American professional wrestling promotion
Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW)
was a
professional wrestling
promotion
based on the former
National Wrestling Alliance
member promotion,
Championship Wrestling from Florida
, which operated from 1961 until 1987.
[1]
From October 2007
[2]
[3]
to August 2012,
[4]
the promotion served as the official
developmental territory
for
WWE
. In August 2012, WWE re-branded Florida Championship Wrestling into
NXT
for their developmental territory, with storylines and championships being discontinued.
[5]
In March 2020 a documentary was released on
WWE Network
titled
A Future WWE: The FCW Story
, about the professional wrestlers that came up through the FCW system.
[6]
History
[
edit
]
The promotion was started by
Steve Keirn
in 2007
[7]
and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based
Deep South Wrestling
in April 2007.
[8]
It became their sole developmental territory in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with
Ohio Valley Wrestling
.
[3]
FCW's debut show was on June 26, 2007 at Tampa, Florida's Dallas Bull. A 21-man
Battle Royal
was held during the show, to crown the first ever
FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion
.
[9]
The next year, the
Florida Heavyweight Championship
was introduced,
[10]
with
Jake Hager
becoming the first champion at a February 15 show after surviving a Battle Royal and defeating
Ted DiBiase, Jr.
[11]
The
Florida Tag Team Championship
was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares (
Eddie Colon
and
Eric Perez
) beating
Steven Lewington
and
Heath Miller
to win it in the finals of a one night
tournament
.
[12]
The singles titles were later
unified
, keeping the "Florida Heavyweight" name and championship.
[13]
On July 7, 2008, WWE confirmed that FCW was based on the original independent
Championship Wrestling from Florida
promotion, which operated from 1961 until 1987.
[1]
The program's ending consisted of various clips from the ending of CWF's programs, featuring
Gordon Solie
's classic sign-off line "So long from the Sunshine State", accompanied by Solie winking one of his eyes and waving two fingers upward.
On July 17, 2008, the FCW Arena was officially opened,
[14]
and included a taping of the debut episode of
FCW TV
.
[15]
On March 20, 2012, it was reported that WWE would cease operation at Florida Championship Wrestling; however, this statement was later refuted after Steve Keirn denied the claim.
[16]
WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events,
Triple H
, stated WWE will be ramping up their development system, not shutting it down.
[17]
In August 2012, WWE dropped the FCW name, deactivated the titles, and began running all of its developmental events and operations under the "
NXT Wrestling
" banner. WWE had been using the
NXT
name for a television program featuring rookies from FCW competing to become WWE main roster wrestlers, though the
reality television
aspects of the show had been dropped earlier in 2012;
WWE NXT
now serves as the primary television program for the NXT Wrestling promotion.
[5]
Championships and accomplishments
[
edit
]
Notable alumni
[
edit
]
The following is a list of notable FCW alumni that were called to the main roster of WWE.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Florida Championship Wrestling unveils new arena in Tampa, Fla"
.
WWE
. July 7, 2008
. Retrieved
July 8,
2008
.
From the birth of the promotion in the 1960s, until 1987, "Florida Championship Wrestling" was regarded as one of the premier wrestling territories in the country...Florida Championship Wrestling is now an official developmental territory of World Wrestling Entertainment. FCW and the WWE are proud to bring back Florida Championship Wrestling.
- ^
"About page"
. Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from
the original
on October 13, 2007
. Retrieved
October 24,
2007
.
- ^
a
b
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. WWE. February 6, 2008. Archived from
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on February 10, 2008
. Retrieved
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2008
.
- ^
"About Us"
. Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from
the original
on August 5, 2012
. Retrieved
April 11,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
"WWE News: FCW name being phased out"
. Wrestling Observer
. Retrieved
August 14,
2012
.
- ^
"411MANIA"
.
411’s A Future WWE: The FCW Story Report
. Retrieved
March 13,
2020
.
- ^
Fox, Geoff (September 8, 2007).
"Area Wrestling Will Continue Under A New State Banner"
.
The Tampa Tribune
. Archived from
the original
on December 20, 2008
. Retrieved
April 2,
2018
.
- ^
"WWE ends relationship with DSW"
. WWE
. Retrieved
October 24,
2007
.
- ^
"FCW 2007 results"
. Online World of Wrestling
. Retrieved
October 24,
2007
.
- ^
Wojcik, Alan J.
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. Online World of Wrestling. Archived from
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. Retrieved
April 6,
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- ^
Wojcik, Alan J.
"Results from Tampa on 2/15"
. Online World of Wrestling. Archived from
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. Retrieved
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- ^
Wojcik, Alan J.
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on May 28, 2009
. Retrieved
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- ^
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Gray, Richard.
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. Wrestling World News
. Retrieved
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- ^
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.
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History
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Programming
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Home bases
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Personnel
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Notable rivalries
and matches
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Affiliated properties
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Defunct businesses
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Notable acquisitions
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Investments
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Related companies
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Partnerships
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Championships
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Accomplishments
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Brand extension
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International
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Miscellaneous
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Championships
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Television
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Related
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