Airing live on Amazon Prime,18th of December 2024- NWA Presents: World Class Championship Wrestling @ Propst Arena, Huntsville, AL
-Pyro goes off and we are welcomed to the second episode of World Class Championship Wrestling by our commentary team, Ian Riccaboni & Nigel McGuinness. We begin tonight’s show with the first match in the NWA World Title Tournament.
Jeff Cobb vs Ricky Starks, NWA World TItle Tournament Round 1 – Starks is more agile and able to counter often but his arrogance and tendency to taunt gives Cobb time to recover in between big moves. This match is full of impressive feats of strength by Cobb as well as his surprising agility. Starks is able to use his ring smarts to outmaneuver Cobbs and regain control now and then.
Starks keeps going for his Rochambeau finisher but he isn’t strong enough to lift Cob up for it. He tries to end it with his spear but Cobb kicks out. After a lengthy match, Cobb catches Starks dive attempt and transitions into his Tour of the Islands finish to win after 20 minutes, progressing to the next round.
Authors of Pain promo – A pre-recorded segment by Paul Ellering flanked by the AOP. As footage of last week’s match against FTR plays, Ellering calls the result an injustice of the highest order. However, he is not angry, because FTR proved his point perfectly. FTR cannot defeat the AOP.
They relied on underhanded tactics to steal a win from the better team. He says the World Tag League is far from over, if FTR cross paths with them again, he guarantees a very different result. For now, they will remain focused on the task at hand. Destroy anyone who gets in their way.
-Highlights from Kamille vs Thunder Rosa from last week. Charly Caruso interviews Kamille. She is proud of her performance and is confident she will defeat whoever her opponent ends up being. Jordynne Grace walks by and they have a mini staredown. Grace looks forward to seeing who is the stronger woman.
Wrestlers from past and present collide – Sting & Bret Hart are having a friendly debate over who executed the Sharpshooter/Scorpion Deathlock better. Bryan Danielson joins in and debates that there are better and more effective submission moves. He lists a bunch of the submissions he has made famous over the years he wrestled.
Zack Sabre Jr cuts them off and agrees with Danielson, that it takes more than one great submission to be a specialist. He boldly claims he locks in submissions better than all 3 of them combined. He asks both Sting and Bret Hart if they want to try and prove him wrong, before he stands face to face with Danielson.
He reminds Danielson they have fought 1v1 4 times before, 2 wins a piece and suggests they have a final match to determine who is better. Before Bryan can answer, in walks Powerhouse Hobbs. He tells Zack to focus on facing him next week. Hobbs doesn’t care what submissions Zack has in his arsenal, Hobbs doesn’t need them. He will pummel Zack into submission.
The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus) w/Chad Gable vs Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) – The World Tag League continues. The Creeds are prolific amateur wrestlers so we see plenty of grappling and big suplexes, whilst their opponents rely on tandem offence and cutting the ring in half to isolate one of the brothers.
Although the Creeds are great wrestlers, they are inexperienced compared to the GYV so they fall for the heel antics more often than they would like to. Gibson baits Chad Gable into getting on the apron, drawing the referee’s attention so when the Creeds go for a Doomsday Device, he nails Brutus with a low blow.
He and Drake hit Julius with their Grit Your Teeth finisher (double facebuster) to win the match after 13 minutes. They earn themselves 2 points to be joint top of the league with FTR.
-The Acclaimed were watching the tag match backstage. Lady Rowe (formerly known as Valhalla & Sarah Logan) tells them that they can try to prepare all they want, but Hanson & Rowe are a force they cannot withstand. As she walks away, Max Caster jokingly asks Anthony Bowens “who was that?”
Taz promo w/Bron Steiner – Taz and Bron Steiner come to the ring. Taz replays clips on the Jumbotron of Steiner destroying CM Punk last week. He predicts Punk won’t even come back to compete in the tournament, because if Punk wins his first round match, he will be setting himself for a rematch with Bron who will repeat history and embarrass him again.
Taz says that Bron is more powerful, athletic and dangerous than his dad and his uncle combined. 250 pounds of pure destruction. The promo is interrupted by the sound of trumpets as Miro comes out, his opponent next week. Miro compliments Bron’s skills and accomplishments, but he is lacking in one crucial area. The power of God. Miro calls himself God’s chosen warrior and it is his destiny to lead a crusade against the entire NWA roster. Taz says not even God himself can stand up to the wrath of Steiner.
-Brian Pillman Jr is backstage with Teddy Long, still hyped after his win last week. Walter walks by him and laughs at the idea of wrestling him. Teddy Long takes this opportunity to announce they will wrestle in the main event of a special episode of WCCW on the 1st of January, called New Year’s Dash. Pillman tells Walter he will give him everything he has got, Gunther replies “it won’t be enough.”
Tiffany Stratton vs Tegan Nox – This match is a showcase for two of the younger members of the women’s division. Stratton does a lot of trash talking and taunting, which gets under Nox’s skin and causes her to make mistakes.
Commentary teases that more details about the women’s championship will be revealed in the coming weeks. Nox makes good on an opportunity however, dodging a Prettiest Moonsault Ever and immediately follows up with the Shiniest Wizard. Nox picks up to win after 10 minutes.
The Drive-Thru featuring Athena – Jim Cornette & Charly Caruso welcome us to the Drive-Thru, their backstage talk show to get some insight on the NWA roster. They introduce their guests, Athena and her friend Billie Starkz. They ask how Athena feels her chances are at becoming the next women’s champion, she says 110%.
They ask Billie Starkz if she benefits at all from her alliance with Athena. Starkz says Athena is a great mentor and that will help her become a champion herself one day. The interview segment is crashed by Mercedes Mone who sits herself down on the couch. Charly tells her this is a private set, but Mercedes says nothing is too private to her, she paid the security to let her through.
Cornette initially protests, but Mercedes hands him a wad of cash and suddenly he is okay with this. Mercedes tries to pay Athena & Starkz to leave her interview segment, Starkz reaches for it but Athena slaps her hand away and gets in Mone’s face. Instead, Mercedes waves more cash around, prompting the security to escort them both off set.
Athena shouts insults at Mercedes as she leaves. Charly questions Mercedes about her attitude and the way she treats her fellow wrestlers. Mercedes says she is the Boss, she brings in the viewers and the money, she will get anything she wants because she deserves it. Before leaving, Mercedes also sends a message directly to Jordynne Grace, to never try to upstage her ever again.
-Commentary hype up the next show, taking place on Christmas Day so it will be a pre-taped episode of WCCW. ZSJ vs Hobbs, Steiner vs Miro, War Machine (FKA Viking Raiders) vs The Acclaimed, Athena vs Shida and we will hear from CM Punk.
MJF vs Eddie Kingston, NWA World TItle Tournament Round 1 – Our main event of the night here. Kingston is very intense and wants to turn this match into a chaotic brawl, but MJF keeps his distance and wants to slow the match down. Whenever MJF is in control he is very verbal, tormenting Kingston. This actually works against him as Kingston just gets more fired up and proceeds to leather MJF with chops.
MJF spends a lot of the match targeting Kingston’s right hand, stomping and biting it throughout. It makes it difficult for Kingston to hit power moves but he manages. However, when he goes for his Uraken finisher (spinning backfist) he can’t land the move at full power and it debilitates him.
Kingston fights valiantly, but the gradual wear down of his hand was effective. MJF hits Kingston with a brainbuster on the ring apron, followed by the Heat Seeker to win the match after 17 minutes. The show closes with MJF taunting the crowd and the camera.
