Sigilistic

In my games, AWF always are aggressive about poaching talent, and they consistently beat PWI in bidding wars. I wonder if we'll see that reflected in Thunderverse2020? I could see the likes of Cloud James and James Gilmour wrestling for them in 2020.

This is heartening to hear! My enthusiasm for TEW2020 release day has been dampened a bit by the fact that it'll be a while before we get the Thunderverse. It's good to know progress is being made!

I'm really hoping to see more women wrestlers, and more women's wrestling, in this version. It's always been sorely lacking in past versions.

Probably go through and delete all the silly injuries (distended anuses and the like).

TEW2016 didn't really come alive for me until the Thunderverse mod came out. I'll be eagerly awaiting an official announcement of that. As for predictions, given the way that my games always seem to go I expect AWF to gain the upper hand on PWI and become the premier US promotion, maybe even poaching some of PWI's talent. I also predict that Casey Skym's podcast gets him so much acclaim that he decides to jump back into the wrestling world by opening up his own promotion.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="BasicThuganomics" data-cite="BasicThuganomics" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46105" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>How are everyone's 2016 saves going?<p> </p><p> Anyone wrapping their save up in a fun way?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Resumed my Thunderverse save for a company called Luchador Fight Club, a Lucha Underground riff. I'm three-and-a-half years into the save and still having fun. I'm going to miss the T-Verse when 2020 comes out.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jomosensual" data-cite="Jomosensual" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46105" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>This is something I've been thinking about doing for a bit in the C-Verse. It's too bad it feels like the women are lacking pretty hard in the database though. One of my favorite things in 16 was starting the womens division and booking tons of new people I havent had before</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's why I mainly play in the Thunderverse. It'd be awesome to see a 2020 version of the mod.</p>

For a while, it was pretty dead. Like you, I split up The Specialists early on, and I had ALPHA run with the belts for a while, but they basically had nothing to do for a couple of months while I brought in new tag teams and built them up via hype videos and Aftershock matches. Teams I've brought in include Ambassador's Club, which I rebranded Wrestling Royalty, and the Street Survivors, which I rebranded the Lee Brothers. I've also made a couple of teams. As I mentioned before, there's the Heavenly Dragons and Jersey Shore. I also paired up Donny Chic and Super Croak as the Super Freaks. The tag division is doing OK, but I admit I always struggle to book more than one tag team storyline, which always revolves around the title. So the other teams not involved in the title scene just kind of languish on Aftershock while they wait their turn for another shot at the gold. EDIT: I've got the Staffordshire Saints stashed in development, and I plan on bringing them in once they have some decent overness.

Just an update on my AWF game. I'm heading into the September 2016 PPV. Cross is the champion, having one the title by cashing in his Battle for Los Angeles title shot at WrestleFest and crashing the title match between Timothy Hawk and Silva Dolla. Cross feuded with both men the following month, but now he has resumed his feud with Core, with the two men set to wrestle a brutal chain match for the title. Timothy Hawk and VIP have resumed their rivalry once more, with the backstory being that VIP is determined to knock Hawk off and be the man who tore out the Heart of AWF. Silva Dolla is now feuding with Patriot, while Nick Hart is feuding with Jean-Claude Giroux and Garrett South is feuding with Omri Stone. For the United States title, champion Sharif Awar is feuding with challenger Daryl Lance, who recently turned heel and branded himself the Alpha Male of AWF. The Heavenly Dragons, El Angel and Ultima Dragon (Jung DRAGON), are the tag team champions, and are feuding the The Jersey Shore (Mike Santorelli and Carmine Perotti). Meanwhile, Starlets Champion Jamilia Rosa is feuding with Alexis Funk.

I'm terribly partial to the Ambassador's Club tag team, Ebi Kadivar and Paul Crowley. They can work, they're entertaining and they're decently over in both the U.S. and Japan. When you say the Jericho or Omega, do you mean "talented worker who isn't signed with a major company?" In that case, you've got some options. Kris Phoenix is phenomenally skilled and extremely easy to get, though he suffers for lack of overness in the U.S. You've got Shay Kinsella and Wilson Hancock, two decently over, highly talented wrestlers, one who's a born face and the other who works well as either a face or a heel (but really is a natural heel). Depending on the roll of the dice, Buff Norton could be a good pickup as well, if overness is what you're after. He's probably one of the biggest unsigned names at the start of the game. And if you have deep pockets, there's Vincent I. Parker, who's on hiatus but can be lured back for a sizable check and who is the most over, most talented free agent on the market at the start of the game.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="QFresh" data-cite="QFresh" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41411" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>After so much back and forth on what company I'm going to use, what user character I'm going to have and what their back story is going to be. After starting, restarting, and restarting again to get exactly what I want without getting lost after a couple of weeks of gameplay only to want to restart again because my original intentions all fall apart, I've finally found a groove so much so that one I'm posting about it here, and two I'm thinking about putting out the "one last TEW16" dynasty to showcase my vision. And that game... Is AWF.<p> </p><p> My user character... The living legend himself Terry Thunder.</p><p> </p><p> Instead of Apache Chief being the one to buy AWF for a $1 to stop Allman from killing his competition, it's sold to Terry instead. Everything else about the "Dark Days" takeover is relatively the same. Drake and Chaperone still leave, everyone is still angry about the way things went down with Zeke, the only difference being Terry and the backstory I've come up with for Terry.</p><p> </p><p> Terry has made more money in the wrestling industry than anyone who had come before him, and (almost) everyone who has come after with his continuous roles and attempts to stay in the spotlight. But with all of Terry's television ventures starting to fizzle out, Terry needed a place for all of his shows to broadcast from. So what does that surprisingly sly business man do you ask? Well... Terry invests in himself, and his family by starting up his own television channel. And THUNDER Network Television is born.</p><p> </p><p> Now you can watch all of the Thunder Family and their vast array of programming whenever you want. Terry of course has ThunderHips. Lauri, a budding home chef has her own cooking show on the network. Jessica has been showcased in a number of Terry funded made for TV movies that are all exclusive to T-N-T. And now, Terry can add AWF Shockwave, Aftershock, and FAW The FUTURE Is Now to the line-up as well. Not too mention some of the classic straight to home-video releases that Terry put out there at the height of his popularity including Command Performance, where Terry plays a plays a drummer who battles terrorists who take over the stadium his band are playing in. (P.S, this is real, and stars Dolph Lundgren. Look it up, you won't be disappointed.)</p><p> </p><p> I've played around with the starting storylines in the hopes of making it fresh with great success considering how many times I played to original starting storylines to death.</p><p> </p><p> Timothy Hawk isn't going for the title anymore but instead is combatting Cross and his new faction The Following. After months of torture, Cross finally managed to break Core with Core turning on Hawk during a triple threat match on Terry's first episode of Shockwave where Garrett South becomes number one contender by pinning Jean-Claude Geroux. Cross has felt the management of AWF hasn't taken him seriously, and with Timothy Hawk being inducted into the Hall of Fame (something that the fans of AWF seem to be against as well) Cross has decided to take out his frustrations on the golden boy Hawk, and is using Core to destroy the face of Awesome. The following is rounded out with HavoK and the debuting Kris Pheonix re-dubbed (you guessed it) FeniX. With The Following having the numbers advantage week after week, Patriot has joined forces with Hawk in an attempt to even the odds somewhat. I've always had trouble booking Patriot because I couldn't help but go the Hacksaw Jim Duggan route with his character so I personally couldn't take him seriously as a top guy. Now, I'm forcing myself to go the American Bad Ass Undertaker route for him, and its made it better.</p><p> </p><p> Garrett South is contesting the entire Dolla Club by himself in his mission to become AWF World Champion. He won the aforementioned triple threat match against Hawk and JCG to earn his shot, and has since been battling each member of The Dolla Club to get to Silva Dolla, and a shot at the title. </p><p> </p><p> JCG has a new intensity to him after eating the pin in the triple threat match. Sharif Awar was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he's looking for revenge against the Ravishing One. Coincidentally, Awar has been battling Merengue on Aftershock for the TV Title. On the most recent episode, Awar got his shot only to be taken away by a debuting Caleb Adonis. Adonis and Merengue are now a team, and will align themselves with JCG down the road in a pretty boy faction with Adrienne doing valet duties for all of them once Amy is able to break away from a verbally abusive Merengue.</p><p> </p><p> Derrick Rollins defends his US title against Ricky Fyre. Rollins has enlisted the help of Mountain Albert to be his muscle, and with Albert being a constant thorn in the side of Fyre, Theo Barkley decided to join up with Fyre to combat his foes, and even the odds somewhat there.</p><p> </p><p> Some notable signings I've made that haven't already been mentioned. </p><p> </p><p> I of course brought back V.I.P as I do in just about every game. But instead of thrusting him into the title picture right away this time, I plan on having him debut during a Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Immortal Warrior setting up a program for those two before eventually giving V.I.P the title run that he's deserved since Chaperone had the book.</p><p> </p><p> In an attempt to bolster the tag team ranks, I brought in Jack America and Seven Brandt calling them American Evolution. In three previous games in a row, they have excellent chemistry which is why they're together.</p><p> </p><p> I brought back Deuces Wild as well who on their re-debut challenged and beat The Specialists to become tag champs. I want to split The Specialists up because Daryll Lance is a better heel anyway, and Nick Hart is too popular to be rolling around the tag ranks hence the Deuces winning the titles.</p><p> </p><p> Love Freedom was brought in because I love his character. A pacifist preacher in a wrestling company sounds just lovely to me. I usually pair him up with Jesse Mills, but I don't know if I'm going to do that this time around. i might just keep him single and see where it goes. </p><p> </p><p> And then there's Larry! Terry Thunder super fan Larry Lighting is in the AWF and Terry rather than being annoyed by the dedication has a soft spot for Larry. Eventually Larry is going to team up with Terry's good friend Iron Fist as (again, you guessed it) IRON LIGHTING!!!!</p><p> </p><p> Gonna try to bolster the Starlets division as well as I just can't ever get behind booking Womens Wrestling, but I want to give it to old college try. I brought in Hell Cat, repackaged her as Gabriela, and removed the mask. Also brought in both Jess Hart, and Tegan Merritt who will be keeping their full names in protest of the "terrible Starlets Division where everyone is a one word stripper." They are legitimate athletes, and want to be treated as such.</p><p> </p><p> If you're still reading, thanks. This was kind of a long post. But all in all, I think this game is my best one yet for the TVerse. I thought I had something going with a Casey Skym ran CLUB game that nearly made it out of the first season before it all became blah for me, and I scrapped it. Terry also had a run at The CLUB as well with the story being Cesar Kaslow would put Terry's other shows on his network if Terry agreed to be the on-screen network representative of The CLUB. That game also fell apart.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Thanks for sharing! AWF is a favorite promotion of mine, so I always enjoy seeing what other people do with it. I'm actually running an AWF game myself, which has some similarities. Rather than Apache Chief, I have Allen Packer of the Reverie Network (imported from the Cornellverse) buy up AWF to run on his on-demand network, along with FAW content. </p><p> </p><p> I like your idea of feuding Hawk and Cross. In my game, I built Cross up to win the world championship at WrestleFest after he cashed in his Battle for Los Angeles title shot at the last second of an epic Hawk/Dolla bout. Cross strikes me as being sort of the anti-Hawk, somebody the smarks can cheer but the True Believers can loathe. </p><p> </p><p> Keep us posted on how your game goes!</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jon The GOAT" data-cite="Jon The GOAT" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41411" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>the BOLA for your AWF is cash-in anytime like MITB? <p> </p><p> ive never given VIP a push because of his age tbh haha. whats the name of the young arabic dude in AWF. my biggest AWF regret is never making him the biggest star in TVerse. Just love the idea of him being the face of wrestling</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> will push in tew 2020.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Yeah, VIP is a little long in the tooth, but he has the advantage of already being main event level over so there isn't much work needed to plug him right in and get good grades out of him. </p><p> </p><p> Sharif Awar has a rocket strapped to him. I've been feeding him steady midcarder wins and my plan is for him to take the United States title off of Derrick Rollins at WrestleFest.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jon The GOAT" data-cite="Jon The GOAT" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41411" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Very nearly thought about giving an AWF game a run but decided to stick to GWS for now.<p> </p><p> I've left a few guys leave at this point because their contracts expired and I could get equally as good unemployed guys for cheaper. Ray Lisbon is gone, Lord Simon Darcy is out, Erik Wayne decided to quit after a few too many losses. Brought in guys like Gold Phoenix, El Rebelde Rojo, Eddy Orion, Aiden Quinn & Wakizashi. Just a real mix of guys for what I want to be a PWG-like identity. Oh, and Fergus Storm was signed to an exclusive by UPJ. </p><p> </p><p> Pierre Lejosne pissed off and beat Luke Graves to become a double champ. He will eventually lose the Red Phoenix belt to Tony Ramos. I also made him a figurehead while I was at it. </p><p> </p><p> I've been keeping the belts away from the Staffordshire Saints for long enough so I'll finally transition the titles from Violent Ambition over to them to start the year off. I had them lose their first challenge for the sake of stretching out the rivalry. They're easily better and Arran Lennox is creeping into singles star territory. I've lost a lot of teams over the past year with Kevin Maxx, Ray Lisbon & Ravers heading out the door so I'm trying to come up with some new pairings.</p><p> </p><p> Our financial woes are also improving with smaller wages & higher ticket sales. I think we'll hit regional next year (we were at 26/27 pop last I checked), and grab that South West local TV deal. Not sure where we will go from there; I still like the idea of being a special attraction company and just racking up pop in the area until we start turning a profit and can just bring whichever big stars are available at a given time. Considering there's only a few months left in TEW's lifetime, I'd like to not be crazy ambitious with my growth plans.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'm enjoying reading your updates!</p><p> </p><p> An update of my own: </p><p> The feud between Cross and Timothy Hawk is red hot, which is great. I ended up pulling the trigger on Cross with the Battle for Los Angeles, he won it with Hawk being the final elimination. </p><p> </p><p> My plan is for Hawk to go over Silva Dolla at WrestleFest in a big moment. Then the next show, Cross will cash in and win after Hawk wrestles a bruising title defense rematch with Dolla. This will lead to a three-way feud between the men that should carry the company into the fall. </p><p> </p><p> I've been judicious with my signings this go-round. I brought in Ambassador's Club (re-named Wrestling Royalty) to add some life to my tag team division. I plan on bringing in more teams but slowly. Right now, my division consists of WR and ALPHA, who are just squashing no-names every week to build momentum. </p><p> </p><p> I poached Mike O'Reilly from PWI, he's not sitting in my upper midcard as another solid hand who can compete for the U.S. title and make my main eventers look good. </p><p> </p><p> And I brought in VIP, who re-debuted at the Battle for Los Angeles, and who's now feuding with his former tag team partner Ricky Fyre. My plan is to build him up to a title run down the road.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Markw" data-cite="Markw" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41411" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In my many plans of AWF games (though none go anywhere), the 2016 Battle for LA winner is always either Cross or a returning V.I.P.<p> </p><p> Usually Cross if I want Hawk to win the feud with Dolla and VIP if I want Dolla to win.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I didn't think about VIP, that's another good suggestion. He'd be good for the "surprise returning superstar" angle. </p><p> </p><p> I ended up cutting Hawk and Dolla's program short for a few reasons. One is that I want to keep Hawk away from the title program for a while, so that he can return to it at WrestleFest for the big feel-good main event win. Another is that I was also ending Core and Cross' storyline and needed to find them both new dance partners. I also am leaning toward resuming the Hawk/Dolla feud for WrestleFest, where I can really lean into the story of the title coming between their friendship.</p>

<p>An update on my AWF game. </p><p> </p><p> I'm approaching the Battle for Los Angeles and so now it's time to figure out who I want to win that battle royal and gain a guaranteed title shot whenever they want (Royal Rumble meets Money in the Bank, basically). </p><p> </p><p> My shortlist of potential winners is:</p><p> <strong>Timothy Hawk</strong> - Hawk is both the most likely candidate to win it and the least likely, since he doesn't really need the push that winning would give him. Plus, Hawk is at a level where he can basically challenge for the title whenever he wants and instantly be credible. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Cross </strong>- Cross has long been one of my project wrestlers, someone I want to see get a main event push. I'm strongly considering pulling the trigger on him. He had a strong feud with Core and now he's feuding with Hawk. I could have him eliminate Hawk as part of their storyline. That would be a huge upset. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Derrick Rollins</strong> - He's solid and definitely a future main eventer, but he's just not quite there yet. Plus, he's still the United States Champion and he should focus on defending that and putting on solid matches to build up his momentum. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Garrett South</strong> - Another one who's just not quite there yet. He's got the overness for it but he needs more seasoning in the ring. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Core </strong>- A dark horse contender, but no battle royal is ever going to be completely safe from this monster. Still, Core just held the title and recently was in a title program with Silva Dolla so I think I'm going to avoid putting him back in the title picture so soon.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Jean-Claude Giroux</strong> - I always struggle with Giroux. He's such a great worker, and always gets listed by Creative as the top heel of the company, even though Dolla has the title. I might have Giroux sneak a win.</p>

In my game running a promotion inspired by Lucha Underground, I'm currently halfway through 2018.

Adam said there are other features that we'll discover in play, so it's not impossible this is one of them.

Started another AWF save. I forgot how dire the locker room is when you first start out. Hired Luke Graves and Caleb Adonis to smooth things over with Adrienne, and Khrome to appease Core. For the rest, I had to resort to AWF's deep pockets to give out bonuses. It wasn't cheap, but at least now Timothy Hawk isn't an unhappy locker room leader. I really scaled back my initial hirings from my usual spree I do. The three aforementioned all went to developmental, and I snagged a couple other developmental prospects. The only main card signings I did were Shay Kinsella and Wilson Hancock (to flesh out the midcard a bit), and Hell Cat and Jess Hart (to give some new life to the Starlets Division). I'm still trying to figure out my projects for this save. I think one of them is going to be getting Derrick Rollins over the hump and turning him into a bonafide main eventer. Another goal is to transform Core and Cross into a major force in the tag team division, which needs new life and could use the excitement of a power duo like that livening it up.

It doesn't surprise me, he's charismatic and he can work. I'm really bummed I lost him, I had plans for him to run a heel trio of good ole boys in my lucha fed and he would have been so great at it. I had to bring in Jesse Mills (I think that's his name) from CWT instead, to pair with Duane Davies and Rick E. Waters. I'm in summer of 2017, and this may be the longest running Thunderverse game I've ever had.

Well I jinxed it. AWF and PWI came swooping in when my season contracts started expiring and they poached Theo Barkley (AWF) and Cloud James (PWI). Threw a spanner into my plans with Cloud James, he was getting amazing ratings for me. Alas. It's difficult to compete in bidding wars for talent because I strictly offer only 1-year written deals that come up in the summer, to reflect a season-long commitment. I don't like weighing myself down with talent on multi-year deals because I never know who I'm going to be interested in using in a given season.

Resurrected my Luchador Fight Club save from the dust bin. For those who are wondering, LFC is basically my Lucha Underground equivalent run by Casey Skym. I'm surprised at how much fun I've been having with this old save. I left off halfway through my second season, and now I am getting ready to begin season three. I was able to poach Garrett South from AWF and he's been my star attraction, making a solid run with the Luchador Fight Club Championship. I'm booking him as a sort of Lucha Underground equivalent of Brock Lesnar, basically a jacked, hyper-dangerous fighter who takes on all comers and doesn't really have any allegiances. Other top stars in my singles division include Sangre de Dragon Jr (Richie Santana Jr), Reza El Rey (Ebi Kadivar), Jung DRAGON, El Estandar, Aguila Dorado (Shay Kinsella), Sepulturero (Big Bubba), Hell Cat and Red Lion (Super TIGER). I decided to retool my trios division. And by retool, I mean I decided to get serious about actually having a trios division. I now have six trios: The Beautiful People (led by Brother Love AKA Love Peace), The Posse (led by Cloud James), the Fall of Man (led by Kris Phoenix), Mexico's Finest (led by El Mariachi), Tokyo Hit Squad (led by Ryotaro Naruto) and the Dark Army (led by Yokai). It's almost embarrassing how talented my roster is, and we're steadily pulling in B-'s and B's, which isn't shabby at all for a cult-sized promotion.

Ha! Yeah, I've been trying to crack the UPJ nut for a while now. Your post was very helpful for me, thank you for taking the time to explain it. It sounds like it takes a lot of effort to make the most out of a fed like UPJ. But it also sounds like a lot of fun. Another question. It looks like you've added in a lot of talent to UPJ, can you talk about how you handled that? How quickly did you hire those guys, and was it on written deals or touring contracts? I noticed some names missing from the stables...were they cut from the stable or the company? Any other tips you have for running a puro fed like UPJ?

Started a new Hollywood Championship Grappling game. I really like the simplicity of booking it. The company is a blank slate in a lot of ways: No pre-existing storylines, no stables. You're really able to make it your own. Booked my first month. Cloud James is feuding with Michael Anicetti, who's the anointed one of The Management (Reflected by General Manager Prophecy). Cordero Calderon won the AWC World Heavyweight Championship and is feuding over it with Johnny Hollywood, while AWC American Heavyweight Champion Riley Johansen is feuding with Herculez over that belt. Too Famous are getting up to reality show antics every week, while El Estandar is feuding with Mike Santorelli over the cruiserweight title, at least until I have a chance to build a proper cruiserweight division.

Can you elaborate on this? How do you use stables when booking? What's your strategy for touring event cards?

Loan restriction lifted? YESSSSS!