WWE: A Few Weeks After the Shutdown Rumors, Where Does FCW Stand?

Speculation and rumors have been swirling about the fate of Florida Championship Wrestling, WWE's sole developmental territory, for weeks now.

It has been hinted for a while WWE were not exactly over-the-moon with FCW's ability—or, rather, lack of ability—at churning out well-rounded, three-dimensional wrestlers who can perform competently once called up to the main roster.

For some context of the group's failings, simply compare FCW's paltry output with that of Danny Davis' OVW, which trained future stars like John Cena, Randy Orton, Dave Batista and the recently returned Brock Lesnar during its association with WWE from 2000 to 2008.

Who is the biggest homegrown star FCW have churned out? David Otunga? And even then he got over because of his clever and entertaining lawyer gimmick, not his (mediocre) wrestling skills.

For the record, while the likes of Sheamus, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio did some training in FCW, they trained elsewhere in their early careers and therefore don’t truly count as "homegrown."

All things considered, FCW, which is run by long-time WWE agent Steve Keirn, doesn't really seem up to scratch, does it?

Possibly in response to the promotion’s dissatisfaction with their training farm, Ty Bailey, the head of the developmental system in Florida was let go, in a move that was perceived as being one of HHH's first major power plays as he eventually takes over the company from his father-in-law Vince McMahon.

However, things really erupted when F4Wonline.com's Dave Meltzer reported two weeks ago that FCW was to be closed imminently, with WWE's entire training system to be moved to Stamford, Conn.

The source for this news was later revealed to be an employee at Bight House Network, the station that broadcasts FCW's tapings in Florida. The story quickly spread like wildfire.

WWE moved quickly to discredit Meltzer's story, putting up a carefully worded interview with COO (and new power player in developmental) HHH in which the wrestler-turned-executive "refuted" what the WWE site called "a false report."

While Hunter acknowledged that major changes where coming for FCW, he insisted they were not closing: “It is absolutely not true developmental is closing,' he informed the site. I don’t know how the rumor started but I believe it’s a situation where the ‘dirt sheets’ want to believe they have the scoop on everything.

"If anything, we are in the process of ramping up our entire developmental system. It’s the lifeblood of our company. It’s what feeds our future and in no way are we going to close it down.”

However, despite WWE’s frantic attempts to calm the situation, there remaining some questions: First of all, Meltzer never reported, as HHH says, that developmental was closing, just that they were moving. And if nothing is at all wrong, like WWE would have us believe, why they tell Bright House officials they were cancelling FCW's show?

In another perplexing development, it was also noted last week that Terry Taylor (previously TNA’s Head of Talent Relations) would likely be working in the new Stamford developmental project. You know, the one that, according to WWE, isn’t actually happening?

For the record, Bryan Alvarez wrote in the (subscribers-only) March 27F4W Newsletter: “Bright House contacted us Tuesday after everything went down and stood by their story, reiterating everything that they were told.” Alvarez went on to say, ‘One WWE source said something definitely went down with developmental and the company was embarrassed that word broke about it.’

In a surprising turn of events, it is now being reported by Meltzer that WWE have contacted Bright House and informed them that they’ve “temporarily” changed their mind about canceling FCW’s show, at least until May or June.

Discussing the news, Meltzer speculated that the move to Stamford was still on but that company was weary of pulling out right now because it would make HHH’s original statements about FCW look dishonest. “It’s a terrible credibility-killer,” he noted.

To conclude, something is going on in FCW beyond a mere revamp, however in a muddled haze of knee-jerk back tracking, increasingly erratic decisions, and poor attempts at saving face, it's difficult to know what. Heck, even WWE may not know what their next move will be.

As Meltzer ominously noted on last night's edition of Wrestling Observer Radio when he summarised the chaotic, messy situation that WWE had found themselves in with FCW,  "I don’t know what they’re going to do, and clearly they don’t know what they’re going to either, because if they did, they wouldn’t have done it this way."