NWA USA: Junior heavyweight tourney reaches the semis

The show opens with a cold open interview May Valentine interviews Chris Adonis and Thom Latimer about their problems with former friend Nick Aldis and Doug Williams. She asks when Adonis is going to defend the National Title, because, as Champion, he is supposed to defend the title on NWA USA show regularly but has yet to do so. Adonis says he will defend it once the NWA finds suitable competition. We then see Joe Galli and Velvet Sky in studio with Raven as the third co-host this week, with no mention on where Austin Idol is.

Joe Galli, Raven and Velvet Sky do commentary on NWA USA. Photo by Greg Oliver

Match 1: Darius Lockhart VS. Ariya Daivari

All the matches on this week’s show are semi-final matches for the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship Tournament. The match starts with old-school chain wrestling. Later in the match Daivari goes off the top rope with his Magic Capet Ride body press but fails. Both men trade offense back and forth then Lockhart does a knee strike to Daivari for the pin. A very good match.

After a break, we see Valentine interview Kenzie Paige, who back from her suspension last week for an altercation with Natalia Markova. NWA USA GM Tim Storm is asked by Valentine why he made that decision. Storm says he watched the tape back and both were at fault, and a match has been made for next week.

We then see Kyle Davis at the podium interviewing Ricky and Kerry Morton and also there is Colby Corino, Jay Bradley and Wrecking Ball Legursky. Kerry and Colby trade insults as they talk about growing up in wrestling. Davis then says we will see this match between them next week on the show.

After another break, we see Valentine interviewing Homicide about his past and the current challengers in the tournament. Homicide talks about what he plans to do when he meets Austin Aries in the future.

Match 2: Miguel Robles VS. Marshe’ Rockett (with BLK Jeez)

A very good match but was less than five minutes. Robles is a new talent but is good. Rockett is a star in the making. The match ends with Rockett using a lot of offense, Robles had some good moves into the corner but Rockett gets the win with his Rockett Kick finisher to the face of Robles. Robles looked a little hurt with an injured arm after the match.

During the break, we see a promo for the Crockett Cup Tag Team Tournament in Nashville, March 19, and March 20, 2022. There will be 16 teams, some are NWA teams and others are from the indie scene like Mark and Jay Briscoe.

After that Valentine interviews Luke and PJ Hawx. They talk about their family and team as well as Luke’s upcoming match on this show with Austin Aries. Luke tells PJ to stay in the back tonight and watch the match.

Match 3: Luke Hawx VS. Austin Aries

Both are good, but it seemed at times Aries did not want to give too much offense to Hawx during the match. Aries has held championships in other companies and Hawx is a grizzled veteran. During the match, Hawx tried an outside flip over the top rope into the ring but was unsuccessful. Eventually we see a lot of two count attempts for the pin by both. Aries goes to the top corner turnbuckle for a dropkick. Hawx catches Aries in a power slam like maneuver and throws Aries down. Eventually the match ends with Aries picking Hawx up for a Brainbuster, which Arn Anderson made famous years ago in the 1980s NWA, and Aries gets the win. This was a good match but it could have been better.

Next week Morton and Corino square off in another semi-final match — meaning there will be at least three names in the final.