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skelltan · 2 years

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Indie Promotion Round Up - Edition 1 Part 1 - NWA Powerrr

Throughout the years, wrestling has had its peaks and inclines. While you may have Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and D-Generation X tearing it up in WWE, you may also have your Kennel from Hell, Gerald Briscoe vs Pat Patterson evening gown match or Trish Stratus being force to bark like a dog.

2019 was no exception. I personally think it was a pretty great year to be a wrestling fan, from Kofimania in the WWE, NXT getting favourable reviews, and the inception of AEW. Sure, they weren’t without their hitches – Kofi’s title run ending in him getting squashed by Brock Lesnar or AEW’s growing pains, but I think it marked the start of something great with what would happen in the following years.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m not here to talk about WWE or AEW. I’m no even here to talk about NJPW or IMPACT. No, I’m talking about some of the lesser known promotions – namely MLW and NWA.

Both revitalised themselves in 2017, giving the American wrestling scene a few other shows to keep an eye on as they progressed. MLW was a previously short lived promotion that emerged in 2002 as a spiritual successor to ECW, down to having Joey Styles on commentary and featuring the likes of The Sandman, Raven, Sabu and other notable names, while the NWA is a long living promotion who’s history is a bit confusing, but basically, it once had the most prestigious title in all of wrestling, but has since fallen in prestige somewhat. Oh yeah, also, Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins bought it.

These two companies would have their ups and downs, from NWA featuring talent such as Thunder Rosa, Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks before they moved onto AEW while MLW had names like Darby Allin, MJF and the Lucha Bros. But where are they now? I’ve heard rumblings about both companies, but never found the time to sit down to watch them and see just what they’re all about. Well, that’s abou to change. Join me as I explore just what is happening in MLW and NWA after the fallout of their (as of writing) most recent PPVs.

I guess I may as well start off with the elephant in the room and have a glimpse at the NWA. They’re coming fresh off their “Hard Times” PPV, where, most notably, they put the world title on Tyrus. Tyrus, for those of you who do not know, is a man who was known for his time in WWE as “The Funkasaurus” Brodus Clay. He was a man who danced and… was a dinosaur. I guess. It’s not as cool as it sounds, trust me. In that role, he was never really relevant, nor was he world champion material – let alone now, 8 years after his “prime”, if you even want to call it that.

He also is a raunch conservative, constantly showing up on Fox News and has a sexual assault allegation against him. So, y’know. Great champion material. Anyways, the NWA has 2 main shows, both streaming on youtube. NWA Powerrr, which is their main show, and NWA USA, which focuses on the junior heavyweights. I think for this series(?) I’ll look at an episode of Powerrr, an episode of MLW Fusion (MLW’s main, and only, show, also youtube exclusive) and an episode of NWA USA.

So, without further ado, let’s dive into NWA Powerrr, season 11, episode 1.

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We’re live from the Sigur Center in Chalmette, Lousiana. Kyle Davis – huh? Is this guy the fused form of Aussie Open? Anyways, he’s an official at NWA, and our host. He welcomes us and brings Tyrus down to the ring. Tyrus himself is from Lousiana so I guess they also wanted him to be a hometown hero.

As he makes his way to the ring, there are some jester masks and such – because it’s Lousiana! I don’t know if this is part of the arena or the NWA themselves designed this but it helps the arena stand out.

We hear from one of our commentators – the commentary team is Joe Galli, Velvet Sky and Tim Storm. Joe informs us this is the start of the “Idolmania Sports Management era”. Well, ok, there’s something I didn’t know. Wrestling legend Austin Idol leads a faction that Tyrus is apart of. I’m guessing they’re the top heel group? Strictly Business was last time I was watching, but Nick Aldis left the NWA, so I guess this is their replacement.

Joe also mentions the Revolution Rumble, which I’m guessing is just the name of this slew of episodes, but also Powerrr Trip? Haven’t heard of it. At this point I glanced at the likes and dislikes and realised they were even, 1.5k a piece. Anyhow, Velvet Sky lets us know Idolmania has all the gold, which made me look it up. As of this episode, two other members of Idolmania held gold – Cyon with the National Championship (which is one of the midcard belts) and Jordan Clearwater with the Television Championship (the other midcard belt). I don’t know why there are 2 midcard belts.

I guess I’ll start a rant. People rant about how AEW or WWE has too many titles, but they serve a purpose. Sure, I’m not a fan of AEW having multiple midcard belts, but at least the ROH are for ROH whenever that relaunches, and the All Atlantic title has a vaguely international theme to it. But the NWA has a world title, two midcard belts, two tag team belts, two cruiserweight belts, women’s belt and women’s tag belts. For a company with a roster as small as the NWA, that’s too many damn belts.

Anyway, rant over. One of these guys is wearing a Ric Flair esque robe, another is a luchador. They don’t look like they fit together. Realizing I’m going to have to listen to a Tyrus promo, I now regret my decision to start this series.

Austin Idol sounds old as fuck and curses out Kyle Davis. He also refers to the Ric Flair looking guy as “the golden boy with the golden toy”. There’s a free innuendo for you. Kyle won me over by saying “I’m glad you found the hard cam” as Austin spins around to face said hard cam as he yells.

The group does a bit of a promo, not a lot to say but Tyrus calls out possible challengers. Matt Cardona, EC3, Thom Latimer. Apparently Cyon and Jordan Clearwater can cash in for the world title at any time? Sounds a bit broken, but ok.

I won’t lie, I wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but Powerrr only runs for about 40 minutes a week, so luckily they had time constraints as to not overstay their welcome.

We cut to the intro. NWA Powerrr used to have Into the Fire by Dokken as a theme – which actually got me to watch the Nightmare on Elm Street series and got me into horror movies. But now it’s a generic insrumental guitar song. Alright.

Anyways, time for the first match. Mims is here. He’s apparently the number 1 contender for the television title. He has an alright look, I hope he can back it up in the ring. Oh, he’s challenging for the Television Title right now. Alright. Well, it’s Jordan Clearwater, the Flair wannabe who stayed in the ring from the first segment, vs Mims. Maybe Mims can show us why he’s hot.

Joe Galli informs us there’s a 6:05 minute time limit for this match, as there is for all TV title matches? I have no idea if this is founded in history or they just picked a random time limit, but it’s a weird number anyways.

Clearwater is a chickenly heel and tries to run from Mims and stalls for time. Mims pushes him over, though. Clearwater gets back up, does some taunts, and threatens to leave, but Mims takes him by the hair and headbutts him.

Mims charges at Clearwater in the corner but gets a poke to the eye and hits him with… ok, I’m a wrestling fan, I’m not a commentator. I don’t know all the moves, but commentary doesn’t call it, so I’ll just say he slams him.

Clearwater takes control briefly, but Mims gets some hits on Clearwater – though that doesn’t last long as Clearwater takes control again and goes for a pin, but Mims kicks out at 1. Clearwater taunts the crowd to cheer for Mims.

He then whips Mims into the corner. Mims gets some more hits on Clearwater. Clearwater hits Mims with a suplex for a two count. He whips Mims again, but Mims goes for a sunset flip and hits it. Clothesline to Mims, however, for another two count.

Clearwater than gets a headlock on Mims, but Mims fights out. Mims hits a clothesline and back elbow combo and goes off the ropes but gets a big boot from Clearwater. Clearwater goes for the pin, but the time limit runs out.

This counts as a victory for Clearwater and is the 1st of 7 wins which will allow him to cash in the title to challenge for the world title. Ok, so Tyrus didn’t say the rules clearly. Anyways, I thought Mims might get a rematch – and hey, he might – but because of that 7 wins rule, I get the feeling they’re gonna want to move on.

It wasn’t a particularly great showing for either man, though I’ll chalk that up to the time limit. It made the match and having to structure it quite awkward, so we’re left with them trying to work a longer match in a short amount of time, so it doesn’t feel complete. I didn’t really get a feel for Mims as a wrestler and all I gleamed from Clearwater is he’s a coward. Hopefully they have better showings in the future.

There’s an ad for Austin Idol’s wrestling school. Then we’re back to the ring, a match with a 15 minute time limit. Alright, that’s more sensible. Anyways, here’s Ryan Davidson vs Odinson. Ryan looks a bit generic and is apparently from the Wildcat promotion, which they hype up, but I’ve never heard of it, so. His opponent, Odinson, I guess has a Norse mythology gimmick. He looks the part, at least. The chains look a bit out of place, but hey, it stands out.

Joe says he sprayed “the purpose” into his mouth – so I’m guessing he does some kind of green mist variation too? (Hi. This is editor skelltan. Coming back to this, I just realized this is never once relevant in this match.) Ryan here is apparently the longest reigning Wildcat champ, over 900 days. Let’s see how he does, then.

The two lock up. Odinson takes him to the corner, but Ryan fights out and pummels Odinson in the corner. He whips him to the other corner, and spins around – he looks a bit lost, as if he was expecting Odinson to run back and get hit with a back elbow? But continues running, getting hit with a big boot and clothesline. Odin hits an uppercut and sliding lariat on him for a cover and two count.

He lands a knee on Ryan, and two uppercuts in the corner before walking him around the ring for more uppercuts. He charges at Ryan in the corner twice, going for a spear but Ryan dodges. Ryan goes for the Manhattan drop and a scoop slam. He his the ropes and lands an elbow for a one count. Ryan gets Odinson in the corner and atacks him. He then gestures to the crowd, getting them to cheer and continues the attack on Odinson.

Odinson hits Ryan with a forearm and they jockey for position, hitting a DDT (at least according to Velvey Sky) that focuses on Odinson’s arm. Ryan continues working the left arm with a submission. The crowd gets behind Odinson to power out and hit a dropkick. Odinson then sells the arm a bit.

Odinson charges at Ryan in the corner, gets him to the other corner and charges again. He then goes for a torture rack but can’t hold it – Odinson then goes for a big boot and uppercut for a 2. Odinson goes back to the torture rack, but again can’t quite get it – Ryan hits him with a power slam for a 2 count. Ryan takes off an elbow pad and tries to go for something, but Odinson hits him with the pounce for the win.

Ryan looked a little awkward as I alluded to, but Odinson looked pretty good in my eyes. Obviously I’m not saying he’s anywhere near his level, but in terms of in ring style he reminded me a bit of Claudio Castignoli, what with the power moves and uppercuts. There was actually psychology in this match and the pace was much better than the opener and both men got some stuff in. Again, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a match of the year by any definition, but better than the opener and not that bad.

We then go backstage, where May Valentine interviews a man who’ll be in the main event – Aron Stevens. Like Tyrus, Aron Stevens is a castoff from the 2010s WWE midcard. He was known as Damien Sandow and was a henchman for The Miz and had an impersonation gimmick. I only got into wrestling in 2019, so I never got a chance to see him, but people actually thought he was funny in his impersonator role and thought he had potential – he also held the tag titles once and the Money in the Bank, though he failed to cash it in against John Cena.

Anyways, here’s Aron Stevens. Apparently he’s retired and May Valentine is his girlfriend. I don’t know if this is a work or he’s seriously stepping down from in ring action. He’s a little hammy and mildly entertaining. He’s no Eddie Kingston, but I’ve seen far worse promos.

We get another ad this time for the NWA merch shop.

Aron makes his entrance, but cuts a promo, again stating he’s retired and is a manager now, but is still gonna do this match. Apparently he has to or he’ll lose his manager license? He didn’t get that over in the promos, but alright.

Kratos is announced as “the most swagged”? He looks like a poor man’s Luke Gallows, which isn’t a good look. He’s also got garishly bright Hulk Hogan-esque red and yellow gear. He looks terrible. Commentary alludes to a story – Aron Stevens is friends with a masked wrestler called The Question Mark who’s identity is well known. I think I read Aron played one of them but there was another not played by him and the two fought? I dunno.

Anyways, Kyle says “due to the controversy of the black glove” that Aron Stevens is wearing, he must take off his glove or he’ll be disqualified. Very odd phrasing, but anyways, he takes something out of the glove and into his pockets. Underneath, he has another glove – a rubber one. Aron calls for a time out, though, and claims to not have a professional wrestling license, so he can’t wrestle, and says because he’s a manager, Kratos will be fined, suspended and gone.

Aron then beats down Kratos and then says his wrestler’s license is still valid. Kratos hits Aron with a big knee, though. He rolls Aron out of the ring and atacks him, and continues the atack in the ring. He tries to rip off Aron’s shirt. Kratos hits a release suplex. Some masked guys hit Kratos, and that’s the match.

I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Kratos work, but I didn’t get a chance to, so for all I know he’s alright. But yeah, in terms of in ring action and as our main event, that wasn’t great. But it served for an angle, anyways, so let’s hope it’s a good angle.

The Question Mark 2 comes to the ring – this is the one that faced Aron who was the other Question Mark, I guess, but he gets beat up. Aron puts his glove back on and puts something in the glove – I’m guessing something metal, and punches Kratos. The crew then beat up Question Mark 2 and pose.

So, that’s our first episode of NWA Powerrr in the bag. It wasn’t terrible, but if not for this series/my morbid curiosity, I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this. We still have to wait for a payoff for the main event angle, and Idolmania were whatever, but Odinson was alright, so I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him. Otherwise, I don’t have much positive to say, other than it wasn’t terrible.

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#nwa #nwa powerrr #wrestling #pro wrestling #indie wrestling #my reviews

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lamzillasreelthoughts · 5 years

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Royal Rumble 2012 Review

After the bloated version of the event in 2011, WWE decided to go back to basics for the 2012 Royal Rumble. While this change was welcomed by many fans, the big story leading into the show was the return of Chris Jericho. After CM Punk started calling himself “The Best In The World,” we all knew Y2J was going to come knocking sooner or later. After weeks of a brilliant heel turn that consisted of nothing but silence from Jericho, the final Raw before the Rumble had him issuing an ominous prediction: “It will be the end of the world as you know it.” Would Jericho’s return include the final accolade he had left to accomplish? Or, would one of the 29 other entrants have Jericho’s number? From St. Louis, Missouri, this is the Royal Rumble!

1. Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry in a Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: 2012 was the year Daniel Bryan really got over with the fans, and it started here in this cage match. All three guys had been feuding since the middle of December, and this was the blow-off to the Show-Henry story. Despite opening the show, this was a pretty bland affair. Henry was severely injured coming in, so Bryan and Show do the brunt of the work load. While it has a quick pace, the match never develops and is basically a series of moves until the finish, which does a great job of getting Bryan over as a sneaky heel. Despite that, this was a Smackdown quality match that probably shouldn’t have been on this show.

2. The Bella Twins, Beth Phoenix, and Natayla vs. Alicia Fox, Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, and Tamina Snuka: This was your typical “throw a bunch of divas out there to waste some time” match. Considering that this wasn’t announced before the show, that should give you an idea of the quality. While it was better than I expected, it is filled with the crap that the Divas did in every singe match prior to the women’s revolution. If you’ve seen one, then you can almost predict how this one will go. Although I will give credit to the match team colors.

3. Kane vs. John Cena: This was around the time that Kane had returned to wearing a mask, and suddenly decided to wax philosophical about Cena needing to “embrace the hate.” While this wasn’t as awful as it may seem on paper, these guys managed to get almost no heat in this match, despite the intense build to this contest. They really should have stuck a stipulation on this to spice it up. This was basically to keep Cena busy until his match with the Rock at Wrestlemania, and both guys do kind of phone this one in. The finish will be controversial to some, but seeing as how it advanced the story forward, it didn’t bother me as much. If only the booking didn’t get so damn terrible before Elimination Chamber. This match isn’t terrible, but it isn’t very memorable either.

4. Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre: You know it’s a rough show when you have two filler matches added the day of the show. Thankfully, this is just a squash match to get Clay over that doesn’t even last two minutes. I’m not sure why WWE pushed the Funkasaurus gimmick so hard, nobody could ride that to a main event push. Short, sweet, and to the point like it needed to be.

5. CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship: Finally, we get to something good. Both guys would have an amazing year, but this match was a bit below what I expected out of them. The biggest issue is that the second half of the match is all about Punk’s feud with Johnny Ace, where Ziggler basically becomes a prop for Punk to beat up. The first half is good, and set the pace for a better finish than what we got. While it may seem like I’m being negative, this was the clear highlight of the night. It’s just a shame that the second half can’t deliver on the promise of the first half.

6. The 2012 Royal Rumble: This Rumble seems to be very divisive to fans. Some people enjoy this, and other people hate this match. I’m somewhere in the middle. While it has more fun than the next three Rumbles that came after it, the spots are super spaced out, and parts of the match seem to drag. The biggest issue with the match is the finish. Jericho seemed like the obvious choice to win, but in an attempt to be unpredictable, Sheamus gets the surprise win. I can see why people have a problem with this, as it feels forced and unearned instead of a genuine shock moment. Despite that, I still had some fun with this Rumble, and would easily say it is one of the better ones from the last decade.

This show was very similar to the 2006 edition, in that none of the matches really delivered. The major difference here was that the pacing was well done, so the show is an easy watch. Despite having six matches, only the last two really stand out. While there isn’t anything terrible on the show, it does feel like it’s missing a really big moment. If you want to see it, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed, but I can’t see myself watching this one again anytime soon.

#2012 #Royal Rumble #Daniel Bryan #the bella twins #beth phoenix #natayla #kane #john cena #brodus clay #cm punk #sheamus

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