Major upset

No, it was not Nick Hammond.  Jason Kincaid is still safely the Smoky Mtn. Champ.  The big upset is Amber O'Neal as the new NWA Women's champion.  She won at the NWA Texoma show in a stinging upset of Santana Garrett.  Santana had lost the Shine title already, and her amazing 2015 came to a shocking end.  She was an amazing champ, and elevated the NWA women's title.  Santana took the title to Japan, and many other non-NWA places such as Shine.  Now it is up to Amber to take it further.  A good place to start might be a feud with Barbi Hayden, former champ, or a back and forth with Santana.

Roman Reigns and the WWE today

I don't talk much about the WWE because I don't like it.  For the exception of the brief Monday Night Wars, I never have.  But what they are doing with Roman Reigns makes you understand that the WWE is not really working as a wrestling company and that for all of McMahanon's success, he earned for his business savvy, not his wrestling savvy. 

First the obvious.  Roman Reigns is a horrible champ and always will be.  The Shield was a fun gimmick.  Reigns was the big man, the enforcer.  They don't become the champ, they enforce.  When the enforcer becomes the champ, it is almost always a disaster (think Diesel).  Why?  Because they usually cannot talk.  This is true for Reigns.  The champ has to be able to talk on the mic, and I would actually argue it is the single most important skill.  Think of great champs.  Ric Flair, great talker.  CM Punk, a very fine talker.  Austin and the Rock, both beautiful talkers.  Now think of champs that are universally known as great wrestlers and ask yourself why they are not known as great champs?  Everyone loves Ricky Steamboat, and he can go in a ring.  Yet, he is seldom mentioned in greatest champion discussions?  Why?  He was only okay on the mic.  Dusty Rhodes is almost always mentioned before Steamboat, and it is based solely on the fact that Rhodes was pretty good on a mic. Bret Hart is seldom mentioned as an all-time great champ because he was only so-so on the mic despite being one of the best wrestlers in the ring.  The fundamental rule of wrestling is you talk them into the arena or to buy a PPV.  Bob Backlund was not successful as a champ (although he was a good in ring worker), and Superstar Billy Graham sold out arenas.  It is just a fact of wrestling life.  Reigns is embarrassing on the mic most of the time.  Expect bad things for the near future for WWE.

Second, the less obvious point.  This is a proof that the NXT era is not going to happen in the WWE.  NXT is hot right now.  It is hot because the WWE has gone away from its roots and signed big time independent wrestling stars.  You could have made the argument they did this because it worked so well with Punk and Bryan.  Maybe they had learned.  So Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens are introduced to lead a real good group of stars out of NXT into the WWE to be the NXT Generation, which also includes Neville and Dean Ambrose.  Yet, Roman Reigns gets the nod.  Reigns who had no independent experience, and is solely a WWE creation.  Despite the red hot success of NXT, Kevin Owens is not your champ.  Dean Ambrose is not your champ.  Neville is not your champ.  Sami Zayn is not your champ.  Samoa Joe is not your champ.  These guys have crazed fan bases that would have gone nuts for a WWE title.  Samoa Joe has the experience even (with TNA).  Can you imagine the huge fan reaction if Sami Zayn had come out and won the title?  Or Samoa Joe walked out and suplexed his way to victory?  What if Dean Ambrose had managed a pin or even Kevin Owens?  These guys would show confidence in the direction of NXT as the direction of the WWE, but instead they went the opposite direction.  Everything the fans are tired of is embodied in Reigns. 

In the end, this is only good news if you are Ring of Honor.  More disgruntled fans may find you now.

NWA and Japan again . . .

The full show of Wrestling Kingdom is now up and advertised, and no Tiger Mask IV.  He has now been the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champ for several months with no title defenses.  None.  He is not on the 9 match card for the biggest show of the year.  What is the point of having what could be the most exciting belt in the NWA languishing in Japan on someone's mantle.  It is time to cut bait from NJPW.  By the way, Ring of Honor has a title match on the show that has little to nothing to do with the NJPW.  Both men are from Ring of Honor.  So, why be a third wheel?  NWA is growing at home and has a nice place in Britain that could host a World Junior champ to be sure.  No point in staying around for no real reason.

Raymond Rowe deserves a quick mention.  He does wrestle in Ring of Honor, but is gaining steam in the NWA.  Could he be a future World Champ?  He is currently the Branded Outlaw Heavyweight champ, and was for one week the Grand Warrior champion of Wrestling Revolution.  He defended the title once when former champ Danny Ramos cashed in a title shot and Rowe was unable to win two matches in one night.  He also had a great match with Smoky Mtn Heavyweight Champ, Jason Kincaid.  Kincaid capitalized on some distractions to hit Rowe with a second Grave of the Fireflies to win the match. 

Lots of big events to end the year, so keep your eyes open!

New Tag Team Champs again!

Usually title changes last for quite some time.  Tag titles included.  Yet, not this time.  The Heat Seekers lost the belts to a first time tag team, the Iron Empire consisting of Matt Rivera and Rob Conway.  This took place at a big NWA Mid South event at a Casino in Mississippi.  It was not a regular show, but a big event that also saw Jason Kincaid take on Matt Sydal.  Big venue, big event, with a big title change is always a good idea.

Overall I like the change.  The Heat Seekers always seemed like too small a team to carry World Title gold.  Sigmon and Eliott Russell are good together, but did not ever do anything with the US Belts to warrant a World title run.  Conway and Rivera are both big enough wrestlers to make it feel like a real World Tag Team Champion.  Rivera recently dropped the Western States title and Rob Conway has done it all for the NWA.  Conway is a previous World Tag Team Title holder with Jax Dane.  It included trips to Japan, which would be nice to see for the Iron Empire.  Matt Rivera is an up and coming guy and the NWA used Conway to help out Jax Dane.  Can you imagine what he could do for someone with the talent of Rivera? 

They don't have to go to Japan because after all these guys are pretty big in America.  Rivera wrestlers regularly in Vendetta Pro, where Conway seldom appears.  Conway is big in Branded Outlaw and the Indiana promotions where Rivera never appears.  Rivera has made some sporatic appearances in Louisana (Conway has not) and Conway some in East TN (where Rivera has not).  They have the nation covered.  It would be great to take the Tag Titles to Vendetta Pro and let the Classic Connection take a run at the titles. 

Either way, this is good for the NWA.  I hope quick title reigns do not become a wave of the future, but every now and then it is a great way to shake it up. 

Santana Garrett wins again and World Title Speculation

Well fears were unfounded this time as Santana Garrett successfully defended the NWA Women's Title and won a title vs. title match to gain the Wonder of Stardom Title in Japan.  She is going back in January, and it would not be unusual for her to drop the Wonder of Stardom title back, but she ought to be able to leave with the NWA Women's Title intact. 

And it is of note that Kahagas is going to appear at NWA SAW on November 14th.  Could it be that Kahagas is going to start a feud with NWA World Champ Jax Dane?  Dane will be taking on Jernigan, who is half the tag team champs for SAW.  Kahagas and Dane are the only two triple crown winners and a feud between them would be great.

Worrying about the NWA Women's title

Santana Garrett has been a great Women's Champ.  It is easy to say that she is the best thing going in Women's wrestling and a HUGE asset to the NWA.  She has just successfully defended the NWA Women's Title in Japan, which was the first time that has happened in 39 years.  She deserves kodos for that.  However, she is still in Japan and just signed a title vs. title match with Wonder of Stardom champ lo Sharai.  And the NWA has a real bad streak of just dropping World titles in Japan.

Garrett, in addition to the NWA world title, holds single titles in the Coastal Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestling Entertainment, American Pro Wrestling Alliance, Belleview Pro Wrestling, Nova Pro Wrestling, Orlando Pro Wrestling, Ring Warriors, Shine Wrestling, Southern Championship Wrestling, USA Pro Wrestling, USA Wrestling Alliance, and Jersey Championship Wrestling.  She also is half the Tag Team champs in Women of Wrestling. 

If the NWA continues this drop all titles on trips to Japan, they may as well fold.  Santana Garrett needs to come home with the NWA Title.  Anything else is bad business. 

Thanksgiving Wrestling - NWA Smoky mtn.

Thanksgiving is always a hot bed of local wrestling, especially in the South.  But perhaps the hottest of them all this Thanksgiving is NWA Smoky Mtn.

Now, Smoky Mtn is putting on a Black Friday show that is going to feature a no DQ tag match between the US Tag Champs as Chris Richards and Jason Kincaid.  It will also have Vince Brett and more, but the real show is Nov. 21st in Kingsport.  Just listen to this card.

NWA World Champ Jax Dane will defend against NWA National Champ Arrick Andrews.  
- that match alone is worth seeing as two top title holders go head to head, but there is more.

NWA World Tag Team Champs the HeatSeekers take on Shawn Shultz and Toby Farley.  - It is a little disappointing that this is not billed as part of the Triple Main Event.  This is the WORLD TAG TITLES we are talking about.  And why the competition here is not a real tag team, Shawn Shultz is always fun to watch.

NWA SouthEastern Champ Jason Kincaid defends against Raymond Rowe.  - Now it is hard to see how Kincaid loses the belt, but Raymond Rowe is a legit star wrestling often on Ring of Honor and does hold the NWA Branded Outlaw Championship (or one of those Texas titles anyway).  It is going to be a good match and might set up more Raymond Rowe visits to Smoky Mtn.

Kid Kash vs. Chase Owens - This has potential and has been set up well.  It completes the Owens turn to being a face and Owens is one of the best wrestlers in the world.  With his new spot in New Japan Wrestling, Owens will be around a lot less.  So this may be the last chance to see Owens for a while.

NWA US Tag Team Champs Skylar Kruse and Axton Ray defend against the Cabal (Chris Richards and Travis Lee)  - This is one where I would say the champs are the underdogs.  Chris Richards and Travis Lee are literal giants and Kruse and Ray are small even for Smoky Mtn.  Yet, the contrast in styles has the potential to make this a good match.

Smoky Mtn TV Champ Ali Shabbaz defends against Jordan Kage, Vince Brett, and Bryan Motgomery.  - Four way matches always provide plenty of drama and potential.  Brett is the next big thing in Smoky Mtn, but the TV Title may simply hold him back.  He is without a story line right now.  Bryan Motgomery is a new guy and a bit of a wild card here.  Kage is the former champ and this is another way to continue his feud with Shabbaz, who himself is excellent in the ring. 

There are some other matches that feel like feud culminations so they should be good. If I lived in the area, I would be at this event.

NWA Texoma

There a lot of really great NWA organizations right now.  NWA Mid South is probably the best since it puts on weekly shows.  Among the monthly shows NWA Smoky Mtn. and Pro Wrestling Vendetta have long histories of greatness.  But NWA Texoma is gaining ground on all of them.

NWA Texoma has always worked well with the weekly shows of NWA Top of Texas.  Part of what makes working in the same alliance so nice is cross over.  Earlier this year NWA Texoma brought down some stars from the rather new NWA Mid West.  I took notice, but NWA Mid West was pretty new and not real regular yet.  Now they are and it is NWA Midwest's turn to host Texoma.  It looks to be an 8 man tag that will put the best of NWA Mid West such as Seth Allen against NWA Texoma stars APOC, Daniles, Dane Griffth, and also Tim Storm.  If done rightly this could set up a nice return date for the North American Champ, Storm at NWA Mid West.  It is good to see Texoma not just working with next door neighbor territories.  By the way NWA Mid West in that same show is having Vince Brett, a rising star in NWA Smoky Mtn.  It is good to see him appear in other promotions as he has the makings of a future NWA World Junior Heavyweight champ.  NWA Texoma also featured Badd Blood from the Pacific Northwest earlier this year too.

But that is not even the best part.  NWA Texoma, on the same show where Tenzan beat Tim Storm to retain the World Title, the Von Erichs 3G made their debut.  They took a shot at the Tag Titles, but failed to win the title.  The won the match by DQ, but no titles.  Well, this past week they hosted Freebirds Generations (also Jax Dane defended the NWA World Title).  This tag team features Tristin Hayze and Buddy Roberts Jr and they were escorted by Miranda Gordy.  Wow!  It seems pretty clear that Ross and Marshall Von Erich are headed to a show down with the Hayze and Roberts team in the future and probably at NWA Texoma. 

Add this to the fact that Charlie Haas is a regular on the shows and the local talent of people like Mike Foxx and Jake Logan and you have a great show every month.  Keep an eye on this promotion.  They are making serious waves! 

NWA Results and what to watch for

I found out about the results for Chris Target's match at NWA Texoma.  Target lost to NWA North American champ, Tim Storm.  Obviously then the Australian title was not on the line.  Good to see Target get a shot at a larger belt.

NWA National champ is out on the road, which is good to see.  He has a match with Badd Blood at NWA Circle City wrestling in November, which is good to see Arrick Andrews go to new territories.  I think he may have been scheduled for NWA Appalachia, but I think the show was canceled.  He also got a victory over Rob Conway at NWA SAW, which is a big win for Andrews. 

At that same SAW event Jax Dane defeated Greg Anthony to retain the World Title.  Now, I make no bones about it, I want Greg Anthony as the World Champ.  But, it is good to see Dane vs. smaller guys.  I worry about the always fight the large power guy.  See his match vs. Shane Taylor and upcoming match this Saturday vs. the Giant of Smoky Mtn. Wrestling.  Greg Anthony can go, and I hope they upload that match to You Tube.  It should be noted that Greg Anthony had already successfully defended his Southern Championship earlier in the show. 

Top of Texas does not appear to have an event this weekend, but next weekend is huge as Ryan Justice has a Fatal Four Way title defense. 

NWA Supreme has a benefit show.  It appears champ Texas Outlaw will be there. 

NWA Circle City Wrestling has an event this Sunday that will feature Too Cool.  Yes, that Too Cool.  Rob Conway will be there and Rhyno goes against Dru Skillz. 

NWA Wrestling Revolution features Brian Kendrick returning to take on South Texas Champ, Eric Shadows. 

NWA Smoky Mtn. has a show as well where the aforementioned World Title Jax Dane will take on Giant Arwen, or whatever his new name is.  Jason Kincaid defends his Southeastern Title against Nick Hammonds who is the Mountain Empire champ.  If Kincaid wins, it will be a 4 year title reign.  Kid Kash also takes on EZ Money for those who care about wrestlers who used to be TV. 

Some things to watch this week. 

Non-American National Titles

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the National Title is simply the title for America.  There are other "national" titles in the NWA that should be treated just as big. 

The NWA Australian Champ is Chris Target.  He unified the titles down in All Action Wrestling a few months ago.  Target is actually in America for a bit and just retained the NWA Australian title against Top of Texas's Panhandle Champion Jason Erra.  Target hit the Famouser for the win.  Shark, from AAW, was also present, but lost to Jake Logan.  The AAW gang also appeared the night before at NWA Texoma and successfully defended the title. 

There is also the NWA British Championship currently held by Marty Scrull.  Marty has held onto the title after winning the tournament at NWA Fight Nation.  He defeated Joel Redmen, former NXT superstar, in September.  Marty takes on MVP, from TNA, in November.  Marty is also front and center for the December poster. 

This is actually part of the problem I have with the NWA running those rankings.  Personally I think something like that is a good idea, but they have to be real ranking.  I understand if you want to say that national titles get you on the list.  But then all national titles ought to get you on the list.  Chris Target is as good as Arrick Andrews, and if we are honest, Marty Scrull is better than both.  Yet, several NJPW are on the rankings.  Jax Dane should try his best to get to these shows and help strengthen the NWA in these countries making it a truly World Title. 

The Expanding NWA

The NWA announces two new promotions joining the fold. 

Iconic Heroes of Wrestling Excellence is a Fort Worth, TX based company.  This puts the NWA back in the Dallas metroplex area and back into the old World Class Championship Wrestling territory.  IHWE is not bringing a lot of new talent with them.  NWA has a lot of Texas territories, and so it is not surprising to see Andy Dalton, Charlie Haas, and others already participating in IHWE.  They have monthly shows and the one on October 31 looks to be big.  I mentioned earlier that Tim Storm has an appearance, and now it will be for the NWA North American Title.  It seems as if Jax Dane will also appear to defend the World Title. 

The other territory is Southeastern Wrestling Alliance that wrestles in Southern Georgia.  This promotion appears to be smaller, but does give NWA Atlanta some close-by help.  I would expect the NWA Georgia champ to make some appearances down in the new NWA Southeastern Wrestling.  This roster does appear to be almost completely new.  The champ is Effy Gibbs, and we will see how this promotion does and if it can benefit from sharing talent with other NWA promotions.  Also we will see if The NWA Southeastern Title currently defended in Smoky Mtn. Wrestling gets another rename.

Either way this is good news for the NWA who lost NWA Houston at the end of last year and NWA 360 a few months ago.  They have aggressively grown, and these are good steps.

Here we go again

Well that was predictable.  Steve Anthony dropped the World Junior Heavyweight Title to Tiger Mask IV.  Another trip to Japan another humiliation for the NWA.  I get it.  Sometimes Japanese wrestlers hold the belts, but this is too much.

Plus, each trip to Japan is producing diminishing returns.  Kojima defended the NWA title all the time and was an ongoing feud with the NWA.  Then Conway dropped it to Tenzan.  Tenzan defended it three times, less than once a month, and never on a big show.  Jushin Liger had the World Junior title and he defended it twice.  Less than once every other month.  The NWA World Tag Champs are still in Japan, but they are so forgotten that New Japan loaned them out to NOAH. 

When was the last time Tiger Mask had a role on New Japan TV?  I don't remember it either.  I assume he will keep it until the Las Vegas event in May or June.  My bet is one title defense between now and then with no more than two. 

I can understand the Tag Titles because Tag teams are not big in America right now, and they probably get more dates over there.  But, Junior Heavyweight I don't get.  That is everywhere in the US.  I can name a list of contenders a mile long.
Purple Haze, Ali Shabaz, Andy Dalton, Jason Kincaid, Chase Owens, half the roster in Pro Wrestling Vendetta, Wrestling Revolution's entire roster, Brian Kendrick, Americos, John Saxon, and many, many more. 

It is time for us to stop.

Does WWE copy ROH now?

I can't believe that this topic does not get more exposure.  But I do believe the WWE is out to copy Ring of Honor. 
First, look at NXT and what it has brought to WWE.  Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, and Seth Rollins were all ROH guys.  The new NXT signings are ROH guys.  WWE could have done this years ago, and now are doing it almost too late.  Bryan broke down, Joe has been on TNA for too long and we will see what kind of run they get out of Owens.

Second, Seth Rollins now holds both the US Title and the World Title.  He will be defending both on the next PPV.  SURPRISE!  ROH has this same story line going.  Jay Lethal has both the TV title and the World Title and is defending both this weekend on their PPV!  Both Jay and Seth are smarmy heels who keep the titles through sketchy tactics.  Hey maybe the difference is Jay Lethal actually wins matches sometimes, and Seth Rollins gets help from Comedy Central Talk Show hosts. 

WWE's product has never been my favorite.  They are finally getting some good wrestlers, but I doubt they will ever unleash them to be wrestlers.  I would stick with ROH. 

NWA title updates

The NWA has a new World Champ in Jax Dane and where he goes next is interesting.  He had a successful defense to start September at Branded Outlaw Wrestling and has another in October against Shane Taylor.  He does have an appearance at Smoky Mtn. Wrestling on October 3rd, I bet it is against Rob Conway, although a ten man battle royal was held for a future title shot, but whether that is the one coming up or not is hard to tell as is finding out who won it.  That Conway feud will also be featured on September 19th at Southern All Star Wrestling.

The love affair with Japan continues as NWA World Junior Champ has a defense scheduled against Tiger Mask at an upcoming New Japan event. 

And remember the NWA World Tag Team Champs are still in Japan as the Killer Elite Squad will defend against War Machine (which is Raymond Rowe and Hanson) at an upcoming Pro Wrestling NOAH event.  Now, this is for the Noah Tag titles, but I don't think the NWA titles are on the line.  But wouldn't this have been great on ROH TV rather than hidden in Japan?  I don't know what they are doing with the NWA Tag Titles right now.  They have not been defended in America forever.

Santana Garrett is still the Women's Champ and still destroying everything.  She made two people tap out at once in a pretty cool submission move that I don't even know the name.  She is now also the NOVA women's champ.  And she continues to represent the NWA almost everywhere except in the NWA. She is down in Puerto Rico with WWL this weekend.

Arrick Andrews has an appearance at NWA SAW coming up.  He did retain against Greg Anthony at NWA Mid South, which by all accounts was a great match.  Also he made a defense against Purple Haze.  The odd thing here was that Purple Haze, a Louisiana regular, was at the NWA Smoky Mtn. show for this match.  Both guys wrestling debuts for Smoky Mtn.  Andrews continues his National Title reign on SAW on the 19th.

North American Champ, Tim Storm, has retained at NWA Mid South.  He seems to be a SmashMouth Wrestling regular in Texas.  Storm actually has been doing a lot of wrestling outside the NWA, but I don't think the North American title makes appearances.  For instance on October 31st he is wrestling in IHWE against Brian Breaker, but there is no mention of the North American title.  Too bad because this title could use getting out a bit more.

NEW NWA WORLD CHAMP!!!

Jax Dane is your new NWA World Heavyweight champ.  He defeated Tenzan tonight at World War Gold.

Tenzan had run the gauntlet defeating Tim Storm, Juicy Ramos, Nathan Briggs, and then dropped it facing Dane. 

Just in case you are wondering about other results:
Tim Storm defeated Americos (I assume this was a North American Heavyweight bout)
Keith Lee and Shane Taylor beat Papi C and Rudy Russo.  Keith Lee is an up and comer.  He is huge and powerful.  Taylor is no slouch either. 
Dirty Andy Dalton defeated the Amazing Red.  Dalton retains the Branded Outlaw Cruiser Weight Title.
Lance Hoyt defeated Mike Dell.  Hoyt is one half the NWA World Tag champs. 
Cherry Ramons defeated Weazy Woo.  A bit of surprise here as Weazy Woo is sort of popular.


So begins the reign of the Vanilla Godzilla Jax Dane.  I believe he is already scheduled for a defense next weekend in another Branded Outlaw event. 

NWA RegionTitle updates

I finally got a chance to see the National Title tournament, and it was pretty good.  The finals ended up being Arrick Andrews vs. Chase Owens and the finals were FANTASTIC.  It is hands down the best match I have ever seen from Andrews.  No doubt a lot of that is due to Chase Owens, but Andrews hit his moves.  The psychology was flawless.  Maybe a few too many kick out of finishers, but still very good.  You believed the roll up was going to win the title, you believed every bit.  Check out.  Also SAW set up a nice reason for Shawn Shultz to get a National Title shot as he had Andrews pinned for a three count in the opening round that was missed by the ref.  Look for a Shultz v. Andrews feud coming up.

Juicy Danny Ramos is once again Grand Warrior Champ down in Wrestling Revolution.  He won it in a very good no DQ match with Teddy Hart.  Hart and Ramos had a nice feud going since Hart won the title in a three way that included Riccochet, which by the way was unbelievable. 

Little Cholo is closing in on one year as champ out in Pro Wrestling Vendetta.

NWA Mid Atlantic is up an running and it is nice to see Lance Ericksen back in the fold as the title holder.

NWA Central States had a few events this summer and the Mad Hatter dropped the title to Shane Sommers.  Mad Hatter also had to vacate the secondary belt and he no longer holds that one either.  Also in that region there is a new NWA Missouri and NWA Illinois title holders.  Mitch Johnson and Evan Morris are the new champs respectively and they will face each other where one man will walk out with both titles at a Live All Star Wrestling even this weekend.

NWA Top of Texas also had a title change as the Cancun Kid final was defeated in a ladder match by Ryan Justice.  Top of Texas is prepping for the arrival of NWA World Champ as is Wrestling Revolution.

NWA Florida Underground (or Signature Pro whatever they call themselves now) still has the same champ: JD Maverick.  Although he defends the title tonight (they have Tuesday shows) vs. Aaron Solo. 

Just a few regions and some title changes through the summer.  

More on the Tenzan's trip to America

In what has to be one of the worst hyped trips to America by an NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Tenzan is coming in by at least August 21.

Tenzan is being advertised for an NWA Texoma match on the 21st of August.  No opponent known, but possible opponents could be Charlie Haas, Mike Foxx, or even Andy Dalton. 

Tenzan is then going to Top of Texas on August 22nd to face Nathan Briggs.  This is a Saturday match. 

Tenzan is also advertised for Wrestling Revolution on the 27th of August for a Thursday match.  Again no opponent named yet.  It could be Danny Ramos, Strong, or perhaps Teddy Hart, perhaps Eric Shadows too. 

Tenzan is also advertised for Branded Outlaw Wrestling Saturday August 29 to face off against Jax Dane.  Now I am not sure if Dane is back from his injury.  The event is called World War Gold, which I kind of like.  I assume here is where Dane will become your new World Champ.  In fairness the only promotional art I have seen for this is dated July 6th, which might mean Dane is not ready and is missing his shot at the title. He himself said it was a seven week post surgery recovery on Twitter, which puts him ready to get back in the ring on exactly the 29th of August (his post was July 11).  He is being advertised for Branded Outlaw and SAW in the first two weeks of September, so he is planning on being back. 

This is what we know about the champs trip back to America, in all probability to drop the belt.  Get your tickets now!

NWA World Embarassement

The NWA needs to stop loaning out its belts to New Japan.  I know it is good international exposure, but it is really going badly.  At first they did it with Kojima, who is past his prime, but only a year or two removed from main event status.  They made that belt change hands at Wrestle Kingdom, the biggest wrestling show outside of WrestleMania.  They then defended the belt over and over on every major program that New Japan had until Kojima came to the states and dropped the title.

Conway went back and this time dropped it at a lesser event, and the belt has been almost inactive on Tenzan.  Brian Wilcott did take a shot at the belt, but it was on a minor build up show as was the Kojima vs. Tenzan title shot.  It is absent from major shows.  New Japan basically did the same thing with the World Junior title, but at least that one has already been handed back, and Steve Anthony beat Liger clean in Japan for the rematch.

This is beyond embarrassing for the company right now.  You want to know where Tenzan stands in the company of New Japan look no further than what is going on in the G1 Climax series.  Tenzan is in it at least so he is in the top 16 of the company.  But Tenzan has only won one match so far.  He did main event one of the shows, but that was because he was in with Tanahashi, the main draw for New Japan.  Yes, Tenzan lost that match.  He just lost to Bad Luck Fale.  This means Tenzan is not really a contender for any of the New Japan belts.  He is an aging guy you can throw into a 16 man tournament and he can give you decent matches, but also be the guy who gets pinned. 

Let me make it crystal clear.  The NWA World Heavyweight Champion has now been pinned in his last 3 singles matches.  No funny business.  Just straight up losses.  Tenzan now has more losses as the champ than he does successful title defenses. 

He is coming at the end of August to America, and will probably drop the belt to someone while here.  It is time for the NWA to let the belt stay here in America for a long time.  Don't go back to New Japan and let them bury the company by burying the belt. 

NWA HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE NEWS!!!!!

Yes there has been a Hiroshi Tenzan sighting.  In fact a Tenzan victory in the first round of the G1 Climax series.  The NWA Title was not on the line, but Tenzan winning is still a good thing for the NWA. 

More importantly his title reign appears to be coming to an end at the end of August.  He is coming to America and is scheduled to be at NWA Wrestling Revolution on August 27.  His opponent is unclear and where else he will appear is also still unknown to me.  I believe he will probably appear in several just as Kojima did last year.  It is big news for Wrestling Revolution, and probably the beginning of the end of Tenzan as the World Champ. 

The question now is who will take the strap off Tenzan?

NWA National and North American Titles

So the tournaments are over and the new champs are crowned.  I have to admit I am not surprised by Arrick Andrews being the National Champ, although a bit disappointed.  I was hoping for Tyson Dean, who is great.  Hoping he gets his shot sooner rather than later to run with a title. 

Andrews won the one night tournament held in his home promotion of NWA SAW.  Arrick Andrews will first renew his war with Golden Boy Greg Anothony who recently defeated Arrick to take the NWA Southern Title.  August 1 the two will go at it again at NWA Mid South. 

The NWA North American Title was a bit more a surprise to me.  Putting the belt back on Tim Storm is interesting.  It adds more clout to the Empire, but Storm won this belt away from his home promotions, which I would probably say was NWA Main Event.  I had thought it might be time to put a belt on Jake Logan, but Logan lost in the first round as did Mike Foxx, who was wrestling in his home promotion of NWA Texoma.  Interestingly Andy Anderson, also of NWA ATL and teammate of Tyson Dean, made the finals to lose to Tim Storm.  I like Andy, and this was a nice step forward for him and NWA ATL. 

This would seem to set up a nice feud between Storm and Dane when Jax finally returns.  Dane had already taken the strap off of Storm, so it would make sense for Dane to target Storm first.  Add in the fact Andrews is a face and so is Dane, it seems that maybe this is where Godzilla Jax Done takes aim first upon his return. 

Your NWA British Heavyweight Champion is . . . .

MARTY SCURLL!!!!!

Marty Scurll won the War on the Shore against Will Osprey to become the new NWA British Heavyweight Champion.  He won via submission with the crossface chicken wing. 

Fight nation is off to a great start and is already advertizing Gunner, the modern day viking as coming to Fight Nation.  I hear rumors that the NWA World Heavyweight Tag Team Champions might be arriving to defend their titles (again this is just reading between the lines). 

It should be noted that the NWA World Champion Tenzan is going to be appearing in the G1 Climax tournament, but the title will not be on the line.  I don't expect Tenzan to win it, nor even have a winning record at the end of the tournament.  But at least he is wrestling in singles action again.

NWA Update from Overseas

Before I go overseas perhaps I ought to mention the face of the NWA, Rob Conway.  Conway defeated Tim Storm for the NWA Mid South Unified Title.  He also defeated Shane Douglas in the debut of NWA Circle City Wrestling.  Is he still the favorite to take the NWA World Title back?

The main thing to discuss overseas is the NWA British Heavyweight title.  The finals are now set and are about a week away.  Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay is the final with Scurll being the villain.  It has been a good tournament with much of it available on their Facebook site. 

Craven and Chris Target are set to unify the NWA Australian title with the All Action Heavyweight championship in a steel cage tomorrow night.   Chris Target is coming to America along with a couple of other AAW stars.  They have some matches in Texas lined up already.

And as one might have expected New Breed wrestling has left the NWA.  With the way the NWA welcomed Fight Nation and gave them the NWA British Heavyweight Championship it was hard to see how New Breed would not be offended.  Then again, it is possible New Breed was in process of going away making the moves necessary.  Either way, Fight Nation really does appear to be a better promotion, and the NWA gained out of this. 

NWA titles update

You might be wondering what is going on big picture with the NWA belts.  So, let us start at the top and work our way down.

NWA World Title: Hiroshi Tenzan - he has not defended in sometime.  He is not scheduled to defend for sometime.  He is not on the list for the next big NJPW event Dominion, and he is not defending the title in the lead up shows "Road to Dominion".  He will be teaming in one of them with Kojima in a tag match, but that is it.  DISASTEROUS TITLE RUN.  PLEASE END THIS!!!!

NWA Women's Title: Santana Garrett - she wins over and over wherever she goes.  She stays pretty close to Florida, but has four or five belts now. 

NWA Tag Team Champs: Killer Elite Squad - the did successfully defend the belts on June 9th at the big show for NOAH.  They defeated Kojima and Tenzan (the world champ) who were former NWA tag champs themselves, so it was an impressive win.  This also counted as a NOAH tag title match as KES holds both belts.  Although it seemed billed as a NWA Tag Team title match, so there is that.

NWA Junior Heavyweight Title: Steve Anthony - He has defended it around several places including NWA Mid South where he beat Americos and NWA Elite where he has beaten Scott Phoenix last weekend and has another match with Purple Haze coming up.

NWA North American Title: Vacant - Four groups in Texas appear to be working together for the crowing of this champ.  Jake Logan won the Top of Texas section.  He is on to Texoma.  We will see who else makes it.  Keith Lee and James Claxton were scheduled to fight at Smashmouth, but I did not see who won. 

NWA National Title: Vacant - July 11 an 8 man one night tournament will fill this belt at NWA SAW.

Local titles are always moving around, but James Claxton has a big Branded Outlaw title defense coming up at the end of June vs. Raymond Rowe. 
The big news is Arrick Andrews lost the Southern Heavyweight title to the Golden Boy Greg Anthony.   Greg now has the Southern title (defended often in SAW) Tim Storm has the Mid South title, Matt Rivera has the Western States title (defended most often in Pro Wrestling Vendetta, but also in Mid South) and Steve Anthony has the World's Junior Title.  The Empire is loaded with Gold. 

Global Force Wrestling

I am still not too sure what to think about Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling.  I like his roster.  It seems strong on tag team action, which I like.  The Killer Elite Squad is on the roster, as is Bullet Club, Trent Baretta and Chuck Taylor are a team and also the New Heavenly Bodies are a team.  That should provide a nice tag team division.  I have also long thought the NWA should make better use of Chris Masters, and Jamin Olevencia is one of the best talents going to waste in wrestling today.  TNA never really called him up out of Ohio Valley, and for some reason the NWA has not tried to fetch him out.  NWA Midwest really dropped the ball on that one.  He is opening up in the first two shows against Sonjay Dutt (once in singles once in tag).  These guys have faced each other a lot and put on really good matches. 

What worries me is the Jarrett appears to be trying to take the NWA down as opposed to WWE.  He is using a lot of local NWA talent such as Chase Owens, Jason Kincaid, and Devin Driscoll, and I already stated the Killer Elite Squad is on their permanent roster.  They are also using Memphis area talent for the Jackson show, Dustin Starr.  I believe he wrestled for Mid South back in 2001 or 02, but is mostly with Wild Fire Wrestling in Memphis now. 

I kind of liked Jarrett's old booking, but I don't want him to end up interfering with the NWA.  In fact, I wish he would start an NWA promotion and maybe wrestling for the NWA more.  We will wait and see about Global Force Wrestling. 

NWA North American and National Titles

I am not quite sure why the NWA is splitting these two titles back up after unifying them, but that is what they are doing.  Jax Dane had surgery, and it went well apparently, but he will be out the rest of the summer, so two tournaments are being held.

The National Title Tournament is July 11 in NWA SAW.  It will be a one night tournament with 8 men.  A Block consists of Arrick Andrews, Shawn Shultz, Chase Owens, and Ali Shabbaz.  B Block appears to include Tyson Dean, Hammerjack, Andy Anderson, along with a surprise entrant to be announced at ring side.  There are some good choices for National champ in this pack.  Chase Owens would be great.  He needs to take that next step and this could be it.  Hammerjack was feuding with Dane, but would not make a great champ.  Andrews had the scheduled shot at the title, but he too would be a weak champ.  Tyson Dean would make a wonderful National champ.  He is based out of ATL, but is currently one half the tag champs in SAW.  He would be good.  Ali Shabbaz has the talent, but is too young.  The surprise entrant might be someone like Jeremiah Pluckett.  That would be interesting.  It does seem it needs to be a face as all other guys in that block are heels.

The North American Title is going to be held in different locations via elimination matches and then at some point in the future have the final match. 

The first elimination match is at Smashmouth Wrestling and will be Keith Lee vs. James Claxton.  I believe Claxton had a scheduled shot at Jax Done on June 6th, so this is in place of that. 
The other three elimination matches are not yet announced although one will be at NWA Texoma (where Charlie Haas is now champ), Branded Outlaw (as it is announced as being in San Antonio), and Top of Texas (where the Logans are big). 

It will be interesting to see where this goes and what happens to Dane when he returns.  Does he go to reunify?  Does he move onto the World Title?  Interesting.

And of course, I do hope Jax Dane gets better soon!

Santana Garrett continues to roll

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Why NXT is to going to save the WWE

For those who have hope for WWE’s future because of the greatness of NXT, let me throw some much needed reality in the mix. 

First, WWE is not NXT.  They still push their own homegrown guys more.  Even though it is clear that independent starts are better in the ring, better at engaging the crowd, and better on the mic (see Daniel Bryan and CM Punk) the main product still pushes Roman Reigns and Rusev. 

Second, WWE still does not tell stories like NXT.  While NXT develops characters and gives motives and has to the point mic time, WWE has scripted garbage.  And while NXT prolongs feuds and is unafraid to let people wrestle other wrestlers while still in a feud with someone else (see Owens vs. Riley while Zayn is the feud or Nevile vs. four other guys while Zayn was the feud), WWE feeds us the same thing over and over again.  This will be the FOURTH PPV in a row where we see Cena vs. Rusev.  FOUR.  That is insane.  Two of these matches will have had stipulations. 

Third, there is no real bridge between NXT and WWE.  I think I wrote about this earlier.  All the great story telling Zayn and Neville is gone.  All the great story and matches between Zayn and Ceasaro is gone.  It is non-existent.  This lack of connection has hurt the transition of characters like Bo Dallas.  And while good wrestlers still get over, it does make it harder. 

Fourth, and this is the most important, all of this should have been happening 3 to 5 years ago.  Zayn has been great on the independent circuit forever.  So has Owens (Steen).  Finn Balor and Itami were both great in Japan and should have been here sooner.  You can make the same argument for CM Punk and Daniel Bryan.  These guys were undeniably great and they had to do crazy things to get over and get known in an independent circuit.  They did it.  This takes a toll on their bodies.  We have seen it with CM Punk.  He is fine being done with wrestling because he wore himself out pre-WWE and in it.  We see it now with Daniel Bryan.  His body is broken probably at least in part due to the wear and tear.  The WWE made them go too long before admitting their potential.  So it is also true with Zayn and Owens.  Do not expect long run from these guys because they have many miles already logged.

If WWE was serious about this they would have already had Bryan and Punk on the top of the card fighting off Zayn and Owens who would be coming up quick and NXT would not be full of guys we already know, but younger guys like Chase Owens with other guys who could use development like Jamin Olevencia or Vordell Walker. 

It is good that WWE is finally hiring the obviously great talent.  But they missed their prime or at least they missed having them for long great runs.  The WWE is still failing to get good independent talent soon enough to use them for decades. 

New Champs

Night two is over at the Big Cauliflower Alley Club show: Casino Royal.  The big news is there is a new World Junior Heavyweight champion and it is Steve Anthony. 

Also on night one Jax Dane unified the National and North American titles.  I am assuming the National Title will be the one used now. 

Also Santana Garrett successfully defended her title, which is a hard thing to do at CAC.  Last year the World title changed hands, this year the World Junior title changed hands as did the North American title. 

More on this big NWA event soon.

Cauliflower Preview

The big show is coming up soon in Las Vegas and the NWA has been busy adding on to itself.
The NWA is back in Portland, with NWA Blue Colar and has also added NWA Supreme in Indiana.  NWA Supreme by the way is another weekly promotion and Rob Conway just won the NWA Supreme Heavyweight Title. The NWA has added a second England group with NWA Fight Nation, and that group is now having a tournament to crown the NWA British Heavyweight Champ. 

Santana Garrett is now a quad champ holding belts in Shine, Ring Warriors, and Southern Championship wrestling as well as being the NWA World champ. She also will be making appearances in I Believe in Wrestling, FIP, and Evolve in April and makes it up to Jersey Championship Wrestling in May.  She does defend the Ring Warriors title Saturday the 11th.  
The World Tag Team Champs are back in the US and competing in Ring of Honor.  They are looking to become a tri champ as they also currently hold the Pro Wrestling Noah tag titles. 

The Big thing is the Cauliflower Club event in Las Vegas on Sunday and Monday.  Santana is scheduled for both days it seems and Barbi Hayden was originally advertised.  We also are going see a unification bout between Jax Dane and Tim Storm.  Steve Anthony is getting the shot at the World Junior Heavyweight title held by Jushin Thunder Liger.  Matt Rivera defends the Western States title vs. Americos.  Greg Anthony is in action.  There is a Tri Force title match currently held by Jester as well.  It is an absolutely huge event. 

It is going to be a good show.  Great weekend for the NWA.

NWA World Titles in Japan

It should be noted that in the Road to Invasion Attacks the NWA World singles titles were both defended.  Yes, neither one made the cut for the iPPV, which is a bad sign. 

Up first was Tenzan successfully defending against Kojima.  He won with a moonsault, and the two shook hands after the match.  They actually teamed together in a six man tag the next night.  Tenzan is still your champ.  It is listed as his 3rd title defense.  He won a rematch with Conway, and then this one, so I am missing a title defense somewhere.

The next night saw Jushin Liger defend his Junior title against Tiger Mask IV.  Liger won.  This match had respect as the build up, so that remained in tact.  Liger is scheduled to appear at the Cauliflower Club in Las Vegas, so now it looks like he will be coming in as the champ.  It is his second defense as he beat Owens in a rematch.  I imagine he may defend at a few places in the states on his way to the Club. 

These titles are languishing in Japan.  They need to be brought back home and soon. 

A tale of two titles

Just to illustrate what is wrong with the NWA World Heavyweight Title being in Japan on the waist of Tenzan let me compare with the NWA Women's World Title which hangs on Sanata Garrett. 

Garrett has defend the NWA Women's Title more outside the NWA than she has inside it.  In fact this past weekend, she successfully defended it FOUR times culminating in the defense at NWA Signature Pro Wrestling.  She defended it also at "I Believe in Wrestling", which got her name mentioned on sites like PWTorch.  She is also wrestling regularly for Shine Wrestling, which had Sanata Garrett win a title defense last weekend on an IPPV.  And Shine is now using Twitter to get fan made matches and the NWA Women's Title vs. the Shine Women's Title is a choice.  So social media is lighting up with the NWA Women's Title.  Let us also not forget that Sanata Garrett is now ranked (and has been for four weeks) on the PWI Top 10 women's wrestlers, which was not achieved by Barbi Hayden.  We can argue she should have made it, but the point is the NWA's champ is now getting recognition as one of the best women in the business.  The title itself is getting publicity and it is good for the NWA.

Tenzan has appeared on some NJPW events during their New Japan Cup series, but not in singles matches and not defending the title.  He has been in six man or eight man tag matches where he might be on the opposite side from his next opponent, Kojima.  The title is not a focus of NJPW, not being shown anywhere else, and is not yet on the docket for the next big New Japan event, Invasion.  Yes, the event is called Invasion, and no NWA title are being defended on the show despite the fact that New Japan has all three men's World Titles.  Now, in fairness the Tag Team champs are invading NOAH, so they get some wrestling, but as of now neither the World Heavyweight or World Junior Heavyweight title is up for defense.  Both titles are scheduled to be defended against other New Japan wrestlers next.  Although it should be noted that Ring of Honor is billing Jushin Liger against Jay Lethal for the ROH TV Title at the end of the month.  No mention of the NWA World Junior Title.  Tenzan is an after thought at best in New Japan, and he is now our NWA champ.  During Kojima's reign the NWA title was at least used constantly.  During Invasion last year, Kojima defended against Wes Brisco, if memory serves.  The title was defended on every major event they had.  Now, it has disappeared into limbo. 

The Women's title is on fire, which is great.  The men's title is out of sight, out of mind. 

The way NXT ought to work

Let me explain why NXT is broken.  It is broken because it does not do what it is meant to do, prepare people for RAW.  NXT is a great stand alone product, but it is not integrated with the WWE enough to really help a sagging flagship of RAW.  I know Hunter has said he wants NXT to be a stand alone thing, but that is foolish.  Why would WWE want NXT to complete with RAW?  And if people were signing with the internet based NXT with no hope of RAW, would they be able to sign the great talent they have now?  Would Kevin Steen want to work with NXT exclusively when he could have stayed with ROH and worked independent events all he wants?  Maybe, but I doubt you would get KENTA and other major stars to come if NXT is a destination not a pit stop. 

So think for a minute name one wrestler who came from NXT to WWE prepared?  Okay maybe Bray Wyatt.  His character puts him in a unique situation.  So I give you one.  Shield came in booked strong, and that helped, but what about now?  Reigns is a flop, Ambrose is too one gear, and Seth Rollins is looking like the best of the bunch.  Adam Rose?  Come on.  Bo Dallas?  He had potential, but there was no connection to Bo-lieve, and it flopped.  Paige?  She was a great NXT champ, and coming into a weak women’s division.  Won the title, and . . . nothing.  She is nothing now.  Fandango?  Please.  They are all awful when they finally show up because there is no real connection between the two. 

Let me use an example.  Last year we had some great match of the year candidates between Caesaro and Sami Zayn.  They had amazing matches, but not a one of them was on RAW.  These were steal Wrestlemania good matches, yet they are not seen by the vast majority wrestling fans.  Then they built up a great story line of Zayn always being the bridesmaid, but never the bride.  Just not quite good enough to win the big one.  It culminated in a crowd pleasing NXT title win.  Yet when he makes his debut on RAW all of that fan momentum and story line will be gone.  It won’t exist.  This is going to frustrate the harcore fan who watches NXT, and make Zayn have to start at the bottom of the WWE with a blank slate.  Does anyone doubt that this guy is a potential star?  At least intercontinental champion material. 

So imagine this.  November 2013 Ceasaro beats Zayn and it plays out as it did.  However, maybe highlights are shown and it is discussed briefly about Ceasaro getting a great match down in NXT.  The NXT guys have some air time somehow so that the show is not an unknown.  Some NXT stars show up in the Royal Rumble.  Maybe even Zayn, who squares off with Ceasaro.  Make Zayn eliminate Ceasaro, and then get eliminated himself.  It plays into the obsession Zayn had, and promotes the upcoming Takeover event maybe even helping gain subscribers to the Network.  Then they have the two out of three fall match classic at Takeover.  Make mention again on air, use it as part of building up Ceasaro to his Andre Battle Royal win at Wrestlemania.  Zayn goes his way, and you continue the close but no cigar angle with Neville, Kidd, and Breeze.  Now have a push on RAW for Ceasaro, who frankly deserves it.  Make him end up with the Intercontinental title.  Have Zayn show up on RAW saying he can beat Ceasaro.  He knows he can.  Maybe have a match on RAW where Zayn comes close, and Caesaro takes a count out.  Give them a PPV match where Caesaro cheats to retain.  It plays into the "can't win the big one" for Zayn.  Then you have Zayn in that great fatal four way in November.  Have Zayn win at the NXT Revolution event in December, but make sure it gets a mention on RAW.  Remember RAW needs to be doing some highlights and talk about NXT including occasional NXT matches.  Have Caesaro mock Zayn in interviews after Zayn drops the title to Owens.  Have Zayn and Ceasaro cross paths again at the Rumble, some RAW run-ins until Caesaro gives a Wrestlemania title match to Zayn.  Have Zayn win the intercontinental title from Caesaro at Wrestlemania.  Then you have brought Zayn in strong, slowly introduced him so that people understand he is not coming in from scratch.  And you have helped the Intercontinental title out by having a champ wear it and defend it for half a year or more, which also makes Caesaro look strong.  Then you have a known high quality match at Wrestlemania that will make the wrestling diehards salivate, a new young star, and Caesaro ready to make a move into the top contenders to start the post Wrestlemania 2015.  It also gives an in for Kidd and Breeze who have beef with Zayn, and hopefully have also been on the highlight reel, and probably have part of the occasional NXT match on RAW.  They would improve the roster.  And I think you might have done a better job getting people to sign up for the network because you are doing more than just shoving the low price down their throat, you are showing them what they are missing with NXT. 

As it stands now, Zayn has to start from the ground floor with a company that shows little patience for developing talent.  Not a good place to go from NXT champ to RAW chump.  But that is way it is set up now.

Unification thoughts

I should write about the big news that there will be aunification bout between the North American Heavyweight Championship and theNational Heavyweight Championship.  It is hard to argue against this move.  The two titles were basically duplicates and made things complicated.  The North American was supposedly the number 2 belt in the company, yet the National Title was the #1 contender and the stepping stone to the World title.  Never made any sense.  This will clear up the picture quite a bit. 

Yet, it is hard to think that the NWA did not miss out on something with the North American Title.  Clearly the NWA has hopes of being a real world wide presence.  They have also shown with the Women’s Title lately that they are willing for NWA belts to appear on shows that have nothing to do wit the NWA.  One could argue New Japan fits this bill with the World title and the World Tag Team Titles as well.  So why not make the North American Title really a North American title?  Would not have been feasible to get some sort of relationship with AAA or CMLL that is similar to the one we have with New Japan?  Just give them the belt for six months or a year even?  Let someone defend it in Mexico to get the NWA name back into Mexico.  There are also some Canadian shows that are not NWA affiliates that are open to NWA belts.  Remember last year when Chase Owens defended the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title in several places in Canada?  Put the belt on a Dru Oynx or Teddy Hart and let them tour Canada with it.  I like the Mexico option better because the NWA has so many territories that could easily draw a Luchador like Wrestling Revolution or Branded Outlaw Wrestling.  So the belt could come back from time to time to make an appearance in America, but it stays on a popular Luchador, who defends it in AAA or CMLL.  Then Las Vegas and the Cauliflower Club would make a good venue to have someone win it back.  Maybe then defend it in America for a time, maybe even Pro Wrestling Vendetta since they seem to be far away from where the majority of the NWA is located.  This belt could be part of their show for a while.  Then put it on Teddy Hart or Dru Oynx, and let them take it to Canada for a while.  There is a good two years of North American Title booking that keeps it separate and distinct from the National title, gives the NWA a global name, and could elevate the belt into something to be desired. 

But getting rid of the belt is not bad either.  I do think the merged belt should be National title since there is no NWA territory outside of America and Continental belts are suspect anyway.  This does continue to march the Cauliflower Club event every year up in significance.  If the NWA ever does decide to jump to an IPPV event or something like that, they are setting up people to look toward the Cauliflower Club every year.  I imagine some World  Titles will appear on this docket and probably change hands as well. 

Big events wrapping up for the NWA

There were some real big events in the NWA this past week or so. 
Perhaps none were bigger than NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling Extreme Anniversary 3.  However, with Hayden and Conway dropping their titles, it was probably not as big as it was supposed to be.  Hayden in fact lost her match.  Jax Dane did pick up the National Title, so his match with Luke Gallows was for the National Title, and Dane wins.  Carson and Lance Hoyt are obviously going to have another go soon, and Andy Dalton defeated Raymond Rowe in what some called the match of the night. 

Inspire Pro had a big event on the 15th that saw ACH become the #1 contender to their title.  It has to be said that Inspire Pro may have the best collection of female wrestlers in the world, not just the NWA.  Barbi Hayden won here as did Vanessa The Mountain Kraven, Athena the Wrestling Goddess, and Delilah Doom.  Count em up that is four matches on this card featuring women wrestlers.  I do hope a Women's World Title match is held at Inspire Pro real soon.

NWA Rage also fought on the 22nd, and William Huckaby retained the top title by DQ.  Interestingly Joe Black pined Beau Crockett. 

NWA Top of Texas and Texoma both had events.  Texoma had a North American title defense by Tim Storm, but I can't find the results as three other belts were on the line and Teddy Hart was in action.  Top of Texas is also not available. 

NWA Elite had a show too.  Vordel Walker retained his title.  John Saxon won and issued a challenge to Junior Heavyweight champ Jushin Thunder Liger.  New tag team chaps were crown in an interesting twist.  Xtian Blake and Andy Dalton are the new champs even though Andy Dalton left the ringside so Xtian could get a beat down.  One roll up later, and the two are the champs. 

Watch John Saxon give a pretty good challenge to NWA President Bruce Thawrp.  I want to see Saxon vs. Liger. 

Tenzan is new NWA champ

I am a big fan of the NWA, but this move is awful. 

This is bad for several major reasons.

#1. This puts all the men's World Titles in Japan.  The World Junior title is still in the hands of Jushin Liger.  The World Heavyweight title now belongs to Tenzan.  The World Tag Team Champs are KES, but they have wrestled primarily in Japan for some time.  Not good.

#2 This formula has been done before . . . last year.  We sent the World Title over there for half a year last year.  There is no reason to expect it will come home prior to the Cauliflower Club match this year either and no reason to assume they will keep it past that date.  Once is nice, twice is unoriginal.  Not to mention we are already following that formula for the World Junior title.  Bad idea.

#3 It means New Japan is better than the NWA.  New Japan is not an NWA territory.  Instead, it is a different organization, which if you watch those shows, the NWA is trying to prove it is better.  Yet, now our World Champ loses all the time over there.  So has Owens, and so has our World tag champs.  How do you not come to the conclusion that New Japan is simply better.  Remember we are not even going against their top guys. 

#4 Tenzan is simply a bad champ.  Kojima, I understood.  Tenzan has had more IWGP World Titles, but Kojima was the better wrestler.  Kojima had a big run in All Japan, was the first man to win the Triple Crown and the IWGP World title.  Kojima won the G1 Climax and IWGP World Title in 2010.  Thus he had been in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom in 2011, less than four years ago.  Tenzan has not had a world title shot of any kind since 2006.  Tenzan has been out of the main event for a long time.  Yet, now he is the NWA World Champ. 


Ultimately this does not elevate the NWA, makes it look formulaic, and now Rob Conway is damaged goods.  I like Conway, but he cannot regain the title after this.  It is someone else's turn now.  If he does regain it in Las Vegas later this year, I will be disappointed. 

This does lower the excitement for big cards that had Conway on it such as the Branded Outlaw card that was headlining Claxton vs. Conway. 

If you are looking for some sort of positive, I suppose this clears the deck for a good look at Jax Dane.  He now has the National Title, and there is nothing else to book in the NWA.  The North American Title has never really been the number 2 title, so Dane gets a clear booking look to see if he can be the man to carry the World title in the future. 

Again, this is bad for Bruce Thwarp and the NWA as a whole. 

NWA Updates from Japan

The NWA has had a nice week in Japan and a little mid week action from Smoky Mtn.

Smoky Mtn had a Thursday match that had Jason Kincaid retain the NWA Southeastern Title in a falls count anywhere match vs. Chris Richards.  On a national scale it was probably the first National Title defense for Jax Dane as he beat Benny Conley.  Dane teamed with Vince Bret, but failed to claim the  US Tag Team Championship from the Heatseekers.  Dane and Bret won by DQ.  

More importantly in Japan Rob Conway and Chase Owens teamed together to win a tag match against Jushin Thunder Liger and Tenzan.  Tomorrow night the two split out for individual matches.

Also the NWA World Tag Team  Champs were in action on the 11th this time in Pro Wrestling Noah.  They are part of an invasion story line as New Japan and Noah continue to work together.  The Killer Elite Squad beat TMDK to become the GHC Tag Team Champs. 

Stay tuned to see if Owens and Conway can come back from Japan as champs. 

New Women's World Champ

Barbi Hayden's year long reign as champ is over.  She was defeated by Santana Garrett at NWA Signature Pro event on the 7th. 

Hayden had a great run, but I like the change over all.  I hope Hayden stays around the NWA, maybe even making a nice rivalry.  Garrett is a higher flyer than Hayden, who was a more powerful wrestler.  The two contrast very nicely.  There was a lot more drama with the post match handshake than when Hayden won it from Kacee Carlisle.

From a business perspective the change is good.  The NWA Women's title is the only real wrestling title out there for women.  Divas and Knockouts don't even sound that flattering.  This title ought to be showcased a bit more; however, a lot of these small NWA territories are lucky to have one woman wrestler, much less a stable of talent.  And that was where Hayden seems to have hit a ceiling. 

Hayden had beaten just about everyone she could.  She was based mostly out of Houston, which has left the NWA.  She was well known in Texas, but seldom appeared in other NWA strongholds like the Tennessee territories.  Garrett's already scheduled for NWA Signature Pro, her apparent home base, and NWA Vendetta, which is on the other side of the country.  The better news for NWA is that she is also booked in Jersey All Pro wrestling, Shimmer, and other places.  It is these sort of events that will help raise the profile of the NWA Women's title.  These are doors that are open to Garrett probably because of her TNA background, and the NWA is wise to take advantage.  Still, I enjoyed Hayden's run, and I hope she does not disappear in the Lonestar wrestling, which is not good.  She should stick with the NWA. 

Take a look at the match.  It is pretty good.

New NWA National Champion

At NWA Southern All Star wrestling Jax Dane defeated Lou Marconi to be the new National Champion. 

This I think concludes the very sad episode of Marconi's third National Title reign.  Going into the middle of 2014 Marconi vs. Nitro for the National Title was the hottest thing going.  They had a best of seven series set up.  Then NWA Championship Wrestling based in Toledo Ohio folded, which happened to be Nitro's base of operations.  I do believe it ended up being bought out by NWA World Wide, which was the Carolina based company that featured Marconi.  Marconi won round 1 of the best of seven series at a World Wide event.  Then everything went south. 

World Wide Wrestling was supposed to have a Tag Team Tournament and the winner would face the winner of the tournament held in Smoky Mtn. Wrestling and the winner would become the US Tag Team champs.  Well, World Wide advertised the event under the name the Crockett Cup, which they did not get permission, and then they handed out the US Tag Titles to their tournament winner.  All of this was against NWA policies and orders.  Thus, World Wide ended up being stripped of its NWA affiliation.  Probably as a result Nitro vs. Marconi and the National Title feud died.  There was never a second round.  Nitro did defend the title in several places, but it was no longer as prominent as it had been and Nitro totally fell of the map until a few months ago when he showed up at another NWA Ohio promotion NWA SEW (now NWA mid west).  The purpose there seems to have been to unify Nitro's old Championship Wrestling title with the SEW title, which Nitro lost.  And now Marconi has dropped the belt. 

I have not made a secret that I love Marconi as a wrestler.  He is great.  I hope he does not drop out of the NWA.  However, it has also been clear that Jax Dane has been groomed to take a belt.  I think that this is probably the next step to see if he is worthy to wear the World Title one day.  Dane has made himself a regular all around the NWA.  He can be seen in Branded Outlaw, SAW, Next Level, and has been in Smoky Mtn several times.  You name it and chances are Dane has been there.  Dane made several trips to Japan and is being used as a face for the new NWA. 

So congrats to the new champ, and it will be interesting to watch the new National champ.

NWA January

The NWA Heavyweight Champion spent a lot of January recovering from emergency appendectomy surgery.  So, not a lot of action on that front.

However, the other belts had some notable movement.

NWA Top of Texas had a scramble match where the top two finishers got either a shot at NWA Heavyweight champion Rob Conway or NWA North American champion Tim Storm.  Nathan Briggs and Chad Thomas finished one and two and will at some point in the future receive these shots.

NWA National Champ Lou Marconi defended his belt at NWA Rage by pinning Beau Crockett.

NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champ Jushin Thunder Liger defeated El Desperado on January 5th.  It seems the next defense is against Chase Owens on Valentine's Day, but Tiger Mask was announced at one point as his next opponent, so I am not quite sure here.  

Some of the regional belts were on the line as well.
NWA Continental Champ (Rage) Will Huckaby pinned Lance Erickson.
NWA Southeastern Champ (Smoky Mtn) Jason "the Gift" Kincaid won a cage match against Chris Richards when Richards threw Kincaid through the cage.  Rematch scheduled for early Feb.
NWA Sports Entertainment Wrestling champ Seth Allen defeated NWA Mid West champ Phil "Nitro" Monahan.  The two belts are now one, the NWA Mid West Champion.  To go along with that change NWA SEW changed its name to NWA Mid West Wrestling.
Pro Wrestling Vendetta crowned the NWA Western States champ, and it is Matt Rivera.  He won the tournament defeating Matt Kendrick in the final.
NWA Wrestling Revolution saw Tony Strong defeat Paul London to regain the Grand Warrior championship.  He also defended it successfully at least once.

February looks like a real big month ending with some major matches.  Expect to see the World Champ back in action soon.

NWA coverage

So it appears that Pro Wrestling Torch is no longer going to cover the NWA.  They have dropped the NWA World Title from their Titles they will be covering this year.  So I hope to pick up some of that slack.  So come back here for definitive NWA coverage.  After all, it is still often the best wrestling in the country today.  And the NWA World Title is the only real World Title.

You may have heard that NWA World champ Rob Conway had emergency appendectomy surgery.  So he is going to be on the shelf for a bit. 

The big news so far this year in the NWA is Seth Allen unified his NWA Sports Entertainment Wrestling Heavyweight championship with Nitro's NWA Mid West title, which is left over from the now defunct NWA Championship International Wrestling.  It will be interesting to see where Nitro goes from here. 

Tonight January 17th the new NWA Western States Champion is going to be crowned in the tournament held by Pro Wrestling Vendetta.  The tournament includes Chris Masters, Matt Rivera (my pick to win), Brian Kendrick, and Ricardo Rodriguiz. 

Personally I am looking forward to the big card from Branded Outlaw Wrestling of February 21st.  That card will include Barbi Hayden defending her Women's World Title.  Raymond Rowe vs. Dirty Andy Dalton, Charlie Haas vs. Mike Dell, Jax Dane vs. Luke Gallows, Houston Carson vs. Lance Hoyt, and World Champ Rob Conway vs. James Claxton, who I believe is the Branded Outlaw champ.  Great card. 

That same day will see Tim Storm defend his North American Heavyweight title at NWA Main Event against Big Daddy Yum Yum Brian Wilcott.  The Main Event show will have Teddy Hart in action.  Hart is one half of the tag champs in Main Event (his partner is Big Daddy Yum Yum). 

So some great action in the NWA coming up.