SHIMMER Women Athletes – Volume 25 – 3rd May 2009
The tapings for Volumes 23 and 24 on the previous day were long and gruelling. V23 was an excellent show with several outstanding bouts, but by the evening a lot of the roster were feeling the strain and V24 didn’t pack the same energetic punch. We reconvene for V25/26 today, and according to Wikipedia only one match from both shows goes longer than fifteen minutes. That could mean we get a lot of tired wrestlers in undercooked matches, or it could mean the talented roster spends less time with filler and concentrates on producing two DVD’s of energetic, short and snappy encounters. The top four matches of V23 are certainly packed with intrigue. Wesna Busic is the next contender to challenge MsChif for SHIMMER’s top prize, whilst the Ohio Girls have the colossal task of defending their SHIMMER Tag Titles against the ‘dream team’ of Sara Del Rey and Amazing Kong. The champions ended the evening yesterday flat on their backs and it is clear we have the potential for two title switches this afternoon. Beneath those two, Serena Deeb and Mercedes Martinez lock horns in a duel to re-enter title contention…and we have a grudge tag team encounter as Allison Danger joins forces with Daizee Haze to face their mutual enemies, the Canadian NINJAs. When she isn’t competing, Portia Perez will be with Dave Prazak for commentary in Berwyn, IL.
Jetta vs Tenille
Young Tenille Tayla (as I’ve mentioned before, WWE’s Emma) is rather unfortunate to be considered probably the least impressive of the four Australian imports to SHIMMER thus far. Madison Eagles looks like a superstar, Jessie McKay and Kellie Skater have both impressed…whilst Tenille has delivered rather forgettable performances and went 0-2 yesterday in her first SHIMMER matches. She has a big match here to turn things around though, facing Jetta of the International Home Wrecking Crew. For unexplained reasons the entire IHWC are out here, with Rain and Jetta dressed in onesies. Lacey is a manager now so is fully licensed to remain at ringside for the action.
Lacey explains that Jetta and Rain have been napping, which is why they are dressed in pyjamas. Jetta’s arm looks pretty heavily bruised from yesterday’s action, so it is genuinely intriguing when Tenille starts the match by going after it. The Englishwoman wants a slow pace obviously, since it means she can ground her enthusiastic opponent and also have plenty of time to exchange verbal pleasantries with the crowd. Lacey gets involved by choking Tenille over the ropes too. Jetta’s offence is heavily reliant on chinlocks, which strategically makes sense but is pretty boring to watch. Tenille rallies with a rather lax dropkick and scores the win with an equally sloppy sunset flip at 06:56
Rating - * - So much for short, energetic matches. This was as sleepily low key as it gets. Jetta is an entertainer, but she keeps getting lost in the ‘gimmick’ of being one of the Home Wreckers and letting her wrestling suffer as a result. She is a much better worker than this match would suggest. I understand that Tenille/Emma is green and limited – but Jetta contributed just as little. She was so preoccupied acting out the gimmick and yelling at the crowd that she completely half-assed her actual ring work, which is such a shame.
Rain returns to ringside to join Jetta and Lacey in a beatdown on Tenille. The Minnesota Home Wreckers (Lacey & Rain) take her out with a double Tomikaze
EARLIER TODAY – Annie Social presides over a training session with her new clients Wesna Busic and Melanie Cruise. Busic is teaching Melanie to rough up jobbers it seems.
Kellie Skater vs Rachel Summerlyn vs Cat Power vs Ariel
The last time we saw Ariel in four corner action she was a spectacular underdog but somehow emerged victorious from a match which also included Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez and Amazing Kong. The situation is completely different now, as she is probably the favourite amidst a sea of (relatively) new faces to the SHIMMER circuit – all of whom need wins to cement their spots. Skater overcome Jessie McKay at V24 so has some momentum, and Rachel hasn’t made too many appearances at all just yet. Cat Power’s situation is the most precarious – with just one win of note to her name she is at risk of being dropped from the roster if she can’t pull something out.
Kellie is giving up a lot of size to all her opponents so it won’t surprise anyone that she is the first to step out. She leaves Ariel and Summerlyn to start. They come off like back yarders when trading a series of incredibly amateurish armdrags and body slams, and rightly get quite a few jeers from the crowd for how badly executed that segment was. Skater, despite her lack of experience, is the one who has to salvage things by tilta-whirling out of a Summerlyn sidewalk slam attempt to land an inverted DDT. Next she lucha runs up the turnbuckles, walks on the top rope then flies into AIR SKATER (a flying satellite headscissors) for 2 on Ariel. Dariel blocked by Cat…who then engages into a sloppy but rather violent exchange of elbows with Rachel instead. Summerlyn ends with a neckbreaker for 2. Kellie and Ariel brawl on the floor as inside the ring Power makes Rachel tap out to a Figure 4 at 07:00
Rating - * - Skater was awesome in this, but the other three were all over the place. She hasn’t been as dramatically superb as Madison, but in her own way Kellie has made an awesome impression in her three bottom-of-the-card matches so far. She isn’t being given the opportunity to steal the show, but she is polished, well-rehearsed and holding up her end of her respective matches with consummate ease. Much like Eagles after her first taping, I’d say it is immediately apparent that Skater has the potential to be more than a bottom dweller for this company. Summerlyn, in constrast, looked awful. Nothing looked well-executed and everything she did was so ragged that she wound up dragging both Ariel and Cat down with her.
Melanie Cruise vs Nikki Roxx
Cruise is another talent who hasn’t made too many appearances and can be classified as one of the ‘next generation’ of SHIMMER talents coming through. Unlike somebody like Rachel Summerlyn, she has some assistance on hand in the form of new manager Annie Social. Obviously Social sees big potential and plenty of dollar signs in Melanie, and she has tasked Wesna Busic with helping her train to improve as well. Will Social’s presence at ringside cause an issue for Nikki?
Social gets a surprising amount of heat considering this is only her third show and she’s barely done anything. Her client’s size proves problematic for Roxx to overcome for the first couple of minutes but finally Nikki is able to crank up the pace and floor her a couple of times. Annie squashes that swiftly by tripping her into a sidewalk slam from Cruise for 2. Despite training with Wesna, Melanie seems to want to wrestle more like an International Home Wrecker – with plenty of chokes, outside interference from her manager and posturing to the audience. The problem with that is that neither her nor Annie are as charismatic as Jetta, Rain or Lacey. Roxx, bless her, is on point with everything she does though – delivering each strike with the kind of snap and precision which comes with being on TV week after week. She wins with the Barbie Crusher at 06:46
Rating - * - What a rough few matches to start a SHIMMER event with. Let’s start with a positive and point out that Nikki looked great here, and since this was all but an enhancement match for her I suppose it served a purpose. The gulf in quality between her and Melanie was vast, which speaks volumes for how improved Roxx is a performer when you think back to how rough she was during early SHIMMER events. Melanie has a decent look, and Social appears to have established a connection with the Berwyn fans – but they need to do better than this. We don’t need another act to wrestle like the Home Wreckers (and do it far worse). Given her size, Cruise should be beating the sh*t out of people, not clawing their eyes, pulling their hair and asking her manager for help. It’s too early to write off the Social/Cruise double act – but whatever they were going for here didn’t work at all.
Rain vs Jennifer Blake
Although the match wasn’t fantastic, Blake scored a big win at Volume 24 – defeating Amber O’Neal. As that comes on the back of a string of commendable showings, including a hell of a fight with Melissa at V22, she enters this match with plenty of momentum. Rain is fighting for Home Wrecker pride this evening after her tag partner Jetta fell to a shock defeat to Tenille during the opening match.
Blake isn’t interested in the showmanship of Lacey and Rain, and decides to attack her opponent from behind as she takes an age taking off her pyjamas (yes, she entered wearing a onesie again). She lands a devastating dropkick from the apron to Rain’s exposed head…and is only knocked back when Lacey assists her tag partner with hitting a top rope guillotine. Rain wants to target the neck; quickly opening up an injury to that body part. Lacey is, of course, on hand to do the same ‘choke in the ropes behind the back of the referee’ sequence we’ve seen in basically every match tonight. Rain applies a stranglehold camel clutch…then curb stomps Blake into the mat when she refuses to submit. Great counter by Jennifer, who pivots in the corner to roll through the ropes into a kick to her on-rushing opponent…but Rain hits right back with a press slam off the top for 2. Acid Rain blocked with an enziguri – and Blake follows that with a sweet diving lariat. KOBASHI CHOPS! Rain grabs at her neck to stop that but ails to hit the Rain Drop and instead eats a suplex. WIDOW’S PEAK by Blake! Lacey takes preventative measures to save her friend – which distracts Blake for just long enough to allow Rain to set up Acid Rain. She wins at 10:08
Rating - *** - Basic and very much a low-end 3* affair, but this was a far better than anything else on the show so far therefore it’s only right that the rating reflects that. The energy in Jennifer Blake’s work is so enjoyable to watch. I could criticise plenty of little details but when she performs like this her matches are generally pretty enjoyable. Rain made a great foil for her too; staying well within her comfort zone but trying to string a story together (by working the neck) and drawing plenty of heat without expending much energy herself.
Sara Del Rey has somehow convinced Kong to don similar war paint around the eyes to her. The Tag Titles aren’t the championship they are after, but since they are on offer they plan to take them from the Ohio Girls today...
Jessie McKay vs Cheerleader Melissa
I don’t want to jinx them, but this is one of the matches I’m most looking forward to on the show. McKay has impressed so far with a remarkable smoothness and professionalism to her work considering how new she was to the business. Melissa has demonstrated something of a skill for producing really fun midcard enhancement matches – such as with Ariel at V13, Alexa Thatcher at V15 and Jennifer Blake at V22 – so is very capable of delivering to a decent level with her Aussie opponent.
Melissa is extra cheerful on her way to the ring…which is usually quite an ominous sign. No fear from Jessie however as she shows impressive technical acumen to start working over her rival’s arm. Cheerleader’s arm is damaged sufficiently enough to make it difficult for her to throw a German suplex. The smiles are gone from Melissa’s face now – she is all business as she steams into the corner with an elbow across the jaw. Together they botch a basic leapfrog spot…but on the fly produce something even better, with Melissa trying to simply muscle McKay to the floor only for Jessie to roll her into a headscissors takedown which knocks her to the floor. MELISSA WHEELBARROWS HER INTO THE GUARDRAILS! REPEATEDLY! BODY SLAM ON THE FLOOR! She wants to recreate the guardrail sandwich spot we’ve seen a few times before…but Jessie counters with an impressive headscissors takedown from the railing to the floor! Boyfriend Stealer blocked…SCHOOL GIRL CRUSH INSTEAD! Melissa kicks out! KUDO DRIVER BLOCKED! SLICE GETS 2 FOR JESSIE! Then she kicks Melissa right in the head! KUDO F*CKING DRIVER! MCKAY IS DEAD! Melissa wins at 08:56
Rating - *** - Like I said, Melissa is seriously good at turning random midcard filler enhancement matches into something memorable…and she did it again here. There were a few instances of poor execution which stopped me going higher on the rating, but the tone of the match was spot on. Melissa came in smiling, waving and looking totally unprepared for her young opponent – and was rightly punished by some impressive early work from Jessie. Melissa’s response to this was to beat the hell out of her feisty young opponent…who then earned immense respect by not only surviving the beating but actually fighting back and almost winning. Cheerleader Melissa truly is one of the best workers around – male or female. She is criminally under-rated by most.
Amber O’Neal vs LuFisto
Most will have this down as an easy victory for LuFisto – but it is critical that the Super Hardcore Anime doesn’t take her opponent lightly. O’Neal has proven her toughness by standing up to the likes of Mercedes Martinez, Allison Danger and Wesna Busic in the past. Her tactics and attitude aren’t popular, but she has enough talent to pose a threat to Lu if she isn’t on her game.
Amber calls Lu’s ‘really cute Hello Kitty dress’ ugly, thus ensuring that Fisto starts the match extremely pissed off. She violently throws the Bullet Babe all over the ring in the first minute. O’Neal blows silver confetti into Lu’s eyes to stop her momentum…and wisely puts the feisty Canadian in a chinlock to slow her right down. As usual Amber starts to prove she is more than a ‘diva’ and actually does an impressive job trying to attack LuFisto’s neck. That is until Fisto totally spikes her with a Death Valley Driver. O’Neal ELBOWS HER IN THE FACE! LuFisto is no selling despite getting smashed to sh*t! Facewash evaded by O’Neal – who scores with a diving STO for2. She sets up her bridging backslide…but is made to tap out to a cross armbreaker. Lu wins at 07:41
Rating - ** - An entertaining win for LuFisto, who needed to look strong ahead of V26 and did so. O’Neal gets heat regardless of whether she wins or loses, but was protected sufficiently so as not to look like a complete scrubber in defeat. However, I did detect a certain amount of fatigue towards her gimmick from the Berwyn audience which will concern her (and Prazak) somewhat. Her act has been a staple of SHIMMER events since the very first DVD, but given that she’s appeared so often it does stand to reason that she might need to freshen things up a bit.
Canadian NINJAs vs Allison Danger/Daizee Haze
Danger and Daizee have separate issues with the two NINJAs. Perez and Danger are in the midst of an intensely personal feud, whilst Haze felt disrespected by Nicole’s actions after their memorable time limit draw at V23. At Volume 24 the NINJAs interfered in each other’s matches, and walked out of the arena having violent choked Allison into unconsciousness. These two cocky young Canadians now have to back up their tag team credentials against the combined experience of two SHIMMER veterans. A question mark will hang over Danger’s condition, given that she was pushing her body to the limits competing in V24’s Street Fight so soon after childbirth. Having been beaten and choked out then, is she in a fit state to compete today?
Danger makes a beeline for Portia, so of course the match begins with Matthews trying to jump her from behind. Haze jumps in to renew her rivalry with Nicole; taking her to ground and busting out such a proficient mat game that Matthews opts to tag out rather than face her. The NINJAs isolate Daizee, with Perez also taking every opportunity to hurl abuse at Danger too. Matthews looks to focus on the ribs and back which is a strategy she employed successfully yesterday. The Haze scrambles to block that devastating missile dropkick…and runs up the ropes into a FRANKENSTEINER! Tornado jawbreaker by Allison…but again she’s more interested in fighting Portia than she is winning the match. CURB STOMP ON THE BOTTOM ROPE! In doing that she nearly left herself vulnerable to a flash pin from Nicole though. MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE RIBS by Haze for 2! Nicole hits back with a brainbuster. YAKUZA KICK on Portia! OLD SCHOOL EXPULSION! Danger pins Portia! That’s a popular decision in Berwyn, and she has her hand raised at 10:19
Rating - *** - Another low-end 3* match, but I’m still completely impressed and overwhelmed by Danger simply being able to turn-up and wrestle so soon after giving birth. It’s really admirable and something she should be so proud of. She did need an element of protection and rightly spent most of the match on the apron, but she wasn’t a ‘spare part’ here and contributed her fair share. In the context of their feud I’m not sure I liked Danger beating Perez clean so soon, but Danger getting her hand raised here was certainly a feel good moment. Haze and Matthews need another rematch too, as their wrestling exchanges (and references to their matches yesterday) were the clear highlight here.
Allison wants to choke Portia with a belt but Nicole thwarts that. She tosses Haze out then stands back and watches as Perez grabs the belt and throttles Allison! For a second show running the Canadian NINJAs walk away having choked Danger out!
Mercedes Martinez vs Serena Deeb
Both of these women have unsuccessfully challenged MsChif for the SHIMMER Championship. With a failed title bid under their belts, they are resigned to heading back into the ranks and rebuilding towards another opportunity. It is clear that the winner here will leave the ring significantly higher on the ladder of contenders than the loser – so even with no feud in place the stakes really are high.
Deeb comes out with all sorts of grapples; chiefly looking to keep Martinez down on the ground. Mercedes is a powerhouse however and looks more than happy to trade holds with the smaller woman. To Serena’s credit, she looks to have an edge on the Latina Sensation on the ground…so Martinez yanks her up by the hair and starts striking the sh*t out of her instead! Chops, elbows, kicks, uppercuts and straight punches leave Deeb reeling…but she somehow rallies to hit a RUNNING monkey flip, followed by a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Spear dodged into a YAKUZA KICK by Martinez! And she pops right back up to pile in again with a big knee! Serena just will not quit and returns fire again with a trio of dropkicks to various parts of the body. Martinez blocks another monkey flip, lifting her out of the corner into an ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP! Bull Run blocked! UPPERCUT FLURRY! Deeb refuses to go down and just keeps coming back with pinning combinations. Deeb wriggles free of a Dominator into a victory roll…and scores the big win at 11:40
Rating - *** - I get the feeling Prazak really was a big fan of Serena, and it was a major call to put her over one of his most established stars here (particularly as these are her last shows before her WWE run). Although not quite as epic as Prazak’s commentary suggests, and despite the fact that Deeb was battling to keep her breasts in her shirt almost as hard as she was her opponent, this was a really decent match. It told a nice, simple and easy to follow story – with the standout feature being Deeb’s ability to emote and put over that plot. She took a real beating; flipping, flopping and convulsing all over the ring to make Martinez look like a machine, then totally nailed the spitfire underdog routine up against her. She totally sold everyone on how hard she was fighting in the face of an ass-kicking, so her ultimate victory over her larger opponent felt like a special moment.
Serena gets a huge ovation from the Berwyn fans following the match. Her battles with Del Rey, her great title match with MsChif and now this bout have really made her a fan favourite.
Ashley Lane/Nevaeh vs Sara Del Rey/Amazing Kong – SHIMMER Tag Title Match
You don’t see too many championship matches where the title holder is quite such a rank underdog as this one. The Ohio Girls stand across the ring from two of the most dominant performers on the roster with their title reign in serious jeopardy. Kong and Sara defeated Cheerleader Melissa and the SHIMMER Champion MsChif to earn this opportunity, and although the long-term goal remains MsChif’s belt, they don’t mind picking up some more hardware along the way. Lane and Nevaeh didn’t wrestle at Volume 24, but did have some in-ring interview time where they pointed out that working as underdogs won’t be anything new to them. They’ve been rank outsiders against The Experience or the Home Wreckers before…and don’t plan to stop being fighting champions now. Is there any way for them to escape with the belts this afternoon?
Kong is sporting a Mohawk and warpaint to make the point that this is a big match for her. She and Del Rey hop out of the ring and DESTROY the champs before they even make it through the ropes! Kong violently kicks Lane into the guardrails whilst Death Rey hauls Nevaeh inside for a savage beating. Even when Nevaeh fights out of Sara’s clutches Amazing K is on hand to f*ck her up some more. KONG CHOPS THE BREASTS! As in, Del Rey hangs Nevaeh in the ropes and Kong visibly targets her breasts with some massive chops! Ashley gets a tag and hilariously starts pummelling Kong. It looks laughable and thankfully AK makes no effort to sell for her. Nevaeh rescues her partner from the Amazing Bomb…so she decks both of them with a double lariat. Implant Buster Splash combo misses! KONG PUNCHES NEVAEH OUT! She drags her to the locker room, and returns with a steel chair – having supposedly taken Nevaeh out with it. She shunts the ref to the ground with the weapon too, causing a disqualification at 08:22. Having barely registered an offensive move all match, the champions miraculously retain.
Rating - ** - Ordinarily I’d moan about such a cheap finish, or such a one-sided match, but this was exactly what I’d expected (and what most wanted to see). It isn’t believable that Lane or Nevaeh – who are routinely dominated by perpetual midcard acts like Rain, Jetta or the The Experience – would pose any real threat to Kong or Sara, so it was only right that the majority of this contest saw the challengers tossing their tiny blonde opponents around like children. I get the cheap finish too. You can’t make your champions look weak, but there is no way you can put them over THESE challengers cleanly either. It was totally bogus, but I was expecting some kind of shenanigans so wasn’t too upset. Part of me is disappointed we won’t get a Kong/Death Rey reign of terror with the tag belts. They are a really fun team.
With her tag partner incapacitated in the locker room Ashley Lane is left alone to be destroyed. Mercedes Martinez and Serena Deeb have some compassion – and run to the ring to square up to the rampant, defeated challengers.
MsChif vs Wesna Busic – SHIMMER Title Match
A lengthy video package plays highlights of Busic’s recent winning run, particularly her wins at these tapings against Cheerleader Melissa and LuFisto. Along the way she has picked up Annie Social as her manager, and now has a sufficient amount of high profile wins to earn herself a title shot. Last night she left MsChif unconscious in the ring as V24 closed. Will her hard-hitting and dangerous style lead her to the gold or will MsChif survive yet another formidable opponent?
MsChif’s screams have no effect on Busic, who looks fired up for this one. Social has clearly given her a smart gameplan too, as she rolls out of the ring to stall the second Ms looks like stringing a serious offensive flurry together. MsChif likes to work an energetic and aggressive style so struggles with the pensive approach of her challenger. Wesna guillotines her over the top rope then takes her straight to the canvas with a bodyscissors. She tries to attack the champ’s leg but MsChif isn’t in the mood to sell so soon shakes it off and delivers a standing moonsault for 2. She does make mistake of trying to engage the Croatian Panther in a strike exchange though…and gets FLOORED by a mammoth elbow smash. She isn’t down for long however and hits back soon after with a neckbreaker. Gateway To Annihilation gets 2! Desecrator COUNTERED to a Samoan drop! CB-4 Driver COUNTERED TO CODE GREEN! Still Wesna fights the Desecrator…and gives MsChif a Ki Krusha. The Panther looks for the CB-4 again…so MsChif does the exact same counter to Code Green. She wins with the Desecrator at 14:14
Rating - ** - Something about this match really didn’t click for me, and it came off feeling like an extremely flat main event to round off a rather forgettable SHIMMER Volume. I liked some of what Wesna did to negate MsChif’s talents, and I also like how she changed her style marginally at the start to reflect more of a heel persona. But when you compare it to something like Martinez/Deeb from earlier (which had a very similar plot but so much more energy), this felt devoid of life. MsChif didn't possess Serena's ability to make me buy into her as a super-tough underdog, nor did she sell me on Busic as a killer either - leaving me to question what value she actually added to the match. She also couldn’t be bothered to sell much of Wesna's stuff which really didn’t help. After a rather bland succession of spot...after spot///after aimless spot they went to a rather bloated finish which had no heat on it at all…and should have ended two minutes earlier with the first Code Green/CB4 counter sequence. I’d call this as big a letdown as SHIMMER have ever delivered as a main event…
Tape Rating - ** - An extremely low key Volume; so much in fact that I’d include this in the conversation for worst SHIMMER DVD thus far. It’s not horrendous by any means…but an awful first hour, a disappointing main event and nothing reaching 4* in between is miles below the high standards this company has set itself. I didn’t like that no match got a decent time allowance, but that wasn’t the issue here. Too many women were either tired from the previous day, saving themselves for the evening or just having an off night. There was some decent stuff in the middle to salvage things somewhat – including another admirable Allison Danger performance, a solid back and forth battle between Mercedes and Serena and an exciting encounter between Melissa and Jessie McKay. They aren’t enough to bump up the rating though, and leave me with no choice but to offer this with the mildest of recommendations. If you’re not a SHIMMER aficionado I wouldn’t sweat skipping over this one.
Top 3 Matches
3) Allison Danger/Daizee Haze vs Canadian NINJAs (***)
2) Serena Deeb vs Mercedes Martinez (***)
1) Cheerleader Melissa vs Jessie McKay (***)