Just about all of the FCW guys have been languishing on NXT for the better part of two years now and have shown next to zero improvement. The more I'd see guys like Titus O'Neil and Johnny Curtis, the more I'd wonder "What they hell are they teaching these guys down there?"
I don't know if the answer is going back to OVW or what, but FCW hasn't had a substantial track record, as of late. This isn't surprising.
My first thought was with the lack of reasonably-polished talent coming up the pipeline, maybe WWE would be better off sending agents/trainers around to the various indy promotions, both to scout talent, and give them some direction of what they are looking for at Stamford. Ring technique can be taught easier than how to create a character - maybe leaving talent at arms length would lead to fewer cookie-cutter prospects.
My second thought was that they wanted to get control of the TV product of any developmental squad for the WWE Network. Only the delay means that the current d-listers are stuck in a bit of a limbo.
Originally posted by It's FalseJust about all of the FCW guys have been languishing on NXT for the better part of two years now and have shown next to zero improvement. The more I'd see guys like Titus O'Neil and Johnny Curtis, the more I'd wonder "What they hell are they teaching these guys down there?"
I don't know if the answer is going back to OVW or what, but FCW hasn't had a substantial track record, as of late. This isn't surprising.
I was going to say that I don't agree. Then I realized that the good talent that are there (as far as I've seen) are ROH guys or have a history in the business (2nd generation, veterans)
The other day I read that JR claims they will bring up a bunch of guys after WM. This might have to do with their decision. Use guys like Castagnoli/Cesaro, Black/Rollins, Richie Steamboat etc on the main roster, and figure out what to do with the rest of them.
Originally posted by OliverWWE doesn't own FCW, though. WWE uses it as their official developmental territory.
Didn't WWE create FCW with the sole purpose of using it as their developmental territory? Steve Keirn runs it and he works for WWE and everyone on the roster is contracted talent.
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Originally posted by OliverWWE doesn't own FCW, though. WWE uses it as their official developmental territory.
Didn't WWE create FCW with the sole purpose of using it as their developmental territory? Steve Keirn runs it and he works for WWE and everyone on the roster is contracted talent.
I'm pretty sure Kiern created it for the sole purpose of being WWE's developmental territory, but he still owns it.
Twitter rumours (and educated guesses) suggest there will be more people just plain let go than invited to Stamford. It remains to be seen whether anybody who doesn't get the call is anybody we would recognise (or whom we'll have been expecting for weeks and months, like the ex-ROH talent).
Originally posted by OliverWWE doesn't own FCW, though. WWE uses it as their official developmental territory.
Didn't WWE create FCW with the sole purpose of using it as their developmental territory? Steve Keirn runs it and he works for WWE and everyone on the roster is contracted talent.
I'm pretty sure Kiern created it for the sole purpose of being WWE's developmental territory, but he still owns it.
Meltzer was pretty clear in the big fcw article last week that wwe doesnt want to own the territories themselves. Liability issues, perhaps?
I contacted Florida Championship Wrestling President Steve Keirn via email this morning to ask about rumors regarding WWE shutting down the Tampa-based promotion. Keirn replied with the following quote:
There is no truth to the rumor we are at school today training and the WWE will respond to this to clear it up. Thank you for your concern. SK
WWE themselves shot down the "FCW is closing" rumor.
Originally posted by WWE.comMonday night, an unreliable online news source published an erroneous report that WWE was shutting down operations of our developmental facility, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). In order to set the record straight, WWE.com interviewed WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Paul Levesque (also known as WWE Superstar Triple H) to address this issue.
“It is absolutely not true. FCW is not closing,” Triple H said. “I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ want to believe they have the scoop on everything. If anything, we are in the process of ramping up our entire developmental system. It’s the lifeblood of our company. It’s what feeds our future and in no way are we going to close it down.”
Levesque also addressed plans to relocate training or FCW TV tapings out of its home of Tampa, Fla.
“There are plans in the works, but nothing definitive I can discuss right now,” he said. “Shortly after WrestleMania, there will be a major announcement about our developmental system.”
He continued, “WWE’s developmental system is being revamped, not shut down. If anything, it’s going to get bigger and better than ever. WWE Developmental cultivates the future talent of WWE. By no means is it going to get smaller or shut down.”
Originally posted by MattitudeWWE themselves shot down the "FCW is closing" rumor.
Did they? I'm not sure they did.
Levesque also addressed plans to relocate training or FCW TV tapings out of its home of Tampa, Fla.
“There are plans in the works, but nothing definitive I can discuss right now,” he said. “Shortly after WrestleMania, there will be a major announcement about our developmental system.”
He continued, “WWE’s developmental system is being revamped, not shut down.
The WO.com report suggested they were leaving Tampa, and moving everything to Stamford. They could be right and HHH could be right at same time with those quotes - without even meaning to, he says there are plans in the works to move out of Tampa. They can still call it FCW if they want, wherever they want.
If they were staying in Tampa with nothing changing, he could've just said "We're staying in Tampa." He was specifically asked a question to set up to that answer, and did not give it.
The two main points in the WWE.com article
a) they're not getting rid of developmental b) there will be changes
both of which are consistent with the original story.
I am biased against believing the company line both because of what just happened with A-Train (WO.com reports he's coming, A-Train goes on Twitter to shoot it down when he's already filmed his debut vignette) and because of other stuff in other lands, and may be in crazy person land on this one. But I think this is all less for our benefit and more to try and pacify the people who work in and around FCW, who must've spent the last 24 hours completely freaking out.
Originally posted by WWE.com“It is absolutely not true. FCW is not closing,” Triple H said. “I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ want to believe they have the scoop on everything.
Geez, if everyone would just ignore the unsourced reporting rumormongerers like Dave Meltzer and listen to the legitimate wrestling industry media sources like Mean Gene's WWE Superstar Line, we wouldn't have to bat down reports like this.
Originally posted by WWE.com“It is absolutely not true. FCW is not closing,” Triple H said. “I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ want to believe they have the scoop on everything.
Geez, if everyone would just ignore the unsourced reporting rumormongerers like Dave Meltzer and listen to the legitimate wrestling industry media sources like Mean Gene's WWE Superstar Line, we wouldn't have to bat down reports like this.
Thinking about the abovementioned source (lordsofpain.net) - the comment sections on most articles are generally bashfests for the authors of them. Some can be quite clever, like one guy named Daniel Pena Colada, but most are really bad.
I'm glad FCW's not closing...but I do wish we could get their programming here in Canada.
I pretty much now only really go to LOP now for taping spoilers as most of their "news" is reporting on what was written on twitter, which means I already read it.
Originally posted by WWE.comTriple H said. “I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ want to believe they have the scoop on everything.
I love how even though they're a worldwide company, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, living in 2012 and so tech savvy that they hype twitter more than their own product, they just can't shake their carny roots.