NWK Reviews NWA 73 (GREAT!)

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NWK2000
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NWK Reviews NWA 73 (GREAT!)

Post by NWK2000 » Aug 31st, '21, 22:24

August 29, 2021
Saint Louis MO
Intro

I've always been fascinated by "Wrestling at the Chase." Being a Saint Louis boy born and raised, I could only imagine as elders in my community regaled me with tales of watching Flair, the Von Erichs, and Brody wrestle in an auditorium in one of the fanciest hotels in the city. So, as you can imagine, I was beyond thrilled when I found out that an NWA show would be taking place there this year. I've not watched a ton of this incarnation of the NWA, so it'll be interesting to see what they bring to PPV.

The show

Opening: John Goodman provides his dulcet tones as he tells us how great the NWA is. We get a lot of good promo work from Murdock, both the Aldises, and Tim Storm interspliced with old timey footage. The NWA interview podium setup means that the modern footage doesn't look out of place, though I would've editted out Sandow in a karate gi.

We get our commentary team for tonight, Joe Galli...Conrad Thompson....and Velvet Sky? What a weird trio. Hopefully I'll be surprised.

Brawl in the Lou
Tim Storm vs. Thom Latimer vs. Crimson


The first thing that happens here is a swerve, because Jax Dane, Crimson's partner, comes out and DVDs him onto a ladder. Props to Joe for explaining that The War Kings had seemingly parted amicably on the pre-show. Meanwhile Thom Latimer brains Storm with a chair, and demands the belkl ring, which does, and we already get a 2 1/2 count. Lots of waiting politely for weapons shots to happen and no selling. Storm grabs a big ass ladder and Conrad and Velvet make jokes, giving them the "Your drunk aunt and uncle who don't watch wrestling overdub actual wrestling commentary" energy. Thom does a senton off the big ladder to Tim Storm who's laying on a guard rail propped up between another set of guardrails. Joe gets his "He is broken in half" moment literal minutes into this PPV. Crimson comes back out and checks on Tim, and hulks up against Thom. A sick dropkick Van Daminator and DVD onto two chairs gets a two, when Tim Storm pulls the ref out. Velvet does a good job at explaining that Crimson looks displeased as he and Tim jawjack then do a strike exchange. Crimson takes off his belt, and this is played as a huge heel moment, until Tim steals the ref's belt, and they tee off on one another, stopping to tee off on Thom and toss him out. Crimson goes for the DVD and it's performed like a botch, but the ribs giving out served as a plausible storyline. Then Tim hits the Perfect Storm and we're wraps.

Crimson has really improved since his TNA run, and I look forward to seeing what happens with him. However I believed nothing Tim or Thom did in this CZW pointless spotfest.

2.5/10


Mickie James vs. Kylie Rae


It's a babyface vs. babyface match until Mickie hits a kick when Kylie wasn't expecting it. The two have a great match with Mickie picking up the duke.
8/10

Post match: A masked woman attacks Mickie, and reveals herself to be Deonna Purrazzo. Kylie runs back to make the save though. A perfectly acceptable little segment.

Tyrus, Jordan Clearwater, and The Masked Man (w/ Austin Idol and hos) vs. The Pope and The End


A six man belt that Tyrus had melted down from old NWA belts is on the line (a single belt for three people) is on the line but I get the feeling this is like the Million Dollar belt, so I'm not mentioning it.

Tyrus and Parrow start out but Tyrus tags out, leaving Jordan to get his ass whooped. The Masked Man tries to cheat but they get double Blockbuster'd. The End try to interject themselves but the ref blocks it, just in time for Tyrus to cheat. Pope gets a slap in on Clearwater after a cocky pin, but gets his ass whooped until Odinson tags in. Tyrus tags in, does a couple moves, and now Odinson is the babyface in peril. Parrow gets tagged in and cleans house. They set up for the Doomsday Device but Black Gs runs in and distracts Parrow. Tyrus has it with the Heart Punch but the Masked Man steals the pin with a blind tag.

This was a great six man tag match, but not ending on Parrow vs. Tyrus, Parrow looking like a fool, and the unnecessary descension in the Idol camp makes it a little goofy.

5.75/10

NWA National Championship
Chris Adonis (c) vs. "The Cowboy" James Storm


Perfectly acceptable babyface vs heel match with Adonis working the back. Storm pulls off an Eye of the Storm! Storm maneuvers around the Master Lock and gets the Last Call when Adonis showboats. We get a false finish with a foot on the ropes. Adonis uses the ropes immediately after the restart and runs away with the belt. The crowd was crazy in to the swerve finish.

7/10

Ric Flair speech: He's super thankful to be back in NWA. He's thankful to all his opponents, he tells a funny story about Bruiser Brody. He talks about how important STL is to him and all the people he's wrestled. He's said all the greats of the Attitude Era grew up on NWA. He puts over Sam Muchnick, and talks about how he spent his Muchnick payoffs like a baller because he's the world champion. He talks about how important multiple organizations are, and puts over Mongo. He apologizes to his kids for being absentees. This was cooler than his HOF speech.


12 Man Battle Royale for the #1 Contendership to the National Championship
Rush Freeman, Heartthorb Jaden, Captain YUMA, Jeremiah Plunkett, Marshe Rockett, Sal Rinauro, Nick Stanley, El Rudo, Matthew Mims, Slice Boogie, Luke Hawx, Judais, and JTG


Everybody gets their own announcers, Sal has his own ring announcer, and Judais gets his own entrance. We get a few eliminations and a fun sequence between Sal and Yuma, and then a quadruple suplex, all interspersed between generic battle royal action. Sal gets Marshe out only to get Razor's Edged by Judais onto him and Plunkett. We also get a Tower of Doom. Final two are JTG and Judias, JTG has great babyface fire and Judias is a great monster heel. Judias wins with a big flying punch.
This was a great marriage of old school battle royals with a few big spots. Very good!
7/10

NWA Women's Championship
Kamille (c) vs. Chelsea Green


This starts out as a big woman vs little woman match, then Kamille gets control and works the casted wrist. Chelsea fires up and we get a big move exchange. Chelsea kicks out of a few spears, and so Kamille puts on a wrist submission for the submission win!

I love love love when wrestlers win matches with non-finishers, and this perfectly made sense. Match of the night!
9/10


NWA World Tag Team Championship
Aron Stevens and JR Kratos (c) vs. La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf 450) (w/Konnan)


The luchadores come out to LAX's TNA theme which made me mark out.
This is confusing. I can't take Stevens and Kratos as the babyface team, when the crowd wants the AAA guys to win. They do. It was competently wrestled however.

5/10


Konnan promo: Great! He talks about how historic it is that wrestling promotions are working together. He puts over Empowerrr and how inclusive the business has become.

Murdock and Aldis video package: GREAT! Talks about their shared history, connected to Harley Race and how it progressed to Nick turning heel, and Murdock's lost title shot, so how he'll quit if he loses this one.

NWA World Championship
Nick Aldis (c) vs. Trevor Murdock

Murdock is wearing a red and blue ring jacket like Harley's. He goes to hand the jacket to a family member but Nick jumps him, and starts a crowd brawl which sees Billy Corgan get in Nick's face.. They get in the ring eventually where Trevor works the leg while Nick works the shoulder after a missed shoulder charged. There's some dispute after a rope break and the ref gets his Earl Hebner/Triple H spot, only for Murdock to accidentally take him out. They brawl on the outside, Nick mocking Trevor's family, and his son looking like he's about to jump the guard rail. Nick takes out the announcer and the time keeper to commandeer their table and puts Murdock through it with an elbow drop. A second official runs down for only two! The guys trade big moves, but Trevor hits the Piledriver and the top rope bulldog for the three! The commentators are all marking out, the crowd is marking out, everything is good.

8.25/10

Post match: Ric Flair heads down with Trevor's family, and they all celebrate, Ric puts Trevor over and leaves. Trevor cuts a "thank you for coming promo" Trevor is one hell of a babyface as we fade to black!


Conclusion


Outside of the first match (and to a far lesser extent the tag championship) this show was really good! I recommend it.
NWK Reviews is closed for business for now.

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