Deep South Wrestling Television Report
Aired September 3, 2006 on Comcast Sports South
Taped August 24, 2006 in McDonough, Ga at the Deep South Arena
By Larry Goodman
This week’s Deep South Wrestling aired in an abbreviated 30 minute version due to the replay of a college football game on CSS.
The show opened with highlight clips from last week’s grudge match between the former members of Team Elite, Derrick Neikirk and Mike Knox. It ended in a heated brawl for a double count out. Postmatch, Neikirk pulled the mats up, and was in position to DDT Knox. Wrestlers poured out of the dressing room to prevent Knox’s from getting his noggin cracked on the concrete. Neikirk managed to break free long enough to DDT Knox on the padded portion of the ringside area. Knox was left laying.
Cut to the stand up intro by the DSW broadcast teams of Bill DeMott and Nigel Sherrod. DeMott said that as a result of the craziness last week, Neikirk and Knox would meet in a lumberjack match in tonight’s main event.
Cut to some unintelligible words from Oleg Prudius. I kid the Russian. Actually, his English has gotten somewhat better.
“I am Oleg. I come from Russian. I am Russian Heavyveight Sambo Champion. I am a soldier in za number one army in the vorld. I came to Deep South to destroy Supastass. I am a Russian bear. I am done.”
Deep South returns to Six Flags over Georgia for their final show of the season on September 9 with Ric Flair as the headline act.
Antonio Mestre was preoccupied with his Gameboy as he made his entrance. He rolled into the ring with the damn thing, like he was idling away the time in his living room.
(1) Oleg Prudius beat Antonio Mestre in 1:35. Same match as the last two weeks. Prudius did the Russian national anthem. I think he’s getting worse, if that’s possible. Prudius circled ring with his eyes bulging out of his head. Maestre’s leg kick only served to up the Ruskie’s rage level. Prudius kicked Mestre in the gut and heaved him so the back of his head slammed against the top turnbuckle. Prudius delivered a pair of old school forearm smashes to the chest. Prudius grabbed Mestre up by the ears and tossed him like a rag doll. Maestre ducked a lariat and went for a high crossbody. No way. Prudius did a gorilla press and let Maestre free fall to the mat. Prudius scraped Mestre up and into the torture rack drop. 1-2-3. DeMott said Prudius was the real deal.
Matt Striker was backstage with smoking hot 2006 Diva search finalist Rebecca DiPietro. Striker welcomed her to DSW. DiPietro said she was going to proved that she belonged and work her way up. Striker asked DiPietro for some anecdotes about the Diva search. DiPietro said she was the girl with buzzer in her pocket and the tack in her hand. There was no way J. T. was getting over on her in Musical Chairs.
“Stick around to see what I’ve got in my back pocket (Striker tried to sneak a peak). I’m gonna work it. I’m gonna prove it. Stay tuned.”
Striker said the sign on the marquee says wrestling. He asked DiPietro if would be able to withstand the rigorous training involved in becoming a sports entertainer.
I’m not afraid to get out there. I’m not afraid to get thrown around. I’m not afraid to get beat up. I’m not afraid to get black and blue. C’mon, you think you can break me? Let’s see if you can break me. You’re going to be seeing me soon.”
I’m guessing the above was taped before DiPietro had an opportunity to get in the ring with DeMott.
Knox reminisced about bringing Neikirk into Phoenix five years ago, being introduced to each other’s families, driving 20 hours to get a look from the WWE. Knox said he also remembered being DDTed into the floor last week, but he didn’t remember much after that.
“So it’s come down to lumberjacks. I can go nowhere. You can go nowhere. Brother against brother, friend against friend, Derrick Neikirk, I hate you.”
Knox made his way to the ring. He stopped to soak up the applause of the fans at the Deep South Wrestling Arena. DeMott said the stips were no count outs and no DQs with 12 men on the outside.
Cut to a pretaped comments from Neikirk.
“A lumberjack match…In a perfect world, I couldn’t have asked for anything more, Mike…I get exactly what I want, and that’s a fight. Because tonight, we end this. Tonight, you realize exactly why they call me ’24/7′.”
(2) Derrick Neikirk defeated Mike Knox in a lumberjack match (9:55). Knox greeted Niekirk with a fist in the face and the battle was on. Knox took Neikirk off his feet with a double leg and used a leg DDT. Niekirk rolled out of the ring favoring his left leg, as the heel lumberjacks provided a momentary safe haven. Back inside the ring, Knox was all over the damaged leg, as the fans chanted “ECW.” Knox applied a spinning toehold. Knox wrapped the leg around the ropes to dish out more punishment and delivered two more leg DDTs. Neikirk turned the tide with a neckbreaker from a reverse DDT position. Neikirk mauled Knox. Neikirk hit a Saito suplex, but was slow to follow up because of the gimpy leg and Knox kicked out. Knox collapsed after taking a hard whip into the turnbuckles. Neikirk dumped Knox into the waiting arms of the heel lumberjacks. Sonny Siaki and Eric Perez started pounding away. Knox fought them off. Montel Vontavious Porter shoved Knox, and Knox decked him for a great pop. Back inside, Neikirk continued to wear Knox down. The crowd chanted “Knox, Knox, Knox.” Neikirk used a hangman neckbreaker and made repeated pin attempts to no avail. Knox brawled his way out of a rea chinlock. Knox blasted Neikirk with a haymaker. Knox rocked Neikirk with a reverse atomic dropkick and put him down with an impressive standing dropkick. Knox did a sliding lariat for a near fall. Knox hit a Spinesplitta that left Neikirk flat on his back. Knox was headed for the ropes with something heinous in mind when MVP pulled him out. The heel lumberjacks were all over Knox. A foreign object made its way into the ring. I think it came from MVP but no way to tell for sure. Knox fought his way back into to the ring. Neikirk clobbered Knox with the knucks and it was lights out. DeMott said Knox just got knocked cold by the best right hand in wrestling. MVP congratulated Neikirk. The closing shot showed the babyface lumberjacks crowding around the limp carcass of Mike Knox.
Closing Thoughts: Just their luck to get stuck with a 30 minute program on their last shot prior to the Six Flags event, although they managed to pimp it with several ads. No matches have been announced including the identity of Ric Flair’s opponent, not that those things would significantly affect attendance. Flair is the draw….Prudius’ promo segments are perversely entertaining, a hidden pleasure kind of thing. The national anthem stuff gets heat live, but it’s more likely to get TV viewers to change the channel. Prudius is being well protected with short matches where he sticks to what he can do well. His forearm smashes need work though…You gotta love DiPietro’s chutzpa, although she’s built painfully slight to do the wrestling…Neikirk and Knox had another hard-hitting match. Solid work all the way through, bolstered by a good call of the match by Sherrod and DeMott. Intersting to note that Neikirk’s use of the foreign object was omitted on the commentary.
