I'm back at USF and ready to impart my thoughts on my night onto all of you. Well, Ledge, Chris, and that guy from SummerSlam. Lets get to it cause I'm sleepy and I have to wake up at 6:30 tomorrow morn.
Before I start, I have to say the website doesn't do the arena justice. It's very nice for what it is, and its tucked away next to what appeared to be a truck stop. I thought it would have been bigger actually, but once I got in there, it was the perfect size. They don't take credit cards, so after waiting two hours out front, I had to dash over to a Target to get money, but I still got a nice seat. Next time I definately want to sit next to the announcers desk though.
Speaking of the broadcast team, we have a black guy on play-by-play that had no mic time and no intro I remember, so I'll call him Coach 2.0. And on color commentary, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, who apparently borrowed a robe from Viscera's former closet for tonight, which was a little strange. I don't remember if he wore this back when he introduced his son to WWE, but it looked weird either way.
On to the matches!
1. Scotty Goldman defeated Jack Gabriel
The former Colt Cabana looked really good in this opener, and I really hope they let him break out on Smackdown, cause he can do good stuff in the ring. He did playful spots that outsmarted his opponent, and won clean. He is definitely over with the Tampa crowd, as a Scotty 45 chant hit the arena when they played his music. His opponent had a 50s jacket on, and if I'm not mistaken, I think WWE is training a replacement Domino so Duce can have something to do on Raw.
2. DH Smith defeated "Carnival Freak" Sinn Bowdee
DH Smith is still as boring as he was on Raw those two times he performed, and its a shame, because Sinn has a really good look, and plays well to the camera and crowd. He wasn't given much to do in the ring though, and it seemed like a glorified squash match for Smith. I hope to see more in ring stuff from Sinn in the coming weeks.
3. "Stampede Kid" TJ Wilson defeated Afa
Afa is a big Samoan guy that looks and wrestles like Taz. and thats a good thing. He carries a hook carved out of wood out to ringside with him that reminds me of Kane when he was peddling See No Evil for WWE. He was also really over, with Afa chants and people wearing Carlito Wigs cause he has an afro too. Dusty even slipped one on for the match, and I would have loved to hear the calls at that moment. TJ Wilson was mostly unremarkable, accept for his ring attire, which looks like he got his daughter to make it for him in kindergarten. He has a bull on his trunks and jacket that looks like construction paper. Anyway, Afa was a beast in the ring, but lost to a dropkick by Wilson. After the match, Afa started beating TJ down, and Ryan Braddock came out to help his friend (I'm guessing, maybe its a tag team). TJ escaped, but Afa started pounding on Braddock, then placed his leg on the ring steps and did a running kick into it, causing Braddock to wince in pain. Sadly for him, he had a match next.
4. Drew McIntyre defeated Ryan Braddock
Drew ran in before the ring introductions could complete and pounded Braddock down some more in what should have been a quick squash. Instead, Braddock kept getting up, but never got any offense in, and generally looked like he didn't know what he was doing in the ring, which is the sense I got from him two weeks ago on ECW. Drew finally got him with his finisher, which is a Swinging side slam spun out into a sitout facebuster called the Ego Trip (Thanks Wikipedia!!)
5. "Natural" Nic Nemeth and Gavin Spears retained the Florida Tag Team Titles against The Puerto Rican (That's spelled right!) Nightmares (Primo Colon and Eric Perez)
Primo may have been a little slow on Raw against "Charlito" (facepalm), but together with his tag partner, he was on fire. Gavin Spears didn't seem that impressive to me, but former Spirit Squad member Nic has really improved, and is great in his character. He has gelled back hair, and was rubbing the gel down and then flicking it into the audience as he admired his reflection in the championship belt. This was a nice long match that ended in an interference victory for the champions.
Intermission
Quick story to tell for the intermission. All though the first half of the show, the bell sounded weird, but considering that it was my first FCW show, I just assumed it was the bell they were using. It turned out I was mistaken, as durring the break, an old man came out and showed the young guy at the timekeepers table how to ring the bell effectively. It turns out that he was just clanging it on the top. I guess FCW doesn't just train wrestlers.
7. Miss Angela defeated Daisy to become the official FCW Ring Announcer.The story behind this match is that Roucka, a Beutiful People type chick, only Spanish, sent Daisy in the ring to beat Miss Angela for her. Daisy was a blonde haired diva with a cowboy hat, but otherwise looked like Kelly Kelly. This was a quick divas match, with Miss Angela getting the pinfall in what seemed like no time at all. After the match, Miss Angela went to the back celebrating her victory, and Roucka got in the ring and said it was a fluke, and started annoucing the next match anyway. Angela came back and whacked her with the microphone, taking back her annoucement duties. Imo, Lupe was the better annoucer, as she had a better voice and was more attractive. Alas, she sulked back to the ring and was not seen again.
8. Vladimir Kozlov defeated Kafu
This was the same match we've seen on Smackdown for the past few months. Kafu looks like Afa, but dresses like Jimmy Snuka, wearing a tiger skin jacket and matching boots. His finisher is a head claw, which was applied to Kozlov once, but quickly shaken off. I think he's going to have to change that finisher if he's going to the main roster, although the tamp crowd seemed into him.
9. Stu Bennet defeated Jon Emminger
Bennet is a heel wrestler from England, and the only way I recognized Emminger on the roster page is his unique tatoo, as he is completely genaric in all other ways. This was a glorified squash for Stu Bennet who elicited a few cheers and gestures from the crowd, but it was mostly apathy from the crowd. Both these guys have a long way to go.
10. Vic Adams defeated (Im guessing) Random Jobber
Ug. By this point, it was getting tedious. There were no unique tatoos this time, so I'm at a loss as to who Vic Adams destoryed. Vic had a few good moves, but this was the third squash match in a row, and after the exciting first half, the boredom was causing people to leave before the two main events. Not a good sign, but the last two matches made up for it.
11. Shamus won a Fatal Four Way for the #1 Contendership of the FCW Title, defeating Tyrone Jones, Gabe Tuft, and Gabe's former tag team partner.
All four guys in this match had promos dispersed across the night, and Gabe's partner (didn't catch his name) was the only one who blew it. He said one sentance, and then Gabe came out and talked to him, so I didn't get a sense for him at all. This was a good match, with all four guys doing good spots. I was really impressed with the finish, with Shamus performing a Sitout Chokebomb on Gabe's partner for the win. It's a great finisher, and any one of these guys look ready for the main roster.
12. Special Main Event-WWE Womens Champion Beth Pheonix and Natalya defeated The Bella Twins.
The Bella Twins had a complicated and unique entrance that made them look together, and also made me interested to see one of them on Smackdown tonight. The Bella Twins put up more of a fight then you would think in this match, including one of them delivering a sick Super hurricanrana on Beth Pheonix. After a few minutes, Beth and Natie took over, and cleaned house. I was dissapointed that Santino didn't come along as well, but I suppose seeing four WWE guys for $10 would be a bit much.
It was a great show, and I'm definately going back every week. It's a lot of wrestling for $10, especially since every seat in the house is ringside. Next week, D-Lo Brown is stopping by, and I'm looking forward to it.
What?
-Pudge
