NWA 70 Preview: History And Tradition Bring Us To Nashville To Celebrate Wrestling’s Most Heralded Promotion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz5nQgGVAc0

Crowning A New NWA National Heavyweight Champion

This could very well be the most important thing on the show. Historically, the National Heavyweight Champion has always been the automatic number one contender for the World Heavyweight Champion. There are eight talented men vying for the opportunity to be crowned the new champion and you can get acquainted with all of them that would be tremendous video package above as well as taking a great look at the redesigned Championship that has a lot of the old school look of the championship of days gone by when Ric Flair was still early enough in his career where the National Heavyweight Championship was a new plateau for the Nature Boy.

I’m not going to break down all eight men here, but I will say that I think it comes down to Colt Cabana vs. Willie Mack and here’s why. A few years back, Colt competed against Scrap Iron Adam Pearce for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a series of matches dubbed the Seven Levels Of Hate. This was one of the first times in the post-TNA era did I heard nothing but overwhelming positivity about the NWA. Colt is still a major name on the independent scene. I believe he is still somebody you can market a brand around and if need be he’s a tremendous Challenger for World Heavyweight Champion Cody Rhodes. Imagine the story they can tell with Colt using the Bionic Elbow as one of his signature maneuvers truly being a modern take on the common man that Dusty Rhodes always portrayed.

On the flip side of that, the same can be said for Willie Mack. I look at him and I just don’t know if I’ve ever seen somebody so naturally charismatic outside of Shinsuke Nakamura. Willie Mack is a good time and he’s also a major wrestling name that can take that National Heavyweight Championship and showcase it in several promotions including IMPACT Wrestling and Lucha Underground. Push comes to shove, I’m going to go with the former NWA Heavyweight Champion and say that Colt Cabana wins the National Heavyweight Championship and get at least one major match with the World Heavyweight Champion before losing the title.

Winner And New Champ: Colt Cabana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spx0D1x80Mc

NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship – Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Nick Aldis (2 Out Of 3 Falls)

Now, for the match that will headline this great card. The rematch from All In and at this time it’s 2 out of 3 Falls. Full disclosure, this was my favorite match from All In because I enjoyed watching two guys spill blood for the right to be the World’s Heavyweight Champion. I also really enjoy the style that they work. If given enough time I genuinely believe that this can be a North American candidate for match of the year. A lot of people like to call Cody Rhodes overrated. A lot of people like to say that he’s not as good as some claim. I’ve even seen him referred to as a “3-Star General,” but I feel like this past year has shown us that Cody has more passion in his pinky for this then some people we see on a weekly basis have in their entire bodies. Nick Aldis is, with all due respect to William Regal, the epitome of a real man’s man. The way he carries himself in and out of the ring of the true makings of a class act and a World Champion. I’m really excited to see what these men do without all of the added fluff that All In provided, and I’m very curious to see who has the overall crowd support now that we’re not in a setting that is overwhelmingly favorable towards Cody Rhodes.

Ultimately, I think the NWA Championship has to stay with Cody. As I spoke about in the beginning, NWA represents a philosophy in how to best present professional wrestling and there’s nobody right now who is in a position to take that philosophy and share it with everyone in every corner of the globe like Cody. He just captured the IWGP United States Championship as well and is taking the NWA Championship with him to Japan. Having just defended it at a Ring Of Honor taping against Willie Mack, Cody is the epitome of the traveling Champion right now and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Dusty Rhodes has so much legacy and equity built into the championship that Cody carries around currently. Perhaps nobody best understands the creative freedom and exposure that comes along with being the NWA Champion like Cody does in 2018. I think it’ll be a damn good match, but I don’t think that the championship needs to go anywhere outside of the Rhodes Kingdom right now.

Winner And Still Champ: Cody Rhodes

The NWA is alive and well And I’m so excited for this show and I can’t wait to cover it this Sunday starting at 7 PM eastern time right here on WrestleZone. I look forward to chatting with all of you on Twitter about the future of NWA and all other wrestling happenings.

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