Welcome to the SHIMMER Volumes 37-40 live report from the Eagle's Club in Berwyn, IL. As always, with so many matches, I'll probably have trouble remembering all the details, but I hope I can give you nice extensive look at the weekend.
March 26
As usual, doors opened a half hour late. That independent wrestling for ya! But the good news is I won a prop bet as the betting line for the door opening was one hour late, and I took the under. Anyway.....
Saturday was announced as a sellout. I believe the building limit was 225. Over the winter, the city of Berwyn limited the attendance from 250 to 175, due to complaints from the city residents regarding the fans and their parking. Likewise, this forced the raising of general admission prices from $20 to $30. Thankfully, a month later, the attendance went up to 225, and, since it was a sellout, this meant great things for the bottom line.
Pre-SPARKLE
The opening match was scheduled to be the Awesome Threesome (Knight Wagner and Jordan McIntyre w/Eryn) taking on the Midnight Express. But, right after the Express were announced, we were then informed that they couldn't make it, so the match was now a singles match. It was the usual pre-SPARKLE goofiness. Eryn tripped up both of them, because she was the manager of both of them, and kept acting confused. The plastic candy cane made the return, and somehow Jordan McIntyre won.
Green Man defeated Red Man in a "Bobby Dempsey on a pole" match. Yes, that is not a typo. The rules were that Bobby would sit on a corner turnbuckle, and the first person to touch him could use him. Very quick match. Green Man got Bobby first, and he used him to win.
SPARKLE
Bonesaw defeated Jett Riley. Nothing that impressive.
Brittany Force defeated Rhia O’Reilly. Force was playing up the arrogance of her character. Both were decent were their moves. Force won by with a pin using the ropes.
Volume 37
Prior to the matches, we were informed of various rules, including being told that this is a family show, so we should keep our chants and comments PG. This rule will come up repeatedly over the course of the weekend.
The show opened up with Kellie Skater coming out, and making an open challenge. This was answered by the returning MsChif.
1. MsChif defeated Kellie Skater with the Desecrator. Huge pop for MsChif, as this was her return after missing the previous weekend tapings due to suffering a shoulder injury only a couple hours before the show. I would say this was a comedy match, as you'd expect from Kellie, as she would do a bunch of different poses between her moves. MsChif's wrestling was a good as ever.
We attempted to see an interview from Amber Gertner with Christine Von Erie, but the audio didn't work, so we moved on.
2. Mena Libra defeated Courtney Rush with a Samoan drop. I believe Rush competed in SHIMMER earlier as PJ Tyler. She was much more impressive than her previous appearances, as I feel she has a layer of charisma to go along with her moves. No complaints about Mena. Overall a decent match.
And now we actually got the interview Christina Von Eerie. Despite the punk gimmick, she was acting very humble, thrilled to be here, and hoping to make a good impression. She wants to learn from the best. Sara Del Rey interrupted, and proceeded to beat the living hell out of her. This went on for several minutes, as she was abused out of the locker room and down the stairway, all while being told "get out of my lockerroom!"
3. LuFisto defeated Tomoka Nakagawa with the Mic Check. LuFisto was an unannounced return having missed the last weekend. She also really slimmed down following her health scare last year. Tomoka, along with all the other Joshi girls, brought out and posed with the Japan flag during some of their matches. This was a very good match. Tomoka is just an awesome heel. At one point she took Peekaboo, LuFisto's "manager", and pinned her down while posing. Another big move saw Tomoka stuck in the tree of woe, and LuFisto hitting a running senton on her.
We see a video of Mercedes Martinez from earlier in the day. She notes she's been there since the beginning, and vows to win the championship tonight.
4. Regeneration X (Allison Danger & Leva Bates) defeated Jumping Jamilia Craft & Mia Yim. All weekend, RX wore different attires based on various pop culture themes. They would also incorporate move and sayings into their matches based on the respective themes. Pretty good match from all four. I felt this was best Jamilia has looked thus far, and Mia is always improving. RX worked very well, hitting all their double team moves smoothly.
Backstage, Amber Gertner interviews Cheerleader Melissa. She says since she pinned SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles last time, she wants a title match. Madison interrupts, saying she has to work her way up from the bottom.
Christina Von Eerie comes out. She's still very humble, but nonetheless calls out Sara Del Rey. A fight breaks out, and we have a match.
5. Christina Von Eerie defeated Sara Del Rey via countout. Sara has imported the Queen of Wrestling character to SHIMMER, which mostly involves her usual vicious style, and doing the queen wave. She basically destroyed Christina as only she can. However, she got a little carried away, as after missing a senton and running into the guardrail, Christina got back in the ring for the countout victory. Sara attacked her afterward, and it took several referees to keep them apart.
6. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Athena with a Kudo Driver. Very good match. Athena's character is also one with a big ego, but she really backs it up by hitting huge power moves. Melissa is Melissa, enough said.
Next was the return of Rebecca Knox. She was a wrestler at the very beginning of SHIMMER's existence, but I believe she retired due to injuries. She came out acting all happy, but instantly turned on the crowd. She announced that she was back as a manager, for the debuting Knight Dynasty.
The dynasty are a unique mother/daughter team from the UK. The daughter Britani is loud and sort of cowardly. Her mother, Sweet Saraya, is the definition of evil. Verbally, she is the most imitating wrestler in the history of the company, in my opinion. And pre match, all three were able to get the crowd into a frenzy. By far, the most heel heat of anyone the whole weekend. They laid out some choice words, which led to some chants of "family show!" They laid out a challenge, which was answered by Pretty Bitchin.
7. The Knight Dynasty w/ Rebecca Knox defeated Nikki Roxx and Ariel via DQ. The antics of Britani and Knox will draw some comparisons to the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew of Lacey, Rain, and Jetta. Decent for three of the wrestlers, although I felt that Saraya seemed off at times. The Dynasty tried using brass knucks, but I believe Nikki countered it, and used on them, which the ref saw for the DQ ending. An odd ending for a debuting team, but nonetheless an impactful start to their weekend.
8. Serena Deeb defeated Daizee Haze with a spear. It was what you would expect from the two, which is good stuff as usual.
9. Ayako Hamada defeated Jessie McKay. Ayako is simply awesome, while Jessie showed once again showed that she is not to be messed with.
10. The Seven Star Sisters (Misaki Ohata and Hiroyo Matsumoto) defeated the Canadian Ninjas (Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews) to become the NEW SHIMMER Tag Team Champs. This was the debut of the two as a tag team in SHIMMER. Great match from everyone. Hiroyo has so much energy, and 3S hit a ton of double team moves. They are extremely hard hitting, and they are lighting quick. It was a shock to the crowd when they won, as we've been used to title changes occurring at the end of the weekend. But the crowd did love it, and it was a great moment.
11. Madison Eagles defeated Mercedes Martinez with the Hell Bound to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Another great match. The fight actually went out into the crowd for a bit, although I missed what happened over there.
Volume 38
1. Daizee Haze defeated Courtney Rush with a tiger suplex. Not bad. Both worked hard.
2. Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Jessica James with the fisherman suplex. Decent. After the match, Daizee Haze came back out, calling Tomoka a winner (for some reason, the Charlie Sheen "winner" was being shouted out at this point), and announcing that they were reforming their tag team of recent volumes.
3. Nikki Roxx and Ariel defeated Regeneration X (Allison Danger and Leva Bates). This time, Rx was dressed up in V For Vendetta attire. This was mostly comedy. And Danger's attire, wow! Anyway, as I said, mostly comedy. At one point RX told Roxx mid match "blink, and you're dead!", and Roxx played it up! I believe the match ended with a double rollup.
4. Sara Del Rey defeated Christina Von Eerie with the Royal Butterfly. This was a very hard hitting match, but Christina held her own.
5. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Melanie Cruise with the Air Raid Crash. I've often compared Melanie to Melissa, and the match was played up that way. I felt the match was kind of slow, but they work hard, and there were some good power moves.
Backstage interview with Amber and Madison Eagles. Once again, Madison says Melissa isn't ready.
The Canadian Ninjas came out for a promo. The crowd is all over them being former champions. They cut a promo saying how unfair it is that new teams get instant title shots without beating one, which they've beaten headliners. Serena comes out to renew their rivalry. She brings out several faces to ensure that the Ninjas don't leave. She brings out her partner who has unfinished business with them, Jessie McKay. Before the match, Nicole calls Jessie a Bella Twin with an Australian accent, and tells her to be smart, sexy, and powerful somewhere else. Ouch!
6. Jessie McKay and Serena Deeb defeated the Canadian Ninjas. We start out with brawling. This was another good match. Serena and Portia leave near the end, and Jessie pins Nicole with her finisher, although Nicole did beat her up afterward.
7. Mercedes Martinez defeated Rachel Summerlyn with her Fisherman Buster. A decent match from two solid workers.
Amber Gertner interviews MsChif live in the ring. MsChif wants the rematch she never got. Madison comes out and says it's not happening, but after some gloating by MsChif, the two start going at it, and the title match is on!
8. Madison Eagles defeated MsChif to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Very good match, perhaps better than their initial title match. There was technical aspects, brawling on the floor, and high impact top rope moves. It was another Hell Bound for the clean victory.
9. 3S defeated the Knight Dynasty w/ Rebecca Knox. Having one of the more popular acts in the ring with one of the more hated acts made this one fun to watch match. The Knights and Knox paid further tribute to the MHWC by doing a bunch of funky dancing on their way out. Great stuff from everyone again, and the crowd was hugely involved.
10. Ayako Hamada defeated Ayumi Kurihara with two consecutive drivers. I was shocked to see Ayumi in only two matches this weekend, but as we saw with Sarah Stock in a previous taping, and assuming this is also a cost issue, it's a tough sacrifice you have to make when budgeting a series of shows. This was the only match announced in advance before the weekend, and it lived up the build. Things started out slowly, as they had a feeling out process. The crowd was dead silent to start, as we were all anticipating who would strike first. And once that happened, it was on! The match was filled with stiff kicks, top rope dropkicks, power bombs, dives to the floor, and so much more. They beat the hell out of each other. After the match, Ayako thanked and said the Japanese people will never give up.
March 27
Pre-SPARKLE
Green Man defeated Red Man in a "Caribbean Bobby Dempsey" match. Bobby was introduced as "the Bobby Dempsey for this match." This was technically a strap match.... with Bobby as the strap. I think they announced a "one day time limit." Plus, unlike previous matches, Joey Eastman was the ring announcer here, so someone else was in the Green Man attire. I don't think much more needs to be said about it. Fun though!
SPARKLE
Rhia O’Reilly and Jett Riley defeated Brittany Force and December. OK match. December has worked in the area for a few years, most notably for PCW, using a cheerleader gimmick, which obviously wasn't used here.
Volume 39
1. Kellie Skater defeated Courtney Rush. Very entertaining. Rush held her own, and Kellie was just her awesome self. At one point she had Rush in a torture rack, and started doing squats with her in position. Very impressive!
2. LuFisto defeated Sassy Stephie (with Mademoiselle Rachelle). I'd say it was almost a squash, but Sassy had her moments. A lot of comedy too. There was a moment where after Sassy was out in the corner, LuFisto lifted up her skirt, and farted at her. Later on, when LuFisto was working on a sleeper, she started singing lullabies, and asking the crowd to be quiet. Didn't work.
3. Rachel Summerlyn defeated Mena Libra with the Texas Cloverleaf. Good match.
4. 3S defeated Nikki Roxx and Ariel to retain the SHIMEMR tag titles. This one had a lot of comedy in it, especially with the "ROCKS!" chants that Nikki gets. But the action itself was great. Hard hitting and back and forth.
5. Mercedes Martinez defeated Britani Knight w/ Rebecca Knox with her Fisherman Buster. Very good match.
6. Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa defeated Mia Yim and Jamilia Craft. Thanks to the guy next to me, I was a recipient of a Tomoka water bottle shower. Hey, Joey said no spitting! Daizee and Tomoka are just great heels. They basically abused Mia and Jamilia.
Backstage interview with all four of the main event: Hamada, Melissa, Del Rey, and Eagles. Basically no one would stop talking, as they didn't want the opponents to say anything.
7. Jessica James defeated Athena. Perhaps I shouldn't say surprised, but I was surprised with the quality of the match. Athena has a bright future. Her moves are so impactful, and I can just picture some great matches with her down the line. Jessica held her own as well. One move I really enjoyed was her hitting a head scissors on Athena, who was on her knees, so it was a scissors into a hard face plant.
Backstage interview with Jessie McKay. Nicole interrupts, once again calling her a diva.
8. MsChif defeated Sweet Saraya Knight with the Desecrator. Again, I felt Saraya was a bit limited as a wrestler, but her promos are amazing. During her promo, she used some more salty language. Following the now usual "family show" chants, she said what kind of terrible person would bring their kid here? Well, Saraya did. Plus, there was a little kid in the crowd, who was held up for everyone. Decent.
9. Serena Deeb defeated Portia Perez by disqualification. Serena came out with a new spiked hairdo. Another very good match, playing up their history. At the end, Nicole snuck in a cookie sheet, and after she distracted the ref, Portia her Serena flush in the face while she went for the spear, causing the DQ. Serena was old cold for a few minutes.
In a backstage segment, Allison Danger was looking for Leva Bates. She hears something from the locker room, and the Knights run out. Leva is knocked out, and Danger vows revenge.
10. Nicole Matthews defeats Jessie McKay in a best two out of three falls match. Nicole used a roll up and holding the tights for the first fall. Jessie won the second fall after hitting her finisher several times. And finally, Nicole got the win with a Roll of the Dice. Great, competitive match, that went just over 20 minutes.
11. Ayako Hamada and Cheerleader Melissa defeated Sara Del Rey and Madison Eagles. This match was made as they were the final four from the SHIM-vivor Series match on Volume 36. Outstanding match from four veteran pros. Melissa spent of the time in ring. Hamada actually dropped an F Bomb out of frustration over the heels cheating. FAMILY SHOW! But again, great stuff from everyone. One big spot saw Melissa hit a missile dropkick on Del Rey, who Hamada was holding up in position for a power bomb. Hamada with a roll up on Madison for the win. I believe the crowd started chanting "Next World Champ", and she indeed got the next title match.
Volume 40
1. Kellie Skater defeated Taylor Made. Usual stuff from Kellie. Decent.
2. Rachel Summmerlyn defeated Bonesaw. Not too good. Bonesaw mistakenly tripped up at the start, and the match never got out of the first gear.
3. Mercedes Martinez defeated Christina Von Eerie with the Fisherman Buster. Very fun match. Christina is a great addition to the roster. In a funny moment, she put her gear on Joey for the ring announcements.
4. MsChif defeated Melanie Cruise with the Desacrator. Decent match.
5. Jessie McKay defeated Athena with the Boyfriend Stealer. Fun match. The biggest move saw Athena jump off the top rope and hit a Stunner/jawbreaker.
6. The Knight Dynasty defeated Regeneration X. OK match, not the greatest. The highlight was afterward, when Leva ran into the corner, and hit a flying splash on the opponents on the floor. After that, Danger threw Knox into the ring, and took her out.
7. Sara Del Rey defeated Jessica James with the Royal Butterfly slam. Almost a squash as expected from Del Rey, but it had a great ending as Jessica locked in a headlock and refused to let go despite Del Rey doing everything in her power to get her off her. She had the hold on for a good two minutes, and the crowd really wanted to see her win with it, as she was very close.
8. Serena Deeb defeated Portia Perez, Cheerleader Melissa, and LuFisto. This was a four corner survival match. Only two were in the ring at once, with tag rules in effect. The three faces were initially united in their anger with Portia, and she did a lot of crowdedly actions, although she was mostly concerned with staying away from Serena. There weren't a lot of tags, as we had consistent 3-4 minute one-on-one sequences before tags were made. Near the end, Melissa and LuFisto fought to the back, and Serena was all alone with Portia. This was built up very well, and Serena started to destroy Portia, finally hitting the spear for the win. That said, Portia's foot was on the rope. I'm not sure if this was a result of Portia calling an audible due to her position after the spear, with the ref not catching on, or if it was intentionally used to continue the feud.
9. Ayumi Kurihara defeated Nicole Matthews. Another good back and forth match.
10. Tomoka Nakagawa and Daizee Haze defeated 3S to become the NEW SHIMMER Tag Team Champions. Hands down one of the best matches of the weekend. Tons of near falls in a fast, stiff, back and forth match. There seemed to be some disappointment in the heels winning the titles, as the crowd really wanted 3S to retain.
11. Madison Eagles defeated Ayako Hamada to retain the SHIMMER Championship. An absolute fast and intense match, especially since they were running against the clock as building curfew was coming up quickly. Their entrances were quick, and they went right at it. They did brawl into the crowd, which saw Hamada use a trash cover to knock out Madison. In the ring, Hamada even kicked out of the Hell Bound, which was a huge shock to everyone, but she hit another one for the win. Just over ten minutes.
Notes
Doors opened at least 30 minutes late both days...Over the winter, Berwyn lowered the Eagle's Club's capacity from 250 to 175. This was due to complaints from the city, apparently because fans were blocking their driveways during wrestling events. This occurred right when tickets were about to go on sale, and forced the raising of general admission ticket prices from $20 to $30. A month later, the capacity was raised to 225...Saturday was a sellout, while Sunday was very close... Most of the Joshi group went to Raw the next night. If they read this, please do not change your style based on what you saw! Models and Snookis are not the way to wrestle! Your style is just fine... As always, no return was announced. Last year, they attempted to run three weekends, but they could get all their talent available, so the summer taping was delayed to the fall, and we had just the two weekend. We shall see what occurs this weekend.
I have photos from the entire weekend available at DirtyDirtySheets.com. Their motto is "A website that only covers the best in professional wrestling"
You can also check out the SHIMMER Forum over the next few weeks for photos from the ringside and backstage photographers, as well as from other fans.
-Gregory Davis
Bang On Casino
