This past Friday, Nick Aldis defeated Ring of Honor’s Flip Gordon to retain the NWA World Heavyweight title. In doing so, he has secured the terms agreed upon by “The Villain” Marty Scurll: All future interactions with RoH talent is done on Aldis’ terms!
Joe Galli and Stu Bennett welcome us to NWA Powerrr Episode 16 and welcome the newest member of the NWA broadcast team … Sean Mooney! Mooney brings Nick Aldis to the podium. He congratulates Nick on his successful title defense but brings up the continued tension between Aldis and Marty Scurll. The champ says that Flip Gordon is one of the best professional wrestlers in the world but, against The National treasure, Flip… is a flop! That’s why Marty Scurll doesn’t want none. Mooney corrects him by saying the Scurll has been showing up and requesting a match but Aldis has him removed from the building. Supposedly this is because he has to maintain the integrity of NWA broadcasts and the title. Aldis had an official sit-down with Marty Scurll and that recording will be played for the audience at the end of the broadcast.
Sal Rinauro is with our announce team, headset on and right arm in a sling. The GPB Studio audience greets him with a raucous “Sal!” chant in a show of respect for the indie mainstay. He’ll be joining Galli and Bennett on commentary for our next match.
Royce Isaacs (w/ May Valentine) vs Andre Gunn
Isaacs is rocking some new, tasseled ring gear while the crowd is rocking with cheers of “Let’s go An-Dre!” Andre does his best but his high-speed offense is stymied by Isaacs strength advantage. When Andre starts to get the advantage, Isaacs take a powder. On the outside, he overhears Sal Rinauro question whether the former tag champ has been “neutered!” The ensuing argument nearly gets Royce Isaacs counted out. May Valentine gets him back to the ring in time to hit his Hush Money suplex and get the victory.
Winner: Royce Isaacs
Recently, The Pope has come into the NWA fold and involved himself in the careers of Eddie Kingston and Homicide. This resulted in Homicide being injured in an impromptu tag match and Eddie Kingston addressing the matter by saying he doesn’t want anything else to do with Pope. A match is arranged that sees Kingston in a fight with one… and then both Dawsons and being driven in the turnbuckles and left in a heap.
In what most are calling the match of the night, Thunder Rosa defeated Allysin Kay for the NWA Women’s Championship at Hard Times. Now, Kyle Davis has Rosa out for an interview. The crowd pops… until Marti Belle and Melina come out. The questions directed towards Rosa get answered by Melina, taking credit for the victory due to her “guidance” in the campaign against Allysin Kay. It just so happens that Allysin Kay will invoke her rematch clause and the two will meet for the title next week on NWA Powerrr! Rosa says that she’s ready to go and that the feeling of being champion is one of the most unbelievable moments in her career and her life. Melina declares the “emo crap” and the interview over.
At Hard Times, Stu Bennett reveals that the next NWA PPV will be at different, larger venue than GPB Studios and that the August show will be none other than the 2020 Crockett Cup!
Matt Cross. Tim Storm. Trevor Murdoch. Well-known names and the distinguished competition that “Absolute” Ricky Starks was able to defeat in a single night to earn the NWA Television Championship at Hard Times. The new champion joins David Marquez at the podium. Ricky praises the toughness of his opponents from Friday and the legacy of Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, and others. Now, the TV title isn’t just on TV. It’s on smart phones, Smart watches, tablets, etc. It’s the future… but Zickey Dice is stuck in the past.
Marquez calls out Dice who says that he’d be the champ if the powers that be hadn’t brought in Ring of Honor’s Dan Maff as a ringer. The Outlandish One starts running down his wardrobe (up to and including a “$16000” fanny pack.) The trash talk gets Ricky’s attention and we’ve got us a match!
Ricky Starks (c) vs Zickey Dice
Zickey vs Ricky with six minutes and five second son the clock. During the match, Joe Galli explains the “Lucky Seven” rule in that the Television Champion earns a World Heavyweight title shot if he secures seven consecutive wins. Dice is charge in the early goings on with shoulder blocks and brawling tactics. A Northern Light suplex only gets a two count so Zickey goes back to the roughhousing. He’s able to fight through a rally by Ricky but takes too long setting up the “Snake, Rattle, and Roll” neckbreaker. The champ is quicker in executing “The Stroke.”
Winner… and still NWA Television Champion: Ricky Starks
Hard Times featured a Triple Threat match for the NWA Tag Team titles won by the team of “Cowboy” James Storm and Eli Drake pinning the defending champs, The Rock n’ Roll Express. Now, this seemingly unlikely partnership is out to talk with Joe Galli. Wow is this crowd into Eli Drake and his catchphrases. It takes about a minute until Eli gives them what they want and talks to ‘em. Yeah! They finish up Storm’s “Sorry about your damn luck” line, too.
The celebration is short-lived because they’re joined by the NWA National Champion, Aron Stevens, and the master of karate (Ka-ra-taay!,) The Question Mark. James Storm lets Aron Stevens have it with a series of dad jokes, including one taking a swipe at Ronda Rousey. This prompts Stevens to question his sobriety and his reproductive value. The Cowboy hands the mic (and the bottle!) off to Eli. He has a bit of fun with Joe Galli and the crowd before asking him to relay a message to Stevens and Question Mark: Take a number and, when it’s their time, it’s their ass! The Mongrovian Connection are going to have to wait for their “karataay partaay!”
Eli Drake and James Storm leave but Trevor Murdoch comes in. Murdoch says that he did his best, but Ricky Starks ended up TV champ. Big Trev is okay with that because he respects the fighting champion that Ricky Starks is. He doesn’t respect Aron Stevens, who took a count out loss to escape Scott Steiner at Hard Times and retain his National Championship. He’s taken it up with NWA management and they’ve set up a title match between Murdoch and Stevens next week! A sucker Mongrovian Spike from The Question Mark makes it clear that Trevor’s going to have an uphill battle.
Marty Scurll sits by the NWA ring awaiting his long-time friend and the “real world’s champion,” Nick Aldis. He laments having been made to wait for over twenty minutes under the hot lights. Calling this type of mind game, “bush league,” he’s ready to leave when Aldis comes in and sits down. Aldis brings up their friendship and Marty’s recent successes. He’s been The Villain’s biggest cheerleader but he’s gotten to take it a bit personally how Marty is gunning for his title. The title that defines Nick’s career to this point.
They had an absolute war at last year’s Crockett Cup but Nick was victorious and they should have put it behind them. That match elevated Marty but he’s still coming after Nick’s success. Marty says that he’s looking for his legacy, his definition, and that he’s been living with the fact that he’s never been a world champion. He wants one more chance. Money doesn’t matter, Marty says. Nick can have the purse. Nick accepts for the Crockett Cup… on one condition: Full refunds for the audience. If Marty wins, he’s finally a world champion. If he loses, he pays for every single seat in attendance!
Five Takeaways from NWA Powerrr Episode 16:
- Only two matches in one hour but, somehow, I wasn’t left wanting. I was entertained throughout. Imagine that.
- The Thunder Rosa/Melina situation is starting to form a head. In the meantime, Allysin Kay is a top shelf dance partner for Rosa who has become one of the most over people on the roster and a real shing star for their women’s division.
- Pretty curious as to where the Crockett Cup will be held. GPB Studios holds roughly 200 people by the looks of it. Where is there a space comparable to that or larger that they feel confident that they can fill in six weeks or less?
- I’ve been a fan of Eli Drake for a long time. Hell, I remember him selling out his teammates on The Rock’s competition show, The Hero. Anybody that has been tuning into NWA and still sleeps on one of the top five sets of flapping gums in the business? Shame on them. Yeah!
- Nick Aldis may just be the most compelling champion in wrestling right now. Outside of Brock Lesnar, I can’t think of anyone who elicits more anticipation and gravitas in a feud and, removing Paul Heyman from the package, I don’t know if anyone puts in the same amount of measured attention.
NWA Powerrr Episode 16 ‘Dealer vs. Villain’ and the rest of the NWA Power on the National Wrestling Alliance YouTube page.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FDcAXfLC-c
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