NWA Into the Fire recap: Nick Aldis retains Ten Pounds of Gold, but James Storm has a case for conspiracy

NWA returns tonight with an episode of Powerrr. Over the weekend (Dec. 14), they ran their Into the Fire PPV. Let’s start from the bottom to the top and recap those matches and moments to get ready for Powerrr.

Eli Drake defeated Ken Anderson. Real solid match at a semi-main level for the opener. The end was turnbuckle fighting as Drake wanted a superplex. Anderson flipped over trying to slam Drake to the mat, but Drake held on to the ropes. Drake dropped his weight onto Anderson’s chest then hooked his legs for the winning pin.

Thunder Rosa defeated Tasha Steelz. Steelz made her NWA debut. Her character was doing it for the Puerto Rican culture. She fought tough and looked on par with her skills to match Rosa. In the end, Rosa won after a kick to the face, dropkick, and flying double stomp to the back. After the match, Rosa continued to assault Steelz. Ashley Vox ran in for the save, but she ended up in an elbow breaker from Rosa.

Thunder Rosa continues to impress. She even got a major endorsement from Stu Bennett (aka Wade Barrett).

Sensei ¿Question Mark? and student Aron Stevens arrived in the ring. It was mentioned that Stevens is a third degree black belt in Mongrovian karate, and it only took him three weeks to achieve that status. They wanted to perform a sacred Mongrovian flag ceremony.

NWA Into the Fire

¿Question Mark?, who was the 1998 a cappella champ of Mongrovia, sung the anthem. It sounded like a series of harmonic grunts. Trevor Murdoch’s music interrupted the scene.

¿Question Mark? defeated Trevor Murdoch. Murdoch surprisingly kicked out of the Mongrovian throat strike early on. Later, Murdoch had momentum but decided to take the Mongrovian flag from a student and throw it to the ground. The student was minding his own business and not affecting the match in any way. At that sign of disrespect, Stevens grabbed Murdoch’s foot as a distraction. ? hit a double throat strike to win. Murdoch deserved that loss.

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Rock ‘n’ Roll Express defeated Wild Cards to retain the tag titles. Eddie Kingston and Homicide joined the champs ringside as an insurance policy. The Dawsons joined the challengers. Ricky Morton had the top moves with a suicide dive and a Canadian Destroyer. In the end, the extra dudes on the floor got into a fight. That caused a distraction so RnR could hit a double dropkick to pin Royce Isaacs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express looked good, but they were protected with the outside distraction and by using their 60-year-old speed to make Wild Cards to look like buffoons.

The next NWA PPV will be January 24 with the return of the NWA Television Championship.

Drake did an interview. Poor sport Anderson attacked Drake from behind and hit a Mic Check on an open chair as the fans booed the loud mouth. It has since been announced that Drake and Anderson will fight again as the main event of Powerrr. This time it will be no DQ.

Allysin Kay & ODB defeated Melina & Marti Belle. ODB was a surprise partner to replace the previously injured Ashley Vox. Kay and Belle did most of the work. The top moment was ODB with the hot tag to hit her signature moves on Belle. In the end, Kay hit Melina with a back-to-belly driver then ODB pinned Belle off a fireman’s carry slam.

NWA National Heavyweight Championship: Aron Stevens defeated Colt Cabana and Ricky Starks in a three-way to become new champ. Cabana and Starks provided the real wrestling action. Stevens brought the comedy by hiding behind a Christmas tree and also serious moves using Mongrovian karate techniques.

In the end, Cabana had a Superman pin on Starks, but ¿Question Mark? hit Cabana with the Mongrovian throat strike. Starks speared Cabana. ? dragged Starks out of the ring, so Stevens could swoop in for the pin to win gold.

NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship: Nick Aldis defeated James Storm in best-of-three to retain the Tens Pounds of Gold. Fall 1 went to Storm when Kamille caused a distraction. She showed up ringside, Aldis demanded that she leave, then Aldis turned around into a superkick to lose the fall. Fall 2 was dominated by Storm, but Aldis refused to lose. Storm lost his cool and grabbed a chair. James wasted a ton of time as referee Tim Storm tried talking James out of using the chair. Storm eventually relented and handed over the chair only to lose the fall a short while later via roll-up.

Brian Hebner was the ref for the third and deciding fall. There were plenty of big moves; a Michinoku driver by Aldis, a backstabber by Storm, a superplex by Aldis, a flying elbow drop by Storm, a Tombstone piledriver and flying elbow drop by Aldis. All those moves ended with a kick out on the pin attempt. The finish got wacky. Aldis accidentally clotheslined ref Hebner when Storm ducked. Tim Storm took over as referee. Aldis was playing with the turnbuckle pad when James rolled him up and the pad flew off. Aldis kicked out sending James into the exposed steel. James was out cold. Aldis applied the Texas Cloverleaf submission. Ref Tim called off the match since James was unconscious. That gave Aldis the Fall 3 victory as he retained the title.

Aldis was cutting a winning promo to put over the Ten Pounds of Gold. He was confident in saying no man alive can take it from him. That’s when Marty Scurll appeared at the top of the bleachers. He entered the ring for a staredown with a wide-eyed Aldis. Aldis backed away to leave ring as the crowd chanted Scurll’s name.

It was later announced that Powerrr will feature a post-show promo from Scurll and a sitdown interview.

NWA’s Into the Fire PPV was a mighty fine show. If you are a fan of Powerrr, then I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t enjoy it. It kept the same throwback flavor but had longer matches. There were also the surprise moments of ODB and Marty Scurll. One critique is that there were too many tricky finishes with shenanigans. It also didn’t feel like any feuds were settled.

For best match of the night, I’d go with Eli Drake versus Ken Anderson. They both rose to the occasion for the big show and it was settled clean. Runner-up would be the National title bout with Aron Stevens, Colt Cabana, and Ricky Starks.

The Worlds Heavyweight Championship bout gave me mixed feelings. Falls 1 and 2 were kind of cheap. James Storm had a great strategy of bludgeoning Aldis. Victory was in his grasp, then he blew it by going for the chair. His indecision cost him dearly. Either use the chair to set up an easy third fall or don’t touch it at all.

Fall 3 was a banger, although, the finish wasn’t very satisfying. It left the door open for James Storm to claim conspiracy. I don’t think it was a planned plot, but Storm does have a case for a rematch. I would have preferred a decisive finish, so Aldis can move on to the next challenger, who would appear to be Marty Scurll. Instead of that bout taking center stage, the Storm controversy hangs over like a dark cloud. Being that this was the first PPV in the Powerrr era, we’ll have to see if the PPV was used as a tool to set up those shows rather than a finish to the road leading in.

As a bonus, enjoy this pre-show promo from Aron Stevens and ¿Question Mark?

What did you think of Into the Fire? What was your favorite moment? Who stole the show? Did you like the jumbled finish for the main event?