Thanks to Larry Goodman for sending in the following report. You can read Larry’s coverage of Deep South Wrestling’s weekly TV show on Comcast Sports South by clicking here. If anyone attends a wrestling TV taping or house show, and wants to write up a show report, feel free to email it to me by clicking on my name, above.
Deep South Wrestling ran their first show at Six Flags over Georgia Friday night featuring Bobby Lashley successfully defending the US Title against King Booker in the main event.
“Park Slam,” the company’s first event outside the confines of the DSW Arena in McDonough, was a resounding success. While the overwhelming majority of fans clearly came to see the Smackdown superstars and weren’t familiar with the developmental talent, the Deep South crew performed well across the board. There wasn’t one bad match in the bunch.
The crowd was estimated at 550 in an arena that holds 2500, although with the venue being located inside the amusement park, the number of people that went in and out during the course of the evening was considerably higher. The ring was set up in a fenced off concrete area. I was surprised to see that there no matting on the outside. There were no ringside seats. Consequently, the closest fans were a good 20 yards away.
(1) Montel Vontavious Porter (with Quentin Michaels) beat Ray Geezy in 9:48. The cheesy Geezy name change is last wrinkle in evolution of Ray Gordy’s racially confused character. He’s now from the ATL. This match benefited from a crowd that was geeked up for action — easy pops and easy heat. The crowd actually chanted “ATL.” Michaels distracted Geezy to give Porter the upper hand. The sound of Porter’s blows carried well, which got across the stiff nature of the action. MVP used a Perfect Plex for a near fall. Porter went to a camel clutch. Geezy escaped a back suplex and dropkicked MVP. Nice. When Geezy hit the ATL (legdrop), Michaels got on the apron. Geezy popped Michaels and one of his shoes went flying. MVP hit the Playmaker for the win.
(2) Eric Perez beat Damien Steele in 8:20. Steele came out with white sweater around his neck and a tennis racket in his hand, like he was running onto the court at the Ansley Park County Club. Steele worked on the arm until Perez poked him in the eye on the break. Steele fired back. Perez took over with a stiff lariat. Steele went for his vaunted dropkick, but Perez hung him out to dry. Well-timed and the crowd reacted to it. Perez zeroed in on Steele’s neck. Perez strayed from the path to success with a legdrop off the ropes and busted his ass when Steele moved. Steele connected with the dropkick for a near fall. Steele countered a powerslam with a nice reverse DDT. Steele used a Stinger splash to set up his finisher – good height but hard to buy as a killer move on the larger man. I guess Perez didn’t think so either, as he ducked away from Steele’s flying bodypress and ended it with the Boriqua Bomb (implant DDT).
(3) Danny Germundo pinned Johnny Parisi in 6:54. The story here was that Germundo came into the match with a broken hand. Parisi cut a prematch promo stating that he would break Germundo’s other hand, so his boyfriend would have to spoon feed him. Fans didn’t know Germundo at all. Parisi begged off so much that Germundo flapped his arms like a chicken. Parisi went after the bad right hand, but Germundo landed a series of left jabs and Parisi went down face first. Parisi tried to kneedrop the hand, but Germundo pulled it away. Germundo lost his cool and punched Parisi with the bad hand. Big mistake. Parisi was all over it. As Parisi stomped away on the hand, Tommy Suede ran out to protest. Parisi got distracted and Germundo rolled him up. Parisi threw an infantile fit in the postmatch.
(4) Ryan O’Reilly beat Mike Knox in 9:08. This was the standout among the pure DSW matches because they were able to draw the people into it with their work, despite being total unknowns. Cautious start with a long lock up spot. Knox threw O’Reilly down by the hair. At 3 minutes in, Knox broke a side headlock with a back suplex. Knox pulled the apron over O’Reilly’s head and pounded him. That got some heat. Knox sucker punched O’Reilly, who fired back. Knox held Knox upside down for a good 20 seconds before dropping him with a vertical suplex. Knox methodically attacked O’Reilly’s back. Knox cut off a comeback with a jawbreaker and an awesome standing dropkick. O’Reilly spiked Knox with a DDT. Knox sells that so well. Mike Posey’s count reached five before O’Reilly could muster the energy for a cover. Knox kicked out. Knox went way, way up on a backdrop for another near fall. Moments later, Knox ducked a flying shoulder block and it appeared the end was near. Knox went for the Whippit, but O’Reilly hooked the ropes and got the pin with an Oklahoma roll.
(5) Freakin’ Deacon beat Great Kahli via DQ in 1:55. Kahli got the first big babyface entrance pop of the night. Kahli no sold Deacon’s offense. Kahli missed badly with a clubbing blow. Kahli did a spinning kick that didn’t look bad at all. Kahli started choking Deacon with his boot and refused to let up. A security force made up of Deep South wrestlers starting hitting the ring. Kahli laid out six of them, one by one, for a great visual of mass carnage. Among the casualties were Chris Rambola, Kenny Omega, Francisco Ciatso and Antonio Mestre.
(6) High Impact (Tony Santarelli & Mike Taylor with Tracy Taylor) beat Pitbulls (Jamie Noble & Kid Kash) to retain the DSW tag titles in 16:40. Impact got the best pop of the DSW babyfaces. Pitbulls dominated. They launched an all out attack at the opening bell and nailed Taylor with a double shoulder block. They beat on Taylor for a bit. He escaped for a tag and then Pitbulls gave Santarelli a MAJOR beating. They did double teams and no-tag switches. Kash choked Santarelli with his wrist tape. Mike’s temper was getting the best of him. At one point, Santarelli almost made the tag. Kash punished him severely by raking his back and choking him with both hands. Noble knocked Mike off the apron to prevent another tag. They built it to a truly hot tag. Mike put both Pitbulls on the deck, but Kash caught him with a wicked neckbreaker and Santarelli made the save. Pitbulls blitzed Santarelli with a spear/lariat combo. It looked like Pitbulls were setting Mike up for a spike piledriver, but he backdropped Noble and Kash took the Flair flip bump off the top for a long two count. Pitbulls hit a double superplex on Mike. All three men were down with Santarell down on the outside. Santarelli made the save at the last split second. Taylor hit the Wipeout on Noble. Kash wanted to use his chain on Mike, but Tracy pulled it away from him. Mike rolled Kash up for the pin. Some nice drama on the finishing sequence. Crowd was really into the false finishes. Kash started acting rabid with the fans and Noble had put the dog collar on him.
(7) Derrick Neikirk beat Miz in a match with no DQ-no count out rules to retain the DSW heavyweight title (12:08). Strong pop for Miz. Kids were running to the rail to slap hands with him. Minimal response to Neikirk’s intro. Neikrirk wasn’t having much success, so he tried to bring a chair into the ring. Miz blocked it. That brawled at ringside. Back inside the ring, Miz was taking it the champ when he came up lame. Neikirk went after the knee. Ironically, it was Neikirk that appeared to be hampered by a legit knee problem. Miz ducked a chairshot and fired back. Miz has improved a ton since his early days in DSW but his punches are still suspect. Miz used a side Russian legsweep for a near fall. Neikirk connected with a great superkick kick for a near fall. Neirkirk tried to bring the belt in play. Miz blocked it and brought Neikirk in the hardway. Neikirk blocked several attempts at the Mizard of Oz and hit a Saito suplex to score the clean pinfall.
Nigel Sherrod, the voice of DSW television, was introduced as the guest ring announcer for the main event.
NOTES: The pre-show autograph signing drew heavy traffic, with long lines for Booker and Lashley. Matt Striker, Marshall, Sharmell, Kash, Noble, Team Elite, High Impact, O’Reilly and Miz were also out signing autographs…John Lauranitis was at the Deep South taping the previous night. King Booker and Sharmell appeared on that show…Krissy Vaine and Angel Williams appeared in the role of ring girls…The DSW television show airs on Comcast Sports South on Sundays from 11pm to midnight.
