NWA Powerrr Season 11 Episode 8 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

It's time for the second round of The Champion Series. We'll see some more action from the likes of Taya Valkyrie, Jennacide and Max the Impaler. Which one of these teams will continue to advance as Round 2 begins?

Match 1- Angelina Love (Team Great) VS Taya Valkyrie (Team Rock N Roll)

The match starts with Taya grabbing Angelina's legs and making her fall on her back. Taya then goes for the Ground and Pound until Angelina shoves her off. Taya then gets behind her and grabs her leg. She bends her legs and reaches over to get in her a crossface submission hold. Angelina screams in pain and tries to make her way for the ropes. Taya gets up and pulls her back into the center the ring and gets her right back into the hold. This time Angelina is able to grab onto the ropes, forcing a rope break.

As Taya goes towards her, Angelina kicks her in the midsection. She then grabs her for the Lights Out face buster and gets her into her own submission hold. Taya struggles but manages to get a rope break. However, Angelina did not let go and exceeded the five-count for the rope break. Angelina gets a disqualification. Even though the match will continue, Taya Valkyrie gets one point in her favor.

Both women get to their feet but Taya rolls out of the ring before Angelina can grab her. Taya gets some pointers from her Team Captains, but when she gets back onto the apron, Angelina grabs her and slams her face into the top turnbuckle. With Taya hanging over the top rope, Angelina kicks her in the face. Taya is still hanging off the ropes which leaves herself open for Angelina to hit her with a flying dropkick to the face. Taya falls into the ring and Angelina grabs her for a pin. Taya kicks out. 

Taya crawls for the ropes and Angelina follows her and hits her in the face. Taya whips Angelina towards the ropes but she sends her flying with a Tijeras. Angelina runs at her and Taya grabs and slams her down. She goes for the pin but Angelina kicks out. Angelina is up against the ropes and Taya runs at her with an uppercut. She knocks her down with a forearm strike and then runs at her with a hip attack. 

Taya gets to the other side of the ring and runs at Angelina with double knees to the face. Taya drags her to the middle of the ring and goes for a cover but her opponent still kicks out. Taya gets her in a chin lock but Angelina fights her way out of out and hits her with the jawbreaker. Taya runs towards Angelina, but she gets out of the way. Angelina manages to knock her down with two clotheslines in a row, and then a third time with a back elbow. Angelina whips her towards the ropes and gets her with a Running Bulldog and goes for a cover. Taya manages to kick out. 

Angelina waits until Taya gets up and goes for a big running boot but misses. Taya grabs her and slams her in the Road to Valhalla. Taya Valkyrie pins her down and scores the win for Team Rock N Roll. 

Match 2- Samantha Star & Kayla Kassidy (Team Tyrus) VS Max the Impaler & Ashley D'Amboise (Team Rebelion)

The match opens as Max and Kayla grappling, as Max tosses her on her back. Kayla gets up and dodges several of Max's attacks and even hides behind the ref. With the ref moving out of the way, Max grabs Kayla by the throat. Kayla manages to slap Max's hand away and quickly rolls out of the ring. 

Kayla walks around the ring, letting the ref count and says she wants to fight Ashley. Max tags her in and Kayla gets back into the ring. Kayla and Ashley grapple and try to get each other into headlocks. Kayla manages to bash Ashley with a back elbow to the face, but she wastes too much time posing for the crowd. Ashley takes this time to grab her by the hair and slam her into the mat. Ashley runs and goes for a legdrop but Kayla rolls out of the way. Kayla grabs her and slams her down and then hits her face with her knee. 

Max is tagged back in and Kayla starts throwing forearm shots at the Warrior of the Wasteland without much luck. Kayla bounces off the ropes but Max knocks her down with a jumping body splash. Max grabs her by the hair and flings her over the ropes, but not quite out of the ring. As Kayla is on the edge of the ring apron, Max plants their boot up against her face. Max grabs Kayla and hangs her head up against the middle rope and licks her cheek. Kayla reaches for Samantha but is too far away, and Max grabs her and hair-tosses her across the other side of the ring. Max grabs her and tosses her across the opposite side of the ring. 

Kayla is down, but Max goes over to her and grabs her near the ring post. She then curb stomps her face into the middle turnbuckle. Max drags her to the middle of the ring and goes for the cover, but Kayla kicks out. Max stomps on her and goes over to tag in Ashley. Much to Ashley's surprise, Max picks her up and slams her down hard onto Kayla. Kayla manages to take advantage of this and manages to hit Kayla with the legdrop this time. She then grabs her and kicks her face to the mat and goes for the pin. Kayla kicks out. 

Kayla manages to whip Ashley over to the ropes and hit her with a running forearm. She then goes over to finally tag Samantha into the match. Samantha runs in and knocks Ashley down three times in a row and goes for the cover. Ashley still kicks out. Samantha whips her into the corner and hits her with a hip attack. She gets Ashley onto the mat with a snapmare and then wraps her legs around her neck and slams her face into the mat three times. She goes for another cover but Ashley still kicks out. 

Ashley stuns Kayla with a jawbreaker and rushes over to tag in Max. Max runs into Samantha with a forearm shot and starts wailing away at her. Max grabs her and slams her into the mat, going for a pin. Samantha kicks out. Max whips Samantha towards Team Rebelion's corner and runs towards her. Samantha beats Max back with an elbow strike and then hits Ashley with a back elbow, knocking her off the apron. Max hits Ashley with a spear into the corner. Ashley tags herself in but Max angrily shoves her back. Max goes for another spear but misses, falling out of the ring. As Samantha turns around, Ashley knocks her down with a brutal clothesline. Ashley goes for the neckbreaker and quickly pins her, but Samantha still kicks out.

Ashley tries to pick up Samantha, but Samantha kicks her in the midsection and follows up with the Starstruck DDT. Samantha pins her and scores the victory for Team Tyrus. 

Match 3- Madi & Jennacide (Team Rock N Roll) VS Missa Kate and Natalia Markova (Team Great)

The match opens and both Madi and Missa seem to be hiding behind their partners as they face off. Jennacide and Natalia notice this and walk out of the ring letting Madi and Missa start things off instead. Missa goes for a handshake and Madi takes her hand but quickly goes for a roll up pin. Missa kicks out. Madi tries for another roll up pin and Missa kicks out again. Missa throws out a spinning kick that Madi ducks under. Madi runs for the ropes and gets on the apron, going over to tag in Jennacide.

Missa takes a swing at her but Jennacide dodges it and takes her down with a series of punches and kicks. She whips her over to the ropes and runs towards her. Missa gets her foot up but Jennacide stops before she would get hit and grabs her foot. She then slams Missa face first into the mat. Jennacide grabs her leg and gets her in a submission hold, driving her foot in the back of the knee while pulling back on her head. Missa doesn't tap, so Jennacide grabs her leg and then drives her knee into the mat. Still holding onto Missa's leg, she goes over to tag Madi back in.

Madi jumps off the ropes and hits Missa's leg with an axe-handle smash. Missa now has her left leg in bad shape and Madi grabs her leg and slams her knee into the mat again. Madi steps on her inured leg and pulls Missa's hair back until the ref stops her. Madi then grabs her leg and goes for a Boston Crab submission. Missa manages to flip Madi over, making her back hit the ring post in the Team Great corner. She takes this chance to tag in Natalia. 

Madi tries to crawl away but Natalia catches up to her. Natalia hits her with vicious chops, getting her up against the ring post. She then grabs Madi and sends her face first into the middle turnbuckle. She tried to grab Madi in a submission hold but Madi slams her in a snapmare and goes over to tag in Jennacide. Natalia runs towards Jennacide but she just knocks her down. 

Natalia and Jennacide start trading blows until Jennacide knocks her back with a chop. It then becomes a chop-a-thon between the two until Jennacide lands a double chop onto Natalia. Jennacide knocks her down for the Ground and Pound. Jennacide gets into a submission hold but Natalia manages to hit her the throat to make her let go.

Jennacide starts kicking her around and then gets her up against the ringpost to hit her with chops. Natalia shoves her back and tries to go over to tag in her partner. Jennacie grabs her leg and drags her to the middle of the ring to prevent that from happening. She picks her up and hangs her upside down off the top rope as she tags Mad in. Madi grabs Jennacide and slingshots her into Natalia. Madi starts talking trash to Natalia and goes for a legdrop. Natalia gets out of the way letting Madi miss and land hard on the mat. 

Natalia grabs Madi into a submission hold, but Madi is able to roll over and hit her across the back. Madi then grabs her into the Bow and Arrow submission move. Natalia falls out of the move and manages to get on her feet fast enough to get Madi in a Drop Toe Hold up against the ropes. Missa is tagged in to starts throwing shots at Madi, knocking her back. She then grabs her and backslams her. Miss then runs over and knocks Jennacide off the apron.

Madi and Missa dodge each other's kicks, and Missa is able to grab on Madi's legs and get her in a body twisting submission hold. Madi had no way to escape, but Jennacide comes in to stomp on Miss, making her let go. Jennacide gets Missa in a fireman's carry, but Misa takes this chance to tag in Natalia. As Jennacide turns around, Natalia socks her in the face. Natalia kicks her knee out and goes fo the ropes. Jennacide is still able to grab her and hit her with a spine buster. She goes for the pin but Natalia kicks out. 

Missa and Madi continue to fight each other. Missa dodges Missa's Reality Check and knocks her down with a stiff kick. Jennacide knocks Missa down a kick of her own. Natalia climbs on the ropes and knocks Jennacide clear across the ring with a flying dropkick. With Madi and Natalia still being the legal women in the ring, Madi tries to go for a rear waist lock but Natalia flips her with a snapmare. Natalia gets Madi into a submission move that pretty much folds her in half. Madi taps out the best she can, given the position her arms are in and Team Great earns enough points to score a tie. 

There is a tie-breaker match between The Mortons (Team Rock N Roll) and Cyon and Sal the Pal (Team Great). In the end, Team Rock N Roll win the match and will advance to the finals of the Champion Series to go up against Team Tyrus. 

My thoughts-

These matches were a lot of fun. I'm a bit confused by how Taya Valkyrie was somehow suspended for her attack upon La Rosa Negra, but was somehow still allowed to continue competing in the Champion Series? La Rosa Negra was in the crows cheering against her, so I hope those two get a feud later on after this event is over. Taya had a good match with Angelina and they both pulled off some cool moves.

The second match was a lot of fun, as it always is whenever Max The Impaler is involved. I liked when Max randomly slammed Ashley into Kayla, with Ashley being hurt just as much as her opponent since she wasn't prepared for that. I'm surprised they reserved Samantha into later on in the match, but she helped get the win with the Starstruck DDT. I'd hate to be Ashley to have to explain to Max that they lost the match. I do like the team of Samantha and Kayla, especially with how overly showy and cocky Kayla seems to be. 

The last match was a lot of fun. There was a lot of pressure on Team Great as they not only needed to win, but needed to win with a submission to earn the 6 points necessary to so much as tie. This match has all sorts of weird, unique and painful looking submission holds from all 4 of the competitors. I don't know how they keep coming up with different ways to bend and twist the body like that. Natalia's submission to end the match just has to be seen in motion since it took her a few steps to apply it. Unfortunately, their efforts would be in vain, as Team Rock N Roll would win in the end and give Team Great the boot. 

To be honest though, after seeing the Rock N Roll Express in AEW a few times, I was surprised to see that Ricky Morton can still go for full length matches. I guess that explains why he was able to take all sorts of bumps during his short appearances in AEW.