I went to OVW again on Friday night. I walked in on a match b/w Maryse and Victoria Crawford (?). It was a standard women-who-are-training-to-wrestle match.
Second was some handsome lad versus Cassidy James (Cassidy Riley). James is in very good shape compared to how he looked in TNA. Juice? You bet. Handsome lad wins quickly in two falls.
Third, KC James beats Ramon, using his cast as a weapon. Man, these matches are going by faster than your WWE-variety matches. This must have been a 45-second fight.
Fourth, Charles "The Hammer" Evans and Justin "The Ox" LaRoche beat The Frat Boys (Mike Mondo and Nick Nemeth). Good match showcasing the Ox and the Hammer's strength and charisma as well as the Frat Boys' cowardly heel antics. I could see Ox/Hammer on WWE TV one day, and even holding tag gold. They need to, regrettably, drop their body fat percentage about 5-7%, because we all know it's not what you can do, it's how you look.
I forgot another squash: Tony Braddock (?) beat "Dewey" in short order. Braddock used to be Amish Roadkill, but grew in some hair and sizeable muttonchops. He also wears standard tights now, and , quite frankly, looks like Bastion Booger from the neck down. He was kinda impressive, but it's hard to tell in a 60-second squash.
After intermission, Sylvan lost to Jage Hager. Some decent wrestling action. Sylvan looks good in person relative to these other guys, so it's easy to see why WWE hired him. He's good at being a heel, but bad at wrestling. Hager eventually wins with a "roll of the dice/test driver/shake, rattle and roll" sort of move, but with the opponent in a perfect plex hookup. I've seen someone do this move elsewhere, but can't quite recall.
Women's tag match: Katie Lea and Arial versus ODB and Serena. I walked to the bathroom for this one, but came back in time to hear an exceptionally loud "THWAP!", which was, apparently, Serena hitting the gymnasium floor tits and face first. Match ended with a rollup by Arial, I think.
Steve Lewington and Chett the Jett beat Nick Sinn and The Belgium Brawler. Good match, lots of brawling. Sinn and Lupa attack the winners after the match in a long, long beatdown.
Jeez, another match I forgot: Mr. Strongko (Boris Alexiev's trainer) lost to Mike Kruel. A very fun match, and one that showcased that Kruel is, IMO, ready for prime time. I have no idea if he's under WWE contract, but he sure should be. He's a great mat wrestler and he's also great on the stick.
Rombola beat Johnny Punch in a long, long, LONG match that involved three moves. Lame. Comedy spots (Punch's valet being wrapped up in the ring apron, lots of running and hiding, etc.) galore, and too much stalling by Punch. The crowd was *CRAZY* hot for the match, though, and blew up when Rombola finally got ahold of punch and beat him in short order.
Boris Alexiev lost the OVW Television Championship to Shawn Spears in a very good, very long, technical wrestling match. This was a stark contrast to Rombola/Punch, as the match was very technical and well done, and the crowd was dead silent. It looked to me like the crowd was enthralled with the match, however, rather than being bored with it. These two were going for a Benoit/Angle WMX7 type of match. Holds and counterholds, sensible moves, etc. Alexiev kept working at Spear's left arm during the match, and finally got him in the "wheel of steel" (standing arm lock); Spears rolled him over and pinned him while still in the submission hold.
This was an *AMAZING* match, IMO. Two things kept me from thinking it classic. First, Spears didn't sell the arm injury for shit. He'd shake it from time to time, like you would if your fingers fell asleep. NOT what you would do if it was hurt or damn near broken. Second, the referee got in the
ing way so hard during that match, saying stupid things and contradictory things ("I told you to get off the top rope!"; "Get off of him!" and things like that) that he really got in the way of the match. A referee is supposed to be hidden, like a conductor. This cat took full attention away from the match. Not cool.
The last match was a six-man tag, featuring new OVW Champion Aaron "The Idol" Stevens versus Deuce and Domino (with Cherry) and Paul Birchall. Cody Runnels came out to help even the odds, and finally, the Miz came out to even these odds some more. Thankfully (I love my wife), she called and told me we were going to the bar in a few, so if I could leave the show soon, that would be awesome. So, I like Deuce and Domino, but I've seen them before. I'm just glad I got to walk out as soon as the Miz showed up. The show was $5, so it wasn't like I was not getting my money's worth, y'know?
A fun show, if not over too soon. It's not going to satisfy your ROH elites, but it's still very fun wrestling.
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Idiots. Supposedly Mysterio is in favor Mistico joining the WWE and having them enter a teach/student type program. Why not put this on TV? Mysterio has even said that Mistico reminds him of himself in his prime.
