OVW is the site of the final set of drills as the British Boot Camp contestants prepared for their big shot.
The show opens without the “look back” as Dixie Carter tells us a bit about OVW, as does narrator Alexander Armstrong. Everyone puts over Doug Williams’ status too, as Dixie tell us it’ll be Doug Williams and Al Snow who decides who makes it to the finals. Backstage, Marty tells Spud he wants to show off a new move in their tryout match… Spud seems to be a little suspicious at it. Nevertheless, we get the tryout match, with a rather select crowd inside the Davis Arena. They actually taped this at an OVW TV taping, as we see clips from the match that saw Spud and Marty take on the pair of Eddie Diamond & Raphael Constantine.
Hey, that’s current NXT UK ref Chris Sharpe in the ring as we see Scurll bulldoze through Eddie Diamond, before Spud came in and worked over the tiger-trunked Constantine. We see Marty getting some momentum towards the end, but Spud refuses to tag in Scurll as they agreed, with Spud hitting a short DDT to win the match. Interestingly, they had music for Spud here that would later be released by TNA, as opposed to generic production library fare…
We’re reminded of Scurll’s “agreement”, but Spud tells us it’s payback for what Marty did to him earlier on. Of course, they argue over it backstage, which has Al Snow grinning a little bit. Meanwhile, the Blossoms’ match actually aired on OVW TV, as they took on the pairing of Taler Hendrix and Josette Bynum (who’d been in TNA previously as Sojo Bolt). The Blossoms start by hiptossing Bynum as the clips show them dominating early on, as the Bynum/Hendrix team barely got a look in. A reverse DDT and an electric chair splash got the Blossoms a win in a decidedly-trimmed clip. It’s worth noting too, that this wasn’t the Blossoms first time in OVW – whereas Spud and Scurll were appearing in Louisville for the first time, the Blossoms had several outings in OVW in the years prior to this.
Their post-match address from Al Snow was positive, before the quartet got their final evaluations. Doug told Marty to slow down, and ticked off the Blossoms for hair-pullinng while Al was pleased to finally tell the Blossoms apart. She didn’t seem thrilled to be told by Al that they “wrestled like guys with boobs.” I’m sure that comment would go down well in 2020…
Al had one more comment for Spud, as he gave him a proverbial slap of the wrist for deviating from his agreement with Marty, but it meant little as they gave all four the go ahead to appear in the finals in the Impact Zone. After a break, the finalists are in the Impact Zone, getting a good look at the place as they realised they’d finally gotten away from the “dingy halls” they’d been used to. Jeff Hardy and Taryn Terell put over Marty, as did Samoa Joe, but Dixie questioned Marty’s focus. Mickie James talks about her past with the Blossom Twins, while Bully Ray praised Spud for the ridiculousness of his name, calling him potentially “my bastard son.”
We’ve footage of the Blossoms in make-up ahead of their match as they pondered their opponents. Rollerball Rocco appears via video link to give them a pep talk, specifically pinning his hopes on Marty, before they find out what their final test was going to be, as Dixie tells them that the Blossoms will be facing Gail Kim and Madison Rayne, while Spud and Marty face each other. Again. I mean, it was only natural given their needling throughout the show, eh?
They flash up match graphics for next week… as Gail Kim dismisses the match as “a day off”, while AJ Styles sat on the fence over his prediction… and that’s it for the penultimate episode! It’s a return to form as the show focused on the wrestling side of things, as we go head-on into the finals!