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Hey folks! Welcome to my weekly review of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling’s Mayhem, airing on TSN2 in Canada and on MyAEW.com everywhere.
Mayhem felt a little messy this week, both in ways that I enjoyed and in some I didn’t. Let’s break it down!
EPISODE SEVEN OF MAYHEM
When the chaos feels organic or “real,” it can add so much life to a wrestling show.
For instance, when Steve Maclin attacked Psycho Mike during the latter’s entrance, it lent credibility to the story of Maclin being dangerous and devious. Mauro Ranallo and Don Callis did a great job putting over Maclin’s credentials and setting him up as a major player going forward.
Then in the middle of the match, PCO and Dan Maff suddenly entered the arena, their backstage brawl ongoing. Maff had been cutting a passionate, angry promo backstage when PCO attacked him from behind. When they appeared before the crowd, still punching the hell out of each other, it added a sense of chaos and danger to Mayhem and led to the finish with Maclin taking advantage of the distraction to defeat Psycho Mike.
I enjoyed the chaos in both instances. Good stuff.
On the other hand, a few of the messy spots on Mayhem left me scratching my head.
Four-way matches are often clunky, with wrestlers taking turns disappearing for a few minutes at a time to allow others to work in the ring. They often come across as contrived, not just in MLP but everywhere. This week’s Mayhem main event, while it had lots of great action, was no different.
MLP Canadian Women’s champ Gisele Shaw, Dani Luna, and the debuting Nikki Storm and Priscilla Kelly brought lots of fire to the match, but they were hamstrung by the format and having to fit a lot into a short match. The finish came when Kelly hit Shaw with a German suplex and a kick to the head while Storm distracted the ref. Storm then took Kelly out and got the three-count on Shaw. The interaction with the referee and Storm seemed awkward, and it led right into the pin, leaving me a little underwhelmed with the result. It was chaotic, but not particularly compelling.
(While we’re on the topic, why was Shaw in a match to determine who she would face at Northern Rising in the first place? Shouldn’t all the women be trying to face Shaw for her title? It didn’t make a lot of sense to me.)
The opening match, Shotzi Blackheart and PCO vs. Kris Chambers and Taylor Rising, also fell flat for me. It never really got out of first gear in my view. When PCO made a scary, head-first dive to the floor to take out Chambers, he also took himself out, leaving Shotzi in a one-on-two match against Chambers and Rising for too long. The finish, with Shotzi somehow winning despite the huge disadvantage, fell flat. Again, it was chaotic but not particularly compelling.
The rest of the show was solid. Rudra, the former Bhupinder Gujja, had a solid debut against D-Man Parker. The video package to introduce us to Judas Icarus and Travis Williams was interesting.
This was not my favourite episode of Mayhem to date, but I commend the promotion for keeping things interesting and injecting a bit of chaos into the show, even if some of it didn’t land well for me.
STRAY THOUGHTS
I had a hard time watching Dan Maff wipe out Shotzi Blackheart after her match. I know mixed-gender matches are a thing in pro wrestling, but they’ve never appealed to me. Watching a giant man like Maff dump Shotzi on her head was unsettling.
On the other hand, PCO interrupting Maff’s backstage promo was great and went against the grain for a typical “canned” backstage promo.
I don’t believe it was mentioned on commentary, but MLP’s on-screen graphics showed that Adam Copeland and Steve Maclin will be face-to-face next week on Mayhem. Maclin’s anti-Canadian tirade has apparently set the stage for Cope’s MLP debut. Given what’s going on in real life today, Maclin’s anti-Canadian promo may have hit some viewers a little harder than usual.
Thanks for reading! See you back here next week.
Eric Lewis is from New Brunswick, Canada. He’s been a pro wrestling fan for as long as he can remember, at least back to WrestleMania VII. During his journalism career, he was fortunate to interview wrestling legends including Bret Hart, Trish Stratus, Booker T, JJ Dillon, Christian Cage, Ted Dibiase, Lanny Poffo, and The Honky Tonk Man.
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