Get Over
We start this episode off with Mahabali Shera talking about his only true love. His car. A sleek, black Nissan. A look into his home life reveals that Shera comes from the Sikh culture and prays to Hanumanji daily. A Hindu god with a big tail that is 30 feet long. All of the sportsmen in India would pray to him for strength and power. Like Hanumanji, Shera wants to follow in the Hindu god's footsteps and not get married and focus on building his strength. Shera is a bit afraid of love and doesn’t want to face heartache. He’s worked 20 years for where he is now. And honestly seems like he doesn’t want any distractions.
After the scary seizure incident with Matt in the last episode, it is revealed that he suffers from epilepsy. Seeing other people’s reactions embarrasses him. He specifically feels that the seizure bothered Al Snow. He doesn’t like that he can’t get a read on Al's reactions to things. He’s never seen Al sweat.
Honestly, this episode really humanized Matt. It showed why he is the way he is. He’s insecure and at the core, a people pleaser. Starting from him wanting to please his mom. He feels that he has to protect her. Especially after she had to deal with his dad serving jail time because of a drunk driving incident that led to several deaths.
Matt really seeks the approval of Al. There are a few kinks in their relationship, but I think that they can make it work. For the sake of OVW.
Mahabali is being seen as a strong leader in the locker room as champ. Also a major talent in the industry in general right now. Al Snow had really been building Shera as the ultimate babyface. Now the next mission... finding a formidable opponent for Mahabali to face and essentially put him over.
Matt proposes to Al that they have some wrestlers go to AEW Elevation and Dark to have some matches. To work with established wrestlers and to create attention for OVW. Matt has ambitions to make OVW a feeder system to AEW. This allows the OVW talent to have valuable TV time in AEW, learn proper etiquette and make connections backstage.
This seems like a good idea to me. Al Snow doesn’t seem to think so. He believes that it would make the OVW wrestlers look weak. That people wouldn’t tune into OVW just because a few of their wrestlers are on AEW. Matt wants Al to realize that there is a bigger world outside of OVW and that making connections with other companies is essential to build up a fan base.
Brian is out looking for sponsors to bring in some revenue. As another way to show his worth as a staff member. He visits a local comic store to ask for sponsorship. He has to compromise on the price but lands a deal. Nice to see Brian get a win.
OVW sees a packed house in this episode and things start to look up. The feud between Maria and Haley J heats up. Maria vows to never fight her daughter. But Haley attacks her dear mother with no regrets. Matt, Brian and others agree that Haley J has a charisma that can’t be taught. Matt believes that she is the most charismatic person on the roster. You can see that Haley really enjoys what she does and has really great chemistry with Leila Gray.
Eric Darkstorm is really feeling an onset of jealousy toward Haley. He feels that everything is moving too fast for her and that it's going to go to her head. Al Snow feels that Haley still has a lot of growing up to do, and has to learn proper conduct to make it far in the business.
Al makes the announcement about who will be going to perform on AEW Dark. You see all of the wrestlers' ears perk up. CashFlo, Hal, Freya, Luke, Kal and Omar make the cut for luckily few, that get to be backstage in AEW. You see the competitive looks being exchanged by the others because being a part of AEW is a big deal. I believe Haley J wasn’t chosen because she was caught smoking on the OVW premises prior to this. These wrestlers are going to give Al a heart attack with the code of conduct being violated.
CashFlo seems to be the only wrestler who sees Matt Jones being a co-owner of OVW as a plus. He feels that he’s getting opportunities that he hasn’t gotten in 20 years since Matt came on.
Al Snow calls on James Storm to come in to be a formidable opponent to Shera. I agree that this is a great choice. Storm can make anyone look good. With the time that James has had in Impact and NXT and his phenomenal tag teams and solo runs, he knows what the fans want in a heavyweight champion.
Matt doesn’t want to spend money on James Storm but still agrees to bring Storm in.
Digging deeper into Shera’s background we find out that In 2012, TNA discovered Mahabali. They trained him for three months and then he became the first Ring Ka King heavyweight champ for Impact India.
It made him so happy to get his father's approval. A father who put him through the ringer as a child with his alcohol addiction. His father’s death due to cancer made him a much more serious, focused person. He was given a tryout with WWE and got signed shortly thereafter under the name Amanpreet Singh. This signing received a lot of press. So, it seemed like it was a no-brainer that Mahabali would get a good run with WWE.
Sadly. after eight months he was let go in 2018. He felt that things were hopeless. Even wanted to commit suicide. But quickly, he let go of that anger and let it fuel him. He then became The Lion and gave Al Snow a call.
Jessie Belle from WOW asked if Haley J could come in to do some TV tapings. This is exciting news for her because even though she is getting opportunities in OVW, it wouldn’t be the same as it would be in an all-women’s promotion like WOW. WOW has a national TV deal, so it's a wonderful opportunity for Haley J. Especially with her personality and WOW lends itself to wrestlers with over-the-top personalities.
Maria already works for WOW, with a character named Big Rig Betty, who’s a truck driver.
Now her daughter is joining in on the fun and becoming a country truck driver as well. You see Haley doing a mini photo shoot in front of a truck and getting into this character. While her mom gives her posing tips. I love this mother/daughter duo as the mother truckers!
The build-up for the James Storm/ Mahabali Shera match is heating up, as the fans wait outside and make their choice for the potential winner. Loyal OVW fans are rooting for The Lion Shera.
Al Snows has both James and Mahabali come into his office to discuss the outcome of the match. Shera is taken for a loop when he hears that he will lose his title to Storm to build up heat. Moments before the match.
This step is being done to showcase Shera’s climb back up the top of the mountain.
After this announcement, Shera’s eyes look vacant. Like he feels that he lost something very special to him.
You can also see that this news added fuel to his fire.
James Storm is a veteran, so this feud will definitely build up Shera, as a former champ that will prove that he will soon become the National Heavyweight champion again.
The fans are 100% behind Shera in this match. When the pin is made and James Storm is holding that title, it must be truly surreal for Shera.
Young fans are crying at ringside and Shera looks a bit brokenhearted.
Mahabali still remains an ultimate professional and thanks James for the match and Al for the opportunities that he has been given in the promotion.
You can see the trust that Shera has in Al, and that speaks volumes. Especially in the wrestling business.
Next, we see Al on the phone call in his office. It’s Maria, and she’s asking if she and Haley J are needed for their upcoming event.
Al Snow makes it clear that they are needed because their feud has been building up in OVW.
Maria announced that she and Haley J are committed for three weeks to WOW for TV tapings. This frustrates the hell out of Al, but as usual, he has to suck it up and find a solution.
This was surprising considering Maria works behind the scenes and knows how important these feuds are to the overall show.
It’s great that Maria and Haley J are getting these opportunities, but it did leave Al hanging. This does mean that another woman will get the opportunity to shine as Haley J and Maria will be gone.
This episode did a wonderful job of showing Mahabali’s journey in life and wrestling thus far. It also makes us as fans want to root for his eventual championship title recapture even more.
His hard work, discipline and professionalism, motivates me, to one day be as morally rich as Shera is in my own life.
What did you guys think of this episode?
Check out our interview with WOW Superhero Jessie Belle
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