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Again, way too many thoughts about NWA Powerrrrrrrr… thanks for indulging me, folks.
 


I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Marty Scurll interview with Stu Bennett they take a piece from for the countdown segment. I’m generally unfamiliar with his work as RoH ran me off awhile back, and I’ve found keeping up with New Japan without paying for it difficult. Really, the most I’ve seen of him was his brief run through 10 Pounds of Gold against Nick Aldis, and this feels like little more than a mulligan on that, right down to the out of character interview. This really feels like a time that we needed something in character rather than “Marty and Stu chat over tea and scones, just without tea and scones.” I’m needing some reason to get interested in Scurll challenging Aldis again, and so far, I haven’t seen it. Right now, Marty Scurll just comes off to me as a moderately less ridiculous Jimmy Havoc.

The countdown segment continues with another look at the formation of Aldis’s faction. We need a name for this this team. Royal Flush, maybe? Aldis called himself “The Dealer” during the Cody Rhodes feud, and he’s backed up by Wild Cards… Kamille is the Queen… maybe find a heater to fill out the hand. Also, babyfaces can make toilet jokes when chasing them. I dunno…

The show proper opens with a recap of the finish of Aldis’s title match with James Storm at Into the Fire, which I appreciate since I’m a cheap bastard and didn’t buy the show. In light of what’s come after, the finish feels like an aborted story now, though. Aldis takes out the ref, ostensibly by mistake. Aldis pulls of the turnbuckle pad, possibly on accident. Aldis launches Storm into the exposed metal, maybe coincidentally. Lots of things that could be Nick being naughty, but plenty of plausible deniability as well. It set Nick up to continue to be the perfect tweener, gave Tim Storm a good spot as the loyal-but-possibly-duped patsy, and set James Storm up to continue his path of righteous rage at a system that’s wronged him, while Aldis could play dumb. We seem to be abandoning all this now. Can’t say I’m especially pleased with that. It feels like a change McMahon would make after inhaling a few lines of Adderall.

We go to the interview desk, with David Marquez hyping the TV Title tournament alongside Trevor Murdoch. Zicky Dice is milling about the side. Trev pays off his story from the earlier episodes by announcing he’s signed a full time contract, and he looks so genuinely pleased that you can’t help but be happy for the big galoot. Wrestling needs more Trevor Murdochs. Zicky is suitably ridiculous trying to rain on Murdoch’s parade, but before he can spoil Trev’s good mood, “Pope” D’Angelo Dinero saunters out to make his NWA Powerrr debut, looking like the proverbial million bucks. Pope does his best Dusty Rhodes impression (no, wait… that’s just his act) indicating he’s looking to find a team or build a stable to lead. Zicky offers himself up as a candidate, and Pope fades out on him, earning a belly laugh from Murdoch. Pope joins the commentary team for the next match which is… Ricky Starks versus Eddie Kingston in a TV Title tournament qualifier.

Starks and Kingston start off slower than I’d expect with a 6:05 time limit. Ricky gives Eddie a lot of respect here, toning down his quirkiness substantially. Eddie transitions smooth as butter into a headlock spot that pops the crowd. Have to appreciate a crowd that will applaud a good headlock. We get some good grappling, made urgent by the time limit, until Starks goes to strikes. Kingston starts egging Starks from his knees, looking like he’s setting up a rope-a-dope without ropes, until Ricky kicks him right in the jaw and Eddie just wilts like an orchid in winter and it’s kind of beautiful. Eddie’s sell is so perfect, it sets up a believable near-fall off a simple kick. Newsflash: Eddie Kingston is fucking great. Shocking, I know. Crowd is split, chanting for both men and deservedly so. Pope’s commentary isn’t as over-the-top and distracting as it was in OVW and TNA during his runs there. I still wouldn’t want him at the desk, though.

Starks fights to get his finisher (an elevated Pedigree apparently called “Buster Keaton,” which is a reference my old ass gets) and finally hits it for the win. Great little four minute match that leaves me wanting more; exactly the sort of thing I wanted from this format. These two really excel in the studio environment, as Starks mannerisms and Kingston’s trash talk would connect less in an arena environment. Both sell like champs after the match, bringing home the sense that they both went balls out to get it done in the short time limit. Dinero nods to Kingston after the match, so maybe we get a hint at who is being eyed to join the Pope’s congregation.

We come back to another look at the debut of Aldis and More (nah… too punny; sounds like something WWE would give to a team of “creative has nothing for you” low-carders). That transitions to Senior Marquez bringing our Wild Cards’ Royce Issacs, who introduces his new ladyfriend May Valentine. I don’t know May at all, but I hardly follow women’s wrestling. She could be a 4x Shimmer champion for all I know. A Google search doesn’t help either, except one chap’s review indicates she was a Diva Search contestant. Anyway, she seems to be playing a bubblehead who’s just happy to be there. Issacs meanwhile comes off as a total dork, apparently whispering something inappropriate about her in Marquez’s ear. Issacs wants to prove his manliness to Ms. Valentine by making an open 1-on-1 challenge. Cowboy James Storm swaggers out to take the challenge, because James MF’n Storm. Valentine is excitedly bouncing and applauding, but Issacs chickenshits around, asking for kisses and shoulder rubs from May. They barely exchange a few shots before Royce bails, taking a seemingly befuddled Valentine with him. Storm keeps the crowd from shitting on the fuck finish by goofing with the ref and fans during the count. Good on Storm, but its cognitive dissonance seeing him be happy and goofy, particularly after being furious last we saw him. Thankfully, he makes the “belt-on-my-waist” motion before we cut, so we know he’s still got his motivation. The Cowboy is a professional, at least.

What the fuck were you doing with that segment, NWA? I was begging for some character development for Wild Cards during the earlier episodes, but making Royce a spaz now? After making him ¼ a part of the top heel faction? Royce was looking at the floor, the podium, Marquez, the fans (briefly)… anywhere but the camera. It made him come off as nervous and unready. Then we get a non-match with Storm acting out of character, and all seemingly to introduce a new lady to the show without telling us anything about her. Man… this was WWE bad.

Now Marquez brings out Eli Drake, who is packing a half-drunk bottle of J Roget Extra Dry, and is playing a half-drunk Eli Drake. Drake does a tipsy version of his act, drinking straight from the bottle, which honestly is about the appropriate amount of respect to show J Roget. Thankfully everyone resists the urge to say “bubbly.” Drake plays the jolly drunk very well, flubbing a line and getting a laugh. This somehow turns into Drake crashing Josephus Claus and lady-I-don’t-recognize doing a solid rendition of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Josephus has a decent set of pipes, and looks suitably annoyed at Drake’s contributions to the chorus while I get flashbacks to unfortunate office parties. It’s goofy and fun and doesn’t overstay its welcome, as the Aldis Alliance (eh… not terrible) comes out to interrupt Drake’s interruption of Josephus’s interruption of Drake (cue the Inception sound).

Nick and Kamille are festive in red, while Wild Cards Issacs and Latimer are dressed to wrestle. No May Valentine… guess she’s not part of the team. Both Drake and Josephus look on in annoyance, but are ignored. Aldis presents his team with personalized matching jackets. Classy! He proceeds to revel that everything we’ve seen from him these past few weeks has been part of a master plan. Errr… not sure what this plan accomplished, as the only thing that seems to have happened directly as a result is Tim Storm getting speared by a lady. Maybe it’s still just a work in progress.

Nick Aldis asks the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express to come out to address Ricky Morton’s comments last week about Aldis not yet being ready to be on the NWA’s Mt. Rushmore. Though the magic of editing, they oblige instantaneously. Ricky is wearing a RnR-themed ugly Christmas sweater, and I resist the urge to go looking for it to buy online. When confronted, Morton makes nice and, in the spirit of Christmas, apologizes. Aldis accepts the proffered hand, but is suitably menacing when accepting the apology. If they don’t end up grinding Ricky’s face into the concrete someday soon, I’ll be shocked.

We recap the women’s stories from Into the Fire, showing Ashley Vox taking the elbow injury from Thunder Rosa, and ODB’s surprise appearance as Allysin Kay’s partner. New we have Vox, Kay, and ODB versus Rosa, Melina, and Marti Belle. I’m only about 50/50 on caring about watching these ladies by the numbers, but I could watch Thunder Rosa watch paint dry, and she starts the match, so no complaints. ODB and Kay both use their size, but Rosa holds her own and takes control. Vox quickly gets the chance to play Ricky Morton, which she excels at. The heels take turns, on her. Belle lays in some adequate stomps, and a hip attack that probably felt worse than it looked. Rosa goes on the attack, and Bennett echoes my thoughts in his commentary when he says he is “equally in awe and terrified of this lady.” Melina gets a turn and while her work is a little slow and rough, her facial expressions are downright scary. She looks very believable as a lady that will gladly kick your goddamn ass.

Vox manages to make a tag to Kay, who looks clinical in her attack on Melina. Perez looks a little lost, but in an “I’m in a real fight” kind of way, not an “I forgot the script” one. Then she sells like she was shot when Kay kicks her in the damn face. If we’re building Melina as a veteran who has lost a step and is manipulating Rosa and Belle to keep her relevant, I’ll be pleased. Melina throws Kay off with a jawbreaker and rolls out to recover, so we reset to ODB and Thunder Rosa. Things get chaotic, and Kay gets dropped awkwardly on the top rope and ends up outside checking to be sure she didn’t lose and parts. It ends up with Vox and Rosa, with Rosa literally chewing her way out of Vox’s submission, and hitting a tombstone shoulderbreaker, hanging on to her, flatly declaring to everyone “It’s over,” and then hitting a Michinoku Driver, except with Vox’s neck getting folded over Rosa’s thigh. Fuuuckkk. If you told me Thunder Rosa crawled Ring-style out of a Mortal Kombat game, I’d half believe you.

The stipulation of the match gave the winner of the pinfall a singles match of their choice. When Rosa goes to declare at the interview desk, Melina talks over her and picks ODB for the opponent. Of course, the obvious choice for Rosa would have been to demand a shot at Kay and the World title. Instead, Melina has picked her top henchwoman to go after the biggest roadblock in Melina’s way. Good setup for any number of directions they could take things.

Marquez is out with the fishbowl to draw for another TV Title tournament qualifier, with Tim Storm and the Dawsons hanging about. A silent, pretty lady named Anastasia Fletcher from a legal firm (it sounded like “Morg, Bork, and Simon” … did I miss an in-joke?) is there to draw. In an amazing coincidence, Tim’s name comes out first, followed by Nick Aldis, and Storm proceeds to cut a promo that is fucking AMERICA; just outstanding, and straight form the heart.

Our main event is Colt Cabana versus the Question Mark for a spot in the tournament. I can’t stress enough how much more I enjoy Cabana when he’s reigning in the goofiness and just working as the earnest man of the people. He’s just so much more interesting that way than as a pure comedy act. The Question Mark is still over with the crowd, so I can’t blame the NWA for running with it, even if I’m getting a bored with it. No Aron Stevens with ‘?’ as we’re told the NWA has banned any seconds to prevent outside interference. The crowd is free to cheer ‘?’ to their hearts’ content, despite Cabana being over with them as well. Bennett is having a ball on commentary gravely talking about Mongrovia. Cabana dutifully does the job to ‘?’ Kah-Rah-Tay poke to the neck, and the crowd loves getting to be part of the joke. I find myself looking forward to the day Josephus unmasks and berates the fans for their callow and gullible nature. In the meantime, I hope they sell a million Question Mark t-shirts.

The show closes with Aron Stevens and the Question Mark proclaiming their intent to hold all the BELTSBELTSBELTS. Well, the National Title sure means zilch now. No one is chasing it, except maybe Colt, and he just jobbed clean as a sheet to the champ’s partner, and Stevens is more interested in chasing other titles than defending the one he has. Sloppy, NWA… get that thing off Stevens as soon as you can if you’re going to use him as a contender and not a champ. Hopefully it’s a temporary devaluation to get the TV Title heated up as an undercard belt. I still say you shouldn’t have a TV Title without TV, though.

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On 12/23/2019 at 5:01 AM, alstein said:

I wonder how the Dawsons would do as faces, it looks like they might be going that way, and I think the Dawsons are naturally nice enough guys that I think they could do a good babyface act.

I think they could do fine, actually. They came off pretty likable after the mask vs. Shakespeare match. I could easily see them backing up Trevor Murdoch in a six-man feud.

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I could see Murdoch/Dawsons team being a fun trio for a few matches. Murdoch is also kind of a babyface and Dawsons have problems with Wildcats so at least doing Murdoch/Dawsons vs Aldis/Wild Cards would make sense, I think.

I don't get what they are actually trying to do with that Nick Aldis thing. I liked his character before this, an asshole who pretends that he is a good guy and a "face of the company". He would play fair and talk well, but at some points mask would slip and you'd see that he ain't that nice of a person. I guess eventually he had to fully go heel, but I don't feel like this was the right way or right moment.

Entire thing and them "working everyone" feels very convoluted. Like, what was even the point of all this? For example, he deliberately pretended that he has problems with Kamille that lead to James Storm picking up the first fall in their title match. Why you'd do that? Only thing that resulted from that pretend conflict was surprise spear on Tim Storm that wasn't needed anyway and Aldis probably didn't plan in advance to beat the shit out of Tim Storm on next show for bizzare reasons. I know that wrestling to a large extent is about moments and what people will probably remember is Aldis turning on Tim Storm, but I think that the journey there was messy and illogical.

Ok, I really like Thunder Rosa. And I don't really understand what they are doing here either. I mean, I get it, but I feel that I either missed couple of episodes here or they rebooted their storyline after PPV. What I mean by that is that in "first season" it felt like Thunder Rosa was a messenger who is basically recruiting people for some "higher power" or something like that. Whole drum things after matches, promo about phoenix and eventual Melina debut. Is it just me or did it feel more like some kinda of a cult? But after PPV it just feels like a regular women heel group with Melina being the boss, but Thunder Rosa doing great and Melina clearly being unhappy about it and trying to sabotage her. To me this feels like two different storylines that have same wrestlers in them.

I won't complain if this all ends with Thunder Rosa becoming the champ and beating Melina, but this will be another case of a messy journey leading to, hopefully, a big moment.

5 hours ago, Doghouse Reilly said:

The show closes with Aron Stevens and the Question Mark proclaiming their intent to hold all the BELTSBELTSBELTS. Well, the National Title sure means zilch now. No one is chasing it, except maybe Colt, and he just jobbed clean as a sheet to the champ’s partner, and Stevens is more interested in chasing other titles than defending the one he has. Sloppy, NWA… get that thing off Stevens as soon as you can if you’re going to use him as a contender and not a champ. Hopefully it’s a temporary devaluation to get the TV Title heated up as an undercard belt. I still say you shouldn’t have a TV Title without TV, though.

I like Stevens/Question Mark pairing, but you describe rather well what I don't like about NWA's booking. In first season we practically had same situation with James Storm, he was national champ and wanted a shot at Aldis. Eventually he lost to Colt and got his title shot against Aldis anyway. Now Steven talks about going after other belts and it doesn't look like they are trying to set up a title defence for him. So my question here would be, whats even the point of this title? And they are adding a third title now. I don't know, I have my doubts about them being able to book multiple title programs at this point.

When national title was introduced they had Willie Mack as the champ and did one or two One Nation videos and I kinda could see what Corgan was trying to do there so I kinda wonder if due to Mack being unavailable to them the title lost its focus and maybe they are still trying to figure out what its purpose is going to be now.

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5 hours ago, Doghouse Reilly said:

Storm keeps the crowd from shitting on the fuck finish by goofing with the ref and fans during the count. Good on Storm, but its cognitive dissonance seeing him be happy and goofy, particularly after being furious last we saw him. Thankfully, he makes the “belt-on-my-waist” motion before we cut, so we know he’s still got his motivation. The Cowboy is a professional, at least.


Aldis's subtle heel turn was mostly well done, but didn't do Cowboy any favors. During the buildup he came off as whiny and not at all like a top babyface, so this may have just been a case of them overcorrecting.

Question Mark catching fire has kind of put them in a bind - it was clearly never supposed to be a long-term angle, and now that he's the most over face in the company, they have to figure out where to go with it. They could go with the original plan, Jocephus unmasking in some heelish way, but the longer this drags out the less sense that makes. If they amend the angle and go with a full-on Jocephus face turn, the crowd will be on board, but there isn't really a clear direction you could go with him from there.

And yeah - the National title is looking very, very pointless on this show. The TV title being introduced, having a gimmick, and being made to look important doesn't help. Why on earth are there three singles male titles on a show with maybe 20 male wrestlers? It seems like "one wrestler gets all the belts" is the only direction that could be taken.

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6 hours ago, Doghouse Reilly said:

Right now, Marty Scurll just comes off to me as a moderately less ridiculous Jimmy Havoc.

Do yourself a favor, then, and don't try too hard to familiarize yourself with Scurll's past work. He was even more ridiculous a couple of years ago.

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This is Episode Ten I’ve watched 11 and I’ll have a write up eventually:

Aron Stevens continues to be aces, the shooter gimmick is incredible especially because he’s been presented as a big wimp. Since his WWE days the day has the delusional heel down pat. There was moments during the promo where Question Mark signals to the crowd behind Stevens and Stevens obliviously thinks the cheers are for him. There’s just so much gold in the Stevens Question Mark pairing. I mentioned in a post before about Question Mark winking the NWA title and slowly but surely cracks in the foundation begin to show and Josephus inadvertently reveals himself as The Question Mark but that may work better with a win over Stevens for the National Title then over the course of the title reign Josephus is revealed to be the one under the hood. 

Speaking of Stevens’ promo where he kept screaming the word belt over and over again. I thought Cabana coming out and straight up telling Stevens that he wasn’t a tough guy and The Question Mark is the sole reason Stevens is champ is perfect. Cabana is in the best role here calling Stevens out on his malarkey. I look forward to Cabana vs QM in the title tournament. The 6:05 time limit means we are only gonna get a taste but I’m sure it sets up a bigger match for later on.

Much like Trevor Murdoch, Zicky Dice fits into this setting like a magnum on a porn star. He’s such Indy sleaze it’s prefect. I hope this isn’t the last of CW Anderson as the dude looks fit. He could have had spanx on under the singlet but dude looked good. I think Sal Rinauro is missing the boat by not having the gimmick of a Caveman who was frozen discovered and thawed out in our time trying to adjust to being 500,000 years in the future or whatever. Also the qualifying match was a perfect introduction for Zicky.

The only thing I’m gonna say about the tv tournament is Caleb Conley has been used as an enhancement talent I do t know if he should have been automatically in the tournament. I would have done another qualifying 3 way with Caleb getting the pin.

Malina looked really nice in that outfit. I’m glad to see that they are padding out the women’s roster by adding ODB and Tasha Steelz and now the numbers are even as it’s Kay, ODB and Vox vs Malina Rosa and Belle. Speaking of Belle it is very odd that she did become the whipping girl suddenly on this episode but it’s planting the seeds for dissension when Rosa finally upsets Kay for the championship. Let’s not forget Belle joined forces with Rosa and Malina because Kay won’t grant her a title shot so getting a title shot is Belles primary objective. Also when is Kay gonna defend the title she’s great at dodging title defenses.

I was thinking that The Dawson’s would end up destroying the RnR to win the Championships but now that the Dawson’s are baby faces I don’t think that’s happening. The Rock n Roll as champs is all well and good now but at some point it’s going to go from two vets using their wealth of ring knowledge to outsmart their younger and short sighted opponents and become two old guys constantly going over younger teams with the fans turning on them.

I’ll elaborate more when I write about episode 11 but I think the Wild Cards are going to regain the belts from the Rock N Roll sooner rather than later. Ricky mentioning Aldis in the post match interview and the outcome of this episode I think when the Wildcards get their hands on the Rock n Roll again it’s gonna get ugly. The Dawson’s cut that promo about revealing the conspiracy because they were promised title shots and money and neither have came into fruition. The Wild Cards seemed to take this a little more serious then they normally take things targeting the Dawson’s fingers in the match and even in the interview earlier in the show. There’s something afoot with certain people not wanting it to get out. If I was a betting man I’d predict once Royce and Thom get the belts back they’ll feud with the Dawson’s the Dawson’s over them.

While they’ve padded out the Women’s division the tag division is still a little sparse with only 4 true teams. If we are going to see a return of the Crockett Cup in 2020 (which I really hope we do) then they need to add at least 5 more teams to the roster. I’m assuming that whoever the tag champs are they won’t be In the tournament as a title shot seems like the most logical award for winning the cup. Not to spoil things but The Hawx show up so if they keep em around that’s one more team, Colby Corino shows up too so they could team him up with CW Anderson to play off the friendship Colbys dad Steve and CW have in real life. The Ascension would fit Powerrr like a glove and I think Reno Scum could be a good fit too. Also I’m surprised that The War Kingz of Crimson and Jax Dane haven’t shown up yet. Crimson did showed up in the corduroy suit jacket to break up Eli Drake beating the shit outta Ken Anderson how ever many weeks ago. So I guess he’s behind the scenes at Powerrr. But for arguments sake let’s say by late April Wild Cards are champs again a Crockett Cup consisting of The Dawson’s, Outlaw INC, The Rock n Roll Express, The Hawx, Colby Corino & CW Anderson, whatever the hell The Ascension end up calling themselves, Reno Scum and The War Kingz could be a more retry fun tournament. 

And speaking of Eli and Anderson. That No DQ may have been tame but some standards but for the atmosphere that was a rowdy match. Drakes promo with the raspy voice, dude what a great touch. I thought Eli was gonna be the heel but Anderson is the better heel plus after that promo from Drake and as mentioned before Drake choosing not to use the chair and get the clean pin they may be building Drake up as the one to Dethrone Aldis but as a face not as a heel like I originally thought. 

Bennetts sit down with Marty was good. Marty wants to be World Champion, Aldis is World Champion and there’s a history there. Marty not showing up but being a looming figure works really well. Aldis has a lot of people gibbing for the championship and now there’s just one more. I don’t know if they are building this for Hard Times and Marty didn’t say when he was getting his title shot but he’s getting a title shot.

We are one step closer to what the conspiracy is. The Wild Cards are Aldis’ heavies, Kamille is still Aldises insurance policy, Bram and Kamille are a couple and poor Tim Storm got turned on. Storm is such a great guy to turn he is such a likable guy that it’s easy to get heat on him. 

There is problems in the booing but I will say this if you were to ask me a month ago I’d say that Eli Drake would be the heel and Aldis would be the face but this may actually workout better. Aldis has his heavies now so he can retain the title by less the honest means. Kamilla is still around they played us all like fools nothing was wrong and she’s with Thom. It’s one big happy family until months down the line when it’s not. 

 

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14 hours ago, MORELOCK said:


Aldis's subtle heel turn was mostly well done, but didn't do Cowboy any favors. During the buildup he came off as whiny and not at all like a top babyface, so this may have just been a case of them overcorrecting.

Question Mark catching fire has kind of put them in a bind - it was clearly never supposed to be a long-term angle, and now that he's the most over face in the company, they have to figure out where to go with it. They could go with the original plan, Jocephus unmasking in some heelish way, but the longer this drags out the less sense that makes. If they amend the angle and go with a full-on Jocephus face turn, the crowd will be on board, but there isn't really a clear direction you could go with him from there.

"Season One" felt like it had a lot of figuring things out as they went, as far as booking. I really think the philosophy was to have everyone try to stay consistent to their personality, and let the face/heel dynamic evolve out of that organically, and Cowboy was the most stark example of that. He started out fighting with Jocephus, the pure heel, was fighting with Cabana, the pure face, over the National Title, and ended up going after Aldis, the consummate tweener. His motivation the whole time was just 1) wanting a good fight and 2) winning titles, with heel- and face-status being irrelevant, mostly. There was whining at first, with the conspiracy victim talk, but by the time he was challenging Aldis, there was a case to be made, and it wasn't whining, but, "Fuck it, I know they're out to get me. I'll beat 'em anyway." "Season Two" feels a lot more traditional now, with booking Aldis into a straight heel role, the Cowboy is goofing a little, Melina is doing Mean Girl shit, etc. I'm not sure I like it, yet, as it doesn't feel as smart as the first batch of episodes did. 

I think they can get away with riding the Question Mark gimmick awhile. Eventually he'll fall out with Stevens, which will give it some mileage, then he'll have an alliance with some other face (seems like a good role for Colt Cabana), only to eventually turn on him and unmask as Jocephus, and be able to mock the crowd for being so gullible to not recognize him or to be so fickle that they'd cheer this man they despised simply because of a silly mask. I don't know... maybe I just like the metanarrative of a wrestler turning on the fans because they worked him; cheering for him despite knowing he's a heel in disguise, when the old school reaction (and presumably the one they expected) would have been fans calling him out as Jocephus and wanting him unmasked to be permanently fired. I think the problem now may be that if they by the time they're ready to end the Question Mark, people will have forgotten they hated Jo, and will need to be reminded. Or they'll have expanded the fanbase enough that there will be plenty of folks who don't even know him at all without the mask. I'm hoping that's where Jocephus Claus is leading, with him ultimately encouraging us all to reject false prophets like Santa, or that other fella he was singing about this week.

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14 hours ago, mattdangerously said:

Do yourself a favor, then, and don't try too hard to familiarize yourself with Scurll's past work. He was even more ridiculous a couple of years ago.

Good to know, thanks. I'm expecting to hope this is just a short layover in the NWA for him before going off to take a pile of Tony Khan's money.

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I'm about 5 episodes in, and even if Cornette hadn't made the stupid Ethiopian comment, he had to go because the rest of  his tidbits just fucking sucked. Saying that Thunder Rosa is so ugly her picture is used in prisons to cure sex offenders? What the fuck is that? And to say a wrestler is stiffer than 4pm? That doesn't even make sense, you senile dipshit.

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14 hours ago, Marty Sugar said:

I'm about 5 episodes in, and even if Cornette hadn't made the stupid Ethiopian comment, he had to go because the rest of  his tidbits just fucking sucked. Saying that Thunder Rosa is so ugly her picture is used in prisons to cure sex offenders? What the fuck is that? And to say a wrestler is stiffer than 4pm? That doesn't even make sense, you senile dipshit.

I don't know how I forgot that but yeah that was a really awful comment to say.  Especially since she is not at all ugly nor should it be pointed out if she was.  Thankfully so far Stu is a very suitable replacement.

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6 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

I don't know how I forgot that but yeah that was a really awful comment to say.  Especially since she is not at all ugly nor should it be pointed out if she was. 

One thing I noticed in MLW is that Cornette is  grossly misogynistic. He slut shamed Arya Blake incessantly. It was gross and turned me off the show for a while. It's why I avoided Powerrrrrrr for as long as I did. Which is a shame because the show has a lot of strong points...but Cornett was not one of them. 

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1 hour ago, Marty Sugar said:

One thing I noticed in MLW is that Cornette is  grossly misogynistic. He slut shamed Arya Blake incessantly. It was gross and turned me off the show for a while.

Also, it made no sense. Whilst she was a heel and he was a babyface announcer, her gimmick wasn't "Dirty slut trying to sleep her way to the top", it was "Entitled rich person thinks she's better than everyone". And considering that was his heel gimmick 40 years ago, you'd think he had recyclable material to use on it. But no, he was all "Attractive young woman present = Sleazebag mode engaged" fucking Jerry Lawler 2.0

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3 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

NWA Powerrr resets the "(x) days since one of our talents unleashed bad publicity on themselves" counter

(this one involves Melina)

They've had a fun women's division surprisingly until she show up an kinda ruined it for me. We dont need anything resembling The Beautiful People or the IICONICS 

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On 12/27/2019 at 9:47 AM, MORELOCK said:

And yeah - the National title is looking very, very pointless on this show. The TV title being introduced, having a gimmick, and being made to look important doesn't help. Why on earth are there three singles male titles on a show with maybe 20 male wrestlers? It seems like "one wrestler gets all the belts" is the only direction that could be taken.

Corgan did try to merge all of TNA's titles into the Impact Grand Championship.  Although he's also had like 4 NWA Women's Championship belts made so maybe he's just a belt mark now.

The 6:05 time limit is so silly.  I love JCP probably more than the next guy but the point of a TV Championship was so the people watching on TV who couldn't make it to the arena for a house show could see a title match on TV and the 10 minute time limit was because they had TV time.  The NWA doesn't even do house shows and they're on the internet.  They don't have any TV time limitations.  Flair called himself a 60-minute man cause he'd wrestle for an hour.  The NWA TV Champion, a 6-minute 5-second man.

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Yeah, I guess I should be happy that James Storm isn't carrying around a Western States Heritage Title for no reason.
 

6 hours ago, Ziggy said:

We dont need anything resembling The Beautiful People or the IICONICS 


Speak for yourself, pal. IIconics provided some of the only enjoyable content WWE has had all year.

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10 hours ago, Marty Sugar said:

Moving on from Corny, I'm on Ep. 5 and Aron Stevens' nude tights are...distracting. 

As...distracting as they are, I give the man credit for going ALL IN on being a totally ridiculous looking douchebag(but don't you tell him that)that is 100% unlikeable and HOW DARE any of us lowly fans mock him. Man commits, got to give him credit

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Episode 11:

Trevor Murdock vs Zicky Dice is gonna have to be first round TV tourny after that exchange. Trevor is so lovable as the earnest blue collar wrestler, Zicky with the feather ear ring is my new favorite wrestler. Pope showing up was unexpected but I'm interested in what he does, they seem to be alluding to him heading a stable of some sort, they seem to be keeping him away from the ring and that may be a good thing. I thought his Dusty Rhodes promo was really good and i enjoyed him on commentary. I'm curious to whom Pope brings in, Shane Taylor's ROH contract is coming up or maybe he cuts promos on TV every week for two months until the Ascension become available.

I'm enjoying Stu Bennett on color him and Cornette bring different things to the table but Bennett I think fits a little more he brings us into reality and doesn't keep us in a 1986 time warp. Powerrr is all about maintaining the balance between 2019 and 1986 and Bennett on color helps us in the 2019 column.

Ricky Starks looked good in there with Kingston I think the first tv title tourny match going five minutes and almost reaching the time limit was a smart idea. These guys wrestled a fast paced but calculated match i rather enjoyed it. Ricky Starks is the fiery young babyface, it's going to be devastating when Question Mark upsets him in the Semis. Eddie as the tough as nails competitor that will give you a run for your money in a singles but fairs better in tag team action suites him as much as I would love to see Kingston get a run with the Ten Pounds of Gold I think those days have longed past.

Who is May Valentine? I haven't been able to find out anything about her. I do like the Idea of Thom has a ladyfriend so Royce gets on too. James Storm coming out and calling Royce's bluff I thought was cool. The Cowboys back and he's fired up and ready to go baby! Only in NWA on Power in the Atlanta PBS Studio could a ten count get a pop.

Eli Drake stole the fucking show. That was Foster Brooks level acting. YEAH!!!! "See this jacket, shoes of a champion". Eli's going places, dude cuts an incredible promo and the Christmas caroling added to the absurdity in the best way. Whenever they run Marty-Aldis 2 Drakes gotta be the next in line or so I hope. End Aldis' run at the Crockett Cup in late April, a year and a half is a good run in todays age plus his second reign was longer than his first which to me seems more prestigious for some reason. Aldis is building himself a wall with the Wild Cards so Drake can be kept busy with Royce and Thom for the time being.

That leads us to Aldis and the gang coming out to ruin all the fun. Aldis is building his own Horsemen he has his JJ (a silent buff women), his Anderson (in The Wild Cards) and just wait until his Tully shows up (More like a mix between Tully and Sid lets call him Sully). Thats the thought that crossed my mind when I was watching this interview, Aldis is building a wall around him as he's title is being targeted from all angles and he's getting paranoid. If I had one criticism it's that where was May Valentine? Royce just introduced her and then she wasn't out there for the big team promo. Those little lapses in detail bug me. She's with Royce you think she'd be on his arm during the promo. Coming back to Powerrr balancing between 86 and 19, no matter what year it is, you pick on Ricky Morton and you're gonna get heat from the crowd. Looks liek Ricky is gonna keep Aldis busy until Marty shows up in Studio and the match is made official and i'm more than ok with that.

The 6 Person Tagwas really good. Only about 5 minutes but i thought they packed alot in. What's cool was they showcased how dominate Marti Belle and Especially Thunder Rosa can be. I agree that the angle seems to have changed between "seasons" from Thunder Rosa finding her Pheonix and being some type of super natural summen the spirits gimmick to Melina being Regina George in a Mean Girls Gimmick. Thunder Rosa looked to be choosing Allison Kay as that would make the most Logical step but Melina made the call for ODB that looked to confuse both Thunder and Marti. My biggest question is when's Kay gonna make a title defense?

Tim Storm with that promo dude. He's the Tommy Dreamer of NWA, the franchise player. Everything Aldis says in his promos about wearing the NWA on his heart and all that Tim Storms the guy really doing all that he put in the work. They announced Aldis vs Storm next week in the TV Title Tourny, if there's a match that's gonna go the time limit and knock both out of the tourny it's gonna be that one. I don't know where they are going with Tim Storm but he is one of the bigger babyfaces they have probably number two to Eli. He could take the National Title off of Stevens and have a run with that. Everything is pointing towards Storm being the guy to take the belt from Aldis down the line but idk how they get around the "Storm can't challenge Aldis for the title anymore" stip from the first episode?

Question Mark vs Colt I really liked, this was tv wrestling. I mean that in the best way possible. Everything was going swimmingly for Colt until Question Mark hit his move and then it was all she wrote. Refreshing to see a finish being protected like that. Question Mark is the biggest break away hit they have, I say go all the way and give him the TV title. Fuck it just do it.

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