WRESTLING REVIEW: NWA Hard Times II

If Star Wars taught me anything if the story is great, then it only makes sense to check out the prequel :

Mickie James opened the forbidden door and competed in this year’s Royal Rumble, but apparently what WWE did was only old hat to something NWA did a month ago as James contested against Kiera Hogan for the Impact! Knockouts championship there. So I did my digging, played Dusty Rhodes’ “Hard Times” promo and settled in to NWA’s Hard Times 2.

Starting things off was something unheard of in other prominent wrestling promotions : a spotlight on a women’s tag division. I recognized Marti Belle instantly from her short appearances on NXT and was happy to see her with gold around her waist, partnered up with one Allisyn Kay to form The Hex. These women ran around for the better part of what felt like fifteen minutes creating an absolute roller derby to start generating energy for a night of solid in-ring action in the Atlanta, Georgia arena GPB Studios.

They defended their titles against a show stealing Team Ambition, which featured Kylie Ray and Tootie Lyn – the former who carried a bubbly personality and a book bag to the ring in the garb of a student, while the latter in Lyn looked like and performed like a karateka master straight out of your favorite button-masher. These women were the favorites while dealing with two other makeshift teams : Kate/Markova, and late editions Jennacide/Blaze. The match was essentially a battle royale with a plethora of women pulling out all the stops to dethrone the tag champions. But ultimately, The Hex , with their leather jackets and leather biker shorts were just to in sync to drop their titles, and walked out as champions showing the wrestling world that a women’s tag division can not only draw crowds, but keep asses glued to seats.

Next up on the card was an apprentice vs. master showing as Kiera Hogan challenged Knockouts champion and future WWE Hall of Famer, Mickie James. The story they told was one of a student who had nothing but respect for her teacher as they shook hands and felt each other out, measuring their skills against each other. Eventually, things took a turn as Hogan stopped playing games and landed a kick to Mickie’ side that set off a chain of events that led Kiera to perform at her best, but Mickie to reveal to Hogan that she did not teach her everything she knows. Subsequently, James walked away retaining to only weeks later step into the Royal Rumble woth the Knockouts championship held high. One of the 48 Laws of Power is to never outshine the master, so of course the Knockouts championship match could not outshine the NWA Women’s Championship bout. Kamille stepped up to another WWE-alum, this time in Melina, who had the big gold around her waist, and though there was no red carpet rollout for the champ in this promotion, the mat was left bloody when all was said and done. Kamille is a stiff worker:no-selling all of Melina’s blows and laughing off every piece of offense the champ had to produce. And when the tables turned, the big blonde telegraphed all of her attacks exclaiming before delivering every chop and stomp she used to punish the champ. Melina though, was no slouch : she took the punishment and practically broke her face in the process, which was expected given how zealous she was at the start of the program – diving through the ropes like a barbarian of sorts, thirsty for blood. As irony would have it, Melina ended up being the one spilling that blood, from her own nose. But her color was naught for nothing after she applied her signature “California Dream” submission maneuver on Kamille and took the championship back to the City of Angels where she was born and belongs.

After seeing such strong matches from NWA’s women’s division at “Hard Times 2” it’s no mistake why this promotions weekly show is dubbed : “Powerrr”. With talent like this on display, Power, is what NWA has and their secret weapon is that instead of other promotions keeping their best in the locker rooms while the same old names dominate the card – NWA is not afraid to flex.

Score: 5/5

Hard Times 2 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance. It took place on December 4, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the GPB Studios. It is the second event in the Hard Times chronology.

Date: December 4, 2021