Main Events?

[Shon Maxx]

I was reading that WWF and WWWF would often put their main events in the middle of their card instead of the last match, either to sell tickets to the next event or because the card was late at night (like Saturday Night’s Main Event).

Has anyone done this? I’m thinking of giving it a try with my non-ppv events. And if you have done it, what kind of match do you tend to put on last?

[ldivock]

I always loved when they would announce some of the matches (and that tickets were now on sale) for next month's card at the Spectrum in Philly about 2/3 of the way through the current card during that late-70s/early-80s time period. Unfortunately, I don't remember if they saved the main event for after those announcements or if they did have it mid-show.

I know the boxing cards from The Felt Forum (now known as The Theater at Madison Square Garden) would typically have a 4-round "walk out" bout as the last fight after the main event in that same timeframe (the "walk out" referred to the arena clearing out before the bout as only a select few real hardcore fans would stay for it). That last fight would feature fighters equivalent to a Charlie Fulton vs Frank Williams WWWF match.

[guiltyparty]

The practical real world reasons to do it, i.e. wanting to announce the rematch and start selling tickets right away or needing to get the champ on the road right away for a double shot, don't really exist in the game, so I've never had a reason to do it. It's a neat nostalgia hit though and would give a card a real old school feel.

[theram68]

One of the other reasons is NYC had a curfew at the time and some of the events ran long and had to stop due to the curfew. Having the Main Event in the middle made sure the fans saw the match that most came to see.

[guiltyparty]

Jun 28, 2024 7:17:18 GMT -5 theram68 said:

One of the other reasons is NYC had a curfew at the time and some of the events ran long and had to stop due to the curfew. Having the Main Event in the middle made sure the fans saw the match that most came to see.

Is this why Puerto Rico tended to have the main event earlier in the cards as well?

[Shon Maxx]

Thanks. Ever since I've returned to LOW, I've been looking at my fed in a meta sense (or as my wife calls it, 'Pointlessly Overthinking'). I've even looked at the ratio of total length of all matches on a card vs. the overall show's length to see about how long for entrances, celebrations, promos, commercials, etc. There's no reason for any of this as it has nothing to do with gameplay. But I still want to think about it for my games.

[paul]

I kind of sort of did this for my recent COTG Supercard. I haven't posted the results for it yet but Encubus was defending the Galactic Championship against Aethran Overmaster. Encubus had an automatic rematch clause so I put the match on early in the card so that both wrestlers would have time to rest up before the rematch (if necessary) at the end of the night. Encubus won the battle so since there was no rematch needed I put the Galactic Tag Team Championship match on last.

[Gunslinger]

Jun 28, 2024 7:46:06 GMT -5 guiltyparty said:

Jun 28, 2024 7:17:18 GMT -5 theram68 said:

One of the other reasons is NYC had a curfew at the time and some of the events ran long and had to stop due to the curfew. Having the Main Event in the middle made sure the fans saw the match that most came to see.

Is this why Puerto Rico tended to have the main event earlier in the cards as well?

I think Dutch said they did it like that in Puerto Rico to have the main event before everyone was drunk for safety reasons.

[Slymm]

Jun 28, 2024 3:48:44 GMT -5 Shon Maxx said:

I was reading that WWF and WWWF would often put their main events in the middle of their card instead of the last match, either to sell tickets to the next event or because the card was late at night (like Saturday Night’s Main Event).

Has anyone done this? I’m thinking of giving it a try with my non-ppv events. And if you have done it, what kind of match do you tend to put on last?

A lot of times this was also done in order for the main event guys to get out of the arena and avoid the fans. The promotion would instead close the show with a secondary title match or the second most important match on the card.

[executioner]

Correct Gunslinger and @slymm. Back when wrestlers actually got "heat".