NWA Powerrr: What’s Old Is New Again

If you haven’t gotten a chance to watch the debut episode of NWA Powerrr, you need to drop what you’re doing and check it out. For better or worse.

With all the new wrestling content these days, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the way the debut show from executive producers Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana stood out in a saturated pro wrestling climate. Here’s the thing: this show didn’t reinvent the wheel. Rather, it felt at times like a shot-for-shot remake of an old Jim Crockett Promotions episode with HD cameras and modern humor.

And yet… to say the show was a breath of fresh air wouldn’t be doing it proper justice.

Admittedly, the wrestling was just fine. The show featured four matches and they were all…fine! None of them were obnoxiously terrible, and they were just as you would expect for an old-school wrestling show: well worked and well laid out, but not well enough to make it seem like anything less than an actual fight. Even the main event between Nick Aldis and Tim Storm was a good match, but to call it great would be overselling it. What really piqued my interest about this show was everything else.

Have you ever seen your favorite sports team come out in retro uniforms and thought to yourself, “man, they look great in those. I wouldn’t hate it if they decided to wear these more often than the actual jerseys.” NWA Powerrr has that sort of vibe to it. All of the logos, branding, graphics, camera cuts, etc., looked like they were ripped straight out of the early ‘80s. Heck, even the theme song sounded like it was taken straight from Jim Cornette’s personal CD collection!

Speaking of Cornette, he and Joe Galli made up the ringside announce team and did a phenomenal job on selling the excitement while not getting (too much) in the way of the in-ring action. You want to play a drinking game? Take a shot for every time Cornette says “studio wrestling is back!” The show’s full name is “Powerrr Hour” after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=aegl1dWAT_8

Everything about the show seemed to scream “old-school with Grade-A production values.” That said, there are some things to get used to. No music on the way to the ring is jarring at first, but by the third match you tend not to notice it because emphasis is taken off the pageantry and placed on the two things that make it great: interviews and action. Both the interviews and matches are conducted in front of a live studio audience just as all the popular territories did way back when, and they often tend to link together. Even the wrestlers have an old-school cadence to their interviews. The Nick Aldis interview to open the show is a perfect example of this, yet when Eli Drake got his interview time, he managed to maintain the methodical pace without sacrificing the qualities that make him unique. In other words, it still felt like an Eli Drake interview.

And a lot of that has to do with the quality of talent Billy Corgan is in business with. You’ll come for recognizable names like Aldis, Drake and James Storm, but stay for salt of the earth-type guys like Tim Storm. Bram, from TNA fame, is also on the show as one half of the Tag Team Champions with Royce Isaacs, and it looks like they’re set up to feud with Eddie Kingston and Homicide, two more recognizable faces. The beauty of the show only being an hour is that there are probably more names set to join the alliance in due time.

This show is by no means for everyone. Some people prefer a more modern looking show, and I get that. But NWA Powerrr is the classic case of a hip, new hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant opening down the street from a Buca Di Beppo. Sure, there are two different methods at hand, but both have room in the market to be successful together despite producing the same kind of cuisine.