My World with Jeff Jarrett - TNA Lockdown 2007 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Welcome to this week’s My World! We’re continuing our look back at TNA from 15 years ago. Last week we talked about the first Lockdown. This week we’re talking about your return to the ring for the first time since Bound for Glory.

Lockdown is going to be taking place in St. Charles, Missouri…or as TNA liked to call it…St. Louis. Why was St. Louis the second place to hold a pay-per-view outside of the Impact Zone? Was there demo work or research done or was it just the place that could do it?

Obviously you have an ability to charge for tickets there compared to the Impact Zone…but did the added gate offset the additional costs of doing this?

Is this only from a perception point of view necessary and not a monetary one?

From the Observer 3/26: “It is virtually a sure thing that TNA will be replacing the NWA name on its championship belts with them being renamed the TNA world heavyweight championship belts. TNA had the rights to use the NWA name for its belts and control the championship for many years, but the NWA itself called them on a contract breach. Two things in the contract were that TNA was supposed to feature the NWA name and plug NWA house shows. In the weekly Nashville days, they used to run a crawl with all the NWA house shows, but since getting real television, they stopped doing it. The NWA never made an issue out of it. The deal also was done before TNA was planning on doing house shows. In the deal, if TNA was going to run any house shows in territories where there is an existing NWA member, they would have to pay a territorial fee to that member. The dollar amount was insignificant,  but TNA wasn't wanting to pay it. Since they didn't, it was another breach. The NWA itself wanted control of both the heavyweight and tag team titles as they are trying to produce a TV show, but largely promote shows using top workers and copying the ROH formula of presenting great matches and trying to make money selling DVDs of the shows. As things currently stand, Jeff Jarrett has until the TV taping after the May PP\/ to do whatever it is he's going to do to make the transition.”

Why is it here that finally the agreement between TNA and the NWA disengrates? Do you think you still needed the NWA brand or at this point was it not worth the issues as described in the Observer?

3/15 Impact:

“Styles was on crutches and had his ankle in a brace, pretending to have suffered a major injury falling from the scaffold. He called out Rhino. Styles was good in the sense he stayed heel while being all banged up, but bad in a sense that even a two-year-old could see it was an angle, and the announcers had to sell something that bad. At least Rhino didn't, as when he turned his back and everyone knew Styles was going to nail him with a crutch, Rhino turned around and stopped him .. for a second. He got low blowed and beaten up anyway. Then when they went to a break and came back, they were still fighting with Rhino having the edge until Christian came in and hit Rhino with the crutch before Joe and Angle made the save.”

Does AJ ripping off the neck brace hurt the Elevation X gimmick as not being as dangerous?

It’s tough to build a show around a 10 man tag match when really it’s the top 10 guys in the company. Did you think there was too much tied up in the eventual build for Team Angle vs. Team Christian? Or is this just a necessary evil of running a pay-per-view with that type of main event?

“Backlund was in the background doing the famed Harvard step test and then did his delusional act to Borash thinking they were talking behind his back. If you're into Backlund of 1995 it was funny, and if you're not, it was painfully bad. There's one of those great Backlund stories regarding this segment. When they told Backlund of the idea of the segment, with the visual of Backlund doing step-ups covered in sweat in the background for the scene, Backlund, who now does three hours of step-ups consecutively in every step-up workout, of course had no problem with it So they told him they'd spray him down with a water bottle to show him

sweating but he refused to allow it, and instead insisted on doing two hours of step-ups so the sweat would be authentic.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yVGUx9qG3V0uQUPAbLQU-Xpga1HQN5Yr/view?usp=drivesdk (Backlund 3/15/07 clip)

Jeff - tell me this is real. How does Backlund become such a major part of the show and have this creative time put towards him?

“Borash walked into the men’s bathroom and came across Eric young cleaning a toilet. He told Borash he needs to get out of that contract with Robert Roode Inc. Borash said there’s nothing he can do. Borash said he should ask his friend for help. Roode barged in and told Borash to beat it. He told Young things are going to get worse for him.”

You have an hour of TV time Jeff. Is this the best use of it?

“Christian called Abyss to the ring. Styles was with Christian. Abyss was hesitant to enter. Christian said they’re more than a team, they’re a family. He told him to take his rightful spot standing behind the champion. Sting’s music then played and he walked out onto the stage. Sting said he’s tired of being led around and being told what to do. He said after Sunday night, he’s seen the light and he’s a new man. Sting said he has a final piece of his past to get out there for his own good, and it’s the most important one of all, but that will be saved for another day. Christian said Abyss doesn’t care about Sting. Cornette said they’d find out next week who’s side Abyss is on with a tag match featuring Styles & Christian vs. Sting & Abyss. Sting said why wait until next week, let’s do it now. The show ended with a three second brawl before the show–closing “adrenaline rush” recap video.”

I know…I’m going to beat a dead horse here. But out of all these guys in this match…Christian doesn’t seem like the top guy and he’s the champion. Is it tough to get past that for you? I know he beat Abyss for the title but even Abyss seems like he’s more of a top guy.

3/22 Impact:

“Main was the Hell Freezes Over match that they pushed so huge with Christian & Styles vs. Sting & Abyss. Match was okay. It felt rushed for all the build-up. Jim Mitchell returned with an older woman and Abyss chased after her. They didn't outright say it was Abyss' mother, but apparently that's who it is supposed to be and they certainly would have led one to believe it. Sting then had

to fight off both Christian and Styles. Finally Steiner came out and hit Sting with a lead pipe when Sting had Styles in the scorpion death lock, so Styles pinned Sting.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dz6uMv9xwIquJOpNQeVx2lDHyFOiOz_9/view?usp=drivesdk (Impact 3/22 ending)

Was Mitchell coming back here at the right time? Is this just a lot going on at once? Any consideration of bringing in Paul Bearer or anything like that at the time since this is just the Undertaker-Kane angle re-done again isn’t it?

3/29 Impact:

“(3) Kurt Angle pinned Abyss (w/James Mitchell) in 8:00. After two minutes of exchanges, Abyss escaped an Anklelock attempt then bailed out to ringside. Christian came to ringside to coach Abyss. When Angle applied the Anklelock at 6:00, Christian cheered on Abyss. The ref got knocked out of the ring when Abyss escaped the hold. He then hit Abyss with a Black Hole Slam and a replacement ref made the count of two. Angle then surprised Abyss with a roll–through for a leverage pin. Christian got in Tomko’s face after the match. Tomko entered the ring and raised Angle’s arm. Then Tomko KO’d Angle with the clipboard with the Team Angle contract on it. Christian then entered the ring and told Tomko to sign his clipboard. He did, then he punched away at Angle. Rhino made the save. Styles ran out next, followed by Samoa Joe and Scott Steiner. Tenay said he never expected that Team Cage would be complete while Team Angle was still in doubt. (*1/4)”

“The self–contained storyline with Tomko returning was entertaining, in great part because he played his part really well and it gave Christian a chance to shine as the conniving, insecure opportunistic champion.”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SVOP9GSfktV0X7uirsHOlFxJ5VVP90Kt/view?usp=drivesdk (3/29 Impact ending)

Something we don’t really talk about but we should is that WrestleMania 23 takes place on April 1st. Vince McMahon and Donald Trump are in the battle of the billionaires with Bobby Lashley and Umaga representing them. You also have John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels and Undertaker vs. Batista among many other matches. When you’re promoting pay-per-views around Mania…is it an issue? Did the cable companies warn you about drop off or did you notice anything around the biggest show in wrestling?

The Torch reported at the time that morale in TNA is down due to how successful Mania was. “Phone conversations among wrestlers and personnel seemed to dwell on how WrestleMania proves just how far away TNA is from being anywhere close to serious competition for WWE on a meaningful scale”

Do you feel that way?

4/5 Impact:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F8ySzGMkztYMApRMII042s6o-WhCY7Wx/view?usp=drivesdk (Nash-Dutt  Impact 4/5/07 clip)

“Nash told Dutt he had a gimmick for him. They showed Dutt in Nash's old Oz costume, which was made for a 6-10, 305 pounder so you can imagine how it looked on Dutt. It was supposed to be comedy. It had to go over 99.9% of the people's heads. Nash said, "I had two matches and made six figures with this costume" as a joke on the Jim Herd-era WCW. But seriously, what percentage of viewers would have seen that brief glimpse of Dutt in a Mr. Wizard costume and figured, "Why, that's Kevin Nash's horrible Oz gimmick from WCW in 1991 that he only did a few times?"· It was

never explained. One of the great tragedies of the wrestling business is that there have been many successes and even more failures historically, and because almost nobody studies history, very few know the difference. They just figure if it was once done, even if it was a horrible failure, it must be a good idea. Worse, by being obsessed with the internet and getting over there, they do these skits that are funny to the 0.1 % of the audience that knows the Oz back story, while everyone else has no clue what's going on.”

Is this just Kevin having fun on his own? Does anybody get over when it comes to this stuff?

“Austin Starr beat Senshi. Good match, although it was only a few minutes on TV. Senshi missed the double foot stomp off the top and sold his knee. Starr put him in the Boston crab. Bob Backlund stopped doing his Harvard step test to throw in the towel in a spoof on Arnold Skaaland throwing in the towel when Backlund lost the WWF title to the Iron Sheik in 1983. As I figured, none of this was explained. There was zero reaction to this, as very few Orlando fans would have known about this because a very small percentage of the Universal audience watched wrestling in 1983, let alone watched WWF. Worse, the Orlando fans have far more knowledge than the average viewer at home, so this was another joke over everyone's head.”

I mean…hard to disagree here Jeff.

“Sting revealed himself to be part of Team Angle after all. The show was built around Christian gloating over having a complete team of five while Team Angle was two members short. Samoa Joe and Rhino urged Angle to tell them who he had in mind to fill out their team, but Angle said he would only when the time was right”

I mean golly Jeff you got Sting being kind of a water boy here behind Rhino & Samoa Joe. Why the repositioning of Sting?

4/12 Impact:

(3) Samoa Joe pinned A.J. Styles in 12:00 to earn his team the advantage in the Lockdown cage match. This should be a huge match for TNA to market, and it was given away on TV without any hype not only in the weeks leading up to it, but on the TV show it headlined. Joe scored with some early kicks and a kneedrop. A minute into the match, they cut to a commercial. Joe backdropped out of a Styles Clash attempt, then hit a Muscle Buster and applied a rear naked choke. Styles tapped out. When Team Cage walked to ringside, Angle, Sting, and Rhino ran out to stop them. Then Jeff Jarrrett’s music played, he walked out, looking like Johnny Fairplay circa Survivor (with muscles). He bashed Styles over the head with a guitar, then Joe made the cover for the pin. The ref counted to three as Angle and Rhino entered the ring. Jarrett smiled as he walked to the back and held up his hand indicating he was the fifth member of the team. Good action in the match, but in the TNA Impact setting, it just doesn’t ever get to that point of feeling consequential. (**1/4)”

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pm7Q5ncd8D3U5UF-aONiOrRLwdGhapIo/view?usp=drivesdk (Impact 4/12 ending)

What do you think of Meltzer saying inside the TNA impact setting it doesn’t mean much?

How did it feel to be compared to Johnny Fairplay?

Why now was the time for you to return to TV?

Wade Keller - your dad’s boy - writes a story about TNA called “Totally Obsolete.” From the story: “The frustration in TNA is said to be palpable. Signing Samoa Joe, The Dudleys, Christian, and Kurt Angle and moving to prime time was supposed to improve things more than a couple tenths of a rating point each week. Although Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett keep PPV buyrate figures private, there is zero sense within TNA or from outside sources of any momentum in that area. It is time to reexamine the business plan. TNA's business plan, as initially explained by founder Jerry Jarrett in these very pages, was to fill the gaping hole left behind by WCW. The argument goes that there are millions of people who used to watch pro wrestling on Monday nights and hundreds of thousands who used to order PPVs once a month who are not accounted for in WWE's post-WCW ratings. So TNA could swoop in, offer a different yet similar product, and those who weren't thrilled with WWE would see TNA as a viable alternative. In theory, it should have been easy to reach the 2.0 ratings level that would have made them a serious player in the cable ratings world, enough of a success story to attract multiple sponsors, and watched by enough eyeballs to draw profitable PPV buy totals which would put them perpetually in competition for top level WWE names, especially those looking for lighter schedules. That was the plan. What's gone wrong in that perfect (and perfectly reasonable, on the surface) plan? A lot. For one, TNA is not WCW. And it's not 2002 anymore. WCW is a distant memory. The pro wrestling industry and pro wrestling fans have adjusted to a world dominated by the McMahon product. There are three brands to choose from, each a little different from the others, and it creates for enough fans a feeling of choice that was missing after WCW went under.”

What say you Jeff? Was TNA obsolete? Were you considering them a failure?

From the Torch 4/16: “Word is going around in TV circles that TNA is talking with the MyTV network, the alliance of stations who were left without an official network affiliation after The WB and UPN

merged into the CW.  Spike TV is still considered the leading contender to retain Impact, but it doesn't hurt TNA to have a little leverage in negotiations or at least a decent fallback plan to keep then afloat. The MyTV network might be great, too, for a second weekly hour of TV if Spike doesn't ante up for a second hour. TNA is working under the premise that they strongly want a second hour later this year. TNA and Spike TV continue to mull over the idea of Impact expanding to two hours later this year or early in 2008. In interviews over the last year, members of management and wrestlers alike have held to the belief that an additional hour will allow them to grow the audience and let the stories breathe, as opposed to being cramped into a one hour format.”

How frustrating are these TV negotiations at the time? You knew you needed the second hour…and you were providing viewership for Spike…were you surprised they weren’t forthcoming with that hour at the time?

We’re here at the show now Jeff! And we got a lot to discuss!

Observer: “TNA 's annual all-cage match Lockdown PPV featured the same good and same bad that has been the case with its offerings the past few months. As usual, the good is the work of the wrestlers and there were positive signs. The crowd of 5,600 paid and probably over 6,000 in the arena, with a strong 1,400 ticket walk-up, at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO, was by far the

strongest the company has ever done. It wasn't that long ago that some WWE PPV shows were doing in the same range when it comes to paid attendance. Of course, it was the first time ever anywhere near St. Louis. There was a lot of strong late

publicity in town. Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner appeared in Cardinals uniform that afternoon at the game before a sellout at Busch Stadium for Jackie Robinson Day. They also announced for three innings on the broadcast. There was also a lengthy TV news interview with Kurt Angle.”

How important is the ahead PR work in getting that type of walk up?

From the Torch: “Jeff Jarrett arrived at the Family Arena a few hours before the show started. He then met with all the wrestlers involved in his main event during the course of the PPV to discuss spots, logic holes, and the finish of the Lethal Lockdown match... Many wrestlers believe that Jarrett insulates himself from the rest of the roster, save for the four or five people he talks to on a regular basis. It’s become an “us vs. them” mentality in the locker room, where wrestlers are content to collect their paycheck, play a role on TV, and have fans boost their egos with events like a fan fest where praise was heaped on everyone, but otherwise their loyalty to the company is dampened by lack of leadership from the leader and part owner, Jarrett. Dixie tries to unify the company with her gregarious and optimistic attitude behind the scenes, though.”

Who do you think was telling Wade this to keep that story going?

“1. Chris Sabin won a five-way over Shark Boy, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal as Black Machismo, and Sonjay Dutt to keep the X Division title in 15:50. Really strong opener. I was so dead wrong on the Randy Savage gimmick. The crowd took to Lethal huge. It's almost uncanny just how identical Lethal can do all the signature Savage stuff. It's funny, because as Lethal, I always thought his punches needed work, but when he copied the Savage style punches, he does them perfectly, and it's not just he copies Savage's moves and mannerisms, but does them exact, but has the overall ability to pull it off in doing a match. He's done the Savage impersonations in the dressing room for years. The only question is the legs of the gimmick as it's that Eugene role in WWE, where he's super popular as a cult deal for a short period and then it becomes an albatross. In his pre-match interview, I cracked up when he called Leticia, "Liz." He wears a complete Savage outfit, has the same kind of hair, the same facials and a nearly identical voice on interviews. The other notable thing is Sabin & Shelley were tremendous doing double-team moves and the crowd looked like it could get into them as a tag team. Just from this match, my thought was they could get them in the tag title picture. Work wise there is no issue but personality wise there could be. Shelley pinned Shark Boy at 5:45 when Shelley and Sabin hit simultaneous legdrops off the top rope. Lots of "This is awesome" chants here. Strong work from Dutt as well. At 13:30, Sabin pinned Dutt with a cradle shock. Lethal pinned Shelley after an identical to Savage style elbow off the top in 14:32. Once everyone was eliminated by pinfall, it switched to escape the cage rules. Lethal and Sabin both climbed over together. Sabin kicked Lethal in the leg, which somehow wound up with Lethal's leg stuck in the cage. Sabin then let go, falling to the floor for the win.”

Observer gave it ***1/2

Torch gave it  **¾

Look at Meltzer admitting he was wrong about Lethal as Savage. And the irony that eventually Sabin & Shelley would eventually evolve into the Motor City Machine Guns. The continued expanded nature of the X Division even in this cage showed a lot of promise. You have to be happy with how this show started right?

“2. Robert Roode pinned Petey Williams in 10:14. The story here was Eric Young and Ms. Brooks at ringside. Brooks was having a hell of a time keeping her dress from falling down and off her boobs. Williams was a little sloppy in a few spots. One spot I really liked was when Williams went to dropkick Roode in the back, and

his dropkick was just short, 98% of the time in pro wrestling on a missed move like that, the guy will sell it. Roode, thinking on his feet and without missing a beat, didn't sell it, and immediately took over. Brooks got a hockey stick from under the ring and went to pass it through the cage to Roode. Young grabbed the stick and

they had a tug-of-war over it with Young winning. Young threw down Brooks and gave Williams the hockey stick. Williams hit Roode twice with it before ref Earl Hebner took the stick away and threw it out of the ring. Finish saw Williams go for the Canadian Destroyer, but Roode blocked it, and then used a fisherman suplex, called "the payoff," for the pin.”

Observer gave it **

Torch gave it *½

Did these two need Young & Brooks outside or do you think it added to it?

“3. Gail Kim beat Jackie Moore in 7:13. They brawled outside the cage before the match. Moore threw Kim over the announcers table and into Mike Tenay's lap. Moore took Tenay's water bottle and poured it on Kim. The match was considerably better than most WWE women 's matches. They worked a hard, stiff style with the big move being Kim using a missile dropkick. It was weird because

outside of the opener, they never really explained the rules as it regarded pinfalls or escapes. So they were brawling near the cage door, as it opened, and they traded elbows, teasing one would go down the other would get out the door. Kim slammed the open cage door back into Moore's face. Kim looked like she'd walk out to win, but then changed her mind. She climbed up to almost the top of the

cage and came off with a crossbody block for the pin.”

Observer gave it **1/4

Torch gave it *¼

The first ever all women’s cage match in TNA. These two really kicked ass and you can see Gail Kim as the cornerstone of the women of TNA even at this point couldn’t you?

“4. Senshi beat Austin Starr in 9:57 in the match with Bob Backlund as referee. The two had their usual good action, but they are overshadowed by Backlund's comedy gimmick. After Senshi did the Suwa dropkick, which is a running high impact dropkick that the guy taking it flies backwards hard, he climbed to the top rope for his double foot stomp. However, Starr shoved Backlund into the ropes, and Senshi lost his balance and was crotched and fell into the ring. Starr used a 450 splash, but Senshi kicked out. Starr then shoved Backlund for not counting fast enough. Backlund shoved him back. and Starr lost balance and Senshi used a rolling reverse cradle for the pin.”

Observer gave it ***

Torch gave it **¾

Did Backlund add or hurt? Adding something like this may add to the presentation but work against the guys when Backlund is the focus would you agree?

“5. James Storm pinned Chris Harris in the blindfold match in 9:05. Immediately it was the "Fire Russo" chant as both put their hoods on. Worse, even though it was dying anyway, the hoods kept falling off, which looked second-rate. I don't know if I've seen a match on PPV that the crowd just completely turned on to this degree since the Tomko vs. Stevie Richards in drag match years ago. Loud booing and "Boring" chants, as well as "We Want Wrestling" chants. Harris did get the crowd sort of into it by pointing so, as the babyface, they would tell him where Storm was. But whatever moments the crowd wasn't booing were fleeting. At one point, both

climbed the ropes and Harris speared Storm. The hoods came off both guys on landing. Harris, not being able to see who he was attacking, put the ref in the sharpshooter. With the ref face down, Storm took off his hood, superkicked Harris and put the hood back on and covered Harris. The ref recovered to count the pin.”

Observer gave it -**

Torch gave it -****

From the Torch: The crowd grew impatient and chanted “We want action!” (I think). They booed after the first lock–up between the two. They crawled around the ring more. The easier fans got into cheering for Harris whenever he pointed toward Storm. When Storm got ahold of Harris, he swung at him, but Harris ducked. When Harris punched Storm, he knocked his hood off. The ref put the hood back off of him. Fans loudly chanted, “Boring! Boring!” Tenay and West ignored the fan chants and did their best to make it seem interesting. Storm’s hood came off again. The ref threatened to DQ him unless he put it back on. He did, but it still wasn’t tied on. It was embarrassingly bad at this point. There just comes a point where you have to throw in the towel and go home early. Harris tackled Storm off the ropes. Both of their hoods came off again. Just a fiasco. “Someone stop this!” was the next chant. Amen. Every move they executed, the hoods came off. You can’t picture how bad this is without seeing it. It’s almost worth ordering the show just to see how bad this is. Almost. Storm superkicked Harris with his mask off and then put it back on. If that’s not the worst match of the year, God help us.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gCUcMnLHWPU9VFZPaphEkVCqd7tiroWN/view?usp=drivesdk (blindfold match)

Jeff - as you’re watching this in the back do you feel like it’s just a disaster of epic proportions when these two guys are one of the greatest tag teams in company history and this is how one of the biggest singles matches of their career is going off? What could’ve been done different…if anything? What are the guys like when it’s over? I mean here’s a crowd that’s in St. Louis - not your home base - chanting “Fire Russo.”

“6. Christopher Daniels beat Jerry Lynn in 13:29. They had a tough task because the crowd was dead coming off the last match. Plus, people don't know how to take Daniels. They want to like him but he's a heel. Lynn is good, but hasn't gotten a serious push in a long time. One of the highlight spots was Daniels doing a uranage off the top rope. Lynn tried a piledriver while standing on the top rope, but Daniels laid Lynn out in escaping. Daniels then used his Last Rites for the pin.”

Observer gave it **3/4

Torch gave it **¼

These two are so good they’re able to overcome the crowd but it’s gotta be disheartening having to follow that right? Is there a match in your career you can think of where you had to follow something so bad you knew you were doomed from the start?

“7. Team 3-D won the NWA tag titles from Homicide & Hernandez in 15:36. Just a bad presentation of what very welI could have been considered a strong match under normal circumstances. There was supposed to be an electric part of the cage. The iclea was guys were wearing rubber boots and they would put on rubber gloves

if they needed to climb. It was just too hokey, especially when the first electricity spot was a dud and brought out the "Fire Russo" chants. Devon bled like crazy, but they cumed the lighting down so much that it didn't come across that strong on television. There was also a minor problem as Konnan was supposed to interfere when the cage door got opened, leading to Hector Guerrero stopping him. Guerrero instead decked the guy (local indie wrestler) who wheeled Konnan out. He was supposed to take the rubber gloves from Konnan which is why he'd be able to touch the fence. He didn 't, but didn't get fried since it wasn't part of the match. They did a lot of big spots but it was hopeless. They finished with an incredible

spot that did get over. Hernandez, at close to 300 pounds, climbed to the top of the cage. He went to splash Devon through the table, but Devon moved, and he went through the table. It appeared the finish was supposed to be Team 3-D putting Homicide into the cage and electrifying him. By this point, the people booed it like crazy and as he came off for a 3-D on him, they dropped him. They then set up the 3-D for the finish. The people did pop for the title change after all this. A lot of fans left after this match ended.”

Observer gave it *

Torch gave it **

How does there seem to be such a lack of execution on these big gimmick matches? Between the blindfold match and now this…agenting? Is this just one of those shows that’s cursed?

“8. Team Angle ( Kurt Angle & Samoa Joe & Rhino & Jeff Jarrett & Sting) beat Team Cage (Christian Cage & Tomko & Scott Steinerl & 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 to 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. Jarrett's hair is like a total 1980s babyface. 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 pop 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 chokeslam 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 thumbtacks into the guitar and gave it to Jarrett. Jarrett teased

hitting Sting, but instead hit Abyss. Jarrett then resisted 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.”

Observer gave it ****

Torch gave it ***

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wXkFzjGo9cA7vrYvQAl88eBbm91F0dXw/view?usp=drivesdk (main event ending)

Your big return Jeff and you help give Sting the win and this is a much better match than anything else on the card. Did it feel weird to be back in the ring as a talent?

The hair - back to the 80s babyface - looking for that picture money?

The show gets an estimated buyrate of 35,000 which is an increase over Destination X last month, but 10,000 down from Lockdown last year

From the Torch: “Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantell have their vision of pro wrestling, and Russo’s job is to fill in the blanks. He’s been given the task of scripting promos for the underneath guys, such as Chris Sabin and Jay Lethal. He was also given the unenviable task of taking a Jarrett & Dutch idea for the Breakfast with the Devil segment between Sting and James Mitchell and scripting the exchange line for line. People in management other than Jarrett and Dutch recognized it as one of the most illogical storylines ever conceived and wondered how the $500,000 man, Sting, couldn’t deliver his few lines without looking like a first–year acting student.”

What say you Jeff? Execution failure? Good show bogged down by bad gimmicks?