SHIMMER Women Athletes – Volume 24 – 2nd May 2009

The SHIMMER roster has now grown so large that we have as many as EIGHT workers – including SHIMMER veterans like Allison Danger, Ariel and The Experience, plus rising stars like Portia Perez and Jennifer Blake – who couldn’t get a spot on the excellent V23 show taped earlier this same day. They all return to competition for the second show of the weekend, and it’s another strong line-up. The main event is jam-packed with talent as Sara Del Rey and Amazing Kong look to hunt the SHIMMER Champion MsChif down in tag team action. We have a couple of big rematches lined up; an immediate rematch to the excellent Haze/Matthews time limit draw at V23, before Wesna Busic and LuFisto revisiting their strong style stiff-fest from V22. The undercard highlights include the big grudge showdown between Portia Perez and Allison Danger, Madison Eagles testing her skills against Mercedes Martinez and young Australian stars Kellie Skater and Jessie McKay locking horns. Dave Prazak and Portia Perez are in Berwyn, IL.

The Experience gripe about getting thrown in the ring with more ‘rookies’.

Kellie Skater vs Jessie McKay
These two extremely talented young Australians don’t have heaps of experience, but have already made quite an impression on SHIMMER audiences. Skater debuted at V23 and showed plenty of personality despite getting a pasting by LuFisto, whilst Jessie impressed during the V21/22 tapings when teaming with Madison Eagles (producing two performances almost unbelievably sound performances considering her lack of experience). Which rising Aussie star gets the bragging rights?

The bell rings and immediately they start sprinting through some initial spots. The speed and fluidity of them prompts Portia to describe it as ‘Australian Lucha Libre’ which is quite the compliment. Skater wheelbarrows McKay into a top rope guillotine to land an advantage, which she backs up with a fisherman suplex for 2. Jessie hits back with an Edge-O-Matic…but has sustained real damage to her back and can’t capitalise. It doesn’t stop her tumbling out of the corner into a satellite headscissors though! She follows it with a massive mafia kick (the School Girl Crush) for 2! Boyfriend Stealer blocked…and the Rate Tank snatches a cheap win with a handful of tights at 04:40

Rating - ** - It really is nuts to think that these two don’t even have five years of wrestling experience between them. They aren’t the biggest but they can really go. McKay seems a little generic and uninspired with her look and gimmick…but the way she moves and hits her spots in such an effortless manner is so impressive. Skater doesn’t have a typical look, but again, she has a precision to her work which belies her lack of experience. It was obvious even here that both women had potential.

Amber Gertner catches up with Serena Deeb after the disappointment of losing her SHIMMER Championship match at the last show. Deeb wants a rematch…

The Experience vs Tenille/Rayna Von Tosh
Since they joined forces Fyfe and Hosaka’s role on the SHIMMER roster has been to toughen up the youngsters in these undercard tag matches. Their record in them is formidable, and many an athlete has found themselves on the wrong side of an Experience defeat at some point over the past 23 shows. Tonight they have two raw youngsters in their sights, and will also be looking to vent some frustration at not being booked for Volume 23. Tenille is a Lance Storm Academy student and another Aussie girl who has gained experience in Madison’s PWWA promotion, whilst Rayna is debuting here and is heralded as the first graduate of Daizee Haze’s ‘SHIMMER classes’ at the ROH Dojo. Will having two such high profile mentors help, or only motivate The Experience to rip them apart?

Hosaka vehemently dislikes Rayna’s look and urges her to relocate to the street corner outside. RVT takes a pass at working Malia’s arm but the veteran completely ignores it and marches her into the Experience corner to be taken to school. She survives Fyfe’s attempts to rough her up though, and leaves with her dignity intact bringing Tenille back in. The Australian does even better; quickening the pace and driving both veterans to the floor as we reach five minutes. Hosaka slingshots Rayna into a Lexie bearhug to regain control. The Experience rattle through all of their veteran tricks as they wear Von Tosh down, with Malia being particularly aggressive to the poor rookie. RVT gets knees up to block a Warrior Splash from her however, opening a precious window to make the hot tag to Tenille. The rookies start majorly flubbing their lines and make a hash of a basic double Irish whip spot. It looks terrible but leads to my favourite moment of the match as Malia mercy kills the sequence by KNOCKING THE SH*T out of Emma with a pounce! Rayne eats the Double Gourdbuster, handing The Experience another dominant win over some youngsters at 10:45

Rating - ** - This type of match is what The Experience are best at. Any time Prazak has tried to elevate them into something more substantial I’ve not really enjoyed their work, but they are an undeniably fun team when you watch them playing the tough, merciless veterans to the younger women passing through SHIMMER. Hosaka in particular was taking no prisoners tonight – and every exchange she had with Rayna was laced with disdain. In fact, she was so hateful that the ‘smart’ crowd genuinely started routing for the rookie in her first SHIMMER match out of wrestling school. By Volume 24 I can’t pretend this is fresh or worth going out of your way to see. It wasn’t even the best Experience tag match as their opponents were SO green…but I definitely didn’t hate it.

The Canadian NINJAs are hanging out backstage – both eyeing up victories over big SHIMMER names this evening. Matthews is confident that she’ll beat Daizee Haze now there won’t be a time limit to stop them, whilst Portia (brandishing a toy baseball bat for most of the promo) urges Allison Danger to ‘think about [her] baby’ and back out of their No DQ showdown.

Amber O’Neal vs Jennifer Blake
It seemed an odd decision to pull Blake from V23, as she’d really started hitting her stride. Her involvement in the Danger/Portia feud certainly helped elevate her status, and she backed it up with an outstanding performance in a tough loss to Cheerleader Melissa at V22. She returns for the second taping and has her mind set on scoring a victory over another SHIMMER original…

Amber tries to jump Girl Dynamite before the bell…and then hilariously tries to run away when Blake starts kicking her ass. O’Neal is a smart competitor however and within a couple of minutes has exploited a number of lenient refereeing decisions to take control. We see plenty of hair pulls, eye pokes, back rakes and chokes as she keeps Blake completely grounded and unable to use her explosive speed. Jennifer spends more than five minutes on the defensive, before finally rattling off some big strikes as she fights her way back from the mat. O’Neal shuts her down again with the STO for 2! Amber’s ring gear is falling apart…which presumably distracts her as she comically misses an attempted dive from the second rope. Blake capitalises with a superkick for the win at 08:45

Rating - * - I really like both of these athletes, but this match did absolutely nothing for me. It was slow, it never got exciting and whenever they did try to crank up the pace they got really sloppy. The idea that Amber would cheat and bend the rules to keep a high-flier like Blake on the deck was a good one…but it was quite tedious to sit through, and was made to look very redundant when Blake won after hitting a single move. In the end all this match will really be remembered for is Amber’s shirt ripping and that silly comedy dive screw-up finish.

Sara Del Rey rants about being without the SHIMMER Championship for a whole year. Her tag partner for the evening, Amazing Kong, stands silently next to her – but visibly disagrees when Sara states that she is getting the belt back. They agree that EVERYONE is in the hunt for MsChif’s belt…

Madison Eagles vs Mercedes Martinez
Nobody has disputed how talented Madison Eagles is. But coming into this match she is still searching for her first SHIMMER victory. Having impressed everyone with her performance in a losing effort against former champion Sara Del Rey earlier, she now has another main event talent standing before her. Mercedes is one of the few women on the roster to possess a pinfall victory over the Death Rey, so is obviously another huge test for the promising Australian known as ‘The Punisher’.

Martinez instantly takes Eagles to ground where her height won’t be such an issue. The Latina Sensation soon finds, just as Sara did at V23, that Eagles is a hell of a mat technician too and has no problem trading holds on the canvas. She floats between camel clutches and cross armbreakers with such ease that Mercedes has little choice but to try something different. She temporarily incapacitates The Punisher with elbows and kicks…only to find that Madison can throw kicks and chops too. BIG BOOT knocks Martinez from the apron to the floor! Mercedes is reeling but thinks fast and dodges an attempted cannonball senton – leaving Madison to land hard on the guardrails. Back inside the ring we see both women start to show signs of fatigue. Eagles’ chest is heavily bruised as a result of Mercedes’ chops and as she tries to grab hold of her to prevent more strikes Martinez counters her into the Three Amigos (ending in a release German suplex) for 2! Bull Run countered with a DDT! Hell Bound COUNTERED TO THE BULL RUN! Martinez wins at 11:06

Rating - *** - Eagles is fast becoming a can’t-miss talent, and after her two performances today I cannot wait to see her let loose in a fully-fledged main event situation. Yet again her showing here was masterfully judged and pitched (ably assisted by the selfless Mercedes Martinez). The story was simple and effective; Mercedes wanted to assert her dominance as a top dog in the promotion, but at every turn found Madison more than a match for her. She tried to ground her but couldn’t, then tried to engage her in a strike war but found Eagles can handle herself there too (leading to her getting booted clean out of the ring). It degenerated into a real hard-hitting war, and a race to see who could hit their big finish first. Martinez did so and escaped with her hand raised, consigning Eagles to her fourth consecutive SHIMMER loss. Despite that she has proven she is going to be a top player for SHIMMER in Volumes to come. She doesn’t compete at tomorrow’s taping for some reason…

Mercedes grabs the microphone and puts Eagles over HARD – calling her a future SHIMMER champ.

International Home Wrecking Crew vs Pretty Bitchin’
This would be the SHIMMER debut of Pretty Bitchin’ – the team of good friends Nikki Roxx and Ariel. Between them they’ve had plenty of encounters with the Home Wreckers in prior Volumes (especially Nikki) so will relish the opportunity to make their first impact as a team at their expense. For Rain and Jetta, who feel wronged after having the decision to crown them Tag Champions at V23 reversed, this is a chance to put themselves straight back into the championship picture. They also now boast Lacey legally in their corner since she has a managerial license...

Ariel and Roxx rip the swine flu masks off of the faces of both Home Wreckers to get the match started. They quickly isolate Jetta…so Lacey trips Ariel from behind to even things up. IHWC target the arm of the Portuguese Princess and actually do a hell of a number on that body part. There actually isn’t a whole lot of action and the match is very static…but truthfully it never feels dull simply because the personalities of Jetta, Rain and Lacey making everything entirely watchable. The hot tag comes completely out of nowhere (seriously, so out of nowhere it’s almost like it wasn’t planned at all), bringing Roxx in to lead a comeback charge. Nikki almost immediately tags Ariel back in too, despite her having had no time to recover. We get another heat sequence/hot tag spot giving Roxx another big comeback…only for Lacey to distract the referee when it looks like she has the match won after TANDEM STUNNERS by both members of Pretty Bitchin’. Dariel COUNTERED to Jetta’s stranglehold neckbreaker (by grabbing the bad arm, nice work!)…and Jetta rolls it right into a stranglehold camel clutch as well. Ariel submits at 12:03

Rating - ** - A tough match to rate in many ways. The Home Wreckers are a lot of fun to watch, with personalities so big you actually forget that they are all extremely proficient workers. They have been let down by the quality of performance from their opponents and the lay-outs of their matches on both shows today though. It was entertaining enough watching them working over Ariel’s arm…but when you take a step back you realise that in more than twelve minutes of ring-time these four accomplished so little. Sure Jetta and Rain looked ok, but we are talking about four talented girls here – the standard should have been higher. And what the hell was with that completely strange double hot tag sequence for Nikki? It is tough to tell whether it was intentional (in which case, what were they thinking) or a legitimate screw-up (in which case, how amateurish can you get?), but it KILLED the final quarter of the contest for me.

Cat Power vs Serena Deeb
Wrestling doesn’t get a whole lot more simple than this match – both women are desperate for a win. Power has impressed at times, and connected with the audience by embracing their feline jokes, but her record in SHIMMER competition is poor. Deeb delivered the best performance of her SHIMMER career at Volume 23, but came up desperately short in her attempt to take the title from MsChif. Now falling back into the ranks, she needs to amass wins if she wants another shot in the future…

A fan sneaks a ball of yarn into Serena’s hands…but Cat heels out on the audience by refusing to put it over and boots it straight into the crowd. Deeb starts well, frequently coming up with ways to negate the strength and size of her opponent. Over and over again she goes back to a side headlock – and Power just can’t shake her. She tries a diving monkey flip…only for Cat to catch her and throw her right into the top rope with ease! Evidently Power liked the approach of the Home Wreckers in the last match as she seems to be trying to work Serena’s arm. Deeb has plenty of counters for that approach too, and rounds off a resounding victory with the Spear at 08:24

Rating - * - This is one of the weakest SHIMMER undercards we’ve seen in a while. Eagles/Martinez was decent, but every other match has sorely lacked in substance and this was another example of that. I like the idea of putting Serena over strong to help her rebound from her title loss…but why send her out to meander along in a sleepy little match which ran almost ten minutes without ever feeling like it got out of first gear? The brilliance of her title match against MsChif was the urgency she displayed, and the conviction in the delivery of her character. Here she looked so sedate I could have popped a few tranquilisers and watch this match in a semi-conscious coma and still missed nothing. Power has to be heading for the SHIMMER exit (for now) after this – she was totally crushed.

Nicole Matthews vs Daizee Haze
This is an immediate rematch from their super first bout on the Volume 23 DVD. There they went to a gripping twenty minute draw, with Haze’s experience dominating the first portion of the match before Nicole opened up an injury to her ribs and almost scored an upset win. Daizee was happy to offer five more minutes at the last show but Matthews opted to walk out. Now she does face The Haze again, and this time there are no time limits to restrict them.

Matthews tries to leave the ring just like she did at the start of the last bout…but this time Haze gives chase. They sprint into the crowd and all over the Eagles Club in cartoon-like scenes before Haze eventually pursues Matthews back into the ring where she can use her wrestling skill to wear down the Canadian Ninja. Daizee has the confidence and skills to control the match when it comes down to an exchange of holds…but is fatigued after their first match and f*cks up two or three moves in succession when she tries to go up through the gears with some of her more elaborate lucha-inspired stuff. Such are the risks of taping so many shows in a single weekend I suppose. The crowd are nothing but supportive (I love SHIMMER) however, and Nicole sensibly assumes control by going after the back and ribs just like last time. NINJA KICK to the upper chest scores a nearfall! Daizee is really struggling…and Nicole takes advantage by countering a suplex into a violent snap of the ribs over the top rope. I’ve never seen that before! Haze kicks free of a tree of woe, into the Daizee Cutter leaving them both down! Repeated, ragged facecrushers by Haze; abandoning all sense of decorum and just trying to bludgeon her opponent into defeat. MISSILE DROPKICK NAILED! That’s the spot Nicole almost won with last time! And Daizee is too beaten up to cover right away so only gets a nearfall. BRIDGING GERMAN BY MATTHEWS! That’s something Haze hit her with last time! Both women are running on fumes now – gasping heavily for breath as they go through pinning combinations at an unbelievably rapid pace. HEART PUNCH! Nicole sinks to the ground to evade the Yakuza Kick and lands a BRAINBUSTER! FOR 2! YAKUZA KICK! Portia Perez leaves commentary and runs in to distract the ref and save her partner there! Vancouver Manoeuvre COUNTERED TO THE MIND TRIP! Haze wins at a seriously hard-fought 13:15

Rating - *** - In the context of the gruelling SHIMMER taping weekends this was a colossal effort from both women. Having gone the distance earlier in the day they were both really struggling in their second match of the taping. Daizee, in particular, looked totally shot and really should have reigned in some of her more ambitious spots as they just weren’t needed within the context of the story they were telling. What they did well here was build upon the themes they’d established in their previous encounter – and I loved when they started pulling out moves that their opponent had used successfully at V23. Ultimately SHIMMER market these shows as standalone events and make very little reference to their DVD’s being taped in such a concentrated period. That means that, to a certain extent, I need to judge this as a standalone match – so the sloppy execution (mostly from Haze) and the slightly shady finish means it wasn’t as good as Volume 23. It was a worthy successor though, and one for which both women deserve immense credit. Matthews really stepped up when Daizee was struggling here, and in the course of these last two matches has really showcased herself as a star of the future…

Portia hops into the ring and starts laying into Daizee, bringing Allison Danger out moments later. They are still in their street clothes, but there is no separating them now. Their grudge match is underway

Portia Perez vs Allison Danger – Street Fight
This feud is perhaps as intense, personal and adult as SHIMMER has ever gotten. Perez took offence to Danger not naming the Canadian NINJAs among the best Canadian talents to come through the promotion and the matter quickly escalated. Since then we’ve seen Perez try to attack Danger whilst she conducted an in-ring interview to tell the fans that she was pregnant…then at the last show Portia disrespected Allison’s (now born) daughter and wished she’d broken Danger’s neck. I don’t think it’s disrespectful or inaccurate to say that Allison isn’t in peak ring condition here – but she’s not here for a wrestling match. She’s here for a fight!

Portia blocks an early body slam (she can’t be body slammed!) and fishes under the ring to pull out a cookie (baking) tray with the word ‘KILL’ emblazoned upon it! A few shots with the cookie tray have Allison on her back where Perez can start choking her with a belt. They go outside the ring with the belt still wrapped around Danger’s throat…but somehow she manages to back drop Portia into the front row! Perez fishes under the ring for more weaponry – coming up with a hockey stick which she uses to hammer her rival in the back. HOCKEY STICK LEGSWEEP by Danger! Considering how soon this is after childbirth this is an amazing showing by Allison – who bravely dodges Portia in the corner and whacks her with the cookie sheet. LOVELACE CHOKER THROUGH AN OPEN CHAIR! DIVING BULLDOG INTO THE CHAIR by Perez! Both women down! Portia pulls out the yellow chain she used to score her first ever SHIMMER win which is a nice touch…but Danger dodges the ensuing punch and drops her again with an STO. Nicole Matthews runs in since everything is legal, and elbows Danger into a Portia superkick. Perez THROTTLES Allison – choking her to unconsciousness at 11:31

Rating - *** - This had no right to be anywhere near as good as it ended up being. Allison Danger is a truly incredible woman. To put this into perspective, this is the first weekend in May of 2009…and according to Wikipedia her daughter was born in February. How do you go from pregnant, to childbirth to working a f*cking Street Fight in basically two months? I cannot oversell how much I am amazed by and admire her performance here given the circumstances. She wasn’t in optimal ring condition and wasn’t moving as well as she usually would – but she held it together, maintained her composure and easily kept up with her rival. This wasn’t a groundbreaking or really memorable SHIMMER brawl (along the lines of the MsChif/Melissa matches from the early Volumes) but it was courageous and felt heated enough. Matthews appearing at the end was a little predictable, but I’d certainly like to see this feud go on longer than just this weekend.

Daizee Haze re-emerges to assist Danger – but the damage has already been done and Portia has violently choked her out.

Valerie Malone brings out the Ohio Girls for an in-ring interview as they aren’t wrestling on this Volume. It is revealed that the winners of the huge tag team main event gets a Tag Title shot at Volume 25. Lane points out they’ve been underdogs their entire SHIMMER career and have been fighting champions since winning the belts…so have no problems with whomever emerges victorious.

Wesna Busic vs LuFisto
These two contested a smash-mouth strong-style war at Volume 22, which LuFisto won by dropping Busic right on top of her head with the Burning Hammer. The bout earned rave reviews and fans wanted to see a rematch. Tonight they have it. Will the addition of Annie Social as her manager be the difference maker which earns Wesna retribution for that V22 loss?

MAFIA KICK BY BUSIC! NO SOLD! SPEAR BY LU! MOUNTED PUNCH DUEL! DIVING HEADSCISSORS OFF THE APRON! What an opening minute! Busic is still nailing Lu with kicks though and wisely traps her in a camel clutch to quell some of that early momentum. With the pace now reduced to a crawl Wesna is able to stalk the ring and pepper her opponent with an absolute barrage of strikes. NECK DROP GERMAN out of nowhere by Fisto! FACEWASH! The Croatian Panther shuts Lu down again with a swinging front slam then starts choking her in the ropes (with assistance from Annie S too). This is a straight-forward battle between Busic’s methodical power and LuFisto’s all action, frenetic style. Lu dives OVER THE REFEREE INTO AN ELBOW SUICIDA! Her reward for that is a grotesque Irish whip into the metal railing however. Burning Hammer blocked into the FISHERMAN DRIVER by Wesna for 2. Lu survives that to land a fisherman neckbreaker in response, but has now been sufficiently slowed down so that Busic can catch her climbing up the ropes. NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPERPLEX by Busic! REVERSE RANA BY LUFISTO! Annie Social trips her! CB4-DRIVER…LuFisto blocks it…so Wesna SITS ON HER HEAD! Busic wins at 12:51

Rating - **** - I actually liked this even more than Volume 22. They hit each other just as hard this time, but it felt like this one moved at a greater pace and actually packed in a little more plot too. The way they approached this was smart – with Busic ambushing LuFisto out of the gate then quickly realising she needed to work slowly and methodically to avoid the blitzkrieg tactics of her opponent. For her part LuFisto was constantly fighting, constantly trying to escape and perpetually looking to sprint, run or fly whenever possible. I’d read that many were disappointed by the botched CB4-Driver finish, but I actually thought it made for a very fitting conclusion to the match. Right to the very end LuFisto was trying to fight Busic and block her finishing move – meaning Wesna innovated something to finally snuff her out. Was it a botch - sure…but personally I thought the mis-step actually improved the finish. These two, working at full speed, stiffing the sh*t out of each other, is quite the spectacle. It stands head and shoulders above everything else on this volume in terms of quality.

MsChif/Cheerleader Melissa vs Sara Del Rey/Amazing Kong
This is a hell of a lot of talent to throw into a single SHIMMER main event. It had appeared to be the case that this one was all about the SHIMMER Championship. Kong feels she deserves another opportunity after her previous shot vs Sara at Volume 15 ended in controversy. Del Rey has been waiting more than a year for her rematch with MsChif for the belt she lost to her at V18. Even MsChif’s own partner Melissa would love a shot at the gold and after losing to Wesna earlier knows she needs a big win over a big name to propel her ahead of other contenders. The SHIMMER Tag Title contention has now made this even more interesting, as the winner here faces Ashley Lane and Nevaeh for the belts at the next show – and either combination here would presumably enter as red hot favourites against the young Ohio Girls.

MsChif and Melissa show their unity by wearing matching outfits and entering the ring together, whereas Del Rey and Kong come out separately. Sara starts by booting Melissa in the face then walking off to jaw with MsChif – much to the Cheerleader’s annoyance. MASSIVE kick to the face by Melissa! Prazak and Portia enjoy that so much they demand repeated replays of it. Sara is every bit as vicious in response with some really nasty kicks in the corner. Five minutes in and Del Rey has wrestled the whole match for her team, largely in some seriously fiery exchanges with Melissa. She concedes defeat and brings Kong in for the first time and she flings Melissa round with an effortless giant swing. Amazing K stretches the Cheerleader without mercy, with Sara popping up intermittently to deliver kicks to the head as well. The chemistry and unity between Kong and Death Rey looks to grow stronger by the minute as they extend Melissa’s isolation from the champion…and Sara is actually outdoing her massive tag partner with her violence and stiffness. After almost ten minutes of abuse Melissa finally ducks a crossbody from Del Rey and gets a hot tag…but of course it’s effectively 2-on-1 and the two heels swarm Chif instantly. Kong torture racks Ms and makes her KICK HER OWN HEAD! Shades of their V9 classic there! Del Rey slaps on a half crab and starts removing the heavy knee braces which MsChif relies upon to compete. She then trips Chif as she tries to line Kong up for a Panic Attack. PANIC ATTACK by the returning Melissa instead! Amazing K walks through both opponents with a double clothesline! She tries to jump off the top…but accidentally clocks her own partner! BIG SLAP BY MELISSA! CURB STOMP ON KONG! MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE F*CKING FACE! KONG NO SELLS! LARIATOOOOO! Implant Buster blocked…Amazing Bomb COUNTERED TO A RANA! MsChif and Sara tagged in! Royal Butterfly countered with a prawn hold, then a BODYSCISSORS/CURB STOMP COMBO! Gates Of Hell II on Sara…as Kong MURDERS Melissa against the ringpost! JACK-KNIFE POWERBOMB from Kong to MsChif! IMPLANT BUSTER SPLASH! Sara pins the SHIMMER Champ for the win at 21:44

Rating - **** - It is hard to explain quite why I enjoyed this match so much as it wasn’t awash with action and didn’t go overly deep with any kind of story-telling. What we had here was four elite, world class professional wrestlers quite simply beating the hell out of each other. Sara and Melissa had some of the stiffest exchanges we’ve ever seen in SHIMMER, Kong was back to looking like the main event beast we all love, even in defeat MsChif looked like an incredibly tough fighting champion…and Melissa was incredible in that, for someone who excels so much in the role of ultra-aggressive ass kicker in most of her matches, she also proved to be particularly impressive as the babyface in peril/whipping girl for Kong and Sara here. She got beaten senseless for ten straight minutes in one of the more violent heat segments you’ll see in American Joshi. Her toughness in surviving that meant her fearless comeback – slapping and Curb Stomping Kong – was probably the highlight of the whole match. It didn’t get particularly exciting until the last minute, but as a 20+ minute relentless demonstration of high quality, hard-hitting professional wrestling I really loved this. I could have done with them going even longer…

Kong and Del Rey keep putting the boots to MsChif after the bell, and the SHIMMER Title picture has become so crowded that even Wesna Busic shows up to join them in giving her a kicking. Ashley Lane and Nevaeh selflessly run in to attempt a save…but are swatted away by Kong and Sara like little blonde-haired flies. The three SHIMMER Champions are all rendered unconscious as the show ends!

Tape Rating - ** - I’ll concede that this isn't my favourite SHIMMER Volume. It is far from a total bust, but it is very top heavy – and up until the double main event the show was essentially two hours of decidedly average wrestling. The tag team main event and LuFisto/Wesna II are both excellent and deserve to be seen thankfully. Neither are psychologically rich or overly complicated – both across those two matches you get six tough women working their asses off and beating the hell out of each other to entertain the SHIMMER fans. It's hard not to respect and be entertained by the workrate of these women alone. Allison Danger also deserves a mention for how inspirational she is to get back into the ring so soon after the birth of her daughter in a gutsy little match with Portia Perez too. The undercard is a real slog though. Daizee Haze visibly and painfully hit the wall before our eyes in her rematch with Nicole Matthews (which never threatened to reach the standards they set at V23), the Home Wreckers vs Pretty Bitchin’ tag was a bit of a let down and there were a couple of stinkers too (Deeb/Power and O’Neal/Blake). I won’t rate this as highly as V23, and there isn’t anything ‘can’t miss’ about this Volume. But if you do find yourself with this DVD in your possession those two main events certainly mean you haven’t wasted your money.

Top 3 Matches
3) Mercedes Martinez vs Madison Eagles (***)
2) Wesna Busic vs LuFisto (****)
1) Sara Del Rey/Amazing Kong vs MsChif/Cheerleader Melissa (****)

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