Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion,

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August 2012, the promotion served as the official

developmental territory In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a highe ...

for WWE. In August 2012, WWE re-branded Florida Championship Wrestling into

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

for their developmental territory, with storylines and championships being discontinued. In March 2020 a documentary was released on

WWE Network WWE Network is a subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television t ...

titled ''A Future WWE: The FCW Story'', about the professional wrestlers that came up through the FCW system.

History

The promotion was started by

Steve Keirn Stephen Paul Keirn (born September 10, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in multiple National Wrestling Alliance territories as Steve Keirn as one-half of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, as w ...

in 2007 and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based

Deep South Wrestling Deep South Wrestling (DSW) is a professional wrestling promotion in the state of Georgia. Deep South worked in tandem with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a developmental territory from September 1, 2005, until April 18, 2007. Deep Sout ...

in April 2007. It became their sole developmental territory in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former developmental promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow and Matt Jones and Louisville mayor elect, Craig Greenberg. ...

. FCW's debut show was on June 26, 2007 at Tampa, Florida's Dallas Bull. A 21-man Battle Royal was held during the show, to crown the first ever FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion. The next year, the Florida Heavyweight Championship was introduced, with Jake Hager becoming the first champion at a February 15 show after surviving a Battle Royal and defeating

Ted DiBiase, Jr. Theodore Marvin DiBiase Jr. (born November 8, 1982) is an American former professional wrestler, best known for his time with WWE as an original member of the stable The Legacy, and for his repackaged gimmick of "The DiBiase Posse", where he t ...

The Florida Tag Team Championship was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares ( Eddie Colón and

Eric Pérez Eric Alexander Pérez (born December 18, 1979) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler who currently performs under the ring name "Escobar". In 2005, Pérez signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he worke ...

) beating Steven Lewington and

Heath Miller Earl Heath Miller Jr. (born October 22, 1982) is a former American football tight end who played professionally for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons from 2005 to 2015. Miller played college football f ...

to win it in the finals of a one night

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The singles titles were later unified, keeping the "Florida Heavyweight" name and championship. On July 7, 2008, WWE confirmed that FCW was based on the original independent

promotion, which operated from 1961 until 1987. The program's ending consisted of various clips from the ending of CWF's programs, featuring

Gordon Solie Gordon Solie (born Francis Jonard Labiak, later Jonard Pierre Sjoblom, January 26, 1929July 27, 2000), was an American Florida-based professional wrestling play-by-play announcer working for Georgia Championship Wrestling, Championship Wrestlin ...

's classic sign-off line "So long from the Sunshine State", accompanied by Solie winking one of his eyes and waving two fingers upward. On July 17, 2008, the FCW Arena was officially opened, and included a taping of the debut episode of '' FCW TV''. On March 20, 2012, it was reported that WWE would cease operation at Florida Championship Wrestling; however, this statement was later refuted after Steve Keirn denied the claim. WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events,

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as ...

, stated WWE will be ramping up their development system, not shutting it down. In August 2012, WWE dropped the FCW name, deactivated the titles, and began running all of its developmental events and operations under the "

NXT Wrestling NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * '' WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spi ...

" banner. WWE had been using the ''NXT'' name for a television program featuring rookies from FCW competing to become WWE main roster wrestlers, though the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

aspects of the show had been dropped earlier in 2012; ''

WWE NXT ''WWE NXT'', also known as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show currentl ...

'' now serves as the primary television program for the NXT Wrestling promotion.

Championships and accomplishments

Notable alumni

Alberto Del Rio 2010 Tribute to the Troops

The following is a list of notable FCW alumni that were called to the main roster of WWE.

References

{{Professional wrestling in the United States WWE 2007 establishments in Florida 2012 disestablishments in Florida Companies based in Tampa, Florida