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<p><strong>May 2022</strong></p><p> </p><p> Our merchandise upgrade is done! We’re now doing worker-specific merch as well; our top three are The Crippler, one Man Army, and Remmy Skye. Following them are Paradox, Sparrow, and Melody. Probably not a good sign when your Road Agent/Manager is a top merch seller.</p><p> </p><p> Backstage for Welcome to the Coastal Zone was busy, with a video game tournament -and- a poker tournament. And Remmy telling me there was someone he wanted to put over. Which was… unexpected. But we’d think about that for the future.</p><p> </p><p> Okay, let’s not screw this up… and we do a quick announcement before the show that Paradox has given up the Xtreme Title in exchange for a shot at the CZCW Title tonight.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Welcome to the Coastal Zone 2022</strong></p><p> Pre-Show: </p><p> Heartbreaker def. Onslaught and Walls (40). </p><p> Modesty, Ellie, Danzig, Briscoe, and Peter B def. Flash, Cooper, Eureka, Coco, and Quinn (39).</p><p> Show: </p><p> Aces High def. One Man Army (54). </p><p> Kings of Xtreme def. Storm Spillane & Bullseye (56).</p><p> Max Mayhem def. CLM (56). </p><p> The Crippler def. T-Rex for the COTT World Title (58). </p><p> Sky Sirens def. Rodiguez & Queen for the CZCW Tag Team Titles when Queen and Rodrguez have a miscommunication (51). </p><p> Remmy Skye def. Al Coleman and Malik Cash in a ladder match for the Xtreme Title (60). </p><p> Matt Sparrow def. Paradox to retain the CZCW Title (61). </p><p> </p><p> Remmy cracked his ribs on a stunt bump we had set up for that match, but he still toughed through the end of it. More worryingly, we’re starting to get age-related issues from Sparrow… and our announce team is having trouble gelling. Not the blow-away show we were hoping for… but better than we’ve been doing lately. But hey, things are looking up!</p><p> </p><p> …</p><p> </p><p> Dammit, I shouldn’t have said that. </p><p> </p><p> <strong><em>Rest In Peace</em></strong></p><p><strong><em> Phil Vibert </em></strong></p><p> </p><p> At the age of only 48, too. A true wrestling legend for his behind-the-scenes work… and now we have to find another color commentator. The former Helen Wheels, Grace Harper, fits the bill near-perfectly.</p><p> </p><p> …. What? What now…</p><p> </p><p> … oh no…. </p><p> </p><p> … Oh dear god, no…</p><p> </p><p> <strong><em>Rest In Profit</em></strong></p><p><strong><em> Clifford S. Anderson</em></strong></p><p><strong><em> 1961-2022</em></strong></p>

March 2022 OKay, Speedball was gone. Either we put all our ‘Zone Nostalgia’ hopes on Paradox… or… hrm. Should I? Has he learned? Will Cliff let me? Let’s find out… What’s that, Cliff? Comedy wrestlers are okay now? Great, not that I was -- what? No luchadores? Um, Cliff, you know some of our fanbase is here for… for… well, American Flash, and that’s about it… okay, point taken. Uprising 2022 Pre-Show: Bullseye def. Coco, Heartbreaker, Zel, Cooper, and Briscoe (30) Show: Kings of Xreme def. International Express (39). Max Mayhem def. American Flash (55). Al Coleman def. Aces High and One Man Army (57). The returning REMMY SKYE defeats Malik Cash (54). Rodriguez & Queen retain the Tag Team Titles over Sky Sirens (53). Paradox retains the Xtreme Title over CLM (52). Matt Sparrow retains the CZCW Title over The Crippler (62). We’re slowly getting back on track. Although we’re told the show was awesome. Doesn’t feel that way. When was our last match in the 70s? April 2022 After seeing a news article on her, we make an offer to QAW’s Modesty Pador. Hey, if some unnamed ‘industry veterans’ say she’s a ‘future superstar’, who are we to argue? The new Coastal Resort class: Johnny Freebush, technical flier. Short, ripped, psychotic. Stanley Danzig, high-flying agitator. Danzig has the edge on star quality, stamina and athleticism; Freebush has the edge on skills, but only slightly, and at this stage in their careers, it’s not a big deal. We give Danzig an offer and let Freebush loose on the world. Spring Break Bash 2022 Pre-Show: Zel Quinn def. Stanley Danzig (21) Show: Max Mayhem def. Bullseye (50). Kings of Xtreme def. Walls & LaBelle (36). The Crippler def. International Express (45). Modesty Pador def. Heartbreaker (35). Remmy Skye def. One Man Army (54). Sky Sirens def. Team America (34). Paradox retains the Xtreme Title over Coleman, Aces High, and CLM (42). Rodriguez & Queen def. Sparrow & Cash to retain the CZCW Tag Team Titles in a ladder match (56). Ouch. We had such high hopes for that show, and the main event in specific. We need to rethink how we’re going about things. So, with that in mind… I’m setting myself some new goals. 1) Max Mayhem needs to be brought up to Xtreme-contendership-level ASAP. 2) Pablo is finally getting too old for this. This will probably be his last title run -- and it probably won’t last very long. 3) Try not to piss off One Man Army too much while I’m using him to put people over. MAW swapped the COTT Tag Titles onto James Diaz & Sterling Whitlock; once more, I lament the lack of experienced tag teams on my roster. And we get second in the regional battle. After that show, I’m surprised we’re not third… GSW only had a 49, and IPW beat us by two points, with a 56. Two points. Surely we can improve by two points, right? On the next Coastal Zone: Death Comes For Us All.

They started it! They decided to not like us... but stopped short of declaring war. So we don't like them. Or something. The entire COTT is kinda slowly falling apart...

January 2022 (Now on patch 1.04) … okay, that bit where I was talking about our biggest stars, up there? Scratch off two more names. TCW has claimed Speedball (again) and Deadly Deadshot. Well, hell. And to make things more interesting, Cliff decided MMA Crossovers were okay, just don’t hire anyone over the age of 45. Apparently having our biggest name be The 48-year-old Crippler made him feel like we were in danger of losing our youth appeal. Revolution 2022 Pre-Show: Heartbreaker & Briscoe def. Walls & Quinn (36). Bullseye def. Wes Cooper (36). Show: Paradox wins the Xtreme Title over Deadly Deadshot, Aces high, and American Flash (53). Sky Sirens def. International Express (40). The Crippler & Matt Sparrow def. One Man Army & Max Mayhem (59). Juliet Balcony def. Coco Malloy (37). Pablo Rodreguz & Quentin Queen def. Submissionaries for the CZCW Tag Titles (64). Malik Cash retains the CZCW Title over California Love Machine (52). … ooh yeah, we gotta get the title off Cash. He’s off his game in the main event, it’s too much pressure for him. And just for fun, we finish off the month with USPW hiring away backup ref R.M.Stones. Y’know what? Screw it. I’m’a hire someone away from IPW. At least we’re back to winning the regional battle! February 2022 IPW’s Kurt Lovenkrantz was our new ref. We decide to make it an exclusive contract, just to mess with IPW. Am I being petty? Maybe I’m being petty. Vendetta 2022 Pre-Show: Waylon Walls def. Eureka LaBelle (37). Coco Malloy def. Zel Quinn (37). Show: International Express def. Amy St. James & Heartbreaker (43). Max Mayhem def. Larry Brisco (45). Juliet Balcony & Aces high def. Storm Spillane & Bullseye (58). The Crippler def. One Man Army (59). Rodriquez & Queen retain the Tag Titles over CLM & Coleman (47). The Sky Sirens def. Team America (41). Paradox retain the Xtreme Title over Marc Speed (63). Matt Sparrow defeats Malik Cash to become the new CZCW Champion (63). Wait… Max Mayhem lifted Larry Brisco to a halfway-decent match? Someone just earned a push. And that Xtreme Title match was the first time we’ve seen the note “This match deserved better announcing.” Maybe this is a sign we’re actually getting better? GSW brought Al Coleman and Quentin Queen in; we don’t mind that so much. GSW’s cool. They have their style, we have ours, even though we tend to share a good number of names. IPW, now, those guys just rubbed us the wrong way… On the next Coastal Zone: An old-school Zoner leaves, so an old-school Zoner returns for a shot at redemption. Who is it? Place your bets now!

Make sure to double-check your title matches and make sure you have the right person going over.

November 2021 October-to-November is always fun, just given how Hardcore Halloween and Showdown at Sundown are a week apart. Usually, not much happens; this year is no exception. We do, however, do the math and decide that if we bump ourselves up to the next level of merchandising, we’d make back the money spent to upgrade it in well under a year, so we begin expanding it. Our new Road Agent, Melody, says she wouldn’t mind doing some managing too, so we pair her up with The Sky Sirens to see how it works out. Showdown at Sundown 2021 Pre-show: Onslaught & Wes Cooper def. Eureka and Zel (33). Show: Sky Sirens def. International Express (39). Al Coleman def. Waylon Walls (57). Marc Speed def. Heartbreaker (56). Coco Malloy & Paradox def. Bullseye & Briscoe (46). The Crippler def. Pablo “Super-Fast-Broken-Toe-Healer” Rodriguez (64). Deadly Deadshot retains the Xtreme Title over American Flash (48). Quentine Queen def. CLM, Titan, Aces High, and Max Mayhem (53). Malik Cash def. Storm Spillane (60). One Man Army retains the CZCW Title over Matt Sparrow (54). … okay, okay. Maybe One Man Army isn’t the right call to have the title… Other than that, the month goes nice and quietly. We renew our contract with WrestleWorld for another year. That’s it. That’s all. Nice and quiet. December 2021 (now on patch 1.03) The nice, slow time of year continues on through to our next show. Christmas Cage Chaos 2021 Pre-Show: Amy St. James & Eureka LaBelle def. Briscoe & Quinn (33). Show: Team America (Flash & Cooper) def. International Express (Peter B and deGrazia) & Sky Sirens (Skye & Syren) (39). Coco Malloy def. Heartbreaker (39). Juliet Balconi & Max Mayhem def. Bullseye & Onslaught (53). Paradox def. Waylon walls (48). Quentin Queen def. Matt Sparrow (63). Deadly Deadshot retains the Xtreme Title over Aces high and California Love Machine (48). The Submissionaries retain the Tag Team Titles over The Crippler & Pablo Rodriguez (62). Malik Cash wins the CZCW Championship from One Man Army INSIDE A STEEL CAGE (47). … I may have just traded one bad choice for a champion for another. Al Coleman cracked his sternum during the tag title match. And he still finished the match and got the winning submission. What a trooper! Hrm. We didn’t notice this last month, but Melody and Air Raid Syren don’t work well together at all. Maybe we should just have Melody manage Skye… … and we finish third out of three in the regional battle. What a way to end the year… Year In Review 2021 Your wrestler of the year is Wolf Hawkins. Company of the Year is TCW. Match of the Year is Aaron Andrews def. Wolk Hawkins by countout, TCW Destructive Energy Show of the Year is BHOTWG Everlasting Mission Young Wrestler of the Year is Flip Simkins Veteran of the Year is Sammy Bach Female of the Year is Jamie Quine Most Improved Company is MAW Indy Wrestler of the Year is Gemmei Oonishi The State Of The Zone We have more than doubled our cash reserves. We are working on improving our merchandising. Worker salaries are going up, and viewership is trending slightly down -- but given our last few shows, we honestly can’t blame them. Size-wise, we’re growing quite quickly; with WrestleWorld’s help, we believe. Within two years we should be able to call ourselves ‘Not Small’ with a straight face… provided we stop putting on crappy shows. Fun fact: We’re more over in Canada than we are in half of the US. Our biggest stars right now are Malik Cash, Speedball, One Man Army, and The Crippler, with Al Coleman, CLM, Deadly Deadshot, Sparrow, and Queen in the second tier. Aces High, American Flash, Pablo Rodriguez, and Storm Spillane make up the rest of our best names. Storm is actually on the Power 500 at #451; The Crippler is at #211. On the next Coastal Zone: I really shouldn't've listed who our biggest stars were...

October 2021 Okay. Everything’s okay. This is fine. First order of business. We need to replace Fox. A new road agent and a new color commentator. Preferably the same person to keep finances down, but we’d let Cliff worry about that if it wasn’t possible. Now here’s an interesting batch of new signees for you. Our replacement Road Agent is: Melody Our new Referee is: R.M. Stones Our new wrestlers are: Max Mayhem, Titan, and The Crippler Our new color commentator is: The mad master of mayhem himself, Phil Vibert! Okay. I think we’ve recovered. Pretty well, too. Some big names we can use to help pump up the rest of the roster. We’ve got a handle on this. No problem. The fact we’ve driven away so many long-time Coastal Zoners doesn’t mean anything… … annnnd before he even gets a single show in, Titan gets hired away by CWA. Well, at least we get one appearance out of him… Hardcore Halloween 2021 Pre-show: Ellie deGrazia def. Heartbreaker (39) Show: Winner goes on to the Xtreme Title match later tonight: Deadly Deadshot def. American Flash, Max Mayhem, and Storm Spillane (63). Malik Cash & Matt Sparrow def. Coco Malloy & Bullseye (52). Paradox def. Peter B, Onslaught, Eureka, and Zel (43). The Crippler def. California Love Machine (55). The Submissionaries retain the CZCW Tag Titles over The Syke Syrens (Skye Hermosa & Air Raid Syren) (59). Quentin Queen takes down the monster Titan (59). Deadly Deadshot defeats Aces High to win the vacant Xtreme Title (58). One Man Army retains the CZCW Title over Pablo Rodriguez (49). That main event… ouch. Pablo broke his toe early on, and it just slowed the whole thing down. Certainly not our best work. On the plus side, what the hell else could happen to us? … well, we placed second instead of first in the regional battle for the first time. We know, we know, we need to get better... On the next Coastal Zone: Have we entered a death spiral, or can we recover?

September 2021 So, we’ve lost some pretty heavy hitters. And we can’t wait for some of our existing stars to take that brass ring, so we need to bring in some big names. But we don’t want to outshadow our existing people. So… split it up? Two big names, two midcarders to help raise up who we still have. And yes, they’re all getting used at the next show, so we’ll let the suspense build a little bit. We also need to figure out how to assign a manager, since Willow has nothing to do, but that’s another story. (Twenty minutes later) Ohhh, you have to click on their morale, and then you can set the manager. What. The. Hell. Anyway, as part of a ‘total makeover’ for Al Coleman, we’re re-pairing him with Willow… and putting a mask on him. He is now ‘The Constrictor’, a snake-like fellow who’ll crush the life out of you with his submissions. …. OH COME ON! Now Quincy is turning in his notice??? At least we have one more show before we need yet another new ref… Screw it. Tournament time! Reach for the Sky 2021 Pre-Show: Quentin Queen & Bullseye def. Skye & Walls (49). International Express (Ellie & Peter B) def. The Enforcers (Zel & Syren) (37). CZCW Title Tournament, First Round: Masked Cougar def. Pablo Rodriguez (62). Matt Sparrow def. Tigre Salvaje Jr (56). Malik Cash def. Deadly Deadshot (53). California Love Machine… LOSES to the muthafreakin’ One Man Army (43). Tournament Break - Xtreme Contendership Match: Aces High def. Miguel Rivera and new signees Coco Malloy and the returning PARADOX (57). CZCW Title Tournament Semifinals: One Man Army def. Matt Sparrow (53). Masked Cougar def. Malik Cash (66). Tournament Break - CZCW Tag Title Match: The Submissionaries (Al ‘Constrictor’ Coleman and ‘SPEEDBALL’ MARC SPEED) def. Team America (American Flash & Wesley Cooper) (51). CZCW Title Match: One Man Army def. Masked Cougar to become the NEW CZCW Champion (59) … okay, I’m a little underwhelmed. But One Man Army was the biggest-name unemployed wrestler who felt like they could fit in with the Zone. Coco (from QAW) would be good for helping lift up our lowercard people, Paradox was here to show how he’d improved since the old days of the Paratroopers, Speedball was coming back home after his TCW stay didn’t work out, and One Man Army was, well, probably the most recognizable name in the Zone now and would hopefully get more eyeballs our way. All in all, I think we’ve done okay compensating for losing so many names at the top of the card, don’t you? I mean, what could possibly happen that could… … Miguel Rivera hands in notice, leaving CZCW. Tigre Salvaje, Jr hands in notice, leaving CZCW. Masked Cougar hands in notice, leaving CZCW. … FOX ****ING MASK hands in notice, leaving CZCW. Oh, **** me… and with Hardcore Halloween not until the end of next month, it meant we wouldn’t have a chance to get the Xtreme Title off Tigre or do a farewell for anyone else... On the next Coastal Zone: … help?

Of the 37 people currently on my CZCW roster (October 2022), only 13 were on the 2020 starting roster. The poachings, the quittings, the random deaths (yes, plural)... it's been freakin' brutal. And I kinda love it.

<p><strong>August 2021</strong> (Now on patch 1.02)</p><p> </p><p> So, we’re losing A) our champion, B) the guy Pablo said he wanted to put over to build as a new star (Simon), C) one-half of our tag champions (Becker decided to sign with USPW), and D) one-half of the only other decent tag team we have. That… that really hurts, no two ways about it. </p><p> </p><p> … oh, and Juliet Balconi is filming a TV show again. We can say goodbye to her for another four months. Four months. For a cameo. Yeesh.</p><p> </p><p> We’re also starting to look at some of our gimmicks. Some of them aren’t doing so well. We try tweaking American Flash, Larry Brisco, and Wesley Cooper. Al Coleman was also bad, but couldn’t be tweaked. On the plus side, we have eleven (!!) ‘legendary’ gimmicks. We just won’t touch those at all...</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Wave Of Fury 2021</strong></p><p> Pre-show: Ellie deGrazia & Larry Briscoe def. Zel Quinn & Onslaught (34). Air Raid Syren def. Amy St James (34).</p><p> Show: Matt Sparrow & Simon Waves def. Peter B & Wes Cooper (38). Deadly Deadshot def. Waylon Walls (54). Al Coleman & Miguel Rivera def. Heartbreaker & Skye (48). Quentin Queen def. Eureka LaBelle (47). Tigre Salvaje retains the Xtreme Title over Storm Spillane and California Love Machine (47). American Flash def. Bulseye (53). The Inner City Express retain the CZCW Tag Titles against the Long Beach Crew (74). And in your main event, Frankie Perez retained the CZCW Title over Masked Cougar and Pablo Rodriguez (70).</p><p> </p><p> Oooo, show rating 69. Nice. Almost to that 70 mark! Also: Flash and Bullseye, great chemistry. Did we know that? We do now. </p><p> </p><p> Hrm. this was unexpected. On his way out the door on his last show with us, Cali Slick stopped me to give me a piece of advice. “Zel Quinn isn’t tough enough to make it in this business, get rid of the kid.” Um… gee, thanks for the advice, but we kinda know that, that’s why he’s a jobber. Either he’ll toughen up, or he’ll quit. </p><p> </p><p> And that’s that. Frankie, Cali, Simon, Becker, and Britney are go-- oh, hell, I forgot to get titles off Frankie and Becker before they left...</p><p> </p><p> <strong>On the next Coastal Zone:</strong> Believe it or not: Things get worse, shocking even the player.</p>

Everyone who was expecting one of those "Things just got interesting" months... here we go. June 2021 We make an offer to Cali Slick’s partner, Aces high. We need a better tag team division, and this is how it starts. CZCW Battle on the Beach 2021 Pre-Show: Juliet Balcony def. Amy St James, Onslaught, Peter B, Zel Quinn, and Wesley Cooper (35) Show: Jay Becker def. Storm Spillane (60). Cougar, Coleman, and Heartbreaker def. Syren, Ellie, and Skye (51). Malik Cash def. American Flash (51). Tigre Salvaje wins the Xtreme Title over Matt Sparrow, Quentin Queen, and Bullseye (60). The Long Beach Crew def. Team Red Blood (55). Simon Waves def. Pablo Rodreguez again (60). Frankie Perez retains over California Love Machine (62). Backstage, Miguel Rivera appears to be trying to turn people against Bullseye; Onslaught, Quinn, and Queen have all been giving him the stink-eye tonight, and we’re not sure what is going on here -- but so far it’s not causing any problems. Annnnnnd crap. Someone must’ve grown, because people are getting offers again. CWA has made offers to Frankie Perez, Simon Waves, and Cali Slick… and there’s SWF with offers for Frankie and Simon… USPW for Simon… okay, all three of them now have offers from all three companies. In the end, all three decide to sign with USPW. Wellllllll crap. And hey, Jey Becker just got the same three offers; he’s yet to decide. Oh, and Britney Hollywood has decided to leave as well. No idea if that has anything to do with her relationship to Storm or not. On the next Coastal Zone: It's time for a 'classic Zone move', as we show why sometimes you really shouldn't go to bed right after major events...

<p><strong>May 2021</strong></p><p> </p><p> Tonight's show, oddly enough, comes to you not from the Grissom Arena, but from somewhere in San Francisco. That's probably a really good sign, right?</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Welcome to the Coastal Zone 2021</strong></p><p> Pre-Show: None!</p><p> Show: California Love Machine & Simon Waves def. Tigre Salvaje Jr & American Flash (55). Coleman & Bullseye def. Skye & Heartbreaker (50). Ellie def. Zel (41). Matt Sparrow retains the Xtreme Title over Storm Spillane (59). The Inner City Express retain the Tag Titles over Team Red Blood (60). In an eight-man match, Team Quentin (Quentin, Syren, Juliet, and Cooper) def. Team Kira (Kira, Walls, Onslaught, and Eureka) (45). Cali Slick def. Frankie Perez (75). Masked Cougar def. Pablo Rodriguez for the CZCW Title to become a dual-title-holder (67).</p><p> </p><p> Not a bad darn show, if I say so myself. And we had plans, now... Cougar was going to defend the CZCW Title and the COTT Title on every show for the rest of the ye--</p><p> </p><p> What? Who the hell is Miller Fforde and why did MAW let him win the COTT Title two days ago?</p><p> </p><p> Dammit, I had plans!</p><p> </p><p> <strong>June 2021</strong></p><p> </p><p> Yeah, it's a couple of quiet months, so I'm doing two in one post. </p><p> </p><p> IPW had Inner City Express win the COTT Tag Titles, so it turns out I -do- have a dual-title act... but what's the point in having them wrestle twice if I don't have any decent tag teams to put up against them?</p><p> </p><p> <strong>CZCW Surf Slam 2021</strong></p><p> Pre-Show: Wesley Cooper def. Waylon Walls (30). Skye Hermosa def. Larry Brisco (30). Bullseye def. Peter Broughton (42). </p><p> Show: Air Raid Syren def. Heartbreaker (44). California Love Machine def. Al Coleman (49). Deadshot, Queen, and Tigre def. Spillane, Rivera, and Flash (63). The Inner City Express retain over the Kings of Extreme (Juliet & Amy) (51). Matt Sparrow retains over Elie De Grazia (44). Simon Waves gets an upset over Pablo Rodreguez (60). And in the main event, Frankie Perez wins the CZCW Title in a triple-threat against Masked Cougar and Cali Slick (64). </p><p> </p><p> Wasley and Waylon don’t click. Well, that’s one jobber match we won’t see again. Syren and Heartbreaker, though, have great chemistry. Now to decide if we want to build both of them up… and unfortunately, Cali Slick broke a couple of ribs during that main event. </p><p> </p><p> So, all in all, not a great show, but a good enough show -- and we sold out the Grissom! </p><p> </p><p> We continue to place first in the regional battles, so I won’t mention it unless it changes.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>On the next Coastal Zone:</strong> We begin rebuilding the tag team division, just in time for another "Aw, ****" moment. Several of them, actually.</p>

April 2021 April means Coastal Resort graduates. The first, Zach Huey, we let go out into the world to find something. He's very much a Larry Briscoe-like all-rounder not-very-good-at-anything. The second, Wesley Cooper, we bring on for a year. He's a good striker and has potential in other areas. CZCW Spring Break Bash 2021 Pre-Show: Heartbreaker def. Eureka (41). Bullseye def. Peter B (40). Skye Hermosa def. Onslaught (38). Show: Juliet Balconi, Air Raid Syren, and Welsey Cooper def. Amy St. James, Al Coleman, and Larry Brisco (33). Matt Sparrow retains the Xtreme Title over Ellie, Quentin, and Zel (50). Deadly Deadshot & Kira Lee def. American Flash & Waylon Walls (51). Cali Slick def. Miguel Rivera (65). The Inner City Express retain the Tag Team Titles over CLM and Simon Waves (50). Frankie Perez def. Tigre Salvaje Jr (74). Masked Cougar def. Pablo Rodriguez to put Pablo’s CZCW Title on the line at Welcome to the Coastal Zone (65). … was that a 74? About freakin’ time I book something awesome. Please welcome our new referee: Elegance, formerly of BSC. She works cheap, and if we let the women mix it up with the men, it only seems fair we have a female ref in there as well. Huh. Wasn’t expecting this; Kira Lee has decided to move on. Well, bummer, we were thinking of pushing her as the most advanced of our female wrestlers. On the next Coastal Zone: We're not in the Grissom? And finally, a surprise title change that -isn't- my fault!

March 2021 Storm Spillane is beginning to vex me. Half the time we want to use him, he's working for BGC... and this time, he got injured working for BGC and I reaaaaaally shouldn't use him. I'm trying to like the guy, trying to help him out, but stuff just keeps me thinking "Maybe I should cut my losses." Peter B and Larry Brisco's contracts come up, apparently they got signed for one-year deals; we sign them for another year, just to see if we can make something out of either of them. That, and they're cheap. Miguel Rivera and Bullseye were starting to badmouth each other in interviews. Pretty sure that's a feud nobody's interested in seeing. ... and just a few days before our show, Pee-Wee Germain, of all people, hands in his notice. That's gonna hurt. Where can we find a good replacement ref? CZCW Uprising 2021 Pre-Show: Kira Lee & Juliet Balconi def. Onslaught & Eureka (38). Show: Matt Sparrow retains the Xtreme Title over Bullseye, Quentin Queen, and Simon Waves (53). Miguel Rivera def. Al Coleman (52). Diaz & Tokoeka retain the COTT Tag Titles over International Express (Ellie de Grazia and Peter Broughton) (44). Waylon Walls def. Larry Briscoe (37). Frankie Perez def. Heartbreaker (59). Cali Slick def. CLM (55). The Inner City Express retains the Tag Team Titles over The Enforcers (Air Raid Syren and Zel Quinn) (49). Pablo retains the CZCW Title over Deadly Deadshot and American Flash (57). And in the main event, Masked Cougar retained the COTT Title over Tigre Salvage Jr (63). … Juliet Balconi has a strong connection with the young female demographic who really liked her winning. Well, then. Girl Power it is… also, Miguel and Coleman have great chemistry, as do Waylon and Larry. We’d have to remember that. And we just broke 80,000 viewers! On the next Coastal Zone: We're going to experiment with something... we're pre-booking a match! Next month, Masked Cougar vs Pable Rodriguez, non-title... with the loser putting their title on the line in the rematch at Welcome to the Coastal Zone!

When the holder of an alliance title signs an exclusive deal with a non-Alliance company, it looks like any Alliance titles they hold get vacated immediately. Maybe instead there should be some sort of 'AI booking note' to switch the titles off of them at the next available show, and only 'Vacate' the titles if one of the champs actually leaves all Alliance companies while holding a title? After thinking about it, I think this happens because you can't 'loan out' a worker who has signed an exclusive contract. Maybe there's a way to allow alliance loans during that 'pre-exclusive' period?

February 2021 Oh, hey, we’re in a regional battle. And we placed first out of third, so it sounds like we get a boost for the month. Go, us! So while the AI did a better job than us last year, we’re doing a better job than other companies’ AI. I don't feel quite so bad now. Deadly Deadshot had been working out, becoming more muscular. While we didn’t really care, it -did- show dedication. Does this mean we should use him more? Or less? Or... maybe it's just a thing? Just for fun, let's hire someone new. I go through and look at everyone with good basics, good psychology, and at least decent flying and technical skills. And only the unemployed ones. In the USA. That’s… still a decent list. Hrm. Narrow it down to people somewhat known in the Southwest… ah-ha. There we go. “The Q Man” Quentin Queen. A TCW School graduate who never got signed to the big time, has a great all-around game, and is 27 -- still young enough to want to make a run at the big boys after a couple years in the Zone. We make the offer (for dirt cheap, too). CZCW Vendetta 2021 Pre-show match: Ellie de Grazia, Larry Briscoe, and Juliet Balconi def. Heartbreaker, Eureka LaBelle, and Amy St. James (38). Your show: Cali Slick def. American Flash (59). Frankie Perez and the debuting Quentin Queen def. Team Red Blood (62). Matt Sparrow retains the Xtreme Title over Skye, Peter, and Zel (44). Inner City Express retain the Tag Titles over Gangster Nation -- who, we now discover, have absolutely zero chemistry (52). In a six-man match Storm Spillane, Kira Lee, and Onslaught defeat CLM, Coleman, and Air Raid Syren (43). Masked Cougar retained the COTT Title over Simon Waves (50). And in the main event, Frankie-Boy Fenandez loses the CZCW Title in a ladder match to Pablo Rodriguez (67). Why the change? Well, Frankie-Boy had gotten contract offers from USPW and TCW, and we’re no fools: When two big names come after you, you don’t stay put. Sure enough, he signed with USPW shortly after Vendetta; we had our first poaching. It wouldn't be our last. (Ooooh, foreshadowing!) On the next Coastal Zone: Backstage trouble begins brewing, and what member of CZCW will leave next? The answer will shock you! (No, that's not a pun, the word 'shock' isn't germane to the situation at all...)

January 2021 It was a crisp New Year's Day when I walked in to CZCW Headquarters (AKA the small non-gym area that was attached to the Coastal Resort training facility). I walked right up to Cliff Anderson and stated the obvious. "You're losing money." He looked back at me and said, "Who are you?" "Oh, right, different timeline... I've been watching. You've lost money this year. And if you keep it up, the Zone is out of business in three years, tops. But I have a solution for you. Hire me, as head booker, and I'll make sure you stay profitable." "... Fox Mask already books the shows, and he's doing okay." "I'll work for free." "So does he! Well, technically, I only pay him for announcing..." I froze. I was not expecting that. Money is usually the best way to convince Cliff to do anything, in any timeline, dimension, reality, whatever you want to call it. "How well does he handle the unexpected? He's okay with the tools you have... but you're going to lose a lot of those tools this year." I bluffed. I figured it was a good bluff; everyone loses the people they rely on eventually. Cliff stared me down for a few moments. "... and I will put money in an escrow account that will cover any money you lose while I'm booking." "Welcome aboard, Mister...?" "Just call me The Infinite Avatar. Now, let's get to work..." ----------------------------- My plan had been to just go straight to booking my first show. But seeing a new guy in charge, Storm Spillane took me aside for a conversation. He was looking for more money -- and you never want to ask Cliff for that, you want to ask the next guy in charge. Part of me wanted to tell him to stop buying steroids and he'll have money again. But part of me felt sorry for the guy. One mistake. And now his tag partner was in the big leagues and he was still here. And it turns out he could be getting twice as much as we're paying him, so we agree. We're already planning how to use him on the next show. ... a show where he's working for someone else instead. Dangit. … And it takes me ten minutes trying to figure out how to book a match before realizing I have to set the broadcaster to WrestleWorld first. This is not a good omen. -------------------------------------- Revolution 2021 We open with Bullseye winning a four-way over Eureka, Brisco, and Onslaught (37). Simon Waves defeated California Love Machine and Zel Quinn (35). The COTT Tag Titles are defended as Diaz and Tokoeka defeat Waylon Walls and Miguel Rivera (41). Deadly Deadshot defeated Al Coleman (51). Matt Sparrow & Air Raid Syren def. Heartbreaker & Juliet Balconi (42). The Inner City Express retain the CZCW Tag Tiles over California Dreams (39). Cali Slick defeats Peter Broughton, but has to work for it (41). Frankie Perez and Pablo Rodriguez defeat Masked Cougar and Tigre Salvaje Jr (58). And in our main event, FrankieBoy Fernandez retains the CZCW Title over American Flash (58). Final show rating: 56. Iiiiii bombed compared to what the AI booked in the last year. They were getting shows in the 60s with main events in the 70s. My problem? Apparently I need longer matches -- and Fox is stressed to the max trying to Road Agent everything for the night. I guess we know we need to make at least one hire before our next show… on the plus side? Nearly 74,000 viewers! -------------------------------------- Annnnd IPW has decided they really, really don’t like us now. Well, that’ll be… interesting… So, we need a road agent. We don’t want to hire someone who works elsewhere, and we want someone fairly local (As much as I’d love to bring in Super Ninja, flying him out from Japan could get expensive). Dylan left us for no reason, so that leaves us with exactly one option. Fabulous Frank, you’ve got a job offer. Oh. Hrm. Cliff gave us some goals. Let’s see… Two years, eight months to gain some popularity. Or really, “Don’t screw up for two years.” Okay. We can do that, we hope. And we can’t hire Comedy wrestlers or MMA Crossovers. Not a problem, boss! It seems like -everyone- wants more money. Maybe because I’m the new guy. I agree to all of it; worst case, I start booking less people. And I may have to; it’s a lot of pay raises, and they’re all at least double. Kira Lee and Air Raid Syren get jobs with QAW; good, twice the matches, twice the learning, right? That went well for a first month. We even made a little money. I’m sure all these pay raises will have no effect on us whatsoever.... … … … I’m sure… On the next Coastal Zone: We hire our first new wrestler, and perform an emergency title change.

Time to wrap up the 'Watcher' part of this dynasty. We know you're all waiting for the good stuff and how I can screw all this up... October-November-December 2020 October was the kind of month I would have expected if I was actually playing, not just watching. The good news is that Al Coleman and Willow are dating. The bad news? Chet Chavez? Carlos Barerra? Jonnie Perez? Tony DeWonderful? All gone. The Guru? Gone. Dylan Sidhe? Gone. Fox Mask was now head booker, 50% of the announce team, and the sole road agent. ... Cliff must love that, three jobs for one salary... Oh, and Storm doesn't show up for Hardcore Halloween, leading to lots of rumors... we find him a few days later, so everything's okay, but damn if we weren't expecting the worst. Also in here, the Zone hired on a few new names. Cali Slick, from GSW and Deadly Deadshot, from IPW. With Chet Chavez gone, the Inner City Express (Becker & Cash) win the vacant Tag Team Titles over Gangster Nation (Bullseye & Walls). MAtt Sparrow keeps defending the Xtreme Title against the younger crowd, hopefully teaching them a few things in the process. Cougar and Frankie-Boy keep having great matches, retaining their respective titles. ... and Christmas Cage Chaos had no cage matches. That -also- feels like something I would have done. For the year, the Zone has grown ever-so-slowly, just 1-2 points in a few places. They're also down thirty grand due to a horrible April-May-June where sponsorships from their WrestleWorld show weren't quite enough to offset the costs yet. The main problem with the roster is the tag team division. The champs are a great team; all our other teams are thrown-together teams except for the California Dreams (Kira Lee and Skye Hermosa), and they're still working on getting better. How is the world changing? Well, BHOTWG takes Promotion of the Year and has become Big; USPW has fallen to Medium. TCW and CWA both rose to Big and then dropped back down to Medium. So, there we are. The simmed 2020. On New Year's Day, the database is saved and a new game started, and so the fun will begin! ... oh, right. The thing that majorly bummed me out. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise as we have a traditional ten-ring-bell salute to the man, the myth, the legend... Jim Force, taken too soon in October 2020.

April-May-June 2020 (now on Retail) Two new Coastal Resort graduates join the Zone, the light-techie-flippy Peter Broughton and the kinda-coasted-through-training Larry Brisco. The Zone's very own 'Ravishing Red' Juliet Balconi (... I just got that... dammit, Ryland...) is going to film a cameo on a popular TV show! That can't take more than, what, a week? No title changes happen during these months, but Frankie Perez and Pablo Rodriguez seem to be competing to see who can have the better match every night. July-August-September 2020 Now things are beginning to happen. Hugh de Aske gets hired away by USPW; Marvel Mallow gets signed by TCW, but they leave Storm Spillane alone; El Jaguar and Swipe Romero both just let their contracts expire and leave. GSW decides to add some Zone flavor to their roster, adding Carlos Barerra, Frankie-Boy Fernandez, Frankie Perez, and Miguel Rivera to their roster. You want new champions? We got new champions! We got -all- new champions! Matt Sparrow takes the Xtreme Title off Jonnie Perez; Masked Cougar takes the COTT Title off Pablo Rodriguez; The Beach Boys (Chett Chavez and Simon Waves) grab the Tag Team Titles from Notorious; and Frankie-Boy Fernandez takes the CZCW Title from Frankie Perez. ... that last one... yeah, we're pretty sure the booker is mocking us. 'cause accidentally selecting the wrong Frankie to win a title match sounds like something we would have done back in the day... On the next Coastal Zone: With all-new Champions, how will the Coastal Zone handle The Month Of WTF? And for the first time in a long time, something that happened to a fictional wrestler in a simulated game has made me very, very sad.

March 2020 (Now on Patch #15) Storm Spillane's career seemed to be doing just fine; this month he moved to Mexico to be closer to OLLIE, and he still co-holds the COTT and BCG tag team titles (the latter of which he won last month, apparently) with Marvel Malloy. Also, we've learned that the news is not going to tell us everything that happened to everyone on the roster, so we'll have to check it ourselves. Fun! Pablo Rodriguez has a good month, showing up in OLLIE on a one-shot deal for a six-man match. Independant wrestling goes -huge-in Hawaii, with a card with -20- (!!!) matches on it. CZCW Uprising was a decent show: Jonnie Perez retained the Xtreme Title over Frankie-Boy Fernandez; Pablo retained the COTT Heavyweight Title against Coleman, Sparrow, and Flash; and Frankie Perez defeated Masked Cougar to retain the CZCW Title. Oh, and apparently the Zone is now available on WrestleWorld. So we'll see how that changes things... given that EVERYONE seems to be on WrestleWorld. It's us, MAW, QAW, NYCW, APCW, PSW, FCW, IPW, and GSW. That's a Who's Who of American and Canadian smaller companies.

<p>Okay, I've been thinking about the whole Product thing for a while now, and I think I've managed to articulate my feelings on it. So here goes.</p><p> </p><p> This is a sandbox, so you should be able to set your company's product however you like. However, it is also a simulation, so setting your product to be Sexy Naked Barbed-Wire Deathmatches should result in a quick descent into bankruptcy and game over.</p><p> </p><p> Or in other words: Not all products are going to be viable because there's no (or not a big enough) audience for them. Audiences want certain things, and doing things like "It's WWE but with the comedy slider moved down" isn't going to really distinguish them much -- it's still Sports Entertainment. The pre-made products cover everything viable, and some that -might- be viable, given the audience of the world. Anything else won't work. </p><p> </p><p> So as much as a Hyper-Realistic Lucha Comedy company sounds interesting, in practice it's such an unworkable product that it just doesn't exist. And if it was allowed to exist, we'd have countless threads of "Why doesn't my product get anyone coming to events/watching shows/go bankrupt so fast?"</p><p> </p><p> Sometimes, sandboxes need limits.</p>

And now, our first update from the watcher portion of the dynasty. January 2020 Frankie Perez wins Indy Wrestler of the Year for 2019. To show you just how important this, he is... not even on the list of the 100 most popular wrestlers in the world. Or even just in the USA. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even make the top 100 in the Southwest. (Pablo is on those lists tho; #78 in the world, #98 in the USA.) CZCW Revolution sees Johnnie Perez take the Xtreme Title from Hugh de Aske and Frankie Perez retain in a four-way over Flash, Cougar, and Coleman. February 2020 CZCW Vendetta has a lot of rookies on the pre-show. We also have Johnnie retaining over CLM, Frankie retaining over Coleman, and a main event of Pablo defeating Cougar. A week later, Storm Spillane was caught with illegal steroids. How will this change the young man's career? Well... we don't know yet, 'cause that's our two months. See y'all once the game releases!

The main problem is, everyone wants this game to be their version of perfect... because let's face it, what else is there like it? There is no AEW, Impact, NJPW, or AAA to TEW's WWE. If we don't like changes, we can't go anywhere else. So people are going to get extremely up-in-arms about things they don't like. We all have to accept that not everything will be 'perfect' for us. If we want something changed, be nice about it, because somebody, somewhere, likes it how it is, and there's no point in getting other people angry.

So, it looks like we'll have to wait a bit before getting into the meat of the action, so some insight into where the world is as we start this thing... The State of the World (As Pertains To Wrestling) Since we're mainly interested in the United States for this dynasty, I can tell you right away that things are pretty bad. The economy is at 33 and slowly rising, but the wrestling industry is at a shocking 14... and still falling. The coming year is probably going to be pretty harsh, as the only people still following wrestling are the die-hard fans... and we know how hard it is to please die-hard fans. Worldwide, wrestling is actually doing... mostly okay; Mexico is the lone exception, with the industry rated at 18 and falling. The UK has 29 and rising, Europe 24 and rising, Japan 58 and falling, and Oceania... we'll mention them in a moment. Economy-wise, the world has been better. Mexico is okay at 62, but falling. Europe is 38 and falling, the UK is 32 and falling, Canada is 17 and falling, and Japan is -5- and still falling. In other words, it's probably a bad time to get into the wrestling business. The one exception is Oceania, with an economy of 87 and a wrestling industry of 85, both rising. So believe me, there's a good chance that when my one-year 'watcher' period is up I may just take over CZCW and move it to Sydney or something. Or not. I'm trying to do this somewhat organically...

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Unregistered" data-cite="Unregistered" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47575" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm slightly sad we won't be seeing it start from the beginning, but whatever keeps you interested! <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Ah, you misunderstand. You'll see everything from the start -- the start just won't be until January 2021. Unless something weird happens in the meantime.</p><p> </p><p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p> Anyway, a quick primer on some Coastal Zone concepts. These may not be 'Cornellverse Canon' but it's how I roll.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Theme Music</strong></p><p> You don't get theme music in the Coastal zone unless a) you've won a title here, b) you're holding a title in a same-sized or larger company, or c) you're well-known enough that your music alone is enough to pop a Coastal Zone crowd. Otherwise, you need to earn your music with a title win. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Tidal Booking</strong></p><p> Tidal Booking was created by Cliff Anderson as a cost-saving measure back in the 90s and is, at its core, a slightly more complicated version of the 2-o-3-falls match. Used exclusively for the CZCW Tidal Tag Titles, the original concept was that a challenging tag team would have two singles matches, each member of the challenging team facing one of the current champions. If they couldn't win at least one match, they didn't deserve a Tag Title match. If they won one of the matches, they would get a title match later in the show.</p><p> </p><p> This worked fine for years, until some booker (who shall remain nameless) decided to compress things a bit and blend it with a 'Three stages of hell' match, where the first two falls were singles matches and the final fall, if needed, would be a tag match. In 2007, Remmy Skye and Frankie Perez won the Tag Team Titles by winning both singles matches (against Citizen X and Insane Machine, respectively). The fans felt cheated out of a tag match and decided (quite rightly) that the idea of winning tag team titles in singles matches wasn't a good idea. </p><p> </p><p> <em>Presenter instructions: Display a frame of Big E winning the tag titles in a triple-threat singles match on Smackdown, pause for audience laughter, then continue.</em></p><p> </p><p> That booker's not around anymore, and Tidal Booking has returned to a "1-of-2-falls" match concept, where a pair of singles matches are fought to 'qualify' for a title shot. If both matches are lost, no title shot; if one is won, title shot. If both are won, it doesn't automatically win you the titles, but it certainly gives you the morale advantage -- only twice in Zone history has a defending team recovered from losing both singles matches and been able to rally to retain their titles later that night.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Triangle Tournament</strong></p><p> The Triangle Tournament is a quasi-semi-annual event that usually occurs when we have no clear current contender for the CZCW Title (and, occasionally, the Xtreme Title). Usually taking place over an entire show, three triple-threat matches are held, with the winners facing each other in one final triple-threat match. Cliff doesn't like doing these too often, because nine people for four matches is more expensive than eight people for four matches, but fans enjoy them for their fast-paced action and the fact that the wrestlers have to innovate to match each match feel different.</p>