I was planning on reviewing the first episode last week. Instead I ended up focusing on school work, which is more important to me right now than reviewing shows. Since it’s the holiday weekend, I figured that I’d review the first episode of NWA Pro Showcase along with the second episode. The first NWA Pro show for MavTV was filmed at their Las Vegas event infront of 3,000 fans and made for a decent show. This time the Showcase episodes were filmed at the Inoki Dojo infront of 90 people. Note: I watched the first episode last week and don’t remember many details, so don’t expect this to be filled with a lot of information.
Episode 1:
-The show opens up with a video package featuring clips from the Las Vegas event. The music was pretty cheesy and sounded like something you’d hear while playing a Sega Genesis game. Very generic. Adam Pearce was standing at ringside with Dave Marquez and cut a promo and talked about the NWA Heritage Championship and how he was the best wrestler on this earth. Nice little promo by Pearce that helped establish his character and his goals.
JJ Perez vs. TJ Perkins
I’ve seen JJ Perez a few times, and I never really understood the hype he gets. He’s not bad, but people always seem to put him over as if he’s one of the greatest wrestlers in California right now. The match itself wasn’t anything great, but it did an alright job at showcasing Perez and Perkins’ skills.
Rocky Romero vs. Jason King
This is the first time I’ve seen Jason King wrestle. A lot of EWF fans have always put him over as the next “it” guy in SoCal and always claim that whatever year it is will be his breakout year. So far he hasn’t really broken out. Watching this match last week showed me why, as he didn’t seem impressive in this match. He didn’t really seem to click with Rocky. Rocky did a good job in this match, and he was put over pretty well. After the match Rocky cut a good promo about saying that if that was best competition the NWA had to offer, he’d be at the top in no time.
-Before the next match, Joey Ryan and Karl Anderson cut a promo inside the ring at the Inoki Dojo before the show. I’m really starting to enjoy their promos and their tag work.
Joey Ryan & Karl Anderson vs. The Young Bucks(Nick & Matt Jackson)
Both teams did a really good job in their rolls. The Young Bucks did a good job at hitting several double team moves, while Joey and Karl did a great job at being heels. Karl continued to impress me in this match, and he and Joey worked so well as a team. Joey and Karl got the win with their Superkick/Spinebuster/Boston Crab combo, which is a pretty good, but simple double team combo. After the match there was another ringside interview with the winning team, and Joey and Karl talked about wanting a rematch with Los Luchas. Another good interview segment that did a good job at advancing a storyline.
Babi Slymm vs. Adam Pearce
This was the TV main event for the first week of NWA Pro Showcase, and it was a pretty decent main event. Slymm did a good job at trying to get the fans to get behind him, and Pearce was being his usual heel self. Pearce got the win by cheating. I know, not a great match review, but it’s been a week since I’ve seen this match and I don’t recall that many details. I’d go back to watch it, but MavTV.com’s Broadband player sucks and wont let you fastforward through videos.
Episode 2:
-Time for the second week of NWA Pro Wrestling Showcase. Dave Marquez was standing ringside and ran down some of the more important details from the first week’s episode. After a quick commercial break, the opening video set to the Super Nintendo music plays and the first match begins.
Los Luchas(Zokre & Phoenix Star) vs. Goodman & Riddick
I remember reading that their match at AWS wasn’t really good, and was very sloppy. Not sure if there’s something between the two teams when it comes to their chemistry, but this match did not click. I’m a huge fan of Los Luchas, but this match wasn’t very good. There was some decent stuff here, but Riddick and Goodman were not a good team to put in the ring with them. Riddick has gotten huge since I saw him at PWG ten months ago, but he really didn’t impress me here. Goodman didn’t really do much to impress me either.
Bo Cooper vs. Randy Rocket
Randy Rocket looked like a generic early 90’s lightheavyweight, and the announcers mentioned that he was a rookie. This match was obviously going to be a squash, seeing as how Randy Rocket doesn’t even look like the kind of guy who could last a minute in a street fight against a guy like Bo. One thing that threw me off was Randy Rocket didn’t do a good job at selling at a few points in this match. After Bo Cooper hit a DDT on Randy, he got up and went to the top rope. The announcers covered it up by saying he blocked it, but it didn’t look blocked to me. Also, after Bo hit his Bronco Buster, Randy Rocket didn’t sell the effects of it during the rest of the match. Bo looks like he outweighs him by 200 pounds, but I didn’t get the impression that Randy Rocket’s body was just crushed by a 350 or so pound man.
Kafu vs. Tommy Wilson
Another match that just seemed like it was going to be a squash. Instead this match went a little too long. The booking for this match was pretty poor. Wilson looked taller than Kafu, but it seemed like Kafu was being presented as the monster of NWA Pro. This match should of been more one-sided in favor of Kafu in my opinion, and Tommy Wilson was not impressive. This match just seemed like a waste.
E.G.O.(Nathan Rulez & AJ Kirsch) vs. The Pacific Express(Tommy Kim & Dana Lee)
This was the TV main evnet for the second week of NWA Pro Showcase. For those who don’t know, Tommy Kim is the former Funky Billy Kim. Another match that seemed like a waste. E.G.O. didn’t do much for me, and Dana Lee is still pretty boring. Pretty dull match. The finish looked bad too. Tommy Kim went for a crossbody block and hit it on one of the E.G.O. guys, but when they went for the roll over it wasn’t very smooth and looked awkward and E.G.O. got the win.
-After a commercial break, Dave Marquez tries to wrap things up but he is interupted by Joey Ryan and Karl Anderson. They issue a challenge to Los Luchas. After some trash talking, Los Luchas come out and both teams start to brawl. They end up in the ring and a bunch of referees come out from the back to break things up to end this week’s episode.
The first week was way better than the second week. The angles and interviews for week one were well done, and it gave the show a sense of direction. The matches were decent too. The second week on the other hand was bad. Most of the matches dragged, or just were just pretty boring. The biggest issue I had with the second week was that the booking seemed pretty lazy, and that there was nothing on the show that really mattered. The final segment was pretty cool, and it helped continue the feud between Los Luchas and Joey Ryan & Karl Anderson. Everything else was a waste. Overall the first week is worth having a look at, while the second one is skipable, unless you want to see it really bad.
