The World Wrestling Federation(WWF) changed its name to WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment} about 5 years ago. An organization called the World Wildlife Federation claimed that owner Vince McMahon stole the letters WWF from them, to an extent taking Vince to court and making him change his multi-million dollar company’s name.
One thing that millions of wrestling fans across the globe don’t know is that wrestling is set up just like baseball is. World Wrestling Entertainment is the professional rank. The AAA sort of to speak is called Ohio Valley wrestling. They are for wrestlers that have signed contracts for the WWE but still need a little wrestling school before they get to the big show. OVW is located in Louisville, Kentucky. Which is perfect for Vince McMahon because it is a very low profile type of organization to where he can train wrestlers and make them big. Try them out on a microphone in front of a small audience to see their entertainment skills, and check out if they are WWE material
. The OVW league is designed to make or break a wrestler. Male or Female people actually pay for this wrestling school. The wrestling league just below OVW is DSW (Deep South Wrestling)which the WWE considers the AA league of wrestling. You can start out at either league but most of the time amateurs that are trying wrestling for the first time are put in deep south wrestling. When you start out you do have to pay to get in.
Level 1 wrestlers have to pay 500.00 for what they call boot camp. To see if the wrestlers have the” want to” in them and have the fire to take them to the next level to mostly see if wrestling is what they want to do.Those that pass level one or boot camp so to speak get passed on to level two which is the intermediate level.
Level two wrestlers cost for training is 1500.00. This level is designed to work on your wrestling moves and holds, and let you wrestle a little on local television to see how you look on camera. If you are lucky as very few are you get put on to the next level
. Which is level 3 the advanced wrestling level. This is where you get noticed by WWE officials and scouter. You get to wrestle with full time OVW wrestlers and some WWE people like Al snow to see if you are at that level that they need for you to be. You also get booked in what they call dark matches at WWE events. These are ” in between” matches that are not televised so that you can wrestle in front of a big crowd and see how they react to you. That is usually the last stepping stone that makes or breaks you. At the end of this level is where you get your WWE contract. Thats where the money is. As soon as your on contract you sign whatever deal is made and start making your wage.
Just because you get a contract offer doesn’t mean that you automatically make it to WWE television(advance class training is 2500.00 by the way}. A lot of wrestlers after they get a contract stay in OVW until a chance opens up for them in WWE. Sometimes that could be a month, 2 years, or may never even make it to WWE television.
I’ve seen a lot of people that were offered a contract, wrestling on OVW television for a few years and never even make it to WWE television. Or finally get the call up to WWE, wrestle a few times on television, and just not have what it takes. That is the beast of the business. You never know what is in store for you. You have to have passion for the business to make it in the industry. Wrestlers such as Batista, randy Orton, john Xena, Eugene, bogeyman, la resistance, Brock Lenser, and the Bashams have all came from the ranks of OVW. They have a live wrestling show every Wednesday night, and many house show events every week so the public can see the wrestlers. Vince McMahon also uses ovw so WWE wrestlers that need extra work can go down a while or wrestlers that get hurt and come back to rehab. I love when that happens because it gives us a chance to see the big names of the business. This past week at a house show here in Elizabethtown, La Resistance reunited for the first time in years, plus ECW’s Kelley Kelley, Paul Birchall and a few others were here, all getting extra work in. At 10 bucks a head, its very much worth the money.
You can go to OV Wrestling.com if you think you will ever want to visit the area. They have recently expanded to as far as the Cincinnati area and Indiana for those who are interested.
