By Jeff Hamlin
WrestlingObserver.com
The Big News: Another strong show building up the Lockdown PPV. Mick Foley wrestled the Motor City Machine Guns in a handicap first blood match, while Jeff Jarrett continued a tease of joining the Main Event Mafia.
The Main Event Mafia came out sans Booker T and Sharmell, who was distraught over being kidnapped by Samoa Joe last week. Sharmell was supposedly returned to Booker during the week, though it wasn’t explained how. Sting called out Jeff Jarrett and was upset that Mick Foley booked him in a match last week against Joe. Sting wanted to know who was truly running the company, Jarrett or Foley. When Jarrett said it was him, there was a noticeable piped in cheer. Sting said since he had a warmup for Lockdown last week, Foley should have a warmup this week. Sting got in Jarrett’s face before Scott Steiner intervened. Steiner again tried to talk Jarrett into joining the mafia, or else he would risk throwing away the last seven years of work in building TNA. Then the Motor City Machine Guns came out. The facial expressions of everyone in the ring, particularly Kurt Angle, made it seem like they were a joke. For once, Angle kept a low-profile on this show. Alex Shelley volunteered to put the guns in a handicap match against Foley since Shelley had to wear the turkey outfit last Thanksgiving, then got dropped by a double-arm DDT by Foley. Jarrett accepted and ordered the match.
Foley was watching backstage with Jeremy Borash. Instead of being upset about facing the guns, Foley was elated because Jarrett had found his fire again. In the next segment, Foley told Jarrett exactly that, but vowed to find a way to tweak the match a little. Jarrett was wearing a long face, and when Borash asked him what was wrong, Steiner walked into the office. Jarrett then ordered Borash and the camera crew out, teasing the idea that Jarrett was giving serious thought of joining the mafia.
1. Sheik Abdul Bashir defeated Suicide in 4:07 in a non-title match. Kiyoshi, Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro seconded Bashir and have formed their own unnamed group, I guess because they’re foreigners, which in wrestling automatically means you’re anti-American. While the crowd is more accepting of Suicide, he still has a problem getting over because he really doesn’t have much in the way of explosive offense, particularly during the beginning of matches. It’s similar to why a big ring entrance couldn’t get Glacier over for the long haul in 1997 WCW. Perhaps TNA creative feels the same way because Bashir got the majority of offense in the match, then went over, albeit with plenty of interference. Bashir hit a emerald erosion for a near fall. While Naito argued with referee Earl Hebner, Yujiro gave Bashir the belt, and hit the WMD on the belt for the pin. As Bashir posed afterwards, the lights went off and Suicide disappeared. Suicide defends the X title in a five-way escape the cage match at Lockdown. **
Backstage, Rhino was backstage with Petty Officer Jesse Neal, who was introduced at Destination X. Rhino talked about how much he loved this country. All I could think about was two days after 9-11, when the WWE went ahead and ran a Smackdown taping anyway, and Kurt Angle went over on Rhino in the main event. While he wasn’t the stereotypical anti-American, he certainly wasn’t patriotic that night. Neal, in sailor gear, told a story about the suicide bombing of the U.S.S Cole, which killed his original superior officer and 16 others. Neal and the officer built a relationship on loving professional wrestling. The storyline is Neal wants to become a professional wrestler to pay tribute to his fallen friend, and Rhino will be his trainer.
Don West announced Jenna Morasca will be at Fan Axxess for Lockdown. I can only imagine how many people will think she’s the hot maid in charge of catering.
Raisha Saeed became the latest woman jumped in the shower by the Beautiful People and Madison Rayne, ending with portions of her hair being clipped off. When did Saeed turn face?
Rough Cut: Team 3-D started by looking at their training school. Brother Ray and Dvon talked about how they wanted to start the school because they didn’t feel there were enough quality schools out there. In the irony department, Dvon started talking about what happens to companies that don’t build for the future. Do tell. Ray mentioned how the Front Line isn’t as mentally tough as the mafia, and 3-D’s job was to make them tougher.
Sting did a sit-down interview with Mike Tenay. Talk about ending the Tenay curse. Usually, these segments are pretty bad, but this was fabulous. The idea they were building around was it could be Sting’s last match because he isn’t a spring chicken anymore, and Foley is back to his demented self. In particular, Sting brought up the reconstructive knee surgery he underwent in 1990 after the Four Horsemen turned on him, and how he returned five months later. However, if the same injury happened today, he would have to retire. Now granted, working with that idea exposes Sting’s age. But it’s hard to find a more underrated interview in the business right now than Sting, and he told his story with plenty of conviction. Then Sting brought up the infamous night in 1994 when Foley lost his ear in the match against Vader in Munich, Germany. He mentioned ring announcer Gary Capetta carrying Foley’s ear to the back. When Sting walked up to Foley in the locker room, he looked at Sting and said “I think I lost my freaking ear. Bang! Bang!” Sting said he believed that would be the same man he would face 15 years later at Lockdown, getting the point across he wasn’t facing the cuddly Mick Foley who was a children’s character late in his WWF career. Another excellent Sting interview.
Lauren the interview girl got in Abyss’ face about the abuse he received at the hands of Doctor Stevie last week. Abyss stuck up for Doctor Stevie. Lauren can’t drop her interview voice when she’s acting, if you want to call it that. She threatened to report Stevie to the “local Board of Health.” Since they’re in Florida, I bet the board has more important concerns. Like the Yankees clubhouse. Lauren said she was going with Abyss to his next therapy session.
Mick Foley came out for another good interview. He started by talking about his son Dewey, who is now 17 years old. That makes anyone who goes back with ECW feel old, believe me. For those in the dark, Dewey Foley was the centerpiece of one of the greatest interviews of all time during a Cactus Jack heel turn. Keep in mind, this was 1995, and back then ECW didn’t have anywhere near the television clearance as WCW or WWE, or even TNA now. But to prove greatness can’t be contained, as Foley brought up his son, a fan screamed out “Cane Dewey.” That seemed to throw Foley off his game. Foley was at Dewey’s high school basketball game two months ago when he wondered why his son had a goofy looking haircut, only to find out later that he wanted to look like Alex Shelley. Foley then showed a picture of his six-year-old son Huey on the big screen with blond locks. After a week on the road, Foley returned home to find Huey wearing a cru cut like Shelley. So Foley announced he was making tonight’s match a First Blood match, and Sting and Jarrett could be at ringside as enforcers so they could see what awaits Sting at Lockdown. Foley also mentioned he’s writing another book called “Crossing the Line.”
Booker was remorseful in the back. Sharmell was back with Booker, but she had hardly been the same since she escaped from Joe. Strange, because Booker did a total face interview, but he’s the heel.
As Joe walked to the ring, A.J. Styles tried to talk him into letting him join him at ringside. Joe blew him off.
Samoa Joe defeated Booker T in 1:50 in a Lethal Lockdown challenge match. So the best-of-three series to determine which team ends up with the man advantage for Lethal Lockdown is tied at one. Booker scored some early knees. Angle tried to hand him a chair, but A.J. Styles ran down to keep the chair at ringside. Joe then pinned Booker with a powerslam. Storyline is now who will be the fourth member of Team Jarrett, and who will wrestle Kevin Nash next week. ¼*
Next up was the long-awaited footage of the date between Cody Deaner and ODB. The fact they waited three weeks after the PPV to finally air this says all you need to know about the quality. Deaner talks in this ridiculous accent that sounds so phony. He took ODB around Universal Studios where they made Woody Woodpecker jokes, including posing with someone inside a Woody Woodpecker costume. It ended with ODB giving Deaner a kiss on the cheek. And R.D. Reynolds just got new material.
There was another Rough Cut: Team 3-D where they mentioned the greatest tag teams in history. They showed the Steiner Brothers (back when Scott had a mullet, so maybe it was Memphis?) the Road Warriors and the Outsiders.
Kevin Nash was shown backstage putting the moves on Jenna.
The Machine Guns did a promo building up their match tonight against Foley. Shelley mentioned when Foley was building his hardcore legacy, Shelley and Sabin were trying to beat the high score on Donkey Kong. Yeah, if they were one year old.
James Storm defeated Scott Steiner by DQ in 4:25. Storm wrestled as the face. Team 3-D did commentary at ringside. Steiner hit several clotheslines, a downward spiral and a belly-to-belly suplex. Finish came when Storm teased the Last Call superkick, but Nash hit Storm in the leg with Steiner’s lead pipe at ringside. Team 3-D made the save, and they handed Beer Money the tag belts afterward to show the two teams had mutual respect. *
Mi Pi Sexy has their own logo backstage. Angelina Love talked about how they left Saeed in a pool of her own blood so Awesome Kong would have to wrestle alone tonight. Sure does take away the monster heel aspect to Kong.
4. Awesome Kong defeated Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne in 1:25 in a handicap match. Kong was the face, and for once they got the heel/face dynamic right in a handicap match. Kong sold plenty in such a short time, including taking a missile dropkick from Rayne. Finish came when Kong went for the awesome bomb on Sky, but Rayne pushed Sky onto Kong, only to have Kong reverse it into a cradle for the pin. Postmatch, Mi Pi Sexy went to cut Kong’s hair, but Taylor Wilde ran in for the save. Tenay told the story that Wilde saved Kong after having her hair cut by the Beautiful People last week. Wilde sure does look different without make up on. DUD
Borash continued promoting the release of the four-disc Jeff Jarrett DVD next week. They’ve promoted the hell out of that more than any other merchandise item in company history, as if that’s a shock. Jarrett wouldn’t discuss what he talked with Steiner about earlier, but said he would name the fourth member of Team Jarrett next week and said that person is a former TNA champion who would wrestle Nash next week.
5. The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Mick Foley in a first blood handicap match in 6:12. Sting was the ringside enforcer, but Jarrett opted to stay in the back. Foley started with Shelley, who bumped like crazy. Chris Sabin got a blind tag and jumped off the apron with a drop kick to Foley on the floor. It led to the guns doing a double tope to Foley. After a break, Foley gave Shelley the double arm DDT, then pulled out the sock (I guess the name Mr. Socko is intellectual property). Sabin started making fun of Sting, but Sting responded by giving Sabin the scorpion death drop on the floor. Foley gave Shelley the mandible claw, but referee Andrew Thomas saw blood on the sock and started to stop the match. Foley kept him from doing so, pulled out the ring mic and said he was going to disfigure Shelley. Foley pulled out the barbed wire baseball bat and started to use it on Shelley right in front of Sting. But Sting pulled out a chair and used it on Foley, causing him to bleed. Show ended with Sting and Foley in a pull apart.
