NWA Powerrr Review - July 18, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Colby Corino def. Alex Taylor

This marked Corino's first match back on Powerrr all year I believe. It's a shame his reported signing with WWE didn't work out, but he is a quality addition to the NWA roster. I just wish he'd do more than challenge for the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship, a level he was stuck at long before he left last year. This was a well-worked match from two skilled wrestlers. Considering Kerry Morton recently turned heel, I'm not sure how much a match between him and Corino makes.

NWA Television Champion Thom Latimer def. Mario Pardua

It would have been nice if we knew a little about Pardua prior to the match. He was just some random title dude who got a title opportunity for no real reason. It wasn't like it wasn't a straight-up squash, either, as Pardua scored a fair amount of offense and this took up most of the six-minute-and-five-second time limit. It was a perfectly fine match and at least it gave Latimer another successful title defense.

Daisy Kill and Talos def. Magic Inc. in an NWA United States Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

Kill and Talos were interviewed by Kyle Davis afterward, so I should've assumed they were going to win this based off that alone. Granted, I didn't have much desire to see either of these teams advance in this mini tourney (I already forgot who Magic Jake Dumas' partner was), but the match was decent. Kill and Talos have largely been booked like losers thus far, but giving them more mic time and wins like this might help.

The Fixers def. The Spectaculars (Rush Freeman and Brady Pierce) in an NWA United States Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Semifinal Match

The Fixers and The Spectaculars are more established than the last two teams, so this was a slightly better match. I can't say anything they did was overly interesting, but it wasn't necessarily bad, either. I don't at all care for The Spectaculars, but the problem with The Fixers winning here and possibly the whole tournament is that they've already held the NWA United Tag Team Championship. I guess they never had a rematch with The County Gentlemen, but building up some fresh teams for championship contention would be ideal.

Matt Cardona Issued an Open Challenge for NWA 75

Cardona's last NWA appearance was at Nuff Said when he failed to regain the NWA World Championship from Tyrus. I figured that was his sendoff from the promotion seeing as how we haven't seen him since, but he announced here via a video taped at his home that he'll be back at NWA 75 issuing an open challenge. I'm not sure what more he can do in the NWA if he won't be involved in the top title scene (and obviously he'd be a much better fit for that spot than Tyrus), but he'll be a boost to that card, if nothing else.

NWA Women's Television Champion Kenzie Paige def. Samantha Starr

It's cool that the women were given the main event spotlight this week. There wasn't a ton of bad blood between them coming into this contest, and there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the match itself, but both Paige and Starr had solid showings and it gave the new NWA Women's Television Championship credibility by going on last. Paige mentioned Kamille during one of her promos, so could that be the NWA World Women's Championship matchup for NWA 75?

Overall Show

Cardona's pre-taped promo was the most "newsworthy" thing about this entire episode, but it did end up being an adequate edition of Powerrr on the whole with the two title matches, the two tournament tag team matches (which will crown new number contenders to the NWA United States Tag Team Championship at NWA 75), and Corino's return to the program. I'm glad there's been actual build to NWA 75 and they're attempting to build several matches prior to the pay-per-view, which isn't something they normally do for whatever reason.

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