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Next week is the beginning of Fight Season. I’ll be doing a number of women’s wrestling reviews, but I’m actually going to start today with a look back at Shimmer 53 from Wrestlecon. Away we go!

As much fun as I had at Wrestlecon, there were some major issues with nearly all of the iPPVs and some of the booking on the Evolve, CZW, and Dragon Gate shows. I’d give Chikara credit, but… oh, you know. That leaves Shimmer as they made just their second ever excursion out of Berwyn, Illinois. I truly believe that of all the companies that ran over Wrestlecon, they made the most impressive showing bookingwise and match quality wise. I can’t say the show was perfect, but I think they made a fantastic impression on fans who had never seen a live show or casual fans who were curious to see an all-women’s show.

The show opened up with a relatively important match as Amazing Kong wrestled on a Shimmer show for the first time since Volume 35 against Mia Yim. Dave Prazak did a fantastic job putting over the girls and explaining storylines for a potentially new audience. Given he’s the promoter and a pretty great announcer of the wrasslin’ anyway, the commentary was generally excellent and right at the top of the heap among indie wrestling shows. Kong and Yim had a good opener to introduce the card to Shimmer. For new fans, they had a familiar name to identify being that she was in TNA and WWE while Yim is a rising star and has been very impressive recently. Kong won with a sitting powerbomb. These two could probably have had a better match, but Shimmer’s formula usually dictates that the first few matches don’t ultimately mean much in the context of the rest of the show. I think this has its good and bad points, but this was a fine start to the show.

Serena Deeb came out for an interview and talked about her career nearly being ended because of a concussion. Jessica Havok made her shocking Shimmer debut and attacked Deeb. Sassy Stephie and Naveah also joined in only for Regeneration X to make the save and set up a six man tag team match for later. Havok is of course the WSU champion, because WSU’s former promoter is a classless moron and Drew Cordeiro is… well, the complete opposite, Havok can wrestle in both. This was a short, productive non-wrestling segment in that it gave us a shocking debut and set up an important match for later.

The next match saw Veda Scott and Shazza McKenzie defeat two more debuting competitors in Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee. It totally made sense why Scott and McKenzie given they’re regulars in the company and also an established team in the Shimmerverse. This barely went five minutes and wasn’t anything special. Next, Christina Von Eerie won a five way (originally scheduled to be a four way until Yuu Yumagata decided to make her way to the states a bit early) that included a number of international stars. In addition to Yumagata, Rhia O’Reilly, Evie (another debut from New Zealand), and Kalamity Again, this didn’t really get time to develop, but the pace definitely picked up with this match. Good action but no real story.

The first really strong match of the show came when Mercedes Martinez defeated the retiring Ayumi Kurihara. Kurihara wanted one more in the United States for Shimmer but unfortunately wasn’t going to make it to Berwyn the next week. Martinez is a Shimmer stalwart and someone who Kurihara had never wrestled before. The retiring Joshi did the right thing on her way out and put over Martinez in a hard-hitting and satisfying battle. Tons of stiff strikes as you would expect from Martinez. They battled on the outside, and Martinez got a little rough with the chair. She did ultimately win clean with the fishermen’s suplex after controlling a good portion of the match. No telling what role injuries may have played on Kurihara’s part, but this was worth seeing.

Regeneration X basically stole my heart by coming out as Jay and Silent Bob. Get it? They’re in New Jersey. I still marked out seeing Leva Bates and Kevin Smith and Allison Danger as Jason Mewes. Amber Gertner got a couple awesome references in as well. If her or Prazak didn’t say “I’m not even supposed to be here today,” I would have been extremely disappointed. They teamed with Deeb against Havok, Stephie, and Naveah in what was a good formula six woman tag. Havok spent most of the match running away from Deeb, but as soon as Deeb pinned Navaeh, she attacked and sign posted a match that was almost assuredly taking place the following weekend.

I mentioned Shimmer 35 earlier as the last time Kong wrestled for the company, but a rematch from that show featuring two of the best from Australia took place as Madison Eagles made her return and beat Jessie McKay in a great showcase. Eagles is a former Shimmer champion who nearly had her own career ended by a bum leg. I’m sure McKay was an opponent Eagles could totally trust to get her back into the swing of things but also have a great wrestling contest. I loved the cartwheel during a waistlock and a number of the exchanges. I’ve always been very impressed with Eagles, ever since I first saw her back in Chikara. Eagles broke out a bucklebomb on McKay before eventually winning with Hellbound.

The tag team title match which took place was a tough watch. The Canadian Ninjas retained in a four way eliminator and went over Kellie Skater and Tomoka Nakagawa ultimately. The final sequence was okay given the circumstances, but it really felt like LuFisto and Kana, another team involved in the match, should have at least made it to the finals. Made in Sin of Allysin Kay and Taylor were the fourth team. LuFisto unfortunately injured herself pretty seriously with an aberrant moonsault where no one caught her. People were legit freaked out live, and you can tell the breath left the building momentarily when LuFisto smacked the floor. Honestly, this was as scary as what happened with Mark Briscoe a few years ago in Detroit during Mania weekend. Somehow, LuFisto got back in the ring and hit a Burning Hammer on made for a three count. She and Kana were eliminated shortly thereafter thanks to some shenanigans (not to be confused with Shimmanigans) from Nakagawa as she spit water in LuFisto’s face. The idea was that Skater didn’t see what her partner did. I tried rating the match, but given the circumstances, it’s tough to really say how good this could have been if not for LuFisto’s injury. Kana barely saw any ring time, and I’d imagine a sequence with the Ninjas would have been a big deal. The match was good under the circumstances but could have been even better under better ones.

Shimmer 52 saw the first ever meeting between Ayako Hamada and Athena. The rematch took place months later in Seacaucus. I’m not kidding when I said this was one of the matches I was anticipating most. I think they mostly delivered. The idea was a healthy Athena could now overcome the veteran. Hamada had worked over Athena’s knee in the previous match and worked the shoulder in this one. Athena hit a swinging DDT followed quickly by the O-Face to get the win. Very good finishing sequence and I could have easily watched this match go for another 5-6 minutes.

It should say a lot about the world of professional wrestling in 2013 that I’ve come to expect either a ton of interference or at the very least a screwy finish in a cage match. Vince Russo pretty much ruined steel cage matches forever with his incessant booking of them and then defying what the cage is actually supposed to do. Give credit to Shimmer’s bookers for having the steel cage… SERVE ITS PURPOSE! Saraya Knight defeated Cheerleader Melissa  for the Shimmer championship at Shimmer 48 thanks to distraction and interference from the Canadian Ninjas and Rhia O’Reilly. This time, the giant cage allowed Melissa to regain the title in a very good match. That cage did not exactly look stable and was also very tall. There was a minimal use of the cage (smart move if you ask me), but they were still able to deliver a match worthy of being deemed a feud ender. A fine ending to cap off what could have been a number of people’s very first Shimmer experience.

The tough part of a show like this is there isn’t that definitive match of the year candidate. The second half is very strong and you’re not only going to get good action, but a lot of smart booking which naturally builds to the events in Berwyn the following weekend. I look forward to reviewing Shimmer shows from here on as part of PWP’s efforts to cover the indies to the best of our abilities. I firmly believe Shimmer’s Q Score was the likely the highest after this weekend given iPPV problems and booking stupidity.

Grade: B+

*************************************************************************************

-Taped from Seacaucus, New Jersey

-Commentators: Dave Prazak, Portia Perez, Amber Gertner and Allison Danger

-Amazing Kong defeats Mia Yim by pinfall with the sitting powerbomb/7:42/**1/2

-Veda Scott and Shazza McKenzie defeats Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee by pinfall. Scott pins Lee with a Mind Trip/5:01/*1/2

-Christina Von Eerie defeats Rhia O’Reilly, Evie, Kalamity, and Yuu Yamagata. Von Eerie pinned O’Reilly with Dead Raising/5:58/**

-Mercedes Martinez defeats Ayumi Kurihara by pinfall with the Fishermen’s Buster/10:08/***1/4

-Serena Deeb and Regeneration X (Allison Danger and Leva Bates)(w/Daffney) defeat Jessica Havok, Navaeh, and Sassy Stephie (w/Madammoizelle Rochelle). Deeb pins Navaeh after a spear/10:04/***1/4

-Madison Eagles defeats Jessie McKay by pinfall after Hellbound/12:36/***

-Four Tag Team Eliminator: Shimmer Tag Team Championship: The Canadian Ninjas (Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews) retain over three other teams in an elimination match. 3G (Kellie Skater/Tomoka Nakagawa), LuFisto/Kana, and  Made in Sin (Allysin Kay/Taylor Made) were the challenging teams/17:19/***1/4

-Athena defeats Ayako Hamada by pinfall after the O-Face/13:36/***1/2

-Steel Cage: Shimmer Championship: Melissa defeats Saraya Knight to win the Shimmer Championship for the second time by pinfall after the Air Raid Crash/14:49/***1/2

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