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Coffey

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I enjoyed your write up The Thread Killer. But you were way too kind about the Aron Stevens karate demonstration that went f-o-r-e-v-e-r on a show that was 90 minutes long.

I am big fan of Thunder Rosa and give she's undefeated in NWA and has 7 straight wins I am gonna be big mad if she doesn't win the strap lol. Same if Starks doesn't walk out TV Champ.

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On 1/22/2020 at 8:03 PM, Sweet Brown Koko said:

Hopefully with the apparent partnership with ROH we’ll see some of the older acts fade away. I like the promotion but they really need to figure out what they want to be. They have a chance to do some special things, IMO, but I think they need to move away from so much humor and nostalgia acts. There’s a time and place for these things but the NWA has been doing this a bit too much.

100% agreed. That's what I'm hoping they get from ROH. Love the avatar by the way.

I'd like to see NWA do the picture-in-picture old school style promos. The promos in NWA are great right now but they do them the same way every time so I think they should try to switch it up a little bit. 

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1 hour ago, rovert said:

I enjoyed your write up The Thread Killer. But you were way too kind about the Aron Stevens karate demonstration that went f-o-r-e-v-e-r on a show that was 90 minutes long.

I am big fan of Thunder Rosa and give she's undefeated in NWA and has 7 straight wins I am gonna be big mad if she doesn't win the strap lol. Same if Starks doesn't walk out TV Champ.

I never will root as much as I will for Tim Storm to win the TV title tonight but I wouldn't be disappointed at all if Ricky Starks won the tournament.

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2 hours ago, rovert said:

I enjoyed your write up The Thread Killer. But you were way too kind about the Aron Stevens karate demonstration that went f-o-r-e-v-e-r on a show that was 90 minutes long.

You're not wrong, it really did seem to drag on much too long.  I have to admit I have a bit of a soft spot for Aron Stevens so I probably am too kind when I review stuff he is involved in. I just thought he got screwed so badly in WWE.  Stevens has always struck me as one of those "should have been" guys. It was really interesting to hear Arn Anderson talk on his podcast this past week how Stevens basically got punished by WWE creative for having the audacity to become popular with the fans when he was "Misdow" without WWE creative planning it that way. (Very similar to how Rusev got his whole "Rusev Day" gimmick over with the fans so creative quickly stomped all over that.)

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

I never will root as much as I will for Tim Storm to win the TV title tonight but I wouldn't be disappointed at all if Ricky Starks won the tournament.

 

1 hour ago, Sweet Brown Koko said:

I would like to see Trevor Murdoch win but am guessing it will probably be Starks.

 

1 hour ago, Coffey said:

I actually think that Zicky Dice might win the TV Title.

Yeah if we assume the final four is going to be Storm, Starks, Dice and Murdoch then there really isn't a bad choice in there.  I can easily live with any of those guys getting the TV title, although Tim Storm is my preference. I am just so terrified it's going to be The Question Mark because Dave Lagana doesn't seem to understand the concept of Pro Wrestling fans adopting a less talented character as a joke.  The fact that The Question Mark has beaten Trevor Murdoch and Colt Cabana cleanly is just baffling to me.  He could lose every match and he'd still be just as popular with the fans.  Hell, if it was written cleverly enough they could even make his losing all the time part of the gimmick and make him even more popular. I also don't have a huge issue with Aron Stevens and The Question Mark teaming up to go after the World Tag Team Championships like they have claimed they will.  That wouldn't be any worse than having The Rock and Roll Express as your champions.

The Zicky Dice thing is funny, I really didn't "get" him at first and was pretty outraged that he qualified for the TV Title Tournament over CW Anderson.  However like I said earlier, say what you want about the guy, he can cut one hell of a promo and he is so comically outlandish that it works for him.  I'd rather they had somebody more serious like Storm or Murdoch win the title since Aron Stevens has already made the National Championship kind of the "joke" title and division, by naming it the "Third Degree National Championship" and all that. I like Zicky Dice but I don't see the need to have two guys who tend to be goofy having your two undercard titles.  The World Heavyweight Championship is treated very seriously by the NWA and I'd like to see the TV Title treated the same way. And in Starks case, a good long TV title reign could be win-win.  Gets the new title over as important and popular, while establishing Ricky Starks as a major player as well.

I have seen some people online complaining about this card tonight but I really do think it has a lot of potential.

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I forgot til you mentioned it about the 6:05 time limit so I imagine that will definitely come in to play for at least one match. I'm gonna guess Murdoch/Question Mark go to a draw, allowing Zicky to sneak in to the final, where he loses to Starks. But man I really wanna see Tim Storm come out on top and I really don't wanna see him go out in the first round but I'm kind of expecting that, coming off Anderson's heel turn. but Tim had so much momentum from the Aldis beat down and the incredible Dusty promo that I would hate to see that lead to nothing for him.

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15 minutes ago, Sweet Brown Koko said:

What happened so far? 

 

Dan Maff beat Zicky Dice

Tim Storm got a bye because Ken Anderson isn't medically cleared.

Ricky Starks beat Matt Cross

Trevor Murdoch beat The Question Mark.

They announced the next PPV is in April: Crockett Cup

Eli Drake & James Storm won the tag team titles.

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6 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

This has been a really good show so far. Everyone has really stepped up the inring side of things. Every match has been at worst good so far. Kay/Rosa is still going but it has been damn good so far.

That sequence where Thunder Rosa went for a running flipping Senton off the apron onto a standing Kay, whom caught her & hit her with the apron Powerbomb was insane. 

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This was a much stronger PPV effort this time out. I thought Into The Fire was mostly good but felt like a longer episode of the TV show. This felt like a PPV. The matches were generally longer and better. I thought almost all of the matches were good with Rosa/Kay and Aldis/Gordon being really really good. I think they did a good job of delivering a PPV caliber show.

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Agree with the above. Really strong PPV. the 6:05 time limit puts a nice twist on those matches, giving a reason to be so quick and short. Loved loved loved Thunder Rosa vs. Allysin Kay. what a match, that was so good. I picked Starks winning the TV title but didn't get much else right, still wanted Tim Storm, especially after he got a bye to round 2. Nice ending to the Rock n Roll's brief reign.

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NWA: "Hard Times"

I pre-ordered this show so I only ended up paying $15.00 for it.  For my money that's a pretty damn good deal for a PPV.  This time I watched it via the browser on my XBOX One rather than streaming it through my laptop to my TV.  As I suspected it would, this rectified the streaming issues I had when I ordered Into The Fire.  The Fite stream was great, I had no issues with the video or audio quality whatsoever.

No change to the personnel for the PPV, we had Dave Marquez doing the interviews and Galli and Bennett on commentary. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...Galli and Bennett are excellent.  I'd go so far as to say that they are probably my favorite announcing team on all of the Pro Wrestling shows I watch right now. I really like Tom Phillips and Nigel McGuinness on NXT UK, but I'd take Galli and Bennett over them, and over J.R., Tony and Excalibur in AEW (and of course they're better than Mauro Ranallo...but that goes without saying.)  Galli is decent but Bennett deserves most of the credit, he's just outstanding on color.  I can't believe how good he is considering the lack of experience he has.  The thing I liked especially is that he seemed to take his game up a notch for the PPV, and he really helps get the stories and angles across.

The show came from the "NWA Arena" again, and once again the only difference between this show and the Power tapings is the use of entrance music and the wrestlers coming from an entrance way above the stands and down the stairs through the crowd.  I've beat the point about having PPV's at the GPB studios to death in this thread, and anyhow it sounds like they're addressing that issue, since the next PPV is not going to be held there.  That's obviously the smart move.  Having said that, I have to say the fans at this PPV were crazy loud. The reaction from the fans really added to the overall aura and atmosphere for this PPV.

Anyhow, on to the matches...

NWA TV Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: The Question Mark vs. Trevor Murdoch

This is not only a Quarterfinal Match in the TV Title tournament, but it is a rematch from the last PPV. I bitched relentlessly about the result of that match and the entire Question Mark angle elsewhere in this thread, so I won't do it again here.  All I'll say is this...they finally got it right. The NWA (whether it's Dave Lagana or whoever) finally seems to have clued into the fact that Trevor Murdoch is great and needs to be promoted strongly, and The Question Mark is meant to be a joke and shouldn't be beating anybody important.  If you're going to use The Question Mark, this is how you use him.  Not only did Trevor Murdoch win, he won convincingly.  I really like the top-rope bulldog as a finish for Murdoch.  It's worth noting that even though the NWA arena fans love The Question Mark, they were solidly behind Murdoch as well.

NWA TV Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Dan Maff vs. Zicky Dice

I hadn't seen Dan Maff since he was teaming with BJ Whitmer in Ring of Honor back in 2004 being managed briefly by Mick Foley...so it's been a long damn time. He looks pretty good, a big power guy with a great look and ring presence.  This was a good, solid match.  I like Maff's spear. Dice was good, that guy has really grown on me.  I had predicted Dice winning this one, but I had no problem with the match or the result.

NWA TV Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Matt Cross vs. Ricky Starks

Starks looked great here, he really came across as a star.  Matt Cross looks great still.  They announced Cross as representing Ring of Honor, which is weird because I had no idea he was even on the ROH roster at this point. This was a really fun match, the fans were totally into it. This was the most high flying I have seen in the NWA since Power debuted, by far. I have nothing bad to say about this match, good stuff.

Tim Storm Interview

We find out that Ken Anderson has not been medically cleared to compete tonight, so Tim Storm gets a bye into the Semifinals.  Storm gives the obligatory babyface "I'd rather win by competing than to be given a bye, but if that's what's happening, I'll take it" line.  This was yet another great babyface promo from Tim Storm as we've come to expect.

Announcement

Stu Bennett announces that the NWA won't be returning to PPV until April, but when they do return they will be running a larger venue and it will be for the 2020 Crockett Cup. I am assuming that this will be a co-promoted event with Ring of Honor like last year's Crockett Cup was, for two reasons.  Firstly, the NWA need ROH's TV production equipment to run a show anywhere other than the NWA arena, and secondly...there is no way that the NWA has the talent for a full Tag Team Tournament when it comes to tag teams. When the Rock and Roll Express and Dawsons are in your Tag Team division, you're in rough shape.  I'm assuming a lot of the singles guys on the NWA roster will be teaming up to take up some spots in the tournament, but even still I am betting that the NWA will need help from ROH (and CMLL) to fill out the brackets like they did last time. 

I am a bit surprised that the NWA won't be coming back to PPV until April, after we got two monthly PPV's back to back.  Nick Aldis is clearly headed toward a big match with Marty Scurll.  So either they're planning on dragging this angle out for three months (which is pretty much unheard of in modern wrestling) or they plan to give the match away for free on Power.  The only other option would be for the match to be held before the Crockett Cup on a Ring of Honor PPV, but that strikes me as a really bad decision.  I am all for co-promoting (it has worked out great for the NWA so far) but I can't see them having their World Championship defended on another company's PPV. (I know they did for All In, but that was special circumstances and the NWA didn't have their own weekly show then, either. Or much of a roster.)

Anyhow, this is good news/bad news.  I am happy they're getting out of the studio for a PPV, but I am bummed we're not getting another NWA PPV for three months.

For the NWA World Tag Team Championships: The Rock & Roll Express (c) vs. The Wildcards vs. James Storm & Eli Drake

I was not excited at all about this match.  Firstly, the Rock & Roll Express title reign has pretty much been a joke.  Secondly, I freaking HATE Tag Team triple threat matches , having three guys in the ring fighting at the same time while three guys are on the apron just looks stupid and confusing.  You always get the same thing happening, two guys in the ring fighting while one guy either spends all his time laying on the mat or on the floor, "selling" the most inconsequential bumps which normally wouldn't even take them out of the match. (This goes for four team matches, and any other iteration of Tag Team matches which don't involve just two teams.)

Anyhow, this match was about as good as you're going to get out of this kind of stipulation with these three teams. I think Eli Drake is outstanding and should probably be in a much higher profile angle as a singles wrestler, but based on his age and mobility I think James Storm is probably best off in a Tag Team at this point in his career.  Hell, come to think about it...give me a Thomas Lattimer vs. Eli Drake angle and I'm there.  Anyhow, there was lots of chicanery from Kamille (who looked super hot by the way) which helped keep the Rock and Rolls mostly out of the equation, some basic Pro Wrestling stuff, and after 8 minutes or so we get Storm & Drake as the new Tag Team Champs.  I have no huge issue with that, I am very happy that the Rock & Roll reign is over. Two of my big concerns going into this show were that The Question Mark would beat Murdoch again which didn't happen, and that the Rock & Roll Express would retain, which also didn't happen...so I'm happy. The new Tag Team Champions have a fun interview with Dave Marquez after the match.  I couldn't help but notice that some time since the last episode of Power was taped and today, Eli Storm made the odd decision to start dyeing his hair, beard and eyebrows with black boot polish...but whatever.

For the NWA Women's Championship: Allysin Kay (c) vs. Thunder Rosa

I was expecting this match to be good, but I never expected it to be this good.  It seems pretty clear that they made the decision to give this match the time that was allotted for the cancelled Tim Storm vs. Ken Anderson match because this match went almost 18 minutes.  If I'm not mistaken, that is the longest match in the NWA since they started taping at the GPB studios.  One of the big complaints against the NWA has been that the matches are too short, and you certainly can't say that here. Since last night I have seen this match getting wildly praised, and rightfully so.  However, I think in some cases it might be getting a bit over-praised simply because it was so much better than any other Women's match so far in this iteration of the NWA.  I really, really liked this match a lot...more than any Women's match I've ever seen in AEW, for example.  But it wasn't perfect.  There were a bunch of rough spots, a few timing issues and a couple of blatant communication miscues.  I'd chalk that up to the assumption that they didn't plan on going this long and had to plan some of the match on the fly. If you read some of the reviews of this match online, you might go into watching it expecting too much based on the hype it has already received. Like I said, that should be tempered with the caveat that this was an outstanding match for the NWA Women's Division.  But the fact is, this was probably the best in ring match (Men's or Women's) that has taken place in the NWA since they started running shows at GPB and they deserve a lot of credit for that.  Allysin Kay was great, but to me Thunder Rosa was the star of this match and this might be the match that makes the rest of the Pro Wrestling world sit up and take notice.  The fans were totally into this match and I'm sorry...they are not treating Thunder Rosa like a heel, they're treating her like a superstar. Even if you don't want to see this PPV, if you like Women's Wrestling you might want to check out this match. Outstanding stuff.

Marty Scurll/Nick Aldis Interview

This was okay.  Marty wants his World Title match and is pissed that the Aldis/Gordon match is a non-title affair.  Scurll (and the fans) get all over Aldis for refusing to put his title up. I love the old school heel angle they are doing with Aldis where he keeps looking for excuses not to defend his title, earning the "coward" chants from the fans, causing him to get all indignant.  So anyhow, Marty browbeats Aldis into putting the title on the line against Flip Gordon, but Aldis adds his own stipulation that if he retains against Gordon then all future business between Aldis and Scurll will be on Aldis's terms.  Maybe this is how they'll delay the match until April, Aldis beats Gordon so he can now legally refuse to fight Scurll and put him off?  Not sure.  This wasn't bad.

NWA TV Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Dan Maff vs. Trevor Murdoch

Hell yeah, hoss fight!  I never thought about the possibility of this match because I was so sure Dice would be moving forward and I was so worried that The Question Mark would be, this match-up never even entered my mind when looking at the brackets.  And it should have, because this is some good shit right here.  This was just a stiff, solid, hard-hitting match. Murdoch gets the win but he earned that sumbitch, believe me.  They showed a close up of his chest after the match and he was already black and blue and purple with bruises.  Can't fake that.  Great stuff.

NWA TV Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Ricky Starks vs. Tim Storm

This was pretty good.  As a fan, I was torn going into this match because I kind of wanted both guys to win.  The fans seemed pretty split too.  There was a hilarious spot when Starks did some flips and then Storm acted like he was going to try it too, but realized he didn't know how.  Good back and forth match, nothing spectacular but a solid match. Couple of decent back and forth near falls, and in the end Starks gets the win and advances.  Nice show of respect between the two guys after the match, which surprised me a bit because Ricky Starks generally comes across as so cocky and arrogant.  It was nice for him to show a decent side of his personality after the match was over. I did want Tim Storm to win, but I guess we have to face the fact that Storm is in his 50's and realistically might not be the kind of guy you want to build around.  I'm not saying he has nothing to contribute because he clearly does, but I guess you don't want to invest a ton of hype and a new championship on the guy when he himself is constantly saying that he doesn't know how much longer he'll be able to do this.

For the NWA (3rd Degree) National Championship: Aron "Shooter" Stevens (c) vs. Scott Steiner

Bleh.  I don't like Scott Steiner and I really don't know why they hired him and are using him, especially now that they have access to the ROH guys.  There is no need for a Scott Steiner match on PPV in 2020.  This match was what it was.  Steiner executed some barely workable suplexes and basic brawling, Stevens bumped and stooged for him like a cowardly heel, and Steiner got the win when The Question Mark interfered when Stevens was in the Steiner Recliner.  Next.

For the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Nick Aldis (c) vs. Flip Gordon

Not surprisingly, this match was pretty damn good. Nothing flashy or showy, but well executed basic old school Pro Wrestling.  Hell, there was even some matwork and both guys grabbed holds!  Unheard of. Plus, just like with the Women's Title match, they gave this match some time.  I really liked this.  Now with the win, Nick Aldis is legally calling the shots in his rivalry with Marty Scurll, so we'll see where that goes.

Main Event: Finals of the NWA TV Championship Tournament - Ricky Starks vs. Trevor Murdoch

They announce that for this match, the 6:05 time limit has been waived and there must be a winner, which makes sense.  This was yet another solid, decent, well laid out and executed match.  It ended up going around 10 minutes and it didn't need to go any longer. If you want proof that the NWA has finally come around and realized what they have in Trevor Murdoch, consider this...Ricky Starks fought Trevor Murdoch on the second episode of Power back on October 15, 2019 and basically squashed him. Big difference three months later.  The crowd is split for this match, and so am I. Trevor Murdoch is awesome and I think he has a ton to contribute to the NWA.  But on the other hand, Ricky Starks is young, charismatic and most importantly he is an NWA original.  He can't be considered a TNA or WWE reject, he looks like a star and he's a new face.  He's the kind of guy the NWA should be investing in and building this place around, and obviously based on the result of this match, they agree. 

Finals Thoughts

Like I said, I paid 15 bucks for this show and for that I got five good Pro Wrestling matches, (Maff/Dice, Starks/Cross, Murdoch/Maff, Starks/Storm and Starks/Murdoch) with only three underwhelming matches (Question Mark/Murdoch, the Tag Title Match and Stevens/Steiner) but most importantly the Women's World Title and World Heavyweight Title matches were excellent.  For 15 bucks you really can't ask for more than that.

This was a really good PPV and at 2.5 hours it just flew by.  The thing that I liked the most about this show as a fan is that the NWA seems to be making smart decisions.  They kept The Question Mark as what he is...a comedy act.  They got the Tag Team Titles off the Rock & Roll Express and didn't make the stupid decision of putting the National Title on Steiner. After all the complaining about match quality and length, the majority of the matches on this show were good to very good and in some cases excellent, and several of them were longer matches. They seem to be pushing the right guys, like Murdoch, Drake and Starks.  The ROH co-promotion really paid positive dividends on this PPV, because Maff, Gordon (and Cross according to the NWA) were all ROH additions that brought a lot to the table for this show.  Coming out of this PPV, you can honestly say that the NWA has done a great job of promoting Ricky Starks and Thunder Rosa as original, legitimate stars.

The NWA is really going in the right direction.  I really liked this show, it was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing where the NWA goes from here.

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The Thread Killer: Stu Bennett has previous experience as a color commentator . He was a commentator and heel authority figure on ten one hour episodes of WOS Wrestling which aired in 2018 on ITV, one of the UK's major free-to-air TV channels, and the show was viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers which was considerably more than the WWE's viewing figures in the UK at the time (as WWE''s flagship shows aired in the middle of the night on a premium channel).

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1 hour ago, aloniv said:

The Thread Killer: Stu Bennett has previous experience as a color commentator . He was a commentator and heel authority figure on ten one hour episodes of WOS Wrestling which aired in 2018 on ITV, one of the UK's major free-to-air TV channels, and the show was viewed by hundreds of thousands of viewers which was considerably more than the WWE's viewing figures in the UK at the time (as WWE''s flagship shows aired in the middle of the night on a premium channel).

That makes sense, thanks for the info.  I knew from his time as "Bad News" Barrett that he gave great interviews (even though he kept getting the rug pulled out from underneath him by WWE for reasons I can't fathom) so I'm not surprised he made a great on-air authority figure.  The fact that he got to do commentary there makes sense.  He is so polished and natural at it, I couldn't believe he was new to it, but now I know he isn't. 

It's funny, I've always found that the skills required to give a great interview don't always translate into doing a good job on commentary, but Stu Barrett is clearly a guy who understands his role when he is working color.  He never tries to put himself over the matches or angles he is calling, and he does a lot of little things to help make the action more interesting. (Thankfully Stu isn't working with Mauro Ranallo, otherwise he'd never get a word in.) I said earlier in this thread, I actually think Stu Barrett does a far superior job to Jim Cornette on color commentary, and I really liked Jim Cornette on color.  That whole fiasco with Cornette's tasteless joke ended up being a blessing in disguise for the NWA, since it ended up bring Barrett in.

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I really feel like I'm missing something with the plaudits the Kay/Rosa match is getting - very long with not enough momentum to justify it. I'll blame the time-zone difference...

The tournament was really good, though. Aldis/Gordon might grow on me but this involves me having the thought process somewhere down the line of "Hey, let's rewatch this Flip Gordon match, that might be great!", which isn't something I ever thought I'd be thinking

 

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Sean Mooney news has my hype. I saw the news on Twitter last night during the Royal Rumble & I was more excited for that than anything WWE was doing. 

I actually quite like the commentary in NWA. I don't remember truthfully if Sean Mooney did play-by-play or color when he did announcing, I just remember him doing the newsroom studio stuff the most, but him & Barrett would be a lot of fun. 

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