Nicole Savoy vs. Mercedes Martinez, SHIMMER Volume 100 (4/7/2018)

(photo credit to @cynthiavance on Twitter.)

This was for Savoy’s SHIMMER Title.

Sometimes, it’s nice to be surprised. A match or even just an individual performance is great in a way you didn’t expect, or a match and/or performance within a match is way better than you came into it expecting. It’s a good feeling, something delivering in a way you would not have anticipated beforehand. Take it outside of wrestling, few things feel better than a positive surprise, outside of like a great burger or sex or winning some complex eight-leg parlay dependent on an NBA role player getting over 15 points.

Other times, you know, I just kind of know what I want out of something already, and it feels good to just get the thing you paid for. I fire up some Scott Adkins or JCVD movie at 11:55 pm on a Friday night, I know what I want, right? The great thing about it, and people like that in any of their fields, is that a lot of the times, they just give it to you.

This is great in all of the ways this match up was probably always going to be great, as Nicole Savoy and Mercedes Martinez do all of the stuff they’re really great at.

It’s not to say this is just a lot of hitting and violence from two phenomenal ass kickers, as there are other elements here.

Savoy dethroned Martinez in, according to commentary, something of an upset on the last set of tapings following Savoy dissolving their team after Martinez went too far to try and injure somebody. There is also a nice little thing pointed out by Prazak on commentary, of this being the 100th show and the main event is between a new star and one of the originals around for those first tapings in November 2005, and it’s a cool little story. SHIMMER being SHIMMER, I don’t think it’s quite the ideological or moral quandary they’re in here like DDT on its twenty fifth anniversary a little over a year before this when faced with a very similar choice, as they’ve always been very good about facing forward, but it’s an interesting set of ideas behind this.

Mostly though, yeah man, Mercedes Martinez and Nicole Savoy have the exact sort of a match you’d want them to have.

Real hard shots, sick and inventive holds, cool counters, and a whole lot of spirit. If not for commentary, I wouldn’t assume much of anything about this narratively, but it is a match that gets nasty and mean here and there too in ways that really benefit the entire thing. No surprises here, for sure, but a lot of thrills.

Savoy hangs onto the title and gets the submission with a double armbar.

Incredibly fun, in all of the most predictable and thrilling ways.

***

Io Shirai vs. Nicole Savoy, STARDOM Kyoto Max 2018 (2/4/2018)

This was for Shirai’s Wonder of Stardom Title.

On paper, a neat little variation on the previous year’s Io Shirai vs. Shayna Baszler title match, but in actuality, it’s something that’s just different enough to still feel unique, even if it isn’t quite as great.

Slightly, I mean that in the sense that Savoy is not exactly Baszler in terms of her shootier style work, but primarily, it’s an evolution of that as well, as when confronted with a very similar attack on her arm, she goes to Savoy’s leg instead. The result is something a little more interesting than usual, with Shirai embracing the Tanahashi part of her weird kind of Tanahashi/Ibushi fusion, and given that they actually do a really good job with it, one of the better and more unique matches for STARDOM’s top title.

(Whichever title Io held from December 2015 to mid 2018 was the top belt, sorry.)

What everyone knows is probably going to be great about this delivers as promised. Savoy kicks really hard, does some great stuff to the arm that’s both effective and mean as hell, and Io Shirai is a phenom. An offensive marvel unlike almost nobody else in the entire wrestling world, crisp, reckless feeling in the best way, a magnetic presence on top of that, everything.

The stuff that could easily have just as well not worked is what really makes this, ties it together and so forth, and that is the really really good job of selling on both ends.

Shirai is not quite as good at it as Savoy is, doing that thing where a limb is hurt but then you use it fine for big offense, but she gets just enough right to count, given the level of attention paid to the arm. Holding the arm most of the time, shaking it out, it’s enough when Savoy’s attack is not all that consistent. There is a level of basic attention and respect paid to the work that I want more than anything else, and especially in the last third of this match, Io Shirai does that. Savoy is even better at roughly the same, likewise never delivering maybe the greatest selling performance alive, but always feeling in pain and hindered in a way that serves the match especially well.

Which is sort of the thing with this match in general. Imperfect, but with their hearts and minds just close enough to the right place to count.

They maybe drag the thing out a little long before Shirai’s Moonsault brings them to a conclusion, it is still STARDOM, but there’s so much good and, for the promotion at least, different about this that I don’t care all that much.

A fun reminder that, at one point, STARDOM used to produce some pretty great wrestling matches.

***+

Madison Eagles vs. Nicole Savoy, SHIMMER Volume 78 (10/11/2015)

This was for Eagles’ SHIMMER Title.

A day after finally regaining the title and putting the period at the end of a two year long story, Eagles now does something both entirely different and very comfortable at the same time. Savoy is a very different kind of wrestler from most of the SHIMMER locker room as more legitimate shitkicker, but also still an incredibly rude and ambitious up and comer with a chip on her shoulder and a point to prove against the best in the world. The best of all worlds.

Once again, it’s one of those lovely sorts of Eagles matches. Nothing complex to it, a wonderful economy of movement, the story of the match told at every possible moment and through the majority of motions made. Savoy is still a little new sometimes, but they take such a different approach with a more grappling focused match that it doesn’t matter all that much.

Savoy’s greatest quality is her spirit, which is to say that at every possible moment, she is as disrespectful as possible. The way she goes about it also fits in perfectly with her more legitimate leaning style and the grounded nature of the match, feeling disrespectful more in a sports way than a pro wrestling way. The new kid wants the crown, not so much constantly spitting or saying mean things about someone as a person. The competitive aspect of the thing always takes precedent. It’s unfortunately not the smoothest match in the world and maybe goes a hair too long for where Savoy is at this point, but it’s that spirit and the difference from every other SHIMMER match around this time that does so much for them.

After Savoy countered the Hellbound once into a cross armbreaker, Eagles is scared away from it somewhat, but doesn’t lack for ways to win a wrestling match, as Savoy seemed to think. She lacks Savoy’s speed and accuracy on her strikes, but makes up for it in power at the end. She gets her back with a high one to the back of the neck and upper back, and then puts a little modification on a Northern Lights Bomb, grabbing the calf instead of the back of the leg and folding the leg like a Fisherman’s Buster before the lift, and it’s enough to hold onto the title.

Exactly great enough to be a really interesting match, and exactly interesting enough to be a great match. While imperfect, a match with enough snap and novelty to it that it has a way of standing out in the memory. Something of a breakout for Savoy, and yet another hit out of Madison Eagles, who just does not miss at this point when given an opportunity like this. `

three girl

Evie vs. Nicole Savoy, SHIMMER Volume 71 (3/28/2015)

This was also part of the CHICKFIGHT tournament.

Much like Savoy’s match earlier in the show against Candice LeRae, this is a match that should have happened like twenty times between now and 2021. They have a few other meetings in 2015 in SHIMMER, it’s not the end of the world, but again, there’s something here.

More than that match, this works a lot better to showcase what Savoy can do, as Evie is much more in line with her. Kicks and holds and the like. Candice rules, but Savoy seems a hundred times more at home working someone like this and not dealing with the clash of styles. This still isn’t QUITE great as the low energy crowd hurts and it’s still under ten minutes and on a tournament show where the winner has one more match to work later on. There’s a lot against them, too much to overcome. They manage a really fun sprint though. More than a lot of promise here, just an entire planet full of it. Cool holds from Savoy, mean kicks from both, and some really cool ideas.

Evie wins with the Tree of Woe double stomp.

In spite of the non-traditional SHIMMER crowd and the horrible setting (the EVOLVE venue that is a graveyard), this is the closest thing to a great match on this show.

Candice LeRae vs. Nicole Savoy, SHIMMER Volume 71 (3/28/2015)

This was part of the CHICKFIGHT tournament.

Not a great match exactly, but a ton of fun.

Savoy is still pretty new and isn’t as great as she’ll get around 2017 or so, but there’s undeniably a lot of potential. Her movement is already great, her offense is smooth, but she’s just young still. Some awkward attempts at filling space in control, but then also this is only seven minutes as part of a one night tournament and it’s all a little rushed as a result. Candice is similarly great here. No longer the best babyface in the world (as Bayley has hit her stride and Mike Bailey as well), Candice is still on a short list and a match like this shows why. Her offense is all cool, relatively crisp, and it’s this super likeable performance putting over the local newcomer. Nothing complex or all that enticing, but a steady and consistent performance, which is always real impressive.

Savoy hits a really good looking Tiger Suplex on Candice for the moderate upset.

This match has happened a few more times, most notable as a six minute Mae Young Classic match in 2017. Unfortunately, it’s never quite been the match that it feels like it should have been. Savoy is still pretty inexperienced here, they didn’t get the time right later on, whatever else. One hopes the window isn’t entirely closed, because it really seemed like there was something here.