The promotion was started by
Steve Keirn in 2007 and became WWE's second developmental territory when they ended their relationship with the Georgia-based
Deep South Wrestling in April 2007. It became their sole developmental territory in early 2008 when they ceased affiliation with
Ohio Valley Wrestling. FCW's debut show was on June 26, 2007 at Tampa, Florida's Dallas Bull. A 21-man
Battle Royal was held during the show, to crown the first ever
FCW Southern Heavyweight Champion. The next year, the
Florida Heavyweight Championship was introduced, with
Jake Hager becoming the first champion at a February 15 show after surviving a Battle Royal and defeating
Ted DiBiase, Jr. The
Florida Tag Team Championship was also introduced in February, with the Puerto Rican Nightmares (
Eddie Colón and
Eric Pérez) beating
Steven Lewington and
Heath Miller to win it in the finals of a one night
tournament. The singles titles were later
unified, keeping the "Florida Heavyweight" name and championship. On July 7, 2008, WWE confirmed that FCW was based on the original independent
Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion, which operated from 1961 until 1987. and included a taping of the debut episode of
FCW TV. On March 20, 2012, it was reported that WWE would cease operation at Florida Championship Wrestling; this claim was initially refuted by both Steve Keirn and WWE executive
Paul "Triple H" Levesque, though Levesque noted WWE's developmental system would be "revamped". Five months later, WWE dropped the FCW name, deactivated the titles, and began running all of its developmental events and operations under the "
NXT" banner. WWE had been using the
NXT name for a television program featuring rookies from FCW competing to become WWE main roster wrestlers, though the
reality television aspects of the show had been dropped earlier in 2012. A revamped
WWE NXT thereafter served as the primary television program for the new developmental brand. ==Championships and accomplishments==