McXal's Reviews

Upon initial inspection this Volume looks top-heavy. The three headline bouts (more on those in a moment) all look very strong, but beneath that substantially less so. That means it’s one of those shows where you want someone to step out of the pack and surprise you. Can Rachel & Jessica’s Excellent Tag Team be those surprise package performers in their Tag Title Match against the Canadian NINJAs? Does Athena back up her strong debut at V33 with a second decent showing, this time in singles action against Tenille? Will Veronika Vice, who made her return to SHIMMER looking for an opportunity last time, back up her tough talk with a break-out performance against Allison Danger? If not eyes will very much turn to the top billed matches, and they look hugely enticing. Cheerleader Melissa looks to rebound from her disappointing loss to the SHIMMER Champion at V33 in a match against Tomoka Nakagawa which could be great fun. Sara Del Rey and Ayako Hamada will renew their hostilities with each other, but this time with the ever-improving Jessie McKay thrown into the mix and #1 contendership on the line. They’ll be competing to meet the winner of the main event, which sees Madison Eagles defend the SHIMMER Title against Ayumi Kurihara, who has been phenomenal since debuting and demanding a title shot across multiple Volumes recently. Dave Prazak and Portia Perez (with contributions from Kellie Skater) handle commentary on the action, taped in Berwyn, IL.

The Rate Tank’s big mouth has gotten her into a lot of trouble recently. From bruising beatings at the hands of Mercedes Martinez to defeat in Serena Deeb’s return match. This time around she’ll be expected to deliver victory in a match she is favourite for, but she should not discount Jamilia by any means. Craft has been inconsistent and largely winless, as you would expect for her a performer of her limited experience. However, her shock win over Malia Hosaka proves she is capable of springing an upset and poses at least some threat to the indestructible Australian.

The opening bell is delayed as Skater forces Joey Eastman to tweet about her awesomeness during the introductions. Lock ups are then delayed because Kellie needs to get some extra cardio work in. Craft eventually grabs her for a JUMPING waistlock takedown! Even Jamilia can’t help but laugh at the Rate Tank’s antics, but ultimately takes her eye off the ball and is jumped cheaply as punishment. Such is her dedication to her legendary physique that Kellie even throws in some ab crunches whilst working a submission hold for good measure…before pausing for a protein shake and some push-ups. This entering Simon Dean territory now! Jamilia tries to defeat her with a sunset flip out of the corner…which seemingly angers Kellie for the first time and provokes her into a flurry of mounted MMA strikes. She finishes Craft off with a Buzzsaw Kick then a sliding Blockbuster at 06:38

Rating - ** - Not all of this was necessarily to my taste, but I can see the merits of this as an opening match. Skater is an entertaining character, and her comedy stuff contained within this was legitimately funny and drew reactions out of a crowd needing a pick-me-up having already sat through an entire show at this taping already. Craft played her part well too, and delivered a largely error-free performance (although that will have gone under the radar as this was very much the Rate Tank’s show). 

As I discussed during my V33 review, this weekend is another soft reset on Melanie’s career direction within SHIMMER. Once again she is a solo act, seeking a purpose and still waiting for a definitive break-out showing that makes her a can’t-miss prospect. In many ways Leva is an example of a SHIMMER newcomer who has actually overtaken her in terms of relevance. She may lack the physical size and gifts of Cruise, but she is a positive, likeable and energetic worker who has already worked equally good but wholly different matches with the likes of Malia Hosaka and Allison Danger. Can Bates score a huge win here, or does Cruise deliver and make a statement that she is a force to be reckoned with on the SHIMMER undercard? Leva is in Iron Man-themed attire here. Is this the debut of her cosplay gimmick in SHIMMER? 

Melanie takes exception to Bates being more popular than her and gets the match started by jumping her from behind. Leva’s response is predictably feisty, injecting bundles of energy into proceedings but looking completely unable of doing any real damage to her much larger opponent. The spinning sidewalk slam crushes Iron Leva for a close nearfall. The crowd try to rally Bates by singing the riff to Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ as well which is brilliant. She desperately struggles to execute a crucifix pin on Melanie…and is quickly planted into the corner with a huge boot as punishment. Next Cruise counters a running crossbody block into the swinging front slam for another 2. She pulled Bates up like she had designs on doing even greater damage after that move…but then completely underwhelms by putting her in a stall-for-time chinlock. It’s little things like that which really hold Melanie Cruise back right now. Leva hits what I believe would go on to become the Critical Confirmation for 2…but then gets dumped again with Cruise Control. Melanie gets the win at 05:24

Rating - ** - These early Leva Bates performances in SHIMMER are really fun to watch. The organic rapport she has already developed with the live crowds really enhance all of her matches. The vocal audience and the substantial size difference between her and Cruise made this one quite the spectacle. As usual Cruise’s performance was a mix of genuine promise and frustrating naivety, but I do get why Dave is persisting with her at this point. If she wasn’t already considered as such, Leva has surely now done enough to ensure she is now classed as a SHIMMER regular.

There will actually be two goals for Nikki Roxx as she enters this match. As she publicly stated at Volume 33 that she wants to get back into the SHIMMER Title picture, her first priority will obviously be to score a big win over one of the Joshi fly-ins. She’ll also have a secondary objective of getting some payback for her good friend and tag partner Ariel – who was defeated (despite an impressive display) by Ohata at the last show.

Roxx is the taller of the two women, but Misaki has proven herself a master technician on the mat so it makes complete sense that she’d battle to take the SHIMMER veteran to the canvas as much as possible. Nikki mistakenly thinks she has the edge…but then gets swept into a version of the Calf Killer with such force that upon escaping she leaves the ring to recover. Misaki evidently fancies her chances working on Nikki’s leg and targets it again as soon as the Boston native re-enters. Quite incredibly, despite being picked apart Roxx decides she wants to make fun of her opponent’s height, which only enrages Ohata into KICKING THE SH*T out of her! Running crossbody in the corner by Ohata – flooring Nikki and leaving her in position for the Fujiwara armbar. Roxx is in complete retreat now but walks into a missile dropkick by the rampant Joshi visitor. POLISH HAMMER NAILED! Having been picked apart in a wrestling match, Nikki sensibly turns this into a fight and does her best to decapitate Misaki with a mafia kick. GERMAN SUPLEX by Ohata! CUTIE SPECIAL BY NIKKI! BARBIE CRUSHER! Huge win for Roxx at 07:33

Rating - *** - Misaki Ohata is a master at these undercard sprint matches. She never fails to entertain with her adorable little Japanese girl meets insane Japanese mat-wrestling machine act. Despite being shorter and less obviously ‘athletic’ than Roxx, she was the driving force behind everything good here. She carried the match with the logical approach that since her opponent is bigger than her, she was going to keep her on the ground and snap something. It was only when she got over-confident and abandoned that strategy to attempt big impact moves like German suplexes, that Roxx got her window of opportunity. And she took it emphatically, dropping multiple bombs that the smaller Japanese athlete simply couldn’t withstand. I really liked this and heartily recommend both of Ohata’s matches with Pretty Bitchin’ at this taping. Neither of them are long and both are packed with quality.

Still we wonder exactly what Daffney’s agenda is now. Having trashed (and subsequently lost to) her former partner and friend MsChif, but resoundingly beaten her arch rival Rachel Summerlyn we are almost waiting to see what’s next from the dark, unpredictable and dangerous veteran. Nevaeh is in the firing line tonight, herself still searching for what’s ‘next’ following Ashley Lane’s departure from SHIMMER. 

Prazak questions Daffney’s mental stability, but in her defence she seems as focussed on her in-ring work as she ever has in SHIMMER. Nevaeh survives an onslaught of unscrupulous early tactics from the veteran to hit a neckbreaker/diving lariat combo for 2. Daff Knees scores for Daff though and very nearly brings her a win in short order. She keeps aggressively kicking and kneeing Nevaeh which leaves her noticeably winded. She tries to tap Daff out with a guillotine choke…which she only escapes by pulling the referee over. As Nevaeh protects that Daff rolls her up using the tights to win at 04:54

Rating - * - I don’t know whether this genuinely was several levels beneath everything we’ve seen on the show thus far, or if I let the fact that I've never particularly related to the in-ring work of either performer cloud my judgement...but on a personal level I didn’t get much out of this. I find Daffney’s delivery of her character intriguing, at least but her wrestling has never spoken to me and I never felt that this clicked. Nevaeh is perfectly fine, but all of her best SHIMMER matches have come with opponents considerably better than Daffney. This felt rather lethargic and uninteresting sadly.

Future WWE performers collide here. Athena made her debut in a tag match at Volume 33 and had star potential written all over her. Her personality and natural athleticism really stood out. Tenille has produced some of her best matches recently, but lacks wins and her relative lack of success against fellow Australians Madison Eagles, Jessie McKay and even Kellie Skater is becoming very apparent. Could you go as far as to call this a ‘must win’ match for her?

The snap with which Athena even does the little things like locking up or delivering basic holds is hugely impressive. The precision and dynamism in her delivery makes even Tenille’s stuff look so much better than it usually does as they trade basics early. They get a little over-ambitions on a near-miss exchange, which ends when Tenille basically falls off the middle rope in trying to hit a crossbody block. ‘The Wrestling Goddess’ proudly taunts Tenille and offers up her a jaw for a free hit…so Tenille SLAPS HER HARD IN THE F*CKING FACE! Athena’s sell by bumping halfway across the ring on that was fun as well. URINAGE LUMBAR CHECK by Athena for 2! Having injured the Australian’s back the Goddess sensibly stays on it with a surfboard…which Tenille escapes leading to them both clubbing the crap out of each other from their knees. The high impact stuff keeps coming as Tenille steams into her opponent with a northern lariat…only for Athena to retaliate with a jumping enzi. Inverted DDT lands for Tenille, into the Bridging Deathlock (modified Emma-Lock). Athena has no choice but to tap at 07:19

Rating - ** - They threw a lot of mud at the wall, and plenty of good stuff stuck. There was some sloppiness, and not a whole lot of structure beyond ‘you do a move, now I’ll do a move’…but it was certainly decent enough. Athena already looks extremely good, and is one of the most exciting American talents to come into SHIMMER for some time. No wins yet for her, but she’s been the star of both her SHIMMER matches thus far. 

What a huge match this is for Veronika Vice. Her only main show appearances thus far were way back at the V19/20 taping, where she didn’t make much of an impression. She returned at Volume 33 and attempted to sneak attack Danger…although Allison has had so many young pretenders do that to her in SHIMMER history that this time she saw it coming. Instead of brawling, Veronika got on the mic and demanded an opportunity to face Allison (a self-proclaimed star maker in SHIMMER). This is the chance she wanted. Can Vice back up her big talk with a big win that would instantly make her a real ‘star in the SHIMMER sky’ (as Danger put it at V33)?

Danger hauls Vice to the deck in an attempt to take her to school, but is surprised to find that Veronika is a match for her when trading holds. Dave and Portia (it comes off as incredibly weird hearing Perez put Danger over) heavily shill Allison’s developments as a British-influenced technical wrestler as a stylistic change post-childbirth. She used it to beat Leva Bates last time, and slowly starts to control Vice with the same approach. Even when Veronika gets some distance Danger pulls out a REBOUND LUCHA ARMDRAG which pings her right out of the ring. I did not see that coming! Vice uses strikes and fights to retain a vertical base because Allison keeps tying her in knots when they go to ground. She ties Danger in the ropes and dropkicks the exposed back for 2…then counters an attempted lariat by the SHIMMER mainstay into a Bubba Bomb. Things are starting to unravel and get messy with a few very obvious mistakes being made during Allison’s hot comeback. She gets a nearfall with the Lovelace Choker…so Vice drives knees into her ribs. She grabs Danger’s trunks and rolls her up to score a shock victory at 09:16. 

Rating - ** - This was essentially the same match that Danger worked with Leva at V33, except Veronika is nowhere near as fun to watch or over with the fans. The fact that it got really sloppy in the end, and featured a frustrating finish (especially considering they’d just done Daffney using the tights a couple of matches earlier) didn’t help either. Credit once again to Danger for working hard in an attempt to make another name on the SHIMMER roster. The jury is still out on whether Vice has the chops to deliver long-term though…and after that finish one suspects we may yet see a rematch.

The fact that Summerlyn and James have barely wins of any kind on the roster to speak of yet have somehow earned a title shot probably says quite a lot about the depth (or lack thereof) of the SHIMMER tag division. The NINJAs are bundles of fun, but they are pretty much the only regular tag team of any note – and even they are now starting to be more recognisable for their singles endeavours than they are for great tag matches. Have the aforementioned singles pursuits caused them to take their eye off the ball, and let Rachel & Jessica in for something of an upset? Interestingly, this is actually a championship rematch, as the NINJAs made their first defence of the SHIMMER Tag Title against Summerlyn and James at a show in Texas earlier in their reign.

James starts with Portia and looks for instant flash pins with such gusto that the coloured feathers she wears fall out of her hair. Matthews wants to wrestle ‘the grown up’, so locks horns with Rachel and gets resoundingly beaten down. It’s a hot start for the challengers…and the schoolyard pushover spot pisses Nicole off so much that she leaves the ring to have a temper tantrum. James’ offence thus far in this match has consisted almost entirely of roll-ups, before she finally deviates from it to hit a big dropkick on Portia. She retreats to the corner apparently in real pain, with the kick having apparently exacerbated an existing back injury she has been carrying. A hush falls over the audience as there is genuine concern over Portia’s wellbeing…but of course it’s a scheme and the fans go NUTS when she explodes off the canvas and tries to break Jessica’s arm with a divorce court. The champs put a vicious beating on James’ arm as Summerlyn watches on helplessly. She survives a Fujiwara armbar just barely and comes up on the right side of the ring to make a much-needed tag to Rachel. Summerlyn immediately almost beats Nicole with a Gory Bomb for 2. Texas Cloverleaf locked in! She looks set to win the belts for her team…until Daffney runs to the ring and appears on the apron to distract her. She relinquishes the hold, and is promptly pinned by Nicole and a handful of tights. 09:32 was the time

Rating - ** - If you’re keeping count that’s now three ‘holding the tights’ finishes on this show, and two in a row. I understand the need to protect certain wrestlers even in defeat, but there’s no excuse for that. The match itself was fun, in the same way that all of the NINJAs Tag Title defences have been fun so far. They are entertaining villains and their matches never feel dull…but similarly they haven’t broken the glass ceiling and really delivered a top quality bout which marries strong in-ring action with the excellent character work that has become their staple. The Portia injury fake segment here was fantastic, and got an immense response from the live audience. But the match around it felt generic and lacking any real hook. I don’t think the champions needed a tainted victory here, either to protect the credibility of the challengers (it’s not like Rachel & Jessica gain or lose anything from this) or to enhance their heel status. It would work if Nicole had cheated to win then Daffney had come out to gloat (in keeping with the ‘you’ll always be a rookie Rachel’ angle’), or it would work if Nicole won clean as a result of Daff’s interference. Having both a cheap finish and the Daffney run in was total overkill and spoilt things.

The big question everybody wants answered here is ‘how will Melissa cope with her SHIMMER Title defeat at Volume 33’. She lost the much-hyped showdown with Madison Eagles and failed to achieve her ambition of becoming SHIMMER Champion. She returns to the ranks with a match against another of the Joshi contingent keenly aware that a win is crucial if she wants to get onto Madison’s tail again. 

Tomoka looks a LOT smaller than Melissa when they face up, but it doesn’t stop her cockily refusing a handshake. She is impressive in refusing to bend to Melissa’s whim on the canvas, although she isn’t strong enough to keep her opponent on the ground and soon finds the Cheerleader angrily targeting her back. Ever the heel, Nakagawa bites like a pitbull to get Melissa away from her. A pattern emerges with Melissa looking to dominate and overpower Tomoka only to be frustrated by just how resourceful and skilled the diminutive Japanese competitor is. BIG ELBOWS by Melissa level Tomoka…but she keeps getting up and trying to retaliate. That was a poor strategy; more sensible is her plan to stomp Cheerleader’s head into the turnbuckles. She spits a bottle of water into her opponent’s face to distort her vision (then feigns language-barrier innocence) to the ref! Melissa replies with the GIANT WHEELBARROW SWINGS INTO THE GUARDRAILS! Hilariously, Tomoka grabs one of the fans drinks (without the guy even noticing) to spit yet more fluid into Melissa’s eyes. The evil box of tricks is well and truly out now, with Tomoka going after the eyes, pulling hair, choking and pushing the referee to the very cusp of a DQ in her attempts to beatdown the woman who has appeared on every SHIMMER Volume so far. Dismissively Melissa crushes her with a stalling body slam before hooking her up for a ONE-ARM KONDO CLUTCH! That’s more damage to that back Melissa was working of course and it has now slowed Tomoka to such an extent that she can’t execute her Fisherman Suplex finish. Melissa capitalises to hit the Curb Stomp for 2. Naka fights to avoid the Kudo Driver and the Samoan Drop, then dodges behind the ref before hitting a jumping enzi/Fisherman Suplex combo! Unare Gowan COUNTERED TO THE KUDO DRIVER! Melissa wins at 12:54

Rating - *** - I’ve seen people go higher than this, so take the rating with a pinch of salt as it appears there are plenty who liked it more than I did. Not that I thought this was bad by any means. Melissa as a take no prisoners ass kicker is always great to watch. Nakagawa as a despicable heel is similarly great. The main issue I had is that I don’t think they made much attempt to mesh those two facets of their gimmicks together, and thus it didn’t feel like a particularly ‘joined up’ or cooperative match. It was still good, but it didn’t feel like they were working the same match or telling much of a story. 

Amber Gertner brings out Serena Deeb for an interview following her return to SHIMMER at the last show. She calls it an honour and a privilege to compete in SHIMMER and talks about her love for pro-wrestling, and her experience with the WWE quickly shows as she looks far more comfortable with a live microphone than the vast majority of the roster. Cue ‘Edge Of Seventeen’ and the arrival of Portia Perez to bring the mood down! She calls her a sell-out and a ‘diva freak show’ before angrily telling her she doesn’t belong in SHIMMER. Deeb lays down the challenge for Volume 35…

#1 contendership to the SHIMMER Championship is on the line here, making this the closest Sara has ever gotten to a rematch at the belt she lost to MsChif back at Volume 18. She holds impressive wins over both of her opponents, and has one of the most respectable records on the entire SHIMMER roster. She also has a win in the books over current champion Madison Eagles to give her yet more confidence. Hamada is world-travelled and hugely respected, and only has two losses to blemish her SHIMMER record book so is a natural fit in the picture for SHIMMER’s top prize. Therefore that makes the outsider Jessie McKay. A student of Eagles, her improvement over the last year or so has been remarkable. As popular as anyone with the live crowd, with an undeniably likeable babyface charm and a growingly proficient manner of structuring and executing matches to emphasise her skills, she has been hugely consistent and comes in on the back of a huge win over Nicole Matthews last time out. Can she spring a surprise, then progress to a title shot against her mentor and tag partner?

Is Hamada drunk? Her goofing around during the introductions is hysterical. She keeps jigging and dancing around after the bell rings, much to the annoyance of Del Rey who leaves the ring and calls her a clown. Sara is all business and happily takes the fight to both opponents at once with a succession of kicks. BIG SWING on Jessie, which Ayako sarcastically applauds before planting SDR with a DDT. Hamada takes over the role of aggressor to dish out dropkicks on both tree of woe’d adversaries. McKay survives and drops the Japanese competitor with a neckbreaker, but then shows her inexperience by trying to trade strikes with Del Rey and getting poleaxed with a tilta-whirl backbreaker. Flying lucha armdrag from Hamada to Del Rey! Roundhouse kick from Del Rey to McKay! DOUBLE ROPE RUN FLIPPING LUCHA ARMDRAG BY HAMADA! Jessie dodges an attempted Saito suplex by Del Rey, so Sara almost murders her with the Capo Kick instead. It leaves her free to renew hostilities with Hamada, reprising their previous singles match with some horrendously savage strike exchanges. HEAD KICK DUEL! NO SOLD! DOUBLE FLYING CROSSBODY BY JESSIE! She tries to hit something on Sara…who throws her into Hamada so instead Jessie hits a satellite DDT on her! 7 Minutes In Heaven on Del Rey…into the SCHOOL GIRL CRUSH! JESSIE WINS! Who saw that coming? 10:31 is your time

Rating - *** - If nothing else this match was completely unpredictable. From Hamada deciding to work it as a pseudo-comedy match and being thoroughly hilarious, right through to the shock conclusion which saw McKay upset the two vastly more experienced performers to set up a potential showdown with her mentor and tag partner. I’d be lying if I said that the first half of the match was focused or essential viewing, because it wasn’t. They killed time, did some neat little things but it remained superficial and devoid of any real drama. Then at around the halfway stage they threw the shackles down and went wild with big spots and it rocked. Sara and Hamada are old hands obviously, but Jessie more than held her own and pulled off a few really slick little sequences herself. Ultimately this was as rewarding as a ten minute triple threat sprint could really be…although tonally I thought it was a little questionable considering a SHIMMER Championship shot was at stake.

If the nature of her victory over Cheerleader Melissa at Volume 30 drew the ire of the fans and caused them to question Madison’s main event credentials, her two matches since then should have comprehensively erased any doubt. Her crushing win over MsChif to end the Reign Of Torment was a major statement, and she backed that up with a clean and impressive victory in her rematch with Melissa. But being SHIMMER Champion at these taping weekends is a heavy workload, and she’s back into another major main event just hours later with another dangerous challenger. Nobody has actually pinned Ayumi in SHIMMER yet, as her sole loss was a controversial count-out defeat to Daizee Haze (which she swiftly avenged at V33). Does that wave of momentum take her all the way to SHIMMER gold, or will The Punisher’s imposing start to her title reign continue?

Kurihara is considerably smaller than Eagles but has no qualms in taking the fight to her and trading holds with the champion. On the ground Madison’s height counts for little of course, and it’s clear that Ayumi backs herself to be a match for her on the canvas. She utilises an assortment of arm submissions, and wisely never strays too far from the ropes so she can grab them instantly whenever Madison counters. The challenger doesn’t look to be doing masses of damage though and gradually the size and immense technical skill of The Punisher comes to the fore. She starts targeting the neck and back in an effort to soften her up for Hell Bound. Ayumi quickens the pace and drives Eagles out of the ring…but is noticeably now nursing her back as she does so. Showing her adaptability, Eagles smartly lures Kurihara towards her on the apron before hanging her in the ropes then kicking the exposed neck. INVERTED SUPLEX wrenches that neck once more and gets the first significant nearfall of the match. ROUNDHOUSE KICK TO THE HEAD! Ayumi slumps uncomfortably to the deck, only to be dragged right back up for an Ocean Cyclone suplex. Almost running on instinct now, Kurihara unleashes a tidal wave of her trademark dropkicks to the legs, chest, face and anything else she can reach. BRAINBUSTER BY MADISON! She is decimating the Joshi challenger’s neck! And still Kurihara retaliates with palm strikes and knees. She scales the ropes, and when Eagles gives chase she sinks backwards into the HANGING ARMBAR! Octopus stretch applied…but Ayumi is so worn down Eagles literally powers free then climbs into her neck again with a lariat. CODEBREAKER by Ayumi! RUNNING DROPKICK TO THE FACE! MISSILE DEATH KICK NAILED! FOR 2! Eagles elbows the bad neck to block the Urinage…then Ayumi counters Hell Bound into a small package for 2! Shortarm Lariat bounces Kurihara’s head off the canvas but still she refuses to be pinned. URINAGE SCORES! But Ayumi is too injured to pin the champion. ELBOW STRIKE DUEL! HELL BOUND! EAGLES WINS! She retains the belt at 16:09

Rating - **** - If there were any doubts as to whether putting the SHIMMER Title on Madison was a good call, surely she has now extinguished them. In one day she has delivered two fantastic, different but equally compelling championship matches; both of which stole their respective Volume. The Madison/Melissa match had more of an intensity and more of a ‘big fight’ feel as they’d hyped that grudge match between them (and realistically nobody thought Ayumi was getting the title here), but this was arguably a better wrestling match. Having seen Madison dominate both MsChif and Melissa on the ground, having Kurihara come out and out-work Eagles made an instant statement. Eagles was thrown off her game for the opening period…before recovering strongly to inflict the neck injury which would ultimately cost Kurihara the match. They built the drama nicely, culminating in the Urinage spot where fans were audibly groaning in frustration that Kurihara wasn’t rolling over to cover due to her injuries. A nod to Dave Prazak’s booking here, as I’ve been critical of it in places on this DVD. The way he used the last set of tapings to position challengers and give his new champion two immediate, credible and much-anticipated title matches right out of the gate was very clever. He knew it was a big call taking the belt away from the popular MsChif, then not opting for the obvious change of putting the belt onto the super-over Melissa...but instead pulling the trigger on a newly-turned Madison. By having Melissa waiting in the wings as a grudge match challenger, then having Kurihara come in and dominate from debut (including showstealers against Nakagawa and Del Rey) to set her up for the next was immensely smart. After destroying MsChif and surviving these two challenges Madison starts to look a very dominant champion in a very short period of time…

Tape Rating - ** - Arguably the weakest SHIMMER show for some time. Not that it was bad at all, and the Eagles/Kurihara main event was superb (match of the weekend so far)…but this was as inconsistent and underwhelming as an undercard from this promotion has been in a while. I did flag during my intro that the card - outside of the headliners - looked a little dicey…albeit I had forgotten that Misaki Ohata is killing it in sub-ten minute sprint matches for SHIMMER. Truth be told there was a lot of skippable filler to get through. In all honesty I was actually disappointed by Melissa/Tomoka and the Sara/Jessie/Ayako triple threat as well. Both were good, but both would’ve benefited from a little more time and never quite reached the heights you might expect. If you’re selectively picking up the DVD’s this one probably isn’t necessary…but if you have the SHIMMER streaming service popping in to check out Madison/Ayumi is highly recommended.

3) Jessie McKay vs Sara Del Rey vs Ayako Hamada (***)

2) Nikki Roxx vs Misaki Ohata (***)

1) Madison Eagles vs Ayumi Kurihara (****)