High Road/Low Road 04.13.07: Lockdown and the Six Sides of Steel
Posted by Sat & Chad Nevett on 04.13.2007
This Sunday, Lockdown will feature all of their matches in the six sides of steel. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? You decide in this week's High Road/Low Road!
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related "stuff" while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
Note: CSF wrestling (as mentioned above) are running shows in Weston Super Mare and Melksham, UK, Saturday and Sunday evening respectively. Check out the details at http://www.myspace.com/csfwrestling. It'll be a great night of wrestling whichever one you go to.
The Results for WrestleMania 23:
Highest Road for WrestleMania 23:
John Cena versus Shawn Michaels 19%
Batista versus the Undertaker 51%
Money in the Bank III 18%
MVP versus Chris Benoit 4%
Melina versus Ashley 1%
Kane versus The Great Khali 1%
Battle of the Billionaires 1%
Originals versus The New Breed 2%
The Dance Routine 4%
Lowest Road for WrestleMania 23:
John Cena versus Shawn Michaels 12%
Batista versus the Undertaker 1%
Money in the Bank III 0%
MVP versus Chris Benoit 2%
Melina versus Ashley 46%
Kane versus The Great Khali 25%
Battle of the Billionaries 1%
Originals versus The New Breed 5%
The Dance Rountine 8%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
Manu Bumb Writes:
uncle trux:
I agree with your first high road - Batista and undertaker delivered. It should've been the main event, if for no other reason (and there were other reasons) than undertaker won the rumble.
I agree with the mvp/benoit one also. in the days leading up to WM, i had read that they were doing well on the house show circuit, so I was excited to see if that was just more fanboy hype, and i was glad that it wasn't - they did good, and could've used more time. And I was pleasantly surprised that Benoit won. yay Benoit!
originals vs new breed was also a pleasant surprise for me. I really don't disagree with anything you wrote on the high road.
that woman's title match really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, sucked. I mean, worse than the trish/hemme match. I mean, who the hell put this together? Didn't Ashley have a better match with Jillian Hall or Kristal in the month leading up to WM than this abomination of a match with Melina? Maybe Melina just isn't as good as the other two women i mentioned, but this match sucked. If a match is so horrible that you're only going to give it 3 minutes, don't put it on WM.
Kane vs Khali - where to begin? oh yeah, that hook came about a year too late. Unless they're about to release a sequel to see no evil.
I'm sorry, but the dance routine was awesome. Lots of old school guys, and Ricky the f'n dragon steamboat! Hell yeah! If you want to eliminate filler, there was PLENTY more they could've eliminated to give more time to the other matches, such as not ending the show 30 mins early.
Sat:
I agree with 1 and 2, but don't think Cena and HBK should've been there. it might not deserve to be in the low road, maybe the middle road? But definitely not high road. it was just boring, with less fan interaction, and flat entrances (I'm sorry, but Cena going all fast and furious on us, WITHOUT the awesome truck scene, was not my idea of an awesome entrance, maybe if he drove the car all the way to the ring, but even then, its just a car driving to the ring)
MitB was fun, but i see your point. I think that strategy works better with tag teams, that way, if only 2 people are fighting at a time, that's still 2 teams being represented. but it was still fun.
"I could swear that I heard a Native American cry, but where did it come from?"
Gerry Briscoe. He's Native American. Or at least part. I was wondering that myself until I saw him. it was just a fun little segment. And it had Ricky the f'n dragon steamboat!!!!!!!!!
"I was expecting the Khali/Kane match to be bad, but not this bad. I was not even able to make it all the way through this match and that is enough to warrant a Low Road from me. "
Heh, I didn't even watch it. Smoke break for.....2/3rds of my group.
In closing - Ricky the dragon steamboat rules.
Sat: That is one of the reasons that I didn't mention the entrance because I didn't think that it was that good. The reason that I gave it a high road was because it was definitely the match of the night and surely the match of the night has to be a high road.
Uncle Trunx:
I agree with you agreeing with me! I actually enjoyed the dance off thingy, if only because of the Ricky Steamboat cameo. I'd assumed it was a 3 hour show and that they'd overran; shows what I know! Perhaps New Breed vs Originals and Benoit vs MVP each getting about 8 extra minutes might've made all the filler vignettes more bearable.
This week's High Road/Low Road featuring...
Lockdown and the Six Sides of Steel PPV
We won't have a column next week, but will return the following week.
High Road:
One of the great things about Lockdown is that all of the matches are in the six sides of steel. This is awesome because it turns Lockdown into one of those unique pay per view like the Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble. When you hear the name of the pay per view, you don't need to know the matches because you know the main idea behind the pay per view.
Low Road:
I love a cage match. I'm lucky enough to have seen several in person, both with bigger organizations (WWE) and smaller, indy shows (CSF in the West of England did a few great cage matches last year.)
However, the reason they worked so well is that the cage is used sparingly. It's built up as a big deal; having to settle matters inside a cage is seen as a serious situation, not to be taken lightly. I can't help but feel that making the whole show into a load of cage matches will cheapen the stipulation. What does a cage match mean if they run a whole show of them? Relatively little by the end of it. It also means that they have to ration out potential high spots; if there's one cage match, the guys involved can go all out. With a whole show of them, they need to make sure guys aren't repeating themselves. This again limits the overall impact of the event.
High Road:
If you think that an all cage match pay per view is a bad idea, that's not a problem because the matches still have a ton of variety. First, there is the electrified cage match between Team 3D and LAX. Then, there is the blindfold match between Chris Harris and James Storm. And finally there is Lethal Lockdown with Cage's team against Angle's team. Also, let's not forget the Escape match. The Lockdown pay per view is all about the cage matches and if you think it is a bad idea to have an all cage pay per view, then it should be noted that there are also some different types of matches.
Low Road:
Again, this reinforces my point above. Throwing all sorts of gimmicks into the matches cheapens the impact. After you've seen the blindfold cage match, and electrified cage match, a normal cage match is relatively tame. To me, a cage match should be a big thing, and this whole overbooked card will result in the cage meaning relatively little.
High Road:
One of the good things about Lockdown is that it is the only pay per view that features a night of all cage matches. You would assume that the WWE would have already done this because this to me is a great concept to have for a pay per view. I think that the WWE features maybe twelve (that's probably too high) cage matches a year. I (and I think all of the fans) love the cage matches and happy that TNA has decided to make Lockdown an all cage match pay per view.
Low Road:
There's a reason why the WWE (and most promotions) use a cage sparingly; as I said above, to keep it special. Can TNA use a cage match to blow off a feud in two months time? Unlikely, as a cage match will be run of the mill, rather than something special.
High Road:
The Lockdown pay per view is great because it is an easy way to get everybody on the card. The reason for this is that Lockdown is a six sides of steel pay per view and this allows TNA to have the Lethal Lockdown match and the Escape Match. That is sixteen guys just in these two matches. A perfect example of this is Shark Boy who was not been on a pay per view in a long time, but he will be on the Lockdown.
Low Road:
I'm not a fan of matches full of guys; to me, people get lost in the shuffle and it turns into a spotfest, which I hate. Add in the crazy amount of stipulations, and you'll end up with a mess of an event, full of people trying to get their ridiculous spot in. Whatever happened to two skilled wrestlers telling a story with a match? To me, that's an art; overbooking things by having a match with 20 men in a no rope, barbed wire, ring on fire, electrified shark pool cage match devalues the skill of wrestling. Where can you go to top it? How can TNA top this event? They'll have to come up with something even crazier. It's Russo booking at it's worst.
High Road:
This is going to be a short high road, but I have to comment on this. Lockdown is the perfect name for this pay per view because the competitors will be "locked down" in the six sides of steel.
Low Road:
I have no argument with the name. My problem is with the crazy amount of stipulations and the devaluing of the concept of a cage match as a serious matter.
High Road:
Lockdown is going to be the second pay per view that TNA hosts outside of the Impact Zone, so it makes sense to draw as many people has you can. That is why it is a good idea for TNA's second pay per view to be Lockdown because the six sides of steel will draw a bunch of casual fans because everybody loves the cage match.
Low Road:
Absolutely. I love a cage match. However, for all the reasons listed above, I don't think that having a whole night of them is a good idea. Hell, I love icing on my cake; that doesn't mean that having a cake made entirely out of icing is a good idea. To me, that problem with the Lockdown concept is that it's all icing.
Are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
High Road/Low Road Plugs
We are taking the high road on these articles so you should read them...
There are other articles that we didn't list, so check them out as well.
Note: CSF wrestling (as mentioned above) are running shows in Weston Super Mare and Melksham, UK, Saturday and Sunday evening respectively. Check out the details at http://www.myspace.com/csfwrestling. It'll be a great night of wrestling whichever one you go to.
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at satuncletrunx@gmail.com. Your reply will be included in next week's column.
