Shimmer Volume 8

The show begins with a promo from a glasses wearing Sara Del Rey. She awkwardly tells people to check out her match from Shimmer Volume 5 against Mercedes and then goes over the history of the two of them and how Martinez blames her for their loss against Lacey and Rain.  She also seems a little annoyed that she has to face Mercedes again despite beating her already, but says she will do it again. This was not good at all. She seems so uncomfortable on the microphone and having her show frustration that she again has to face Martinez does seem a little heelish to me.

Lexie Fyfe vs Lorelei Lee

We have our first Lexie Fyfe match since Volume 3 and it occurs to me that since that shocking victory over MsChif Fyfe is on a 5 match winning streak right now! Lorelei Lee on the other hand hasn’t won a match since Volume 3 so I guess given the amount of times Dave’s talked about the women needing to win to maintain their spots a loss here could mean trouble for her. Lee comes out hatless again. Why doesn’t she just buy lots of cheap ones so that she can afford to keep giving them away?

This was honestly a nothing match and aside from Lyfe blocking Lee’s handspring backflip elbow with a knee to the back and Lorelei’s brilliant coughing and spluttering selling of a camel clutch choke there wasn’t anything noteworthy about it. For a match this short I think they should have had a back-and-forth encounter but this was all Fyfe and her offence wasn’t anything to write home about and Lee needs someone to help make her look good and Lexi didn’t do that. The end came about when Lorelei went for a standing moonsault but Fyfe got her knees up and then hit the Attitude Adjuster for the three.

Cindy Rogers vs Deeb

Rogers comes out with her usual ridiculous jumping around entrance, but the fans know she’s on the cusp of a turn and one can be overheard stating “she’s no longer a face” in an amusingly deadpan way. Her opponent is Serena Deeb who’s got a new attire at last, wearing blue rather than pink. I reckon Cindy saw that Serena teamed with Portia Perez last volume and wants to take down yet another tag team, still bitter over her Volume 1 loss to Team Blondage. Danger asks Prazak “What makes Serena so Debious?” because her surname is Deeb and ‘Debious’ rhymes with ‘devious’ I guess?

Cindy Rogers works the leg and does do some incredible submission moves that I’ve never seen before, but then out of the blue wins with the TCB which wouldn’t do any damage to the leg at all. I know I spend more time putting down Cindy Rogers than I do any other wrestler on the roster but I’ve now seen eight matches of hers and don’t think that any of them were any good. It’s frustrating as she proves with some of the superb submission moves that I’ve regularly praised that she has talent but there seems to be no rhyme or rhythm to her matches. It’s as if she’s an AI in a wrestling game where she does random moves rather than use ones that will add to a story or make sense. Serena to her credit does a sublime job of selling the leg during and after the match which I appreciate even if it played no part in the finish. For my money Deeb is the best at selling an injury out of anybody who’s ever competed in Shimmer and this was the first time when watching these old shows where I can see the potential in her that she later realised. After the bell Rogers stomps on Serena which disgusts Allison.

In the back we see Cheerleader Melissa in the locker room tying up her boots when MsChif walks into view. Melissa asks, in such a worried way, if this team is really gonna work and MsChif just throws some of her entrance chain gear into her lap and silently leaves. I’ve got to say the locker room looks so packed with bags spewed everywhere and this is only with 23 women on the roster. How are they going to manage when we get 40+ on future shows?! I liked this segment. Quick and effective and Melissa just had a sentence to say which is the best use of her. I noticed the second time I watched this segment that Josie walks into shot in the background and sort of freezes when she notices the camera which made me laugh.

Lufisto vs Allison Danger

I’m not quite sure why such a high profile match like this is so early on the card but I shouldn’t complain too much as one of the biggest gripes people have with these early shows is that the first half is much weaker than the latter half so this rectifies that by spreading the big matches out. Lufisto is wrestling with a tie on which I just adore. It’s one of the first signs we have of the kooky anime character she evolves into. She also has a bandage on her back, which she also had on Volume 7. I don’t know why she has the bandage but I imagine it might be the result of one of the death matches that she made her name from. If so then the bandage works as reminder of her wrestling past and the tie hints to the future so this makes an interesting point in the middle of her career. Allison Danger comes out and she’s wearing an outfit that combines the stars of the USA and the Maple Leaf of Canada and is my favourite attire of hers.

After a handshake at the start things get heated early on in the match when Danger rips off the bandage from Lufisto’s back and specifically targets the injury for the reminder of the contest. Seriously what the fuck Allison? All your talk about wrestling the right way and not taking shortcuts and then you do this? Yes it’s not cheating and makes logical sense that you’d target the injured body part, but then technically Rebecca Knox wasn’t cheating when she faked the injury either so Danger’s character just seems like such a hypocrite to me. Even Prazak has to mention that Danger’s acting slightly out of character here.  Lufisto fights back and does some incredibly painful looking kicks to Danger and then she fires up with some Kobashi chops and running attacks to a cornered Allison. Lufisto applies a bodyscissors to Danger and the fans all chant “tap, tap, tap” so either Lufisto’s won them over or Danger’s behaviour has turned them against her. Lufisto then traps Danger in the Coquina Clutch and the referee stops the match giving Lufi the victory.

I thought this was a lot of fun. I like Danger as a wrestler but completely hate her Shimmer character so seeing her act like a jerk and then get her arse handed to her with some vicious kicks and chops was very satisfying to see. I preferred this to Lufisto’s match against Mercedes on Volume 7 and think this was Allison’s best match since Volume 3. Lufisto helps Allison up and they hug and then walk to the back.

Amber O’Neal vs Josie

Josie sat out the last volume whilst Portia Perez got a main show debut but she’s taking the Canadian’s place this time out. Amber O’Neal is sat on top of the turnbuckles as usual and she looks super cute as she nods her head in time to Josie’s awful “music”. A fan shouts that O’Neal sucks but she replies that their Mum sucks. Haha, yeah I know “your Mum” is such a lame comeback, but it’s always one that cracks me up and I love that for the second show in a row she’s owned this crowd. Not content with owning the fans she turns her attention to Josie by saying “I went toe-to-toe with Allison Danger, do you think I’m worried about this hood rat?” Awesome! Josie tries a comeback but it completely dies on its arse and is met with silence which I found hilariously awkward. The fans are still on Amber’s case as they chant “Skanky Barbie” at her whilst Danger accuses her of taking shortcuts. Seriously, the cheek of the woman!

While watching this match I was wondering exactly what Amber O’Neal’s finisher is as she’s only won one singles match so far and that was with a rollup and handful of tights. I get my answer as she puts away Josie with a STO. A bit better from Josie here compared to her previous tag matches and she does a nice lungbuster from the corner and a diving neckbreaker from the middle rope which later becomes her finisher called the Blockbuster, but I think here she hardly makes any contact with O’Neal with the move. Amber’s character is enough to get her by but she’s yet to have match that I’ve really been able to get into.

Backstage promo where Cindy Rogers smarmily states that was not Serena’s night in a really condescending way. Allison Danger comes down from the moral high ground to ask her what the stomp on Deeb was all about after the match and to lecture Cindy. Rogers explains that she wants to get noticed and will do whatever’s necessary. Danger reckons that Cindy’s better than this and tells her to go about it the right away. Cindy agrees that’s she’ll do it the right way, but then says she’ll do that by any means necessary. Oddly despite Cindy clearly just stating that no, she will not listen to Danger and will do whatever it takes to go up the roster Allison walks off seemingly satisfied that her pep talk has worked.

Malia Hosaka vs Nikki Roxx

Malia’s last singles outing on Volume 3 feels like so long ago that I forgot Malia has different entrance music when she’s not in a tag team. She walks through the curtain to silence, but tells the fans to shut up anyway. Nikki Roxx is super over. I said that before but her reactions keep growing at such a quick rate and truthfully were it not for her being so popular I would have completely lost interest in this match. I was actually looking forwards to this as I love Nikki and convinced myself that I liked Malia but just don’t enjoy The Experience’s tag matches, but this just went on for far too long. It was over eleven minutes and honestly felt longer. Malia’s obviously an old school wrestler and her constant cheap tactics are, if you excuse the Michael Cole-ism, vintage heel heat, but I just don’t find it all that entertaining to watch and I’m disappointed as I’ve been wanting to see her in singles action for a while now however this didn’t entertain me. That said the ending was quite good as Malia tried a Hurricanrana and Roxx turned it into a powerbomb with a bridge for the win. It looked really smooth and almost like Kevin Owens’ Pop-Up Powerbomb. Malia has a temper tantrum after her loss, just like Amber did when she was defeated by Nikki too. People just don’t like being beaten by Nikki Roxx.

Nattie Neidhart vs Ariel

I’m in pop heaven here during the entrances with Cyndi Lauper vs B*Witched. This begins again with more great wrestling from Nattie. I find it odd how I’ve found her to be more entertaining in her two Shimmer matches than I have in almost her entire WWE run. Nattie is quite popular with the fans and I usually don’t like fans cheering on heels, but due to my love of the Hart Foundation I really want to cheer her too and keep forgetting that she was a heel during her brief Shimmer run. Dave mentions Ariel’s six woman tag match against Amazing Kong from Volume 6 and says that Kong will be returning to Shimmer soon. Hell yes!

The highlight of this match was when a frustrated Nattie left the ring after a dropkick from Ariel and she refused to get back into the ring so Ariel chased her round the outside until Nattie dived through the ropes back into the ring and then literally jumped into referee Brian Gorie’s arms and stayed thee until Brian just drops her. Hilarious! I remembered this spot well from my original watch but I thought it was Beth Phoenix with her superb comedy character that did it so I spent Volumes 1 & 2 waiting for Beth to do that spot. I think it’s because I keep forgetting how much fun Nattie was. Neidhart warns the ref to never drop her again and Dave says that hopefully she won’t be in his arms again before Danger quips “I don’t think anybody has to worry about being in the arms of Brian Gorie again”. Ouch, what a burn!

Neidhart tells the ref that a fan threw something at her and then when Brian Gorie was distracted she cheap shots Ariel. Nattie hits a Michinoku Drive for two and then tries the Sharpshooter but Ariel gets to the ropes before it can be locked in. Ariel’s whipped to the corner and Nattie charges towards her but is met with a boot for her trouble and Ariel connects with a tornado DDT for a near fall of her own. Ariel connects with a lovely looking Northern Lights for another two. Ariel shouts out “that’s it!” and looks to win with her Dariel, but Nattie counters it with a fantastic release German suplex. Ariel’s shrieks during that suplex were great. Neidhart locks in the Sharpshooter for the first time in Shimmer and Ariel literally screams in pain before tapping out. Nattie twice says “If you mess with the best, you die with the rest” and follows that up with a final “Yeah baby!” I love that little tribute to her Father but she sure does say it a lot and she reminds me of a pull string cowboy with how often she repeats her catchphrases during these matches.

I really quite enjoyed this. I wouldn’t say it’s a must watch or anything but I found Nattie to be very entertaining and it was good to see a more comedy side of her compared to what we saw against Del Rey. I think it was one of Ariel’s strongest showings too and I wouldn’t mind seeing her go up against one of the bigger names on the roster.

Tiana Ringer vs Daizee Haze

This should be awesome and is my most anticipated match on the show as I adore both of these women. Tiana comes out in her blue wrestling gear for the first time and she looks great although a fan shouts out that it makes her resemble a volleyball player. The fans chant that Daizee’s gonna kill Ringer, which makes Tiana angry. A lovely double springboard armdrag by Ringer allows her to show off some of the stuff she’s learnt in Mexico. Haze front facelocks Tiana, but Ringer is able to lean forwards and kicks the back of Daizee’s head and Danger puts over Tiana’s dance background which allows her to perform such athletic moves. She hasn’t done that move since the very first Shimmer match against Shantelle Taylor and it is possibly my favourite move in Shimmer and one of the most beautiful too. I think she should use that kick later on in her matches in a similar vain to AJ Styles’ Pele Kick. I also can’t believe that she never gave it a name so I’ve christened it the Bell Ringer!

Ringer also has some lovely looking kicks and some great over-the-top elbow drops. She then connects with a great tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker. Yeah, I just love almost everything she does in the ring! Ringer poses with a foot on Haze and shows off her pipes. Daizee is able to hit a crucifix pin, but Ringer kicks out and then quickly puts her down with a big boot. More elbow drops and then a legdrop from Tiana earn her a two count. Haze hits a headscissors take down and then dropkicks Tiana to the corner and then gives her a second one to a seated Ringer who was sitting against bottom turnbuckle.

Haze goes the Heart Punch, but she’s pushed to the ropes instead. Daizee bounces back and tries to execute a wheelbarrow rollup but Ringer catches her and applies a full nelson before taking Haze to the mat with an electric chair drop. That was excellent. Ringer mounts Haze and just starts softening her up with right hands. Tiana picks up Haze looking to finish her off with the South Palm Beach Driver, but Daizee counters into a sunset flip for two. Haze ducks a clothesline and takes Ringer down with an Uranage and then she mounts Tiana and gives her some rights of her own. This final stretch is getting really good.

Ringer reverses an Irish whip and sends Haze to the corner. Tiana charges towards Haze but Daizee gets a boot up. Haze climbs up top perhaps looking for her dropkick but Ringer crotches her on the turnbuckles. Tiana then lifts Haze up on her shoulder and carries her to the middle of the ring looking for the South Palm Beach Driver again, but Daizee is able to land on her feet. Ringer tries a dragon sleeper suplex, but Haze again lands on her feet turns it into a Heart Punch and then Yakuza Kicks Ringer for the three count.

In case you couldn’t tell I really enjoyed this and found the last few minutes very exciting. It was Ringer’s first match against an established main eventer and she did very well indeed. She’s also starting to show more character and we’ll see that more over the next couple of volumes. As for Haze, I’ve gushed and praised her on every one of my reviews so far and to think that this, despite being very good, might be her worst Shimmer match is a striking testament to how talented she is.

The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew vs MelissChif (Cheerleader Melissa & MsChif)

We see the events from Volume 7 that was the set up for this unlikely tag team match and then Lacey and Rain make their entrance. They try and shield themselves from photos (how dare these fans get them for free!) and then they acknowledge that the fans with the previous ‘MHWC’ sign have amended it to now say ‘MnHWC’ with a smaller ‘n’ on a different sheet of paper. Fair play to them fans and for Lacey to acknowledge it. Melissa enters in a green cheerleader outfit and is wearing the chains that MsChif gave her earlier. She looks awesome in it and I’m glad they’ve made an effort to make themselves look more like a team, but part me of me thinks it could have been awesome if it was MsChif who adapted her look to that of Melissa’s and came out with green pom-poms! Their team was called ‘MelissChif’ by the fans and it sort of stuck. Lacey is angry, or angrier given that is her usual temperament, at Melissa wearing chains and demands that the ref make her take them off. Bryce tells her to calm down and she shouts out that she’s not going to. MsChif starts the match with her usual scream and Rain falls to the mat and tags in Lacey throwing her into the lion’s den. Lacey tells MsChif that she should take some medication or something. Fricking fantastic line! I believe this is the only time we ever get to see Lacey and MsChif share a Shimmer ring which is a massive shame.

MsChif tags out and Lacey slaps Melissa. Wow, does she have a death wish or is she just so deluded that she thinks she can win a striking battle against her? Melissa applies a leg submission as Lacey tries to crawl to the ropes and Rain tries to enter the ring to break it up but this distracts the referee and allows MsChif to come in and pull Melissa and Lacey back to the centre of the ring. I loved seeing the face distracting referee while the heels double team their partner cliché turned on its head there. MsChif and Rain tag back in and Rain hits an incredibly loud sounding slap. The MHWC, or perhaps that should the MNHWC, gain the advantage when Lacey kicks MsChif from the apron and MsChif plays face in peril for the remainder of the match. Rain and Lacey are just fantastic and getting heat and with Rebecca Knox gone they are the two biggest heels in Shimmer by some margin.

The MHWC continue to beat down on MsChif with double team moves as Lacey drop toeholds her and Rain does an elbow drop. An angry Melissa stupidly keeps coming into the ring to try and prevent the heels double teaming, but this just allows them to do it more when the referee restrains her. Why does Melissa even care so much? I know they are team mates in this match but just two volumes ago they were trying to kill each other! There aren’t even any championships yet either so it’s not like a victory here would achieve anything. Showing any emotion at all sort of takes away from what I love about Melissa, but surely she’d be loving seeing MsChif getting beaten up if anything?

Eventually MsChif makes the tag only for the referee not to see it and damn, they did such a good job of turning the classic tag tropes on their head at the start of this match. MsChif reverses an Irish whip and then charges towards the corner only to run into a boot from Rain. Rain climbs the turnbuckles and grabs MsChif looking for a lungblower, but MsChif blocks this and connects with a crazy Death Valley Driver from the middle rope and a gorgeous bridging pin for a two. I said before that a DVD always seems like it should end a match and that goes double for that one. I think Lacey should have broken the pin up at least.

Both women make tags and Melissa comes in like a house of fire. Lacey made this hot tag to Melissa look great by constantly getting up only to be knocked back down which the Experience, despite all their umm experience, didn’t do for Serena Deeb on the last volume. Melissa hits the curbstomp on Lacey to cap off the nice hot tag but Rain is in to break up the pin attempt. MsChif enters now and the faces do an elaborate double pin attempt on their opponent where Melissa pins Lacey and MsChif pins Rain, but Bryce refuses to count. Okay I know technically all four women are in the ring and therefore the ref shouldn’t count the pinfall, even though Melissa is pinning the legal woman Lacey, but it just made both Melissa and MsChif look stupid by attempting an illegal double team pin and it kind of hurt the momentum of the final stretch of the match.

Rain hits a codebreaker to Melissa and Lacey follows that up with a lungblower, but Melissa is able to kick out. MsChif is tagged back in, a little too soon for my liking seeing as she was worked over for a long time, and MsChif takes Lacey to the corner, ties her legs up in the ropes and spikes her with the devastating looking Obliteration. Wow! Rain breaks up the following pin attempt and gives MsChif a Rain Drop and gets a two count before Melissa breaks that up and hits an Air Raid Crash. Bryce tries to get Melissa out of the ring because she hasn’t tagged in. What?! Neither had Rain and you literally just counted her pin attempt?! Lacey sets up MsChif for an Unprettier and Rain grabs her legs and gives her an electric chair drop at the same time for a Double team Tomikaze. Lacey covers and Melissa runs into the ring but completely ignores the pin attempt and attacks Rain instead and MsChif kicks out. With Rain and Melissa fighting on the outside Lacey hits the Implant DDT for the three and to maintain the MHWC’s undefeated record.

I really liked this match and it is easily the best tag team match so far in Shimmer in my opinion. All four women were very good here with a special mention to MsChif for busting out two incredible moves for the first time with the Obliteration and Death Valley Driver. This is also the best we’ve seen from Rain too and I think her being in tag team matches perhaps hides her weaknesses a little more than when she wrestles by herself.

I do have issues with this match however. For one there were just gaps of logic with Melissa’s actions at points, especially the end where she runs into the ring and doesn’t attempt to break the cover and yeah Bryce Remsburg annoyed me at times too. I think he’s one of the very best referees usually but when the match breaks down at the end you’ve either got to say anything goes or stick to the letter of the law, but to be so inconsistent and also disrupt the momentum of the match at one point just tarnished everything a little for me. Lastly MsChif should not have kicked out of the Double team Tomikaze. That moved looked incredible and especially given how much abuse MsChif had taken in this match she should not be kicking out of a tag team’s finisher. But despite all of that if I shut off my critical side of my brain this was very enjoyable.

After the match MsChif and Melissa have a stare-off and then shake hands. I feel like I’m nit-picking now by criticizing this too but I felt like they missed out on not milking the eventually handshake more. As it stands the match ends and whilst Lacey and Rain are still celebrating and the camera is following them Melissa and MsChif are starring at each other and then quickly shake hands. I think it would have been better if you had the MHWC celebrate to the back, cut their music and then do the stare off so that all the attention is on the two wrestlers in the ring. Also this would build up tension as you don’t know whether these two will be cool with each other or whether they will start brawling again. That way the hand shake would have got more of a reaction too.

Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey

We miss all of Mercedes’ entrance as we are shown all the previous interactions between these two over the top of it. I really hated that. I love the entrances in Shimmer and the crowd interactions that can occur during them in such an intimate venue. I know I’ve moaned about how some of these video highlight reminders have gone on too long, but if the alternative is that we don’t get to see somebody make their entrance that I’ll happily wait through them. A better solution perhaps would have been to have tried to a promo with Mercedes where she talked about their matches at Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 5 and how it all led here, though I am aware that the editing for these DVD’s are done months later and that wouldn’t have been possible to do later.

Sara comes out through the curtain and Mercedes attacks her during her entrance and whips her into the guardrails. My grievances with the missed entrance are forgotten about due to the fantastic quick start of this match and Sara then returns the favour and whips Martinez into the rails. This match already has more heat than their Volume 5 meeting which I found a little hard to care about due to a lack of it. Sara enters the ring and attempts a dive to the outside, but Mercedes cuts her off with a kick to the midsection. Both women stand on the ring apron and Del Rey big boots her off and then hits a rolling senton to the floor. Both women enter the ring and Mercedes mounts Del Rey and throws brutal looking strikes to the back of her head. You know how I complained about Mercedes’ overly hard knife edge chops in my last review? Well given how heated this has begun I actually think this match would completely warrant them!

Del Rey hits the divorce court to Martinez and then goes about working on her left shoulder. An amazing exchange of brutal sounding slaps follows before Sara attempts a powerbomb but Martinez rolls up and over Del Rey’s head and gets two on a roll-up. Prazak mentions that Shimmer will crowning its first champion in 2007 and that both Sara and Mercedes will surely be in the running for the championship. Del Rey is whipped to the corner and tries to climb the turnbuckles, but Mercedes instead gives her a German suplex from the middle rope. Sara rolls to the outside to avoid a pinning situation but there’s no let up from Martinez who dives through the ropes and takes her down.

Both women re-enter the ring and Sara applies an STF variation but Martinez bites her hand to escape it.  Mercedes DDT’s Sara and climbs the turnbuckles but Sara climbs up too and does a fall away slam from the top rope, with Martinez landing on her shoulder. Both women struggle to get to their feet and begin exchanging punches, but it’s Mercedes who wins it with an amazing flurry of punches. Del Rey tries to regain momentum with a powerbomb but Mercedes counters it and comes down on Sara’s chest and she follows that up with a spinebuster for two.

Martinez tries a running knee strike at Sara, but Del Rey catches it and hits a fisherman suplex with Martinez again landing on her shoulder. Sara hits the powerbomb at the third time of asking but it’s only good enough for a two. Sara tries to finish the match with the Royal Butterfly but Martinez knees her to the gut. Mercedes goes for the Fisherman Buster but Del Rey inside cradles her for a near fall. Del Rey tries a big boot but Martinez ducks it and hits four Saito Suplexes for the three count and ends Del Rey’s undefeated streak. Both women get a standing ovation and Mercedes walks to the back holding her shoulder and the show ends with a “Shimmer” chant which then turns into a “Sara” one.

Now that was more like it between these two! Volume 5 was a good match, but it wasn’t one that gripped me. With no clear face or heel and neither woman having a well-defined character I didn’t find it all that engaging and I really didn’t want to see another match between them. With Mercedes’ new found aggression however and her desperation to win added so much more heat and story to it when compared to their previous encounters. Martinez character is always better when she’s angrier and more intense and it fits more with her aggressive wrestling style and hard hitting offense. If I do have one criticism with the match it’s that Mercedes’ Saito Suplex is her big finisher she uses whenever the Fisherman Buster doesn’t do the job in the same way that Melissa uses the Kudo Driver when the Air Raid Crash doesn’t get the win and Sara was up on her feet straight away not only after the first one, but after the second one too. I also don’t think that Del Rey quite needed that much protecting at the end either, though perhaps it served to show just how much Mercedes wanted the win that she wasn’t taking any chances. This tied up the feud at 1-1, with 1 draw too which meant that it could potentially have led to a four encounter between them, but that never happened.

Overall Show:

It’s a similar story to the last taping with an underwhelming undercard and great main events. I really enjoyed the last three matches in addition to Lufisto/Danger and Neidhart/Ariel was fun too. Overall I’d say it was slight step-up from the last two Volumes.

Best Match: This is a toss-up between either the main event or the tag team match and due to how parts of the tag encounter fell apart at the end I’ll give it to Sara vs Mercedes.

MVP: I was thinking about giving it to Rain or Ringer who put in their best performances to date or MsChif for some incredible moves but I’m going to go with Mercedes Martinez for really giving her character such aggressive edge that made the main event very exciting.

Shimmer Farewells:

-Nattie Neidhart. Of course like Krissy, Beth, Shantelle and Nikita before her the WWE inevitably signed Nattie Neidhart to a contract and she’s still there to this day. I was pleasantly surprised by watching her Shimmer matches and being reminded of how accomplished a wrestler she is and again it’s sad that outside of her brief tag team with fellow Shimmer alumni Beth Phoenix she’s not really gotten to show it in the WWE. Like Beth also she’s also not shown her gifts of comedic talent that was displayed here unless you count her farting gimmick or love angle with Great Khali but nobody aside from Vince found them amusing.

In addition to Nattie leaving this is the final show for quite some time for three more of the roster. First Lorelei Lee won’t be seen again for 8 volumes so it’ll be interesting to see if she’s improved any when we next see her wrestle. Lastly injuries meant that Lufisto and Mercedes Martinez missed the entire Shimmer tapings for 2007. It’s a shame about Mercedes, who’s out with a shoulder injury go figure, as I felt she’d just found her groove as a character. Lufisto was out with a back injury and was supposedly thinking about retirement at the time. But have no fear because we have two debuts on the next volumes and the return of Amazing Kong!

So that’s it for Shimmer in 2006 and so I thought I’d give out my belated year-end awards. I was thinking of doing the same for 2005, but as that was just Volumes 1 & 2 I thought I’d make these ones cover the first two calendar years of Shimmer’s existence.

Match of the Year

1. Rebecca Knox vs Daizee Haze- Volume 5
2. Rebecca Knox vs Allison Danger- Volume 3
3. Rebecca Knox vs Daizee Haze- Volume 4
4. Cheerleader Melissa vs Daizee Haze- Volume 7
5. Lacey vs Daizee Haze- Volume 1
6. Cheerleader Melissa vs MsChif- Volume 4
7. Sara Del Rey vs Daizee Haze- Volume 3
8. Amazing Kong vs Nikki Roxx- Volume 5
9. Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey- Volume 8
10. Lacey & Rain vs Cheerleader Melissa & MsChif- Volume 8
11. Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey- Volume 1
12. Cheerleader Melissa vs Shantelle Taylor- Volume 3
13. Mercedes Martinez vs Lacey vs Sara Del Rey vs Daizee Haze- Volume 2
14. Lacey vs Nikita- Volume 5
15. Beth Phoenix vs MsChif- Volume 2

Top Face

1. Daizee Haze
2. Nikki Roxx
3. Sara Del Rey
4. MsChif
5. Shantelle Taylor

Top Heel

1. Rebecca Knox
2. Lacey
3. Rain
4. Cheerleader Melissa
5. Beth Phoenix

Tag Team of the Year

1. The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew
2. The Experience
3. MelissChif

Best Volume

1. Volume 5
2. Volume 1
3. Volume 3

Wrestler of the Year

1. Daizee Haze
2. Rebecca Knox
3. Cheerleader Melissa
4. Sara Del Rey
5. Lacey
6. MsChif
7. Mercedes Martinez
8. Allison Danger
9. Shantelle Taylor
10. Nikita

I'll leave you again with another dark match so here is Sara Del Rey vs Lorelei Lee. See you next time for what promises to be an excellent show featuring a double main event of Cheerleader Melissa vs Sara Del Rey and Amazing Kong vs MsChif!

Shimmer Volume 7

Shimmer Volume 7

We begin the volume with part of an online-exclusive Daizee Haze promo where she challenged Rebecca Knox to a sixty minute Ironman match before that is interrupted by Dave Prazak apologising and explaining that that match has had to be cancelled after Rebecca Knox suffered a career threatening head injury and will be out of action for quite some time. I still find it disappointing that we never got to see that ironwoman contest as it would have been incredible.

Tiana Ringer vs Lorelei Lee

TIANA! Ringer’s back and I’m delighted to see her again. She’s now sporting a very good short shorts and pigtails look. I was so excited to see her back that I nearly didn’t notice the entrance curtain is now at the bottom of the stairs rather than the top and we have the Shimmertron above the entrance way. Also and for the first time in Shimmer we have entrance lights too. All great changes which make the company look much more professional. Lorelei Lee’s got a new cowboy hat after giving her last one away to a girl in the crowd, but she then gives this one away to a boy in the crowd too. Will she ever learn? On the production front there is less glare from the lights, but now the show seems to have a red tint to it which is annoying and we still have the red ring mat too much to my chagrin.

I’ve not been Lee’s biggest fan so far, but she does impress me here with a Lovely crucifix pin, a nice quick drop toe hold and then a great handspring cross body that she doesn’t botch this time. Ringer’s great entertainment and tries to pin Lee with a cocky pin where she puts a foot across the throat of Lorelei while showing off the guns. It is Tiana that scores the victory, her first singles win, after blocking a monkey flip and connecting with the South Palm Beach Driver. A very short match, but that’s probably the best way to showcase Lee right now without exposing her weaknesses and Tiana looked great in it.

We cut to a Haze promo where she seems gutted that the sixty minute ironwoman match is off, but then says that she noticed that Cheerleader Melissa is also without a match tonight and challenges Melissa to beat her. This was odd as why the hell in kayfabe would Cheerleader Melissa not have a match?! I know Raw does that all the time, but seeing as Haze/Melissa goes on last this show started with technically no main event! Silly.

Cindy Rogers vs Ariel

Cindy’s so annoying with her bouncing around during her entrance. She looks like a child with ADD. Ariel simply just walks to ring and comes across as much better face. The two shake hands when they both first enter the ring and then again when the bell rings which means that after such a friendly start one of them has got to be turning! I have mentioned time and time again that I don’t like Rogers look or character but I’ll admit her actual wrestling is good, she calls herself the definition of technician after all, and here she does a couple of gorgeous looking submission moves. Rogers hits Ariel with a facebreaker, but only gets a two count. She pins her once more and again gets two so she tries a third time, but this time has a handful of tights which the referee notices and so the heel turn begins. Rogers goes to whip Ariel to the ropes but it is counted into a Dariel for the win. Cindy refuses a handshake afterwards and walks out.

The match was alright with some nice submissions by Cindy but her lack of charisma and the fact she steals the charisma of the wrestler she’s facing means I can only enjoy her matches so much. Hopefully this heel turn hinted here makes her more engaging a character as the most interesting thing she’s done in seven volumes is decide to wear kneepads. Thrilling.

A typically great Lacey promo follows where she says that “This Nikki Roxx girl. Wants to main event like me. I don’t even know who she is, what did she crawl out of a hole or something? Me and Rain are the best tag team in the world and trying to prove ourselves in the tag ranks, but I’ll accept the challenge though and treat this match as a nice little warm up before my real competition.”  Fricking great condescending promo!

The Experience vs Serena Deeb & Portia Perez

Canadian Perez is wearing what became her usual pink and black look, which I think I heard her say was not actually a Bret Hart tribute like one might assume but just a happy coincidence. I’ve always wanted British wrestlers to have their own signature colour in the same way Canada have pink and black. Serena is again wearing her pink outfit, does she have any other clothes? At least her team are in matching colours however. During the introductions ring announcer Joey Eastman mistakenly says that the Experience weigh a combined 405 lbs rather than 305 in a hilarious moment. Lexie Fyfe grabs his nose and slaps it he sells it well. Eastman then introduces Portia, who is making her main show debut here with an odd “This is Portia Perez” which I think she should have kept during her later heel run as it sounds like a heelish introduction. Portia looks so cute here with her hair in bunches. It looks like she’s just out of school. Lovely deep armdrags by Serena to start this match and it is during this contest that I see the potential she later showed for the first time. This was a rather short contest and Perez got worked over for most of it before the Experience put her down with the Goadbuster for yet another win.

I didn’t like this match and it was solely down to the Experience which was a shame as I was starting to change my tune on them. They gave Portia nothing in this match at all during their beat down and aside from a nice spinning heel kick I’m not sure she was allowed to do another move. Also during the hot tag Serena came in and knocked them both down and waited for them to get to their feet, but they took ages to do so and then left the ring which completely extinguished the hot tag and made Deeb look silly. This was a chance for the newcomers to look good but by not letting Perez show any of what she could do and by sandbagging the hot tag, unintentionally as it most likely was, the Experience did not allow it.

Cheerleader Melissa then has a surprisingly good angry promo. For all of Melissa’s great attributes I’ve l never been a fan of her mic work and dread hearing her speak, but this was fairly decent. I do HATE that after every promo the Shimmer logo appears right in the middle of the screen and over the wrestler’s faces however as it just kills the important final line. Here for instance Melissa says she’s going to win and stares down the camera looking threatening but it’s ruined by a big purple ‘M’ overlapping her face. I get they want people to know these promos are from Shimmer in case any appear online and so the viewer is aware of the promotion but they could achieve just the same by having the word ‘Shimmer’ at the bottom of the screen and fading to black. This is something Shimmer has not improved at all and still does today so perhaps I’m the only one who’s bothered by this. Oh well.

Rain vs MsChif

Oooh I’m looking forwards to this! Rain always looks rather unhinged with her crazy expressions as she enters the ring, which is saying something as she’s in there with MsChif and still manages to look like the mental one! As Rain works over the ribs of MsChif Danger wonders if Rain & Lacey wrecking homes is purely a Minnesota or a national thing. MsChif later tries to do her usual reverse bodyscissors submission but Rain simply sits down her and applies a sick looking Boston Crab. Holy crap! Seven volumes in and I’m still amazed at MsChif’s flexibility. Chif escapes and hits her beautiful standing moonsault again, but she sells the ribs afterwards.

Dave explains that MsChif had a rib injury coming into this match so well done for Rain for working on the ribs this match and Danger puts her over for doing so. Rain continues to work the injury as she holds onto the top rope and stomps on the ribs of MsChif. Rain applies an abdominal stretch but MsChif is able to lift her up and hit a desperation jawbreaker. Cheerleader Melissa comes out, presumably because she wants another match with MsChif, and the momentarily distraction allows Rain to hit a lungblower for a near fall after which a frustrated Rain lets out a MsChif-like scream. MsChif hits a rolling cutter (which future Shimmer wrestler Nicole Matthews would later use as her finish) that she calls the ‘Call from the Grave’. I’ve never been able to decide if MsChif’s move names were awesome, or silly. Lacey runs out to the ring and knocks Melissa over. Lacey jumps onto the apron, distracts the referee, and throws Rain a chain behind his back. Rain hits MsChif with the chain, but Melissa had pulled Lacey off the apron and so the referee had turned round just in time to see it and we have our first DQ in Shimmer.

That was a disappointing end to what was an enjoyable match. Rain has always been great at working body parts and sticking to it throughout the whole match and did so here again. MsChif was again able to show off her wrestling skills and how insanely flexible she is. The DQ end was a shame but it does mean that the Melissa/MsChif feud has ended and now been transferred into a MelissChif/MWHC one which could be great as all four women are amongst my favourites. Also it means that Rain doesn’t have to be pinned again as I feel like both her and Lacey have lost enough already.

Nattie Neidhart cuts a promo where she says her opponent tonight Sara Del Rey is “not in for a Rude awakening but a Hart attack and when you mess with the best you die with the rest, yeah baby!” Cool confident delivery, although I’m confused as to whether she was referencing Rick’s Rude old finisher along with the Hart Foundation’s and if so why…

Amber O’Neil vs Allison Danger

Amber runs to Joey and talks to him before her match. I can’t explain why but I always love that Amber despite being heel seems to love Joey Eastman. She hugged him on a previous volume and I feel like with Krissy Vaine gone it’s almost as if he’s the only person in Shimmer she actually likes. I also love how before all her matches she perches herself on a turnbuckle and sits there bored waiting for her opponent. It gives her a cocky edge. Allison’s wearing a T-Shirt that reads “50% Canadian, 50% American & 100% Dangerous” which I am really grateful for because in a later volume she starts to say that catchphrase but is interrupted and I always wanted to know what she was 100% of!

Amber mocks Danger’s entrance pose as the bell rings which made me laugh and we are joined once again by Daffney! For some reason a silly “USA” chant breaks out despite both women being American… or at least 50% American. In fact this crowd are pretty awful all show and they don’t really get into any match and seem more interested in entertaining themselves than letting the wrestlers do it. At one point a female fan shouts out that she thinks Amber sucks and O’Neal replies with ”You suck fat butt!” which earns her a “You got served!” and Amber a potential MVP award for shutting down the fans.

Amber stupidly gets into a chop exchange with Danger which backfires and then she retreats to the corner where Allison kicks her in the mouth. O’Neil asks the ref if her teeth are alright and then asks again if he’s sure. Being reassured that her teeth are fine she then turns to Danger with a “YOU’RE DEAD!” and dropkick Danger’s legs. So O’Neal wants to kill Allison who wants Knox dead. At this rate this could be the first wrestling promotion that has an actual Battle Royale. Dave asks Daffney what she’s up to in Shimmer and once more I forgot she was commentating as she’s so very quiet again. Daffney is wishy-washy on her intentions but suggests possibly managing. Amber continues to work on Danger’s legs and applies a Boston crab which Dave informs us is a good tactic as it removes the Shimmering Warlock from Allison’s arsenal. Good logic there.

Amber lets go of the hold and then her and Allison get into a forearm exchange as Daffney says she wouldn’t take one of Danger’s for a million dollars. Huh? You’re a wrestler, of course you would unless you’re on a contract so high that it makes Brock Lesnar jealous! Allison then gives Amber not one, not two, but five German suplexes and I’m glad she did stop at five as they were getting worse as they went on. Amber gets up and tries to lift Danger for a shinbreaker but due to the previous German suplexes her back gives in so she has to do a neckbreaker instead. The end does come a little out of the blue when Allison applies an STF and earns herself the submission victory. Allison celebrates and then limps to the back.

I said two volumes ago that I wanted O’Neal to get a higher profile match and I got my wish here, though it wasn’t totally successful. While parts of this match had really great psychology at other times, and this might be because the crowd weren’t into it, it was but a bit dull. I’ve still not seen the same intensity that I saw from O’Neal during her first match with Serena and I thought we’d get it here when she got angry about her teeth but it didn’t happen.

Lacey vs Nikki Roxx

It’s the battle of the two best entrance themes in the company! Some fans have a ‘MHWC’ sign, but that isn’t enough to escape a verbal lashing from Lacey during her entrance as she insists it should be ‘MN’ for Minnesota. The same fans also have a “Get well K-Nox” sign too. Smarks! Nikki Roxx once again has a new look, this time back to curly hair and now sporting long tights in a pink and white pastel colour pattern which looks exactly like Tiana Ringer’s from earlier. Honestly they could be a tag team with those attires! This is the first match that got the crowd into the action as they hate Lacey and love Nikki as the “Nikki!” “ROXX!” “Lacey!” “SUCKS!” chants begin. The fans are in fact on Lacey’s case all match and sing that she has rabies and crabs! Ouch.

The Home-Wrecker whips Nikki chest first into the turnbuckles, saying “Nikki Roxx, meet turnbuckles”, and then hits a knee attack to her back which she tries to get the fans to admit was a pretty cool move, but they remain unimpressed with her. Lacey hits a painful looking backdrop to Nikki and then follows that up with a neckbreaker before floating over and applying a guillotine choke, which Roxx counters with a Northern Lights suplex for a two. Both women get up and Nikki then hits the Barbie Crusher for the upset victory.

I really enjoyed this match. Nikki Roxx is really making the most of her big opportunities and continues to impress each time she wrestles. I’ve been singing Lacey’s praises since Volume 1 and again she was just great here. She makes wrestling look easy as everything she does is just perfectly done without being flashy or dangerous.

Lufisto vs Mercedes

Lufi!! Yes, I was so happy to hear her music as Lufisto becomes one of my favourites down the line. She’s billed as “The First Lady of Hardcore” having made her name wrestling in thumbtacks, barbed wire and light tube matches, but in Shimmer she goes on to prove that she’s so much more than a garbage wrestler that you wonder why she ever needed to do that in the first place. Mercedes has gone blonde for these tapings and sports a rather kick-ass attire here that looks rather like a karate gi with its belt.

During the match Mercedes ties up Lufisto’s arms and legs together and then tries to catch a breather which I think is such a stupid spot. She did the same to Del Rey on a previous volume, but thankfully Lufisto doesn’t sell being tied up for long and quickly breaks out and denies Martinez a chance to catch her breath. This match was the first time in this re-watch where I’ve started to hate Mercedes’ constant use of the knife edge chop. I hate how she hits her opponents so hard with them as I don’t feel like they add all that much to her matches and only serve to hurt her opponents. She’s drawn blood with them on occasion too and surely the whole point of wrestling is to make it look like it hurts, rather than actually hurt your opponent? I don’t know if the wrestlers view it as some badge of honour to be chopped by Martinez, but I feel like it’s kind of taking advantage of your opponent in the ring. I know during a Ringbelles interview she was asked about some horrible chops she gave to Kellie Skater, which left her chest in a disgusting looking mess, and if it was too much but Mercedes sadly gave out an unsatisfactory kayfabe answer that Kellie chopped her first.

Aside from the many, many chops her Mercedes also busts out a superb looking sitdown powerbomb although such great wrestling moves further go to show that she doesn’t need to resort to chopping so much. Lufisto is able to lock Martinez in a camel clutch and then pulls back Mercedes’ nose for extra pressure before poking her tongue out at the referee when he reprimands her for it. Our first look at the comedy side of Lufisto that would win her so many fans. Lufi climbs the turnbuckles before she misses a diving head-butt and Danger, who’s back on commentary, says she doesn’t know where she is, but it turns out she’s in Suplex City as Mercedes German suplexes her. Both women get back to their feet and Lufisto hits a Death Valley Driver, which Mercedes kicks out of. Wow, that looked like it should have been the finish. I think a DVD should always end a match. Lufisto tries an Emerald Fusion, but Mercedes blocks it and hits the Fisherman buster for three.

I thought this was rather disappointing sadly. I was excited to see Lufisto, but she hasn’t adopted her fun crazy persona just yet with only the one quick comedy spot pointing to the character she will become. As for Mercedes, well as much as I love her promos I’m really not her biggest advocate and those chops reminded of me why that is. Also as charismatic as she is on a microphone I don’t think it transfers all that well to the ring.

Nattie Neidhart vs Sara Del Rey

Once again the Final Countdown stops before the lyrics begin and the crowd are audibly disappointed that they still haven’t been able to sing the song’s chorus. Nattie comes out to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ which I honestly don’t think is a good mix at all with her heel character. Yes, she’s a heel which is something I always forget about her time in Shimmer. Even after seeing her promo earlier I forgot she was a heel too!

Although I shouldn’t have been I was surprised by how good a mat wrestler Nattie is back when she was in Shimmer. Years of her having to work with subpar talents have soured me a little on her I suppose and I had forgotten that before she became a joke on Total Divas she was pretty great. Nattie dominates the early portion of the match and does her Dad’s “Yeah Baby!” taunt, which Allison kicks off about saying that she’s got a sick smile. Danger’s constant rage at everything the heels do always seems far too over the top. Nattie tries to lock in the Sharpshooter, but Del Rey rolls her up in an inside cradle for two. Neidhart again goes for the Sharpshooter but Sara is able to kick her away.

Sara tries nailing a clothesline, but Nattie ducks it and then hits a German suplex on Del Rey. There have been far too many German suplexes in this show. Nattie tries an Irish whip, but Del Rey blocks it, trips up Neidhart and then pins her with a very creative pin for a near fall. Sara then locks in the Sharpshooter herself but Nattie is able to escape her own move in a cool moment. Neidhart runs the ropes and tries a forearm, but Sara catches her arm and turns it into a Royal Butterfly to extend her undefeated streak to seven. Good match. I was surprised at how much better Nattie was than I remembered and Del Rey was her usual great self.

As Sara celebrates her victory, not forgetting to sell the injury, Mercedes comes out and tells Del Rey that she’ll be facing her at Volume 8 and that she’s going to get her arse handed to her. Two things about this got my attention. One, that I thought the match was [i]already[/i] announced for Volume 8 and two that I felt Martinez came across as fairly heelish here perhaps hinting at an upcoming turn?

Cheerleader Melissa vs Daizee Haze

Melissa is wearing her blue cheerleader outfit now, which is what I consider to be her iconic look. Daizee Haze comes out, without her flower for the first time, and I’ve never mentioned her outfits before but they are always amazing and from what I understand she makes them all herself which is incredible commitment to her craft and further makes Cindy Rogers’ lack of effort all the more glaring. It also might explain why parts of her wrestling gear fall off constantly during this match too! Haze has a little dance with the fans before we begin and Cheerleader Melissa looks thoroughly unimpressed by it. The crowd want Melissa to dance, but that was never going to happen. Thank God too, because that would kill her character! Danger says that Melissa’s “a cheerleader, not a dancer!” Okay I know cheerleaders aren’t really a thing over here in Britain and I don’t know much about cheerleading but don’t they dance?

Daizee, despite the size disadvantage, has the early advantage when the match begins and we have some excellent technical wrestling. We’ve come to expect that from Haze, but Melissa is great too and we get to see her really show off her scientific skills for the first time in Shimmer. Daizee hits a headscissors takedown to Melissa the momentum of which sends her opponent to the floor. Haze dives off the top rope down to Melissa and takes her down. I say ‘dives’, but she really just falls to the floor whenever she does it. Melissa reverses an Irish whip, but Haze stops herself running stomach first into the guard rail, which I absolutely loved as you never see such a logical thing done on that spot. Melissa not missing a beat simply grabs Haze’s legs and wheelbarrow whips into the railings in an incredible sick spot!

The fans begin to chant “You’re a bitch!” to Melissa after that brutal scene. A desperate Haze throws a pom pom at Melissa, but the Cheerleader catches it and shoves it into Haze’s face before whipping her with it too. They head back into the ring and Haze tries to reverse the tide with a crucifix pin, but Melissa is able to hoist her up onto her shoulders and connect with the Samoan drop. Melissa then bends Haze around the turnbuckles it almost seems more brutal than when she does it to MsChif as I’m not used to seeing Daizee’s back be arched quite like this.

Melissa goes for the Kudo Driver, but it is blocked and Haze tries the Heart Punch only to have that ducked and Melissa drills Haze with the Air Raid Crash which might have ended the match were it further away from the ropes. Melissa tries a second Air Raid Crash but Haze counters it into a sunset flip, which is sadly botched and looks really awkward as they try and get Melissa’s shoulders down. Haze tries another Heart Punch, but Melissa wriggles free and axe kicks the back of Haze’s head. Another Kudo Driver attempt is thwarted and Haze hits the Heart Punch on her third attempt. Daizee goes for the Mind Trip, but Melissa shoves her stomach first into the ropes and then it is third time lucky for her as Haze bounces right back into a Kudo Driver for the three. Oh. My. God! That Kudo Driver looked absolutely incredible and well worth the wait that seven volumes worth of teases has built up to. The move looks deadly and should be an instant KO but as the ref counted three Haze rolled her shoulders up just after the pinfall which was an awful move as it looked like she nearly kicked out and kind of undersells how devastating the Kudo Driver is.

I really liked this match. I loved how it showed that Haze was the better wrestler, but Melissa was the better brawler and the momentum changer of the match being the wheelbarrow attack into the guardrails was superb. The ending spell, minus the untimely botch was very exciting too. Honestly aside from Haze’s bizarre selling of the Kudo Driver the only other quibble I’d have with this match is perhaps that given the size difference between these two I would have preferred to have had Melissa start out the match the strongest before Haze capitalises on a mistake or something and then gains the upper hand. Some might find it odd that Melissa is back to wrestling a heel style here when she seems on the cusp of a face turn, but we all hate it when a heel becomes popular with the crowd and then changes completely once they’ve turned, so I liked it. Besides everybody is a heel when facing Haze! This was great and it really did feel like the Melissa I know and love in some ways began here as we got our first wheelbarrow whip, our first Kudo Driver, our first Curb Stomp attempt in quite some time and she was wearing her famous blue cheerleader outfit.

Melissa has little time to celebrate however as Rain and Lacey quickly sprint to the ring and beat her down, hitting their full nelson/drop kick double team move. MsChif of all people comes out for the save, or perhaps just for revenge herself as the commentators sell shock at the rescue. MsChif’s wearing a Shimmer t-shirt which I’m not sure if I like as her character wearing clothes that normal people wear just seems odd to me! Lacey is irate and says that this is none of MsChif’s business and that they are the best tag team in the world and challenge the unlikely duo to a match at Volume 8. The show ends with Melissa and MsChif arguing in the ring, both unhappy at having to team given all the bad blood and history between them.

Overall show:

Aside its qualities of being the rarest of Shimmer DVD’s I don’t think this has been one of the best shows I’ve watched so far. I can really only fully recommend the main event with perhaps passing mentions to Del Rey/Neidhart and Lacey/Roxx. There are some positive signs however with how the show is presented with the changes to the entrance way making things look much more professional even if it’s a little red.

Best match: Cheerleader Melissa vs Daizee Haze. Aside from a few minor missteps I really enjoyed this and would say it’s the best main event since Volume 4.

MVP: I’m going to give this one to Cheerleader Melissa. The curbstomp appears to be back in her arsenal, we this is the first time she uses her wheelbarrow whip attack and the first time she uses the Kudo Driver. She’s also ditched the duster and adopted her most famous look. Cheerleader Melissa has been great right from the get go, but this is where all the pieces have fallen into place for her now and we’re about to get the start of her face turn.

So join me next time for Sara Del Rey vs Mercedes Martinez III and Lacey & Rain vs Cheerleader Melissa and MsChif not to mention the return of....Josie! Yay...

Shimmer Volume 6

We start with an Allison Danger promo where she angrily talks about her upcoming match with Rebecca Knox and after insulting River Dance (I completely agree with her about that!) explains the rules to the Pure Wrestling match. There’s a general rule in wrestling that if the rules to a match need such a long explanation then it shouldn’t be done, but we’ll see how it goes. Danger says that her, Haze and Lacey are ROH girls and that she’s been trained for tonight’s match by Nigel McGuinness and she hopes Knox is ready for. Aww Nigel, I loved that guy. I liked that they showed the footage of Knox cheating from Volume 5 when Allison brought it up which made the production quality seem very professional.

Amber O’Neil vs Serena Deeb

I was disappointed to see this again as I was hoping Amber would get to wrestle a face higher up the card after she impressed me last time and this rematch seems pointless. Both this and Volume 5 were filmed on the same evening and therefore this one has started much later in the evening, but since both shows were partially relying on sunlight from the arena windows to light up the arena this one looks very dark and that will only get worse as the show goes on. Amber is wearing all black this time and looks damn good in it too while Serena seems to be wearing the same outfit as before. The fact they are wearing different colours this time must have calmed O’Neil down a bit as her vicious streak that impressed me on Vol 5 has gone and she’s more in comedy mode here again.

Amber says that the fans like her more than they do Serena, but the audience reaction suggests otherwise. Serena once again hits her spear in this match, but it’s still not her finisher yet and it also looks rather ugly too. There are a lot of moves here that are sloppily executed honestly and the finish is terrible with Amber suplexing Serena and trying to float over for the cover but Deeb traps the legs and gets the victory from nowhere.

I felt like this was rematch a waste of time and was hoping after her last win Amber would have moved onto better things, but this loss means that’s most likely not happening yet sadly. Serena is yet to show any signs of the great wrestler she would later become and I would have rather Portia Perez, who sits out this volume, had taken her spot and had Amber go over her too.

Lexie Fyfe, Malia Hosaka & Amazing Kong vs Ariel, Josie & Cindy Rogers

So Cindy Rogers continues in her quest to take down all tag teams in Shimmer! This could be interesting as one of my favourites, Amazing Kong, is in the same match with three of my least favourites here- Fyfe, Josie and Rogers. Kong comes out with a coat hanger for some random reason, but sadly she doesn’t use it as a weapon during the match. Despite being a heel Kong gets a chant before the match begins and really despite being a heel for her entire run in Shimmer she’s never been hated and instead has seemed to command respect from everyone.

The match starts with our heroic babyfaces all being too scared to start the match with Kong. Okay I get that Ariel and Josie are amongst the smallest wrestlers on the roster and might be intimidated, but Rogers? Just take a page out of Roxx’s playbook and slap her at the start! Lexie Fyfe looks terrified of Kong too and you get the impression that the Experience have to walk on eggshells around her or the will end up feeling her wrath. Ariel and Cindy try to take Kong down at the same time, but it doesn’t work out and it’s only when Josie joins in to make it three vs one that they topple the larger woman. Kong’s not down for long however and she gives Ariel the giant swing and then Josie, after tagging in, falls victim to an amazing looking avalanche and clothesline from Kong. Josie then plays face in peril while Rogers and Ariel play the usual dumb faces on the outside distracting the referee so their partner can be beaten up. Dave mentions that Josie needs a win in order to maintain her spot on the roster and again how harsh is that?! She’s only lost one match, give the girl a break!

The Experience continue to do all their usual hair pulling and dirty tactics and Prazak says that they better be careful or they might get a DQ, something which hasn’t happened in Shimmer history so far, which is actually a great point. Five and a half shows into Shimmer and all the matches have been won either by pinfall or submission. Awesome.

Josie finally manages to tag in Rogers and the action then heats up. Kong is taken to the outside by Cindy & Ariel, but then they too are throw through the ropes before Kong Irish whips both of them into the guard rails. The Experience hit their double team Goadbuster on Josie before Kong finishers her off the Amazing Splash. I’m pretty sure Rogers was the legal woman but okay then. Kong returns to the outside and again whips the other two into the rails, though Ariel decides not to sell this.

An emphatic victory for the heels here and as they walk to the back Lexie Fyfe is such a smug bitch gloating about the win even though it was all Kong’s doing. You know what, while Lexie’s wrestling doesn’t thrill her I am finding myself liking her character more and more which is a pleasant surprise. This did its job of making Kong look like a killer and while I would have preferred to have had her in a singles match I guess you don’t want to throw away a money match right away.

Lorelei Lee vs Nikki Roxx

I am really becoming a big fan of Nikki Roxx and I find myself getting pumped whenever he entrance music plays and after her last performance against Kong she has now gotten rather over. Laura Mattano too also gets a nice cheer and she is the one referee who the crowd always love. The “NIKKI – ROXX” chants are now in full effect. Allison Danger says that the girls in the back and herself were placing bets as to how long Nikki would last against Kong on the previous volume. Wow what a dick! I do wonder who she was betting against, I’m guessing it wasn’t Melissa or MsChif as we’ve already established that they don’t watch anybody else’s matches. Dave says that Nikki wants bigger matches to prove herself and I want the same for her.

I said it before and I’ll say it again, but Lee needs to have a more exciting moveset, but maybe since she sometimes messes up the basics still it isn’t such a good idea. She does try a handspring backflip attack to the corner, but it does not look good. The commentators pass the time by talking about what’s coming up later tonight and mentions that Tiana Ringer will be back at the next volume (yes!) along with debuts from fellow Canadians Lufisto (double yes!) and Nattie Neidhart (triple yes!). They also mention that Nikki Roxx is entering a fitness competition after this event, which is something she would get more and more into, and they promote Lorelei Lee’s fitness website, saying she can log onto that if she wants tips.

Nikki hits the Barbie Crusher for the win. Yep, just like that. This wasn’t quite a squash match, there are very rarely any in Shimmer, but I never felt like Lee had a chance of winning. Prazak calls the move the Barbie Crusher now too rather than the Cruncher so I guess the move has changed its name now which is good as ‘The Barbie Crusher’ is just a really great name for a finisher. Hopefully Lee improves more when we next see her as she’s doing nothing for me at the moment. I look forward to seeing Nikki move up the card as she ummm ROXX.

Nikita vs Daizee Haze

After just one match Nikita’s really over with the fans already and we have a split crowd for this one. We get a sporting handshake and we’re off. Dave mentions that a lot of people were surprised that Nikita was able to defeat Lacey on the previous volume. The same Lacey that is 0-4 at the moment in Shimmer! After a good couple of minutes of back and forth wrestling Daizee comes out on top and we have another handshake between the two, but when Haze turns around Nikita attacks her from behind giving us our second heel turn in Shimmer. Both of them have happened mid-match and both by ladies from the British Isles. We’re just an untrustworthy lot. Nikita works the back of Daizee and connects with a beautiful tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker. Haze fights back with a nice headscissors and then attempts a hurricanrana, but Nikita blocks it and then and applies a Boston crab. The Brit then follows that up with a curbstomp which Danger brilliantly tells us was modified by Nikita so that the move targeted the back rather than the head.

Nikita goes to hit the Uranage Backbreaker, but Haze blocks the attempt, goes for a Heartpunch, which is reversed into a Northern Lights suplex for two. Haze regains the upper hand and hits a tornado Daizee Cutter which also gets a two count. Daizee has Nikita in the corner and chargers towards her opponent but Nikita gets the boot up. Nikita once more looks for the Uranage Backbreaker, but Haze turns this into a crucifix pinning attempt. However Nikita remains on her feet so Daizee switches this up to a sunset flip with a bridge and earns the victory.

Good stuff here as you’d expect from two great workers. Nikita played the babyface in her match with Lacey and then switched it up and played heel here against Haze and both performances were spot-on. Her working the back of Daizee was done well too. It’s funny how every face that wrestles Daizee Haze has to either turn or stay face but work heelish in the match as Haze is such a great babyface that she’s always going to get cheered.

After the match Dave says that someone is walking towards him, who is it? No seriously who? We go to a video package showing Knox faking the injury from Volume 3 and then cheating to win at Volume 5 whilst I try to rack my brains and recall who Prazak was talking about.

Pure Wrestling Match

Rebecca Knox vs Allison Danger

Before the match Joey Eastman passes the microphone to Bryce Remsburg to explain the rules to this as presumably he’s the only other person besides Danger who understands them. Both women get three rope breaks and after they use them the ropes are in play. Also closed fists are illegal. After one punch the wrestler gets a warning, after a second they lose a rope break and after a third closed fist they will be disqualified. Got all that?

Danger seems to have gone to the same shop as Melissa as she’s wearing a very similar duster. Dave asks his fellow co-commentator what she’s doing here and it’s….

Daffney!! I honestly thought she showed up for the first time around Shimmer Volume 9 on commentary and then 10 as a manager, but I’m delighted to hear her. Danger grabs an Irish flag from the crowd and… oh no don’t do it… she blows her nose on it! What the hell Allison? For someone who takes the moral high ground about everything what was all that about? With her wishing that Haze killed Knox on the last volume simply because she used the ropes to win a wrestling match and now this I really think that Danger isn’t a very likeable babyface right now. It’s a good thing us Brits and the Irish don’t really get so upset about flags as the Americans do, but can you imagine the reaction if this was the other way round? Really any time in wrestling when there’s a USA vs other nation angle I will always root against the US and were I not on Knox’s side before I certainly would be now.

Rebecca Knox is the first one to gain an advantage in the match and she locks in a cross arm breaker which Danger fights out of. Knox is convinced that she only did so by use of the rope, but Bryce isn’t having any of it. Daffney then mentions that there is a 20 count on the outside rather than a 10 and it seems that this match is just having more and more added stipulations to it every time it’s discussed. It’s almost like that Duchess of Queensbury match William Regal had were he kept added more and more fine print. Knox applies a headlock to Danger and hits her with forearms but cleverly is able to turn away from the ref and hit her with illegal closed fists when he can’t see. She feigns innocence when Bryce questions her on it and a young girl in the crowd shots out that she’s a liar.

They end up fighting in the corner and as Bryce pries to two women apart Knox punches Allison over his head so that he can’t see. Danger retaliates with a punch of her own, but Remsburg catches her in the act and tells Eastman that she is to receive her first warning. While he’s doing that Rebecca hits her with another unseen illegal punch and an angered Danger again punches back, but again gets caught meaning she’s lost her first ropebreak.

Danger fights back well though and traps Knox in a Fujiwara armbar and forces the Irish wrestler to use her first break too. Rebecca is right back on the offence however and after working the leg for quite some time a stepover leglock eventually requires Danger to use her second ropebreak. After a lovely T-Bone suplex Dave wonders if Allison will have to use her final rope break, but she kicks out instead and then regains the advantage with an STO and pins Knox, but Rebecca grabs the ropes which means both women have one final rope break. I noticed around this point that Daffney is very quiet on commentary for large chunks of this match and oddly says “brother” quite a lot like she’s a non-racist Hogan.

The action spills to the outside and Danger finds the Irish flag again which she places on the apron before slamming Rebecca’s face into it. You know the problem I’m having with Danger’s motivation for this match is that I don’t think Knox has done anything all that wrong. Yes, she beat Haze with the ropes, but then Amber O’Neal used the tights last volume and Rain and the Experience cheat all the time and while Danger condones them she never gets this worked up over it. Of course none of the have faked an injury to gain an advantage (not to win, as her victory was still clean), but is that really what this is all about? Allison’s hatred does seem way overblown and it seems to me that she’s only angry because Knox tricked her and had she done it to anybody else she might not care so much.

A Mutalock from Knox forces Danger to use up her final ropebreak and right away Knox uses the ropes to apply more pressure on an armbar submission and then after a pumphandle slam she places her feet on the ropes during a pinfall. I feel like she’s just using the ropes because she can now which is a great dickhead tactic. Danger locks in a stretch pump choke and we are all square on ropebreaks when Knox uses them to get out of the submission. Danger climbs the turnbuckles and jumps off for a crossbody but Knox rolls through and pins her. Clean.

Yeah after all the talk of the ropes the match was won clean. Some might hate that and say what was the point of all the ropebreak stuff if it wouldn’t play into the finish and I can see their argument but I like the fact this goes to show that Knox doesn’t need to cheat, she just does and a heel that’s the best wrestler in the company but one that still doesn’t win clean is such a great villain. My issues weren’t with the ending not involving the ropes, though I didn’t like the finish it as it was so out of nowhere but I just didn’t like the stipulation at all. Close near falls or wrestlers just making the ropes to avoid submitting is exciting to watch. Wondering whether someone will use up a rope break this time is not. You also know that the match won’t end until at least one of the women have used up all of theirs which kills the tension. Yes the stipulation makes sense with the storyline from the last volume but had Knox used an illegal objects to win the Volume 5 match then a no DQ stipulation would have made sense here instead and been a better contest. I don’ think ROH use this type of match much these days and there is probably a reason for that. Sadly this is the worst Knox match of the four we’ve seen and can’t help being a disappointment given the ones she’s had with Haze and indeed the excellent prior match with Danger too.

Dave thanks Daffney and says he looks forwards to see whatever it is she’s going to do in Shimmer either as a commentator, manager or wrestler. Yes, yes and yes, all three things at some point in the future as it turns out. I look forwards to seeing Daffney in the future too though she’s not a great commentator on this evidence.

The Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew (Lacey & Rain) vs Mercedes Martinez & Sara Del Rey

Our first time seeing Lacey and Rain as a pair in Shimmer and they really are great at riling up the crowd during their entrance. They come out to Lacey’s music making it clear if you couldn’t tell that she’s the star on her team. I don’t mind as I love her theme and think it just adds to the hysteria that surrounds their entrance and the hatred they get from the crowd. Rain pats down Lacey before the match starts and tells the referee that she’s clean, but Brian Gorie isn’t having it and checks her himself.

Allison Danger comes back to the announce booth and I can’t wait for her to eat humble pie. She claims she doesn’t know what happened, well let me explain- you lost fair and square! Danger says she can’t wait till Haze gets her hands on Rebecca again. Oh geez will you let it go already? Move on with your life and be happy Danger! Allison says when she was just backstage after her match she found out Sara Del Rey will be facing off against Nattie Neidhart on Volume 7 which promises to be a good match.

In the ring Del Rey runs the ropes but Lacey kicks her from the apron and then does a neckbreaker over the middle rope. The MHWC isolate Del Rey and do some lovely double team moves including a Lacey putting Sara in a sitting full nelson before Rain dropkicks her in the face and a leg sweep/neckbreaker combo. Prazak explains the history of Lacey & Rain and informs us how they were former arch rivals and after wrestling so many times decided that they should form a team and again I loved being told the history and backgrounds of the wrestlers. It also makes me want to check out some of their matches on the IWA Mid-South DVD’s I have.

Lacey distracts the ref and Rain jumps Sara from behind keeping the pressure on Del Rey. Danger says that Lacey should write a book on how to manipulate referees and while she says she’s not complimenting Lacey by saying that it does kind of sound like she respects her for it in an odd way, which does seem peculiar giving how she hated Knox for similar things.

The Home Wrecking Crew whip Del Rey to the corner and both hit her with double knee splashes while Mercedes comes into the ring and does the old “they are cheating ref! Why are you yelling at me to get out of the ring when they are both in it? Look, seriously turn around, quickly! Damn it you were too slow” spot. I wonder if in kayfabe the referees all think that the babyfaces are the cheats? “Hey Bryce what match are you refereeing tonight?” “I’ve got a Cindy Rogers tag match.” “Ooooh, sorry about that.” “Yeah I hate it when I get one of her tag matches. She’s always entering the ring when she hasn’t been tagged and making up stuff about the other teams cheating and when I turn around they never are.” “Oh tell me about it, one time they tried to convince me they’d made a tag behind my back, but as if I’d miss that! …Although thinking back to it I do wonder why the fans cheered just before that happened and then booed me when I ushered her out of the ring. Oh well.”

Lacey distracts the ref again as Sara makes the tag to Mercedes, but of course the ref doesn’t see this and sends her back to the outside. Rain whips Del Rey into the corner and then stands on the middle rope and chokes her with her boot but then Sara walks out of the corner with Rain on her shoulders and powerbombs her. Both women tag out and Mercedes comes in at last and powerslams Lacey and then drills Rain with a nice spinebuster. The advantage doesn’t last long as the MHWC gain the advantage again and do a beautiful reverse lungblower into a standard lungblower which is a great looking tag team finisher. It’s not the end however as Mercedes kicks out at 2, which is good as she really hasn’t been all that worn down yet. Lacey & Rain look to try another double team move but Sara comes in with a kick but when the MHWC move out of the way it hits Mercedes allowing Lacey to finally hit her Implant Buster in Shimmer get the pinfall and claim her first victory in the company. Mercedes seems angry at Sara after the match, but Del Rey says it was an accident. Not entirely satisfied with Del Rey’s explanation Mercedes shoves her and says that she’s got her rematch.

Decent tag match which I reckon is the best one we’ve had so far over these 6 volumes. I am so glad the MHWC won here as they are a proper tag team, as shown from their great double team moves, and a tag team should always defeat two singles stars thrown together, which is something that the WWE simply do not understand. Lacey and Rain needed that too and it makes them 3-3 and 1-3 in Shimmer matches now. If I have one complaint however it’s that I feel as though Mercedes had not been worked over enough for her to get pinned as she was on the apron for most if the match, but I guess you could argue that it shows how devastating the Implant DDT is. The fact Mercedes took the pin and not Del Rey means that Sara still hasn’t been pinned or made to submit in any of the six volumes so far. Who will be the first to beat her?

Last Woman Standing

Cheerleader Melissa vs MsChif

This is both women’s first of many main events in Shimmer. There’s a ton of history between these two and we see highlights of their Volume 1 match, Melissa costing MsChif the match against Fyfe on Volume 3, their Volume 5 match, MsChif misting Melissa at ROH Supercard of Honour and then MsChif costing Melissa her match against Danger at Volume 5. These highlights go on for ages however and I really wish Shimmer had someone with video editing skills who could make a nice video package for them similar to what the WWE do instead. I still wish they had one today as they don’t do it yet.

The fans are now really cheering on Melissa during her entrance and some fans are bowing to her now also. It occurs to me at this time that she hasn’t really done anything all that heelish in quite a while too so that might have something to do with it. We don’t get any introductions as the match breaks out into a brawl right from the off and both women get whipped into the guardrails by the other. They brawl into the crowd and I can’t see a damn thing until someone decides to turn on a light. Genius, give that guy a raise! Back in the ring and Melissa tries the Kudo driver, but MsChif blocks this spot and hits Melissa with the Code Red, or Code Green as she calls it. I love that move and am glad she’s finally busted it out.

Melissa regains the advantage and tries to lock in the Kondo Clutch that has been such a factor in this feud but MsChif fights her off so instead Melissa applies a Boston crab and then sits down on the mat almost snapping MsChif in half. Holy shit! The commentators put over MsChif’s flexibility and wonder how much her back can take while the fans all chant for Melissa now and yeah, they won’t be able to keep her heel much longer.

We brawl through the crowd once more and MsChif decks Melissa, jumps on her back and then finds a non-folding chair, places it on Melissa’s back. She ties Melissa’s arms around the legs in a camel clutch position, sits on the chair and then applies a Boston crab. Pretty cool use of the chair! Melissa is up before ten and then does almost the reverse of that same submission to MsChif and ties her feet round the chair legs and then camel clutches her. Melissa then bends MsChif round the guardrail which is a nice little nod to their Volume 1 match.

We head back to the ring and the hard camera is all fuzzy now as if the lights going on and off has messed it up. Melissa tries once again to hit her first Kudo driver in Shimmer, but it ends up not working and MsChif hits the Desecrator. Melissa’s up before 10 however and MsChif shouts “DELIRIOUS” and hits his trademark Panic Attack in the corner. Dave says that Delirious trained MsChif when she first got into wrestling which made it a nice little moment. Melissa is up at 9 however and fights back and suspends MsChif on the turnbuckles and then hits a backbreaker to get a near win herself. Melissa once again tries a Kudo Driver but Deja-vu it is reversed into a Desecrator, but this time on the chair. Both women are down but MsChif is up before 10 and wins the match and the feud. MsChif walks to the back and Melissa gets a great response from the crowd for her effort and either has a massive bruise on her arm or green mist from an unseen mist spot during the match.

Writing about this match actually made me think I enjoyed it more than I did oddly. It was fine for what it was, but it was too similar to the falls count anywhere match with not nearly the same level of imagination, brutality or quality to it. It was a fun brawl, but like Danger/Knox and even O’Neal/Deeb earlier I think the previous match between them was better so for me this blow-off match was a little disappointing. I could watch these two wrestle all day as they have such great chemistry and while this will be the final time these two wrestle each other it will lost be the last we’ll see of them together and that gets me excited.

Nikki Roxx has a promo where she says she wants to go up the card and it’s the only the main event for her, so we’ll see what becomes of that. I want her to go up the card too so I’d be very happy with that outcome. We also get reminded that Del Rey is taking on Neidhart on Volume 7, but we are told that at Volume 8 it will be Sara/Mercedes III. Damn, I’m just not feeling that feud at all however the shove Martinez gave Sara after their loss gives me hope there’ll be more heat to that match than the previous one. Lastly we have a Knox promo where she says the best damn technical wrestler around these parts and she’ll beat anyone in any match be it a European rules match, hardcore or 2/3 falls, whoever it is will be leaving in bojangle after getting a lesson from the school of the K-Nox. She’s just so great. It’s funny I said in my Volume 1 match that I liked Dave giving us background details on the wrestlers as we didn’t get many promos in the early days, but watching the shows back I think we actually had more back then than we do now!

Overall Show:

I sounded quite negative here in this review and that’s a bit of a disservice to the show I think as none of the matches were outright awful, but it’s possibly the first one where I’d say you wouldn’t miss out on something great if you passed it up either. Knox/Danger was good, but compared to the lofty standards of the previous 3 Rebecca matches it was weak with a stipulation that hurt it. The main event was alright, but possibly the weakest of the trilogy between them. The tag match was good as was Nikita/Haze, but even then I thought Nikita/Lacey from the last show was better.

Best Match: Nikita vs Daizee Haze.

MVP: I guess I’ll give this one to Nikita as she worked heel for her match with Haze and did just as well at it as she did against Lacey as a babyface and the sudden transformation of her character was nice.

Shimmer Farewells:

-Nikita. Damn. My MVP of this volume has wrestled her last match in Shimmer which is a shame. Nikita would leave Shimmer and go on to be paired with fellow underutilized Brit Paul Burchill in the WWE being brought in as his sister in what was supposed to be the start of the incest angle Vince McMahon has been trying to do for years. Supposedly he once proposed an angle where Stephanie McMahon would get pregnant and it would be revealed that he was the father. When Steph rejected this idea for obvious reasons Vince then allegedly suggested that Shane be the father instead as if that would be better. Thankfully Nikita’s storyline with Burchill was dropped, but sadly she was never really used again after that almost as if Vince took it out on them that his dream angle was again shelved. She then went to TNA where she was somehow given an even stranger gimmick as Angelina Love’s psychotic bi-curious imaginary friend who then turned out to be real and was drugging her. It’s a real travesty that she’ll be remembered for such Wrestlecrap storylines when she was such a great wrestler and so underused.

-Rebecca Knox. Shit. If Nikita leaving is a shame this is a complete tragedy! Knox was scheduled for a 60 minute ironwoman match against Daizee Haze for Volume 7 which would have been the first female ironman match I believe not to mention simply INCREDIBLE. Sadly however during a match in Germany and suffered a concussion that took her out of action for a couple of years. Knox was supposed to return for Shimmer 17 but decided she couldn’t do it and no-showed the event without letting anybody know. This obviously did not go down well, but eventually Knox owned up to her mistake and repaired the rift with Shimmer and was even allowed to explain herself in a DVD extra on a later volume, but sadly her in-ring career in Shimmer was over. Shockingly she then made a surprise return to the ring and was almost immediately scooped up the WWE where she’s since gone on to have great matches. Despite only having wrestled four matches in Shimmer I still consider her to be one of the greatest wrestlers in the company’s history.

Well that’s goodbye for now, but join me again for Volume 7 where we’ll see debuts from Lufisto and Nattie Neidhart! In the meantime I’ll say goodbye with this promo from Rebecca Knox and I’ll leave you in a bojangle.

Shimmer Volume 5

Shimmer Volumes 5 and 6 took place three months since the previous show and as was the case last after the first taping the WWE have again scooped up another Shimmer member this time one of our two Canadians Shantelle Taylor. As it turns out the other Canadian wrestler Tiana Ringer is also absent from these tapings as she was touring Mexico at the time. This means that aside from half-Canuck Allison Danger and a dark match from Portia Perez there are no Canadians on the next two shows and were it not for Rebecca Knox and a debuting Brit the whole roster would be American. It also means that out of our eighteen Shimmer originals we are just down to ten. However have no fear as this volume has some five debuts with some rather important wrestlers in Shimmer’s future. And Josie.

Dark Match

Portia Perez vs Daizee Haze

I’m going to start with this bonus feature for two reasons. One because the end of it furthers the Haze/Knox feud and two because it’s our first look at Portia, Frickin’, Perez! Well not quite as this Portia is a million miles from the one we know and hate today. She looks very young (yep, even younger!) and doesn’t even have ‘Edge of Seventeen’ as her entrance music yet. It’s very strange seeing her as a babyface too as I keep expecting her to bail to the floor or rake the eyes of Haze. Also she wrestles here far more than she usually does. I don’t mean that as a knock against later-day Perez at all, but she’s wisely learnt that due to how good her heel character is she can quite often rely on classic heel shenanigans and be equally as entertaining as she could if she just wrestled normally. Her actual grappling skills aren’t as good as they are these days as a scary looking headscissors that almost spikes Haze on her head shows. Perez does sell a Mind Trip very well on the other hand and it’s with that move that Daizee gets the quick win.

As Haze checks up on Perez to see if she’s okay Rebecca runs into the ring and hits an incredible release German suplex on her rival. Knox grabs the mic and says she’s “not too Irish to kick the bejesus out of you!” Sadly the rest of the promo is inaudible as the fans will not shut up and let her talk, but they tell her to “watch your language” at something and she retorts that the crowd smell like ugly people. The match was nothing of note were it not for it being Portia’s debut and for the Knox attack after the bell.

The actual show starts with a Daizee Haze promo and I’m liking these more and more. She’s not the most charismatic but she is believable and comes across as nice as she’s supposed to be. We see the attack from Knox again, but this time we are shown different camera angles of it, which is such a small thing but I love they gave us the different footage for the dark match. (Is a taped dark match still dark?). We have a red ring mat this time which I think is the first time we’ve had that. They alternate between black and red a fair bit but black is my preferred colour for it. I’m surprised they’ve never had a purple ring mat actually given that’s Shimmer’s colour. That might be a cool idea for Shimmer 100 or something. Including Portia Perez who isn’t on the main two shows we have 21 women for this set of tapings which is the largest we’ve had so far. Also if we count Perez (who’s the only Canadian here, though Allison Danger might claim otherwise) we have four nationalities represented- Canada, the USA, Ireland and Great Britain which is the most so far too.

Rain vs Lorelei Lee

I haven’t mentioned yet that Lorelei Lee has a cowgirl gimmick. At Volume 3 gave a young girl in the crowd her cowboy hat, which was nice, but she clearly only had the one as for both matches since she’s been hatless which makes me laugh for some reason. Maybe if she wins here she’ll be able to afford a new one? Lee starts off the brighter of the two, but she does seemingly botch a pinning crucifix attempt and does not properly have Rain’s shoulders down on the mat, but Rain smartly leaves the ring and in-character tries to regain her composure which rescues the minor botch. Upon entering the ring Rain is able to hit a lovely inverted lung blower to the face of Lorelei. Rain chokes Lee and receives “Rain’s a jerk!” chorus from the crowd. Dave informs us that later tonight a returning Ariel will take on the Experience with a mystery partner as her choice. Hmmmm.

Both women hit an impressive double crossbody and the fact I’ve recalled that as impressive might be because I think Lorelei Lee doesn’t have any exciting moves at all. I know she’s still a rookie, but she doesn’t appear to have anything more than dropkicks or the simplest of rollups or suplexes. The end comes when Lee tries climbing the turnbuckles, but Rain catches her from behind and takes her down with the Acid Rain. I really hope we get to see Rain wrestle some higher calibre talent again soon as she’s impressed me in most of her matches. This was a bit dull however, but I’m putting that on Lee’s inexperience as Rain did all she could.

We see highlights of an excellent six women’s dance match from ROH between Allison Danger, Cheerleader Melissa, Daizee Haze, Lacey, MsChif & Rain. MsChif hits an incredible dive to the outside (MsChif’s dives are always a thing of beauty as she arches her back so much) and was able to win with the Desecrator by pinning Rain, naturally, poor Rain.

Cindy Rogers vs MsChif

Cindy Rogers is undefeated in singles competition so far in Shimmer whereas MsChif won on Volume 1, but has lost the previous three matches since. It is at this point where I realised Shimmer has a curtain at last! It looks so much better having a curtain rather than just a door. It’d look even better if the curtain was at the bottom of the stairs, but baby steps! We also have the debut of the Shimmertron too. Also of note is that MsChif is now wearing her classic chain collar entrance gear which looks fantastic. MsChif gets a great reaction as she walks to the ring, definitely louder than the one Cindy gets. Someone chants out a hilarious “Cindy’s gonna kill you!” which elicits a chuckle from everyone. Rogers replies with a curious “You wish!” Ummmm, burn??? Danger says that even though MsChif has never done anything towards her she’s nervous when she’s around her. I like that little character moment as the idea of everyone being scared of MsChif backstage just adds to her mystique.

MsChif finally gets back on winning ways with the Desecrator. This didn’t do anything for me. Cindy Rogers just bores me more each time I see her sadly and she seriously needs to do something to make herself seem interesting or stand out.

New girl Nikita, the Queen of Chaos, gets a promo where she says that Lacey’s been running her mouth about how tough the American girls are, but there are some tough bitches in Europe too and she’s one step ahead of them all. Nikita says that she’s wrestled all across the UK, in France, Germany and even Japan and now the US. She’s glad that Lacey is one of the best in Shimmer as she likes a good challenge and that she’s going to show Lacey that you do not mess with the English girl. Nikita sounds so very posh (she’s billed from Chelsea after all) and bloody sexy too. I like her already.

Amber O’Neal vs Serena Deeb

Our second debut of the evening is another future big name, and future member of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society, Serena Deeb. I don’t want to get too much into her aesthetics so I’ll just say that she looks very different here than she does now. I don’t know what her music is but it’s atrocious. Allison Danger says that Serena has spunk… which always makes me laugh whenever that word is used given what it also means in the UK. Amber has new ring gear (still pink of course) but she loudly says that she doesn’t appreciate Serena, who has her own pink attire, stealing her look. Perhaps it’s because of this perceived slight that we see a whole new angry side of Amber in this match.

It all begins innocently enough with Amber proposing a test of strength but when Deeb raises her hands up O’Neal slaps her in the face instead. Amber then lays into Serena with some vicious looking kicks and then takes Deeb to the outside and smacks her face into the apron while the crowd chant “Walmart Barbie. Amber then locks on a full nelson with her legs and does sit-ups at the same time and when Dee breaks out O’Neal is furious that Serena interrupted her workout. Amber rakes the eyes of Serena and Danger says the eyes are very important to a wrestler “which is why Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles never became wrestlers”. Wow, just wow.

There is a very odd moment when Serena tries a running crossbody on Amber’s back but O’Neal simply gets an elbow up and stops it. I honestly don’t know what Deeb was thinking there and even Amber shrugs it off in a “what the hell?” way. Dave again speculates on who Ariel’s mystery partner can be. Spear by Serena but Amber gets to the ropes. It looked like Serena was using the spear, which became her finisher later, as a transitional move here. Deeb tries rolling-up Amber, but O’Neal reversers it in a very ugly looking pin and holds the tights for extra leverage as she picks up the three.

Wow, that ending looked awful. Serena was very poor here, which is something I don’t feel too bad saying as she becomes great in a few years’ time. I really liked Amber in this match however. I loved how mean and vicious she was and would like to see her face someone higher up the card now if she can keep this intensity.

The Experience vs Ariel & Josie

Lexie Fyfe says to the camera during their entrance that they are the best team ever and I’m thinking “You’ve only wrestled once as a team!” and then realise that I’m getting worked so I stop being annoyed by it! Ariel after missing the last taping and has had her hair cut shorter. Ariel stops her music before the chorus (booo!) and out comes her mystery partner and it’s, it’s, it’s…. Josie?! Who? Josie, better known by some as Sojourner Bolt from TNA. Yeah, I have no idea why they even hyped that up as a surprise as if we were meant to know who she is before she came out. I will say this however that although I’ve insulted a lot of entrance themes in my five reviews this far Josie’s is without question the worst of them all. The lyrics to the song go “Booty booty booty booty booty everywhere! Booty booty booty booty booty everywhere!” *Shudders*. Those of you in the UK who grew up with Noel’s House Party in the 90’s might find it more tolerable if you sing it as “Blobby blobby blobby blobby blobby everywhere!” in the style of Mr Blobby like I do. Josie is a local girl coming from Chicago however and thus she gets a great reception when her hometown is announced.

Ariel starts the match with lightning quick pinning attempts and then after a leg sweep Malia backs to her corner, tags in Lexie, and claims that Ariel had her hair AND her rights. Really funny. The fans chant “Stop your whining!” Ariel backslides Lexie for two and Malia again claims that Ariel had the hair and tights. I’ve got to admit that Malia is winning me over. Hosaka tags in and says to Ariel that she wants to fight Josie and Allison gets excited and starts singing Josie’s theme. Ugh, pleases stop. Danger says she likes Josie already, before Josie had even done a single move! Hosaka hits her nice martial arts kick and yeah, I am starting to enjoy her work now. Ariel tags in and Allison suggests that maybe she’d had her hair cut short so the Experience couldn’t pull on it, but if that was her plan then it wasn’t short enough as that’s exactly what Malia does. Hosaka puts Ariel into a body scissors and when Ariel’s headband falls off Malia chokes her with it. Excellent improvisation there by the veteran. Hosaka tags out and Lexie comes in and slaps Josie on the apron which made me laugh and prompts Josie to do the usual idiot face thing of entering the ring and distracting the ref while her partner gets double teamed.

It’s Josie doing the same thing later on too that allow the Experience to hit the Double Goadbuster for their second victory. Lexie and Malia then walk to the back offering an open challenges to anybody. This was better than the Volume 4 tag match, but still not one that I’d watch again. I’m starting to like Malia however so there’s that.

Cheerleader Melissa vs Allison Danger

We see Melissa’s victory of MsChif from Volume 4 again before Melissa comes through the curtain and THIS is the Cheerleader Melissa I’ve been waiting for as she comes out wearing what becomes her usual look complete with choker and yes the pom-poms make their much anticipated debut and she still has the duster too so this is probably my favourite attire of hers. She just looks like such a star now with this look. It’s noticeable too that Melissa is getting a few cheers with the fans most likely being won over by her string of impressive matches. There’s a beautiful shot of Melissa standing in the ring silently glaring at the curtain waiting for Danger’s arrival and I don’t think her nickname of the Female Terminator as ever seemed more appropriate as it did in that very moment. It occurs to me watching this that Melissa’s character on these early shows is kind of like an emotionless machine just dishing out punishment and yet by doing nothing more than glare at the curtain she seems to have so much personality which Cindy Rogers, despite all her hopping and running round ringside, doesn’t possess. I guess some people have star power and others don’t.

The fans chant “You’re in Danger” which I thought to myself could be misconstrued into something rude and I smiled when Danger also thought the same thing and told the fans that it’s a family show. Good to see she’s as dirty minded as I am! I would mention here that referee Brian Gorie has now had a haircut and looks like more like the Brian Gorie I now from the later tapings, but at this rate this becoming more of a fashion blog than a wrestling one! We have a great exchange of punches in this contest which Melissa wins before she continues to punch her grounded opponent to the back of the head which looks brilliantly nasty. It’s also an eerie foreshadowing to a future angle between these two which we’ll come to much later.

Melissa once again tries to hit the Kudo Driver, but Danger prevents this with a nice rollup pin for a two count which is much more original than simply landing on their feet which has been done every other time so far. I was enjoying this match but the end was disappointing as MsChif comes out and distracts Melissa which allows Allison to small cradle her for the three count. The aftermath was pretty cool though as we have our first pull-apart brawl where the referees and then later the lower card talent (Portia Perez, Amber O’Neil, Lexie Fyfe, Cindy Rogers & Lorelei Lee) have to separate them. This feud between Melissa and MsChif is going to continue on and I’m okay with it as they are great foils for each other and the matches have delivered in spades so far.

Amazing Kong vs Nikki Roxx

Yes! Amazing Kong has arrived! Obviously Amazing Kong is TNA’s Awesome Kong and later the WWE’s Kharma. Nikki Roxx continues her ever changing look and has straight her again this time light brown, but of more concern is her seemingly impending doom. The fans chant “Kong is gonna kill you” which is a really stupid thing to chant to a babyface but they redeem themselves a little with “Please don’t die!” which I love. As soon as the bell rings Kong screams at Roxx which makes her fall over in a humorous moment. Showing either no-fear or a death wish Nikki slaps Kong and I audibly gasped at that! Kong fights back with knife edge chops and oh my God do they sound painful! Nikki admirably doesn’t give in and manages to lock in a figure four leglock and I’m almost expecting Danger to say something like “if you can’t stand up you can’t wrestler which is why Stephan Hawkins never became a wrestler” but sadly not. Roxx climbs the turnbuckles and connects with a lovely looking dropkick which knocks Kong down, but she just rolls backwards to her feet and floors Nikki with a clothesline.

Roxx ducks a charge to the corner and Kong falls out of the ring. Nikki again climbs up top and hits a diving crossbody to the outside. She rolls her opponent back into the ring and takes to the air once again, this time going for a diving huricanrana but that is slightly botched I think and it ends up with Kong powerbombing her which might actually have been cooler than if she had hit the correct move. Kong picks up Nikki and delivers the Implant Buster, but Roxx is able to kick out. Unfazed however Kong now climbs the turnbuckles and lands on Nikki with the Amazing Press splash. The match looks over, but Kong isn’t done yet and breaks her own pinfall. Kong goes for the spinning backfist but Roxx is able to duck it and schoolgirl her for another two. A wheelbarrow roll-up shortly after also gives Roxx a near fall once more but then Kong succeeds in hitting the spinning backfist and then a sit-down powerbomb for the win. After the match we get a standing ovation for both wrestlers and we see replays of the best parts of this contest, the first time highlights have been shown immediately following a match and it is well deserved.

This was brilliant.  I love Amazing Kong and think her style of match might actually be my favourite as I always like the David vs Goliath match when it’s done well and hers almost always are. Nikki comes out of this having had her best Shimmer match to date and a Shimmer star was born.

Lacey vs Nikita

Lacey’s back after a missing the last tapings and the crowd are now clapping in time to her entrance music which always got me pumped for her matches. Lacey says to the ref that there are perverts taking photos of her, but only seems annoyed by this because she usually charges them for photos instead. That’s hilarious. I miss her so much now she’s retired. The crowd just hate Lacey and chanting that she sucks is the most vocal they’ve been so far on this show. Lacey does a snapmare to Nikita and then kicks her back but the impressed fans chant “You still suck!” That is one of the best parts of indie shows- the interaction between wrestler and fan. Nikita hits Lacey with a curbstomp and that is the 3^rd one we’ve seen so far in Shimmer and only one has been done by Melissa! Lacey works on the arm of Nikita during this match and even hits a modified version of her the tag partner Rain’s Rain Drop so that Nikita lands on her arm. Just beautiful psychology there. The end comes when Nikita blocks the Implant DDT and connects with an Uranage Backbreaker for the pin. Nikita celebrates, but still remembers to sell the arm afterwards which makes me happy. I didn’t write a lot down about this because I was engrossed in the match. I love Lacey and Nikita’s debut here was very impressive too. Great stuff.

2/3Falls

Rebecca Knox vs Daizee Haze

Knox comes out rather full of herself and dances her way to the ring in hilarious fashion. She screams at Joey Eastman who jumps back in surprise which also made me chuckle. The fans really don’t like Knox and I was trying to decide who they hate more her or Lacey and then dreamed about how good a match that’d would have been. Daizee comes out with her customary novelty flower which she bends as if it were an iron bar. During Knox’s introduction when Eastman says her weight Knox tells him to add “all muscle!” and she might be right! Knox says something which prompts the crowd to chant “mind your language again” and Daizee looks amused by it, but sadly I could not make out what was said. A “Daizee” chant breaks out and Knox is confused and says to the ref “But my name is Becky?” which is again made me laugh. A “USA” chant begins too which always pisses me off when it’s chanted in a match or angle that has nothing to do with nationalities, but thankfully these will quiet down as the roster becomes more international. Knox says she’s “as clean as a whistle and sharp as a thistle” before the two women engage in a dance off which Haze wins and the fans tell Rebecca that she got served.

The first ten minutes of this match is a technical showcase and Dave points out that the women haven’t even hit the ropes since the bell rang. I’m constantly amazed at how Knox knows so many submission moves. Knox has a sick armdrag in her arsenal too which she uses against Haze. Eventually Knox retreats to the outside and Haze dives through the ropes to take her out. Daizee connects with a flurry of slaps and chops and it’s awesome, but then Knox retaliates with a series of Kobashi chops and then whips Haze stomach first into the guard rail. This is fantastic! Haze is rolled back into the ring but Knox misses a top rope leg drop which allows Daizee to climb the turnbuckles but she too misses on a missile dropkick. Both women tease and block each other’s finishers until Haze hits the Heart Punch/Yakuza Kick combo to take the first fall at around 18 minutes.

Rebecca Knox is up almost as soon as the three count has happened which was a bit annoying as I think she should have sold it a little longer to be honest. The women are brought out water by a really pretty camerawoman who looks a little like Daizee (who is she?) and Haze drinks out of it first before the referee hands it to Knox who claims the bottle know has germs on it from Daizee. The second fall begins with a series of shoves and right hands and I really get the impression from this that these girls kayfabe hate each other. After a superb angry flurry of strikes by both women Knox rolls Daizee up and grabs hold of the ropes to get a cheap pinfall to square this match at the 24 minute mark.

Danger on commentary says she wants Knox dead. Wow. She only used the ropes, calm down! Haze starts off the quickest in the 3^rd fall, but Knox takes her down with a double springboard dropkick. Rebecca locks in a leglock submission moves and uses the ropes, again, for extra leverage and as Haze tries to fight out of it her shoulders are pinned to the mat. Knox wins a phenomenal contest. It’s still one of the five longest matches in Shimmer history and for my money has to be one of the very best. My favourite match so far in my rewatch.

Allison Danger didn’t enjoy the match as much as I did and comes out and says that Haze has beaten Knox clean twice, but Rebecca’s cheated both times, though the Irish woman screams that they were as clean as a whistle once again. Danger tells her to shut up and says that if Knox likes using the ropes so much then at Volume 6 she challenges Rebecca to a ROH Style Pure Wrestling match where punches aren’t allowed and both women are given three rope breaks after which the ropes are legal. Knox seems to agree to the stipulation before screaming that she’s a winner.

No Time Limit

Sara Del Rey vs Mercedes Martinez

Del Rey’s out first which surprised me as usually the bigger face enters last and Del Rey is being pushed, along with Haze, in that position. Speaking of Haze her novelty flower is still in the turnbuckle which must be very confusing for people that might have bought this match on Clickwrestle and wonder why there’s a giant flower in the corner.  The stipulation for the match is now shown on the screen in purple font which looks so much better than the red ones of previous volumes. We begin with a handshake and after an even first five minutes Del Rey locks in an Indian Death Lock and it seems like she’s going to work the leg. Mercedes then applies a submission of her own, a figure four, but when it’s broken up Mercedes starts limping, still showing the ill effects of the Indian Death Lock.

Del Rey goes on her usual big boot offence, but Martinez ducks the third kick and then boots Sara with one of her own, clearly having given up on selling the leg injury. Sara gets up and slowly climbs the turnbuckles and tries a diving crossbody, but Mercedes kicks her out of the air with a dropkick and her leg is fully recovered now I guess. Martinez tries a Fisherman Buster, but SDR reverses it into a small package for two. Del Rey then goes for the Royal Butterfly, but Mercedes backbody drops her instead. Mercedes then connects with an inverted brainbuster which looks so very dangerous and she then appears to whisper to Sara before covering her for a two, I guess asking if she was okay. Del Rey then connects with a scary looking German suplex and then a superplex for two.

Sara tries to finish off Martinez with the Royal Butterfly, but Mercedes blocks and hits the Saito Suplex for the first time in Shimmer, but is too tired to cover Del Rey. Sara knocks Martinez to the outside and then dives through the ropes in her first Shimmer dive to take out her opponent. Mercedes blocks the Royal Butterfly again and locks in a headscissors, but Sara is able to roll her up for the three count at the 24 minute mark.

A rather anti-climactic finish there and to be honest I wasn’t really feeling this match. It might just be me, but for this match the crowd were much quieter than the previous one and I can’t really blame them as while this was good there wasn’t any story here at all. There’s nothing at stake and with both of them being babyface I can’t really get invested in it. I actually think the last two matches should have been switched around.

Sara takes the mic and says that Mercedes can have a rematch whenever she wants as Dave and Allison both say they can’t wait for a third one between these two. Both wrestlers hug and the crowd sing “Do do do doo, do do do do” in tune to the Final Countdown as the show finishes.

Before we go we have a promo backstage with the Experience where they claim they are the perfect tag team and that they are offering an open challenge to anyone saying if their old school, new school it doesn’t matter the Experience will win. Alright promo, not the best, but I do like seeing the midcard getting promos too. It’s also announced that during the main event MsChif and Melissa have agreed to a Last Woman Standing match, which is the second time they’ve been negotiating matches during the main event which I find hilarious for some reason. They just do not care about any of the other big matches besides their own! Unlike the Mercedes/Del Rey III match they are hinting at I really want to see Melissa and MsChif fight for a final time.

Lastly Mercedes Martinez then begins a promo saying she accepts Sara’s challenge for a match at Volume 6 before Lacey interrupts and says “what is this the 10,000^th time you are gonna wrestle her? Do you know how bored I am of that?” I hate to say it but I kind of agree with her. Lacey says that although she knows that Mercedes pinned her at Volume 2 in the main event everyone was ganging up against her and that she works best as a tag team wrestler with Rain and she challenges Mercedes to find herself a tag partner and take them on. Sara Del Rey overhears this and says she’ll be Martinez partner and they all agree to the match. Aside from Lacey saying she’s better as a tag team wrestler, in essence putting her own singles skills down, I loved this segment and like that although Lacey is a heel and the other two are faces they have this friendly challenge which is nice as after all Lacey, while annoying, hasn’t really done anything bad to them so it’s cool that they can just hang out it segments like this without it coming to blows and with that match booked we’re out of here.

Overall Show:

This wasn’t the most solid of shows and as is often the case with Shimmer the first half isn’t very good whereas the last half rescues it and that’s kind of the case here. While I didn’t enjoy the main event as much as most people I really liked Kong vs Roxx, and Lacey vs Nikita while completely being blown away by Rebecca Knox vs Daizee Haze. One thing I do love about these early shows is how much time the matches were given. I understand why the matches are much shorter now as the roster is so much larger these days but here we have two matches over twenty minutes, one of which is almost half an hour, and a couple over ten minutes and it’s a shame that matches aren’t given as long anymore.

Best Match: Rebecca Knox vs Daizee Haze. Superb match. The best so far in Shimmer!

MVP: Amazing Kong. I was torn between giving it to Rebecca Knox again or awarding it to Nikki Roxx for her star making turn, but Amazing Kong’s debut was just great and I simply cannot wait to see her take on the main eventers of Shimmer at a later date!

So that’s Volume 5 in the can, but with Danger/Knox II and Melissa/MsChif III along with that big tag match pitting Lacey & Ran against Del Rey & Mercedes Volume 6 looks like it could be a cracking show. I'll leave you with the taped dark match between Portia Perez and Daizee Haze via Shimmer's official Youtube account, enjoy!