TNA Lockdown 2026 Preview

Tonight, live on PPV, TNA presents the 13th Lockdown live from the Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois!

Steel Cage match: AJ Francis def. Elijah

At Slammiversary, Elijah beat Francis to win back the rights to his name, likeness and music catalogue. On the July 23rd episode of TNA Impact, Francis teamed with Frankie Kazarian to beat Elijah and Moose after Expressions (Francis’ manager) made Elijah fall off the ropes, resulting in Francis pinning him. Expressions tried to strike Elijah with a guitar after the match but Moose stopped him and then the pair attacked Expressions instead. The next week, Francis tried to get donations from TNA wrestlers to cover Expressions’ medical bills but Elijah refused to donate and accused Francis for being a hypocrite seeking money when he spends his own money on fancy shoes. Francis then challenged Elijah to this Steel Cage match and Elijah accepted.

Escape the Cage match: Frankie Kazarian def. Moose

On the July 16th episode of TNA Impact, Kazarian attacked Moose during his match with AJ Francis. After the match, Kazarian carried on attacking Moose while Francis and Expressions joined in. The next week, Moose sought help from Elijah to take on Kazarian and Francis in a tag match, which they lost due to interference from Expressions. Two weeks later, Moose claimed Kazarian had no right to call himself the “King of TNA”. He challenged Kazarian to a match at Lockdown, which was accepted under the condition it be an Escape the Cage match. The following week, Moose impersonated Kazarian, copying his attire and talk show segment, leading to a brawl between the two men. Moose was found unconscious backstage later on in the show.

Lethal Lockdown match: Fabian Aichner, Jada Stone, KC Navarro and Ricky Sosa def. The System (Alisha Edwards, Bear Bronson, Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards)

On the July 2nd episode of TNA Impact, Aichner won a match to earn a shot at The System’s Cedric Alexander and the TNA X-Division Championship. Later that night, Sosa rejected The System’s invitation to join, leading to him being attacked. Leon Slater tried to help Sosa but he was unsuccessful. The next week, Sosa and Slater defeated Bronson and Myers of The System and The Righteous (Dutch and Vincent) in a triple threat. The following week, Bronson beat Sosa thanks to help from Myers while Aichner was unsuccessful in winning the X-Division Title due to Eddie costing him the match. After the match, Bronson and Eddie beat down Aichner but Sosa and Slater came to make the save and they were successful. One week later, Sosa and Slater beat Alexander and Eddie while later helping Navarro fight off an attack from The System. That same night, Stone beat Alisha in the first round of the tournament for the Inaugural TNA Knockouts Television Championship despite Eddie’s interference. On the August 6th episode of TNA Impact, Navarro faced Myers and in that match, Bronson was ejected after being caught interfering. Sosa then took the fight to Bronson using a steel chair. Eddie then attacked Navarro in the ring, resulting in the match ending in a DQ. Aichner then helped Navarro fight off Eddie and Myers. TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella restarted the match as a tag match where Eddie and Myers faced Navarro and Aichner. Aisha gave Eddie a kendo stick and Eddie struck Navarro while the referee wasn’t looking to get the win. Sosa then came back again and fought off The System with a steel chair. On August 13th, Sosa beat Myers after Slater stopped Myers from striking Sosa with the X-Division Title. Later in the evening, Navarro beat Eddie after preventing him from using a kendo stick. Afterwards, The System attacked Navarro but Sosa, Aichner and Stone came out to make the save. Marella then decided to make this Lethal Lockdown match official for the PPV. On August 20th, Myers beat Aichner, earning The System the Lethal Lockdown advantage.

Steel Cage match: Xia Brookside (c) def. Elayna Black to retain the TNA Knockouts World Championship

On the July 16th episode of TNA Impact, Brookside took issue with Black’s goal to become the greatest Knockout of all time as she was the woman who already tore through the whole division. Black said that Brookside was just scared and jealous of her. The next week, Black faced Wendy Choo in the first round of the tournament for the Inaugural TNA Knockout Television Championship but it ended in a time limit draw and then Brookside threw both women into the steel stairs. Two weeks later, Brookside successfully defended the TNA Knockouts World Championship against Choo. Later that night, Black announced she would compete for the title at the Lockdown PPV in her hometown of Chicago. Naturally, the match was announced as a Steel Cage match.

Steel Cage match: DemonXBunny (Allie and Rosemary) (c) def. The Elegance Brand (Heather by Elegance and M by Elegance) to retain the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship

At Slammiversary, DemonXBunny beat The Elegance Brand to win the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Championship. During the first round of the tournament for the Inaugural TNA Knockouts Television Championship, Heather defeated Allie while M defeated Rosemary to advance. On the July 30th episode of TNA Impact, The Elegance Brand received their title rematch but Rosemary wasn’t there so Allie had to defend in a Handicap match. The match ended in a DQ after Allie struck M, Heather and Mr. Elegance with her tag title belt. Consequently, DemonXBunny retained their titles. Later that night, TNA Director of Operations Daria Rae announced this match for the Knockouts Tag Titles. Three weeks later, TNA announced that due to Rosemary’s absence, Allie would have a mystery partner for her title defence.

Steel Cage match: Jason Hotch (c) def. Mustafa Ali to retain the TNA International Championship

On the July 23rd episode of TNA Impact, Ali, leader of Order 4, held a vote to determine who would challenge him for the TNA International Championship. John Skyler tried to tally the votes but Ali berated him, accusing him of ruining the integrity of the vote. TNA Director of Operations Daria Rae announced Order 4’s Hotch as the winner of the vote. Ali laughed it off as a locker room prank and ordered Hotch to demand that Rae host a revote. However, Hotch opted to keep his title match after talking with his family and Leon Slater, angering Ali. During their title match, Ali attacked Hotch with the belt, leading to Skyler taking the belt off Ali. Ali then illegally used the ropes to get a leverage pin on Hotch but Order 4’s Tasha Steelz pushed his feet off the ropes. Order 4’s Mila Moore confronted Steelz leading to the two women fighting, which was separated by Skyler and Order 4’s Agent Zero after they took the women backstage. Afterwards, Hotch took the fight to Ali and won the International Title in front of his family. The next week, Ali told Hotch’s wife that he was happy that Hotch won the title but sad that he did it against him. He then promised to take of her and her child regardless of what might happen to Hotch before inappropriately touching her knee. That same night, Hotch confronted Ali for his inappropriate actions towards his wife. He then confirmed he would defend the title in a Steel Cage match at the Lockdown PPV to prove his loyalty to Order 4 but Rae forced Hotch to defend the title against Skyler or he would be stripped of the title. They had the match but it ended in a draw after interference by Agent Zero, who attacked Hotch.

Last Man Standing Steel Cage match: Leon Slater def. Cedric Alexander (c) to win the TNA X-Division Championship

On the May 14th episode of TNA Impact, Alexander beat Slater to end his record-tying TNA X-Division Championship reign of 298 days in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match. At Slammiversary, Alexander defended his title in an Ultimate X match that also involved Slater. Slater and Amazing Red both unhooked the title at the same time but Alexander grabbed the belt out of their hands and consequently retained it. In the following weeks, Slater started working with Ricky Sosa to battle against The System, including helping Fabian Aichner fight off their attack. On the July 30th episode of TNA Impact, Slater and Sosa beat Alexander and Eddie Edwards of The System after Slater pinned Alexander. Afterwards, Slater demanded a match for the X-Division Title but Alexander refused to give it to him. KC Navarro later confronted The System and they attacked him, leading to Slater, Sosa and Aichner coming out to save him. The next week, Tom Hannifan interviewed Slater and Alexander, the latter of whom did not like that the fans called Slater the greatest X-Division Champion of all time. Hannifan left the room per Slater’s request and then Alexander said he earned everything he had while Slater was just handed everything. He promised that Slater would not get another title shot and wanted to erase Slater’s accomplishments from the history books. One week later, Slater stopped Brian Myers of The System from cheating and helped Sosa get a win over Myers. Afterwards, Slater offered Alexander whatever he wanted in exchange for a title shot at Lockdown. Alexander opted to ask for Slater’s record-tying reign to be erased from the record book if Slater lost his title match at Lockdown, which Slater accepted, making this match official. The following week, the Last Man Standing stipulation was added.

Steel Cage match: The Hardys (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) (c) def. The Nemeths (Nic Nemeth and Ryan Nemeth) to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship

On the July 30th episode of TNA Impact, Ryan and TNA World Champion Nic declared they were the best tag team made of brothers and challenged The Hardys to a match for their TNA World Tag Team Championship at the Lockdown PPV. The Hardys accepted that challenge immediately. It was then made official by TNA Director of Authority Santino Marella. Naturally, this would also be a Steel Cage match. Marella also announced that before then Nic would have to defend his World Title against Jeff. The next week, Matt beat Ryan while Nic and Jeff brawled at ringside. One week later, Nic beat Jeff to successfully defend the World Title.