Your next NWA World Heavyweight Champion could be Rhino.
The former ECW World Heavyweight Champion has certainly been making his rounds in the wrestling world after he announced his free agency from TNA Wrestling. His next stop: NWA.
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion had a hard fought battle against Carson Drake at Hard Times V. Thom Latimer successfully retained his belt and was celebrating his championship win. Then, the lights went out.
After a few minutes, the lights turned back on to Rhino in position for the gore. He took out two lackeys and signaled that he was coming for Latimer's world title next. A match between Latimer and Rhino was made official for the annual Crockett Cup pay-per-view on May 17th.
If Rhino wins the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship then it would be his second reign as the 49-year-old won the belt at Bound For Glory 2005.
Rhino beat Jeff Jarrett with Tito Ortiz as the special guest referee. However, Rhino would drop the belt two days later back to Jarrett. This being early TNA, the match had the usual shenanigans that resulted in Rhino dropping the belt.
It’ll be the 15th title defense for Latimer as he's successfully retained it against big names such as EC3, Bishop Dyer (aka Baron Corbin), Aron Stevens, Bryan Idol, and Race Allen. Latimer is currently going strong at 205 days and counting. The 2025 Crockett Cup is really shaping up to be something big as former WWE Women’s Champion Natalya will be in action on May 17th as well.
Thus far, only the Worlds Heavyweight title match has been made official. The show will also host their popular one night tag team tournament known as the Crockett Cup. The winning team will get a shot at NWA World Tag Team titles in the future. The teams for the single elimination tournament have yet to be confirmed.