Lockdown 2010: Angle-Anderson and Lethal Lockdown Deliver the Big-Arena Payoff

Rob Van Dam and James Storm opened Lockdown with more than a six-minute cage exhibition: the winner would give his faction the entrance advantage in the later Lethal Lockdown match. Van Dam attacked before Storm had entered the cage, slamming the door against him, while Storm later sprayed beer in the opponent's face and landed a DDT for a near fall.

Van Dam escaped a Last Call attempt, answered with a spinning kick and finished with the Five-Star Frog Splash at 6:33. The C+ score reflects a brief bout whose biggest contribution is the extra man for Team Hogan, a consequence the night revisits rather than an independent must-see cage match.

A grounded flight disruption changed the X Division schedule before the show. Douglas Williams couldn't reach Missouri, leaving the championship vacant, and this Xscape four-way determined which wrestler would enter the later title match. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin briefly controlled Homicide and Brian Kendrick through tag-team combinations despite competing against each other.

Homicide caught Sabin with the Gringo Killer, then slipped away while Kendrick and Shelley fought around the top rope. He climbed out of the cage in 4:59 to secure the extra title opportunity. The C grade recognizes the useful stakes, though the escape steals a quick win rather than giving the Motor City Machine Guns an extended showcase.

Kevin Nash faced former associate Eric Young inside the steel cage, but their short contest was more important for its effect on the later Team 3D match. Young opened with fast offense, including a missile dropkick and a crossbody into the cage wall. Nash turned it with a low blow while the official's attention shifted and slowed the match with his size advantage.

Young demanded more punishment rather than escaping it, but a big boot and Jackknife powerbomb gave Nash the pin in 4:47. Nash then announced he would replace the absent Syxx-Pac alongside Scott Hall later on the card. The D+ grade fits a compressed grudge match whose most important consequence is outside the result itself.

The Beautiful People held the Knockouts tag titles, while Angelina Love entered as singles champion, making their cage tag match a simultaneous title contest. Tara nearly secured the result with a Widow's Peak on Madison Rayne, but Velvet Sky broke the count. The Beautiful People had more than one route to victory because the singles title could change on the final legal pin.

Lacey Von Erich struck Tara from behind with a championship belt, allowing Rayne to roll her up in 4:51. Rayne became Knockouts champion while she and Sky kept the tag titles. Tara then turned on Love after the bell. The C rating accounts for the hurried, interference-driven finish despite its impact on two divisions.

The vacant X Division title made this three-way cage bout consequential before the opening bell. Homicide had already fought to enter the match through an Xscape qualifier; Kazarian and Shannon Moore were therefore fresher opponents. Moore and Kazarian attacked Homicide together until they began fighting over the pin, giving the returning qualifier time to rally.

Homicide interrupted a moonsault attempt and countered several covers, but Kazarian finally caught him with a back piledriver for the title-winning pin at 9:09. The B- grade credits lively counters and an actual championship decision, even though the crowd had already seen Homicide's more unusual cage escape earlier.

Team 3D and The Band didn't treat their cage meeting as a conventional tag contest. Brother Ray challenged Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to a St. Louis Street Fight with falls allowed anywhere, and the four brawled through the entrance and audience before finally working inside the cage. Hall briefly held the door shut to keep Ray away while Nash attacked Devon.

Ray forced his way in with a chair and the door itself, turning the numbers back in Team 3D's favor. Devon and Ray finished Hall with a 3D through a table for the pin at 6:49. The C+ mark reflects a crowd-pleasing signature ending more than sustained tag-team work.

Kurt Angle's grudge match with Mr. Anderson made escape the only winning condition, and Anderson entered with a key that could unlock the cage door. Anderson battered Angle against the steel until he bled, then repeatedly tried to capitalize on the door advantage. Angle answered with German suplexes and an enormous moonsault from the top of the cage, an especially dangerous choice when he already had paths to escape.

Anderson almost crawled through the door, but Angle dragged him back, used a chain from his medal to choke him and stepped out to win after roughly 20:55. The A score comes from how the cage, key, physical punishment and escalating rivalry all drive the finish, rather than the stipulation serving as decoration.

A.J. Styles defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against D'Angelo Dinero after Ric Flair was ordered away from ringside. Dinero earned the challenge and repeatedly attacked the champion with crisp counters; Styles found a way back by targeting the knee. A springboard 450 splash and a dive from the top of the cage both failed to finish Dinero, leaving the champion at risk of a defining loss.

Dinero hit the DDE but couldn't get three. As the challenger prepared another, Styles took a pen from a ringside cameraman, jabbed Dinero in the eye and followed with the Styles Clash at 13:32. The B+ score reflects strong championship action undercut by a deliberately dishonest retention.

Lethal Lockdown stretched the Team Hogan versus Team Flair feud across staggered entrances before the roof came down. Abyss and Robert Roode opened, then Rob Van Dam, Desmond Wolfe, Jeff Jarrett and James Storm followed. Sting attacked Jeff Hardy backstage, delaying the expected final reinforcement and leaving Team Hogan to withstand a long weapon-assisted surge after the cage fully closed.

Hardy eventually arrived, climbed the roof and crashed from a ladder through James Storm on a table. Ric Flair's attempt to take Abyss's Hall of Fame ring brought out Hogan, while Eric Bischoff handed Hogan brass knuckles. After Flair was neutralized, Abyss pinned Wolfe with the Black Hole Slam at 30:13. The A- grade belongs to that faction-wide spectacle, even though the run-ins take attention from the actual team contest.