| NWA EmPowerrr | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Promotion | National Wrestling Alliance | ||
| Date | August 28, 2021 | ||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | ||
| Venue | Chase's Khorassan Ballroom | ||
| Attendance | ca. 900[1] | ||
| Buy rate | 3,500[2] | ||
| Tagline | NWA's First-Ever All-Women's Event | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
| |||
NWA EmPowerrr was aprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view event produced by theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and held on August 28, 2021, as the first of two PPV events to take place from the Khorassan Ballroom of theChase Park Plaza inSt. Louis, Missouri. The event was broadcast onFITE TV, and was the NWA's first all-women's professional wrestling event, consisting solely of matches in their women's division. The card also featured wrestlers from partner promotions, such asAll Elite Wrestling (AEW),Impact Wrestling, andLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA).
Nine matches were contested at the event, including two on the pre-show. The event crowned the reactivatedNWA World Women's Tag Team Championship's first champions since 1984, with The Hex (Allysin Kay andMarti Belle) defeatingRed Velvet andKiLynn King to win the titles. The main event sawChelsea Green win theNWA Women's Invitational Cup Gauntlet to earn anNWA World Women's Championship match at theNWA 73rd Anniversary Show. In other prominent matches,Kamille defeatedLeyla Hirsch to retain the NWA World Women's Championship, andDeonna Purrazzo defeatedMelina Perez to retain theImpact Knockouts Championship.
On the June 8, 2021, episode ofNWA Power,National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) presidentBilly Corgan announced a four-day block of NWA programming from Saturday, August 28 to Tuesday, August 31, consisting of twopay-per-view (PPV) events broadcast exclusively onFITE TV, the second event being theNWA 73rd Anniversary Show, and two days ofPower tapings. These events would emanate from the Khorassan Ballroom of theChase Park Plaza inSt. Louis, Missouri, making them the first to be held outside of the state ofGeorgia since the2019 Crockett Cup. EmPowerrr was the Saturday PPV event, and was announced as the NWA's first-ever event to consist solely of women's matches. VeteranMickie James was revealed as executive producer for the event. James stated that regardless of contractual issues, she wanted the best wrestlers in the world to participate.[3][4][5][unreliable source?][6][7] In an interview posted on July 17, James announced thatGail Kim,Madusa,Jazz, andLufisto would also be serving as producers for the event.[8]
While still atWWE, James had pushed for the company to produce another all-female event, after theirEvolution PPV in October 2018, as well as an all-femalebrand, but was "cut off at every opportunity" as she was told that "women's wrestling doesn't make money." After being released from her WWE contract in April 2021, James signed with the NWA where Corgan approved of an all-female event to allow James to show that women's wrestling is profitable. James said that she would not be wrestling on the event as she was producing it, however, she said she was open to participating in a match during the following night'sAnniversary Show.[9] In response to James' hope to feature the best women's wrestlers in the world without contractual issues, WWE executive andNXT headTriple H said that made little business sense. He also claimed that WWE had the best female wrestlers in the world.[10][unreliable source?] Despite this, the event received support fromUFC Hall of FamerRonda Rousey,WWE Hall of FamerTrish Stratus, and former WWE starSasha Banks, among others.[11][12][13]
The event featuredprofessional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.The fifth season of NWA's weekly flagship program,Power, featured storylines leading up to both EmPowerrr and theNWA 73rd Anniversary Show.
On July 13, 2021, at an NWA press conference held at The Chase, Mickie James announced thatKamille would defend theNWA World Women's Championship at EmPowerrr, though she did not reveal Kamille's opponent. On the July 28 episode ofAEW Dynamite, it was announced thatAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) wrestlersLeyla Hirsch andThe Bunny would wrestle in a #1 contenders match atAEW Homecoming to determine who would face Kamille for theNWA World Women's Championship at EmPowerrr.[14][15] At Homecoming, Hirsch defeated Bunny to face Kamille in the NWA World Women's Championship match at EmPowerrr.
On July 13, it was announced that EmPowerrr would host the NWA Women's Invitational Cup; a ten-womangauntlet match featuring the "best up-and-coming female talent in the world", set for the main event of EmPowerrr, where the winner of the tournament would earn an NWA World Women's Championship match at the NWA 73rd Anniversary Show.[16] The rules were that two competitors would begin the match, and a new competitor would enter every 2 minutes. Eliminations would be by pinfall, submission, or over the top rope.[17]
The participants were:
On July 16, James announced that theNWA World Women's Tag Team Championship would be revived, and that the new champions would be crowned at EmPowerrr.[28][29][30] On August 11, the NWA Twitter responded to a fan claiming there would be four teams taking part in semi-final round matches and then the finals, all of which would take place on the EmPowerrr show.
The teams taking part in the NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament were:
AtImpact Wrestling'sSlammiversary, afterImpact Knockouts ChampionDeonna Purrazzo defended her title against mystery opponentThunder Rosa, Mickie James – a three-time Knockouts Champion in her own right – returned to Impact to invite Purrazzo to EmPowerrr. After the latter disrespected the former, James superkicked Purrazzo.[36] On the subsequent episode ofImpact, James and Purrazzo confronted each other and nearly came to blows, before first-ever Knockouts Champion,Impact Hall of Famer, and producerGail Kim came out to cool things down.[37] There, Purrazzo accepted James' invitation to defend her title.[38] The following week, it was announced thatMelina Perez would be Purrazzo's opponent at EmPowerrr.[39][40]
On August 21, James on herInstagram ran down the entire card of the event, revealing thatKylie Rae would faceDiamante from AEW andChik Tormenta fromLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) in atriple threat match.[41]
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| English commentators | Austin Idol(pre-show) |
| Brent Tarring(main card) | |
| Joe Galli(all matches) | |
| Madusa(World Women's Tag Team Championship tournament final) | |
| Tim Storm(pre-show) | |
| Velvet Sky(main card) | |
| Ring announcer | Angella Sharpe |
| Backstage interviewer | May Valentine |
During the NWA EmPowerrr pre-show, Paola Blaze (accompanied byTaryn Terrell) defeatedKenzie Paige in a match that didn't aired due to technical issues.[42]
Also on the pre-show, Christi Jaynes facedSkye Blue. In the end, after Jaynes missed aspringboard moonsault, Bluerolled her up to win the match.[42]
The actual pay-per-view opened with the executive producer of the show Mickie James addressing the crowd. James talked how she was told this night wouldn't be possible, however, this show proves them wrong.[42]
Next, Chik Tormenta (representing AAA) faced Diamante (representing AEW) and Kylie Rae (representing NWA) in atriple threat match. In the closing moments, as Rae locked Tormenta in acrossface, Diamante broke the hold and followed it with asunset flip powerbomb on Tormenta into a nearfall to win the match.[42]
After that, in the NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship tournament semi-final match, Hell on Heels (Renee Michelle and Sahara Seven) faced The Hex (Allysin Kay and Marti Belle). In the end, The Hex performed theHexectution on Michelle to win the match and advancing to the final round.[42]
In the fifth match, which was the second semi-final match, The Freebabes (Jazzy Yang and Miranda Gordy) (accompanied by Hollyhood Haley J) faced Red Velvet and KiLynn King. In the end, King performed theKingdom on Yang to win the match and advancing to the final round.[42]
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Next,Impact WrestlingHall of Famer Gail Kim made a surprise appearance to address the crowd, while thanking NWA letting her be a part of this event as she is one of the producers. She was quickly interrupted by Jennacide, Paola Blaze and Taryn Terrell to confront her. Terrell acted flattered as if Kim only showed out to see her, claimed that there is only room for one person between them, and demanded Kim to leave. After Kim refused to do so, Terrell ordered Blaze and Jennacide to attack Kim, which brought outAwesome Kong to the aid of Kim. Kong attacked Blaze and Jennacide to clear the ring from the villainous trio. Afterwards, Kong announced her retirement from professional wrestling and talked highly about Kim while Kim did the same. They both embraced at the end of the segment.[42]
After that, the Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defended her title against Melina. Throughout the match, Purrazzo targeted Melina's right knee, as she previously suffered there a real-life injury. In the end, Purrazzo submitted Melina with asingle leg Boston crab to retain the title.[42]
The seventh match was a tournament final to crown new World Women's Tag Team Champions between The Hex and King and Velvet, whichWWE Hall of Famer Madusa joined the commentary. In the end, The Hex performed an assistedAK-47 to become the new champions. Madusa presented them the revived titles, and afterwards, they embraced with King and Velvet.[42]
Before the penultimate match, which was for the NWA World Women's Championship, NWA honouredMildred Burke as Brent Tarring talked briefly about her history and legacy in wrestling, before presenting her original title which last appeared in an NWA ring on August 20, 1954, which was acquired by the president of NWA,Billy Corgan.[42][43]
Next, the penultimate match begun, which saw the NWA World Women's Champion Kamille defending her title against Leyla Hirsch. In the closing moments, Hirsch missed adiving moonsault, Kamille went for aspear, but Hirsch dodged it and performed adouble knee backbreaker into across armbar, which Kamille managed to break from the hold. In the end, Hirsch jumped towards Kamille, but Kamille caught her and tossed her away, followed it with a spear to retain the title.[42]
In the main event, ten woman competed in the NWA Women's Invitational Cup Gauntlet match, where the winner would receive a match for the NWA World Women's Championship against Kamille atNWA 73rd Anniversary Show. The first two entrants were Chelsea Green and Kiera Hogan. The third entrant was Bianca Carelli, who was followed by Thunder Kitty. Jennacide was the fifth wrestler to enter the match. Jennacide eliminated Carelli after pinning her in a variation of aswinging DDT. Lady Frost was the sixth entrant, while Jennacide pinned Kitty. Debbie Malenko was the seventh entrant, followed by Jamie Senegal. After Frost performed acorkscrew moonsault on Senegal, Malenko locked Frost into anSTF to submit her out of the match. While Malenko put Green into a variation of aMexican surfboard, Hogan took this opportunity to crawl underneath Green and pinned Malenko.[42]
Masha Slamovich was the ninth entrant. Slamovich, alongside Green and Senegal all pinned Jennacide after various of moves from all three. Tootie Lynn was the final entrant. Slamovich pinned Senegal after apiledriver. Afterwards, Slamovichsuperplexed Hogan while Green and Lynnpowerbombed Slamovich. Regardless, Slamovich pinned Hogan. Slamovich tried to powerbomb Lynn, but Lynn reversed it into anhurricanrana to successfully pin her, leaving her and Green as the final two. Green performed theUnprettier to win the match.[42]
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
| The Hex (Allysin Kay andMarti Belle) | Pin | ||||||||
| Hell On Heels (Renee Michelle & Sahara Seven) | 06:54 | ||||||||
| The Hex | Pin | ||||||||
| KiLynn King and Red Velvet | 09:41 | ||||||||
| KiLynn King andRed Velvet | Pin | ||||||||
| The Freebabes (Jazzy Yang andMiranda Gordy) | 06:44 | ||||||||
| Draw | Entrant | Order | Eliminated by | Method of elimination | Elimination(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea Green | – | Winner | – | 2 |
| 2 | Kiera Hogan | 7 | Masha Slamovich | Pinfall | 1 |
| 3 | Bianca Carelli | 1 | Jennacide | Pinfall | 0 |
| 4 | Thunder Kitty | 2 | Jennacide | Pinfall | 0 |
| 5 | Jennacide | 5 | Chelsea Green, Jamie Senegal, and Masha Slamovich | Pinfall | 2 |
| 6 | Lady Frost | 3 | Debbie Malenko | Submission | 0 |
| 7 | Debbie Malenko | 4 | Kiera Hogan | Pinfall | 1 |
| 8 | Jamie Senegal | 6 | Masha Slamovich | Submission | 0 |
| 9 | Masha Slamovich | 8 | Tootie Lynn | Over the top rope | 3 |
| 10 | Tootie Lynn | 9 | Chelsea Green | Pinfall | 1 |
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