McXal's Reviews

Volume 30 could be a big show. V29 was solid, introduced us to some great Joshi talents and kept multiple storylines simmering nicely – but this one could see them really boil over. The main event sees ‘Dark Angel’ Sarah Stock return to SHIMMER for the first time in two years, straight into a shot at MsChif’s SHIMMER Championship. Hiroyo Matsumoto quite literally jumps off a plane (she landed in Chicago DURING the V29 taping) and straight into the ring to face Sara Del Rey. Misaki Ohata and Jamilia Craft both want revenge on Daizee Haze for her shocking heel turn earlier in the afternoon…and there’s also Cheerleader Melissa and Madison Eagles battling for #1 contendership to face the winner of MsChif/Stock. If that weren’t enough, there’s also the conclusion to the long-standing, violent and personal feud between Allison Danger and Portia Perez as they clash in SHIMMER’s second ever Last Woman Standing Match. Dave Prazak and the aforementioned Perez are on commentary in Berwyn, IL.

After making her first main show appearance during the Allison Danger brawl segment at V29, this is Bates in-ring debut. She’ll go on to have a lengthy SHIMMER career, so it’s interesting to see where it all started. She begins where so many young female athletes have when coming into the promotion – a test against The Experience’s Malia Hosaka. Malia wasn’t booked for V29, so she’ll be itching to prove a point at the experience of the new talent here.

Leva is FULL of energy, and an immediately likeable presence. That, presumably, is why Hosaka jumps her during the introductions and gets in a few cheap shots. Bates, a student of the Dudley Boyz, handles it well and uses her speed to recover. She goes after the veteran’s arm, demonstrating some impressive mat ability to go alongside her dynamic persona. Malia tries to choke her…but again Leva has answers and batters her back to the ground with palm strikes. In the end the experienced Hosaka has no choice but to rake the eyes of the youngster just to keep her at bay. She then puts her down with a straight HEADBUTT. This is aggressive as we’ve seen Hosaka – screaming abuse at the debutant, pounding on her in the corner and ripping out chunks of her hair as she tosses her around. A swinging neckbreaker scores…but she takes too much time climbing the ropes allowing Bates to hit an Iconoclasm. Diving leg drop misses, allowing Hosaka to hit her Chickenwing Facebuster and pick up the win at 07:14

Rating - *** - I’m not going to argue that this was an all-time classic, but I will say that for it’s spot on the card and the purposes it needed to serve I thought they crushed it. Bates looked awesome on debut, full of tenacity and spunk – she was generously given lots of rope by Malia and didn’t look uncomfortable at all. There have been SHIMMER performers literally spend years in the company without looking as good as she did. And this was also one of my favourite Hosaka matches too. Her gimmick is supposed to be a cranky veteran – but it’s not often that her wrestling style actually reflects that. Usually it seems minimalist, reliant on the usual spots and generally a way to kill time between getting rises out of the audience with her big personality. Here everything she did FELT cranky. Leva dominated for the first few minutes, and as a result Malia really sold it like she wanted to beat the sh*t out of her. Unspectacular, but strong opening matches isn’t something SHIMMER always excels in. This was one of the better ones of late.

Daizee Haze (now wearing an EVIL green ensemble) calls Ohata’s win ‘beginner’s luck’, then delivers an OUTSTANDING promo berating Jamilia Craft for daring to get in her face at V29. She wants to take her student ‘back to school’ tonight…and introduces Tomoka Nakagawa (since she knows Misaki well) to do just that.

I was interested to learn from reading live reviews of these tapings that Rachel Summerlyn is not a particularly popular worker with the fanbase. Not that I was expecting to her to have great swathes of support, but I thought her solo performance at V27 against the Home Wreckers after Daffney abandoned her was commendable, Daffney did a great job of being the heel in their recent interactions, and I don’t think she’s really been given many opportunities to sink or swim on the merits of her in-ring work. Against that back drop I’m curious to see whether her performances are genuinely that bad, or if it’s just a case of her really not clicking with the SHIMMER audience. After teaming with her mentor Daffney failed spectacularly, she now brings in another debutant (Jessica James) in an attempt to get another team going. Their first opponents are the similarly new duo of Cruise and Social, who lost to Pretty Bitchin’ (Ariel and Nikki Roxx) at the last show…before appearing as Portia Perez’s hired goons in her quest to end Allison Danger’s career. In short, lots of women with potential but not much direction right now – so they could all do with a victory.

James isn’t tall at all, prompting the exceedingly tall Melanie Cruise to call her a midget clobber her. No need to write her off though, she uses a battery of kicking combinations to fell the taller woman – and is then joined by Summerlyn for a double tackle. Cruise counters a flying crossbody into a swinging front slam though, leaving her motionless on the mat. Annie doesn’t have the size or grace of her partner, but she is an angry, angry woman and relishes in putting the boots to James in the corner. Jessica adorns herself with colourful feathers and tassels, and they start to litter the canvas as she suffers at the hands of her opponents whilst being kept out of reach of the waiting Summerlyn. She hangs in there though, eventually landing a dropkick on Social then making a hot tag. Rachel uses James as a weapon – swinging her like an athletics hammer into a big kick on Social for 2. Cruise tosses her to the floor though, and they land the Cruise Control on James to win it at 08:17

Rating - * - Not a complete bust by any means (James looked fun on debut, and Cruise is steadily improving), but this was very formulaic and the live audience just didn’t have enough reason to care about what they were doing. The wrestling was bland and unimaginative, the ‘heels’ of Cruise and Social aren’t established by any means (and aren’t the most charismatic or room-filling of villains), whilst the ‘babyface’ team featured a debutant and her partner whom is disliked by a significant minority of the live crowd. Nothing about this stood out…

Cheerleader Melissa is backstage with MsChif, and she points out that despite being champion Chif has been the one pinned in their last two losses as a tag team (including the V29 main event). She respectfully puts their team on hiatus and asks for a shot at the SHIMMER Championship…bringing Sarah Stock in to point out that the champ could be her by the end of the night. Madison Eagles barges in next and tells Melissa that if she hasn’t won the belt after thirty shows, she never will! MsChif (who hasn’t said a word whilst everyone else discusses her future) finally pipes up. She suggests Eagles and Melissa have a match tonight, with the winner of their match getting to face the winner of her match with the Dark Angel for the belt.

In recent shows Cat has shown significant improvement. Finally in control of her gimmick and the style she wants to work, all of her recent matches have been enjoyable. But after back to back losses to Mercedes Martinez and Jessie McKay a win here becomes important. She can’t afford a third consecutive loss against a bigger name on the SHIMMER roster if she wants to progress. LuFi is still recovering after failing to win the title from MsChif twice (at V26 and V28).

No feeling out period for these two – they come out of the gate throwing big strikes and only pause for breath when Cat bails to avoid an early Burning Hammer! Power hits a diving front slam, targeting the back of Lu that everyone in SHIMMER knows is a target. LuFi hits a cannonball senton, but even at such an early stage is visibly hurt after executing it. BACK DROP DRIVER! That sent Power flying – only for both to remain down due to Fisto’s injury problems. Michinoku Driver gets 2 before a flurry of kicks to Cat’s head and neck. Only for Power to grab the injured neck of her opponent once again and muscle her into a bulldog. SLAP TO THE FACE! NO SOLD! GERMAN BY LU! Burning Hammer blocked for a second time…but Fisto blocks the Cat Nap as well. BURNING HAMMER NAILED! LuFisto goes 2-0 for the weekend at 08:05

Rating - *** - These two were beating the snot out of each other quite literally from the opening bell. They packed so much into such a short time allowance, that I came away wondering how good this could actually have been with just a few more minutes to play with. It’s an issue which will dog many SHIMMER cards, especially now the Joshi invasion has begun – with so many wrestlers coming in that line-ups are filled with high numbers of short matches just so everyone gets a chance to perform. Given the time constraints they were under I don’t know what more they could’ve done.

The Rate Tank continues to take on all comers no matter who they are, how hard they hit and how long they’ve been in SHIMMER. After competitive showings against Allison Danger and Cheerleader Melissa, Skater now steps into the ring with the Latina Sensation – a mainstay of the promotion since her epic with Sara Del Rey at Volume 1 put the company on the mat. Will it be a huge win for the young Australian, or does Mercedes chalk up a third consecutive win and move a step closer to another SHIMMER Championship opportunity?

Skater fears nobody, smiling and posing even as Martinez mouths that she wants to ‘kill’ her. Martinez effortlessly out-wrestles her…so Kellie starts doing push-ups. DEATH CHOPS BY MERCEDES! Then ruthless kicks to the torso knocking all the wind out of the Rate Tank’s sails. Kellie quite incredibly gets back to her feet and actually takes her opponent down with a lariat. She doles out kicks and chops of her own before mounting Martinez for a camel clutch to ‘make her humble’! RUNNING ELBOW knocks Kellie clean off her feet…and when she gets up Mercedes flies at her again with a brutal mafia kick aimed at the ribs. When Skater refuses to tap to a butterfly stretch on the mat the Latina Sensation opts to just start punching her square in the face. More chops and slaps follow, leaving welts and marks all over poor Kellie’s body…but she just keeps getting up. Bull Run countered to a small package for 2 as well! Sadly her reward is just to get brutalised with yet more disgusting chops and elbows. Her chest is horrific now! Spinebuster nailed…and STILL the Rate Tank doesn’t quit. Skater kicks at Mercedes’ bad knee then chops the sh*t out of her as well. KOBASHI MACHINE GUN CHOPS BY MARTINEZ! BULL RUN! Mercedes wins at 08:13

Rating - *** - Mercedes’ treatment of Skater was so violent it got tough to watch. This was a great progression to Kellie’s ‘indestructible’ gimmick, as she went up against an opponent who genuinely did seem like she wanted to destroy her. The strikes by both women were as stiff as anything we’ve seen in the thirty-Volume history of SHIMMER, and the story they told of a dominant alpha female trying to teach the young pup a lesson was very relatable. Had there been even a hint of a possibility that Kellie could actually win this I’d have gone even higher on my rating. It was hard-hitting, well-structured and exciting…but I never felt like Skater actually could upset Mercedes. Enjoyable though it was, it never shook off the impression that Skater’s spirited showing was just delaying the inevitable.

Nikki Roxx is maddeningly inconsistent. At her best she’s extremely good; her matches with Kong, Lacey and Sara Del Rey cementing her rise from undercard beginner to accepted top tier act were really enjoyable. But she’ll lurch from being a reliable and consistent performer for a few shows, then pull back and put on solid but unremarkable stuff. Getting the chance to work one of the new Joshi girls is a real opportunity to re-establish her credentials as a main event talent. Ayumi’s debut match with Tomoka Nakagawa at the last show was must-see. Can she follow it with her second big win of the weekend?

Kurihara is among the most instantly likeable wrestlers I’ve ever watched. This is a different task for her since Nikki has a size and strength advantage, and it’s interesting to see how she approaches this when compared to the Nakagawa match. Early on she closes the distance on the Boston-native in an attempt to minimise her ability to use her natural advantages. A grounded abdominal stretch piles the pressure on, but Roxx always has the power to find an escape route. Ayumi is a tricky customer though and repeatedly finds clever ways to trap her opponent in an assortment of submission holds. Roxx badly needs to get on her feet…but instead is dumped in the corner for a running dropkick. At last she does fight back to a vertical base – and instantly profits by flooring the Joshi star with a big boot. MISSILE DROPKICK TO THE FACE by Ayumi gets 2. Urinage blocked into the Bimbo Plant! Codebreaker/running dropkick combo by Kurihara for 2! Cutie Special by Roxx…and that’s a two as well. Nikki sets up the Barbie Crusher, but Ayumi counters into a pinning cradle and clings on for victory in a time of 10:48

Rating - *** - In the interest of clarity I considered only going to 2* here. They didn’t give us a bad match by any means, but it did lack all the vigour and liveliness of the preceding Martinez/Skater bout. I don’t mind a good, mat-based match, but I do like my mat work to go somewhere. If you’re being realistic this felt like what it was – a ten minute match between relatively unfamiliar opponents just getting to grips with each other and not trying anything too complex. There was something of a plot behind it; Kurihara keeping the match on the ground since Nikki was bigger and stronger, but it was only in the latter stages when they eased up on the meandering ground stuff and began delivering their signature moves that it really became lively. 

Both Misaki and Jamilia are gunning for the Haze here after she viciously attacked them at V29. Frustrated at her loss to Ohata, Daizee refused a handshake and instead opted to beat the visiting Joshi performer into the canvas. When her student, Jamilia, came out to intervene, Haze called her disrespectful and beat her down for her insubordination too. Daizee has recruited Tomoka as her partner because she has experience working Ohata before…and they seem to have clicked because Nakagawa looks like she’s having as much fun as Daizee basking in the boos of the Berwyn crowd. This is a big match for ‘Jumping Jamilia’ so soon into her SHIMMER career…hell, her wrestling career entirely. 

The heels smirk as they offer a handshake, and everyone in the building can see they are going to jump their opponents. It inevitably happens, with Haze loudly admonishing Craft for defying her ‘teacher’. Jamilia gets some moves in on Nakagawa then wisely tags out to her more experienced partner. Misaki unleases a barrage of dropkicks aimed at Tomoka’s arm. It opens up a seriously injury, leaving Tomoka with no choice but to rake Jamilia’s eyes then tag out. Haze is extremely aggressive with her student – a tactic Nakagawa is firmly on board with as proven when she spits a plume of water into the teenager’s face. But Jumping Jamilia hits a back suplex on her teacher, meaning she can tag out to Ohata just when all hope seemed lost. FLYING CROSSBODY from Ohata to Haze gets 2. But Tomoka kicks her Joshi rival in the head, leaving her vulnerable to Daizee’s German suplex. Diving…something by Craft, which looked appalling (she was basically slipping off before she finished climbing the ropes) and is generously sold by Nakagawa anyway. Haze isn’t impressed and polishes off her student with a bridging tiger suplex at 08:26

Rating - ** - The limited experience of one of the participants meant this was always going to be a tough assignment. Other than that one botch (albeit a major one) at the end Craft held up her end of the deal well in all fairness. This felt a lot more limited in scope and one dimensional than some of the preceding matches. Despite having some of the most obvious emotional hooks (Haze’s heel turn, mentor turning on student, foreign star interest), it didn’t feel like what they were doing really connected. Having said all that, these SHIMMER tapings are tough on the body. Nakagawa in particular had an extremely gruelling match earlier in the day at the V29 taping. Getting your gear on and getting back out there can’t be easy. This felt a whole lot more like establishing the new heel Haze character (and a potential team with Tomoka?) rather than delivering a great match.

These two typify the new breed of SHIMMER star. Both international talent (Matthews from Canada, McKay from Australia), both young, both improving at a staggering rate – they’ve worked their way up from being little-known upstarts to serious players. They’ve also impressed with their ability to hang with the more senior members of the roster. The one thing they both lack, however, is big-time singles wins. Having said that, Nicole is one half of the Tag Champions and at Volume 29 scored the biggest victory of her SHIMMER career when she pinned SHIMMER Champion MsChif to conclude the main event. Gold around her waist and a win over the champ means Nicole is now a real player. Jessie needs a win here to progress to similar stature for herself.

SLAP IN THE FACE NICOLE! It is on! Jessie furiously gives chase…but then attacks her arm when she comically misses an attempted elbow drop. Edge-O-Matic drops her again, before McKay tries to take her head off with a sliding Meteora. Matthews retorts with a violent crossbody against the ropes, seemingly injuring Jessie’s ribs. Nicole noticed it too – and stretches the ribs around the ringpost right afterwards. Everything she does now is aimed at the abs and ribs, so much so that even executing a headscissors takedown seemingly winds the Australian. After every move Matthews lands, she follows it with a simple punt to the ribs or stomach meaning Jessie just isn’t getting a chance to recover. Swinging neckbreaker lands for McKay…then a back suplex for 2! She forgets to sell the ribs so badly even a sarcastic smark douche from the crowd yells at her to sell them better. ELBOWS! CHOPS! KICKS TO THE RIBS BY MATTHEWS! NO SOLD BY JESSIE! SCHOOL GIRL CRUSH FOR 2! Boyfriend Stealer blocked…so McKay roundhouse kicks the Canadian Ninja in the head. Impressive strength from Nicole though as she retaliates with a fallaway slam. LARIAT TO THE RIBS! MCKAY KICKS OUT! Matthews is frustrated and erroneously thinks going to the top rope is a good idea. McKay chases her up and hits a FRANKENSTEINER! BOTH WOMEN DOWN! McKay clutches her ribs as she hauls her aching body to her feet…but swings wildly and gets dragged into a PUMPHANDLE GUTBUSTER! VANCOUVER MANOEUVRE! Matthews wins at 11:21

Rating - **** - On a card brimful of Joshi stars from Japan, it’s the two young guns who were already carving out niches for themselves on the roster that now threaten to steal the show. This was just the match we needed to see from them. Matthews proves she has plentiful wrestling skill to go alongside her big mouth and brash attitude, whilst McKay provided another one of those gutsy, courageous and downright likeable performances that are fast becoming her staple. Nicole has fast become one of my favourite SHIMMER athletes (filling the ‘cocky heel who can go in the ring’ spot vacated by Lacey). She is still young and has some rough edges, but she works so hard and so clearly ‘gets it’. Her execution isn’t always perfect, but the pacing and structure of her matches always feels on point. 

It wasn’t initially expected that Hiroyo would be competing on this show. Just 24 hours earlier she was competing in Japan, so had only been booked to join her fellow Joshi stars at tomorrow’s taping. But such was her desperation to perform to the US fans, that she hopped onto a plane after her Japanese booking, flew halfway across the world to the United States, landed during V29, got a car straight to the building and now faces the first ever SHIMMER Champion. There is no way a schedule like that won’t have diminished her capabilities somewhat. Can she overcome fatigue, jet-lag and an unfamiliar setting, or will the ace of SHIMMER since the very first show be too tough an opponent?

Hiroyo smiles and waves to the crowd as she enters the arena…then takes everyone by surprise by getting right into Del Rey’s face and shoving her. Sara isn’t pleased and fiercely chops the presumably jet-lagged visiting star. More gasps from the audience come moments later when Matsumoto actually over-powers Sara in a test of strength. Once again Del Rey reacts badly and does her best to snap her ankle with an anklelock. Del Rey tries a suplex…but Hiroyo stands there and simply refuses to go over. It looks rough, but is again a striking visual – especially when seconds later she puts Sara in a camel clutch and claws at her face whilst broadly grinning to the SHIMMER fans. It provokes Death Rey into almost taking her head off with elbow smashes. KICK TO THE FACE! Like, right across the jaw! And still Matsumoto keeps smiling and charging back into the fight. Mafia kicks by Sara…MISSILE DROPKICK by Hiroyo! Back Drop Driver blocked with a heel kick, then a GERMAN SUPLEX for 2 by Sara. Tokaido Otoshi by Matsumoto for her own nearfall. Still no Back Drop Driver for Hiroyo, so the clocks the former champion with a spinning back fists instead. Del Rey tries to counter the Back Drop Driver for a third time…and nearly loses to a flash pin when Hiroyo counters back. ROUNDHOUSE KICK! PILEDRIVER! Del Rey wins at 08:42

Rating - *** - Any chance we could get a rematch on this when Hiroyo isn’t jet-lagged and hasn’t been in America for a matter of a couple of hours? This rocked, mostly in how it switched up the formula of so many Sara Del Rey matches we’ve seen in SHIMMER. Usually SDR is the aggressor, the powerhouse and the dominant force. She still tried to be here, but Hiroyo just wasn’t playing ball (quite literally in the case of that suplex spot). Sporting an oddly deranged smile throughout, she continually roughed up Del Rey and visibly took her off her game. In the end it took Sara’s new ‘big occasion’ finish, the Piledriver, to secure victory. The fact that Hiroyo was even willing to compete at this event is remarkable. That she delivered a match of this level is even more so. Had it gone a little longer (and therefore hadn’t felt like they were sprinting through everything) I’d have gone higher on my rating. This show has been so much fun…

Only once before has a SHIMMER feud been deemed so violent that this stipulation has been called for – that being when MsChif and Cheerleader Melissa where tearing each other to pieces. The rivalry between Danger and Portia tops even that. It started so innocuously, when Portia took offence to Allison putting Jennifer Blake over as the best young wrestler coming out of Canada – without mentioning either of the Canadian NINJAs. Since then it has continually escalated – from Portia deliberately attacking Danger’s shoulder injury, to trying to attack her when she was in the ring to announce a SHIMMER hiatus due to pregnancy. Even when Allison returned from giving birth Perez was there to haunt her – choking her savagely into unconsciousness at back-to-back shows, then at V29 handcuffing her to the ropes for another assault whilst Nicole Matthews, Melanie Cruise and Annie Social all stood guard and prevented anyone from helping. When this started Portia felt slighted and was probably looking to make her name at the veteran’s expense. But this feud has been raging for so long her career is now in a drastically different place. She is now one half of the SHIMMER Tag Champions. She is now at a level where she can credibly main event shows (as V29 proved). This is now as much about Danger’s pride and bloodthirsty lust for revenge as it is Portia’s want to put herself over a SHIMMER ‘name’.

Danger shoves a camera man aside as she sprints down the aisle, skipping the usual introductions in order to get the fight started. She knees her head into the railings inside the first thirty seconds! A fan hands her a belt hoping she will get some payback for Portia’s repeated attempts to choke her, but Perez gains possession of it and starts choking her again. Of course, Portia speaks intensely personal trash as she beats Danger down…before flogging her with the leather belt. Lovelace Choker blocked, so Danger smashes the Ninja off the apron to the floor instead. Into the crowd goes Perez, brawling all the way to the Eagles Club bar at the back of the building. Into the merch tables the young Canadian goes next, sending 8x10’s flying in all directions. They visit the same wall that MsChif was busted open against in her match with Melissa (which Prazak references) still furiously trading blows. Back to ringside they go with Portia hanging Allison by the throat over the rails. FLYING CROSSBODY OFF THE STAIRS INTO THE FRONT ROW! Danger looks like she’s been knocked out and has stopped returning fire as Portia bounces her head off objects all over ringside. And still she keeps talking trash about Allison and her daughter. DANGER SPITS IN HER FACE! SUPERKICK BY PORTIA! Allison is bleeding it seems, but still hits an STO. Nicole Matthews tries to run in and help Portia. JENNIFER BLAKE IS HERE! She and Nicole brawl around ringside! SUPERKICK ON THE FLOOR BY GIRL DYNAMITE! LOVELACE CHOKER OFF THE APRON from Danger to Perez. But the Canadian refuses to be counted out! STO ON A CHAIR! OLD SCHOOL EXPULSION ON A CHAIR! PORTIA IS DEAD! Bryce Remsburg counts her out, declaring Danger the winner at 14:56

Rating - *** - I flipped and flopped between 3* and 4* on this. As a pay-off to the long-term story these two have been telling it was extremely satisfying. Bryce Remsburg, the ref who stopped Portia from attacking the then-pregnant Allison was the right choice to officiate. Bringing back Jennifer Blake for an unadvertised appearance (though I’ve read it was spoiled inside the building by fans having seen her and her merch being available for sale) was fitting given her involvement right at the start of this feud. Having Nicole Matthews (unsuccessfully) run back-up for Portia, as she has done for so long, was one of those instances where run-ins and over-booking made perfect sense. It felt heated throughout and the tone was largely correct for the type of grudge match they were going for. My issue comes with the lengthy crowd brawling segment that took up the majority of the contest. I’m on record as not being a particularly big fan of fights through the crowd – especially when they are used they were here; that is largely as a filler segment. Fighting in the crowd gives off the impression you hate each others guts, and the live audience thinks it is great since they get closer to the action. But in the clinical light of day, viewing years later on DVD, I didn’t feel they were very imaginative with it. Melissa and MsChif did some fun things with the uniquely intimate venue. There wasn’t much attempt to innovate, or do much of anything bar one spot with the guardrails. That was disappointing. I’d also liked to have seen Portia go after Danger’s shoulder injury at some point – if only because that was a major turning point in the intensity of their rivalry and I wanted to see it referenced. This was a good match – with a hugely enjoyable and cathartic crescendo. The feud has done it’s job in that Portia Perez is now accepted as one of the top heels in the company. Danger now gets the rewarding babyface victory and they can both move on to new things. I’m mildly disappointed because I’m sure they were capable of better, but similarly I can acknowledge how damn hard they worked – and the obvious qualities in what they did deliver. 

New theme music for Madison; the atmospheric ‘Prelude 12/21’ by AFI, which I really dig. This could be a hell of a match if they get enough time. As we saw earlier, by decree of SHIMMER Champion MsChif, this is a #1 contendership match. The winner of this will get a title shot against the winner of the MsChif/Stock main event. Eagles returned to SHIMMER in earnest this weekend and after a comprehensive victory over Sassy Stephie, building on the confidence she gained from pushing veterans Sara Del Rey and Mercedes Martinez to the limit last time she made the trip to Berwyn she threw her hat into the ring for title contendership. But Melissa feels she should be behind her. The Cheerleader has kept a respectful distance from her some-time partner MsChif. She has been on a tear though, not just racking up multiple wins but also racking up legitimate MOTYC’s against the likes of Wesna Busic and LuFisto. She can’t suppress her urge to get the belt any longer, and wants to win this one before renewing the rivalry with MsChif that almost ended both their careers back when SHIMMER first began.

Eagles has more of a heel-ish edge to her persona for this Volume. The quality is high as the two elite level competitors probe each other for weaknesses on the canvas. Madison has obvious range and reach, but Cheerleader is the stronger of the two. Sensibly Melissa thinks about targeting the Aussie’s legs to neutralise the height difference, with more heel tendencies from Madison as she pulls the hair to escape. She retreats to the floor to stop Melissa building up momentum…before returning with a BIG SLAP! Melissa kicks her into the guardrail! And amazing Eagles is so tall she can retaliate by kicking Melissa in the head FROM THE FLOOR! Camel clutch applied, with no clean break when Cheerleader makes the ropes. Madison peppers her opponent with kicks to the neck and spine. STF locked in, still with handfuls of Melissa’s hair! The aggression and edge to this showing from Eagles is really something. Hell Bound blocked…Air Raid Crash blocked…so Cheerleader rocks her with a Samoan drop. But the California-native is too beaten up to capitalise right away. CURB STOMP when she does! STRIKE FLURRY BY MADISON! SLAPS AND CHOPS TO THE FACE BY MELISSA! Eagles escapes that assault in the corner with a running senton for 2. They battle back and forth going for finishers…then stand in the middle of the ring clubbing each other with lariats until they both go down. Eagles plays possum and lies flat on the canvas, then as Melissa approaches she latches on for a small package…with her feet on the ropes. To the surprise and disappointment of the entire arena (who love Melissa), Eagles gains a tainted win at 13:25

Rating - *** - That finish was extremely frustrating. Before that this was comfortably the highest quality wrestling on the entire show. Not necessarily the best match or most engaging story – but for sheer quality of execution this was SO good. They had great chemistry as opponents, delivered some really enjoyable and purposeful mat-wrestling exchanges and threw in genuine aggression at all times. The subtle build on Eagles’ villainous ways was fun too. It started with new music and arguing with the crowd, and escalated constantly until she full-on cheated to win. They left a lot out there and have plenty of material still to explore if we get a rematch. Personally I’d have booked this to go longer. I understand the cheap finish – in that it instantly establishes Madison as a heel, and with the fans so invested in Melissa now and desperate for her to see her storied SHIMMER career encompass a title reign, the emotion of seeing her screwed out of a shot will be raw. I do feel it would’ve been more impactful and gotten a more time to tell their story first. 

Melissa is beloved by the SHIMMER audience, so they react furiously to Madison’s dastardly manner of victory. 

It’s a welcome return to the Dark Angel, who we haven’t seen for circa two years. She walks straight into a title shot by virtue of a) being awesome and b) defeating MsChif on her first night in the company back at Volume 11. Stock has fought and beaten most of the bigger names in the promotion too. Aside from MsChif, she also has wins over Cheerleader Melissa, Daizee Haze and Lacey (and I believe also scored a victory over Sara Del Rey during a losing effort in a 2/3 Falls Match). An elite level athlete all over the world, despite having been away from the Eagles Club for a long time she is an immediately credible challenger to Chif – who has beaten all comers thus far during her dominant Reign Of Torment…

Even MsChif can’t suppress her smile at the fans throwing green and black streamers into the ring for her introduction. Despite her defeat in the V29 main event she looks full of confidence even though she has her hands full trying to get to grips with the ultra-slick Dark Angel as they grapple. The opening 90-seconds are astonishingly fluid. Nobody has the edge on the ground…so they decide to start chopping each other instead. ROPE RUN REBOUND FLYING CROSSBODY by Stock! So Ms knees her in the back and hits Gateway To Annihilation into a standing moonsault for 2. Unhallowed Grace moonsault landed too – something she doesn’t utilise very often. RUNNING SOMERSAULT RICOCHET LUCHA ARMDRAG from the Dark Angel who really is a treat to watch. She attempts a pumphandle powerslam…only for Chif to counter right back at her with a swinging DDT. Everything these two women try their opponent has a counter for – with MsChif lining up the Desecrator only to nearly fall to defeat as Sarah counters to a bridging pin. Once more Stock tries throwing herself off the ropes but this time the champ cuts her off on the turnbuckles. AVALANCHE GHANA-REA FOR 2! Descrator blocked…Tiger Driver blocked! CHICKENWING SLAM by Stock! LA REIENERA! MsChif flips out of the Tiger Driver INTO THE DESECRATOR! She retains at 09:25

Rating - *** - I’ve probably commented that I wish a match had gotten more time over and over again across the course of the last two shows, so I’ll try to avoid that here even though the same holds true. The nine minutes (and change) we did get were utterly fantastic though, and a timely reminder of why it’s such a shame we don’t/didn’t get to see more of Sarah Stock in SHIMMER. She is so slick, and her lucha-influenced style is drastically different from how so many other workers on the roster perform. She and MsChif delivered a hard-fought and frantically paced match, each enjoying periods of superiority only to find that their super-talented opponent had answers to the questions being posed. The pendulum swung multiple times, before culminating in an extremely impressive win for MsChif. This was a real statement, with her needing to survive this weekend of tapings to make it two a full two years as champion. Given that this was amongst her most impressive wins to date, the question very much remains whether anyone can stop her.

Tape Rating - *** - The first two shows from this taping have been a blast to watch. They are very much in the ‘new format’, whereby I’ll frequently come away feeling a little frustrated that certain matches or workers didn’t get more time…but for the most part these shows are now three hours of fast-paced, guns-blazing matches featuring a huge assortment of ultra-talented women. Taping four shows in a single weekend is a real slog, and clearly they need to be looked after. It would be easy to book the likes of Sara Del Rey, Cheerleader Melissa or MsChif into four twenty-plus minute main event level bouts and flog them into the ground…but that would risk injury and an obvious depreciation in their performance levels. Instead the goal seems to be book as many talented workers as they can possibly afford (Kong was actually left off these shows because the budget just didn’t stretch to bringing her in on top of Stock, Blake, the Joshi girls, Hamada etc), and protect them more by giving them less ring time. The reality is there is still plenty of great stuff. MsChif/Stock, though brief, was an adrenaline-rush of a main event. Portia and Danger fought all over the building. Hiroyo’s debut was intensely watchable. And the Matthews/McKay match was an undoubted showstealer which is well worth checking out and sure to be rematched on future Volumes. Not much falls below 3* level on this show, multiple matches flirt with going up to 4*…it breezed by and was an easy one to review and/or recommend. Volumes 31/32 tomorrow should be awesome too.

3) Allison Danger vs Portia Perez (***)

2) Mercedes Martinez vs Kellie Skater (***)

1) Nicole Matthews vs Jessie McKay (****)