Four New “Entertainers” on ECW, but who are they?
Bottom line is, from it’s onset until about six months ago, nobody knew more about FCW than yours truly. I attended the first twelve shows and some associates of mine continue to attend despite attendance being down (mainly due to the releases of so many good workers and bad booking).
Last week, WWE debuted four new talents on ECW. With the “Donald Draft” happening and ECW losing a crapload of awesome workers, the decision was made to make the brand a “Developmental #2” so to speak, which it sort of was before, except that now it’s cemented. As a result, I’ve decided to give a little detail on the four newbies so that you know a thing or two.
Abraham Washington. Most people know him as Obama Washington, FCW’s “General Manager”. FCW didn’t have a “General Manager” for a long time, but since WWE LOVES authority figures, he got a job. His gimmick is obviously influenced by current President of the United States Barack Obama. He worked OVW and Derby City for a few months before Johnny Ace signed him to FCW. If you think he was awful on ECW, you just wait – it’ll get worse. He’s green as grass and is being brought up way, way, way, way, way, way too early. If he doesn’t improve fast, I think he’ll be going the way of Scotty Goldman and Kizarny quickly.
Tyler Reks. Tyler Reks has been in the company for about a year and a half. I know him as Gabe Tuft, which is his original and real name before WWE started to go in there and chop up names for trademarks. He is a decent, but a bit green, worker who has a very good look, different from most of the FCW roster which is just buff guys with crue cuts and shoulder tattoos (and you wonder why THESE FOUR got called up first). Gabe legitimately worked his way up from working FCW opening night tag matches and whatnot against the likes of Shawn Spears until he won the FCW title. He is pretty much the top guy in FCW at the moment along with Sheamus so with them gone, there will be even MORE reason for me to stay at home on Thursdays.
Yoshitatsu. Yoshitatsu’s real name is Naofumi Yamamoto, who is a protege of current IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Lou, a friend of mine and reader of FightGameBlog met him before he ever stepped into the ring as well as Tanahashi, who was utterly in shock that an American knew who he was. Lou said “I know you from the internet” and had him sign his copy of King of Colisseum 2 for the PS2. Anyways, he joined the company back in September and showed tremendous promise as a worker. A lot of us speculated that this is WWE’s first step in grabbing international talent for their alleged “worldwide expansion” that was reported in the Observer in 2007 which is slowly but surely coming to form. Either way, he is a pretty decent worker, so look forward to him getting even better.
Sheamus O’Shaunessy. Speaking of Lou, this is one of his favorite wrestlers and perhaps the palest man on Earth (yes, even paler than Bryan Danielson). Sheamus is probably the most experienced talent in FCW. He’s originally from Ireland and worked there for numerous years before being sicned to FCW. I’ve sat next to him at the bar at LEAST a dozen times for WWE PPVs. He has a very distinct look, with a Viking beard and a ripped body, so it was natural WWE would get him. He was most noted for being the man to defeat the undefeated Jake Hager (Jack Swagger) for the FCW Title back in August.
