Shimmer Volume 1

On November 6 2005 18 women set out to prove that serious women’s wrestling in the USA was possible. The promotion was Shimmer, an all-female wrestling company co-created by Dave Prazak and Allison Danger, was daring concept seemingly doomed to fail. After all how much demand is there for women’s wrestling? 10 years later women’s wrestling is one of the hottest talking points in present day sports entertainment. Several all-women’s promotions have since been set up on both sides of the Atlantic and women’s wrestling is one of the most critically acclaimed parts of WWE's developmental brand with Shimmer alumni at the forefront of it. As for Shimmer itself the company is now bigger than ever with the best wrestlers being flown in from each corner of the globe and fans traveling likewise to experience Shimmer's marathon weekend tapings and after parties. A couple of months shy of Shimmer's 10th Anniversary shows I have decided to take a look back and try and re-watch every Shimmer DVD and give my thoughts of them.

I started this a few years ago and gave up very quickly, but this time I'm going to try and stick it out. To preserve my sanity after watching 60+ DVD's I'm not going to do move-by-move recaps and just give quick thoughts on each match. I also should state upfront that I adore Shimmer and it along with NXT are the only wrestling promotions I currently follow. It's my favourite wrestling promotion and has been ever since I gave up on TNA when Hogan arrived and completely changed the entire product. However that being said it’s not always been perfect and I’m going to try and be as unbiased as I can. With that out the way it's Shimmer 1!

Shimmer 1

Before the first match there is a highlight reel of the upcoming matches (the DVD menu has this too) which is something I hate. Not only does this give away several of the best parts of the upcoming card, but even shows the finish of one of the matches too!

The DVD starts not with a match but with the 18 women walking to the ring for a group photo, something which would become a norm for all future Shimmer tapings though this is the only one filmed. They walk out to Verruca Salt’s ‘Shimmer Like a Girl’ which is the unofficial theme of Shimmer. Interestingly (and I might be using that term too loosely) Dave Prazak’s first all-female wrestling show was an IWA Mid-South event called Volcano Girls, which is another Verruca Salt song title. Verruca salt seem to hold a special place in Dave’s heart as their songs were used in early Shimmer video packages and their song titles are used as member titles on the Shimmer forum. I don't know why this was included on the DVD honestly as it does feel odd that rivals like Daizee Haze and Lacey are willing to stand next each other and MsChif taking part in this at all doesn't seem to gel with her character. It is crazy looking back at the first show at how different the Eagles Club looks. Due to the fact that almost every Shimmer show takes place in the same arena it's going to be fun to see how the general venue set-up changes. Here for instance they haven't even got a curtain for the women to walk out of and they just come from a door and then walk down a set of stairs. A long way away from the entrance lights and Shimmertron. It'll also be fun to look at the wrestlers and referees themselves to see how their look changes. Ring announcer Joey Eastman for instance looks hilarious with his spikey blonde hair! Anyway on to match 1!

Tiana Ringer vs Shantelle Taylor

Shantelle Taylor is the future TNA wrestler and sunglasses salesperson Taylor Wilde. Tiana Ringer is one of my all-time Shimmer crushes. Both women are Canadian so immediately we have an international flavour for this American based promotion. Andy Long is our ref and he looks very slim here bless him. I should state now that the lighting for the event is noticeably worse than the present day shows. I am guessing they used cheaper cameras back here as there is quite a lot of light glare. Also Alison Danger, who is one of our two commentators along with Shimmer owner Dave Prazak, sounds very quiet and I struggled to hear some of what she said. Anyway the match itself is a good opener. Both women are from the same region of Canada and therefore very familiar with each other which leads to a good match. There is a great spot where Taylor cartwheels out of a rear waistlock, and then Ringer tries to do the same but Taylor cartwheels with her with the with the waistlock still applied, though this was one of the many spots spoilt by the highlight reel at the start of the DVD. Also of note is that Ringer does a curb stomp here (of the Super Dragon/Cheerleader Melissa variety, not Seth Rollins version) which later becomes a Cheerleader Melissa staple. After a small but noticeable botch at the end Taylor climbs the turnbuckles and hits Ringer with a missile dropkick for the three. Good stuff here.

Team Blondage vs Nikki Roxx & Cindy Rogers

The referee is Brian Gorie, who looks just like Alan Davies with his curly hair here! Team Blondage are Amber O'Neil and Krissy Vaine, the original Beautiful People really. Their music is Hollerback Girl which reminds me how much I hate solo Gwen Stefani. Nikki Roxx is the future TNA star Roxi, though this was back when TNA only had Tracey Brooks and Trinity on their roster before their Knockouts Division and Nikki is sporting died bright blonde hair here which looks odd. She's had so many looks in Shimmer, largely due to her shaving her head bald in TNA and then slowly re-growing her hair and it's going to be great seeing her image evolve. Cindy Rogers is... well one of my least favourite Shimmer wrestlers sadly. She's good in the ring, but her attire looks beyond cheap and she has negative charisma. I'm hoping when I re-watch these shows I will grow to like Cindy Rogers more now in retrospect and she's good here actually. I never noticed how quickly she runs the ropes before, though the match is mainly Team Blondage working over Nikki Roxx. I find Shimmer tag matches are either incredible or a bit dull usually with little in between, but this is a decent contest and Team Blondage's antics and stalling really get the crowd (which is tiny even by Shimmer's standards) into the show for the first time. The match ends with Krissy pinning Cindy with an illegal assist from Amber.

Rain vs Ariel

RAIN!! These early Shimmer shows will feature a whole lost generation of superb women’s wrestlers that were overlooked by the WWE who were still on their quest to train models into being wrestlers around this time and obsessed with Playboy and pudding matches. Of all the ones passed up on though Rain is the most baffling as she might just be the most gorgeous wrestler ever and one that could easily have been a model were she not committed to being a good wrestler. Yeah, I'm a big fan of hers and it is actually her old copy of Shimmer Volume 1 that I'm watching now which she kindly signed for me after I bought it from her. Her wrestling style is odd as she's very good at the technical side of it, but just looks awkward walking around the ring as if the transition between moves is something she struggles with. She is a great heel however and her arguing with the fans sure does get them to root for her opponent.

Ariel is one of the unsung Shimmer originals and I do love her theme tune. I don't know how B-Witched's 'Cest La Vie' made it across the pond but I find it hilarious that it did! The referee here is Jennifer Carlisle who, I'm sorry to say, is awful. Not only does she count far too slow but she doesn't even get into positions to see the shoulders! I notice at this point how good Dave is on commentary as he highlights Ariel's experience wrestling in Mexico and how he gives background insight into all of the wrestlers so you get to know them more. This is well appreciated as there aren't many promos around this point so Dave's commentary gives interesting information about wrestlers. The ending to this match is the one that was spoilt at the start of the show- Ariel hits the Dariel (RKO) OUTTA NOWHERE for the pin.

Lexie Fyfe vs Christie Ricci

I have to say that as well as not being a Cindy Rogers fan I'm not a huge lover of Lexie Fyfe either sadly. I think her heel mannerisms are second to none, but I just find her singles matches a bit dull. I don't really have anything to say about this match at all and it is probably the weakest on the card. Laura Mattano referees her first Shimmer match here which is the most interesting thing I can say about this really. Lexie Fyfe wins with the Attitude Adjustment, no not Cena's FU, but a TKO (which kind of looks like an F5 from which the FU got its name... confusing).

Cheerleader Melissa vs MsChif

It's from here on out that the show goes up a gear and so begins one of the most memorable early Shimmer feuds. I always found it funny that the cheerleader here is the heel and the crazy screaming banshee is the face and I think the crowd were confused too as they are rooting for Melissa at the start and calling MsChif a witch. However Melissa isn't really the heel here that I remember here to be, I mean sure she is super aggressive right from the off and famously applies to the Kondo Clutch to MsChif and then beats her over the head with her own foot, but that’s just standard Melissa! The Kondo Clutch spot is a great moment and one that Beth Phoenix would take with her to the WWE which she got to use against Melina at a future Royal Rumble PPV. However it is yet another moment that was spoilt by the opening video highlight reel.

I have to say now how great the MsChif character is. Not only is she completely mysterious with having no hometown and hailing from "the Inferno" which always made me wonder what her background was (in my mind she's a former circus contortionist turned wrestler) but she's also completely unique. We'll see as we go forwards how good the women are at creating gimmicks and looks for themselves that help them stand out from the crowd which is one of the advantages they have over the male wrestling scene who in a few years’ time entered the infamous 'Clone Wars' with Richards, Edwards, O’Reilly etc all looking and wrestling the same. I also want to say how much I like Melissa's early look here I love the duster and was sad when she dropped it and the dress looks very cool too. No Pom-Poms though! Also there were no curb stomps in this match but she did attempt the Kudo Driver a few times without success, which becomes an ongoing mini-story much like Hideo Itami and the GTS in NXT.

During Joey's introductions it appears that he looks at his cheat cards to remind himself of referee Andy Long's name which cracks me up! This is the best match so far and really showcases Melissa's brutal offence and MsChif's athleticism and technical wrestling skills and has some great spots such as a wicked reverse hurricarana into a surfboard by MsChif, a lionsault, Melissa bending MsChif over the guard rail and the aforementioned incredible Kondo Clutch spot. MsChif picks up the surprise win with the Desecrator.

Beth Phoenix vs Allison Danger

Yes, this is that Beth Phoenix, only a completely different side of her that you've never seen before- comedy Beth Phoenix! I was blown away by this match when I first saw it due to how incredible Beth is at the comedy here, she's like Santino Marella at his best with some hilarious antics. The memorable moments include both wrestlers doing the crisscross routine before Allison stops and Beth carries on by her lonesome and tires herself out, Beth failing to do a nip-up and best of all preventing referee Bryce Remsburg (my favourite referee ever!) from counting to five on a choke she had applied by kissing him. Bryce's selling of the kiss is hilarious too. I also love the bow-tie Beth wears throughout the match for some reason too. As much as I enjoyed the Glamazon gimmick she had in the WWE watching this makes me think they wasted her superb gift of comedy.

The match isn't all Beth though and Allison more than holds her own and is a really smooth worker and it is her that pulls out the roll-up victory in the best match thus far I think. Also I've always liked the way the wrestling colour commentators leave the table during the prior match to prepare for their upcoming contest and Allison sounding out-of-breath when she returns to the table later on is a great little touch that really makes it sound like they recorded the commentary live rather than months later.

Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey

The match that put Shimmer on the map. It was a much anticipated match at the time pitting possibly the best female on the East coast (Martinez) against possibly the best female on the West coast (Del Rey) and it lived up to the promise. This 20 minute draw is a very important match in the history of Shimmer, but for whatever reason it's always one I've found a tad overrated. Don't get me wrong it's good without doubt, but for me the main event is actually the match of the show. I've never been able to put my finger on why this doesn't grab me like it does everyone else but I think it's a combination of me preferring the more technical wrestling type matches over the Japanese inspired strong style ones and the fact that even though there is nothing on the line In either contest the main event feels like there's more at stake due to the fact you do believe that Haze and Lacey do not like each other. Nevertheless the fact both women put on such a good match with each other despite never having been in the same ring before speaks volumes about their abilities.

I didn't take many notes for this as I wanted to give it my full attention and see what I was missing. I did note down that Dave mentioned that Sara was trained partly by Daniel Bryan and that he was the current ROH champion (which should help you place this match at the right timeframe). The way Prazak on commentary over the years mentions ROH, WWE and every single other promotion but never mentions TNA by name will probably be something that humors me as I go through these DVD's. I also noticed that while everybody else on this show looks different back then than they do now (Bryce has hair and sideburns! Sara is wearing trousers!) Mercedes Martinez looks almost exactly the same! The match ends with the time expiring while Mercedes looks to have Sara beat after a Fisherman buster, giving her the visual victory if nothing else, which sets up a rematch down the line and earns both women a deserved standing ovation. I do like the way Joey Eastman gives 5 minute updates on the match times during every match so that time-out draws like this never feel like a cop-out.

Lacey vs Daizee Haze

The main event pits the best heel in the company against the best babyface and was a great choice to close out the show as not only are both women natural enemies but they were very familiar with one another and pulled out, what I believe is match of the show and a great one at that. I really miss both of these women, especially Lacey who I think might be the greatest heel Shimmer ever had. Sometimes heels try and be funny or cool which just gets them cheered, but Lacey was full-on heel mode and wanted everybody to boo her and almost never got anyone to root for her which I admire. I also love her entrance music- The Game by Disturbed- it really suits her character but we'll have to wait a while before the fans clap in time to the music during her entrance which was something I always thought was extremely cool. We'll also have to wait for the crowd to sing 'The Final Countdown' during Del Rey's entrance or 'Nikki ROXX' during her intro too. The little audience-participation moments like those have always been amongst my favourite things in Shimmer.

Lacey is great here, suggesting that Daizee Haze's novelty flower is "loaded", spitting water from her bottle at a fan and mocking Haze's short height and then saying she was just paying tribute to her tag team partner Rain who did the same thing to Ariel earlier. By the way their tag team The Minnesota Home-Wrecking Crew might be the smartest, most perfect puntastic tag team name of all time. Some of the moves here were outstanding such as Haze hitting the Daizee Cutter stunner from the turnbuckles (the last great moment spoilt by the highlight reel) and Lacey's spinning neckbreaker to Haze who was crotched on the top rope at the time. Lacey worked the back of Haze for most of the match, at one point bending her round the ring post, and Daizee's selling of the back injury was perfect. Eventually after a Heart Punch/Mind Trip combo Haze wins the match at the 23 minute mark and she continues to sell the injury even in victory- take note John Cena! Everyone talks about the 20 minute draw on this show, but this match was actually longer and in my opinion better!

Overall Show:

A very confident first show. A good opener and the final four matches were all better than the previous one. Prazak mentioned in commentary that every match had a different feel and that is one of the strengths I think about Shimmer is that there's no such thing as "The Shimmer Style" like there is the "WWE Style" and here we have the hard hitting contest between Mercedes and Del Rey, the technical match of Haze and Lacey, the lucha-libra inspired offence of Shantelle Taylor and the comedy greatness of Beth Phoenix. Once the Brits, Japanese and Australians come to Shimmer things will get even more varied, but that's a long way off! This is very much a work-in-progress however if you can get over the technical problems and the amateurish look to it there's some good stuff here.

Best Match: Lacey vs Daizee Haze.

MVP: Daizee Haze due to her great selling in the main event.

Volume 2 will be next and will see the top four women in Shimmer go at it in a four way dance elimination match. Also Beth Phoenix battles her fears and MsChif whilst Cindy Rogers seeks revenge from Team Blondage's Krissy Vaine

Lastly on the DVD there is a hidden Easter Egg featuring an hilarious Come As You Are Rumble featuring Austin Aries, Alex Shelly, Delrious, Jimmy Jacobs and the future Cesaro & Evan Bourne amongst others.