Tonight at The Orpheum in Ybor City, FL – in conjunction with WWN – Shine Wrestling presents its second iPPV, headlined by Mercedes Martinez taking on former WWE Women’s Champion Jazz, who beat Sara Del Rey on SHINE 1 last month. With a hand picked roster representing some of the best in the country mixed with some local talent and promising stars, Shine promises a heady dose of youth and experience. Order the show, or watch on VOD (or get both *and* a DVD) with the purchase options on WWN and join live event hostess Daffney – but if you’re unable to be in front of a screen, click through to after the jump and join us for live coverage of the show.
Also, take a look at the new addition to the roster with the Breakdown which we posted yesterday, which includes Jessicka Havok, Sassy Stephie, MsChif, Mia Yim and three members of the Ohio Valley Wrestling roster…
1. Su Yung pinned Kimberly by countering a Texas Cloverleaf attempt into a roll-up.2. Sojo Bolt beat Heidi Lovelace & Taeler Hendrix in a 3-way when Bolt hit Lovelace with a Muscle Buster.
3. Mia Yim defeated Sassy Stephie with a SkyYim (Skytwister Press)
4. Jessicka Havok beat Reby Sky with an Air Raid Crash. After the match, Havok attacked Sky’s left arm with a chair.
5. Rain pinned Santana Garrett in the corner with her feet on the ropes.
6. Leva Bates beat Portia Perez by blocking Perez’s superkick and connecting with one of her own. After the match, Leva called for a SHIMMER Tag Team Title match with she and Allison Danger against Perez and fellow Canadian Ninja Nicole Matthews.
7. Made In Sin (Taylor Made & Allysin Kay) defeated MSEERIE (MsChif & Christina Von Eerie) with the Seventh Deadly Sin (wheelbarrow into an Ace Crusher). MsChif was taken out of the match when April Hunter hit MsChif in the leg with a club. Hunter was announced as their “insurance policy”.
8. Mercedes Martinez vs Jazz ended in a no-contest after the match never made it to the ring. Two referees were beaten up after the match was thrown out.
Thoughts:
• Kimberly vs Su Yung was a better opener than last month (Kimberly vs Veda Scott), but the biggest problem is that for an opening match, the fans didn’t know who to cheer for as it was a fairly standard and good natured babyface vs babyface encounter. I got the impression that Kimberly was subtly heeling on occasion, but it wasn’t overt. Su showed more personality in this one than in her match last month too. Decent match, just nothing that grabbed the viewer by the scruff of the neck.
• There’s something about Kimberly that I dig though – and if she is going heel after two losses in a row, that’s something I’m interested to see.
• The triple threat match between the OVW-associated women really came across as overly choreographed (with a big emphasis on three-way moves), *but* despite that it was entertaining. The three-way spots were at least pretty creative, and the three women were all able to depend on each other. One issue I had with the match was the lack of crowd interaction. Once the match started, everybody just did their stuff to the point where the match may as well have taken place in an empty venue.
• Sassy Stephie & Mia Yim knocked the quality up and worked the crowd for their match. Stephie was the first person to really give the fans a heel to boo on the show, and was aggressive with the likeable Mia. So far so good. Stephie pulling out a Lightning Spiral at one point was sweet, too (and just as well that the Dragon Gate USA commentator Lenny Leonard was on hand to recognise and call the move). Could’ve done with shaving a couple of minutes off the match during the heel heat segment, but otherwise a fine wrestling match.
• Jessicka Havok was the absolute perfect maniacal heel in her match with Reby Sky. She was distinctly evil, and made Reby look really good. Havok & Sky have worked together a number of times, and Havok knew exactly what she needed to do. In fact, if you want to make a star out of Reby Sky (and why wouldn’t you?), Shine has specifically put her with the two best opponents for her in the first two shows. The post-match beatdown and chair use sets up a proper feud going forward where Sky will have revenge in mind. I’m fine with this. Not the most competitive match ever, but told a fantastic story.
• Santana Garrett’s execution was very good – including pulling out some early lucha. Having been denied her match last month due to iPPV issues, this was my first chance to see Santana in Shine properly, and she seems fine – but doesn’t have a hook. Rain was effective as usual, and she’s won twice now with cheating… so there’s something going on with her. Hopefully we’ll get a reason to emotionally invest in Santana next month.
• PIRATES VS NINJAS?! It’s like a crossover between Pro-Wrestling and Spike TV’s “Deadliest Warrior”! Someone call Geoff Desmouillin! In all honesty, this was a fantastic performance by Leva Bates, who as noted came out as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Loads of credit to Portia Perez for this, naturally, but this was arguably the best I’ve ever seen from Bates in mixing comedy and serious – her Capt. Jack schtick was great with the drunken style and (water) pistol, but when it was time to work in some serious wrestling, build tension and deliver… Bates did just that.
• I really like Made In Sin, and they worked their schtick so well. Mentioned in the Breakdown for Shine 2 that MsChif was likely coming in injured, and you’ll notice she didn’t take a single bump. Oh, you didn’t notice? Yeah, MsChif is that good. But with ‘Chif struggling, the pressure was on Made in Sin to keep the fire burning in the match, and that’s exactly what they did. Allysin Kay was once again subtly directing traffic in there, and was there for all the major moments in the match – once again showing an experience level beyond her years. The addition of April Hunter is good, so long as Hunter is simply referred to as Made In Sin’s insurance policy rather than taking away any heat as a manager or “brains” behind the team. I don’t want to see Taylor & Allysin overshadowed.
• The main event was exactly what Shine needed… a match that would hopefully create some buzz and be good enough to cause people to go away and suggest that their friends buy a replay. Just a crazy brawl between Mercedes and Jazz. Violent. Hard hitting. In your face. The finish was definitely unsatisfying, but unsatisfying in a way that made you anticipate a rematch rather than feel like you lost your money’s worth.
• Lenny Leonard was excellent on commentary, and Sara Del Rey did a fine job calling the main event with him. It’d still be handy if he had a colour commentator more often, but he was on good form.
• Shine 2 was a far better overall product than Shine 1, which I felt dragged in parts. We’ve got clear feuds and characters going forward in many of the major matches. Martinez vs Jazz 2 will be another war. Can Reby Sky get revenge on Jessicka Havok? What’s going to happen next with Made in Sin? Will Rain cheat to win *again*? All of these combine into a pretty good reason why we should consider putting down $10 of our cash again next month to find out some answers.
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