It might be a little early to heap praise onto NWA Power but the show has been off to a strong start. I’d say it’s a combination of being just one hour, the roster it’s working with, a studio presentation to the product, and how that presentation plays into building and fortifying stars.
Two Weeks Into NWA Power
Number one, I had forgotten that NWA Power was going to debut on 10/8. AEW Wednesday Night Dynamite had my attention that week. I was hoping for the second week of Dynamite to really grab me—more on that later.
Power’s first show was a good one. In five bouts, match of the show honors goes to NWA World Champion Nick Aldis’ successful defense of the title against former champion Tim Storm. With the build-up leading to this show and the story of how a Texas high school history teacher chased the title was a compelling one. I was pulling for him to win this match.
We also had a few promos before guys either headed to the back or went several steps over to the ring. I love this touch. It keeps everything in one place for the studio audience. There’s no sense of dead time with a backstage interview and nothing going on for those there watching the action.
The show-stealer on the mic for me was Eli Drake’s interview on that first show. Jocephus yelling like a maniac and getting into it with NWA National Champion James Storm was a highlight.
Week two continued with week one’s momentum. This time, James Storm stole the show on the mic with the teams of Colt Cabana and Ken Anderson and Eddie Kingston and Homicide really delivering the goods as well. Aron Stevens, formerly Damien Sandow, also gave us a solid interview.
Kingston and Homicide delivered in their failed World Tag Team championship bid against The Wild Cards of Royce Isaacs and Thom Latimer—formerly Bram in TNA. We also had Trevor Murdoch losing to Ricky Stark. Anderson and Cabana would be successful in their matchup.
Early Verdict
We’re just two weeks in with NWA Power but we’re also three weeks in with AEW Dynamite and showing it a lot of love. I think it’s safe to say that so far, the show is very good. There’s no wasted motion in how the show moves along from promos and angles into matches.
The wrestling hasn’t been the most athletic, fast-paced thing you’ll see but the pacing of the show is probably the fastest at the moment. You won’t sit through lulls in-ring and the squash matches are used for their intent—to get this familiar for new to the viewing audience over. These aren’t squash matches purely to fill time.
On the mic, most of the talent that gets on gives you the goods. It helps that mic time is kept to less than three or four minutes per segment. That momentum is kept up by going right into the next match. As I said, there’s no wasted motion with NWA Power. It’s an 80s wrestling approach that should be mandatory on wrestling TV shows in 2019.
