Evolution Schematic 11.01.08: SHIMMER (Part 4)

For some reason, Spring has hit me rather hard this year, and I’ve been battling a cold/headache/general crappiness for a few weeks, hence the missing weeks here. Plus the fact that picking an entire company to do an ES on was a very bad idea. Still, at least this one has an end that’s reachable.

Before we begin though, a little conspiracy thought for you. No, not how Adamle has 6 letters and added up is 36 and thus proves that JJ Dillon is STILL messing with Jericho. No no, this is ROH related.

So unless you’ve been under a rock, you have heard that ROH fired Gabe Sapolsky as their booker, with the main reason (at least in terms of this look at it) given that ROH is going to focus more on the entertainment and less the wrestling. ROH is looking for a TV show, apparently, and Gabe just isn’t the right booker anymore.

Now I’m not exactly a guy who jumps to conclusions about conspiracies, unless you count not believing them. Lee Harvey was the lone gunman, 9/11 was the work of some pissed off Arab gentlemen, Montreal is NOT a Work.

But go with me on this. Assume for a moment that ROH is owned/is working with Vince/WWE. Cary’s a plant, or Vince just gives them kickbacks, they have a working relationship, whatever, Vince views ROH like he did Old ECW.

Now since it began, ROH has been all about the workrate. Putting on great, solid matches top to bottom. And for a while, Vince has been wanting realism. He’s toned down the gimmicks, getting fans used to wrestling, and so ROH guys have been able to rise, slowly, through the ranks. A small but significant number of young guys in WWE now are ROH bred. The hit ratio is less than ECW’s, at one point it was like half the roster was in Philly at some point, but ROH guys are there.

But, now Vince has lost his mind (Seriously, I do think Vince has lost it slightly), and is now demanding better acting, more entertainment.

Almost immediately, ROH shifts gears, wanting more entertainment and a TV deal. If ROH is a feeder, and if Vince wants better entertainment, then ROH would have to change to give him that. And if Gabe can’t deliver that…

I dunno, I originally thought of it as a joke, but the more I think about it, the more it makes some twisted sense.

Next I’ll be one of these people who think Vince funded TNA’s start up…

Side note: I’m apparently a reliable source for Wikipedia now. Well, only for the Elimination Chamber and Starrcade 91, but still, it’s a start!

Part 1, Part 2 and, of course, Part 3. When we left off, SHIMMER was about to crown it’s inaugural Champion.

Phase 11- Kong Wuz Robbed!

16 women were chosen to compete in a single elimination tournament to crown the new champ. Alicia (who weaselled her way into the tournament her first night in the company after Serena Deeb was unable to make the show due to a car accident), Allison Danger, Ariel, Cheerleader Melissa, Cindy Rodgers, Daizee Haze, Eden Black, Lacey, Lexie Fyfe, Malia Hosaka, MsChif, Nikki Roxx, Portia Perez, Rain, Sara Del Rey and the luck last International Wildcard entry, Sarah Stock, also making her debut in the company.

No Amazing Kong. Sigh.

Regardless, the tournament would see the first two rounds in Volume 11’s show, with the finals the next day in Volume 12’s taping. And the tournament showed that it would be surprising right off the bat as Malia Hosaka proved her experienced edge when she pinned Allison Danger to open the night. This result proved to everyone that the tourney would not be a one sided, easy to predict affair.

Although the next result was one that sadly was easy to call, as Daizee Haze proved too much for Portia Perez. Sara Del Rey managed to put “Definition of Technician” Rodgers away, but not without hurting her shoulder.

Ariel then seemed to be the lucky recipient of a bye, since Serena failed to show up, but Alicia, who had pissed the fans off with her introduction earlier that night, came out and goaded Ariel into actually earning the spot. Ariel’s pride came back to hurt her as Alicia, using tights, pinned her to advance in a tournament she wasn’t meant to compete in.

MsChif, who at the time this writer had metaphorically bet on, advanced to the second round with a comfortable win over Lexie Fyfe, thanks in part to Daffney’s fine coaching.

Then Sarah ‘Dark Angel’ Stock made her debut in the company.

There’s many ways to make an impression your first day in a new wrestling company. You can talk to the fans and annoy them left right and center, confident you’ll get interrupted and thus have someone to belittle. You can come in and destroy anyone and everyone that moves. You can go up against a major name, lose, but show class doing it.

Of course, coming in and advancing in a tournament to crown a new champion by defeating one of the biggest names the company has, in this case Cheerleader Melissa, is pretty near the top of the list of both difficulty and impressiveness. And, of course, Stock walked in and did just that.

Lacey was a bit presumptuous when she came out for her first round match claiming she was the first champion. Although she wasn’t proven wrong at first as she managed to get past the British Eden Black.

Rain then had the problem of facing a match with her tag partner Lacey should she beat Nikki Roxx in the last Round 1 match. Her nerves were clearly frayed, Roxx taking advantage and winning to round out the 8.

Deeb did manage to get to the venue in time to apologize, and claim that she would come after whoever did win the tournament.

On that note, Round 2 began with Daizee Haze showing some trepidation against Malia Hosaka, but Daizee managed to keep the butterflies down and advance, pinning the wily vet.

Alicia then ran into the brick wall known as Sara Del Rey, who got a huge reaction when she pinned Alicia and shut her up.

Sarah Stock then managed to up the impress-o-meter up a few more notches with a victory over MsChif to advance. Not quite Jericho over Rock and Austin the same night, but damm, damm close.

Lacey then managed to end Volume 11 on a bit of a strange note as she defeated Nikki Roxx to make the final 4. This wasn’t impossible obviously, but it did seem she was a bit of an odd one out, out of two of SHIMMER’s tent poles, a woman who had wrestled all over North America AND pinned two of SHIMMER’s other tent poles, and then you had Lacey, more thought of by fans as a loudmouthed bitch who couldn’t really back it up. But hey, tournaments are where new champions tend to get crowned, huh?

Phase 12- Well of course she won. She was packing heat!

Josie got Volume 12 off to a popular start when she stepped her work up a notch and beat Alicia to really shut the annoying blonde up.

The Semi-Finals of the Tournament were then held. You had two matches, one a toss up, the other less so.

Sara Del Rey was in many ways SHIMMER’s #1 Girl. She was the Hulk Hogan, the Steve Austin, the Ric Flair. She was nearly undefeatable, and seemed assured a place in the finals, and would probably win. But she had to fight Sarah Stock, a woman who had just come into the company and in one night pinned both Melissa AND MsChif, both of whom were almost on Del Rey’s level of success. A woman Del Rey didn’t know that well.

But Lacey and Haze knew each other very well. The two women had been at each other’s throats for many months, main-eventing the first ever SHIMMER show. Haze was consistent and popular. Lacey was less so in both respects.

And yet, the sure thing turned out to be wrong, as Lacey proved her doubters wrong, ducking Haze’s venerated Heart Punch, hitting a lung blower and then a DDT to get her win back from Vol #1, set herself nicely in the finals and shut a few people up.

She almost didn’t need to stay warm, as the Stock/Del Rey match had a 20 minute time limit, and the two women had a SUPERB match that looked to go the distance. Both fought harder than most other wrestlers, and Del Rey only managed to win after a devastating Piledriver with seconds to spare, thus pissing Lacey off immensely.

She would have to wait, as there were some other matches to occur first. Allison Danger got some manner of revenge on Cindy Rodgers for turning on her, beating Rodgers in a Street Fight after Cindy brought a steel chain into the ring. Danger wasn’t done though, as she challenged Rodgers to a dog collar match in Volume #13.

An ROH staple was then borrowed (again), as SHIMMER had a 4 Corner Survival match, Eden Black vs. Portia Perez vs. Ariel vs. Nikki Roxx. Poor Portia had a hostile crowd trying to convince the others to make it 3 on 1, but all 4 women went at it equally, with Roxx ending up getting the win over Black.

Serena’s claims of coming for the champ began to sound hollow once she lost to Rain, and The Experience (Lexie Fyfe & Malia Hosaka) managed to outsmart themselves as they wore earplugs in order to ensure Daffney and MsChif’s screams didn’t distract them as they wrestled MsChif and Cheerleader Melissa. This only lead to them getting pulled out and both women getting yelled out loudly right in their ears. This disorientated them, and the duo managed to end up losing to the Melissa/MsChif combo.

This led to the main event. And while as not stunningly awesome as Del Rey/Stock, nor as emotionally rich as Haze/Lacey, the two women did wrestle as hard as they could to be the first SHIMMER Champion. And Lacey, as the fresher woman, dominated, with Rain helping until Roxx and Danger came out to drag Rain away, leaving Lacey and Del Rey to decide this one on one, as it should be. Del Rey managed to nail the Royal Butterfly, then a piledriver to put the exclamation point on her win, netting the first SHIMMER Championship Reign, ending Volume 12 on a great note, the perfect end to a great show.

Phase 13- The Pecking Order for title shots takes shape.

Volume 13 was mostly about women making statements about why they should get the first title shot at Del Rey.

Serena Deeb thought she should get it since she never got her shot, and on this night she beat the woman who ‘replaced’ her, Alicia.

Malia felt she shouldn’t have to prove herself, since she was such a veteran. She proved this with a strong win over Josie.

Eden Black respectfully asked for a shot, since she was beaten somewhat unfairly by Lacey in the tournament, and making Lexie Fyfe tap out certainly added credence to her demand.

MsChif let her actions speak for her, or rather one action, as she debuted the ‘Obliteration’ Second Rope Reverse Tombstone to damm near kill poor sweet little hated Portia Perez.

Alexa Thatcher returned to the company to talk about her injury and assure people she would be back, although it would be longer than she thought as Alicia attacked her and worked over Alexa’s injured foot.

Cheerleader Melissa seemed to be almost toying with Ariel for a while, beating the Portuguese Princess with the Air Raid Crash and reconfirming her position as perennial contender.

Then came the match that was most likely to crown an official #1 contender, as Sarah Stock and Daizee Haze, the two semi-final losers fought. And after another superb match (and some, uh, ‘unique’ dancing) Stock rose her, well, stock in the company with a win over Haze.

One match not about #1 contenderships or the title was the Dog Collar match between Allison Danger and Cindy Rogers. While there was blood, the match was fought under 4 corners rules, which ended up costing Danger as while she managed to outsmart Rogers into letting her tap corners while Cindy was as well, Danger ended up hitting a STO on Rogers and sending her into the 4th corner, handing Rodgers the win and bragging rights, having beaten Danger in the match Danger asked for.

The main event saw Sara Del Rey teaming with a woman whom, like the rest of the roster, was gunning for her now, Nikki Roxx. They took on The Minnesota Home-wrecking Crew (Rain & Lacey), after what went down during the finals of the tournament. It made sense that if Lacey, or indeed Rain, could pin Sara in a tag match, that would go a long way to getting them a match for the title. But, despite their somewhat common goal and the advantages Roxx could have if she let Del Rey get injured, Roxx and Del Rey worked great together and beat the Home-Wreckers with stereo finishers. This loss however failed to trump the fact that Lacey was the runner up in the tournament, and usually runner ups get first crack at a rematch, where both competitors are healthy. And, lo and behold, that’s what happened.

Phase 14- Daffney Debuts! Oh, and other stuff too…

After a brief word from your local Home-Wrecker about how she would take the title that should already be hers, Volume #14 began with Amber O’Neal attempting to turn her good looks into a win in a SHIMMER ring against Ariel. Sadly for her, she was still too cocky and too narcissistic for her own good and lost yet another match.

Cindy Rogers then had her match. She had defeated Allison Danger in a match Danger herself requested, the Dog Collar, and so she felt that she had a right, nay, a duty to pick a match type herself, beat Danger in THAT, and prove her dominance once and for all. So, being the “Definition of Technician” and all that, she picked the classic 2 out of 3 falls.

Cindy quickly outsmarted Allison, rolling her up at the bell, grabbed tights, and was 1 up before Allison had even got warmed up properly.

Danger was thus at a disadvantage, and wrestled frustrated, at least until she was able to focus her anger into technical wrestling, the two putting on perhaps the best technical demonstration in SHIMMER up until that point. Eventually, Danger nailed a Shimmering Warlock (see, coz it’s a variation on the Shining Wizard. Hey, it’s wittier than any move name in WWE outside of K2 and the Widow’s Peak!) to even the score up.

However, Danger’s quest for revenge died in that ring as Cindy locked in a TCB, and Danger passed out. 3 arm checks later, and Cindy Rodgers had proven herself the better woman.

Daffney then debuted officially as a competitor in SHIMMER, replacing Portia Perez who had a broken hand against Lexie Fyfe. Daffney seemed to be having fun, up until the ring rust kicked in and her knee locked on her. Fyfe went for a cover, then changed her mind and locked on a leg lock to get the submission victory. The Experience then began to double-team Daffney until MsChif and Serena Deeb made the save, MsChif and Fyfe brawling off into the night, Daffney getting medical attention, and Malia and Serena having their match, Serena getting some revenge for Daffney with a win over Malia.

Rain and Cheerleader Melissa then had a hard hitting, brutal match, with both women trying to incapacitate and rearrange the features of their opponent. Despite some brutal shots, Melissa managed to score the win and had Lacey some negative momentum.

MsChif and Daizee Haze then wrestled in another great, hard hitting match. The two knew each other very well, both countering moves and using their opponents moves against them. But MsChif’s brawl to save her manager seemed to leave her a little tired, and Haze eventually managed to get the win.

Then Nikki Roxx fought a demon. Amazing Kong’s debut in SHIMMER had been against Roxx, and while Roxx lost the match, she absorbed a lot of punishment and ended up better for it, she was seen as a tougher competitor after losing to Kong. But she still wanted to prove herself, and she was set on handing Kong her first loss in SHIMMER. The two had a much more competitive match up this time round, Roxx more experienced than last time. The two brawled out to ringside, Kong throwing Roxx into a row of chairs (and an unlucky young man who couldn’t get out of the way quick enough), before heading back to the ring. Roxx then mounted a comeback, even managing to slam Kong. However, Roxx then got into a dodging match with Kong’s back fists, and eventually one connected, and then it was academic, middle rope splash or no.

The main event saw Lacey’s rematch for the title, with Rain being held backstage by the entire SHIMMER locker room. And this seemed to upset Lacey, who put up a superb fight but couldn’t find the right combo of moves to put Del Rey down, Sara eventually picking up the win and getting past her first challenger.