For decades, World Wrestling Entertainment has relied on developmental promotions to introduce talent and train them to wrestle WWE-style matches in front of smaller crowds before throwing them to the wolves on the main roster. For much of the 2010s, NXT was the place for that, but just before that it was Florida Championship Wrestling.
From 2007 to 2012, FCW worked out of a building in Tampa Bay, FL, and developed future stars like Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Naomi, The Usos, Roman Reigns, The Bella Twins, and countless others. It was a more under-the-radar affair than NXT, so let’s take a look at some cool things about Florida Championship Wrestling that you might not be aware of.
10 It Was a Relaunch
Florida Championship Wrestling, of course, wasn’t the first promotion to make its home in the Sunshine State. Championship Wrestling from Florida -- founded in 1949 and run in the 1960s and 1970s by NWA President Eddie Graham -- boasted such legendary talent as Dusty Rhodes, "Superstar" Billy Graham, and commentator Gordon Solie before it shuttered in 1987. When FCW was founded in 2007, it wasn’t just a Florida-based promotion with a similar name -- it was actually a revival of the defunct CWF, a fact that even WWE itself has acknowledged.
9 Notable First Champions
If you take a look at the history of FCW’s championships, you’ll notice a lot of familiar names -- or at least some familiar faces, as not everyone worked under the ring names they’d adopt in WWE proper. The company’s biggest title, the Florida Heavyweight Championship, was initially won by Jake Hager (a.k.a would-be star Jack Swagger), while the FCW Divas Title was first held by Naomi Knight (a.k.a. just Naomi) after beating Serena Deeb in a tournament final. Its secondary men’s title was the Southern Heavyweight Championship, first won in a 21-man battle royal by Harry Smith, better known as Davey Boy Smith Jr. or DH Smith
8 The Jack Brisco 15 Title
In addition to the above-mentioned titles, FCW also had an additional men’s title, introduced in 2012: the FCW Jack Brisco 15 Title, which was a medal rather than a belt, and was contested in 15-minute Iron Man matches, a WWE favorite.
More than just an interesting defunct title, the Jack Brisco 15 also ended up resulting in some of the best matches in the history of the promotion. Dean Ambrose’s challenge for Seth Rollins’ title resulted in two time limit draws, so the situation escalated into a 39-minute Iron Man match that would be considered by some fans to be the best WWE match by both men.
7 Aired Regionally
Unlike Full Sail era NXT, which fans could watch on Hulu even in its early days, FCW was not as readily available to WWE fans, as its weekly show only aired regionally on the cable channel Bright House Sports Network. As a result, only Central Florida wrestling fans ended up being the first to see many of the corporation’s future commodities before they showed up on TV.
6 It Was Also a Precursor To The Performance Center
As a developmental promotion, FCW also existed to teach budding stars and show them how to be successful TV wrestlers, so a school is a necessity. Given that WWE didn’t open the Performance Center until 2013, FCW talent as well as pre-PC NXT stars learned the biz at the FCW Arena, a small building where FCW also staged its weekly show, as well as NXT house shows for a few months.
5 It Was Started by Skinner
The founder of Florida Championship wrestling was Steve Keirn, who might be best known to wrestling fans under his ring name of Skinner, WWE’s resident alligator hunter who performed for the promotion in the early 1990s. Before that, however, Keirn wrestled under his real name, capturing countless National Wrestling Alliance titles over the course of his career. This included five reigns with Championship Wrestling From Florida’s top title which further explains the revival of that particular promotion.
4 Pre-Shield Triple Threat
Ever since The Shield debuted in 2012 and gained a following, fans were clamoring for the inevitable breakup and ensuing Triple Threat match involving Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. While they clashed numerous times, a pure triple threat didn’t happen on the main roster until a couple years after their breakup at Battleground 2016 , but little did fans know that it actually happened BEFORE The Shield even formed!
In 2011, the three had a three-way bout on FCW television to become #1 Contender to Leo Kruger’s Florida Heavyweight Championship, with Reigns (under the name “Leakee”) coming out on top.
3 Queen of FCW
Unlike most mixed-gender promotions operating today -- including the beloved NXT -- Florida Championship Wrestling actually had a secondary championship for its women’s division. Their title was the Queen of FCW, which was a crown instead of a belt, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling style. The title was deactivated mere months before FCW as a whole was deactivated, and boasted such champions as AJ Lee, Serena Deeb, and Raquel Diaz.
2 Its Close Relationship to NXT
When Florida Championship Wrestling was established, WWE had cut ties with its other developmental territories, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling, to become WWE’s only farm league, and thus a direct precursor to NXT. The game show era of NXT was composed of FCW talent -- albeit after a name change -- and even early Full Sail NXT was entirely composed of wrestlers who were established in the old promotion like Mike Dalton (now known as Tyler Breeze), Kassius Ohno, and Paige.
1 The Dean Ambrose/Mick Foley Feud
Here’s a forgotten bit that made wrestling website headlines in 2012 -- that time FCW star Dean Ambrose started a feud with Mick Foley. Long before Adam Cole flew off the handle on Pat McAfee’s show, Ambrose verbally ambushed the Hardcore Legend in a hotel on WrestleMania weekend, blaming Foley’s death-defying antics for negatively influencing Dean Ambrose’s entire generation, including Ambrose himself. Fans weren’t sure if the videos circulating online were staged or not, and a full-on feud was supposed to happen, but Mick Foley couldn’t get medically cleared, so it never came to fruition.