The Best Of The Rest 10.08.08: Volume 61 – The Essentials – TNA LockDown 2006

Hello all and welcome back to the “Best Of The Rest” and the first edition of “The Essentials.” For the 1st installment I’ve made a rather odd pick in TNA’s LockDown 2006 event. I wasn’t a fan of the first LockDown, and still detest the idea of all the matches on a card being in a cage, this event entertained me just as much as any wrestling event that year. I mean come on, any event now-a-days that has good match with Team 3D has got to be worth something right? Well now for the first edition of “The Essentials” I present the pros and cons of the fore mentioned event, but overall I’ll present the reasons you should own this DVD. Let’s get down to it!!!

Event:
TNA LockDown 2006
April 23, 2006
Orlando, FL

Event Card:
NWA World Heavyweight Title Match – Christian Cage (c) Vs. Abyss w/ James Mitchell
Lethal LockDown – Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, America’s Most Wanted) Vs. Team Sting (Sting, Rhino, Ron Killings, AJ Styles)
X Division Title Match – Samoa Joe (c) Vs. Sabu
Team 3D Vs. Team Canada
Xscape Match – Chris Sabin Vs. Shark Boy Vs. Petey Williams Vs. Chase Stevens Vs. Puma Vs. Elix Skipper
Team USA (Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal) Vs. Team Japan (Minoru Tanaka, Black Tiger, Hirooki Goto)
Christopher Daniels Vs. Senshi

Event Highs:
The show kicked off with a white hot opener in the form of the Team USA Vs. Team Japan match. Excellent work from all of the six men involved and this match really got the crowd on their feet. The addition of the surprising outcome, or at least I was surprised by the ending, made the match one of the high points of the show and set the tone for what was to come. Another surprise that night was the return of Low Ki to TNA. He had brought a new name along with him, Senshi. Christopher Daniels was in disbelief, he couldn’t believe he was going to have to face his former stablemate. Ki didn’t care and took it right to him. At points of this match you actually forget a cage is surrounding them. These two had a straight up solid wrestling match on a card riddled with gimmicks. Team 3D and Team Canada put on an entertaining battle that the audience could really get behind. Nothing too spectacular but still a fun match. Somewhere around here we’re treated to the surprise return of Raven, which was cool at the time. Christian and Abyss exceeded their expectations with their amazing NWA title match, but more on that below. And the main event, that I doubted very much, turned out to be some wild fun. Crazy spots and great, classic face Vs. heel action made the “Lethal LockDown” match a show stealing affair.

Event Lows:
As with any TNA PPV, there comes some overbooked mess. This show was no exception as it featured the incredibly overbooked, no-selling, spotfest that was the “Xscape Match.” There so much going on that you don’t even have time to grasp what’s going on or who’s doing what. Btdubs, Chase Stevens almost dies in this match… so yeah… that sucks. And the ending of this match was just straight up silly, I said it SILLY. Speaking of silly, there is a point in this DVD where “Bullet” Bob Armstrong is suppose to have an “Arm Wrestling” match with Konnan but I’ve never seen it. You don’t have to either, that’s the glory of the “Next Scene” button. I don’t know if I would label this a “low” as much as it was an uber-disapointment, the Samoa Joe-Sabu match was very bleh. In their defense Sabu had a broken freakin’ arm. They did what they could, but the match was nowhere near what many were expecting/hoping for.

Match Of The Event: Christian Cage Vs. Abyss
Christian Cage’s wife had been being stalked by Abyss and Mitchell, and Cage was even attacked in his own home by the monster so this shit was gettin’ serious. Prior to the match JB tried to get an interview with CC to get his thoughts on the match. The Instant Classic just stared at Borash and walked off, FUCKIN’ PISSED! He barrels out of the run way and storms Abyss and the shit was on. We get the always fun battling around cage and throughout the crowd but the real greatness didn’t pick up ’til the cage door was shut. We got it all here: cage bumps, tacks, blood, false finishes, cage dives, ref bumps, and one crazy finish. This was a very important match for Christian. Many were still wondering if his move to TNA would change anything for him or give him a platform to expand upon. This far into his TNA signing people were starting to doubt his hype and question whether or not he was “overrated” and such. This match came at the perfect time, it validated what many had been preaching about Christian and showed that when given the ball this guy can deliver. I still view this match as one of Christian’s breakout matches and one of the front runners for TNA’s MOTY in ’06.

Promo Of The Event:
James Mitchell has never been short on charisma and has always been able to deliver an entertaining promo, but his work on this night I felt was on another level. Prior to the NWA title showdown between his man Abyss and the then champion Christian, Mitchell delivered and amazing promo praising and then condemning Cage. He starts off with a fantastic tie-in, using a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche that applied to what was going on in the Abyss-Christian angle. Mitchell then gives credit to Christian for holding that title, but declares that he isn’t a real champion. In one of my favorite lines Mitchell asks “Lemme ask you something Christian. Would a champion run off to Toronto to make movies instead of defending the belt? No. But you would because that’s how you roll right?” Great, great work here from good ol’ Red Guy and really one of the memorable moments from the event in my book.

MVP Of The Event:
AJ Styles hands down was the most valuable player in TNA on this night. He was in a main event that seemed shaky at best on paper, but managed to come out and do everything he could to make sure it was the best match on the card… he damn near succeeded. He went 100% for the entire length of the match and took some hellacious punishment along the way. AJ was at the top of the ever-popular Tower Of Doom when it fell, and let’s just say his landing wasn’t quite as nice as John Morrison’s abs. Basically, because the spot got jumbled, he took a brainbuster off the top of the cage. Ridiculous. After he recovered from this mega-nasty spot AJ and James Storm, the man who he started the match with, made their way to the roof of the cage. If you’ve seen the match you know what happens from here, if you haven’t I suggest you check out the DVD and see for yourself. This was insane, and if you don’t believe me just ask Don West.

Well that’s it for me this week.

I’ll see you right back here next week with the 1st edition of “The Best Of The Rest: Used To Perfection.”

Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at [email protected] or directly below.

*This Week’s YouTube Sendoff*

^All Hail Joe Rogan!!!

Until next week, take care.
-Alex