These days WWE fans are extremely aware of its developmental system, NXT, but in the years before NXT ascended to becoming WWE’s “third brand,” its farm leagues largely flew under the radar. Even a developmental promotion as recent as Florida Championship Wrestling wasn’t exactly making waves, and even more obscure than that is one of its prior feeder systems, Deep South Wrestling.
Deep South was fairly short-lived, lasting only from 2005 to 2007, and it was far less popular and prominent than the developmental system known as Ohio Valley Wrestling, which was running at the same time. But there are still some interesting tidbits about its history, including which future stars set foot in a DSW ring.
10 Notable WWE Talent
While Ohio Valley Wrestling can boast John Cena and Randy Orton as successful products, Deep South started up too late to have much of an effect on the peak of the Ruthless Aggression era. It did, however, train a good number of stars that showed up later, like Kofi Kingston, Michelle McCool, Zack Ryder, MVP, and Jack Swagger. Brian Cage, now known for performing in AEW, Impact Wrestling, and Lucha Underground, also went through Deep South Wrestling, but at the time he was signed to WWE.
9 It Was A Relaunch
Deep South Wrestling is relatively obscure, but there’s actually even more obscurity within the obscurity. Even those who are aware of DSW for WWE-reasons might not be aware that it also existed in the 1980s. That iteration was founded by the same man who founded the 2000s version, Jody Hamilton, but the initial run was just as short, lasting from 1985 to 1988. Then it was an “outlaw” territory unaffiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance but also functioned as a developmental promotion with a working relationship with Jim Crockett Promotions.
8 Its Founder Also Created The WCW Power Plant
After the original Deep South Wrestling folded, Jody Hamilton -- a wrestler best known for his work in the tag team The Assassins -- decided to try his hand at training wrestlers, having recently injured his back in a match. As a result, he worked with WCW to open a school, the WCW Power Plant.
One of Hamilton’s longest-running efforts, the Power Plant ran from 1989 to 2001, and trained much of WCW’s talent, including stars like Kevin Nash, Goldberg, and Diamond Dallas Page as well as some who were less successful.
7 The Miz Was DSW’s First Champion
Deep South Wrestling only had two championships during its 2000s run: the DSW Heavyweight Championship and the DSW Tag Team Championship. While the tag titles had been held by WWE mid and undercarders like The Major Brothers (later known as Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins), Deuce and Domino, and The Gymini, the most notable future WWE star held the DSW Heavyweight Championship. Mike Mizanin -- later known as The Miz -- ended up becoming DSW’s first champion after defeating Mike Knox in a tournament final.
6 Not Everyone Was Signed To WWE
While many wrestlers with developmental contracts performed for Deep South Wrestling, the promotion also had talent on its roster that wasn’t actually signed to WWE. As a result, when WWE cut ties with DSW -- as well as Ohio Valley Wrestling -- wrestlers who were signed to WWE were moved over to a new developmental promotion, Florida Championship Wrestling. Meanwhile, performers who weren’t signed to WWE ended up being left behind.
5 Kenny Omega Wrestled In Deep South
While The Miz is probably the biggest star to perform for Deep South, the promotion is best known among fans for being home to New Japan and AEW star Kenny Omega during that brief period he was in WWE developmental from 2005 to 2006. While his time there didn’t necessarily bear fruit, and Omega himself has talked about what a miserable time it was, WWE has made some of his DSW matches available on the WWE Network.
4 Its Last Champion Was Xavier Woods
Another future star who spent time in Deep South was Xavier Woods, who reportedly visited DSW without an invitation to ask for a position on the roster. Woods -- then known as Austin Creed -- ended up being accepted, albeit without a WWE developmental contract, as WWE had already cut ties with the promotion.
DSW would shut down later that year, but not before Woods beat Murder-1 in a tournament for the vacant title. Coincidentally, Xavier Woods’ time with Deep South Wrestling overlapped with that of his future New Day partner Kofi Kingston.
3 Mr. O’Reilly’s Wild Ride
Another noted alumni of Deep South Wrestling, Konnor, of the former WWE tag team The Ascension, worked under the kind-of-awesome ring name of Roughhouse O’Reilly. While in DSW, O’Reilly managed to become a two-time DSW Heavyweight Champion, but a Wellness Policy issue kept him from a scheduled debut in the ECW revival. The future Konnor would be released in 2007 but was re-signed to WWE in 2010, debuting in FCW and later NXT as The Ascension.
2 They Held Shows At Six Flags
One cool thing about these smaller, low-profile developmental promotions is that they sometimes put on events in unexpected places rather than big arenas or random gyms. Deep South Wrestling is a great example of this, as they had a semi-regular series of events called Park Slam, which were held at the theme park Six Flags Over Georgia. These were special events that had WWE main roster talent in the main event, including Booker T, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam, The Big Show, and Ric Flair.
1 Its 2007 Closure Was Sudden
WWE’s split from Deep South Wrestling in April of 2007 seemed to come as a surprise to Jody Hamilton, who would go on to file a lawsuit against WWE for breach of contract on the basis of not giving Hamilton 90 days notice before ending their relationship. Reportedly, Hamilton was planning more Six Flags shows at the time and ended up losing a lot of money due to WWE’s sudden announcement. The lawsuit would end in 2010 with an out-of-court settlement.