By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
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Midwest All-Star Wrestling “Women’s Invitational Tournament 2”
March 8, 2025 in Stillwater, Minnesota at Lift Bridge Brewery
I attended this event with my two boys. Stillwater is located on the Mississippi River, so it is the eastern border next to Wisconsin. This is a small brewery with just three rows on each side of the ring, plus a lot of standing room tickets. It’s a sold-out show and the crowd is 180-200. ODB had her food truck in the parking lot, and as I ducked outside at intermission, a worker said they had sold out of all food items but one, so it was a good night for her, too.
* This is a one-night, eight-woman tournament. The first-round matches were announced in advance, but not the entire bracket. I’m familiar with all eight women, but have only seen three of them wrestle live before.
1. Rachel Armstrong vs. Heather Monroe in a first-round match. Rachel is about 5’0″ even, and she is giving up a lot of height and overall size to Monroe. Rachel came out first and dove onto Heather, which startled the crowd, as I don’t think anyone was ready for the action to begin! The crowd cheered for Rachel, who hit a moonsault. Monroe hit a Bubba Bomb for the pin. Really fast-paced action. (I had this as an upset; I picked the rest of the first round correctly. I’ll add more later.)
Heather Monroe defeated Rachel Armstrong to advance at 6:55
2. Laynie Luck vs. Blair Onyx in a first-round match. Blair is the spider-loving creepy girl, a mix of Tatum Paxley and Bray Wyatt, with the way she bridges up to her feet and cranks her neck. Of course, she tied Laynie in a Tarantula in the ropes, and she went for a Sister Abigail swinging faceplant. Laynie tied her in a crossface, cranked back on the head, and Onyx tapped out.
Laynie Luck defeated Blair Onyx at 6:59.
3. Dulce Tormenta vs. Briar Hale in a first-round match. Tormenta is the masked Mexican star. Hale has a twin sister and I’ve seen them compete in Illinois-based Dreamwave Wrestling. She barked at the crowd and was the heel. Without looking up anyone’s statistics, I feel confident in saying she’s had the fewest matches of everyone on this show. Tormenta hit a Meteora running double knees in the corner for the pin.
Dulce Tormenta defeated Briar Hale at 6:47 to advance.
4. Shazza McKenzie vs. Shelly Benson in a first-round match. Benson is dressed, um, well, like a pink cowgirl stripper. Shazza did a ‘sexy dance,’ which was (intentionally) more funny than sexy, so Shelly showed her how to do a ‘real’ sexy dance. Shazza attacked and we’re underway! Some good back and forth action, with Shazza hitting her Splits Stunner for the pin.
Shazza McKenzie defeated Shelly Benson at 6:50 to advance.
5. Laynie Luck vs. Heather Monroe in a semifinal match. These two were teammates at the last show I attended in October. Laynie got on the mic and berated Monroe, saying she cost her a recent match. She ordered Heather to lie on the mat and get pinned. Heather was reluctant, and eventually refused. (A simple storyline yes, but my eight-year-old son was instantly pulled into this match and rooted hard for Heather.) These two really showed their familiarity with each other and had the match of the night. Shazza McKenzie suddenly appeared and tried to give brass knuckles to Laynie! The ref confiscated them. Heather immediately got a jackknife cover for the pin. I didn’t expect Heather to win the first match and she’s headed to the finals!
Heather Monroe defeated Laynie Luck at 13:00 even to advance.
6. Dulce Tormenta vs. Shazza McKenzie in a semifinal match. Good action; without knowing the brackets in advance, I thought this might have been the finals. Dulce went for the Meteora (nice callback to match 1), but Shazza avoided it and rolled her up. She put her feet out to put them on the ropes but she was too far away! She did have a handful of tights on that rollup so she still cheated to get the pin.
Shazza McKenzie defeated Dulce Tormenta at 8:57.
* Intermission. All the women sold a lot of glossy, autographed pictures.
* Deonna Purrazzo came to the ring and issued an open challenge to anyone in the back. Out of the back came Rachel Armstrong (my only incorrect pick in the first round! Okay, this makes sense!)
7. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Rachel Armstrong. Deonna has such a size advantage… seriously, Rachel might not even be 100 pounds. Rachel hit some high-flying moves, while Deonna tied her up on the mat. Deonna got a rollup to score the pin. These two worked well together.
Deonna Purrazzo defeated Rachel Armstrong at 6:52.
8. Shazza McKenzie vs. Heather Monroe in the tournament finals. Shazza did her best to cheat. Late in the match, Laynie Luck emerged from the back and she gave Shazza the brass knuckles (a nice callback to earlier). Shazza swung at Heather but accidentally hit Laynie! Heather again hit a Bubba Bomb and scored the pin. Gail Kim, who was announced as being on the show but hadn’t been seen yet, came to the ring to present Heather with the two-foot-tall trophy.
Heather Monroe defeated Shazza McKenzie at 12:41 to win the tournament.
Final Thoughts: The show started at 7:30 sharp and we wrapped up at about 9:30 sharp, including that 10ish minute intermission. While this was held at a brewery, it fit the bill as a family-friendly show… no lewd or crude chants, and the women were all treated like the stars they are.
Okay, back to my predictions… I presumed that Shazza and Laynie (two heels) would win in the first round, and there was no way they would bring in (babyface) Tormenta and have her lose in the first round. So, I presumed Rachel would win so we have two babyfaces and two heels in the second round. Heather really didn’t cheat in the first round, but she was presented as a heel here at the October show I attended, and Rachel is a plucky babyface. So, I like how they turned Heather into a babyface at the start of her second match of the night. I know this was recorded but I can’t say if or where it will be available for streaming. But you can check out the MAW Twitter Page.
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