Welcome back to ringside folks. I took last week off to finish up a slew of school stuff but I’m back this week and ready to talk TNA.
News & Shit
TNA Heading to the ECW Arena
Why not right? TNA is known for having the smark fans and well, ECW was known for having the smark fans. Plus ROH has run some shows out of the ECW Arena and we all know TNA and ROH share a lot of the same talent. They could also screw up WWE with this show. Once the ECW crowd sees Team 3-D, Rhino, Raven, and other former ECW stars combined with guys like AJ, Joe, Daniels, Christian, and others, they may turn against ONS2. I highly doubt that’s going to happen but you never know.
Lockdown Recap
So when Sunday rolled around I was kind of torn on whether or not to rent Lockdown. On one hand, the card didn’t look super impressive and the whole thing with Sabu/Mystery Opponent could have ended up horrible. On the other hand, this was TNA and they always pull something out of their ass. When 7:30 rolled around, I decided to rent the PPV.
Team Japan vs. Team USA was a solid way to open the show. It wasn’t anything special but it didn’t have to be. It built up the World X Cup and it showed that Alex Shelley could get along with his fellow team members. Team USA also pulled out a series of very good combination moves. It really didn’t matter who went over in this match because it was nothing more than a hype match. Team Japan winning is no big deal because Team USA will most likely win the World X Cup because they’re Team USA and it’s like a rule that they have to win.
Memo to TNA, stop announcing Sonjay Dutt from India. If you want him to be on Team USA, make him American. He looks like an idiot being announced from India and being the one to carry the US Flag. Either announce him from Florida or take him off the team and replace him with somebody like Skipper, LowKi, or Daniels.
LOW KI IS BACK!!!!!! As Eric mentioned in his column; “It’s Low Ki, so we care.” Now TNA needs to give Hernandez the boot out of LAX and put Low Ki in that roll. Oh, by the way, he’ll always be Low Ki and will never be Senshi no matter how bad he wants to be Senshi. If anyone calls him Senshi on a regular basis, you’re a loser and Michael Jackson is going to rape you.
It was nice to see Low Ki go over in this one as it showed that he’s staying in TNA. We all knew that if TNA brought in an ex-WCW wash up or a current ROH star, Daniels was going over because they wouldn’t job him out to some has been or somebody who was making a one night appearance. Instead, Low Ki went over, signed a deal with TNA, and all is well in my world. I wish they would have built his music a bit more though. Daniels got in the cage and then the music hit, giving us no time to ponder who it was. Daniels did a great job selling it but there was no build. Still, Low Ki is back and that’s all that matters.
If you think I’m talking about the arm wrestling match, you’re wrong.
The Xscape Match was another solid match and we all knew who it was coming down to. Shark Boy and Skipper are the X Division jobbers, PUMA is a special attraction guy, and Chase isn’t a full time X Division guy. So of course, Petey and Sabin were going to be the last two in the match. The match was good and had a nice flow to it. The Shooting Star Press by Chase Stevens would have been 20 times cooler if he actually hit some one. Instead he split everyone yet everyone still decided to sell it like they were hit. I still give him credit for pulling the move off but it just looked back. The ending to this match was also horrible. Why wouldn’t Petey or Sabin just drop off the cage if it’s first to the floor? Also, why would D’Amore stay under Petey knowing that if he falls, he’ll be taken out. If I was D’Amore, I would have pulled Petey off the cage and gained the victory. Instead Sabin won as most people suspected.
The worst match of the night was actually Joe vs. Sabu. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t the worst match, but a lot of people had high expectations for this match and it didn’t deliver. There was honestly nothing special about this match. The ending came out of nowhere and Joe didn’t even choke him out. Sabu could have used the cage so much more but instead just hit his normal match spots. I know Sabu was half dead heading into this match but this is not the way you want to go out of TNA.
Also, why is it that all these heavily hyped Joe matches just don’t deliver? Joe/Liger at BFG was too short, The 3 Way at AAO was too short, Ultimate X was way too short, and this match was too short. I know injuries play a huge factor in wrestling but man it sucks when the top guys head into high profile matches with injuries. Why couldn’t Bob Armstrong get injured so they could cut the arm wrestling match all together? The next Samoa Joe match better live up to my expectations.
Team 3-D going over Team Canada was the only logical choice. Now they need to move Team 3-D into a match with AMW but I’m sure they’ll hold that off until Slammiversary. The match itself was nothing special and the table spot was bad because Young just slid off the table and it hardly cracked. The double ending was also lame. They just pulled that crap the other month at Final Resolution, they didn’t need to do it again. We all know refs are the dumbest people in wrestling but do we need to be reminded of this on a monthly basis? Anyway, thank Shawn Michaels Partner that this thing if over and now Team 3-D can stop playing the nationality card.
CHRISTY HEMME IN TNA!!!!! I may be the only person excited about this but whatever, I like Christy Hemme and enjoy her. She actually have a personality, unlike other Divas who just do a little spin (I’m looking at you Candice Michelle). She speaks excitement to everything she does and is excited no matter what she does, that’s a key thing in my book.
It’s also nice to see Raven back although he looked no better than before. This Raven/Zybsko storyline has potential but they can’t blow if off by having Raven face Waltman like last time. They’ve got to bring in somebody who Raven is more comfortable with and who he has a real history with. Dreamer and Sandman are of course the two names that come into your head.
Also this new Authority Figure has potential if TNA can deliver. Bischoff and Russo seem to be the most qualified to fill this spot but I don’t think it will be either of them. For some reason I have a feeling that Kevin Nash will be the new Authority Figure and that would be a horrible mistake. TNA needs to bring in somebody that can’t wrestle and can play a good heel. Nash…well…he can’t really wrestle although he tries and he can only play a comedy heel. He’s pretty much useless. TNA needs to bring in some one that nobody is expecting, then it will be a successful storyline.
The Christian, Abyss match was better than I expected. It started off a lot like the AJ/Abyss match from last year and even included a couple of the same spots as their match from last year but you can’t complain about those spots. Kudos to Abyss for taking the thumbtacks not once but twice in the match. Also Kudos to Christian for taking an ass kicking for most of the match. They each hit some cool spots and the match was very well put together. I honestly thought Abyss had the match won when he hit the Black Hole Slam, but I was clearly wrong. I’m also glad to see that this feud is continuing as the build up for this match was horrible. Hopefully they build their match at Sacrifice a lot better and it will stay on level with this match as far as quality.
Also, Jim Mitchell owns you. The promo he cut on Christian was funny, truthful, and chilling at the same time. Mitchell is probably the best promo manager in all of wrestling today. I honestly don’t think that Abyss would get this big of a push without Mitchell because as good as Abyss is as playing a monster, he can’t cut a promo, so that really hurts him. Mitchell compliments Abyss perfectly and Abyss benefits from that.
Lethal Lockdown was good but nothing overly special. There were some nice moments in the match but with only one ring, there’s only so much you can do with all those bodies in the ring. The tower of doom was a cool spot and I don’t remember seeing it in awhile. Of course the biggest spot was when AJ dropped off the ceiling structure and onto Storm on top of the cage. When I saw the weapons on the cage I noticed a ladder and a table. I would have felt cheated if they didn’t use either one of them and AJ made sure I got my monies worth.
It was pretty obvious that Team Sting was going over and it was pretty obvious that Sting was going to win the match for his team. It was also pretty obvious that a member of AMW was going to take the loss. Overall, it was a pretty obvious main event.
All in all TNA Lockdown was a solid PPV from beginning to end. It had it’s high moments and it had it’s low moments. From a casual fan standpoint it could be labeled PPV Of The Year so far, but from an IWC standpoint, it was just another TNA PPV. We are so hard to please.
Impact Recap
Once again, I’m pretty much basing this entire recap off the spoilers so I’ll miss any backstage segments.
Abyss defeating Rhino was a good way to build Abyss as a monster against Christian. Full Metal Mayhem at Sacrifice could be a very solid match between these two and TNA can build that match up by playing to Christian’s Ladder/TLC Match history. A ladder match is pretty tough to screw up (although TNA did with Hardy/Jarrett) so this should be a solid Main Event at Sacrifice.
See, Team USA already got their win back against Team Japan.
Joe beating Lethal was no shock. TNA really needs to put these two in a PPV match and give them time. These glorified Impact squashes for Joe over Lethal just aren’t working for me when I can watch these two battle for 20-30 minutes on ROH DVDs.
The stare down between Joe/Steiner was cool I guess but could lead to bad things, if they do lead to bad things, I’ll go into them at that time, but not now.
The only good thing about Luger and Bagwell appearing is that they were nothing more than props. Shawn Michaels Partner forbid that these two men should ever be in a wrestling match again.
So Sacrifice is shaping up already but it’s too early to tell if it will be a good card on paper.
The E-Mail Bag
No YouTube or Plugs this week but the E-Mail Bag stays. Of course, these e-mails are two weeks old, oh well.
To begin with, I haven’t actually been able to watch TNA (or the wwe) for several months due to not actually having cable (or any tv in general). I keep up through what people post on youtube.com and what I read on the internet. I think its fairly obvious that TNA booked themselves against a wall with the Joe/Daniels/Sabu/Liger fiasco. On the one hand, it makes TNA seem very bush league in terms of not securing talent that smaller federations have had no issue with (ROH, I’m staring at you) and at the same time falls along the lines of TNA trying for the Hogan/Jarrett match and advertising it before the deal is finalized. Its hard to paint TNA as being imbeciles in all this, because it seemed like the liger deal was set. My question is, if the liger deal was set in stone, what kind of finish would they have had for the joe/daniels match on impact? Would there even be a match like that on impact? In hindsight, booking a Daniels/Styles match would have had just as much impact (pardon the pun) or even something slightly less huge like Daniels/Lethal, Daniels/Shelley or even Daniels/Strong. All of these scenarios would have kept the belt on daniels and showcased the X-division as TNA intended. It also kept Joe out of the division and in the world title hunt where he belongs. But we can not deal with what would have been, we have to deal with what we have. Now, the WWE way of thinking would be to have Joe/Daniels at lockdown for the title. As much as I like Daniels, he needs to be demolished by Joe at lockdown. I hate to say this, but screw Sabu. Sabu is a hardcore icon, a legend of his style, and no one can break a table like him. Screw him. For this ppv, Joe has to be bult up, and he needs to do it against one of the best. At the same time, a newer x-division member needs to be built up separately from Joe. Let Joe continue his path of destruction, let him alternate between heavyweight and x-division wrestlers and destroy both. Let him take the world title in a few months, and at the same time, let him drop the x title to someone who has been built up in true babyface form, someone who has won through adversity, and shined against impossible odds. The man who beats joe at this point will not only be a legit x-title holder but also a main event contender. If TNA keeps working this, they can build one contender after another in this way. As far as the first guy to defeat Joe, in a few months of build up, that man should be Jay Lethal. There’s a ton of backstory here, they have chemistry together, and there’s no reason it can’t happen. Unfortunately I don’t think TNA has the balls to actually develop a long term program here. In fact I can already see the results from Lockdown, and it doesn’t point in any positive direction. I will hold out and hope for the best, but like most days, I prepare for the worst.
On an unrelated note, great column, great insight, and I love the youtube.com videos, esp the one with Homicide from a few weeks ago, keep up the good work.
its just my two cents
erik
Erik
Well TNA booked themselves out of that corner by virtue of signing Low Ki and Sabu showing up. I’ve got no beef with Lethal being the first to defeat Joe but there’s no way TNA mentions their ROH history. They haven’t done it yet, why start then? I honestly think the first man to beat Joe will be none other than…CM Punk.
Mr. Lambert:
“Christopher Daniels would look real good on Team US in the World X Cup right about now wouldn’t he?” – you, Friday
“Now, it’ll apparently be Joe versus Sabu for the X Division title at Lockdown, while Daniels doesn’t have a dance partner (gee, wouldn’t he look good on Team USA right now?).” – me, Tuesday
(sniffs and wipes away tear from eye) My little boy’s growing up…I’m so proud of you.
Eric
Yes, I am the Jay Lethal to Eric’s Samoa Joe.
~That 1.0 rating is good news for TNA…however, what if the Saturday ratings stay better than the Thursday ratings? Could a replay beat the original showing? And why not scrap the replay and just give them two hours…or replace the replay with Xplosion, that way we can put names and faces with some of these jobbers always on iMPACT.
~With Liger and, possibly, Sabu out of the picture, there’s only one more option: Joe/Daniels Pt. 54637857936. I think this match will (literally) come down to bell time before anyone knows what’s going on. TNA needs to handle their bookings better. Losing Liger was bad enough, but if Sabu no shows…well, we’re left with a pretty good alternative, but still, a Sabu/Joe match would have been brutal, and Liger/Daniels will be great no matter what (would have marked hard had Daniels came out as Curry Man).
~Yeah, you called Styles/Killings/Rhyno. I’ll give you that.
~And in one match, they buried Daniels. Now, not only has he lost the title in just a few short weeks, but he’s without an opponent for Lockdown. This doesn’t look good to the casual audience. They need to either go ahead and do the rubber match at Lockdown (cancelling Sabu/Joe, but whatever) or get Daniels a high-profile opponent quick. Jerry Lynn, Bryan Danielson, Mikey Whipwreck, someone. Any big name from the indy scene will do. Just get someone in there with Daniels to give him the rub, because Joe just stole all his heat. The pop for Joe at the TNA show in Farmville was huge…bigger than even Christian’s pop.
~Speaking of Captain Charisma, I can’t take him seriously as champ anymore. Deserving? Yes. However, when was the last time he wrestled? Oh yeah, Destination X. In a pretty short title match. Are they protecting Christian, or do they not have faith in him as champion? Is he just a transitional champion, only to job back to Jarrett whenever he says? Are the FINALLY going to fire the belt onto Abyss at Lockdown? Either way, Cage’s title reign has been poorly booked. He’s not wrestling, he’s barely showing up on TV, and his feud with Abyss is taking a backseat to everything else (Sting/Jarrett, 3D/Canada). I still think once that nice little one-year deal is done, he’ll go back up north. Besides, WWE needs more upper-mid carders right now. And sorry, even though I like the guy, Christian’s mid-carder for life.
~Runt is a stupid name. What was wrong with Brother Spike, or even Brother Matt? And if you think a street fight ending in a DQ was weird, how about a TLC match that involved tagging into the match (once again, Farmville, AMW vs. 3D, TLC). 3D/AMW will end at Slammiversary, so we’ve got at least another month of this crap. I see a surprise title switch coming soon though, if even just for a few weeks.
That’s all I got man.
~Ramsey~
-Well the replay didn’t beat the original so there goes that. An 11-1 timeslot would SUCK. I’m sorry but I just can’t pull myself to stay up that late to catch that entire show. I would rather them jumble everything into the hour. I wouldn’t mind Xplosion on Saturday instead of a replay.
-As mentioned, TNA pulled it all off and made most people happy by bringing in Low Ki.
-I agree that this title run has been booked like shit but you have to give credit to Mitchell for making it watchable. The Lockdown match was very good and I expect the Sacrifice match to be even better. I think they will take the belt off of Christian at Slammiversary in a King Of The Mountain Match. Also, if he jobs the belt back to Jarrett, that makes him a WWE Transitional Champion, not a true Transitional Champion…that will be RVD.
-Tagging in and out during a TLC Match? That’s pretty lame. Yes, I too have a feeling that Team 3-D will finally get the belts at Slammiversary.
The End
I’m out until next week. Finally, f*ck everyone that showed no faith in my Colorado Avalanche (I’m looking at you “ESPN Hockey Experts”). Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time At Ringside.
