TNA’s cage match extravaganza known as Lockdown comes to us this Sunday from the Family Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. This pay-per-view will not, however, have a family feel as all of the contests take place inside the unforgiving steel cage. TNA has loaded the card with nine matches, which includes three title matches and the traditional Lethal Lockdown match.
- AJ Styles vs. D’Angelo Dinero (TNA World Championship)
- Team Hogan vs. Team Flair (Lethal Lockdown)
- Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson
- Douglas Williams vs. Kazarian vs. Shannon Moore (TNA X Division Championship)
- Kevin Nash vs. Eric Young
- Team 3D vs. the Band
- The Beautiful People vs. Angelina Love & Tara (TNA Knockouts Championship/TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship)
- James Storm vs. RVD (Lethal Lockdown Advantage)
- The Motorcity Machine Guns vs. Brian Kendrick & Homicide
AJ Styles vs. D’Angelo Dinero (TNA World Championship)
D’Angelo Dinero won the opportunity to face AJ Styles for the TNA World Championship by winning the 8 Card Stud Tournament at Against All Odds. Since then, the build up for this match has been slow, and somewhat stalled, once Abyss challenged for the title last month at Destination X. I will give the Pope some credit, though, as he has been stellar on the microphone when given the opportunity.
As for the match, I don’t expect a 5-star classic, but this could be a worthwhile match between the two of them. The Pope does hold a non-title victory over AJ Styles but I just cannot see Dinero walking out of Lockdown as the new TNA World Champion. I could be wrong, but I’d be surprised to see a title change happen here. AJ Styles will win with or without assistance from Ric Flair.
Starman’s Prediction: AJ Styles to retain the TNA World Championship.
Team Hogan vs. Team Flair (Lethal Lockdown)
Hulk Hogan selected Abyss to be the team captain for Lethal Lockdown and he chose Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam as his teammates. Ric Flair, on the other hand, selected Sting, Desmond Wolfe, and Beer Money to fight for his team. The match will start with two men in the ring with the rest of the team coming out one at a time as the match goes on. The team with the advantage will be decided in a match earlier on the card.
I’m glad it was decided to not have both Hogan and Flair fight along with their teams in this match. Even without them, though, there is a lot of star power in the match, and this could be a time for RVD and Hardy to shine. Over the past few weeks, Team Flair has seemed to get the best of Team Hogan, with the most recent event being James Storm burning Jeff Hardy’s face with a fireball and Abyss being hit by a car this past Monday on Impact. Even with all of the injuries, and possibly losing the man advantage, I feel that Team Hogan will Hulk up and win the Lethal Lockdown match.
Starman’s Prediction: Team Hogan to win Lethal Lockdown.
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson
This is an escape match where the winner will have to exit the door. Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle have been going at it since the two meet in the 8 Card Stud Tournament at Against All Odds. Angle evened the score the following month at Destination X but their rivalry has continued as they will meet in a cage. Anderson recently defeated Angle in a ladder match and will hold the key to the cage door.
Angle has recently stated that he will be taking some time off after Lockdown, which is probably well deserved. Prior to that, I had Angle pegged as the winner of this match, but I had to change my mind upon hearing the news. A victory over Angle will mean more for Anderson at this point as he goes on to bigger and better things in Angle’s absence.
Starman’s Prediction: Mr. Anderson to win the match.
Douglas Williams vs. Kazarian vs. Shannon Moore (TNA X Division Championship)
In recent weeks, both Kazarian and Shannon Moore have unsuccessfully tried to defeat Douglas Williams for the X Division Championship. Williams has even taken it a step further on Moore and left him with laid out with makeup smeared all over his face. Williams has also stated that the days of the high flying trapeze artists in the division are over and he wants to bring in more of a technical wrestling aspect.
I don’t see the high risk style of the X Division going away any time soon, but these three should put on a decent match that features both high risk and highly technical wrestling. Not to mention, it is not the usual clusterfest that happens to the X Division once Lockdown comes around. In the past I have written about how Williams does nothing for me as the X Division Champion, but he is starting to grow on me with his new attitude. Due to that, I expect him to retain the title here.
Starman’s Prediction: Douglas Williams to retain the X Division Championship.
Kevin Nash vs. Eric Young
Last month at Destination X, Kevin Nash swerved Eric Young and helped his friends, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman, earn TNA contracts. It was a swerve that everyone who wasn’t named Eric Young saw coming a mile away. Nash explained to Young that it wasn’t anything personal, it was just business, but the two will fight it out in a grudge match inside a steel cage.
I’m having a hard time predicting a winner with this one as this match doesn’t seem that interesting to me. On one hand, Eric Young could use a victory over the likes of Kevin Nash, but on the other hand, Nash should easily dominate Young. I’ll just flip a coin and pick Nash as the winner.
Starman’s Prediction: Kevin Nash to win the match.
Team 3D vs. the Band
The Band has been a thorn in the side of Team 3D as of late. For starters, Hall and Waltman cost Team 3D a shot at the TNA Tag Team Championship and they even beat them at their own game in a New York Street Fight this past Monday on Impact.
For Team 3D, I guess this is a step up from the Nasty Boys but it isn’t that much of an improvement. Having been punked out by the Band in recent weeks, I expect Team 3D to extract some sort of revenge and win this match against Hall and Waltman.
Starman’s Prediction: Team 3D to win the match.
The Beautiful People vs. Angelina Love & Tara (TNA Knockouts Championship/TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship)
The Beautiful People recently won the Knockouts Tag Team Championship and Angelina Love “won” the Knockouts Championship in a Lockbox Challenge match. If the Beautiful People win this match, Velvet Sky will be the new Knockouts Champion, but if the lose, Angelina Love & Tara will be the new Knockouts Tag Team Champions.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Angelia Love won the Knockouts Championship by winning some random box that held the championship, now we have an opportunity for Velvet Sky to win the title in a tag team match. Yes, TNA has done this sort of stipulation before, but you’d think it would come to an end sooner or later. At any rate, I feel that Angelina & Tara will come out on top and have a rivalry over the Knockouts Championship while holding the Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
Starman’s Prediction: Angelina Love & Tara to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
James Storm vs. Rob Van Dam (Lethal Lockdown Advantage)
James Storm and RVD will represent their Lethal Lockdown teams in this match to decide who will have the man advantage in Lethal Lockdown. Seeing as Team Flair has gotten the best of Team Hogan in the past few weeks, I don’t see it ending with this match. Storm will win and give the advantage to Team Flair for Lethal Lockdown.
Starman’s Prediction: James Storm to win the match for Team Flair.
The Motorcity Machine Guns vs. Brian Kendrick & Homicide
A few weeks ago, the Motorcity Machine Guns were fighting with Team 3D to earn a shot at the TNA Tag Team Championships. This past Monday they came up short in a match for the titles and have now been added in a throw away match on Lockdown. Why exactly are Kendrick & Homicide pairing up?
In all seriousness, this could be a fun match to watch, but it is unfortunate that there is no real meaning to it aside from to fill time. Since the Machine Guns are a real tag team, I have to pick them to come out on top in this match.
Starman’s Prediction: The Motorcity Machine Guns to win the match.
On paper, this has to be one of the weakest Lockdown pay-per-views in the history of the event. There seems to be a lot of filler around a few decent matches that are worth buying. Seeing as it is one of the bigger events that TNA builds around, it should be worth seeing, but it’s too bad that it doesn’t seem bigger than it actually is.
As always, live coverage of Lockdown will take place live on Gerweck.net starting at 8:00 EST.
