Shimmer Volume 3 - DVD Review

During my recent looks at women’s wrestling, there’s one promotion I’ve neglected, even though I’ve owned one of their DVDs for quite a while now - Shimmer, the sister promotion of Ring of Honor. So for this review I’m going to take a little trip back in time to Shimmer Volume 3, featuring Daizee Haze against Sara Del Rey in the main event, and other stars such as Nikki Roxx, Lexie Fyfe, Malia Hosaka and Allison Danger.

The release begins with Rain facing one of the best women on the circuit at the moment, former TNA Knockout Nikki Roxx. It’s a good match to open the show with, and another example of how good Roxx is. But of course, it takes two to tango, and Rain also put in a good performance, coming out on top with her acid rain finisher, an electric chair into a bridging cover. Good stuff.

The next match saw three way elimination action, with Amber O’Neal, Cindy Rogers and Tiana Ringer. This was a really enjoyable match, with Rogers in particular looking really impressive. There was a series of spots early on which drew a smile from this writer as all three women went for pins in quick succession. O’Neal was the first woman eliminated, falling to Rogers’ face buster. The one-on-one action was just as good as the three way action, with Rogers and Ringer putting on a good succession of moves, with Rogers getting the win with her TCB submission move. Impressive stuff this!

Then it was back to singles action for the rest of the DVD, beginning with Lorelei Lee taking on Malia Hosaka. Hosaka was one of the few wrestlers that impressed me during my recent forays into the Women Superstars Uncensored promotion, and given that I didn’t rate those shows that highly that’s saying something. The veteran Hosaka put in a good performance here against the relative newcomer, playing the heel role to perfection, with Lee able to keep up with the wily villain, showing some good wrestling moves of her own. All of this made for a very good match, with Lee pulling off something of an upset by pinning Hosaka with an Oklahoma roll. This didn’t sit to well with Hosaka, who attacked Lee after the bell, and called out her buddy Lexie Fyfe to administer more punishment, until Cindy Rogers ran in to make the save. Great match.

Lexie Fyfe then made a quick return, going up against MsChif. Fyfe looked scared before this match even began when MsChif let out her decibel busting trademark cries. They soon got down to action though, and as with the previous matches it was pretty damn good, with some tremendous technical wrestling from both women. About ten minutes into the match Cheerleader Melissa, MsChif’s rival, made her way down to ringside, and after Melissa interfered, Fyfe took MsChif down with her attitude adjuster finisher to get the winning pin.

Next up, a quick return for Cheerleader Melissa, taking on Shantelle Taylor, aka future TNA Knockout Taylor Wilde. You know, this Melissa reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite put my finger on it, and she isn’t exactly dressed like a cheerleader either. Anyway, back to the match. This was an very solid encounter, with a good storyline and some great technical and brawling action from both women, especially from Melissa. Although I’ve known about her for some time now, this is the first match I’ve ever watched properly, and she impressed the hell out of me, coming out on top here after taking Taylor out with her air raid crash finisher. The best match on the DVD so far.

Then it was on to Allison Danger, going up against the now sadly retired Irish star Rebecca Knox. While Melissa/Taylor may have been a great technical match, this one was even better. It started off as a face v face battle with some great exchanges between the two, before Knox pulled off one of the oldest tricks in the book, faking an injury, claiming that she’d hurt her ankle while jumping over Danger as she came back off the ropes. Several referees and her opponent looked concerned for Knox, but as Danger held the ropes open so she could leave, Knox quickly recovered and kicked Danger out of the ring, and she immediately began to wrestle in a more aggressive, heel-like fashion. This made the match even better, with Knox’s newfound attitude taking her on to victory with the broken arrow. This is now the best match on the DVD so far.

Main event time, with Sara Del Ray taking on Daizee Haze. A nice little face v face battle saw some improvised comedy early on. After Del Ray failed to do a nip up while she was in an arm wringer, she told Haze that she could do that particular move. At Haze’s urging, she performed the move, and then, at both wrestler’s urging, the referee performed the move as well, actually improving on Del Ray’s effort. The match began in earnest afterwards, with Del Ray using his size and strength advantage to good effect. Haze was able to counter at times with her speed in what became a tremendous back and forth encounter with several false finishes, before Del Ray eventually got the pin with a bridging German suplex, ending a contest that was worthy of it’s main event status.

No extras to speak of here, so let’s get down to it.

In conclusion - this was my first taste of Shimmer, and I liked it. Every match achieved what it set out to do, with the performances ranging from good to tremendous, with the Rebecca Knox/Allison Danger match clearly the best match on the DVD. I won’t go as far as saying that this was the best women’s wrestling DVD I’ve seen, but I will recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen Shimmer before, and I look forward to seeing more of their releases in the future.

With thanks to Mark Sloan for supplying a copy of this release, which can be purchased online at www.a-merchandise.co.uk.