Shine 5 Review

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Although star ratings and the lack of a blowaway may not reflect it at times, Shine 5 was overall my favorite event from the promotion. I really felt like some of the issues started to come together in a big way, and even if we didn’t get a blowaway match like Jazz against Sara Del Rey, there was still enough to say that 2012 ended on a high note for WWN’s female promotion. It also featured the debut of my favorite overall female wrestler and an effective tag team match which weaved in multiple stories very successfully.

We started out with a couple nothing matches as per usual with Sassy Stephie defeating Heidi Lovelace after Kiss my Sass and the debuting Niya defeating the debuting Marti Belle (within Shine but not the WWN Universe) Stephie certainly can be useful, and I’m glad she got the win this time around. Lovelace’s bumping and selling are her biggest strengths right now, and given how new she is to the business, she can afford to take a few losses in this universe. She’s really a joy to watch because of her strengths and a real solid grounding of the basics thanks to Billy Roc’s training. I was surprised to see Belle lose since she’s more familiar to the WWN audience, but I was impressed by both girls at times. Their match felt a bit incomplete, but there was some familiarity. Given the heel side of the equation, I almost think Shine needs to have more top level babyfaces to match up with Rain, Mercedes Martinez, and Made in Sin.

Based on the booking patterns of Shine, Su Yung may be in a position to move quickly up the card and eventually become a main event level performer. Yung won her third singles match, and her only loss came to Made in Sin during a tag team match. Sojo Bolt was back for the first time since winning at Shine 2. I wasn’t all that impressed with either performer. This got nearly ten minutes, and I wasn’t feeling the back and forth. Yung and Bolt seem to need someone to carry them, and I think my star rating will reflect that. I definitely think the right person won here based on what I mentioned earlier.

Another babyface who Shine seems to be leaning toward is Santana. Lenny Leonard, who does a fantastic job on these shows, really put over Santana holding her own against Mercedes Martinez (despite not winning) far more than she did at Shine 2 with Rain. He also discussed the improvement of Santana over each show. Simple commentary like this actually can help the viewer connect some dots and help wins and losses matter. Being able to call movez and read from a booker’s notes is great in the right context, but to be able to put things over and advance stories is even better. Lenny is doing a greater job in Shine than even Evolve or DG USA. Back to the match. Santana ran her record to 3-2 and defeated Nikki St. John. St. John didn’t do much for me, and I’ve only really seen her in Resistance Pro not really impress me there either. Santana winning in convincing fashion was therefore the right move.

The second half of the show is where things really picked up starting with Made in Sin defeating Leva Bates and Kimberly. Kimberly was desperate for a victory, so she teams up with someone who’s had success in the company and is part of a really good tag team in Regeneration X. Kimberly resisted dressing up as Thing 2 to Leva Bates’s Thing 1. Eventually, they settle down and control a fairly big portion of the match. There was a heat segment on Bates which also got a fair amount of time. Bates makes the tag to Kimberly. Kimberly and Bates seem to have the match won a couple times, but ehere eventually comes a useless referee distraction, leading to Seven Deadly and the continuation of Made in Sin’s undefeated streak. Fairly easy to digest all the action here. This was a good match with storytelling that didn’t the quality. Kay and Made won clean with their finish and looked good against a thrown together team. Kimberly was so frustrated that she beat up on Bates. Kimberly and Bates can now feud and have something to do. I very much enjoyed the execution here.

It’s no secret my thoughts on Athena. The fact she beat Ivelisse seemed to be a fairly easy decision to me. Ivelisse never did anything for me on Tough Enough, but she came across very well in this match as she incorporated submissions and worked the arm. Honestly, she would seem to fit well with Kimberly lookwise and stylewise. Athena was controlled for much of the match until she came off the top rope with the O-Face and won. Normally, I think those sorts of finishes are questionable, but when introducing the O-Face to a new audience (I’m sure there’s at least some crossover, but it is a new company at the very least), I liked popping the move from behind and having Athena win quickly. Another strong match.

I believe Reby Sky was supposed to be on this show against Jessica Havok, but we got Nikki Roxx instead. I’m sure the match quality didn’t suffer even if the feud wasn’t able to be settled. Funny enough, I think they used the same finish intended because these two went to a no-contest. With Roxx having fitness competitions as a part of her life, I’m not sure why she couldn’t just put Havok over. I think both of these girls are top shelf competitors, but the booking didn’t make altogether sense unless these two are having a rematch down the road. Then I’m okay with what happened. If nothing else, they brought a lot of intensity to the show.

The intensity continued in the main event. Amazing Kong made her return to pro wrestling and helped Jazz overcome the heel duo of Mercedes Martinez and Rain. Jazz and Martinez have had one brutal physical altercation and nearly came to blows at Shine 3. Jazz distracted Martinez enough to cause her to suffer a loss on the same show where she earned a Shimmer title match in defeating Rain. This was a good tag match to send the crowd hope happy as Kong pinned Rain. It keeps Jazz’s issues with both women simmering and re-introduces Kong to the audience.

The show was certainly not without its problems, but the second half featured nothing but good matches, and they seemed to focus on getting some babyfaces over on the undercard. A solid way to end the year.

Grade: B-

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-Taped from Ybor City, Florida

-Commentator: Lenny Leonard

-Sassy Stephie defeats Heidi Lovelace by pinfall after Kiss my Sass/6:08/*1/2

–Niya defeats Marti Belle by pinfall after the Tequilia Sunrise/7:58/**

–Su Yung defeats Sojo Bolt by pinfall after a Soul Food to the back/9:32/**1/4

-Santana defeats Nikki St. John by pinfall after a handspring moonsault/6:16/*1/2

-Made in Sin (Allysin Kay and Taylor Made) defeat Leva Bates and Kimberly by pinfall after Seven Deadly on Kimberly/15:04/***1/4

-Athena defeats Ivelisse by pinfall after the O-Face/9:44/***1/4

-Jessica Havok vs. Nikki Roxx goes to a no-contest after a double count-out/12:02/***1/4

-Jazz and Amazing Kong defeat Rain and Mercedes Martinez /17:07/***1/4