[2000-11-18-OVW-TV] Nick Dinsmore vs Damaja

[soup23]

I made the executive decision two minutes in to just turn this on mute and listen to a podcast instead as the work here looked good and easily the best Dinsmore has looked this good and at 10:00 PM, the last thing I need is Cornette yelling at me for 15 minutes. Damaja hits a good top rope clothesline and gets the pin but Dinsmore is able to get his foot on the rope. Both guys are out and selling the damage and we are one clean finish away from having a very good match on our hands. Right as I type that, McCollugh comes out and powerbombs both men. You can’t have nice things being an OVW fan in 2000. We get some clips from the week before of McCollough facing fresh as a daisy Randy Orton. Interview after those clips and Cornette emasculates McCollough and he grabs Corny telling him not to ever interrupt him. They are building him up as a monster but it doesn’t feel like its going to work. Shame as the match we got was good before the nonsense. *** (6)

[GSR]

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched any OVW in the project as that, along with Memphis, was one of the things I ploughed through early. I missed a few matches here and there along the way and now it’s time to plug those gaps.  The optimism of hoping Corny has mellowed over the months diminishes almost instantly as he’s talking hundred miles an hour on the hard sell for Christmas Chaos. A pretty physical lock up from the two, one that you wouldn’t normally expect to see in the Davis Arena.  They exchange wristlocks and I like Damaja headbutting the hand of Dinsmore at one point to get him to release his grasp.  Hip tosses are blocked before Dinsmore lands a double arm suplex followed by a flying forearm and finally a superkick as he looks to open up.  Cornette claims that could’ve split his nose or knocked some teeth out.  It did neither.  Dinsmore tries to wheelbarrow Damaja which he counters with a bulldog.  He clotheslines Dinsmore over the top rope to the floor, although unlike most, doesn’t follow him to the outside.  Back inside Dinsmore grabs a waistlock, Damaja backs him into the corner and drills him in the jaw with an elbow.  Dragon screw  leg whip into a Scorpion Deathlock.  Dinsmore crawls his way over to the ropes  and a reluctant Damaja is forced to release the hold.  The champion avoids a dropkick and then locks in a version of the ‘Regal Stretch’.  They’re too close to the ropes though so Dinsmore pulls him back into the centre of the ring.  Damaja fires off some elbows and with Dinsmore still having hold of his leg, connects with an enzuigiri.  He gets a flurry of two counts before an accidental clash of heads after Dinsmore had blocked the ‘Brain Damage’.  I don’t think Corny has taken a breath yet.  Double crossbody as Cornette has the gall to say that the action was too fast to call.  If that’s the case Jim then maybe you should shut up for a bit as even though they were working a very quick pace you were keeping up just fine!  Russ McCullough is out and he throws referee Robert Brisco from the ring and then powerbombs the two combatants, as we’re told about this change of attitude he’s adopted recently.  The match just ends there with both men laid out as we go to a video from last week where McCullough turned on Randy Orton.  One of the powerbombs he gave him looks real sloppy as he’s close to losing him on lifting him up. 

We rejoin today’s show with Dean Hill in the ring looking to get a few words from Big Russ.  Cornette, not one to shy away from the limelight, interrupts them after barely a sentence and wants to know what McCullough’s problem is?  Russ grabs him and tells him that he’s fed up of being treated like a dumb jock; he’s faster than the “Big Slow”, stronger than Nick Dinsmore and smarter than Bolin Services.  He doesn’t get any main events and Cornette books him like a trained monkey while the “fudge packers” get the title shots and the “yes men” the TV time.  He closes by saying that the only way it looks like he’ll get a little respect around here is by knocking out ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.

A good TV match killed by a non-finish as they look to try and get something out of Russ McCullough.  He was real lucky he didn’t lose Randy on the powerbomb, while he showed nothing in his interview, no intensity there at all, like he’d been given the lines that he was saying.  I imagine Corny was out there, nothing to do with my limelight hogging remark, but to walk him through it.  You can see why he didn’t get a shot on the main roster, even with the size that they usually fawn over.