TNA Lockdown

File:Lockdown 09 logo.jpg

The TNA Lockdown logo circa 2009

Lockdown is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced every April by the American professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action (TNA). The event was created in 2005 and is highlighted by the premise that all matches take place inside the Six Sides of Steel cage. In addition to the cage, the event usually features additional gimmicks added on to the steel cage stipulation. Trademark Lockdown specialty matches include the Lethal Lockdown, Xscape matches and exclusive to the TNA Knockouts the Queen of the Cage.

Originally Lockdown was to have only two cage matches to highlight the name, but soon after the premise was changed to the current all cage match format by TNA CEO Dixie Carter.

Events

#	Event	Date	City	Venue	Main Event
1	Lockdown (2005)	April 24, 2005	Orlando, Florida	TNA Impact! Zone	A.J. Styles vs. Abyss to become number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
2	Lockdown (2006)	April 23, 2006	Orlando, Florida	TNA Impact! Zone	Sting's Warriors (Sting, A.J. Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino) vs. Jarrett's Army (Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) (with Gail Kim and Jackie Gayda) in a Lethal Lockdown
3	Lockdown (2007)	April 15, 2007	Saint Charles, Missouri	Family Arena	Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Sting and Jeff Jarrett) vs. Team Cage (Christian Cage, A.J. Styles, Scott Steiner, Abyss, and Tomko) (with James Mitchel) in a Lethal Lockdown
4	Lockdown (2008)	April 13, 2008	Lowell, Massachusetts	Tsongas Arena	Kurt Angle (c) vs. Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
5	Lockdown (2009)	April 19, 2009	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Liacouras Center	Sting (c) vs. Mick Foley for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
5	Lockdown (2010)	April 18, 2010	St. Louis, Missouri	Family Arena
(c) - refers to the champion prior to the match

Featured Matches

Over the years, Lockdown has become a featured PPV in TNA's monthly schedule, several gimmick matches have become recurring highlights of the show. These matches are intended to provide a different "flavor" to the show as opposed to a simple eight cage match card.

Lethal Lockdown

The first match ever announced for a Lockdown pay per view was the Lethal Lockdown, a variant of the WarGames match popularized in World Championship Wrestling. The match features a multi-man competition in which opponents from each team enter in alternating fashion. Victory can only be gained after everyone has entered the cage. The match has evolved over the years, developing from a three-on-three match (2005) to a four-on-four (2006 & 2009) to a five-on-five (2007-2008). Since 2006, the match also includes a roof to the cage, making it the only match with such a feature in TNA, until TNA introduced the The Asylum.

Xscape Match

The second annually featured match on a Lockdown PPV was the Xscape match. Consisting of a multi-stage, multi-wrestler competition, the rules involve wrestlers eliminating each other by pinfall or submission. Once the competition is down to two wrestlers, the two remaining competitors attempt to escape the cage by climbing out over the top or through the door. The second stage of this match is based on the concept of the Blassie cage match.

Queen of the Cage

Introduced in 2008, the Queen of the Cage match is a professional wrestling match held so far in 2 Lockdown PPV's featuring the TNA Knockouts. The Queen of the Cage is determined annually at the event. The match when it first debuted began as a reverse-battle royal involving eight wrestlers. The first two wrestlers that entered the cage then competed in a one-on-one match that was won via pin fall or submission. The winner became the number one contender for the TNA Women's Knockout Championship. In 2009, the match was a four-way.