TNA Lockdown 2006
TNA Lockdown 2006 (4/23/2006)- Orlando, FL
SIX SIDES OF STEEL WORLD X-CUP PREVIEW MATCH: Team Japan (Black Tiger IV. Minoru Tanaka, & Hirooki Goto) vs. Team USA (Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, & Alex Shelley)- 6.5/10
Good opener
TEAM 3-D PROMO- Okay. More important, though, was the little segment that took place afterwards with Jeremy Borash & Larry Zbyszko, which did a good job of hyping up tonight’s big announcement.
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH: Christopher Daniels vs. Senshi- 7/10
Wow, Ki’s return really didn’t get much of a pop… which was odd, because the fans were chanting for some of his moves by name, and seemed to be really into him during the match. Ki cheating to win (which Tenay completely ignored) at the end seemed out of nowhere, but I guess it was intended to help turn Daniels face.
JAMES GANG PROMO- FANTASTIC, especially Bullet Bob & BG James.
ARM WRESTLING MATCH IN WHICH THE WINNER’S TEAM GIVES THE LOSER’S TEAM 10 LASHES: â€"Bullet†Bob Armstrong (w/Kip James & BG James) vs. Konan (w/Homicide & Hernandez)- no rating. Good segment. This was serious, but also a lot of fun. When people talk about all of the negative qualities of â€"sports entertainment,†I look at this and it shows me that it can actually work, if done right.
X-SCAPE MATCH: Chris Sabin vs. Chase Stevens vs. PUMA vs. Shark Boy vs. Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. Elix Skipper (w/Simon Diamond)- 6.75/10
Great match, but the finish looked a little forced. D’Amore and Diamond were amusing on the outside.
JAMES MITCHELL PROMO- freakin’ awesome, as usual.
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH FOR THE TNA X-DIVISION TITLE: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Sabu- 6.25/10
Disappointing. As an aside, I have always found the billing of Sabu as â€"genocidal†to be absolutely moronic. First of all, with all of the strife in this world (the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the ethnic cleansings in Yugoslavia… it really borders on offensive to just throw the word out there for no reason. Secondly, from an entirely kayfabe point of view; which ethnicity of people has Sabu tried to kill? And if he is genocidal, why the hell would TNA hire him?
TEAM CANADA PROMO- good
SIX SIDES OF STEEL ANTHEM MATCH: Team 3-D (Brother Ray, Brother Devon, & Brother Runt) vs. Team Canada (Bobby Roode, Eric Young, & Johnny Devine) (w/Scott D’Amore)- 6/10, but fun
This match was played Capture the Flag style, which was an innovative and interesting use of the cage. As for the match itself… remember my above comment asking which ethnicity Sabu tried to commit genocide against? Well I hope it was Canadians because those f*cking cheaters make me SO MAD! Even with the babyfaces winning I am still pissed off! For some reason they didn’t actually play the Star Spangled Banner after this match as the stip had been hyped up, so props to the crowd for taking the initiative to sing it themselves.
TENAY READS THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT- Christy Hemme debuts by giving Mike Tenay an envelope from TNA management. Tenay reads a letter saying that TNA management is doing some restructuring in order to make people accountable and that we will soon have a new authority figure. This would pave the way for Larry Z leaving and being replaced by Jim Cornette. It was also announced that Larry Z was being put on probation (to which Larry came out and protested) and that Raven was reinstated. Raven came out and Larry locked himself in the cage so that Raven couldn’t get at him. Larry Z then called for security to get Raven away. A great segment!
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Christian Cage(c) vs. Abyss (w/James Mitchell)- 8.5/10
The video package and Mitchell’s promos made this out to be a very personal feud, and these guys certainly brought an appropriate amount of hate. The match itself was build around several major highspots/weapon spots, and each and every one of them was an extremely convincing nearfall. Awesome match.
AFTERMATH- Christian comes back down the ramp tom go after Mitchell but Abyss manages to recover and Christian gets beaten down with then choked out with a steel chain afterwards, then Abyss and Mitchell steal the belt, setting up a Full Metal Mayhem blow-off for Sacrifice.
TRUTH, AJ, RHINO, & STING PROMOS- Truth sings a verse of what would later become his WWE theme, AJ and Rhino both cut great promos, then Sting said all he needed to say: â€"It’s… SHOWTIME!â€
LETHAL LOCKDOWN MATCH: Sting, Rhino, AJ Styles, & Ron â€"The Truth†Killings vs. Planet Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, & America’s Most Wanted) (w/Gail Kim & Jackie Gayda)- 8/10
I thought that the timing of the crazy stuff AJ & Storm did on top of the cage wasn’t good, as it happened at a point in the match where Steiner and Jarrett were about to beat on Sting, and the focus of this match should have been on Sting’s battle with Steiner and Jarrett. Still an awesome match, though.
Overall, a GREAT show from TNA. The undercard seems underwhelming when you look at it on paper, but it was all solid and did a great job of making the matches feel different, even though they were all cage matches. They were some great promos and video packages (as always from TNA), and the main events both delivered, especially Abyss vs. Christian.
SIX SIDES OF STEEL WORLD X-CUP PREVIEW MATCH: Team Japan (Black Tiger IV. Minoru Tanaka, & Hirooki Goto) vs. Team USA (Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, & Alex Shelley)- 6.5/10
Good opener
TEAM 3-D PROMO- Okay. More important, though, was the little segment that took place afterwards with Jeremy Borash & Larry Zbyszko, which did a good job of hyping up tonight’s big announcement.
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH: Christopher Daniels vs. Senshi- 7/10
Wow, Ki’s return really didn’t get much of a pop… which was odd, because the fans were chanting for some of his moves by name, and seemed to be really into him during the match. Ki cheating to win (which Tenay completely ignored) at the end seemed out of nowhere, but I guess it was intended to help turn Daniels face.
JAMES GANG PROMO- FANTASTIC, especially Bullet Bob & BG James.
ARM WRESTLING MATCH IN WHICH THE WINNER’S TEAM GIVES THE LOSER’S TEAM 10 LASHES: â€"Bullet†Bob Armstrong (w/Kip James & BG James) vs. Konan (w/Homicide & Hernandez)- no rating. Good segment. This was serious, but also a lot of fun. When people talk about all of the negative qualities of â€"sports entertainment,†I look at this and it shows me that it can actually work, if done right.
X-SCAPE MATCH: Chris Sabin vs. Chase Stevens vs. PUMA vs. Shark Boy vs. Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore) vs. Elix Skipper (w/Simon Diamond)- 6.75/10
Great match, but the finish looked a little forced. D’Amore and Diamond were amusing on the outside.
JAMES MITCHELL PROMO- freakin’ awesome, as usual.
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH FOR THE TNA X-DIVISION TITLE: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Sabu- 6.25/10
Disappointing. As an aside, I have always found the billing of Sabu as â€"genocidal†to be absolutely moronic. First of all, with all of the strife in this world (the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the ethnic cleansings in Yugoslavia… it really borders on offensive to just throw the word out there for no reason. Secondly, from an entirely kayfabe point of view; which ethnicity of people has Sabu tried to kill? And if he is genocidal, why the hell would TNA hire him?
TEAM CANADA PROMO- good
SIX SIDES OF STEEL ANTHEM MATCH: Team 3-D (Brother Ray, Brother Devon, & Brother Runt) vs. Team Canada (Bobby Roode, Eric Young, & Johnny Devine) (w/Scott D’Amore)- 6/10, but fun
This match was played Capture the Flag style, which was an innovative and interesting use of the cage. As for the match itself… remember my above comment asking which ethnicity Sabu tried to commit genocide against? Well I hope it was Canadians because those f*cking cheaters make me SO MAD! Even with the babyfaces winning I am still pissed off! For some reason they didn’t actually play the Star Spangled Banner after this match as the stip had been hyped up, so props to the crowd for taking the initiative to sing it themselves.
TENAY READS THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT- Christy Hemme debuts by giving Mike Tenay an envelope from TNA management. Tenay reads a letter saying that TNA management is doing some restructuring in order to make people accountable and that we will soon have a new authority figure. This would pave the way for Larry Z leaving and being replaced by Jim Cornette. It was also announced that Larry Z was being put on probation (to which Larry came out and protested) and that Raven was reinstated. Raven came out and Larry locked himself in the cage so that Raven couldn’t get at him. Larry Z then called for security to get Raven away. A great segment!
SIX SIDES OF STEEL MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Christian Cage(c) vs. Abyss (w/James Mitchell)- 8.5/10
The video package and Mitchell’s promos made this out to be a very personal feud, and these guys certainly brought an appropriate amount of hate. The match itself was build around several major highspots/weapon spots, and each and every one of them was an extremely convincing nearfall. Awesome match.
AFTERMATH- Christian comes back down the ramp tom go after Mitchell but Abyss manages to recover and Christian gets beaten down with then choked out with a steel chain afterwards, then Abyss and Mitchell steal the belt, setting up a Full Metal Mayhem blow-off for Sacrifice.
TRUTH, AJ, RHINO, & STING PROMOS- Truth sings a verse of what would later become his WWE theme, AJ and Rhino both cut great promos, then Sting said all he needed to say: â€"It’s… SHOWTIME!â€
LETHAL LOCKDOWN MATCH: Sting, Rhino, AJ Styles, & Ron â€"The Truth†Killings vs. Planet Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, & America’s Most Wanted) (w/Gail Kim & Jackie Gayda)- 8/10
I thought that the timing of the crazy stuff AJ & Storm did on top of the cage wasn’t good, as it happened at a point in the match where Steiner and Jarrett were about to beat on Sting, and the focus of this match should have been on Sting’s battle with Steiner and Jarrett. Still an awesome match, though.
Overall, a GREAT show from TNA. The undercard seems underwhelming when you look at it on paper, but it was all solid and did a great job of making the matches feel different, even though they were all cage matches. They were some great promos and video packages (as always from TNA), and the main events both delivered, especially Abyss vs. Christian.