Deep South Crowned By Fire -- Atlanta on May 31

From Larry Goodman: This was a hot show. For the last three shows, this company has been firing on all cylinders. The patio at New Realm was...

From Larry Goodman:

This was a hot show. For the last three shows, this company has been firing on all cylinders. The patio at New Realm was packed and they had the crowd rocking from beginning to end.

-- Stunt Marshall is the new NR (New Realm) Champion. Undefeated in SlapFIGHT competition, Marshall has a middleweight championship match in the offing.

-- Skrilla The Great made a surprise return to Deep South for the first time since last October and targeted Alex Kane.

-- DSW introduced their version of Money In The Bank called The Golden Contract.

Drew Dickinson, play-by-play commentator and ring announcer for the evening, introduced Commissioner Simon Sermon for the reveal of  the Road to the Golden Contract. The Road will be a series of qualifying matches that will culminate in a ladder match for the contract on July 26.

The crowd fired up about the gimmick. DSW is a window into how casual fans react to live exposure to pro wrestling. 

Duncan Avecilla and Wallaby made their way to the ring with the shredded remains of Drewski's NWO hoodie. Die Hard Duncan said Owen Knight decided to stay home so pay me my money. Father Marquis preached for an opportunity. Keelin Cole also wanted in. Sermon sanctioned a triple threat because Simon says so.

(1) "Die Hard" Duncan Avecilla (with Wallaby) defeated Keelin Cole and Father Marquis in a triple threat in 5:22. Fast-paced, high flying acrobatics abound.  Wallaby grabbed Cole's leg. Lamar Diggs marched in and powerbombed Cole. Easy picking for Avecilla. Crowd was pissed. Avecilla and Diggs beat Cole down.

I love Owen Knight but the action in this triple threat was a felix culpa. Cole and Marquis both earned return engagements.

Gemma Jewels came to the ring with only one Jewel in the form of Troy Carter for what was advertised as a trios match. Gemma said there would be no match. Simon Sermon begged to differ.  A guy in a mask calling himself Hit For Hire (who looked suspiciously like Wallaby) said he had done Gemma a solid and gotten her a big cannon in return for a favor later. Austin Towers was it.                

(2) Gemma's Jewels (Troy Carter & Austin Towers & Gemma Jewels) vs. DSW Women's Champions Audrey Allen & Trever Aeon & Eddie Hindrixx was a 10 minutes no contest. Gemma was taking great pains to avoid physicality with Allen. Hindrixx did the heavy lifting for his team, again tossing Carter like he was a sack of potatoes. Did it twice. Crowd wanted him to do it again. Aeon turned on Hindrixx. The Left Hand Path brothers obliterated Hindrixx with a Gothplex/Kobeya Kick combo to leave Hindrixx laying.

Gemma tried to abscond with Allen's title belt but Simon intervened. Left ambiguous if Gemma acquired more Jewels or LHP were in business for themselves. There's a lot of juice in Jewels/Allen.

(3) August Artois defeated Alex Kane in 9:51. Artois stops at nothing to get heat. Go away heat? He'll take it. MInd games to no avail. Kane gave him an all expense paid trip to Suplex Island. Jewels tried to stick her nose in. Sermon wasn't having it. Skrilla  appeared out of the blue and hit the Skrillride on Kane, handing him to Artois on a silver platter.

Artois got on the mic and could not get a word in edgewise. Artois kept trying and the crowd kept shouting him down. 

(4) Jacob Johnson & Tyson Maddux defeated Najasism & Big Strong Mims in 15:37. Naja and Mims had fire in their eyes after what Johnson and Maddux did to them at Monday Night Garage two weeks ago. They jumped the villains in the aisle. Mims rubbed Tyson's face in some hapless kid's pizza.

The power of Mims and Naja's speed ruled. Maddux pulled Mims down by his braids. Naja took a wicked double press drop but was able to reverse Johnson's  avalanche World's Strongest Slam  Mims took heat. Naja ran wild with the hot tag and almost won it with a 450. Maddux hit an F5 on Naja but Mims broke up the pin. Mims and Maddux fought towards the back.  No water in the pool for Naja's tornillo splash and Johnson pinned him clean after two World's Strongest Slams. 

Good match until the closing minutes when things kinda fell apart. They righted the ship in the post match via an intense pull apart brawl...

Refs, security and the commissioner had a devil of time breaking it up. Limited space, lots of people. 

In Mims and Maddux, DSW has two wrestlers with major league aura. Mims has unharnessed potential. 

(5) Stunt Marshall defeated Ryan Rembrandt (c) (with CTE)  and Deon Summerz and DJ Smoke to become the new NR Champion in 12:58. Summerz and Marshall both got big reactions for their intros. Commentary highlighted  Marshall being 3-0 in Power Slap competition, all by first round knock outs.

Pandemonium from the jump. They did a tower of doom spot. Smoke was the receipient of an atomic drop on traffic cone from Summerz. Smoke hauled a  table out from the under the ring for one  the loudest pop of the night. Smoke tried to spear Smoke through the table. It was one tough table. Took three tries to get that sucker to break.

Rembrandt low-blowed Marshall  and called the former CT Entertainment into the ring to hit Marshall with a chair. CTE hesitated. Rembrandt smacked him across the face. CTE resolved his torn feelings by blasting Rembrandt with the chair. Marshall KOed Rembrandt with a power slap to win the title. 

Great finish. They'd been building to this turn for a while. CTE and Rembrandt did a fantastic job of milking the drama.  Marshall's power slap was icing on the cake.

NOTES: Mike Fullilove subbed for Nathan Hamilton on color commentary. Fullilove had just returned from Japan (photo at left). DSW has shows at Monday Night Brewing in June 7, Atlanta Dairies on June 13 and returns to New Realm on June 27...Spotted in the crowd: Jay Tyler and Rose Gold...Artois has held the FIP championship for over 900 days but has not defended the title since January.