Grim Watches NWA Powerrr and Other Shows (So You Don't Have To)

[Chris]

If they sound fun

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA The Usual Suspects (November 16, 2024)
NWA Exodus Pro Midwest

Hello everyone, so after seven episodes of NWA Powerrr, I opted to take a little detour from the main show and have a look at one of the NWA’s territory showcases on YouTube, so with that, we’re heading over to NWA Exodus Pro Midwest (otherwise known as Exodus Pro Wrestling) for their special showcase: The Usual Suspects. I have no idea what to expect other than knowing that it’s three hours long, and I might take all day to write this. We’re in Cleveland, Ohio, which I would not call “Midwest”, but whatever.

Our first match tonight is the NWA Exodus Tag Team Championships with defending champions Major League (J-Rocc & Rex Brody) defending their titles against the team of TME (Duke Davis and Gannon Jones). I think that’s their names, because there was no overlay that displayed their names, so I had to do a lot of guessing. It’s an open challenge for the titles so after a false-appearance by the Alienated Youth tag team, TME comes out and there’s an immediate brawl to the outside. Davis & Jones kick the crap out of J-Rocc and kayfabe injure him to the point where he has to be taken backstage. So now it’s Rex Brody flying solo. Gannon toys with the smaller Brody before tagging in Duke, who continues the punishment on Jones. Duke puts a foot on Brody for the pin, but Brody kicks out at two, which does not make Duke happy. TME just beat the hell out of Brody, who goes for a few comeback spots but is continually cut off without his partner there to help him.

Suddenly from behind the curtain, we see J-Rocc crawling his way back to the ring and trying to get to the apron while in kayfabe agony. Gannon Jones attempts a top-rope moonsault but misses, and Rex Brody gets the chance to hit the hot tag to Rocc, and this little crowd goes mild. J-Rocc runs wild while holding his hurt back. Duke Davis accidentally lariats Gannon Jones, which allows J-Rocc to try and roll-up Davis, but Davis kicks out. Davis then misses a big boot and goes over the top rope. Brody tags in and he and J-Rocc try to pull a press over the top rope to the floor maneuver, but Rocc’s back is too hurt to lift up Brody. So instead, Brody pulls the ropes which allows J-Rocc to hit a suicide dive. Brody then follows this up with a plancha to the outside. J-Rocc hits a superplex on Davis, and while Brody is trying a top-rope maneuver, his leg gets held by Gannon. This allows Davis enough time to recover to spear Brody in mid-air. TME hit their finishers and it’s all over, they are the new NWA Exodus Tag Team Champions. That was a match.

[He fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.]

Our next matchup will be Hayden Backlund vs. Trevor Murdoch. The background of this match is allegedly that Backlund challenged Trevor Murdoch, so this is the match we get. Alright, I suppose. Hayden Backlund is actually the nephew of Bob Backlund, according to the announcers, so it’ll be interesting to see if he takes after his uncle. Hayden starts off the match ultra-confident while Murdoch seems laser-focused. It’s mostly just a lot of playing to the crowd in the early going, with Murdoch dominating on what little offense there is against the smaller Backlund. I’m begging for something to happen here, but I’m not getting anything.

A lot of chest-slaps, forearms, and outside brawling. Backlund focuses on the left leg of Murdoch, using stomps, stretches, and other forms of attack, while Murdoch powers through a lot of the pain with brawling of his own. Murdoch goes to the top-rope and hits a very botched leaping bulldog, he wins. This was a blah match, for sure. Two matches down, and I have another two hours and twenty minutes to go.

[An ugly looking bulldog.]

Third match up, and it’s a Strap Match between Ashton Day and Sebastian. This is apparently the third match between these two. Maybe there’s some hope of a decent match? They start jaw-jacking at each other to kick things off, beginning in a tug of war, and slapping one another with the strap. They trade offense early on but Sebastian takes over in the midst of it and wraps the strap around the ring-post to trap Ashton Day and smack him around. Though Day kicks out of a pin attempt, Sebastian continues the punishment. Ashton Day tries to make a few comebacks, but is cut off continually. This match is slow, kind of plodding, and I know they’re working towards the finish but let’s have a little more action, please.

[That’s what I call leaving one hanging.]

Eventually we get Sebastian hanging Ashton Day over the ropes with the strap, as if hanging him up, then tosses him over and back into the ring. It’s at this point I notice these commentators are extremely soft-spoken when there’s not a whole lot going on. Ashton starts coming back with a bunch of shoulder tackles on Sebastian, and then there’s an exchange of punches. Ashton hits a shining wizard on Sebastian and then hits a pretty cool top-rope senton cutter for the win. That was yet another match where I was let down. It’s really at this point I understand that this is truly a low-level indy.

Then after that match we get an interview with… Mike from State Farm? Huh? This has got to be an advertisement. Oh, it’s a mix. This guy’s allegedly a State Farm rep and also is aspiring to be a pro wrestler. Being trained by EC3 and Rex Brody, because of course. So anyways, the next match is Brandon Beretta vs. Miles Jacobs; let’s just get this over with. So the tale of the match is that Jacobs is the big man face, while Beretta is the straight-laced, no-nonsense heel amateur wrestler. Beretta pretty much pulls a bunch of ground-based wrestling moves on Miles, who eventually powers out of it. Miles hits a bionic elbow on Beretta which leads into a couple of shoulder tackles to the corner. Beretta manages to get out of it himself, and takes back control; out of nowhere, Beretta hits an awesome Fisherman Suplex for the win, and honestly, solid stuff. Short, sweet, and to the point; I’ll take it! But then after the match we get Mike from State Farm challenging Beretta, and I guess that’s a match that’ll happen in the future. Good thing I’ll probably never see it.

[A very nice Fisherman Suplex.]

Okay so our next matchup is a six-man tag team match: Manbun Jesus, Sam Beale, and Lord Crewe vs. Carson Drake and the Slimeballz. Apparently this match is presented by Aron Stevens and is known as a “To The Victor Goes The Spoils” match, basically meaning the winners of this match will receive both an NWA United States Tag Team Championship match and an Exodus Pro Midwest Tag Team Championship match at their leisure. So that’s kind of a cool stipulation. Aron Stevens comes out and just kinda talks shit with the fans; he doesn’t exactly say a whole lot, just reiterates what the match is about.

So before the match begins, the two guys in panda suits that came out with Manbun Jesus, Sam Beale, and Lord Crewe are forced to backstage, just as those three get ambushed by the Slimeballz and Drake; this match begins chaotically, and it’s largely a brawl. Manbun Jesus hits an over the rope senton to all three opponents on the outside, and now it’s Sage against Beale to start things off. Jesus gets tagged in, and Tommy Rant gets tagged in too. Rant dominates Jesus, before Drake gets tagged in; Jesus counters Drake and takes control for himself. It’s a pretty back and forth match so far.

Lord Crewe gets in, and makes a bee-line for Drake, who tags in Tommy Rant. Crewe’s a big dude and this match so far is just a lot of tagging in and out by both teams on the attack. It’s really at this point that I’m starting to regret really deciding to review this show, but I will persevere, because I have NWA Powerrr to review after this too. Manbun Jesus gets decimated by the trio as they hold him into a corner and beat the bun off his head; Jesus kicks out though. Carson Drake eventually goes in, and then kicks Jesus in the dick while the ref is distracted by keeping Crewe and Beale out of the ring. Another awesome Drake fist-drop (which might be his best move to be honest).

[“Why?! Why does he keep kicking me in the dick!?”]

Eventually Lord Crewe finally gets in the ring and he’s a house of fire! He somehow single handedly kicks everyone’s ass, especially a cool spot where he throws Sage at Tommy Rant, who saves his partner, before trying to pick him up to throw at Crewe. Suddenly though Crewe hits a sweet looking spinning kick on Rant which knocks him down. Crewe hits a powerbomb on Sage right down onto Tommy Rant. Carson Drake pretends to have a very badly hurt ankle, and while Lord Crewe is distracted, Aron Stevens hits him from behind with a briefcase because the ref wasn’t looking; of fucking course that’s how the match ends. Why am I not surprised? Decent match with a fuck finish.

So now we get a nice little twenty minute interlude for the live fans to go grab some concessions, merchandise, popcorn, what have you. I was planning on taking this time to sort of relax and take care of other things, but no, I’m not allowed that; we have ourselves a fucking “CYN Declassified” segment nearly three years after it’s last real show. What the fuck are we doing here, NWA? It’s about this guy named Leo Fox, he’s just talking about his life story. Basically he joined the military because of 9/11, went to Baghdad, subsequently got suicide-bombed, and somehow survived. He also talked about his struggle with PTSD; it turns out to be an ad for the PTSD Foundation of America. I guess I can’t be too mad, but I do question the need to call it a “CYN” segment. Ah whatever; he talks for the entirety of the intermission, I won’t comment much else on it.

Our first match following the intermission is Pretty Boy Smooth defending his NWA Exodus Midwest Championship against Leo Fox (the same man from the intermission). Pastor C-Lo comes out, who seems to be a personality of the promotion, and he starts talking trash.He introduces PBS, who comes out and then gets his lips chapped by a random woman. Out comes Leo Fox, and this is apparently his third or fourth match, according to the commentators. Something tells me this is gonna be either really good, or a total disaster. Pretty Boy Smooth is a tall guy, I swear he might be 6’7, or something. Both guys lock up, and they’re pretty evenly matched.

Fox gets control of the match early while they’re locked up, but neither guy goes to the ground in the first few minutes of the match; that is until Smooth puts a chokehold on Fox and throws him to the ground. Smooth now maintains control of this match, and puts some strikes, slaps, chops, and throws onto him. Pastor C-Lo calls out to PBS, and Smooth puts Fox into a Full Nelson. Fox refuses to lose like this, and breaks out of it. It’s where his comeback begins, hitting a shoulder tackle on Smooth, and then another slam on him. Smooth counters Fox though and hits a spinning reverse slam for the win. That was a fine match, at least.

[That looks like gimmick infringement, brother!]

After the match though, “El Jaguar” Dante Casanova comes out to staredown PBS and Pastor C-Lo, which seems like the lead-in to our next match. It’s a gauntlet match where Dante must face off against a group of wrestlers paid for by Pastor C-Lo, and if he wins, he gets an NWA Midwest Championship title shot. The first opponent is Ashton Adonis. Pastor C-Lo claims Adonis is from Limbo, which tells me Dante Casanova will have to face like nine opponents. Dante hits it off dominantly at first, wasting no time in just getting to the task at hand. Adonis attacks the leg and neck of Casanova.

Casanova hits a couple of sledgehammer clubs to Ashton, and even a claw to the head, before a big elbow to the back of the head, and Adonis is eliminated. Next is the Circle of Lust: Handsome Harley. Again, Casanova just puts in the work and he hits a couple of big belly-to-belly suplexes on Harley. Harley counters and goes after the leg that Ashton targeted earlier. Casanova gets a comeback going after an Indian Deathlock by Harley, and eventually Harley goes down to the same thing.

[Fore!]

Next comes the Circle of Wrath: Donovan Cecil. Both men get right into it, and Cecil just overpowers Casanova. He crushes Casanova with power moves and hard slams; the story now is that Casanova’s leg is injured from the other two guys. Cecil hits an ol’ top rope Vader slam onto Casanova, who kicks out. Next is a big bear hug, which reveals that Casanova has a nasty looking gash on his back. It’s pretty gnarly looking. Donovan Cecil goes to the top rope for a big swanton bomb on Casanova; he of course dodges, which opens up just enough time on the hurt Cecil for Dante to hit his finisher and eliminate the big man!

Pastor C-Lo is angry, and declares that he has one dollar left in his pocket (oh yeah, it’s another ongoing story of the match that Pastor had an insurance check from Mike from State Farm for fifteen thousand dollars), and so Casanova’s last opponent is Pretty Boy Smooth, who wrestled in the last match! Things have gotten interesting; both guys start brawling on the outside, PBS throws Casanova off the stage and down onto the wood flooring of the ballroom they’re in. Casanova’s leg is hurt; and Smooth takes advantage of it, while Dante continually tries to make some comebacks, but is cut off. The match suddenly ends when Pastor C-Lo hits Casanova with his book, right in front of the ref. So it’s a DQ victory for Dante Casanova, as PBS goes and beats him up in the post-match. Despite the lame finish, it was a pretty good gauntlet match and I actually like Dante Casanova’s performance. Probably my favorite match of the night so far.

[Beware the power of the punch!]

After the match though we’re introduced to “The Bard of Exodus Pro” Gaston LaRoux, who is dressed like a pretty stereotypical medieval fantasy bard. He comes out to introduce “The Caesar of Exodus Pro” Christiano Argento. You’d think this guy was custom built to get over with me: Julius Caesar and Dario Argento. God dammit, how could you, Exodus Pro? The guy even has the Roman laurels on his head, and a beautiful woman by his side. A couple of guys in togas come out with a trophy, and a guy hidden underneath a blanket. I don’t care, this is over with me already, and I’ve never seen the guy wrestle yet. Gaston goes to sing a little ditty for Argento; who takes the mic afterwards. He mostly self-aggrandises himself to the crowd, and talks about how he is so great across the world.

[Hail Caesar!]

Gaston LaRoux presents Argento with three gifts: a trophy, a wine that was allegedly favored by Nero, and the third is a man who I guess betrayed Argento? Or something like that, I’m not really sure; one of the commentators gets upset about it, who is angry about Argento grabbing his “towel-boy”. Brandon Day runs into the ring despite the numbers disadvantage, and takes several of the toga-men out. Everyone flees the ring and Day saves Towel Boy; I guess that’s his name, for real. These indy companies, I swear.

Alright, we get to our next match, and hell yeah, it’s the NWA Exodus Women’s Championship with Tiffany Nieves facing off against Maya World. I like Tiffany’s work, and I expect this to be a really solid match. Coming out as guest commentator is Kylie Page, who uh- has an extremely tight fighting shirt, and no bra. I wasn’t even actively trying to look it just uh- was right up front; a really unimportant detail, either way. Let’s please get to the match. Tiffany defends her title against World. Both girls lock up first, and it starts off with rolls, technical moves, and a few arm locks, head scissors, and rollups. Maya World is the bigger wrestler of the two, so has a slight power advantage over Tiffany. It’ll remain to be seen whether that works to her advantage.

Tiffany pulls World to the outside and they start brawling to the outside. Back in the ring, Tiffany Nieves finally takes full control of the middle of the match. Tiffany throws Maya World into the turnbuckles and slams her several times. Maya World turns it around and attempts a Gory Bomb, but Tiffany is just one step ahead of her. For once, it’s a match I’m actually liking! Tiffany is a great worker, and Maya World is more than holding her own; it once again plays to the narrative that women’s wrestling in the NWA is very underrated and worth checking out. Tiffany puts Maya into a single-leg Boston crab, who counters into a Fujiwara armbar, but Nieves gets to the rope.

[Boston crabs are the most dangerous kind of crabs… next to genital crabs–]

Maya World starts her own comeback, but is stopped when both girls hit a facebuster on one another. Maya and Tiffany share punches with one another, before Maya finally hits her comeback! Tiffany kicks out though, so Maya World needs to hit a few more moves to win. The ref gets knocked out in the middle of the match; Maya has Nieves beaten, but nobody can count the pin! World goes to wake up the ref, and this leads to Tiffany Nieves rolling up Maya, which the ref does count. Tiffany Nieves retains her title, and I’m satisfied with what was a very solid match! After the match, Kylie Page and Tiffany Nieves have a face-off on the stage.

It’s time for our main event of the evening, the one match I’ve been dreading all night: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It’s Thom Latimer defending his title vs. EC3 and Richard Holliday. Of course I’m stuck having to watch an EC3 match on this show, because why not? I at least like Richard Holliday, I guess. Richard Holliday attacks both EC3 and Thom Latimer with the championship before the match can begin, which is not against the rules, because the bell hadn’t run yet! The ref refuses to ring the bell, for some reason, which rightfully makes Richard Holliday angry; he gets on the mic and rants on the ref for not ringing the bell. It’s a Triple Threat match anyways, which should mean No Disqualification.

So instead, The Mane Event (TME) comes out to attack Thom Latimer and EC3. Richard says to EC3, “You think you’re Over man? Your career is over!” I had a little satisfied smirk on my face when he said that, to be honest. Holliday calls Latimer a “son of a bitch” as well. EC3 gets on the mic and demands a 3-on-2 tag match. Alright, whatever, we got eight minutes left on this show. Holliday and TME accept, so it’s on. Gannon Jones starts first in the match, beating up Thom Latimer, before tagging in Duke Davis; both guys hit him with a double flapjack, and obviously the heels are running things. It makes me question if EC3 is a face in this company, because he sure as hell isn’t in mainline NWA; I guess maybe he’s a tweener. TME just continues to try beating the breaks off of Latimer, while keeping him away from EC3. Holliday goes so far as to knock EC3 off the apron so Latimer couldn’t tag him in.

[This match in a nutshell.]

Latimer is getting life drained from him, and I really dislike that he has to be the de facto Ricky Morton of the match because I hate EC3 being dominant for any amount of time. I’m ready for this match to be over already. Latimer almost gets a tag to EC3, but it’s not enough as he’s forced back into the heel corner. The heels fuck up by knocking into one another and inevitably EC3 gets tagged in where he “runs wild”. He beats up TME, and also botches a move. Richard Holliday distracts both Latimer and EC3 just long enough for TME to recover and attack them from behind. EC3 gets hit with TME’s finisher, and Holliday goes for the pin on EC3 for the win. Thank god this match is over, and thank goodness EC3 ate the pin like the loser he is. It was a match, that’s for sure, and that’s how this show ends. It took me hours to power through this, I legit started writing this at 9 in the morning, and didn’t finish until 5 PM. That should tell you how much of a struggle it was to watch this show. At least the back half was decent! DISCRECTION
​

The Mane Event d. Major League (c) [NWA Exodus Pro Tag Team Championships]	3/4*
Trevor Murdoch d. Hayden Backlund	1/2*
Ashton Day d. Sebastian [Strap Match]	*
Brandon Beretta d. Miles Jacobs	*1/2
Carson Drake & The Slimeballz d. Manbun Jesus, Sam Beale, & Lord Crewe [To The Victors Go The Spoils Match]	*3/4
Pretty Boy Smooth (c) d. Leo Fox [NWA Exodus Pro Midwest Championship]	*1/4
Dante Casanova d. Ashton Adonis, Handsome Harley, Donovan Cecil, and Pretty Boy Smooth via DQ [Dante's Inferno Gauntlet Match]	**3/4
Tiffany Nieves (c) d. Maya World [NWA Exodus Pro Women's Championship]	**1/4
Richard Holliday & The Mane Event d. EC3 & Thom Latimer	*3/4

 

[Chris]

That suplex was fucking awesome, had to be the best thing on the show

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

That suplex was fucking awesome, had to be the best thing on the show

Yeah between that match, Nieves/World, and the Dante Gauntlet match, I think those are the only three matches to really go out of your way to watch.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA Powerrr (November 19, 2024)
S20E8: “Uninvited”

It’s been a pretty crazy two weeks for me; first I got COVID, then my grandmother passed away, and now I’m watching NWA wrestling. I’m still deciding between my grandmother and NWA which one is worse. Anyways, let’s get on this episode real fast. Last week we saw Kyle Davis get murdered by the Southern Six, so there’s gotta be repercussions for this shocking series of events. We also got Kenzie Page defending her World Women’s Title against Natalia Markova, as well as an EC3 match and the Colóns in their debut match. We start off with a segment where Eric Smalls, the little man who has been feuding with Rolando for quite some time. Smalls finally relents and allows Rolando to kick him in the nuts; which Rolando says “I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life, vato.” Okay then. I swear this is just going to be a rerun of the last time they tried to do this segment. Lots of time wasting and playing up to the crowd, who really do not give much of a shit.

So anyways he pretends to punch him and Rolando is the one who sells, pretending to break his hand. Smalls pulls out a cup, but then he is ambushed by BFT who lays Smalls out. Aaron Stevens proceeds to punch Smalls in the nuts twice, and then a stomp. Cut to commercial. This sucked, like what a wet fart of a way to start your weekly show. Can we please get to wrestling already? We got ourselves a Women’s World Tag Team Championship match between the It Girls and Caribbean Flow. A few weeks ago the It Girls won the tag titles from Danni Bee & Charity King at NWA 76, so now they have to defend the titles here. Starting things off are Samantha Starr and La Rosa Negra. It’s a couple of lockups but Samantha goes dirty by grabbing Negra's hair. Negra recovers quickly and starts getting the heat on Starr. Negra tags in Ruthie Jay and she also starts getting some moves in on Starr; Starr however tags in Ella Envy, who eats a dropkick by Ruthie Jay, followed by a standing bulldog. Envy takes Jay out by tossing her into the ring post. It’s with this in mind that the face-in-peril stage of the match begins.

[They call it a bubble butt.]

Ella runs her ass into Jay, and then just continues the attack before attempting a pin, which is broken up by Negra, which causes the ref to try and force Negra out. The heels continue to beat up Ruthie Jay. Starr gets tagged in and proceeds to use the Madison Rayne head smash. To be honest there’s not much that can be said about the match because it’s so basic. The heels dominate a face-in-peril, who gets several hope spots before a big comeback and a hot tag to their partner. Ella Envy doesn’t shut up with the trash-talking, much to her detriment, because she immediately eats her words with a big lariat by Jay. La Rosa Negra gets the hot tag, and runs wild on both Envy and Starr. La Rosa Negra goes up for her frog splash, but eats the canvas. Suddenly the bell rings because there was a time limit draw, which none of the wrestlers, fans, or announcers even knew about– fucking bollocks. Basic match with one of the worst endings known to man, the time limit draw where nobody knew the finish.

So after that match we get a promo package for Haley J, where there’s no music, just J cutting a promo while clips of her in action run in the foreground. I can’t tell if this was a post production fuck up or if it was on purpose; just bizarre all around. We then get an interview with Pretty Empowered, particularly Kenzie Page, who is facing off against Natalia Markova tonight. Kenzie sells a bad knee, which is a standard heel affair; Kylie covers for her by also claiming that her leg and shoulder is working up. Basically she’s trying to get her way out of having to defend the title. So meanwhile we get EC3 facing off against Nick Gene. He never gets a name card so it’s not like it matters, he’s just a jobber. EC3 just walks the dog on this guy, while the ring squeaks annoyingly.

The crowd chants for EC3, for some reason, while he continues to dominate. EC3 hits the Twist of Fate, then tosses him outside. Gene barely gets any offense in while EC3 just plods around the ring like a total goof, then tosses Gene back outside again. Eventually EC3 eats a spinebuster as a piece of last-second offense by Gene, and the comeback begins. It gets cut off with a Thesz Press, an Ober-slam, and then a One Percenter, and it’s over. EC3 wins, I die a little more inside, and I wonder if God has abandoned me to make me watch EC3 for my sins.

[EC3 in a nutshell: carried by someone else.]

After a commercial break, it’s The Colóns vs. Rewind Society. Primo & Epico make their debut match here against Sammy C & VHS. Primo starts against Sammy C and it goes back and forth, but Sammy is too confident so Epico gets tagged in and they begin double teaming Sammy. The two teams get tags in on each other and they are working a fairly decent if basic tag match. Primo tosses VHS into the ropes, who hurts his crotch before eating a clothesline back onto the floor. Epico is tagged in and starts working VHS, while Sammy plays to the crowd to cheer on his partner. Epico hits a really solid brainbuster. VHS manages to get to Sammy C, who runs wild before eating a lariat from Epico, and Primo, who just got tagged in, hits Sammy with a backstabber, and that match is over. A Colón using a Backstabber, huh– I feel like there’s a Bruiser Brody joke in there somewhere, but that would be way too out of line. The match was fine, fairly nondescript but harmless. I still don’t like The Colóns.

[Et tu, Primo?]

We get a promo package for Mims vs. Burchill for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. Mims says that Burchill isn’t good enough for a title shot, which inevitably means that Burchill will invariably get one. It’s NWA Women’s World Championship time, Kenzie Page defending against Natalia Markova, and it’s a match I’ve been looking forward to since Markova won the women’s battle royale at NWA 76. Kenzie immediately hits a superkick on Markova; it was a dastardly cheap shot that fits the character. However you are not gonna put away Markova that easily, and Markova counters an avalanche attempt by Kenzie into a rope-assisted school boy, which looks awesome by the way. Markova is on offense and hits several headbutts and corner kicks to Kenzie.

[She’s not splitting hairs here!]

Markova hits a sweet looking splits leg-drop onto Page, but only gets two. Kenzie bounces back by stomping Markova’s foot, and a hard chop to the corner. Markova counters with a nice diving dropkick from the top-rope. Suddenly Tiffany Nieves appears and attacks Kenzie. It’s here that I realize we are not gonna get a proper match between these two. I’m now saddened by this development. Tiffany dips out of the ring, and Kenzie retains her title by disqualification. I believe this is meant to continue the Natalia Markova and Tiffany Nieves feud that has been going on since that battle royale, and Tiffany is just being a petty jerk.

Suddenly we’re introduced to a music video regarding the Cazana boys. It’s a country music video, not much else to be said. We got about ten minutes left in the episode, which means it is main event time, with Alex Taylor facing off against Christian Anderson. It’s a non-title match, but could have big implications depending on the outcome. Taylor takes charge early on, but a missed knee drop allows Anderson to hit a few arm drags. Taylor however is a wily veteran and knows more than a few tricks to regain the initiative. Taylor hits a backstabber and thinks that’d be all, cockily putting his foot on Anderson’s chest. He, of course, gets a two-count, but he maintains the offensive. Taylor eventually pulls Anderson to the top rope for a superplex; Anderson fights out of it and hits a crossbody. Anderson then tries a springboard moonsault onto Taylor, who catches him, rather sloppily by the way, and then hits him with snake eyes to the turnbuckle. Taylor hits an adjusted Michinoku Driver, and he wins. Short match, and again pretty harmless.

[A sloppy catch by Alex there.]

Overall this episode was fairly harmless but not noteworthy at all. Practically the definition of an episode that you could skip and not lose a single storyline development on outside the women’s title situation. Here’s to hoping that next episode will actually deliver on some promise and give us something worthwhile to watch. SKIP
​

The It Girls vs. Caribbean Flow End in Time Limit Draw [NWA Women's World Tag Team Championships]	3/4*
EC3 d. Nick Gene	1/2*
The Colóns d. Rewind Society	*3/4
Kenzie Page d. Natalia Markova via Disqualification [NWA Women's World Championship]	*1/2
Alex Taylor d. Christian Anderson	*3/4

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA Powerrr (November 26, 2024)
S20E9: “A Tale of Slime City”

Well we’re finally caught up with what’s been going on in NWA, and this is last week’s episode, after this I’ll be able to get back on a more regular schedule with NWA Powerrr, hopefully. We start with a promo package for Aaron Stevens and BFT. He explains his actions last week where he attacked Eric Smalls. So there’s gonna be a rematch between BFT and Knox & Murdoch, where Smalls will be suspended in a shark cage. Tonight on NWA Powerrr we’ve got the Slime Ballz vs. KC Cazana and Papa Joe Cazana; we also got Knox & Murdoch defending their NWA World Tag titles against The Fixers, and finally we have a Thom Latimer match! So a pretty action-packed episode of Powerrr coming up.

Well starting things off is Thom Latimer defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Race Allen, who for all intents and purposes is a token title opponent. The announce team does all they can to really make this guy out to be a jobber, and I can’t blame them. Allen just gets the dog walked all over him by Latimer, but still gets some offense in. Allen manages to throw Latimer out of the ring and commences beating up Latimer on the outside. Allen throws him back inside and locks in a sleeper hold. Latimer of course begins a comeback sequence and gets the pin for the win. It’s what it is, a job match where Latimer gave the jobber way too much offense.

[Kevin does it better.]

After the commercial break, we get a segment where Billy Corgan explains that the ref’s decision is final from last week’s Women’s title match, and so there will be a #1 Contender’s Triple Threat for the World Women’s Title: Natalia Markova vs. Kylie Paige vs. Haley J. It’s NWA World Tag Team Championships time: Knox & Murdoch against The Fixers. It immediately breaks out in a brawl to the outside, a staple as old as time. Murdoch gets slammed down onto the concrete outside, which will likely play into match. Jay Bradley starts against Murdoch and gets to work on Murdoch right away. Murdoch, however, is a tough nut and just starts hitting offense of his own before tagging in Knox. Bradley slams Knox and then tags in Wrecking Ball Legursky. Legursky misses a Bam Bam Bigelow falling headbutt which gives Knox the momentum.

Knox tries to slam Legursky, but Legursky is just too big of a dude to make it work, so Knox is slammed instead! Legursky takes over the match and begins beating on Knox. Knox becomes the victim of a nasty Avalanche, and he becomes the face-in-peril of the match. I guess Murdoch’s slam on the outside really didn’t matter. Bradley and Legursky trade tags while they beat down Mike Knox. This continues for several minutes, until Bradley locks in an Abdominal Stretch, and the Fixers get caught cheating (Bradley would be holding onto Legursky’s hand). During the match as well, we get the Fixers referring to helping someone, potentially getting paid for it. Of course it’s Aaron Stevens, but we’re supposed to suspend our disbelief and not know who it’s supposed to be! It totally couldn’t be the guy who’s team is challenging for the titles at Samhain!

[Sometimes referees are blind.]

Anyways, the Fixers continue their beatdown on Knox, but a big crossbody splash gives Knox some breathing room. Knox mercifully hot-tags Murdoch who unloads on the Fixers, particularly Legursky. Knox manages to slam Legursky, which sets up Knox & Murdoch’s finisher. That was a match, pretty basic but honestly not terrible. Murdoch & Knox cut a promo where they reiterate that they know that Stevens paid off the Fixers, they’re mad about what he and BFT did to Eric Smalls, and they’re coming for blood at Samhain. After a commercial break, we get a tiny segment where the Immortals have stolen Daisy Kill & John Talos’s ukulele; why is this a storyline?

Our next match of the evening is Baron Von Storm vs. Magic Jake Dumas, in a submission match. There’s a lot of stalling where Magic Jake wants no part of the claw. Jake tries to get some offense in which Storm no-sells. Storm practically takes over this match until Jake rolls to the outside; Jake pretends to leave, but tries to ambush Storm, who catches him with the claw pose. Jake of course is terrified of the claw, so now it becomes both guys trying to lock in their finishers on one another. Storm smashes Jake into the corner; Storm gets some admonishment from the ref for not listening to his instructions, so Jake pulls out his brim-topped hat, which is allegedly loaded. Jake of course misses, and the ref tries to take the hat away. The ref is successful, but with a sleight of hand, Jake pulls out a card and blinds Storm. With this in mind, Storm mistakes the ref for Jake, and hits the claw on him. The ref immediately calls for the bell, and so Storm is disqualified– In a submission match. Okay then.

[Fear the 59-year old madman.]

We get a promo package for Max the Impaler vs. Carson Drake, which James Mitchell talks about violence and blood and guts, and his usual gimmick. Our next match is the main event of the evening: the Slime Ballz vs. KC & Joe Cazana. Joe Cazana's last match (not including a 5 vs 5 match in February) was on May 6, 1994 for Smoky Mountain Wrestling against Dirty White Boy. Enjoy that little piece of trivia. Joe starts off against Tommy Rant; Joe slaps Rant in the face, because he feels personally disrespected by these young bucks. He then tags in KC, who eats a back body drop. So Rant & Sage beat up KC repeatedly; but KC distracts the ref which allows Joe to attack Sage from behind. Papa Joe gets tagged in and he jaw jacks with the crowd, claiming “I hadn’t forgotten a thing”. KC goes in and he chokes Sage on the ropes, and clubs his back. The Cazanas attack Sage’s chest and back, looking to keep him down and out and unable to breathe. Joe remains cocky, which is his own undoing, because Sage rolls up Joe and gets the surprise win.

[He’s just wiping his feet.]

After the match all four guys just begin brawling, Joe cuts a promo shortly afterwards, where he’s angry and hates Florida, and also hates Billy Corgan. He announces that as Samhain, there’s going to be a six-man tag between the Country Gentlemen and the Slime Ballz & a partner of their choice. With that, it’s the end of the episode, and we suddenly get a hip hop song with the Immortals talking shit about Kill & Talos. End this episode please. This episode was also extremely nondescript and while it set up a few things for Samhain, the in-ring action was boring. SKIP
​

Thom Latimer (c) d. Race Allen [NWA World Heavyweight Championship]	3/4 *
Knox & Murdoch (c) d. The Fixers [NWA World Tag Team Championships]	* 1/2
Magic Jake d. Baron Von Storm via Disqualification [Submission Match]	1/2 *
The Slime Ballz d. KC & Joe Cazana	* 1/2

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA Powerrr (December 3, 2024)
S20E10: “Samhain 2: Part I”

So we’ve finally arrived at Samhain 2, NWA’s October special event. Now you might be wondering why we’re watching an event from October, in December? Because the NWA defies all logic and they don’t have a proper television deal to actually work with, so Samhain 2 is now just the Christmas Show. So anyways we start up with James Mitchell talking about “the most controversial night in professional wrestling” or some other such nonsense. The only thing controversial about Samhain 1 was Mitchell talking about cocaine on a live microphone. Tonight we’ve got the #1 Contenders match between Natalia Markova, Kylie Paige, and Haley J for the World Women’s title; we also have The Immortals facing off against Dasy Kill & Talos, and then we have the Slime Ballz and a mystery partner challenging against the Country Gentlemen. I’m sure we’re in for some underwhelming action.

Kicking things off is, of course, the street fight between the Slime Ballz and Country Gentlemen. KC, AJ, and Joe Cazana come out first, followed by the Slime Ballz. Now who is the mystery partner, for the Slimy ones? It’s Jay Bradley, who is one half of the Fixers. So I guess the gimmick of the Fixers in general is that they are a for-hire mercenary pair, doing odd jobs for money. So the fight begins, all three groups are after one another, with the faces getting dominant early. There’s a spot where Jay Bradley does an airplane spin on Tommy Rant where Rant’s feet smash into the Cazana boys. There’s a ton of double team maneuvers from Bradley and the Slime Ballz. Eventually Joe Cazana is in the ring as he attempts to bring in the branding iron to attack with. Bradley is taken out by AJ and KC and this allows the Cazanas to take over. Tommy Rant tries to fight back after Sage is nearly pinned, but he’s no match for the double team before them.

[There’s strutting, and then there’s this.]

Jay Bradley then comes in and he single handedly takes it to the both guys. Joe attempts to convince Jay to let him into the ring to square up. However, Jay is in a different mood and kicks the middle rope while Joe Cazana is getting in, hitting him square in the nuts. All three Cazanas are outside; Jay hits the ropes for a dive on the outside, but AJ Cazana gets in the ring and hits a nice looking spinebuster onto Jay to put him down. AJ then puts Bradley into a front-facelock so Joe could smack him with his belt. Suddenly Wrecking Ball Legursky hits the ring, probably mad that his partner is taking a beating, and he starts wrecking house (pun intended) on the Cazanas. Joe comes in and tries to ambush Legursky but it doesn’t work. Legursky eats a double spear for his troubles. Sage is crawling into the ring, and Joe, being the opportunist that he is, punches Sage with the metal buckle of his belt, securing the victory for his team. I’ll be honest that match wasn’t terrible but boy was it boring.

So up next we have Lev being interviewed on his upcoming match with Alex Misery. It’s perhaps one of the only matches I’m actually looking forward to because Alex Misery is great. Lev claims that strange recognizes strange and that he’s the lost messiah, or some such nonsense. So now we have the #1 Contender’s triple threat between Natalia Markova, Kylie Paige, and Haley J. I’m actually fairly confident that this match will deliver somewhat, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. The match kicks off strong with Kylie scrambling to roll up Haley, who kicks out even before the count of one. Markova starts off strong afterwards, attacking both Haley and Kylie; there’s a cool spot where Markova has both girls in the corner, and she hits a nasty looking running knee into the face of Haley, and then hits a wrist lock armdrag and knee to the face combo which looked nice. Kylie kicks out at 2, and while Markova is running the ropes, she is tripped up by Haley J, who then eats a kick to the outside by Kylie while Haley was trying to get into the ring.

[This looked so good.]

This allows Kylie to take control of the match and she focuses on Markova, trying to choke her out with the ropes, and hitting a running crossbody into her while Markova was still against the ropes. Kylie attempts a pin but Markova kicks out at two. Kylie then hits a facebuster and then butt-bump to the corner for the pin again. It doesn’t work and Haley pulls Kylie out of the ring and then hits a sweet looking Shining Wizard to the back of Markova’s head. Kylie, who was not happy to be pulled out of the ring, smashes Haley in the face with a nasty running axe kick. These girls are kicking the shit out of each other and I’m for it. Kylie hits a spinning heel kick on Haley which sets up a potential Shining Wizard of her own, but Haley adjusted her knee so that Kylie would slip off. Haley then took the opportunity to hit a Backstabber. Markova climbs to a top rope, but Haley is one step ahead and locks her up in the ropes, where Kylie also takes the opportunity. Kylie hits a high angle German Suplex on Haley, which causes Haley to pull Natalia Markova up for a superplex. All three girls are down for a breather. Kylie finally hits a Shining Wizard on Haley, but Haley kicks out at two!

Markova then takes the opportunity to hit a flying drop kick onto Kylie from the top rope, following it up with a massive butt bump to the corner, and Kylie is eliminated from the match! It’s now just Natalia Markova and Haley J! While Markova is celebrating eliminating Kylie Paige, Haley ambushes her from behind. Markova starts Hulking up and the two girls exchange some punches and chops until they each hit each other with facebusters. Markova hits another facebuster onto Haley, but Haley kicks out of the pin. Natalia goes for a spinning heel kick into the corner, but Haley dodges out of the way, and then hits a running knee into Markova’s face, who just barely kicks out. Finally Haley pulls out the Curb Stomp onto Markova, who starts Hulking up again, so Haley hits a second Curb Stomp to secure the victory. Yeah that match rocked. It was a fun triple threat where all three girls just hit some stiff looking moves on one another and reminded me quite a bit of a 1990s Joshi-style match.

[This was just the first stomp.]

After that match we now get a promo package for Daisy Kill and Jack Talos vs. The Immortals. The whole story is basically that Daisy Kill is an idiot and accidentally left his ukulele backstage and the Immortals, deciding to be dickheads, stole it. Because of these series of events, Billy Corgan decided that this tag match is worth a #1 Contenders clause for the World Tag Team Championships. Before the match we get a promo with the Southern Six; Silas Mason talks shit about Colby Corino (and how his dad abandoned him), as well as Bryan Idol who allegedly sold stuff out of the back of a van. He ends the promo saying “When you shoot at the Six, you best not miss.”

So let’s get to our main event of the evening. Kill & Talos vs. Odinson & Kratos. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t rooting for Kill & Talos. The Immortals come out with the ukulele, which upsets Kill, while Talos holds him back. Kill kicks things off with Odinson. Kill is clearly the most technical athlete of the four guys, so I expect him to either play the heel who takes a beating from the faces, but will also counter moves and keep himself in the match just long enough to get Talos in to dominate. Kill gets outside of the ring and manipulates Odinson to follow him out, before Kill gets back in the ring to tag in Talos. Talos gets ready to square up to Odinson, before Kill decides to tag himself back in. That’s certainly a decision, I suppose. Kill gets into the ropes when he counters an attempted Razor’s Edge, but he falls for the trap because Kratos is right next to him and Odinson tags him in, which causes Kill to get some sloppy looking chops from Kratos. How the fuck was Kratos a world champion with how sloppy his punches and chops look. Kill then eats a snap suplex, which the commentator’s mistakenly call a “release German suplex”. Kratos hits another snap Suplex; Kratos then decides to howl like a moron before tagging in Odinson.

[Yeah it looks pretty crazy.]

Both Immortals just beat down on Kill, who is out-matched strength-wise by both guys. Odinson continues to just beat the hell out of Daisy Kill, who stands no chance. Odinson then hits a flying European uppercut onto Talos to knock him down for a short time. This ends up biting him, as Odinson was going to attempt a middle-rope flying maneuver, and Talos grabs him by the throat, and pushes him into a horrifying looking back suplex by Kill. Like it legit looked worse in real-time than it did when I looked back on it. That was like one of the moves that popped me in the match, which it desperately needed. So now Odinson’s neck is fucked (in kayfabe), and Kill and Talos are targeting his neck. Kill locks in some smooth wrist-locks followed by an axe-kick to Odinson’s shoulders. So I guess Kratos is just gonna be the Robert Gibson of this match while Odinson plays Ricky Morton. I can understand why because Odinson is a better worker, but my god Kratos sucks, Odinson would be way more over if he was the dominant partner. Odinson tries to make a comeback with European uppercuts, but that back suplex did more damage than he intended, and he’s struggling against Kill’s offense.

Finally Talos gets tagged back in, and he whips Odinson into several corners to hit avalanches on the Valhallan. Talos literally picks Odinson up from the floor and smashes him down with a sidewalk slam. I gotta admit, Talos is pretty solid in this match so far. Kill is tagged back in, where he goes back on offense against Odinson. Kill gets a brilliant idea to whip Odinson into the corner, but Odinson takes the opportunity and goes flying over the top rope with a massive European uppercut to Talos. Both guys go flying to the floor, with Odinson grabbing everything to break his fall; Odinson then gets back into the ring and smashes Kill with a running European uppercut again.

We get the hot tag to Kratos, who comes in and just decimates Kill, and also knocks Talos off the ropes. I sense that Kratos was particularly motivated today, and it shows when he hits a god damned Pele kick to Kill. Talos gets into the ring now, and with it, he and Kratos begin exchanging punches. Talos smashes Kratos with a big boot, but Kratos then counters with a fucking Crucifix pin, I shit you not. Kratos had to have been watching Daisy Kill all match and thought to himself, “Fuck, I can do that too!” Something got up on Kratos’s ass because he moved like he was 20 years younger and could actually wrestle, I was shocked. Kratos is feeling himself and he hits a big suplex onto Talos, who goes for the pin. Of course Talos is the legal man, since both teams hit tags at the same time.

[“I’ll show you technical wrestling!”]

So now Kratos tags in Odinson, and both guys proceed to attempt to beat down Talos enough to win; Daisy Kill, however, is one step ahead! Not only has Kill gotten his ukulele, but he pulls the top rope while Kratos is running, causing Kratos to spill onto the outside of the ring! The ref is distracted, which allows Kill to smack Odinson in the jaw with the ukulele! Talos hits the chokeslam and this match is over! This match was chaotic, but awesome in a fun way. After the match, Kratos gets into the ring and just cleans house in anger; Odinson dives into the outside after Talos, and Kratos takes Kill’s ukulele and threatens to break it as the show goes off the air.

If this is a sign of things to come, Samhain 2 might actually deliver and be an extremely fun show to watch in the next few weeks, because NWA Powerrr this week was awesome. The six-man tag was kind of boring and basic, but the Women’s triple threat delivered like I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised by the main event being way more fun than it had any right to be. So how do I rate it? The only way I really can: MUST-SEE
​

The Country Gentlemen d. The Slime Ballz and Jay Bradley	**
Haley J d. Natalia Markova and Kylie Paige [Women's World Title #1 Contender's Match]	***1/4
Daisy Kill & Talos d. The Immortals [World Tag Team #1 Contender's Match]	**3/4

 

[Chris]

I miss Kratos in NJPW

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA Powerrr (December 10, 2024)
S20E11: “Samhain 2: Part II”

It’s Part 2 of the NWA’s Samhain 2: Electric Boogaloo! Tonight we’ve got a couple of interesting matches tonight, such as Carson Drake & Max the Impaler having a rematch for the NWA Television Championship; we also got Alex Misery & Lev for Junior Heavyweight Championship contention, and finally we have Colby Corino & Bryan Idol facing off against the Southern Six! Kicking things off though is another James Mitchell promo hyping up Carson Drake & Max’s match. Carson Drake arrogantly believes that he can beat Max, but I just don’t see that happening. The match is officially called a Hell Awaits match, which likely means it’s some sort of No Holds Barred affair.

Our first match of the night is probably the one I was looking most forward to in this episode, it’s Lev vs. Alex Misery for #1 Contender spot for the Junior Heavyweight Championship. Alex Misery had the best match about two months ago with Jack Cartwheel, so I expect he and Lev to have a good match. Things start off hot with a lot of lightweight jockeying for position, and we get Lev hitting a really nice looking Hart turnbuckle bump into a running STO, which only gets 2. Lev takes control early, hitting a scoop slam into multiple elbow drops in quick succession. Misery though psyches out Lev with a corner backflip into a seated position. Lev tries to clothesline him, but Misery dodges into a back elbow and belly-to-back suplex, followed by a standing moonsault. Already it’s starting to live up to my own hype.

[It’s raining men!]

Both guys require a little break, so they slow that match down, with Lev biting Misery’s head and getting admonishment from the ref. Lev gets Misery into the corner and hits an avalanche elbow; Lev goes to the opposite corner to get ready for another rushing move, but Misery immediately follows him and quite literally forward somersault catapults himself at Lev and over the rope– An awesome looking move I might add. Both guys are just running at each other and trying to pound each other into dust. Alex Misery gets a neat springboard dropkick. Suddenly Gaagz the Gymp is here; I’m irate. What is this motherfucker doing here to ruin such a good match? Well so much for this match because Joe Ocasio appears and attacks Alex Misery, and then Gaagz and Ocasio attack Lev. This match gets thrown out, and I’m so sad. Ocasio attacks Gaagz next. What a shitty end to an otherwise really good match.

We get another video hype promo with Magic Jake Dumas talking about Baron Von Storm and Jax Dane; he pretty much says the usual, that he and Zyon are gonna beat Storm & Dane, and they do not fear any man. Both teams will face off against each other in a Submission match, but the Iron Claw is banned. Up next May Valentine interviews Austin Idol, who looks a bajillion years old (he’s only 75). He blows his own smoke, and finishes it up by saying that he’s the reason the Iron Claw is banned from the submission match. So anyways it’s time for Colby Corino & Bryan Idol vs. Kerry Morton and Silas Mason. Here’s to hoping this match will have a finish. Corino & Idol start off strong by causing Silas to collide into Morton not once, but twice, before making Silas eat a back suplex.

We get multiple tags by Idol and Corino; there’s also a really cool move that Colby Corino has that’s a forward somersault splash called the Sunsetter. Kerry Morton however gets into control with a nasty stun-gun to Corino onto the ropes. Silas grabs Colby in the corner and just stretches him around the ringpost. Kerry then takes Corino up for a rebound Suplex (which if you haven’t seen it, it’s a suplex where the opponent’s feet bounce off the top rope before the slam). Corino now is the babyface in peril, as he seems to have been for this entire feud against the Southern Six. Colby tries to come back with a reverse neckbreaker, but he just couldn’t get to Bryan Idol in time. Silas takes Mason and tries to get to the top rope, but Corino smashes Mason’s face into the turnbuckle hook repeatedly before getting a reverse slam. Corino tries desperately to get to Idol, but Silas grabs Corino’s leg just long enough for Kerry Morton to run across the ring and knock Idol off the apron.

Corino continues to try making a few comebacks but just can’t tag in Idol yet. There’s a nice hope spot where Colby dives for Idol, but Silas Mason pulls Idol off the apron at just the last second. Silas and Kerry continue to work over Colby in their corner, but finally after multiple attempts, Corino gets to his partner and makes the tag. Bryan Idol comes in like a house of fire; he knocks Mason over the top rope, and is ready to fight Kerry. Silas, however, has a different idea and pulls Idol out of the ring from the bottom rope. Colby, still having a bit of energy left, spears Kerry Morton through the ropes to the floor below. Silas Mason and Bryan Idol are jockeying in the corner on the second rope, but in comes Kerry Morton to hold Idol’s feet in place. Silas pushes Idol down to the ground and goes for a backsplash, but Idol gets out of the way, and he starts running through both Kerry and Silas! Idol takes down Silas, which allows a tagged in Colby Corino to hit a senton! Kerry tries to get in to help his partner, but Kerry eats a slingshot into a superkick.

Silas, though, is a big tough guy, so he just gets back up and throws Idol over the ropes while Corino has Kerry pinned. Silas tries to hit his finisher, but Idol rescues Colby and they superkick Silas to the outside. Bryan Idol, then has a brilliant idea. This crowd is maybe a whopping seven or eight feet from the ring; Idol thinks to himself, “I am going to do a dive to Silas on the outside!” So he does it, and my god, wouldn’t you know it, Idol and Silas nearly flew into an old lady and a 12-year old child. I was dumbfounded, like what!? How did anyone think this was a good idea, in an arena set-up this small? Anyways, while Idol and Silas are fighting on the outside, Colby hits Kerry with a jumping knee strike, and then hits the L-Driver for the win. Kyle Davis, the announcer, happily announces that Idol and Corino are the winners. We still got that storyline going on, of course. This match was alright.

[That woman’s life flashed before her eyes.]

So after a few commercials we get an interview with Ella Envy and Samantha Starr, they’re pretty much talking shit and they say that the only thing that Caribbean Flow will be taking from the IT Girls is notes. So now it’s main event time! Carson Drake challenges Max the Impaler for the NWA World Television Championship. Drake’s going to get killed so it’s only a matter of how long he lasts; the Hell Awaits match is basically what I expected, a No-DQ match. Drake gets planted with a running splash right away. Drake gets out of the ring and then smashes Max with a chair, but they no-sell it. In response to this, Drake tosses the chair to the ref, and claims it was the ref that hit Max. No-one is fooled by this of course. Drake goes to leave but James Mitchell throws freedom powder into Drake’s face, which leads to his face getting smashed into the chair. Max bites Drake in the face, then gets whipped by a belt. He’s just getting his ass beat pillar to post by Max, and this crowd is loving seeing his smug face get beaten in. Max goes and grabs a decorative christmas tree, which they toss right into Drake’s face. The announcers declare that it’s a “yuletide beatdown”. The crowd chants “Merry Christmas”; I am dumbfounded.

[How Retail Workers Feel When Halloween Ends.]

Drake grabs a staple-gun and tries to staple Max’s torso, but it has no effect. James Mitchell hands Max a dollar bill, and with it, Carson gets it stapled into his mouth. After the commercial break we finally see Carson Drake get some offense in, slamming Max into the steel steps. Drake goes to the entranceway to find a weapon. Instead he finds a present for Max; what could it be? Who knows!? Drake gets a pumpkin on his head before he’s thrown into the steps. Billy Corgan muses about the interpretation of a pumpkin being smashed… because Smashing Pumpkins. Get it!? Smashing Pumpkins!? Max pulls out a table, setting it up into the ring. Carson starts to show a little fight in him, but he gets speared into the Table. It doesn’t break, but it does when Carson is thrown into it a second time. Max The Impaler goes out to grab that present addressed to them, and opening it up, it’s a steel chair. Wow, what a shocking surprise. Totally isn’t like we saw a chair earlier in the match.

Drake, however, isn't out of the fight! He trips up Max and causes them to collide down onto the chair, leg first into the abdomen. Max is howling in pain, and Drake pulls off his own boot; and threatens to hit the Sinister Minister with it! Max tries to attack Carson from behind, but Drake dodges, and rolls-up Max! Carson’s got the tights and he… wins? What the fuck? That’s how Max’s reign ends!? Son of a bitch, Carson Drake is the new NWA World Television Champion. Well that was a somewhat fun match, but I was not expecting Carson Drake to win. Max is angry at James Mitchell, and it finally comes full circle, with Max hitting Mitchell with a lariat. That’s how this episode ends. I don’t know about you but I had a little fun with it; I was severely disappointed at how they decided to cut Misery/Lev off early, because it was really having the makings of an awesome match. Nevertheless, Samhain 2 has been proving to be much better than I expected. DISCRETION
​

Lev vs. Alex Misery Goes to No Contest [NWA Junior Heavyweight #1 Contender's Match]	**3/4
Bryan Idol & Colby Corino d. The Southern Six	**1/2
Carson Drake d. Max The Impaler [c] [NWA World Television Championship	**1/4

 

[Skyefire]

I haven't watched NWA Powerrr in a while, but I had heard about the TV title match between Max The Impaler and Carson Drake and I was torn. I'm a fan of Max but I've also watched Carson Drake since he was here in Cincinnati in Ascend Pro Wrestling before he was in NWA or OVW. I've seen him as a star in the making for several years and it's great to see him win a championship. I'll be able to see him defend his TV title in Cincinnati for APW in January.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Yeah Drake's a weird case for me, he's not bad by any means but his character is a total geek so him winning constantly is wigging me out

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

NWA Powerrr (December 17, 2024)
S20E12: “Samhain 2: Part III”

Sup everyone, let’s just try and power through this session here. We open things up with a promo package about Magic Jake Dumas & Zyon vs. Jax Dane & Baron Von Storm; so yeah they’re continuing that feud here, it’s a tag match for tonight where Storm’s Claw is banned. We also got the NWA National Heavyweight Championship being defended as it’s Mims facing off against Burchill. Kicking things off though, it’s the NWA World Women’s Tag Title Match with the IT Girls defending against Caribbean Flow! I expect at least two of these matches to be fun.

La Rosa Negra and Ruby Jay come out first, and Joe Galli explains that there’s a stipulation in this match (though it’s never explained) to make it so the IT Girls can’t be counted out, possibly? We’ll find out I guess. Out comes Ella Envy & Samantha Starr in a mix of Halloween and Christmas attire. To clarify, Starr is dressed up as a devil, and Envy is in a Christmas schoolgirl outfit. We kick things off with Ruthie Jay and Ella Envy. Envy pushes Jay into a corner, but she is countered and Jay takes control with some brutal kicks. Jay then locks Envy into a headlock, but Envy stomps on Jay’s foot and locks in a headlock of her own. It doesn’t last for long as after a small sequence Envy gets hit in the face with a step-up Enzuigiri; Ella tags in Starr afterwards, who gets out of the ring to jaw jack with the crowd. Lots of stalling and it’s later confirmed that there’s no count-outs as the ref just motions for them to get back in without counting.

Eventually Starr gets back in, and immediately eats an arm-drag for her troubles. So back to the outside and we get more stalling. This is quickly turning into a wet fart of a match, because there’s literally nothing happening, and we’re nine minutes into the show. La Rosa Negra chases Starr on the outside, who just runs away, and finally we get back into the ring. Starr eats an arm-drag, into a corner, where Negra gets tagged in and an extremely sloppy double flapjack is done onto Starr. Negra goes to work on Starr, with a running elbow to the face, and attacking the neck. Starr then takes a belly-to-back suplex before rolling to the outside. While Starr is on the outside, Ella Envy comes into the ring and just bodies La Rosa Negra, and Starr drags Negra’s body to the ropes and attacks her that way. So now the heels have control of the match, with Negra playing the babyface in peril.

[It looks rougher than it actually is.]

However, Ruthie Jay does get tagged in eventually and starts going to town on Samantha Starr, including a double corner knee strike. A pinfall attempt is broken up by Ella Envy, which causes Ruthie Jay’s shoulder to be run into the ring-post. During a sleeper-hold, Ruthie Jay cleverly removes Starr’s neck brace. It of course does reveal that Starr is okay even if she oversells her neck “injury”. Ella Envy gets tagged in and continues to do work on Jay. Ruthie Jay gets a knee block into Envy’s face, and successfully tags in La Rosa Negra. Starr is also tagged in, who eats all of Negra’s offense. Negra hits a Northern Lights suplex pin, but Starr kicks out just barely. Samantha Starr then takes a massive powerslam, and Negra goes to the top rope for a finishing move; Ella Envy pushes Negra off the top rope, which gives Starr enough time to recover and hit her finisher, the Starstruck DDT. Starr tags in Ella who immediately goes in for the pin to win the match. The IT Girls retained their titles, and this match sucked. The first half of the match absolutely nothing happened, and then it was largely sloppy wrestling after. I’m moving on.

Our next match of the evening is the NWA National Heavyweight Championship match, and it’s Paul Burchill facing off against Mims. Mims, of course, is accompanied by Blk Jeez. Both men lock up to begin the match, where both guys seem evenly matched. Both fellas trade punches and attacks on one another. Then there’s a little fighting on the outside. Burchill hits a snapmare into a back kick, and transitions to a back suplex. Mims is a strong guy though so he counters with clubbing blows and another toss to the outside; Burchill gets thrown into the steel steps, and while this is happening, Mims accidentally steps on a fan’s coca-cola, which spills everywhere. So Mims tosses Burchill into the ring, and Burchill hits Mims with a drop-toehold into a crippler crossface; Mims however is too close to the ropes. It’s also at this point that Mims is wearing trunks that say “X-Mims” on it– very clever.

Mims shows off how much of a powerhouse he is, because despite all of Burchill’s offense, Mims continues to beat down Paul. We go outside the ring again and Burchill’s back is attacked, first against the ring-apron, and then against the ring post. Back inside we go and Buchill is locked into a sleeper hold with Mims just clubbing the man’s chest. Back from commercial break, Burchill is locked into a bear-hug, but he manages to break out. Both men hit each other with clotheslines, and refuse to go down, but then Burchill gets buried with a stiff-ass lariat. Burchill immediately gets back up and just kills Mims with a lariat of his own.

[Just beat the piss out of one another.]

Burchill gets to his feet first, but a distraction from Blk Jeez allows Mims to hit a big belly-to-belly suplex onto Burchill; this only gets a two count though, as it’s gonna take more to put down Paul Burchill. Jeez throws in a chair, which the ref notices; this has the obvious effect of distracting the ref long enough for Blk Jeez to smash Burchill in the back with his collection plate, and Mims spears the shit out of Burchill for the win… Burchill kicks out, however! The crowd pops for it, and Burchill starts hulking up before Mims just kills him with a massive slam for the proper win. Say what you will, but the NWA is booking Mims like an absolute bad-ass. It was an actual fun match tonight, just two guys beating each other up.

So now we get an interview with Kenzie Paige, she blows her own smoke, as usual. She mentions that she owns her own wrestling company, but this is news to me as I have literally never heard about this. She also takes a shot at Tiffany Nieves, stating that Nieves is not on her level nor ever will be. It’s time for our main event: Baron Von Storm and Jax Dane vs. Jake Dumas & Zyon. This match is going to suck, I can feel it in my bones. I mean, it’s two geeks vs. the grandpas. We start with Dane and Zyon. Zyon starts on offense against Dane, but he eats a big belly-to-belly suplex and a Samoan drop. Zyon tags in Jake, who is suplexed into the ring by Dane; at this point, Jax is firmly in control and he just beats the dogshit out of Jake. Baron Von Storm is tagged into the ring, and there’s confusion about the claw.

So I guess the whole idea is that Baron Von Storm is too fucking stupid to understand the claw is banned, so he continually keeps trying to do it, and Jax Dane has to play male nurse to the Alzheimer’s patient. This is a fucking shitty gimmick and let me tell you why; Baron Von Raschke wasn’t a fucking idiot. He used the claw because it was his finisher, but he wasn’t a moron, he understood English, he had a firm grasp on reality. Fritz Von Erich used the claw, he was a massive heel; he wasn’t an idiot (though he was a shitty and morally bankrupt promoter). Why the fuck is Baron Von Storm an idiot with no grasp on reality? If he’s going to be riffing on those two classic characters, why are we Flanderizing them down to their most basic components: German, vicious, and they use the claw! I fucking hate this, and you should too.

[Male Nurse Kills Two Geeks.]

So Jax Dane tags himself in, and has to continually keep Storm from hitting the claw while these geeks as opponents start beating up Dane on the outside. Zyon & Jake take control of the match and they start stomping a mudhole into Dane. Constant cheating, Dane is the face-in-peril playing keeper to a moron. I legit have no real thoughts because the action is just as I’m describing, Jake & Zyon tag each other in, beat up Dane, and Storm stands on the apron like a wild-eyed goof. Magic Jake idiotically wants to do a top-rope moonsault, but Dane gets out of the way. Zyon takes the initiative and knocks down Storm from the apron; he and Jake try to suplex Dane, who counters it on them, and they go flying. Storm gets tagged in and he runs wild on both Jake & Zyon, punching and double-headbutting them both. He hits a reverse neckbreaker on Jake, but Zyon breaks up the pin. Zyon is threatened with the claw, but Storm hits an atomic drop onto Zyon to knock him out. Storm threatens to hit the claw on Austin Idol, and Dane smashes Jake with a lariat, which kills Jake. Storm pins Jake, and Dane & Storm win.

As it turns out, I was right, Jake & Zyon are two fuckin’ geeks that can’t even beat a dumb-fuck and his dementia-riddled partner. Fuck this match, fuck this gimmick, and fuck this company man; I really can’t say much else than that. This episode sucked. Outside of Mims & Burchill there wasn’t shit to watch on this edition of NWA Powerrr, so rightfully, it deserves the rating it’s getting. SKIP​

The IT Girls (c) d. Caribbean Flow [NWA Women's World Tag Team Championships]	*
Mims (c) d. Burchill [NWA National Heavyweight Championship]	**1/2
Jax Dane & Baron Von Storm d. Jake Dumas & Zyon	*1/4