Welcome, everyone! Tonight, iMPACT Wrestling presents the annual Lockdown event live on pay-per-view and TNAonDEMAND.com. This event will begin broadcasting at 8:00pm EST from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. iMPACT Wrestling has announced 8 big matches for tonight’s show one of which is the Lethal Lockdown Match! Tonight’s matches include former TNA World Tag Team Champion Bully Ray trying to capture the big gold belt for the first time ever as he takes on current TNA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Hardy!
TNAStars.com strives to bring you the best iMPACT Wrestling content on the internet and we hope that you enjoy the latest serving of our staff roundtable. This month, scroll down to read the staff’s predictions!
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| Genesis 2013 | 2 – 5 | 5 – 2 | 3 – 4 | 3 – 4 | 4 – 3 | Joe Wins! | |
| Lockdown 2013 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| Slammiversary 2013 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| Bound for Glory 2013 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| Overall 2013 Win-Loss Record |
2 – 5 | 5 – 2 | 3 – 4 | 3 – 4 | 4 – 3 | TBD | |
Jarrett’s Thoughts: If Jeff Hardy wins this match, then Dixie Carter just needs to hand the keys over to anyone else. Hardy has been a horrible champion. His last three challengers have been sent to the tag team division with barely any relevance, which is a shame because any of the three could be great world champions. The time has come and Hardy needs to lose the championship. Although Bully is walking into this match as the face, he’s leaving as the heel. It only makes sense, and he’s leaving as the World Champion or the company just needs to fire the creative team.
Jarrett’s Prediction: Bully Ray wins the World Title
Joe’s Thoughts: Here’s my issue with this storyline. No, it’s not that we have a face fighting a tween and no, it’s not that we’re probably going to get a dose of outside interference. I’m fine with that – whatever. My problem here is that the Hogan/Bischoff team loves throwing last minute swerves just so they’re not perceived as predictable. They’ve taken storylines, build them up for more than half a year, and then changed the outcome days before the fans were expecting a certain payoff (Bobby Roode losing to Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory 2011 and James Storm losing to Bobby Roode at last year’s Lockdown). I believe that Bully Ray is ready and able to carry the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, but I also have a sneaking suspicion that someone decided – probably in the last few days – to keep the belt on Jeff Hardy. Still, I have to go with Bully Ray – he should be walking out as champion.
Joe’s Prediction: Bully Ray
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Bully Ray.
Scott’s Thoughts: A sure fire barn stormer. Lots of high risk from Hardy and big, power moves from Ray. Expect a post match Aces & 8s beat down.
Scott’s Prediction: Bully Ray
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Bully Ray
TNA World Tag Team Championship
Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian vs. Austin Aries & Bobby Roode
Jarrett’s Thoughts: Why do I care about any of these teams. Chavo is mooching off the legacy of Eddie Guerrero (he’s strangely been able to make a career of that), Hernandez isn’t a great wrestler, Aries and Roode are a rip off of Bad Influence, and why did Bad Influence lose the titles in the first place?
Jarrett’s Prediction: Aries and Roode retain?
Joe’s Thoughts: The only team here that is in the middle of any type of storyline is the combination of Bobby Roode and Austin Aries. They want to grab up all of the gold in the company and they’ve already captured the tag team championship, so I guess that they’ll keep marching on?
Joe’s Prediction: Austin Aries & Bobby Roode
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Guerrero/Hernandez.
Scott’s Thoughts: his match is putting 3 great tag teams together for the 1st time. This match could steal the show. It’ll be a close call but Aries & Roode’s reign won’t end yet.
Scott’s Prediction: Aries & Roode
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Austin Aries & Bobby Roode
Jarrett’s Thoughts: This is a match for the Knockouts Title that meant a lot heading into Bound for Glory, but not so much now. Velvet can’t wrestle. She’s TNA’s Kelly Kelly, and that’s not even the worst part. That’s a sad statement isn’t it. The match isn’t even about Velvet, IT’S ABOUT THE REFEREE! I love Taryn Terrell, she was a great personality in WWE’s version of ECW, she’s a gorgeous woman, but the fact that there is a Knockouts title match that has a storyline revolving around the referee more than the champion is ridiculous.
Jarrett’s Prediction: Velvet retains.
Joe’s Thoughts: What I find interesting about the way TNA handles its talent relations as opposed to how WWE has historically handled those relations is that TNA tries to “make good” when it makes a mistake. The mistake here was building Sky up for months, having her win the Knockouts Championship at Bound for Glory in 2011, and then getting the belt off of her quickly before letting her go. Bad moves all around. I think Velvet is back for a while now and she’s getting the championship run that she should have received a few years ago.
Joe’s Prediction: Velvet Sky
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Velvet Sky.
Scott’s Thoughts: I think Sky may seek to silence some of her critics here with some moves we haven’t seen from her before. Gail will edge it though.
Scott’s Prediction: Gail Kim
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Velvet Sky
Jarrett’s Thoughts: Whoa, until I got the staff prediction e-mail, I didn’t even though this was a match. Since King is the only one of the three that has had any TV time lately, I’m picking him.
Jarrett’s Prediction: King wins.
Joe’s Thoughts: Actually, I think this one is rather easy to predict. I get the impression that when Kenny King came over from Ring of Honor, someone told him that he’d be getting a substantial push with the strap. And here we are with King wearing the gold. I don’t think he’s losing it just yet.
Joe’s Prediction: Kenny King
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Kenny King.
Scott’s Thoughts: King needs to establish himself as a true champion, so will pull out all the stops. York and Ion may end up cancelling each other out.
Scott’s Prediction: Kenny King
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Zema Ion
Lethal Lockdown
Steel Cage Match
Devon, Mr. Anderson, D.O.C, Garett Bischoff, & Knox
vs.
Sting, Magnus, Samoa Joe, James Storm, & Eric Young
Jarrett’s Thoughts: This is the match with the most build, sad isn’t it? Aces and Eights are getting a few wins, but booking is KILLING the group. D’Lo as the Vice President, and I’m suppose to see them as a threat? I actually understand Bischoff and Brisco, but D’LO! Eric Young being in this match is a joke, and he might turn since Sting didn’t pick him in any of the man-advantage matches. Just end this already!
Jarrett’s Prediction: Aces and Eights wins
Joe’s Thoughts: Well, this is an odd one for me. On the Aces & 8s side you don’t really have any heavy hitters aside from D.O.C. and Knox. Bischoff, Devon, and Anderson are throwaways in this match. However, on the other side you have a pretty solid group of guys representing TNA. I don’t know, though. I feel like something is going to be up in San Antonio. There’s an old school Hogan/Bischoff swerve coming…
Joe’s Prediction: Aces & 8s
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Aces n’ Eights.
Scott’s Thoughts: This match would end the whole monotonous Aces & 8s angle in an ideal world. Seriously, D’Lo Brown as the surprise VP? That guy hasn’t been interesting or relevant since 1999. However TNA need some kind of payoff. Either Jeff Jarrett returns or another masked man hands them the screw job win.
Scott’s Prediction: Aces & 8s
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Sting, Magnus, Samoa Joe, James Storm, & Eric Young
Steel Cage Match
Wes Brisco vs. Kurt Angle
Jarrett’s Thoughts: Aces and Eights need some wins at Lockdown, but this match just isn’t going to be one of them.
Jarrett’s Prediction: Angle
Joe’s Thoughts: Hmmm… if this was a match on Thursday night on iMPACT Wrestling, then Wes would win this match with a little help from his friends. But you never want to bet against Kurt Angle on a pay-per-view. Sure, he doesn’t win all of the time on pay-per-view, but he wins enough to make it a solid bet.
Joe’s Prediction: Kurt Angle
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Wes Brisco.
Scott’s Thoughts: Kurt Angle will get the best out of the already talented Brisco. Angle doesn’t need a win here.
Scott’s Prediction: Wes Brisco
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Kurt Angle
Jarrett’s Thoughts: Terry has been wrestling in OVW for the past year, so hopefully that did him some good since he’s going to be breaking out on his own again. Terry has to impress at Lockdown because the last time he wrestled in a match, he was Robbie E on Miracle Grow…bro. Since breakups like this are so predictable…
Jarrett’s Prediction: Rob Terry wins.
Joe’s Thoughts: While I hate the way writers breakup duos and tag teams much too quickly these days (whatever happened to the long-time friendships between two excellent wrestlers like Ric Flair and Arn Anderson?), Robbie E. is a major star in the making. So if this breakup is the beginning of his push to the top, then I can live with that – I guess.
Joe’s Prediction: Robbie E.
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Rob Terry.
Scott’s Thoughts: Robbie T will use sheer power whilst Robbie E needs a character overhaul to transition into a serious TNA player.
Scott’s Prediction: Robbie E
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Robbie E.
Joey Ryan vs. Joseph Park
Jarrett’s Thoughts: This is the other match that wasn’t even mentioned on Impact and I wasn’t aware of until I got the e-mail for me to fill out my predictions.
Jarrett’s Prediction: Joseph Park, Esq. wins his second match as a part of the Impact Roster.
Joe’s Thoughts: I didn’t realize that these two were in some sort of scuff or budding angle or anything. If Matt Morgan gets involved (and why isn’t he booked on one of the few pay-per-views of 2013, by the way?), then Joseph Park wins the match and the long, slow descent of Joey Ryan begins. But if Morgan gets involved, then Ryan walks away with the victory.
Joe’s Prediction: Joseph Park
Mark A.’s Thoughts:
Mark A.’s Prediction: Joey Ryan.
Scott’s Thoughts: Meh. I like Park’s character and Ryan has done well with his limited screen time recently. A really lazy, last minute match up though will not inspire the San Antonio crowd.
Scott’s Prediction: Joseph Park
William’s Thoughts:
William’s Prediction: Joey Ryan
Remember to check back at TNAStars.com after the pay-per-view for full results from the event and your chance to sound off on the show! Also, remember to check back during the week for a scorecard on how the TNAStars.com staff scored on our predictions!
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With regard to the Lethal Lockdown match, and the popular criticisms aimed at the Aces & 8’s angle …
D’lo Brown … People say he’s not relevant, he hasn’t been relevant, he’s not a wrestler anymore, etc., etc. The reason the reveal is threatening to TNA is because D’lo Brown is in management. It’s about how deep the betrayal or insurrection of the group goes. It’s not about how well D’lo Brown can physically level the competition. There’s a reason he’s the VP, and a wrestler like Devon is the Sargent at Arms. The PROBLEM is that they needed to make a bigger deal about D’lo Brown’s involvement with the company before the reveal–more than scenes with him interacting with the Gut Check judges.
Aces & 8s and booking … What I read all over the internet is how bad Aces & 8s look because they lose a lot, and how little they seem like a threat. This is way off base. Do they lose a lot? Yes. But it doesn’t matter. We’ve become so accustomed to the New World Order way of doing things, where a heel stable comes in and trashes everybody and everything and wins every match and buys off everybody on the roster, that we’ve forgotten how it used to be. The NWO angle outstayed it’s welcome and was instrumental in bringing down WCW for real. That’s bad. Think of the Four Horsemen. The old school Horsemen. Flair. Anderson. Blanchard. Windham. I remember watching Ric Flair talk in a round table discussion on WWE On Demand one day about he can’t remember the Horsemen winning any matches. Not the ones that counted. That wasn’t the point.The Aces and 8s get the last word in the end. They lose, and they cripple the talent. They beat the hell out of them. They take out the top guys. The very top guys. They take out Hogan and Sting. They shatter every good moment for every baby face in the company. And Devon has the TV title, and they’ve got a member on commentary, they’ve got a member in management. They have power. That is why they are a threat in the storyline.That’s my two cents.
Couldn’t agree more about the misunderstanding that people have between the nWo and Aces & 8s. They expect Aces & 8s to be this group that wants to take over the company and eliminate the letters “T-N-A.” That’s not what they’re about. They’re about dominating the company and making TNA their bitch. Much different endgame than what the nWo guys wanted to achieve.