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MIKE JOHNSON INTRODUCES YOU TO THE MOST UNDERRATED WRESTLING COMPANY AND TV SHOW OF 2007: OHIO VALLEY WRESTLING

The more underrated weekly pro wrestling program is one that fans can't watch nationally or even follow via DVD since they are no longer marketed. Surprisingly, it's Ohio Valley Wrestling.

Since the departure of Paul Heyman as booker and the acquisition of its archived library by World Wrestling Entertainment has been something of an enigma among most wrestling fans. With stories of poor booking by Greg Gagne and of character development that went by the wayside as it recycled 1970s AWA, the assumption by many has been that the developmental company isn't worth searching out in the post-Heyman era. The lack of available DVDs on the retail market only helped to service that claim. It was easy to be the baby of the Internet when Paul Heyman is booking and a small core of performers are doing long matches. Without those assets (or Jim Cornette, who is minority owner but no longer involved in the creative end after his last WWE blowup), one can see where the assumption that OVW was no longer anything special, especially when there's a plethora of indy companies with a higher profile.

However, with the company's recent addition of Cincinnati as a television market, I've been able to acquire the weekly TV through a source and without a doubt, no only should OVW be back on your radar. WWE may as well replace ECW with Ohio Valley Wrestling on Tuesdays because the weekly storylines are much better than the recycled pap we're seeing weekly at 10 PM Eastern. The promotion is that much fun in it's current form.

Not that OVW would translate well to a national audience. Much like ECW being recreated as a national brand, the charm of the company would be murdered in the process of making it palpatable for "sports-entertainment" fans. No, indeed, OVW's small scale production harks back to the days of the old TBS Techwood Drive episodes of Jim Crockett Promotions and while OVW has something of a WWE Raw flavor with backstage vignettes and comedy bits, the focal points of the storylines are pure old school wrestling - championship victories, revenge, and rivalries. Even the sponsors (a local pizza place, fundraising events promoted by OVW for $5, and local cable shows) create a throwback feeling to those days of long ago when WTBS was a Superstation and intimate didn't mean low budget for professional wrestling, just heightened emotions and actions inside the ring.

OVW's main focus isn't to just create a great television show (in fact that's probably secondary), but instead prepare developmental talents for the rigors and pressures of being on the main WWE roster. It's where young dreamers go to become would-be stars and where exhausted acts go to be reborn.

There's no better proof of this than the current Ohio Valley Wrestling champion, Paul Burchall. Long removed from his Smackdown pirates gimmick, and probably one step away from being on the released list after the way that played out, Burchall has been reborn. An old school evil heel using the moniker "The Ripper". In a play out of Edge's title win, Burchall won a title match at any time of his choosing, attacking an exhausted and injured Chett the Jet and winning the belt. Since then, it's been a storyline rampage, the likes of which I can only equate to Samoa Joe's in TNA, although the focal point of that storyline was never on making Joe a top star; the fans forced that.

When Burchall arrived at TV the next week with the belt, he sneered at everyone who congratulated him. When fellow British wrestling Steve Lewington told him that he'd like a shot at the belt and congratulated Burchall on being the first British OVW champion. Burchall looked at him and remarked, "When it comes to England, you're Elton John and I'm Jack the Ripper". If this took place on Monday Night Raw, the babyface would have come back with a cute remark that would have emasculated Burchall. Instead, Burchall sneered and walked off, getting one up on the babyface and leaving a tease for a future confrontation. Instead of making things cute and funny, OVW made them menacing and tense. With that remark, a nickname was born and Burchall, wearing a ski mask over his face to accompany his hulking, menacing form as he enters the ring, is already on the fast track for becoming a top money making heel if and when WWE returns him to the main rosters...if creative doesn't attempt to make him a plumber or something.

In recent months, the promotion has also created an OVW Women's division that focuses not around T&A but around a newly created championship. The last OVW TV episode of 2006 featured the first women's ladder match I can recall, with British star Katie Lea (formerly Nikita) taking on Beth Phoenix, now recovered from her jaw injury (and with her unique look, it's a shock she isn't already called up, since she is so different from your cookie cutter Diva) in a match was as much fun as anything presented in the new ECW with all of the type of great spots you'd expect out of MNM vs. The Hardys, but with two hot, athletic women. If this match had taken place under the banner of say, Ring of Honor, it'd be talked up as something special. The storyline of two "unofficial" championships being claimed by Lea and Phoenix climaxed with the ladder match, leading to the creation of an official title. When OVW troubleshooter Danny Basham presented the championship to Lea during a ceremony involving all of the developmental girls, Phoenix took the belt only to present it to her rival. With one moment, credibility for the championship is raised. Sometimes, less is more. The OVW Women's end is rounded out by ECW's Kelly Kelly and Ariel and former Diva Search contestant Milena Rouka, among others.

The OVW Tag Team scene has been dominated for well over a year by recent Smackdown call-ups Deuce and Domino. They finished up 2006 with a great Street Fight against Cody Runnels and Sean Spears. Runnels, the youngest son of Dusty Rhodes, is already showing signs of Rhodes mannerisms and charisma without the sillier aspects and is far more athletic than either Dusty or older brother Dustin Rhodes. While part of the storyline involving the teams involved a triangle with valet Cherry leaving the greasers only to turn heel again (just like a woman in wrestling, when will these babyfaces learn?), leading to a street fight.