CAN LOCKDOWN PUT THE TNA SHIP BACK ON COURSE?
By Todd Oblak on 4/15/2010 3:51 PM
Can Lockdown put the ship on course?
TNA is struggling, the main factors being hot-shotted booking and no true
outlook for the future or relationship with the past. Today's TNA is booked on
the fly and it shows. The carelessness with missed details and lack of
explanation or motive for actions has not gone unnoticed. The ratings for
iMPACT have continued to decrease. Excuses like Shawn's retirement or taped
shows or going an hour earlier don't make up for the quality of programming and
lack of true direction that would make the casual fans turn into weekly fans.
There are two reasons fans would watch weekly and talk about the show the next
day "around the watercooler."
First, the show would have to do something memorable, whether that be historic
or shocking. I don't mean they need to have a bi-sexual guy squirting a white
milky substance on his chest for no apparent reason. That almost made me change
the channel....which makes me wonder who their target demographic really is? It
can't be males age 18-39 (of which I'm a part of) with that angle....so who was
that targeted at?!? Do bisexuals even find that entertaining? No, that is not
watercooler talk....you don't want to bring something like that up in front of
people unless you're laughing about how awful it is and wondering what they're
thinking....that is not the type of shocking I'm talking about, a show would
need to make history.....for example, having the first match ever between Rob
Van Dam and Sting....that would be shocking/historic or memorable. No, wait...TNA
already had that and ruined it by having Sting get upset in 10 seconds then beat
RVD senseless with a baseball bat for 10 minutes in his debut. Way to go TNA!
A potential dream match just went in the toilet in less than 10 minutes.
Second, the show would have to leave you wanting more. The one thing I think
WWE is missing most from their weekly television is the cliffhangers that were
so prevalent in the late 90s that kept fans wanting to see next week's shows.
WCW used to go off the air when they were "out of time" and it left you hanging
until next week. WWE's shows tend to go off the air after some kind of
resolution to the conflict nowadays. There aren't many shocks to end the show
in today's wrestling and I think that is a primary missing ingredient.
So how does TNA right the course of it's ship, while also rocking WWE's boat?
Stories that make sense, have a good background and serve a long-term
purpose....all while providing some twists and turns in the middle to add up to
a payoff at a PPV.
Let's start at the bottom of the card and work up:
RVD vs James Storm for the advantage in the main event. Since RVD won this and
then got hit over the head with a beer bottle, he should be itching for some
revenge. An all out brawl to start the show would be good, but having Storm win
with a rollup would be the best way to end this match.
Triple threat for the X Title should go on 2nd. Neither of the challengers are
over yet enough with the crowd, so a title change would mean nothing. Moore and
Kaz work together to start the match but end up blowing a team spot and begin to
argue, thus allowing Williams to escape the cage without them knowing....a
veteran move and he looks like the sneaky heel. I'm actually liking Williams'
character....they need to keep developing it.
Angle vs Anderson would go next (3rd), as the 3 main events should be separated
throughout the card to allow some downtime matches in between. I think this
story has ended 3 times on television only to be restarted the next week again.
It's time for this to end once and for all. Since Anderson has the key, he
tries to make a break for the door every opportunity he gets, only to get
thwarted by Angle every time. Finally, Angle gets tired of this and gets the
key away from him and throws it over the top to the outside, then takes down the
straps and goes to work. Anderson tries to climb to the top, but Angle
follows....they fight at the top and Anderson throws Angle off the top of the
cage to the center of the ring, then climbs down for the win....Angle can play
the storyline injury and take some time off and Anderson looks like a mammoth
heel to end the feud (for now).
Team 3D vs Wolfpack can be next (4th) only to not last long and segway into the
Nash vs Young match. During the match, Nash comes down and stands next to the
cage. He feeds a cable through the cage and lays it down on the mat and signals
to Hall to send Brother Ray to get tripped up. Jesse Neal comes out and starts
to fight with Nash, but Nash puts him down and ends up pulling the cable and
tripping up the Ray with the cable, allowing Hall to catch him with the Razors
Edge and pick up the win.
Young comes down to fight with Nash as 3D and the Band are still in the cage,
they begin to fight out of the cage as Young and Nash fight in, until the bell
rings and the match starts. During the match, Nash goes down and Young tries to
scale the cage and do the diving elbow from the top like he did on iMPACT, only
to have Nash move and Eric misses, then Nash pins him for the win. The Wolfpack
could come back in the cage and take their turns giving their finishers to Young
and tag him with the spraypaint to seemingly put an end to Young.
AJ vs Pope for the World Title could go on 6th. Pope could have Styles reeling
for the win, but Flair tries to get the door open and come in and Pope slams the
door open into Flair. Pope sees his opportunity to leave the cage, but Styles
is hurting so he goes back in and sets up for the codebreaker, so he whips AJ
into the corner closest to the cage door and AJ slides out and through the door
for a very quick, surprise, sneaky win. Pope is upset at himself that he didn't
leave the cage when he could have won the belt.
The Beautiful People vs Tara & Angelina is a typical Knockouts tag match that
sees Tara & Angelina argue the entire match, but sees Angelina pin Madison to
win the tag titles for her and Tara, even though they seem to be arguing over
the Knockout's title.
Lethal Lockdown could be the match to change the course within TNA, so it should
go on last. Here is my take on one scenario that would make TNA programming
very interesting. The background going in is that Flair and Hogan don't like
each other, however Hogan and Bischoff are in charge together. Bischoff has
made some kind of deal with Flair and Bischoff doesn't like Abyss, Foley or
Jarrett and Hogan has Abyss & Jarrett on his team. What if this whole thing
played out as a setup on TNA and Hogan/Dixie?
Onto the match, then the explanation:
Roode starts the match off against Abyss. They brawl until Desmond Wolfe comes
in....two on one until RVD makes the sides even. Storm comes in next and goes
for RVD until Hardy comes out. Finally Sting walks to the ring and is carrying
the bat and goes to work on the faces 4 on 3. They are waiting on Jarrett &
apparently he has been laid out in the back with Bischoff standing over him with
a busted guitar. Hogan is fuming and Flair is laughing. The roof begins to
come down. The faces are being beaten until Jarrett limps out. Everyone is
happy and he is carrying a guitar and Jarrett makes his way in. The crowd pops
and Jarrett gets in and the heels cower, but then Jarrett turns on Jeff Hardy
and nails him with the guitar. Beer Money and Desmond take out RVD and Abyss
and they are working together. Hogan gets fired up and tears off his t-shirt
and is making his way into the cage, the crowd is really pumped up and the heels
are telling him to come in.....then AJ runs in from behind and blasts Hogan as
he was trying to get into the cage. The heels celebrate in the ring. Bischoff
walks down and shakes Flair's hand and they both get inside the cage. Jarrett &
Bischoff hug.
Jarrett gets a microphone and says Dixie, I hope you're happy. Since he is the
true founder of TNA and had to watch Dixie take his company away from him, he
has been itching to be the King Of The Mountain again for a long while. He said
Hogan was the problem in WCW and now was the problem in TNA and Jarrett and
Bischoff are now pulling the strings. Jarrett talked to Bischoff about getting
Hogan to bring him in and helping him lead the charge against Dixie and Hogan to
take over TNA. The only guys that had remained loyal to Jarrett throughout all
of this were AJ Styles and Beer Money. So now Jarrett has an army. Bischoff is
running the show, along with the Icons Sting and Ric Flair who were more than
happy to help rid TNA of Hulk Hogan. AJ is the champ, Desmond & Beer Money are
the future of the company. Who can stop them? Apparently not Hogan, Abyss, RVD
or Jeff Hardy. They're laid out on the floor.
The lights go out and the Nation Of Violence music comes on. When the lights
come on, Samoa Joe is on the ramp and is pointing at the heels.
Comments: It would be revealed on Monday that Jarrett & Bischoff were behind
Joe's kidnapping to try to get him out of TNA while they sprung their trap on
Hogan. Jarrett trusted AJ but not Joe and knew that Joe would stand with Hogan,
just like Abyss. Joe can say he knew all along what they had planned and was
ready to strike back.
So now Bischoff would lead the heels with AJ as the centerpiece, Flair as the
manager/advisor. Jarrett, Sting, Desmond & Beer Money would round out the heels
that side with the old regime.
Hogan would lead the faces. Joe, Abyss, RVD, Hardy & we can add a tag team later
to compete with Beer Money (MCMG?!?!)
4 Main Eventers & a tag team on either side.....they could make it interesting
for a few months just doing various matches. Sting & Desmond vs Abyss & RVD?
Hardy & Joe vs AJ & Jarrett? Hardy vs Jarrett? Joe vs Desmond? MCMG vs AJ &
Desmond? Abyss vs Jarrett with Hogan and Bischoff on either side? Pope could
side with Hogan and Anderson could side with Bischoff and that would throw even
more intrigue to the mix. Down the road when Angle comes back, he could show up
to help Hogan & company and then they could build up a Jarrett vs Angle match
(given all the history between them regarding Karen).....there are so many
possibilities here!
Thoughts?!?
toddoblak@yahoo.com
