"Vince is livid" - Nick Patrick on WWE ending its association with Deep South Wrestling (Exclusive)
Former WWE referee Nick Patrick has given his take on Vince McMahon’s decision to end WWE’s association with Deep South Wrestling.
WWE used Deep South Wrestling as a developmental system from 2005 to 2007. The promotion was run by Patrick’s father, Jody Hamilton, and his mother. Hamilton previously worked as the director of WCW’s Power Plant training facility.
Patrick discussed the end of Deep South Wrestling with Dr. Chris Featherstone on SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop. He said McMahon clashed with Hamilton on how Deep South Wrestling should be run, which ultimately led to the end of their partnership.
"There’s a lot of politics involved if you work with WWE. Everything’s constantly a test to see what your attitude is gonna be.
"When my dad talked personally to Vince about how to run Deep South, and Vince told him how he wanted and that’s how he was doing it… and all of a sudden these office people that weren’t Vince started showing up, coming to my dad and saying, ‘You need to do this, this, this, and this. Vince is livid.’
"Well, coming up to my dad and saying, ‘You need to do this because someone is livid’ is not how you approach my dad."
Watch the video above to find out the full details behind the end of WWE and Deep South Wrestling’s deal in the mid-2000s.
Nick Patrick on WWE removing equipment from Deep South Wrestling
Nick Patrick said people who worked for WWE went into the Deep South Wrestling building one night to remove all equipment related to WWE. He added that there was “no kind of warning or notice or anything” from WWE.
The former referee believes it would have been a sigh of relief for his father if WWE ended the partnership in a professional manner. In the circumstances, however, he felt that his family had been disrespected.
Please credit SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.