Just an update on NWA stars as they wrestle outside the NWA.
Chase Owens did finally win a match in the best of the Super Juniors as he defeated Jushin Liger. He is now 1-2 in the A Block.
Santana Garrett is dominate right now. She not only defended her Shine Title at Shine 27, but also she has added to the collection of belts with the JCW Women's title now around her waist. I believe that makes five. She also won the Women in Wrestling Expo tournament at Masters of the Ring 1. I am not sure if that includes a belt, but does give her a trophy. This did take place in front of great legends like Trish Stratus and Lita. Santana Garrett is on top of the world and has taken the NWA Women's Title up with her.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
NWA roundup
NWA had a nice couple of weekends.
Rob Conway lost his #1 contender match at NWA Supreme, but his foot was clearly on the ropes, so look for a rematch.
There is a new Grand Warrior Champion at NWA Wrestling Revolution, Danny Ramons, and he successfully defended the title.
NWA Top of Texas had a Tag team main event, which is always good to see. The Cancun Kid is still the champ out in Top of Texas.
NWA Mid South has had some amazing things go on. They are soon to have another Empire based show. Leyland Race made his in ring debut, which I hope becomes a more normal thing. And the KC Wolves defended their Tag Titles in a handicap match. Jim Cornette will be there in person soon enough!
NWA Western States Title did change hands with Jeff Jarrett getting a pinfall victory over Matt Rivera. Jarrett even defended it against Rivera at Pro Wrestling Vendetta, however, JJ Dillion got yet another match and Rivera regained the title.
Chase Owens made his debut at Best of the Super Juniors, but it was a loss. Still plenty of matches to come.
NWA World Junior champ Steve Anthony defended his title. Vordell Walker beat Xtian Blake, but Andy Dalton was involved at NWA Elite. Dalton and Blake are going to face off in a cage in July, but at the show in June they will pick each other's opponents. Nice touch to prolong the feud.
And overseas NWA Fight Nation has come down to two men for the NWA British Heavyweight championship. It appears to be Doug Williams and Marty Scrull, but I cannot yet find official results.
Also NWA All Action Wrestling is combining their title with the NWA Australian title. That match will take place next month in a cage. In fact every match on the show will be in a cage. Keep an eye on that.
Rob Conway lost his #1 contender match at NWA Supreme, but his foot was clearly on the ropes, so look for a rematch.
There is a new Grand Warrior Champion at NWA Wrestling Revolution, Danny Ramons, and he successfully defended the title.
NWA Top of Texas had a Tag team main event, which is always good to see. The Cancun Kid is still the champ out in Top of Texas.
NWA Mid South has had some amazing things go on. They are soon to have another Empire based show. Leyland Race made his in ring debut, which I hope becomes a more normal thing. And the KC Wolves defended their Tag Titles in a handicap match. Jim Cornette will be there in person soon enough!
NWA Western States Title did change hands with Jeff Jarrett getting a pinfall victory over Matt Rivera. Jarrett even defended it against Rivera at Pro Wrestling Vendetta, however, JJ Dillion got yet another match and Rivera regained the title.
Chase Owens made his debut at Best of the Super Juniors, but it was a loss. Still plenty of matches to come.
NWA World Junior champ Steve Anthony defended his title. Vordell Walker beat Xtian Blake, but Andy Dalton was involved at NWA Elite. Dalton and Blake are going to face off in a cage in July, but at the show in June they will pick each other's opponents. Nice touch to prolong the feud.
And overseas NWA Fight Nation has come down to two men for the NWA British Heavyweight championship. It appears to be Doug Williams and Marty Scrull, but I cannot yet find official results.
Also NWA All Action Wrestling is combining their title with the NWA Australian title. That match will take place next month in a cage. In fact every match on the show will be in a cage. Keep an eye on that.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Big Weekend
As amazing as last weekend was for the NWA with Smoky Mtn's unbelievable Collision Course, this weekend has some more good stuff spread out a little more too.
Santana Garrett is wresting in Shine 27 defending her new Shine Title. It is unclear if the NWA title is also on the line. She did just defend that for the 17th time at I Believe 100 early in May. She will be back at I Believe in Wrestling not this weekend, but next in Orlando as well as making an appearance in North Carolina.
NWA Elite has an event with Elite Heavyweight Champ Vordel Walker taking on Xtian Blake. NWA World Junior Champ Steve Anthony takes on Purple Hayes. And John Saxon vs. Scott Phoenix is a big time match too.
NWA Mid South is having a little come down week and focusing on some new guys this week. Alucard is back in action. Mr. Spalding is making hid debut. Greg Anthony is scheduled, but the main event appears to be fan favorite Tag Team the Posse as they go against EMTs.
NWA Supreme has Drew Dillinger defending the Supreme Heavyweight Title vs. Texas Outlaw in a Bullrope match. But big time heel Eric Draven will take on Rob Conway with the winner being the #1 contender for the NWA World Title. These two have wrestled twice already with the series tied at 1 a piece. Should be a good one.
Charlie Haas is wrestling at Top of Texas. Teddy Hart is wrestling Juicy Genesis for the Grand Warrior Title at Wrestling Revolution.
NWA Mid West is invading NWA Texoma this Friday. I don't know much about the back story here, but should be a good show.
Santana Garrett is wresting in Shine 27 defending her new Shine Title. It is unclear if the NWA title is also on the line. She did just defend that for the 17th time at I Believe 100 early in May. She will be back at I Believe in Wrestling not this weekend, but next in Orlando as well as making an appearance in North Carolina.
NWA Elite has an event with Elite Heavyweight Champ Vordel Walker taking on Xtian Blake. NWA World Junior Champ Steve Anthony takes on Purple Hayes. And John Saxon vs. Scott Phoenix is a big time match too.
NWA Mid South is having a little come down week and focusing on some new guys this week. Alucard is back in action. Mr. Spalding is making hid debut. Greg Anthony is scheduled, but the main event appears to be fan favorite Tag Team the Posse as they go against EMTs.
NWA Supreme has Drew Dillinger defending the Supreme Heavyweight Title vs. Texas Outlaw in a Bullrope match. But big time heel Eric Draven will take on Rob Conway with the winner being the #1 contender for the NWA World Title. These two have wrestled twice already with the series tied at 1 a piece. Should be a good one.
Charlie Haas is wrestling at Top of Texas. Teddy Hart is wrestling Juicy Genesis for the Grand Warrior Title at Wrestling Revolution.
NWA Mid West is invading NWA Texoma this Friday. I don't know much about the back story here, but should be a good show.
Monday, May 11, 2015
NWA Smoky Mountain Collision Course
This was the show of the year for the NWA and maybe the show of the year regardless of where you are. NWA Smoky Mountain is one of the best promotions in the NWA, probably the best monthly promotion. And this show was huge.
The show opened with a woman's match, and then did have some of the local guys promoting story lines. The main point was Brent Evans defeated Chris Richards to earn a future title shot. Brent Evans is the second biggest face in the company and has been on a very slow build since top face Kincaid is still going strong. Evans lost a year or so ago to Richards in the Smoky Mtn Cup and Richards has constantly been the road block to Evans being in the top ranks. So this was no minor thing. It was a decent match, but had major implications in the long running story lines.
Jax Dane took on Rob Conway. These two do show up three or so times a year at Smoky Mtn and are also part of long term story lines. In fact this story line is probably going to be done in several places as Dane and Conway are both top contenders for the World Title. Dane had Conway set up for the spear after a Samoan drop (yes Dane broke out moves I had not seen him use before). There was outside interference, but they never got a shot in on Dane who destroyed a few guys with clotheslines. Dane then returned to spear mode, but Conway slipped out of the way and Bruce Thwarp, President of the NWA, took the spear. He made it look pretty nasty and the match was ended. I think it was a no contest because of the injury to Thwarp, but it could have been a DQ win for Dane.
AJ Styles then took on Chase Owens in a non-title match (Styles's IJPW title). Owen was just named to New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which shows some of the talent at Smoky Mountain. This match was praised up and down twitter. Just go look at how many people said it was the best match they had ever seen. Owens looked good, took a few ugly bumps including a hip toss outside the ring, and AJ won clean with the Styles Clash. The two shook hands afterward. Owens has a big future ahead of him. I just hope he stays in the NWA because he will be a future NWA World Heavyweight Champ.
Then Jason Kincaid took on John Morrison for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight title. This match was also very good. Kincaid just won an 8 man tournament himself showing him to be a top wrestler too. Which of the two matches you thought was match of the night depends upon what kind of style of wrestling you enjoy. Styles-Owens was back and forth, big move, big bumps to a finish kind of TV style match. Morrison-Kincaid showed the strength of both of these two wrestlers, which is innovation. They had counters for counters and it ended with Kincaid hitting his finisher from the top rope (which is not normal), and thus retaining the longest running title reign in wrestling.
How often do you see a double main event show where both main events deliver and the undercard advances story lines in good ways. And in fact had some development for Jax Dane. It is no secret I am not a huge Dane fane, but he pulled out some moves for this match. I enjoyed it. Conway is off to wrestler in NWA Supreme this weekend for a future World Title Shot over in Japan (I expect Conway to win - it is also the rubber match up there in Supreme too). Dane as the National Champ is going to have more shots at Conway.
The show opened with a woman's match, and then did have some of the local guys promoting story lines. The main point was Brent Evans defeated Chris Richards to earn a future title shot. Brent Evans is the second biggest face in the company and has been on a very slow build since top face Kincaid is still going strong. Evans lost a year or so ago to Richards in the Smoky Mtn Cup and Richards has constantly been the road block to Evans being in the top ranks. So this was no minor thing. It was a decent match, but had major implications in the long running story lines.
Jax Dane took on Rob Conway. These two do show up three or so times a year at Smoky Mtn and are also part of long term story lines. In fact this story line is probably going to be done in several places as Dane and Conway are both top contenders for the World Title. Dane had Conway set up for the spear after a Samoan drop (yes Dane broke out moves I had not seen him use before). There was outside interference, but they never got a shot in on Dane who destroyed a few guys with clotheslines. Dane then returned to spear mode, but Conway slipped out of the way and Bruce Thwarp, President of the NWA, took the spear. He made it look pretty nasty and the match was ended. I think it was a no contest because of the injury to Thwarp, but it could have been a DQ win for Dane.
AJ Styles then took on Chase Owens in a non-title match (Styles's IJPW title). Owen was just named to New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which shows some of the talent at Smoky Mountain. This match was praised up and down twitter. Just go look at how many people said it was the best match they had ever seen. Owens looked good, took a few ugly bumps including a hip toss outside the ring, and AJ won clean with the Styles Clash. The two shook hands afterward. Owens has a big future ahead of him. I just hope he stays in the NWA because he will be a future NWA World Heavyweight Champ.
Then Jason Kincaid took on John Morrison for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight title. This match was also very good. Kincaid just won an 8 man tournament himself showing him to be a top wrestler too. Which of the two matches you thought was match of the night depends upon what kind of style of wrestling you enjoy. Styles-Owens was back and forth, big move, big bumps to a finish kind of TV style match. Morrison-Kincaid showed the strength of both of these two wrestlers, which is innovation. They had counters for counters and it ended with Kincaid hitting his finisher from the top rope (which is not normal), and thus retaining the longest running title reign in wrestling.
How often do you see a double main event show where both main events deliver and the undercard advances story lines in good ways. And in fact had some development for Jax Dane. It is no secret I am not a huge Dane fane, but he pulled out some moves for this match. I enjoyed it. Conway is off to wrestler in NWA Supreme this weekend for a future World Title Shot over in Japan (I expect Conway to win - it is also the rubber match up there in Supreme too). Dane as the National Champ is going to have more shots at Conway.
NWA TItle update
It has been a bit since I updated everyone on the NWA Titles.
The Women's Title is still on Santana Garrett. She defended successfully at the show in Las Vegas. It was not against Barbi Hayden, so hopefully that rematch is down the line. Maybe in Texas.
The NWA World Junior Heavyweight belt is on Steve Anthony. He won it by cheating in Las Vegas. Retained in a rematch with Liger in Japan. He defended it at NWA Mid South, and is looking like a good champ.
The NWA National Title is in the hands of Jax Dane. He did hold on to it at Collision Course in a match that I think was a no contest. It was a nice match with Rob Conway, and sets Dane up to be the enemy of Mr. Bruce Thwarp the authority figure. I am guessing that they have retired the North American Title.
The NWA World Heavyweight Title was successfully defended by Tenzan against Brian Wilcott in Japan in the run up to Wrestling Donaku. Tenzan did get to participate in Wrestling Donaku with Kojima and some others in a big tag match against the Bullet Club. Tenzan and Kojima won and the reviews of the match seemed positive. So at least the champ appeared on the big show just not defending the title.
The NWA World Tag Team title were finally defended again in ProWrestling Noah. The Killer Elite Squad won retaining the titles and the Noah tag team titles. Killer Elite Squad had been participating in a Tag team tournament in Noah where they did lose some matches. This match was with the team that won the whole tournament, so Killer Elite Squad is back on top.
The Women's Title is still on Santana Garrett. She defended successfully at the show in Las Vegas. It was not against Barbi Hayden, so hopefully that rematch is down the line. Maybe in Texas.
The NWA World Junior Heavyweight belt is on Steve Anthony. He won it by cheating in Las Vegas. Retained in a rematch with Liger in Japan. He defended it at NWA Mid South, and is looking like a good champ.
The NWA National Title is in the hands of Jax Dane. He did hold on to it at Collision Course in a match that I think was a no contest. It was a nice match with Rob Conway, and sets Dane up to be the enemy of Mr. Bruce Thwarp the authority figure. I am guessing that they have retired the North American Title.
The NWA World Heavyweight Title was successfully defended by Tenzan against Brian Wilcott in Japan in the run up to Wrestling Donaku. Tenzan did get to participate in Wrestling Donaku with Kojima and some others in a big tag match against the Bullet Club. Tenzan and Kojima won and the reviews of the match seemed positive. So at least the champ appeared on the big show just not defending the title.
The NWA World Tag Team title were finally defended again in ProWrestling Noah. The Killer Elite Squad won retaining the titles and the Noah tag team titles. Killer Elite Squad had been participating in a Tag team tournament in Noah where they did lose some matches. This match was with the team that won the whole tournament, so Killer Elite Squad is back on top.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
NWA Mid South
If you are looking for how to run a weekly wrestling show it maybe that you need to take notes from NWA Mid South Wrestling. They do it, week in and week out. And yes, you can still have mega shows in a weekly format as Mid South proved the other week with their Empire Strikes Back show. It had a 6 man tag that furthered a feud with Jason Peter Rose, the second biggest face in the company with a new comer heel. Then they had The Golden Boy Greg Anthony (who ought to be the next NWA World Heavyweight Champion) beat Jason Kincaid, who is a top contender to the Junior Title, and has SouthEastern NWA Title, which was not on the line. That match was good as you would expect between two top NWA stars. Matt Rivera with JJ Dillion retained the Western States Title. New Junior Heavyweight champ, Steve Anthony retained the World Junior title. And then Tim Storm rebounded from losing the North American title with a victory to win the Mid South title over Jason Peter Rose (who was filling in for a strangely absent Gaylon). Other than that glitch of Gaylon (the top face of the company) not showing up, it was a huge night of good wrestling thanks to the talent of the Empire.
What is great about Mid South is that don't wear out the story lines. Next week the headline is Jason Peter Rose concluding his feud that has gone on since he lost the Mid South title. This will draw because Rose is a good face, and it allows the title and the big heels to sit out. You have a Storm v. Gaylan feud ready to go. You have Greg Anthony who can make anything look good. They don't feature every feud every week, and it works.
This maybe the best NWA promotion. It has talent in the ring, on the mic, and the booking is solid.
What is great about Mid South is that don't wear out the story lines. Next week the headline is Jason Peter Rose concluding his feud that has gone on since he lost the Mid South title. This will draw because Rose is a good face, and it allows the title and the big heels to sit out. You have a Storm v. Gaylan feud ready to go. You have Greg Anthony who can make anything look good. They don't feature every feud every week, and it works.
This maybe the best NWA promotion. It has talent in the ring, on the mic, and the booking is solid.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Titles Defended
New Japan held a show this past Wed where both the NWA World Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Titles were defended.
Bryan Wilcott took on Tenzan for the Heavyweight title, and lost. Tenzan has now defended it successfully twice. Wilcott has now lost at least three different attempts to three different world champs. One wonders why they did not send Michael Tarver, since last year I think Tarver beat Tenzan.
Steve Anthony defended the Junior title against former champ Jushin Liger. This was refreshing because it has been a while since a title was defended in Japan successfully. It also gave the people in Japan a chance to see their champ lose. Good for Steve Anthony.
Bryan Wilcott took on Tenzan for the Heavyweight title, and lost. Tenzan has now defended it successfully twice. Wilcott has now lost at least three different attempts to three different world champs. One wonders why they did not send Michael Tarver, since last year I think Tarver beat Tenzan.
Steve Anthony defended the Junior title against former champ Jushin Liger. This was refreshing because it has been a while since a title was defended in Japan successfully. It also gave the people in Japan a chance to see their champ lose. Good for Steve Anthony.