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1. Japan. It'd be good to get a feel for the area that we're hopefully going to make inroads in in the future! 2. Nah, leave him. Dude's great, but the opportunity cost is high. EDIT: oof, snipe. Update's the last post on the previous page
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Mar 23, 2021 17:41
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1. Nihon. They are on the sameish time-zone and they most certainly are gonna be having a lot of interesting things going on. 2. Eh, I see him as a "oh poo poo all our future talents loving bombed and we need someone to put asses to seats" type. Pass.
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Mar 23, 2021 18:16
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1. I'd say go with A, for the same reasons as the others stated. They seem the best bet. 2. Let 'im go by. Something about him tells me he'd be more of a brief slap upwards than a longterm benefit.
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Mar 23, 2021 18:27
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1. US. We're not going to make inroads anywhere in a looooong time, so "scouting" Japan isn't something we need to hurry. Instead go with the big region that has a lot going on besides USPW vs. TCW&SWF. 2. No. We're a small company and need to watch our money for now. Resist the temptation!
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Mar 23, 2021 19:01
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I've been making my way through that TEW 2013 playthrough you talked about learning a lot from and I'd love to see what Canada is up to now 7 years later.
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Mar 23, 2021 19:11
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America is the biggest market so might as well learn about it first. Yeah not feeling this guy, but we definitely need some kinda experienced star draw. Clockwork Rocktapus posted:I've been making my way through that TEW 2013 playthrough you talked about learning a lot from and I'd love to see what Canada is up to now 7 years later. Link to this, please? tia
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Mar 23, 2021 19:42
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Galaga Galaxian posted:Link to this, please? tia Here it is https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/where-i-play-total-extreme-wrestling-2013.667429/ Obviously some of the mechanics have changed over time, but it's been cool to watch the dude learn and grow his company.
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Mar 23, 2021 19:45
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1. Show us Europe. I want to see the wasteland. 2. No, the pun is too terrible.
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Mar 24, 2021 17:31
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Tevery Best posted:2. No, the pun is too terrible. Oh, Ryland loves puns so CVerse is riddled with things like these: 
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Mar 24, 2021 18:05
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1. Canada and Mexico 2. I say no deal, but that's mainly just because I'm paranoid and the cons seems to outweigh the pros.
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Mar 24, 2021 21:55
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1) Japan 2)Probably a moot point now, but I do think it’s worth bringing him in. Having a top baby face star, even if it’s only for a little while, is always worth it.
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Mar 31, 2021 04:29
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Episode 6: World Tour, Part 1 The thread has once again spoken. We will be starting our overview of the rest of the world with Japan. A quick history lesson on the Japanese scene. Japan had the first wrestling promotion in CVerse history in Giant Pro Wrestling that had it's run from around 1900 to it's collapse in 1933 under shady circumstances. (This is radically different from the real world, as the first Japanese company, JWA, was formed in 1953 and thus starting it's first bloom period significantly after United States and Mexico). The collapse of GPW started "The Dark Era" of Japanese wrestling with no new promotions emerging in nearly 30 years with the public's respect for the sport shattered by the fall of GPW. 1960s finally saw the return of "puroresu" with the formation of both Golden Canvas Grappling (GCG) and Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods (BHOTWG) and the new rise of the sport. The two competed with each other for two decades before BHOTWG pulled ahead with their revolutionary junior heavyweight division in the 80s. GCG's business took a nosedive but was saved by an emergence of a generational talent that kept them afloat. The 90s saw the emergence of a new rival for the massive BHOWTG. Pride Glory Honor Wrestling (PGHW) stormed the scene with their "Golden Generation" of wrestlers that made them a viable competitor for the old monolith. The 2000s saw the rise of smaller companies focused on things like junior heavyweights or grimy hardcore wrestling. A major shakeup happened in 2011 when the Modern Japan alliance was formed with GCG, WLW, 5 Star Supreme Wrestling (5SSW) and Warrior Engine XX (WEXX). The alliance wanted to move the traditional touring format towards a more Americanized style of running shows. Then a massive tsunami hit Japan in 2016 (yes, a silly wrestling sim has a canonical natural disaster) massively damaging the economy and wrestling business. GCG and WEXX went out of business and Modern Japan was no more. Entering 2020 there are seven Japanese promotions left standing. Let's start with our new friends World Level Wrestling.   WLW has never been the "hot" company among the CVerse players during my time playing the game but the yakuza scandal still hurt the fans of the company. The WLW of TEW 20 is significantly different than the one players saw last with TEW 16. They've lost two of their biggest stars and a lot of veterans to either other companies or to retirement. The longtime booker of the company, Koji Kojima, was ousted during the scandal as he had been working with organized crime for numerous years. (Yakuza scandals have happened in real life too, most famously when Pro Wrestling NOAH was linked to Yakuza around 2012. It was one of the many reasons for their downfall). WLW now finds themselves rebuilding their fanbase and roster: in TEW 16 they were on the cusp of catching up to PGHW and BHOWTG with a few right choices. They are still ahead of the other small companies but the gap might start closing if they aren't careful. BHOTWG isn't making it easy as they are prone to steal a few solid talents and a future star or two in almost every save.  WLW might have lost their two greatest stars but they still have gems. Shogun Watoga and Nichiren Amagawa wait on the wings while the spotlight shines on the next superstar of WLW. Masa Kurata is an extremely charismatic high flyer who is the present and the future of the company. And unless something unexpected happens, he's there to stay. How come BHOWTG isn't stealing Kurata then? Because of the Loyalty system. When a worker is Loyal to their company, they will not sign an exclusive contract with another company. They might wrestle for other smaller companies, but they aren't going to take a paycheck and jump ship at the earliest opportunity. Worker might lose his loyalty if they become really unhappy with the booker or if they are released. Loyal workers are less likely to be fired by the AI. Rest of the upper card is filled with veterans past their primes. Haru Kurofuji returned home after a ten year spell with BHOWTG after he got offered a spot as the booker after the scandal. Kazuma Narato had a brief run in the US in the early 2000s but has been with WLW for 15 years now. His tag team partner Mokuami Maita had his run with BHOWTG in the early 2000s but has also been a solid presence in WLW for years at this point. Both stayed through the crisis showing their loyalty. Looking at their crop of rookies I see a lot of somewhat charismatic looking kids. The bad thing for us is that two of them are considered Technician Flyers. We'll see if they ever make the trip to us.  They also have one of the few formerly Oceania based stars working in Japan. Necromancer is much like our very own Lone Shark. A really solid wrestler who's just missing a bit in the entertainment department. If his career falters in Japan ZEN would love to bring him back. I wouldn't mind either. I CAN sign him now, as he is still available to work in Oceania but I don't think that is wise. And that's because of the other "Japan only" feature of the game, the touring schedule.  Smaller companies in other areas tend to have a show every month. Bigger companies have a TV show every week and a big PPV event once a month. Japanese companies work a bit different. They run a number of tour shows in a short period of time leading to a big show. For example WLW has already done 22 shows in the same time we have had three. Wrestlers tend to get tired working this schedule but the young guns develop quite a bit faster than their brethren in the west . The "tour" shows have smaller attendance than normal and have to be extremely good or extremely bad to impact the company's popularity.   EXODUS 2010 is the company everyone THOUGHT was going to get caught with a yakuza scandal. EX2010 is very much like WLW, presenting a product focusing on high flying junior heavyweight wrestling. EX2010 might be smaller than WLW but are already outperforming their big shows. They have been stagnant between editions, never really growing. Their roster has been mostly the same in every edition. Everyone there started young and has mostly stayed home. The Alumni list is really telling: only four wrestlers have left the company during it's ten years in existence. Three of those retired with the company and the fourth was an indy worker only wrestling a couple of matches with them. EX2010 are in a great spot at the start of the game. They won't conquer Japan with their current generation but are set to grow to respectable size.  The group of youngsters that started when the company launched have grown to be the stars and currently wrestling in their primes. Masao Tsubouchi here is their current top star and is loyal to them. He is one the finest high flyers in all of Japan, his only competition for the title being the very best guys in BHOWTG and a few guys around the smaller companies. Tsubouchi doesn't have to carry the load by himself. Extremely charismatic Pretty Okakura, the stoic warrior monk Orange Tsuchie and the supremely talented Tsuneyo Yanagimoto round up the main event scene. Behind them are one of the best tag teams in Japan, Massive Thunder, and an all around great tag team division. They really don't have that many rookies but that is a problem for the long term. Unless BHOWTG does a massive raid that roster is sticking together for the next ten years.  X-Calibre feels a bit wasted in the midcard of EX2010. He could easily rise higher on the card and would be a hot commodity back in Oceania, much like Necromancer. Except he has the charisma to carry himself.   5Star is one of the two women's companies that are open at the start of the 2020 database. They are the proud representative of Japanese women's wrestling (joshi puroresu, commonly referred to as joshi here in the west) but have seen better days. In a way the company has always lived in the shadow the "The Magic Three" even over a decade after their retirements. They had a rough patch right after those retirements but have somewhat bounced back. They have had their new stars but haven't risen to the same legendary level as the stars of the 90s. Now they are starting to see the post-Three generation reach the later half of their career and no new superstar in sight. DEVIL Karube, one of their biggest stars already retired but who's next? (Women in CVerse tend to retire younger than their male counterparts.)  Yuma Maruya and Shiori Jippensha are their current aces. They are great and will lead 5Star up a size or two before their retirements. (5Star can deliver great ratings for their size from the start: if the big two in Japan have iffy starts, 5Star can actually have the best shows in the entire area.) The talent doesn't end in the top two names. Megumi Nakajima and HEART Saitoh are generational peers with Maruya and Jippensha. Gemmei Oonishi and MAYA are set up for big runs at the top. And then there is Miss Perfection.  Fuyuko Higa is seemingly nerfed a bit form previous editions. She is currently "only" excellent. If you are starting a save with any company with a women's division the first question a player asks is: "Do I hire Higa?" In the few long-ish games I've run with TEW 20 she has become the best in-ring worker in 5Star but never the top champion. The reason is quite simple: she is a legendarily toxic backstage personality. You deal with her being an rear end in a top hat because she is that drat good.   SAISHO used to be a developmental company for PGHW but has been independent since TEW 16. They start as the smallest promotion in Japan and are already bleeding money. I don't know if they will survive. If you play with them you can probably keep them afloat. Their "function" in the game world is to be the Japanese tutorial company: a small roster, lot of youth to build on long term, getting used to touring system, even decent shows might grow you on popularity and a few tournaments to play around. (Almost every Japanese company has a tournament or two that they run during the year, WLW being the only exception).  "Mr. SAISHO" KAZ is pretty much the perfect representative for his company. Solid wrestler but terribly bland. SAISHO's calling card is their rock solid tag team division. Black Iron Corps are their awesome home grown team that are the biggest stars of the company. The Night Terrors are a masked duo hailing from the US cutting their teeth in the "West Coast War." The Hurt are a European team featuring Billy Robinson (no relation to the real world wrestler Billy Robinson) and everyone's favourite Swede Nigel Svensson.  Then there are the Diamond Dogs, former APW guys. They are solid and I wouldn't mind bringing them back someday if their career in Japan ends with SAISHO going under. The other calling card for SAISHO is their rookie department. Between editions SAISHO hired almost every young independent worker. Gidayu "The Lariat" Gatou, Motoyuki Miyake, MUSCLE Serizawa and Akira Arato all have great potential and if things go well will become stars with SAISHO or somewhere else.   BCG was born out of disrespect. Yoshifusa Maeda is THE reason GCG didn't die all the way back in the 80s. To him GCG starting the Modern Japan alliance was a huge middle finger to him and the whole legacy of the company. Thus, BCG was born. (BCG actually started from the GDS forums when someone created the company logo as an alternative for the GCG logo. This lead to Ryland creating the company itself in the next edition of the game.) Now they have outlived the grandfather of puroresu and are set to skyrocket to the place that GCG fell from all those decades ago. BCG has become a GDS forums favourite during the past editions and are now set to flourish: they are seemingly stacked with top line talent and a few promising rookies to boot. (Maeda is a bit of a handful as an owner. As you can see from the news headlines, three of their workers have gone and quit already. That's more than the rest of the Japanese companies combined. Losing SUKI hurts them a bit, the former GCG star was set up as a major figure in the company).  All four of their biggest stars could walk into the big two in Japan and quickly become one of their biggest stars. I have a soft spot for Bunrakuken Torii here. I brought him to the English CWW in my longest save thus far with TEW 20 and carried to company to Medium size on his broad and frankly awesome shoulders. Razan Okamoto is THE guy here and their future ace but Mabuchi Furusawa and Funakoshi are probably their biggest names right now. Any one of these four can carry a main event match by themselves. And that's not all. Second generation warriors Yoshinaka Taku and Tanyu Toshusai, big boys Rokuemon Matshushita and Naozane Goto with rock solid Blast Ikoma and Findlay O'Farraday form an intimidating upper midcard.  The gems of the tag team division are The American Cobras. They are the top independent team in the US but their future most likely lies in Japan, whether it's with BCG or one of the other companies. As if all THAT isn't enough, they have an extremely solid group of young rookies (it's why I wanted their workers on excursion). All of this makes BCG stupidly stacked and THE choice for almost everyone wanting to do a save in Japan. The AI might not be able to launch them to fight the big boys but the player just might be able to do that.   Only the big two left to cover. And if the signs are to be believed, we're heading back to the era with only BHOWTG as the big dog in the region. PGHW arrived to the scene with a bang in 1996 with their "Golden Generation" and wowed the country with their extremely intense (and dangerous) wrestling. The next 20 years saw all their stars spend considerable time on the shelf as it became more apparent that the style of the company was taking an extreme toll on the bodies of all the warriors fighting there. And one by one they all went, bodies destroyed by years of abuse. 2019 saw the retirement of the last member of that generation, Yoshimi Mushashibo, considered by many the greatest wrestler that ever lived. Now the proteges of the Golden Generation are left to carry the burden. And those proteges have already spent a considerable amount of time in this system that is custom designed to destroy human bodies. Oh, did I mention that BHOWTG has the habit of stealing their younger cornerstones? Can they save themselves from the almost certain decline? Maybe. PGHW has one of the most challenging starts in Japan and definitely offers a challenge.  On paper PGHW's main event is golden. Kozue Kawashima, Masaru Ugaki and Seiji Jimbo are all great and have the very lifeblood of the company running through them. All of them studied the art under the Golden Generation. Behind them is perhaps the top tag team in Japan, KitoGuchi. Consisting of Bussho Makiguchi and Chojiro Kitoaji, their road to the top of the company is set in stone. And then there is Magnum Kobe, the second biggest star in WLW's history who left his home company as they couldn't keep paying him after the scandal. These top six workers should be able to carry them until the next generation is ready, right? Well, not exactly. Based on my (limited) saves with TEW 20, PGHW doesn't exactly collapse but they heavily stagnate. They tend to rely heavily on Kawashima, who is on his way to being a physical wreck and in the worst case scenario already on decline. This won't stop the AI from pushing him. One of the most absurd things I've seen in this series is Kawashima winning their yearly Elite Series one night tournament FIVE YEARS in a row, absolutely refusing to build anyone else during that time. Kobe is either a hit or miss if he fits in at all. I've yet to see KitoGuchi actually break through. And suddenly you only have two guys you can reliably trust. PGHW lives and dies with Ugaki and Jimbo.  The roster does have talent, young talent even, but the AI never really seems to get all their potential out of them. Avalanche Takano here is probably their best bet on future success. Midcard also has perennially underused Eien Miyamoto, who I remember being a big prospect in past editions, Haranobu Kobayashi and SATO. All young-ish but will the company ever get behind them, I don't know. PGHW is one of those companies this year that is extremely interesting to follow through the years.   And then there was Burning Hammer. BHOTWG is the closest thing to the real world New Japan Pro Wrestling. Both have been the leading company in their country for decades, both had a junior heavyweight wrestling revolution in the 80s (NJPW had the original Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid, BHOTWG had Elemental and Optimus) and both had their crises in the 2000s (NJPW went hard on "Inokism", flirting with MMA and in the process almost killing their business, BHOTWG had a significant part of the roster walk out and form INSPIRE, a shoot-style inspired company akin to the real-life UWF and it's successors). BHOTWG is the only company in the game that starts with a heavyweight/lightweight split on their roster.  They are not quite the unbeatable giant I've painted them out to be. They are starting to be in the same position PGHW was in TEW 16. Tadiyuki Kikkawa, the defining superstar of the past two decades is finally gone. A lot of the classic old guard have retired between editions. The main event is getting old, time to build someone new up. Thankfully they are loaded with money and can pretty much buy anyone who is not loyal to their company. The player can go wild with hires and the AI can get pretty spending happy as well. They've already thrown their weight around, hiring Panda Mask II and Eagle Kawasawa from WLW to strengthen their junior division and Reaver, Simon Flemmingway and Brute Kikuchi from PGHW weakening their closest competition.  The big focus with BHOWTG in this edition is with their stables. The two NEO factions (led by two of their biggest stars, Kinnojo Horri and Yasuhiko Taira) are fighting each other with "invaders" from the fallen WEXX and GCG are leading Senmatsu-gun and The Golden Army.  The junior division has always been the pride and joy of BHOWTG. The "Big Four" of Sensational Dragon, MYSTIC Dragon, Elemental III and Marihito Masuko have become "The Big Five." Emerald Angel WAS WLW. His feud with Magnum Kobe was a commercial and a critical success. And when the scandal broke, Angel wanted to stay loyal but money was the deciding factor once again. Angel is the best high flyer in the world and he doesn't really have an equal.  The top of the card is getting older but the emperors of puroresu have their ace in their sleeve. Matthew Keith is one of the many second generation stars of the game world (another way CVerse really differentiates from the real world, second gen wrestlers are generally good) and a budding superstar. If all goes well, Keith will very much become the same level of star his father was. BHOWTG is almost unrivaled when it comes to the depth of their roster. If they grow in size, they WILL go on another hiring spree. A shorter update this time, I'll try to get in another one this week where we, you know, actually play the game.
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Mar 31, 2021 12:08
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"Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods" is the most  name ever.For non wrestling fans, the Burning Hammer, also known as the Inverted Death Valley driver, is the legendary super-finisher of the legendary (real life, not Cornellverse) Japanese wrestler Kenta Kobashi. Kenta used it only seven times in his entire career and no one ever kicked out of the pin after it. The reason he used it so little was to preserve its mystique as the ultimate move. Actually the real reason is because the move was incredibly dangerous, with the wrestler dropping his opponent in such a way the victim has basically no control over their fall and most of the usual techniques to mitigate or lessen impacts are impossible. The target gets dropped straight on the back of their neck/top of the shoulders for cripes sake! I mean, look at this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuEoimAW604 Its an amazingly move, but drat if it doesn't show how willing some wrestlers are to just destroy themselves. The other man in that video, Mitsuhara Misawa, another legendary Japanese Wrestler, took Burning Hammers #1, #2 and #4 over his career. Misawa would eventually continue to wrestle an intense schedule despite needing time to heal and would die wrestling after one too many bad bumps. Most "Japanese" product styles (And a few western ones) in TEW are specifically labeled by the game as being physically intense and will destroy the wrestler's bodies faster than normal. And ofc, these days with mainstream wrestling ever racing towards being more intense and flashy, other people are starting to pull out the Burning Hammer with much less gravitas. People also kick out of it, too!  If you're gonna go busting out ultra dangerous moves, at least keep it as something that ends matches. Kicking out just encourages everyone to create even crazier and more dangerous moves. 
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Mar 31, 2021 17:18
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Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods. Beautiful.  Why couldn't real life WWE have had a name like that? This whole time we could've been watching "Tombstone Piledriver of the Divine Superstar" or something instead.
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Apr 3, 2021 16:16
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Burning Hammer Of The Wrestling Gods is the best company name without a doubt. Even the now defunct real world company WAR (Wrestle And Romance) pales in comparison. Episode 7: Nighthawk's trial by fire APW was profitable in March. We made a bit over 10 000 dollars even with the influx of new talent. That's good. More money is always more money so I decide to take a peek at our Merchandise Screen.  As you can see, our merchandise level is currently at 4 out of 10. We aren't making a huge amount of money in that department (around 2500$ a month) and at this point upgrading doesn't really give us much. The extra money we'd earn after the upgrade would go to the increased running costs. I'll have to keep this in mind for later after we grow in popularity and/or start getting more people in the arena. I want to do something a bit different for the next show which involves our friends in New Zealand. Since I struck a talent trading deal we might as well put that to use.  Here's the talent trading screen. This has changed a bit since I last used it in TEW 16. Previously you could send up to five workers in exchange for a single wrestler. Now you can trade only a single worker or an established tag team in exchange for a wrestler or a tag team for up to ten appearances. I also think that the AI doesn't accept that many workers as before. Now they only accept guys who would be considered Recognizable in their roster. And if you want a main event level talent, you have to send a main event level talent back. Currently ZEN would only like three of our guys: Lone Shark, SubUrban Legend and Pookie Possum. Shark and Legend have pop in New Zealand due to their previous work there and Possum is over all around the continent thanks to his RAW fame. Poor Massacre is not fondly remembered as ZEN don't want him back. I had an idea to do bit of a "ZEN Offer Match" in our next show and bring over the former tag team partners of both Legend and Massacre. We'd get a solid undercard tag team match out of that. ZEN would have no problem to trade us Legend's partner for any of our trio but the problem is with Massacre's pal. He has become one of their main guys and aren't willing to trade him for ANY of our guys. The same goes to Shark's old partner Devilfish. If we send our guys over there and ZEN books them well, we might be able to trade for them later. And we do have a young guy who can only benefit from working more dates...  So, talent offer. I can loan one of our wrestlers to ZEN and ask absolutely nothing in return for up to ten appearances. Here's the plan: we send Legend to them for those ten appearances (this doesn't exclude him from our shows since our events don't overlap with ZEN) and potentially get him a bit more over in New Zealand. I say potentially because the AI might just job him out mercilessly. I hope not since they get to reform a good tag team out of the deal for the rest of the year. And even if he gets booked awfully, he will still get some reps in and HOPEFULLY develop a bit faster in the ring. The downside is of course the heightened injury risk that comes from working more dates. I send Legend to ZEN and trade Lone Shark for an appearance getting Killer B in return.  Killer is a solid high flyer and definitely the in-ring worker in his team with Legend. He is terminally bland entertainment wise but he is one of the guys ZEN tend to build on. I might as well throw in that tag team match for our next show using Pre Booking.  A big part of pro wrestling is, you know, actually promoting the matches. If people don't know that two of your bigger stars are going to be duking it out in the big main event, they don't have a reason to buy a ticket/watch the tv show/order the PPV. By default TEW has the "mandatory pre booking" setting turned off. So all of the matches you put together when booking the show are considered to be announced beforehand. You can naturally do an angle where a wrestler does the classic open challenge for later on the night or whatever but in mechanical terms it is still considered announced beforehand. If the player wants to book something in advance just in case they forget their gem of an idea before they get to the actual date of the show, then pre booking is a good tool. I rarely use it but hey, it's there.  The Knight's Temple reforms for one night to take on the goon squad of Goliath Global since (spoilers) the other half of SHADOW LEGENDS is getting a big spotlight at the main event of our next show. Time to head to the show and go through the news as we progress.  That's nice. Quine is one of the biggest female stars of USPW so that's great PR for them. This is one of the many new news stories that pop up every once in a while so I try to show off most of them. Speaking of...  On the other side of the world 5Star starlet HEART Saitoh donates for charity. She likes the warm and fuzzy feeling so much she donates AGAIN just a few days later (yes, she got an almost identical news story).  Uhhh, WLW? Kurata is ALREADY your biggest star? (You get stories like this all the time, usually highlighting a young and rising wrestler in a company. It gets awkward when the story is about someone in your roster that you have no intention of pushing...)  After a week of intense negotiations Remo takes the money. He's going to earn around 220 000 a month for the next four years, making him the second biggest earner in USPW. And he's not the only one to jump ship.  Just a few days later SWF loses one of their most beloved figures. The Crippler is Chris Morrisette, one of the most beloved characters in CVerse. Actually, The Crippler isn't the character that defines Morrisette's career...  LOBSTER WARRIOR is one of the legendary gimmicks of the CVerse. Lobby sold loads of merchandise during his years as a lovable crustacean hero but he never accomplished his dream of being a world champion. Now at 47 years he takes the money and heads off to USPW and dons the mask and the claws once again. SWF manages to stop the immediate bleeding and resigns two of deal younger stars. They are scared of the day when their Top Star enters contract negotiations.  A LOT of people are expanding their horizons. So much so that I'm pretty sure this is a bug from the latest patch.  Here's an AI company changing their product. From the look of things, it's a pretty minor change in the grand scheme of things. (No, I have no idea what Stoner Hardcore is supposed to mean). What makes it weird is that two other companies also change their products inside a few days of each other. And I've rarely seen anyone change their product this soon. The new patch has clearly hosed SOMETHING up.  SPECTACULAR MACHINE is up there on the great AI generated worker names. After looking at his stats I can safely say that the name is the best part about him. He absolutely sucks and manages to break the finger of a fellow graduate in his first ever professional match. Around halfway through the month we get some surprising news.  ALREADY? WLW offers us three of their young guns for the next two years! (This is the first time I'm accepting people on their excursions so I had no idea they were willing to throw them to us this early. WLW is expecting their next dojo class to graduate in May, so I guess they are making room for them). Let's see what they've got to offer.   We get a team of Kazuhisa Hosotani and Keisuke Koroki who go by Next Level (25 experience tagging together). They are nothing special in the ring but potential charisma machines. I needed a tag team for the heel side so this is great. I can't put their good entertainment skills to use until they learn the language. They only speak Japanese so if they are in an angle and rated on a talking related skill (so Entertainment, Charisma, Microphone, Acting) they will get heavily penalized for not speaking the local language. They will learn the language bit by bit just by being around in our locker room. (If a worker doesn't speak the same language as everyone else in the locker room, their morale will be penalized for feeling isolated. We don't have that issue with three Japanese lads heading over and keeping each other company).  Naoji Azumi on the other hand is one of the top two prospects currently employed by WLW. Insane charisma and good psychology for his age make him an exciting get. He's the gem of trio. I mean, I will still use him mostly as a low card  DIW is trash aside from those top two matches. If I lose to them again I will be mostly pissed off at myself.  ZEN does their thing. Lone Shark's one appearance is used to put over one of their young guys. Legend starts his run with a win!   It's not always sunny in CVerse. A rising junior star in BHOWTG has suffered a big loss in his civilian life. This is the first time I've seen particular story. It probably won't be the last time we see death in this save.  Rock God's year goes from great to awful in a heartbeat. After being coronated as their champion he makes through two title defenses before a horrible injury. He somehow finishes the match (rated 90!) that main events an EILL PPV and even manages to win. If he ever comes back from this injury he might never be the same. After those bummers, let's move on to Beachfront Breakdown. Nothing noteworthy happens before the show. It's good for me, since I don't have to deal with the negative backstage incidents but bad for the LP since I really don't get to showcase that feature that often. (I think most companies actually start with backstage rating maxed out at 100%. I'd have to actively try to make things worse to start getting negative things to happen).  I end up with a card like this. Most of the new signings and the newly arrived young boys are still finding their feet in the pre-show as I figure out who's ready for a storyline. (Taking a two week break from this save is not particularly helping as I've surely forgotten some of the ideas I had after the last show.) SHADOW LEGENDS make the call that Nighthawk will challenge Hamstead in the main event. We open the night with the aforementioned tag team match where SubUrban Legend is victorius with a sneaky lucha pinning combination on Tate. Mattell and Shark manage to topple everyone's favourite undercard team of Positive Energy who can't get the extra energy from Barney Mason's encouraging grunts. Simonson and Macquarie grab a statement win before being jumped by Nameth, Tyrant and Prellinger. Two matches advance the ongoing rivalry between Fox & Possum and The Apocalypse where Warmonger is looking unstoppable but Fox finds a way to beat Hatemonger with a countout. The Duo call their tag title shot for next month and are left puzzled by the appearance of Dordevich who once again teases her client's identity. The semi-main ends in a massive clusterfuck when Goliath Global screw over Gerard and Devine against the Samoans. It doesn't help that Donovan Boon accidentally hits Devine when he tries to help. The main event is never in any doubt but Nighthawk still manages to put Hamstead much closer to the edge of defeat than anyone expected. Devine, still pissed from months of screwy results and run-ins batters Hamstead with a massive suplex and throws down the challenge for a steel cage match next month. At this point you can probably start to see which matches are going to do well and which are going to do, well, less well. Since Gerard could carry Massacre to a great main event I'm hopeful that Hamstead can do the same to Nighthawk. We'll see if this pays off.  The new arrivals are quite horrible as they have no popularity in these parts but hey, at least Hosotani's gimmick is a successful one!   Results like these make me, an avid fan of in-ring finesse, shake my head in disgust. Killer B could wrestle circles around these three goofs but since he has no popularity here the crowd collectively shrugs him off. The match is decent enough but the more 40+ results I see, the better.   Harding can't find a break as he scores bad chemistry with D-Pod.   I get to the semi-main and I get the feeling that I have done goofed up, again. This is a good rating, great even, but I fear I've screwed over our main event in the progress.   I'm proven wrong as Hamstead drags Nighthawk to a great main event, even if it just by a single point above the match before it. The post match angle succeeds as well and we got ourselves a show.  We marginally improve from last month!  I compliment three guys once again and finally see results. Hamstead is pleased that I gave him the thumbs up for his main event. This raises his morale. A happy wrestler is a better wrestler. I have a good feeling about next month's main event... After the show, we get an e-mail. Good news?  Nah, Massacre is just being a bit of an asshat. Mate, Dizzy was in the ring for like, four minutes last night? He probably did a dropkick and a twisting crossbody from the top in addition to getting pummeled by whoever he was facing. What the hell were you expecting? You get these kind of emails every once in a while from your bigger names. Depending on their personality they either bury a bad aspect on a lowcarders work or praise them for one of their high skills. Skipping days to the end of the month nothing that special jumps out from the news feed. BHOTWG raid WLW once again and grab a talented Canadian flyer Frankie "White Angel" Dee and one of the most important names in WLW, Shogun Watoga. This is not a surprise as Watoga gets hired in almost every save. And then this happens.  God dammit, Higa. This is what you could call a career suicide. Miss Perfection is talented and she is available to work in the US... but the AI is REALLY bad at hiring people with no popularity in their area. So Higa has doomed herself to be out of work unless: a) The 5 Star booker, DEVIL Karube, steps down and her successor hires her back. b) a US company does an uncharacteristic move and hires her despite having no popularity there. c) another joshi company opens up in Japan. (I could do editor related hijinks to save her career. At any point in your game, you can add another player who then takes over a character and a company of their choice. Hypothetically I could add another player, choose whoever books QAW, hire Higa and then delete that player and continue as if nothing happened. I'm trying to limit the times I use the editor to my advantage but hey, just letting you know that you can do stuff like that in this game.) Next time: Two shows in one update? Who knows!
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Apr 6, 2021 17:58
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Interesting that WLW would send three promising young stars off for such a long excursion right after restarting and as they are being raided by Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods (). You’d think they’d want as much talent as they can salvage at the moment.
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Apr 6, 2021 19:45
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Insertnamehere31 posted:Interesting that WLW would send three promising young stars off for such a long excursion right after restarting and as they are being raided by Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods ( Perhaps WLW's management view that they are better off developing in the more chill parts of anglosphere, just to see how they perform in a strange upside-down land where nobody knows them.
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Apr 6, 2021 20:03
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Insertnamehere31 posted:Interesting that WLW would send three promising young stars off for such a long excursion right after restarting and as they are being raided by Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods ( Triple A posted:Perhaps WLW's management view that they are better off developing in the more chill parts of anglosphere, just to see how they perform in a strange upside-down land where nobody knows them. The reason is that No, this is them using the young lion/boy system. The three guys we got would be mostly filling the undercards of WLW shows and wouldn't really be in a position to be elevated to the positions left by the departures. Their audience would be weirded out if the young guys would get a push before "paying their dues" with their trip to overseas. So in a way sending these rookies to us relatively early, they will be coming back relatively early as well and (theoretically) ready to be pushed. Masa Kurata and Nichiren Amagawa can hold the company afloat as long as they don't get hurt for the next few years.
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Apr 7, 2021 07:13
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Episode 8: Caged Showdown At this point I've gone over most of the mechanics that concern a company of our size. There's still some stuff that I'll go over once those things actually happen to us but for now we can just keep going.  After four shows (where three made us grow in popularity) we actually haven't grown a single point in our home region where we have had our shows. We haven't had any growth in neighboring areas either. And at this point I remind myself of the Spillover.  So our company and our wrestlers gain their popularity in the area they work in (in this case New South Wales) but when they hit some thresholds some of that popularity "spills over" to other regions. Naturally once you get to TV this doesn't matter as much since at that point your shows are seen in every area that channel broadcasts in. But our broadcasting deals are at least a year away at this point. The challenging thing about Oceania can be seen in the above screen. Western Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania are so isolated from the rest of the regions that they get no spillover from other regions nor do they give any spillover. Expansion beyond Oceania is also extremely challenging since Oceania has no spillover to other game areas. But hey, those things are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of us at this point.  On the news side some insiders are really high on SubUrban Legend. This tells the player that the worker in question has had a high potential roll so he should have a very high ceiling. That's good news. (There are actually hidden popularity and skill caps, determined randomly at the start of a save. You might want to make someone a star but they might just hit their popularity cap and are unable to grow past it. Same goes for skills. I've yet to have problems with caps in my saves but I also very rarely play Big companies who are more effected by those mechanics.)  A RAW news item that I forgot to include in the last update. APW alumni, one half of the Melbourne Blondes Blake Belushi actually won the RAW Television championship, their main prize. He becomes only the second APW guy after The Swoop to claim that prize.  Speaking of RAW and APW guys, they are splitting up God's Gift, former clients of our very own Max Forbes. Standish and Banks are both great and should become top of the cards names for them sooner or later... wish we still had them. Banks gets a Hernia just a few weeks later so I guess they split them up at the right time.  WLW has two randomly generated workers graduate from their dojo. The more "promising" one is Yuichi Shigemitsu here. A super heavyweight with promising entertainment stats, but unfortunately looking very unsafe and inconsistent at this point. Also, he boasts a whopping ZERO Star Quality. He tears his achilles in his first pro match against fellow graduate Saemon Imakura and is out for a year. I can't wait to get these guys to APW.  I guess Rusty hears me moan about lacking top of the card stars and decides to get in better shape to catch my eye. Wrestlers can go up or down in weight class and change their body type. These can have minor effects on their stats, usually on the physical side or Star Quality/Sex Appeal/Menace (Rusty's Sex Appeal went from 61 to 64!). Wrestlers can do this by themselves or you can ask them to do it. So, let's have a chat with Mills!  Talk to Worker is a new addition to TEW 20. The most commonly used actions are the options where you can ask a worker to work in new areas or change their in-ring styles. But we'll take a look at the Booking tab.  My plan is to put the Samoans over The Duo in our upcoming event so I thought I'd ask Mills here if he would agree to it.  Hmmm, that's an answer. He actually doesn't have an existing relationship with Malietoa, their personalities just happen to be almost the polar opposites. Mills and Boon still might agree to lose to them but I still might have to pull of some mind games to make them agree with me! (The real life booker/owner of the sports entertainment juggernaut WWE, Vince McMahon, according to at least few of his former wrestlers, uses "some sort of jedi mind tricks" to make his talent agree with his vision. I won't be going that far.) Since Mills just changed his body type, I won't be asking him to immediately to try put on some more muscle mass... but there is the best/worst option in the game hidden in the Physical tab.  We CAN suggest all of our workers to get on the juice, big time. (We can even call up wrestlers who don't work for us and suggest that!) They won't report us to the feds... I think. It depends on the workers personality if they'll do it. Actually, I feel like loving with RAW... Let me just find the number of one of their big stars, Luke Steele...  "And don't call this number ever again." (I actually don't agree with steroid use in pro wrestling or in any other legit sport. Abuse of steroids and the side effects of said drugs have taken many a wrestler to their early graves. Don't do drugs, kids.)  The one existing alliance in the game gains a new member with the Mexican CILL joining up.  The latest ZEN show is merely very good with no 70+ matches this time. Legend is losing this time but at least it's against the top team in the company, Cyanide and Dastardly. Oh hey, new emails! I wonder what this is abo-  OKAY THEN. By default all of our contracts are pay per appearance deals and set as ongoing. Our wrestlers however aren't willing to sit around with us forever. So every once in a while a wrestler might hand in his notice and start looking around for new career opportunities. Richie Fox decided that it was time to leave. After a worker leaves your company (whether they hand in their resignation, are fired or their contract runs out) they are unwilling to negotiate with you for at least six months. The way I see things Fox has two options: a) he either sits around doing nothing until he wants to come back in six months time b) he heads over to DIW in hopes of a main event push No, RAW ain't hiring him, he's not popular enough. I get WHY this happens, it keeps the game world alive with wrestlers moving on from their old stomping grounds. Unfortunately it is a bit too rare for them to find a new place to work. Fox leaving so suddenly actually puts a dent to my plans. I planned Fox & Possum to eventually beat The Apocalypse and move on to challenge the Samoans for those tag belts. Well, I guess plans change. I guess I'll have to find something else for Possum then... Oh hey there is also another thing in this email box...  ... Game, I do appreciate that I get to show off all these things that can happen but was this REALLY the best time to take my new manager who I had plans for? sigh Pregnancies happen. Dordevich is married to someone outside of the wrestling business so his husband is not actually a character in the database. She will be out for a while. Congratulations.  Another recent BCG graduate gets injured. I am not surprised as I find out that his opponent for the night was SPECTACULAR MACHINE. (It wasn't actually Machine's fault, the news story would tell me if he was the one at fault.) And thus we have arrived to Caged Showdown with no incidents. I'm going to blow off most of our starting feuds and start moving on to new directions for all performers involved.  And here's the card. We open hot with Gerard beating Tate and follow that with the Surfer Dudes stumbling upon the dreadfully boring interview segment of Wilkes & Lydecker. Legend gets to challenge Massacre for the Australian title but Goliath's presence ringside turns the contest in the champion's favor. Nighthawk makes sure Global don't try any funny business and throws down the challenge for next month. Assortment of babyfaces make short work of three low level bad guys and are saved from another post match attack when the lights go out and Vortex arrives to the ring. The four matches at the top all signal the end of their respective storylines. The Apocalypse are unstoppable and the match ends with an injury stoppage when Warmonger absolutely brutalizes Fox (thus writing him out). Mason and Mattell finally end their beef, one on one, no gimmick needed with Mason coming out on top. The tag title match is close but a rare miscommunication between The Duo allows Brisbane Devil to end the match by beating Boon. Afterwards tensions are somewhat high between the two and after a brief exchange of words (without a microphone) Boon leaves Mills in the ring. A steel cage surrounds the ring for the main event so no members of Goliath Global can interfere in the proceedings. It's not enough for Devine as Hamstead hangs on to his title.   I might not book Tate as strongly as he should be but he's still young-ish. I'm consistently putting him against or with our better workers so hopefully he'll learn a thing or two from them.   Samoan Demolition and The Duo put together a main event worthy match. As you can probably deduce from the little show writeup, I'm preparing to break The Duo up. I still feel there's juice for a program or two with both of them as faces, but I'll get feedback from you guys before I pull the trigger.   Hamstead and Devine deliver big time in the main event! I'll have to visit this matchup in the future.  So we once again improve our show with a single point. The Surfer Dude angle is, well, bad but we all have to start somewhere. Those ratings will get better once they get some momentum and popularity behind them. The Macquarie match is predictably not decent but rest of the stuff in the card more or less works. (Also worth noting, Lone Shark had one of the best performances hiding in the pre-show. I should have him in an actual storyline...) As you might have seen we have a thing to worry about. We don't sell out our show. Both economy and wrestling industry are still in a freefall and will bottom out before another rise. So that will probably take the rest of the year 2020.  May has been a month full of retirements but we end the month with a somewhat major death. Yoshi Oshino died while being the owner of EXODUS 2010 which means the ownership is up for grabs. Any time an owner (or a booker) of a company leaves the position, it can be applied to by the player.  Will we move our LP to Japan shortly, we'll see! (They probably won't accept and even if they did, I'd probably want to continue with APW). Goon poll~ So, we're moving on from a lot of stories and starting new ones. This is the point where I'd love to get some ideas and feedback on who to plug into what story and where to go with some stories I'm building. 1. Scottie Hamstead and the Commonwealth title. I'm comfortable keeping the title with him at the moment but he still needs a next challenger since the Devine story is more or less wrapped up. I have a few things in mind: a) Christopher Gerard. This is the option that will pull in the great segment ratings and is a logical continuation for Gerard's current story with Goliath Global. The reason I didn't move to this sooner was because I'm personally a bit slow to pull the trigger with matches between two of my top guys, always nervous I can't build up guys after that story sets the bar just a bit too high. b) The Duo. As suggested a few updates back, The Duo would work as challengers for Hamstead before I break those two and they feud with each other for a while. The winner of the Duo breakup would most likely return to fight Goliath Global afterwards. (At this point I've earmarked either Mills or Gerard to eventually topple Hamstead but plans can and will always change) c) Barney Mason. The wild card! Mason can be carried to a decent match and thus can at least try his hand in a main event setting for a month or two. d) keep the story with Dingo Devine going. A clean loss doesn't mean I can't do the match again! e) "Hey BTF, those suggestions are good/bad, but I had something else on my mind." Feel free to throw in your ideas as well! 2. The Duo. I've done the groundwork for Boon's heel turn (in a writing sense, I haven't actually started it in the game) but we can still brainstorm ideas how we do it. a) just go for it. Next show or two their relationship goes sour, Boon beats Mills up after a match and we're off to the races. b) unite against old enemies (turn afterwards). Apocalypse are without a dance partner. In canon Apocalypse/Duo is done to death but in game terms the crowd would probably be happy to see that feud come back. Easy to segway to Global feud (unite to win old enemies, take on the new big bad, lose and everything goes to poo poo). c) Hamstead needs a challenger or two. Turn afterwards. d) keep them both face. You don't have to be mad at each other, it's just wrestling! can do the previous two options and just not do the turn. e) turn them both heel. You know, we don't care about the fans anymore! You stopped caring once we hit a rough patch! And your local sports team sucks! f) "Hey BTF, those suggestions are good/bad, but I had something else on my mind." Feel free to throw in your ideas as well! 3. Samoan Demolition and the Tag Team Championship. Fox leaving leaves me in a bad spot as he and Possum were penciled in as their next challengers. The Apocalypse are also heels so that leaves my top team out of the question. What's next for the Samoans? a) The superteam of Devine and Gerard. I mean, I JUST did that match as a one off, but I can spin it to a story. b) a random assortment of faces. Positive Energy got trucked over, R & R are geeks and SHADOW LEGENDS are still locked with Goliath Global at the moment. Throw some random pairings together every once in a while and have them challenge until SHADOW LEGENDS are free and/or Surfer Dudes are done with Lydecker & Wilkes. c) Turn The Apocalypse face. I can't do this immediately (Hatemonger is still too early to turn) and it's not optimal (Apocalypse are better as heel but can play face) but I can do it sometime in the future. Comes with the bonus play of flipping Quartermaine to manage the Samoans (the old Mr. Fuji angle abandoning Demolition to manage Powers of Pain). d) "Hey BTF, those suggestions are good/bad, but I had something else on my mind." Feel free to throw in your ideas as well! 4. Dingo Devine. So, this is why Dordevich's pregnancy announcement hit my plans. After teasing her new signing for months, it was going to be revealed as Christian Blithe by attacking Devine. Now that Dordevich will be out for the next x months, I'm no longer comfortable throwing Blithe in there without a surefire mic worker with him. a) keep the Hamstead story rolling. b) team up with Gerard to take on the Samoans. c) Lone Shark. Shark is one of my best performers and is currently doing nothing. The unfortunate part in this is that I'm missing someone to do the talking for both of these wrestling machines. d) do the Christian Blithe feud anyway. Keep it short, keep it simple and maybe return to it once Dordevich returns. e) "Hey BTF, those suggestions are good/bad, but I had something else on my mind." Feel free to throw in your ideas as well! 5. Massacre and the Australian Championship. APW started the game with all three titles held by heels. I do tend to prefer longer title reigns (and with one show a month I don't feel the need to hotshot titles every month or two) but I feel like we need a face champion somewhere in the company. Hamstead and Samoan Demolition have both delivered as champions which leaves Massacre as the most likely one to drop his belt. Here's a few suggestions: a) Gerard. He starts the save with a feud against Massacre for the title. Gerard has kind of grown past the title but that is an option. b) Nighthawk. This is what I'm leaning towards. Nighthawk is good enough in the ring to hold the belt in the midcard level. c) Barney Mason. Unlike Nighthawk, Mason is heavily dependent on who he is facing. But once again, he's an option. Big muscular lad taking on another big muscular lad, what more could APW fans want? d) Alyx Macquarie. He is solid as a rock at this point and somewhat charismatic enough to carry his own programs. e) "Gosh dangit BTF, I already know what this last option means!" Feel free to throw in your ideas as well! ...That's actually a lot of different things to ask from all of you reading.
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Apr 12, 2021 12:31
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Right-o. This is gonna be interesting. 1. A, Gerry is in the right spot to be a real hero. 2. B, the split would make most sense with them facing a bad loss. 3. B. Your call on what to throw against them. 4. C. I agree with giving Shark something to do. Let's give him some work to do. 5. Flip a coin. Heads, go with Nighthawk. Tails, Alyx.
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Apr 12, 2021 15:26
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1. b) The Duo. 2. c) Hamstead needs a challenger or two. Turn afterwards. I think this is the best path forward here. Have whichever guy you want to turn heel challenge first and lose clean, then have him cost the other one the championship at the next show in a fit of jealousy. That way you’ve got two championship defenses and a good launching point for their feud. Then you can begin the real money feud of Hamstead vs Gerard. 3 and 4: Devine and Lone Shark teaming and becoming the main challengers. If they get over you can use them as transitional champs before having them drop to the Apocalypse. 5. Nighthawk.
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Apr 16, 2021 03:40
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BTF posted:Goon poll~1. Scottie Hamstead and the Commonwealth title. I'm comfortable keeping the title with him at the moment but he still needs a next challenger since the Devine story is more or less wrapped up. I have a few things in mind: Insertnamehere31 has the right idea. quote:2. The Duo. I've done the groundwork for Boon's heel turn (in a writing sense, I haven't actually started it in the game) but we can still brainstorm ideas how we do it. quote:3. Samoan Demolition and the Tag Team Championship. Fox leaving leaves me in a bad spot as he and Possum were penciled in as their next challengers. The Apocalypse are also heels so that leaves my top team out of the question. What's next for the Samoans? Make an entire thing out of searching for the contenders. Grab some legit shots, sprinkle a bunch of potential dark horses and a no-hope or two, keep the carousel spinning until the situation clears up a little (and we see anyone going at least a bit over with the fans) or someone is in a more convenient place to challenge. Doesn't need to be a formal tournament or anything, just a storyline to tide things over for now. quote:4. Dingo Devine. So, this is why Dordevich's pregnancy announcement hit my plans. After teasing her new signing for months, it was going to be revealed as Christian Blithe by attacking Devine. Now that Dordevich will be out for the next x months, I'm no longer comfortable throwing Blithe in there without a surefire mic worker with him. Let's hope either of them can learn on the job! Also keep an eye out for manager prospects, since you're planning a hiring spree anyway. Might as well lay the groundwork. quote:5. Massacre and the Australian Championship. APW started the game with all three titles held by heels. I do tend to prefer longer title reigns (and with one show a month I don't feel the need to hotshot titles every month or two) but I feel like we need a face champion somewhere in the company. Hamstead and Samoan Demolition have both delivered as champions which leaves Massacre as the most likely one to drop his belt. Here's a few suggestions: Alyx is 33 already, let's give him at least the midcard belt before it's over for him. He's paid his dues.
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Apr 16, 2021 18:38
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Insertnamehere31 posted:3 and 4: Devine and Lone Shark teaming and becoming the main challengers. If they get over you can use them as transitional champs before having them drop to the Apocalypse. Tevery Best posted:Make an entire thing out of searching for the contenders. Grab some legit shots, sprinkle a bunch of potential dark horses and a no-hope or two, keep the carousel spinning until the situation clears up a little (and we see anyone going at least a bit over with the fans) or someone is in a more convenient place to challenge. Doesn't need to be a formal tournament or anything, just a storyline to tide things over for now. Great suggestions here! Shark is a heel, so a team with Devine would be a face/heel tandem. I'm not sure how our fans would respond to that but it's an idea I'm willing to try. (I could turn Shark... ideas, ideas) quote:Also keep an eye out for manager prospects, since you're planning a hiring spree anyway. There's still a couple of managers in Oceania I'm considering bringing in, just none that could be easily slotted in as faces.
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Apr 17, 2021 07:52
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Just a heads up, the update pace might be getting (even) slow(er). I just started in a new job so I'm a bit drained but I see if I can squeeze an update in later this week.
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Apr 20, 2021 17:07
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Take your time, better to have slower updates than to force them through and burn yourself out.
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Apr 20, 2021 18:38
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BTF posted:Just a heads up, the update pace might be getting (even) slow(er). I just started in a new job so I'm a bit drained but I see if I can squeeze an update in later this week. Can we at least expect an update this month?
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May 5, 2021 20:13
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Triple A posted:Can we at least expect an update this month? Maybe??? Sorry, just haven't been able to find the time/energy to play and write. So, let's try to get in that update... Episode 9: What was I doing again? It's been a while since I did the last update so I take a few moments to collect my thoughts and try to recall what I was planning to go with things. The thread feedback is helpful in recalling things. So, here's what we're going to do: - The Duo will challenge Hamstead, which leads to the break-up and the feud. - Gerard goes after Hamstead after The Duo business. - Samoans start an Open Challenge, that will lead to the team of Lone Shark and Dingo Devine to challenging them! - After a coin flip, Massacre will drop the belt to Nighthawk and we'll see where we go from there.  Vortex responds to his first "official" appearances by immediately starting funny business in the locker room. I don't think this actually creates any negative relationships between our workers, it just signals that Vortex might be a bit of a problem backstage.  Our EX2010 takeover bid ends predictably. Their new owner is a legend in Japanese wrestling and the first ever three time BHOTWG World Champion (which included a massive FOUR YEAR reign from 1991 to 1995). A change in ownership can sometimes lead to changes in product. We'll see if EXODUS starts drifting away from their current approach with the heavyweight legend in charge.  And their new booker? Just Yoshimi Mushashibo, one of the GREATEST WRESTLERS EVER? Two legends form two different eras and two different promotions joining forces in EXODUS2010?  this is wild.  I still need a guy to do carry the entertainment side of things for our babyfaces so I decide to bring in this guy as a backstage interviewer. Experience is probably the best free agent left on the manager side of things in Oceania. He IS better as a heel, but I'll keep him as a face for now. He can also be slotted in at the announcer's desk if our color commentator gets poached/leaves.  Tragic news come in from Europe. Bam Bam was a massive Norwegian beast who was one of the top stars of the European EWA promotion alongside his equally massive brother Hercules.  DIW loses a member of their roster. Panther is extremely flashy. That's it. He has nothing else to offer. I still might bring him in for a show or two to lose to our lower end talents. Remember, even if a wrestler is bad, they still might have some popularity to try to leech out of.  Remember Dirty Tricks? This is what happens when a Trick fails, spectacularly I might add. I am ashamed for my allies in the North. BHOTWG being controlled by devil-worshippers, that's nonsense! Everyone knows that RAW is the one being controlled by them!  Bad news for the rest of Japan. BHOTWG grows to Big size with a killer PPV show rated 90. This will undoubtedly lead to another hiring spree.  Frank is doing good work keeping the boys in check. Forgetting a handshake, unacceptable! (It is an old wrestling business custom to shake everyone's hand when you enter a locker room. Yes, even if you've met them earlier in the day.)  My backstage meddling is once again successful as Dingo Devine and Nighthawk become friends. Friendship! Maybe this will blossom to a mentor/protégé relationship and Devine can start sharing some of his knowledge to the young gun.  Beer Bash ends up looking like this. Boone starts preparing for his turn by not-so-subtly demanding to get out of the tag team division and into singles competition. Goliath Global arrives to mock him for his loss and are ready to beat some sense to him until Mills arrives to help his friend who doesn't look pleased to get any help from Mills. The opening match ends in an upset when Nighthawk pulls of the victory and becomes the Australian champion for the first time in his career. Two of our lower card storylines are rolled into one in a big ten man tag team match with the mysterious, yet handsome stranger Vortex picking up the win over Lydecker. Apocalypse end up bulldozing over Azumi after Mason gets sneak attacked by D-Pod and Pookie Possum's attempt to get revenge on The Apocalypse ends up badly for our Japanese import. The Samoans steamroll through R & R and afterwards cut a very shouty promo demanding real challenges. After that both Devine and Lone Shark wander to the interview set to get their promos in, Devine swearing to rebound back to the top and Shark insisting he should be the MVP of APW. Gerard and Legend pick up the win, but with a DQ when Massacre, still extremely pissed off after losing to Nighthawk attacks Gerard and batters him pillar to post even after the bell has rung. The semi-main ends in a draw when Shark and Devine are both counted out after a massive spot outside the ring. The main event sees The Duo win, but there is clearly more trouble in paradise and tension between the two. Let's see how this goes... Pre-show goes, well, poorly. I try out the team of Pookie Possum and White Wasp because, you know, animals. They end up having ZERO chemistry together, the worst possible chemistry note between tag team partners. The match itself (versus Next Level) gets the flavor text of "embarrassing wrestling." I think that's a first for me.   Nighthawk and Massacre end up having a great chemistry together! Another match-up we can revisit in the future.   A solid tag team match but it is really apparent that Gerard is the one carrying the whole thing. Blithe is not ready (granted, it's his first match on the main show) and both Legend and Mattell need to start getting their performances to the better side of 40. Legend's character is also getting kind of stale, so we have to remember to either tweak it (extending it's lifespan) or change it (re-roll gimmick rating, bonuses and penalties)   Main event is solid if a bit unspectacular after the barnburner we had last month. But that's just how it goes, ebbs and flows. Devine/Hamstead had a six month build behind it and as much as I'd like to pull off matches like that on a monthly basis, the fact is that I don't have the tools for it (yet).  The show as a whole is actually our second worst yet but I'm not panicking. Yet. We were still better than DIW. Our attendance jumps back to the sell out of 1000 which is great.  EXODUS honors their former owner by making him the first inductee to their Hall of Fame.  It begins. BHOTWG pillage WLW, hiring Necromancer, a talented and young upper carder Akio, veteran Incedible Koyama and a promising rookie Little Dragon. They also absolutely WRECK PGHW's midcard. The Ring Generals (Dean Waldorf and Marv Statler), solid veteran William Hayes and two of their young core in SATO and Haranobu Kobayashi take the money and jump ship.  The beginning of July gives us the favourites to win the year end awards at the halfway mark. APW or our guys are nowhere near to be considered for any of these awards. The British juggernaut 21CW is having a killer year, with the halfway predictions giving them the Wrestler of the Year, Company of the Year, Match of the Year (the Cornell/Cornell/Burton Ladder match that scored a 100), Show of the Year (World War 13, rated 91) and Team of the Year (Tommy Cornell and Adam Matravers) awards! (The tag team of the year award never goes to an established tag team as the AI always puts together teams consisting of two big time main eventers, as is the case with Cornell and Matravers). Next time: Boone goes for the belt and Nighthawk gets his first challenger.
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May 8, 2021 11:54
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There we go. Something for May. It does look like a lot is changing in Japan.
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May 8, 2021 21:00
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drat, BHOTWG must be reaching WWE levels of roster bloat at this point. Does legend’s current gimmick have a good rating? If so tweak it, if not just Re-roll a new one
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May 8, 2021 22:36
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Insertnamehere31 posted:drat, BHOTWG must be reaching WWE levels of roster bloat at this point. This, but if he gets an entirely new gimmick, add or invent a new finisher and move his current finisher to the lower level of finisher.
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May 8, 2021 22:53
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Insertnamehere31 posted:drat, BHOTWG must be reaching WWE levels of roster bloat at this point. They have 81 workers currently on the payroll, so nothing compared to the the whopping numbers that WWE had a year or two ago (around 300(!) wrestlers "employed" between a dozen shows). For comparison, USPW has 80, 21CW has 78 and CWA has 72 workers on their rosters. Episode 10: Double Shot  I decide to tweak Legend's gimmick a little bit. His gimmick is rated Very Good and has some great perks. The merchandise part is still not useful for a company our size but the boost in Star Quality is always a net positive.  BHOTWG decides that hey, maybe there is a thing called roster bloat? Relampago is really good but is lost in the shuffle in an all time great junior division that BHOTWG currently has. All of the smaller Mexican companies would love to have him back home.  Big Bam Bam gets a similar treatment to Oshino as he is posthumously inducted into the EWA Hall of Fame. He is also the first inductee, probably pissing of the owner/booker/icon/ace/forever champion Byron. It was supposed to be him, drat it! (Inductions usually happen when a notable wrestler retires. It just happened to be that in this save two deaths triggered the first few HOF inductions.)   Two pieces of news hit the feed in almost back to back days. The body positivity news story is a new one for TEW 20 and is mostly for flavor. It just happens to be that Electric Dreamer is also a mega star in waiting for OLLIE so these stories coming up back to back make it seem that the first was the cause for the second. Kind of cool, really.  WLW isn't the only company trying to pull off Dirty Tricks. USPW commentary spends an uncomfortable amount of time on their weekly B show trash talking their closest competitor. That'll put butts on the seats.  USPW are the ones smiling at the end. Valiant is one of the biggest stars of SWF and a cornerstone of the company for almost fifteen years at this point. He joins second generation superstar Jay Chord in the big USPW hires for the month.  I'm sorry, not just a second generation superstar. THE BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD, Jay Chord. USPW is quickly becoming stupidly stacked with no Loyalty mechanic stopping them from grabbing almost every major star the continent has.   ZEN and DIW have their shows. DIW almost hits it out of the park. THREE matches rated over 40? Without Boo Smithson? Wake me up, I must be dreaming.  APW's Finest Hour (citation needed) is here and the card ends up like this. We open the show with a trios match. Gerard is still clearly hurting as he wrestles with his ribs taped but the faces survive when Possum manages a complicated pinning combination on the inexperienced Maniac. Afterwards the still angry Massacre shows up to shout towards Gerard and wants to end him in a big stipulation match next month. He then makes short work of poor Azumi. D-Pod explains his actions last month in a short promo. How come he has had to scratch and claw on the small time shows when a piece of stupid meat like Mason can bask in the spotlight? SHADOW LEGENDS face off against the technician duo of Mattell and Blithe and come up short when Mattell cheats to beat Legend. Devine wants a rematch after the draw last month but Shark has other ideas. If you can't beat them, join them? A three way tag match ends with Lone Shark coming out on top, after tagging himself in after Devine's finishing maneuver and stealing the pinfall. Midcard stories are progressed when the mysterious Vortex beats Prellinger and the Samoan Destruction Tour defeats Macquarie and Simonson after Team Forbes provides the interference. Duo vs Hamstead feud takes a center stage in our last two matches as Mills defeats Tate and Boon comes up short against Hamstead.   Warmonger is really good, you know. Him against Gerard is a match I'm keeping in mind whenever Gerard is back as the Commonwealth champion.   Shark and Devine don't get a chemistry note but still carry The Dudes and Those Boring Guys to a solid little match. Lucas is notably getting better performance ratings every time he steps to the ring.   The main event performs in a level we need it to. Hamstead/Mills should be (without a bad chemistry note) just a smidge better.  The show overall is NOT our finest hour, but still a good show. The Shark/Devine angle is Not Good, even with The Experience providing the entertainment as the interviewer. On the other hand, D-Pod's promo is really good considering he's very much an undercard guy popularity wise.  The start of August brings us a couple of interesting news bits. Over in USA SWF rises back up to Large. A hiring spree is sure to follow.  The number three company in USA is the first of the big three to hit a MOTYC. Funnily enough, it's also a Ladder match, much like the previous 100 rated match in the save. Andrews and Hawkins are their two best guys so this is no surprise. They don't even main event, as that honor goes to Sammy Bach winning the vacant world title (thanks, Jay Chord) for the first time in his career. It's a great match (89) but pales in comparison to the previous bout.  Europe livens up a bit with a new promotion popping up. I'll go over ELPF here a bit more whenever our World Tour hits that particular part of the world.    CWA stalwart Erik Strong gets blasted on Twitter for "some light banter." This Social Media Storm is quite a common new news story. It usually ends up with the worker in question getting the attribute "Shuns Social Media", meaning he will never be involved in another social media related news story. However, we don't end our update quite yet. We currently make around 10 000 dollars each month. This will not satisfy our owner goal when the time comes at the end of our second year. So, screw it, let's see what another show in a month would do to our finances!  I set up a new event for the first week of August. It will be shorter and cheaper and significantly more non-canon that our bigger shows. When creating new events (or modifying old ones) you have a number of options. Some are quite clear: give the show a name or ask the game for suggestions, set the length (between 1 hour and 8 hours) and date, choose a logo (without a logo the game defaults to the company logo in show results) and set ticket prices. You can also set specific A.I. instructions (for example, have every title on the line or book only 1 vs 1 matches), set the event as a "season finale" (the biggest show of the year, the culmination of all of the big stories, your WrestleMania/Final Battle/Wrestle Kingdom) and add special attractions like live music, celebrity cameos and a special entrance set.  Here's the results of this quick show. This is mostly about getting reps for the roster and checking out how badly it will wreck my finances. If I end up adding another show every month I will put more effort into them. This is me just throwing all the big guns in a massive main event and letting Warmonger spread his wings a bit in a singles environment. Next time: World Tour, Part 2. We'll check out the largest part of the CVerse, USA. Also, APW's Championship Carnival is headlined with Hamstead/Mills and Massacre/Gerard in a Last Man Standing Match!
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May 22, 2021 11:30
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Perhaps we could try doing a show in West Australia or New Zealand at some point, to check on how the locals would be interested in APW.
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May 22, 2021 12:59
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Definitely support the idea of occasional second shows to boost reps. It’s a shame about the Shark/Divine angle not doing so hot though. Hopefully they can work out the kinks or get carried by their work rate.
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May 22, 2021 14:21
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Triple A posted:Perhaps we could try doing a show in West Australia or New Zealand at some point, to check on how the locals would be interested in APW. At some point, yes. Here's our popularity in all regions of Oceania:  We have zero popularity in New Zealand, Tasmania and West Australia. So, if we would go and do a show there, it would draw... approximately 10-ish people? Maybe less considering economy and wrestling business and wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy down (3 and 1(!) and still falling, baybey). I could go there, put on an absolute shitshow and STILL get a (fraction of a) point in popularity. It would unfortunately be a huge money loser. You can't set your production values to be show specific: even if I bring in the absolute skeleton crew of wrestlers (you can basically do an hour show with less than ten workers) the production values would still make the show a big money loser. And I can't reduce my values for every "small" show and up them back up for the major ones, as upgrading costs money. If I want to take the show on the road to other regions, my best bet would be Queensland or Victoria. When we get a broadcasting deal (next year would be the earliest possibility) we will start gaining pop in all areas of Oceania, slowly but surely. Insertnamehere31 posted:Definitely support the idea of occasional second shows to boost reps. It’s a shame about the Shark/Divine angle not doing so hot though. Hopefully they can work out the kinks or get carried by their work rate. They WILL be carried by their workrate. When I actually throw them against the Samoans, I'm pretty certain they'll get some decent ratings. Even angles with the Samoans added in should do better (Menace is still helpful for good angles, see Massacre/Hamstead/etc).
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May 22, 2021 18:03
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Queensland would be nice simply because it would be very easy to write that our pair's from Surfer's Paradise. Victoria would be relevant mainly because Melbourne is the other major city in 'straya.
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May 22, 2021 20:03
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When the company starts making a bit more cash monthly, maybe doing cheap touring shows in Victoria and Queensland.
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May 24, 2021 02:35
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Queensland has a slightly bigger potential fanbase than Victoria (70% vs 65%) and they both have the same spillover (20% in South Australia and 40% in the other two Eastern states) so that's probably the go in terms of expansion. I've gotta say that the ban of technician flyers is actually a bit rougher than you'd think; Sure there's only 8 technician flyers in the region but that includes the Diamond Dogs, Halloween Knight and Killer B. ZERO is also very talented but he's got no entertainment skills at all so he's a bad fit for a sports entertainment product like APW. A ban on MMA Crossover workers is no big deal at all because there are only four of them active in the database in 2020 and none of them work in Oceania. Losing Rock God Alvarez is huge for EILL; he's their ace after the retirement of Champagne Lover. EILL has a problem with bleeding workers because the instant a contract is up they get snapped up by SWF or USPW so a major star going down for a year really loving hurts when they struggle to keep their upper midcard together. And I'm just going to say this but I miss Dusty Ducont being poo poo. If you lost someone to a competitor then you'd just give them a going away match/matches with Dusty and they'd almost certainly come out with an injury.
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May 24, 2021 03:36
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Testekill posted:I've gotta say that the ban of technician flyers is actually a bit rougher than you'd think; Sure there's only 8 technician flyers in the region but that includes the Diamond Dogs, Halloween Knight and Killer B. ZERO is also very talented but he's got no entertainment skills at all so he's a bad fit for a sports entertainment product like APW. I didn't even realize (i.e. I forgot to check) both Diamond Dogs were classified as Technician Flyers. As far as the unemployed side goes, I'm missing out on both Black Flash and Monday Next. Both belong on the upper echelons of in-ring workers in Oceania but are otherwise lacking in the charisma department. Next is also a former RAW guy and his pop is in the 50s so he'd easily be our most popular guy by quite a wide margin. Testekill posted:And I'm just going to say this but I miss Dusty Ducont being poo poo. If you lost someone to a competitor then you'd just give them a going away match/matches with Dusty and they'd almost certainly come out with an injury. Ducont being... shockingly competent is still a fact I'm coming to terms with. (CVerse, much like the real world, has a long lineage of larger wrestlers, whose only worthwhile quality is "being big." Dusty "Dusty Bin" Ducont is one of the joke characters included in one of the earlier iterations of CVerse. The joke is that he was horrid in all facets of professional wrestling so it was a challenge for the player to make something, anything out of this guy. Later years have seen him become passable in a minor miracle.)
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May 27, 2021 19:58
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This game for some reason really has me interested in it. I am a bit sad I missed the start of the lp but i'm watching now.
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May 28, 2021 17:40
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Episode 11: World Tour, Part 2 Before we dive to the current state of the US scene in TEW, a quick history lesson... Professional wrestling stayed as a sideshow attraction for decades, before the early 60s saw the beginning of regional promotions starting to make professional wrestling a true business. The "Traditional Era" lasted around 20 years with these territories content to rule their set areas and wrestlers moving from company to company keeping their act fresh. Then Supreme Wrestling Federation hit the scene like a thunderstorm. A young promoter Richard Eisen shocked the system, poaching most of the big names from around the country, putting on the first wrestling PPV event in 1980 (Supreme Challenge, headlined by Sam Strong and Rip Chord) and marketing his wrestling as the greatest show on earth. The regional promotions couldn't find an answer in time and were all extinct by the end of the decade. (This is extremely similar to the real life by design. Vince McMahon, owner and promoter of WWF/WWE, did the same in the 80s. SWF was pretty much the WWE stand-in for the longest time in CVerse.) Much like in Japan, 1996 was a turning point. An I.T software billionaire J.K. Stallings Jr. founded his own company, Hollyweird Grappling Company, and made some big name signings, including the mega stars past their prime Strong and Chord. This launched HGC to compete with SWF. At the same time, the east coast saw the rise of multiple competing companies, After a brief war, only one of those companies survived. Danger And Violence Extreme (DAVE) was everything that SWF and HGC were not: hardcore, anti-establishment, in your face, balls to the walls action. In short, it was the CVerse version of ECW. While DAVE never rose to the size of SWF or HGC, it presented an alternative and changed the entire landscape of the industry. HGC lasted until 2004, until Stallings was bought out by a consortium led by his star wrestler Tommy Cornell. They rebranded as Total Championship Wrestling and adjusted towards a more pure wrestling based product, differentiating themselves from the sports entertainment of SWF. DAVE died in 2007 and their stars spread all over the scene. Sam Strong resurfaced and bought a small regional promotion USPW and led them to the number three spot just below SFW and TCW. 2014 saw a complete role reversal between the big three, as USPW was bought out by Alan Packer, owner of the revolutionary streaming service Reverie. With a large influx of money and a massive global reach thanks to the streaming platform, USPW leapfrogged both of the giants and started poaching their bigger stars. USA is the centerpiece of the pro wrestling world, both in real life and in the CVerse. At the beginning of the 2020 database, USA has 12 promotions active, the most of any game area. Traditionally the US companies get the most players (at least when judged by the GDS forums) and most attention from the creator Adam Ryland. The 2020 edition sees the power struggle between "The Big Three" evolve, the west coast war continuing, Confederation of the Territories keeping the smaller companies gelled together and a new opportunity to play with an established company. Let's start with the smaller companies and work our way up.   The death of DAVE is still felt in the CVerse after almost fifteen years. FCW is one of the companies born out of their ashes. Offering a very traditional wrestling product harkening back to the good old 80s with clean cut heroes and despicable villains with a local flavor, the Puerto Rican stalwart have been a solid company to play with from the start. Puerto Rican Power, the owner and founder. has finally retired. This is both a positive and a negative. PRP was their biggest star and a guaranteed draw. But now you can book them without having to keep him ultra strong all the time. They have also lost two of their blonde stars at long last, as "The Marksman" Kirk Jameson and "Mainstream" James Hernandez were predicted to jump to bigger and better things for years.  So they've plugged those holes with... Frederique and Harlem Haynes? Both past their prime midcard stalwarts from the big leagues? No, FCW's next crop of stars come from the inside.  MUTANT is their big success story of the past few years. And there are guys like the insanely charismatic Joffy Laine, Xavi Ferrera, Cobra and the former can't miss rookie Davis Wayne Newton waiting in the wings. FCW is the outsider of the US scene, both geographically and politically. They have never flirted with the COTT but have never been at odds with anyone either. They currently have an ongoing talent trading deal with PSW that is very rarely used. If FCW forms relationships, it's most likely with someone south of the border. I have personally never played with FCW but they look like a very fun promotion in this edition. A solid tag division, some exciting young talents and an established upper card. Just looking through makes me want to start (another) new save...   Rhode Island Pro Wrestling has been part of the CVerse since TEW 2007 but this year is the first time that players get to actually play with them. The BIG new feature in TEW 2020 was the long awaited ability to play as a developmental company. Developmental companies are usually owned by another company and used as a training ground for young wrestlers, usually for those who graduate from your own wrestling school. (Real world examples include OVW, DSW, FCW and NXT, all of which were at one point developmentals for WWF/WWE). Whenever a wrestler is deemed "ready" by the game/player, they are called up to the owner company to start their career. Unfortunately, the AI cannot handle this mechanic AT ALL. A wrestler is called up, used as undercard fodder for the duration of their contract and then are let go to try their luck in smaller companies.  Most of the guys working in RIPW are brand new additions to the CVerse world as only four of the 26 wrestlers were in the 2016 database. It's still hard to say which of these guys will break through and become the next "Supreme Superstar." I'm placing my bet on Mr. LaRoux here.     The next two companies have been linked together for their whole existence. GSW and IPW have been stuck in "The West Coast War" for years at this point with no progress towards a clear victory for either side. Both are focused on hardcore wrestling (they actually have identical products) but still manage to have a different look and feel from each other. GSW is more urban and has that grimy, low budget feeling. IPW is more "corporate", hardcore wrestling done by the numbers and have the added benefit of being a part of COTT and having a talent trading agreement in place with the non- West Coast hardcore promotion, PSW. Following the two companies during different saves, it is quite common for wrestlers to jump from one company to another.  Both companies have some solid tag teams, but I'd give IPW the edge here thanks to EVIL KILLER CLOWNS, Coulrophobia. The two also work in Mexico with OLLIE.  IPW's current big star is the former TCW low card talent Aldous Blackfriar. He was a fairly unassuming rookie in previous editions, so it's fun to see him flourishing outside the TCW system as an extremely entertaining brawler. IPW might not have the deepest roster, but still boast guys like Hustle Muvva, Frantic Ali and Hugh De Aske. Their definite weakness in this edition is the fairly bad crop of rookies they are working with.  GSW's definite ace is and has always been Fro Sure, who is like Blackfriar but even better. Behind him are top line talent like Busta Capp, Deaf Touch (the only deaf wrestler in CVerse) and Cali Slick. IPW and GSW are both fun companies to play around with and follow. I don't think I've seen the war ever end in one way or another in any of the TEW editions I've played.   Mid Atlantic Wrestling is the CVerse tutorial company and the centerpiece of COTT. The classic question on the GDS forums is always "what's a good company to start with in CVerse" and the answer is MAW nine times out of ten. (The only bad part with playing your first game with MAW is the fact that they start their year with a tournament show, The Rip Chord Invitational, which can be challenging to do when you are dealing with a brand new roster.) Their role has always been to build up new talent and see them fly the nest and move on to bigger and better things. Every edition a new, hot talent debuts in MAW, have found their way to the top of the card in the next edition and have found a new, bigger home in the next. I did my long TEW 2016 game with MAW and it is probably my favourite promotion in the US. The change between editions is the working agreement with TCW. TCW sends their young talents from their training camp to work with MAW and MAW gets some financial aid in return. This also means that the legendary Mid Atlantic Boot Camp wrestling school has closed it's doors.  Looking at their roster, they've once again lost most of their big names from 2016. Greg Gauge, Roderick Remus, The Dynamite Express and George Wolfe have all moved on. Their top dog is the charismatic brawler Bradley Blaze, who has really benefitted from getting a new picture. (The GDS forums have an active re-rendering community, who create new versions of the in-game portraits almost weekly. As the database is highly moddable, it's easy to change the picture of any wrestlers in the game. Sometimes Ryland changes the picture between editions, usually signaling a change in character or perception. I'm currently playing with all the default pictures, as I haven't found the time to search for killer alts in the forums.) The rest of the upper card is still solid, featuring one of my personal favourites, the underappreciated workhorse Miller Fjorde that has finally climbed to the top of the company. They also still have perennial GDS forums favourite THE ARCHITECT (Of Your Destruction) and two future great tag teams in DeMarcus & Grey and The Hearbreak Express.  Most of their undercard is filled with the last of the Boot Camp trainees and a bunch of TCW trained rookies. Pictured here is Joey Fili, a man that is in no way, shape or form influenced by Roman Reigns, current WWE big dog. Despite this, I'll surely be starting a MAW game at some point of the TEW 2020 lifespan, as they are always a fun promotion to play with.   If companies like MAW and FCW are considered a bit old school, NYCW IS old school. They are stuck in the 1970's and drat proud of it. A body slam was a high spot back in the day and drat sure still is in NYCW! Charismatic heroes, big menacing villains, that's how we roll. Traditionally they've had a nostalgia act or two clogging up the card, but not anymore. The roster is shockingly young with a few solid veterans sprinkled in.  NYCW also have EVIL LUMBERJACKS.  THEY HAVE EVIL ELVIS (or just a Honky Tonk Man.)  A HEROIC BASEBALL.  A STRAIGHT UP MAFIA. NYCW is a fun regional promotion, has always been. They cater to a fanbase that loves their clichés.   QAW is the other active women's wrestling company in the CVerse. They used to play the second fiddle to AAA, the the family friendly women's wrestling company in the USA but the arrival of TEW 2020 brought a shock to many a CVerse enthusiasts. AAA closed down in 2017, after providing twenty years of excellence, seeing their fanbase move on to QAW and to the excellent women's division of USPW. In-ring QAW is strongly influenced by the Mexican lucha libre style and as mentioned, have a budding friendship with the Mexican CILL promotion.  I have very little to say about their roster as I've yet to play with any of these characters. It's still an extremely solid roster, filled with talent from all around North America. And since they are the only women's only company in the region, they suffer very little from poaching. (Both USPW and CWA have women's divisions, but you rarely see them aggressively raid QAW. A more major thread would be one of the Mexican companies growing big enough to lock up talent on exclusive deals). Foxxy LaRue is a clear highlight of the bunch, even if her heel run has already gone slightly off the rails. (Ronin 3, the stable mentioned in her bio, has already broken up in my save).  Pinky Perez, merely one of the best wrestlers in the world, also regularly wrestles with QAW in addition to her home company CILL. In summary, QAW is a fun and unique promotion in the US and definitely worth a try.   DAVE might be dead, but their soul very much lives on. PSW is very much like DAVE, just on a much smaller scale. The revolution that they promised to keep alive has floundered during the thirteen years they've been in business. DAVE might have taken over the world by storm, PSW have merely coasted along with the reputation of it's predecessor and seen it's thunder stolen by the west coast hardcore promotions who do the same thing with a bit more edge. Even PSW have realized that. The top of the card doesn't really any of those hardcore style workers. It's all about guys like Nelson Callum and Ernest Youngman, two excellent technicians who can effortlessly control the crowd both in the ring and on the microphone. Both are destined for bigger things outside the Steel City and in all likelihood won't stay long enough to "complete the revolution." They don't really scream "PSW" to me, even if Callum has pretty much spent his entire career there.  Ash Campbell, the son of the DAVE legend, the late Nemesis is much more PSW than the aforementioned duo. For the longest time, he was one of the more average second generation wrestlers with the feeling that he could never step out of the shadow of his father. Now, he is one of the guys PSW can be build upon.  The undercard can be pretty dire. Wicked Lester is one of their "hot" prospects. He can talk, he can hit a guy with a trash can but can do very little else. But he BLEEDS pure PSW spirit. The true young highlights are guys like second generation star Logan Wolfsbaine, a guy who screams MAW in Austin Smooth and charismatic Xavi Ferrera. PSW are also quite the fun promotion to play with. I did my first ever save with them in TEW 2020. It's a crew very much carried by the talented top card, but with a few good hires and using the limited wrestlers in the undercard with the best of their abilities, you can create some really fun shows.   Pro wrestling had always been a big man's business in the US, until CZCW changed the game. They built their entire presentation around lightweight wrestlers wowing the audience with jaw-dropping athleticism and break neck speed. This was unheard of back then and still their calling card almost 30 years later. Even if smaller wrestlers have prevailed in bigger companies over the years and their style has been adapted by the big boys, CZCW is still the best at what they do. In 2020 they have changed the game again, being the first US promotion to go full on intergender, with men and women fighting against each other equally. None of the women have leaped to the top of the company, yet, so that's up to the player. (CZCW buffed up by the Mexican based female talent is a scary thought.)  Many of their former stars have moved on to bigger companies or have retired, so CZCW is in a bit of a minor rebuild. Their heart and soul is Masked Cougar, an excellent high flyer who, alongside Frankie Perez, are the two veterans holding up the top of the card together.  CZCW also sees the "The Priest of Pain" Pablo Rodriquez, slow down his career on the west coast. Formerly a huge star in Mexico for almost two decades, he is now the leading man of the entire COTT alliance, holding the COTT Heavyweight championship at the beginning of the 2020 database. (Alliances can have shared title belts. COTT has two, the heavyweight title and a tag team championship. Champions and their respective belts can be loaned by any member of the alliance on any shows and defended as normal.  Much like QAW, CZCW has a strong connection to Mexico that has seen many a luchador enter their hallowed bingo halls. Tigre Salvaje Jr. and his tag partner El Jaguar provide the good lucha things in this edition and are without a doubt the premiere team in the promotion, alongside Japan-bound American Cobras. If any company is set to grow in size and truly become the next "big" American company, it's CZCW. It all depends how their next generation develops and how the player can guide them through that transition period. But the gap between the small companies and The Big Three is still a massive one.   TCW is the one that has drawn the shortest straw out of the three. They were on the cusp of actually outgrowing SWF around 2014 before things went a bit wrong. The near-bankruptcy set them back considerably. They can't throw around the same kind of money that SWF and USPW can. They lost the man who basically molded the company to his own image, Tommy Cornell almost five years ago. Generational superstar Rocky Golden left to SWF. Last of the HGC originals Ricky Dale Johnson has retired. And in this particular save they have already lost just THE BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD Jay Chord. But TCW aren't out of the game quite yet. Not as long as they have Aaron Andrews and Wolf Hawkins.   Andrews and Hawkins are the heirs to Cornell in both talent and legacy. But there is clear gap behind them, especially with Chord gone. Sammy Bach and Joshua Taylor are both trusted veterans but their best days are behind them. The burden to develop and step up fall to guys like Freddy Huggins, Mighty Mo and this man:  Much like his brother, Greg Gauge is also ridiculously talented and a surefire third superstar alongside Hawkins and Andrews for the next decade. TCW is currently pretty barren for truly young (under 30) rookies, as none of the MAW squad doesn't look like a budding star, yet. TCW tend to be the one to hire the cream of the crop of the smaller companies as SWF and USPW raid their top stars. Guys like Sure, Youngman, de Aske, Perez, Cougar and Ferrera tend to end up there sooner or later. TCW is all about "pure" wrestling. No shenanigans, no gimmicks. It's all about sportsmanship and serious, sports-like presentation. The good old sports entertainment is left for two of the giants of the business.   SWF has always been the WWF/WWE stand-in and undoubtedly the most played promotion in CVerse. In 2020 they are in the biggest slump period in their history, thanks to USPW and Operation Lullaby (three undercover FBI agents entering the pro wrestling industry to try to get to SWF and expose the suspected tax fraud of their owner Richard Eisen. Yes, seriously). For the first time in their 40 year history, they are facing a company that can outbid them for almost any talent. For many, myself included, it's karmic retribution. But somehow USPW has become almost worse when it comes to hiring almost everyone with a pulse. (This is mostly due to the changes to the AI between editions. The AI is more ruthless when hiring people. Overbloated roster? No problem, we have the money.) They have lost almost ALL of their main eventers from 2016 to either retirement or to USPW, some of these happening in this particular save (the hires of Remo and Valiant). SWF is the classic sports entertainment style company. Larger than life heroes and villains fighting with some dumb soap opera slotted in.  Former TCW star Rocky Golden is the current megastar of the SWF universe. He has never been the greatest in-ring technician, but he has the famous "it-factor" that has made him the biggest star on the planet. Whenever his massive contract (325 000 dollars per month) comes to an end, the bidding war will be a sight to behold. The departures and retirements that have plagued SWF are in the process of being filled with a younger generation of homegrown stars like The Bumfhole Twins, large beasts Scythe and Ekuma and independent standouts Mikey Lau and Mainstream Hernandez.  Their undoubted future megastar is Spencer Spade. This man has been a budding megastar since he was added in to the database in 2010. Players have had their chances to make him that star for years at this point, but SWF are finally at the point of pulling the trigger with his push. He WILL end up as the best wrestler in the world in almost every save that I've done in 2016 and 2020.  SWF also employs the biggest rear end in a top hat in CVerse, Big Smack Scott, a man who is loved/hater in equal amounts in the GDS forums. SWF are in a better position to bounce back than TCW but it is still a massive uphill climb to claim the position usurped by USPW.   USPW are the biggest company in the world. The difference between them and SWF isn't massive (a popularity point or two across the USA) but the bigger issue is the money. As I've said before, USPW has a massive amount of money in the bank (around 69 million at this point of the save  ) and can and will outbid anyone. This leads to the roster quickly going from "kind of top heavy" to "holy loving poo poo."  Meet Rich Money, one of their biggest stars, a booker and one of the first men to "jump ship" from SWF to USPW. Despite nearing 50, he's still on of the biggest tools USPW has in their arsenal.  The face of USPW has always been Nicky Champion and that hasn't changed and won't change anytime in the future.  The stars of USPW aren't just the men. Their women's division has some serious talent, the biggest of them being the daughter of Sam Strong. Alicia Strong is probably the biggest star in women's wrestling history at this point and without an equal in wrestling today (besides Higa and another second generation star making a name for herself in Canada).  Operation Lullaby was outed to the public, but two out of three agents decided to stay in the business. Agent Braun has somehow become one of the hottest stars in the biggest company in the world. CVerse is just silly at points, really. You want to play TEW on easy mode? Play USPW.
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Jun 5, 2021 12:31
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