Written by: Bob Colling
National Wrestling Alliance/Total Non-Stop Action present Impact
Date: 4/20/2006
From: Orlando, FL
Opening Contest: Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt vs. Team Canada: Young and Shelley kick off the match, well, Shelley shakes Young’s hand and tags out to Lethal. Jay nails Young with a heel kick causing Eric to tag in Petey. Sabin and Williams counter their moves and keep a fast pace which sees Sabin hit a dropkick to a seated Williams. Shelley isn’t interested in tagging in. Dutt enters instead and misses a splash in the corner. Roode enters but is met with a senton and a moonsault by Dutt for a near fall. A1 yanks Dutt off the apron to help Roode. Dutt is stomped by D’Amore and A1 as we go to commercial.
D’Amore runs into the camera, which is hilarious. Dutt is trapped in the tree of woe and Petey enters to step on Dutt’s groin. Young comes off the top to hit a great looking elbow for a two count. Dutt with an insane slingshot hurricanrana from the apron on EY and Shelley is tagged in. Shelley wants to tag out, but his partners leave the apron. A1 runs over Shelley a few times. Alex kicks A1 but Lethal tags in and dropkicks A1. Lethal hits a top rope side kick for a near fall. Dutt nails Roode with a standing shooting star press. Everyone is entering to hit impactful moves.
Lethal nails EY with a missile dropkick. Lethal backs into Shelley and hits his head. A1 pins Lethal with a power bomb. (**. The result is pretty obvious as Team Canada has the bigger match at the pay per view. Dutt came across as the standout performer as he hit all his moves very well. Not a bad match as it was a lot more competitive than I had thought going into it.)
Second Contest: AJ Styles, Rhino & Ron Killings vs. Simon Diamond, Elix Skipper & David Young: Well, the point of this match is give Sting’s partners for Lockdown an impressive win heading into the pay per view on Sunday. AJ and Killings hit somersault dives to the floor. Rhino went for the Gore but Diamond was saved by his partners. Styles is worked over by the heels for a brief period of time. Rhino enters to hit a flapjack on Skipper and Killings gets the hot tag. Killings cleans house as well. Rhino GORES Young as all six men are brawling in the ring. AJ drops Skipper with the Pele Kick and Killings gets the pin with an axe kick. (*. Exactly what you would expect in a squash match.)
Backstage, Larry Zbyszko talks about Lockdown and how big of a deal the event is. Slick Johnson comes back in and talks about not wanting the senior referee position. Johnson gives Larry an envelope. Larry goes after Slick to get answers.
NWA World Champion Christian Cage makes his way down to the ring to cut a promo. Cage says that Abyss has made their match at Lockdown more than personal. Cage is pissed off and wants to beat someone up more than he has ever before. He is aware that Abyss is a monster, but he didn’t know that Abyss doesn’t have a set of balls. Cage says he is the NWA World Champion despite not being 6’8’’ or 300lbs. He meant it when he said he would die in the ring for the championship. He saw fear in Abyss’s eyes. Father James Mitchell cuts Cage off from the backstage area. Mitchell says they didn’t humiliate Cage and his wife for the pleasure, but rather for Cage to lose his control and focus. Thus, Cage is likely to become a former champion. Mitchell guarantees that Abyss will win the NWA World Championship at Lockdown. Abyss attacks Cage from behind. Cage fights back with a microphone shot and goes for the Un-Prettier but Abyss manages to counter and hit the Black Hole Slam! Abyss has his chain and chokes Cage with it. Abyss taunts the fans until security runs down to end the beating.
Main Event: Brother Ray, Brother Devon & Brother Runt vs. Jeff Jarrett & NWA World Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted: Jarrett attacks Runt before the bell and they start the match off. Jarrett sends Runt chest first into the corner but Runt nearly wins with a roll up. Runt tries for a couple of roll ups, but Jarrett kicks out each time. Runt nearly wins after a neck breaker. Jarrett cuts Runt off on the top rope but Runt shoves Jeff off and hits a top rope double stomp. AMW enters but they are clotheslined to the floor by Ray and Devon. Ray press slams Runt over the top onto the heels as we go to commercial.
Devon and Harris are brawling into the crowd while Runt is brawling with Jarrett. Jeff drops Runt chest first across the guard railing. Storm whacks Ray over the head with a trash can. Devon is choking Harris with a camera cord. Ray scoop slams Jarrett in the ring and Devon goes to the top where they hit the What’s Up! They go to get a table but AMW runs over to make the save and Ray gets a chair shot to the back. Harris drives Runt down with the Canatonic. Devon hits a lifting reverse DDT, Storm superkicks Devon, Ray with the Bubba Bomb on Storm and Ray gets low blowed by Gail Kim. Runt with the Acid Drop on Kim! Team Canada is distracting the referee. Roode whacks Runt over the back with the flag and Jarrett pins Runt after the Stroke! (**. Really? They couldn’t have just allowed Jarrett to get a clean pin on Brother Runt? The interference was not necessary here.)
After the match, a massive brawl breaks out. The heels are working over Team 3D until Rhino, Killings and Styles run down to make the save. Rhino GORES Jarrett and hits a belly to belly suplex. Rhino wants a second GORE but Abyss comes out to trip Rhino. Abyss wanted to choke slam Rhino, but Christian Cage runs down to attack Abyss. Scott Steiner is in the ring and clotheslines Rhino. Steiner with a belly to belly suplex. Sting runs down and cleans house like it’s 1997 all over again.
That’s it.
Final Thoughts:
An average go-home show this week as the main focus was really with the Lethal Lockdown match and Team 3D/Team Canada hype. The matches, for the most part, were extended squash matches. Nothing overly entertaining this week. Lockdown does have a rather strong card, to be honest.
Thanks for reading.