Using weight classes for pro wrestling (not MMA)

[stu]

I recently read some fascinating stuff on British wrestling and its heyday of the 60's and 70's. In that presentation of professional wrestling, they used specific weight classes, 7 of them in fact, much like they have used in boxing over the decades. Mexico still uses specific weight classes as well, although they aren't as etched in stone as they appeared to be in the British heyday.

I've always been intrigued by using weight classes in this game, in my presentation if you will of professional wrestling. I come at professional wrestling as being also a fan of old time boxing. I loved the glory days of the middleweights and welterweights of Sugar Ray Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, and Duran, and wonder why this couldn't also be the case in professional wrestling.

In this country, McMahon has presented us one style over the decades, and up until relatively recently, it has been a style dominated by big men. I think that's shortsighted, and MMA is proving that there is an appetite out there for smaller "wrestlers" (if you want to equate MMA fighters with wrestlers) in the buying public. Witness the popularity of the UFC's light-heavyweight division, or even fighters like B.J. Penn.

I keep toying with this notion of dividing up my fed into weight classes. Has anyone tried doing this, not just in the POW with the MMA version, but in a fed that is wrestling-based? Has it worked for you? If you haven't tried, I'd be interested in knowing opinions on how it might work from you folks.

It would take some getting used to, but I can see in my "minds-eye" a fed where the World Lightweight Championship is taken quite seriously, and is a major championship. I think the World Heavyweight Title would still reign supreme, but the other weight classes...and subsequently a lot of other wrestlers...would have more of an opportunity to shine and get over.

The other thing I'd have to get used to is the Buddy Rogers, Jim Londos's of the World being "Cruiserweight" champions, due to being lower weights, but that can be overcome.

[executioner]

Interesting idea Stu. Would have to look over the entire LOW roster and try and ground the guys by weight classes. But would make for some interesting matchups. The only potential hang up is the game mechanic for the most part was not designed with this in mind, but Jushin Liger would be a dominant wrestler regardless of weight class, so my concern could be moot. Heck Liger did just fine for me against Kowalski.

[stu]

Thanks for responding Executioner. I might utilize a variation of Mark's MMA rule for weight classes, say if a wrestler competes against a wrestler 40 pounds higher, increase (to the bad) his (pw) rating by 1. Or, vice-versa, if a wrestler competes against someone who is 40 pounds higher, decrease his (ag) rating by one...something to that effect. But, that's about all I'd tinker with.

Thanks for the feedback!

[executioner]

Stu, no problem. While not exactly on point, if you want to create such a chart, you could use the women's conversion chart for starters and tweak from there. But the idea you had in your post would work very well too after some tweaks and test playing.

[LWPD]

I've never consciously tried to segregate wrestlers by weight class...but I have run events that feature specific styles of pro wres and I've adjusted rules to play to a featured style's strengths. Who I feature in these types of events is driven by a focus on particular 'attributes' (ie. pw, ag, Ring, Cage, etc).

For example, for events featuring aerial stars I've used a modified form of Lucha Libre Rules which change Out of Ring/Deathjump content and factor agility stats into the roll outcomes. It really shakes up the in ring environment and results in a change to the flow, pacing and probabilities of roll outcomes.

The same could easily be done to build more consequence into the pw rating in order to feature a strong style 'big man' division. Changes in how a given stat effects the Ropes/Turnbuckles/OOR/DJ Charts (and creating rules that alter when & how the charts are used) can elevate specific wrestler attributes and create some radical differences in how the action is being booked.