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Tag: Shimmer

  • A Chicago Weekend at SHIMMER pt. 1

    Submitted by EdinSanAntonio

    This past weekend, I made my way to Chicago to attend the SHIMMER DVD tapings. Twice a year, Dave Prazak and his crew bring in the best women’s wrestlers from around the world (U.S., England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, etc). 

    Many women wrestlers in WWE and NXT have made stops there over the years. If you think NXT has great women’s wrestling, you can see 60 to 70 matches as good or better at these shows.

    The tapings are usually held at the Berwyn Eagles Club on Saturdays and Sundays, but this year, a Friday night show was added. The Saturday show was held at Logan Square, and if I have one complaint from the weekend, it was damn hot waiting in line to get in to the show. It didn’t help that the show was running a little late. I’m from Texas and I’m complaining about it, so that tells you it had to be hot!

    Thankfully, once we got in, it felt fine. As soon as I entered, I ran into Dr. Keith Lipinski of this website and also Dave Prazak. I spoke with them and then made my way to my front row center seat.

    Veda Scott defeats Nixon Newell

    Veda is the perfect person to start the show. The fans here hate her with a passion and she plays it up big time. This was Nixon’s first time with SHIMMER and she did not disappoint. She did a great job and is a very attractive girl.

    Shayna Baszler defeats Rhia O’Reilly

    Shayna made a great debut here and won with a TKO that caused me to text Lance Storm and tell him Shayna just killed his girl. Rhia is awesome, and has one of the best intros with kick ass ring music and circles the ring carrying the Irish flag.

    Kellie Skater defeats Vanessa Kraven, Shazza McKenzie, and LuFisto in a 4-way match

    Over the past couple years, Skater has become one of the best women’s workers in the world. Kraven is a monster, Shazza is really good and has one of the cutest faces you will ever see. LuFisto is a legend and is still great.

    Viper defeats Jessica Havok

    This was one hell of a “mean guy” match, or should I say “mean women’s” match. Viper from the UK and also made her debut here. She is a female version of Earthquake, only better. Havok was also good in the match.

    Mia Yim & Kay Lee Ray Defeat Yumi Ohka and Melanie Cruise

    This was the debut of Team WDSS (We Do Stupid Sh*t) of Mia and Ray, and they make one hell of an awesome team. Cruise was taking the place of Cheerleader Melissa and kind of looks like she is Melissa’s bigger older sister. Ohka is always good.

    Arisa Nakajima defeats Nicole Matthews

    Arisa brought her JPW title with her, and had a great match with the former SHIMMER champ Nicole. Matthews is one of the best heels in wrestling.

    Ruo Mizunami defeats KC Spinelli

    Ruo is a veteran of the ring and is still going strong. KC danced to Ruo’s music and was having a great time. No one has more fun at a show then her.

    Heart of SHIMMER Champion Nicole Savoy defeats Crazy Mary Dobson

    Nicole has become one of the top workers in a very short time, and like Shayna, she uses a lot of BJJ in her match. She almost has a counter into a submission for everything. I love Crazy Mary and she is awesome, but how do you get a title shot when you are 1-4 in your last SHIMMER matches? I guess it’s about heart and not win-loss records for this title.

    SHIMMER Tag Team Champions The Kimber Bombs (Kimber Lee and Cherry Bomb) defeat Team Slap Happy (Evie and Heidi Lovelace)

    This is the match I really came to see and it is also the match where I wanted to kick Prazak after. This match was built up from the past tapings and looked like it was time for new champs, but sadly, it wasn’t as the Kimber Bombs cheated to win using the title belts. The bombs are incredible heels, and Heidi is one of the top women in the US. Evie is one of my favorites, and is just amazing in everyway. Her offense is incredible, her kicks are the best, and she is such a great babyface in peril. I love this woman.

    SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles defeats Courtney “The Demon” Rush

    Last taping, Rush started to change into a vampire or something. She has since become a possessed demon from hell. This match featured an attempted exorcism as Eagles used forks as a cross and started yelling, “The power of Christ compels you!” Sadly, this did not work so Eagles then poured salt all along the ring to keep the Demon from getting back in, and it worked until Rush grabbed the ref and pulled him out, moving the salt in that area away and was able to get back in the ring.

    After Eagles won, Arisa came out to challenge Madison and we have a main event for the next tapings.

    **********

    After the show, the girls came out to sell their gimmicks and take pictures with the fans. I always make it a point to buy stuff as this is a big part of their pay, so I bought Mia Yim’s newest T-shirt and 8×10’s of other girls. Some of the performers I talked to that night were Mia (who’s been a friend of mine for awhile now), Solo Darling (who didn’t wrestle on this show but was going to on the next ones), Shazza (who was very accessible), and Kellyanne (who was not able to wrestle because of an injury which is sad because she stole the show last year and became one of my favorites).

  • Shimmer 81 live results: Madison Eagles vs. Courtney Rush; Kimber Lee; Shayna Baszler; Veda Scott

    Submitted by Craig Russell from Chicago, IL (Friday)

    – Veda Scott vs Nixon Newell

    Good opener. Nixon is pretty good and Veda is solid at this point. Veda earns extra heel points by sucking up to referee Andy Long, who the fans still boo because of the last Shimmer weekend. Scott wins with a Northern Lights/German Suplex.

    – Shayna Baszler vs Rhia O’Reilly

    Baszler wins with a TKO on O’Reilly for the pin. Baszler is already decent in the ring and holds her own. O’Reilly worked the crowd over by taunting Baszler whenever she would get Baszler in a wrestling hold.

    – Vanessa Kraven vs Shazza McKenzie vs LuFisto vs Kellie Skater

    Kraven and LuFisto fight to the back, and Skater pins McKenzie after a neck breaker/kick to the head combo (Skate and Destroy finisher). Kraven and LuFisto at one point in the match play a game of “one up” on Skater and McKenzie with chops and running cannonballs.

    – Viper vs Jessica Havok

    Viper pins Havoc with a slam. It might have been a running powerslam, but she did not get far with the running part. This was a good match with the girls taking each other’s moves and coming back with their own response. Viper is indeed already over in the states with the same crowd support as she got at Shine 35.

    – Yumi Ohka and Melanie Cruise vs Mia Yim and Kay Lee Ray

    Yim and Ray’s tag team is called FlyingHighWDSS (a nod to Pokemon). Ohka and Cruise work really well together. This was a very good match in which everyone hit everything. At the end, Ohka tried to use her Cat O’ Nine Tails Whip to interfere, but then Cruise missed a top rope splash. Ray then hits her senton on Cruise, followed by Yim hitting Cruise with a 450 Splash for the pin. Again, outstanding match.

    – Arisa Nakajima vs Nicole Matthews

    Nakajima has her JWP title belt with her. Another good match. Nicole is a pro and can work with anyone at this point. Nakajima has a good selection of kicks which she put to good use. Finish came as Nakajima pinned Matthews with a bridging German suplex.

    – KC Spinelli vs Ruo Mizunami

    Good hard hitting match. KC is very good at getting the crowd into the match and she did it here. Mizunami has a new outfit that is more Lucha inspired (complete with a mask). Mizunami over Spinelli with a top rope leg drop.

    – Heart of Shimmer Champion Nicole Savoy vs Crazy Mary Dobson

    Solid match. Dobson played the aggressor to Savoy’s moves, which then Savoy would counter would a different one. End came with Savoy pinning Dobson with a Tiger Suplex.

    – Shimmer Tag Team Champions The Kimber Bombs (Kimber Lee and Cherry Bomb) vs Team Slap Happy (Evie and Heidi Lovelace)

    Possibly match of the night along with Ohka/Cruise vs Yim/KLR. Lots of action and double team moves. The Kimber Bombs were the obvious heels in this match. Cherry Bomb’s voice is as high pitched and squeaky as ever. Finish came as Team Slap Happy were setting up for their finisher (Lovelace does a frog splash off of Evie’ shoulders), but Cherry Bomb interferes, sending Evie to the floor. Cherry Bomb then throws Kimber Lee a title belt which she used to hit Lovelace with. Kimber Lee then pins Lovelace.

    – Shimmer Champion Madison Eagles vs Courtney “Rosemary” Rush

    During the match, Eagles and Rush fight on the floor and Eagles gets the upper hand. She then runs back into the ring where she produces two cans of salt which she used to make a “barrier” around the ring apron. Courtney is a “demon” and therefore cannot break a salt barrier. She almost gets counted out but she drags the referee over the salt line to break it so she can get back into the ring. Eagles also tried to tape two forks together and use it as a cross to ward off Rush (screaming “the power of Christ compels you” line from “The Exorcist” while doing so).

    All antics aside, this was a very good match for the belt. At one point, Rush had Eagles on the floor again (all happening in front of the Empire’s own Ed in San Antonio I might add!) in which Courtney throws Eagles into the barricade at least 5 times. Eagles eventually pins Rush with the Hellbound (shoulder bomb onto the knee) and retains the title.

    After this match, Arisa Nakajima comes out to challenge Eagles for Saturday. They hold up each other’s title belts to each other and the show concludes.

  • Shimmer 80 iPPV results: Heart of Shimmer champion crowned; Shayna Baszler news

    Submitted by Pat Laprade and Craig Russell

    – Attendance was roughly 500 fans from Eddie Deen’s Ranch, Dallas Texas

    12 Woman Tournament to crown the first “Heart Of Shimmer” Champion

    1st round

    – Cheerleader Melissa b Leva Bates with a Kudo Driver. Bates was cosplaying from the Kingdom Hearts video game series

    – Candice LaRae b Cherry Bomb when LeRae crucifixed Cherry Bomb’s pin attempt and reversed it into a pin of her own.

    – Nicole Savoy b LuFisto with the Savoy Lock with a Sambo lock submission. 

    – Kimber Lee b Jessicka Havok with a roll up after Cherry Bomb interfered with a Roll Up (with a handful of tights) after Cherry Bomb comes out to distract Havok.

    – Heidi Lovelace b Veda Scott with a Senton Bomb off the top rope.

    – Nicole Matthews b Crazy Mary Dobson with The Vancouver Maneuver.

    2nd round

    – Candice LaRae b Cheerleader Melissa with three “Family Show Plexes” in a row. The “Family Show Plex” is what Amber Gertner called the move on the show. The move itself is the “Ball Plex” used by Joey Ryan, but that name could not be used for obvious reasons.

    – Nicole Savoy b Kimber Lee with the Cross Arm Breaker.

    – Heidi Lovelace b Nicole Matthews with a Senton Bomb off the top rope.

    – Lenny Leonard interviewed Shayna Baszler. She said she would start at SHIMMER 81 on June 24. 

    Finals

    – Nicole Savoy b Heidi Lovelace & Candice LaRae to win the Heart title. She first eliminated LaRae with the Savoy Lock. Heidi hit her Senton Bomb with which she won her two matches but Savoy kicked out at 2. Savoy won with her Savoy Lock. Good match. 

    – Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke were in attendance for the show. Bayley was also there. They announced that SHIMMER 81-85 were going to be taped from June 24 to June 26 in the Chicago area. 

    – Candice LaRae was probably the star of the show with very good matches against both Cherry Bomb and Cheerleader Melissa, plus the main event. Heidi Lovelace has improved so much from the last time I saw her. She’s very very solid in the ring. LuFisto vs Savoy was also one of the best matches on the card.