NWA EmPowerrr

Overall Rating: ★★★★★☆☆

It was weird how many AEW wrestlers were on this show, given that there wasn't even any cross-promotion involved. It made NWA look like they couldn't put on a show of their own. They did do some cross-promotion with iMPACT!, but the iMPACT! wrestlers were mostly just in the Invitational Cup, so that makes all the AEW wrestlers in regular matches seem even weirder. The commentary wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as Pat McAfee. Over all, it was mostly fine, if a little slow, with some high points.

1. Battle of the Brands (Kylie Rae vs. Chik Tormenta vs. Diamanté)
   ★★★☆☆☆☆
   NWA vs. AAA vs. AEW. Except, it really didn't feel like there were any stakes or anyone particularly cared about this. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was familiar with NWA or AAA, but it would really have helped a lot if this event had been mentioned even once on AEW. I didn't even know any AEW wrestlers were going to be involved until the show started. Whereas it was promoted on iMPACT!, but they're not involved in this match. So basically, the "battle of the brands" label seems like it was slapped on at the last minute and had no significance.
2. Tag Tournament (The Hex vs. Hell on Heels)
   ★★★★☆☆☆
   I don't know any of these wrestlers, but it was an ok match. And I assume they were pacing themselves for the championship match itself.
3. Tag Tournament (The Freebabes vs. Red Velvet & KiLynn King)
   ★★★★★☆☆
   I always forget how impressive Kilynn King is. She is way underused in AEW - but the same could be said of their entire women's division, with the possible exception of Dr Britt Baker.
4. iMPACT! Knockouts Championship (Deonna Purrazzo vs. Melina)
   ★★★★★☆☆
   No surprises here, but it was decent.
5. Women's Tag Championship (The Hex vs. Red Velvet & KiLynn King)
   ★★★★★☆☆
   Some pretty good teamwork, but an unsurprising outcome.
6. Women's Championship (Kamille vs. Leyla Hirsch)
   ★★★★★☆☆
   Once again, decent but unsurprising. I don't think they did a good job at all of convincing us that the outcome was in doubt with any of these NWA vs. AEW matches.
   
7. Women's Invitational Cup (Chelsea Green vs. Kiera Hogan vs. Bianca Carelli vs. Thunder Kitty vs. Jennacide vs. Lady Frost vs. Debbie Malenko vs. Jamie Senegal vs. Masha Slamovich vs. Tootie Lynn)
   ★★★★★★☆
   An elimination match with staggered entrances. I prefer over-the-top-rope, but I'll never complain about an elimination match. I absolutely love Thunder Kitty's gimmick (she's 100 years old - some kind of immortal, I guess?) and Jennacide's a cool cyborg. Despite her name, Tootie Lynn also seems really cool. Masha Slamovich, on the other hand, feels like a character from GLOW. There was a really obvious fuck-up at one point from the production team where they stayed on the wrong camera for ages and we couldn't see what was happening in the ring. I don't want to hold that against them but it was really bad. But despite that, it was a really good match.