WWE FCW Developmental News
Posted by David Damage on Thursday, March 29, 2012
Under: News
It was first reported that WWE would be shutting down their developmental system in Florida, known as Florida Championship Wrestling. "FCW' was even trending on Twitter at one point.
All that is confirmed so far is that the FCW weekly series is coming to a close on Brighthouse Sports Network, with the final episode airing April 15th. There had been discussions over the last few weeks about moving the FCW tapings and TV show to another market, possibly somewhere in the Orlando area.
Regarding WWE developmental being pulled out of Florida, no WWE sources have confirmed that and some scoffed that the idea was true. The daily operations of FCW ended yesterday, with no notice to wrestlers or staff. Many people were shocked that something like this would happen so close to WrestleMania.
WWE sources has indicated that Vince McMahon was recently upset over the current WWE talent pool "not being over" and "not being ready", which led to finger pointing. Ty Bailey was recently let go from the company; Bailey had headed the developmental system, although he was routinely criticized by wrestlers for lack of communication and also for his "gruff" nature.
Right now there is no official confirmation that this is the end of FCW, and no one from WWE has confirmed that at this time. Many feel that the timing of this is strange, due to the fact that FCW has never had so much talent under contract (Dean Ambrose, Richie Steamboat, Seth Rollins, Kassius Ohno, Antonio Cesaro, etc.).
At this time, the TV series on Brighthouse is ending and nothing else has been confirmed.
WWE officials notified Bright House Network Monday that they have opted to cease their affiliation with the Florida based sports network as they are shutting down Florida Championship Wrestling effective immediately. Florida Championship Wrestling programming, which was taped last Thursday in Tampa, Florida, will cease to air on the network in three weeks.
Everyone involved with Florida Championship Wrestling will relocate to WWE's homebase in Stamford, Connecticut until a further decision regarding the developmental program is made.
WWE employees were given the impression that a developmental promotion will ultimately open in Connecticut with the possibility of a second at an undetermined location.
The promotion was started by former wrestler Steve Keirn in 2007 to be WWE's second developmental promotion when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based Deep South Wrestling in early 2007. It became their sole developmental promotion in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
WWE.com:
Monday 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.”
WWE have confirmed that they plan on opening up developmental in Stamford, CT in the next few months.
WWE already has someone in mind to head up the new project but we don’t know who that is yet. The idea is to have a small group of talents work directly with WWE to help prep them for their debuts on TV.
The new developmental facility may be integrated with the new production facility. This facility would help to be a middle ground between developmental and the main roster. They insist there are no plans to shut down Florida Championship Wrestling.
In the past week, they have been looking for new locations in Florida to film the FCW TV show. WWE officials were extremely upset about the reports of FCW shutting down.
All that is confirmed so far is that the FCW weekly series is coming to a close on Brighthouse Sports Network, with the final episode airing April 15th. There had been discussions over the last few weeks about moving the FCW tapings and TV show to another market, possibly somewhere in the Orlando area.
Regarding WWE developmental being pulled out of Florida, no WWE sources have confirmed that and some scoffed that the idea was true. The daily operations of FCW ended yesterday, with no notice to wrestlers or staff. Many people were shocked that something like this would happen so close to WrestleMania.
WWE sources has indicated that Vince McMahon was recently upset over the current WWE talent pool "not being over" and "not being ready", which led to finger pointing. Ty Bailey was recently let go from the company; Bailey had headed the developmental system, although he was routinely criticized by wrestlers for lack of communication and also for his "gruff" nature.
Right now there is no official confirmation that this is the end of FCW, and no one from WWE has confirmed that at this time. Many feel that the timing of this is strange, due to the fact that FCW has never had so much talent under contract (Dean Ambrose, Richie Steamboat, Seth Rollins, Kassius Ohno, Antonio Cesaro, etc.).
At this time, the TV series on Brighthouse is ending and nothing else has been confirmed.
WWE officials notified Bright House Network Monday that they have opted to cease their affiliation with the Florida based sports network as they are shutting down Florida Championship Wrestling effective immediately. Florida Championship Wrestling programming, which was taped last Thursday in Tampa, Florida, will cease to air on the network in three weeks.
Everyone involved with Florida Championship Wrestling will relocate to WWE's homebase in Stamford, Connecticut until a further decision regarding the developmental program is made.
WWE employees were given the impression that a developmental promotion will ultimately open in Connecticut with the possibility of a second at an undetermined location.
The promotion was started by former wrestler Steve Keirn in 2007 to be WWE's second developmental promotion when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based Deep South Wrestling in early 2007. It became their sole developmental promotion in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling.
WWE.com:
Monday 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.”
WWE have confirmed that they plan on opening up developmental in Stamford, CT in the next few months.
WWE already has someone in mind to head up the new project but we don’t know who that is yet. The idea is to have a small group of talents work directly with WWE to help prep them for their debuts on TV.
The new developmental facility may be integrated with the new production facility. This facility would help to be a middle ground between developmental and the main roster. They insist there are no plans to shut down Florida Championship Wrestling.
In the past week, they have been looking for new locations in Florida to film the FCW TV show. WWE officials were extremely upset about the reports of FCW shutting down.
In : News