The National Wrestling Alliance is attempting to return to national relevance with Billy Corgan as their new owner. Corgan, the lead singer in Smashing Pumpkins, had worked with Impact Wrestling and attempted to buy them, but had no luck. He has stated that storytelling will be a major focus for NWA and has a business plan to keep NWA strong for a long, long time. I personally haven’t kept up with NWA in several years, though I did review their show from 2010 and enjoyed what I watched, but haven’t gotten back to reviewing that show in a long time.
Recently, I figured to check out what was going on with the NWA. I honestly had no idea who their champion even was. Their champion is Tim Storm, a 50+ year old wrestler who hasn’t had much success in any major promotion, ever. In fact, after looking Storm up on the internet, he apparently has wrestled for over 20-years and I never knew about him. So, he certainly got a late start. He’s never worked for a major promotion.
Over the past month, the NWA has published a documentary style series named “NWA Ten Pounds of Gold” which is available on their YouTube page. It highlights NWA World Champion Tim Storm and his eventual challenger. After a recent non-title victory, Storm was confronted by Nick Aldis, formerly known as Magnus. Aldis told Storm that he wanted one championship and Storm held it around his waist. He wants the NWA World Championship to be added to his legacy.
Tim Storm is a history teacher in Texas and has been for nine years. During the documentary, he talks about how his students recognize him and often ask questions but he uses his wrestling fame into teaching children. Storm knows that he has more miles in the rearview instead of the windshield. Aldis is the opposite and wants to add to his growing legacy.
Back to the series on YouTube, it’s educational on learning about Tim Storm. His early days really made him look like a lower tier local wrestler. It took him a long time to find his identity in wrestling. Nick Aldis claimed that Tim Storm was taking awhile to answer his challenge in late October. Soon enough, the challenge was set for November 12th.
It’s the 30-year old Nick Aldis challenging the 52-year old NWA World Champion Tim Storm. The match was shown on Facebook live via their streaming capabilities. That’s how I’m going about watching this match. I don’t know what to expect. This is the first time in five years that the NWA World Championship has been defended on NWA Hollywood TV.
Fans are chanting “both these guys” at the start as Storm backs Aldis into the corner but cleanly backs away. Storm controls Aldis with a hammerlock for a moment but Aldis breaks free and they counter wrist locks. Aldis takes Storm down to the mat with a drop toe hold and attempts a Texas cloverleaf but Storm breaks away and tells Aldis that he isn’t going to fall for that. Storm yanks on the left arm of Aldis and decks Aldis with a right hand to stagger the challenger into the corner. Aldis backs Storm into the corner and delivers several chops. Storm counters with several overhand chops of his own. Aldis leapfrogs out of the corner and rolls to the floor selling an apparent left knee injury. Storm seems to understand that Aldis could be hurt and wants the referee to check on Aldis. Storm holds the middle rope open to allow Aldis into the ring. Aldis cheap shots Storm with right hands after getting back in the ring and uppercuts the champ against the ropes. Storm deliver a boot and a neck breaker for a two count.
Storm splashes Aldis in the corner but runs into a boot on a second try. Aldis knee lifts the back of Storm sending the champ to the floor. Aldis drives Storm back first into the ring apron. Aldis continues to work over Storm in the ring with strikes to the back. Aldis delivers forearm strikes to the lower back of Storm in the corner. Aldis drives Storm down to the mat with a back breaker. Aldis delivers an elbow drop to the lower back a few times. Aldis delivers several kicks to the back of Storm and controls the champ with a chin lock. Storm fights out of the hold but is met with a drop toe hold. Aldis puts another chin lock on Storm but isn’t getting a submission. Aldis locks in the hold as a camel clutch and punches Storm with cross face strikes. Storm gets to his feet and drives Aldis into the corner to break free. Aldis puts a sleeper hold on Storm but the champ breaks free with a back suplex. They begin to trade strikes until they collide in the middle of the ring with a double clothesline. Aldis is met with a few clotheslines and Storm delivers a big boot. Storm is getting the crowd behind him as he heads to the top rope. Storm hits a cross body off the top for a near fall. It looked like Storm slipped a little bit. Aldis plants Storm with the MDD but Storm kicks out at two!
Aldis attempts a slam but Storm cuts Aldis off with a chop block. Storm goes for the figure four and locks it in right in the middle of the ring. Aldis prevents his shoulders from being counted out a few times. Aldis manages to reach the bottom rope to break the hold. Storm pulls Aldis to the middle of the ring but gets kicked into the corner and hits the ring post shoulder first. Aldis charges but Storm hits the Perfect Storm for a near fall!
Storm has Aldis in the corner and hammers away on the challenger with right hands. Aldis plants Storm with a power bomb out of the corner and goes for a cover but Storm kicks out. Aldis switches into a Texas Cloverleaf right in the middle of the ring. Storm manages to reach the bottom rope. Aldis goes for a power bomb but Storm holds onto the leg of Aldis. Storm trips Aldis and goes for the Sharpshooter. Aldis rolls through with a rollup. Storm manages to get a sloppy rollup on Aldis having gotten his legs in the ropes and is able to pin Aldis to retain the title. (*1/2)
They made an effort to make the match seem like a big deal, and early on it felt like a big match. However, as the match went along it was very apparent that Tim Storm just shouldn’t be the NWA World Champion. He is very clunky and the flow of the match didn’t come across well. Storm is 52-years old and is leading your company. Meanwhile, Aldis is 30-years old and an accomplished wrestler. It just seems like a realistic time to switch the title to a younger, more marketable name. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sure there are many 52-year old men who can do what Storm did here, but it just wasn’t a very good match.
At 10:30pm November 12th, 2017 the video has gotten 23,000 views and shared 471 times. That may not be huge numbers, but for the NWA it’s a start in the right direction. They did a good job of promoting the match. The match just failed to deliver.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the match.
Thanks for reading.