NWA Power results: Matt Cardona vs. Pope World title match

NWA Power opened with Nick Aldis wishing luck to Pope in his NWA World Heavyweight Championship match with Matt Cardona. Aldis would be honored to face him in a match, but his issue with Cardona goes beyond the championship and he will get his revenge through stretching him so much that his ancestors would tap out.

The production claimed Austin Idol was on commentary with their graphic, but he looked suspiciously like Tim Storm.

The Commonwealth Connection (Doug Williams & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) defeated The Dirty Sexy Boys (JTG & Dango)

The ending of this match was hilarious. It didn’t have enough time to become a great match, but I was entertained for what this was.

Smith and JTG started with Smith using his size and power to dominate JTG and bring him back into his corner. JTG managed to tag out to Dango and hit Williams with a double elbow after Williams tagged in. After some brief isolation of Williams, Smith tagged in and hit a slam on JTG. Williams and Smith got some heat on JTG, working as the heels for this match. We shall see if that continues or is just the story of this particular match.

JTG hit a sling blade-like move but it was to Williams’ back, so it ended in a bulldog. Dango tagged in and blocked a Chaos Theory, hitting a falcon arrow on Williams for a two count. JTG and Smith brawled around ringside while Dango sold his knee after being thrown to the floor.

Dango walked over to Velvet Sky and gyrated while Sky said she would help him with his knee injury. This distracted Dango and Williams made him pay for it by dragging him back into the ring and submitting him with the Muta Lock.

– Austin Idol was with Kyle Davis talking about what happened in the Tyrus Slam Challenge last week with Cyon, asking what Idol said to Cyon that bothered him so much. Idol told him that he knew who his father was, and that he wasn’t just a former NWA champion, but a huge name in NWA historically. Idol then admitted that he is Cyon’s father. This story has been fun and it’ll be interesting to see if Idol is lying or telling the truth.

KiLynn King defeated Natalia Markova

This was an excellent match between these two and it’s nice to see King get the win here. I take this to mean she is going to be a regular in NWA going forward, which will only help her long term.

Markova and King hit some hard chops and strikes at the start of the match with King hitting a shoulderblock that sent Markova across the ring. Markova did a forward roll into a cutter for a two count. King hit a knee to send Markova to the mat, but Markova got a sleeper on after a pinfall attempt. King blocked a kick and hit a huge knee on Markova for a two count.

Markova hit a double underhook DDT for a two count. Markova followed this with a knee of her own for another two count. Markova went to the top rope, but King cut her off and hit a running knee to her opponent’s stomach before hitting a fallaway slam for a near fall. Markova went for a spinning kick in the corner, but King countered into the Excalibuster for the win.

– Mims was backstage with May Valentine and invited everyone to see his gun collection, so he flexed. Mims then said he was going to try the Tyrus Slam Challenge. He also talked about how he wanted to see Pope defeat Cardona. They got to let Mims talk more and it was good they did.

– La Rebelion came to the podium and called out the Briscoes for not being there. They didn’t care about any of the teams going after them because they were going to beat them all. They insisted that they were not afraid of the Briscoes and would be taking the fight to them.

– Valentine was with Aron Stevens who talked about Trevor Murdoch punching Stevens in the face last week. Stevens said he was hurt by it (as dramatic music played) and Stevens continued to change his “character” with a wave of his hand several times which was bizarre. I am not getting this character at all. Apparently, he has multiple personalities and when he waves his hand in front of his face, he goes into a different one.

Miserably Faithful (Sal The Pal, Judias & Gags the Gimp) (w/ The Sinister Minister) defeated Colby Corino & The Fixers

This match was bizarre for a variety of reasons with first and foremost that it was two heel teams. The crowd went very quiet when Judias and crew came out. Rinauro is apparently Sal The Pal now, which is not as good as “Sinister Sal.” The Fixers threw him around the ring with Wrecking Ball Legursky crushing him in the corner.

Corino tagged in and celebrated, but turned around into an attack from Judias. Gags tagged in and choked Corino. Gags and Sal used some double team moves on Corino, followed by a series of stomps and a back rake by Sal. Colby Corino, babyface in peril, was not something I expected, but despite being a heel, he got some sympathy.

Cornio hit an Olympic slam and the Corino Crush on Gags before tagging out to Legursky. He lived up to his name of Wrecking Ball by crushing Sal and scaring Gags. He then lawn darted Gags into the crotch of Sal. Sal moved and Jay Bradley went to the floor. Sal hit a moonsault off the apron on both of them and Gags hit a Dudley Dog for the pin and win.

I am not a fan of this Sinister Minister stable at all. The match was fine.

– Jennacide was with Valentine and talked about how she was on her own now and all she needed was herself, not Taryn Terrell or Paola Blaze. Good promo here.

NWA World Champion Matt Cardona defeated Pope to retain

This was a good main event match for Power. The crowd was so behind Pope that it certainly feels like he should be the next champion at some point. He has a natural connection with the audience and a nice babyface championship run for him down the line would be great.

They started with basic wrestling, but they slapped each other after Pope flipped Cardona off. Pope fired up and sent Cardona to the floor after a fist drop. Pope nailed some punches in the corner on Cardona and hit a combination of strikes in the middle of the ring before hitting a shoulder tackle that sent Cardona to the floor again.

Cardona shoved Pope in the ring apron and went to throw him into the ring steps which is what led to Pope being injured for several weeks with a concussion. Pope blocked it and hit a forearm off the steps instead. When Pope tried to get back in the ring, Cardona hit a knee right to Pope’s head, immediately dropping him back to the floor. Cardona then moved on to targeting the head more directly. He got the heat over the next few minutes with neck cranks and other head targeting moves.

Cardona went to the top rope after arguing with a fan, giving Pope the chance to pop up and leap to the top rope for a superplex. Pope hit a bionic elbow on Cardona before landing a flying crossbody for a near fall. Pope hit an STO for a two count. Cardona hit a throat thrust and a dropkick off the middle ropes for a near fall. 

Every time Pope would try something, Cardona would poke the eyes or go to the throat, but Pope hit a spinebuster after a dropdown and locked in the sharpshooter.

Pope transitioned into a crossface and the crowd was disappointed when Cardona made it to the ropes. The referee drove some separation between the two after, so Cardona took advantage with a codebreaker for a two count. Pope hit a series of german suplexes before calling for a top rope move.

Cardona fell into the ropes to knock Pope off and went for the Reboot, but Pope moved and Cardona crashed into the bottom rope. Pope went for the Elijah Express, but Cardona pulled the referee in the way, poked Pope in the eyes again and then hit Radio Silence for the pinfall to retain the gold.

Final Thoughts:

This was a decent episode although I think the match with Pope and Cardona could have benefited from a few more weeks of build. That said, it was a perfectly fine TV main event. The less said about the Sinister Minister’s stable, the better.