Big Change in NWA to start the new year!

Last night at the Finale, a NWA Smoky Mountain event, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Conway turned heel on NWA Smoky Mountain champ, Jason Kincaid.

This really opens up a few new possibilities for Conway, or it could spell the end of his run.  It is too early to tell if the new NWA is going with the top guy being a face with heels chasing or a heel with faces trying to overcome.  Conway was a face during his first run (although probably was technically a heel in Japan when he dropped the belt), but Kahagas was probably a heel when he won the belt.  Kojima is hard to categorize, and really only had it in America briefly.

It is probably necessary for Conway to turn because in his two combined runs, he has pretty much gone through all the heels.  He had Bryan Wilcott as a heel, and has finished his feud with Chris Richards, and it was Kahagas he beat for the belt.  He has beaten Golden Boy Greg Anthony (SEW), Tyson Dean (ATL), Lance Hoyt (Texoma), and even Pretty Boy Stan Lee (Appalachia).  He really has fought them all. 

The turning of Conway allows him to start going through some of the faces of the NWA.  Kevin Driscoll has a title shot in hand and is a face for NWA Next Level already.  And Conway books Next Level (from what I understand), so that could be a place to watch.  And yes it allows a rematch with Kincaid.  But one has to think the two big doors it opens are Houston Carson, current champ of NWA 360 not to mention very popular wrestler all over Texas, and Jax Dane.  Dane has traveled the NWA and has traveled with Conway.  The spurned friend angle would be good.  The fallout with Dane will be interesting to watch.  Those two are the two best bets for feuds and maybe guys to be the next champ.

Some other possibilities now open include Nitro, former National Champ (although he appears to have re-appeared in SEW as a heel after being the face in his feud with Marconi), a belt often billed as a stepping stone to the World Title.  Jeremiah Plunkett and Arick Andrews of NWA SAW would be two real candidates.  Plunkett has been the NWA Australia champ and Andrews is the current NWA Southern Champ.  Plunkett put on a great match against Kojima.  I am not sure if Wes Brisco is a face in Signature Pro, but he too could be a possible future match.  And as Kojima will let you know, he has never gotten his rematch with Conway.  Maybe now he will.

However, it ends up, it provides a new feel for 2015 in the NWA.