After the first half or so of Shimmer 55, I realized how little into the show I was and was very concerned about the rest of the card since I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the main event living up to expectations. The last four matches did a great job engaging me once again as both a fan and reviewer. Overall, I don’t feel Shimmer 55 was as consistent as 54, but I think two of the better matches of the day took place in the latter show.
Jessie McKay and Yuu Yamagata kicked off the show with a surprisingly short match that featured McKay pick up a quick win with the Boyfriend Stealer. It was a good rebound win for McKay, but Yamagata hasn’t had a chance to really showcase her abilities on any of the three shows I’ve seen. A bit odd to see a Joshi wrestle primarily on the undercard and not have one of THE matches of the weekend. Not a bad match by any means but given the time it would be tough to accomplish much of anything.
I am a huge fan of Allysin Kay in places like WSU and AIW, and seeing her finally get a chance to wrestle a singles match was something I anticipated going in. For whatever reason, she and Thunderkitty was a major clash of styles and did not work. The fact this went almost nine minutes shocked me given how little time a number of potentially better matches could have gotten. Kay won with a submission, but this was a sloppy affair and the execution had a great deal to be desired. Given this was Thunderkitty’s main show debut and Kay’s first singles match, this was a major lost opportunity for both.
After winning in somewhat controversial fashion over Serena Deeb and planting her on her head, Jessicka Havok shifted down the card a bit and teamed with someone who helped her earlier in the night as well as teamed up with her in a six woman tag a week earlier in Secaucus. Havok and Sassy Stephie defeated the make shift team of Santana Garrett and Heidi Lovelace. This was Lovelace’s main show debut as well, so it made sense for her to take the fall to someone who’s clearly going to be a major focus of the promotion in the near future. I liked the booking of Havok again looking dominant over both Garrett and Lovelace. The babyface did get some moments to shine (pun not intended), but this seemed to be a match designed to get the heels a dominant victory.
During intermission, Christina Von Eerie attacked Saraya Knight, so it was natural that they should meet on Volume 55. This was a pretty odd match for reasons I’ll get into shortly. I liked the brawling nature of the bout as their styles really seemed to jive. Knight isn’t ever going to wow you with moves, but there are very few individuals in either gender who are better at being heels and getting crowds to hate them. That’s why Knight continues to get bookings in the states despite being on the older side. Any professional wreslter, male or female, could learn a lot from watching Knight’s character work. The match itself was okay until the finish. Knight used a foreign object throughout the match, and it seemed absurd for the referee not to see it. Then after the match, the object was seen, so the official reversed the decision. How the referee changed the decision after the match despite not seeing the object used during the match defies logic. I disliked the finish a great deal, but a feud to elevate Von Eerie and give Knight something to do makes sense. Von Eerie actually made reference to Knight’s daughter (current NXT Diva Paige), which triggered a post-match brawl. Bryce Remsburg threatened to fire Knight if she didn’t leave the ring. If there’s an official who deserves the power to fire people, it would certainly be Remsburg.
The other half of Made in Sin, Taylor Made, wrestled Athena in another unimpressive match that was at least slightly better than Kay’s match. Made has a good heel persona, but I’m not sure her in-ring work really meets the standard of Shimmer. The right person won at least as Athena hit the O-Face. Really not much to say here.
After getting themselves intentionally counted out on Volume 54, the Canadian Ninjas got themselves disqualified in a championship match with Shazza McKenzie and Veda Scott. 3G prevented the champions from walking out on a title defense this time around, but the crafty champions found a way to retain anyway. Scott takes a good beating as she’s proven in her AIW stint, but this match never seemed to get going, and the finish honestly wasn’t even a letdown. McKenzie and Scott were never realistic people to hold the title, and this was just a match to bide time for a rematch with 3G. This was a match that really annoyed me since it not only had the distinction of being boring but also had a bad finish. This is a deadly combination for independent wrestling.
Kalamity continued her march up the card in defeating MsChif. Again, MsChif didn’t do anything in particularly impressive, and I was glad Kalamity won. There was a lot of mat wrestling in the match which didn’t seem to go anywhere. Even the submission holds used didn’t seem to fit the purpose of the match all that well. It was during this match, and really after the tag team match, that my interest in the show was waning, and things finally started to pick up.
3G and Regeneration X had a really fun babyface versus babyface tag team match, something not always easy to do since the fans can sometimes have a hard time picking someone to root for. Danger and Bates dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2. I feel like I’ve seen that somewhere before. Some good back and forth action between these two teams as 3G eventually won after Nakagawa hit a fishermen suplex on Bates to pick up the victory. After a number of disappointing matches, this felt like it hit the right beats and shifted 3G right back into title contention. Nakagawa and Skater are a solid and fun team with a good repoire. I’ve started to really enjoy their matches.
After the match, Portia Perez and Nicole Mathews came out to taunt both teams since they had not lost the titles to them. Bryce Remsburg (sure have been hearing his name a lot on this, better not go to his head) suggested 3G and the Ninjas break off into two singles matches for Volume 56. The Ninjas accepted.
The next two matches were both very good and really elevated my view of Volume 55. First, Madison Eagles picked up a big victory over Kana in a really intense back and forth match. Kana was really able to connect with her kicks, but given the leg work early in the match, I think the idea was that they didn’t have as much of an impact, leading to Eagles being able to hit her finish. I enjoyed the stiffness and intensity that these women brought. This match needed to deliver and it did. An even slight better may have taken place between Mercedes Martinez and Ayako Hamada in a rematch from Volume 27. Hamada won the first match. Martinez won the second after going to the eyes and hitting the fishermen buster. Another borderline great match with some solid exchanges as these two used their experience and expanded movesets to keep the crowd with the action. These two matches are almost worth checking out alone if you’re someone cynical about women being able to deliver the in-ring action as well as men.
I wasn’t all that confident in Shimmer’s ability to make me believe Courtney Rush had a chance over Shimmer Champion Cheerleader Melissa. This wasn’t as a good a match as the previous, but I liked the character work and the direction they’re taking with Melissa. The vibe I’m getting is almost Bryan Danielson circa 2005 when he won the ROH world title the first time and started to get “moreaggressive” i.e. a slow burn toward a slow heel turn(which considering who the booker of Shimmer is makes sense). Melissa only lasted through her fourth title defense in her first reign, so the idea is that she needs to turn up the volume on her moveset and not be afraid to get a little dirty with her opponents. Rush tried to get a dance contest started early in the match. On a side note, why is Bryce Remsburg always involved in matches with dance contests? Does he just attract them? Melissa refused to dance leading to this great pose.
Melissa did eventually dance behind Rush’s back and in an almost mocking way after pinning Rush with the Kudo Driver. There was just enough hope given to Rush where it seemed plausible she might win. I was impressed with Rush’s continued improvement and ability to have a realistic bout with Melissa. From a star rating standpoint, this was not the best match, but I think it raised enough questions about what Melissa will do in the future that it made me interested in seeing what happens. Same with Rush. Even in a loss, she came across like a star and I don’t feel got buried or was demeaned at all. A very worthwhile bout to check out, and not just because of movez.
The last three matches of this show are certainly worth checking out while the undercard rotates between disappointing and just okay matches. Not a show to run out and see but definitely enough to worthwhile to make a slight recommendation.
Grade: B-
-Taped from Berwyn, Illinois
-Commentators: Dave Prazak and Portia Perez
Jessie McKay defeats Yuu Yamagata by pinfall with the Boyfriend Stealer/6:04/**1/4
-Allysin Kay (w/Taylor Made) defeats Thunderkitty by submission with a modified cross armbreaker/8:58/**
–Jessicka Havok and Sassy Stephie (w/Mademoiselle Rachelle) defeat Santana Garrett and Heidi Lovelace. Havok pinned Lovelace after a choke slam/8:35/**1/4
-Christina Von Eerie defeats Saraya Knight by reverse decision. Knight used a foreign object during the match/10:12/***
–Athena defeats Taylor Made by pinfall after the O-Face/8:55/**1/4
Shimmer Tag Team Championship: Canadian Ninjas (Portia Perez and Nicole Mathews) retain the titles over Shazza McKenzie and Veda Scott as they intentionally disqualify themselves using the belts itself/10:31/**
Kalamity defeats MsChif by pinfall after the Kalamityville Horror/8:44/**1/2
3G (Kellie Skater and Tomoka Nakagawa) defeat Regeneration X (Allison Danger and Leva Bates.) Nakagawa pins Bates with a fishermen suplex/12:44/***1/4
-Madison Eagles defeats Kana by pinfall after Hellbound/15:38/***1/2
-Mercedes Martinez defeats Ayako Hamada by pinfall after a fishermen suplex/12:28/***1/2
–Shimmer Championship: Cheerleader Melissa defends her Shimmer championship for the second time over Courtney Rush by pinfall after the Kudo Driver/18:21/***1/4
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