Wrestling Review // Black Girl Magik 6/26/21 @ Knights of Columbus, Ridgefield Park, NJ

https://twitter.com/ProUnapologetic 

Time can go by so fast when you're not expecting it.  Invictus Pro Wrestling "Empire Rising" ended and when I checked my phone it was 6:00pm.  In seemingly the blink of an eye when I next checked my phone it was already 6:40pm.   Quentin and I needed to make our way to the Knights of Columbus we're always at in Ridgefield Park, NJ because the doors were 6 and the show was at 7 but luckily these shows were only seven minutes apart.  If something like this happens again in the future (two shows, same day, different times but so close in location) there should be some kind of system like "Goodbye from Invictus and see you at Black Girl Magik!"

To me, professional wrestling can be many things.  In some ways, professional wrestling can be whatever you want it to be.  Do you want to watch a comedy show? Do you want to see someone nearly die?  There is a promotion that does either one of those things or sometimes both.  I'll never pass up an opportunity to see a card which showcases all women.  I will also go so far as to say that if your show is all men- if you don't have a single woman on your card- then I'm definitely not going to it.  So to have a card entirely made up of women, I'm there.  On top of that, this was a card of entirely black women and that was also something I appreciate because the likes of it hasn't been done before.

This will probably be the last time that I type this, but once I saw this show I knew I needed to go to it.  I had tickets for Invictus Pro already but then I figured out the time and location thing and immediately bought tickets for Black Girl Magik based solely on the only advertised match at the time: Jazz vs Trish Adora.  First off, Jazz is on her retirement tour.  So if you have the chance to see Jazz in person you should 100% do so before she retires.  But Jazz wasn't just versus anyone in the main event- she was going up against perhaps one of the all around best wrestlers in the world today, Trish Adora.

As the matches were announced for the show, one thing which struck me is that there are a number of names (I can think of at least five off of the top of my head) who weren't booked for this show but could have been.  And, to me, that just goes to show the depth of black women in professional wrestling right now and how if you're not booking one of these women or Holidead or Queen Aminata or Vanity then why are you even booking shows?

The energy in the Knights of Columbus was just electric on this night.  Quentin and I had previously seen nine wrestling matches but that didn't stop us from cheering, booing, clapping and chanting because I still love all of these wrestlers on this show.   This was a special night and because it was the first time something like this has happened (to my knowledge) it cannot be duplicated only recreated.  

Black Girl Magik kicked things off with Jordan Blade vs Janai Kai.  I always try to trace back when I first saw someone- what I remember them for most.  I first saw Janai Kai during Camp Leapfrog- I believe- and since then she's seemingly been on every show including Battle Club Pro and I just keep thinking that she should be booked everywhere.  Jordan Blade is also someone who you don't want to mess with.   This match was so great because between the feet, the hands and the technical side of throwing suplexes or using knees, this was like an MMA fight more than wrestling at times and these two ladies just beat the absolute hell out of each other.  When I say they went all out, I mean it felt like this was the main event.

Bonesaw Brooks had an Open Challenge next and I was not familiar with either of her opponents before I saw them here but it was nice seeing some fresh faces.   From Pro Wrestling Magic to Battle Club Pro to Camp Leapfrog, Bonesaw Brooks is making the rounds in what I want to call the "NJ Scene" but Camp Leapfrog isn't from NJ so I'm not sure exactly what to call all these promotions which are seemingly connected and I love them all.  After the first two matches, I will say it: I want to see Bonesaw Brooks vs Jordan Blade.  I also want to see Bonesaw Brooks vs Janai Kai.  

Following the first two matches I had to run to the bathroom.  I missed the entrances for both Luscious Latasha and Joseline Navarro but what I love about professional wrestling is that I was back to my seat in enough time to sit down, hear the music start up and chant "Bam! Bam! clap clap" as Karen Bam Bam made her entrance.   If you ever wanted to hear an entire crowd chant "Bam! Bam!" in unison, this was the show to go to.  And I was so happy that this crowd was into it this much as well because I didn't want to be chanting by myself.

Before the match even started, Karen Bam Bam pointed out that the one and only lovely Faye Jackson was sitting behind me- something I didn't realize up until then- and so all three women in this match and even the referee spent some time twerking before the match started.  I'm not sure exactly how it would work, but I would love for a situation to occur where Faye Jackson (who is retired) kind of passes her torch onto Karen Bam Bam.  I'm not sure anyone quite deserves it more.

This match was hard hitting and it was a lot of one-on-one but also when they had a two on one situation it just felt like one of them really was somehow in control, which made it that much more meaningful.   Highlights of the match included Luscious Latasha hitting a double 619 (only she hits them in their back not face), a cannonball by Karen Bam Bam and Joseline Navarro throwing Luscious Latasha into the corner right near us so hard that she seemingly bounced back and then hit the corner again.   I really want to see the replay on that one.  

After three matches we took a brief intermission and I will say what I've said before here just for the official record.  We first saw Karen Bam Bam come out and got to meet her.  While in the middle of talking with her, someone came over and said "Excuse me", I gave them the go ahead and it just turned into this person giving Karen Bam Bam a whole speech of "Keep doing what you're doing and you're going to be a star"   You can always interrupt me to compliment one of my favorite wrestlers.

There's an area when you come in the Knights of Columbus- near the single bathroom- where they generally take tickets, etc. and I saw Joseline Navarro walking around in there.  I motioned for her to come to me because I didn't want to yell across the building and she was nice enough to oblige.  I asked her for a photo and was telling her about how excited I was to finally see her live after constantly seeing her on IWTV and a different person from before came over and started talking to Joseline Navarro about how great she is and how much they love her.  I love that I feel like I kind of brought Joseline Navarro into the people and then they all started showering her with the praise she so rightfully deserves.

After intermission we went into S'trella vs Ariela Nyx.   In this match, S'trella was the clear heel and Ariel Nyx the clear face.  It was the first time of the night that someone won (S'trella) and the crowd booed.  Also, it's the little things for me that make a performance.  While coming out to the ring- to play the heel- S'trella went to slap the hand of a child who was front row but at the last minute pulled her hand away.   The child seemed visibly upset and, I mean, that's how you play the heel.

The main event was something special.  The main event might never be able to be duplicated.   I saw both Trish Adora and Willow Nightingale on Sunday at WWR+ and was talking to them about this show and their respective matches.  Either Monday or Tuesday- a very short time later- Brooke Valentine comes on Twitter and says she doesn't want to face Willow Nightingale, she wants to face Jazz.  Where does that leave Trish Adora? Where does that leave Willow Nightingale?

Willow Nightingale responds saying that she also wants to face Jazz so we end up with Willow & Brooke vs. Trish & Jazz.  I didn't know how to feel about the match but I will fast forward ahead to spoilers (skip to the next paragraph if you want to be surprised) and say that after the match Jazz got on the microphone and said she had recently suffered an injury so that's why she worked limited in the tag match because she'd rather do that than miss the show entirely.  And so if not for the tag match the show might have been without Jazz and that just made me appreciate everything a little bit more.

The match itself was a little bit different but something you also have to see for yourself to understand.  Fans were actually booing Willow Nightingale and she was playing a little bit of the heel in this match.   Knowing what we know now and with this being one of Jazz's last matches, I just feel like this was one of the most special moments of 2021.   If Faye Jackson could pass a torch to Karen Bam Bam, then just by this match alone Jazz could pass the torch to Trish Adora.   This was one of the single best matches I have ever had the privilege of seeing live.

To take my own moment here, I first saw Jazz in ECW when I was an impressionable teenager.  Jazz was my first introduction to seeing a woman fight a man and win because before that it had been a lot of Miss Elizabeth and the such.   Jazz was also one of the first women to really break a lot of race barriers in wrestling as well because for such a long time I felt like WWE not only was relying having just one black woman wrestler (in Jacqueline Moore) but also they were just full of blonde women who all looked very similar.  Jazz broke so many molds when I was a teenager and that has helped shape it so that Quentin, at age nine, could see an event like this with me.   I don't think words can ever truly express how much Jazz means to me, to all of wrestling, and after the match I was truly humbled to be able to meet her.

Thinking about this show, the general consensus seemed to be "I hope they do it again. I want the sequel"  If this somehow turned into a full wrestling promotion with regular shows, hell yeah I'd be at them all.   You could easily keep this same roster of incredibly talented wrestlers or change some out (If someone isn't available, someone else could be who wasn't on this first show) and the show would still be everything I want when I buy the ticket and make the drive.  Watch this show when it comes to IWTV- I was there but I'm still going to watch it back- and perhaps most importantly book these talented women, buy their merch, go to a show to see them, follow them on socials-- do whatever you can to support them all because they all deserve all the respect and love in the world.