MurKnox: What’s Next for the 2023 Crockett Cup Winners?
It’s been a long road for Mike Knox and Trevor Murdoch.
Less than two years ago, as NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion, Murdoch weathered a series of vicious attacks from Knox. Though the massive, 6’10” challenger posed a serious and ongoing threat, Murdoch survived. Barely!
While it seemed they might forever be enemies, time can change many things. And certainly nobody could have predicted what was to come.
On Night 2 of NWA 75, Trevor Murdoch and Mike Knox — winners of the 2023 Crockett Cup — face the winners of Night 1’s tag title match between NWA World Tag Team Champions La Rebelión and Blunt Force Trauma.
Eventually Knox and Murdoch were united quite ironically by the very man who once pitted them against one another. Early this year, chastising from former World’s Champion Matt Cardona, now newly returned to the National Wrestling Alliance, pushed Knox too far.
In the midst of an assault, Murdoch came to his former foe’s aid. Soon the pair became a dominant force in the NWA tag division. On June 4, the former bitter rivals celebrated one of the biggest nights of their respective careers…together.
In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Knox & Murdoch became only the sixth team in history to win the coveted Crockett Cup. To do so, they overcame the odds, defeating Aron Stevens’ Blunt Force Trauma in a grueling tournament finals.
“All my career, everywhere I’ve gone, people have been taking things away from me,” declares a fiery Knox.
“I’ve been disrespected and under-valued. I’ve been promised things they didn’t deliver,” continued Knox, whose career as a journeyman professional wrestler led him across the pro wrestling world before landing in the NWA two years ago.
“It got to the point where I started to question whether maybe they were right — but not any more. Nobody can ever take this away!” he stated emphatically. “Murdoch and I won the damn Crockett Cup, and our names will be on that trophy forever!”
Murdoch is characteristically a bit more quiet, more stoic than his often loud and brash partner. The multi-time champ has openly stated the victory was a dream come true.
“We’re right there next to The Road Warriors, Dusty and Nikita and Sting and Luger,” Murdoch says. “You can’t get any better than that!”
With such a colossal achievement under their belts, speculation is rampant of what’s next for Crockett Cup winners Knox and Murdoch. Many assumed a a shot at the NWA World Tag Team Titles looms in their future. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated than that.
The NWA tag division is currently in tremendous upheaval. World champs La Rebelión appear to be on something of a losing streak of late. And, while the Crockett Cup makes a strong argument for the pair to be No. 1 contenders, others could be in line for the titles first.
“Personally, I feel Knox and Murdoch are the logical next challengers,” admits NWA Vice-President of Talent Relations Pat Kenney. “Blunt Force Trauma eliminated the champs from the Crockett Cup, and Knox and Murdoch went on to beat BFT,” he said, "To me, that makes them the No. 1 contenders.”
Kenney notes, however, he is not the one to make such determinations. An announcements from NWA President William Patrick Corgan, though, indicates he shares Kenney’s sentiments about Knox and Murdoch — mostly.
Corgan cleared up questions around the tag titles as pertains to NWA 75, the National Wrestling Alliance’s two-day Aug. 26-27 anniversary extravaganza in St. Louis. There La Rebelion will defend against BFT on Night 1. The winners of that match face Knox and Murdoch for the straps the following evening.
“I have a pretty strong track record in St. Louis,” points out Murdoch, who unseated Nick Aldis to become NWA World’s champion at NWA 73 in the city. “Knox and I are going to make history again on Aug. 27.”
“Damn right we are,” confirms Knox. “At NWA 75, Murdoch & I are taking this team all the way to the World Tag Team Titles. It’ll be a career-defining moment for me — and one more thing nobody can ever take away!”