Seth Rollins vs Hunico – FCW
Jack Brisco Classic final
01/14/2011
Every road to the top starts with a single step.
Whether you believe it to be of value to wrestlers who have come from the independent scene or not, it was rare for a new talent in the WWE to not step foot in one of their developmental territories to learn ‘WWE style’. Promotions such as Heartland Wrestling Association and Ohio Valley Wrestling have allowed the company to season their new stars, away from the bright lights of the bigger stages that come with getting called up to the main roster.
Before NXT became the next big thing in wrestling, Florida Championship Wrestling was the latest venue in which new WWE recruits would ply their trade, hoping to showcase their abilities and develop their skills en route to bigger and better things. It was where, in 2010, the character of Seth Rollins made his debut. A play on the name of the musician Henry Rollins, he had spent several years wrestling the independents, most notably ROH, as Tyler Black. Even an ROH World Title run didn’t guarantee you squat up in Stamford, and this was a chance for Rollins to reinvent his persona in the process.
His first opportunity at gold under a WWE contract came in the final of the Jack Brisco 15 Tournament. A novel, if convoluted, idea, the tournament consisted of a selection of Iron Man matches each with a time limit of fifteen minutes. After what appeared to be a Round Robin tournament (brackets and exactly results are curiously hard to find), the two men with the most pinfalls across all matches met in one last fifteen contest to decide who won the medal that was up for grabs. On account of earning five pinfalls over the course of his matches, Rollins eased into the final.
His opponent? Hunico, with his own collection of four falls. Another wrestler who had spent a good lick of time in the business up to this point, Hunico was also out there to try and show what he had to offer to the men that matter; building from the ground up within a promotion that had the potential to make him a worldwide star.
Truth be told, the opening was laborious. Even with the time limit only fifteen minutes, the men traded holds as if to imply that the match was going twice as long. It wouldn’t be until half way through the contest that things finally started to pick up the pace. A rope assisted basement dropkick, followed by a plancha after a fakeout had led Rollins hurtling to the ringside floor had Hunico on top in the contest and highlighting his impressive aerial offense.
Rollins is no slouch either, and after a poorly timed advert break, would land a backflip out of a missed dropkick attempt, before catching a nearfall off of a springboard clothesline. Three minutes were remaining, and neither man had managed to take a fall yet. In a match earlier in the competition, the two had drawn 1-1; this was clearly setting up to be another tight contest.
In the final stretch, the nearfalls kick the match into a gear that it seemed to forget it had at the start. Rollins caught Hunico off of a top rope dive and drove him into the mat for a powerslam – two count; a roll-up out of a powerbomb setup and a La Majistral cradle – both two counts; a Rollins jacknife pin with five second remaining – one last two count. Inevitably, the contest ended as a draw and five additional sudden death minutes were put on the clock for one man to edge in front of the other.
Both men now pulled out all the stops. A repeated attempt of the roll-up out of a powerbomb position gets blocked this time by Rollins liberally dumping Hunico into the turnbuckle and adding insult to injury with a basement superkick. This should be it, but Hunico somehow manages to kick out. A top rope armdrag and his trademark Falling Star swanton bomb isn’t enough for Hunico either. It seems like it is going to take a mistake, a fluke or a touch of ingenuity to gain that one desired pinfall.
In a touch of all three, Hunico would return to La Majistral cradle after Rollins missed a standing shooting star press. This time, Rollins managed to maintain his leverage, pinning the Mexican’s shoulder to the mat for the three count. Having effectively contest thirty minutes of action across the tournament with both men neck and neck, Rollins had just pipped Hunico to the post.
Whilst the Jack Brisco 15 trophy would be defunct within a year, Rollins ended up leaving FCW the only ever Grand Slam Champion, picking up the tag title and main singles gold along the way. These ended up being merely stepping stones for his rise up the card in the WWE proper. As for FCW, rebranding that followed in 2012 would see it become the NXT that we know and love today, a place that is still allowing stars to be born and veterans to ply their trade.
