Hey,
I've mentioned a few times on here my fandom of professional wreslting, and more specifically my attending of FCW, the farm territory for WWE. Something that has been great in the last couple of years has been FCW having shows just 15 min away from my ancestral home in Punta Gorda. It's the best building they wrestle in, so they always have a good who when they come down. Let me put on my Wrestling Fan hat and matching belt and comment a bit on what I saw. If you have no wrestling knowledge, you might as well just skip it, you will not understand half the words i use or anything I'm talking about. Perhpas scroll down and see what else I've written? Or Porn since you're on the internet? But I digress...
- The opening contest was Big E. Langston vs some big bald heel guy I don't know. Big E. is a massive Batista type guy, but he also looks like Ezekial Jackson so I don't know how good his prospects are for actually getting on TV. The match was serviceable as a curtain jerker. The only noticeable thing from the match was that people were still getting warmed up as the Heel guy strapped on his first submission hold, and he yelled out something to the effect of "These people don't like you, they hate you." Or something like that. It seemed like something they were trained to do, as a couple other guys did it that night, and it's a real obvious way to get the audience behind one guy. Too obvious, it just takes you out of the match. Big E. eventually squashed the guy.
- Second, we had Smackdown Jobber Trent Baretta vs Brad Maddox. Not a guy I've ever noticed before, especially since they change their names every other week so it's hard to follow a guy unless you really pay attention. Maddox however I will remember, as he had a GREAT gimmick going for him. Trent was already in the ring, Maddox's music hit, and he comes to the ring with two fat dudes holding a portable camcorder and a boom mic. He grabs a portable mic and explains to the audience that we're going to be on national TV because he's filming an episode of "The Brad Maddox Show". Seemed kind of a rip on the whole Matt Hardy mess. Now obviously, not a real thing, but it really sells that Maddox is delusional. Durring the match proper, he kept getting caught up in the ropes, turning to the camera, and explaining to his "audience" what the simple basic maneuver he just did was while the ref kept Trent away because he was in the ropes. Then, for the finish, Maddox was laid out, Trent was about to go for a top rope splash, and the boom mic guy sweeps the leg with the mic, allowing Maddox to pick the scraps and get the victory. I really think WWE could drop this guy onto Smackdown right now with this gimmick and he could go for the IC title, it really works, and the guy was just the right kind of obnoxious to pull it off. Plus, with social media nowadays, you could have him set up a Youtube account and upload footage from his camera onto Youtube, further selling the gimmick to wrestling's huge internet fanbase.
- There was the traditional 8 man FCW "We want to get as many guys on the show as possible" tag match. Nothing really special, other then I got to see former ROH champion Tyler "Seth Rollins" Black and Richie Steamboat do their things and pick up the victory.
- Next, we got what was billed as a "Battle of the FCW Monsters". First out, along with Ricardo Rodriguez (markout moment when I heard that music in person) was Brodius Clay. His opponent was Axel Mulligan, who was obviously the recently booted back to FCW Husky Harris, just under a blue sortof Jason mask. It looked better then I made it sound, and I like that he's using his father's wrestling name Mulligan in the new gimmick. He also showed some of the stuff that made him unique that he hasn't really showed on Raw, like the way he moved around the ring like a four legged animal rather then a man, and the sholder tackles and general fluid motion. One thing I loved was when he got out of the ring, instead of just stepping out, he went limp and fell to the mat before rolling out. It really sold his masked maniac persona. On Raw he just seemed like a fat guy doing splashes, here he looked great. It's obvious he's been working out in the time since he got off of RAW, his brother as well, they're really getting their shit together.
- Brodius Clay didn't want to wrestle Axel, so he told Ricardo to do it, and he luckily had a one piece wrestling suit on under his tux, so he had a good comedy match. Axel of course won, and Brodius continued to show that he's good at looking mean outside the ring.
- There was a FCW Title match between FCW Champion Lucky Cannon and NXT Season 4 winner Derrick Bateman. First a bit about Derrick, I have NO IDEA what WWE sees in him considering he won NXT over Brodius Clay. Not that Clay is some sort of wunderkind or anything, but Derrick is as generic as hell and the crowd, even the 100 or so in Port Charlotte, could not give a shit about him. Lucky Cannon, after trying and failing at a fan favorite gimmick way back in NXT Season 2, has adopted a heel egotist gimmick. It's been done sure, but it did work from what I saw. Before the match he said how lucky the women were in attendance for getting to see him tonight, and how one lucky woman was going to get to kiss him on the cheek. The woman wasn't really into it, which almost killed the bit until Derrick grabbed a water bottle and threw it at Lucky's head, which I have to admit was smart thinking. After the match, the women did give him a good slap, so she got with the program eventually. Since this is just a house show, Lucky got "lucky" (Built in chant right there) and kept his title.
- The main event of the evening was the Dibiases (Ted and Brett w/ Ted Sr. at ringside) vs the New Colons (Primo and Tito). Ted cut a great promo about how he was disgusted at having to sign and take pictures with everyone in the crowd, which really riled up a few drunkards in the crowd. They precided to get a "Silver Spoon" chant going throughout the arena, and Ted and Brett really got into their faces all throughout their match. Primo and Tito came out after the promo and were almost an afterthought throughout the match. It was ok, but it's obvious neither Colon is going to Raw anytime soon (Which is sad since Primo is technically still on Raw). They strangly sold Brett as sort of a dumbass throughout the match, falling for easy things like "hey, look over there". Serriously, Primo pointed up, Brett looked, and Primo hit a DDT, it was that dumb. Don't know what they're going for there. Ted got the win over Tito (I think, it's really hard to tell the Colons apart they have the same hairstyle) and then both Dibiases went for the Million Dollar Dream, but both Colons got out of it and hit dropkicks pretty much in sync, which was a cool finish.
- That's pretty much it. There was also a Divas match and a match with Conner O' Brian (the rat guy from NXT Season 4) but neither were really that noteworthy. The only other thing that happened was the FCW president came out before one match and brought out a chair to giveaway, only to give it to someont that had helped them at a previous show? Seemed kind of weird and unnecessary, it had nothing to do with the show.
It was a fun night, as it always is. I'm kind of sad about going to FCW shows after going for a while and seeing so many good gimmicks and talents (Kizarney, Alex Riley, Kaval, Abe Washington) go to waste on national TV, but without being a wrestling nerd I was entertained.
-Till next time, so long from the Sunshine State
Pudge
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