LadySports ::: Shimmer Report...

By Chevy Bellaire

With this report, LadySports welcomes back Chevy Bellaire, a longtime contributor back in our magazine days.

The Eagle's Club in Berwyn, Illinois was the venue for an all-girl wrestling show presented by a new promotion determined to showcase all the skills and excitement the ladies can generate.

Eighteen of the best independent women wrestlers were assembled for a night of bone-crunching action that ran more than four hours and left a highly vocal crowd limp with excitement.

In the opening bout, petite blonde Shantelle Taylor locked up with a relative newcomer to the wrestling wars, Tiana Ringer. The girls battled back and forth with Ringer showing a dark and nasty side as she delivered one backbreaker after another to Taylor, an evil smile creasing her face as the blonde writhed in agony. But Taylor battled back, besting her brunette opponent with a pin after a missile dropkick from the top rope.

A tag-team affair saw Team Blondage, Amber O'Neal and Krissy Vaine, take on the powerful combo of PGWA champ Nikki Roxx and her partner, Cindy Rogers. The blondes dished out vicious punishment to Roxx, who was separated from her partner for many minutes as first O'Neal, then Vaine, tortured her with illegal moves. Eventually, Roxx fought her way to her own corner, but Rogers was also victimized by the devious blondes. Vaine got the pin on Rogers with help from O'Neal outside the ring.

Next, the sweetheart of Northeastern rings, Ariel, locked up with Rain, who works out of St. Paul, Minn. The bout quickly degenerated into a brutal brawl with both girls pounding each other gleefully. Rain seemed in control, but Ariel stunned her with a modified diamond cutter and got the pin.

Two savvy veterans of the Southern rings met next as Lexie Fyfe faced the Mississippi Queen, tall and muscular Christie Ricci. Though Ricci had the height advantage, Fyfe attached her relentlessly and wore the bigger girl down before taking the pin with her Attitude Adjuster.

The next match was truly a no-quarter asked or given battle as the black-clad vixen Ms. Chif met the well-traveled veteran, Cheerleader Melissa. The match quickly spilled onto the floor as neither woman seemed to care about the rules. At one point, Melissa threw Ms. Chif into the steel barricades separating the crowd from the ring, smashing the long-haired brunette's leg and generating screams of agony. Melissa also executed a novel backbreaker over the steel railing on her opponent that put Ms. Chif in shuddering agony. But Ms. Chif, who claims to hail from The Inferno, would not be denied, and she took the pin with her trademark hold, the Desecrator.

Beth Phoenix, who trains with future WWE wrestlers in the Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling promotion, matched up with Allison Danger. Blonde Phoenix, sporting a glamorous hot pink suit, went hard after the beautiful brunette with every vicious trick in her considerable arsenal. When the referee tried to stop Phoenix from choking Danger, the blonde grabbed him and planted a kiss on the startled ref to distract him! Danger took a terrible beating, but rallied and pinned the nasty blonde with a cradle.

In what some fans felt was the match of the night, Sara Del Rey of California locked horns with Mercedes Martinez, the tall and gifted fighter from the East Coast. These ladies pulled out every stop as they moved from scientific chain wrestling to a down and dirty brawl that left both covered with sweat. Martinez had Del Rey on the canvas as the bell rang, delivering a time limit draw (this was so close, that if the match lasted but one second longer, Martinez would have gotten the third count and won!). Both ladies embraced as the crowd gave them a standing ovation.

Petite Daizee Haze, who weighs just 110 pounds and stands at only 5-foot-4, took on one of her rivals, Lacey. Lacey wasted no time in turning to illegal tactics, whipping Haze from pillar to post and concentrating her attack on the smaller girl's back. But fans familiar with Haze know she is nothing if not game. She fought back, stunning her brunette opponent with a flurry of offensive moves that culminated in a combination heart punch and snap mare that left Lacey sprawled unconscious in the center of the ring. Both girls were exhausted after a fight that lasted almost 25 minutes.

There was a brief intermission and then seven more matches followed featuring new combinations of opponents.

Cindy Rogers got her revenge on Krissy Vaine, though the blonde did not go down easily. In fact, she battered Rogers senseless for much of the match, using Rogers' hair as a handy handle to smash her face into the turnbuckle, the mat and the ring apron. Enraged, Rogers returned the fire and pinned Vaine with her trademark move, the TCB. She also got a measure of sweet revenge from Vaine's many disparaging taunts about the brunette's backside by knocking the blond for a loop with a butt bump…much to the delight of the crowd, who were solidly behind Cindy in this one.

Nikki Roxx, who had taken a terrible beating earlier in the evening, earned a win over tough Lexie Fyfe in an entertaining brawl when she delivered a cruncher to Fyfe for the pin. This rare match between two holders of the PGWA Championship (Fyfe previously, Roxx currently) wonderfully showcased the athleticism of both ladies.

Perhaps angry at losing in their singles matches, Tiana Ringer and Cheerleader Melissa were pure venom and evil when they faced the team f Shantelle Taylor and Ariel. Taylor was singled out for particularly rough treatment as Melissa and Ringer viciously double-teamed her – at one point Ringer locked the blonde's boots in the top rope, allowing Melissa to play soccer with the tummy of her diminutive opponent. Ariel cleared the ring momentarily, but the evil duo wouldn't be denied. Melissa pinned Ariel after delivering her Air Raid Crash move Christie Ricci redeemed herself in a bout against Amber O'Neal, who was clearly intimidated by the bigger girl's strength. O'Neal tried to avoid Ricci but her efforts were unsuccessful as the lovely lass from Mississippi won with a Northern Lights suplex that had O'Neal shrieking her submission.

Allison Danger made it two wins in one night while Rain suffered the embarrassment of two losses. Rain used every dirty trick in her considerable roster of rule-breaking, but the fan favorite Danger grabbed the pin after a shining enzugiri left Rain unconscious.

Beth Phoenix took a tremendous beating from Ms. Chif, who delighted in not only torturing the blonde, but scaring her with piercing screams. Yet, as Ms. Chif moved in to deliver her patented Desecrator move, the crafty Phoenix swept the brunette's legs out from under her and her a Death Valley Driver for the victory…proving that one does not always have to win the battle in order to win the war.

The show climaxed with a phenomenal four-way elimination match. Sara Del Rey, Lacey, Mercedes Martinez and Daizee Haze were a blur of motion as alliances were made and quickly broken in this high energy, high impact brawl. Lacey made particularly good use of the unique rules of this match, tagging in and out whenever it was most advantageous for her. Yet Lacey was also the first eliminated after Martinez nailed her with a fisherman buster for the pin. Despite the size differential, Haze took out Martinez with her patented heart punch/yakuza kick combination. Now, it was the 110-pound Haze versus the 160-pound Del Rey. Haze gave it her all, but she simply could not overcome the sheer power and skills of Del Rey, who won the match with a butterfly suplex/power slam combination that planted Haze to the mat like a postage stamp.

All in all, it was a night for the fans and the ladies of the ring to celebrate a great event. SHIMMER filmed the entire program and two DVDs will be released sometime in December. Meanwhile, fans are anxiously awaiting the return of these tough and beautiful fighters.