NWA Powerrr, Ep 15: Generation Clash
Recap of last ep's 6-man match and Ricky Morton getting his shot at the World title.
Show opens with Joe Galli finally admitting his voice is shot from doing a PPV and two days of tapings. They go to an interview with Robert Gibson, about his partner's match. Most Robert has talked since the early 80s (and even then, older brother Ricky Gibson did most of the talking). Robert looks like he did this right after last ep's match, as he is in the same tights, but a different shirt. None of the old timers have worked without a shirt, including Scott Steiner.
Opening match is Tasha Steelz vs Thunder Rosa. This should be good, as Tasha Steelz has been the best worker on the babyface side of the women's division. Thunder out in purple gear instead of her normal black. Guess she had to wash it sometime.
Both women are barely taller then the top ring rope. TR gets hot chants from the crowd. They will have to turn her babyface, soon, as the crowd loves her. Tasha comes off with a running clothesline at the bell and TR rolls under and they duck each other's moves, before going to a headlock spot. Some quick back and forth before Rosa takes control of the match, though Tasha fires back a few times. Both are fast and very agile and are crisp in their execution. Tasha eventually gets a reversal, tries to come off the ropes and gets hip with a dropkick. That leads to a Juvi-Driver and the pin, with Thunder Rosa getting the duke. Both ladies seem to shop at the same store as Black Canary and Zatanna, as fishnets are part of both ladies ring gear.
Dave Marquez goes ringside to interview Rosa about Melina and her plans, but Rosa tells him to ask Melina.
Taped promo from Nick Aldis, announcing Marty Scurll at the Powerrr tapings next week (Jan 26) and Nick Aldis appearing at Ring of Honor's free show, Free Enterprise. Aldis calls on NWA fans to be there, in NWA gear (meaning the promotion, not the rap group, though even Homicide has combined both). Looks like more cooperation between ROH and the NWA.
Joe Galli talks to Royce Isaacs and his hooker...girlfriend, May Valentine. Joe hits on may and someone in the audience tells him to settle down as Isaacs acknowledges the ad-lib. Isaacs makes fun of the gimmick of Galli asking people about other wrestlers, instead of themselves and asks why he doesn't bring out Thom Latimer to ask about Isaacs. Nice touch. Galli calls him out on his losing streak, since hooking up with the trash....May...Royce then lets slip that he isn't gettin' any. Must not have the cash yet.
Repeat of the Austin Idol Get Heat commercial. Man, if the plane crash hadn't made Idol gunshy about flying, he could have been huge on the national stage. Hogan swiped a lot of his gimmick, after working around him in Memphis (not sure if they were in Georgia at the same time). The Hulkamania references were taken from Idolmania.
TV Title Tournament match between Thom Latimer and Trevor Murdoch. Katie bar the door! Murdoch gets a crowd pop, hits the ring and then Latimer makes a beeline and unloads after the bell. Murdoch hasn't taken his shirt off, yet. Latimer is whompin' the s@#$ out of Murdoch, who bumps like his namesake. How the WWE let these two go is beyond me. Probably because they aren't cookie-cutter wrestlers, like the rest of the roster, especially Murdoch. We get a near fall 2 minutes into the 6:05 time limit. Latimer throws Murdoch into the corner and misses the lariat and Murdoch schoolboys him and grabs the trunks for the pin at 3 and a half. Galli emphasizes that Murdoch didn't get a single bit of offense in, yet still pulled out the win. I'm still predicting Murdoch to win this. They've really been pushing him.
Melina & Allysin Kay out for a one on one debate. Melina is passive-aggressive, until Allysin tells her to speed it up and Melina turns potty-mouth. She challenges Allysin with Thunder Rosa, in a title match, at the PPV. Allysin is up for that, but Melina says she has to beat Marti Belle in a No DQ match, now. Allysin says bring her and plants a kiss on Melina (F-ing with her, not a lesbian angle). Match follows a promo break. Marti is aggressive off the bell, though Allysin fights back. They go outside, in front of the crowd, hitting each other with forearms and chest slaps (collar bone slaps). Weak looking drop of the champ on the ring steps. Marti goes out a door and comes back with a chair. They do some block spots, then Kay gets hit and Belle opens the chair and shoves Kay's head though the back opening, then pulls her hair and the back of her neck ito the chair back. Not really doing any choking here. Kay lays sluggishly in the chair and Marti paces off and then runs at her with a knee, with Allysin sliding out and Marti slides into the chair, which scoots away. None of this looks solid, but, at least they aren't taking stupid shots to convince the crowd and really getting hurt. Kay goes on offense and slaps Marti's head in the chair seat (hand down first) for a nice metallic slap. Allysin takes it up into the stands and mugs for the phone cameras as everyone takes videos and selfies. One young woman in the audience, with way too much lipstick (a little dab'll do ya) has to lean back to avoid a collateral smack. Sesame Street time as the crowd counts the forearms across Marti's collarbone area. They go to the ring and Allysin has the chair raised for a shot and Marti cries they were friends. She drops the chair and Marti tries to go for it, only for Allysin to stomp on it. Allysin brings her up for a powerbomb and drops her face first on the chair for the win. Not exactly Aja Kong and Manami Toyota or Akira Hokuto and Bull Nakano. Kay and Belle telegraph things too much and look like they are cooperating. Nothing looks hard hitting. I suspect the lack of a chair shot to the head may be a concession to the GPB studios, though they may be playing it smart for safety.
Commercial for the Spiritual Advisor's Self Hypnosis VHS tapes. 100 VHS tapes for just $9.99! Free Shipping!!
The Spiritual Advisor is a bald woman who used to come out with Jocephus, before he started doing the Question Mark....I mean, before the Question Mark turned up and Jocephus seemed to disappear. You first see her with long hair, then bald (actually shaved, not a skull cap). Female voiceover, with serious Southern accent. not sure it is the Spiritual Advisor, as she never speaks, only nods, in old clips, with Jocephus. Oh, yeah, I forgot; she isn't bald, her hair turns invisible with the Spiritual Advisor's Hair Cream!
Pope and Eddie Kingston come out and talk but say nothing. Feels like a time filler. Doesn't really advance an angle, doesn't really set anything up, other than Kingston isn't taking Homicide's place in the lottery for a tv title shot.
Kyle Davis takes over on the announce desk, with Stu Bennett, as Galli must be shot. Aron Stevens out for a Kh-Rah-Tay demonstration. Stevens gets on a box and announces the demonstration and crowd corrects him when he says "kuhrottie" QM comes from the upper entrance and down through the bleachers, followed by the masked flag-bearer. And the crowd goes wild (yeahhhh....). Crowd chants "Kah-Rah-Tay!" Man he's over! Aron Stevens scolds the crowd. They proceed to spoof old martial arts demos, as seen on the World of Martial Arts shows, in the 70s. it gets sillier and sillier, as we go from defending against a finger gun, to an invisible spatula. Nothing about how to defend yourself against fresh fruit, though. He forces an attacker to spray himself with his invisible pepper spray. They bring out a board (which looks suspiciously like particle board, to me) and Stevens says he can break it. They goof around, he turns his back and one of the masked students hits him with the board from behind. He unmasks to reveal Ricky Starks. He cuts a hot promo about never forgetting. Great segment. This is funnier than anything the WWE has done in the last 20 years. Stevens and Question Mark are comedy gold. Starks executes the masked angle well and hits the right note on the promo, as the babyface humiliates the heel, ala the Rock N Roll Express shoving Jim Cornette's face into the cake. Stu Bennett is great in these spots with the right one liners and Kyle Davis was a nice addition to things.
The return of Tony Falk's Waffles & Tire Irons! Gotta get me that t-shirt.
Last Chance Gauntlet Match for the open tv tournament slots. Start with two and a new man comes in every two minutes, with 8 men total. Start with CW Anderson and Caleb Conley. NWA has a problem with duplicate names. We have Tim Storm and James Storm and Ken Anderson and CW Anderson. This is why the WWE changes people's names (and to trademark them). CW Anderson was doing an Anderson Family gimmick going back to the latter days of ECW. Don't think he got Ole's blessing, though. They trade holds, with Conley looking good with the old school moves, even though his previous work was pretty much modern high spots. Countdown comes and out comes Jocephus, for the first time wrestling since James Storm laid him out with a superkick! Wonder where he's been (apart from the Christmas episode, where he gave out merch and sang carols). His disappearance was explained as being suspended by the NWA (for the medicated powder ambush on Colt Cabana); but it has expired. He gets tossed out of the ring, over the top rope. Dave Marquez announces he has been eliminated; so, we are now in battle royal rules, apparently. Jocephus not doing to well on his first day back. Maybe he should rethink his gimmick. Conley starts the high spots and misses a drop kick and Anderson goes for a pin, so pinfalls count. Need to set up the full rules at the start, guys. Bennett now explains the rules: pinfall, submission, over the top rope, knockout. What, no 12-sided dice rolls? Conley hits a spinebuster and goes into a single-leg Boston Crab, but is too far forward and Anderson crawls to the ropes. We get a countdown and Colt Cabana is out 3 seconds late, having missed his cue. He slowly goes to the ring and climbs in while Conley and Adnerson are trying to get to their feet. They toss him over the ropes, but, he hangs on. he hits shoulder blocks on both, hops the ropes, then ducks double clotheslines and hits a cross-body on the pair. He hits Dusty fists and Bionic Elbows and the pair go down. Colt goes for a pin on Conley, who kicks out. He kicks Anderson, who is on all fours, then hits a Russian Legsweep on Conley and goes into a sort of Octopus submission, on the mat (the Octopus was Antonio Inoki's submission; basically, a standing abdominal stretch with a leg draped over the head and neck as a further submission. Cabana does a similar submission from the guard, with Conley's arms hooked by Cabana's one leg, as the other applies pressure). Anderson breaks it up with a forearm and goes for a pin. Cabana kicks out and the countdown starts. Dave Dawson is in. He catches Conley in mid-air and drives him into Cana and Anderson, in the corner, smashing all 3! he then hits a running splash into the corner, on all 3!! He throws Conley in a high beel, then hits the splash for a 2-count. Dawson attacks Colt, but he fights out and Anderson hits a forearm. Double-team spots and switches, then Dawson catches Conley on a leap. He maneuvers around with Conley in his arms so that Anderson and Cabana are together behind and does a fallaway slam of Conley into Anderson & Cabana!!! Countdown starts, out comes Aron Stevens, selling his back. The other 4 are down on the mat. Stevens climbs in, looks around, rolls out and hides under the ring. Zickey Dice comes out and cuts a promo to waste time, as he is already in the tournament. He walks off and a countdown brings out Sal Rinauro. H jumps on the apron and Conley rushes. Sal pulls down the ropes and Conley goes over; but, hangs on to the ropes. Anderson misses a clothesline and gets a neckbreaker for his troubles. Colt throws Sal into the corner and he climbs the turnbuckles into a backflip kick on Colt. Dave Dawson hits him with a single leg dropkick and covers for a 2-count. Sal ducks a splash attempt, then Colt does the butt bump on Dawson, then throws him into Anderson, who hits the spinebuster. Sal mistimes coming off the top and hits the mat and injures a leg. Colt tells Conley to go and he hits the springboard moonsault. They dogpile on Dawson and he is pinned. Sal sells the ankle and Caleb goes for an Octopus submission, while Colt and Anderson fight in the other corner. Sal reverses out of the Octopus as they countdown and out comes Ken Anderson. He hits the ring and lays waste to everyone but Colt, who stops him. He does his finisher on Sal and gets the pin. Ken and Colt double team Conley, but he kicks off, then misses the springboard moonsault. Ken hits the finisher (Russian Legsweep with his opponent facing to the rear, instead of forward, then Ken falls backward, driving his opponent on their face) and pins Conley. Colt and Ken double team CW and Colt gets the Superman Pin. Partners shake hands and out comes Question Mark. How come he is never in the same place as Jocephus? Stevens sneaks in why they are distracted and hits them from behind. He holds both men for dual Mongrovian Spikes but they slip under and QM hits Stevens. They knock QM out of the ring, while Stevens is poleaxed and bounces on the ring ropes, like a Bugs Bunny cartoon! Stevens bounces upright, then falls face first (catching himself with his hand before his face hits the mat; Flair does it without blocking) and gets tossed over the top rope. Back to Ken & Colt. Another handshake and then Ken grabs the hand, spins Colt and gets a schoolboy for the win. Colt is stunned, Ken offers his hand again, Colt accepts it, they hug, then Anderson knees him low and lays him out. He departs the ring as Colt groggily rolls out, walks away, then comes back and grabs Colt, gives him the Kiss of Death and then the Mic Check (the Russian Legsweep finisher) into the ring pole. Crimson comes out to break it up (he's a producer, along with Jocephus). Refs get Anderson out as the camera holds on Colt, who stares up, selling.
Tremendous match, with tons of excitement, some nice comedy and a big finish to completely turn Anderson on Cabana. Next will be their feud, I assume. Great spots in this, though I could have done without Zickey Dice, though his promo was better than previous ones, though the "stuck in the 80s" gimmick is lame and kind of ironic, given the 80s feel to Powerrr.
Eli Drake and James Storm out for an interview. Drake does the Pavlovian bit with the crowd and fantasizes he is The Rock. He predicts a Ricky Morton win. james Storm cuts his own promo, without swiping from anyone and shows how it is done, putting over Morton's history and says he's been downing Mountain Dew and will be all over Nick Aldis, like a spider monkey! He calls on Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Morton fro president in 2020 and "Let's Make the Mullet Great Again!" Storm then gets the crowd to rise to their feet, bow their heads and pray to the Good Lord for Ricky Morton to have the strength to kick the living crap out of Nick Aldis. I don't think my preacher grandfather would have approved! Storm just schooled Drake on how to do a promo and be natural and real. Drake continues to do his Rock imitation, though he pulls it out, in the end, making fun of how many Storms they have (James, Tim, Mama Storm and even thunderstorms). We end with the obligatory catch phrases and go to a break. Storm upped his game to superstar levels, with that promo and Drake finally added something other then Rock Lite. Still think he is average in the ring. James Storm is a decent worker; but not quite superstar in the ring. Let's see him up that some more and he could be legendary.
You can praise WWE production values and athletic talent, AEW for the flippy stuff, but no one touches the NWA for unscripted promos (hell, Jericho, Cody, and MJF are the only ones delivering decent promos in AEW). Show is exciting as hell, too.
Joe Galli in a pre-taped piece (recorded later, as his voice is fine) announcing Matt Cross as one of two outsiders getting a slot in the tournament. The other is ROH's Dan Maff and he gets introduced to the NWA fans. He cuts a generic promo, while name dropping Dusty, Tully, Arn and Bobby eaton as past NWA tv champions (it was WCW, when Bobby held it). They must be citing the same erroneous data in wikipedia, that says it was the NWA World TV title, after Turner bought it. That article lists it as NWA, until Turner breaks off relations with the NWA board. That is BS. The title was not an NWA Board title (they only sanctioned the World title, by that point and only it and the World Jr Hwt title, before that, letting the Jr title go by the wayside after the Tiger Mask split). It was the old Mid-Atlantic tv title, renamed the NWA TV title, in 1977 and World TV title in '85. WCW started referring it as the WCW World tv title in 1991, but Turner Broadcasting bought out Crockett in 1989, ending the real NWA relationship, effectively, though the split with the board wouldn't come until 1991.
Anyway, Mark cross faces Ricky Starks, in Round 1 and Maff faces Zickey Dice. I'm betting on both NWA guys winning and advancing to Round 2. Galli then adds a reminder about ROH's Flip Gordon facing Nick Aldis as they repeat the footage of Aldis invading ROH and laying out Marty Scurrl. Gordon cuts a promo. Flip brings up their previous match, from the Ten Pounds of Gold series, but says he has grown in the two years. His promos haven't. Average. NWA is outshining ROH, on the mic. Galli says Morton will defend the World title at the PPV if he wins or he and Robert will face Wild Cards and Storm & Drake in a 3-way. Wonder which match will occur? Considering they don't name a singles opponent, I don't need to be Criswell to figure it out. He then announces Aron Stevens will have his first National Title defense against Scott Steiner. Nice knowing you Shooter. Somehow, I expect Question Mark to be a factor here.
Just a note, Billy Corgan may still be a rat in a cage (despite all his rage); but, his little Western-style ballad is painful to my ears. Your mileage may vary. Speaking of Billy, he joins Gali and Bennett on commentary. He's grown facial hair. Still wearing a scarf, though. Dude, you're in Atlanta, in a studio, under hot lights. "as oo got da' sniffles? or is it just an affectation? Rock stars!
We have about 15 minutes for Morton vs Aldis. Marquez announces from the ring, to make it more special. Ricky & robert out and Morton is wearing his tag belt. It looks like it is on a looser knotch than the old days. Aldis and Strictly Business out (no May Valentine with Isaacs, though). Aldis does the stock poses with the belt (he really needs to find a more original signature pose). Marquez does the intros. Brian Hebner shows the belt to the camera, then the crowd. Corgan whispers to Stu Bennett, while covering his mic, then bennet picks up a hand mic and announces that all seconds are banned from ringside. Why Corgan couldn't do that himself is beyond me, other than he sounds more weasley than Bennett. Had a feeling this was coming. Aldis comes out of the ring to argue, as Robert Gibson leaves and the crowd Na-Na-Na-Na's Strictly Business Goodbye. Other refs come out and Latimer shoves ref Robert King, who sends him and Isaacs packing. Bell rings and we have, at most, 13 minutes for the match. I'm betting on no more than 10. Aldis leaves the ring and jaws at the announce desk. He continues stalling by egging on the crowd. Aldis finally climbs in the ring and they tie up. Collar & elbows into the corners and more stalling as Ricky plays to the Rock N Roll chants. Now into a headlock and we are Old School. Ricky controls and blocks attempts to fire him off. Not sure who is calling the match. The heel usually does and I think Morton would respect Nick enough to do so, though Nick might defer to Ricky, as the veteran. They move into the corner and Nick hits a slap on the chest and Morton fires a fist as a receipt and Aldis is down. Nick takes control, but Ricky reverses. More stalling. Morton asks if he is ready to wrestle now? Aldis responds with offering a knuckle-lock. Aldis gets a hammerlock but Ricky hits him with an elbow to the jaw. More maneuvering and then a fist count in the corner. Aldis breaks it up at 6, lifting Morton for an inverted Atomic drop, but Ricky counters and lays him out with a fist to the head and Aldis rolls out of the ring for more stalling. Larry Zbyszko would be proud. Ricky catches him and pummels him outside the ring. Aldis rakes the eyes and picks up Morton, ramming him into the ring post. Back in the ring for Aldis to work on Morton and Morton to "Sell like Ricky Morton!" Morton counters and they go back and forth. Morton goes for the hurricanrana, with a lot of help from Aldis, but gets a 2-count. Morton gets a Figure 4 on Aldis, in the center of the ring. Aldis gets out and then tries to bull run Morton, who rolls him up in a Small Package. Aldis reverses it, grabs the titghts and lifts for daylight, getting the pin. Aldis retains, to boos. Picture gets interference with visions of Marty Scurll. Signal is pirated with a message from Villain Enterprises: "Hard Times are here, Nick. See you in Atlanta-Marty Scurll." Card line up follows. Aldis vs Flip Gordon, Allysin Kay defending against Thunder Rosa (I predict a title change), RNR vs Wild Cards vs Storm & Drake, Stevens vs Steiner, Tournament First Round: Murdoch vs Question Mark, Dice vs Maff, Tim Storm vs Ken Anderson, Starks vs Matt Cross (they don't get a title card and are only seen in the brackets graphic).
Another great show. Kay vs Bell was weak, though it had a good finish. Rosa vs Steelz was excellent. Stevens and QM continue to be the most entertaining duo on tv. ricky Starks moved up in status with the revenge bit and the hot promo line. James Storm earned his spot with his promo. Eli Drake needs to find his own voice. Murdoch still proves that the WWE are morons. Isaacs and May kind of undercuts Isaacs as part of Strictly Business. Her not being there isn't logical. his facials are too much for tv but probably work well for the crowd. More for the audience, less for the camera. Latimer has no facial except POd, but, is great in the ring. Isaacs is more versatile, though. Morton made Aldis look good. Nice to see Old School action. Still missing some details in things and logic; but, nowhere nearly as badly as the competition. Indie promotions should study this. So should ROH , Impact and AEW. Keep it exciting, keep it moving, build angles. The next cycled of tapings will be interesting.
Get Tony Falk and Austin Idol in the studio.