This is your Ohio Valley Wrestling Television Taping report from the Davis Arena in Louisville for July 28, 2010.
I had the distinct pleasure of attending this show with Trent Van Drisse on the trek back to Atlanta from Chicago.
It was my first time at the Davis Arena, which is a far cry from the dilapidated grunge of OVW's former home. This place is first class - a 500 seat arena with great lighting and sound out of an industrial warehouse space. If ROH hasn't already decided to make Davis Arena a regular stop after selling out here last Thursday, they should.
There were only 80 in attendance. According to TVD, they've been doing much better than that of late. The downturn was probably a combination of the ROH show and the fact OVW's monthly non-TV big show is this Saturday night – Future Shock 2.
OVW television tapings run like a well oiled machine - an excellent way for the talent to gain experience. It reminded me of NWA Anarchy in that way. Besides doing live-to-tape TV matches, there are opportunities to do live promos in the ring as well as practice in the dying art of localized promos for upcoming house shows. They tape one hour of TV every Wednesday.
As expected, the talent level isn't anything close to what it was when this was a developmental territory for WWE, but everyone presents themselves in a professional manner. The wrestlers are in shape and all have the proper gear. Up and down the card, everyone has some type of storyline. Head trainer Mike Mondo is a polished pro. Everything he does looks major league. Adam Revolver and Jamin Olivencia are the young guys that appear to have the most upside. WWE signee Beef Wellington did not make an appearance. There were no standouts like Phil Shatter or Mikal Judas at NWA Anarchy, where you can't figure out why is this guy not signed? Nor does OVW have a corps of young veterans like Anarchy.
Ring announcer Brittany Devore introduced Dean Hill as the television commentator. Hill's sidekick Kenny Bolin has been absent of late due to health problems.
(1) Paredyse beat Lou Crank in 4:40. This was a dark match. Good thing because it really fell apart towards the end. Crank is a small, ripped black guy. He draws heavily on Bruiser Brody with the barking and furry boots but it feels unnatural. TVD nailed Paradyse – Adrian Street's gimmick paired with a Shawn Michael's type physique. Pardedyse won it with a curbstomp style knee drop.
(2) Ali (with Mr. B) pinned Rudy Switchblade to retain the OVW TV Title in 8:23. Paredyse came out to do color commentary. The story is Jamin Olivencia is looking for revenge after suffering a grade 2 concussion at the hands of Ali, so Ali hired Mr. B to watch his back. Ali's facial features reminded me of Trent Acid. His facial expression are a strength. He's got a decent look. Nothing about his inring stood out on this occasion. Highlight of the match was Switchblade sticking a baseball slide to the outside into Ali's ear. Ali took over and went to a long rest hold, like they were waiting for something to happen. Women's Champion Taryn came to the desk and threw water on Paredyse. (story is that Switchblade beat Paredyse to get the stolen women's title back to Taryn a couple of weeks ago) Paredyse chased Taryn around the ring and got her by the hair. Switchblade had Ali in trouble, but let him loose to grab Paredyse by the hair, and got rolled up by Ali.
Ali cut an entertaining inring promo on Olivencia. He complained about Olivencia's unprovoked attacks on him, calling him a lawless terrorist, and said he needed Mr. B to protect him when he was at Walmart. Ali said he would end Olivencia's career at Future Shock 2.
Olivencia attacked Ali. His fire was off the charts. Olivencia has a great physique and he has the ethnic thing going for him, but he's short. He had me instantly believing that he hated Ali with a passion. Olivencia had Ali set up for his double arm DDT finisher, but Mr. B pulled Ali to safety. Olivencia picked up the TV title belt that Ali left behind and displayed it to the crowd. Great stuff.
Fang and Mondo did a backstage promo for London, Ky on August 7 (Fang & Mondo & Sucio vs. Thomas & The Elite inside a steel cage), then talked about teaming with Lowrider in a six man main today.
(3) The Future (Andrew Lacroix & Benjamin Bray) beat Jimbo Onno & Joey Barone in 3 minutes. This has match has no business being on television. Future are painfully green. TVD said Lacroix looked like Screech with muscles. The heels actually didn't do too badly. No, Onno is not Japanese but his aggressive brawling made appropriate use of his jumbo sized body. Future won it with a Hart Attack style diamond cutter with Lacroix pinning Barone.
Switchblade cut a strong backstage promo for his match with Paredyse at "Summer Scorcher" on August 28. He said Paredyse hit him with the TV title belt one time and just caused him to lose a TV title match, and if he wanted a match, all he had to do was ask.
Ali cut a promo on Olivencia for the London show, stating he had held the TV title for 55 days, which was longer than any of Olivencia's 5 title reigns (true).
(4) Mike Mondo & Fang & Lowrider beat OVW Tag Team Champions The Elite (Ted McNaler & Adam Revolver) & OVW Heavyweight Champion James "Moose" Thomas in 16:33. A first rate match. Everyone looked good. Revolver is a guy to keep an eye on. He's got enough size and durable looking body for pro wresting, built along the lines of Robert Roode. He moves well and appears to have good instincts in the ring. Thomas is a big, beefy guy, reminiscent of Marc Anthony from SAW in look and speaking style, but nowhere near as good in the ring. He leans to towards a more hardcore style. Mondo hit a brainbuster on Revolver. The faces attacked to clear the ring before the bell. Thomas pumhandled Fang's arm across the top rope for a good heat spot. Instead of the same old same old arm stuff, the heels used combo moves off a hammerlock. Mondo did a great looking 1 on 3 house cleaning deal. He hit a brainbuster on Revolver, but Thomas broke up the pin and sent Mondo flying over the ring steps into the rail. Wicked looking bump there. Moments later, Mondo and Fang scored a double pin on Elite with Thesz Presses in stereo.
Afterwards, Mondo and ref got tossed out and Elite laid out Fang with a double team spear.
Low Rider made the save, then warned "fatboy" Thomas to be ready for their hardcore match for the OVW Heavyweight Title at Future Shock 2.
The TV taping ended. Hill promised something special after the break.
(5) Rudy Switchblade won a $1000 Battle Royal. Not what I had in mind for special. This was rumble style with a new guy entering every 30 seconds. It included all of the wrestlers that previously appeared plus Dre Blitz, Mitch Johnson, Elvis, Shiloh and two other guys that we couldn't identify. This was better than most battle royals. The wrestlers were working hard, and they took some big bumps on the eliminations. The highlight was Mondo doing a fantastic close call on being eliminated. Thomas and Low Rider brawled to the back. In the process, Lowrider used some lady's cane on Thomas. It came down to Mondo, Ali, Switchblade and Paredyse. Switchblade pulled the ropes down to eliminate Mondo. Timing issues on that one. The elimination of Paredyse was botched and he literally threw himself over the top rope. It looked ridiculous. Switchblade and Ali squared off in a singles match with Switchblade getting the clean pin with a Rockbottom.
NOTES: Austin Aries worked the July 21 television taping, which will air in Lousville this Saturday. It's up on the OVW Website. Jim Cornette is officially starting back with OVW in the fall, but he has been helping out at some of the recent tapings…According to TVD, the other OVW ring announcer, Tyler Houston, is excellent. The OVW TV show airs at noon Saturday on WKYI in Louisville. OVW also has television in Lexington (WKYT – Saturday at 11pm) and London, Ky (WOBZ TV 9 - Friday at 11pm)…At the July 22 ROH show, a return to the Davis Arena was announced with no date specified…OVW has an upcoming event in Charleston, In on August 6 at Civic Center in addition to London, Ky on August 7 at the Optimist Club. For further info check out www.ovwwrestling.com.
