NWA in New York Results: Thom Latimer vs. Bryan Idol, Natalia Markova vs. Kenzie Paige

NWA On Tour
Sacred Heart Catholic Academy of Glendale in Queens, New York
September 27th, 2024

This was promoted as the ‘first-ever NWA house show in New York’, and had a real family-centered feel to the crowd in attendance. There were many families with kids in WWE shirts and I got the idea they were all from the area and attended the church/school, as they were familiar with the people who help running the show and even had a raffle at the end. There were a couple of regulars to Queens wrestling shows, who didn’t seem too happy with the different vibe this show had, and I even overheard someone talking about how the NWA 76 show recently in Philadelphia, had a different feel to it and was more about satisfying the wrestling fans opposed to being a more family-centered event. This felt more like a stand-alone show, that wasn’t connected to anything going on, on NWA Powerrr and utilized local talent and staff.

Kevin Gill started the show by hyping up the crowd before introducing ECW alumni ring announcer Stephen DeAngelis. Homicide was in attendance as well to help with the show but did not appear in the ring.

RESULTS

01: South Philly’s Finest (Jimmy Konway & Luca Brazzi) over Skull ‘N Bones via pinfall (6:48)

First time seeing SPF, and they had a fun Italian heel act being from Philly to the boos to this New York crowd. Skull ‘N Bones had a spooky gimmick, where Skull would control Bones with a cauldron and a skull. SPF hit a double-team flipping cutter to get the win.

02: Papadon over Steve Pena via pinfall (8:20)

Both were local guys, that were familiar to the crowd. Pena is a big young guy from The Bronx, while the ‘Greek God’ Papadon is a veteran of over 20 years. Papadon hit a piledriver for the win, an interesting start with the heels winning the first two matches.

03: The Slimeballz (Tommy Rant & Sage Chantz) over Wrecking Ball Legursky & Aron Stevens via pinfall (9:00)

The Slimeballz didn’t get much of a reaction at first due to their ‘slimy’ persona which screams heel, so they told the crowd that they were from New York to try and get behind them with a chant. Aron Stevens came out and said he would come out of retirement to shut them up (this is only his second match in 2024). Stevens then brought out local favorite Wrecking Ball Legursky as his partner. Stevens was great at playing to the kids in the crowd and got ‘scaredy cat’ chants, but Legursky was the one who got pinned when The Slimeballz tripped him up and got a double pin. Legursky then walked out on Stevens as The Slimeballz took him up with a double wind-up punch followed by a splash from Sage Chantz to go ahead and get another pin, this time on Stevens.

04: Joe Ocasio over Anthony Catena via pinfall (10:51)

Catena got on the crowd’s bad side, with the language and even flipped off a kid to garner big heat. Catena missed a top rope elbow drop, that Ocasio took advantage of by hitting a headbutt spear, followed by a fireman’s carry into a uranage to get the pin.

05: Rage & Flex Havoc (w/ Kaos) over The Rockstar & Sidney Porter via pinfall (6:23)

Rage was extremely over with the crowd, and had a lot of shirts and merch (kids with inflatable bats) to support him. The match sort of ended out of nowhere when Kaos got on the apron to distract The Rockstar, who ended up chasing her around the ring as Porter got taken out for the pin.

06: Hunter Drake over Foxx Vinyer via pinfall (5:10)

GCW regular Hunter Drake was one of the more impressive in-ring talents on the show, and his fancy moves got over with the young crowd. Drake ended up using Vinyer’s back as a surfboard, before springing off the ropes and into a Destroyer to get the pin.

07: Natalia Markova over Kenzie Paige (w/ Kylie Paige) via DQ (7:35)

This match was originally scheduled for the NWA World Women’s Championship, but the heel Kenzie decided to make it non-title, right before the bell. Markova was one of the more popular acts at the merch table, as she has been a local Queens talent over the years with SHINE, EVOLVE & House of Glory. This match had the most interaction from the crowd all night, with Markova being super over while the Paige sisters are extremely good at garnering ultra heat from the crowd, and it only got over even more when Kylie ran into attack Markova to cause the disqualification. They kept the beat down after the match for a bit.

08: NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship: Thom Latimer (c) over Bryan Idol via pinfall (5:41)

Idol got on the mic before the match, and talked about how proud he was to help NWA have their first house show in New York, and when the idea came about the first place he thought of was here in Queens, as his Fight the World promotion has ran shows here, and Idol himself is a staple of wrestling in Queens over the years. Idol then shared how much of a struggle it was for talent to make it here due to Hurricane Helene and that the hurricane affected him personally, as the apartment of his and his girlfriend (Natalia Markova) down in Florida was hit and as a result, they lost everything. He asked to take on his good friend Latimer, who did come out and put his title on the line, as Latimer got the pin after hitting the Brighter Side of Suffering. Latimer took time after the show to sign autographs and take photos with all the kids and fans in attendance.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, it was a fun night for the fans in attendance and felt like a special time for those who attended Sacred Heart who were familiar with the non-talent helping run the show and set it up, from the concession stand to the seating accommodation. The more ‘hardcore’ wrestling fans were left a little disappointed, expecting maybe something more on the grounds of other local promotions such as House of Glory & MLW, and others expected more NWA talent involved, but with the unforeseen circumstances of Hurricane Helene it should be understandable, and I’m just glad talent was able to travel with safety. Thank you to Kurt for accommodating my needs to help me do this coverage and to Joe, Kylie & the rest of the NWA for allowing me to check off another promotion of my bucket lists to attend live!