OVW’s weekly TV show has been getting a lot of buzz since Paul Heyman started writing the shows, and this week’s TV show was no exception. For several weeks, ever since Thrillseeker Matt Cappotelli broke his leg, Heyman has built his shows to stunning climaxes. Thrillseeker Johnny Jeter wins the title from Albright, “not knowing Mr Kennedy (who was then Mr Anderson) and Daniel Puder interfered, and then turned on Matt Cappotelli. Then, when Jeter had his rematch with Albright, he laid Albright out with a chair, then brutally attacked Cappotelli with the same chair. Cappotelli, who has a cast on his leg and is on crutches, was left a bloody mess, and the angle was so great, it set a new standard for going off the air with someone hurt and being tended to by medics. The next week, Jeter was firmly established as the main heel, so the whole show was built around him. He laid out Elijah Burke with a belt shot to the head. Everyone was talking about how out of control Jeter was, from the referees to the OVW trainer Eric Langly. When a phone call came in from Cappotelli to update the fans on his condition, Jeter came out and hung up on Cappotelli, which prompted an explosion from play by play announcer Dean Hill that should go down as Best Angle of the Year. The grandfatherly Hill, a Lance Russell type without the talent, going crazy because Jeter was such an a**** was just an awesome angle. From there, the show fell into chaos that same week, as a cameraman then walked off, and Jeter used Hill’s chair to deliver a knockout blow to Albright, who was being held back by other babyfaces from attacking Jeter. The sight of Jeter nailing Albright, whose hands were being held, was a powerful moment. The babyfaces cornered Jeter in the ring, but OVW owner Danny Davis came out and threw everyone out. Everyone, that is, besides Jeter. Davis then lectured Jeter, slapped him several times, but Jeter laid out the owner with the title belt to end the show. Last week, Dean Hill was introduced by Al Snow to a huge response. Hill announced he had handed his letter of resignation to OVW Owner Danny Davis, who then would not accept the letter of resignation. But Davis made a battle royal, with the winner getting a title shot against Jeter that night. Deuce Shade (Jimmy Snuka Jr) won the battle royal, but Jeter turned back the challenge. A phone call from Cappotelli revealed Cappotelli was in the parking lot, and Jeter ran out the back door to confront his former partner. As Jeter tried to attack Cappotelli (who was standing on top of a car), Elijah Burke jumped Jeter. Everyone pulled them apart, and Cappotelli dove off the car onto Jeter. They went to the ground, and were pulled apart. As Jeter escaped into the night, Cappotelli was left pinned against the car by other wrestlers, screaming out Jeter’s name.
How does Paul Heyman follow this? With his best show to date!
The show opened super hot, with Jeter, Mr Kennedy, and Daniel Puder in the ring, and the babyface threesome of Brent Albright, Deuce Shade, and Elijah Burke by the announcers desk, with Elijah cutting a promo on Jeter. Finally, a brawl broke out, with the babyfaces conquering the ring. Puder wanted to fight some more, and got on the ring apron, but Albright knocked him off. As Kennedy and Puder’s cornermen The Riggs Brothers pulled him back, the babyfaces were left to soak up the crowd’s adulation.
Something needs to be said about the crowd at the New Davis Arena in Louisville. For the longest time, the crowd has been dead. Just the same faces in the same seats, with no reaction unless it was something big, and even then it wasn’t a good crowd. Lately, the crowd has been bigger and more vocal than ever. If there was every show that came across like a turning point for OVW, this was it. The crowd at this show was a really good crowd, especially when the main event was in the ring. They “whoomed” when Albright was suplexing Doane. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
The OVW open aired to Drowning Pool’s “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor.”
In the first match of the evening, Aaron “The Idol” Stevens pinned Robert Fury. As always, Stevens was accompanied to the ring by Beth Phoenix and Shelly, and blonde and brunette “good girl bad girl” duo who keep attacking The Idol’s opponents. Fury came out, and got on the mic. For the past few weeks, everytime they’ve crossed paths, Fury has been attacked by The Idol’s women, like in last week’s battle royal. Fury said, “you need to keep your dogs on a shorter leash,” and ended with, “my mother raised me to be a Southern Gentleman, to never hit a woman. But if they get involved in this match, I’ll sure smack a bitch!” The match was ok, nothing special, but in the end, Fury got The Idol down. Beth Phoenix and Shelly got up on the apron. Fury went after them. While chasing them ringside, Fury was hit with a clothesline off the apron by The Idol, who rolled Fury back into the ring and then used his Idolizer DDT for the pin. Stevens and Beth and Shelly posed as Dean Hill and Al Snow teased that coming up after the first commercial break, OVW Champion Johnny Jeter had an announcement.
When we came back from the first commercial break, and WWE Monday Night Raw Diva Maria is in the locker room. You hear this inhuman screaming going on. Maria says she’s not going anywhere near what sounds like a “prison scene” and the cameras run into another room and find Dean “The Cooler” Visk screaming at the top of his lungs because someone drank all the coffee. This combination of Ultimate Warrior and Brock Lesnar, with his head turning beat red because he’s screaming, is hysterical. OVW TV Champion Ken Doane and Sosay come running in, and tell him to relax, and Visk, at the top of his lungs screams “I am relaxed.” This is so over the top, it works great. Bobby Lashley comes in, and asks what’s wrong. Visk is screaming about “I need my caffeine!” when Doane asks Sosay to take Visk to their manager Kenny “Starmaker” Bolin. Sosay leads Visk out of the room, which traps Doane with the monstrous Lashley. In a key moment, Doane says to Lashley, “you should get that guy a cup of coffee.” Lashley takes offense, and says, “that guy doesn’t need a cup of coffee, he needs a good ass kicking. And maybe one day I’ll be the one to bring it to him. And when I do, maybe I’ll bring enough for two!” Doane realized Lashley was threatening him, and a tense moment occurred. Just then, Mr Kennedy grabbed the cameraman and said, “hey, you’re supposed to be interviewing the champ!” The cameraman followed Kennedy down the hallway, as Kennedy introduced the champ. Here comes the promo that sets up the entire night, as Jeter and Kennedy and Puder are talking to Nigel McGuinness, The Paul Birchall, and Da Beast. Jeter offers any of them a title match if they win their singles’ matches tonight against Elijah, Deuce, or Albright. Jeter then cuts a promo on Cappotelli to close out the interview. The entire backstage deal took 5 or 6 minutes and was great in every way.
In the first encounter set up by the “you beat the babyfaces, you get a title match” promo, Elijah Burke turned back Nigel McGuinness in a bad match. The first part of it was good, with Nigel doing some nice wrestling, but then it just fell apart. The finish, a swinging X-Perience (X-Factor) was good, but the match wasn’t. But it was a short match. Nigel is overrated. Elijah’s a good brawler but doesn’t wrestle well. Al Snow mentioned Nigel scored a huge victory recently for the Ring Of Honor Pure Championship Title over Samoa Joe. Nice to see other promotions get plugged.
We go backstage, where Kennedy and Jeter are staring at the monitor. The Paul Birchall (I don’t know why they call him that, must be a reason) says, “we’re not from the same part of England!” and then promises to wipe out Deuce Shade. Birchall then tells Jeter to get ready to defend the title against him. I like that small point.
Next, in what was a fantastic match with great crowd heat, Deuce Shade pinned The Paul Birchall in a match that went about 8 minutes. Great match.
We go backstage again, where Beast assures Jeter and Kennedy he’ll take Brent Albright to the streets. Beast, like Birchall, then promotes his possible title match with Jeter. Again, small point, but Heyman keeps you guessing.
Then Albright beat Da Beast via tap out to the crowbar.
But now comes the moment that changes everything again.
As Albright wins, before he releases the crowbar, Mike Mondo (Beast’s partner) jumps on Albright and rips away at Albright’s left eye. The camera zooms in, and it looks like Mondo has fingers jammed into Albright’s eye. The announcers are screaming, and the referee Ray Ramsey is trying to pull Mondo off Albright, Finally, Ramsey physically pulls Mondo off Albright, but the damage is done. OVW Trainer Eric Langly and head official Robert Briscko run to the ring to check on Albright. Dean Hill asks how much damage has been done to Albright’s eye.
After a break, Albright was interviewed by Al Snow at the desk, and said Jeter was obviously behind the attack, but nothing would stop Albright from going after Jeter’s title, the most important title in OVW. Well, this brought out Ken Doane, who said that Albright was disrespecting the TV Title. . Albright had an ice pack on his eye, and was selling a lot. Albright, in a move you won’t see a typical babyface make anywhere else, said he understood Doane’s point and apologized to the TV Title. Not to Doane, but to the title. Doane was still pissed and demanded an apology. Albright slapped him. Doane was angry. Albright slapped him again. A third time.
Doane got up in Brent’s face (which no one does, since Brent is always up in other people’s faces) and said, “in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Well this is not the land of the blind. It’s the land of the Doane. And I’m going to show you why at 19, I am already better than than you can ever hope to be in your entire career.” Best promo of Doane’s career.
Doane gets in the ring, as manager Bolin, valet Sosay, Bolin’s Head of Security Dean Visk, and babyface in the making Bobby Lashley surround the ring. Bolin has found Visk some coffee, as he’s drinking it out of a coffee pot at ringside. Al Snow says to Albright, “you have one eye! You can’t go in there!” Albright, in a classic line, says, “If I can feel him, I can make him tap!”
This is a match of the year candidate, the most heat for a match I’ve seen in OVW in a long long time. Albright’s eye looked shut, and Doane was vicious on the eye. Great suplexes by Albright. False finishes galore. A 12 to 15 minute match, ending when the ref got bumped. Dean Visk got in the ring and attacked Albright. Visk called for Lashley to join him. Visk told Lashley to pick up the coffee pot. Lashley did, and Visk held Albright. Lashley ran and swung, Albright moved, and Lashley kayoed Visk with the coffee pot as the crowd went nuts. Lashley, continuing his babyface turn, shrugged his shoulders and left.
Albright stood up, and Doane tried to hit the RKO. This got turned into the Crowbar, and Doane got his feet in the ropes. The ref came to, started counting the 5 count on Albright. On 4, Doane tapped. The ref called for the bell, but who won? The rope dq? The tap? As both men pleaded their case, the crowd was screaming YOU TAPPED OUT at Doane.
As Albright was arguing with the referee and with Doane, Jeter hit the ring and creamed Albright from behind with the title belt as the show went off the air.
We don’t know who the OVW TV Champion is, so it’s a solid cliffhanger for next week’s show, which will be taped this Wednesday at the New Davis Arena, 4400 Sheperdsville Road, Louisville.
OVW has announced the Heyman era (it’s not called that, but Heyman took over in mid-July) is now available on tape. You can order the July tapes and the August tapes (which are the best TV shows of the summer) by going to www.OVWrestling.com.
