LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The ownership team behind the historic Louisville-based Ohio Valley Wrestling company, which includes Mayor Craig Greenberg, has sold a controlling stake to a sports management company based in the United Kingdom.
OVW announced Monday that Wales-based Morley Sports Management Limited (MSM) will take control of its operations as of May 1, 2025. MSM currently owns and operates Haverfordwest County, a pro soccer club based in Wales who plays in the nation’s Premier League.
Monday’s announcement marks the third acquisition of OVW in four years and the fourth since 2018.
“It was getting hard to continue,” OVW minority owner and Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones said in a phone interview with WDRB. “We had to get by for the last year.”
OVW is a legacy professional wrestling brand and a mainstay in Louisville that dates back to 1993. It airs the only locally-produced live weekly pro wrestling television series in the country and is highly regarded in the sports entertainment industry as the Harvard of pro wrestling. Many of the industry’s biggest stars trained in an OVW ring before they became household names like John Cena, Brock Lesnar and current WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
Despite a rich history who sits at the owner’s table for the legacy brand has been in a constant state of flux. OVW founder Danny (Davis) Briley sold the company in 2018 to a collection of investors going by the name “Gladiator Sports Network.” Gladiator sold its majority holding in OVW to a team fronted by Jones with the additional financial backing of now Mayor Craig Greenberg and others in late 2020. Control changed hands once again in December 2023 when a “strategic partnership” was announced between OVW and Genvec Ventures, a biomedical company.
“This strategic partnership marks a pivotal moment in OVW Wrestling’s History,” a Dec. 2023 press release said of the announcement introducing Ed Payer as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. “It’s a fusion of financial stability and a shared vision from Genvec Ventures that promises to elevate our brand and the world of professional wrestling.”
Jones said OVW hasn’t reached profitability in the four years that he’s been involved. The company gained new exposure when it was featured in the Netflix series “Wrestlers.” The show took viewers behind the scenes of OVW highlighting the personal and professional lives of its in-ring talent, and the small team of staffers led by former WWE superstar Al (Snow) Sarvin who were trying to grow a financially stressed yet lauded regional wrestling company into a thriving national brand.
Mayor Craig Greenberg will be featured in a Netflix docuseries in Sept. called “Wrestlers.” It chronicles the ups and downs of Ohio Valley Wrestling, in which Greenberg is a part owner. (WDRB image)
The Netflix series jolted OVW ticket sales in the weeks and months that followed but that interest slowly waned. WDRB asked Jones about whether a company that hasn’t seen profitability in years could more easily go away as an item on the balance sheet of a business based in the United Kingdom as opposed to being held by a group with local ties. Jones touted the deal saying he finalized it in Amsterdam over the weekend.
“This is the real deal. These guys own a successful pro soccer team and they have experience in sports,” Jones replied. “I wouldn’t have made the deal if I didn’t think it was going to work. (My partners and I) didn’t have the time to give it the attention it needed to be successful. They have a plan that revolves around the academy and getting the product on in European TV markets. There’s a hunger for wrestling in Europe.”
Jones declined to reveal the purchase price for MSM’s 51 percent stake in OVW, but he was adamant that the company will still have deeply tied local roots with himself, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Confluent health founder Larry Benz and Argi Financial Partner Joe Reeves all apart of the minority ownership team. MSM said the current ownership group will remain as advisors to MSM and its board for the foreseeable future. Jones said Al Snow will stay on as the head of the OVW television show and wrestling academy.
“The current ownership group has worked tirelessly to drive OVW forward in to the modern era, and we are dedicated to continuing their good work over the last few years and build on the strong foundations in place alongside its passionate team,” MSM founder Rob Edwards said. “We want to empower those within the business currently to help us achieve new heights within the industry, and take advantage of the opportunity the era we are in creates, alongside making OVW an asset within the community.”
Top Stories:
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.