Post by Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune on Dec 19, 2004 17:03:44 GMT -5
Sunday 19th December 2004, 15.36
Well everyone, here we are at the end of 2004. I’m sitting here at my PC as I have done almost every Sunday for the last 7 months or so; the difference being that, for once, I don’t have an ACW show to plan or write. This unusual state of affairs affords me a rare chance to sit back, relax and think about all the things that have taken place this year, and I thought that this might be an appropriate time to share them with the rest of you.
It’s truly strange how the very smallest and most insignificant of events can with hindsight turn out to have had a monumental effect on your life. I would never, ever have guessed when I clicked on the “WWE Draft” topic on the Gamefaqs pro wrestling board in March that I was about to start a personal chain reaction that would lead me to meet up with those with whom I have now forged a precious friendship and camaraderie. I recall very clearly when the “brand split” discussions were drawing complaints from other visitors, and being the sort of person that tries to diffuse conflicts, I wandered off, found a “dead” board, and placed a single topic on it. I posted the link in the pro wrestling board topic in case anyone was vaguely interested, and headed off to bed….
When I got around to seeing what had happened overnight the next day, I discovered about eight or nine new topics had somehow sprouted up, from both the Raw and Smackdown rosters. And I thought to myself, “Whoa…..I had no idea this many people would be interested…..”<br>
At this time, unknown to me, a single loud blast of the “Irony Klaxon” was echoing across the great celestial control room, if you care to imagine such a thing.
Those of you who were around during our days on board 9880 all know what happened next…. we all enjoyed seeing the battle royals for the titles, creating tag teams and stables and just generally doing what we felt like……the roster was strong, and it seemed that we had a nice little fed growing. Sure, the results bore no relationship whatsoever to people’s attendance, but did that really matter?
For the first month or so, it didn’t seem that it did. But then came the sudden move to proboards, and a whole new world. At first we all thought the changes were great – no purge to worry about, pictures, PMs…. and for another month or so, everything seemed to be great again. But under the surface, trouble was brewing…..
I won’t dwell on the circumstances of the collapse of GFWWE, except to say that it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one person can run a complex operation single handed, unless they have and are willing to use absolute power to keep order. And while this may work when you have a population willing to accept such authority, it’s far less successful when trying to deal with a group of people whose uniting interest is an entertainment founded on the principle of defying any authority thought to be unfair or unjust.
So when a second option surfaced in the form of GFWCW, a major split was inevitable. To this day I’m sad when I think about how it all went awry, because I’m certain that when WWE Gamer decided to make his fed in the first place, he wanted it to be an enjoyable and unbiased place to be. And in that sense, I’d like to think that ACW itself still adheres to those principles; the difference that the board here has always strived for is that the fed should also be a meritocracy – that as far as possible, effort is recognised and rewarded. Of course, like anything run by human beings, occasionally there are disagreements over decisions, or mistakes are made; but if we’ve achieved anything in these 7 months, I hope it’s that every person here feels that their opinions and contributions are listened to and valued. I’d like to think that the number of “original” members who are still here, and the numerous “new” arrivals who are strengthening the fed with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm, are an indication that we’re not doing an entirely unacceptable job on that front.
So with GFWWE gone (as some of you may recall, it simply got “deleted” a few days after the grand post – PPV bust up), GFWCW was left as the sole survivor. I was surprised and gratified to be offered a position as a moderator by the founding board…and then came the next bombshell. “I need a little help with some of the writing,” WCW98 said to me over AIM, casually. Fine, I thought, I can do a bit of between – match stuff, interviews, that kind of thing.
“Oh, and we need someone to do 1 or 2 matches a show as well. Is that ok?”<br>
What?
Matches?
Jesus, I’ve never so much as written a backstage punch up! There’s no way in hell I could ever put together a coherent match……..
“Er, ok, I’ll give it a go.”
I still to this day don’t remember exactly how I managed to get those first few matches done. I remember scouting about some of the other feds and the WWE Social board for ideas, watching whatever wrestling was on the tv (trying to block out Michael Cole and listen to Tazz so I could identify the moves properly), and eventually coming up with some mangled English that somehow looked more or less like a description of a match. It wasn’t pretty – but it was at least better than what had gone before in GFWWE, and thankfully those who’d made the switch were extremely forgiving of the errors made. So as is usually the case, as I started to do more matches and learn a few things, the job got a bit easier, and things seemed to be progressing well…..
And then, someone suggested that we do a PPV.
From the start, everyone on the writing team knew that this would be a major step up from just doing ordinary matches for shows. If we couldn’t deliver something with a genuine “wow” factor, then the fed might not make it into a second month; there was certainly plenty of competition looking for talent, and we already knew from experience that the exodus of just a few key members could bring the entire thing crashing down around our heads. Expectation was high; after all the requests were sorted out there were nine matches to cover…..and one in particular would be make – or - break; the main event.
At first, “Industrial Revolution” wasn’t even going to be the last match of the night – we sort of assumed like everyone else that the WCW title would take that honour. But as soon as I received the spotlists for the match from Rose, Ridley and Skurai, I knew that IR had to be the main focus of the evening, particularly with its dramatic ending. The spotlists themselves were a work of genius, I was excited about writing the match as soon as I got them – the question was, could I do justice to their epic vision?
In the end, judging by the comments that were made once the show was over, I was relieved and pleased to find that everyone seemed pretty happy with the final product. It certainly took some work; the rough draft was done by Thursday morning, but I revisited the script on both Friday and Saturday, making significant changes and re – writes until I was satisfied that I’d done the best job I could. It’s still one of my favourite matches, even now, and all the kind praise and feedback that resulted served to cement my commitment to the fed, and for the first time gave me some confidence that my work was, after all, not entirely rubbish.
And so, we went forward into summer. A brief panic about using trademarked names and the like led to the name change and our transformation into ACW. It was also a time of “change” for me on a character level; I had adopted an alternate identity on my arrival in GFWCW to avoid any problems with the old regime over characters, but it wasn’t a persona that I really wanted to continue with. I kept my eyes open for an opportunity to make the switch in a convincing way…..and, when Ridley and Rose set out their idea for a shocking twist at Seven Deadly Sins, that opportunity presented itself. Again, most of you know the details (and those that don’t, the shows in early July and the PPV itself are still on the site if you’re interested) – but to this day, the “enlightenment” scenes with Blaze and Ridley’s Death are still probably the ones which took the longest to get right. I knew I was setting myself a difficult task, but I wanted a truly emotional reaction to those events, avoiding sentimentality and mawkishness. Personally, I felt that both events in the end were successful, and if you were to ask me to name the pieces of work I’ve done that I’m most proud of, I’d put both of those quite high up the list. Other events which I consider to be noteworthy were the arrival of Yoko and Kross, who’ve both gone on to develop extremely interesting characters as well as contributing some particularly fine segments, and the artists now known as Jake Cheng, Angelo Giovanni and Surion were holding up the midcard with aplomb; while Skurai and BK were contesting the Entertainment title, and honing their skills in preparation for the bigger things to come later in the year……
Well everyone, here we are at the end of 2004. I’m sitting here at my PC as I have done almost every Sunday for the last 7 months or so; the difference being that, for once, I don’t have an ACW show to plan or write. This unusual state of affairs affords me a rare chance to sit back, relax and think about all the things that have taken place this year, and I thought that this might be an appropriate time to share them with the rest of you.
It’s truly strange how the very smallest and most insignificant of events can with hindsight turn out to have had a monumental effect on your life. I would never, ever have guessed when I clicked on the “WWE Draft” topic on the Gamefaqs pro wrestling board in March that I was about to start a personal chain reaction that would lead me to meet up with those with whom I have now forged a precious friendship and camaraderie. I recall very clearly when the “brand split” discussions were drawing complaints from other visitors, and being the sort of person that tries to diffuse conflicts, I wandered off, found a “dead” board, and placed a single topic on it. I posted the link in the pro wrestling board topic in case anyone was vaguely interested, and headed off to bed….
When I got around to seeing what had happened overnight the next day, I discovered about eight or nine new topics had somehow sprouted up, from both the Raw and Smackdown rosters. And I thought to myself, “Whoa…..I had no idea this many people would be interested…..”<br>
At this time, unknown to me, a single loud blast of the “Irony Klaxon” was echoing across the great celestial control room, if you care to imagine such a thing.
Those of you who were around during our days on board 9880 all know what happened next…. we all enjoyed seeing the battle royals for the titles, creating tag teams and stables and just generally doing what we felt like……the roster was strong, and it seemed that we had a nice little fed growing. Sure, the results bore no relationship whatsoever to people’s attendance, but did that really matter?
For the first month or so, it didn’t seem that it did. But then came the sudden move to proboards, and a whole new world. At first we all thought the changes were great – no purge to worry about, pictures, PMs…. and for another month or so, everything seemed to be great again. But under the surface, trouble was brewing…..
I won’t dwell on the circumstances of the collapse of GFWWE, except to say that it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one person can run a complex operation single handed, unless they have and are willing to use absolute power to keep order. And while this may work when you have a population willing to accept such authority, it’s far less successful when trying to deal with a group of people whose uniting interest is an entertainment founded on the principle of defying any authority thought to be unfair or unjust.
So when a second option surfaced in the form of GFWCW, a major split was inevitable. To this day I’m sad when I think about how it all went awry, because I’m certain that when WWE Gamer decided to make his fed in the first place, he wanted it to be an enjoyable and unbiased place to be. And in that sense, I’d like to think that ACW itself still adheres to those principles; the difference that the board here has always strived for is that the fed should also be a meritocracy – that as far as possible, effort is recognised and rewarded. Of course, like anything run by human beings, occasionally there are disagreements over decisions, or mistakes are made; but if we’ve achieved anything in these 7 months, I hope it’s that every person here feels that their opinions and contributions are listened to and valued. I’d like to think that the number of “original” members who are still here, and the numerous “new” arrivals who are strengthening the fed with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm, are an indication that we’re not doing an entirely unacceptable job on that front.
So with GFWWE gone (as some of you may recall, it simply got “deleted” a few days after the grand post – PPV bust up), GFWCW was left as the sole survivor. I was surprised and gratified to be offered a position as a moderator by the founding board…and then came the next bombshell. “I need a little help with some of the writing,” WCW98 said to me over AIM, casually. Fine, I thought, I can do a bit of between – match stuff, interviews, that kind of thing.
“Oh, and we need someone to do 1 or 2 matches a show as well. Is that ok?”<br>
What?
Matches?
Jesus, I’ve never so much as written a backstage punch up! There’s no way in hell I could ever put together a coherent match……..
“Er, ok, I’ll give it a go.”
I still to this day don’t remember exactly how I managed to get those first few matches done. I remember scouting about some of the other feds and the WWE Social board for ideas, watching whatever wrestling was on the tv (trying to block out Michael Cole and listen to Tazz so I could identify the moves properly), and eventually coming up with some mangled English that somehow looked more or less like a description of a match. It wasn’t pretty – but it was at least better than what had gone before in GFWWE, and thankfully those who’d made the switch were extremely forgiving of the errors made. So as is usually the case, as I started to do more matches and learn a few things, the job got a bit easier, and things seemed to be progressing well…..
And then, someone suggested that we do a PPV.
From the start, everyone on the writing team knew that this would be a major step up from just doing ordinary matches for shows. If we couldn’t deliver something with a genuine “wow” factor, then the fed might not make it into a second month; there was certainly plenty of competition looking for talent, and we already knew from experience that the exodus of just a few key members could bring the entire thing crashing down around our heads. Expectation was high; after all the requests were sorted out there were nine matches to cover…..and one in particular would be make – or - break; the main event.
At first, “Industrial Revolution” wasn’t even going to be the last match of the night – we sort of assumed like everyone else that the WCW title would take that honour. But as soon as I received the spotlists for the match from Rose, Ridley and Skurai, I knew that IR had to be the main focus of the evening, particularly with its dramatic ending. The spotlists themselves were a work of genius, I was excited about writing the match as soon as I got them – the question was, could I do justice to their epic vision?
In the end, judging by the comments that were made once the show was over, I was relieved and pleased to find that everyone seemed pretty happy with the final product. It certainly took some work; the rough draft was done by Thursday morning, but I revisited the script on both Friday and Saturday, making significant changes and re – writes until I was satisfied that I’d done the best job I could. It’s still one of my favourite matches, even now, and all the kind praise and feedback that resulted served to cement my commitment to the fed, and for the first time gave me some confidence that my work was, after all, not entirely rubbish.
And so, we went forward into summer. A brief panic about using trademarked names and the like led to the name change and our transformation into ACW. It was also a time of “change” for me on a character level; I had adopted an alternate identity on my arrival in GFWCW to avoid any problems with the old regime over characters, but it wasn’t a persona that I really wanted to continue with. I kept my eyes open for an opportunity to make the switch in a convincing way…..and, when Ridley and Rose set out their idea for a shocking twist at Seven Deadly Sins, that opportunity presented itself. Again, most of you know the details (and those that don’t, the shows in early July and the PPV itself are still on the site if you’re interested) – but to this day, the “enlightenment” scenes with Blaze and Ridley’s Death are still probably the ones which took the longest to get right. I knew I was setting myself a difficult task, but I wanted a truly emotional reaction to those events, avoiding sentimentality and mawkishness. Personally, I felt that both events in the end were successful, and if you were to ask me to name the pieces of work I’ve done that I’m most proud of, I’d put both of those quite high up the list. Other events which I consider to be noteworthy were the arrival of Yoko and Kross, who’ve both gone on to develop extremely interesting characters as well as contributing some particularly fine segments, and the artists now known as Jake Cheng, Angelo Giovanni and Surion were holding up the midcard with aplomb; while Skurai and BK were contesting the Entertainment title, and honing their skills in preparation for the bigger things to come later in the year……