NWA POWERRR results: Colt Cabana wins National title, Rock ‘n’ Roll Express appear

FanSided is back with all the happenings from the Nov. 5 episode of NWA POWERRR, “Colt Cabana vs. James Storm.“

It seems like NWA has already given up titling their episodes, or at least for this week. Again, before the show, they spliced in positive Tweets from fans mainly referencing how nostalgic it makes them feel, how it’s a much different show from other wrestling shows today and how some fans feel it’s wrestling as wrestling should be.

They showed a recap video of Eli Drake stirring the pot between NWA World’s Heavyweight champion Nick Aldis and NWA National champion James Storm over the past few weeks. On last week’s episode, Aldis, Ken Anderson and Colt Cabana defeated James Storm and the Wild Cards, allowing Cabana to get a shot at Storm’s National title on this week’s show, something Storm and Aldis agreed to prior. The story is that Drake is the antagonist in much of this and it will pay off down the road.

David Marquez interviewed Colt Cabana next. He cut a serious babyface promo saying that he’s humbled to be in the main event, but that he deserves it.

Aron Stevens was interviewed next. He reminded Marquez not to make eye contact with him during the interview, then addressed losing to Ricky Starks on last week’s episode of POWERRR. He said even though he might have some ring-rust that he was better than Starks and demanded a rematch. The crowd chanted “you got beat.” Stevens said he was the great-great-great grandson of William Shakespeare and attempted quoting him as the crowd booed like crazy. This is working well.

Next was an advertisement for a new wrestling video game called Retromania that Aldis, Cabana and Austin Idol will be appearing in, among others. Aldis and company’s renders look like they were drawn by caricature artists.

The Dawsons defeated Matthew Mims and Jordan Kingsley

Short squash match. Dawsons did some sloppy double-team moves and won with a double power bomb. The sweaty Dawsons next walked to Marquez at the interview desk and said they want a shot at the tag titles. Eddie Kingston and Homicide came out and said that if they really want a title shot they should wrestle him and Homicide one more time. Kingston offered to put his and Homicide’s tag title shot at the Into the Fire pay-per-view next month if the Dawsons were willing to wrestle the two New Yorkers one more time. Zane Dawson said even they’d think about it and the crowd booed.

After the quick commercial break, Joe Galli and Tim Storm were in front of the ring in a pre-taped interview, both in suits. Galli asked if Storm was thinking of retiring after his loss to Aldis on the first episode of POWERRR. Galli suggested going after other NWA titles, but Storm said just hearing that was heartbreaking enough for him. Storm said he didn’t know what the future holds for him at the moment.

Nick Aldis then interrupted the interview and brought Storm to another side of the ring. NWA filmed this like a candid camera scene, where Aldis was still mic’d up, and tried talking Storm out of possibly asking for another title shot. “We built this house, you understand?” Aldis said. He forgot to mention Jim Cornette, apparently. Storm looked very emotional here, he was great.

Thunder Rosa defeated Ashley Vox

Thunder Rosa dominated Vox throughout this. She came off as a really intense heel. They didn’t talk directly of it on commentary, but Rosa also just signed a contract with Combate Americas to fight MMA. The announcers didn’t mention this but they went out of her way to put her over as a badass. Her and Eddie Kingston feel like the show’s freshest characters on POWERRR at the moment. Rosa used a lot of stiff kicks on Vox, who sold like crazy for them. Thunder Rosa won with a flying double-stomp to Vox’s back. Afterwards, Rosa beat on Vox until Marti Belle came to the ring. Rosa flashed Belle an evil smile before leaving the ring.

David Marquez interviewed Belle ringside after the break. Belle claimed she didn’t know how Rosa was or what she wanted with Belle. She then brought up Allisyn Kay, her best friend — she claimed — and explained how upset she was that Kay thought she wasn’t ready for a shot at the NWA Women’s Championship last week. Kay came out and scolded Belle for not coming to her directly to speak about this topic: “This ain’t Dr. Phil.” Before Kay could explain anything else, Thunder Rosa returned and went after Kay and beat her down in the ring. Belle came into the ring and turned on Kay when Rosa offered Belle a free shot. That was a quick shift in emotion.

Next up was a cheap-looking vignette for a masked character called The (?) Mark.

Ricky Starks defeated Aron Stevens in a 2-out-of-3 falls match

When POWERRR returned, Aron Stevens was back and ready to challenge Starks to a two-out-of-three falls rematch. When Stevens disrobed he revealed he was wearing short trunks that match his complexion, so he looked naked, basically, like a swarthy Ken doll with pink knee pads. Jim Cornette suggested he may have dressed in the dark.

Stevens stormed Starks before the bell but Starks was able to roll Stevens up with a school boy cradle to win the first fall before he finished taking his ring gear off. Stevens rolled out of the ring in disbelief as the crowd went wild egging him on. Stevens finally found an opening when the referee’s back was turned to he poke Starks in the eyes, then went to town on him with strikes and a side headlock.

Starks was back in the match quickly. He has a really nice dropkick. Stevens did a Hunter Hearst Helmsley curtsy before getting rolled up for the second fall. The audience again chanted “you got beat” while Starks shot Stevens a flippant bow of his own. Stevens acted dumbfounded as he walked to the back. This was good, maybe even better than their previous bout. Both feel better positioned after this.

Colt Cabana (w/ Ken Anderson) defeated James Storm (c) (w/ Eli Drake) to become the new NWA National Heavyweight champion

This was a serious heavyweight match, a total 180 from the comedy-based go-home show he hosted this weekend for ROH. Storm spent much of the match getting the heat, beating over Cabana until “Boom Boom” stuck his boot up as Storm came down off the top rope. This wobbled Storm, which gave Cabana a chance to start unloading a few of his signature high spots, including everyone’s favorite, the Flying Apple.

Storm returned later with a flying elbow drop and Eye of the Storm, both for two-counts. Ken Anderson and Eli Drake got into on the floor before Kamille appeared and pushed Drake into Anderson, who landed a big right-hand. Kamille then got into Anderson’s face. In the ring, Cabana used the Superman Pin on Storm for three. Colt Cabana is the new NWA National Heavyweight Champion. Storm said he’d see Cabana real soon and gave him a thumbs up while the crowd chanted for Cabana in the ring. This was a fine match, not great but not bad.

The Dawsons stormed out after this. They rushed to Marquez at the interview desk and demanded the aforementioned match with Eddie Kingston and Homicide, who came out and kicked off this impromptu main event.

Cornette leaned into passé cultural stereotypes and claimed Homicide and Eddie Kingston hung out on “the bad side of New York state,” the “rough places where people get cut, shot and stabbed,” even though there are much better ways of getting heels over in 2019. This turned into an impromptu brawl with Kingston and Homicide’s Into the Fire tag title shot.

Homicide and Eddie Kingston defeated The Dawsons

This was a basic brawl that the crowd was into. Homicide and Dave Dawson traded fishhooks. The Wild Cards came out after a few minutes and attacked Homicide until eight-time NWA World Tag Team champions, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, cleared the Wild Cards from the ring. The crowd chanted “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and posed with Kingston and Homicide before the end of the show. Kingston and Homicide will keep their title shot for the upcoming pay-per-view next month.

Final thoughts:

If you’re already on board with the NWA reboot, you’ll probably dig this. It was fine. Its strongest point was that it felt like it knows where it’s going. Every match served a purpose, regardless of quality or execution. The Dawsons are the weakest act so far, but they’ve been booked well, their flaws mostly hidden since their matches tend to be either really short or chaotic. J

ames Storm versus Colt Cabana was decent but felt flat for a title match. Guys like James Storm, Eli Drake and Ken Anderson feel like throwbacks to 10 years ago, which doesn’t feel right for this show. Aron Stevens and Ricky Starks felt more fresh and actually more on-brand, as those always seem to capture the studio wrestling spirit each time they wrestle. Thunder Rosa came off strong in her debut, as well. Again, overall, a fine, functional show with a definite destination.