NWA Powerrr Review - January 28, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sean Mooney Interviewed NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis

First and foremost, it's awesome to see Mooney being brought in as part of the NWA's announce team as he's a perfect fit and still has a lot to offer. This was a hell of a segment with Aldis addressing his victory over Flip Gordon at Hard Times as well as Marty Scurll challenging him for his championship. Aldis never ceases to bring the goods on the microphone and this provided a great hook for their sit-down later in the show.

Royce Issacs def. Andre Guhn

I still can't bring myself to care about Issacs on his own, but they're clearly telling a story with him and how Mae Valentine has apparently played a factor in all the losses he's racked up recently. He was able to get back on track here with a win, but it's going to take more than a victory over an enhancement talent for him to be taken seriously. Unsurprisingly, the match was nothing special.

Melina Addressed Thunder Rosa's NWA World Women's Championship Victory

It's been obvious for weeks that they're building to a split between Melina and Rosa. The cool thing is that it's completely natural and that Rosa has gotten over all on her own with the audience despite never once pandering to them or anything like that. I could see her and Melina clashing for the NWA World Women's Championship at the Crockett Cup show in April, but it should be a slow build burn in the meantime. Next week, Rosa will defend her newly won belt against Allysin Kay in a rematch from Hard Times.

NWA Television Champion Ricky Starks def. Zicky Dice

Starks spoke beforehand about becoming the new champion at Hard Times before being interrupted by Dice, who has quickly grown on me during his time in the NWA. He's a pretty competent performer in the ring, but he really shines on the mic and I enjoyed his verbal exchange with Starks here. Their match was solid and Starks is already off to a strong start as TV Champion.

NWA National Champion Aron Stevens and The Question Mark Interrupted NWA World Tag Team Champions Eli Drake and James Storm; Trevor Murdoch Challenged Stevens

Storm and Drake winning the tag titles kind of came out of nowhere, but they're already my new favorite tandem in the NWA. They gel so well together and are an incredibly entertaining unit. This was a hilarious back-and-forth between the two teams and just a ton of fun. Stevens in particular played his role remarkably well and now he has a title defense to worry about next week against Murdoch. I loved every second of this.

Tensions Rose Between NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis and Marty Scurll

This just might have been one of the best segments I've seen on Powerrr to date. I can't stress enough how excellent this was. Aldis and Scurll made it feel personal and everything they said had a sense of realism to it. They discussed Scurll's failures over the past year and how he's desperate for another shot at the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Aldis realized how desperate he is and agreed to face him only if Scurll gives everyone in the audience a refund if he loses again. That's quite the stipulation. The Crockett Cup is an ideal event to hold the rematch since that was where they had their original encounter a year ago. I was excited for the rematch before, but they officially sold me on it here. What a brilliant piece of business.

Overall Show

Coming off a newsworthy Hard Times pay-per-view, the NWA maintained that momentum in a major way with an above-average edition of Powerrr. The Issacs squash was whatever, but everything else was wonderful. I had no problem with this episode being very promo-heavy, as all of it served a purpose and was intriguing. That closing sit-down with Aldis and Scurll was spectacular and is certainly worth checking out. We also found out that there will be two title matches next week, so this was a super effective hour of programming all around.