I was intending on writing something a little more in-depth about Nick Aldis, but instead I will just put him over in this article. It is insane to me how much he has grown from his time on Impact to now as he has become exactly what some members of Impact thought he could be, but couldn't figure out how to get that potential out of him. It is interesting to think about because if you compare Cody Rhodes & Nick to each other their career paths are similar considering both men seemingly needed to leave the bigger promotions to really find the competitor they were met to be. 

In my opinion at this point Nick Aldis is one of the best in the world of wrestling and the fact that he has held the NWA Title for the better part of the last two years should give you that indication as well. However, I also believe that he has become one of those competitors that can help his opponent look better then they are and that is something he did in his recent match with PJ Black from a Championship Wrestling From Hollywood event. 

Since the departure of the other Elite members there has been a number of questions about what this means for Marty Scrull. Well at first the answer came with The Villain starting a brand new faction for himself, and really a stable position in Ring of Honor. I have always loved Marty's work and thought that he had extreme potential and still has untapped potential for himself that he might fulfill in April at the Crockett Cup. It is very interesting to see not just Nick Aldis in Ring of Honor but the connection that the NWA has developed with the company. 

In the recent era of wrestling not many champions have done more for the National Wrestling Alliance then the current flag bearer for the brand and that is Nick Aldis. Much like with Cody last year this match with Marty is a matter of respect more than anything else between two good friends. Caprice Coleman being included in the segment just makes it even better, because he's just awesome. Either way though Nick Aldis has found his potential in the NWA and has grown leaps and bounds past where some people probably thought he ever could and come April 27 this is Marty's chance to do the same thing.  

It has been a very long time since the last time I did a DVD review and that is basically because I haven't watched a DVD in a very very long time. I put that blame on the fact that I have been focused on other things, but expect to see a lot more reviews in the coming months as I have a few DVD's to watch. All the DVD's are from kayfabecommentaries.com as I love most if not all of there DVD releases. In my opinion this release is underrated as far as the entertainment value it provides, but you really have to at least have an idea of who Tommy Rich is or you will not enjoy this DVD. As always though let's go see what you'd expect from the DVD: 

-The Georgia Territory 
- Old School vs New School
- Opinion on Bill Eadie, Ole Anderson, Jim Barnett, Buzz Sawyer, and others 
-Working in Memphis as a heel
- Working in ECW, WCW, and AWA
- All this and more on is in this DVD 
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In the last decade we have seen the rebirth of the National Wrestling Alliance from the advancements made by former owner Bruce Tharpe to the continued advancements made by current owner Billy Corgan. There is no disputing all the important steps that were made by Bruce Tharpe who took the brand to a level it hadn't been since the 1980's truthfully. Following the cluster**** that was Billy Corgan's time in Impact Wrestling it was announced soon after that Billy has bought the National Wrestling Alliance. One thing that Corgan has changed about the NWA is providing a very big rise in a social media presence using the "Ten Pounds of Gold" Youtube series. 

One thing that made 2018 a very special year for the NWA is the part they had in the Indy super event known as All In. The event saw the exceptional match between champion Nick Aldis and Cody Rhodes this match was built up unlike most matches on the show due to Cody and Nick not being a part of the same company, but still needed to build interest for the match which they did 100x's over. In my opinion the match between Cody & Nick was helped tremendously by the "Ten Pounds of Gold" series. 

For years during the height of the National Wrestling Alliance they would have a flag bearer and someone who could lead the brand. In December of 2017 at Cage of Death we saw Tim Storm drop the NWA Worlds Title to Nick Aldis and this would change things for the brand heading into the new year. Nick would hold the championship for most of the year before dropping it to Cody in September, and then would win the NWA Title back the following month at the NWA 70 Anniversary event. At this point Nick Aldis had held the World Title for a combined 344 days and is truly a throwback competitor to champions of yesteryear.

Overall now with a "Face of the Franchise" and a more mainstream year in 2018 then they've had in a long time. After seeing Nick Aldis at the Final Battle event last month it will be very interesting to see the part that he could play in not just Ring of Honor, but wrestling as a whole. I think that with the rise in popularity for Independent wrestling and the announcement of All Elite Wrestling it will be interesting to see the type of year the brand has in 2019. 

Over the summer the build for the biggest independent wrestling event outside of WWE. Now with All In in the rear view the impact that the event had on the wrestling world is really still unclear, but it did really help the NWA brand bringing attention to the NWA 70th Anniversary event. One of the highlights of the event was the most anticipated NWA World Title match in the last decade. Cody shocked the wrestling becoming the first father/son combination to win the Worlds Championship. 

This rematch was just as anticipated as the first match between these two men thanks in part to the "Ten Pounds of Gold" series that kept the interest high & the build going after All In. The amount of a difference that the series has made in raising the amount of eyes that are on the NWA is incredible as you now have a way to know what big feuds are in the company. This feud between Cody & Nick was unlike anything else going on in the wrestling world and made the summer time especially interesting; this was the culmination of all the build.  

Looking back at the list of Top 10 NWA World Champions there is any number of different competitors we can talk about, but after picking out Orville Brown & Lou Thesz last time I will do something similar this time. During the 1990's and into the 2000's the National Wrestling Alliance had fallen so far from grace that many fans didn't know that the NWA even still existed when names like Mike Rapada, Steve Corino, Dan Severn, or various others held the championship. Things would begin to change around the time that TNA Wrestling had been founded as the Jarrett's united with the NWA which brought the brand into the mainstream for the first time since the territories. 

Though only Jeff Jarrett landed on my Top 10 list this article is really meant to focus on the period following the NWA/TNA agreement. The first wrestler to hold the NWA World Championship following TNA leaving the Alliance was "Scrap Iron" Adam Pearce. Prior to his time as champion Adam was really below the radar completely based around the period of his title victory, but after his win the stock Pearce held began to rise. 

Even though most people believe that the championship shouldn't make the wrestler it should be reversed where the wrestler makes the title. I would say in most cases I agree with this expression, but I do think sometimes with good booking it could be different. The best modern example I can give is before Nick Aldis won the NWA World Title he was just another independent wrestler who missed his chance on the big stage. However, once he became champion we saw the potential that he could've realized elsewhere given the same chance. In opinion Adam Pearce & Nick Aldis are very similar in that regard as the National Wrestling Alliance gave these two men the opportunity that nobody else would to realize their potential and I think that is what the NWA is now known for giving talent a chance.

Recently, I looked into various championships and figuring out various top 10 lists and I started with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Though for the better part of twenty years the National Wrestling Alliance was very far away from the limelight mostly being featured on small independent events and overseas. Even with that being the case though it didn't change the fact that the champions during that time were not bad choices, but more not covered so fans didn't know who the champion was at one time or another. Fact is once the NWA brand was paired together with TNA it was the first time that the Alliance was back in the spotlight since the days of Jim Crockett Promotions. 

As fas as the list that I put together I tried to construct a list based on longevity and overall impact of their title reign. In my opinion names like Kerry Von Erich, Buddy Rogers, Nick Aldis, Dory Funk Jr, Whipper Watson, and others didn't have the impact or longevity of a run to make the list. I do feel like though that I constructed a fair list including some of the greatest champions to ever hold the "ten pounds of gold." 

Now it is clear that the first champion does have to be included in any list when talking about the top ten champions. I do understand there could be a difference between the impact of the first champions had on establishing the status of their newly created championship. It is also fair to say that upon the creation of the NWA championship & Orville Brown holding the title. The reality is that the NWA Worlds Championship didn't really start gaining a ton of prestige until Lou Thesz won the gold and started traveling with the championship. Overall i don't think that the National Wrestling Alliance could've selected two better names to help set the foundation of the oldest championship in wrestling. 

I don't know how hype I will be able to build over the next week, but I will attempt to build some as this is a major event. One thing that the WWE never does is run an anniversary event, though some might point to the age of the company as the reason why the NWA proves it's not age... it's desire. The reality is the NWA has always found ways to honor tradition and never loose sight of the past or those who paved the way. Fact is this anniversary event is happening at the height of a rebirth for the National Wrestling Alliance. Even though I do agree with Jim Cornette that there is a variety of reasons that the NWA never truly disappeared and just really went to sleep. 

In my opinion the reason that the NWA was able to survive was because of someone always wanting to keep history alive. The "Ten Pounds of Gold" represents the most prestigious Worlds Championship in the history of professional wrestling and look no further then the lineage of the title to see all the proof you need. Though for the better part of a decade most wrestling didn't even know that the brand still existed as it was truly under the radar. This doesn't mean that anything has changed because year to year has always been celebrated as much as the last, but this year will be even bigger then usual. 

On September the first we saw the most highly anticipated independent wrestling event in history when the NWA went All In. This will be the first major event since the All In show and will be a big test for the National Wrestling Alliance to see if they can continue building momentum from All In. Since his victory Cody has really got long road ahead of him due to the historical significance of his title win. At this point there are a number of other matches set for the event but for all things having to do with the 70th Anniversary event visit: Here

At one point Impact Wrestling had a perfect roster that could set them up for the future, but as we know now things changed and didn't go as planned. The company had a good balance between veterans and talent that could be future stars. During this period of time TNA had one of the best tag team divisions and once again a very talented roster in general. One of the tag teams on the roster at the time was British Invasion which included Magnus, Doug Williams, and Rob Terry. 

Following the end of British Invasion we would see Magnus attempt a run as a good guy, but that run only showed how comfortable he was as a heel. The highlight of his run with TNA came in December 2013 when captured the TNA World Title defeating Jeff Hardy in the tournament finals. Though Magnus would go onto have a solid run as champion it was clear that something was missing, but maybe just maybe his run proved that timing is indeed everything. I don't think his run was bad as champion, but just at a time when fans were more interested in what was going on behind the camera as opposed to what was in the ring. 

His departure from Impact Wrestling was seen as a failure, because a number of fans believed that Magnus had a lot of untapped potential. Surprisingly we would see the freshly named Nick Aldis appear at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood officially joining the NWA. Within three months Nick would defeat then NWA Worlds Champion Tim Storm at Cage of Death 19. Though this might not seem like a big deal for some the recovery of the NWA has been happening since the height of Tim Storm's run and Aldis just continued the success. Think about this the most talked about & hyped Independent wrestling event of the last decade saw the NWA World Title match be the most anticipated match on the entire event. 

Overall seeing the man that he became after winning the title he truly did look like a champion. It was also extremely interesting seeing the short partnership that we saw early on between Nick Aldis and Memphis legend Austin Idol. In my opinion this reign as World Champion came at a much better time helping the brand gain more attention and Aldis seem like more of a star. It will be interesting though to see what Cody can do to help bring more attention to the oldest championship in wrestling. 

One moment that I don't know that most people expected to see at "All In" or maybe it was just me because of his association with non NWA companies. I am one of many that think it is surreal to see Cody as the NWA Worlds Champion. In some ways I think they made the switch to attract some more attention to the 70th Anniversary show coming in October which this is the perfect way to do it considering Cody's association with New Japan and ROH. 

However, I'm not 100% sure that this is the only reason that they made the change as someone might've just thought it was time for someone new to hold the ten pounds. It is announced that Nick Aldis will cash in his rematch on October 21 at the NWA 70th Anniversary event. As Cody announces though that match will not be his first title defense as champion with his being at a Ring of Honor event. Cody's first defense will be at the ROH event in Las Vegas on September 29 against Willie Mack. Overall this will be a fantastic match between two very talented performers for a worthwhile and prestigious championship in the game.