Deep South Wrestling - Who made it and who didn't

[Tyfo]

For those of you who watched Deep South Wrestling, or followed it on the internet or whatever, this question is for you. As most of you know, Deep South Wrestling was a WWE developmental territory in Georgia from 2005 to 2007, when it was replaced by Florida Championship Wrestling.

During that time, a lot of pretty good talent went in and out of DSW. Many of whom are finding success in WWE (or TNA) currently. Just to name a few, some people who spent time in DSW are: Kofi Kingston, MVP, Vladimir Kozlov, The Miz, Jesse & Festus, The Great Khali, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, Mike Knox, and many more.

But this isn't about those guys. What I'm asking is, which talent that was under a WWE developmental deal in DSW were you most surprised did NOT make it to WWE. I'm not counting Krissy Vaine, because she did make it, and then quit 2 weeks later. I was on the fence about including Neikirk but I did, just because how many people actually realized he was on WWE TV?

If you never followed DSW, you've likely still heard about some of these people and probably still have an opinion.

Here's the OWW alumni page for DSW if you want to look anyone up that is mentioned on the poll. I think they are all on there somewhere.
www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/promotions/deepsouth.html

[kingoftheindies]

probably O'Riley but it's kind of his fault/choice he's not in WWE

[The Captain]

I was really surprised about Angel Williams, as she had a look that WWE loves in their divas, AND she's a good wrestler.

[PKO]

I remember reading repeatedly that Angel Williams was about to be called up, first as JBL's new manager after he ditched Jillian Hall (and these reports lasted a good few months) then as Gymini's manager, which she actually did dark matches and house shows for.

I was actually shocked when she was released because she was basically the only woman from development I was excited to see called up.

[Jeff]

Ryan O'Reilly

[New Age Outlaw]

I heard the reason Angelina Love was released is her dog face. That's saying something considering Jillian Hall and Melina are both pretty much hideous yet have been made big parts of the women's division.

[stevierichardsfan]

high impact

[lovingway]

Neikirk. I always thought he would have been a good midcard heel/hand in the ring

[Snitsky]

Sept 10, 2008 14:45:58 GMT -5 New Age Outlaw said:

I heard the reason Angelina Love was released is her dog face. That's saying something considering Jillian Hall and Melina are both pretty much hideous yet have been made big parts of the women's division.

get out of my head!

i was just going to say this...i guess they replaced angelina with a better looking clone maryse

jillian was passable prior to all the face reconstruction...
ive never thought of melina as attractive she looks a little like paul london and john morrison

[Lance Uppercut]

Sept 10, 2008 14:45:58 GMT -5 New Age Outlaw said:

I heard the reason Angelina Love was released is her dog face. That's saying something considering Jillian Hall and Melina are both pretty much hideous yet have been made big parts of the women's division.

she looks too much like Ashley and Melina (though hit and miss each week) is at least exotic looking, and WWe finally realized that there was a huge latino market out there.

[EJS]

Shantelle Taylor. She was the best female wrestler down there, Nattie included. Probably got released cause she had tiny breasts at the time.

[timebomb]

face probably didn't help either. didny they try to have her wrestle in a mask. Wish they did that with Candice now.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

I'll NEVER understand how Sonny Siaki and Afa Jr. didn't get called up in their tag team. Those dudes were brilliant, and Siaki was massively improved from his TNA days. Also, the team of Micah Taylor and Tony Santorelli of High Impact is another team that should have gotten a callup.

[Handsome Halfbreed]

With Umaga then getting a huge push and Afa Jr. being a shoo-in b/c of his HOF pedigree, I figured Siaki would also inevitably be called up as well. I figured we'd see a stable of Somoans destroying everything in sight on either RAW or SD!.

[Dragonfly]

Out of everyone, I would have to say Scorpio. While I wasn't expecting a massive push, I figured he was a shoo-in for a Finlay "ECW backstage mentor" role. Despite his age (and pot belly), the guy still got it.

Now Jon Bolen... that's a tough one. He used to be a regular in IWC, so I'm somewhat familiar with his work. Honestly, pre-DSW Bolen and post-DSW Bolen were like two different people. Before he was signed, his style was similar to that of Robert Roode or Phil Shatter. After he came back, he looked like a roided-up Rhino. (My theory is that he was hand-picked by Heyman to be in ECW ala Mike Knox and Punk, but never made it up.) Pre-DSW Bolen was awesome. Post-DSW Bolen sucked huge. I could see the guy who went into DSW being a solid midcarder. I don't see the guy coming out of DSW going anywhere.

And I've been curious about this for a while: Is the "Damien Steele" listed above the former XPW champion, or was it another guy working under that name?

[Tyfo]

Sept 11, 2008 10:25:34 GMT -5 Dragonfly said:

Out of everyone, I would have to say Scorpio. While I wasn't expecting a massive push, I figured he was a shoo-in for a Finlay "ECW backstage mentor" role. Despite his age (and pot belly), the guy still got it.

Now Jon Bolen... that's a tough one. He used to be a regular in IWC, so I'm somewhat familiar with his work. Honestly, pre-DSW Bolen and post-DSW Bolen were like two different people. Before he was signed, his style was similar to that of Robert Roode or Phil Shatter. After he came back, he looked like a roided-up Rhino. (My theory is that he was hand-picked by Heyman to be in ECW ala Mike Knox and Punk, but never made it up.) Pre-DSW Bolen was awesome. Post-DSW Bolen sucked huge. I could see the guy who went into DSW being a solid midcarder. I don't see the guy coming out of DSW going anywhere.

And I've been curious about this for a while: Is the "Damien Steele" listed above the former XPW champion, or was it another guy working under that name?

Different guy.

This is DSW's Damien Steele: www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/d/damien-steele2.html

He teamed with Ray Gordy (Jesse) as Ebony and Ivory for awhile.

[Spankymac is sick of the swiss]

Sept 11, 2008 10:43:55 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Sept 11, 2008 10:25:34 GMT -5 Dragonfly said:

Out of everyone, I would have to say Scorpio. While I wasn't expecting a massive push, I figured he was a shoo-in for a Finlay "ECW backstage mentor" role. Despite his age (and pot belly), the guy still got it.

Now Jon Bolen... that's a tough one. He used to be a regular in IWC, so I'm somewhat familiar with his work. Honestly, pre-DSW Bolen and post-DSW Bolen were like two different people. Before he was signed, his style was similar to that of Robert Roode or Phil Shatter. After he came back, he looked like a roided-up Rhino. (My theory is that he was hand-picked by Heyman to be in ECW ala Mike Knox and Punk, but never made it up.) Pre-DSW Bolen was awesome. Post-DSW Bolen sucked huge. I could see the guy who went into DSW being a solid midcarder. I don't see the guy coming out of DSW going anywhere.

And I've been curious about this for a while: Is the "Damien Steele" listed above the former XPW champion, or was it another guy working under that name?

Different guy.

This is DSW's Damien Steele: www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/d/damien-steele2.html

He teamed with Ray Gordy (Jesse) as Ebony and Ivory for awhile.

Which was actually a shockingly funny gimmick with Steele playing a Carlton Banks type character, and Gordy going as "Ray Geezy".

[T Vang is a HO-DADDY~!]

Damien Steele with Ray Gordy in that funny gimmick.

Siaki with Afa Jr.

Derrick Niekirk with Mike Knox as Team Elite