Instant Reaction - TNA Lockdown PPV 4/17
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 3.5

This was my first live TNA PPV. And it was, as my friend Rand put it, "like a bad episode of Thunder." This was really bad, and the cage concept only made matters worse. The only actually good match on the show was Angle-Jarrett, but the match left a bad taste in my mouth. Not only did Angle almost kill himself, but that was one of the most overbooked finishes I've ever seen.

As for the TNA Title bout, what was with that match? Eight minutes? Really? I'm sure many people ordered the PPV just for that match, and while the action was good, it was way too short.

The opener was all right, but the rapid pinfalls really hindered the match. The tag match didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. It was half-serious and half-comedic, and not very enjoyable.

Lethal Lockdown was okay, but it was a bit too much after three hours of cage matches. And poor Ric. He deserves better. He bleeds like he gets paid by the ounce. One of the worst parts of the show, though, was the role of referees. I know the referee role in TNA is portrayed as moronic, but they were making so many mistakes in the cage matches.

Live Notes on the show

- The crowd was hot at first, but died down after Bischoff came out and was pretty dead for most of the rest of the show.

- During several matches when the wrestlers were rammed into the cage, the door opened and had to be re-shut.

- The TNA production team pales in comparison to WWE. They have about half the equipment WWE has for sound and lighting.

- Almost no one sat on the off-camera side of the lower level. Maybe ten people.

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