McXal's Reviews

SHIMMER returns for 2011 with another absolutely stacked taping weekend featuring four shows, major title matches, returning Joshi talent and the debuts of some major new talents. Headlining our first Volume of the weekend is the hotly anticipated SHIMMER Title showdown between champion Madison Eagles and challenger Mercedes Martinez, who hasn’t lost a SHIMMER match in ten Volumes. The Tag Titles are also up for grabs as the Canadian NINJAs face the ‘Seven Star Sisters’ of Misaki Ohata and the returning Hiroyo Matsumoto. We’ll also get a grudge match between Daizee Haze and Serena Deeb, Ayako Hamada against Jessie McKay which could steal the show and the ultra-talented youngster Athena getting to test her skills against Cheerleader Melissa. New talent debuts come thick and fast too with Christina Von Eerie and Courtney Rush making their first appearances, but most attention will go towards the newcomers from the United Kingdom as ‘Sweet’ Saraya Knight and her daughter Britani (aka WWE’s Paige) arrive in SHIMMER…and they’re bringing back Rebecca Knox (the future Becky Lynch) as their manager too! Dave Prazak and Portia Perez are in Berwyn, IL.

Kellie Skater is the first face through the curtain, getting a huge reaction. She’s ready for another open challenge, since her last one was so successful that Amazing Kong hasn’t come back (she’d signed with WWE by this point). Her latest challenge is answered by the returning MsChif…

MsChif has only wrestled once since losing the SHIMMER Championship, in a somewhat strange and uncomfortable match against her former friend Daffney. We still haven’t truly seen the impact losing the title has had on her…and that’s now coupled with the fact that a last-minute shoulder injury meant she missed the last tapings entirely. She’s back, and will want to get right back into the title picture with a win over the Rate Tank.

This crowd is HOT and go nuts for MsChif’s return. Kellie decides she’d rather compare workouts than wrestle…which MsChif goes along with for a while, before screaming in her face in the middle of some push-ups then moonsaulting across the exposed back. Skater uses her under-rated MMA strike arsenal to battle back, now credibly taking the fight to the former SHIMMER Champion. Camel clutch applied, and it’s notable that Skater also has a high hook on both arms to test out how healthy that previously injured shoulder of Chif’s really is. MsChif starts going for flash pins in a bid to escape the match with a win; testament to the quality of the Rate Tank’s work. They trade squats and strikes in the corner, where Chif hits a successful of double stomps. Inverted Desecrator (leg-hook facebuster) gets 2, only for Kellie to pop back to her feet and land a flipping neckbreaker then a superkick to the ribs. DESECRATOR! MsChif wins at 07:23

Rating - *** - MsChif gets the popular return victory, but it was Skater’s performance that carried this match. She has such star potential, as her gimmick is solid gold but she can really work too. The story they worked here was excellent; lots of comedy threads thrown in but a core theme of Skater forcing MsChif to take her seriously. She out-struck MsChif, opened up an injury on the back, tested out the healed shoulder. Arguably Kellie’s best offensive performance in any of these open challenges. 

EARLIER TODAY – Mercedes Martinez stands in the middle of the ring before the building opens and reminisces on her five year SHIMMER career. That history includes a win over Madison Eagles, which she plans to repeat this afternoon and finally get her hands on the SHIMMER Title.

This is a main show debut for both women. Mena was a regular on the Sparkle pre-show matches, and I’m informed by Prazak is actually a member of an early version of Truth Martini’s House Of Truth stable on the Midwest indy scene. Rush had a strong first year in NCW Femmes Fatales in Canada, and now makes her way to this promotion like so many other talented Canadians have before her. This is well before she became Rosemary in Impact, so she has none of the crazy gimmick in place at this stage in her career.

A decent portion of the audience are familiar with Rush’s work and she gets a decent welcome to the Eagles Club. Libra wants to use her size to her advantage but is dazzled by Courtney’s array of Taz-style suplex throws…which actually force her to roll out of the ring in a daze. She uses the recovery time smartly – tagging Rush with elbows when she comes to retrieve her and landing a snapping neckbreaker in the middle ropes. Back inside the ring she gets a nearfall with a stranglehold neckbreaker variant…then crunches the neck into the top turnbuckles with a running fireman’s carry throw. She drives a running hip attack into Courtney’s ribs as well before grinding into a chinlock which further punishes that neck. Courtney dials up the pace, executing her moves with remarkable accuracy considering the speed she gets up and her somewhat tall, long-limbed frame. It’s not enough, as Libra puts her down with the Ambassador Bridge (bridging Samoan Drop) to win at 05:29

Rating - ** - An extremely low key way to debut Rush but her performance was good here – crisp on offence when she needed to be but equally hard-working to sell and put over the quality of Mena’s work too. I’ve not seen Libra before and she looked like a real bruiser who had decent command of her size and how to use it effectively in a wrestling match. Overall a decent debut match, and enough to earn both women plenty of future opportunities.

Another debutant, Christina Von Eerie, is backstage being interviewed by Amber Gertner. She is humble and talks about wanting to follow in the footsteps of fellow California-scene female workers Sara Del Rey and Cheerleader Melissa. Sara Del Rey interrupts, pissed off at being mentioned in the same context as a newcomer, eventually attacking her for not showing enough respect. She throws CVE out of the locker room violently (as other members of the roster including Melanie Cruise, Saraya Knight, Paige and more look on in confusion)…

LuFi is another worker that missed the entirety of the last tapings, so is warmly welcomed back this time. It’s only the fact that she hasn’t always been booked with as much regularity as some of the other women SHIMMER uses that has prevented her from establishing herself as a legitimate main event talent in the promotion. Last time we saw her she had a really competitive match with Hiroyo Matsumoto, so I’m glad she’s back and getting to work more of the Joshi talent.

Naka immediately reasserts that she is an uber-rudo by slapping LuFi in the face and laughing about it. But Lu is a veteran and has seen it all before; responding by poking her opponent in the eyes and delivering a somersault senton. Things get personal as Tomoka takes the match to the floor, rams LuFisto into the railings then THROWS PEEKABOO AT HER! Fans hate that! And, again, because Nakagawa is a killer heel, she spots it and takes LuFi’s doll-manager into the ring to STOMP HER FACE! Nakagawa has started targeting LuFisto’s back, which is a smart strategy given her long history of back problems. Next she shoves the ref into Lu, distracting her so she can land a spinning heel kick. TREE OF WOE CANNONBALL by LuFisto…doing so much damage to her own injured back that she lies on the canvas alongside her fallen adversary. Gradually they battle back to their feet whilst lighting each other up with elbows and chops. LuFisto relishes getting some payback for some of Tomoka’s sinister dealings earlier – giving her a wet willy, then fish-hooking the mouth for the fun of it. LuFi lures Nakagawa into a criss-cross…but then simply stops running and watches as Tomoka burns herself out sprinting across the ring repeatedly at speed. After that she needs a drink – which is obviously the cue for her to spit water in LuFisto’s face. Lu isn’t impressed by that, nailing a violent head and arm suplex out of the corner. Burning Hammer BLOCKED with a jumping enzi to the neck! Nakagawa wants her Fisherman Buster but can’t get Fisto up. BACK FIST! Mangalizer! LuFisto gets a huge comeback win at 08:54

Rating - *** - If I gave half stars I’d have an extra one here. This was a big jump up in quality from the first two matches and I really enjoyed it. Both women attacked the match with aggression, meaning they hit extremely hard, moved extremely quickly and put together some pretty elaborate sequences with consummate professionalism. I thought there was probably a little too much comedic stuff that the match didn’t need, to the point that the wet willies and criss-cross segment actually took me out of the contest somewhat (the Peekaboo interactions were solid gold however). 

Another debut here, this time for Mia Yim, another woman who would go on to achieve major things in professional wrestling. I think this is right around the time she became part of The Embassy in ROH, and was doing some training with Daizee Haze at the ROH wrestling school. Given that she was already working semi-regularly for quite a few promotions, plus training at CZW’s school as well, she’d already amassed decent experience for someone to young. She teams with another ROH Dojo graduate in Jumping Jamilia, to face the new team of Allison Danger and Leva Bates (known collectively as Regeneration X). Leva earned Danger’s respect when they met in singles competition last year, and they’ve subsequently formed a team. They’ll be looking to get off to a successful start. It’s also the debut of their matching Cosplay gimmick, which will become as over as their actual wrestling during their time together…

Leva’s Dr Who costume just doesn’t look practical to wrestle in. Mia socks her with a double knee strike as part of an impressive start for the debutant. Danger steps in to replace her partner, in equally impractical Dr Who attire – including a tie. She removes Yim before facing off with Craft, using all her experience to keep the ‘Jumping’ masked athlete well and truly grounded. Re-X isolate Jamilia for a minute or so, but they can’t force a defeat before she gets the hot tag to Yim – who sprints in unleashing her signature array of kicks. RUNNING STO by Danger absolutely flattens her! Sonic Screwdriver (lungblower/Lovelace Choker combo) gets the win for Regeneration X at 06:02

Rating - * - Probably the most basic and least interesting match on the show so far. That’s not meant as harshly as it sounds; Yim and Craft are young talents still finding their way (and Mia looked good here), but really all that carried this was the fan affection for Leva and Allison. They are a fun addition to the tag scene, but we already have the ‘Pretty Bitchin’ team of Nikki Roxx and Ariel as best babyface friends forming a team and goofing around together. I hope Danger and Leva have more than cosplay planned as a way to differentiate themselves and deliver high quality in-ring action too.

Amber Gertner interviews Cheerleader Melissa, looking for her thoughts after winning ‘SHIM-vivor Series’ at the last taping and pinning Madison Eagles in the process. Melissa thinks she has earned another title shot…but Eagles herself interrupts and disagrees. The Punisher tells Melissa she needs to go back to the bottom and get some wins. The somewhat unhinged Madison also thinks she’ll have a good match because Mercedes is a fan of hers (having put her over following their previous singles encounter). 

We saw earlier in the show why this one will be personal. Von Eerie makes her debut at this taping, having gained experience working in places like AAA, DGUSA, Championship Wrestling From Hollywood and more. She spoke about her excitement at coming to SHIMMER and desire to emulate fellow Californian talents Melissa and Del Rey…but her supposed ‘audacity’ at comparing herself to the Death Rey provoked a furious response from the former SHIMMER Champion. She violently ejected her from the locker room, and is now coming to kick her ass again now. Can CVE survive? Can she win and emphatically prove that she belongs in the SHIMMER locker room?

Del Rey is pissed off that Von Eerie called her out…so marches to the ring without any music and plants a big boot into her face. Christina goes for a crossbody but gets nowhere near Del Rey and is made to eat canvas once again. Unprotected kick flurry to the exposed chest by Sara as she holds her opponent hostage, tied in the ropes. A stepover heel kick to the back of the head lands and looks particularly sickening…but Del Rey then throws CVE aside, determining her not even worthy of the Royal Butterfly. Von Eerie is booted to the floor where Sara parades her around ringside like a trophy, smearing her into the rails and pelting her with chops. She wants to put the exclamation point on it, but MISSES a running capo kick on the floor and crashes head-first into the guardrails. Von Eerie dives back into the ring AND WINS BY COUNT-OUT! She has a debut win over Sara Del Rey at 04:00

Rating - N/A - One can’t really rate this as a match, but the whole angle they’ve worked with Del Rey and Von Eerie on this Volume is a really exciting and unique way to bring a new talent in and debut them. Christina’s treatment all show leaves her as an exceedingly sympathetic character, and one you immediately want to see more of. Del Rey as the bitter, locker room bully was also a lot of fun. An unelenting aggressor, she went to ridiculous lengths in an effort and teach the newcomer a lesson in ‘respect’. We’ll inevitably see a rematch of this somewhere…and that’s when it’s down to CVE to deliver from a workrate perspective. Here her only job was getting slapped around, and she did it faultlessly. 

Del Rey is enraged and mows Von Eerie down with the capo kick at the second time of asking. The referee crew has to separate them, and Christina is as up for a fight as Del Rey is. DEL REY CHOKES HER OUT! With the ref’s frantically clawing at her, Sara does her best to throttle her new enemy!

This match could steal the show if given the opportunity. It represents Melissa returning ‘to the bottom of the card’ as Madison Eagles ordered her to do. Pinning Eagles at the last taping was a huge statement, but Melissa will be aware that the last tapings also saw her lose clean in a title match to Madison. She does need more wins to back up her claims for a rematch, and can’t afford losses to newcomers on the roster like Athena. So with the Cheerleader’s focus elsewhere, this becomes a major opportunity for the Wrestling Goddess. A win would put Athena on the map and secure her roster spot.

Athena makes a hell of a statement by booting Melissa in the ribs then out-striking her to pummel her into the canvas. ELBOW STRIKE BY MELISSA! That looked rough and is sufficient to convince Athena she should try to trade holds instead of fists…but despite some impressive agility she soon finds herself in surfboards and chinlocks as the Cheerleader tries to snuff out her fiery start to the contest. They come to an uncomfortable stalemate, and as Athena tries to smack-talk her Melissa once again dramatically over-powers her and forces her out of the ring. But a jumping enzi strike from the floor through the ropes from the ultra-athletic Wrestling Goddess brings her right back in. She has been the aggressor from minute one of this match and finally starts reaping the rewards of that approach as she pelts Melissa with kicks. Portia Perez makes a great call as she points out that Cheerleader is trying to bully Athena…but it just isn’t working. Even from the ground Melissa tries to b*tchslap her, but gets completely floored by more kicks. Elbows by Melissa…but Athena stands her ground! Air Raid Crash blocked with a sleeper hold…only for Melissa to counter back into a Samoan drop. Kudo Driver countered with a jumping enzi! Athena has an attempted urinage backbreaker blocked so takes to the sky with a SPRINGBOARD FOREARM for 2! She tries it once more but Melissa COUNTERS TO THE KUDO DRIVER! Cheerleader Melissa takes a hard-fought win at 08:13

Rating - **** - Athena is now officially on the SHIMMER map. I’m a well-known Melissa mark, and obviously she did her job well here, but this was all about the Wrestling Goddess and she pulled out a star-making performance. She took everything that was good about her first matches and dialled it up about ten notches for this. Portia’s comment about Melissa’s bullying tactics failing was so astute. We’ve seen Cheerleader work the likes of Ariel, Alexa Thatcher, Jennifer Blake, Jessie McKay and more and we know the usual pattern for these matches. The plucky babyface gets some fiery offence in, but eventually goes down in flames under a barrage of heavy hitting from Melissa. They flipped the script on that formula brilliantly. Melissa still tried it, but it failed because Athena was being twice as aggressive as she was. Quite literally from the bell Athena was in the middle of the ring kicking and swinging punches. She looked set to claim victory too until a desperate Melissa pulled out her ‘big match finish’ out of nowhere to win it. Athena, even at this stage of her career, looked scarily talented.

Rebecca Knox makes her big return to SHIMMER (sadly in a non-wrestling capacity), and legitimately looks pleased to be back before slipping right into her classic villainous character. She isn’t wrestling anymore because she’s now an actor and therefore needs to preserve her body (thank goodness she found her way back to pro-wrestling eventually!), but has found managing to be a lucrative business too. She’s here to introduce her latest clients – the mother and daughter duo of ‘Sweet’ Saraya and Britani, the Knight Dynasty. 

Reviewing this in 2019, watching a very young Paige and (an at this point apparently retired) Becky Lynch rile up a couple of hundred people in a small suburban Illinois building feels surreal. They’re not quite unrecognisable, but they’ve changed a lot in the decade since this was taped. Saraya is a different beast altogether. Older, wiser, and with more experience, unlike them she has a calm and controlled grip on the exact character she wants to portray. Whilst Britani and K-NOX shout and holler, Saraya tells the viewing audience EVERYTHING about what a hard ass she is with a simple sneering look into the camera. The contrast between her and the smiling, chirpy, enduringly popular Pretty Bitchin’ duo could not be more stark. Roxx and Ariel are SHIMMER veterans, but fighting to retain their relevance on the roster against a growing tide of hot newcomers from all over the world – of which the Knights are the latest example. Can they beat the debuting mother/daughter duo and finally establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the SHIMMER tag division?

Rebecca Knox distracts Roxx and Ariel so the Knights can jump them from behind. Britani has to start the match for her team, largely because her mother is still circling the ringside area trying to pick fights with the fans. Saraya does get involved eventually by pulling Nikki’s hair and raking her eyes from the outside. Britani, still a teenager at this point, has a hard time dealing with Roxx’s size and experience, so makes like her mother and cheats to get ahead; guillotining Nikki over the top rope. Sweet Saraya lends a hand by choking her with the towel she brings to ringside. The Knights capture Ariel in their corner for a basement dropkick combo – both aimed at the ribs. It has to be said, their act isn’t necessarily the most cerebral, but they are already drawing huge heat. In a short space of time they’ve done a decent amount of damage to the Portuguese Princess’ back. Saraya puts her in a Boston Crab to do yet more damage, aided by Knox on the floor who pulls on Ariel for additional leverage. Next the British veteran works armbars whilst biting on poor Ariel’s hand. Paige takes over, and with the assistance, of her mother and manager is able to keep her wounded opponent inside the ring despite making a couple of unseen tags to the fresh Roxx. The hot tag does finally come…and is instantly destroyed by the Knights as they whip their two opponents into each other. Rebecca Knox tries to pass knucks into the ring for Saraya…but they are intercepted by Ariel who PUNCHES HER LIGHTS OUT! That’s right in front of the referee, meaning the Knights get a DQ win at 13:13

Rating - *** - That was a wild debut for Saraya and Britani. Saraya’s aggression would become a notorious part of SHIMMER live events, and her act here (along with the way it contrasted with Pretty Bitchin’s attitude) was the obvious highlight. She wasn’t in the ring extensively, but every time she was in she moved with poise, confidence and a clear sense of purpose. Britani/Paige at this time was very much a rough diamond. Still a teenager, she is a world away from the worker she’d become under the WWE banner, and it felt she still wasn’t entirely sure on the kind of wrestler she wanted to be. BUT, all the raw tools and talent were there. She looked like she’d spent all her life in and around wrestling rings (which she has, of course), with smooth execution and a quite incredible lack of visible nervousness considering her lack of years and the fact that she was (I believe) making her US debut. Ordinarily I’d complain about a DQ finish, but this whole match and segment felt so wild and out of control that a controversial conclusion probably made the most sense. The fact that Sweet Saraya’s nasty attitude was so intimidating that it prompted the sweet, smiling Ariel to feel like she needed to use a weapon in the middle of a match to defend herself is a huge deal.

EARLIER TODAY – Daizee Haze, cuts a weird promo about enlightenment, mother earth, universal truths and blurred vision. The over-riding point is that she doesn’t think she should have been jointly eliminated from SHIM-vivor Series with Serena Deeb last time…and plans to prove it by beating Serena this afternoon.

‘Daizee Haze Dark’ was one of the four women who came out to voice her disapproval at Serena being so readily welcomed back into SHIMMER after ‘selling out’ to WWE. In the SHIM-vivor match itself these two wound up eliminating each other as Haze rolled Deeb up for three and celebrated, unaware that Serena had manipulated it to ensure her shoulders were on the ground. With matters left unsatisfactorily at the last taping, now they look to give us a definitive winner. I’m amazed to discover that this is Daizee’s last ‘full’ SHIMMER weekend too. She plays a small role at the second taping weekend of 2011, and pops up again for the tenth anniversary celebrations – but as a full-time part of the roster this is it for her.

Haze tries to roll Deeb up with the tights in the first few seconds, which Serena survives and then retaliates to with a flurry of Deeb Armdrags. After the initial burst of activity yields minimal results both adopt a more cagey approach, going through an extended knucklelock exchange as they probe each other for weaknesses. Those armdrags have made Haze susceptible to some working over of her arm, with the commentators running through a timely reminder of how many of her finishers require the use of the arm. Haze escapes by snapping Deeb’s arm in the ropes then drilling it into the canvas, and again with great commentary from Portia to point out that she’s working the arm/shoulder which she traditionally uses to deliver her Spear. Daizee is an experienced professional and has garnered an exceptional knowledge of wrestling holds over the years. She runs through a number of unique arm submissions to do yet more damage then dodges the Spear to send Deeb onto the apron. Once out there The Haze jerks her feet from under her, causing her to drop arm-first into the side of the ring. She lines up a baseball slide…only for Serena to counter with a WHEELBARROW INTO THE GUARDRAIL! Haze is rattled…but when Serena pulls out her signature left-arm jab sequence she has to stop because her arm is too injured (hitting right-handed elbows and headbutts instead). Northern lariat connects with the back of the head she just scrambled against the railings, teeing up Deeb going back to work on the arm injury she opened up earlier. Kick to the arm by Haze! Deeb blocks the Tiger Suplex before planting her face-first with a DOMINATOR for 2! Still Serena’s arm is hurting though, and Daizee capitalises to northern lights suplex her into a Fujiwara armbar. Heart Punch blocked INTO THE SPEAR! Deeb gets the victory at 14:22

Rating - *** - Both of these women can be hit or miss. They can be great with the right opponent, but also sometimes get it badly wrong both in terms of sloppy execution and general match lay-out. Here they were really ON, and this match exceeded my expectations. This wasn’t a grudge match in the traditional sense, but from the very start they did a great job of giving the impression that they both REALLY had something to prove. Deeb tried to work the arm…until the dastardly Daizee stole her idea and did it better. It left Serena clinging on, but Haze made one mistake in attempting that baseball slide and paid for it. She never truly recovered after that guardrail spot and finally succumbed to defeat. If I gave half stars I’d award it here, but I feel like I couldn’t go higher as there were a couple of nagging issues I had with this. My first was with Deeb’s selling, which was generally very good…but occasionally (i.e. when she wanted to use her arm to hit a move anyway) it felt like she completely forgot about it which really sucked me out of the contest. Having spent fourteen minutes laying a really strong foundation to the match, they also needed another five minutes to really see this home properly. The drama was all set up…but then they finished up seconds later leaving the feeling that we didn’t get much of a pay-off. 

From a performance standpoint, Jessie McKay was one of the top stars from the final taping weekend of 2010. She beat rival Nicole Matthews in a terrific match, and followed that up with a major win over Sara Del Rey and her opponent tonight, Hamada, in a triple threat. On the second day she had back-to-back title matches, delivering a SHIMMER career-best showing against Madison Eagles but failing to take the title from her, then joining forces with Tenille to lose a Tag Title match to the Canadian NINJAs (again featuring rival Nicole Matthews). She has never been more popular with the fanbase, but will also be massively disappointed she failed to capture any gold. She’s now looking to rebound in a major way by defeating Hamada (who herself is racking up singles wins and wants to get into title contention one assumes).

Hamada is just too good for Jessie in the first few minutes; able to take her down at will, strike as she pleases and generally control proceedings without breaking sweat. Jessie starts to get desperate by the four-minute mark, so begins swinging boots in Ayako’s direction. SUPERKICK by Hamada almost takes McKay’s head off to extinguish that. She lines up her moonsault…only for Jessie to pull Hamada off the ropes and deliver a facecrusher. Saito suplex gets 2 for Jessie! SCHOOL GIRL CRUSH, but it’s still just 2. Hamada almost caves her face in with a heel kick, then delivers the Pyramid Driver. AP CROSS nailed! Hamada wins at 08:10

Rating - ** - Well colour me disappointed. I had this down as a potential show-stealer, but this really missed the mark. At barely eight minutes long it definitely feels like they got screwed for time, but given the lack of direction and quality of the work they did produce, it’s also hard to make the case that they should’ve gone any longer. Hamada’s style definitely works better in longer, main event matches than she does in these sub-ten minute matches. To defend Hamada though, she was announced as working Ayumi Kurihara in what would be a hotly anticipated bout. That is scheduled to main event Volume 38, and with expectations so high for that it’s probably understandable she perhaps didn’t commit quite as strongly (or want to work for as long) in her first match of the day. Jessie’s fiery comeback was a highlight, but on the whole this just didn’t connect with me at all. 

Ahead of this taping Dave Prazak promised more tag teams in SHIMMER, and more high quality tag matches. It has to be said that there haven’t been a great many truly great 2-vs-2 tags in SHIMMER history thus far, and the Tag belts haven’t really had a ‘Tag Title classic’ match that you can hang your hat on either. The promised increased profile of the tag division is both a blessing and a curse for the current champions. They are without doubt the top team in SHIMMER…so standing atop a stronger Tag division only enhances their reputations. However, it does mean much stiffer competition for their belts, starting tonight. The Joshi team of Hiroyo Matsumoto and Misaki Ohata challenge them, having looked extremely talented in their singles outings thus far. Misaki has proven herself to be a technical wizard and queen of the undercard sprint, whilst Matsumoto returns having worked her first weekend fatigued and jet-lagged (but still delivering ass-kicking performances against Sara Del Rey and LuFisto). Do the NINJAs have what it takes to survive more elite teams than ever gunning for the gold?

Hiroyo is delighted to be here once again, merrily spending the first minute of the match smiling, waving and clapping to the fans whilst Perez and Matthews stall. The time is well north of two minutes before Portia and Hiroyo finally lock horns, and when they do Matsumoto has no problem taking her diminutive Canadian foe to school. Matthews tags and suffers similar difficulties trying to trade holds with the Lady Destroyer. Tandem leg drop/Warrior Splash combo from 3S takes the wind out of Nicole’s sails…so Portia retorts by dragging Ohata out of the ring and assaulting her on the floor. The champs try to isolate and work over Ohata, aiming plenty of offence at her lower back. Their manipulation of the referee and the rules means they are able to keep her in the ring and also minimise the threat her elaborate mat skills pose. When Misaki does threaten something (by brilliantly countering a basement dropkick into an attempted pinfall), Nicole steps in and viciously kicks her across the face then dumps Matsumoto off the apron to make sure she doesn’t get a tag. From there she has Ohata screaming in pain as she lands a backbreaker into a surfboard stretch to punish the lower back still more. RUNNING CROSSBODY on Portia! Ohata has used that move so effectively thus far in SHIMMER, and this time it opens up her route to the hot tag. Matsumoto arrives with her own running crossbody – to both champs at once. Hiroyo Stone blocked by Perez, feeding her into the LARIAT by Nicole for 2. Matsumoto and Matthews trade hard chops and elbows, with Hiroyo driving Nicole back into the corner where Ohata hits her with another crossbody block. SIDEWALK SLAM/FLYING SPLASH COMBO BY 3S! Portia dives in to break what looked a certain loss. Funky Cold Medina DUCKED! PORTIA SUPERKICKED NICOLE! OHATA GETS THE PIN! NEW CHAMPS! Matsumoto and Ohata are the third SHIMMER Tag Champions at 13:22

Rating - *** - There is an argument to be made that this was the best SHIMMER Tag Title Match yet (for the second time in recent Volumes). That probably says more about the indifferent quality of the matches contested thus far (particularly under Ashley Lane and Nevaeh), but it’s still something to celebrate. I thought this was a hell of a contest, where all four women trod an extremely difficult line between entertaining fans with comedy and light-hearted jovial stuff, then switching to some really stiff, ferocious action. Hiroyo in particular is so astute in how she combines the smiles and waves with straight up slapping the f*ck out of someone. The last minute was incredibly exciting, feeling like a pay-off to not just the match but actually the entire shenanigan-riddled, crowd-bating, uber-cocky title reign of the NINJAs. When Portia and Nicole lined up the Funky Cold Medina you could almost feel the audience going ‘well that’s it’…then jump out of their seats when Portia missed and they twigged what was about to go down. I wish they could have built to that last minute a little better – the transition between heat segment on Ohata to Misaki coming back in and winning felt sudden, jarring and out of keeping with the measured pace they’d utilised for the remainder of the match. Regardless, this was a good match with a great finish…and although it’s sad to lose the NINJAs as Tag Champions they do have a LOT going on as singles competitors right now. Matsumoto and Ohata holding the belts instantly freshens things up and is emblematic of Prazak’s promise to deliver a renewed focus on tag team wrestling.

This one has been brewing for some time. Martinez has an undefeated streak stretching back to V27 (her last loss, versus Ayako Hamada), and with each victory her calls for another title shot have grown stronger and stronger. They are also bolstered by the fact that she also has a singles victory over Madison (back at Volume 24). After that match she put Eagles over, and as The Punisher slips further into the deranged paranoia that the SHIMMER Championship has induced, she seems to have convinced herself that it means the Latina Sensation will be going easy on her tonight. Eagles is desperate to retain her title, and becoming somewhat unhinged…therefore making her dangerous! There is no denying that this is one of the most hotly anticipated bouts of the entire weekend. Can they live up to expectation?

Madison wants a hug from Martinez, just as they did after the V24 match. Mercedes’ response is to nab the belt and pose with it, much to Eagles’ annoyance. The challenger is all business, sprinting into the match and knocking the champ over the top rope. Eagles tries to flee…so Mercedes climbs for a TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! Madison looks furious that her ‘friend’ would do that to her and rakes Martinez’ eyes with such force I’m surprised she doesn’t have eyeball on her fingers. Odd as she has been acting, Eagles remains a fearsome prospect – using her height and diverse range of training backgrounds to keep the powerful Mercedes grounded. We see grappling takedowns, big mounted strikes and an assortment of submissions as the champ runs through all her skills and grinds her opponent down. She is quite literally swarming Martinez, barely letting her back to her feet before flying in with her next attack. The Latina Sensation senses the danger and knows she needs to create some space – eventually doing so after hitting a tornado DDT. She clearly wants to make it more of a brawl, which Madison spots as well and works to prevent. Repeated kicks to the head and neck rock the challenger before a running knee strike scores a nearfall. Mercedes counters with tree of woe dropkicks into the BULL RUN! That’s how she won their last match, but this time she collapses in exhaustion as Madison rolls to the floor and into the crowd! They brawl in front of the merch tables, where Eagles delivers a running knee. Mercedes throws Eagles through a row of chairs, although lighting is a REAL issue at this point so it’s hard to tell what’s actually going on. Thankfully we return to ringside with Martinez landing a GUARDRAIL-WALK STOMP to Eagles’ head. Just as earlier, when the match becomes a brawl rather than a wrestling match Mercedes has an obvious advantage! And just like before Eagles knows it…so she tries to win with her feet on the ropes in a similar manner to her #1 contenders win over Melissa. CHOPS by Martinez! RUNNING ELBOW! NO SOLD! BRAINBUSTER BY EAGLES! NO SOLD! SICK ANGLE BRAINBUSTAAAAAH ON EAGLES! BOTH WOMEN DOWN! When they get back to their feet Martinez counters Hell Bound only to be clocked with a lariat. BULL RUN NAILED AGAIN! MADISON GRABS THE ROPES! DESPERATION HELL BOUND! Eagles retains at 15:26

Rating - **** - This was a great SHIMMER Championship match. In fact, it was everything you’d want a main event title match to be. The quality of the wrestling was extremely high, you had an evenly matched champion and challenger, a legitimate big match feel created by the audience, and crucially genuine drama and tension over who was going to win the match. The lay-out of this was so good as well. Eagles thinking Mercedes was her friend was definitely entertaining, and she sold shock and upset brilliantly in the opening minutes when her challenger tried to beat the crap out of her. Then the pace of the match shifted and it became oddly reminiscent of the Eagles/MsChif match – where The Punisher’s height, size and immense range of skill made her totally dominant. Mercedes’ only chances to win were either to hit the Bull Run or make it more of a fight than a wrestling match (so she did both). I didn’t like the crowd segment so much, but that was more a production thing (i.e. the building lighting isn’t great and SHIMMER’s 2011 camera set-up wasn’t fantastic) as you could barely see what was happening. The final few minutes as both women carried injuries and emptied the tanks trying to beat each other were a blast. Her coronation versus MsChif caught many off guard, but in my opinion Eagles is killing it as SHIMMER Champion. The upswing in quality of title matches since she has had the belt is very noticeable…

Tape Rating - *** - Yet another really strong instalment in the SHIMMER DVD series that is well worth owning, or checking out on their streaming service at the very least. There isn’t an incessant barrage of 4*+ matches, and there were a couple of disappointments (Hamada/McKay front and centre on that one)…but it’s a consistently solid show with a couple of very, very good matches (Melissa/Athena and Eagles/Martinez) and some fantastic moments. New Tag Champions were crowd, with the end of the NINJAs’ run turning out to be every bit as dramatic and as exciting as you’d hope. But in truth the Tag Title Match actually played second fiddle to the debut of the Knight Dynasty (plus the awesome, surprise return of Rebecca Knox). Saraya Knight, in particular, became a star in this promotion in one match and has been a regular ever since. I could keep going on about elements of the show I liked (I haven’t mentioned the fun Del Rey/Von Eerie angle or the competitive Haze/Deeb and Lufi/Tomoka matches) – but in truth there’s not much I didn’t like about this DVD. I love this company…they had so much talent at this point in time and are delivering exceptional quality on almost every show.

3) Serena Deeb vs Daizee Haze (***)

2) Cheerleader Melissa vs Athena (****)

1) Madison Eagles vs Mercedes Martinez (****)