NWA Power results: Champions Series semifinals

This week's NWA Power opened with Team Tyrus talking about the Champions Series, and EC3 mumbling nonsense about narratives being controlled and Tyrus being the narrative since he is champ. 

Team Rebelion cut a promo against Team Tyrus. EC3 said winning the series would bring him closer to his goals -- goals of which he said he refused to speak about. I think the goal is to win a title shot since that is the reward for winning this series.

Then, it was time for action. 

Team Tyrus (EC3, Thrillbilly Cyrus & Carnage) defeated Team Rebelion (Colby Corino, Joe Alonzo & Odinson)

Odinson was on another team before the start of this show, but the announcers told us he was drafted from Team Fixers. Also, in the last Champions Series, people only got one match in the series. EC3, and I think Odinson, are both working at least their second match. I'm confused.

Corino started, but it wasn’t long before Alonzo tagged in and angered his teammates. Alonzo hit a hurricanrana on Silas, but EC3 made him pay for wanting in the match by attacking him from the outside. Silas and EC3 worked together to floor Alzono, getting heat on him for several minutes until he hit a DDT on Silas and made the tag to Odinson. Odinson got some hope spots, but Silas soon hit a Thrillride on Corino leading to EC3 submitting him shortly after.

In a series of individual sit-downs, La Rosa Negra and Taya Valkyrie talked about their issues, and Angelina Love and Valkyrie then talked about their upcoming match. Apparently, Valkyrie put Negra in the hospital and turned heel.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Angelina Love via DQ

Valkyrie hit Angelina hard in the early going, but Love fought to the ropes while in a submission attempt. Valkyrie stood up, got hit with a flatliner, and Love then locked on a Koji Clutch. Valkyrie made the ropes but Love didn’t let go, so a grade one DQ was called which matters in the Series points.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Angelina Love

Love kicked a turnbuckle into Valkyrie's face as she was leaning against it before hitting a dropkick for a two count. Valkyrie yanked Love's hair and pulled Love to the mat backward, sitting out for a two count. Valkyrie hit a hip attack in the corner and then double knees in the corner for another two count. Velvet Sky completely misread the facial expression of Valkyrie, who was smiling and not shocked that Love kicked out.

Love hit a series of clotheslines. As I was writing that, someone in the YouTube chat wrote that The Death Dollz (Valkyrie & Jessicka in Impact) vs. The Allure (Angelina Love & Mandy Leon in ROH) would be a dream match. Well, I suppose it is for them, but not for many. Valkyrie hit Road to Valhalla on Love for the pinfall.

- Aron Stevens and May Valentine were backstage, and they talked about how they didn’t go to Brazil. Stevens suggested they get married with every cliché term, but Valentine didn’t understand. So, he just said it outright, and Valentine suggested they had James Mitchell do the ceremony right now. Stevens then told he to take a long time to plan it.

- Samantha Starr & Kayla Kassidy talked about their upcoming match with Max the Impaler & Ashley D’Amboise. I wasn’t aware any of these people were on Team Tyrus or Team Rebelion.

Team Tyrus (Samantha Starr & Kayla Kassidy) defeated Team Rebelion (Max the Impaler & Ashley D’Amboise)

It was during this match that the announcers talked about people being out of the tournament due to losing while the others finished their match. Yet, we saw people earlier in their second match still in the tournament. This does not make sense.

Kassidy started with Max, but soon requested to be in the ring with D’Amboise. This actually worked out for Kassidy, who ran wild. Max tagged back in and hit a Vader body press that leveled Kassidy, later curb stomping her into the bottom turnbuckle for a near fall. Max tagged out and used D’Amboise as a weapon on Kassidy.

D’Amboise hit a leg drop and then a very ugly looking attempt at a curb stomp. Kassidy dodged a corner charge and tagged out to Starr. She slammed D’Amboise into the mat multiple times, but D’Amboise was able to tag out after a jaw breaker. Max immediately charged Starr and started hitting strikes before throwing Starr across the ring and getting another near fall.

D’Amboise blind tagged in, causing Max to shove D’Amboise. This led to Starr hitting the StarrStruck DDT for the pin. Team Tyrus advanced to the finals of the Champions Series, apparently.

Team Great (Missa Kate & Natalya Markova) defeated Team Rock N' Roll (Madi & Jennacide)

We were informed that Madi was drafted from Team Brickhouse, which again, is the first I heard of drafts in this tournament. That detail would have been nice to know at the start of the tournament so we could understand what was going on. Leaving the announcers to try and piece together the nonsensical storytelling after the fact is a clear sign of bad booking and not knowing what you are doing.

Unfortunately, my frustration at not understanding the rules of the Champions Series took away from what was actually a good match. The performers were excellent in this one with Jennacide and Markova in particular looking awesome.

Madi was keen to let Jennacide do the heavy lifting for their team with Markova and Jennacide bringing the wrestlers who comprised the audience to applause for their battle. Madi missed some attempt at offense and Markova went for a submission. Madi countered into a bow and arrow which Markova got out of, followed by a drop toehold that sent Madi tagging out to Kate.

Kate locked up Madi in a pretzel-like submission, but Jennacide broke it up. Markova and Jennacide started brawling, ending with Jennacide hitting a spinebuster. Kate superkicked Madi, but Jennacide took her out. Markova hit a dropkick that sent Jennacide to the floor. Markova then locked on a brutal looking submission on Madi for the win. I wish I could describe it, but it was awesome.

Either way, Team Rock N' Roll and Team Great are now tied, leading to a final playoff match.

Team Rock N' Roll (Ricky & Kerry Morton) defeated Team Great (Cyon & Sal the Pal) (w/ Austin Idol)

As much as I have no idea who is on what team, I still really enjoyed this match because Ricky Morton’s selling was so good. Kerry Morton had a great hot tag, and Cyon and Sal were great heels. This was a classic, old school tag match with the Mortons being classic babyfaces -- excellent, basic wrestling.

Sal started with Kerry Morton and creeped him out with his wackiness. Kerry picked Sal up on his shoulders and hit the Finley Roll. Cyon stared forward on the apron like he didn’t care about his partner getting beat on. Ricky Morton hit a shoulderblock on Sal, but got into an argument with Austin Idol, who was on the floor. Ricky and Idol know each other well from the territory days.

Idol taunted Ricky to come after him, but Cyon tagged in and attacked him on the floor. Cyon then got the heat on Ricky for the next few minutes, following the classic Rock ‘n’ Roll Express formula. Sal bit Ricky and hit an elbow in the corner. Cyon missed a corner charge and the wrestlers in the audience went wild. I think they were legitimately marking out for Ricky getting the hot tag to his son. Kerry blocked a superkick and hit a V-Trigger for the win on Sal to help Team Rock N' Roll advance.

The Champions Series now has their finalists with Team Tyrus and Team Rock N' Roll which will happen on the live episode of NWA Power on January 31. Calling this the season finale, the NWA seemed to indicate there were going to be no more episodes until then so we will have to see what they have until then, if anything.

Final Thoughts:

The wrestling on this show was mostly good, but it is so hard to invest in the stories being told because they make so little sense. Or, if they make sense, they aren’t explaining how. As I said in another recap, it’s like reading a book with half the pages torn out. There could be good stories here, but it gets bogged down by the booking so badly. Add in the ridiculously complicated Champions Series rules that keep changing and this only becomes a more frustrating experience for a viewer. 

I want this show to be good. It could be great. They have a lot of talented people working for them. But, the booking is failing them again and again.