NWA EmPowerrr was a landmark event in 2021 as Mickie James, with help from Billy Corgan and under the NWA banner, put together an all-women's event that utilized talent from AEW, IMPACT, Lucha Libre AAA, and independent promotions.
The event did not return in 2022 with NWA opting to run a two-night NWA 74 event as opposed to one night of EmPowerrr and the following night celebrating the NWA anniversary as they did in 2021.
When asked why NWA EmPowerrr did not return for a second show, Billy Corgan told NBC Sports Boston, "There just isn’t a ton of free agent talent available that can work at the television level. Is there enough talent, absolutely, but you’re talking about putting people on international pay-per-view where you’re asking fans to pay money. You’re gonna put on an all female pay-per-view, by the way let’s all remember that [if] that PPV doesn’t go well and you put people in positions they are not ready for, it’s gonna blow back on those talents and the company."
Corgan did say that there are plans to run another EmPowerrr event and hopes to bring it back in 2023.
Maria Kanellis has been one of the leaders of the women's revolution outside of WWE, helping bring the ROH women's division back to prominence during the pandemic and now running Women's Wrestling Army, an all-female promotion, alongside Bobby Cruise.
Speaking to Will Washington, Phil Lindsey, and Righteous Reg on Grapsody, Maria was asked about Corgan's comments regarding EmPowerrr 2.
"I think it depends on what women you're looking at. For his promotion, he has a certain view of the women he has in his promotion and what type of women he wants in his promotion and what kind of stories he wants to tell with those women. We have a showing coming up on November 4 and 5 in Chicago and we're going to have 25-30 women. There will be 25ish women on both days. We also have many different styles of wrestling. If you go across the board, we could have 40. If Bobby Cruise wasn't telling me no on certain people, then I'd be like, 'Okay.' Bobby is the one where he's like, 'I know you want to have WrestleMania every time we have a women's show, but we can't do that.' 'Well, why not?' [laughs] That is tough. It's also, EmPowerrr is a pay-per-view. If you're trying to sell pay-per-views, are there enough women out there to sell pay-per-views? Maybe he's looking at it in that way. For his audience, are there enough women to sell pay-per-views? For our show, we have 25 to 30 women we work with regularly. In Ring of Honor, we were working with about 25 women every taping," she said.
Women's Wrestling Army airs on Pro Wrestling TV and has featured talent such as Taya Valkyrie, The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle), Tasha Steelz, and more at previous tapings.
Elsewhere during the interview, Maria commented on her future in wrestling as she is set to become a free agent on October 8 when her per-appearance deal with IMPACT Wrestling expires. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
Fans can check out the full interview with Maria in the video above.
