Against my better judgment, I started watching NWA Power and AEW Dark.
I didn’t want to – who needs more wrestling? But I watched them, as one can easily do, especially considering they are free on both the NWA and All Elite Wrestling YouTube channels. And I liked them. Power more than Dark. But I liked them. And I can’t promise how long this goes on, nor can I promise how much effort will be put into these, nor can I promise that I won’t smash that fast-forward button here and there during AEW Dark. Regardless, for now:
TUESDAYS ARE FOR YOUTUBE.
NWA POWERRR
I love it. It scratches an itch that no wrestling program has for a long time, with the added bonus of a budget and self-awareness.
It’s basically cosplay of the Jim Crockett Promotions Saturday Night 6:05 program, complete with a studio audience and the TV studio itself being the primary driver of the show. There are a trio of on-screen personalities: the polished David Marquez stands at the reliable podium waiting for interviews, the young and likable Joe Galli provides play-by-play commentary as he searches for scoops and charmingly reminds the savages around him that he’s a journalist, and the notoriously cranky Jim Cornette is on color commentary having the time of his fucking life.
Cornette really might be the key here, blatantly marking out for what he gets to be a part of but also staying true to the traditions of studio wrestling. This man never for a second wavers from the fact that this is a one-hour television taping, and they’ve got matches to have and championships to decide.
If you really do want to buy into it, around 20 wrestlers are showing up to this TV studio weekly and they want to fight. In between the fight, they’ve got stuff to say. And everybody – EVERYBODY – wants one of the four championships available: the NWA National Heavyweight Title, the NWA World Tag Team Title, the NWA Women’s World Title, and the big one, the Ten Pounds of Gold: the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship.
There was a lot to love in these first four episodes: the nostalgia, the rabid studio audience, the loud ring sound, the old school graphics. In a lot of the promos, guys make sure to mention all the championships as important. They use a lot of awesome studio wrestling tropes: angles run throughout shows, there’s quick podium promos before matches, a winner will call a loser over after the match to tell em atta boy.
Sometimes they go too far: a “TV time remaining” time limit halfway through the show or all the exposition in the opening angle on Episode 4. But they get the tone right like 90% of the time. Without a reference point to the original 6:05 show, I’m sure some of this can come off exceptionally cheesy, but keeping with the traditions of that tone is what’s making this such a blast right now.
Did I mention the commercials? They have these completely whacked out low budget commercials throughout the show with territory names like Austin Idol and Tony Falk that may or may not be leading to something. They’re quick, but it’s the perfect complement to this good time.
The angles they chose to run during these first four episodes might not be the most exciting on paper but they put them over as so important that it doesn’t really matter. Joe Galli is taking this hard news approach to finding out why Nick Aldis’ valet Kamille doesn’t speak and I’m not positive it works anywhere else but here but it works here.
If you want rope-running and near falls, this is not your show. The roster is a mixed bag. But in a world filled with rope runs and near falls and Good Wrestlers, the simplicity of this show is appreciated.
More than anything though, I ultimately just have to respect the sheer balls of the powers-that-be at the NWA to run promos saying that Nick Aldis is maybe the greatest NWA World Heavyweight Champion of all time.
Also – THE TV THEME SONG. “INTO THE FIIII-YAHHHH…”
Episode 1: Tim Storm vs. Nick Aldis 3 (10/8/19)
This was a pitch perfect introduction to this wrestling product, and I know that because I was hooked immediately by this world I knew nothing about prior and am still watching it a month later. I might even watch the pay-per-view! Nick Aldis started things off with a promo that did a – sigh – great job putting over not just his championship but the entire roster. It all felt a little stage play and also really awesome.
SAL RINAURO showed up as enhancement talent for The Dawsons, who are a very beautiful straight-up Southern tag team and by that I mean they are very mean and ugly.
Eli Drake cut a promo then immediately headed to the ring and it ruled. Drake is a PROMO. I also liked how quickly he transitioned from escaping a reverse cradle to hitting a neckbreaker on Caleb Konley.
Generally opposed to Thomas Latimer – a decent tag squash by him and Royce Isaacs won’t change that.
Eddie Kingston rules. So does Homicide.
Tim Storm chasing Jocephus around cracked me up, and the Storm vs. Nick Aldis main event for the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship, The Ten Pounds of Gold, The Most Important and Prestigious Prize in Sports, was really a thesis statement for NWA Powerrr as a whole: no more than 10 minutes, real basic, nothing close to spectacular… but memorable. The aging and battleworn Tim Storm is such an endearing character that him resorting to a low blow was legitimately shocking. Of course they keep him endearing despite it, something only possible in this environment.
An inside cradle kept Aldis the gold and then he got mad at Joe Galli for asking questions.
Episode 2: Clickbait (10/15/19)
Here’s a little trade secret: I had to go back and watch the bit with Aldis storming off last week over Galli asking about why Kamille didn’t speak, as it really didn’t stand out to me as a big deal. My lord did they milk it for EVERYTHING though, with Joe Galli apologizing to Aldis and scoring a sit-down interview so he can continue to chase this… story? It’s not the most fascinating thing but Galli’s seriousness is hysterical and now I know even the little things matter.
Aron Stevens did a real solid job promo’ing himself from good guy to bad, as he appears to have a delusional B-movie actor gimmick… which is basically what The Miz does. Huh. His back-and-forth with the crowd was fun and showed the possibilities of this environment before it got weird with him not wanting anybody to look him in the eyes and stuff.
Loved, loved, loved Trevor Murdoch vs. Ricky Starks. Murdoch looks like everyone wishes he looked like back in the day, just an old rugged lumpy redneck. Him opposite swimmer body Starks made for a legitmately good clash of styles for a few minutes, with Murdoch just clubbing and Starks moving around. Murdoch’s foot-on-the-ropes at 2 after Starks’ missile dropkick was maybe my most gratifying wrestling moment of the week. And then after Starks wins and goes to do a promo, Murdoch walks past him: “Good job, kid. It just wasn’t my night.” LOVED.
Colt Cabana and Ken Anderson were introduced as an alliance all low key and stuff, and again Sal Rinauro provided a fine enhancement job. When does this man get his due?
EPIC EDDIE KINGSTON PROMO ALERT
Allysin Kay vs. Ashley Vox got more time than most of these matches and rather than seeming like they were killing time, the entire match felt like a struggle. Very solid match, though them saying the time limit was “TV time remaining” so early in the show leaned a bit beyond the abyss of the NWA gimmick.
James Storm is here and working hard heel, like a modern day Black Bart or something. His rival Eli Drake has a confidence and charisma I can’t deny.
The Austin Idol University Wrestling College commercial here was a trip through space and time. “Fill out that app!”
I wouldn’t give The Wildcards vs. Eddie Kingston & Homicide for the NWA World Tag Team Titles many stars but the TV makes it so you don’t really need stars. They did some good solid wrestling that built to a Kingston hot tag before those damn Dawsons ran-in. Isaacs reads to me a bit awkward, while Latimer can get bent.
Kamille CHOOSES not to speak in the interview with Galli – LAYERS, baby. Weird layers. But layers.
Episode 3: Twilight of Tim Storm (10/22/19)
Episode 3 had a THREAD: as Cornette and Galli ran down the card, Eddie Kingston stormed out and Cornette tried to respond with a balance of friendliness and agitation, smiling as he said: “You’re fine, Eddie – you’re not scheduled but… you’re fine. What do ya need?” Kingston proceeded to rip another great promo about how all he has is pro wrestling and how The Dawsons really ruined his day messing up his Tag Titles match.
He challenged The Dawsons, and during the next match the viewer is told that The Dawsons are pissed and coming out next. They do, and say they’ll face anyone tonight… except Kingston and Homicide. Then all show, commentary is worried both teams will break out in a fight. Plus Eli Drake and Tim Storm form a team because of it. WHOA!!! What’s old is new – these two paragraphs are all that is good about NWA Powerrr.
“Crystal Rose, coming from Skid Row… strongly influenced by grunge.” You MUST listen to Galli’s delivery on this line, teetering into the lane of totally out of touch and lame yet also feeling like the perfect throwback, the exact kind of gimmick/line Dusty would’ve thrown out there. She lost to Marti Belle, who based in the Mae Young Classic and this I’m not sure is very good.
DAWSON’S CREEK CHANTS FOR THE DAWSONS
The Thunder Rosa drumbeat vignette was intense. Got me pumped.
Tim Storm was advertised as being next on the commercial bumper, but Aron Stevens came out for a promo. On the next commercial bumper, Storm is advertised as next again and they put in parentheses: WE PROMISE. Too good, TOO GOOD.
Stevens is one of the only featured guys on this thing who isn’t clicking in this environment – he introduced a trailer for TROPICAL PIRATES, a properly terrible clip, but when in the studio it’s like he isn’t fully bought-in on the gimmick, like he wants you to know he’s in on it.
Loved Storm’s dad wave as he came out to tease retirement, and was intrigued by Eli Drake‘s participation, which went from basic heel interruption to motivational speech proposing they team up against The Dawsons.
Episode 1 squashee Caleb Konley got to be the squasher on this show, defeating “THE D MAN” DAN PARKER, an arrogant… Canadian? They did some solid chain wrestling and Konley did some cool backfists and moonsaults.
The Spiritual Advisor and Who is the Mark? commercials/teasers are outstanding in their weirdness.
Huge pop for Storm re-entering the studio, confirming he agreed to team with Eli. Storm and Drake vs. The Dawsons revealed that The Dawsons aren’t very good but also, who really cares? Storm took some heat, fought out of a bearhug, and simply walked over to Drake for the hot tag.
Nick Aldis checked on Storm after The Dawsons attacked him post-match… MORE LAYERS. MORE WEIRD LAYERS!
Episode 4: Dealer Calls Again (10/29/19)
It’s four weeks in and I’m watching live, singing along to the theme song. I am AMPED for this Nick Aldis-led bullshit, my GOD.
The opening segment with James Storm, Colt Cabana, Eli Drake and Nick Aldis setup a 6-man tag for later where * deep breath * if Aldis’ team wins, Cabana gets a shot at Storm’s National Title and if Storm’s team wins, Storm gets a shot at Aldis’ World Title… but also Storm needs to vacate his title. The back-and-forth felt overly complicated, with too many hoops jumped through to make sense of it. Not sure who we’re cheering either… just that Storm’s a bad guy. Right? Wait why was Drake here?
Trevor Murdoch vs. Jocephus YESSS!!! “My spiritual adviser has sanctioned all sorts of violence upon Murdoch Trevor tonight,” bellows Jocephus, becoming one of my favorite wrestlers. “Well then I suggest you shut your hole and get your ass in the ring,” scowls Murdoch back, becoming my favorite wrestler period.
The Aron Stevens/Ricky Starks promo was hard to watch, with bad timing all over the place before Starks slapped Stevens in a spot that didn’t really get over because it wasn’t timed very well.
The Rock & Roll Express are coming soon, baby!
The Dawsons vs. Kingston & Homicide in a No DQ Match was six or so minutes of sloppy brawling. Love Homicide, he just works like a later stage Manny Fernandez with more goodwill now. The Dawsons are generic, and Kingston was just kind of along for the ride. The Wildcards run-in was strange too — oooo they attacked The Dawsons, oooo but they helped The Dawsons win. Eh?
Allysin Kay: “You know the deal – good side.” WORK THAT GIMMICK. Love it.
Marti Belle vs. Ashley Vox with Kay looking on was a bad match with a nice twist in Vox beating Belle. Then Thunder Rosa showed up!
The actual Stevens/Starks match wasn’t bad… efficient, even.
Nick Aldis’ team ended up being Colt Cabana & Karl Anderson while James Storm‘s team ended up being The Wildcards and they all had wasn’t exactly a hot 6-man but hey Colt got his win and his title shot.
It just hit me that Storm was wrestling this 6-man tag match for the right to vacate his National Championship and challenge for the World’s Championship when they’ve previously said the National Champ is already the #1 Contender for the World Title.
INTO THE FIRE…
AEW DARK
This is a different kind of deal, a decent supplement to AEW Dynamite but nothing I’m loving just yet. They’re working out the formatting – we’ve had pre-show dark matches with newbies, post-show dark matches with big stars, 3-way’s, 4-way’s, and they’ve ranged from really bad to really good, but have mostly been Just Fine. I think they should stop trying to stuff everybody onto the show and instead use this as something that fleshes out guys that need fleshing out. It’s changing every week, so we’ll see.
Extra points for Tony Schiavone, as always.
Cody doing little interview bits with his roster (referee Aubrey Edwards, referee/wrestler QT Marshall, and MJF so far) has been my favorite thing each week.
Episode 1: Darby Allin vs. CIMA (10/8/19)
Kicking off this show with Darby Allin vs. CIMA was a good move, as that is SO keeping in the spirit of AEW as the new age WCW where the most random matches come to be. I’m still new to Darby and I love his gimmick of wrecking his own body to punish his opponents and having this vibe of not being afraid of your stupid wrestling moves. He somehow made the Code Red both cooler and more realistic too by upping the speed 200%. This was a fine ***1/4 type of match, more about the oddity of it existing but still providing some fun action and great near falls.
Best Friends & Private Party vs. The Lucha Bros & The Hybrid2 stuffed a lot of acts into a pretty shitty spotfest, and I really try to stay away from that term. Private Party‘s screams made me laugh and The Lucha Bros freaked me out but otherwise just guys jumping around with no rhyme or reason.
Takeaways from Britt Baker & Allie vs. Bea Priestley & Penelope Ford: Allie rules, and Bea vs. Britt is not as interesting as they think it is.
SoCal Uncensored vs. Jurassic Express unfortunately read similar to the 8-man, just too much stuffed into a flat and convoluted package. Scorpio brick-walling Marko was neat and Luchasaurus is the man but this first episode ended with me skeptical of staying week-to-week.
Episode 2: Lights Out (10/15/19)
Sonny Kiss is good and participated in a Triple Threat Match with Peter Avalon and Kip Sabian.
SoCal Uncensored & CIMA vs. The Dark Order & The Hybrid2 was a scene just for ol’ CIMA being in this random 8-man tag team match on TNT’s YouTube. Evans holding up the “SCU SUCKS” sign was my favorite part of this, which had a whole lot of talent but like the multi-man matches from last week was just an empty circus. The spot where Kazarian did a hurricanrana to the floor that caused the skinny Dark Order guy to spear the fat Dark Order guy made my insides hurt.
Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela in a Lights Out Match was the BUZZWORTHY match that might’ve just been booked to get some eyeballs on this show, and good for them. It was purty crazy, though the no rules stipulation led to a lot of time spent setting up props. Also, there were a lot of spots where Kenny hit Janela from behind and damnit if Janela wasn’t blatantly putting his hair in front of his eyes and looking backwards for every one. Outside of that, Kenny went full Kenny and pulled out the Greatest Hits plus a German suplex off the stairs, a German suplex into a ladder, and a big time table bump that was certifiably nuts. Janela took a horrifying bump on a pair of chair edges before Kenny finished him with the One-Winged Angel. It was good, but maybe a little desperate. ***1/2
Episode 3: Dynasty of Dustin Rhodes (10/22/19)
TAZZ joined Excalibur on commentary this week and was a step up from Good Ol’ JR, who I have to say is very bad at commentary now but does have a very good podcast with Conrad Thompson that I just started listening to.
Someone told Joey Janela to follow-up the Kenny match by going out here and WORKING so we got a headscissors headstand and a lot of armbars vs. Brandon Cutler, who now scowls on his way to the ring. I guess the road got to him quicker than anyone imagined. He’s got this kick-based offense that doesn’t really work because he’s just… too tall. It’s weird. Guy should be bullying people, not trying out Mochizuki spots.
Tazz had some gumption for the Nyla Rose vs. “The Librarian” Leva Bates match but it was BAD – there’s nothing behind any offensive maneuver Bates does and Nyla is not there as a babyface yet. Plus they did a spot with the stairs and didn’t even mic them up.
They showed footage of PAC cutting a promo on Moxley after last week’s Dynamite with his face covered in dried-up blood. “hen you couldn’t compete at All Out, it was me who saved your arse” – YESSS.
The main event was another multi-man match, but this one had Dustin Rhodes running the ropes with T-Hawk so it gets a pass. The Rhodes Brothers & The Young Bucks brought the star power to Dark and wrestled the wild line-up of Private Party, CIMA & T-Hawk. Dustin did triple team spots with the Bucks, Nick did his superman shtick, Party got their shit in, and Dustin did a hot tag. Fun schtuff.
Episode 4: Jimmy Havoc Wrestles Again (10/29/19)
JR is back on commentary – not cool.
A Dustin Rhodes & Sonny Kiss tag team – very cool. They wrestled Peter Avalon & QT Marshall who provided the generic journeyman heel shtick they were paid to provide. Kiss’ book-reading spot was nice, as was his bump off Avalon’s lariat ruled. Dustin has somehow STILL got it too.
I thought Allie vs. Emi Sakura vs. Penelope Ford vs. Sadie Gibbs was a tag match until they did the 4-way lockup. And Kaientai pose tribute aside, it wasn’t great. They did the typical random exchanges while two others laid around on the floor, and nobody got a chance to stand out though Sadie seems real god damn solid. Plus, a MATRIX CUTTER, Penlope? REALLY, Penelope? There’s a ton of variety in the AEW women’s division that they haven’t even attempted to take advantage of – c’mon.
MJF told Cody a story of being called “Jew boy” while playing high school football and it was some real shit. I loved how quickly he pivoted to reminding you he’s still a dick too – “Whatever, he dropped out of college, I’m rich as hell and hanging out with the coolest guy ever.”
Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Jack Evans was a tough sell for me but Darby was such a workhorse that he willed it into something decent. He was an absolute madman running around and throwing his body into things, and then hey here’s Jimmy Havoc with a slow rolling elbow. They brawled in the crowd, brawled on the entrance ramp, and Havoc did a Cactus elbow off the ramp but could’ve been cool but ended up just a fleeting moment among the rest of them. They made sure to keep the base happy at the end: a 630 splash into a chair contraption, top rope piledriver through a table, and finally a chair-assisted Coffin Drop from Darby for 3.
