Review of TNA: Lockdown 2006

Introduction

TNA`s Lockdown pay-per-view is one of their signature shows of the year, the reason being that - as the title suggests - every match is held inside a steel cage. Many of the show`s matches, therefore, are grudge matches, with the cage surroundings considered the last resort for the participants to bury their feud.

Lockdown 2006 was held on 23rd April 2006, from the regular TNA venue of the iMPACT! Zone - or more accurately, Soundstage 21 of Universal Studios, Florida. The main event was an eight-man Lethal Lockdown match, in which the participants entered at staggered intervals, after which the roof closed on the cage, allowing various weapons to come into play.

Also on the card was the NWA World Heavyweight Title match, as Christian Cage defended against "The Monster" Abyss.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen NTSC, and is very good for a DVD of this genre. It is especially good considering there is just a little less than four hours of footage available here. The image suffers from a little softness, but is very clean indeed, and having watched the original broadcast on The Wrestling Channel, it was quite the pleasure to have the event captured in such clarity here.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also good. Everything is captured well, from the ring entrances, to the in-ring happenings, to the commentary from Mike Tenay and Don West. West, who came to TNA from being one of those shopping-channel salesmen, does grate on the ears a little, but not enough to start awarding minus marks.

There is also a Spanish 2.0 track available.

Features

There are several short extras available here, although nothing particularly worth pursuing. The first is a look at the Christy Hemme photo shoot, which is really nothing more than us watching her pose for the still camera. We also have a look at Mike Tenay and Don West arriving at their announce booth, and So-Cal Val gives out free t-shirts. Following this, we have backstage footage of The James Gang & Bob Armstrong, Senshi, Samoa Joe, and Raven, waiting for their moment to go to the ring.

Probably the most interesting feature here is the highlights of both Christian Cage vs Abyss, and the Lethal Lockdown match, taken from a ringside handheld camera. Yes, these are simply clips of the main feature`s matches, but the camera view really does give the fan an idea of what it would be like to stand at ringside as the action is going on.

Conclusion

Lockdown 2006 began with an interesting six-man tag team encounter, as Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt, and Jay Lethal (Team USA) faced Hirooki Goto, Minoru, and Black Tiger (Team Japan). This match was part of the setup for the World X Cup tournament later in the year, and was a good opener, particularly notable for some of the great suplexes utilised by both teams.

Senshi (formerly Low Ki) then returned in the next bout, facing Christopher Daniels. Daniels` opponent was originally scheduled to be Jushin "Thunder" Liger, but the Japanese star legitimately balked at the premise of a cage match, not wanting to have his first ever cage match held outside of Japan. In any case, this bout was probably as good, if not better, than a match with Liger would have been. Only a slightly off-putting finish stopped it from being a great match.

The next contest was an arm wrestling match, with Konnan facing 66 year-old "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. It would be easy to balk at Armstrong because of his age, but he gives a real lesson in wrestling psychology here that a lot of current wrestlers could do with paying attention to.

Back to the Six Sides of Steel, it was time for a six-way elimination encounter, comprising Petey Williams, Elix Skipper, Shark Boy, Chase Stevens, Puma, and Chris Sabin. The match was highlighted by an insane dive off the top of the cage by Stevens, who almost killed himself in the process. Unfortunately, the match was marred by outside interference, which the cage match is traditionally supposed to stop.

After a superb interview segment with Jim Mitchell and Abyss, Samoa Joe then faced Sabu, in a match in which the latter fought with a broken forearm. If it sounds ridiculous that Sabu could wrestle a match is such condition, keep in mind that this is the man who used to close wounds with Crazy Glue. Sadly, their match looked like it suffered because of the injury, and was much shorter than I expected.

It was then time for Team Canada (A-1, Bobby Roode, and Eric Young) to face Team 3D (Brother Ray, Brother Devon, and Brother Runt), in a flag match. The stipulation was that the Canadian team had to capture the Canadian flag which was suspended above the ring, and the Americans had to do the same with the Stars & Stripes. Unfortunately, the bout didn`t have the quality of the prior matches, and dragged somewhat even given the unique stipulation.

In the NWA Title match, Christian and Abyss assembled a pretty good match, although I thought Abyss` use of his patented thumb-tacks was overkill, especially after having just watched him use the same in various matches on the "Best of the Bloodiest Brawls Vol.1" DVD. There was a crazy moment when the champion ascended the cage, as high-flying isn`t something that Cage is particularly noted for. Still, this was a very good match, which featured a brutal finish.

It was then time for the Lethal Lockdown main event, which reminded me of the old WCW War Games event, in that the participants` entrances were staggered, the one difference being that once everyone had entered, various weapons came into play. This was also a very good match, and the rules added to the drama, even if I could have done without the introduction of the weapons. There were several crazy moves here, with Styles and James Storm battling on top of the cage, and a move known only as the Tower of Doom, which you`ll know as soon as you see it. In any case, this was a climactic way to end the show, and really felt like the evening`s main event.

Overall, it has been a while since I have watched a pay-per-view release that has contained such consistent quality as Lockdown 2006. Although there was nothing startling here, there was also nothing dreadful, although I might pass on the Team 3D vs Team Canada match next time around. The final two matches were designed to be the most dramatic, and they accomplished that feat.

Anyone with an interest in pro wrestling outside of the WWE, should certainly take a look at this TNA title.