Tremendous Tirades 3.10.13: TNA Lockdown 2013
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.10.2013
Wes Briscoe shocks Kurt Angle and Team TNA defeated the MidCard Mafia; but do you know who Bully Ray is?
Introduction
It's the road to WrestleMania, and with that being the case, I have dusted off the old Tremendous Tirades name for new alternate recap to the main shows that will air each week (Raw, Impact and Smackdown). This will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard.
I have a few things to comment on here before the PPV. First of al, for those that have enjoyed the recaps, I am glad and I have appreciated the feedback. For those that have disliked the recaps, at least give me a reason as to why toy disliked it instead of, "this sucks," because if it is legit, I will try and work on it.
TNA dropping the ball with Bobby Roode is exactly the situation that keeps this promotion looking bush-league. I don't expect TNA to be on WWE's level as far as their overall status. I want TNA to put on good shows and show some basic understanding of business. If a talent has to come to YOU and explain that their contract is running out, that is a problem. And this isn't Robbie E or some low card guy; this is a former world champion and a guy you are still making a major investment in as far as TV time goes. If what is being reported is true, which is that his contact expiring was Bruce Prichard's fault, then TNA needs to fire Prichard. They are honestly lucky that WWE didn't swoop in and sign Roode, just to fuck with them. Something has reportedly been worked out between the sides, and that is a good thing, but it never should have come to that.
As for tonight's PPV, I have to admit, while some elements of the show interest me; I am not feeling the hype for this show. I feel that TNA poorly used their eight weeks to build to the show, as evidence of how they booked the X-Division match, the Robbie E vs. Rob Terry match and the Joe Ryan vs. Joe Park match; which are all either booked way late, have poor booking or were just not needed. I think that for this PPV to succeed, it will have to be the talent saving the creative team's ass by delivering good performances.
Finally, will the Aces and 8s angle be ending tonight, will it continue to limp along, or will they salvage it? We shall find out!
Tonight's show takes place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. According to Dixie Carter, this is the largest TNA crowd in history for the company…
Shout out to my friend Zech, who is in attendance tonight. He is in the military and stationed near the location, and got a free pass to the show. Have fun dude.
Joseph park tried to give an interview, Kaz and Daniels fooled him into leaving and then, as expected, were awesome.
Joey Ryan vs. Joseph Park: The fact that this was thrown onto the PPV with no build what so ever shows that even by dropping eight PPVs, TNA still has no clue how to build a PPV. Before our match, Ryan cut a promo, insulted the fans, insulted Park and said he had a big dick. Park then cut a promo, saying San Antonio rocks to get the face pop, Ryan attacked and we were underway. It was the comedy match you would expect, the people that love the Park character likely loved this, I am not in that camp and feel that it didn't deserve a place on the PPV. This stuff is better served for Impact. Joseph Park pinned Joey Ryan.
Match Rating: *½
Brooke Hogan gives Bully Ray a pep talk backstage about this being his destiny. Ray says he wants to make Brooke and Hulk proud, and on that note Hulk arrives. He then says there is something about (Mary) Bully that is special about him, and he feels he can take TNA to the next level. Hulk even says he loves Bully like a son, and then tells him to win the world title so he can live through Bully. BRING THE BELT HOME TO OUR FAMILY! Hulk then tells a story about Andre, where the point is that no matter what, you need to be remembered. Bully Ray promises to make the people remember him tonight. Hmmmmmmmmm…
Robbie E vs. Rob Terry: This is about what you would expect from the match, comedy from Robbie E, power stuff from Rob Terry and that was that. Not very good, felt like a below average TV match. Rob Terry defeated Robbie E via pin.
Match Rating: *
At this point I am really hoping that things pick up, because at this point, this feels like an average edition of Impact.
Austin Aries cut a promo about the tag title match, Bobby Roode thankfully arrived.
Borash talked with Taryn Terrell, Gail Kim attacked her. As mentioned above, this will get her into the ring as a competitor, possibly as soon as this week's Impact.
They set up the cage for the final three matches.
D Lo gives the boys from Aces and 8s a pep talk in the clubhouse.
Kurt Angle cuts a promo on Wes Briscoe, saying he will make him famous. Please Kurt, that kind of talk scares me. Kurt then said he hadn't forgotten about D Lo, and promised to take care of him next, teasing a match. Please Kurt, that kind of talk scares me.
Steel Cage Match: Wes Briscoe vs. Kurt Angle: You know how you hear that wrestler A walked wrestler B through a match, well that is what happened here. Unfortunately this was not your typical Kurt Angle PPV effort, as he worked hard, but was so focused on working with Wes' limitations, that the match never hit that next level outside of a few Angle spots like the German off the ropes and such. Angle got two visual victories following a ref bump, one where Wes tapped to the ankle lock, and the other after he escaped the cage. Unfortunately for Angle, D Lo hit the scene and beat down Angle, tossed him back into the cage and then pulled Wes out, which allowed him to win the match. Yes, we're building to a Kurt Angle vs. D Lo Brown battle of the former Euro-Continental Champions. The good news I that the crowd reacted well to the screw job finish, with some decent heat on Aces and 8s for once. The match was really all Kurt Angle working Briscoe through a pretty good effort with Briscoe bumping well for Angle. Not a star making performance for Briscoe, but also not a bad one either. Thankfully Angle didn't do anything really stupid, instead opting to work smarter and safer. Wes Briscoe defeated Kurt Angle via escaping the cage
Match Rating: **¼
Lethal Lockdown: Team TNA (Sting, Joe, Magnus, Young and Storm) vs. Aces and 8s (Bischoff, Devon, DOC, Knux and Anderson): I loved that they gave Magnus the #1 spot for his team, as the guy has star potential and a match like this allows for star performances. The early portion of the match was the basic set up, faces control and then get overrun by the numbers game, rise and repeat; but that was fine because that's the basic structure of the match. Magnus had a good performance, but the match just wasn't designed to let him shine, but again, he continues to perform well.
TNA didn't announce it before hand, but the dropped the roof gimmick on the Lethal Lockdown match. Instead, Sting was the last man out and carried out trashcans of plunder ala New Jack in ECW. Anticlimactic to say the least since the roof coming down was a big gimmick of the match for years. Team TA cleaned house for many minutes with the weapons until EY almost hit Sting by accident, which allowed Aces and 8s to fight back. They then did an insane six-man tower of doom spot, which was car crash great. Team TNA made the comeback, Sting got the death drop on Knux and then told EY to head to the top of the cage. He dropped the huge elbow drop and Team TNA defeated the MidCard Mafia via pin. Unless there is a big angle coming in the main event, I just cannot see how this angle keeps on going when Aces and 8s constantly get beat like a drum week in and out. The match was good, the crowd liked the weapons because they do not get them a lot; but it wasn't a "great match" that people will remember down the line. Tenay selling the victory for TNA as monumental would have meant something, again, if Aces and 8s had been dominating TNA. Also, the pure look of joy on Samoa Joe's face as he threw multiple trashcans at Garett Bischoff was hilarious. Again, this was a fun match, good for the style it was and had a hot crowd; but if you're not shooting a big angle in the main event, I just have no clue what you do with Aces and 8s.
Bully Ray celebrated with his brothers in Aces and 8s as Brooke threw a fit ringside, and that led to Ray calling Hulk an old bastard and saying that Brooke meant nothing to him. Ray then got on the mic and said to let the stupid bitch cry. Bully told Hulk that he used him and that he screwed Brooke. The crowd then started to litter the cage with beer cans, cups and trash as Ray gloated that he fooled every single one of the fans. It felt like that was set up to give the closing angle that nWo feeling when Hogan turned. Ray then declared that he was the president of Aces and 8s, and the new world champion.
I can't call it a great match, but what they did was good. But this was all about the angle with Bully Ray, which did come off well. The people were pissed that he turned on Jeff, Brooke, Hulk and TNA.
Match Rating: ***
The Tirade
This was a real mixed bag of a show. There wasn't a lot of great wrestling, but a few good matches (tag title, Lethal Lockdown and the main event were good) but nothing that makes you have to see the show from that standpoint. Also, I feel that if the plan was to have Ray win the title, then Aces and 8s certainly should have won the Lethal Lockdown match, to give them a clean sweep and their first real momentum as a stable.
While the show had an eventful ending, I do not feel that it was worth paying $35 for. Maybe if there were some better matches on the show that would have helped, but a lot of things came off as average at best. I cannot recommend a replay.
Show Rating: 5.5
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 - 0.9: Torture 1 - 1.9: Extremely Horrendous 2 - 2.9: Very Bad 3 - 3.9: Bad 4 - 4.9: Poor 5 - 5.9: Not So Good 6 - 6.9: Average 7 - 7.9: Good 8 - 8.9:Very Good 9 - 9.9: Amazing 10: Virtually Perfect
As a reminder, this is not a basic "how good was the show" number like a TV show, as I have always felt that a PPV is very different from a regular show. I have always judged PPV on how they built to a match, the match quality, crowd reactions to matches and angles, the overall booking, how the PPV leads into the future, PPV price and so on and so forth. I have added this in here for an explanation since so many have asked, and I have previously discussed it on podcasts. I understand that this may seem different, but that is how I grade. Obviously your criteria may be different.
Larry Csonka is a Pisces and enjoys rolling at jiu jitsu class with Hotty McBrownbelt, cooking, long walks on the beach, Slingo and the occasional trip to Jack in the Box. He is married to a soulless ginger and has two beautiful daughters who are thankfully not soulless gingers; and is legally allowed to marry people in 35 states. He has been a wrestling fan since 1982 and has been writing for 411 since May 24th, 2004; contributing over 3,000 columns, TV reports and video reviews to the site.
