Rise Recap: Oct 23
Al Snow Announces General Manager of Rise
After CEO, Al Snow, announced last week he will bring in a new General Manager in the light of some of the chaos in recent weeks, it seemed he wanted to get straight to business tonight. Al took to the ring at the start of Rise to firstly thank the OVW fans for their support. OVW fans truly are the best in the world! Al then proceeded to keep the OVW community waiting no longer and duly announce that our new General Manager would be the returning Katie Gannon! Miss Gannon hadn’t been seen since the Revolution days in which she made no friends at all, and this announcement was met with a chorus of boos from the passionate fans.
Both Al and Miss Gannon asked for the benefit of the doubt, but it seems Miss Gannon has a long way to go to get the fans on her side. Let’s see what decisions are made tonight and the coming weeks from our new GM.
Match One – Sophia Rose v Freya the Slaya (match interrupted by Killah Kai)
A great way to start the show with two of the biggest names in the Women’s division facing off. Sophia made a positive start to this and tried to get a quick roll up straight off the bat, but Freya dodged and duly manhandled Sophia into the corner. Some fine athleticism from Sophia got her into a position to hit Freya with a big knee.
As the match went on, Freya’s strength came to the forefront of this match with a dominant spell resulting in a big slam to the canvas on Sophia. Despite a counter from Sophia she soon tasted Freya’s boot. With Freya lining up her signature chokeslam, and wonderful counter from Sophia landing Freya with a Back Stabber left both on the mat.
Cue, one of the biggest disruptors in the Women’s division for a long time, Killah Kai. Kai has certainly made her presence felt since arriving at OVW and appeared at ringside immediately getting the attention of not only both competitors in the ring, but the entire female locker room led by Lovely Miss Larkan who all now have Kai surrounded. Clearly the locker room had enough of Kai’s aggressive invasion over recent weeks, leaving her scampering for the exit.
Katie Gannon Interrupts the Trifecta, LVL3 and Kal Herro Backstage
With an argument backstage between both sets of three, Miss Gannon makes her first mark but loudly ending matters between all 6 men, subtly explaining that they need to wait until Hell Night next week and if anybody touches one of the other, they could be fined, suspended or even fired. A line in the sand from our new GM!
Match Two – LVL3 def. The Troublemakers (by pinfall)
The experienced Troublemakers took hold early on against academy graduates LVL3 before the energetic Kirko Ky and Jay Three used their speed and agility to leave the Troublemakers in a tricky spot, until a shift in momentum and a large boot from Canaan Kristopher on Kirko Ky turned tides again.
Some quick tags that the guys from Alpha Sigma Sigma do so well keeps Kirko on the corner but an incredible Blockbuster counter move nearly enables him to make the tag to Jay Three, but Glenn Spectre catches the leg to bring him back to Troublemakers territory. Another leap for a tag thwarted by Kristopher as they continue to work on Kirko.
After finally grabbing the tag the explosive Jay Three made his presence known with a double drop kick off the ropes and some more flying offence puts the youngsters in control with a perfectly executed double team move resulting in Kirko taking the pin over Spectre for a big win from the academy graduates.
Tony Evans and TW3
Match Three – Tony Evans def. TW3 (by pinfall)
After Tony Evans attempts to ‘hush’ the crowd, Tommy Boy takes the microphone and suggests that nobody in the locker room can beat his dad and calls out for an open challenge. In steps the returning TW3 much to delight of the Hotpoint Davis Arena crowd!
T-Dub in his 80’s blue and pink attire wastes no time getting stuck in the action, but Evans’ experience takes the match in his hands in the early stages. A series of jumping forearm strikes and a flying elbow into a stricken Evans in the corner turned the tables before a big up and down from Evans slams TW3 to the canvas for a three count to ruin T-Dub’s return to OVW.
Tommy Boy jumps in to continue the beat down, before Jay DeNiro runs in the ring with a treble of clotheslines to Tony Evans, and a throw to the canvas for his son Tommy Boy but restrains further attacks on his son allowing Tommy Boy to escape the ring.
Match Four – Tony Gunn def. Star Rider (by pinfall)
Both took to the ring for this second round of a best of seven series between these two, and Star Rider wasted no time with a heavy strike to the back of Gunn, as both came to blows in a physical start to the match.
Gunn exits the ring to avoid a running attack by Star Rider, with the latter using mind games and not allowing Gunn back into the ring. Gunn took the bait as Star Rider pounces on Gunn as he re-enters and goes on attack. Relentless punches as the physical affair continued. After dodging a Star Rider attack Gunn attempts the roll up and again holds the tights, but on the count of two referee Daniel Spencer spots and ends the count to avoid the same outcome as last week. With Gunn challenging referee Spencer, Star Rider hits a roll up of his own for a two count.
A topsy turvy encounter with stomps and chops both ways, was nearly ended when Star Rider hit a dropkick into the turnbuckle, but Gunn kicked out again. A tussle on the top rope results in some more underhand tactics by Gunn as he bits the head of Star Rider causing him to hit the canvas and follows up with a big knee off the turnbuckle but for a late two count.
After a scuffle outside a curb stomp out of nowhere from Star Rider was so close to levelling with Gunn kicking out at the last seconds. After a flying forearm attempt by Star Rider misses its target and inadvertently strikes referee Spencer, leads Gunn to grab a chair, but only for Star Rider to kick it back in his face for at least a 10 count, with the stricken Spencer still down. As Star Rider tries to bring the referee around, a strike to the back of the chair by Gunn leaves Star Rider out of the contest and Spencer awakens to count to three. 2-0 to the Arkansas Roughneck, 2 to go to win this best of seven series.
Match Five – Kal Herro def. Rocco Garzya (by pinfall)
The well-travelled and former Champion across multiple continents, Rocco Garzya, makes his OVW bow against Heavyweight Champion Kal Herro, and the Champ wasted no time letting him know who was boss. A dropkick into the corner and a series of chops puts the Champ on top. Kal looked to take higher ground but was scouted by Rocco as he met Kal with a chop after he leapt an attack off the top rope, and while down was met with a big standing Splash from Rocco as he went on the offence. A bomb to the canvas kept Kal down for a two count and tried to follow up with a Senton Bomb that dodged well by Kal and a knee to the face rocks the debutant Garzya, and a Superkick followed by The Herro’s Journey gives the Champ victory in a match of good intensity.
Match Six – The Trifecta def. Sam Holloway, Jack Vaughn and Donovan Cecil (by pinfall)
With Sam Holloway seemingly auditioning to be the partner of Jack Vaughn in his Tag Team title match next week, joining frenemies Jack Vaughn and Donovan Cecil to take on The Trifecta. You wonder how much the three big guys will be on the same page as they team for the first time as a trio.
‘The Veteran’ Vaughn shows his experience taking control of the match before tagging in the giant Holloway who dominates Ashton Adonis, and a Release Suplex sends Adonis flying before a series of stomps. Vaughn, favoring tags to Holloway and the two work together to send Adonis to the matt again with a double elbow.
A rake of the eyes on Holloway allows Adonis to tag in Lawless whose chops are lost on Holloway but certainly were not when reversed as Lawless gurns with pain before a Body Slam sends Lawless down as Holloway looks like he’s enjoying himself. Vaughn and Holloway continue to alienate ‘The Mammoth’ with quick tags between the two keep them on top of Jake Lawless.
With Barretta tagged in a Jawbreaker counter to Vaughn sends him to corner allowing Cecil to tag himself in for his first taste of action and clearly showed his pent-up energy to dominate Barretta, although Jack Vaughn was visibly not impressed. Kentucky’s Strongest Man continued to attack and the recently tagged Lawless was sent up in to the ether and crashing back down to the mat by the impressive Cecil. A Cecil thigh slap again irritated Vaughn as this dysfunctional team continued to be on the front foot. A counter Neckbreaker by Adonis stemmed the flow but barely got a two count.
A few quick tags in succession by The Trifecta stemmed the tide slightly but with Vaughn and Cecil arguing with each other, Holloway bounces back and wipes out The Trifecta by himself. Larkan at ringside appears to try to reason with the two ex-Tag Team Champions to no avail, and with Holloway inadvertently shoved into both, a Flawless Kick combo by Lawless and Adonis landed Holloway square on the chin and Lawless takes the three count for The Trifecta. As The Trifecta continued to beat down Holloway after the match, Vaughn and Cecil jump back in to clear the ring. A visibly upset Holloway storms off with Larkan working to get Vaughn and Cecil back on the same page to no avail. You would be amazed if Vaughn’s partner next week was either of the two, he teamed with tonight!
Match Seven – Killah Kai v Teagan Thorne (match interrupted by entire women’s locker room)
With Kai already in the ring Teagan Thorne enters with a microphone questioning Kai’s demand for a title shot, explaining she needs to put the work in and not cut the line. Teagan challenged Kai to defeat the entire locker room to earn her shot as the women’s roster one by one enter the ring to meet an aggressive Killah Kai who one by one knocks them to the mat.
Kai tosses her challengers around the ring with clear dominance until Freya comes down the ramp and takes the fight to Kai. Clearly Kai met her match with the Arctic Amazon, and a big boot rocked Kai with the rest of the locker room watching on. Both continue to go at each other as referees and agents try to keep them apart ahead of their match next week, but to not really much avail. Agents and referees in the wars separating these two. Its going to be a war next week at Hell Night with the OVW Women’s Championship on the line.
Match Eight – Los Desafios def. Dustin Jackson and Anthony Toatele (by pinfall) and become new OVW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS
The experienced Jota Peso and Maximo Suave have earned their shot against recent Champions Toatele and Jackson and wasted no time making their mark on this match, until a huge Samoan Drop by Toatele stunned Suave, and a double team back elbow sent him down to the canvas again.
DJ works the body of Suave and quick tags keep the Champs on top. They are a new team but clearly on the same page as they dominate the opening stages of the match. Maximo counters with a rolling kick to the temple of Jackson, allowing him to finally tag Jota into the ring and attack the newly tagged in Toatele. However, a Single Arm Powerbomb looked to have put Jota away, yet he kicks out before the three count, and Toatele on top again. Jota looked in a bad way after repeated attacks by Toatele and with the referee attending to Maximo in the corner after a knee from Toatele, DJ hit a River City Splash from the top rope on Jota but Suave recovers to avoid Alice Lane counting to three.
Despite Toatele being straight back on the offensive, Jota manages to dodge and roll his way to a tag with his partner Maximo Suave who takes turn with big offences to the Champs and was a whisker from claiming the titles. Toatele recovered and rocked Maximo with a huge spear. DJ climbs to the top rope for another River City Splash but a drop kick from Jota sends Toatele into the ropes and DJ straddles the turnbuckle. A Stunner from Peso followed by a smart double team move looked to crown new champs but from nowhere Jackson recovered to save the count.
However, a counter judo throw on Toatele sent him to the canvas before being lifted by Suave for Jota to climb the turnbuckle and hit their signature finisher. With Dustin Jackson lurking Jota dives through the ropes to take DJ out of the action, leaving Maximo to pin Toatele and crown Los Desafios as new OVW Tag Team Champions, and judging by the crowd’s reaction, very popular Champions…
They will defend the titles next week against Jack Vaughn and a partner of his choosing.