Referee Dallas Edwards is getting back into the swing of things nearly three months after being involved in a terrible in-ring accident.
At an Ohio Valley Wrestling show in March, Edwards suffered a medical emergency where he began convulsing after taking part in a planned spot. He was taken to the hospital after the incident and monitored for a possible brain bleed and concussion. He faced a difficult recovery in the following weeks and months but is now fully cleared and has already returned to refereeing.
“A great majority of people already caught wind, but I got fully cleared recently and am back to reffing! The recovery hasn’t been an easy one, but there have been some amazing people in my circle that went above and beyond to make sure that I wasn’t alone. You all know who you are,” Edwards wrote on social media. “I want every one of you to know that I am eternally grateful for your love, and support through a really tough time.
“With that being said, I will be resuming my schedule from before and taking additional bookings accordingly!!”
Controversy over OVW incident —
OVW faced significant backlash for how it handled Edwards’ medical emergency. When he started convulsing, the match did not immediately stop and the wrestlers continued working around him. The talent involved, and the medic at ringside, did not grasp the severity of the situation right away. OVW said that, because the referee is supposed to be the central point of communication, this was an unprecedented situation and resulted in a communication breakdown.
Edwards’ friends and family were among those to criticize OVW. His mother spoke to WDRB in Louisville, Kentucky in March when the incident happened.
“I’m not upset about the bump. Dallas knows how to fall, and he has trained as a wrestler,” Tammy Edwards said. “What I’m concerned about is the lack of preparation OVW had when a medical emergency like this happened. Nobody stopped the match. They are wrestling over top of my child as he seizes.”
The medical emergency happened after a spot where Edwards took a Phenomenal Forearm and then hit the mat hard. Eventually, the match and show were stopped and Edwards received medical attention.
Months after severing ties with WWE, Hall of Famer Mick Foley made an appearance for OVW on Thursday.
Previously announced to be in attendance on Thursday‘s OVW Rise for a special pre-show meet & greet and appearance, Foley later took his presence to another level.
During the main event of the OVW Rise show, fans saw Foley appear as the special guest referee for the Louisville street fight between Donovan Cecil and Jack Vaughn.
The final moments of the match also saw the return of Mr. Socko, which ultimately helped Cecil pick up the victory.
Foley, 60, has long retired from in-ring action, with his last wrestling appearance in the 2012 WWE Royal Rumble. Apart from his wrestling appearances, Foley is also a published author and has appeared in a few films.
🚨 Mick Foley makes a surprise appearance at OVW as a special guest referee.
Dallas Edwards is home recovering after a scary incident took place during an OVW event last week.
Bryan Alvarez reports that Edwards is now home recovering, writing: “Referee Dallas Edwards went home Sunday and is on the road to recovery! Best wishes to him!”
The injury took place Thursday when Edwards landed badly after taking a phenomenal forearm, causing him to visibly convulse as the match went on. Despite this the match continued for some time, with one wrestler even moving Edwards with his foot so he wouldn’t be in the way. Eventually it was called off and the show went off the air as Edwards got medical attention. Shortly after the incident, it was said he was awake and alert.
Edwards released a statement on social media the following day saying that he suffered a concussion and a subdural hematoma and would be taking some time away to get his health and life back in order.
Co-owner of OVW Al Snow later released a statement saying the company would review “our existing procedures and updating several of our in-ring and ringside protocols to ensure we continue to meet the highest expectations for performer safety.”
A few weeks after leaving the WWE creative team, Brian “Road Dogg” James has announced a series of personal appearances. The latest: he’ll be at Ohio Vally Wrestling’s Fan Appreciation Night this Thursday, March 19, at Hotpoint Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky.
Last week, another James appearance was announced: He’ll be at the Squared Circle Expo VI in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Friday and Saturday, March 27 and 28. That event will take place at the Wyndham Indianapolis West. Tickets are available here.
James is a six-time former WWF/WWE Tag Team Champion with Billy Gunn as the New Age Outlaws. He also won two NWA World Tag Team Championships, with Ron “R-Truth” Killings and Konnan, while wrestling in TNA.
James has been working behind the scenes at WWE on and off since 2016. He had been head writer on SmackDown for most of 2025, but left the company on March 5 of this year.
It’s the Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.
OVW referee Dallas Edwards released a positive message from the hospital regarding his unfortunate, dangerous and scary incident at OVW in Kentucky on Thursday.
On Friday’s WWE SmackDown, was Cody Rhodes being annoying on purpose during the contract signing with Randy Orton? He was so syrupy sweet and nice to Orton, so it was no wonder part of the crowd booed him. Is this the direction to WrestleMania or just for the angle?
Also, Jim talks about Rey de Reyes night one on Saturday and who is leaving AAA: Dom or Vikingo?
Plus, CMLL, New Japan Cup, AEW Collision, Jelly Roll, Danhausen, Kit Wilson and lots more. Another packed Saturday so here we go.
Al Snow has released a statement regarding the medical emergency suffered by referee Dallas Edwards at an OVW show on Thursday.
Edwards was taken to the hospital after suffering a medical emergency following a spot where he took a Phenomenal Forearm to the head. After the move, Edwards suffered a seizure and was seen convulsing in the ring. The match continued around him, with one of the wrestlers at one point moving Edwards with his foot so the bout could continue.
Edwards was later said to be awake and coherent in hospital. His girlfriend released a statement to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, noting that Edwards suffered a brain injury and is being monitored.
Edwards released a statement on Friday saying he suffered a concussion and a subdural hematoma (brain bleed). He said he was scheduled for a CT scan on Saturday and added that he holds no ill will toward anyone involved in the situation.
Several people from around the wrestling world have expressed criticism toward the promotion for how it handled the situation.
Snow, who is the co-owner of OVW, released the following statement on Saturday.
Snow’s statement reads:
“Hello everyone, this is Al Snow. I want to speak directly to our fans and the wrestling community regarding the incident involving Referee Dallas Edwards at last week’s event.
Professional wrestling has always carried an inherent risk of injury for everyone who steps into the ring. On March 12th, during a live OVW television event, Dallas was involved in a planned moment of physical contact with a wrestler that resulted in him suffering a head injury.
Traditionally, when an in-ring injury occurs, the referee is the central point of communication, assessment, and decision-making. In this unprecedented situation, the person who would normally make that assessment was the one who needed assistance. That unforeseen breakdown in communication contributed to a delay in stopping the match and concluding the show.
We are relieved to hear that Dallas is recovering and receiving the medical care he needs. Our thoughts are with him, and we’re hoping for his continued improvement.
At OVW, the health and safety of our performers and officials has always been our top priority. We are proud of the standards we’ve maintained over the years, but we also recognize that there is always room to strengthen and improve. With that in mind, we are reviewing our existing procedures and updating several of our in-ring and ringside protocols to ensure we continue to meet the highest expectations for performer safety.
These updates include enhanced communication systems, additional referee training, and expanded ringside response measures to help ensure that a situation like this is identified and addressed as quickly as possible.
We appreciate the concern and passion from our fans, and we understand the importance of transparency during moments like this. We will continue to share updates when appropriate, and we ask everyone to keep Dallas in your thoughts as he continues his recovery.
OVW referee Dallas Edwards gave an update on his health following a scary incident on Thursday.
On social media, Edwards wrote that he is suffering from a concussion and a subdural hematoma following the in-ring incident and will take some time away to get his health and life back in order. He said that he will get a CT scan on Saturday morning and if everything goes well, he will be heading home then.
“I appreciate all of the support everyone has been offering but as far as money goes, I am grateful to be in a position that I can manage an accident like this,” he said. “In lieu of donations, I instead implore all of my fellow workers to get some sort of training in assisting another’s life. Being in the position before, it’s very important to be educated in all scenarios relating to injury, illness, or condition in the ring, especially when we’re performing.”
“I am not mad at anyone or anything other than the situation as a whole, and that I’ve been sitting for about 24 hours straight in a hospital lol,” he added.
During a multi-man match at OVW Rise, Edwards did planned spot where he was to take a Phenomenal Forearm. That spot didn’t go as planned, with Edwards taking a hard fall on impact. He remained on the ground until he started to convulse. Despite this, the match continued as planned with one of the wrestlers pushing Edwards out of the way with their foot so Edwards wouldn’t be in the path for the next spot. The match was eventually stopped and the show went off the air as Edwards got medical attention.
Updates on WrestleMania, how we got to Rhodes vs. Orton and feuds that are starting
A look at the UFC White House show and how we got here
Full UFC 326 coverage including the most viewers of a TV UFC show since Paige Van Zant vs. Michelle Waterson
A look at the new AEW streaming service
NXT Vengeance Day coverage and poll results
Odds on upcoming pro wrestling matches
Logan Paul’s grandstand challenge to football players gets several takers, including some big names, but nothing can transpire and how it ended
Full coverage of the 16 Carat Gold tournament in German featuring many of the best independent wrestlers in the world
A complete look at the TV ratings from all the pro wrestling shows over the past week, including breakdowns in various categories, placings, how Raw did on Netflix, competition and more
CMLL’s lineup for its No. 2 show of the year next week
Full rundown of the CMLL all women’s show onFriday
Konnan news
Behnid the Nino Hamburguesa firing
Rey de Reyes notes
Stardom Cinderella tournament news
New Japan Cup and anniversary show news
Pro wrestler and MMA star looks back at a fixed fight and more comments including the Japanese attempt to get a major WWE star to job in an MMA match to theri guy
Notes on a new promotion debuting
Attendance updates for future WWE, AEW, TNA and other shows including Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano.
Giant weekend in Europe including the two big Eve shows and the controversy
TNA future direction
Notes from the Tony Khan media call
Putting recent Collision numbers into perspective
How Zuffa boxing’s biggest show did
Rousey vs. Carano and Rousey’s promotional tactics as well as responses from other fighters
Lots of new UFC fights
Jake Paul’s women’s boxing group makes ESPN deal
Changes to the WWE writing team
ESPN reporting side does exactly what they said they wouldn’t do regarding pro wrestling
— We did our week in review show with Garrett Gonzalez today, talking about AEW Dynamite, the WrestleMania build, Gedo’s booking, Ronda Rousey and UFC missing one of the things Vince McMahon was most adamant about, Dwayne Johnson discovering Austin Idol, best matches ever in San Jose, and next week’s Arena Mexico show. Bryan and I will be back Sunday night covering AEW Revolution.
— Many of you have seen the video from last night’s OVW show where referee Dallas Edwards went into convulsions during a match. He took a planned bump off a crossbody by Brendan Balling and laid there. Everyone kept doing what they were scheduled to do. Then he started convulsing. They continued to do what they were scheduled to do including Evans using his feet to move Edwards out of the way so he could keep doing whatever it was he planned to do. Edwards was convulsing and it was very clear they needed to stop everything. Eventually, way late, everyone stopped what they were doing in sensing the magnitude of what happened. His girlfriend posted about a brain injury later but didn’t go into further detail.
OVW is run by Al Snow,and there is the natural inclination to blame him even more because it was under his watch and because he’s been such a critic of safety standards in AEW under Tony Khan and it literally couldn’t make him look worse. It was inexperienced guys who just didn’t react fast enough to what was happening. Usually it’s the job of the referee in these situations to call it off, but it was the referee who was having the emergency. But the video is around, everyone reacted too slow and Evans in particular looked very bad. Going forward, this should be used as a learning tool at all levels of pro wrestling for what not to do. If someone is having a clear medical issue,the match needs to be stopped immediately. They did stop wrestling but the reaction took far too much time.
— Dynamite on Wednesday did 619,000 viewers with a 0.09 in 18-49. It was a tougher than usual Wednesday with the World Baseball Classic, the NBA, big news numbers due to the war, and multiple college basketball league tournament games. It was 15th for the night, 9th in the first hour and 4th in the second hour. It was behind several shows it usually beats.
— Tomorrow’s Revolution show has topped $1 million at the gate.
— In addition to the usual places internationally for AEW PPVs, DAZN will be streaming them live in 180 countries starting with Sunday’s show.
— I was at the Collision tapings that took place Wednesday night in San Jose. The Andrade vs. Mascara Dorada match was outstanding. We talked a lot about the tapings on today’s show and Wednesday’s show.
— There are some clips going around of President Trump talking with Jake Paul today. It is hilarious and sad on so many levels. Trump kept going on and on about how wonderful Dana White was and how great the White House show is while Paul just stood there. Paul always criticizes White and knocked the White House card, as almost everyone has done. Paul said he wanted to start fighting guys his own size, maybe do MMA, and Trump said he should fight Khabib. And he just stood there.
— Arena Mexico tonight at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time has Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the CMLL heavyweight title, Atlantis Jr. & Templario & Titan vs. Angel de Oro & Soberano Jr. & Volador Jr., Esfinge & Flip Gordon & Xelhua vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Yutani & Gran Guerrero. Arena Coliseo goes for its 12th straight sellout tomorrow night with a battle of three rudo teams with Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr. vs. Averno & Mephisto & Euforia and Barboza & Difunto & Furia Roja, plus Neon vs. Yutani. Sunday at Arena Mexico has Atlantis Jr. & Esfinge & Titan vs. Angel de Oro & Cavernario & Volador Jr.
— So the notable thing is Mascara Dorada is not booked so he could be in the Blackjack Battle Royal.
— Colby Covington said he was mad about being left off the UFC show at the White House. Bo Nickal said that he has not signed for his fight with Kyle Daukaus on the show and said he would fight Covington instead if they wanted him to.
— We’re looking for reports this weekend from tomorrow night’s MLW show in Atlanta, NXT in St. Petersburg,FL and Gainesville, FL as well as tnight from Phoenix with any dark matches to [email protected]
— We are doing our usual PPV poll on Sunday for Revolution. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
— Today in the New Japan Cup in Kanaoka saw Callum Newman beat Hartley Jackson and Hirooki Goto beat Jake Lee to advance. This leads to Newman vs. Goto on Tuesday.
— El Homenaje a Dos Leyendas week starts Monday in Puebla, runs Tuesday in Guadalajara and the big show is Friday in Mexico City. Monday has Atantis Jr. & Templario vs Volador Jr. & Soberano Jr., and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja defend the CMLL tag titles against Dorada & Neon.
— AAA Rey de Reyes from Puebla tomorrow night airs one hour live on YouTube at 10 p.m. Eastern with Dominik Mysterio vs. El Hijo del Vikingo for the AAA Mega title, a Flammer open challenge for the Reina de Reinas title and the Rey de Reyes final with Grande Americano Kaiser vs. Grande Americano Gable vs Santos Escobar vs. La Parka.
— Vikingo in an interview with Denise Salcedo and in other interviews this week teased the idea of going to WWE.
— UFC is from the Apex tomorrow starting at 5 p.m.Eastern time
Piera Rodriguez (116) vs. Sam Hughes (116)
Elijah Smith (136) vs. SuYoung You (136)
Bia Mesquite (135.5) vs. Montes Rendon (135)
Luan Lacerda (136) vs. Hecher Sosa (135.5)
Bolaji Oki (155.5) vs. Manoel Sousa (155)
Chris Curtis I170.5) vs Myktybek Orolbal (170.5)
Brad Tavares (186) vs, Eryk,Anders (186)
Charles Johnson (126) vs. Bruno Silva (126)
Vitor Petrino (248.5) vs. Steven Asplund (265.5)
Marwan Rahiki (146) vs. Harry Hardwick (145.5)
Andre Fili (145.5) vs. Jose Miguel Delgado (146)
Ion Cutelaba (205) vs. Oumar Sy (205.5)
Amanda Lemos (116) vs. Gillian Robertson (116)
Josh Emmett (146) vs. Kevin Vallejos (145.5)
— For the last month, this was the approximate male/female percentages of viewers in 18-49 for the different TV shows.
NXT 63.8 percent male
Dynamite 64.9 percent male
SmackDown 63.8 percent male
Collision 60.4 percent male
So there’s no great discrepancy or disparity
— Candice Michelle was signed by TNA to become an agent and producer. for women’s matches. Beats me.
— Mistico and Mascara Dorada will be headlining tomorrow night in San Jose, CA, at Mount Pleasant High School.
— MLW is taping at Center Stage in Atlanta tomorrow which is almost sold out. Teddy Long is advertised as a special guest. No matches announced but Matt Riddle, Shotzi Blackheart, Kushida, Austin Aries, Titan, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Isla Dawn, Priscilla Kelly, Donovan Dijak, Alex Hammerstone, Paul London, Matt Justice, Ikuro Krown and Okumura are on the show.
— My longtime friend Kurt “Vandal Drummond” Brown turns 64 today. Masakatsu Funaki turned 57. Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks turned 41. Len Montana, a headliner who became a fairly well known actor, was born on this day 100 years ago. Geoff Portz, one of the great British wrestlers of the 60s and father of Scott McGhee, was born on this day in 1935. Magnificent Maurice/Gene DuBurque wsa 46 when he died 42 years ago. Kurt Von Hess was 56 when he died 27 years ago. Arnold Skaaland, a former part-owner of WWWF, storyline manager of Bruno Sammartino and Andre the Giant, longtime wrestler and promoter, was 82 when he died on this day 19 years ago. Andrew “Test” Martin was 33 when he died 17 years ago today. Dennis Stamp, a former college star who was a solid pro best known for Beyond the Mat, was 70 when he died nine years ago.(thanks to Tony Richards)
— Kirk White’s Big Time Wrestling on 3/20 at the Newark, CA, Pavilion is sold out with Andrade vs. Bad Dude Tito, which sounds like a great indie match, Aaron Solo vs. Alpha Zo, QT Marshall vs. LJ Cleary, Viva Van vs, Siren Vell, Vinnie Massaro vs. Marcus Lewis, VertVixen vs. Valentina Rossi and more.
— Innovate Wrestling has the Smoky Mountain Cup tonight and tomorrow night in Kingsport, TN as the Beautiful Bobby Eaton Arena at Netpro Studios. The tournament celebrates the 24th anniversary of the promotion.
— Warrior Wrestling runs Logan Square Auditorium for the first time tonight since the brewery they usually run at has roofing issues that needed emergency repairs. Mustafa Ali and Beast Mortos are the headliners.
Ohio Valley Wrestling has now issued a statement regarding the scary incident that took place at the promotion’s Thursday night event in Louisville, Kentucky.
During a match at the event, referee Dallas Edwards suffered a medical emergency while participating in a planned spot. He went down after taking a Phenomenal Forearm and started to convulse in an apparent seizure. Though something was clearly wrong, the performers continued with the match until it was stopped. Edwards then received medical attention and the show ended.
Edwards was taken to the hospital, and OVW said he is now doing much better. The promotion asked everyone to keep Edwards in their thoughts and respect his privacy and the privacy of his family.
“Last night during Rise, referee Dallas Edwards – a member of our OVW family – experienced a medical emergency during the broadcast,” OVW said. “OVW takes the health and well-being of all our performers extremely seriously, and as a company we are all distraught to see an injury to one of our own.
“Dallas is alert and doing much better. We ask everyone to keep him in your thoughts and prayers and respect his and his family’s privacy at this time.
“We will provide an update as soon as it is available, but in the meantime, we wish Dallas a speedy recovery and we can’t wait until he’s back with our OVW family very soon.”
Video of the incident has circulated on social media, with OVW and the wrestlers in the match drawing criticism for how the situation was handled. ROH wrestler Beef/Gnarls Garvin — who is one of Edwards’ best friends — said he’s ashamed of all of the wrestlers involved who did not put Edwards’ safety first. Others have called for a renewed focus on safety in the wake of this incident.
Speedy recovery to Dallas Edwards.
We can be upset with what happened AND make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
Referee Dallas Edwards was taken to the hospital on Thursday night after suffering a medical emergency at an Ohio Valley Wrestling event.
During a multi-man tag match, there was a spot where Edwards entered the ring as the second referee after the initial ref was taken out in a ref bump. Edwards then took part in a planned spot where one of the competitors shoved him in the way to take a Phenomenal Forearm. The spot went wrong and Edwards hit hard. He stayed down on the mat until convulsing in an apparent seizure. As that happened, the match continued around him — with one of the wrestlers even moving Edwards out of the way and pushing him with his foot so that Edwards wouldn’t be in the path of the next move.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp shared a statement from Edwards’ girlfriend, who is asking everyone to keep him in their thoughts. She noted that Edwards suffered a brain injury that is being monitored at the hospital.
In a Facebook post, ROH wrestler Beef/Gnarls Garvin expressed how angry he is with everyone who did not help Edwards as he was suffering the medical emergency.
“This is a very serious post from me. Dallas Edwards is one of my best friends in this world. I spend time with him almost every single day. What happened last night at OVW Wrestling was and is complete total negligence and 100% avoidable,” he wrote. “I am beyond anger right now and everyone involved with not helping him while having a seizure, needs to burn their boots or go back to training day one.
“Accidents happen, what we do is very dangerous. I am very ashamed in all of the wrestlers who didn’t put safety first of all involved. Say a prayer for Dallas today.”
WWE referee Jason Ayers was among those who responded to the post from Beef/Garvin.
“Absolutely infuriating,” Ayers wrote. “I sent him a message but if you talk to him please tell him I’m sending prayers for a speedy recovery”
On a brand-new Josh Nason’s Punch-Out, Josh talks with longtime OVW wrestler and the man who plays “Bigfoot” on the breakout Paramount Plus hit Tulsa King: Mike “Cash Flo” Walden.
Josh and Mike discuss getting acting tips from show star & executive producer Sylvester Stallone, how he got the role of Bigfoot to begin with, the similarities of learning to act and learning to wrestle, and whether his in-ring career is done after nearly three decades in the ring, and plenty more.
Mickie James has a new wrestling home: Ohio Valley Wrestling.
First reported by Fightful on Thursday, the five-time WWE Women’s Champion and five-time Impact/TNA Knockouts Champion will become OVW’s creative director, head of female talent, and executive producer for all of the company’s shows.
James confirmed the news in a tweet on Thursday afternoon:
OVW, the former developmental territory for WWE from 2000-2008, rose to some prominence in 2023 when the Netflix docuseries “Wrestlers” on both the company’s history and a look at their current behind-the-scenes situation debuted. It has not been announced whether it will return for a second season. They also have a weekly live TV show in addition to pay-per-views.
Last November, it was reported that James was taking a break from Impact/TNA while remaining on good terms with her longtime home. The 44-year-old hasn’t wrestled since failing to defeat Trinity for the Knockouts title at last October’s Bound for Glory.
James wrestled in OVW from 2004 through 2006 when she was known as Alexis Laree.
A pro wrestling docuseries is coming to Netflix next month.
It was announced via Variety today that “Wrestlers,” a Netflix docuseries on Ohio Valley Wrestling, will premiere on Wednesday, September 13. The series focuses on the wrestlers of OVW, trainer Al Snow, and those behind the promotion.
The story for the series is that OVW’s new ownership group has given Snow one summer to turn the promotion around.
OVW is based in Louisville, Kentucky and is best known for having been WWE’s developmental territory in the 2000s. It has also served as developmental for Impact Wrestling.
It was first reported in May 2022 that this docuseries was in development. The synopsis for the series can be seen below:
Once a proud finishing school for aspiring pro wrestlers, the gym has since hit hard times. Acclaimed wrestler Al Snow clings to an old school wrestling philosophy with a heavy emphasis on storytelling, but in spite of the love of a few diehard fans, the gym struggles week to week to stay relevant enough to keep its doors open. Things have become so dire financially that Al has to sell a majority stake to a group of local businessmen including Matt Jones, the most popular radio personality in the state of Kentucky. Matt and the new ownership group have infused the struggling gym with much-needed cash but it still operates at a staggering loss. The new owners have given Al the summer to turn things around. ‘Wrestlers’ chronicles the efforts Al and his band of aspiring wrestlers make as they struggle with their personal ambitions and each other while they attempt to come together to save this historic gym.
“Wrestlers” is from producer Greg Whiteley, who previously created both “Cheer” and “Last Chance U” for Netflix.
A few decades from now, when most of what takes place now is long forgotten, some things will be remembered. A few will be remembered as actually being more significant than they were at the time they actually took place.
When Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s record, and a record that was among baseball’s holy grails until the steroid-induced changes in that game knocked it off, there was actually a small crowd at the park that day. Years later it became one of the great moments in baseball history. In wrestling vernacular, the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat match at the Louisiana Superdome, which many consider as the greatest match of the greatest series of matches of that era, was actually performed before an embarrassing crowd.
It’s impossible to know how things will look with the benefit, and often, the detriment of hindsight. But after this weekend, this much is clear. Dana White’s catchphrase about boxing being your father’s sport, which sounded like some clever thing, and totally full of crap, that Vince McMahon would say when knocking the NFL in 2001, is on the verge of happening. And if that’s the case, the Gotch and Hackenschmidt of this story may very well be Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie. But the Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper will be Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. Well, except that neither of them is either a carny or insane.
Impact Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling have re-established a relationship between the two promotions.
Impact and OVW announced today that they’ve re-entered into an agreement for OVW to “serve as an official development and training territory” for Impact. TNA/Impact and OVW’s previous relationship began in November 2011, with OVW serving as a training territory for Impact until 2014. OVW was also a developmental system for WWE in the 2000s.
OVW was purchased buy Al Snow last year.
“We are excited to grow our outreach and partnership with promotions worldwide,” Impact executive vice president Scott D’Amore said in a press release. “It is great to work with Al Snow and the team at OVW, which has a long history of developing great talent.”
“OVW is proud to be entrusted with the development of the true lifeblood of any professional wrestling promotion — the in-ring talent,” Snow said.
The press release stated that Impact management will “look to OVW when scouting new talent and those on the development roster will see future opportunities to appear on the flagship weekly show IMPACT!”
Impact and OVW partnered together for a One Night Only show called “Clash in the Bluegrass” at Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this month.
