[2001-01-27-OVW-TV] Disciples of Synn (Damien & Payne) vs Brock Lesnar & Shelton Benjamin

[GSR]

Jim Cornette describes Shelton Benjamin as a “prodigy” with how quickly he is picking the wrestling business up.  He nails Damien with a superkick as the ‘Stretching Crew’ then plant him to the mat with a big old double slam.  Brock slams the DoS next to one another and Shelton with a double powerdrive elbow.  Side headlock, he doesn’t see the blind tag though and Payne catches him with the ‘Payne Killer’.  Spinebuster by Damien.  Payne spits at Brock to draw him into the ring then sticks a foot down Shelton’s throat behind the ref’s back.  Shelton ducks under the clothesline and comes back with a double crossbody which takes both ‘Disciples’ down.  He’s trapped in the wrong corner so does that backwards leap to the top turnbuckle and somersaults over the DoS to tag Brock.  Overhead belly to belly suplexes for both.  Cradle suplex on Payne but Damien is there to make the save.  Shelton evens things up as referee Ray Ramsey loses all control.  As he tries to get two of the men out of there, Synn sneaks into the ring and sprays something in the face of Shelton.  Ramsey catches her, calling for the DQ.  Brock grabs hold of Synn and gives her this almighty powerbomb.  I wonder if that is the spot that caused Cornette to lose his shit with him?  That brings out Synn’s protector, the ‘Demon of the Deep’, Leviathan.  Leviathan systematically clears the ring of referees, (who’d come out to try and restore order) the Stretching Crew and even his own team mates, launching each one over the top rope and out of there.  When security show up they receive the same treatment.  Synn has some final words for Kane, informing him that no-one can beat her Demon, not even the brother of the Undertaker, before we hear from Leviathan for the first time.  He just talks some gibberish about “eternal life” and “fires of hell” or something or other.

Payne is a downgrade on Slash (Wolfie D) and I find this version of the DoS quite bland.  The Stretching Crew are getting into their groove with these more competitive matches and, as pointed out last year, Shelton is the one who does the bulk of the work, takes the beating, and Brock is the hot tag.  Another weak DQ finish with the ending all about making Leviathan look like an indestructible monster before he faces Kane at Christmas Chaos.  I was shocked at how easy he threw Brock out of there and thought there may have been more of a confrontation but that was not what they wanted for the night.  Oh, and Synn is dross on the mic.

[soup23]

Good tag for OVW as I continue to enjoy the Minnesota Stretching Crew. Finish was shit, surprise surprise. Sin gets in and sprays perfume or hair product but that causes the cheap DQ. Lesnar gives her a powerbomb where she nearly comes out of her leather pants. Leviathan comes in to save his friends and he cleans house of everyone. He then speaks for the first time to Cornette’s amazement. The brief interaction between Batista and Lesnar is fun since we will see A LOT of them throughout this decade but hardly any with each other. I am unsure if their OVW singles match in this year made tape or not. **