10 Wrestling Pay-Per-Views That Tried Something... Different
4. TNA Lockdown 2005
Many wrestling historians will tell you that the first ever steel cage match took place all the way back in 1937. Sixty-eight years later, Total Nonstop Action thought "what if we did that, but more?". The result was Lockdown 2005; a Pay-Per-View where every single match was contested between six sides of steel.
Variations included a strap match, a tables match, and a "Prince of Darkness" match - a two-out-of-three falls bout where the wrestlers were blindfolded for the final fall. And Vince Russo wasn't even writing for TNA at this point (shocking, I know). The PPV was pretty well received and Lockdown went on to become an annual fixture in TNA's calendar. What's more, Lockdown is widely credited with influencing WWE's decision to begin running "gimmick PPVs".
Events like "Extreme Rules", "Hell in a Cell", and "TLC" didn't exist before Lockdown, but in the years following this first event WWE slowly began these implementing themed shows. So yes, Lockdown 2005 was a success, but it did result in years of boring PPVs and the slow stagnation of once-exciting gimmicks, so judge for yourself to what extent.