TNA PPV Evaluation - Lockdown 2013
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

BEST MATCH – AUSTIN ARIES/BOBBY ROODE VS. DANIELS/KAZARIAN VS. CHAVO GUERRERO/HERNANDEZ

This was a great match all-around. I'm excited for the inevitable feud between Aries/Roode and Daniels/Kazarian, and the addition of Chavo and Hernandez didn't hurt things at all. A lot of this show was helped by a hot crowd in a setting that really looked major league, and I'm glad that this match got the platform it deserved.

WORST MATCH – ROBBIE E VS. ROBBIE T

Dear God, this. I'm not even sure how to describe what was going on here, except to say that if there is a worse match on pay-per-view this year, I will be astounded. Let's all pretend that this never happened.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – ANGLE VS. BRISCO

To say that Wes Brisco has been a tad underwhelming would be an understatement, but whether it's just that Kurt Angle is just that great (and it is), these two had a really good match despite a wacky finish. I thought this would be a total throw-away. I was wrong.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – ACES & EIGHTS PULL THE REVEAL TRIGGER

Yes, we've all pretty much figured that Bully Ray was the leader, but there are so many wholes in logic on this reveal that I kind of hoped that Bully Ray was going to be the new lead babyface, and it was refreshing for the character. Now we have a Team 3D reunion. I guess they can say that his beating at the wedding was an initiation, or a necessary evil, but if I told my friends to beat me up and they hit me in the head with a pillar, we'd be having a bit of a discussion. I'll reserve too much judgment until after Impact, though.

BEST QUOTES – TAZ

When Todd Kennely (who Taz seems genuinely irritated by) said that Joseph Park has tried a "closing argument," and Taz pointed that is was "just a splash," I laughed out loud. Heel Taz is great.

BEST MOVE – ERIC YOUNG

When Young scaled the ropes to drop and elbow, and Sting helpfully pointed out that there was a cage, I imagine Young's thought was: "Yeah. Thanks for that." Still, a great visual for the show.

BEST MATCH FINISH – THREE WAY TAG

Roode "stealing" the pin is a nice continuation of the one upsmanhip game him and Aries play, and they didn't give away too much between them and Daniels/Kazarian. This was really good stuff.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- The set, production, and crowd lighting looked excellent. This felt top-notch.

- Kenny King. What were you thinking? How he managed to continue after essentially trying to break his neck over the guardrail after a botched...er....something, is beyond me.

- Joseph Park and Joey Ryan was fine for what it was - lower-card fun. Joey Ryan's gimmick does nothing for me, but Park was great here. Are we ever getting the Abyss reveal?

- Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim was okay, but at least the KO division actually has character development and featured matches. Again, fine for what it was.

- Lethal Lockdown seemed at a stalemate until the end, when Sting entered with the weapons (no roof this year). Still, it waa a fun brawl and Aces & Eights didn't lose much in losing (how could they lose much more, come to think of it?), and the show went off the air after the Bully Ray reveal with them standing tall.

- The main event was slow-paced, but had good closing few minutes as Bully Ray finally turned back to being a heel, and the crowd pelted the ring with garbage, which may or may not have been helped by a few planted fans. Either way, the paying crowd joined in at the end.

WHAT IT’LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Hopefully the start of something being done with Aces & Eights, as the angle has seemingly floundered for months. I am curious for Impact to hear Bully Ray presumably cut a promo on what happened, and am wondering if Brooke will turn out to be a part of it after all. From what I've heard, I liked the show more than a lot of people, but I thought it was solid, came across as major league, and had enough good matches to warrant a thumbs up.

UPDATED 2013 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 – WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2013-01-27)
2 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2013-03-10)
2 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2013-02-17)
3 – TNA GENESIS (2013-01-13)

We suggest these recent related articles...

CALDWELL'S TNA SLAMMIVERSARY PPV RESULTS 6/28: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of live PPV from Orlando - King of the Mountain match, Storm vs. Magnus, more

KYGHT'S PPV EVALUATION - TNA Bound for Glory: Best/Worst Match, What Will Be Remembered?, Updated 2014 Rankings

KYGHT'S PPV EVALUATION - TNA Slammiversary: Best/Worst Match, Biggest Surprise; Updated 2014 PPV Rankings