The National Wrestling Alliance held eight championship contests on the NWA 312 PPV in Chicago on April 7, 2023. Once the show was complete, there were two new champions.
Kenzie Paige is the inaugural titleholder of the NWA Women’s Television Championship. She bested Max The Impaler in the tournament final to crown the first champion. Max steamrolled Paige for much of the match. Kenzie was getting pummeled so bad that she debated using a chair just to survive. The referee stepped in to prevent disqualification by talking sense to Kenzie. She dropped the foreign object, and it remained on the mat for the rest of the bout. Foreshadowing!
Max increased her aggression for a powerbomb and a clothesline. Kenzie was done. 1, 2, Max pulled up her opponent from the pinfall to continue dishing out pain. Max unleashed three consecutive powerbombs.
Samantha Starr ran in calling for the bell to stop the violence. Max pulled her into the ring for a lariat. Kylie Paige ran in to help her sister, and she was promptly tossed from the ring by Max. As the referee was trying to restore order, Kenzie managed to surprise Max for a cutter onto the chair. 1, 2, 3, victory!
NWA 312
Kenzie was awarded a special trophy for the honor. One of the bonuses of winning this tournament was the right to participate in the design on the new title belt.
NWA 312
Another bonus for Kenzie is the fast track to a world title shot against Kamille. TV championships in the NWA have the Lucky 7 rule. After seven consecutive matches retaining the gold, the TV champ can cash in for a world title fight.
The other new champion is EC3. He defeated Cyon to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship in the opener. EC3 jammed his knee on a leap frog. When Cyon rushed in to capitalize, EC3 dodged, and Cyon crashed into the corner. EC3 pounced for the Purpose submission to win. (Full details here.)
Let’s jam through the rest of the results from NWA 312.
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship: Tyrus retained against Chris Adonis. The challenger was focused on applying the Masterlock submission as his path to victory. He finally got it on the mat under Tyrus. The champ was close to unconsciousness, then he wisely leaned all his weight back to trap Adonis’ shoulders on the mat for victory. (Full details here.)
NWA Women’s World Championship: Kamille retained against La Rosa Negra. Kamille used her power early to keep Rosa grounded. Rosa rallied with a pair of flying crossbodies. She climbed the corner for her frog splash finisher, but Kamille had it well-scouted and hit the ropes to knock Rosa off-balance. Rosa regained control for a superplex. She rolled through for a second suplex, however, Kamille countered into a swinging neckbreaker. Kamille lifted Rosa for a torture rack spinning into a powerbomb. Kick out by Rosa.
The challenger dug deep to surprise the champion for a cutter. Rosa hit the target on her frog splash. She was too slow to make the cover. Kamille grabbed the ropes to break the count. Rosa poured it on with repeated standing leg drops. One more time for the frog splash. Rosa leaped, and Kamille sprang up for a counter cutter mid-air. Kamille quickly hit a spear to win. And still one-time champ, Kamille.
NWA World Tag Team Championship: Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf retained against Dak Draper & Big Strong Mims. Aron Stevens ran in with Blunt Force Trauma to attack both teams. The real target was La Rebelion as Stevens punched Bestia with a loaded glove. Mims scurried for the pin, but Bestia kicked out. The referee ejected Stevens and his goons. The match progressed to the finish. La Rebelion caused a miscommunication for the challengers, and Draper collided into Mims. The champs closed it out with a teamwork flying backcracker powerbomb. Mecha Wolf pinned Mims.
Bully Ray defeated Thom Latimer. Bully’s plan was to demonstrate disrespect as a form of mind games. He knew that Latimer would snap if the right button was pushed. Bully escalated his tactics. This was more on the strategy level then acting the heel. Bully found the sweet spot by saying Kamille wears the pants in the Latimer family and that Thom is nothing but a punk. Latimer exploded with rage to pummel Bully in the corner. He ignored the referee’s warnings, so a disqualification was called. Bully laughed at proving Latimer was his own worst enemy.
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Kerry Morton retained against Joe Alonzo. Morton had momentum down the stretch for his running knee finisher. Jamie Stanley caused a distraction, so Ricky Morton rammed him into the steps. The distraction served its purpose though leading to Alonzo connecting on a springboard cutter to Kerry. The champ smartly rolled out of the ring to safety to prevent a pinfall. Kerry regrouped to dodge a flying attack. He hit a jumping knee and finished with the Showstopper inverted facelock standing elbow drop.
Bob Luce Memorial Battle Royale won by Thrillbilly Silas Mason. Every elimination was on the same side of the ring, which was weird. I suspect that fans were sitting too close on the other three sides. The final four came down to Silas, Homicide, Odinson, and Eric Jackson. Homicide controlled the action with cutters until Jackson was able to dump him out of the ring. Odinson lifted Jackson into a torture rack to toss out for an elimination. Silas and Odinson went back and forth on fisticuffs. Odinson reached for his chrome spray as a foreign object and used it on Pollo Del Mar. Silas fired up in anger for running corner splashes. Odinson escaped the Thrill Ride to counter with a big pounce. Odinson sent Silas over the ropes, but Pollo was on the floor to save Silas’ feet from touching. Silas reentered to take control. A dropkick sent Odinson into the ropes, and a clothesline sent him tumbling down to the floor for Silas to win. The prize for Silas is a shot at the NWA National Heavyweight Championship during the Crockett Cup weekend on June 3 and June 4.
The rest of the battle royal competitors were Rhett Titus, Jordan Clearwater, Mercurio, Magic Jake Dumas, Brady Pierce, Rolando Freeman, Rush Freeman, Alex Taylor, Fodder, Jay Bradley, Wrecking Ball Legursky, Jeremiah Plunkett, PJ Hawx, Hale Collins, Vik Dalishus, Matt Vine, Chico Suave, Jackpot Dinero, Cody James, and Superbeast.
Kratos defeated Yabo The Clown. Huge shoulder tackle by Kratos at the opening bell. Yabo’s clown tricks didn’t slow down the powerhouse very much. Kratos continued his assault with release suplexes across the ring. Kratos finished with a double underhook swinging DDT. This wasn’t a squash, but it was a fairly dominant performance from Kratos.
NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship: Madi Wrenkowski & Missa Kate retained against Ella Envy & Roxy. Pretty Empowered isolated Madi. Hot tag to Kate for the hometown pop. Madi rammed Envy into the ring post. Kate sent Roxy into the ropes on an Irish whip, and Madi tripped Roxy to set up Kate for a spinning kick to the jaw to win.
The pre-show had four contests.
Trevor Murdoch & Mike Knox defeated Daisy Kill & Talos. Murdoch and Knox had no trouble pounding Kill. The 7-footer was a different story. Murdoch and Knox worked well together as a team for a flying clothesline powerbomb combo to Kill, then they used their veteran savvy for a high-low combo on Talos for the win.
Mask vs. Hair strap match: Gaagz The Gymp defeated Sal The Pal. Judais ensured that they were stuck together by the strap. Sal had no reservations whipping Gaagz with the strap. The Gymp asked for more, since pain is pleasure. Gaagz was reluctant to whip his friend, but he eventually relented for payback. Gaagz used the strap for a low blow then finished with a tornado stunner. Judais forced Gaagz to shave Sal’s head. He then demanded that they kiss his boots. Gaagz and Sal refused and rolled out of the ring to exit. Those goofballs might still be strapped together as you read this. Father James Mitchell washed his hands of the two idiots with a warning for punishment.
NWA United States Tag Team Championship: AJ Cazana & Anthony Andrews retained against Jax Dane & Blake Troop. The SVGS roughhoused the champs. Manager Chris Silvio threw his boot into the ring as a foreign object. That tactic backfired. The referee ejected him, Troop was distracted, and Andrews scored a roll-up to win.
Natalia Markova defeated Labrava Escobar. Markova bloodied Escobar last time they fought, so this was a grudge match. CJ was ringside in support of Escobar and provided distractions. Markova would not be deterred and won with a spinning head kick.
The NWA has a specific style of wrestling. If you enjoy their usual product, then the NWA 312 PPV was probably satisfying. I thought it was an average show by NWA standards. There weren’t any hot feuds coming in, so that dropped the level of emotion.
I’m giving the nod to Kamille and La Rosa Negra for the show-stealing match. The main event had a fun story from Tyrus and Chris Adonis revolving around the Masterlock. Kerry Morton continued to develop as a key piece of the NWA’s future.
Some of the finishes were questionable. For the women’s TV title match, it was pretty stupid that the referee left the chair in the ring for several minutes. He had ample chance to remove the object from the ring. The way Thom Latimer lost to Bully Ray was part of his story arc to evolve as a character, but it was a bit of a letdown for a PPV match. That would have been better served on the weekly episode of Powerrr. The interference from Aron Stevens in the tag title bout was another story tool, but it didn’t do anything to help service the match.
The NWA 312 replay is available for viewing through Fite TV. There were technical difficulties during the live airing Friday night and a lengthy delay for posting the on-demand replay. The video has a few glitches skipping on screen at the end of the Bully versus Latimer match and into the next bout, but nothing was bad enough to miss any important moments.
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