Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. OVW is mostly recognized for its up-and-coming wrestlers and until 2008 served as an official training ground for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). OVW is run by owner Danny Davis and the organization was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (as NWA Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling) from 1998 until 2000, when OVW became part of the WWE developmental program, which it was a member of until February 7, 2008. Jim Cornette was head booker of OVW for a period before being fired by WWE for slapping a student, Anthony Carelli (who is currently in the WWE as Santino Marella). He was replaced by Paul Heyman who booked OVW until being called up to be the booker of the ECW brand. Greg Gagne was supposed to be booker after Heyman, but his knowledge of OVW was limited so the booking was extended to also include Al Snow and Danny Davis. Gagne was later released from the company, leaving booking to Snow and Davis.

During the WWE affiliation, OVW wrestlers were often used as jobbers, or "enhancement talents," for WWE to make their stars look better, particularly when WWE ran shows within a few hours of the Louisville area. Sometimes OVW wrestlers were also used as plants for WWE shows. Of the prominent stars who were called up from OVW to WWE, a number of them first established themselves as heels, and the majority of them (such as Randy Orton, Mr. Kennedy, Carlito, John Morrison and Melina) adopted the personalities of egotistical heels.

On February 7 2008, WWE announced that they had ended their relationship with OVW as a developmental territory, moving all contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling.