The FCW Effect

[Remix]

Hi I'm Kotre and I've been a fan and avid watcher of FCW since 2009. In that time I've observed something I like to call the "FCW effect". This is what I like to call the difference between how good someone appears to be while in FCW and how good they appear to be when they're called up. To illustrate this I'll use one example, someone who exhibited the effect and then

Alex Riley

There are two recent and good posterboys of this effect and Alex Riley is by far and away the better example (the other is Johnny Curtis, by the way). In FCW, Riley was a big deal. His matches were above average, his promos stood head and shoulders above everybody on the roster, bar one very tall Englishman and he oozed entertainment. And then he went to NXT. From week one, people thought he had a good chance to win. WWE allegedly expected him to win. But that didn't happen. Alex's matches weren't especially good, but it was NXT; everyone in season 1 toned themselves down maybe he was too and his promos lost their lustre too. He spoke confidently but in every improv session he was upstaged, usually by Kaval. And so, he lost but was called up anyway where Riley's star dropped further, repeatedly screwing up basic things (like not getting eliminated in the Royal Rumble and jumping). Once the shining star of FCW, now occasionally working on Superstars.

So why did Riley suddenly appear to be shit when he never seemed to be before NXT? The answer my friends is blowing in the wind roster. I'll be blunt here. The FCW roster contains a lot more shitty wrestlers than it does guys who'd be able to succeed in WWE. That's to be expected. Hell, that's the reason it exists. To take guys of varying levels of quality and develop them into something that might work in WWE. However in a pile of shit, a metal disk is going to stand out. Compared to its surroundings it's great, it's shiny, it's worth something damnit!

But take a slightly shitty metal disk and put it in a pile of coins, suddenly it's not so special. There are coins that are shinier than it, there are coins that are definately worth more than it, and none of them appear to be covered in shit. Sometimes this piece of metal cleans up well and turns out to be a valuable coin. Sometimes they don't and soon it's forgotten, left in pile but never looked at until you decide to have a clearout...

That extended metaphor is the FCW Effect in essence. A mediocre tallent in FCW sticks out like a penny in a turd. There are obviously other reasons as well. A newcomer to WWE is unlikely to get as much time as a top guy in FCW, both in the ring and on the mic. There are also cases when people who don't really stand out in FCW don't get recognised as good until after they're called up (which happened to Alberto Del Rio who was pretty much a nobody in FCW, but is a three time WWE champion). In true Jack Hammer style it's time for three bold questions.

Do you agree that it's easier to be a standout tallent in FCW than on the main roster due to the relative strengths of the rosters?

Other than the aforementioned Riley and Curtis, are there any wrestlers who you feel fell victim to the "FCW Effect"?

(For people who watch FCW only) Is there anybody on the roster who you feel is likely to fall victim to the FCW effect and the accompanying internet hype?

 

[supaman5279]

big fish, little pond my friend. the active roster is flooded with big body guys and its just that much easier to go unnoticed. i sparingly watch fcw but i appreciate it. for the little studio warehouse thing they shoot out of the production value is definitely wwe quality. i see a little more indy style in there which is probably what stands out in most guys since once they make the main roster, half their move set is changed.

I think most guys fail not because of management but lack of effort(but not a lot). guys need to put themselves out there more(ie. ryder, dibiase posse party etc..). mcgillicutty, huscy harris, everyone else who lost nxt. eli cottonwood cant cut a mustache promo. percy watson gave it a try, they shouldve let him keep comin out with the glasses shoutin OH YEAH!!! but its so hard to pay attention to things like that when were too busy watchin THE BEST IN THE WORLD or chanting CENA SUCKS!!!...

Claudio/Antonio micht be the next victim of the fcw effect. Big guy, great talent, might be a victim of crappy gimmick or just might be a TOO watered down version of himself. but hopefully creative will do him right and he does right by them. i see the next big star to come out of fcw...richie steamboat..but i think daddy dearest is missing the boat on this one..soon no one will know who he is and riding on the steamboat name will be useless.

 

[klunderbunker]

I can't particularly speak for FCW, but I can indeed speak for OVW. This is almost always the case and you can see the same thing in places like ECW. Anytime you perform in front of a lot of the same fans a lot of the time, you can get gimmicks over that are a lot weaker than mainstream ones. There's one example that I always use and this is no exception: The Heartthrobs.

They were nothing special and you probably don't remember them from a very brief run they had in WWE around 2005. Well back in OVW, these guys were more popular than free beer in a frat house. During a big serious beatdown to the top face, the crowd was screaming for the Heartbreakers (they had to change their name because of Shawn) to make the save. Keep in mind they were a lot closer to Billy and Chuck levels in OVW than they were on Raw. They wore feather boas, tiny pink shorts and came out to It's Raining Men. However, they got WAY over because they were in front of a small audience and a gimmick like that can work. To the mainstream audience though, not so much.

Another good example is one Rico. Now a lot of people don't know this, but down in OVW, Rico was AWESOME. he was a guy with long curly hair and a great look. Rico was a ring general and beat Cena clean for the OVW Title in what a lot of people thought was long overdue. His finisher was a Swanton Bomb and he just destroyed everyone else on the roster as far as potential (this includes the named Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Shelton Benjamin). Then he became a gay stylist manager in WWE. It's another fine example of totally missing the boat with someone and a big problem in WWE: they decide that if a gimmick doesn't work, it's your fault and not their's and you're done.

But yeah this isn't so much an FCW effect but more of a small promotion in front of a home base effect.

 

[The_Sharpshooter]

Great written OP. I would also add that timing in different aspects could play a part in the "FCW Effect". In NXT, Riley jumped off the screen as far as look, attitude, finisher, & gimmick(for the most part. He plays the braggadocious athlete well). You take him off a pre taped show, put him on a live Raw, and he makes John Toilet jokes. Boo. Or you realize that his punches & kicks look kinda girly. Double boo.

But that just leads to the same problem I always had with the E: they dont believe in slow builds. Cody & Dolph are the few examples in a long time where you see talents work their way from the bottom up. Mason Ryan(another FCW guy) came back as a face threatening the US champ, after showing NOTHING that made him warrant attention in Nexus other than his musckles. Give the talent more time to develop. Everyone isn't Sheamus or Barrett

 

[James Greiga]

i completely agree i mean just look at Mason Ryan, he was bad ass in FCW, but when he got to WWE he was Frankenstein-esque with his walking, his mannerisms and the way he talked and eventually the crowd just booed him and he was taken off RAW, they used to show promos for him all the time to get him well known in the fan base but after about a month people booed him 6 ways from sunday, maybe it was the fact that he was a babyface wrestler but i say its because that he was just one normal piece of shit who's smell was more potent than the others

 

[Straightedge Jericoholic]

Though you are right about the FCW effect to some extent, it was not the case with Alex Riley. He was in a wonderful position for a nice push and was getting one when he defeated Miz, the guy who won the main event of Wrestlemania! But then, the DUI arrest or whatever happened and now he is in the doghouse. The place which Drew Mcintyre calls home. And by the way, Drew's another example of what iam trying to tell you.

 

[Oracular Spectacular]

I think it also has to do with where they come from Pre-FCW.

According to good old Wikipedia, A-Rye is a product of FCW. He started training there, never left there, then went straight to the main roster. No Indy experience all of his experience nuzzled in the breast of the WWE. Built to be in the WWE by the WWE.

A lot of other guys who were considered washouts were pretty much involved in only minor regional based independents before WWE snatched them up ( I can only assume they did this so the wrestler would not have a lot of exposure to the outside world pre-WWE so that they could seem as though they were mainly a creation of the WWE, which seemed like the model of the developmental territories throughout the 2000's, with exceptions like Colt Cabana, Spanky and CM Punk) With the WWE's recent "Independant movement" They have been showcasing guys who have had TV time rather it be in ROH or any other regional television(Tyler Black, Dean Ambrose, and Antonio Cesaro are all "Main Eventers" in FCW)

I think the switch that has happened lately with the movement to more experienced wrestlers is because of the failures of the developmental system. Think about a guy The Damaja(Danny Basham in the WWE) the WWE put soooooo much time into developing this guy in OVW, they made him the focus of OVW to the point where he was super over, and they had him under contract for years, and what was the payoff? A short Tag team run, maybe A year and a half. A lot of guys fit this mold, Most of the Spirit Squad, Kevin Thorne, Johnny Curtis, The Heartthrobs, Ron Waterman, etc.

In FCW currently you mainly have a lot of Indy talent and second(or third) generation wrestlers, somthing that may seem safer because of the examples they have, CM Punk and Randy Orton fall under these categories and look at the payoff on these two. Both these guys have paid off quite a bit financially hopefully the WWE can continue this trend.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

I think a lot of WWEs problem with their "developmental system" is that it works TOO well. Nearly everyone comes out the same bland shade of off white mush.

Most people know what would fit them and their personality better than anyone, so why do you hire someone with a character that they have developed for themselves, and crafted over time and tell them that they need to change it up?

"Stunning" Steve Austin was one of the greatest heels in WCW in the early 90's. and loud mouthed, disrespectful son-of-a-bitch, and WWE "developed" him into... The Ringmaster? "Stone Cold" was just a bitter, jadded and pissed off version "Stunning", and it was Steve Williams who came up with that. he took a character that he had developed over many years, and knew the psychology of, and twisted it with the very real feelings that he had felt and bam, the biggest star in a generation.

Same thing with Rocky Miavia, WWE "developed" him to the point that the crowds, in 1996, before you could blame every unwanted fan reaction on the "IWC", were chanting for him to DIE! I don't even think that you could get a sustained "die, Cena, die" chant out of one crowd today, and Rocky had "die, Rocky, die" chants EVERYWHERE. it wasn't until they let Dwayne be Dwayne that The Rock was born.

Hogan came in with the same character that he had developed in the AWA and elsewhere, he was still Hulk Hogan. If WWE had had their way they would have "developed" Bret Hart to be a werstling Cowboy (that was his original gimmick, pitched too him by WWE... he refused). Chris Jericho came in and simply got a new nickname, Y2J, but he was still Chris Jericho. Eddie Guerrero came in he was still Eddie Guerrero. CM Punk. The Road Warriors. Even The Ultimate Warrior kept the same character, he just upgraded the name from Dingo to Ultimate. all big names that didn't need to be "developed" by the WWE.

If something works, don't try to fix it

 

[Remix]

I can't particularly speak for FCW, but I can indeed speak for OVW. This is almost always the case and you can see the same thing in places like ECW. Anytime you perform in front of a lot of the same fans a lot of the time, you can get gimmicks over that are a lot weaker than mainstream ones. There's one example that I always use and this is no exception: The Heartthrobs.

They were nothing special and you probably don't remember them from a very brief run they had in WWE around 2005. Well back in OVW, these guys were more popular than free beer in a frat house. During a big serious beatdown to the top face, the crowd was screaming for the Heartbreakers (they had to change their name because of Shawn) to make the save. Keep in mind they were a lot closer to Billy and Chuck levels in OVW than they were on Raw. They wore feather boas, tiny pink shorts and came out to It's Raining Men. However, they got WAY over because they were in front of a small audience and a gimmick like that can work. To the mainstream audience though, not so much.

Another good example is one Rico. Now a lot of people don't know this, but down in OVW, Rico was AWESOME. he was a guy with long curly hair and a great look. Rico was a ring general and beat Cena clean for the OVW Title in what a lot of people thought was long overdue. His finisher was a Swanton Bomb and he just destroyed everyone else on the roster as far as potential (this includes the named Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Shelton Benjamin). Then he became a gay stylist manager in WWE. It's another fine example of totally missing the boat with someone and a big problem in WWE: they decide that if a gimmick doesn't work, it's your fault and not their's and you're done.

But yeah this isn't so much an FCW effect but more of a small promotion in front of a home base effect.

I agree that you could make the case with near damn any wrestler that got over in front of a small audience and then flopped in front of a larger one. However FCW Effect sounds better to me than a more accurate title.

i completely agree i mean just look at Mason Ryan, he was bad ass in FCW

Mason Ryan was shit in FCW. His title reign was irrelevant, he played second fiddle to a feud between two announcers, and he went on record as saying he was nowhere near ready to have a run with the strap.

but when he got to WWE he was Frankenstein-esque with his walking, his mannerisms and the way he talked and eventually the crowd just booed him and he was taken off RAW,

He was in Nexus, they were supposed to boo him. As for him being a lumbering piece of shit, that predates his FCW career. He was like that on Gladiators.

they used to show promos for him all the time to get him well known in the fan base but after about a month people booed him 6 ways from sunday, maybe it was the fact that he was a babyface wrestler but i say its because that he was just one normal piece of shit who's smell was more potent than the others

He was shit on Gladiators, he was shit and green in FCW and now he's shit, green and surrounded by good talent. Mason Ryan doesn't fit in with the FCW effect because he never stood out as good in FCW.

Though you are right about the FCW effect to some extent, it was not the case with Alex Riley. He was in a wonderful position for a nice push and was getting one when he defeated Miz, the guy who won the main event of Wrestlemania! But then, the DUI arrest or whatever happened and now he is in the doghouse. The place which Drew Mcintyre calls home. And by the way, Drew's another example of what iam trying to tell you.

You've got your history backwards. The DUI happened before the split with Miz. If anything, he wasn't punted to Superstars until he fucked up the ending to a match because he forgot he needed to jump to make it possible to receive a powerbomb. Three times in one match. Also, I don't buy the Drew McIntyre conspiracy theory. He got depushed because he flat out failed. End of story.

I think a lot of WWEs problem with their "developmental system" is that it works TOO well. Nearly everyone comes out the same bland shade of off white mush.

Disagree. Very few of the people called up and are still up appear to be identically bland. Several of them are indeed bland, but they are hardly interchangable.

Most people know what would fit them and their personality better than anyone, so why do you hire someone with a character that they have developed for themselves, and crafted over time and tell them that they need to change it up?

because funnily enough, most of the bland guys in FCW weren't wrestlers for long before they arrived. They were college football players who had never worked a character before they arrived. It's then up to guys like Dusty Rhodes and Norman Smiley to teach the guys who to play a character that might work in FCW. Most of the guys who came in with a character end up playing a similar character in FCW (Antonio Cesaro is still "Very European", Drew McIntyre was still a rich party animal, Sheamus was and is an arse kicking Irishman). Also, in FCW, gimmicks change fairly regularly (Damien Sandow for example has played: libertarian, colonel, crazy guy who wants the title, classy champion) so if something's not working it can and does change. It's more likely that WWE will change their characters to fit into the role they have planned for the guy than FCW to change a gimmick that appears to be working.

"Stunning" Steve Austin was one of the greatest heels in WCW in the early 90's. and loud mouthed, disrespectful son-of-a-bitch, and WWE "developed" him into... The Ringmaster? "Stone Cold" was just a bitter, jadded and pissed off version "Stunning", and it was Steve Williams who came up with that. he took a character that he had developed over many years, and knew the psychology of, and twisted it with the very real feelings that he had felt and bam, the biggest star in a generation.

Austin wasn't hired to be a star. He was hired as a mechanic to be a safe pair of hands and have good matches. Essentially he was the 1990s version of Tyson Kidd. That he turned out to be the biggest star since Hogan was a lucky coincidence.

Same thing with Rocky Miavia, WWE "developed" him to the point that the crowds, in 1996, before you could blame every unwanted fan reaction on the "IWC", were chanting for him to DIE! I don't even think that you could get a sustained "die, Cena, die" chant out of one crowd today, and Rocky had "die, Rocky, die" chants EVERYWHERE. it wasn't until they let Dwayne be Dwayne that The Rock was born.

Rock wasn't developed into anything before he arrived. He was in his rookie year and pushed far more strongly than he should have been. If WWE actually had a developmental system in 1996, someone probably would have noticed that Rocky Maivia was a shit character and tried to work on it before he got called up.

Hogan came in with the same character that he had developed in the AWA and elsewhere, he was still Hulk Hogan. If WWE had had their way they would have "developed" Bret Hart to be a werstling Cowboy (that was his original gimmick, pitched too him by WWE... he refused). Chris Jericho came in and simply got a new nickname, Y2J, but he was still Chris Jericho. Eddie Guerrero came in he was still Eddie Guerrero. CM Punk. The Road Warriors. Even The Ultimate Warrior kept the same character, he just upgraded the name from Dingo to Ultimate. all big names that didn't need to be "developed" by the WWE.

Jericho and Punk both had hard times adapting to the WWE in their early days. CM Punk was though to be a sloppy piece of shit and Jericho talks at length about how WWE thought his early matches were shit in his second book. And that was after Punk spent 18 months in OVW. Today isn't the same as it was then. Outside of WWE there's really nowhere else that you can make your name. There's Japan, but how many people who watch WWE watch Puro and the style there is distinct from the WWE style, your in ring stiff and probably character would need to be developed into one that'd work stateside. There's the indies but ten thousand people at best watch ROH (and fewer watch the smaller feds) and the ROH style is different from the WWE style, and few people in that company have actual gimmicks and hence need developing.

If something works, don't try to fix it

It's not a coincidence that the top guys have shown the ability to adapt and improve their character. Look at John Cena: The Prototype, A guy with ruthless aggression, Rapper, Wade Barrett's personal bitch, All American clean cut good guy, All American good guy who might be letting years of disrespect get to him. Just because something works doesn't mean it doesn't need to keep evolving.