411’s FCW TV Report 03.12.09

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.

Thanks for checking back in after such a long time. Jesus Christ, has it seriously been almost a month since I was last here?! I’m so sorry, guys. Part of that – well, most, really – can be attributed to surgery. Aside from all four wisdom teeth removed and a bone graft done to part of my jaw, I also had a hole in my sinus cavity removed. Can’t begin to tell you how much fun that was.

(Insider tip: Lortab + Ibuprofen = pure win. I spent several days in bed not even knowing what my name was on that stuff. Great times. And watching this year’s No Way Out all hopped up on the hospital’s generic version of heroin morphine…aw, man…just…wow. I couldn’t tell you if that was honestly a great show, but…man, that was a great show.)

I plan on making up a couple of the missed episodes with retro reviews coming up in the next week or three. Anyway, after being gone that long (doing a little more than convalescing, admittedly, but we’ll get to that after all this), let’s revisit Tampa and see what’s going on in the land of Developmental…

FCW – 03.12.09

Show opens with a recap of last week’s Queen of FCW coronation. Damn, I missed the last of the tournament! A couple of the guys were on hand, including Sweet Papi Sanchez. Angela Fong was the winner and was crowned – then she got crowned by a jealous Rosa Mendes. The Conglomerate took the opportunity to attack Sanchez and, as the faces fled, Mendes took the opportunity to steal the crown and declare herself Queen of FCW. Neat little twist there.

Josh Matthews and Fletcher Chase are at the commentary table and they tell us about the Championship Challenge – basically a #1 Contender’s Match wherein the winner of the next bout goes on next week to meet Eric Escobar…

DH Smith vs. Kaval

Oh, snap. This could turn out rather good.

Both men feel each other to start, with Kaval testing Smith by going after the arm. Smith takes a little while to get out of it, but reverses it to give Kaval his own medicine in return. Smith makes the mistake of picking up the pace and Kaval responds in kind, letting his feet do the talking and sending Smith outside. Back in, Smith decides to use his power advantage, but Kaval counters with agility, landing on his feet out of a beel throw (!) and picking up the pace once again to keep pouring on the kicks. Smith then goes back to his power advantage, but also uses his size to compliment it, and that’s what keeps Kaval down long enough for Smith to work.

Smith seems to target the neck and back, if he has a specific target at all. His overall aim seems to simply wear Kaval down with power while doing enough damage to the areas that matter to keep him down. Kaval escapes the barrage a couple times, including turning a crucifix into an armbar, but Smith keeps coming back. Ditto Kaval, who finally gets out from under the offense long enough to launch a last-ditch gambit of his own. Kaval comes at Smith from every angle to try and chop him down, preferring the top rope for maximum impact. Kaval keeps making the mistake of trying to slam the larger Smith, and it keeps back-firing (about the fourth time it happens, it starts to look silly). However, Kaval keeps coming back from the adversity he creates for himself in brilliant ways, such as turning a potential headscissors into a dragon sleeper (!). This becomes a contest of who can outwit who—

Until TJ Wilson arrives at ringside to distract Smith, allowing Kaval to take advantage of an opening to end the contest…

Finish comes when Kaval hits the Warrior’s Way on Smith for the pinfall victory. Good match with a slight issue. The performances were definitely up to par, but Kaval going for the same and failing time and again looked a little dumb. There had to have been another way to achieve the same effect without such a bad scenario. Kaval celebrates to take us to commercial.

Back to

Byron Wilcott vs. DJ Gabriel (w/Alicia Fox)

Wilcott makes his debut here and Matthews tells us he’s been all over the world after being trained by Alex Wright. Hurrm. The guy trained by Wright vs. the guy who acts like him. Wilcott, pre-match, tells us he could care less about peoples’ opinions because he’s world traveled and he’s here for the FCW Title.

(Interesting side-story to the match: Matthews wonders aloud as to the whereabouts of Scotty Goldman and Fletcher Chase says that, legally, he cannot talk about it, but he wishes Goldman the best. Stopping just this short of adding, “in his future endeavors.”

Both men are about the same size and both start out evenly matched until Gabriel gets the upper hand. Wilcott works his way into the lead by going after Gabriel’s leg. Gabriel makes the comeback and…yeah, this is as standard fare as it sounds…

Finish comes when Gabriel reverses a clothesline into a neckbreaker for the pinfall victory. Again, standard fare here; Wilcott got in some decent offense and didn’t look too bad in his debut, but Gabriel just isn’t as exciting as the higher-ups would have us believe.

Matthews hypes tonight’s main event – a six-person tag pitting the Conglomerate’s Kaleb O’Neal and Lawrence Knight, along with Rosa Mendes, against Sweet Papi Sanchez, Angela, and FCW Champ Eric Escobar – to take us to commercial.

Back to FCW News and Gossip with Jenny Cash. The big scoop this week is that Rosa Mendes stole Angela’s crown and Angela wants it back. You don’t say. Well, stop the bloody presses.

Dylan Klein (w/Wesley Holiday) vs. Kris Logan

Oh crap, this guy’s still around? Why? I’m wishing now I was back on the Lortab so I could enjoy this somewhat…

Tempers flare early and Klein slips through the ropes to slow things down a bit. Doesn’t work, though, as Logan sends him outside with another flurry. Logan, however, makes the mistake of following him and Klein, after using Holiday as a shield, does some damage outside, targeting the back before sending Logan back inside. (Chase says that Klein came to Holiday’s rescue and Matthews calls him an 80s announcer. Hah!)

Back inside, Klein continues the ground-and-pound offense to wear Logan down before going after the back once again. Logan fires back and almost gets the win with a Celtic Cross into a backbreaker, but Holiday puts Klein’s foot on the ropes. That saves Klein once and once only…

Finish comes when Logan hits the Total Eclipse (think Last Rites, (RIP) Test Drive, et al, only without the stalling beforehand) for the pinfall victory. Not as bad as the last time I saw Klein, but then I don’t attribute that to him. Klein and Holiday retreat to the locker room to take us to commercial.

Back to

Ryback & Sheamus O’Shaunessey vs. Kafu & Lupe Santiago

Kafu and O’Shaunessey start with exchanging strikes before O’Shaunessey corners Kafu to do some damage to the back and mid-section. O’Shaunessey pulls a smart move and slips outside to wrap Kafu’s leg around the ringpost to start negating the Capoeira-based offense of Kafu. O’Shaunessey brings in Ryback who, to my surprise, keeps up the work on the leg, including working in a submission move or two. O’Shaunessey back in now and he and Ryback are showing how good of a team they are with the constant tags and targeting the same area. Kafu finally escapes and brings in Santiago, whose agility helps him put O’Shaunessey down. Ryback is in to break up a pin and send Kafu to the floor – and that’s all that O’Shaunessey needs…

Finish comes when O’Shaunessey hits the Fiery Red Hand 2.0 (a chokeslam/uranage) on Santiago for the pinfall victory. O’Shaunessey and Ryback looked pretty good here, and Kafu and Santiago helped that along. Good stuff.

Post-match, O’Shaunessey and Ryback attack Santiago some more, but the tag champs Johnny Curtis and Tyler Recks make the save. The heels head back for the locker room to take us to commercial.

Back to

Drew McIntyre vs. Joe Hennig

Now it’s time to see if McIntyre has varied his offense or improved any in the last near-month. Personally, I’m putting my money on “no.”

McIntyre shows his power advantage for a bit at the beginning, but Hennig wrestles McIntyre into a vulnerable position to gain the advantage. That doesn’t last long, either, as both men are evenly matched out the outset, exchanging the lead several times. McIntyre and Hennig eventually go toe-to-toe out of frustration in the inability to keep the other man down. The fight spills outside and—

Finish comes when both men are counted out for the DCOR. Neither man even notices as they keep beating the snot out of each other until referees separate them. Not a bad match, what little of it there was. Seemed more to serve some sort of feud between the two.

At the announce table, Matthews review what we just saw and discuss the main event before Matthews cuts off Chase to send us to commercial.

Back to
Rosa Mendes, Kaleb O’Neal & Lawrence Knight (w/Byron Saxton) vs. Angela, Sweet Papi Sanchez & FCW Heavyweight Champion Eric Escobar

Definitely quite a few issues heading into this one, and one of them blows up before the bell as Angela bum-rushes Mendes, causing the guys to pull them apart so the match can officially start.

Once the ladies are subdued, Escobar and O’Neal start off with a series of running strikes before O’Neal is sent to his corner. Mendes is in to put the badmouth on Escobar – and gets walloped with a running elbow from Angela! Nice! Angela beats on Mendes some more before Mendes runs for her corner and tags out, meaning that, under this particular set of rules, Angela has to as well. Knight and Sanchez are in now as former co-workers face off. Sanchez drops both Knight and O’Neal and then makes an error in judgment in messing with Mendes as well, allowing himself to get jumped by O’Neal and Knight. Sanchez escapes and Escobar is back in to provide some semblance to order in the form of trying to keep Knight grounded. Knight regains the advantage and O’Neal helps him keep it for a bit. Matthews and Chase note something I missed – Tyson Tarver has amicably parted ways with the Conglomerate. Can’t wait to see what he can do on his own.

O’Neal and Knight do a good job of slowing things down and cutting the ring in half. The Conglomerate work on Escobar’s neck and back while beating him down. Escobar spends a bit of energy on a bid to escape – and he succeeds, bringing in Sanchez and letting the big man clean house. O’Neal is in, drawing Escobar back in – and then the ladies join the fray once again. This one breaks down into the proverbial pier six brawl until Sanchez and O’Neal – the two legal men – are left in the ring…

Finish comes when Sanchez hits the 747 Splash on O’Neal for the pinfall victory. A well-played war of attrition, and everyone performed well. Bonus points to Angela, who played the part of a woman scorned to a tee. Post-match, Angela gets her crown back and Matthews hypes next week’s title match to end the show.

Interesting stuff. A couple duds in there, for sure (as Gabriel and Klein stunk up the joint), but then there was the usual goodness to balance it out. On the announce side, Fletcher Chase (who seems to be playing the part of “the Network guy”) is okay so far, but I hope he develops more of a personality as he progresses. Right now, he’s a little too generic as a heel.

L8. Thanks again for reading.

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