OVW Monster Leviathan
OVW Monster Leviathan
By Dan Murphy -The Wrestler
"He’ll be the most dangerous man in wrestling!"
Flash isnt in the business of giving compliments, especially to his enemies. But the veteran of independent wrestler is a good judge of talen, and he’s honest in his appraisals of other wrestlers. When he sees Leviathan, he sees a monster who’s going to make life merable and painful for a lot os people… if he’s smart.
A LOT OF people in Ohio Valley Wrestling like to call Flash "the man who loves to steal the show." A 10 year veteran of the ring wars, Flash is one of the most popular competitors in OVW. He has a reputation for being a fearless competitor with an attitude.
On June 27, 2001, Flash pinned Chris Jericho at the OVW "Last Dance" supercard in Louisville, Kentucky. In recent months, Flash has also overcome a 100-pound weight disadvantage to beat former WWF World Tag Team Champion Bull Buchanan on several occasions. Like his idol, Jakie Fargo, Flash brags that he has never back down from a fight. Put him in the ring against anyone in the sport, he says, and win, lose, or draw, that person will come away saying Flash is the meanes, nastiest, most ornery S.O.B. he has faced in a long time.
That being said, Flash is in no hurry to wrestle Leviathan again.
"Dont get me wrong," Flash told The Wrestler a few days after coming out on the losing end of his encounter with The Demon of the Deep. "I ain’t afraid of him. It’s just that wrestling Leviathan is like signing up to be a crash test dummy. If you’re lucky, you’ll walk away in one piece. Oh, he can be beat, but your gonna take one hell of a beating no matter what happens."
"You mark my words." Flash said. "Leviathan is going to go places in this business. I’ve wrestled some of the toughest men in the world and I’m telling you. I haent seen many monsters quite like him before. He’ll be the most dangerous man in wrestling!"
Leviathan certainly has the physical tools to support Flash’s assessment. The current OVW heavyweight champion stands 6’6 and weighs 325 pounds. His past, however, is shrouded in mystery. His manager Synn claims her charge in the "gaurdian of the gates of hell" (whatever that means), a beast who was raised in a mysterious occult ceremony. No one is sure exactly when – or where – he made is pro debut. Neither Synn nor Leviathan will answer any such questions. In fact, Leviathan chooses not to talk at all.
According to Synn, Leviathan is the most powerful man in wrestling, and she can make a pretty good case. Leviathan has steamrolled much of the competition in OVW and has drawn favorable comparisons to another recent wrestling phenom – Goldberg.
Given that Leviathan sports a shaved head and can unleash a viscious spear, there are some obvious similarities between the two. However, Leviathan has two inches and about 40 pounds on Goldberg. He’s also several years younger and hasnt been hindered by any previous injuries, such as the abdominal muscle problem that ended Goldberg’s NFL aspirations.
In fact, to the causal observer, Leviathan doenst seem to have many weaknesses at all. His ability to absorb punishment is unparalled, at least in OVW. With his awesome strength and ability to intimidate, Leviathan is obviously a dangerous competitior. But, Flash says, thats only part of the problem he presents.
"The difference between Leviathan and a lot of the big muscleheads who burst onto the scene and fade away after a few months can be summed up in two words: training and anonymity," Flash said. "OVW has some of the best young wrestlers in the world down here, but we dont have the national exposure. That takes a little bit of the stress off some of the younger guys. They can experiment with new moves and try different things without worrying that if they screw up, they’ll have the entire country cracking jokes on them. You look at a guy like Goldberg. He developed a handful of mves and used them all the time. He made himself a huge star and all, but even he burned out eventually."
"Leviathan is trying to develop a stronger arsenal. I can sense that when I wrestle him. He want to develop at his own pace and not rush things, but his instict is always to go all out all the time and try to crush his opponent. That real simple approcah can work just fine, somtimes, but sometimes you gotta find a way to do things a little different and not be so predictable."
Leviathan has the benefit of having The Disciples of Synn as sparring partners. Payne and Damient regularly traint with "The Demon", unually focusing on mat wrestling and cardiovascular training. While he obviously concentrates on weights, Payne said Leviathan does an hour of treadmil work five days a week.
"Power is a great thing to have, but you need more than that to succeed," Payne said. "Leviathan is a genetic monster. He doesnt get tired real easy, either.
Another thing working in Leviathan’s favor is Synn’s patience – and her promotional abilities. When Leviathan burst into OVW, he didn’t immediatly make a run at any title. Instead, Synn signed him to wrestle a variety of opponents, sometimes two at once. Unlike other mega-hyped newcomers, Leviathan hasnt been victimized by a premature push to the main-event level before his time.
Synn also manages to insert Leviathan into the mix almost every time the WWF sends some of it’s top talent to OVW for a major show. Back at the 2001 "Christmas Chaos" card, Synn orchestrated an altercation between Leviathan and Steve Austin. Austin ended up dropping the giant with a stunner, but the incident did two thing to propel Leviathan to the next level: He got the promotional "rub" from mixing it up with Austin; and it humbled him. Sure, Leviathan can outmuscle 99 percent of his opponents. It’s crafty little moves like a stunner or Rock bottom he’ll have to learn to anticipate and to counter, or else he’ll be the one in grave danger. All the power in the world can’t help a man avoid a stunner. Experiance and intellegence can."
Synn also orchestrated a locker room brawl between Leviathan and the Undertaker that led to Kane and Taker taking on Dallas Page and Leviathan at the "Last Dance" show. Page and Leviathan lost the match, but "The Demon of the Deep" proved he certainly could hang with "The Brothers of Destruction."
"I’ve got no doubt in my mind Leviathan will get the call up to the WWF someday. A body like that opens a lot of doors – that’s the reality of the situation." said Flash. "When he arrives, he’ll probably take some people by surprise, intimidate some people, get a few important wins maybe, but he’ll have to take his game to another level. Myave he can get away with a few mistakes here, because he’s wrestling a lot of guys with about the same amount of experience, but not against Austin or The Rock or Triple-H or anyone up there. Against those guys once they get you down, you might not get a chance to get back up. He’s gotta us all that power he has and then get better on the mat, in the air, everywhere. I really do think he’ll be the most dangerous guy out there… just as long as he never gets too full of himself and keeps putting the time and work in to get there. He’s scary enough now, but if everything goes right for him, in a few years…"
He didn’t need to finish that sentence.
