In April 2002, Bucci signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). In his OVW debut, he defeated The Prototype for the OVW Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for several months, retaining it in matches against The Prototype, Christian, Lance Cade, and Chris Kanyon, before he lost it to The Damaja in October. The following year, he formed a tag team with Aaron Stevens, and the duo defeated Tank Toland and Chris Cage to win the OVW Tag Team Championship. In June 2004 Bucci was named the assistant booker of OVW. It was around this time that he was called up to start competing in SmackDown! dark matches and on "Velocity".