A Pay-Per-View event by the NWA
Sadly, it has been a while since I have watched anything from the National Wrestling Alliance. My schedule got a little bit crazy as of late, end I really haven’t had the time to keep up with everything. Due to this, this is the first show that I have actually watched since last year’s Hard Times 3, and on paper this looks every bit as good of a show as any other that they do. In my previous review, I mentioned that I had some reservations based on the crowning of Tyrus as the new National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion. That isn’t to say that he is undeserving of the title based on the fact that he has definitely paid his dues and put in a lot of work these past few years, but we all have specific preferences and I’ll just say that he has a lot to do to win me over. That’s why this show will be particularly interesting, considering this is his first big pay-per-view title defense. I’m sure that he’s defended the belt on one of the two YouTube shows, but the National Wrestling Alliance does not generally give away title changes on their free programming very often. As with any show like this, I am going into this with an open mind and am prepared to have my opinions shattered.
Tyrus has definitely been making the rounds for the company as of late, considering he was featured in a Fox News Super Bowl ad clearly holding the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship. Say what you want about this company, but that’s pretty big. Unless I am mistaken, none of the other wrestling programs got any sort of big promotion like that, so one could say that putting the belt on the former Funkasaurus is probably more intelligent than what a lot of Internet fans think. I’ll give it up to Billy Corgan in that he never does what people expect him to do or play into any sort of formula used by modern wrestling companies. I mean, you would be hard pressed to find any of the major television companies that would consider putting their main strap on a tough as nails, down-home boy like Trevor Murdoch, but he did just that last year and Tyrus seems to continue that trend. All in all, this should be a hell of a show and I’m excited to watch it and get back in the saddle for this company. With any luck I can set aside a little bit of time here soon to get back into the weekly programming and this is a great first step in that quest. Now it’s time to quit the jibber jabber and talk about this show.
If you want other wrestling shows, I would recommend Fite.TV. You can get some FITE credits (10 dollars I believe) with the following code: “6m6lyyn”. I’m sure there are other ways to watch some of these, but FITE has a solid interface and has been worth it so far.
I would have mentioned that I had previously been an NWA All Access member, and would have been more than eager to recommend that for a way to watch this and the company’s other big shows, but sadly this service under Fite.TV has been discontinued.
Otherwise, the show has a free pre-show on YouTube that can be watched below:
The Card:
- 1P La Rosa Negra defeated Missa Kate by pinfall Singles match 6:07
- 2P Dak Draper and Mims defeated The Outlaws (Jax Dane and Blake “Bulletproof” Troop) (with Chris Silvio, Esq.) by pinfall Tag team match 7:23
- 3P Odinson defeated Joe Alonzo by pinfall Singles match 6:56
- 4P Mercurio and Natalia Markova defeated Jennacide and Max the Impaler (with Amy Rose) by pinfall Intergender tag team match 6:59
- 5 Thom Latimer defeated Fodder by submission Singapore Cane match 6:21
- 6 Kerry Morton (c) (with Ricky Morton) defeated Alex Taylor (with Danny Dealz) by pinfall Singles match for the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship – This was Taylor’s Champions Series cash-in match 10:30
- 7 “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason (with Pollo Del Mar) defeated Kratos by referee stoppage – Singles match 10:06
- 8 The Renegade Twins (Charlette and Robyn Renegade) defeated Pretty Empowered (Kenzie Paige and Ella Envy) (c) by pinfall Tag team match for the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship 9:00
- 9 EC3 defeated Kevin Kiley Jr. by submission Singles match 8:32
- 10 La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf) (c) defeated Blunt Force Trauma (Carnage and Damage) (with Aron Stevens) by disqualification Tag team match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship 6:04
- 11 Chris Adonis defeated Trevor Murdoch by technical submission Singles match 8:18
- 12 Kamille (c) defeated Angelina Love by pinfall No Disqualification match for the NWA World Women’s Championship 12:39
- 13 Cyon (c) (with Austin Idol) defeated Homicide by pinfall Singles match for the NWA National Heavyweight Championship 16:25
- 14 Tyrus (c) defeated Matt Cardona by pinfall Singles match for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship – No one allowed at ringside 13:20
DISCLAIMER:
I’ve come up with this little disclaimer since I have some new readers:
I usually go through a show and pull a half dozen or so things that I thought were significant or that I liked and concentrate on them, usually ignoring stuff I did not. You might think some of my choices are dumb, and that’s OK! We can all like different things, that’s what makes something like wrestling so great.
My Thoughts:
The Mile High Magnum:
Now is the obligatory time to where I gush about a member of a local wrestling federation that has made their way onto a national television brand. For anyone that reads my wrestling reviews, you know that I constantly get excited when I see pretty much anyone from a Missouri or Kansas-based wrestling federation pop up on any of the big shows, and the National Wrestling Alliance actually uses quite a few people from the Kansas City and Saint Louis areas. It is no mystery that the Mile High Magnum Dak Draper is one of my go-to favorite wrestlers whenever I attend a show from Central States Wrestling in Kansas City, so you would be right if you assumed that I would be excited to see him here. I’m glad that he is getting a good run in NWA considering he did work for Ring of Honor for a while, and honestly deserves a lot of props and television time that he seems to not get very often. Nothing makes me more annoyed than when I see him on an episode of AEW Dark losing to people that he has no business to losing to. but I digress…. Luckily here, they have tagged him with everybody’s favorite behemoth of a man Big Strong Mims as a tag team that appears to be moving towards dominating the National Wrestling Alliance tag team division!
Psycho Boy Fodder:
I was a huge fan of the two experimental films that EC3 produced in 2021 called Free The Narrative. They were thematically similar, although largely different, than his most recent project CYN or Control Your Narrative, which largely became a touring brand exclusively set aside for wrestlers that may have been lost in the shuffle or pushed aside by the mainstream wrestling corporate machine. Some fans were hard-set to torpedo this initiative considering there were some, what some would call “problematic”, wrestlers on the payroll. To play Devil’s Advocate a tad, it’s not like anyone was up on stage talking about Flat Earth Theory or Qanon, so I’m honestly not sure why such an outrage occurred. One of the wrestlers that I liked in the Free The Narrative films was the subject of this blurb in Psycho Boy Fodder. He’s another one of those wrestlers that is very underrated and shockingly is very new to the whole business. He has a style and mannerisms that would have fit right in with most late 90s hardcore wrestling brands such as ECW without it being some kind of homage. He honestly reminds me a bit of Vampiro, which is always a good thing. This match with Thom Latimer was every bit as brutal as one can expect a Singapore cane match, and they really set the tone for the rest of the show tonight. Of course, Latimer is a beast of a man, and somebody that literally nobody should piss off, and Fodder paid the price here in spades.
That Escalated Quickly:
In the “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason vs Kratos match, a turnbuckle spot from Kratos backfired and you would have thought the man got shot out there. I mean blood is pretty common in wrestling matches unless you are watching just WWE, but this one was kind of insane.
Controlling His Narrative:
One of those big “what ifs” of the past decade was WWE’s Alex Riley. He was young, had “the look” and finished up a high profile feud with the Miz that set him up for a huge babyface run at one point, then BOOM, he was gone. Word is that he stood up for himself against backstage hazing and was penalized for it, something that should honestly be done and over in 2023. Who knows how true that was, and whether it’s the real reason he was let go, but I always wondered what happened to him. On this show, we saw a glimpse of a potential come-back as EC3 stepped up to give him another chance and allow him to “choose his narrative”. Kevin Kiley Jr. may not have been in spectacular shape anymore, but he gave it his all and despite one scary moment, he seems to have delivered. There was a point in the match where Kiley Jr. attempted to leap over the top rope but the rope caught his thigh and he roughly landed on the floor. It looks like he’s okay, so hopefully it’s not the last we see of him.
The Brickhouse
Billy Corgan better do everything in his power to not let Kamille “jump ship” any time soon. She easily is the top performer for just about every big show they do, and her matches are always solid. She’s held the National Wrestling Alliance World Women’s Championship for years now, and honestly, she’s one of the few people who hasn’t grown insanely stale despite a long title run. This match with Angelina Love was awesome, and had all the trappings of any classic no DQ match, and elevated both performers easily. I would love for this feud to continue, but this was likely the big blow-off match, but my fingers are crossed for more.
Speaking of Great Matches…
Cyon has come out of nowhere and become one of the performers I enjoy the most on this show. He’s a classic old-school masked heel character that isn’t just a silly parody gimmick, and you can tell he loves doing what he does here. I doubt anyone could have a bad match against Homicide, and this was no exception – if the women’s match wasn’t on here this would have easily stolen the show. Cyon won the National Heavyweight Title at NWA 74, and I can’t see him losing anytime soon if he keeps dominating the division. Tyrus better be careful, Cyon could be a future threat for the big one.
Hmmm…
So, I will just say this wasn’t my favorite match of the show. It’s not anything on the performers involved, as both did what they could, but the match went with a storyline where Tyrus is an underdog babyface and Cardona sent waves of goons try to interfere to no avail. Tyrus always works great as a monster of a man, and taking that away seems like a bad call. I see what their doing here, but I don’t think this match did well at making anyone look good or protect Tyrus in the grand scheme of things. Fingers crossed for next time, which appears to possibly be a confrontation with Bully Ray. With his vast knowledge and experience, I trust Bully might be able to put on a solid match, we shall see.
Conclusion:
Overall, this was a solid show albeit with a bit less “oomph” than some previous shows from Corgan’s National Wrestling Alliance. My top matches were no surprise to me, as I always love Kamille and Cyon whenever they are on. Nuff Said had a solid pre-show, plenty of surprises including new women’s tag champs, and a great venue to work with. I’m not sure if a lot of workers quit or if they are refreshing who they are pushing as of late, but it was somewhat cool to see a lot of under-used athletes get those bigger spots on this show. This still has the main issue of short matches with no build-up taking a lot of real-estate on the match card, thus making it feel more like a special TV episode than it should. Despite its flaws, the majority of Nuff Said was solid, and I look forward to the next show.
Arcadia Pod 