Press release on unveiling of FCW arena

[greeby]

From the birth of the promotion in the 1960's, until 1987, “Florida Championship Wrestling” was regarded as one of the premier wrestling territories in the country. FCW provided fans with exceptional wrestling action on a nightly basis. Serving such cities as Tampa, Miami, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, Orlando, and West Palm Beach, FCW drew record crowds to it’s shows and posted strong ratings on its broadcasts. The stunning roster of wrestling talent that passed through FCW is endless. The FCW talent was a “who’s who” of legendary Florida based talent, including: Mike Graham, Dusty Rhodes, Jack Brisco, Gerry Brisco, Steve Keirn, Barry Windham, Kevin Sullivan, Dick Slater and more!

Besides the Florida based talent, FCW also featured other top drawing wrestling legends including: Andre the Giant, Ivan Koloff, Ric Flair, Pat Patterson, Superstar Billy Graham, Terry Funk, Abdullah the Butcher, Dory Funk, Ravishing Rick Rude, Roddy Piper, Jerry Lawler and more!

The voice of the FCW was the legendary Gordon Solie, who most consider the greatest wrestling announcer of all time. Bringing credibility and brilliance to FCW, Solie delighted audiences with his trademark “So Long From The Sunshine State” for over twenty-five years. Solie was inducted into the WWE Hall-of-Fame in 2008.

Florida Championship Wrestling is now an official developmental territory of World Wrestling Entertainment. FCW and the WWE are proud to bring back Florida Championship Wrestling. They are excited to bring the allure of Florida based wrestling back to the Sunshine state. Additionally, fans can look forward to top WWE Superstars making guest appearances on FCW programming and live events on a regular basis.

On Thursday, July 17, at 7:30 PM history will be made at the new FCW Arena in Tampa. FCW will tape its debut television show for future broadcast. Tickets for this special evening are very limited. Tickets will only be available at the door starting at 4:00 PM on the day-of-show. On hand to join in on the festivities will be WWE Superstars John Cena and Chris Jericho. Plus, WWE Diva Kelly Kelly will be in attendance. Last, but definitely not least, WWE Hall-of-Famers “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Rocky Johnson and Gerry Brisco and are also scheduled to participate in this very special evening.

Make plans now to be part of this historic night. Florida Championship Wrestling is back in the Sunshine state!

www.wwe.com/inside/news/7596266

[Steveweiser]

Doesn't actually say the address though, which is a bit of an error.

[wrestlecrapcrap]

But they only went down there because Johnny Ace likes the party scene!

[Andrew is Good]

I don't understand why they don't put FCW programming on WWE.com

[beanio]

Jul 7, 2008 16:55:46 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

But they only went down there because Johnny Ace likes the party scene!

Lots of great strip clubs in Tampa.

[Hulkshi Tanahashi]

Does this mean we'll get a Championship Wrestling From Florida DVD?

[Tyfo]

Jul 7, 2008 16:56:20 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

I don't understand why they don't put FCW programming on WWE.com

It would be harder for them to put developmental guys on tv as jobbers and act like we don't know who they are?

Oh, who am I kidding, they don't pay attention to wwe.com anyway.

[wrestlecrapcrap]

Jul 7, 2008 16:59:37 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Jul 7, 2008 16:56:20 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

I don't understand why they don't put FCW programming on WWE.com

It would be harder for them to put developmental guys on tv as jobbers and act like we don't know who they are?

Oh, who am I kidding, they don't pay attention to wwe.com anyway.

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

[Steveweiser]

Jul 7, 2008 17:13:33 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

Jul 7, 2008 16:59:37 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

It would be harder for them to put developmental guys on tv as jobbers and act like we don't know who they are?

Oh, who am I kidding, they don't pay attention to wwe.com anyway.

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

Well, Joey Styles is sitting at the right hand of Vince McMahon at the moment.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

FCW arena...now with bathrooms!

[bigdaddyfive]

Jul 7, 2008 17:21:58 GMT -5 Steveweiser said:

Jul 7, 2008 17:13:33 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

Well, Joey Styles is sitting at the right hand of Vince McMahon at the moment.

He's a puppet now?

God damn it Styles...

[Tyfo]

Jul 7, 2008 17:13:33 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

Jul 7, 2008 16:59:37 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

It would be harder for them to put developmental guys on tv as jobbers and act like we don't know who they are?

Oh, who am I kidding, they don't pay attention to wwe.com anyway.

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

Yeah I know it's content is more of a priority now, but they still ignore "news" items they announce on it.

Their still announcing matches during shows, that were already announced on wwe.com during the day, like they are a big surprise or something.

[eJm]

Jul 7, 2008 17:51:43 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Jul 7, 2008 17:13:33 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

Yeah I know it's content is more of a priority now, but they still ignore "news" items they announce on it.

Their still announcing matches during shows, that were already announced on wwe.com during the day, like they are a big surprise or something.

I can give one statement for this view.

Remember when at one of the Cruiserweight Opens at No Way Out where Chavo won after being hyped as a 'last minute surprise contestant'?

Well, that whole 'last minute surprise' was ruined by the fact that on the match banner, his mug was up right on the left corner.

[wrestlecrapcrap]

Jul 7, 2008 17:51:43 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Jul 7, 2008 17:13:33 GMT -5 wrestlecrapcrap said:

It seems like they are paying more attention to WWE.com now than any point in its history.

Yeah I know it's content is more of a priority now, but they still ignore "news" items they announce on it.

Their still announcing matches during shows, that were already announced on wwe.com during the day, like they are a big surprise or something.

I think that's just to pop the live crowd, and to make it seem to the audience at home who perhaps don't frequent the website as much as other fans that they are watching the show develop before their very eyes so they feel involved.

I think the website is greatly important to them. If they get lots of people visiting (via the exlusive videos and such) then these people may then start tuning into the product on a regular basis. Or if someone only watches Raw, they could see what's happening on Smackdown and decide to give it a shot. It's part of the reason why I thought the money mania thing was a good idea. People were forced to go to the website, which means they will be flooded with information about the WWE brand. With the website, they can paint the picture like there really is a WWE universe that is constantly living itself out, and isn't limited to the TV shows each week. When they do this through their interviews, videos, episodes, photo shoots etc it makes people think that it's something worth catching up on I would say.

[Square]

Jul 7, 2008 18:01:05 GMT -5 eJm said:

Jul 7, 2008 17:51:43 GMT -5 Tyfo said:

Yeah I know it's content is more of a priority now, but they still ignore "news" items they announce on it.

Their still announcing matches during shows, that were already announced on wwe.com during the day, like they are a big surprise or something.

I can give one statement for this view.

Remember when at one of the Cruiserweight Opens at No Way Out where Chavo won after being hyped as a 'last minute surprise contestant'?

Well, that whole 'last minute surprise' was ruined by the fact that on the match banner, his mug was up right on the left corner.

Well it was Chavo, we wanted to forget about him!

[eJm]

Jul 7, 2008 18:02:21 GMT -5 Square said:

Jul 7, 2008 18:01:05 GMT -5 eJm said:

I can give one statement for this view.

Remember when at one of the Cruiserweight Opens at No Way Out where Chavo won after being hyped as a 'last minute surprise contestant'?

Well, that whole 'last minute surprise' was ruined by the fact that on the match banner, his mug was up right on the left corner.

Well it was Chavo, we wanted to forget about him!

But it sort of ruined my watching of the show.

'YES, JIMMY DID IT! JIMMY DI....wait, Chavo hasn't come out yet'

*Oooooh Chavo!*

'Oh...there is he...'

[Bobby Womack]

Jul 7, 2008 16:56:20 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

I don't understand why they don't put FCW programming on WWE.com

i think they dont do that because it would totally slaughter kayfabe when fcw talent shows up on wwe tv with an entirely different gimmick, sure gimmick changes happen in wwe but what if everyone was aware of the russian fighting machine from ovw that was brought in to wwe as just an italian fan? or the angry black guy thats now a kid friendly street thug?

[Steveweiser]

JR says that the venue is on the Dale Mabry Highway.