deciding cards in advance?

[holland227]

Guys after talking to TDalton about how he books his cards and learning some interesting things from him, I want to hear about your booking strategies. What goes into booking a card for you? How do you determine title shots? How do you determine when a guy gets a push, moves up the card or gets dropped from your main event?

[Gunslinger]

I normally see who's on a hot streak or coming off a victory in a big feud when I'm determining the next title contender, although sometimes I'll give a guy a shot based on storyline rather than wins. Pushes and moving up the card are determined on a similar basis.

Konnan is a perfect example of my booking philosophy. When TCW started, he was lower midcard, much as he's been for most of my promotions since he debuted. Konnan kept getting wins over guys like Nigel McGuinness and Terry Gordy, gradually working his way up until I had no choice but to give him a shot at the belt. He lost the first shot by DQ, won the belt in the rematch, and kept it in the return match. Even after he loses the belt, I'll still use him at the top of the card for a while until other wrestlers rise to take his spot.

[du5tin]

I somewhat book in advance. I understand the dice can really mess things up, so I never really book past an upcoming PPV. I always keep up with who's on a hot streak, but I also like to somewhat book on the fly.

[Mr. Beefy]

I maybe 'book' 1-2 cards in advance. I don't have cards exactly set up but have an idea. Its like in my Z fed I just put some guys against each other. Latest one I ran has Hegemony and Sledgend getting double DQ'd. So I think to myself hmm lets throw them into a feud building off how Hegemony say's he's hardcore and Sledgend is a faker. I'll probably have it run at least two to three cards with various types of fights.

In my aCe Totalis has had some interesting fights agains Sychophant so I keep throwing them against each other to see what happens. Now for my PPVs I usually have a good idea of what I'm doing. So like I threw together an aCe card or two to run before my big PPV. I knew more of what I was wanting in the upcoming PPV than the show I was running.

As far as titles go I usually go by record, streak, or who just won a good feud. Like in my Z Morbid finished a hardcore feud with Leviathan where both were injured. So I'm pushing him to be the next challenger even though he's currently recouperating.

So to wrap up. For me its sometimes planned, and other times its random. If I didn't do the random thing Cuddley Claw and Rush wouldn't be my tag team champs and personally I'm hoping they hold onto it for awhile.

[Cernunnos]

The way I run things, is a mix between how "good" a wrestler is (according to previous matches and events) and I also host event cards. I believe that the wrestlers (cards) speak for themselves in most instances, similar to how WCW used to run things. I don’t hold wrestlers back and let the events and wrestlers do what they do and then determine who is worthy of a title shot after the event ends. For example, as of 2097 (where I’m currently at) here is my yearly “Super Card” event line-ups and how I determine who is and is not worthy of a title shot, and which title shots should be awarded.



01 - Royal Battle: The winner of the Royal Battle receives a Heavyweight title shot. The top four people who eliminated the most wrestlers, wrestle a Four Way Match at Galaxian War. The person who eliminated the fifth most wrestlers, receives an Interplanetary title shot at Galaxian War.

02 - Galaxian War: The winner of the Four Way Match is declared the Warlord, and also receives a Heavyweight title shot at Tonight’s Matchup.

03 - Tonight’s Matchup: Number one contenders receive title shots.

04 - GalactiMania: Number one contenders receive title shots.

05 - (Game Set Year Name PPV): Number one contenders receive title shots.

06 - King of the Galaxy: The winner of the King of the Galaxy tournament receives a Heavyweight title shot at Galactic Eliminator. The other finalist receives an Interplanetary title shot at Galactic Eliminator.

07 - Galactic Eliminator: The winner of the Galactic Eliminator receives a Heavyweight title shot at Solar Slam. The other finalist receives an Interplanetary title shot at Solar Slam.

08 - Solar Slam: Number one contenders receive title shots.

09 - Super Tag Battle: The winner of Super Tag Battle receives a Heavyweight title shot at the Iron Man Tournament. The other finalist receives an Interplanetary title shot at the Iron Man Tournament.

10 - Iron Man Tournament: The winner of the Iron Man Tournament receives a Heavyweight title shot at Ultra Tournament. The other finalist receives an Interplanetary title shot at Ultra Tournament.

11 - Ultra Tournament: The winner of Ultra Tournament receives a Heavyweight title shot at War of the Belts. The other finalist receives an Interplanetary title shot at War of the Belts.

12 - War of the Belts: The two number one contenders duke it out for a title shot later in the evening. The Heavyweight Belt is up for grabs twice in one night. First against the Ultra Tournament winner, and then against the number one contender who won the match earlier.



... Now... because I run a lot of tournaments and special event matches, there is very little to no consistancey as to who receieves title shots throughout the year. Anyone who is worthy receives a shot at the belt. This is mostly the reason why lower to mid-card wrestlers seems to win major belts in my fed (Executioner, Pulsar, Vanity and Mutant are all former heavyweight champions)!

[jrgoldman]

All of this is really interesting. I run an almost exclusively LOTF based fed, so my perspective is slightly different from the rest of the feds I have seen here.

When booking storylines, I try to have matches planned that will help push along the over arching storylines that I want the fed to be about. I don't ever make a card prior to completing the one before it, however. I feel that this practice, because of the way that the dice will inevitablely bite you in the behind, tends to end up with me booking myself in to a corner.

I think with an LOTF fed, you have a smaller roster at your disposal, so I think it is generally a safer practice to do away with the idea of lower/mid/upper carders. While you might have champions and perenial contenders, I don't think that this should stop others from getting title shots. I think this practice is somewhat established in modern indy "superfeds" as well, if you look at some of the names that get title shots during the lengthy title reigns in ROH. Samoa Joe was a dominant champion, but he defended the belt against all comers, including people like Jay Briscoe, who were not normally considered singles competitors.

While a big win might have someone earn a shot, I currently have no intention of basing title shots purely around wins and losses. I think that this could end up being a limiting practice for me. For example, Erick Stevens is terrible right now in my fed, but that wouldn't stop him from necessarily getting a title shot on your average show. If he performed admirably in this match, losing in competetive fashion, it would lead to him having a higher profile character based fued. For example, he could be opening shows prior to the title shot against Arik Cannon, but after the match, I would make efforts to work him into another singles feud higher up the card.

I think a potential weakness of this way of booking is that the championship belts could potentially take a back burner in some cases, but I feel that if you have sgtrong enough feuds with non title holding wrestlers, you can book your way around this, kind of like they did in Paul Heyman's ECW.

Also, sorry to Necro this thread, I just thought it was interesting that people have so many different methods. Perhaps some have changed even since the original posts? I'd love to hear about if they have.

Thanks,
JR.