Team Slap Happy had became the new Shimmer Tag Team Champions. Our Captain's luck with tag titles elsewhere wouldn't exactly be great in the future. Would the reign of Team Slap Happy be a precursor to that future? Or would Evie and Heidi Lovelace (Ruby Soho) continue to hold the gold? To retain would be a rough, violent task as they were challenged by the bruising duo of Melanie Cruise and Yumi Ohka.
Prior to the match in a backstage promo, Evie thanked the fans for supporting their team. But Heidi warned her they were no longer underdogs, they now had a target on their backs. Evie was greatly concerned about feeling the sting of Yumi's favorite toy: Her whip. But the duo quickly braved their concerns, focused on victory. They did their signature handslap to end the promo.
Heidi came into the match with a bad leg, having injured it in the match earlier that same day where Team Slap Happy won the titles. Cruise and Ohka refused to wait for the introductions to finish, attacking their opponents from behind. What followed was the embodiment of an old school tag team match where the heels work over the face in peril for a lengthy period to set up a hot tag with an invested crowd.
The heels tossed Evie into a cornered Heidi to punish both. Cruise followed whipping Ohka into both, smashing them with a back elbow. Cruise followed with a big splash. Evie was tossed to the floor, making the injured Heidi the legal competitor: The worse case scenario for Team Slap Happy. Cruise and Ohka extensively, violently worked over Heidi including her leg for ten minutes that felt much longer. Every time Evie climbed back up to the apron the heels sent her back to the floor.
Ohka and Cruise slyly manipulated the five count for double teams to their advantage. At one point Cruise taunted Evie to force the referee's attention away from Ohka, giving her a chance to strike Heidi with her whip multiple times. The ring had been completely cut in half. Heidi was finally is able to ground Cruise with a hard knee strike. At long last Evie was tagged in. Evie kicked the whip out of Ohka's hand and delivered the uranage backbreaker. Ohka took control catching Evie with a sitdown powerbomb. Heidi made a desperation save on the pinfall attempt.
The heels took control with a series of double team moves to both. Cocky covers by Ohka allowed Evie to kick out of several pin attempts. Cruise intended to end things with a tombstone piledriver but Evie managed to escape it. Ohka struck Cruise by mistake when they attempted another double team. Ohka was taken out, allowing Team Slap Happy to finish off Cruise with the Rocker Launcher earning them a hard-fought pinfall victory courtesy of Heidi. This was a fifteen minute slaughter. Evie and Heidi not only retained the tag team titles, they literally survived.
Additional Information | Shimmer Tag Team Champions Team Slap Happy (Evie & Heidi Lovelace) defeated Melanie Cruise & Yumi Ohka to retain the titles (15:17) at Shimmer Volume 85 at Berwyn Eagles Club in Berwyn, Illinois on June 26th 2016.
