NWA POWERRR: NWA doubles down and delivers strong second episode

All the happenings from the strong second episode of NWA POWERRR from October 15.

Before the proper open of this week’s show, NWA production showed tweets from Bully Ray, Corey Graves and WALTER, each one praising the show. They also showed clips from watch-along vlogs praising the show, wrestling media complimenting NWA on its debut, some guy with a cat who talked about Tim Storm and a final tweet of praise from The Rock.

On one hand, this is a brilliant modern publicity strategy for pro wrestling and will expand on the synergy promotions and media are experiencing now. On the other: Inflated, shallow praise will eventually abound, hungry upstarts are looking for pub, and it’s all to NWA’s benefit. It’s very smart.

Next up, there was a recap of last week’s main event between Tim Storm and Nick Aldis before the intro video. Jim Cornette and Joe Galli were on commentary with David Marquez on the opposite side at the interview desk.

The first segment of saw Marquez interview Aron Stevens, formerly Damien Sandow in WWE. He got a standing ovation from the studio crowd on arrival. Stevens talked about how he’d been out West exploring the world of Hollywood, television and theatre, which is the reason why he stepped away from wrestling for a few years.

Stevens was tremendous in this. Why was he let go from WWE in the first place again? He explained that he wanted to set a few things straight before he really got started with NWA, and the first thing to do would be for all fans and staff not to make eye contact with him. He kept shouting “Silence!” at the crowd whenever they’d laugh at him, because he is now a self-proclaimed “serious thespian.”

Stevens said that there are always stars and supporting casts, and that based on his reaction tonight, everyone knew which he was. He also finished the interview with “You’re welcome.” A good promo, and it’s great to see Stevens back.

Ricky Starks defeated Trevor Murdoch

Cornette said the reason Trevor Murdoch had been away from wrestling for so long because “he wanted to wrestle real men” and not kids. He basically looks the same as he did 10 years ago, maybe with more size now, and still agile. He missed a flying leg drop from the second rope early in this, and Ricky Starks saw an opening to land a neckbreaker.

Murdoch came back and threw great-looking punches. He’s another one, like Aron Stevens, who was too good to quit wrestling for a few years, and it’s good to see him return. Starks looked great here as well, and actually scored a win after a crucifix pin out of nowhere. Cornette and Galli did a nice job selling the idea that since Murdoch had been away from wrestling for a few years he might have ring rust, which adds the simple logic needed on a wrestling program; simple logic that wrestling fat-cats often overlook.

After the match, Starks joined Marquez at the interview desk with the yellow backdrop. Murdoch walked over to both and shook Starks’ hand and said he was the better man tonight, then walked off. He got a great reaction from the crowd for this.

Starks cut an excellent promo after this, essentially introducing himself to anyone who hasn’t seen him yet. He had a handful of clever catchphrases and talked about how good looking he was. It might not sound interesting as it was all basic pro wrestling rhetoric but Starks made it work with an original voice and style. The crowd responded well and he came off like a wrestler to keep a serious eye on in the future.

Next came a video package of Galli’s awkward moments (in storyline) with Nick Aldis and Kamille after last week’s main event. When Aldis cut Kamille off from responding to Galli’s question, Aldis grabbed the mic and said Galli could save his “clickbait” for another day. Galli then explained that he was an “award-winning broadcast journalist” and that he’d never stoop to conjuring up clickbait material for NWA. He set up another interview with the two and they recorded it “before” NWA POWERRR (Note: The matches from the past two episodes of POWERRR were taped on October 1).

NWA then announced they will have a live pay-per-view on December 14 at 6:05 p.m. in Atlanta, GA.

Galli interviewed Colt Cabana next, to a big response from the crowd. Cabana told Galli he was in the NWA for championships, be it the National, the Worlds or even the Tag Team Championship, and since he had a tag match coming up after the interview, he introduced a buddy of his as his partner: Mr. Anderson, formerly of IMPACT, or Ken Kennedy in WWE. He did his loud announcer voice schtick and shouted his name. It was another good, quick promo.

Colt Cabana and Ken Anderson defeated Sal Rinauro and Jordan Kingsley

The “young” Sal Rinauro, as referred to by Cornette, was in Cabana’s Wrestling Road Diaries documentary years back, in addition to being on the first episode of POWERRR last week in a squash. This was short. Cabana did a Flying Apple, then Anderson used a flatliner to pin Rinauro in this one.

They next cut to a camera following Nick Aldis to his car. Aldis spoke to whomever was holding the camera and said he was done with interviews for the day and acted irritated.

He compared Galli’s line of questioning in today’s interview (which hadn’t aired yet) was out of line and inappropriate for pro wrestling, comparing this type of journalism to TMZ’s. He mentioned he wanted to put the Kamille issue to bed and get on with being the Worlds Champion. When Aldis goes off-the-cuff in promos he comes off as one of the best in the business right now, never feeling contrived.

Following this was a spoof promo for “Tony Falk’s Waffles and Tire Irons.” It teased “rasslin’ culture,” surely in the name of good fun, but it was another comedy video, derivative, and something pro wrestling in the States has been guilty of forever, hopping onto trends 10 years too late. People who enjoy Firefly Fun House will probably enjoy this, too.

NWA Women’s World Champion Allisin Kay defeated Ashley Vox in a non-title match

Vox tried flying around the ring trying to take out Kay with aerial moves; Kay shut everything down with slams. Kay played the bully heel well here while Vox had good babyface fire. Kay landed a running cannonball into the corner for a two-count, then crushed Vox with a Bastard Driver for the win.

David Marquez interviewed Kay after the match. Kay said that this is a new NWA with a new group of hungry athletes. She then ordered Vox to come over to her so she could congratulate her on the match, saying that she did a good job, and that she was happy that Vox was here because those are the kinds of wrestlers she wants in NWA. But she also made it clear that Vox’s good job won’t be good enough for Kay’s NWA title.

James Storm came out to talk with Joe Galli next. Storm told Galli not to call him the National Champion, but “James Storm” specifically. He said the National title was a only a prop to get him “in the fastlane” on his road to the NWA Worlds title. He said now that Tim Storm is out of the way that now it’s time for James Storm.

He called himself a “grown-ass man” and said he still helps his grandfather in the field and drinks beer on Friday and Saturday and goes to church on Sunday. He’s leaning into his own cultural background to build his character, though I’m not sure how well another rednecked white American gimmick would get over outside of certain regions in the States these days.

Before Storm finished, Eli Drake interrupted him. He basically said that a) he believes there’s a good chance Storm will be NWA Champion soon but b) he’s also gunning for the Ten Pounds of Gold so c) when Storm does inevitably win the title, he asked Storm to not forgot about Drake.

NWA Tag Team championship match: Wild Card (Royce Isaacs and Tomas Latimer) (c) vs. Outlaw Inc. (Eddie Kingston and Homicide) finished in a no contest

This was another solid main event until finish, an ugly strong-style brawl that felt more like a Knicks-Pacers playoff game in the 90s. There were lots of quick tags between the two teams, everyone got a few chances to shine. There was a point where Kingston cursed at Isaacs for staring at him, all expletives bleeped. Latimer and Isaacs controlled much of the match until Kingston finally tagged back in and cleaned house, planting Isaacs with a uranage. His momentum was short-lived, though, as the Dawsons came out and attacked both teams; the match had to be ruled a no contest.

The last segment was a kayfabe re-do of last week’s interview with Nick Aldis and Kamille with Joe Galli. Aldis said he felt he’d been in a car wreck after his match with Tim Storm, but explained how everything he said about him in the previous interview was absolutely true, that he’s a tough, authentic, real man.

Galli next asked why he needed to use Kamille as an “insurance policy,“ despite Aldis being a world-class athlete and champion. Aldis stopped Galli and claimed he felt like he was on 60 Minutes, implying Galli was aggressive in his search for a scoop. He stopped Galli and explained that at All In last year, Aldis lost the NWA title to an “inferior athlete” because of outside interference and a crooked referee. He said that’s why he invested in an insurance policy and it worked, so he decided to continue their working relationship.

Aldis asked Galli whether or not Kamille has actually interfered in one of his matches. Nothing came to mind, said Galli. Aldis said that it was only once when Kamille “let her thoughts get the better of her” when she got in the ring during Aldis’ bout with Marty Scurll earlier this year. Aldis also claimed she’s allowed to speak whenever she wants, so Galli asked her how she felt about the situation. She gave Galli a cold smile and said nothing. Aldis asked if there was anything else Galli had to ask, Galli said no, he guessed not, and Aldis and Kamille left the studio.

Final thoughts:

This was a stronger show than last week’s debut episode. Each match insinuated a bigger payoff in the coming weeks as a couple of long-term plans really began to unfold in this episode. There are still sound issues, and the overdubbed ring announcing needs to be mixed properly, but the issues were less glaring than last week’s episode.

The parody content makes my eyes roll, but I’m in the minority on that one. It’s ironic because Jim Cornette is the one who coined the term “funny doesn’t draw money,” yet here we are. Nitpicks aside, this was a solid show with strong programming, and the choice to finish the program with an exclusive interview as opposed to a main event match was a great touch, because the Aldis and Kamille angle is the strongest storyline they have at the moment.