83 Weeks - TNA Lockdown 2011 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

TNA Lockdown 2011 happened on April 17th, from the US Bank Arena, in Cincinnati, Ohio. It drew 4,000, with close to 3,500 paid

This is the 7th Lockdown event in TNA history, and in an interesting twist, all matches would be held inside of a steel cage, which was a tradition on Lockdown events.

What was your feelings on that?

During the weekend, TNA held TNA Lockdown VIP weekend. The event consisted of interaction with wrestlers and Staff as well as appearances from Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Sting and Mick Foley. As part of the package, fans got the opportunity to board a RiverBoat Cruise and receive VIP entrance to Lockdown.

What's your memories of that event? Did you have anything to do with putting it together?

Let's get to some company news heading into Lockdown

During this time, WrestleMania happened and Ric Flair, who was under contract to TNA, was there at the Hall of Fame, but wasn't shown on camera. His good friend, Shawn Michaels was inducted into the HOF.

Did you ever talk to him about this at the time and did it cause any problems with management?

Meltzer wrote - How does TNA not have any clips or a package of Hogan on “American Idol” on its show this past week, or get a film crew to get clips of James Durbin putting over TNA after Hogan did his appearance? I mean, how does that not happen? . . Suicide is still being played by Daniels, even though he’s also wrestling as Daniels. That’s why some matches at the last taping was done out of order of how they will air, because they wanted to give Daniels time to rest between his two matches.

Meltzer wrote - Hogan worked with Bubba the Love Sponge in raising money for Unity, a group that provides money and goods to Plant City, FL charities. Hogan allowed a local Chevrolet dealer to design a Hulk Hogan limited edition Camaro, and they raffled it off, raising more than $100,000.

Talk about the charity work Hulk does. That doesn't seem to get mentioned very often

Speaking of charity work, Meltzer reported - Mick Foley is doing some unique fund raising for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network that he’s been working with for some time. For the month of April, Foley has agreed to go anywhere in the country and mow anyone’s lawn who donates $5,000. He mowed a lawn earlier in the week in Baltimore. Foley is encouraging donations and said he will match every donation he raises this month, up to a $10,000 maximum.

A few weeks later, he reported - Mick Foley twittered being disappointed that he was only able to get 200 different donations for RAINN even after a TMZ mention. He noted that a good percentage of those came from people who weren’t even wrestling fans. That did lead to a number of fans donating. He said that when he goes to the U.K., that for anyone who donates $5,000 in the U.K., he will go to their house and spend at least two hours there when he goes to the country on his next tour. He also said he wants to go to the 5/2 Raw show and would ask Dixie Carter if he could attend, given it’s the Rock’s 39th birthday.

Meltzer reported - The 3/22 Impact (U.S. air date 3/17) set the show’s U.K. record with 184,000 viewers. It was the most watched wrestling show in the U.K. over a two week period. In fact, three TNA shows during that period beat the highest rated episode of Raw, although as noted, the station TNA is on is available in tons more homes and when it comes to actual ratings, TNA’s ratings are minuscule compared to the WWE shows.

Meltzer reported - There has been talk about doing a new branding campaign with more pushing the word “Impact.” It’s not necessarily to drop the TNA name, but push the “Impact” brand of the television harder. This would coincide with a new look to the television show. The changing of the name is one of those ideas that has been talked about for months. Dixie Carter has been against it in the past because they’ve spent so many years marketing the name, and even now, most wrestling fans don’t know it after almost nine years, so the idea of starting from scratch and building a new name was something in the past she’s been against.

The reality, as so many promotions that have switched names in the past have shown, is that it makes no difference. The fan base sees you the same way. TNA was a gimmick name for Tits N Ass when they wanted to do shocking stuff on PPV and thinking they could do PPV without television (can you imagine a guy like Jerry Jarrett of all people convincing himself something like that was viable?). But at the end of the day, the name is neither a positive or a negative, they are judged by prospective customers on their product and they are exposed to customers based on their marketing of said product, not on a name.

Speaking of the re-brand, Meltzer reported a few weeks later -

Nothing is official regarding the new rebranding campaign. It is probably two to three months away and the plan is to change the look of the show, perhaps with a new set. Whether the TNA name will be dropped or not is something under consideration but not yet decided upon. But even if the name isn’t dropped, they are going to focus the new marketing on the term “Impact” as opposed to TNA. There is again talk once the new campaign starts to start taping more television outside or Orlando.

Apparently Spike is willing to help out on the costs, because the costs have been the only reason they aren’t already doing it. It looks better than 50% that when the branding campaign starts, they will start taping Impact regularly on the road which was the original plan. I don’t know if it will be what the plan was, which was they would tape in Orlando two or three days after every PPV, and then the next taping would be a few weeks later on a Friday night where they would tape on the road doing two shows in one night to save costs like they did in Fayetteville.

Spike was encouraged because the show in Fayetteville looked better and the ratings were higher, and the ratings momentum did not stay when they returned to Orlando. There were a lot of reasons for the ratings that didn’t have to do with Orlando vs. Fayetteville, including the Angle-Jarrett storyline was newer and they were building several weeks toward the Fayetteville show with the court case storyline and a loaded show.

Vince Russo is the one who named TNA and it's been said that he sold Jerry Jarrett on it meaning total nonstop action, but Jim Cornette has said that he picked TNA for tits and ass. What did you think of the name TNA and did you ever hear that story about Russo and the meaning of TNA?

Keller reported - Last fall Janice Carter, Dixie Carter's mother, got more involved in the day-to-day oversight of decisions in the company. She began approving the budget and expenses. It's possible after over a half year or so following the company's direction closely, she may have decided to move forth with a new vision.

It could be something as basic as a name change, which many have called for due to the awful "TNA" name (letters usually associated with porn and strip clubs). It could be something larger, such as a chance in the creative team and an overhaul of the roster and overall style. It could even be setting the stage for something even more dramatic, such as Paul Heyman coming in after all (although the last word from him right after the last PPV was "nooooooo" when Jason Powell of prowrestling.net asked if he was still interested in that gig; that could quickly change if his terms were met and a sweet deal was offered).

Kurt Angle on twitter basically indicated he was going to sign a new contract here when his current deal expires in the fall. “To all my fans and friends, I’m signing a new deal with TNA. We’re working out the kinks but I’m staying. So please tune in every Thursday night. I gave it much thought. TNA is the underdog. I feel I can help them go to the next level. WWE is the top company. But being the face of TNA is great. TNA has so much potential. I believe in TNA. I love Dixie Carter and I am staying. TNA wants to help me into movies and Angle Foods.”

Speaking of Kurt, Meltzer reported - Kurt Angle pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving related to the incident on 3/25 near Grand Forks, ND. Angle was not at the sentencing, but agreed to pay a $475 fine, serve one year of unsupervised probation and received a suspended sentence of ten days in prison. He also has to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation. Angle was found by police at 12:15 a.m. after driving to Grand Forks after a show in Fargo the night before. The police reported a passerby called them about a car in the median of the road.

They found Angle behind the wheel and smelled alcohol on his breath. He failed a field sobriety test and was taken in and was tested and found to have an 0.83 blood alcohol content, slightly above the 0.80 legal allowable level.

He was released on bond and wrestled the rest of the tour. He told police he received a text message that distracted him and caused him to go into the median, where he was stuck. He then went on twitter with a completely different story, saying he wasn’t drunk and his car slid into a snow median and he called for help. In actuality, there was no snow.

Meltzer also said that TNA was pushing Jeff Hardy to go to rehab

Meltzer reported - TruTV has signed “Hulk Hogan’s MCW” (working title) to a six episode first season deal, which would debut this summer. That’s the minis league that Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey were behind. Instead of doing a minis wrestling television show, the new idea is for a reality show starring Hulk Hogan. Basically it’s Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling, but instead of celebrities, using mini wrestlers with the idea that Hogan is recruiting and training them and Hogan would be getting the business going.

Kind of like the “American Promoter” idea for a reality show involving Dana White that was out there before “Ultimate Fighter” was instead chosen. Hogan will get an Executive Producer credit for the show. That’s amazing to me that Dixie Carter would sign Hogan to a contract and build the company around him without even having exclusivity on him. Okay, let me re-phrase that. It would be amazing to me that anyone other than Dixie Carter would sign Hogan to a contract and build the company around him without having exclusivity on him. Besides Hogan, Bischoff and Hervey, Brian Knobs and Pat Tanaka are also involved with the show.

Memories of this?

Sting did an interview with The Daily Star where he said when he did the angle where he and Kevin Nash quit after Bound for Glory, that he expected to be brought back to continue the angle in January. So he had committed to doing another year. He said that there was a contractual issue that they didn’t finalize and that’s why he didn’t come back until a few weeks ago.

Keller reported - Sting surprised a lot of people by stating in a UK Daily Star interview that he was offered a match against Undertaker and a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame. He said he was scheduled to meet with Vince McMahon, but opted to cancel the meeting. People within WWE have told me that there were no formal talks between Sting and the company. The word on the WWE side of things is that Sting was not offered a match against Undertaker, but there was informal talk regarding a Hall of Fame spot and a legends contract.

Meanwhile, TNA sources believe Sting is shooting straight regarding WWE's interest level. My guess is that Sting could have had a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame and a match at WrestleMania 27, but I would be surprised if WWE actually offered him Triple H's spot in the match against Undertaker.

Meltzer reported - Regarding Desmond Wolfe, nothing has changed. Hulk Hogan, when asked, said that the ball was in his court. We’ve heard the opposite. A few months back he was scheduled to return to reform his team with Magnus, but plans changed and Doug Williams was given the sport and the stuff with him that was at the tapings was all edited off the show. Wolfe has actually had a few planned start dates that have ended up not materializing. Right now he’s been working in the local community theater scene in Central Florida as well as working on writing projects. He was scheduled to go to the tapings this week with hopes that they may start him back up.

That takes us to Lockdown

Devon pinned Anarquia in 2:30 in a pre-show match that aired live. They brawled on the ramp and around the ring, including Devon hitting him with a plastic water bottle, before getting into the cage. The crowd wasn’t much into this but it ended quickly. After the match, Devon threw him out of the cage, into the guard rail and hit him with another plastic water bottle twice and suplexed him on the ramp twice.

Max Buck won an eight-way X Division elimination match to become the top contender in 13:33, over Jay Lethal, Jeremy Buck, Amazing Red, Chris Sabin, Brian Kendrick, and Suicide (Christopher Daniels). Not sure why they couldn’t put someone else in the Suicide gimmick given Daniels had a main event match to work. This match had problems. First, everyone was running through their moves and it seemed they had no regard for the crowd. And the crowd had no regard for them as well. Television hasn’t established these guys as faces or heels, plus with all the stuff they throw out on television, none of it sticks anyway because nobody, including people in the company, can keep it straight.

Another issue is the best guys in this match, Red, Sabin, Daniels and Lethal, were all out early. So you had a good first half, if not particularly engaging the audience. The second half was neither good nor engaging. After Sabin was eliminated, nothing in the match could match up to the first half, so it went flat. Plus, the match was built around the Max vs. Jeremy feud and the live crowd and TV crowd both don’t care about it. Max refused to work against Jeremy early. Red pinned Suicide in 2:48 with the Gail Kim style almost a codebreaker into the foot. Nobody thought it was the finish, and given nobody in the company apparently realized that you ring the bell when there’s a pin.

They noted in commentary that Alex Shelley was supposed to return in this match but his shoulder hasn’t healed yet. Sabin and Lethal did some cool stuff that was the first stuff crowd was really into. Then Red pinned Lethal with the infrared in 4:53. Red came off the top and was caught by Sabin who tried to suplex him. After a few reversals, Sabin used a Falcon arrow on Red.

Sabin then clotheslined the hell out of Red for the pin in 5:52. Max Buck pinned Sabin at 7:21 with a move similar to the Diamond dust. Kendrick came in and was doing high spots with his robe on. Tenay and Taz were trying to decide if Kendrick’s robe was a gi. Jeremy finally tagged in against Max and threw Max into the cage twice. But Max pinned Jeremy with a small package in 9:44. The crowd wasn’t happy with that. Max and Robbie E did a lawn dart spot with Kendrick. But Kendrick pinned Robbie with a one-legged dropkick in 11:30.

It came down to Kendrick and Max, and with everyone pinned, the last two had only escape the cage rules. Why do they make it so confusing to where the average fan not only has no idea what the stipulation is, but they do so many that they don’t care. Max was climbing and Kendrick climbed after him but no heat at all. Kendrick rammed Max’s head into the cage several times and was biting him. Kendrick was climbing again. Max shoved ref Earl Hebner into the cage. Kendrick lost his balance and fell back into the ring. Max then climbed over the top to win. *3/4

Shannon Moore & Jesse Neal won a four-way to become top contenders for the TNA tag titles over Douglas Williams & Magnus, Scott Steiner & Crimson and Orlando Jordan & Eric Young in 8:49. Crimson showed up with two black eyes and stitches down his nose. They claimed it was because Steiner was teaching him wrestling and busted his nose crossfacing him. Mostly comedy with Young as the star. Young thought it was escape the cage rules and started climbing. Young and Neal were trading armdrags.

They were doing the deal where Neal is still a face while partner Moore is a heel. At one point Taz said that you don’t want Jordan getting behind you. Crowd kept chanting “We Want Steiner.” They kept chanting for him when others were in the ring and he was on the apron. Young took off the pants he was wearing and had the same Tiger print trunks that Jordan wore, not that much different than the old WCW Brian Pillman trunks.

Then they did the spot where everyone does their finisher. Jordan with a neckbreaker on Moore. Neal with a spear on Jordan. Crimson with a catatonic downward spiral on Neal. Magnus with a Wagner driver on Crimson. Steiner with an exploder suplex on Magnus. Young with a missile dropkick on Steiner. Young again tried to climb the fence, thinking those were the rules, but Moore pinned Williams with the Morgasm. **

Mickie James pinned Madison Rayne to win the Knockouts title in a match where James had put up her hair. James left shoulder was all taped and she kept her arm in a position like there was an imaginary sling on it. Earl Hebner tried to take Rayne’s tiara off but it wouldn’t come off because he didn’t take off the bobby pin. Taz noted that they didn’t have tiara’s in Earl’s day, back in the 1820s. DDT finisher in :35. Given the circumstances, it was probably all they could do. DUD

Samoa Joe beat Pope D’Angelo Dinero in 10:57. They traded a lot of slaps with Joe getting the better of it. Joe used a reverse atomic drop, a running kick and a senton for a near fall. Joe got another near fall with a flying leg lariat off the middle rope. Joe hit the muscle buster but Pope got his leg on the ropes. Pope tried to climb out of the cage but Joe pulled Pope’s pants down from behind to his knees. They showed a close-up of Pope’s exposed butt and Taz yelled at producer David Sahadi for getting the close-up.

Pope came off the top with an elbow and Joe kicked out at one. Pope also used a codebreaker for a near fall. Pope went for the running double knees, but Joe picked him up and smashed the back of his head against the cage and used a muscle buster off the middle rope, and followed with the choke. **½

Matt Morgan pinned Hernandez in 8:13. Anarquia at one point pulled Morgan’s leg through the camera hole. This allowed Hernandez to take over. Morgan set up the carbon footprint. Anarquia climbed up the cage to help Hernandez but Morgan knocked him down by kicking at him. Hernandez came off the top rope, right into the carbon footprint for the pin. *1/2

After the match, Sarita did an interview saying how people were screwing them over. She was talking in Spanish. She then spoke in English saying the reason she wasn’t Knockouts champion is because the fans can’t stand how they are better than the fans. Rosita looks like Trish Stratus’ little sister. Velvet Sky showed up and Sarita immediately took her shoes off because she was needing to maneuver. Sky used a drop toe hold on Rosita and speared Sarita and cleaned house on them.

The next match was Kurt Angle vs Jeff Jarrett.  Let's talk about Kurt and Jeff's relationship at this time. A lot of people know the story, Kurt's ex-wife Karen married Jeff.  Was there heat between them?

At Againt All Odds, Jeff Jarrett defeated Kurt Angle. Per the stipulation, Kurt Angle had to give his ex-wife Karen away to his rival Jeff Jarrett at the wedding renewal of the Jarretts. On the February 24th Impact, the Jarretts distracted Angle, costing him his match with Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson. The following week, Angle ruined the Jarretts wedding renewal ceremony by beating down Jeff and driving Karen's face into her wedding cake. Infuriated, the Jarretts redid the ceremony the same night.

Angle cooperated this time despite insults being hurled at him from Karen until the ceremony concluded and he scared them off with an axe. On the March 17th Impact, Angle presented a gift to Jeff and declared he was the better man as husband and father to Karen and Angle's kids that were under custody of Karen. Not sincerely meaning a word, Angle retrieved the guitar gift he gave to Jeff and blasted him over the head with it.

Angle then challenged Jeff to a match at Lockdown, which Jeff accepted. Jeff appeared in a steel cage on the April 7th Impact to speak about his efforts to get a restraining order against Angle. Shortly after, Angle used a zipline to enter the ring and attack Jeff, who ran away. A week later, it was announced that the match at Lockdown would be contested under "Ultra Male" rules. The first fall had to be won by submission, the second by pinfall, and the third fall had to be won by escaping the cage.

That takes us to the match

Jeff Jarrett beat Kurt Angle in a 2/3 fall match in 22:35 of total wrestling time. Ref Brian Hebner kicked Karen out before the match started. Jarrett opened with the figure four and Hebner started counting as Angle was selling by laying on the mat. Jarrett twice escaped the ankle lock.

Jarrett then kicked Angle in the shoulder and went for the armbar. Angle revered it into the ankle lock and Jarrett tapped out at 4:52. In the second fall, Jarrett used the stroke for a near fall. Angle used a belly-to-belly and two German suplexes. Jarrett used a low blow. Angle blocked the second stroke attempt. Angle used an Olympic slam for a near fall.

He also did an overhead belly-to-belly off the top for a near fall. Angle even used an RKO for a near fall. He latter twittered that he used the move out of respect for Orton. Whether this is a tongue-in-cheek receipt over Orton using the Olympic slam, as Orton claimed he was using the move out of respect, or the real deal, who ever knows with Angle.

Two guys were screaming “Sloppy seconds.” I mean, two guys and the crowd was so quiet you could hear them. Jarrett won the second fall at the 11:25 mark of the match holding the trunks. No reaction at all to this. No cheering. No booing. Bell not ringing didn’t help. Jarrett started ramming Angle’s head into the cage. Angle came back with five German suplexes. He teased walking out the door, but then changed his mind and came back.

Then he thought about it and started climbing down the steps. Then he paused again, started thinking and walked back in. Angle then locked the door of the cage and put the key down his pants. He started throwing Jarrett into the cage and Jarrett was bleeding.

He was pounding on Jarrett and set him up for a move off the top, but Jarrett blocked it and did the sick power bomb off the top with Angle looking like he landed on the top of his head. Jarrett was climbing up.

Angle recovered and used an Olympic slam off the top. Angle wanted to leave and “couldn’t find the key.” Yeah, he put it down his pants. Angle then started to climb over the top. Gunner came out with a chair and threatened to hit Angle with it if Angle started climbing down the other side. So Angle stopped at the top and did a moonsault off the top of the cage. He was supposed to hit Jarrett, but missed. Steiner came out and chased Gunner to the back. Angle then found the key and went to unlock the door. Karen came out and sprayed hair spray in Angle’s eyes. Angle was selling like he was blind and clotheslined Brian Hebner.

Jarrett was then trying to crawl out while Angle was blind, but Angle recovered and as Jarrett was crawling and halfway out, Angle put him in the ankle lock. He pulled Jarrett in and Jarrett was tapping, but this had to be escape the cage. Karen gave Jeff the guitar and he hit Angle with it.

Jarrett again went to crawl out of the cage. Once again, Angle recovered and put him in the ankle lock. Karen then slammed the cage door on Angle’s head and Jeff fell out of the cage to win. ****

The next match was the triple threat match for the World Title, Sting defending against Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson

On the March 17th Impact, Anderson demanded a rematch for the world title, after wrestling to a double count-out with Van Dam at Victory Road, leaving no #1 contender. You and Hogan booked a 4-way involving Anderson and Van Dam, the match ended in a double pinfall, causing the same result.

The following week, Sting was selected by The Network to be the special enforcer of the rematch between Anderson and Van Dam for title contention that night, but this led to a feud where Anderson accused Sting for disqualifying him for his actions that rendered the official referee unconscious, which made Van Dam the contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

On the March 31st Impact, You and Hogan then added Anderson to the world title match at Lockdown, making it a triple threat match. The feud between Van Dam, Anderson, and Sting continued over the weeks, with the group Immortal trying  to recruit Anderson and Van Dam to their group. After Immortal tried to attack Anderson for swerving them, Sting helped Anderson out by attacking Immortal with his baseball bat

Sting retained the TNA title in a three-way over Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam in 7:45. Sting got a huge reaction coming out. Way bigger than anyone else. Anderson and Sting were both listed at 6-2, 240, but Sting looked two inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter. Crowd was flat for this one as well. Sting put Anderson in the scorpion deathlock but RVD did a spin kick to block the pin. Sting at another point had the scorpion deathlock on both RVD and Anderson at the same time. Anderson and RVD both crawled to the ropes to break it. Anderson did a double mic check, but then both guys kicked out. No reaction to either kick out. RVD hit the frog splash on Anderson but Sting made the save.

Anderson punted RVD and clotheslined Sting as Sting was setting up a scorpion death drop on RVD. Hogan then came out with a pipe. Even though he’s a heel on TV, crowd popped big for Hogan. Even though Hogan is a heel, they cut to showing Hogan’s wife and daughter jumping up and down. Hogan gave RVD the pipe through the cage. RVD took it, which meant in the RWF (Russo Wrestling Federation) rules of always doing the opposite so everyone knows ahead of time to expect the least logical thing. RVD threw the pipe away. Anderson then got the pipe and hit RVD with it. Anderson then started yelling at Hogan to establish Anderson would do anything to win, but he’s not joining Hogan. As Anderson was distracted by yelling at Hogan, Sting used the scorpion death drop on Anderson for the pin. *1/2

The next match was an 8 man tag between the groups, Fortune and Immortal.

After conning TNA President Dixie Carter to take over her company, Immortal tried to run TNA, but Carter hit Hogan with a court order. In January 2011, a group named "They" surfaced and Crimson, the messenger, put Abyss out of action with an attack using his own 2x4-with-nails weapon named "Janice"

On the February 3rd Impact, Fortune turned on Immortal without the knowledge of their manager, Ric Flair revealing themselves as “They”, claiming they would no longer take a backseat to Immortal. On the February 17th Impact, Flair tried to call a truce but eventually abandoned Fortune to join Immortal by turning on Fortune member AJ Styles during his match with Immortal member Matt Hardy

Two weeks later, Hulk Hogan returned from absence to boast about his court battle victory for ownership of TNA, and along with yourself conceded to manipulating Carter for the advantage, leaving Carter to only "provide the money" from there on out.

In March, new Immortal member Bully Ray powerbombed Fortune member AJ Styles off the stage, sidelining him with a storyline injury, and later in the month, Christopher Daniels returned to the company to help Fortune. On the April 7th Impact, Daniels asked Hulk Hogan if he could be Fortune's fourth member for the Lethal Lockdown match against Immortal, which Hogan agreed to.

The following week, Fortune and Immortal had a Best of 3 Series of matches to determine who would get the man advantage in Lethal Lockdown. In the first match, Immortal's Matt Hardy defeated Fortune's Kazarian, and Immortal's Abyss defeated Fortune's James Storm. This meant that Immortal would have the man advantage during their Lethal Lockdown match.

That takes us to the match -

Robert Roode & James Storm & Kazarian & Christopher Daniels beat Ric Flair & Matt Hardy & Abyss & Bully Ray in 22:54. The first 3:00 period was Kazarian vs. Hardy. The heels would have the man advantage because they won two matches on TV. Kazarian went for the Omori driver but Matt used a sunset flip. Abyss was next in. He beat down Kazarian and Hardy put him in his new finisher, the Ice pick. Which is more of a reverse full nelson from the bottom. Daniels was next in, and did a moonsault on Abyss an the Koji clutch on Hardy. Flair was next in and was throwing chops and low blows on Daniels. Flair came out in a tank top and pants.

Dixie Carter made a ruling that she wants Flair to always have a shirt on. Storm came in, spitting beer in Abyss’ face, using a codebreaker on Abyss and a back stabber on Hardy. He then hit Flair with a beer bottle and Geez was Flair bleeding like crazy after that one. Flair got his shirt and pants all torn up. The part of the pants being turn off got in his way, so Flair tore the rest of it off. Flair tried to climb the cage but Storm pulled his pants down and started spanking him.

Bully Ray was in next. Flair used torn up parts of his pants to wipe the blood out of his eyes. Roode was in last. He started chopping the hell out of Flair. Roode was supposed to signal when he got in last for the cage to drop.

Roode forgot and never signaled. Everyone was wondering what was going on since the cage was supposed to be lowered and Roode was to do so when he got in. Finally they just had the cage come down at 14:30. The Fortune team started using garbage cans and even axe handles. Abyss was knocked out of the cage to the floor. Matt Hardy also left the cage and Daniels went out after him. Hardy and Daniels both climbed the cage and got to the top. Daniels first teased doing Angel’s wings on the top of the cage. Flair was a bloody mess.

Ray hit Kazarian with a uranage for a near fall. Storm tried to pin Ray but Flair hit Storm with a number of kendo stick shots. Roode did a sloppy looking spinebuster on Flair. Daniels then dove off the cage onto Hardy and Abyss on the floor. Roode put the figure four on Flair, but Ray hit Roode with a garbage can. Ray hit Kazarian with the garbage can and hit Daniels with the lid. Ray then started hitting everyone with kendo stick shots and started destroying all the Fortune members and paraded around.

Flair got a kendo stick and also started nailing people. For working on a torn rotator cuff, Flair did pretty well. Daniels was bleeding and Ray rubbed Daniels’ blood all over himself. Between letting people pound on his head and rubbing Daniels’ blood all over himself, Ray seems to think it’s still 1997. Bubba got an ax handle and went to crack Daniels with it when A.J. Styles ran in for the save. Isn’t the cage there to prevent this from happening? Styles hit the Pele kick. Roode threw Flair into the cage. Storm superkicked Flair and Roode used a Fujiwara armbar on Flair, who submitted. ****

Ric had torn his rotatar cuff  3 months before this, and had been working with that injury the whole time. He also tore it in WCW 1997, and had surgery to repair it at the time.

What's your thoughts on this event? Would you of done anything different, or kept everything as it was?

This event happened 10 years ago. What's your thoughts on TNA then compared to what Impact is now?