TNA hosts Lockdown (Aug. 23, 2026), where every match is inside a steel cage. Sunday’s PPV event features five title bouts, Lethal Lockdown, and more from Chicago, IL. Top matches include the Hardys defending the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Nic Nemeth and his little brother, Elayna Black trying to win the Knockouts Championship in her hometown, Leon Slater looking to regain the X-Division Championship, Mustafa Ali with an eye on the TNA International Championship and Jason Hotch’s wife, and Lethal Lockdown with the System gatekeeping against young blood. Let’s break down the card with predictions for each bout.
Lockdown emanates from Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago. PPV start time is 6 pm ET with the pre-show one hour earlier. Lockdown can be viewed through TNA+ and other PPV providers.
TNA LOCKDOWN PREDICTIONS
TNA World Tag Team Championship: Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Nic Nemeth & Ryan Nemeth
Josh Jagler: The fact that Nic Nemeth is wrestling in this match and not defending his title is really indicative of the lack of legitimate top contenders TNA has right now. I was surprised they put the titles back on the Hardys over the summer when it felt like a good opportunity to give the other three teams in that ladder match a rub. This, though, is not how they should be losing their titles. Ryan Nemeth takes the pin. Pick: The Hard Boys
Sean Rueter: The Show Off (can we still call him that?) got the keep the other belt. Jeff gets to keep this one. Pick: The Hardyz
Kyle Decker: I should preface any of this by saying that I don’t follow TNA and really have zero idea what is going on. But it’s cool to see how well a blind predictor can do. Starting with this brother vs. brother (with one brother who has beef with CM Punk per team), I’m going to go with the tried and true team here. Pick: The Hardys
Manolo H. Pizzazz: I don’t see any value in the Nemeths winning the tag titles right now. Pick: The Hardys
Knockouts Championship: Xia Brookside (c) vs. Elayna Black
Josh Jagler: Elayna pretty much backed into this match without doing much to earn it. I thought for sure the Lockdown PPV would be where Xia and Lei had their final match, so this is a weird alternative to me. I bought some Cora Jade stock but haven’t bought into what Elayna Black is selling yet, so I’m thinking Brookside keeps the gold here. Pick: Xia Brookside
Sean Rueter: The show’s in Chicago. fka Cora Jade’s from Chicago. TNA may be a WWE ally, but this ain’t WWE. Pick: Cora Jade
Kyle Decker: Brookside hasn’t been champion for long, but I’ll pick a short reign here. Pick: Elayna Black
Manolo H. Pizzazz: The obvious reason for a title change is Black in her hometown. Aside from that, I don’t see any reason for Black to win. She didn’t do anything to earn this shot on screen. Even though she is a babyface for this feud, her promos still come off as entitled and arrogant. The obvious reason is a strong one, but it’s also cheap. Pick: Xia Brookside
X-Division Championship: Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Leon Slater in Last Man Standing (If Slater loses, then his previous reign will be erased from the record books)
Josh Jagler: This feels like a bit of a course correction here. Leon Slater should have beaten the all-time record for the longest X-Division Title reign. With a new creative team in place, this could be their way to fix that mistake as much as possible. Pick: Leon Slater
Sean Rueter: Slater’s got at least a few more months on his contract, so his story doesn’t have to end here. And the whole mystery assailant angle is important tonight, methinks. Pick: Cedric Alexander
Kyle Decker: This stipulation seems to telegraph a Slater win. They’re not going to erase his record in real life and I can’t imagine a way he gets that reversed if he loses. Pick: Leon Slater
Manolo H. Pizzazz: Of all the matches, I think this is the result that the fans want to see most. Ride Slater as a superstar for however much longer he is in TNA. Pick: Leon Slater
TNA International Championship: Jason Hotch (c) vs. Mustafa Ali
Josh Jagler: It’s about time for Mustafa Ali’s oppressive leadership to blow up in his face completely. Jason Hotch isn’t particularly a high-profile star right now, but it’s clear they’re trying to build him as a sympathetic babyface by getting his family involved. Order 4, as we know it, may have run its course, and I could see a feud here where The Good Hands and Tasha Steelz revolt against Ali, Agent 0, and Mila. Pick: Jason Hotch
Sean Rueter: The last thing for Ali to do in the TNA midcard is put Hotch over as Steelz and John Skyler rally to his side. Next stop for Mustafa? The World title. Pick: Jason Hotch
Kyle Decker: OK, we’re four matches in and I had to google who someone was. I was going with the guy who called out Dustin Rhodes for positively supporting a bad tweet, but the figured I should check Hotch’s twitter to see if he did too because if he did, then that would cancel out that reasoning. I didn’t see that, but on his twitter, I did find clips of Ali bringing Hotch’s family into this so that probably means Hotch is going to win this. Pick: Jason Hotch
Manolo H. Pizzazz: Having Hotch drop the title to Ali this quickly would undercut the effort to build him as a new star. Plus, Ali needs to get his ass kicked for putting hands on Hotch’s wife. Pick: Jason Hotch
Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Allie & (mystery partner for Rosemary?) (c) vs. Elegance Brand
Josh Jagler: I don’t know what to make of Rosemary’s absence, so this is a true toss-up for me. With the Elegance Brand involved in the TV Title finals in the coming weeks, there is an opportunity here to move them away from the tag title picture for a bit. Pick: Allie & ???
Sean Rueter: Just don’t really like the Elegance Brand. Pick: ???XBunny
Kyle Decker: I do recall Manolo asking in the Cageside offices if we knew what was up with Rosemary to which was like “Huh?” But from there, I did learn there’s question if her absence is story versus a real thing. Given that uncertainty, I’ll go with the Elegance Brand. Pick: The Elegance Brand
Manolo H. Pizzazz: I predict that the mystery partner will be fashionably late, and the damage will be done to Allie by then. Pick: Elegance Brand
Lethal Lockdown: Eddie Edwards, Brian Myers, Bear Bronson, & Alisha Edwards vs. Ricky Sosa, KC Navarro, Fabian Aichner, & Jada Stone (System earned the man advantage; Lethal Lockdown is like War Games)
Josh Jagler: This match is set up for Sosa, Navarro, Aichner, and Stone to have a good showing but come up short in the end. The System could use a win here to re-legitimize themselves a bit, and their opponents can still look good in a losing effort. Pick: The System
Sean Rueter: It seems dumb to give anyone on the babyface side a loss at the expense of anybody (except maybe Bronson) on The System, but they also seem pretty thrown together against an established main event heel force. Pick is based on… me wanting to do the “BANG BANG” gimmick before AND after the match. Pick: Ricky Sosa, KC Navarro, Fabian Aichner, and Jada Stone
Kyle Decker: I wonder how they plan the match with one woman per side. Are they just to fight each other? I know TNA has certainly done intergender matches before, but wonder what they do here. Alisha Edwards was there when I was still recapping TNA and she was wholly unimpressive at that time. Maybe she’s markedly improved, but I have my suspicions. Because of that, I believe her presence could put her team at a disadvantage and allows Ludwig Kaiser’s team to claim victory. Pick: Ricky Sosa, KC Navarro, Fabian Aichner, & Jada Stone
Manolo H. Pizzazz: This feud has legs to keep running, and the story might work better if the System earn bragging rights on this night. Pick: The System
Escape the Cage: Moose vs. Frankie Kazarian
Josh Jagler: As Manolo mentions below, Moose is someone who could believably be sold as a challenger for Nemeth moving forward, but that would be erased if he loses to Frankie. The stipulation sets up potential shenanigans, but it still feels like a match Moose should win. Pick: Moose
Sean Rueter: Sorry Moose. There’s only on King of TNA in my book. And he thinks your hometown is the worst… Pick: Frankie Kazarian
Kyle Decker: Moose is bigger so probably slower than Kaz so he’s going to be slower when trying to escape. Pick: Frankie Kazarian
Manolo H. Pizzazz: Nic Nemeth needs challengers for the TNA World Championship. Moose not only fits that bill, he also would be believable as a real threat for a title change. Beating the King of TNA will boost the Face of the Franchise into that spot. Pick: Moose
Final Encore: Elijah vs. AJ Francis
Josh Jagler: Elijah fits the bill of somebody like Moose who could be pushed as a challenger for Nemeth in the coming months, but not if he loses to AJ Francis here. Pick: Elijah
Sean Rueter: This seems like an obvious spot to put the babyface over the heel. But can an inveterate liar like the drifter currently calling himself “Elijah” really be a good guy? Pick: AJ Francis
Kyle Decker: AJ Francis is a former Maryland alum like myself and seems like a good representative of the Terps. Pick: AJ Francis
Manolo H. Pizzazz: Even though Elijah and Francis didn’t produce a record, they do make sweet music together. Francis role right now is to run his mouth and get put in his place. Pick: Elijah
Trey Miguel vs. Agent Zero (pre-show)
Josh Jagler: Pre-show babyface for the win. Pick: Trey Miguel
Sean Rueter: Impressive as he can be flying around at his size, I can’t say “Agent Zero” with a straight face. That’s probably the point. Pick: Trey Miguel
Kyle Decker: Is Agent Zero a new Mountain Dew flavor? Pick: Trey Miguel
Manolo H. Pizzazz: This should be an interesting test to see how Trey can overcome the big man. A win will get him closer to revenge on Mustafa Ali. Pick: Trey Miguel
Rich Swann & BDE vs. The Righteous (pre-show)
Josh Jagler: If we’re really supposed to believe that The Righteous are any different after their trip to the bottom of the Lake of Reincarnation, they really should be winning here. There really isn’t much to be gained from Swann and BDE winning here. Pick: The Riiiiiiiighteous
Sean Rueter: Either because Swann turns on the streamer-turned-wrestler, or to make the streamer-turned-wrestler more likely to turn on Swann. Pick: The Righteous
Kyle Decker: For some reason, I assumed BDE was the name of a tag team and not one person, even though I know the Righteous is two people. And since I already convinced myself that the team with three guys would beat the team with two before learning my error, I’m sticking with it. Pick: Rich Swann & BDE
Manolo H. Pizzazz: A loss for BDE will help sow seeds of doubt in his mind, and that will make him ripe for recruitment by The Righteous. Pick: The Righteous
Share your match predictions in the comments. How many champions will be crowned? Which match will steal the show? Which wrestler will have a breakout performance?
