Self

More CGC. More 1997. 'The Runaway Train' Barry Bowen Battering Lamb Jon Jetson Roger Rogers Steve DeColt It's a different look for Steve. For the DeColt Boys, I went with the idea that their default images are their 2005 looks, once they've settled into their careers. Eight years earlier they were probably trying something a little different. I know my hair was different when I was 23 compared to 31. So this is 'Stunning' Steve DeColt, a babyface spin on his Dad's gimmick.

More from CGC in 1997. Alexander Robinson Soldiers of Fortune (Chance & Fate) Howling Dog Jerome Turner Black Sheep

Anything I post in here can be used for any mods/diaries/whatever. The AI is doing most of the work. I'm just poking it with a stick until it gives me what I want. At some point I'll post some more 'failures'. For each of these I post, there's 10-30 failed attempts, and some of them are perfectly good characters. Just not what I had in mind. It took forever to get a young John Maverick without a hipster beard.

More CGC in 1997. A very red set. Canadian Dragon Ed Monton John Maverick (21 years old) Switchblade Mike Whipper Spencer Marks (1997, 58 year old road agent)

I use 'full body' every time, and the AI seems to ignore it most of the time. A specific pose can help. "Thumbs up". "Holding a clipboard". Gives mixed results. What works best for me is getting specific about kneepads. "Black kneepads". "Yellow kneepads". I don't care about kneepads, but if the AI thinks I care, it makes the effort. Or for managers, I specify the color of their trousers. Sometimes the AI is good and I don't need to, but this is my Go To solution now.

Some more from Canadian Golden Combat in 1997. Biff the Bruiser Condor Eric Tyler (1997 Headmaster of the School of Tradition) Eddie Chandler (plucky young babyface) Jake Sloan

Helen Wheels, Land Mass & Mammoth from Canadian Golden Combat (1997) remove.bg is an absolute delight.

Few failed attempts at certain characters that I felt looked pretty good. I'm having a lot of fun with '90's hair' as a prompt lately.

I agree with The Blonde Bomber. Context matters. Referees shouldn't be impotent robots, unable to step in unless there's a specific written rule. They should be authorities, using their own judgement to determine the correct solution to unexpected events. And by "own judgement" I mean, "what they are booked to do". First priority should be "who is at fault?" and then punish that person. If they're part of the match, disqualified. If they're not part of the match, have security restrain them. Either way, proper punishment would be decided later by the real bosses. Second priority should be "are the victims okay?" and "can the match continue?". Context matters. Was it Brock Lesnar? Answer's probably No. No contest. Rematch when the injuries heal. If it's Grayson Waller, you can probably restart after an ad break. Did one guy take a bigger beating that the others? Referee needs to use their judgement. Maybe may make the 'wrong' decision and you make a story about it. It's not something I'd book often, but the threat should to be there.

I don't think there are any more or fewer DQ's than there used to be. It's both a difference in fan perception ("boo, that dastardly heel" vs "boo, that uninspired promotion") and a confusion over what constitutes a DQ these days. When matches can continue after falling off ladders, chairs, barbed wire, flipping powerbombs to the floor, etc... What can you do that will make fans legitimately feel "This needs to stop. This is a conclusion"? Which has been a problem since the ECW era. When "No Disqualification" matches are promoted as a positive stipulation that provide fun entertainment (and none of your favourites are going to be off TV to recover for more than a few days afterwards), or course disqualifications are going to feel bad. When Triple Threats matches and Royal Rumbles are No DQ, for reasons I don't fully understand. When wrestling matches are afterthoughts or stunt shows for star ratings and the 'stories' happen in the promo bits or on Twitter... It's unsurprising.

Could I be added please? I may have a project I've been working on.

Yep. I'm throwing in the prompt 'ugly' a lot, just to even things out. At first, it created cartoon monstrosities, but now I get a few usable pics out of it. Dirty Frank (1997 version)

Fantastic prompt. Took it for a spin. As usual, I tried to make DeColts, but ended up with a bunch of Steves. and tried to see what it would make of the Soldiers of Fortune. Couldn't for the life of me get it to not give them beards. As soon as I added 'bald', it added beards every time. I don't know what happened below, but I kind of love it as a 'through the ages' look at a career.

Having an annual cycle of traditions helps me forward. WWE have the Royal Rumble leading to WrestleMania leading to Summerslam leading to Survivor Series and back to the Royal Rumble. Dotted in between you have these big gimmick events (I forget where Money in the Bank and Elimination Chamber fall nowadays) that can throw ideas at you, when you're not feeling so creative. In my CGC games I developed my own sequence that I use in pretty much every game with them. Elimination kicking off the Road to WrestleFestival followed by Cage matches before the Ultimate Showdown Series etc. I always have something set in stone to work towards, and usually the landscape of the roster changes enough so that each year feels different. I also like to book game changers. The Manager's Cup was an organised stable war where the losing team must disband. The loser of the ultimate Showdown Series is fired. Roster stagnation absolutely kills games for me.

Trying to generate some guys with less than perfect abs and 90 star quality. Tried "dressed as a wrestler" but couldn't trick the AI except for a few. According to the Bing Image Generator, this guy below is 45 years old. I need to know more about this next guy. Who is BUSBERS?

I recently played a CGC game starting in 1997 and going to 2008, so that's formed a lot of my perspective. For Steve, you could argue John Maverick. Similar ages, starting in CGC. Maverick's a key figure in the original version of The Elite. He beat Steve for his title reign in 2005. Both ended up in NOTBPW. It's not something I booked, but a clever historian could make a convincing video package. For Jack, an outside of the box pick, Eric Tyler. Eric ran the School of Tradition is 1997, and young wholesome technical Jack DeColt would be an ideal recruitment target. After Eric does DAVE and returns in 2007, Jack is grown up and World Champion. Eventually, Jack grows a fine mustache, teaches his own students at the DeColt Powerhouse. It rhymes. For Ricky... Ryan Powell wishes it was him. I don't know. The timelines didn't match up as well as I expected there (Ricky comes along 2 years after Ryan) and I think Ricky's true legacy is with CWA. I've never played CWA for more than a couple of days. Edd Stone is the common fan fiction parallel. I will say, I probably got the most interesting feuds out of the Alex DeColt/Eddie Chandler pairing in my games. From midcard comedy feuds where Chandler tried to outsmart the brainiest DeColt, to main event feuds where Chandler evolved into an actual criminal mastermind. A Holmes/Moriarty game of oneupsmanship. The transition from Elite V1.0 (Maverick/DaLay/Chandler, with Chandler as the clear No.3) to Elite V2.0 (Chandler/DaLay/Specialists/Deeley, with Chandler as the clear leader) was entirely an Alex story for me.

Alex DeColt & Dan DaLay.. Maybe cheating, because they are canon best friends in 'real' life, but I always book them as eternal rivals who just plain hate each other. In my version of kayfabe, Alex used to be a nerdy kid and Dan was the bully who made his life a living hell in high school. Ten/Twenty/Thirty years later (depending on the mod) they're still at each other's throats. It's not the most nuanced or interesting rivalry. I can't think of many cool angles or even strong main events I've booked them in. It's just long-term hatred.

Great question. Because physical dominance isn't enough. For as big and strong and great at powerbombs as Wardlow is, he isn't AEW World champion. MJF is. As you said, he beat MJF, and the guy still became champion. How? Why? Because MJF is the Devil. He plots and schemes and tricks idiots into admiring him and that's worth a thousand powerbombs. Maybe at first Wardlow only put on the mask to frame MJF and remind everyone that he's not someone to be trusted, but now? Wardlow sees that devils make it to the top, and if that's what it takes, he'll be that devil. He watched MJF wreak havoc for years. He'll use those very same tricks against him. Why does Roman Reigns; the most dominant wrestler in WWE for the last decade, surround himself with the Bloodline and Paul Heyman to keep himself on top? Because that's what it takes. This would be an evolution of the Wardlow character. Loathing MJF, but also kind of revering him, using his old boss's tricks. A 'smart' monster, but who is only really repeating what he's seen another wrestler do before. So how smart is he? Which is how MJF ultimately beats him. There's nothing new or unexpected or diabolical.

I would have kept Wardlow off TV for a few more months, and had him be the Devil. On-screen history. A believable physical threat. A legitimate reason to dislike MJF. A new coat of paint for someone who was once really popular, but has been lost in the shuffle. But I guess that ship has sailed.

I'm a fan of the Continental Cup concept (I rip of the G1 in practically every game of TEW I play) so I watched some of the highlights. Swerve's got an aura about him. Looks a lot bigger and more impressive than he did in Lucha Underground. In my fantasy booking, he'd lose the Cup via some last minute points, have an intense feud with whichever babyface 'screwed' him, then challenge for the belt. Keep him featured. Keep him talking. Keep him wanting the title shot.

I like the concept of the Continental Cup. I love the G1 and ripping it off has always been one of my favourite things to do in TEW. Probably could have done with a few weeks of build, but I'm glad they're doing it. Maybe in a few years, with the right winners, it'll have some prestige behind it.

I am finding I'm pretty lazy when it comes to words. never been my strength. I guess these are my attempts at the hottest Canadian rookies from C-Verse 2005. Could not find the words to get Edd's beard right. EDIT: Got curious at what else this could do. If i ever wrote another diary, I'd always be interested in stretching things graphically. Couple of demons in there.

Any heel who does a shooting star press in a match is clearly confused about what he wants to be. I hate it. To the point where I could probably be convinced it's intentional and good heat. He reminds me a lot of the kids I used to train with. They all wanted to be bad boy heels, and they all wanted to do cool moves and make the babyfaces look bad, and they all complained when I got put in main events when the flashiest thing I did was an elbow drop. He's a natural at being a cocky twerp who wants to be liked, and thinks he should be liked. The Shawn Michaels comparison is interesting, but where Shawn excelled in the ring at bumping around for his opponents (like a heel) Sammy's focus has always seemed to be on his own movez (like a babyface). There's a disconnect. Personally, I'd let him go, see what he does outside of AEW for a year, then bring him back with a new twist. The dose of humility might do him good, but then maybe I'm being worked. Maybe it's an act. Maybe I'd like him in person.

In the 1997 mod, Eric Tyler is the leader of the School of Tradition in CGC. Absolutely a teacher gimmick.

Always room for a little magic in CGC. My last CGC 1997 game stretched to 2005, and one of my regrets was turning Eddie Chandler heel really early, and not enjoying him as a bland midcard babyface for as long as I should. Too tempting to get him pink and evil as soon as possible.