NWA Powerrr

[El-P]

Main event was good, although Latimer is pretty much there. Brody King and Scurll bring so much aura and crisp work. I really hope they end up in AEW sometime, because I'll probably never check ROH.

5 minutes ago, Ricky Jackson said:

CARNYLAND...uh

Tag main was pretty good, but not much of a show otherwise

Agreed, really not the best show of S2, too light of what made it really cool to me (Ricky Starks, Zicky Dice, Trevor Murdock, tag matches with Drake & James Storm, Thunder Rosa) and way too heavy on the shittiest stuff (Mamma Storm's angle, Stevens & ? Mark, a Marti Belle match).

And the announcement pretty much was... hey, we're doing a show on Youtube next week. Ok. Cool. Yep. Not a great way to recycle a very average show leading to a non-happening PPV... Kamille's make-up/workout videos with funny voiceovers were better than this...

[Coffey]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

The issue with Stevens is that nothing he does in NWA is even half as smart of funny or good as Mizdow. He clearly struck me as someone who was *better* in WWE.

I thought the same thing & I don't think that about a lot of people. Kind of made me feel like The Miz is more of an unsung hero than maybe I give him credit for. He even made me care about Alex Riley for a bit...

Sandow now, especially when he was making a point to say "belt!" a dozen times just comes off as bitter... and the comedy doesn't fit in NWA at all. The Mama Storm didn't work. The Question Mark doesn't work. Him being his old Mizdow in a Karate Gi doesn't work. It just all feels really forced & definitely not funny. 

[Migs]

This episode has been a brutal slog, just gutting it out to get to the main.

[rovert]

I thought Super Power was solid with a main event that ended things on a high note. Will take any I can get first run with a crowd.

Maye Valentine has a hell of background a Brazilian Twitter follower of my mine filled me in about her and how famous her Dad is. I thought she was French Canadian:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayra_Dias_Gomes

[SirEdger]

Just out of curiosity, how did you get to think that Mae Valentine was French Canadian?

[rovert]

3 hours ago, SirEdger said:

Just out of curiosity, how did you get to think that Mae Valentine was French Canadian?

Her English reminded me of Maryse that's all, to be honest. I didn't really put much thought of it.

[C.S.]

Ricky Starks is gone.

 

[SirEdger]

I feel like they missed the boat on Ricky Starks. Nothing against Zicky Dice but his TV title reign should've last longer.

[El-P]

That one sucks for NWA. He was one of their better young talents. So I guess we won't see him in Carnyland, whatever that is...

[Coffey]

Oh my god, Carnyland is amazing.

 

 

[El-P]

So it was basically a teaser/commercial for a bunch of shows that are gonna do every days. The Cliché Promo Class 101 was really fun, in the same vein as Broken Matt teaching the meaning of wrestling words on BTE. The Mongrovian stuff I couldn't care less. 

"Showing up on TV looking like I need a safe word during a BDSM party" cracked me up. 

[The Thread Killer]

I don't have much to add.  The line by Nick Aldis that @El-P mentioned made me laugh out loud as well.  The only other thing I'd say is that I thought the promo Eddie Kingston cut at the start of the show was exceptional.  I'm starting to think that Eddie Kingston is one of most underutilized, under appreciated talents in Professional Wrestling right now.  Every time you put a microphone in front of this guy it's pretty much guaranteed gold.  I kind of wish he'd go to AEW, to be honest.  As much as I love the NWA, Eddie Kingston deserves to be seen on a national platform.

[The Thread Killer]

I don't know how reliable he is as a source, but Raven apparently stated in an interview yesterday that he has heard Billy Corgan is planning on pulling the plug on the NWA. Corgan and Raven are friends, so who knows if Raven heard this directly from Corgan or it is just gossip.  Raven claims that between the COVID-19 shutdown causing the NWA to lose talent like Ricky Starks and Zicky Dice, and the whole fiasco with Dave Lagana, Corgan has grown disillusioned with the whole project and is basically going to throw in the towel.  I wouldn't be surprised if that is true, but I would be very disappointed if it is.

[Mad Dog]

I wouldn't be shocked either. It was an uphill battle before COVID and then you suffer two PR blackeyes before even being a year in. I could see throwing in the towel. 

[Matt D]

Something something Houston Footage.

[El-P]

I wasn't aware about Zicky Dice, but wasn't every talent "released" anyway for the time being due to COVID ? Yeah, not really a big surprise, and honestly this project never felt like it was a viable one. Now, if really this thing is done, if I'm AEW, I'm throwing money toward Kamille & Nick Aldis now, although I could totally see WWE want both of them. Thunder Rosa would be a really good catch for anyone too, especially AEW (WWE really doesn't need anymore really good women). Dice would feel right in either IMPACT or AEW. Is there anyone else that wasn't an old TNA/IMPACT guy (like Storm, Drake or Anderson) ? 

[Migs]

Lagana was probably an even bigger blow, as he seemed to really be driving the booking and production end. Not that there's no one that could step in, but to need to do that much work for a damaged brand that maybe wasn't going as well as they wanted before... not surprised that he might decide it's not worth the effort.

[The Thread Killer]

49 minutes ago, El-P said:

I wasn't aware about Zicky Dice, but wasn't every talent "released" anyway for the time being due to COVID ? Yeah, not really a big surprise, and honestly this project never felt like it was a viable one. Now, if really this thing is done, if I'm AEW, I'm throwing money toward Kamille & Nick Aldis now, although I could totally see WWE want both of them. Thunder Rosa would be a really good catch for anyone too, especially AEW (WWE really doesn't need anymore really good women). Dice would feel right in either IMPACT or AEW. Is there anyone else that wasn't an old TNA/IMPACT guy (like Storm, Drake or Anderson) ? 

Supposedly, after the pandemic had gone on for a couple of months and it became obvious that Pro Wrestling wasn't going back to "normal" anytime soon (if ever) then the NWA told everybody they had under contract that if they wanted to be released from their contracts to work elsewhere, they could be.  From what I have read/heard, NWA contracts weren't really like WWE/AEW contracts, or even like Impact.  Essentially, the NWA contracts guaranteed the talent a very nominal amount of money per month, but they got a generous amount of the profits from merchandise sales.  Anybody under NWA contract was free to work for any other independent promotions, but I think they were prohibited for working from one of the big companies or be on television unless they could still honor their commitments to the NWA.  I got the impression that they were trying to avoid a repeat of the Willie Mack situation, where they thought they had him locked up but he just went and showed up in Impact.

Aside from Nick Aldis, a lot of the bigger names in the NWA were only really part timers anyhow, and in a lot of cases they already had full time "day jobs."  To me, that was a great part of the NWA.  You could work NWA tapings 2-3 days every 4-6 weeks, still focus on your other career but look like you were wrestling full time due to the NWA taping schedule.  Tim Storm is a full time teacher, Aron Stevens and Eli Drake are both living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting, Ken Anderson and Trevor Murdoch either own or train at wrestling schools, ODB owned a food truck...stuff like that.  These guys could still enjoy being in Pro Wrestling and make a bit of money on the side, while not threatening their main source of income or job security.

Guys like Aldis, James Storm, Thunder Rosa and some others might only have Pro Wrestling as their main source of income so I guess this will hit them a lot harder.  That's assuming this story is true.  As I've said before, if the world ever does go back to normal, Billy Corgan can always try this again.  He owns the name NWA and all the associated intellectual property outright, so it's not like he's going to go bankrupt over this.  I'd say the whole Dave Lagana scandal is probably what hit them even worse than the pandemic.  Billy Corgan may have been the driving creative force behind the NWA but I think Lagana was doing most of the grunt work behind the scenes.  I don't know that Corgan would have the time, enthusiasm or inclination to try and find somebody new to replace him.

If this project really is dead, then it sucks.  I thought the NWA was really onto something and they seemed to be on the right track.  The Crockett Cup was going to be their biggest show since Power debuted and the attendance at and reception for that event would have been a really good indicator of where the NWA was going to go.  Now we'll probably never know.

[The Thread Killer]

And having said all that...

Billy Corgan just released a statement saying not to believe the rumors, he is not selling or shutting down the NWA...he's just trying to figure out the best way to proceed.

Fucking Raven.

[SirEdger]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

I wasn't aware about Zicky Dice, but wasn't every talent "released" anyway for the time being due to COVID ? Yeah, not really a big surprise, and honestly this project never felt like it was a viable one. Now, if really this thing is done, if I'm AEW, I'm throwing money toward Kamille & Nick Aldis now, although I could totally see WWE want both of them. Thunder Rosa would be a really good catch for anyone too, especially AEW (WWE really doesn't need anymore really good women). Dice would feel right in either IMPACT or AEW. Is there anyone else that wasn't an old TNA/IMPACT guy (like Storm, Drake or Anderson) ? 

I'm pretty certain Nick Aldis said something in multiple interviews that someone in Stamford is blocking him from ever signing with WWE (wanna bet it's Cena?) so I would've been shocked if he had ever signed there, although I'm convinced he has the tools to be a top star there. AEW would've made more sense but now that Corgan has shut down the rumors, it's only wishful thinking for the moment.

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

I'm pretty certain Nick Aldis said something in multiple interviews that someone in Stamford is blocking him from ever signing with WWE (wanna bet it's Cena?) so I would've been shocked if he had ever signed there, although I'm convinced he has the tools to be a top star there. AEW would've made more sense but now that Corgan has shut down the rumors, it's only wishful thinking for the moment.

I read somewhere (maybe here, maybe elsewhere?) that Prichard buried Aldis on a podcast a few weeks ago. Anyone know anything about this?

In any case, Aldis seems like an NWA "lifer" willing to go down with the ship. Good for him, because he's a great champion!

[SirEdger]

I haven't listened to that particular episode but that would be par on course with Bruce Prichard's dickery.

[El-P]

53 minutes ago, C.S. said:

In any case, Aldis seems like an NWA "lifer" willing to go down with the ship. Good for him, because he's a great champion!

That would be ridiculous, he's only 33. The NWA doesn't mean anything. I honestly don't really care one way or another because although he's a great promo, I find him to be kind of a dullard in the ring, but really he's got too much potential star power to remain with a non-existing promotion if things don't develop much further.

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

That would be ridiculous, he's only 33. The NWA doesn't mean anything. I honestly don't really care one way or another because although he's a great promo, I find him to be kind of a dullard in the ring, but really he's got too much potential star power to remain with a non-existing promotion if things don't develop much further.

On the contrary, I don't consider loyalty to be ridiculous in the slightest. It's a lost art.

Of course no one expects Aldis to wait around forever, but if the NWA does open back up soon and start running shows again (when it's feasible to do so), he ain't going anywhere.

[El-P]

7 minutes ago, C.S. said:

On the contrary, I don't consider loyalty to be ridiculous in the slightest. It's a lost art.

Loyalty to what ? A company that barely even exists ? It's not exactly Tanahashi never leaving NJPW, ever...

8 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Of course no one expects Aldis to wait around forever, but if the NWA does open back up soon and start running shows again (when it's feasible to do so), he ain't going anywhere.

Yeah, probably not. Big fish in the small pond is not the worst spot. But considering the situation, I don't see the NWA, who don't have a regular roster and not even one creative hand right now (Lagana was it, basically) running anytime soon. MLW isn't doing it, ROH isn't doing it... Does not sound too good to me.