Booking Philosophy: Are you purely face vs. heel?

[stu]

Hello my fellow promoters.

I believe this has been discussed before, so my apologies in advance, as I don't want to beat the proverbial dead horse.

In looking at my own booking, however, I've tended to be a traditional face vs. heel promoter/booker. There are exceptions to this: Wolf vs. Star Warrior springs to mind as a great face vs. face feud in my fed's history.

I wonder though: Am I limiting myself? In non-scripted combat sports, boxing being what I grew up with, while a promoter would play up from time to time a "good" guy vs. "bad" guy for an upcoming bout, most times it was just athlete vs. athlete, and let the fans decide for whom they'll cheer. When looking at mapping out my contenders for my World Title Tour projects, I sometimes wonder if I'm missing the boat in not booking faces vs. faces, or heels vs. heels, and seeing where it leads me. I have done this, to some extent, with Omega vs. K.O. Keller in my GWF, as Keller was originally a face, but for the most part, Keller's become full-fledged Terry Funk circa 1989 for me.

I'd be curious to see what great face vs. face feuds, or heel vs. heel feuds, other promoters have developed over time, and why they clicked for each of you. In re-reading some of the story of St. Louis wrestling a little while ago, Muchnick's presentation of wrestling leaned less on face-heel dynamics, and more on just finding 2 guys who could go and would click in the ring, with a logical progression of booking to get 'em there.

So, maybe I should pull the trigger, and crank up an Alpha Force vs. Max Shield feud after all!

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback, always interested to chat about booking philosophy.

[throwingtoasters]

I am generally face vs. heel but I have no problem throwing two faces or heels against each other. I have a fair number of matches where the two 'shake hands afterwards.' That is strictly matches.

In terms of feuds, I think it's easier for me to have heel vs heel actual fueds but just this past year (2136) HelSin and Epoch had a few battles to determine #1 Contender to the IP title and they are teammates so it does happen from time to time.

[WTIC]

Face VS Heel was what I was raised on, so yeah that!

And I do agree on some good FvsF and HvsH feuds since some guys will never get along, even on the same team!

Great question, Stu!

Todd C
WTIC

[victoryroll84]

I try to stick to Heel vs Face as it's very easy to do (But I do like to mix it up now and have Face vs Face as they can be highly competitive with each other
then one of them get upset for losing that may not sit well with him lol. just cause their good guys doesn't mean best friends all the time every time.

[awsomsinger]

As my feds are more competition- and reality- based, I have no problem pitting anyone against anyone else.  If it's two faces, they'll normally start with a handshake/high five, and if it's two heels, they'll have a staredown.  

[Dustin]

I prefer babyface versus heel, especially when a title is involved. However, I have no problem doing babyface versus babyface, moreso than heel versus heel. It works for me either way, though.

[luke929]

I do mostly face/heel, but sometimes it just makes sense to do otherwise... For example, Piper (as a heel) is the World Champ in my WWF fed... He hung on to the title through all of the serious face contenders, and I felt he needed to face someone new. The Iron Sheik had been on a huge tear, and so I gave him a shot. The way I looked at it, the fans would cheer Piper against the Sheik, and I envision him looking around baffled at the support. This may lead to him eventually turning face, but it also may just be a short term thing for this feud... We'll see!

[Vegas]

In LOW and in COTG, the majority of my matches are usually face vs heel. But I have booked plenty of face vs face and heel vs heel matches (not as many heel vs heel matches but they do happen such as at my recent No Mercy PPV were the Horsemen took on Killer Kowalski and the Butcher and the Bear in a 6 man tag elimination match for Kowalski's Intercontinental Championship.)

I think for me though the majority of my heel vs heel matches are title matches. If someone has earned a title shot I don't limit those matches to face vs heels. For example, if Aethran Overmaster is my Champion but Godsend has earned a title shot (via a winning streak, by winning a #1 contender's match, by surviving my Elimination Games, etc) he does have to wait for Aethran Overmaster to drop the title to someone like Endgame before getting that title shot.

[Gunslinger]

I primarily do face vs. heel, although everyone wants a shot at the belt so title matches are exempt. I think if you're going competition based, you don't really need faces and heels but it helps out immensely if you're doing angles. I find myself getting disinterested in an angle if I don't know who the face is supposed to be.

[Bazzy]

Now 99% of the time YES . But if Heel wins say battle royal and Champion is heel . I will hold a heel v heel main event match . But my first fed LWF I use to do 4 matches , with the 4 winners fought in semi final . Then 3rd week hold a final , the winner got a title match in the 4th week . Even if it meant 4 heels winning etc . Then after a few years thought LWF system aint right . So went to face v heel - winners stay on .