PARKERSBURG, W.V. — America’s Most Wanted, Traci Brooks, Synn, NWA Senior Referee Fred Richards and more highlighted this past weekend’s NWA 55th Anniversary Show. The NWA, or National Wrestling Alliance, brought together talent from Hawaii, Ireland, England, Canada, NWA TNA and all over the United States for their annual anniversary show.
Sadly, the results of the shows were never posted on any major wrestling news web sites. The two shows, held October 10 & 11, 2003, drew a total of 600 fans with sell out crowds each night (standing room only on the second night). The events were held in the wrestling friendly town of Parkersburg, W.V., who came out to see some of the best talent from the independent scene.
Richard Arprin, the NWA President for the year, without any Internet promotion, put together two solid shows not only for their talent but also their timing. Past Anniversary shows had complaints of long shows filled with 15 matches or more. This year, the nights featured ten and eight matches respectively. Also, because the gym where the show was held was full a half hour before the show on Saturday, Arprin sent out some local talent in a sort of a dark match to warm up the crowd, something unheard of in independents. Arprin reacted well under pressure of a hot and ready crowd.
The crowd was almost brought to a sad standstill during the second night, as Rocky Reynolds, a local West Virginia wrestler fell off a ladder onto the hard tiled ground. He did not jump far enough, and hit head first. He ended up with a major concussion and 12 staples to his head. Reynolds did not recall the drive to the arena early that day but wanted to see a film of his fall after talking to those who visited him in the hospital.
NWA-TNA’s America Most Wanted put out a great 20-minute match for the crowd with The Naturals. AMW was able to work a longer match they normally would not be able to do at a NWA-TNA PPV.
Among those in attendance were NWA-TNA’s Bob Ryder, new NWA President Bill Behrens, new NWA Vice President Ernie Todd and press from Japan.
Here are the results from Friday, October 10, 2003 (300 attendance):
1. NWA Florida Junior Heavyweight Title Match (NWA Florida): Kevin Rhodes defeated C.B. Cool to win the title
2. NWA Tri-States: Bruce “The Hulk” Banner defeated Romeo Godwinn (NWA Tri-State)
3. NWA Bluegrass Match: Vinnie Viagra and Beautiful Bobby Jay defeated Zach Mercury and Rob Stardom
4. NWA Hawaiian Tag Team Championship Match: The Hawaiian Power Company defeated Cholo and Chris Cavanaugh to retain the titles
5. NWA British Commonwealth Championship (NWA UK-Hammerlock): Spyder defeated Fergal Devitt to win the newly formed NWA British Commonwealth Championship
5. NWA-UK Match: Paul Tracey defeated Muscles Mansfield.
6. NWA Missouri Championship and NWA National Title Match: Ricky Murdock defeated Showtime Shane Sommers to unify the belts
7. NWA Tri State/Bluegrass Championship: Chance Prophet defeated Trik Nasty to retain the belts
8. Synn with Tracy Brooks (NWA TNA) defeated Mason Hunter (NWA Tri-State)
Here are the results from Saturday, October 11, 2003 (325 attendance):
1. NWA Tri-States Dark Match: Kid Inferno and Twisted Youth defeated D.J. Skittles and Clark
2. NWA Florida X Title Match (NWA Florida): In the match of the night, Roderick Strong defeated Jerrelle Clark and Danny Doring.
3. NWA North American Title Match: J.T. Wolfen (NWA Hawaii) defeated Chance Prophet (NWA Tri-State) to retain the Title.
4. NWA Women’s Title Match: Leilani Kai defeated A.J. Sparx to retain the Title.
5. America’s Most Wanted (NWA TNA) defeated The Naturals (NWA Bluegrass) in a great match
6. 4 Way Ladder Match for The NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Vinnie Viagra, Doubble Dragon, Rocky Reynolds and Champion Chris Draver ended with no winner as the match was stopped due to the injury to Rocky Reynolds.
7. Battle Royal: Trik Nasty won.
