McXal's Reviews

It’s a new year and an almost entirely new landscape for SHIMMER Women Athletes. Fulcrums of the roster almost since the promotion started are now falling by the wayside, and this four-show taping weekend will see them replaced by the Joshi invasion beginning earnest. The V27/28 taping saw Ayako Hamada become first Joshi athlete to enter the Eagles Club…albeit largely by way of TNA and Mexico rather than Japan. A further four will debut this weekend – one of which having travelled from Japan so recently she was actually still travelling when the first show (V29 taping) got underway, so you’ll have to wait until V30 for her. Hamada herself will be back for the V31/32 tapings too. This show will see Tomoka Nakagawa, Ayumi Kurihara and Misaki Ohata enter the fray and the SHIMMER audience are buzzing. If that weren’t enough we’ll also see Portia Perez, Daizee Haze and Madison Eagles return from injury, alongside dependable top tier names since the very beginning like Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa and Mercedes Martinez. And reigning atop them all as champion remains MsChif – who’s run with the SHIMMER Title just seems to stretch on and on with no signs of slowing. Sarah f’n Stock will return to challenge her at the next show so the challengers aren’t getting any easier! She’ll also be in the main event this afternoon as she reforms her on again/off again tag team with Melissa to challenge the Canadian NINJAs for the Tag Titles. The aforementioned Nakagawa and Kurihara debut against each other in a match which had the live crowd purring, plus Tenille gets her biggest chance to date when she steps into the ring with the fearsome Death Rey. Dave Prazak and Portia Perez provide commentary from Berwyn, IL.

The tapings at the end of 2009 were huge for Kellie as, although she didn’t get a victory, her strong performances over established SHIMMER names Allison Danger and Cheerleader Melissa elevated her stock significantly. She now needs to back that up with some wins – starting tonight against Nevaeh, who needs something of a fresh start herself. Regular partner Ashley Lane doesn’t appear at all this year as her TNA career took off (and only appears a couple of times next year too) so effectively the Ohio Girls are done as a team. How does she carve a niche for herself as a singles athlete?

There is a tension to their opening exchanges, as if they both realise this is a significant match for both of them. Neveah shows her SHIMMER experience by snatching the advantage and nabbing an early nearfall with a flipping neck snap. Skater’s brash persona works in her favour as she suckers Nevaeh into testing her ‘indestructible’ strength…taking her eye off the ball and allowing the Rate Tank to suckerpunch her. She is all over the former Tag Champion with her strike game and Nevaeh doesn’t seem to have an answer. Even when applying a camel clutch she is still driving home crossface strikes that have Nevaeh’s eyes rolling in her head. DIVING GOURDBUSTER from nothing takes the wind out of Kellie’s sails though…but only temporarily. The Australian lands a sliding blockbuster and picks up a major win at 06:19

Rating - * - A much needed win for Kellie Skater, who is quickly becoming a really enjoyable part of the SHIMMER experience. Ironically it comes in one of her weakest matches though. There wasn’t necessarily a lot wrong with this, but I think it’s fair to say they didn’t particularly click as opponents and there were a few transitions and sequences which did feel a little awkward. It did make Skater look extremely strong, which is important as it establishes her as a credible threat in her own right rather than just an outright comedy character who thinks she’s massive but takes a beating from everyone.

Wesna Busic has wrestled her last match for SHIMMER, so her fledgling team with Melanie Cruise won’t get the chance to develop any further. However, Social returns after missing the last tapings (and getting murdered by Melissa last time she did appear) and steps into the ring for the first time. We’ve not seen the Pretty Bitchin’ team of Nikki Roxx and Ariel too often – but teaming more regularly could well be the new direction both need to remain relevant within SHIMMER. Nikki is an early SHIMMER success story, but has failed to cement a main event spot or win the title…whilst her good friend Ariel has worked largely the same gimmick since day one and has started to feel a little tired. Just as with the first match – there is so much at stake for all involved here, given the state of flux the SHIMMER roster currently finds itself in.

Ariel has to climb the ropes just to lock up with Cruise, such is the height difference between them. As Portia points out, she has plenty of experience over Melanie though – and she uses it to land multiple shots on the taller competitor before tagging Roxx in. Nikki has wins over Melanie and lots of experience too; exploding into the ring and looking to shock her with repeated flash pin attempts. Annie tags in but is utterly manhandled by both members of Pretty Bitchin’…until Cruise cheap-shots the Portuguese Princess from the apron. Melanie’s presence and watchability as a performer has come on hugely even since the November tapings. She looks far more confident taunting the crowd and spearheading a beatdown on Ariel. Social doesn’t disgrace herself either, albeit her contributions are largely popping in to cheat a little then departing before suffering the consequences. It is eventually her who slips up, allowing Ariel to bash her face into the canvas then make a hot tag to Nikki. Social and Cruise double team to shut her down, getting 2 with a body slam senton combo. Roxx hits the Barbie Crusher on Annie whilst Ariel kicks Cruise to the floor…and just like that Pretty Bitchin’ score another tag team victory at 09:18

Rating - ** - Right at the bottom end of the 2* rating for me. It did feel like an improvement over the opening match, but only a very moderate one. Once again it wasn’t a bad match by any means – but it felt very formulaic and robotic. There was no real emotional resonance to draw you in, which is something of a surprise since Roxx and Ariel are usually likeable women, and Melanie’s improvements since her SHIMMER debut are starting to become very noticeable. Much like the first match, it felt like they never clicked and didn’t really get out of the lower gears. Cruise was decent, Social didn’t disgrace herself in her SHIMMER in-ring debut…but all four could probably do a lot better.

Tenille and Amber Gertner discuss huge opportunity the Aussie has tonight when she steps into the ring with SHIMMER veteran Sara Del Rey. Tenille concedes that she’ll be facing the most dominant force on the roster.

We know what happened to Rachel at the last tapings. She was abandoned by her mentor halfway through a tag match resulting in a beating…then when she came looking for answers at V28 Daffney verbally berated her then physically assaulted her. She walked out of the building in tears, and that issue obviously isn’t settled. But she also wants to progress her career, and knows a win over a respected and world-travelled character like LuFi (herself still smarting from losing another SHIMMER Title opportunity) would go a long way to proving Daffney’s statement that she’s a ‘rookie’ who ‘can’t work’ wrong…

LuFisto is all kinds of fired up and steams into her opponent with a flurry of elbows. She is, however, much shorter than Summerlyn and after running into her ‘chest’ eats a massive lariat. LuFi clearly doesn’t like that as she starts going for quick pins and submissions rather than strikes. Summerlyn clobbers at Lu’s bad back, which again the Super Hardcore Anime clearly doesn’t enjoy. She goes after Rachel’s arm some more…meaning that her signature Polish Hammer is ineffective. Writhing in pain after she hits it, Summerlyn doesn’t see LuFisto coming and is hauled over into a snug Fujiwara armbar. Summerlyn taps at 03:50

Rating - ** - It didn’t go long, but this was actually my favourite match on the show so far. Even in a sub-four minute match LuFisto did as much as she could to help her opponent look strong. I loved the structure they worked, with Lu trying to impose herself but getting unsettled and upset at Rachel’s size and power. Ultimately her experience meant she’d opened up an injury which prevented Summerlyn from hitting one of her signature moves effectively and this goes down as a comprehensive win…

The masked Jamilia is the second of Daizee Haze’s students at the ROH wrestling school to make it onto a SHIMMER main card (we’ll be seeing the other in the next match too). I believe this is only a few months into her wrestling career, so getting to work the Latina Sensation will be a great learning experience if nothing else. There is a new female referee (Carley Rae) making her debut too. Mercedes looks in incredible shape, but would probably acknowledge that this her least significant match of the weekend. Will complacency be her undoing?

Smiling and cracking jokes with the crowd, it’s apparent that Martinez isn’t sweating ‘Jumping’ Jamilia all that much. That probably explains why Craft is able to show off some impressive chain-wrestling skill, somewhat resembling her trainer Daizee Haze. Eventually the Latina Sensation gets serious…and pops her in the mouth! The smile is now gone…which makes it even more impressive when the teenager continues to keep her at bay and land a big dropkick. Mercedes almost explodes her chest with a dropkick back in her direction…then lands a chop which rattles through the Eagles Club. Three Amigas, into a German suplex for 2. The veteran looks almost emotionless as she tries to break Craft in half…and continues to pepper her with strikes even when she escapes. Bull Run bravely countered…into a springboard crossbody (of sorts, the young debutant slipped noticeably) for 2. Jamilia then counters a DVD attempt into an inverted DDT. MAFIA KICK! Martinez just killed her! The Bull Run finishes things and gives Mercedes the win at 06:34

Rating - ** - Without wanting to question the quality of Delirious’ tutelage, both of Daizee Haze’s students from the ROH Dojo that have made it to SHIMMER (Jamilia Craft and Rayna Von Tosh) have both looked substantially more capable on debut than any of the male graduates from the same facility. This was more ambitious than the Haze/Rayna match we saw a few Volumes ago, meaning there were some visible mis-steps which hurt things a little, but Craft definitely had potential (and it’s no surprise that as of 2019 she’s still working albeit under a different gimmick). She was athletic, fiery and didn’t look uncomfortable trading mat holds with Martinez. Some of the elaborate stuff at the end was probably a little beyond her, but a capable debut without ever really damaging Martinez’ credibility.

Remember when inexperienced newcomers to the SHIMMER roster had to work poor Lorelei Lee? Turns out if you come in under Haze’s ring you get way better opponents to spend your early appearances! Having impressed and shown skills belying her limited experience in her debut against trainer Daizee, Rayna returns to face SHIMMER stalwart Allison Danger. And her chances may be better than one would expect, given that Allison so obviously has her attention focused on her feud with Portia Perez. 

Rayna has dialled up the burlesque seductress elements of her look and mannerisms since her last appearance. Portia walks out on commentary because she’d rather watch her Tivo’d episodes of Ninja Turtles than an Allison Danger match…and is replaced by Kellie Skater. The Rate Tank is confused as to whether Von Tosh is a ‘real wrestler’ or not. She uses her height to control the opening minutes and does a hell of a job nullifying the veteran. SLUT DROP FACEBUSTER gets 2 for RVT! She misses a similarly sexualised elbow drop…and Danger rightly punts her in the back for her stupidity. Much like Martinez with Jamilia in the last match, all of Allison’s pre-match smiles and joking with the audience have gone. She looks deadly serious as she pummels Rayna’s back and neck in preparation for her assortment of finishing moves. Now even when Von Tosh hits a suplex she comes up holding her neck. Danger elbows at the neck some more…then forearms the snot out of her in the corner. HANGING LOVELACE CHOKER! Danger wins at 06:49

Rating - ** - Seriously, both of Daizee’s students can handle themselves. They are both rough around the edges and make some clunky errors, but neither have looked out of place in a SHIMMER ring so far. My biggest issue with RVT is that I don’t quite ‘get’ her gimmick yet. Her sexy, gyrating burlesque act seems naturally to fit as a heel in a serious female ‘workrate’ promotion like SHIMMER, yet she has been booked as a babyface thus far and plays to the fans for approval. It’s quite jarring, doesn’t work and actually seems to confuse even her. Her height is a real asset though, and it was totally believable that she held her own with Danger. Similarly Allison’s mannerisms, facial expressions and selling were PERFECT for the context. Her face as she beat the sh*t out of Rayna at the end was quite something.

Danger grabs a microphone to call out Portia Perez again…only to be confronted with a video message from the Canadian NINJAs in the parking lot. She rightly points out that she is now a champion, an international star and a main eventer (the NINJAs headline tonight) so doesn’t need to ‘make her name’ at Danger’s expense. She teases not even caring about Allison, but as the camera cuts back to ringside we see her sneaking through the crowd and attacking Danger from behind! Nicole Matthews isn’t far behind, bringing handcuffs which Perez uses to tie her to the ropes! Nevaeh and Leva Bates (her first appearance on a SHIMMER main card) try to come to Danger’s aid…but Melanie Cruise and Annie Social stop them! What a chaotic scene! Ariel is out trying to help as well…LARIAT ON THE WOODEN FLOOR BY CRUISE! In the ring the cuffs appear to have broken, so Portia spits in the KO’d Danger’s face…then shoves referee Bryce Remsburg over on her way out too!

It’s easy to forget that Eagles, nicknamed ‘The Punisher’, hasn’t actually made that many appearances in SHIMMER thus far. She’s been immensely impressive every time she’s stepped into the building, but a combination of injuries and other bookings mean she’s yet to appear as regularly as the other Aussie girls who’ve joined the roster (Jessie, Kellie and Tenille). She returns this weekend, and kicks off against an athlete who made a real impression during her debut at V28. Teaming with Kacey Diamond, she put up a decent fight in what turned out to be the farewell of the Ohio Girls as a team. Now pursuing a singles career it seems, tests don’t come much tougher than her opponent tonight.

If you were in doubt about how good Madison has looked in this promotion, she barely makes it through the ropes before almost every person in the building is chanting ‘welcome back’ at her. Even Kellie Skater is respectful on commentary. Instantly Eagles takes it to the mat and schools Sassy, making it look completely effortless. Stephie barks in triumph as she grabs a headlock…then her jaw drops as Madison simply picks her up and deposits her on the ropes to break it. Stephie hangs in there and persists with headlocks – using that as a base to jar the neck and drop her with a facecrusher. The neck is now a target for Sassy’s offence…which upsets Eagles and visibly takes her off her game. A version of the Sling Blade takes the Aussie down for a nearfall. Madison is thrown around by the hair, and looks PISSED at that! SHINING WIZARD by The Punisher! LARIAT gets 2! In one last desperate bid for victory Stephie tries to pin her using the ropes, to now avail. HELL BOUND! Eagles wins at 06:16

Rating - *** - I question the wisdom of having Martinez/Craft, Danger/Rayna and Eagles/Stephie one after the other. They were all very similar matches, with a very similar theme of inexperienced newcomer gamely taking the fight to an established star before ultimately succumbing to defeat. Each was better than the last (and this was clearly the best of the three) but this show is now starting to feel rather repetitive. Having Madison back is a great thing for SHIMMER though, and it seems that she’ll now be appearing more regularly. Her immense skill means she immediately slides in as one of the best workers on the roster and you saw all of that here. Her stature is obviously different, but in some ways she reminds me of Bryan Danielson on the indies – in that she has heaps of experience, can comfortably work a number of styles, seems to glide effortlessly through chain-wrestling sequences, inserts MMA-influences into her style and generally gives off the impression she could get a great match out of even the most limited of workers. Stephie looked decent again here too and was no mug. Her work on the neck was brief, but not bad by any stretch. She can keep coming back – and it’s really starting to become noticeable how much better female athletes are when they start their SHIMMER careers. That is reflective of their own hard work and better training of course, but also shows how much stronger the talent pool of female independent wrestlers is starting to get. It’s a gradual thing, but it’s a change that SHIMMER has doubtlessly helped to cultivate.

Amber Gertner enters the ring next to welcome back ‘Dark Angel’ Sarah Stock. She pulls no punches and calls out MsChif, reminding her that she beat her during the tournament to crown the inaugural champion. It will be MsChif/Stock at Volume 30 for the SHIMMER Championship.

This one does have a different dynamic to the three ‘young gun vs established star’ matches we’ve just sat through (with another to follow in Del Rey/Tenille) thankfully. Both Power and McKay enjoyed a strong weekend at the end of 2009 when SHIMMER last convened. Cat defeated Ariel then put up a strong showing against Mercedes Martinez, whilst Jessie delivered what most consider her finest SHIMMER performance to date when she pushed Sara Del Rey to the limit at Volume 27. This a real chance for both upwardly mobile performers to make a statement and press their claim for higher profile matches moving forward.

Every time I see Jessie wrestle in SHIMMER I’m struck by how different she looks in WWE now. Cat is evidently the stronger of the two and starts muscling her around. Jessie pulls out a kitty toy trying to distract her…but Power is apparently fed up of that gimmick; simply shaking her head and grounding McKay again. Sensibly Jessie quickens the pace (albeit very sloppily), using the distance generated to get her long legs pumping and land a satellite headscissors. She attempts the School Girl Crush early, but Power counters and starts attacking the leg. Tree of woe on the Aussie, with the obligatory ‘Cat Scratches’ to the chest…then a hanging inverted DDT out of the corner as Jessie tries to escape. Swinging neckbreaker by McKay, who is showing real tenacity – following it with a diving knee strike. Cat goes after the leg again and has Jessie limping now. Figure 4 Leglock applied, using the ropes for extra leverage too. School Girl Crush…but Jessie’s legs collapse under her at the same time costing her precious seconds before the pinfall. BOYFRIEND STEALER! McKay wins at 08:11

Rating - *** - A brisk and competitive match; quite possibly my favourite on the show so far even above Madison’s match. I think both of these two have limitations, but every time SHIMMER gets back together for another weekend of tapings they’ve made improvements. Power now looks to be a serious performer. As desperate as the fans are for her to react to the cat calls and feline comedy stuff, she was brilliant here by shunning it (quite literally – ignoring Jessie bringing a kitty toy to the ring) in favour of a focused and impressive attack on the legs Jessie uses to hit her signature move. McKay still has issues with performance and sloppiness in my opinion – but where she excels is her ability to evoke emotion from a crowd. She’s a relatable babyface in this instance, and her ability to sell and convey pain both made her comeback more heroic but also put over Cat’s work and more serious gimmick. I’m disappointed this didn’t get more time because it flew by, and I felt they had more to offer.

Of the four Aussie girls to come to SHIMMER, I think I’ve made it clear that so far Tenille is my least favourite. She hasn’t demonstrated the immense skill of Madison Eagles, the likeability of Jessie McKay, nor the entertainment value of Kellie Skater and has frequently been the ‘weak link’ in her matches. But she’s a young wrestler and, like a lot of other girls on the roster, always improving. There can be no greater learning experience than stepping into the ring with SHIMMER’s ace, the cornerstone of the promotion and former champion in the ‘Death Rey’. Sara comes into this after a huge pair of wins over Hamada and Tenille’s fellow Aussie Jessie McKay at the last tapings. Does she have her eye on reclaiming her spot as SHIMMER Champion? She still hasn’t a singles rematch with MsChif remember…

Tenille gets in Sara’s face, even when Del Rey pushes her around and kicks her in the spine. Her response is to punch the veteran so hard in the face that even Sara backs off for a moment. In a moment of sheer brilliance, her response is to grab the arm she used to punch her and viciously kick it. She actually keeps working the right arm – it’s subtle but a great nod to how effective that punch from the future ‘Emma’ actually was. The Spotlight Kick keeps Del Rey honest…but only results in a pissed off former champion stomping on her back and neck some more. Straight PUNTS to the back of the head next, then a backbreaker which contorts Tenille’s body like a ragdoll. And STILL Del Rey is on that right arm whilst beating the sh*t out of her opponent. A stranglehold backbreaker has her screaming in pain (it sounds like Del Rey is genuinely murdering someone)…drawing real sympathy from the crowd who pop loudly when Tenille finds a way to counter. Roaring Elbow (using the left, uninjured arm) floors Sara out of nowhere! For the second time Del Rey is stunned at the punching power of the young Australian. Annoyingly Tenille makes no effort to sell the arm as she peppers Death Rey with punches. She dodges the capo kick; watching Del Rey hobble back into the ring and levelling her with a MISSILE SPOTLIGHT KICK! Briding toehold applied…and Del Rey is now so put out that she actually tries a flash pin just to escape with a win. ROUNDHOUSE KICK! CAPO KICK! ROYAL BUTTERFLY! Del Rey wins in a surprisingly competitive 11:08

Rating - *** - It’s hard to tell whether Tenille stepped up here, or Del Rey is just so good she carried her. The truth probably lies somewhere in between…but Sara was another level of impressive in this. She WAS the story, and carried herself with such poise and clarity as to what her role was that it made Tenille’s job easy. Del Rey defined making every single move count here – right down to selling Tenille’s strikes like total death. It’s easy for an audience to buy into an underdog with a puncher’s chance if the ‘heel’ visibly makes it seem like she’s vulnerable. It is only right to give praise and say that this was Tenille’s best SHIMMER match so far. It is a shame she didn’t sell the arm a little more, but much of what she did was very good. She took a good ass kicking, showed the required amount of babyface spunk and didn’t mess too much up (which she’s struggled with in the past). Del Rey’s killer match with Ayako Hamada last time made me realise that I really do miss main event Sara in SHIMMER. But thankfully it’s a real privilege to watch her even in midcard mode too.

Madison Eagles reflects on her stop/start SHIMMER career to date. She shows hints of a heel persona, getting increasingly arrogant as the promo progresses. The upside is that she too has thrown her hat into the ring for a SHIMMER Title Match. She wants main events and she wants MsChif’s belt…

The smiling face of Misaki Ohata is the first of the Joshi faces to step through the curtain this weekend. Trained by the legendary Mariko Yoshida (all three Joshi talents on this Volume broke in under her tutelage) and nicknamed the ‘Blue Fairy’, at this point she was relatively inexperienced (with only just over two years of ring-time behind her). She will be welcomed to SHIMMER by stalwart Daizee Haze – who is looking to build some momentum back herself after struggling with back issues. She has missed as many Volumes as she’s worked on recently, and spent the V27/28 tapings as a frustrated referee such was her desperation to stay involved. That said, she uses her entrance to proclaim that she’s ‘back and better than ever’...

To the mat they go, and with both apparently accomplished technical wrestlers it’s a real battle on the ground. Haze in particular looks a threat…so Ohata smartly gets back to a vertical base and pummels her with elbows. Daizee instantly grounds her again as much to avoid those strikes as to work her opponent over. Portia Perez spots some tape on Haze’s leg, and it seems that Misaki has too – applying a leg grapevine and noticeably hurting her opponent for the second time. RUNNING ELBOW! She almost took the American athlete’s head off with that! And for a second time the Haze’s response is to take it back to the mat where she feels she can protect herself from Ohata’s strengths. Haze looks to be focusing on Ohata’s arm, doing so with such force that she very nearly pins her! She wants to win and looks to be venting frustration at all the shows she’s missed too – as she uses the ropes to gain extra leverage when working Misaki’s arm. Bridging German by Ohata…but it gets 2 and she comes up favouring the arm again. ELBOW STRIKE DUEL! Haze quickly realises that’s not something she can win, so drops her again with a northern lights. Misaki upstairs for a gorgeous missile dropkick! HEART PUNCH! YAKUZA KICK BLOCKED! The Joshi star flies at Haze into a crucifix pin, and scores a big win on her debut at 10:25

Rating - *** - If this sets the tone for what we can expect from the Joshi stars this weekend then it is going to be a great set of shows. They only got ten minutes, which is a shame, as it felt like they had a lot more they could’ve done together given more time. But they attacked the match with gusto and left everything they had in the ring. It is always easy for these ‘international star touring foreign country’ matches to degenerate into exhibitions, but they avoided that here. It was tight, and stuck to a clear narrative. Haze backed herself as a superior technical wrestler and stronger grappler – therefore kept Ohata on the deck and worked her arm at all times. But she couldn’t handle Misaki whenever the Japanese star got to her feet. Ohata threw out some big-hitting strikes…and ultimately overwhelmed Daizee, catching her off guard with a flash pin when she momentarily shunned her ground plan. I had heaps of fun watching this, and I’m disappointed they didn’t get just a few minutes more to flesh this out a little more. We’d very easily be looking at going higher on the rating if they did…

Daizee looks furious at the loss, and attacks Ohata after the bell rather than shake her hand. Her student Jamilia Craft tries to reason with her…so Daizee tries to decapitate her with the Yakuza Kick. NECK DROP TIGER SUPLEX ON MISAKI! 

Live reports from the taping utterly purred over this match. These two are a couple of years older than Misaki and bring a tad more experience with them (although they, like Ohata, are still relative midcard acts with their home promotions). Reading up on Ayumi reveals an interesting backstory – in that she is the daughter of a sponsor father, meaning she has had to work twice as hard to gain respect. Also trained by Mariko Yoshida, she is exceedingly cute, yet entirely renowned for her ferocious and hard-hitting style. Nakagawa is a little different in that she broke in under the Kaientai Dojo banner and trained under Taka Michinoku (yes that one) before leaving that promotion and training further under the tutelage of Mariko. Neither will want to have travelled across the world, and brought authentic Joshi to a tiny building in suburban Chicago, only to return home a loser in their debut.

Prazak shills the rivalry between these two back in Japan, and their knowledge of each other is quickly demonstrated as they effortlessly counter back and forth in the early exchanges. Tomoka’s aggression is apparent; taking cheap shots, biting and using the ropes to assert herself on proceedings. Kurihara stunts that aggression wearing her down on the mat. WIND UP hair-mare by Nakagawa! She is starting to hurt Ayumi’s back – and clearly knows it as she applies a half crab. Such is her intensity she even shoves the ref when she doesn’t get a victory from there! Kurihara is in trouble…so reaches into her bag of tricks for one of her signature high octane dropkicks. ROPE RUN HANGING ARMBAR! That leaves Tomoka nursing her arm in pain, so Kuri cranks on it further with an octopus stretch. Nakagawa is hurt so tries to snatch win with her trademark Fisherman Buster…so she hits the ropes and puts her rival into the CRB (bridging chinlock) instead. Great camera work means you get to see at close-range how Nakagawa gradually loses her grip due to the bad arm – but does still succeed in doing more damage to the back. Fisherman Buster gets 2! Kurihara dodges the sliding lariat and elbows her in the face! ELBOW STRIKE DUEL! CODEBREAKER by Ayumi…into a MENTAL sliding dropkick right into Nakagawa’s face. MISSILE DROPKICK RIGHT IN THE HEAD…GETS 2! So Tomoka lands a running enziguri kick right into her dodgy back and puts her down once more. URINAGE BY AYUMI! But her back is too hurt to cover! Back to the elbow smashes they go, with both women letting off blood-curdling screams. HAMMERLOCK EXPLODER! Kurihara wins at 14:18

Rating - **** - Quite rightly that gets a standing ovation from all in attendance. I’m certain that to long-term Joshi viewers or to those more familiar with their work this probably wouldn’t have been that remarkable – but as a vessel to introduce themselves as workers, and the Joshi style more generally, to the SHIMMER audience this was very special. From the moment their respective brilliantly bonkers entrance themes hit this felt like an authentic Joshi experience. They moved quickly, hit hard, demonstrated their characters without the need for lengthy promos or even fluent English and worked a simple and clear little story which made perfect sense and set up the finish perfectly. The main event is going to have to pull out all the stops to prevent these two from stealing this particular Volume of the SHIMMER DVD series.

We haven’t seen the team of SHIMMER Champion MsChif and elite athlete Melissa in some time. They forged a unit founded on mutual respect after beating the sh*t out of each other right back in the early days of the promotion. They are established, experienced and formidable headline players for this company, and many will consider them favourites for this. It’s Perez and Matthews’ first defence of the belts in a SHIMMER ring and tests don’t get much sterner. However, they will know that a win not only gives their fledgling Tag Title reign immense credibility, but also puts them into the equation for a shot at MsChif somewhere. They may also profit from the fact that Melissa now seems primed and ready for a run at MsChif’s belt too. Respect each other though they may, each wants to be top dog. Many consider Cheerleader the top contender to MsChif, having not suffered a singles loss since V23 and now on a four-match winning run (with victories over Jessie McKay, Wesna Busic, Kellie Skater and Nicole Matthews herself back at V27). Will their singles aspirations get in their way of tag team glory in our main event?

Melissa is now very possibly the most over babyface in the company. The Ninjas have a problem in that neither wants to get in the ring with either one of the challengers; Nicole runs away from MsChif then Portia doesn’t want to tag in to face Cheerleader either. When she does enter the ring Melissa ha an easy time dominating her on the ground. There is some nice continuity from the last taping as Nicole keeps urging her partner to go after the knee that she injured during their singles match. Sadly all it does is fire Melissa up to start tearing into Perez’s knee instead! Matthews eventually charges in and tries to attack the leg herself…so Cheerleader gets up and flattens her with one of her own signature lariats! She dumps Nicole into the guardrails…THEN STARTS BATTERING HER USING PORTIA AS A WEAPON! Kondo Clutch applied to Nicole, so violently that it almost becomes a Kondo Clutch Giant Swing. The champions are in trouble and resort to doing what they do best – manipulating the rules. Portia attacks Melissa from behind, distracting her for just long enough to allow Matthews to throw her off the top rope. They team more regularly than Melissa and MsChif and their fluidity as a unit looks to be their only exploitable advantage. They quickly weaken the Cheerleader – as evidenced by the fact that Nicole can now viably hang with her in a strike exchange on the ground. MsChif gets a crucial tag…into a horrifically sloppy exchange with Matthews. There was an attempt at the Code Green somewhere in there. Thankfully Portia salvages the situation with an EPIC superkick on the SHIMMER Champion. LARIAT from Matthews to Melissa! Again the tag champions, on top of their game as a team, use numbers to their advantage and reassert themselves through both legal and illegal means. MsChif hits Gateway To Annihilation on Portia…leaving both women down and crawling for big tags all round. The challenges pick Perez up and DROP HER on her own partner! Desecrator countered by Portia, and in doing so she kicks Chif into both Bryce Remsburg AND Melissa. She then flings the champ into the Cheerleader for a second time (sowing seeds of discontent between them) and joins Nicole for the FUNKY COLD MEDINA! MATTHEWS PINS MSCHIF! The champions retain; it’s a huge win for both of them at 16:21

Rating - *** - Structurally and conceptually I really liked this match. It ticked the boxes I wanted it to tick and hit the storyline beats it needed to. But that was it – a functional and decent main event rather than emotionally fulfilling or memorable one. Unfortunately the limitations of a promotion which tapes half a year’s worth of content in a single weekend means the performers can’t just empty the tanks at the first show and do need to protect themselves. MsChif has some HUGE matches still to come this weekend, this being her first of three consecutive main events. Melissa is one of the biggest names in SHIMMER and also has multiple high profile matches. Portia has the blow-off to her feud with Danger still to come. There were glimpses of quality, but coming after the intense Ayumi/Tomoka match it didn’t grab your attention in the same way. It didn’t help that Nicole, who has been superb at recent Volumes and really deserved her huge moment getting to pin the SHIMMER Champion, had a rough match. Portia was actually my favourite part of the match – capably playing the chickensh*t heel as we know she can, but actually breaking out some of the best wrestling exchanges of the contest too. I have a feeling all four of these women will have MUCH better matches this weekend…

The NINJAs aren’t happy with victory, and want to make a point with a post-match beatdown on MsChif and Melissa. Allison Danger of course runs out to brawl with Portia again, until the Tag Champs turn on their heels and flee. The show ends with Danger’s music blaring and her staring angrily down the aisle at the departing Perez…

Tape Rating - *** - I liked this Volume a lot. The first hour or so was a little plodding, but the Danger/Ninjas angle kicked off a pretty killer two hours thereafter. As I mentioned above, as the first show in a four-Volume weekend the talent do need to protect themselves a little so not every match reaches the heights you might expect. Therefore it’s critical that they advance storylines and hook viewers in to want to see more – and that’s something I thought they did really well. Madison Eagles returns and states her desire to get into the main event. Sarah Stock didn’t wrestle on this DVD, but did appear to set up the V30 main event. Daizee Haze’s heel turn was well executed and freshens up a character which has remained largely unchanged since V1. All that is on top of the aforementioned Danger/Perez feud – which has been as personal and hard-edged as any feud has gotten in SHIMMER history. There are some really strong matches too. The three Joshi debutants in particular looked outstanding, with Kurihara vs Nakagawa delivering at a high level and well worth going out of your way to see. A solid show to start the weekend, and with Hamada, Matsumoto, Stock and more still to be added to the talent roster for the taping you feel there is more to come…

3) Sara Del Rey vs Tenille (***)

2) Misaki Ohata vs Daizee Haze (***)

1) Ayumi Kurihara vs Tomoka Nakagawa (****)