SHIMMER Volume 113: It Fits The Weekend
SHIMMER Volume 113
Date: April 5, 2019
Location: La Boom, Woodside, New York
Commentators: Lenny Leonard, Dave Prazak
I’ve seen one Shimmer show in my day and that was about nine years ago so I’m virtually coming in blind. Women’s wrestling has come a very, very long way since then and there’s a good chance that I’ll actually have an idea what I’m watching this time around. If nothing else, it almost has to be better than some of the matches I’ve been watching this weekend. Let’s get to it.
Shimmer Title: Nicole Savoy vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto
Nicole is defending. Feeling out process to start with Matsumoto getting nowhere off a shoulder and having to escape an early headscissors attempt. A hurricanrana gives Savoy two but she spends too much time posing on the ropes and gets powerbombed down. They head outside with Matsumoto getting the better of the fight as the announcers describe her as sexy Godzilla. A running kick from the apron rocks Savoy again and we hit the neck crank back inside.
That’s broken up with a roll thru and it’s time to chop it out with Matsumoto taking over again. Savoy is right back with a powerslam and the first of what commentary suggests should be several suplexes. The cross armbreaker doesn’t last long either so Savoy switches to a Fujiwara armbar for a change. Savoy’s triangle choke is countered into a Boston crab, sending Savoy straight to the ropes. A Vader Bomb gives Matsumoto two, which brings Savoy to her feet for the screaming forearms.
Matsumoto gets the better of it again and hits a sliding lariat for two, only to get pulled into a guillotine choke. That’s broken up so Savoy goes with a snap suplex and it’s a double knockdown. Another sliding lariat is countered into a crucifix for two more and it’s time for another slugout. They trade German suplexes and Matsumoto elbows her in the face for another near fall. Savoy has had it and snaps off another German suplex. A bridging dragon suplex retains the title at 12:23.
Rating: B. Nice hard hitting match here, with Savoy’s year and a half long title reign continuing. This is definitely more of a workrate based promotion as there were no stories mentioned here and the match was a bunch of heavy shots with the women going back and forth. Savoy didn’t exactly come off like the top star, but the match was quite good.
Post match Savoy is a little banged up.
Veda Scott vs. Brittany Blake vs. Brandi Lauren vs. Allie Recks vs. Hyan vs. Shotzi Blackheart vs. Indi Hartwell vs. Leva Bates
Lucha rules with no tags and one fall to a finish. I don’t know who most of these people are but Blake comes out to the Charmed theme song so she’s already a favorite. Then Bates (Blue Pants) tops that with Oops I Did It Again and the full red outfit from the song’s video, plus a Britney Spears style dance. This gets Big Match Intros, which is only extending things far longer than necessary.
Hyan and Shotzi trade armdrags to start until Shotzi goes for the strikes to the face. The enziguri misses Hyan, but she misses a running knee in the corner as well. Shotzi misses a charge though and falls out to the floor, allowing Blake to come in with Leva following a few seconds later. Blake sends her into the ropes for the 619 to the floor, which doesn’t count as a tag for some reason.
Back in and Bates grabs a Stunner to send Blake outside so Veda comes in for a neck snap across the ropes. An Indian Deathlock doesn’t go long so it’s off to Recks vs. Lauren as the fast changes continue. The fans don’t like Lauren so they go with Indi during the slugout. Everything breaks down and it’s a parade of strikes to the face until Veda rope walks into a dive onto a bunch of people at ringside.
Shotzi dives onto the bigger pile, followed by Blake and Recks diving onto everyone else. Back in and it’s a Human Centipede of submissions, which thankfully is broken up in a hurry. Hyan missile dropkicks Scott but gets kicked in the face by Leva. Shotzi gets in a Codebreaker on Recks, followed by a reverse Cannonball in the corner. Hyan breaks up something off the top though and it’s a 450 double knees to Recks for the pin at 8:10.
Rating: C-. This was the indy style that can bring an energetic match down: too many people trying to get in too many spots in a limited time and it hurt things a lot. No one really got to stick out and that’s kind of defeating the purpose here. Now I want to go listen to some Britney Spears.
The ring announcer welcomes us to the show again. After two matches.
Allysin Kay vs. Kris Statlander
Kris has been around a lot this weekend and is an alien. After trying to eat the streamers, Kris bends over like Bray Wyatt to walk on all fours upside down. The test of strength goes nowhere so Kris rolls her around into a rollup for two. A hot shot gets Kay out of trouble and she clotheslines Kris out to the floor. Kay rams her into the barricade for two and we hit the chinlock.
Rating: C-. Both of them worked well, though Kay definitely comes off as the bigger star than a lot of the roster, which is perfectly fine. This was a perfectly watchable match and Kris continues to look good, though some more seasoning will probably help her more than anything else. That and the alien gimmick either being more pronounced or dropped, as it’s just kind of a detail at the moment.
Due to time, there is no intermission (good), though the ring announcer does ask us to grab a t-shirt after the show. I’m assuming paying is implied.
Su Yung vs. Shazza McKenzie
Someone who might be Veda Scott is on commentary. Yung is exactly the same as she is in Impact and I’ve seen Shazza several times on Wrestlemania weekend shows. The fans remind Yung that she killed Allie, showing that they are up on their Impact (someone has to be). Shazza fires off some early kicks and gets two off a series of rollups. Yung gets tied in the rope for some kicks to the chest but is right back with a backbreaker onto the apron.
A middle finger to the crowd sets up Su’s flip dive off the apron as Shazza is in some trouble. Yung ties her in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the back and a hangman’s neckbreaker out of the corner for two. That means a quickly broken chinlock as Shazza fights up and gets in a hurricanrana out of the corner. A hurricanrana driver gives Yung two more but Shazza is right back with some kicks to the face for a breather.
They forearm it out with Shazza getting the better of it to set up some running knees to the back. A high crossbody gives Shazza two more but she gets anklescissored into the corner. The Panic Switch is reversed into a northern light suplex so Yung goes for the kendo stick. That’s broken up as well so they go to the middle rope at the same time, setting up a super Stunner to finish Yung at 11:07.
Rating: C. Does Yung ever win a bit match? This was a nice back and forth effort with Shazza getting to showcase herself for a change. More often than not she’s in some multiwoman match and doesn’t get to show how good she is. The match wasn’t great, but I haven’t seen many great performances from Yung in the first place.
Tag Team Titles: Twisted Sisters vs. Cheerleader Melissa/Mercedes Martinez
The Sisters (Holidead/Thunder Rosa) are challenging. The rather happy Melissa chants delay the Big Match Intros for a little bit. Martinez and Rosa start things off to fight over a wristlock. Mercedes has to flip out of a headscissor attempt and it’s a standoff with Rosa….I think dancing at her? That earns her a shot to the face but Rosa gets two off a victory roll. The Sisters start some double teaming with a tossed splash hitting Martinez for two more before it’s off to Melissa for an elbow/side slam combination.
Holidead gets stomped down and Melissa dances at Rosa to even things up. The distraction lets Holidead get in a neckbreaker for two but Martinez gets in a cheap shot from the apron, meaning it’s a German suplex into a running knee from Martinez for two more. It’s off to a dragon sleeper with some forearms to Rosa’s chest as I’m not entirely sure who I’m supposed to cheer for here.
Rosa finally kicks Mercedes away though and it’s Holidead coming in to clean house (so the evil twins are faces). Everything breaks down and Holidead is sent outside. That leaves Martinez to hit Three Amigas (superplex, snap suplex and spinning suplex) but Holidead makes the save to put everyone down.
The champs are up first for a powerbomb/neckbreaker combination to Holidead with Rosa making another save. An ugly Code Red puts Martinez down but Melissa is right there with a Samoan drop to Rosa. Since Holidead isn’t legal, Melissa hammers away on Rosa, allowing Holidead to come back in with a backbreaker. Mercedes brings in a title but drops it when the referee yells at her, allowing Melissa to hit the Air Raid Crash (White Noise) on Rosa onto the title. An assisted top rope curb stomp retains the titles at 14:45.
Rating: B-. Good but not great here as it took me a bit to figure out what they were going for here. The Twisted Sisters have been around Ring of Honor for a bit but it was nice to have them against some more seasoned opponents. Martinez and Melissa worked well as heels together and once everything broke down, this got a lot better.
Britt Baker vs. Tessa Blanchard
This could be interesting. Tessa tries for a very early Buzzsaw (hammerlock) DDT but Baker shoves her away for an early standoff. The power game lets Tessa drive her into the corner so Baker grabs a rollup for two. That earns Baker a posting and a second one gives Tessa two. A running kick to the back gets the same as Tessa starts in on the spine. A Codebreaker out of the corner sets up a chinlock, which commentary politely calls a submission attempt.
Baker fights up and hits a superkick. The slugout goes to baker, who scores with a Sling Blade into a DDT for two. The Rings of Saturn send Tessa over to the ropes but she’s right back with a jumping cutter. A top rope backsplash and Batista Bomb get two each and Tessa is getting frustrated. She even steals a move from Britt with the Rings of Saturn, which is broken up just as fast.
Baker grabs a brainbuster for two of her own but Tessa hits a faceplant. Magnum (top rope Codebreaker) gives Tessa two more but Baker is right back with a Canadian Destroyer. Baker hits her own Magnum for her own two and it’s back to the Rings. This time Tessa just muscles her up so Baker hits a superkick, only to get pulled into the Buzzsaw DDT to give Tessa the pin at 12:27.
Rating: B. As usual, Tessa looks like the most complete package the women’s division of any company has seen in a long time. Baker is someone who is going to be treated like a star in AEW and performances like this against top talent is going to help her on the way. Tessa was too much for her here though and it’s not like this is going to hurt Baker in any way.
Post match Tessa shows respect and Baker gets a warm reception.
Blue Nation/Zoe Lucas/Steph De Lander vs. Solo Darling/Sea Stars/Kris Wolf
Blue Nation is Charli Evans/Jessica Troy and the Sea Stars are Ashley Vox/Delmi Exo. Wolf seems to be a little insane and VERY popular. Troy and Vox start things off as the announcers say they’re going to be a bit confused as well. Vox slips out of the corner and hits a hard dropkick so it’s off to Troy vs. Darling with the latter hitting some hard kicks to the chest. A snap suplex gets two on Lucas and it’s off to De Lander for some power.
De Lander gets caught in the corner for a Codebreaker and it’s Wolf coming in to fire things up, including a bunch of right hands to Evans. We settle back down to Wolf putting a wolf’s head on De Lander so Vox can hit a running Meteora in the corner for two. A cheap shot from Evans lets the villains take over on Vox with Troy starting in on the arm. Evans works on an armbar to do her part and De Lander gets two off a side slam.
Lucas’ running X Factor gets two more and it’s back to Evans for a rather hard chinlock. Troy gets smart by pulling on the arm again, followed by a legdrop to the arm from Evans. Vox finally manages a double middle rope dropkick and it’s Exo coming in to clean house. It’s back to Darling for the kicks and suplexes, followed by a modified Sharpshooter on Lucas.
That’s broken up as well and this time it’s Darling in trouble in the corner. Darling, the smallest in the match, manages a pumphandle slam on the rather large De Lander and it’s the real hot tag to Wolf for the real house cleaning. Everything breaks down and we get the chained fish hooking until Vox flips them all over. The heroines load up a quadruple dive but Wolf just throws the wolf head at everyone instead.
De Lander is thrown back inside for a bunch of running knee strikes but the dog pile cover is broken up. That means the big parade of strikes with everyone knocked down for a major breather. Lucas’ running ax kick gets two on Wolf but everything breaks down again, leaving Wolf to hit a top rope Meteora to finish Evans at 19:59.
Rating: C+. I think this was supposed to be the big showcase match and while the extra time helped it a lot, it certainly feels like a match where you’re supposed to know the people and their characters before coming in. Wolf certainly stood out but she seemed to be the star coming into the match in the first place. This is a case where the backstory would have helped, but the action was good enough to carry things.
Heart of Shimmer: Samantha Heights vs. Dust
This is the midcard title and Dust is defending but doesn’t have her usual manager, Rosemary, here, due to Rosemary causing a DQ in their previous match. Heights is billed from the Second Star to the Right and straight on to Cincinnati, Ohio. Dust send her into the corner for two but has to escape a fireman’s carry. They head outside with Heights big booting her over the barricade, followed by a running dive.
The champ is right back with a seated senton off the barricade and a double stomp to the back makes things even worse for Heights. Back in and Heights trips her down, setting up something like the Last Chancery. Dust makes the ropes and kicks away at the back, only to get kicked off the top. That means a series of suicide dives from Heights, followed by a high crossbody for two more.
There’s a running kick to the side of Dust’s head and the champ is dead weight on the floor. They slug it out on the apron with Dust hitting a DDT for a delayed two. A Backstabber gets the same and Dust kicks her hard in the face for another near fall. Heights is right back with a Blockbuster for two of her own, which is quick the kickout apparently. Dust ties her in the Tree of Woe for the Alberto Del Rio double stomp and now it’s her turn to be stunned. Another Backstabber is countered so Heights grabs the hand and runs the corner for what looked like a spinning Downward Spiral for the pin and the title at 13:53.
Rating: B-. The ending felt a bit rushed but commentary told a good story and made me want to see Heights win the title. I can see why they went with the feel good moment to end the show and Heights seemed to be rather likable from the limited time she was out there. Dust didn’t seem like the biggest star in the world but she was a villain to overcome and that’s fine.
Overall Rating: B. Given how little there seems to be for character development and stories, this is going to be more about the work and they did quite well in that department. This show flew by and the action was almost all at least fine if not strong, making this quite the event. It’s not something I would watch every day, but for a big special show, they did very well.
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