Ryan O’Reilly retained the Deep South Wrestling title Thursday night with a victory of ECW’s Mike Knox in the main event of the weekly television taping at the DSW Arena.

O’Reilly’s first title defense proved to be one of the better singles matches in the history of DSW. A packed house of 250 then saw O’Reilly absorb a heated postmatch beating at the hands of Knox and his tag team partner and former champion, Derrick Neikirk.

The slickster duo of Montel Vontavious Porter and his Attorney/Agent Quentin Michaels handled the commentary for the dark matches.

(A) Bradley Jay pinned Heath Miller with the Regal Roll at 7:40. Fast-paced brawling in the opening minutes. Jay posted Miller’s shoulder and worked the body part. Miller went for a headscissors and took a rude bump for his trouble. Jay locked in a Fujiwara armbar. Miller went for the Heath Bar Crunch. It wasn’t pretty but they sold it as a double down spot. Miller made the comeback. Jay caught Miller with head down and hit his finisher. Good opener. The crowd applauded Miller for his effort.

(B) Urban Assault (Eric Perez & Sonny Siaki) beat Onyx & Kenny Omega in 6:24 when Perez pinned Onyx with the Boriqua Bomb. Urban Assault equals instant heat. Perez attacked Omega before the bell. Perez worked his ass off throughout this match. The babyface team used quick tags to work the arm. Perez blasted Onyx with the stiffest, loudest chop of the night. Onyx stepped aside to avoid Perez’s mad charge and walked into a lefty lariat from Siaki. Assault went to the usual shenanigans of pulling Omega off the apron to foil a tag and distracting the ref so he missed a legit tag. Onyx managed to backdrop Siaki. Hot tag and Omega was on fire. Omega hit a jumping bulldog on Perez for a long two count. Onyx hit a top rope shoulder block and Siaki made the save. Onyx ate the turnbuckle on a flying shoulderblock and Perez wasted him with the implant DDT.

(C) Derrick Niekirk (with Angel Williams) beat Damien Steele in 4:44. Neikirk marched into the ring and immediately started pounding lumps on Steele. Steele dropkicked Neikirk for a one count only. Williams came to ringside. If Neikirk needed any additional inspiration, the sight of Angel busting out her low cut halter top certainly did the trick. Neikirk blinded Steele with a good old-fashoined mauling. Steele came back to score a series of knockdowns, but Neikirk caught Steele with a swinging neckbreaker for a decisive win. Neikirk accepted Williams generous offer of assistance and signaled that the belt would be back around his waist.

(D) Danny Gimondo beat Ray Geezy in 5:59. This match appeared to foreshadow a heel turn by Gimondo, who never got over all that well as babyface. The pop for Geezy is on the rise. Gimondo tired of getting tossed around and decided to go with high impact brawling. Gordy roared back to stagger Gimondo with a corner clothesline and put him on the canvas with a running forearm smash. Gimondo blocked Gordy’s spinning fireman’s carry slam. Gordy went for a rolling reverse cradle and Gimondo used the momentum to roll though for the pin. Gimondo didn’t stick around to shake Gordy’s hand.

Bill DeMott summoned referee Mike Posey out to the ring to give him a proper send off. DeMott announced that this was Posey’s last night in DSW due to his full time commitment with ECW. Nicely done. DeMott was in a jovial mood this evening.

Luscious, the newest Deep South Diva, joined ring announcer Ted Guinness for the merchandise drawing. There were loads of kids in the crowd and the pop for giveaway of a John Cena gimmick was off the chain.

The television taping got underway with DeMott and Nigel Sherrod on commentary.

The taping opened with a funny backstage promo by Matt Striker and Krissy Vaine. Striker read from the rule book (in an effort to justify his fast count on Tracy Taylor last week). Striker said a RAW superstar didn’t belong in a mixed tag in podunk DSW. Vaine liked her outfit but was afraid that it clashed with Striker’s colors. “Let’s just be beautiful.”

Tracy Taylor introduced Mike Taylor as her tag partner. Mike also had issues with Striker from last week. Mike said neither Striker’s ref stripes nor “that tiny bikini you call tights” could save him from the wrath of High Impact.

(1) Mike Taylor & Tracy Taylor beat Matt Striker & Krissy Vaine in 4:30. Not much of a wrestling match but very entertaining. Vaine was using a mirror to check out her hair AND her derriere as she entered the ring. Impact got their usual insane pop. Tracy scored quick two counts on Vaine, who got the hell out of there. Striker wanted no part of Mike and tagged Vaine back in. Striker tripped up Tracy. Vaine seized the opportunity by choking Tracy and slamming her face into the mat. Mike chased Striker to the back. Striker suddenly reappeared and Tony Santarelli was the reason. That popped the crowd. Striker took shelter in the ring. Tracy decked Striker with a hard slap and clocked Vaine, who fell backwards over Striker. Tracy used a jackknife pin and apparently suffered an injury in the process. Big pop for the finish. Tracy gutted it out, but she was clearly in pain and in no mood to celebrate after the match.

A Mike Knox highlight video that will air on ECW this week was premiered on the big screen.

Johnny Parisi cut a promo on Tommy Suede to set up their taped fist match. Parisi said he was going to knock Suede out. After he tortured him and made him squirm that is. Parisi said there was no way Suede he was going to allow his face to be defaced. Parisi guaranteed that if he didn’t win, he was quitting DSW.

Suede said Parisi crawled away with a victory the last time, but only after getting a taste of his own medicine. “Your reign of terror comes to an end, tonight.”

(2) Tommy Suede beat Johnny Parisi in a taped fist match to end Parisi’s career in DSW (5:28).

Parisi attacked. When that didn’t work, Parisi covered up that pretty face and waited for an opening. Parisi ripped at Suede’s face and punched him in the jaw. Parisi gave Suede a gutshot with the taped fist. Parisi applied a sleeper. Suede broke it with a jawbreaker. Suede made a fiery comeback. Parisi got his knees up on Suede’s splash. But when Suede kicked out of the Shaft, it was clear that the final grains of sand were running through Parisi’s hourglass. In desperation, Parisi went for the ring announcer’s chair. Guinness gave it up without taking a bump this week. Posey grabbed the chair away. Parisi ducked under Suedes leap off the top, but Suede landed safely. It only took one well-placed punch to send Parisi to la la land. Fans serenaded Parisi with the goodbye song.

Backstage promo by Majors Brothers. They had a message for Francisco Ciatso. He could “fughedaboudit” if he thought he was beating them a second time —“Capiche?”

(3) Majors Brothers (Brian & Brett) beat Francisco Ciatso & Cru Jones in 6:18. Majors are way over for a team that has only been in DSW for a month. Majors were in control until Jones suckered Brian into position to snap his throat across the top rope. Jones gets the most heat of any non-contact heel guy (and more than a lot of the contract talent) and his offense looked really crisp here. Ciatso threatened to break Brian’s neck. Brian then hit a neckbreaker and hot-tagged Brett. The heels tried to make a Majors sandwich, but the brothers did the dosey-do to set up stereo dropkicks. Majors pinned Ciatso with a middle rope rolling neckbreaker/Samoan drop combo. Good match.

The crowd popped when O’Reilly appeared on the big screen holding the title belt. O’Reilly credited the Ruffians with helping him win the title. “We did this.” O’Reilly said he was facing the craziest, most sadistic man in DSW in his first defense. O’Reilly vowed that the gold was staying in the Rough House.

(4) “Roughouse” Ryan O’Reilly defeated “Outlaw” Mike Knox to retain the DSW Heavyweight Title in 9:20. They had an impressive match at the Six Flags show, and I liked this one even better. O’Reilly’s entrance got the loudest pop of the night. O’Reilly has come such a long way. It’s hard to believe he’s the same performer that stepped into the ring at the first DSW show last September, whereas Knox looked like a major league prospect right from the beginning. Fans chanted ECW at Knox. With the dark hair and cleaned up appearance, Knox looks like just another guy and a very un-ECW like guy, at least the ECW I knew and loved. WWE moves in mysterious ways. They opened with a snug lockup and some crisp chain wrestling. O’Reilly emerged with keylock. O’Relly hiptossed Knox FIVE TIMES for a near fall. With O’Reilly on the apron, Knox delivered a dropkick that sent O’Reilly flying into a wicked back bump on the rail. Knox buried O’Reilly’s head under the apron and gave him a beating. The kids chanted “O-RI-LEE.” Knox used a bicycle kick for a near fall. Knox applied a kneeling cravate. O’Reilly launched a comeback that built to a backdrop for a near fall. O’Reilly roared at the top of his lungs and climbed to the top. Knox cut him off. Knox was looking for a superplex. O’Reilly sent Knox to the canvas. O’Reilly crashed and burned on a diving headbutt that would have made Chris Benoit sit up and take notice. Posey’s count reached eight before Knox managed a one arm cover. O’Reilly rolled a shoulder. They each blocked the other guy’s finisher. O’Reilly ducked the clothesline from Hell. The momentum carried Knox into the ropes and O’Reilly rolled him up on the rebound. Neikirk was all over O’Reilly in a heartbeat.

The heat for Team Elite’s postmatch decimation of O’Reilly was terrific. Knox stood O’Reilly up so Neikirk could spear his limp body. Neikirk applied a single leg crab, and Knox hit a massive guillotine legdrop to the back of O’Reilly’s neck. Elite taunted their victim. O’Reilly was face down on the mat for a very long time. That didn’t deter fans from chanting his name. DeMott got in the ring to check O’Reilly’s condition and was joined by some of the babyface wrestlers. Fans refused to leave until O’Reilly came around and slowly made his way to the dressing room.

NOTES: The release of Parisi was puzzling. His work in DSW has been fine and he was an obvious candidate for the ECW brand…Mikal Adryan, the former NWA Anarchy champion who has become a regular here in recent months, is headed into IWA Puerto Rico.

Gerweck