BG Says: SHIMMER Women Athletes – Volume 2

No play-by-play this time around. I’m in the middle moving, sort of, so I’m taking a more Ziegler approach to reviewing this thing. I’ll probably go back to being obsessively compulsive over every move in a match in the next review.

Your hosts are Dave Prazak & Allison Danger

The show kicks off with a Lacey promo. She’s wrestled Daizee Haze countless times, and claims her record shows that she has more wins than losses. She says that Daizee cheated to win on the last DVD and that since Mercedes Martinez and Sara Del Ray can’t even beat each other then they have no chance at beating her.

We get a clip of Team Blondage cheating Nikki Roxx and Cindy Rogers out of a victory, leading to the following singles match.

VS.
In my opinion Vaine is the most attractive woman in the promotion, for those of you who care about my opinion. They struggle through a pin sequence to start. Roger’s doesn’t get tricked into a handshake and puts on an anklelock, proving to be less naïve than on the last DVD. Vaine heels it up anyway, riding Rogers like a dog. Rogers wins the match with her TCB submission at 8:00. Vaine was too concerned with heeling the fans and it disrupted the flow of the match.
Rating: ¾*

VS.
Fyfe should wrestle more dominantly than she does. She’s the biggest woman in the company but Roxx dominate the match to start. Fyfe takes control about four minutes in with snap mares and submissions. Roxx wins the match with a hammerlock guillotine choke into a Bubba bomb at 9:00. Sounds complicated, but it wasn’t really. I should probably give up on Fyfe being the Vader of SHIMMER, because it doesn’t look like that’s happening.
Rating: **

VS.
Ringer and Taylor seem to be in a perpetual feud. I saw them against each other in a tag match also featuring Allison Danger and Lacey that was pretty good at Dragon Gate Challenge in Detroit. Melissa and Taylor start the match. Melissa tries to stand tough against Taylor’s dropkicks but eventually hits the mat. That’s the kind of thing I’d wish Fyfe would do. If you can’t tell I have a hard time letting go when I have an idea in my head. Ringer and Ariel go through an over-choreographed segment, after which Ariel starts giggling. Melissa and Ringer start working well as a heel team, cheating and double-teaming Taylor. Taylor plays face-in-peril for a while as Melissa unleashes her rage. Ringer comes in and Taylor is able to take down the woman she knows better and tag to Ariel. Ariel and Taylor hit a double superplex on Ringer as Melissa powerbombs them both. Melissa picks up the win at 10:41 by blocking the Dariel and hitting the Air Raid Crash. Melissa really impressed me here, and if I’m Dave Prazak I’m keeping her at the top of the card.
Rating: **¾

Clips of the Sara Del Ray/Mercedes Martinez match from the last DVD are shown. The match went to a twenty-minute draw, and a lot of clips are shown here. The match is really good, and has become the selling point for that DVD. While I’m at it I’m going to recommend that you hit up my archives at the bottom of this page and check out my review of that DVD. The clips lead to a Sara Del Ray promo. She calls herself the most dominate female in independent wrestling, so Martinez was lucky that the time ran out. Martinez comes in and says she’s been wrestling women and men, and she’s going to show us something she’s never seen before in the main event.

VS.
O’Neal begs off and hugs the bottom rope at the bell. Ricci overpowers O’Neal and her size keeps O’Neal from moving her. O’Neal takes control with cheap shots, choking and a chinlock. She also shouts a lot. Ricci hits an ugly tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and then goes for it again to get 2. I hate that. She goes for a double ax handle while O’Neal is on the mat and gets booted in the face. Well what did she think was going to happen? She does however pick up the win with a northern lights suplex at 7:16. Aside from O’Neal cheating like crazy there was very little in this match that I liked.
Rating: *

VS.
Much wristlockery starts the match. Rain finally changes things up by clubbing Danger down and choking her in the ropes. The difference between a good wrestler and someone who still needs some seasoning can be seen here, as Rain gets a running start for a dropkick but stops short, thus making the whole deal look awkward. Danger looks solid as always, but Rain looks apprehensive. Danger misses the Shimmering Warlock and Rain puts on a rather painful looking Boston crab. Danger gets to the ropes and bails so Rain follows her out with a dropkick. She rams Danger’s back into the post, which actually brings a thought to mind. This is the first match on this show that has had any fighting on the floor, a problem that plagues most ROH and FIP shows. Good going SHIMMER. Danger takes control for the first time at around the ten-minute mark. Danger goes to work on Rain’s knee and then hitting the ugliest catapult ever into a half crab at. Rain gets to the ropes and hits the Raindrop. Rain’s knee gives out while going for Acid Rain and Danger hits an enziguiri and the Shimmering Warlock for the win at 13:17. The psychology was there and Danger was made to look like the big underdog babyface, but Rain was in control for most of the match and it didn’t work out on this occasion. Above average stuff, but these two could do better I think. And just why is the camerawoman helping Danger out of the ring?
Rating: **¼

Clips of Daizee Haze’s match against Lacey from the last DVD are shown. Haze talks about her opponents in the main event. She may night be the biggest of all of them but dynamite comes in small packages. Apparently she’s going to win the match by rolling them up and like marijuana and smoking them like a cigarette.

VS.
Phoenix, who can be seen on RAW these days, is scared of MsChif. If I were the polar bear I wouldn’t be afraid of anything. A certain Ring of Honor wrestler gave her that nickname, but I’ll leave it to you to guess who it was. Phoenix bails and finds comfort in the crowd when MsChif screams at her. Back in the ring Phoenix asks for a handshake so MsChif bites her hand. Speaking of MsChif, if anyone has the IWA-MS show in which MsChif and Mickey Knuckles beat up the referee please let me know. The referee is Jake Ziegler and I’m dying to see it. Phoenix bodyslams MsChif on the floor and then rolls back into the ring so that the referee can count her out. MsChif shows how deceptively athletic she is with a reverse hurricanrana into a roll up for 2. Phoenix works passed her fear and takes control for a bit. Phoenix blocks the Desecrator and hits the Beth Valley Driver for the win at 8:26. The first few minutes of this match made me afraid it was going to be awful, but they ended up shoving some cool stuff in there.
Rating: **¼

VS. VS. VS. [Elimination Match]
Del Ray and Lacey start the match. Lacey predictably tags out to Martinez immediately. A series of tags leads to Lacey unloading on Haze with kicks to the back. It comes to mind that the ladies are all, or at least mostly wearing different gear than on the last DVD. I appreciate the effort in making it look like these shows occurred on different nights. Lacey’s bitchy attitude backfires on her when nobody will cooperate and help her tag out. We get our first big highspot of the night when Haze hits Del Ray with a crossbody from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Martinez tags in for Haze and we get some quality work playing off of the match from the first DVD. Del Ray cheap shots Haze for the crossbody and tells her to work in the ring. Martinez dominates Haze, dropping her face on the mat with a lot of force twice. When she can Lacey sneaks in and beats on Haze when she’s down. Haze comes back with a pair of Yakuza kicks. Martinez tags herself in and hits a fisherman’s buster on Lacey to eliminate her at 12:53. Del Ray comes in and they trade forearms. Haze gets a blind tag and hits a dropkick on Martinez. She hits a heart punch and a Yakuza kick to eliminate her at 15:03. Well, that was dumb, Martinez was the one that she just tagged out. Haze tries unloading on Del Ray but gets powerbombed. Haze hits the facebuster that she couldn’t hit on Martinez before, but she goes for it a second time and Del Ray catches her with a butterfly suplex for the win at 17:14. The finish was great and the work was solid throughout the match, but nothing here was as good as the matches these women had on the last DVD.
Rating: ***

Cheerleader Melissa doesn’t care much that she won her tag match tonight. She’s more concerned with losing to MsChif on the last DVD. She’s sure that when she gets her rematch she’ll win.

Lexie Fyfe and Lorelei Lee had a match in FIP at Orlando Onslaught. Lee impressed and earned herself a spot in SHIMMER with her performance. We get clips of the match, which looked quite a bit better than Fyfe’s match on this show.

Allison Danger announces that Rebecca Knox will be debuting on Volume 3. Danger wants to test her skills against her, and so it will happen.

The 411: In the ring this show was a step back from the previous one. The overall presentation has improved however, with characters being established and feuds beginning. I’m hoping Melissa comes out on top of MsChif and moves up the card, and I dig Danger as the motivated face of the company constantly trying to prove she’s the best. You can pick this DVD up at ROHWrestling.com.
Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]