Ohio Valley Wresting Cancels Live Television Events Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Ohio Valley Wrestling issued the following:

Ohio Valley Wresting Cancels Live Television Events as Safety Precaution amid Coronavirus Concern

LOUISVILLE, Ky— Adhering to local, state and national health warnings on efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19 Louisville based Ohio Valley Wrestling will temporarily suspend its weekly live television events until April 7th, 2020.

OVW welcomes hundreds of fans every Tuesday night to the famed Davis Arena, located at 4400 Shepherdsville Road in Louisville, KY. The event airs live each week at 8pm on WBNA-TV.

With nearly 1100 episodes and more than 25 years on the air OVW TV is the longest running episodic professional wrestling series airing on local broadcast television in the United States. The series has been the training ground for some of sports entertainment’s biggest stars. OVW alumni include John Cena, Brock Lesnar and more than 150 others who went on to perform on the national stage.

“We have never missed a week of television and we won’t start now,” OVW Owner Al Snow said. “Our library is a treasure trove of wrestling and we are already hard at work putting together special editions of OVW TV that will lead up to our fan appreciation night.”

Fan Appreciation was originally scheduled for March 31st to coincide with OVW’s first national television taping in partnership with cable channel YouToo America. YTA will air OVW TV Friday nights at 9PST/12EST. The national broadcast will still debut April 3rd however due to the suspension of live events OVW’s Fan Appreciation will move to Tuesday April 7th. Admission is still free for the Fan Appreciation event.

“We couldn’t have reached this national milestone without the faithful fans of OVW, and their well-being along with the health and safety of our athletes and staff remains a top priority.”

This week OVW also suspended instruction at its training facility out of an abundance of caution due to the physical nature of in ring training and the manner in which the novel coronavirus is spread. At this time no in ring talent or staff member on our roster has tested positive for the virus.

 “The Coronavirus is impacting education, entertainment and sports organizations across the country and OVW works in all three of these fields.” Snow said.

In 2019 the Kentucky Commission on Proprietary Education accredited OVW as the nation’s first trade school for professional wrestling and sports entertainment broadcasting. The program combines in ring training with management, business, and TV production course-work.

For more information about Ohio Valley Wrestling, visit www.ovwrestling.com

About Gladiator Sports Network/Ohio Valley Wrestling

Ohio Valley Wrestling is considered the Harvard of Professional Wrestling providing elite athletes the opportunity to perform at approximately 100 television and live events throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana each year. OVW simultaneously trains young superstars in the ring while teaching the skills and technique needed to thrive behind the scenes producing a sports entertainment broadcast. OVW TV is the longest running professional wrestling series airing on local television in the Unites States. In October of 2018 the company celebrated its 1000th episode.  The series airs live weekly in the Louisville television market (DMA 48) on WBNA-TV Tuesdays at 8pm and rebroadcasts Saturdays at 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. OVW TV also airs globally on a subscription streaming network at www.ovwwrestlingnetwork.com. The company was founded in 1993 by “Nightmare” Danny Davis. In the summer of 2018 OVW was purchased by the newly formed Gladiator Sports Network. Gladiator Sports includes OVW and Top Knotch Boxing. Former WWE Superstar Al Snow serves as CEO.