NWA Hard Times 3 Review - November 12, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Mims def. Anthony Andrews in an NWA Television Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Yes, Mims already became the number one contender to the TV title recently on Powerrr, so it was pretty silly he had to put the title shot on the line here considering he and Andrews don't have any established issues. It was a fairly basic bout, but the best two things I can say about it are that Mims maintained momentum with the win and it reminded the audience that Mims has a TV title match coming.

Pre-Show: WildKat Tag Team Champions Slime SZN def. The Miserably Faithful (Sal The Pal and Gaagz The Gymp)

I know nothing about Slime SZN or the WildKat promotion, but it's cool the NWA was able to give their tag titles some exposure by having them defended on the pre-show. Miserably Faithful are a stupid faction, but to the credit of Sal and Gaagz, they held their own here and Slime SZN were impressive. This was a well-worked match with a nice pace and the correct result.

Pre-Show: Team Mayweather (Anthony Mayweather, Da Pope and JTG) def. Team Dane (Jax Dane, Mercurio and Alex Taylor) in a Hardcore Tear War Match

Taylor replaced Magic Jake Dumas. Mayweather and Dane have been feuding for what feels like a decade, but it was never explained why they chose the partners they had. The involvement of JTG, Pope, Mercurio and Taylor was incredibly random, but I suppose it was the NWA's way of getting them on the show. There wasn't anything "hardcore" about this other than when Pope was in there, but it served its purpose in allowing Mayweather to give Dane his comeuppance finally. Now, can we please move on from this feud finally?

Pre-Show: Jordan Clearwater def. AJ Cazana to Win the Vacant NWA Television Championship

The finals of this tournament on NWA USA had back-to-back non-finishes, hence why the rematch was saved for the pay-per-view. As I said the first time, I have zero clue who the crowd was supposed to cheer for in this one. I assume Cazana was the babyface, but the NWA has given the audience no reason to want to care about him. Although this was technically sufficient, I personally couldn't get invested despite a title being up for grabs. Of the two, Clearwater was the better choice to win.

Max The Impaler def. Natalia Markova in a Voodoo Queen Casket Match

The resemblance Sarah Logan's new look has to Max is uncanny. Logan definitely looks like a Max The Impaler rip-off. At any rate, Max recently beat Markova and Taryn Terrell in a two-on-one Handicap match, but since she didn't pin Markova, she wanted to put defeat her decisively in a gimmick match of her choosing. This might be the first Casket match I've seen in the NWA and it was fine. Markova took one hell of a beating, especially on top of the casket at the end. Hopefully she isn't too hurt from that.

MLW National Openweight Champion Davey Richards def. Colby Corino

I wouldn't go so far as to call this the "dream match" it was being billed as, but it's pretty sweet the MLW National Openweight Championship was once again defended on an NWA pay-per-view. I didn't realize this last time, but Richards' title win actually hasn't aired on MLW Fusion yet. In fact, I believe it's supposed to air this coming Thursday. This was a fun match with Corino looking credible in defeat. The problem is that Corino loses way more often than he wins, so it's difficult to take him seriously at this point.

The Question Mark II def. The Question Mark in a Mask vs. Mask Match

Seeing as how the original Question Mark passed away in 2020 and no was better than him with that character, this whole storyline has been a waste of time. Aron Stevens has done his best with it, but I was hoping this would end in a double count-out or a draw so both guys would have to unmask. Sadly, that was not the case. If nothing else, the crowd was into it. Rodney Mack unmasked, but because he covered his face immediately, his identity wasn't actually revealed.

Kerry Morton def. Homicide to Win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship

Homicide has been a dominant, fighting champion since capturing the title back in March and his character development in becoming more aggressive and taking shortcuts to win while turning heel has been fun to follow. That said, Morton taking the title was the only outcome that made sense here after Morton lost to Homicide at NWA 74. There were suspenseful nearfalls down the stretch and they produced a great match. Props to Homicide for playing his role so well because it made Morton's moment alongside his father Ricky mean that much more. 

Thrillbilly Silas def. Odinson

Odinson was originally scheduled to face Nick Aldis on this show before, you know, the NWA suspended Aldis ahead of his upcoming departure. They only did themselves a disservice by doing that because Aldis vs. Odinson had been built up since NWA 74 and all of that build amounted to nothing. Odinson cut a promo beforehand and he probably shouldn't have because the sound of his voice made him significantly less intimidating. The match he had with Silas was whatever and Silas winning was quite the surprise.

NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Fixers def. The Spectaculars (Rush Freeman and Brady Pierce)

I know Rolando Freeman is a fan favorite, but I can't say I care much about The Spectaculars. I find The Fixers much more entertaining and thus I enjoyed seeing them destroy The Spectaculars. They only won the belts back in August, so it was too early for them to lose them. This was a solid match with The Spectaculars getting some shine only for The Fixers to go over in the end. The Fixers have largely been portrayed as goofs up to this point, so I liked that they showed more of an edge here.

NWA National Champion Cyon def. Dak Draper

Draper was a standout in Ring of Honor's final years but wasn't too many opportunities to show what he could do. He honestly feels like a a perfect fit for WWE (specifically NXT 2.0) given his size, background and athleticism. A majority of Cyon's matches bore me, but it helped that Draper was on offense for almost all of this before (unfortunately) eating defeat. The Cyon and Austin Idol act is as bland as can be.

NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered def. Madi and Missa Kate

Madi and Kate earned the title opportunity by beating Pretty Empowered in non-title action recently on Powerrr. The NWA doesn't have many (if any) other teams in the women's tag team division that Pretty Empowered haven't already beaten, so at least there was a bit of a buildup behind this as well as the story that Pretty Empowered weren't completely on the same page. Interestingly, it was Madi and Kate who couldn't coexist after Madi thought Kate hit her intentionally. This was an adequate outing.

Thom Latimer def. EC3 by Disqualification

I give these two credit for trying to garner interest in their feud, but I knew the match itself would be mundane and I was not wrong. EC3 then grabbed a mic and went off on Latimer in an attempt to get into his head. Ultimately, he was successful and Latimer snapped by assaulting the referee and getting himself disqualified. In other words, the rivalry will continue. I understand the story they're trying to tell, but it doesn't do much for me.

NWA World Tag Team Champions La Rebelion def. Hawx Aerie

La Rebelion have beaten Hawx Aerie at least once or twice before, so between that and Hawx Aerie being New Orleans natives, I thought for sure they were winning here. Well, apparently not. I really would have given them the titles because they definitely deserve it and it's not as if there are any other teams in the NWA ready for the spot. On the bright side, this was one of the night's better bouts and Hawx Aerie had the crowd behind them every step of the way.

NWA World Women's Champion Kamille def. Chelsea Green and KiLynn King in a Three-Way Match

I'm still disappointed we didn't get Kamille vs. Taya Valkyrie II, which was originally scheduled for this show before King beat Valkyrie for her title shot and Green was added. Green's addition arguably took away from the match because I didn't think this was as strong as some of Kamille's other defenses. It was good for the time given but featured nothing that will be remembered a week from now. The camera focused on King afterward, so clearly her chase for the title isn't over yet since she wasn't pinned.

Kyle Davis Interviewed Bobby Fulton

If there's anything the NWA does right, it's bringing back NWA legends for their pay-per-views and giving them a few minutes to have a moment with the crowd. I was happy Fulton had his time to shine here given all that he's accomplished in the business and because, as he mentioned, he is a throat cancer survivor. This was short and sweet and a welcome break before the main event.

Tyrus def. Trevor Murdoch and Matt Cardona in a Three-Way Match to Win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship

It's hilariously bad how little heat this match had. I mean, was that at all shocking? Cardona is clearly a heel, Murdoch has been acting heelish for a majority of the year, and Tyrus is terrible. Granted, I didn't expect anything other than what we got, but I was hoping they could pull off some sort of a miracle. Then again, I'm aware that would have been almost impossible with Tyrus involved. He was the worst part about this thing and barely won at the end. Tyrus becoming the new NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion is oddly fitting for a company that is now a parody of itself, but it's still a dumb decision and one that could cost them whatever fans they have left.

Overall Show

The only buzz the NWA had coming into this pay-per-view had to do with the departure of Aldis, who has been synonymous with this promotion for the past five years. The fact he's gone is a horrendous sign for the sign for the NWA, not to mention that the product has gradually gotten worse and worse since they returned from their year-long hiatus in 2021. This pay-per-view proved that. To be fair, there was very little that was actually awful aside from the ending, but of the many matches we got on this card, I would only recommend checking out the NWA World Tag Team Championship match and the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship match. Everything else can be easily skipped over. Once the event was over, I felt like very little was accomplished (for the better). Hard Times indeed.

SEE MORE: NWA Reviews