I present to you a pay per view with blood in nearly every match. Oh and I forgot to mention…Kevin Nash wrestles TWICE!
Mike Tenay and Taz welcome us to the show. They announce that Doug Williams is trapped in the UK and TNA has stripped him of the X Division Title. Additionally, Sean Waltman no-showed. The grass is green. The sky is blue.
Although it’s not in the heading for each match, every contest tonight is held inside a steel cage.
Opening Match: Rob Van Dam vs. James Storm
The winner will gain the advantage for his team during Lethal Lockdown. RVD kicks the cage door into Storm’s face. RVD continues the attack around ringside and uses the cage to land a leg drop. Storm sends RVD into the ring steps and busts him open. They make their way into the ring where RVD connects with a spin kick. He controls until Storm catches him with a neckbreaker. Storm clotheslines RVD into the cage. RVD comes back with another spin kick. He wins a strike exchange and sends Storm into the cage. RVD lands a split-legged moonsault for a nearfall. Storm spits beer at RVD and hits a DDT. RVD avoids a superkick and lands the Five Star Frog Splash for the win at 8:53. While the blood was extremely out of place, this was a decent opener. I also don’t quite understand the logic of giving the faces the advantage during Lethal Lockdown. Then again, there’s a lot of things that I don’t understand about TNA. **
Christy Hemme is with Hulk Hogan. He talks about some of the setbacks that his team has suffered. Team Hogan is going to enter Lethal Lockdown and tear down the house. If Team Flair wins tonight, Hogan will pack his bags and leave. Well that adds suspense.
Match #2: Escape Rules: Homicide vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin
The winner will join Kazarian and Shannon Moore in a match for the X Division Title later tonight. The Motor City Machine Guns take control with their teamwork early on. Brian Kendrick is bleeding and I have no idea what happened to him. Homicide and Kendrick form an alliance. Shelley catches them with a DDT-flatliner combination. Sabin lays out Kendrick with a tornado DDT but falls victim to a neckbreaker from Homicide. Shelley hits a lungblower on Homicide. Kendrick boots Sabin into the Gringo Killer from Homicide. Homicide fakes a double team and escapes the cage for the victory at 4:59. Alright TNA, we don’t need blood in every match. Hopefully this isn’t a reoccurring theme tonight. The match was criminally short and didn’t hold a candle to some of the X Division Xscape matches from previous years. *¾
Match #3: Eric Young vs. Kevin Nash
Young blocks a charge and connects with a missile dropkick. He dropkicks Nash into the cage and lands a crossbody. Nash sneaks in a low blow and takes over. He lawn darts Young into the cage and hits the Jackknife for the win at 4:48. Oh hell, Young is shown busted open after the bell. I have absolutely no idea how this match benefited anybody. Young didn’t come off as resilient and this just screams “counterproductive”. ½*
Nash announces that he will be Hall’s partner tonight.
Match #4: TNA Knockouts Title and TNA Knockouts Tag Team Titles: Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne © vs. Angelina Love © and Tara
Love scares Sky back to her corner and Tara suplexes her. Sky sends Tara into the cage and the Beautiful People isolate her. Love is tagged in and cleans house. Tara tags herself in and hits the Widow’s Peak on Rayne. Lacey Von Erich just casually opens the cage door and hits Tara with a title belt. Rayne covers Tara to become the new TNA Knockouts Champion at 4:51. It’s bad enough that a singles title was on the line in a tag team match. When that title changes hands without the champion taking the fall, it becomes way too contrived. Also, how was Von Erich able to open the cage door at her will? The booking adds a bad taste to an already below average match. ½*
Tara attacks Love after the match and sends her into the cage. There is surprisingly no blood.
Jeremy Borash is with Team Flair. Flair puts over the members of his team nicely and states that it’s Hogan’s last night in TNA. AJ Styles says that he’s not worried about D’Angelo Dinero in the least.
Match #5: X Division Title: Homicide vs. Kazarian vs. Shannon Moore
The title is currently vacant because it’s Doug Williams’ fault that volcanoes exist. Kazarian and Moore team up on Homicide. That alliance is short lived as they start trading pin attempts. Homicide gains control, hitting an exploder on Moore. Everyone battles up top and Homicide pulls off a double ace crusher. Kazarian northern lights suplexes Moore while holding a pin attempt on Homicide. Moore lands a moonsault onto Homicide but gets caught with a missile dropkick from Kazarian. Moore recovers with another moonsault onto Homicide but Kazarian powerbombs him into the cage. Homicide hip tosses Kazarian off the top and catches Moore with a diving headbutt. Kazarian interrupts the Gringo Killer and hits an inverted piledriver to become the new X Division Champion at 9:08. Another five to ten minutes would have helped tremendously. I still dislike the fact that Williams was stripped of the title. I am even reminded of that post-match, as Kazarian celebrates without a title belt. The match featured some good action but didn’t have enough time to build to any nearfalls down the stretch. I sincerely hope that TNA starts to understand the value of the X Division and gives them the time they deserve on pay per view. With the way the card is going tonight, a lengthy X Division match couldn’t have hurt. **¾
Christy Hemme is with D’Angelo Dinero. He reminds us that he has beaten Styles before. Tonight is the biggest match of his career and Pope will be pimping tonight.
Match #6: Brother Ray and Brother Devon vs. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall
Ray makes the match “falls count anywhere” and orders the referee to leave the cage door open. Team 3D attack during the Band’s entrance. Ray back drops Hall onto the ramp. Both teams brawl in the crowd. Back at ringside, Nash boots Ray and the Band isolate Devon in the ring. Ray slams the cage door into Nash and cleans house. Team 3D do their What’s Up shtick on Hall and follow with the 3D through a table for the victory at 6:49. Pretty much what you would expect. Slow and plodding. I appreciate the Band trying to be creative by keeping Ray from entering the cage. However, I don’t appreciate this match being booked. *
Match #7: Escape Rules: Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle
Anderson won a key to the cage door on Impact. Why this match is “escape only” is beyond me. Anderson tries a quick escape to no avail. Angle hits a back suplex and the camera shows that the key is already inserted into the padlock. Angle realizes this but decides to continue his assault. Anderson flapjacks him into the cage. Angle is busted open and Anderson takes control. Angle back drops out of a piledriver attempt and suplexes Anderson off the top. Anderson chokes Angle with his wrist tape. Angle shows some life and hits a back suplex. They trade punches. Anderson is caught with an overhead suplex but recovers by hitting a finlay roll. Angle responds with rolling german suplexes and still decides not to leave the cage. He synchs in an ankle lock but Anderson powers out. Anderson hits the Mic Check and attempts to escape. Angle catches him with the Olympic Slam and locks the cage door. He throws the key into the crowd. They battle on the top rope and Angle hits a german suplex. Angle goes to the top of the cage and lands a HUGE moonsault. Dear me. He goes to leave the cage but Anderson taunts him into not leaving. Anderson sneaks in a low blow and hits another Mic Check. He goes to escape but Angle catches him with an ankle lock. Anderson rolls through and heads to the door. Angle chokes him with the medal until he nearly passes out. Angle stomps Anderson down low and escapes the cage for the win at 20:54. I was apprehensive coming into this match but they blew away my expectations. I liked how they established a mindset early on. It was clear that Anderson just wanted to escape while Angle wanted to inflict pain. Both men played their role perfectly. I also appreciated that there weren’t any obvious times where Anderson could have escaped the cage but didn’t try to. Angle’s moonsault was insane and they managed to build genuine suspense down the stretch. The finish featured perfect continuity as well. My only criticism is that the blood would have meant more if we didn’t see it three other times on this show already. Still, this is definitely a match worth checking out. At the very least, it will remind you that TNA is still capable of putting on special matches. ****
Angle announces that he will be taking some time off. When he comes back, he will set his sights on the TNA World Title.
Match #8: TNA World Title: AJ Styles © vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Flair is immediately ejected from ringside. Styles shows some aggression early on. Dinero snaps off a few armdrags and connects with bionic elbows. Styles sends him into the cage and finds success with a beautiful dropkick. After an awkward spot, Styles starts targeting the left leg. Dinero avoids an inverted DDT and throws Styles into the cage. Dinero hits a DDT along with a powerslam. Styles sneaks in a thumb to the eye and connects with a flying forearm. Dinero fights him off the top rope and lands a diving headbutt. Styles comes back with a pele kick and adds a 450 splash. He goes to the top of the cage but misses a flying crossbody. Dinero rolls him up for a nearfall and hits a lungblower. Styles avoids the DDE and grabs a pen from the cameraman. Styles stabs Dinero in the eye with it and hits the Styles Clash to retain his title at 13:34. They worked hard but this could have been much better. For a challenger who won a #1 contender tournament on pay per view, fourteen minutes in the semi-main event isn’t exactly appropriate. These two had good chemistry and put together a solid match given the circumstances. However, there wasn’t a moment during this match where I was fully involved or in suspense. ***
Jeremy Borash catches up with Eric Bischoff backstage. He has no comment.
Match #9: Lethal Lockdown: Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, RVD, and Jeff Hardy vs. Sting, Desmond Wolfe, James Storm, and Robert Roode
Abyss and Roode start. They trade strikes and Abyss connects with a boot. He sends Roode into the cage but gets caught with a neckbreaker. Roode gains control as RVD enters next. RVD catches Roode with some kicks and monkey flips him. RVD hits Rolling Thunder and throws Roode into the cage. Wolfe makes his way to the ring. Roode low blows Abyss and Wolfe sends RVD into the cage. Jarrett comes out as the next entrant. He throws his opponents into the cage but walks into a powerbomb from Roode. Storm enters next and opens up a wound on RVD’s forehead. Everyone is just kind of standing around, without any regard as to who’s in control. Hardy’s music hits but he doesn’t come out. We see a camera view backstage of Sting standing over a limp Hardy. Sting comes out as the final participant. The cage ceiling lowers. Team Flair take over with weapon shots. Jarrett tries to turn the tide by utilizing a garbage can but Sting catches him with a bat shot. Rood spears Jarrett through the cage door. Abyss lays out some thumbtacks in the ring. Storm smashes a beer bottle over Abyss’ head to save Sting from the tacks. Hardy comes out to save the day with a kendo stick. Jarrett brakes his guitar over Wolfe’s head and RVD lands the Five Star Frog Splash. Abyss chokeslams Sting into the tacks. Hardy climbs to the top of the cage and Beer Money follow him up. They setup a table on the ceiling but Hardy fights back with the Twist of Fate on Roode. Hardy places Storm on the table and climbs a ladder. He splashes Storm through the table. Ric Flair runs into the cage and tries to steal Abyss’ ring. Hulk Hogan interrupts and threatens Flair. Eric Bischoff comes out and stands between them. He pulls out brass knuckles and tosses them to Hogan, who lays out Flair. The attack continues and a bloody Flair eventually falls onto the tacks. If you haven’t forgotten that there’s an actual match occurring, Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam on Wolfe for the victory at 30:14. It would be pointless to pretend that this match was about anybody other than Hogan, Flair, and Bischoff. The action before the ceiling lowered was pretty uninspired. It featured a lot of standing around and no one attempted to try anything creative. After everyone entered, the usual slew of hardcore spots took over. While it was mildly entertaining, the finish sure killed the mood. They could have showed Bischoff’s allegiance in a way that didn’t hinder the match and watching Flair bleed and fall into tacks is sad. Bad by main event standards, especially on one of the more important pay per views of the year. **¼
Overall: Lockdown 2010 was the usual pay per view offering from TNA. The first hour was a complete waste as I found myself having a hard time enjoying anything that was being presented. The X Division Title match brought up my spirits but then Kevin Nash wrestled. The one encounter worth seeing is Anderson/Angle. They stood out on this mediocre card and rose above expectations. The Styles/Dinero match was good but I know they have better in them. The show was capped off with a below average Lethal Lockdown match that (surprise) was overbooked to no end. Recommendation to skip. You should check out Anderson/Angle, but with Angle taking some time off, there’s really no urgency to see it.
