Indie Spotlight: N.E.W.'s Traevon Jordan Looks to Finish His Own Story

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Back in early 2023, I wrote about an independent wrestling promotion near and dear to my heart, Northeast Wrestling, and how a string of shows they produced from 2022 to 2023 set the standard for storytelling on the indies and left me coming back for more every month. As someone who has closely followed N.E.W. for a decade and a half, this was the most excited I had ever been to be a fan of the product, which is saying a lot considering the high quality of content they've produced in that time.

An eight-month-long hiatus put a halt to their hot momentum at the end of 2023, but N.E.W. returned with a bang in April with their Hat City Havoc II event, headlined by N.E.W. Hall of Famer's Brian Anthony's bittersweet retirement match. I was curious to see if the company's creative direction would pick up right where it left off and it surely did not disappoint.

ing In addition to the usual excellent action (Mustafa Ali vs. KC Navarro for starters), Hat City Havoc's highlights included Anthony closing out his career (one that was abruptly ended due to injury) in the main event against Vito, his one-time manager and friend-turned-foe. Their Street Fight was not a bell-to-bell mat classic, but it rewarded fans who have followed Anthony's journey in recent years with fantastic attention to detail.

Anthony's swan song would have been an emotional masterpiece regardless because of how much he's meant to the company over the years, but Vito was a perfectly fitting final opponent for him considering Anthony was never able to give him his comeuppance after Vito betrayed him and cost him the N.E.W. Heavyweight Championship against Dan Maff back in the summer of 2022. Speaking of Maff, he had a role to play in the matchup as well, as he got involved and attempted to aid Vito to victory before Ron Zombie (another N.E.W. icon) emerged in Avengers Endgame-esque fashion to even the playing field. Anthony and Zombie have history of their own as rivals, so again, everything about it was exceptionally executed.

Anthony got to finish his story that night, and Traevon Jordan continued his. Alongside his equally popular tag partner Jaelyn Brandyn, Jordan is one of N.E.W.'s most popular fixtures and has been since the company resumed shows post-pandemic in 2021. Collectively known as Waves & Curls, Jordan and Brandyn quickly caught fire with fans upon joining the promotion and cemented their spot atop the tag team division by becoming N.E.W. Tag Team Champions in February 2022.

I detailed Jordan's rise to the N.E.W. Heavyweight Championship in my aforementioned feature on the company, but in short, he was the one responsible for ending Maff's near-three-year run as champ, only to be forced to relinquish the title due to injury shortly thereafter. He returned to the ring in N.E.W. shortly before the promotion went on hiatus and there wasn't any indication he'd pick up where he left off in the main event picture.

That changed at Hat City Havoc back in April when Waves & Curls regained the N.E.W. Tag Team Championship from Maff and Kerr, and at the Over the Top event in June, Jordan won the annual Over the Top 30-man Rumble match to earn an opportunity at N.E.W.'s top title at a later date. The reaction to his  win was thunderous because everyone in attendance knew the mission was clear: Jordan had to get back the belt he was never beaten for.

On that same show, Matt Taven (who won the vacant N.E.W. Heavyweight Championship in December 2022 after Jordan gave it up due to his injury) defended the title against Maff in a bout that ended in a disqualification. That perfectly set up Jordan vs. Maff in a number one contender's match at this past week's Heat Wave event where the winner would get the next shot at Taven (who just so happened to have trained Jordan upon breaking into the business).

It was the ultimate rematch considering Jordan's first win over Maff in one-on-one action two years ago wasn't decisive; it was a quick roll-up that won him the match and the prestigious prize. Despite interference from Maff's posse of Vito and Kerr, Jordan still managed to emerge victorious on Saturday night, this time in emphatic fashion by pinfall. Maff was nearly disqualified, but recently-retired and newly-appointed general manager Brian Anthony (arguably Maff's biggest rival in N.E.W.) ensured that the contest be restarted without Vito at ringside. It was yet another electric ending to another home run of a show from N.E.W.

Cody Rhodes, who revitalized his career post-WWE in 2016 with a run in Northeast Wrestling, famously "finished his story" at WrestleMania 40. Now it's time for Jordan to finish his by beating his mentor to reclaim the championship he didn't have the chance to hold for more than a month the first time around. It's the simplest of storylines yet so effective and compelling. It's merely a taste of what fans can expect from attending and following N.E.W., one of the very best independent promotions out there today.

Check out Hat City Havoc II and more Northeast Wrestling action on Amazon Prime Video.