Milwaukee wrestling fans get a rare shot at a national title scene this weekend when NWA Samhain: Part 4 rolls into Turner Hall Ballroom on Sunday, September 27. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the opening bell set for 7 p.m., and the card is being taped as a special television event featuring multiple current championship belts on the line.
The show marks the National Wrestling Alliance's first-ever event at the historic downtown venue, according to Pabst Theater Group, which lists the night as the NWA celebrating its debut at Turner Hall. NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Thrillbilly Silas Mason is scheduled to appear, per the National Wrestling Alliance's own event listing. Mason joined CBS 58 ahead of the show to help promote the taping, and the outlet reports he has held the NWA title for a year.
A Stacked Bill of Champions
Also on the bill is NWA World Women's Champion Tiffany Nieves, according to the same NWA listing. The promotion's site also names NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered — Kenzie and Kylie Paige — as scheduled participants. Several other titleholders are expected to be part of the card, per CBS 58's report on the upcoming event.
The exact rest of the lineup gets murky depending on which listing you check. The NWA's own site says NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hayden Backlund and NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Hardway are scheduled to appear, and it separately bills the Looks That Kill duo of NWA National Heavyweight Champion Bryan Idol and Natalia Markova. Pabst Theater Group's listing, however, names a different set of champions for the same card — NWA National Heavyweight Champion Mike Mondo, NWA World Jr Heavyweight Champion Slade, and US Tag Team Champions The Slimeballz. The two accounts do not agree on who holds which title or who is booked to wrestle, and the discrepancy has not been resolved between the two sources.
Corgan's 2017 Purchase
Billy Corgan, frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins, purchased the National Wrestling Alliance from Bruce Tharpe in 2017, according to WrestleZone. Corgan discussed the promotion earlier in the week, per CBS 58's report, as the taping was being promoted locally.
The NWA's championship lineage carries decades of history, with a title record that includes the Von Erichs and, closer to home, Milwaukee's own The Crusher, according to CBS 58's coverage ahead of the Turner Hall show. For a promotion making its first stop at the venue, Sunday's taping doubles as both a nostalgia play and a showcase for its current crop of champions.
Fans planning to attend should note the early bell time — doors at 6 p.m., first match at 7 p.m. — inside Turner Hall Ballroom in downtown Milwaukee.
