10 Thoughts on TNA Lockdown 2013

Columns, Features, News, PPVs, Reviews, Top Story

 Pre-Thought: While I would have liked the ‘Before The Bell’ show to have a match, it did a really good job of looking at the history of TNA steel cage matches. And the opening video certainly made the Aces & 8s look much more impressive than it’s actually been.

 

I was not looking forward to this PPV. But here I am, so let’s have some thoughts!

 

Quick Results:

Kenny King def Zema Ion & Christian York to retain the TNA X Division Title

Joseph Parks def Joey Ryan

Velvet Sky def Gail Kim to retain the TNA Knockouts Title

Robbie T def Robbie E (I think to gain sole rights to the name ‘Robbie’)

Bobby Roode & Austin Aries def Christopher Daniels & Kazarian, and Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles

Wes Brisco def Kurt Angle

Lethal Lockdown: Team TNA def Team Aces & 8s

Bully Ray def Jeff Hardy and revealed himself as the leader of Aces & 8s to win the TNA World Heavyweight Title

 

1. That Kenny King botch to the back of the head made him look totally bush league, and then Ion pulled out a 1 ½ twisting moonsault immediately after being jumped on with no ill-effects. As I said in my column this week: believability, people. While I understand the rationale behind putting the spotfest on first to pop the public (as done so well by WCW at times), it needs to be a good one with no mistakes. Look, not a bad match, but…

 

BONUS thought #1: Taz is a member of Aces & 8s, but his commentary is just caustic, not heelish. Maybe he should study the tapes of Jesse Ventura, or WWF-era Bobby Heenan.

 

2. Is Daniels the best on the mic in TNA at the moment or what?

 

3. Parks and Ryan had a comedy match (at least I hope it was a comedy match), and I understand that. So why have a second comedy match with E v T only 2 matches later?

 

4. One of the better women’s matches I’ve seen on TV, but with fewer PPVs in the year, why use a PPV to further a storyline like that? It seemed counterproductive. And the ref was the face in this interaction? Match was okay, booking seemed confused. And hair extensions flying everywhere looks so pathetic.

 

5. So sue me, I liked the tag team match. Fast action, good work, and, everything else. Nice. Even the sneaky win by the champs worked well.

 

BONUS thought #2: TNA once more has a tag team division worth watching. Throw in an Aces & 8s team as well, and there are at least 4 legitimate teams out there ready to put on a good match.

 

6. Brisco did well keeping up with Angle in the cage. Good match from both guys. The ending sort of made sense to, but why didn’t any TNA guys come out to help Angle? See, I never understood that in the nWo days either…

 

7. Lethal Lockdown cage match was a little slow, and one of the lesser ones. I think the problem is the members of Aces & 8s put into this match just don’t match up skill-wise with team TNA. Not one of them. Interesting choice of winning team (and interesting that Team TNA really needed the weapons to win), but at least we don’t have an nWo defeats everyone and everything every time scenario.

 

8. For the past 3 years Eric Young has been a comedy act. Now he’s in this match. Look, I know he’s actually a good wrestler, but that is not the Eric Young we’ve been watching for so long. And to give him the winning pin?

 

BONUS thought #3: Why is Garrett Bischoff still on our TVs?

 

9. The main event was surprisingly good. I don’t rate Bully Ray highly in the ring, and Jeff Hardy is hit or miss. “I think this may be the best cage match professional wrestling’s ever witnessed,” Jeff Hardy said in the pre-match bit. He was wrong, but it wasn’t a horrible one.

 

10. The right man won, and his turning on TNA made sense in the context of where the angle had to go. Aces & 8s now have the world champion, a definite leader, the Dudleys are back together and they look like a gang that watches one another’s back. It makes sense finally. Took a long time to get there, but it makes sense. Let’s just see where things go from here.

 

A show that surprised me.

Australian. Father. Perpetual student. Started watching wrestling before Wrestlemania 1. Has delusions of grandeur and was known to regularly get the snot beaten out of him in a wrestling ring. Also writes occasionally in other Pulse sections.Thinks Iron Mike Sharpe is underrated. http://stevengepp.wordpress.com