SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES News for 04.12.06
Headlines:
- Del Rey vs. Martinez rematch signed for 5/21!
- Volume 2 DVD now available for worldwide shipping!
- Photo galleries from SHIMMER at ROH now online!
MAIN EVENT SIGNED FOR 5/21 TAPING!
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SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES presents its next live DVD taping on Sunday, May 21st, at the Eagles Club (6309 26th Street) in Berwyn, IL, just outside Chicago. Bell time is 4pm. All tickets are just $10 and will be available at the door. Volumes 5 & 6 of the SHIMMER DVD series will be filmed during the course of the event.
SHIMMER Volume 1 featured a hard hitting twenty minute time limit draw between the east coast's "Latina Sensation" MERCEDES MARTINEZ and the west coast's SARA DEL REY. Just as Martinez hit her trademark fisherman buster on Del Rey, the bell rang to signal that the time limit had expired. The fans in attendance gave both women a standing ovation for the effort they put forth during the course of the bout.
SHIMMER Volume 2 saw Martinez and Del Rey do battle with one another once again, in a Four Way Elimination Match that also included DAIZEE HAZE and LACEY. Sara came up the winner of the match, eliminating Daizee Haze to earn the vicotry, but in the process, was not able to score a pinfall or submission on Martinez, as it was Daizee who eliminated Mercedes.
On 5/21 in Berwyn, IL, Sara Del Rey and Mercedes Martinez will step into the ring with one another once again, in the long awaited singles rematch from Volume 1. Since their first match ended in a twenty minute time limit draw, the rematch on 5/21 will be contested with NO TIME LIMIT!
Mark your calendars, and make plans to be there LIVE for Del Rey vs. Martinez II on 5/21!
Look for more announcements concerning the talent list and matches to take place at the 5/21 Volumes 5 & 6 DVD taping during the coming weeks!
Be sure to stop by the SHIMMER Forums at
shimmerwomen.proboards50.com/ to discuss the latest SHIMMER developments.
VOLUME 2 DVD NOW AVAILABLE!
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The second DVD release from SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES is now available for worldwide shipping at
www.rohwrestling.com/. Here are the details...
SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES Volume 2 - Berwyn, IL (DVD)
Item # SH002
Description:
1. Krissy Vaine vs. Cindy Rogers
2. Nikki Roxx vs. Lexie Fyfe
3. Cheerleader Melissa & Tiana Ringer vs. Ariel & Shantelle Taylor
4. Christie Ricci vs. Amber O'Neal
5. Allison Danger vs. Rain
6. MsChif vs. Beth Phoenix
7. Daizee Haze vs. Sara Del Rey vs. Lacey vs. Mercedes Martinez (Four Way Elimination Match)
Features:
Region 0 DVD. Will play anywhere in the world.
SALE! $14.95 To order, visit
www.rohwrestling.com/Here's a preview of the DVD artwork for Volume 2...
www.rohphotos.com/shimmer/volume2.jpgF4WONLINE.COM DVD REVIEW - SHIMMER VOLUME 2
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by Stewart Allen (as it appears at
www.f4wonline.com/)Well, you can count me as a convert.
SHIMMER, Vol 1 delivered everything that I hoped it would, and then some. I went from a curious buyer to becoming a full-on fan, eagerly awaiting the release of Volume 2 and earnestly spending that intervening time seeking out other forms of women’s wrestling in the West in order to expand my horizons. Apart from the fact that quite clearly the wrestling in Vol 1 was universally strong, I think my unexpectedly positive reaction to the show was proof positive of how much I was needing an alternative in my wrestling viewing – even if I didn’t know it at the time. I only need tell you that I’d count WWE and NJPW as my two most followed promotions, and you can imagine how often pro-wrestling depresses me. SHIMMER gave me something different – good honest-to-goodness old school pro-wrestling featuring interesting characters I cared about and matches that I really got into.
And therein lies my worry. I reviewed Vol 1 on this site as a complete novice on the women’s wrestling scene in the US, but I at least go into Volume 2 with somewhat more of an understanding of what to expect – and with that understanding, I also have higher expectations. I actually really like a lot of the wrestlers on this show now, and I can’t help but worry that Vol 2 won’t live up to my expectations. Can lightning strike twice in the same place? Well, there’s only one way to find out.
Volume 2 kicks off with a PROMO~! from the ever lovely Lacey, who promises victory in the four way main event. I was pleasantly surprised to see something like this, since Vol 1 was entirely ring-based. The addition of backstage promos is only one of the additions to Vol 2, since we are introduced to the first match – Krissy Vaine vs Cindy Rogers – by seeing replay footage of their encounter in tag form on Vol 1, when Krissy and her partner Amber O’Neal (known as Team Blondage) cheated to beat Rogers and her partner Nikki Roxx. Krissy is the first of two girls on this disc who are making their farewell SHIMMER appearances, as soon after this show she was signed to a WWE developmental contract and redeployed to Deep South Wrestling. Team Blondage were a riot on Vol 1, so I am interested to see how each of the girls work away from the other this time round. As is usual for a lot of SHIMMER action, there is plenty of crowd interaction and character to be seen. In fact, Krissy creased me up by complaining that Cindy “used her butt for leverage” on a backslide – which drew a “We love butts” chant from the appreciative crowd. The match is buoyed along by Krissy’s charisma, but Rogers brings the technique. In fact, her butt plays into the finish of the match, as Cindy runs at the prone Vaine in the corner and rams her ass into her opponent’s face (a move christened the “Super Booty Bomb” by commentator Allison Danger) before wrapping up the victory with the TCB submission. Rogers even showed some nice charisma towards the end too, so I look forward to seeing more of her. Nice opener, and SHIMMER is back and on a roll. Before I move on… with regards to Vaine’s potential in the WWE, I think she ticks every box that Torrie Wilson does – with the added bonus of being able to wrestle.
Match 2 is Lexie Fyfe vs Nikki Roxx. Lexie’s match on Vol 1 didn’t do a whole heck of a lot for me, as she fairly easily dispatched of Christie Ricci. That being said, it’s pretty clear what Fyfe’s role in SHIMMER is – she’s the resident veteran, she’s able to impart her wisdom to the younger members of the roster, and she can play the part of the teacher in the ring and being just dominant enough to make it matter when one of the younger girls beats her. Her victim this time is the ebullient Nikki Roxx, who gets schooled in many painful ways. As Fyfe locks Roxx in the camel clutch, commentator Dave Prazak even breaks into an impersonation of the man of the moment – The Iron Sheik! Fyfe was awesome in this match, dominating Roxx with an arrogant sneer throughout. Unfortunately for her, one of Roxx’s intermittent comebacks actually worked and she was pinned after a wacky looking cradle move called The Crusher. I have to say, I’m a little disappointed with that result, as I firmly believe it would have meant more had Fyfe gone undefeated for a few shows before putting over someone like Roxx or Ricci on Vol 4 or 5. Oh well. Good match though.
Possibly the girl who made the biggest impression on me in Vol 1 was Cheerleader Melissa. She had an absolutely cracking match with MsChif, wowing me throughout with her physicality and sheer presence. A lot of the girls get heat by reacting to and jawing with the fans, but Melissa is just so fantastically dismissive of them that she comes across as being a much bigger heel than most of the rest of the roster. To be honest, I think her being in “third match on the card” duty is really disappointing, because if I had a say in these things, Melissa is exactly the sort of person I’d push as the #1 heel in the promotion. Her match on this card – Cheerleader Melissa & Tiana Ringer vs Ariel & Shantelle Taylor – was great, though, highlighted by Melissa’s overt aggressiveness. I liked the chemistry of both teams, and the match even drew a light “Holy sh*t” chant from a corner stacker spot. Ariel and Shantelle were plucky, but after tasting defeat against MsChif in Vol 1, there could be no other result other than Melissa getting back on track with an Air Raid Crash on Ariel for the pin. Decent formula tag match. I’m pretty certain that Melissa and MsChif had a rematch on either Vol 3 or 4, and I’m already counting the days for that one.
Highlights aired of the already classic Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey match from Vol 1 led to a backstage confrontation between the girls, further hyping the main event.
Amber O’Neal vs Christie Ricci was next up, as the other member of Team Blondage makes her appearance. In fact, Amber takes over from where Krissy left off in the opener. I was actually mostly interested in checking out how good Christie Ricci was, since I didn’t think she got much of a chance to show her stuff on Vol 1. The jury is still out after this one, since she looked fairly ordinary in this one en route to an unexpected victory. Worst match on the show so far, just because it didn’t really draw me in or interest me all that much. Next please.
Thankfully, the final three matches of the show are the ones I’ve been looking forward to most of all, and we kick off the home stretch with Allison Danger vs Rain. Rain, of course, is one half of the Minnesota Homewrecking Crew, a tag team name so grand that it deserves being shoe-horned into every review. This was the first truly great match of the show, as both girls put on a simply fantastic little encounter. It actually featured a fair bit more “straight-up” wrestling than I perhaps expected, as neither competitor really played the crowd too much, despite Danger being beloved and Rain being a great heel. Allison talked at the end of Vol 1 about how they had proved that “American joshi” was possible, and I certainly picked up on that vibe from this match, as it featured some painful looking submissions, a lot of great exchanges and some palpable fighting spirit. They worked some neat psychology into the match too, with Rain’s knee getting injured, which left the kneeling Rain a sitting duck for Danger’s version of the Shining Wizard – the Shimmering Warlock. Great stuff.
Backstage, Daizee Haze offers her comments on the main event. Next up is Beth Phoenix vs MsChif. Beth, of course, is the person primarily responsible for getting me into SHIMMER in the first place. Having seen her on OVW TV tapes for ages, I had a hankering to see whether she could actually wrestle… so when Vol 1 came out, I put down my money solely on her presence. Thankfully I’ve found many other reasons to stick around with this promotion for the long haul, because this is Beth’s final SHIMMER performance before WWE finally got a clue and gave her the developmental deal she’d been working for. “Aren’t you guys lucky??” beams Beth as she makes her way from the back. Yes, she is adorable. Somewhat less adorable is MsChif, who is nonetheless one of SHIMMER’s most recognisable characters. Beth looks absolutely petrified. Beth, in fact, runs from the ring and hugs a ringside fan for comfort. Dear God, that’s an awesome bit of business. VIVA BETH PHOENIX~! The match is in contrast to the last match, and is very entertainment based – telling the story of how Beth tries to overcome her fear of MsChif. I’m pleased to report that Beth swept the leg when MsChif tried the Desecrator DDT and hit the BETH VALLEY DRIVER~! for the pinfall. Good luck in WWE, Beth.
Main event time next, with two of the best matches from Vol 1 rematched in four way form. Elimination rules four way, no less. It’s Daizee Haze vs Lacey vs Mercedes Martinez vs Sara Del Rey. The rules are that two women are legal at any time, and anyone can tag anyone. The roles here are pretty straightforward. Lacey is the b*tch heel, Daizee is the hippy sweetheart and Mercedes & Sara are the wrestling machines with something to prove against the other after their 20 minute draw. This match straddled the fence between the overt physicality of Danger vs Rain and the entertainment factor of Beth vs MsChif, and was a very good microcosm of what makes SHIMMER so enjoyable. A strong work ethic, girls who know exactly what they’re doing in the ring, and characters that you can get behind and support. Surprisingly enough, considering she’s marketed as SHIMMER’s top heel, Lacey was the first to hit the showers, courtesy of a Mercedes brainbuster. Mercedes herself was next to go, following a heart punch/Yakuza kick combination from Daizee. This left Haze with Sara Del Rey, who managed to wrap up proceedings by turning a Butterfly hold submission attempt over into a suplex for the pin. What’s great about the result is that Sara may have won the match, but she wasn’t able to prove it against her rival Martinez, so the anticipated Del Rey/Martinez rematch is still protected. I thought the match was really good, and I have to give a ton of credit to all four. Of course, all the girls on the show are wrestling their second match in a day for this taping, but the fact that these four in particular put in really physical performances on Vol 1 and still came out to perform to such a great standard in Vol 2 is worthy of special consideration.
The DVD ends with Cheerleader Melissa demanding her rematch with MsChif on Vol 3 (let me be the first to say YAY~!), Allison Danger hyping up her match with Rebecca Knox (also due on Vol 3) and highlights of a Lexie Fyfe vs Lorelei Lee match from FIP in Florida.
And so SHIMMER Vol 2 draws to a close and I am still completely charmed by the whole product. It’s well booked, the characters are intriguing and the storylines and promos are starting to fall into place. Danger vs Rain was probably my match of the night. Stuff on Vol 2 followed logically from Vol 1, and there are a whole bunch of matches that I’d happily pay a load of money to watch on future volumes – Martinez/Del Rey II and Melissa/MsChif II primarily amongst them, but I also have a real hankering to see Melissa vs Mercedes. I’m sad about the loss of Beth Phoenix on future releases, but I am happy to see the arrival of Rebecca Knox, who I can see plugging into the SHIMMER set-up beautifully.
So, yes, lightning did strike twice. SHIMMER still rocks. Get your copy of Vol 2 now from the ROH Shop, and keep up to date with happenings at the official SHIMMER website.
Stewart Allen
mail@dsallen2001.fsnet.co.uk
PHOTOS NOW ONLINE FROM SHIMMER AT ROH
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Mary-Kate Grosso has uploaded photos to the web from the 3/25 Manhattan, NY, 3/30 Detroit, MI, 3/31 Chicago Ridge, IL, and 4/1 Chicago Ridge, IL Ring of Honor events, all of which featured SHIMMER Special Attraction matches. Be sure to check them out...
www.rohphotos.com/roh/4images/THE K-NOX ON DR. KEITH LIPINSKI SHOW
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Dr. Keith Lipinski has SHIMMER's own Rebecca Knox as one of his guests on this week's edition of the Dr. Keith Lipinski show at PuroresuPower.com. Check it out, kids...
www.puroresupower.com/powerhour/shows/drkeith-4-08-2006.mp3VOLUME 1 DVD STILL AVAILABLE!
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The debut DVD release from SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES is still selling steadily at ROHwrestling.com. The DVD is also available at all Ring of Honor live events at the merchandise tables.
Here's the match listing for Volume 1...
1. Shantelle Taylor vs. Tiana Ringer
2. Team Blondage (Krissy Vaine & Amber O'Neal) vs. Cindy Rogers & Nikki Roxx
3. Rain vs. Ariel
4. Lexie Fyfe vs. Christie Ricci
5. Cheerleader Melissa vs. MsChif
6. Allison Danger vs. Beth Phoenix
7. Sara Del Rey vs. Mercedes Martinez
8. Lacey vs. Daizee Haze
DVD Bonus Match
9. Sara Del Rey vs. Lacey (ROH 11.5.05 Chicago Ridge, IL)
Cost is just $14.95. This is a Region 0 DVD, which means it will play anywhere in the world.
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