OVW TV review
October 22, 2005
Taped October 19 in Louisville, Ky.
Exclusive report by Killian, PWTorch.com correspondent

(1) MARK HENRY RETURNED TO THE RING WHEN HE CAME OUT DURING A MATCH BETWEEN RENE DUPREE AND ROBERT FURY

As soon as the match began, Mark Henry came out. Dupree ran away immediately. Henry came in the ring, took off his belt, and whipped Fury something fierce. Good angle. Henry was really whipping him.

(2) CHRIS CAGE PINNED JAMIE NOBLE IN A MATCH THAT CONTINUED THE CAGE FEUD WITH AARON "THE IDOL" STEVENS

Stevens was at the announcers desk with his valets Beth and Shelly. Noble kept coming out to the ring to be kissed by Shelly. Noble worked on Cage's neck the whole match, to sell the angle from last week of Stevens hitting The Idolizer on the floor on Cage. Noble continues to impress.

A backstage bit aired where The Tolands congratulated Seth Skyfire and Chet the Jet Jablonski on winning the tag team titles, and made the challenge for the rematch. Maria caught up with Micki James and asked her about the name change from Alexis Laree, but then Maria got into a verbal spat backstage with Ken Doane's valet Sosay. It ended with Ken Doane coming in and pulling Sosay away from the fray and making disparaging remarks about Maria, and closing on a note about Bobby Lashley. Great interview segment.

(3) BRENT ALBRIGHT AND ELIJAH BURKE WON A 2 VS 3 MATCH AGAINST CM PUNK, DOUG BASHAM, AND MO GREEN

This was originally supposed to be Albright vs. Basham, but one thing lead to another and they ended up in the handicap match. Punk and Albright got into a brawl and fought out the side door of the arena. Elijah pinned Mo, but was jumped by Basham afterwards. Not good.

(4) BOBBY LASHLEY PINNED DEAN VISK AND THEN GOT INTO A FIGHT WITH OVW TV CHAMPION KEN DOANE

Great squash match. Lashley is over huge. Visk attacked Lashley, but Lashley hit the spear and a powerslam. Doane attacked Lashley and threw some very impressive punches. Doane kept avoiding Lashley's big swings, but one punch connected and knocked Doane out of the ring. Afterwards, great staredown with Lashley in the ring and Doane on the floor with Kenny Bolin.

(5) INTERVIEWS AIRED TO THE ARENA FROM CAPPOTELLI AND JETER

This was great. Jeter and Cappotelli did back to back interviews, a total of 3 each. Jeter is a man falling apart, terrified of losing his title, and admitting it on camera. Cappotelli is a man ready to explode, keeping his composure until the fight. Great hype for their match. Neither Jeter or Cappotelli appeared live before the fans this week, which just makes the crowd want the match even more. And when you get a Doane vs. Lashley angle, you don't need to have Jeter and Cappotelli the week before their big match.

My thoughts are this: Information on tonight's event is available at www.ovwrestling.com. These are two of the biggest matches in OVW history. Doane vs. Lashley has been built up brilliantly, and Cappotelli challenging Jeter has been the best ongoing storyline of the year.

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PREVIEW OF WEDNESDAY'S OVW TV TAPING FEATURING JETER VS. CAPPOTELLI FOR THE OVW TITLE

The biggest TV Taping in the history of WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) takes place tonight at The New Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky. When Paul Heyman took over the booking chores from Jim Cornette, it was obvious Heyman planned a breakup of the Thrillseekers tag team from the first episode he wrote. Heyman had the Thrillseekers score a simultaneous pinfall over both Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro (the week they lost the WWE Tag Team Titles) to become number one contenders to the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles. But because the person who scored the victory would be number one contender to the OVW Heavyweight Title, Heyman created a controversy between the partners.

That weekend, in a freak accident at a house show, Cappotelli broke his left leg and Heyman had to change his booking plans.In hindsight, it was all probably for the better. Jeter won the title from Brent Albright and started a series of memorable angles, all along while Cappotelli kept coming back on crutches and Jeter vs Cappotelli angles were booked by Heyman to occur in the parking lot, during press conferences, in the locker room, and at the end of matches. It really became the feud of the year, or at least neck-and-neck with Hogan vs HBK for best buildup to a match. Longtime fans of ECW see that Heyman's ability to build to payoffs like Sabu vs Taz or Dreamer finally beating Raven was still strong.

Tonight, the wait is over. Cappotelli is back, on the verge of a reported pickup by WWE to Raw or Smackdown. Jeter, who was once just "Cappotelli's partner," is by far the most hated heel in OVW and a breakout star on his own. Tonight is Cappotelli's first match back in over 10 weeks, since breaking his leg, and it's against his former partner in a match billed a Battle Of The Thrillseekers. The prize is the OVW Title, and the buzz around Louisville is hotter than any match OVW has ever done.

In the other main event of the night, Ken Doane will finally defend the OVW TV Title against Bobby Lashley. This week on OVW TV, Lashley pinned Dean Visk, who is the Ultimate Warrior type wrestler whose gimmick is to scream on top of his lungs. The week before, thanks to Doane's help, Visk pinned Lashley in a tag team match. Lashley soundly defeated Visk, and then Doane ran in and started using the Ali Shuffle to punch and dance around Lashley. Finally, Lashley landed a heavy blow and Doane flew over the top rope.

Tonight will be Doane vs. Lashley for the TV Title. Lashley broke away from Doane and manager Kenny Bolin and has been neck-and-neck with Cappotelli as top babyface in OVW. His recent appearances on Smackdown don't show you how Goldberg-like this great athlete is. Heyman booked Lashley perfectly against The Boogeyman and Visk. This match will be Lashley's greatest test to date.

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