On April 27 in Concord, North Carolina, the National Wrestling Alliance is bringing back the Crockett Cup - a tag team tournament from the 1980s run by the biggest company of the old NWA (and the McMahon’s biggest competitor, and the direct antecedent of WCW), Jim Crockett Promotions.
The show, at Cabbarus Arena, was already being co-promoted with Ring of Honor. This morning, along tickets for the event going on sale to the general public, the NWA announced that ROH partner promotions New Japan & CMLL will also be sending teams to take part in the tournament.
It’s interesting timing, and not just because it’ll make for a more exciting tournament from an in-ring perspective.
The arrival of All Elite Wrestling to the market had many wondering if Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks would be working with the companies which helped them make ALL IN a reality last year. So far, that doesn’t appear to be the case, as ROH, New Japan & NWA are publicly strengthening their alliance with one another as AEW takes on new partners in AAA & OWE.
As for the Crockett Cup, CMLL and NJPW teams will help fill out a field that thus far only has two teams - ROH’s Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) and NWA’s War Kings (Crimson & Jax Dane). As you can see in the latest episode of Ten Pounds of Gold above, Jim Cornette is helping to promote the show. He’s also calling it along with Ring of Honor’s Ian Riccaboni & Championship Wrestling from Hollywood’s Joe Galli, and appearing along with other NWA legends like Magnum TA, Nikita Koloff, The Rock N’ Roll Express, and all three members of his Midnight Express.
No official word on television yet, but the NWA70 pay-per-view (PPV) aired on Fite.TV, and ROH & NJPW’s involvement means their streaming services are possibilities as well.
In the ring and outside it, pro wrestling stays interesting in 2019.