NWA POWERRR: There can be only one…contender.

If you think things are cooling off for the final show of the NWA, that means you need to step Into The Fire for a big episode that is jam packed with action.  It’s coming to you live from GPB Studios in Atlanta, GA.  Your commentators Joe Galli and Velvet Sky have the call. Tim Storm is still “on assignment”, but they are joined by Da Pope to give a world class feel to commentary.  Better that than Adnan Virk, anyway.

(Did I say that out loud?  Must be the “genius juice” has kicked into a second gear.)

Now on to The Podium, as Kyle Davis is with the odd couple of the squared circle, Aron Stevens and Kratos. Aron states that because of 2020 and without his regular tag partner, he hired Kratos as a mercenary, and knew he’d get the job done.  He also wants to continue to win, but do it the right way.  As Davis tries to get a word from Kratos, he stares daggers at his tag partner.  The tension is so thick, you can cut it with a spoon.  As both men head to the ring, we get your First Match of the night….

NWA Tag Title Match: Aron Stevens/Kratos (c) vs. War Kings (Jax Dane/Crimson)

Both men are *still* bickering as they get ready, while the War Kings look focused and ready.  It’s Stevens and Crimson to start, but Kratos blind tags himself in. Now Dane wants a piece, and Crimson obliges.  At the early part, this match is just plain smash mouth mat wrestling between the two, but Kratos takes the advantage.  But Dane stops the momentum with shoulder tackles to Kratos in the corner, and Dane and Crimson shows tag team chemistry to wear down the mercenary Kratos.  Crimson tries to wrangle Kratos in a hold, but he pushes Crimson to the opposite corner, and a tag by Stevens takes control.  But that stops again, as Crimson and Dane work him over, and Stevens is your Face in Peril.  Again, war Kings with the great chemistry and fluid tag team moved like a double suplex to one half of the tag champs, and Kratos is yelling as his partner to get his head in the game.  War kings go for their tag finisher, with Dane hitting a suplex, but Crimson misses the elbow drop on Stevens, who gets away in time.  Stevens crawls to his corner, and tags in Kratos, and he is your Spartan En Fuego!  Kratos goes full God of War on War Kings, even hitting an impressive deadlift to a vertical suplex to Crimson for a cover, but Dane breaks the count. Out of nowhere, a man in a bandana from the outside approaches Crimson, and clocks him with a foreign object, and Kratos takes advantage to cover for the win.

Your Winners via Pinfall:  Aron Stevens and Kratos

The champs retain, but as Stevens incredulously asks what happened, Kratos is all, and “We won!   That’s what happened!”  Methinks more will be added to this story down the road.

Oh, by the way, the NWA Web Store is back with a flash sale of up to 40% off.  So…buy now.

Back to The Podium with Kyle Davis with another segment of What’s Causing Aldis with the National Treasure himself, and Davis asks about Strictly Business giving up the tag title opportunity. Aldis, visibly exasperated, is tired of the clickbait and the gotcha questions, but he is the Puppet Master, and when he pulls the strings, everyone dances. When he tells Davis to dance, Davis dances, to his and my bewilderment. Aldis is nonplussed by all the controversy surrounding him and Strictly Business and he states he graciously offered an exhibition match with Matthew Mims. Davis asks if he is worried about tonight’s 14-Man Battle Royale, especially since Trevor Murdoch is in the Royale. As Aldis asks if this is official, which Davis confirms, Aldis is very agitated as he heads to the ring for your…

NWA Non-Title Exhibition Match:  “The National Treasure” Nick Aldis vs. Matthew Mims

Yeah, this is a squash match, and I don’t recap squash matches.  As I was about to dive in Pinterest for a Squash recipe in it’s place I decided to pause and recap the story being told as far as the news Aldis received.  Galli and Sky, along with Pope, all react to how aggravated Aldis is behaving to the news, and it seems the champ is out of focus, to the point where Mims gets some offense in.  But, Aldis gets back on track with a modified Michinoku Driver, then a Tombstone piledriver, an elbow drop, and the Kings Cloverleaf hold for the submission and the win.

Your Winner via Submission:  Nick Aldis

Seems the Puppet Master is getting played.

Vignette showing the Rematch between Thunder Rosa and Kamille, and they really emphasize how important this match is to both women, and the Stipulation Kamille drops that if Rosa loses, she cannot compete anywhere else.  They had a great match on the Back for the Attack PPV, so let’s see how this match follows.

Number One Contender match: Kamille (with Taryn Terrell) vs. Thunder Rosa (with Melina)

Start of the match is all Thunder Rosa and it is very mat based, with a touch of MMA that makes her look Bulletproof, if you will.  Rosa dominates early on with ankle picks, and single leg Crab to ground Kamille’s power game.  Each time Kamille tries to gain the upper hand, Rosa answers back in wicked fashion.  At one point, Rosa gets Kamille into an STF crossed leg position, and goes to pulling on her hair to get a full Nelson, but rotates it to a pin, and gets a two count as Rosa releases.  She even goes full American Dragon with a Cattle Mutilation (which I’m dubbing the La Mera Mera Mutilation), but can’t get it cinched in.  Rosa then delivers with kicks and bulldog to knock down the Brickhouse.  Kamille heads to the corner, and Rosa rushes, but Kamille dodges in time, and Thunder is left dazed by the turn pads.

That mistake ensures the tequila worm has turned, and Kamille slow the pace and wrestles a dominant power match.  At one point, she ties up Rosa in the ropes and clubs her chest with furious forearms.  She follows with a clothesline and cover to Rosa for a two count.  Kamille keeps up the power game with two backbreakers to Rosa, and hammers away at her midsection.  A snap vertical suplex by Kamille, and powerslam just garner a two count.  Rosa tries to thunder up, and hits the ropes for a crossbody, but Kamille catches her in a bear hug to a suplex with no wasted motion.  Kamille then picks up Rosa and places her up top, but Rosa reverses to a sunset flip into a powerbomb that leave both women staggered.

As the ref starts the ten count, Melina and Taryn get involved in the ring, and screen is blurred for a good two minutes due to a wardrobe malfunction. Not sure who it was, but Galli states Melina and Taryn are both ejected by the ref.  Now Rosa is fired up, and looking angrier than ever, starts taking it to Kamille on the outside, ramming her to the ring posts and commentary booth, then back in with a Thunder Driver for a count of two.  Rosa goes to picking apart Kamille, with an arm trap to ram it to the mat, then she keep the arm trap on Kamille and delivers an STO to cover for another two count.  Kamille is too strong, and keeps powering out.  Even when Rosa traps Kamille in the ropes, and hits a dropkick to her back and covers, she still gets a two count.  Rosa goes for a Crossface, but Kamille picks her up for a rolling fireman’s carry to take the wind out of Rosa’s sails.  As Kamille stalks Rosa, Melina come back out and on the ring apron to get Kamille’s attention.  It works, as she proceeds to gets clotheslined off the ring by the Brickhouse. Rosa gets behind and rolls back Kamille to get a short codebreaker to cover for another two count.  Then it’s a series of pinfalls between the two, but Kamille gets a nasty Yakuza Kick to Rosa’s arm, and then she picks her up for a Samoa drop, but still gets a two count.  Kamille stiff arms Rosa, who grabs her in an armbar, but Kamille powers through to the corner.  Another rolling fireman’s carry, and she hits the spear to cover, but Rosa gets a foot on the rope to break the count.  Rosa then gets Kamille in the DisArmHer and Kamille is in the center of the ring with nowhere to go, and then… The bell is rung signaling the end of the match.  Did Kamille submit?  We find out from Kyle Davis that the match went to the 20 minute time limit, so therefore…

No Contest via Time Limit

End of the match had both women stare each other down, with Rosa delivering the one finger salute, and letting Kamille know she had her beaten by *this much*.  So Rosa fights on another day in other promotions, but doesn’t get the number one contendership.  Still, a great follow up from their PPV a few months back.  Seek this match out.

Now Galli is joined by Nick Aldis, and his former manager Austin Idol as they get ready for your Main Event of the night…

14 Man Battle Royale to determine the Number One Contender for the NWA Heavyweight Championship

Galli breaks down that this Battle Royale will be under NWA rules, meaning that the competitors do not need to go over top rope to lose, and if one foot touches the ground (doesn’t matter how), that man is out.  As twelve of the men are already in the ring, Davis introduces Tyrus, and he is followed by…Chris Adonis.  Since Chris is the NWA National Champion, and no NWA champs were allowed in this match, I’m not sure how they’ll explain that loophole, but I don’t really care either, since it is a Pier Fourteen brawl, and Aldis is screaming at Latimer and Adonis to get Murdoch out of the ring.

(Author’s Note:  Covering battle royales is the equivalent of finding out which Kardashian is having a fight, and who is getting more attention, all while trying to figure out *why* in God’s Squared Circle they’re a thing!  That said, how I’m covering this match is I’ll focus on who gets eliminated, and then drill down the four of five left in the ring…and I only have so much “genius juice” left in my rocks glass and that ain’t much, by the way, so let’s wrap up this nonsensical screed.)

Early minutes had Rinauro sent out, then followed quickly by Parrow and OdinSon.  Next out is Jeremiah Plunkett, then Marshe Rockett, followed closely by Fred Rosser.  Jordan Clearwater (huh!  Haven’t seen him there in a hot minute) is out of the ring, and Crimson and Dane both get eliminated, and Slice Boogie and Matt Cross are crossed out

So now the four men left in the ring are Adonis, Latimer, Tyrus, and Murdoch.  Obvious things aren’t looking good for Murdoch staring at The Great American Smash, until Pope comes out and pulls Tyrus out of the ring, and he’s eliminated.  Pope ducks out, while Tyrus gives chase.  Strictly Business then gang up on Murdoch, and just double team him all the way, to Aldis’ delight.  Murdoch is just hanging on to the ring ropes when Latimer rushes him, but Murdoch dodges out of the way as Latimer goes over.  Latimer manages to land on the apron, and Adonis goes for a forearm to Murdoch.  Another dodge, and Adonis accidentally knocks Latimer out. Adonis is in disbelief, and Murdoch sends him out to become…

Your Number One Contender for the NWA Heavyweight Championship:  Trevor Murdoch

Aldis is absolutely agog at this moment, and goes in the ring to take out Murdoch.  Murdoch fights back, and lands the flying bulldog to Aldis to send him with his tail tucked between his legs.

Murdoch heads to The Podium, where Kyle asks how he’s feeling. Murdoch is very emotional, and wishes Harley Race was here at this moment. He was told he’d be a champ by Race, and now come June 6th, he is going for that title.  Murdoch is holding his head high once again, as the show fades to black.