oratory.rajahwwf.com/index.php?archive=2675A Birds-Eye View: #55: What You Need to Know about OVW
by: Matt Seagull
on: 9/28/2005 3:35 pm est
#55: What You Need to Know about OVW
Surely many fans of World Wrestling Entertainment have also heard of Ohio Valley Wrestling. Over the past decade or so, it has been designated the developmental territory of the WWE. Usually when wrestlers get signed to developmental deals by the WWE, they report to OVW, which holds most of their events in Kentucky.
Some of the biggest stars on the WWE roster today have been seasoned in OVW. Off the top of my head, the following stars (past and present) have come out of OVW: current champions Batista and John Cena, Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, Brock Lesnar, Eugene, Rob Conway, Rene Dupree, MNM, The Heart Throbs, Victoria, Muhammad Hassan, Carlito, Garrison/Lance Cade, the Bashams, Ken Kennedy and many more.
For a while, OVW was mostly known as just that, a developmental territory for WWE. But over the past couple of months, the company has started to form its own identity as a must-see company that produces quality television. Believe it or not, what sparked this rapid change in the promotion was originally supposed to be its greatest loss to date. Back in June, Jim Cornette was released from his WWE contract and relinquished of his duties as head booker of OVW. Cornette was already on thin ice with WWE, as he has been one of the few people to actually stand up to Vince and tell him when he thinks something is a bad idea. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Cornette slapped Kevin Fertig (formerly Mordecai in the WWE) for laughing at Marty Wright's character "The Boogeyman" when the gimmick was supposed to be scary.
This was seen as a tremendous blow. Cornette and OVW went hand-in-hand. His name was synonymous with the company. Followers of the promotion were left wondering just how they were going to survive without their long-standing figurehead behind the booking. Those fears were soon aleviated when it was announced who was going to take over head booking duties at OVW. Paul F'n Heyman. The Internet Messiah himself. Then man who made ECW the undisputed number 3 promotion in the United States. The man who, as head booker of Smackdown, brought us an incredible series of matches in late 2002 featuring wrestlers that we later dubbed "The Smackdown Six." The man who, like Cornette, was on thin ice with McMahon and always tended to butt heads with him and his writing team. So not only was Heyman not going to follow Cornette to the unemployment line, but he was also going to breathe new life into a promotion that has long been in the shadow of its big brother, the WWE.
I will get into Heyman's storylines later. But for now, here's an introduction to the superstars of OVW at this point. Some of them you may already know from the WWE, others you will know soon enough.
Current OVW Champion Johnny Jeter
Jeter is currently enjoying his second reign as OVW Heavyweight Champion, and he has been the subject of much of the buzz that has generated around the promotion these past couple of months. When Jeter won the title the first time, he was the youngest OVW champion in company history at only 20 years of age. Now 22, Jeter has had a meteoric rise to the top of the company similar to a fashion Shawn Michaels had. Jeter recently turned on his Thrillseekers tag team partner Matt Capotelli moments after winning the title. Since then, he has slowly metamorphasized himself into the most hated man in the company. He takes every shortcut in the book to hold on to his title, and regularly tries to get himself out of matches. He needs a little work on the mic, but as each week passes, he's getting more and more comfortable in his role as the top heel in the company. With a little more work on the stick and in the ring, he could easily make an impact should he ever get called up to the WWE.
Matt Capotelli
Along with John Hennigan (now Johnny Nitro of MNM), Capotelli was a co-winner of the third Tough Enough. Rather than suffering the fate of other past Tough Enough winners who have since been released (Maven, Nidia, Linda, Jackie), Capotelli has worked on his game and become quite the lovable babyface in OVW. So much so that he was positioned for a main event run as a World Title contender. Unfortunately, he broke his leg just before that match could happen. Capotelli was then turned on by his tag team partner Jeter, and was left in a bloody mess a week later. Capotelli currently has a couple weeks left to go to rehab his leg before he's ready to come back to the ring, and be assured that when he does return, the crowd is going to go apelots of manure when he finally gets his hands on Jeter. Capotelli is determined NOT to become the Marty Jannetty of this team.
"The Shooter" Brent Albright
The former OVW World Champion, Albright has the body of Matt Stryker (The Unibrow guy from ROH, not the school teacher), the intensity of Chris Benoit and the class and dignity of being a champion of Samoa Joe. Before Capotelli's injury, Albright was the top babyface in OVW. His moveset is very submission-oriented, which a lot of internet wrestling fans swoon over. His size can be an issue though, should he ever get called up to the WWE. Compared to other guys like Jeter, he can measure up. But when he steps into the land of the giants and stands toe-to-toe with guys like Big Show, Snitsky, Masters, Heidenreich, etc., he's going to look dwarfed. Whether or not he has the special factor that Chris Benoit has to overcome this disadvantage remains to be seen. However, the matches that I've seen him wrestle have been very good.
Ken Doane
I'm saying this now. Ken Doane is the next Randy Orton. Why? It certainly helps his case that Orton himself went down to OVW and put Doane over (even though Orton won by DQ) and Doane has adopted the RKO as his finisher. But add that to the fact that Doane is only 19 years old and he already looks like a star. Doane is the current OVW TV Champion (OVW's version of the Intercontinental Title). Doane has also gotten rubs from the likes of Ric Flair, who ate an RKO when he came down to visit OVW. Trained by Killer Kowalski, Doane was picked up by WWE developmental as soon as he graduated HIGH SCHOOL. He's got a natural ability both in the ring and on the mic that made him such a sought-after commodity. With many years to improve his craft, Doane is going to be scary good before he even reaches his 25th birthday. Hopefully WWE won't go young-kid crazy like the NBA did with Lebron and bring up Doane too early, because there's still plenty of room for him to get better. But I envision VERY big things for the "Legend Killer Killer."
Bobby Lashley
You may have already seen Bobby debut on Smackdown last week, destroying Simon Dean in the process. Lashley has all the potential in the world to be the next Brock Lesnar. His body is VERY impressive, and he has the explosive power that drew a lot of heads to Lesnar when he debuted. His charisma has yet to be shown fully, as from what I've seen, he's been regulated to a bodyguard role (one which he would soon shed during a face turn a-la Batista earlier this year), but he has a calm intensity about him, much like Batista. I believe that of all the "big men" that have been debuting over the past year (Masters, Tomko, Morgan, Snitsky, etc.), Lashley's got the most potential in the ring. But potential can only take you so far. The rest is up to him.
"Mr." Ken Kennedy................Kennedy
If you think you know all there is to know about Ken Kennedy (or Ken Anderson, as he was known until recently) from watching him on Smackdown, you don't know the half of it. Kennedy was given so much more room to be creative with his character in Ohio Valley. Kennedy is easily one of the top three heels in the promotion, and his dickhole character was amplified to the max. His charisma has certainly caught on when he was called up to WWE a month or so ago, and it looks like he's getting over. But he still has a bit to go in WWE before he starts getting the ravenous hate that the OVW fans have for him. Still, I envision Kennedy being a top midcard heel on Smackdown if he continues at this rate.
Deuce Shade
Deuce is actually the son of Jimmy Snuka. If you do decide to watch the program, I must warn you that his gimmick is INCREDIBLY corny (he brings a pack of cards out to the ring with him and shuffles them out to the crowd for his entrance), but you can't deny his talent in the ring. He has great babyface comebacks and is a generally likable guy. He recently had a main event spot on a television show against Jeter after winning a battle royal earlier in the night. Again, I cannot stress how corny his gimmick is, which might actually be something WWE is looking for, given their most recent additions to the roster. But he's got the family history that WWE fawns over, and he can certainly get it done in the ring.
Other notables:
Nick Nemeth: He was recently called up to the big dance to be a caddy for Kerwin White, but Nemmeth had a great August showing in a small feud with Ken Doane over the TV title. Nemmeth's very green, but there's a little bit of early "Ruthless Agression" John Cena in him. He's explosive in the ring, and he cut a very good promo on Doane, so he's proven he has good mic skills. I've never seen him work heel, so it will be interesting to see how he does as Kerwin's caddy (or maybe tag team partner?).
Daniel Puder: Worth mentioning, even though he was recently released from his WWE contract. Puder was being built as an unstoppable submission machine, winning matches in less than 30 seconds. He has relatively no mic experience, but that doesn't really matter when you're paried together with Ken Kennedy. He did enough talking for the two of them. But Puder was getting over as a heel, and then was ready to break out for a face turn against Jeter. He most certainly had potential, and for WWE to let him go NOW was a real head-scratcher. Maybe they didn't think he was worth the rest of his contract.
Elijah Burke: With almost a black minister gimmick, Burke wears the cross like Shawn Michaels, and delivers sermon promos like D'Von Dudley, but with a twist. He has no problem calling Johnny Jeter a bastard. His promos are so filled with emotion that you can't help but care for him as he later gets beaten down. His look reminds me a lot of Ron Killings (formerly K-Kwick), and he might be able to do some damage should he get called up.
The Blonde Bombers (aka the Tolands - Tank and Chad): Chad is a former OVW Champion, and they are the current tag team champions. I didn't see enough of them in the ring to formulate an opinion on them, but they have very good mic skills. There was an especially funny clip of them going through the local mall claiming that Chad was going to be OVW Champion. They actually went into a McDonalds and stood on the tables and proclaimed their talent for all of the restaurant to hear. They could do a really good job under Heyman's guidance, but I don't really see anything that could help them stand out among other teams from OVW like MNM and the Heart Throbs.
Dean Visk: He's got a body like Brock Lesnar but a mind like Delirious. He actually reminds me a lot of Crazy Ace Steel. He's a member of Bolin Services (group that contains Ken Doane and Bobby Lashley), and he shouts at the top of his lungs and gets a weird look in his eyes. Still haven't seen him in the ring, but who cares? He's very entertaining.
Chris Cage: Former OVW Champion, fairly over babyface with the crowd. He has taken a back seat as of late and let other babyfaces like Shade, Burke, Nemeth and Albright take the spotlight, but he's fairly competent in the ring.
Aaron "The Idol" Stevens: You might recognize Aaron Stevens from a bunch of Velocity and Heat squashes. He's really been around forever. He's got a unique gimmick where he's with two girls, one representing heaven/good girl and the other representing hell/bad girl. They more often than not interfere in his matches, and he's starting to develop a cool heel persona. I haven't been overly impressed with him, but there's most certainly room to grow.
Mike Mondo and Da Beast: Beast is a toned-down version of Bobby Lashley, and Mondo is his little white friend who basically uses his big black bodyguard to help him. Mondo's an annoying little prick, and it works for his character. His voice is almost nasally, and it just makes you want to punch him in the face. He's a little like Christian in terms of how dickish he can be, and Beast is almost like his Tomko.
Alexis Laree: ROH fans will remember this name. She used to be AJ Styles's valet. Now she's got a boob job and she's tearing up whatever women's divison OVW has. She's a tad sloppy (really, the love pillows get in the way), but still very exciting and she's got an energetic personality. I would say to call her up so we could get more women wrestlers, but honestly, she needs a bit more work.
Maria Kanellis: The ditzy interviewer on Raw is actually a competent young lady in OVW. Seriously, she's smart. AND she's a good interviewer! She really grew on me, and has become a very enjoyable personality. Plus, she actually gets down and dirty in the ring sometimes.
That's basically the who's who of OVW right now. You can also expect OVW alumni to make an occasional appearance. The Heart Throbs recently came back, as did MNM and Randy Orton. WWE Superstars like Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle and Ric Flair make rare appearances as well, and usually when a major star gets a serious injury, they're sent to OVW before they make their return to WWE. Had Matt Hardy not been released, it was probably a good bet he'd spend some time in OVW before coming back up to the main roster.
Now, onto the moment you've all been waiting for. Here is the big storyline that's getting rave reviews from people who watch the show and is making OVW a must-see promotion. It revolves around OVW Champion Johnny Jeter. Let's do a week-by-week breakdown of this storyline.
July 27, 2005: The Thrillseekers (Jeter and Capotelli) defeated MNM to become the number one contenders to the tag team titles. As an added bonus, whoever got the pinfall would also be the number one contender to the OVW title, held by Brent Albright. But both Thrillseekers got the pin, and two referees counted each pin, so both Jeter and Capotelli were the number one contenders!
August 3, 2005: It was announced that Capotelli broke his leg. He and Jeter came out, and Capotelli said that he would be back soon, and when he does come back, there will be a triple threat for the title. Jeter took the mic and claimed that Capotelli was selfish, and that if the positions were reversed, he would have sat out and let Capotelli take the shot one-on-one. This brought Brent Albright out, and Albright called Jeter's bluff, and said if he wanted a 1-on-1 match for the belt, he would have it. After a really good back-and-forth match, Ken Kennedy and Daniel Puder distracted the ref, who didn't see Jeter tap out to the crowbar armbar. Amidst the confusion, Jeter hit Albright with a superkick and pinned him to become a two-time OVW Champion. When Capotelli congratulated him, Jeter took the mic and said, "Looks like I don't need you anymore," and blasted Capotelli with the belt. The Thrillseekers were no more and we had a new OVW Champion.
August 10, 2005: Albright got a rematch for the belt, but Capotelli wanted a piece of Jeter. Albright found Jeter and calmly said to him, "Right now, you're the safest man in the building, because I want you at 100 percent for our rematch. So that when you tap to me, you'll have no excuses. Tonight, nobody's going to hurt you, until I do." Capotelli then runs into the locker room, but Albright pushes him back. Capotelli then crutches himself out for the title match, but Albright convinces him to simply take a seat, so his chances of getting the belt back don't get ruined. In another good match, Jeter falls to the floor, and then superkicks Capotelli out of his chair. Jeter then takes the chair and nails Albright with it, forcing the DQ. He then goes to town on Capotelli with the chair, before Al Snow (who's doing color commentary) spears Jeter. The locker room empties and hovers over Capotelli, who's gushing blood at this point. In a visually chilling scene, play-by-play man Dean Hill looks right at the camera, his hands covered in Capotelli's blood and says, "I've been doing this a long time, and I've never seen anything so brutal. What Johnny Jeter did here tonight is unforgivable. Unforgivable." The live crowd didn't know whether Capotelli was injured legit or not. They even "cancelled" the dark match main event.
August 17, 2005: Jeter came out to VICIOUS heat to deliver a promo, when he was confronted by Elijah Burke, who was almost in tears, calling Jeter a bastard, and demanding he defend the belt against him. Jeter said that he was going to take his ball and go home, and as he turned to leave, he turned back and nailed Burke with the belt. Burke would later have a concussion. Later in the night, they were having a telephone conversation with Capotelli when Jeter came out and destroyed the telephone, and continued promoing, calling Capotelli a cripple, when Dean Hill (who always comes off as a charming old southerner) calls Jeter an rear canal. Hill overracts a bit, but he flips off Jeter right to his face and yells "criminey jeeze YOU!" and he walks off. Jeter looks into the camera and says, "Can you believe that guy?" but then you see the camera fall, as the cameraman put his camera down and walked out on Jeter. Al Snow stood up to walk out on Jeter, but then the locker room emptied with all the babyfaces (including ROH's own Nigel McGuinness), and they were followed by Brent Albright, who wanted more of Jeter. As the babyfaces were holding Albright back, Jeter snuck in a VICIOUS chair shot. The babyfaces cornered Jeter in the ring, until owner Danny Davis came out, told everybody to leave, except Jeter. He tried talking some sense into Jeter, and when that didn't work, he SMACKED some sense into him! Jeter then nailed Davis (who's REALLY old by the way) in the head with the belt and started stomping on him, when Davis's WIFE (who usually works at the concession stand) runs to the ring and begs Jeter to stop as the show goes off the air.
August 24, 2005: Davis called all the wrestlers to the ring for a meeting. Kennedy and Puder ask if they can leave, because this didn't concern them (It was revealed later in the night that they were with Jeter all along, and they purposely caused the interference that led to Jeter's title win to actually help Jeter, when before it just seemed that they didn't like Albright). Dean Hill said he wanted to resign as commentator, but Davis wouldn't accept his apology. He ordered a battle royal with the entire OVW roster, and the winner would face Jeter later in the night for the belt. Deuce Shade won, but lost the title match later (Jeter cheated, of course). Jeter escaped to the parking lot, where Capotelli (crutches and all) was waiting for him, and the entire locker room had to pull the two apart.
I haven't seen the September shows yet, but apparently Puder came out onto his own and challenged Jeter for title shots. In the meantime, we're still waiting on Matt Capotelli to come back from injury, and when he does, the roof is going to blow off the place when he and Jeter square off. The storyline of Jeter (and Kennedy) vs. The rest of the OVW locker room is heating up.
And there's still the debut of CM Punk, an incredible character who, at Paul Heyman's creative control, could revolutionize OVW just like he did with ROH, and just like Heyman made Raven do with ECW.
-----------------------------
A thing I really dig about OVW is that their show has a feeling of a Saturday morning Superstars. Yeah, many of the matches don't take very long (4-5 minutes in length mostly), but the storylines get advanced, and you're at least guaranteed one 15-20 minute match on the card. A lot of times when I watch Ring of Honor I tend to get overloaded by how many long matches there are. For the wrestling fan with a shorther attention span than normal, OVW is right up your alley.
The best part is that starting with the September shows, OVW is putting them on DVD, whereas before, they were only available on VHS. You can pick up DVDs for $24.95 (they're going to be 2 or 3 disks, so says the website), or you can pick up a tape for $19.95. Also available on video tape is a 6-month, 1 year or 18-month subscription where they'll send you a videotape every month, and you save bigtime dollars from buying them all separately (something I think ROH should adopt).
For more information on Ohio Valley Wrestling, plus buying their shows, go to their website here. I recommend that you buy the August 2005 tape. September 2005 should be released soon.