NWA Powerrr: Episode 8 Review, Results, Recap

Previously on NWA Powerrr: Trevor Murdoch is so tough, he’s the only man we know who can … [squints] nope, not gonna read the rest of that.

If you’d like to keep up with these columns, you can do so on the NWA Powerrr tag page. Remember, NWA Powerrr and all its extra Rs is free to watch on YouTube, so check out episode eight if you haven’t already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQBj7p0UeXM

So It’s Come To This: An NWA Clip Show

Before we get to deep into this week’s report, here are two things you need to know:

it’s essentially a clip show, with only one “empty arena” match and a bunch of interviews and video packages, and
I had it confirmed to me directly that the episode was always intended to be this way, as we’re in the middle of a holiday week in the United States, and has nothing to do with the whole Jim Cornette thing

That said, there’s only so much you can do with an hour-long YouTube clip show. At the time of publication the likes to dislikes ratio on YouTube is pretty much 1:1, with half the vocal people not watching the show because they don’t want to watch a racist on commentary, and the other half in the chat hashtagging #FreeCornette because they can’t imagine watching without one. Let’s hope Thanksgiving shakes some of the insufferable performance out of the discourse.

Into Into The Fire

The meat of the episode is interviews and video packages to set up INTO THE FIRE, the NWA’s first pay-per-view of the Powerrr Errra. I would’ve called it NWA Zeitgeist, or maybe Trumpet of the Zwan. Regardless, the best of these hype clips is an interview with E. Li Drake at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. Fun fact, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood has been one of the best wrestling promotions in the country for a long time, and if NWA Powerrr needs a more modern-feeling secondary show every week, they could do a lot worse. Pretty much everything good about Powerrr besides the throwback TBS vibe is from CWFH. Real talk.

Drake wants a shot at Sweet Charlotte® — a nickname for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship that feels a little weirder now that the belt’s most legendary holder has a popular WWE Superstar daughter called “Charlotte” — but feels like he has to go through Ken Anderson first. All right. Meanwhile, the NWA’s made the super weird choice to have James Storm, the guy who just lost the National Heavyweight Championship that makes him the de facto number one contender, the number one contender to Heavyweight Champ Nick Aldis. Kinda kills the whole “Machiavellian champion manipulating everything from behind the scenes” vibe when the guy he manipulated out of title contention randomly gets a title shot.

Also curious this week are a emotional video package about Thunder Rosa’s fight in Combate Americas, and an interview with Melina Perez about how much she loves pro wrestling. Those wouldn’t be weird if, you know, they hadn’t just spent several weeks building them up as evil. Thunder Rosa’s got magical drums that play in the background and hypnotize people, or what have you, and she’s used them (and some social manipulation) to help turn champ Allysin Kay’s best friend against her. Melina just showed up last week to help Rosa and Belle cheat to win. Now they’re real, loving people we’re supposed to … cheer for, I guess? I dunno, man. It’s an unnecessary tonal leap. This entire episode feels like an idea they had and scheduled before they knew what the show was gonna be.

Mask Vs. Shakespeare: A Problem Eric Stoltz Has Probably Experienced

The only match on the show is an “empty arena” match that lasts under two minutes, but boy oh boy is it entertaining. It’s a mask vs. Shakespeare match between kara-tay genus ?THE QUESTION MARK? and random California hillbilly wrestler Zane Dawson. The Dawsons want Question Mark’s mask to expose him. Aron Stevens wants the Dawsons to have to recite Shakespeare so they can understand how hard acting is, and therefore respect him. It’s so fucking bonkers ridiculous from every angle that you either throw up your hands in confusion and walk away, or you’re absolutely ride or die for it. QUICK GUESS WHICH ONE I AM.

The Question Mark wins, of course, because he and his one Touch of Death uppercut are hilariously overpowered. I’m pretty sure The Question Mark could pin Triple H in under two minutes right now. The Dawsons live up to the stipulation by reciting ‘Sonnet 18,’ and they do such a bad job that Aron Stevens starts vomiting right in front of them.