TNA Lockdown PPV Hits & Misses 4/15
By Teddy Panagiotopoulos, PWTorch specialist

-- Pre-Show Thoughts: Considered one of TNA's "Big Three" PPV events, Lockdown is looked upon as the most dangerous night of the year for TNA. With each match contested inside a steel cage, the opportunity presents itself to provide sheer brutality. Four years ago at Lockdown, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe collided for the World Heavyweight Championship in one of the top shining moments in TNA history. Fast-forward four years later and Kurt Angle is in the semi-main event against Jeff Hardy while Samoa Joe is one-half of the reigning World Tag Team Champions, teaming with Magnus, against the Motor City Machineguns. It looks lhis year's Lockdown has one of the strongest line-ups in recent memory, with James Storm and Bobby Roode colliding in the main event for the World Title. Can TNA continue its recent string of decent-to-solid PPV presentations? Let's find out...

LOCKDOWN HITS

-- Robert Roode vs. James Storm: This Hit is for the performances both men displayed in the main event. In the ten-year history of TNA, there are have been too many times where the main events of Lockdown, Bound For Glory, and Slammiversary have featured ex-WWE talent, which begged the question if TNA's homegrown talent could actually be prominent main event players. I think the last six months have showed how far both Storm and Roode have come to solidify themselves as top stars in Impact Wrestling. So, this Hit is solely on the performances on both men. More later about my feelings on how the match was booked.

-- Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle: In my opinion, this was the match of the night. Part of the story before the match was the announcement of Kurt Angle removing himself from the Olympics. Angle declared his injury would not prevent him from competing at Lockdown, but despite the injury, the match was clearly placed on the shoulders of Jeff Hardy to deliver. Boy, did he deliver. Both men busted their asses to deliver a top-quality match and they responded with the crowd biggest cheers of the evening. In a night where most of the crowd was sitting on its hands, Angle and Hardy brought the crowd to life. For Angle, injured hamstring and all, to hit a top-rope Olympic Slam on Hardy showed how courageous (and crazy) Angle is. But, Hardy topped the move with his Swanton Bomb off the top of the cage. Events such as Lockdown should provide memorable moments and the Swanton surely falls into that category.

-- Lethal Lockdown: I am surprised TNA decided to open the show with Lethal Lockdown, but it allowed the match as much time as needed. Typically, TNA saves the main event matches for the end of the show, but it usually results in matches having to be cut down because the show is running long. Case in point, WWE placed The Undertaker vs. Triple H WrestleMania match at the top of the second hour of the four-hour PPV. This allowed the match to consume the entire hour and provide one of the most spectacular moments in WrestleMania history.

In this case, the ten men involved in Lethal Lockdown were given 30 minutes to put on quite a Lethal Lockdown match. Was it the best Lethal Lockdown match ever? No. Do I believe the weapons gimmick hanging on the cage roof is outdated? Of course. But, did this match start Lockdown off on the right note? Yes.

LOCKDOWN MISSES

-- Undercard Title matches: What hurt the TNA Tag Title match from the beginning was its placement on the card. After Lethal Lockdown, it would have made booking sense to put the TV Title on next, then followed with the Tag Title match, as the fans seemed burnt out. Plus, the match did not provide the result I had expected. I thought Samoa Joe and Magnus would remain tag champions, but I felt it never came close to its potential. Unless this was just the start of the feud and TNA did not want to give too much away too soon (shocking!), then this match was a true disappointment.

Also, the TV Title and Knockouts Title matches were not good. Last Month, Devon pinned Robbie to win the Television Title, which I thought was the right move since TNA has done nothing with Robbie as champion. But, then, Devon disappeared for the whole month of build-up to Lockdown. How is the friggin' Television Title not on television for a whole month? And, somehow, he winds up with defending his championship on PPV? Plus, the match was too short to amount to anything and now it seems Rob Terry is the next challenger for Devon's championship. Wonderful.

The Knockouts Title match just did not work for me. With Velvet pinning Kim on Impact, Wrestling 101 indicated Gail Kim would retain her KO Title and, sure enough, she did. Also hurting the match Velvet was gullible to allow Madison Rayne to distract her in the ending of the match. Then, after the match, Sky seemed a bit too cheery and not as disappointed as she should have for having lost a shot at the championship she had not received a re-match for in over five months.

Finally, The Knockouts Tag Title match should not have been featured on the card. It was a throwaway addition and the only purpose it served was as buffer in-between Angle vs. Hardy and the World Title Match.

-- Hulk Hogan & Ric Flair in-ring promo: This promo had no place on this show. It surely was better than seeing commercials WWE airs during their PPVs, but not by much. And, what did the segment accomplish? Were Hogan and Flair brought out to wake up the dead crowd? If that was the intention, it failed and only managed to take time away from the remaining matches.

-- Matt Morgan vs. Crimson. This had potential to be a great match between TNA's two big men, but it fell flat. Last week, Hogan claimed Lockdown would be the end of the feud between Crimson and Morgan, but Crimson wound up victorious here. Usually, the heel gets his comeuppance for the babyface to get the final word. Not in TNA, apparently.

-- Roode vs. Storm Booking Decision: Earlier, I gave Bobby Roode and James Storm a Hit on how well they wrestled in the main event. But, I am giving a Miss on how the match ended. First, let's establish that I like both Storm and Roode as singles wrestlers. Both stars have defined, fleshed-out characters. Storm is the good ol' Southern redneck who loves to drink beer and kick ass. He is the common man that every hardworking person can relate to. Bobby Roode is the complete opposite of Storm. He is pompous, arrogant, smug, and cocky. He believes he is better than the average people who surround him and doesn't shy away from making it known. With every fluke victory, he has become the World Champion the fans hate and want to see the top babyface remove him from his perch and dethrone him as Champion. The planets were aligned perfectly for Storm to defeat Roode - in Storm's hometown of Nashville - and win the Heavyweight Championship and celebrate with his family and friends to provide a feel-good memorable moment to conclude Lockdown.

So, why didn't TNA pull the trigger? Because logic and creativity do not go hand-and-hand in Impact Wrestling. Before I tear down the company's decision to not put the title on Storm, they might have a nifty idea to give Storm the win at Sacrifice to head into the 10th anniversary PPV as champion. Maybe, maybe not. But, what TNA missed out on was creating that memorable moment that would be remembered forever and help create some momentum for the company when TV ratings are slipping.

The same situation occurred at Bound for Glory six months ago when TNA held off on putting the World Heavyweight Championship on Bobby Roode. What should have been a memorable moment in TNA turned out to leave a sour taste in the mouths of wrestling fans. It was the typical "Bait and Switch" to make you think TNA would logically do one thing before illogically doing something else.

This has become a problem in TNA. They do not create memorable moments. Bobby Roode still could have turned heel after winning the World Title at BFG (similar to Daniel Bryan in WWE), have everything happen the way it did (minus Storm pinning Angle to win the TNA Title the week after BFG) with Storm vs. Roode headlining Lockdown, and Storm giving Roode his comeuppance and winning the championship.

Next year, when TNA promotes Lockdown, fans will remember what has happened at past events and they will remember how James Storm should have become World Champion instead of ending the show with another fluke victory for Bobby Roode. How much better would the marketing be if TNA used a "flashback moment" for one of their biggest PPVs of the year with Storm winning to plug the possibility of history being made again at that upcoming Lockdown? These occurrences have happened far too often in TNA and it is detrimental to the company's overall success.

***

-- Post-show Thoughts: Good opening match, but a weak undercard bogged things down until Angle and Hardy stole the show. Roode vs. Storm was a good match until the aforementioned dislike in the booking decision. Thumbs down PPV on a night where Impact Wrestling should have stepped up big time.

[Torch art credit Joe Borzotta (c) PWTorch.com]

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