NWA National Title

Well, Golden Boy Greg Anthony has done it.  He has regained his title from Jake Logan.  Logan had a nice little program with Anthony and got a few title defenses in.  He tried to pay some people to take out Greg Anthony, but Anthony overcame the odds, got the rematch, and regained the title.

I love Greg Anthony.  I also really like Jake Logan.  Both are great wrestlers and show the depth and talent in the NWA.  I don't think Logan has seen his last belt.

Meanwhile, Badd Blood continues to not get any shots at any belts anywhere.  That I don't understand.

Also Jax Dane made the Survival of the Fittest Final after beating Donovan Dijak.  He then finished 4th after getting eliminated by Lio Rush.  Rush did not win, but had the most eliminations.  If ROH wants to keep Dane, I wish him a good career.  If nothing is in the works, then I expect Dane to resume his title reign soon.

NEW World Champ

So at an NWA Texoma event the Godzilla Jax Dane lost to Tim Storm making Tim Storm the new World Heavyweight Champ.

Now, I have not bee the biggest fan of Jax Dane.  And I like Tim Storm.  However, here is the problem I am having.  Tim Storm has lost to Jax Dane so many times.  So, so many.  Including the last couple of major events.  The last two Cauliflower Club Main Events in Las Vegas have been Jax Dane defeating Tim Storm.  Once to unify the Nation and North American Title and once for the World Title.  I know there was at least one other match up where Storm lost head to head with Dane.  Now this could have been good if it had been a unified story.  As if there was some reason Storm continued to deserve title shots, or the wins were less than clean, but they were.  So, I struggle with this title change a bit.

There seem to more deserving people out there than Storm such as Badd Blood or Greg Anthony or Matt Rivera.  Or even a Jason Kincaid or Chase Owens if you wanted to go a real different direction.
But Jax Dane is appearing in an ROH event coming soon, and that may have prompted the dropping of the title.  And Tim Storm keeps the main place of business with the title as Texas.  Dane appeared pretty regularly in Smoky Mtn as well, but Storm has never been there.  Storm has appeared at Mid South a few times, so maybe they get to see the World title a bit.

I would think that Storm makes sense to enter into a feud with Raymond Rowe.  Current National Champ Jake Logan ought to get to be in the ring with the Storm too.   Storm could also bring it back to Louisiana to take on Vordel Walker.

Either way this is a big turning point.  Tim Storm's win seems out of no where, and it will be interesting to see how long it lasts and where Storm takes the title from here.


Current Champs:
World - Tim Storm
World Junior - John Saxon
Women's - Jazz
Tag Team - Iron Empire
North American - Tyson Dean
National -  Jake Logan

NWA Title Changes

It was a big weekend in the NWA, you could just feel it.  However, I did not guess it would be this big. 

NWA National Champion, Golden Boy Greg Anthony, lost the National Title to Jake Logan.  Now this one is not all that surprising as Jake Logan is a great talent.  He regularly appears in Texoma and Top of Texas and has been champ in both.  He is known all over Texas and he is going to make a fun and interesting champ. 

The one I did not see coming at all was the new NWA Women's Champ.  Amber O'Neal (Gallows) has been a good champ.  She may not have broken as much new ground as Santana Garret did, but she was very capable.  She dropped the title in a loss to Jazz.  Yup, that Jazz of TNA and WCW fame.  So the title is still in very capable hands.  It continues the tradition of real big name and talented women holding the best Women's title in the world. 

NWA World champ Jax Dane retained, and his reign is now over a year long.  His time maybe approaching an end.  Keep an eye on the end of the year for Jax.  With Jake Logan holding the National Title, and being based in Texas, it maybe time to move the World Title on someone else.  Georgia/Florida has the North American Champ in Tyson Dean, who has successfully defended in Combat Sports Pro, and is making a fine NA champ.  Who will Dane face coming up?  Greg Anthony himself should be considered a top contender and Badd Blood always seems a threat. 

As another important note, NWA World Tag Team Champs the Iron Empire will be defending the NWA World Tag Titles in Japan.  No, not New Japan.  That ship appears to have sailed.  Rather it is a very small promotion Diamond Wrestling or something like that.  Let us hope that they come home with the belt.  It is one thing to always be dropping the belt in New Japan or even in NOAH, but this would be different.  If they do drop the belts think Matt Rivera for World Title.  After all, teaming with Rob Conway for the Tag title is the same route that Jax Dane took.

Brand Split and Story Telling

I know I am in the minority in thinking that the brand split is bad, but I think it helps show how awful WWE is as a story-telling company. 

The big problem in WWE is much like John Cena always puts it: he has been waiting for someone to come and show up everyday and perform like he does.  This is the problem, but it is also very disingenuous.  The problem included John Cena.  No one can show up and perform and please crowds if Cena takes up all the air time.  Or whoever the champ is.  WWE focuses so much on their top title that Miz is right the Intercontinental title is pointless, and Rusev is often left off of Raw despite having the US belt.  The solution is not to split the brands and create new titles so that Kevin Owens is not WWE champion or World Champion, but rather RAW champion.  All this does is give a little bit more airtime to some top guys.  The shows still revolve around the contest for the top belt with usually one very long taking segment, one main event match, and often a back stage segment or another match in the middle involving the other challenger.  This happened on both Raw and Smackdown leaving almost no time for the Tag titles, US title, Intercontinental title, and Women’s title (although this one is growing), not to mention time to develop new people to be legit challengers for those titles.  Add in the segments that involve Cena/Lesnar/Orton if they are not currently the top title holder, and it is no wonder no one else showed up everyday to do the work because they were often not booked on shows.  Can’t show up if the show is full.

Instead of the brand split they should have just been willing to have shows without the world champ.  Shows where the main event was the IC title or the Tag Titles or the Women’s title.  A smack down that revolved around the Tag titles could give valuable time to tag teams.  Or a show where the world title is not on, but the IC title is treated as special would do wonders for the IC title and the careers of wrestlers not yet at the top slot.  Let me give some examples of stories that could be told if everything were still together.

The world title picture could be AJ styles vs. Ambrose, and Owens and the others could be feuding for the #1 spot.  Rusev vs. Reigns for the US title.  Charlotte vs. Sasha vs Bailey would be for the Women’s title.  Miz vs. Ziggler is perfect for the IC title.  And the tag titles need more discussion so hold off on that.

But each of those stories is unique.  Styles is looking to be the face that runs the place after beating Cena, but not having the title.  Rusev and Reigns is about the honor of Lana or about a Bulgarian holding the US title.  Charlotte having to deal with Sasha and Bailey is good because it shows the growing importance of the Women’s title.  I think the WWE went the wrong way with Miz.  Instead of taking his talking smack and showing Bryan is right about Miz being a coward it should be a time to show the contrast in wrestling styles.  Miz is calculating and not risk taking.  ZIggler is an oft injured big risk taker.  Great story. 

And each division has its story lines for others.  HHH picks Owens over Rollins.  I would have Zayn in that match rather than Reigns who is chasing the US title.  Notice his removal from that feud left the US title off the show.  Zayn then gets to show frustration that he beat Owens 1 on 1, yet Owens is #1 contender.  You have Natalia vs. Becky Lynch after Natalia turned on Becky and the story of can Nikki Bella overcome Carmela with the story mostly told in multi-women matches.  Plus you can add in Nikki trying to remain relevant as a former Diva in the Women’s division. 

And what the WWE is doing to the Tag Team division is criminal.  Bootie O’s vs. Old Farts.  Come on.  The New Day and the Wyatt family had a built in story other than mocking TNA.  The power of positive thinking vs. the darkness of the Wyatts.  I would have had the Wyatt family win the three on three match, but have Xavier overcome that fear.  Then have the Club win the titles when the Wyatts show up at a title match.  The Club now has the belts, but new Day and Wyatts feud on.  The Club can then feud with red hot Enzo and Cass while American Alpha wins a tournament to see who is next.  That tournament helps show Hype Bros and the story of Heath Slater.  This then goes into the Usos turning for being ignored and passed over by fans despite two time tag title reigns.  Makes sense.  You could also have a feud down card to open shows between BreezeDango and the Lucha Dragons based on looks and masks.  Better than a few seconds of Fandango getting chokeslamed by Kane.  Or really use the Vaudevillians as 50’s style wrestlers to contrast them to high flying groups of today.  Toe holds and chin locks vs. power bombs and planchas.  You still have time to sneak in a squash match with Nia Jax or Strowman to build them up for a future match.

I don’t really have that many new stories here.  But the point is I removed belts from some of them, but they still make good stories.  We know they can fit because for the most part they already are.  But instead of having Ambrose on every show, put him on every now and then allowing the star power of Owens and Zayn and Rollins to carry some shows without Ambrose.  And maybe main event those shows with the Club vs. Enzo and Cass or Miz vs. Ziggler.  This would also allow you to see who could really draw top dollar, which is the ultimate idea anyway right? 

The WWE’s insistence that every show has to end with something involving the top belt just makes us care less about the other belts.  The Smackdown in Lincoln was a good example.  The show closed with a talking segment between Styles and Ambrose.  Rather than the 6 woman tag that built up the Women’s belt or the Tag team title tournament.  Or the IC title that went on before all of it.  Miz vs. Apollo Crews should have been the main event.  But instead we get a chit chat time.  That robbed time from lower card guys.  Or if no brand split you could have had a US Title match against Reigns end in DQ or something. 

I just think the Brand spilt continues to stress where WWE is weak.  Now we have more belts when the belts they had already felt unimportant. 

Disagreeing with 537

I love FiveThritySeven.  I like stats, and this kind of web site is up my alley.  And when they cross over and talk about wrestling, my head explodes. 

However, this time I want to disagree.  The theme of the article is that the New Era in WWE was born in Japan.  I think they make a few mistakes.  I do want to say it is obvious that the WWE is much more open to other companies existing than in the past and do appear to be recruiting in Japan, but that does not mean that they are letting Japan dictate as much as the article implies. 

First the stat about the winners at Summer Slam and the amount of time they spent in Japan is a little misleading since the article is talking about being born in Japan.  AJ Styles went to Japan and wrestled a lot in Japan, but he was a made man by the time he got to Japan.  Japan has always been where independent wrestlers go to make real money.  Styles was already a superstar, so his matches over there should not really be factored in.  Luke Gallows became a star over in Japan, but had already worked for WWE in the past prior to going to Japan.  He even worked with CM Punk so much that Punk dropped his name in a RAW interview when Gallows got fired.  And it is true that Balor has major Japanese influence in his wrestling, but he did spend the first six years of his career in Britain.  It is there he actually began. 

Just for the record as an NWA fan, it was the NWA that saw potential in so many of these guys first.  In 2007 Balor lost in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Title to Brian Danielson (Daniel Bryan), who was later hurt and pulled out of the finals.  Most believe he was scheduled to win the World title.

So matches in Japan does not equal coming from Japan.

Their biggest piece of evidence is also their worst.  It is the pushes given to outright Japanese wrestlers as they have come over to the WWE.  Nakamura is 25-0 and Asuka is 73-0 and Itami was derailed by injury.  Now this sounds impressive.  Until you realize the problem is that none of these competitors is on WWE main roster TV.  They are all on NXT.  Instead of saying they have won so many matches in a row and thus their push is greater we need to measure how fast they were pushed up to the main roster. 

Kevin Owens was pushed immediately into the NXT title picture and while holding that title beat John Cena at a PPV.  He did all of that before he had his 25th match in WWE.  Now, he dropped that match back to Cena and the NXT title to Balor so he could be full time on WWE main roster before he ever got to 73 matches.  So who really had the better push?  Balor had to finally lose to Joe and drop the title so he could go to the main roster and immediately win the newly created WWE Universal championship before he got to 25 matches total.  Does that mean Nakamura had a better push than Balor?  Of course not.  And it has to be said that people lose more often on the main roster than on NXT.  If Asuka goes 73-0 on the main roster or Nakamura 25-0 with a title then we can talk about amazing pushes.  Right now you would have to say Roman Reigns is getting a bigger push than Nakamura as Reigns is a multi-time WWE World Champ and currently in the US title hunt going on after Balor at Summer Slam despite never winning the NXT title. 

And this remains the point.  Nakamura was the biggest or second biggest star in New Japan.  New Japan is easily the second biggest promotion in the world.  He helped sell out WrestleKingdom over and over again in the Tokyo Dome.  Yet, WWE has him in the developmental system.  He is in the minors.  Not only is he in the minors but is remaining their longer than Kevin Owens who was an ROH man.  Longer than Balor who was from New Japan, and a lesser star there than Nakamura. 

Itami was a big star in Pro Wrestling NOAH where he is a seven time champ.  He invented the move that Punk used, yet when Itami came to WWE he was forbidden to use it (until recently).  Not exactly the marks of a strong push. 

Asuka is an amazing 73-0.  Yet, Baley, whom she has beaten twice now, is on the main roster and Asuka is not.  The Women's Division is much thinner than the men's, but Asuka remains in the minors while everyone around her moves up to the main roster. 

Now it is true that a call up to the main roster does not mean better wrestler.  Sometimes people like Adam Rose get called up or Dana Brooke because you need a mid card comedy act or a flunky to help out the champ, but it is hard to argue for a strong push without making it to the main roster.  I doubt Asuka would think her career good if she went 235-0 without ever wrestling for the main roster.  She would probably consider it a failure.  As would Nakamura. 

So while I can agree that WWE is opening itself up to new things, it is too early to say the New Era is born in Japan and too early to say that the Era is even that new. 

Pro Wrestling Phoenix Wrestlerama report

Review of the Pro Wrestling Phoenix out of Omaha, NE Wrestlerama show

The show opened with a fun match of Con Ar Tist v. a guy whose name I didn’t catch.  The crowd was very into this match.  Con Ar Tist was a face (who would have guessed) and had a specialized theme song that had people chanting.  He dominated most of the match and hit his Choo-Choo finisher in the corner, and then when the crowd asked him to do it one more time he obliged.  Great opener.  Con Ar Tist was super over with the crowd, and he made a special point of coming back during the intermission to say hello to my 13 year old.  He immediately became my boy’s favorite.

The next match was Dalton Lee Roth and Purple vs. Rising Phoenix Champ and an Australian rule football guy with a very cute manager.  It was kind of an odd match as clearly PWP had been teasing a break up between Roth and Purple, but the heel tag team were not exactly a real tag team.  They smacked each other around.  In the end, the heels won, the Rising Phoenix champ looked strong, and Roth made the heel turn.  I wish the turn had been better executed.  Someone messing something up to give a reason, getting in each other’s way, or just frustration showing through the match. 

Then came Pat Powers, who is running for President.  He got mic time and was pretty good.  He teased a VP pick later, and wrestled a great match against Paco, who may have been a new guy.  Both showed good skill, but Powers pulled an injury card, and after the ref threw up the X sign (to who was a question), Powers hit his finisher on Paco and won the match.  Nice heel tactics, but it took a little too long to pull off.  Good in ring wrestling.

Then was the last match before intermission and it was for the PWP Tag Titles.  The Daniels brothers led by Axel Greece against Guns n Beer.  Guns n Beer are a fun tag team and were also pretty popular.  They did a good job.  One time holding out the whiskey bottle to encourage the stretch for the tag and it worked.  Fun stuff.  The Daniels brothers worked over a hurt shoulder and ended up with the win after manager help.  Nice match with a heel win. 

Opening the second half of the show was KLD (Kenneth Lee Davidson) against the Canadian Hercules.  This was a good story.  Was Hercules strong enough to overcome the very large KLD.  They did the shoulder block test, they did a test of strength (long time since I saw that and it made sense for the match), they did trying to suplex each other bit, and pulled out a very under used kick out at 1.  The wrestling was strong guy wrestling, but it was a beautiful story, and KLD picked up the win in the end with a very powerful looking chokebomb finisher. 

Then was Zac James against Devin Carter.  This was another great story match.  Carter had attacked James last time when teased retiring because of head injuries.  So the story was head injuries.  It played for the vicious nature of James’s opening.  Carter eventually shrugged him into a ring post and it then became a question of would James make the 10 count as he was motionless.  When he was going to make it Carter would go out and bang his head again.  Carter yelled at him to just lay down and quit many times.  It was perfect story telling.  Eventually Carter was overthrown with a sliced bread and was set up for a top rope finisher, but Pat Powers came out and clipped the feet.  This led to a Carter superplex and victory.  Nice match.  Carter is now the VP candidate, which was a little weird, and made the post match promise of revenge in a tag match also a little strange, but great over all. 

This led into the main event with the PWP champ, , putting the belt on the line against local legend Hype Gotti and Unbreakable Michael Elgin.  Elgin and Gotti can really go.  Both men showed great athleticism.  The champ is a bigger fellow and wrestled in that way, so the match of styles was sometimes harsh.  Hit a Vader Splash in the corner on Gotti, which was neat.  Gotti suicide dived on Elgin out of the ring then ran back into the ring and dove out the other side on the champ.  It was a small bar, so it was gutsy stuff.  Elgin showed amazing strength when he picked up the champ on his shoulders.  Of course his chops were awesome and a couple of the lariats I thought were going to take a person’s head off.  They did a superplex, powerbomb out of the corner combo with Elgin doing the superplex, but taking the bomb from the champ leading to the champ hitting his finisher on Gotti to retain.  Harder to tell the story when the three guys in the ring were all faces and it was kind of a one off, but a very good main event. 

Just a quick note on the National Title

I just wanted to post something about Greg Anthony and the National Title.  His home promotion of Mid South is a weekly show, and so he is there defending it often.  But a National title ought to be moving around.  He has gone to some places to defend it, but I have always hoped this would be a way Greg Anthony got around the NWA because frankly he would make a good World champ. 

I did just discover that the Golden One has been defending it in more places than I thought.  NWA Central States has had Greg Anthony out twice now.  I missed this because Central States is not always a very active or regular promotion due in large part to horrible regulations in Missouri making wrestling there difficult.  Still, two successful defenses this summer ought to be noticed.  Here is hoping for more Greg Anthony sightings. 

Raw brand booking

So after the PPV the two shows are separate and have different feels and vibes. 

Raw would feature Dean Ambrose defending the WWE title and Charlotte defending the Women’s Title.  It would also have New Day defending the Tag Titles as well as the US Title of Rusev. 

Rusev’s story would be a quick smash of Mojo Rawley after his defeat of Zack Ryder at Backlash.  Then he makes a challenge and say no one in the world can beat him because he is the strongest of all.  Out comes Caesaro.  This begins the feud with Caesaro winning at Summer Slam.  That man needs a title. 

Charlotte was in a beautiful feud with Sasha.  Keep it going.  Sasha’s Monday night win was nice, but they have a match at Summer Slam with Sasha going over.  Charlotte can blame Brooke and then go into a beat down of her after Summer Slam.  Sasha can take on someone like Eva Maria and win and Bailey starts getting built up.  Eventually Charlotte teams with Natalia to head back to the top.  That should get you to Survivor Series where Charlotte, Natalia, Eva Maria, and someone else (like Nia Jacks) can team up against Sasha, Bailey, and some others (maybe Becky Lynch and a returning Nikki Bella). 

New Day has overcome the Wyatts who are no longer together, so they keep their antics up.  You can have a friendly match with the Hype Bros if you want, but the Dudleys take issue with this power of positivity.  They put some people through a table.  I would also start to examine Bubba Ray as a singles wrestler.  Somewhere in this feud Bubba Ray beats Xavier Woods one on one and maybe Big E too.  Kofi can be Devon and the Summer Slam match should be a DQ to lead to a no-DQ match at the next PPV. 

Also related to this I am building up a tag team division so I need the Ascension to run through GoldenTruth.  These punk rock guys weird guys make a natural opponent for the Vaudevillians.  They start a feud that the Vaudevillians win.  They will be the next in line for a title shot, so I need to start building them up.  Large focus on their old timey approach.  I keep Envo and Cass strong as well by winning a feud with Big Show (who ends up on Raw) and whoever he picks as his partner.  Maybe a Big Show v Cass showdown someone in there too.  Then Enzo and Cass take out Shemus and Del Rio.  That one could actually become a feud.  Eventually a four way title match is on the card for Survivor Series (Vaudevillians, New Day, Enzo&Cass, and Dudleys).  New Day drop the belts there to Vaudevillians, who will drop the belt before the Rumble to Enzo&Cass who go into Wrestlemania the champs. 

Roman Reigns is the logical candidate to take on Ambrose.  I would have made Ambrose pin Rollins at Backlash and Reigns asking for a straight up match with Dean.  He can mention how he never got his one on one rematch.  They have their SummerSlam match where the crowd is going to be boing Reigns.  Ambrose wins. 

Then I would start a Bray Wyatt feud with Reigns in the good ole creepy Bray way.  Make Bray point out how much the crowd hates him.  During this Reigns probably beats Strowman, but Bray continually taunts Reigns.  Reigns gets a win, but so does Bray.  Bray is begging Reigns to give in.  And this would be how Reigns turned evil.  You look for a moment when the crowd is cheering Bray or chanting “one more time” for a Sister Abigail on Reigns and Bray leaves the ring so the chants can be heard.  This would make Reigns come back as a heel for a run around Royal Rumble time. 

Ambrose would go into a feud with AJ Styles after Summerslam.  Styles would win some #1 contender match at the Slam.  Styles would be Styles and have the crowd going.  Ambrose doesn’t think Styles can go all the way out there with the loose cannon.  Styles promises he can.  First match is a draw somehow, maybe even time limit or neither can keep going.  Then Styles wins the next one and becomes the WWE Champ.  I would keep the belt on Styles through Wrestlemania at least when he would have a rematch with John Cena.  Whether Styles is face or heel would depend on how the crowd reacts to him against Ambrose and right after.  They might cheer him and if they do, let Styles go face.  He can pull either one off.  That would obviously dictate where Styles goes between his win (probably at the Clash) and Wrestlemania.  If he is a heel, then you can go into Hell in a Cell against a hot returning Neville.  If he is a face, then you let Rusev come out and demand his shot after having the US Title for so long.  Either way, it could be entertaining. 

One more note of where I would be going.  After putting the US belt on Caesaro, I bring out Sami Zayn as his opponent.  Zayn has fallen short already of winning the IC title.  Now he goes for the US.  And he just can’t beat Caesaro.  Not at Hell in the Cell and not at Survivor Series.  Then Zayn has to go on a mission t to redeem himself.  He would get wins over people like a Neville, but also a feud with Bray Wyatt where he does not go to the dark side (a little Daniel Bryan replay).  Maybe Zayn takes a win over Reigns as Reigns is waffling with being heel in his feud with Wyatt.  Caesaro holds the US Title.  Eventually he takes down SHemus, Del Rio, Big Show, and Strowman proving he is the strongest of all.  Then at Wrestlemania Zayn gets his third and final shot at Caesaro and Zayn wins.  Big moment for him.  Caesaro would go into the main event scene after holding the title for over half a year. 

Obviously Wrestlmania is a Bailey wins title moment as well.  Just build to it.  Probably off of Charlotte again, maybe Natalia. 

My hand at the WWE draft

Let me try my hand at the WWE draft.  I like the push for the younger guys, but this is how I would have drafted and maybe a follow up post soon about story lines. 

I will give how I would have rolled out a few of the picks for the show too.  The key for me is creating a different feel for each show.  I would have played up a bit more competition between the GMs and in more of a back stage setting with breaks for the GMs to confer with their respective boss’s child.

RAW #1 pick is Dean Ambrose.  There is no reason for it to be anyone other than the champ. 
Smack Down picks Seth Rollins in retaliation.  Then Foley laughs and takes Charlette as the Women’s champ.  Smack Down goes with Sasha Banks.  Foley laughs again although saying the wrestler is good and then he picks the New Day.  Foley now has all three world champs.  Foley has been a GM before and Bryan has not.  So Bryan picks the Miz and Foley picks Rusev to end the first segment.  Bryan leaves the room hot and upset. 

After a scene where Shane says stick to the plan, the duo go to pick again.  Bryan gets the first pick this go round and he talks about new era and takes Finn.  Foley is impressed and Foley responds with AJ Styles.  Bryan takes Nakamura (with a nod to being world wide).  Foley says he sees a little of himself in this next one and picks Sami Zayn.  Bryan takes Kevin Owens.  And Foley goes with Bray Wyatt.  Bryan responds with the Club to end this segment, but as Foley leaves this time, Bryan proposes a deal.  He will give the entire Women’s Division to Foley if Foley will give him the Cruiser Weights (plug the Classic).  Foley asks if that means he gets Sasha Banks.  Bryan says yes, but he gets a replacement pick.  Foley looks to Steph who gives him the nod.  Bryan’s replacement pick is John Cena. 

Now we see Steph and Foley being confused at Bryan’s new strategy.  They talk in hushed tones about how to block it.

Foley comes in and picks Caesaro.  Bryan is unfazed.  He picks Bobby Roode.  Foley goes for Enzo and Cass.  Bryan takes American Alpha.  There is your top ten.

The order is unimportant except for this first pick of this segment as Foley then takes Roman Reigns. His other picks then are Apollo Crews, Shemus, Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Nevile, Zack Ryder, the Vaudevillians, the Dudleys, and Stowman.  Thus ends the 20 on the show.
Bryan takes Chris Jericho, the Usos, Kalisto & Sin Cara (whatever that Tag Teams name is), Samoa Joe, Kane, Hideo Itami, Eric Young (if he is signed), Shelton Benjamin, Wyatts, and Austin Ares.

This would accomplish a few things.
#1 - Keeps a growing women’s division together.
#2 - Separates a couple of long running feuds like Owens-Zayn making their Backlash match a definitive blow off and allowing AJ to head to wrestle mania for the third match against Cena.
#3 - Two shows two different feels.  Raw has big heavy hitters, the women’s division, and new stars like Ambrose and Zayn to mold the show.  Smackdown has fast small guys with an indy star feel plus mega stars like John Cena and Jericho to anchor it. 

Off air I would divide the jobbers as needed.  Making sure to put the Ascension on Raw as well as Baron Corbin, and Mojo Rawley too.  I put Primo and Epico on Smackdown along with Tyler Breeze and Fandango.  The rest is take your pick.  Now Smackdown would get the winner of the Cruiser Weight classic, but you could also put Brian Kendrick there too as he works backstage already as a trainer.  But not everyone from the Classic is on Smackdown. 

Now this leaves NXT.  I would have worked toward a quick NXT fatal four way for the title with Nakamura, Joe, Rhyno, and Tye Dillinger.  Joe and Nakamura go at each other tooth and nail, but Rhyno takes the win over Dillinger and is the new NXT champ. 

You may have noticed I have devastated NXT here.  NXT has to start over with Rhyno being the gate keeper.  The Revival would still lead the tag team division,  Ciampia and Gargano would step up to be lead title chasers and story lines.  This house cleaning makes room for guys who do need it (unlike Nakamura).  There is actually good talent signed, but not on any shows yet.  Rich Swann has been at house shows.  Lince Dorado is signed, but has not shown up.  He would be featured.  Mascara Dorado is also under contract and has lots of experience.  He could be pushed up to the top of the show quickly for in ring work with Rhyno if needed.  But now it is time for NXT to go out and sign guys.  Guys like Jason Kincaid or Chase Owens or ACH or Raymond Rowe or Kenny Omega or guys who have an independent following, show the skills, and deserve a shot.  This is where they belong training at NXT. 

Tyson Dean is new North American Champ

The glorious NWA Summer rolls on and continues with a title change.

It was not the title change I predicted as the Iron Empire won by DQ over the Revolution (Seth Allen and Dane Giffen).  It appears that another round between these two ought to be in store as the Revolution remain NWA Texoma Tag Team champs. 

At that same Texoma event Amber O'Neal defended her title.  The night before she defended it at NWA Top of Texas, and she defended it on Sunday too, although I am not sure where.  Three defenses in one weekend. 

The big news happened at a jointly promoted event by several southeastern promotions.  Tyson Dean defeated Tim Storm to become the new North American Champ.  The promotions included NWA Georgia Extreme Wrestling, Combat Sports Pro. NWA Florida, and NWA Southeastern.  Dean is now a known person in all of those venues.  Add in Dean's long title reign in NWA ATL, and we should get some good NA Title defenses.  Dean did hold the NWA SAW tag titles briefly as well with Andy Anderson and participated in the National Title tournament in SAW when they had it last year.  Dean should give new exposure to the North American Title and help some of these younger NWA promotions.

The Hot NWA Summer

The NWA has seen some interesting developments lately.

NWA Mid South put on a huge show outside of their territory as they are occassionally want to do, and it included Matt Rivera winning the Unified Title and Mustang Mike winning the NWA National Title.  Golden Boy Greg Anthony won the title back in a rematch at the regularly scheduled Mid South match and is now a two time NWA National Champ.

Over in NWA Elite, Battleborn John Saxon defeated NWA World Junior Heavyweight champ Steve Anthony.  Saxon was a brief National champ, and now adds a world title to his collection.  Anthony, a two time champ, now moves on to something else.  Saxon had a really good promo against Jushin Liger a few years ago when Anthony eventually emerged as the #1 contender and won his first title.  Liger is going to be coming to the states as he was recently announced for Battle For Las Angeles.  Maybe . . . .

I still hold that Badd Blood is a top contender.  He defended his title in a three way match that involved three falls.  He pinned none other than Jason the Gift Kincaid to retain his championship.  Kincaid, the longest reigning champ (although the title he was defending that night was not the SMW title, but another held by Kincaid) is in Mexico in a tag tourney this week and has appeared on Ring of Honor TV now too. 

July 15 is a huge Tag title defense with the Iron Empire going up against Seth Allen and Dane Griffen, who just beat former ROH champs, War Machine.  I would not be surprised to see a title change at this event at NWA Midwest. 

It would be nice to see a little more from Amber O'Neal and the Women's Title.  Santana Garrett is still all over the place touring the world (including Tag teaming with O'Neal in one promotion).  Garrett is headlining a women's wrestling event against Barbi Hayden soon too.  O'Neal is a big name, but Garrett is the hotter wrestler right now.  I would love to see her gain the title again. 

Lots of promotion are having big shows in July and August.  Go check out the local wrestling in your area!

NWA title updates

The NWA scene is going strong during the summer. 

NWA World Heavy Weight champ, Jax Dane, has been defending the title through Texas lately.  He was scheduled for a big defense against Steve Corino, but Corino's flights got messed up and he didn't make it.  It supposedly has been rescheduled.  Dane did defend against Chance Ramons and won. 

NWA National Title is almost always defended weekly at NWA Mid South by Greg Anthony.  He just had his most impressive defense so far against Leyland Race. 

NWA North American champ Tim Storm has been around, but is not always defending the title.  Some tag team appearances mixed in. 

NWA Women's champ Amber Gallows has 13 or so defenses under her belt, many outside of NWA territories.  She also won a tag title with Santana Gerritt.  Hard to imagine that team ever losing.

NWA World Tag Team Champs, Iron Empire, are right now the most impressive.  They are rejuvenating the tag team scene.  They did defeat Brown and Dirty earlier this summer, and they have a big title defense coming up against Seth Allen and Dane Giffen, from NWA Midwest, who currently hold the NWA Texoma tag titles in July.  Allen and Giffen just defended those Texoma Titles by beating former ROH Tag Champs, War Machine.  The winner of the July match is already promised to NWA Midwest to face highly decorated tag team, Legion.  Yes, the same Legion that includes three time former National champ, Nitro.  I believe Legion currently holds three or four tag titles including NWA Midwest Tag title. 

Enjoy the NWA action this summer. 

WWE Brand Split a looming disaster

So the WWE is splitting the brand again making SmackDown live and with its own roster.  This failed miserably once before, but many are saying that it should not be doomed to do so again.  These people are wrong. 

First, a brand split means a World Title split.  So the much advertised unifying of the WWE and World Championship is now undone.  If you had under 3 years in the office pool you win.  This never goes over well, and does it mean two money in the bank matches, one for each?  What about Royal Rumble?  Which one does that winner get at WM?  Doesn’t that automatically make that title a bit higher and thus the whole show more important? 

Second, it kills all the other belts.  Maybe the US belt and Intercontinental belt get a boost from being on separate shows, but the newly minted Women’s Title is now going to be split.  Do we bring back the Divas Title?  The Tag Team titles have to be split too.  Are those divisions really deep enough to manage a split?  I guess you could do Women’s on Raw and Tag Team on SmackDown, but you still have decreased the visibility by half.  The Women’s Title was rolling, but now will be chopped in half and there is not enough talent to make two titles plus story lines beyond the title.  The Tag team division even had a little momentum with New Day being popular and a Tag Team rivalry brewing that had nothing to do with the titles.  Now, it is all gone as we split the division.

Third, people have long complained Raw is too long with 3 hours.  Now it will still be 3 hours with half the talent.  Just imagine Raw with Roman Reigns, but no AJ and no Ambrose.  Kevin Owens but not Zayn.  Can Reigns and Rollins carry three hours?  The answer is no.

Fourth, NXT is as good as dead.  To make this brand split work, you need more wrestlers and they are going to have to raid NXT.  I would expect Prince Devitt, Nakamura, and Samoa Joe to get call ups.  You would think American Alpha may get a shot too.  Kenta Kobashi will probably not stay long in NXT, if at all once the brand split.  He has a natural Nakamura fight coming his way.  This is great news for Austin Ares and even better news for Rich Swann, who is doing house shows for NXT, but not TV.  But the NXT roster is going to be very, very depleted.  NXT can probably rehabilitate Johnny Gargano and Ciampa, but that will take some work.  Are you ready for an NXT that features a lot more Mojo Rawley?  This has long been my point about NXT.  They are a great show when they just take people who should have been hired on the main roster years ago.  But do you think NXT can train up new recruits?  When was the last time you heard anyone praise Hugo Knox.  Knox was a WWE hire.  Low experience, former soccer player.  He is going to get a lot more NXT time now.  King Constantine anyone?  Former Serb wrestler.  He will be some of the remaining talent for NXT shows.  Angelo Dawkins?  These are the hires you don’t hear about, but are soon going to be all that is left on NXT.  They had better raid Ring of Honor now, or the show will hit the toilet. 

Fifth, the draft question is looming.  Are they going to do a regular draft?  If so, the project is dead.  For real great story lines to develop and people to move up and down, they really need to have more than a year.  They need to be fairly separate entities to make this work and for a good amount of time.  As we see with the resplitting of the WWE title, commitment is not something the WWE knows how to spell. 

Sixth, Double main events don’t exist.  This is just true.  The last match is the main event.  Everyone knows it.  If Smackdown is consistently the semi-main event on PPVs it will affect everything.  The Smackdown World title will be seen as less than the Raw world title.  I don’t know how you can keep an even playing field between the brands unless you split the PPVs too.  This is doable, but one would think that at least Wrestlemania and probably the other big three PPVs need them all.  Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Summer Slam.  This lets you divide the other 8 into 4 SD and 4 RAW PPVs.  I like that idea, but you know they are not going to do it.  And you still have the problem at Wrestlemania.  One show will be the flagship making all the other titles lesser.

Seventh, Wrestler pay is probably going to take a dip.  Wrestlers get PPV pay, but now it is going to be harder to get that PPV appearance.  Brand Split means more wrestlers, meaning tougher to get on the PPV and get the extra pay day.  Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin get on a PPV when there are only three single titles.  They don’t make a PPV with 4 single titles or 4 single title and 2 tag titles or 4 single titles and 2 tag titles and 2 women’s titles.  And if you do the separate PPVs, you have automatically lost 4 PPV checks.  What about merchandise?  Do you sell the KO t-shirt at RAW if KO is only on Smackdown?  It seems that merch would go down even if you did because of the lack of KO being on those shows and less opportunity to get people to want to buy his stuff.  Maybe you make up with it by having extra house shows, but I still would imagine the wrestlers take a hit here. 

Eighth, the potential damage to RAW is unbelievable.  Let us say that the NXT way of booking continues its hot streak on Smackdown.  It is entirely possible that Smackdown becomes a huge success, but it maybe at the cost of RAW.  If RAW takes Roman Reigns and continues the Vince style booking that seems so out of touch, viewership might tank completely.  It could become TNA.  That will be lost ad revenue and that is bad for business. 

Ninth, how can this be seen as anything other than a kick in the teeth to Roman Reigns.  He is no longer good enough to be a unified champ.  He is being stripped of half his title.  It would have been easier just to make him lose the title.  Roman Reigns is to Vince Jr. as Bob Backlund is to Vince Sr.  Yikes. 

All in all, I think the viewer might get to see more wrestlers, but it will be a worse product.  Remember NXT can be a great wrestling show because they did not bring in huge money.  Will you be able to even call it wrestling on Smackdown?  This is still the same company that is Sports Entertainment.  Thinking this is going to turn out well for the wrestling fan is a pipe dream.

NWA World Title Rankings

Let’s get serious a minute about NWA World Heavyweight rankings.  I understand that traditionally those who have say the North American Title or the National Title should be 1 and 2, but Tim Storm has had a lot of shots, and lost them all.  Let us put together a real contenders list.  Sorry PWI. 

#1 – Badd Blood               This is really a no brainer.  He is the longest reigning Pacific Northwest Champ of all time, and he laid that belt down without losing it.  He currently holds the Continental title and the Heritage Title.  He has fought everywhere from Mid Atlantic to Washington and from Indiana to Texas.  He deserves a shot at the title.

#2 – Raymond Rowe      Rowe likewise has two belts right now.  He is the Branded Outlaw champ as well as the Grand Warrior champ.  He also won a big three way match at the Parade of Champs, and should be a top contender for the title.

#3 – Vordell Walker        Vordell no longer holds two, but did forever.  He was a long running NWA Elite champ that included wins over the likes of Tim Storm until Steve Anthony, World Junior champ beat him.  Walker is still the Bayou Independent champ, and maybe the second longest reigning champ in the NWA.  He is also a former National title holder.  He is deserving of a shot.

#4 Greg Anthony             Anthony is the current National Champ and that alone should put him on this list.  He has not had a shot at Jax Dane yet at all, unlike Storm.  He defends it every week at Mid South and beat Jason Kincaid at Casino Royale, and Houston Carson at Parade of Champions.  He deserves a shot.

#5 Jason Kincaid               The longest reigning champion in wrestling today is the Gift Jason Kincaid of Smoky Mtn. Wrestling.  He is this low because of some high profile losses at Parade of Champions and Casino Royale, but let us not forget that he has beaten Michael Elgin and Johnny Morrison and Sabu and Lio Rush during his multiyear reign a top SMW.  He is also a Super 8 winner, so he has the goods.

#6 Matt Rivera                  Rivera is a current World Tag Team champ, but do not forget about his significant singles accomplishments.  He was a multi-time Western States Champ, and he defended that title all over eventually even defeating Jeff Jarrett to reclaim it.  He shouldn’t be at the top of the list, but he should be on it.

#7 Lance Hoyt                    Lance is part of the Killer Elite Squad, so he is a multiple time World Tag Team Champion.  He has wrestled literally all over the world.  Hoyt did just come up short in a three way match against Rowe, which drops him down to seven.  But it was not that long ago that Hoyt beat Jax Dane one on one in a no DQ match.  That win pushes Hoyt onto this list in a rematch that needs to happen.

#8 Little Cholo                   Little Cholo held the Vendetta Pro championship for over a year, and recently lost it on his first match back from injury.  He also lost it to a man who seems to have his number.  Cholo ought to have consideration for such a long reign and the number of men who tried but failed.  He should get a world title shot.

#9 Ricky Ruffin                  Ruffin is the man who defeated Rivera for the Western States title.  He has defended it since that time in Vendetta Pro.  He has not quite as defended it as aggressively and as far as Rivera did, which is why he is below Rivera on this list.  Still, the title itself merits consideration for a list like this.

#10 Johnny Justice          Johnny Justice is a four time Mid-America champion, and only lost that title in the last week or so.  It was lost in a fatal four way, so it was not even in a one-on-one situation.  He comes in above Eric Draven because he beat Draven for the title one on one, and Draven has already had a shot or two at the world title and come up empty.  Time for Justice to get his shot.

NWA Newer Territories

Sometimes it is hard to keep up with which territories have fallen out of the NWA and which are joining up. 

The newest appears to be NWA Wrecking Ball Wrestling.  It is based in Witchta, KS and appears to be a more Lucha Libre style wrestling that includes a 6 man Tag Team belt showing some dedication to the 6 man division.

NWA Combat Sports is the NWA's reentry into Florida after losing Florida Underground.  Purple Haze is the champ, the Gulf Coast Champ, and will be taking on Xtian Blake at the next big show, which is at the end of May. 

NWA Throwback is based in Alabama.  It is still fairly new to the NWA, but participated in the Parade of Champions with Devin Driscoll being the champ in Throwback.  Although he has a title defense against Crimson in a cage on May 6th. 

NWA NRW wrestling is based in Arvado Colorado.  They just had one of their big shows in Never Broken.  In 3 months they will have their next big show (they have regular shows all the time), and it will feature Rob Conway. 

I continue to not understand what is going on Smoky Mtn.  With Jason Kincaid a heel, and Chase Owens in Japan so much, there was really only one choice to place the belt upon.  Vince Bret.  He was loved by the fans, and might could have really run with it.  Vince is doing great work with NWA Mid West, so perhaps this is why he was not pushed.  Instead, he also joined the Agency (a heel faction), and is now the Mountain Empire champ (the third tier belt).  I don't really get it.  However, they still bring in great talent for the shows including Michael Elgin challenging Jason Kincaid for the Southeastern Title at Collision Course. 

By the way Jason Kincaid was unsuccessful in defending his Super 8 title. 

Smoky Mountain on the decline and other results

I have been a big fan of Smoky Mountain for some time.  They still have two of the top wrestlers in the NWA in Chase Owens and Jason Kincaid.  However, those two are finding bigger and better matches outside of Smoky Mountain right now at Parade of Champions and Casino Royale.  Smoky Mountain has always had a bit of a follow through problem.  Anyone remember Rob Conway teaming up with the Illuminati and Kincaid vowing to go through them all.  Well, he did go through Chris Richards, but no further.  KAOS fizzled, although probably for reasons beyond SMW's control. 

And now this.  This past week they had the Smoky Mtn. Cup, which is always a fun time.  Kincaid vs. Lio Rush (the newest darling of Indy wrestling) was probably a sight to see.  Kincaid won.  But, Jordan Kage won the cup after interference from Chris Richards.  Now, Chris Richards a year ago was a member of the Illuminati.  With no fanfare or explanation, Richards joined Kincaid and fellow giant Travis Lee in a new faction.  Lee and Richards then formed the Giants of Gehenna, which won the US Tag Titles.  They even were in a 6 team Gauntlet Match for those title at this show.  They lost to Air America (another amazingly reunited tag team without enough explanation).  Then when Kage needs help against Chase Owens, Chris Richards comes out and joins the Agency, laying out Owens.  This is Richard's third team in just over a year.  Not good.

Other important events include a title change in NWA Top of Texas.  Shane Garrett defeated Ryan Justice for the Heavyweight title in TOT. 

Mid South seems to be introducing a new belt, the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight title.  That should be fun to watch.  Tournament set for 23rd of April.  Greg Anthony, bloodied, but remains National Champion after a last man standing match, and Jeremy Moore remains Unified champ.

NWA NRW in Colorado is having a big show this weekend featuring Nick Aldis and Mickie James. 

Rob Kincaid continues his hard luck streak after being pinned by Badd Blood to lose the Heritage title, he has now dropped the NWA US Title at a Bruiser Wrestling event.  Circle City is going to have the follow up it appears. 

Casino Royale Results

So the Casino Royale show is over.  Two days of Vendetta Pro Wrestling hosting some of the best in the business.  However for the first time in several years, nothing major happened.

Jax Dane remained World Champion by defeating Tim Storm.  Storm's North American Title was not on the line.

Greg Anthony retained the National Title by defeating Jason Kincaid. 

Iron Empire defeated the local Ballad Brothers to remain World Tag Team Champs. 

Ricky Ruffin retained the Western States Title.  Ruffin is a good talent and he probably deserves a bit more praise for his run in Vendetta Pro as the Western States champ.

I guess the biggest news is that Badd Blood continues his dominance.  In the exciting 6 man tag match between stars from Blue Collar Wrestling and Circle City Wrestling, Badd Blood pinned Rob Kincaid to become the NWA Heritage Champion.  I expect this means you will see Badd Blood in Circle City real soon. 

I will just come out and say it.  Badd Blood ought to be the #1 contender for the World Title. 

Casino Royale Event title matches

Now we are seeing the matches come fast and furious for the CAC Casino Royale two night event.  In addition to what was earlier reported now we can see that some major titles are on the line as well.

Greg Anthony will defend the National Title against Jason 'the Gift' Kincaid.  This will be an instant classic.  These two did fight a year or so ago for then Greg Anthony's Unified Mid South Title with Anthony winning, but Kincaid is always a threat and always innovative with offense.

Iron Empire will defend their World Tag Team Titles against the Ballard Brothers.  The Ballard Brothers are a big time tag team in Pro Wrestling Vendetta.  Iron Empire should come away with a win, but it will be interesting.

Jax Dane vs. Tim Storm for the NWA World Heavyweight Title.  This is amazing that they are doing this match again.  Last year this was the big match and it was to unify the Nation and North American Titles.  Dane won.  I like Tim Storm, and Dane could use a familiar opponent.  But maybe a different match would have generated a little more excitement.  Currently Storm is the North American champ, and he may still be when this match arrives, but that title is not on the line this year.

I would have loved to see Little Cholo get a shot at the North American Title, but overall this is a good slate of additions to the Casino Royal slate of matches. 

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. 

NWA overseas

This is a reminder that sometimes the best NWA action takes place overseas. 

All Action Wrestling has their big lead in show with Road To Anniversary.  Chris Target is still the NWA Australia champ and has a non-title match that if he wins he gets to pick what type of match his title match will be at Anniversary.  Also in action is the other big player over there The Shark.  Shark has been destroying the Foundation, and has a Money in the Bank type shot at the Australian title, so that is always worth keeping an eye upon.

NWA Fight Nation is one of the best promotions in all the NWA.  NWA British Champ Marty Scrull takes on Doug Williams in a huge main event.  Marty Scrull is a great heel champ and Doug Williams is a former TNA X-Division champ and basically an all around well known British wrestler.  They also have a #1 contender match featuring Gunner (formerly of TNA) against Mark Haskins.  They have Joel Redman (formerly of NXT) vs. The Franchise Shane Douglas.  I saw one billing that claimed it was the last trip to England for the Franchise so it is a bit of a fair well tour.  Also in tag action Liquid Dreams takes on Bromans (formerly of TNA).  I don't think there is a tag title in Fight Nation, but Liquid Dreams would have it.  They have dominated so far.  Fight Nation is loaded with talent for this show. 

Both of these shows take place Saturday the 27th.  Both Target and Scrull have held the equivalent of the National title for some time and should be considered top contenders for the World Title. 

Yes, there is still a World Junior Heavyweight Title in New Japan with Tiger Mask IV.  He has yet to defend that title in almost half a year now.  He does participate in most major shows in their 6 and 8 man tag events.  Tiger Mask is not in the New Japan Cup and the World Junior Heavyweight Title is quickly becoming pointless.

NWA this week

We are into February and the NWA rolls on toward its Parade of Champions. 

NWA Texoma has a good show lined up this Friday night with NWA Women's champion Amber O'Neal defending against Nikki Knight.  Also NWA North American Champ Tim Storm is taking on Foxx, who was in the tournament late last year, so he has to be considered a top contender for the North American Title.

NWA Top of Texas took an interesting turn as the feud between the Logans and the Dirt Road Dynasty just got uglier.  Rex Logan defeated Jake Logan for the Panhandle championship, and all seemed well between the brothers.  Jake even returned to aid Rex when Rex was jumped by the Dirt Road Dynasty.  But he turned on Rex and dropped him onto chairs, smacked him with chairs and generally beat Rex into submission.  Where they go from here Saturday night should be interesting.

NWA Circle City Wrestling had their monthly event last week and it saw NWA Continental Champ Badd Blood win a three way match that included NWA Pacific Northwest Champ Buddy Highway.  Badd Blood vacated the NWA Pacific Northwest title after having held it for over a year.  Buddy Highway had also just been at NWA Supreme to face NWA Mid American champ, Johnny Justice.  NWA Blue Collar continues to have a nation wide impact.  By the way Abyss and Road Warrior Animal were at that show and will tag team in April.

NWA also has a new partner in NWA Northeast.  They kick off March 26th and will crown the NWA Northeast Champion at that time in a match between Grey Wolf and Oxx Hogg.

Another rather new NWA partner, NWA Southeast has their monthly event on the 27th where NWA Southeast champ Tony Storm will defend against Effy Gibbs managed by Missy Hyatt.  There is a name from the past you don't hear much about. 

It appears Tommy Too Much retained on the 13th of this month in a three way match that included Tyson Dean.  Now he will defend on the 27th against the other person in that match, Victor Romanoff.  The main event however will be the crowning of NWA Georgia Tag Team champs as Iceberg and Bill T. Butcher go against the Faces of Death.  I expect the Faces of Death to walk away with the titles. 

NWA Smoky Mountain is having a vote to see who gets the next shot at NWA Southeastern Title held by Jason Kincaid.  Kincaid survived by DQ over Vince Brett at this months show.  Go on over and vote.  I voted for Chase Owens for the record.

February 26th will be Vendetta Pro Wrestling's Februtality (the best name for the month), and it has a big time main event.  Little Cholo, who held the title for over 400 days until his injury put the title reign on hold, faces the Interim champ SoCal Crazy.  This will settle who is the champ.  Either Cholo picks up where he left off or the reign is ended.  Interesting to see how this one turns out.

NWA Mid South does not want to be outdone.  This Saturday they have a Supercard that includes a title defense for the NWA World Tag Team Champs the Iron Empire.  It has NWA National Champ, Greg Anthony in a triple threat match that includes the man he defeated to win the title, John Saxon, and WWE former star Rodney Mack.  Also Tim Storm has issued an open challenge for the NWA North American Title.  Should be a great show.  As always. 

Upcoming Big Events

The NWA is rolling into its big season as well.  This year they are adding a new major event, but probably just this once.  It is the Parade of Champions hosted by the IHWE, a rather new to the NWA promotion.  Wrestlemania is in Dallas that week, and IHWE and the NWA are putting on the Parade of Champions in Fort Worth to capitalize.  Sounds good to me.

The card is still a little sketchy to me, but I would not be surprised to see Raymond Rowe challenge for the NWA World Title against Jax Dane.  Both men are advertised.  Charlie Haas, who I believe is the IHWE champ will probably defend against Rodney Mack (a local guy).  This feud has been on going in IHWE.  Rodney Mack is not mentioned in the national promos, but is on the poster.  Charlie Haas is being mentioned everywhere. SEE UPDATE BELOW

The show will also include the Iron Empire and Amber Gallows defending their respective titles.  They are on the poster as well.  As is Chase Owens, who is being advertised nationally as a Bullet Club member.  Owens is on the rise.

A man mentioned by name in the places it is being pushed, but not on the poster is North American Champ Tim Storm.

The other big event is the upcoming Las Vegas Cauliflower Alley show hosted by Vendetta Pro Wrestling.  This is April 10-13 with at least two nights of NWA action.  The card should start to become clearer after Februtality where Vendetta Pro returns Little Cholo and has a Tri-Force championship match.  Although one can probably assume that World Junior Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask IV will be defending (and losing) his title there.

Just to keep you up to date the NWA has a new promotion in KY.  It is NWA New South wrestling and Jeremiah Plunkett is the man from the NWA to help break in the company.  Plunkett has just won the Southern Title and TV title (both of NWA SAW), and will be there at the next show.  This does let you know that Shawn Shultz's reign as a two belt man is over.  Shultz dropped the TV title to Plunkett at SAW in January and then turned around and dropped the Mid American Title to Jim Justice at NWA Supreme.
Badd Blood, a top contender for the NWA World Title, has dropped the NWA Pacific Northwest Title after having it for over a year (Blue Collar).  He did not lose, he simply relinquished it in order to focus on defending the NWA Continental title, which is based in NWA RAGE (NC). 


UPDATE: The match announcement is out now, and I was wrong.  Charlie Haas, the IHWE champ will get the shot against Jax Dane for the NWA World Title. 

The Empire wins again

Greg Anthony is the New National Champ for the NWA.  This really is the end of a pursuit of this belt by Greg.  He was feuding with former champ Arrick Andrews when he went down to injury.  He lost the battle royal to John Saxon.  Saxon then dropped it in a straight up match against Greg Anthony.  Greg deserves a long title run, and I look forward to seeing him around.  In fact, I think Greg should be the next NWA World Champ, but I have been saying that for sometime.

The Empire was in full force at the NWA Mid South card.  Tim Storm beat APOC.  APOC is big in Texas and is a nice opponent for Tim Storm.  Storm holds onto the North American Title.

The Iron Empire tag team of Rob Conway and Matt Rivera defended their World Tag Team Titles as well.  This duo has the feel of Conway training up another NWA champ in Matt Rivera.  Rivera is also a solid contender for the World Title.  This is how Conway helped out Jax Dane after all. 

In the end a stacked card from top to bottom and a nice night for the Empire and NWA Mid South.

Royal Blunder

The Royal Rumble is a good picture of why the WWE is totally unwatchable right now.  The Royal Rumble was for the WWE World Title, which was kind of weird since the Rumble is usually used to help hype a main event for WrestleMania. 

So Roman Reigns enters first having to win against 29 other guys to remain champ.  Reigns is a not very well liked by the fans babyface champ that the company wants to put over.  Okay, we can follow this story.  How can you mess it up right? 

Well, you mess it up by continued use of people going back in after being eliminated and trashing still in the Rumble competitors.  I am fairly sure there was at least one instance of them actually eliminating a guy with no objection from the ref.  Crazy.  Worse.  You use the guys to beat up Reigns so bad they take him out of the competition.  NO KIDDING!  He spent the majority of the match resting backstage!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the chance to take the belt off of Reigns and help his status with the fans.  I can understand that they do not want Reigns getting booed as he has for the last few years being near the end, so I get it.  It says something the guy you want to have the title gets booed as a face, but hey, it is the WWE.  The way I would have done it is have HHH actively sending guys to the ring to try and eliminate Reigns.  He handpicks when the league of nations guys go in to fight Reigns.  When he thinks it is good, other guys go in like Styles and Owens and Zayn.  By the way the Zayn return to eliminate Owens was awesome.  As Reigns overcomes the odds and eliminates all HHH's guys, he takes off the shirt and hits the ring.  Finally after 50 plus minutes of actually being in the ring, he is tossed by the multi-time champ.  Who can blame Reigns for that loss.  And it might make us want to see Reigns vs. HHH in a straight up match.  With Reigns actually wrestling for 50 minutes many would have been impressed.  And yes, you could still do threw the table spots.  Have HHH whisper in Rusev's ear and as Reigns waits near the ropes for Rusev to enter the ring, Rusev pulls him out under the ropes by his feet.  Big outside the ring brawl ending in a table spot with no one coming back to the ring or breaking the rules.  Then they roll him into the ring and they try to get him over the ropes, but they can't.  Maybe Dean breaks up a toss out, or they have to fight a few faces off (maybe even tossing a few) before they can get to trying to toss Reigns and he stops it himself.  Something like that to make it believable and keeps Reigns in the match to show giving it his all.  As it was Reigns did some early work, took a beating went to the back and then returned refreshed.  It managed to get him to avoid Styles, Owens, and Zayn, but he could have had one of those time out moments where he and his foes are kind of down or isolated so those guys could shine. 

I am not a fan of having HHH as the champ.  It is sad.  You currently have on your roster, Owens, Styles, Zayn, Lesnar, and Ambrose (all of who are more over than Reigns and HHH).  You also have Samoa Joe on the NXT roster. 

In fact, I would have used Samoa Joe.  I would have him come up and win the World Title.  You need a heel to have the title and he is a pretty good heel.  Owens could have worked, but not after that brutal match earlier.  Plus Owens vs. Zayn needs a year long feud in WWE concluding with their WrestleMania moment, which should include the world title.  Anyway, Joe would be that energy and ratings boost.  He is pretty decent on the mic, so you can turn it over to him on Monday.  You could then go a few ways for WrestleMania.  It allows you to have HHH vs. Reigns as Joe vs. anyone would look good at Fast Lane.  Joe vs. Styles is a 5 star match waiting to happen, but probably needs more build up and you don't put Styles in to lose so fast.  Joe vs. Jericho could work.  If you bring Jericho back because you need big name guys in main events let him try to sell out one as the main event with the champ.  Joe vs. Ambrose could also work.  Joe vs. a soon arriving Nakumura is also possible, but lack of knowledge could hurt that match up.  Then if you still super desire to have Reigns with the WrestleMania moment as champ, Reigns vs. Joe would allow you to put over Reigns without long term damage to people you have been building up like Ambrose, Zayn, or even Styles. 

Either way a Rumble with the title on the line where Styles shows up, Zayn shows up, and Jericho participates should be a sure fire thing, but with an absent champ and HHH walking out on top makes for a sad, sad night.