Post by freefall2 on Dec 4, 2016 4:09:42 GMT -5
Shimmer still features the best womens wrestling out of any promotion. It's the only company where you will see the best female wrestler from the USA go up against the best wrestler from Australia, Japan, Canada New Zealand or Europe. It's truly special.
Yes the WWE have possibly the best female wrestler in Asuka, an incredible worker who needs to work on her character a bit in Ember and an incredible character actress who's great ring work isn't quite as good as her promo skills in Nikki Storm along with superb women like Becky (who's not as great as she was in Shimmer), Billie Kay (nowhere near as good as she was in Shimmer), Bayley (improved a lot since Shimmer) and Sasha Banks, but all the women they hire still more or less fit into the WWE mould of being an attractive girl. For years we were saying that if they want to hire women who are attractive just hire some of the ones on the indie scene, but what about the ones who don't fit the WWE's look?
Mercedes Martinez is and has been one of the top 5 American females of the last decade. She's a phenomenal in-ring wrestler who's an even better promo. Madison Eagles is still the best all-round female wrestler on the planet. Neither fit the WWE mould so they likely wouldn't get hired. You could argue that Kharma wasn't either, but she's such a special attraction that she doesn't count.
Womens wrestling in the USA is the best it's been in forever, but losing Shimmer would still be a huge loss for so many women workers.
If it does go however let's look back at the incredible women who have competed in Shimmer as it really is a who's who of female talent of the last ten years.
Beth Phoenix
Nattie Neidhart
Asuka
Becky Lynch
Bayley
Ember Moon
Awesome Kong/Kharma
Sara Del Rey (WWE trainer)
Sarita/Sarah Stock (NXT trainer)
Rosemary/Courtey Rush
Mia Yimm/Jade
Ayako Hamada
Taylor Wilde
Daffney
Roxxi/Nikki Roxx
Aja Kong
Mayumi Ozaki
Dynamite Kansai
Madison Eagles
MsChif
Mercedes Martinez
Portia Perez
Nicole Matthews
Daizee Haze
Wesna Busic
Saraya Knight
Britani Knight/Paige
Lacey
Rain
Jetta
Serena Deeb
Kimber Lee
Cheerleader Melissa/Alysha Flash/Mariposa
Allison Danger
Ivelise
Nikki Storm
Ayumi Kurihara
Tomoka Nakagawa
Hiroyo Matsumoto
Veda Scott
Evie
Jessie McKay/Billie Kay
Leva Bates/Blue Pants
Lufisto
Hailey Hatred
Kalamity
Tsukasa Fujimoto
AKINO
And so may more. It's been an incredible promotion and possibly the most consistently great as not on single DVD has not had at least two fantastic matches.
I remember watching the early SHIMMER shows...but Lacey,Rain & Jetta really got me hooked on the shows. Along with Wesna I miss all those ladies!
Later on they were replaced with my absolute favorites The Canadian Ninjas even got a pair of custom Ninja shoes and patch made.
Yes everybodies favorite girlfriend Jessie McKay another SHIMMER standout not sure what's happened to her but she's seemed to have regressed in the ring? Maybe it's just my still not liking her new name.
SHIMMER closing will sadden me. Surprised? A bit. But as stated when you don't have new stuff for consumers to buy until the following year it's makes it hard to keep following. They needed a faster turn around.
And while many of the ladies sell their own merch, I would have liked to be able to purchase t-shirts of my favorite SHIMMER talent in one collective place. I'm sure Dave Prazak (I loved how Portia would always use his full name when talking to him) and the ladies could have worked out some sorta deal with the merchandise sales.