TNA Impact on Spike TV
Taped in Orlando, Fla.

[Q1] A video package featured clips from the Destination X pay-per-view... The opening montage aired... Mike Tenay and Don West introduced the show and hyped Karen Angle’s bombshell announcement and Kurt Angle vs. Kaz...

Jim Cornette stood in the ring and announced the two main events for Lockdown: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe for the TNA Title, and a Lethal Lockdown match. Cornette reminded viewers that Lockdown features all cage matches and said the cage will be covered and littered with weapons for the Lethal Lockdown match.

Cornette introduced Christian and Tomko as the captains of the Lethal Lockdown match. The captains were given two weeks to come up with the rosters for their teams. Christian took the mic and recalled how Tomko’s interference cost him the TNA Title at Against All Odds. Christian said Tomko is Kurt Angle’s lapdog. “You are and always will be a big, jacked up, tattooed, bald-headed pussy (censored),” Christian said.

Tomko and Christian brawled. A.J. Styles ran out and helped Tomko. Kevin Nash ran out and ran off the heels... Backstage, Jeremy Borash chased down Karen and asked her about the bombshell announcement. Karen said she would respect the fact that Kurt has a match and address him afterward... [C]

Powell’s POV: Good segment with Cornette doing an excellent job of making the pay-per-view matches seem special.

[Q2] Backstage, Crystal interviewed Scott Steiner and Pete Williams while Rhaka Khan stood by. Steiner warned Petey that he would have to face an initiation process... Tenay pointed out Joel Anderson of Survivor Micronesia sitting in the front row. He did not acknowledge the pay-per-view incident with Team 3D...

1. Curry Man beat Petey Williams (w/Rhaka Khan) at 4:22 in an X Division Lockdown X-Scape qualifying match. Late in the match, Petey set up Curry for his finisher, but he slipped out and hit the Dragon Suplex for the win. Afterward, Steiner came to the ring, handcuffed Petey, and put a sack over his head...

Powell’s POV: I guess we all have to learn the hard way that it’s not a good idea to let a muscular guy and his dominatrix girlfriend put a bag over your head and handcuff your hands together. Don’t act like you haven’t fallen for it once in your life.

Backstage, Team 3D warned Cornette that they would beat up the Motor City Machine Guns, Curry Man, Shark Boy, or any reality stars they encounter during the show... [C]

[Q3] Samoa Joe walked to the ring wearing a suit for a promo. He thanked Kevin Nash and the fans for getting him where he is today. Joe said he will either win the title at Lockdown or it will be the last time he appears in a TNA ring... [C]

Powell’s POV: Very good promo. Joe’s vow to win or leave TNA is great hype for the pay-per-view...

Backstage, Crystal followed Christian into Rhino’s locker room. Christian said he wanted to talk about their past issues, but Rhino said he doesn’t care what Rhino has to say...

Powell’s POV: Another good segment. Christian and Rhino had a long feud, so it's good to see they're not instantly back on good terms just because Christian turned.

2. Black Reign and Rellik defeated The Motor City Machine Guns in 8:00. The heels attacked the Guns to start the match and they cut to a commercial early.

[Q4] [C] In the end, Rellik clotheslined Sabin and pinned him clean. After the match, Reign took the mic and called out Eric Young. Young walked out and the onscreen graphic labeled him as “Super Eric.” He cleared the ring and did the Hurricane/superhero pose on the second rope. Ugh.

Powell’s POV: The Guns just appeared on MTV and now they’re losing to the team to Rellik and Reign? Life in the doghouse continues. Ridiculous.

Backstage, A.J. entered Karen’s dressing room and hugged her. She said it wouldn’t be fair to tell him what the big announcement was before she told Kurt. After Karen left the room, Tomko entered and told Styles to get his head in the game...

Kurt Angle and Kaz made their ring entrances. A split shot aired of Kurt in the ring and Karen pacing backstage... [C]

3. Kurt Angle defeated Kaz in a non-title match in 7:00. The match was essentially joined in progress because they cut to commercial just after the bell rang. Tenay said Angle dominated the early action.

[Q5] Kaz scored a pair of nearfalls late in the match. Angle kicked out at the last possible moment, but no one really bought them because the moves that led up to those pin attempts were nothing special. Conversely, the crowd bought into a third nearfall when Kaz flipped Angle off the ropes and scored a nearfall. However, Angle came back moments later by applying the Ankle Lock for the win...

After the match, Angle took the mic and told Joe to take get his fat ass in shape for their match. He took a serious tone, but there was nothing particularly memorable about the promo.

Karen walked to the ring with a mic of her own. “I want a separation,” Karen said. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it would be good for us if we separate.” Kurt looked surprised, but then said, “Actually, that’s a great idea!” He said he could concentrate on Samoa Joe and not have to worry about her distracting him. He said they could sit down after Lockdown and talk. She said she’d take care of the kids. Karen left the ring more frustrated than ever... [C]

Powell’s POV: Karen plays it straight and Kurt goes for comedy. It’s hard to buy into the story line when Kurt’s reaction was so over the top. It’s funny, but I’m not sure what they were looking for. For that matter, describing her request for a separation did not live up to the “bombshell” announcement hype. Divorce. Yes. Pregnant? yes. Separated? Not so much.

The second installment of Rough Cut aired. B.G. James admitted he was fired by “the other company” because of his drug use. He said that’s behind him now. He’s not perfect, but he has his head and heart in the right place. He said he was in rehab when Jeff Jarrett called and asked him to be in TNA.

Kip James said he had enough of “New York” and being released. He said TNA offered him a chance to come in and he jumped on it. BG said he was torn when Kip was signed because he was having fun with Ron Killings and Konnan. Kip said the bond they had was and wasn’t there when he returned to TNA. A graphic noted the segment will be continued...

Powell’s POV: Much better this week. They gave the segment two minutes.

Backstage, The Rock-n-Rave Infection cut a promo. Yes, they had the guitar hero guitars with them. And, yes, Lance Hoyt was dressed up like Slash again...

[Q6] Tenay pointed out two members of the Detroit Tigers who were sitting at ringside...

4. The Rock-n-Rave Infection and Christy Hemme defeated LAX and Salinas in 6:00. Yet another match with an early commercial break. [C] Late in the match, Christy hit Salinas with one of the Guitar Hero guitars and scored the pin for her team.

Powell’s POV: You don’t know how badly I want to turn the channel when I see the Infection. So they make it seem like they’re going to rebuild LAX at the pay-per-view only to have them lose to the team with the worst gimmick in TNA history.

Highlights aired of Black Machismo’s date with SoCal Val. Sonjay Dutt showed up out of nowhere wearing a dress shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck. Sonjay, who is clearly trying to steal Val, took her by the arm and walked off. At least Sonjay isn’t the Guru..

Backstage, Velvet Sky and Angelina Love beat up Roxxi Laveaux when they were supposed to give her a makeover. Lame... [C]

[Q7] Backstage, Borash interviewed Gail Kim. The camera moved in on Gail’s heavily made up face...

Powell’s POV: Gail whines too much during her promos. She doesn’t come off as likable as she should in her role as the top female babyface.

5. Gail Kim pinned Velvet Sky (w/Angelina Love) at 3:34. After the match, the heel duo teamed up on Kim until she bailed to ringside. Awesome Kong walked out with Raisha Saed and ttacked Gail from behind. Love and Sky bailed. Kong beat up Kim and went for the Awesome Bomb, but Gail slipped out and hit the Code Breaker. Gail made a brief comeback until Saed hit her from behind. Kong roughed up Gail until ODB made the save...

Backstage, Crystal tried to interview Christian, but Kevin Nash interrupted. Nash complained that Christian didn’t ask him to be his tag team partner. “There’s a lot of diesel left in this tank,” Nash said. Christian replied, “Where have you been all my life?”... [C]

[Q8] 6. Kevin Nash and Christian beat Tomko and A.J. Styles by DQ in a non-title match in 9:00. Back and forth action for the first two minutes. Kurt Angle walked to ringside and the show cut to commercial. [C] Late in the match, Nash hit the Jackknife Powerbomb on Styles. Christian immediately followed up with a frogsplash. He had the pin, but Tomko pulled the referee out of the ring.

Team 3D ran in for the DQ. The heels ganged up on Nash and Christian. Team 3D took a chair to one of Nash’s knees. 3D went to ringside and stood face-to-face with Joel Anderson (Survivor guy). Devon punched Anderson and then Ray pulled him over the railing. Team 3D beat down Anderson to close the show...

Powell’s POV: Cheap finish to the main event, but the show closed on a semi-high note for viewers who are familiar with Anderson from Survivor. TNA cut way back on the comedy this week and it was a refreshing change. TNA seemed to cram most of their bigger matches and angles into the first hour.

I’m not sure if the strategy was to give the viewers so much that they stick around for the second hour or if they’re just trying to make sure they’re best material is featured at times when their ratings have been highest in recent weeks. The second hour wasn’t as good as the first hour, but this was still better than the average Impact.

Check back on Friday for the TNA Impact Hitlist.

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