Florida Championship Wrestling

History

The promotion was started by Steve Keirn in 2007 and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based Deep South Wrestling in April 2007. It became their sole developmental territory in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling.

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. The next year, the Florida Heavyweight Championship was introduced, with Jake Hager becoming the first champion at a February 15 show after surviving a Battle Royal and defeating Ted DiBiase, Jr. The Florida Tag Team Championship was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez) beating Steven Lewington and Heath Miller to win it in the finals of a one night tournament. The singles titles were later unified, keeping the "Florida Heavyweight" name and championship.

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. 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, and included a taping of the debut episode of FCW TV.

On March 20, 2012, it was reported that WWE would cease operation at Florida Championship Wrestling; this claim was initially refuted by both Steve Keirn and WWE executive Paul "Triple H" Levesque, though Levesque noted WWE's developmental system would be "revamped".

Five months later, WWE dropped the FCW name, desactivated the titles, and began running all of its developmental events and operations under the "NXT" 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. A revamped WWE NXT thereafter served as the primary television program for the new developmental brand.

Championships and accomplishments

Notable alumni

The following is a list of notable FCW alumni that were called to the main roster of WWE.

References

References

1. (July 7, 2008). "Florida Championship Wrestling unveils new arena in Tampa, Fla.". [[WWE]].
2. "About page". Florida Championship Wrestling.
3. "About Us". Florida Championship Wrestling.
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8. (February 6, 2008). "WWE Ceases affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling". WWE.
9. "FCW 2007 results". Online World of Wrestling.
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11. Wojcik, Alan J.. "Results from Tampa on 2/15". Online World of Wrestling.
12. Wojcik, Alan J.. "Results from Florida on 2/23". Online World of Wrestling.
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14. "FCW New Arena Debut Photo Gallery: July 17, 2008".
15. "Florida Championship Wrestling debuts new arena, Web site & TV studio".
16. Gray, Richard. "Breaking News – Steve Keirn Says There Is "No Truth" To FCW Shutting Down Rumor". Wrestling World News..
17. "WWE EVP Triple H refutes false reports of FCW's closing".
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23. "Brad Maddox". Gerweck.net.
24. "Bray Wyatt". Gerweck.net.
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31. "Joseph Hennig". gerweck.net.
32. "Aaron Haddad". gerweck.net.
33. "Bryan Danielson". gerweck.net.
34. "Darren Young". Gerweck.net.
35. "David Otunga". gerweck.net.
36. "Jon Moxley". Gerweck.net.
37. "Nicholas Nemeth". gerweck.net.
38. "Drew Galloway". gerweck.net.
39. "Orlando Colón". gerweck.net.
40. "Matthew Korklan". gerweck.net.
41. "Ryklon Stephens". gerweck.net.
42. "Fandango". Gerweck.net.
43. "Heath Miller". gerweck.net.
44. "Jacob Hager". gerweck.net.
45. "Joshua Fatu". gerweck.net.
46. "Jonathon Fatu". gerweck.net.
47. "Yuvraj Dhesi". gerweck.net.
48. "Paul Lloyd, Jr.". gerweck.net.
49. "Celeste Bonin". Gerweck.net.
50. "Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah". gerweck.net.
51. "Trinity McCray". Online World of Wrestling.
52. "Natalie Neidhart". gerweck.net.
53. Cruickshank, Jamie. (November 1, 2016). "Nikki Bella". Gerweck.net.
54. "Saraya-Jade Bevis". gerweck.net.
55. "Edwin Colón". gerweck.net.
56. "Jesús Rodríguez". Genickbruch.com.
57. "Richard Blood Jr". Onlineworldofwrestling.com.
58. Cruickshank, Jamie. (January 12, 2013). "Roman Reigns". Gerweck.net.
59. "Milena Roucka". gerweck.net.
60. "Ryan Reeves". gerweck.net.
61. "Tyler Black". Gerweck.net.
62. "Jorge Arias". gerweck.net.
63. "Stephen Farrelly". gerweck.net.
64. "Sarona Reiher". gerweck.net.
65. "Theodore DiBiase, Jr.". gerweck.net.
66. "Thaddeus Bullard". gerweck.net.
67. "Camacho". Gerweck.net.
68. "Gabriel Tuft". gerweck.net.
69. "Theodore Wilson". Gerweck.net.
70. "Stuart Bennett". Gerweck.net.
71. "Naofumi Yamamoto". gerweck.net.