TNA Lockdown 2011 review (DVD) ★★

With an attendance figure of over 4,000 fans, a fancy set and huge build-up, there was a positive aura that surrounded TNA Lockdown going into it, right up until the first match of the night, when it was unfortunately revealed that the bright lights and big-time feel of the event were all for nothing as they were to eclipse the actual wrestling, making it an incredibly disappointing show for the one night of the year where every match is contested inside a steel cage.

X Division Championship #1 Contendership – 8-Man Xscape Match ??
Featuring Chris Sabin vs. Robbie E. vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck vs. The Amazing Red vs. Jay Lethal vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Suicide, the rules of Lockdown's opening contest stated that the first six competitors would be eliminated by pinfall or submission, with the sole objective of the final two wrestlers being to escape the confines of the cage. This bout worked on the basis that two combatants would face off against each other at one time, while they could tag anyone they wanted into the match. What can I say about the action, however? It was standard fare for an X Division match. The fast-paced offense and defence was plentiful, but it all added up to nothing more than your average battle of the TNA cruiserweights. Yes, I'll say it: the X Division is stale. It desperately needs revitalising. Flying around the ring lighting-fast and constantly standing off with your opponent(s) is not wrestling.

Four Corners Tag Team Match ??
A little too similar to the first part of the Xscape match, at least for a bout that went on right after (well, following a pointless 10-minute speech by Eric Bischoff in the middle of the ring), this eight-man, four-team tag team match consisting of Ink Inc. vs. Scott Steiner & Crimson vs. The British Invasion vs. Eric Young & Orlando Jordan saw Shannon Moore and Jesse Neal take home the victory following a sloppy Mooregasm on Douglas Williams. Not an interesting match in the slightest and one that lacked any particular highlights.

Knockouts Championship – Hair vs. Title: Madison Rayne (c) vs. Mickie James
Can somebody say no stars? What a complete waste of time. James won in about 30 seconds after her signature DDT to become the new Knockouts Champion. Say no more. Horrible.

D'Angelo Dinero vs. Samoa Joe ??
Once again, a bland, uninteresting and flat storyline came to an end at Lockdown following their last pay-per-view encounter at Against All Odds. I'm not sure what they were doing at Victory Road. This was a little better than said match, enough to move into two-star territory, but far from anything sensational. Joe pinned The Pope's shoulders to the mat after the second Muscle Buster of the bout.

Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez ?
Close, but not quite as bad as their First Blood encounter at Victory Road, this blow-off to yet another horrendous rivalry was once again a languishing string of high-impact moves that this time thankfully wasn't utterly marred by a terrible finish. On the contrary to their last match, Morgan's Carbon Footprint bicycle kick to Hernandez, representing Mexican America, aka LAX V2.0, in the midst of a leap from the top rope was a good way to end the match, but it was everything that came before it that stank the place up. I don't think anybody wanted to see these two go at it again after Victory Road, not even in a steel cage. And not even one of them bled, therefore extinguishing any sense of escalation in the story, as weak as it was, that their feud told.

Ultra Male Rules: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle ???
A two-out-of-three falls match with a bit of a silly name, the Ultra Man Rules contest would be decided by, firstly, a submissions-only fall, then pinfalls-only, and finally, if necessary, victory could only be obtained in the third and final fall by escaping the cage. Angle promised he'd have the match of the night and he delivered (by quite a way), but you shouldn't have to expect a three-star affair to be the most memorable of the entire eight-bout card. This was a solid match with a few good high-impact spots, ranging from a huge Powerbomb off the cage wall that almost broke Angle in half, a super-duper Olympic Slam from the top rope, and a Moonsault from the very top of the cage that would have looked great had it not been for the fact that Jarrett was completely out of position and caused Angle to miss his landing by a mile. I liked this match, but the same can't be said for the finish where Karen Angle came running down to the ring and prevented her ex-husband's escape by spraying something into his eyes. TNA sure has a reputation for bad finishes.

World Heavyweight Championship – Three-Way Dance: Sting (c) vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam ??
Infinitely better than the World Heavyweight Title match at Against All Odds (and if you don't know why then you must be living under a rock), this three-way conflict wasn't exactly great. With Hulk Hogan's Immortal ultimatum looming over the head of RVD throughout the match, the man himself made an appearance to hand him a pipe to use as a weapon, only to have it thrown back in his face. After a back-and-forth couple of months as far as the belt was concerned (swapping between Sting, Anderson and Jeff Hardy), Sting retained after delivering the Scorpion Death Drop on Anderson. Not a look happened and the competitors seemed to take turns dropping each other with moves, making this bout instantly forgettable.

Lethal Lockdown ??
The war raged on inside the steel walls as Immortal's Bully Ray, Ric Flair, Abyss and Matt Hardy took on Fortune's Robert Roode, James Storm, Kazarian and Christopher Daniels in the main event of the evening. As you may have expected – and history tells us – Lethal Lockdown was, effectively, an absolute cluster-you-know-what. Eight men battled it out for a little over 20 minutes, but until all the competitors had entered the match and the weapons-laden roof of the cage was lowered from the rafters, the action was just so incredibly pedestrian and there was barely anything to keep viewers entertained until the trash cans and Singapore canes, etc came into play, because constant brawling sure wasn't adding any sense of quality to the match. The inevitable big-time spot involving the roof gave way to the biggest and most sensational of the night, as Daniels threw himself off the top with a crossbody onto both Hardy and Abyss, almost breaking “Cold Blood's” arm in the process. Flair decided to work the match in suit trousers and a tank top, for whatever reason, and was a bloody mess by the time he tapped out to Roode's Fujiwara armbar, ripped clothes and all. Apart from the return of AJ Styles and Daniels' huge dive, nothing else from the entire match stands out. It was completely devoid of structure. TNA not only needs to retire Lethal Lockdown, they need to scrap the whole event too.

EXTRAS ?? The second disc includes the 30-minute Before the Bell: Lockdown pre-show, post-match interviews, footage from the Fan InterAction convention hosted by SoCal Val, and a music video featuring highlights from the event.