By Chris Aiken, WrestlingObserver.com
Shine 29 from Ybor City, FL opened with SoCal Val joined by Andrea in the ring to discuss the proposed merger of her stable, Valifornia, with Allison Kay’s Valkyrie, which is the long standing heel faction in Shine Wrestling. Kay marched to the ring with Valkyrie to emphatically say no and squash the offer saying they did not need them. Kay would go on to challenge for the Shine championship in the main event against champion Santana with the story of her having declined the merger seemingly over for now… or is it?
Crazy Mark Dobson (with Daffney) beat Rachel
Instead of the high energy “Scream Queen” manager that is usually Daffney, she accompanied Rachel to the ring in a more brooding manner to emphasize the recent change in her character complete with dressing in all black. She’s transitioning to a new stable as Daff’s All-Star Squad has disbanded. Throughout the show, characters transitioning to different roles are reoccurring themes.
In the match, they played off the size difference as Rachel got heat on Crazy Mary until she hulked up into a comeback. Rachel cut her off but Daffney interfered by tripping Rachel allowing Crazy Mary to score the pinfall. Daffney appears to be headed to the dark side. More on that to follow later.
Taylor Made (with April Hunter) beat Cherry Bomb
Representing Valkyrie, Taylor’s gear was exactly similar to that of Allison Kay. Cherry Bomb, one half of the Shine tag team champions, ran wild on Taylor in the early portion until April Hunter attacked Cherry Bomb on the outside to set up the heat spot. Taylor used dirty heel tactics like raking the eyes and brawling to keep cutting off Cherry Bomb as she’d get a hope spots. They started exchanging standing elbows and Cherry Bomb began her comeback.
She got a few nearfalls before hitting a running death valley driver. Cherry Bomb looked to have the victory within her grasp but Hunter interfered and break up the referee’s counts. With Cherry Bomb distracted by the interference, Taylor Made scores a pin out of nowhere for the win while holding the trunks.
Lucha Sisters (Leva Bates & Mia Yim) vs. Valifornia (Andrea & Jayme Jameson with SoCal Val)
After teasing dissension, the Lucha Sisters were reunited. In some quirky way they celebrated being back together by wearing masks depicting two former U.S. presidents. Leva Bates (Blue Pants) wore a Ronald Reagan mask and Mia Yim had on a Richard Nixon mask. Leva showed her mad dancing skills even with a mask. Mia threw up peace signs spoofing the infamous imagery of Nixon doing the same. The character Leva portrays in Shine has a much more serious tone than Blue Pants, but some of that was subdued here in the reuniting of the Lucha Sisters. Leva continues to develop a unique charisma.
In the match, the heels (each of them basically doing a strongwoman gimmick) got heat on Mia first until Leva tagged in to change the tide. However, the strongwomen got heat on her too building to a hot tag to Mia Yim. During a melee in the ring, Daffney comes to ringside with her new team, the Iron Maidens, and they stalk SoCal Val. Andrea jumps out of the ring to protect Val leaving Jayme alone with the Lucha Sister who then proceed to finish her off. Leva and Mia adorn the president masks again as Leva covers Jayme for the pin. Meanwhile, Andrea went all Haku on the Iron Maidens.
Andrea singlehandedly dispatched the Maidens and flexed when she was done. To get their heat back, Cherry Bomb runs in to attack the Maidens and they pummel her as Daffney looks on. Authority figure Lexie Fyfe enters the scene to scold Daffney and the Maidens. Fyfe went on to throw them out of the building. Daffney and the Iron Maidens begrudgingly left to likely terrorize another day.
After they exited, April Hunter and Su Young came to the ring. Tracy Taylor was scheduled to face Young in a no DQ street fight but she unable to appear due to travel issues. Hunter demanded Fyfe provide Su Young with an opponent. Luscious Latasha ran in to volunteer and a match was made.
Luscious Latasha beat Su Young (with April Hunter) via DQ
While it was a competitive match, it was more a showcase for the psychotic character played by Su Young. For the finish, Latasha missed a splash off the top and Young picked her up for an airplane spin into a Michinoku driver for the pin. Afterwards, Su Young spit mist into the eyes of Latasha and attacked her so referee reversed the decision and disqualified Su Young.
Jessika Havok beat Lufisto
They chain wrestled early on and had a good match. The crowd was mild at first without a clear babyface favorite but as they match went on they got more and more into it and the women had them in the palm of their hands by the end. They brawled in the crowd and around the building, which is where the match began to pick up. Lufisto had a whelp on her back after about a third of the way through the match.
The crowd started a “this is awesome” chant after Havok got a nearfall following a chokeslam. Lufisto climbed to the top turnbuckle but Havok grabbed her off the top and gave her the “Air Raid Crash” (think Sheamus’ White Noise) for the pin.
Leah Von Dutch beat Brandi Wine (with Leilani Kai)
LVD had “DINO HUNTER” written on her sleeves since she is hunting “dinosaurs”, as in older wrestlers from the heel faction Legendary. Leilani Kai interfered several times and LVD was the clear underdog as the veteran Brandi Wine worked her over throughout the match. Wine seems to have not aged and was great in her role as the wily veteran. Wine took most of the match building to an eventual comeback by Leah. Kai interfered one last time allowing Wine to give LVD an airplane spin into a clothesline for a nearfall.
From there, Leah started a comeback with a series of knee strikes. LVD hit a backcracker and applied a combination cobra and camel clutch to win via submission.
Following the match, other members of the heel stable Legendary attacked Leah when Thunderkitty and Malia Hosaka ran in. Ivelisse and Amanda Rodriquez made the save and the heels scattered out of the ring. LVD disappeared to the back. Ivelisse cut a promo on Legendary. She is basically seeking revenge for a dastardly attack by Legendary that left La Rosa laying and supposedly hospitalized after a previous angle. Ivelisse introduced Amanda as her new charge then Ivelisse challenged Legendary to an impromptu match threatening to also send Legendary to the hospital like they did to Rosa.
Ivelisse & Amanda Rodriquez beat Thunderkitty & Malia Hosaka
With Thunderkitty’s style and throwback character of being a young old time wrestler, she would fit well into the Vaudevillains act. Thunderkitty is so old school she even broke out the iron claw on Rodriquez at one point. Despite the old fashioned techniques, Ivelisse applied a guillotine choke then dropped Thunderkitty into a DDT for the pin. After the match, Ivelisse began choking Thunderkitty until other members of Legendary pulled her out of the fray. Though the match was disjointed in spots, it still put over Ivelisse strong in the end and she is still seeking revenge so THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE!
Vanessa Kraven beat Athena
The announcers put over Kraven as the new heel monster in the Shine promotion. Athena was the returning heroine. It was David vs. Goliath except with a different finish. Kraven no-sold two topé dives to the outside before Athena did a third and Kraven went down hard. Nevertheless, Kraven cut her off and began to pummel her. Athena did a handspring into a headscissors takeover to start a comeback. Athena screamed “EAT IT HUSSY” before delivering a kick.
The crowd chanted “she’s a hussy” in response yet the new heel monster cut Athena off again. Athena was breaking out all the stops in the closing minutes and they exchanged several nearfalls. Eventually Kraven grabbed Athena by the throat with both hands, hoisted her up and executed a sit-out powerbomb for the win.
Havok came out afterwards to challenge Kraven to a rematch of their last encounter. Kraven blew her off saying she already beat her once. Kraven left the scene and an angry Havok grabbed Athena. Ever the fighter, Athena called her a “hussy” only for Havok to give her a chokeslam to leave her laying.
Santana beat Allison Kay (with April Hunter) to retain the Shine title
Kay jumped Santana before the bell and put the boots to her. Kay showed a lot of intensity in dominating the early portion until a comeback by Santana. Kay countered a Great Muta handspring back elbow and suplexed Santana over the ropes to the floor. Kay worked over Santana at ringside but Santana fired up and they exchanged chops. During all this, the announcers kept putting over Santana’s history with Shine (she was on the first show) and her recent run with the title. Santana would rally and Kay would cut her off. The crowd chanted “this is awesome” at one point. They had some killer exchanges before Santana snatched her “headband of power” away from Kay, who had taken it from Santana early in the match. After putting the headband back on, she hulked up and ran wild.
Kay bailed out of the ring only to get hit with a baseball slide dropkick. Back in the ring, Santana dove off the top with a high crossbody for a nearfall. Santana delivered the Muta handspring elbow in a corner and went for a bulldog, yet Kay blocked it. Kay went for a tornado clothesline and took out the ref. He went down. Santana hit a superkick and another ref ran down to count the nearfall. After some great late exchanges, Santana used a O’Connor roll into a bridging cradle to score the pinfall and retain the title.
Valkyrie and SoCal Val’s Valifornia entered the ring as Kay lay on the mat defeated. Val announced that unbeknownst to Kay, the merger of the two factions was happening. This angered Kay and she attacked Valifornia. They took a powder as Kay began to argue with the members of Valkyrie. Kay had enough and gave April Hunter a Stone Cold stunner complete with post-stunner middle finger salutes to turn Kay into a kick ass babyface to close the show.