Awesome / SHIMMER

• SHIMMER's mission statement was to prove that women's wrestling was worth being taken seriously, and it didn't have to just be blatant T&A. On the very first volume, the Mercedes Martinez vs. Sara Del Rey match managed to do exactly that.
• Cheerleader Melissa vs. MsChif on Volume 1, the whole thing.
• In Volume 5, Amazing Kong made her SHIMMER debut against Nikki Roxx in what most presumed would be a Curb-Stomp Battle that would be over in a couple of minutes. But Roxx managed to hang in for almost fifteen minutes, at times giving Kong a significant amount of trouble, before she was finally pinned. Roxx gained a big fan following and higher profile from her performance in that match, which eventually led to her being signed by TNA (where she would be known as Roxxi Laveaux, and then as just Roxxi).
• The match between LuFisto and Cheerleader Melissa in Vol 20, which earned a standing ovation from the audience.
• The weekend of tapings for Volumes 27 and 28 were a Crowning Moment for MsChif. Widely believed that she would drop the SHIMMER Championship during the weekend, she successfully defended the title twice; first, she felled Nikki Roxx in singles action, then she won a Triple Threat Match the next night against LuFisto and Awesome Kong by becoming the first woman in the history of SHIMMER to pin Awesome Kong.
• The entire match between Ayako Hamada and Sara Del Rey in Volume 28, characterized by the sheer brutality and tenacity displayed by both wrestlers has become the stuff of legends amongst fans, with its absolute high point being the unforgettable moonsault Hamada executes off the top rope, steel chair in hand.
• After being relentlessly abused by her bitch of a mother, Britani Knight finally snaps when Sweet Saraya declares that 'you ain't no kid of mine' because she lost a match, and after attacking Saraya back, she angrily shouts that Saraya isn't her mother now either.
• Kurihara and Ayako Hamada's title defense against Ray and Leon on volume 47 was the easily the definitive match of their careers and it's hard to argue it wasn't the best match on a weekend where nearly all the best matches were tag team contests, showing why Kurihara and Hamada had the belts, although people were on their feet to make sure Ray and Leon hadn't knocked them off in the final minutes.
• Volume 50 saw Ayako Hamada go after Kana with inexorable resoluteness, and Kana deserves some recognition too just for being able to keep up with and hold off Hamada for as long as she did.
• Volume 73: Tomoka Nakagawa is retiring, and requests that she and Kellie Skater face the Canadian Ninjas in her retirement match. The Ninjas' theme hits... then fades out, to boos from the crowd - obviously, this is more heel shenanigans from the Ninjas. Then, "Jungle Emperor" starts up, and frickin' Aja Kong and Dynamite Kansai appear to lay a beatdown on 3G. See it here.
• Volume 80 brought together a lot of angles in and outside of SHIMMER that all lead up to a satisfying conclusion, but Nicole Matthews vs Heidi Lovelace was a standalone moment that cemented the latter's place among the best in the world.

---