Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Johnny Jeter vs. Matt Cappotelli

Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: Johnny Jeter vs. Matt Cappotelli – OVW, 2005

History
Head booker Paul Heyman had a problem. He had a red-hot tag team in the Thrillseekers. They had just won a match over MNM to determine the number one contenders for the tag titles. In addition, whoever got the pinfall would become the number one contender for the heavyweight title. Cappotelli and Jeter had pinned Mercury and Nitro simultaneously, so no one knew who the contender was.

Then Matt Cappotelli broke his leg at a house show.

The next week, the situation was addressed as an emotional Cappotelli came out on crutches and did an interview with Dean Hill. He explained that current heavyweight champion Brent Albright (Gunner Scott) had offered them a three-way match and implied that the match would take place when he received medical clearance in roughly eight weeks.

That wasn’t good enough for Jeter. He grabbed the microphone and said that he wasn’t willing to wait.

That brought out Albright, who offered Jeter an immediate title shot. At Cappotelli’s urging, Jeter accepted. With the help of Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) and Daniel Puder (who were already feuding with Albright), Jeter wound up winning the match and the belt. Afterward, Jeter came down to Cappotelli, who was ringside and thrilled about his partner’s win.

In a great moment, Jeter said, “I guess I don’t need you anymore” and blasted Cappotelli with the title belt. Jeter kept pounding Cappotelli and finally mocked the Thrillseekers’ motto (We ride together, die together, Thrillseekers for life) by saying, “I ride alone, I die alone, I’m Johnny Jeter, OVW Champion for life.”

The next episode saw Maria finding Albright backstage. He was looking for Jeter.

When Jeter finally arrived, Albright coldly told him that nobody was going to hurt him, because Albright was watching his back until he won the belt back later in the night. At that point Cappotelli came in and threw his crutches at Jeter while screaming at him. Albright simply picked Cappotelli up and carried him out of the room.

The main event that night saw Jeter taking on Albright with Cappotelli sitting at ringside. When Albright locked his finisher (the Crowbar) on Jeter, Jeter made it to the ropes and slid out of the ring after the bell. Jeter took advantage of the opportunity to superkick Cappotelli and grab his chair. He went back into the ring and clocked Albright with the chair for the DQ, then returned to the fallen Cappotelli. Jeter went berserk, blasting the fallen Cappotelli with vicious chair shot after chair shot. Color commentator Al Snow finally jumped up and grabbed Jeter to hold him back as the locker room emptied. The locker room split as some of the wrestlers supported Jeter and others gathered around the fallen and bloodied Cappotelli. They hustled Jeter out, and then rushed Cappotelli out of the building to a waiting ambulance.

The next show opened with a recap of the previous week, which brought out Jeter for an unscheduled interview. He talked about how he was the champion, but everybody was still talking about the cripple as Snow and Hill grew more and more disgusted. Jeter then said that he would not be giving any more shots at the title to Albright. Albright came out and said that the only reason he didn’t attack Jeter was because he knew Jeter would use the injury as an excuse. Jeter shoved him and the fight was on. Again the locker room emptied and both men were separated. Elijah Burke had had enough and got in Jeter’s face, challenging him for the title. An apologetic Jeter said that he’d caused enough trouble and he was leaving at least until Burke turned his back. Jeter blasted him with the belt and was pulled away again.

Maria later found out backstage that Burke had been knocked out and they were taking him to the hospital for observation. The trainer then noted that his opinion may not count for much, but something needed to be done about Jeter.

At the end of the show, Cappotelli had called in from the hospital to give an update on his condition. Jeter strolled out and unplugged the phone. Jeter again pointed out that he was the champion and Cappotelli was nothing but a cripple when Dean Hill muttered something. Jeter demanded to know what Hill had said. Hill grabbed the mike, yelled “I called you an asshole!” and stormed off the set after shooting Jeter the finger.

Jeter turned to the cameraman and asked him if he believed what had just happened. In response, the cameraman put down the camera, echoed Hill’s final statement, and walked out. He turned to Snow and asked if he had a problem. Al just stood up and started taking off his watch.

Then Albright came out from the locker room, dragging the seven or eight wrestlers who were trying to hold him back. Jeter grabbed Hill’s chair and blasted Albright with it. Albright fell to the ground unconscious. In response, everyone else started toward Jeter. Jeter hit the ring and soon found it surrounded by unfriendly faces.

The other wrestlers were starting to climb into the ring when OVW owner Danny Davis came out from the back and ordered the wrestlers, Al, and even the other cameraman to leave. As they did, Davis climbed into the ring and started berating Jeter, even repeatedly slapping him in the face. Jeter tried to defend himself and Davis sent him to the ground with a punch. Jeter grabbed the title belt and clocked Davis with it and then started whipping him with the belt.

The next week opened with Dean Hill apologizing for his language the week before and even said that he’d gone so far as to send a letter of resignation to Danny Davis.

It didn’t take long for Davis to come out and order everyone in the locker room (except Jeter) into the ring. Davis first refused Hill’s resignation by telling him that he’d quit as well if Hill left. Davis then explained that he couldn’t fire Jeter, but he could make his life a living nightmare. Davis then announced a battle royal for a shot at Jeter’s title later in the night. He then ordered the bell rung to start the battle royal. The winner was Deuce Shade (Jimmy Snuka Jr., AKA Deuce from Smackdown).

Cappotelli called the show again later in the night and informed everyone he’d be back in about six and a half weeks and that he had gotten his stitches (from Jeter’s chair attack) removed. Jeter then came out and got into a shouting match with Cappotelli.

After defeating Deuce Shade with a superkick, Jeter said that he’d drive anywhere to fight Cappotelli. Cappotelli then informed him that he didn’t have to go far because he was in the parking lot! Jeter ran outside and found Cappotelli on top of a car waiting for him. The locker room emptied to keep them apart and Elijah Burke took advantage of the situation to attack Jeter. The other wrestlers pulled Burke off and then Cappotelli joined the fracas. When the dust settled, Jeter was gone and Cappotelli was screaming for him to come back out.

The next show saw Jeter, (now-renamed) Kennedy, and Puder talking to Nigel McGuinness, Paul Burchall, and Da Beast (Cryme Tyme’s Shad Gaspard). Jeter offered any of them a title shot if they won their matches against Elijah Burke, Deuce Shade, and Brent Albright.

Burke won his match against McGuinness. Then Shade beat Burchall. Finally, Albright beat Da Beast.

The next episode saw Dean Hill reading a letter from Danny Davis. In it, Davis noted that since Jeter’s alliance with Puder and Kennedy had come out, they could have a match. That night there would be a number one contender’s match between Puder and Kennedy.

Kennedy made a quick response by turning down the match and trying to smooth things over with Jeter. Puder had a different opinion and quickly accepted the match.

In the main event, Puder overcame Jeter’s interference to defeat Mr. Kennedy for the number one contendership. After he won, his corner men (Johnny and Jason Riggs) hoisted him onto their shoulders and carried him around the ring. In response, Jeter came off the top rope and kicked Puder to the mat.

On the next show, Jeter took on Nick Nemeth (Nicky of the Spirit Squad) for the title. Thanks to Mr. Kennedy, Jeter retained his belt. Afterward, Puder attacked Jeter.

The following episode’s main event saw Puder’s shot. The Riggs brothers were soon ejected for interference (actually, they were trying to keep Kennedy from interfering). Puder finally locked Kennedy in his Key Lock submission finisher, then turned and got superkicked by Jeter and then pinned. The Riggs brothers ran back out when Jeter grabbed a chair and quickly got beaten down. When Jeter turned around, however, Cappotelli was in the ring! Mr. Kennedy went after Cappotelli and had a crutch broken over his back for the effort. Jeter then took Cappotelli to the ground and began attacking his broken leg. That emptied the locker room as everyone else tried to break up the fight.

Maria opened the next show at a press conference for the Brent Albright vs. Ken Doane (Kenny Dykstra) rematch. She introduced Cappotelli who began talking about getting revenge on Jeter when he was suddenly superkicked from off-screen. Jeter came into the picture and began beating Cappotelli bloody with the title belt. That was Mr. Kennedy’s cue to introduce Jeter as the winner of the “first ever press conference podium match.”

Maria tried to get in an update a little later as Cappotelli had refused to go to the hospital, only to be interrupted by Jeter and Kennedy, who shared a few thoughts of their own.

A week later, Jeter and Kennedy were having fun in the locker room at Cappotelli’s expense. They mocked him and then Jeter left. Kennedy took the opportunity to do his introduction, and Cappotelli snuck up behind him, imitating Kennedy’s introduction the entire time. When Kennedy finished, Cappotelli attacked, beating him bloody with his crutches. Afterward, Cappotelli introduced himself to the camera to mock Kennedy’s intros.

Matt had a big announcement on the next episode. He announced that in two weeks he would be facing Jeter for the title.

Jeter’s feelings to that news were as expected. First he ran to Jillian Hall. He talked to her about all the work she’d done with JBL on Smackdown, and asked if she could take care of his Cappotelli problem. She said she couldn’t.

Later, Jeter convinced Burchall to serve as his bodyguard. Burchall soon got annoyed as someone kept knocking on his locker room door and announcing themselves as room service. When that didn’t work, they tried saying special delivery. When that didn’t work, they said, “Land shark.” Intrigued, Burchall opened the door and was attacked by a crutch-wielding Cappotelli.

Jeter closed the show with his thoughts about facing Cappotelli.

The October 29th main event saw Jeter and Cappotelli facing off for the belt. To help emphasize how important the match was, Hill and Snow announced that the TV station had agreed to allow the match to run commercial free, and they also had extra time if the match went long.

After 25 minutes, Cappotelli was clutching his just-healed leg and managed to drop Jeter with a superkick. The referee had counted to two when Mr. Kennedy pulled him out of the ring and slid the title belt to Jeter. Cappotelli superkicked Kennedy, and then was blasted by Jeter with the belt. Jeter got the pin and celebrated with Kennedy afterward.

The following episode saw a chair-wielding Cappotelli searching the backstage area for Jeter. He finally laid out Rene Dupree with the chair.

The next week saw the Jeter/Cappotelli rematch. This time they had a best two out of three falls match. Jeter quickly grabbed the first fall, and then Cappotelli evened it up. The match ended when Cappotelli superkicked Jeter in mid-air and got the win and the title.

Analysis
This feud was easily as hot or hotter than anything going on in WWE programming at the time. It stands as a testament to Heyman’s booking prowess that it worked as well as it did.

For weeks, OVW had been teasing a breakup between the Thrillseekers, and then Cappotelli went down with his injury. Rather than ignoring the situation, Heyman found a way to use it to push both Jeter and Cappotelli, and add extra fuel to the fire.

Jeter, who was great as a cocky heel anyway, finally made his turn and did so in the most despicable manner possible – attacking his tag team partner (who also happened to be injured at the time). He also made the entire Thrillseekers run look like part of a plan to ensure he won a title. If Cappotelli did as well, that was fine. The important part was that Jeter won a belt.

Cappotelli was built up as well by not allowing his injury to hamper him. He didn’t care that his leg was broken. He didn’t care that he couldn’t get into the ring. He just wanted to get his hands on Jeter.

It seemed like everything in the beginning just helped to add more heat to the feud. The trainer said that even he believed something needed to be done. An incredible moment was Hill, who’d always been a smiling, happy commentator, showing his true emotions and storming out. These moments, even bringing Davis and Snow into confrontations with Jeter, solidified him as #1) the company’s top heel and #2) somebody that everybody wanted to see beaten, preferably by Cappotelli.

Overall the entire feud stands out as one of the best in 2005. And this was from a company that has a fraction of the budget of the WWE or TNA and one hour of television a week. Go figure.

Where are they now?
Johnny Jeter wound up being called up to the Raw roster in January of 2006. Along with Mike Mondo, Nick Nemeth, Ken Doane, and Deep South’s Nick Mitchell, they were the Spirit Squad. The Squad wound up winning the tag titles from Big Show and Kane and then followed a proud tradition established by the Fabulous Freebirds in saying that any two of the five could defend the belts at any time. The Squad was disbanded when they were beaten down by D-Generation X in November and, in a humiliating moment, shipped back to OVW. Jeter has made one appearance on WWE TV since, when he was part of a 30-man battle royal on Raw in December of 2006.

Matt Cappotelli was rushed to the hospital after a TV taping in December of 2005 following a stiff chairshot from Chris Cage (not to be confused with TNA’s Christian Cage). It was discovered that Cappotelli had a brain tumor. On the February 8th TV taping, Cappotelli surrendered the title to Danny Davis, saying that he couldn’t do the belt justice since he couldn’t defend it. He then gave an emotional interview where he revealed his prognosis to the crowd. In an emotional moment in a night full of them, Jeter entered the ring and embraced his real-life friend and storyline nemesis before raising his hand.

Cappotelli remains out of the ring today, although he is still apparently signed to a WWE contract. In good news, while his medical condition does not appear to be improving, it also does not appear to be worsening. His website is www.matt-cappotelli.com. He also is designing and selling Christian T-shirts through www.faith-ink.com. In addition, Cappotelli just did an interview for www.ovwrestling.com where he gives an update on his condition and talks about possible side effects from a surgical procedure to remove the tumor.

Next week
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