Mission Pro Wrestling: Bangerz Only 

 

April 2, 2022 

 

We’re in Dallas, Texas at Fair Park. Hosts are Sam Laterna, Veda Scott and Denise Salcedo. MPW is a Texas based promotion. Most of the local Texas promotions haven’t really been involved in the iPPV stuff. It’s nice one of them made the cut. They use Holidead and Thunder Rosa a lot so they feature in the top matches. It’s an all-women’s promotion, which is great because there seems to be a void. No SHIMMER or Stardom at this weekend.  

 

Shazza McKenzie vs. Janai Kai 

Comms struggle with the name “Shazza”. It’s not like she’s new here. It’s a bit sad that Janai is a “kick expert” and Shazza has better kicks. I don’t really understand that kick gimmick. It’s probably the worst part of Janai’s game. The transitions in this are horrible. My annoyance is triggered once again when I get 10 minutes in and realise I’d not even ordered this, so I have to pay $13.  

Unexpected income for the lads at MCW though. I bet they’re loving it. Janai finishes with a kick thingy to the shoulder. Pretty sure that was supposed to be the head. *¾ 

 

Can I legally take action against MCW as that wasn’t a banger?  

 

JP Harlow vs. Allie Katch 

It’s a little strange this is a women’s show and Harlow, who is definitely a man, is working it. Or maybe it isn’t strictly a women’s show but everyone else on the show is female. Allie has had four matches this weekend. The two with strong storylines were significantly better. The storyline here is that Ayla Fox is Harlow’s manager so assists JP where she can. It’s not great heel manager work to be quite honest. Harlow manages to hold this together though and it’s a decent showing for him. Ayla causes him to lose by jumping on the apron and Harlow eats a piledriver. ** 

 

0/2 on the Bangerz count.  

 

Jody Threat vs. La Rosa Negra 

There’s a step up here with the technique being solid and they keep in contact with each other on the mat.  

The style of the mat work is more up my street although the stand-up aspects are still on the languid side compared to the mat work. La Rosa Negra is to blame for this. She keeps doing things that should be cool and not following through. Like an airplane spin and she just drops Jody, but the next spot is her jacking her back up on her shoulders and dropping her into the buckles. Why not just do that instead? Why drop her in between? For what they lack in creativity on the big spots they make amends with aggression and effort. I do hate the finish though. La Rosa Negra lands a frogsplash, which looks great but she bounces off and Jody cradles her for the pin. That’s not a good finish. I really enjoyed the match though. Banger! ***¼ 

 

Bionic Kingdom vs. Bougie Reality 

BK is Jennacide and her younger partner KiLynn King. They have a Roadwarriors deal. Bougie are Rache Chanel and her younger partner Madi Wrenkowski.  

They have a different aesthetic. Bougie Reality feels like a WWE gimmick, or maybe TNA. They do lean into it and I’m not complaining but if you come in this heavily gimmicked it has to translate into the work. Bionic Kingdom, supposed badasses, get incapacitated to the level where Bougie Reality can mockingly fix their hair with product. Considering the base of this match is comedy heels vs. Powerhouse babyfaces it’s so fucking long. Madi finishes with some weird scissor kick after the Doomsday Device was broken up. This was straight up bad. * 

 

Masha Slamovich vs. Lindsay Snow 

They had a falling out over the weekend so there is fresh fire, and they start hot. I like that in spite of fucking up a powerbomb into the apron Masha doesn’t let that effect her and she just runs Lindsay into the apron upside down instead.  

Both women have strong looks and Snow is covered in tattoos. The standard in this match is high and Masha is good in particular. Snow finishes with the Musclebuster but this could have gone either way. A war! The match was short but suitably violent that it felt like an organic finish. *** 

 

The Hex & Laynie Luck vs. The Renegade Twins & Jazmin Allure 

I’ve never seen the Renegade Twins or Allure, who all debuted during the pandemic. The Hex are veteran duo Marti Belle and Allysin Kay. Jazmin plays the chickenshit heel, backed up by a hench tag team of badasses.  

There’s a lot of this sort of thing. The ring being cut off. The lack of experience is telling. They try a triple team, and it looks confused. Laynie shows good fire during the babyface comeback and she chucks Jazmin around for laughs. They have a tower of doom spot that falls apart and I think it’s the finish because Jazmin rolls Laynie up right afterwards for the pin. This was very hit and miss. Jazmin and the Renegade Twins were an entertaining unit and I’ve seen Laynie twice this weekend and enjoyed her both times. They perhaps overreached on the finish, and at various other times during the match, and sometimes less is more and I enjoyed their heat segment. **¾ 

 

Trish Adora vs. Thunder Rosa 

Thunder Rosa is the AEW champion, but her roots are in Texas.  

She is very over. They have some cool ideas here, mainly involving mat-based counters. Thunder Rosa is great at transitioning from one hold to another. Trish shows good fire but makes questionable decisions. She doesn’t go after Thunder Rosa’s arm, despite Rosa selling it and at one point hits a crossbody right into a pin, gets off the pin to scream, and then goes to the pin. Thunder Rosa’s mobility and movement are next level, compared to just about everyone else on this show. The finish is bizarre with the referee mistaking a submission for a pinfall and counting a two count with no shoulders down. Trish taps out to make it obvious. “Both shoulders were down” bullshits commentary. No, they fucking weren’t. Don’t tell me something that’s a blatant lie. A shame because the match was decent and, as I mentioned before, Thunder Rosa is a stand-out. ***¼ 

 

MPW Championship 

Holidead (c) vs. LuFisto 

The last time I did a Mania weekender Mission Pro Wrestling didn’t even exist. Therefore their title history is relatively short. Holidead is only the third champion. Holidead’s ring attire is excellent.  

Look at that sucker! I imagine she gets pretty warm wearing it but hey, that’s the price you pay for fashion. Bringing LuFisto in for Mania weekend makes sense. She’s one of the bigger unsigned names and she’s a solid hand. They have her playing heel to make sure she doesn’t overwhelm the champ. I think I’d have let them just go all out instead and try to steal the show. When they do go head-to-head, it’s good shit. Big, heavyweight high spots. They up the ante by having this no DQ. The rest of the show has played by the rules, so it allows them to go slightly higher in terms of the madness. Some of it is generic but the spot where Holidead has her head trapped in a chair and LuFisto chair shots it? Fantastic. They have a bit of an awkward moment involving a chair just before the finish but Holidead powers through it and retains. I really enjoyed this. Two big powerhouse wrestlers chucking themselves at plunder. ***½ 

 

The 411: 

Bangerz Only? Not quite. However, there was some really good work on this show. A couple of the good matches had bad finishes, which is unfortunate and hurt the overall rating a little bit. I’d say 5/8 matches landed though and I can’t complain about that hit rate. It’s a concern that this is the only women’s show this weekend and hopefully, when our post-Covid world is a bit clearer, things will improve for next year. It was a good showcase though and the women’s Indies are improving after WWE effectively plundered the whole scene in 2018-2019.