RADICAN'S TAKE WEEKEND DVD SPOTLIGHT: SHIMMER Vol. 18 (Kong-Busic,Del Rey-MsChif) Jul 19, 2008 - 5:23:47 PM

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By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

Shimmer Vol. 18
Box Score Basics & Match Ratings
By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

Results and Star ratings

(1) Shark Girl beat Amber O’Neal. This was a fun opening match, although there were some clunky spots. Daphne is much more tolerable in her roll as Shark Girl. (*)

(2) Nicole Matthews beat Lorelei Lee. Lee is much improved from the last time I saw her. Matthews plays a good heel, but would be better served to play more to the cameras than the fans at ringside with her facial expressions. There was some nice back and fourth action here leading up to Matthews taking the win after nailing Lee with the last rites. (*1/2)

(3) Daizee Haze beat Jetta. There were some fun pre-match antics, as both girls had a childish battle of wills before wrestling. The match itself featured some solid action, but was never exciting or engaging. The finishing exchange didn’t come off smoothly, as a series of counters resulted in Haze nailing Jetta with the mind trip. (**)

(4) Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka beat Jennifer Blake & Danyah. This was another short, but solid match on the undercard. I thought Black & Danyah had a good showing, as this was the first time I’ve seen them in the ring. Danyah did a good job after getting the hot tag, but Hosaka & Fyfe ended up getting the pin after nailing Blake with a double team gourd buster. (*3/4)

(5) Ariel beat Cat Power. I couldn’t get much of a sense of Cat’s talent, as the match was fairly short. The action was solid while it lasted, but once again, it was mostly forgettable like the matches that went on before it. (*1/2)

(6) Mercedes Martinez beat Cindy Rodgers. This was the best match of the show up to this point. Rodgers worked over Martinez’s shoulder for most of the match. I didn’t really get Martinez’s mannerisms during the match. Rodgers was labeled as the heel by the announcers, but Martinez came off more like a heel by smiling throughout the match in a cocky manner. Rodgers was in control for most of the match, but Martinez managed to get the clean pin after a Saito suplex. (**1/2)

(7) Lacey & Rain vs. Ashley Lane & Nevaeh. The Home Wrecking Crew held the advantage early, as they tagged in and out to work over Lane with some nice double team maneuvers and submission work. Lane finally tagged out to Nevaeh, who showed some good fire after getting the hot tag. Lane & Nevaeh ended up hitting an STO/yokuza kick combination out of nowhere on Rain for the pin. The crowd reacted strongly to the finish. Hopefully Prazak’s tease of a tag division makes this match meaningful at some point in the future. (***)

(8) Amazing Kong beat Wesna Busic. Prazak informed the viewing audience that Busic and Kong were once partners in Japan as Kong obliterated Busic’s chest with a chop during the opening minutes of the match. Kong hit the implant buster on Busic, but she managed to kick out. Kong then went up top, but missed a splash and Busic capitalized with a Samoan drop for a nearfall. Shortly after that, Busic hit an axe kick to the top of Kong’s head and followed up with a German suplex for a nearfall that drew a huge “holy s---“chant from the crowd. Busic then went up top and attempted a flip dive, but Kong caught here and turned it into the sit out powerbomb for the pin, which looked incredible. This match featured some great hard-hitting action. (***1/4)

(9) Cheerleader Melissa vs. Sarah Stock. This was a rematch from their SHIMMER Title tournament match on Vol. 11, which Stock won. This turned into a really good back and fourth match. Both women did some submission work, but neither sold very well for her opponent. I was expecting more of a high-energy match, but they only took things up another notch during the final minutes. This was a good match. (**3/4)

(10) MsChif beat SHIMMER Champion Sara Del Rey. Del Rey dominated the early stages of the match and locked in a nasty looking surfboard submission on MsChif, which she turned into a modified Dragon sleeper. Del Rey continued to dominate at the 10 minute mark, as she locked the flexible MsChif in a nasty half-crab. Del Rey missed a big boot in the corner a short time later and MsChif dumped her to the floor and hit a dive off the top. MsChif hit a code green shortly after the 15 minute mark for a nearfall that didn’t show the ref counting. MsChif locked in a nasty submission on Del Rey in the center of the ring a short time later, but she got the ropes. MsChif countered the royal butterfly and hit the desecrator for the pin as the crowd erupted right at approximately 18 minutes. This was a very good match and the crowd’s applause was well-deserved. (***1/2)

Overall score (7.0): This show was a tale of two halves. The first half of the show didn’t feature anything interesting. The matches were fairly bland. Some were short and some were long, but ultimately a couple of the matches on the first half of the card should have been trimmed, as this volume just seemed bloated with ten matches.

Things picked up during the second half of the show. The Mercedes Martinez-Cindy Rodgers match was good, but Martinez acted more like a heel than Rodgers, which confused me a bit. It seemed as if she genuinely wasn’t taking the match very seriously, which isn’t something any wrestler should do, especially when they are seemingly booked as the face.

One of the best moments of the night came when the Minn. Home Wrecking Crew was upset by Ashley Lane & Nevaeh. The match was really good with Lacey & Rain seemingly in cruise control until Nevaeh & Rain stunned the crowd in Chicago by beating them out of nowhere, so thumbs up for that segments, especially if it leads to something more once the SHIMMER Tag Titles are introduced into the DVD releases.

Amazing Kong had a really good hard-hitting contest against Wesna Busic. It was nice to see Kong back in action after being off the last Shimmer release I watched. She carries herself like a star and comes off better than any of the other women on the roster .The replays after this match were a blast to watch.

I was letdown a bit by the Stock-Melissa match. The match was good, but I was expecting something better, as neither woman seemed to be on the same page. It was very slow paced and neither woman sold very well.

The main event was the best match of the evening. After witnessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 hours of wrestling action, the fans exploded for MsChif’s surprising win over Del Rey. They did a decent job of setting up the match during the first hour of the DVD, but Del Rey just didn’t come off very well on the mic during her verbal exchange with MsChif. I’m excited to see where Shimmer goes from here. I think MsChif is certainly their best in-ring talent that can be showcased on every release. I’m stunned she’s not in TNA right now. She’s fantastic.

You can purchase this DVD here

Derek Burgan and I will be reviewing this show exclusively for Torch VIP members on the Radican Audio Showcase this weekend.

Email Sean Radican.