SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NWA NUFF SAID PPV REPORT
FEBRUARY 11, 2022
AIRED ON FITE TV
REPORT BY JUSTIN MCCLELLAND, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
NWA Announcers: Tim Storm, Velvet Sky, and Joe Galli
(1) LA ROSA NEGRA vs MISSA KATE
Negra hit a spinning powerslam then got the pin with a frog splash in 6:10.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Pretty basic match with a couple of awkward sequences.)
Bret Hart opened the proper show in a pre-recorded promo, praising Ricky Steamboat as one of the best wrestlers of all time.
(2) DAK DRAPER AND MIMS vs THE OUTLAWS (DAX JANE AND BULLETT PROOF BLAKE TROOP) (w/ CHRIS SILVIO)
Both teams appear to be establishing themselves as permanent teams, with Jane and Troop even giving their unit a name. The Outlaws controlled 90 percent of the match until botched interference from Silvia led to Draper pinning Troop at 7:30.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Strange booking to introduce The Outlaws as a group, give them what amounted to an extended squash and then beat them. NWA suffers from too many incompetent managers, including Silvio. Glad to see the very underrated Mims get a victory, even if he wasn’t the focal point of the match.)
May Valentine talked to EC3, who noted he had signed a contract with the NWA and gave the usual ECW nonsense.
(3) ODINSON vs JOE ALONZO
Odinson beat Alonzo with the pounce and some F5 variation at 7:05.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This was actually a really good undersized heel vs monster babyface, with Alonzo getting believable offense through sneaky, underhanded tricks and Odinson fighting them off to big pops. The only problem is Odinson was clearly a heel on his last appearance when he cowardly fought Bully Ray and won via underhanded means, a whole program that apparently has been dropped.)
May Valentine talked to Thrillbilly Silas, who gave his usual entertaining promo vowing revenge on Kratos later.
(4) NATALIA MARKOVA AND MERCURIO vs MAX THE IMPALER AND JENNACIDE
Markova pinned Jennacide with a spin kick and double arm DDT at 7:15. After the match, Magic Jake Dumas returned and how a stare down with Mercurio
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This was a mess, alternating between boring and all the participants looking lost. Neither team got along well either which felt redundant.)
(5) THOM LATIMER vs PSYCHO BOY FODDER – Singapore Cane Match
Latimer made Fodder tap out with a cane assisted crossface at 6:18
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This was much better than I expected. They worked a smart match, limiting the cane shots so that when one hit it had impact in the match and didn’t become redundant. Also, by keeping it short, the stipulation didn’t wear out its welcome.)
(6) KERRY MORTON (c) vs ALEX TAYLOR (w/ DANNY DEALZ) – NWA Cruiserweight Championship
Morton pinned Taylor with a GTR at 10:33.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: A very fun match. Taylor worked great here and Morton has improved by leaps and bounds in the past year. They played babyface and heel perfectly and Ricky got to knock out Dealz on behalf of his son. Both men kicked out of each other’s finishers before the finish.)
(7) THRILLBILLY SILAS MASON (w/ POLLO DEL MAR) vs KRATOS
Mason pinned Kratos at 10:13 when Kratos ran into an exposed turnbuckle, leading to Mason choking him out.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This was the third match for these two and Mason was out for blood after Kratos attacked his manager in the second match. I thought this match had good intensity from both men to get over their hatred. Kratos bled a ton which seemed unnecessary. It felt pretty early in the show for blood, he got busted open only in the last ten seconds of the match but bled so much they had to stall the show to clean up the mat. The match could have just as easily ended 30 seconds sooner when Mason hit his normal finisher, but Kratos kicked out of that.)
May Valentine talked to Angelina Love, who promised to win the Women’s World title tonight.
(8) NWA WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: PRETTY EMPOWERED (KENZIE PAGE and ELLA ENVY) (c) vs ROBIN AND CHARLOTTE RENEGADE
Charlotte pinned Envy with a rollup at 9:04.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Better than expected. Kenzie Page has shown significant improvement and her moves looked crisp and she carried herself with an intensity throughout the match. I haven’t seen much of the Renegade Twins but they try to add personality to the match. The finish was out of nowhere and a bit anti-climactic, although would be understandable if they use its fluke nature to build a rematch.)
(9) THE RARE BREED KEVIN KILEY vs ECW
EC3 made Kiley submit to the Purpose (Cobra Clutch) at 8:30.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Although better than EC3’s usual weird forays, this was still pretty bad. Kiley, the former Alex Riley, has not wrestled in 6 years and it showed. The poor guy looked like a deer in headlights for a lot of the match, with no presence or confidence.EC3 was on offense most of the way. Kiley tried a tope con hilo at the end but his foot caught on the top rope and he crashed to the floor. Fortunately, Kiley appeared ok. Thom Latimer’s unresolved blood feud with EC3 appears to have been dropped.)
(10) LA REBELLION (MECHA-WOLFE and BESTIA 666) (c) vs BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA (CARNAGE and DAMAGE) (w/ ARON STEVENS – NWA World Tag Team Championship
La Rebellion won via DQ after Stevens interfered at 6:06.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Blunt Force Trauma is a cool tag team name, but the guys are two masked dudes with generic names so I can’t see them going far. This match felt like the set up for a PPV match instead of the actual PPV match. La Rebellion controlled 95% of the match and were basically about to win when Stevens interfered. BFT laid out the champs afterwards so a rematch seems imminent, anyway.)
(11) CHRIS ADONIS vs TREVOR MURDOCH
Adonis sidestepped Murdoch’s top rope bulldog and locked on the master lock for the submission at 8:20
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Excellent hoss fight. These two came at each other with non-stop stiff blows. Murdoch took much of the match, but did so in a way that it made Adonis’s victory more impressive when he pulled it off. Announcers seemed to hint Adonis was looking for the world title down the line.)
(12) KAMILLE (c) vs ANGELINA LOVE – NWA Women’s Championship No Disqualification Match
Kamille pinned Love after spearing her through a table at 12:38
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This was the best match on the show. The usually stoic Kamille showed a new side by attacking from the crowd and coming at Love with unhinged animosity. Because we really hadn’t had any weapons since the Fodder/Latimer match, the weapons used here got over huge and the match was very well worked.)
May Valentine talked to Tyrus, who put himself over as the most viewed world champion. The star of this segment was Black Jeeze, who cut a great promo about how he was upset he couldn’t be at ringside through a stipulation Tyrus named, but still was confident Tyrus would be victorious.
(13) CYON (c) (w/ Austin Idol) vs HOMICIDE – NWA National Championship
Cyon pinned Homicide with the rolling Death Valley Driver at 16:29
(McClelland’s Thoughts: This match was ok but too long given Cyon’s limitations as a worker. The ending was very peculiar as Cyon won clean as a sheet with no interference and in anti-climactic fashion.)
(14) TYRUS vs MATT CARDONA – NWA World Championship
Tyrus pinned Cardona with the Tongan Death Grip at 13:13. Bully Ray was the guest announcer and saved Tyrus from interference from Knox and Rolando. Afterwards, Ray tried to put over Tyrus but Tyrus no sold it, then said he’d have a match with Bully Ray anytime.
(McClelland’s Thoughts: Cardona worked a pretty smart match here by doing most of the work. He took out Tyrus’s knee early so Tyrus could play to his strengths – namely laying around on the mat. I know he stip was no interference, but I can’t believe anyone would be shocked or outraged the match actually had a ton of interference. NWA did a good job of presenting their world title match as a special thing.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a vast improvement over NWA’s last PPV outing, Hard Times 3. The work was strong pretty much throughout and there was not nearly as much bad booking as hampered the last PPV. For the promotion’s overall health, I don’t have a strong sense of direction where the NWA is headed from here besides a Tyrus/Bully Ray match down the line. They’ve left a lot of plot threads hanging and have guys switching from face to heel or vice versa with no explanation. Many of their champs have held their straps for a long time and all those divisions feel like they could use some freshening up. Chris Maitland and I will discuss this show further on the Wrestling Coast to Coast podcast this Thursday.
CATCH-UP: 11/12 NWA HARD TIMES 3 PPV REPORT: Tyrus vs. Murdoch vs. Cardona, women’s triple threat, more
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.