Downed On The Farm: Top WWE Developmental Prospects That Never Made It…Part 56

Brian Damage

The WWF/WWE has had some type of developmental system for years now. Whether it was the USWA, Ohio Valley, Power Pro, Heartland, Deep South, Florida Championship Wrestling or NXT…many of the company’s top superstars got their start in at least one of them. While some developmental names like John Cena, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, The Miz, Brock Lesnar and Charlotte Flair all made big stars of themselves by first training in developmental, others never got to see the light of day. This series will focus on those wrestlers…the ones that at some point were a lock to get called up to the main roster and never quite made it. What once was hot, suddenly became a “not” as a WWE superstar.

Fletcher Chase

Jason Garrison always knew he wanted to be a professional wrestler…in particular a WWE superstar. When attending Saint Louis University, Garrison took acting classes feeling it would help him stand out as a wrestler. Garrison began wrestling training in 2007 and competed on the independent circuit under the name of ‘Gavin Garrison.’ He would eventually make his way to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) to garner more training and with the hope of getting noticed by WWE.

In December of 2008, Garrison received a WWE tryout and was signed to a developmental contract. He was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) based in Tampa, Florida. He was given the ring name of ‘Fletcher Chase.’ The gimmick of Fletcher Chase was that of an intellectual with a high IQ much like Damien Sandow would eventually get on WWE’s main roster.

Fletcher was used as both a wrestler and a manager and while a bit green in the ring…was said to be an excellent talker and showed great charisma. Fletcher wrestled a host of future WWE stars while down in FCW including the likes of Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Bo Dallas and Joe Hennig. Unfortunately, Jason Garrison was released from his WWE developmental contract in September of 2009.

Jason Garrison would retire from a pro wrestling career and now works for Anheuser-Busch beverage company as a national director. He resides in the Denver, Colorado area.