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| A Clockwork MsChif? Photo Credit: Gregory Davis/DDS |
In the style of the T to the H, yo
Highlights:
General Observations:
Match of the Night Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada (c) vs. Kalamity and Hailey Hatred, SHIMMER World Tag Team Championship Match - The tag match on Vol. 45 between the challengers here and the team of Kana and LuFisto was balls-out crazy intense, and even though I felt it short, I wasn't sure any two teams could have kept that pace up for longer than what they did. Then the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions stepped in and showed everyone that they weren't to be underestimated. As if being compared to Lufi and Kana is a bad thing, but hey, when you go big rather than go home, it's good that the two you're upstaging are two of the best in the world.
If the pace in that aforementioned match was breakneck, the one here was absolutely decapitating. Oh man, it was like none of these four wrestlers wanted to even know what taking a breather was. Okay, there were a few submission spots, but it was strike after strike, dodges as the form of defense, counters heaped upon counters, untagged saves whether they were preemptive or reactive. I think I got a bit woozy while watching this.
And yeah, seeing the three thicker competitors speeding through this match like they were on Adderall, it bears noting that Kurihara, the smallest wrestler by far, may have been its standout performer. I mean, usually, when someone busts out the casadora, it takes a little while to get balanced and figure out where they're going with it. Kurihara just as quickly as she split herself into the grasp of Hatred swung into the roll-up pin. That was impressive, just a smidge more impressive as her flattening Kalamity with the high-angle uranage suplex for the win. Amazing, amazing stuff.
Overall Thoughts: I thought I was going to be watching a show where the best match was going to be a truncated affair to set up a tag match for the next day. It felt like the competitors had given so much during the first taping that they were a little gassed. Even Sweet Saraya Knight's cantankerousness seemed a bit flatter than normal. However, once Nicole Matthews and Athena kicked it into high gear, the show reached peaks that were close to the ones it set in Vol. 45, with them arguably surpassing them with the Tag Title match.
But I think the one thing that bound this show together was the Sara del Rey partner search and Courtney Rush trying to draw the fun out of her. It's a whimsical story where even behind her most dour, serious shield, del Rey was able throw out some beams of personality that in character she just didn't seem to have anymore. For example, the 12,000 Twitter followers jab? That was fucking gold right there. GOLD, JERRY.
I feel like the first two shows in the weekend cluster laid down a lot of good storytelling and fleshed it out with some choice in-ring work. Vol. 46 wasn't quite the dynamic display of this as 45 was, but it's well worth your time and money.
Highlights:
- Courtney Rush overcame massive interference from Mme. Rachelle to put away Sassy Stephie with the Skyward Suplex (Olympic Slam).
- Even though she had to have felt like she lost, Veda Scott defeated Saraya Knight by disqualification after Knight refused to relinquish her Knightmare (elevated single crab with a knee right to the back) submission hold after the bell had already signaled her victory.
- The New York Knockout tried turning Pegaboo against LuFisto, but the Super Hardcore Anime saw through it, defeating NYKO with the Mangalizer (swinging Flatliner).
- Sara del Rey defeated Leva Bates with the Royal Butterfly. After the match, she attacked Bates with the cross-armbreaker, drawing out Allison Danger to dress her down in front of the crowd and challenge her to a tag match for Vol. 47.
- Ray and Leon took down Mia Yim and Davina Rose respectively with a twisting moonsault and a senton atomico.
- Although she used Kellie Skater's roo roids for her advantage, KC Spinelli was not able to defeat the Adamantium Aussie, falling to the Skate 'n Destroy (kick to the back of a kneeling opponent followed by a somersault front neckbreaker).
- Jessie McKay defeated MsChif with an inside cradle, earning a shot at the SHIMMER Championship at Vol. 47.
- In a hard-fought match, Nicole Matthews defeated Athena with a rope-assisted Vancouver Maneuver (CrossRhodes).
- Mercedes Martinez took Kana down with a fisherman's buster in a dream match scenario.
- Courtney Rush was able to trick Sara del Rey with gum to finally make her acquiesce to choosing her as her partner for the tag match against Bates and Danger.
- Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada retained the SHIMMER Tag Team Championships over Hailey Hatred and Kalamity with a Kurihara high-angle uranage on the latter member.
- IN a match where the challenger attacked the Champion before the bell and brawled extensively with her outside the ring before said bell was able to ring, Cheerleader Melissa was able to fend off the threat of Portia Perez for the SHIMMER Championship with an Air Raid Crash. After the match, Nicole Matthews blindsided Melissa, only to be chased off by Jessie McKay.
General Observations:
- So yeah, Courtney Rush had the TRIFORCE on her tights. I think I'm in love.
- The crowd let Sassy Stephie know that she wasn't exactly the fan favorite. They announced Rush, and she posed, turned to Stephie, and said "They like me better than you!"
- Rush's Skyward Suplex to finish the match looked almost like a deadlift/Everest-style version of the move. I don't care if it's a bodyslam, any move that is done Everest-style looks exponentially more bad-ass and finisher quality.
- The scared-shitless look on Veda Scott's face when Saraya Knight's theme hit was priceless.
- Among the fans harassed by Sweet Saraya on her way to the ring - former American resident and eternal great-wrestling-enthusiast Leslie Lee III of Dirty Dirty Sheets. Apparently, Knight doesn't give a single fuck about her image in the press.
- Someone must have said something inflammatory to Knight from the crowd, because she hopped the rail and went into it looking for blood. It caused Portia Perez to remark "I really think she can kill someone, Prazak" on commentary.
- Even better than quivering in fear of the ass-whipping she was about to get was the fact that Scott was hesitant to do any offense on Knight for fear that instead of hurting her that she'd piss her off.
- The old Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler reverse decision is a great thing to pull out of mothballs every once in awhile, although it would be hilarious if they used this win as justification to give Scott a title shot at Knight at the next set of SHIMMER tapings in Berwyn, provided Knight makes it out of the cage at WrestleCon against Cheerleader Melissa.
- "You better watch this area! This is my meal ticket!" -- New York Knockout to LuFisto, pointing at her face and boobs. OF course, Lufi concentrated her attack around that area.
- Early in the match, LuFisto landed a hard shoulder block to NYKO's chest area, to which she remarked "Do you know how much I paid for these?" I have to admit, I was amused.
- During the match, NYKO stole Pegaboo and was saying all kinds of mean things to Lufi on her behalf. That was probably the most brilliant thing I've seen anyone try to garner heat on Lufi (although I admit I've only seen a fraction of her matches, so I'm not exactly the best source on superlatives like that).
- Lufi and Pegaboo "reuniting" at the end of the match was about as heartwarming as a reunion between a slightly psychotic hardcore icon and her inanimate manager could be.
- YOUR LEVA BATES COSPLAY REPORT: Hawkeye from The Avengers, albeit a lower rent, comic book based one rather than the Jeremy Renner unmasked version from the movie. Still, I approve.
- Sara del Rey was not impressed by the costume or by Bates' markswomanship with her toy bow and arrow.
- After the match, del Rey cinched in the cross-armbreaker, which elicited Allison Danger for the save. Danger echoed what the theme of the weekend was so far, that Sara del Rey used to be fun and is now kind of a humorless dick. She laid down the challenge for a tag match, but then remarked that del Rey didn't have any friends. Her comeback? "I HAVE OVER 12,000 TWITTER FOLLOWERS!" It was as great as you might imagine it being.
- Mia Yim had Ray trapped in a headscissors early on in the match, which she escaped from using a headstand. So Dolph Ziggler DOES watch joshi!
- I may have noted it before, but Leon packs so much goddamn bang into her spear for such a small competitor. Edge should've taken notes before he retired. She totally took Yim right out of her boots. So violent.
- The best part about Sara del Rey's partner search? She was wearing a Green Ant shirt. CHIKARA SYNERGY~!
- Kellie Skater busted out the one-knee-across-the-chest, flex-pose pin on KC Spinelli, which is the next evolution of the Chris Jericho C'MAWN BABAY taunt pin. Needless to say I approved.
- Spinelli got a hold of Skater's Roo Roids and used the strength from them to pick up the pure adamantium that was Skater into an Implant Buster. Alas, Roo Roids in teh wrong hands aren't as effective.
- Skater nailed a DDT and covered for a two count. She argued with the ref and called him "racist." Never change, Rate Tank. Never, ever change.
- "I'm already part of a tag team. The Canadian Ninjas?" -- Nicole Matthews. "Never heard of 'em." -- Sara del Rey.
- MSCHIF COSPLAY REPORT: Wait, MsChif doesn't usually cosplay, does she? Well, she did here, as Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange. I gotta say, she rocked the bowler hat with Scream Queen style.
- Chif HYPERSCREAMED at BRYCE~! when he was trying to check her for foreign objects, and then again at Jessie McKay while they were shaking hands pre-match. She apologetically replied "I can't control it!" McKay tried to do her best Scream Queen impression, but dude, it was way weak.
- COUNTERFEST! Chif and McKay spent about a minute countering between their finisher set ups. They cycled through five times apiece before Chif decided "Fuck it" and forearmed McKay right in the jaw.
- Nicole Matthews wouldn't let the match with Athena start until the ref checked Athena's back pockets. The ref was a bit apprehensive because I'm not sure I'd want to be accused of goosing a wrestler who could beat my ass either.
- You all know I'm a huge fan of the little things, and Athena totally earned cupcake points with me when she was swinging futilely at Matthews while she was dragging her to the middle of the ring. Sell me the struggle.
- I also loved how Matthews' strategy in the entire match was making sure she didn't get hit with the O-Face.
- Athena countered out of the Vancouver Maneuver with maybe the most brutal Sole Food/Eat Defeat I've ever seen. She fell back and then after the impact, flipped Matthews over with her foot. Whoa.
- I could watch Kana kick people for days and not get tired of it. DAYS.
- Martinez really has embraced her "No fucks given" bad guy persona, hasn't she? Choking Kana in the ropes, drawing her to brawl outside instead of staying in the ring where she's resided for most of her stay in America, slapping her like she wasn't one of the best in the world... I dig it.
- del Rey found SHIMMER original Lacey in the parking lot and propositioned her to be her tag partner, to which Lacey laughed and walked away. Finally, Rush, whom del Rey had rebuked twice already, was able to trick her into accept her as her tag partner with gum. EVERYONE KNOWS SARA DEL REY LOVES GUM.
- So yeah, everyone knows that the casadora is probably the trickiest move to pull off believably, so when Ayumi Kurihara came in, shot herself casadora-style at Hailey Hatred, and almost as immediately rolled her into a pin combo, you best believe it was worth standing up and clapping for.
- Ayako Hamada kicked Hatred in the chest, to which Hatred replied a little later on by suplexing both her and her partner Kurihara at the same time. Lesson? Don't fuck with Hailey Hatred.
- I'm pretty sure the stiffness in this Tag Title match, if converted to electrical energy, could power a small, Midwestern town for an entire year. I was actually surprised that Kurihara didn't lose her head when Hatred lariated her inside out.
- Portia Perez decided she didn't want to start her SHIMMER Championship match on time, but also didn't want to pass the opportunity to beat the crap out of Cheerleader Melissa. They had a huge brawl outside the ring that lasted longer than the match itself (or at least felt like it, stopwatch guys). It was good from what I could see, but a lot of it went into areas where there wasn't really good lighting. You have to be able to see the action to enjoy it, y'know?
- After the match ended, Matthews came out to help her Ninja partner beat the crap out of Melissa (at the behest of Saraya Knight, who came to them both with "propositions" before each of their title opportunities on the respective tapings). McKay came out to even the score, but Melissa thought she was there to pick bone. At that point, she didn't trust anyone, and I'm not sure I would've blamed her.
Match of the Night Ayumi Kurihara and Ayako Hamada (c) vs. Kalamity and Hailey Hatred, SHIMMER World Tag Team Championship Match - The tag match on Vol. 45 between the challengers here and the team of Kana and LuFisto was balls-out crazy intense, and even though I felt it short, I wasn't sure any two teams could have kept that pace up for longer than what they did. Then the SHIMMER Tag Team Champions stepped in and showed everyone that they weren't to be underestimated. As if being compared to Lufi and Kana is a bad thing, but hey, when you go big rather than go home, it's good that the two you're upstaging are two of the best in the world.
If the pace in that aforementioned match was breakneck, the one here was absolutely decapitating. Oh man, it was like none of these four wrestlers wanted to even know what taking a breather was. Okay, there were a few submission spots, but it was strike after strike, dodges as the form of defense, counters heaped upon counters, untagged saves whether they were preemptive or reactive. I think I got a bit woozy while watching this.
And yeah, seeing the three thicker competitors speeding through this match like they were on Adderall, it bears noting that Kurihara, the smallest wrestler by far, may have been its standout performer. I mean, usually, when someone busts out the casadora, it takes a little while to get balanced and figure out where they're going with it. Kurihara just as quickly as she split herself into the grasp of Hatred swung into the roll-up pin. That was impressive, just a smidge more impressive as her flattening Kalamity with the high-angle uranage suplex for the win. Amazing, amazing stuff.
Overall Thoughts: I thought I was going to be watching a show where the best match was going to be a truncated affair to set up a tag match for the next day. It felt like the competitors had given so much during the first taping that they were a little gassed. Even Sweet Saraya Knight's cantankerousness seemed a bit flatter than normal. However, once Nicole Matthews and Athena kicked it into high gear, the show reached peaks that were close to the ones it set in Vol. 45, with them arguably surpassing them with the Tag Title match.
But I think the one thing that bound this show together was the Sara del Rey partner search and Courtney Rush trying to draw the fun out of her. It's a whimsical story where even behind her most dour, serious shield, del Rey was able throw out some beams of personality that in character she just didn't seem to have anymore. For example, the 12,000 Twitter followers jab? That was fucking gold right there. GOLD, JERRY.
I feel like the first two shows in the weekend cluster laid down a lot of good storytelling and fleshed it out with some choice in-ring work. Vol. 46 wasn't quite the dynamic display of this as 45 was, but it's well worth your time and money.
