Reviewing An Amazing Weekend for Women's Wrestling in NWA

Since the announcement of NWA EmPowerrr, I had been eagerly and anxiously looking forward to this amazing event; the National Wrestling Alliance's very first all-women's event. I love women's wrestling with a passion; I have a vast and growing DVD collection from women's wrestling promotions from all over the globe to prove it. As the number of days before EmPowerrr became smaller and smaller, my anticipation became larger and larger, and when the day came--Saturday, August 28--I was beaming with excitement. I had a gut feeling that I was about to watch something immensely epic, and I was definitely on the money.

We have many people to thank for this event, but the main one is Mickie James. A 22-year veteran who has won nine mainstream championships (and so many others as well), Mickie James went to NWA after her release from WWE, and the first thing she did was give the same pitch she gave to WWE: an all-women's event. The people in NWA actually do have brains in their heads, as they said "yes," and the rest is amazing history. The passion from James was immense as she addressed the crowd regarding this historic moment; I felt every bit of it. Women's wrestling isn't just a draw, it's the draw--has been for years. I've said for years that women are the true stars of wrestling--the biggest stars of wrestling. What I watched on EmPowerrr, as well as NWA 73 the next night, was more evidence of those facts.

I really loved seeing so many of my favorites at the event; one of them, Diamante, kicked off the event with a victory in a showcase three-way bout, with Diamante representing AEW against NWA's Kylie Rae and AAA's Chik Tormenta. No surprise, Diamante continues to show out; absolutely love her work in All Elite Wrestling. I had my many reasons for looking forward to this event, but the main one, was the Knockouts Championship contest between Deonna Purrazzo and Melina.

I'm not going to lie; I was very emotional watching Melina, and the reason is this: she's my all-time favorite. 16 years--that's how long I've been watching Melina in action and following her career. I still remember how down I was when she was released by WWE on August 5, 2011, but I have been elated to see Melina continue to shine in other promotions, with NWA being among them. Both Melina and Deonna are high on my list of faves, so I was really excited for this contest. It became more heart-wrenching when Melina's knee injury came back on her, but she still continued to show out only on one good knee; as if I didn't need more of a reason to just adore how amazing she is. Melina came up short, but she won even more of every women's wrestling fan's adoration, and she already has a lot of it as it is.

EmPowerrr also included the return of NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship, with four teams vying for the reinstated belts: The Hex (Allysin Kay and Marti Belle), The Freebabes (Miranda Gordy, Jazzy Yang, and Hollyhood Haley J), Hell on Heels (Renee Michelle and Sahara Seven), and AEW's Red Velvet and KiLynn King. I was already loving seeing Allysin Kay and Marti Belle together again in an NWA setting, because when NWA Powerrr premiered in 2019, their friendship had been established until Marti turned heel against Kay, and later aligned with then-villainesses Thunder Rosa and Melina. Now, not only Kay and Marti together again in NWA, but they went on to win the titles in the four team tournament. The Hex and Velvet & King advanced to the finals, where the former won to be crowned as champions. WWE Hall of Famer Madusa provided guest commentary, and later presented the titles to Kay and Marti; an absolutely epic moment.

We also saw a surprise appearance from Awesome Kong, who came to the aid of former longtime rival Gail Kim as she was being harassed by Taryn Terrell (who had Jennacide and Paola Blaze alongside her), before announcing her retirement from wrestling, and in addition, Kamille successfully defended her NWA World Women's Championship against Leyla Hirsch in a spectacular bout. The main event was the first ever NWA Women's Invitational Cup Gauntlet Match, consisting of ten women, with NWA regulars Jennacide and Lady Frost being among them, as well as Kiera Hogan and Bianca Carelli--the latter being Santino Marella's daughter. The main event match also featured Chelsea Green, who has competed in WWE and has been appearing on Impact Wrestling as of late, and she went on to win the gauntlet match, and the trophy that came with it.

What I really loved was the final scene; all of the women, and I do mean ALL of the women who participated at the event, coming out to the crowd, showing what EmPowerrr was all about: women's wrestling, women supporting women, you name it. This was truly an amazing event, but it did not end there.

Chelsea Green won a shot at the NWA World Women's Championship in that Gauntlet Match, and her opportunity came on the following day (August 29) at NWA's 73rd Anniversary Show (also known as NWA 73). She came up short against Kamille, but again, this was an amazing match between two phenomenal competitors. For Kamille, it was two title defenses in as many days, adding to her already rising stock, and for Chelsea, it was an amazing way to start her comeback from her wrist injury.

Before that took place, Mickie James competed at the event, issuing an open challenge that was answered by Kylie Rae, who also worked EmPowerrr. The pair of fan favorites wowed and showed out, to no surprise, but in the end, James emerged victorious. However, the feel good moment came to an abrupt end; as James celebrated her victory with the fans in attendance, a masked villainess entered the ring and attacked James, whose attempt to fight off her attacker was thwarted. Afterwards, the villainess removed her disguise and revealed herself as Deonna Purrazzo, and following this, the evil Deonna delivered a piledriver to James before being run off by Kylie Rae.

This had been brewing ever since Slammiversary, when Mickie James appeared after Deonna's title retention against Thunder Rosa, and asked Deonna to appear at EmPowerrr. Deonna took James' appearance as a sign of disrespect against her, and had been antagonizing James in the several weeks that followed, leading to her villainous attack at NWA 73. With Deonna remaining Knockouts Champion, it's no secret that we will see these two women collide at some point, maybe (and most likely) at Bound For Glory on October 23.

Fun fact: this isn't the first time that Deonna appeared as a masked villainess; she made a pair of appearances as the evil La Luchadora on SmackDown in the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017--even competing in the attire on one occasion. Ironically, Deonna's appearance was set up for Mickie James to be unmasked and revealed as the villainess on the January 17, 2017 edition of SmackDown.

So an amazing weekend of women's wrestling is in the books; I have no doubt that EmPowerrr will most likely be perennial due to the fan reaction and the talent involved. There will be a lot of fallout from these events, as AEW and Impact were involved in this momentous weekend.

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