Okay here are my views on the matches on the shows.
To start with I guess we have to address the fact that for whatever reason we were without Athena, Courtney Rush, Jessie McKay, Shazza McKenzie, Serena Deeb, Alison Danger, Kalamity and Rhia O'Riley, which are big loses to say the least, especially since all of them besides Rhia are babyfaces. Then of course there was no Hamada either and we we were even without Joey Eastman, Bryce Remsberg and Brian Gorie. I spoke to Dave briefly and asked him how many times he had to rebook the shows and he said "you don't even want to know!". It must have been such a headache and just when he thinks he had things organised Cheerleader Melissa was raced to the hospital causing her not to wrestle on a Shimmer show for the first time ever. Despite all of that the shows were still tons of fun with lots of great matches and performances.
First up I never got to see Joey Eastman announce, but Kevin Harvey did a superb job and really made the brief waits before matches fun. The new ref looked so nervous all the time, but he did well. I hope he had a good time and didn't mind the "WHO?" chants every time his name was announced.
Volume 58SparkleJK Kennedy vs Midianne
Truth be told I can't remember much about this match, but Midanne's heel antics are great fun.
Angie Skye vs Crazy Mary Dobson
Now this match was terrific. Mary Dobson was almost instantly over with the Shimmer crowd and Angie Skye is damn good too. This match was easily good enough to not look out of place on the main shows. Both women later appeared on the main cards so must have impressed Dave as well as the fans.
Main showPortia Perez vs Thunderkitty
I haven't seen much of Thunderkitty before, but I loved her. ("Thunder, THUNDER,
THUNDER KITTY" is an awesome introduction). This was the start of Portia's hilarious weekend gimmick of exposing the turnbuckles and stealing other people's stuff. Also the part where PJ freaks out when he sees the bolt cutters "WHERE DID YOU FIND THESE?!?!" was me laugh out loud. It was very fun.
Sanatana Garrett vs Sassy Stephie
Sadly I can't remember much about this one either (hope that's not a recurring theme!), but Mademoiselle Rachelle is great at getting heat. Like Midianne earlier her saying "trois!" after every pin attempt Sassy made only for the crowd to come back with "deux!" was enjoyable. I do love the shining star press finisher Santana does, it looks great. A lot of people were left wondering who Savannah Summers was when she ran out, though she was announced as a Sparkle talent, so it shouldn't have been too surprising in hindsight. As for why, well that was more baffling to me.
Jessicka Havok vs Mary Lee Rose
This was alright. Didn't get to see what Mary was fully capable of here, and nor should she really against the Death Machine. But is made Havok look great which was the point.
Nikki Storm vs Su Yung
Su Yung's a great babyface. Nikki Storm is a phenomenal heel. She really got over as soon as she started speaking. A nice competitive match which Nikki won as expected starting her Goldberg streak. 1-0!
Mercedes Martinez vs Veda Scott
I honestly can't remember this at all
My memory sucks evidently.
Then the was the segment where Eagles said, or told Amber to tell the crowd, (she was too busy drinking Starbucks!), that she is undefeated since she lost her title. Nicole Matthews then came out and said the same, which Madison retorted with "But that was last volume!". I might be wrong, but assume this was meant to be a backstage promo as they dimmed the lights earlier on as if to signal a backstage promo, but nothing happened. So perhaps there were technical issues there. It just looked strange seeing it take place near the curtain. Nevertheless after 57 previous volumes it lead to our first ever heel vs heel match later on.
Mia Yim vs Hikaru Shida
Our first great match of the weekend. There was a lot of talk about who would step up at these tapings in light of all the big names that were absent. In my mind it was Mia Yim. She's superb and by the volume 61 she was getting amongst the best reactions of any of the babyfaces. Hikura Shida however is even better. She looks like a star, carries herself like a star and damn can she wrestle. This was possibly the best match of the show, though if anybody wants to argue that two later matches were better then I wouldn't put up a strong argument.
Cherry Bomb & Kimber Lee vs MsEerie
This was very enjoyable too. Cherry and Kimber Lee are soooo entertaining as brain-dead heels. Cherry's constant confusion over MsChif amusingly playing doing the 'twin magic' kept making me laugh. I got IHWC vibes from Kimber Lee and Cherry (later named 'Kimber Bomb') and I mean that as a massive compliment. Good to see them get the surprise win too.
Leva Bates vs Cheerleader Melissa
After Melissa was given the plaque for being the best in North America she attacked Danger and Leva on the mic. Leva for dressing up all the time (this coming from a 'cheerleader') and Danger for... not sure actually. Not sure she did enough to fully get over as a heel here, but the beatdown on Leva and Danger afterwards helped a lot and it lead to Lufisto making her usual surprise (bit of an oxymoron I know) appearance. Also Dave had the good sense to book Melissa against Hiroyo and Lufisto later, perhaps the two most beloved wrestlers on the roster. As for the match itself, well it didn't quite click for me. I also wasn't aware that it was for the Shimmer championship at all, I mean I assumed it was, but I wasn't sure. This was am effective build to Melissa vs Lufisto though and this being Lufisto's weekend in general.
Saraya Knight vs Hiroyo Matsumoto
I've seen it on DVD many times but to experience the atmosphere change that occurs when 'Faint' begins to play. It's just a chorus of "Ooooooh's!" and the feeling that s**t's just got real! Of course this was extra fun with birthday hats and kazoos and we even got to shut Saraya up for once! Matsumoto is just adorable and her making the fans continue to sign happy birthday was great. A very fun match with Hiroyo going on to earn herself a title match.
Nicole Matthews vs Madison Eagles
I LOVED this match. The fork stuff, the double knife edge chop on Drummond, Madison constantly out-cheating Matthews, everything. Can't wait to see this again and hear Portia's thoughts on the match. The first ever heel vs heel match too!
3G vs LuKana
Of all of 3G's tag matches over the weekend this was the best and seeing how much fun their match against Kimber Bomb was that's saying a fair bit. One good thing about face vs face tag matches is that you get to avoid the tired cliches of tag matches such as the referee not seeing the tag and instead you can have all four women beating the crap out of eachother. A good way to end the first show and along with Eagles/Matthews and Yim/Shida possibly the best match of the show.
I'm using the Rodeway's dodgy as hell broadband and typing all this on the 'Quick Reply' box so I'm going to post this in 4 posts so I don't lose any of what I've typed.