Post by El Shadowo on Mar 26, 2009 4:31:27 GMT -5
This part is going to have a little story and a lot more info on how I ran things in the GWF. I think that's probably going to happen a lot actually. I'll try and keep things in cronological order, but as ideas or topics come to mind, I'll write about them. Hence why two thirds of this part isn't my history but actually more about my booking philosophy. I'm also not going to go into mass amounts of detail about feuds unless they were important to the larger story, or unless they contain members of the ACW roster <_<
At this stage, I’ll comment briefly on the GWF match result and show writing system. GWF was unusual, in that we didn’t really have any criteria for who should win what other than how the writers were feeling when they were coming up with ideas. There was kind of an unwritten rule though; we did push people based on their level of ability, but mainly stories and results came down to who the writers felt deserved it more, and who had worked hardest. We felt this was a fairer system than, say, an out and out promo system, since it meant the one guy wasn’t always dominating the fed cause he wrote epics. Even a bad writer could do well provided he showed us he was really trying.
My Gym teacher when I was 15 summed it up one day when discussing why he preferred me (the fat kid of the class <_<) to the fittest. He said he’d rather see me try 110% and fail miserably than see the fit kid try 50% and succeed without really trying. I’ve always retained that attitude. Even if something seems impossible, you should still try your absolute best and give something your all. As well as being fair (In my opinion anyway, though I can see why others disagreed), I also felt this was a more exciting way of doing things. Anyone could win at any time.
This system though did cause a lot of resentment in the long run, and I think was one of the major driving forces in some of the fed's biggest problems, though I’ll talk about that as we carry on….
As well as this then, especially at the start, pretty much the entire show was written by one or two people. I don’t just mean matches but segments as well. It was only when I came to ACW that I really appreciated how ludicrous that actually is. The wrestlers had little to no control over what happened on the shows, not just result wise but character development wise. How we kept going with that system for as long as we did, I don’t really know. It was just a case though of evolution, in that that was how the GWF started; with Shelton writing every aspect of the show. People were happy with it then, but as the shows and the roster expanded, we didn’t change the format or the system when we should have.
So, myself and Reckless now found ourselves in power….and pretty much straight away, the two of us were having problems. It’s not that we didn’t get on with each other, but rather that Reckless never seemed to actually be online. Ever. I won’t guess why, though since then, I’ve picked up some snippets here and there, and to the best of my knowledge, he had some personal problems in the real world which took priority. I sympathised, but we had a show to run. The first one was a near disaster. We took power three days before a Friday Night show. Really, we should have had the cop on to postpone the show and give us a week or two to settle in. But we didn’t.
James had had really nothing set up, so we had a clean slate. However while that may sound good, it meant that we had three days to plan a show, put up a card and write the entire thing. And Reckless decided to take this time not to log on for two days. I was basically left the day of the show with a load of ideas but a fear of implementing them in case I’d piss off Reckless. The day of the show arrived and I was panicking. I decided that my choices were "post my version of the show" or "post nothing", so I opted to start writing. With no experience and no idea where to start.
Thank god for a guy called Brian Daniels here. He happened to be online the morning of the show, and asked if I needed help. I’d get him to write a match, and he’d write back saying he could take more. He must have sensed I was in trouble and in a state, because he ended up writing half the show with me and we got it up.
I felt happy, and eventually Reckless logged on to apologise. He said he didn’t think he’d be able to really do the job full time so left me to do it alone. To be honest, I was grateful since now I didn’t have to run my ideas by him and wait for days for a response.
Guess what the first match I booked was? Me vs. Harry Jackson (Who had changed his name from HunterHarry; pretty much everyone was changing their names from the Gamefaqs user names to more realistic ones). For the World Title. What made this even funnier was that not only had I booked myself in a match with the World Champ, he had made it common knowledge he was quitting ASAP. I can only imagine what everyone thought. I hadn’t been in control of the GWF for a week and I was already booking myself in the main event in matches I was “obviously” going to win.
Except I didn’t. I lost. And I did it clean. I had convinced Harry to put off his leaving for another week, and we ran a special show on the Saturday where he did lose his title. It was obvious he’d lose it, but it had been obvious he was going to lose it to me too.
Ok, here’s my efed philosophy, and its one I really hold even to this day here in ACW. Winning isn’t everything. In the short term, yes, it’s all about results, but then I’ve always been one to look at the long term picture. Long term gain is better, even if it means a short term loss. I don’t mind losing matches or getting beaten down if I feel it adds to a match or story, or if it’s logical. Even then, wins aren’t the be all and end all of efeding. You can lose and still come out of a match or feud looking strong. It’s the build up to the result which matters, not the result itself.
This was what led to the amazing win-loss record I held in the GWF. By the end of the two years, I think my final tally was about 40 – 80, which wasn’t too bad. I also saw myself as being in a weird position. I couldn’t put any titles on myself for a huge amount of time, or I’d be seen as abusing my power. I think in the end, I held pretty much every belt in the GWF, but none for longer than three weeks, and mostly so I could act as a transitional champ or get a shock swerve into the show. Everyone knew I was the perennial loser so when I won, it shocked people. And then I could right things by losing it three weeks later to a better person.
With that said, I didn’t want to be winning titles anyway. I was happy writing myself in the owner’s role, but I wouldn’t have gained or lost anything by winning the title. Meanwhile, I could give people boosts by beating me. I was in a position where even though I was losing alot, I had been there long enough and had enough kayfabe power that a win over me always meant something. So I used myself as a guy to put people over, or to help reach their next level on the card.
A match is good if I win in the process. A feud is good if BOTH people win in the process. When me and Chris started our feud here in ACW, we both agreed that the point was to get us both over, not just one of us. It was a story designed to make sure that even when the result went to one of us, both of us would waltz into bigger and better things. I would say that to anyone I feud with henceforth. My aim is not to win, but to make sure we both/all come out of the feud looking better than we did going in.
So...um…I lasted three weeks as owner of the GWF. I booked up to a PPV and announced that after the PPV, I would be done. I gave the next owner (ACW’s own Danny Mainer) about a week to organise the next Friday card while I finished up my duty and organised the PPV.
I ended up facing, and losing to, Ken Davidson. The reason I mention this is that despite the fact he was “Mr. Money in the Bank” and one of the bigger stars of the GWF, I had completely forgotten to book him when we were organising feuds for the show. My first run of owner was probably dire, and I made a lot of mistakes. But that was behind me again. I returned to being just a wrestler again….
For about three weeks.
Before I start again….
At this stage, I’ll comment briefly on the GWF match result and show writing system. GWF was unusual, in that we didn’t really have any criteria for who should win what other than how the writers were feeling when they were coming up with ideas. There was kind of an unwritten rule though; we did push people based on their level of ability, but mainly stories and results came down to who the writers felt deserved it more, and who had worked hardest. We felt this was a fairer system than, say, an out and out promo system, since it meant the one guy wasn’t always dominating the fed cause he wrote epics. Even a bad writer could do well provided he showed us he was really trying.
My Gym teacher when I was 15 summed it up one day when discussing why he preferred me (the fat kid of the class <_<) to the fittest. He said he’d rather see me try 110% and fail miserably than see the fit kid try 50% and succeed without really trying. I’ve always retained that attitude. Even if something seems impossible, you should still try your absolute best and give something your all. As well as being fair (In my opinion anyway, though I can see why others disagreed), I also felt this was a more exciting way of doing things. Anyone could win at any time.
This system though did cause a lot of resentment in the long run, and I think was one of the major driving forces in some of the fed's biggest problems, though I’ll talk about that as we carry on….
As well as this then, especially at the start, pretty much the entire show was written by one or two people. I don’t just mean matches but segments as well. It was only when I came to ACW that I really appreciated how ludicrous that actually is. The wrestlers had little to no control over what happened on the shows, not just result wise but character development wise. How we kept going with that system for as long as we did, I don’t really know. It was just a case though of evolution, in that that was how the GWF started; with Shelton writing every aspect of the show. People were happy with it then, but as the shows and the roster expanded, we didn’t change the format or the system when we should have.
Ok then. Back to the story.
So, myself and Reckless now found ourselves in power….and pretty much straight away, the two of us were having problems. It’s not that we didn’t get on with each other, but rather that Reckless never seemed to actually be online. Ever. I won’t guess why, though since then, I’ve picked up some snippets here and there, and to the best of my knowledge, he had some personal problems in the real world which took priority. I sympathised, but we had a show to run. The first one was a near disaster. We took power three days before a Friday Night show. Really, we should have had the cop on to postpone the show and give us a week or two to settle in. But we didn’t.
James had had really nothing set up, so we had a clean slate. However while that may sound good, it meant that we had three days to plan a show, put up a card and write the entire thing. And Reckless decided to take this time not to log on for two days. I was basically left the day of the show with a load of ideas but a fear of implementing them in case I’d piss off Reckless. The day of the show arrived and I was panicking. I decided that my choices were "post my version of the show" or "post nothing", so I opted to start writing. With no experience and no idea where to start.
Thank god for a guy called Brian Daniels here. He happened to be online the morning of the show, and asked if I needed help. I’d get him to write a match, and he’d write back saying he could take more. He must have sensed I was in trouble and in a state, because he ended up writing half the show with me and we got it up.
I felt happy, and eventually Reckless logged on to apologise. He said he didn’t think he’d be able to really do the job full time so left me to do it alone. To be honest, I was grateful since now I didn’t have to run my ideas by him and wait for days for a response.
Guess what the first match I booked was? Me vs. Harry Jackson (Who had changed his name from HunterHarry; pretty much everyone was changing their names from the Gamefaqs user names to more realistic ones). For the World Title. What made this even funnier was that not only had I booked myself in a match with the World Champ, he had made it common knowledge he was quitting ASAP. I can only imagine what everyone thought. I hadn’t been in control of the GWF for a week and I was already booking myself in the main event in matches I was “obviously” going to win.
Except I didn’t. I lost. And I did it clean. I had convinced Harry to put off his leaving for another week, and we ran a special show on the Saturday where he did lose his title. It was obvious he’d lose it, but it had been obvious he was going to lose it to me too.
My Philosophy
Ok, here’s my efed philosophy, and its one I really hold even to this day here in ACW. Winning isn’t everything. In the short term, yes, it’s all about results, but then I’ve always been one to look at the long term picture. Long term gain is better, even if it means a short term loss. I don’t mind losing matches or getting beaten down if I feel it adds to a match or story, or if it’s logical. Even then, wins aren’t the be all and end all of efeding. You can lose and still come out of a match or feud looking strong. It’s the build up to the result which matters, not the result itself.
This was what led to the amazing win-loss record I held in the GWF. By the end of the two years, I think my final tally was about 40 – 80, which wasn’t too bad. I also saw myself as being in a weird position. I couldn’t put any titles on myself for a huge amount of time, or I’d be seen as abusing my power. I think in the end, I held pretty much every belt in the GWF, but none for longer than three weeks, and mostly so I could act as a transitional champ or get a shock swerve into the show. Everyone knew I was the perennial loser so when I won, it shocked people. And then I could right things by losing it three weeks later to a better person.
With that said, I didn’t want to be winning titles anyway. I was happy writing myself in the owner’s role, but I wouldn’t have gained or lost anything by winning the title. Meanwhile, I could give people boosts by beating me. I was in a position where even though I was losing alot, I had been there long enough and had enough kayfabe power that a win over me always meant something. So I used myself as a guy to put people over, or to help reach their next level on the card.
A match is good if I win in the process. A feud is good if BOTH people win in the process. When me and Chris started our feud here in ACW, we both agreed that the point was to get us both over, not just one of us. It was a story designed to make sure that even when the result went to one of us, both of us would waltz into bigger and better things. I would say that to anyone I feud with henceforth. My aim is not to win, but to make sure we both/all come out of the feud looking better than we did going in.
So...um…I lasted three weeks as owner of the GWF. I booked up to a PPV and announced that after the PPV, I would be done. I gave the next owner (ACW’s own Danny Mainer) about a week to organise the next Friday card while I finished up my duty and organised the PPV.
I ended up facing, and losing to, Ken Davidson. The reason I mention this is that despite the fact he was “Mr. Money in the Bank” and one of the bigger stars of the GWF, I had completely forgotten to book him when we were organising feuds for the show. My first run of owner was probably dire, and I made a lot of mistakes. But that was behind me again. I returned to being just a wrestler again….
For about three weeks.
