SHIMMER Women’s Athletes Vol 23

SHIMMER Women’s Athletes

ShimmerWrestling.com

$14.95

Reviewed by Joe Babinsack

SHIMMER is about to celebrate its fourth anniversary, and it’s well worth the time and couple of bucks to check out one of the most well-run pro wrestling promotions around. I was tempted to say “well-rounded” but there’s too much to read into that statement.

It’s easy to do match recaps, but harder to capture the essence of the promotion in words.

I know there are fans out there that dismiss women’s wrestling, who dismiss indy wrestling in general, who cannot be brought to attention without pyro and costuming and merchandise sales. I’m not so sure where that kind of fan would find professional wrestling excellence beyond two decades ago, and from some exchanges, I know there are some guys out there who don’t think wrestling began until Vince created the concept in 1984.

For me, there are layers to professional wrestling that go beyond the sleek presentation, the million dollar production values and the overpaid Hollywood writer types. For starters, there’s the craft and not just the talent, there’s the dedication to the artform, and then there’s the focus of the product.

We live in an age of professional wrestling that is, every day, growing farther removed from its roots.

I’m not talking about terminology or lack thereof, nor am I talking dollars or common sense. What I’m talking about is how wrestling in the ring connects with the fans in the seats.

As much as professional wrestling has been a staple of television, it had for many decades made use of television to draw fans to the arenas. As profitable as PPV has become, and believe me, I know PPV isn’t going away at all, the sad reality is that the more pro wrestling relies upon big events that rely little upon personal effort, personal connections and expectations (and hyping) of matchups, the more it removes itself from the foundations of the sport.

Not so with SHIMMER.

For almost two dozen events, SHIMMER has put on a clinic of booking logic, well fought battles and awesome displays of professional wrestling. With SHIMMER, it’s actually not about a dominant name, or a brand/product built around a specific style, or – and especially not – about overly booked nonsense; furthermore, it’s not about disrespect of the fans, their involvement (in terms of time and money) and ignorance of any aspect of what a promotion should be.

In SHIMMER, every match is meaningful.

Winners move up the card; losers move down the card. When you fight, you fight to win – not because, or just because, or just because your opponent won last week – but because winning is the purpose of competition.

For example, Serena Deeb is fighting for the SHIMMER Women’s Title. She earned her way to the top. She has a history, and an interesting one in missing the opening night of the Tournament, and claiming way back then that she would, one day, fight for the title. She’s also on her way to the WWE, perhaps as Mia Mancini, perhaps under some other name, and I doubt there’s a ignorance of that situation with the booking either.

But the point is, MsChif – the Women’s Champ – laid down a challenge, and offered a Title Shot if Deeb won a match against the former Champ (Sara Del Rey) and because that match was won, the Title Shot was granted.

The dynamics are important. Del Rey – a distinct and definitive former Champion – isn’t on her way out, but she’s been moving down the card. Perhaps in a rare angle, she’s headed back up, but along the way, and in the past several Volumes, she’s been measuring up her opponents, and how they stack up against her has shown their progress in the promotion.

MsChif, having held the belt for a year, is the longest reigning significant professional wrestling champion around.

She’s held the belt against all credible challengers, and creating credible challengers is what SHIMMER is all about. Sure, there’s not the sense of ongoing feuds with SHIMMER, but it is replaced with an ongoing series of challengers. In that sense, the dynamics continue to play out, and furthermore, the matches never get stuck in a rut.

Likewise, the relatively recently introduced Tag Team Championships hearken back to the Old School. Current Tag Team Champs Ashley Lane & Nevaeh seem more like the Rock’n’Roll Express, but they have a certain sense of Tag Team coordination and exuberance that just isn’t seen much often. Damning with faint praise, of course, in this day and age, but watch these gals in action and tell me that you aren’t drawn back to a time when tag teams meant something.

Perennial contenders The International Home Wrecking Crew (Rain & Jetta) are the Midnight Express, sans high dynamic of a manager.

Is that Lacey back in the manager role?

Every SHIMMER Volume seems to add a little from the past, and expands the product a little more.

Volume 23 introduces manager licenses, and two slots. Yeah, I ruined the surprise, but really, did I? The other manager is Annie Social, who scouts out her protégés and, well, seems to be building an impressive stable to spice up competition, and give more logical matchups.

Not that SHIMMER needs any help in that regard.

But to get back to the beginning, the importance of SHIMMER is building around the arena and the fans. One can readily see that the wrestlers aren’t just going through motions and ignoring the paid audiences at home: they are working with the fans at ringside, drawing on the emotion, the reaction and the expectations displayed.

It’s easy to idealize it, and I realize there’s a fine line between the best of today and the expectations of yesterday, but look down the card and you’ll see the difference is startling. The undercard of most major promotions is filled with robotic like performances, fulfilling a role and little else.

In SHIMMER, the Australian wrestler Amber O’Neal is a shining example of someone who isn’t just pretending and isn’t just going through the motions. Watch Amber O’Neal in action, and you see and Old School heel working the crowd, playing to the crowd, using the tricks and deviousness that made Johnny Rodz a cult favorite.

Well, maybe not the telegraphed jump off the top of the turnbuckle.

But tell me an opening act today that you enjoy watching perform. Even Shark Boy was destroyed because, well as far as I can see, his popularity wasn’t planned, and well, we can’t have that in modern professional wrestling, can we?

Beyond the inherent joy of watching a promotion well heeled in Old School values, the other aspect of the promotion is simply enjoying that wrestling in SHIMMER isn’t based on “the look” or some outdated, pathetic notion of what bodies should look like.

From Lufisto to Del Rey, from Wesna Busic to Amazing Kong; from Mercedes Martinez to MsChif herself; from the athletic to the powerful to the just plain, we’ve got a roster that defies modern sensibilities and at the same time, features work and effort and passion that makes itself known in less than five minutes, which is also just about the time these ladies are warming up.

And the matches …. Let me just tell you who’s fighting:

Cheerleader Melissa against Wesna Busic in a match that allows SHIMMER to break out the All Japan style slo-mo replays of the hardest of the hard-hitting moves.

Amazing Kong vs Mercedes Martinez in another top knock-out battle.

Daizee Haze vs Nicole Mathews in a fast paced battle.

The aforementioned Title matches.

And a mid and under card that fully builds new talent, exposes top notch talent, and provides more entertainment per dollar than any main stream woman’s professional wrestling debacle, in terms of pure professional wrestling event in the past decade.

Joe Babinsack can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . And unlike Jeremy Borash, I won’t get all indignant if you call me out on my statements, public or in private. Yeah, Ed Ferrara was a brilliant move, and I guess since Ed’s been out of Hollywood for a decade, it’s not like TNA was really looking for a Hollywood writer type.