Over the years, Ohio Valley Wrestling has been home to a number of women that would go on to be very successful in the industry. From women like Beth Phoenix and ODB to Serena Deeb and Katie Lea, the women division has been start studded before they were stars. OVW is also able to claim experience as a training facility for both of the major US wrestling promotions, WWE and TNA.
Established in 2006, the OVW Women's Championship has been held by 20 women. The current champion is Trina Thompson. I haven't been able to find many of her matches online, only three from OVW. From what I have seen, it appears that she is still fairly early in her training. She doesn't seem to have to ring awareness that some of the other women have. But, I have to give her props. The first match I saw of her, versus Epiphany airing April 20, 2013, she nearly had a wardrobe malfunction. Since then, I haven't noticed attire issues.
Supporting the champion, there are a few fairly notable names, Taeler Hendrix, Josette Bynum, and The Blossom Twins, which have all been seen on Impact Wrestling. These are probably the four best women currently on the roster. Taeler has been a staple of the division's focus for quite a while. Josette has taken more of an administrative role, so we aren't seeing much of her in the ring. Hannah and Holly have just returned from the TNA British Bootcamp competition, making their return in a tag match against Nikki St. John and Lovely Lylah. Heidi Lovelace has also been working OVW for the last several months with a 2 month stint as the strap holder.
The best thing going on in OVW right now is definitely the storyline between Taeler Hendrix and Heidi Lovelace. Ringbelles did a great write up of the story, so I don't want to go into a lot of detail. It will be very interesting to see how the story plays out. While I have known about Heidi Lovelace for quite a while, I was never a fan. For some reason, I just couldn't get into her. But watching her on OVW has changed my mind. Although she isn't in my top women to watch, I think there is something interesting about her and I am curious to see where she goes.
The bad.....well, maybe not bad.....The not so good part of OVW is the talent in their division. It is spotty at best. There are some women who can put on a solid match and then there are some women that I think need a lot more work. Taeler, Josette, Blossoms, Heidi, and Jessi Belle are all pretty reliable in the ring. I have seen many matches with all of these girls that was solid. But when you put them in the ring with women like Epiphany, Trina, Lovely Lylah, Nikki St. John, December, Scarlet Bordeaux, etc the matches suffer. Epiphany has been with OVW for a long time, since 2008. She definitely has a presence about about her, but her work in the ring is lacking. I can't tell if its that she needs bigger women to work with or if she is just in need of training. After watching her matches, I'm always left with a feeling of confusion. Nikki & December are not regulars with OVW and I have heard positive things about them from other promotions. Only time will tell with them in OVW.
I'm assuming that Trina and Lylah are both still learning their craft....at least I hope so. I have only seen 3 or 4 match from each, but I have been less than impressed with what I'm seeing. Their match together on April 27th.....well.....yeah.
I'm going to leave you with my favorite OVW Women's match to date. This match took place on December 23, 2006 between two women who would go on to become champions in other promotions. Beth Phoenix took on the the Champion Katie Lea for the OVW Women's Championship in a Ladder Match.
Overall rating for the division (out of 5 belts):
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