Reviewing Melina's Recent Heel Turn in NWA

I've been watching NWA Powerrr, the National Wrestling Alliance's regular series, since its debut, and the main reason, of course, is Melina. Best known for her six years in WWE, Melina debuted as a villainess on a November 2019 episode of NWA Powerrr, emerging as the heel manager for Thunder Rosa and Marti Belle, with the former going on to capture the NWA Women's World Championship in January 2020. Tensions began to be teased between Melina and Rosa due to the latter's budding face turn, but we wouldn't see any developments due to the incoming and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting NWA (among many other wrestling promotions).

It would be a year until NWA returned to operation, and we would see Melina back as well, this time as a babyface attempting to mend things between her and Rosa. However, Melina turned heel again and started feuding with Kylie Rae, who was also back in wrestling after a long hiatus. There was a bit of history, the two women were on opposite sides of a tag team match at NWA's latest pay-per-view, When Our Shadows Fall, with Melina on the losing end. The confrontation took place on June 22's episode of NWA Powerrr, as Serena Deeb and Thunder Rosa each made their case to be the #1 Contender for the Women's Title, held by Kamille. The segment saw Serena put over Kylie Rae, who joined her, while Rosa was about to put over someone of her own, leading to Melina emerging and assuming that Rosa meant her, only for Rosa to bring out Skye Blue.

Melina's heel turn began at that point; she lambasted both Kylie and Skye for "not being there" yet, while calling Serena an outsider (Fun fact: Serena was supposed to be Melina's first post-WWE opponent back in 2011; here's hoping we finally get that match). A brawl broke out afterwards, with Melina directly targeting Kylie Rae, leading to this match, which main evented the June 29 episode. For Kylie, this was her first singles match for NWA, and her first televised one in over a year, while Melina competed as an NWA villainess for the first time in a year and a half. I've said for years that Melina is an amazing heel--I've even called her the "queen/GOAT of heels," and she proved it in this match.

Melina often played different facets of her heel persona throughout her career. In WWE, she portrayed an arrogantly ambitious character in her early years, and in her last months there, Melina's heel character also showed signs of being vicious and very sinister. In NWA, and especially in her main event televised match against Kylie, Melina acted as the evil and surly veteran, playing that persona perfectly while facing the up-and-coming Kylie Rae. We see Melina display a good amount of viciousness mixed in with the classic heel tactics--such as clawing at Kylie's eyes--and in addition, Melina gave very killer expressions to further establish herself as a maniacal villainess who was out to flat out destroy Kylie. Despite Melina's efforts to humble Kylie, it was Kylie who ended up victorious--one of the biggest wins of her career, and the biggest one since returning to wrestling.

This was an excellent match, which doesn't surprise me. Melina is a living legend for a reason, and Kylie Rae is always amazing to watch in the ring; I am so happy that Kylie's back in action, and I hope for a lot of good things for her--not just in the ring, but out of it as well. I've been a diehard Melina fan for 16 years, and while she's excellent as both a face and a heel, it's her evil side that I just adore more. While I was elated to see Melina's heel persona back in action, I wasn't expecting it. One of my favorite moments from a recent edition of NWA Powerrr saw Melina confront Kamille during her title coronation, only to be physically interrupted by Jennacide. When that happened, I thought it would be Melina as a face feuding with an evil Jennacide--who would serve as an ally for Kamille, but so far, that isn't the case.

Also, is Melina's heel turn permanent, or was it just for that epic match against Kylie? Time will tell, but again, Melina and Kylie showed out in the main event, it was an amazing win for Kylie, and it was a win for all of us who witnessed Melina's amazing role as the villainess in their match.

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