411’s FCW TV Report 11.08.08

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. Welcome back. Running a little behind for many and varied reasons, so we’re gonna get straight to it…

FCW – 11.08.08

Josh Matthews welcomes to the FCW Arena and announces that TONIGHT: TJ Wilson and DH Smith challenge Joe Hennig and Sebastian Slater for the FCW Tag Team Titl—wait, who? Wasn’t “Handsome” Heath Miller his partner when they defended the titles last time? Or did Miller undergo a frickin’ name change after debuting in WWE proper? Has he even debuted on WWE yet? I’m diffused again…

Yamamoto vs. Tyler Reiks

The Lillian Garcia-wannabe ring announcer (who has a voice that makes me want to commit wanton acts of murder, and not because she’s that hypnotizing) pronounces Tyler’s last name to rhyme with “yikes” (maybe that’s a subliminal admission on her part?), but Matthews and Rhodes pronounce it to rhyme with “wrecks”. Yamamoto…didn’t WWE sign some kid from Japan a little while back? I’m wondering if this is him…

Yamamoto almost announces to the crowd right off the bat that his main offensive weapon is his feet. Several kicks are dodged by Reiks before he uses his own agility to try and ground Yamamoto. The two engage in a standstill with neither gaining any real momentum. (Matthews mentions Yamamoto quitting New Japan to come here, so I guess that answers my previous question.) After the standstills, Yamamoto mixes a little Strong Style in with his kicks and finally gains an upper hand good for a 2-count.

Yamamoto switches gears and wears Reiks down by cutting off his airflow. Reiks powers out and uses his size to cut the smaller Yamamoto down before…hitting the gayest move I’ve seen since the Worm. Imagine someone doing the wave with their arms (like the old breakdancing move) and then dropping the elbow. That was…jeez. Apparently, that’s called the “High Tide”…because Reiks is billed as being from Laguna Beach, CA. Wonderful.

Yamamoto kicks out of the High Tide (like that was tough to do) and goes back after the kicking attack on Reiks. Reiks is too smart to fall for this a second time and blends his attributes – size and speed – to end it…

Finish comes when Reiks hits a second-rope moonsault (aka “The Big Kahuna”…seriously, could these references be any more dated? Or this whole damn persona, for that matter?) for the pinfall victory. Wish Yamamoto could have shown more; he looks to be the next of a new crop of fliers (ala Matt Bour—wait, I mean Evan Syda—dammit!). Reiks isn’t a bad worker, but he HAS to get some better moves. A different gimmick wouldn’t hurt, either. I won’t hold that against him. Much. Replay and posing by Reiks take us to commercial.

Back to

Tyson Tarver (w/ Byron Saxton) vs. Johnny Prime

Byron Saxton is also known as Brian Kelly, Black Pain’s manager from last week. “New Danger” Tyson Tarver is aka Tyrone Jones from last week, too. Okay, seriously, this “let’s change a dude’s named every week” shit is getting old. Fast. It’s one thing if the guy’s debuted for WWE and they changed his name for that, but doing it like this for the hell of it is a good way to confuse the ever-loving crap out of your audience and make them care less about who they’re watching.

Tarver is going for the early KO, but Prime keeps evading the right hands and tying up Tarver to take him to the mat. Prime knows Tarver is a knockout specialist, so taking him out of his game is a natural solution. It works for a bit until Tarver concentrates his strikes on more than just aiming for the face. Once he catches Prime prone, he goes for some wrestling of his own, looking to take him down easier and maybe soften Prime up before the big shot.

Prime keeps trying to get to his feet but, once the wrestling has gotten Prime down, Tarver doesn’t stick with it to wear Prime down – he just beats his ass like Prime welshed on a bet. One shot – with a closed fist, mind you – echoes off of Prime’s back through the whole arena. Ow. As Rhodes puts it, “Call the law – there’s a mugging going on!” Heh. Prime keeps getting up and Tarver keeps whipping him senseless. Oddly enough, he then starts working backwards, going for the MMA-looking armbar (complete with elbows to the head) after the ass-kicking. That’s nothing, though, as after all that…

Finish comes when Tarver schoolboys Prime – and grabs a handful of tights – for the pinfall victory. For a split second this morphed from a somewhat entertaining beatdown to a MMA-style match (some of the “more realistic” style they hired Norman Smiley to provide?) – and then inexplicably ended with Tarver cheating when he didn’t really have to. Just…odd. And illogical.

Post-match, Saxton takes the mic and puts Tarver over as “The Franchise of the Saxton Conglomerate”. Saxton can’t believe people take offense at what they do…people such as Kafu, whom Tarver has knocked out three times. Saxton mockingly calls for a truce, which brings out Kafu to attack Tarver. The rest of the Conglomerate – Black Pain and Lawrence Knight – get involved in a 3-on-1 on Kafu – which he holds off pretty well on his own before Prime shows back up to (kinda) even the odds. Prime and Kafu stand tall as we go to commercial.

Back to a video for Kizarny – whizere thizey rizeally rizun the gizimick in tizo the gizround. Sizeriously.

Mike Kruel vs. Lupe Santiago

Classic contrast of style here – Santiago’s high-flying vs. Kruel’s brute force. Or so it would seem. Santiago starts out wrestling, keeping the headlock on Kruel to wear him down. Kruel gets in some roughneck offense, but Santiago maneuvers his way out of it and keeps his weight on Kruel. Kruel keeps fighting his way out – and Santiago keeps reversing the momentum and maintaining control each time. Santiago almost looks like a seasoned pro here – not a bad thing to look like when trying to get noticed.

Kruel finally utilizes his power to stop Santiago’s offense and begins a workman-like dismantling of Santiago. Classic mat-style power moves keep Santiago down until Santiago finally goes to the sky to turn the tide. Santiago almost has it until a rookie mistake costs him dearly…

Finish comes when Santiago misses a corner splash, enabling Kruel to hit the Slingshot Suplex for the pinfall victory. For busting out Tully Blanchard’s old move, Kruel earns brownie points. For looking like Blanchard in his prime in the ring, Kruel just gained a new fan. Santiago did, too, for that matter; he looked like a master as well. This is one match I wish could have been longer.

Video package of (*groan*) Eric Escobar takes us to commercial. I thought he had his shot at the FCW Title – and lost. Why do they have to make this a “quest”? I wouldn’t be the least bit disappointed if they took him out of that spot and put Santiago there instead. Certainly the better worker, but I have yet to hear Santiago talk…

Back to

Trent Beretta vs. Kris Logan

Pre-match, Beretta poises himself as a 21-year old prodigy and cites his many accomplishments as a youngster – including riding a bike with no training wheels at age 3 and beating Super Mario Bros. in under 15 minutes at the tender age of 12! Hah!

Beretta reminds me of a young Steve Corino. Decent wrestler, good coward, excellent trash-talker. Trent mainly tries to get in Logan’s head, but Logan’s not buying it early on. The cowardice may be a ruse, though, as Beretta his feet into Logan’s stomach before stealing Logan’s gameplan of grounding and wearing down his opponent. Logan finally resorts to his surprising power to escape the predicament and use the perpetual impact to put Beretta away. As Beretta meets him up top, though, Matthews makes a great point – “the best person to counter a high-flyer is a high-flyer.” Both men counter each others’ counters until Beretta finally scores the big move…

Finish comes when Beretta hits the tornado DDT for the pinfall victory. Not a bad match, but nothing spectacular. Beretta certainly has potential, though, as we go to commercial.

Back to

Carson Oakley vs. FCW Champion Sheamus O’Shaunessey – Non-Title Match

I can finally type O’Shaunessey’s name without resorting to copy-and-pasting.

If I’ve never mentioned this before,. Now’s a good time to bring up that O’Shaunessey is built quite a but like Rick Steiner back in the day. Not as defined or thick up top, but he has that pug-like shape. That plays well into his style as he tosses Oakley around like a sack o’taters and beats the kid senseless. Oakley tries to get in some offense (including a surprising roll-up reversal), but O’Shaunessey is simply too much for him…

Finish comes when O’Shaunessey hits the Fiery Red Hand for the pinfall victory. O’Shaunessey looked dominant – as well he should being the champ. Hope that carries over once he gets called up.

Post-match, O’Shaunessey begs anyone else on the FCW roster for a real fight, including his latest victim, Eric Escobar. He begs someone for a real challenge before leaving to the back and taking us to commercial.

Back to

DH Smith and TJ Wilson (w/Natalya Neidhart~!) vs. Joe Hennig and “Handsome” Heath Miller” Sebastian Slater (c) – FCW Tag Team Championship Match

Yep, it’s Heath Miller. Under a different name. Although the presence of Natalya Neidhart – leading another team of guys with ties to the Hart Dungeon – almost makes me forget all that bother. Ditto the fact that Wilson and Smith look to have gone heel – the way it should be.

Wilson and Slater start out using chain wrestling to try and establish some superiority. Slater finally gets the better for a second, but must have forgotten that Wilson is quick as well. Wilson mocks Slater’s dance, but then Slater reverses the momentum and then does it proper. The jockeying ends when Hennig and Smith both tag in, bringing the battle of the next-gen superstars.

Smith takes control with a barrage of power moves (and Hennig bumps his ass off) until Hennig retaliates off the ropes with a dropkick. Kneelift follows to knock Smith silly. Both of those sentences – and that exchange as a whole – could have come from 1989-90 and I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

Wilson catches Hennig coming in and the double-teaming is effective in the heels (~!) gaining the advantage over the Champs. Hennig torques his knee coming off the attack, so the challengers wisely focus on the bad wheel as they cut the ring in half. Smithy and Wilson may be relative newcomers, but they have enough experience in their blood to know how to work the advantage – using both legal and illegal means. Slater is dying to get in and the challengers take advantage of that as well as Hennig’s potential injury. Smith, smartly, is the guy chosen to tie up Hennig’s leg, using his strength to give the submission moves that much more effectiveness. Wilson in now and uses his leverage to do the same, but it’s not enough to keep Hennig down as he makes the tag!

The match now breaks down into a brawl as Slater and Wilson (the legal men) go at it on the inside, using their agility to try and keep the other dazed long enough for three while Smith and Hennig take the rivalry to the next generation outside the ring. The bad blood between the parties involved has all four men thinking not about strategy but about scoring the win. Wilson makes the cardinal mistake, getting the victory roll on Slater and then celebrating like he won the titles – without seeing Slater’s foot on the ropes. That comes back to haunt him…

Finish comes when Slater takes advantage of Wilson’s premature celebration, hitting his finisher (still don’t have a name for that thing) for the pinfall victory. I sorely wish this were given more time than the previous Tag Title defense, as this one looked like it could have been a lot better had it been longer. Alas, the four did an excellent job with what they were given, time-wise.

Matthews hypes the appearance next week of Randy Orton as the FCW Flashback (yes, the closing clips section has a name now) ends the show.

This week was a little more disappointing than others. Some potential was only glimpsed for a brief moment, and that was part of the problem. Whoever’s booking the show may want to learn that they don’t have to cram everybody into one hour ala Vince Russo when TNA Impact was a one-hour show. Give the audience time to digest a little at a time and the personalities – and the show itself – will get over a lot better, I would think.

L8. Thanks again for reading.

For more interesting (?) reading, click here. Fascinating that Sonic wasn’t pegged as Sega’s mascot, originally – but that worked out a lot better.

MM