NWA Power results: Bully Ray & Thom Latimer vs. The Cardona Family

This week's NWA Power featured the continuation of the Bully Ray/Mike Knox feud in addition to the promotional debut of Dak Draper.

Draper made his debut to open things up with the winner advancing in the NWA National title no. 1 contender's tournament.

Dak Draper defeated Brian Myers in a NWA National title eliminator tournament semifinal

Draper outwrestled Myers in the first few minutes, using a combination of amateur wrestling and pro wrestling, ending the sequence with a powerslam for a near fall. Myers was able to finally get some offense after a neck snap on the ropes. He quickly slid under the ropes as Draper hit them, tripping him in the process. Draper hit a back suplex, skinned the cat onto the apron, and hit a slingshot over the ropes into a cradle for a near fall.

Myers hit an enziguri, a superkick, and an implant DDT for a near fall. Myers did an O’Connor roll and grabbed the ropes but the ref noticed. Draper then did an O’Connor roll of his own for the pinfall. 

This was a solid match with Draper advancing to the finals. This was a good chance to elevate a new face and they took it here.

- Bully Ray was with Joe Galli earlier in the day, addressing what VSK and Mike Knox said about Bully Ray having no friends and no one to be his partner tonight. Ray said the first guy he asked said no, and that even if he couldn’t find a partner, he would wrestle a handicap match.

- May Valentine was with Knox and Matt Cardona who looked greatly pleased that Bully Ray didn’t have a partner. Knox claimed he didn’t lose his recent tables match with Bully Ray because he beat him up.

- Kyle Davis was in the NWA Control Center, making World Champion Trevor Murdoch vs. Matt Cardona official for NWA Hard Times III. The Fixers will also be taking on The Spectaculars. This was, again, such a simple way to update us on what is going on. Davis also hinted that an NWA champion was going to be defending his title internationally soon.

Chris Adonis defeated "Magic" Jake Dumas (w/ CJ) in a NWA National title eliminator tournament semifinal

Adonis and Dumas did a test of strength which did not go well for Dumas. Granny would call this a power knuckle hold and it really was. Adonis hit a back elbow and a suplex. Dumas raked Adonis' eyes across the top rope and hit a clothesline for a near fall. Dumas hit a Russian leg sweep for a near fall and followed up with a choke.

Dumas called for his own Master Lock, but Adonis powered out of it and hit some back elbows. Adonis hit a flying shoulder tackle and a big spinebuster. Dumas got a boot up on a corner charge. He then pulled a playing card out of his shirt while on the ropes for some reason. Adonis locked on the Master Lock, forcing a tapout as Dumas tried to scratch the eyes with the card. He advances in the finals to take on Draper.

- Marshe Rockett & Jordan Clearwater talked about challenging The Fixers for the US Tag titles, and BLK Jeez talked about Tyrus still wanting the NWA World Championship.

Marshe Rockett (w/ BLK Jeez) defeated Eric Jackson and Joe Ocasio in a three-way

As short as this was, I was impressed with all three men and would love to see all of them get more chances to wrestle on Power even though Rockett is relatively established.

Jackson hit an impressive crossbody on Ocasio early on, but was cut off on a suicide dive by Rockett. Jackson and Ocasio hit a double suplex on Rockett, and Jackson hit a slingblade. Ocasio countered a corner charge and hit a fireman’s carry into a gutbuster for a near fall. Rockett hit a huge dropkick on Ocasio, and Rockett hit a Rockett Kick on Jackson for the win.

- A highlight video of NWA USA aired with Thrillbilly Silas defeating Anthony Mayweather.

Bully Ray & Thom Latimer defeated The Cardona Family (VSK & Mike Knox) (w/ Matt Cardona)

Bully Ray appeared to have no partner and started the match against VSK. Ray chopped him a few times to the delight of the crowd. Ray gorilla pressed VSK off the top rope, but turned into a crossbody from Knox. Cardona attacked Ray behind the back of the ref. The numbers game started to overwhelm Ray as they got the heat on him for the next few minutes.

Ray hit a back elbow on VSK, forcing him to tag out to Knox. Knox hit a big boot on Ray and the heat continued. Out of nowhere, Thom Latimer made it to the apron and tagged in. Latimer ran wild on both men ending with a huge pop-up powerbomb on VSK for the pin. Latimer and Ray shook hands and celebrated to close the show.

Final Thoughts

Most of the matches were quite short this week with the whole episode rounding out to about 40 minutes long including ads. There was nothing too exciting, but slight progression in the stories and advancement of the National title contender tournament meant it had impact on the build to Hard Times III. I can’t say it was exciting, but it was solid.