Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling

The comment still makes Danny Davis chuckle.In 2000, his Louisville, Ky.-based promotion became World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship developmental territory for young talent. Davis said WWE's expectations for Ohio Valley Wrestling were low -- to say the least."Someone who was in (WWE) talent relations said, 'If we get one star a year, we'll be happy,' " Davis said.As it turns out, WWE should be ecstatic.More than 100 OVW alumni have reached WWE's main talent rosters. That includes such superstars as John Cena and Dave Batista -- the headliners on last month's "SummerSlam" pay-per-view show.Earlier this decade, both performers were trying to learn the ropes from some of the industry's best teachers. Davis was a technically sound light-heavyweight performer in the southeastern United States during the 1970s and '80s. Legendary manager Jim Cornette served as OVW matchmaker and helped trainees with their verbal skills (a role that Paul Heyman briefly assumed in 2005).Performing as "The Prototype," Cena was light-years from adopting the hip-hop-flavored character that has made him WWE's biggest star. But even in his mid-20s, Cena already had a championship-caliber work ethic and would study wrestling tapes religiously during night sessions at Davis' house.Davis said Cena's maturity set him apart from other students."When he came in, he already had a place to stay by the time I met him," Davis said. "That showed me he was on the ball. I spent a lot of time with him and he never once gave me trouble. He honestly is a genuine guy."Davis speaks highly of Batista, although the latter is publicly critical of the training he received. Batista felt his one-dimensional Leviathan character didn't prepare him for a much higher WWE standard. Batista floundered in various WWE gimmicks until finally finding his niche five years ago in "Evolution" with another OVW product -- Randy Orton.Davis said he sympathizes with Batista, as OVW officials weren't provided specific instructions for character development. At the time, OVW talent would get promoted only to learn that WWE scriptwriters had no knowledge of their gimmicks or history."Not knocking anybody in WWE, but people would get called up before they were ready. Dave was no different," Davis said. "He didn't know how to take care of himself in a lot of situations. ... He hadn't learned to speak. Maybe OVW did drop the ball on him there, but it wasn't a lack of trying."Davis also helped school Brock Lesnar, the former WWE kingpin who is now a marquee Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight. Davis said Lesnar headed the ring crew for OVW's live shows because he had experience driving a truck-and-trailer as a "Minnesota country boy.""He was the boss and became very good at it," said Davis, who would assign novice grapplers to build and deconstruct the ring. "If anybody was lazy, he would tie them in knots. Nobody would mess with Brock because he's the real deal."This is something he volunteered for. That's the kind of guy he was. He knew how important it is that the ring gets from Point A to Point B."Davis could gush endlessly about other OVW success stories with performers that WWE signed to contracts and then designated for training. Most of WWE's "Diva" division was seasoned in OVW, not to mention current stars like Santino Morella, Shelton Benjamin and "Mr." Ken Kennedy.Davis is especially proud of students who earned WWE contracts after initially paying their own way through OVW courses. Among them are former WWE performers Rob Conway, Doug Basham (Davis' nephew) and Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore, who has assumed some of OVW's in-ring training duties that Davis has stepped away from.Still, such talent production couldn't salvage OVW's deteriorating working relationship with WWE management. WWE cut ties with OVW in February and shifted its focus to a Tampa-based developmental venture, Florida Championship Wrestling.The split is both a blessing and a curse for the 56-year-old Davis, whose real name is Daniel Briley. He is successfully operating one of the few remaining regional promotions, which is an impressive feat in a WWE-dominated market. But Davis admittedly misses the WWE financial subsidies that were used toward his business operations like television production."It's tough in this day and age with the economy the way it is," Davis said. "We don't cater to suits. We go out in the rural areas and entertain."There's a fine line between staying in the black and falling into the red. But, knock on wood, we're still floating."(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps-Howard News Service. E-mail him at alex1marv(at)aol.com.)