Good morning, afternoon, or evening depending on when you specifically see this. It is I, the FCW recapper, Bobby, upon you with some developmental goodness. Major apologies for the lateness in this, but I’ve been extremely busy with school work…it won’t happen again! Being that the April 15th show hit Youtube so late, and since the April 22nd and 29th episodes didn’t feature too much Diva wise, I’ve decided to combine the three into one big wonderful post for you to feast your eyes on.
April 15th’s show brought to us a Divas Championship match in the form of Raquel Diaz defending against Audrey Marie. This match has been done almost more times than I can count on one hand, but to me, they seem to get better with each showing so let’s see how this one fares.
April 22nd, on the other hand, only brings a minute long promo from Raquel Diaz…but, is it one that features her boasting of her accomplishments in defeating Audrey, OR one where she’s greatly upset that Audrey beat her for the title?! To find out which of those scenarios is correct, you must watch both the match and segment!
April 29th granted us a wonderful Summer Rae promo in ring where she attempts to snap a group photo-op with both Antonio Cesaro and Richie Steamboat. Alongside that, we also see a brief managerial appearance from the Anti-Barbie Army, Paige and Sofia Cortez. So without any further ado, I have summarized enough and we can get started!
April 15th:
We head to the ring where our booty-ful Sunshine colored dress wearing ring announcer, Caylee Turner aka Baby Fox introduces us to the stipulation of this match. If you’re like me, and wondering why Miss Turner is being wasted in this role as a ring announcer, well…I have no answers for you since obviously I’m wondering the same thing. Nonetheless, the perky upbeat “listen to this when you’re feeling blue and want to dance” theme music of the challenger hits, and out she comes looking as western as ever. People may compare her to a certain TNA Knockout, but I love the look on Audrey and I say don’t fix what isn’t broken! “Yee-Haw” at all the comparisons Miss Marie.
Obviously you can tell I’m in a chatty mood as I write this since I’ve given more of my own personal comments and less of what’s actually going on, so enjoy this burst of energy I feel as I put off writing a paper that’s due today! Anyways, back to the action, Audrey hops her lovely self up and down on the stage, before climbing into the ring and letting out a cowgirl shriek. Jim Ross enlightens us that Audrey was an accountant before entering FCW, which immediately makes me picture her in a low cut business coat/skirt with glasses and her hair in a bun using sexual puns to describe doing people’s taxes in order to prepare herself for how segments for WWE will be filmed. Right Aksana?!
The music of my first FCW love, Savannah, hits, but since the tune has moved on I guess I should to. Out comes Raquel Diaz with her title draped over her shoulder, as she drops the head of her hoodie and climbs into the ring. The first thing I notice about Raquel is her awesome bumble bee socks, but I must quickly focus on the match at hand since the bell has sounded and the two waste no time in locking up. They tangle around a bit, before colliding noggins of all things. Diaz bounces off the ropes and walks right into a quick small package attempt by Audrey, but she near immediately kicks out.
Marie hooks a side headlock takeover, but Raquel attempts a roll up for a one count before Audrey flips it back over. Raquel with a leg lock until Audrey fights out and reverts back to the side headlock. Diaz then begins to test the power of my ear drum with some evil shrieks that rival any I’ve heard before, as they roll around the mat a bit more. Raquel goes for a back suplex, but Audrey flips it over and lands on top of the Champ! Only a near fall is achieved, and Diaz proceeds to Irish Whip Audrey into the corner. Marie goes for a few boots to the chest, but Raquel spins her around over the second rope and drops her onto the canvas like a scalding potato. The champion covers, but once again, not a three!~
Diaz looks to grow angered with Audrey’s kicking out, as she continues to shriek to the referee. A baseball slide sends Marie outside the ring, with our bumble bee clad champ scurrying out the other side and walking over to Audrey like she’s hunting prey. The long walk proved to be disastrous for Raquel, as dear Audrey decks her in the face with a big smack that I’m sure she learned on the farms in Texas. Raquel tries to spear Audrey into the ring apron, but Audrey shoves her off back first into the steel steps as the referee continues the count!
Audrey slides into the ring as Raquel slowly climbs back inside and garners a two count. From there, Diaz locks in a camel clutch as Audrey tries to swim her way out of it to a brief, albeit failed, avail. Raquel then puts the pain onto Marie and then slams her face down into the canvas! Our Divas Champion shimmies over the fallen carcass of Audrey like she’s been cast on Dancing with the Stars, before locking the Camel Clutch back in once again. This time, Audrey hoists Raquel into the air and backs her into the corner!
Raquel tries to charge forward, but Audrey proceeds to drill her with a huge boot to the face that grounds the Champion for just a few one counts. Audrey loses it soon after and begins pounding Raquel in the face! She then goes for a bodyslam, but Diaz counters into a Small Package that Audrey kicks out of. Diaz is then drilled with the bodyslam Audrey set out to do before, but kicks out of a pin attempt and levels the challenger with some stiff shots to the face and a shoulder tackle.
Jim Ross questions the side tattoo of our bumble bee Divas Champion, to which William Regal enlightens us on the meaning behind it. He must have asked her backstage! Raquel sets up for a…piledriver?! (Yes I know it was probably a Gory Bomb, but I want to believe it was a deadly piledriver). Audrey mercifully flips Raquel overhead, to which Diaz counters again into a pin attempt and grabs the daisy dukes for the victory! Sunshine Announcer Caylee Turner proclaims Raquel still champion, as Audrey looks heartbroken at yet another loss to Raquel. The Diaz reign continues on!~
April 22nd:
Oh hey, it’s a new week and thus Raquel Diaz is no longer our Bumble Bee Champion. Instead, she looks to belong with Natalya, Tyson Kidd, and the former DH Smith in the Hart Dynasty because the pink and black attack is certainly back in FCW! Diaz proclaims that we are all wondering where the Divas action is on tonights show, and if you’re reading this, chances are she’s right. Raquel announces that she actually came out here to show off one of the most epic, amazing, gorgeous, multi-talented Divas that the entire company has seen…HERSELF!
Following some evil queen laughter and head bobbing, Raquel announces herself, and actually does a nice job. (Seriously, I loved her when she was a ring announcer!) Another devilish cackle commences, followed by Miss Diaz stating that she took it upon herself to simply come out her and remind us all how Fabulous she is. (I think Rosa Fabulousa would have a problem with this!) I die of laughter as she once again discusses that because she is Raquel Diaz, she always gets to have her cake and eat it too. I have no idea what this means, but it amuses me…oh and this ends the Diva related action for the April 22nd show.
April 29th:
Skip to 5:33
We return to the FCW arena, where the bubbly voice of ring announcer, Caylee Turner informs us to all get up and welcome the General Manager of the company, Summer Rae! I do more than just that, as I stand up, applaud, and then bow at Summer’s presence. She and her scribe, Naylor, walk out to retro a Alicia Fox theme, as Naylor holds the ropes open for the blond queen. Summer removes her coat and tosses it at Naylor in true General Manager fashion, as Miss Rae informs us that right now is such an exciting time for the WWE Universe thanks to her ruling!
She continues on to hype an upcoming match to take place next week in which Richie Steamboat will defend his FCW Jack Brisco 15 Championship against Antonio Cesaro in a 30 minute Iron Man Match…with Jim Ross calling it! Summer then announces that she would like a photo op between her and the two men, and with that, she welcomes Antonio to the ring. Aksana’s new SmackDown “friend” walks out and kisses Summer on the hand (thankfully this was filmed before Aksana and he came to be).
Miss Rae then introduces Richie Steamboat, as the Jack Brisco 15 Champion steps out from the back and poses for the fans. Summer sees this photo going right on her desk, thus she ORDERS Naylor to hobble on down and snap the photo. With that, her yellow sweatered scribe bends on one knee as Summer amazingly poses in between the two men. They seem to be more focused on intimidating one another with stares, but that does not stop our GM from getting herself camera ready and taking multiple shots in case one isn’t to her liking. Sheer brilliance.
Once Summer is finished posing, the two men look to shake hands…but Antonio plays Richie off and walks out without doing so. Cesaro starts the mind games up with Steamboat, as he proceeds to exit leaving both Richie and camera friendly Summer in the ring together looking on at his actions.
Also, check out both Paige and Sofia Cortez as they manage Rick Victor in his match against the debuting Benicio Salazar:
Skip to 2:03
Thoughts: I’m sure you can gather most of my thoughts from the words above, but to sum up the match, I did think it was a step up once again from their past actions. I do think they still have to work on some things, such as kicking out at a one count after a big move (that’s my only pet peeve though). Raquel and Audrey seem to be getting much better when it comes to flowing the match from move to move, although they can only get better by continuing to face each other. Hopefully if they continue wrestling, it’s in tag matches because it’s nice to spotlight some other women. Nothing against either, but I’d like to see Paige, Sofia, or even Caylee get a little more action and title shots. (But please do NOT take this as me saying I want more triple threat matches if anyone with FCW power is reading this).
Also, I loved Summer in her promo with Antonio and Richie. I think it’s no surprise that she’s one of my favorites in FCW, and her camera posing was hilarious. I love that she didn’t even stop to notice she was the only one even looking at the camera! The way she orders Naylor around makes me chuckle as well and I find her to be perfect in this role. Plus, she wears glasses as an authority figure (take notes Eve!)
