Welcome, one and all, to my latest OVW TV review. This week’s episode comes without a tagline, so no hints as to what to expect. Let’s dive right in.
OVW Episode 1026
On commentary this week is Gilbert Corsey, and Ted McNaler.
We open with the commentary team addressing the crowd and talking about the double-pin finish of Justin Smooth and Tony Gunn at the Saturday Night Special. They also confirm that King’s Ransom are the new tag champs, Jay Lee has quiet, and Sam Thompson has lost his career. The arena has a new look this week. The lighting is better, the camera quality is better, and the new ring apron looks great.
The first match of the show is will see Eddie Knight in one-on-one action, but before his opponent can enter, Justin Smooth enters and grabs a mic. Eddie tries to get him to leave, and Justin delivers a Street Justice kick to lay him out. This was gloriously heelish by Justin and het gets a “you suck” chant. He complains about the finish of the world title match that the commentary team mentioned earlier, and says that someone in the back must not want him to be the champion. He says that Al Snow and Dean Hill have a count to ten to come out and give him a rematch or he’s going to go backstage and viciously end someone’s career. Het gets to six, and ‘Shotgun’ Tony Gunn comes out.
Tony calls him on being disrespectful but says he gets the frustration. He tells Justin that the only person he should be upset with is himself because he is the only reason he can never get the job done. Justin starts making threats, and then the TV champion Dimes comes out too. There’s some more back and forth and Justin ends up telling him that the only reason he has the TV Title is because he was so focused on the World Title. Dimes says he deserves a World Title match, and Justin says he’ll do him a favour and take that TV Title from him.
This was a really good opening segment. It made Justin a clear heel, set him on course for another World Title shot, and also helped elevate Dimes up the card a bit in the process. Excellent work.
We see footage from the Saturday Night Special with Ca$h Flo sashing Sam Thompson through the ropes, leading to a count-out loss for the youngster. Back in the arena, we have Ca$h Flo vs. Tanner Reynolds. No rating for this one as, though Tanner got a few shots in, this was essentially a three and a half minute squash for the big man. Ca$h looked good throughout, and finished with a top rope leg drop.
Backstage, King’s Ransom start to cut a promo, but Ca$h Flo walks in and says he can take the titles from them. The faces says that, unlike The War Kings, they’re fighting champions, and challenge him to find a partner and face them next week. That should be interesting.
Next, we see highlights from to the Colton Cage vs. Dustin Jackson cage match. Colton Cage the enters in a wheelchair, accompanied again by Dani. Colton hams it up a bit again, while Dani cuts a promo about Dustin and Lily. Eventually, Lily comes out and takes the mic. The women start shoving each other, and Colton grabs Lily. Dustin comes out for the save and Colton gets up and low blows him, revealing the ruse. Lily gives Colton a low blow in return, and Dani smacks her on the back. Decent angle to continue the feud but Dani needs to work on her strikes.
More Saturday Night Special highlights, this time with DL3 issuing an open challenge, only to get beaten up by the returning Megan Bayne. This leads into Megan Bayne vs. Valerie Vermin. This was all about showing Megan as a powerhouse as she threw Valerie around the ring with a bunch of different suplexes. She won after a little over a minute with a hanging vertical suplex. Again, no rating due to length, but it served its purpose of showing Megan’s strength.
Backstage, DL3 interrupts Thunder Kitty’s crossword puzzle. She ends up twisting his nipples and insulting the size of his ‘antenna’.
It’s time for the OVW TV Title Gauntlet. First in is Drew Hernandez and ‘Livewire’ KTD. KTD is out to prove something this week, and puts his best foot forward against his bigger foe. This one saw each guy trading segments of being in control until Drew got the win with a big powerbomb. ‘The Trinidad Titan’ Justin Smooth was out next, and now I’m thinking he and Dimes will end up double eliminated. These two have a history in the TV Title Gauntlet , the result of which was actually Justin losing the belt. Smooth is all aggression this time around though. His punches look great. In the end, Justin slips out of a powerbomb and hits Street Justice for the win.
Zo is in next, and the two immediately go to traded blows. After a fun back and forth, Smooth slips out of a Samoan Drop and hits Street Justice for the pin. Dimes is in next, and Smooth takes over with his strength advantage. Dimes continues to show heart with his fight backs, and my word he bumps well too. Massive spinebuster from Smooth while Tony Gunn walks out to watch. Dimes hits Change Maker out of nowhere, but Smooth rolls out of the ring. Dimes stops the referee from counting Smooth out and tries to get him back in the ring, but Smooth is out cold. Dimes gets the count restarted again because he wants to pin his foe, and finally gets him back in the ring for a two and half count. Dimes goes up top but takes Street Justice to the chest on the way down. Now Dimes rolls out of the ring, and Smooth has to get him back in the ring. He wastes time yelling at Tony Gunn, and the champ ends up on apron. Smooth shoves him off and sets up Street Justice again, but Gunn snaps and attempts a Kill Shot. Smooth avoids it and the champ hits Dimes, causing Smooth to be disqualified.
Smooth and Gunn comes to blows while the final competitor, Aamon sneaks in. he sets up an STH, but Smooth runs in and hits a Street Justice on the demon while the referee is occupied with Gunn. Gunn is back in now, and the two have to be separated, but the referees can’t keep them apart. Finally, we get back to Dimes and Aamon, and as they both struggle to their feet, Dimes hits the Change Maker for the win after a total match time of around sixteen minutes. Great work by all involved here, especially the trio of Smooth, Dimes and Gunn. *** ½
Gilbert and Ted were on fire on commentary this week, and it really added to what was an already great episode. The storytelling with Justin Smooth, Tony Gunn, and Dimes was compelling viewing, and translated well to the bookend moments of the show. The team has really found their footing in terms of pacing the shows now, I think, with the mix of angles and matches settling into a logical rhythm. Meanwhile, even the two small botches in matches were handled well with the workers just continuing and not let them knock them off their stride. This one gets a big thumbs up from me.
Matt Doyle Media 