NWA EmPowerrr was a landmark event in August 2021 with the National Wrestling Alliance, Mickie James, and Billy Corgan putting together an all-women's event featuring female talent from multiple organizations. The event was held in conjunction with NWA 73 Anniversary week.
2022 came and went with no EmPowerrr 2 and many wondering why. Billy Corgan said there was no second NWA EmPowerr event due to there not being enough free agent talent available who could work at a television level, and he wondered if there was enough talent available who could wrestle NWA style, live up to the standard of the first NWA EmPowerrr, and sell a pay-per-view.
Speaking to Steve Fall of WrestlingNews.co, NWA Women's Champion Kamille was asked if there was enough female talent in NWA to carry an EmPowerrr event.
“With just the NWA talent that we have now, I do think that we could pull it off. But I think that the special thing about EmPowerrr was the fact that it brought together ladies from all walks of wrestling, whether that be AEW, IMPACT, AAA, so that’s the thing that I think that was interesting about it. I think Billy already mentioned he doesn’t have a working relationship with AEW right now, so that would kind of be off the table, but I don’t think that’s a big deal. I think we could still pull it off in a great way. The thing that I think kind of gets blown out of proportion a bit is, does it have to be every year? We didn’t say that it’s never gonna happen again. I think that it definitely will happen again. It’s just a fact of when. To me, if you wait a little bit longer, it makes it even more special the next time that you have it. To me, if you start making it an every year type of thing, it’s to be expected, and then the specialness kind of goes away. For instance, WWE had the Mae Young [Classic]. When’s the last time that had a Mae Young? But people aren’t going crazy about that," she said.
When asked about Corgan's comments about there not being enough women available who were ready to be on and carry a pay-per-view, Kamille replied, "I think what people got the most upset about was the fact that Billy said there’s not enough pay-per-view quality talent out there. I can see why people got upset about that because these people, they watch all sorts of wrestling, like little Indie shows, big Indie shows, everything. So they see their favorite wrestlers, and they know. But truthfully, I just don’t think, let’s be honest here, that the office or whoever’s running, do they have eyes on all of that stuff? Probably not. Should they? That’s not my job. That’s above my pay grade. So I think that’s where people sort of had the biggest issue with it. Now that it’s been more put to the mainstream and people are talking about it more, I think it’s a good thing because now they’re sort of forced to be looking at all these places, and new indie talent to give them a chance. So I do think that there’s an ability for maybe this upcoming 2023, something big to happen and for some of these girls that have never got an opportunity to get an opportunity."
Finally, Kamille addressed comments from fans who have said that Corgan doesn't care about women's wrestling.
“I just think some of the stuff that I’ve read, now people are saying, ‘Well Billy Corgan doesn’t respect women’s wrestling,’ or ‘NWA hates women’s wrestling.’ I work there, and I don’t feel that way at all. Yes, I’m the champion, so maybe I’m feeling up here, but I’m pretty sure I can speak for a lot of the women in the locker room, we’re all very happy, and it’s a great locker room. We’re all super cool and all happy, and we’re all having a good time. We all kind of pride ourselves in being like ‘We’re gonna beat the boys tonight. We’re gonna have the best matches.’ Pat Kenny, for instance, he’ll always come back and be like, ‘You girls are killing the boys tonight.’ So there’s that sort of competitiveness, but it’s a fun competitiveness. I really enjoy that, and I just don’t like that narrative that the NWA doesn’t like women’s wrestling at all. I think me and a lot of other girls that work there, first of all, it’s a platform for us to work, and we’re very grateful for that. We’re all having a good time. If you watch the NWA women’s division, I’m pretty sure anybody that watches it will say we’re killing it right now. It’s hard-hitting, fun matches that make sense. I just wouldn’t read the headlines of stuff and take that for what the headline says," she said.
Angelina Love, who also works for the NWA, offered similar comments to Kamille regarding EmPowerrr 2. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
Fightful provides results for NWA Powerrr every Tuesday following the conclusion of the event. Fans can check out results from past episodes of NWA Powerrr at Fightful's results section.
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