After a first night that saw some title changes, NWA returns for night two of their 74th anniversary weekend Sunday from the Chase Ballroom in St. Louis, Missouri.
Sunday’s wrap-up will feature NWA World Champion Trevor Murdoch defending against TV Champion Tyrus in the spot that Nick Aldis had earned by virtue of winning a four-way match.Aldis will still be in action, taking on Flip Gordon.
NWA Women’s Champion Kamille will defend for the second time this weekend as she faces Max The Impaler who won Saturday’s Burke Invitational gauntlet.
In a street fight, Pretty Empowered will defend the NWA Women’s Tag Team titles against former champions The Hex.
New U.S. Tag Team Champions will be crowned in a battle royal that will feature more than nine teams, while the MLW National Openweight title will be defended as Davey Richards faces Thrillbilly Silas.
The show will also feature Caprice Coleman vs. Colby Corino in a best two-out-of-three falls match and three other bouts.
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The preshow started just as the bell was ringing for Rhett Titus and Doug Williams. This is a combination of excellent wrestlers, so I expect it will be a good match.
Doug Williams and Rhett Titus went to a time limit draw in a Submission Match
Titus and Williams were on the mat exchanging submission attempts right away, which was fun to watch. This match was back and forth with counters throughout, with the occasional bigger move, such as Rhett Titus hitting a back breaker and then targeting the lower back with strikes and a back suplex.
Titus hit a belly-to-belly, but since it was submission only, there was no pinfall. Williams’ chest was busted open from the chops. Titus slingshotted Williams into the turnbuckle and hit a forearm to the back again. Williams locked a cattle mutilation on Titus, but the bell ended up ringing, so they went to a time limit draw. Doug Williams and Rhett Titus asked for 5 more minutes, but the time expired.
I would hope we get a rematch down the line, but I expect we’ll never see it mentioned again on NWA TV, which is unfortunate.
–Austin Idol was with May Valentine, saying he was the only Caesar in wrestling, but now there is two because he led Cyon to the NWA National Championship. Idol said he had a fortune cookie that said that Cyon would be champ and managed by Idol, which was oddly specific. This was a good promo.
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Angelina Love defeated Taryn Terrell
Terrell opposed the ringing of the bell because she hadn’t warmed up properly yet, so she tried to stretch with her back to Love. Love rolled her up for a 2-count and started to beat her around the ring as she protested to the referee. Terrell got hit with a dropkick and fell to the floor. Tim Storm and Joe Galli tried to describe where she got hit with care, but it would have sufficed to say Love dropkicked her in the posterior.
Terrell tried to hide under the ring, but it didn’t work and she yelled “I don’t want to go in” when Love tried to throw her into the ring. Terrell rang the bell and claimed she won, but Love didn’t believe this for some reason, and slammed Terrell into the announce table before sending her back into the ring.
Love hit a flatliner and locked on the Koji Clutch and Terrell fought out with an eye rake. Terrell said “I think we’re good!” after this, again making me laugh. Terrell hit a stunner on Love, but Love leaned back into the turnbuckle and launched forward with a kick called the Botox Injection for the pinfall. This was fun, mostly because Terrell was so hilarious.
–May Valentine was with Mercurio, and he was surprised Valentine could say his name correctly. He claimed it was because she was a beautiful woman that she could pronounce it right. Mercurio’s accent is faker than most wrestler’s tans. The OGK walked in and took over the interview, saying that they were in the US Tag Title Battle Royal, meaning there is only one mystery team left to be announced. Of course, the rest are a mystery to me as well, as they never told us on TV who was in it.
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Kerry Morton defeated Gustavo
Gustavo handed out several flowers to people in the audience, including a man in the front row who was thrilled and got a huge amount of applause. That made me laugh, further establishing that I love this Gustavo character. Morton and Gustavo countered each other a fair bit in the early part of the match, showing some good wrestling.
Morton dodged a splash in the corner and ran in with a European uppercut before hitting a stalling vertical suplex while walking around the ring. Morton kicked up and the crowd applauded him. Morton hit a spinning back fist and a flying knee for the pinfall. Nice little match here for the pre-show. This made both guys look good, with Morton coming out looking like a star.
–May Valentine was with BLK Jeez and he talked about how this was the biggest night of his career, as one of the men he was managing was going to walk out with the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Jeez talked about his relationship with Austin Idol as Idol focusing more on Cyon and Jeez taking over managing Tyrus.
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Madi, Missa Kate, & Natalia Markova defeated Jennacide, KiLynn King, & Taya Valkyrie in Part 1 of a Queen Bee Match
Apparently the rules of this match is that the team that wins immediately goes on to wrestle each other in an elimination triple threat match. Joe Galli informed us that this match came from the mind of Billy Corgan, so it seems like the wackiness of the Champion’s Series and Team War matches now has a third weird stip match.
Missa Kate and KiLynn King started the match, with King overpowering Kate and hitting a hard kick to the head of Kate and a full nelson slam for a 2-count. Valkyrie, Jennacide, and King exchanged quick tags in the corner as they beat on Kate. Valkyrie booted Kate back to her corner who tagged out to Markova.
Valkyrie whipped Markova to the corner and hit her sliding German suplex before tagging out to Jennacide. Jennacide quickly tagged Valkyrie back in, but she got caught in the corner and Markova and Madi started double teaming her. They got the heat on Markova with various double team moves for the next few minutes.
Valkyrie hit a back suplex on Kate and tagged out to Jennacide. Jennacide ran wild for a bit, but it wasn’t long before it broke down until all 6 women were in the match. Bafflingly, the heels ended up pinning Jennacide to win the match after a series of moves, leaving Madi, Kate, and Markova left, who are all heels.
Natalya Markova defeated Missa Kate & Madi in Part 2 of a Queen Bee Match
Kate quickly hit a spinning kick on Madi to pin and eliminate her from the match, leading to a striking battle between her and Markova. Kate sent Markova crashing face first into the middle turnbuckle and hit a Fisherman’s Buster for a 2-count. Kate hit a running kick for a 2-count. Markova hit Beautiful Destruction, a kick in the corner, and then hit a double arm DDT for a pinfall, making her the Queen Bee. The referee crowned her after the match with what looked like a dollar store tiara. This was a fine match, all things considered, but it would have been nice to have it promoted before the show.
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Main Card
Joe Galli ran down the card for tonight to open the show, including Ricky Morton & Homicide for the Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Kratos partner being Pope against Aron Stevens and Rodney Mack, and a few others matches that received no build at all. Speaking of which, Colby Corino against Caprice Coleman opened the show.
Colby Corino defeated Caprice Coleman in a 2/3 Falls Match
1st Fall
The fans chanted “Happy Birthday” at Colby Corino, as he turned 25 today. Coleman tried to pin Corino early, but Corino kicked out, so Coleman made him pay with some fast paced offence, tapping Corino out with an armbar early on. Corino said he had at least 2 more falls, and decided to give it up quickly rather than let his arm and shoulder get hurt.
2nd Fall
Corino hit a sit-out powerbomb on Coleman before hitting a flipping senton for a 2-count. Corino hit a hard kick to the back of Coleman for a 2-count, and locked on a chinlock. Corino went early for a bump, so Coleman just covered him to make up for it, before hitting a jumping hurricanrana on Corino, who was seated on the top turnbuckle.
Corino flew to the other corner and pulled the Jerry Lawler phantom gimmick from his trunks and punched Coleman with it to get the pinfall for the 2nd fall.
3rd Fall
Corino got into an argument with a fan in the front row before hitting a suicide dive on Coleman. Corino proceeded to chop Coleman right in front of the fan who he taunted. Corino sent Coleman towards the ring post, and Coleman did a tiger feint kick around the post to hit Corino, which looked awesome.
Coleman hit a springboard into a leg lariat, then hit a spinning leg drop to the back of Corino’s head for a 2-count. Coleman hit the Holy Trinity – three Northern Lights Suplexs in a row, as Corino went for the gimmick again. Coleman grabbed the gimmick and gave it to the referee. It turns out it was not a phantom gimmick. It looked like a screw of some sort. Corino, however, took advantage of this and hit a Styles Clash and a sunsetter soon thereafter for the pinfall.
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The Fixers won a Battle Royal for the NWA US Tag Team Championship
Several of the people coming out for this match were wrestlers I haven’t seen before, but the announcers talked like we knew who they were. The Fixers, Gold Rushhh, the Ill Begotten, The Country Gentlemen, and the OGK w/ JJ Dillion, The Spectaculars, the Miserably Faithful, and Hawx Aerie were teams I recognized.
The 12th team, which was a surprise, was La Rebelion, which is fascinating. It would have helped to have this announced beforehand, as La Rebelion could have said they wanted to win the tag titles last night, and the US tag titles tonight to unify them. That is a compelling story, but NWA didn’t tell it until now.
There was 24 men in the ring at once, so it was quite hard to keep track of, so I will do my best to recap it once a few eliminations happen. Gold Rushhh was the first team eliminated. Apparently it only requires one member being eliminated for a whole team to be out, which would have been nice to know beforehand.
Sal the Pal tried to suplex Alex Taylor again, from the same turnbuckle, but Jeremiah Plunkett made the save for his teammate and dumped Sal to the floor. Rush Freeman eliminated the Ill Begotten. Country Gentlemen went out at this point. The Fixers threw people around, which was fun.
The Now was eliminated from The Fixers. Taven eliminated PJ Hawx, and thus Hawx Aerie were eliminated. The last 4 teams were Team Ambition, who I didn’t know, The OGK, The Fixers, and La Rebelion. La Rebelion hit double knees to Jay Bradley. Team Ambition is apparently Camaro Jackson and Mike Outlaw. Mike Bennett hit a Death Valley Driver on Mecha Wolf, and they dumped Bestia 666 over the top rope.
Damian 666 spit mist into Mike Bennett’s face and Mecha Wolf dumped Bennett over the top rope. Taven then jumped over the top rope onto everyone, so both team were eliminated. The OGK and La Rebelion brawled to the back, and The Fixers soon thereafter eliminated The Ambition, who the fans were started to get behind. I thought for a minute they were going to try and make two new stars here, but I cant’ disagree with the Fixers going over.
The end of this was very good, and the OGK had the crowd popping the most, with the loudest reactions of the two nights thus far with the dive to the floor.
–The Cardona Family was with Kyle Davis on the stage and Cardona claimed he was screwed last night when Rolando Freeman beat him. Cardona claimed that Freeman took advantage of his generosity and that he wasn’t 100% because it was impossible for someone to recover so quickly from a bicep injury. Cardona said that he broke the hearts of all the fans that wanted to see him. Cardona then apologized for what he was going to do to Rolando Freeman. This was a great heel promo. Matt Cardona is infinitely more interesting than Zack Ryder, and it isn’t even close.
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Mercurio defeated Magic Jake Dumas w/ CJ
I’m still not sure how Dumas is a magician as we have never seen him do a magic trick. Joe Galli called this a great match, and I can’t really say it’s going to be that as we haven’t had much of a chance to get to know either of these characters, other than Dumas being present on programming but I still don’t understand the character.
Dumas asked the fans if they wanted magic, and took a card out of his hat. Dumas was about to do a trick, but Mercurio grabbed the card and ripped it in half. Dumas returned the favour by throwing Mercurio’s book into the crowd. Dumas and Mercurio both went for low blows, but each blocked the kick.
Dumas punched Mercurio in tbe face and said “Ta daaaa!” Okay, that was funny. Mecurio did a monkey flip, but Dumas landed on his feet. He missed a corner splash though, and CJ clapped, not realizing she was supposed to cheer his successes. Mercurio hit a butterfly suplex for a 2-count.
Mercurio was offended that Dumas kept hitting him with forearms in the face, which Dumas denied and then continued hitting him with forearms. Mercurio hit a superkick and almost botched a moonsault, looking like he crushed Dumas with it. Mercurio hit a Big E style spear to the floor.
CJ handed Dumas something and then flirted with Mercurio, which made him happy. Dumas pulled a razor blade from his mouth, with blood coming from his mouth. What CJ handed to him was clearly the blade with a blood capsule, so there was no magic here. That was weird. Dumas hit a torture rack bomb for the pinfall. This sucked and had no place on the PPV.
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Davey Richards defeated Thrillbilly Silas w/ Pollo Del Mar to retain the MLW National Openweight Championship
Joe Galli and Velvet Sky bet there was going to be a new champion tonight, while Silas looked like a Crockett jobber, so I suspect there will not be a title change tonight. Silas did use his greater size to try and dominate Richards early on, but Richards used his hard hitting style to turn it around, hitting a big double stomp and some hard forearms.
Silas hit a weak chop on Richards and missed a corner charge, but couldn’t feed his leg through the middle rope and accidentally went to the bottom rope, so Richards had to reposition him before hitting the dragon screw through the ropes. Richards missed a double stomp but locked on an Indian Death Lock, but Silas made the ropes.
Richards blocked a suplex with a knee to the head and hit some hard strikes in the corner. Silas hit a giant Black Hole Slam for a 2-count that had several rotations and was probably the best he looked in the match. Richards fought out of a torture rack and transitioned into an ankle lock, but as Silas fought out, Richards hit a giant PK for a 1-count. Silas asked for more, so Richards superkicked him twice and hit another PK before hitting a double stomp, but Silas kicked out.
Richards grabbed the ankle but Silas fought out. Del Mar got on the apron, but almost got hit by Silas, who accidentally ripped the wig of Pollo Del Mar’s head, which led to Richards locking on the ankle lock to force the tap out.
–Joe Galli got in the ring and said he was going to hijack the show. Galli welcome his girlfriend into the ring, and then proposed to her live on the air. Galli talked about how much he loved her, and she said yes. The fans chanted “Let’s go Joe!” and cheered the happy couple. Galli got back on commentary and said “Thank God she said yes!”
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–Kyle Davis was in the ring, and he introduced JJ Dillon and Barry Windham, saying that Windham literally had wrestling in his blood. I’m not sure about that last part. Windham and Dillon talked about their history with the NWA and were happy to be there. Dillon said that wrestling wasn’t struggling and it was thriving all over, including in that arena tonight. Dillon said it was the fans that made wrestling successful and that they knew there was no better value for their dollar than watching pro wrestling. This was great.
–May Valentine was with Kamille and Thom Latimer, and Latimer talked about how he was supposed to face someone else, but he was wrestling EC3 instead. Apparently that match is happening tonight? Latimer talked about how the NWA helped him clean up his life and get sober, and that he was going to fight for the NWA with all he got. This was quite good. Kamille kept it simple said she was going to beat the crap out of Max the Impaler tonight.
Cyon defeated Anthony Mayweather to retain the NWA National Championship
It would have been nice to have Mayweather on the TV, promited as facing the winner of the Dane/Cyon from Night 1. It would have given a simple, easy build to the match with all 3 cutting promos on each other, and that could have worked. I imagine the folks reading are tired of me saying that, but much of this show could have made sense, but the utter lack of promotion for everything really hurt the heat for a lot of matches.
Jax Dane and Chris Silvio came out and sat on the stage while Cyon attacked Mayweather from behind. Mayweather was distracted by Idol as well, and ended up paying for that too. Cyon hit several 12 to 6 elbows on Mayweather for a 2-count. This match was very slow paced in the opening minutes, with lots of chinlocks from Cyon.
Mayweather hit a clothesline that sent Cyon to the floor. Mayweather went to the top rope for an elbow, but Cyon cut him off and went for a superplex, but Mayweather knocked him off and hit the elbow anyway for a 2-count. Cyon managed to hit two Death Valley Drivers for a win, and it seems Jax Dane is going to go for a rematch, which again, pits heel vs. heel, which leaves me asking “Why?!” Why would you book a match that will have no heat again?
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Pretty Empowered (Kenzie Paige & Ella Envy) defeated The Hex (Marti Belle & Allysin Kay) in a Kingsway Street Fight to retain the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship
I’m not sure where or what Kingsway is, but apparently they have street fights. This is one of the few matches that have actually been built on TV with Ella Envy cheating constantly with weapons and whatnot to beat her opponents, including The Hex. Kay and Belle attacked Paige and Envy right away with Belle throwing a garbage can.
The Hex used weapons , but paid for setting up chairs in the corner because Envy and Paige were able to reverse their Irish whips, driving the Hex into the chairs. Kenzie Paige dropkicked the chair right into the Belle’s face. Ella Envy tied Allysin Kay to the corner with the tag rope and Pretty Empowered worked over Belle until Kay was able to get out.
Envy dropped Kay with a kendo stick shot quickly though. They both brawled around ringside, with Kay throwing a drink into the face of Ella Envy. Velvet Sky asked the right question – is Envy 21 yet? That was funny. Pretty Empowered pulled a table out from under the ring and set it up on the floor. Paige superkicked a cookie sheet into the face of Kay, and Envy hit a shining wizard for a pinfall attempt that Belle broke up.
Allysin Kay poured a bag of Lego in the mat and hit a uranage onto the Lego. Kay hit a dominator onto the Lego on Paige but Envy broke it up. Marti Belle put a trash can on Envy’s head but Envy fought it off and threw the can at Kay, causing her to fall off the top rope and through the table. Paige indicated that she wanted Envy to show mercy to Marti Belle, but took a kendo stick and beat her down with it, fulling embracing the dark side, as Galli put it. They then superkicked Belle while she had a trash can on her head and pinned her. This was fine, but nothing too special. I did like that Pretty Empowered went over, as pushing new stars is important and these two are just getting over. Paige continued to beat on Belle before celebrating.
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Homicide defeated Ricky Morton to retain the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship
Homicide threatened to live up to his name by saying he was going to kill Ricky Morton. Morton hit some right hands, hitting 10 punches in the corner. Homicide grabbed the ring bell and tried to bring it into the ring, but he never brought it into the ring. Homicide necked Morton on the ropes and got back in, but Morton hit some right hands to drop Homicide.
Homicide responded with strikes of his own. Morton hit a snap suplex, but Homicide was quickly back on his feet, but Morton soon followed with a DDT, but Homicide rolled to the floor. Morton threw Homicide into the ring post. Morton hit a sunset flip and then a cutter for 2-count. Homcide raked the eyes and dropped Morton and hit a lariat to the back of his head to pin him.
Homicide continued to go after Morton, and Kerry Morton ran down to the ring to save his dad. Homicide left the ring without incident. This was bizarre, but Ricky Morton got a nice reaction from the fans to a “Rock ‘n’ roll” chant.
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Nick Aldis defeated Flip Gordon
Flip Gordon, according to Joe Galli, thinks he is unreal. As in, he does not believe he is real, and therefore the rules don’t apply to him. Okay. Nick Aldis came out to his superior theme, and not the bad rap one that didn’t suit him. Aldis and Gordon have wrestled two times previously, with Aldis winning each time.
Gordon went right after Aldis, trying to win this one quickly. Aldis hit a brainbuster on Gordon for a 2-count, but followed it with an avalanche fallaway slam. Outside of the dive from Matt Taven, Nick Aldis was getting a massive reaction from the audience for everything he did here. It’s clear it was a mistake to remove him from the main event.
Gordon managed to hit a springboard dropkick after Aldis took in the cheers of the fans. Gordon was shoved off the top rope from Aldis, but landed on his feet and hit a springboard sling blade on Aldis before hitting a superkick. Gordon took his time getting on the top rope because of the fallaway slam earlier hurting his back, and Aldis cut him off and went for a superplex.
Gordon went for second fallaway slam from the ropes, but Gordon floated over into a sunset flip powerbomb for a 2-count. Aldis managed to get up first and hit some punches, as Gordon was still selling his back. Gordon hit a backflipping torture rack and then hit a moonsault and locked on an STF, which he apparently calls “Submit to Flip.” Gordon went for a tiger feint kick around the ring post, but Aldis caught his feet and dragged him into the ring and locked on the Kingsland Cloverleaf, which forced the submission from Gordon.
This was a very good match, with Aldis getting some of the better reactions from the audience, though nowhere near the heat this could have had with promos building it. They never announced this match on TV. Only on social media. Even in the last episode of Power when they ran down the card, if I remember correctly.
Aldis shook hands with Gordon after the match, indicating that there was respect between the two. Odinson came into the ring after the match and hit a pounce on Gordon, but Nick Aldis made the save. That didn’t stop Odinson from hitting a pounce on Aldis too, so it seems NWA is starting to get behind Odinson by having him feud with Nick Aldis. This is a good thing.
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Pope & Kratos defeated Aron Stevens & Rodney Mack in a Missouri Tornado Tag Team Match
In yet another street fight by a different name, Kratos chased Stevens backstage. Pope hit a stalling vertical suplex on Mack, and Stevens ran back into the ring but came face to face with Pope. Kratos took Stevens head off with a lariat. Mack pulled Pope to the floor. Pope ended up hitting a dive to the floor over a camera man onto Stevens and Mack.
Pope got the fans chanting for Kratos and a dive from him, but Rodney Mack hit him with a chair to the face as he went to fly over the top rope. Stevens grabbed a mic and said he hated pro wrestling, and it was the savages in the crowd who wanted his blood that made him hate it. Kratos hit him with a spinebuster, but Mack as able to spinebuster Kratos. Pope hit Mack with a dropkick and suddenly he was the only guy in the ring.
All 4 men ended up on the stage and behind the screens, with their shadows being broadcasted on it, and Kratos and Pope kept sending Stevens back and forth between the two big screens with his shadow being assaulted, then him stumbling out to the other screen back and forth several times. That was hilarious. Mack locked the Euthaniser on Pope, but Kratos pulled the feet of Mack and Pope ended up pinning Mack on the stage for the victory.
The ending spot with the screens made this match worth it.
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Thom Latimer defeated EC3 via DQ
The opening of this match was slow and plodding, which is not what this show needs. EC3 did his weird reverse DDT or flatliner, and it looked ugly again. He got the heat on Latimer, and wanted to “bring his demons” out by punishing him. Apparently he is punishing us too with this slow offence.
Latimer hit an actual flatliner, which got a 2-count. EC3 slapped Latimer and spit in his face. Latimer hit him with a series of cross faces that were not very violent or good, but the elbows on the bottom rope looked good. As he was doing this Control Your Narrative ran in and made it a no contest. That finish sucked, and again, it wasn’t really a match. It was an angle. That should have been on TV building to am match on this show. They’re treating this show like it’s an extended episode of NWA Power rather than a PPV where angles are paid off. They are starting angles instead.
–May Valentine was with the Miserably Faitfhful talking about Max the Impaler facing Kamille, saying that Kamille has never faced a force like Max.
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Kamille defeated Max the Impaler w/ James Mitchell to retain the NWA World Women’s Championship
Bully Ray joined the commentary team for this match.
Max stiffed Kamille in the corner right away with elbows to the face. Kamille responded with hard forearms, but it didn’t stop Max from attacking. Max hit a bodyslam and two short arm clotheslines. Max no sold some forearms and headbutted Kamille. Kamille broke a waistlock with a jawbreaker, but Max hit a standing body press to drop Kamille.
Max hit more forearms in the corner and dropped Kamille with a knee to the stomach. Max hit a curb stomp on Kamille. Max curbed stomped Kamille into the bottom turnbuckle, and it looked fairly bad and way too stiff. Kamille managed to make it to the top rope and hit a crossbody and then a dropkick off the top rope for a 2-count.
Kamille slipped out of 10 punches in the corner and put Max in a torture rack that she turned into a Torture Rack Bomb, which was impressive. It got a 2-count. Max went for a spear, but Kamille flipped over it and hit a spear of her own, but James Mitchell put Max’s foot on the ropes. The Miserably Faithful ran out to protect Mitchell from Kamille, but she beat them all up.
Max took advantage of the distraction and hit the Wasteland on Kamille, but Kamille managed to kick out and then backdrop Max. Both wrestlers hit a clothesline and were down as the ref counted towards 10. Max charged at the corner, but Kamille rolled Max up for the pinfall. This was fine. Max was quite stiff and reckless again, but Kamille winning was the right result.
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–Billy Corgan was in the ring and announced that the NWA Anniversary show will be in the Chase every year. He then held a 10-bell salute and moment of silence for the legendary wrestlers and other wrestlers or managers who have passed away. This was very nice.
Trevor Murdoch defeated Tyrus w/ BLK Jeez to retain the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship
The crowd was firmly behind Murdoch in this match. Murdoch rolled to the floor and hit a DDT on BLK Jeez on the floor before hitting the top rope bulldog on Tyrus for a 2-count. Murdoch brought Tyrus to the floor and hit some chops, but Tyrus did some clubbering and squeezed Mrudoch’s head against the ring post before hitting the Heart Punch.
Murdoch rolled into the ring and tried to fight back, but Tyrus did some more clubbering and hit an elbow. Tyrus hit a leg drop and a corner splash before returning to clubbering and a nerve hold. Murdoch broke it with a jaw breaker and hit an elbow for a 1-count. Tyrus rolled to the floor and looked like he wanted to walk away, which doesn’t make sense, since it’s for the world title.
Murdoch went after him but Tyrus slammed Murdoch on the floor. Tyrus did more clubbering. Tyrus threatened Murdoch’s 16-year old son. A kid yelled “You can’t fight, Tyrus!” Tyrus missed a corner charge and Murdoch hit a crossbody on Tyrus for a 2-count. Murdoch locked on a sleeper hold. Tyrus responded with a back suplex, which Murdoch sold well.
Joe Galli said Tyrus was struggling to get to his feet because he was in the sleeper hold for so long. He was in it for 10-20 seconds, and just couldn’t get up, but Galli made a good cover for it. Tyrus stood on Murdoch and clubbered some more. Tyrus did push ups on the back of Murdoch. He clubbered some more.
Tyrus hit a hip attack in the corner and then a body slam on Murdoch. He then clobbered him some more. Murdoch kicked the hands of Tyrus as he was trying to clubber. Murdoch hit some punches and locked on a sleeper again. Tyrus drove Murdoch into the referee and dropped Tyrus with a clothesline.
Tyrus was very gassed at this point. Murdoch grabbed the ring bell and brought it into the ring as the referee recovered. Not sure of the point of the ref bump, as the referee was right there. Murdoch then looked conflicted and put the bell down. Tyrus hit the heart punch, but he kicked out at 2. Tyrus went for the ring bell, but also refused to use it, which was unexpected.
As BLK Jeez was distracting the referee, Murdoch low blowed Tyrus and hit another top rope bulldog for another 2-count. Murdoch hit a third bulldog and finally pinned Tyrus, thank God. This match was far better than I expected, and it still sucked. One star would be generous, and I’m not sure about Murdoch low blowing Tyrus. That was confusing.
Tyrus and Murdoch shook hands after the match, which was uncharacteristic. Murdoch grabbed a mic after the match and showed respect to Tyrus. Tyrus kissed his daughter in the front row, and then overturned the announce table as Murdoch was trying to compliment him, and Murdoch called him a b-word and thanked the fans. I don’t think that was planned at all. What a bizarre ending.
Final Thoughts
This was not a good show. I don’t know how else to say it. Almost none of the matches had any promotion on TV, and this whole show felt like an extended episode of NWA Power where the angles they should have done on TV were done on both nights, and very little heat for any of the matches.
The highlights were Davey Richards, Flip Gordon vs. Nick Aldis, and Trevor Murdoch trying as hard as he could to make something out of that main event.
This show was way too long and had 16 matches, including the preshow, almost none of which were announced beforehand. I hope NWA does a better job building to Hard Times in November, because this entire experience has been frustrating as a fan. I could say more, but honestly, this PPV drained me and left me feeling disappointed. Not a good two nights of wrestling at all.
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