NWA Powerrr S8 Episode 8 (women's matches) May 21 2022

 By Mark Rodriguez

We got a couple of awesome matches as Hardcore Country Mickie James is back in action and we see the tag team champs Allysin Kay and Marti Belle defending their titles in a last minute decision.

Match 1- The Hex (Allysin Kay and Marti Bell) VS Kenzie Paige and Madi

The match begins with Kenzie and Allysin, with the challenger grabbing the champ in a waist lock. Allysin quickly reverses this into her own waist lock and slams her down. As they get up both women fight over who gets control of the other's arm for an almost comedic long time until Kenzie finally grabs the champ in a headlock. Allysin tosses Kenzie over her shoulder though. Both women try different variations of roll up pins on each other but can't get the win. They face off and Kenzie walks over to tag in Madi. Madi chews out Kenzie for how she handled Allysin. 

Madi leaps at Allysin but is caught by her. Madi yells out for Kenzie but Allysin drops her face onto the turnbuckle and tags Marti in. Both women run across the ring, Allysin drops onto Madi with a senton and Marti hits her with a running knee to the face. Marti goes for the pin but Madi kicks out. Marti and Madi trade blows until Marti grabs her for a Reverse Russian Legsweep. She goes for the pin but Madi kicks out.

Madi hits Marti with a jawbreaker and then goes over to sock Allysin. The ref keeps Allysin from getting into the ring while Madi pulls out a small can of hairspray and sprays it all over Marti's face. Madi takes this chance to grab Marti by the hair and slam her face-first into the mat. Madi slams her face against the mat two more times and goes for the pin. Marti still kicks out.

I love it when the heels are like 'what? what happened? what I do?'

Kenzie gets Marti over to her corner and starts kicking her down. Madi tells Kenzie to choke Marti with her foot. Madi gets tagged in and starts choking Marti with her foot, showing Kenzie how it's done. The ref stops this and Madi starts arguing with him. Madi manages to land a cheap shot on Allysin who is outside the ring. While the ref keeps Allysin from stepping in, Madi lands a cheap shot on Marti. Marti does manage to back elbow Kenzie off of her and throws a punch at Madi. Madi quickly stumbles over to tag Kenzie back in. 

Kenzie grabs Marti's legs, pulling her away so she couldn't tag in her partner. Marti manages to kick her off and tag in Allysin. Allysin knocks down Kenzie a few times and then slams her with a neckbreaker. Allysin picks up Kenzie getting her set for 'Hex Marks the Spot' but Madi grabs Marti's legs and yanks her out of the ring. Kenzie takes this chance to grab Allysin in a roll up pin, but she kicks out.

Madi tries to give Kenzie a steel chair but Marti grabs her and socks her out. Allyin manages to grab Kenzie in a bridge pin and wins the match. The Hex train their tag team titles. 

Match 2- Mickie James VS Natalia Markova

Natalia shows up with Taryn Terrell backing her. Mickie is undeterred and enters the ring. The Main Event of the evening starts with both women locking up until Hardcore Country slams Natalia down onto the mat. After Mickie talks some trash, they both lock up again. Natalia wraps Mickie's arm behind her back and socks her in the back of the head. Mickie quickly reverses that and hit Natalia on the back of the head. Natalia hits Mickie with a back elbow and goes for the ropes. As Natalia runs at her, Mickie leaps up and takes her down, throwing hands on her. Mickie grabs Natalia with a neckbreaker and goes for the pin. Her opponent kicks out.

Mickie runs at Natalia, but takes a boot to the face. Natalia slams her with a Cutter and goes for the pin. Hardcore Country kicks out. Natalia grabs Mickie and punches her back twice. She then angrily whips her over to the ringpost, making Mickie drop to the mat.

Natalia slowly crawls over as Mickie struggles to get back to her feet. Natalia shoulder rams into Mickie into the turnbuckle. She then chokes her with her boot until the ref breaks it up. Natalia chokes Mickie with her boot again. As she stops to pose, Mickie grabs her and gets her up against the ringpost this time so she can deliver some deadly chops. Now Mickie gets to choke her with her boot until the ref pulls her off.

Natalia takes this shot to knock Mickie down with a running clothesline. She goes for the pin but Mickie kicks out. Natalia gets Mickie in a choke hold. Mickie forces her way back to her feet and tosses Natalia over her shoulder. Natalia runs over and gets her into a sleeper making Mickie drop to her knees. Mickie gets up and elbows her in the midsection until she gets free. She runs for the ropes but as she bounces back, Natalia grabs her in the sleeper hold again. This time Natalia has a much better grip and they're in the center of the ring.

Mickie fights her way back to her feet. With Natalia still holding onto her from behind, Mickie purposely falls backwards, slamming her opponent to the mat. Mickie runs across the ring, knocking down Natalia several times with clotheslines. Mickie grabs her and slams her down, flipping back up to her feet. Mickie takes to the ropes and catches some air, knocking down Natalia and pin her. Natalia somehow kicks out of this.

Mickie kicks Natalia and gets her set for the Mickie DDT, but her opponent picks her up and shoves her back. As both women run into each other, Natalia slams her facefirst into the mat with a Jazz Stinger and goes for the pin. Mickie kicks out at two. Both women struggled to get back up and start trading kicks to the leg. Mickie does a back kick to her opponent's midsection and then jumpkicks her in the face. 

Natalia goes for a back kick but Mickie catches her leg. She then drops her so that Natalia lands in a split. Mickie bounces off the ropes and superkicks her in the face. Mickie runs at her, but Natalia sidesteps and gets her up against the turnbuckle. She tries for another back kick but only kicks the turnbuckle as her opponent got out of the way. Mickie grabs her and goes for the ropes, dropping Natalia with a Spin Out DDT. Mickie pins her and wins the match.

My Thoughts- 

Fun pair of matches. We get to see Madi Wrenkowski in more in-ring action. She's been on AEW Dark a few times and I've seen her in the indies here and there so it's always cool to see more of her. I liked the part when she was arguing with Kenzie Paige (who we've also seen on AEW Dark) and showing her how to properly choke their opponent. Then we got the hairspray shenanigans, which I don't see too often. The Hex were awesome as well, this time Marti took most of the hits with Allysin being the one to clean house. Allysin has been in the ring for a good while as well, appearing once or twice in AEW and even being in the Mae Young Classic. Good match. Madi got a little wild in the end, did she forget that if they use the steel chair they would have been disqualified and lost their shot at the titles?

As for Mickie James VS Natalia Markova, Nat really put Mickie through her paces. She managed to slow her down with the sleeper attempts and even shove Mickie off her before she could do her finisher. However, Mickie had more tricks up her sleeve and still beat her with a different variation of the DDT. I'm surprised Taryn didn't get involved. We see a few shots of her clapping when when Natalia was on the advantage, but she never interfered. There was even a part where Mickie turned to look at her, but Natalia was too dazed at the moment to take advantage of the situation. Either way a pretty good match. Mickie James is bringing her skills over to NWA.

I do like the ninja-ish intro that Natalia brought in. Reminded me of Mortal Kombat for a second.