Elijah may have lost his steel cage war with AJ Francis at TNA Lockdown 2026, but he made damn sure Francis didn’t get to enjoy the victory for long. Moments after the match ended, Home Town Man handed Elijah a guitar and the former WWE star absolutely blasted Francis with an El Kabong.
The chaos went down during the opening match of TNA Lockdown on August 23 from Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, where Elijah and Francis finally settled their issues inside the steel cage. The two threw everything at each other throughout the match, including cage shots, a superplex and plenty of punishment from the top of the structure.
Things really started getting out of control when Expressions rolled down to ringside in a wheelchair and began distracting Elijah. That opened the door for Francis to take control before Expressions eventually revealed that he wasn’t actually injured at all. Expressions then got physically involved in the match, breaking up an Elijah pin attempt before getting dragged into the cage himself.
Elijah made him pay by planting Expressions with a tombstone piledriver, but that distraction ended up costing him. As Elijah went down after taking out Expressions, Francis came crashing down on him with a moonsault before finishing him off with the Down Payment chokeslam for the three-count.
AJ Francis had officially won the match, but the fight wasn’t finished. Home Town Man then appeared and handed Elijah a guitar. Elijah wasted absolutely no time putting it to use, coming off the ropes and smashing the guitar across Francis with an El Kabong after the bell.
The shot gave Elijah at least some measure of revenge after losing the match, and it made sure Francis didn’t leave the cage looking completely untouchable despite picking up the victory.
It was also an interesting appearance from Home Town Man, who had competed earlier in the evening against Joe Alonzo in an in-arena exclusive match. Alonzo defeated Home Town Man with a roll-up to retain the AAW Heavyweight Championship and officially earn his TNA contract.
AJ Francis may have gotten his hand raised at Lockdown, but Elijah got the last shot. After everything that happened inside the cage, the image of Francis getting cracked with a guitar ensured this rivalry didn’t exactly end with a clean celebration.
Do you think Elijah smashing AJ Francis with the guitar means this feud is far from over? Let us know what you think in the comments.
