2008 Running Pro Wrestling Thread

What about Cody Rhodes? Too green?

How about Davey Boy Smith's kid?

 

I think both are already carving out their own niche with their reputation. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rhodes go on a "good-guy-next-door" gimmick to get all the chicks pulling for him. Smith has been trying to capitalize on his father's name because - I think this is right - they've renamed him the "Canadian Bulldog" D.H. Smith.

You'd need someone entirely disconnected for this to work. Colt Cabana, perhaps?

 

Samoa Joe won the strap tonight, for anyone interested.

Maybe it's just me - I don't regularly follow TNA, nor do I watch the PPVs - but I think an event solely centered on cage matches is pretty difficult to swallow. Some of those matches, such as the first-two-in-the-cage-have-a-match women's bout and the handcuff match with all the tag teams, just seem forced for the sake of mixing it up.

Oh, and could they have possibly fit more people on that card? Yikes.

 

Lockdown was a pretty good show, but there were clearly too many wrestlers booked on one card just for the sake of getting them on. And for a PPV set inside of a steel cage, that is especially not a good thing...too much confusion and hard for fans to follow.

Opening match was very entertaining, as are most of the X-Division battles. Spotfest, for the most part. Some very impressive spots, no psychology. Nicely booked ending to this one. A bit of a clusterfuck at moments, as were some of the other matches...

There was a spot in that Lethal Lockdown match that was amazing to watch, but at the same time terrifying. If you saw the match, you know what I mean. If you didn't, look it up because it's tough to explain the danger Christian/AJ Styles put themselves in on top of that cage. One slip on that ladder and we'd have another Owen Hart type incident on our hands. It was a fun match though.

Gail Kim keeps convincing me that she is the best women's wrestler in the world. She's that good.

Main event was very good. Crowd was solidly behind Joe, about 70% of them anyway. Could have been given 5-10 minutes longer though with an extended finish, but maybe the show was running long. That would have made the match a MOY candidate. Even without it, Angle and Joe put on a nice match with a combination of MMA/wrestling. Joe used a Crippler Crossface at one point, which started a "Benoit" chant. And he used an STFU, which brought out the obligatory "Cena Sucks" chant. Crowd popped big when Joe won the title...he celebrated for a while with the audience, posed, and left. People filed out and were trying to meet wrestlers near the exit.

Crowd was quite hot (I laughed at the decent "Fire Russo" chant that was started), in part because we were told before the show that the loudest fans would get backstage passes. Smart idea by TNA, as it definitely helped the noise. Also loud considering TNA has never really been in this area much before. Crowd was eating up the last two matches and the Angle-Joe matchup did have a big-match feel about it for sure.

The set was pretty standard. Decent pyro. Excellent video packages and sound for backstage stuff. And the lack of a video screen didn't hurt because there is no bad seat in the Tsongas Arena...the scoreboard doesn't even have a screen and they have the NJ Devils AHL team playing here.

Biggest pops of the night:
1. Sting
2. After Joe won the title
3. Christian
4. Kevin Nash
5. Shark Boy/Curry Man/"Super" Eric Young/Jay Lethal

 

I miss Estrada, aka "The Dictator of Los Kentuckos."

 

He's the ECW General Manager.

 

Which is a pretty poor role for him, anyway. Get him back out there with someone else.

 

Does he even do anything anymore? I can't remember the last time I saw him do anything important.

 

I can't get into TNA until Russo is gone. He's the main one responsible for all of the gimmick matches and pushing Karen Angle.

Would have loved to see the main event, since I like Joe and Angle is my current favorite in-ring performer. But Jesus, they need to get a new set of writers (and get Kevin Nash's lazy ass the hell out of there).

 

Good to see Joe win the title. It was a long time coming. Unfortunately, the first person he has to defend it against is Big Poppa Pump.

 

Agreed. The gimmick matches have to go and be used on an occasional basis. I even hate the shape of the ring, although it's not as bad seeing it in-person as it is on TV. Sad thing is, pound for pound TNA might have more talent than WWE but does not utilize it correctly due to poor booking and often bad storylines. It's not as bad as the old WCW obviously...there are more young guys getting over and wrestling in the bigger matches. And there were quite a few good endings to matches last night. But it still needs work. And for the love of God, get some of these guys some new theme music. That's one area that no company will ever touch the WWE in, but some of TNA's songs are so generic that you can barely tell who it is. And is the beginning of BG James' theme creepy or what?

Good news: next week's three-hour Raw from London will crown a new King of the Ring Champion. Apparently the whole tournament will take place over the course of the show and there is expected to be eight men competing. I've always been a huge fan of the KOTR and it can definitely help put a young midcarder over the top (ie Kurt Angle, HHH, Austin, Lesnar, Bret Hart)

 

That's good to hear about the King of the Ring. I always thought it was unfortunate when they did away with it several years ago. To bring it back in various incarnations over the past two years has been, at the very least, a showcase for some of the younger guys.

Anyone who wants to see the spot on top of the cage with Christian and Styles can check it out here, but probably only for the next hour or so - a few other clips have already been taken down.