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Kermit The Grog
Mar 29, 2010
Great write up. It's fun seeing all the little subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) references to real life pro wrestlers. I could be wrong on drawing a comparison, but I was very surprised seeing a baseball wrestler in the vein of a Boomer/Dasher Hatfield showing up in the company stuck in the 70s.

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Testekill
Nov 1, 2012

I demand to be taken seriously

:aronrex:

I've had shocking luck with QAW talent being poached; Danielle Sweetheart and Foxxy LaRue always end up going to CWA and the luchadoras either get picked up by OLLIE when they inevitably start throwing around exclusive contracts or they go to USPW. Alina America is also just an alright talent, she's got a lot of star quality and sex appeal but at best she's a competent if unspectacular talent that is kind of in the wrong company.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

A baseball with a moustache, he's perfect.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
I do apologize for the infrequent updates.

Episode 12: Duo No More



RAW starts off their month with two title changes. Midcard stalwart Lynx defeats former DIW break-out star Tombstone for the RAW Quest championship. On a quick glance Tombstone is moving up the ranks and is ready to be moved up to main event angles, thus the title change. The TV title changes hands the next week, when not-interested-in-steroids (the fool!) Luke Steele ends APW alumni Belushi's title run after four months.



Reggie Tate, possibly feeling that he should be more than just a loss post for Goliath Global, starts wheeling and dealing backstage. Once again, this actually doesn't DO anything... yet. It is possible for a group of friends in a locker room to form a "clique" and start some trouble together.



At this point I also remember to release our road agent Markus Rush. I actually haven't been paying him, since I haven't been using him since his awful first showing. But I really have no use for him as he doesn't have the qualities to be a manager and our backstage morale doesn't rely on him.




SWF realize that they really should be building a new generation of stars. The tag team titles move from arguably the best SWF tag team of all time, The Amazing Bumfholes, to the new pairing of Spencer Spade and Mainstream Hernandez. The world title sees a shock change happen as Golden drops the title to second generation star, uh, Hollywood Brett Starr. Exciting times at the land of Supreme.



Over in Japan, WLW makes a huge acquisition. Recent BHOTWG departure Hijo del Relampago stays in Japan and buffs up the upper card of our Japanese allies. They also make some smaller hires, including EX2010 star Commander Kawagishi (who will be working for both companies from this moment on. If he works all shows, that's around 15 shows... a month.)



PGHW goes back to well as Kozue Kawashima wins the PGHW World title for the fourth time in his career. This isn't as disastrous as I feared when I wrote the Japan part of the world tour. Kawashima has been excellent this year.



On the surface Team Taku winning the BCG tag team titles isn't really noteworthy. Sure, it's one of the only father/son tag teams in the database winning gold together for the third time, but that's not the catch here. The father, Toshinobu, pictured in the article is actually retiring from the ring in three months time at 53 years old. So, a feel good moment for the family, one final hurrah before Toshinobu moves on. But why were the titles vacant in the first place? Titles are usually vacated when the champion is either injured or leaves the company before dropping the title. I haven't seen any major departures or injuries lately from BCG, so I take a peek at the title history.

I find out that one half of the previous champions, Yorii Ippitsusai, retired with the belt, leading to vacating the belts.

BCG, you wouldn't do the exact same thing twice in a row, would you?



God dammit Hellcat, you JUST left CILL under the exact same circumstances!



Over in England, 21CW are sweating bullets. Tommy Cornell, the guy this whole database is named after, is getting to the end of his contract and the vultures are circling. USPW and SWF both immediately throw their contract offers towards the man. Even if he's 42 years old, Cornell is STILL one of the best in the world and his return to America would be a major story.



Championship Carnival is here and we have incidents to take care of...



Hey, more karaoke!



Hey, Tate is being handled before I even get there!



Still waiting to see ONE negative incident, I turn myself to meddling with the rest of the gang.



Friendship!



Ignore the fact that I typod the name of our main title in that last angle.

We open with a mix of two angles, where the focus is on Boon, who barely even tries to be in the match, leading to Mattell getting the win of Legend. We keep up with the theme, as D-Pod and The Boring Ones manage to get one over Our Heroes With Abs, with a post match scuffle. Since this is a show called Championship Carnival, Nighthawk defends against Blithe in a quick match. Team Forbes challenge the trio of Simonson/Macquarie/Vortex to an elimination tag team match next month, the faces naturally agree. Samoans maul Possum and Wasp, with The Apocalypse mocking the small challengers ringside during and after the match. The de facto #1 contender's match between them and the dysfunctional duo of Devine and Shark sees the shocking roll-up win by Shark after Possum distracts Warmonger.

The double main event is pretty clear cut. Gerard finally bests Massacre in a Last Man Standing Match and is definitely head towards Hamstead. Hamstead and Mills have a close contest, but the difference maker isn't Viktor Goliath. It's Donovan Boon, who "shockingly" knocks his tag team partner out with a steel chair. The show ends with Boon standing over the body of his fallen friend with Goliath and Hamstead celebrating their victory on the background.


Rating:

Nighthawk's first title defense is fine enough. When (if) Blithe gets over and develops, this should be a better match months and years down the line.


Rating:

Gerard and Massacre have a good match. Massacre has been solid, but he might be taking a bit of a backseat for a while. He's taken losses from our top babyface and our new midcard title holder. He's still over, but I'm drawing a bit of a blank who should he be feuding with next.


Rating:

Hamstead vs Mills is exactly one point better than Hamstead/Boon. This had more interference and a big storyline progression, so it's a BIT disappointing, but what can you do? Speaking of...



This is the point where we officially pull the trigger on the Boon heel turn. When you set up a turn (or a gimmick change), you get to choose the segment where it happens. The game will remind you every time, when a worker setting up a change appears. When doing a turn, it is wise to build it for a bit. Sudden turns CAN work, but they might go awry.



Boon's turn is a complete success. Now I'll just have to change his gimmick, since a "Fan Favourite" character won't really work anymore. Feel free to suggest a new gimmicks for Boon.

Championship Carnival scores a 51. Even with two equally good main events, the angles bring the show down a bit.



Another one of these new social media related flavor stories. Melody, one of the bigger women's division stars in USPW, heads off for her maternity leave and stirs up some poo poo on Twitter before she goes. Gorgon, a respected veteran and one of the great women monsters of the past fifteen years (and a fellow USPW wrestler) responds. Melody might be getting a less than a warm welcome whenever she comes back...



Steffi Chee is one of the many wrestlers retiring this month, but the only one opening her own wrestling school. When a wrestler retires, they have a somewhat random chance to open up a wrestling school of their own. It will take a year or two before the first crop of rookies graduate from there.

(A big change in TEW2020, almost all workers now graduate from a wrestling school instead of just appearing in the database.)



SWF make an interesting hire as they randomly decide to show the middle finger to WLW. Brave just won the WLW tag team titles a few weeks ago and now he's heading back to SWF. (Brave actually graduated from the SWF wrestling school in 2005 and had an unremarkable six year run. He's a strange hire at this point, as SWF should be going for a youth movement.)

But hey, who cares about that, when another former SWF wrestler returns home just a few days later.



It took around 225 000 dollars a month, but Tommy Cornell is indeed coming back to SWF for the first time since 1997. This is HUGE both for the in-game power struggle (21CW loses their top wrestler, SWF plugs a hole in their main event and USPW doesn't get another ridiculous star) but for the lore~ of the CornellVerse.

SWF in 1997 was happily presenting a family friendly product, designed to manufacture as much merchandise for kids to pour their parents money into. Thus, the in-ring products and the stories told where quite simple and harmless. And then an February edition of their "Supreme Assault" TV show happened. Allow me to quote one of the CVerse history articles written by Ryland over a decade ago:

quote:

For one of the most influential matches ever held, this was very low profile. Held in 1997 on SWF's weekly "Supreme Assault" TV show, the match was not even announced as taking place until that very night. Nemesis was one of the hottest heels in the promotion at this time, and was being groomed for a main event run against world champion Christian Faith. Tommy Cornell was a young babyface rookie who was seen as having potential, but hadn't been given much to do other than defeat expendable midcard heels. The match was put together simply to give the two wrestlers something to do, as the main focus of the show was on a main event battle royal that neither was involved in.

What followed was by far the most violent fifteen minutes that SWF had ever seen. After brawling for a few minutes in the ring, the two wrestlers spilled to the outside, where they proceeded to brawl with incredible intensity up the aisle, across the sound stage, through the crowd, and back to the ring. By the time they reached the ring, both men were bleeding heavily from being hit with weapons, with Nemesis in particular virtually unrecognisable thanks to the amount of blood covering his face and upper body. After smacking Cornell with a vicious chair shot to the head, Nemesis ended the carnage by powerbombing the youngster through a ringside table, and dragging him back in for the win.

While the match was a superbly intense brawl, and a great match in its own right, it was the shockwaves that it caused that make it so famous. Used to seeing family-friendly entertainment, both the network and SWF were bombarded with complaints from irate viewers, while at the same time a large number of fans who were growing tired of the slow-paced matches that were usually presented to them were estatic, wanting SWF to present more of this new extreme style. SWF owner Richard Eisen was furious at the trouble this match had caused, especially as he had not been consulted about it beforehand, and it was long-standing company policy that matches could not have blood or excessive violence without his personal clearance. Nemesis was fired straight after the match after a huge backstage argument; he joined small East Coast promotion DAVE two months later, and almost single handedly turned them into a major player in the US by basing the entire product on a bloody, extreme style. Cornell was punished by being dropped into a bland opening match tag team with Phillip Roberts; he left six months later to join SWF's major rivals HGC. Seven years later he would be the owner of that promotion. As a result of the match, SWF became even more conservative, which helped them keep their lucrative TV show. This would last several years before they had to become more edgy to survive, and this type of extreme match is now a staple of the promotion.

So yeah, Cornell "coming home" is a Big Deal.

August comes to an end, so I head over to check our finances. Did our attempt to do two shows a month pay off in the finances department?



Yeah, it did. Even with cheaper ticket prices for the Canberra Special, we make around 5000 dollars more this month than the previous. When we do a second show a month with normal ticket prices, we should be making closer to 20 000 dollars a month and that's before the economy and wrestling business start to bounce back (Economy at zero(!) and falling(!!!) but wrestling industry at one and RISING(!!!)).

The unfortunate part is the fact we have to do the shows in the New South Wales region to actually make the money, so expanding our popularity beyond our home area has to wait. But two shows is still better than one: our wrestlers get more work and theoretically develop faster, they grow in popularity faster, the company grows faster and we get more money.

Goon Suggestion Time~

Our schedule currently looks like this:



I would be adding a show on every Saturday, Week 1 of every month. And here's where I'm once again asking for suggestions. These events need names.

So, suggest names for our 12 new annual shows!

Next time: Why, Boon, why? Also time to get two shows in an update, hopefully.

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

I like the new match recap setup!

As for names, I say we do what every good Indy does and skirt copyright laws!

You Only Live Twice

Die Another Day

Boogie Night


And some silly ones from a random generator that sound like they could double as an arc title for an anime:

Fist Holiday

Muscle Carnage

Holiday Hijinks

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
There should at least be ANZAC Day Special on 25th or the same weekend during April.

As for a gimmick for our ex fan-favorite, maybe that of a bitter man who seeks to win at all costs no matter how dirty or crooked the methods are. Constantly fighting the ref and poo poo-talking the audience for booing him.

Edit: Super Surfer's Slam in Surfer's Paradise, for a regular event in Queensland.

Triple A fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Jun 19, 2021

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
So, what are we gonna be getting this july on this wrastling empire in making?

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
Sorry, it's been a while... again. I haven't been on my computer for the past three weekends for various reasons, so playing/writing time has been quite nonexistent.

Episode 13: Double Shot

So, September arrives. I add Muscle Carnage to the calendar for Saturday of the 1st week.



Boon's gimmick also has to change, since his "Fan Favourite" character isn't really going to work anymore.



Just put "ex" in front of it, we're fine! (He'll be doing a classic weaselly character, and I'm keeping the gimmick change quite safe and generic. A teammate turning isn't really breaking new ground in wrestling storytelling).



Since I'm starting to get some extra income, I might as well start upgrading our merchandising department. Merchandise is divided to ten levels, the higher the level, the more money we earn from merch. Once we hit the next level, we should be getting info on our top ten merch sellers. You can upgrade to the next level on three different paces: Conservative is slow (1% a week) but cheap (120$ a week), Normal is a bit faster (2%) but also a bit more expensive (250$ a week) and Rapid is fast (4% a week) but the most expensive (600$ a week). You can change the pace anytime you want, I'll be starting on Normal. So we should be leveling up a year on from now.



TCW make some... interesting hires. By which I mean dumb. Harry Allen and American Machine are two tag team guys well past their primes. I fail to see the point here. (The answer is popularity. Both are former/current TV guys, so they have pop across the nation, unlike all the great young guys killing it in the smaller companies. Allen and Machine can be easily slotted into the midcard without any buildup.)



A DIW stalwart decides to leave our dear competitors. Mulhoney is getting old and has really nothing special to offer to me, except his popularity. He might be getting some pre-show duty, losing to some undercarders hidden in there.

Let's get right to it! Muscle! Carnage!



Hey, I guess our foreign friends are gelling with the locker room, nice!



Here's the card.

We open with Gerard officially making it clear that he's coming for the Commonwealth title. Next, we wrap up our two midcard tag team stories, when The Apocalypse finally beat Possum and Wasp and The Dudes defeat Warren & Whirlwind. D-Pod once again talks about Mason but is quite clearly ducking a singles match with Captain Caveman. Oliverio gets fed to the angry Mason as D-Pod observes from ringside. Mattell is heading towards a title match with Nighthawk so he gets a singles win over Legend. Boon arrives to rant to the crowd, going on about how he wasn't even Mills' best man at his wedding, was always second billing from him and was just used. No more, Boon is his own man and wants to start with proving that he is better than Mills, one on one. Mills doesn't arrive to provide a rebuke. Boon goes over Simonson, who is distracted by Nameth, being the final buildup to the elimination match in the next event.

Samoans are quite clearly worried about Devine & Shark, so they assault Devine. Shark saves his impromptu partner and is pretty much a babyface at this point. He manages to still steal a cheeky rollup win over the bigger Malietoa, almost certainly featuring an eyerake, stomp to the toes and a low blow preceding the pin. Main event sees the babyfaces beat Goliath Global once again.





Let's get right to the results.

The Bad:
- Boon's promo BOMBS with a 35, even with Alex Arturro Experience providing the entertainment in that angle as the interviewer/microphone stand (he will be included in most segments going forward, I always need a solid mic guy in there.) When I put Mills back on screen next month, he'll have to pull up this angle a bit before it is dead on the water.
- I forget to officially turn Shark in the segment before the Shark/Malietoa match, which means they get penalized for a heel/heel match. Shark is also off his game, so while the match is decent, I expected a bit better.

The Good:
- Mattell did really good on his match, reassuring me that Mattell/Nighthawk will be a real solid affair.
- Mason/Oliverio was shockingly decent. Yes, I' still being surprised with Mason not sucking absolute balls.
- Main event was great! Devine and Gerard having good chemistry together is a thing I'm willing (and able) to exploit once in a while.



SWF is really on a roll with bringing the boys back together. Enygma made his name in SWF, but his big main event run was so badly fumbled he jumped to USPW in 2008, pretty much starting the hostilities between the two companies. Enygma flourished in USPW but was let go recently, presumably being deep in time decline, but gets on more payday from SWF.



SWF also throw some more money around as the Mexican sensation El Leon joins the Land of Supreme. Leon is the biggest star EILL has after Champagne Lover's retirement and Rock God Alvarez' major injur-



oh.

...so this is a blow to the big dogs of Mexico.



Good news, it's a girl! Dordevich will be returning in about four months and I DEFINITEVELY have a guy who could use a mouthpiece...



Tragedy strikes in Japan as the former BCG young lion dies in a traffic accident.



DIW gives the title to their next top guy Mueller, which is a smart move.



D-Pod is singled out as a future star. I HOPE that this is the case, but his in-ring performances aren't up to par... yet.



APW's Coming Home is our next stop and the card shapes up to be something like this.

Goliath doesn't want Gerard having a title match, so he does a quick promo about how Gerard hasn't won an "official" number one contender's match. The first matches go to the SHADOW LEGENDS, putting that small feud to rest. The Team Forbes versus assortment of faces goes to the faces and ends that feud as well. The Dudes get some mic time, stating their intention to get to the tag title hunt, but get attacked by Maniac Monster out of the blue. D-Pod has new, shinier and bigger muscle in the form of The Apocalypse for the time being and Mason can't carry Positive Energy to victory. Mills gets to mic and isn't really in a hurry to start fisticuffs with Boon. Brisbane Devil and Dingo Devine have a singles match that could've been a main event but I decide to throw the biggest guns to the top. A predictable double DQ prolongs the two feuds, sending the fans home happy and excited to come back next month. Or something like that?



And here's the results.

The Bad:
- Mills' promo is better than Boon's but not great.
- Team Forbes is not really growing on their performances despite constant air time and even some wins.
- Nighthawk/Mattell is merely good, because Nighthawk has a major night off. A bummer.

The Good:
- Surfer Dude Lucas is like six months away from being a top ten guy in the company at the pace his performances keep climbing. I'm sticking The Dudes to another low card feud while the Samoans and Devine/Shark go through their angle.
- I'm blessed with another great chemistry, when Mills and Gerard have good chemistry tagging together. The main is great thanks to that, with Boon and Hamstead being their solid selves.



TCW continues their puzzling moves as they sever their ties with PGHW.

The news that we should worry about are these two:




Pinn is a no brainer to bring on board, one of the two or three guys worth something to us from DIW. He's going downhill pretty soon, but is popular in our area and a hell of a talker. Even if he can't wrestle, he's real easy to shift to a manager role.




Louie Louis, a former APW guy and shares the same problems most of our current roster do. He's not particularly entertaining, nor is he a top line wrestler but he seems solid and is popular as hell compared to our top guys. Once I shift the title to Gerard, I could use a few top line challengers. I have Boon and Warmonger as fresh guys to face him, but I could definitively use Pinn and maybe Louis would agree to lose in a main event program despite his newfound fame.

So, should we bring in Pinn and/or Louis?

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

Bring in Both

This wrassling company could use a real Pinn-head to get the younger workers into shape.

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

Yeah I don’t see a reason not to bring in both guys.

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
Louie is a no-brainer but the fat man is a bit on the old side of things. Don't we already have a lot of roster to work with though?

I do have to agree that if we bring the fat man aboard, he's 110 percent a manager man of heels. If he needs a role, just that of a classic cigar chomping cut-throat of a paralegal businessman.

Triple A fucked around with this message at 15:06 on Jul 17, 2021

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Triple A posted:

Louie is a no-brainer but the fat man is a bit on the old side of things. Don't we already have a lot of roster to work with though?

I do have to agree that if we bring the fat man aboard, he's 110 percent a manager man of heels. If he needs a role, just that of a classic cigar chomping cut-throat of a paralegal businessman.

Our roster is getting quite large but that's just how my games always end up. "I go on a hiring spree" is a common term among TEW players for a reason.

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.

BTF posted:

Our roster is getting quite large but that's just how my games always end up. "I go on a hiring spree" is a common term among TEW players for a reason.

We could take an overall examination of our whole roster at the start of next year then.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Triple A posted:

We could take an overall examination of our whole roster at the start of next year then.

That is very much what I was planning to do when the next year (eventually) rolls around. Who has gained popularity, who has fallen, who have developed, who have not.

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

We’re still on per appearance contracts, right? So the only real issue with a large roster is getting enough time for everyone, which the second monthly shows should help with

DelilahFlowers
Jan 10, 2020

Hire both and put em in a wrestler/manager team. Think we can really use these two to build our brand.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Insertnamehere31 posted:

We’re still on per appearance contracts, right? So the only real issue with a large roster is getting enough time for everyone, which the second monthly shows should help with

Yeah, everyone has a (more or less) cheap PPA contract. The guys that aren't used in storylines/the main card are getting their reps in on the pre-shows, either developing/waiting for the right inspiration to strike/being a designated loser.

Also, I'm glad to see that you lads are still following along despite quite lengthy breaks between updates.

Veryslightlymad
Jun 3, 2007

I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction
If you hire 'em both, even if the one guy is going to mostly be used as a manager, keep him as an in ring competitor. No sense in not using a person if you can.

One thing I like to do for characters in tag teams if both have good entertainment values, is set them as each others' managers. This is how you'd get something like Zach Sabre Jr. and Taichi being at each other's matches. Their partner will give them a little boost even for their singles match. The holy grail of tag teams is having a high chemistry as partners, as well as high chemistry in both directions as a manager, although I've never seen it in the wild.

Testekill
Nov 1, 2012

I demand to be taken seriously

:aronrex:

Dumphrey Pinn is a no-brainer, make him a special attraction and primarily use him as a manager.

Louis Scorpio isn't particularily appealing, at best he's okay but he doesn't offer much. I guess maybe try a program to establish the next champ.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Testekill posted:

Louis Scorpio isn't particularily appealing, at best he's okay but he doesn't offer much. I guess maybe try a program to establish the next champ.

Pretty much this. He's on the lower end of interesting RAW talent but is notable for being the first wrestler to leave the Aussie juggernaut in this particular save. His relative popularity makes him a worthwhile get (even if it is just for a short six-ish month run), since we are a pop over performance company.

The thread wants him in, and I have an easy program for him. He was in APW for a few years before going to RAW and never sniffed the main event scene. Now he's returning as a big shot "star" (he was never more than a low card guy in RAW) and expecting to waltz right to the top of the company. He'll get a quick title shot, lose (hopefully without blowing a gasket) and slide to a more of a supporting role.

biosterous
Feb 23, 2013




i might not post much but i always enjoy every update a lot :)

bring in Pinn, no opinion on louis

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
Episode 14: Let's Get Ready To Rumble

The thread has spoken and we will be bringing both Dumfrey Pinn and Louie "Louie Louis" Scorpio in once they leave DIW and RAW respectively. I've penciled in their debuts/returns in my head for last show of the year, Early Christmas Bash, to end the year with a bang.



Some drama has been going on behind the scenes. The seemingly happy marriage of Rusty Mills and Stephanie Drucker ends in a divorce out of nowhere. This results in a negative backstage relationship every time (I believe). Drucker hasn't really been doing anything special, being the manager for Pookie Possum and not having the entertainment skills to carry angles any better than Possum.

If I was playing with another type of company, this would probably tastelessly play into the angle with Mills and Boon. Since we are a Family Friendly company, I'll keep it to few jabs from Boon on the microphone.



Speaking of Possum, he officially changes his style. This has very little impact in the game and it mostly just represents his skillset rounding up to a more all-around wrestler.



The internet is buzzing about Naoji Azumi, who is still mostly hidden in our pre-shows. He's doing better than our other two Japanese imports and is developing a bit even with his limited time in the ring. He'll one day be a big asset for WLW, I'm pretty sure of it.

Our first event for October is a new one, Rumble in the Concrete Jungle. Since Gerard hasn't won an official contendership, might as well do a Rumble match! X amount of wrestlers enter the ring, all but one leave over the top rope, winner gets a title show. Classic stuff.



The Rumble (in this case, a ten man version) is the big draw for this show. It has all the big guns and also Barney Mason. Thus, the rest of the card is a bit of a scramble. D-Pod opens the show fairly certain that Mason won't get past his two big boys all the while War and Hate are counting the money they are getting for this gig. Mason flexes on the ramp and promises he'll be throwing them both over the top rope tonight. First match of the night sees SHADOW LEGENDS defeat the Team Forbes combination of Nameth & Prellinger, but get thrown around the ring by Tyrant afterwards. Maniac Monster gets his chance to "shine" when he defeats Jesse. Tate gets an "easy" match but struggles a bit more than expected against Azumi. Simonson is getting interviewed about his future plans, but is interrupted by Mattell and Blithe who are quite sure Simonson's time in the spotlight is long gone. The following tag match ends with Mattell cheating to beat Vortex. Hamstead gets a solid non-title match against Macquarie and we end the night with Gerard "overcoming all the odds" to win the match and earn a title match against Hamstead. The joy is short-lived as Goliath Global beat him up after a quick celebration.

As you can probably see, I'm banking A LOT on that main event being decent enough and also hoping Macquarie can perform in a big spot. Putting all my surefire guys in one match is always risky.



And as long as I can get the two final matches to click, I'm fine.

The Good:
- Macquarie didn't poo poo the bed, nor he did particularly impress. The 54 rating is mostly thanks to Hamstead. Hamstead/Gerard WILL be (without bad chemistry) the APW match of the year.
- Monster and Jesse had good chemistry! It didn't matter that much, both are still extremely green, but useful to keep in mind for the future. We might have something with these two in... five years, maybe?
- Dexter Mattell is really coming on his own in the ring, quite accidentally. He has been featured, yes, but I haven't been especially gung-ho on pushing him. He might even be a decent program for our top babyfaces (Gerard/Mills/Devine) in the near future.

The Bad:
- The midcard matches were quite woeful. Out of the guys featured only Mattell and Nighthawk were in a position to carry the match by their performances.



Out in Puerto Rico, FCW is getting swept up in the hardcore craze sweeping over the American independent scene. It's not a huge change in their product, but they might start focusing on hiring more hardcore-style wrestlers in the future.

After a quiet month of news, we arrive at our next show, Super Saturday.



"I just wanted to sleep."
"I'm not hearing any excuses, Tyrant!"



The card shapes up like this.

Goliath is clearly shook that Gerard is actually coming for the title and is swearing he won't make it to the title shot. Gerard isn't alone and gets backup in the form of Lone Shark and Devine (and I will finally remember to officially turn Shark here). Tyrant beats Legend convincingly and sets his sights to the Australian title (yes, I'm definitely overusing the "heel beats Legend en route to Australian title shot" strategy). Surfer Dude Lucas gets a win on the main card from Lorenzo Oliverio, which will play into the Monster angle. Mills is drafted to team with Simonson and subconsciously keeps going for classic Duo double team offense, which just doesn't work. Boon comes out afterwards and gets in Mills' face. Mason overcomes the first Apocalypse hurdle and is saved by Macquarie and Vortex afterwards. Gerard and Tate have a rematch from earlier in the year with a predictable result and we finish with a tag title match where the returning MASSACRE costs the match for the faces and does massacre-things in the post match segment with Goliath cackling on the background. (Massacre has been out of main card action since his defeat to Gerard).



Things go relatively well as we continue our string of solid shows.

The Good:
- Mills/Boon finally have a good angle together?! Helps that they are both on screen this time...
- Tate and Gerard improved a bit from the last time, great!

The Bad:
- The tag title leaves a bit to be desired... especially since I couldn't do the drat turn with Shark! For some reason I wasn't able to hit the "Handle Turns" button on the opening segment. I had no issues turning Boon so I don't know what I've forgotten about playing the game during the summer months.



One half of one of the most notable monster tag teams in the US, Java of Savage Fury, decides to call it quits, which leads to USPW inducting him and his partner in their Hall of Fame as a team (here pictured is his partner, Tribal Warrior for... some reason?) Originally you could only induct workers separate into the Hall, but since TEW 16 the AI and the player can add tag teams as well.



SWF are really yo-yoing in the thin line between Medium and Large as they once again fall to Medium.

Next time: World Tour, part 3. Canada and Mexico.

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
At least any show done in a thousand-seat arena is selling out. It's gonna be interesting to see how our Queensland expansion attempts are gonna be going.

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

So Gerard is winning the title, right? Do we have another top heel set up for a program with him?

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Insertnamehere31 posted:

So Gerard is winning the title, right? Do we have another top heel set up for a program with him?

Yes, Gerard is very much going over (winning) brother. And yes, I have programs ready for him: Warmonger has been kept strong the whole year, Donovan Boon is an option and I have Pinn and Scorpio coming in. After that... Brisbane Devil is doing well pop wise and Dexter Mattell is not a top program but can go with Gerard. I have pretty much saved most Gerard vs top line heel programs for this upcoming title run. None of these (barring Pinn and/or Scorpio really working out) is on the level of Hamstead but no one is. Also, Hamstead has pretty much run the well dry on big face challengers, barring Mason and Shark.

BTF fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Aug 8, 2021

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
We could do it so that Shark has a good run but fails against Hamstead and Mason wins the title in the event after it.

Veryslightlymad
Jun 3, 2007

I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction
You can have about 3-4 matches in a short(ish) time window and still not have a pairing be stale. I forget how long that window is, though, or if its even a static figure.

If you want to build Mattell, give him two shots during Gerard's reign---one early on and one late. If he's got the chops to actually have a good match with Gerard, sometimes just having the guy in a good main event is enough to make the audience believe they're a pushed commodity. If you can find a guy whose momentum/star perception doesn't tank from losing to your champ, you've struck gold.

~~~~~

FCW went the opposite direction that I did in TEW2016, where I leaned hard into Lucha Libre. They were my company of choice, because they could actually get on TV super fast without you needing to figure too much out about TEW's system.

Despite the Lucha bent, a thing that repeatedly came up was I kept having to put the big belt on Rob Reynolds, sometimes for more than a year at a time. Sometimes I'd have to turn him one way or the other first. He/I got really lucky with Chemistry and he had good or better chemistry with drat near every one of my main eventers. So on several occasions either an injury would come up or a big company would poach my stars, and I'd go to the case that said "Break in case of Emergency" and put the Strap on good ol' solid but not spectacular Rob Reynolds. And without fail, he'd keep that FCW (I rebranded it, so I forget what I named it) championship Belt's prestige pristine for however long I needed to build new talent. Hell, once I turned him during a reign so he could tear through my entire roster. Just incredible luck to have a guy that usually slotted in as a mid-carder or upper mid-carder (back when those were things in TEW) that I could make, not just a main eventer, but the actual champion, and no one would bat an eye, and I could keep my title prestige at 90+ for months at a time. Not bad at all for a guy with under 70 star power.

Like, the first couple of times it was just a very calm "this guy is just as good of a belt pillow as anyone", fully intending to immediately take it off him. And then he held the belt for over a year. I had a threshold where "if a person has two title matches and drops the belt prestige below this point for both matches, the next match they'll lose the belt." If I used someone as a belt pillow, I'd ignore that, but if I gave them the belt and the prestige immediately went up, I'd let them rock with it for a while and see what happens.

What happens is some random midcarder who wrestled a totally different style from the rest of my company became my longest running, most iconic champion. This game creates some really good emergent narratives.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Veryslightlymad posted:

You can have about 3-4 matches in a short(ish) time window and still not have a pairing be stale. I forget how long that window is, though, or if its even a static figure.

Yes, the player can run the same match three times inside a six month period without getting penalties on the rating. I very well could have run Hamstead/Devine in singles matches a couple of more times for those sweet 60--ish rated matches but that is usually not my style as a booker.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
Episode 15: World Tour, Part 3

Time to check out the dear neighbors to USA, Mexico and Mexico North Canada. Let's start from the south with a quick history of CVerse lucha libre (the term for pro wrestling in Mexico, loosely translates to "free fight").

Very much like in the US, wrestling was a regional thing with small promotions popping up and closing in short order in the first half of the 20th century. OLLIE (Original Lucha Libre Is Eternal, the only challenger to Burning Hammer for best company name in the database) was founded in 1955 and actually managed to stay alive. And not only stay alive, but become the first stable company in the area and becoming the biggest (and only) company in Mexico by 1965. For the next decade, OLLIE was lucha libre, still heralded as the "Golden Age" of Mexican wrestling, headed by El Patron (basically El Santo). Their first real competitor, MPWF, was founded in 1975 by four OLLIE stars leaving the promotion due to pay disputes. MPWF was a success and the two promotions became equal rivals for the next two decades. The third powerhouse entered the scene in 1998. SOTBW (South of the Border Wrestling) came in with big money and grabbed a few top stars from both OLLIE and MPWF and immediately became competition. The 2000s saw SOTBW pull ahead thanks to Champagne Lover, a super charismatic wrestler who achieved unprecedented fame by playing a sexy fireman Antonio Ramoray in the hit soap opera The Young and The Fearless. Lover (and a great supporting cast) propelled SOTBW past MPWF and OLLIE and almost to the point of breaking through in the US. MPWF finally died in 2014 with all of their remaining big names jumping ship. OLLIE is still alive but a mere husk of it's glory days. Two smaller promotions have risen up to fill the void left by MPWF, OLLIE is on it's last legs and SOTBW changed it's name to EILL (Empresa Internacional de Lucha Libre), lost their owner in a traffic accident and Lover to Hollywood.




The first of those new companies is CILL, Comite Internacional de Lucha Libre. The smallest of the four Mexican promotions, they offer a very basic and family friendly wrestling product. They are very much in the same vein as MPWF or OLLIE, a "classic" lucha libre product. They are on good terms with a lot of promotions. They are friendly with CZCW (their top team, The Wild Cats, working for both), OLLIE and now with QAW. They also accept BHOWTG workers on excursion, currently housing the team of Tomonaga and Yunokawa, a pair of bland but promising junior heavyweights. CILL is also a member of COTT, being the second Mexican company to join after OLLIE.



As their bio states, they are heavily promoting luchadoras, female wrestlers, as a big part of their show. And for good reason. Their women's roster is rock solid and the clear highlight of the company. Pinky Perez is their biggest star, and the best active Mexican luchadora and a top five female worker in the world (off the top of my head, Fuyuko Higa, Alicia Strong, Perez, Megumi Nakajima and a certain second generation star we'll be seeing shortly). Behind Perez are solid hands like Estrella Blanca, Celeste Moon and Poison Ivy, who make CILL worth a watch.

(Another reason to heavily invest in luchadoras: EILL don't have a women's division, so they won't get poached quite as easily as their luchador counterparts).



Most of the original stars of CILL (guys like Fallen Angel, Magik and El Pavo Real) are starting to get a bit old and taking a step back. Filling the slots in the main event scene are home grown guys like Aztec Prinze and the current CILL World Champion Monkey Man. CILL is missing on the big prospect department, but most of their core guys are just hitting their prime so they are in a really good place. They also have the best team in the CVerse. Not for their skills, but for their gimmick.



LUCHADOR VIKINGS.

LUCHADOR.

VIKINGS.




I have no idea why LUCHADOR VIKINGS haven't arrived to EMLL (Extremo Moderno Lucha Libre) yet. EMLL is, well, it's Lucha Underground. It's full on comic book style company. It's much more about different timelines, multiverses, ancient snake gods, evil forces from literal hell, mysterious rings of power and Captain Lucha than traditional wrestling stories.



Captain Lucha is their currently their biggest star and the backbone of the main event scene. He is the leader of forces of good, fighting against villains like Snake King or Guerrero Muerto.



As you've probably gathered, EMLL is all about the more or less wacky characters. Dolphin Master is a highlight in a roster including guys like Anarchist, Cyclops, Zebra Man, Lucha Ref and Goblin Prince.

EMLL is hindered by their blatant changeup of lucha traditions: gone are the multiple tag or trios matches, as every match (barring for an annual battle royal and a four-way match for The Rings Of Power) is a singles match. Thus, as a devout lover of tag team matches, they are very much not for me. But hey, those wacky characters are sure to charm players!




OLLIE is a shadow of it's former self. Once the kings of Mexico, they are now playing a distant second fiddle to EILL. So much so, that in this particular save they have bended the knee and are now accepting developmental workers for EILL. No workers have been sent down yet so OLLIE is still working with their own group of guys and girls. As mentioned, OLLIE is very much like CILL, offering a traditional lucha libre product. Unlike CILL, OLLIE is filled with stale acts, veterans past their prime and a few guys at the prime of their careers taking the spotlight before inevitably being picked up by EILL.




Guys like Extraordinario Jr. and Mr Lucha III are prime examples. Both have (finally) risen to the top of the card and are almost certainly leaving OLLIE sooner rather than later. OLLIE is in a very similar position to PGHW in Japan, except they don't have the Loyalty mechanic to protect their young homegrown stars.



Much like CILL, OLLIE's hopes and dreams lie on their solid women's division. Electric Dreamer is their top star and en route to becoming the biggest female star in Mexico, having the potential to surpass Perez. OLLIE's division doesn't quite have the depth of CILL, but they have the great Mystery Pink, solid Purple Viper and the menacing Amazon Queen.



OLLIE is quite thin on the prospect department as much of their future hopes lie in Phoenix IV, the fourth man to wear the legendary mask. Masks are a big deal in lucha libre, more important than any titles. Luchas de apuestas ("a match with wagers") matches are the biggest matches you can book. Luchadors put their identities on the line, in form of their masks (or their hair). The AI generally does poor job with this integral part of lucha culture. Apuestas matches are rare and when they happen, they rarely main event of even happen in big shows.

OLLIE is a challenge in this edition and a fun one at that. Along with PGHW, they are one of the most interesting promotions to follow in this edition. Whenever I start my Mexico save in this edition, I'll probably going with OLLIE or CILL.




EILL is the big dog, even if they have been wounded particularly in this save. They have already lost two of their top stars, Rock God Alvarez and El Leon, to long term injury and to the US companies. Thankfully for them, their roster is ridiculously deep with a main event scene ready to step up with the absence of Leon, Alvarez and Lover.



Their current world champion is the golden boy of lucha libre, Gino Montero. Destined for greatness ever since he stepped in the ring, he first became the star of OLLIE before going to the big leagues. Bad luck willing, Montero will become a legend on par with his father and a major drawing card for EILL. The main event scene is red hot with Dr. Rudo (literally Dr. Evil), Multimillinario (golden suited luchador, a parody of the company's money spending ways turned into a legitimate star), El Heroe Mexicano (Champagne Lover's protege) and Yellowjacket (excellent technical wrestler but lacks the charisma to be THE top guy in EILL).




Waiting in the wings are guys like Velocidad and El Mitico Jr, soon to be the next big stars of Mexican wrestling. EILL is stupidly stacked compared to their Mexican "rivals." Some of the talented midcarders are destined to be left in the wings and eventually leave the promotion for bigger roles in OLLIE, EMLL and CILL.

EILL's biggest challenge is to grow past the borders to the USA. They might be the big dog down south but don't have the financial muscle to fight with USPW or SWF... yet. Give them a few years and maybe the big stars from the American big three might start getting serious offers from down south...

---

So, onwards some miles to north and to Canada. Once again, a quick history break...

Canadian wrestlers started to make their name in the US territories in the 60s, but no native promotion had established themselves. This changed when Ed "The Strangler" Henson retired in the early 70s, returned to Calgary and founded Canadian Wrestling Federation, CWF. After a slow start, Henson persuaded the biggest Canadian stars working in the US to come back home. Dan Stone, George DeColt, Whipper Spencer Marks and "Canadian Superstar" Jackson Andrews headlined CWF for the next decade with great results. CWF became a powerhouse and not even Richard Eisen dared to try to invade the Canadian territory. Things changed when Dan Stone, with the blessing of Henson, left CWF and started his own promotion, NOTBW (North of the Border Wrestling). The two companies had a healthy relationship up to the demise of CWF. Ed Henson's death spelled the end of CWF in 1989. His assistant booker and biggest star after Stone's departure, George DeColt, joined SWF for a year. He fell in love with the sports entertainment style and returned back to Canada to kickstart CGC (Canadian Grappling Company), headlined by his own sons. CGC and NOTBW had a more or less friendly rivalry for the next 25 years. The DeColts and the Stones became two of the greatest wrestling families in the business. Behind the two giants a few smaller companies were founded. 4C was a mishmash of styles and the underground alternative for the big two. ACPW was the CZCW high flying, high action company for your junior heavyweights.

And then some soap opera bullshit happened.

George DeColt passed away and while attending his funeral, his friend and rival Dan Stone suffered a fatal heart attack. Following the double family tragedy, the sons of the patriarchs decided to combine their forces. NOTBW and CGC became CWA, Canadian Wrestling Alliance. Separately both companies were in the downswing, seeing their greatest stars retire and business slowing down. Together, they suddenly became invigorated. The young talent from both companies had seized the opportunity and rose to the occasion. 4C tried to leapfrog to the open number two spot, but their big signings didn't have the results they hoped and they crashed and burned out of business in 2019. Entering 2020 CWA is a massive company and is once again set to defend the Canadian territory form the invading US company.




All Canada Pro Wrestling didn't go the 4C route and are alive and well. They are pretty much the Canadian CZCW, presenting a high flying product with integrated roster with men and women fighting each other equally.



Ant-Man might be a walking Marvel lawsuit waiting to happen, but he is one of their biggest stars. The ACPW top card is solid as hell. These guys have spent the last decade together and they have lost only a scant few of their core. The Nest of Vipers, Mimic and Dagger, are still probably their two best workers and also their most decorated team. Jamie Atherton is a charismatic star waiting to break through. Grimm Quibble, Mario da Silva and Gram Gorman are solid wrestlers keeping the shows together. Jayson van Pelt is working OLLIE and SAISHO in addition to ACPW.



In addition to the well established names, they have a few rookies worth keeping your eyes on. Americana Jr is the highlight here and if my few long term saves are to be believed, will become the next top line star for ACPW.

ACPW is fun. They are, by default, the new alternative company in Canada. They are nowhere near CWA in size and mostly get to focus on doing their own thing.




CWA was a shock to many in the GDS community when TEW 2020 came out. NOTBW and CGC were both fan favourites in their own ways and fusing them felt... wrong. CWA is MASSIVE, having pretty much all the notable names from CGC and NOTBW from the last edition with a few additions from their respective training schools and a few free agents. This growth is proving to be unsustainable. CWA have notably gone to the red, having over TWO MILLION in debt. I know that the database in launch was almost custom built to kill CWA to debt but that issue was fixed. Companies can survive on the red form six months to three years, depending on the size of the company. CWA have at least a year before they have to panic...



As much as I loved Intrepid Ian Identity/Ian DeColt, those characters were never going to become anything more than midcard filler in CGC. Now Aaron Knight has truly blossomed into a major star for CWA. He is very much the new face of the company for the next ten years, alongside with other CGC young guns like Donte Dunn and Christian Price. The other big stars are technical wizards Cameron Vessey and Shooter Sean Deeley.



The living legend Sean McFly is on his last run with a major title. Two time SWF world champion, six time NOTBW world champion and now a one time CWA world champion is on the short list with Tommy Cornell and Yoshimi Mushashibo when considering the greatest all-around wrestler of all time. McFly is in decline but still a major asset for CWA for the next few years. His finishing move? The DeLorean Driver.



Much like USPW. CWA's "hidden" ace is found in their women's division. Brooke Tyler is the aforementioned fifth woman in the top five list. A genius technician is the face of the CWA women's division. It's not a one woman show, as Amber Allen, Lauren Easter, Nadia Snow and Laura Flame round up a killer women's division that is set to steal the show almost every show.



The DeColts and Stones are still around. Jack and Ricky DeColt are stars and the last remaining DeColts of their generation with brothers Alex and Steve retired. Most of the Stones have retired with Dan Jr, Jeremy and Duane all working behind the scenes. The black sheep of the family, Edd, is out in TCW. The next generation is here, as the son of Dan Jr and the grandson of Dan Sr, David Stone has finally debuted. Wrestling is in his blood and he will become a star. The other third generation Stone (Lucy Stone-McFly, daughter of McFly and Victoria Stone) is set to debut sometime in the future.

CWA is big and very much like EILL. The biggest challenge isn't coming from Canada, but from the US. As long as they can keep their finances balanced, they will become the fourth/fifth wheel in those bidding wars for the big stars in the US market.

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.

BTF posted:

LUCHADOR VIKINGS.

LUCHADOR.

VIKINGS.

This should be a real thing.

Testekill
Nov 1, 2012

I demand to be taken seriously

:aronrex:

Electric Dreamer is one of the biggest no brainer hires if you're playing a promotion with a women's division. She just has all the intangibles that you need to get over and she seems to always get a high destiny roll.


Triple A posted:

This should be a real thing.

Pretty sure I'm being hosed with here



El Hijo del Vikingo

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

Man, if CWA falls apart that would lead to one hell of a feeding frenzy. Does the game organically create new promotions to fill holes in the market if other promotions fold?

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Insertnamehere31 posted:

Man, if CWA falls apart that would lead to one hell of a feeding frenzy. Does the game organically create new promotions to fill holes in the market if other promotions fold?

There is around 20 promotions in the default database that are set as "yet to open." Most of them are set to open as random, which means every year there is a chance of a new promotion opening. The rate of which new companies open is influenced by many different factors, most notably the amount of free agents in the game area and the general "health" of the industry in the area. The European ELPF that opened some updates ago is one of these companies.

Veryslightlymad
Jun 3, 2007

I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction
Not only that, but they'll rarely create an entirely new company whole-cloth if there's space and there's not an appropriate "set to open" company available. Their icon will be the empty space office building icon.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
Episode 16: Old mistakes



A thing I actually missed going through the news cycle from last month. The COTT Heavyweight title changed hands for the first time in this save, when Pablo Rodriguez dropped the belt to Mr. Lucha III. This means that Mr. Tres will probably start visiting the US more often, defending the title in other alliance companies. (Thus far in my saves, OLLIE has quickly taken the initiative when it comes to the alliance belts, as their wrestlers tend to hold both of them for long periods of time.) Rodriguez probably doesn't mind since he almost immediately becomes the CZCW champion.



DIW realizes that Pinn is gone and decide that they should probably disband the stable carrying his name, even if it would have been hilarious for them to keep going. (Stables aren't forever. The AI is always creating new ones and disbanding old ones, usually when enough members have either left the company or turned to face/heel. Once again, in my limited long term saves, stables usually stick around for one to three years.)



RAW does the same with the LiberTeen faction, a group of annoying pretty boy wrestlers. This boy band ends with quite a bang.




One of the three remaining members (the hottest prospect on the planet Will Beaumont has already left before the start of the save and CJ LiberTeen/Romeo has turned face and left the group during the summer. Yes, of course the boy band are the bad guys) and the de facto leader, Frankie Libertine storms out after a huge argument with owner Tristam Day. Frankie is... a project. He has seemingly good charisma and stamina but is otherwise lacking on many areas. The more worrying part looking at his stats is that he has developed very little during the calendar year. I might bring him in for a one shot in the future, but he is pretty expensive.



Then DIW tries to pull some shenanigans. As they have declared war on us, we can't share any of the same workers. Out of spite, they try to hire my champion. I get worried for a minute but a quick look into Hamstead's contract situation reveals the truth. Usually, if someone makes a contract to your talent, you have to navigate to the "Negotiate" part of that worker's bio. There, a "View Rival Offers" button pops up... except when it doesn't. If a worker outright refuses the offer, you can't even see the offer that they got. I can only imagine that Hamstead has no issue sticking around with us and probably shunted that email straight to the bin.

DIW, just hire Richie Fox, he's good! And unemployed!



Toshinobu Taku retires. I am not surprised to find out he retired as tag team champion, leaving the BCG tag titles vacated second time this year, for the exact same reason. The AI is sometimes... a bit dumb.



TCW bolsters their roster with one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time. Bloodstone was one of the great soulless wrestling machines that made NOTBW the sanctuary of wristlocks. At 44 years old he only wrestlers occasionally and is almost ready to hang his boots up. I'd criticize TCW for bringing another wreck to bolster their roster, but this mostly a play for their backstage. Bloodstone is already pulling double duty as a road agent and with his stats he is probably one of the best agents in the world.

Boogie Night arrives with no incidents and I put together a card, as I frequently tend to do in this game.



We open the show with a Goliath Global promo, gloating about the return of Massacre. The babyface brigade interrupts and we have our main event for the night. The opener sees Mason, Macquarie and Vortex face D-Pod and his boys, where D-Pod's showboating and taunting of Mason costs him as Macquarie rolls him up for the win. Rusty Mills backs up the SHADOW LEGENDS for a match against Team Forbes, but after a Boon interference lays Mills out, LEGENDS can't pull of the win two against three. Tyrant pins Nighthawk, dominantly staking his claim to a title shot. Samoan Demolition have a quick open challenge. One team can't stop them and neither can three, even if Positive Energy puts up a fight. Mattell gives out about Simonson for a few minutes, claiming that he is the greatest technical wrestler Australia has ever seen, not some "overrated, overhyped, over the hill grandpa." Simonson still shows he has it, even if he struggles to beat Blithe. Boon uses underhanded tactics (and interference from Maniac Monster) to defeat Lucas. Mills makes the save before Monster or Boon can do permanent damage. The main is a classis six man tag where Goliath Global gets the victory by targeting Lone Shark.



The show scores a 52. Some notes:

- I finally actually turn Lone Shark (he's been pretty much a face in the storyline for a while, but now he is one mechanically too). The turn is a complete success, but unfortunately his new gimmick (Comic Book Hero) bombs, getting the rating of poor. Thankfully there are no negative (nor positive) effects for this new gimmick.
- Surfer Dude Lucas gets a big chance to shine and while he doesn't hit it out of the park (still his best performance to date), he does better than Chuck in a similar position a few months back. He is definitely my top prospect and this is the first loss he is eating outside of maybe a pre-show match when he debuted (when teaming with Jesse, I always have Jesse take the pin if necessary).
- Speaking of Chuck, he does shockingly well in the big four way tag team match, being the fourth best worker behind the Samoans and Possum. He is still wayyyyyyy behind those three, but significantly better than his partner Kasey (who is once again off his game... he should have high consistency but this is very much not the first time this happens).
- The second best worker on the show (after Hamstead (57)) is not Gerard (53), but Brisbane Devil (56). The strong push of the Samoans is paying off for the brawler.




OLLIE grows in size. This leads to a selection of pretty great hires. Former BHOWTG, current WLW luchador El Hijo del Relampago "comes home" (he was a MPWF guy before going to Japan). Recent EILL departure "The Red Scourge" Pirata Malvado who flirted with the main event a few years ago but drastically dropped down the card before leaving. Free agents Green Diamond, Fray Valiente Jr, El Hija del Phoenix and Velvet Suarez bolster the depth from the free agent pool.

Despite the doom and gloom of their bio, they have done pretty well for them-



what



hold up



STOP



OLLIE goes all out on the burning bridges front. Somewhere in the luchaverse, EMLL are pretty happy to stay out of this cluster.



The opposite of the "workers make friends through social media" news story happens. This is a bit rarer, but sometimes the Twitter banter goes a bit too far. Spillane and Idol are pretty unlikely to work together in the same company before this, but now with them having Simmering Tension together? Not a chance. (Watch SWF/USPW prove me wrong and hire them both.)



DIW doesn't let Hamstead snubbing them to get in their way and swiftly throw offers to both members of the Apocalypse. Neither bother to open those offers. Good for me.



Longest Night is here and we have incidents! These start to look like we might actually have to do som-



...Okay then? Apparently Massacre has stuffed Frank Mucciolo in a box and has assumed the duties of Wrestler's Court Judge.



Now THIS is interesting and introduces the Promises mechanic. Your veteran workers might spot a bright young talent and take a liking to them. Then that veteran worker might offer you a chance to put them over. In a normal situation, the popularity cap between Chuck and Warmonger would be so big, that War would be absolutely furious if I asked him to lose. But now, Apocalypse wants to help Chuck and Kasey a bit. So, for the next six months I have a chance to give Positive Energy a win over The Apocalypse. That's... well, that doesn't exactly fit in my plans but that's a great spot to improvise. A win over Apocalypse would do wonders for Chuck especially and I pencil in a short program between the two for early 2021 in my head.

(I actually didn't know that tag teams could make promises, since I have only ever seen singles workers give these promises).



Here's the card. Goliath Global mock Lone Shark for being undersized and the fall guy, which fires up our aquatic grappler for a main event match with Hamstead. Opening match sees Apocalypse beat Mason and Vortex as Mason is still unable to beat D-Pod's muscle. D-Pod himself gets some redemption after his defeat by cheating his rear end off against Macquarie. Mills and The Dudes get a victory over Boon, Maniac and Oliverio with Mills finally losing his cool and accepting that he has to FIGHT against Boon. A big eight man tag follows with Chuck getting a shock rollup victory over King Malietoa. Nighthawk retains against Tyrant but is swarmed post match by Team Forbes. Legend suffers a deadly powerbomb through the table while a screaming Forbes forces Nighthawk to watch. Devine and Gerard unite once again to take on Goliath Global and get the win, albeit by DQ after Goliath himself takes out Gerard's knee. Main event can only end one way, but Shark gives Hamstead a hell of a battle before falling like every challenger before him.



Show scores a 48. Some notes about Longest Night:

- The Hamstead/Shark main event suffers for the EXACT SAME REASON as Gerard/Shark earlier in the year. While Gerard/Shark/Devine are united against Goliath Global, I have actually separated them into two different stories, being Hamstead vs Gerard and Devine/Shark vs Massacre/Tate (as I am wrapping up Gerard/Hamstead in December while the rest keep going a bit longer). So, since Shark and Hamstead are mechanically in different storylines with no connective tissue (a Massacre interference or a Gerard at ringside), the match gets penalized for not having a storyline and suffering as a result. Once again, that's completely my fault.
- The second best match of the night is thus the opener, mostly thanks to The Apocalypse. Mason is solid enough with Vortex being the weak link (Vortex is miles better as a wrestler than Mason, but he still has very little in the way of popularity).
- Nighthawk vs Tyrant is solid and will be the best match I'm getting out of this small LEGENDS/Forbes feud.



USPW is no longer Big. They are Titanic (not the ship), the highest size a company can achieve in TEW. This means they have 77 popularity in five game areas. This (should) mean that they can offer a contract to ANYONE, even if they are not active in the US. Could this mean another hiring spree?




PGHW and TCW both have big tournament shows this month. TCW rationally has their biggest star win their King of Kings one night tournament. PGHW on the other hand has almost the right idea. Seiji Jimbo is probably their best wrestler but his partner, some six years past his prime Mamoru Nagahawa is the worst non-Young Lion wrestler in PGHW. He truly is a guy who needs a prestigious Elite Tag Team Series win in his trophy cabinet.

Next time: Let's wrap up 2020! Gerard and Hamstead finally collide for the title! Mills and Boon one on one!

Triple A
Jul 14, 2010

Your sword, sahib.
Perhaps their offer for Positive Energy to win would be nice as a way to start the next year?

Insertnamehere31
Jan 23, 2012

This could be the most one-sided fight since 1973 when Ali faced an eighty-foot tall mechanical Joe Frazier. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I think the entire Earth was destroyed.

Our backstage is so wholesome :3:

Veryslightlymad
Jun 3, 2007

I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction
Whoa, I've never seen a tag offer either. That's nuts. I wonder if its gated at all behind tag experience, since I tend to build companies (including workers) whole cloth when I start a game.

In my file, I have an offer from what's easily my best worker to put over a young guy, but they're in the same faction and alignment and the young guy debuted so recently that I can't turn him. So I think I have to somehow turn the keystone of the heel half of my roster into a face if I want to take him up on that offer, and I'm not sure my roster actually supports such a move. I'm not sure if the penalty for running two heels will significantly damage the gains of the match---I have the "not strictly enforced" thing going on, but even then, it feels like the penalties are a bit severe. Some of the things the developer feels are necessary for a spectacular match just.... ....aren't.

EDIT
Though, it doesn't place a hard cap on a match/segment. Presumably, two guys over enough can put on a perfect match even with the heel/heel penalty. But when you're small fry like in your game or in mine, the penalty is a lot harsher. The lower your popularity, the less wiggle room you have to do stuff like that.

BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven

Insertnamehere31 posted:

Our backstage is so wholesome :3:

It's lovely that every Wrestler's Court sentence involves buying everyone a drink after the show.

In game terms, I LOVE the fact that everyone is getting along so well. In LP terms, I'm slightly irked I don't get the chance to show off the incident interactions at all.

I feel controlling the backstage is quite easy in TEW 2020. Most CVerse locker rooms already start at 100% or near it and it takes a lot of player induced mayhem to make it worse. Even a few bad eggs (in our case, Blithe, Apocalypse, Malietoa, Tate and Vortex are currently all mildly negative influences) won't break your backstage rating.

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BTF
Oct 15, 2019

I love Matt Taven
Episode 17: Crowning of a champion



December is quite slow on the news front and mostly filled with articles like these. Whenever a somewhat notable worker goes without a match for six months or a year, it generates a news story like this. And since we are closing in on the end of the year, there is A LOT of people in the database who haven't seen work all year. Mr. Bush is one of these guys as he hasn't had a match since working one match in APW at the start of the year.



TCW finally makes a somewhat reasonable hire. Frankie Perez is one of the brightest talents on the west coast and a CZCW legend. Multiple time tag team champion with Mikey Lau (who is heating up in SWF) and a two time CZCW champion. He also managed a brief run in GSW during this summer, winning their annual King of California tournament. Truth be told, he's never going to become a big name with TCW, but more of a solid midcard presence. A first ballot CZCW Hall of Famer for sure whenever he decides to hang up his boots.



Holiday Hijinks arrives fast. Mucciolo has found his way out of the trashcan Massacre dumped him in last month and is back on judge duty. Mattell makes a mess and pays dearly. Mate, you're making 30 bucks a show, you can't afford to do this often.



Here's the card! We open with another opening promo segment. This time Goliath tries to court Boon in the fold, promising him backup for his match against Mills, Boon promises to think about it. Samoan Demolition put their titles on the line in a four way contest that also sees The Dudes and Monster & Oliverio added to the mix. Nighthawk cuts a passionate promo about Team Forbes and swears to take them all on with Legend on the shelf. Forbes takes that promise literally and dares Nighthawk to a handicap match. The one on three match doesn't go too well, as Nighthawk loses to the damned numbers game. The babyface brigade take on D-Pod, Mattell and Blithe and come out victorious with Mattell challenging the old man Simonson to a Submission match next show. Lone Shark build up his momentum beating Reggie Tate, Mason finally topples Warmonger and the main event ends in a giant brawl, with Boon leaving Goliah Global to fend for themselves.



...But someone isn't too happy about one of these results. I think this is actually the first time I have to deal with this. Depending on their personality, your workers might get a bit irritated/angry/absolutely nuts if you ask them to lose to someone below their status. For example, Hulk Hogan would have never agreed to lose to, I don't know, BROTHER BRUTI clean (or agree to lose to anyone) without throwing a massive fit (or just invoking his creative control to just... not do it). Warmonger isn't as high on Barney Mason as he is on Chuck and Kasey, so he's a bit unhappy. Thankfully, you can alter your booking. I add the booking note Keep Strong on him and that keeps him happy. (Keep Strong: the worker is made to look strong even in defeat. Mechanically, it puts a minor penalty on his performance and drastically lowers the hit to his popularity he'd get from losing the match. And vice versa, Mason doesn't get that big of a bump in his pop due to the note). Keep Strong is useful note for every booker if you want to keep your locker room of primadonnas who just can't comprehend your great booking visions happy.



And here's the results. A 53 makes this the third best show of the year.

The Good:
- Just a top to bottom good show with the only "bad" (under 40) segment predictably being the Mattell promo.
- Brisbane Devil is carrying these Demolition matches almost by himself. He is once again the second best performer of the night. Once the Samoans drop the belts, he's getting a shot at the Commonwealth title.
- Despite some bad promos at the start, the Mills/Boon program has become quite hot and I'm expecting big things for their upcoming match(es).

The "Bad":
- While Reggie Tate is once again part of a good match, his performances haven't really seen any progress during the year. It's mostly because his popularity has stayed stagnant, being the designated fall guy for Goliath Global.



EILL find a new developmental company in... CZCW? Yeah, sure. It might be a bit awkward since CZCW are in the same alliance with OLLIE. If EILL actually send some of their young luchadores to CZCW, it will be a great deal for both of them. We'll see...



DIW realizes they have to start making moves with Pinn gone and bring in Gregory Grace. Grace is one of the most popular free agents in the Oceania market, being a former RAW star (their first tag team champion, actually). He's a solid-ish brawler and above average entertainment skills but is getting up there in age (37) and I didn't consider him worth his paycheck (900 dollars a show) to bring him in...



So naturally DIW headlines with him and he helps them to their best show of the year. Balls. I still subconsciously undervalue popularity when it comes to bringing the match ratings for my (and DIW's) product.



RAW does another major title change. Nathan McKenzie is another former APW alumni, an upgraded version of Scottie Hamstead, who left APW in late 2018 to jump to RAW. Good for him but a bit puzzling for RAW. He is a step below RAW's top guys so I can't really see this title reign going for that long.



Another major tournament happens, this time in Canada. CWA's two major stars Aaron Knight and Shooter Sean Deeley win the CWA Tag Team Grand Prix, the biggest middle finger to the legacy of Canadian wrestling. To explain, NOTBW had their yearly Ed Henson Classic, a yearly tag team tournament named after the legendary Henson. For some UNGODLY reason, the CGC/NOTBW merger decided to abandon the old tournament titles and do a new tag tournament with a more generic name.



Final show of the year! Early Christmas Bash! The Card!

Nighthawk has to face Team Forbes all alone in a four way match, but since Forbes can't decide who should win the match, they devolve into infighting, which allows Nighthawk a chance to retain the title. D-Pod tries to talk his way out of the match against Mason, but The Apocalypse don't care to help anymore with no more money on the line. Mason has D-Pod where he wants him and the Full Nelson Lock gets him the win. The Dudes vanquish Monster and his handler wrapping up that small feud. The Samoans haven't forgotten the surprise roll-up Chuck got on them last month and want to teach these brats a lesson. However, Chuck has another surprise pinning combination up his sleeve and manages to hold the Devil down for the three! Mattell and Simonson have a quick technical match, with Blithe providing the assistance for Mattell which leads to a dirty win. Dingo & Shark manage to defeat The Goliath goons. Boon and Mills finally have their one on one match, but a surprise interference by Mattell and Blithe allows Boon to take the victory. The trio beat down Mills afterwards to massive (citation needed) boos. The main event is the big one, with Gerard finally getting his title match. And we get our title change but a new threat is already in the horizon as the cigar chomping Pinn arrives post match to stare down Gerard.




And, thankfully, the guys nail it. Best show of the year with a 57, best match of the year in the main event and three other matches getting a rating of 50 or over.

The Good:
- I am astounded that Mason/D-Pod hit a 47. Not only that, it was almost purely because of Mason. Beating Warmonger last month boosted him up significantly.
- The main event delivered in a way I expected it to, barring a negative chemistry note. I have a few great defenses in mind for Gerard (Boon/Warmonger/Devil/Scorpio/Pinn/possibly a few others) that can hopefully get us to 60+ ratings during 2021.
- Pinn's gimmick didn't bomb and the angle with him did very well.
- Mills/Boon was great as well!

The Bad:
- I have no idea what happened in that D-Pod/Mason/Apocalypse angle. I must have not rated D-Pod on entertainment?
- I expected just a bit more of Mattell/Simonson, but the former didn't have the best of nights and Simonson isn't what he used to be.
- The Dudes match was always going to be the weakest of the main card, but I had a sliver of hope that Lucas could boost the match a point or two higher.
- Paul Reinhold, one half of the jobber team R&R suffered a Strained Bicep in the pre-show. Thankfully it was really minor and is back into ring-shape just a few days later.



USPW celebrates hitting Titanic by grabbing CWA star Cameron Vessey to a three year deal. It's a major hit to the boys up north, who don't quite have the depth in the main event scene... yet.



We finally hit 2021 which means the game hands out the year end awards. Wrestler of the Year goes to Adam Matravers, the current 21CW World champion. The British veteran is already a living legend in his part of the world and the Wrestler of the Year honors is just a cherry on top to the future Hall of Immortals inductee. His average match rating was a whopping 88, second highest in the world (Edward Cornell, number three on the Power 500, has 93 but he wrestled only half the matches). His year is highlighted by winning his fifth World title, defeating Edward Cornell in a barnburner. His feud with Cornell was the cornerstone of 21CW the whole year, including seven title matches, four of which got a 99 rating.

A quick recap of the rest of the top ten of the Power 500:

#2: Wolf Hawkins (TCW)
Hawkins was on a tear through 2020, losing only once during the entire calendar year (losing a TCW World title ladder match to Sammy Bach). The top TCW guy was mostly out of the title picture, with his only World title match being against Bach but he capped of the year winning the King of Kings one night tournament. For some reason, he had whopping 16 singles matches against veteran undercard wrestler Dean Daniels. Despite this, the number two spot is deserved with an 86 average match rating, including the Match of the Year Candidate Ladder match against Aaron Andrews as TCW Summer Showdown.

#3: Edward Cornell (21CW)
"Cousin Edward" is finally a made man and has truly stepped out of the shadow of his more famous cousin. Highest average rating in the world, a killer World title reign, great feud with Matravers and a Match of the Year Candidate against cousin Tommy and Leigh Burton make it a great year for Cornell. I think the only reason he doesn't hit #1 is the relatively low amount of matches he had. The rest of the top ten have had 50 to whopping 85(!) matches during the year, but Cornell took it easy, only stepping into the ring 23 times.

#4: Tommy Cornell (21CW/SWF)
It's probably the last time Tommy Cornell makes the top ten of the Power 500. The two time wrestler of the year award winner is sliding down the slippery slope of time decline at 42 years old. But despite his slowly eroding talents, he still had a hell of a year. He had a great feud against his cousin in 21CW (including the MOTYC three way ladder match) before shocking the wrestling world and "returning home" to SWF. His SWF run has been solid enough, but likely won't be a title contender anymore. The last stand of Tommy Cornell has begun. See you at the Hall of Immortals.

#5: Aaron Andrews (TCW)
Andrews started the year TCW champion, but quickly dropped the belt to Jay Chord. Despite this, he still headlined the biggest TCW PPV events of the year against Chord. After Chord left, Andrews didn't win the belt and only challenged for it once. He still had a MOTYC with Hawkins during the summer. Andrews was just a bit better than Hawkins, having a 87 average match rating, but is a few places behind his eternal rival. He will become TCW World champion once again sooner or later and is a surefire contender for the best in the world as long as he doesn't hit the time decline.

#6: Mighty Mo (TCW)
Mighty Mo is definitely the surprise name on this list. He has the lowest average rating of the top ten (80) and spent most of the year either working with a crop of PGHW excursionist or in the tag division, carrying the physical wreck of the TCW legend Troy Tornado to a tag title reign. His year picks up during autumn with three awesome PPV matches against Hawkins and a few barnburners against Freddy Huggins. Mo is one of the bright future hopes of TCW and if he gets to the level of Hawkins and Andrews, he has a real shot at becoming #1 in the following years.

#7: Leigh Burton (21CW)
The youngest man on the top ten at 28 years old, "The British Lion" is the future of British wrestling. Barring a catastrophic injury (or a move to America), Burton has the 21CW World title locked up in a couple of years. Highlight of his year is the MOTYC Ladder match with the Cornells, but he also had some other killer matches during the year. Titles might have eluded him, but 2020 was a storm warning to everyone.

#8: El Heroe Mexicano (EILL)
With Rock God Alvarez and El Leon out of the way, EILL now belongs to El Heroe Mexicano. Trained by Champagne Lover, he still has ways to go to reach the whopping heights of his mentor (four Wrestler of the Year awards), but getting to #8 is a beginning. Heroe had an average rating of 86, tied with Hawkins and only behind Andrews, Matravers and E. Cornell. He ended the year winning his first title, Campeonatos de Trios with Multimillinario and Pharaoh King, and is only looking to grow his trophy cabinet in the coming years.

#9: Atom Smasher (SWF)
Atom Smasher is definitely the unheralded workhorse of the star studded SWF roster. Younger homegrowns, returning legends and more beloved "indie darlings" will steal the headlines, but Smasher has quietly put together a great year in-ring. He wrestled 85 matches during the calendar year, an ungodly amount for any top guy in the States. With a quick scroll through the Power 500 listing, no other top guy gets even close to him... except for our number 10.

#10: Mikey Lau (SWF)
Mikey Lau wrestled 81 matches, a lot of them with Atom Smasher with the duo being a constant in weekly TV main events. The former Cali Dragon might not have the charisma of every other top ten member, but he is a hell of a wrestler. Neither Lau or Smasher won any titles during 2020, but they get another award for their efforts.

Sadly, no APW wrestlers made the Power 500 this year. Curiously, despite USPW being the largest wrestling company in the world, they have no guys in the top ten. Jay Chord (#19) and Nicky Champion (#20) get the closest.



As I alluded to, the Tag Team of the Year award goes to Atom Smasher and Mikey Lau... which is bullshit. First of all, it's two singles main eventers teaming up and thus easily getting the award. Second, THEY AREN'T EVEN AN OFFICIAL TEAM. The game never officially made them to a team. They just... team together a lot!





21CW swoops the rest of the big awards. The Company of the Year award is pretty clear, since they had 29(!) events that had a ranking of 85 or over. For comparison: TCW had 13, CWA had 12, USPW had 10 and EILL had 9. The Match of the Year was a coinflip between the two 100 rated Ladder matches, but the British one got the edge this time. The Event of the Year goes to 21CW World War 13 from March, headlined by Cornell vs Cornell in a cage for the World title and Matravers vs Burton.



Most Improved Company goes to USPW. Quite deserved with their growth to Titanic.




There are also four more wrestler specific awards. Young (under 24 years) and Veteran Wrestler of the Year (over 42 years) awards both go to EILL. Hurakan had a great year and a great Campeonatos de Pajeras title reign with Itzamna. Just 21 years old, the sky is the limit for the potential mega star. Soul Taker is a living lucha legend who has left his mark in OLLIE, PWF and SOTBW/EILL and a world champion in all three promotions. His award is well deserved, as the 46 year old climbed all the way to #13 on the Power 500.




Alicia Strong is still the best women's wrestler in the world, ranked #68 on the Power 500. It's her third award in four years and likely won't be the last. Independent Wrestler of the Year is the award for the best wrestler who wrestled in a less than Medium sized company. BCG might have risen to Medium near the end of the year, but Mabuchi Furusawa (ranked #237) made his case before that with great performances up and down the card.






The awards aren't only about the wrestlers, the matches and the promotions. The supporting cast also gets their shine here. Manager of the Year goes up north to CWA's Drake Young, the hyper charismatic mouthpiece of the Elite stable (not to be confused to the real world Elite). Duane Fry, the "voice of SWF" and the bizarro version of Michael Cole is awarded his whopping seventh Announcer of the Year trophy. Veteran color commentator Tommy Townsend gets surprisingly his first award. Member of CWA announcing team, his pairing with now retired Tommy London was regarded one of the best duos in history. CWA also gets the Referee of the Year award with Alan Gray, junior official of the CWA three referee team. I am truly disappointed Lucha Ref didn't get the honor.

That's a wrap for the year. For APW, it was a year of rebuilding, trying to plug holes left by the major departures of yesteryears. Despite not doing super hot, we still made a respectable amount of money and grew in popularity.

So, let's take a look at our roster at the end of the year. How is everyone coming along? Much like when I introduced our roster, let's start from our Major Stars and work our way down the card. I'll skip over Dumfrey Pinn (he starts at Well Known) since he is yet to do anything with us. Notable stat changes listed are their highest primary skills, Psychology and Entertainment stats. Most of our guys had their biggest growth in areas like Basics, Consistency, Safety and Stamina but those aren't as important to me than the aforementioned stats.


Major Stars


Christopher Gerard
Current Commonwealth champion

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Unsurprisingly Gerard was the MVP of APW. Still our biggest star and booked like it. He will remain the vocal point of our company for the foreseeable future. He was featured in seven of our ten best matches and was often the best worker in those matches. He got some relevant stat gains during the year, most notably in the entertainment department. That's what happens when you work the stick with Viktor Goliath basically the whole year. 2021 will be very much the same, just swapping Pinn in the place of Goliath.


Scottie Hamstead

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +2

Hamstead, along with Gerard has carried the company performance wise. He also was featured on seven of out top ten matches. I've booked him strong as the only pinfall he took was losing the title to Gerard at the end of the year. He'll be downcycled a bit with him having faced a lot of my key babyfaces at least once. Hamstead is actually a marginally better brawler than Gerard (and has higher psychology) and is pretty much on Gerard's level on performances. I hope some of our lower card guys will learn a thing or two working with him.

Stars:


Barney Mason

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Hardcore +2, Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

I can't believe it. Mason's feuds with Mattell and D-Pod (and most importantly a win over Warmonger) popped Mr. Beef all the way to a star status. If his performance against D-Pod is to be belived, he is actually... one of our top tier guys. As I've often stated, Mason isn't really a type of guy I'd usually book. But if it works, it works. As much as it pains to say it, Mason is about to be slotted as our number three babyface (behind Gerards and Mills). Devine is still very much better than him, but I'm not sure how many years I can hang on to him on the top of the card.


Samoan Demolition (Brisbane Devil & King Malietoa)
Current Tag Team Champions

Notable stat changes:
Devil: Psychology +1, Acting +1
Malietoa: Brawling +1, Hardcore +1, Psychology +2, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

The Samoans have really benefited from their year plus tag title reign. Brisbane Devil has become a top three wrestler in the company (behind Gerard and Hamstead) and Malietoa has stepped up his game as well. They have definitively become our top tag team with The Duo being no more and Apocalypse not quite up to their level. Devil is the one with brighter future ahead of him, but both the Samoans will play a big part in the near future of APW.


Dingo Devine

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Devine might be 40, but he is still so drat solid in the ring. He had a great year and his teams with Lone Shark and Gerard have both been pretty great. Naturally at his age he ain't developing that much, but it is nice to see a small bonus to his psychology. (Despite psychology traditionally being the absolute hardest stat to grow, most of our roster actually saw some growth in that area!) Devine is too good to be left out of the top of the card. Will he get another Commonwealth run in his resume? I doubt it, unless RAW goes absolute haywire on the raids.


Donovan Boon

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Technical +1, Psychology +2, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

The Duo was great together but thankfully they are also great separately. Boon is a great asset to the heel side of the card. He has a lot of fresh faces to fight and is one of the better in-ring guys we have. He will never be a good mic worker on his own, but it is still nice to see some progress on that front as well. The feud with Mills isn't quite over yet so I'm sure Boon will see a lot more main event time in 2021. Boon is in the role that I had in mind for Lone Shark at the start of 2020 - the solid in-ring worker on the top of the card on the heel side.


Rusty Mills

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Technical +1, Psychology +2, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +2

Mills is always one of the five best workers on any given show. It's fitting that Mills' stat gains are almost the exact same as his former tag partner. The feud will continue, but after the direction of our number two babyface is a bit of a mystery. One last scuffle with Apocalypse, mayhaps?


Warmonger

Notable stat changes:
-

Warmonger was the stronger part of The Apocalypse and it showed in my booking as well. Hatemonger was usually the one taking the falls in tag team matches. He'll get his run against Gerard/Mills in the main event this year. His lack of any major stat changes has me worried that he's the next one to start sliding towards time decline. I don't have the time to wait around with War.

Well Knowns:


Chuck

Notable stat changes:
Technical +3, Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

With a shock win over Brisbane Devil, Chuck leaps to well known status, leapfrogging his tag team partner. He's still a project in the ring though, but we'll see how his big win reflects on his performances. And remember, he and Kasey still have a free pass to go over The Apocalypse. 2021 might prove to be a big one for Positive Energy. Hopefully he can develop a bit faster. He did gain 3 points in Technical, but his highest primary stat, Brawling, stayed the same.


Dexter Mattell

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Mattell has been great in his role as primary midcard antagonist. If he can become just a bit better, he might have a shot at becoming a main eventer. He's good enough to be a one off defense against Gerard at this point but still behind some other, hotter heels. His new alliance with Boon gives him a bigger spotlight for 2021, as he (currently) is the guy expected to carry that trio on the mic.


Harry Simonson

Notable stat changes:
Technical -3, Stamina -7

As much as it pains me, Simonson is not the man he was just a few years ago. I was hoping he'd be able to keep up a few years longer, but he is the first member of our roster to feel the nails of time eroding his abilities. The loss of stamina is the telltale sign of the dreaded Time Decline. He won't be shunted to pre-show duty just yet, but he will be on the losing end of his upcoming programs. People in time decline can still be useful, but Simonson will be a midcard gatekeeper for the rest of his run. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer, so he will ride out the rest of his years somewhat in style.


Hatemonger

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Hardcore +1, Psychology +1

Hatemonger... is there. Really, I have nothing bad to say about him. Even if Samoan Demolition passed Apocalypse in the pecking order, Hate and War are still very much a great team. Hate doesn't get the spotlight that War gets, but he is still pretty solid guy to have. Never underestimate 100 tag team experience, baby.


Lone Shark

Notable stat changes:
-

I wanted to stuff a rocket deep inside this man's rectum and make him at least a Star level guy with us. Well, that didn't happen. Two underwhelming main events (that were completely my fault, keep in mind) torpedoed a lot of that. Face turn and the team with Devine had him in a slightly bigger role, but was kind of slotted as the "expendable" member of the trio feuding with Goliath Global. Shark still has the skills to keep up with the top of the card so hopefully I can use him a bit better in the future.


Massacre

Notable stat changes:
Hardcore -2

Massacre had a solid year. He had a lot of shine working with our top names for most of the year. And he was a fine dance partner for Gerard and Nighthawk. Still, he's 37 and he's not getting any younger. Him regressing in Hardcore is not a good sign. He'll be featured member of Goliath Global for a while though. Despite not having any special chemistry with Hamstead nor Tate, I can easily see a potential tag title run in his future.


Nighthawk
Current Australian Champion

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

So, Nighthawk has been... decent. But I want to see more. His biggest drawback is the fact that Legend has to cut his promos for him. SHADOW LEGENDS works as a duo. But... I'm thinking he's not going to grow that much as a performer anymore. A solid midcard and a tag guy but nothing more. And I need young-ish guys who can someday step up to main event roles. He's good at this role, but it's seemingly as high as he's going to go.


Tyrant

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Tyrant is the biggest benefactor of the attention the three Team Forbes guys got. He's the best of the three currently. Nameth should be able to pass him in the coming years, but Tyrant should stay a reliable midcard act.

Recognizables:


Alyx Macquarie

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Technical +1, Aerial +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +2

Macquarie has been a rock solid cornerstone of the midcard. He pretty much held together the Forbes vs Macquarie/Vortex/Simonson angle by himself. He can be easily slotted anywhere in the card. He'll hang around the Australian/Tag Team title level, but should be ready to be heated up to bigger things if the need rises.


D-Pod

Notable stat changes:
Aerial +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Despite the shockingly good match with Mason, D-Pod is still very much a project. His mic skills are really valuable so he'll be a featured player for years to come. But if he ever wants to escape the midcard, he needs to step up his game in the ring as well.


Felix Harding

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Oh Felix... He is doomed to be a jobber to the stars. Whenever he wasn't eating a loss at the main card, he was working the pre-show trying to regain whatever is left of his momentum. His performances were solid but nothing more than that. His high Selling skill is a good reason to keep him employed. I'm sure some of that talent will rub off to our younger roster members.


Kasey

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Psychology +2, Charisma +2, Microphone +2, Acting +2

Kasey hasn't grabbed my attention the same way as Chuck has, but he's quietly improved more than his partner during this year. He's still significantly weaker than Chuck, but hey, maybe we have something here! Let's see how he can handle matches with The Samoans and Apocalypse.


Leon Nameth

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +2, Microphone +2, Acting +2

It's a long way to the top. Nameth started as the only client of Max Forbes, but ended up playing the second fiddle to Tyrant. He's coming along, but slowly. I always need midcard heels, so Team Forbes will keep trucking even after their defeat to Nighthawk.


Lothar Prellinger

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Prellinger has been, well, solid but nothing more. I think I have a fun dysfunctional trio with him, Nameth and Tyrant but he's the one with the lowest ceiling.


Pookie Possum

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

The departure of Richie Fox hosed over Possum royally. If Richie had stayed, Possum would probably be a tag team champion at this point. He started the year at the cusp of being our third biggest babyface (if the original Tour This Company screen is to be believed) but lackluster performances, Fox leaving and key losses have seen him drop down the card quite a lot. When I can convince Fox to come back, I'm sure Possum can rebound a bit.


Reggie Tate

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Tate has been fine. He's always the weak link in the big Goliath Global tag team matches but I had hoped his big roles would see him develop during the year. Well... nope. He's solid, but I'd like to see more. Giving him a solid stream of wins in the undercard should help, instead of always eating the pin in big Goliath Global multimans.


SubUrban Legend

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Technical +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +2, Acting +1

Even after working more dates than any other APW wrestler (thanks to his ZEN loan), Legend is not developing as fast as I had hoped. Sure, Nighthawk has stolen his thunder when it comes to wins, but Legend has been pretty stagnant when it comes to performances. He is one of my best mic workers regardless but he needs to step up his game in the ring. I look at his great ZEN performances and wish that he could do the same with us.


Surfer Dude Lucas

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Lucas is doing fine. Even if he doesn't develop that much, he already has skills eclipsing Gerard. I just need to get him to grow in popularity. And I'm getting him there, slowly but surely. 2021 might not be the year I pull a trigger with him, but The Dudes are on the shortlist to dethrone The Samoans. We'll see what happens...


Warren Lydecker & Whirlwind Lee Wilkes

Notable stat changes:
Lydecker: Brawling +1, Technical +1, Psychology +2
Wilkes: Technical +1, Psychology +2

Lydecker and Wilkes should have been a nice cornerstone team. Should have been. Their awful chemistry together ruined that chance and has kept them mostly in trios action. They are both still solid wrestlers, but maybe they should find new partners at this point. They have some of the highest psychology stats of the entire crews, so they are super helpful to have around, even if it means just pre-show duty.

Unimportants:


R&R (Brian Rampage & Paul Reinhold)

Notable stat changes:
Rampage: Brawling +1, Psychology +1,
Reinhold: Technical +1, Psychology +2

2020 hasn't really raised the profiles of R&R. They're still bland and still quite bad in the ring. 2021 will be another year spent mostly in pre-show duty. It would be cool if these guys developed to respectable workers but it's looking like a long shot.


Christian Blithe

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

I'm kind of trying to fast track Blithe towards the midcard, pairing him with Mattell (and now Boon) but I've yet to get notable progress on that front. He has the skills on paper, just like Lucas, I just need to get him over. I have the time with Blithe.


Dee Lucketti

Notable stat changes:
Aerial +1, Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Dee Lucketti has the thankless role of losing a lot. Along with Next Level, he's the primary job guy on the heel side. He's nothing special in the ring, but if he can find the right tag team partner he might just find his way to a push. He's still only 19 years old. He's not a prodigy, but a multi-year project.


Dizzy G

Notable stat changes:
-

Dizzy shares the same role as Lucketti, just on the babyface side. What is EXTREMELY worrying is his absolute lack of stat gains in core areas. Sure, had had some growth in secondary skills, but even those are not on the level of some of his same ages companions. At 23 years old, Dizzy should be on the prime age as far as developing goes. Some prospects never pan out, but he is fine in his pre-show jobber role. If his 2021 doesn't see any development, he'll probably be on the chopping block and I'll find another rookie to fill the low card.


Next Level (Kazuhisa Hosotani & Keisuke Koroki)

Notable stat changes:
Hosotani: Aerial +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1
Koroki: Brawling +1, Technical +1, Aerial +1, Flashiness +1, Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Our Japanese friends are bad. Really bad. R&R bad. There's a reason why they've only appeared once in the main show. Their strength is their charisma and since they're finally picking up on the language, they can be used in angles without getting language penalties. They still have over a year with us before returning but let's not forget their main utility is to lose.


Lorenzo Oliverio

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1

Oliverio is paired with Maniac Monster for now. He hasn't done anything special yet but should have the charisma to be decent enough for us.


Maniac Monster

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Hardcore +1, Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Monster is still a growing big boy. I'm really high on him as our future "big bad" but that is still years away. His progress has been quite decent and I can only hope he can keep that up.


Naoji Azumi

Notable stat changes:
Brawling +1, Psychology +3, Microphone +2, Acting +1

Azumi is a bit better than his friends, but he has ways to go himself. With a right opponent, he can hang for sure. He might be due for a bigger role since he has overcome the language barricade too. But I always need people who can lose and Azumi, despite his bright future ahead, can lose really well.


Surfer Dude Jesse

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +3

Jesse was always going to lag behind his more talented tag team partner. I had hoped he could pick up more brawling skills but no. He'll ride Lucas' coattails to success and hopefully develop along the way. If that doesn't happen... well, Jesse can always be Mason 2.0.


Vortex

Notable stat changes:
Psychology +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Vortex has all the tools on paper. He can go in the ring and is decently charismatic. And yet he still is near the bottom of this roster recap. Despite his continued appearances on the main show and decent-ish performances, Vortex is yet to capture the hearts and minds of the APW fans. Hopefully 2021 is better for the mysterious man.


White Wasp

Notable stat changes:
Aerial +1, Psychology +1, Charisma +1, Microphone +1, Acting +1

Wasp is happy as long as I don't bust him for his soft drug use. Him teaming up with Possum had some potential that was immediately flushed away by zero chemistry. It's probably hard to believe, but I have something small in mind for Wasp in 2021...

--------

The APW Top Ten Matches of the Year 2020 DVD (only 24,99 Australian dollars!)

1. Scottie Hamstead(c) vs Christopher Gerard - APW Commonwealth Championship (Early Christmas Bash, December 2020) - 62
The match APW fans wanted to see all year! The reigning champion Hamstead faces his toughest test and tries to extend his reign over the one year mark!

2. Scottie Hamstead(c) vs Dingo Devine - Steel Cage Match for the APW Commonwealth Championship (Caged Showdown, May 2020) - 60
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run and no one to help you! The former champion finally gets his man locked up inside the sinister steel cage!

3. Christopher Gerard & Rusty Mills vs Scottie Hamstead & Donovan Boon (Coming Home, September 2020) - 58
Mills and Boon meet for the first time after the shocking events in August! The rivalry between Gerard and Hamstead heats up!

4. Rusty Mills, Christopher Gerard & Dingo Devine vs Scottie Hamstead, Massacre & Donovan Boon (Holiday Hijinks, December 2020) - 57
It's the penultimate stop before the holidays! APW faithful get to witness a six man tag team match for the ages!

5. Goliath Global (Scottie Hamstead & Reggie Tate) vs Christopher Gerard & Dingo Devine (Muscle Carnage, September 2020) - 57
Goliath Global keeps their stranglehold on the Commonwealth title, but Devine & Gerard will not stop trying!

6. Donovan Boon vs Rusty Mills (Early Christmas Bash, December 2020) - 56
The Duo explodes! Former partners finally settle their differences the only way they know!

7. Lone Shark, Dingo Devine & Christopher Gerard vs Goliath Global (Scottie Hamstead, Massacre & Reggie Tate) (Boogie Night, November 2020) - 56
Lone Shark is not the weak link and is set out to prove just that! Can the Aquatic Antihero match the brutal strength of Goliath Global?

8. Massacre(c) vs Christopher Gerard - APW Australian Championship (Fight Night, March 2020) - 56
Massacre's reign of terror meets it's greatest challenge! Can Gerard stop the monster on it's tracks!?

9. Dingo Devine & Christopher Gerard vs Goliath Global (Massacre & Reggie Tate) (Longest Night, November 2020) - 55
Another high stakes tag team match between Goliath Global and the home team heroes! Who has the advantage heading into December?

10. Scottie Hamstead(c) vs Rusty Mills - APW Commonwealth Championship (Championship Carnival, August 2020) - 55
Rusty Mills has finally earned his first shot at the Commonwealth gold! With his trusty partner Donovan Boon watching his back, he will surely be victorious!


Next time: Let's (finally) wrap up the world tour! Time to see what's going on in the UK and Europe.

BTF fucked around with this message at 13:06 on Sep 17, 2021

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