Booking Strategies

[Eliath]

I recently started booking my Supercard main event for my Universal Title in advance, giving both the Champion & the Challenger 4-6 weeks to build up the match. I liked the first run at it even though the match didn't have the payoff that I hoped. Monolith is a beast.

My secondary singles title is defended every week in the main event of my weekly show. There is really no pre-booking strategy there, however, I have been thinking of changing that recently with the success of the pre-booking of the main title. For now, it will continue to be defended every week.

I have a Hardcore Title as a third singles title. I'm not really feeling this title yet so I am considering what to do with it. It may turn into a Holovision Title if I decide to make the change with my secondary title. Not sure yet, am still looking for an identity for this one.

My tag-team titles will be pre-booked from now on. With 6 cards between my Supercards I use 3 of them to determine the #1 contender to the belts & leave only 3 weeks for build-up. This is mostly because I don't like tag-team matches.

My Z-Division is very different. I have four coaches that have selected teams of 6. Those teams will square off in a double round robin type tournament where each team will face off in individual matches. The team that wins the most singles matches gets the team victory as well. In the case of ties, the coaches get into the ring to break the tie. At the end of the first season (the complete double round robin tournament) the top singles performer (currently Ares) will be awarded the Title. From that point forward it will be defended every time that star competes & can change hands at any point.

I'm considering a secondary Z-Division title to be defended in the same manner to add another token for everyone to fight over. I won't be running any tag-team matches in my Z, as previously stated: I REALLY don't like tag-team matches

[graymar]

Wildfire,

I think you have hit on a point that I have been wrestling with as well.

When I was doing GWF Classics, the singles and tag champions were frequently the same people, i.e. Omega and the Guardians. That, coupled with the fact that the league was less 'story driven', I decided that each title would be defended basically every other card. That worked great in that environment.

In working in New Beginnings, it 'feels' like that is too much. I am focusing on the main singles and tag titles to be defended at big events (PPVs) three times a year and once between the cycles.

As to feeding jobbers, in my New Beginnings (Graymar GWF on COTGOnline - Cheap Plug) I am doing this alot - maybe too much which I am beginning to rethink. I do like to keep the champion active otherwise there is the chance that he/she is only seen a handful of times a year (in matches). Of course you can do tag matches, etc. While I will book in this manner, I don't like to overdo it. Many times these jobber matches are stable members of the main feud. For example, Endgame, current IP champion, is feuding with Epoch therefore Endgame may face Slave Beast regularly. The problem I am finding is one of two issues. The first issue is that Endgame has defeated Tanck about 5-6 times during the last few weeks quickly reducing Tanck to jobber mode. I also have the other problem in that Bloodline is Galaxian champion and mid-level guys drive him crazy. Last card he lost to the 2120 Tricks.

I am trying to find a good balance between 'showcasing' your champion and protecting the integrity of the belt.

Graymar

[wildfire]

I'm liking the every other card thing too, from a booking and organization standpoint.. but I don't like the predictablility.. wrestling feels like it should be more random, you know?

I think only having title matches on PPVs is too few for me... I'm all for long title runs, but I feel like the title should alway be 'in play'... sometimes holding off can make it feel like 80s WWF

@ Eliath: That Z-Division concept looks interesting... I co-incidently was reading your fed stuff this morning, I've tried out that sorta things a couple times, and found it to be really fun at first, only to have it bog down. I'd love to see you make it work for an extended run, I think its a cool concept

[mortexdredd]

I prefer to have the champions of Major Belts wrestle in PPVs once a month and have non title matches in the middle of the month and lets not forget promos. He still defends the title once a month but also gets to be seen everyweek still. Also, if he loses the belt at a PPV he gets the re-match the following card. My only problem is the whole villian/ Hero thing. It messes with my rankings unlike the early classics were everyone wrestled everyone, villians tend to stay out of each others way (otherwise, you end up making a new babyface unintentionally). Heroes, I see having no problem wrestling with each other as they tend to enjoy the challenge.

[Mr. Hyde]

YES! I was waiting for someone to resurrect this thread.

This game always provides a strange conundrum. By watching real professional wrestling, we expect to see dominant champions and BIG entertaining blowoffs to our feuds. And because this is a wrestling game, we tend to bring those thoughts into it. We expect when someone wins our belt that they will have the demeanor (or w-l record) of a real champion, and that we will be able to place them against most anyone on the card safely. And we expect that if we build up a feud with great storytelling, it will have an amazing finish. Well, as we all know especially with the latter, these things don't always happen.

I think, in general, having your major champion defend once a month, or once every 30 days is a good record. The problem is, many people do not have any sort of calendar timeline to coincide with their cards, so I guess it would probably be easier if people had at least a rough outline of how many cards fit in how much calendar time. I think having the champ in non-title matches isn't too bad, but once again, I'd say no more than one a month. I do not believe the champ should be wrestling on every card, because his job his to defend the title, nothing else. He doesn't have to prove anything to anyone except in title defenses. Promos should definitely be the way to go, because once someone wins the title, you definitely want to expand on their personality more immediately. I almost view a wrestler winning the title as their right to have a more in-depth personality. Sort of like, you have the title, now you get to have a good story to match it.

But at the same time, if your champion is chronically losing against jobbers, you have to admit it. You can't keep trying to build them up as strong champions until they defeat that jobber. And if they can't, you just have to go with it. Make it a storyline, or make it a stigma the champion will have forever. For instance, in my aCe I was trying to build Murdok as an invincible overlord type champion. In Hustler's first match, I pit him against Murdok, thinking Murdok will come out with the win, and instead Hustler just about destroys the champ! Everything stops, Murdok HAS to defeat Hustler, but fails, and in Hustler's SECOND match, he wins the Essence from Murdok! Now, Murdok and Hustler will forever their own special little feud. Murdok will always have a chip on his shoulder about that, and Hustler will always be known as the man who stopped Murdok's dark reign. If your champion is weak, you have to be willing to not only roll with it but even exploit as well.

and Eliath, as far as the Z goes, I also like that idea. I remember Knapik introducing a team-coach based format a while ago as well. I'm still a few game years off, but when I run my Z, I'm not planning on any titles at all. My Z fed will basically be a cycle of round robin singles and tag tournaments, and the winner will not get any title at all. Instead, the grand prize for winning a seasonal tournament in the Z is a temporary GWF Contract and a chance to prove themselves in the big time. By the way, I find it funny that the guy who played a large part in designing the Doubles Charts for POW MMA dislikes tag matches in wrestling!

Can you tell I love threads like these by the novel I've just written?

[graymar]

Another thought about showcasing champions...

IF (big if) your ranking system rewards action (matches) and the champion does not wrestle frequently, he could fall proportionally in the rankings.

Just a thought.

Graymar

[wildfire]

Aug 12, 2008 11:07:40 GMT -5 mortexdredd said:

. My only problem is the whole villian/ Hero thing. It messes with my rankings unlike the early classics were everyone wrestled everyone, villians tend to stay out of each others way (otherwise, you end up making a new babyface unintentionally). Heroes, I see having no problem wrestling with each other as they tend to enjoy the challenge.

Huh... that's an interesting one... I've always found it easier to book villian vs villian... I figure they can not like each other alot easier than heroes do... I find in my head face v. face matches all tend to be similar. The villians can always go back and do something nasty to a face to makes sure the crowd remembers they're bad dudes

[wildfire]

Since I'm thinking about a 'Z' type fed for my ACE, I really like the different approaches... I really like Hyde's idea of making the goal a 'call up' rather than a belt... very cool. In fact, that seems like a natural fit to combine with Eliath's 'season' concept.

@ Graymar: I've definately had that problem before.. I've also had the reverse, where a champ as a long reign, then shows as the top contender forever. Most ratings systems I've tried at some point need some sort of special rules to deal with that stuff.

[Eliath]

My Z season winning Coach will get a 2 match contract, the first of which being for my Universal Title. I view this as their motivation for coaching the young talent.

The wrestler with the best winning record over the course of the season will get a shot at my Intergalactic Title & a chance in the big league. Since that title is defended on every card, it could be big. I'm tossing around the idea of leaving them in the Z-Division until they are actually signed to the big show to give that extra sense of working for what they seek.

[Eliath]

Aug 12, 2008 11:10:51 GMT -5 Mr. Hyde said:

By the way, I find it funny that the guy who played a large part in designing the Doubles Charts for POW MMA dislikes tag matches in wrestling!

LOL! In my opinion it is one thing to have your partner standing on the ring apron watching you get your butt kicked, its entirely another to have him fighting with you back to back in the ring against your opponents.

The thing I don't like about the tag-matches is the lack of action that goes on for the two guys on the ring apron. I still have tag-team titles though.

EDIT: Now that you mention it Hyde; I think you just gave me an idea to bring love for tag wrestling. With a little tweaking to the Doubles chart I could have a tag-team division that is based on much the same concept. YES! Thanks Hyde!! *ponders*