NWA Powerrr

[SirEdger]

46 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

From what I have read, he is treating RoH and New Japan like a package deal. So he's not choosing RoH so much as he is choosing Japan. 

So basically, what you're saying is that it could come down to which promotion between ROH and AEW could allow him to work New Japan more easily.

Obviously, the ROH/NJPW working relationship could be an advantage for ROH but considering how NJPW seems to be slowly distancing themselves from ROH, not sure it's the case anymore. And Jon Moxley is proof you can work both AEW and NJPW. For all we know, Marty could prioritize Japan, first and foremost, which I see as a very plausible possibility.

[Coffey]

I marked for Nikita. The closing angle was good too. 

[rovert]

Thought NWA PoweRRR was pretty fantastic by relative standards/considering what they have to play with. They really lucked into Stu Bennett being available post-Cornette. Two Joe Galis wouldn't have cut it. Like they are being a bit more liberal with the studio concept showing backstage vignettes and the great Marty sitdown interview. Then there was small things like Aldis endorsing Starks. 

[Migs]

The Marty stuff very much seemed to me like a build to a PPV match with Aldis that could be a one-off. I'd pay for that rematch, though.

The thing I don't get on Marty to NJPW would be that he hasn't worked there since the BOSJ. Maybe ROH blocked it because of the relationship going to shit? (There were ROH shows during the fall NJ tours, including Super Jr tag league, where you'd think Marty and Flip would have been obvious candidates.) Anyway, I'm fascinated to see how this all plays out, as Marty is in a very 2019 situation, not just with all these options but also his own merch sales that make him less beholden to a promotion than most.

[The Thread Killer]

I enjoyed this week's episode of Power(rr). 

Obviously they are going to hype the Marty Scurll thing, and so they should. 

The Aron Stevens promo was funny, and I loved the shots at WWE. ("That's right...I said BELT.") It went a little long for my tastes, but overall it was fine. 

I am a fan of the TV Title Tournament, and I don't have a huge issue with the 6:05 time limit.  The traditional time limit for the TV Title in JCP was 15:00 minutes, but Power is only an hour or thereabouts, so I can understand the need for a shorter time limit.  Plus, it really puts the onus on the challengers to win the match quickly, because I assume if the matches go to a draw the champ retains.

I have been hoping that the NWA was going to add new talent.  I marked out when CW Anderson showed up, as I have always been a fan of his. He is exactly the kind of guy the NWA should be going after.  When I said I wanted new faces, Zicky Dice wasn't exactly what I had in mind...but okay.  I guess it makes sense that if the NWA wants new talent that some of it is going to come from Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, considering their relationship with the NWA.  I was already planning a TV Title reign for CW Anderson in my mind, when Zicky Dice won the match.  I can live with that, provided CW sticks around. (I haven't read the spoilers for the rest of the tapings, so I assume he does show up again.)  Zicky Dice reminds me of a JTTS they had in Stampede Wrestling when I was a kid named Goldie Rogers. 

I was happy to see the names in the tournament, there are some potentially great champions in there.  I was shocked to see Aldis enter the tournament.  Cool to see Nikita Koloff as well.

The Drake/Anderson rematch was okay, although I preferred their match at the PPV.  The angle at the end was obviously the interesting thing.  Aldis aligns himself with the Wild Cards, they pretty much go public about the Kamille/Lattimer relationship, and it looks like we have a new stable, I guess.  I was puzzled by them attacking Tim Storm, since he can't get a match with Aldis for revenge, but then I remembered that they are both in the TV tournament, so maybe that will play into the situation.

The only stuff I didn't really like this week was the continued emphasis on the Rock & Roll Express, and Melina.  Both situations cannot possibly result in a decent match in the ring, so I don't really care about it.  But as always the show was more enjoyable than not, and the hour just flew by.

[The Thread Killer]

On 12/18/2019 at 3:19 AM, rovert said:

Thought NWA PoweRRR was pretty fantastic by relative standards/considering what they have to play with. They really lucked into Stu Bennett being available post-Cornette. Two Joe Galis wouldn't have cut it.

I meant to mention that as well.  One of the highlights of this show for me was Stu Bennett.  He's excellent and so is his pairing with Joe Galli.  I am a Jim Cornette fan but these two guys have way more chemistry than Galli and Cornette had.  This whole Cornette situation has turned out to be a blessing in disguise considering the way it turned out. The NWA doesn't have to worry about Cornette overshadowing them with constant controversy and now that he is gone, a lot of the NWA haters seem to have moved on...meanwhile they actually come out ahead when it comes to their broadcast team.

[Mad Dog]

I think the problem with Cornette is that he just wants to do his shit and get out. Stu Bennett tries to interact with him and teases him. The ODB situation is the perfect example of how Stu added to the situation by going "I think she likes you." I think Cornette is a good commentator but he isn't good at coming across like he has a genuine affection for the person sitting next to him.

[Sweet Brown Koko]

A new episode came out last night....

 

From what I can remember Ricky Starks beat Eddie Kingston and Question Mark beat Colt Cabana in the TV title tournament. Melina, Thunder Rosa, and Marty Belle beat ODB, Allison Kaye, and the 3rd lady I’m blanking on. James Storm and Royce Isaacs went to a no contest.

During a promo Trevor Murdoch and Zicky Dice were cutting about the TV title tournament The Pope came out and pretty much cut a promo sounding like Dusty and saying he was looking for his Horsemen. Zicky tried to put himself over to get in Pope’s faction but Pope walked off. There was also a drawing to see who would be facing each other next in the TV title tournament and Tim Storm will face Nick Aldis.

Eli Drake cut a promo I skipped, Josephus was dressed as Santa throwing stuff into the crowd and then shouting down an old man who also looked like Santa.

There might something I missed but it seemed like a good episode. I’ll have to go back through and watch everything.

[SirEdger]

The 3rd woman in the babyface team was Ashley Vox.

You missed the Royce Isaacs promo debuting his valet Mae Valentine and the "match" with James Storm. Kinda dig that version of Royce Isaacs as he feels bland in the Wild Cards with Thomas Lattimer but I thought he really killed it in that segment.

[Ricky Jackson]

Finally caught up with everything today. Into the Fire was good. The last two matches delivered, and the Scurll surprise was cool if not a little too WWE-esque with the "music hits and new guy confronts the champ" trope, but the rest of the show was pretty forgettable. I'm digging season 2 so far. The Kamille mystery was revealed to be Aldis playing mind games with everyone, which is fine. Tim Storm is amazing. What a great promo he cut on the last ep! The show has its own idiosyncratic way of doing things that I totally get being frustrating for some fans, such as most shows being a bunch of random segments that bleed into each other, and no great concern with delivering modern workrate "great matches", for example. It's far from perfect but it's good enough to entertain me for an hour a week 

[The Thread Killer]

In my opinion, the TV since Into The Fire has been pretty damn good.  One of my biggest complaints about the NWA was how thin the roster is, and they are certainly addressing that problem by bringing in more guys like CW Anderson, Pope D'Angelo Dinero, May Valentine (and uh...Zicky Dice, I guess?) I am really enjoying the TV Title tournament so far, that Ricky Starks vs. Eddie Kingston match was great.  The flying bodypress by Starks onto Kingston was one of the best and most crisply executed that I have seen in recent memory. They confirmed that Trevor Murdoch is staying around so that is great news and hopefully means there is a big push in his future.  The Aldis, Lattimer, Kamille and Isaacs stable are fine with me, they even got matching jackets...but no stable name yet. Nice to see ongoing storylines explained and pay off. That Tim Storm promo was fucking gold and I am really looking forward to Storm vs. Aldis IV in the TV title tournament.

[Dale Wolfe]

Tim Storm is a great character. Bit behind on this show but that mama storm promo is gold

[C.S.]

Another toxic liability for the NWA:

Lagana and Billy really can't win.

She's responding to this:

Another accuser comes forward and responds to Melina:

Statement from Rick Cataldo (the wrestler being accused):
 

What a sad, fucked-up situation.

[rovert]

Cataldo was connected to NWA?

[sek69]

48 minutes ago, rovert said:

Cataldo was connected to NWA?

Melina is, so defending a guy who seems to have multiple sexual assault accusations is the last thing the NWA needs to deal with.

[Coffey]

NWA Power this week was pretty good, although it aired a day late. Eli Drake did a good promo. Tim Storm did a good promo. Aron Stevens pulled double-duty, the second match against Trevor Murdoch which was fine. Since I wasn't watching during the premiere, I was able to fast forward, so I skipped the women stuff. Of course the draw being the Tim Storm Vs. Nick Aldis rematch, this time during the Television Title tournament, so unfortunately it would have had a 6:05 time limit... but instead, it didn't happen at all, which is even worse.

It's crazy to me that Tim Storm is 54-years-old, I only see him during NWA Power & he's still one of my favorite wrestlers right now.

Kamille looked great, like she always does. The name of the Nick Aldis stable is apparently Strictly Business. Royce Isaacs took Nick Aldis' place, big downgrade for me. But again, with the time limit, I'm not sure it would have mattered anyway. Tim Storm won with his Perfect Storm finish which is like the Black Hole Slam/Spinning Side Slam/Bossman Slam.

[Migs]

I watched this one while I was cooking, hoping for some more Marty. No luck. Really liked the Cabana-Drake face off, the way it went in a couple directions and felt like a real conversation. 

I think the show is suffering a bit with Aldis playing full fledged heel - I think he was stronger in the tweener role.

[Tenese Sarwieh]

Tim Storm is the best babyface in wrestling today. It's so easy to get behind and root for because he does his role so well, plus he gives those earnest heartfelt promos. He should never be off an episode of Power.

[The Thread Killer]

3 hours ago, Tenese Sarwieh said:

Tim Storm is the best babyface in wrestling today. It's so easy to get behind and root for because he does his role so well, plus he gives those earnest heartfelt promos. He should never be off an episode of Power.

I couldn't agree with you more.  Somebody needs to put together a compilation of everything Tim Storm has done since Power debuted, force the WWE "writers" to watch it and then shout at them: "That's how you book a babyface, dumbasses."

[The Thread Killer]

I thought this week's episode was just okay.  Up to this point I have thought Power had been pretty damn good since the PPV but this week felt like a bit of a stumble to me. The Tim Storm promo was really good.  I thought the whole Stevens squash leading into the confrontation and match with Murdoch was okay.  I like Murdoch getting TV time and a potential shot at the National Title, but I would still rather see him away from the comedy stuff.  Big fan of him beating Stevens with an Indian Deathlock, though. Not sure what the point of the Pope segment with Kingston and Homicide was. The Eli Drake promo was okay. It's pretty damn clear that these guys don't have scripted promos because sometimes they end up going all over the place and get a little lost. I totally skipped the Melina and friends segment and subsequent match, because anything involving Melina since she showed up has pretty much been grim death as far as I'm concerned.

The Main Event just pissed me off.  The general consensus I've seen is that the Aldis/Storm match they did on the debut episode was the best TV match the NWA has done since Power debuted. Coming out of the PPV they finally pay off the Storm/Aldis angle and set up another match between them quite nicely. They advertise it in advance, so I was looking forward to it.  They spend the whole episode this week hyping it up...and then they don't deliver the match.  That struck me as really stupid for two major reasons.  I've never seen that idea work, when you do a bait-and-switch and the fans are tricked into anticipating a match they don't end up getting. Those of us looking forward to Storm/Aldis IV did not want to see Storm/Isaacs.  Did anybody? Secondly, ever since the PPV the main focus of the show has been the TV Title Tournament.  Now your World Champion comes out and basically shits all over the title and claims that he's not even going to bother competing in the tournament because it's basically a joke and beneath him.  WTF?  So what was the point of entering him in the tournament to begin with?  Was this just some stupid angle to get Aldis heel heat for refusing to fight Storm again?  If so, it's just stupid.  Having the guy who is pretty much the face of your company belittle the new championship title you're introducing (that your next PPV is booked around as well) is just bad booking, in my opinion.

[Ricky Jackson]

I thought the whole deal at the end made Aldis a total asshole heel, for denying everyone, and most importantly Tim Storm, a match they wanted, and then saying he basically just announced he would be in the TV tourney as a way to amuse himself. Of course he was just backing out because he wanted no piece of Storm. Have patience, they will pay off Aldis/Storm down the line. That's one of the best things with NWA, they dont rush things. The eventual Aldis vs Storm match will mean so much more if they are kept apart for a while longer. Then it will epic, not a 6:05 TV match 

[C.S.]

I'm woefully behind on the NWA and want to catch up. 

I missed the clip show (two episodes before Into the Fire) and haven't seen anything since.

I don't have time to binge-watch a bunch of hourlong shows.

Can anyone give me a playlist of must-see moments, matches, and promos? 

Thanks.

[Coffey]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

Can anyone give me a playlist of must-see moments, matches, and promos? 

To be 100% honest, I don't think there is really anything. Watch the newest episode of Powerrr & they'll recap whatever you need to see, usually multiple times, including during the pre-show countdown. 

I would check out the PPV if you missed it though. But really, they're doing the whole Nick Aldis stable thing, Marty Scurll is waiting-in-the-weeds somewhere, they're doing the TV Title tournament in nothing 6-minute or less matches, while using a lot of The Question Mark because he's ironically over with the studio audience. That's all that's happened in the last month+

Oh and the women stuff with Melina but I don't know if anyone cares about that.

Stuff I would recommend to check out though, would be any of the Tim Storm promos.

[The Thread Killer]

This week's episode was pretty damn good, I'd say. 

- That is three weeks of excellent Tim Storm promos in a row.  I love this guy, and I love how popular he is with the fans in the GPB studios. 

- I thought Dice vs. Konley was a good match, but I don't get the Zicky Dice push.  We're what...a month since the PPV and we've seen CW Anderson once, while Zicky Dice is all over the show?  Odd choice.  Like I said before, he reminds me of a circa 1980's JTTS.

- The Stevens/Question Mark stuff was funny as usual. 

- The women's match was actually really good, and I didn't miss Melina one little bit.

- I thought the Aldis/Starks match was really fun.  Unlike @Coffey, I am actually enjoying them embracing this whole 6:05 time limit stuff.  It's unique to the NWA, it sets them apart from the competition and I've enjoyed pretty much all of the 6:05 matches they've had so far. This match put Starks over nicely and didn't hurt Aldis at all. Aldis has done a great job going full heel and really turning the NWA fans in Atlanta against him.

- The Drake/Storm vs. Cabana/Anderson match was fun...they're really telegraphing the Anderson turn on Cabana, but it's fine. 

- The end segment was fine.  I can live with Aldis vs. Ricky Morton as a TV match or whatever, it doesn't really bother me.  Even if they fight for the title at the PPV, the real focus of the next PPV is the crowning of the new TV champion, so the World Title match doesn't need to be a marquee match. I still don't like the Rock & Rolls being the Tag Champs, but the NWA tag division is crap right now, so whatever I guess.  So I guess coming up soon it's going to be Robert Gibson and two unknown partners against The Wild Cards and...Scott Steiner?!  I'm not really interested in watching Scott Steiner wrestling in 2020, but they don't script the promos in the NWA so that might be interesting at the very least.

There was a lot more actual wrestling this week, I thought this was a really good episode of Power.

[Log]

It might make you all happy to know that I was talking with a friend of mine who works in the wrestling business and he said that Tim Storm might be the nicest guy he's ever met.