Alucidus

Alright. I'm playing WCW and I'm owned by Time Warner. None of the broadcasters under the Time Warner umbrella want to negotiate with me. What are my options here?

<p>Has anybody actually had this happen to them in-game for real?</p><p> </p><p> Edit: Also, team of the future?</p><p> <a href="https://imgur.com/iTKGWVd" rel="external nofollow">https://imgur.com/iTKGWVd</a></p>

<p>Punk is in my developmental league. The pic was a pic of his stats in development.</p><p> He's almost ready to come to the main roster.</p><p> And when I say "ready" I mean that he's hit his cap in development. Because his stats are still pretty bad (59 basics, 55 psych, 52,56,57 mic, charisma, acting. highest in-ring skill is brawling at 51 etc).</p><p> So no, Punk's ceiling right now is the straight man in a comedy tag team with Colt Cabana. </p><p> Trust me, coming from a Punk fan this is heartbreaking.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="DatIsraeliGuy" data-cite="DatIsraeliGuy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41174" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In that case, go the best route and sign CM Punk and push him to the roof, Booker T and Rey Mysterio as your more immediate stars and RVD if he’s free</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> RVD has a written contract with ECW and CM Punk...well CM Punk isn't ready to be pushed to the anything yet. </p><p> </p><p> <img alt="AWwhNCM" data-src="https://imgur.com/AWwhNCM" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="DatIsraeliGuy" data-cite="DatIsraeliGuy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41174" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>IF you don’t want to accidentally rise to National, you can set the maximum size to Cult in the company screen under “size”, that way even if you should rise to National you’ll stay at Cult as long as you want</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I already did that.</p><p> The sad thing is if I were national right now I would win the National Battle because Hogan is back and Austin is still injured. But I can't be national again for another 5 months, and I'm still in a position where one sub-optimal segment could knock one of my main storylines below 77, causing the entire show to suffer, possibly knocking me back down anyway and most of my main event matches have their rating capped because otherwise I'm asking 40-somethings to go 15 minutes. By the time I get my ducks in a row Nash will probably be fired and Austin will be back complete with his almost-perfect National Battle score.</p>

<p>Alright. Update on WCW 2000. I won't be doing this for every month but the first few months will be so tumultuous that it seems productive to do so.</p><p> </p><p> So it's February, I'm Cult sized. I just realized that becoming national again may border on impossible because I won't be ready to go national again until after all my old popular guys are gone or out of the main event scene at which point I'll have to deal with Rock, Austin, Taker, Big Show, etc in national battles. In addition at this point WWE is international and their top guys have a popularity I probably won't be able to match. </p><p> </p><p> I figure my best chance is to snipe Jericho and Angle from WWE when the opportunity arises and groom John Cena (whom I signed to a developmental contract because he didn't start the game in OVW) for a main event role. </p><p> </p><p> But onto the here and now.</p><p> Kevin Nash is suspended for beating up Brad Armstrong, which is a problem because Kevin Nash is currently in a world title program with DDP. At this point I'm really glad I went with Page as the champion instead of Nash. I decide to plug in Piper for the month and proceed to be grateful that I still have him under contract. </p><p> </p><p> Then Ric Flair forms a clique with Arn and Piper. And I wish Piper wasn't under contract. Shane Douglas asked for his release a week before this. It's like he knew.</p><p> </p><p> I sign 19 workers to developmental contracts, which seems like a lot until you realize their combined salary is less than Bam Bam Bigelow's. As mentioned earlier I signed John Cena out of a sort of spite; if I can't have WWE's present, then I'll have their future. But now I realize I may actually need him to play a big part in the product in the future. The far future. </p><p> </p><p> Rikishi's contract came up. I made an offer more out of an attempt to run up his price than to actually sign him. Unfortunately despite having the better offer on the table he signed with the E anyway. That's what happens when you use negotiation as your dump stat.</p><p> </p><p> Then Austin's contract came up. Unfortunately he wouldn't sign with me because I'm too small. I now realize that if Hogan wasn't taking a break I would have won the national battle that month and I'd still be national, which would give me the chance to drastically change the course of the Monday Night Wars. But eh, that's too easy.</p><p> </p><p> I sign Ricky Steamboat and Rey Misterio Sr. as Road Agents, added some amenities backstage, sent Sullivan down to development to train, and drove Shane Douglas to ask for his release (it's not hard, just make him job a few times, leave him off TV and boom) That combined with my biggest troublemakers being on hiatus allowed my locker room to recover.</p><p> </p><p> Then Sid returned. He lasted for a show before the Flair/Arn/Piper clique started turning the locker room against him. I know how this works so I decide to try to nip it in the bud by sending Sid away until Piper's contract comes up and the Flair clique is broken up. I have the feeling this won't work. A harmonious locker room is more essential than Sid's presence.</p><p> </p><p> My first few shows I continued to lose pop until the locker room stabilized. At that point I realize I can probably stay at the pop level I'm currently at pretty easily. Locker room harmony is essential.</p><p> </p><p> Then Hogan came back. Nothing bad has come from this yet. The locker room lost a few points but it's still in the high 80's. </p><p> </p><p> Unfortunately Norman Smiley missed a road agent meeting and after trying to be lenient about it his personality got worse. Now he's a negative influence on the locker room forcing me to consider releasing him. He is not nearly important enough to be dragging down the locker room score. </p><p> </p><p> After Superbrawl Nash came back. In one day he turned 25 workers against Brad Armstrong. Unfortunately this is not fireable offense so in order to mitigate the damage I sent Brad down to development to be a trainer. Hopefully some of the simmering tension will wear off over time and I'll be able to bring him back.</p><p> </p><p> Henning, Savage and Piper all have their contracts up this month. Henning has been out for the duration and I really didn't have him in my future plans so I let him go, only to realize he's still pretty popular and he's a locker room leader. So that was a bit of a mistake. Savage and Piper are gone without a moments hesitation though.</p><p> </p><p> At the end of the month I was suspecting to take a loss, given that I spent 1M on the development territory so I was shocked to learn that I actually made more money than the month before. I guess that's a benefit of having the operating budget of a Cult company and the TV deals of a national company. But those deals end after this month. So April is going to be the real test of what this company's finances will be for the foreseeable future.</p><p> </p><p> Also: Bret Hart has apparently decided that Post-Concussion Syndrome is no reason to retire. I'm not resigning him though. That would be cheating.</p>

<p>Speaking of WCW.</p><p> (Buckle up, this is going to be a long one).</p><p> </p><p> My NECW 0/0/0 game is going quite well. Well enough that I decided to start a new game because that's how I am. For reasons I won't go into I've watched a fair degree of 2000's WCW over the past year and I asked myself 'what could they even have done with this mess'</p><p> </p><p> So I decided to find out. I saw that there is a Jan 2000 historical mod in the 2013 mod archives so I dug that out and converted it. The first thing I notice is that in this mod The Radicalz are still in WCW and Bret Hart is not-retired. This will not do. So before I started the game I moved all the Radicalz to the WWF and retired Bret Hart to really get that 'this is the point of no return' feel WCW had in Jan 2000. </p><p> </p><p> I fire up the game and it is every bit as insane as I thought it would be. </p><p> All 7 of the 'true' active main eventers have pops ranging from 70-80, which isn't nearly good enough for a National company. Of the 7, 6 of them are disciplinary headaches, 5 are heels, 2 are faces. I decide to even things out by turning Sid Vicious face. So 3 and 3. This is good. Except Lex Luger wrestled wasted forcing me to send him to rehab for 8 months. Then Hall wrestled drunk, which I absolutely saw coming; so to rehab he goes for the remainder of his contract. So now we're down to 3 faces and 2 heels. And then I remember that Sting, Hogan and Goldberg are on the shelf. 3 more main event faces, which will create a massive inequity when they return. I have Piper and Savage in the short turn, whom I was loathe to use because they're occasional wrestlers. But their contracts are up in two months. </p><p> </p><p> So for the first month I desperately try to keep the show ratings high, which means no room for experimentation because with things the way they are my best workers are just barely capable of maintaining two 77 rated storylines at a time. </p><p> </p><p> Oh, did I mention that in this mod the 12 workers I've mentioned have a combined salary of 1.3 Million Dollars a month. I can't even release them because it would be financially crippling. 12 workers, 1.3 million dollars and as of right now only 5 of them are active. I wound up sending Sid on vacation because he wouldn't stop getting Morale dings on account of being isolated in the locker room and Nash has gotten suspended for beating up Brad Armstrong. Basically the financial future of this company it tethered to how long these contracts are around my neck. I can get rid of Piper and Savage in 2 months, Hall in 6, but I'm stuck with the rest for the next 2-3 years depending.</p><p> </p><p> Luckily, I still made a profit my 1st month.</p><p> Unluckily I also dropped to Cult after losing the national battle to the WWE.</p><p> And all of my TV contracts are up in 2 months. And Turner Broadcasting/TNT/TBS won't negotiate with me, forcing me to wonder if I'll still be able to turn a profit once that happens, because if I can't there's not much I can do about it. This is really the only real problem. You can ride out everything else, just not losing money.</p><p> </p><p> At which point it's operation 'drive the bad contracts into quitting'. I'm already there with Nash. Just waiting for him to get into another fight and that's 150k/mo in my pocket.</p><p> </p><p> Creatively much like the actual WCW of the time I'm going with the youth movement. Except with good youths. I took a necessary risk and spent 1M on a developmental territory and signed all your usual indie darlings of 2000 suspects to it. I'm bringing in more road agents and higher character workers to try the mitigate the damage my overpaid idiots are doing backstage. My first creative goal is to push Rey Mysterio Jr. to the world title. I'm also gearing up Booker T, Juventud, and Steven Regal to a point where they can carry the brand once I start kicking the old money to the curb. </p><p> </p><p> This is where being Cult is useful. The pressure of gaining pop is lessened so I can experiment and rebuild. If I lose some pop, I'll regain it once the company's turnover plans come to fruition. In that vein I'll be transferring Thunder to 'B' show status once I switch stations, since I really don't want 2 opportunities to lose pop per week. </p><p> </p><p> But this is a 2 year plan and I'm on month 2. Here's to hoping all these ridiculous contracts don't kill me. Suggestions welcome.</p>

<p>May 96 mod. Started with a 0/0/0 fed. Am currently in 2003.</p><p> </p><p> I'm still at regional. Not close to getting to Cult yet but I have my main region around I just put on the best show of my company's life.</p><p> </p><p> - <strong>Sexton Hardcastle</strong> and <strong>Claudio Castagnoli</strong> defeated <strong>The Briscoe Bros</strong> <strong>[50]</strong></p><p> Claudio and Sexton were a throw-in team. Sexton has sort of been my Roman Reigns, a guy I've tried to get over but it just hasn't worked. The Briscoes are still pretty green here.</p><p> </p><p> - <strong>Shane Helms</strong> defeated <strong>Rob Conway</strong> <strong>[58]</strong></p><p> Helms is one the 6 guys I started the company with and is easily the best of the bunch. He was champion until recently. Unfortunately the program was not kind to him so he went on a bit of a losing streak. This is a bounceback match. Conway is the biggest disappointment on the roster. Consistently puts on the worst performance on the card despite having one of the better statlines in the company. </p><p> </p><p> - Confrontation between <strong>Brian Danielson</strong> and <strong>Mike Quackenbush</strong> with <strong>Micheal Buffer</strong>. <strong>[58]</strong></p><p> Buffer handles both commentary and interview work in the fed, which is a bit obnoxious because I have to take him off commentary every time I do an angle. Quack has gone over the bend and is apoplectic about his inability to beat Danielson. Danielson tries to placate him but Quack is having none of it.</p><p> (I don't do really complex angles)</p><p> </p><p> 6 Man Match:</p><p> <strong>Jay Lethal</strong> and <strong>The Altitude Era</strong>(Blitzkrieg and Scott Taylor) defeated <strong>Cham Pain</strong> and <strong>The Addiction</strong>(Daniels and Kazarian) <strong>[54]</strong></p><p> </p><p> I flat out messed up the booking on this match. It was supposed to be the whole '2 singles guys and 2 tag teams who are feuding have a 6 man match' except The Altitude Era and The Addiction weren't feuding.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Kevin Steen</strong> defeated <strong>Lenny Lane</strong> <strong>[41]</strong></p><p> Steen is still pretty green and not over. Lane was one of my original 6 but he peaked at 'less than mediocre' so once I got better workers he had outlived his usefulness.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Micheal Buffer</strong> interviews <strong>AJ Styles</strong> <strong>[68]</strong></p><p> Styles is already one of the most over workers in the company.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>AJ Styles</strong> defeated <strong>CM Punk</strong> <strong>[70]</strong></p><p> By contrast CM Punk isn't quite there yet. He's a next big thing but he needed to be carried to this rating (the performance numbers were 75/45)</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Bryan Danielson</strong> went to a double DQ with <strong>Kurt Angle</strong> <strong>[76]</strong></p><p> To date, the highest ranked match I've ever had with this company. I got a huge stroke of luck with Danielson. I snatched him early and then AJPW and NJPW kept using him for tours, which caused his stats to skyrocket. I acquired Kurt Angle as something of a 'ringer' because amazingly nobody had signed him and I needed a little something extra to win the regional battles at the time. Unfortunately he throws a fit whenever he's asked to job to anybody but Danielson.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Glenn Jacobs</strong> destroys everybody. <strong>[85]</strong></p><p> And the show ends with Glenn Jacobs destroying both Danielson and Angle. I got Jacobs at the same time I got Angle and he has the same problem when I ask him to job to anybody. I guess the problem is they're national stars and the rest of my roster are only regional stars (even if their popularity in my region is equivalent). Anyway this is easily the highest ranked segment I've ever done. Gotta love Menace.</p><p> </p><p> For now, my spot is my spot. I'm making plenty of money, I don't have to worry about hitting Cult for a few more years. I don't have to worry about regional battles much because the companies that challenged me either went up to Cult or went out of business. And most of my young stars (most importantly Danielson) are loyal so I don't have to worry about them getting sniped (Though WCW only seems to want to snipe the WWF and WWF doesn't sign many workers anyway. Worst case scenario I lose Angle. Jacobs is already in decline so no loss there).</p>

<p>Ok, now a small question about motivation.</p><p> </p><p> So I'm running a tiny indie fed in TEW 2016. I have Rob Conway on my roster. Now I never really intended Conway to be anything bigger than a midcarder and I have been booking him as such. Thing is; he showed some promise in the form of having faster psych growth than most of his peers. </p><p> </p><p> But the thing is: despite having stats that are generally equivalent and psych that is generally higher than his peers he consistently puts on really bad performances. I was curious as to why. His consistency stat is high, he has no apparent drug issues, his morale is average, his momentum is average. </p><p> </p><p> I kept seeing the chemistry (motivation) penalty in his matches. I've seen this note before in other workers and haven't thought anything about it. But this time out of curiosity I decided to look it up.</p><p> </p><p> Apparently that note happens because a worker can't cope with pressure.</p><p> </p><p> He's not the only one who has that note though. Sexton Hardcastle also gets that penalty but he is capable of putting on much better matches with comparable stats.</p><p> </p><p> So my question is: Is it possible for the Chemistry(motivation) penalty to utterly cripple a worker?</p>

<p>Moving on in my May 96 New England Championship Wrestling 0/0/0 report.</p><p> </p><p> I've moved up to regional. I struggled to hit regional due to losing regional battles to WWC and TEWG (Total Extreme Wrestling Group, AI created company) so I finally hired a couple of more expensive workers in the form of Kurt Angle and a recently released from WWF Glenn Jacobs. </p><p> </p><p> Meanwhile Brian Danielson has gain amazing gains due to touring with both NJPW and AJPW. An extended program with Angle has lead to me both winning the regional battles and getting my first two 70+ ranked matches. The angle has led to a Charlie Haas heel turn and a face turn for the original "figurehead" of the company, Shane Helms.</p><p> </p><p> Glenn immediately got put into a feud with Sexton Hardcastle. The goal was to get Hardcastle over, unfortunately Glenn is enraged at the notion of jobbing to him so he's actually lost popularity as a result of this feud.</p><p> </p><p> AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels are doing what they do, getting entwined in a series of great matches.</p><p> </p><p> With the rise to regional, the NECW Tag Team Titles have finally been implemented with the finals of the inaugural feud coming down to 2-Count (Jamie Knoble and Shannon Moore) vs. The Regulators (Chris Justice and Rick Fuller). What other tag teams will get into the mix in this budding decision?</p><p> </p><p> Samoa Joe continues his rampage against Mike Quackenbush for the title of 'best submission artist in NECW'</p><p> </p><p> A bidding war with the newly opened RoH for up-and-comer CM Punk has resulted in both companies getting their way (since it's PPA after all) but Punk ending up loyal to RoH. Can't win em all.</p><p> </p><p> Even more interesting is the AI dealing with WCW and WWF.</p><p> </p><p> The year is now 2002. Age is starting to catch up with WCW's main event scene. Despite pillaging WWF's main eventers in 96-97 WCW finds itself falling behind in match quality, leading to an incomprehensible comeback for WWF retaking the slot of #1 company in the world despite only having 2 workers with 80+ (or that that matter 70+) pop in Mankind and Shawn Micheals. And Shawn departed to make a movie for 6 months in 2001 leaving the main event of Wrestlemania 17 to be Yokozuna vs. Jeff Jarrett which scored a whopping 68.</p><p> </p><p> Unfortunately WCW is stuck sticking the declining talent in the main event scene and getting middling results while Shawn can light it up on anybody on the other side of things. An inconceivable World Title switch occurred when Lord Steven Regal bested Randy Savage for the belt despite being about the 15th most popular worker in the company. His reign lasted for all of 2 defenses before losing to Davey Boy Smith.</p>

So the issue seems to have resolved itself. I've gone from gaining a point every 4-5 shows to gaining a point every 2 shows. There are two possible explanations for this. 1) The Wrestling Industry got out of the toilet. Even a jump from 1-30 seemed to have a tangible effect on how quickly I gained points. (Reminder, my product is not rocked by industry changes) 2) At the same time the economy recovered. My little company doesn't have enough income to match the production values of my rivals, but once I started making more money I was able to at least mitigate this by raising my production a little. Obviously my show ratings went up a bit, but my shows were already good enough to gain me popularity. So do production penalties only have an effect on show rating or can they directly affect pop gains?

No that's not it. My product isn't affected by that. Than what is it I wonder. I know popularity goes up by fractions but this seems maybe a little extreme, especially since I was gaining a full point every other show when I was starting.

Does Wrestling Industry/Economy ratings affect how much popularity you gain from a show? Because right now Industry is in the toliet in my game and I haven't gained a single numerical point despite running 4-5 shows that have increased my popularity. For the record, I'm a small company with 15 pop who has been routinely putting up 32-36 rated cards if that's a factor.

May 96 mod. Decided to found New England Championship Wrestling as a 0/0/0 company. September 99 now. 0/0/0 games are slow so I'm only at 14 importance. I'm gaining pop at every show still but the numerical gains are slow. I've only been able to put on 32-36 rated shows because I'm getting dunked on in terms of production values. Right now my Champion is Sexton Hardcastle, who won the title from Rick Fuller. Since I'm only running monthly (or bi-monthy if I feel like losing money that month) storylines are rudimentary at best. My 16 man roster is: Sexton Hardcastle (aka Edge) Rick Fuller Chris Justice (aka Abyss) Jamie Knoble Shane Helms (The biggest workhorse in my company) Shannon Moore Chris Harris Frankie Kazarian AJ Styles Rob Conway Mike Quackenbush Cham Pain Charlie Haas Nick Dinsmoore Blitzkrieg Lenny Lane But the real interesting thing is what's happening with the AI. WCW PILLAGED WWF to a degree I have never seen before. They stole WWF's entire main event roster excluding Shawn. Bret, Owen, Bulldog, Taker, Piper, Warrior, Vader, all gone. And this is the May 96 mod so this happens right after Nash and Hall are gone. So all the WWF has left is Shawn. Their second most popular worker is Goldust who had a 71 or so pop. Until he died a Kenny death. Now you have Shawn at 88 pop, the second and third most popular characters in the company are Marlena and Sunny who are both in the 80's. The second most popular worker is Mankind at 69 pop. So of course Yokozuna has been world champion for a year and a half. And the world tag champs, for the last 2+ years is Stone Cold Steve Austin and Leif Cassidy. They are so doomed.

May 96 mod. Decided to found New England Championship Wrestling as a 0/0/0 company. September 99 now. 0/0/0 games are slow so I'm only at 14 importance. I'm gaining pop at every show still but the numerical gains are slow. I've only been able to put on 32-36 rated shows because I'm getting dunked on in terms of production values. Right now my Champion is Sexton Hardcastle, who won the title from Rick Fuller. Since I'm only running monthly (or bi-monthy if I feel like losing money that month) storylines are rudimentary at best. My 16 man roster is: Sexton Hardcastle (aka Edge) Rick Fuller Chris Justice (aka Abyss) Jamie Knoble Shane Helms (The biggest workhorse in my company) Shannon Moore Chris Harris Frankie Kazarian AJ Styles Rob Conway Mike Quackenbush Cham Pain Charlie Haas Nick Dinsmoore Blitzkrieg Lenny Lane But the real interesting thing is what's happening with the AI. WCW PILLAGED WWF to a degree I have never seen before. They stole WWF's entire main event roster excluding Shawn. Bret, Owen, Bulldog, Taker, Piper, Warrior, Vader, all gone. And this is the May 96 mod so this happens right after Nash and Hall are gone. So all the WWF has left is Shawn. Their second most popular worker is Goldust who had a 71 or so pop. Until he died a Kenny death. Now you have Shawn at 88 pop, the second and third most popular characters in the company are Marlena and Sunny who are both in the 80's. The second most popular worker is Mankind at 69 pop. So of course Yokozuna has been world champion for a year and a half. And the world tag champs, for the last 2+ years is Stone Cold Steve Austin and Leif Cassidy. They are so doomed.

<p>About that.</p><p> There seem to be quite a few mods missing from the list.</p><p> Does the list not include '13 mods that were updated to 2016?</p><p> Because I thought at least Montreal 97 was updated but I don't see it on the list.</p>

<p>I do not believe that rehab time is based upon type of drug use.</p><p> </p><p> Alright, I turned the corner in my 0/0/0 game and am starting to make a profit. Too late unfortunately as I've just gotten a bankruptcy warning. How long do I have? I assume not long enough since I assume it will take me 6-9 months to get back into the black.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="shawn michaels 82" data-cite="shawn michaels 82" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Unless your product is focused on mainstream, it May very well be because of economy and wrestling industry. How are your attendances compared to your other game?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Oh I think that's the problem. I turned mainstream down to medium and was probably getting squeezed on sponsorship.</p>

<p>Ok, so I tried doing a 0/0/0 challenge.</p><p> I kept prices as low as I could. I only have 6 workers and a ref. I only run one show a month. But I'm still losing a good deal of money each month.</p><p> How long can I get away with this? I tried doing a 0/0/10,000$ challenge and I was making a profit right from the getgo to the point where I didn't need the 10,000$ so I'm not sure what's going wrong here. I'm not sure IF something is going wrong here.</p>

<p>May 96' The War Begins.</p><p> </p><p> As of January 1st 1998.</p><p> </p><p> Armageddon, the last WWF PPV of the year ending with 2 titles changing hands, with <strong>Dean Malenko</strong> winning the IC title off of dominant champion <strong>Lance Storm</strong> and <strong>Owen Hart</strong> defeating <strong> "Stone Cold" Steve Austin</strong> to finally win the WWF World Heavyweight Title.</p><p> </p><p> -The odd alliance of <strong>Chris Jericho</strong> and <strong>"The Big Bad Booty Daddy" Scott Steiner's</strong> goal of ridding the WWF of <strong>The Undertaker</strong> once and for all has hit a snag now that <strong>Mankind</strong> has arrived to even the odds.</p><p> </p><p> -The newly dubbed "Global Elite": <strong>Chris Benoit</strong> and <strong>Steven Regal</strong> have scored one of the biggest wins of their regime, defeating <strong>Goldust</strong> and <strong>Syxx</strong> with the help of their new manager, <strong>Bobby Heenan</strong>. Bobby sounds like he has big plans and this might just be the beginning for the Global Elite.</p><p> </p><p> -After a series of great matches <strong>Bret Hart</strong> has finally emerged triumphant over <strong>The Great Muta</strong>. The loss has done little to deter Muta's momentum. </p><p> </p><p> -<strong>Eddy Guerrero</strong> after defeating <strong>Ken Shamrock</strong> has declared his intention to win the 1998 Royal Rumble. On the other end Bret Hart has declared it his dream to main event with his brother for the WWF world Heavyweight title at Wrestlemania XIV. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Al Snow</strong>'s bizarre Brood "The Snowflakes" (<strong>Abyss and Viscera</strong>) have vanquished <strong>The Hardys</strong> to retain their World Tag Team titles, but at a terrible price. Viscera shattered his elbow and will out of action for the next 13 months.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>The British Bulldog</strong> can feel his relevance and career shortening with each passing day. This fear has led to a desperate push for the World Title, and an attempt to stifle any young greenhorns who might cut ahead of him in line. Unfortunately for him, his attempt to muscle <strong>Rey Mysterio Jr. </strong> out of his slot has ended in failure. Unfortunately for Rey, his ascent has caught the attention of Bulldog's partner in Camp Cornette, <strong>Vader</strong></p><p> </p><p> In other news.</p><p> </p><p> As of January 1st 1998 4 of the 5 core members of the Clique are presently unemployed. Here's how it went down.</p><p> </p><p> 1)The Clique, having proven problematic backstage needed to be dismantled. While I recently signed Sean "Syxx" Waltman to a 3 year deal no such deal was made with Triple H and consequently he was released when his contract lapsed in January 1997</p><p> </p><p> 2)After 9 months of rehab failed to stymie's Shawn desire to bury Bret in the locker room at every opportunity he was let go. Surprisingly WCW did not sign him. Other than a tour with a tiny British indy fed he has been the greatest all around unemployed wrestler in the world for most of 1997.</p><p> </p><p> 3)<span>http://i66.tinypic.com/333hb8w.jpg</span></p><p> Yeah.</p><p> </p><p> 4)After being pushed to main event level, seeing his attitude get worse and not being able to correct it or placate him, Syxx was released in December of 1997.</p><p> </p><p> So only, of all people, Scott Hall is presently employed of the 5. I could bring HHH back easily enough, but my UMC heels are pretty solid atm. </p><p> </p><p> -National Battle Score as of January in USA: 3889 Points: </p><p> 1) The Undertaker (854)</p><p> 2) Steve Austin (811)</p><p> 3) Bret Hart (783)</p><p> 4) Owen Hart (751)</p><p> 5) Scott Steiner (690)</p><p> </p><p> Still probably lower than WCW, but it can't be helped. Taker is the only guy I have with an SQ of 91+, except for Rocky but he is nowhere near ready for the main event. Luckily WCW seems at this point unable to rise above cult. (And even if they did Nash is gone and Hogan/Savage/Flair/Piper have passed their relevancy ages and their SQ is starting to sink).</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jericho99" data-cite="Jericho99" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>In my dirt sheet, it says that my matches are getting penalised/capped for short match. Since you can't set that in the product anymore, and I seem to have missed this feature up until this point, can anyone let me know what the go with that is?? Thanks!</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Every match under 20 minutes gets capped at a base score of 80.</p><p> This has galled me a bit since I feel like I have to run multiple 20 minute matches every Raw to appease my broadcaster (who demands an 82 minimum).</p><p> </p><p> 1) Also: I'm not 100% sure the "Segment was penalized for lack of a hot storyline" works quite correctly as I've gotten that note, along with the "Segment was penalized for <storyline>'s low heat" note on matches with major participants in the storyline on opposite sides. </p><p> </p><p> 2) Starting to have a bit of a problem managing some of my younger workers. I had to cut strings with Syxx in my 96' game due to him becoming uncontrollable. Chris Jericho looks to be going the same route and Rocky Maivia and Rey Mysterio Jr. have had their sliders move to the right a bit despite not pushing them beyond midcarder and upper midcarder respectively. I know that 2016 has a mechanic where younger workers become problematic if they're pushed too soon, but is there a way to curtail this before it becomes a problem other than burying them until they're in their 30's?</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Gamex173" data-cite="Gamex173" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41194" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Another small question...I have never seen this occur but could a wrestler have multiple relationship types with the same worker. For example could Shane and Vince McMahon have both Blood Related and Simmering Tension?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't think so.The idea being that one workers relationship with another is either 'positive' or 'negative' and then the varying degrees. Even though IRL blood relative doesn't necessarily mean 'on good terms' in TEW it does.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> -A separate question of my own. Has anybody attempted a Freelancer game? IE a game where you start unemployed but unlike say, a watcher game, you actively try to seek employment. Is it even feasible to get hired without setting your rep higher than 'lowest' at character creation? Because I have been roundly rejected by basically everybody 1 year into a game. I'm just wondering if I'm completely wasting my time.</p>

I also released Shawn and Trips in my game. Actually I didn't so much release Trips as I just let his contract lapse. After Shawn turned almost my entire locker room against Bret I tested him for drugs. He popped, I sent to rehab for 9 months. He came back, (hard) drug free and seemingly chill enough that he wasn't going to go up to his same old shenanigans. I float a 6 month deal across his nose, figuring that if he makes rifts one more time I can deal with it, cut him and neither lose too much money or locker room harmony on the deal. Plus I figure that WCW will just sign him to some ridiculous deal anyway. But here's the thing: I got two e-mails on the same day. "WCW has made an offer to Shawn" followed by "WCW has ended negotiations with Shawn." I'm actually not sure what happened there. I have 3 theories. 1) Most Plausible: I'm National, almost at International. WCW is at Cult/Almost National. Shawn might have shot down negotiations on account of WCW being too small for him. 2)Possible, but unlikely: The opening bid for Shawn was so big that somebody on WCW's side invoked wage matching, which caused them to get cold feet. 3)Probably didn't happen: Somebody used a hiring veto to block negotiations with Shawn. Unlikely, since he doesn't have any enemies in WCW. After a month under the new deal, Shawn causes rifts. I job him to The Great Muta and cut him. 2 months later Shawn is the best overall unemployed wrestler in the world. HHH has also been unemployed since his contract lapsed 7 months prior.

<p>May 96 the War Begins. Just had King of the Ring 1997.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Bret Hart</strong> has retained the WWF Heavyweight Championship against <strong>Owen Hart</strong> and <strong>Vader</strong>. Owen has recently turned face and has a score to settle with his former allies in Camp Cornette The British Bulldog and Vader.</p><p> </p><p> The inaugural <strong>King of Trios</strong> tournament finals was held, where The <strong>Lucha Dragons</strong> (<strong>Rey Mysterio Jr.</strong> and <strong>Ultimo Dragon</strong> along with nXt Big Gold Belt Champion <strong>Billy Kidman</strong> defeated <strong>Los Guerreros</strong> <strong>(Eddie, Chavo Jr and Hector)</strong>. The problem will continue as the Guerreros are currently pursuing the WWF World Tag Team Titles held by the Dragons.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>The Undertaker</strong> defeated <strong>Steve Austin</strong> in a casket match. What will become of Austin? </p><p> </p><p> In a 4 Way Ladder Match for the IC Title: <strong>Lance Storm</strong> emerged victorious over defending champion <strong>Syxx, Jerry Lynn</strong>, and his partner in the Thrillseekers, <strong>Chris Jericho</strong>. Will the Thrillseekers remain together now that Storm has singles gold?</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Mankind</strong> and The Big Bad Booty Daddy <strong>Scott Steiner</strong> brawled their way to a double count out. This feud will continue into the forseeable future.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>The British Bulldog</strong> defeated <strong>Goldust </strong> in a 'creative has nothing for you atm' match. WCW is currently engaged in talks with Goldust, but I currently have pole position in negotiations.</p><p> </p><p> The New Rockers explode! <strong>Marty Jannetty</strong> defeated <strong>Leif Cassidy.</strong> Leif has grown more and more jealous and obsessive over TNR's resident groupie <strong>Dawn Marie</strong> and despite Marty's hopes for reconcilliation, seems to have gone over the deep end.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Miss Elizabeth</strong> made her return to the WWF two months ago, and to the shock of many aligned herself with a fresh from nXt tag team <strong>Adam Flash</strong> and <strong>Shane Helms</strong>, aka Bolt from the Blue. This has been a source of frustration from <strong>the Armstrongs</strong> (<strong>Scott</strong> and <strong>Steve</strong>) who were hoping to retain Liz's services themselves. In this, the ultimate matchup of their rivalry BftB again triumphed. The Armstrongs may have to give up the goat.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Mr. Fuji </strong> has finally gotten revenge against <strong>Yokozuna A'noai</strong> for abandoning Japan in favor of his native Samoa. His tool? Japanese Legend <strong>The Great Muta</strong> Muta dissected the former World Champion and this was just his opening act for the evening.</p><p> </p><p> After 9 long months (in rehab) <strong>Shawn Micheals</strong> has finally returned to the WWF, only to get immediately waylaid by Muta!</p><p> </p><p> So I'm on the road to International, taking a bold step to branch out in international markets by abandoning all of my other TV deals for Monday Night Raw to sign an exclusive deal with BBC. BBC is generally against wrestling but was still willing to negotiate and give the WWF a favorable timeslot. The catch. The show rating threshold is at a quite high 82. I haven't had an 'A' show drop below that since I've reached National but one wrong step and problems could be had.</p><p> </p><p> Shawn is back. His contract is also up. I was going to just let him go on account of the utter toxicity between him and Bret that resulted in Shawn turning over half the locker room against Bret. Buuuut it appears as though his lengthy stint in rehab may have mellowed him out some. I floated a 6 month deal across his nose, accepting that if WCW throws a multi-year deal at him I'll just let him go. if that happens, I feed him to Muta.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="QFresh" data-cite="QFresh" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41191" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>...I want to live in this world. A world where Kurrgan is the next big thing... And Ludvig Borga...</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> The sad thing is...he's not. The scouting report has him as a Dark horse/Very Good worker. I don't know what they see in him.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="-laz-" data-cite="-laz-" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41191" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Kevin Nash did this to Roddy Piper in my game he now has 16 new simmering tensions in WCW, not sure what to do in this situation.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> To stabilize my locker room I:</p><p> Hired basically every available worker I could with positive relationship synergy (I currently have all 4 Armstrong Boys working in my company, as well as Hector Guerrero and Chavo Sr and Keith Hart)</p><p> </p><p> Drug Tested Shawn and shipped him to rehab when he popped. Further dismantled the Clique by not renewing HHH's contract.</p><p> </p><p> Released every expendible worker with a bad relationship to hart that I could (which wasn't that many. Shawn was really good at tainting the well with the guys I was dead set on keeping). </p><p> </p><p> Sent the younger guys with bad relationships to developmental for as long as I could. </p><p> </p><p> Hired more Road Agents.</p><p> </p><p> Despite the incredible Heat against Bret, I still have a 100% locker room rating with all these changes made.</p><p> </p><p> Also: Appropos of Nothing.</p><p> <span>http://i66.tinypic.com/1ikfbn.jpg</span></p><p> <span>http://i65.tinypic.com/4hqq2e.jpg</span></p>