Ohio Valley Wrestling

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Ohio Valley Wrestling

Acronym	OVW
Established	1998
Folded
Style	Professional wrestling,Sports entertainment
Location	Louisville, Kentucky
Founder	Danny Davis
Owner	Danny Davis
Parent
Sister
Formerly	NWA: Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling
Website

Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. OVW is mostly recognized for its up-and-coming wrestlers and served as the official primary training ground for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) until 2008.

OVW is run by owner Danny Davis and the organization was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (as NWA Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling) from 1998 until 2001, when OVW became part of the WWE developmental program. Jim Cornette was head booker of OVW for a period before being fired by WWE for slapping a student. He was replaced by Paul Heyman who booked OVW until being called up to be the booker of the ECW brand. Greg Gagne was supposed to be booker after Heyman but his knowledge of OVW was limited so the booking was extended to also include Al Snow and Danny Davis. Gagne was later released from the company leaving booking to Snow and Davis.

During its affiliation with WWE, OVW wrestlers were often used as jobbers, or "enhancement talents", for WWE to make their stars look better, particularly when WWE runs shows within a few hours of the Louisville area. Sometimes OVW wrestlers were even used as plants for WWE shows. Of the stars who were called up from OVW to WWE, a number of them first established themselves as heels, and the majority of them (such as Ken Kennedy, Randy Orton, John Morrison, Melina and Carlito) adopted the personalities of egotistical heels.

On February 7, 2008, WWE announced that they had ended their relationship with OVW as a developmental territory, moving all contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling. On September 23, 2008, OVW announced that WWE Senior Vice President John Laurinaitis visited and scouted OVW wrestlers and that the WWE will take "a much more active role in recruiting OVW developed talent". Not long after, OVW entered what it called a "working agreement" with WWE, although it has not returned to being a developmental territory as it had previously been.

OVW runs five live events on average per week. It is considered to be the last of the wrestling territories (as applies to the definition of the old territorial system). No other independent wrestling company in the United States runs that many shows per week.

Television

OVW currently airs a one-hour television program Saturdays on WBKI-TV in Louisville at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on WKRC-TV's sister station, the CinCW in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday afternoons at 1:00 and Sundays at noon, and on WOBZ-LP in London, Kentucky at 9:00 p.m. Starting September 6, 2008, OVW will begin airing on Lexington, Kentucky's CW affiliate WKYT at 11:00 p.m. The television shows originate from the Davis Arena in Louisville.

Current champions

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won	Won from
OVW Heavyweight Championship	Lowrider	July 8, 2009	Apoc
OVW Television Championship	Brent "Beef" Wellington	July 26, 2009	Jamin Olivencia
OVW Southern Tag Team Championship	"The Network" (Bennie the Producer & Andrew the Director)	June 17, 2009	Totally Awsome
OVW Women's Championship	Epiphany	August 12, 2009	Melody

Defunct championships

Championship	Final champion	Date won	Won from	Notes
OVW Light Heavyweight Championship	Chris Michaels	April 12, 2000	Sean Casey	Retired on March 1, 2001.
OVW Hardcore Championship	Randy Orton	May 5, 2001	Flash Flanagan	Retired in 2001.