By Jason Powell

Dot Net Members are listening to the 80-minute audio review of TNA Lockdown that Chris Shore and I recorded on Sunday night. Join us on the ad-free version of the website by signing up for membership now via the Dot Net Members' Signup Page. Keep in mind that a one-month membership purchased today will carry you through WrestleMania 29.

TNA Lockdown Hits

Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy: The match was very good and you had to know were weren't going to see a clean finish. The swerve of having Ray join Hardy in clearing Garett Bischoff and Wes Brisco from the ring felt unnecessary, but the actual turn got over with the live crowd. I am worried that the explanation for everything we've seen won't be sufficient and will end up being something fans point to as an excuse to not take big mystery stories seriously in the future, but I guess we'll find out on Thursday whether they can connect the dots. I didn't care for the way the turn felt like it was more about Hulk and Brooke Hogan than it did about the actual top star Hardy. However, it is encouraging to see the key move of Bully Ray taking his rightful place as the top heel and now the TNA Champion heading into a key time in TNA history as they take the show on the road going forward.

Bobby Roode and Austin Aries vs. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian vs. Hernandez and Chavo Guerrero: A good three-way tag match with nonstop action. The pre-match setup for Roode returning worked for online fans and seemed to leave the average fans scratching their heads since no one even acknowledged that Roode was missing from television beforehand. Chavo and Hernandez were over with the Texas crowd and TNA really needs that to continue as they head out on the road. They have good heel tag teams, but the division needs a strong babyface team to get back on track.

Team TNA vs. Aces & 8's in Lethal Lockdown: A good War Games style match. It was laid out nicely with the heels always taking advantage of the man advantage to set up the big flurry of offense once the next babyface entered. The small setting led to a lot of bad battle royal style kicking and punching as more men entered the match. Sting received the big time legend reaction and breathed new life into the crowd and helped the match close on a positive note. The top of the cage elbow drop by Eric Young was a huge spot. I'm curious to see whether TNA follows up with Young being more serious or if he was just in this match because he was willing to do the big move off the top of the cage.

Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco: TNA made the mistake of telegraphing D-Lo Brown's interference. I wasn't thinking about D-Lo interfering until they featured him so prominently in the pre-match video. Angle threw Brisco around for the bulk of the match and it worked for what it was. This was not a star making performance for Brisco. He took Angle's suplexes, but he didn't shine when he was on the offensive and the win put the heat on D-Lo.

Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim: The Hit is mostly for the Kim and Taryn Terrell since they was featured more prominently than the actual Knockouts Champion. It was hard to tell whether the live crowd was into the Kim and Terrell storyline or just popping for the attractive blonde referee getting involved. Either way, it worked here and made Terrell's breaking point come across well. Sky and Kim worked well together as well, but the focus was clearly on Kim and the referee.

Joseph Park vs. Joey Ryan: Minor Hit. The great part about Ryan is that he can work in front of an unfamiliar crowd and still manage to get strong heat. He went further than he needed to with the sleazy element of his gimmick. He could tone it down and get just as much heat.

Kenny King vs. Zema Ion vs. Christian York: A minor Hit. Ion is the guy to build the division around. He's the most charismatic, the best talker, and very good in the ring. King is solid and is just settling into his new champion role. York is too big for his frame and his overly muscular bad hair look is just too much. The match itself was the typical TNA high spot opener. Everyone worked hard and the live crowd was receptive.

Overall show: TNA looked slick and big league. The Alamodome setup looked really good on television and the wrestlers came across like bigger stars while working in front of the enthusiastic crowd. I wasn't as blown away by the show as the Hit count may suggest. The show closing angle was the only thing that felt truly memorable. The best thing about Lockdown is that it left me looking forward to seeing the followup. We've seen good pay-per-view efforts from TNA that didn't leave me anxious to see where things were headed, but this was a solid event that sets up Thursday's Impact as a must see television show..

TNA Lockdown Misses

Robbie T vs. Robbie E: Robbie E's character feels dated and tired. The guy has the gift of gab on the mic and he's worth taking the time to repackage. Robbie T just can't work. TNA has invested a lot of time in him, but at some point they need to acknowledge that he's just not improving at the rate they hoped and cut bait.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: