The Kurt Angle Show - TNA Lockdown 2007 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

This week we’re continuing our look back at my career 15 years ago in TNA.

We’re coming off Destination X where you took on Scott Steiner and got a win. Did you enjoy working with Scott?

Lockdown will be on the road and it’ll be the first pay-per-view out of the Impact Zone you’ll get to wrestle at. Were you welcoming to getting the hell out of the Impact Zone?

This will be your first Lockdown. Now for those of you who don’t know what Lockdown was it was a show where all the matches were in a cage. What did you think of this concept?

Considering the plan is for you to be in the main event is it tough to be the last cage match of 9?

The plan is to have Lethal Lockdown … which is the War Games gimmick for TNA. Team Angle will be taking on Team Cage. This is going to be a lot of guys in a ring at once. Is there more risk for error and injury in this type of scenario?

The build to it kicks off when Cage attacks Rhino with a crutch and you & Samoa Joe run out to save him. You, Rhino & Joe team up the next week to defeat Kaz, Havok & Martyr who are all a part of Raven’s table. What did you think of working with these guys as a team?

TNA is moving away from using the NWA title. Is it a disappointment to you at the time you didn’t get to win the actual NWA title?

Christian announces his team as AJ Styles, Scott Steiner, Abyss & Tomko. Is this a match you’re excited about?

On your side you announce your team as Samoa Joe, Rhino, Sting and a mystery partner. The mystery partner would end up being Jeff Jarrett returning to air as a character. That’s a hell of a team there Kurt don’t you think?

There’s a storyline for a couple of weeks where Tomko is going back and forth on what team he would be on and it’s announced you’ll take on Abyss to determine what team Tomko will be on. You defeat Abyss and Tomko comes in and swerves you bro and still ends up joining Christian’s team. Does this…do anything for anybody?

What did you think of Tomko? He always had an amazing look but he never really put it together. What was missing in your opinion?

WrestleMania 23 - the Battle of the Billionaires between Vince McMahon & Donald Trump - takes place during this time. Bobby Lashley and Umaga represent Vince and Trump while Cena vs. Shawn and Batista vs. Undertaker are the main events. Knowing what you know now…do you think you would’ve been a big part of the Mania card had you stayed with the WWE?

With two weeks to go in the build Jim Cornette announces whoever gets the winning pinfall in the match gets a title shot against Christian for the next pay-per-view at Sacrifice. Does this make much sense in terms of Christian having his team?

That story is closed out on the go-home Impact when Joe & Rhino question you on who the 5th member is that you won’t reveal. Joe showed his distrust in you saying he didn’t believe you and maybe you’re working with Christian’s team to help get yourself a title shot. This creative is pretty smart considering you & Joe at this point haven’t exactly seen eye to eye on things. Are you helping with crafting these stories at this time?

In a match that determines who gets to have the advantage in Lethal Lockdown…between Styles & Joe. Jarrett returns and instead of hitting Joe he hits Styles with the guitar to cement his babyface turn and reveal himself as the 5th man. Would you had rather Jeff be a heel like when you came in so you could wrestle against him not with him?

The company sends you to St. Louis ahead of time to do media including a lengthy interview with a TV station. Did you enjoy doing these things to help promote the shows? Or would you had rather been resting?

The show long storyline for Lockdown is that on your team only you & Sting really trust Jarrett while Joe & Rhino don’t trust him at all. Did you think Jarrett’s return here overshadowed you or was that all part of the story?

Harley Race is assigned the gate keeper of the match which was a nice nod to history to wrestling in the St. Louis history. Kurt do you have any good Harley Race stories?

From the Observer:

“S. Team Angle ( Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe & Rhino & Jeff Jarrett & Sting) beat

Team Cage (Christian Cage & Tomko & Scott Steiner & Abyss & A.J. Styles) in

a Lethal Lockdown match in 28:04. Rules of the match were similar to War

Games, except only one ring. Once everyone was in, instead of winning by

submission, they would drop a ceiling down which was filled with weapons so it

would turn into a weapons brawl. The heels had the man advantage even though

the faces won the TV match. Before the show, Jim Cornette said because Jarrett

had interfered in the Joe vs. Styles TV match and gave Joe the win, that he had to

overturn the decision. Boy was that a major consistency problem. Harley Race was

used as the keeper of the cage key. Usually that's the m.o. for him Lo get jumped

and lots of interference, but they treated Race nicely, allowing him his pop for

decking Jim Mitchell late in the match. It started with 5:00 of Angle vs. Styles.

Some good wrestling between the two. Right as Angle hit the Olympic slam, Abyss

came in for the two minute double-team spot. Rhino was next in. Rhino catapulted

Styles into the cage and Styles was the first man bleeding. Tomko was next in.

Rhino was the next man bleeding. With the exception of Devon, even though it

was an all-cage show, they saved the blood for the main event. Joe came in and he

appeared to get the biggest pop of the show. It was pretty wild with Joe hitting the

muscle buster on Styles. Angle hit five straight German suplexes on Tomko. Joe

got Abyss in the choke when it was Steiner's tum to come in. Steiner gave both

Angle and Joe belly-to-belly suplexes. He then gave Rhino a Frankensteiner off the

top rope. The place came unglued seeing Steiner use the move he really

popularized nearly two decades ago on a national basis for the first time in many

years. The crowd was chanting "Overrated" at him, but after he did the move, they

chanted " We were wrong." Sting was next in, and he got a major pop as well. He

gave Stinger splashes to everyone. They did a six-man pyramid spot similar to what

is usually an X Division staple. Cage was the last one in for the heels. Jarrett came

in last. I noticed some boos for Jarrett.

He came out and was dropkicking everyone. It's funny how the multiple dropkick

spot, which was a baby face staple, is now a new spot. Jarrett in his early days in the

business was known for having one of the best dropkicks, and although he's a lot

bigger, he still got some great height. It turned into a weapons brawl, but there

were so many weapons shots that they didn't seem to build. It was just pops for the

hard sound of the garbage can lid on the head. Styles started climbing the cage.

There was an opening near the ceiling, where you could do basically a pull-up and

get to the top. Angle went up after him and they were brawling on top. Mitchell

gave Abyss two bags full of thumb tacks for the requisite spot in every Abyss

match. Race came around the ring, slowly, and decked Mitchell. At this point,

Rhino gored Tomko through the locked cage door. On the top of the cage, Styles

hit Angle on the top of the head with a chair. I was shocked seeing it because years

ago after Angle got his first surgery from Dr. Jho in Pittsburgh in 2003, it was a

chair shot to the top of the head that undid it and put him out a second time. Angle

had said when he was in WWE he doesn't think they should do hard chair shots to

the head. With the cage door open, Joe did a tope onto Tomko. Steiner went out

of the cage and grabbed the NWA title belt and hit Joe. Abyss dumped one bag of

thumb tacks on the mat. They teased Jarrett and Sting taking the bump on the

tacks, but they escaped from Abyss and gave Cage a double choke slam onto the

tacks. Abyss then laid out Jarrett with a black hole slam. Angle punched Styles off

the top of the cage where everyone on the ground caught him. Abyss then put his

second bag of thumb tacks i nto the guitar and gave it to Jarrett. Jarrett teased

hitting Sting, but instead hit Abyss. Jarrett then refused to pin Abyss himself, and

told Sting to get the pin. Sting thought it was a trick, but after more prodding from

Jarrett, he pinned Abyss. Sting and Jarrett shook hands. Angle was on the top of

the cage unhappy and ended up leaving by himself. ****”

Kurt from the execution all the way down this is a pretty damn good match. How tough is it to put something like this together?

Did you think thumbtacks had been used way too much in Abyss’ matches to Meltzer’s point?

Are you happy they saved any blood for the main event?

Is it tough to follow all the cage matches especially considering they had an electrified cage match right before you between Team 3D and LAX?

What was it about the chair shot? Meltzer mentions you had issues before with one…was it just something you felt comfortable taking at this point?

You tossing AJ off the top of the cage onto everyone is one of those crazy spots that you just can’t believe what you see. Who called for the spot? AJ? Did you feel comfortable throwing him off?

You work the whole match coming in 1st…who’s decision was that? Were you comfortable being in the whole match?

The finish builds intrigue to the next show with Jarrett, Sting and you being frustrated over the pinfall. Are you happy with the match when it’s over?

Let’s get to the fan questions!