Lockdown Report 2/6/15

Lockdown has been a staple of TNA for over a decade now. Every single match on the card is contested inside of Six Sides of Steel. The show opens with the TNA World Tag Team Titles on the line as the Revolution defend against the Hardys. I'll say it every single week but the Revolution is such an odd looking group that it's so hard to take them seriously. Manik sneaks into the cage through the holes that are set for the cameramen but he just gets handcuffed. Koya decides against joining in. They were given about fifteen minutes and did well with it. Matt was pulled outside by the Revolution and beaten down before Sanada spit mist into Jeff's face, allowing Storm to superkick him and retain. Overall, this was a solid match but things really got interesting after the match. Revolution set up a table in the ring and steel steps at ringside. Jeff fights them off and tries to escape but ends up crotched on the door. Storm then levels him with the cowbell and he takes a NASTY bump onto the steel steps. It amazes me that Jeff has never had a major injury in his career. On a show with a pretty loaded card, we have to get a promo because TNA doesn't know what to do without their heel stable talking for a while. MVP, Kenny King and Eric Young are in the ring, which is odd since Low Ki and Samoa Joe are part of the BDC but EY isn't. MVP calls out Kurt Angle, who appears with Gunner and Austin Aries. MVP tries to convince them to not do Lethal Lockdown for their own benefit. It, as expected, ends with a beatdown, with Gunner taking the worst of it as they destroy his arm. I could have done without this and maybe just had Gunner get attacked backstage.

We are told that Gunner may not be able to compete tonight before moving to a match that I'm really looking forward to. Awesome Kong vs. Havok. These two big, hard hitting women have been building towards this since the Destination America debut and the crowd was pumped. They want each other so bad that the war starts in the aisle. The "Better than the Divas" chant breaks out again, while Josh Matthews actually mentions the Divas, Kharma and the WWE. Cool. Kong comes out on top of this hard hitting match with a splash. I enjoyed it but wish it got more time which it could have had if it wasn't for the promo we had to sit through. Before our next match, we go backstage to a clip from two weeks ago when Velvet Sky tells Angelina Love about getting fired. Angelina comforts her but shows that she's actually happy. We continue to another grudge match as Eric Young takes on Bobby Roode. I liked this as it was just two guys trying to beat each other down. MVP comes down and hands EY a steel chair. Roode did as he promised and made EY bleed before a Roode Bomb on the chair finished things off. Lockdown has been good so far.

In the back Kurt Angle begged Lashley to join his team but he declined again. As we go to our next match, I'd like to point out how hard it is to find photos of Impact a day after it airs. So you get old stuff. Sue me. Tyrus takes on the two British Bootcamp winners, Rockstar Spud and Mandrews. Not much here as the small guys fought valiantly but lost. EC3 went to shave Spud's hair but Jeremy Borash cuts the cord of the clippers. EC3 chases him away. Not bad for an angle because EC3 is wildly entertaining. I have high hopes that he can one day win the TNA World Title. He would be great as the heel who does everything in his power to keep the gold. After Bobby Roode speaks about EY and coming back for the TNA World Title, we see clips of Robbie E and Brooke Tessmacher. They competed, earlier in the night, in an odd race. While it was strange, it made sense as a play off of their Amazing Race time. Brooke wins the race, which involved them spinning around with baseball bats and climbing the cage. Looked fun and Brooke won because he stopped to take a selfie.

Before we discuss the main event, Brooke's voice is super annoying. Time for Lethal Lockdown. These are usually pretty good and the talent level in this one, sans Gunner, is relatively high. Gunner does compete and he starts. I hope it was randomly selected because putting him out there first while injured is a dick move by Kurt Angle. Kenny King and Low Ki get the advantage on him because the heels should always have the upper hand in these kinds of matches. Like War Games, it should be a series of "hot tags" so to speak. I appreciate that Austin Aries decided to sport street clothes. It's something I dig when it's a street fight environment. The ring continues to fill as Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle and MVP join in before a commercial break. Low Ki destroys Gunner with a double stomp while he's in a garbage can. As expected, Lashley arrives to even the odds as the BDC was just picking Team Angle apart. His presence shifts the balance and Team Angle comes out on top of a really solid twenty minute match.

Against all odds, and no that's not a play off the old TNA Pay-Per-View name, this company has turned me into someone who enjoys their product. I gave up on TNA a long time ago but decided to give them another shot and I've enjoyed every episode since the move to Destination America. It's not amazing but it works well. Lockdown was a satisfying special episode with some good matches and fine blowoffs to rivalries. 8/10.