Earlier this weekend, live from the Knoxville Convention Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, the National Wrestling Alliance held its NWA Alwayz Ready event. An event held in the honor of the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, Matt Cardona, speculation arose as to his involvement following his bicep tear sustained late last month. This wasn’t the only story heading into this show, however, as 8 championships were contested. At NWA Alwayz Ready, 3 new champions were crowned, shaking the foundation of the National Wrestling Alliance as fans know it.
New Champions Decided at NWA Alwayz Ready
Have ya heard? @nwa @ellaenvypro #TagChamps❤️ pic.twitter.com/HdO8FhOtad
— Kenzie Paige (@KenziePaige_1) June 12, 2022
Pretty Empowered (Ella Envy and Kenzie Paige) Win NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles
The first of the titles to change hands was the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship. Heading into this match as the champions was The Hex, the duo of Allysin Kay and Marti Belle, who won the titles back at last year’s NWA EmPowerrr event. Among the routine challengers for the titles were Ella Envy and Kenzie Paige, collectively known as Pretty Empowered. Envy and Paige first challenged The Hex back at The Crockett Cup 2022 in March, coming up short. However, NWA Alwayz Ready proved to be an entirely different story; Pretty Empowered seized the NWA women’s tag team titles when Envy hit Belle with the Play of the Day following a low blow. With this victory, Pretty Empowered hold the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship for the first time, ending The Hex’s reign at 287 days.
Bloodied, battered #AndNew!!!! Worlds Tag Team Champions!!
Congratulations to @DougWilliamsUK & @DBSmithjr ‼️#AlwayzReady pic.twitter.com/ILKXBYT3P0— NWA (@nwa) June 12, 2022
The Commonwealth Connection (Doug Williams and Harry Smith) Win NWA World Tag Team Titles
The second of the titles to change hands at NWA Alwayz Ready was the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf 450 of La Rebelión defended their titles against Doug Williams and Harry Smith of The Commonwealth Connection. Both teams headed into this match with momentum on their side; not only were The Commonwealth Connection finalists in this year’s Crockett Cup, falling to eventual winners The Briscoe Brothers, but La Rebelión held the NWA tag team titles for 286 days. Simply put, this match could have gone either way. However, this night proved to be a fruitful one for the challengers, as Williams executed a butterfly suplex off the top rope before Smith followed up with a diving headbutt to secure the titles. This win marks Williams’ first NWA World Tag Team Championship reign and the third for Smith, the latter previously holding the belts alongside Lance Archer as members of The Killer Elite Squad.
WtF is happening with the @nwa Worlds heavyweight championship right now at #alwayzready ?! pic.twitter.com/AFoxqcOqEq
— Kyle "Durden" Davis (@KyleDavisATL) June 12, 2022
Trevor Murdoch Wins NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in NWA Alwayz Ready Main Event
As mentioned earlier, prior to NWA Alwayz Ready, Matt Cardona suffered a torn bicep injury last month. This put his NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship defense against Nick Aldis in question. Toward the end of the show, The Cardonas made their way to the ring, the leader of the group declaring he would be unable to defend the title. This led to not only NWA promoter William Patrick Corgan coming out to confront Cardona, but Aldis making his entrance, “The National Treasure” believing Cardona was not a good enough wrestler to hold “The Ten Pounds of Gold.” From there, Trevor Murdoch, who defeated Aron Stevens in the latter’s retirement match earlier in the evening, Thom Latimer, and Samuel Shaw, the former Dexter Lumis of WWE, throwing their names into the proverbial hat. After Corgan convinced Cardona to finally relinquish the NWA world title, a four-way match between Aldis, Murdoch, Latimer, and Shaw for the vacant title became the new main event.
The NWA Alwayz Ready main event approached its conclusion when Aldis seemed in control, throwing Latimer out of the ring before doing the same to Shaw. Suddenly, Murdoch executed a top rope bulldog on Aldis before covering him for the pinfall victory. With this win, Trevor Murdoch is now a 2x NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, having previously won the company’s top prize from Aldis at NWA 73 this past August. Murdoch would go on to hold the title for 167 days before dropping it to Cardona at PowerrrTrip.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Catch a replay of NWA Alwayz Ready on FITE.
