FCW ran its second show of 2017 with “Broken Hearts” on February 11th. Just a week prior they held their first ever Proving Grounds Tournament. While that show was built around showcasing up and coming wrestlers throughout Southern California, it really delivered on being a really fun show. On paper “Broken Hearts” looked to be one of the stronger lineups in Southern California wrestling so far in 2017.
Aaron Garvey over Veinom [8’10]
Corey Jackson over Primetime Zack Reeb [9’18]
These were the two pre-show matches. Someone was talking to me during the first one so I missed some of it unfortunately. Aaron Garvey won it with a leg drop ala Hulk Hogan. The second pre-show match was pretty good. Zack Reeb being on the show was a surprise. He and Corey Jackson had a pretty entertaining match. After the pre-show matches the show started pretty much on time, which is always good.
Lil’ Cholo over Adrian Quest [6’39]
Adrian Quest jumped Lil’ Cholo to start the match. Quest managed to get a bit of offense in early, but Cholo took over. They were outside the ring and Cholo lifted Quest to start a vertical suplex, but then walked all the way around the ring while holding Quest up in the suplex position. Both wrestlers looked good in this and worked well together. There was a miscue at one point where the ref accidently made a three count. Cholo eventually hit a vertebreaker to get the pin. This started out good but was pretty short and didn’t really get time to develop.
Rating: ** 1/2
Jesse James over Jorel Nelson and Donnie Suarez [9’20]
Jesse James just won the inaugural Proving Grounds tournament the week before, and he came out carrying the trophy. Donnie Suarez hit a nice tope con giro early on in this. There was a pretty sloppy exchange between Suarez and Nelson at one point, but other than that both looked solid. Jesse James looked strong in this. He clotheslined Suarez into a suplex from Nelson then destroyed Nelson with a lariat and got the win.
Rating: ** 1/4
B-Boy over Andy Brown [16’55]
B-Boy is a heel in FCW now, which is hard to pull off because he’s considered a legend in the area, it’s his home town, and he’s still a good wrestler. When he came out he didn’t slap any fans hands or play to the crowd, but everyone still loves him. B-Boy spit on Andy Brown to start off the match. There was some fighting outside the ring early, and B-Boy through Brown into a wall. Once they got back in the ring B-Boy tossed Brown by his beard. B-Boy and the ref Rick Knox got into it, and B-Boy shoved Knox, which lead to a shove back. B-Boy went to strike Knox, but Knox kicked him in the stomach and delivered a stunner. The crowd went crazy for this. Andy Brown looked really solid in this. The match really kept building nicely and got better and better as it went on. Brown eventually hit his package piledriver finisher on B-Boy, but B-Boy managed to roll out of the ring. After Brown went out after him and B-Boy was able to recover, he hit a death valley driver on Brown on the apron. Back in the ring he hit two chicken wing piledriver’s on Brown to get the pin. This was a great match.
Rating: *** 3/4
Scorpio Sky came out for his FCW Heavyweight title match with Douglas James. James came out in street clothes and said he was unable to compete due to injury, and as he’s missed two straight matches he asked to give up his title because it’s not right that it wasn’t being defended. There was loud “no DJ, no DJ, no” chants. FCW promoter Gus came out and accepted. Both James and Gus did a great job of showing emotion here and really made it come across like a hard choice. Sky asked to be announced as the new champion, but Gus told him that he still had a match for him, and the winner would be the champion. Out came the 2016 Southern California wrestler of the year Tyler Bateman, making his return to FCW.
Tyler Bateman over Scorpio Sky to win the vacant FCW Heavyweight title [17’47]
This match had a slow build to it, with Bateman methodically working over Sky. There was a lot of good stuff here. Lots of chants for Bateman. Bateman had a crossface on Sky and Sky managed to power out of it. He flipped Bateman out of the ring and hit a nice tope con giro. There was a lot of good back and forth action in this. Bateman, who had really been working Sky’s neck early, got the win with a jumping tombstone. This was really good.
Rating: *** 1/2
Warbeast (Almighty Sheik, Fatu, & Brody King) over Guy Cool, Jake Atlas, & D’Marco Wilson [9’38]
This started out with Warbeast taking turns beating down Wilson, followed by Guy Cool. Neither really got any offense in and took quite a beating. Finally Jake Atlas got the tag and actually was able to make a little bit of a come back, but Warbeast was too much for them to overcome. Fatu seemed to work the lion’s share of the match for Warbeast, and he was really impressive. Warbeast clearly worked as heels, but I don’t think the majority of the crowd was too aware of Sheik or Fatu, and Brody King hasn’t yet been too dastardly in FCW. Their domination of the faces did a good job of trying to establish them as heels through the match, but Fatu was too good. People couldn’t help but cheer for him with the moves he was pulling off. I thought both King and the Sheik looked solid in the parts they were in. Sheik took a pretty scary looking bump to the outside at one point. Even though this was basically a squash, I thought it did its job well and was entertaining. After the show, one of the first things pretty much everyone mentioned to me was how great Fatu was.
Rating: ** 1/2
Eli Everfly over Danny Limelight and Biagio Crescenzo to retain the FCW Lightweight title and win the FCW XRT title [15’36]
Eli Everfly and Biagio are in the ring about to start the match, then a voice comes over the mic and out comes Danny Limelight to a pretty big reaction. For those who don’t know, long story short, Limelight and Eli were supposed to fight for Limelight’s FCW XRT title and had an altercation that turned into a fist fight. Stuff got worked out to the point the match was scheduled, but Danny Limelight, who is in the Marines, got accepted to the Marine Corp drill instructor course and couldn’t make it and cancelled all his future bookings without dropping the XRT title. So now he is back out, and this match is announced as being for both the FCW Lightweight and XRT titles. This was a really fun match with lots of crazy spots. Eli always takes some crazy bumps, and at one point he was thrown into the chairs in a way that he had to be feeling that the next day. I thought Biagio looked really good, and he and Eli work well together. Like Eli, Biagio took a ton of punishment in the match. Limelight showed a hint of rust but was pretty solid for the most part. Eli kicked out of Limelight’s finisher earlier in the match, then evaded his Photobomb 450 and hit a destroyer on him for the pin. Like I said, this was a really fun match.
Rating: *** 1/2
I want to add that I spoke to Danny Limelight after, and he mentioned that it was important to him to come back and drop the belt and go out in what he feels was the right way. I’ve really enjoyed his matches, especially in FCW, and he had a ton of potential as a wrestler. As a veteran myself, I appreciate his service and the sacrifice to give up something he loves to continue to serve.
Twisted Sisterz (Thunder Rosa & Holidead) over Human Tornado & C-Love [11’25]
Human Tornado and C-Love were a mystery team. Before the match there was a great sequence with Tornado trying to seduce Thunder Rosa through his dance moves and slowly it turned to where Thunder Rosa was the aggressor. This was hilarious. As for the match itself, I thought it was an odd match up that never really worked out as it should have. No one was bad in the match; it just never seemed to gel. Twisted Sisterz have a ton of natural charisma and were great with their expressions throughout the match. Thunder Rosa hit her double stomp off the ropes on Human Tornado to get the pin. I loved the stuff before the match, but didn’t like the match itself very much.
Rating: * 1/2
Rey Fenix over Bestia 666 [18’04]
This started out with a great exchange between the two. This was a pretty even match with both guys getting in a fair amount of offense. There were a couple spots that looked like they weren’t on the same page that stopped it from being a little better, but it was still a really good match. Fenix looked great as always, but Bestia 666 is super under rated. He always looks pretty solid. Fenix hit a destroyer to get the pin. Fans through money in the ring after the match.
Rating: *** 3/4
Rey Fenix cut a promo after the match, and thanked the fans and “especially Bestia 666” but then stated Bestia is still a bitch. Bestia ended up jumping Fenix after and laying him out to end the show.
Once again this was another really good show from FCW. They’ve not only had a pretty good string of shows over the last year plus, but also a string of having really good main events as well. Adding Tyler Bateman to the promotion really adds a lot of possibilities for some really good matches coming up, including the inevitable Douglas James getting a shot at the title he never lost. They’ve really started out 2017 strong.
