Cero reviews TNA Lockdown 2013

[cero2k]

TNA Lockdown 2013
Alamodome, San Antonio, TX
March 10, 2013

Opening Video - Nice

X Division Title Triple Threat Match
Kenny King (c) vs Zema Ion vs Chris York - 6/10
Nothing against this guys, but I just feel like this show needed a bigger kick off than King, York, and Ion. And then Kenny King botched that moonsault at the first minutes of the match. Ouch! Is it me, or has the X Division slowed down in the last years, there's too much thinking and preparing now. The match wasn't bad, but it surely wasn't good for the opener of one of your four PPVs and specially the one with the record breaking attendance number. Maybe it was the botch that kinda brought it all down.

Joseph Park promo - Lol, awesome.
Bad Influence Promo - Churro Guerrero and Juan Hernandez. YES! Great Promo by both guys. Verizon Wireless Plug.

Joey Ryan vs Joseph Park - 5/10
Taz making sense why are we getting Park in a wrestling match. Good stuff from both guys on the mic. Loved the face of Parks when Joey was oiling up. Match was funny but nothing to call home about. Good Heel vs Face stuff.

Hogan hitting on Ray - meh. This was a bit better once knowing how the show ended.
Hogan: "I've seen what you've done with my daughter" Good Ol' Hogan and his spy cams.

TNA Knockouts Title Match
Velvet Sky (c) vs Gail Kim - 5/10
It's weird, i really don't like how Velvet walks, if that makes sense. On the other hand, i like how Taryn Terrell jumps to signal the ring bell. The match wasn't that bad, some bad timing here and there, but nothing to really bring you down like Kenny King's botch. Gail challenges Terrell to DQ here and she attacks Gail instead of the DQ. OK, I just saw hair fly off Taryn's head, she must be stressed. After weeks of build up, I now understand that this whole thing is not about Velvet being the champ, but about building Kim vs Terrell. Mind = Blown, Interest = Meh. Boobies.

Robbie E Promo Bro - Pretty awesome actually.

"Big Robbie" Robbie E vs "Bigger Robbie" Robbie T - 4/10
The only sad thing about this match is that they never got to be tag champs, I really enjoyed this guys as a team....AS A TEAM!. Was this match taped in Japan?? Because the crowd is as silent as it can get. Match was somewhat boring.

Austin Aries Promo - Nice that they're actually playing out the whole Bobby Roode Contract problem, I'm starting to think it could have been a work all along.

TNA Tag Team Triple Threat Title Match
Austin Aries and Bobby Roode (c) vs Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez vs Bad Influence - 7.5/10
I'm not sure if this match was great by itself, or just because it came after all those matches behind. Great stuff from all three teams, this match had the fast paced action that the opener needed. Crowd was actually more behind Aries and Roode than Chavo and Dez.

Taryn Terrell Promo becomes a Brawl. Yeah, I'm cool with this. More hair flying off.

Aces and 8s stuff - good stuff from all.

Kurt Angle Promo - Awesome promo, now I wanna see what Angle vs D'Lo Brown could be.

Cage Match
Kurt Angle vs Wes Briscoe - 7/10
Oh yeah, i totally forgot this PPV is called Lockdown. That "Save Wrestling 2020" Angle is wearing is pretty cool. I know Wes is indeed locked in with Angle in a cage, but it seems a bit against Club's Business, especially since there's nothing on the line, this is just a fight. I've heard a lot of people not getting behind Wes, and surely after the match I'll hear that Angle can wrestle a broom and make it look good. Say what you will, this was a great match by both guys. Taz calling out the Texan crowd on the USA chant was great. I didn't like the end thou, I liked the idea, but the ref actually standing up and just not turning was bad. He should have stayed down until the very end. Now I really wanna see Angle vs D'Lo.

Lethal Lockdown Build Up Promo - Dang it's been long. Remember when we bitched about TNA running really short stories.

Lethal Lockdown - 7/10
Team TNA (Sting, Samoa Joe, Magnus, Eric Young, and James Storm)
vs
Aces & 8s (Mr. Anderson, DOC, Knox, Garrett Bischoff, and Devon)
For some reason, i remember the time between entrants from each team was a bit longer. Let me just say that I loved the order of entrants, first off you get the face with the smallest pop against a guy that can carry him easily and that can go bell to bell. Then you join the tag team and a big guy. Then you bring the rookie that "can't wrestle" so he can easily get lost in the shuffle if indeed he can't wrestle, and bring out E-Young to counter the meh factor that the crowd felt. Now then you would expect DOC to leave the biggest name to the end, but instead they leave the biggest guy as the final challenge. Last two really don't need explaining, the biggest dude vs the biggest pop, easy decisions.

Now on to the match, Lethal Lockdowns don't usually start until the last man comes out, but so far we've seen some good stuff from EY, Magnus & Joe, and Anderson. WOW STING JUST TOOK LETHAL LOCKDOWN TO THE EXTREME!! RAVEN STYLE!! I think Sting is fisting Bischoff. Everything after Sting came out just became a 5-man squash and then without no thought to it they changed the momentum. Props to Garrett and Young for taking the big bumps of the match. SOO glad Young took the win.

TNA World Title Match Build Up Video - meh, overhyped.

TNA World Title Cage Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Bully Ray - 7.5/10
Ray looks on his game tonight! Match was great, I didn't really liked that most of the match was about Ray destroying Hardy, with so much history between these two you would expect that Hardy has learned to hang out against Ray, but apparently no. Kinda suits Hardy's gimmick to not be organized and prepared i guess. I liked the thing with Wes and Bischoff, everything really pumped up after Ray and Hardy took them out and Ray was immediately ready to go back to the fighting. Awesome way to turn Ray, it's those turns that get remembered for years. Holy dang, that hammer shot on Hardy looked stiff!!! DUDLEY REUNION!! YES YES YES! Man i was really hoping for Brooke to turn along with Ray, but i'll take this, it's just that Brooke is not a good enough actress to play a broken heart.

AFTERMATH - Whose idea was to sell bottled beer in the arena?? really??

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I personally believe that TNA did a terrible job in the match order, the first half of the show just dragged on too much until the tag team triple threat. The overall show wasn't bad, but this was mostly about the story lines and not the wrestling. This being one of the only 4 PPVs for TNA, they made a great job in giving us some resolutions and turns that were needed. I'd say go watch the show.

NOTES:
- Really dissapointed that not all matches are contested inside the 4-sides of steel. It was something that made Lockdown so unique from WWE.
- Awesome turn out for TNA, sure it was only a small part of the Alamodome, but it still looked impressive for TNA.
- DOC should be refereed as D.O.C. which sounds soo much more dangerous

[badnewzxl]

The X Division match was a bit Sloppy, but I think it was the best match to start things off; they needed to save the tag match as the main event before the cage was constructed.

Bully and Hardy had a damn good match and I LOVE the aftermath; even the plants throwing bottle ONLY on cue. THE BULLY IS BACK!

[cero2k]

The X Division match was a bit Sloppy, but I think it was the best match to start things off; they needed to save the tag match as the main event before the cage was constructed.

Bully and Hardy had a damn good match and I LOVE the aftermath; even the plants throwing bottle ONLY on cue. THE BULLY IS BACK!

I did realize that once i saw that the cage was constructed and not lowered.

[Big Red Machine]

TNA World Title Cage Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Bully Ray - 7.5/10
Ray looks on his game tonight! Match was great, I didn't really liked that most of the match was about Ray destroying Hardy, with so much history between these two you would expect that Hardy has learned to hang out against Ray, but apparently no. Kinda suits Hardy's gimmick to not be organized and prepared i guess. I liked the thing with Wes and Bischoff, everything really pumped up after Ray and Hardy took them out and Ray was immediately ready to go back to the fighting. Awesome way to turn Ray, it's those turns that get remembered for years. Holy dang, that hammer shot on Hardy looked stiff!!! DUDLEY REUNION!! YES YES YES! Man i was really hoping for Brooke to turn along with Ray, but i'll take this, it's just that Brooke is not a good enough actress to play a broken heart.

I just don't understand how you can possibly overlook the ridiculous logical flaws here.

[cero2k]

TNA World Title Cage Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Bully Ray - 7.5/10
Ray looks on his game tonight! Match was great, I didn't really liked that most of the match was about Ray destroying Hardy, with so much history between these two you would expect that Hardy has learned to hang out against Ray, but apparently no. Kinda suits Hardy's gimmick to not be organized and prepared i guess. I liked the thing with Wes and Bischoff, everything really pumped up after Ray and Hardy took them out and Ray was immediately ready to go back to the fighting. Awesome way to turn Ray, it's those turns that get remembered for years. Holy dang, that hammer shot on Hardy looked stiff!!! DUDLEY REUNION!! YES YES YES! Man i was really hoping for Brooke to turn along with Ray, but i'll take this, it's just that Brooke is not a good enough actress to play a broken heart.

I just don't understand how you can possibly overlook the ridiculous logical flaws here.

the only real logical flaw that i noticed was that all the A&8s guys were there out fresh after each and everyone of them had their ass kicked before

[Big Red Machine]

TNA World Title Cage Match
Jeff Hardy (c) vs Bully Ray - 7.5/10
Ray looks on his game tonight! Match was great, I didn't really liked that most of the match was about Ray destroying Hardy, with so much history between these two you would expect that Hardy has learned to hang out against Ray, but apparently no. Kinda suits Hardy's gimmick to not be organized and prepared i guess. I liked the thing with Wes and Bischoff, everything really pumped up after Ray and Hardy took them out and Ray was immediately ready to go back to the fighting. Awesome way to turn Ray, it's those turns that get remembered for years. Holy dang, that hammer shot on Hardy looked stiff!!! DUDLEY REUNION!! YES YES YES! Man i was really hoping for Brooke to turn along with Ray, but i'll take this, it's just that Brooke is not a good enough actress to play a broken heart.

I just don't understand how you can possibly overlook the ridiculous logical flaws here.

the only real logical flaw that i noticed was that all the A&8s guys were there out fresh after each and everyone of them had their ass kicked before

Every little segment of this turn was just riddled with ridiculousness. Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up? Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere? Why have Bully give Jeff a weapon?

[cero2k]

Every little segment of this turn was just riddled with ridiculousness. Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up? Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere? Why have Bully give Jeff a weapon?

Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up?
- They're the newest guys, they need to pay dues, maybe they were sent out to communicate with Ray, maybe they did it by themselves and were not 'sent' there, maybe like moose said, it was to get in Hardy's head.

Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere?
- it's not necessarily a risk, the faces believe that everyone was beat up and thus seeing how they only sent two rookies out there they figure that the rest couldn't come out and won't come out since they're beat up. Plus, haven't you been seeing TNA for the last nine months? faces don't usually come out to help when someone needs help. it's not a flaw in writing, I just think they're lazy and don't really care about coming out.

Why have Bully give Jeff a weapon?
- he gave him a chain in a 6-on-1 fight. Plus giving him the chain maybe gave Hardy enough security to turn his back on Ray thinking he was gonna cover him, enough for Ray to strike him in the back

[Big Red Machine]

Every little segment of this turn was just riddled with ridiculousness. Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up? Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere? Why have Bully give Jeff a weapon?

Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up?
- They're the newest guys, they need to pay dues, maybe they were sent out to communicate with Ray, maybe they did it by themselves and were not 'sent' there, maybe like moose said, it was to get in Hardy's head.

Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere?
- it's not necessarily a risk, the faces believe that everyone was beat up and thus seeing how they only sent two rookies out there they figure that the rest couldn't come out and won't come out since they're beat up. Plus, haven't you been seeing TNA for the last nine months? faces don't usually come out to help when someone needs help. it's not a flaw in writing, I just think they're lazy and don't really care about coming out.

Why have Bully give Jeff a weapon?
- he gave him a chain in a 6-on-1 fight. Plus giving him the chain maybe gave Hardy enough security to turn his back on Ray thinking he was gonna cover him, enough for Ray to strike him in the back

1. It still seems like way to big and pointless a risk to me.

2. So either way it is bad writing. Having your babyfaces be too lazy to come out and help another babyface who is about to get jumped by a group that said babyfaces are feuding with is bad writing!

3. In a 6-on-1 fight a chain is about the only thing that really could have helped him, as it would give him some reach. Who cares if Jeff feels comfortable enough to turn his back on Bully? It's SIX-ON-ONE and that one is unarmed!

[cero2k]

1. It still seems like way to big and pointless a risk to me.

2. So either way it is bad writing. Having your babyfaces be too lazy to come out and help another babyface who is about to get jumped by a group that said babyfaces are feuding with is bad writing!

3. In a 6-on-1 fight a chain is about the only thing that really could have helped him, as it would give him some reach. Who cares if Jeff feels comfortable enough to turn his back on Bully? It's SIX-ON-ONE and that one is unarmed!

(1) remember the club was also trying to fool the fans, and it worked. Sometimes you have to take risks.

(2) Not all babyfaces are friends, especially in the case of Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray, one that had to go through the road of redemption and the other one who was a bully for a long time. Plus what if they had already left. Plus i'm gonna say this, if they were to come out, there would be yet another big brawl, those type of brawls that we hated from Russo.

(3) Because it was important for Bully to be the one who took out Hardy, he wanted the final shot.

[Big Red Machine]

1. It still seems like way to big and pointless a risk to me.

2. So either way it is bad writing. Having your babyfaces be too lazy to come out and help another babyface who is about to get jumped by a group that said babyfaces are feuding with is bad writing!

3. In a 6-on-1 fight a chain is about the only thing that really could have helped him, as it would give him some reach. Who cares if Jeff feels comfortable enough to turn his back on Bully? It's SIX-ON-ONE and that one is unarmed!

(1) remember the club was also trying to fool the fans, and it worked. Sometimes you have to take risks.

(2) Not all babyfaces are friends, especially in the case of Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray, one that had to go through the road of redemption and the other one who was a bully for a long time. Plus what if they had already left. Plus i'm gonna say this, if they were to come out, there would be yet another big brawl, those type of brawls that we hated from Russo.

(3) Because it was important for Bully to be the one who took out Hardy, he wanted the final shot.

1. To what end? What does fooling the fans get them? And especially here where they are only fooling the fans for about ten minutes until the big turns comes

2. Of course not all babyfaces are friends, but there is no reason that "Team TNA" made up of guys who are the face of the company like Sting, Storm, and Angle, wouldn't come out to fight the big heel group they are feuding with and prevent them from screwing up the main event of a major PPV (and also save Hogan and Brooke, who Aces & Eights could have attacked if they wanted to).
As for the big brawl... yeah, it would have happened, but it is better to have "yet another big brawl" than to have things not make sense.

3. He can want both the first and final shot, but all that can be accomplished without arming Jeff first!

[e-moose]

Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up? Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere?

OK I thought of a possible non-kayfabe scenario.

Brisco & Bischoff storm the ring and climb the cage. Upon entering, one of them indicates to Ray, and then to Hardy that there'z no hammer. The two go after Hardy. (Notice that Ray spendz a good 15 or 20 secondz at that point looking a tad confuzed. He may have been actually non-kayfabe confuzed about what to do next.) Ray thinks. He makes a decizion that if he and Hardy toss the two guyz out of the cage, they can go to the back, tell the director or whoever what happened, and then come back in and get it right the second time.

The two guyz get behind the curtain and right away Hogan'z there saying "WTF?!!!" Brisco: "Where'z the hammer? It izn't there!" Hogan: "Holy fuck! This iz the fucking main event!!!" Hogan frantically goez to find an alternate hammer in the back and doez so fairly quickly. "Devon! Take this! Put it somewhere where there iz no chance in hell of you lozing it on the way out there!" (Remember Devon having a hell of a time getting that hammer loose?) (Hogan & Brooke were initially scripted to come to ringside immediately after the victory.) "I'm going out there right fucking now just to make sure nothing else gets screwed up! You guyz all come out there in a few minutes n let's get this done! Don't forget the fucking hammer!!!"

[e-moose]

Hogan frantically goez to find an alternate hammer in the back and doez so fairly quickly. "Devon! Take this! Put it somewhere where there iz no chance in hell of you lozing it on the way out there!" (Remember Devon having a hell of a time getting that hammer loose?) (Hogan & Brooke were initially scripted to come to ringside immediately after the victory.) "I'm going out there right f***ing now just to make sure nothing else gets screwed up![/color]

Actually, edit this. Even more likely, this iz a "stunt" hammer, and there iz only one of it's kind in the whole building, and it's supposed to be hidden somewhere at ringside.

Hogan likely went out early to wander around ringside and look for the thing and/or ask some of the techs @ ringside where it is. The alert iz spread around the whole TNA staff quickly that the hammer iz in fact not there. After some quick inter-staff communication, the hammer iz eventually found somewhere in the back. Devon iz appointed "the hammer man" and tucks it away (too) firmly. The A&8s all head out to the cage.

[Big Red Machine]

Why send the first two guys out just to get beaten up? Why risk revealing to the faces that you are going to interfere?

OK I thought of a possible non-kayfabe scenario.

Brisco & Bischoff storm the ring and climb the cage. Upon entering, one of them indicates to Ray, and then to Hardy that there'z no hammer. The two go after Hardy. (Notice that Ray spendz a good 15 or 20 secondz at that point looking a tad confuzed. He may have been actually non-kayfabe confuzed about what to do next.) Ray thinks. He makes a decizion that if he and Hardy toss the two guyz out of the cage, they can go to the back, tell the director or whoever what happened, and then come back in and get it right the second time.

The two guyz get behind the curtain and right away Hogan'z there saying "WTF?!!!" Brisco: "Where'z the hammer? It izn't there!" Hogan: "Holy f**k! This iz the f***ing main event!!!" Hogan frantically goez to find an alternate hammer in the back and doez so fairly quickly. "Devon! Take this! Put it somewhere where there iz no chance in hell of you lozing it on the way out there!" (Remember Devon having a hell of a time getting that hammer loose?) (Hogan & Brooke were initially scripted to come to ringside immediately after the victory.) "I'm going out there right f***ing now just to make sure nothing else gets screwed up! You guyz all come out there in a few minutes n let's get this done! Don't forget the f***ing hammer!!!"

It doesn't matter whether or not there was a non-kayfabe reason for it. It is still a major screw-up that could have easily been rectified. Also, this is extremely unlikely because ref's wear earpieces and that is how people backstage communicate with the guys in the ring.