The Complete History Of OVW

[@bubbadmatt8124]

Man this brings back memories. I live just over an hour away from Louisville in Indiana. Grew up watching stuff like ovw as well local live shows put on by Jerry Lawler (who happened to own a furniture store in nearby Evansville). Sadly some of the great old venues are starting to go under. Like Evansville's Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Was lucky to watch a show in recent years before the vid19. Makes ya just want to shed some tears for nostalgia.

[@scmcguire53]

Under Snow and Matt Jones, they are not doing too bad. I enjoyed the Country Boy tournament and the bringing in of local celebrities for one offs. Shannon the Dude is a bit overdone, but OVW is still very entertaining and enjoyable.

[@bradyogden8308]

@@scmcguire53 tony Gunn was my middle school gym teacher way before the Gunn show, fucking wild seeing him now

[@scmcguire53]

@@bradyogden8308 I went to college with Amon. Lol

[@joeywrestling9536]

I can’t say enough good things about this video! Brought back incredible memories of my Dad taking me to Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, AL, to watch Continental Wrestling. I remember watching Danny Davis and so many other great performers. Tremendous job, thank you Cultaholic Wrestling!!! ❤️❤️

[@daddust]

You’ve been airbrushed Kenny Bolin out of this while concentrating on Cornette - who didn’t have a magical meeting with Davis, Bolin was working in OVW and helped Jim join. Kenny got the name StarMaker for his work sending 50 guys into the WWE, including Cena who he managed for a very long time.

[@polrua]

One of the things I love about the way that Al Snow has been running OVW is that trainees are involved with every aspect of the promotion. Wrestlers are trained in video editing and production and camerawork as well as announcing, marketing and online promotion. This gives everyone working there valuable experience and expertise across a wide range of fields and means that, in the case of unforeseen circumstances where they're unable to continue wrestling, they'll have a solid raft of skills and industry expertise so they're not left without options.

[@poorkid138]

Used to see Al at the gas station in LaGrange frequently. Cool guy.

[@wrestlingandamusementparkl7789]

I think the wrestler in ovw put the ring up when they do shows to outside of Danny Davis

[@ericgropuis]

Now Mickie James is also there helping those ladies in OVW get better

[@corey62474]

I loved ovw when Katie Lea Beth Phoenix Serena and odb was there I would never miss an episode it was like a golden era and kept excited for the future of the women's division after Trish retired

[@matthewkrist2168]

One of the most consistently good wrestling companies today. Two hours of great wrestling every Thursday on fite. It’s like impact on a budget.

[@hhtptai]

So here's a real fun fact: Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Batista, and John Cena debuted in WWE within four months of each other in 2002. Brock in March, Randy in April, Batista in May and John in June.

[@SpideyMan1802]

Shelton Benjamin in december 2002 🤘🏻

[@thatdorkadam]

I feel extremely lucky to have experienced OVW in it's prime. Watching this has brought back so many memories with my dad. I was really into WWF in the 90s and my dad took me to lots of different shows. He heard about OVW at work when he was telling some coworkers about how into wresting i was. He started taking me around 1998. We loved it and went to every single show until they moved to the new arena. The old one didn't have much space so we always got there early. There was usually a school bus of kids that we tried to beat there. I remember Block Lesner and Shelton Benjamin were a tag team group that went by The Minnesota Stretching Crew. Randy Orton was always nice and would talk to us after shows. I remember Batista was a demon like character that had a manager talk for him. He went by The Leviathan. We were sitting in the 2nd row when they introduced a new villain that they "created" called the Prototype. He had blonde hair. Not long after, he was on WWE introducing himself as John Cena. OVW was a huge part of my childhood. Having something like this in my area was cool and i remember bragging to kids at school that i got to witness these guys before they were in the WWE.

[@zachstolpa6521]

It can’t be said enough how much Johnny ace and god knows who he was answering to has chucked a wrench to jam modern wrestling

[@johnathanrush4666]

oh hai Kevin Dunn

[@johnathanrush4666]

oh hai Kevin Dunn

[@itsardt3511]

I’m so glad to see this video, was looking forward to this one for a while! I grew up watching and visiting OVW here in Kentuckiana, and It was great memories for me and I believe great times for Louisville wrestling.

[@ttjesus4959]

Whereabouts? Henry County for me

[@ttjesus4959]

I mean "Henry Caulty"

[@tonyslicer7399]

Reason OVW talents did so well in wwe all these years wasnt like on internet and dirtsheets marks wasnt trashing it and this what today Nxt needs

[@spyesyes1405]

My grandpa has a restaurant in Louisviile and used to sponsor OVW and a lot of the wrestlers would come in to eat and he used to tell me stories about how he met John Cena Batista Randy Orton Cm Punk and a few others this brings me back

[@redbattle5355]

Since DSW and OVW has now been cover, we have FCW as the last one

[@HSWilli]

I live 20 minutes away from Ohio Valley Wrestling and I frequent there every now and then, Met a few legends and current wrestling stars there.

[@TheThird1977]

Can you guys do a History of Southpaw Regional Wrestling next?

[@Cosmic_Gorilla]

They just never recovered after the Lethal Leap Year fiasco, such a shame.

[@Nbflowers1989]

Great series! I love these editorial entries!

[@Drollpanther]

Tom pumping out quality content.

[@Unitenotfight]

I can’t speak for the early days of OVW, and I have seen them run shows in some not so great buildings and church gyms. But, in fairness, the warehouse that they were and are still in to this day is far from dilapidated. There is even a police station in the same set of warehouses. Definitely not the newest, most state of the art warehouse, but far from dilapidated.

[@scmcguire53]

And their outdoor series at the KY state fair and Country Boy are not venues to shake a head at either.

[@joshniner1481]

Anybody remember where the old beat up warehouse is located in Jeffersonville Indiana from around 1996 1997

[@honestreviewer7788]

coolest thing about OVW imo is that its currently the only accredited trade school for wrestling on earth

[@lonnynix9362]

I live three miles from the Davis arena, I havent been in the last two years, but they are still making good home grown talent. Itty Bitty Dimes and this one tag team, one of the guys name was Dustin Jackson and long haired kid who name escapes me. They where good. But Jackson stood out to me. But with Rip Rodgers as head trainer then, they had a bunch good wrestlers. You could tell they were still learning, but good. OVW is good ol rasslen. I still watch it as much as i can.

[@talonthehand]

Can we just acknowledge for a moment that Tom Campbell just does a sarcastically large amount of work?

[@manband20]

It's truly fascinating how ROH seemingly died while OVW survived after all this time, given the circumstances.

[@bgonzalez902]

You can tell tom was in radio. The voiceover here **chefs kiss**

[@TonyDanza4Lyfe]

More like vomit. Hack voice

[@zacharycarter9887]

You guy should start producing 1 hr doc these mini ones you do are great and on topics no one else does im hooked

[@babayagaslobbedaknobba]

The current OVW was owned by Al Snow. I drive past the building, maybe twice a month. I found it by accident one day, while attending a job interview in that part of town. They used to have shows at Kentucky Kingdom, and usually a major WWE star would be there. Sidenote: Danny Davis operated in Jeffersonville, Indiana, not Jefferson. It's an easy mistake to make.

[@paulschaefer5485]

My uncle was the ref for OVW. It was pretty cool seeing him in the ring with all those stars

[@tonygazso9027]

Give us the history of the WCW Power Plant next!

[@wrestlingandamusementparkl7789]

Fun fact from OVW would run shows at Six flags Kentucky Kingdom every year up to 2007. They do like a spring break type deal then start a week to week starting around Memorial Day to like Labor Day or around that. They also would do shows at Kentucky state fair next door in august. The OVW shows were held in the Bat man stunt show arena toward the back of the park . U had to go under T2 rollercoaster to get to the arena .

[@theevilascotcompany9255]

The Prototype changed his name to John Cena, and was never seen again.

[@rooneykwami4820]

😂😂😂

[@shawnsolo1045]

I used to go every wednesday to the ovw tv tapings when I was a kid, it was a really great time, especially since it was free lol I remember watching cm punk wrestle brent albright(who had a very unfortunate wwe debut as gunner scott or nelson or something and he was chris benoits protégé) they would work almost every single week and the matches were legitimately great, the funniest part was santino morella having this russian mma gimmick, they even brought kurt angle down to put him over clean! it was so fun

[@InfectedChris]

Another great history video!

[@grizzlybarrows4390]

Cornette, Davis, and Starmaker Bolin knew what they were doing.

[@cwellofgreen8175]

Been a minute since I've had the pleasure of enjoying a show at Davis Arena.

[@big_tea1983]

I need of version of Rob Conway's theme sung by Ross doing his Randy Newman voice.

[@bakedpsychopathtv5645]

My mother worked for OVW as a photographer and was often put into feuds as a "wife" of the talent. Christin Carlucci if there is anything still on her OVW related. She got to be good friends with the talent. Still talks to Dave Bautista every now and again, many stories and pictures of her with Brock Lesnar, rode a rollor coaster with Mysterio. I will always have a love for OVW growing up around and in it.

[@Brando-Lee3725]

Yeah it was sold this year to KSR ( Kentucky sports radio ) and Matt Jones i believe . I listen to that podcast every day at work since i live in Kentucky. Matt is a really cool and smart guy , loves wrestling . So hopefully things will be ok for OVW . Not like it was , but it will survive . KSR has a huge following. One of the top rating gets for Iheart radio .

[@hardcoreb29]

Someone needs to do a history of OVW from 2010 to about 2017. The Early WWE developmental years has been done to death but that part of the post WWE years is way more interesting and much more relevant to the current state of wrestling considering how much talent that's in the WWE and AEW now came out of it through ROH and Impacts developmental not to mention that weird attitude era they went through that included a lesbian storyline between a not famous yet Ruby Riot and Taylor Hendrix.

[@dazagib94]

Great video, Tom. Keep up the good work!

[@ReginaldRobinson-r7f]

I’m glad Al Snow rescued OVW by buying the promotion in recent years. OVW is a pretty nice product.

[@optimus2008]

Those 3 guys in the thumbnail literally changed the business forever. Idk if there's a fourth one, cause if there is, he's not visible.

[@charismatic9904]

OVW was at its best with Cornette. SMW was also a great promotion.

[@ericgropuis]

OVW still going strong today even came out with a Netflix series last over going over some stuff that happened in 2021 when the new owners stepped in. Mickie James recently joined OVW to start being the head trainer and writing for all of their women’s wrestling

[@bradashcroft1172]

Who's here after the netflix doco?

[@j.b.gruberiiiesq6582]

Nice piece of information. Fun watch

[@jacobklunder8552]

This is gonna be good

[@Tdhdchu]

No one remembers Benjamin in the class they only remember cena brock batista and orton

[@MrDan11422]

I remember when the miz came in uhaul and rented a trailer to move from Louisville to California when he just got signed to wwe. I did the contract for the trailer.

[@akamiguelsanchez9985]

Difference between OVW and the performance centre is that Cornie and Danny Davis actually knew what the fuck they were doing

[@muhaiminurrahman3772]

OVW seems like "Wrestling School" of Wrestling Empire game.

[@TheGalamoth]

9:45 ZAMN!! *heart eyes*

[@zachstolpa6521]

Everything can’t be perfect but some have to admit to that some aspects of the territory era were crucial to keeping guys in the business longer for a multitude of reasons. Again I emphasize that the territory era wasn’t perfect t but that was a completely different world in general looking at pre 1984 and way beyond. I digress

[@ChristopherJohn4389]

Dont think you're using the word "digress" right

[@zachstolpa6521]

@@ChristopherJohn4389 I mean there’s a lot more I could’ve said but yeah im not gonna spend so much time on a KZbin comment. Gotta complete what you’re saying , that kind of thing.

[@TheMC1102]

Could you do the history of GFW (Global Force Wrestling)?

[@calmccutchen528]

great video being just an hour drive from where they did their tv tapings i was there every wednesday watching. I dont get to go as much as i used to but still try to make it atleast once a month. and it is Jefersonville Indiana not Jefferson.

[@shibbymiyah6614]

I have alot of respect for ovw wrestlers...i hope all their dreams come true

[@intelligenthoodlumpodcast7627]

Grew up in Louisville got to meet all the big stars before they were stars and got to meet alot of stars also before I decided on the navy I trained there for a few weeks

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

The history of ovw from 2002 to 2007 is the history of cornette's abject failures.

[@nemo6365]

I only watch OVW ❤ I LOVE THEM!!!!

[@MrAce-lm8es]

Brock Lesnar (RAW) John Cena (Smackdown) Batista (Smackdown) Randy Orton (Smackdown) The last 4 Men to enter into the previously known World Wrestling Federation, now current day WWE.

[@lilpoetat]

thnks!

[@dirkley5577]

5:23 Edge and Val Venis?

[@jerranspearman3369]

good video

[@michaeljones9553]

As a Welshman hearing an Englishman talk about American wrestling its gone right through me.

[@PastTense82]

Edits: Louisville is not "the middle of no where." JeffersonVILLE, Indiana.

[@vic302013]

Was rico constantino on the American Gladiators before?

[@jesusgeek7680]

Idk where you got your info but where ovw was in louisville wasn't the middle of nowhere louisville is a very dangerous city and very ghetto. Grew up there. Watched ovw live.

[@PatrickTCAPIreland]

Thought this was the History of OSW

[@matthewmagda4971]

I'm grateful for the age of KZbin, far removed from trying to enjoy obscure wrestling organizations via late night public access, swapping VHS tapes and spotty print coverage.

[@frankmorris6765]

Ohio Valley Wrestling!!!

[@sakhilemakhaya3103]

Hi new series idea. Why not make videos were u compare wrestlers of their old self and new self. Like difference between Dean Ambrose and Jon moxley, Daniel Bryan and Bryan danielson, Alistair black and Malakia black

[@chugganuggz]

Bryan Danielson came before Daniel Bryan mate also same with mox

[@saikosocialP4]

malakia

[@ComicBooksandVideoGameNerd96]

They need to re-establish their relationship with ovw

[@nwmn9386]

lol not quite the "middle of nowhere" in Louisville, but def not a part of town I ever care to go.

[@mayorofspicytown3412]

No mention of tna also using ovw as developmental program as well luuuull

[@Metalist123]

Can somebody explain to me why it's called OHIO Valley Wrestling, when it is based in Kentucky? pls

[@midwestmind691]

I live there. The whole area is called Ohio Valley because of the Ohio River that runs all the way down the state and more.

[@Metalist123]

@@midwestmind691 seriously, thank you!

[@martinrubio748]

Ovw brought up stars like john cena and batista

[@IAmDecimus]

Side note: Why does his voice sound auto tuned lmao

[@SamJones-tp6hq]

Jeffersonville, not Jefferson.

[@afd19850]

Laurentiis is everything wrong with WWE today!

[@ritamsaha9080]

The last few under jim's era sounds like nxt '19 luls

[@zackburton882]

Speaking from the future can we get a OVW 5 vs the 5 best NXT products still in WWE as part of the Cena retirement tour like Shelton Randy and Brock could go right now today Batista is almost guaranteed to end up in DC movies with John Cena one 10 man with the greatest OVW class ever produced vs like the NXT All Stars - Seth, Finn, KO, Johnny Gargano, and some big body young blood like Bron Breakker or even bring up Oba or something as like Ohio Development system vs Florida Development system supremacy match

[@nicktingle3832]

Fellow Kentuckians?

[@chain2822]

Yep

[@scmcguire53]

Same.

[@fevergaming1]

Go Cards

[@gibbs3042]

Call it what your want .. OVW produced The Best Wrestlers ever

[@raghavpare8823]

Why is that everytime anything bad happens with respect to WWE and mis treatment of talent and people, it's main source is John laurenitis , how can someone be such a big big jerk

[@SupraViperhead]

WWE got 4 of OVW's guys over, but they ruined so many more. Namely Rico, but the list is a lot longer than just him. Look at the former OVW Champions and watch their matches and you'll see just how good and popular someone like Nick Dinsmore was before WWE decided to make him Eugene.

[@RobPalmer80]

What’s a terra-tory? If Americans can’t understand the way we pronounce words, tough s**t. Besides that, good video.

[@jeffreymoralesmusica6714]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@afd19850]

OVW>PC caliber of talent coming out of OVW will outstrip anything PC can produce

[@Votedjt2024]

I am huge biggest fan of randy orton

[@Thex-W.I.T.C.H.-xMaster]

Ovw stopped running shows in 2005 dude 🤔🙄...

[@spinningbackkick6021]

What you mean they just posted a broadcast..

[@masonajenkins]

It's jeffersonVILLE not Jefferson

[@morganjacob1195]

So if not for the boogie man we might have more stars and good wrestling.

[@jrivera_45]

No one hopes to go to big show (the wrestler)

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

Ovw was way better then the performance center. If John shitanitus never messed with ovw we would all still be tuning into wwe programming. Instead wwe is just about non existent as the final days of wcw. I haven’t tuned in since 07-08

[@k.jamescarters9557]

I feel a lot of rose tinted glasses for ovw. No arguing with the success stories, however a lot of quality wrestlers held back there. It did root out some unsuitable for the business mind

[@k182l]

The wwe pc where it makes everyone wrestle the same 🤦🏻 clearly dose not work

[@kalebdunaway]

Jesus loves you!

[@jdixon390]

Earlyyy

[@DevelopmentalIssues-e3y]

Loser Central Florida Borlando a Mickey Mouse Town

[@ttjesus4959]

For the record, it's pronounced "Loo-uh-vull". And there's no arguing it. I was born minutes from there, in KY, and it's where all of my large, extended family live, and have lived for generations. You don't have to be from there to still respect it and pronounce it right. Do you want us all to start pronouncing the "w" sound in every English place with "wi" in it, as if they were all pronounced like Ipswich is? Or how about anything that ends in "shire"? You want us to pronounce all of them with the "eye" sound? No. I didn't think so. Then, get it right!

[@skyatollah2skyharder276]

Calm the fuck down. Jesus.

[@GoddesseyCreations]

Shit. You good bro?😂😂😂

[@skyatollah2skyharder276]

@@GoddesseyCreations Dude is having a fuckin' heart attack over a word.

[@darcy2037]

Go back to Looweeville, mark

[@quidddaboss1061]

Well dam is it that serious

[@takarimoto4276]

Cringy asl