SHIMMER VOLUMES 41 AND 42 LIVE REPORT FROM BERWYN, IL
By Gregory Davis on 2011-10-03 22:14:07
Here is my live report of the SHIMMER Volumes 41-42 DVD tapings on Saturday October 1 at the Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL.
Dark Matches
A. AAW Six-Man: The Clash (Cameron Skyy, Tommy Teznik, and Austin Mannix) defeated The Awesome Threesome (Knight Wagner and Jordon MacIntyre w/ Miss Eryn) and El Tigre Gordo. I missed most of this match as I came in while it was half way through. It was your basic warm-up match.
B. SPARKLE Cup 2K11 Finals: Green Man defeated Red Man in an Iron Man Match 2-1. The rules were that the person who won the most decisions by the time the song "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath ends would win. So of course, the song began before they even came out, and the entrances covered half the song. This match was six months in the making, and they delivered! I believe Red Man got the first fall by countout, but was then rolled up twice by Green Man, getting the 2nd just as the song ended.
SPARKLE
I. Bonesaw, Buggy Nova, and She Nay Nay defeated Kimberly Maddox, Veda Scott, and Su Yung. Bonesaw and She Nay Nay had competed on SHIMMER/SPARKLE previously, Veda Scott is the latest graduate of the SHIMMER Wrestling Academy, while Su Yung is former WWE Developmental Diva. It went about 10 minutes, and everyone looked pretty good during it. I'd be fine with any of the six getting a lower tier spot on the main card.
II. KC Spinelli and Cherry Bomb vs. Allysin Kay and Maja Svennson ended in a time limit draw. Spinelli and Kay made their SPARKLE debuts. Svennson has made recent appearances, while Cherry Bomb made her return after a SPARKLE appearance from several years ago. Another good showing from all four. I'm surprised it ended in a time limit draw, but it is what it is.
SHIMMER Volume 41
1. Nikki Roxx defeated Kellie Skater. Skater now carries out a gym bag for her matches. One row of fans held up a collection of signs that said "ROO-ROIDS". At the beginning, Skater reached in the bag and pulled out a recent issue of Oxygen magazine which featured a small bio of Roxx. A good match, with a nice mix of power moves, and comedy spots that you'd expect from both of them. Later on, Skater put the magazine on Roxx, and hit a move on both. Roxx hit a surprise roll up for the win.
We saw footage from earlier today of Kana arriving to the Eagle's Club. This show is her US debut. Sara was out there to shake her hand, but Kana blew her off.
2. Mercedes Martinez defeated Davina Rose. Rose comes from the west coast, and has been training under Serena Deeb for the last several months. A short but decent match and an especially strong debut for Rose. While Martinez was a bit playful (at one point she gave noogies to Rose), she showed more aggression than we had seen in recent tapings, which'll lead up to something later on in the weekend. Martinez won with the Fisherman's Buster.
We saw footage from last night's AAW: Defining Moment event, in which during a six-women tag, Nevaeh turned on MsChif.
3. Hailey Hatred defeated Kalamity. This is the SHIMMER debut of both. I've heard a lot of both of them, so I was looking forward to their matches. Great match! Tons of hard hitting moves, and painful submissions. One of the more memorable moves saw Hatred lift Kalamity off the ground, and with no initial momentum, whips her back into a german suplex! Afterward, the two celebrated a hard-fought match, until Melanie Cruise and Mena Libra took them both out to make a statement.
We see more footage from earlier today of Kana, this time checking out the entry way and the ring. Cheerleader Melissa was there training, and tried to shake her hand, but was also blown off.
4. Sara Del Rey defeated Yumi Ohka. This was Ohka's SHIMMER debut. Awesome match! Constant and exciting back and forth action. Submissions, hard kicks, and so much more. Del Rey attempted to take Ohka lightly, but she showed she could hold her own. Ultimately, Del Rey hit the Royal Butterfly Slam for the win. Great debut for Ohka.
Amber Gertner came out to interview Nevaeh regarding her recent actions, but instead, Ashley Lane (TNA's Madison Rayne) came out, making her surprise return. She wants to know what's going on with Nevaeh. The two were not only partners, but the first ever SHIMMER Tag Team Champions. This does bring out Nevaeh, who says that Lane turned her back on SHIMMER. They nearly have a might, and a match is made for later.
5. Kana defeated Mia Yim. Mia is perhaps best known as "Princess Mia" of the Embassy. She's gone on several tours of Japan in recent months, and has fully embraced the culture in her character. From what I can recall, this match was pretty different from most matches in SHIMMER; as opposed to using moves, the match mostly consisted of kicking strikes and submissions, although there were a few impactful moves thrown in. In general, all Joshi competitors move faster and attack harder, but Kana takes it to another level, as some of her strikes looked like they should have taken Mia's head off. There was a lot of countering from both sides, and Mia held her own, but Kana won with a chokeout submission. An impressive start to Kana's US tour.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated editor Dan Murphy and Amber Gertner came out to congratulate Madison Eagles for being ranked #1 in the PWI Female 50 list. Eagles was presented with a plaque for her accomplishment. There were constant chants of "Number 1" for her throughout the night. We find out that Eagles will be defending her championship against Serena Deeb tonight. She became the top contender when she pinned Portia Perez in a match, even though Perez's foot was on the rope. This brings Deeb out. She says that she's been through everything, and that nothing will stop her tonight.
SHIMMER Tag Team Champions Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa came out in street clothes. Basically, they said they weren't defending their titles tonight. Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada came out, wanting a title match. Senior Official Bryce Remsburg separated them. He reminded the champions that SHIMMER is about the competition, and therefore, they were going to defend their titles right now.
6. Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada defeated Daizee Haze and Tomoka Nakagawa to become the NEW SHIMMER Tag Team Champions. This match was pure chaos. Brawling around the ring, high impact moves, and even a chair were used. There's been a lot of speculation about the health of Haze. It's not an eating disorder as some people quickly concluded, but there is some issue at hand, and because of that, she didn't take too many bumps in the match. Haze actually kept wearing one of the belts, and using it as a weapon. But it was an intense match, certainly worth buying the DVD for. Near the end, Kurihara and Hamada kept hitting move after move on Nakagawa, until they finally got the win.
7. Nevaeh defeated Ashley Lane. Nevaeh interrupted Lane's entrance. A short, competitive match. As the two came in the independents together, and had teamed up before, they knew each other pretty well. Nevaeh hit a german suplex for the win. Afterward, Sassy Stephie, another wrestler from Ohio, came out to celebrate with Nevaeh.
Daizee Haze came out to complain about her earlier loss, and announced that she's quitting.
8. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Britani Knight. Despite being only 20 or 21, Knight already has such a presence in the ring. WWE made a great hire. Britani got her moves in, but it never seemed like Melissa was going to lose, and she got the win with an Air Raid Crash. Afterward, Britani's mother "Sweet" Saraya came out to berate her. She is a scary woman, and Britani was quite terrified of her.
9. Portia Perez defeated Jessie McKay. Kind of an odd match to start. They were beginning the headlock/rope running/leap frog/hip toss combo that we usually see to start matches, but Perez didn't want to do it. It almost seemed like she was confused. McKay kept trying to tell her what to do, and then demonstrated with referee Bryce Remsberg. In any event, it was pretty funny. Once the match resumed, it was the usual quality stuff from both. At the end, Perez brought in a chair, and while the ref was worrying about that, she brought in a chain and clocked McKay with it for the win. Afterward, Portia says she hopes Serena wins the title, so she can take it from her.
10. Saraya and Britani Knight came out. They announce that since Allison Danger broke the nail of Rebecca Knox, their manager at the last taping, she couldn't be here this weekend. During all this, Saraya was berating the crowd. If someone didn't do what she said, she's storm out to them at the guardrail, and sometimes even start climbing over it. They call out Regeneration X. Danger challenges Saraya to a British Rounds match. The rules are that there are 5 five-minute rounds. A round can end by pinfall, submission, countout, or DQ. First to three round victories wins. Also, the ref can issue an official warning, and if you're warned three times, you lose. Allison got a quick rollup pinfall right away in the first round. Britani was constantly interfering, with the ref always missing it. The action was pretty decent, although the rules seemed confusing at moments. Round two ended in a draw, but then Saraya won two straight falls to win, as the draw was considering one round win a piece.
11. Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated Nicole Matthews. Hiroyo now comes out with a variation of the Japanese flag that said "Lady Destroyer". Another solid match. Hiroyo has become one of my favorite characters. She has a happy, energetic attitude, but has a lot of power to go with it. And Nicole should be main eventing by now. Great action all around. Another match well worth seeing.
12. Madison Eagles defeated Serena Deeb to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Madison brought out her PWI award. Excellent match. It started off in the ring with a good battle, but it quickly spilled outside. They were being whipped into the guardrails and stairs. At one point, Serena on the stairs, over the guardrail, and onto Madison who was on the other side. There were also some scary moments with the two fighting on the top rope, as it looked like Serena was close to being knocked off the turnbuckle backward. Despite the great effort by Serena, Madison won with the Hell Bound.
Intermission. During this, we found out that the originally scheduled after-party was cancelled due to issues with the building. They were able to find another building to pay a sponsorship, and thus the party was moved.
SHIMMER Volume 42
We see a Sara Del Rey promo. She says how dare Kana just ignore her, and says she's done nothing in beating a rookie. They'll fight later on tonight.
1. Mercedes Martinez defeated Leva Bates (w/ Allison Danger). There were a lot of SHIM-nanagans to start. Leva activated her "force field", and Mercedes was unable to chop her. But then Mercedes got serious and chopped her anyway. This was more of a squash, as it was basically five minutes of Mercedes pounding on Leva. Mercedes won with the Fisherman's Buster.
2. Mena Libra and Melanie Cruise defeated Hailey Hatred and Kalamity. A decent match from all four involved.
3. Tomoka Nakagawa defeated MsChif, Kelly Skater, and LuFisto. A quick, high-impact match that saw constant action from all four, along with a pinch of comedy, such as Tomoka threatening to eat the head of Peek-a-Boo, LuFisto's manager. Speaking of which, LuFisto was dressed as a classic Pink Power Ranger. In the end, Tomoka spit water in MsChif's face, and pinned her in what I felt was a surprising victory.
4. Yumi Ohka defeated Courtney Rush. Another tight, solid match. Lots of running boots to the face in the corner, along with several submissions. Courtney is someone to watch out for next year in terms of the ranking.
5. Portia Perez defeated Davina Rose. Before the match, Portia asked Serena Deeb to watch the match at ringside, which she did. Davina held her own in the match and was solid, but this was mostly about Portia. She spend much of the match taunting Serena. Portia won with the crossface, but when she wouldn't let it go, Serena attacker her, until Nicole Matthews saved Portia. Serena then challenged Nicole for later tonight.
6. Nevaeh and Sassy Stephie defeated Nikki Roxx and Ariel. Decent match, although not much of note.
7. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Christina Von Eerie. Another solid match. My memory showed this one being more submission based than the other matches.
8. Athena defeated Jessie McKay and Mia Yim. Everyone loves Athena. She is simply awesome. This was a pretty short match that I felt was designed to showcase Athena, although there were great moves from all three. Mia whipped out a corkscrew moonsault that missed, and Athena would win with the always impressive "The 'O' Face", a leaping stunner from the top rope.
9. Nicole Matthews defeated Serena Deeb. Excellent match! A solid 15 minutes of high impact moves and submissions. But as expected, Portia would come to ringside, and eventually Serena would be distracted enough for Nicole to hit the Roll of the Dice for the win. Afterward, Davina Rosa came out to check on her mentor, and the NINJAs attacked them both. This let into a big brawl between Portia and Serena, which required several members of the undercard roster to help break it up. Once the two were separated, Serena said it was time to end it, and challenged Portia to a no-holds barred match.
10. Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada defeated The Knight Dynasty ("Sweet" Saraya and Britani). This was a good match, but the real story was before that. A fan was holding an anti-Saraya sign, while also hiding by sitting down. She slowly ripped the sign up, pulled the fan out of his seat, and kissed him!!!!! For the actual match, after a few minutes, Saraya refused to be tagged in by Britani. Once it became a handicap match, Ayumi and Hamada slowly wore down Britani, all while she was screaming for her mother, and Hamada pinned her with a powerbomb. Once the champions left, Saraya returned, to again berate Britani. She even said that if she kept losing, "they" won't want her.
11. Kana defeated Sara Del Rey. Great match. If I saw the match correctly, I believe the story was that Kana under-estimated Sara, as Sara dominated the early portions of the match. An extremely intense match that saw brutal kicks from both sides, numerous painful submission attempts, and several, several nearfalls. In the end, Kana locked on a choking submission, and Sara passed out, but didn't tap, giving Kana the win.
12. Madison Eagles defeated Hiroyo Matsumoto to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Excellent match. The crowd really, really wanted Hiroyo to win. It started off with a test of strength, but it quickly went outside. They ended up fighting near the bar, and with Madison up flat against a wall, Hiroyo yelled "DESTROY!", and ran full stream into the wall, crushing her! Back in the ring, there were tons of submissions, top rope dives, a superplex, and numerous counters. After several attempts, Madison was finally able to hit the Hell Bound for the win.
We were told a couple other matches, but it was time to go to the afterparty, which is usually relaxed on the Saturday. One of the highlights for me was with Kana, as she went to each table, formally introduced herself to us, asked what we thought about her matches, and even offered to take a photo with us. A very nice gesture.
I'll be back later with part 2 of my weekend report.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section,
which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts,
interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
