Three months into the 2010, the wily veteran "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce would finally have the opportunity to face Blue Demon Jr. for the NWA Worlds Championship. Pearce never received a rematch for the title in the controversial finish from Mexico, back in 2008. Pearce patiently waited out Blue Demon who finally granted the rematch in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, Pearce wouldn't face the son of a Lucha Legend one on one. For successfully defending the NWA National Championship against Pearce, "The Universal Soldier" Phil Shatter would get his first opportunity to win the legendary 10 Pounds of Gold. For the NWA New Beginnings, Adam Pearce outlasted both Champions to with the crown for a third time. In 2010, Pearce would introduce the title to new fans across the country defended the title in and out of the NWA. "Scrap Iron" would go on to defend the NWA Title twenty-six times, walking away each time still the NWA Worlds Champion. Pearce average nearly 3 (2.88) title defenses per month from April through the end of 2010. In the modern NWA, that's a feat. Pearce had 4 defenses in the span of 14 days in August, 4 in the span of 16 days in October, and 4 in the staggering span of 8 days in December. Adam Pearce would face, and in most cases, defeat such notable professional wrestlers as Charlie Haas, WWE United States Champion Daniel Bryan, Phil Shatter, WFX's Wavell Star, ROH Champion Roderick Strong, and X-Pac. Pearce would have regular defenses on NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood defending against Scorpio Sky, "Hollywood's Own" Joey Ryan, Willie Mack and Colt "Boom-Boom" Cabana. The NWA Worlds Champion will continue his reign in 2011 with several defenses line up, including the NWA Worlds Title return to West Virgina for NWA Mountain State.
Lights, Camera, Action! Hollywood the home of celebrity and fame also became the home of the National Wrestling Alliance. September 17th would mark the first broadcast from NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood on KDOC-TV. The show was a look back at the National Wrestling Alliance in preparation for the all new wrestling show. This would mark the first time a locally produced wrestling program would appear on Los Angeles Television, the second biggest media market in the country. This would also be the first time in a long time that the NWA Worlds Champion would become a regular fixture on a pro-wrestling program, since the . Local talent would take center stage with some of the biggest named free-agents in the world. Debuting on the program would be Willie Mack, the RockNES Monsters, Natural Selection, "Pretty" Peter Avalon, and returning names to the NWA like Joey Ryan, Joey Kaos, Colt Cabana, and of course the NWA Worlds Champion Adam Pearce. The NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood would feature amazing free agents like Claudio Castagnoli, Rocky Romero, TJ Perkins, and Austin Aries who has become a regular for the show.
August 13th would be a sad day for the National Wrestling Alliance. "The passing of Lance Cade caught us all by surprise," said Ken Taylor. Taylor would go on to say "He was booked and an airline ticket bought to get a shot at the Texas Heavyweight Title versus Chad Thomas in Amarillo less than a month before his death. Lance wanted very much, as a native Texan, to be NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship. He was totally re-committed to making a name for himself in the NWA working around Japan tours. He was easy to work with, great in the locker room, and very professional. He left a big hole at NWA Southwest that will take awhile to recover as we had huge plans for him in our region. There is no doubt in my mind he would have made the commitment deserving of the NWA World Championship." I was fortunate enough to speak with Cade shortly after his release for the WWE on Alliance Radio. "The Texas Roughneck" pulled no punches and spoke candidly about his time in the WWE and his rejoice with closing that chapter of his life. He had spoke very passionately about his future which he was clearing focusing on winning the NWA Texas Championship and using that as a catalyst for a showdown with the Worlds Champion. “Lance was a credit to the first incarnation of ‘Championship Wrestling from Hollywood’ and (along with Trevor Murdoch) was a big part of many NWA Pro arena shows in 2007-08," shared Adam Pearce. The Worlds Champion would go on to say "I was looking forward to being around him and working with him and I was and still am very saddened by his passing.”
The NWA World Tag Team Championships, which have laid dormant for much of 2010, changed hands in November, at a Pro Wrestling Krush event in Wisconsin. The Skull Krushers, Rasche Brown and Keith Walker who dominated tag teams across the United States looked for greater fame in 2010. Walker worked dates in Canada with WFX and in Japan with NOAH and Brown began working regularly with Ring of Honor. With the increased conflicting schedules for Walker and Brown, the titles became more difficult to set up defenses. The Tag Team Division of the National Wrestling Alliance grew hungry. After months of inactivity, it was revealed that the Dark City Fight Club would be given a shot at Brown and Walker. The Dark City Fight Club would become the most dominant tag team in Florida winning the NWA Florida Tag Team Titles, competing in FIP and ROH. Many had hoped for the end of the reign of the Skull Krushers and that is exactly what they got. Rasche Brown can be seen weekly on NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. Walker has headed back to Japan. The Dark City Fight Club walked away Wisconsin as the new tag team champions of the world. The Dark City Fight Club have already successfully defended the World Tag Titles in Florida. The renewed interest in Tag Team Wrestling in the National Wrestling Alliance, should take shape in 2011.
November Coming Fire's iPPV was a very interesting concept that came to life through Pro Wrestling Fusion. Internet Pay Per Views are not new in concept, but for NWA Florida to attempt such a feat will be something that can lead to bigger and better things in 2011. The power packed line up was highlighted by two of the biggest names in the NWA, National Champion Phil Shatter and North American Champion the Sheik. The match was one of the most brutal matches in recent history. This iPPV would also showcase a lot of the top talent in Florida including Craig Classic winning the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and the new NWA World Tag Team Champions the Dark City Fight Club. The Pay Per View can still be order by clicking here.
Much like the NWA World Tag Team Titles, the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship had fallen dormant. When Quackenbush won the championship by defeating New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Tiger Mask IV, for the Clover-leafed title, many had hoped that the title would become active. And Quackenbush started off defending the Junior Crown often. However in recent months the title was essentially inactive. Quackenbush's commitments to non-NWA promotions kept the title from being defended. Quackenbush still maintains his status in Chikara, EVOLVE, and Dragon Gate USA, but fortunately for the NWA, Craig Classic was able to not only get a shot at the title, but win the championship. Classic trained in Japan and cut his teeth with Big Japan Pro Wrestling had become the NWA Florida Jr. Heavyweight Champion earlier in the year. Classic and Quackenbush faced of on the NWA Pro Wrestling Fusion's November Coming Fire.
2010 also saw the end of one of the NWA biggest members affiliation with the historic Alliance. New Japan Pro Wrestling who have on and off been the face of the National Wrestling Alliance in Japan was stripped of its membership. Much like the ending of the affiliation with TNA Wrestling. It seems the partnership had taken a turn when the Inoki Family was no longer associated with the NWA. During a brief time in 2005, the NWA would farm talent to New Japan with the Inoki Dojo. During this time Christopher Daniels and WWE's Daniel Bryan would hold the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Titles, Puma and the Havana Pitbulls would regularly appear in New Japan. On the flip side; Minoru Tanaka, Shinsuke Nakamura, Togi Makabe, and Toru Yano, would come to the United States to take part in the Inoki Dojo shows that were partnered with NWA Pro Wrestling in Hollywood. After the Inoki Family left New Japan, the talent trade would come to a stop, but only after Fergal Devit a former NWA British Commonwealth Champion, now reigning IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and Karl Anderson, former NWA World Tag Team Champion, now reigning IWGP Tag Team Champion would both sign contracts with New Japan. A few years later Mike Quackenbush would win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship from Tiger Mask IV. That would mark the last time a New Japan talent would compete for the NWA. New Japan would no longer promote the NWA name in Japan and chose to affiliate with TNA in the United States. The partnership was no longer beneficial to the NWA or to New Japan. Discussions are currently taking place to find new NWA representation in Japan. And although it hasn't been confirmed by the NWA Front Office, rumors have Zero One being the front runners to fill this position.
We reported back on December 6th that NWA Pro Wrestling Australia and Zero One came to an agreement and would be reactivating the NWA United National Championship. The title had previously been worn by such notable Japanese Wrestlers as Masato Tanaka and Takao Omori, I recently had an opportunity to ask an official from NWA Pro Wrestling Australia what all of this does mean for the NWA? "NWA Pro Australia is set to work close with Zero One this year. With the introduction of the new title, a tournament will take place to crown a new champion," said the representative. He would continue to say "At this stage the NWA UN Title will be seeded higher than the NWA Australian National Championship. Being the UN Champion witl give you more international exposure and benefits. The NWA Australian Championship will still be active and defended regularly across Australia." However he couldn't state for sure if the National Title would return to Explosive Pro Wrestling for defenses, although he did say with regard to the Z1 relationship that they are also working on having the winner of the tournament being seceded in the Zero One Fire Festival Tournament, of course that is also still in the works.
Synergy would bring the NWA in the South East closer than ever before. Talents from NWA Anarchy would begin to compete for NWA in Charlotte, NWA Main Event, Ultimate NWA and NWA Chattanooga. Bill Behrens would also return to Tennessee to become the executive producer for NWA Main Event. The South East wouldn't be the only ones to practice this kind of Synergy. The Garden State would have three new affiliates join the NWA this year. NWA Force One, NWA Dawg, and NWA Vintage Pro. NWA Dawg Pound would crown a new champion in 2010 in former National Champion, Chance Prophet. Prophet's NWA Dawg title win would too create synergy amongst some of the NWA promotions across the East Coast. NWA Dawg Pound would send Chance Prophet to Columbus as part of the NWA Pro Wrestling event at the Ohio State Fair, to Mountain State for West Virgina, to Charlotte for NWA Legends Fan Fest, and with up-coming dates planned for Virgina, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
The NWA Hall of Fame grew in 2010 to include Ed Chuman, "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Danny Hodge Dan Severn, Shinya Hashimoto, Jack Brisco, Nick Gulas, The "Original" Sheik--Ed Farhat, The Minnesota Wrecking Crew. So much has already been said about the group that included Multiple World Champions. The men who paved the way for the NWA and the Wrestlers of today. Thank you for your efforts.
Lastly I would be remiss if I didn't give credit where credit is due to all of the contributors to Alliance-Wrestling.com. First thanking Eric Sax, Tez Himself, Bill, owawiseman, and Bull of the Woods for their contributions to this site. I'd also like to thank all of the guests who've appeared on our podcast through out the year. I was so fortunate to have some of the absolute best guests this past year. Thank you to all that have appeared. I also would like to thank each and everyone of you that make the Alliance, your destination for all things NWA. Our site is growing and we're looking forward to some very big things in 2011 from both the NWA and Alliance-Wrestling, but none of it would be possible without the loyal fan base that supports it. Now obviously I'm a few days behind, but I would like to wish each and everyone of you a prosperous, safe, and happy new year.
