The Nashville Fairgrounds has been a hot bed of a home for professional wrestling since the 1960s. The Tennessee State Fairgrounds Sports Arena that lays on the grounds of the fairgrounds was the original home of weekly wrestling shows first put on by local promoter Nick Gulas and most famously produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the early 2000s. TNA would hold court at what would become known as the TNA Asylum, presenting weekly live pay-per-views and taping their weekly syndicated shows until transforming from TNA to Impact! wrestling and moving operations to Universal Studios in Orlando.
Throughout the years since the departure of TNA, various promotions have run wrestling shows at the fairgrounds, attracting viewers from all over the country. Ring of Honor would primarily use the arena for their shows when they came to Nashville as well as smaller promotions who would do the occasional pop-up show.
In recent years, the original arena was closed, as were the other buildings making up the fairgrounds in favor of a new set buildings just down the hill in order to make way for the new soccer stadium that will be the home of Nashville SC set to open in May. The upgrade to a newer building has not stopped the wrestling history of the fairgrounds to come to an end.
The oldest wrestling promotion in the country, the National Wrestling Alliance, returned to the Nashville fairgrounds to host a two-night tag team tournament this weekend. The Fifth Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament better known as the Crockett Cup brings twenty of the top tag teams to Nashville in hopes of hoisting the large trophy over their heads at the end of the event. Previous winners include the Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff and Dusty Rhodes, and Lex Luger and Sting.
In addition to all of the tag team action going on over the course of the tournament the NWA Women’s Tag Team Championships will be defended as will the NWA National Championship, NWA World Television Championship, NWA World Women’s Championship, and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Also, after a five-year hiatus a new NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion will be crowned.
On night one every tag team in the tournament saw action and it all began on the pre-show aired live on the NWA YouTube channel. The first match of the night was the only singles match of night one and found Magic Jake Dumas defeat Captain YUMA after hitting his finisher Abracadabra. YUMA was accompanied to the ring by Danny Deals and Jeremiah Plunkett of the Ill Begotten and the two turned their backs on YUMA and left him laying in the ring after coming up short in his match.
The tag team tournament kicked off next with the four team ‘play-in’ match. The Bad News Boyz took on The Heatseekers, The RIP City Shooters, and Violence Is Forever, the tag team champions of Nashville based promotion Southern Underground Pro. One member of each team started the match off making this a match to not take your eyes off of. The winner of the match would be rewarded with facing the number one overall seed and current NWA World Tag Team Champions La Rebelión. After a hard fought back and forth, the Bad News Boyz came away with the victory after pinning Dominic Garrini of Violence Is Forever.
In what would had to have been a shock to viewers in attendance and at home was that the biggest name in the tournament wrestling on the pre-show. The legendary brothers from Delaware, The Briscoes took on the team known as the NOW. The NOW came into the tournament as the biggest underdog while facing the 12-time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions. In what many to believe would be a squash match it was anything but. Hale Collins and Vik Dalishus threw everything they had at Jay and Mark Briscoe in hopes of creating the upset. The experience of the Briscoes and their ability to adapt to any style of wrestling was just too much for The NOW to overcome and Dem Boys moved on in the tournament.
The Briscoes-The NOW match brought an end to the pre-show and it was time for the Crockett Cup to officially take center stage for the rest of the night. The remaining tag teams are comprised of some of the great up and coming talent in the business as well as familiar faces seen all over the world and on television. Former WWE talents Damian Sandow (Aron Stevens), JTG, Dirty Dango (Fandango), Mike Knox, Chris Masters (Chris Adonis), and Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Harry Smith) comprised some of the tag teams in the tournament as well as former TNA/Impact wrestlers D’Angelo Dinero, Marshe Rockett, Thom Latimer, and Doug Williams.
Opening round matches kicked off the main show and saw Hawx Aerie defeat The END in the opening match. After the match NWA owner Billy Corgan is backstage talking about the history and importance of the Crockett Cup as well as the inclusion of WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett as special guest referee in the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship match between Matt Cardona and Nick Aldis.
Next The Cardonas consisting of VSK and Mike Knox defeated Matthew Mims and The Pope D’Angelo Dinero when VSK hit a frog splash on Mims to get the pinfall. In what was easily the most entertaining match of the night and the one with the most familiar wrestlers was next. The Dirty Sexy Boys consisting of JTG and Dirty Dango were all set to take on the team of Aron Stevens and JR Kratos, but due to what Stevens called travel issues, Kratos was unable to make the show. Stevens had to scramble to find a replacement partner and found none other than ECW legend the Blue Meanie. In what was a fun, spirited back and forth match, the Dirty Sexy Boys were just too much for Stevens and Meanie to overcome.
The first true upset of the tournament happened when Gold Rushhh got a surprise win over the much more experienced Strictly Business team of Chris Adonis and Thom Latimer. The upset was primarily able to happen due the outside interference from BLK Jeez and current NWA World Television Champion Tyrus. Jordan Clearwater of Gold Rushhh hit Latimer with the Television title while the referee was distracted and thus was able to secure the pinfall and the upset.
The international team of Doug Williams and Harry Smith made quick work of Alex Taylor and Rush Freeman of the Ill Begotten to advance to the second round. The winners of the ‘play-in’ match, the Bad News Boyz, had their hands full while facing the number one seed La Rebelión. The NWA Tag Team Champions easily had the best gear of night one with their look clearly inspired by Swedish rock band Ghost. The Boyz got in much more offense than one would expect after having to face three other teams on the pre-show, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset.
The first second round match of the tournament found the Cardonas facing The Fixers. Those in attendance, like myself, were not sure why The Fixers received a first round bye or why their announced first round opponents (The OGK) were not there. This match was for the most part a straight up slugfest but it was another frog splash that got the 1-2-3 as VSK hit the move once again to propel The Cardonas into the semi-finals.
The Briscoes returned for their second match of the night to take on former ‘sports entertainers’ in Dirty Dango and JTG. The Dirty Sexy Boys went tooth and nail with the current Ring of Honor tag champions and it began to look as if the former WWE superstars would pull out the victory before Mark Briscoe hit JTG with the Froggy Bow to secure the pinfall.
The NWA tag champions consisting of Mecha Wolf and Bestia 666 looked to cement their spot in the semi-finals while facing Hawx Aerie. Luke Hawx was unfortunately unable to compete in the matchup as it was learned he suffered a concussion in the opening round win over The END forcing PJ Hawx to take on the incredible task of upsetting La Rebelión on his own. The challenge turned out to be too much for one man and the tag champions advanced to night two. After the contest, the crowd gave PJ a standing ovation while chanting his name to show gratitude for his valiant effort.
Night one of the Crockett Cup ended after Doug Williams and Harry Smith were just too much for Gold Rushhh to overcome. The final match of the night was one that the referee lost complete control of throughout and came to end after Williams hit a piledriver on Jordan Clearwater and then made him tap out with a Bridging Fujiwara Arm-Bar.
Overall, night one of the 2022 Crockett Cup was a successful show with some fun matches and night two is sure to be even better. Tickets are still available for the Crockett Cup for those in the Nashville area and can be purchased at simpletix.com or you can watch from home by purchasing the show on Fite TV.
Night two will consist of the six NWA title matches as well as the two semi-final and final Crockett Cup matches.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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