OVW, as always, taped TV in Louisville Wednesday night, and I was there. The crowd was again in the 85 range. Dean Hill & Kenny Bolin were the TV announcers, and Ron Hed & Brittany DeVore were the ring announcers.
1. ??? beat Shawn Cook
This was a dark match. They
had the volume on the ring announcing mics extremely low at the start of the show, so I couldn’t hear the names. They need to address that issue, some weeks you can hear great, other weeks you can barely hear them. Very inconsistent with the sound. Why? Anyhow, some fans were calling the mystery man that won with a clothesline a “Mini Brock Lesnar”. That would be quite a gigantic stretch indeed, but he was a good sized guy, in fairly decent shape, with short blonde hair.
2. Rudy Switchblade beat Ted McNaler by DQ
This match was dark as well. Both guys looked good here. The finish saw McNaler dq’ed when he dumped Switchblade over the top rope as Switchblade was giving him the “dreaded” ten punch spot in the corner. Hey, what can I say, OVW is old school, and over the top is a DQ, but it did look like Switchblade’s own momentum carried him over. Unusual DQ.
The TV taping opened with them showing clips of last weeks show where Ali said he now wanted to wrestle using his real name, a shocking trend in OVW since Cornette publically came back, that being Mohammad Ali Vaez.
3. Metal Master beat Chris Michaels to retain the OVW TV title
This was the first match of the tv taping, two babyfaces going at it for the TV title. During the match, Mohammad Ali Vaez and Mr. B came out and went to the desk with Hill & Bolin. MM & Michaels traded many near falls with backslides, small packages and such, though none of it looked crisp. Vaez, who had an over 100 day reign with the OVW TV title before dropping it to Metal Master, came to ringside, cheering on Michaels. Michaels was draped over the ropes in front of him, and Vaez got frustrated and shoved him off, that led to MM rolling up Michaels for the win. Just a so-so match, not Chris Michaels best match by a long shot.
Post match saw Vaez & Mr. B get in the ring and attack MM, and attempt to unmask him. Michaels made the save, and Michaels & MM shook hands, and all was right with the world.
Jim Cornette got in the ring. He brought out the OVW Southern Tag team champions, Sucio and Fang. Cornette talked about all the people now using their real names in OVW. Corny said the real names of Sucio & Fang are Christopher Silvio and Raphael Constantine, which is not the shoot name I’ve seen listed for Fang. I’ve seen Clint Garner listed as the shoot name for Fang, so I wonder if that Raphael Constantine name is some kind of a rib or something. Sucio and Fang talked about why they were called Sucio & Fang, but said now they just need to be known as “Chris and Raph”. They talked about all the great tag teams that had names, such as the Road Warriors etc, so said their team name would now be “Fighting Spirit”. They then talked about their title defense against N*V*US on Oct 9th at Saturday Night Special at Davis Arena.
What is with all these name changes, all going with supposed “shoot name” in OVW since Cornette came back? Seems quite odd.
4. N*V*US(Scott Sexton & Lincoln “Mainstream” Mosely w/”Dealmaker” David Lanham beat Benjamin Bray & T-Mo Samoa
Not much of a match, but N*V*US needed a squash win, since they’ve only had one match in OVW, and it was against the champs, so they got one here. Samoa, a white guy with a huge mane of blonde hair doing a Samoan gimmick, tried several light showing headbutts straight out of the 70′s, which cracked me up. Lanham was at the desk for much of this, and the story is Kenny Bolin can’t stand this guy, even though they’re both heels, because Lanham does a similar gimmick, a briefcase carrying heel manager, and Bolin doesn’t like anyone else doing that but him.
Another Paredyse video aired. He said it’s always the last place you look, after weeks of trying to find a man “to fill my opening”, he said he finally found his “man-servant”, and he will be back at OVW television next to week to debut him.
In a comedy segment video, Brittany DeVore was running around backstage asking various wrestlers if they were going to be Paredyse’ “man-servant”, and they all said no in their own unique ways.
“Mr. Media” Cliff Compton w/Mo Green and the Paparazzi guy came to the ring for an interview with Brittany DeVore. Green said they were once again in Louisville’s Velocity magazine, with an ad on page two. Green said he checked the booking sheets, and found out on Oct 9th at Saturday Night Special, that Compton was opening the show. He said you don’t have The Rolling Stones or Elvis open the show. Compton took the mic and demanded Jim Cornette come out immediately, which he did after a few seconds…Heh. Compton, the former Domino in the WWE, got in Cornette’s face and asked him why he has him booked in the popcorn match in the biggest show of the year in OVW. Cornette said Compton has only been here for three weeks, and the championship matches were already signed, and that Compton needs to work his way up the cards first.
Compton said he’d work the opening match only if he got the winner of the OVW heavyweight title match at Saturday Night Special between “Lowrider” Matt Barela and Mike Mondo. In what I thought was a funny exchange, Cornette said he’d do his best if Compton won the opener at Saturday Night Special, and stayed undefeated. Compton asked Cornette if he’d do his best or keep his word.. Cornette said he’d keep his word, and do his best… Compton said…Interesting….lol…Compton said they’d think about it, and left.
Compton has a big time look, size, in great shape, can work and talk, and has the whitest teeth this side of DDP, but this “Mr. Media” character isn’t really connecting with the fans here so far, and I’m not sure why. Green during his promo even mentioned the lack of response for Compton.
5. James “Moose” Thomas beat Dre Blitz
This was a fast, brutal, and highly effective squash as Thomas quickly, and emphatically, destroyed Blitz.
They showed video of the ending of last weeks TV main event, The Elite(Adam Revolver & Ted McNaler) beating Mike Mondo & “Lowrider” Matt Barela, and the post match tension between Mondo and Barela, who wrestle each other for the OVW title on Oct. 9th.
6. Mike Mondo beat Adam Revolver w/Ted McNaler
This was the TV main event. Mondo took the mic before the match and asked for quiet, he then asked for OVW champ, “Lowrider” Matt Barela to come out. Mondo told Barela he was wrong, that he reviewed the footage from last week, and saw what happened, and wanted to shake Barela’s hand. Barela accepted the apology, and his elbow was injured when Mondo accidentally knocked him off the apron last week, and Barela’s elbow was taped up. Barela said he had a lot of respect for Mondo, and hopes they can remain friends after their title match on Oct 9th.
Revolver then came out, and McNaler was kicked out by the ref before the match even started. Mondo beat Revolver at the Sept 8th taping, the day Cornette publically re-debuted, in a match that was too short in my book. They got more time here, and Mondo looked really good again, but this still wasn’t near the best match these two could have had, more of a backdrop really.
In what I thought was a nice touch though, this time around Revolver countered the move that Mondo beat him with on the 8th, though I don’t think any other fans in the arena picked up on that, but I really like that attention to detail.
McNaler came back out, and it wasn’t a DQ for some reason, he got on the apron, Revolver ended up getting knocked into him, and Mondo rolled Revolver up for the win. I thought this was too similar to the finish in the Metal Master vs. Chris Michaels match that opened the TV taping.
Postmatch saw McNaler throw powder in Mondo’s eyes, and both of the Elite beat on Mondo. Barela ran out to save Mondo, and you can guess what happened next, the blinded Mondo hit Barela, and they rolled around and brawled. The lockeroom emptied, and a pull apart ensued. Barela was extremely angry, yelling and screaming that to Mondo that he had his back, and this is the way he gets treated. He showed great fire here. Cornette came out and explained to Mondo that Barela was trying to help him, as they took water and a rag and washed Mondo’s eyes clean of the powder. Barela left steaming, and Mondo then became extremely angry and frustrated himself. So on Oct 9th there are two babyfaces, who are now quite annoyed with each other due to the trouble making Elite, wrestling for the OVW heavyweight title.
7. “Fighting Spirit” Christopher Silvio & Raphael Constantine beat James “Moose” Thomas & Raul Lamotta
This was a dark match. The OVW Southern Tag champs, the artists formerly known as Sucio & Fang, in their first match with their “new names”. Again, this name change game in OVW is quite strange. I don’t think this was a title match. It was ok, went back and forth, ending when Silvio pinned Lamotta after a double knees to the face move off the top rope, riding the guy down to the mat and pinning him. Looks pretty cool.
The card so far announced for Saturday Night Special on oct 9th last week on TV by Jim Cornette is… Matt Barela defending the OVW heavyweight title vs Mike Mondo….Fighting Spirit defending the OVW Southern tag titles vs N*V*US….Josie defending the OVW Women’s title vs Holly Blossom…Mohammad Ali Vaez vs Kushida from the Smash Japan promotion….and now I guess Cliff Compton in the opener, plus other stuff I’m sure.
OVW TV airs in Louisville on Saturday’s at noon on WKYI.
There were also posters up in Davis arena for a show called “Homecoming 2″ on Tuesday, Oct. 26th featuring Nick Dinsmore, Rob Conway, and a host of others. Danny Davis will be at that show.
