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WWE has always looked far and wide for talent, and once they've been signed, the company is eager to school them in the way of WWE. For the past several years, NXT has been producing countless superstars, with fans more able than ever to watch a WWE Superstar's journey from their first matches to pay-per-view.
Developmental hasn't always had such glamour surrounding it. WWE has had many developmental territories over the years, links with smaller promotions used to grow and season wrestlers into main roster talents. The last of these helped pave the way for NXT to become as big a hit as it has. Before the state-of-the-art Performance Center and glitzy TakeOver events, the superstars of tomorrow were cutting their teeth in Florida Championship Wrestling.
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FCW Becomes WWE's New Developmental Brand
FCW originated with former wrestler and Florida native Steve Keirn. Along with decades spent traveling the territories, Keirn is best known for his WWF appearances as Skinner the alligator hunter and one of the Doink the Clowns. Keirn had helped train wrestlers in Florida since the 1980s, credited with helping teach the likes of Dustin Rhodes, Tracy Smothers, Diamond Dallas Page, and Mike Awesome. In the early 2000s, Keirn was hired as a road agent for the WWE, but teaching remained his true passion. After a conversation with John Laurinaitis, Keirn's got his wish.
At the time, WWE's developmental was spread across Ohio Valley Wrestling, Deep South Wrestling, and Heartland Wrestling Association. Looking to centralize their efforts, and seeing Tampa as more attractive to potential talent over Louisville, Atlanta, and Cincinnati, WWE signed a new developmental deal with Steve Keirn in 2007. With Keirn at the helm, he wanted to pay tribute to his own early days, creating Florida Championship Wrestling as an homage to the old Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion, one of the biggest pieces of NWA's map.
The entirety of FCW was under Keirn's purview, with WWE paying FCW to train and develop talent. A long time trainer within the WWE system, dating back to when developmental was a single ring in a WWE warehouse in Stamford, Dr. Tom Prichard was brought on as the Head Trainer. Billy Kidman, Norman Smiley, and Joey Mercury were also recruited to join the coaching team, and to help with interviews, Dusty Rhodes.
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The WWE Superstars Forged In FCW
Over its run, FCW became home to a cavalcade of talent that would go on to become WWE Superstars, world champions, WrestleMania main eventers, and even Hall of Famers. The developmental territory welcomed wrestlers of all backgrounds, much like NXT does today, from college and professional athletes, models, and independent wrestlers, to main roster talent coming back to sharpen their skills and find new life.
Through rigorous training methods designed by Prichard, the FCW hopefuls were put through the ringer, testing their limits and desire on their way to becoming WWE Superstars with brutal repetition drills and even being tasked to wrestle Prichard himself in hour-long draws. But of all the physical demands, for many, Dusty Rhodes' promo class was the most stressful part of all. Together, the FCW formula generated an array of modern WWE stars.
After slaving away in a hot Tampa warehouse, a lucky few earned their main roster spots. The likes of Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Cesaro, The Bella Twins, The Usos, and the first class of the original NXT were amongst some of FCW's earliest graduates, but being so out of the way made many of the trainees feel like their chance may never come. Some tenured in FCW for mere weeks whilst many stayed for years, learning their craft in the hopes of a main roster contract.
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FCW Builds The Foundation Of NXT
Whilst FCW was a far cry from the machine that NXT and the Performance Center has become, the newest incarnation of WWE developmental owes its foundations to the work of FCW. As well as small live events, FCW taped television shows, recorded from the FCW Arena and only broadcast locally in order to keep the mystique around new talent debuting on the main roster. Whilst the likes of OVW also did TV, FCW had much higher production values and is easily identifiable as a precursor to NXT's Full Sail tapings. FCW TV also laid out the initiative of wider areas of the company using developmental as a place to hone their skills, with cameramen, producers, and directors spending time in FCW, learning how to create TV shows.
In 2011, Triple H took over WWE developmental, leaving FCW in a state of flux as the company pivoted. Triple H looked to modernize the developmental process, and designed the new WWE Performance Center with an eye of facilitating talent in every aspect of the wrestling business. Whilst the transition from a sweltering warehouse to a world-class training facility was an obvious upgrade, FCW and Tampa remains a soft spot in the hearts of many graduates. Much of FCW's staff joined the revamped NXT, but for Steve Keirn, Tampa was his home and the move was not for him. FCW officially closed in August 2012, closing the chapter on the old system of developmental, and opening the world of possibility that NXT has gone on to become.
