Match-of-the-Day: Serena v Yumi Ohka

I thought Yumi's appearances at SHIMMER were superb.  She is one tough woman; a far cry from the starlet that came into Jd' ten years ago.  Dave Prazak's booking was also top drawer with Sara Del Rey, Courtney Rush, Mia Yim, and Serena as opponents.  Yumi's yakuza big boots are jaw-crackingly good and she can't get too much of a good thing so she often sets them up in pairs.  She props up an opponent in the corner and gets a running start diagonally across the ring -- boom! (boot to the jaw).  Then she resets, aligns herself with an adjacent corner (one of the right angle points) and brings the boot again from a full run -- bam!!  Needless to say, Mia Yim, Courtney Rush, and Serena were all checking their dental work after those kicks!

Serena prepares to enter the ring

All photos by David Falcon

Match-of-the-Day: October 14

Competitors: Yumi Ohka v Serena Deeb

Volume: 44 -- fifth match

Time: 11:00

Finisher: spear

Highlight: awesome match with big boots and strong contact matwork.  Neither of these women is a high flyer, though there was a superplex from the top.  Each woman survived the others finisher at least once, but ultimately Serena hit a spear that could not be denied.

Key: Match winner's name is in bold & italics

Match times are approximate and not official

Yumi controls the head of her opponent

Yumi is focused and intent

Yumi checks her hand . . . are any fingers broken?

Yakuza kick to Serena's head

Yumi gets the crowd going for boot #2

Milliseconds to impact!

Setting her up . . .

Serena survives this nasty bomb!

. . . and delivered the spear!

Yumi had to shake the cobwebs out of her head

There was much mutual respect after the match . . .

. . . great sportsmanship!