This episode was supposed to air Tuesday, but did not due to a mistake on FITE.tv’s end. Tonight when the countdown finished for the show to begin, an error was displayed. It then took another 15 minutes before the episode started. This was a bit annoying, but I don’t blame the NWA for technical issues on FITE’s end.
Kamille and Pope opened the show with Kyle Davis. Kamille and Pope did not control which matches happened this round, but both were confident their teams were going to win. The members of each team picked who would compete: Thom Latimer vs. Trevor Murdoch, Jax Dane vs. Mims and the final match with the alternates: Colby Corino vs. Sal Rinauro.
Trevor Murdoch defeated Thom Latimer
This was really good. Murdoch is underrated as a brawler and worked very well with Latimer. This was one of the best matches of the whole Champions Series.
They started with some great brawling. Murdoch used his superior skills in that area to dominate Latimer in the early part of the match. Nick Aldis was on commentary and was continuously trash talking about Murdoch. The two brawled on the outside and Murdoch threw Latimer face-first into the stairs.
When they got back in the ring, Latimer necked Murdoch on the ropes and then hit a popup power bomb. Latimer hit a neckbreaker for a two count. He later hit a wheelbarrow suplex for another two count. Latimer missed a corner charge and Murdoch took advantage, hitting a bulldog off the top rope for the win for Team Pope/Sky.
Mims defeated Jax Dane
I really enjoyed this match: two guys hitting each other hard in a MEAN GUY MATCH~! Dane is becoming a favorite of mine. He is quite good and Mims is getting better every time he is out there. I really hope we get to see more of these guys.
This match was a big one in the tournament. If Dane wins, his team wins the series. If Mims wins, it goes to a deciding match with the alternates.
Dane hit a big belly-to-belly and stomped on Mims in the corner. Mims hit a suplex of his own, but Dane got right up and nailed him with a clothesline. Murdoch, at ringside, said loudly, “I believe he is carrying an illegal weapon, ref, and it’s attached to his shoulder!” That made me smile.
Dane kept the advantage for a few minutes until Mims blocked several corner charges and hit a shoulder tackle off the middle rope. Mims hit a big clothesline and a big Protoplex, but Dane kicked out.
Mims went for a splash into the corner, but Dane caught him and hit another belly-to-belly in an awesome spot. Dane went for a corner charge, but Mims dodged and Dane smashed face first into the metal post.
Mims rolled Dane up for the pin, putting both teams even at five a piece, meaning the winner of the tournament will be decided by the alternates.
— Aldis and Chris Adonis came out to talk with Kyle Davis. Aldis complained that Billy Corgan didn’t let Strictly Business compete in the tournament. He buried his own team, except for Crimson, because they failed to win.
Aldis then buried Jeremiah Plunkett for losing in the alternate match and said he lived in an alternate universe where he thought he could compete in the NWA. Adonis then cut a promo on Plunkett, saying he didn’t even know who he was. Plunkett came out and said, rightly, that Aldis and Adonis are two of the most successful people in the company and they are still miserable. Plunkett’s promo was great here, saying he fought and clawed to get into the NWA, and he wasn’t an elitist like them.
Plunkett said that he made some friends being a normal guy, including Nick Aldis’ former roommate, Shawn Daivari! Daivari then challenged Aldis and Adonis to a tag match, and if they win, Daivari will get a future title match against Aldis. This got a great reaction from the crowd.
Strictly Business (World Champion Nick Aldis & National Champion Chris Adonis) defeated Shawn Daivari & Jeremiah Plunkett
This was the third good match on this show and I found myself really getting behind Plunkett and Daivari. This was great work from them as babyfaces, and Aldis was, of course, excellent with his heel work.
Daivari and Plunkett showed some good teamwork, being able to stay on top of both Aldis and Adonis which seemed to shock the World champ. Daivari hit a big suplex on Aldis and then another on Adonis. Plunkett charged at Aldis, who countered with a Michinoku driver.
Aldis and Adonis started to get the heat on Plunkett, working him over and cutting off the ring. Plunkett slipped out of a powerslam attempt and made the hot tag, and Daivari ran wild with chops and clotheslines. Daivari low bridged Adonis and tagged in Plunkett who hit a big DDT on Aldis. That almost got the three, but Aldis just kicked out in a great near fall.
Plunkett went for a dropkick, but Aldis caught him and locked on the Kingsland cloverleaf while Adonis had the Master Lock on Daivari on the floor. Plunkett had to tap out.
Colby Corino defeated Sal Rinauro to win the series for Team Pope/Sky
Corino taunted Rinauro by offering a handshake after he nearly killed him with a brainbuster on the apron a few weeks ago. Rinauro slapped the taste out of Corino’s mouth and went right after him with strikes. This made perfect sense in the psychology of the match given how they do not like each other.
Corino hit a stun gun in the corner on Rinauro and started attacking his injured shoulder for the next few minutes. Corino hit a samoan drop, but Rinauro rolled him up for a near fall. Corino took Rinauro’s head off with a clothesline and continued to work over the shoulder.
Rinauro made his comeback by knocking Corino off the top rope followed by a handspring stunner and a bulldog into the middle turnbuckle before hitting a flying clothesline for a pin attempt. Corino went for a brainbuster onto the apron once again, but Rinauro pulled him in and hit a brainbuster for a two count.
Latimer threw a chair to Rinauro and told him to use it, but the ref took it away. Corino hit Rinauro with brass knuckles and then a weird looking La Magistral bomb (?) for the pinfall and win for Team Pope/Sky.
Final Thoughts:
I think this tournament would have been much better and far less confusing if they kept the scoring and progression of this tournament more traditional. The right team won as it means Aldis and Murdoch are likely going to be main eventing NWA 73. This time, they cannot do a screwjob finish as it’s time for Murdoch to win the title.
As for the rest of the tournament, it had some good matches, but I can’t help but feel like the stipulations were never really properly explained. The winning team in the tournament got two things: all the members that competed got a title shot of their choosing. That is clear enough.
This is where it gets muddied. Initially, only the captain of each team would get the choice between immunity from their team for a year or a title shot of their choosing.
The messaging of it got confusing though. Now, Velvet Sky, the legend on Pope’s team, is talking about potentially getting a title shot too, so it sounds like she is going to challenge Kamille. This means there are seven title shots handed out: one for each captain and one for each participant.
This stipulation was changed halfway through the tournament. Are we really to believe that Austin Idol was going to come out of retirement in his 70s and challenge for a title? That makes no sense. Previously, the legends were not referred to as captains and it was indicated that they wouldn’t get anything. They were just there to support the team and captain with their experience. This made zero sense.
The NWA’s inconsistent presentation made it hard to follow, even though the end result made sense logically and was the right call. The tournament was still fun in that it produced good matches, but I was left confused more often than not. When I finally thought I understood it, they just changed the rules.
Either way, this was a fun season finale. Every match was quite good and now that the tournament is over, we can get back to focusing on building to NWA Empower and NWA 73. If they run this tournament again, please figure out what you actually want to do with it before you start it.
