Volume 2 opens with a Lacey promo. She says that tonight she's facing
Daizee Haze, Mercedes Martinez and Sara Del Rey in a four way elimination
match. Lacey explains that she doesn't quite know what happened in her last
match, she hit her head and Haze must have cheated or something but this time
she'll win. As for Mercedes and Del Rey? Well they can't even beat each other
so they've got no chance against her. Haha, brilliant.
Krissy Vaine vs Cindy Rogers
Before the match we have a few clips from Volume 1 showing how Vaine
cheated in their last match. I didn't really like this as I feel like we should
start a show with a hot opening match rather than a promo followed by clips
from a previous volume, it just gets the show off to a slow start. I said in my
Volume 1 review that I was going to try and give Cindy Rogers a fair chance
when I watched the shows this time… but I just can’t. It’s her look more than
anything, just what is going on there? Her hair is terrible, her top looks five
sizes too small for her and something a child would wear and she has what looks
to be lycra running shorts on. If she doesn’t want to have fashionable hair a
good outfit and insists on those stupid tights could she not at least sew
‘Cindy’ or at least ‘CR’ into them to make it all look less cheap? Anyway the
fact I spent the whole match getting wound up at Rogers attire gives you the
hint that this was a bit dull.
Amber O’Neil is at ringside and hugs Krissy when she makes her way to the
ring. Amber’s got a bag of what I assume is merchandise she must have been
selling at the intermission between Volumes 1 and 2. It’s a nice moment, but as
Shimmer liked to imply that the shows take place on different days this must be
confusing for some as to why she’s out there. I liked how Dave explains that
Amber has to go to the back as only managers are allowed at ringside. I don’t
know why but I love the manager’s license trope that Shimmer employs. Rogers
picked up the win with her TCB submission finisher and avenged her loss from
Volume 1 and there’s a funny moment where Vaine falls out of the ring to the
floor after the match.
Lexie Fyfe vs Nikki Roxx
From a Rogers match to a Lexie one! Great… First up we hear
Nikki Roxx’s music for the first time and I don’t know what it is but it’s not
E-Pro by Beck though so boo to that. To be honest I didn’t enjoy this one. I
did like at the start both Lexie and Nikki were talking about something a fan
said in the crowd and Fyfe used that distraction to jump Roxx from the start
which I’m assuming was a nice unplanned bit of improv by Lexie there which was
great. It was at this point in the show where I was getting annoyed that the
commentator's volume was too low and trying to hear it over the loud ring
(Shimmer’s loud rings are my #1 pet peeve with the company) was giving me a
headache. Also I noticed too that the cameras all seemed to have different
contrast levels as if one of them had forgotten to do a white-balance check
before filming. Shimmer will get much better at the technical side of filming
the shows in a few years’ time, but I do feel like I need to bring it up and
while I’m at it the lights are too bright which make Nikki’s dyed blonde hair
look yellow making her resemble Big Bird. The match ends with Lexie missing an
impressive looking leg drop from the top rope and Nikki then hits the Barbie
Crusher for the first time and picks up the surprise win.
Cheerleader Melissa & Tiana Ringer vs Ariel &
Shantelle Taylor
This is more like it, four women I care about! I think
Melissa and Ringer could be called Team Curbstomp given their usage of that move. Ariel is wearing her black
and white spider attire here which is my favourite look of hers and as her and
Taylor come out slapping hands it occurs to me that I believe them in this
fun-loving babyface role whereas I don’t buy Rogers as one when she runs around
the ringside area like a child who’s had too much sugar. If Melissa’s alignment
was ambiguous on Volume 1 she proves that she’s definitely a heel here by
tripping up Shantelle as she runs the rope and using illegal double team moves.
Melissa is the more experienced wrestler in the match and she seems to be the one
directing traffic but Ringer holds her own and Taylor does a great job playing
the face in peril for the majority of the match. Eventually Shantelle gets the
tag to Ariel and it all breaks-down in the ring and we get a nice Tower of Doom
spot with Melissa double powerbombing the faces whilst they double suplex
Ringer. Eventually Melissa, after avoiding Ariel’s Dariel connects with the Air
Raid crash and earns her first victory in Shimmer.
We then get long, long highlights of the Volume 1 match
between Martinez and Del Rey. Seriously while I get that you are trying to sell
Vol. 1 for those that might have only bought Vol. 2 it goes on for far too long
when the last minute of the match would have been the better sell. We then get
an awkward Del Rey promo about the upcoming 4 way match in which Sara manages
to forget Lacey’s name briefly and somehow gets shown up in the charisma
department by her own shadow. Honestly I kept staring at it convinced it was
going to move on its own accord like in a horror movie. Sara mentions she’s
going to beat Mercedes this time which prompts Martinez to appear and
completely outclass her promo skills. They say they respect one another before Del
Rey leavesI In an odd moment Mercedes seems waits for Sara to be out of
earshot before she then directs a promo towards her and vows to win the match later.
Honestly this would have been better if they were separate promos, but I do
love Mercedes' mic work, though this wasn’t her best.
Amber O’Neil vs Christie Ricci
Oh God, with separate Team Blondage matches we get to hear
‘Hollerback Girl’ twice this evening. Ugh. This was another rather bland match
but this one is made enjoyable by the antics of Amber O’Neil. She made me laugh
a few times in this match due to how well she plays her valley girl character
and I liked how she answered a fans claim that she’s a ‘Paris Hilton Wannabe’
with “Paris Hilton wants to be me!” Nice. It is Christie Ricci that gets the
pin though with a Northern Lights suplex, which I don’t think is a very good
finisher as it just doesn’t seem impactful enough. You may have noticed at this point
that everybody who lost in Volume 1 has won in Volume 2 and vice versa so far.
Amber throws a right temper tantrum at the end of the match which I thought was
funny and her claiming that the loss was a “CONSPIRACY!” was hilarious.
Rain vs Allison Danger
I’ll say right off that Danger’s music now sounds strange
without the “FIRE!” and rockier part of her music she later mixes into her
theme. Also she doesn’t wear the mask yet that became her signature. I said I
thought Rain looked a little awkward in her match against Ariel, but she seems
much more confident here. Her moves aren’t as crisp as her partner Lacey's, but I
love how niggly she is with her bites and scratches, you get the feeling that
if this were a real match then everyone in the back would hate to wrestle her
which I like. There’s a funny part where the action spills to the floor and
Rain slides in to break the ten count- at just 2- which a fan loudly comments
on. For the most part though the fans here are quite annoying and refuse to boo
Rain despite her great heel work. But this is a good match with lots of
submissions and technical work which I always love to see. Rain is on top for
most of the match and tries something called a Thunder Clash according to Dave,
(which seems to be a Fisherman type driver that I can never recall seeing), but
she hurts her own knee on a neckbreaker, which Danger then works on. This comes
into play in the finish when Rain attempts her Acid Rain, but her knee gives way
and Danger hits the Shimmering Warlock for the three. I wonder if Danger ever
wrestled in Shine if she’d rename that back to the Shinning Wizard? Also this
match bucks the trend of the previous losers winning as Danger goes 2-0 and
Rain loses for a second time.
Daizee Haze promo now where she says that despite being the
smallest competitor in the match it doesn’t matter as dynamite comes in small
packages (great catchphrase) and she’s going to smoke her three opponents to
the dome (terrible catchphrase). It wasn’t a great promo to be honest and if I
had to rank the 4 it’d go 1st Lacey, 2nd Mercedes, 3rd
Haze and 4th Del Rey, quite a way behind the other three.
Beth Phoenix vs MsChif
I just love Beth Phoenix. She was hilarious on Volume 1 and
she’s even funnier here by acting completely terrified of MsChif. She literally
runs away from her opponent, tries hiding behind the ring post, seeks comfort in a
fan and even gets her back rubbed by one. Then Beth offers out her hand to
MsChif saying they can be friends in such a loveably earnest way, but gets her
palm bitten in return. My highlight is when Beth has a submission applied and she
begs the referee to ask if MsChif has had enough, but when ‘Chif just screams Beth
yelps and almost cries out “Oh God…. Is that a yes?” So very funny. The ending
sadly is a bit messy with Phoenix reversing the Desecrator and winning with the
Beth Valley Driver. MsChif is fine here and shows of her beautiful standing
moonsault, but this match is all about Phoenix’s antics and is well worth a
watch on them alone.
Four Corner Elimination Match
Mercedes Martinez vs Lacey vs Sara Del Rey vs Daizee Haze
In Shimmer the heels always come to the ring first unless
they are the champions, but here Mercedes is the first one out which is odd.
There is a drunk idiot in the crowd who appears to be wearing a shirt with a
picture of boobs on who gets very excited by the Final Countdown for some
reason. This match has a lot of great stories running through it with Mercedes
and Del Rey wanting to settle their score, Del Rey and Haze starting out on
friendly terms with them initially doing a peace sign tag before they come to
blows and Lacey only tagging herself in whenever Daizee Haze is hurt and
quickly tagging out whenever she makes a comeback. Haze is the ultimate
babyface-in-peril with Mercedes and Del Rey working tweener-ish to allow
Daizee to be the sympathetic face and Haze even hits our first top rope leaping
dive to the outside, although her dives were never very pretty to look at.
Lacey’s heelwork is great and unlike Rain she does manage to get the crowd to
hate her and get a “Lacey sucks” chant. The first fall comes about when Haze
mounts a comeback against Lacey, but Mercedes blind tags herself in and pins
the heel after hitting her with her Fisherman Driver. Lacey, like Rain, ends
the weekend 0-2.
Haze is annoyed that Mercedes stole the pin, which to be
fair was a rather dickish move, but she gets her revenge by putting Martinez
away with a Mind Trip, which didn’t sit right with me as I thought she hadn’t
been worn down enough to be eliminated quite so quick. Now both Mercedes and
Del Rey are annoyed at the last elimination as it meant that they still haven’t
been able to settle their issue of who is the better woman. The last stretch is
pretty great with Haze hitting a facebuster on Del Rey when she attempts a
second one Sara reversers it into our first Royal Butterfly in Shimmer for the
victory. The Royal Butterfly is one of my favourite finishers ever as it’s such
a beautiful move and one we can hit on anybody. I really enjoyed this
match and it felt like a big deal having the top four wrestlers all in the ring
at the same time. Also it’s a stipulation so rarely utilized in Shimmer that it
still feels special now. I also think, and I may be wrong here this is the only
time when we get to see Haze vs Mercedes in any sort of match in a Shimmer
ring.
We then have a Melissa promo where she says she’s been
looking for MsChif everywhere but has been unable to find here… Ummm, did you
try waiting backstage after her match? She claims MsChif got lucky and she
wants a rematch. We also get footage of an FIP show with a pitifully low
attendance where Lexie Fyfe takes on Lorelei Lee who we are informed has
impressed Shimmer officials (which really is just Dave!) and will be making her
debut on Volume 3. I do love the way these early Shimmer shows leave you with
little teasers that make you want to watch the next volume. “Oh Melissa wants
revenge on MsChif! Del Rey and Mercedes still have a score to settle!” Better
still is another closing Alison Danger promo where she explains that Shimmer is
looking for the best talent not just from North America but the world and that
on Volume 3 she will be challenging a certain somebody from Dublin- Rebecca
Knox! Eeek, so excited to re-watch that one!
Overall Show:
A noticeably weaker show than Volume 1. They put all their
eggs in one basket with the four way match and some of the earlier matches with
the lesser wrestlers were a bit of a bore to sit though. The main event was
great however, though not as good as the final two matches from Volume 1,
Rain/Danger and the tag match were good too and Phoenix/MsChif was hilarious.
Best Match: Well it’s the four way of course.
MVP: I’m going to go with Beth Phoenix here. She’s been a
hysterical delight to watch over these two volumes and she deserves this.
Shimmer Farewells:
-Christie Ricci. I’m not too fussed about this one. I’m sure
she might have been alright if she was in the ring against one of the top eight
Shimmer wrestlers, but she hadn’t impressed me in her first two matches. I
don’t know how true it is but I read that WEW (Women’s Extreme Wrestling
latterly called Women’s Erotic Wrestling) made her chose between them and
Shimmer and she opted for WEW. If that is true what a massive mistake that was!
-Krissy Vaine. Shame to see her leave as I liked the Team
Blondage gimmick and it means that Amber O’Neil will have to go solo from here
on out. Vaine was signed by the WWE after this, which isn’t a surprise really
as she completely has the look they tend to go for. She had two appearances on
Smackdown before leaving the company with her boyfriend due to family issues.
-Beth Phoenix. Damn it! Yes, Beth of course was also signed
by the WWE after these tapings and it’s a real shame as she was so entertaining
here and I would have loved to have seen a more serious Beth wrestle Sara Del
Rey or Cheerleader Melissa.
So Shimmer 3 up next which will pit the final two survivours from the four way elimination match against one another whilst Allison Danger will take on Rebecca Knox...
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