What Can We Expect From an Evil Kelani Jordan?

As I've said before, the best swerves seem to come from women who I never expect to become evil. It's not just in wrestling. It's also in films, in TV shows, even literature. In this case, it is wrestling, and it's the latest episode of NXT. Coming off their Halloween Havoc event, October 28's NXT was main evented by a contest for TNA's Knockouts World Championship between champion Kelani Jordan and challenger Jordynne Grace.

Yes, Kelani Jordan won TNA's title a month prior at TNA's Victory Road event, after then-champion Ash by Elegance shockingly announced that she had to vacate the title due to health reasons. A battle royal that night ended with Kelani and Lei Ying Lee winning and earning the right to compete for the vacant title, and it was later that evening that Kelani defeated Lee to capture the title; her first overall World Title. In a full circle moment, Ash appeared and celebrated with Kelani, bringing back memories of when Ash was in WWE as Dana Brooke, and her last angle prior to her release saw Brooke on NXT mentoring Kelani.

The match between Kelani and Jordynne was a few weeks in the making. Jordynne officiated the women's NXT vs TNA tag bout a few weeks prior, with Kelani captaining Team TNA and losing. Since then, we've seen Kelani engage in verbal tit-for-tats with Jordynne, with Kelani even resorting to commenting that Jordynne hasn't won anything since officially joining NXT. The match served as the main event on October 28, and it was hotly and evenly contested. But out of the blue, the match was crashed by Ricky Saints and Trick Williams, who were still at it and had been since the episode started.

During the mess, we actually see Kelani take the title from the podium and re-enter the ring with thoughts of actually using the belt as a weapon. Her conscience gets the better of her in that moment, and she's nearly defeated by Jordynne. Saints and Trick actually took their fight inside the ring, and as I was annoyed by these guys crashing an important women's match, the melee was taken care of. The belt was picked up again with the referee's back turned, and this time, the evil Kelani struck Jordynne with the title and got the tainted victory.

The first thing that entered my mind: "They will turn any woman except Jordynne." Despite this, it was amazing. Kelani Jordan turned heel in one fell swoop, and it was a heel turn that was a few weeks in the making, as Kelani had been acting quite arrogant to Jordynne for a good bit. I never envisioned Kelani turning heel, mainly because I wasn't pulling for it. Don't get me wrong, I figured she'd kill it, but she was so good at being good. Kelani was the type of babyface who made villainesses look real good. I remember Kelani becoming more bold after losing the Women's NA Title, but that was not a heel turn, it was simply Kelani believing more in herself, which I loved.

I always love violent heel turns, it shows a newborn or hidden ruthless nature emerging. Kelani unleashed a vicious side that was screaming to come out, and from what I've seen, Kelani is not wasting time embracing her new heel persona. She's defend her actions using the words, "By any means necessary," but that's not all. So it looks Kelani's new evil plan is to tear down TNA's Knockout history; she is calling out all of the past legends, and I mean all of them. Mickie James, Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Tasha Steelz, even Gail Kim. Any woman who has made something resembling a mark in TNA's history, the evil Kelani plans to destroy them.

Two things come to mind. One, Dana Brooke's mentorship. I still remember the plan to turn Dana heel against Kelani, with part of that seeing Dana pretty much tell Kelani to become more vicious. I think as proud as Dana was in Kelani winning the title, something tells me she's elated to see Kelani as a villainess with a ruthless streak. Two, Fallon Henley's heel turn a year prior. It was Kelani who approached Fallon after the attack to Thea Hail and attempted to convince Fallon that she wasn't herself, only for the evil Fallon to embrace her new villainous attitude to Kelani. From what I've seen in just a few short days, Kelani has quickly learned to be the villainess that will be taken very seriously.

So what can we expect from the evil Kelani Jordan? Honestly, we're getting it. Kelani doesn't appear to be just a typical wrestling villainess. She's not only ruthless, she's a bit on the megalomaniacal side. Kelani wants to take over all of it; not just NXT, but TNA's Knockouts Division and history all in one fell swoop. It's only been a few days, but I have enjoyed what little I've seen from heel Kelani, and I sense a lot more villainous moments and promos from the current Knockouts World Champion.