The NWA's bizarre time machine
Billy Corgan is once again pulling the NWA lever, hoping that a television deal with Comet TV can teleport us back to a time when studio wrestling was the peak of civilization. We are sitting in May 2026, and the industry has shifted toward high-octane spectacle and massive production values. Yet here is the NWA, leaning into the Powerrr format like it’s still 2019 and the world is holding its breath for an AWA-style throwback.
The move to Comet TV feels like a lateral shift at best. It is a quiet re-entry into a space that has already been squeezed, dried out, and discarded by most casual viewers. Watching the recent episodes, you get the distinct impression of a promotion caught in deep amber.
Silas Mason needs a better platform
Silas Mason is arguably the most interesting bell-to-bell worker currently trapped in this cycle promoting the premiere. He speaks with the conviction of a guy who knows he is carrying the heavy lifting for a brand that is perpetually stuck in the mud. He can cut a promo, he can work a believable brawl, and he actually brings some much-needed edge to the sterile studio setting.
However, putting Mason on Comet TV is like putting a Ferrari engine in a lawnmower. It does not matter how hard he pushes; the chassis will not let him hit top speed. His intensity often feels misplaced when he is cutting promos that seem designed for an audience that stopped watching cable television during the Bush administration.
The content void is growing
There is a glaring issue with the recent online drops of Powerrr. The pacing is sluggish. In an era where I can open social media and see 30-second clips of a chaotic high-spot fest from Japan or a heated segment from a major promotion, sitting through twelve minutes of a slow-burn technical match in a bright, soulless studio is a tall order.
The promotion is also mixing in interviews with UK-based talent who discuss experiences like the Bayley camp, which is neat for the deep-cut nerds but does very little to move the needle for the average viewer. It is a disconnect. They are focusing on the minutiae of the independent wrestling school circuit while the rest of the industry is focused on the May 9th Backlash build or the upcoming Double or Nothing festivities.
The booking ceiling
My biggest gripe? The ceiling on this product is remarkably low because it refuses to embrace the chaos of the current era. Wrestling is at its best when it feels like a genuine, unscripted mess. The NWA is too clean, too polished, and way too reliant on the "prestige" of its secondary belts to hold interest.
If you want to survive, you cannot just exist as a museum of how professional wrestling used to be. You have to be the thing that keeps people glued to their screens on a Tuesday night. Right now, this feels more like ambient background noise for a rainy afternoon. It is not hitting. It is just spinning wheels.
Maybe the move to television will force Corgan to crank up the stakes. Without a massive injection of character development and a shift away from the retro-fetishism, this will just be another footnote in the 2026 wrestling cycle. Fans want stories, not just work rate and polyester history lessons.
