Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

promotion based on the former

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

member promotion,

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida professional wrestling promotion, wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it close ...

, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August 2012, the promotion served as the official developmental territory for WWE. In August 2012, WWE re-branded Florida Championship Wrestling into NXT 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 network owned by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, a division of TKO Group Holdings. The service relied on technology develo ...

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 in 2007 and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based Deep South Wrestling 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, professional wrestling promotion and former developmental territory based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow, Matt Jones (radio host), Ma ...

. FCW's debut show was on June 26, 2007 at Tampa, Florida's Dallas Bull. A 21-man

Battle Royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

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. The Florida Tag Team Championship was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares ( Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez) beating Steven Lewington and Heath Miller 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 concen ...

. 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'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), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

, 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" 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 ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

aspects of the show had been dropped earlier in 2012; '' WWE NXT'' 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 mergers and acquisitions 2007 establishments in Florida 2012 disestablishments in Florida Companies based in Tampa, Florida Defunct professional wrestling promotions