OK with Lockdown coming up, here is a special review of the very first Lockdown from 2005.
Now going into this show, I thought an "All Steel Cage" PPV was the dumbest idea I had ever heard in my life, and sounded like something a 7 year old would book. To me, when I see a card with EIGHT cage matches, I think EIGHT main events, which is way too much. Alot of the matches (the opener, Roode/Rhodes, AMW/Canada) didn't even warrant a cage match. In an attempt to make the matches different, they actually gimmicked each of the cage matches so we wound up having a blindfold, tables, strap, Xscape, AND a new version of War Games all on the same show and all of it in a cage. This has to be the most over gimmicked PPV of all time and Vince Russo wasn't even in TNA at this point. What I feared was that every match was going to try and top the other and the crowd would be burnt out half way through.
Ultimately, I have to admit that Lockdown 2005 turned out better than I expected. Some of the problems I talked about were still present in the show, but overall I thought it avoided being the trainwreck I was expecting.
Apolo & Sonny Siaki vs. Lance Hoyt & Chris Candido
For those of you familiar with the show, you know that this was Chris Candido's final match as he would die of complications following surgery just a few days later. The surgery was required because he broke his leg while taking a dropkick from Siaki and he landed the wrong way. Knowing what happened just a few days later kind of kills the match for me, but the match itself wasn't too bad all things considered. Lance Hoyt looked like he had potential here. Too bad it was never realized. With his partner taken out of the match, Lance lost out to the draded Siaki/Apolo duo.
Dustin Rhodes vs. Bobby Roode: 2 Out of 3 Falls "Prince of Darkness Death Match"
If LD05 is the most overgimmicked PPV of all time, then this is the most over gimmicked match of all time. Seriously, 2 out 3 Falls, 3rd Fall being a Blindfold Match, and it all takes place in a Cage. And a question for Dusty (who was the booker: What was your obsession with giving established gimmick matches really weird names. Prince of Darkness Deathmatch? He also called Falls Count Anywhere "Final Assault", Lumberjack "Ringside Revenge", & TLC "Full Metal Mayhem" (ok that one was cool)
Now on paper this match had everything going against it, but it was actually a pretty good match! I'm not kidding. 1st fall lasted a few seconds with Roode scoring a quick rollup pin. The 2nd fall was the best part as they had a pretty good match together. It was more old school but it worked as Dustin hit a Top Rope Bulldog on Robert for the win. The 3rd Fall (Blindfold match) actually wasn't bad either as they managed to work a funny spot in where Roode mistakingly hit Scott D'Amore with a chair, allowing Dustin to take advantage and score the win. Overall, a much better match than one would expect.
Chris Sabin vs. Shocker vs. Matt Bentley vs. Sonjay Dutt: Xscape Match
The very 1st Xscape Match, and IMO the worst. It wasn't bad at all and if you love that fast paced X Division action, then check it out because this match delivers on that. My main problem with it though is that for some bizarre reason they kept trying to break up everybody's Pinfall. I mean if its an Elimination Match, wouldn't you want other people to get pinned? Anyways, the most memorable part of the match actually caem from somebody that w2asn't officially in it as Trinity (remember her?) did a Moonsault off the Cage onto the guys in an attempt to help Matt Bently out. Eventually it came down to Shocker & Sabin with Shocker barely beating Sabin out of the cage. Man why would they give a title shot to Shocker? He sucked. But Good Match nonetheless.
Jeff Hardy vs. Raven: Tables Match
Jeff Hardy was out of shape & so unmotivated in TNA, that gimmick matches was basically all he could do, so this PPV was perfect for him at this point in time. The match was pretty good, one of Hardy's better TNA matches actually. We got to see some cool things like Hardy missing a Swanton off the top of the cage and Hardy finally getting the win by jumping off the cage and crashing Raven through a stack of 5 or 6 tables. This match is on TNA's Lockdown website at the moment and you should check it out if you haven't seen it. Its a pretty good one.
America's Most Wanted (c) vs. Team Canada: Strap Match
OK now this is where the problems started to arise. As I said, all of the matches were trying to top each other with amazing spots and such, and as a result, the crowd really started to fade and it began with this match. Under normal circumstances, this match would have been pretty damn good, but the crowd just wasn't really into it, and I think that was because of having to follow 4 cage matches, 3 of which went over 15 minutes in length. The match was still good and I really liked how the Canadians cheated by managing to eliminate Harris from the mix by preventing him from enterting the cage and him having to fight his way in. And we got some great old school heel tactics as well. So like I said, a pretty good match, but the crowd was just blah towards it. AMW got the win after Petey was blinded with Powder and he gave his partner Eric Young the Canadian Destroyer, allowing AMW to finish Petey off 2 on 1.
Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Elix Skipper: X Division Championship
Like the previous match, this one also got plagued with a less than enthusiastic crowd, turning what would normally get chants of "This si Awesome" into something that was only ok. We got to see them almost repeat Skipper's cage walk, and that was cool. They also treated this match as the traditional straighup wrestling match of the show, which was nice. This could have been a major feud given the history between the two men, but they just never wnt all out with it (probably because Elix just wasn't on Daniels' level) Another good match, but one that would have been much better under regular circumstances because like I said the crowd was really fading.
Team Jarrett vs. Team Page: Lethal Lockdown
Maybe this is just part of the curse of having an all Cage PPV, but every Lockdown has one really really REALLY bad match. For 06 it was the Arm Wrestling. For 08 it was BG vs. Kip, and 07 had two terrible bombs in the Blindfold & Electrified Cage Matches. But for the very first Lockdown, it was this match for sure.
First of all, it was supposed to be Waltman, Nash, & Page vs. Jarrett, Monty, & Kip. Nash got hurt (surprised?) and had to be replaced with a "Mystery Partner"....who turned out to be BG James. I get that they were going for The Outlaws tease by having Road Dogg & Billy on different teams, but don't hype it up like its a big surprise and then just throw somebody out there who is already a regular on TV. Another problem, the opening five minutes iwth Jarrett & Watlman (who was really out of shape here) is Five Minutes of the most boring wrestling I have ever seen. And the increasing problem of the crowd becoming tired reached its peak here as they were just fucking dead for this match. I was actually kind of excited for this match because it was the return of War Games, but it just bombed horribly. This was just a really boring and downright awful match. Team Page won when Waltman pinned Monty.
AJ Styles vs. Abyss
The winner of this match was set to Wrestle Jarrett at Hard Justice the next month. Now Abyss already earned a title shot after beating Hardy at Full Metal Mayhem, and yet somehow he is still having to earn a title shot here in his match with AJ....wow Abyss got screwed.
BUUUUUUT this match was easily what made the Lockdown concept a success. After the Lethal Lockdown bombed and 6 cage matches before that, AJ & Abyss managed to put on a great cage match that meshed both of their styles very well. It started off as a wild brawl that went all over the Impact zone before Abyss took the battle back into the cage and AJ having to use his speed & agility to regain the advantage. There were some great spots, aomd sick stuff (including a Styles Clash on the tacks!!! Ouch!!!) And AJ & Abyss get majoir points for putting on this great match after having to follow 7 Cage matches, and I think that was the main reason TNA decided to make it an annual event because AJ & Abyss proved it was possible.
So overall, a show that had initially expected to be a trainwreck was actually pretty good with some really good matches, 1 awesome main event, and an overall unique show.