All the happenings from the debut episode of NWA POWERRR from October 8, marking the return of classic-style studio wrestling.
I HAVE THE POWERRR
Itās pronounced āpower,ā by the way.
The show opened at 6:05 p.m. EST ā just like back in the day, only now on YouTube or Facebook. Dokkenās āInto the Fireā played over the introduction package, cobbled-together footage from the Ten Pounds of Gold mini-documentaries and various clips from the Ring of Honor-hosted events featuringĀ NWA stars from this year and 2018, among other clips of footage. NWA Worlds champion Nick Aldis, Tim Storm, Eli Drake, James Storm, the Wild Cards and Jocephus all appeared in the intro with their names listed, as they were the stars of this weekās episode.
Jim Cornette and Joe Galli welcomed the audience at their announce table. The set looks incredible, but not in the way that, say, SmackDownās set looked on Friday. Itās like when you come across those meticulous Star Trek houses that look amazing but are also functional; thatās what this NWA setup looked like, a spiffy replica of the old NWA set. They cut to a few shots of old wrestling magazines from the era ā The brief gamut showed us everyone from Jos LeDuc and a young Jacques Rougeau to Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes ā as Cornette talked over it, explaining the history of studio wrestling in Atlanta.
They cut to David Marquez (Championship Wrestling from Hollywood) who interviewed NWA champion Nick Aldis who came along with Kamille, his assistant. Aldis mentioned heās been NWA Worlds champion for nearly a full year and Aldis said itās hard to stay humble or hungry. He put over the Wild Cards, James Storm and Allisyn Kay as serious champions and that theyāve all paid their dues. He then addressed Tim Storm and explained that heād been all over the world and has put food on his childās table with money from pro wrestling, and that if Storm thought Aldis would be doing the āJ-O-B in A-T-Lā then heād better think again. It was a terrific promo to kick the show off.
The Dawsons defeated Sal Rinauro & Billy Buck
This was a classic squash match, just like youād see on an episode of NWA Mid-Atlantic in the 1980s. Sal Rinauro, of Wrestling Road Diaries fame, looked like the only one in this match who still exercises regularly. Cornette called them āmean motor-scootersā and I donāt think he was being facetious. The Dawsons won with a mess of a tombstone and avalanche double team spot on Billy Buck.
After the match, and just like the good olā days, the Dawsons walked over to the standing announce table to join David Marquez. The Dawsons were actually decent on the mic, but the crowd decided to start doing the āWhat?!ā chants at them. They spouted general tough-guy rhetoric about how theyāre going to take everyone in the NWA out in time because theyāre the big, mean bullies we remembered from school, all of this with growly Southern drawls, and then they were off. David Marquez said they were ādouble tough.ā
NWA spoofed Lord Alfred Hayesā old āPromotional consideration paid for by the followingā catchphrase from WWEās Coliseum Home Videos for reasons Iām not sure of. Then came an ironic ad for Austin Idolās wrestling school. This was the NWA production teamās attempt at levity, applying the overused Tim and Eric visual trope to this bit more than a decade too late. āMake yourself some money, jack!ā was the funniest line here, intentional or not.
After this, we were back with Joe Galli along with Eli Drake at the standing announce table. Drake said the NWA donāt have children, but men who want to face the best. NWA Womenās champion Allisyn Kay doesnāt count then, I guess.
Eli Drake def. Caleb Konley
This match was fine, if uneventful. Cornette continued pushing that āreal men wanna fightā idea that Drake mentioned just beforehand; poor Allisyn Kaye. Conley, one of the wrestlers under the Suicide gimmick in TNA, did a slingshot tornillo splash onto Drake while Cornette stayed silent until the next beat. Conley later missed a turnaround moonsault from the top rope and Drake landed the Gravy Train for the win. Fans chanted āE-LI!ā before they cut to the next segment.
We cut to some footage of Tim Storm, who said the NWA title is his life and that he accepts Nick Aldisā challenge and said he knew in his heart he had to do it.
Back in the studio, we cut back to Cornette and Galli and what sounded like piped-in studio applause. There were a few instances of this throughout the show, where the crowd either sounded a) a lot sweeter than they should based on capacity or b) made no sound at all, like towards the end of the program.
Jocephus had come out and heād started screaming at the announcers and asking for Tim Storm. He harassed Cornette and Galli at their booth and kept screaming āSTORM!ā until James Storm, NWA National champion, came out instead. He said Jocephus wasnāt cut out for this business, which came off as a veiled promo trying to express how much wrestling today has changed ā but for the worse. Hot take, I know. The crowd chanted ālet them fightā before they cut to the next segment.
There was another commercial where NWA staff was interviewing fans after an event, where each said a different version of the following:āThis is professional wrestling the way it should be!ā or āIt feels like wrestling from 30 years ago!ā They even interviewed the āItās still real to me dammitā guy, who was real fired up about all of this. In many ways, heās this showās core audience.
NWA Worlds Tag Team champions the Wild Cards (Royce Isaacs & Thom Latimer) defeated Danny White & Mims in a non-title match
Latimer used to be Bram in TNA and Isaacs is a West Coast indie wrestler on the come-up. The two started cutting a promo until Eddie Kingston came out and interrupted them. He called Latimer āBramā before referring to him as āTommy Boy.ā He said that the Wild Cards donāt speak for the outlaws of the world. Latimer threw the announce table and Kingston and the two started jaw-jacking until Homicide came out to back Kingston up. James Storm and Jocephus then appeared and there was chaos all throughout GPB Studios. Storm and Jocephus brawled into the studio crowd, who ate it up.
James Storm defeated Jocephus
They got into the ring, apparently had a match scheduled after all, and after the bell rang, Jocephus ran at Storm and Storm superkicked him, 1-2-3. He beat Jocephus up some more, then put Joās thumb in his mouth, like a sleeping baby, before things wrapped.
There was a sentimental Tim Storm promo video package next. Iām not sure if the audio wasnāt mixed, but the sound was very low-rent in this segment, especially during the voiceovers, which sounded like they were recorded with an internal laptop mic.
Storm then cut a promo with Joe Galli at ringside. He talked about how āthe 6:05ā inspired him back in the day, which elicited happy-chants. He mentioned his āMama Storm,ā which the crowd loved. He said Nick Aldis didnāt have to give him another chance at the NWA Worlds title but he did, so heāll take it, and that nothing in the world meant more to him than that belt. Storm did a good job but this, like much of the show, was also really hokey.
NWA Worlds champion Nick Aldis defeated Tim Storm to retain his title
It was solid. Thatās what it was, and thatās all it was meant to be. The studio crowd was enthusiastic and noisy for Storm and his Greatest Hits set he brought with him to this match. Midway through, Storm locked on a figure-four. He landed a superplex but landed early, before Aldis. Storm later missed a somersault senton and Aldis landed a flying elbow drop and then locked in the Kingsland Cloverleaf and the crowd chanted āMama Stormā in support of Tim. Lots of noise here. When referee Brian Hebnerās back was turned to the crowd, Storm landed a low blow, then landed the Perfect Storm (Black Hole Slam) for a close two-count. The crowd was peaking at around this point.
On the floor, Kamille tried distracting Storm, but it didnāt work out and Aldis ended up taking Kamille out with a lariat. Back in the ring, Storm went for a final attack but Aldis rolled him into an inside cradle for the win. People chanted āNWAā after this.
Aldis walked over to Joe Galli and cut a promo saying that tonight āNWAā also stands for āNever Without Authenticity.ā He said Storm was as authentic as it gets, that heās a āhell of a man,ā and was a hell of a champion. Galli then asked what happened with Kamille after the match but she wouldnāt say anything, and Aldis kept answering for her. Aldis then told Galli to save his āclickbait stuffā for another day, which the crowd āoohedā at.
Final thoughts
The main event was very good, not spectacular, and the wrestling on the rest of the card was functional, not meant to be critiqued but created to get wrestlers over with a core fanbase. The production value is fine but low at the moment. Some might call it āgrittyā while some might see it and think the production team hasnāt learned the ropes yet.
If youāre a diehard fan of JCP-era NWA and you want a show that tries really, really hard to be just that ā an old-time pro wrestling show ā then watch this. If youāre a fan unsatisfied with whatās on the wrestling market today, NWA has you covered, because this cashes in on nostalgia more than anything else. It looks back, not ahead, which is worrisome in a few yearās time.
The real challenge NWA POWERRR faces is whether it can outlast its gushing sentimentality for Crockett Promotions and build themselves into something new and meaningful in 2019, not 1985.