Underrated As They Come
By Minerva Appleton
Alana Alvarez has been at this a long time. She was a 12 year Indy veteran coming out of the Seattle Wrestling academy when she finally got her break in 2024. It didn't start out very well, marginalized by a now-closed company in her first shot at the big leagues and only having 4 bookings in 5 months. The Victoria, British Columbia native admitted she wanted to retire right then and there.
"I never wanted my first mainstream company to be one where I left..." Alana admits. "It was the biggest letdown I could've ever imagined. My parents were calling me left and right telling me to go home and take a receptionist job (a high paying one albeit) because the wrestling 'wasn't going to work out'.
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Bianca Alana Alvarez was born on May 30, 1995 to one of the most affluent families in the Victoria, British Columbia area. She never cared for the high life but was raised in a 'very disciplinarian household'. Alana describes her parents as not really doing anything at all to try to connect with her emotionally and was a boarding school student throughout her upbringing which she would describe as "miserable". She never cared for the social norms of her affluent lifestyle and would often be ridiculued by her own parents for even being nice to the 'less fortunate'.
"I got my hair chopped off once just for giving a homeless guy $100..." Alana remembers. "I would get grounded for a week or two just for because I wanted to be friends with the public school kids. They were far more fun to be around than the boarding school kids. They were just snobby as hell and I hated all of it."
Alana would go to summer school during her high school years to graduate early. What her parents mistook as ambition was a ploy for her to get out of home as soon as possible.
"The one good thing about that stupid boarding school is that they had a wrestling team and my best friend turned boyfriend happened to be on the team. He wanted to be a wrestler on the professional level and while it wasn't something I was interested in, I supported him. He was the only kid in the boarding school that wasn't like the others."
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Tyson (Tye) Christenson was, by all accounts, a hell of a young man who wanted to do good for his community. He and Alana met at the age of 5 and began dating at the age of 14. Alana has mentioned that if he didn't have him, she would've never endured what she had to go through with her parents and probably would've attempted to run away from home earlier. Tragedy struck when he developed a heightened, severe case of leukemia. Alana was the only match they found for a bone marrow transplant. Ultimately, the transplant didn't take. Doctors said that the leukemia had advanced too far for the transplant to make a difference, but that didn't stop Alana from beating herself up over it.
"For years, I felt like my bone marrow killed him. I felt like I was responsible. So, when you have people like Allison Mayberry and Nicole Peyton Turner saying that I'm the cancer that killed him, that hits far too close to home."
Alana recounted how she was at bedside when he died and how that severely destroyed her. No more did she have the anchor that kept her at home but just before she said goodbye, she told him she was going to realize his dream of becoming a wrestler. Inspiring as it was, the community was grief striken by his death.
"My parents never let me go to the funeral or burial. Truth be told, I don't know where he's buried. They told me that his parents blamed me for his death and that they didn't want to talk to me again. I never reached out to them again."
In a shocking twist, I was able to get in touch with Tyson's parents.
"On no uncertain terms did we ever blame Bianca for Tyson's death nor did we ever inform her parents that we wanted nothing to do with her anymore..." his father released in a statement. "...she is welcome to reach out when she has a chance but we see her on television every week doing her thing and all we can think about is how our boy would be so proud of her."
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Alana would work gig jobs under the table for cash which she would save to purchase a student visa. At age 16, she got accepted into the University of Washington and also happened to come across the Seattle Wrestling Academy. Alana had no money to speak of but was able to get a free ride when of all people, Victoria Salinas volunteered to fund her training.
"I met her when PRW swung by for a PR event and I was signing stuff for her. When I heard her story, I felt like I HAD to help and I did."
Alana, along with Casey Holliday and Hayley Halsey, would become one of Victoria's three prized proteges. Of the three, Alana took the longest to go mainstream. Her wrestling abilities were never a doubt but being overlooked in general along with injuries at the most inopportune times (generally right when she was about to sign with a major company) stalled her progress. Alana didn't give up even when others told her she should just quit and move on.
Then came Festivus in Florida in 2023...
3.58 seconds...
An impromptu match against Dustin Mendoza where she defeated him and ended his career. It would be the last match Dustin would ever wrestle.
"I thought to myself that if that event was my only mainstream opportunity, then I would be happy because at least I made it even if it was only one time. But then WPW came along..."
Hayley Halsey being in the company helped her get her foot in the door. But otherwise, the New Orleans based promotion was a miserable experience for her.
"I went from being thrilled to being defeated after just one match..." Alana recalls. "I won my debut and it meant the world to me only to find out that the collor commentator decided to bury the whole thing by outwardly stating that they were watching YouTube videos and not my match. It was a clear insinuation that I was boring."
WPW appeared to feel that she was 'boring' after only being booked 4 times in 5 months.
"I was never going to let that be my only mainstream experience. I did what I had to do and suddenly, I was on the 5BW train. It hurt a LOT that I had to make the move that I did, but I didn't spend a dozen years in the Indies through all the injuries and frustrations just to be treated like I didn't matter."
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Fast froward to last fall...
Alana was being abused by Prodigal Inc.
Casey Holliday, her former friend, was telling her she'd never amount to anything.
And yet despite it all and feeling like she was defeated from her earlier WPW experience, she managed to win the Electric Honor Championship. It came with an asterisk with the champion Drake Hemingway being removed from a cluster equastion by his then-enemy in Ariel Madden. Alana was thrilled to have won her first mainstream champioonship. But even then? She still had to deal with some negative talk.
"Pretender..." Alana mentioned with a scoff. "Says the guy that quit and ran away months later because he couldn't beat Luciana for the world title."
Alana didn't let that bring her down. Why would she when her first defense was a win over Casey Holliday?
"It was my never look back moment. I knew that nothing that Prodigal Inc. had to say about me would ever matter. It was the win of my career. It was very personal considering how long Casey and I have known each other and how when we first knew each other, she was nothing close to how she is now."
"Do you ever want to be friends with her again?"
"That's hard..."
"Do you hold out any hope that she'll ever come around?"
"I do, but we're never going to have that same level of friendship again. I've become so numb to her hurtful shit anymore. You've seen how passionate I get on supercards when I'm bluntly telling people how I feel and how I don't hold back on anything."
Aside from her title reign, Alana's most notorious event in 5BW has been her friendship with Minka Valeria Carter. Alana describes Minka as one of the best things that has ever happened to her and described how she treats her and looks out for her.
"She doesn't allow me to be down in the dumps for even a second. She's helped me so much with realizing the realities of the business and how it can become such a roller coaster at times. I've lost count of how many times she's kept me on my feet when it seems like things are going to spiral."
"I don't care what anyone thinks, Alana is very precious to me..." Minka herself would add. "She's gone through so much in her life and in her career. She could've let one of the things that she's been through change her and lead her down a dark path but she has a tremendous heart and an even better spirit. She is, honestly, one of the strongest people in the company and in my view, probably the most underrated wrestler we have. She has everything it takes to take over the world. She's done so much for me to get me out of my own darkness and she's become my ride or die. Others might mock her for being emotional or for 'being a crybaby' or having 'sob stories' but it takes an incredibly strong person to wear her emotions on her sleeve like she does."
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"I just want to do good for people..."
Alana has embraced the fact that she has been able to be an inspiration for other people. She's currently in progress to obtain a masters from the University of Washington. Her goal is to be a pediactric social worker once she's done wrestling.
"I just want to help the kids so much..." Alana said as she became a bit visibly emotional. "...I don't care what background they came from, but no child should ever have to endure what I have endured. I know that right now, I'm helping them with what I do in the ring. If I touch one young child somewhere that wants to realize a dream and say 'if she can do it, I can do it too...' then it's the best feeling in the world."
For now, she's focused on what's in the ring.
"Do you feel like you're underrated?"
"I feel like I've only just started and I haven't come close to the best part of my career is yet to come. I'm going to put myself out there a lot more and I'm not going to shy away like I did for a while. I'm only starting to break out of my shell and whether people like it or not, I plan on being around for years to come."
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I made an attempt to reach out to Alana's parents for this story. They refused to be interviewed.
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