SHIMMER Women Athletes – Volume 9 – 7th April 2007
The talent roster for the fifth SHIMMER taping is an interesting one. After winning the biggest match of her career against Sara Del Rey at Volume 8, Mercedes Martinez sustained an injury and would miss all of SHIMMER’s shows in 2007 so she isn’t here tonight. Debutants Nattie Neidhart and LuFisto also drop off the line-ups – LuFisto through injury and Natalya having signed with the WWE. Those are three big names to lose, but in their place is the returning Amazing Kong. She takes on MsChif in a match which is still considered by many to be one of SHIMMER’s greatest ever matches. Our other main event pits Sara Del Rey against Cheerleader Melissa in what could be a real classic. Elsewhere Serena Deeb and Amber O’Neal get chances to step up the card as they face Lacey and Daizee Haze respectively, Tiana Ringer and Nikki Roxx meet in a battle of the rising stars and Allison Danger tries to take the wayward Cindy Rogers under her wing by forming a tag team. When she isn’t in the ring, Allison will be alongside Dave Prazak to call all the action from Berwyn, IL.
Sara Del Rey states that she wants to rebound from her loss to Mercedes Martinez at Volume 8 with a big win over Cheerleader Melissa tonight.
Rain vs Eden Black
Although there are some big SHIMMER names who aren’t here tonight, we do still have a couple of debutants to soften the blow. The most exciting of which is more than likely Eden Black, a British talent who had been impressing people with her toughness across Europe over quite a prolonged period. Dave Prazak helped her get booked at the Ring Of Honor UK shows the week earlier and now flies her out for her first appearance at The Eagles Club. She has a tough assignment tonight, although her opponent, Rain, will be well aware that the most noteworthy successes of her brief SHIMMER career thus far have been when teaming with Lacey. She’d like to step out of her partner’s shadow and start racking up some impressive victories in her own right I’m sure.
Black is FAR too excited during her entrance and appears to be having full body spasms. She makes a much better impression once the bell rings and she gets to showcase her wrestling skills. Rain is equally impressive though, using her size advantage to snare Black on the ground and drive home some knee strikes. Eden quickens the pace with some armdrags…then breaks out the Garden Of Eden (triangle choke) early on. Rain leaves the ring to recover after that…but takes her eyes off ‘The Jezebel’ and doesn’t see her climbing the ropes for a SUICIDE DIVE TO THE FLOOR! I think she may have botched it as there was an obvious video edit, but credit to the respectful SHIMMER crowd because they aren’t pulling Eden up on it at all. The Minnesota Home Wrecker resorts to choking in order to quell the attacks of the Brit – and it works perfectly as soon she is able to start rattling off big strikes just as Black had been doing earlier. Eden starts to look winded, and her inexperience starts to show as things get pretty sloppy in the next few minutes. It doesn’t help her that Rain’s execution is a little off too in all fairness. Rain Drop blocked into the Bajingo Driver (Ghana-rea) for 2! That’s followed by Blacksploitation (Eden’s Crucifix Driver) for another nearfall! Rain battles back from the brink of defeat with a neckbreaker over the knee. Acid Rain COUNTERED to the Garden Of Eden! Rain taps! That’s a big debut win for Black at 12:09
Rating - ** - I think both women could have done with this going slightly shorter…but it was nice to see a SHIMMER show kick off with a hot, hard-fought and competitive match as opposed to a Lorelei Lee suckfest. Eden Black is far from the finished article, and it showed here. She was sloppy at points, appeared to need an obvious botch edited out in post-production and looked blown up by halfway through. However, she is a pretty tough cookie and her peppy feistiness contrasted well with Rain’s more enigmatic, understated heel style. The execution wasn’t where they’d have liked it to be but this had some good ideas – and I’m all for more matches like this on SHIMMER undercards.
Cheerleader Melissa talks, possibly for the first time on camera in SHIMMER. She thinks Del Rey is ‘talking out her ass’, and plans to hit the Kudoh Driver for only the second time tonight…
Alexa Thatcher vs Ariel
I wonder whatever happened to Alexa Thatcher. She was generating some buzz coming out of the Jersey independent scene and impressed enough people to get shots in companies like SHIMMER, ROH and even TNA…before seemingly vanishing a couple of years later. I’ve only seen her in ROH, where she seemed like a perky, attractive woman with an infectiously happy persona and rather limited in-ring skills. She makes a fine opponent for Ariel though – since the Portuguese Princess is another one who is more noticeable for her adorably chirpy character than she is for her wrestling skills. She did produce a competent performance against Nattie Neidhart at Volume 8 though and would like to follow that up with a win against a debutant with less experience.
Dave Prazak emphasises Alexa’s lack of experience compared to Ariel, which makes her strong start against the Portuguese Princess even more creditable. Ariel doesn’t panic at all though, and fights back with a SCOOP TOMBSTONE! That’s quite a high spot to just chuck around as a transition! Thatcher is being surprisingly rough with her young opponent, and doesn’t hold back one bit when pinning her in the corner for a succession of stiff strikes. Alexa rallies with a headscissors…so gets SMACKED across the back by the surprisingly aggressive Ariel. More elbow smashes follow but this time Thatcher retaliates! She doesn’t want to get bullied anymore and drops Ariel with her patented Standing Bulldog for 2! Dariel out of nowhere! Ariel wins at 05:54
Rating - ** - Far less ambitious than Eden/Rain, but the execution was much better so call it 2* as well. Alexa didn’t bring a lot of experience but she didn’t mess anything up and showed real toughness to endure what was a surprisingly violent beating. We haven’t seen this tougher side of Ariel so far in SHIMMER, so it was interesting to watch her actively trying to bully a 'lesser' talent. Given her usual happy-go-lucky disposition, her aggression here really does emphasise the importance of wins and losses in this promotion. On the whole this was a basic, but well-told tale of an underdog battling to survive against a far more capable adversary. Alexa fought bravely and will have won some fans over on debut…but ultimately succumbed to inevitable defeat.
Eden Black gets some promo time yet, and looks as uncomfortable as all the other SHIMMER women. She enjoyed her debut win and plans to tap out plenty more women to the Garden Of Eden…
The Experience vs Allison Danger/Cindy Rogers
At Volume 7 we saw Danger confront Cindy in the locker room. She was unhappy at the aggressive, rule-bending streak she’d seen in Rogers across Volumes 6 & 7 and was particularly unhappy at her decision to assault Serena Deeb after their match. Having been warned to ‘do it the right way’, Cindy now accepts the offer to form a tag team with Allison. It has been established that these two have a friendship which goes back a long way, and that Danger actually helped Cindy get her spot in SHIMMER. The tag division in this company isn’t exactly loaded with talent, but nonetheless it is a tough start for them as they take on the grumpy, super-aggressive, supremely experienced duo of Lexie Fyfe and Malia Hosaka. Does this first-time tag team stand a chance against The Experience?
Rogers is full of beans, bouncing around and taunting both members of The Experience before the bell even rings – to the point that Allison has to interject and calm her down. She gets to start the match too and crows with delight as she continually out-wrestles Lexie. Both Cindy and her partner try to target Fyfe’s arm and are successful in doing so for more than five minutes before Hosaka at last comes to the aid of her partner. She pulls at Cindy’s hair to gain an advantage then hauls her back into the Experience corner to work her over. Any time Cindy threatens a fightback Hosaka is wily enough to deliver a well-timed eye rake or choke and it means that they are able to isolate her for an extended period. Fyfe has her Attitude Adjuster blocked tough, with Cindy spilling into her corner for the hot tag to Danger. Once again Malia starts cheating – this time to shut down Allison’s momentum. Cindy is conspicuous by her absence as she doesn’t invade the ring to rescue her partner, and doesn’t seem to make a particularly significant effort to reach over the ropes for a tag as Allison struggles to survive in a Boston crab. Again Danger lunges into the corner…and this time Cindy misses the tag because she is talking to the crowd. Rogers’ conduct means The Experience are able to beat the hell out of Danger – with a third tag opportunity missed because Cindy has ‘something in her eye’. The Experience mis-time an attempted heel kick combo (although it looked terrible), and Allison capitalises with the Lovelace Choker on Fyfe. X-FACTOR FROM CINDY TO ALLISON! She leaves the ring triumphant as The Experience finish off Allison with a double gourdbuster at 15:12
Rating - ** - This took a LONG time to accomplish relatively little. Cindy Rogers’ performance in this match was outstanding but this shouldn’t have taken anywhere near as long to complete. By the end it had become so mundane and predictable that Cindy’s heel turn actually lost some momentum through sheer indifference. The Experience are enjoyable when working shorter matches where they get to rough up the junior members of the roster. Here they got to step up into a higher profile match, and didn’t really have the skills or quality to back that elevated spot up. Their heat segments almost put me to sleep if I’m being honest. Cindy redeemed this with her great character work…from the arrogance during her entrance to slowly getting more and more heel-ish as the match progressed. Her comedy reasons for refusing tags were probably the best thing this one had going…although one can’t help but wonder why it took her more than fifteen minutes to finally plunge the knife into Danger’s back.
In the back Allison Danger bemoans Cindy’s act of betrayal. She challenges Rogers to a match at Volume 10. This was, by a distance, the best promo in SHIMMER history. Great stuff…
Portia Perez vs Josie
For some reason Portia only appeared on the first half of the Volume 7/8 tapings, so she is back after sitting a show out. She is another one of the promising rising young stars SHIMMER are looking to nurture, develop and eventually supplement their existing main event talent. She will be searching for a breakout performance, as will Josie, who has too often looked like the weak link in her matches so far.
Prazak points out that neither have won a match in SHIMMER so far, so the loser here could be at risk of being cut from the roster. Perez is sporting more of a heel persona than last time we saw her, and isn’t shy about posing to the crowd every time she does something impressive. Some of Josie’s chain-wrestling is really clunky and she nearly cripples Portia by dropping her neck-first in a flash pin attempt. Regardless of that Portia seems happy to toss her body around to get Josie over, and bumps hard as Josie lands a series of armdrags. Perez replies with a series of closed fists…before getting unintentionally dumped on her neck again by her clumsy opponent. CRADLE SUPLEX by Josie! She tries to channel her inner Road Dogg with the pumphandle slam but drops Portia so close to the ropes she is able to evade the pin…then reach under the ring to grab something. She pulls out a chain and belts Josie with it behind the ref’s back. Perez gets the win at 07:38
Rating - * - Not a great match and a really sloppy performance from Josie too. She’s not been particularly impressive at any point in her SHIMMER career thus far and I’d go so far as to say this was her worst performance yet. She could have seriously injured Perez on a number of occasions through sheer sloppy clumsiness. Thankfully Perez (who has a bright future even if you might not necessarily know it from this match) got the win, and did so in a manner which will get people talking about her and get her moving up the card. Unlike a Josie or a Lorelei Lee, she is a talent worth investing a little time in.
Becky Bayless makes her SHIMMER debut, basically in an extension of her ROH role at the time as a roving reporter/interviewer. She is in the ring to introduce Daffney, who has popped up on commentary a couple of times already to make it known she has an agenda in SHIMMER. She reveals that she is going to wrestle in this company sometime soon, but her primary focus is on finding talent to manage
Amber O’Neal vs Daizee Haze
The Volumes 7/8 tapings were a positive day for Amber. She put up a hell of a fight in a decent little match against Allison Danger at 7, then secured a comfortable victory over Josie at 8. Those two performances have earned her another opportunity to shine against one of SHIMMER’s biggest names. Daizee Haze doesn’t have the strongest won/loss record, but the quality of her matches thus far cannot be doubted. 7 & 8 were extremely tough on her, as she was involved in a war with Cheerleader Melissa, then had to drag her body back through the curtain for another hard-fought bout against Tiana Ringer. Like Amber she went 1-1 at the last taping and will be casting an eye on bigger and better things for Volumes 9 & 10.
I might not be her biggest fan, but Daizee’s popularity inside the Eagles Club is undeniable. The amount of people holding up flowers, signs and even hand-made cardboard cut-outs is pretty amazing. O’Neal looks out of her depth against her until she tugs at the hair to get an advantage. Haze’s technical and aerial ability see her dominate the opening period regardless, leaving Amber looking like a shadow of the athlete that was so impressive at the last taping. In a horribly contrived and fake-looking spot, Amber sidesteps Haze in the corner then uses the hair to guillotine her over the top rope. It incapacitates Daizee, allowing her to use her superior size to control her on the canvas. O’Neal gets more and more frustrated at her inability to put the smaller woman away. She starts screaming at the ref, aggressively choking at her opponent and generally becoming incredibly tough to manage until the Haze lays her out with a Stunner to escape a rear chinlock. RUNNING ELBOW TO THE FACE by Daizee! Someone has been watching her Misawa tapes! Heart Punch (sort of) countered to the STO – the move that defeated Josie at Vol. 8 – for 2. Haze counters the TKO into the Heart Punch/Yakuza Kick combo to score the win at 08:41
Rating - ** - I enjoyed the psychology and storyline they had backing up what they did in there, but some of the execution was absolutely horrible. I would argue that the vast majority of the ‘major’ spots and exchanges in this match were poorly performed – ranging from minor mishaps to outright botches. Looking beyond some obvious errors this was a half decent match, but if you’re trying to convince sceptics that an all-female wrestling show is a viable alternative the obvious flaws in this one would give a cynic all the ammunition needed to write the show off. I liked the idea that Daizee was a better wrestler, meaning Amber had to use her size and manipulation of the rules to her advantage. I thought the aggression she showed during her heat segment on Haze was impressive. Sadly you lose a lot of your storyline’s impact when your wrestling looks utterly dreadful at times…
Rebecca Bayless gets screamed at by MsChif for doubting her…before MsChif promises to defeat Amazing Kong tonight.
Tiana Ringer vs Nikki Roxx
Both of these two women delivered serious break-out performances at the last taping. Nikki’s victory over Lacey at Volume 7 was one of the best matches of the entire day, whilst Ringer really stepped up and took Daizee Haze to the limit in a thoroughly decent undercard clash on Volume 8. Now these two rising stars get to test their skills against each other – presumably putting the winner on a fast track to the top of the SHIMMER card whilst leaving the loser still stuck in the midcard.
Tiana seems more concerned with karate poses and playing to the crowd than she does in wrestling, and pays the price as a fast start by Roxx drivers her out of the ring. Nikki pursues her opponent frantically, attempting pinfalls after every move…until she gets caught out with that strategy as Tiana boots her right in the face as she attempts another pin. Ringer starts kicking at Roxx’s leg and quickly hobbles her. With Nikki now struggling to stand, Tiana starts attacking the back as well – applying a surfboard then chasing her around the ring with stiff kicks to the spine. Grounded abdominal stretch applied next, with the bad leg hooked too! Big spinebuster scores (again largely using the legs for leverage) and very nearly puts Nikki down for the count. BARBIE CRUSHER! That was as out of nowhere as Nikki’s rather elaborate finishing move can be, and she wins the match at 10:24
Rating - *** - Hardly an all-time classic, but on a rather weak SHIMMER card thus far this was a noticeable step up in quality. For the second show running Tiana knocked out of the park with her performance – and I loved her dual-facing assault on both the back and the leg. Roxx is far from amazing, but she is a solid babyface hand at this point. Her selling of individual body parts could use some work but her facials and ability to get over the effectiveness of her opponent is amongst the very best on the roster. Together these two put together a crisp little match which proved beyond a doubt why they are considered two of the rising stars on this inconsistent SHIMMER undercard.
Nikki points out that she is on a winning streak at the moment and demands a chance to prove that she belongs in the main event. She wants the winner of the Del Rey/Melissa match tonight at Volume 10.
Amazing Kong cuts a promo. I’m not entirely sure what she said (something about MsChif having a good match in Japan), but she looks scary as sh*t.
Lacey vs Serena Deeb
I continue to make no secret of the fact that Lacey is my favourite SHIMMER athlete. She is a hell of a heel and a hugely underrated worker to boot. This match fascinates me, as she brings her considerable skill to the ring to face of with Serena Deeb – a woman who is always heralded as being a pretty solid talent, but is yet to produce anything particularly remarkable in this promotion. Serena is another one who has clearly been earmarked by Prazak and SHIMMER management as a star on the rise. This is a match where she needs to back up that faith by delivering the goods.
Deeb clearly realises what an opportunity this is for her and wastes no time in scoring with a number of fiery strikes. Lacey is repeatedly sent running for cover in the ropes to avoid the tenacity of her pugnacious adversary. In classic Lacey fashion it is a cheap kick right in the stomach that puts Deeb on the back foot for the first time. She looks for a monkey flip in the corner only to be dropped face-first into the turnbuckles by the Home Wrecker. Having fallen victim to a number of Deeb armdrags thus far, Lacey makes a strong strategic decision to start attacking Serena’s arm. The effectiveness of that tactic is soon revealed as she is able to dodge another attack from Deeb, grab her arm and drive her emphatically into the mat with a cobra clutch slam. She starts Irish whipping Serena next, but refusing to release the arm therefore snapping it hard and driving her down to the canvas instead. Lacey being Lacey, she’s also not above using the hair and eyes in extremely violent fashion to maintain her control. A hammerlock DDT, followed by a hammerlock backbreaker come next seemingly putting Serena on the cusp of defeat. BUBBA BOMB by Lacey! And she holds on into a seated full nelson! Somehow Deeb fights out of the Implant DDT but her arm hangs limp by her side as she desperately tries to mount a comeback. Annoyingly she then totally no-sells the arm so she can hit her spots – including a grounded abdominal stretch almost entirely reliant on the injured limb. Lacey grabs a standing hammerlock but as she tries to convert to the Implant DDT Deeb counters to a suplex. Lacey shoves her shoulder first into the ringpost! ARM CAPTURE INVERTED NECKBREAKER! ARM CAPTURE IMPLANT DDT! Lacey wins at 15:57
Rating - *** - At times it felt like Serena was just being taken along for the ride, but Lacey was on fire here and proved once again that she genuinely is one of the very best workers on this roster. Her psychology here was on a different level – attacking the arm because Serena had so successfully used it in the early going, then modifying almost all of her usual spots to pile on additional punishment to that body part. Deeb was okay, but her no sell at the end was infuriating and at no point did I feel she was contributing to the match from her side. Certainly she didn’t do anything here that the vast majority of the SHIMMER women couldn’t have done as well (if not better). Bottom line, Lacey is awesome, and I’m already despairing that we are getting increasingly close to the point where she retires and stops competing inside the SHIMMER ring.
Amazing Kong vs MsChif
Kong made her SHIMMER debut back on Volumes 5 & 6. She made a hell of an impact, but in truth spent both of those tapings roughing up small fry. Tonight is the first time she steps into the ring with one of SHIMMER’s biggest names and anticipation is high for it. MsChif laid down the challenge for this one – anxious to prove herself as not just one of the best women in SHIMMER, but one of the top Joshi workers on the planet.
MsChif screams in Kong’s face…only for the Awesome One just to scream right back! CHOPS BY KONG! Chif whips the big woman off her feet with a satellite headscissors and is on her in a flash looking for a Boston crab. Kong mauls MsChif, tossing her wildly around the ring by the hair and throat…then almost snaps her like a twig hitting a lariat against the ropes. Still MsChif refuses to stay down and she shows her resourcefulness again by countering an attempted powerslam into a mounted sleeper hold. As if to make a point, AK puts MsChif in a sleeper in response – but in doing so also swings her around effortlessly before allowing her to collapse in a heap. TORNADO DDT by MsChif! ELBOWS IN THE CORNER! Panic Attack nailed! But Kong is so big Ms can’t even pull her out of the corner to attempt a pin. Desecrator…BUT KONG COUNTERS TO A TORTURE RACK! SHE IS KICKING MSCHIF IN THE HEAD WITH HER OWN F*CKING FEET! MISSILE DROPKICK RIGHT TO THE FACE! AMAZING PRESS! MSCHIF MOVES…BUT KONG LANDS ON HER ANYWAY! MsChif has almost nothing left…but somehow manages to walk the ropes into a swinging DDT sending Kong to the floor! TOP ROPE SUICIDE DIVE BY MSCHIF! BACK FIST DUCKED…LARIATOOOOOOOOO BY KONG INSTEAD! IMPLANT BUSTER…GETS 2! NECK DROP AMAZING BOMB! MSCHIF KICKS OUT AGAIN! BACK FIST BY MSCHIF! But that is so weak it’s almost insulting! BACK FIST OF TOTAL DEATH BY KONG! SPINNING AMAZING BOMB! (Ironically, that’s MsChif’s husband Michael Elgin’s finisher!). Kong wins at 12:21
Rating - **** - This one got a lot of hype at the time, so it had a lot to live up to…and it certainly delivered. It didn’t go too long, didn’t try anything too complicated – and instead told a deliciously simple story of the merciless Kong beating the sh*t out of MsChif who, like Nikki Roxx at V5, leaves with tremendous credit just for surviving such a massacre. The presence, poise and power of Kong elevates her above everyone on the roster. SHIMMER need to nail her down for as many shows as possible because simply by turning up she gives the promotion a huge credibility boost. She was at her indomitable best tonight, with only a couple of minor miscues on MsChif’s side stopping this from entering legitimate MOTYC territory. Definitely one of the best matches in SHIMMER history thus far
Cheerleader Melissa vs Sara Del Rey
This is the first time these two have shared a ring in SHIMMER competition. Considering they have been two of the top performers in the promotion so far, it means we’ve been kept waiting for a long time to see them lock horns. Melissa finished her feud with MsChif and is now somewhat of a babyface character, even going so far as to apparently form a tag team with her old rival. She now accepts the cheers of the crowd but will still be unrelentingly focused on her goal of becoming the top dog in the company. Del Rey has been in more main events than her, and has a better won/loss record too…but has perhaps never been more vulnerable having just lost a huge match to Mercedes Martinez at the last show. Which of these two alpha female’s will emerge victorious in Volume 9’s main event.
The opening minutes are intense and evenly fought. Del Rey looks to be the happier of the two trading holds on the canvas, which makes sense considering her background, training and all that we’ve seen from her thus far in SHIMMER. Melissa starts to fall behind, unable to escape the clutches of Del Rey as she starts to focus her attack on the arm in preparation for the Royal Butterfly. We are fast approaching ten minutes and Cheerleader has hardly gotten out of the blocks. She looks enormously frustrated and is noticeably favouring her injured arm as she tries to throw some offence back in Sara’s direction. She kicks and punches at Death Rey’s leg…only to be dismissively punted out of the ring by the American Angel. DEL REY MISSES A CANNONBALL SENTON OFF THE APRON! She took a brutal bump on the hard wood floor there and has tumbled into an environment where Melissa can use her brawling superiority. Sara is soon nursing a back injury and she collapses to the ground in quite an ugly manner after the Cheerleader delivers an axe kick straight to the spine. Air Raid Crash blocked at this point so Melissa drops her down onto the back again with a Samoan drop instead. Sara climbs to hit a MOONSAULT PRESS for 2! That move did as much damage to her own back as it did to her opponent though. GERMAN SUPLEX NAILED! But her bad back meant she couldn’t hold onto the bridge. SLAP DUEL IN THE CORNER! SUPERPLEX BY DEL REY! RUNNING AIR RAID CRASH BY MELISSA…SARA IN THE ROPES! KONDO CLUTCH! She is cranking on Del Rey’s injured leg and back but just can’t force the submission! Kudoh Driver COUNTERED TO THE ROYAL BUTTERFLY! DEL REY WINS! It’s over at 19:18
Rating - **** - I really like matches like this. They probably could have worked a spottier or more crowd-pleasing spectacle, but instead they opted to bust out some serious workrate and win the audience over through sheer skill. At it’s heart it told a great story too, with Sara in control when it was a wrestling match and Melissa dominating when it turned into a brawl on the floor. In the end both women were left battling through fatigue and injury and it was Sara who survived the Kondo Clutch to hit her patented finishing hold first and leave with the win. And these two kept plenty in the tank for future matches – and you can be rest assured this won’t be the last time you see then face off inside a SHIMMER ring.
Tape Rating - ** - This may seem like quite a harsh rating, but personally I do consider this one of the weaker SHIMMER events thus far. The two main events are really strong, but the problem with SHIMMER has never been main event quality. Their issue has always been substandard undercards and at the moment it feels like the gulf in talent between the top names and the undercard workers is growing. Women like Serena Deeb, Amber O’Neal and The Experience didn’t do much to impress in higher profile matches than they usually get. There are still women on the show who don’t look anywhere near talented enough to be on the roster (Josie for instance). And perhaps most frustratingly the undercard was littered with basic execution errors which held back the quality of their respective matches and inflicted significant damage on the overall credibility of SHIMMER’s product. The last hour of this show (Ringer/Roxx, Lacey/Deeb, Kong/MsChif and Del Rey/Melissa) was extremely good – but as we approach ten shows it is probably time to take stock, appreciate the good things this promotion does, then have an open and frank discussion about how they can improve things beneath their main eventers. You can’t keep asking the likes of Del Rey, Melissa, Lacey and MsChif to carry events, and you can’t keep cranking out three hour DVD’s which feature two hours of indifferent wrestling to get through before we reach the good stuff. This is still a recommended show for SHIMMER fans. The Kong/MsChif match in particular is must-see. But there are better shows thus far, and as we move through 2007 I’d like to see Prazak and co. take steps to continue to evolve and improve the product.
Top 3 Matches
3) Lacey vs Serena Deeb (***)
2) Sara Del Rey vs Cheerleader Melissa (****)
1) Amazing Kong vs MsChif (****)