Here’s the report for the July 7th Ohio Valley Wrestling’s Saturday Night Special from sweltering Louisville, Kentucky. They claim the Davis Arena is air conditioned, but my disbelief isn’t suspended on that one, that place was a sweat box. This was a major Saturday Night Special though, and the show delivered. This was for all the marbles, Danny Davis’ picks vs Josette Bynum’s picks in a best of 7 series matches tonight, with the winner getting full storyline control of OVW, as ordered by storyline OVW Board of Directors member, Ken Wayne.

OVW is huge on doing very long storylines, and this was the culmination of one that began in 2011, when Attorney Christian Mascagni gained power as the heel “Talent Arbitrator” in OVW, but Mascagni was legit fired from OVW in February, so his role was then given to Josette Bynum, who has ran with it since in pretty impressive fashion. Bynum was given full storyline control of OVW a few months ago when her man Rob Terry beat Trailer Park Trash, thanks to TPT being hit with a roll of coins, and Bynum then abused her authority, until Ken Wayne came on to the scene, and since then the whole thing has been a wacky, frustrating, confused mess. The booking had fallen off a cliff of late, but things seemed to flow pretty well tonight, which is a good thing because this show had more stipulations then you can shake a stick at, not the least of which all titles were vacant after Wayne stripped all the champions, and all the title vacancies were refilled tonight.

Dean Hill and Kenny Bolin were the announcers for the upcoming DVD release of this show. Ron Hed and Terry Boddie were the ring announcers. The place was pretty full, I’d guess around 300 in attendance.

The show opened with yet another very well done music video by OVW of things that have transpired in the Josette Bynum era of OVW, or I really should say Jo-VW I suppose.

1. Elvis Pridemore won a Bunkhouse Battle Royal

The faces represented the OVW side here, the heels represented Jo-OVW, whoever won would score a point for their side in the best of 7. All the heels were eliminated but Fabiano Rolento, but Raul Lamotta and Shiloh Jonze then ripped off their OVW t-shirts, in what was I guess a confusing heel turn, who knows. Lamotta has been very upset because Danny Davis didn’t pick him twice in recent weeks to represent OVW in key matches on this show. Jonze and Lamotta though then eliminated Rolento. Music came up, and out came The American Assassin, again wearing a suit. Assassin sent both Jonze and Lamotta over the top at the same time with a double clothesline, then climbed out over the top rope, I guess eliminating himself too in the dumb Mil Mascaras way, if he was ever in it. Elvis Pridemore then climbed back into the ring, and was declared the winner, he’d been missing from the match for awhile, but I guess was not sent out over the top rope. So that made it…

OVW 1 Jo-VW 0

2. Dylan Bostic, Kharn Alexander, Eric Wayne, & Jose Del Barrio beat Nick Dumeyer, Cliff Compton, Jamin Olivencia & Chris Silvio w/Mo Green in an 8 man elimination match

It looked like a major mismatch in favor of the babyface side representing OVW here, but Cliff Compton and Chris Silvio can’t stand each other, and are feuding, so I figured they’d cancel each other out in this one. Why is Eric Wayne representing Jo-VW here when his dad Ken Wayne is on the OVW BOD? Crappy booking, that’s why. All babyfaces early on. Silvio with a top rope belly to belly on Kharn Alexander. Eric Wayne with a big released German suplex on Silvio. Guys all started hitting big moves on each other. Silvio hit his Rocket Punch finisher on Jose Del Barrio, but Cliff Compton then tagged himself in, and pinned Del Barrio after a top rope splash, which annoyed Silvio, so he and Compton started shoving each other around. Alexander pinned Randy Royal, but Jamin Olivencia, who got a big pop for his return here and looked sharp all match, then pinned Alexander with his “O Drop” clamping DDT finisher. Dylan Bostic blasted Olivencia from behind with a low blow, and Eric Wayne then pinned Olivencia with a wicked looking Death Valley Driver. Silvio hit Wayne with his Rocket Punch, but Cliff Compton distracted the ref to prevent his teammate from getting the pin. Silvio and Compton arguing again, so Wayne pinned a distracted Silvio with a school boy. Compton then pinned Wayne with a Michinoku Driver. Cliff Compton went up top to try and finish off Dylan Bostic to end it, but Silvio shoved Compton off the rop rope, and Bostic pinned Compton for a huge win for him, and an upset win for the Jo-VW side. I wonder if Silvio and Compton fighting with each other, and it costing OVW a point tonight, will play into future storylines here?

OVW 1 Jo-VW 1

3. Tony Gunn beat Raphael Constantine w/Two ladies in a “Bear on a pole” match

Yes you read that right, a bear on a pole match. Ralphie the stuffed bear to be exact. He’s been Tony Gunn’s prized possession for a long time, but Raphael Constantine stole him awhile back for his ladies, and named the bear “Raffie”, short for Raphael. Since then Gunn, and his sidekick Nick Dumyer, have chased Constantine and his ladies all over the Davis arena trying to get the bear back, with no luck, so Ken Wayne ordered this match tonight. Gee thanks Ken, Russo loves ya pally! Constantine’s ladies came out tonight with large falsies over their boobs that had eyeballs all over them…Heh. Husky referee Josh Ashcraft had a harrowing time clipping the bear to the pole. Ashcraft looked as unsteady as man can possibly look on the top rope, but somehow managed not to fall. Both guys made attempts for the bear right away here. Gunn took control, and hit Constantine with his Alabama slam finisher. Gunn went for Raplhie, but Constantine’s ladies caused Gunn to be crotched in the corner. Gunn’s “dog” Nick Dumeyer came out, and forced the ladies to the back with his invisible shotgun. No really, he did. Constantine tied Gunn to the tree of woe, and went for the bear, but Gunn gave Constantine a German suplex off the top rope. Both guys back up in the turnbuckle fighting for the bear. Constantine got knocked off after being sent into the pole, and Gunn retrieved his precious Ralphie to win the match, and score a point for OVW. Constantine made another attempt to get Ralphie back again after the match, but Dumeyer tipped Gunn off to thwart it. Gunn then laid Constantine out by hitting him with Ralphie, who has been known to have a brick inside of him on a few occasions in the past, and maybe tonight too.

OVW 2 Jo-VW 1

4. Taeler Hendrix w/Dylan Bostic beat Epiphany to win the OVW Women’s title in an evening gown match

Ken Wayne stipped Epiphany of the OVW Women’s title a few weeks ago for no good reason, and the winner of the vacant title tonight would be the lady that strips the other down to her bar and panties first. The evening gown dealio was added this past Wednesday at TV, with no explanation as to why. Taeler Hendrix came out wearing a multicolored mermaidish like evening gown, with purple high heels. Epiphany came out in a black evening gown and a red rose in her hair, wearing plaid high heels. Dylan Bostic was ejected by referee Chris Sharpe early on for interfering. Sharpe was knocked down when Epiphany had Hendrix in an airplane spin, so Bostic snuck back out and ripped Epiphany’s dress off of her, so Sharpe declared Hendrix the winner when he saw Epiphany in her bar and panties. An angry Epiphany stripped Hendrix out of her dress after the match, and then pulled Dylan Bostic’s pants off for good measure, but Hendrix is once again the ladies champ here, and this also scored another point for the Jo-VW side.

OVW 2 Jo-VW 2

They aired a funny video that played on the most recent TV show of Ted McNaler and Adam Revolver in their mobile home, with their mom, and McNaler’s girlfriend Brittany DeVore, who are both trying to get the “boys” to make up, and be the “Mobile Homers” again. This is to be continued.

5. “The Best Team Ever” Rudy Switchblade & Jessie Godderz beat “The Mascara Mafia” Paredyse & Brandon Espinosa in a ladder match to win the OVW Southern tag team titles

Godderz and Switchblade, who are now wearing matching “Best team ever” trunks, were stripped of the tag titles several weeks ago here by Ken Wayne, but since both are members of the Josette Bynum “Family”, she selected them to represent her side in this match tonight. Danny Davis selected Paredyse & Espinosa, who after a long feud with each other, where Espinosa had to admit he was gay at the end of, then had a ceremony together to become “partners”….I guess Josh Ashcraft was paying dues tonight because again he was the one made to climb the ladder to attach the tag belts to the chain hanging from the ceiling, and again he looked far less then thrilled, and quite unsteady legit, up on a ladder. This match sold out the curtain, as several wrestlers were watching this one from upstairs. Paredyse came out here wearing a tutu. Both teams jockeying for position early, two ladders were on the floor so start this. Paredyse hit a dropkick to the floor, going thru the legs of Espinosa, to take out Godderz and Swithblade in front of the desk, who were both holding a ladder. Paredyse sent Godderz to a ladder face first, and Paredyse’ rear end, a few times with his legs from behind. Godderz and Switchblade took out Paredyse with a teeter totter ladder spot on the ropes. Espinosa then was hiptossed onto that ladder. Switchblade hit himself in the head with a chair on after another teeter totter spot. Godderz pressed Paredyse over his head, and dropped him down on the ladder, which was still laying on the second rope. Paredyse was doing the splits between two ladders after knocking Godderz off one of them. Godderz and Switchblade then combined to knock Paredyse off the ladder, and both went up and grabbed the tag belts to win the match, the tag titles, and another all important point for Jo-VW.

Jo-VW 3 OVW 2

6. Mohamad Ali Vaez w/Josette Bynum beat Flash Flanagan to win the OVW TV title

This was a pivotal point of the show. Mohamad Ali Vaez is, or he was, one of Bynum’s “Family” members, but in a twist a few weeks ago, Danny Davis picked Vaez to represent the OVW side in the TV title match to mess with Bynum. It was a brilliant move because Vaez is in absolute love with the OVW TV title, even more than he loves the “Family”, which became evident tonight. Bynum wanted Vaez to just lay down and lose here, because if he did, it was over, and Jo-VW would have won the series, and had total control of OVW. Vaez was originally supposed to face Raul Lamotta here, because Danny Davis instead picked Vaez after Vaez and Lamotta were the last two left in a battle royal to determine the last two for the TV title tonight, but that went away thanks to the weak booking here lately, and Bynum refused to pick Lamotta. Somehow, she ended up with Flash Flanagan as her pick tonight, which was never explained. Flash is completely bald right now. The crowd was very loud here, chanting a lot of Ali, and even more chants of “8 8 8 8”, because Vaez was going for his 8th time of winning the OVW TV title here, even though it’s only actually the 6th time in reality. This was the first title Ken Wayne held up here several weeks ago, following a Vaez vs Jamin Olivencia match with a controversial finish, which Vaez won, but Wayne then immediately ordered the TV title held up. Vaez did not look happy at the thought of just laying down and losing to Flanagan for the sake of “The Family”, but he finally slowly did, after a few minutes of being ordered to do so by Josette Bynum. But Vaez then kicked out before the three count, and the match was on, much to the disgust of Bynum. The match went back and forth for a bit. Flash gave Vaez the snake eyes on the top turnbuckle. Vaez went up top, which is somewhat rare for him, but Bynum shoved him off. But Vaez then hit his running neckbreaker finisher to beat Flanagan, and win the OVW for the 8th time, even though it’s not actually 8, to a huge pop, and a babyface turn for Vaez. I don’t know if he’s ever been a babyface before, but the crowd was behind him all the way here. Vaez even shook hands with Dean Hill after the match, and there’s been bad blood there for years, since Hill lost his trademark handlebar mustache to the Insurgency. Vaez did still leave thru the heel side though.

OVW 3 Jo-VW 3

7. “Smooth” Johnny Spade won a 5 on 5 steel cage gauntlet match to win the OVW Heavyweight title

And so it all came down to this main event to decide who was going to control OVW, Danny Davis or Josette Bynum. Elvis Pridemore again did a crackerjack job strapping the cage together, seemingly effortlessly standing on top of the ringposts to do it. This is a large cage they have here. Danny Davis and Ken Wayne were both on the floor watching this one, and Josette Bynum and Prince Bolin were at ringside. Rob Terry was the OVW Heavyweight champion, cheating to beat Johnny Spade to win it, but was stripped of the title by Ken Wayne a few weeks ago. Danny Davis thanked the crowd for their years of support before the match if his side didn’t win, but said with the crowds help, they could win this, and then called Josette Bynum a “B!tch” yet again, so the crowd chanted that at her. Bynum was wearing the classic “Nightmare” like star shaped makeup around her eye. Chris Sharpe was the ref here, and he was recently a heel ref here for Bynum, but now seems to have gone back to being a normal ref again, with no explanation either way. The first guys in the ring were Michael Hayes vs BS 2.0 member Joe Coleman. Hayes with an MMA like submission sleeper on Coleman early. Hayes then hit a diamond cutter to beat Coleman pretty quickly. In next for Jo-VW was another BS 2.0 member, Jack Black. Hayes hit a diamond cutter on Black to beat him quickly as well. Bynum was yelling at, and even swinging at, Prince Bolin on the floor for the poor performances by his men in this gauntlet match thus far. Bolin had no answers for her. In next was yet another BS 2.0 member, Rocco Bellagio. Hayes hit a codebreaker on Bellagio, but his fake leg got knocked off in the process. Bellagio hit Hayes on the jaw with his own fake leg, but Hayes kicked out. Hayes went for yet another diamond cutter, but Bellagio slipped out of it, and hit a chokeslam to beat and eliminate Hayes. In next for Danny Davis’ side was James “Moose” Thomas, who used to be a tag partner of Bellagio when he was in BS 2.0 himself as a heel. He’s all babyface now though. Both guys went for their finishers, but neither could hit them. Moose caught Bellagio in a crippler crossface submission, but Bellagio somehow made it to the ropes. Moose then missed a Vader bomb, and Bellagio pinned him. In next for Davis was Trailer Park Trash, who had his left knee heavily bandaged up in a makeshift fashion, and it seemed to be bothering him legit. TPT with a sloppy DDT on Bellagio. TPT missed on his top rope legdrop finisher. Bellagio then ran TPT headfirst into the cage and pinned him. Bellagio looked impressive here peeling off three wins in a row. In next however for the Danny Davis side was TNA’s “Monster” Abyss, who Davis shocked everyone when he announced Abyss as coming in as a ringer for his side this past Wednesday at TV. Abyss is a big dude in person. Abyss thru his warm up jacket over the cage, and it got stuck on a light fixture up there, and stayed there. Abyss beat Bellagio quickly with a sidewalk slam. In next for Jo-VW was Jason Wayne, wearing new trunks. Wayne went up top, and took Abyss down with an elbow to the jaw, but Abyss then beat Wayne after a big chokeslam. Rob Terry was the last member of Jo-VW to enter the gauntlet. Two big bulls squaring off here. After a struggle, Terry gave Abyss a powerslam. Terry then took control. Abyss with a chokeslam, but Terry kicked out. Terry then pinned Abyss after a chokeslam of his own. Terry and Abyss were really clunky in there together, and both were clearly not used to working with each other. It wasn’t pretty. Abyss stayed in the ring and slammed Terry down after he lost, to cause “damage” as he promised in his promo on Wednesday. “Smooth” Johnny Spade was the last man in representing OVW, and so the whole ball of wax came down to Terry vs Spade here. Spade came right in and hit a Swanton, but Terry kicked out. Crowd was chanting for OVW. Bynum tried to climb the cage, which distracted Spade, allowing Terry to take command. Terry rubbed Spade’s face into the cage. Several OVW babyfaces came to ringside to cheer on Johnny Spade, and the crowds chants got louder. Mohamad Ali Vaez came to the floor, wearing an OVW shirt. Yep, he’s a face now. Terry with a powerslam, but Spade kicked out. Spade nailed Terry with two superkicks to win the match, regain the OVW heavyweight title for the second time in his long career, and win OVW back for Dabby Davis, all in one fell swoop. Spade works with Rob Terry way better than Abyss did, night and day difference really, but Spade has worked with him several times in the past too. Big pop for the finish. Josette Bynum was on her knees, crying. All the babyfaces went into the cage to celebrate with Spade and Davis, with some climbing in over the top of the cage to get there. Referee Chris Sharpe and Mohamad Ali Vaez were both in the cage making friends with the good guys. Dean Hill led the crowd in the “na na na goodbye” song to Bynum.

Final tally: OVW 4 Jo-VW 3

A good show overall, even with the overbearing temperature. I hope the booking, and things in general, can get back to normal here for awhile. Josette Bynum did a good job in the heel authority figure role, but it’s a role I’m so beyond sick of in pro wrestling in general. Send any feedback to tvd65@hotmail.com