Mike Reviews TNA Lockdown 2011 – 17.04.11

Happy Friday Everyone!

Today we’ve got TNA Lockdown 2011, an event I saw that had been uploaded to the F+C archives and thought I’d give a viewing to because I’d never seen it before. I’d long since given up watching TNA with any regularity by the time that 2011 rolled around, as the Hogan and Bischoff tandem had run me off pretty efficiently during 2010 after I’d initially be interested in the new Monday Night War.

Lockdown is a show where every match is inside a cage, because TNA, so this will likely start feeling a bit samey by the time we get to the end. There looks like there should be some fun matches though, as Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle will do battle and we’ve also got TNA’s version of War Games to close things out.

I actually attended a show at Stockport Plaza way back in the day where they had most of the matches in a cage, and even in a small setting like that the thrill of a special stipulation like a cage sure wears off after you’ve seen it multiple times. That being said; Lockdown was usually one of TNA’s more successful events on pay per view, so I guess the TNA fanatics enjoyed it and justified them going back to it every year.

You can view the full card for Lockdown 2011 by clicking the link below;

TNA Lockdown 2011 Card

This particular show hasn’t been reviewed on the Blog before, but Scott Keith as reviewed quite a bit of TNA over the years and you can dip into his archives below;
Scott Keith TNA Rants

Lockdown 2011 is emanating from the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio on the 17th April 2011, with 4000 people in attendance according to Cage Match

Calling the action are Mike Tenay and Taz

We get the usual dramatic opening video package with the man who sounds like Darth Vader narrating it all

Opening Match
TNA X-Division Title #1 Contendership Xcape Steel Cage Match
Jay Lethal Vs Brian Kendrick Vs Chris Sabin Vs Suicide Vs Amazing Red Vs Robbie E w/ Cookie Vs Max Buck Vs Jeremy Buck

Suicide is Christopher Daniels in a mask playing the character you did career mode as in the TNA Video Game. Robbie E would go on to become Robert Stone in NXT/WWE. Max Buck and Jeremy Buck are the Young Bucks after having their names churned out by the random TNA name generator. They wouldn’t enjoy their time in TNA but it did lead to them meeting Kazuchika Okada, who was suffering himself with a lame gimmick in the promotion around the same time. Cookie is Becky Bayliss, doing a Snookie impression. Snookie was a reality TV star at the time, although I’m not sure if her fame has sustained to 2026. The rules here seem to be that initial eliminations are by pin or submission, at which point it becomes escape the cage once you get down to the final two. I will say that the production values are decent here, with everything being shot nicely and the arena being well lit.

This one is all action from the opening bell, with two wrestlers in the ring whilst the others wait in a corner for a tag, at which point they can come in and do a bit. Being that it’s elimination until the last two, there isn’t much benefit to being in the ring in the early stages, which is why Kendrick decides to just sit on the apron rocking back and forth like a nutter rather than doing any wrestling. There seems to be a storyline going on here where Max (Matt) is being the overbearing Buck whilst Jeremey (Nick) is the younger fired up one looking to prove himself. The only downside about this one is just how loud they’ve mic’d the ring, as you can hear it rumbling throughout like a mild earthquake is taking part every time folks are walking around in it. Robbie E quickly eliminates Suicide, seeing as Daniels will also be working in the Lethal Lockdown Main Event tonight, and even TNA knows it would be dumb to let someone get injured doing wacky X Division spots in the opener so they’ve minimised the risk here.

This one ultimately comes down to fast moving folk doing a slew of high spots, which is entertaining to watch but doesn’t have much in the way of narrative nourishment outside of the two Buck brothers having their ongoing tiff. Sabin probably looks the best of the competitors in the bout, although no one really enters a particularly bad performance here. It is weird seeing Robbie E in this division, just because he’s more of a generic cocky Heel wrestler and doesn’t really do the high flying style of the others. I don’t know if TNA had the TV Title around this time, but if they did that would feel like it would make more sense for Robbie, and possibly even Kendrick, to be competing in that division whilst the high flying was left to the actual high flyers. The Buck’s do an okay segment together when it’s finally time, although it’s not exactly great either and you can see why AEW has never tried having them feud together over the years.

Jez ends up getting the better of his exchange with Max, but he backs off a bit when Max starts begging, which allows Max to catch Jez with a cradle to eliminate him, leaving us with Robbie, Max and Kendrick. I’m guessing that Kendrick is supposed to be a babyface here, seeing as Max and Robbie work him over and Kendrick has to make the fired up comeback. Kendrick does okay at that to be fair and does manage to draw some cheers from the crowd in the process. Kendrick manages to pin Robbie with a kick and that gives us Max Vs Kendrick as the final two, leading to them trying to escape. Honestly, I’m not sure they needed the escape stipulation. It just adds an unnecessary set of rules onto what is already a bit of a tricky bout to follow, but that’s TNA in a nutshell I guess. Kendrick is about to climb out, but Max knocks ref Brian Hebner into the cage to send Kendrick falling back into the ring, and that leads to Max escaping after 14 Minutes.

WINNER: MAX BUCK
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This was okay as an exhibition of MOVEZ, but they probably could have achieved what they wanted with this just being a straight elimination match without the escape bit at the end

Tenay and Taz share some banter at the desk, and actually have some fun chemistry, but then Eric Bischoff joins us, as he was one of the Heel authority figures at the time along with Hulk Hogan. Sleazy E riles up the crowd doing his 1998 Nitro shtick. Bischoff’s promo meanders a bit, with it feeling like he’s killing time more than anything else. The focus of the promo seems to be the Immortal group will take out the Fortune group later on, whilst the fans chant that they’d like to see wrestling. Brooke Hogan looks to be in the front row applauding Bischoff’s promo. Bischoff then just leaves without there being any real payoff. This segment was a waste of pay per view time.

Christy Hemme butchers a backstage interview with Scott Steiner and Crimson. Crimson is honoured to be tagging with Steiner, whilst Steiner is his usual boisterous self. Steiner was fun here, whilst Crimson and Hemme were not.

Match Two
Four Way Tag Team Match
Eric Young and Orlando Jordan Vs Crimson & Scott Steiner Vs The British Invasion (Douglas Williams & Magnus) Vs Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal & Shannon Moore)

Crimson was presented as Amazing Red’s brother and was given a winning streak gimmick at one stage that didn’t really get over. Magnus would go on to become Nick Aldis in the NWA and WWE. I have ZERO memory of Young and Jordan being a team, nor of Jordan’s Tarzan inspired gear, which shows just how checked out I was of TNA’s product at the time I guess. Crimson has stitches on his nose here, but he’s still wrestling, because Pro Wrestlers are generally mental when it comes to working through things that most regular humans would take time off for.

Garrett Bischoff is the referee here, although I’m not sure if he’d been named as such yet. Young was apparently back to being an idiot during this period, as occasionally TNA would book him as serious character and other times he’d be a doofus, and this is clearly a doofus era. Young highlights his idiocy by trying to climb out of the cage, even though you win by pin or submission in this one, leading to everyone else in the match calmly explaining the rules to Young. That just destroys my suspension of disbelief, because there’s no way I’d buy that Scott Steiner wouldn’t just tear Young limb from limb out of general principle for such stupidity.

There seems to be some kind of storyline going on here where Jesse Neal is respectful and easy going whilst Moore is more of a jerk, because it’s TNA and pretty much every team or alliance has to have people in it who don’t like one another. It will probably surprise no one to learn that the Brits are the best overall team here, with Doug Williams in particular being the best actual wrestler in the entire match. It’s a shame that NXT Black and Gold wasn’t really a thing in 2011 yet as Williams could have easily been signed to there and had a couple of title reigns.

The fans mostly want to see Steiner, so they smartly build up to it and then have him work a hot tag segment with the Brits so that they can bump all over the shop for him. It’s amazing seeing how crap Steiner’s WWE run was in 2002/04, but then you see him 7 years older here in TNA and he’s tearing it up because TNA actually booked to his strengths as opposed to against them. Young shows his commitment to his tandem by revealing his own Tarzan styled trunks, in the style of the Cincinnati Bengals, although the crowd doesn’t really care. Young tries climbing out again, which is of course not how you win, so Moore gets a neck breaker onto Williams for three back inside the cage after 9 Minutes.

WINNERS: INK INC.
RATING: *1/4

Thoughts: The bit where Steiner ran wild was fun, and The Brits did some decent work at points, but overall the match was pretty disjointed and the fans didn’t really care about it

Madison Rayne bullies Christy Hemme and talks about how she’s going to win later. However, Rayne and her bodyguard, Tara, aren’t getting along, so Tara will remain backstage for this upcoming match. Rayne is a decent annoying Heel, so this was fine.

Match Three
Luchas de Apuestas
TNA Women’s Knockout Title Vs Hair
Champion: Madison Rayne Vs Mickie James

Rayne was the Killer Queen at the time, defeating challengers in open challenge matches and causing them to lose their careers. Rayne said she’d only defend the belt against James with this stipulation in effect though, which James has agreed to. Rayne and Tara then supposedly ran James over with a motorbike as part of the build, which seemingly only left James with a separated shoulder. That’s like when Triple H got dropped off a crane and only had a bandage on his face the next week. From reading the WON review of this show; James was apparently injured for real and the bike attack was the storyline reason for it.

They do the useless TNA “Tale of the Tape” thing before the match, which Taz closes out by saying “My personal Tale of the Tape, they’re both hot!”. Ah, women’s wrestling in 2011. Speaking of which; the director makes sure to focus on a “Mickie, winning the belt will add 10 pounds to your waistline” sign as well as a “Women are good at Jello-Wrestling, Pudding-Wrestling, and Hair Cutting” sign which has Pro-Wrestling crossed out. I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact some chumps made those signs or the fact the dipshit directing this thought they’d be worth focusing on.

The entrances for this one take longer than the actual match, as the one-armed James quickly flings Rayne into the cage a few times and follows up with a DDT to win the belt after less than a Minute. So yes, that’s all we get for women’s wrestling on this show, during an era where TNA’s women’s division was arguably one of it’s best ratings getters and genuinely produced some good feuds and matches. James being injured, and the stipulation, meant she essentially HAD to win here, and quickly to boot, but why this had to be the only women’s match on the show is unclear. If you knew they could only do less than a minute, then add an additional women’s match onto the card as well so you’re not stiffing the division like this.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: MICKIE JAMES
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: This was a total waste of what could have been a very dramatic and emotional stipulation bout. Instead, it was a quick throwaway match. Granted the injury didn’t give them much choice, but couldn’t they have postponed the match or had someone else wrestle in James’ stead? Heck, they were already teasing that Tara and Rayne were breaking up, so why not have Tara feel guilt over the bike attack and turn babyface in order to wrestle Rayne here at Lockdown? Instead we got barely 30 seconds of wrestling and no other women’s matches for the rest of the night. Bischoff’s long rambling promo from earlier makes a bit more sense at least, as he was probably filling time that was originally dedicated to this contest

Christy Hemme is interviewing Matt Morgan backstage. Morgan says that Hernandez has been a thorn in his backside for a while, so tonight Morgan is getting a win and going after the World Title. This was a pretty bland promo, as Morgan would usually deliver, but it hit the beats it needed to, which Morgan could usually be relied on for

Match Four
Samoa Joe Vs “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero

The pre-match video package suggests that Samoa Joe claimed that Dinero’s charity work was all for show, with Joe hiring Kazuchika Okada to follow Dinero around with a camera to find evidence of this, leading to Dinero kidnapping Okada in order to heat things up. Based on the video package; I’m not really sure who the babyface is supposed to be here, but the crowd cheers Joe and Dinero has a cowardly look on his face before the match, so I’m guessing that means that Joe is the babyface here, something which is essentially confirmed for me when Pope gouges Joe’s eyes early on in the contest.

Joe does a good job of being the bruising babyface walloping the cowardly villain, and the crowd gets into the contest, giving us a “TNA” chant at one stage when Joe is really laying on the violence. Pope uses the referee as a human shield though, which allows him to throw Joe into the cage for the cut off. Pope works a solid enough heat segment, with Joe’s selling and bumping being what it needs to be. It’s not thrilling stuff, but it’s competent Pro Wrestling, especially when Joe snaps off a Power Slam in his usual manner for the double down.

They trade slaps after that, with it starting to sound like both are getting some boos now. This doesn’t stop Joe from making a great babyface comeback though, including an impressive looking leg lariat off the top rope for a two count. That was really cool and not something I remember Joe doing that much. Dinero manages to get his foot on the ropes at the two count after taking a Muscle Buster. Dinero tries to flee following that, having his trunks pulled down at one stage for the gratuitous bare bum spot, which doesn’t get much of a reaction really. Joe soon locks in the choke and that’s Pope done for after 11 Minutes.

WINNER: SAMOA JOE
RATING: **3/4

Thoughts: This was okay, with solid work and a Cowardly Heel Vs Angry Babyface story that was told efficiently. The crowd got progressively less into it the longer it went, which was strange because the storytelling and the work was there, but you can do what you’re supposed to do sometimes and the crowd will just decide that they don’t like it, so I wouldn’t hold that against the match itself too much

Christy Hemme tries to interview, Hernandez, who is apparently an evil Mexican who hates America (most of the rest of the world would probably agree with him these days). Hernandez and his goons speak some Spanish, which makes them really evil apparently.

Match Five
Matt Morgan Vs Hernandez (w/ Anarquia, Rosita & Sarita)

Rosita would end up becoming Zelina Vega in WWE. The story here is that Morgan and Hernandez used to team, but Morgan turned Heel on Hernandez and kicked his head into the ring post. However, Hernandez is now an anti-American character, which has made him the Heel and Morgan the babyface. Okay then. You can see why Morgan kept getting chances in TNA, as he looks physically impressive and even towers over Hernandez, who is himself a big scary looking dude. However, Morgan was so decidedly “mid” as a performer that generic big man was probably the best use of him, and he wasn’t ever really Main Eventing consistently doing that, regardless of how impressive his physique was.

Anarquia reaches in through the cage to slow Morgan down and help Hernandez with the cut off, leading to Hernandez working some generic heat on Morgan, who does an okay job selling it all in fairness. Morgan does manage to get some scattered “Mor-Gan” chants from the crowd, but most of the audience doesn’t seem to care that much about what is going on, even when Hernandez starts choking Morgan with a massive hanky at one stage. Hernandez does some decent cocky Heel taunting though, and that means that Morgan can at least get at least a mild reaction for when he makes the comeback.

Hernandez does a good job bumping around for Morgan in the comeback, with him taking some impressive bumps for a guy his size, especially when Morgan flings him into the cage at one stage. Hernandez’s allies try to interfere, but Morgan fends them off and then catches Hernandez with a Big Boot when Hernandez tries coming off the top rope with something for the three count after 8 Minutes. That was an unexpected result actually, as I thought Hernandez would cheat to win somehow in order to escalate the feud a bit, but then again they could have been feuding for a while here and this made sense as a blowoff. Had I been watching the TNA product regularly at the time I’d be better placed to confirm that one way or the other.

WINNER: MATT MORGAN
RATING: **

Thoughts: An okay big man slugfest, although they struggled with getting the crowd into it at points. Morgan is just a bit basic and dull, with the two feeling like they were in the wrong Face/Heel alignment for the most part, as Hernandez is the flashier more exciting wrestler, so him being a babyface would make more sense if you wanted a fun outing

Sarita and Rosita climb into the ring for a terrible promo following that, which leads to Velvet Skye heading down to the ring to beat them both up, which the crowd seems to enjoy at least. Skye battering the Women’s Tag Champs all by herself was certainly a choice, but I seem to recall that she got a strong babyface push around this timeframe based on what little attention I was paying to TNA, so that would match the booking she was given in this segment. I guess this fills the space that could have been dedicated to a second women’s match.

Christy Hemme interviews Karen Jarrett, in what looks to be a public bathroom. Karen says that Jeff Jarrett is the Ultra Male and she has nothing to worry about in the upcoming match

Match Six
Ultra Male Rules Best Two Out Of Three Falls
Jeff Jarrett w/ Karen Jarrett Vs Kurt Angle

Jarrett stole Angle’s wife and then started acting like a submission expert, leading to a feud escalating between the two. This is TNA’s version of a Three Stages of Heck Match. First fall is submission only. Second fall is pin only. Third fall is escape the cage only. This is a feud where none of the people within it are especially likeable. Karen is a shrill harridan, Jeff is a woman stealing jerk and Angle is a bitter ex who won’t let things go and essentially got what he deserved for being a terrible husband in the first place. If it wasn’t for the fact that Karen is such an unlikable character they could have easily made her and Jeff the babyfaces here, with the idea being that they were there for one another during down periods in their respective lives whilst Angle is an insane violent nutter who won’t let them move on, but then that would require Karen to be a babyface and I don’t think she’s capable of playing a babyface character on a wrestling show, regardless of how nice she is or isn’t in real life.

Referee Brian Hebner sends Karen to the back before this match starts, meaning this will be a straight one on one contest with no outside bollocks going on. Once the wrestling actually starts it’s good stuff, as both of these guys can work and the live crowd seems into the action. Jeff actually manages to catch Angle in a Figure Four, a sleeper/choke hold, and a cross arm breaker but Angle is able to survive all of those holds and keep going. Angle manages to catch Jarrett in the heel hook version of the ankle lock, leading to Jeff tapping out and giving Angle a 1-0 lead.

Kurt Angle wins the First Fall after 5 Minutes

There’s no rest period between falls, with Jeff immediately getting the Stroke almost right away for a two count. The fans are at least happy to accept Angle as the babyface, as they chant for him here when there’s a double down. The wrestling continues to be good, with them working at a quick clip and doing some nice counter sequences. There are some well-executed near falls, with Angle sending Jeff into the cage and following up with the Olympic Slam for a two count. Jeff ends up using a tights assisted roll-up for a flash three count, although it takes them a while to announce it and the crowd doesn’t seem to realise a fall took place, and nor do the commentary team either.

Jeff Jarrett wins the Second Fall after 12 Minutes

Jeff tries to escape by walking out of the door (I hope Jesse Ventura wasn’t watching!) but Angle prevents that and takes Jeff to the Suplex Peninsula. Angle could walk out of the cage following that, but he decides that he hasn’t done enough punishment to Jeff and locks the door before putting the key in his singlet and attacking Jeff further. Jeff comes up bleeding following that, and in a funny moment he tries to run away after first acting like he’s ready to throwdown. Angle takes a TERRIFYING bump from the top of the cage, where Jeff does a modified powerbomb and Angle almost lands on top of his head with it.

Thankfully it looks like Angle was able to rotate just enough to land on his front instead of his head. Angle quickly recovers from the horror bump and tries to climb out, but Gunner runs down to prevent it by swinging a chair, so Angle has to do a Moonsault off the top of the cage instead, wherein he misses Jeff by a mile but they act like contact was made. Scott Steiner runs down to chase Gunner off, leaving us with Jeff and Angle again. Angle decides he’s happy to go out of the door now, but Karen runs down and sprays something in Angle’s eyes. A blinded Angle clothesline’s Brian Hebner following that, which allows Karen to pass Jeff a guitar, which he clocks Angle with before crawling out of the door, with Karen’s help, to win, with Karen ultimately having to swing the cage door into Angle’s face to give Jeff the chance to escape.

Jeff Jarrett wins the Third Fall after 23 Minutes

WINNER: JEFF JARRETT
RATING: ***1/3

Thoughts: Best match on the show so far, although the overbooking at the end and some of the scary bumps took away from my personal enjoyment as the finish both felt cheap, and I was also worried that Angle was going to kill himself in there somehow. I have no idea if this was the end of the feud or not, but if it was then it was a pretty lousy way to end things as it essentially left nothing resolved between the two wrestlers and was all about Karen at the end

Match Seven
Three Way Bout for the TNA World Title
Champion: Sting Vs Mr. Anderson Vs Rob Van Dam

Anderson is the former Ken Kennedy from WWE. The story here is that RVD was the World Champ but had to forfeit it due to a violent attack from Abyss, leading to Jeff Hardy winning it and going Heel to join up with Hulk Hogan’s faction. Anderson got to be Champion for a bit but then lost it back to Hardy, who then lost it to Sting, who was doing a gimmick at the time where he was trying to take Hogan down. This would all lead to Hogan and Sting fighting at Bound For Glory and Hogan’s eventual babyface turn. The video package for this one suggests that the Hogan side have been courting both Anderson and RVD, with neither seemingly joining up thus far.

Oh man, RVD’s Awful TNA theme has NOT improved with age since 2011. Anderson is pretty over with the crowd, showing that TNA had done a reasonably effective job of pushing him into the World Title picture around this time. I always felt like WWE could have brought him back sometime in the 2010’s and he might have done okay as a mid-card figure. He had an over catchphrase, an oddly compelling weird charisma, and he could have a watchable match when in there with the right opponent who could cover for the more erratic elements of his in-ring style. I think he nearly injured/actually injured both Orton and Cena at different points though, so that probably punched his card forever.

I think all three of these wrestlers are ostensibly babyface, with Hogan booking them together in order to sow dissension, but Anderson’s whole gimmick at the time was that he was an “A$$hole” and they were heavily teasing in the video package that RVD might join up with the Heels, so Sting is probably the only real babyface here seeing as he’s clearly an avenging hero trying to keep the World Title away from the bad guys. The big spot early on sees Sting lock both of his opponents in the Scorpion Deathlock, which is a good indication that this one isn’t going very long for a World Title match considering we’re getting one of the biggest and most visually interesting spots so early.

Anderson and RVD manage to survive that and make the ropes, leading to Anderson giving both Sting and RVD a Mic Check. I’m guessing we’re getting an RVD Frogsplash onto Anderson and Sting at some point in order to complete the sequence? The action here is a bit sloppy, and the crowd isn’t that into it despite being into the entrances of the three competitors, but it’s not awful to watch or anything. It just feels like an Impact match that they put on pay per view, with the abbreviated run-time adding to that feeling. Eventually we get a triple down, which leads to Hulk Hogan heading down to the ring with a metal pipe.

Hogan offers the pipe to RVD, giving us the moment where RVD will have to decide whether he’s joining the Heels. RVD takes the pipe and teases going Heel, but then throws it away, which allows Anderson to use it. RVD was pretty dumb there, he should have at least thrown the pipe out of the cage itself. Anyway, RVD is out after getting piped, but Anderson takes too long to make a pin and that allows Sting to catch Anderson with the Scorpion Death Drop for the three count after 8 Minutes as Brooke Hogan looks on annoyed in the front row. I’m guessing this was to tease Brooke being a Heel character on the show, but I think she eventually ended up as a babyface didn’t she?

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: STING
RATING: **

Thoughts: Just fellers doing stuff, with none of it really having much consequence, but I didn’t hate it. The stuff with the pipe made RVD look like a bit of a goober, but TNA booking could do that to a lot of people. It at least keeps RVD as a babyface I suppose, so we know where he falls on the Hogan Vs TNA divide

Main Event
Lethal Lockdown
Immortal (Abyss, Bully Ray, Matt Hardy and Ric Flair) Vs Fortune (Christopher Daniels, James Storm, Frankie Kazarian and Robert Roode)

Fortune used to be Flair’s TNA version of the Horsemen, but they’ve turned babyface and are no longer associated with him, hence why we now have this War Games styled match to try and settle things. It works very similar to how War Games does, as you have two wrestlers starting it out and then the teams alternate sending a new teammate in until all eight competitors have entered, at which point Lethal Lockdown will begin and someone can win. The first two wrestlers get five minutes and then it’s two minutes after that. The twist is that a roof comes down on the cage once all eight are in and there are weapons attached to it.

Abyss and Kazarian start us out, which seems like a strange tactic on the part of the Heels, as you’d think that they’d want to save Abyss to the end when everyone on the Face side has been weakened, leading to him tearing into them all? Matt Hardy wanted in at first, and that makes more sense to me, as he looked to be in good shape here and would probably be better suited to lasting the length of the match due to his superior endurance. This also kind of defeats the purpose of a War Games match, as the idea is that the babyfaces have the upper hand in a fair fight, with the Heels needing the man advantage to gain traction, but instead they spend most of the opening five minutes having Abyss welly Kazarian. They do at least have Kazarian get Abyss down on the mat by the time the next Heel enters.

Matt Hardy enters Lethal Lockdown

Matt and Kazarian do some nice stuff together, with Abyss recovering to wallop Kazarian, leading to the Heels taking over. Hardy as some kind of underhook submission hold called the “Ice Pick” (because he was “Cold Blooded” at the time you see) and he wears Kazarian down with that for a bit until it’s time for the next babyface to enter.

Christopher Daniels enters Lethal Lockdown

Daniels makes a hot comeback on Abyss and Hardy, giving Abyss an impressive BME at one stage. Bully Ray hasn’t stopped talking since the match started by the way, cheering on his teammates and yelling at the babyfaces, which has been pretty funny. We see some early SCU antics, as Daniels and Kazarian work well together as a duo against the Heels.

Ric Flair enters Lethal Lockdown

This seems like a really weird batting order for the Heels. I think either you have Flair come in last as the coward taking on the weakened babyfaces or you have Abyss come in as the tank to destroy them. Instead you’ve got Bully coming in last, which just feels like an odd way of doing it. The crowd likes Flair, even though he’s a Heel, which was an issue that any company that tried to make Flair a Heel after 1997 would run into.

James Storm enters Lethal Lockdown

Storm of course has a bottle of beer with him, which he breaks over Flair’s head so that Flair can blade. Yes, Ric Flair did a blade job. I hope that’s not too shocking a revelation for anyone reading this. Flair looks to be the only bleeder thus far though, and he’s stealing the entire match, including having his pants pulled down by Storm at one stage. You have to think that Storm was having the time of his life working Flair over for a couple of minutes there whilst Flair bumped and sold for him.

Bully Ray enters Lethal Lockdown

Bully’s flurry gives Flair time to finally pull his pants up at least.

Robert Roode enters Lethal Lockdown

Roode getting the last guy into the cage spot makes sense when you consider that TNA would be pushing him towards the World Title as the year went on. Roode makes a decent one man comeback against all of the Heels, including wearing Flair out with chops, as seemingly all the young guys on the babyface team are having a riot getting to work with Flair in this one. Flair has been the star of the match really. I’m not sure what that says about TNA’s ability to push it’s homegrown talent that an ancient way past it Ric Flair can come in and overshadow them all like this, but it’s certainly something.

The roof with the weapons lowers now, as this goes from being a decent War Games tribute to being a the standard hardcore stunt show, complete with Matt and Daniels fighting on the roof. That being said, that’s what War Games and the Blood and Guts match basically are these days. No one can do War Games properly anymore. Daniels almost takes a spill off the roof one time, and only just manages to grab onto the side. That was needlessly dangerous. Meanwhile, folks are just hitting one another with weapons in the cage, whilst Flair is just CAKED in blood now. Interestingly I’m not sure anyone else is bleeding though.

Daniels gets another terrifying moment by leaping off the cage onto both Hardy and Abyss on the entrance ramp. There was barely enough space out there to do that safely. Roode looks to have Flair beat with a Figure Four, but Bully Ray runs wild with weapons to lay out the babyfaces whilst Flair yells “do it again Bubba” forgetting that Bully has now had a name change. Daniels starts bleeding following that. Bully references AJ Styles during the beatdown though, which leads to Styles running down and into the cage to attack Bully, as Bully apparently injured Styles prior to this match. Flair then takes everyone’s finishers and submits to a Roode arm bar after 23 Minutes.

WINNERS: FORTUNE
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: This was good, but I’m just not enamoured with the modern approach to these matches, where the focus is more on weapons and high spots rather than doing an intense, violent and dramatic brawl focused more on storyline elements like the classic War Games matches used to be. TNA doing these Lethal Lockdown bouts was kind of the beginning of War Games no longer being War Games and WWE/AEW just took it a step further. Still, this had blood, some wacky high spots and the live crowd seemed to like it, so I guess it worked, it’s just not for me

In Conclusion:

Lockdown 2011 wasn’t a terrible show by any means. It had the usual TNA issues, and the women’s match was not only super disappointing but there were also ways around doing it the way they did if they’d planned things better.

There were some good matches in there though and the live crowd was sent home happy with the Main Event, so I’d give it a mild recommendation depending on your own personal tolerance for TNA being TNA