The story
Shimmer Women Athletes was founded in late 2005 by veteran promoter Dave Prazak and former wrestler Allison Danger as a Chicago-area independent promotion solely for women. Prazak created Shimmer to fill a “serious, non-objectifying platform” for female wrestlers at a time when North America had almost no all‐women’s promotions. As Slam Wrestling noted in 2006, Shimmer "fills an extreme void" by showing "talented women wrestlers taking part in real matches" without the Diva Search or strip-show gimmicks common in other women’s divisions, such as what WWE was promoting at the time. Prazak insisted the goal was simply to give top women wrestlers "a platform to do that"; an opportunity they otherwise lacked on the indie scene. From its very first event (November 6, 2005, in Berwyn, Illinois), Shimmer set out to raise the standard of women's wrestling in North America, packaging each quarterly show into two DVD volumes and distributing them nationally.
In 2005, Shimmer held its debut show on November 6 in Berwyn, IL. The inaugural card featured Sara Del Rey, Daizee Haze, Mercedes Martinez, Beth Phoenix and other top independents, immediately packing out the new promotion's DVD releases.
Between 2005 and 2011, Shimmer adopted a quarterly "super-show" model, running one big show roughly every three months at the Eagles Club in Berwyn. Each taping yielded two DVDs sold initially through Ring of Honor's online store, reflecting Prazak’s ROH connections. During this period, Shimmer was effectively a "sister promotion" to ROH: Ring of Honor would periodically feature Shimmer’s top women on its cards and even recognize the Shimmer Championship and Tag Team titles. Full Impact Pro, another ROH affiliate, likewise acknowledged Shimmer’s titles.
In June 2007, Shimmer introduced its first championship belt. A 16-woman tournament was held at a two-day taping to crown the inaugural Shimmer Champion. Sara Del Rey won the tournament (defeating Lacey in the finals) and became the first titleholder, ending the promotion’s initial "score-settling" format and giving its athletes a traditional wrestling prize.
In September 2008, the promotion opened its own wrestling school for women. This provided formal training for up-and-coming talent and reinforced Shimmer’s role not just as a showcase but as a development system for female wrestlers.
In 2011, SHIMMER began distributing its own DVDs rather than relying on third-party outlets. The decision was intended to allow the company to retain full revenue from sales and reinvest it into future events. This move also marked the beginning of a gradual separation from its long-standing partnership with Ring of Honor. In the years that followed, SHIMMER wrestlers appeared less frequently on ROH programming. In response to the reduced collaboration, ROH developed its own women’s division in 2015 under the name Women of Honor. The division initially featured a mix of wrestlers, valets, and managers, and its matches were used to expand ROH’s representation of women’s wrestling. In 2018, the company introduced the Women of Honor Championship, which was rebranded as the ROH Women’s World Championship in 2020.
In 2012, Shimmer launched a sister promotion, Shine Wrestling, in July. Shine was created as a regular iPPV series under the WWNLive banner to continue and expand storylines from Shimmer, and to put "women’s wrestling and their athletic ability" even more front-and-center. Shimmer and Shine together aimed to carry on rivalries and push new talent.
In 2016, Rise Wrestling debuted as another Shimmer‑aligned brand (initially as a developmental program), further extending Shimmer's influence. Shimmer’s alumni and associates were closely involved in Rise's launch a decade later.
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In 2020, SHIMMER produced only one volume, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted live events and limited the company’s ability to hold tapings. The pandemic placed considerable strain on independent wrestling promotions, including SHIMMER, which relied on in-person audiences and regular filming schedules to sustain its operations.
In 2021, after more than 15 years of operation, Shimmer held its final tapings. On November 1, 2021, the company officially shut down and retired all its championships. Reports and statements from those involved indicated that financial challenges and the effects of the pandemic were central factors in the decision. The women’s wrestling market in North America had become increasingly crowded by that point, with numerous independent promotions and streaming platforms competing for limited audiences. Rising production and travel costs added further pressure. SHIMMER's continued reliance on physical DVD sales also placed it at a disadvantage in a period when most wrestling content had shifted toward digital streaming. The combination of these factors made ongoing operations unsustainable, leading to the company’s closure.
From Wikipedia’s article on Shimmer Women Athletes, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4