Most Valuable Elitist #185

Rising Star of the Week

Felix Hartley

To introduce this Pain for Pride edition of Most Valuable Elitist, we gotta commend our new New Breed Champion, Felix Hartley on attaining the championship from SOSA Henderson. For those, who bet against this women, they should be regretting it. But, I was happy to see a bunch of the female empowerment going into this event, but that will be mentioned a bit later. Felix is someone, who has really made her impact in the company in such a short period of time. Whatever brand she gets traded too has a star in their hands. I’m excited to see Felix defend this championship as much as she can. I’m looking forward to see her prove people wrong. I was one of those doubters a while back, but I figured that it’s always bad to bet against Felix. Congratulations, Felix!

Beef of the Week

Ms. Extreme vs. Mark Michaels

I had to think long and hard about this one. I thought a bunch of the main event matches had fantastic back in fourths. I thought the matches such as the Interwire and PURE Championships rose to the occasions and got people to pay attention to them. Drake vs. Terry was one I was so close to put on this list, but I was gravitated to putting the PURE Championship competitors as the Beef of the Week. If Ms. Extreme was going down, she wasn’t going down without a fight. If she wasn’t going to walk out with there title, she was going to make sure that Mark earned it. I felt like that message got across and Mark managed to shock the world by dethroning the history making champion. We knew that day was coming. Not sure if there was anyone that was expecting for Mark to be that contender, but it’s going to be interesting to see how these two move forward from their match at Pain for Pride. I see these two going on their separate paths and putting an end to their rivalry. 

Show of the Week

Pain for Pride XII

These three days of Pain for Pride were amazing. I don’t even know where to begin with this show, but it was an emotional rollercoaster throughout these three days. We saw victory, loss, triumph, heartbreak. We were able to witness some victories that are a few years overdue with the likes of Mark Michaels and Terry Chambers. We saw legends such as Mr. DEDEDE and Impact reclaim their spot on the top of the throne. We saw twist and turns such as Serena Bennett tapping out Sienna Jade and calling herself the first-ever Universal Women’s Champion. Afterwards, we saw Kassidy Heart cash in her Iconic Cup and take the Universal Women’s Championship for herself. We saw Mr. DEDEDE being murdered by The Equalizer only to steal the victory and Answers World Championship in the end. We saw Andrea Valentine conquering the odds and retaining the Specialists Championship in a barbed wire steel cage match. For a woman like myself, it was amazing to see how much women dominated at Pain for Pride. It wasn’t an all women holding the World Championship thing, but that’s more than fine. It wasn’t so forced, but each accomplishment that the women earned last weekend felt natural and well-earned. We saw Raven Roberts become the first female to win Cash in the Vault. We saw Consuela Rose Ava become the first woman to win the 24/7 Battle Royal. We saw Heavenly Hell dominate their male counterparts and walk away with the Unified Tag Team Championships. We saw Felix Hartley dethrone SOSA Henderson and take the New Breed Championship for herself. With the demise on Empire, they still stole the show and the men better watch out because they’re only just getting started. 

Match of the Week

Theron Nikolas vs. Darkane vs. Jamie O’Hara vs. Mr. DEDEDE

The match of Pain for Pride and a contender for Match of the Year is the fatal-4-way match at Pain for Pride is our match of the week. You had to be there to witness this match live. I am still in awe about the twist, turns and heartbreaks that this match offered. If you were not left an emotional wreck after watching this match, then I don’t know what’s wrong with you. Each man in this match looked fantastic. Regardless of victory and defeat, you could not help, but feel invested one one of these guys and their respective stories. At the near end of the match, I felt gravitated towards Jamie’s story and climb back to the World Championship. It had you believing that there was going to be nothing that stopped him from winning the title. Darkane was down. Jamie was kneeing the holy hell out of Theron Nikolas. Mr. DEDEDE was down from being hit with The Equalizer…or that’s what we all thought. One of the bigger shocks of the night happened to be Mr. DEDEDE springing back to life and spearing Jamie and pinning Theron. I’m shocked, but I’m not shocked at the same time. I’m a sap for happy Pain for Pride endings, but this is not what happened here and I kinda like that. All four men looked amazing in this match and proved that they more than belonged in the main event of Pain for Pride. Congratulations, Mr. DEDEDE! 

Promoer of the Week

Everyone(ihyall)

I really hate giving awarding everyone with this award, but everyone poured their hearts and souls to their promos this week. Everyone put in the work regardless of the result that was given to them. I enjoyed people putting in the effort and going hard in their promos. I loved the whole atmosphere that Pain for Pride always offers. Raven Roberts, The Visual Prophet and Charlie Marr were just three of the individuals in the Cash in the Vault Match that stood out to me. Jesse Barlow, Cepheus St. Claire and Miho Li were just of the few people that stood out in the 24/7 Battle Royal. From our mid card matches, I loved the war of words from Drake King and Terry Chambers. I love the aggressive and hard-hitting nature of Ms. Extreme and Mark Michaels. Our World Championship matches delivered everything that they could and it was enjoyable to see all these stores unfold throughout the week. I loved the back-and-fourth between Ahren Fournier and Kassidy Heart, which ended in death. We saw Kendra Shamez and Tyler Wolfe clash. It was great to see all of that build up come to life. We even saw Ryan Wilson quadruple post Shaker Jones at some point this week — which is insane in itself. Tag Team Division was amazing this week. I thought everyone in the match did fantastic. Not sure, who I am missing, but this was a team effort. This wasn’t possible without the writers. It wasn’t possible without all of you. Last time I checked it was over 250 promos. :wow: Still crazy to think about. Not sure how we’re going to surpass that next year, but I’m excited to see if we do.

Champion of the Week

Heavenly Hell

Congratulations to the new Unified Tag Team Champions! For one, I could not be prouder for these two women. These two went from hearing that their Empire Tag Team Championships were going to be nothing after Pain for Pride to busting their ass and getting themselves in the Winner Takes All Match at Pain for Pride. I knew these two would be capable of getting the job done. I hate showing bias, but like I said before — I love the female empowerment that we got in this event. I thought Constance Blevins and Minerva proved they could hang with anyone they are put in front of. At time, it seemed like things were unclear for them. This was a team that I didn’t expect of happening. Besides their similar appearance, I thought they were opposites in the ring. Yet, these two have worked so well with each other. Regardless of the result, I didn’t want to see these to breaking up. I feel like there’s so many directions to go with this alliance. There’s all the potential in the world. They’re different. They a breath of fresh air and I’ve always loved that about them. Whatever they are doing, it’s working. Wherever they go, they are going to be a victory for any brand.

Most Valuable Elitist

Raven Roberts

I was having a tough time with deciding who to put in this category. I was thinking either Impact or Mr. DEDEDE from gaining World Championships again. I was thinking about putting someone, who had got their first championship like Terry Chambers or Mark Michaels. I was thinking about putting Kassidy Heart, who not only successfully cashed in her Iconic Cup and became Universal Women’s Champion, but defeated Ahren Fournier the next night. I chose Raven Roberts because not only did she make history, but she accomplished the one thing that was probably haunting her for the last year. She was one of the final two of the Cash in the Vault a year earlier, but she righted that wrong by unhooking the briefcase and winning the entire match. No doubt that she was one of my favorites going into the match, but after facing a season of being screwed out of her title opportunities, she deserved this victory. She deserves this accomplishment. This is an example of hard working paying off. It gives people hope that their hard work will pay off eventually. I think there are some of us, who are going to anticipate the day that she cashes in the briefcase, but I don’t mind having to wait a while. I think this is something that is going to be amazing and she’ll be a good champion. I’m curious to see what happens next for her and where she ends up, but she will be another steal for any brand to get her.