PPV Evaluation - TNA Lockdown 3/9
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialistM

BEST MATCH – GUNNER VS. JAMES STORM

In a night where every match took place inside the steel cage, the challenge was going to be to differentiate the contests and keep the crowd invested. Despite the ridiculousness of adding a 'last man standing' stipulation to a cage match (The Last Man Standing cage match: For when you REALLY can't get along), Gunner and Storm worked very well together and delivered the best match on the show - a well-paced brawl that kept the fans loud throughout. Lockdown wasn't a night of big wins for TNA, but this was a thumbs up.

WORST MATCH – SAMOA JOE VS. MAGNUS

Oh dear. I was looking forward to this match, but starting here and continuing with the Lethal Lockdown match, this show fell apart. Magnus hasn't yet come into his own as a performer (is he the coward champion? a fighting one?) and the match was a very slow-paced one until....until the end. With the crowd instantly groaning and booing as the madness unfolded, Abyss of all people pushed his arm through the mat from under the ring, interfering. Problem was, he couldn't actually see Joe, so the men in the ring just watched Abyss awkwardly wave until Joe had to reach out and grab the hand. Then, Corporate Abyss came out (complete with no-mask a la Kane) to aid Magnus and give him the win. This was awful.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – BOBBY LASHLEY

With Kurt Angle getting his body healthy, Ethan Carter III was left to have the dreaded 'Open Challenge' match. I was definitely surprised to see the response coming from an absolutely jacked up Bobby Lashley, who apparently has made his return. He hit the ring, and speared ECIII out of the cage in under a minute, setting up a match not for the April 27 Sacrifice PPV, but this week's Impact. In fact, it's good for Lashley that this open challenge wasn't a match, as Carter hitting the arena floor would have given him the win by cage escape in about 40 seconds.

BEST MOVE – SUPERPLEX

The end of Storm vs. Gunner came with a particularly nasty bump, and one that was the highlight of the all-cage show. A superplex through folding chairs gave the win to Gunner, and popped the crowd huge. A great end.

BEST MATCH FINISH – GUNNER VS. STORM

To go along with a genuinely great high point of the match that led to the finish as opposed to being another nearfall, the right man was highlighted here. I think Gunner has been a bright point on a questionable few months in TNA, and this was the best move.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Remember Bully Ray? The guy who tried to put TNA out of business with his bike gang for a year? Well, Dixie Carter thought he was the best choice for her 'insurance policy.' Also, this means he's now a babyface despite the fact that the last time we saw him he was threatening to MURDER MR. ANDERSON AND HIS FAMILY. Oh, TNA.

- The opening six-man was fun, and The Great Muta did just enough to send the fans home happy. I'm curious for the Wrestle-1 joint show.

- Manik and Uno had another good match early on, although Manik has seemingly been off television for months before randomly being put in here. Probably because he wears a mask.

- Gail Kim continues to be an MVP for the promotion, as she had a very good Knockouts match with Madison Rayne. The cage hurt this a bit, but that could be said for the majority of the matches underneath the main event. Taz even at one point noted that the cage was in the way for a few wrestlers.

- The Lethal Lockdown match was a complete cluster. The faces seem to constantly have the advantage in-ring despite being a man down, which is completely backwards. Add to that Willow "debuting" (Jeff Hardy was banned from the building, so he put on a mask and security just let him walk by?) with one of the more bizarre characters in years, and then endless weapons spots with nothing to distinguish them, and this was a fail. Even more so, what does it mean? MVP can now book matches, but doesn't run the company? So what does that leave for Dixie? Paper work? Hopefully there is some meaningful follow up moving forward on TV.

WHAT IT'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Not much. The MVP vs. Dixie storyline already feels stale, and I'm not sure adding Abyss to the proceedings is going to help. TNA feels very much like its running in place at the moment, with uninspiring top feuds and not much to get the all important buzz going. The second of four pay-per-views in 2013 will be on April 27 (TNA might want to space them out better and almost certainly not pick a month where most fans are buying WrestleMania), but we will see what's in store. For now, though, an inauspicious start to TNA's 2014 pay-per-view year.

INITIAL 2014 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2014-02-23)
2 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2014-01-26)
3 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2014-03-09)

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