NWA Power immediately started with Odinson and Flip Gordon fighting in the ring.
Odinson defeated Flip Gordon
***
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This was a good opening match here. I was worried they were going to have Odinson lose but with how he has been pushed of late, it only made sense for him to win.
Gordon remembered being attacked by Odinson at NWA 74, so he attacked right away. Odinson used his size to overpower him and also land a few cheap shots. Odinson hit an impressive dropkick for a two count. Gordon was able to hit a springboard into a tornado DDT to stop the onslaught, followed by a death valley driver and a superkick for a two count.
Gordon went to the top rope and missed a 450 splash before Odinson hit a running uppercut and a protoplex for a two count. He then hit a pounce on Gordon for the pinfall.
Nick Aldis ran in after the match to save Gordon from a follow up attack. Aldis then went to the podium and claimed that Odinson is trying to get favor with the office and Billy Corgan by taking him out, but he isn’t on the same level. Aldis promised that Odinson was going to find out what it meant to fight someone at his level.
Joe Galli was with NWA Champion Trevor Murdoch and asked about both Tyrus and Matt Cardona facing him at NWA Hard Times III. He didn’t care about who he had to face, because he was going to beat them all.
Jennacide was backstage with May Valentine and notably had no face paint. She talked about how she was going to be in the title picture when she beat NWA Women's Champion Kamille in a non-title match tonight.
EC3 defeated Traxx
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*
This match was really bad as EC3 was supposed to look like a star but Traxx was superior in the ring by far.
Galli explained that Traxx was called that because he figuratively lived on both sides of the tracks in life. EC3 hit a lariat and an exploder, but Traxx got up and landed a few chops as EC3 laughed at him. EC3 hit a TKO onto his knee (sort of) and then locked on The Purpose for the submission win. This was not good.
EC3 went to the podium as Kyle Davis asked him about his fight with Thom Latimer. EC3 claimed he was scoring victory after victory after victory. Latimer came out and challenged him and EC3 accepted for Hard Times III. EC3 said so much nonsense here that could have been said in ten seconds, but he extended it over five minutes.
- Taya Valkyrie was with May Valentine and talked about how she wanted to get another shot at Kamille. Valkyrie put over Kamille over as a strong wrestler.
NWA Women's Champion Kamille defeated Jennacide in a non-title match
**3/4
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Jennacide hit knees like she promised she would in the promo earlier, but missed a yakuza kick in the corner and got her leg trapped on the ropes. Kamille slammed the knee to the mat and then hit a lariat. She followed with some knees to the kidneys of Jennacide before choking her on the ropes.
Kamille hit a gutwrench suplex for another one count and continued to take it to Jennacide. Jennacide hit a kick to Kamille's thighs to break up an axe handle attempt. Jennacide hit a belly-to-belly suplex for a two count, followed by a shining wizard for another two count. The end came when she missed a Vader bomb and then got nailed with a spear by Kamille for the pin.
The Fixers were with May Valentine and Wrecking Ball yelled “Hooooooo!” like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, but Bradley cut it off and said it was copyrighted. They announced they were hosting an upcoming episode of NWA USA and Wrecking Ball claimed he got Muta, Luger, Vader, and the Midnight Express as his guests. Some of those would be quite impressive given they’re not with us anymore.
- NWA USA highlights aired of Bully Ray beating Jamie Stanley.
- BLK Jeez and Tyrus were with May Valentine. Jeez claimed that Tyrus shouldn’t give up the NWA TV title to cash in for a shot at the World title. Tyrus asked BLK to make sure the match was made, so it looks like he might be cashing it in. Since the main event has already been announced, it is weird that they are booking the angle to get there after it was already announced.
The OGK & Rhett Titus defeated NWA Tag Team Champions La Rebelion & Damian 666
***
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This was a quick, but fun, trios tag match with the OGK finally getting a small measure of revenge against the heels.
Watching Damian 666 work a match on Power was not something I had on my 2022 bingo card, but it happened here. The OGK and Titus immediately went after their opponents because of how they have been cheating in beating them over the last several weeks. In news of the week, Damian did not put makeup on his bald spot to cover it.
La Rebelion got the heat on Titus for the first few minutes. He managed to hit a belly-to-belly suplex on Mecha Wolf which let him tag out to Mike Bennett. Bennett took out Bestia 666, hitting clotheslines, hard chops, a hard spinebuster and a death valley driver.
It broke down to all six men being involved with Bestia 666 hitting a tope suicida on Bennett. Damian 666 went to spit the mist on Matt Taven to stop a tope con giro, but Titus blocked the mist with his hand over the mouth of Damian before locking on a short arm scissors for the submission.
Final Thoughts:
Besides the bizarre creative approach with Tyrus already being announced for the title match at Hard Times III yet acting like he hasn’t been yet, this was a solid episode of NWA Power.
I get they wanted to promote it well in advance, but shoot the angle and air it before you announce the match. It hurts the continuity of the show a little and makes it seem secondary since we already know where it is going.
That said, the build to NWA Hard Times III has been solid. Nothing exciting, but basic booked pro wrestling, which I can’t complain about.
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