The Pope opened the show by joining the commentary booth, showing off a bright new white strap for his NWA TV Title.
Kratos & Aron Stevens joined Kyle Davis at the podium to discuss their tag team title defense later in the show. Davis pointed out that Stevens and Kratos haven’t been getting along and Stevens said there was enough proof that they could get the job done by how they have kept successfully defending the titles.
Kratos said nothing and both men went to the ring, eyeing each other down.
NWA World Tag Team Champion Aron Stevens & Kratos defeated The War Kings (Jax Dane & Crimson) to retain
This was a solid tag match here, but this felt like the beginning of a feud and not the final match in one. I do think that the War Kings are going to be the ones to take out Stevens and Kratos. I do like that they are furthering the storyline of Kratos and Stevens not liking each other, but because they are so good, they get the job done anyway.
Kratos tagged himself in and Dane asked to go to war with the big man to open the match. The two big guys had a mean guy match using power moves with Dane flattening Kratos with a lariat.
Stevens tagged in when Kratos pulled Crimson back to their corner, but the advantage didn’t last long with Crimson and Dane double teaming Stevens. Dane did the Garvin Stomp on Stevens while taunting Kratos. Stevens managed to drag himself over for a tag and Kratos hit a huge deadlift vertical suplex on Crimson.
As the referee was looking at Dane, a mystery man attacked Crimson and knocked him out. Kratos took advantage and pinned him.
— Nick Aldis came out to the podium to discuss removing Thom Latimer and Adonis from the Tag Team Championship match last week. He claimed that he didn’t force them to do anything. Aldis said that they came to the decision collectively and then claimed he was going to make a star in Mims in an exhibition match.
— Kyle Davis announced a few more of the competitors in the battle royal later in the night, noting that Trevor Murdoch was one of the names in it. The problem: it hasn’t been 30 days yet (only 28 if you’re counting) on his suspension. I’m not sure what to think of that.
NWA World Champion Nick Aldis defeated Mims in an exhibition match
Aldis dominated this squash, ending with the Texas cloverleaf within a few moments.
Thunder Rosa (w/ Melina) and Kamille (w/ Taryn Terrell) ended in a draw
Rosa immediately started working over Kamille’s knee to keep her grounded. Rosa and Kamille exchanged a lot of mat wrestling, immediately making this very different from their previous matches. Rosa showed her advantage with her submission game, trying to slowly wear Kamille down, a highlight of which was the Cattle Mutilation.
Rosa continued to outwrestle Kamille, who tried to pull hair and throw strikes to escape, but Rosa was relentless. Kamille eventually made it to the ropes to break them apart and Rosa went right back to kicking the legs, later hitting a bulldog. Rosa did a corner charge and Kamille tripped Rosa, who crashed headfirst into the middle turnbuckle.
It took Kamille using power and strength to take the advantage back. Kamille hit a few backbreakers on Rosa, keeping her grounded. Kamille looked a bit tired at this point, but Rosa sold so well that it still made all of Kamille’s offense look good for the most part.
Rosa hit a few chops and went for a crossbody, but Kamille caught her and locked on a bearhug, lifting Rosa from the mat. Kamille then hit a belly-to-belly and set up for a superplex, but Rosa countered with a sunset flip power bomb out of the corner.
Terrell tried to interfere, but Melina pulled her out of the ring. The screen was blurred because apparently there was a wardrobe malfunction. The referee threw Terrell and Melina out of ringside and Rosa hit a dropkick on Kamille on the floor. Rosa immediately went back to her game plan, working for submissions on the ground and outwrestling Kamille.
Rosa hit double knees to the face in the corner to Kamille and a huge dropkick to her spine for a two count. Kamille went for a spear, but Melina came back out. Kamille dropped her with a clothesline, but Rosa rolled through and hit a codebreaker on Kamille for another two count.
Kamille tried to pick Rosa up, but Rosa locked on an octopus stretch. Kamille still managed to power out into some pinfall attempts. Kamille had Rosa in a fireman’s carry, but she was clearly exhausted and just fell backward without doing an actual move. Rosa countered into an armbar on Kamille, who just picked Rosa up and power bombed her into the top turnbuckle.
Kamille hit a spear on Rosa, but Rosa got her feet on the ropes. Rosa countered a second spear into another armbar and had Kamille completely trapped as the bell rang for a time limit draw.
This match was infinitely better than their first one as Rosa worked incredibly hard to make Kamille look good. Kamille held up her end too, keeping pace with Rosa despite being exhausted toward the end of the match. The match ending in a draw means that Rosa is allowed to continue wrestling wherever she wants, but what does it mean for the no. 1 contender to the NWA Women’s Championship?
Trevor Murdoch won a battle royal to become the no. 1 contender to the NWA World title
Well, the match sucked but the ending was great. One of the weaker parts of this match was that the battle royal only had one rule: if you touch the floor, you’re eliminated. You didn’t have to be even thrown over the top rope.
I would have had Murdoch enter as the Midnight Rider given the 30 days haven’t actually been up yet. However, Murdoch was an excellent babyface here and easy to cheer for.
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Chris Adonis came out, having given up the NWA National title to enter the battle royal. Sal Rinauro was immediately eliminated, followed by Parrow not long after. A few others went out fast as this was mostly standard battle royal fare. Aldis, on commentary, spent the match demanding people take out Murdoch.
Tyrus had the laziest elimination of Jordan Clearwater that I have ever seen.
The final four was Adonis, Latimer, Murdoch and Tyrus. Pope came out and pulled Tyrus from the ring, who lazily laid down on the mat and barely got dragged out.
Adonis and Latimer tried to double team Murdoch, but Murdoch ducked and Adonis accidentally hit Latimer to send him to the floor. Murdoch then clotheslined Adonis over the top rope, getting revenge for all the attacks from Adonis.
Aldis stormed the ring and immediately attacked Murdoch, who fought back and hit a top rope bulldog. He celebrated before cutting to the podium with Kyle Davis. Murdoch, in tears, said he was so proud to challenge for the NWA World title. He said that he was coming for the title and was going to win the title that Harley Race held. This was an excellent babyface promo.
Final Thoughts:
I really couldn’t have imagined myself saying this months ago, but how do you not put the title on Trevor Murdoch after all of this? He should be the one to win it right now, because why not? At this point, you might as well go with the top babyface that you have.
I liked that they addressed Adonis being in the battle royal by having him give up the National title as he made a big sacrifice for Strictly Business. But, this has to come back to haunt Aldis at some point given it did not pay off.
I enjoyed the tag team build with Stevens and Kratos and I really liked the Rosa vs. Kamille match. Overall, this was a good episode of NWA Power and exactly what they needed going into the PPV in two weeks.