The National Wrestling Alliance was founded in 1948 by several regional professional wrestling promoters to produce an overall governing body for various professional wrestling promotions across the United States. In May 2017, William Patrick Corgan, lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins, purchased the NWA via his company Lightning One, Inc., including NWA's name, rights, trademarks, and championship belts to start a new era for the promotion. The ownership took full effect on October 1, 2017. At that point, NWA was no longer a governing body and began gradually transforming into a singular wrestling promotion. For the first year of Corgan's ownership the NWA partnered up with various independent promotions to promote events, but by the summer of 2018, NWA announced that they would hold their first Pay Per View event to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the NWA. For the show, the NWA partnered with Ring of Honor and was produced by Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Entertainment production company. It was available live and on-demand replay on FITE TV.
Storylines
The NWA 70th Anniversary Show featured nine professional wrestling matches scripted by the NWA and the Tried-N-True Wrestling promotion, with some of the wrestlers involved in scripted feuds leading to the matches. The wrestlers portray either heels, faces or "tweeners" as they perform in and out of the ring. As the NWA did not have a television outlet during the build-up to the event, most of the storyline build, as well as the promotional efforts, were done via social media such as the NWA's regular "Ten Pounds of Gold" YouTube series. In the lead up to the All Inpay-per-view event, it was officially announced that NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis would defend the championship against Cody as part of the show. In the lead up to All In, Cody challenged for the ROH World Championship at Ring of Honor's Best in the World, but he failed to win the match, even with Aldis trying to help Cody win the match. Cody received a second title opportunity during the June 30 tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling but lost again. At All In, Cody defeated Aldis to become the 96th overall NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. Following All In, Nick Aldis defeated Doug Williams to earn the rights to challenge for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship once more. After Aldis' victory, the NWA announced that Nick Aldis would get his championship rematch at the NWA 70th Anniversary Show under best two-out-of-three falls rules. When Billy Corgan purchased the NWA, the company declared that all NWA branded championships were vacated, except for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Women's Championship, held by Jazz. For the NWA 70th Anniversary Show, the NWA announced that Penelope Ford would be the official challenger for the women's championship. While the Worldmale and female champions were recognized, the NWA had vacated the NWA National Heavyweight Championship held by Kahagas at the time of Corgan's purchase. They announced that the championship would be brought back as part of the 70th Anniversary Show, with an eight-man tournament to crown a new champion which would include Jay Bradley, Colt Cabana, Sammy Guevara, Mike Parrow, Scorpio Sky, Sam Shaw, Ricky Starks, and Willie Mack.
