RISE & SHIMMER 7/7-7/9

[Sam Fain]

Anyone attending this weekend? I'm definitely going to the RISE event tonight. Looking forward to the Dog Collar Main Event and, of course, Cheerleader Melissa's return to Berwyn. Thinking of trying to make Sunday, too, but I can't make Saturday due to previous plans. Should be a great weekend, in spite of some talent potentially being unavailable with the Mae Young Classic coming up.

If anyone else is going to be there tonight, let me know.

[Sam Fain]

RISE 3 - Medic was fantastic. All the women worked hard and put on a great show. The sky is the limit for some of the talents. Schotzi Blackheart is a star, no doubt about it. The dog collar match was really good in spite of a couple of lulls. Delilah Doom has a high ceiling and had a great match with Rosemary, who is also a bonafide star; great character and hard worker, to say the least. And what a pleasure to see Cheerleader Melissa make her return to Berwyn. Been a big fan of hers for years and it was cool to finally see her in person. Overall, it was a great time and I'm looking forward to Sunday's SHIMMER tapings (couldn't go tto day due to prior engagements).

[Sam Fain]

SHIMMER 94 & 95 tapings were a blast. I had a front row seat and right as the RISE matches were ending a father pulled up two seats next to mine (they seemed to have undersold front row, so there were fewer seats in the row and lots of extra space near the corners, at least on my side), he sat his kids in it and at first I was a little upset, thinking I'd paid good money for this seat, what's the big idea... However, I decided to shrug my shoulders, say whatever and hoped the kids had a good time... The little girl sitting next to me damn near stole the show, haha. She interacted with a lot of the wrestlers, but Tess Blanchard (who has to be NXT bound soon) really played off of her. It was the mini-feud of the day.

The RISE matches were solid, especially Stefany Sinclaire and Jewels Malone. Stefany has a great presence in the ring and her strikes look good. Definitely hope to see more of her.

The show proper did get off to a rough start when Neveah went down with a dislocated knee about a minute into her match with Allysin Kay. Everything looked normal, but after a whip into the corner, she crumpled. Ref threw up the "X", Kevin Harvey came in and threw up an "X" and then Alison Danger and other came out to help her from the ring. Alison turned to our side and apologized and said they were going to take care of her and get things started again. It was a tough start and really could have put a damper on things, but Kevin came back to the ring, said they would never show that footage and wanted to restart the taping with another countdown and to throw out all our positive energy for Neveah. We did and they arguable got a bigger pop for the beginning of the show than before.

Jessicak Havok came out to a big pop and helped to get things going again with a solid match against Kikiyo. Kikiyo has a lot of talent and plays a great heel. Her frog splash is definitely something to see, especially when she misses it, which led to Havok picking up the win.

Cheerleader Melissa was clearly supposed to be the heel in her matches, but the crowd, including myself, wasn't having it. There were a couple of moments when she seemed genuinely surprised at the reaction and even a little touched. It was subtle, but it was there. She was brutal and damn near killed Samantha Heights with the Kudo Driver.

The 4-way between Cherry Bomb, Taeler Hendrix, Dust (formerly Angel Dust), & the super-over Kay Lee Ray was damn good. Cherry got the win after a crazy succession of dives and brawling. Looking forward to seeing this on the DVD... in two years... Seriously, they need to speed that process up a bit. The RISE 3 DVDs and Blu Rays were available Sunday after the show.

Ashley Lane (fka Madison Rayne) vs Veda Scott was what it was. I like Veda (seems most don't) and Ashley is clearly good at what she does, but it didn't pop and had a lot to follow after the 4-way. Lane got the win.

Allysin Kay came back out and had a match with DiDi Dynamite. Solid quick bout that saw Kay get the win.

Lufisto (who is awesome, by the way and the first wrestler I got to meet on Friday) was slated to take on Thunderkitty, but she couldn't wrestler due to an 'injury' sustained the day before (I missed the tapings, so not sure exactly what happened, but Lufisto attacked her apparently). So, Thunderkitty brought out Shotzi Blackheart (who is also awesome and very over). They had a great match. One of my favorites of the first half of the day. Lufisto is simply a great wrestler. She knows what to do and most importantly when to do it. She got Shotzi a ton of sympathy and the crowd was in dueling chants on multiple occasions. It looked like Shotzi might pull out the win, but Lufisto was just too much and hit a sick Burning Hammer to get the 1, 2, 3. After she attacked Thunderkitty and then Solo Darling made the save to a big pop.

Just when I thought this might be the match of the first half, Nicole Matthews and Deonna Purrazzo came out and put on a damn near flawless match. Deonna is going to go places. No doubt. Nicole is so good and you can tell she loves what she does. She interacts with the fans and is super sharp and witty and also great in the ring. She hit the Vancouver Maneuver for the win.

Fire & Nice (Chelsea Green & Britt Baker) took on Mt Tessa for the Tag Titles. Crowd wanted a title change, but I have a feeling that Britt and Chelsea were Orlando bound as they didn't stick around after the show. Tessa is probably the best heel on the roster and maybe one of the best heels working right now. That's no exaggeration. Vanessa Kraven is great, too and it seems to be only a matter of time before a face turn when she splits from Tessa. Tessa got her team DQ'd when she thumped Chelsea with a screwdriver. Fans were hot for a rematch, unfortunately we didn't get it on 95.

Shayna Baszler is awesome. She, for obvious reasons, feels more real than anyone on the roster and could probably kick a lot of ass legit. Kasey Spinelli brought the comedy and some fans shit on it, but I thought the match worked, mostly because of Shayna, but regardless, I'm kind of over smarky assholes who think that they're the only ones who know what real wrestling is. Comedy has always been a part of the show and should still be a component. Period. It needs to be done well, and while this wasn't perfect, it definitely doesn't deserve to be shit on. Shayna got the win, naturally.

Madison Eagles and Nicole Savoy put on a hell of a match. Savoy was taking heat for losing the title and Madison has been welcomed back with open arms. Shayna accompanied her Trifecta partner and has an early impact before being sent to the back. Eagles got the win after a hard fought bout.

Shazza, the new Heart of Shimmer champ, took on Courtney Rush. Rush has so much personality and is totally committed to her character. She cut a quick promo on Shazza before the match showing off her bruises and asking what more could be done to her. Shazza doesn't quite do it for me, but there's not denying she's talented as hell and very over. They had a solid match that saw her retain the belt.

The main event was Mia Yim and Mecedes Martinez. The crowd was super hot for a title change on this one. They chain wrestled and Mia kept getting the better of Mercedes. Mercedes decided to take a powder and actually went to the bar for a bottle of water, so Mia came out and asked for water and I gave her mine. She chugged some while Mercedes did the same and then it was back on. Needless to say, I got a kick out of it and it was fun to be an accessory to the bit. Great match, but bummer finish as Mercedes made Mia tap... Crowd was not happy, but Mercedes is awesome and she's been around since day 1.

Intermission was insane and hard to navigate, but I got pictures with Shotzi, Madison, Nicole & Shayna, and, of course, Mia. Mia was super nice and we joked about the water bit and she thanked me with a hug. Really, everyone was super nice. I also got all of them (minus Shotzi, who will hopefully have a card soon!) to sign their game cards as well.

95 kicked off with Shotzi putting Veda out with a Dragon Sleeper in fairly quick fashion.

Samantha Heights and Jessica Troy had a solid little match. Both have a lot of potential.

Cheerleader Melissa took our Spinelli with the Air Raid Crash after a good bout. Melissa is just great. She takes no shit and is brutal at times, but the fans love her.

Jessicka Havok took out Charli Evans after a fun little match. Charli is a lot of fun to watch with a great personality. Her tag team with Jessica works well, too. There's something kind of old school about them. Jessicka is awesome and super over, that is all.

Solo Darling vs Lufisto was so much fun. Solo attacked Lufisto during her entrance and we got a great brawl. Lufisto ended up grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting off Solo's tail for a DQ.

Hudson Envy is very very good. I think she's got a high ceiling and I've seen some of her Stardom work (from a DVD I purchased from Melissa on Friday night, actually). This match gave her a huge chance to to shine against Mia Yim, who she took out with a Muscle Buster! Big win over Yim and shows that there may be bigger plans for Hudson down the road.

Good lord, Saraya is over. She had a nice match with Cat Power, but the promo she cut before was wicked good and very real. To sum it up she said she came her to wrestle and that as long as Cat stayed in the ring that's what she'd do, but if she stepped outside, that was another story. Needless to say the crowd started a "step outside" chant right away and Cat teased it, but it wasn't until a little later when it happened and Saraya went after her.

Nicole Savoy and Deonna Purrazo had a great match. They're both great workers and could find themselves NXT bound sooner than later. Nicole got the win which surprised us, but not in a bad way. Deonna took the loss in stride and it made sense with the story the told in the ring.

Four way for the tag titles with Paradise Lost (Rush & Dust), Leva & Delilah Doom, Fire & Nice, and Mt Tessa. Leva's cosplay made her damn near unrecognizable as Heihachi Mishima from Tekken (I had to look that up) and the obnoxious guy next to me kept saying "Leva Bates, bathroom break" trying to get anyone's attention. It didn't work. Anyway, Bates was pinned after some fun stuff in and out of the ring, then Rush & Dust were eliminated giving us a de facto rematch... Crowd was still warm to the idea of a title change, but not as hot as we were earlier. Vanessa got the pin in spite of not being the legal woman in the bout... She teased hitting Tessa with the belt after, but they left together. Fun stuff all around.

Shazza vs Nicole for the HoS title was damn good and might've sold me on Shazza. Nicole is a damn lot of fun to watch, tho. Shazza got the win, which is kind of big if you ask me. Wasn't too long ago Nicole was the top hand...

Merceded vs Madison was the main event and was a very good match. The Trifecta interfered when Nicole hit Madison with a chain for the champ to retain. Nicole and Shayna were in my corner and were very interactive with me and a few other fans. Lot of fun, to say the least.

Afterwards I talked with Madison Eagles for a bit and she was super cool. Also got to meet Vanessa who was incredibly sweet and signed her card for me.

All in all, what a great time. I can't wait to go back in November. Next time I'll do all three days. Sounds like we'll have a lot of joshi talent on the card, too! Kevin has titled the Rise event "Rising Sun" and Dave said when he was selling me my ticket on Friday, that he couldn't say who, but that it would be big. First live events I've been to since the original ECW days (I'm dating myself a bit, haha).

Sorry for the lengthy post. I started to write a quick paragraph saying I had a great time and then this poured out.