I’m here for day two of SHIMMER weekend. It’s my third SHIMMER weekend, and there’s nothing quite like it. I’ve got third-row tickets, and in a venue like this, that’s a lot of value for SHIMMER 114.
RiSE dark match:
Lady Frost with Jamie Senegal vs. Rookie Jenna Lynn with Candy Lee
I wasn’t able to grab a photo because I was trying to get my balls signed by Shotzi (more on that in the 115 review). They aren’t allowed to touch each other until tomorrow and they’re having a Diva-off. Jamie found someone just like Candy, a cold-hearted bitch: Lady Frost. Candy has also chosen a champion: Rookie Jenna Lynn.
it’s a fun developmental match. Nothing particularly to write home about until Jamie threw snowballs in Jen’s face. Lady Frost won by stacking her up in the corner and holding the ropes, which the referee somehow missed despite looking directly at her.
At the top of the show, Josh Shibata announces how we’ll crown an Interim Heart of SHIMMER champion. Three qualifying matches today, the winners to face off tomorrow.
Marti Belle vs. Kris Statlander (Interim Heart of SHIMMER qualifying match)
Marti took advantage of Kris’s earthly naïveté to get Kris to spray her face with hair spray. Some fun and games, but also some good wrestling. Kris hit a cool electric chair facebuster that I thought would be the end. Kris won with a tombstone.
Charli Evans vs. Bel Pierce
This match is heavy on building heat for Charli. She pretty much brutalizes Bel, who gets a nice comeback after a good amount of beating. A Gorybomb by Charli looks like the end, but it’s really just the end of Bel’s comeback at that moment. Bel mounts a second comeback with a big tornado DDT but falls shortly thereafter to a lifting DDT by Charli.
The Top Dogs (Skylar and Davienne) vs. Sea Stars (Delmi Exo and Ashley Vox)
This is a very good showing of heel tag wrestling by the Top Dogs. Ashley works so well from under, and Delmi is such a great hot tag. There’s a great Gory Bomb/Codebreaker type combo that Delmi kicks out of before she assists Ashley with a top rope senton to win.
Hyan vs. Brittany Blake (Interim Heart of SHIMMER qualifying match)
They did a lot with the size differential here that made for a good David vs. Goliath. Hyan isn’t huge, but Blake is small. Hyan did an airplane spin into a blue thunder bomb, which is a new combination to me. She shoved Brittany toward the referee, then used the momentary distraction to hit a quick Glam Slam for the win.
Kimber Lee vs. Nevaeh
Two veterans of SHIMMER here. A slow pace to start, but the match picks up in short order. Everything is so fluid in this match. The chops are ridiculous. Nevaeh takes a German and immediately pops up to hit one on Kimber before they both kick each other in the head and go down. After biting Nevaeh in the face (which I’ll note is not vegan), Kimber hit a Swanton to win.
Ruby Raze vs. Saraya Knight
As you can expect, Saraya kicks downstairs. She lays everything in hard, and while Raze starts off with an advantage due to size, that’s done by the time Saraya kicks her. The match devolves into a wild brawl in the outside with liberal use of the barricade. Ruby tried to go for a top rope Samoan drop but slips while climbing. It looked a bit scary for a second, but they recovered well enough that Saraya could hit a sunset flip powerbomb to win.
Priscilla Kelly vs. Shazza McKenzie
This is Priscilla’s SHIMMER debut at SHIMMER 114. The PK gross-out spot came early, and Shazza went right with it and gave back. From there the march got underway proper, with a lot of good back and forth. Some good suplexes and Shazza nearly won with a crossbody. Priscilla got off a quick running STO, and also kicked out of Shazza’s splits stunner. Shazza submits to an octopus stretch.
Kellyanne vs. Solo Darling vs. Allysin Kay vs. Jessica Troy vs. Jessika Havok vs. Su Yung in a scramble for a shot at the SHIMMER Championship
No love for the Midwest Militia days as Havok and AK go at it early. We get a couple of isolated pairs to start, as Solo takes it to Su after Kellyanne and Jessica hit a stalemate. We got a flying Death Machine! Also a second rope tombstone from Havok to Su. Just going nuts over here, big move after big move everywhere. Kellyanne wins with a cannonball in the corner to Solo after everything’s gone nuts.
Zoe Skye vs. Shotzi Blackheart
Dust takes the microphone and says she has something to say at SHIMMER 114. She main evented in April and she lost, and she doesn’t blame Rosemary for the fact that she lost. Tonight, it’s time for Dust to do things on her own. She thanks Rosemary for helping her prove she belongs in SHIMMER, but it’s time to prove she always belonged on her own merits. She then corrects Josh, who announces her as Zoe Skye.
Shotzi extends a hand, but Zoe declines and says she’s here to wrestle. The match starts off with some pace, and these two know each other very well. Together they make it look easy. The crowd is very invested in Zoe’s face turn, chanting equally for both wrestlers. Shotzi rolls a tiger suplex into cattle mutilation to win.
#SwoleFamily (Big Swole and Little Swole Nicole Savoy) vs. The OGs of SHIMMER (Cheerleader Melissa and Mercedes Martinez) (c) for the SHIMMER Tag Team titles
#SwoleFamily gets a lot of early banter to the point it annoys the OGs, who rolls out of the ring, hops the barricade, and head to the back at SHIMMER 114. Out, comes Lexie Fyfe after the countout to announce that the OGs need to return or the titles go to #SwoleFamily. Mercedes and Melissa do return and get into the match. The Swoles are all about fun and dancing early, something the OGs mock. It forces the Swoles to get serious. Mercedes has the best antics – posing like Hogan and working an imaginary tag rope in the corner.
The OGs work over Big Swole hard for the beginning of the match, and Savoy can’t do anything to help. Big Swole is able to finally get a headbutt to Melissa’s chest after several cutoff tag attempts, and Savoy comes in guns blazing. There are a couple of awkward steps with Mercedes and Big Swole. Melissa hits an Air Raid Crash and Mercedes puts Savoy in the surfboard dragon sleeper, but Big Swole breaks it up. With the referee distracted, Melissa kicks Savoy low and Mercedes rolls her up and grabs the bottom rope at the last second to add some cheek and win.
After the match, the OGs beat up their opponents more and the Sea Stars come to the rescue. We can probably expect a match for the titles in their future this weekend.
Final thoughts
That’s volume 114 for SHIMMER. It was a great show, and there were some great matches, especially on the back half of the show. The main event is my pick for best of the volume, but I want to also shout out the scramble for being an intense and delightfully confusing spamfest. Great work by all the wrestlers.
