Parade of Champions Results

The Parade of Champions results are in. 

Americos successfully defends his IHWE title.
Houston Carson wins the battle royal to face Greg Anthony for the National Title.  He did this by waiting outside the ring and tossing the last guy over the top. 
Carson jumped Greg Anthony to begin the National Title match, which ended in DQ after many people ran to the ring to fight Anthony as he was in control.  The Empire and Jim Cornette came to make the save.
Chase Owens defeated Jason Kincaid after a roaring elbow and package piledriver. 
Unimportant 6 man tag that does put some talent from around the NWA in the same ring.  Evan Morton, Shane Taylor, and Keith Lee win.  Shawn Shultz got pinned.
Devin Driscoll was pinned after Tim Storm his the Perfect Storm.  Tim Storm retains the NWA North American Title.
Iron Empire defeated Brown and Dirty to retain the NWA World Tag Team Titles.  Matt Rivera got the pin after a chokeslam.  Jim Cornette hit manager Black Bart with the racket during this match.
Rodney Mack was eliminated first and then Lance Hoyt so that Raymond Rowe retains his IHWE Heavyweight title. 
Steve Anthony hit a 450 splash for the win to retain the NWA World Junior Title
Amber O’Neal/Gallows defeated Jessica James.  Veda Scott was the guest ref and Scott and O’Neal/Gallows had a stare down after the match.  Amber O’Neal/Gallows remains Women’s World Champ.
Charles Haas dominated the match, but Jax Dane hit a spear for the pin to remain your NWA World Heavyweight champion.  Shelton Benjamin made a brief appearance, but was not really on Charlie’s side. 

The consensus seems to be a great show overall.  The Empire had a big night and all wrestled as faces.  You had a bit for everyone with cruiser weights, heavy weight brawlers, good female wrestling, some solid wrestling, and a show case of talent match or two along with a nice set of promos by Black Bart, Jim Cornette, Greg Anthony and Charlie Haas. 

Most seem to be saying Owens v Kincaid stole the show.  Kincaid just has so much offense and the two are pretty familiar.  Some might point to Steve Anthony as a show stealer as well. 

The high points of the show definitely turned out to be the depth of the Junior Heavyweight division.  Chase Owens, Jason Kincaid, along with champ Steve Anthony are off the charts good.  Americos was also good and the pool is large enough for them all. 
The Empire is fabulous, and if Rob Conway is added into that, then the group is amazing. 
The Raymond Rowe, Rodney Mack, Lance Hoyt match showed that these three guys could all compete for the NWA World Title. 

The low of the show has to be sadly, Jax Dane.  He just seems a bit too limited to me.  Charlie Haas can do great mat wrestling, and showed command of the mic, but Jax Dane seems only to be able to deliver stiff blows and a spear turns it all right.  I do admit I hate the spear as a finisher, but Dane still comes off as the worst champ my hatred of the spear not withstanding.  Storm can go, Anthony can do anything.  Steve Anthony even has potential in higher weight classes, but Dane just seems like a big power man without a lot of movement or flexibility.  His move set seems low. 

In the end, the NWA had a great show.  You had a lot of old fashion stuff, but had some new style matches as well.  The main event seemed a let down, but I bet Parade of Champions will hold up well to Wrestlemania. 

Cauliflower Alley Show shaping up

While tonight is the Parade of Champions, the next big even is the Cauliflower Alley Club show in Las Vegas.  Usually it has major titles up for grabs, but perhaps not this year thanks to the Parade of Champions show. 

So far the NWA is sponsoring:

-          Kobra Kai and Marty Jannety vs. Sinn Bodhi and Markus Burke.  – This match is a bring in a name match and is going to be okay. 

-          The Ten Man Rumble – This is an always popular event that showcases some talent especially for Pro Wrestling Vendetta.  It is the main event of night 1 this year.

-          The Second Chance Battle Royal – this is what it sounds like, a second chance for those eliminated, and some others to get chance to win the shot.  Obviously it will take place on night 2.

-          Blue Collar Wrestling vs. Circle City Wrestling for titles – this is a 6 man tag event where each contestant has a belt and that belt is up for grabs.  Belts include NWA Pacific Northwest Title, NWA MidAmerican Title, NWA Continental Title (mainly defended in NWA Mid Atlantic), Blue Collar Heavyweight Title, NWA Circle City TV title, NWA Blue Collar TV Title, and NWA Circle City Heritage Title.  .  This will also show case Badd Blood, current Continental champ, and the man who vacated the Pacific Northwest title.  He is going to be great.  Good to see him on such a big stage.

-          6 Man Tag Midnight Delight vs. The Von Dooms and Bobby Sharpe – This is a Vendetta Pro match that showcases some of their talent.  Midnight Delight and Von Dooms are good tag teams and Bobby Sharpe is a young up and comer.  Not high enough to be headlining big events, but deserving to make the cut here.

There are other promotions putting on matches as well and former NWA affiliate Smash Mouth is putting the Bull of the Woods title up for grabs between Starks and Gueverra.  It should be a good match between two young guys.  And another that has some NWA hang over in it is Gold Rush putting up the Lady Luck Championship between current champ Thunder Rosa and former NWA Women’s champ, Santana Garrett.  It is nice to have her around the NWA still.  She made a quick appearance on NXT and WWE might be trying to sign her.  She has a lot of overseas commitments this year in Japan and India, so it will interesting to see what happens to her after the summer when most of that is fulfilled. 

Title Change!!!

Tiger Mask IV lost to Steve Anthony giving Anthony back the World Junior Heavyweight NWA championship.  This is Anthony's second go round with the title.  I think Tiger Mask never successfully defended the title during his reign, which is sad.  This happened at a Road to Invasion Attack event on the 19th. 

Now Anthony is scheduled to defend his new title at Parade of Champions against John Saxon, the recent National Title champ.  Saxon and Anthony wrestle all across the NWA, especially in NWA Elite and Bayou Independent Wrestling.  They know each other and it should make for a great match.

The build to Parade of Champions is building now.  NWA Texoma had a build up show with Charlie Haas vs. Tim Storm, Jax Dane vs. Jerome Daniels.  Dane will take on Haas at Parade of Champions.  Barrett/Brown vs. Iron Empire where the Empire kept the belts.  Those two teams will tangle again at Parade of Champions. 
There was another event in Texas, outside of the NWA, that had quite a few of these guys including Conway and Dane, and I think Raymond Rowe in attendance. 

The question is where does this leave the Casino Royale CAC event?  Usually one would have expected Tiger Mask to defend there, but now what? 

Parade of Champions and CAC

It is a little unusual this year in the NWA.  They have two mammoth shows almost back to back.  You kind of wonder what is left for the CAC show in Vegas if everyone just wrestled at the Parade of Champions. 

The Parade of Champions card is taking shape. 
Jax Dane will defend the NWA World Title vs. Charlie Haas.  I love Charlie Haas, but I am fairly sure that he never wrestles outside of Texas anymore and owns a business there.  He is not going to win, but it should make for a good opponent. 

Iron Empire will defend the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Outlaw Inc.  This too me is the main event.  Dirty Andy Dalton and Barrett Brown should give Rob Conway and Matt Rivera all they can handle.  This should be a great match.

Amber O'Neal defends the NWA World Women's Title against Jessica James.  I don't know much about Jessica James, but I find it hard to believe she will win.  The real treat in this match is Veda Scott as the guest ref.  Hopefully this sets up something between O'Neal and Scott for the belt.

Rodney Mack vs. Raymond Rowe vs. Lance Hoyt is next and this might be for the IHWE Heavyweight title.  I am not sure if Rowe is the champ or not.  It is three heavyweights in one ring.  The winner ought to be lined up for a future NWA World Title shot.  Should be exciting.

Jason Kincaid vs. Chase Owens.  This is not advertised to be for the NWA Smoky Mtn. Title, so I doubt it is on the line.  Owens and Kincaid wrestle each other all the time including at the NWA Houston Invasion event a few years back.  They always have a great match, and if you are going to parade your best, might as well let these two go head to head.  Possible show stealer right here.

Also advertised is NWA North American champ Tim Storm, but nothing on his opponent yet.  In addition there is going to be an over the top battle royal for a National Title shot. 

What does this leave for the CAC? 
I doubt Veda Scott vs. Amber  O'Neal would happen that fast.  Although it would be good.
NWA is telling people to watch not only Vendetta Pro for announcements, but also NWA Mid South.  This makes one think that perhaps the NWA National Title of Greg Anthony will be defended at the CAC.  It could mean the Iron Empire as well.  In all probability the NWA World Junior title held by Tiger Mask IV will be defended, and that belt will probably change hands.  But to who is still up in the air. 
I did learn that former NWA territory, Smash Mouth wrestling (no longer affiliated) will be a co-sponsor and have some matches that will include Action Jackson.  The two day event should be exciting if you live in the Vegas area this is for you.

My book of Rumble through Mania for WWE

I don’t understand WWE anymore, so I don’t really watch much.  They have some great talent, but they hide it and diminish it.  Let me just give a quick example of how I would have booked Rumble through Mania. 

I like the Rumble being for the title as part of Reigns vs. Authority story line.  It is the only way you are going to get many people to cheer Reigns.  However, I don’t take Reigns out of the match to rest.  He has to be in there until it is over.  Also, I put HHH at the top of the ramp to illustrate the point of the Rumble is to remove the belt from Reigns. 

I don’t throw Rusev away so quick to Reigns, but I like Reigns dumping the first guy quick.  Then bring out AJ Styles to the big pop.  Then I send in Rusev 4^th, and I can have Styles prevent Rusev from beating on Reigns to give Styles the clear face look.  Then you can run people in almost anyway you want.  If you are building to a Bray Wyatt v. Lesnar match then have Lesnar dump all the others.  Then after some trading back and forth with Bray have Ambrose dump them both while they are locked up near the ropes.  Lesnar then gets a Wyatt beat down.  No Sami Zayn because I wait on him until next show.  I have Reigns dump all the League of Nations guys so that after #29 Reigns is in by himself and #30 is Kevin Owens.  Owens limps out with it looking like Reigns is going to retain.  Owens somehow manages to get Reigns over and Owens is your new champ.  The crowd would go wild. 

Next night Owens is defending against Neville and wins clean after a good match.  Owens is about to ruin Neville in a Powerbomb on the ramp, and down comes Zayn (probably to a huge pop from the post-Rumble crowd).  This show would also have Ambrose saying he beat Owens one on one at the Rumble he deserves the shot.  I also have Hunter refuse to give Reigns a rematch because he cannot rematch the Rumble.  He did not lose in a one on one so no automatic rematch.  Reigns goes crazy and hits the boss.  I also use this as AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho (main event probably) because Jericho wants to see how phenominal AJ really is.  AJ wins. 

Payback then has Owens v Ambrose for the WWE Title.  Owens wins this time and Ambrose comes up short.  Reigns takes out Rusev.  Wyatt beats someone.  Strowman beats Big Show.  A2J wins Tag titles from New Day.  Zayn beats someone.

Zayn continues to demand his chance to do to Owens what Owens did to him: take his title and put him out of wrestling for months.  Owens puts up the roadblock demanding a big win.  Ziggler wins a shot at the title.  So at Roadblock you have Owens v. Ziggler with Owens getting the win.  Zayn vs. Neville with Zayn coming out on top.  Those two have enough of a history that it would be a good match.  A2J loses tag titles back to New Day and Jericho snaps beating on AJ.  Lesnar defeats Strowman.  Reigns takes down Sheamus.  Ambrose needs to drop the IC title to someone.  Pick a heel.  Maybe Ryback. 

This leads to the final Mania build up where Ambrose makes the claim he will face anyone anywhere.  He is unafraid.  Out comes Undertaker.  I have Breeze start taking out Kalisto.  I would use the claim that Breeze looks better with gold and no one wants a guy with a mask as champ.  Hiding your face is a crime.  There is your angle for those two to feud.  And New Day vs. League of Nations is good enough for me.  HHH comes out and says he will take care of Reigns himself.  And Mania is set up.

Owens vs. Zayn for World Title (I would book Owens to win)

Reigns vs. HHH (Reigns wins)

Lesnar vs. Bray (Lesnar wins)

Undertaker vs. Ambrose (Undertaker wins, but shakes Ambrose’s almost lifeless hand after it is over)

New Day vs. League (New Day wins)

AJ vs. Jericho (AJ wins)

Ziggler vs. IC Champ maybe Ryback (Ziggler wins)

Kalisto vs. Breeze (Breeze wins)

Women’s title match

This would set me up for next year which I would slowly make about Zayn seeking to get over the hump.  I would have him lose a close match with Ziggler somewhere, get him into a feud with the returning Ceasaro.  And give him a big WM moment next year with a win for a belt over either Ceasaro or Owens. 

Owens would get into a feud with Styles, whom I would eventually put the title on if the crowd was reacting.  I bring Samoa Joe up to feud with Styles (even if Styles does not get the title). 

I use the Reigns victory to remove the authority from TV.  It is getting too old.  I move Reigns into a feud with Bray and wait and see on the crowd reaction.  I would not have any problem putting Styles as the top face of the company, pushing Zayn ahead of him and even Ambrose.  Reigns has to have the fans backing after that run through the authority.  If not then consider a heel turn during this upcoming year and feed him to Styles at some point.  A heel Reigns would make a good feud with Ambrose and a nice way to bring back a hopefully returning Rollins. 

This also gives you a chance to see what Breeze can do with a push.  It would free up Kalisto to go back to team with Sin Cara and you can put the belts on those guys.  Not that Kalisto is not good as a singles guy, but you need the tag teams right now.  And I let Ziggler have a long run with the IC title to try and bring back some prestige to it.  I would consider a Mania to Mania run for Ziggler with the IC title.  He is over enough, and it would help bring back some luster to a tainted title. 

Hey and when Cena comes back a whole new crew is lined up for him.  Who would not pay to see Cena vs. Styles for the world title?  Cena – Owens has been good in the past.  And Samoa Joe vs. Cena would also sell tickets.  A returning Rollins has business with Cena and a heel turned Reigns could have a ready made issue with Cena being angry for Reigns turning his back on the crowd.  A good lecture about doing what is right no matter what the crowd chants would play well. 

Right now it does not feel as if they have set much up for after Mania.  And the top talent languishes under unpopular talent. 

Lonestar vs. NWA

You all may remember NWA Houston.  When the NWA entered its newest phase NWA Houston seemed to be the center.  Thwarp was a Brownsville lawyer, so he himself was in TX, and Houston was the biggest market in the NWA that continued with Thwarp.  Thwarp immediately had the belt go to NWA Houston based Barbi Hayden.  Brian Wilcott won the NWA North American Title, and he was a regular at NWA Houston, although probably based more in Louisiana.  The world title went to Rob Conway at a Branded Outlaw event and Jax Dane was clearly a favorite son.  Dane had been in NWA Houston quite a bit, although based in nearby Branded Outlaw Wrestling. 

He staged the first big NWA event out of Houston, NWA Invasion that featured New Japan Stars, stars from NWA Smoky Mtn., and Lou Marconi the current NWA National Champ. 

Then on the way to the big event in Vegas, NWA Houston hosted Kojima vs. Houston Carson for the World Title.  NWA Houston looked big.  But then it severed ties with the NWA.  It was out of the blue. 

NWA Houston became Lonestar Wrestling and bigtime World Title contenders like Houston Carson were gone from the NWA.  About half a year later NWA 360 also left the NWA and Carson was now no longer on the scene.  Barbi Hayden dropped her title and was no longer heard from anywhere.  There appeared to be a bit of a war over who would be the wrestling power in Texas, but we now know who won.

Lonestar Wrestling is on "hiatus" and is selling their old belts to raise money.  It suspended its November show until January, and then that show never took place.  The ultimate proof is in Houston Carson, who is now actively involved in the NWA again.  He is the current NWA Elite champion (based in Houma, LA), and is scheduled to appear in March at a huge NWA Texoma show.  I am glad the NWA came out on top.  I don't know the issues Lonestar had, but they made a poor choice. 

The good news out of this is that perhaps we are going to see Barbi Hayden back in the Women's title mix.