Shimmer Women's Wrestling Dvd Taping In Berwyn, Il Live Report

Here is my live report of the DVD tapings of SHIMMER Volumes 21 and 22. I'll include as much as I can, but with so many details, some parts will be missed.

The show was scheduled on a Sunday as it is easier to get everyone booked with less regular Sunday shows.

The doors were scheduled to open at 1PM, but didn't until about 1:15. The SPARKLE matches began a short time later, seemingly out of nowhere.

I don't recall the names of the first tag team match, but the second one saw a victiorus Egotisco Fantastico, accompied by referee Bryce Remsberg, which saw a lot of joking around by ring announcer Joey Eastman.

In other SPARKLE action, Melanie Cruise defeated Cherry Bomb, and Rachel Summerlyn defeated Sassy Stephie.

Here are the results for Volume 21:

Sara Del Rey defeated Serena Deeb with the Royal Butterfly Suplex. This was basically a challenge, as Deeb called Del Rey out. It was mostly dominated by Del Rey, but Deeb did give it her all.

Miss Natural defeated Lorelei Lee. The debuting Natural had a type of royality character. The match was allright.

Daffney defeated Cat Power. Prior to the match, Daffney discussed her short "absense", and how Power focused on her injured knee to get the win on Vol 20. She claimed she's healthy now, and also dropped a reference to her "Shark Girl" character. Cat Power has established a full character now. She wears a cat mask to the ring, walks in a very sexual manner, and showed several "cat traits" during her matches. And these traits were quite odd. Daffney used a lot of verbal comedy in the match, ended every sentence with "meow", complaining that she smells like a litter box, etc. In a bizarre, yet hystical moment, Daffney threw a yarn ball in the ring, and Power began playing with it obsessively.

Nikki Roxx defeated Danyah with a Barbie Crusher. This was an allright match. Nikki was over huge with the "NIKKI..... ROCKS" chants. I wasn't that impressed with Danyah. The Barbie Crusher, despite talking too long to set up, is a great move.

Wesna Busic defeated Amber O'Neal. O'Neal's reaction to Busic's music was great, as she knew she was in trouble. A good amount of offense from both sides, with Busic getting the win.

The SHIMMER Tag Team Gauntlet match. This is more comparable to the old WWF Tag Team Turmoil matches. A tag team match takes place, with the winner taking on a new team, and so forth. There was nothing specatular about the matches. In a weird sight, the winners would always end up at a different corner for each fall.

The Canadian Ninjas of Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews defeated the Pink Ladies of Madison Eagles and Jessie McKay. A decent showing for the newcomers, but the Ninjas won the fall. The Ninjas debuted new shirts and headbands, and came out drinking gas station "Big Gulps." Why? I say "Why Not?"

The Suicide Blondes of LuFisto and "Girl Dynamite" Jennifer Blake defeated the Canadian Ninjas. The Blondes have teamed together on other independents, but this was their first time together in SHIMMER. Another decent showing. The Blondes got the victory.

The International Home Wrecking Crew of Rain & Jetta defeated the Suicide Blondes. Again, nothing of note, but I'd say that Jetta has been a great replacement for the departed Lacey.

Ashley Lane & Nevaeh defeated the IHWC. Another standard match, which isn't a sight against the workers, but compared to other moments, nothing is standing out.

Lane & Nevaeh defeated Lexie Fyfe and Malia Hosaka of the Experience to win the Tag Team Championship. This was based on the veterans against the rookies. And the Experience did dominate the match. However, the rookies did get a fair amount of offense, and got the victory.

Ariel defeated Cheerleader Melissa, Mercedes Martinez, Amazing Kong in a #1 Contenders "Four Corners Survival" match. The rules were that only two could be in the ring at once, but tags were not necessary, as you could come in once someone left the ring. First fall wins. Nonetheless, the match was basically a fatal four way match, and there was rarely a moment when two women were declared as the legal wrestlers. Kong was teamed up on early. We got a Tower of Doom moment, with Kong powerbombing both Mercedez and Melissa, who were giving a double superplex to Ariel. In the end, Kong and Mercedez fought to the back, and Ariel got the pin on Melissa.

MsChif defeated Daizee Haze to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Haze was quite deserving of the title shot, having won so many matches recently, her injury not withstanding. This was a good, technical match, with a lot of submission attempts, although MsChif won with one of her impact moves.

Intermission was interesting. With more women than ever, some had to be creative in finding spots to shill their merchandise.

Here are the results for Volume 22:

For perhaps the first time ever, we got to see a backstage interview. Serena Deeb wanted one more chance against Sara Del Rey. MsChif then came in, and said if she could beat Del Rey, she'll give her a title shot.

Rain defeated Daffney. Jetta give a custom introduction for Rain. Again, a solid, if unspectacular match.

Danyah defeated Cat Power. We got to see more antics from Power, which included scratching Danyah like a cat.

Amazing Kong defeated Rachel Summerlyn with the Amazing Splash. Call this her official introduction to SHIMMER. Not quite a squash, as Summerlyn held her own, but this was standard Kong affair in SHIMMER.

Valerie Malone is the newest member of the announce team. No signs of Becky Bayless tonight. Perhaps she was dropped due to her recent DUI? Malone brought out Allison Danger. As she hinted to in a statement to Portia Perez weeks ago, she is indeed pregnant. She says she'll be back in a year. Perez came out, but saying that Danger needs to lose a little weight. But then things get serious when she says she'll end not only one career right now, but another as well. She began to bounce off the ropes, but was speared by a referee to prevent the unthinkable from occurring. Also, I believe Marlone was also pregnant, so that was interesting.

The Experience defeated The Pink Ladies. After a good showing in the gauntlet, this match was less than spectacular for the Ladies. After the match, the Experience ganged up on one of the Ladies.

Mercedes Martinez defeated Amber O'Neal. O'Neal plays a great diva character, and once again held her own, but otherwise a solid victory for Martinez.

Cheerleader Melissa defeated Jennifer Blake. A good, strong match. One fun spot saw Blake laying over a guardrail, with Melissa slamming another one over her. Melissa won with the Air Raid Crash.

Daizee Haze defeated Miss Natural. Mostly dominated by Haze.

Out came Sara Del Rey. She says she's above Serena Deeb and doesn't need to fight her. She also talked about contracts, and he she doesn't read them. This brings out Larry Sweeney, her manager as apart of Sweet N' Sour Inc in Ring of Honor. He says that when she gets her title shot, it'll be in the big time of Ring of Honor. He also states that Del Rey has proven herself, so she doesn't need to wrestle tonight, and the two leave for the limo.

Jetta defeated Nikki Roxx. A fun comedy match, as Jetta was upset with the NIKKI ROCKS chants. She also received an introduction from Rain. Ultimatly, Jetta reversed the Barbie Crusher and got the surprise pin.

Ashley Lane & Nevaeh defeated The Canadian Ninjas to retain the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship. Nothing outstanding once again, but the Ninjas were simply great in their roll. We'll see how the Ohio girls do in Ring of Honor, as there'll be at least one title defense there during SHIMMER's off season.

LuFisto defeated Wesna Busic. Great, great match. Lots of hard hitting action from two of the stiffest workers out there, and I mean that in a good way.

MsChif defeated Ariel to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Despite the momentum of her last match, it didn't carry over here, as it never really seemed like she's get the victory. MsChif had a ton of offense. Prior to the match, Ariel asked MsChif to not scream. And surprisingly, she didn't do it at all for the entire match. MsChif won with the Desecrator.

Right afterward, Del Ray attacked MsChif. She was saved by Serena Deeb. A ref came out, and after thinking about it for a sec, called for a match to begin. An outstanding match from the crowd's reaction. While somewhat similar to their other matches, with a hard-hitting Del Rey offense, Deeb kept getting up, and kept getting near-falls herself. You could feel the buzz in the air with each one as well. In the end, Deeb hit the spear, got the pin, and the place erupted. Del Rey attacked Deeb afterward, with MsChif returning the favor with a save. Sweeney came out again, and pulled Del Rey to the back.

After the taping ended, Danger came out and thanked us for another successful SHIMMER season. SHIMMER doesn't run in the winter months due to the high risk of weather issues. She encouraged us to check out Ring of Honor for the next few months, as both SHIMMER Championships will be defended there during that time.

Overall, it was an allright show, with two great matches at the end of Vol 22 making me leave satisfied. I didn't want to see ROH storylines brought over to SHIMMER, but considering there won't be a SHIMMER taping for six months, with the titles being defended on ROH shows, it made sense.

Representatives of POWW Entertainment were at the show, as the two joint promoted a POWW show on Saturday.

While the place was packed and loud, there was never an official announcement about a sellout.

At the afterparty, I heard through word of mouth that Portia Perez suffered a dislocated jaw.

Also at the party, Promoter Dave Prazak personally thanked everyone who came out to the show. The man puts on one heck of a show, that's for sure.

During the course of the show, Joey Eastman bragged that the Red Sox would win. So a lot of the fun that night was watching his reaction at the party as the Sox were eventually eliminated.

There were three ringside photographers, so look for many photos in the next few days.

-Gregory Davis


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