Welcome, one and all, to my latest OVW TV review. This week’s episode has big shoes to fill after last week’s, so let’s see how it does.
OVW Episode 1027
On commentary this week is Gilbert Corsey, Ted McNaler, and Josh Ashcraft.
We open with the commentary team addressing the crowd and talking about the upcoming ‘Run For The Ropes’ event. We’re kicking things off with the tag title match set up last week.
Ca$h Flo & Brandon Espinosa vs. King’s Ransom (champions) for the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles. Good reaction for the champs when they come out. The heels jump them before the bell, but the faces fight back, taking Espinosa down. Ca$h Flo doesn’t go down so easily though and the heels take over when the bell sounds. The story here was simple. King’s Ransom used power and teamwork to keep on top of Espinosa when he was in the ring, but struggled more with Ca$h Flo. In the end, the champs caused Espinosa to accidentally drop Ca$h crotch first on the ropes, then beat him with a Swanton Bomb. For a little over four minutes, this was good. ***.
Post-match, Ca$h Flo isn’t happy. He gets on the mic and points out that pinning Espinosa isn’t the same as pinning him. He says that next week, his real partner will be there, and they can kiss the titles goodbye. Good. I like that they’re keeping Ca$h strong here, and he’ll be a good foil for King’s Ransom going forward.
Next, the TV champion Dimes comes out. He says that Tony Gunn and Justin Smooth think he’s too small to hang with them, but he’s got the TV Title to show how good he is. Gunn comes out and asks. ‘What do you want, short change?’ Dimes wants the Heavyweight Title, but Gunn says he won’t let ‘something’ like Dimes take the belt from him. Justin Smooth then interrupts, and the commentary team remind us about the double pin from the Saturday Night Special. Smooth continues to come across as more and more comfortable in the role of heel, and gets plenty of heat from the crowd. He says he’s going to take the TV Title from Dimes when he feels like it. All three continue to interrupt each other, and we end up with the OVW Heavyweight Title being put on the line in the gauntlet match.
OVW Women’s Champion Cali Young joins the commentary team for Hayley Shadows vs. Thunder Kitty. The ’97 year old wrestling extraordinaire’ gets a good reaction this week, and ahs apparently been getting some gifts from a secret admirer. By the angels that have been running, I’m guessing it’s DL3. This comes not play late in the match when someone brings flowers out to the aging star. Cali makes her exit at this point, and Hayley scores the win with the roll-up after two and a half minutes. Honestly, I felt like Hayley seemed a little sloppy this week. The match was clearly built to set up something between Cali Young and Thunder Kitty though, with the champion getting involved I the delivery distraction. On that basis, it was fine. **
We get a brief confirmation that Tommy Dreamer is defending his OVW Anarchy Title on next week’s show, then Colton Cage and Dani make their way to the ring. Dani runs down all the crazy things that Lilly is apparently doing, like making fake e-mails and putting tracking devices on her car. Eventually, Lilly and Dustin Jackson come out, and Dani serves her a restraining order. Since Lilly is within 500 feet of her, the same officer that arrested Dustin before comes out and arrests her. The officer wants to see the restraining order though, and when he does, he realizes that it’s not valid and let’s Lilly go. He arrests Dani for lying to law enforcement. That was fun.
Finally, it’s time for the Gauntlet Match for the OVW TV Title AND OVW Heavyweight Title. William Lutz is out first, and is taking on Brandon Wolfe. Wolfe uses speed and athleticism to take it to Lutz until Ahston Cove knocks him off the ropes. This allows Lutz to win with Eat The Feet after one minute. Drew Hernandez enters to Justin Smooth’s music, with ‘The Trinidad Titan’ following him out to join commentary. I think this may have been a misstep by the sound team, but the commentary team cover it and everything goes on. Drew gets the pin with a Pop-Up Powerbomb after one minute thirty.
OVW TV Champion Dimes is out next. His speed comes into play here, but he also manages to hold his own brawling with Hernandez. I like how he’s being built right now. Change Maker gets the win after almost two minutes. Amon comes out next and takes over after Dimes hurts his knee. The knee injury stops him from hitting a Change Maker, and Amon hits Straight To Hell. He looks to have the win, but Justin Smooth stops the count. The story here is that Smooth is pulling for Dimes because he think he’ll be an easier champion to beat for the Heavyweight Title. It gives Dimes a chance to recover and reverse a second Straight To Hell attempt into a Change Maker.
Tony Gunn is the last man out, and he wastes no time in laying in strikes. Dimes shows his heart, but Gunn is clearly in control. He locks in a beautiful stretch muffle that hauls Dimes way off the floor, which is great because it not only shows the size difference but means that Gunn is paying attention and focusing on the knee. Dimes keeps fighting though, and almost hits a Change Maker out of nowhere, only for Gunn to counter with rolling German Suplexes. The Heavyweight champion sets up for the Kill Shot, but Justin Smooth causes a distraction. Both champions then fail to hit their finishers, only for the sequence to end with Dimes finally nailing the Change Maker for the win after around three and a half minutes. Tony Gunn is livid, Justin Smooth is ecstatic, and the crowd is surprised-but-happy.
Total running time for the match was around thirteen minutes. The early going was fairly inconsequential though, with the main story being the Dimes vs. Gunn vs. Smooth feud. The final match-up was decent, and makes it clear that a full-length battle between the Gunn and Dimes would be decent, and Smooth did his job well. For that progression, this gets ***.
While a step below last week for overall quality, this was an enjoyable episode. The three-way feud in the main event scene has be great so far, and is building all three guys as stars. Meanwhile, Thunder Kitty seems to be growing into her role right now, and Ca$h Flo was awesome as ever as the big man bully. I’m surprised that the Cage vs. Jackson feud didn’t end with the cage match, but as long as it entertains moving forward, it’s fine. Keep it up OVW!
Matt Doyle Media 