Lockdown 2013 Preview

TNA Wrestling - Lockdown 2013 Preview

On Sunday night, one of the biggest pay-per-view events of the wrestling year takes place when Lockdown 2013 emanates from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. One of the staples on the TNA pay-per-view calendar, Lockdown is the second event of the 2013 PPV year under the new “less is more” pay-per-view schedule TNA revealed earlier this year.

Heading into Lockdown 2013, TNA is at a crossroads. The company changed their pay-per-view format to have four spectaculars and eight monthly One Night Only specials. TNA is finally leaving the Impact Zone permanently with a bi-weekly live schedule that will have TNA Impact Wrestling coming from all over the country starting this upcoming Thursday in Chicago, Illinois. TNA Wrestling continues to produce one of the best wrestling products around on a weekly basis and, at least from what I have noticed through social media, wrestling fans disgusted with World Wrestling Entertainment are finally starting to take notice in companies outside of Vince McMahon’s dog and pony show. Lockdown must deliver and must deliver on a major level. The eyes of the wrestling world are on TNA Wrestling.

In this edition of The Highlight Reel, I am going to preview the eight matches signed for this Sunday’s huge event. Who will win? Who should win? All of that and more in the Lockdown 2013 preview.



Lethal Lockdown - Team TNA - “The Icon“ Sting, “Cowboy” James Storm, Magnus, Samoa Joe, and Eric Young vs. Team Aces and Eights - Devon, Mr. Anderson, DOC, Knox, and Garret Bischoff - The longest-running rivalry in TNA Wrestling today comes to a head at Lockdown inside a Lethal Lockdown match. With the majority of the players in Aces and Eights now revealed, I think Lockdown is the night where the main man - the President of Aces and Eights - is finally revealed. The timing will never be better. Not only does it need to happen, it needs to happen in this match. If the reveal occurs in the main event and involves either a Jeff Hardy, Bully Ray, Hulk Hogan or Brooke Hogan heel turn, TNA will officially have ruined this angle beyond repair. While I believe the TNA booking staff could have booked Aces and Eights as a stronger faction, the truth is the group has a lot of momentum heading into this Sunday’s event. A reveal of anyone other than Jeff Jarrett as the leader completely kills that momentum and ruins almost nine months of solid storytelling. 

As far as the match itself, Lethal Lockdown rarely disappoints. I think this year’s Lethal Lockdown will be fantastic. In an environment involving less wrestling and more brawling, even the worst wrestler in TNA can thrive and entertain. Yes, even Eric Young can entertain inside the steel cage. I believe Team Aces and Eights need the win in this match with an assist from Aces and Eights President Jeff Jarrett. Anything short of that will be a disappointment, in terms of both storytelling and personal wishes. I believe it but I will not be surprised at all to see TNA pull off the victory or the reveal of the Aces and Eights President involve a Hogan in some form or fashion just to screw up a good thing.



Austin Aries and Bobby Roode (champion) vs. Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez vs. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian for the TNA World Tag Team Championships - This match should steal the show. However, I also question why this match is even happening in the first place. Austin Aries and Bobby Roode, in their quest to own every title in TNA Wrestling, started by winning the World Tag Team titles from Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez in February. Instead of a rematch between both teams happening at Lockdown, the TNA booking staff added Christopher Daniels and Kazarian to the mix for no reason other than there was nothing else for Daniels and Kazarian to do at Lockdown. Personally, I think Daniels belongs in the World Championship main event but that is another story. We have a Triple Threat for the World Tag Team Championships at Lockdown. These six men will bring it in a big way. Since joining forces with Guerrero, Hernandez has shown development in his in-ring game to a point where I do not question his worth anymore. Aries, Roode, Daniels, and Kazarian are four of the best heels in the entire wrestling business. I expect this to be nothing short of a competitive and exciting match. Ultimately, I see Aries and Roode continuing their winning ways as this egotistic pairing is too good to drop the gold and go their separate ways yet.  



Kenny King (champion) vs. Zema Ion vs. Christian York in a Triple Threat match for the TNA X-Division Championship - After defeating Rob Van Dam for the X-Division title two weeks ago, Kenny King will defend his newly won title at Lockdown in another match where I am scratching my head. Instead of RVD receiving his rematch, King is defending the gold against Zema Ion and Christian York in a Triple Threat. King has the athletic ability and the charisma to carry a weakened X-Division for a long time, perhaps into a new era of greatness. After RVD’s initial boost for the division in late 2012 quickly petered out, the X-Division grew more stagnant with each additional RVD squash victory before King won the title and breathed fresh life into it. At Lockdown, King wins a competitive match between three individuals hungry for the spotlight. Unless TNA does something to booster the X-Division roster though, this could be the last great match for the X-Division anytime in the near future.



Joseph Park vs. Joey Ryan - Joseph Park is one of the best characters in the entire business. As the lawyer-turned-wrestler brother of Abyss, Chris Park has taken what could have been a horrible gimmick and turned it into one of the most entertaining gimmicks in ages. He is green, new to the business, and seemingly nervous about every move he makes yet also endearing enough to make the fans pull for him. Instead of bad comedy, this is great comedy inside the wrestling ring. I do not know what Park is facing Joey Ryan, other than for Ryan to get an appearance on the card and perhaps Matt Morgan to have an outlet to interfere and continue his raging against Hulk Hogan and TNA Management. I see Park winning, Morgan beating down Park afterwards, and Morgan even assaulting Ryan to end their connection. 



Robbie T vs. Robbie E - The Mega-Bros collide at Lockdown as Robbie E battles former bro and bodyguard Robbie T. Since working on his in-ring work at Ohio Valley Wrestling, the massive Robbie T has improved rapidly. He is getting over with the fans through his horrible dancing and “serious man with a fun side” gimmick that stole the spotlight from Robbie E in the first place. I see this match as a squash victory for Robbie T. He is the one with the most to gain from an impressive outing at Lockdown and I do not believe TNA will waste this opportunity. Now, if a squash lost would mean Robbie E would develop a new edge and even a new gimmick, then I would say this match could be a win-win for all involved. 

    

Velvet Sky (champion) vs. Gail Kim for the TNA Knockouts Championship - In another case of the TNA booking staff making me scratch my head, Velvet Sky is defending her newly won TNA Knockouts Championship against Gail Kim and not the former champion Tara. Instead, Kim gets a chance on the Lockdown stage while Tara’s rematch occurred on Impact two weeks ago. If anything, a Triple Threat match would make better sense to me. However, that is not the case as Velvet Sky will defend against Gail Kim. Now, before I go farther, I have to say I like Velvet Sky. She is a beautiful woman and fun to watch in the ring. However, I look at her current title reign as a gift from management to welcome her back to TNA after a contract dispute last summer led to Velvet leaving TNA for almost six months. Velvet is currently dominating a Knockouts division with many women more deserving of the spotlight than Velvet. Sadly, Mickie James, Madison Rayne, Brooke Tessmacher, and Tara are wasting away on the sidelines. At Lockdown, Gail Kim will become another victim of Velvet Sky‘s reign of terror as Velvet wins at Lockdown. 



Kurt Angle vs. Wes Brisco inside a Steel Cage - At Lockdown, it will be teacher vs. student in this battle between TNA and Aces and Eights when the Olympic Gold Medallist goes one-on-one with the second-generation superstar. Kurt Angle invested a lot of time and effort into helping Wes Brisco improve his game enough to become a TNA star. Brisco ultimately showed his appreciation by stabbing Angle in the back and revealing himself as a member of Aces and Eights in January. These two finally meet inside the steel cage in a huge match in the career of Brisco. Injured, broken, and a shell of his former glory, Kurt Angle is still in the Top 3% of professional wrestlers in the world today. The man knows how to bring in inside the ring and brings the best out of his opponents. Brisco is working with one of the best and has to show himself worthy of this spot on the roster with a great effort at Lockdown. I believe Angle wins. However, I also believe Brisco will prove himself worthy of this spot and opportunity with a great outing against one of the all-time greats. 



Jeff Hardy (champion) vs. Bully Ray inside a Steel Cage for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship - In the main event of Lockdown 2013, Jeff Hardy defends the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Bully Ray. Since Bound for Glory, Jeff Hardy has fought and defeated all challengers while defending the World Heavyweight Championship. Meanwhile, the metamorphosis of Bully Ray since Bound for Glory has saw one of the best heels in the business turn into one of the weakest and most annoying faces in the business. Married to Brooke Hogan and using that connection to get a World Heavyweight Championship match, Bully Ray has become the gimmick equivalent of the real-life Triple H. A part of me would love watching Bully Ray finally win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his 20+-year career. A part of me would love to see Jeff Hardy retain and continue a very successful and entertaining title reign. Whatever happens, I just want to see Hardy and Bully go without any involvement from Aces and Eights at all. This match does not need a drastic heel turn. These two men need to simply go inside the steel cage and put on the kind of exciting, chaotic, intense battle that they are capable of doing and have done since 2000. When the final bell rings in San Antonio, I believe Bully Ray will leave Lockdown with his first TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I can only hope that he is not leaving as a member of Aces and Eights (that ship has long passed) or feuding with his father-in-law or wife after they joined Aces and Eights. We need a title match - nothing more and nothing less.

Lockdown 2013 is this Sunday night on pay-per-view. If you call yourself a professional wrestling fan, you will find a way to watch this show. Three big matches inside the steel cage. Four championships on the line. The largest American audience in TNA Wrestling’s history. Lockdown 2013 has the potential to be one of the biggest nights in TNA history. If the performers bring their A game and the booking staff does not make an Aces and Eights mistake, Lockdown could easily outshine that other show with the Hollywood actor and part-timers next month. It would not be the first time TNA outshined that mess.