The FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling heavyweight championship owned and promoted by Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a former developmental territory of WWE. It was contested for in their heavyweight division. The championship was created and debuted on February 15, 2008, at a FCW house show.[1][2]
| FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Mason Ryan as champion in 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Florida Championship Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | February 15, 2008[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date retired | August 14, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
The first champion was Jake Hager who won a 23-man battle royal by defeating Ted DiBiase Jr. to become the first champion.[3] On March 22, 2008, Hager defeated FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion Heath Miller to unify the two championships and retire the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship. Bo Rotundo/Dallas holds the record for the most reigns with three reigns. Leo Kruger, Rick Victor and Bo Rotundo all hold the record for shortest reign, because all three have individually won and lost the title on the same day. Jake Hager holds the record for the longest reign (as an individual) with 216 days. In August 2012, the championship was retired when FCW was closed down and WWE created NXT as the new farm territory and replaced with the NXT Championship. The final champion was Richie Steamboat, who defeated Rick Victor to win the title.
Reigns
editOver the championship's four-year history, there have been 21 reigns between 17 champions. Jake Hager was the inaugural champion. Bo Dallas, formerly known as Bo Rotundo, holds the record for most reigns at three times. Hager's reign is the longest at 216 days, while Rick Victor's and Rotundo's first reigns and Leo Kruger's second reign lasted less than a day. Sheamus O'Shaunessy is the oldest champion at 30 years old, while Rotundo is the youngest at 20 years old.
Richie Steamboat was the final champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Victor on July 20, 2012, and held it for 25 days until FCW closed on August 14.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Jake Hager | February 15, 2008 | Live event | Tampa, FL | 1 | 216 | Hager defeated Ted DiBiase Jr. after both were the two remaining superstars in a 23-man battle royal. On March 22, 2008, Hager defeated FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion Heath Miller to unify the two championships and retire the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship. | [3] |
| 2 | Sheamus O'Shaunessy | September 18, 2008 | Live event | Tampa, FL | 1 | 84 | [3] | |
| 3 | Eric Escobar | December 11, 2008 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 77 | [3] | |
| 4 | Joe Hennig | February 26, 2009 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 21 | [3] | |
| — | Vacated | March 19, 2009 | — | — | — | — | Joe Hennig was forced to turn in his championship due to injury. | [3] |
| 5 | Drew McIntyre | March 19, 2009 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 84 | Defeated Eric Escobar to win the vacant championship. | [3] |
| 6 | Tyler Reks | June 11, 2009 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 63 | [3] | |
| 7 | Heath Miller | August 13, 2009 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 42 | [3] | |
| 8 | Justin Angel | September 24, 2009 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 175 | This was a two out of three falls match. | [3] |
| 9 | Alex Riley | March 18, 2010 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 126 | This was a three–way match, also involving Wade Barrett. | [3] |
| 10 | Mason Ryan | July 22, 2010 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 196 | This was a three–way match, also involving Johnny Curtis. | [3][4] |
| 11 | Bo Rotundo | February 3, 2011 | March of Champions | Tampa, FL | 1 | <1 | Norman Smiley was the special guest referee. | [3] |
| 12 | Lucky Cannon | February 3, 2011 | March of Champions | Tampa, FL | 1 | 105 | Brett DiBiase was the special guest referee. | [3][5] |
| 13 | Bo Rotundo | May 19, 2011 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 2 | 105 | Brett DiBiase was the special guest referee. | [3][5] |
| — | Vacated | September 1, 2011 | FCW | Tampa, FL | — | — | The championship was vacated after Bo Rotundo was sidelined with an injury. | [3][6] |
| 14 | Leo Kruger | September 1, 2011 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 154 | This was a fatal–four-way match, also involving Damien Sandow, Dean Ambrose and Husky Harris. | [3][6] |
| 15 | Mike Dalton | February 2, 2012 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 21 | [7] | |
| 16 | Leo Kruger | February 23, 2012 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 2 | <1 | ||
| 17 | Seth Rollins | February 23, 2012 | FCW | Tampa, FL | 1 | 98 | ||
| 18 | Rick Victor | May 31, 2012 | Live event | Crystal River, FL | 1 | <1 | [8][9][10][11] | |
| 19 | Bo Dallas | May 31, 2012 | Live event | Crystal River, FL | 3 | 43 | [8] | |
| 20 | Rick Victor | July 13, 2012 | Live event | Punta Gorda, FL | 2 | 7 | [9][12] | |
| 21 | Richie Steamboat | July 20, 2012 | Live event | St. Augustine, FL | 1 | 25 | [13] | |
| — | Deactivated | August 14, 2012 | — | Tampa, FL | — | — | Title retired when FCW closed down. | |
Combined reigns
edit| Rank | Champion | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Hager | 1 | 216 |
| 2 | Mason Ryan | 1 | 196 |
| 3 | Justin Angel | 1 | 175 |
| 4 | Leo Kruger | 2 | 154 |
| 5 | Bo Dallas/Bo Rotundo | 3 | 149 |
| 6 | Alex Riley | 1 | 126 |
| 7 | Lucky Cannon | 1 | 105 |
| 8 | Seth Rollins | 1 | 98 |
| 9 | Sheamus O'Shaunessy | 1 | 84 |
| Drew McIntyre | 1 | 84 | |
| 11 | Eric Escobar | 1 | 77 |
| 12 | Tyler Reks | 1 | 63 |
| 13 | Heath Miller | 1 | 42 |
| 14 | Richie Steamboat | 1 | 25 |
| 15 | Joe Hennig | 1 | 21 |
| Mike Dalton | 1 | 21 | |
| 17 | Rick Victor | 2 | 8 |
References
edit- ^ a b c "FCW Florida Heavyweight Title history". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^ a b "FCW Results (2008)". Online World of Wrestling.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Champions roll call". Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2011-01-02. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
- ^ Lansdell, Chris (2010-07-23). "FCW Taping Results (SPOILERS)". 411Mania. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
- ^ a b "Superstar of the Week: Lucky Cannon". Florida Championship Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
- ^ a b "Spoilers for Florida Championship Wrestling for September 25, October 2 and 9: two new champions crowned and another Rollins/Ambrose match". PWInsider. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-09-01.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (2012-02-02). "Two title changes at tonight's FCW tapings". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
- ^ a b "Chaos in Crystal River tonight: Florida Title changes hands twice! Bo Dallas new Champion!!!!". Florida Championship Wrestling. 16 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Fact, 3 years ago I was security in Punta Gorda for @CMPunk. Tonight I left the same building as 2 time FCW heavyweight champion!". Rick Victor. 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "FCW Heavyweight Title Changes Hands Twice, Recent WWE Attendance and More". June 20, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
- ^ "Last night I had the world in my hands but it slipped through my fingers. A normal man would fall but this one will never stop rising". Rick Victor. 17 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "Big ups to new FCW tag champs @CjuicePARKER & @JasonJordanJJ. And even though he's a scumbag...new heavyweight champ @RickVictor69". Seth Rollins. 13 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
- ^ "Richie Steamboat Becomes New FCW Heavyweight Champion". wrestlingnewssource.com. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2018.