Smathis LWF Scheduling System

[smathis]

Smathis LWF Scheduling

What's Up
I spent some time over the summer experimenting with different ways to build a system that sort of feeds itself organically to make booking a non-issue, yet still allowed me the freedom to have feuds and organic storylines building off of match results.

This is what I came up with.


The Federation
The fed is divided into Singles, Tag-Team and Women's rankings. The schedule of events follows a four-show cycle -- with three shows leading up to a big event. This repeats over-and-over.

Singles Division
The Singles Ranking has 3 brackets:

• The Contender's Bracket
  
• The Challenge Bracket
  
• The Qualifying Bracket
  

Each bracket has 4 wrestlers in it.

The Contender's Bracket
The top bracket is the Contender's Bracket. All four wrestlers are booked in the "double-elimination" schedule. The winner faces the champion in a title match in Week 4. There are two "losers" in the bracket every four weeks. The one who loses the match in Week 3 gets dropped down to the Qualifying bracket. The one who wins only drops to the challenge bracket.

Double Elimination Schedule
Week 1:
A. 1 vs. 4
B. 2 vs. 3

Week 2:
A. Winner of Week 1-Match A against Winner of Week 1-Match B. Winner gets a title match in Week 4.
B. Loser of Week 1-Match A against Loser of Week 1-Match B.

Week 3:
Losers of Week 2's Match A and B face each other. The winner drops to the Challenge Bracket. The loser drops to the Qualifying Bracket.

• Two wrestlers are cycled out of the top bracket every four weeks, making this the hardest bracket to stay in.
  
• A wrestler can only get three title shots. After losing three shots at the title, the wrestler is removed from the roster. In the event of a wrestler leaving after a third unsuccessful title match, keep the Winner of the Week 3 match in the Contender's bracket and move the loser down to the Challenge Bracket.
  
• The easiest way to stay in this bracket is to win the first week and lose the second. A wrestler could do this indefinitely, though it's not likely that the dice will help him out.
  

The Challenge Bracket
This is the bracket between the Qualifying Bracket and the Contenders bracket. The four wrestlers in this bracket compete via a schedule -- with each wrestler facing the others in a total of 3 matches over 3 weeks.

The wrestlers with the best two records will advance to the Contenders bracket after week 4 -- when the schedule restarts. The wrestler with the worst record is removed from the roster.

Schedule
Week 1:
1 vs. 4
2 vs. 3

Week 2:
1 vs. 3
2 vs. 4

Week 3:
1 vs. 2
3 vs. 4

• In the event of records ending in a tie, have a match in week 4 to determine who advances or who gets dropped.

The Qualifying Bracket
The qualifying bracket in the Singles division is a single-elimination bracket featuring four wrestlers. Only one wrestler comes down from the Contender's bracket, so this means three new wrestlers will get a shot at advancing into the Challenge bracket every four weeks.

Single Elimination Schedule
Week 1:
1 vs. 4

Week 2:
2 vs. 3

Week 3:
Winner of Week 1 faces Winner of Week 2

• This is an unforgiving bracket. A single loss drops a wrestler from the roster. This includes a disqualification.
  
• A wrestler may contest a disqualification for a rematch in Week 4 but it will most likely fall on deaf ears at this level.
  

How it All Fits Together

• 4 Wrestlers are in the Contender's Bracket. 4 in the Challenge Bracket and 4 are determined randomly for the Qualifying Bracket.
  
  
• After four shows, 3 wrestlers will be dropped from the Qualifying Bracket with one wrestler moving up to the Challenge Bracket.
  
  
• Two wrestlers from the Challenge Bracket will move up to the Contender's Bracket with one wrestler being dropped from the roster.
  
  
• One wrestler from the Contender's Bracket will get a shot at the title. One wrestler from the Contender's bracket will be dropped to the Challenge bracket and one will be dropped all the way to the Qualifying Bracket.
  

Tag Division
The Tag division is divided into a Contender's Bracket and a Qualifying Bracket. Both feature four tag-teams.

Contender's Bracket
The Contender's Bracket is a double-elimination bracket that extends the full four weeks. The winner is determined in week 3. The loser in week 4. The winner gets a shot at the Tag Title in week 4. The loser gets dropped from the roster.

Week 1:
Team 1 vs. Team 4

Week 2:
Team 2 vs. Team 3

Week 3:
Winner of Week 1 faces Winner of Week 2. Winner gets a title shot. Loser remains in Contender's Bracket.

Week 4:
Loser of Week 2 faces Loser of Week 1. Loser is removed from roster. Winner remains in Contender's Bracket.

Qualifying Bracket
The Qualifying Bracket is single elimination. The winner gets a spot in the Contender's Bracket. The rest of the teams are dropped from the roster.

Week 1:
Team 1 vs. Team 4. Loser is dropped from the roster.

Week 2:
Team 2 vs. Team 3. Loser is dropped from the roster.

Week 3:
Winner of Week 1 faces Winner of Week 2. Winner gets a shot at the title.

Women's Division
This is also what I would use for a Junior Title. This division only has a Contender's bracket. It features three competitors in a scheduled format. The one with the best record in Week 4 gets a title shot. The one with the worst record is dropped from the roster. On week 3, two new competitors have a "qualifying match" where the winner gets to be in the #3 spot in the Contender's bracket in the following cycle.

Schedule
Week 1:
1 vs. 2

Week 2:
2 vs. 3

Week 3:
1 vs. 3
Qualifying Match with winner in next cycle's bracket at the #3 spot.

• This can have some odd results like two or more competitors with a tied record at the end of three weeks. This sets up three or four-way matches for the championship in Week 4.
  
• It can also result in all the competitors remaining in the bracket.

Disqualifications
Disqualifications are odd because they mess with the record or may eliminate a competitor. When record counts, I keep track of wins and losses by DQ. So a "1/1" win record is one regular win and one win by DQ. DQ wins and losses count less than clean wins and losses.

If a disqualification would result in the elimination of a competitor, I reserve the option to bring that wrestler back in the Qualifying Branch if I want.

Week 4
The fourth week of each cycle is the week to resolve feuds, grudge matches, title shots, disputes about who will be eliminated and also introduce wrestlers who will be featured in the next cycle's qualifying rounds.

Records are wiped clean after each cycle.

I also keep a record of who's appeared in LOW and who hasn't so I make sure I've gone through all the cards I have before guys who've been eliminated are given the opportunity to come back.

What's Good

• Every four shows, three new singles wrestlers and four new tag teams get at least a four week run in the fed. That's 11 new wrestlers every four weeks, meaning you can run through almost the entire Legends roster in something like 30 shows. That's a lot of turnover but it's also a lot of opportunity to use cards from LOW.
  
  
• I can fill in the numbers on the schedules and I have my show booked for me. I generally book one of the scheduled matches as a "specialty" match or have Chairman Filsinger announce some stipulation for one of the matches. Other than that, it's instant booking.
  
  
• The volatile nature of the scheduling gives wrestler's a better chance against the top LOW cards. So if Buddy Rose gets lucky and takes out Frank Gotch to earn a shot at the LWF Title, well, it's just luck but it's good enough. Definitely a feel that anything can happen in any match and all the matches really count for something. I was losing that feel with other methods of booking I'd tried. This helps me to get into matches between wrestlers I otherwise would have no interest in. Knowing, for instance, that this match could mean that The French Angel gets eliminated or The Mountie gets a title shot instantly adds drama to a match-up that may have been cold otherwise.
  

What's Bad

• As mentioned under "What's Good", the scheduling can be unforgiving. If Frank Gotch has a bad match against Buddy Rose, he can be eliminated from competition. And that will keep him out of the federation for a good, long while. It takes some creativity to keep favorites around. But that's at the expense of getting a look at cards that might not otherwise get used.
  
  
• Sometimes the nature of the scheduling makes it such that a blow-off can't happen until the fourth week. And it's hard to continue a week-in-week-out grudge over the course of multiple weeks. That's good and bad. On one hand, it's good because the feud can build the way Muchnick built feuds and contenders in the old St. Louis territory. Just because it's been a couple of months since The Crusher and The Sheik squared off doesn't mean they hate each other any less. On the other hand, it can be bad because fans today aren't used to a slow build. They're used to almost instant feud blowoff. So it's something different, which isn't always good.
  

I also have a fast-play system I'll look to share soon

[hotfuzz1980]

Very interesting. I like this. I think I am going to use this for my LegendsOnline fed.

[smathis]

Cool. Let me know how it works for you. If you come up with ideas for improvement or changes that suit your fed, please post them.

[hotfuzz1980]

I just set up the first card using your scheduling. I took my current rankings, and broke it down from there as to how they were grouped. Basically taking the top 4 and putting them in the contenders, and the next 4 in challengers, and so on. I am using the women's/Jr Title scheduling for my US Title. One thing I am thinking about doing, is having another card maybe between the 2nd and 3rd weeks, using only wrestlers that aren't on the "active" roster, and I would use my rankings to setup those matches, and that would help me determine who gets a shot at the active roster.

[smathis]

That's a good idea. I choose mine randomly. But having a show or two where we show how they get there would be great. Thanks for trying it out.

[hotfuzz1980]

Just to give you an update, I ran my first set of shows using your scheduling system, and I love it! It really gives everyone a sense of purpose in my fed, and makes every match important. And I've had a couple good feuds develop out of it. I have an intense feud that started between Magnum TA and Nick Bockwinkle, and another good feud between The Bolsheviks and the team of Antonio Inoki and Rikidozan. Overall, I really enjoy your system, and may also incorporate it into my offline LOW feds as well.

[smathis]

Cool! That's great to hear.

I get that "sense of purpose" thing. Totally. That's one of the reasons I like it too.

Previously, upper-card matches were almost unimportant to me. Really just a way to give other guys on the roster something to do so I could get to the main event. Now even a match between Amish Roadkill and Savage-T has an element of drama to it. Because the loser of that match may get eliminated or may get to move up into the Challenge Bracket.

Glad to see it's working for you.

I'd love to run a feud between Magnum TA and Nick Bockwinkle. Bock is one of my all-time favorite LOW cards (the old card, not the new one). Just a great heel champion for me.

[smathis]

Another thing that occurred to me after the initial post...

It's totally doable to have "parallel" federations using this sort of system.

As long as the champ starts out the same and the brackets start out the same and the wrestlers being introduced after every fourth card are the same....

Some guys could run practically identical cards and compare results. Maybe in one guy's fed Rob Van Dam is on a hot streak and wins the championship. Maybe in another guy's fed Don Muraco and Nick Bockwinkle have an awesome feud.

It's almost like the scheduling provides an open-ended "script" and the introduction of new wrestlers and tag-teams supply a cast of characters.

Just a thought.

[johnandryan]

Smathis, I am liking this format a lot and looking foward to experimenting with it.

[smathis]

Cool. Let me know how it goes. Thanks!