Earlier today Brian Fritz wrote about the concept and some of the FCW guys that were going to be on the show. And tonight, according to F4W/Wrestling Observer, it was announced on ECW who was going to be on the show (I haven’t watched ECW yet, but I trust these are right.)

Mentor is on the left with FCW talent on the right.

Chris Jericho/Wade Barrett
Matt Hardy/Justin Gabriel
MVP/Skip Sheffield
Carlito/Michael Tarver
Miz/Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson)
Christian/Heath Slater
C.M. Punk/Darren Young
R-Truth/for David Otunga (Jennifer Hudson’s fiance)

So, it doesn’t look like Kaval, Joe Hennig, or Brett DiBiase are on the show, like rumored. But what an interesting set of mentors we have. The mentors who probably do have some great advice for these guys include Chris Jericho who wrestled all over the world, Matt Hardy who really came into the business as a puppy and has survived, Christian who though not as worldly as Jericho, has survived fairly unscathed while being pretty successful, and CM Punk who was labeled as too indy, but has become one of WWE’s biggest stars.

MVP hasn’t been in the business very long, but is known to be a student of the game, so that should help him. Carlito was born in the business, but he has been super inconsistent in his WWE career. Ron Killings is interesting in that he’s on the older end of the crew, but is very young in his WWE years even though he was with them as K-Kwik.

But the most intriguing pairing is The Miz and Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan just seems too weird to say). The humor in all of this is that Danielson would probably be the best mentor of them all, but because he’s new to WWE and they want to get him over, he has to be on this show. And I think pairing him with The Miz will be very humorous. I imagine he can definitely learn one or two things from The Miz when it comes to showmanship and self-expression, but Miz could probably learn more from Danielson about everything else.

I am definitely tuning in next week for sure.

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.

- Jeff Hardy wasn’t allowed to board a flight back to his hometown after Tuesday’s Smackdown tapings because he was intoxicated. I guess it’s a lesser of possible evils from him, but it’s just mind boggling how he keeps screwing up right after WWE forgives him from his previous mistake. For those that don’t remember, he was going to win the ladder match at this year’s Wrestlemania which would’ve given him another title chance, and possible title run sometime this summer. But he failed another drug test and was suspended. He’s scheduled to be in the Smackdown main event at the upcoming No Mercy PPV. He’s even on the poster. Let’s hope this dude gets his act together because in the ring, he’s a great entertainer.

- Kazuo Masaki defeated Joe Riggs last night in the main event of Strikeforce at the Mansion II, their second Playboy Mansion show in two years. Lightweight Mitsuhiro Ishida, the first man to beat Gilbert Melendez, won in the first two minutes, beating Justin Wilcox with an arm bar. Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson defeated Ashe Bowman, which could set up a rematch with Melendez somewhere down the line.

- Bad Left Hook (one of my favorite sites) says that Tito Trinidad wants to fight twice more in 2009.

- I failed to list the last two FCW reports by our own Big D, so I will do so here.

Kofi Kingston showed up at the September 12th show, while on the September 19th show, Jack Swagger lost his FCW title to Sheamus O Shaunessey.

- In the “Oh By The Way” category this week, Kevin Nash resigned with TNA. Thankfully, we don’t get a HBK/Diesel reunion in WWE.

- Speaking of TNA, I really enjoyed the Sting promo as well as the closing angle with the Sting/Jeff Jarrett/Kurt Angle trio. They finally took the time to allow something to develop, even though they’ve pretty much cut the testicles off their champion Samoa Joe. Adding Mick Foley to the mix was fun, except that they left everyone wanting to see a Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley match (which would be the third ever TNA PPV I would buy if it did happen), when from what everyone says, they’re leaning toward Kurt and Jeff. TNA giveth, TNA taketh away.

Big D has you covered with the latest in Florida Championship Wrestling. He wrote the August 28 FCW taping report for the recently merged F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer site. Vladimir Koslov and Beth Phoenix showed up to join in on the fun.

Big D With Katie Lea

Big D has you covered with the latest in Florida Championship Wrestling. He wrote the August 21 FCW taping report for the recently merged F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer site. Katie Lea showed up and worked the show and WWE bound Gail Kim made a quick appearance as well, until she was hurried to the back.

Big D With The Lovely Kelly Kelly

Big D has you covered with the latest in Florida Championship Wrestling. He wrote the August 14th FCW taping report for the recently merged F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer site. Santino and Kelly Kelly showed up to join in on the fun.

Big D And CM Punk

Our own Big D wrote the latest FCW taping report for F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer, which featured Edge and a reunion of sorts for the Second City Saints.

Big D And MVP

Our own Big D wrote the latest FCW taping report for F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer, which featured the Mickie James, MVP and an injury in the main event.

Our own Big D wrote the FCW taping report for F4WOnline/Wrestling Observer, which featured the Hardy Boys in the main event.