The NWA World Heavyweight Champion EC3 will defend his title against Thom Latimer on the show.
EC3 called out Latimer on Tuesday’s edition of NWA Power, saying he didn’t want to waste time showing he’s the greatest champion ever. Latimer accepted EC3’s challenge and will vacate the NWA TV Championship in order to face him for the World title.
Kamille also confronted EC3 during the segment, saying he plays politics to get the opportunities he’s had, referencing his time in Dixie Carter-era TNA Wrestling.
NWA Samhain will take place from EC3’s hometown of Cleveland on Saturday, October 28. It will air as a pay-per-view on FITE.
EC3 became the 58th wrestler to ever win the NWA World Heavyweight title when he defeated Tyrus in a Bull Rope match at NWA 75. Tyrus’ reign with the title finished after 288 days and successful title defenses against Matt Cardona, Rolando Freeman, Daga, and Chris Adonis.
The NWA made two announcements during Tuesday’s edition of Power with another new pay-per-view and another championship on the way.
Following last Saturday’s Nuff Said, the first-ever NWA 312 will emanate from Chicago, Illinois, on Friday, April 7th. Chicago is NWA owner Billy Corgan’s hometown.
The PPV will feature the finals of the newly-announced Women’s TV title tournament where their inaugural Women’s TV Champion will be crowned.
Both qualifying matches and the tournament will take place on upcoming editions of Power. The first qualifying match will see reigning AAA Reina de Reinas Champion and MLW women’s Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie against Jennacide.
Similar to the men’s TV title, the women’s version will fall under the NWA’s Lucky 7 rule which states that after seven consecutive title defenses, the champion can cash in and challenge for the NWA Women’s title.
The title will be the ninth currently defended in the NWA.
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Thom Latimer defeated Jordan Clearwater to win the men’s TV title on Tuesday’s show. Latimer joins his wife, current Women’s Champion Kamille, as NWA titleholders.
Clearwater issued an open challenge going into the night which Latimer answered.
During last night’s episode of NWA Power, Thom Latimer challenged EC3 for the pay-per-view. EC3 accepted and the match was later made official.
Latimer and EC3 also faced off on the second night of NWA 74 on August 28. The match was ruled a no-contest, however, after members of Control Your Narrative interfered.
NWA Hard Times 3 takes place Saturday, November 12 from the Frederick J Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette, Louisiana. The only other match announced for the show thus far features NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch defending his title against Matt Cardona and Tyrus in a triple threat match. The main event had originally just been Murdoch vs. Cardona, but Tyrus then announced he was cashing in his NWA Television Championship for a crack at the ten pounds of gold.
NWA Hard Times 3 announced lineup:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch defends against Tyrus and Matt Cardona in a triple threat match
I was fairly unfamiliar with both of these men before this match; that piece of context is important. Heartthrob’s act seemed like a surface level, almost parodic heel, but I’m blind to his body of work, so there could be something more to his character. Their match was entirely mundane.
Heartthrob opened the match with a stereotypically heelish offence. Plunkett gained control after Heartthrob paid attention to his hair rather than his opponent. Plunkett did not maintain his advantage for long, however.
Heartthrob continued to use dirty tactics and again was interrupted as he took too much time in between offense. A DDT from Plunkett dropped Heartthrob, leaving Plunkett with a win.
Thom Latimer defeated Tim Storm
This was a basic match that delivered. Good stuff.
Latimer tried taking advantage of a distracted Storm before the match began, but failed in his attempt. Storm connected with multiple strikes before Latimer scored a kick to gain control over the former World’s Champion. After a brief back and forth, Latimer raked the eyes, opening Storm up for a piledriver. Storm then failed to kick out of the pin that followed.
[Replay] NWA World’s Women Championship: Kamille (C) defeated Layla Hirsch
This was a re-airing of the EmPowerrr title match. Airing this replay instead of another match in an empty arena was a great call. Hirsch and Kamile had a fantastic match in front of a hot crowd. I can not say enough about this; it was absolutely outstanding. If you missed it during EmPowerrr, seek it out.
Takeaway: This show was a product reintroduction for me. A significant positive for someone unfamiliar with 2021 NWA: the broadcast kept me in the loop to the goings-on of the promotion. The show even went as far as to recap a Nick Aldis match from his time in Mexico’s PTW, screwy finish and all. Good stuff.
The show also felt more genuine than the NWA immediately after the Corgan relaunch. It was less like an imitation of the promotion’s past; instead, it felt like a tribute. All-in-all, this was a breezy watch with a barnburner main event.
Kyle Davis started the show with Strictly Business to talk about the main event triple threat with Parrow, Adonis, and Latimer where the winner would advance to face JTG next week for the National title. They talked about having the advantage in the match, but Kamille criticized Corgan for making the triple threat. Aldis insisted this was Corgan staking the odds against Strictly Business.
–May Valentine was with the War Kings. Crimson talked about his upcoming match with Slice Boogie.
The Mystery Man defeated Mims
There’s something familiar about the Mystery Man, but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m deliberately avoiding looking up who he is to let them tell their story, but I feel like I’ve seen him before. He looked good in this match, despite it being a little slower.
This marked the debut of the masked man we have seen in recent weeks. Early on, he showed some great technique in his wrestling, managing to ground Mims. Right after I wrote that, Tim Storm said it, so we’re on the same page. Mystery Man hit a huge back suplex on Mims and some hard strikes.
Mims was never completely out of it in this match, but Mystery Man was clearly the more experienced grappler with his ability, making Mims pay for every misstep. Mims made a comeback and got a Big Strong Boy chant before hitting a big splash. Mystery Man responded with a sling blade and a Death Valley Driver and scored the pinfall.
–BLKJeez and Jordan Clearwater were with Kyle Davis. Jeez promised that they had a plan for their upcoming match.
Tyrus (with Austin Idol) defeated BLKJeez & Jordan Clearwater
What was this? What? Why?
The match started, and Jeez laid down. He asked Clearwater to lay down, and Clearwater refused. Jeez tried to convince him to do it, and he eventually did. They stayed down, and Tyrus pinned them. What?
–Thunder Rosa & Serena Deeb were with Kyle Davis, and the crowd popped huge for Rosa. Deeb and Rosa had some tension between each other, as Deeb defeated Rosa for the title. Deeb said she wanted her rematch for the title, and Rosa said that she should be the number 1 contender. It looks like we are getting Rosa and Deeb in a singles match soon.
Serena Deeb indicated that she wanted to mentor someone like Kylie Rae, who came out. She talked about how great Deeb and Rosa are, and she was happy to be there with them. Rosa indicated she wanted to mentor. Melina came out, thinking it was her, but she was wrong. It was Skye Blue. This broke down into a brawl. This was a bit of a mess of a segment.
–May Valentine was with Taryn Terrell and Jennacide. Taryn said they were overlooking Jennacide. Terrell called AEW “AWE” and made a weird analogy about rock hard pillows.
Crimson (w/ Jax Dane) defeated Slice Boogie w/ Marche Rocket in a No DQ Grudge Match
This wasn’t a bad match. Crimson is far better than his TNA days, and Boogie is quite good. I’m a bit tired of the “Will they get along?!” storylines in the tag division as we have two of those going now.
Crimson went right after Boogie, beating him around the ring and ringside. As Crimson came back into the ring, Boogie kicked the middle rope to low blow Crimson, and hit an axe kick for a pinfall attempt.
Crimson, using his experience and power, was able to make a bit of a comeback, but Boogie hit a tornado inverted DDT for a 2 count. Boogie grabbed a chair and set it up in the corner between the middle and top rope. Crimson reversed an Irish whip into a suplex on Boogie and sent Boogie to the floor.
Crimson whipped Boogie with his belt around ringside. Boogie tried for a low blow, but Crimson hit a Death Valley Driver. He stopped the pinfall and went for the chair. Dane told him he didn’t need the chair, and he wasn’t happy with it, but Crimson listened and hit a Death Valley Driver for the pinfall.
–Aron Stevens and Trevor Murdoch were on commentary for this match, as they were both NWA National Champions. Apparently, Stevens broke Velvet Sky’s chair and was left near the floor. It was a comedy bit, but it made me laugh.
NWA National Title qualifier: Chris Adonis defeated Thom Latimer and Parrow
Decent main event here, with the story of the match being Latimer and Adonis both wanting to win, but especially making sure that Parrow didn’t win. Parrow looked like a beast in the match, but he couldn’t overcome the odds, and in the end, Adonis used his brain to win. To be fair, he tricked Bram, so that doesn’t sound too difficult.
Adonis and Latimer spent the early parts of the match double teaming Parrow, sending him to the floor after a bit, and deciding to wrestle each other fair and square to see who the better man was, but they were giving Parrow time to recover.
Every time Parrow came back into the match, Latimer and Adonis would send him back to the floor. Problems between Adonis and Latimer began to escalate when Latimer tried to pin Parrow and Adonis broke it up. Parrow took advantage of this and started throwing both men around. He hit the Parrow Driver on Adonis, but Latimer broke it up.
Parrow made Latimer pay with a powerbomb for a two count. Strictly Business hit a double superplex on Parrow, and then when Latimer went up top for a moonsault, Adonis stole the pin by pinning Parrow. Latimer was angry, but Adonis promised that Latimer would get the first shot.
Adonis moves on to face JTG next week for the National title!
Final Thoughts:
Solid, if unspectacular, episode of NWA Power this week. The National title was the main storyline, and Aron Stevens was great on commentary in particular, selling the importance of the match and the history of the wrestlers involved.
I’m looking forward to Adonis against JTG next week, but I also want to see the next chapter in Murdoch’s story start to move forward. Hopefully, we’ll see that addressed a bit more. It’s clear that Thunder Rosa is, by far, their biggest star. She got a huge pop from the studio audience, and having them back shows her time in AEW is also quite effective in getting her over.
The women’s division clearly has a few aces up their sleeve over the next few months, as even though the angle with them tonight was a bit poorly executed (especially when Melina arrived), there are still some very interesting matches that were set up.
A match for the NWA Television title has been announced for the NWA’s Back For The Attack pay-per-view.
NWA’s social media announced this afternoon that Pope (Elijah Burke) will defend the NWA Television title against Thom Latimer. Pope won the championship on October 20, defeating Zicky Dice after he held the championship for 268 days.
Back For the Attack will air on FITE TV. The following Tuesday, NWA Power will return for the first time in a year, also on FITE TV. The company shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with much of the NWA roster competing on the weekly UWN Primetime Live series that aired last fall. The UWN’s weekly shows stopped in December also due to COVID-19.
Matches already announced for Back For The Attack, which will take place on March 21, include:
Nick Aldis vs. Aron Stevens for the NWA World’s Heavyweight title
Crimson vs. Jax Dane vs. Jordan Clearwater vs. Slice Boogie in a four-way match
Thunder Rosa vs. Kamille to determine the number one contendership for the NWA World Women’s title.
