By Will Pruett

- Opening the show with shots of James Storm loading up his truck was an interesting way to go. All night they reinforced the idea of Storm as the hometown guy. I felt like it would help his pop, but the crowd was not in the mood, but I'll get to that later.

- The opening video for the pay-per-view echoed the video we saw on Impact this past week. It is a great package, but with it being so similar (or possibly the exact same as) the Impact video, it was not as interesting as it should have been. This lack of interest was followed by the same video being played right before the main event. Three times in one week is a little much.

- I attended TNA's last show at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, which was Slammiversary 2007. The crowd there that night was weak and heavily papered, but they were at least loud. The building looked better on that night and, even on TV, seemed louder. This was a sad crowd for TNA in what they consider their home market.

- Was the Lethal Lockdown match opening the show a decision based on the lack of overness apparent in Garett Bischoff or was it made to keep this match away from the brutality of Storm vs. Roode?

- Austin Aries was brilliant in the segment where Garett Bischoff volunteered to go into the cage first. I don't feel like it really helped Bischoff get over, as he was just beat down the entire time. All of the effort going into Bischoff is hurting the credibility of the company and the entire writing team. There are talented wrestlers up and down the roster that could use a push half as good as this one.

- I usually enjoy the Lethal Lockdown concept match, but without a real grudge between all of the wrestlers to drive it, the match was hurt. Having a faction war every year is a little too predictable, but it is preferable to a hardcore, weapon filled, grudge cage match without any real grudges.

- Kazarian's new haircut is actually pretty ironic. He refused to do so in WWE and left the company because of it. Now he has shaved his head for essentially no reason. His new look works, but it could have meant more than a random Lance Storm-esque makeover.

- There was a very long pause between Rob Van Dam's entrance and the cage top lowering. TNA's video production team shines, but their live production experience leaves quite a bit to be desired. I realize that they do not have the money that WWE does, but there are certain things, like timing, that money cannot buy. They just have to be there.

- Taz and Mike Tenay were truly awful all night. They did not take a single thing seriously. Even when they tried to offer a big match feel, their credibility was shot. Say what you will about Michael Cole, but when it was time to deliver the goods at WrestleMania, he did so. Taz and Tenay failed on every level on this show.

- It is my sincere hope that one Bischoff being off TV will automatically lead to another being forgotten. Time after time TNA has dropped talent after a great initial push. Remember Desmond Wolfe's first feud with Kurt Angle? Remember how quickly he fell off after that? We can all hope TNA somehow Garett Bischoff suffers the same fate.

- The Team Storm vs. Team Roode gimmick was not the right choice for this show. When WWE did it with The Rock and John Cena, it worked because they were babyfaces splitting he crowd. When TNA did it with a heel and a babyface it made people think they quite possibly should cheer the heel.

- There were quite a few moments where it seemed like the Nashville crowd would pop, but they were just dead. The entrance of the Motor City Machine Guns was one of those moments. It didn't help that their entrance music was wrong at first, but their entrance was just flat.

- Samoa Joe and Magnus had a pretty good match with Sabin and Shelley, but I wish it did not have to be in a cage. There was a certain amount of sportsman like conflict this feud called for at first that was missing. There are so many reasons that an all cage match format doesn't work, but this is the primary one.

- Devon has not been on television since winning the TV title. Robbie E. has not since losing it. Why should anyone care about this match?

- The match order on this show was also odd. Putting the tag match, which could have been a great crowd popping moment, on right after the ultra-violent Lethal Lockdown match was a bad call. Placing the TV title match right after it also hurt. This killed the crowd after they may have been excited.

- Matt Morgan is an excellent big man and he can work either as a babyface or a heel. Sadly, he is saddled down in a feud with Crimson that should not be happening. Morgan can mean a lot to TNA, but they would rather push a Bischoff the cannot wrestle and cannot wear normal wrestling gear instead.

- I know that this seems like standard internet hate on Garett Bischoff, but if there were any indications that he had the ability to back up the push he was receiving, I would back off of it. At the moment, he is a frustrating example of the problems that remain in the upper echelons of TNA.

- Gail Kim tried her best to carry Velvet Sky to a passable match and she did an alright job. Sadly, Sky just does not have talent in the ring. She has charisma and an attachment with the crowd that could carry over into being a valet for a babyface star and helping them get over.

- What exactly was the point of the Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair promo in the middle of the night? Did it help the crowd get more into the show? I don't believe it did. Did it enhance the story of the ongoing power struggle in TNA? It just kind of put it out there again. It wasn't furthered in any way. Flair, being put in this role instead of Bischoff, made sense, but it was very early to move on.

- Crimson and Matt Morgan tried out there, but they just couldn't capture the imagination of the crowd. Morgan can tell a good story, but with a wrestler like Crimson, he is saddled with a less than stellar opponent. Crimson has the mannerisms of a heel star, but he doesn't have the ring work to back it up.

- I am slightly depressed that Crimson and Morgan's feud seems to be continuing.

- Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle worked hard and had a good match. The fans in attendance seemed to respond to them as stars for the first time all night. Perhaps it is the way that TNA presents their talent, but it is sad that Kurt Angle, six years after coming into the company and far removed from his prime as a wrestler, is still the biggest star in the company. Story after story was constructed to get new stars over, but they failed every time.

- There were some major calculated risks in the Angle and Hardy match. It was not the over the top risky affairs that Angle has had in the past at Lockdown, but it fit the feud they have had. It may have been a little too much for Angle, who has a history of reliance on pain medication and is currently working on a severely injured leg, to perform in.

- Eric Young and ODB vs. Sarita and Rosita was a pointless comedy buffer. I understand why it existed, but I am tiring of the Young in Knockouts matches angle.

- Bobby Roode cut a great promo before his match. He has been steadily improving on the mic and this was an excellent display. Roode has worked very hard as champion and it is paying off for him and the company.

- James Storm's truck entrance was really nicely done. The promotion of him as a Nashville oriented star worked well on this night. This is an opportunity that TNA will not have again. There is a certain magic to a hometown star returning home and it felt wasted by the end of the show.

- The entrances being shot from behind all night was a nice production device. It is very uniquely TNA and with a packed house it would have helped enhance the feel of the show. Sadly, it also meant that the nice atmosphere that TNA's road set usually sets was missing and it made the building feel emptier.

- The beginning of this brawl felt like Survivor Series 1997, with the fight starting before the match. This was a nice, intense section of brawling where Storm an Roode were able to show true hatred. It also had the benefit on breaking the steel cage format that dominated the evening.

- Storm and Roode had a nice, main event style brawl that went a long time. Their in-ring chemistry was not exactly what I expected it to be, but it wasn't bad. The quiet crowd all night did not help this match, however. I do not know if the building was really that dead or it they were poorly mic'ed. Either way, the show was hurt by it.

- I really disliked the finish of Storm vs. Roode. There are only so many opportunities in wrestling to create a real moment. There are only so many chances that a wrestler gets. While the finish did not make James Storm look awful, it did not take advantage of the opportunity presented. I mentioned the magic of a wrestler in their hometown earlier and this finish took the wind out of his sails in that situation.

- While it may not have been the perfect moment in the feud to switch the title, it was the perfect moment in James Storm's career. After his first title reign was fumbled and his subsequent feuds really undefinable, he was built up to this moment. He needed it far more than anything else that has happened in his career.

- Finally, TNA has failed constantly to deliver on the big babyface buildup in a major pay-per-view. Bobby Roode failed at Bound for Glory and now James Storm failed at Lockdown. These failures hurt the enjoyment of TNA's product and will drive fans away.

The finish of this show really hurt my enjoyment of it. Seeing the failure of a majorly built storyline and another weak title defense from Roode was not how I wanted to spend this evening. The show was flat all around. The cage match format does not work. By the end of the night, the spectacle that a cage should be becomes standard. It appears as just another part of the ring. Even if there were just three cages on this show, it would have been better.

TNA needs help. Creatively they are still disappointing. This show demonstrates just how much they are hurting. There is room for a turnaround, but they have blown so many major moments that it will take a ton of work.

Let's do some good old fashioned talking about this show! Feel free to email me at itswilltime@gmail.com or to follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/itswilltime.

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