyface in 2007, but also like Love, we wouldn't see Sky's babyface side for long. Velvet wouldn't have a true babyface run until 2010, when she reunited with fellow babyface Angelina after she grew tired of the growing ego of Madison Rayne. I loved Velvet's babyface run, because she was depicted as a woman on a mission, and that mission was the Knockouts Championship. However, in her run as a heroine, Velvet had many, many obstacles.

Winter was the first obstacle for Velvet, as she was surreptitiously driving a wedge between her and Angelina. After Angelina and Winter lost the Knockouts Tag Team Championship at Victory Road, Velvet got the blame and she would see Winter control Angelina into turning against her. She would spend weeks going through the villainous duo, but she would be attacked and confronted by the returning ODB, who claimed that Velvet got her fired. It was after she was done with ODB and Jacqueline that Velvet was in hot pursuit of the Knockouts Championship, which she finally won at Bound for Glory. Sadly, she would lose the title just four weeks later to the returning and villainous Gail Kim.

2012 would see the beginning of an interesting angle between Velvet and Mickie James, with the angle seeing Velvet's rising popularity causing Mickie to turn into a villainess who is jealous of her, but the scenario was dropped when Velvet abruptly left TNA. Velvet returned in December of 2012 and captured her second Knockouts Championship two months later. After she successfully defended her title against Gail at Lockdown, Velvet would engage in a feud with Mickie which resurrected their plan from last year. Velvet retained her title against Mickie on April 25, despite Mickie using the heel tactic of attacking Velvet's injured knee. However, in a rematch four weeks later, Velvet lost her title to Mickie after she was on the receiving end of a chopblock on the same bad knee. Velvet was attacked by the evil Mickie three weeks later when she requested a rematch, completing Mickie's villainous transformation, and she would fail to defeat Mickie on June 27. After the feud ended, Velvet was in a very intriguing angle with her then-real life boyfriend Chris Sabin, with Velvet acting as the supportive babyface girlfriend to Sabin, who was acting as a complete jerk heel boyfriend. The couple split by early 2014, and Velvet would be featured teaming with Madison Rayne in several matches as part of a Beautiful People reunion.

Heel Velvet: Velvet, of course, is best known for her stint as a villainess, mainly her original run as part of the BPs for her first three years in TNA. Velvet mainly served as second-in-command to Angelina, who had a few reigns as Knockouts Champion as leader of the BPs. After Angelina had to leave TNA for a while due to her issues with her work visa, Velvet became the de facto leader of the BPs, with Madison Rayne as second-in-command, and newcomer Lacey Von Erich as the tertiary member. The trio would end up feuding with Angelina when she attacked all three of them, but Velvet would win her first championship in 2010 when she and Madison captured the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.

March of 2014 was quite an interesting period for the Knockouts Division, as it was on the 13th that Angelina Love returned to TNA after competing in Shine Wrestling for a year. Velvet was asked by Angelina to reunite with her and reform the Beautiful People, and after a week of thinking about it, she agreed to Angelina's offer, while Madison turned Angelina down, mainly because she wasn't treated properly when she was offered. Angelina turned into a villainess and attacked Madison backstage. Velvet actually confronted Angelina on March 27, but Angelina responded by saying, in so many words, that Velvet was nothing without her and she demanded that she choose between her or Madison during their match later on. Velvet appeared at ringside during Angelina's match against Madison and acted "conflicted" between the two of them. However, as we all expected, the evil Velvet attacked Madison while Angelina had the referee distracted, turning Velvet into a villainess. After Angelina defeated Madison, Velvet laughed evilly at the defeated KO, and the BPs were back and badder than ever. However, just like the last time they were together, Velvet was a sidekick to Angelina; helping her win several matches, including the Knockouts Championship at Sacrifice. Both women have done a great job antagonizing the Knockouts, even causing Gail Kim to turn face recently.

As to which side of Velvet I prefer, well, that's quite interesting. If I was asked this about five years ago, I would have wanted Velvet as a babyface, mainly because back then, I believed that Angelina was more suited as a heel than Velvet. Now, as I look at Velvet and watch her on TV, I definitely prefer Heel Velvet. Actually, I wanted Velvet to turn heel after she returned, mainly because she was wearling those black bodysuits for several weeks and it was quite a dark look for her. I wanted Velvet to become champion and bash the fans for "not supporting her" during her six month hiatus, and with her look, she would be portrayed as a vicious and ruthless villainess; caring less about looking pretty and more about destroying the KOs. One thing I've noticed is that Velvet has never been a solitary heel in TNA; she has always had (at least) Angelina with her. I hope that if the BPs split up again, Velvet remains a villainess and drives Angelina away with her massive ego, especially since she was chosen to appear on the cover of the 2015 Knockouts Calendar.

Face Velvet or Heel Velvet? Which do you prefer?