You can view Episode 3 by clicking here.
David Marquez and Rob Conway open the show, once again welcoming us to Las Vegas, Nevada. Conway gets a phone call, answers and tells Marquez it’s for him. Confused, Marquez tells the person on the other line to hold on because they are on television. Being the well mannered and caring co-host, Rob Conway tells Marquez we’ll wait for him to get off the phone. Marquez walks away and Conway chuckles. “We’re not waiting for him…â€
We come back from a commercial break and the lonesome Conway tells us the show’s name has now changed from “NWA Wrestling Showcase†to “The Rob Conway Showâ€. Best show name ever. He brings us to our opening bout, butchering half the wrestler’s names in the process.
Match One: TJ Perkins and Reyo de Jalisco vs. Blue Demon and Hadaka
Blue Demon and Reyo de Jalisco are two Lucha Libre Legends, and have an established fanbase. Hidaka is said to be a legend in the making over in Japan, as he has wrestled for every single major promotion in Japan. TJ Perkins has wrestled all around the world, but is known for his work in America under the mask of PUMA.
Started off like your traditional Legend/Rising Star vs. Legend/Rising Star match. Hidaka and Perkins opened it up, displaying their athletic abilities. Perkins ended up getting the best of Hidaka. Throughout the rising star’s encounters, you could see Reyo de Jalisco and Blue Demon chase each other around the ring outside. Demon pulled funny little antics like throwing the photographer at Jalisco. They finally met up in the ring after a few sets of cat and mouse, and I have to admit, I was extremely let down. Instead of hard hitting fast paced Lucha action, all I saw were quiet chops and barely mobile men slugging themselves around the ring.
The faces got their licks in, but it was the heels that had most control throughout the whole match. You would often find Perkins between Demon and Hidaka getting beat like the Government Mule. The match started out as a friendly fight displaying everyone’s athleticism, but in the end it turned out to just be an all out slugfest brawl. It was fun to watch, but it got old after a bit. The match was over after Blue Demon submitted TJ Perkins to a Modified Abdominal Stretch.
Blue Demon and Hidaka beat TJ Perkins and Reyo de Jalisco when Demon made Perkins submit to a Modified Abdominal Stretch. (** ¾)
I wasn’t expecting much walking into this match, but once again, the Lucha stars let me down. We need to bring in someone like Mistico to the NWA Wrestling Showcase. That’d draw an unbelievable amount of fans to the show and a ton of hits on their website. That is, if Conway isn’t already doing all that by himself. Don’t doubt the man… if he can get Randy Newman to sing his theme song in WWE he can do anything.
Speak of the devil! Conway welcomes us back to his show and breaks down the next clip. He’s going to show his opponent that he rules with an iron fist… and his opponent is “Special E†Eugene Dinsmore. I don’t want to watch this match at all.
Match Two: “Special E†Eugene Dinsmore vs. “Ironman†Rob Conway
Eugene Dinsmore is actually Eugene from WWE fame still in his mentally challenged gimmick. It really breaks my heart to see him wrestle with this gimmick because in OVW, he wrestled as “Nick Dinsmoreâ€, and was one of the finest technical wrestlers they had to offer. As a matter of fact, him and Rob Conway went by “The Lords of the Ring†and held the OVW Tag Team Titles multiple times.
Just another one of your typical WWE matches. Special E still imitates his heroes from WWE. Rob Conway got in some heel moments getting heat from the crowd, giving Special E sympathy points. Special E wound up stealing the win, catching Conway off guard with a roll up.
Eugene Dinsmore beat Rob Conway via. Pin. (* ¼)
I’m watching NWA’s version of televised wrestling to escape from the crap WWE and TNA put on TV. It sucks to see that NWA has gone this way just to get cheap pops.
Interviewer Mike Thompson introduces us to Bobby Jo Marshall, who appears to be British. He has an accent and is wearing a soccer jersey. Apparently, Jo Marshall has wrestled in NWA before but was sent back to his home land for unknown reasons. He then begins to yell, very loudly. And he has an accent so it’s quite difficult to understand what he’s saying. I think he talks about how angry he is that NWA sent him home, but in a way, he’s happy to be back. He’s going to clean the NWA and set it proper.
Conway brings us back to his show at a restaurant table where he is lounging with the match list in front of him. He’s yelling at the producers telling them that he’s beaten Dinsmore hundreds of times in different cities around the world (referring to WWE) and how upset he is that they rolled the footage of the one time Dinsmore beat him. He threatens walking off the show, but there is too much good action to just leave. Thank god. I don’t know what I’d do without Rob Conway.
Match Three: Rocky Romero vs. Nick Jackson
Rocky Romero is most known for his work with Ricky Reyes when they were a tag team known as “The Havana Pitbullsâ€. After breaking up, Romero went on to bigger and better things earning a roster spot with Ring of Honor and putting on a couple Match of the Year Contenders in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. His moveset is based on strikes and a lot of work on the arm. Nick Jackson is one half of The Young Bucks (along with his brother Matt Jackson). His home promotion is with Pro Wrestling Guerrilla.
The match started off with Romero showing off his strikes. Romero pretty much had control of the match, breaking Nick Jackson down with kicks to the back and various submission holds, until Jackson got his second wind. He used his agility to escape the holds Romero was putting him in and managed to knock Romero down, earning a couple seconds to get some energy back. Just as soon as we think Jackson is in full control and has a good chance of winning, Romero slapped on the Ankle Lock forcing Nick Jackson to immediately submit.
Rocky Romero beat Nick Jackson after Romero made Jackson submit to the Ankle Lock (*** ¼)
This was a fun and fast match that really added to the show. I needed to see some strikes and high-flying before my mind turned into mush. This match was like a Red Bull. It woke me up just enough so I can now finish watching the show.
Another NWA Fanfest promo runs here, this time with Bill Eadie, or Ax from Demolition. He always viewed NWA as a prestigious promotion with a lot of class. He puts over NWA some more saying they are the promotion in which the fan will get their money’s worth. The most bang for your buck, if you will. FINALLY… finally… NWA did this Fanfest thing right. Instead of putting NWA Fanfest over, they put themselves over. Kudos.
Conway, still by himself, leads us to the main event.
Match Four: Cassandro vs. Cobra II
Cassandro comes down to the ring in some very flamboyant and flaming ring gear. His gimmick is that he is a homosexual. Now, Cobra II is serious business and wants nothing to do with that kind of tom-foolery inside the squared circle.
Cassandro ignores that fact as whenever he took advantage of the match, it was because he either disgusted Cobra II by attempting to kiss him or blow in his ear or by a butt bump. Whenever Cobra II had the match in his hands he was very careful with what kinds of moves he did, he didn’t want to give Cassandro a chance to do anything nasty to him. It was kind of funny at first, but it got old and borderline gross. I think they crossed the line a couple times. There were too many cheap pops when Cassandro was either spanking Cobra II, kissing him or when he turned his body around so whenever Cobra II would charge him, he’d be running at his backside. Not much wrestling going on in this match, just a bunch of jokes. Cassandro over with a victory roll.
Cassandro beat Cobra II via. Pin. (** ½)
Nothing impressive. It was entertaining for a bit, but as I mentioned, the humor got stale and old.
Conway is ready to lead us off to the credits, but in walks Marquez! Marquez asks why the show’s name has changed from “NWA Wrestling Showcase†to “The Rob Conway Showâ€. Conway’s response was simply “NWA Wrestling Show… it’s boring!†Marquez goes on to give Conway back his phone and asks him what “Amigo Juice†is. Awkward silence and Marquez greets us out the door.
Commentators Say The Darndest Things A new weekly section where the color commentary will be ripped to shreds. Quotes taken directly from their mouths that will make Jonathan Coachman sound like a God.
1. (After Blue Demon Falls Victim to the Low Blow) Looks like Blue Demon took a hit there (long pause) South of the border.
2. (Referring to Eugene Dinsmore and Rob Conway’s Match) This is a High-Profile Match.
3. (David Marquez to Demolition Ax about the contenders for the NWA World Title) And what do you think about the contenders for the NWA World Title now. Do you have any words to the wise?
4. (Talking about Cassandro’s Gay Gimmick) Cobra II doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. In more ways than one.
5. (After Cobra II’s face ran into Cassandro’s butt) A little meeting of the minds there.
6. (After Cassandro slaps Cobra II’s Butt) Uh oh, what’s this? A little spanky spanky!
7. (After Cassandro’s Momentum Carries Him to the Outside) I think Cassandro just set a record for the Broad Jump right there. HEY! Cassandro and Broad Jump! That works!
8. (From one Commentator to the Other) Well as I mentioned earlier Chris Coss, eh. Closs. I’ll get your name right one of these days.
9. (After the Photographer Gets Thrown into Reyo De Jalisco) You know they say “a picture is worth 1000 wordsâ€. That photographer was about to, uh, say “ouch†there.
Mistaken Move Names: “High Flying Between the Rope Body Tackle†(Suicide Dive)
The Bad: NWA is supposed to concentrate on being different from WWE and TNA. Instead, here they are replicating their controversial humor and lame match layouts.
The Good: TJ Perkins and Rocky Romero were on the show. That’s… about all I can come up with this week.
The Verdict: Their worst episode to date. It took me three sittings to finish watching it.
Next week’s show is the final of the first batch of episodes, pieced together from matches from around the country. Regular TV tapings start Sunday, February 10th at 2pm PT at the Plaza Ballroom in Las Vegas, with two weeks’ worth (two hour-long shows) being taped at a time.
