{"id":89855,"date":"2019-11-30T15:02:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-30T21:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=89855"},"modified":"2019-11-30T15:02:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T21:02:10","slug":"nwa-power-hits-misses-11-26-melina-interview-with-joe-galli-a-huge-stinking-pile-of-miss-plus-empty-arena-match-eli-drake-thunder-rosa-aron-stevens-question-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/11\/30\/nwa-power-hits-misses-11-26-melina-interview-with-joe-galli-a-huge-stinking-pile-of-miss-plus-empty-arena-match-eli-drake-thunder-rosa-aron-stevens-question-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"NWA POWER HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/26: Melina interview with Joe Galli a huge stinking&#8217; pile of miss, plus Empty Arena match, Eli Drake, Thunder Rosa, Aron Stevens, Question Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3006892534\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>\u2022OPENING MONTAGE &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll always include these, but I really like how they use 45 seconds to a minute just to recap prior events. Wrestling is an episodic show, so utilizing a \u201cPreviously, on NWA Powerrr\u2026\u201d is a nice touch and tone of anticipation to kick off a show.<\/p>\n<p>This week is still all about Kamille and her deal. We are shown all of her antics and actions over the past seven weeks while Aldis\u2019s promo from last week is spliced in between, reiterating him saying her actions are her own.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022JOE GALLI INTRODUCTION &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> I was soft on this at first, whether to include it in Hits &amp; Misses or not, even whether to judge it as a hit or miss. Galli makes the first major announcement for the December pay-per-view, Into the Fire saying Nick Aldis will defend the World\u2019s Heavyweight Title in a two-out-of-three-falls match. But who shall be his opponent? Oh, Galli, you temptress, you. Temptor, maybe? Anyway, he keeps the cards close to the vest but suggests three possibilities in Ken Anderson (yuck), Colt Cabana, and Aron Stevens (huge eye roll and double yuck). This was a good set-up to our next segment though because Galli mentions how even Eli Drake wants to be considered and then throws to video of a promo.\u00a0Now why is this a hit? Well, because we do get convincing enough challengers to Aldis\u2019s title and we do find out the stipulation and the stipulation is fine. Building anticipation is always a hit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022ELI DRAKE PROMO &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Let him talk to ya! Eli Drake stood in the center of the ring with Dave Marquez from a Championship Wrestling in Hollywood show and blessed the mic with a really strong promo mostly directed at Nick Aldis.\u00a0While including scenes from Eli\u2019s early years at NWA Hollywood\/Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, he states he started in the NWA, left for other places, but came back to the NWA only to find that Aldis filled the void Drake left. Eli says Aldis requested NWA bring in a challenger for him and there\u2019s one person ready to challenge him and that\u2019s E-LI-DRAKE!<br \/>\nAt this point the crowd is into the promo and chants E-LI-DRAKE but not before he completely flummoxed me by informing us all that people want to see him and Ken Anderson fight, going as far as to call it a dream match. GOD NO. That\u2019s no one\u2019s dream, Eli. Not at all. Yuck. But Drake closes with the difference between himself and Ken Anderson is Eli doesn\u2019t stop and he won\u2019t stop. He\u2019s got undeniable kevorka and can talk you into the building. His wrestling skills may not be as high as his verbal but it\u2019s adequate enough, but the guy knows how to look into the camera and sell you on a fight. That\u2019s talent, people.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022GALLI INTERLUDE #2 &#8211; NEUTRAL:<\/strong> Nothing important here outside of announcing the NWA Tag Team Titles will be on the line next week between the champion Wild Cards and the former eight-time champs Rock &amp; Roll Express<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022THUNDER ROSA \u201cINTO THE CAGE\u201d PT. 1 &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> I really enjoyed this even though it had absolutely nothing to do with Thunder Rosa as a wrestler or character. Rosa had her first MMA match for Combates America (which I think was the El Patron Alberto venture) and the first part was a focus on her training and preparation for her first fight in the cage.\u00a0We get to see her steely determined look as she worked out with her coaches from Brazilian Top Team Texas and at one point she jokes about wearing face paint while training. We learn about her life\u2019s work with differently abled children and ignored students and how dealing with those kids\u2019 troubles really pushed Thunder Rosa more into wrestling as an escape and way to release.\u00a0Again, this had nothing to do with any storylines or her as a wrestler, but as a piece focusing on a person\u2019s background and other combat sport dabblings, I really enjoyed it. It didn\u2019t have the glitz and polish of a Cody segment leading into Full Gear, but regardless I liked the grittiness of her story as it compared to the rawness of the footage. Good stuff in a tight situation. (Tight situation? More on that later)<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022GALLI INTERLUDE #3 &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Joe Galli announces a National Title match for Into the Fire\u2026 well, kinda.\u00a0Next week, The Question Mark will fight Ricky Stevens and the winner will challenge Colt Cabana for his NWA National Title at the pay-per-view.\u00a0Oh, but why is this a hit you ask? Joe Galli plugs Question Mark\u2019s new shirt and it\u2019s hideously awful and that is why it is brilliant and I want one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022ARON STEVENS\/QUESTION MARK PROMO &#8211; MISS:<\/strong> I don\u2019t play coy at all when it comes to Question Mark. I am a fan of all of the silliness, but this pairing with Stevens is just too much. You can\u2019t add goofy throwback to scenery chewing ham and expect it to go over well.\u00a0Aron Stevens is dressed like he just left the set of a Vivid Pictures film and insists on heavy handed overacting, which is saying a lot for this being professional wrestling. Aron continues with not allowing Marquez to look at him, he went to the same joke twice saying karate normally while Question Mark informs him it\u2019s pronounced kah-rah-taaaaaay and there\u2019s dead silence.\u00a0Why is there dead silence? Oh, Dave Marquez tells the heels that Question Mark will face Zane Dawson in an empty studio match. That\u2019s what makes Aron\u2019s act all the worse; he hams it up and delivers these stupid jokes to no studio audience, so everything just hangs in the air like an needless apostrophe. Oh, but we did find out that last week when Jim Cornette said Question Mark was from \u201cMongrovia,\u201d that he was indeed correct because Stevens said the masked man is from \u201cthe deepest, darkest corners of Mongrovia.\u201d So, yes, I reckon Question Mark is also from Africa, potentially doubling down on the Ethiopia fiasco. This was a bad segment to lead into.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2252215521\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u2022QUESTION MARK VS ZANE DAWSON, EMPTY STUDIO PLUS MASK VS. SHAKESPEARE MATCH &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> This was a hit for the most part. Now, if you didn\u2019t watch this show and you\u2019re reading the headline for this segment, you\u2019ve got to be wondering what the hell just happened. For some reason, it was announced that if Question Mark lost, he\u2019d have to unmask. Sure, why not? I mean Dawson and Question Mark have no previous history really so why not add such an overwhelming stipulation that lets you know immediately who is going to win. Not to be outdone though, Aron Stevens asks that the Dawsons read Shakespeare if they lose because acting is hard! He\u2019s right, it\u2019s hard. He\u2019s overacting in an attempt to be a bad actor as a character and there\u2019s so many Inception-like layers to it that the whole thing is bad and proves he\u2019s having a tough go with this acting thing.<\/p>\n<p>This was a quick squash with Question Mark going over in mere minutes with the Mongrovian Spike after issuing a half decent missile dropkick that the chosen camera angle showed barely made contact, if any. I did like Question Mark using his textbook trapezius chops and gimmicky offense while the gruff Dawson used the dragging-the-eyes-across-the-rope on a masked wrestler, so that has to be so painful. It was just a good squash that was simple and easy.<\/p>\n<p>One thing though that struck me as hilarious was that this was billed as the main event. So we got a squash match main event in a show that featured no other matches. Yeesh. (More on this later.)\u00a0The Dawsons did indeed read Shakespeare, at first terribly while Zane sold the injured throat, and then less terribly and more passionately and with conviction! See, they hammed it up in their second attempt and it worked. But we got back to the terrible acting when Aron Stevens reached under the ring for a lined wastebasket to kayfabe vomit! And boy did he try to ruin this entire segment but Question Mark saved it again doing the little things of holding his head close to the bin while pinching his hair back like a great friend after a Friday night of college binge drinking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022GALLI INTERLUDE #4 &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Another match for Into the Fire is announced as Question Mark will fight Trevor Murdoch. I want to see this, even though I think Trevor Murdoch is capable of so much more, I just want to see how they handle someone as rough and tough as Murdoch when paired against the ultra gimmicky Question Mark.\u00a0Joe Galli makes this interlude a hit by pulling out his mobile phone and saying he slid into Question Mark\u2019s direct messages on Twitter to ask how he\u2019ll prepare and that Question Mark\u2019s reply was \u201cKA-RAH-TAAAAAAAY!\u201d And yes, Joe even grunted it out and did the hook hand motion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022MELINA INTERVIEW WITH JOE GALLI &#8211; HUGE STINKING PILE OF MISS:<\/strong> Okay, people, before I focus on the overwhelming negatives, I learned in a teaching camp something called \u201cbullseye feedback\u201d. The aim with bullseye feedback is layering; you begin with a compliment, insert the areas that need work and then close with another compliment.<\/p>\n<p>I love that NWA Power uses two chairs and ringside in an empty studio for these interviews. This just works. The bright blue and yellow of the ring apron pops against the darker colors usually worn by the guests, the production is usually a little slicker, and it just comes off as real rather than forced.\u00a0Unfortunately, Melina has to sell why she\u2019s in NWA and that\u2019s when things just go off the rails.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with Melina telling us she loved wrestling as a kid and that was a time when wrestlers fought for a cause, for heritage, for family name. Sounds like she liked lucha to me and that tracks. She came to the NWA because she wants to innovate and be different, and that\u2019s fine and here\u2019s the first major car crash.<br \/>\nJoe Galli, bless his heart, ask \u201cYou used the term \u2018revolutionized\u2019 and I think, just as an outside observer, your work in the ring helped revolutionize women\u2019s wrestling\u2026\u201d I watched a lot of Melina and I fail to see where she revolutionized much, but she lets us know. She was the first to pay attention to entrances and presentation, and she was the first to use her flexibility. I mean, seriously, I don\u2019t even know what to do about this or what to do with this, but sure, Melina, it\u2019s your world and we\u2019re just living in it.<\/p>\n<p>Moving the focus to the Women\u2019s Champion, Allysin Kay, we get the most confusing three minutes of word vomit I\u2019ve heard in a long while. Melina says Kay thinks she\u2019s the best but she isn\u2019t (even though she\u2019s champion but okay). Melina then befuddles me saying you can\u2019t be the best until you\u2019ve beaten someone that makes you feel worthless, which I guess Melina has? Sure? And then we get the huge 10 car pile up that I watched five times to see if maybe I\u2019m stupid or she\u2019s just not making any sense.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1559923468\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>So let me slowly walk through this with you, reader. Melina says Allysin Kay treats the title like an accessory while telling the women they aren\u2019t ready for a title shot. Melina then adds that she would make the women work for title shots. Melina immediately follows this saying all of the girls are worthy contenders because they try hard and get back up from a fight. So let\u2019s run this all back. Allysin tells the women\u2019s division they\u2019re not worthy of a title shot; Melina, on the other hand, makes women work for title shots but also believes all of the women are worth a title shot simply because they are there. Five times, y\u2019all. I watched this part five times.<\/p>\n<p>She closed this horrendous interview segment letting us know that she is indeed a living legend, seriously, and that the Women\u2019s Title deserves more than \u201cAllysin mmKay\u201d. Okay, that was a good one, mmKay, I can give credit where it\u2019s due.<\/p>\n<p>Some people need scripted promos, and that\u2019s okay. Joe Galli let the interview breathe and didn\u2019t force in questions, but also Melina didn\u2019t stop yammering about nothing long enough to let Galli ask much. However, for all of her word vomit, she looked like a star, so that\u2019s something.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022THUNDER ROSA \u201cINTO THE CAGE\u201d PT. 2 &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> We return to the second half of the package about Rosa\u2019s first MMA fight. There\u2019s some candid footage of Rosa in her hotel with fellow tag team partner and Twisted Sister, Holidead, six hours before the fight. I liked seeing that, especially considering shortly after this cage fight, they had a great \u201cLast Time Ever\u201d match at Ladies Night Out 8. There are some scenes of fight preparation including hand wrapping, sparring, wrestling practice, and prayer.<\/p>\n<p>Thunder Rosa lost the fight in a unanimous decision, 30-27 score from all three judges, but her coaches were extremely proud of her. I loved the raw mixed emotions from Thunder Rosa, as we see her vacillate between happiness, sadness, relief, and exhausted. It really was a great shift from the acted emotions of scripted combat to the real emotions of shoot fighting. I found this second part to be a beautiful poetic counterpart to the first half. Thunder Rosa fought hard for her students and often left feeling exasperated and spent but took delight in the small victories, though the journey hurt. I think we could draw a parallel to her journey from training to post fight.<\/p>\n<p>It may have nothing to do with wrestling, but this is a good package and I see a huge babyface in Thunder Rosa down the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022GALLI CLOSING &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Galli adds to the card for Into the Fire: Allysin Kay and Ashley Vox vs any combination of Melina, Thunder Rosa and Marti Belle. He gives us a reminder for next week\u2019s matches of Colt Cabana vs Ricky Starks in a non title match and Rock &amp; Roll Express vs Wild Cards for the Tag Team Championships. The final revelation was who shall challenge Nick Aldis for the NWA World\u2019s Heavyweight Championship and it\u2019s none other than Cowboy James Storm, which really makes us wonder what did Kamille whisper to him last week and how will Aldis feel about this and deal with this and her. This Kamille thing is good stuff because I just get more invested every week thanks to their opening montages and reminders of how much of a constant thread she is in a lot of goings on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022OVERALL &#8211; HIT*:<\/strong> I kept parenthetically adding \u201cmore on this later\u201d at parts of these hits and misses and now let\u2019s get to that. I say this show is an overall hit because we now have a card for Into the Fire and a title match that makes sense and has a lot of intrigue around it that has been building since the first episode and that\u2019s a great payoff so far.<\/p>\n<p>I also call this a hit because this couldn\u2019t have been the original Power #8. They had one in the can but shelved it after the Cornette ordeal because this had no wrestling except one match that was done in an empty studio and had weird stakes for no reason. That suggests that Lagana or Corgan or both went to the drawing board, packed a show with Thunder Rosa in MMA and a wretched Melina interview and a quick match to have some kind of wrestling on this show. That\u2019s my guess as to why this episode is a bit disjointed from the rest. It had that feel of a clip episode of your favorite sitcom somewhere around episode 100, just enough to satisfy hunger while keeping its part in your weekly routine. They did a good bit with less and it worked well enough.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/11\/30\/11-26-nwa-power-tv-report-the-question-mark-vs-zane-dawson-in-an-empty-arena-match-drakes-return-interview-replay-of-james-storm-vs-colt-cabana-overall-a-bad-recap-episode-that-does-damage\/\">11\/26 NWA POWER TV REPORT: The Question Mark vs. Zane Dawson in an Empty Arena match, Drake\u2019s return interview, replay of James Storm vs. Colt Cabana, overall a bad recap episode that does damage<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1223512992\"><div id=\"pwtor-847253865\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u2022OPENING MONTAGE &#8211; HIT: I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll always include these, but I really like how they use 45 seconds to a minute just to recap prior events. Wrestling is an episodic show, so utilizing <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/11\/30\/nwa-power-hits-misses-11-26-melina-interview-with-joe-galli-a-huge-stinking-pile-of-miss-plus-empty-arena-match-eli-drake-thunder-rosa-aron-stevens-question-mark\/\" title=\"NWA POWER HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/26: Melina interview with Joe Galli a huge stinking&#8217; pile of miss, plus Empty Arena match, Eli Drake, Thunder Rosa, Aron Stevens, Question Mark\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/SandowDamienWK2_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89856,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89855\/revisions\/89856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}