BG Says: SHIMMER Women Athletes – Volume 1

Your hosts are Dave Prazak & Allison Danger

This is the debut show of the all female wrestling promotion. I’m REALLY not into women’s wrestling, but I’m going to try my absolute best to be open minded here as Dave Prazak really tried hard to convince people that women’s wrestling on a quality level can be a possibility in America. I like Dave, so I’ll do my best.

The show opens with the ring announcer inviting all of the night’s participants to the ring. Allison Danger thanks the fans for supporting women’s wrestling and promises that as long as they continue to do so, the women will continue to make it worth their while with quality wrestling. Then they pose for pictures. Women, go figure.

VS.
They lock up and Ringer powers Taylor to the corner. They show their athleticism with some solid chain wrestling. Taylor takes control with a cravat and switches to a headlock. She hits a shoulder block for 2. Ringer hits a side slam for 2. She starts working the back and puts on a surfboard stretch with her foot pressed into the back. She releases and gets 2. Taylor fights back and dropkicks the knee for 2. Ringer hits an insane overhead back heel kick and goes back to work on the back. She slams her to the mat by her hair for 2. She hits a backbreaker and stays on the back. She hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for 2. She drops an elbow on the back for 2. She puts on a camel clutch but Taylor fights out and hits a clothesline. She hits a hurricanrana and a chinbreaker. She hits a leg lariat for 2. They trade chops and Ringer hits a snap suplex for 2. She hits a big boot for 2. Taylor comes off the top with a missile dropkick for the win at 8:36. The finish was pretty ugly, but the rest of the match was rock solid for an opener, as Ringer was able to get well enough over as a heel.
Rating: **

VS.
Krissy Vaine & Amber O’Neal are collectively known as Team Blondage. Team Blondage stalls to start and argue over who will start the match. Roxx and Rogers chase them around the ring but it does no good. Finally Roxx and O’Neal get the match underway. Amber grabs a wristlock but Roxx reverses to her own. O’Neal gets a takedown for 1 but Roxx returns the favor. Roxx takes her to the mat with a front facelock. O’Neal reverses to a hammerlock and floats into a headlock. Roxx breaks the hold and tags to Rogers. Rogers gets a roll up for 2. She drops a leg on the arm for 2. She hits a pair of snap mares but O’Neal tags to Vaine. Vaine walks into a drop toehold and Roxx tags in. They hit a double hiptoss and Roxx hits a clothesline for 2. O’Neal grabs Roxx’s hair from the apron and Vaine hits a legdrop for 2. She puts on a chinlock and then chokes away. O’Neal tags in and they hit a double legsweep for 2. O’Neal hits a clothesline for 2. Team Blondage chokes Roxx on the second rope and O’Neal hits a stiff kick to the back. She gets a cocky pin for 1 and puts on a chinlock. Vaine tags in and hits a side slam for 2. O’Neal tags in and puts on a camel clutch. She switches to a sleeper hold but Roxx fights out. They knock heads and both women go down. Vaine and Rogers tag in and Rogers cleans house. She hits a neckbreaker on Vaine for 2. Rogers goes for a sunset flip on Vaine but O’Neal grabs Vaine’s arms and she sits down for the win at 12:53. Decent tag action with Team Blondage showing that they can be good heels. Rogers looked pretty kickass for the little bit she was in there as well.
Rating: **1/4

VS.
Rain complains that her car broke down and shouts at the fans for not helping her out with it. I dig that there’s a female referee for this match. Rain takes Ariel to the mat by her wrist to start. They fight to the floor where Ariel rams Rain’s face against the apron repeatedly. Back in the ring Rain hits a bodyslam. Ariel comes back with a clothesline and a back elbow. She hits a bodyslam for 2. Rain shoots her to the floor where she beats on her for a bit. Back in the ring Rain gets 2. Ariel comes back with a basement dropkick for 2. Rain hits a forearm and then yanks on her pigtails. She hits a running knee in the corner and a pair to the back. Ariel falls in the corner and Rain hits a dropkick for 2. Ariel gets a victory roll for 2. Rain hits a clothesline for 2. Ariel blocks a blind charge and hits a tornado DDT. She hits a series of snap suplexes for 2. She hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Rain hits the Rain Drop for 2. She goes for Acid Rain but Ariel blocks and hits Dariel for the win at 8:45. Kind of sloppy, but the effort was there.
Rating: **

VS.
If nothing else Fyfe at least looks like a serious ass kicker. Fyfe grabs a headlock but Ricci reverses to her own. Fyfe reverses to a hammerlock but Ricci gets her own. She puts on a front facelock and floats into a chinlock. Fyfe escapes with a chinbreaker but Ricci gets all lucha with a springboard armdrag. She goes for a cross armbreaker but Fyfe rolls over for 1. Ricci holds on so Fyfe goes to the eyes. She puts on a surfboard stretch and then beats Ricci around before putting on a camel clutch. She hits a pair of snap suplexes for 2. She hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. Ricci crotches her and hits a superplex She hits a clothesline and a back elbow. She hits a leg lariat for 2. She goes for a splash but Fyfe gets her knees up. Fyfe hits a TKO for the win at 8:24. Nothing impressive here but Ricci’s boobs.
Rating: *1/2

VS.
Melissa attacks with a forearm at the bell. MsChif reacts to her attack with screams so Melissa keeps beating on her. MsChif hits a clothesline and pounds away. She stretches Melissa out and then pins her for 2. Melissa goes to the eyes and hits a back suplex. She hits a snap suplex and then stands on MsChif’s face. She puts on an inverted cloverleaf and actually rams MsChif’s foot into the back of her own head. MsChif reverses a spinebuster to a Mutalock variation. This MsChif is insanely flexible. Melissa gets to the ropes. She kicks at MsChif’s leg and hits a dropkick to it. She dumps MsChif to the floor and rams her into the barricade and the post. She puts MsChif in a pendulum using the barricade. Back in the ring MsChif blocks a Cop Killer and hits a springboard moonsault press for 2. Melissa hits a pair of dropkicks in the corner but MsChif catches her with a drop toehold into the turnbuckle on a third attempt. MsChif hits three double stomps to the back for 2. Melissa comes back with a sit out powerbomb for 2. MsChif blocks a Cop Killer and hits a spike DDT for the win at 15:03. Dull match for the most part but it had some cool submissions and it picked up near the end.
Rating: **1/2

VS.
I love Danger’s entrance music. Phoenix grabs a headlock to start. They criss cross and Danger stops so Phoenix can get blown up. Danger grabs a wristlock but Phoenix reverses to her own. Danger gets hers back on and Phoenix tries to nip up but can’t. Danger hits a drop toehold and dodges an elbowdrop. Phoenix hits some hard chops in the corner but Danger returns the favor. Phoenix hits a snap suplex for 2. She chokes Danger with her knee and distracts the referee by kissing him. She puts on a chinlock but Danger fights out and gets a roll up for 2. Phoenix gets a pin for 2. She chokes Danger out with her wrist tape and then gets a pin for 2. Danger blocks a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. They fight to the floor where Phoenix works over Danger’s back. Back in the ring Danger gets a roll up for 2. She hits a facebuster and a clothesline. She unloads with forearms and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Phoenix hits a northern lights suplex for 2. She gets a roll up for 2 but Danger reverses to one of her own for the win at 10:42. First match of the night to stay interesting the whole way through. Both women looked really good here. Phoenix did the ass kicking that I wished Fyfe would have done and actually chases the referee to the back after the match.
Rating: **3/4

VS.
Del Ray comes out to the Final Countdown, so she must be associated with Bryan Danielson somehow. They lock up and Del Ray powers Martinez into the corner. Del Ray grabs a hammerlock but Martinez reverses to an armbar. Del Ray drops a leg on Martinez’s arm but Martinez comes back with a shoulder block. They knuckle up and Martinez grabs a wristlock. They trade forearms and Del Ray takes over with a headbutt. She hits a snap suplex but Martinez comes back with a kick to the chest. Del Ray hits a back heel kick and a butterfly suplex for 2. She sets Martinez in the corner and hits a double kneedrop. She hits a back elbow for 2. Martinez hits a DVD into a neckbreaker for 2. She hits a vertical suplex for 2. Del Ray rams her hip into Martinez’s head and goes for a powerbomb but Martinez blocks. Del Ray hits a clothesline for 2. She puts on a modified abdominal stretch and pins her for 1. Martinez blocks another powerbomb and hits a spinebuster for 2. She puts on the Kayak but Del Ray escapes. Del Ray hits a Polish Hammer for 2. She boots Martinez down repeatedly and gets 2. She finally hits the powerbomb for 2. Martinez comes back with a German suplex for 2. She ties Del Ray in a knot and takes a breather. Brilliant. She hits a dropkick for 2. Del Ray gets a roll up for 2. She gets another for 2. She hits a German suplex for 2. Martinez gets a backslide for 2. She gets a roll up for 2. She hits a capture suplex for 2. She puts on a camel clutch with her hands in Del Ray’s mouth and the referee calls for the break. She puts on a rolling butterfly hold but Del Ray gets to the ropes. Del Ray slaps the crap out of Martinez and then they trade strikes. Martinez takes control but walks into a forearm. Del Ray puts on a butterfly hold but Martinez escapes. Martinez hits a fisherman’s buster but the 20 minute time limit expires before she can get the pin. It was actually more like 19 minutes, so Martinez has some room to complain. This match was better, and more importantly different, than any other women’s wrestling match you’ll ever see on American television. These girls were out there working their asses off and actually sweating from the effort. Tack an ending onto it and you have something exceptional. As it is it’s still worth going out of your way for.
Rating: ***1/2

VS,
I saw a pretty good match between these two on an IWA:MS video a while back, so this is promising. Lacey kicks things off with a knee to the gut and a headlock. She hits an armdrag and jaws with the crowd. She puts on a wristlock but Haze come back with a cross armbreaker. Lacey pulls the hair to escape. She bails and spits water on a fan. Back in the ring they knuckle up and Haze grabs an armbar. She hits a hiptoss but gets rammed into the turnbuckle. Lacey kicks away and hits a clothesline in the corner. Haze comes back with a hurricanrana and a back elbow. She hits a clothesline and Lacey bails. Haze climbs the ropes but Lacey knocks her to the canvas and gets 2. She hits a bodyslam for 2. She hits another for 2. She goes for another but Haze reverses to a roll up for 2. Lacey forearms her down and chokes her in the corner. She hits a side slam for 2. She puts on a surfboard stretch and then roll beautifully into a mount position for punches. She hits elbowdrops to the back and puts on a Boston crab. Haze reverses to a roll up for 2. Lacey hits a knee to the back in the corner. She goes for another but Haze dodges it. Lacey blocks a blind charge and hits a legsweep into the turnbuckle for 2. She stretches Haze around the post until the referee calls for the break. Back in the ring Lacey gets 2. She hits a roundhouse kick for 2. She puts on a bow and arrow lock but Haze flips over for 2. Lacey blocks a crossbody and sets Haze up in the Tree of Woe. She rolls to the floor and pulls on her head from there. Back in the ring Haze hits a swinging stunner out of the Tree of Woe. They trade forearms and Haze takes control. She hits a Yakuza kick for 2. She hits a clothesline from the second rope for 2. She climbs the ropes but Lacey crotches her and hits a neckbreaker for 2. Haze gets a roll up for 2. She blocks the heart punch and hits an inverted TKO for 2. Haze gets a roll up for 2. She hits the heart punch and the Mind Trip for the win at 22:19. I’d say that was just about as good as the last match, with a solid finish being taken into account. Not quite the same hard hitting action, but a really good back and forth face/heel match.
Rating: ***1/2

Allison Danger cuts a promo about women’s wrestling being possible in America. She says they’ve proven tonight that American Joshi is possible. I don’t really know what that means, but it was a solid promo either way.

VS. [Bonus Match from ROH Vendetta 11/5/05]
Each woman has other participants from the SHIMMER show in their corner. Del Ray hits a kneedrop for 2 at the bell. She puts on a headlock and hits a butterfly suplex for 2. She blocks a crossbody and sets Lacey in the corner for a double kneedrop. Lacey bails and then hits Del Ray with a neckbreaker on the second rope. Back in the ring she hits an elbowdrop for 2. She runs Del Ray hard into the turnbuckle for 2. She hits a running knee in the corner and a lungblower for 2. She hits a drop toehold and puts on a reverse bow and arrow lock. She hits an elbowdrop for 2. Del Ray comes back with a series of big boots. Lacey catches her with a neckbreaker into a guillotine choke. Del Ray tosses her off and hits a Polish Hammer. She hits a kick to the face for 2. She hits a Samoan drop for 2. She hits a running forearm for 2. Lacey comes back with a backbreaker and a DDT for the win at 7:14. Decent stuff and a good preview for the SHIMMER show the following night.
Rating: **1/2

Also on the DVD is an Easter egg featuring a come as you are battle royal dark match from the SHIMMER show featuring guys like Danny Daniels, Brad Bradley, Alex Shelley, Matt Sydal and a couple of guys I’ve never heard of, amongst others. The highlights include Delirious coming out from under the ring with a pillow and blanket, leading us to believe he’d been sleeping there. Also there’s Austin Aries entering the match from the bathroom, lasting five seconds and going back to the bathroom. The finish comes when everyone gets eliminated pulling big man Brad Bradley from the ring and the final entrant Jimmy Jacobs comes out and wins by default. His James Gibson title winning celebration is pretty cute. All comedy here.

The 411: On this DVD you'll see more good women's wrestling than you'll get in 5 year's of WWE TV. I don't know what it's like in Japan, but these ladies take a step in the right direction here. This show is seriously as good as many men's independent shows. WWN, the people behind ROH and FIP produced this show, and the production and videos make it look just like an FIP show. As soon as they start fleshing out the characters and feuds things are going to start looking up. Solid recommendation for SHIMMER Women Athletes Volume 1.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]