I'm still enjoying the show. I like the pacing, the announcing, and many of the promos. That said, certain areas of the show are wearing a little thin. I think the parody ads have run their course, and I don't get a lot of the booking. The BS finishes on the tag matches have me confused, although I am willing to give it more time.

But stuff like having a 6 man tag with Aldis (heel) and Cabana & Anderson (face) go against James Storm (face) and the Wildcards (heel) makes it harder for me to suspend disbelief and get into the show. Why was Anderson even in this match and why aren't Kingston & Homicide not getting revenge on the Wildcards for costing them the match 20 minutes earlier?

I still like the show and don't want to whine too much, but there are definitely a few things that I hope the promotion irons out in the next set of tapings.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the parody ads. Those are terrible. Fire whoever it is who is pushing to have those on the show.

I like the fact that faces and heels can sometimes tag together. The opposite thing is what I find weird. Two wrestlers can have a vicious blood feud, but the instant one of them turns, all is forgotten and they can work together like nothing ever happened.

Jotting down thoughts on tonight's ep in real time while I watch:

Even though I wasn't in favor of building toward a title shot for him, I did like Colt Cabana coming out and setting the tone for the show with that quick hype promo at the beginning.

While Stevens has been a good promo, it's feeling repetitious, and it probably doesn't help that they're giving him a program in Ricky Starks that I can't see myself getting into.

I'm into the Dawsons/Kingston/Homicide stuff. I don't really love the plot device that Kingston and Homicide have a title shot to barter with necessarily - it seems like last week's loss should relegate them from #1 contender status - but this is a program I am liking all the same.

The Tim Storm/Nick Aldis stuff is great. That's definitely the story I keep needing to see the next breadcrumbs of.

Hot damn, finally a women's segment on Powerrr that I really enjoyed. I was into Thunder Rosa's squash match, and then the post-match with the Rosa/Belle attacking Allysin Kay was great also.

Okay, after casting shade on this program earlier, the Starks/Stevens match worked for me. Stevens wearing those ugly trunks was a nice touch. I still don't know how long you can carry on this business of Stevens never winning before he becomes uninteresting.

I was into the main event, but **** that result and also **** that execution of the end of that match. Feels like Colt Cabana cheapens the belt a bit even if he's just a transitional champion.

Following the scheduled main event with an impromptu Dawsons vs. Outlaw Inc. (odd name, but whatever) match felt like a mistake to me. The show was already at a good wrapping point. They would have done better to just put the match on next week's show. I have no interest in seeing the Rock 'n Roll Express today, and I also think that Eddie Kingston smiling and being gracious about help from the Rock 'n Rolls is bad. Badass babyfaces shouldn't really have that trait of being respectful to the over-the-hill legends of the industry.

Anyway, that ending did bring my opinion down, but regardless this was a good show. Probably the second-strongest ep to date, the premiere still being the best IMO.

Random thoughts on EP 5:

Thunder Rosa is awesome. She single-handedly turned one of the least interesting aspects of the show into one of the best. I'm looking forward to her next match/angle, whatever that may be.

I would love to see Aron Stevens get a run with a belt as a cowardly heel. After he lost to Ricky Starks the crowd totally ignored Starks in order to taunt Stevens. This was fine with me because I don't see the appeal of Starks, but Stevens clearly knows how to draw heat from the crowd.

Colt Cabana isn't my type of wrestler, but I like that he knows how to wrestle as a good-guy. I hope they use more straight babyfaces and heels because those are the wrestlers the crowd (and me) react to best and imo that dynamic best fits the style of the show.

Eddie Kingston is good enough on the mic that I'm willing to look past some of the shortcomings in the ring. Still, I think if Outlaw Inc was paired with a really strong in-ring team it would improve an already solid aspect of the show.

I liked seeing the Rock and Roll Express in their cameo. I'm not sure how much I want to see them wrestle at their age, but the run in was a cool nostalgia moment for me.

Just my opinions...

Ok, maybe not today but how about last week on AEW?



I think Ricky Starks could be a good heel.

I stuck with NXT last Wedesday. Forgot hearing they showed up on AEW.

I thought seeing Rock 'n Roll Express back in the late 90s in the Monday Night Wars was pretty desperate. I really, really hope they don't work many matches in NWA.

Also I agree about Starks potentially being a good heel. He essentially seems to be working heel right now but otherwise being booked as a babyface. Think that's part of what doesn't work for me.

I agree that this was the strongest ep since the premiere. Feels like a lot of stories are coming together and I'm pretty into everything.

Thunder Rosa looked great and my only complaint with that segment is the weird post-production drums thing. Not sure if she is supposed to have supernatural powers or something. I liked that Marti kicked Kaye but it wasn't an "I'm a psychotic heel now" thing with an extended beatdown.

Kamille has become a very intriguing character to me without even speaking. She's inhabiting a unique role right now and I'm interested in where it goes while not really knowing if it's actually good booking or whatever. (One thing I notice watching this show is that I don't think about "the booking" as much, probably because it's an actual good wrestling show). I am curious if she has trained or is training to wrestle, since with her size and looks she seems like someone who would have star potential there.

I was Wikipedia-spoiled on the Cabana title win. I liked that he was serious in this episode. This show is also really good at booking a main event and making it feel important through the show (the magic of actually having promos).

Tim Storm is great and it's going to break my heart if this angle is leading to him turning heel. Which is how you should feel about babyfaces, but these days we're practically conditioned to wait until the heel turn when they can be interesting.

Kingston is someone I could see telling an incredible story going for Aldis' title. Don't really know enough about him to be sure if he can put on a 20-minute PPV main event style match, but the promos would be fantastic.

Haven't posted about this in a while because not much spare time lately but I've watched every episode and still find myself enjoying it. Agree with almost everything being said here. Thought this was the strongest episode since the pilot but also hate Cabana as champion. I have to give credit where it's due though and think he's pretty good on the mic when he's not being a goof.

Agree, Tim Storm is awesome. I came into this thinking I would hate him but he's fantastic and I love the whole story.

Eddie Kingston has always been great on the mic. In his TNA run he did some really great storytelling in the original Homicide/Hernadez vs Santana/Ortiz/Konnan feud. The problem with Kingston is that he's never been a great wrestler, he could prove me wrong but I don't see him putting on 20 min main events.

I tweeted this about Ricky Starks because this is all I see when he's on screen...

I guess I’ve seen the Tim Storm story headed more toward him becoming the Arn to Aldis’s Flair in a tweener faction.

I'm 25 minutes into the latest episode posted today and basically caught up with the prior ones.

This is just so corny. I just don't see this lasting or doing much as currently constituted.

I'm not giving up on it. I've actually been a follower of Nick Aldis' career and am somewhat surprised he's here and not elsewhere. Maybe that's me misreading his mic skills and his in-ring talent.

Regardless I don't think they've done enough to make someone shell out $20 for a PPV when you have other options. I mean $20 is the same price for a MLW ppv and you at least get Jacob Fatu, MJF, and some other guys.

I guess the plan is to have more 80s style wrestling and promos but it comes off way too corny.

It's almost like they are playing Survivor Richard Hatch style where the game has so far advanced that if they just brought 2 tribes in with no idols and generic voting i don't think people can go backwards without major personalities involved. And they don't have close to major personalities.

If they keep going like they did in this week's episode I don't see them doing much. This way imo the worst episode yet. Hopefully they rebound next week.

Thoughts as I go again...

Same objection as before to the Homicide/Kingston alliance with Rock 'n Roll Express. It doesn't work for me, and I think it hurts their characters on some level. This is not a major quibble yet, but it could become one.

I dig Trevor Murdoch as a midcard presence with this company. I kind of assumed he would just be around to job, but I was pleased to see him go over.

$20 is the pre-order price for Into the Fire? Very reasonable. Feels likely that I buy in, but we'll have to see what the card looks like.

Aron Stevens. Nothing says "I'm done with wrestling" like walking out in your tights. I continue to enjoy his promo time.

Thunder Rosa/Marti Belle tag squash was fun. Their instincts are good to make Thunder Rosa a centerpiece of the women's division.

Colt Cabana starts a promo by comparing this to Oprah and saying that everyone gets a championship. WTF kind of self-own is this? Oh, he's saying that the fans all share in the championship. Sorry; I'm going to stick with the initial admission that if they give a title to Colt, they'll give one to anyone. Ricky Starks is going to set up as a title contender? Please no.

I don't know what this Question Mark business is, but I'm definitely not even slightly interested at this point.

...as much as I didn't care for the Question Mark, the "Question Mark" chant during Eli Drake's promo was pretty great. Anyway, I'm enjoying Eli Drake's trajectory toward challenging Aldis.

Nick Aldis is really on another level in terms of star power. He's clearly the right guy to be the champion.

A thought before the main event: the Wildcards have really gotten woefully little in terms of character development or hype compared to the other champions in the company. That might make sense if they were just a transitional champion put in place to crown someone else, but they seem like a bigger deal than that.

Main event was okay I guess, but ended anticlimactically, and then the locker room emptying and jawing was a pretty worthless close to the show. Seemed awfully bait-and-switchy to tease Kamille talking with no apparent payoff.

Despite there being more segments that I liked than disliked, this was one of the weakest episodes to date. Felt like a lot of filler. Hope they do better next week.

I think it's almost a problem that nobody is on Aldis' level here. Yes he can hold the title for 9-18 months but the roster has a talent in him and then I think the rest of it is really devoid of talent.

I sometimes grade other wrestling federations as feeder systems to WWE and now AEW.

I am not seeing anything so far where a Triple H / Tony Khan would want any of these guys.

They are likely not going for that with this federation but it still makes me care less when I know the in-ring product is very weak.

I don’t see the in-ring product as weak. I just see it as having a different style. There’s room for a product that is less flippy; the storytelling is what matters.

Again though, not of a mind to defend tonight’s ep. Pretty rough.

Yeah the in-ring is only weak based on the dumb Meltzer criteria that has influenced everyone, where the quality of a match is determined by how many moves and spots you do and how many times you kick out of stuff. NXT and AEW have the market cornered on 50/50 matches that go on forever with 30 kickouts, so one of the smartest things NWA has done is get talent that fits a different mold. I like that the people on this show don't interest Triple H or Khan (though I think at least Aldis, Drake, Kamille, Rosa, and James Storm would be desired by them in some role).

I'm too young for the Rock and Roll Express so am kind of baffled by them appearing on every wrestling show out of nowhere. I don't really like where this is going, though I can at least have faith that I won't have to see them hit any horrendous Canadian Destroyers on NWA like they did on AEW.

This^

The in-ring style is fine and they've already proven they can have great matches that tell a good story which like LKJ said is really what matters.

I haven't watched this weeks ep but I will despite the bad reviews. .

Ahhh, WWE mindset. You still haven't come to terms with the fact that WWE produces a terrrrrrible product. It's been what, at least 15 years since they produced anything good.

So sad on multiple levels.

I can easily see why this show wouldn’t be someone’s thing. It’s an entirely different genre from other modern wrestling. But I really have no interest in minor companies trying badly to replicate WWE. Better for a company to chart their own course and hope it proves economically viable.

First time checking in on this thread, but seems like they're featuring some of the better Impact talent from the last few years, so maybe I'll try to binge at some point.

I've been fairly high on both Eli Drake and Nick Aldis the last few years. Was surprised that Aldis never ended up in NXT when his wife returned a few years ago.

I don't think they've produced a good product. I think the best product I've seen is ECW around 1995-1996.

I actually enjoyed a little bit of TNA and AEW so far.

How would you define a good wrestling product?

The best thing I can say for this incarnation of NWA is that I actually sit there and care who wins the matches. That's a rarity for me with the bigger companies, and it's the default setting with this one.

NWA:P has some good and bad points. I love the idea, it definitely harkens back to the time when I was watching wrestling fairly heavily. The problem for me, right now - and it is something I think they can work past, is that it feels like it is copying the old style and not being the old style. It's still early, and while it will never be the same, it will find it's own style and stop feeling forced. **A minor epiphany, perhaps - television technology today might be too good for the "wrestling for the common man" approach of the old shows. Too smooth, too HD. Or not. Just something that came to me.**

The talent is good, especially Aldis and Storm. The women aren't convincing, but I see promise.

I do wonder about the long-term viability of the business. Youtube gets eyes on it but it won't pay the bills. So I assume all their revenue is coming from PPV and the live studio audience. However, they are constrained by the size of the studio in regards to how many people can pay to attend a show. I'm also having a hard time wrapping my head around people buying PPVs in 2019 given how cheap and plentiful content is today.

I have to assume the NWA is trying to get picked up by a TV station right? That would certainly be a game changer for the company.