LEGACY
The professional wrestling business has seen drastic changes over its long history from its origins as part of traveling circuses. Since 1948, the National Wrestling Alliance has been one of the constants in this industry in one form or another they have survived. From its heights as the collective of promotions all over the world that controlled the industry, often in controversial fashion mafia style by forcing any renegade promotion that attempted to enter an alliance member’s territory to regret it, often driving them out of the industry.
However, as the years went by and alliance members become more ambitious, they no longer wanted to deal with the politics of the NWA trying to book the NWA World champion or trying to politic for one of their own talents to be the NWA World champ. As members broke off on their own, the NWA lost most of its identity and would barely still exist as the years went by, but it refused to die.
When so many others saw little to no value in the three letters that one time was the pinnacle of this industry and more people associated those same three letters with the rap and hip-hop group by the same name, a legend of the music industry saw value. In 2017, William Patrick Corgan, a lifelong fan of this industry, wanted to bring life back into the National Wrestling Alliance.
This has obviously been an uphill battle as WWE, the industry leader, and AEW, backed by a billionaire, have first crack at all the biggest names and they have the spotlight that the NWA doesn’t have. However, Corgan, stepped up to the challenge and despite all the challenges has pushed forward. I have written about the NWA in the past, as I said at that time, I will say again the NWA is not dead and there is no question in my mind that is only because Corgan saw the value when no one else did.
Corgan did not do it alone as he had a number of flagbearers over the years with one of the most prominent being Nick Aldis, who did everything in his powers to bring prestige back to the “10 pounds of gold”, the NWA World Championship in his 1,266 days as champion over his two reigns. Kamille on the women’s side brought back the prestige to “The Burke”, the NWA Women’s Championship in her 813 days as champion.
Corgan is a student of the history of this business and wants to bring the NWA back to his glory, I wrote that it wasn’t dead five years ago and I can see Corgan has continued to try to push the NWA forward with the roster obviously changing as all rosters typically do and with the product now seen on Tubi and Comet, the product continues to evolve and survive.
When there are so many complaints of the cost of attending whether it be a WWE or AEW show or some other sporting events, the NWA keeps their prices family friendly and for the most part the product is safe for families to attend. I’ve had the privilege to attend two NWA events, and I will say you get a bang for your buck as both shows were about 4 hours.
NWA 78
On Saturday night, July 25, I had the honor and privilege to represent Wrestling Republic as a member of the media covering NWA’s biggest night of the year as they celebrated their 78th anniversary in the iconic 2300 Arena (aka the ECW Arena). This is something that if you would have asked any fan in the 90s after WCW broke away or after Shane Douglas won the NWA World Championship in the ECW Arena and immediately threw it down declaring the NWA dead, will the NWA make their 78th anniversary, likely no one would have said yes.
I’m not going to cover the entire show, and I also will not be providing any spoilers on the winners of the contests. What I want to focus on are three of the matches and some of the talents that I saw during the show.
Kerry Morton vs Colby Corino
The perception of fans is generational talents have an easier time in the business and although they may get their foot in the door easier than someone just starting out, they also have even more pressure put on them to either equal or surpass the legacy of their generational parents or in some cases multiple generations. I have written in the past about the shadows that Cody Rhodes had to overcome with both his HOF father, Dusty Rhodes and his future HOF brother, Dustin and the burden that Charlotte has on her as the daughter of multiple time HOFamer, the Nature Boy Ric Flair.
The first match that truly caught my eye last night was the battle of two second generational talents, Kerry Morton (son of WWE HOFamer and multiple time tag team champion, Ricky Morton of the Rock n’ Roll Express) and Colby Corino (son of ECW legend and former NWA World Champion, “King of the Old School” Steve Corino). Despite their lineages, both men want to make their own way in the industry, I had the privilege to see them both in action last year at the Crockett Cup in the 2300 Arena, and I absolutely saw the growth in one years’ time.
Last year, I saw Kerry Morton in tag action and Colby Corino was trying to win the NWA World Championship, the title and in the arena that defined his father’s career. However, this year these men faced each other and absolutely delivered a performance that both their legendary fathers would be more than proud of here.
These men told a story in that ring of two men that legitimately don’t like each other as they beat each other down as they brought the best out of each other. The brilliance of this match up was even if you hadn’t watched any of the backstory of the weekly TV to know why they were feuding it didn’t matter because of the story they painted on that canvas.
Ever since Kerry Morton embraced his heel side, he has been absolutely gold much like Dominik Mysterio, Kerry was initially put together with his HOF father as a white meat babyface, but it just wasn’t clicking but his heel persona just works. He is the type of weasel heel that you want to see get slapped around.
Colby Corino on the opposite side of the prospective, is the ideal babyface as he has a legitimate story of overcoming a severe drug addiction and is thriving in the ring. People love underdog stories and comebacks, especially in the birthplace of the patron saint of South Philly, Rocky Balboa. The 2300 Arena is homefield advantage for Corino. Just like last year, the crowd was hotly behind Corino. They not only worked so perfectly well, after the bell they left the audience wanting to see the feud to continue.
The future is bright for both of these men, and they could be cornerstones to the NWA as they exemplify not only the legacy and tradition of the NWA’s legacy by their parentage, but by the way they carry themselves and present their craft in the ring.
NWA World Championship – Thrillbilly Silas Mason vs Carson Drake
The “10 Pounds of Gold”, the same championship title that was held by Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Dory and Terry Funk, Harley Race, Sting, AJ Styles, Cody Rhodes, Nick Aldis and so many other legends, current and future HOFamers. There is a weight to carrying that championship, any student of the game and anyone that respects the gravity of holding the same world title as legends gets it. You may not actually “win” championships in wrestling but being chosen as the face or flagship or QB or whatever you want to call being the world champion, there is still a weight to it.
Thrillbilly Silas Mason may not be a household name to a lot of people reading this piece and I’ll be fully transparent; I just recently got back into the NWA product as NWA 78 was approaching I wanted to get back into the product that I unfortunately was slacking on. My initial thought was well he has the presence of someone that looks credible to be a dominant babyface champion and looks legitimately tough like he can fight his way out of a bar in real life. Credibility and believability are not always present in today’s “world” champions, but Thrillbilly has it. The simplest way I can put it, Thrillbilly is a cross between Braun Strowman and Hangman Page, in personality and look.
Carson Drake is someone that caught my eye last year as someone that truly understands his character is a preppy arrogant guy with a punchable face. If Miz and Colin Jost had a son together it would be Carson Drake. He is the type of silver spoon weasel that you want to see get beaten down, and there is probably no other perfect representation of anyone in the NWA that truly gets his character with only 5 years’ experience in this business.
Earlier in the night that did the typical face to face making the match official and honestly, I wasn’t entirely sold on this match before the segment, but the presentation of it, the complete polar opposite personalities and just the atmosphere in the arena, it actually felt like a big fight feel that I couldn’t wait to see in the main event.
Thrillbilly was the perfect person you’d want to get his hands on the preppy weasel known as Carson Drake. Carson was totally out of his league as he couldn’t match the size or strength of his opponent. These men put on a great showcase to start the contest as they battled like the NWA World Championship was something that they truly viewed as the most prestigious prize in this industry.
Unfortunately, the match would not get the finish that it deserved and the night for the NWA did not end on the note that they were hoping for as Carson Drake would end up being injured on the outside and unable to continue the contest. I could see from my seat that the ref threw the X sign up and we would see Corgan and others coming out to assess the situation. My guess from my vantage point was that he looked like he may have sustained a concussion as he looked like he may have been knocked out in the aisle. I don’t know any of this for a fact, but that is simple my guess especially since they wouldn’t allow him to continue which a concussion would fit with what I saw.
I hope Carson is ok and is able to make a return, because I see a lot of potential in this young talent and a feud with Thrillbilly is something I can truly get behind as a fan of both these talents.
Nattie Neidhart vs Kenzie Paige vs Kylie Paige
Last year, Nattie made her NWA debut at the Crockett Cup, challenging the then NWA World Champion, Kenzie Paige for the title. However, Kenzie’s sister, Kylie decided to interfere and cost Nattie from adding the Burke to her legendary resume. Last year, I wrote a piece on this match and Nattie, making my argument that WWE needed to embrace the “Lowkey Legend” Nattie version and move away from the Natalya character.
In that one year’s time, the Nattie character has made it onto WWE TV, but I don’t think we have had the opportunity to see it in the way we have seen it in Bloodsport and the NWA. I do give WWE credit where it is do that it is awesome to see Nattie outside the WWE umbrella. Last year, I was telling people you have to see this Nattie match, but unfortunately unbeknownst to me, it was an in house only match and never made it on to air. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up this year, but they did do an in-ring interview segment which made it sound like this one may actually make it to air since they said she would be facing the Paiges on Power.
Kenzie and Kylie are known as Pretty Empowered and are the reigning and defending NWA Women’s World Champions, although this is billed as a three-way match, it is quite obviously a handicap match with the sisters having a two on one advantage over Nattie. On paper this match reminded me of a match that took place 18 years ago at WWF Fully Loaded as Austin the WWF champion was to defend the title against the Brothers of Destruction, Undertaker and Kane in a triple threat match.
Both that match and this match at NWA 78, both started with the siblings on the same side, but at the end of the day there can only be one winner and sibling, or no sibling egos will ruin any plans. The numbers game will only work for so long and when the egos start popping in that is when Nattie that Lowkey Legend that she is will strike.
Nattie and Pretty Empowered bought on an absolute clinic that the crowd was fully there for it. Pretty Empowered are incredibly talented especially Kenzie who I was very impressed with last year as she defended her championship against Nattie. Nattie knows how to make her opponents look even better in there, which is why she is the low-key legend because most fans don’t even realize what she is doing to make her opponents look even better in spots. Nattie was out for revenge here tonight and this was without a doubt one of my favorite matches of the night…hopefully it will air and you’ll get to see it too.
Final Thoughts:
The fact that the NWA has two years in a row done Philly shows and both times WWE has allowed Nattie to do those shows has been one of the coolest things about these NWA 2300 Arena shows. The thing often misunderstood about Philly sports fans is we just hate everything and everyone, so we boo even players on our own teams, well that is incorrect. We boo because we care and are passionate, we embrace the talent that gives everything that they have and the athletes that get that are legends in this city forever.
Nattie is one of those talents that true wrestling fans understand the sacrifices and the heart that she has which is why the city of underdogs, with the hardworking, blue-collar people of Philly rally behind her as I have witnessed firsthand two years in a row. This year I actually got the chance to meet her, and she couldn’t have been nicer. I was a fan before I met her and an even bigger one after meeting her.
The 2300 Arena is truly the perfect annual location for the NWA to hold a major event; there is so much NWA and wrestling history here and for them to occupy the building even just one night that is synonymous with a promotion that was never supposed to make it in ECW, but despite being against two massive behemoths became the number 3 promotion in the world in the 90s is just special.
The same way Paul Heyman believed in those three letters, so does Corgan believe in the NWA and when you leave an NWA show in the 2300 Arena, you end up believing he may be right that the industry needs the NWA for both the connection to the past and a bridge to the future as young talent breaks in and for older talent to continue the profession that they love.
ITTMP
