It was a bit of a different episode last time out for FCW Empire, I noted it as a more “in-house” episode. We were back on it with a championship match along with a match teased on the last edition. It’s the Empire Zone aka The Tulloch Institute, a crowd that were already hyped, did they remain hyped!?
FCW Women’s Championship – Tara Lenny w/Blonde Valentine defeated Cherry Knox w/Leon Graves by pinfall to win the FCW Women’s Championship.
Tara Lenny and Cherry Knox arrived flanked with support, Blonde Valentine and Leon Graves respectively. Lenny got the best of the opening lock up with Knox having to move to strikes to kick Tara down to her knees to be prone for a double knee assault to the back of the head. Cherry tried to continue the momentum but Lenny was ferocious to break through and keep the pressure on Knox. The extended beatdown continued with Tara bringing Blonde into the operation who was swiftly chased back by Leon Graves. After a spell on the floor at ringside, the match returned to between the ropes where Cherry suplexed Lenny to begin a combo builder of clotheslines and a basement dropkick into the chest of a seated Tara Lenny in the corner.
Lenny wriggled out of a fireman’s carry for a Final Cut that caught a two count. Tara started punching Cherry Knox while she tried to get some sort of guard up. Referee Chris Quinn dragged Lenny off her opponent as Valentine jumped onto the apron. Graves dragged and brawled with Blonde to the back which was enough time for Tara to rake the eyes of Cherry and plant her with a DDT to take the win.
Kevin Williams interrupted the celebrations with FCW Women’s Champion Brodie Adler. Williams announced that due to injury Brodie had to vacate the FCW Women’s Championship and that the match they have just witnessed was for the FCW Women’s Championship. As Adler went to hand the title to the commissioner, Tara snatched the belt to bask in the hate.
There was some finesse missing that caused some stop-start which made a flow hard to develop, it needed a little experience in there just to tie the sequence of events together. The title stipulation was certainly different to reveal after the match and may have had more impact if it was announced before as it would’ve added some drama and added a why factor that would have benefitted things because the last time Cherry Knox was in Fair City Wrestling it was a DAPW show 2/3 months prior and she was a villain, teaming with Natasha Swann against Tara Lenny and Brodie Adler. Wrestling fans don’t have short memories and needed a bit of time to grow that support for Cherry, it was there towards the end thanks to Tara’s penchant for short cuts. There could have been some more Blonde Valentine shenanigans to really make his comeuppance from Leon Graves reach a higher peak. It’s a match worth revisiting down the line as Tara and Cherry have bundles of potential and talent, I’m a big fan of both, but this match didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
Ryan Roode defeated Tommy Raiden by pinfall.
Ryan Roode overpowered Tommy Raiden from the lock up, Raiden managed to walk Roode into the corner for take two, and with the third time of asking used the referee’s attempt to break up the two in the corner to catch Ryan with a punch to the jaw. Roode didn’t take kinda to it by barrelling through Tommy until Bedlam had to take a breather on the outside to regroup among the chants of “chicken” that surrounded him. Raiden baited Ryan to come out to meet him and rammed Roode into the ring post. Tommy tried to flatline Ryan on the apron but was caught and suplexed back into the ring with authority. Ryan headed to the top turnbuckle, unfortuntely for Ryan Roode, Raiden dived onto the ropes to cause a loss of balance to send Ryan crashing to the mat and getting a basement cutter.
Raiden tried to keep the advantage, a springboard headscissor was halted with Tommy being thrown up onto the shoulder of Ryan Roode for a Death Valley Driver for a near fall. Roode missed a leg drop as Raiden went about biting the knee of Ryan and clawing at the thigh. Roode struggled to his feet via the ropes and got a ZigZag for a two count. Tommy went for the ZigZag again but was pushed away and given a spin out powerbomb that clinched the victory for Ryan Roode.
Roode announced that the FCW tag team division was officially on notice because Matty Mayhem was coming to join him and Anarchy Ink were going after tag team gold.
There was a whole heap of time wasting but that undeniable charisma that Ryan Roode possesses kept that investment in the match strong. I’m still not totally sure what Bedlam is when it comes to Tommy Raiden, there’s an erratic nature to the promos which is interesting but the ring it doesn’t totally line up, his moveset is a bit too flashy whereas a more methodical and purposeful approach might just help, leaning more into gnawing at opponents whilst grabbing any limb to twist and torture may fit better with the overall aesthetic. There’s certainly a layer waiting to be exposed that will just have all the pieces fall into place.
The show was fine, the 35 minutes came and went. It just wasn’t the best episode, and that’s purely down to the Empire episodes from the 2026 shows being of such a high quality that a drop in level is noticeable. All that being said, the fans in the Empire Zone made the noise and we move onto next week.
The show is available on YouTube: