The SmarK Rant for NWA Powerrr: When Our Shadows Fall (06.06.21)
Live from Atlanta, GA
Your hosts are Joe Galli & Tim Storm & Velvet Sky
There’s a circus theme for this one, which doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. Also, they’ve replaced the fake crowd of wrestlers from the TV show with a few legit rows of fans.
If you’d like to check this show out, hit it up on FiteTV via my link below:
Slice Boogie & Marshe Rockett v. The End v. Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf v. Sal Rinauro & El Rudo
Mecha Wolf and Bestia are from AAA. No idea who El Rudo is. Rudo and Mecha Wolf trade takedowns to start and it’s over to Sal Rinauro and Bestia. I’m assuming he’s the 666th person to play the Bestia character in Mexico? Bestia and Sal trade wristlocks and Sal takes him down with a rana and offers a MEGAPOWER HANDSHAKE, but the lucha heels beat him down. Slice Boogie comes in and trades chops with Mecha Wolf, and he adds an ax kick on the ropes for two. The End double-teams Rockett with a Pounce from Odinson, and that offends Slice Boogie and so he tries some chops on The End and gets his ass kicked as a result. They give him a Doomsday Device and Odinson gets two, but Mecha Wolf saves. So The End does stereo torture racks on Bestia and Wolf and then drops them on the turnbuckles. Everyone heads to the floor and El Rudo moonsaults them with help from Rinauro, but Rockett hits poor Sal with a sidekick when he’s trying his own dive. Rockett dives onto the pile himself, and Sal thinks it’s big moment, but then Parrow just blocks his path and powerbombs him over the top and onto the pile. Parrow and Rockett slug it out in the ring and Rockett gets a cutter for two, but Bestia saves. Rockett goes up, but Bestia catches him with a Muscle Buster, into a 450 from Mecha Wolf, and that finishes at 8:43. Didn’t really need to be a four-way match or anything but it was a fun and hard-worked opener. *** Of note: At one point, some guy in a lucha mask and a suit walks out and stands at the desk watching the match, and the announcers point him out, but nothing ever comes of it and he just leaves and is never mentioned again.
Tyrus v. The Pope
Pope is NWA TV champion but this is non-title. So that gives away the finish already. Tyrus does a promo at the desk beforehand in a weird deal where he’s wearing a t-shirt for a charity group, and he says that he’s the new CEO because it was so poorly managed. And the crowd doesn’t really know what to do with that, because are we booing him for promoting a charity? But then the announcers explain that the charity is actually Pope’s charity, so therefore it’s Tyrus burying the babyface’s charity. Boo, I guess? When you need five minutes to explain the cheap heat it’s not cheap anymore. They slug it out and Pope wins that battle and gets two, but tries a bodypress and just bounces off. Tyrus gets his own bodypress to put him down and he’s gasping for air already. Tyrus chokes him out on the ropes, but Pope tries a sunset flip and Tyrus sits on him for two. Why are they wasting time and money on this load of shit? He brings nothing to the product and you could find 2 dozen guys who are far better and work far cheaper by going a local indie training school. Tyrus goes to a lazy bearhug and clotheslines him down, and then hits him with a half-assed exploder. He’s making 1999 Kevin Nash look like Rey Mysterio by comparison. Tyrus with a slam and he’s using the minimum possible movement, with no bodily follow-through on anything. Like, his version of a “slam” is just dropping Pope and letting him take the bump himself while he stands there upright. Pope fights back with a DDT and Tyrus can barely take THAT bump, even already on his knees. Pope goes up with a flying elbow, but tries the running knee and gets caught with Tyrus’s version of the Tongan Death Grip, which gets two. He barely even does THAT move right. Pope tries a sunset flip and Tyrus blocks with a stomp, but he sits down and kind of lands on Pope’s knees, barely even taking a bump in the process. Pope gets his running knee while Tyrus looks like he’s having a heart attack in the corner, and Austin Idol loads up Tyrus with a foreign object, which he uses on Pope with a heart punch for the pin at 10:34. This was unbelievably awful and Tyrus might be one of the worst workers in the business today. He can’t even do the basic mechanics of working a match at this point. -**
Melina & Thunder Rosa v. Taryn Terrell & Smiley Kylie Rae
So I guess Kylie was coaxed out of retirement. I don’t think they ever actually explained how or why Melina turned babyface after the initial Powerrr run. So if this was the TV show then Taryn’s gear would be an instant point for the match, done deal. Also, I know there’s many who would appreciate Melina’s graceful aging. The sickness for the thickness, as the kids say. Melina tries working the arm on Taryn and she runs away to the floor and lets Kylie have a shot. Rae works the arm on Melina, but Melina takes her to the corner for a double-team from Rosa and some vicious submission attempts on the mat. Ouch. Rae escapes with a headlock and Rosa reverses to a headscissors. Rae misses a kick and Rosa rolls her up for two and gets a crucifix for two, then a high kick for two. Melina comes in, but Kylie catches her with a suplex for two and wraps her up with her own nasty arm submission. Melina fights from the ropes with an axe kick and makes a hot tag to Rosa, who immediately goes after Taryn and hits both heels with shotgun dropkicks and a butterfly suplex on Rae for two. They exchange chops and Rosa puts her down with a leg kick, and Melina comes in with a double flapjack on Rae for two. Taryn gets in Rosa’s face again, so Rosa slams her off the apron and then kidnaps her to the back, but Rae rolls up Melina for the pin at 9:00. Good match because they wisely left Terrell out most of the time and let Rosa do her thing. ***
JTG v. Fred Rosser
JTG looks totally different now and would probably have a good shot at going back to WWE if hadn’t burned all his bridges with the hilarious books. They fight over a wristlock on the mat as Galli notes that fans always wanted to see the dream match of “Crime Time v. Prime Time” and now we have it. That’s kind of a stretch for a dream match, but I can’t knock the hustle. They trade takedown attempts and Rosser sends him to the floor off that and then rolls him up for one on the way back in, but JTG sweeps a leg a few times and gets one. JTG with the headlock and a dropkick off that, but Rosser trips him up and drops him on the top turnbuckle. Rosser drops a leg for two and takes him down with a bodyscissors on the mat, but JTG fights out, so Rosser hits him with an overhead belly to belly for two. JTG heads to the apron and Rosser tries a suplex, but JTG blocks that and lands on his feet, then lays out Rosser with a lariat for the double down. JTG comes back with clotheslines and a neckbreaker, and a swinging uranage gets two. Rosser fights to the corner and JTG tries a Razor’s Edge, but Rosser pulls the hair and tries for a backslide. And then they kick each other in the calf trying for the advantage, but JTG gets a small package for the pin at 9:30 out of nowhere. Really good match with hard work from both. ***1/4
NWA World tag team titles: Aron Stevens & Kratos v. Thom Latimer & Chris Adonis v. The War Kings (Crimson & Jax Dane)
Latimer slugs on Dane and Kratos by himself, but the big guys team up and suplex him. Dane and Kratos slug it out, but Adonis comes in with a clothesline on them and hits Dane with a DDT. Latimer kicks the stairs into Kratos’ leg behind the ref’s back while Adonis beats on Dane in the corner, but the War Kings double-team Adonis to take over. Kratos gets sent back in while selling the leg, but he fights off Crimson and backdrops him onto the apron and makes the tag to Aron Stevens. Aron gets all fired up and cleans house, but nearly hits Kratos by mistake and has to stop and apologize. So Adonis catches Stevens in the Masterlock, but Crimson makes the save and the Kings do their double-team flying elbow on Stevens for two. Adonis makes the save this time and Latimer puts the boots to Stevens. Neckbreaker gets two, but Dane makes the save. Dane goes to a chinlock and the War Kings double-team Stevens in the corner, but Latimer rolls up Dane for two. So we get another truce as Latimer and Dane take turns stomping on Stevens, but that doesn’t last long. Stevens dives for a tag, but Latimer rolls him up for two to cut that off. Adonis comes in and continues stomping Stevens down while Stevens does some really good babyface selling. Maybe he went to the School of Morton that they advertise on the weekly shows! Dane and Latimer team up with a delayed vertical suplex on Stevens and they both want the pin, so that triggers a slugfest between them. So Stevens fights up again and hits Dane with a rolling elbow, but Crimson puts him down with a big boot. Powerbomb on Latimer, but Kratos distracts the ref and then kicks Crimson in the nuts, which allows Stevens to get the pin at 14:08 and retain the titles. Interesting that they’re still keeping the belts on the wacky duo, because I would have bet money on Latimer and Adonis getting them after they had Adonis vacate the National title a couple of weeks back. **3/4
NWA World Women’s title: Serena Deeb v. Kamille
Kamille overpowers her and puts her down with a shoulder for two. Deeb tries a drop toehold and can’t get any leverage on it, and Kamille takes her to the corner for some elbows. Deeb dodges a charge and fights back with forearms to set up a sleeper, but Kamille takes her to the ropes and beats on her with the clubbing forearms. Nice gut wrench suplex gets two. Kamille goes to the surfboard and then slams her and goes to work on the arm for a bit, then follows with a corner splash and goes to a bearhug. Another slam gets two, but she misses a charge and Deeb tries to take out the knee, going after it in the corner and adding a dragon screw. Deeb keeps fighting with forearms and gets a guillotine on the apron, which she turns into a neckbreaker, but Kamille won’t go down. She gets a clothesline for two and goes back to the leg, but Kamille boots her to the floor and they fight out there for a bit. Back in, Deeb suckers her in for another dragon screw and then ties her up with an Octopus, but Kamille powers her up into a rolling fireman’s carry to escape. This sets up the spear, but Deeb counters with a dropkick to the knee and tries the piledriver. Kamille backdrops out of that and charges again, but Deeb rolls her into a half-crab this time and Kamille has to make the ropes. Deeb tries a backslide, but Kamille slams her down and gets her own half-crab, although more like a standing kneebar. Deeb makes the ropes to escape, however. Kamille tries a powerbomb, but Deeb rolls her up for two, so Kamille spears her and wins the title at 14:18. Deeb knew EXACTLY how to work within Kamille’s many limitations and this was a hell of a big woman v. little woman match. ****
NWA World title: Nick Aldis v. Trevor Murdoch
They throw down to start and Murdoch slams him, so Aldis bails to the floor before returning for a slugfest in the corner. Murdoch wins that easily and puts him down with an elbow for two. Aldis does the shoving match with the ref and takes another breather on the floor, but Murdoch follows him out and sends him back in for a corner splash. Trevor goes up for the bulldog already, but Aldis crotches him and dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, Aldis gets two and then dumps Murdoch again, and slams him onto the concrete to further work on the back. Back in, Aldis drops an elbow on the back and chokes him out on the ropes, then goes to the chinlock. Murdoch fights up, so Aldis SLAPS him and beats on him with forearms, until Murdoch comes back with a lariat for two. He goes up again and hits the bulldog this time, but that only gets two. Aldis bails to the apron to escape, but Latimer heads down with a chair to distract the ref, allowing Aldis to grab his own chair and take out the ref with it, before laying out Murdoch as well. Galli is HORRIFIED by this skullduggery from Aldis. I mean, it’s just a referee, what’s the big deal? Just go down to 7-11 and stick a striped shirt on a homeless guy, whatever. Murdoch fights up again and beats Aldis down with the chair before putting Aldis in his own cloverleaf for the apparent submission at 13:00, but the ref revives and disqualifies Murdoch for using the chair instead. So the endless title reign continues with a bullshit screwjob finish on PPV. Really disappointing main event with a REALLY bad finish that left a bad taste in my mouth. That’s some major Dusty Finish stuff there. **
Anyway, regardless of the main event, this was a strong show that ran a TIGHT two hours with a minimum of nonsense and lots of hard work up and down. And whatever Tyrus was doing. Thumbs up.