Lockdown 2005: The All-Cage Concept Produces a Real TNA Identity

Ron Killings pinned Lex Lovett to give 3Live Kru, with Konnan, victory in a three-way tag preshow match also involving David Young and the Naturals. The bout established an opening result before the first all-cage Lockdown card, but it was not one of the advertised steel-cage championship matches. Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens entered as the Naturals, supported by Chris Candido, while Lovett and Young were the third pairing. A single pin by Killings on Lovett ended the three-team encounter; the Naturals were not eliminated in a separate fall. The short contest introduced multiple tag acts without assigning them an imaginary title change or contender reward.

Sonny Siaki pinned Lance Hoyt following a flying splash to give himself and Apolo a steel-cage tag victory over Hoyt and Chris Candido. The scheduled pairing had changed from a Hoyt-Apolo singles match just before the event. Candido suffered a severe leg injury early after a dropkick exchange and had to leave, forcing Hoyt to face two opponents for the rest of the contest. Hoyt rallied long enough for an attempted moonsault, but the handicap took its toll and Siaki eventually made the cover. The real injury is inseparable from this match's history and should be described soberly; it wasn't a scripted disqualification or a standard team finish involving both opposing wrestlers.

Dustin Rhodes defeated Bobby Roode by two falls to one in the Prince of Darkness cage match, with its decisive final fall fought under blindfold rules. Roode took the opening fall in less than a minute, and Rhodes equalized later before both men put on hoods that obstructed their vision. With the referee down, Roode's corner tried to bring a chair into the cage; Roode accidentally struck Scott D'Amore, giving Rhodes an opening to use the chair himself and secure the deciding pin. The gimmick interfered with the flow of an already difficult cage match, a stronger basis for its low evaluation than generic criticism. The official decision was 2-1 Rhodes, not one unqualified opening pinfall.

Shocker won the four-way Xscape match by escaping the cage and touching the arena floor before Chris Sabin. Earlier Shocker eliminated Sonjay Dutt by pinfall after an attack against the cage, and Sabin removed Michael Shane with the Cradle Shock. Only Shocker and Sabin were left to race for the exit, turning the contest from a series of eliminations into a climbing and escape competition. Trinity's dramatic leap from atop the cage during the match added another dangerous interruption, while Traci confronted her ringside. Shocker earned an upcoming X Division title opportunity at Hard Justice, not the title itself, and Sabin was beaten by losing the escape race rather than being pinned in the final stage.

Jeff Hardy beat Raven in the Six Sides of Steel Tables match by leaping from the top of the cage and driving Raven through a stack of tables. Hardy had earlier attempted a dangerous dive, but Raven moved and Hardy himself crashed through a table; because Raven had not forced him through it, the official match continued. Both men used the cage and ringside objects to inflict damage, and Raven set up more tables in search of a finish. Hardy recovered and caught Raven positioned across the stack, delivering the decisive high drop that broke several tables. The stipulation awarded victory for putting the opponent through tables, not for a normal pinfall or submission, and the earlier Hardy crash was not the winning action.

America's Most Wanted retained the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Team Canada when Chris Harris and James Storm used the Death Sentence on Petey Williams inside the steel cage. The challengers, Williams and Eric Young, had A-1 at ringside, but the announced match paired only two wrestlers per team. The added strap stipulation let the competitors use the tether as an instrument of punishment, making this more than an ordinary cage title defense. Storm made the winning cover after the tandem finishing move, leaving Williams as the defeated legal wrestler. The straps did not require a four-corner-touch finish, nor did the result transfer the belts to Team Canada. Contemporary accounts disagree on the exact duration, so the match's decisive title-defense result is more dependable than a single claimed time.

Christopher Daniels retained the TNA X Division Championship by pinning former Triple X partner Elix Skipper after Angel's Wings inside the Six Sides of Steel cage. Their old alliance gave the contest a personal history that a normal challenger-versus-champion description would miss. Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever for a near fall, then Skipper answered by leaping from the cage onto Daniels and the referee. Skipper's injured shoulder prevented him from finishing a follow-up attack; he escaped one Angel's Wings attempt but could not stop the second. Daniels covered him for the legal pin, ending a competitive defense without a cage escape or a title change. Contemporary results report slightly different match durations, so the preserved time should not be treated as an independently settled figure.

Sean Waltman pinned Monty Brown after a hurricanrana in the inaugural Lethal Lockdown match, delivering victory for his team with Diamond Dallas Page and B.G. James against Jeff Jarrett, Brown and The Outlaw. Waltman and Jarrett began the fight before additional partners entered at staggered intervals, creating changing numbers advantages inside the steel structure. The Outlaw joined Jarrett first, Page entered with a cane and Brown later used the Pounce on James into a trash can for a near fall. James was the final entrant for Team Nash, not Kevin Nash, whose absence explains the actual lineup. Waltman's hurricanrana on Brown ended the sanctioned contest by pinfall; the non-title six-man cage brawl did not award a championship or end with a generic escape stipulation.

A.J. Styles pinned Abyss after a sunset-flip powerbomb drove the larger wrestler back-first into a carpet of thumbtacks, earning an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match at Hard Justice. In the Six Sides of Steel main event, Abyss used the cage door to injure Styles' forehead and later brought a chain and tacks into the ring. Styles escaped a powerbomb and earlier drove Abyss face-first into the exposed tacks with a Styles Clash, but that did not end the contest. Near the finish Abyss dragged Styles toward the cage top with the chain and attacked the referee, only for Styles to counter and crash him into the tacks below. The final three-count came after the sunset-flip powerbomb. Styles earned a future title challenge, not the NWA championship itself.