Florida Championship Wrestling

Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former independent Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August 2012, the promotion served as the official developmental territory for WWE. In August 2012, WWE re-branded Florida Championship Wrestling into NXT for their developmental territory, with storylines and championships being discontinued.

History

The promotion was started by Steve Keirn in 2007 and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based Deep South Wrestling in April 2007. It became their sole developmental territory in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with Ohio Valley Wrestling.

FCW's debut show was on June 26, 2007 at Tampa, Florida's Dallas Bull. A 21 man Battle Royal was held during the show, to crown the first ever FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion. The next year the Florida Heavyweight Championship was introduced, with Jake Hager becoming the first champion at a February 15 show after surviving a Battle Royal and defeating Ted DiBiase, Jr.. The Florida Tag Team Championship was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eddie Colón and Eric Pérez) beating Steven Lewington and Heath Miller to win it in the finals of a one night tournament. The singles titles were later unified, keeping the "Florida Heavyweight" name and championship.

Dean Ambrose

Jonathan "Jon" Good (born December 7, 1985) is an American professional wrestler and actor, signed to WWE under the ring name Dean Ambrose. He is the current WWE Intercontinental Champion in his first reign. In WWE, Ambrose has also had one 351-day reign as United States Champion, which is the third-longest in history, and a company record within WWE (who acquired the title in 2001). He was part of The Shield with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns from November 2012 to June 2014, and has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE. He made his acting debut in the WWE Studios production 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (2015).

Good is also known for his work on the independent circuit as Jon Moxley between 2004 and 2011. He worked for Full Impact Pro (FIP), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and Dragon Gate USA, winning the FIP World Heavyweight Championship once and the CZW World Heavyweight Championship twice.

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit

Heartland Wrestling Association (2004–2010)

WWF Championship Wrestling

WWF Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It aired from 1972 to 1986 and was the original television show of the WWF. Originally produced under the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) banner, Championship Wrestling featured all the stars of the WWF, interviews and championship matches. It was the flagship program of the WWWF/WWF's syndicated programming until it was replaced by Superstars of Wrestling in 1986.

History

Run in syndication

This was the first WWF program to be shown on national broadcast television. Vince McMahon built the syndicated network in part by persuading local stations to pay for the rights to air the program. Stations like KPLR-TV in St. Louis and KHJ-TV (now KCAL) in Los Angeles reportedly paid $100,000 to air the show.

In its early years, the show was taped at the Philadelphia Arena and later at the Allentown Agricultural Hall in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Typically, three weeks of television were taped in one night. The final taping in Allentown took place on June 19, 1984, with the episodes airing June 30, July 7, and July 14. The tapings then moved to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York until the final taping took place on August 5, 1986, with the final episode airing on August 30. The following week, WWF Superstars of Wrestling replaced Championship Wrestling as the WWF's new flagship syndicated program. In contrast to Championship Wrestling, the tapings for Superstars of Wrestling moved around the country and took place at larger arenas.

Seth Rollins

Colby Lopez (born May 28, 1986) is an American professional wrestler who is signed to WWE under the ring name Seth Rollins.

After signing with WWE in 2010, he was sent to its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) where he was the first FCW Grand Slam Champion. After WWE rebranded FCW into NXT, he became the inaugural NXT Champion. Rollins debuted on WWE's main roster in 2012 alongside Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns as The Shield. Rollins is a one-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time United States Champion (the first and only wrestler to hold both titles concurrently), a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion (with Reigns), and was the 2014 Money in the Bank winner, as well as the 2015 Superstar of the Year.

Prior to signing with WWE, Lopez wrestled as Tyler Black for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he held the ROH World Championship once and the ROH World Tag Team Championship twice (with Jimmy Jacobs), and was the winner of the 2009 Survival of the Fittest tournament. He also wrestled for various independent promotions including Full Impact Pro (FIP), where he was a one-time FIP World Heavyweight Champion, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he was a one-time PWG World Tag Team Champion (also with Jacobs). Along with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, Rollins is one of three men to have been world champion in WWE and ROH. Industry veteran Steve "Sting" Borden described Rollins as the most talented wrestler he has ever watched, or worked with.