411’s Deep South Wrestling Report 3.23.07

What’s this, another report from me? Is this Deep South Wrestling? Yes it is kids, the good news for you is that with the Cable Company doing upgrades and adding new channels, I got MAVTV this week. MAVTV is “The Network for Men” for 2007, and has sports, strongman stuff, mountain biking, Motocross, fishing, that classic wrestling comedy LEARNING THE ROPES and bikini contests. Also there looks to be some MMA on here, so it is similar to VS, only MAVTV only has about 4% penetration across the nation, but it is growing.

Today well look at Deep South Wrestling. Deep South is the WWE’s other developmental system, and has brought us such wrestling luminaries as Mike Knox, Matt Striker, MVP and Fake Kane. Yeah, well be that as it may, we’re going to check this show out anyway so I hope you enjoy it.

Deep South Wrestling Begins…NOW~!

-“The Russian Bear” Oleg Purdius cuts a promo, mostly in Russian. He’ll break us and all that stuff. No, “I LOVE DOUBLE DOUBLE E” here.

-He now sings the Russian National Anthem, poorly and the crowd hates it. Old School.

Kenny Omega vs. “The Russian Bear” Oleg Purdius

Lock up and Purdius tosses him across the ring. Omega gets a leg, take down and Purdius kicks him away. Purdius tosses Omega to the corner, and drops some forearm clubs on him. He picks him up, off the ropes and gets a press slam onto the top rope in the corner. Fall away slam follows. Purdius busts out the torture rack into the shock treatment for the win.

Winner: Oleg Purdius @ 1:47 via pin

Fine squash match here. From the sound of the commentary, Purdius has been doing this for weeks, running through the roster in quick form. He looked fine for what this was, not that smooth or polished though and not ready for WWE TV.

-Back from commercial and some redneck dude says he has to fight a teacher tonight. He now switched to a street thug deal and starts saying DAWG and RATTA TAT TAT. Wow. This is so bad, almost too hard to describe.

Ray Cheesey vs. Matt Striker

Lord I have to deal with the teacher here as well. Also, I think the guys name is Cheesey, but without graphics I am just guessing off of questionable sound quality.

On with the match. Matt discusses some social graces with Mr. Cheesey, slaps him and the takes some hip tosses. Atomic drop and a clothesline by Cheesey. Eye poke by Matt and throws Cheesey to the corner. He chokes him out and then kicks the rope into his throat. Matt ties him up in the ropes and then gets a baseball slide dropkick. He pulls Cheesey in and covers for 2. Elbow drops by Matt and another cover for 2. Cheesey back with rights, off the ropes and Matt gets some wacky ass back breaker for 2. Headlock by Matt, breaks after using the ropes and Cheesey back with forearms. Cheesey off the ropes with a forearm, drop toehold and then the Russian Leg Sweep. Cheesey gets the ATL leg drop for 2. Matt gets a sloppy roll up for 2 as he had the ropes. This is falling apart. Cheesey gets a roll up for 2. Matt with a yakuza kick and that will be all.

Winner: Matt Striker @ 4:30 via pin

This was an ugly match. Cheesey is really bad, so bad that Striker appeared to be on a totally different level than him. When Striker was on Raw, and in the ring, he looked to be a level below other guys, but here in DSW he is a God and he can work a crowd we all know, but his wrestling is so above the other so far that he looks very good.

-We get a video package for Derrick Neikirk.

-Back from commercial and Smooth Tommy Suede cuts a promo on MVP, they will have a match here.

-MVP is on the cell in the back, he is taking care of business. He now says that Suede is out classed. He’ll start sweating, and when Suede gets wet, it isn’t smooth and is ruined. He says Suede will be like everyone else, he will respect MVP.

“Smooth” Tommy Suede vs. MVP

He drops his bling off with DeMott. He is sporting the short box cut trunks here, better than his Power Rangers deal he wears now. Lock up and a wristlock by Suede. MVP rolls out and kicks Suede away. Suede poses, sweet, MVP has a towel on his trunk ala a quarterback. Test of strength and Suede in control early. Northern lights, bridge up by MVP, puts him into a back breaker but Suede escapes. RANA by Suede and a cover for 2. Irish whip and a yakuza kick about kills Suede. MVP lays the boots in the corner to Suede, “Ballin” dance and a basement dropkick to Suede. MVP pulls out a Sharpie and signs a poster, and back into the ring. He beats down Suede, locks in a cool choke deal with Suede’s own arm involved. Sidekick by MVP, and a slam follows. “Ballin” elbow misses and Suede with a flying forearm connects. Off the ropes and a tilt a whirl into a bridging German by Suede for 2. RANA try by Suede, but MVP gets a powerbomb into the corner. MVP locks in a variation of the cross face and that is all.

He gets his cell and takes a picture of Suede lying on the mat, tremendous.

Winner: MVP @ 5:40 via submission

Wow…I have to say that I am impressed. MVP was really different here than on Smackdown, which just lends fact to my “made to work the WWE style” deal I tend to talk about. He was fun, led the match well and if he was allowed to be more like this on Smackdown I think he’d succeed more. As for Suede, he didn’t appear totally outclassed as other have so far. He is a fun baby face, lots of potential and decent size. It will be interesting to catch some more of him in the future.

-Back from commercial and a crazy man cuts a promo, promising to prove himself and maim people. Ok, he is Danny Jamando.

-DSW champion Rough House O’Riley cuts a very…slow…and bad…promo…about being…the champion and keeping… … …the gold…because it belongs…with him.

NON-TITLE MATCH: Danny Jamando vs. Rough House O’Riley ©

They circle and talk trash. Lock up, they battle to a corner and Jamando breaks clean. Lock up and a wristlock by O’Riley. Jamando reverses it and then O’Riley rolls through and reverses the hold again. Jamando rams him to the corner and gets a back elbow. Irish whip and a hip toss by O’Riley. Jamando ducks a clothesline, slams him down and a knee to the back of the head gets 2. Rear headlock and beer tap by Jamando. O’Riley fights back with chops. Back elbow by Jamando and then a clothesline. A knee drop and a cover for 2 by Jamando. Jabs by Jamando, knee drop and then chokes out O’Riley with his leg, a quick cover for 2. Jamando gets a sleeper as he sits on the top rope, O’Riley walks him out and then slams him to the corner. Rights by O’Riley, slam and a shoulder block. Off the ropes and a flying clothesline gets 2 for O’Riley. O’Riley gets a full nelson, but Jamando escapes and gets the full nelson slam himself! He yells at the camera and covers for 2. O’Riley kicked out of his own finisher and they are amazed~! Jamando tries a bulldog, but O’Riley tosses him off. Oklahoma roll by O’Riley and that is all.

Winner: Rough House O’Riley @ 6:05 via pin

Fine bigger guy match, mostly WWE style. Jamando seems to have more character, and O’Riley has some talent. I wasn’t blown away by either guy though.

-Backstage Mike Knox cuts a promo. Someone turned on him and he’s pissed. He’s a pretty decent promo as they have him as a half crazed guy with a maniacal laugh. Not bad at all.

Mike Knox vs. Derrick Neikirk

Neikirk dives into the ring and they just start to brawl. Big rights by Knox and Neikirk to the floor. Knox follows, beats him down, tosses him back into the ring and more ass kicking. Apparently they were TEAM ELITE and recently broke up, about 3-weeks ago. Big backdrop to Knox. Neikirk wit knees to the back now, cover for 2. Chinlock now by Neikirk. Judging by commentary, this was during Knox’s ECW run, and while DeMott was still employed. To the floor they go and Neikirk slams Knox to the ring apron. Back into the ring, sweet belly to back by Neikirk and a cover for 2. Clubbing cross faces by Neikirk and then into a seated bear hug. Knox elbows out, off the ropes and a knee to the gut by Neikirk and a cover for 2. Headlock by Neikirk again, Knox battles to his feet and Neikirk with forearms again. Off the ropes and a HUGE Yakuza by Knox! Both men down and the count has begun. They exchange rights mid-ring and Neikirk rolls to the floor. Knox follows and they continue the brawl. And they get counted out.

Winner: Double Count Out @ 7:25

Neikirk gets a chair but Knox tosses him into the steel post. Knox grabs the chair but Neikirk grabs him and hot shots him off of the steel railing. Neikirk pulls up the mat, drags Knox over and THE LOCKER ROOM EMPTIES~! But they can’t keep Neikirk back and he gets a SICK DDT to Knox on the floor. Knox did that sick top of the head, headstand sell of the DDT. MVP is there taking pics with his phone! I LOVE THIS MAN!

First of all Mike Knox showed more personality there than he did his entire run in ECW. He does have some character potential, but is just limited in the ring. The match was fine, they played up the fact that they hate each other and all in all it worked. Fine stuff here.

The 411: All right, so this was the first offering of DSW that I got. Overall it wasn’t as bad as I have heard. I have some gripes, there was the ugly ass opening video, and it looked like my high school production class made it, rather bad. Another thing was that there were no Graphics for the names of the guys that came to the ring or for promos. With the sound quality being mediocre at best, you have to guess on exactly what the names are.

Now the rest. It appears as if the show is more “infomercial” because there were almost no commercials, and when there was they were very short, which allowed them to cram a lot of wrestling on the show with no interruptions. 25-minutes of in ring action, thanks to almost no commercials. I gave my match thoughts above, there was nothing horrible but it is amazing how some guys (MVP and Striker) look like superstars here, but either can’t step up or in some cases aren’t allowed to do what makes them stand out.

All in all a good first show for me to come in on, and this should be a regular thing since MAVTV seems to have a lot of replays of the show. I’ll be back later tonight with NWA Wrestling!