by Anthony Beckingham, Torch specialist

Following a stellar show with focus on the new Shimmer Tag Team Championships, Shimmer spends a bit more time on singles matches but still has two tag matches to whet your appetite on Volume 22. There’s also the debut of buxom blonde Texan, Rachel Summerlyn. She made a name for herself in IWA: Mid-South’s Queen of the Deathmatch tournament, taking some harsh bumps, but has shown she’s more than a garbage wrestler in Anarchy Championship Wrestling.

There’s a scheduled double main event with Serena Deeb continuing her feud with Sara Del Rey, though the former champ has other ideas, and Ariel achieving her rise up the ranks with her first shot at the Shimmer Title. To fill out the card is an international dream match with powerhouses Wesna and LuFisto meeting for the first time.

SHIMMER DVD Review Series
SHIMMER Vol. 22 DVD review
October 19, 2008
Berwyn, Ill.

(1) Rain (4-8) beat Daffney (1-3) at 11:07. Jetta elaborately announces Rain before leaving due to a lack of manager’s license. They traded headlocks and holds, with Daffney impersonating Rain. Rain tried to hook Daffney’s arms up in her finisher, but felt an Iconoclasm. On her second attempt, Rain hit the Acid Rain, pinning her with a bridge. (**)

(2) Danyah (0-3) beat Cat Power (1-2) at 4:35. Too short to make good on their potential. Despite being the heel, Power came out in all white and a cat Veneziana mask. She took control with some tight arm drags and a double knee into the corner. Danyah used lucha moves for a comeback. Despite an eye rake, she hit Power with a fireman’s carry sit-out powerslam to win. (*1/2)

(3) Amazing Kong (8-3) beat Rachel Summerlyn (0-0) at 5:58. Kong being a heel doesn’t work much in this crowd; they just chant for her. Summerlyn’s shoulder barges failed and she found herself thrown around, stomped on and choked against the ropes which tested the referee’s limits. An Amazing Press ended things. (**)

An in-ring interviewer welcomed a slightly portly Allison Danger. She announced she was pregnant with “the next generation of Shimmer wrestling” and explained frustration at recovering from two injuries (a legit one from Melissa and an angle with Portia Perez) only to take more time off with the baby. She vowed she had her mind on one thing has only one thing on her mind. Before she could finish her thought, Perez’s music hit and she came out to run down the diet-Canadian and remind everyone she beat Danger before. She told Danger to stop insulting her in interviews and online as she proved she’s the superior Canadian. Danger said she had Perez’s number, she just had to wait a few months. Perez said she was tired of waiting, she wanted to end Danger’s career and something else. With that she hit the ropes and attempted to take down the pregnant Danger, until a referee pounced on her. A flurry of referee’s dragged Perez to the back, kicking and screaming. This angle is white hot.

(4) The Experience (Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka) (8-2) beat The Pink Ladies (Madison Eagles & Jessie McKay) (0-1) at 11:21. The Pink Ladies took charge of both Fyfe and Hosaka, despite The Experience distracting the referee. After yanking McKay’s hair, Hosaka started bending her round the turnbuckle. McKay put her knees up to stop a splash and Eagles took a hot tag and delivered some poor clotheslines but impressive suplexes including a float-over and quick moonsault. McKay came back in with a sloppy hurracanrana and weak dropkicks but The Experience replied with a Double Gourdbuster. Eagles got thrown into the barrier after for good measure. (*1/2)

(5) Mercedes Martinez (5-4-1) beat Amber O’Neal (3-12) at 10:38. O’Neal stalled for time before Martinez dished out her lethal chops. She eventually sidestepped Martinez and punched her to the ground. She kept her down with a chin lock but Martinez kicked out of a cocky pin. After being thrown into the rail, Martinez hit a desperate spinebuster in the ring as they both recovered. She hit the Fisherman Buster to win. (**)

(6) Cheerleader Melissa (9-8) beat Jennifer Blake (0-1) at 9:05. The two strikers went straight at it, with Blake managing to save herself on the apron and dump Melissa out in order to hit a suicide dive. Melissa unlocked the rails and slammed Blake between them like a vice. After kicking out, Vice took an inverted Cloverleaf and a double stomp. Melissa went to slam Blake into a chair but she was superkicked into it before Blake hit an olé dropkick. After recovering, Melissa tried the Kudo Driver and failed, but turned Blake’s crucifix into a Samoan Drop and then an Air Raid Crash to win. (***)

(7) Daizee Haze (10-9) beat Miss Natural (1-0) at 5:54. Natural attacked Haze while posing, but Haze rolled her up for a close fall at 15 seconds. Natural stopped the fightback by dumping Haze over the turnbuckle to the floor. After trading sleeper holds, Haze reversed a Fisherman Neckbreaker into a Heart Punch and Mind Trip combo. (**1/2)

Del Rey then came to the ring after a clip showed MsChif offering Serena Deeb a title shot if she could beat Del Rey. Del Rey said she was main event talent and if she couldn’t get a title match, she knew someone who would. Enter “Sweet N’ Sour” Larry Sweeney who ran down Berwyn and talked up Del Rey. He said Berwyn were undeserving of her talent and had negotiated a rematch for the Title at ROH’s Rising Above PPV. He told her to take it off, ostensibly cancelling her match against Deeb.

(8) Jetta (1-2) beat Nikki Roxx (10-6) at 9:47. Rain announced for Jetta, before she went on a sit-down strike until the crowd agreed she rocked like Nikki. Roxx tried to appease her with a high five but Jetta refused, so she was dragged around the crowd high-fiving them all. They started a criss-cross, but Roxx stopped so Jetta ran the ropes until she was gassed. Jetta raked Roxx’s eyes to take control then almost passed her out with a sleeper hold, using the ropes for leverage. Jetta delivered a lungblower but hadn’t put the stranglehold in place so Roxx kicked out. Jetta then raked Roxx’s eyes to escape the Barbie Crusher and hit a DDT and cradle pin for an upset. (***)

(9) Shimmer Tag Team Champions Ashley Lane & Nevaeh (3-2) beat The Canadian Ninjas (Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews) (2-2) at 9:33 in their first successful defense. The Ohio girls used double team moves on Matthews until she fought back with a lariat on Nevaeh and the Ninjas mixed Matthews’ graceful strikes and Perez’s dirty moves. Lane came in only to take a perfect bridging Northern Lights suplex. Perez had to break up a pin when Lane hit a standing Sliced Bread #2. The Ninjas set up a superkick/German suplex combo on Nevaeh but she sidestepped so Matthews was kicked out of the ring. The champs retained with a Yakuza Kick/STO combo. (***)

(10) LuFisto (2-2) beat Wesna (1-2) at 12:23. They fought to a standstill before Wesna’s kicks took control. LuFisto tried to go up top but was brought down with a Northern Lights suplex from there. She managed to reverse an Electric Chair into a reverse headscissors which took the fight outside. They threw each other into the rails, then back inside LuFisto hit a German suplex but Wesna got straight back up for a battle of strikes. Wesna tried the CB4 Driver but LuFisto flipped over again and found her feet to hit a brutal Burning Hammer right on Wesna’s head. My God! (****)

(11) Shimmer Champion MsChif (10-6) beat “Portuguese Princess” Ariel (9-5) at 10:07 in her fifth successful defense. Thank goodness there was another match as this was clunky and slow without building much of a story. Ariel’s recent wins from her DQ victory over Kong onwards were shown. Ariel complained about the referee not checking MsChif for weapons due to her penchant for screaming at the official. After locking up, Ariel chopped MsChif’s throat then celebrated in victory when she couldn’t do the scream. MsChif responded with a seated straitjacket hold and then a camel clutch on the rope while a Roddy Piper-dressed fan contributed in lieu of MsChif’s scream.

When Ariel broke free, she failed with a number of pinning holds. MsChif dominated again with more submissions until Chif tried to piggyback and Ariel fell back for a slam. After both wrestlers recovered, Ariel sent some strikes into the champion before letting her have the Three Amigos. MsChif kicked out and quickly set up the Desecrator to win. (**)

Just as MsChif leaned up from the cover, Sara Del Rey ran out in her long coat and attacked her with a thumb to the eye and a beatdown. Serena Deeb ran to the rescue then threw Del Rey into the corner, shoulder barging her against the turnbuckle as the senior referee ran out to break them apart, then shrugged and rang the bell.

(12) Serena Deeb (5-7) beat Sara Del Rey (17-2-1) at 13:51. Deeb yanked Rey’s entrance jacket from her then tossed her corner to corner with it. Del Rey caught one of her monkey flips, then bent Deeb’s back round her knee. Deeb freed herself and took advantage with some arm drags and an arm bar. Rey’s brute force broke free as she twisted Deeb’s shoulder. She somehow managed to work it for four minutes without being boring, then when Deeb gained some control she sidestepped a Spear and sent her shoulder into the ring post. She stomped the shoulder onto the ring steps but Deeb threw Del Rey against the ring.

Back inside, she hit a dazed Rey with a crossbody then ducked some strikes to hit a kneelift. Deeb tried a crucifix pin but Del Rey stayed standing then hit a rolling kick and big boot. Deeb stood straight up and yelled into Rey’s face. Rey went for the ropes but Deeb followed her so when Rey realised and stopped to face her, she was caught with a fast Spear and pinned to a standing ovation. (****)

Barely had Deeb’s music begun to play when Del Rey attacked Deeb and stomped her down. MsChif came out and Irish whipped Rey to set up a double-team move but Sweeney caught her on the bounce and pulled her to safety. Sweeney dragged Rey away, yelling at the referee for doing a bad job and telling the crowd the title would change hands in ROH.

Overall thoughts: 7.0 After a superb previous show, this one disappointed. I’m not keen on Ariel, but I’m sure my personal opinion doesn’t entirely account for how bad her match was. Thankfully, the Serena angle was in mid-flow to save this card with an outstanding effort, and the dream match didn’t disappoint. While there was a lot of solid wrestling on the card, without the flare of the main event and wasting Martinez on O’Neal, who is great in her role to be fair to her, left this DVD a bit lacking in comparison to other shows.

FYI: Vol. 22 can be found, along with other archive Shimmer DVDs, at ROHStore.com, while more information for live tapings and recent DVDs is available at ShimmerWrestling.com.

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