The New Years Clash event was the first of a series of shows called NWA Pop-Up Event presented and scripted by the National Wrestling Alliance. The NWA Pop-Up Event concept was first announced in December 2018, with the New Years Clash being held as a co-promoted event with Anthony Mayweather's Tried-N-True Wrestling based in Tennessee, crediting them with building a good reputation locally. During a press conference in January 2019 NWA president Billy Corgan explained the "Pop-Up" concept as "Being able to work, show up anywhere in the world that appreciates moments", partnering with local promotions, and that the New Years Clash was just the first of a series of shows the NWA is working on.
Storylines
The New Years Clash event featured seven professional wrestling matches scripted by the NWA and TNT, with some of 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 Twitter, press releases, press conferences, or the NWA's regular "Ten Pounds of Gold" YouTube series. Nick Aldis won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the second time on October 21, 2018, when he defeated Cody for the championship in the main event of the NWA 70th Anniversary Show. In December 2018 the "New Years Clash" event was announced and revealed that James Storm would be getting a championship match in his hometown against Aldis. Over the following weeks both Aldis and Storm hyped the upcoming match via videos posted by the NWA on their social media accounts. One of the most publicized storylines leading up to New Years Clash involved actor-turned-wrestler David Arquette. In 2018 Arquette began wrestling on the independent circuit. In November he worked wrestled in a "death match" against Nick Gage. During that match Arquette was cut in the neck by Gage, causing him to bleed profusely. Arquette was hospitalized after the match, requiring surgery to stop the bleeding. In the aftermath wrestler Jocephus, who portrays a cult leader like figure offered Arquette "Absolution" if he joined the Kingdom of Jocephus, a request Arquette turned down. After taunting each other over social media the NWA announced that Arquette and a partner of his choice would wrestle Jocephus and a partner at New Years Clash, with both men putting their hair on the line. Jocephus' partner was a bald, silent woman simply referred to as "The Spiritual Advisor", while Arquette did not reveal who his partner was prior to the show. It had been announced prior to the show that Maxx Stardom, Rosemary and the War Kings would all wrestle at the show but did not announce their opponents prior to the event starting. Rosemary did not wrestle at the event with no explanation being given for the change.
Event
In the second match of the night, The War Kings was accompanied by Road Warrior Animal as they were set to face a team that had not been announced prior to the match. Before the team was introduced it was announced that the winning team would qualify for the 2019 Crockett Cup tournament on April 27, 2019. The War Kings faced, and defeated the team of Caleb Konley and Jay Bradley to become the first team to qualify for the tournament. Despite losing her match to Allie, Jazz remained NWA World Women's Champion as she lost by disqualification, and under NWA rules a championship cannot change hands that way. For his match with Jocephus and his Spiritual Advisor, David Arquette introduced his surprise partner, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm. In the end, Arquette pinned Jocephus to win the match. Jocephus later had both his long hair and most of his bushy beard shaved off backstage by Arquette and Storm. The hair shaving was shown live on NWA's Instagram account. In the semi-main event, Willie Mack made his second successful defense of the NWA National Heavyweight Championship by defeating Matt Cross. In the main even Nick Aldis made his eighth successful championship defense of his ongoing championship reign, by pinning James Storm.
Aftermath
After successfully retaining the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Aldis is scheduled to defend the belt against PJ Black as part of Ring of Honor's Atlanta show on January 12.
