FCW Wrestling TV Air Date: 1/2/2011
Announcers: Matt Martlaro and Brett Dibiase
Card:
(1) Tito Colon vs. Jinder Mahal
~ A good classic bout of speed and power, of course Colon with the speed and Mahal looking to stay on top with sheer force. Mahal takes advantage earlier with catching Colon and slamming him to the mat, Colon tries to come back but can’t get through the assault of his opponent. Like the announcer said, Mahal definitely has the presence in the ring, but when it comes to getting that final decisive control, he just lacks that assurance. This definitely was the case as soon as the moment arised, Tito used his speed and kept Mahal of balance. Tito would keep the tide in his favor as he would get the pinfall following a Snap Reverse STO “Flatliner”, that planted Mahal on the mat. Gotta say that Colon definitely shows some in ring talent, in from little that I have seen from him. Just like his brothers, who you may recognize as Carlito and Primo. He is keeping his family’s name alive and well.
I do agree thought that Mahal just seems out of place, not sure what WWE is looking to do with him, but I do not know, hopefully not another Muslim character…we all remember how that went with Muhammed Hassan 5 years ago.
(2) FCW 15 (The Jack Brisco Classic) Round 2: Seth Rollins vs. Richie Steamboat
~ Going into this match, it just sounds good on paper. As you will probably know through these I am a big fan of Richie’s father Ricky “The Dragon”, and am hoping his son could be a rightful heir for his father. Very tough task though I might say. Then former ROH talent Tyler Black, now Seth Rollins, who is looking to take his career to new heights and become even more so world renown.
Both men start off looking evenly matched, back in forth in the early minutes. Both men trying to go for the quick pins and eventually turns into Richie trying to show off some of that technical ability that he is learning from his father. Black would soon get the first fall coming a little after the 5 minute mark with a counter from a Diving Crossbody from Richie. In turn giving Rollins a total of 4 points and solidifying his lead in the “The Jack”. This would set the scope of the match for the next 5 minutes in as Richie would be fighting to regain his composure following that pinfall and try to get that pinfall that he needs considering he has 0 points in “The Jack”. Richie would slowly begin building some steam and would keep the pace flowing on his side, slowly building up the fans in his favor as well. Richie would shows more shades of his father as he hits Rollins with a few solid double chops. Black would throw a counter in and would hook Richie with a Reverse headlock which usually leads to the Paroxysm (Elevated Reverse DDT). Richie though would throw a solid knee from that headlock position, spin around and hook Rollins into a Vertical Suplex to a sitout slam/cutter maneuver (sort of like a Falcon’s Arrow, but he spins around and hits a Spinning headlock elbow drop). This finally gives him 1 point in the “The Jack”. Both men worse for ware at this point in the match, and both looking gassed. In is getting down to the closing minute as Richie hooks Rollins up on the top rope. He delivers a solid superplex, but is unable to get the cover in time to make it worth it. Richie gets to his feet and makes it up to the top turnbuckle looking to be going for the Diving Crossbody again. Richie takes off the rope, but Black sees it coming and delivers a solid Overhead Enzuigiri to Richie, really good spot in my opinion. Black quickly goes for the pin, but Richie pulls out some fight and kicks out. Black looks at the clock and sees that he still has time to get a final pinfall. Black sets up Richie for a Powerbomb, picks him up and slams him down. Not looking like he delivered it with enough force as he tries to float it over with a pin, but Richie sort of blocks it and traps Rollins arms and shoulders to the mat. The ref makes the count and Black is not able to kick out and Richie gets the win with 2 pinfalls and 2 points closing the match.
~ Definitely an alright match, a few off spots, but all in all it did its job of helping put Richie Steamboat over. Following the match Rollins extended his hand and congratulated the young man on having the better night.
(3) Jackson Andrews W/Brodus Clay vs. Percy Watson
~ Watson may look like the underdog coming into the match but he says he is looking to create some fire in the FCW, and this seems to come with a bit of change as he is not sporting the trademark glasses anymore. He is still showing of some of his charisma though, and that is a good things, since I thought that is one of his strong suits. Though against him today is on the biggest and baddest in FCW at the moment Jackson Andrews. Andrews as you may know is now the security guard for Tyson Kidd and definitely has that size that Vince McMahon is a fan of when it comes to his talent. A change of focus may be more than Watson needs, but this will be interesting to see if he can land a statement with his new found purpose in the ring. Jackson would show his size and strength earlier on and keep the match in his favor. Keeping Watson off his feet with a wrenching headlock and pounding him with a few solid clotheslines. Watson would pick his opening and catch Jackson in the knee, with a solid kick. While the big man is stunned Watson climbed to the top turnbuckle and landed a beautiful Missile Dropkick that took the big man off of his feet. A few more solid blows and Watson turned the tide into his favor, he would be looking to go for the pin, but big Brodus Clay would cause Watson to become distracted which led to Andrews delivering a solid club to the back of Watson. Andrews would then pick up the pieces following an F5 that spelled the end for Percy Watson.
~ Andrews definitely has the sze and strength as his tools of trade and should do alright for himself in the WWE, at least you might think. Watson’s new change was not shown to the fullest tonight, but it was definitely there, just like Andrews only time will tell what the future holds for the two.
(4) FCW Tag team Championship Match: Col. Damien Sandow and Titus O’Neill [c] vs. Xavier Woods and Marcus Owens
~ The newly crowned champions following an injury to Wes Brisco that caused the titles to be stripped from him and Woods do the severity of the injury. This match is happening because Woods never lost his belt in the first place and has teamed up with Owens to get them back. Owens and Sandow start this match off, with Owens and Woods taking charge early on. Woods and Sandow would have some words with one another that would lead to more cohesiveness of Sandow and O’Neill as Sandow would get the tag and O’Neill while Woods was fixated on Sandow. The cohesiveness of the champions would keep the pace in their favor for the next few minutes, but eventually Woods would get his footing and switch the game in his way. He would get the hot tag on Owens who would begin cleaning house, even taking the bigger O’Neill off of his feet with a solid clothesline and then following that up with a solid axe kick to the back of O’Neill’s head. This would get him a count of 2. Owens looked to be going for another solid move, but O’Neill would finally utilize his size and countered and whipped Owens into the ropes. Owens wouldn’t know what hit him as O’Neill hooked him under the arms and in a fluid motion hit Owen’s with a Skyhigh Sitout Spinebuster, which is called “Clash of the Titus”. This would spell the defeat for Woods and Owens and solidify that the champions are the righteous champions at this time.
(5) Non-Title Match: Mason Ryan [c] vs. Byron Saxton
~ This match as if I can say is more of a grudge match, Mason looking to get some act of compensation for all the times of putting up with Saxton and his conniving and manipulative ways. Mason is the powerhouse of FCW while Saxton is the top heel in the promotion right now. Just the way he carries himself around the back and in the ring. Mason dominates Saxton right of the bat and keeps the hurt coming, not letting Saxton get any form of footing in the match. The match would seem to be coming to the closing moments with Mason slamming Saxton full force, but from the back comes Saxton’s troops of Sandow and O’Neill to jump in and try to get the upper hand on Ryan. Of course this leads to a DQ, but there was no way Saxton was going to leave the match winning if Ryan had anything to say about it. The troops put the boots to Ryan, but out comes Bo Rotundo to help out the champion.
~ Not much of match in my book, very one sided, but Ryan still comes off looking like the victor while Saxton is left cleaning up the mess.
——————–
This is officially the first FCW show of 2011 and what I am hoping to become a new weekly review for myself.
As usual any questions or comments, please leave them below or send me a tweet at twitter.com/PuroresuSpirit or an email at PuroSpirit@gmail.com. You can also friend me up at facebook.com
I hope to back with you guys next week, and hope all will be having a good year in 2011.