TNA Signs Developmental Deal with OVW

[Troy]

TNA has signed a developmental deal with Louisville, Kentucky's Ohio Valley Wrestling.


In a statement released to PWInsider, TNA announced OVW would now be a "development and training facility" for the promotion, with Bruce Prichard working closely with OVW owner Danny Davis in the development of future TNA talents.

While TNA has never had an official developmental territory, they had in the past subsidized some wrestlers' training at the Team 3D Wrestling Academy in Florida, including former CBS reality star Jesse Godderz.

Based on the statement issued to PWInsider, TNA would be sending talent to OVW to train and hone their skills.

The company's new project in India for the Colors Network was slated to include training ten new Indian talents that would be regulars for the new TV series being developed for that market, so I would assume this is where they will be trained. That project is slated to begin taking in just a few months in India.
OVW was the official developmental territory for WWE from 2000 through 2008, helping to develop, among others, John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and Batista.

TNA will surely be hoping that they can uncover even just one or two of the gems that OVW helped develop for WWE. Smart move by TNA to get a developmental territory but I was surprised that they didn't pick the Dudley's training school that they had used before. Still OVW is a very slick operation and Danny Davis definitely knows what he is doing there. I think that it is a very positive more by TNA.

 

[SAIYANS]

Sounds good on face value.

The thing is that they simply can't say OVW turned out Orton, Batista, Cena, Mickie, Melina, etc.. The reason that it worked for WWE was because of the trainers they had in place. They had Storm, Finlay, Snow, Ivory, Jacqueline, and countless others there to teach guys, not to mention Cornette and Heyman.

There is still plenty of room for TNA to f it up, unless if they send Jarrett, Lynn, Brown, and Bischoff down there routinely to help the talent get the business at a non Indy level

 

[Andrew]

Smart, smart move by using OVW after WWE dropped them out of the development territory.

This is the smartest thing TNA has done, there's a lot of talent in OVW.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Interesting move. I don't really follow OVW anymore but it'll be interesting to see what this does to their relationship with ROH. Especially since Danny Davis and Jim Cornette used to run OVW together. It'll be interesting to see how this relationship with TNA develops over time.

As for Team 3D's academy, i'm sure we'll still hear about the odd wrestler getting a dark match tryout at an Impact taping, or somebody who Bubba & D-Von think has what it takes to make it in TNA and they get that chance.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Always smart to add developmental territories. And OVW has a good reputation being a former developmental territory.

 

[PHX]

Sounds good on face value.

The thing is that they simply can't say OVW turned out Orton, Batista, Cena, Mickie, Melina, etc.. The reason that it worked for WWE was because of the trainers they had in place. They had Storm, Finlay, Snow, Ivory, Jacqueline, and countless others there to teach guys, not to mention Cornette and Heyman.

There is still plenty of room for TNA to f it up, unless if they send Jarrett, Lynn, Brown, and Bischoff down there routinely to help the talent get the business at a non Indy level

Very true they have to have the right trainers down there for it to work. But this is something I thought they always should have done rather than try and depend on guys who just got released by WWE to build their brand.

 

[Ben]

This is what they need, especially if they want to start building talent from within as opposed to spending money on guys that WWE drops. Will give a spot for guys to go that just aren't ready for Impact on a week to week basis. As long as they have the right people in place, and don't just use it as a place to send down guys with nothing to do this could pay off.

 

[Diablo]

I've seen many bash TNA for trying to mimic everything that WWE does, but this is a really solid move on their part. There are far too many wrestlers who were thrust onto TV when they could have benefited from having some experience to develop and learn to work to the camera side and television psychology. Yeah, I'm looking at Generation Me among countless others.

Hopefully this allows TNA to develop a nice roster..they basically can take their picks on the independent scene now. I see Sami Calihan being scooped up soon.

 

[scottcs88]

"Sounds good on face value.

The thing is that they simply can't say OVW turned out Orton, Batista, Cena, Mickie, Melina, etc.. The reason that it worked for WWE was because of the trainers they had in place. They had Storm, Finlay, Snow, Ivory, Jacqueline, and countless others there to teach guys, not to mention Cornette and Heyman.

There is still plenty of room for TNA to f it up, unless if they send Jarrett, Lynn, Brown, and Bischoff down there routinely to help the talent get the business at a non Indy level"

Do not forget. Al Snow is still employed with TNA So he could be a trainer their to.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

WWE has always been able to groom talent, TNA just got lucky with Indy sensations that had turned out to have no real national appeal besides average charisma with their damn good ring ethic. If TNA can get the right people to help these folks out they'll be in a good position for a good while as far as this goes, it's still not going to stop TNA from picking up WWE drop outs and letting them run rampant on their company.

 

[TheZig]

This is a nice move and surely will benefit guys who they want to bring up and even guys on the current roster. Look at guys like Jesse Sorensen and Rob Terry, This could have made a huge difference to their debuts. Now i can't even remember what Sorensen looks like and Rob Terry is playing the bodyguard role again.

 

[scottcs88]

I believe Sting and Angle should become trainers when they retire. The things they can teach. Hogan should become one to in my opinion.

 

[Keith]

This is a postive move. Like someone said it will depend on the quailty of trainers, but fact is a Developmental terrtoiy is key in Pro Wrestling, for guys who are green or inexperienced to go and work without thev extreme pressues and to be trained on the spot by people who know what they are doing.

 

[Troy]

I agree that TNA need to get the right trainers in place but this will help TNA get talent ready before they debut or they can even repackage someone down in OVW before bringing them back. OVW still have a weekly tv show so they can be well prepared for the call up to the main roster. This is really good news for OVW that once again they have a solid partnership and it is great news for the OVW wrestlers as TNA will be keeping a close eye on them now.

 

[BestInTheWorld]

It's good to see that TNA has finally got a developmental program. Even if it is with who WWE used to do business with, we know from the past that OVW is good. Look at some of the talent from there. CM Punk, Matt Morgan, Bobby Lashley I could go on. This should help TNA a lot.