The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), under the leadership of William Patrick Corgan aka Billy Corgan (of the music group Smashing Pumpkins), holds their anniversary event this weekend, their biggest event of the year. NWA 74 is their WrestleMania and will be held as a 2-night doubleheader loaded with big names and big matches. Night 1 tonight has a number of title matches and more including The Burke Invitational, a Women’s Gauntlet match where the winner claims the trophy named after legendary Women’s wrestler Mildred Burke AND an NWA Women’s World Championship match tomorrow.
Tonight’s event will be held at the Khorassan Ballroom at Chase Park Royal Sonesta in St. Louis, MO and can be watched LIVE on FITE. There are two ways to watch: Tonight’s event is available as a standalone PPV for $24.99 or you can get a combo pack with tomorrow’s Night 2 included for $39.99. Either way, a purchase gets you the live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays. If you are an NWA All Access Annual member or you sign up, you get both nights included and all past, present and upcoming NWA TV episodes and archived content live and on demand and more. NWA All Access Annual is $49.99 for a year-considering that’s how much this weekend’s PPVs cost on their own, and each of their 4 annual PPVs is $25 each, it’s a bargain-like getting this weekend’s events or 2 PPVs each year FOR FREE! I bought the Annual plan so I get this weekend’s events as part of it. There is also a monthly All Access plan for $4.99/month but that only includes the TV episodes.
Tonight’s current lineup:
The Burke Invitational. Confirmed participants: Missa Kate, Madi (Wrenkowski), Angelina Love, Tootie Lynn, Jennacide, Natalia Markova, Samantha Starr, KiLynn King. Presumably 2 more TBA
Pope vs. Rodney Mack
NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Homicide vs. Kerry Morton for the title
NWA World Tag Team Champions Commonwealth vs. La Rebellion for the titles
NWA National Heavyweight Champion Jax Dane vs. Cyon for the title
Matt Cardona vs. TBA (his hand-picked opponent)
Bully Ray vs. Mike Knox in a Tables Match
EC3 vs. Mims
NWA World Women’s Champion Kamille vs. Taya Valkyrie for the title (winner defends tomorrow vs. The Burke winner)
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.
UPDATE: There will be a FREE Pre-Show on YouTube beginning at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT so updates will now begin then.
We are LIVE from the Khorassan Ballroom at Chase Park Royal Sonesta in St. Louis, MO. Your hosts are Joe Galli & Tim Storm.
Audio issues right away. Sounds off at first then cuts out completely. Video is fine though. (Audio restored about 10 minutes in) Venue looks sold out but it’s a small room, so only a few hundred.
Pre-SHow:
Match 1: The Country Gentlemen vs. Gold Rushhh
Result: The country Gentlemen beat Gold Rushhh.<,br>
Grade: N/A (stream issues)
Jay Bradley interview backstage by May Valentine interrupted by technical difficulties. Probably because the interviewer couldn’t keep her eyes off his, uh, lower half.
The next PPV is 11/12/22 in New Orleans, LA for Hard Times at the Sigur Civic Center. It will be LIVE on FITE.
Match 2: Rhett Titus vs. VSK. This was to have been Titus vs. Luke Hawx but it seems Hawx will now be in another match.
Result: Rhett Titus beat VSK
Grade: C+
Match 3: Pope vs. Rodney Mack
Result: Rodney Mack beat Pope by submission
Grade: C
Afterwards, Aron Stevens & Mack beat down Pope but JR Kratos made the save.
Valentine interviews Bully Ray.
BREAKING: The NWA World Tag Team Championship is now VACANT. Co-champion Harry Smith is out due to illness. Hawx Aerie will replace The Commonwealth Connection and face La Rebellion for the titles.
Match 4: Wrecking Ball Legursky & Colby Corino vs. Caprice Coleman & Gustavo in a Pick Your Poison Match for tomorrow’s Corino-Coleman match. If Corino/Legursky win, it’s a 30 Minute Iron Man Match tomorrow. If Coleman/Gustavo win, it’s 2 of 3 Falls tomorrow.
Result: Gustavo & Caprice Coleman beat Colby Corino & Wrecking ball Legursky. Coleman beat Legursky with a chicken wing. As a result, tomorrow’s match between Coleman & Corino is 2 of 3 falls.
Grade: C+
End Pre-Show. Velvet Sky will join commentary for the main show.
Pre-show ends at 7:55 PM ET. Updates will resume in 5 minutes when the main show begins.
Main Show:
Mandatory FBI Warning graphic then the opening video plays.
We are LIVE from the Khorassan Ballroom at Chase Park Royal Sonesta in St. Louis, MO. Your hosts are Joe Galli, Velvet Sky & Tim Storm.
Nick Aldis comes out first. With microphone. Because he lost what was to have been an NWA World Heavyweight Title match this weekend for unspecified reasons (known only to Aldis and Billy Corgan), he thought about quitting before shifting to talk about his wife, WWE Hall Of Famer Mickie James. He promises that we don’t want to miss his match tomorrow against Flip Gordon. He closes by welcoming everyone to NWA 74.
For those unfamiliar, Aldis has been the face of the NWA since the pandemic began and had a year-plus reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Match 1: EC3 vs. Mims
Result:: EC3 beat Mims by submission
Grade: C+
Afterwards, EC3 with microphone for a Control Your Narrative promo (his new project launched earlier this year with Adam Scherr, the former Braun Strowman in WWE), but was interrupted by Thom Latimer coming out. EC3 took a step forward as he began to put Latimer over before claiming EC3 had more demons to extract from Latimer before telling him “you’ve been warned” before leaving.
Match 2: Miserably Faithful vs. The Ill Begotten in a Beelzebub’s Bedlam Match, meaning no rules except 1 Fall. During entrances commentary reveals Max The Impaler has been added to The Burke Invitational tonight. That makes 9, leaving one TBA.
Result: Miserably Faithful beat The Ill Begotten. Judais pinned Danny Dealz after a chokeslam.
Grade: C-
Incredibly scary spot late when, after a suplex attempt off a ladder, Alex Taylor bounced off the top rope coming down (his midsection hit the rope) and may have been seriously injured.
Match 3: Chris Adonis vs. Odinson
Result: Chris Adonis beat Odinson by DQ. Foreign object/substance usage.
Grade: B
Match 4: NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Homicide vs. Kerry Morton (with Ricky Morton) for the title
Result: NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Homicide beat Kerry Morton to retain the title.
Grade: B
Former NWA World Champion Tommy Rich is brought out. He fires up the crowd.
May Valentine interview Thrillbilly Silas. He faces Davey Richards for the NLW National Championship tomorrow.
Match 5: Matt Cardona vs. TBA. TBA is an opponent hand-picked by Cardona for his return match here. Cardona out first with microphone. He complains about how his injury caused him to miss his own PPV (Alwayz Ready, the last NWA PPV) and forced him to vacate the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. (If you’re new to the NWA or didn’t catch him in AEW during a brief run last year, Cardona is the former Zack Ryder in WWE) Then he says his mystery opponent is not Nick Aldis. And it’s not Bully Ray. Xardona then says he’s got a future title shot in his pocket thanks to Billy Corgan before revealing his hand-picked opponent…Rolando Freeman. A wrestler who is MUCH SMALLER than Cardona.
Result: Rolando Freeman beat Matt Cardona
Grade: D+ (Mostly a joke match although Cardona got his comeuppance in the end. That got it up from D)
May Valentine interviews Samantha Starr & former women’s wrestling icon Baby Doll (apparently Starr is her daughter).
Match 6: The Burke Invitational. The winner get an NWA Women’s World Championship match tomorrow. 10 woman battle royal, new entrant every minute. Eliminations by pinfall, submission or over the top rope
Order of entry: 1-KiLynn King. 2-Samantha Starr. 3-Natalia Markova. 4-Missa Kate. 5-Madi (Madi Wrenkowski). 6-Taryn Terrell. 7-Max The Impaler. 8-Tootie Lynn. 9-Angelina Love. 10 (Final)-Jennacide.
Order of elimination: Kate by King (over the top rope), Madi eliminated herself (over the top rope) when Max The Impaler entered, Lynn by Max (over the top rope), Love & Terrell by Max (over the top rope), Starr by Jennacide (submission), King by Markova (pinfall), Jennacide by Max (pinfall), Markova by Max (pinfall)
Result: Max The Impaler won. As a result, Max will face the Kamille-Taya Valkyrie winner (tonight’s main event) for the NWA Women’s World Championship tomorrow.
Grade: B-
Aron Stevens challenges JR Kratos to a tag team match. And it is made for tomorrow.
Match 7: NWA National Champion Jax Dane vs. Cyon for the title
Result: Cyon beat NWA National Champion Jax Dane to become THE NEW NWA NATIONAL CHAMPION!
Grade: C-
Match 8: Bully Ray vs. Mike Knox in a Tables Match. The only way to win is to put your opponent through a table.
Result: Bully Ray beat Mike Knox. Right before, Knox went through a table but it didn’t count because he put himself through it.
Grade: B-
Afterwards, Bully broke off a piece of a table and gave it to a young girl in the front row as a souvenir to send that fan home happy and make a new fan for life in a great gesture.
Match 9: Hawx Aerie vs. La Rebellion for the vacant NWA Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
As the match was about to begin, former co-champion Doug Williams came out to present his belt to the referee in a great show of respect.
Result: La Rebellion beat Hawx Aerie to win the vacant NWA Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Bestia 666 pinned PJ Hawx with a rollup after Damien 666 sprayed mist while the ref was distracted.
Grade: B
Billy Corgan brings out Trevor Murdoch & Tyrus to promote tomorrow’s main event for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship held by Murdoch. Tyrus is also the NWA TV Champion, that title is not on the line.
Main Event: NWA Women’s World Champion Kamille vs. Taya Valkyrie for the title
Result: NWA Women’s World Champion Kamille beat Taya Valkyrie to retain the title.
Grade: A
Afterwards, almost the entire women’s locker room came out in a show of respect for both. Some of the men’s locker room could be seen near the entrance applauding as Kamille walked to the back.
Overall show grade: C+
Extremely close to a B- though, while the grade suggests is was just above average the good did outweigh the bad in my view, and I’m not as up to speed on the NWA as I should be. Just a little too much screwjob in teh title matches, but outside of the Cardona joke match nothing was terrible. The pre-show and the Cardona match can be skipped, the main event is must-watch while most of the rest is between worth watching and at least take a look at. Tomorrow should be better with the really big matches.
End Show.
