NWA 312

NWA 312 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). It took place on Friday April 7, 2023, at StudioONE in Highland Park, Illinois. The name of the event is in reference to area code 312, the area code of downtown Chicago.

Fourteen matches were contested at the event, including four on the pre-show. In the main event, Tyrus defeated Chris Adonis to retain the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Kamille defeated La Rosa Negra to retain the NWA World Women's Championship, La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf) defeated Magnum Muscle (Dak Draper and Mims) to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship, Kenzie Paige defeated Max the Impaler to become the inaugural NWA World Women's Television Championship, and in the opening bout, EC3 defeated Cyon to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship.

The event garnered mixed reviews from critics, praising the World Women's title match, but criticized the numerous filler matches throughout the show.

Background
On the February 14, 2023 episode of NWA Powerrr, it was announced that NWA 312 would take place on April 7 in Chicago, Illinois. At the same time the NWA announced they were introducing the NWA Women's Television Championship with a new champion being crowned at the PPV. On March 10, the NWA announced a partnership with tea shop Madame Zuzu's – of which NWA president William Patrick Corgan is a co-owner – to benefit the Highland Park Community Foundation in support of victims of the Highland Park parade shooting on July 4, 2022.

Storylines
NWA 312 will feature professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The twelfth season of the NWA's weekly flagship program, Powerrr, as well as the sixth season of their secondary program, NWA USA, will feature storylines leading up to the event.

On the June 26, 2022 episode of Powerrr, Madusa announced the creation of the NWA World Women's Television Championship. Several months later on the February 14, 2023 Powerrr, with the announcement of NWA 312, it was announced that a tournament will be held to determine the inaugural champion, with the finals set to take place at the event. Qualifying matches will be held over the next several weeks on Powerrr and NWA USA. On the March 14 Powerrr, Kenzie Paige defeated Ashley D'Amboise to advance to the final. The following week, Max the Impaler defeated Taya Valkyrie to make up the other half of the final.

On the February 14 episode of Powerrr, Tyrus successfully defended the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship against Rolando Freeman. Although, before his victory, the former was briefly distracted by EC3 standing beside his manager BLK Jeez. The following week, lead announcer Joe Galli interviewed EC3 and BLK Jeez about what transpired, Jeez stated his company name has changed to "Churchs Money Entertainment" and that he has entered into an agreement with EC3's Control Your Narrative group, though EC3 simply stated that he was only "controlling his narrative". He later went on to challenge Cyon for the NWA National Championship at NWA 312, which would later be made official.

On the February 28 Powerrr, Chris Adonis and La Rosa Negra announced that they will both utilize their Champions Series title opportunities at NWA 312, challenging NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Tyrus and NWA World Women's Champion Kamille, respectively. Additionally, a month later on the March 28 Powerrr, the team of Magnum Muscle (Matthew Mims and Dak Draper) invoked Draper's opportunity to challenge La Rebelión (Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf) for the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

On the February 21 Powerrr, Pretty Empowered (Ella Envy and Roxy) won the NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship from The Renegade Twins (Charlette and Robyn Renegade). However, shortly after the match, Madi Wrenkowski and Missa Kate utilized the former's Champion Series title opportunity to immediately win the titles from Pretty Empowered. On March 17, the NWA announced that Pretty Empowered will invoke their rematch clause against Wrenkowski and Kate at NWA 312.

On the March 7 episode of NWA Powerrr, Sal the Pal and Gaagz the Gymp of the Miserably Faithful faced off in a Hair vs. Mask match in order to "prove their loyalty" to Father James Mitchell. However, the match ended in a double countout when both men begged Mitchell not to let them continue fighting. Signs of dissolution would begin to show within the Miserably Faithful. On March 27, the NWA announced that Sal and Gaagz will have a rematch on the NWA 312 pre-show under the same conditions, with the added stipulation of a strap match.

Reception
Tommy Martinez of Slam Wrestling reviewed the event and gave it 3 out of 5 stars. He wrote: "This was an okay show. Not a pay-per-view-worthy show, but a POWERRR-Trip-worthy show. I wish there were some more title changes, but Kenzie winning the World Television championship was the right call, as was EC3's National title win. This might be the set up for more angles but we'll how that shakes up later." Eddie Vetter of Pro Wrestling Dot Net singled out the World Women's title match as easily the "best match of the show," with the World Tag Team and Junior Heavyweight title bouts also getting praise. He commended the main event for being "put together as well as can be expected", but felt Tyrus was "miscast as a milquetoast, bland babyface." He criticized the show for having a ton of filler throughout the card, critiquing that "NWA would rather get everyone on the show than fill it with good, memorable matches." Justin McClelland of Pro Wrestling Torch also praised the Women's title match for continuing "Kamille's streak of great PPV matches" and for La Rosa Negra's performance, while also calling the Junior Heavyweight and World title bouts an "excellent match" and "surprisingly decent" respectively. He concluded that: "This was a disappointing show with very few good matches, a lot of questionable and/or nonsensical booking choices and little angle advancement ... Even if the match length stayed the same, cutting out a couple matches (like the Battle Royal) and having a few video packages would better connect storyline dots and give important matches and developments a chance to breathe."