The 2005 Lockdown was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, which took place on April 24, 2005, at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the first event under the Lockdown chronology and the fourth event in the 2005 TNA PPV schedule. Eight professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match were featured on the event's card. Every match took place inside a six sided steel structure known as the Six Sides of Steel. As a result, Lockdown was the first-ever all steel cage event held in professional wrestling.
The main event was for a NWA World Heavyweight Championship match at TNA's Hard Justice PPV event between A.J. Styles and Abyss. Styles won the match, thus earning his title shot against then-champion Jeff Jarrett at Hard Justice. TNA held the first-ever Lethal Lockdown match during the event. It pitted Team Nash (Diamond Dallas Page, Sean Waltman, and B.G. James) against Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and The Outlaw), which Team Nash won. Kevin Nash was originally supposed to take part in the match but was removed due to sickness and was replaced with James. The TNA X Division Championship defense by Christopher Daniels against Elix Skipper was another highly promoted match for the event. Daniels won the bout and successfully retained the title. Jeff Hardy versus Raven in a Six Sides of Steel Tables match was featured on the card, which Hardy won.
This event marked the introduction of the Lethal Lockdown and Xscape matches, which became annually held matches at future Lockdown events. During the event, Chris Candido broke his leg during a tag team match with Lance Hoyt against Apolo and Sonny Siaki, which days later led to Candido's post-surgery death from pneumonia.
Jason Clevett of the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer rated the event a 6 out of 10, two marks lower than the 2006 event's ranking by Chris Sokol.
Production Background TNA announced in a January 24, 2005, press release that they planned to host a PPV titled Lockdown on April 24, 2005 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. In late-February 2005, In Demand ran a preview and stated that there would be two steel cage matches held at Lockdown. A Six Man Tag Team match that featured Sean Waltman was thrown around prior to the event. TNA created a section for the event on their official website before it started. On the April 8, 2005 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact!, Director of Authority (DOA) Dusty Rhodes announced that all matches at Lockdown would be held inside a six sided steel structure known as the Six Sides of Steel. TNA followed up with a press release through their website that confirmed this. TNA issued a parental advisory a few days after the announcement due to violence associated with steel cage matches. A thirty-minute pre-show was planned before the spectacle that featured a Three Way Tag Team match between 3Live Kru (Ron Killings and Konnan), David Young and Lex Lovett, and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens).
Storylines Lockdown featured eight professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and that culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. Every match was contested inside the Six Sides of Steel.
Before the announcement that all matches be held inside the Six Sides of Steel, TNA advertised that only two would be under such rules. These two matches later became the headlining bouts for the card. The first was announced on the March 25 episode of Impact! as Team Nash (Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, and Diamond Dallas Page) versus Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown, and The Outlaw). Abyss versus A.J. Styles for a future NWA World Heavyweight Championship match was the second announced on the April 1 episode of Impact!, which became the main event of the gathering. The storyline behind Styles versus Abyss began at TNA's Against All Odds PPV event on February 13, where Abyss defeated Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem match to earn a future NWA World Heavyweight Championship title shot. During a backstage segment on the February 18 episode of Impact!, Abyss gave the title match contract to Traci, wanting it given to DOA Dusty Rhodes as she was trying to become Rhodes' personal assistant at the time. On the March 25 episode of Impact!, Abyss tried to retrieve his contract from now co-assistant to Rhodes, Traci. This led to a brawl with Styles as he tried to defend Traci and co-assistant Trinity as they fled in fear from Abyss. The match was then announced on the April 1 episode of Impact!. Rhodes announced on the April 8 episode of Impact! that the winner of the bout would get their title shot at TNA's Hard Justice PPV event on May 15.
Team Nash versus Team Jarrett began on the March 18 episode of Impact! when Nash requested a six-man tag team cage match at Lockdown from Rhodes. The following week, Rhodes granted the request and officially announced it for the Lockdown card. On the April 8 episode of Impact!, Rhodes proclaimed that the encounter was now a Lethal Lockdown match, in which weapons were legal and one wrestler from each team started the match. Afterwards, members from each team entered at time intervals until all wrestlers were involved in the bout so a pinfall or submission could occur. The storyline behind this encounter revolved around Jarrett and his reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion. At Against All Odds, Jarrett successfully defended the title against Nash, which Waltman and The Outlaw interfered with by aiding Nash and Jarrett, respectively. At TNA's previous PPV event Destination X on March 13, Jarrett defended the title against Page, in which Brown turned on Page by helping Jarrett retain the title.
Elix Skipper challenged Christopher Daniels for the TNA X Division Championship at Lockdown. The build to this encounter began on the March 18 episode of Impact!, when Skipper interrupted Daniels after a match and hinted at a future encounter. On the March 25 episode of Impact!, TNA commentator Mike Tenay announced that a four-way elimination match involving Chris Sabin, Michael Shane, Skipper, and Petey Williams would be held on the April 1 episode of Impact! to determine Daniels' opponent for the title at Lockdown. Skipper went on to win the match the following week, earning the opportunity to challenge for the title. The main surrounding storyline was that Daniels and Skipper used to be tag team partners as part of the group Triple X, which disbanded after losing a Six Sides of Steel Cage match against America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) at TNA's Turning Point PPV event on December 5, 2004. Jeff Hardy fought Raven in a Six Sides of Steel Tables match at Lockdown. On the March 25 episode of Impact!, Raven offered Hardy an alliance, which Hardy turned down. On the April 1 episode of Impact!, Raven attacked Hardy during an incident between Hardy and Abyss. Rhodes announced that the two would face at Lockdown in a Six Sides of Steel Tables match on the April 8 episode of Impact!.
Event Other on-screen personnelCommentatorMike TenayDon WestRing announcerJeremy BorashRefereeRudy CharlesMark "Slick" JohnsonAndrew ThomasInterviewersJeremy BorashShane Douglas
Pre-Show Prior to the event's commencement, TNA held a thirty-minute pre-show. It featured a Three Way Tag Team match between the 3Live Kru (Ron Killings and Konnan), the team of David Young and Lex Lovett, and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens), who were accompanied by Chris Candido, which lasted 6 minutes and 34 seconds. 3Live Kru were the victors in the contest after Killings gained the pinfall by forcing Young's face into the mat.
On-air employees The event featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches. Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast. Jeremy Borash was the ring announcer for the event. Andrew Thomas, Rudy Charles, and Mark "Slick" Johnson participated as referees for the encounters. Besides employees who appeared in a wrestling role, Kevin Nash, Coach D'Amore, A-1, Traci, Trinity, and DOA Dusty Rhodes all appeared on camera, either in backstage or in ringside segments. TNA announced via their official website a few days prior to the event that Kevin Nash would be unable to appear in the Lethal Lockdown match due to a staph infection. This was explained at the start of the telecast, and DOA Rhodes would announce Nash's replacement later during the event.
Preliminary matches
The show opened with a Six Sides of Steel Tag Team Cage match that pitted the team of Apolo and Sonny Siaki against Chris Candido and Lance Hoyt, which lasted 6 minutes and 58 seconds. This was originally promoted as a bout between Hoyt and Apolo but was changed at the event. During the opening minutes, Candido suffered a bad fall and was helped to the backstage area. Siaki and Apolo won the contest after Siaki performed a splash from the top of a padded turnbuckle on Hoyt.
Dustin Rhodes fought Bobby Roode, who was accompanied by Coach D'Amore and A-1, in what was billed as a Prince of Darkness match next. The duration of the bout was 15 minutes and 20 seconds. In this contest, there would be three falls, but the third fall would be contested under blindfold match rules, in which both wrestlers wore hoods over their heads. Roode earned the first fall with a roll-up pin, and Dustin earned the second one when he forced Roode face-first into the mat from the top rope. During the third fall, both wrestlers wore black hoods that impaired their vision, causing Dustin to accidentally knock the referee unconscious in storyline terms. Due to this, D'Amore opened the cage door and passed Roode a steel folding chair. Roode then attempted to bash Dustin with it but instead mistakenly struck D'Amore. Dustin then grabbed the chair and struck Roode with it, which gave him the pinfall as the referee came to.
TNA held the first-ever Xscape match between Shocker, Michael Shane (who was accompanied Trinity), Sonjay Dutt, and Chris Sabin in the following bout. It lasted 15 minutes and 42 seconds. In this match, the four competitors fought until two were eliminated by pinfall or submission; the two remaining wrestlers then fought to escape from the cage, with the first to do so the winner. Dutt was the first wrestler eliminated after Shocker slammed him into the steel cage. After this elimination, Trinity climbed up to the top of the cage and performed a backflip off the top onto the three wrestlers below. Traci then entered the arena and forced Trinity to the backstage area. The second eliminated was Shane, after Sabin forced him back-first into the mat with his signature maneuver the Cradle Shock. Sabin and Shocker remained as they both fought to escape the cage, which Shocker did first to win the contest.
The fourth encounter was a Six Sides of Steel Tables match between Jeff Hardy and Raven, which lasted 11 minutes and 51 seconds. In a tables match, two opponents fight until one is forced through a table by the other. At one point during the contest, Hardy laid Raven on a table then ascended to the top of the cage. Hardy followed by jumping off and performing a front-flip towards Raven, who moved out of the way and caused Hardy to crash through the table. Due to not being forced through by Raven, the match continued until Hardy laid Raven on a stack of four tables. Hardy then jumped off the top of the cage onto Raven in a seated position, forcing him through all the tables and winning the encounter.