How Blind Arrogance Killed Wrestling's Coolest Cult Promotion

2. Problems Of The Pandemic

Ricky Starks NWA TV Champion
NWA

It's likely fair to say that no significant wrestling promotion suffered as much during the pandemic as the NWA.

While WWE was able to adapt to its Thunderdome Era, AEW had Daily's Place to utilise, and promotions such as IMPACT Wrestling, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling eventually opted to perform in crowd-less buildings, Billy Corgan's National Wrestling Alliance went on a complete hiatus from in-ring action.

Prior to the pandemic, the NWA was as hot as it had been for decades. Granted, there was no danger of the organisation matching the heady heights of the likes of WWE and AEW, but there was so much goodwill towards Corgan's company at that point. The weekly Powerrr shows had long become a highlight of the wrestling week, and fans were eager to tune in for the next hour-long slice of a brisk, entertaining product that had such brilliant, firmly established characters amongst its ensemble.

Once the world went to the dogs as COVID-19 came to the fore, the NWA didn't run any sort of wrestling show for nearly nine months. To run a studio wrestling product without any studio audience meant that it wasn't financially viable for the NWA to continue through those dark days. Not just that, but this time also saw plentiful major names walk away from the promotion in order to find work elsewhere, with Ricky Starks, Eddie Kingston, Eli Drake, Colt Cabana and Thunder Rosa just a handful of those who departed the NWA.

As Billy Corgan himself has stated in various interviews - such as this one with Stephanie Chase - he considered not bringing the NWA back from its enforced hiatus, so unsure was he about whether the promotion could get back to its pre-pandemic heights.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.