SHIMMER VOLUME 25 NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD!

[Digestive Ceremony]

It'll be another few weeks before I receive this DVD. I ordered it along with the entire Final Countdown Tour and a couple PWG shows. Glory By Honor VIII doesn't ship until the 15th. So, maybe, I'll get them by Christmas.

[Verse]

I was very disappointed that Portia didn't return to commentary after her match. From now on all of Portia's matches should be the main event to avoid this.

[xtasisguy]

If Danger's tweets are any indication, doesn't look like we'll be hearing Portia on future volumes, or at the very least we WILL be hearing AD again. Which i don't have an issue with, AD is fantastic. Love Portia, but love AD on commentary just as much. Second only to the wonderful, wonderful John McEnroe.

After receiving Vol. 25 and watching it through a few times, I realized I must've underrated the show after watching it live, perhaps due to seeing what I considered 2 blow away shows the day before, perhaps due to me being in a pissy little mood when the show began. Anywho, this volume rawks, much harder than I had previously believed.

Serena vs. Mercedes was much better than I remember it as being - probably my favorite match of Serena's. Her selling was amazing in that match - when Mercedes hits that running boot into Serena in the corner - that's a nice'a meatzza ballzza. Disappointed in Mercedes not picking up the win, but that's me being a Mercedes fanboy. Serena perhaps could've used a little more "support" from her gear?

Wesna-Chif was awesome. I might like Chif as champ more if not for the fact that she keeps beating my favorite ladies on the roster, but I can't argue with the lady's skills. She just keeps on churning out great matches with everyone. I would've loved to have seen Wesna crowned champ, but alas, 'twas not to be.

Everything else from top to bottom was solid - don't really agree with Daizee and AD going over, but when that's my main gripe, I really don't have much to complain about.

LuFisto - what a personality.

[Woo]

If Danger's tweets are any indication, doesn't look like we'll be hearing Portia on future volumes

About the commentary thing it would be silly if Portia was too ill to wrestle, but was sat their commentating during the show. Going back to Allison for was a logical move. I hope Portia does future volumes however.

[MC LevaMark]

I'm still holding out hope for Ultramantis Black, personally. He'd never have to leave to prepare for a match, and he's easily the greatest color commentator on the indy circuit today. To say nothing of the fact that his heel alignment would balance perfectly with Dave's neutral to face leanings.

Or if you want to use someone from the same company as Mantis, who also happens to work for Shimmer(if we insist on making some degree of sense), why not utilize Bryce Remsberg's rather impressive commentary skills on matches he's not reffing... which of course would present a problem in the event that Bryce was reffing a Danger or Portia match.

[xtasisguy]

Can't disagree with that - both guys bring the pain... and the heal. Quality all-around! Dave Prazak to Chikara! Ultramantis Black to Shimmer! Remmy to commentary!

[LardWarriorELPS]

I adore that Lane/Neveah vs Kong/Death Rey match so hard. I haven't seen an underdog match with the underdogs having as much short comings(size, strength, experience, endurance, ability, ect.) plus Kong and Del Rey jumped them(which was a sight to see with how big they are and how small the Ohio girls are) Yet Ashley and Neveah kept fighting and would not give up until they were either Knocked out or injured. When deevers use HEARTZ PASSIONS FAITH...they have no idea what they're talking about, THIS is what that is. Even though I knew a fresh Ashley wasn't gonna be able to do much in the hot tag, I still bought it and cheered that she'd get the win. I really love The Ohio Girls, especially in that type of match. They use team work and sheer tenacity to make them winning in a match against someone like the experience or in this case Kong/Del Rey extremely plausible. Just helping each other out and making sure the other isn't about to be killed. I'ved watched this match at least 5 times, and love it so much.

[Woo]

What did you make of the ending though? I too liked the match and fully understand the reasons for the DQ, but it felt a tad like booking themselves out of a corner to me as the Ohio girls couldn't lose the titles, but neither Kong nor Del Rey could lose.

[LardWarriorELPS]

Yeah, that was definitely a weak point. It felt like too much of a cop out. I would have liked to have seen it be more like Gail/Kong from Turning Point or Ayako/Del Rey from Volume 28, where The Ohio Girls get a huge nearfall on the heels, and then have Del Rey or Kong start raging, maybe like mounting Ashley and closed fist punching her over and over and throwing the ref off of her, leading to a DQ. Though even with the DQ, after the finish to IHWC vs Ohio Girls and then this...it didn't do much for the Ohio Girls' love from the audience lol.

But in any case, I'm not worried about that stuff. I loved it just like I loved that AyaKong vs SariTaylor. While it's no MOTY, I just loved it for how much of a fight the smaller girls put up, and not giving up til they physically couldn't do anything about it. I loved how near the end Ashley kept going for all those rollups when Neveah was taken out. She wanted to win for both her AND Neveah, so she thought the only way she could win this is by a fluke or something, and maybe she could win on a technicality of a pin or something. It was really awesome.

[haysihawk]

Jan 7, 2010 13:42:24 GMT -6 LardWarriorELPS said:

Yeah, that was definitely a weak point. It felt like too much of a cop out.

I don't see how it's a cop out. It was logical. That finish was part of telling several stories which built to future matches on later DVDs.

1 - Ohio Girls as underdog champions, defying the odds no matter what they go up against. They won the gauntlet in surprising fashion to become champions. They successfully defended against the Ninjas, still champions. They overcame the challenge of IHWC 2/3 falls, still champions. They survived the unthinkable odds against Del Rey and Kong, still champions.

2 - If the plan wasn't to have Kong and Del Rey hold the belts, but remain strong, a DQ, countout, or no-contest type of finish was the only real way to actually give us a fun Ohio Girls vs. Del Rey and Kong tag team match during their title reign.

3 - It built to the Serena and Mercedes vs. Del Rey and Kong tag match on Vol. 26 when they made the save for Ashley after the match and got in the faces of Del Rey and Kong.

4 - The grabbing of a steel chair in frustration and getting disqualified for it finish set the stage for when Sara did the same thing in the early moments of her match against Hamada at the next show. That then led to the Hamada match being re-started, to give reason for there to be a no DQ match between them, which we wound up getting.