Welcome, one and all, to my latest OVW TV review. This week’s episode comes with the tagline ‘The Poisoning’, and has another graphic content warning. Let’s see what happens.
OVW Episode 1024
On commentary this week is Gilbert Corsey, Josh Ashcraft, and Ted McNaler.
We open with a video package highlighting the awesome angle from last week between Colton Cage and Dustin Jackson. They’re really going all in on making this match a big deal, and that’s awesome. The show proper begins with OVW owner Al Snow entering the ring wearing a funky jacket. He apologizes for Colton’s action and promises to punish him. The crowd chant ‘Fire Colton!’, which Al says they’ll take into consideration. He then plugs the new OVW Network, and it sounds rather similar to the WWE Network, but with the added bonus of training seminar videos.
Justin Smooth then interrupts. He wants to make sure he’ll be on the network, then starts hyping his upcoming title match with Tony Gunn. When Justin says he’s going to take the title and run the place, Gunn comes out to respond. He builds up the effectiveness of his Kill Shot finisher and tells Justin he’s going to drop the ball. Things then start to get physical, but Al gets in the middle of them. He says that, since they’re so ready to go, they can take their frustrations out. Tony gets to pick Justin’s opponent this week, and Justin gets to return the favour next week.
The ring clears and Al tries to finish his OVW Network announcement, but Colton Cage and Dani come out the interrupt. Al trolls Colton with a dead mic and tells him to leave the ring and the building, because he’s disgusted with his actions last week. He tells Colton that eh doesn’t leave, he’s going to kick his ass personally. Colton freaks out and a horde of referees and security come out to escort him away. Finally, Al gets to finish up.
This was really good. First up, the OVW Network is something that I think will be good for OVW. The training seminars are an interesting addition to it too. When it came to the title match participants, Tony is always a good promo. This week though, Justin really stepped up and came across as a lot more self-assured on the mic. Meanwhile, the Colton segment was fun, and it’s good to see Al coming across as an owner that may be willing to fight if needed.
The show continues as we cut to the hospital, where Dustin Jackson is not looking good. Lily hopes to have more information for us later.
Next up is the regular OVW TV Title Gauntlet Match. Shiloh Jonze is out first, and his opponent is KTD. Shiloh starts strong, but KTD soon takes over for a brief flurry. Unfortunately for him, Shiloh hits a Superman Punch at the one and half minute mark to put him away. Shiloh gets some mic time while he waits for his next opponent, the twenty year veteran J-Rock Daddy. He’s apparently been on WWE, Impact and ROH over the last twelve months, and soon overpowers Shiloh. DL3 and Big D fail an interference attempt, but make up for it moments later, and Shiloh gets an assisted pin after two minutes.
Another bit of freestyle from Shiloh, and then Chase Destiny runs in. Chase immediately takes control and the commentary team have a great moment where they discuss whether he’s fired up because he’s hates rap music. They theorize that he prefers KISS and David Bowie. Big D interferes, causing a distraction, and Shiloh rolls Chase up with his feet on the ropes to get the win after one minute. More freestyle, then Zo comes out. The Juggernaut throws Shiloh all over the place until Shiloh manages to catch him in a sleeper. It takes several attempts to get him off Zo’s back, and the big man follows up with a handspring elbow. When he sets up the Zo Bomb, Big D distracts the referee and DL3 runs in to hit a low blow and give Shiloh another win after three and a half minutes.
Shiloh gives us yet more freestyle – which is getting harder and harder for him as he goes through more people – and the final competitor, Dimes, appears. The defending campion ramps up the speed and is all over Shiloh from the get-go. Big D tries to interfere and takes Change Maker for his troubles. DL3 tries the same when Dimes goes up top and gets knocked to the floor, allowing Dimes to hit a Change Maker form the top on Shiloh to retain the belt after one and half minutes.
This was a lot of fun. Coming in around eleven minutes, it was a shorter gauntlet, but the story of Shiloh cheating his way to the end only to fall to the gutsy champion was a good one. The freestyle between bouts was fun, and Dimes came across as dynamic in the short time he was out there. I give it ***
Valerie Vermin vs. OVW Women’s Champion Cali in a non-title match is next, and we learn that Cali will be defending against Jay Lee at the next Saturday Night Special. This is Cali’s first match back since Jay Lee attacked her, and she wastes no time in taking it to her former stablemate. After about a minute and a half of Cali squashing Valerie, she goes up top only for Jay Lee to run out and shove her off to give Valerie the win. The heels put the boots in to the champ and leave. This was far too short to get more than * as a rating, but it does at least continue the story heading into the big event.
Back at the hospital, Dustin is confused. His short term memory is fried, and he wants to get out of there to get ready for his match. Lily tells him that the doctor says he may not make it to the cage match, and he flips.
We then cut to the ring and Sam Thompson is out with Ca$h Flo. He’s sold all his action figures and games and finally has Ca$h’s money for him. After squaring up his debts, Sam demands another run at the Chop Shop Challenge. When Ca$h refuses, Sam calls him out for a match. The big man refuses and a small ‘coward’ chant starts up. Eventually, Sam puts his career on the line, and Ca$h accepts. The Saturday Night Special is looking stacked so far.
After a quick reminder of what happened with Al, Justin and Tony earlier, the OVW champion makes his pick. That gives us ‘The Trinidad Titan’ Justin Smooth vs. ‘Wrestling’s Rock Star’ Ryan Howe. These two previously feuded and Ryan has beaten Justin before, so this is a good pick from Tony. There’s a beautiful moment where Justin catch Ryan mid-leap, turns around, and hits an overhead bely-to-belly without letting Ryan’s feet touch the floor until after the throw. In the end, Justin puts Howe away with Street Justice after seven minutes to win a good back and forth match. What was interesting here was that, after Tony Gunn hyped up his own finisher earlier, Justin Smooth actually kicked out of Ryan Howe’s. The significance is that Justin has been put away by it before, which immediately sets up the possibility that he could now do the same with the Kill Shot. ***
There’s a stare down between champion and challenger, and we cut back to the hospital. The Doctor tells Dustin that he has bleeding in the brain and a fracture around the eye. He tells him that he could lose his vision or even have seizures if he takes even a slight hit on the head right now. Dustin is told to retire and he says that he doesn’t care what he has to do, he will get his hands on Colton Cage.
This was a good show again. The shorter match length allowed for a few more things to take place in the second-to-last week of build for the Saturday Night Special. That’s really important here because the card is looking really good so far, with plenty of build to each match. The subtlety in the storytelling for the World Title Match has been good, and I’m excited to see where it goes in the end. It felt like Justin Smooth was being set up to dethrone Abyss before Tony did, so this could well be his coronation before Tony heads off to Impact. Meanwhile, I wonder if Colton and Dustin’s clash will become a non-sanctioned match? That seems to be the logical way forward. In all though, this was a good watch.
Matt Doyle Media 