OVW (Ohio Valley Wrestling) has been known for decades as a developmental territory for the WWE, Impact, and others. There are decades of history in the promotion, and they’re starting to rise above being developmental under the guidance of owner Al Snow. One of their most visible stars is Mr. Marvelous Melvin Maximus.
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Simply Marvelous
Maximus’ career began in 2013 when he debuted with GOUGE (Gimmicks Only Underground Grappling Entertainment) Wrestling. He worked for a number of different promotions before finding a new home in OVW later that year.
Though talented, Maximus spent a majority of his first year wrestling in mainly dark matches for the promotion as he honed his craft and worked his way up the ladder.
A man of many talents, he closed his first year out wrestling as an alter ego, Melvina, with a match against The Bodyguy for the OVW Women’s Championship. He won by disqualification.
With his skills and charisma growing, Maximus quickly moved out of the dark match category and began to challenge for other titles as his star rose.
Championship runs
A solid 320 pounds, Maximus is an intimidating presence in the ring and his pageantry is second to none. The best way to describe him is a mix of Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, and Randy Savage. He’s flamboyant, relentless, and doesn’t have a problem with getting down and dirty if the need arises.
Maximus won his first championship, OVW Television Championship, against Paredyse. He spent the next five months successfully defending his championship until his rivalry with Adam Revolver, where he lost then won it back within a week before dropping it once more two weeks after reclaiming it.
2014 was his year as he added the OVW Heavyweight Championship later that year when he beat Marcus Anthony in August, and then lost the championship in October against Cliff Compton in a triple threat match between Maximus, Compton, and Anthony.
Shortcomings
The biggest drawback to Melvin Maximus is his age. At 41 years old, father time is no longer on his side. But beyond that, he looks like he puts forth the effort but his matches don’t usually last very long and the crowd doesn’t react to him as much as you’d think they would given his extravagant entrance.
That may be something that’s lost in translation, as OVW’s pa system doesn’t translate well to video as the announcers always seem to be at different volumes.
Still, it is fun to watch him and his valet, Ms Marvelous (soon to me Mrs), in action.
There a consensus among fans that he’s better in tag team action than singles and he only uses a handful of moves, but that doesn’t take away from his effort of the enjoyment of watching him work. There have been a lot of professional wrestlers through the years that have had limited moves and made it work. It’s like something Vince Lombardi said once about doing the few plays they had as perfectly as possible. As long as the execution is there, everything else falls into place.
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