LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There was a chance Ohio Valley Wrestling would leave the area after nearly 30 years. The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown hit the company hard and states, like Florida with fewer restrictions, courted OVW to relocate to their state.
“There were offers made, to a degree, in Florida for us to move both the trade school and the events to Florida permanently," OVW owner Al Snow said. "It was tempting."
OVW Wrestling thrives during pandemic
Snow, who bought the company in 2018, ultimately decided to stay in Louisville and move on with his focus on turning OVW from an events-based company to a television content provider.
During the shutdown, OVW was able to sign several deals with cable and streaming platforms that will put OVW’s product in 700 million homes worldwide, according to Snow.
“We’re able now to reach as far as all across the country and into Guam, Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica as well," he said. "Our international partner, Film Volt, they have put us on streaming platforms. So we’re in 27 countries on Roku, 222 countries on Amazon Prime and Amazon Fire.”
The growth of OVW is benefitting the company but also the performers, many of which wrestle in the OVW and move up the professional ranks. This is an opportunity to show their skill level to a much wider audience.
“As somebody who’s got a vested interest in OVW and somebody who’s on camera on OVW, the fact that I’m in front of as many eyeballs as we are, or potentially could be, is, at first, incredibly overwhelming, if you look at the grand scope of things," OVW co-host Steve Johnson. "But once reality sets in, it makes you want to work that much harder."
While many leagues paused down or even folded, OVW avoided a temptation to leave the area while growing possibly beyond the wildest dreams of its creators back in 1993.
“It’s beautiful to see from one network to another, they can obviously showcase the product," said OVW wrestler Jessie Godderz, also known as Mr. Pec-Tacular. "Because it is outstanding. It’s another product that’s up there with all the other elite professional wrestling organizations, not only here in the United States but around the world.
“A show that’s sitting here that is produced, edited and sent out from Louisville, Kentucky, can be seen around the world currently. Right now.”
OVW co-host Bryan Kennison sums it up.
“We’re coming out of this hibernation, as it were, well-rested, a little stronger, a lot more focused than we were before and in front of a lot more people," he said. "We grew during a pandemic. That’s hard to do.”
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