OVW TV 1047 – Gunned Down
On commentary this week are Gilbert Corsey and Ted McNaler. We open up with a recap of what happened last week with Al Snow’s appearance, Sami Callihan turning up, and the return of Tony Gunn. In a really nice touch, Sami Callihan invaded the opening credits and cut a nice little promo about his intent to be on the September 11th show.
Dustin Jackson and Randall Floyd
Dustin Jackson came out without entrance music, sat a chair in the ring, and said that he wouldn’t leave until Tony Gunn came out. Randall Floyd then joined him and said that he wants Tony Gunn first. The two rivals bickered until Al Snow came out took Dustin’s microphone from him. Al told them that he didn’t have time for this, and demanded that they both go backstage so that Al could deal with Tony Gunn.
Tony then turned up and Al confronted him about his actions last week. Tony teased answering, soaking in the ‘Tony sucks’ chants, then dropped the mic and gave the three OVW stars the middle finger before running away.
The angle was decent. Randall Floyd stumbled over his words a few times, which was a shame, but the point of the angle came across well.
OVW TV Title Gauntlet
Dimes and ‘Livewire’ KTD were the first two in this week. The match didn’t last long, and poor old KTD just couldn’t get a break, with Dime no-selling his attacks. Dime picked up the easy win with the Change Maker. Out next was William Lutz, who immediately started throwing out roll-ups. He too had no real chance at winning here though and, despite a brief spell of control, soon fell prey to a Change Maker after missing a moonsault.
Colton Cage entered next and took control of the match. He bullied his far smaller foe around the ring, and cut him off at every corner until Dimes managed to hit a Change Maker out of nowhere for the win. The reigning champion, Drew Hernandez, was next. He sarcastically applauded the tired Dimes, letting him get to his feet. That almost cost the champ as Dimes started firing off, but when he went for the Change Maker, Drew caught him and hauled him up onto his shoulders. One powerbomb later and Drew scored the three.
Aamon was the final competitor, and he ran down to the ring, flooring Hernandez and drooling all over him. While Aamon was working over the TV champion, some creepy circus music hit and out came a large clown with a present. He slid the wrapped gift into the ring, and Aamon tore it open to reveal a Jack in the box. Inside that was a clown in a straight jacket, which freaked Ammon out enough to allow Drew to steal the pin with a roll-up.
That was fine as a match. The early going was designed to keep Dimes strong heading into the $100,000 ladder match on September 11th. After that, the focus was on advancing the Sinn Bodhi vs. Aamon match without shifting the belt from Drew. I’m happy with the result, and the action was decent, so there are no complaints there.
Megan Bayne Speaks
We re-watched the video promo from Madison Rayne last week, then Megan came out for a promo. She talked about how hard she’s worked to get to where she is, and then shifted her focus to Madison Rayne.
The Legacy of Brutality’s hit and they came out to interrupt. Josh Ashcraft told her that she’s eating up TV time that belongs to the LoB, and specifically, the Southern Tag Team Champions. He told her to go backstage and make the LoB something to eat, but she was not willing to back down. The LoB closed in on her, but Kings Ransom ran in with chairs to make the save.
After chasing the heels to the outside, they got on the mic to complain about them coming out to bully a female. They then announced that, at Fight For Freedom, they were bringing some help. Who was going to tag with them? The legendary Rock N Roll Express.
Okay, so there was good and bad here. First of all, Megan Bayne is a star. She’s not only great in the ring but really good on the mic. This was another fine promo from her, and her refusal to back down from the five members of the LoB helps build her stock a little. King’s Ransom running in to even the odds makes sense given their feud too, so they were absolutely the right choice to prevent the five-one-one beating happening. King’s Ransom’s promo was also fine, and I enjoyed their interactions with the LoB on the outside. The 8-Man tag match should be a lot of fun too.
The problem is that the end left things feeling a little awkward. Once King’s Ranson got in there, they immediately got between the LoB and Megan Bayne, and that was where they stayed. They controlled the microphone completely, leaving Meg to stand I the background doing and saying nothing. It was a weird situation because she couldn’t just leave, but at the same time, the angle was set up in a way that left her with nothing to do during the second part. Rather than letting her continue to be part of the angle, she was essentially relegated to just standing silently in the background. On a technical point, the audio on the Rock N Roll Express’s promo was a little too low too.
Let’s Hear From Justin Smooth
Backstage, Justin Smooth was sipping champagne and showing off his OVW Heavyweight Title. He cut a short but effective promo on Corey Storm, hyping their match on September 11th.
It’s Shiloh Jonze, Yo!
Shiloh came out alone and was in serious mode. He said that he knew things had been taken too far and that he owed Mr. and Mrs. Marvellous an apology. He asked Melvin Maximus to come out so that he could apologize man-to-man, and…Big D came out dressed as Melvin. That was actually really good; Big D had the mannerisms down pat. He did an excellent vocal impression too and introduced Miss Marvellous. Or rather, DL3 dressed as Miss Marvellous.
The heels continued their shenanigans until Melvin himself came out in a suit and called them all idiots. That led into the announcement that Fight For Freedom on September 11th will see Entourage 2.0 vs. Melvin and Miss Marvellous in an intergender tag match. TO show their intent, Melvin took out Shiloh and Big D, and Miss Marvellous beat down DL3 with a handshake
Now, I’m not a big fan of the whole dress-in-drag-because-it’s-comedy trope. But…this was a great little angle. The match has been building steadily over the last few episodes and everyone played their roles well here. I expect Big D to be at ringside rather than in the ring for that one, and I also expect the heels to get their comeuppance, but it should be a fun battle!
Let’s Hear From Corey Storm
Backstage, Corey Storm was upset that Justin Smooth attacked him when he came out to help him last week. He hyped the title match in another short, effective promo. Corey came across as really intense here. Good stuff.
Battle Royal For The Final Spot In The $100,000 Ladder Match
This one featured Adam Revolver, Apollo, Ashton Cove, Brandon Wolfe, Chace, Dapper Dan, KTD and Sam Thompson. Everyone paired off, as you’d expect, and soon enough, everyone was spread out around the ring. The match came down to Sam Thompson and Brandon Wolfe. They didn’t get the chance to finish though, as Tony Gunn ran in with his baseball bat and laid both guys out.
It’s an odd little thing to mention but I loved that, before the bell, everyone was standing differently. They were all ready for action, but no two people posed the same. That was really cool. The battle royal itself was about as good as any battle royal.
The Gunn Show
Dustin Jackson and Randall Floyd soon joined the fight and Tony Gunn beat the living hell out of both of them. When Al Snow tried to get involved, Gunn laid him out too. He finally left when the locker room emptied. Al then announced that Fight For Freedom will see Sami Callihan and Tony Gunn vs. Randall Floyd and Dustin Jackson in a no hold barred tag match. Sami then cut in via video again to say that he got exactly what he wanted.
Overall
That was another fun, story-driven episode to set up Fight For Freedom. OVW has really gone above and beyond building a logical card with some nice surprises there, and episodes like this really help to sell the big events.
Let’s pick some highlights.
MVP: This has to Tony Gunn. While the OVW Heavyweight Title match was built up subtly this week, the returning Gunn was too important to not get this. He made his presence known, took down a bunch of people, and helped Sami Callihan get his way. The crowd was happy to treat him as a heel too, proving his effectiveness. Good job.
Best Match: I’ll say the OVW TV Title Gauntlet again. While not on par with the best of them, this was decent. The matches themselves all served a purpose beyond the TV Title itself, and the right people got some momentum going into Fight For Freedom.
Best Angle/Promo: I’m giving this to the bookend angles again. Sami Callihan interrupting the opening credits was a clever touch, as was his foreshadowing that he’d get what he wants. When Tony Gunn then reappeared at the end and the tag match was announced, we got Sami again, this time pointing out that he really did get what he wants. That was really well done, and the no DQ tag match should be excellent.
So, those were my thoughts. But what about yourselves? Did you watch the show? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Doyle Media 