The SmarK Rant for NWA Powerrr – 05.11.21

The SmarK Rant for NWA Powerrr – 05.11.21

Taped from Atlanta, GA

Your hosts are Joe Galli, Kyle Davis, Tim Storm & Velvet Sky

Nick Aldis and his cronies join Joe Galli at the desk tonight, as Nick is pissed off about a 14 man battle royal to determine his next challenger. He quips that Corgan needs to “go back to the Attitude Era because he doesn’t live in the Gratitude Era”. Also he’s disgusted that it’s 2021 and battle royales are still a thing. And what’s even more disgusting is that he had to find out from JOE GALLI of all people. Anyway, Chris Adonis and Thom Latimer will challenge for the NWA World tag team titles tonight in the main event. Also, Kamille will be giving her answer to Rosa later tonight. But then Aldis changes his mind and decides to scuttle the tag team title match because if they win, they can’t compete in the BATTLE ROYALE, because there’s no champions allowed. Aldis appears to be a bit shook tonight.

TV title eliminator: Mims v. Matt Cross

And here’s yet another Lucha Underground guy popping up on my TV again. Mims wins a power battle to start, but Cross boots him into the corner and tries the handspring, landing in Mims’ arms in the process. Mims slugs him down and beats on him in the corner, but Cross gets a crossbody for one. Cross goes up and Mims trips him up and tries a powerbomb, but Cross slips out, so Mims gives him a spinebuster for two instead. Cross springboards back with a cutter and finishes at 2:55. Is that the CROSS-CUTTER? Just a little paper shredding humor there. This was OK. 1 for 1.

Austin Idol and Tyrus join Kyle at the desk, and Idol is looking for Pope. So Pope answers and demands they make it fast. So Idol accuses him of running away and clutching his belt, although he does like Pope’s style. So he points out that if Pope can retain his title four more times, he cashes in the TV title for a shot at Nick Aldis, and offers his congratulations and a hearty handshake. But Pope walks away, wanting nothing to do with Idol.

Meanwhile, Aron Stevens talks with May Valentine about his ongoing change of heart and methods, and he hopes Kratos will see the light along with him. Good luck there.

Sal Rinauro joins Kyle at the desk, and yeah, he got destroyed by Kratos last time, but he’s still here to compete and he’s gonna take on the bully by himself. Good luck there.

Sal Rinauro v. Kratos

Sal appears to be dressed like a Young Buck of some sort. I’m pretty sure Kratos is about to send him to Rancho Cucamonga in a Ziploc baggie when it’s over. Sal charges in and that fails badly, as Kratos immediately drops him on his face. Kratos beats on him in the corner and puts him down with a clothesline. Sal tries a springboard and Kratos swats him out of the air with a big boot for two, and then hits him with a wheelbarrow suplex for the pin at 2:04. Another successful outing for Rinauro! Hopefully his remains are sent to May Valentine. 1 for 2.

Thunder Rosa and Kamille continue their debate series at the desk, with Taryn doing her nutty mean girl act in the background and stealing the show. Kamille notes that she can see Rosa’s true colors under the face paint, which Rosa mocks while complaining about how she had to fight for everything. Kamille points out that Rosa has to go online and talk about what a badass she is, while Kamille just stands there and she’s already a badass. So Kamille agrees to the match, but only on the condition that if Rosa loses, she can’t wrestle anywhere but the NWA. Well, she hasn’t been on AEW since the street fight anyway.

Falls Count Anywhere: Jax Dane v. Slice Boogie

Dane smashes him in the corner to start and turns him inside-out with a lariat, and then hurls him across the ring with a suplex. They head to the floor, but Dane charges and hits the post, allowing Boogie to boot him down for one. They fight to the desk and Slice runs him into it for one, and then they fight to the announce table and trade chops and they’re hitting each other pretty hard. Slice tries a suplex and Dane reverses that and gets two. Joe points out that this might be worst on the poor referee who has to go up and down on the concrete to count falls all the time. Boogie drops Dane on the apron, THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING, and it gets two. So he sets up a chair and seats Jax in it, but he charges and Jax slugs him down for two. They head to the stairs and Boogie boots them into Dane’s knee, but he dives off the stairs and Jax catches him and runs him into the post for two. Boogie runs Dane into the post and follows with a rather crazy dive onto the concrete, and that gets two. Boogie finds a chair and beats on him with that, but Crimson joins us to cheer on his partner. Back in the ring, Boogie tries to Pillmanize the neck, but Dane escapes from that and then accidentally takes Crimson out in the process, and he decides to literally throw in the towel at 8:00 in order to tend to his fallen partner. They certainly did the best they could with an empty building, but that finish was bizarre to say the least. 2 for 3. I’m definitely kind of curious to see where it’s going, because initially it seemed like one of them was faking an injury to passive-aggressively break up the team in a storyline that’s never been done before to my knowledge. And now again, an injury costs them a match, as Crimson was going to throw in the towel on his own partner for some reason before suffering his own injury. It’s weird but I’m willing to let it play out and see where it goes.

And speaking of bizarre finishes, after advertising the tag team title match all show, the announcers say that everyone has left the building, and now there’s no main event. To be totally fair, at the beginning Aldis DID say that he was calling off his team’s tag title shot, but then they still advertised it anyway.

Kind of a weird and confusing show at times, but it flew by and there was some really fun stuff this week. This show is VERY different than anything else currently airing and I like that about it.