MCNEILL'S TAKE McNEILL's NWA Showcase on Dish Network Revue (2/27): Nothin' But Matches. Feb 28, 2008 - 3:39:14 PM

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Welcome to NWA Wrestling Showcase on Colours TV on the Dish Network. Episode Six begins with David Marquez previewing tonight's show in front of a blue screen. Tonight, it's Alkatraz in action, Brandon Gatson vs. Tristan Gallo and T.J. Perkins against Rob Conway. He throws it to Mark Thompson, standing by in front of the black screen with Los Luchas. Phoenix Star & Zokre are still upset over Nicho turning on them last week. Zokre challenges the American Heroes, Nicho and Adam Pearce to an eight-man tag tonight. Zokre brings in their partners, the Young Bucks. To the ring!

Todd Kennelly, Ricky O & Kris Kloss have the call from the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas.

(1) Pepper Parks vs. Sonny Sampson – NWA National Title. Ricky O explains the "Rules of the NWA" again. If you missed them from last week:

- Matches can only be won by Pinfall, Submission, Countout, Referee Stoppage, DQ or Knockout.
- Wrestlers who leave the ring will have a count of 10 to re-enter, or Countout rule will be enforced.
- Wrestlers knocked off of their feet will have a count of 10 to regain their footing or KO rule will be enforced.
- Tapout/Verbal acknowledgment of surrender will trigger the Submission Rule.
- Throwing your Opponent over the top rope to the main floor is an automatic DQ.
- Wrestler will have a count of 5 to release any hold when their opponent makes contact with the ropes or corner pads. Failure to disengage will result in a DQ.
- Any Wrestler standing on the ropes or corner pads will have a count of 5 to dismount. Failure to do so will result in a DQ.
- Referee is in charge of the action. His/her ruling is final.

Sonny Sampson grabs the National title away from the ref before the bell. The ref gets it back and hands it off at ringside. The crewcut-clad Parks is smaller than the bodybuilder Sampson. But Parks gets a nearfall off a dropkick, and another from a crossbody. Sampson takes over with chokes and a bite. Parks fights his way out of a bearhug, but takes a flapjack. Sampson can't score the three count. Parks rallies by putting Sampson's head into the turnbuckle pad ten times. Sampson hits the Northern Lariat, then takes his shirt off and goes for what we'll call the Striptease Elbow. He misses. Parks scores a near fall off a powerslam. Then Parks hits a diamond cutter from the top rope for the pin at 7:59. Decent match. We go to break the moment Parks gets his hand raised.

(2) Brandon Gatson vs. Tristan Gallo. Gallo is the NWA Utah Champion. This is a non-title match. About ninety seconds in, the announcers finally mention that Gallo is the one in the black trunks, and therefore the heel. Gatson gets a good chunk of offense in before Gallo rakes the eyes. Gallo gets near falls off a clothesline and a powerslam. Gatson makes a comeback, but Gallo cuts him off with a vicious back elbow. Gatson hits a nice back handspring into a splash, but can't capitalize. Gallo tries to hit a TKO on Gatson, but Gatson keep fighting out of the fireman's carry. Gallo finally hits Gatson with the TKO to score the pinfall victory at 6:02. This looked like a WWE cruiserweight match, two smaller men working a more high-impact style. We go to break the moment Parks gets his hand raised. I sense a trend.

(3) Cassidy O'Brien vs. Alkatraz. The larger Alkatraz stalks the smaller O'Brien and this should be brief. O'Brien tries to stick and move, but gets run over by the guy in the orange jumpsuit. Alkatraz uses the "Lockdown" chokeslam and scores the pin at 2:01. A squash is a squash. Ricky O narrates a replay of the chokeslam. Cassidy gets another beating after the match. To the back!

Mark Thompson is standing by with T.J. Perkins in front of the black screen. Perkins wants a shot down the line at the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title. Perkins is interrupted by his opponent for the evening, the much taller Rob Conway. Conway starts trying to push Perkins around, and then a couple of officials drop by out of nowhere to separate the two men. This match is coming up, after the break.

(4) T.J. Perkins vs. Rob Conway. The announcers point out Conway's power advantage. Conway begins the match by posing and refuses to remove his sunglasses until he's done. Perkins tries to chain wrestle, but Conway overpowers him. Todd Kennelly mentions Conway's loss to Eugene, and that Perkins might be able to win by outwrestling the larger man. T.J. grabs the headlock and resists various Conway attempts to break the hold. Conway finally makes the reversal into a headscissors. Perkins finally makes his escape and resists Rob's efforts to grab a headlock. Conway finally heads to the floor in frustration. After a brief flurry inside the ring, Conway suckers Perkins to the floor and rams him into the ringpost. Conway pulls Perkins back in, stomps a mudhole in him, and tosses him back outside to the floor. Okay then. Conway brings Perkins in again and scores a near fall off a series of elbow drops. Conway figure-fours the neck, but the ref catches him using the ropes for leverage and forces Conway to break. Perkins comes back with a series of kicks and nearly wins with a Michinoku Driver. Perkins hits a crossbody from the top rope, but Conway rolls through and pins Perkins clean with a running powerslam at 10:42. Good match. We go to break right after Conway gets his hand raised.

(5) Los Luchas & The Young Bucks vs. Adam Pearce, Real American Heroes & Nicho. C. Edward Vanderpyle is managing the Heroes, and is out on the floor. We start with all eight men in the ring. Nick Bockwinkel has replaced Kris Kloss at the announce table. Kennelly asks about eight-man tags. "If there's ever a match I'd want to avoid, this is one of them," says Bockwinkel. We'll see if that's a shoot or not. Nick calls the Young Bucks "the little high-flyers in the orange" and quickly establishes himself as a second heel commentator. We're down to Nicho working over Matt Jackson in the ring. Nicho does the Hulk Hogan pose to the angry crowd. Matt cleans house on the heels and brings in Nick Jackson. Zokre and Karl Anderson are next, and Zokre's too quick for the larger man. Phoenix Star is in next, and Joey Ryan maneuvers him into the heel corner for a four-on-one beatdown. Nicho sets Pearce up for a frog splash, but Star kicks out. Bodyslam by Anderson and Phoenix Star starts fighting out of a headlock. Pearce comes in and hits a powerslam while Bockwinkel starts reminiscing about Ray Stevens. Anderson tries to rip off Star's mask, but can't. Star almost gets to his corner, but Ryan cuts him off. In a shocking development, Bockwinkel thinks today's wrestlers try too many high-flying moves. Star finally hits a DDT on Pearce and makes the hot tag to Matt Jackson. We get all eight wrestlers in the ring. The brawls spills out to the floor, where Pearce and Nicho take over on the Young Bucks by dropping Matt Jackson's ribs over the guardrail. Pearce pulls Matt back into the ring and the heels start getting the heat on him. Nicho dropkicks Matt in the back of the head for a near fall. Ryan has Matt Jackson in the abdominal stretch as we go to the break.

We pick up exactly where we left off. Matt gives Ryan a hiplock takeover, but gets cut off. Pearce tags in and applies the camel clutch to Matt, and then tags Nicho. Jackson eventually hits a Code Red type maneuver on Ryan and makes the hot tag. Los Luchas come in together and starts cleaning house on the heels. The Bucks join in and clear the ring, then the fan favorites go up top and hit (quadraphonic) stereo dives to the floor. The fans really enjoyed that. Nick Jackson brings Pearce back in for a very near fall. Finally, Ryan shoves Nick Jackson off the top rope and Pearce hits the piledriver on Nick for the pinfall at 21:30. A long match, but a very good one. The referee and Matt Jackson run over to check on Nick. Ricky O puts over the effects of the piledriver and the possible injury to Nick Jackson as the heel contingent celebrates in the ring.

And we're out. If I read the spoilers correctly, we'll get Zokre vs. Joey Ryan next week, along with the return of Eugene Dinsmore.

***

My rating? 7 out of a possible 10 due to the final two matches, which were extremely enjoyable. I'm worried about the future of this show. The wrestling portion keeps getting longer, which means there's less space for ads. It's obvious that the Dish Network and the Plaza Hotel aren’t exactly cash cows for promoter David Marquez.

The full show can be viewed on the NWA Wrestling website.

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