On paper, the idea of Lockdown as not just a recurring event for TNA, but one of their most prestigious events is absolutely ridiculous, and makes for easy fodder when it comes to mocking the company. That being said, if the inaugural version here in 2005 is anything to go by, I think the concept of an all-cage pay-per-view sort of works, especially if you have talent in your locker room that are creative enough to continue to find interesting uses for the cage. I definitely suggest checking this one for yourselves, it's available in it's entirety for free on Impact's YouTube channel, since it's not just an exciting event, but also provides something very different if you're used to the standard WWE pay-per-view fare.
- Lockdown 2005 comes to you from the Impact Zone, with Don West and Mike Tenay on the call. I love the opening video package for this one, with a child creepily singing "Ring a Ring o' Roses" while a woman sells you on the brutality of the cage and how none of the men competing tonight may ever be the same again. It's great, check it out.
- Our opening contest is a tag match, contested inside the six sides of steel, like everything will be on this night. Apolo and Sonny Siaki, who TNA are looking to turn into a regular team at this point, are facing Chris Candido and Lance Hoyt. Unfortunately, this match is mostly only noteworthy for Candido's horrible injury in the opening minutes, as he would break his tibia, fibula and dislocate his ankle after a botched fall. Complications during surgery to repair Candido's leg would lead to his death, with the cause either being pneumonia or a blood clot, depending on who you ask. Obviously, TNA bears no responsibility for this tragedy, accidents happen in the heat of competition and surgery always has some element of danger, you just can't predict what could happen when you open someone up. This was really tough for me to watch as not just a fan of Candido, but also after witnessing Dak Prescott's gruesome injury live yesterday. I will give a ton of credit to the other three guys, who were put in a tough spot and had to improvise, as you can visibly see Hoyt calling new spots on the fly, but the action never slows down. It's clear that Lance is being positioned as a potential breakout star at this time, and this match does a great job setting him up for a big face turn. He wows the crowd with some incredible high spots, refusing to give up despite being down in numbers, before finally falling to a big splash from Siaki. After the match, the Naturals run down to hit their Natural Disaster finisher on Hoyt, blaming him for adding a loss to their manager's resume. I would imagine that this was sort of the plan from the start, though I would have to think that TNA probably booked some sort of a miscommunication finish so that Candido, Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens would have more of a reason to blame Hoyt for the defeat. This was obviously a very tragic set of circumstances and a pretty terrible way to start a pay-per-view, not that anyone could have helped it, but again, I give credit to the other three guys for making this as entertaining as it could be.
- Time for the first of two matches featuring Team Canada, as Bobby Roode takes on Dustin Rhodes in a two out of three falls Prince of Darkness match. The first two falls feature some acceptable but slow wrestling, with Roode stealing the first with his feet on the ropes before Rhodes evens the score with a slick top rope bulldog. The final fall is based on the namesake of the match, with both men blindfolded, and it devolves into an absolute mess, as the blindfold match is perhaps wrestling's worst gimmick. Scott D'Amore tries to assist by tossing Roode a chair, but Bobby accidentally hits Scott with it, allowing Rhodes to absolutely blast Roode with it for the win. The stipulation really dragged this one down, though Rhodes and Roode are both a bit too deliberate in their in-ring styles to make the match exciting anyways.
- One of the long-running gimmick matches at the annual Lockdown shows is the Xscape match, which makes it's debut here, as Michael Shane, Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt and Shocker face off. The four men have some fun putting together some intricately planned spots, before Trinity, Shane's manager, steals the show with an incredible moonsault off the cage as the crowd flip out. After both Dutt and Shane are eliminated by pinfall, the rest of the stipulation kicks in, as now Shocker and Sabin are competing to escape the cage and land on the floor. Sabin is booked to look like an idiot here, slamming Shocker's face off the cage, which causes the luchador to lose his grip and fall down, winning the match. Aside from the stupid finish, everything else was pretty fun, another entertaining X Division spotfest that deserves to be seen, if only for Trinity's dive.
- Time for a six sides of steel tables match, as Jeff Hardy takes on Raven. This is one of those matches that you would immediately imagine would take place with both guys in the same company, two hardcore brawlers facing off in a hardcore stipulation. As you could probably guess, there's very little wrestling to be found here, just tons of weapon shots and the promise of big spots involving tables. Not to be outdone by Trinity, Jeff takes two big dives here, the first one seeing him crash through a table attempting a Swanton Bomb off the top of the cage, the second putting Raven through a whole stack of tables. This match was pretty enjoyable, but the big cage spots are starting to get a little old for me.
- The NWA tag titles are on the line in our next bout, which is a strap match, as America's Most Wanted defend against Team Canada, represented by Eric Young and Petey Williams. The stipulation is a bit of a misnomer, as rather than the competitors being attached to each other by a strap, the champions just get to hold the leather and beat up their opponents with it. This match is long and pretty dull, though I did enjoy the finish. Petey is handed some powder by his allies, and attempts to use it to blind the champions. Instead, it's kicked into his face, which causes his to accidentally hit EY with the Canadian Destroyer, payback for all of the shenanigans pulled by Team Canada against AMW. The champions hit their finisher and once again retain the belts.
- Triple X were forced to disband four months ago at Turning Point inside the six sides of steel, and now Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper meet once again inside the steel, this time as opponents fighting for the X Division title. The opening exchanges are fun, as both men emphasize how well they know each other, countering everything. They attempt to recapture some of that magic from their Turning Point match to moderate success, trading big spots and some dives off the cage. Ultimately, it's a big dive from Skipper that costs him the match, as he knocks down the official and Daniels to able to score with the Angel's Wings to retain his belt.
- Another of the staples of this annual event is the Lethal Lockdown match, which is reminiscent of WCW's WarGames, which WWE was still years away from bringing back for NXT. Two competitors from each team start in the ring, fighting for five minutes before a member from the team that won the coin toss enters, gaining a numbers advantage for the next two minutes before the other team gets a member in. Once everyone has entered, the first pinfall or submission ends the match. The main difference between Lethal Lockdown and WarGames is the usage of weapons, which is a huge part of TNA's version. In the inaugural version of the match, it's Team Nash against Team Jarrett, though Kevin Nash himself is unable to compete thanks to a gnarly staph infection. The match starts with NWA Champion Jeff Jarrett taking on Sean Waltman, and they get the crowd going by brawling right through them, before the former X-Pac takes the advantage in the ring. The Outlaw then enters, and he and Jarrett take control, before DDP enters and takes momentum back for the faces. This is a rare reversal for TNA, as the in-ring action isn't particularly good, it's just a whole lot of trash brawling, but the booking is rock solid, making the faces easy to get behind. Monty Brown is last in for Team Jarrett, and he's great in this one, clearing house and later hitting a double Pounce in a very impressive spot. It's a shame he's a heel now, because he would be as the last man in for the faces to take out all the heels in dominant fashion. Nash's replacement has been hyped up all night long, and the fans are very eager to see Sting, who must've been rumored to fill the spot. Instead, BG James is the mystery third man for Team Nash, and you can hear the disappointment of the fans. He does make sense for this spot, as he gets a big staredown with former tag partner Outlaw, and the two men never actually come to blows at any point, which is very smart booking, save that for a potential match in the future. Waltman steals a win for the good guys with a hurricanrana on Brown that barely gets a three, as he's being positioned as a future world title contender.
- Main event time, as AJ Styles and Abyss face off, with the winner receiving an NWA title match at Hard Justice, which is actually the title match that Abyss won back at Against All Odds. There are no extra stipulations for this one, which is absolutely the right choice, as it allows both men to tell a very compelling David versus Goliath story. AJ opens the match with some big crowd dives, though the second one seems him crash and burn. Abyss takes control and AJ makes him look great with terrific selling. Styles is nearly beheaded when Abyss smashes him in the face with the cage door, a brutal looking shot, before AJ is sent flying with a big boot. Abyss gets some weapons involved, including thumbtacks, though Styles is able to retake control with a ridiculous german suplex, one of the best actual wrestling moves on the night. That's followed with a brutal spot where AJ hits the Styles Clash onto the tacks, which Abyss somehow kicks out of. Styles tries for a big cage dive but Abyss tosses the referee into the cage, a very intelligent moment for the monster as AJ briefly loses his balance, allowing Abyss to climb up and stop him. Abyss hangs AJ in the air for a bit with his chain, which was a bit too violent for me, I don't like the hanging visual at all. Styles just about manages to find his footing, before launching Abyss off the cage wall with a sunset flip powerbomb, as the big man slams into even more tacks. That's finally enough to get the job done, as AJ emerges from this bloody conflict looking like an absolute warrior, ready to take on the champ. This is what a TNA main event should be, two homegrown stars fighting it out in a match with genuine stakes and genuine drama. There's more actual wrestling in this match than most of the others on the card, and the level of brutality was well above anything else TNA has presented in their monthly offerings. Both men have tons of chemistry and emerged from this one looking like future world champions and flag bearers for the company. This is an absolute must-watch, one of the best matches in TNA history.
8/10
Lockdown really shouldn't have worked, but did for me largely thanks to the main event, a definite instant classic. There's also plenty of entertainment to be found elsewhere on the card, though some of it does get a bit too repetitive at times. I also thought this was definitely the best booked TNA show I've watched so far, which admittedly isn't saying that much, but I really liked the booking of the Lethal Lockdown match, the tag title match and the main event. The BS finishes and kickout spam are an minimum here, and that alone puts Lockdown well above pretty much anything else I've watched from this company. Finally, I'd like to say, Rest in Peace Chris Candido. It's such a shame that he did everything to get past his own personal demons just to meet this tragic, unfortunate end. You just never know when tragedy is going to strike.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Hard Justice 2005. See you soon.
- Henry
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