Ronnie’s Reviews: TNA Lockdown 2005

What’s up guys? This is my first ever review for this site. Leave your comments below on what you think, and if there’s anything I should improve on or if there’s anything that you like. I’ll also be you weekly TNA Impact reviewer for now on too.

TNA Lockdown 2005

Video package to start things off, highlighting the brutality of the cage. My favorite line is “If it had the gift of speech, it would proclaim, Go Away. Keep Out. You’re Not Welcome Here”. Hilarious.

Mike Tenay and Don West welcome us, saying that tonight is going to be historic. Tonight we’ll see Lethal Lockdown and Abyss vs AJ Styles in a Number One Contendership match.

We get backstage footage of Kevin Nash, showing us the staph infection on his left leg. He is going to be unable to compete in the Lethal Lockdown match. Apparently Dusty Rhodes has told DDP and Waltman to come up with a new partner.

Match 1 : Sonny Siaki and Apolo vs Chris Candido and Lance Hoyt
As Candido and Hoyt make their way to the ring, I just remembered that this was Candido’s last match before his untimely death.

Before this match gets underway, a cameraman gets into the ring. He’s got pads on all over. Seriously, who thought throwing the cameraman in the cage was a good idea? Candido and Siaki are gonna start things off. Shoulder block by Siaki, taking Candido down, followed by an arm drag and a dropkick. Pin but only two. Candido soon tags Hoyt in, and Siaki tags in Apolo. Face off by both men, and they soon exchange rights. Now chops by both men, until Hoyt hit’s a knee and then pokes him in the eyes. Apolo ducks a clothesline and hit’s a jumping back elbow. Siaki and Apolo hit a double back elbow. Candido is being helped to the back, as apparently he was injured earlier on. West tells the us the brutality has already started and that they told us how brutal it was going to get. Boot by Hoyt, but he only gets a two count. He soon follows up with a slam and decides to go to the top. Huge moonsault connects but Apolo breaks up the pin. Fallaway slam into the cage by Hoyt. He then splashes Apolo into the cage. Another slam and he wants another moonsault. Siaki runs up and hit’s a release german suplex off the top. Awesome. Apolo gets the tag now as he throws Hoyt’s head into the cage. He follows up with a big super kick and a cover but only two. You can tell these guys are improvising now that Candido’s out of the match. Apolo ducks a clothesline and hit’s a TKO. Mike Tenay informs us Candido has a broken leg. Splash off the top by Siaki and it’s over.

Winners : Sonny Siaki and Apolo (*¾-There really wasn’t much to this match, and I’m sure Candido getting injured at the beginning of it had something to do with it. There were some nice moves displayed but this wasn’t the best choice for an opener)

Post match sees The Natural’s come into the ring and blame Hoyt for the loss. Hoyt starts chocking Stevens’ while Douglas tries to pull him off. Douglas then hits him from behind and they both throw Hoyt into the cage multiple times. They start working on the legs but Hoyt starts to make a comeback. It’s not enough though, as The Natural’s end up hitting him with the Natural Disaster.

Backstage, Dusty Rhodes is with Traci Brooks and Trinity. Dusty tells us he’s going to reveal who the first on in the Lethal Lockdown match is going to be. And it’s Double J, Jeff Jarrett. And the second man in, to go along with Jarrett is… Sean Waltman. Traci and Trinity argue as we cut to the video package for…

Match 2 : Bobby Roode vs Dustin Rhodes – Prince of Darkness match
The rules to this match are that it’s Two Out of Three Falls. The first two falls are both contested as regular single’s matches, but the third fall is a blindfold match. Yay. It’s kind of weird referring to Roode as Bobby instead of Robert, but whatever. And here comes Team Canada’s powerhouse. I kind of miss Team Canada, they were a great heel stable.

Dusty starts this one off with some right hands and a backdrop followed by some stomps in the corner. Dusty with a big elbow. Roode gets behind the referee to avoid Dustin. That allows him to roll Dustin up, using the ropes, for the three.
Roode-1/Dustin-0
The announcers think that Dustin kicked out, but they soon tells us that they were informed that he did not. This is one of the reasons why TNA comes off as amateurish, is that announcers never seem to know what’s going on. Dustin takes Roode’s head and throws it into each corner. Dustin sets up Bobby and connects with the Shattered Dreams. I never understood why a wrestler, you know, just didn’t try to block the kick at least, instead of flailing their arms in the air. Dustin then sets Roode up at the top and hit’s a superplex. Roode comes back with a knee to the gut and looks for a power bomb, but Dustin takes him down and slingshots him into the cage. He follows up with the pin but only two. Dustin with some hard irish whips into the corners. Powerslam but only two. Roode prevents Dustin from hitting the bulldog, so Dustin hits him with a low blow. Goes for the bulldog again but Roode throws him across the ring, followed with a spear in the corner. Roode in complete control now, as he hit’s a big backsuplex. Chin lock locked in by Roode. Dustin starts to fight back, but runs into a boot. Small package, but Roode kicks out at two and hit’s a clothesline. Knee drop off the middle rope, but another two count for Roode. Chin lock again by Roode. The hand falls twice but stays up at three as Dustin starts to get back into this. Something happened but apparently the camera crew thought it would be a better idea to get a shot of the crowd. Good job guys. Modified camel clutch by Roode, really working down Dustin’s neck. Dustin counters with a huge electric chair drop. He got some serious height on that one. Dustin’s coming back now, as he tries to throw Bobby into the cage door. Roode stops by grabbing the door, only for the door to swing open and hit the camera man. Nice. Dustin counters an irish whip and throws Roode into the cage. Roode counters the reverse suplex and hit’s the Northern Lariat. Pin but Dustin gets his foot on the ropes. Roode decides to set him up on the top. Roode looks for a german, but Dustin counters. Bulldog off the top by Dustin and that gets him the three.
Roode-1/Dustin-1
We now go to the third and final fall, which, decided by the geniuses that are TNA, is going to be a Blindfold match. Roode tries using D’Amore to find Dustin, but Dustin uses the crowd, pointing at various spots of the ring, assuming the crowd will chant when he points to Roode. This is stupid, one guy should just charge across the ring and hope they make contact. They get back to back, and Dustin tries to lock in a headlock until Roode counters out. The referee for some reason grabs both of them by the arm, so they both clothesline him. D’Amore throws a chair into the ring, but Roode can’t find it. D’Amore now unlocks the cage and goes inside. Roode finds the chair and hits D’Amore, thinking it was Dustin. Dustin now finds the chair as Roode realizes what he’s done. Roode and Dustin go back to back, and Dustin nails him with the chair. The referee is back up and that’s all folks.

Winner : Dustin Rhodes (*-This match was pretty bad as they just seemed to be going through the motions and the crowd really didn’t care at all. The blindfold stipulation didn’t help the match at all either. This one also got way too much time)

Backstage now as Shane Douglas is interviewing the X-Division Champion, Daniels. Daniels says he bled buckets for Triple X, and that the X-Division Championship means more to him than Triple X ever did. Skipper cuts Daniels off as he asks him who he’s talking to. He says he told him a couple of weeks ago when the time is right, and that the world is watching and the time is right. Skipper isn’t really making a ton of sense here. He then walks off, as does Daniels. Douglas tells us that tonight’s match is going to be, “Primetime”, followed by his demonic laugh. God I miss Douglas.

Match 3 : Matt Bentley vs Sonjay Dutt vs Chris Sabin vs Shocker – Xscape match
Trinity has now aligned herself with Matt Bentley. HAIL SABIN! West puts over how incredible Sabin is and that he thinks he has good chance of winning. This should be a good match.

Sonjay and Sabin are gonna start things off. Wrestling sequence by both men ends in a double kip-up. Sonjay with a shoulder block. Sabin ducks a springboard moonsault. Hip toss countered with a flip, monkey flip countered by a flip, and both men look for simultaneous dropkicks. Sonjay takes control, hitting a head scissors with multiple rotations. Sabin with a hurricanrana, and Dutt tags in Shocker, as Sabin tags in Bentley. Sequence of maneuvers ends with Shocker hitting a bulldog. Shocker with a clothesline in the corner and hits another bulldog. Dutt gets the tag as Dutt and Shocker hit a double hip toss. Dropkick by Sonjay. Sabin flips Sonjay over from a power bomb position onto Bentley, but as Sonjay was dropping, Sabin came down with a leg drop. Great double team. Bentley tosses Dutt up into the air and Dutt goes right into the cage. Clothesline followed up with a pin, but only two. Dutt gets tied to the tree of woe and Bentley sticks his foot in his face and follows up with a dropkick. Chin lock by Bentley. Dutt gets elevated to the top but holds on, misses a moonsault, and hit’s a head scissors. Sabin now in and takes it to Bentley with a running forearm in the corner. Alabama slam sending Sabin into the cage. Sabin comes back with a springboard swinging DDT. Shocker now in and hit’s a springboard moonsault to Bentley. Dropkick to the knee followed by an oklahoma roll, but only two. Alright, really weird submission here as Bentley wraps his legs around the back of Shockers head and falls back over the top rope. Dutt comes in and puts Bentley in a face lock while Sabin comes in and locks Dutt in the boston crab. Sabin with a dropkick right into Shocker and Bentley. Spinkick to Dutt, followed by a power bomb into the cage and then a sitout variation. Shocker breaks up the pin for some reason, and then hits Sabin with a TKO. Sabin hit’s a dragon whip. Dutt with the Hindu Press (Phoenix Splash) but it’s not enough. Bentley counters a powerbomb by throwing Dutt headfirst into the cage in the powerbomb position. Superkick by Bentley to Dutt, boot by Shocker to Bentley. Corkscrew elbow to Dutt eliminates him.

Shocker counters a powerbomb with a hurricanrana, followed by a tilt-a-whirl gutbuster. Top rope Shocker, but Sabin charges up and hit’s a northern lights suplex off the top. Bentley breaks up the pin and sets Sabin up at the top. Sabin fights back as Trinity starts to climb the cage. Traci’s out now, but gets knocked off the cage by Trinity. Trinity with a huge moonsault off the top, taking out all three men. Traci’s in now, taking out Trinity. Bentley takes Traci and throws her to the outside. Cradle Shock to Bentley puts him away.

The rules now are that the first person to escape wins the match. Sabin and Shocker race to the top. The door was literally just open as either guy could have just walked out. Both guys get double crotched on the top rope. Both guys going back up, and they’re on the top. They now fight on the outside wall of the cage. Sabin rams Shocker’s head into the cage, causing him to fall off just seconds before Sabin does.

Winner : Shocker (**½-The X-Division did what the X-Division does best, and that’s wrestle. Some great sequences and some cool maneuvers make this match good, but logic flaws cause it from being greater. I don’t understand why wrestlers kept breaking up the other pins and why Shocker nor Sabin tried to go out of the already opened door. Other than that though, this was a good way to showcase the X-Division)

Tenay and West show us the footage of where Candido broke his leg. It actually does look kind of gross as his leg just bends back into a position that it probably shouldn’t have. During the replay though, you can totally tell the Siaki botched that kick.

Match 4 : Jeff Hardy vs Raven – Tables match
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first time in wrestling history that a Tables match has taken place inside of a Steel Cage. Also, I’m pretty sure this is the first time Raven has competed in a Tables match too. Tenay said if there was a ever a match that could be tailor made for Hardy, it would be this match. Uh, yeah, because Jeff isn’t know for his experience in Ladder matches or anything like that.

Hardy starts swinging with the chair and goes after Raven’s leg with it. Poetry in Motion, using the chair as a stepping stool. Hardy goes for it again, but this time Raven moves and Hardy goes flying into the cage. Raven then throws Hardy into the cage twice. He then proceeds to boot Hardy’s face into the cage. Drop toe hold into the chair. Raven Effect DDT connects early on. Raven sets Hardy up against the table. He charges him but Hardy ducks out of the way, sending Raven crashing through the wood. Remember, you have to throw your opponent through the table. Hardy now attacking Raven with the chair, and he follows up with the suplex. Chair assisted leg drop to the ribs. Hardy now slamming Raven’s face into the cage. Raven’s now bleeding as Hardy starts grinding his face against the steel. Suplex countered by Raven into a suplex of his own. Hardy up to the top, but Raven follows him up. Sort of a forward russian leg sweep by Raven, except he didn’t get all of it. Hardy counters the Raven Effect into the Twist of Fate. Hardy now sets up the table, putting Raven on top of it. Hardy goes to the top of the cage and the crowd is going bananas. Hardy goes for the Swanton but Raven gets out of the way at the last second causing Hardy to go crashing through the table. That looked brutal. Raven takes a ton of time before going to the top rope, but Hardy charges him and knocks him off. Repeated shots into the cage by Hardy. He then dropkicks him in the back. Raven with a desperation low blow. Raven now takes a piece of the broken table and starts driving it into Hardy’s face. Raven sets up the chair. Irish whip reversed and Hardy drop toe holds Raven onto the chair. Hardy going over the cage but Raven shakes the cage door, crotching Hardy on top of it. Hardy uses his legs to smash the door against his face. Hardy jumps off the top and Raven gets the boot up. That was sort of a botch and the crowd is making sure they know it. Raven now stacks up four tables. Raven starts going up to the top, dragging Hardy by the hair with him. Hardy fights back and puts Raven on the tables. Hardy to the top of the cage and hit’s a double leg drop for the win.

Winner : Jeff Hardy (***½-Very good match between these two, but when you have two hardcore wrestlers such as these, that’s expected. There was one very noticeable botch, but they recovered from it nicely. Hardy winning here was sort of a waste as he would accomplish very little in TNA from this point forward while Raven would go on to win the NWA Championship two months later. But it‘s all irrelevant, as what they gave us here was a very good Tables match)

Match 5 : America’s Most Wanted© vs Team Canada (Petey Williams and Eric Young) (w/ A1) – Strap match – TNA World Tag Team Championship match
Don’t get the stipulation confused (as I usually do). No one is being strapped to another wrestler, instead they’re all going to have leather straps used for whipping. The graphic shows A1 instead of Petey for some reason. We get a recap of the last match, with Tenay asking if West would have given Hardy any chance at all? Seriously? Raven’s never been in a Table match (to my knowledge), Hardy was in the first ever Tables match (in WWE) and Hardy has just as much hardcore experience as Raven. And I could have sworn earlier they were talking about how the match was “tailor made” for him. Anyways, here comes Team Canada, with no D’Amore.

AMW gets in the ring, but EY and Williams run up the cage. Petey jumps down on the other side only to eat a clothesline from Chris Harris. EY almost gets out but Storm stops him. EY is trapped at the top with Harris on one side and Storm on the other. They slam his legs into the steel multiple times. Petey pulls Harris off the side. Petey now in the ring, but as Harris tries to enter, he gets attacked by A1 with the title belt. He then hits Storm with it, but we couldn’t see, because the production staff at TNA blows. They show a replay of it to make it up to us, because I couldn’t actually believe it when Don West said it (note the sarcasm). Williams now whipping Storm inside the ring as A1 works on Harris on the outside. Storm now bleeding as A1 whips Harris into the barricade. Williams choking Storm as he does the “Oh, Canada” thing. Young now getting his shots in on Storm. Young and Williams just whipping Storm on the inside. Petey climbs to the top and grabs the American Flag, allowing Young to choke Storm with it. Storm with a jawbreaker for Young and an enzuigiri for Williams. On the outside, Harris whips A1 into the barricade, now climbing the cage to get inside. Young catapults himself into the cage, knocking Harris down. That looked kind of funny. Storm counters a hurricanrana by Williams into a powerbomb and follows up with a military press into the cage. Storm now whipping EY likes there’s no tomorrow, but that allows Williams to hit a cage assisted tornado ddt, but only gets two on the pin. The numbers game begins to become too much for Storm, but on the outside Harris slingshots A1 into the cage, followed by throwing him into the steps. Harris starts to climb the cage. He gets back in and hit’s a double clothesline off the top. Fullnelson slam to Williams, double A spinebuster to EY. Delayed vertical suplex to Williams. Hart Attack to EY but a kickout at two. Williams springs up and hit’s a head scissors/russian leg sweep combo to Harris. Sharpshooter by Williams to Storm and Petey hits him with an elbow off the top. Awesome combo. Kickout at two, and Petey can’t believe it. Petey looking for the Canadian Destroyer on Storm but Harris hits him with a spear that would’ve made Goldberg proud. Harris reverses Young’s Superkick, allowing Storm to hit one of his own. Death Sentence countered as Petey pulls Storm back. Hockey stick to the back of Harris and goes for the pin. 1.…2.…2.821! A1 gives Petey the powder but Storm boots it into his face. Williams low blows Young by accident and hits him with the Canadian Destroyer, thinking it’s one of AMW. Death Sentence to Williams and that’s enough for the pin.

Winners : America’s Most Wanted (***¼-Very good match here. The story was simple and executed to perfection. The ending was good too as Team Canada had tried everything, so it was only a matter of time before one of their plans backfired. I don‘t really understand the point of the stipulation though, as the straps really weren‘t needed and didn‘t serve much of a purpose in this match. It was just adding a gimmick match for the sake of having a gimmick match. Either way though, this was a solid effort from both teams)

Match 6 : Christopher Daniels© vs Elix Skipper – TNA X-Division Championship
Ironically, it was inside the Six Sides of Steel where these two had their last tag team match. Tie up to start things off, snap mare countered by Daniels, side headlock reversals by both guys. Knee by Daniels, Skipper goes for a moonsault but lands on his feet as Daniels ducks. Angels Wings countered, Play of the Day countered, multiple pin attempts countered. They’re playing off how well they know each other here, which is nice. Drop toe hold by Skipper leads to a side headlock. Daniels counters with a headlock of his own, but Skipper pushes him off and blocks a shoulder block. Daniels with another headlock but Skipper hit’s a shoulder block this time. Daniel’s with chops and forearms, but Skipper does the Hogan finger point and shouts out “YOU”! Double arm underhook suplex by Skipper to follow. Gutwrench followed up with a back suplex. Skipper with a handstand on the top rope, dropping down into the leg drop. Reverse suplex countered by Daniels into a fireman’s carry using it to ram Skipper back first into the cage. Daniels now attacking the arm, realizing Skipper is hurt. Arm wrench followed by an arm drag. Daniels now clubbing the back of the shoulder. He then wraps the arm around the rope but Skipper fights back. Dropkick by Skipper. Boot to the shoulder by Daniels allowing him to dive off the second rope with an arm drag. Knee to the back sends Skipper into the turnbuckle. Northern lights suplex by Daniels, followed with a float over into a Juji Gatame. Skipper gets to the ropes, causing Daniels to break the hold. Daniels back on the shoulder, putting in a hammerlock and hitting a backsuplex. Skipper tries to matrix out of the pin, but he couldn’t do it with his injured shoulder. Daniels now locks in an armbar but Skipper starts to fight back. Spinebuster by Skipper will allow him to recuperate. Skipper takes Daniels and throws him into the cage, following it up with a Spinkick. Kick to the back and a pin, but it’s not enough. Daniels tries to moonsault out but lands on his stomach as Skipper matrixes out. Belly-to-belly suplex, followed by a leg drop off the top. Skipper tries the Sudden Death but his shoulder hurts to much. Takedown followed by the Best Moonsault Ever, but Skipper kicks out of the pin. Daniels hints the BME from the top but Skipper follows him up, crotching him on the top of the cage. Skipper goes to the top of the cage and shades of Victory Road as he hints walking the cage. Daniels gets down so Skipper dives off the top and hit’s a crossbody to the back of Daniels. Pin off the replay and Daniels kicks out. Daniels fights out of a tilt-a-whirl and hits an enzuigiri. Angel’s Wings countered into the Sudden Death position, but Skipper can’t hit it. Angel’s Wings by the champ and it’s over.

Winner : Christopher Daniels (***½-Solid match here as the story going into the match was that Daniels and Skipper knew each other so well that it would be impossible for either man to win. Daniels found an opening on the injured shoulder and capitalized on it, and in the end, it allowed him to win the match. When it comes to two tag team partners feuding, they almost never seem to able to put on a great match for some reason. That wasn’t the case here, as both guys had a great match and played up the injury angle greatly)

Dusty Rhodes in the back, reminding us that Waltman and Jarrett are the first two to enter in the Lethal Lockdown match, and that we’re about to find out who the third man in is. The second entrant is, uhh, the audio cuts out as he says who it is. Don West says, “wow”. Sick, that helps me. (Apparently it was Kip James, but he was being referred to as “The New Age Outlaw” during this time, and if TNA continued to use the name, WWE threatened to use legal action against them. His name had to be bleeped out of this DVD to prevent that from happening)

Match 7 : Monty Brown, Kip James and NWA Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett vs Diamond Dallas Page, Sean Waltman and Kevin Nash BG James – Lethal Lockdown match
Waltman comes to the ring with a trashcan. Jarrett’s got the trashcan filled with weapons and of course, the guitar. Waltman charges Jarrett on the ramp, and we’re not wasting any time as the clock has started. Waltman hits Jarrett with the trashcan repeatedly through the crowd. They’re at the top of the stands now, but you can’t see anything because there are too many fans in the way. Coming back down now, Jarrett’s got the trashcan and he hits Waltman with it. Jarrett’s got a tray now and nails Waltman in the back with it. Spin kick on top of the table by Waltman, but he barely hit him. Crossbody off the table by Waltman. He’s now go a cowbell and hits Jarrett with it. Waltman misses a shot with the chair and that allows Jarrett to come back. We’re now in the ring with two minutes until the next wrestler enters. Jarrett gets whipped back first into the trashcan, and then thrown into the cage twice. Trashcan shot. Waltman misses a bronco buster, which I don’t even know why he would attempt with the cage there to block his legs. Waltman with a huge clothesline as the time runs out, and here comes Kip James. Waltman catapulted into the air by Kip but he dropkicks Jarrett on the way down. Kip with a shot on Waltman with the trashcan lid. And another. Double teaming on Waltman with the signs and trays laying around the cage. IT’S ME. IT’S ME. D.D.P. And here he comes with a kendo stick, taking out both guys. The stick is pretty much broken now. DDP starts throwing them into the cage. Boot to Kip. DDP starts attacking Jarrett allowing Kip to attack him from behind. Double clothesline by DDP. Diamond Cutter reversed as Kip hit’s a low blow. And here comes the Alpha Male, and he’s got a baseball bat. He goes right after Page, hitting him in the back with the bat. Repeated shots to DDP by Jarrett with the kendo stick. Tray shot to the head of Waltman. Both DDP and Waltman are being triple teamed with all of the weapons lying around. Waltman goes for a crossbody, but Brown catches him and hits him with a fallaway slam into the cage. And here comes BG James. Jarrett comes out to meet him but BG takes him out. BG taking out everyone with the trashcan, even the referee. Face off between Kip and BG. Waltman interrupts and hit’s the X-Factor on Kip. Bronco buster to Kip. Waltman puts the trashcan over Browns face and hits him with a bronco buster. Pounce to X-Pac. And one for BG too. DDP breaks up the pin with the trashcan. Stroke on DDP reversed into the Diamond Cutter. Kip breaks up the pin and goes for the Fame Asser, but Waltman hit’s a huge spin kick instead. Multiple trash can shots to Brown but Brown pounces both DDP and BG simultaneously. Waltman counters a slam but botches the move. Brown is bleeding now. They go for it again and this time Waltman successfully reverses into a rollup for the victory.

Winners : Diamond Dallas Page, BG James and Sean Waltman (**½-Nothing great here as it was a massive brawl from the get go. But even at that, it was pretty enjoyable. Don’t get this match confused with the ones years to come after this, as there’s no top to the cage lowered from the ceiling. This match was a pretty entertaining brawl though as it was just six guys beating the piss out of each other)

This isn’t over though as Monty attacks Waltman, but BG hits him with the bat and DDP throws him out of the ring. Stare down between BG and Kip with the cage in between them.

And it’s time for our main event, where the winner will face Jeff Jarrett for the title at Hard Justice.

Match 8 : AJ Styles vs Abyss – Number One Contendership to the NWA Heavyweight Championship
As much as I love heel Styles, AJ was born to be a face. Huge pop from the crowd welcomes the two time former NWA Champion. These two have faced off multiple times before, most notably when TNA had their weekly PPV’s. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think I remember seeing a Falls Count Anywhere match (or some type of No DQ match) between them, and that it was pretty damn good.

AJ kicks things off like only he can. As Abyss is about to make his way into the ring, AJ hits him with a flip dive over the top. AJ tries to whip Abyss into the barricade, but Abyss reverses. AJ awesomely slides under the guardrail (making it look ten times easier than it really is). He then jumps on top of the guardrail and hit’s a hurricanrana. Abyss tries to whip Styles into the steps, but Styles leaps up the steps, jumps onto the guardrail and onto some structure in the crowd. He then jumps over like 3 rows of fans and hit’s a flying forearm. AJ’s really pulling out all the stops. AJ jumps up the steps and leaps towards Abyss, but Abyss moves out of the way as AJ goes into the crowd. Some crowd brawling now. AJ starts to hit Abyss with some kicks to the chest. Abyss grabs AJ by the throat and tosses him against the fence wall at the top of the stands. Back at ringside now as AJ fights back, throwing Abyss into the guardrail. Abyss uses the cage door, as he hits AJ with one shot, but the second shot practically kills him. AJ’s been busted open now, and Abyss is punching the wound. Abyss puts a chair, a chain, and a bag of thumbtacks in the ring, along with AJ. Abyss wraps the chain around AJ’s neck and tries to tug him with it. AJ fights out and gets a boot for his trouble. Abyss tries to throw AJ’s face in the corner with the chain wrapped around it, but AJ fights off. AJ charges Abyss, only for The Monster to launch AJ into the air, landing face first on the chained up turnbuckle. That was sick. Military press into the cage. And he does it again. Both times he hit it head first. Abyss covers but Styles kicks out at two. His face is just covered in blood right now. Styles starts to fight back but gets thrown to what seems like 10 feet into the air and crashes down on his gut. Abyss looks to press slam him on the chain, but AJ counters with a huge DDT on the chain. Styles hits an enzuigiri followed by a head scissors. Styles looks for a springboard inverted DDT but botches. AJ is set up in the corner but jumps over Abyss as his head runs into the propped up chair. GERMAN FUCKING SUPLEX BY AJ!!! Abyss kicks out at two. That was amazing. Styles Clash coming up but reversed. Chokeslam countered into a roll up but it’s not enough. Clothesline in the corner by AJ but he runs into a huge Black Hole Slam. Cover. 1…2…2.999! How AJ kicked out is beyond me. Abyss now gets out the bag of tacks and lays them out on the floor. Abyss looks to Black Hole Slam AJ, but AJ floats over. Abyss looking for a powerbomb but AJ counters into the Styles Clash position and he hits it on the tacks. This is about as intense as it gets. Pin. 1…2…2.998!!! The crowd starts chanting “This Is Awesome!” and these two totally deserve it. AJ to the top of the cage, but Abyss chokeslams the ref into the cage, knocking AJ down. Abyss has got the chain as he follows AJ up. He wraps it around his neck as AJ’s dangling on the other side of the cage. AJ fights out and Abyss drops the chain. Abyss goozles AJ but AJ bites the thumb. SUNSET FLIP INTO A MOTHER F’N POWERBOMB!!! And that’s enough to put the monster down.

Winner : AJ Styles (****¾-This is one of my all time favorite Steel Cage matches, never mind my second favorite TNA match. This is sort of a forgotten classic in TNA, as you don’t see much, if any at all, reference to it, and I’m not sure why. These guys just went balls out from the get go and the action never slowed down. Every spot they come up with has a huge chance of either being botched or not looking as impactful as it should, yet they all somehow manage to work beautifully. There’s like two botches in this match that keep it from hitting a perfect five stars, but neither drags the match down at all. Lot’s of high flying mixed with a lot of brutality, and it creates for a great combination)

The 411: This was a pretty average PPV leading up into the main event. At that point, it was pretty much a make it or break it situation, as if that match was anything below great, this PPV would probably be looked past. However, Abyss and AJ tore down the house and put on an all time classic. This PPV just seemed to get better and better as it went on. I recommend going out of your way to get this if just for the main event, but if you already own that on another DVD (The Best of AJ Styles Vol. 2, and I think a few others) then you’re not missing much. Definitely go out of your way to see the main event though.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]