411’s FCW TV Report 10.26.08

The views and opinions expressed herein are those solely of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of the rest of the human race.

Hey there and thanks again for stopping by. Not much to see in this part, folks. I barely slept after going 10 hours at work and that was after spending the day before reading all of Countdown (To Final Crisis) in one sitting. My brain is strawberry jam right now.

One more thing – as I type this, it’s about 40-degrees out right now. IN the Sunshine State. It’s about time. Now let’s do the damn thing.

Okay, This Is Boring – What Else Is There To Read?

Randle and Tha Czonk hold it down, as usual.

To put it in very simple terms: Adam Pearce as RoH Booker, GOOD! “More Entertainment” direction – BAD!

“Table scrap-pilfering grabasses”…that never gets old…

It’s all good, Cook – I miss it, too.

Finally…No, it doesn’t.

FCW – 10.26.08

Clips of the old FCW (yay!) bring us to Josh Matthews and “The Amahcan Dweam” Dutty Rodeths hype Cyber Sunday and an appearance by the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho (*cough*).

Drew McIntyre vs. Eric Escobar – #1 Contender’s Match for the FCW Heavyweight Championship

Okay, last week’s match between Escobar and Johnny Curtis and was an “elimination” match to see who would get here (and, since the show was shortened, I missed that completely). Matthews actually calls last week’s Escobar/Curtis match a “five star match”. I’d stop at maybe halfway. At the most. Before the match starts proper, FCW Champion Sheamus O’Shaunessy joins the crew on commentary…

Escobar goes for the surprise schoolboy, but McIntyre kicks out. Escobar hits some impact, but McIntyre turns that around and shows him what power is. A little chicanery on the ropes by McIntyre is blended in to try and take the air out of Escobar, but he still kicks out of a pin attempt.

McIntyre goes for a neck vise en route to targeting that area of Escobar. McIntyre smartly goes for frequent covers, taking more energy from Escobar even if the attempts bear no victory. More of the neck vise from McIntyre but Escobar uses his athleticism to turn the tide and keep the heat on McIntyre to disorient him and try to score the win. McIntyre goes for brute force to try and fight back, but to no avail as…

Finish comes when Escobar hits the Latin Temper for the pinfall victory. I have to give last week’s match this much – that at least felt like the guys involved wanted this. This was an exercise in going-through-the-motions. And Escobar still can’t sell an igloo to an Eskimo.

Post-match, Escobar, promos about how it would be a dream come true to become the FCW Champion and talks to O’Shaunessy half in Spanish. Please don’t tell me they plan on making this guy a new “Latino Heat”. Escobar and O’Shaunessy face off from afar as we go to commercial.

Back to

Roucka vs. Wesley Holiday

Roucka’s a nice looking girl. Just sayin’ is all. Holiday is from (kinda) nearby Ocala and has a cowgirl gimmick. Wrong state, honey.

Holiday takes the MMA stance (…okay…) and Roucka puts a stop to that by simply kicking her. Roucka takes too much time with her “advantage”, though, allowing Holiday to wrestle her way into a pin attempt. Holiday’s tenacity then shows as she keeps the pressure on Roucka’s head, refusing to let go. Some athletic offense from Holiday backfires, though, and Roucka opts for getting dirty. Not like that, this is family programming, after all. After the cheap tactics, Roucka then goes for Holiday’s neck, showing some tenacity of her own. Holiday knees her way out and uses a power/gymnastic blend to almost gain the win, but it’s all for naught.

Finish comes when Roucka hits a hair-assisted Stunner and a legdrop for the pinfall victory. Hell, the ladies gave it more of an effort than the “#1 Contenders” before them! Good stuff before we go to commercial.

Back to WWE World Champion Chris Jericho out to tell the FCW fans to shove it as he’s the man everyone wants to be because he’s the champ. He’s the champion because he’s an honest and good man who always does the right thing. And the crowd will never reach the standards he has set. At Cyber Sunday, he’ll make Batista’s names synonymous with failure like he did HBK. He’ll fight, claw, and scratch to remain the champion despite who the fans pick as referee (*cough*). He takes particular exception to Austin and the crowd gives him the “What?” chant. Jericho, as a result, ends his promo and leaves. Heh. Rhodes says, “that was a superstar laying it all on the line.” How? That promo was longer than the #1 Contender’s match and he didn’t say a damn thing! We go to commercial.

Back to

Ryan Braddock vs. DH Smith

Braddock has apparently already been on SmackDown. Completely missed it.

Smith and Braddock trade power to start and Smith gains the advantage (what did you expect there?). Smith starts wearing Braddock down with wrestling but Braddock stalls – or at least appears to before he lands a cheap shot. Braddock opts for beating Smith senseless and we have another Liza Minelli sighting from Rhodes (?). Braddock reveals the second part of his game and sets in the headscissors to wear Smith down but breaks it too soon, allowing Smith to recover and go for a series of pin combos to try and end it. Braddock goes for a suplex and Smithy punches through it, leaving both on an even playing field. Both trade power shots again and Smith goes back to the wrestling he started with – with his strength mixed in – to gain the lead. Braddock opts for some power of his own, but it’s not quite enough to put Smith away. Smith ends it by showing Braddock the meaning of might…

Finish comes when Smith hits the Stampede Powerslam (not its actual name, but you get the idea) for the pinfall victory. Nice effort by both guys; Smith (probably) to shake the stigma of already being caught by the Wellness Policy and Braddock because he’s already been to the Big Time. Nonetheless, well done by both gentlemen as we go to commercial.

Back to

Dolph Ziggler and Gavin Spears vs. “Handsome” Heath Miller and Joe Hennig (c) – FCE Tag-Team Championship Match

Speaking of being caught by the Wellness Policy…apparently, being “suspended” does not bar you from competing in FCW – just the main roster.

Spears and Hennig start and struggle for the lead before Hennig opts for the PerfectPlex early, but Spears escapes that in a hurry. Spears bails for some air and tags Ziggler in once back inside.

Ziggler opts for punching, but Hennig responds in kind before tagging in Miller. Miller starts out-wrestling Ziggler, so Ziggler brings his finesse-man Spears in for the double-team. Hennig escapes the twin attack, though, and Miller is in to help clear the ring as we go to commercial.

Back to the heels cooling their…heels outside the ring, stalling for regrouping time. Ziggler gets back in against Hennig and Hennig opts to overpower Ziggler. Ziggler, with all else failing so far, decided to lure Hennig outside for the sake of the easy advantage (with Spears’s help).

Back in the ring, Ziggler hits a series of elbows to drive the wind out of Hennig for the pinfall attempt. Ziggler and Spears then cut the ring in half and target the torso of Hennig to eliminate his airflow and win the titles. Once again, kill the body and the head will die. Ziggler and Spears opt for tried-and-true tactics on top of that, goading Miller in the ring and then double-stomping Hennig as the referee sends Miller back outside. Classic, sound, heel strategy by Ziggler and Spears. At one point, Hennig goes for the tag, but Spears goes outside to pull Miller off the apron. Nice.

More double-teaming deception by the challengers before Ziggler switches up and goes for Hennig’s neck as well as the body. The legal double-teams are just as effective in working Hennig over as Ziggler remains on the point, still working on Hennig’s neck. Hennig finally escapes and Ziggler tags in Spears – who makes the mistake of going after the fresh man on the apron instead of the man they’ve been working on. That may sound rather dumb (and from a strategy standpoint, I’d agree), but it somewhat makes sense to try and prevent the tag. Nonetheless, the try fails and Miller is in, exploding on the challengers with high-impact agile firepower.

Miller targets Spears and tries suplexing him back in, but Ziggler trips him and holds the leg. Luckily, Hennig is out there, preventing the cheap win. The challengers are obstinate, though, as Ziggler trips Miller up on the top rope, but the champions employ some chicanery of their own as Hennig takes advantage of the ref’s back being turned to hit a huge back suplex. More corruption abounds as Ziggler (not the legal man) sends the ref after Hennig only to hit an Impaler DDT on Miller, but Miller not only won’t stay down, he’s determined not to be the weak link…

Finish comes when Hennig guillotines Spears on the top rope (from the outside) and Miller hits a jumping reverse DDT using the legs (seriously, I’m not sure how else to describe that) for the pinfall victory as the champs retain their titles. Excellent match from all involved, as a classic tag-team title contest was put on here. Hell, I’m starting to get more excited about FCW’s tag division than I am the Heavyweight scene!

Post-match, the champs celebrate as Matthews and Rhodes hype next week’s FCW Title match. Clips of this week’s proceedings end the show.

Not a bad outing at all this week. I’m almost scared of next week’s main event, but then I’ve yet to see O’Shaunessey in action proper, so I’m still hopeful. The in-ring action got progressively better from there, capped off by an excellent tag match. More good matches than bad promos and lazy ringwork make me a happy guy.

L8. Thanks again for reading.

For more interesting (?) viewing, click here. It’s about damned time, MTV.