SHINE kicked off their 2013 with a huge bang, as five top heels joined forces to form a megastable like no-one has ever seen.
In the midst of a heated main event between Mercedes Martinez and Amazing Kong in singles competition, Rain ran in to distract the referee. As this happened, April Hunter emerged and drove a baseball bat into Kong’s leg, incapacitating her and allowing Martinez to get the pinfall. Hunter’s cohorts Made In Sin (Allysin Kay and Taylor Made) made their way out, accompanied by Ivelisse, and continued the beatdown, taking out numerous faces of the SHINE roster trying to make the save (and a referee!) in the process.
As they gathered in the ring, Rain addressed the crowd, announcing the name of this devastating new force: Valkyrie. A few days previously, the SHINE office had received a short, cryptic video containing that very word, and the internet had been rife with speculation as to what this might have meant. Who would have guessed that what we saw may be the birth of SHINE’s very own NWO?
The main event itself was solid but unspectacular, but the finish and post-match events were the real talking point of the match, leaving plenty of questions to be answered at the next show. What are Valkyrie’s plans? Is Mercedes Martinez involved in this whole thing? How will Kong (and inevitably, Kong’s friend Jazz) respond?
While the antics at the end of the show were the icing on the cake, they were backed up by a thrilling, fast-paced undercard that gave everyone who featured a chance to show what they can really do. Prior to their involvement in the main event, Allysin Kay and Taylor Made suffered their first defeat in SHINE at the hands of Christina Von Eerie and MsChif, while Ivelisse picked up a victory against a spirited Su Yung.
Two wrestlers made their SHINE debuts, both with losing efforts, but turning plenty of heads in the process. Kimber Lee had an extremely impressive first outing, taking Nikki Roxx to the limit before ultimately succumbing to a lethal Barbie Killer, and Leah Von Dutch went all the way against Santana, only to miss her finisher and feel the wrath of the Shining Star Press. With so much new blood being injected into the roster every show, the future of this company is looking very bright indeed.
The match of the night for me was the rematch between Jessicka Havok and Reby Sky. Havok had completely decimated Sky at SHINE 2, but Sky, not one to take things lying down, was hungry to prove that she was deserving of her place on the roster, and demanded a rematch. The end result was only marginally less one-sided than their previous outing, but Sky showed real heart in not submitting to the Rings of Saturn. In the end, Sky’s boyfriend Matt Hardy felt there was no other option but to throw in the towel and concede defeat on her behalf, much to Sky’s dismay. How this pans out will certainly be interesting, especially given the quick staredown between Havok and Hardy post-match.
In one of the more interesting angles that have taken place over the past few months, Kimberly (not to be confused with Kimber Lee) finally got her first victory in SHINE. Kimberly, who wrestled a losing effort in the first match of the first ever SHINE event and has been on an unprecedented losing streak ever since, gradually losing her marbles as the embarrassment piled on, got the win against Leva Bates, whom she turned on angrily at the previous show following another demoralising defeat in tag team competition. Kimberly’s reaction to her win (a mixture of shock, confusion and ecstasy) and her post-match celebration was priceless, and Leva chased her backstage, suggesting there’s still life in this feud yet.
This was certainly the most entertaining SHINE show yet, with fantastic action from start to finish. SHINE have really come into their own these past few shows, carving a niche that is definitely starting to set them apart from other promotions. The debutantes complement the mainstay wrestlers nicely, and at two hours long and consisting of eight matches, the shows are concise without feeling too rushed (not every match needs to be a half-hour clinic, something many indy promotions could do with understanding). Credit must also go to the verbal virtuoso that is Daffney, whose tipsy colour commentary is perfect for a show like this. She could commentate an episode of Songs of Praise and I’d still hang on to every single word!
SHINE continues to go from strength to strength, with great wrestling, intelligent booking and a marketable image that will no doubt be catching the eyes of some big names in wrestling and beyond, and with this, their sixth show, they’ve really taken their game to the next level. Mark my words, these girls are making something very special indeed!
17 Comments
at
I totally agree. SHINE is really something special and I hope it just grows and grows. Really great stuff. Would not surprise me to see more women move to Florida in an effort to get on these shows because being on iPPV means a lot of exposure for these women.
at
I must say Shine is doing well and to have such a talented roster I wonder who’s their financial support lol. I think they’ll be the biggest promotion as far as women soon
at
Loved every single bit of the show and I agree that it was the best iPPV yet!
It was refreshing, very entertaining and awesome talent that oozed charisma and skill from the beginning to the end!
Huge kudos to whoever put this show and the best roster ever together!
The feuds are great, the attitude and matches were gold like always and the outcome of the main event was awesome!
I think that in the next SHINE, either the 5 faces that got the beat down will team up against Valkyrie or Jazz will be back with Kong and get some assistance by whoever joins them. :)
The debuted Kimber Lee and Leah von Dutch was super talented and I really hope we will see them again soon!
Kimber came across like a tweener while Leah was a super heel with a great attitude.
Can’t wait for SHINE 7!
at
Shine is really looking to snatch Shimmer’s crown, as far as I can tell.
at
Where (and how) can I watch the other SHINE editions?
GailKim95 Reply:
January 13th, 2013 at
you can buy the dvd on SHINE’s website or you could watch them on demand at wwwnlive.com
at
Valkyrie is pretty damn awesome! My favorite match was Made In Sin vs MSEERIE but all the matches were great! And the story developement with Leva vs Kimberly and Havok vs Reby was amazing too! Can’t wait until SHINE 7!!!
at
It’s brilliant to hear so much good response from these Shines shows, I dont think I’ve really heard many negative comments around thid promotion since it begun, especially after this edition of it. Hopefully I’ll be able to watch this show somehow if I get the money to cause it sounds like its worth every penny.
While SHIMMER is associated with Shine, it looks like they may very well end up losing their top spot as top women’s promotion in the states soon.
at
Man I Echo all the comments here! It was such a great show. It told a crazy story at the end and I can’t wait till Valkarye make a tear in Shine! Maybe it will boil over to shimmer shows too.
at
where can i watch this??
Raekon Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
You can buy the dvd on SHINE’s website or you could watch them on demand at http://www.wwnlive.com
Otherwise if you wanna watch a show live, you have 3 options prior to a show at http://www.wwnlive.com:
- streaming
- streaming + on demand
- streaming + on demand + dvd
I’m always buying streaming + on demand so I can rewatch the shows on the site over and over again. :)
You can also find SHINE 1 to 5 there too.
at
Wasn’t expecting Ivelesse to join the group.
wl75 Reply:
January 14th, 2013 at
Especially with the rumors she might quit wrestling to go into MMA full-time..
I’m assuming this is gonna be the main storyline for most of the year- and might end with one or more careers ending (Rain was hinting on her twitter that she knows a couple of people were planning to retire this year- I suspect if she mentioned it herself she might be on that list…)
So do they go with a 5v5 elimination match right away (which would be the most logical thing, though it might be be more useful as a blowoff), or do they hold off on it for a bit (Rain’s still rehabbing, so that might hold things up)- with a 5v5, I’d think you go with Kong/Jazz/CVE/MsChif/Roxx on the other side perhaps? Or do they do the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” route and MM gets involved? There’s a lot of ways they can play this, and it’s great…
at
So Iveliesse fails at being a fucking diva, and gets handed major spots in various promotions?
jonmel83 Reply:
January 23rd, 2013 at
yep , have you not heard of TNA
therightone Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at
I like you!
therightone Reply:
January 31st, 2013 at
That was also my point by the way.