07/31/08 Florida Championship Wrestling TV Taping Report
By Big D
 
We are now at Week #3 of WWE developmental Florida Championship Wrestling running their TV tapings at the FCW Arena in South Tampa, Florida. I'm very positive that they taped two shows during the first taping, but I am not sure if they taped one or two last week. This week was another two hour show, probably not as fun as the previous two, but you can chalk that up to what appeared to be a legitimate injury in the main event of the show. That's always a bummer. Besides that there was also one finish that quite honestly brought my urine to a boil, but we'll get to that.
 
The ring announcer for Taping #3 turns out to be the VERY attractive FCW Diva Angela. She introduces Dusty Rhodes and Brian Kelly as the commentary team, which appears to be the norm now.
 
Match #1: Shawn Spears defeated Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana. The match began with Colt using that trademark European-style chainwrestling, which appeared to be too much for young Shawn Spears. Indeed we heard the infamous "Shawn Spears Men" chant, which, like it or not, is damn creative (easily better than what the people in the Impact zone come up with). Colt is very quick, agile, and on-point, and Spears is tremendous at working heel. His walk and the way he sneers at the fans is great, but he's a little too much like Randy Orton. WWE has way too many people who act like and look like Randy Orton and that has to stop. The match gets more heated. Colt hits all of his trademarks, including the Flying A-hole in the corner, but Spears makes a comeback and hits a neckbreaker for the pin. Unfortunately, because of the injury in the main event, this wound up being my favorite match on the show.
 
Match #2: Kevin Kiley, Lupe Martinez & TJ Wilson defeated Black Pain, Vic Adams, and Tyrone Jones via disqualification. At the risk of sounding racist, this was the light skinned folks against the dark skinned folks, except Lupe is hispanic. Black Pain (not to be confused with Dustin Runnels recent character) is a worker whom I've seen wrestle in Puerto Rico before - a very large man with a mark who wears a half purple/half black suit, almost as if you combine Joker and Two-Face. This was a really well-worked six-man. TJ Wilson is definitely ready, as I've stated before, but he has to lose the goofy haircut. They worked over Tyrone Jones arm early (who is getting ready to start with WWE soon working an MMA gimmick) and the faces make quick tags. The heels soon cut them off. The heels then proceed to work Lupe over for a very long time. The finish here was absolutely horrid and killed the match. Basically, Vic Adams runs in and kicks one of the faces and the referee disqualifies him, almost exactly how JBL was DQed in that six-man on RAW a few weeks back (at least, that's what appeared to happen). That finish is, for lack of a better term, fecal matter. Dusty, What were you thinking? All six guys brawled afterward.
 
MVP comes out to the ring. He says that this is a special FCW edition of the V.I.P. lounge. He says he's sorry he couldn't bring all of the props and gimmicks, but the show is indeed there. MVP was quasi-face for the first part of this segment. MVP puts over the natural atheletes of FCW and brings out "Natural" Nick Nemeth. MVP actually mentions how Nick used to be on RAW and wonders what the hell happened and why he's down in developmental. Nemeth says people envy his gifts, or some crock like that. This brings Evan Bourne to the ring. Evan Bourne apparently has issues with Nick. MVP does a tremendous job here of instigating them to fight, which is awesome. "Campus Legend" Brad Allen comes up from behind and attacks Bourne. Allen and Nemeth attack Bourne until he makes a comeback and shoves MVP, which irks him. Bourne starts throwing his crazy Tiger Mask-like spin kicks. The three gang up on him and MVP says he's gonna show him how to deliver a kick. They put Evan in the corner and MVP nails him with the Yakuza Boot in the corner. I'm going to assume Bourne will face one of these two next week.
 
Match #3: DH Smith defeated Drew McKintyre. I don't really have much to say about this match. DH Smith got the advantage early, got cut off by Drew. They really wrestled your basic match with nothing out of the ordinary or any strange spots. DH scores the win with a German Suplex with a bridge.
 
Match #4: FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Eric Perez and Eddie Colon defeated Afa (Jr) and Sterling Jack Gabriel to retain the titles. The Puerto Rican Nightmares make their first FCW Tag Title defense since getting the belts back at the first taping, against Afa Jr and Sterling Jack. Jack is an appropriate name for him because the kid is a Jacked-up freak. Another guy with the "WWE look". He comes out with the Top Gun glasses and some folks even called him "Iceman". Somebody else told me he looks like that wired-up guy from Night at the Roxbury. Eddie Colon's sweep-kick is awesome, and he used those atheltic-type moves to get the offense early. Eric Perez is tagged in and they get the heat on him for a very long time. Afa is very impressive and the main difference between he and Umaga's character at this point is that he can speak with no problem. So after working over Eric, who decided to play Ricky Morton to Eddie's Robert Gibson, makes the hot tag. Eddie runs wild. Crowd went crazy here. The finish came when Afa and Sterling got into a small argument, which distracted Sterling and once he turned around got caught in a small-package for the win. Fun match.
 
Angela comes out and announces intermission and says that next week, Edge, Beth Phoenix, and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk will be at FCW.
 
Match #5: Sheamus defeated "Handsome" Heath Miller. Heath is one of the most popular babyfaces in FCW with the fans, so it's a shame he is always booked to lose. He is like CM Punk was two months ago. Still, Heath gave the Irishman a hell of a match. Sheamus has a very large physique, with very thick legs and a ripped upper body. His unique beard and red hair give him a look that no other WWE superstar has now, which helps. Sheamus beat on Heath for a long time in the match, with Heath making small comebacks but failing. The finish was Heath ran at Sheamus to climb on his shoulders, but Sheamus caught him into a Powerbomb and just dropped him for the win.
 
After the match, Sheamus cut a promo, but I couldn't understand a damn word that came out of his mouth.
 
Match #6: Gabe Tuft and Kafu defeated Sinn Bowdee & Bradley Jay. This was a pretty decent match overall, despite the only guy who really stuck out was Sinn Bowdee, the Carnival Freak. Kafu is a pretty interesting character as he is built up as a Brazilian, so I guess because of MMA we're supposed to be afraid. Doesn't work. He kind of looks more Mexican than Brazilian anyways. The match started off pretty decently, but the crowd died shortly thereafter. Even PJ Burger, the loudest fan in FCW, sat on his hands. That's bad. It may have been wise to slightly cut the time on this one. Tuft and Kafu won when Tuft hit a moonsault.
 
Match #7: WWE Women's Champion Mickie James and the Bella Twins defeated Roucka, Daisy, and Alicia Fox in a six-diva tag team match. Mickie James was announced as the surprise partner of the Bella Twins even though this match was not in any way promoted. Huge pop for Mickie. This was a fine six-diva match. The Bella Twins worked most of the match with the heels, even though I don't recall Roucka being a heel. On a personal note, I think she's been in developmental way too long. It may be time to put her on the main roster, but what do I know. Anyways, Mickie wins with her super DDT. Why do WWE always get the pins in FCW??
 
Match #8: Stu Sanders defeated Greg Jackson. No offense to either of these guys, but this match was incredibly boring. You could easily see this as the popcorn match to get you ready for the main event. The crowd was absolutely silent. Dead. I figured out that Stu was obviously the heel here, and his gimmick is that he is another one of those "evil Europeans". I don't know what Greg Jackson is other than generic, no offense. They've got to find something for Greg to make him stand out. Stu scored the win with some kind of spinning faceplant.

After the match, Stu started to cut a promo and about four words in, Kane's music hit. No Pyro obviously (and even less Ballyhoo). Kane comes in, chokeslams Stu, and leaves. Literally 2 minutes. He got paid for that. Ok.
 
Match #9: FCW Florida Champion Jake Hager defeated James Curtis via disqualification. Okay, here is where the injury occured, which is a damn shame because these guys had all the ability in the world to have a kick-ass main event. The guys started out working holds in the middle of the ring with no problem. Curtis begins to work Jake Hager's arm, with Hager powering out of it. Hager, as we've noted, is working the undefeated champion gimmick ala Bill Goldberg circa-1998 and Fedor Emelianenko circa-forever. Anyways, apparently Hager dumps Curtis to the outside and Curtis didn't "fall correctly" and twists his knee. Now I'm no doctor, but it appeared that he may have torn his quad, but it could very easily have been a bone injury. So then all hell breaks loose and it appears like they realized he wasn't going to continue the match, so it seemed like they called an audible finish. Gabe Tuft comes out to check on Curtis, as well as another referee. So Hager attacks Tuft on the outside, because he is nuts. Hager throws Curtis back into the ring and before anything can happen. Tuft gets in the ring and attacks Hager. Referee calls for the bell and awards Hager the match due to Tuft's interfierence. Way too soon - definitely NOT the planned finish. Afterward, Tuft and the officials help carry Curtis to the back and Hager just rushes in and takes everybody out. Awesome angle. I truly don't believe this was a work because I got a look at Curtis' knee and it did not look pretty, but we'll know soon enough.
 
So that's the end of the show. Sucks when an injury happens like that, but you really can't factor that in to the overall quality of what was planned. That's almost as ridiculous as giving star ratings to MMA fights, but that's another story. So FCW returns next week with special guests Beth Phoenix, Edge, and CM Punk. They're also running their weekly Tuesday Night shows at Bourbon Street in New Port Richie. Remember, http://www.fcwwrestling.com.
 
Quick Notes:
 
- MVP and Mickie James were signing autographs. Both took pictures with EVERY damn kid that asked, even though FCW management didn't like it. You've got to give them props for it.
 
- Another week and we stil don't know anything about the TV deal other than "it is coming soon". Ok.
 
- FCW is now much more organized than before, although it sucks that it rains every single day in Tampa now, including this day. Sitting out in the rain and waiting for tickets is an epic fail in fun factor.

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