The NWA is now on its own again. It is no longer associated with TNA and is now in the same position it was in when it’s association with WCW ended. They handled the situation in the exact same way, with a tournament to crown a new champion who will bounce around defending the title at different indie shows. Adam Pearce beat Brent Albright in the finals at an IWA Puerto Rico show. All I’ve been able to find of that match is the final moments, in which guest referee Bryan Danielson (suffering from the detached retina he sustained at the hands of Takeshi Morishima in Ring of Honor) counted the winning fall off of a roll up. That wasn’t the only match I couldn’t find in this home stretch to the modern days of this title, so like in part one of this series I reserve the right to skip over matches if they prove too hard to track down.
August 2, 2008 – New York, New York
Brent Albright def. Adam Pearce {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From ROH Death Before Dishonor VI. This was like two weeks before I moved to New York City, so I just missed seeing it live. Pearce put the red Jack Brisco strap back on the title. They also brought back over the top rope disqualifications here, and I’ll assume from this point on until I’m inevitably proven wrong. At one point, Larry Sweeney tried to interfere on Pearce’s behalf but Roderick Strong took him out with the Sick Kick. I coined the name of that move, you know. This was an ode to Sting vs. Flair at the first Clash. Albright would hulk out to get the crowd hyped, Pearce used the Figure 4 Leglock, both guys bled, the action was intense and simple, and for the first time in years it felt like a match around the title was being taken seriously. Sting vs. Flair didn’t have any table spots, but the one here worked really well and led to a great near-count out because Pearce didn’t act like a dork and try to bring Albright back in the ring. I didn’t remember Albright being particularly over in ROH but the fans went completely ape shit for him here. It made the finish wild, as Albright caught Pearce with a gnarly Crowbar and got the win at 19:40, making the room explode with cheers. ****¼
September 20, 2008 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Adam Pearce def. Brent Albright {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From ROH Glory by Honor VII. You’d think they’d be able to recapture the magic of their New York match because the crowd here was plenty hot for them. You’d think wrong though. Pearce wrestled this thing like he was drunk and the overbooking didn’t make sense. You had Larry Sweeney and Shane Hagadorn interfering time and again, but then when Albright put on the Crowbar at the end Pearce was able to counter it and put it on Albright to win clean? What kind of story is that? That happened at 13:57. Between the bizarre finish and wobbly Pearce, this left a lot to be desired. **¾
October 5, 2008 – Mexico City, Mexico
Blue Demon Jr. def. Adam Pearce {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From an NWA Mexico show. NWA Mexico was an indie that Demon started which ran for five years. Pearce really played up being American here, which was heelish outside of the United States at the time thanks to it being the dying days of George W. Bush’s military empire, but way less heelish than it would be to do today in what I hope are the dying days of Trump’s administration. The future Hunico was in Demon’s corner. Given the amount of photographers and videographers around the ring and the fact that only like 200 people were in attendance for this match, you had to assume that someone let the cat out of the bag about what was going down in this match. This was good enough, though it should have been five minutes shorter given Demon’s limitations. The finish was great, as Demon psyched Pearce out by putting him in the Crowbar and then transitioned into a half crab that made the champ pass out at 18:55. His arm was under the ropes, but I don’t know that it mattered because Demon held the title for like a year and a half after this. ***
March 14, 2010 – Charlotte, North Carolina
Adam Pearce def. Blue Demon Jr. and Phil Shatter {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Three Way Elimination Match}
From an NWA New Beginnings show. NWA New Beginnings lasted about a year, so if you’re wondering if indies were more successful when they licenced the NWA name, the answer is no. I’ve only seen two minutes of clips from this match, though what I saw looked fun. Demon got eliminated first, and then Pearce defeated Shatter. The finish wasn’t shown in the clip I saw. N/A
March 6, 2011 – Glendale, California
Colt Cabana def. Adam Pearce {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood 29. This was Cabana’s third shot at the title against Pearce, smack dab in the middle of what would end up being a two-year feud between the two of them throughout various NWA indie feds. This was a good old school brawl. Cabana bled, Pearce continued to cheat and try to win by count out, the crowd was never left to die. Cabana’s final comeback, busting Pearce open and overcoming his final cowardly antics was really fun. He won in 22:23 with the Billy Goat’s Curse. Pearce tapping after a babyface makes a big run up to his title is very satisfying. ***½
April 23, 2011 – Jacksonville, Florida
The Sheik def. Colt Cabana {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From NWA Florida Subtle Hustle. This Sheik is MLW’s Josef Samael. I could only find a clip of the last 1:20 of the match, which saw Sheik lay out Cabana with his pointy shoe and then pretend that it was his lazy Camel Clutch that put the champ down. Not much to say about that. Sheik defended the title a few times, including in Canada and Japan, but then was stripped of the belt when he decided not to appear for a title defense against Pearce in Ohio. He claims he was never booked on the show. That’s wrestling for you. N/A
July 31, 2011 – Columbus, Ohio
Adam Pearce def. Chance Prophet, Jimmy Rave, and Shaun Tempers {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Rampage Rules Match}
From NWA at the Ohio State Fair. Rampage Rules means that two men are legal unless they tag out or are thrown to the floor. Because the floor stipulation causes confusion over which person on the apron coming in is legal there are two referees. This was in a rather large arena with rather few fans in attendance. The stipulation went out the windsor for a sizable chunk of the match when multiple guys were in the ring. I suppose technically they stuck to the stip as nobody went for a pinfall during that time. But this match was mostly just mindless brawling with no story, which is a shame because it felt like they might do an Everybody Hates Jimmy thing in the beginning but then abandoned that. Pearce pinned Rave at 15:04 with a lariat. **½
April 8, 2012 – Glendale, California
Colt Cabana def. Adam Pearce {NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match}
From NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood 79. This aired on local TV and the bleeping of crowd chants and Pearce’s trash talking gave me a legit headache after a while. This took a few minutes to get out of first gear, but once it did it turned into a hell of a match. Cabana threw everything he had at Pearce but nothing worked. Even the Billy Goat’s Curse couldn’t put Pearce down. Pearce took control but had the same issue. Multiple lariats couldn’t stop Cabana from kicking out. Cabana’s roll ups were the closest he’d gotten to pinning Pearce, and when the champ went for his piledriver, Cabana countered to a pin for the win at 20:24. Those last few minutes were wild. ***½
July 21, 2012 – Kansas City, Kansas
Adam Pearce def. Colt Cabana {NWA World Heavyweight Championship 2/3 Falls Match}
From a Metro Pro Wrestling broadcast. This was in the middle of a series of matches between the two called Seven Levels of Hate in which Pearces NWA career was on the line. That becomes important later. Cabana entered this match 3-0 over Pearce in the best of seven series, so the result wasn’t really in doubt. The commentators say that Pearce was wrestling with a 102-degree fever, which if true seems crazy irresponsible given the state of the world in 2020. I’ve actually always hated hearing wrestlers brag about working with a fever. You’re putting so many other people at risk. There’s a rather fascinating exchange that sums it up on commentary when the babyface announcer tries to downplay Pearce fighting sick by saying, “If my career was on the line I’d go to work sick,” and when pressed he said, “No, not really.” This is very weird to listen to during a pandemic eight years later! Last criticism of the commentary; both the babyface and heel rip on the fans’ appearance and hygiene. If I’m watching this, why would I want to come to the next show of a promotion that thinks I’m gross? Cabana and Pearce got caught in a double pin about 10 minutes into the match. Can’t say with any confidence I’ve ever seen that before. Pearce won the match after hitting Cabana with the belt at 25:12. I was clearly very distracted by the commentary, though the match was quite good especially in the final fall. ***¼
October 27, 2012 – Berwick, Victoria
Colt Cabana def. Adam Pearce {Steel Cage Match}
From NWA Warzone 14. This match isn’t for the NWA title but it might as well have been (and I’m including it here) because the NWA’s refusal to allow Pearce to put the title on the line here caused him to vacate the belt immediately after the match. Why the NWA didn’t want Cabana to be champion for a third time is rather mystifying to me. This was the last match in the Seven Levels of Hate series, and it made no sense for the title not to be on the line. I think good sense and history have shown that Pearce was in the right here. This was pretty standard fare for a cage match. Pearce spent much of it arguing with the very young fans in attendance, which was amusing but felt inappropriate for the final match of a blood feud like this. Cabana picked up the win with the Billy Goat’s Curse at 14:37 after deciding not to win by escape. As I mentioned earlier, Pearce criticized the NWA after the match and declared himself that Cabana was the undisputed NWA Champion. Cabana says that the NWA was great in the past, but he’s not interested in the past. He rips the NWA as representing old, outmoded, stupid wrestling and bad decisions. Both guys agreed not to accept the title and they let it drop to the mat. If you ask me, this was more damaging to the NWA than Shane Douglas’s throwing down of the title in ‘94. Douglas and ECW were trying to get press at the NWA’s expense while this was just two guys expressing easy to relate to issues with a company that was clearly out of touch. ***
A month later, International Wrestling Corp. became the owner of the NWA after a lawsuit. NWA’s regional promotions largely disappeared and instead the NWA brand began being licensed to other wrestling companies.
Back at the start of this endeavor I said I might change my mind and do more than six parts of this series. Well that’s happening. Considering the sea change mentioned above and Pearce’s vacating the title being a rather definitive end to his five years of dominance with the belt, I’m cutting this part off here. Next time I’ll look at the seventh and final part (until there are more title changes), as the NWA becomes another indie gimmick again until it gets sold to a Smashing Pumpkin.
From Diamond Ring Kensuke Office Changes. They emphasize that Nakajima beat Dragon Gate wrestler Kenichiro Arai 
From Dynamite 131. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Joe debuted at ROH Supercard of Honor, saving Jonathan Gresham from Jay Lethal (whose soul searching apparently led him to turn heel) & Sonjay Dutt after the main event. And now that ROH and AEW are the same thing, that seems worth mentioning. Caster’s pre-match rap was cute. This was real squashy, with Joe needing only two minutes to put Caster down with the Muscle Buster at 2:52. Lethal & Dutt pop up on the big screens and Lethal says he’d been trying to get a hold of Joe during his difficult soul searching time, and Joe never picked up. They have a present for Joe next week. N/A
From Dynamite 132. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt were in the front row cheering on Joe. Sarcastically, probably, as they brawled with Joe at ROH Supercard of Honor XV. 
From Rampage 39. 
From Dynamite 137. 
From Dynamite 138. This is a 
From Double or Nothing. 
From PWF York Cougar Football Fundraiser. I didn't know that this match happened until over a month after the fact. This started out as a non-title match, but we'll get to why I've listed it as a title match in a moment. FTR have Mick Foley in their corner while their opponents have Bill Behrens. I’ve never actually seen Behrens do an on-camera gig before. He's holding a tennis racket, presumably as an Umaga to Jim Cornette. But it's confusing because there was actually a tennis player named Bill Behrens. They announce this match as having a 20-minute time limit. Only 11 minutes in, they say there are three minutes remaining. Until then, this was as run-of-the-mill as a modern FTR match gets. But the announcement snapped everyone out of their heat-on-Wheeler funk and forced them to go for desperate pins. They announce ten seconds remaining a couple of times, but no one can get the roll up pin they're looking for. The 20-minute time limit expires at 1
From NXT UK 183. McGuinness started by essentially saying that Fraser is going to pee or poo himself during the match. Unnecessary. Had Shawn Michaels been game to have a good match against Vader, this is what it would have looked like. Actually, a more appropriate and modern analogue is Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins from SummerSlam. Much like that match, Frazer used quick strikes and avoided his larger opponent’s signature big move to stay alive. Here it was the powerbomb whereas there it was suplexes. Here, Frazer also successfully damaged WALTER’s knee, which slowed the big man down and made it hard for WALTER to hit the powerbomb. Unfortunately for Frazer, WALTER was able to bide his time and clothesline Frazer’s legs out from under him. An inevitable powerbomb followed and won the match for WALTER at 14:02. I hate to say this because I’m happy that he’s healthier, but the way WALTER has slimmed down has taken some of the magic away from his aura. At least for me it has. That said, dude can clearly still go as well as ever in the ring. ****
From NXT 659. Strong was feeling it here, which is thanks in large part to the crowd being maniacally loud from the get go I’m sure. His whole game was fast and devastating stick and move attacks. That worked pretty well, as WALTER was dazed from time to time. But as with all good WALTER matches (which is pretty much all WALTER matches), everything WALTER does is devastating here so it takes very little for him to take back control. And eventually he did just that and hit the powerbomb for the win at 9:46 (shown of 12:18). After the match, WALTER gets on the microphone and says that his name is Gunther now. I did not think WALTER would be a victim of the renaming curse this far into his run. What will they rename Strong?! ***¾
From NXT UK 185. Andy Shepherd helpfully announces from inside the ring that the reason for the stipulation is that the feud has gotten so violent that it wouldn’t be safe to have fans around. Devlin says during the match that it’s because he thinks Dragunov could only muster the energy to win if he had the crowd behind him. I like that explanation a lot more. The only real reason I could think of to do this without fans is that there was a scheduling conflict with one of the wrestlers for the regular TV taping date and they needed to get this thing filmed. We just had such a long stretch of empty arena NXT UK episodes that I can’t imagine anyone was dying to get another taste of it. This aired the day after Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy in a match that was also no disqualification and falls count anywhere, and this served up everything I felt was missing from that match. Now you might say, “Brad, Cassidy is not the same kind of character as Devlin or Dragunov, how could you expect the same level of violence or intensity?” To that I say, when Cassidy started his match by breaking his own sunglasses and rapidly punching Cole, he was indicating that level of violence and/or intensity. And instead the match was mostly wacky. Anyway, this was not wacky. It was stiff and intense and featured weapons that made sense and spots the didn’t take forever to set up. Dragunov got in trouble when his eye injury acted up. Devlin took control and beat the crap out of him. I wasn’t wild about how meek Dragunov was when Devlin was zip tying his hands, but I did like that in the end it turned out to be an error on Devlin’s part anyway because Dragunov’s finisher requires no hands. And indeed, a bound Dragunov jumped off the steel steps (which had been brought into the ring) and hit the Torpedo Moskau on Devlin for the win at 21:43. NXT UK is still sneaking in these dope matches that no one is watching. Y’all should watch them. ****¼ 
From AAA Triplemania Regia. FTR come out with Vickie Guerrero. This was supposed to be explained at an earlier AAA taping but FTR and Guerrero all missed them. AAA is notorious for having this kind of luck/being incompetent lately. FTR is also wearing Eddie Guerrero tribute tights, with American flags on one side and flames on the other, I suppose to pay homage to his Gringos Locos and Latino Heat gimmicks. This match mostly sucked, but one cool spot saw FTR tie Pentagon’s mask to the ropes and force him to unmask with his hands over his face to stop them from climbing the ladder. That would have been a very meaningful moment to lead up to the Lucha Brothers winning the titles back, but unfortunately instead it led into nothing. He just got his mask back and the match continued on in its lame, derivative way. At one point, Pentagon was the only man standing, but instead of climbing the ladder he grabbed a table from the floor. So the titles mean enough to him that he’d unmask to stop his opponents from winning, but not enough for him to get the titles when he had a clear path to do it? Vickie powered Pentagon, causing him to voluntarily jump through the table and Harwood grabbed the belts at 12:12. This was abysmal. *
From AEW Full Gear. Silver was hamming it up a lot more here than he was the year before in New York. That said, this had stronger just-a-match vibes than the aforementioned match. After Silver ripped out Cassidy’s pockets, Cassidy turned up the heat and these guys put on a middle of the row undercard match. Not bad by any means, but nothing memorable either. Cassidy hit the Beach Break rather out of nowhere for the win at 9:42. **¾ 
From the second Honor Reigns Supreme. The commentators sold this as Gresham getting a big shot against a top ROH guy after being an also-ran in the Television Championship division for a while. This was terrific. Both guys did a fantastic job selling their respective targeted limbs, and Gresham in particular played the role of the tenacious underdog perfectly. He didn’t just watch to see where Lethal would have trouble executing his finisher because of the damage he’d done to the former ROH Champion’s arm, he pressed the assault whenever he could, taking out the arm to make sure the Lethal Injection would never come. But what he couldn’t do was stop Lethal from battering his knee and ultimately winning with a Figure 4 Leglock at 17:54. ****¼ 
From the second Masters of the Craft. Columbus has way more Gresham fans than Concord did. That’s a neat little advancement to the plot, innit? They both went after the same limbs that earned them dividends in their previous match. And then they went ahead and built an incredible match out of that story. At first it seemed as though Lethal wasn’t going to be able to get Gresham’s leg to give out. But about halfway through the match, Gresham’s knee was in trouble. Gresham was able to escape the leglock this time by using the momentum of Lethal pulling him away from the ropes to shift to an armbar. But Gresham’s focus on the arm bit him in the ass. Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and collapsed again, but when Gresham went for a roll up after that Lethal cut back on it for the win at 18:27. This is one of the best American examples that I've seen of a match building on the match that came before. Rather than try to outdo the maneuvers from their first meeting for the sake of a big crowd reaction, they adjust their game plans in logical ways that, to me, were just as exciting. I think this match is slept on, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never heard anything about it before watching it. ****½ 
From ROH Wrestling 364. In real life, 
From Death Before Dishonor XVII. Gresham and Lethal had been teaming, but Gresham grew frustrated and started heeling. Ultimately, he turned on Lethal. It took them a little while to get there, but once they got into a groove this was exactly what I wanted from this match. It was back to their old tricks, with Lethal targeting the leg to set up for the Figure 4 Leglock and Gresham targeting the arm to block the Lethal Injection and set up for his Octopus. In the end, Lethal tried the cutback trick that worked for him in Columbus, but Gresham countered to a pin and then put on the gnarliest Octopus for his first win over Lethal at 17:20. This is the best kind of wrestling series. And none of it felt stale because it was a year after they’d wrestled last and because they found ways to energize the old tropes. And that’s not to mention Gresham busting out what I can only describe as a sumo-style assault. Gresham and Lethal make up after the match. ****
From ROH Wrestling 500. During the pandemic, ROH made the most of their empty arena shows by kicking them off with a tournament to crown a champion for the revived Pure Championship. Gresham won the tournament, and this was his fourth defense of the title. Lethal and Gresham were still allies here. In an interesting move, the other match on this milestone episode was two other partners fighting in Jay and Mark Briscoe. They cut to a commercial break about six minutes in, though the action didn’t get beyond (admittedly fast-moving) mat wrestling until the 10-minute mark. That had me thinking this was going to go long, but things took a different turn. Both guys had abused the other’s shoulders, and Lethal used that to his advantage best. He forced Gresham to use his first rope break to stop a pin, and his second to escape a crab. Then, he used the failed Lethal Injection to bait Gresham into a crossface, forcing the champ to use his final rope break. But he made the mistake of giving Gresham a breather and was quickly caught in a head scissor takedown giving Gresham the winning pin at 14:06 (shown of 16:40). For an empty arena match, this held my attention. It was totally different than their previous matches while still using a couple elements from the rivalry to elevate it just a bit. Not essential viewing, but if you’re working your way through their series you shouldn’t skip it. ***¼ 
