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DVD REVIEW: SHIMMER VOLUME 17

Shimmer Volume 17

By Michael Campbell

After a brief hiatus, I’m back with another Shimmer review, and one that I’ve been looking forward to getting round to watching, for wayyy too long. This one looks set to be a blast… with the return of Mercedes Martinez, a couple of debuts, Lacey vs. Sarah Stock, and of course, Melissa and MsChif once again teaming up. Here we go! 

The International Home Wrecking Crew (Rain & Jetta) vs. Jenifer Blake & Danyah
-We kick off immediately by going to the entrances for this bout- no promos. Prazak and Alison Danger, are as usual, in the commentary booth. The heat for the IHWC is just ridiculous. This is my first time seeing their opponents, and Blake is very petite indeed. Lacey sports an England shirt in support of her Coventry comrade.
Jetta starts off with typical, fun heel work, showing her proverbial ass a number of times. There’s a couple of blown spots in the early going, but it’s still smooth enough action. When Rain tags in, she’s full of her usual bizarre noises, which I absolutely love! The match spills to the outside, where Blake nails Rain with an impressive running dropkick, as she’s seated on a chair. It’s good enough to provoke a “holy Hannah Montana” from Danger. I have no idea whatsoever what that means, but it sounds sweet anyways.

The bulk of this opener focuses on the sleazy villains beating down the babyfaces, and Blake in particular, eats quite a beating. When they make their comeback, Danyah unleashes a stiff combination of kicks, that adds a degree of urgency and fire to the match. Jetta takes the victory for her team with her submission finisher.
Good opener indeed. At 17 minutes long, it was maybe a tad overlong for the first match (maybe it should have came later on?), but it was still a fine showing for all four girls. Rain looked good here particularly, and I’m interested to see what Blake comes up with next.
 
Nicole Matthews vs. Shark Girl
Never in my worst nightmare did I imagine a “shark girl” gimmick. But hey, it’s here now, and the fans in the building play along, even though they obviously know who’s under the mask. This should be intriguing because I’m yet to see Matthews in singles competition. Lots of biting, and some comedy, mixed with arm bars and such, in the early stages. Matthews works err, Shark Girl over for a bit, before attempting an odd, and ugly, springboard move, that leaves her stranded. Shark Girl bites back, I mean, fights back, with her male equivalent’s trademark offence, before picking up a clean win with a knee to the face.
Straightforward bout, nothing memorable. Shark Girl is a fun gimmick, but it definitely shouldn’t go beyond this one off. Matthews didn’t really have enough time in control to show what potential she has.
 
“The Experience” Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka vs. Ashley Lane & Nevaeh
Hosaka has a swell new cloak (okay it’s a trench-coat, but cloak sounds better…), and Lexie is showing off a new hairstyle. Matching outfits for the young babyfaces. Lane looks exactly the same as Jenifer Blake, while Nevaeh looks like a combination of Lacey & Alexa Thatcher. The crowd are excitable and all over the bad dudes.

On commentary, Danger and Dave big up “The Experience’s” tag achievements and series of victories. Ashley is beat down by Lexie for a bit, and it’s nice, effective stuff. Fyfe’s style is similarly methodical to say, that of Lacey or Rain- but much more intense, and reliant on straight ahead power, and less elaborate scheming. Ashley acquits herself pretty well, and when she eventually makes a tag, it’s a hot one. The faces then run through a couple of quick tags though, which makes no sense to me. Lexie restores order though, and Nevaeh is absolutely demolished with a double-team Pedigree.

Very impressive stuff from the Experience, and this must be a hint of momentum coming towards the tag title tournament, and the young babyfaces weren’t bad. The match itself was well-paced, with a couple of good spots, most notable was the finish, which totally rocked the crowd.

-They show highlights of Amber versus Lorelei from the last Shimmer DVD, where Lorelei picked up a surprise win off role-up.
 
Lorelei Lee vs. Amber O’Neal

Amber moves up the card for this, but it’s still the sort of bout you’d usually see her open a show with. However, there’s a bit of a story following their last encounter, and it’s piqued everyone’s interest.
Amber attacks Lee on the way to the ring, before the bell, and the fans are furious. Amber comes back with a great Head-scissors though, and takes Amber to the outside with a tasty dropkick. Hot opening, with these two looking like they’ve something to prove. Amber’s strikes are starting to look a lot more vicious and aggressive these days, and she demonstrates that by taking the fight to Lee for several minutes. Eventually, there’s an opening though, and the two trade a whole host of tight near-falls, in a genuinely great little sequence. Lorelei attempts a Springboard Back-hand, but comes up badly short, and Prazak has to cover for her (actually going back over- it looks like she intended to stop dead as she did, and hit a forearm, instead of following through on the summersault. Odd.) The crowd applaud the attempt either way. A minute or so later, and Amber takes the win with a Folding Backslide.

Decent match. The first couple of minutes were really hot, and suggest that should this rivalry escalate, we’ll be in for quite the treat. I love the simple, logical booking. Amber’s win came in almost exactly the same fashion as her opponent’s did previously. How she’ll conduct herself after this will determine if they’ll continue squaring off. Good stuff.
 
Daizee Haze vs. Cindy Rogers
What happened to “Push it” for Cindy’s entrance? I cannot fathom her beating Daizee here, though she needs some momentum to pick up again. Daizee is way over. She mocks Rogers by putting on her leather coat, and doing a spot-on impression. The vile Rogers throws away her flowers… the fiend!

They stall for a long time before kicking off- but they do have the best heat of the show thus far. Slow start, with basic holds, and arm-work. When Cindy tries to dominate her opponent, it doesn’t work, and she has to cunningly target the leg to earn the advantage. This is where she’s at her best, and she neatly works the injured limb, even pulling out the Figure Four around the ring-post. She makes the mistake of tying the Haze up in a Tree of Woe (come on Cindy- that always backfires!)

Daizee lands a stonkingly tricky looking Daizee Cutter, and builds momentum off the double-down. Her selling of the leg is tremendous. She looks messy, and uncoordinated- and for me, that’s how you should look when one of your limbs has just endured a battering. RVD, ahem….
Rogers looks for the Powerbomb, but Daizee gets a Sunset Flip, and picks up the three!

Good match. I thought it would have went a little longer, but that’s no complaint whatsoever. The story was simple, and perfectly executed. The Haze continues to play the underdog role very strongly indeed and I‘m starting to really love how they‘re booking her.. After the match Cindy steals her flowers and walks out with them, causing Daizee to take the wench’s prized jacket. Interesting development, and something we haven’t seen in Shimmer.
 
Amazing Kong vs. Portuguese Princess Ariel
Massive pop for Kong, as usual. The fans just love this girl. When Ariel’s music hits, the crowd gasp collectively, seemingly shocked, because they believe Kong is going to absolutely murder her. I wouldn’t be so quick to assume though- lately Ariel’s turned up the intensity, and this could be a stiff-fest sure, but by no means a one-sided one.

The TNA star asserts herself immediately, showing off her crazy lady-strength. She easily knocks Ariel to the outside, and whips her into the barriers. Ouch. She then heads to the back , and retrieves a steal chair- which the referee grabs off her. I’m guessing she’s a little pissed. Ariel comes flying off the turnbuckle with a fore-arm, but it makes little difference, as Kong takes her down, and squishes her with a Splash. Impressively (Ariel’s not on of the lightest girls on the roster), Kong then chucks her across the ring, and continues to wear her down. Ariel makes a comeback, and has the fans firmly behind her, as she gets a near fall. But Kong demolishes her with a big clothesline. This is getting somewhat familiar… Ariel continually kicks out though, despite the onslaught of big power moves she’s faces with. Again she fights back, but is again overwhelmed. This is great stuff, until Kong becomes frustrated, and Power bombs the referee! A couple of girls in the audience looked genuinely frightened by that. Bryce comes out and disqualifies Kong, threatening to fine and suspend her.

A good way to add extra heat to Kong, as the fans cheer her more than I suspect Shimmer would like (they even chant “One more time” following the Power bomb), while keeping her from going for the Shimmer world title, for another while at least. Ariel was put over by looking so determined against her beast of a foe. Definitely the most exciting contest we’ve seen thus far.
 
Mercedes Martinez vs. Wesna Busic
This is one of those Indy matches that carries with it the crutch of being somewhat anticipated. Wesna uses The Prodigy as her entrance music, which is really appropriate. The fans are THRILLED to have Mercedes back, and it’s no surprise, her series with Del Rey was wonderful. A smart-arse shouts “transform”, which I imagine is completely baffling to some ears. It takes about two minutes, before they exchange hard shoulder tackles, and indulge in a stand-off, much to the delight of the fans. Great opening tempo.

Wesna dominates with an overly familiar Joe-style series of kicks- but she performs it better than most, before being caught with a suplex. These two are hitting each other hard… Mercedes takes charge, but it doesn’t last long, and they end up in another stalemate, with a run of horrid slaps to each others faces. This an example of perfect opponents for each other, they really, really click. They alternate the stiff, back-and-forth fighting, with well executed submission holds. Martinez gains the advantage long enough to pay Wesna back with a repeat of the kicks she suffered earlier on. Wesna evens things up with a couple of hard slaps, and a Samoan Drop. The Croatian also impresses with a great Death Valley Driver that puts John Cena to shame.

Martinez meanwhile, pulls of a series of awesome suplexes, following a top-rope suplex, but can’t put the newcomer way. This is a tough, tough encounter.

At one point, Wesna hit’s a sick Ki-Krusher, that leads to a nearfall. But the referee for some reason, counts one, before Mercedes’ shoulder is down, then disregards it, and the fans think Mercedes should have been down for three when she kicks out. At least on DVD you can see what happened. The girls take the fight to the outside, which cleverly makes the crowd forget about the apparent “botch”. Back in the ring, we get a Chop-fest of sorts, before Mercedes is able to land a Saito Suplex, followed by a Fisherman’s Buster, for the win!

Great match, and a big win for Mercedes, putting her right back in the mix. Wesna simultaneously though, does nothing but gain from this effort. Hard-hitting stuff.
 
-After the match, Becky Bayless strolls to the ring, teasing the crowd with her leopard-print outfit. She welcomes Mercedes back. Mercedes reveals that she’s after the Shimmer title, feeling that if she’d been there for the original tournament, she would be Champion. Nice promo.
 
Lacey vs. “Dark Angel” Sarah Stock
This will be interesting for sure. Lacey is accompanied by the rest of the Wrecking Crew. Both grapplers have been on absolute fire in recent releases, but their styles are such that this should be a very different match for both. Lacey gets on the mic and screeches “Listen up, if you’re ugly, you cannot cheer fro me… that means all of you!”

Lacey is just astonishing.

Another day, another outfit for Sarah Stock. Seriously, how much gear does this woman have? The crowd is red hot, and Lacey of course plays up to this, stalling in the beginning. This is the first time (at least as far as I can remember) that Sarah has faced a pure heel in the promotion. Stock shows her superiority right away. The “Nikki….Rocks!” chant lives on in Shimmer, in a variety of forms. They do a cool sequence that showcases the flexibility of both, that still allows Lacey to play up to being a chickens**t. She gives Sarah the run-around, and is able to capitalise on a missed top-rope move, Face-Washing her into the mat. From here, Lacey slows things down. This is good, because the fans are itching to see Stock’s big moves, whereas they’ve grown accustomed to seeing her in back-and-forth babyface matches.

The match spills to the outside, and they brawl briefly, with Lacey getting the advantage, via a modified Side-Russian on the Ring-post. Ouch. Sarah gets a few hope-spots, but nothing much, in what has become basically, an early 90’s style dose of athletic traditionalism. Dark Angel finally gets some shots in, slingshotting Lacey into the corner. She comes close to victory with a couple of really tight roll-ups, before the two counter each others big moves in a good sequence. Lacey somehow hit’s the Lungblower, but it doesn’t finish Stock off. Sarah repeatedly attempts a Tiger Driver, but can’t land it. Lacey lands a Samoan Drop, that Dave calls a “TKO Neckbreaker”. The referee messes up, by going for a pinfall count, when in fact, Lacey was simply pulling her opponent into a submission. That made Lacey look dumb, as if she could have had her pinned.

Sarah powers up, and hit’s a Snap-Northern-Lights Suplex. Lacey goes the Implant DDT, but it’s inventively countered into.. Yup, the Tiger Driver. Dark Angel gets the win.

They worked a really simple story, with a fundamental structure that really reflected the superb schooling that both girls have had, though particularly Lacey, in portraying a proper, old-school heel. It was a needed change of pace for Stock, who showed that she doesn’t have to rely on exhibition-style crowd pleasers to get by. She has a monstrous amount of momentum now though, and it’s going to be hard for them to find excuses not to put her in a title match almost immediately. Match of the night, easily.
 
“The Dangerous Angels” Alison Danger & Sara Del Rey vs. MsChif & Cheerleader Melissa
I’m still not convinced Melissa is entirely comfortable doing the MsChif style routine. She sort of silently mimics her actions, but there’s no need- people like Melissa just as she is. Big pop for both ladies though. Sara is getting nearly as many boos, as she is cheers these days. This definitely has the feel of being the big match of the night. Danger and MsChif start off, and Prazak discusses MsChif’s flexibility. Danger locks on a couple submissions, and they exchange basic holds. They do a few roll-ups, and end up in a Rolling Cradle. Nice technical stuff.

When MsChif gets the advantage, Danger goes to the outside, and Del Rey gives her a hug, which is a very cowardly thing to do…

When Del Rey and Melissa are in the ring together, the match turns into a bad-tempered scrap, with a mix of punishing holds, and scrappy, purposely uncoordinated looking reversals. Melissa locks on a painful looking Surfboard, before being punished for bit. MsChif tags in, but soon ends up being double-teamed. The Dangerous Angels work on the squealing one, though they don’t stretch her as much as I expected. When she’s likely to tag out, Del Rey cheap shots Melissa. There have been a few subtle moments like this one. MsChif turns the tide, and her and Melissa pick apart Danger. Sara shouts “c’mon Danger, she’s just a cheerleader”, which is all kinds of greatness.

Melissa and MsChif both trap Danger in submissions simultaneously, but Sara comes in and bangs their heads together. There’s a great, natural tension surrounding these performers, and it comes across. Danger hit’s a big neck breaker, following lots of torment, then tags in the Shimmer Champion. Sara’s like a house on fire, but Melissa catches her with a Samoan Drop (most overused move in Shimmer!), then hit’s a Curb-stomp. I’m surprised by how dominant the girls in green are looking here. MsChif comes in, and in the best sequence in the match, goes for Code-Green, but is manpowered into a Gorry Special, the switched into a Dragon Sleeper, while elevated . She really does lack some vertebrae.

All sorts of suitably manic, err, manicness, stars happening, as MsChif hit’s the Champ with the Desecrator, and has her down for like ten, but the referee doesn’t see it! This is pretty hot stuff. Del Rey is out of it, after being hit with three finishers on the trot. Melissa and Alison square off, but Danger is no match for the cheerleader, and takes an Air-Raid Crash, putting her down for three.

Danger was legitimately hurt in the finish though (she was put out of action following this match), and Melissa is visibly shaken by the injury.

Great main event, that had lots going on, and a great deal of long-term impact. It was exciting, really perfectly paced, and refreshingly different from the singles matches that (usually) headline. MsChif was set-up for her title shot thanks to her should-have-been victory over the champion, while Melissa looked strong in taking the win. Del Rey started to show the first real signs of her heel turn, while Alison was the unlucky one in the sense that the consequences of this match meant an injury lay-off.
 
So..?

A fine show, that surpassed my expectations. This card lacked a big title match, that has characterised other recent Shimmer releases, but the main event was still a good on indeed. A close call for best effort though, I felt, was the battle between Lacey and Sarah Stock, which destined to be an underrated one, thanks to it’s more methodical, logical approach. Both girls looked like stars, though you could argue that about at least half a dozen of the wrestlers on this release- it really is a dynamic effort all round.

If you want to get into recent Shimmer storylines, and don’t have the means to go back through the series too far, I would suggest this as a good starting point. It’s got some great one-off matches that can be enjoyed simply for what they are, but it also starts the ball rolling on several important developments, the biggest of which takes place on Volume 18, the review of which is coming soon!. It’s also a DVD that progresses brilliantly as It goes on, with the best stuff saved for last.

So yeah, an enthusiastic thumbs up for this one, a top-to-bottom treat.

Shimmer Rankings as of Volume 17

1.“Dark Angel” Sarah Stock (3)

2. Sara Del Rey (1- Shimmer Champion)

3. Lacey (4)

4. MsChif (9)

5. Amazing Kong (2)

6. Daizee Haze (5)

7. Mercedes Martinez (unranked)

8. Cheerleader Melissa (8)

9. Cindy Rogers (10)

10. Jetta (Unranked)

Thanks for taking the time to read this wacky review/rant/gibberish. I would hope it had at least as much depth as Aldo Montoya’s jockstrap, and the entertainment value of Shawn Michaels‘ hairline. If you have any comments, I welcome and encourage all feedback. Please get in touch at bazilalfonso@hotmail.com or on my myspace page… www.myspace.com/michaelwrestlingetc Until bell-time, thanks again.