Went to the OVW taping tonight (2/9) and with a tag-team match between Elijah Burke and Mark Henry vs. Vengence (aka Matt Morgan) and Seven, both wearing the same style of masks (and with similar builds, they do appear to be a good combo visually). At the end of the match, Lance (Garrison) Cade came out and brought on a beat-down of the faces, only to be driven off by Lance Storm with a Kendo stick. I believe this is the first appearance of Storm on OVW television, and it was a double surprise as Storm had mentioned on his website several times that he had no plans to participate on-camera at OVW.
The evening also saw the Dudleys return in a match again MNM (Johnny Nitro and Joey Matthews) that had all the traditional Dudley trademarks, including a table - a stunt that is actually quite unusual for the more traditional OVW mindset.
Thinking of it, two weeks ago saw Al Snow work a bit on-camera as well. So within two weeks we've had four former ECW guys appear on-camera during OVW shows. Just an interesting thought there really, nothing more.
In all, it was a good show this week. Alexis Laree returned with her implants firmly in place; although why she bothered when the audience's attention is diverted by her crotch is beyond me.
Is Chris Candido still working there or did they stop using him once TNA started?
"When did they pass a law that says the people who make my sandwich have to be wearing gloves? I'm not comfortable with this. I don't want glove residue all over my food; it's not sanitary. Who knows where these gloves have been?" - George Carlin
He just made the one-off appearance with Nova and then was gone, from my understanding. It was certainly the only match he did on OVW television at least.
Maybe just was in the area and they decided to throw him into the show that night? I dunno.
Yep. He returned to OVW right after the move back, working with his old manager Synn in a storyline dealing with Johnny Jeter. That kinda petered out and the last match I saw with him was a match as an non-televised pre-Christmas bash where he appeared wearing one of Morgan's masks (and for a second I thought it was Morgan, to be honest).
So having them work together as a masked tag-team in an intriguing idea. Certainly a way to bring him back up to WWE without having fans remembering who he was.
Then again, they lost their match this week to Mark Henry, so maybe there isn't much hope there. :-)
Edited: As to the post below, I disagree about Seven. He's a good worker and willing to play the menacing heel and go for the gags in the ring when the setting is right. It was the character they gave him in WWE that was terrible, and the writers that should be fired, in my opinion.
Maybe they are going to use OVW do get some of the old ECW guys like Storm ready for the ECW ppv they are supposed to be doing? I think the only way I'd check it out is if Storm and Malenko were to come out of retirement for one night.
Even though they spent time in ECW, I think of Storm and Snow appearing in OVW is more due to their Smoky Mountain roots with Cornette than the time they spent at the Bingo Hall. Also, if Malenko comes out of retirement for one night for an ECW PPV, could they bring Fit Finley back for that night as well. True, him and Regal didn't face each other in ECW, but them beating the hell out of each other would fit in with the evening.
Just wanted to mention that Lance Storm talks about his appearance on OVW in his latest commentary (2/12). As I guessed, he said that it may just be a one-off appearance, but he doesn't know for sure yet. Seemed to be very happy in doing it, however.
This weeks Raw came in with a 4.0. Which is good considering they made a mistake and didn't tabulate the overrun(added to slamballs rating instead). But it was up from last weeks 3.9 anyways... This weeks 4.0 did hours of (3.9,4.0).