Stuck in the Middle With You - Defending Ohio Valley
    Submitted by Da J-Train on Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 6:17 PM EST



    Welcome back to my column everyone. It’s been awhile hasn’t it? What else is new? Wrestling hasn’t been the first thing on my mind to tell you the truth. Midterms and papers and a TV Show that I am producing and developing have. To be honest, I really shouldn’t be writing this right now because I have to work a lot tomorrow, but it’s not a big deal. I’ve been meaning to write anyway.


    So yeah… what else has been going on? Well, in wrestling, a lot! We had a good deal of real life drama all over the place this week with the Edge/Lita/Matt Hardy situation. Cheating is a bitch. When I first got together with my girlfriend I told her I would tolerate a lot, but if she cheated, I would drop her like a bad habit. In this case, I really don’t blame Matt Hardy for airing his personal laundry out for anyone to read. A relationship goes two ways, and both of those people have every right to talk about the relationship. If Lita doesn’t like the fact that Matt is talking, she shouldn’t have fucked him over.


    In the mean time, apparently WWE Programming is leaving Spike TV. That’s fine. I really can care less what network Raw is on, I’ll still watch.


    So what’s going on for this column? Well, I’m going to try to sort the whole Developmental System out for you guys. I mean, a lot has been going on in terms of the WWE’s Developmental System, and I know that a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about OVW and what it’s all about, so, here comes the Developmental Column.



    BUT FIRST...


    Letters! I get Letters! I get sacks and sacks of Letters! LETTERS!!! That's right; it's time to answer some of my Love, Hate, Kind-Of-Care-For, and I-Only-Like-You-as-A-Friend-Mail… REMEMBER TO PUT FEEDBACK IN THE MESSAGE HEADING OR THE MESSAGE WILL BE DELETED.


    Da J-Train… answering your feedback since 2003.

    Oh yeah… a New Thing… If you send me Feedback, could you kindly put your City and State/Country after your name? It’s for my own curiosity because I like to know how wide my column spreads… so, end the Feedback with whatever name you wish to give, then your City and State or Country where you are from. Thanks!


    Feedback O Rama


    Letter 1 :


    J-Train, just read your latest column. Keep up the good work, I enjoy them.

    Some things I wanted to respond to:

    I think professional wrestling is an art form. With story lines like necrophilia and baby killers, it's certainly not a fine art, but I think the stories told both in and out of the ring qualify it as a type of art. But because it is a profession, and its main objective is to make money, it's not really a pure form of art. And that's ok. If you see some of the things that are considered pure art, like the Gates in Central Park, it's not exactly an insult to not be grouped in that category. Pure wrestling, ie high school, collegiate, and olympic, is a pure art form. But it's not as marketable, which is why the distinction between professional and amateur wrestling is more than just pay.

    Is there a pure form of professional wrestling? I think so. Indy promotions and backyard feds, where wrestlers barely make enough to pay for gas to get there, and the point is to entertain and to tell a story, that's pure. When it's not about marketing or making money, I think that's pure pro wrestling, whether it's strictly mat based technical, or a ladder match with high spots galore.

    This is just my opinion. My only exposure to pro wrestling is the WWE and the columns on LOP, so it's certainly not the most informed opinion, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway. Thank you for reading.

    Jarod Johnson
    Ellsworth, ME, USA


    Jarod,

    I can accept your theory that the pure form of professional wrestling is in backyard feds and Indies where the purity of the form comes from the fact that they don’t care about making money and marketing, but, in theory, couldn’t you attribute the same theory to the WWE? I mean, not the WWE as a whole, but if a wrestler is going out there for the sole purpose of entertaining, couldn’t they also be called pure wrestlers?

    Besides, a lot of times these people who claim or seem to not care about money or marketing is just a complete front and at the first chance they had to “sell out” they take. After all, how many people out there who are in backyard or Indy fans would not jump at the chance to work for the WWE? Hell, even AJ Styles turned them down because he didn’t make enough money. It all goes back to the old cliché that money talks and bullshit walks.

    Speaking of walking though, in the case of someone like Spanky who left the WWE for the Indies, although it seems that he wanted to do something more pure and independent, but a lot of times he has said that he is “happier” doing Indy shows… which, I am told, is wrestling talk for “Making Good Money”.



    Letter 2 :


    I was wondering if you could shed some light on this subject for me.
    Is it me or do the new divas act and look like bigger skanks than Dawn Marie, Ms.Jackie, Sable and Torrie?I understand they are just eye candy but do they have to act and dress so raunchy?But at least the old divas could wrestle even though it was in lingerie.

    Signed,
    RLB from Texas


    RLB,

    I am not high on the new Divas. The only one I somewhat liked was Amy Weber because she obviously made an attempt to not be simply eye candy. These new Divas, in my opinion, are just cheap talent, and I’m using the term loosely. I don’t know, maybe the WWE is just looking for more avenues that they can go with future Playboy centerfolds. Not a big deal. The way I see it is ignore them. Mute the TV whenever they are on… especially Robo-Maria (credit Guttman) on Raw. Horrible… just Horrible.



    Letter 3 :


    "Well, shortly after I wrote my column, our good friend GMW827 IMed me and told me that he didn’t have the time to write a column and proceeded to tell me that he really has no problem with my column, he just wanted to fuck with a main pager. Well, in MY language, that pretty much means that he didn’t expect me to follow through and he pussied out."

    Ha...who didn't see THAT coming a mile away?

    It's interesting that someone responded and bitched about politics, because this semester I have a Political Science class, which is probably the class I enjoy the most right now. And not that you care, but I'm someone who believes in "a little from column A, a little from column B." (But someone like Bill O'Reilly - and all his racist views - can go FUCK OFF.) But I digress...

    All things considered, I don't believe there is a "pure form" of wrestling. The fact is, there are so many different variations of wrestling (amateur wrestling, pro wrestling, backyard wrestling...) that there is no ONE pure form of wrestling. For there to be a pure form would require elements from all the different variations, and that's a concept that defies the idea of a pure form of wrestling.

    I don't think too much of the many signings - in fact, I consider it another reckless move on their part. How many have they "signed" at some point only to release some time later? I look at it this way: If they sign 20 developmental guys but only one of them ever makes it to WWE, it makes the WWE look that much worse. Granted, there are probably many of these guys (I don't follow OVW that much at all) that could be beneficial to either WWE brand, but WWE has to make that happen - and first they have to prove that they are capable of making that happen.

    Mike
    -Bay City, Michigan


    Mike,

    Yeah, as for that GMW guy, he IMs me every now and then, still calling me a racist, and for some reason, he thinks I’m Samoan. No big deal.

    I am also someone who believes in a little from Column A and a little from Column B. I am a very big independent, the only problem is that I seem so Liberal because I disagree with pretty much all of the things that Bush does.

    As for Developmental guys, it’s not that these guys get released, it’s just that many of the guys who are signed don’t get called up in favor of bigger guys. Developmental wrestlers rarely get released. I mean, it happens every now and then, but main roster wrestlers get released a lot more often. Each one of the new signees was signed for a purpose, many of which, I think, were to add to the tag team divisions of the WWE. I expect them all to EVENTUALLY make it to the WWE, or maybe one will be released.



    Well, that’s that. One more Feedback O Rama down. Hooray for letters.



    Defending Ohio Valley


    When someone makes something that results in a finished product which is displayed to the public, there is bound to be criticism. It happens in all aspects of life, whether it is a new movie or a new gadget at your local Best Buy. In the case of the WWE, one of the most productive, yet controversial aspects of World Wrestling Entertainment as a company is its farm system, Ohio Valley Wrestling. OVW has been instrumental in the buffer and training ground for many wrestlers with developmental contracts or some who are just looking to impress to earn that very contract. Hell, the two challengers for their respective brands titles came from OVW. However, with the latest crop of wrestlers to come through to the WWE being seemingly lackluster, OVW has been getting a new slew of criticism from fans all over the internet. Calls of ‘failed experiment’ have been written and read by many writers, some even on this site.


    I personally happen to disagree with the critiques. To be honest, I think that most of the people who are throwing out the accusations that OVW don’t really know much about the company or the developmental system. In fact, it’s usually them who don’t know shit about a new wrestler who is called up. To be honest, I find this to be a little bush league for these internet writers in the first place. Now, some of them are professionals because some get paid and some are just regular writers who act as professionals, but wouldn’t the professional thing to do in that situation be to have an idea of what is presented to you? I’m not saying that they have to know everything about the business, but if OVW is producing people on a regular basis, you’d think that if they truly wanted to be professional that they would familiarize themselves with it. OVW has a website with match analysis and outdated character bios. It’s not that hard.


    Nope, they would rather blindly bash someone or plead ignorance to a new debut. To each his own. But, since the people who usually criticize OVW are the ones who don’t know shit, it’s kind of hard to take their claims seriously.


    One of the big criticisms that they give is that Ohio Valley Wrestling has failed as a training facility because people like *Insert Name of OVW Big Man Here* aren’t good in the ring and are just generic. Sure, Heidenreich sucks and Chris Masters isn’t all that good. But what these people don’t tell you is that in most of the cases of people coming up, their initial training came from another source and OVW is just a secondary training ground to hone their skills and to conform to the WWE way of wrestling. Therefore, they can’t necessarily be considered true products of OVW. True products of OVW are those who either got their training from OVW only, or came in after being primarily trained somewhere else, but spent so much time at OVW that it sort of superceded the initial training.


    One of these places that is notorious for supplying OVW its talent is Ultimate Pro Wrestling in California. UPW has supplied OVW with so much talent that I think that the WWE should just cut out the middle man and make UPW a developmental territory. Either way, the WWE and UPW promoter Rick Bassman have a hell of a relationship and many of the current and past OVW Wrestlers have gone through UPW. The problem with UPW though is that they do a better job producing wrestlers with good looks rather than ones with good skills.


    Granted, one of these UPW alums, John Cena has become extremely popular, and that popularity has transcended into a shot at the WWE title at Wrestlemania 21. But even John Cena has acknowledged the fact that he is limited in the ring. Of the four semi-recent OVW call ups that are bombarded with constant bad criticism by the writers and IWC(Chris Masters, Muhammad Hassan, Tyson Tomko, and Heidenreich , two of these four wrestlers are more products of UPW than OVW, and still the OVW guys, Hassan and Tomko, have their high points in that Hassan can work the mic well and Tomko is improving. In fact, if you were to make a list of the UPW guys that happened to go to OVW and the OVW originals, it would prove to you the worth of the OVW training. It would be comparing Chris Masters, Luther Reigns (trained by WCW Power Plant and UPW), Heidenreich, Nathan Jones (gone), John Cena, Sakoda (gone), Jesus Aguilera, and Victoria (who could also be considered OVW based on time spent in the fed) to the OVW products of Shelton Benjamin, Batista, Randy Orton, Doug Basham, Danny Basham, Eugene, Rob Conway, Muhammad Hassan, and Tyson Tomko. Just take these lists and really compare them in terms of which list has more overall better wrestlers, and you’ll see which training ground is dropping the ball.


    Granted, not all OVW call-ups were trained primarily at OVW or UPW. Some of them got their training elsewhere and was moved to OVW when Les Thatcher’s HWA was pulled as a developmental territory. These wrestlers tend to be quite hit or miss for the WWE in terms of talent and overall success. Most of these people were primarily trained by outside sources, but developed in HWA, only to spend a year or so in OVW before the call-up. So, you have someone like Charlie Haas or Jamie Noble whose representation of HWA is cross checked by someone like Garrison Cade or Rosey.


    To be honest, the problem does not lie with OVW, the problem lies within the WWE. It is the fault of the WWE officials to call up people when they clearly are not ready. Is it OVW’s fault that the WWE called up Heidenreich even though the released him from his developmental contract twice? Is it OVW’s fault that the WWE decided to call up Chris Masters who had two years of pro training under his belt after graduating UPW’s Ultimate University, and thereafter spent a year and a half in OVW? The fact is that the WWE is simply calling people up way too early, and since they are coming from OVW, it’s only logic that says that it must be OVW’s fault that these people do not pan out right away.


    The WWE is notorious for calling people up at the wrong times because of, what I think their look or size. There is no logical reason why a man who wrestled professionally for only two years upon entering OVW, and only spending a year and a half, maybe two years tops training in OVW should be called up. It just defies logic. Similarly, it defies logic that a man who had only been wrestling and training professionally for about a year and a half should be called up (Matt Morgan). The fact is that the WWE calls up people way too fast these days. People like Shelton Benjamin, Randy Orton, Batista, hell, even Brock Lesnar had to wait a while, but his natural talent carried him through. Wrestlers like Masters and Morgan are called up way too early when they could stay down and further be groomed for greatness.


    As it is now, I think that the developmental system is in good shape and that the call-ups, if they go as they should will be featuring more talented wrestlers. Most of the wrestlers who are due a call-up soon are very much products of OVW, and have been wrestling there for years like Johnny Jeter, Johnny Nitro, Matt Capotelli, Chris Cage, and Tank Toland have either been directly trained by OVW or have been trained elsewhere, but has spent so much time at OVW that their previous experience has been superceded. Plus, some of them are being paired with more seasoned wrestlers with Indy experience like Joey Matthews or Chad Wicks. As of right now, the OVW wrestlers are being trained by the likes of Al Snow and Lance Storm… in my opinion, not a bad teaching staff.


    So, to those who consider OVW a failure, how much do you really know about OVW? Is it OVW that is the failure or is it the WWE who

    A) Continue a professional talent-based relationship with a man whose talent doesn’t seem to have much

    B) Call up young wrestlers too early in favor of their looks and the creative team’s accessibility of a gimmick

    That failed?


    After all, if you look at those who came as OVW products, its record speaks for itself. Sure, it’s not exactly a Scott D’Amore, who I think the WWE should go into business with for a Developmental territory run by him and Lance Storm for Canadian wrestlers, but the track record is still pretty good compared to the UPW one. Maybe OVW isn’t as bad as most people want to believe it is.


    So, those of you who bash OVW after not knowing shit about it, stop holding strong opinions about stuff you don’t understand. It kind of makes you look like assholes.



    Thank You’s and Fuck You’s


    This is the section formerly known as Cheers and Jeers. Same section, new title. I think it’s a little bit more realistic anyway. After all, when was the last time someone actually said Jeer when they were disappointed with someone. Screw that, Thank You’s and Fuck You’s is more like it. So, here we go



    • Thank You Marty Jannetty That’s right, thanks to Marty Jannetty for staying in shape and keeping his game up to the point that he wrestled a very good, very nostalgic match on Monday, reforming The Rockers. No one saw it coming and it was one of those moments on Raw that I will never forget. As for his future… well, that’s wide open. To be honest, I could see Marty going full time once more in the WWE to try to clear his legacy of what “Jannetty” means in wrestling (the unsuccessful half of a separated tag team). If he can still go and give meaningful matches, I wouldn’t mind seeing it. But, to be honest, I would rather him become a trainer at OVW or at the new Deep South developmental territory



    • Fuck You Clinton from What Not To Wear. Let me tell you about this motherfucker… I was channel surfing the other day and I saw this show What Not To Wear, which is on the Learning Channel… because, you know, learning fashion tips is really educational material. Anyway, the show apparently takes these people who are completely comfortable with the way they look, but the assholes around them think that they dress and look badly, so they get these two idiots to show them what they SHOULD wear. Therein lays my first problem… who the fuck is anyone to tell you how you should be looking? What are the credentials of these two idiots anyway? How can they be experts in fashion? Fashion is an objective art form and fashion is not the same for everyone.

      Anyway, how does this lead into wrestling? Well, the two people, who are Clinton and some chick, I think her name is Julia or something; start off the show taking all of the clothes the person has and throws them out. One of the T-Shirts the guy on the show had was an old Ric Flair T-Shirt. Clinton asked what Ric Flair was, and the guy replied that he was a wrestler, gave Clinton a Flair WOOOO and a Flair Strut… to which Clinton looked at him and asked him, “Do I look like the kind of person who watches wrestling?”

      So let me ask you a question Clinton, what exactly does a person who watches wrestling look like? Seriously, I want to know what they look like because if I don’t fall into that category, maybe I should stop watching wrestling. Here’s the best part, this guy really comes off as gay… but if I say that without knowing it’s true, it would be stereotyping him based on the fact that he’s a fashion expert and very effeminate, and stereotyping is wrong… but Wait! Isn’t he doing the exact same thing with wrestling fans? Isn’t what he said an implied stereotype that someone who “looks like him” therefore, knows how to dress, knows how to conform to society’s perception of fashion and personal care, can’t possibly like wrestling? Isn’t he basically saying that all wrestling fans are slobs with no semblance of how to take care of themselves? Well, on behalf of wrestling fans everywhere, Clinton, from What Not to Wear… FUCK YOU




    • Thank You TNA for not playing hardball. Speaking of the ECW pay per view, there’s a few key people in TNA who could be major contributors to the PPV… like Jerry Lynn and Raven. Apparently, TNA has said that they would lend the ECW alumni that the WWE wants for the Pay per View if the WWE would only relinquish the naming rights to The Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, and I think the New Age Outlaws. I think that’s all they are asking. Christ, WWE, if you don’t go for this, you will quickly be on my Fuck You list.



    • Fuck You Joey Styles. Don’t get me wrong, I loved you as a commentator in ECW and thought you would make a good one in the WWE… but seriously Styles, fuck you. Styles recently revealed that he was offered a part in the ECW One Night Stand, but he turned it down. Now, I’m being completely wrong in assuming, but one can only guess the reason that he turned it down is because he has an absolute hatred it seems for the WWE. You know, if you have a vendetta for a place, that’s all well and good. We all have our own grudges. But there are times when grudges have to be thrown out for one night for the overall interest of the fans and preserving the legacy of something they obviously hold on a pedestal. I still love Styles for what he did in ECW, but seriously man… get over it for one night. (Take note Sammartino and Warrior… you fuckers are next)



    • Thank You WWE for the lucha signings. Simply put, I love Psicosis, Super Crazy, and I can tolerate Juventud Guerrera. They are huge additions to the cruiser division, along with Frankie Kazarian. I’m telling you all, after Wrestlemania and the redraft, the cruiser and tag divisions will be getting a big overhaul.



    • Fuck You Christy Hemme for making Lita’s life stressful. You could just tell how stressful Lita is now that she is training Christy. Man, did she ever look stressed on Monday! Looks like she needed a little something to get the Edge off…

      ZING!





    Well, time to wrap up this column because I have to pee and start my Spring Break



    The Caboose


    What did we learn today?


    • We learned that OVW may not be to blame when it comes to inexperienced or just bad new comers in the WWE


    • We learned that Clinton from What Not to Wear can kiss my ass


    • We learned that the WWE may be taking the first step to revamping their tag division and cruiser divisions


    • Finally, we learned that if we push Lita over the Edge, Matt gets mad. Ok, that’s enough




    That’s all for this week.


    Thank you all for reading and supporting…. And remember… touching yourself is healthy and natural… just don’t do it while you read my column. Weirdoes.



    ----------------------------------------- Da J-Train -------------------------------


    merlinJAP@hotmail.com (If you email me, put FEEDBACK in the email subject or it will be deleted)


    AIM: JPAW101…. Feel free to talk to me, I am friendly and give good hugs!




    *NEW GALLERY* The WWE SD & RAW Divas PARTYING in a CLUB! WOW!

  • Quick Links -
    [Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]