NWA USA Review - October 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AJ Cazana def. Marshe Rockett, Anthony Mayweather, Ricky Morton and Jax Dane in a Five-Way Elimination Match to Qualify for the NWA Television Championship Match

With Tyrus announcing on last week's episode that he'll be relinquishing the Television time for another opportunity at the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at Hard Times 3 (ugh), we found out here that the two qualifiers on this show will determine who will fight for the vacant championship. This was a fairly basic bout and the elimination stipulation didn't make much of a difference. Cazana was the last person I expected to emerge victorious, so that was an interesting choice.

Matt Vine and NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Fixers Interrupted Magic Jake Dumas and Mercurio

This is probably the most I've ever heard from Dumas and I thought he did well with his promo. Mercurio didn't speak at all (unless I missed something) and just stood there. We've only seen Vine a handful of times on NWA programming to my knowledge and nothing he said here stood out as special. This was going fine up until Dumas did a magic trick on Vine and The Fixers, which was pretty dumb and nobody in the crowd sounded amused.

Bully Ray def. Jamie Stanley

Stanley has his weekly pre-taped segment on this show where he'll interview someone in front of a green screen. Although Stanley plays his role well, I don't usually find those segments to be entertaining. He spoke to Ray, who didn't answer any of his questions, and that was what led to this match. Ray not selling some of Stanley's offense was lame, but this was decent otherwise. Ray wrestling on NWA USA was a surprise and added some star power to the show.

Jordan Clearwater def. Caprice Coleman, Da Pope, Rush Freeman and Max The Impaler in a Five-Way Elimination Match to Qualify for the NWA Television Championship Match

The NWA doesn't do intergender wrestling often, but I was fine with it in this case because Max has been a dominant force thus far and could be taken seriously against any of these four guys. I wish she lasted a little longer, but at least it took two people to eliminate her. The rest of this was solid stuff. I think Clearwater has potential, but him becoming the next TV champ would be a bit underwhelming considering his Idolmania Sports Management stablemate Tyrus just relinquished it. Coleman would have been a better fit for that spot or even Pope since he was the last person to hold it before Tyrus.

Overall Show

It's bizarre that NWA USA has become a much more worthwhile show compared to Powerrr because it was the other way around all year up until recently. NWA programming isn't exactly "must-see" by any means, but if you're going to check out only one, make time for NWA USA over Powerrr. This was another significant show with the NWA Television Championship match being officially determined and Bully Ray being in action (you can't deny he's a bigger name than pretty much anyone else on this show). The segment with Dumas, Mercurio, Vine and The Fixers was a miss, but everything else was serviceable.

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