The Impact intro hits and we head to the live show where Booker T and Robert Roode are fighting in the crowd in the Impact Zone and find their way into the ring. Payton Banks and Traci Brooks come out to the ring as well and security comes in and breaks it up.
Mike Tenay and Don West hype tonight’s show by running down the scheduled matches and tell fans to vote at tnawrestling.com for Awesome Kong’s next opponent. Jim Cornette then announces that there are going to be two interactive matches tonight with the fans picking the stipulations for a match between Robert Roode and Booker T. Those stipulations are a Last Man Standing match, an I Quit match or a First Blood match.
Jeremy Borash is backstage with AJ Styles & Tomko and talks about their sparring session against Angle and Sting’s return tonight. Angle comes in and says that he won’t hurt them tonight but doesn’t want them to hold anything back during their session.
Match 1: Johnny Devine vs. Alex Shelley (X Division Xscape Qualfier)
Alex Shelley works over Johnny Devine, but Team 3D makes their presence felt on the outside by distracting Shelley. The lights go out in the Impact Zone, which sends Team 3D to the back. Shelley lands a suicide dive on Devine which sends the already hot live crowd in a frenzy as we see shots of the Knockouts arguing backstage and head to a commercial break.
The match returns with Devine in control but Shelley fights back and nearly picks up the win after landing a moonsault. Devine is dumped outside the ring and nails Shelley in the head with a tripod. Devine lands the Devine Intervention to pick up the win.
Footage of So Cal Val helping Jay Lethal train is aired. Lethal is lifting weights while Val is spotting for him. Petey Williams walks by and calls him a lightweight as Sonjay Dutt comes in and whisks Val away as Lethal struggles with the weights.
Booker T is backstage and says that his plan worked tonight and is getting his match against Roode. Booker says that Roode will not make it to Lockdown and then tries to sway the online voting by saying he wants Roode’s blood.
Team 3D congratulates Devine for winning his match and tell him to finish what they started and continue to destroy the X Division. Ray then says that their paths have never crossed with Sting and tell him to stay away from them and they will stay away from him. The lights then go out and Team 3D gets freaked out again.
Robbie of the WWE tag team, the Highlanders, is in attendance at the Impact Zone and is shown on camera.
Match 2: Scott Steiner/Petey Williams/Rhaka Khan vs. the LAX & Salinas
Footage is shown of Steiner’s initiation of Williams prior to the match, which now included electrocution. The LAX are in total control in the opening moments of the match, but Williams is able to turn the tide and Steiner comes in and powers Homicide around. Homicide makes it to his corner and tags in Hernandez, who comes in and cleans house. Khan enters the ring and stares down Hernandez while Salinas comes in and jumps on Khan’s back and the two begin to fight on the outside. Hernandez flies out of the ring and takes out Steiner as Homicide lands a t-bone suplex with a bridge on Williams to win the match. Steiner handcuffs Williams once again after the match.
TNA Rough Cut is up next and BG James says the Feast or Fired match was the beginning of the end for the team. Kip James doesn’t like the fact that BG picked his father over him as his partner when he cashed the tag team title shot in. BG says it was a misunderstanding and Kip let his ego get in the way and ruining their legacy in the process.
A Lockdown ad airs and a Consequences Creed promo begins to air and there is no audio for either of them. Ah, the benefits of live TV.
Tenay’s sit down interview with Karen Angle is aired. Karen says she made the right decision by leaving her husband. She says that Kurt has no more feelings as he is too focused on Samoa Joe and their kids are suffering because of it. Karen says that she has met someone who treats her the way she should be treated but won’t dive into any more details.
A package showing Samoa Joe’s training and thoughts on his Lockdown match is aired. Joe is shown training in a cage as MMA fighters give their thoughts on Joe. Joe joins the broadcast via satellite and says that every day he is coming closer to taking Angle out. Joe also says that he will earn the title and not get it through politicking on snaking around backstage. Joe promises that at Lockdown he will be the new World champion.
Frank Trigg joins Tenay and West at the announce table as we head to the Kurt Angle sparring session. AJ Styles and Tomko come out to the ring wearing workout gear and will have alternating one-minute rounds against Angle.
Tomko starts the first round and Angle gets him in a triangle choke but Tomko is able to get out. Angle takes Tomko down once again and busts Tomko open as the time expires.
Styles is part of the second round and dances around the ring and avoids Angle with his speed the entire minute. Tomko gets Angle in a headlock in the third round and takes Angle down but Angle reverses into an ankle lock as time expires. Tomko and Angle shake hands after the round is over. Angle gets Styles in a headlock in round four but Styles gets out. They begin to grapple in the ring but nothing much else happens as time expires.
Angle begins to push Styles around out of frustration after the round ends as Christian Cage’s music hits and he comes out with Rhino and Kevin Nash. Cage says that the three of them will offer their services if he wants a real sparring session right now. Angle leaves the ring and walks away as the three attack the tag team champs in the ring. Devon trips himself on a camera cable on the way into the ring as Team 3D come out to help out their Lockdown partners.
Team Tomko are able to take out their opponents and are about to drive Cage through a table as the lights go out and Sting appears in the ring with a baseball bat in his hands. Sting clears the ring and gets on the microphone. Sting says it’s great to be back in Orlando and wants their Lockdown match to go down tonight between Team Tomko & Team Cage.
Borash is with Robert Roode and tells him that his match has been voted on and it will be a First Blood match. Roode says that Booker T’s worst nightmare will become a reality at Lockdown. As far as tonight goes, he says he wants his blood, too, and he wants his wife’s blood at Lockdown.
Match 3: Robert Roode vs. Booker T (First Blood Match)
The match starts and Tenay announces that the 8-man tag match will go on tonight and will be commercial free. Booker T controls the opening moments of the match and sends Roode out to the floor as we head into a commercial break.
Roode drives Booker’s head into the side of the ring as we return to the match. Roode brings a chair into play and sends Booker flying into it with a drop toe hold but it fails to bust Booker open. Roode sets the chair up in the corner but it backfires as Booker reverses an Irish whip and sends Roode into the chair.
Booker tries to kick the chair into Roode’s face but Roode ends up nailing Booker with it, however, there is still no blood drawn. Roode misses with another chair shot and ends up hitting himself with it off of the rebound from the ropes. The match spills to the outside and Booker sends Roode into the ring post which draws a small amount blood from Roode’s forehead and Booker gets the win.
Crystal is with Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed . Saeed reads another prepared statement from Kong which says that it doesn’t matter who the fans choose tonight for her opponent as she will destroy all in her path. We will find out who will face her after the break.
We return to the show as Jeremy Borash is backstage with Gail Kim and ODB and he tells them that there were less than 500 votes that separated the two. Borash announces ODB as the winner and Kim tells her to get the job done.
Match 4: ODB vs. Awesome Kong (Women’s Championship)
ODB tries to slam Kong but she isn’t able to pick her all of the way up and collapses with Kong landing on her. Kong works ODB over and puts her in a camel clutch. Kong finally makes a mistake and misses with a splash and ODB tries to capitalize on it and sends a flurry of clotheslines her way. ODB finally takes Kong down with a Lou Thesz press and nearly gets a three count. ODB follows up with a face plant and gets another near fall, however, Kong answers back with an Awesome Bomb to pick up the win and retains her championship.
Crystal is backstage with Team Cage who introduces his team, which now consists of four members with the addition of Sting. It is now time for our commercial free main event.
Match 5: Team Tomko vs. Team Cage
Cage and Styles start the 8-man tag team match out and they go back and forth trying to gain control of the match. Tomko is tagged in, and his eye looks bad from the sparring session between him and Angle from earlier in the night. Nash tags in and the two big men go back and forth much like what Styles and Cage did.
Rhino comes in and goes up against both members of Team 3D and picks up a two count on Devon. However, the tide turns as Ray distracts the ref allowing the tag team champs to crotch Rhino into the ring post. Ray tags in and delivers a splash from the middle rope but Rhino is still able to kick out of a pin attempt.
Team Tomko isolate Rhino onto their side of the ring and use frequent tags to keep a fresh man in. Rhino manages to take Brother Ray down with a clothesline and crawls to his corner to tag in the man called Sting.
Sting comes in and cleans house on Team Tomko and delivers a pair of Stinger Splashes to Team 3D. Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on Styles as all hell breaks loose in the ring. Everyone hits their signature move and Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on Devon while the rest of Team Cage stand guard until Devon finally taps out.
Team Cage celebrate in the ring but their celebration is cut short as James Storm enters the ring and smashes a beer bottle on the back of Sting’s head. The rest of Team Tomko follow and take out Team Cage as the five of them stand over their fallen opponents as the live edition of Impact comes to a close.
Quick Results
- Johnny Devine defeated Alex Shelley by pin fall to qualify for the X Division Xscape match.
- The LAX & Salinas defeated Scott Steiner/Petey Williams/Rhaka Khan by pin fall.
- Booker T defeated Robert Roode in a first blood match.
- Awesome Kong defeated ODB by pin fall.
- Team Cage defeated Team Tomko by submission.
Starman’s Thoughts
Aside from a few technical glitches and some awkward moments of silence, TNA proved tonight that they can put on a quality live television show. The crowd really seemed to be into tonight’s show, which helped add to the excitement and intensity of the historic live broadcast. TNA really did go all out to make this show one to be remembered by stacking the card with huge matches. With that said, all of the big matches may have taken away a bit from what they should have been doing, which is promoting Lockdown.
Minus the cage with the weapons, tonight’s commercial free main event was one of the two main events headlining their next pay-per-view. Seeing as they were giving the match away on cable television, I figured it would be a given that it would end in an all out brawl causing the match to be thrown out. It didn’t end that way, however, and Team Cage won the match cleanly via submission.
So Team Cage just proved to all of us that they are the better team and makes their match at Lockdown virtually pointless. I really can’t help but question the logic on that decision.
Even with that seemingly bad decision, the rest of the show had a nice flow to it and for the first time in a long time it seemed like a 120 minute adrenaline rush. The show wasn’t overly packed with backstage segments and every man on the roster, like it usually is, which was a nice change of pace. I can only hope that Impact continues down this path.
It will be interesting to see if the ratings for the show increase at all for this week. They did have some stiff competition with the NCAA basketball tournament going on at the same time, but they put forth a good effort to help counteract that.
Here’s to hoping that more live editions of Impact come our way in the near future.
