FCW and WWE's Youth Development Policies

[ellax]

Everyone know what FCW is and its role, so I guess I won't go into details to it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having new blood in the industry, I'm also all for wrestlers to venture elsewhere. True enough, WWE is definitely the "dreamland" for all wrestlers, but with just only 3 ongoing shows right now (Technically only 2 since "NXT Redemption" is just pointless), the opportunities seems to be even much lesser for younger and upcoming talents to gain proper experiences that can benefit them in the long run.

True, the purpose of FCW is meant to develop young talents and eventually bringing them closer to WWE. I had watched FCW a few times on youtube and honestly speaking, it's definitely different from WWE in many aspect and that should be the case. So quite frankly, the only way for these talents properly get the right experiences being in WWE, is to be really wrestling in WWE.

Unfortunately, these youths suffer the problem with most big companies: A roster too huge for them to penetrate into. Just look at the alumni list of FCW, how many stars actually able to get a decent push when they are in WWE? Frankly speaking, probably less than 10 out of the current 39 of them, plus those who are currently inside the FCW roster training, that says a lot.

True enough, under business standpoint, WWE will want to keep the talents for themselves for their own future and preventing competitors from getting bigger, but with the cancellation of WWE Superstars, it does beg a question as to whether developmental territories such as FCW are actually "wasting talents" rather than creating them.

 

[Gman35]

How can you come to the assumption that FCW is wasting talent??? Let's see, would it be wasting talent in the developmental was still OVW??? NO, it wouldn't. Yes, superstars was cancelled, and rightfully so. So, know what does WWE do with the talent that they were using on superstars? Most likely, we will see a new future endeavored list come out here soon. If WWE releases these people in FCW, where do they go? TNA, ROH. The problem is with that, unless these people get T.V. time, how can they get signed by these two? FCW is only aired in Florida on Brighthouse cable, and someone uploads them to youtube. WWE should think about airing FCW on the web like ROH and OVW does

 

[TUFFY54]

Simply put, there just isn't a place for everybody. Chris Masters made a damn good point when he was asked about his release. He said that his spot was gone and that he had been replaced. He said he couldn't be bitter about it because he took the spots from guys like Val Venis when he came in.

Right now the WWE only has two shows. Each one only pushes about a dozen guys. Consider the fact that Smackdown guys are now on RAW, and even less people are getting TV time. Look at the amount of wrestlers they show backstage on Raw who never get on TV. There's at least a dozen guys on each brand that never wrestle on TV.

I'd say a third of the active roster isn't being used. In addition to these guys, they have about 80 people signed to developmental deals. Where the hell are they going to go? How the hell does a guy in developmental expect to make it big in the WWE after watching Hell in a Cell. Wade Barrett, Alex Riley, Daniel Bryan, Ted DiBiase, Drew McIntyre, and Justin Gabriel can't even get a match on the card.

I don't know what the answer is, but they have far more people than they can ever use.

 

[brighamosity]

From what I understand, the WWE developmental wrestlers don't make all that much. At least not compared to what someone on the main roster would make. Probably just a few thousand a month. So from WWE's standpoint, it doesn't hurt them to employ 40 developmental wrestlers, if 10 of them will one day be stars (or at least make it to the main roster), and 30 will never make the main roster. It's an investment to them. Even if only 1 or 2 of those 40 wrestlers make it really really big, it probably makes it all worth it. Even Cena and Orton started out as developmental wrestlers. So while it may be hard to predict who the next Cena or the next Orton will be, WWE can't afford to take their chances with just one or two guys. They keep a large group or wrestlers around because the lower the spot on the card, the cheaper their paycheck is to pay out. If they push someone and they don't get over, they job for awhile and then get future endeavored and WWE pushes someone else.

People always talk about how WWE has all this talent and how they should make extra shows to showcase them all. Why?? Superstars got cancelled by WGN because it sucked and no one watched it. So they moved it to WWE.COM and it got cancelled from there too. What makes anyone think that WWE can just come out with all these extra brands and enough people will watch them to make them profitable? Heck, most "in-real-life" WWE fans I know don't even bother watching Smackdown. Even I usually don't get around to watching it until Saturday afternoon. And you can forget Superstars or NXT. I didn't even care enough to read the results, let alone watch them.

But it's okay. The money John Cena brings in likely pays the paychecks for every guy on the roster. WWE is simply in a continuous effort to find other wrestlers who can help bring in money too. Raw is two hours long and John Cena can't carry the whole show himself, so that's where the other wrestlers come in. But don't fool yourself into thinking the average fan cares about the majority of those wrestlers.

I read somewhere that the vast majority of music CD's released don't even turn a profit. They actually lose money. But the occassional CD that is successful pays for the ones that aren't. The record companies have no way of knowing which ones will make money and which ones won't. They roll the dice. And in the end, they make a profit. That's how WWE is. Some wrestlers become John Cena's. Some become Chris Masters's. And most you will never hear of. So long as WWE is making a profit, they'll be happy.

 

[ellax]

Yup.. I learnt that before.. merely 5% of Music CDs actually make profits..

And I do know well enough WWE is a business entity and profits is what they are looking for.. however.. but tying the young talents but not giving the rightful opportunities is just wasting of money and killing the industry..

Taking Colt Cabana for example.. WWE didn't use him.. but he did so well in ROH.. Talents can have brighter future elsewhere but by tying them in the developmental deal.. they can't go anywhere.. and these deals are sign for years..

To be honest.. it wasn't just the cancellation of SuperStars that sparks me from thinking of that.. this thought was running through my mind since the signing of Mistico aka Sin Cara.. why did they even chose spend such money and sign someone who can't even speak English and creating so much troubles since his arrival.. all because he's big in Lucha Libre.. when they have tons of potential wrestlers out there in FCW for Rey Mysterio to pass that torch to..