NWA Shockwave Review - December 22, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Da Pope def. Zicky Dice to Win the NWA Television Championship

Dice requested his release from the NWA months ago, so it was fairly obvious that he was going to drop the NWA Television Championship. Pope was the perfect person to take it from him because of how terrific of a talker he is. The match itself was entertaining and Dice played his role well as the cowardly heel champion doing what he could to retain his title, only to end up unsuccessful. I'm honestly surprised WWE hasn't attempted to bring back Pope for another run in recent years.

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis def. Jordan Clearwater (Non-Title)

I don't know who the hell Jordan Clearwater is, but he has a pretty cool sounding name. As for Aldis, he's one of the best all-around world champions in wrestling and it's such a shame we don't get to see more of him with NWA Powerrr not running right now, so I'm glad he had a match on the season finale of Shockwave. This was a short and sweet showcase for him with Clearwater looking good in defeat. I need to see Aldis in an actual program again with someone chasing his championship.

Serena Deeb def. Thunder Rosa to Win the NWA World Women's Championship

The outcome of this contest was the worst kept secret among wrestling fans since we've seen Deeb with the NWA World Women's Championship on AEW TV for months now. However, I can't complain as this was a wonderful match between two of the best women's wrestlers out there today. Rosa is an absolute star and Deeb is still so good (making me wonder why WWE wasted her in a trainer's role in NXT for all these years instead of putting her back in the ring for a final run). Rosa will obviously be with the NWA for the foreseeable future, so I doubt this was her swan song from the promotion.

Aron Stevens and JR Kratos def. James Storm and Eli Drake to Win the NWA World Tag Team Championship

This match was advertised as being Storm and Drake defending the tag titles against Stevens and The Question Mark, but Stevens claimed Kratos was Question Mark because you couldn't prove that he wasn't. Question Mark became a guilty pleasure of mine before the NWA went on break, so I was disappointed that Kratos filled in for him and that he was nowhere to be seen. That said, it was a quality title change with an expected title change given that Storm isn't under any sort of a contract with the NWA. So soon after losing the NWA National Championship, Stevens is already champion again.

Overall Show

Needless to say, this was the most jam-packed edition of Shockwave to date, which was fitting with this being promoted as the season finale. There were three title matches and all three titles changed hands. Aldis was also in action, so it was quite the newsworthy night. Rosa vs. Deeb was the best of the bunch and is definitely worth seeking out. I assume Shockwave will be back when Primetime Live returns to taping shows in the new year, so while it's a bummer the NWA will be going back on sabbatical for the foreseeable future, it was nice getting some fresh NWA content this month.