~This week's episode of Impact is the last before TNA's latest Pay-Per-View effort, Lockdown. This event is unique because all the matches during this event take place inside a steel cage. On last week's episode, Team Tomko (Tomko, AJ Styles and Team 3D) officially announced James Storm as the fifth member of their team against Team Cage (Christian Cage, Kevin Nash, Rhino and Sting) for their Lethal Lockdown match at Lockdown, SUPER Eric made an appearance to save the day, Petey Williams hung from the hood of a moving car, Shark Boy earns a spot in the Xscape Match for the X-Division Title at Lockdown (X-Division Champion, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Curry Man and Johnny Devine are also in the match), Scott Steiner declares himself the #1 contender for the TNA World Title after Lockdown, Samoa Joe trains, Kurt Angle wants Joe to sign a contract and Matt Morgan joins Team Cage as their fifth member. Whew. Here's what went down this week:
-Team Tomko comes down to the ring. Brother Ray of Team 3D gets on the mic and says that Team Tomko isn't sweatin' Matt Morgan's decision to join Team Cage. Ray warns Morgan not to show up to Lockdown and calls him a "seven-foot tall, freakin' moron". He goes on to talk trash about Sting and Kevin Nash.
-Team Cage decide that they have heard enough and they come marching out (minus those stupid "Team Cage" T-Shirts). They pretty much say their going to wipe the floor with Team Tomko and then they approach the ring but Team Tomko run away.
-Samoa Joe says once again that if he doesn't beat TNA World Champion, Kurt Angle for the belt at Lockdown, he will quit wrestling.
-Consequences Creed picks up a win in his debut match over Jimmy Rave of the Rock'n'Rave Infection. Creed earns the last spot in the Xscape Match at Lockdown.
-Sonjay Dutt tries to take away Jay Lethal's girl, So Cal Val, for the millionth time. Funny stuff.
-TNA management director, Jim Cornette publicly fires Matt Morgan from TNA management making him a full-time wrestler.
-Scott Steiner hates on Petey Williams because he's Canadian.
-Petey Williams & Scott Steiner beat Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (The Motor City Machineguns).
-After the match, Steiner shaves Petey Williams' hair. Why?
-Kurt Angle comes out to witness Samoa Joe sign a contract that he will quit pro wrestling if he can't beat Angle at Lockdown.
-Samoa Joe comes out and says he'll sign the contract but it won't matter because he'll win the TNA World Title at Lockdown.
-Roxxi Leveaux defeats Angelina Love
-Super Eric is interviewed, he supposedly "knows not of Eric Young" and says he wants to rid TNA of evil.
-The superhero then goes on the beat Black Reign in a match...
-...But then evil prevails, as Rellik comes out, beats Super Eric down and handcuffs him to the ringropes.
-Kaz comes down to try to make the save but then Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt come down to help Black Reign & Rellik but Super Eric breaks the handcuffs with his "super-human strength".
-Super Eric clears the ring and does his superhero pose.
-Sting & Kevin Nash had their match against Team 3D won until AJ Styles & Tomko interfere.
-Eventually all members of both Team Cage and Team Tomko hit the ring. Matt Morgan clears the ring, then everybody starts brawling all over the building.
I don't know much about Consequences Creed but at least he's instantly put into a match of some importance in the Xscape Match at Lockdown. Unlike in WWE, where they have guys like Kofi Kingston and Vladimir Kozlov who have meaningless squash matches week after week. I was pleasently surprised with his match with Jimmy Rave. Both guys are really solid in the ring.
I don't know why but I've been ignoring the weekly segments of Jay Lethal's best friend, Sonjay Dutt, trying to steal his girlfriend, So Cal Val. They've been pretty entertaining.
I'm sure that video package featuring Scott Steiner and Petey Williams will give me nightmares for the next few months.
Speaking of video packages, TNA showed a pretty good video package chronicling the entire Samoa Joe/Kurt Angle feud.
CANADIAN DESTROYER!!!
On the flip side of that, it seems the Machineguns can't seem to buy a win.
That was a sick finisher Roxxi Laveaux hit on Angelina Love. I have no idea what it's called but it was nice.
Matt Morgan is a beast.
That brawl between Team Cage and Team Tomko at the end of the show was fun to watch, let's hope their match is just as good.
ROH Doubleshot Weekend
~This weekend, Ring of Honor will be running two shows, one in Boston on 4/11 and another on 4/12 in New Jersey. Austin Aries was supposed to compete over the weekend but he has some sort of head injury and will miss both dates. Here's the card for both shows.
Friday April 11 2008
Case Gym - Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts)
-Four Way Elimination Match for the ROH World Title: Nigel McGuinness (Champion) vs.
winner of the four corner scramble
-Four Corner Survival - Winner Gets World Title Match In Main Event: El
Generico vs. Rocky Romero vs. Erick Stevens vs. Roderick Strong
- Kota Ibushi vs. Davey Richards
- Boston Street Fight: Kevin Steen vs. The Necro Butcher
- Jack Evans & Ruckus (The Vulture Squad) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
- Six Man Elimination Match: Larry Sweeney, Brent Albright & Chris Hero vs. Claudio Catagnoli, Delirious & Pelle Primeau
- Jigsaw vs. Eddie Edwards
Saturday April 12 2008
Inman Sports Club (Edison, New Jersey)
-ROH World Title Match: Nigel McGuinness (If Nigel is still champion) vs. Kevin Steen
-ROH World Tag Team Title Match: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero (Champions) vs. Jay & Mark Briscoe
- Kota Ibushi vs. Claudio Castagnoli
- No DQ Match: Roderick Strong vs. The Necro Butcher
- Delirious vs. Brent Albright
- Jack Evans vs. El Generico
- Erick Stevens & Pelle Primeau vs. Chris Hero & Bobby Dempsey
- Jigsaw vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Mitch Franklin
Both shows are interesting both are filled with a handful of wrestlers returning to the ROH ring and one wrestler making his U.S. debut.
One return is going to be made by "ROH's #1 athlete" Chris Hero. For those who have not experienced the utter foolishness that is Chris Hero, here's a little taste.
Seriously, I'm not that big of a fan of Hero's, but it's only because I'm really not too familiar with him. However, from what I've seen, he has a legit get-off-my-tv feel to him and that annoys me. So I guess he does his job well.
Jack Evans, from the heavens, comes back to ROH after missing a few months of action due to a broken face (ha ha) during a match in Japan. Here's the clip:
I've always found Evans a joy to watch and am glad that he's back.
This weekend will also see the United States debut of japanese wrestler, Kota Ibushi.
I'm not too familiar with Ibushi either...so I decided to youtube him (is that even a real term) and here's one of the things I found on him.
(*Note* Ibushi is the one in the white/blue tights)
From what I've seen of the guy, he is, without a doubt, a high flyer who uses lots and lots of flips and kicks. In terms of performance, Ibushi appears to be very hit or miss. When he's on, the dude is flat-out awesome in the ring (Did you see that double flip in the clip above? Sick!) but when he's off, he looks sloppy and down-right terrible. I think he can make a good impression on the fans who attend the shows over the weekend, but ONLY if he's on "hit" instead of "miss" because ROH fans are notorious for just dumping on wrestlers who they feel can't hang in the ring. I think he's good though.
