Alright. Let's get back to (strictly) business.
Oh sweet! Somehow I'm back to where I left off on the live viewing. That's weird, but appreciated.

I agree with 🤯 when it comes to Question Mark needing question marks running up and down his tights. Should have made that observation before. These ? segments are so intentionally bad. Yet they continue to get over with the live crowd.

Whoa! Shooter Stevens is attempting to level up by breaking a board of Mongrovian Oak, which is surely the strongest wood to be found on this planet.

"I feel like we should be humming The Best Around right now."  :lol:  Joe Galli with a Slick Nick-level line. Can Shooter Stevens achieve the 4th degree??

WHAT?!? The Student has struck Shooter Stevens with the mighty Mongrovian Oak!

But wait! The Student unmasks. It's Ricky Starks!

Super fun angle. So gloriously 80s. I rescind what I wrote a few posts back about this being an intentionally bad segment.

I guess this means Shooter Stevens vs. Starks for the Fancy Placemat at Hard Times? Wait....Starks is already in the TV Title Tournament. Dammit NWA! Get your booking together.

Yes! Tony Falk is back!
It's a Waffles and Tire Irons repeat. But still! Waffles and Tar Arns! You can never go wrong with that killer combination.

Gauntlet Time. Looking forward to this. And there's CW! OK. I'm gonna stop writing and watch this from start to finish.

Ok. So this is like a Royal Rumble. Cool! CW Anderson & Caleb Konley are our first two participants. Prediction: "Mr. View Count" Scott Steiner wins this.

Jocephus returns! Nice exhibition-y style wrestling by CW & Konley in the opening 2 minutes.

lol Jocephus lasts about 2 seconds.

Aron Stevens doing Jerry Lawler Royal Rumble spots is just so right.

🤯 will have a new entry into the Great NWA Attire list when he gets a look at Zicky's fanny pack. Just googled BC Squared. No joke. They don't seem to be real   Genuinely disappointed. I'm always looking for a good hair metal band.

I feel bad for Caleb Konley. Maybe this ROH crossover will give him a run there. I liked Bald Dawson's splash. But that Fallaway Slam into everybody standing around was rough. 

Back to the match!

Where the hell did that top rope pele kick by Sal come from? Sal is on fire!

lol and then Sal botches. Now I see why he never made it big. Konley's picture perfect Merosault is the last move in a finisher parade to eliminate Bald Dawson.

Anderson comes in as a house afire, quickly eliminating Rinauro & Konley in back to back fashion. Colt & Ken displaying some nice teamwork. And now CW has been eliminated via Colt Superman Pin.

Wtf it's The QUestion Mark.
But wait! Like Joe Galli, I forgot Stevens was still in this. He holds Colt & Ken for the dreaded Double Mongrovian Spike. NO! They move. Stevens is hit.

Oh. My. God. Stevens with the GOAT sell. That's it. Pro wrestling can end now. This will never be topped.

BOO! Anderson steals it from Colt with a sneaky rollup. That match was a lot of fun.

BOOOOOOO! Anderson turns on Cabana once and for all. What a jerk!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Anderson mic checks Cabana into the post. What a SUPER jerk! This Cabana/Anderson feud is gonna be good. Hopefully Colt kicks his ass.

Hard Times video. Good video and, god help me, even the song is starting to grow on me a little bit.
Eli Drake & James Storm promo time. When/how did these guys become friends anyway?

Call me crazy, but I think James Storm just outpromoed E Li Drake. Out charisma'd him too. I'm just making up words now.

Matt Cross & ROH's Dan Maff are the outside entrants into the TV Title Tournament. Holy 2004 indie scene, Batman.

Cross was a crazy high flyer who was in good shape the last time I saw him....in like 2004.
Maff was good in weapon-y brawls but mediocre at best in regular matches last time I saw him.....also in like 2004. He needs to speak up in promos.

EDIT: Flip Gordon gets promo time as well. I guess he's a heel? The average NWA wrestler smokes Maff & Gordon on the mic.

I like how they have plans for Hard Times in place regardless of whether Aldis or Morton wins. That's some good Kayfabin'.

Wtf?!? Stevens vs. Scott Steiner for the National Title at Hard Times. Why? Where did this come from? This pay per view booking, man. I just don't know.

Whoa! Aldis/Morton is so big the mad genius himself, William Patrick Corgan, is out on commentary.

Hear! Hear! Good move by William Patrick to ban all seconds.

This really does feel like a big match. Probably the biggest since Aldis/T. Storm way back at Episode 1. Should have saved it for the pay per view though.

All this hoopla and stalling is the best way to approach this match.

Morton vs. Aldis was a smart match with the right finish. Morton can't really move or bump. So they did a good job of working around those huge limitations. Also like how they borrowed a bunch of Flair/Morton spots.
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Good show overall. Not as good as Episode 13. But few things are. It got me thinking about actually ordering Hard Times after all. So it did its job as a go home show. We'll see what I'm doing Friday night...

Forgot to mention this week's Producer Watch saw Simon Diamond and Trevor Murdoch show up under their shoot names.

I like how knowledgeable Willam Patrick Corgan is. The guy is no dummy.