Serena made her debut on July 15, 2009 at a Florida Championship Wrestling house show where she teamed with Maria and Angela Fong to win against the team of Natalya, Layla and Alicia Fox in a six Diva Tag match. In her televised debut match, Serena defeated Layla. Her ring name was soon changed to Serena Mancini and once again to Mia Mancini, portraying the character of a mafia boss's daughter. On 14 August, Mancini pinned April Lee in a four-way match during the TV taping for FCW's fiftieth episode to win a future opportunity to compete against Angela for her Queen of FCW crown. She followed up on September 3, though it would not air until October 4, with a win over Angela to become the second Queen of FCW. While defending her crown, Mancini began taking on WWE Divas from the televised roster, defeating Tiffany, Natalya, Savannah and Gail Kim. Later in September, Mancini was involved in a backstage segment which was unacknowledged by the commentary team where a mysterious man told her to lose her match against Angela, though she would refuse to. At the February 4, 2010 FCW television tapings, AJ Lee defeated Serena, who incorporated her SmackDown character into the Mancini role, to become the new Queen of FCW. When Matt Martlaro announced that there would be a creation of the FCW Divas Championship, Serena competed in the tournament to determine the inaugural Champion, during which she defeated Aksana and AJ Lee en route to the final where she was defeated by Naomi Night.