SHIMMER Volumes 56 & 57 DVD taping results (now updated with thoughts and photos)
After the events of yesterday, SHIMMER returns for its DVD tapings for volumes 56 and 57.
Expected to continue on from yesterday’s tapings include the quest by the Global Green Gangsters to secure another Tag Team Title shot at the Canadian Ninjas; Saraya Knight‘s reign of terror is being curbed by the officials; meanwhile, Jessicka Havok wants to leave more bodies in her wake, and Cheerleader Melissa is looking to retain the SHIMMER Championship. Also, these tapings mark the final matches for Allison Danger, who retires from the ring on volume 57.
As with yesterday, we will bring you results after the jump, along with pictures on thoughts on the show in due course. For now, click into the results and enjoy. (more…)
SHIMMER Volumes 54 & 55 DVD taping results (now updated with live thoughts and photos)
It’s the kickoff to SHIMMER’s Vols 54-57 tapings in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club with Vols 54 & 55 being recorded today. We’ve got a big preview of the Vol 54 taping up already, and we’ll be updating this page with results after the conclusion of both of today’s volumes. As noted in the preview, we’ll be back with thoughts and pictures from the event at some point thereafter. Enjoy!
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Ringbelles Roundup (8 January 2012) – Madison Eagles’ return, GAMI announces retirement and more
On October 1, 2011, Madison Eagles was at the height of her career. As well as being the reigning SHIMMER Champion – holding the belt for close to 18 months – she had just been presented with the plaque for emerging on top of the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Female 50, becoming the first woman who wasn’t a WWE Diva or TNA Knockout to win the honour. Despite a nagging shoulder injury suffered in a car accident the previous April which had restricted her bookings, she was in the middle of a string of five matches in three days, culminating with her dropping the SHIMMER belt to Cheerleader Melissa in the main event of volume 44.
Two days later, Eagles’ momentum would come to a crashing halt.
During training for a match in CHIKARA with Kana on Friday, October 7 in Burlington, NC, a double stomp hyperextended her knee so badly that when the doctor was able to take a good look at it, the prognosis was as bad as it could be. The 28 year old was given two options – have surgery which would solve the problem but mean that she could never wrestle again, or to see if it will heal of its own accord, though there would be no timeframe to determine how long it would take. It could be a few months, or it could be years, if ever. Not willing to bow out of wrestling if it was not on her own terms, the 11-year veteran elected to wait it out.
So she waited. And waited.
And then, things started to feel better. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (4 December 2012) – Intergender wrestling, WWE’s most beautiful women & more
Over the years, the number of taboos in wrestling seem to have evaporated. After all, few bat an eyelid about wrestlers who have barely reached their teens stepping into the ring in Japan. Wrestlers with disabilities are given the same opportunities as anyone else, and nobody tells anyone that they are too old to lace up the boots, even though some really should be. However, the prospect of a man facing a woman in a wrestling match still seems to be something which makes some fans squirm in their seats.
I can see some of you imagining it right now.
For a long while, mixed matches seemed to be a no-no, but then it hit the mainstream with the late comic Andy Kaufman wrestling women and calling himself the Intergender Champion of the World, before Jerry Lawler piledrove him onto his head. From there, we saw the odd mixed tag team match on special occasions – WrestleMania VI with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire against Randy Savage and Sherri Martel being a prime example – but very seldom did the women interact with the men… but times changed. (more…)
Ringbelles Retro: Ivelisse is back in the Hunt
Being able to pick yourself up after being released from WWE is a positive character trait that we have already experienced in the last few days with Su Yung, who has gone from strength to strength since being let go in August last year, and made a great showing for herself at SHIMMER last weekend (results here and here).
Just over two months ago, Ivelisse Velez was released from WWE, but similarly, she is looking to stay involved in wrestling, as evidenced by her name being included in the list of wrestlers announced for SHINE Wrestling‘s SHINE 5 on November 16.
She – along with Nikki St John, Athena, Niya and Marti Belle – will be making their SHINE debuts, though no matches have been announced yet.
To prepare for her debut for the promotion, we have a retro match from June 26, 2010 between she – wrestling under her old name of Juliet the Huntress – and Melanie Cruise – who also had a good SHIMMER weekend – in Purely Obsessed Wrestling World‘s Summer X-plosion show in Elk Grove, IL. Incidentally, Cruise wrestles St John and Stacy Shadows in a triple threat at POWW’s WrestleRage X show on November 10 in Melrose Park, IL, so it seems everybody’s very busy at the moment… (more…)
SHIMMER Volumes 51 & 52 DVD taping results (updated with thoughts on both Vols and photo gallery)
After a bumper day 1 yesterday which saw a number of storyline developments in both title pictures and one of the best matches in the promotion’s history, SHIMMER: Women Athletes returns for the second day of its weekend of DVD tapings.
Yesterday, Ayako Hamada and Kana competed in an epic encounter which saw the veteran gain the victory, though both women came out looking stronger than ever. In the 5-on-5 main event of volume 50, ReGeneration X and the Tag Team Champions Canadian Ninjas had hands in eliminating each other – with Allison Danger ousting Nicole Matthews before being pinned by Portia Perez – while Cheerleader Melissa pinned singles titleholder Sweet Saraya to end the match, which could see them cross paths again at some point today.
No matches have been announced for volumes 51 and 52, though if yesterday was anything to go by, fans at the Berwyn Eagles Club are in for another treat. As with yesterday, the Ringbelles team is on hand to provide results, as well as photos and thoughts later on. Click the jump to keep up with what’s going on…
SHIMMER volumes 49 & 50 DVD taping results (updated with thoughts on both Vols and photo gallery)
It’s rolled around again. More than 30 female wrestlers have gathered at the Eagles Club in Berwyn, IL for the latest round of DVD tapings for SHIMMER: Women Athletes, which includes the milestone volume 50 later today. A number of matches have been announced, but before we get to that, results from last night…
At yesterday’s AAW show, Athena defeated Nicole Matthews, Kellie Skater & Christina Von Eerie in a four way match where Matthews and Skater spent much of the contest playing a game of one-up by doing moves on Athena, but after it descended into a four way brawl, Athena nailed Nicole with the O-Face for the pinfall. Later on, Sweet Saraya retained the SHIMMER Championship by pinning MsChif following a wild, building-wide brawl which left both women with very visible battle scars. The end came when Truth Martini interfered to spit green mist into the challenger’s eyes.
Today, some matches have been announced. For volume 49, Saraya defends her title against Athena, while the Canadian Ninjas put the SHIMMER Tag Team Championships on the line against LuFisto and Kana. Elsewhere, SHIMMER Originals Mercedes Martinez and MsChif square off in a rematch from volume 20, where MsChif retained the SHIMMER Title in one of the best title defences up to that point. Also on the card, Leva Bates tangles with Kellie Skater, while nCw Femmes Fatales International Champion Kalamity faces Ayako Hamada.
Meanwhile, for volume 50, the SHIMMER Originals of Martinez, MsChif, Allison Danger and Cheerleader Melissa are involved in a 10-woman elimination match – which we are dubbing SHIM-vivor Series II, where teams of five strive to survive – and a “first time in SHIMMER singles bout” will take place, though you can let your minds run riot as to what it will be.
We will be updating results intermittently throughout the day, so keep hitting refresh for results – and after the show, we’ll upload thoughts and maybe some pictures…
The PWI Female 50 list, with exclusive PWI thoughts
On Monday, we revealed that Gail Kim won the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Female 50 for 2012 based on her title wins, string of victories and high profile that she has received over the past year. Three days on, we have the full list, and we’ve got it listed after the jump. Before that though, there are a few names which jumped out, after the official statement from PWI Senior Writer Dan Murphy:
All candidates were primarily evaluated for their accomplishments during the period of September 1, 2011, through August 30, 2012, though accomplishments outside that time parameter also were taken under consideration. We evaluated each woman on championships won, quality of opposition, won-loss record, technical proficiency, and momentum/promotional ‘push’ during the evaluation period.
First off, despite being a bit part since dropping the Divas Championship in April and not exactly having many wins while holding it – though the ratio of wins to losses was good – Beth Phoenix takes the top WWE spot by taking the runner-up spot, which is even more curious considering after dropping the belt, she barely won on TV. The top independent wrestler was Cheerleader Melissa, who snagged the bronze medal due to her successfully defending the SHIMMER Championship three times in March before dropping it to Saraya Knight, who places at number 8.
In fact, the top 5 is dominated by indie women, as coming in 4th is Sara Del Rey (whose placing is based on her time before joining WWE) while Women Superstars Uncensored World Champion Jessicka Havok comes 5th.
Still, if you wanted to see who came where, click the jump and have a read. Leave us your thoughts in the comments section about who surprised you – because honestly, Tamina‘s position sticks out a bit, especially as she’s placed higher than Divas Champion Eve Torres… (more…)
Review: AIW Girls Night Out 7 (4 August 2012)
Third time this year in AIW for Yim & Kay – this time inside a fifteen foot (pink) steel cage, while we get one more (final) war between Hailey Hatred & Sara Del Rey. Meanwhile, we witness the birth of The Social Network.
Results
1. Athena (1-0) pinned Sassy Stephie (0-3) with an O-Face.
2. Thunderkitty (1-0) pinned Trash Cassidy (0-2) after Cassidy swung a chair and it bounced back to hit her in the face.
3. “The Social Network” (Nikki St. John (1-0) & Annie Social (1-1)) bt Heidi Lovelace (0-3) & Angel Dust (1-3) when Nikki pinned Angel Dust. Post match, Lovelace joined “The Social Network”.
4. Kimber Lee (1-2) pinned Melanie Cruise (1-1) with a rollup.
5. Pondo Rules Match: Crazy Mary Dobson (3-0) pinned Lil Naughty (0-1) after a senton.
Post match, The Social Network beat down Dobson.
6. Veda Scott (2-2) pinned Courtney Rush (0-1) with an inside cradle.
7. Hailey Hatred (8-0) pinned Sara Del Rey (2-4) with a running Ligerbomb.
8. AIW Absolute Women’s Title / Steel Cage Match: Allysin Kay (c) (4-1) bt Mia Yim (1-3) via hanging gogoplata submission.
DVD Review: SHIMMER Volume 45
Cheerleader Melissa defends her newly-won SHIMMER Championship against Nicole Matthews, Athena looks to settle the score with Mercedes Martinez, and four women make their debuts.
Results
1. Courtney Rush pinned Rhia O’Reilly with a Skyward Suplex.
2. Melanie Cruise & Mena Libra defeated Shazza McKenzie & Veda Scott. Cruise got the pin following a top rope legdrop on McKenzie.
3. Sara Del Rey beat Leon following a big powerbomb.
4. Sweet Saraya made Davina Rose tap out to the Knightmare (half crab).
5. Jessie McKay beat Mia Yim with the Boyfriend Stealer.
6. Ray pinned Kellie Skater with a Phoenix Splash.
7. Hailey Hatred & Kalamity beat LuFisto & Kana. Hatred pinned LuFisto following a running powerbomb.
8. Ayumi Kurihara & Ayako Hamada retained the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship by beating ReGeneration X – Allison Danger & Leva Bates. Hamada pinned Danger with the AP Cross.
9. Athena defeated Mercedes Martinez with the O-Face.
10. SHIMMER Champion Cheerleader Melissa retained the title by beating Nicole Matthews with the Air Raid Crash. (more…)
AIW Girls Night Out 7 live coverage (Kay vs Yim III)
You’ll have seen the nose break, you’ll have watched the no holds barred rematch, you’ll have listened to Allysin Kay on the Women of Wrestling Podcast – and now the waiting is over, as Absolute Intense Wrestling presents Girls Night Out 7, headlined by a championship match in a Steel Cage, as Allysin Kay defends against Mia Yim in the match to settle their rivalry.
That’s far from all on the show, as we get a potentially show-stealing matchup between Sara Del Rey and Hailey Hatred – both rightly recognised as two of the absolute best in the world today. Courtney Rush makes her AIW debut, taking on Veda Scott – who has a history of strong performances at these GNO events, while Ohio’s own Sassy Stephie welcomes another Canadian, Leah Von Dutch – who is also making her GNO debut in singles action. Click through after the cut for live results. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (15 May 2012)
In news that landed on the Internet yesterday morning, Women Superstars Uncensored has been sold to what the official Twitter referred to as an “independent buyer”. In a statement in the newsletter, the promotion stated: “WSU is in the process of changing ownership. The sale will not affect any WSUVideo.com purchases or upcoming events. We will have a press release once the sale is signed.”
We understand that the press release will arrive by the end of this week, though there is no official word on whether this will affect the current direction of the promotion, the booking, the storylines, the upcoming Uncensored Rumble V iPPV next month, or the working relationship with nCw Femmes Fatales.
There is a possibility that the “independent buyer” who has bought WSU has plans to expand the brand. After all, there are elements which make it valuable. It is the busiest women’s promotion in the US, holding around a dozen cards a year – either officially or in collaboration with other companies – as well as having episodic storylines, a strong bunch of top-line characters like the Midwest Militia, Mercedes Martinez, Alicia and Brittney Savage, and it has ironed out a lot of the kinks that it suffered while it found its feet on iPPV. We hope that if there are changes, they don’t happen too suddenly, as it may be jarring for fans who are used to the current setup. We also hope that this buyer has a plan, and isn’t a money mark who throws a shedload of money at it, and pulls out if he or she does not see a return, killing the promotion as a consequence. After all, there is some evidence that WSU is not as profitable as it could be at the moment…
As we have pointed out on this site, attendance numbers have been pretty weak since WSU moved from its regular base of the ACE Arena in Union City, NJ to the NYWC Sportatorium in Deer Park, NY, though we have no real indication on how financially successful the iPPVs have been – for all we know, they could be bombing, or they could be booming. While we have a few bits and pieces of information about the current situation, it would be best to wait until there is an official word to try and get more of a handle on the situation.
We will bring you more on this sale as we get it. (more…)
Review: AIW Girls Night Out 6 (15 April 2012)
Opportunity knocks for Mia Yim & Allysin Kay, promoted to the main event of Absolute Intense Wrestling’s Girls Night Out 6 in a match for the AIW Women’s Championship. Oh yes, and there’s that whole business of a broken nose to settle too.
Results
1. KC pinned Miss Heidi with a Rydeen Bomb
2. Hailey Hatred pinned Leva Bates with a Running Liger Bomb
3. Melanie Cruise pinned Taylor Made with an Argentine Backbreaker faceplant
4. Death Match: “Crazy” Mary Dobson pinned Trash Cassidy with a rollup
5. Cherry Bomb pinned Sassy Stephie with a BSE
6. Taeler Hendrix pinned Annie Social (w/ Sammy Geodollno) with a schoolgirl
7. Jennifer Blake pinned Kimber Lee with a pump-handle Michinoku Driver
8. Sara Del Rey beat Veda Scott via submission to a YES! Lock
9. Hailey Hatred pinned Jenny Rose with a Tiger Suplex
10. AIW Absolute Women’s Championship: Allysin Kay pinned Mia Yim with a back suplex in an unsanctioned, no rules grudge match to win the vacant AIW Absolute Women’s Championship. (more…)
Allysin Kay becomes Champion at Girls Night Out 6
Against a backdrop of reported financial problems (spawning the twitter hashtag of #saveaiw), Ohio’s Absolute Intense Wrestling presented the sixth edition of their popular “Girls Night Out” series from Turners Hall, Cleveland, OH. You can get yourself up to date on what’s going on with AIW’s women’s division with website reviews of Girls Night Out 4 & 5, our exclusive Women of Wrestling Podcast with former AIW Women’s Champion Mickie Knuckles and our recent Fight Like A Girl audio show with debutante Taeler Hendrix.
Main-evented by Allysin Kay and Mia Yim, their rematch stemmed from GNO5′s nose-breaking incident which resulted in an unsanctioned no-rules grudge match for the currently vacant AIW Absolute Women’s Championship – a title held most recently by Knuckles. Click through to after the cut the results, collated courtesy of David Muscarella… (more…)
SHIMMER volumes 47 & 48 results – title changes (now updated with live observations)
It’s day two of the SHIMMER tapings in Berwyn, IL (you can find out the results, thoughts and photos from yesterday’s DVD tapings by clicking here), and a number of matches have been announced.
After defeating both Canadian Ninjas in singles matches yesterday, Cheerleader Melissa defends her SHIMMER Championship against Jessie McKay, aware that Sweet Saraya has apparently put a bounty on her head.
Elsewhere, the Tag Team Championship will be on the line as holders Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara defend against high-fliers Ray and Leon in an all-joshi affair, Mercedes Martinez takes on Hailey Hatred, and the unlikely team of Sara Del Rey and Courtney Rush will meet ReGeneration X – Allison Danger & Leva Bates.
As with yesterday, we will be adding the results to this post as they happen, and Stew will offer his thoughts from ringside later. Click after the jump and keep hitting refresh to follow the goings-on. (more…)
SHIMMER volumes 45 & 46 results (now updated with live observations)
We’ve had WSU; we’ve had Femmes Fatales, and now it’s the turn of SHIMMER as part of wrestling’s March Madness.
Cheerleader Melissa walks into these four DVD tapings as the SHIMMER Champion, while Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada hold the Tag Team Championship. Although no matches have been announced, we offered some thoughts about what could happen, but they are just musings and nothing more. We will all find out together how things will unfold.
Stew is in Berwyn, IL watching the shows live, and will offer up thoughts on the tapings later on. For now, we will bring you results as they happen, so keep refreshing the page to keep up with all the developments.
Click after the jump to dive in. It’s going to be a busy one. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (17 January 2012)
When I looked at the card for the Bull Nakano EMPRESS retirement show, I was surprised at what I saw. Not the card itself, which looked very appealing, but the order in which the matches would take place. Unlike American shows which have a card, but barring the main event, you probably won’t know the exact order of the matches. When it comes to Japan, the match listing is usually the order in which those contests would take place. Surprisingly, the singles match featuring veterans and legends Ayako Hamada and Aja Kong would OPEN the show, while the final match on the card would be between two women with comparatively little experience – one had just three years under her belt, while the other had debuted just 15 months ago.
Having said that, the match between Ice Ribbon’s ICEx60 and International Ribbon Tag Team Champion Hikaru Shida and Wonder Of Stardom and one half of the Goddesses Of Stardom Yuzuki Aikawa put forth a hell of a contest, and proved that they were worthy of headlining the card. Even more surprisingly, 28-year old Aikawa won the match in front of 3000 fans at the Tokyo Dome City Hall – though that could be indicative of the potential influence that she could have on joshi in the future…
Despite being trained in taekwondo for ten years, Aikawa made her living before becoming a wrestler as a bikini model and a singer in a girl group, selling picture books, DVDs and CDs, mostly down to her beauty and curvy figure. However, she packed it all in just over two years ago to make the transition to becoming a professional wrestler – funny, in the western world, it usually works the other way around. A year after making the switch, she debuted on October 31, 2010 as part of her own card which she produced, taking on Nanae Takahashi. You would imagine that considering that it was her own card, it was her first match and that she is a pretty woman, she would be eased into the situation by a veteran of the business.
No such luck. Takahashi defeated her, and as part of the deal, beat the shit out of her. (more…)
SHIMMER Volumes 43 & 44 results and thoughts
Day Two of SHIMMER is in the history books, and now that the smoke has cleared from the shimnanigan-filled afterparty, it’s time to go back and review an absolutely amazing day of action. In my opinion, Day Two (encompassing Vols 43 & 44) was a stronger day of tapings than Day One, featuring many great matches and topped off with a history making Vol 44.
In male pre-show action, the team of Knight Wagner, Jordan McIntyre and the indiest man alive (a wrestler I failed to identify, but who wore the indytastic combination of a mask, t-shirt and pleather pants) defeated Team CLASH. After that, SPARKLE action saw Jett Riley & Kimberley Maddox beat December & Buggy Nova, while KC Spinelli pinned Su Yung with a hard powerslam.
Volume 43
1. LuFisto pinned Maja Svensson with the Mangalizer.
2. ReGeneration X (Allison Danger & Leva Bates) beat Sassy Stephie & Nevaeh after a Sonic Screwdriver on Stephie.
3. Nicole Matthews pinned Davina Rose with a Roll Of The Dice.
4. Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated Kellie Skater with a side suplex.
5. Saraya Knight pinned Ariel after a Sunset Flip Powerbomb.
6. Courtney Rush pinned Nikki Roxx following an Angle Slam.
7. Yumi Ohka pinned Mia Yim with a bridging Tiger Suplex.
8. MsChif pinned Tomoka Nakagawa after a Desecrator.
9. Mercedes Martinez & Athena went to a double countout. After the match, Athena wanted to restart, but Martinez walked off.
10. Jessie McKay pinned Britani Knight following a Boyfriend Stealer. Afterwards, Saraya Knight came out and berated Britani for letting down the Knight family name, and disowned her – suggesting she could put out a want ad and find a better daughter than Britani. Britani eventually snapped and the two brawled in a breathtaking extended pull-apart brawl. Britani vows to leave, but wants one match with her mother on Vol 44 to settle it all.
11. Serena Deeb pinned Portia Perez in an amazing no holds barred match, after spearing Perez off a table the two were standing on at the time.
12. Cheerleader Melissa defeated Kana after an Air Raid Crash. Post match, ring announcer Joey Eastman revealed that the win made Melissa the new top contender for Madison Eagles’ SHIMMER Championship.
13. SHIMMER Tag Team Titles: Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara (c) defeated Madison Eagles & Sara Del Rey to retain their titles after Hamada pinned Del Rey with an AP Cross.
Volume 44
1. Kellie Skater pinned Davina Rose after a Skate or Die.
2. Taylor Made pinned Veda Scott with a neckbreaker.
3. Kalamity pinned Tomoka Nakagawa with a Kalamity Driver.
4. Sassy Stephie & Neveah beat Ashley Lane & Mia Yim with a Kiss My Sass from Stephie on Yim. Former partners Nevaeh & Ashley Lane had already brawled to the back.
5. Serena Deeb pinned Yumi Ohka with a Spear.
6. ReGeneration X, Christina Von Eerie & MsChif beat Mena Libra, Melanie Cruise, She Nay Nay & Bonesaw when Von Eerie pinned She Nay Nay with a Pedigree.
7. Hiroyo Matsumoto pinned Jessie McKay with a side suplex.
8. Sara Del Rey pinned Courtney Rush with a Royal Butterfly.
9. Athena beat Mercedes Martinez via DQ when Martinez blatantly used a steel chair to attack the ankle of Athena. This seemed to cement a double turn, as Martinez was booed, while Athena was cheered. Athena pledged to get back at Martinez, but claimed she thought her leg was broken.
10. Kana beat LuFisto with the Kana Lock.
11. Britani Knight pinned Saraya Knight in a no DQ match with a Knight Light DDT.
12. SHIMMER Tag Team Titles: Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara (c) beat The Canadian NINJAs (Portia Perez & Nicole Matthews) after Kurihara pinned Perez after an Exploder Suplex.
13. SHIMMER Title: Cheerleader Melissa pinned Madison Eagles (c) with a rollup after escaping the Hellbound – NEW CHAMPION. After celebrating with the fans, Melissa was jumped and assaulted by Nicole Matthews, who claimed that this was “her time” now.
Click after the jump for more thoughts
SHIMMER volumes 41 & 42 results and thoughts
Day one of SHIMMER: Women Athletes is in the bag, with volumes 41 and 42 seeing some top class matches, strong debuts and some advancements in storylines, which should add intrigue to tomorrow’s event.
Before the tapings began, we were treated to two SPARKLE pre-show matches, with BoNayNayBugs (Jessie “Bonesaw” Brooks, She Nay Nay and Buggy) defeating Veda Scott, Kimberley Maddox and former WWE Developmental Diva Su Yung when Bonesaw nailed Yung with a double underhook DDT, and Allysin Kay & Maja (Mia) Svensson went to a time limit draw with KC Spinelli and Cherry Bomb.
Volume 41:
1. Nikki Roxx beat Kellie Skater with a schoolboy as Skater went for her Skate Or Die finisher.
2. Mercedes Martinez pinned Davina Rose with a Fisherman Buster.
3. Hailey Hatred pinned Kalamity with a running powerbomb. Hatred showed respect to Kalamity for her effort afterwards, but were attacked from behind by Mena Libra and Melanie Cruise.
4. Sara Del Rey beat Yumi Ohka with the Royal Butterfly.
Amber Gertner then brought out former SHIMMER Tag Team Champion Ashley Lane (AKA TNA‘s Madison Rayne) who called out Nevaeh after her former partner’s heel turn at AAW last night. The two got into a pull-apart brawl.
5. Kana (who was shown in video packages lanking Sara Del Rey and Cheerleader Melissa) made Mia Yim tap out from the Kana Lock (crossface chicken wing).
SHIMMER Champion Madison Eagles was presented with her award for being number one in the PWI Female 50, then talked trash about Serena Deeb, who was her challenger for the taping. Serena then cut the best promo of her SHIMMER career to express her desire to be the champion.
6. Ayako Hamada & Ayumi Kurihara defeated Daizee Haze & Tomoka Nakagawa to win the SHIMMER Tag Team Championship. Haze and Nakagawa came out beforehand to say they were taking the night off, but were forced into a defence. Nakagawa was pinned by Kurihara following two exploder suplexes.
7. Nevaeh b Ashley Lane with a German Suplex.
Daizee Haze returned to ringside to quit the promotion.
8. Cheerleader Melissa pinned Britani Knight following an Air Raid Crash. Britani’s mother Saraya gave her some verbal abuse after the match.
9. Portia Perez beat Jessie McKay after hitting her in the head with a chain wrapped round her fist, then wished rival Serena Deeb all the best in her title match, as she wanted to become SHIMMER Champion by beating her.
10. Saraya Knight defeated Allison Danger in a British rounds-based match. Danger got the first fall at the opening of round one; Saraya equalised by pinning Danger with her feet on the ropes in round three, and; Knight won the third fall in round four by pinning Danger with her forearm over her throat.
11. Hiroyo Matsumoto beat Nicole Matthews with a backdrop driver.
12. Madison Eagles retained her SHIMMER Championship after pinning Serena Deeb with the Hellbound.
Volume 42:
The taping began with a video of Sara Del Rey talking about Kana blanking her and challenging her to a match.
1. Mercedes Martinez beat Leva Bates with the Fisherman Buster, then kicked her a few times after the bell.
2. Mena Libra and Melanie Cruise defeated Hailey Hatred and Kalamity when Libra pinned Kalamity with the Ambassador Bridge (samoan drop with a bridge).
3. Tomoka Nakagawa defeated MsChif, LuFisto and Kellie Skater in a 4-way when Nakagawa pinned MsChif.
4. Yumi Ohka pinned Courtney Rush following a chokebomb.
5. Portia Perez made Davina Rose tap out with the Just Facelock. Perez had called for Serena Deeb to sit at ringside to watch her destroy Deeb’s protege. Perez refused to break the hold so Serena got in the ring to break it, only to be attacked by Nicole Matthews. The four then had a wild brawl which saw the locker room clear to break them up.
6. Nevaeh and Sassy Stephie defeated Nikki Roxx and Ariel.
7. Cheerleader Melissa pinned Christina Von Eerie following the Kudo Driver.
8. Athena won a 3-way featuring Jessie McKay and Mia Yim with the O-Face (leaping Stunner from the top rope).
9. Nicole Matthews beat Serena Deeb with the Roll The Dice after Portia Perez interfered. Deeb then challenged Perez to a no holds barred match for volume 43.
10. Ayako Hamada and Ayumi Kurihara retained the Tag Team Championship over Saraya and Britani Knight when Hamada pinned Britani. Saraya refused to help her daughter during the match, who she blamed for being soft after the match during a scathing promo, where she said “they” would want her anymore.
11. Kana beat Sara Del Rey via referee stoppage when she passed out in the Kana Lock.
12. Madison Eagles retained the SHIMMER Championship by beating Hiroyo Matsumoto with the Hellbound.
Click after the jump for more thoughts. (more…)
Ringbelles Roundup (26 April 2011)
The Big News
One of only of a handful of transgendered wrestlers in the world has made history again.
The original WILD Wrestling match scheduled for the show at Insane Wrestling League in Chino, CA, last Friday was meant to be Buggy taking on Allison Danger. When that was announced as no longer taking place, champion Lucky O’Shea was drafted in to face a mystery opponent. That turned out to be “The Bloodthirsty Vixen” Amanda, who defeated O’Shea to win the title.
Standing 5’9” and weighing 140lb and hailing from Long Beach, CA, 28-year old Mariah Moreno started out as a manager, then trained at the Santino Bros Wrestling Academy in Bell Gardens in 2008 before making her debut a year later.
Speaking to the Windy City Times at the end of last year, Amanda described when she started living her life as a woman in her teenage years: “I was born male and, at age 15, I decided to start living my life as a female,” said Moreno, who had breast-augmentation surgery about five years ago. “I plan on going forward with [full transition] surgery within the next five to seven years.” (more…)
Ringbelles Report: SHIMMER DVD tapings, volumes 39-40
SHIMMER Women Athletes returned to action on Sunday to film Volumes 39 & 40 of their DVD series. In results and news from the show:
a. Rhia O’Reilly & Jett Riley defeated Brittany Force & December in SPARKLE action. As the only women’s SPARKLE match on the day, this got a little more time than the two matches yesterday. O’Reilly beat Force with a cross body to avenge her loss from the day before. A fairly good match, with O’Reilly’s fire and Force’s personality coming through most strongly.
1. Kellie Skater defeated Courtney Rush with a Skate or Die, giving “Rate Tank” a much needed win, albeit at the expense of one of the stars of the first day of tapings. Tank’s knee-bend Torture Rack initiated chants of “Total Package” in a decent, and somewhat surprising victory. Rush wasn’t back on Vol 40, but I hope to see a lot more of the former PJ Tyler, who looked very good in her appearances this weekend.
2. LuFisto defeated Sassy Stephie with a twisting Downward Spiral. Stephie was making her first SHIMMER appearance in several volumes, having missed the previous set of tapings with a shoulder injury. Madamoiselle Rachelle managed Stephie here, and although she didn’t get particularly involved in the pleasingly pretty even matchup, she did contribute to the end of the match, when Stephie and Rachelle coming together on the apron, setting up LuFisto for the win. A fine match. (more…)
Ringbelles Report: SHIMMER DVD tapings, volumes 37-38
Apologies for the delay in getting to you, but we’re in Chicago, working on a poor wifi connection and there is much socialising to be done, but we’re finally updating you with the results of the tapings of volumes 37 and 38 of SHIMMER: Women Athletes, held in Berwyn, IL on Saturday.
So we’ll furnish you with the results and my thoughts on any standout moments.
Volume 37
SPARKLE: Bonesaw b Jett Riley with a double-arm DDT. Bonesaw’s improved since her last SHIMMER outings last year and looks much more aggressive with her forearm strikes, so good on her. Jett Riley is one colourful individual – it makes her stand out and be memorable, so thumbs up for that too.
SPARKLE: Brittany Force b Rhia O’Reilly by getting a pin while her feet were on the ropes. Force is a tough-looking cookie, and her appearance is aggressive yet mildly sleazy, which works for her character. O’Reilly flew over to Berwyn on her own dime for the opportunity to wrestle for SHIMMER, which makes her the most far travelled SPARKLER in the promotion’s history.
MsChif b Kellie Skater with the Desecrator. MsChif’s return to SHIMMER after her freak shoulder injury while preparing for the tapings last September was in a comedy outing, but she still had her sharp edge taking out the Rate Tank.
Mena Libra b Courtney Rush with a samoan drop with a bridge. Rush (formerly PJ Tyler) unleashed a shedload f impressive suplexes on the bigger Libra, which got the crowd into the contest, even though neither are SHIMMER regulars, and are pretty unknown to the Berwyn crowd, even though both have SPARKLEd here before. Both Rush and Libra have something to offer SHIMMER.
A backstage interview with Christina Von Eerie was interrupted by Sara Del Rey, who proceeded to beat the holy crap out of the spiky-haired punk and send her down two flights of stairs to show who was superior. Very different to previous backstage segments, this one used actions as well as words, setting up a match later on in the tapings. (more…)
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