FCW - WWE developmental results
March 2, 2012
Kissimmee, Fla. at Osceola Heritage Park
Report by Josh Parry, PWTorch correspondent

The night’s special guest for Kissimmee’s FCW show was Sheamus. Fans paid $5 for three autographs and a picture, which is a great deal. Unlike the past few FCW events in Kissimmee, there were no WWE undercarders on the autograph panel. It was just Sheamus. Perhaps due to traffic or another reason, Sheamus was an hour late to the signing, which he acknowledged to the fans, and apologized for once he arrived.

Sheamus more than made up for the delay with the time he spent talking with each fan. Unlike others who have come for signings, Sheamus got up out of his seat and stood up to greet each guest and actually initiated conversation with fans, which was really nice to see. I grew up not far from Sheamus’s hometown, so we talked about a local promotion, All Star British Wrestling, which he wrestled for prior to moving to the States. I asked him how it felt to get bumped from the main WrestleMania card last year. He said that it was a very disappointing time for him but it’s poetic justice that that same match is part of the Big Four main events this year.

The only downside to Sheamus being so personable was that the original 7:30 p.m. bell time never came until just after 8:30 p.m. Fans that were let in at 5:30 for the session, met Sheamus at 6:30, and then took their seats sat down doing with nothing to do for over two hours. Eventually, C.J. Parker and Audrey Marie came out for a dance-off to pass time as Sheamus finished his session. A break-dancing 9-year-old won tickets to the FCW event in Orlando on March 21 featuring Cody Rhodes.

Finally, they went ahead and kicked off the show with around 50 people still in line for Sheamus. Once everybody took their seat, there were probably around 250-300 fans in attendance.

(1) C.J. Parker beat Rick Victor in a flag match in 10:00. An American flag and a Canadian flag were positioned at the top of the aisle. The object of the match was for the competitor to retrieve his respective flag and touch it to one of the far turnbuckles. Parker was pretty popular already, and the benefit of being able to holler “U-S-A!” given the match stipulation was a bonus. Parker eventually won after a few close finishes.

(2) Kevin Hackman (Tough Enough winner Andy Levine) & Mike Dalton beat Cory Graves & Aiden English in 6:00. Formulaic tag match, using the typical smaller babyface gets beat down by the quick-tagging heels while bigger babyface gets fired up on the apron tactic. Kevin, who looked like Undertaker with a big, black singlet and long hair, came in and cleared house before scoring the pin.

(3) Kenneth Cameron beat Sakamoto in 9:00. Cameron got good heat by mocking Sakamoto’s Japanese fighting stances and bowing in the beginning. The match was pretty hard-hitting and the two did a good job of creating legitimate tension inside the ring.

(4) Big E. Langston beat Alexander Rusev (w/Nick Rogers). Rusev and Rogers are a very impressive tandem. Rusev, the big man, stomped out to the ring as Rogers joined him in jeans and a bedazzled jacket, loudly blowing a whistle. Rogers got Vickie-level heat just for blowing the whistle in fans’s faces. Brilliant stuff. He cut a promo on how Rusev is here to take FCW by storm. Lots of charisma on display. He is sort of a cross between Dolph Ziggler and Evan Bourne in appearance. Langston won with a Lashley-style dominator in a short big-man match.

(5) Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley) and FCW 15 champion Richie Steamboat fought to a double count-out in 14:00. Great match from these two. Along with Seth Rollins, I see these guys as WWE’s top developmental prospects right now, and they show that they’re ready for the big time with every match. It was very even throughout until the stalemate broke down into a ringside brawl as Norman Smiley looked on disapprovingly. The match can be viewed in its entirety on my YouTube channel .

(6) Caylee Turner (Christina Crawford) beat Sofia Cortez (Ivelisse Velez), Paige, and Audrey Marie in a Divas Money in the Bank match in 6:00. There’s nowhere to rig cables in the exhibition hall, so the briefcase was suspended on a truss attached to the turnbuckle. Florida Divas champion Raquel Diaz (Shaul Guerrero) sat at ringside to add her own personal commentary. Being there live, it goes without saying that nuclear level crowd heat runs in the family. Lots of cat-fighting and close attempts before Turner grabbed the briefcase.

(7) Antonio Cesaro (Claudio Castagnoli) beat Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero) and Florida tag team champion Bo Rotundo in a Triple Threat Match in 9:00. Another exciting match-up. It was very formulaic at times, as Triple Threats can be, but I was still entertained. Cesaro sneaked in through the back door to make the pin on Ohno after Rotundo hit his finisher. I recorded this one, too.

(8) Florida Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins (Tyler Black) beat Damien Sandow in 20:00 to retain the FCW Title. Lots of histrionics to pad it out, but very entertaining match nonetheless. Sandow’s “I am not a Diva” shtick took up about five minutes of match time, but it’s always a good laugh. After two ref bumps near the end, Dean Ambrose ran out and tried to take out Rollins, but Steamboat intercepted and ran him off. Rollins picked up the pinfall to retain.

As usual, FCW didn’t fail to entertain. It's pleasant to see that even though half of the FCW roster is probably readily equipped for the big stage, WWE isn’t pulling the trigger on them until the timing is right. I hope it means that WWE wants to really make sure there’s a proper niche each wrestler can fill before bringing them in too quickly and ending up wasting their talent. No return date was given, but the announcer plugged the March 21 show in Orlando at the end of the show.

VIDEOS: See videos from the FCW show at YouTube.com/User/JoshuaParry2009

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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