The National Wrestling Alliance, the oldest active wrestling company in the United States, will be celebrating their 77th birthday next Saturday, August 16th at the Paramount in Huntington New York. While the NWA having a big show around their anniversary is nothing new, venturing into a market like New York is not something the organization has done often in the past. In fact, many consider the northeast to be an area dominated, and sometimes blacked out, by the strong presence of World Wrestling Entertainment.
There may be some truth in the WWE’s dominance in the New York metro area, but that hasn’t stopped a rabid fan base from consuming the NWA through its various outlets and carving a niche that more than shows that next week’s show will be a success.
“I don’t even know how long it’s been since the NWA proper has been in the state of New York,” said NWA lead announcer Joe Galli about the company’s decision to run this historic wrestling area. “You can go all the way back to when the WWWF was at the time part of the NWA territory system. It might go back that far.”
The World Wide Wrestling Federation, once a proud member of the NWA, broke away from the organizing body, leading to their own success in the 1970’s with performers like Bruno Sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Ivan Koloff and others. After the purchase of the company by Titan Sports and Vince McMahon Jr., the company exploded, igniting a war between the NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions and the WWF. The 90’s saw the NWA fade out of the limelight as they partnered with smaller organizations like the first version of Extreme Championship Wrestling and later mostly non-televised independent promotions.
All of that changed in 2017 when Billy Corgan, lead singer and songwriter of all-time rock n’ roll band Smashing Pumpkins, purchased the name, rights and trademarks. Over the next few years he pushed for the NWA to grow, starting the show NWA Powerrr which now airs on Roku Channel (Wrestling Central) with a weekly program.
“It’s a big step for us,” said Galli on the importance of re-establishing the NWA in the northeast. “We’ve always been that brand that’s trying to fight from underneath. We have all of this great history that’s behind us. This great tradition that we get to learn on and draw fans in. We’re really trying to make a name for ourselves in the new modern era of professional wrestling.”
That “modern era” is where NWA finds itself in a unique position. Their show, NWA Powerrr, still holds a nostalgic feel with logos and graphics harkening back to wrestling years gone by. However, the product is a hybrid of modern wrestling with a cadence that is meant to woo audiences of all ages. Characters the Slimballs mix with more serious competitors like NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Thom Latimer. Father Jim Mitchell’s group the Miserable Faithful calls back to the WCCW era of Gary Hart while NWA Women’s Champion Kenzie Page pushes the new era of women’s wrestling forward.
The type of concoction put forward by NWA is not like other promotions who focus on death match wrestling, lucha-hybrid or Japanese strong style. Instead, under Billy Corgan, NWA is looking to walk a line that opens the doors for families to enjoy any aspect of the show without worry of tuning out a specific audience.
“We want to make sure we are making a product that is enjoyable and accessible to everyone,” said Galli. “You can make a pro wrestling product that is specifically geared towards just people who are into professional wrestling and that will only take you so far. But why not make a professional wrestling product in ways that you’ve seen have success in the past and know that this style of wrestling is something that everybody can bring their whole family to.”
NWA 77th Anniversary Show will be on Saturday August, 16th from The Paramount in Huntington, NY. The current card consists of:
NWA World Championship: Thom Latimer (c) vs. Thrillbilly Silas Mason
NWA World Women’s Championship: Kenzie Page (c) vs. Natalia Markova
NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Alex Taylor (c) vs. Rich Swann
NWA World Tag Team Championship: Knox & Murdoch (c) vs. EC3 & Pretty Boy Smooth
NWA World Television Championship: Bryan Idol (c) vs. Joe Ocasio
NWA Women’s World Television Championship: Tiffany Nieves (c) vs. Sirena Evil
Hammerstone vs. Kerry Morton
and more
Look for more articles on NWA 77th Anniversary later this week and a podcast with the full interview with NWA lead announcer Joe Galli.
photo NWA 77