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.