McXal's Reviews

The SHIMMER spring 2012 taping continues with a strong line-up for Volume 47, headlined by Cheerleader Melissa defending the SHIMMER Championship against Jessie McKay - but with the shadow of Saraya Knight still looming over the champion. The rest of the card looks really fun, particularly if you like tag team wrestling; Hamada and Kurihara defending the Tag Titles against Ray and Leon, Kana and LuFisto facing MsEerie, the Canadian NINJAs in tag action against the babyface duo of Mia Yim and Davina Rose, and Regeneration-X prepare for their grudge match against Sara Del Rey and her partner (albeit not through choice) Courtney Rush. Dave Prazak and Portia Perez are on commentary in Berwyn, IL

Serena Deeb is at home, but welcomes us to the show. She reminisces on her SHIMMER career and pays tribute to everyone on the roster who has helped them make it to 47 shows. She stops to put over Davina Rose and ends with a promise that she'll be back in SHIMMER soon...

This is Taylor's first match of the taping, but she is coming into this on the back of a win over Veda Scott on her last appearance at V44. Irish star O'Reilly has only just cracked the main roster herself, and is still looking for her first victory.

Made is giving up some size to her opponent so sensibly tries to keep her on the mat to negate that disadvantage. Rhia uses a cheap-shot in the ropes to get her off...but Taylor responds by quickening the pace; dishing out armdrags and slams as the Irish woman struggles to get hold of her. Another cheap-shot out of the corner by O'Reilly breaks her momentum - and finally Rhia is able to use her power by muscling her opponent into a spinning sidewalk slam. Made kicks out the legs in response and lands a (pretty abject) Shining Wizard for 2. O'Reilly survives that and hits the Rhiadjustment for the win at 04:31

Rating - ** - Short, basic and occasionally clumsy, but they told a really solid story with the four minutes of ring-time they got and were rewarded by the SHIMMER crowd getting pretty into their work. Made was smaller and faster so tried to make that count in various ways, but couldn't get past the size and rule-breaking of her opponent. Rhia was too powerful and won with her impressive butterfly DDT finishing move. Arguably the best match either have had in their short SHIMMER runs so far.

The Rate Tank wants to be taken more seriously, and has delivered some commendable performances at this taping. She pushed Joshi star Ray incredibly hard at V45, then defeated KC Spinelli at V46. She faces relative newcomer Veda Scott - trained out of the ROH/SHIMMER Dojo system - and will be looking to make it two consecutive victories. Veda comes into this on the back of a (technical) victory over Saraya Knight at the last show...albeit it was by disqualification and she took a total beating so won't have felt particularly victorious in the aftermath of it.

Scott ignores all of Kellie's showmanship to start strongly...up until the Rate Tank drops her right on her face. She starts to bully Veda - choking them in the ropes and making fun of the newcomer for wearing glasses. More strikes are targeted at the midsection, and that body part is further punished with a half crab seconds later - with Prazak speculating that Skater watched Saraya Knight injure her. Skater also uses precise boots into the ribs every time Veda tries to mount a comeback. She drinks some of her 'protein shake' then starts battering Scott with suplexes. Iconoclasm blocked with a tornado DDT by Scott, but the respite is only brief before Kellie lays her out again. QED by Scott gets 2! Skate & Destroy by Kellie, and she grabs the win at 07:08

Rating - ** - It isn't unfair to comment that Veda was still very raw at this point. But one obvious mishap aside, Veda really held up her end of things well here. The story, however, was another really impressive, imposing performance from Skater. We've seen her many times as the butt of the joke and the woman taking a beating - but her she was outstanding as the dominant force in the match. She carried herself with a genuine presence, her targeted offence to set up her finishing sequence was great. Clearly her charisma and humour-laced character is still relevant, but it is clear we are watching the genesis of Kellie Skater into a different and altogether more dangerous, multi-faceted young wrestler. I look forward to seeing more of that

This is KC's first weekend after breaking onto SHIMMER's main roster. She came up short against Kellie Skater last time, and now faces a tough challenge in pursuit of her first SHIMMER victory as the intimidating, powerful Canadian - Kalamity - stands across the ring from her. Kalamity herself will be extremely motivated to win after she and Hailey Hatred failed to take the Tag Titles from Kurihara and Hamada on V46

Kalamity gets a few chants as the bell rings, indicating how impressive her performances have been in SHIMMER thus far. She actually gets the better of Spinelli with deceptive speed early on and whips her off her feet with a series of armdrags. KC uses a few kicks...but that proves to be an incredibly bad idea as Kalamity absolutely decimates her with a diving elbow and a springboard knee strike in the corner. A half crab and a camel clutch come next; Kalamity now dominating her opponent. Even when Spinelli does hit a clothesline, she is unable to do anything more than collapse to the ground grasping her back in pain. An STO from Kalamity quickly puts her on the ground once more. Kalamity Driver wins it at 06:17

Rating - ** - A solid showcase for Kalamity, who definitely looked like a hard-hitting, no-nonsense badass with her performance. Spinelli was a little ragged and inconsistent when on offence, but her main role was to bump around like crazy to make her opponent look great and she did that extremely competently.

This is an intriguing tag battle between two teams who have formed relatively new alliances based on mutual respect. Kana and LuFisto beat the sh*t out of each other at Volume 44 and have teamed a couple of times since. Also on V44, MsChif and CVE were on the same team in an 8-woman tag, and have now formed an alliance affectionately dubbed 'MsEerie'. There is lots of experience and quality in the ring here, meaning either team could quickly be positioned as worthy challengers for the SHIMMER Tag Titles. As SHIMMER veterans, MsChif and LuFisto have obviously crossed paths multiple times in the past too.

LuFisto and Kana rush their opponents, and we start with an all-out brawl. MsChif lands a Panic Attack on both opponents then screams in Kana's face to leave her completely disorientated. Von Eerie hits a springboard crossbody on the Joshi star. LuFi makes a blind-tag and joins her partner to hit a big boot/Stunner combo on CVE. Dragon sleeper by Fisto, but Christina slides out...into another volley of big strikes. LuFisto absolutely NAILS a punt to the ribs as Von Eerie looks for a satellite headscissors. HEADBUTT DUEL...and they both go down! Tags all round, with Kana slapping the sh*t out of MsChif! Fujiwara armbar applied, even with Von Eerie trying to kick Kana away! MsChif escapes with Gateway To Annihilation for 2. German suplex from Kana to Christina, then STEREO BUZZSAW KICKS with her partner! MsEerie come back again with a double-team X-Factor on Kana for 2. Dead Raising from CVE gets 2 as well. BACK FIST by Kana...whilst LuFisto puts MsChif in a MutaLock. Armbar on Christina, transitioned into the KANA LOCK! Von Eerie taps at 08:18

Rating - *** - When you have Kana and LuFisto looking dangerous and violent in almost everything they do it generally ensures that the entire bout will have a real edge to it. When they had Von Eerie trapped in the ring it felt like they were domineering bullies and you really wanted to get behind CVE, and yet when they tried the same stuff with the former SHIMMER Champion MsChif the dynamic felt completely different. There was easily enough hard-hitting action contained within a brisk eight minute run-time to make this enjoyable.

MsEerie have done enough in defeat to earn Kana's respect it seems, as she shakes hands with both of them after the bout (at LuFisto's request). 

Outside the building Jessie McKay calls her title shot tonight the biggest match of her SHIMMER career since she failed to take the belt from Madison Eagles. She last faced Cheerleader Melissa at Volume 25 and thinks she is now a completely different wrestler. Saraya Knight skulks in from behind, grabs Jessie by the hair and threatens her until she agrees to 'finish the job' when she faces Melissa later. 

The Wrestling Goddess has been the star of the taping thus far, having produced back-to-back bangers yesterday against Mercedes Martinez at V45 and Nicole Matthews on V46. She will have undoubtedly been disappointed to be defeated by Nicole though, costing her valuable momentum after she finally scored a major victory over Mercedes. That means the pressure is on to notch up another victory tonight.

It's Stephie's birthday apparently, and she plans to celebrate by 'killing' Athena. Her planned murder gets off to a bad start since Athena dominates early. Handspring elbow blocked by a big slap from Sassy, but it's only when Mademoiselle Rochelle trips the Wrestling Goddess on the apron that Stephie gets a foothold in the contest. Rochelle chokes Athena in the ropes behind the ref's back, then Steph has some fun tossing her around by the hair. Athena brilliantly rolls out of a third hair-mare attempt and delivers a roundhouse kick to the head though. Stephie bites Athena in the hand to break up a submission attempt, then grabs the hair again to bounce her face off the canvas. Pumphandle lariat by Athena, followed by a brutal spinning heel kick which instantly draws Rochelle into the apron in concern for her charge. Stephie almost capitalises with Kiss My Sass, but Athena counters with an enzi then climbs the ropes. She boots Rochelle to the floor then flies into the O-FACE! Athena wins at 06:41

Rating - *** - In isolation this isn't a particularly remarkable match, but it made a lot of sense for the development of Athena as she transitions further up the SHIMMER card. Stephie is a classical villain, cheating to get ahead with a nefarious manager on hand to help her. Her act isn't groundbreaking and could even be considered a little too predictable. But she was the perfect opponent to transition a young talent like Athena from her previous role of brash, out-spoken heel to be presented as more of a babyface to the Eagles Club audience. I do think Athena looked a little awkward during her entrance with fans cheering for her (as opposed to how she owned the room with a huge personality as a heel). Feeding her an opponent like Stephie is a great platform to get comfortable playing more of a popular role in front of this live crowd. To that end and with the goal of continuing Athena's transition to upper card babyface, this was really rather fun. Stephie never really felt like she was on the same level as the Wrestling Goddess, but was believable in how she almost cheated and schemed her way to victory...before Athena duly crushed both her opponent and Mademoiselle Rochelle for good measure.

Sara Del Rey is in the locker room preparing for her match, and is interrupted by her partner Courtney Rush (who says she was too excited to sleep and has therefore had so much coffee she is practically shaking). Rush says she's fixed her hair like Sara's, has made a 'What Would Sara Del Rey Do?' shirt and thinks they could be the 'greatest team in SHIMMER history'. Del Rey groans at her proposed team names of 'Death Rush' or 'Queens Of Winning'...but does smile and seems to be softening to her new partner.

Popular young babyface duo Rose and Yim are without a victory at this taping so far, but have given strong accounts of themselves. They pushed Leon and Ray hard in a tag team match on the last show, and at V45 succumbed to singles defeats (but to Saraya Knight and Jessie McKay). On the surface a tag encounter against the Canadian NINJAs, the most successful team in SHIMMER history, is another tough assignment. But Portia and Nicole haven't teamed much recently and have each failed to take the SHIMMER Championship at this taping. Are they able to immediately pick up and resume working as a duo without missing a step?

Portia (who has history with Serena) makes fun of Davina for Deeb not being here this weekend. Nicole has her shoulder taped and Rose goes right after it from the opening bell, but Matthews shows real skill as a technical wrestler to continually manoeuvre her way out of Davina's grasp. Yim tags and goes right to an armbar as well. A series of armdrags leave Nicole screaming in pain, forcing her to tag out to Perez for the first time. The second she tries to tag back however, she walks into an arm-capture neckbreaker by Rose. Matthews has had enough; dragging Davina into the Ninja's corner by the hair where she and her partner can take turns stomping lumps out of the future Bayley. They visibly target the neck, but Matthews is still slowed by her shoulder and has to clearly modify how she executes a neckbreaker in the midst of that attack. DOUBLE springboard crossbody by Rose...but she is too injured to follow up. Finally Mia gets tagged in, unleashing as many of her signature kicks as she possibly can. She drops Nicole right on the bad shoulder again with a missile dropkick, even as fighting at a handicap starts to count against her. Davina hits a running neckbreaker on Portia to save Yim from the Funky Cold Medina, then Mia dumps Nicole with a gutwrench suplex. FUNKY COLD MEDINA on Davina! The Ninjas win at 09:32

Rating - *** - This was really good, and could even have delivered a higher rating had they been given slightly longer or had it not felt like the finish was completely rushed. There was so much great work here, with Rose and Yim making incredibly likeable babyfaces, Matthews looking like the best wrestler in the match for how she survived two women repeatedly targeting an injury she carried into the match, as well as some great villainous tag team work from the NINJAs. They could easily have gone another ten to fifteen minutes with this as they'd established some terrific thematic premises without being given enough time to explore anything in much detail.

Cheerleader Melissa commends Jessie for her improvements since they last wrestled, but doesn't trust her or her 'friendly' attitude because as SHIMMER Champion she has no friends. It is noticeable that she changes the subject when Amber Gertner tries to question her on Saraya Knight...

This is just a second SHIMMER match for Australian McKenzie, who is another who counts the great Madison Eagles among her trainers. Her opponent is Sweet Saraya, the veteran who has brought chaos and anarchy to every single one of her appearances thus far and Melissa's ascension to the SHIMMER Championship (in the aftermath of Saraya's defeat to her daughter Britani in the future-Paige's final SHIMMER match) seems to have only exacerbated the extremely unpredictable Brit.

Saraya's entrances in SHIMMER are must-see. Here we see her slapping fans, fighting ringside security, eating flowers, tossing stuffed bunnies around and almost jumping the rails to pursue a guy dressed as John Cena. She also tells Joey Eastman that she has a headache and therefore wants the entire audience to be quiet (or she'll come out and punch them all). It means Shazza starts with plenty of vocal crowd support - and she almost pins Knight immediately as the veteran continues to argue with fans. Saraya kicks Shazza low (but apparently just on the right side of legal)...then viciously slaps the Australian. A nasty DDT gets 2, although Knight continues to be completely distracted by arguments with fans and officials. Next she starts kicking away at McKenzie's leg, to set her up for the Knightmare submission hold...before delivering an even more blatant low blow (this time unseen by the ref). Knightmare applied in the ropes - and she refuses to let go! Saraya is disqualified, meaning Shazza is technically the winner at 05:34

Rating - N/A - Barely a match in a traditional sense, but Saraya is incredibly watchable and completely unique on the SHIMMER roster. It is a diverse and talented crew for sure, but nobody feels as real or stands out in the same way that Sweet Saraya does. Wins and losses don't feel relevant here (so in a way it's great that they are using the gimmick to put over young wrestlers like Veda or Shazza), but as a segment to continue to build up the character and aura around Sweet Saraya before her inevitable showdown with Cheerleader Melissa...this was excellent.

The crowd dynamics in this match should be a lot of fun. The set-up would traditionally position Sara as the heel. She is the imposing Ace and gatekeeper of SHIMMER, who amused herself by taking liberties with Leva Bates. But Leva is friends and partners with SHIMMER original and founder Allison Danger. Allison rushed to Leva's aid and berated her former 'Dangerous Angels' partner...before issuing a sarcastic challenge for a tag team match because Del Rey has no friends. But here's where Courtney Rush enters the equation. She is talented but eccentric to the point of being bonkers, and idolises Sara. Their skits on the last show where Courtney repeatedly petitioned to be Sara's partner were so entertaining that they've inadvertently made Del Rey a huge babyface as well. Can the 'Queens Of Winning' overcome their lack of experience as a team (and the fact that one of the team members doesn't even want to be 'in the team' at all)? Regeneration-X are dressed as the Super Mario Bros tonight...

Rush is so excitable she even makes friends with Allison Danger before they lock up. They spend the first two minutes working the mat, which seems to favour the greater experience of Danger. She and Leva have some fun hitting Mario-inspired stomps on the fallen Rush, enraging Del Rey so much that she almost walks out. Courtney sprints up the aisle and literally clings to Sara's arm to stop her leaving! Del Rey agrees but then forcibly tags Rush out. The Queen is so intent on getting in Danger's face that she doesn't notice Bates getting the tag...and nailing her with a neckbreaker. Del Rey responds by ripping Leva's Luigi moustache off her face then hammering her with close-range headbutts. Sara momentarily considers tagging Rush...but instead runs into the Regeneration-X corner and delivers a cheap-shot to Danger instead. The 'Death Rush' team make a hash of an actual tag (much to Sara's annoyance)...and Courtney instantly misses a body avalanche which allows Leva to recover. Next they collide mid-ring going for simultaneous crossbody blocks - and we get tags all round to finally provide the Del Rey/Danger showdown we've waited for. Danger decks Sara with an STO, only for Del Rey to swiftly retaliate with a capo kick. She stomps Bates to the floor, and in doing so turns her back on Courtney - who blind-tags herself in. Skyward Suplex nailed on Danger...and Rush pins the SHIMMER veteran to win at 10:23!

Rating - *** - SHIMMER cards are all about variety and this had huge value as character driven, comedic light-entertainment. The Del Rey/Rush team has instantly captured the hearts of the SHIMMER fans and they were great fun in the ring together as awkward team-mates. Del Rey is fantastic of course, but Rush is a legitimately charismatic performer and is phenomenal in her portrayal of a marking out, SDR super-fan. And they juxtapose brilliantly with a very different veteran/newcomer and entirely more nurturing team dynamic in Regeneration-X. The wrestling was relatively basic (although I really did like how they teased and built every Sara/Allison interaction), but the crowd had an absolute blast...

In recent shows the SHIMMER original Mercedes Martinez has become increasingly bitter. She still hasn't held the SHIMMER Championship, she dislikes being considered a gatekeeper and a target for young wrestlers like Athena to go through - and rebounded from that high profile loss to Athena in a major way on V46 when she beat the 'World Famous' Kana. Now she looks to defeat the experienced and world-travelling hard-hitter Hailey Hatred (in what would turn out to be Hailey's final SHIMMER weekend)...

Since both have a reputation for being such hard-hitters, it is understandable that the first couple of minutes are extremely cagey with both women trying to keep the match on the ground. What I like is that all of those mat exchanges feel full of tension and unease...and they end with Mercedes full-on slapping Hatred across the face. Hailey kicks at the legs in response and blasts her with an emphatic dropkick. Hatred gets knee'd square in the jaw for trying to block a suplex, with Mercedes floating right into a mafia kick as well. Although momentarily rattled, Hailey absorbs those heavy shots and retaliates with more kicks and a suplex for 2. Showing her new villainous side, Martinez rakes her eyes to get ahead, before climbing on top and relentlessly punching her right in the face. Again Hailey is resilient however and floats over into some mounted elbow strikes of her own. Another slap from Martinez, then a DOUBLE KNEE DROP right into the stomach of her opponent! It seems like Hatred is completely shot after that, but incredibly she gets up again to deliver a big boot to the face of the Latina Sensation. Cross armbreaker applied, causing Martinez to scream in pain and scurry desperately to the ropes. Even there Hailey stomps on the shoulder then delivers a knee strike to the arm as it hangs exposed over the apron. The SHIMMER original thinks about walking out...but is retrieved from the locker room by a fired up Hatred. Lariat nailed, rattling the neck and shoulders and getting a nearfall. She attempts a superplex...and when Martinez tries to counter with a sunset flip off the top they both tumble to the mat on top of each other in brutal fashion. Using her good arm Martinez desperately strikes at Hailey...then lands a double stomp into the midsection. DEAD-LIFT GERMAN by Hailey gets 2! BACK DROP DRIVER by Martinez! Bull Run blocked...BACK DROP DRIVER BY HAILEY! Hatred sets up for the Ligerbomb, only for Martinez to roll out into the BULL RUN! Martinez wins at 15:15

Rating - *** - Not flawless or perfectly executed, but there was a gritty and violent quality to this which I really liked. Even the exchanges on the mat at the start felt loaded with consequence and significance; each wrestler intent on keeping their opponent on the ground due to the danger they would pose if they were able to lay in too many big strikes too early. Although there was some limb and body part work in play here (some of the stuff with Mercedes' shoulder was great) and the closing stretch of big bombs at the end really popped, my personal favourite part about this was that it felt dangerous at all times. Sometimes that made it ugly - like when they both fell off the top rope - but the constant peril gave everything a real edge. This is Mercedes' final match of the taping; she has had a phenomenal weekend...

This is one of the centrepiece matches of the entire taping; a blockbuster showdown between four of the high profile international fly-in talents with the SHIMMER Tag Titles on the line. Hamada and Kurihara have held the belts since their win over Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa on V41, and put their belts on the line in a dream match against fellow Joshi stars Leon & Ray (who won their first match as a team in SHIMMER on the last show). Live reviews raved about this one - lets check it out.

Leon and Ray attack the champions before the bell, but are quickly staved off by stereo dropkicks by Ayako and Ayumi. The challengers then retaliate with even more athletic stereo dropkicks in response. Ray hits a pescado to leave the champs in a heap on the floor...before Leon holds Kurihara in place by the hair whilst her partner peppers her with Machine Gun chops. Ayumi tries to counter a chop with a hanging armbar in the ropes, only for Leon to absolutely nail her with a dropkick. Hamada saves with a spinning heel kick, as Ray and Kurihara absolutely light each other up with more chops. Handspring elbow/Sling Blade combo by Ray gets 2. The champs look to slow their lightning-fast challengers down with stereo octopus holds. RUNNING RANA from Ray to Hamada, rocketing the veteran into their corner. Ray cartwheels along the ropes, but Ayako dodges her, knocks Leon off the apron then meets Ray in the middle of the ring with another heel kick. Moonsault misses for Hamada though, handing the initiative back to the challengers. POP-UP SNAP RANA gets 2! Leon tags in with a springboard bulldog but then takes too long following up and eats a DDT by Hamada. ROPE CARTWHEEL DROPKICK BY RAY! ROPE-WALK MISSILE DROPKICK BY LEON! She follows that with another missile dropkick...which Hamada somehow no-sells as Kurihara trips Leon on the top rope again, allowing her partner to hit an Iconoclasm. Pyramid Driver gets 2 for Hamada! Ayumi blasts a reeling Leon with her signature missile dropkick, but can't hit the Urinage as yet and eats a backbreaker from Leon. Stereo submissions by the challengers - only for Ayako to prove too powerful. 619 from Ray to Ayumi gets 2! Elbow strike flurry by Kurihara, which Leon somehow absorbs and hits a powerslam. MAD SPLASH! Hamada breaks the pin! GERMAN SUPLEX from Ray to Ayako! MOONSAULT/SWANTON COMBO BOTH MISS! AVALANCHE BRAINBUSTER from Ray to Hamada...who somehow isn't dead and dropkicks Leon out of the sky! URINAGE by Kurihara - but Ray breaks the pin! CARTWHEEL POWERBOMB BY RAY! SPEAR BY LEON! AYUMI KICKS OUT! Captured Buster by Leon, countered with a small package by Kurihara! SHE PINS LEON! The champions survive an all-out war to win at 14:27

Rating - **** - Quite brilliant from all four of these supremely talented performers. This was relentlessly paced, unendingly exciting and - although packed with spots - actually very sensible in how they laid it out to maximise the impact of each sequence. They never once lost the crowd or let their momentum slow and had a masterful sense of timing as to when they needed to kick into the next gear. Leon and Ray tried to get sneaky and jump the champs, but quickly found that the strike-power of Hamada and Kurihara was a problem. But the big weapon the challengers had in their arsenal was all-out speed. They were so fast, so precise and so violent that Hamada and Kurihara (who are no slouches) couldn't keep up. Everyone comes out of this looking fantastic; Leon and Ray were so dangerous as challengers that they pushed the champs to the absolute limit (with Kurihara needing to pull out a desperate flash pin when she seemed on the brink of defeat just to escape with the belts), but in return Hamada and Kurihara look like phenomenal champions for having survived such a stern test of their title reign and winning a match fought very much at Leon and Ray's pace rather than their own. This is completely unique among the 47 SHIMMER Volumes thus far and quite possibly the best match of the taping. Even reviewing it a decade later it holds up - seek this out immediately.

Hunted by multiple challengers, with the ominous spectre of Saraya Knight in the background pulling the strings, Melissa trusts nobody as they all want what she has. Having survived the nefarious tactics of the Canadian NINJAs over the last two Volumes, McKay will provide a completely different test. When these two last met at Volume 25 Jessie was still fairly new to the SHIMMER roster but was still skilled enough to put up a real fight against Melissa - injuring her arm and withstanding an almighty beating before finally succumbing to defeat. She has grown since then and comes into this undefeated at this taping with wins over Mia Yim and former champion MsChif - is she now in a position to seriously threaten Melissa's championship? And what instructions is she carrying into this match imposed upon her by the intimidation of Saraya Knight earlier in the show?

Melissa is imposing from the start and looks to control McKay on the ground and starts attacking Jessie's arm (as Jessie did to her last time). And when Jessie fights that Cheerleader seamlessly switches to destroying the leg instead. The champion's dominance is underscored as she walks across the ring with the challenger in a pendulum...to start bouncing her head off the bottom turnbuckle. McKay lands a satellite headscissors (a move she used to good effect at V25) and follows it quickly with a double knee strike to the head, knowing that injuries to the head and neck will soften Melissa up for the Boyfriend Stealer or the Schoolgirl Crush. Unfortunately Cheerleader is just as equipped to target the neck and dumps her with a swinging neckbreaker. Trailer Hitch locked in looking to weaken the Australian's legs still further as well. Jessie escapes and somehow trips Melissa to the floor...for a THESZ PRESS OFF THE APRON! She then sends Melissa spine-first into the metal ring steps too. Cheerleader is wounded and defensively reacts by launching McKay into the guardrails. SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR by Jessie! She then drags a chair out from under the ring, apparently thinking about following the instructions issued to her by Saraya Knight! But she thinks better of it, tosses the chair away then goes back into the ring to get a nearfall. Melissa capitalises and goes to the legs again with the Kondo Clutch, albeit now so wounded that McKay manages to escape. Air Raid Crash blocked...but when McKay hits the ropes for the Schoolgirl Crush Melissa sweeps her aside with a Samoan drop. SCHOOLGIRL CRUSH FLURRY! NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! But she knocks referee Bryce Remsburg to the canvas as she hits the move! Saraya Knight runs out through the crowd and tosses Jessie a metal chain, ordering her to cheat whilst the ref is down. McKay throws the chain aside! Boyfriend Stealer blocked! RUNNING AIR RAID CRASH! Melissa retains at 14:33

Rating - **** - Arguably Melissa's best title defence of the taping. The match with Nicole perhaps had better wrestling, but a worse finish. The in-ring work was still really good here, but crucially they did a far superior job incorporating the dramatic, story-telling elements of the Saraya/Melissa issue and how it carries over to Melissa's challenger. I thought it was an extremely compelling story to tell with the likeable babyface McKay effectively fighting her own personal dilemma at all times regarding how far she was willing to go in pursuit of both the belt and to comply with the orders issued by Saraya. They had some neat little references to the last match, whilst showing real progression too. This time around Melissa gave no hint that she thought she could take it easy (like she did at Volume 25). And just as with their prior encounter it was McKay making the running and trying to injure a body part (this time the head and neck, which was more sensible than the arm given her finishers)...but once more couldn't inflict enough damage to win before Melissa's inevitable offensive bombs came. Jessie may even have won the match had referee Bryce Remsburg not been inadvertently knocked to the ground. 

Fed up of seeing others fail to take Melissa out, Saraya Knight jumps the guardrail again and at last attacks the SHIMMER Champion herself. The ring fills with referees and security personnel to separate them and on commentary Dave Prazak concedes that there may be no choice but to sanction a match between them...

Tape Rating - *** - This was a really strong show, maybe even the most consistent top-to-bottom card from the taping thus far. And even though it doesn't have the same quantity of 4* matches that those shows had, in the two main events for the Tag and World Titles you're getting two of the best matches from the taping as well. Hamada/Kurihara vs Leon/Ray is essential viewing for any SHIMMER fan and a beloved match by SHIMMER historians. I may not have enjoyed it as much as some but it is must-see and unlike anything the company had done up to this point. It really is the selling point of this DVD, but don't look past Melissa/McKay as well. In this weekend - where Prazak has held together all of Melissa's title-defences with the over-arching narrative of challengers being sent into battle with Saraya Knight acting as puppeteer - V47's main event was by far the best combination of strong wrestling and decent story-telling. Given that those two matches head-up a show which has multiple solid undercard tags (including the feel-good Death Rush vs Regeneration-X bout) plus Mercedes Martinez and Hailey Hatred beating the sh*t out of each other, Volume 47 absolutely stands out as another thoroughly decent SHIMMER event that is well worth your time.

3) Canadian NINJAs vs Davina Rose/Mia Yim (***)

2) Cheerleader Melissa vs Jessie McKay (****)

1) Ayako Hamada/Ayumi Kurihara vs Leon/Ray (****)