By Chris Shore

TNA Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV
Taped on 2/1 in London, England.

[Q1] The opening video recapped last week's show and hyped Kurt Angle's Hall of Fame induction... Backstage, Gunner was looking for James Storm. IQG asked Gunner what he wanted to ask Storm. Gunner said when James showed up he didn't have a chance in hell... Mike Tenay and Taz checked in on commentary, Tenay said Dixie gave matchmaking responsibilities to Bobby Roode, EC3, and Magnus.

MVP made his ring entrance and cut a shtick laden promo. He said thanks to Storm's interference, it would be Samoa Joe vs. Magnus at the top of the card for Lockdown. He introduced Joe, who made his entrance to a big pop, and Magnus, who got good heat from his countrymen.

Magnus put himself over and MVP held up the contract. He said the match would have Joe's Rules. He said that meant the winner had to win via tap out or knockout. Joe signed the contract and Magnus called him a dangerous animal. He said dangerous animals get out down. He said Joe would never be world champion of the company again and signed the contract.

They got in each others faces and Magnus cracked on Joe's breath. Joe head-butted him and attacked. Refs rushed the ring and Joe drove Magnus to the floor. He attacked him there until the agents made the save...

[Q2] A video showed the Wolves winning the tag team championships at the house show. A backstage segment had the BroMans asking Roode to be on the team at Lockdown. He booked the triple threat matched they taped in London a month ago...[C]

Shore's Slant: Good, hot open to the show with Joe and Magnus. Magnus got good heat considering he's from the UK and is the first champion from there in forever. No Dixie on the show is already paying dividends. I hate the logic of the tag team match. The video said it was in West Virginia and then they are going to have the match in the UK. Weird.

1. BroMans vs. Wolves vs. Bad Influence. There were no ring entrances and the bell rang as soon as the show came back from commercial. The first thing Tenay said was "Welcome back to London." The march was all Bad Influence and Wolves with BroMans breaking up tags. Eddie went for a double stomp and Jesse blind tagged him. He dumped Eddie and covered Kaz for the win...

BroMans defeated Wolves and Bad Influence at 5:27.

Tenay said this meant the BroMans were on Team Dixie at Lockdown... Backstage, EC3 said he was wrestling England's greatest wrestler and he would also expose the truth of Kurt Angle. he pulled out an American flag and held it upside down...[C]

Shore's Slant: An OK match, but gimmicky. When you have great talent like the Wolves on roster I don't understand why they don't use that to their advantage to capture eyeballs on the product.

Backstage, Bobby Roode tried to sweet talk Austin Aries into joining his crew instead of MVP's...

[Q2] EC3 made his ring entrance. His opponent was Doug Williams, who got a good reaction from the crowd. Carter took the mic and said just like the US was going to beat the UK in soccer, he was going to beat him tonight...

2. Ethan Carter III vs. Doug Williams. Williams popped Carter in the mouth, but EC3 hit a back low blow and won...

Ethan Carter III vs. Doug Williams.

Post-match, Carter pounded on Williams and attacked the leg like he did Angle... James Storm was shown arriving to the building...[C]

Shore's Slant: Pretty meaningless segment. I think it was supposed to get that leg lock from EC3 over, but it didn't work.

Storm made his ring entrance and called out Gunner. Gunner closed on him fast and Storm told him to hear him out. Storm cut a quasi-babyface promo about how Gunner treated him like garbage and then threw him the scraps briefcase. He said Gunner should have given him the world title shot because he made Gunner.

Gunner called on his military service and said guys like him were the reason guys like Storm could sit around and drink a beer. Storm said if Gunner had died in the military would have cared. Gunner said his family and these people would have cared. Storm said no one owed Gunner anything. Gunner snapped and popped him in the mouth. Storm bailed and Gunner tried to hit him with a chair, but he missed and hit the post instead. Storm escaped through the crowd...

Shore's Slant: Well, that was edgy. I thought it was a little over the edge though. We all owe the military a lot in the general, but when a guy starts harping on it like this it can start to sound self-serving. They didn't do that here, but it got close a few times. It's a razor wire. I hope they can walk it.

[Q4][C] Gunner was backstage. He said there was only one way out of the building and that was through him... Magnus was in the ring dissolved with Bad Bones, who we saw last week in the Sam Shaw segment. He called out Joe to face Bones...

3. Bad Bones vs. Samoa Joe. Joe squashed Bones. He hit a muscle buster and the rear naked choke for the win...[C]

Samoa Joe defeated Bad Bones at 1:21.

Shore's Slant: Filler match. I'm not sure it was necessary. All it really did was bury Bad Bones. Neither Joe or Magnus, nor even their feud, gained from this.

Backstage, MVP tried to talk Austin Aries onto his team again. They went back and forth. Aries said he wanted to see MVP and Roode up close so he wanted to be the referee. MVP asked how he knew he wasn't going to screw him. Aries said he would have to trust him to be on the team. MVP agreed...

Jeremy Borash stood in the ring with a podium with something shiny on it. I couldn't make it out. He announce Kurt Angle's induction and put over some of Kurt's accomplishments. A huge "Angle" chant drowned him out at one point.

[Q5] JB setup an excellent Kurt Angle hype video, and then the man himself. Angle got a great reaction from the crowd. JB gave him a Rolex (the thing on the podium) and Angle held it up before playing to the crowd. Angle talked about getting clean and said he wanted to thank everyone who helped him along the way. He thanked God for helping him do what he does. He thanked his wife and kids, the talent in the back, and all the fans. He said it was a good night to be Kurt Angle and wrapped up.

EC3's music hit and he came to the ramp and setup a video with chest music and dubbed in chats with comic book thought bubbles showing him beating up Angle. EC3 asked if he could share the big new and Angle invited hi into the ring to use the podium to do so.

Carter held up a paper with "I beat Sting and Kurt Angle" hand written on it. He read a statement that said Angle had a torn ACL and MCL, and that he would have to have surgery. He suggested Angle officially retire.

Angle asked him why he would get in the ring when Carter knew he was going to get his throat ripped out. Carter said with a bad knee he was more mobile than Angle. Angle asked him why he didn't go to the source. Carter said the Internet was right at least 50 percent of the time. Angle said the source was right all the time and said he didn't have any ligament tears. He asked if Carter still wanted to be in the ring. Carter said he did not.

Angle said he understood why Carter was trying to make a name for himself, but why would he pick a fight with Kurt Angle. He punched Carter and Carter rolled out. Kurt announced he would face EC3 in a cage match at Lockdown. Carter was not happy...

Shore's Slant: I like the Ethan Carter character. I don't want to see any more of that Derrick Bateman silliness from him. He was bad tonight and didn't have to be. The video was cheesy, but forgivable. The note on the back of the paper is bush league stuff, though. He's better than that.

[Q6][C] 4. Lei'D Tapa (w/Gail Kim) and Alpha Female (w/Chris Sabin) vs. Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky. Sabin tried to interfere and W+Velvet almost hit her finisher on him but Alpha Female stopped her. Tapa missed splash, but Sabin directed the ref again. That allowed Tapa to recover for the win...

Lei'D Tapa and Alpha Female vs. Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky at 2:34.

Post-match, Sky went after Sabin. That lead to a brawl and ODB running out. The heels escaped before too much damage... A video said Tigre Uno was coming. He looked like a luchador, maybe... An implied psychologist asked Sam Shaw if what he did last week was wrong. Shaw said nobody understood, but they would...[C]

Shore's Slant: Another meaningless match. Sometimes when TNA has amain event like Roode vs. MVP they go light the rest of the show. Those shows can be hard to watch. This is one of those shows.

Shaw made his ring entrance as a video showed what happened with him last week. He said it was a misunderstanding and asked Hemme into thee ring. She was hesitant but finally entered the ring.

[Q7] Shaw said he enjoyed their time together and she did too. He said he respected her space, but other men in TNA weren't there to respect her wishes. he said he could see them lusting after her and he was there to protect her. He said he wanted more. He wanted everything.

Anderson's music cut him off and he headed toward the ring. Shaw said he was one of those guys who only wanted one thing. Anderson, who was all busted up, told him to shut up and called him creepy. He said his thing with Christy wasn't real, but he knew what was. He asked if anyone there wanted to see a real ass whooping.

Shaw stopped him and said he wasn't creepy. He said he had done nothing to Hemme, but if he had, she would have loved it because women like her were always available. She slapped him and the crowd popped big for it. He started after her, but Anderson slid in the ring. Shaw used Christy as a shield and then tossed her into Anderson. That allowed him to choke Anderson out as Hemme watched...

The weird ass Willow video aired... Storm was shown heading to fight Gunner...[C]

Shore's Slant: That was OK. I'm not digging the Shaw character personally, but there was nothing wrong there.

A brawl was going on backstage between Gunner and Storm. The agents and reps finally broke it up... A video recapped Abyss going to get fixed. Backstage, Eric Young said he hadn't heard from Abyss, but they better hope the guy he was in the ring with wouldn't return...

[Q8] Aries made his ring entrance as ref. He had on plain black trunks and the ref shirt. It was a callback to the HBK shorty shorts look but with wrestling tights. Bobby Roode was out next, followed by MVP...[C]

5. Bobby Roode vs. MVP with Austin Aries as special referee. MVP took quick control, but Roode settled in getting heat. MVP started his comeback and hit the Ballin elbow and fisherman suplex for two. He went for the Playmaker, but Roode escaped and hit the spine buster for two. MVP came right back with a botched Playmaker for two.

Both guys traded blows. Roode hit an enziguri. MVP hit a low dropkick. MVP setup for the akuza kick, but Aries hit a roaring elbow. Roode followed with the Roode bomb for the win...

Bpbby Roode defeated MVP at 9:34.

Postmatch, Aries mocked MVP while Roode looked on smiling...

Shore's Slant: An OK match to close the show. Nothing wring with what they did, but a pretty basic match. The Aries swerve is both intriguing and frustrating. It's frustrating because he turns every three or four months, but intriguing because he always seems to capture my attention. We'll see how it goes next week.

All in all a better Impact than last week. The tag team segment was brutal on the logic receptors, but the rest of the show flowed nicely. Jason Powell and Will Pruett will have more tomorrow. Thanks for watching along tonight.

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