Welcome, one and all, to my latest OVW TV review. This week, OVW did everything right. Let’s have a look at why.
OVW Episode 1033
On commentary this week is Ted McNaler, Gilbert Corsey, and Josh Ashcraft. This week, we’re on the g-home show for the Saturday Night Special, and we’re kicking things off with a singles match.
Corey Storm vs. William Lutz [W/Ashton Cove]
Eighteen-year-old Corey Storm is getting a good reaction from the crowd from the get-go, and OVW are taking full advantage of that here. The singles match format gave him plenty of chance to shine, and even with Cove’s expected interference attempt, he put Lutz away with the Eye of the Storm in convincing fashion after one and half minutes. This one was short to really rate, but it was an entertaining opener to the show.
Backstage with the heels
Ca$h Flo and Justin Smooth are in the locker room complaining. Ca$h is upset that Justin kicked him last week but wants help this week. He suggests that they work together and take out the trash, then conduct their own OVW Heavyweight Title stuff like men. Justin is worried about eh masked man, and Ca$h says he’ll knock the guy’s mask off his head if he interferes. Short but good work there to set up a match for later.
Maria James vs. Megan Bayne
Instant good reaction for the number one contender to the OVW Women’s Title, Megan Bayne. Before the match starts, we get a pre-taped promo from Megan, making it clear that she’s coming for the belt. Gilbert mentions that, even with her wrestling training, it’s clear that Megan is going to go for a power game at the SNS. It’s also noted that Maria normally knocks the rest of the roster down with ease, but Megan is overpowering her. This one did a great job of building up Megan’s strength, with her nailing some big moves on the six-time former champ, including a beautiful German suplex. She wins with a hook and ladder after one minute forty. Again, too short to rate, but it was a decent squash.
Thunder Kitty and The Entourage 2.0
Backstage, DL3 bumps into Thunder Kitty and tells her he enjoyed their date. He steals a kiss, though she’s not happy about it, and walks off. Kitty is happier to see Shiloh Jonze, who also enjoyed their date, but she shoos him off when she hears DL3 coming back. She has arranged another date with him, it seems. She promises to call Shiloh back too. I’m pretty sure this will lead to a split for the stable, with DL3 and Big D turning face.
OVW TV Title Gauntlet Match
Defending champion ‘The Real Deal’ Randall Floyd draws number one, which is a complete flip from drawing the last spot last week. He’s squaring off against ‘The Veteran’ Apollo. Floyd takes Apollo down at the bell and locks in a figure-four leglock for a submission win after literally seconds.
‘Livewire’ KTD is in next and Floyd tries to do the same again. His attempt fails though, and KTD starts laying in kicks. While that works, he takes too long and lets Floyd get to his feet, leading to the champion flooring him and applying the figure-four again. KTD fights it, but taps after a minute and a half of action.
Nigel Winters is in next, and Floyd immediately goes for the leg again. Nigel avoids a stretch muffler and reverses a figure-four into a pin, then starts taking it to the champ. He also gives Floyd the chance to recover, but has Floyd scouted and starts wearing him down with reversals for his big moves. In the end though, the figure-four gives the champ another win after a little over two minutes.
Former champion Drew Hernandez is in next and looks happy about how tired Floyd is. Hernandez does a bit of smack talk and starts laying in strikes. He fights off a figure-four early on and throws the champion around with ease, but it seems like he just can’t put him away. He attempts to hit the powerbomb, twice, but Floyd blocks. Drew blocks another figure-four attempt, but his low blow kick attempt is reversed into the hold, and Floyd gets the submission win after almost nine minutes.
The final competitor is Brandon Espinosa. Espinosa has never held a title in OVW, and he makes it clear that he wants the win, going in aggressively from the start. He pretty much takes it to Floyd with hard strikes and starts wearing him down more and more as they go along. Floyds attempts a fight back but Espinosa cuts him off. Three missed knee drops alter, and Floyd goes into his comeback, finishing with the figure-four for another submission win.
The whole match ran to almost twenty minutes, and there were some real pros and cons for me. On the positive side, Nigel Winters came out of this looking smart. It felt like his ability to call what Floyd would do was designed to build him up a little, even with the loss. I’m happy to see that as he and Chace Destiny have been doing very little since the feud with Crazzy Steve and Aamon ended. I would also say that Brandon Espinosa looked like a real threat here, and Drew Hernandez looked great in everything he was doing. In terms of the bad, I know that the idea was clearly to build up the figure-four leglock as a devastating finish for Floyd. The problem is that I really don’t like that he’s able to lock it in after very little offense and get the win. For me, that doesn’t necessarily make the move look strong, it makes the opponent look weaker. In all though, it was decent enough. I give it ** ½.
Let’s hear from Omar Akbar
Omar cuts a promo in the dark, talking about how wrestling changes you. He says that people don’t know who they’re messing with. The promo was fine. He’ll be facing Randall Floyd at the SNS.
Ca$h Flo & ‘The Trinidad Titan’ Justin Smooth vs. Dustin Jackson & Michael Hayes
This is an amalgamation of two matches for the upcoming SNS: Ca$h vs Jackson for number one contendership, and Smooth vs. Hayes in a No DQ match for the title. The crowd was very behind Hayes. The commentary team mentions that Jackson and Hayes weren’t really on the same page when they saw them backstage too, which proved to be foreshadowing for the match, as the pair weren’t exactly big on teamwork.
The exchanges between Jackson and Smooth were very good, as were those between Jackson and Ca$h, which gives me some hope for future bouts. From their time in the ring together, I could also see Hayes and Ca$h have a decent brawl. That’s good because it means that any heel vs. face combo that could come out after the SNS would be potentially decent.
The match went back and forth, with the faces blind tagging each other rather than work together. It then settled into the heels using their mutual hatred of their foes to keep a good amount of control by acting like an actual team. The home stretch saw Jackson, having taken the brunt of the damage, fight back and make the hot tag to Hayes. The heavyweight champ took control of Smooth, and the match broke down into a big brawl. Smooth set up Street Justice and the masked man appeared again. He tries a Change Maker – because it’s clearly Dimes – but Smooth pushes him away and misses a Street Justice. The distraction gives Hayes an opportunity to his Dishonorable Discharge slam for the win after twelve minutes.
This was a decent match that did a great job of previewing two matches for the SNS, as well as tease what we may get going forward. I’ll give it ** ¾.
So, OVW tapes their TV show on the same day as the Saturday Night Special. As such, these go-home shows tend to feature shorter matches, as the workers are obviously going to need to save themselves for the big show later in the day. That was a scenario that played out here, with a number of squash length matches on the show. The main event was strong though, and I’m happy to see the Entourage/Thunder Kitty angle continuing. That makes this one a decent watch, but not near the quality of last week.
Matt Doyle Media 