Went to the Wednesday night taping for the August 21 television show and there were a couple of minor surprises on the show this week.
First off, Jim Cornette was not at the commentator's desk this week. Dean announced before the show that an emergency came up at the last minute -- his basement got flooded -- so Jim couldn't make it. In his place was Bill DeMott, which was somewhat logical replacement. Bill had made appearances on the show earlier in the year, so I have to assume he's done here at OVW helping with training.
Interesting watching Dean kinda hold Bill's hand through the taping, as the OVW way of doing the show is slightly different from what Bill is probably used to with WWE. Bill even did an in-ring interview at one point with the tag-team belt champions, and it seemed to all go smoothly.
Anyway, I don't believe Cornette has missed a taping since he started doing the show on a regular basis back in 1999. When his mother died, they just did a couple of repeats, and even those had Jim doing a little tag opener, thanking people for their cards and letters. Interesting to see someone else taking over for once.
The other surprise was seeing Flash again. Flash was a big main-event regular for OVW but left two years ago when his WWE developmental contract was not renewed. He came back last week on the show for a team-up with Matt Capotelli against the Jersey Shore Crew, but I had at the time thought it was just a one-shot appearance. He was back this week and looking good in a match with Mean Gene Mondo.
Does this mean he's back for good? I don't know, but it was cool (in a completely mark way, I admit) to see him back in OVW.
IIRC, Cornette missed a couple shows last year due to his voice problems. (Basically, Corney's shredded his vocal cords with the yelling over the years, and his doctor advised him to refrain from talking for 2 weeks. Had to have been interesting for him & Synn then.)
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Y'know, when I wrote that, I thought there may have been another time like that within the past year. Still, I don't recall someone filling in for him like they did last night. Anyone else recall if they just did more repeats then or had someone fill in for him?
There is no better heel in wrestling right now than Kevin Owens. Rollins would come the closest if he wasn't so busy running through recycled heel authority figure angles, but Owens' work is just out of this world.