NWA Crockett Cup: Night 1 Review - June 3, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Flippin' Psychos def. Sent2Slaughter in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

Flippin' Psychos consisted of Flip Gordan and Fodder. Sent2Slaughter consisted of Dan Maff and Shawn Donovan. Maff has been around for decades, and he was in Ring of Honor just a few years ago, but I've especially enjoyed his work in Northeast Wrestling these past few years. He and Donovan made for a fine powerhouse team, but Gordan and Fodder are more established and it was logical for them to advance.

Pre-Show: SVGS def. TNT in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

Terrence and Terrell Hughes, who make up TNT, have shown noticeable improvement since I first saw them on AEW Dark back in 2020. They're the real-life sons of D-Von Dudley, so tag-teaming is in their blood. They've also gotten into great shape and I'd love to see them get more chances in the NWA or elsewhere. They had an impressive outing, but SVGS winning was hardly a surprise.

Pre-Show: The Brothers of Funstruction def. The Fixers in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

There was a four-way tag team play-in match that was shown before this with The Outrunners winning. It wasn't shown in its entirety (I believe because it happened prior to the pre-show), so I didn't bother writing about it. Nonetheless, I didn't care much for this match between The Fixers and the team of Yabo the Clown and Ruffo the Clown. I like The Fixers, but I don't think putting two literal clowns in the Crockett Cup makes it feel all that prestigious. Having them advance over The Fixers was even worse.

Pre-Show: Los Vipers def. The Heatseekers in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

Arez, who is currently one-half of the AAA World Tag Team Champions, was the only one I was familiar with in this match. He teamed with Toxin as Los Vipers. I have no idea who The Heatseekers are. They consisted of Elliot Russel and Matt Sigmon and apparently they've been around a while. Some background on them on NWA programming coming into the Crockett Cup would've been nice. If nothing else, this was a well worked match.

Pre-Show: The Immortals (Kratos and Odinson) def. Brian Brock and "Magic" Jake Dumas in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

Part of The Warriors from the Wasteland (Judais and Max The Impaler) beating The Now in a first-round match prior to the pre-show was shown right before this. Maybe it was explained on commentary and I missed it, but whatever happened to Dumas teaming with Mercurio? The Immortals were the right team to advance regardless of who Dumas' partner was. Kratos and Odinson have quality chemistry as partners and I thought they had a solid showing here.

Pre-Show: The Outrunners def. Idolmania Sports Management (Cyon and Jordan Clearwater) in a Crockett Cup First-Round Match

As previously mentioned, The Outrunners earned their way into the tournament by winning a play-in dark match. They're two goofs (who are probably perfect in the NWA to be honest), but I'm actually glad they advanced here so that play-in match actually meant something. A masked attacked Cyon on the apron, distracting Clearwater and costing them the win. I don't know who it could be, but Austin Idol didn't look too upset by what happened. This was easily the most interesting thing to happen on the entire pre-show.

Blunt Force Trauma def. The Outrunners ​in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

I mentioned in the previous paragraph that I was happy The Outrunners made it past the first round, but I didn't say they had to win the whole thing. Considering who their opponents were, they had no chance of winning here, not to mention they had an out for losing because they just wrestled. This was exactly what it needed to be with Blunt Force Trauma displaying their dominance and The Outrunners selling well for their offense.

The Immortals def. NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Country Gentlemen in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match (Non-Title)

This was exactly the hard-hitting affair I was hoping these teams would have. I thought The Immortals making it to the second round would've sufficed, so Country Gentlemen losing here was unexpected considering The Immortals already wrestled earlier in the evening. Maybe they can feud coming out of this event over the NWA United States Tag Team Championship? That would make the most sense.

Joe Alonzo def. Alex Taylor to Advance to the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender's Six-Way Scramble Match on Night 2

This was the best match on the show up to this point, probably because it was a singles match and not a lower-level tag team tournament match. Both men have shined in singles competition as of late and I'm glad they got a chance to showcase their skills on the show. Having something at stake (a spot in Night 2's six-way Scramble match) helped as well. This was nicely paced and could have gone either way.

The Mortons def. Los Vipers in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

The story here was that Kerry Morton has been showing heel tendencies as of late (likely as a result of his growing confidence as champion) and Ricky Morton didn't appear to be on board with his actions for most of this match. The big swerve was that Ricky cheated in the end to help Ricky pick up the win for their team, so they are on the same page after all. This was a good match and that finish was a cool twist.

The Brothers of Funstruction def. A Cut Above in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match; NWA World Women's Champion Kamille Addressed the Audience

A Cut Above consisted of NWA Television Champion Thom Latimer and Rhett Titus. This felt like an automatic win for them, but I assume the NWA wanted to swerve people by booking an upset here instead. That was definitely a mistake. Brothers of Funstruction were fan favorites, but A Cut Above should've gone to the next round over them. The result overshadowed the match for me, though it wasn't anything special, anyway. Kamille's post-match promo addressing Natalia Markova was passable, but promos still aren't her strong suit.

Jinetes del Aire def. SVGS in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

Jinetes del Aire, who were representatives of the NWA, consisted of Myzteziz Jr. and Octagón Jr. Aside from one ugly moment in the middle, this was a good match. The two teams worked well together and had a nice dynamic. SVGS are the NWA regulars and have been all over NWA programming, so this was another unexpected outcome and one I didn't mind. Like with other teams in the tourney, more background on Jinetes del Aire beforehand would've been appreciated.

Ruthie Jay, Samantha Starr, and NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions M95 def. Pretty Empowered (NWA Womne's Television Champion Kenzie Paige, Ella Envy, Kylie Paige and Roxy) in a Hardcore Team War Match

I was wondering why Starr and Kylie had a match on Tuesday's edition of Powerrr because I completely forgot about this happening on the card. It was certainly hardcore, that's for sure. I'm not a fan of the Team War matches because the eliminations are too rapid-fire like we saw here, but I will give them credit for their effort. Starr winning with the loaded miner's glove was a sweet nod to Jake Roberts.

Knox and Murdoch def. Magnum Muscle in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

Knox and Murdoch are an obvious makeshift team, but they've been quite the team these last few months and should make it far in the bracket. I've also liked what I've seen from Magnum Muscle so far, so it's a shame that they couldn't make it past the second round. This should have gotten the time The Midnight Riders vs. Judais and Max the Impaler did (more on that in a moment), but what we got was decent enough.

The Midnight Riders def. Judais and Max the Impaler by Disqualification in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

The Midnight Riders consisted of NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Tyrus and Chris Adonis, who had issues coming into the tournament because they just feuded over Tyrus' title. Both Judais and Tyrus are terrible, so putting them in there together was a mind-boggling decision. This ended when Tyrus kissed Max on the head and Max got their team disqualified. Yes, it was pretty bad. I figured Tyrus and Adonis would advance, but the match was abysmal and the finish was even worse.

NWA National Champion EC3 def. Thrillbilly Silas

Silas has had more momentum than almost anyone else in the NWA this year, so I'm happy he got a title shot on this show. I didn't think he would win because EC3 hasn't been champ for so long, but it was a good spot for him to be in and I hope this isn't the end of his chase for the championship. EC3 cheating leads me to believe that will be the case. This was one of the better matches on the show.

NWA World Tag Team Champions La Rebelion def. Flippin' Psychos in a Crockett Cup Second-Round Match

This started out as a Handicap match with Gordon going at it alone because Fodder couldn't make it in time (I forget the reason why), but even once he did show up, they still lost. With La Rebelion being the tag team champs, it was the right result. They tried to tell a story, and I know Vampiro made a surprise appearance at the end to help La Rebelion win, but I still don't see why this had to close the show considering it was your average second-round match otherwise. I would've preferred to see EC3 vs. Silas go on last instead.

Overall Show

If you enjoy mediocre tag team wrestling, then this show is for you. Hardcore Team War and the National title match stood out, but that was about it. Night 1 was essentially a set-up show for Night 2, which will feature the more important matches in the Crockett Cup. I understand the idea of wanting to do the entire tournament over one weekend, but there were just too many damn matches and most of these would've been better off on Powerrr and NWA USA.

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