NWA Samhain Review - October 28, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Pre-Show: Brandon Day def. Manbun Jesus in an NWA Exodus Pro Heavyweight Championship Tournament Qualifying Match

I'm not familiar with either of these guys, so it didn't matter to me who went over, but I do know that this NWA Exodus Pro Heavyweight Championship Tournament is a part of the NWA's plan to bring back the territories. If I'm not mistaken, talent from this Exodus Pro territory will be featured on Powerrr on occasion and get exposure that way. This was fine albeit brief. Jay Bradley was involved in the post-match angle and Wrecking Ball Legursky was not, so I'm curious if that means The Fixers are no more.

Pre-Show: Kyle Davis Interviewed Austin Idol; The Country Gentlemen and Jordan Clearwater def. The Outrunners and Zyon

Idol ranted beforehand about his accomplishments and how he deserves credit for all of the NWA's success. His boys weren't able to back him up because they subsequently lost to Clearwater and Country Gentlemen (which now consists of AJ Cazana and KC Cazana). It was a standard six-man tag team match, but it was well worked. I still have no idea why Cyon was replaced by Zyon.

Pre-Show: Samantha Starr def. Missa Kate, Chelsea and Tiffany Nieves in an NWA Women's World Championship No. 1 Contender's Four-Way Match

I was rooting for Kate to win because she was the only one of the four who bothered to dress up in a costume. She killed it with the Joker cosplay. That said, I'm not complaining about Starr winning as she's a suitable challenger for the NWA Women's World Championship. This was all action and all four women had solid showings. This may as well have been Starr and Kate one-on-one because there was zero introduction to them, but at least they didn't do poorly.

Pre-Show: The Immortals def. Daisy Kill and Talos to Win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship

Kill and Talos just became champions not too long ago, so I didn't think they'd lose the belts so soon. I'm not complaining, though, as I didn't think they should've captured the championship in the first place. The Immortals have been a much more dominant duo and I was glad they took the titles here. The two teams had a nice dynamic and had a quality contest. It was refreshing to have something noteworthy happen on the pre-show to make it worthwhile.

NWA Women's Television Champion Max the Impaler, Alex Misery, Judais and Magic Inc. def. Gaagz the Gymp, Koa Laxamana, Sal the Pal and Magnum Muscle in a Devil's Last Dance Ultimate Hardcore War

Man, what a total mess this was. Team War matches have potential, but I have sub-zero interest in the trash with Father James Mitchell wanting to "own the souls" of Gymp and Sal or whatever the stipulation was. The Miserably Faithful as an act need to go if the NWA wants to send the right message about this "new era" they've been boasting about. The eliminations were way too rapid-fire to matter, but I did like how Max was made out to look like a one-person wrecking crew. That was the only highlight.

Rush Freeman def. Brady Pierce in a Loser Leaves Town Match (Rolando Freeman Served as Special Guest Referee); Billy Corgan Confronted Matt Cardona Who Was Attacked by Kamille

Personally, the drama with The Spectaculars hasn't done much for me, but this was a logical match to do with Rolando having to call it down the middle and not pick sides. That is, however, until he attacked Pierce. Then Cardona showed up, attacked everyone, and had Rush cover Pierce for the win. The match itself was whatever and was completely overshadowed by what we got afterward from Cardona and Corgan. That went on for way too long and tried to take the "shoot" route, but I definitely do not need to see Corgan as an on-air character. Kamille attacking Cardona with a chair set up what we saw at the end of the show.

NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Colby Corino def. Joe Alonzo in a Pillar to Post Match

A Pillar to Post match is basically a Falls Count Anywhere match with a different name, and they certainly made the most of the stipulation by taking their fight all around the arena. Alonzo and Corino both had standout performances at NWA 75 and they worked wonderfully together here. This was a blast. Corino is the perfect fit as champ right now and him retaining was the right call, but hopefully this isn't the last we'll see of Alonzo in the title picture.

The Southern Six (Kerry Morton and Alex Taylor) def. The Headbangers in a Rock 'N Roll Match

Per the stipulation, if your partner kicked out, you'd have to take a shot. Yes, it was a very silly stipulation, but with or without it, this still would've been total throwaway. That's not a knock on Southern Six, who I like as a heel faction, but rather on The Headbangers, who are absolutely abysmal. I wasn't watching wrestling during the Attitude Era, but I haven't given a single crap about anything they've been involved in that I've seen (including their random SmackDown stint in late 2016). This was no exception. If nothing else, it gave Southern Six a win. Just don't bring back The Headbangers, please.

Jax Dane def. "Bulletproof" Blake Troop in a Submission Match

Troop obviously has an MMA background, so the stipulation was fitting. However, the crowd didn't seem to cheer for one guy over the other. Dane came across like the babyface by default, but that wasn't made clear prior to the pay-per-view. Submission matches tend to work better with a heated feud or two guys who are submission specialists, whereas Dane was a bit out of his element. Hopefully him winning can put this rivalry to rest and they can both move on.

NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered (Kylie Paige and Ella Envy) def. Taylor Rising and Natalia Markova

Rising and Markova became the number one contenders to the tag titles several weeks back, but I don't think they've appeared on Powerrr since then. Thus, they weren't threats to Pretty Empowered, but I thought they had chemistry as partners and hope they remain together. It's not like the NWA has a very deep women's tag team scene to begin with. This was a fairly average outing with the correct outcome.

NWA National Champion "Thrillbilly" Silas Mason def. Chris Adonis in a Burning Lake Brawl

Despite the stipulation, this didn't really feel like much of a brawl, so it could have been billed as a straightforward singles match and it wouldn't have mattered. That said, they had a hard-hitting affair that I seemed to enjoy than the crowd did. It was hindered by the heel vs. heel dynamic (and I don't think that would've changed if they were given more time), so I can't say I blame them, but Adonis gave Mason a fight before suffering the loss.

Violent J and The Brothers of Funstruction def. Vampiro and La Rebelion in a Riddle Box Match

This was somehow worse than the opener, but I'm not shocked because this whole feud has been an atrocity. God bless anyone who was entertained by this garbage. Needless to say, adding Vampiro and Violent J to the mix was not wise. Their exchange at the end was awful yet was enough to put Vampiro, an accomplished competitor, away for the three count. This is the type of trash the NWA should be trying to move away from, not doing more of.

NWA World Women's Champion Kenzie Paige def. Ruthie Jay

These two were put in a tough spot coming off the Riddle Box match because the crowd was clearly drained, not to mention all the other matches they sat through up to this point in the pay-per-view. They had a decent match and there was nothing technically wrong with it, but it felt like something you'd see on Powerrr. It would have benefited from a better build because there was zero chance of Jay taking the title here.

NWA World Tag Team Champions Blunt Force Trauma def. Knox and Murdoch in a Knights of the Round Table Tables Match

Aron Stevens was barred from ringside (until he revealed himself as a knight at the end and aided Blunt Force Trauma to victory). This wasn't your ordinary Tables match as the table they had to put their opponent through had to be round. The issue is they put each other through multiple tables before the finish, but none of the previous table spots won them the matchup because they weren't round tables. Why not bring one of the round tables to ringside to make it easier? This was an improvement over their other encounters, though. The crowd was quieter than I thought they would be, but the Tables stipulation did make this more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Knox and Murdoch failed to take the titles twice before and I thought this would be their night, but apparently not.

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion EC3 def. Thom Latimer in a No Limits Match

Props to Latimer and Kamille for the awesome Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth couple costume during their entrance. Latimer cashed in his Lucky 7 rule as NWA Television Champion for this opportunity. I understand it was a No Limits match (a.k.a. No Disqualification), but Kamille didn't need to get involved as much as she did. Then again, she and Latimer had to play the heel role here because EC3 was the hometown hero. EC3 and Latimer have had plenty of matches together in the last year and I can't recall a single one that stood out as anything special. This, too, was very boring. EC3 only winning because of the run-in from Cardona (who wanted revenge on Kamille but hit Latimer instead) didn't make him look like a strong champion, but I guess they wanted to protect Latimer in defeat and set up Cardona as EC3's next challenger. This was a weak way to close out the event.

Overall Show

I've been complimentary of the NWA's "new era" in my reviews of Powerrr in recent months, but this largely felt like more of the same from the promotion. Yes, it was an improvement over the Tyrus era, but not by much. It's not exactly an encouraging sign when the only thing fans are buzzing about coming out of the event is Father James Mitchell apparently snorting crack while partying between the matches. I could have done without a lot the strange stipulations, but Samhain felt like it was designed to be the NWA's version of WWE Extreme Rules, so it was understandable. There's not much worth checking out from this show, so fingers crossed they can bounce back with Hard Times, their next outing on pay-per-view, in early 2024.

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