Friday, May 13, 2011

FCW Flood

Talent entering World Wrestling Entertainment tends to pass through WWE's "developmental" organization, Florida Championship Wrestling.  Good preview of coming attractions...another show that I either Youtube or download.  This'll be a long one as I caught up on the last four shows this week...

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FCW TV 4/17

Your hosts are Matt Martlaro, Abraham Washington, & S. William Regal.

Tito Colon vs. Conor O'Brian, falls-count-anywhere match:  This stems from O'Brian attacking Colon backstage...and it doesn't take long for the fight to spill out of the ring.  Conor borrows a ring attendant's chair(after throwing him out of it) but Tito dropkicks him away...then Colon tries to use the ring steps and it backfires as Conor bashes the steps on top of him with the chair.  O'Brian literally shows Tito the door and they brawl out to the lobby for a little while...then completely leave the building as O'Brian dumps Colon off the wheelchair ramp.

Regal recounts the parking lot brawl he had with Fit Finlay...CONTINUITY~!  Conor introduces Tito to a parked truck, then suplexes him onto the truck bed!  Somehow that only gets a two-count...O'Brian goes for the kill but Colon backdrops his way out of a piledriver attempt and literally falls into a pin attempt...for two.  Tito puts a nearby 2x4 to good use and they finally re-enter the building with Tito delivering a rana and dropkick...for two.  O'Brian cuts him off by crotching him on the guardrail...they fight on the interview platform and Conor attempts a back suplex, but Tito lands on his feet...and hits the backcracker!  That's finally enough to finish this hard-hitting battle with Tito Colon victorious.

Backstage, General Manager Maxine Perez confers with Norman Smiley(Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon & Brett DiBiase stand nearby).  Maxine decides that RATINGS~! are up for the FCW 15 matches, so she sets up a title defense for champion Seth Rollins against Richie Steamboat next week.  She sweet-talks both participants separately, promising to help them if they help her...hmm.  Maxine sends Norman away so she can talk to Queen Aksana Raudoniene...she promises to take care of HER as well...

Hunico vs. James Bronson:  James has looked strong in post-match attacks but now we'll finally see him in official competition.  Michael Tarver arrives at ringside to observe...meanwhile, Hunico keeps moving so that Bronson can't get a hold of him for too long.  However, Bronson takes a page out of the luchador's book with a surprise dropkick.  Abe and Regal have been sniping at each other for the entire broadcast...some quips more entertaining than others.  Hunico turns things around and hits a somersault dive off the apron...a Steamboat Press misses and Bronson floors him with a rolling elbow...for two.  The frustration costs Bronson as Hunico goes aerial before dropping his larger opponent with a modified Olympic Slam...then connects with the Falling Star swanton bomb to seal the deal!

Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon(w/ General Manager Maxine Perez, Brett DiBiase, & Queen Aksana Raudoniene) vs. Bo Rotundo, non-title lumberjack^H^H^Hhuman cage match:  Lucky does his best to stall, knowing which side of the ring is "safe".  Bo targets the arm, but an awkward collision in the corner leaves him in bad shape.  Cannon wisely lets the heel lumberjacks do some damage on his behalf, as you might expect.  He even gets an extra hand for leverage from Bobby Dutch while applying a headscissors...it's essentially no-DQ, so why not?  The ref catches Lucky holding the ropes and does feel a need to make a five-count so he breaks the hold.  Lucky nearly knocks Rotundo off the apron, but the face lumberjacks catch him and prop him back up so he can fight back.

Cannon cuts him off with IT'S THE BIG FOOT and slows him down with a chinlock(and feet on the ropes).  Percy Watson feels a need to interject himself and gets elbowed off the apron...so he retaliates by tripping Cannon in the middle of a re-entry suplex so Bo can fall on top...for two!  Cannon takes offense to this action, but Bo has enough of an opening to spear Lucky and get the non-title win over the champion!  Brett DiBiase protests the decision, but the good guys hold the high ground in the ring so he thinks better of it and retreats for now.

Next week:  Seth Rollins vs. Richie Steamboat for the FCW 15 Title.  So long from the Sunshine State!

FCW TV 4/24

Your hosts are Matt Martlaro & S. William Regal.

Big E Langston vs. Jacob Novak:  Of course, Regal has a particular interest in this matchup.  Novak gets overpowered for a while but rakes the eyes to halt his momentum.  Novak does a good job of keeping Langston down on the mat where he can't use his power...but it doesn't last as he gets sidetracked by arguing with the official.  Big E rallies with a belly-to-belly suplex and finishes with the Big Ending.

Kaitlyn Bonin & Naomi Night vs. Divas' Champion A.J. Lee & Queen Aksana Raudoniene:  Naomi does well against A.J. in the early going, but Aksana distracts her long enough for A.J. to baseball-slide her off the apron.  Naomi turns it around with a back suplex and tags in Kaitlyn who cleans house...Kaitlyn knocks Aksana off the apron and Naomi blind-tags in, but A.J. doesn't notice and attempts a modified sunset flip on Kaitlyn.  Naomi slingshots in to land behind A.J. and gets an O'Connor Roll to pin the Divas' Champion...nicely done.

Percy Watson, Roman Leakee, & Donny Marlow vs. Byron Saxton, Leo Kruger, & Calvin Raines:  A lot of factors in this one, though the continuity edge would probably go to the face side and regular partners Leakee & Marlow.  The commentators spot Michael Tarver on another scouting mission...in the meantime, the good guys maintain control until a blind tag allows Raines to clothesline Leakee from behind.  Roman takes some abuse, but turns the tide against Kruger long enough to tag Marlow into the fray.  Grass hut afire!  It turns into a pier-six brawl and Marlow goes to the top rope, but Saxton swats his feet out from under him and he lands on the turnbuckles hard.  Kruger covers(w/ handful of tights) and gets the three-count after that.

Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon arrives with his entourage(General Manager Maxine Perez, Brett DiBiase, Divas' Champion A.J. Lee, and Queen Aksana Raudoniene) to observe the main event...

Seth Rollins vs. Richie Steamboat for the FCW 15 Title:  Last week, Maxine made "promises" to both men...we'll see if anything comes to fruition here as a result.  It's been an interesting rivalry between these two as they've also been partners and recently upset Tag Team Champions Titus O'Neil & Damien Sandow in a non-title match.  Regal draws from his experience as WCW T.V. Champion to explain the psychology of wrestling against the clock.  Feeling-out process to start as they both go for quick pin attempts, then a chop exchange ends in a stalemate.  The five-minute mark passes with no falls scored, then Steamboat picks up the pace.  Regal knows how the chops feel since he had some wars with Ricky The Dragon...

Shot of the heel group at ringside shows most of them overacting in response to the action while A.J. is just intently watching...heh.  Steamboat goes to the top rope only to take a fist to the gut on the landing...then it goes awry for Seth as well as Steamboat catches him on the turnbuckle and delivers a released German suplex off the top!  Steamboat gets the cover and he's up 1-0!

After a brief rest period, Steamboat clotheslines Rollins to the floor and he maintains control as we hit the ten-minute mark.  Seth gets some separation with a Flatliner into the turnbuckles...yes, it HAS been noted that Seth has the championship advantage as he can retain on a tie.  Reversal sequence leads to Seth's jumping curbstomp variant...for two.  Time's running out for Seth but he hits the springboard clothesline...for two.  Turnbuckle powerbomb is blocked and they fight for control until Seth nails a jumping enzuigiri.  Slow to cover...and he gets 2 1/2.  Steamboat rams him back into the corner and sets up a superplex, but Seth fights out and sunset-flips down into powerbomb position and carries him across the ring for the turnbuckle powerbomb!  Avada Kedavra finds the mark and Seth evens it up with just under two minutes to go!

Both wrestlers are spent and I don't know if either will be able to manage a decisive fall...Richie blocks a sunset flip for two.  Rollup for two.  One minute to go.  They fight near the turnbuckles and Seth gets off another jumping enzuigiri, but a springboard move is met by Steamboat's own superkick that sends him to the floor!  Richie tries to pick Seth up and put him back in the ring, but he doesn't have time to get the pinfall...Regal says that he would have just let Rollins be counte dout, but Steamboat's not that kind of competitor.  Suddenly Cannon and DiBiase rush the ring, only to be met with stereo superkicks!  An overeager A.J. and Aksana jump in the ring themselves, but they think better of it and back off.  We get the post-match Mutual Respect Moment(tm), of course.

So long from the Sunshine State!

FCW TV 5/1

At a recent FCW live event, FCW 15 Champion Seth Rollins & Richie Steamboat upset Titus O'Neil & Damien Sandow to become the new Tag Team Champions!  We even get footage of the title change as O'Neil eats a superkick from Rollins and then one from Steamboat, leading to Steamboat getting the three-count as Seth superkicks Sandow to prevent a save.  Hey, Tyler Black's a dual champion!

Your hosts are Matt Martlaro, Byron Saxton, & S. William Regal.

Percy Watson vs. Leo Kruger:  These two were on opposite sides of last week's six-man tag...perhaps there's some unfinished business between the two.  Kruger is coming back from a broken neck, so it's a credit to him that he was able to recover from that.  Regal talks about how staying power means a lot in wrestling and jokes about how he's been around for three decades despite a horrid win/loss record...heh.  Kruger works on the neck and overcomes a late flurry by Watson to win with a swinging fisherman buster called the Final Destination.

Raquel Diaz interviews Xavier Woods...he wants to challenge an established superstar, but he sucks up to the fans first.  That being done, he wants to take on Husky Harris...he says Husky has done a lot, but he's a "Nexus reject" at the end of the day.  Ouch.

Titus O'Neil vs. Monty Lynch:  Conveniently, O'Neil has returned the face-dom in time to coincide with his fan-favorite status on NXT5.  Regal is familiar with his countryman but I don't like his chances here.  Lynch bails out of the ring and disables Titus with a well-timed yank of the arm through the ropes...the commentators wonder if O'Neil is preoccupied by his tag title loss.  Titus uses his power to fight back, delivering a series of huge slams before finishing with the Clash Of The Titus.

GTV:  General Manager Maxine Perez(w/ Queen Aksana Raudoniene) tells Bobby Dutch to get rid of Bo Rotundo...

The Brad Maddox Reality Show:  He briefly interviews Peter Orlov, but Peter has to take a call.  James Bronson walks behind Maddox for no reason.  Brad goes out on a limb to proclaim Lucky Cannon's Heavyweight Title reign to be more impressive than Bo Rotundo's three minutes of fame, then criticizes Roman Leakee's cereal-eating prowess.  Next, a trash-talking segment with Husky Harris...Brad laughs far too hard at Husky's amateur insults.  Regal is speechless.

Raquel Diaz interviews Calvin Raines...he's going to the top.

Bo Rotundo vs. Bobby Dutch:  Dutch seems to have inherited Bradshaw's old music as well as his bullrope.  Rotundo doesn't waste time in going on offense but Dutch cuts him off with the LARIATOOOOO.  Impressive showing for Dutch...meanwhile, Brad Maddox and his camera crew make an appearance near the broadcast position.  Any wrestling in your plans, Brad?  Rotundo fires off a series of clotheslines in the corner, then plants Dutch with a bulldog and follows up with the spear for the victory.

Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins(FCW 15 Champion) & Richie Steamboat vs. Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon & Brett DiBiase(w/ General Manager Maxine Perez & Queen Aksana Raudoniene):  This was conveniently set up by the events of last week...and now the belts are a factor in the equation.  Regal on Maxine:  "Can you imagine coming home to her with five dollars short on your paycheck?"  Cannon and Rollins start, hopefully as a preview of coming attractions.  Funny moment as Lucky rolls out of the ring, Aksana goes for a comforting hug, and Cannon walks past her to hug Brett instead.  :-D  Now it's Steamboat-DiBiase: The Next Generation...Regal wishes he had a dollar for every Steamboat armdrag that's been delivered.  The new champs looks sharp on their teamwork...but Lucky turns the tide on Steamboat and hits a killer hanging neckbreaker.  Brett adds another neckbreaker on the arena floor while Lucky distracts the ref, putting things firmly in the favor of Maxine's cohorts.

The commentators wonder if last week's FCW 15 Title match has left Rollins & Steamboat vulnerable, though it didn't seem to hurt them in that little Tag Title match they had recently.  I must note that DiBiase is a former FCW Tag Champ himself(with Joe Hennig, aka Michael McGillicutty).  The commentators wonder if a win for Cannon & DiBiase will earn them a tag title shot...and also wonder if Rollins or Steamboat could earn a Heavyweight Title shot if one of them pins Lucky.  Steamboat literally uses DiBiase as a stepping stone to make the hot tag to Rollins and he's a house afire!  Seth goes to the top rope as Steamboat bashes Cannon off the apron, but the referee ushers Richie out of the ring and Aksana takes the opportunity to crotch Rollins on the turnbuckle!  Seth falls to the mat in pain and DiBiase covers for the pin...they get a non-title win over the new Tag Team Champions!

Next week:  Husky Harris responds to Xavier Woods' challenge.  So long from the Sunshine State!

FCW TV 5/8

Your hosts are Matt Martlaro & Natalya Neidhart.  Well, she's better-looking than some of Matt's recent broadcast colleagues.

Roman Leakee vs. James Bronson:  Fine matchup to open the show...Leakee discards the elbowpad prior to delivering a FLYING JALAPENO~! for the victory.

New diva Brandi Reed interviews Damien Sandow...we see why O'Neil's attitude shifted last week as Sandow puts all of the blame for the title loss on his former partner's shoulders.  He's happy about losing the dead weight in his life and now wants some singles gold.

General Manager Maxine Perez confers with Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon, Brett DiBiase, and Queen Aksana Raudoniene...and she grants Lucky & Brett a shot at the Tag Titles tonight after last week's non-title victory.  Meanwhile, Divas' Champion A.J. Lee stops by the office to say hi...Maxine orders her to defend her title next week against...Aksana?  Aksana celebrates her title shot by singing "Friday"...um, okay.

Kenneth Cameron vs. Jinder Mahal(w/ Michael Tarver):  WWE's signed a lot of Brits lately, Cameron being one of the latest.  I note some similarity in Cameron's ring attire and that of Monty Lynch a week or two ago...maybe they were tag partners back in the U.K.?  Mahal lures Cameron to the edge of the ring and takes out his leg...FOOT DDT~!  Cameron attempts a comeback and hits a flying knee off the second rope, but that doesn't do his bad wheel any favors.  Mahal goes back to the knee to cut him off, but Cameron blocks an Oklahoma Roll for a two-count.  Jinder declares playtime over and finishes him off with the Sands Of Time(Strongbuster).

Brandi Reed interviews Husky Harris regarding Xavier Woods' challenge from last week...he's got bigger fish to fry, but hey, he's got some time to kill...

Xavier Woods vs. Husky Harris:  Husky doesn't seem to be taking the match seriously, but a couple of quick rollups and a dropkick change his mind.  Xavier would seem to have an advantage in speed and agility, but Husky can move for a guy his size...STOCKY PHYSIQUE~!  Harris uses a unique whip reversal to send Woods to the floor in the roughest fashion possible.  Husky seems to have a cheering section in attendance, notably.  Woods pulls off a unique takedown into a cross-armbreaker but Husky's too close to the ropes.  Xavier is finally able to fire off a flying headscissors and go on offense...a forward-flip clothesline gets a two-count, but Xavier goes aerial once too often and takes a thrust to the throat coming down.  Husky finishes with the Wave Of The Future(identified by FCW's website as the, ahem, "Swine Intervention").

FCW 15 Champion Seth Rollins & Richie Steamboat vs. Heavyweight Champion Lucky Cannon & Brett DiBiase(w/ General Manager Maxine Perez & Queen Aksana Raudoniene) for the Tag Team Titles:  The champs go into teamwork mode early to focus their attacks on DiBiase...meanwhile, Maxine gripes to a conveniently-present Brad Maddox.  Lucky tags into the fray but gets more of the same abuse from the opposition, but Cannon finally kicks out Seth's knee to halt his momentum...

A cheapshot by Lucky gives DiBiase the opening to yank Rollins to the mat by the hair...could the Tag Titles be in jeopardy?  We shall see...Lucky is all "MY CHAMPIONSHIP BANNER!  MINE!" so I'm sure he wouldn't mind a second belt.  Steamboat finally takes matters into his own hands and takes out DiBiase outside the ring, allowing Seth to score with a jumping enzuigiri on Lucky and jump to tag...no one as Brett yanks Steamboat off the apron!  Seth finally Flatliners DiBiase into the turnbuckles(Martlaro must have gotten a memo as he's now calling it a Downward Spiral)...hot tag to Steamboat!  The house is on fire as the champs regain control!

Third floor...Seth takes out Lucky and it's looking like deja vu as Aksana's in prime position to interfere, but she isn't able to stop the Steamboat Press!  One...two...Cannon saves!  Rollins takes out Lucky with the springboard clothesline!  Seth dives onto Cannon with a plancha, leaving Steamboat and DiBiase in the ring...and Richie reverses a whip into a superkick out of nowhere for the win to retain the belts!

Next week:  Bo Rotundo must win a five-man gauntlet match to earn a no-DQ Heavyweight Title shot at Lucky Cannon.  So long from the Sunshine State!

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