Results
- Vincent & Dutch def. BDE & Rich Swann (Pre-Show) (7:52)
- Trey Miguel def Agent Zero (Pre-Show) (5:11)
- AJ Francis def. Elijah (The Final Encore) (13:29)
- Allie & Kiera Hogan def. Heather & M By Elegance (TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championships) (7:52)
- Frankie Kazarian def. Moose (Escape The Cage Match) (14:15)
- Xia Brookside def. Elayna Black (TNA Knockouts World Championship) (12:52)
- Jason Hotch def. Mustafa Ali (TNA International Championship) (14:17) (Recommended)
- Leon Slater def. Cedric Alexander (Last Man Standing) (TNA X-Division Championship) (13:14) (Recommended)
- Brian Myers, Bear Bronson, Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards def. Fabian Aichner, Ricky Sosa, KC Navarro & Jada Stone (Lethal Lockdown) (17:34)
- Nic Nemeth & Ryan Nemeth def. Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy (TNA World Tag Team Championships) (11:58)
The Righteous, Trey Miguel score wins on ‘Countdown’
TNA’s Lockdown “Countdown” pre-show opened with tag action, as the duo of BDE and Rich Swann faced The Righteous. While all pay-per-view matchups were scheduled to take place inside a steel cage tonight, the pre-show bouts were without the massive structure.
Swann got a hot tag at the five-minute mark and earned a near fall after a huge top-rope frogsplash. Dutch got back into the bout and dropped Swann with a Death Walks (Black Hole Slam). Vincent went for the pin after an inverted DDT, but BDE came off the top rope with a frogsplash to break up the attempt.
BDE got a near fall after a Codebreaker then springboard cutter to Vincent. Dutch knocked BDE off the top rope, causing him to take a nasty fall to the mat. Dutch wiped out Swann at ringside with a move (cameras didn’t actually catch what happened here), allowing The Righteous to pick on BDE two-on-one. With the help of Dutch, Vincent scored his Orange Sunshine cutter for the pinfall in just under eight minutes. This was a whatever match. I’m not big on The Righteous’ in-ring style, and they felt a little clunky here.
The second match of the pre-show saw Order Four’s Special Agent 0 go head-to-head with Trey Miguel. Even though Agent 0 has been part of TNA programming for over a year, this was just the third singles appearance for him on the brand (unless you count when he appeared as “William Trudeau” on TNA’s Border Brawl card last year).
The size difference between these two was emphasized early on, with Miguel working as the underdog. He started to mount a comeback four minutes in, scoring a meteor from the corner, then a big springboard dive to the floor – he had a rough landing.
Back in the ring, Agent 0 caught a head kick from Miguel and instead tossed him throat-first onto the top turnbuckle. Agent 0 nearly lost grip of Miguel during this sequence but was able to save it. A sit-out powerbomb from Agent 0 was countered by Miguel into a roll-up for the win in five minutes. Commentary emphasized that this was Agent 0’s first loss, but, again, it’s not like he’s even much of a wrestler for TNA on a week-to-week basis.
During a pre-show panel, Indi Hartwell showed up and got into an argument with Daria Rae about whether she is next in line for a Knockouts title shot. Their awkward back-and-forth was overshadowed by the Lockdown cage being lowered at the same time (cameras even cut away from this exchange to show the cage).
With a little over 10 minutes of in-ring action across an hour, this pre-show was a lot of talking.
AJ Francis wins first cage match of the night
The first match of the main card saw rivals AJ Francis and Elijah meet in the first of many steel cage bouts tonight. Francis caught Elijah with a head kick to start the match, but it wasn’t enough to score the pinfall win. Francis climbed the cage, but was tossed back down to the mat with a huge Sunset Flip Powerbomb from Elijah.
Moments later, Elijah came off the top rope for an elbow drop, causing another two-count. Elijah climbed to the top of the cage and tried to hit a massive Walk With Elijah (Last Ride). I’m not sure how that would’ve worked, but Francis prevented it, tripping Elijah and sending him chest-first into the top of the steel cage.
Francis joined Elijah on top of the cage, where Elijah connected with a gigantic superplex. This looked pretty great. After recovering for a moment, Elijah went for the pin and only received a two.
Late in the match, Francis’ manager, Expressions, was brought out to ringside in a wheelchair. We would learn moments later that Expressions didn’t need the wheelchair per se, shooting up to his feet. This distracted Elijah briefly. Francis tried to capitalize on this with a TFL spear, but Elijah dodged the move. Elijah once again tried for a Walk With Elijah, but Francis countered into a Death Valley Driver for a near fall.
Francis ordered the referee to unlock the cage door. Francis was about to get out of the ring, but was held back by Elijah. Francis was dragged back into the ring and hit with an F5 for another two-count.
Elijah, rocking a cut near the forehead, started to reach toward the open cage door for some reason. This allowed Expressions to slam the cage door in Elijah’s head. Francis connected with the TFL but it still wasn’t enough. A chokeslam from Francis was countered by Elijah, who came off the top rope with a Canadian Destroyer. This pin attempt was stopped by Expressions, who jumped into the ring and onto Elijah.
Elijah beat up Expressions extensively. After scoring a litany of moves, he gave the down-and-out manager a tombstone piledriver. This entire time, all I could think was: “Dude, you’re still in a match!” Francis had loads of time to recover. After this beatdown was done, Francis took out Elijah with his down-payment chokeslam for the pinfall win in 13 minutes. This match had some fun moments but they blew through way too many near-fall high spots in 13 minutes, and the finish made Elijah look quite dumb.
The Home Town Man came to ringside during the post-match and slid Elijah a guitar. Elijah cracked it over Francis’ head to end the segment.
Kiera Hogan returns to TNA, helps Allie retain Knockouts tag titles
The next match saw Heather & M By Elegance look to regain the Knockouts World Tag Team Championships. Allie and Rosemary have held the belts recently, but with Rosemary missing for some time, Allie promised a new tag partner for this weekend. Who would it be? Kiera Hogan!
The former AEW talent, who notably put together a pair of Knockout world title runs during her first stint with the company from 2018 to 2022, is back! We hadn’t seen much from her ever since she quietly departed the AEW/ROH roster last year. In fact, this was her first match in more than a year!
I’m not sure why, but this match, despite being inside a steel cage, used traditional tag-in, tag-out rules instead of a tornado ruleset. The Elegance Brand were dressed as police officers in this match. This became relevant late in the bout, as Heather By Elegance climbed through the cage (yes, through) to retrieve handcuffs. She cuffed Allie to the steel cage, with the plan being that this would make it a two-on-one bout for Hogan.
Unfortunately, these handcuffs broke almost immediately. Allie just kinda awkwardly sat at ringside with Heather; I don’t think either of them knew what to do here. I was getting flashbacks to last year’s TripleMania Regia card, where handcuffs similarly broke in Vikingo’s title showdown.
Anyway, due to the handcuffs breaking, it seemed as though everyone panicked and skipped right to the finish, as Hogan gave M a Northern Lights Suplex bridged into a pinfall for the win in seven minutes. Hogan is back in TNA and on a title run with Allie. This match had a disastrous finish. One would hope the rest of Hogan’s TNA run goes better than this.
Frankie Kazarian gets kicked out of the cage, wins in the process
The next match saw Moose and Frankie Kazarian meet in a special “escape the cage” match. These two have been beefing for months over who is the face of the company. Since this was placed smack-dab in the middle of the card and without any real title stipulation, I feel the true answer to who the face of the company is: It might be someone else.
Moose had Kazarian down and out early after hitting a series of spears. Just as he was about to climb through the cage door and leave, Kazarian flipped him off. This made Moose ignore that he was about to win and get back into the ring for more of a fight. Kazarian immediately gave Moose an exploder suplex into the corner and took control of the match.
Moose had a second wind in the match, shouting “F*** you!” at Kazarian, knocking him down with a headbutt then connecting with a senton. Moose tried to climb the cage and escape but was taken off the ropes with a backstabber from Kazarian. The veteran TNA name followed with a springboard leg drop.
A second legdrop from Kazarian was caught by Moose, who powerbombed Kazarian into a steel cage wall. Moose came running off the ropes for a move but was turned inside out with a lariat. They went onto the cage, where Moose connected with a gigantic Spanish Fly. This understandably brought the Chicago crowd to their feet.
Moose tried leaving through the cage door, but was brought back into the ring through a slingshot cutter from Kazarian. Moose tried spearing Kazarian, who was up against the cage door. This huge spear knocked Kazarian through the cage door and to the floor… Kazarian escaped the cage first, giving him the win. Much like the main card opener, this was a fun match with an incredibly odd finish which took a lot out of it. I mean, this was an incredibly predictable mistake that Moose somehow ignored.
Xia Brookside retains against Elayna Black
The Knockouts World Championship was on the line next, as Xia Brookside defended against Chicago’s own Elayna Black. We were shown Indi Hartwell watching backstage, as it seems clear they’re setting her up as the next challenger.
Black was cut open early in this one after going face-first into the cage. Brookside used a belt as a weapon, digging the metal edge of its front into Black’s hairline cut. This was a fun spot. Brookside put the belt aside for a moment and started to dig her nails into Black’s head as well.
The fight went into a corner, where Black connected with a belly-to-back superplex. This move gave her the first opening to get back into the match after a long run of taking damage. Brookside connected with her Darkside DDT finisher, but Black surprisingly kicked out at two.
A second Darkside was countered into a Blackout neckbreaker from Black for a near fall of her own. Brookside grabbed powder and tossed it into the eyes of Black, allowing her to win via roll-up. This match had fun moments (how they handled Brookside handled Brookside getting cut open was particularly good), but had what felt like an anticlimactic finish and overall didn’t seem to hook the live crowd. I still think Brookside is a good heel name and letting her win here was probably the right move.
Mustafa Ali takes back International title in war against Jason Hotch
The next match saw Jason Hotch face his former boss, Order Four leader Mustafa Ali. This was a rematch, with Hotch looking to defend his TNA International Championship for the first time. These two have arguably put together the best rivalry on TNA as of late, so I was really looking forward to this one.
An enraged Hotch jumped Ali before the bell. Ali was draped upside down in a corner of the ring, allowing Hotch to score a series of superkicks. Hotch connected with a huge top-rope German Suplex then a discus lariat, causing a near fall just 60 seconds into the match.
Hotch tried for a piledriver off the top turnbuckle, which caused a scary landing. I think the intention was for them to both land on the top turnbuckle they were standing on, but Ali took a nasty dump to the mat. Hotch followed up with a sit-out powerbomb for a near fall.
Ali battled back into the match with a DDT out of the corner. Special Agent 0 appeared at ringside at the four-minute mark and opened the steel cage. But, just as Ali was about to run out of the ring, Tasha Steelz stopped him and shut the door! Mila Moore got in the face of Steelz. Steelz dropped Moore with a forearm. A dropkick from Hotch missed Ali and hit the door, clipping Steelz in the head. John Skyler picked up Steelz and carried her to the back. Lots of Order Four drama going down at ringside.
Hotch went to ringside to check on Steelz after she took the door to the head. Ali capitalized on this distraction, connecting with a beautiful tope suicida through the ropes and to the floor.
Hotch and Ali continued to brawl at ringside. In what will likely be the spot of the night, Hotch came flying off the top of the cage with a huge crossbody, putting both him and Ali through a table at ringside.
Hotch, bleeding from the mouth, started to be carried away by medical personnel. It was at this point that Ali went to Hotch’s family at ringside and took away one of the toys his kids were playing with. He brought the stuffed animal into the ring and stomped on it. Then, he took a lighter and was about to set it on fire.
This was way too far for the champ. Hotch came back to life, climbing into the ring and beginning to brawl with Ali. Hotch was hung upside down in the cage by Ali, who took his belt and started whipping the champ’s midsection.
Ali tried for a superplex out of the corner, but Hotch pushed him away. Then, Hotch climbed to the top of the cage and delivered a huge Coup de Grace for a near fall. Ali got back up and connected with a spear to Hotch, then a 450 Splash out of the corner. Hotch survived with a kickout.
Ali put the toy on Hotch’s chest, then delivered a second 450 Splash for the pinfall win. I thought the right move here was to let Hotch get his big moment, beating Ali and establishing himself as a singles name in TNA. While I would’ve gone the other way with this booking, this was nonetheless an incredible 14-minute war between these two. Hotch is a star and one-half of the best match of the night thus far.
Leon Slater regains X-Division title, gets to keep past reign in history book
Before the next match, it was announced that Avery Styles, son of TNA legend AJ Styles, has signed with the company. Frankie Kazarian crashed Avery’s announcement segment to tease a possible rivalry between them in the future.
The next match saw TNA X-Division Champion Cedric Alexander meet former titleholder Leon Slater in a Last Man Standing match. This bout had a special stipulation that has caused lots of chatter online: If Slater loses, his past reigns with the X-Division title would be erased from TNA’s history books.
Slater got cut open early in this one after getting thrown into the cage. Wasn’t shocking to see some blood here, considering Alexander was rocking an all-white fit for this match. The fight went into a corner of the ring, where Alexander scored a Michinoku Driver off the middle rope. Slater just barely beat the 10-count.
Alexander tried to keep the pressure on Slater with another move, but Slater countered it into a Canadian Destroyer! Slater got a second wind, running Alexander into the cage numerous times. Alexander started bleeding at this point as well.
Slater scored his Utopia Blue Thunder Bomb. Alexander dodged a Swanton 450. After a battle on the top rope, Slater scored a twisting superplex. They both just barely avoided getting taken out by the 10-count.
After trading slaps, Slater dropped Alexander with a pair of leg lariats. Slater took a page out of Alexander’s book, hitting a trio of Lumbar Checks! He followed up with a Swanton 450, which was enough to put away Alexander in 13 minutes. Slater has regained the X-Division title and, maybe more importantly, will keep his history in TNA.
This was not their best performance together, but it was nonetheless a really fun performance. And I’m glad they didn’t decide to have Slater lose, causing an incredibly goofy erasure of history.
Backstage, we saw Elijah was taken out due to an attack.
The System win first Lethal Lockdown match in 10 years
TNA’s Lethal Lockdown four-on-four match returned in the co-main event. This bout saw The System’s Bear Bronson, Brian Myers, Eddie Edwards and Alisha Edwards face the group of Fabian Aichner, Jada Stone, KC Navarro and Ricky Sosa.
For anyone who isn’t aware: Lethal Lockdown is a match that starts one-on-one. Wrestlers enter one at a time until all eight are in the ring. Then, it’s first fall to a finish. Aichner and Bronson got the match started. The System earned an advantage in this match on Thursday’s Impact, so in next was Myers. In to even the odds, next was Navarro.
Bronson, who moonlights as a deathmatch wrestler on the indies, was predictably the first one to bleed here. Eddie Edwards got in next. They were wasting no time in this match, as at the five-minute mark we already had five of the eight competitors involved.
Sosa went on a run of moves, then did his “Bang Bang! Sosa Sosa!” chant with the fans. Alisha Edwards and Stone rounded out the entrances. They tried keeping Stone out of the cage by locking the door, but she instead climbed over the cage and delivered a huge moonsault off the top and onto everyone else involved.
As is Lethal Lockdown tradition, a cage roof full of weapons lowered as the match became official. Stone kicked this match up a notch, pouring a bag full of thumbtacks onto the mat. Stone brought Alisha into a corner of the ring and delivered a gnarly superplex onto the tacks.
Aichner dropped Eddie Edwards with a trashcan shot to the head, then connected with a Coast-to-Coast. Bronson took a barbed-wire bat to Navarro and Aichner. In a creative spot, Bronson gave Navarro a piledriver onto Aichner’s chest. Love that.
Bronson set up a barbed-wire board in the corner of the ring. Navarro escaped a move from Bronson, then Sosa sent him through the board with a huge running uppercut. Sosa gave Myers a Blue Thunder Bomb onto thumbtacks.
Sosa took a spool of barbed wire from the cage roof, wrapped it around his arm, then gave Myers his running “Headshot” uppercut. Alisha Edwards broke up a follow-up pin attempt. Eddie Edwards took out Sosa with a Shining Wizard.
Eddie Edwards set up a trio of chairs then gave Sosa a small-package piledriver through them for the pinfall win in 17 minutes. Significantly shorter than most Lethal Lockdown matches, which run closer to the 30-minute mark. This bout had some fun moments, but felt quite rushed, speeding from one spot to the next.
The Nemeths take tag titles off The Hardys, Leon Slater cashes in ‘Option C’
The main event of the night saw TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardys defend against The Nemeths. Nic Nemeth was gunning to become a double champ with this match, as he currently also holds the TNA World Championship.
After receiving a huge pop from the Chicago crowd, The Hardys brought a table into the ring and jumped The Nemeths to get the match started. The crowd started chanting “We want tables” at the seven-minute mark, which was puzzling because they already had a table in the ring.
Matt countered a superkick from Nic into a Side Effect at the nine-minute point in the match. Ryan tried to get on Matt but instead was wiped out with a hard lariat then a Twist of Fate.
Matt set Ryan up on a table. Jeff climbed to the top of the cage for a Swanton Bomb, but Nic yanked him back down to prevent the move. Matt gave Ryan Nemeth another Twist of Fate, putting him on top of the table once again. Matt climbed up the cage a couple of feet then delivered an elbow drop. A neat spot, but far less exciting than the teased huge Swanton from Jeff.
Matt was about to do another move on Ryan, but then Nic got up and caught him with a Danger Zone for the sudden pinfall win. Incredibly sudden, unsatisfying finish. A clunky, bad match to end a clunky, bad pay-per-view. The Nemeths are now the TNA World Tag Team Champions.
The Nemeths started to pop champagne and celebrate. But, suddenly this was cut off by X-Division Champion Leon Slater! The X-Division Champion said he was exercising “Option C” and called for a title match against Nemeth at Bound for Glory, saying he wants to become the youngest world champ in TNA history. Slater handed over his X-Division title to TNA’s Carlos Silva, showing that he had relinquished the title in favor of a world title opportunity, then took out The Nemeths in a brawl to end the show.
