NWA Powerrr Review - June 8, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Billy Corgan and Mickie James Made Two Major Announcements

You had to know James was NWA bound when she was released from WWE back in April given her husband Nick Aldis is the face of the promotion. There was some speculation earlier in the day on social media that NWA would be holding an all-women's pay-per-view later this summer and James confirmed it here, which is awesome news. The women had two great matches at When Our Shadows Fall, but hopefully they can use women from AEW and IMPACT also (maybe even Ring of Honor?). If I heard correctly, that'll be going down August 28th with NWA holding its 73rd Anniversary Show on August 29th. I'm looking forward to both events.

Strictly Business Addressed Their Affairs

Wait, Chris Adonis is no longer the NWA National Champion? Apparently he vacated it to compete in the number one contender's Battle Royal a few weeks ago. I must have missed that. How lame. The whole group talked about a variety of things here from Adonis' title situation, failing to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship at When Our Shadows Fall, Kamille becoming champion, and some other stuff. It furthered a few storylines, but they were at the podium for a little bit longer than they needed to be I think.

NWA Television Champion Da Pope def. Luke Hawx

After debuting on The Circle Squared last year, Luke and his son PJ returned to the NWA last week on the PowerrrSurge show in a losing effort against Tim Storm and Sal Rinauro. There was no reason to think Hawx was winning the title here, but it was a fun little sprint while it lasted. I forgot how many title defenses the commentators said Pope had, but he's quickly approaching that magic seven number, which will earn him an opportunity at the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. I could definitely get behind him against Nick Aldis.

Kyle Davis Interviewed a Masked Man

I thought AEW's Preston "10" Vance was making his NWA debut for a second. He never revealed his name, but he did say Corgan knew his identity and he was responsible for signing him. I saw some speculation from fans that it could be the former Curtis Axel, but it definitely isn't (though he wouldn't be a bad fit for the NWA). Other people suggested that it could be Robert Anthony, who wrestled a handful of matches for AEW last year. Whoever it is, this was a fine introductory promo from them. It felt very old school, which I appreciated.

Taryn Terrell def. Lady Frost

Frost has wrestled for AEW before and I've seen reports indicating she might be IMPACT bound soon. If this was just a pit stop for her in the NWA, it wasn't very impressive, unfortunately. This wasn't much of a match at all with Terrell immediately going to the podium and claiming she was in no mood to wrestle, only to return to the ring and beat Frost in under a minute. If nothing else, Terrell plays her role well and this showed that.

BLK Jeez Confronted Tyrus and Austin Idol

Tyrus and Idol were out doing their usual shtick with Davis at the podium, complaining about Pope and whatnot. Considering Tyrus beat him at the pay-per-view, one has to assume he'll be getting another shot at the strap soon enough. Instead of Pope coming out, it was this dude named BLK Jeez, who I've never heard of before. He didn't say much, so I don't have much of an opinion of this, but we'll see where it leads.

The End vs. La Rebelion Ended in a No Contest

La Rebelion made their NWA debut at When Our Shadows Fall and won a four-way tag team match. They faced off with The End afterward, so this was the follow-up to that. La Rebelion bring a different energy to the promotion than almost anyone else, so they're sure to be a great addition to the roster. This was a nicely-paced affair, and although I wasn't fond of the finish, it allows the feud to continue and for them to have more matches together.

Jennacide Prevented Melina From Crashing Kamille's NWA World Women's Championship Coronation

This was heavily hyped throughout the show, making me think they were saving something special for last. Unfortunately, as cool of a moment as it was for Kamille, this segment ended up being extremely uneventful. Kamille and Aldis were out in the ring for about a minute before Melina tried to crash the celebration. Jennacide ran into the ring, ordered Melina to go to the back, and that was it. I guess this was designed to set up Melina vs. Jennacide for an upcoming episode, but I definitely wouldn't have had this close the show. It just fell flat.

Overall Show

They really tried to shove a lot into the hour and not everything had a chance to settle in. Obviously, the biggest talking point coming out of the episode was the announcement that we're getting an all-women's pay-per-view in August. I'm interested to see who else beyond the NWA will be a part of it and I'm sure Mickie James will do everything she can to make it special. The rest of this show was disappointing considering I thought their When Our Shadows Fall pay-per-view was solid on the whole. Outside of the opening announcements, nothing of note really happened and several segments fell flat in my opinion.

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