This was a really good PPV effort from TNA, the first TNA ppv in a long time that I can remember enjoying. I thought every match lived up to expectations, and in some cases went far beyond expectations. The booking? Well, to be honest, of all the things on this show, the booking was easily the worst aspect, but I've grown accustomed to that in TNA. In some spots on the show, in fact, the booking was downright horrible, but nothing that hurt the show in any truly impactful way. As most of you know, every match at Lockdown takes place inside a steel cage, and lets get on to reviewing those matches, which as always, are rated out of 5 stars (*****).

1. Rob Van Dam vs. James Storm

Whoever won this match would give his respective team the advantage in the Lethal Lockdown match later on. Very good opener. Crowd was super hot for everything they did. Van Dam bled quite a bit in this one. They traded some good near falls and worked at a great pace. RVD won after hitting the 5 star Frog Splash, which gave the babyfaces the advantage over the heels in the Lethal Lockdown, which is incredibly stupid. Aside from that, this was a really good opener. ***1/2

2. Escape the Cage Match
Homicide vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin

The winner of this match will be awarded a spot in the x-division title match later, because Doug Williams was stuck in the UK due to inclement weather and could not make it to the show. More on that later. Match was pretty short and there wasn't much to it. There were a few nice spots, and Kendrick actually bled, but this just never really got going and it ended rather quickly. Homicide won by escaping the cage. *3/4

3. Kevin Nash vs. Eric Young

Not as bad as you would think, but this certainly didn't tear the house down. Young tried, and Nash didn't stink up the joint, but this was still not good at all. Nash won with the Jacknife Powerbomb. After the match, Nash cut a promo saying that he would replace syxx-pac in the tag team match against Team 3D (because syxx-pac no showed the event...what a surprise). *1/4

4. Tara & Angelina Love (Knockouts Champion) vs. Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky (Knockouts Tag Champions)

All the titles were on the line in this match. This was excruciatingly bad. Madison Rayne pinned Tara to win the Knockouts Title. So Angelina lost the belt she won by getting lucky and opening the correct lockbox on Impact, and she lost it without being pinned. Vince Russo. Tara turned on Angelina after the match and threw her into the cage. Awful. 1/2*

5. X-Division Title Match for the Vacant X-Division Title
Kazarian vs. Shannon Moore vs. Homicide

Before I start, a question needs to be asked: why did they need to strip Doug Williams of his title? Did this match ABSOLUTELY need to happen tonight, or could it have been postponed? Yes, Doug Williams was stripped of his title because of an ACT OF GOD. Anyway, despite all this nonsense, the match was very good. The crowd was not into this at all early, but the work by all three men was so good that they were very into it by the end, and were popping big for all the near falls. Lots of great spots and three-way pin breakups. Finish was great, as Kazarian won after hitting a reverse tombstone piledriver on Homicide. By doing so, Kazarian becomes your new X-Division Champion. ***1/2

6. St. Louis Streetfight
Team 3D vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash

Brother Ray cut a promo before the match started, and explained that this was not going to be any old tag team match, but a falls count anywhere St. Louis Streetfight. Yes, a falls count anywhere cage match. Have you ever heard of anything so stupid? Anyway, the crowd was SHOCKINGLY into this match. They brawled all over the place, but they kept things rather simple and short. Brother Ray was locked out of the cage for a while while Nash and Hall beat up Devon. Ray eventually got inside after hitting the door with a chair, and eventually hit a 3D on Hall through a table for the win. This was MUCH better than it had any right to be, and it went the perfect length and the crowd loved it. I had no problem with any of this. **1/4

7. Escape the Cage through the Door Match
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

This was a tremendous match, and it was one of those matches that I don't think anyone who saw it will ever to be able to forget it. The story of the match was that there was a key, and whoever had the key could open the door and escape the cage for the victory. Angle bled early. Anderson controlled the early part of the match and was getting a ton of heat. Angle eventually made a big comeback and hit something like 6 german suplexes in a row. Angle had several chances to escape, but instead chose to continue beating on Anderson. After some back and forth action, Angle decided to rip the kep out of the lock, and throw it away, so that neither man could escape. In fear, Anderson tried to climb up over the top, but Angle caught him and delivered a german suplex off the rop rope. Somehow, Anderson did not die. This wasn't enough, however. Angle, in one of the most horrifying moves I have ever personally witnessed, delivered a moonsault off the top of the cage onto Mr. Anderson. Again, through some miracle, both men are still alive. The match, though, still didn't end. Somehow another key appeared (don't ask questions) and Angle was about to leave, but Anderson flipped him the bird in desperation, and Angle decided he wanted to beat him some more. Anderson hit a low blow and mic check which took Angle by suprise, and tried to escape. There was some more back and forth action, and Anderson was about to escape, but Angle choked him out with his Warrior Medal, kicked him square in the balls while he was unconscious, and walked out the door and to the floor to a monstrous ovation. Despite some logic holes surrounding the key and some absolutely insane moves performed by Kurt Angle, this was an absolutely incredible performance. If you haven't seen this match, you really should go out of your way to see it. ****1/2

8. TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match
AJ Styles (c) vs. 'The Pope' D'Angelo Dinero

Another really good match. I thought Styles did a great job of carrying himself like a main eventer, and the Pope stepped up his game big time as well and the two had a great match. Lots of back and forth action and some close near falls. The finish was interesting, as AJ reached through the cage and took a cameraman's pen and used it to stab Pope in the eye. After that, he used this advantage to hit the Styles Clash for the pin. It was one of those finishes that you either liked or hated, but I didn't think it took anything away from the match. ***3/4

9. Lethal Lockdown Match
Team Hogan (Abyss, RVD, Jeff Hardy, & Jeff Jarrett)
vs.
Team Flair (Sting, James Storm, Robert Roode, & Desmond Wolfe)

The way this match works, two men start in the ring and wrestle for 5 minutes, and then every 2 minutes after that one member from each team enters the match. The team with the advantage gets a 2 on 1 handicap situation for 2 minutes untill the next man enters. Abyss and Roode started the match. Next was RVD, then Wolfe, then Jarrett, then Storm. After Storm Hardy was supposed to enter but Sting took him out backstage. Sting came out and gave the heels the advantage, until eventually Hardy came out and made the save to a huge ovation. The roof then lowered with all the weapons and everyone beat on each other for several minutes. Abyss chokeslammed Sting onto thumb tacks. Somehow Hardy and Beer Money all got onto the roof of the cage, and Hardy splashed James Storm through a table off a ladder set up on top of the cage, which was an incredible spot. While everyone was dead, Flair came out and started beating on Abyss. Of course, Hogan came out (to another massive pop) and he was going to beat up Flair with Sting's baseball bat. Ending was overbooked and frankly, stupid. Bischoff then ran in and talked Hogan out of hitting Flair. He then pulled out brass knux, and feigned giving them to Flair, but tossed them to Hogan instead. I guess knux are more effective than a baseball bat? Hogan proceeded to destroy Flair with the knux, busting him open. Flair was bumping around like crazy, he even took his shirt off and then took a bump into the tacks. Eventually Abyss just hit a Black Hole Slam on Desmond Wolfe for the victory, but it almost felt like Hogan and Bischoff beat Flair to win the match, which was weird. Despite the bizarre booking, the match was entertaining and had some good spots, and while not a really good match, I thought it held its own. It was also on a tough spot on the card having to follow the previous two matches. ***

Well there you have it folks. It feels like forever since I've said this, but that was a very good TNA ppv. If you haven't seen the show, I'd recommend shelling out the $34.95 to see it, if not for anything else other than the Angle/Anderson match. If not, just wait till it comes out on DVD, I think it's worth the money and I was more than satisfied when it was over.

While watching the Olympics, it's impossible not to think about how much things have changed. One needn't look any further than the opening ceremonies, which outdo themselves every year in terms of spectacle. Imagine what the competitors in the first modern games of 1896 would think if they saw a young man being flown by a harness and running over a projected video of blowing grass? Or an unfathomable amount of lesbian Canadian performers singing renditions of songs while people dressed up as Native Americans danced around paper mache volcanoes? Before they died of massive brain hemorrhaging, they'd probably think to themselves that maybe it's become more about the spectacle than the actual sporting events. As for the sporting events themselves, what actually constitues a sport? Or, more to the point, what constitues an Olympic sport? Take doubles figure skating for example. It is an Olympic sport that involves two participants taking part in a staged athletic display, who try to tell a story using music and an array of correographed moves. What makes this different from Pro Wrestling? Pro Wrestling, like most art forms, tries to tell a story. Not everyone can do it, but those who do it well have become legends in the ring. Wrestlers such as Lou Thesz, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, and even the "immortal" Hulk Hogan each had their own ways of telling stories, and making people believe. They did it by choreographing moves in an athletic display in an effort to tell a compelling story. A great match, like a great skating performance, can bring people to their feet and insight emotions. Both events are staged, or as skeptics like to say, "fake," yet people who already know this to be the case can find themselves screaming at the top of their lungs in support of their favorite Wrestlers. I would like to see these great storytellers display their athletic art on an Olympic stage, and here's how they could do it. There would be a cruiserweight division, a heavyweight division, and a tag team division. Each competing country would have 8 competitors, including two cruiserweights, two heavyweights, and four tag team wrestlers. The wrestlers from each country, like a pair of olympic figure skators, would wrestle each other in an effort to have the best match possible in a predetermined amount of time. Say, 10 minutes. Judges, in their scoring, could include the exeuction of the moves, the pace of the match, the difficulty of the moves that were used, and the overall flow and story that was told in the match itself. There could also be a set of moves that must be performed during the match as part of an overall curriculum. There are wrestlers from all over the world, and many different countries could be represented well. Besides the U.S., countries such as Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Great Britain have rich professional wrestling traditions, as well as their own wrestling style. While it remains doubtful that Pro Wrestling will ever be adopted as an Olympic event, why not bring these great athletes onto the world's biggest stage, and allow them to perform their craft?