NWA Powerrr Review - January 28, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Burchill def. Babathunder by Disqualification

Babathunder is of course the former Babatunde a.k.a. Dabba-Kato a.k.a. Commander Azeez from WWE (yes, he had many names during his time there). He previously debuted for MLW last month and feels like a fine fit for the NWA, assuming he's here to stay. There wasn't much to this match before Babathunder got disqualified by shoving the referee. Mike Mondo came into the ring afterward to talk trash to Burchill, so he must've been the one that he's been cryptically hinting at targeting in recent weeks. Whether he'll be aligned with Babathunder going forward remains to be seen, though.

Kyle Davis Interviewed EC3

I can't wait for EC3 and Thom Latimer to have their Steel Cage match for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship... only because I desperately want this rivalry to be over. It feels like they've been feuding for years, which is technically true if you count their battles over the midcard titles. They simply don't have super strong chemistry together and both men have said pretty much everything they possibly can at this point. In short, this wasn't a bad promo from EC3, but it was more of the same.

Blunt Force Trauma def. Modern Day Outlaws

Now that they've failed to regain the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Knox and Murdoch, I'm curious what's next for Blunt Force Trauma. I only ask because I question what purpose their matches are supposed to serve unless they're actually being built up for something. It was logical to give them a squash win in the meantime and I'm glad this was kept short and sweet.

The Country Joes (Joe Cazana and NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Country Gentlemen) def. Christian Anderson and Rewind Society; Country Joes def. NWA Television Champion Carson Bartholomew Drake and The Slime Ballz in a Texas Tornado Match by Count-Out

The first six-man tag team match solely seemed to exist to give Country Joes an easy win, which is why there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. The subsequent six-man tag team match was completely pointless, however. Drake recently aligned himself with Slime Ballz, but it was stupid for them to challenge Country Joes to an impromptu matchup and quickly forfeit, especially if it was supposed to be contested under Texas Tornado rules. Sure, it put heat on Drake and Slime Ballz, but aren't Country Joes heels as well? This was bizarre booking.

NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Alex Taylor def. Hunter Drake (Non-Title)

Taylor has really excelled in the role of Junior Heavyweight champ. It's just a shame he doesn't have a whole lot of competition from the current NWA roster, but I guess it does give opportunities to people from the promotions the NWA works with. Taylor didn't take Drake seriously until Drake scored a fair amount of offense, so I liked the story they told here and thought it was a nice match while it lasted.

Alex Misery def. Lev

The stipulation for this was that the loser must "serve" the winner. What that entails exactly, I'm not sure, but it would make sense for their respective characters. Plus, I appreciated that this had something at stake given the feud they've been having. They once again had a well-wrestled match in the time they were allotted. The NWA needs more matches like this (not necessarily the stipulation but rather the in-ring aspect of it).

"Thrillbilly" Silas Mason and Bryan Idol Faced Off

It was announced that Mason and Idol will have a match at their Looks That Kill event (which was taped last month) that should be airing soon on Powerrr and I thought these two did a very effective job of building toward that bout. Mason has established his spot as a star on the rise and cut a great promo here. Meanwhile, Idol hasn't been featured quite as prominently, but he shined here as well. They saved the best for the last on this show.

Overall Show

This may have been the best edition of Powerrr in several weeks, at least since their last string of "special" shows ended. That isn't to say it was must-see by any means and the NWA continues to fall back on some of the same tired tropes, but the last three matches/segments earned this episode a thumbs-up in my book. They packed a lot of stuff into this show, but that last segment was easily the highlight.

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