wrestling / Columns
411’s TNA Lockdown 2026 Preview
Image Credit: TNA
Well, hello, fellow TNA fans, and welcome back to my expected and (somewhat) anticipated preview for Lockdown! Emanating from the Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois, Lockdown is back on the TNA special events calendar for the first time since 2014. True, the company did run Lockdown in lieu of episodes of Impact back in 2015 and 2016, and they were going to bring it back in 2020 before COCO struck. But now, the cage is back, and everyone, no matter who they are and what other match stipulations exist, will get into that SALAD STEEL CAGE!
This edition of TNA Lockdown will forsake a World Title defense in lieu of the Champion (and his brother) going after the tag team titles, so in total, five of the six titles will be on the line this Sunday. Non-title matches will also carry some extra appeal and certain stipulations to them as well, making them feel no less valued.
For more on this and everything else, let’s roll our Headlines!
All of this and, of course, so much more in store for us! So, walk with me and talk with me as I take you down to the cage so we can get locked inside and turn it into a Lockdown!
Also, at the expense of sounding redundant and writing erroneously, I will not be including “Steel Cage Match” in any of the matches below. The ONLY ones that I will be referring to otherwise are the matches with additional stipulations attached to them, which account for two in total.
After a lengthy feud with the Hardys, The Righteous fell to Matthew and Jeffrey Nero Hardy in the Hardy Compound match. They were drowning in the Lake of Reincarnation, but much like in comic books, no one truly stays dead in a wrestling storyline. And now that Vincent and Dutch have re-emerged from the Lake the same as they were before, they are now fascinated with recruiting BDE to their cause.
If this sounds like it has been done recently, that’s because it has been. Both the System and the Righteous tried (and failed) to recruit Ricky Sosa to their ranks, only to be turned down by Ricky. Having failed in their conquest to bring in Sosa and making an enemy out of him, Vincent and Dutch turned their attention to Brandon Does Everything, known also as BDE.
This match comes at the right time, since Rich Swann and BDE have been largely without direction, and a feud with the Righteous would give them something to get lost in. it stands to reason, then, that for this thing to progress and not just be one-and-done that the heels have to win here to keep the plot afoot.
WINNERS: The Righteous
After months away from the ring due to a kneecap injury, Trey Miguel made his return to the live episode of Impact in Philadelphia and immediately went after Mustafa Ali and the Order-4. Clearly bent on revenge after suffering his injury in a match with Ali, Miguel will look to extract some modicum of revenge when he faces Special Agent Zero.
Miguel was on a path to the main event prior to his injury, and getting a win over Zero would be a good first step back in that direction. However, the task will not be an easy one. Not only is Zero tough to beat in normal circumstances, but now Miguel must deal with him inside the SALAD STEEL CAGE.
Sometimes, determination and motivation can go a long way. And while the cage environment works for Zero to dish out pain and punishment, Miguel can also use the cage to his advantage to hit Zero from all over the place. Plan on Zero dominating but expect Miguel to pull the win out in the bottom of the ninth.
WINNER: Trey Miguel
Once a feud that popped up from out of nowhere (not as opposed to a good RKO), AJ Francis and Elijah will continue what they have been building upon since back in June. You may remember the events that lead into the initial match at Slammiversary centered around AJ Francis “obtaining” the rights to all of Elijah’s intellectual properties. And, in my mind, Elijah winning at Slammiversary seemed to signal the end of their extremely short feud.
But have no fear, because in the two months that have since passed, both Francis and Elijah have continued to cross paths, whether in singles encounters, tag team encounters, or pop-ups during the others match. For instance, Elijah answered Francis, who caused him to lose to Mr. Elegance via roll-up, by distracting Francis, who in turn got rolled up by the Hometown Man.
While long-term storytelling is always a valuable tool to have in your arsenal, I’m a little bit unsure how this match will break. As I stated above, it seemed like Elijah winning back in June and getting all his IP back from Francis seemed to be the end of that sprint of a feud. However, since Francis DID lose that match, I’m leaning towards him winning here. This is the kind of feud that I can see being blown off in October at Bound for Glory, where another stipulation would be put in place for the winner to be decisive.
Also, keep in mind that, with the rules (or complete lack of) for the Lockdown set-up, I’m fully anticipating the return of one Expressions to help Francis and screw over Elijah, as he has not been seen since he got hit with the guitar weeks ago.
WINNER: A.J. Francis
At face value, this match between Moose and Frankie Kazarian seems to be more about pride than anything else. After all, when you have two guys who claim to be the “Face of TNA” and the “King of TNA,” some egos will be bruised, and some pride will be shattered. More to the point, this gives two guys who have been stalwarts for a long time within the company something to sink their teeth into, and no one can be mad about that.
There is nothing within the confines of TNA that either man hasn’t managed to accomplish. Both men have held the World Title, the X-Division Title (in Frankie’s case, six times), and both have a punch card that reads over a decade of service. While Moose completed his mission to defeat every member of the System, Frankie came off a long feud with the now released Steve Maclin. So, with both men having nothing going on, this match could be the start of something bigger.
The stipulation of escaping the cage, as pitched by Frankie after Moose initially challenged him for Lockdown, plays perfectly into the squirely nature of Kazarian. Moose might be at somewhat of a disadvantage here since his pride wouldn’t simply allow him to leave the cage rather than just smash Kazarian through the mat. On the other hand, you know full well that Kazarian is going to try and get out of dodge, whether through the cage door or up the side of the cage.
This is another match that I am torn on the winner. While the conception of this feud wasn’t so sudden (unlike the Francis-Elijah one), Frankie winning here does make more sense if we’re going to pay it off at BFG. And, again, the escape the cage stipulation favors Kazarian more than it would Moose. Somehow, someway, Frankie is going to make a mad dash out of that cage.
WINNER: Frankie Kazarian
You MIGHT find this hard to believe, but a stable like the System not only make it easy to hate them (if for no other reason than having your hearing assault by Alisha), but it also makes babyfaces who may not have much in common coalesce into a solid unit. The return of Lockdown also meant the return of Lethal Lockdown, and these folks feel right at home in this stipulation.
Upon his debut in TNA, Aichner has made it his mission to go after the System. However, simple math would project that the odds would still not be in his favor by a ratio of 4:1. But, as the System continue to make enemies out of the younger stars, such Sosa, Navarro, Stone, and Leon Slater, you start to see a babyface rebellion build. Eventually, there proves to be enough of a rebellion as though to not only stand up to the System, but also possibly stop it as well.
For the unacquainted, Lethal Lockdown is not too far removed from the set-up of War Games or Blood and Guts. While one person will start the match for their respective teams, one team will have the advantage when they get a second member before the other team. This, of course, will lead to further “power play” advantages of 3-on-2 and 4-on-3 until all eight wrestlers are in the cage. Once everyone is in the cage, we get a roof lowered with weapons everywhere, and pins and submissions are the only way to win.
In most of these matches, it usually sets up for the heel team to have the advantage from the word GO, only for the faces to make a miraculous recovery when the odds are even and prevail. And when it comes to this match, that kind of thinking is symmetrical to the usual booking. This past week on Impact, thanks to two kicks to the balls of Aichner, Myers won the advantage for his team in the cage. However, this script seems to write itself, and while the System can take advantage until the numbers are finally even, that is where the baby faces prevail.
WINNERS: Ricky Sosa, KC Navarro, Fabian Aichner, and Jada Stone
If this match feels like it fell out of the stands in left field, then you wouldn’t be wrong in assuming such. Elayna Black’s face turn felt unnatural and out of place, and the match still reeks of “Mean Girls” energy. And yet, we knew that Black was going to deliver on her guarantee to get a title shot, but I don’t think anyone saw it happening this way.
The building has been non-existent, and what we got was unmotivated at best. Elayna did the makeup work on Xia to make her look like a clown, and this past week on Impact, they traded pot shots at each other over a Skype call. Riveting, to say the very least.
You may have heard that Lockdown is taking place in Chicago, and that happens to be the hometown of Elayna. I’m not sure if that is the reason that they decided to turn Black babyface despite her clearly heel demeanor, but it would explain the sudden change in character. Whether that helps her out is something we’ll have to wait and see.
Xia won the Knockouts Title from her former Angel Warrior’s partner Lei Ying Lee at Slammiversary, and it would be tragic if they cut her two-month reign short just to crown the hometown girl. Brookside has been a natural treasure since she turned heel, and she plays the mean girl perfectly. I’m sure that the temptation to put the title on the hometown girl is too strong to ignore, but I’m confident that Brookside somehow pulls this one out.
WINNER: Xia Brookside (And still!)
Not to say anything bad about the Knockouts World Title scene, but for my money, the feud between Allie, Rosemary, and the Elegance Brand has been more interesting as it began to percolate and then shape shift into something else entirely. And by “something else entirely,” I of course am speaking of the sudden disappearance of Rosemary over the past couple of weeks.
At Slammiversary, Rosemary and Allie (otherwise lovingly known as DemonXBunny) took the Knockouts Tag Team Titles from the Elegance Brand. This made sense for two reasons, the first of which being that Heather and Maggie hadn’t defended the Knockouts Tag Titles in TNA since February, marking four months between that defense and their loss at Slammiversary. The second reason being that the reunited Allie and Rosemary had white hot momentum and, along with the now departed Mara Sade, defeated the Elegance Brand at every turn.
The Elegance Brand would extract some measure of revenge in the weeks after their title loss, as both Heather and Maggie defeated Allie and Rosemary in singles matches to advance in the Knockouts Television Title Tourney. It was after Rosemary’s loss to Maggie that she went missing, leaving Allie to find clues every week. One week, there was a hand of cards, the next week, writing on a mirror. This also forced Allie to have to defend the Knockouts Tag belts in the contractual rematch by herself, and she went off the deep end and got herself disqualified.
And so that brings us to the Knockouts Tag belts being defended in the cage at Lockdown. The bigger question hovering over the match will be whether Rosemary returns and, if she does, will she have changed her demeanor into something else. It really makes no sense to me to hotshot the titles back to the Elegance Brand, especially with the distinct possibility that Maggie and Heather COULD face one another for the new TV Title. I say Rosemary returns looking more demented than usual, and the cage plays in the favor of DemonXBunny.
WINNERS: DemonXBunny (And still!)
Much like in every other sport known to humankind, upsets tend to happen. Sometimes, an upset is genuinely out of nowhere and it shocks the heck out of everyone. Sometimes, an upset can be seen coming from a million miles away, and while it’s surprising nonetheless, it doesn’t have the same astonishing value as the former. And then there is the case of Jason Hotch defeating his boss and the leader of Order-4, Mustafa Ali, for his International Title.
After defending his newly won International Title against wrestlers from other countries, Ali opened the floor for talent in the TNA locker room to vote for who they feel deserved a shot at his title. And somehow, someway, Hotch was selected by most of the locker room to get the title shot. Initially, Ali thought it was a rib being played on him (even going as far as to blame Nic Nemeth for it), but when he realized that wasn’t the case, he worked to dissuade Hotch from taking the match.
But Hotch not only got support from Leon Slater, but he got a call from his wife who, as we are to assume, told him to take the title shot. And, as they say, the rest is history, as Hotch stunned Ali and took his title with both his wife and their daughter at ring side. In the days and weeks since this happened, Ali has made it his mission to torment Jason’s family to get into his head and demand his contractual rematch at Lockdown.
I know I have said this for other matches as well, but I genuinely see this matchup going either way. The fact that the match is happening in Ali’s hometown gives me reason to believe that he wins the title back and Jason’s 15 minutes of fame are over. But not only does Ali NOT need the title, but the push for Hotch as the underdog to root for would be over just like that. And then what does Jason do, beg, and grovel to return to Order-4 and continue that storyline arc? Hotch did it once, and he can do it again, this time in a steel cage.
WINNER: Jason Hotch (And still!)
-If Slater loses, his X-Division Title reign will be erased from TNA history
Despite recent turnover within the creative department at TNA HQ, one of the feuds that has managed to transcend all of that has been this one here. It doesn’t matter if it is a straight up singles match between Alexander and Slater, or if it’s a multi-person match, these guys work so well together. And, given the history between them going back to when Cedric took Leon’s title back in May in a two-out-of-three falls match, this was bound to happen again.
But, for Slater to get another shot at Cedric’s X-Title, he had to agree to one of the most crazy and off-the-wall stipulations of which I have ever heard. If Leon wins the X-Title back, then all is right with the world, and no doubt the feud continues because Cedric would be entitled to a contractual rematch. However, if Slater losses, then Leon’s X-Title reign is set to be expunged from the TNA record books.
Such a stipulation would scream TITLE CHANGE, but I’m not sure of the coordination behind Slater’s contract. There have been widespread rumors that Slater wasn’t going to be too far behind Mike Santana when he left for NXT, yet Leon is still here. And if the X-Title were to be put back on Slater, there would obviously be a point before the end of the year that the title would have to switch hands again for him to leave. After all, there is soon to be only four months left until the end of the year once August is cleared.
But then I think to myself, “Does this stipulation really make that much sense?” Because even if Alexander retains his title, the fans will still know that Leon was just one day away from beating the record for longest X-Title reign. The stipulation doesn’t allow much wiggle room here in my opinion, and if Slater is heading off to WWE sooner rather than later, I can see him winning the X-Title here as a “thank you” from TNA for all that he has done for them.
WINNER: Leon Slater (And NEW!!)
I must applaud TNA for punting the World Title match in favor of the tag team match. Given that Nic Nemeth defended his World Heavyweight Title against Jeff Hardy two weeks ago on Impact, the next logical progression would be for the Hardys to put up their tag team titles. Although, if this feels as redundant as the Hardys and the Righteous did, then you would be right.
The Hardys have traded the tag team titles back and forth with the System over the past two years. However, in the middle of that exchange, Nic and Ryan defeated Matt and Jeff at Rebellion in 2025 to win the titles. The Hardys would regain the titles at Slammiversary that year, but now the Nemeth Brothers have another opportunity to take the titles from the Hardys.
Given the guys that we have in this match, it would seem logical to assume that Ryan will be the fall guy in this match. But what if Nic takes the fall in this match instead? Jeff just had a World Title shot at Nic, and it’s been well over a decade since Matt held the World Title. If Ryan were to take the fall, then it would be business as usual.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here because the Nemeth Brothers COULD win this match. As stated previously, Nic and Ryan defeated Matt and Jeff for the tag team titles last year, and they could do it again. Although the steel cage environment would favor two daredevils like Matt and Jeff, Nic and Ryan would very well use this to their advantage as well. However, the red herring here is Ryan Nemeth, and either Jeff or Matt will pin him to retain the titles.
WINNERS: The Hardys (And still!)
And that’ll do it for my preview of Lockdown. I will wrap this up by saying what I always do, and that is if you clicked on my article, read it, and posted a comment, I thank you for the support! It means a lot to me as do the responses, whether good, bad, or indifferent!
Lockdown will be available exclusively on TNA’s streaming service, TNA+, with a call time of 5:00PM EST for Before the Bell, and 6:00PM EST for the main show!
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