OVW TV 1/5/2002

Written by: Bob Colling

OVW TV
Date: 1/5/2002
From: Louisville, KY

Matches:
1.) Payne defeated Shelton Benjamin by disqualification
2.) OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Nick Dinsmore & Rob Conway defeated Mr. Black & Sean O’Haire to retain the titles
3.) Big Bad John & Johnny Spade defeated David Flair & Mark Jindrak
4.) Flash defeated “the Machine” Doug Basham

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Footage from the December 15th TV where David Flair was getting beaten down by Payne and someone else. Shelton Benjamin ran in and made the save for Flair. Benjamin seems to have a gimmick similar to crow Sting.

2.) Payne says he is sick and tired of Shelton Benjamin coming out here trying to get revenge for his partner. Payne doesn’t think Benjamin can kick his ass and tonight he will prove that Benjamin has a death wish.

3.) Benjamin kicks Payne and starts off with strikes in the corner to drop Payne. Benjamin clotheslines Payne in the corner followed by a scoop slam and an elbow drop. Shelton continues to work over Payne with standing kicks. Payne dumps Benjamin on the apron and yanks Shelton down face first onto the apron. On the floor, Benjamin lifts Payne up to hit a pillar on the floor. Payne cuts Benjamin off with a clothesline and catches Shelton’s kick but Benjamin reverses to bulldog Payne. Benjamin goes to the top and walks the ropes before hitting a clothesline. Synn gets on the apron but avoids Benjamin. Synn jerks the ropes causing Benjamin to fall off the top rope. Payne takes advantage hitting a power slam but only manages a two count. Payne counters a tilt a whirl head scissors by dropping Benjamin down to the canvas. Payne puts Benjamin on the top turnbuckle attempting a superplex but Benjamin gets out of it and hits a sit down power bomb. Shelton drops Payne with a twisting back elbow and a shoulder block. Benjamin continues with an overhead suplex followed by a super kick. Shelton goes to the floor and grabs a steel chair. Shelton shoves the referee down and puts the chair on Payne’s ankle stomping on the chair after shoving the referee down two times. Damien runs into the ring and attacks Benjamin. Payne has apparently no sold the chair spot ad puts Shelton’s ankle between the chair. Here comes Red Dog and cleans house on Damien and Payne. Dog has Synn and Swail sending them into each other. (**. Benjamin is impressive already and Payne worked fine as a heel. It’s a decent match that had a story behind it and the fans were interested in the action.)

4.) Jim Cornette is with Shelton Benjamin and Red Dog. Benjamin says he went to South Carolina where he saw Dog wrestling a few weeks ago. Dog offered to lend Benjamin a hand after hearing what happened to Brock Lesnar. Benjamin says he moves like a cat and now we’re going to see the bite of his dog. Red Dog thinks he found a bone for him to chew on.

5.) Footage of a recent interaction between the OVW Originals and the Bolin Service is aired. Conway was battling Prototype where Conway had the victory but Kenny Bolin ended up costing Conway the match. Conway gets up and cleaned house until Mr. Black and Sean O’Haire attacked Conway. Damaja and Nick Dinsmore enter the ring where Prototype whacked Damaja with a steel chair. Dinsmore runs Prototype out of the ring. Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway were interviewed saying that Damaja isn’t doing very well and they think he has a concussion due to his symptoms. So, Dinsmore got Conway to be his partner to take on the Blonds and they ended winning the tag titles. Conway got the win following a top rope elbow drop.

6.) Jim Cornette bring out OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway for an interview. Dinsmore got nervous about not being able to win the titles because of Damaja’s injury but thanks to Conway, they reclaimed the titles they won five years ago. Conway feels bad for Damaja being injured but he is sure that Damaja is happy the titles are back with Team OVW. Here comes Damaja to join the segment. Damaja is pissed that Conway stole his spot in the match and stole his championship. Damaja is mad at Dinsmore for allowing Conway to fill his ego. Damaja doesn’t get the WWF checks like Conway and Dinsmore gets. Damaja is jealous of their success in the WWF. Damaja insults Dinsmore’s lack of personality. Damaja says that Conway has life-size cardboard cutouts of himself at his bed. Conway tries to reason with Damaja but he doesn’t hear any of it. Damaja says he is bigger and stronger than these two. Damaja isn’t going to get it by sucking up to Danny Davis or the WWF office. Damaja wishes them luck with the titles and says that Team OVW is over as he is out of it. Dinsmore and Conway are surprised by this turn of events. That was nicely done, I thought.

7.) Dinsmore and O’Haire kick off the title match trading wrist locks. O’Haire decks Dinsmore with a right hand but the champs take O’Haire over with a double back suplex for a two count. Conway avoids O’Haire in the corner to get a rollup for a two count. O’Haire stops Conway with another right hand and Mr. Black tags into the bout to pummel Conway with strikes. Black but gets dropkicked by Dinsmore allowing Conway to nearly win. The champs backdrop Black and knock O’Haire off the apron. Dinsmore dropkicks Black into O’Haire that knocks O’Haire off the apron but Black still has control and tags O’Haire into the match. O’Haire kicks Dinsmore and hits a nice over the shoulder back breaker for a two count. O’Haire and Black hit a side slam/elbow drop combo on Dinsmore for another near fall. Dinsmore gets caught on O’Haire’s shoulder after leaping off the middle rope. O’Haire hits a reverse Death Valley Driver but misses a top rope swanton bomb. Dinsmore tags in Conway and Black gets tagged in. Conway plants O’Haire with a DDT but Conway decks Black with a right hand. Conway hits a neck breaker but Black saves his partner. Dinsmore is distracted as O’Haire has the baton but Mr. Black stops him since it’s his and he wants to use it. Conway drops Black with a neck breaker for the win. After the match, Kenny Bolin argues with Mr. Black and Sean O’Haire isn’t happy but nothing happens. (*1/2. Yeah, this was just a basic match between these two teams. I can tell I’m going to enjoy watching a lot of Dinsmore and Conway, though.)

8.) Jim Cornette talks about “The Machine” Doug Basham who is trying to hold OVW hostage due to a contract that was signed eight years ago and everyone forgot about it. We see footage that says that after five years when OVW shows it profitable that Doug Basham can purchase 25% of the company. Danny Davis came out and called Basham and ungrateful bastard and decked him with a right hand. Danny Davis says that Doug Basham can not be fired from OVW and the contract will be decided in court. Davis says that Basham will never own one cent of OVW. Basham says that he will have 25% of the company. The idea of it makes Queen Victoria hot and they go backstage.

9.) Jindrak and Spade kick off the match with Jindrak hitting a short arm clothesline. John attacks Jindrak from behind and plants Jindrak with a side slam. Flair gets tagged in and takes Spade over with an overhead suplex. John decks Flair from the apron and tags in to hammer away on Flair. John drops Flair with a knee lift and tags in Spade. Spade misses a somersault off the top and Flair tags in Jindrak to take Spade over with a hip toss and backdrop. Jindrak dropkicks John and John gets dropped with a double back elbow. John choke slams Jindrak while the referee was distracted and Spade gets the pin on Jindrak. (*. This felt like they put a 15-minute match into a five minute match so it was difficult to appreciate anything they tried to do.)

10.) Jim Cornette interviews two referees in OVW. Apparently, one of the referees made a questionable call in a match between Ron Conway and Prototype. The referee is being fined $200 and a reprimand will be sent to the office. There is jealously between referees now too. This is kind of humorous.

11.) Footage from the other week where Flash nearly pinned OVW Heavyweight Champion Leviathan having hit his finishing move twice, but couldn’t win the match. Flash is met with a spear in midair and lost the match. Flash decks Synn with a right hand and is attacked by Leviathan who hit a full nelson slam. Trailer Park Trash rolled into the ring with a baseball bat and ran off the champion.

12.) Trailer Park Trash was interviewed earlier saying that Flash earned his respect because Flash is the toughest man he has ever wrestled in the ring. Now, they will team up to take on the Revolution.

13.) Basham goes to the floor as soon as the bell sounds to avoid Flash at the start. Basham shoves Flash from behind and goes to the floor but quickly comes back in when he sees Trailer Park Trash. Flash works over Basham with right hands and a springboard leg drop for a two count. Flash hits a seated rolling neck breaker and dropkicks Basham to the apron. Flash takes Basham out with a springboard clothesline over the ropes to take Doug out on the outside. Flash gets crotched on the top rope and Basham hits a superplex for a two count. Basham kicks Flash across the back but only gets a near fall. Basham takes Flash over with a series of snap suplexs but only gets a near fall. Basham goes to the top rope but misses a diving head butt. Flash backdrops Basham and delivers a clothesline. Flash takes Basham down with a DDT and goes to the middle rope but Basham drops Flash after avoiding the Whiplash. Flash sends Basham into Trailer Park Trash and pins Basham with a rollup. After the match, Bull Buchanan enters the ring and attacks Flash. Buchanan stomps on Trailer Park Trash. Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway run down to make the save. (*1/2. I guess it’s a big win for Flash since Basham is the apparent top heel or one of the top heels. The action wasn’t all that enjoyable, though.)

Final Thoughts:
So, it’s not a bad episode though the action is quite basic considering the majority of the talent are trainees. However, the angle with Basham looking to own 25% of the company has some promise. Benjamin is already quite enjoyable in the ring and I can see Conway and Dinsmore being the top guys for in-ring action, which I can get behind. It shall be interesting to see how these guys develop over time.

Thanks for reading.