The Final Impact
February 6, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
Lockdown has been one of my favorite wrestling PPVs ever since the first one in 2005 so I was excited but also a bit disappointed about TNA doing one on free TV. I thought it was a cool idea for a special episode of Impact but I also knew there was no way most of the matches would get as much time as they would on PPV. Unfortunately I was right and all of the matches except for the Main Event were just simply not given enough time. It is the most frustrating things for me in regards to TNA doing these free PPV specials. If they are going to do it I really wish they would either make it three hours or do it with limited commercial interruptions. When you have a 2 hour show with about 30 minutes of that being commercials it really hurts. Despite that tonight was filled with a lot of fun wrestling action and not a lot of lengthy talking segments which is how I like it. I wish, though, that they would have done 8 matches and just broke it up into two weeks of shows, all four matches could have gotten plenty of time and they could have done a lot more. Maybe headline one of the shows with Lethal Lockdown and the other with Roode-EY.
The opening match with the Hardyz and Revolution was pretty fun but I really could have done without all the interference. It is a Cage Match, the whole point of a Cage Match is to keep outside interference away. Yes, it keeps the Hardyz strong but damn they could have done it without SO much. Jeff Hardy is absolutely a mad man for taking the kind of bumps he still does. I appreciate the hell out of him and he damn sure entertains me but it is a minor miracle he has never suffered any major injuries in his career. Kudos to that guy for his guts.
The promo from BDC was short and sweet and worked in goading the babyfaces into a fight where they could injure one of Team Angle to further their heel advantage. Gunner makes for a pretty decent Arn Anderson in terms of the Wargames style match.
Kong and Havok was hard hitting as you would expect and was a really fun brawl but if they had given them even just five more minutes it could have been really great. I want to see more from these two but that was a really nice appetizer.
EY and Roode was pretty brutal at times too and they always work well together. Again, I just wish they were given a little more time to further tell the story but it was nice seeing the heel tactics of bringing in the chair bite EY in the butt. Simple but effective.
I usually DESPISE handicap matches because nine times out of ten it makes the tag team look like crap in my opinion, but they actually did a good job making Spud and Mandrews (such a horrible name) look decent while Tyrus still looks like a beast. Spud’s plancha off the top of the cage was crazy and definitely will be one of the highlights for him. EC3 plays the dickhead heel role so well but I’m ready to see what he and Tyrus can do as a legit tag team.
They tried to build intrigue up to the Main Event on whether or not Lashley would join Team Angle in the Main Event, but I doubt anyone thought for a second he wouldn’t be the final member of Team Angle.
It is never difficult to figure out how a Lethal Lockdown/Wargames match is going to be laid out. The heels get the man advantage and beat down the babyfaces until things get evened up and every time someone comes out they get their time to shine before the numbers gave gets the better until everyone gets in. Its simple but again usually effective. Sometimes things get so cluttered with eight or more guys in the ring or a cage at the same time but still Lethal Lockdown is always entertaining to me and tonight was no exception. Everyone worked hard they came up with some cool and interesting spots along the way.
– Segment/Promo of the Night: Jeff Hardy’s crazy bump
– Match of the Night: Lethal Lockdown (***1/2)
– Overall Grade: B+
Until next week… PEACE!
Follow me on Twitter: @BamaBoyJosh