I'm back! No job promotion gonna keep me away from my favourite wrestling promotion!

Tim Storm thinks the main event JTG vs Chris Adonis match could be an instant classic - he's a little bit more optimistic than me...

First match is Pope vs Sal Rinaro for the TV title. This is Pope's sixth title defence, win here and he's just one more away from the Lucky 7 shot against Aldis. Sal is showing the wounds of being attacked by Colby Corino, and Pope immediately goes to work on his injured shoulder. A big shoulder block by Pope knocks the trainer's tape right off Sal's body! Rinaro got one shot in with a superkick reversal, but it's a brief moment of hope, as the Elijah Express ends the match well before the 6:05 timelimit.

After the break Austin Idol cuts another long promo that doesn't make a lot of sense (this seems to be done on purpose now given how Kyle plays it?) but we find out that Pope's seventh defence will be against Tyrus.

Women's tag team match next with Rosa and Skye Blue vs Serena and Kylie Rae. Rosa and Kylie start it off with good technical exchanges, and then Serena heels it up a bit against the rookie Skye - which Tim compares to Dennis Rodman!! Kylie locks in a crossface on Blue, Serena pulls Rosa off the apron, and Skye is forced to tap. This was good, as you'd expect with those three involved. Rosa goes after Serena following the match and they fight through the curtain.

Jax and Crimson are at the podium with Kyle. Jax makes his partner promise not get angry when he reveals whatever it is...which turns out to be Slice Boogie. Crimson isn't impressed, but true to his word he doesn't get angry, just walks off. OK.

More angry big dudes as May interviews Kratos backstage. Didn't know that Kratos could speak! He never liked the way that Aron Stevens did things, but things have been improving since Stevens started showing he's series about winning. He even sort of likes him!

Speak of the devil, Aron is out on commentary for a "lucha rules" six man tag match with the Hawx boys & La Rudo facing off against La Rebelion and their partner....HOMICIDE! Brrrrrrat BRRRRRATTTT BRRRAT BRRATTTT! Fun little tornado match which I can't be bothered recapping because of all the movez, but La Rebelion win with the Mark of the Beast on Luke Hawx. They're coming after the tag titles.

Adonis vs JTG was a 2011 WWE Superstars fixture and ten years later they're still working a very similar match. Adonis with a long heat section to start, JTG makes a brief comeback, Adonis finds a way to put on the Masterlock. The ref begins to check JTG's arm, but before it drops for the second time, Fred Rosser comes from the back and throws in the towel on his behalf. Murdoch questions why Rosser didn't just let JTG lose "like a man" and Fred says he had no choice and he needed to have his friend's back. Meanwhile, JTG isn't happy with the ref, saying he didn't quit. Pretty odd choice here to have Adonis wins back the title which he only just relinquished.

I've actually heard some very good things about Fred Rosser's match with JTG and his work in NJPW Strong, for whatever that's worth.

Jun 15, 2021 4:21:52 GMT @admin said:

The second Rosa/Kamille match was quite a bit better than the first in my opinion so I would be interested in your thoughts on that one when you get around to it - I think they definitely addressed that issue you had with the first not building up in excitement and anticipation.

Finally watched Rosa/Kamille II and it was certainly an improvement on their first encounter.

Kamille's greenness is still very much front and centre. Almost nothing she did felt natural. When she was selling, it didn't look convincing, she looked like someone doing what she thinks a wrestler does when they sell. She could barely string two moves together without a hesitation between each move, as she calculates what to do next. When Rosa was grappling her at the start, Kamille looked like she had no clue, Rosa had to do all the work. To me it feels like she's far too inexperienced to be placed in such a prominent role.

All that said, I still really liked the match. Loved the opening five minutes. Rosa used her agility to pick the leg and score some takedowns, then just stayed on top of her applying small holds here and there, completely relentless. Commentators always say that a smaller opponent should keep the big opponent down but you never see this strategy executed at all, never mind with the caliber of tekkers as Rosa demonstrated.

Camille eventually used her power and size to gain an advantage. Although she was hesitant on offense as I mentioned, her moves pack a wallop and had Rosa scrambling for survival. During a double down the manager do a little song and dance to get themselves ejected by the referee. Feels like the match should be ending in the next couple of minutes but they go on for much longer. It's at this point the match started to drag a little, this phase felt directionless like their first match, but there were some nice spots and fortunately they transitioned into a really exciting finish.

Great match in spite of Kamille's weaknesses.

------------

The next event is a PPV right, with Trevor Murdoch challenging Nick Aldis? What's it called and when did it happen?

It's the start of the Champions Series this week on Powerrr. We get a long video package introducing tonight's matches, teams and scoring and I'm confused already!

The first match sees Team Kamille & Austin Idol representative Thom Latimer facing off against Aaron Stevens & Taryn Terrell's man Marshe Rockett. Marshe hits a nice dropkick but Latimer takes control of the match following a slingshot spear (narrowly avoiding falling on his face in the process). I've never really noticed it before but I think Thom must have been watching some Triple H matches during the pandemic because he really starts giving me Hunter teas with both his moveset and selling style. Rockett has him up in a fireman's carry, but Latimer tears off his elbow pad which distracts the referee, he rakes Marshe's eyes and then drops him with a Stunner to pick up the win. That's five points for Kamille and the senile old man and they're on top of the leaderboard!

Next up we've got Jennacide representing Velvet & Pope going toe to toe with Skye Blue fighting on behalf of Aldis & Melina. This is a typical big girl vs small girl match up, Jenna dominating with her power and largely no selling any of Skye's offensive attempts. Skye finally manages to hit a rana and a crossbody, but a second headscissors attempt is counted into a sit out powerbomb and Jenna picks up five points for her team.

Mims (Kamille & Idol) vs JTG (Aron & Taryn) is up next. JTG dominates early on and delivers an absolutely massive spinbuster. Mims fights on with a number of last second kickouts and eventually manages to mount a comeback, but misses a top rope senton which puts him right back on to defence. They fuck up JTG's finisher with Mims falling out the back of the Razors Edge, so they try it again and they miss the neckbreaker part. No time for a third attempt obviously so that's the match.

Main event is Murdoch (Velvet & Pope) vs Fred Rosser (Aldis & Melina) and they kick it off by chopping each other senseless. Trev gets the better of it and then gets in a little bit of jaw jacking with Nick who's on commentary. Murdoch hits his top rope bulldog, but instead of going for the cover he locks on a crossface style submission to pick up the win. Aldis is fuming and says Murdoch would never be able to beat him like that before dumping down his headset and storming off.

So in Bracket A it's tied up at five between Kamille & Idol against Aron & Taryn, while in bracket B it's Pope & Velvet with a commanding 10-0 lead over Aldis and Melina. The second half of the round one matches are next week. I'm not sure what they're even fighting for to be honest. I guess a title shot for the winners? But the captains or the competitors? Who knows.

None of the matches were bad but it's more of them focusing on the in ring stuff which isn't a strength, and less on what they should be doing which is fun promos and storylines. They've got a double PPV coming up at the end of August - why are they not building to that?

@admin, has #NWAPowerrr completely dropped the silly vignette and fake ads?

Jul 28, 2021 12:57:18 GMT 🤯 said:

@admin , has #NWAPowerrr completely dropped the silly vignette and fake ads?

Unfortunately! The only ads they run now are for Aldis' action figure, and Austin Idol and Ricky Morton's wrestling schools. The only "backstage" segments they do now are stand up interviews with May. It really doesn't make any sense - all you can assume is that Dave Lagana was behind all of that creative stuff?

@admin Funk is on a roll?

Yeah I wasn't going to bother posting about it but Empower aside I won't be watching anymore.

Aug 10, 2021 2:09:02 GMT @admin said:

Yeah I wasn't going to bother posting about it but Empower aside I won't be watching anymore.

What happened?!

Well they gave one of their belts to a sexual harasser, so that's not great.

Aug 11, 2021 5:00:41 GMT KITN said:

Well they gave one of their belts to a sexual harasser, so that's not great.

Oh...

So does William Patrick Corgan probably have more in common with Dave Lagana than we know? Or... maybe he just likes to troll?

FOXNews representing!

NWA: When Our Shadows Fall

For those following at home, this is the PPV from June 6th, and could be the last NWA show I watch. My interest in the promotion has been waning; the only thing that's keeping me around is the women's division, but I will also check out the main event.

Melina and Thunder Rosa vs Taryn Terrell and Kylie Rae

To be honest I'm not sure how Kylie Rae got involved in this match but it's nice to see her back. Taryn Terrell has impressed me a lot on the mic, and her attire is wonderful. She has a fantastic character and as the match gets underway I see that everything she does in that ring fits that character. Where has Taryn Terrell been all my life? Kylie is also great, her happy-to-be-wrestling personality meshes well with Taryn. She locks Melina in an armbar and beams at her partner, saying "look how well we're doing!"

Kylie and Thunder worked the majority of the match, and boy were they good. Everything is so crisp and fluid. Melina also worked a bit and I liked what she saw. Taryn, meanwhile, didn't tag in for the rest of the match. She interfered and broke up a pinfall before being carried out by Thunder Rosa. However this allowed Kylie Rae to roll up Melina with a fistful of tights, and that's the match.

Fun tag match which left me wanting to see both Melina vs Taryn Terell and especially Thunder Rosa vs Kylie Rae. Are both those matches in the company's future? No idea.

Serena Deeb (c) vs Kamille

Thunder Rosa has been able to carry Kamille to some acceptable matches, but NWA Women's Champion Serena Deeb is even more of a ring general. What can she conjure up here?

The first half of the match is 99% Kamille. The champion tries hard, but her agility and technical ability is no match for Kamille's raw power. Kamille dominates, and she looks great on offense. Powerful suplexes and throws. One thing I especially like is that when Deeb is escaping one of her holds, she doesn't try to hold on and allow Deeb to mount some offense. She gives up the hold and transitions into a suplex or a strike. Kamille appears to get gassed after 5-10 minutes of pure offense.

However Deeb is tough as nails and eventually finds a way back into the match by relentlessly attacking Kamille's legs. She hits a rope-assisted neckbreaker after which she's finally able to take her giant challenger down with a flying forearm. What follows is a great back and forth battle between power and technicality. Deeb is able to counter the Spear two times into submission holds. However Kamille escapes, and smartly takes advantage of Deeb tweaking her own knee to lock in a Half Boston Crab. Deeb survives, but after that she has nothing left and cannot stop a third Spear attempt. Kamille is your new NWA Women's Champion.

Very good match, Kamille's weaknesses in cardio and selling were on display, but it had more structure and was more exciting than either of the two Rosa vs Kamille matches.

Nick Aldis (c) vs Trevor Murdoch

This was a very meat-and-potatoes match. For a long time the most sophisticated move used was a bodyslam, but they did good work with it. Murdoch got his shine at the start, Aldis took over and delivered strong offense to the back, and they went into the third act, and one of the dumbest finishes I've seen in a long time.

One of Aldis' buddies comes to distract the ref. Aldis grabs a steel chair and wallops the referee from behind, sending him to the floor. He then has his way with Murdoch. Murdoch dodges a top rope elbow, hits Aldis with the chair a couple of times, locks in a Sharpshooter. The ref slides back into the ring and calls for the bell. Murdoch thinks he's the new champion.

Now the obvious explanation is that the ref disqualified Aldis, so Murdoch wins, but doesn't become champion. That would make sense, but it would also be really lame. It wasn't that. The ref actually disqualified Trevor Murdoch!!! For what? I don't know. Using a chair, apparently.

In conclusion, the women's matches were good!!!

I was going to check the show out but it’s $38.99 AUD ($28.48 USD) on PPV, Almost $10 more than AEW with CM Punk’d return match on it 🥴.

Price accordingly! Happy for Trevor Murdoch finally ending Aldis’ reign though.

A THOUSAND DAYS... for TREVOR MURDOCH?!

To be fair Trevor Murdoch is fucking awesome and is a perfect representation for the NWA. He's a great babyface and the crowd was going crazy for him tonight. Apart from a few small missteps, his chase for the title has been the one decent thing they've booked since the reboot.

Oh, there was a PPV last night? Suppose it's time to watch another show. I have a day off work today, nothing better to do. This is inventively titled NWA 73, because it's the 73rd PPV.

Kylie Rae vs Mickie James

Pretty short match, maybe around five minutes. Those five minutes were pretty entertaining and action-packed, but there wasn't really any time to build a real story. It was good for what it was.

Kamille (c) vs Chelsea Green

The last Kamille match I saw was her defeating Deeb to capture the very title she is defending now. Is this her first defense? No idea. I've never seen Chelsea Green before. She at least matches Kamille in height, but lacks the physique.

The match starts off quite technical. They go for a rapid fire sequence of rollups early on, but it's not as quick or as smooth as they'd have liked it to be. Still earns applause from the crowd, so good for them. In general it feels like both ladies are executing a pre-planned routine. No struggle on their faces, everything is a bit too clean.

Things improve when Kamille takes control. Unsurprisingly this is a more exciting phase of the match. Kamille is in her element when she's in command. Things take a more violent turn when Kamille starts attacking Green's braced up broken wrist. I'm not a fan of the way Green sells. She escapes a torture rack and hits a nice cutter to stop the champion's attack.

The comeback begins. Kamille bumps and feeds for Green's awful strikes. Moves happen. Kamille hits a Spear but Green is able to get her foot on the ropes. That was a nice spot - didn't see that one coming. Thought the match was over. Kamille sets up for a second spear, but then changes her mind and locks a keylock on the broken wrist. Green shows no pain on her face, but taps out after a few seconds.

Dislike.

Nick Aldis (c) vs Trevor Murdoch

After the bullshit finish that was their previous championship match at When Our Shadows Fall, I thought I'd be done with this title scene. But learning that Murdoch actually defeats Aldis, the only way to right that wrong, I might as well see how that plays out. Pre-match package suggests that Murdoch lost to Aldis another time, and then he made a third challenge, this time putting his career on the line. Fair enough.

For some reason they have the ref cut a shouty promo about how important this match is, speaking directly to the wrestlers. I think they know how important it is, shut the hell up ya goof.

Nick Aldis gets the jump start and they brawl in the crowd for a few minutes. They reach the ramp. Aldis slams Murdoch hard. Billy Corgan comes out dressed like an absolute moron and jawjacks with Aldis. Why? I don't know. Murdoch is slammed again on the hardwood. Back to the ring. Aldis asks the ref to ring the bell. He does so.

Aldis struts towards Murdoch. Murdoch explodes out of his corner with haymakers. Crowd gets excited. OK, this is getting good. However Aldis is able to escape and catch Murdoch with an Olympic Slam for a two count. OK, now they start going through the NWA greatest hits reel. Aldis hits a Lou Thesz Press. Does the Ric Flair spot where he is slammed from the top. Murdoch applies the Figure Four.

They have a spot with Aldis getting in the ref's face, then Murdoch accidentally clobbers him. Murdoch hits a Sky High, goes to check on the ref, back to Aldis, Aldis hits a low blow. Honestly, I'm finding it hard to care about any of this, and I'm not really sure why. I'll stop narrating and get to the end.

There are lots of near falls, Trevor hits a piledriver followed by the top rope bulldog for a win. The crowd goes wild. Trevor's completely unremarkable country music jingo hits. New champion. I still don't care, to be honest.

Let's face it, Nick Aldis was always a big fish in a small pond. Yet when NWA Powerrr started, he felt bigger than that. He felt like a "real world's champion", as he so often said. Perhaps because he had those fairly high profile matches with Cody, including one in AEW.

But as time went on, and the pandemic hit, and the NWA roster thinned, and the storylines got progressively worse, he really did start to feel like a hollow champion, an irrelevant one. And while the Trevor Murdoch rivalry was a pretty good saga, it's still hard for me to care because the promotion has fallen so far, and consequently the championship feels fairly meaningless.

Not to mention the match quality. I don't think I've enjoyed a single one of Nick Aldis' matches. I suppose he's just too old school for me, and I do myself a disservice by trying to force myself to enjoy it.

Good for Trevor Murdoch. The first NWA Powerrr match I saw was Trevor Murdoch vs Ricky Starks. It was short but I really liked it, and that's inspite of its "old-school" style. He's a good representative of the company, in my opinion.

Planet FN Tyrus can move still. Def can see Corgan setting it up for Tyrus vs Murdoch in a good ol fashion hog match between two big boys. 

I think Kamille vs Hirsch was considered the better match for Kamille of the two nights, Hirsch worked her ass off this past Saturday. 

"Can move still" in the sense that he can move his limbs, sure.

I'm 28 years old and the most athletic I ever was was one season of JV football in high school. If I started wrestling training *tomorrow*, I could be a better wrestler than Tyrus in six months. A low fuckin' bar to clear, but that's my point.

Tyrus shouldn't even have a job. He's a garbage wrestler and an even worse human being.

Didn't watch the show but saw Murdoch vs Aldis and yay Murdoch I guess. Was also cool to see Ric Flair showed up. That was fun.

I don't know how you get NWA to that next level after COVID left them dead in the water for so long but a feel good title win is a nice starting point. Guess we see where things go from here.

Impressive for a big man and at his age to try anything on the 2nd rope, or maybe just plain ol' dumb. Steve Austin said it's no man's land for a 300+ pounder to go and do anything from the top rope. Keith Lee is the exception to that rule but I think Braun Strowman was trying to do a frog splash and nearly killed himself in the process years ago.

Kamille vs Leyla Hirsch was excellent. I've seen Hirsch a few times in AEW, but there she was a jobber, and I must admit I didn't take much notice. The Leyla Hirsch who challenged for the NWA Women's Championship seemed like a different woman. It was evident even in the first minute of the match that she has a swagger and charisma that I'd not noticed before.

Match was great from start to finish, but particularly impressive was Leyla's comeback starting from an amazing German suplex from the top rope. She then rattled off some more German suplexes, I could feel her fire, I was getting energised. Some great near falls and spots. My favourite being where Leyla missed a moonsault, I thought it would be Spear and game over, but Leyla evaded the spear and they did a few more spots before the finish.

Fantastic match, certainly the best I've seen from Leyla and perhaps the best from Kamille as well.

The NWA title match was loads of fun. Trevor Murdoch wrestled the match of his career in his biggest spotlight. Good for him.

The latest episode of Powerrr showed up on Youtube so I figured it was time to give my favorite wrestling promotion of the last 15 years another shot.

Don't feel like doing a lengthy recap right now though. Show started off slow. I hated the opener and Idol/Velvet doing a hack Heenan/Monsoon act on commentary. But I started feeling a little of that good ol' NWA Powerrr groove about halfway through. They ran a big angle at the end with Aldis and the rest of Strictly Business that I'm sure will be the focal point of the promotion over the next few months.

Verdict: Still not going to bother with Fite but I'll keep watching if they continue posting episodes on Youtube.

What a segment. Aldis is the man.

Great segment indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Baker, 🤯, we back boys! Powerrr is back on Youtube starting tomorrow!

YES! power returns!

Jan 5, 2022 22:40:13 GMT @admin said:

Baker, 🤯, we back boys! Powerrr is back on Youtube starting tomorrow!

Worth a like!