DarK_RaideR

Don't know everyone yet so I won't predict, but still wanted to cheer you on!

“Alright, I’ll see you after the holidays. Merry Christmas.” I ended the call and struck his name out of my list. Dovydas Vidmar was an easy pitch. When NGW stuck the Ivanoffs with Marat Khoklov to form the Czars, he’d been brought in to fill in the gaps. He was the Moscow Mauler’s lieutenant and the mouthpiece for the group. He was a big, tough Russian in the vein of Brute Alexei and Fadzaev the Crippler. He could talk, he could wrestle, he had the whole package, but in the wrestling business, those alone are not enough. Timing was the issue. By the time he was hired, the weight split was happening. Midcard titles were being retired while the rest were split into Lightweight and Heavyweight versions; as long as he was in Marat’s shadow, he wasn’t winning the big one, just like I hadn’t while Nelson or Stig were around. This re-launch was was as much as an opportunity for him as it was for me. “Yes?” Fusae Etsuko’s voice snapped me out of my daydreaming, dry and professional as always. I’d completely forgotten I had dialed her number in the meantime and if Dovydas was my easiest call, she was probably the hardest. “Fusae, hi…” I began, only to realize I had no idea what to say next. She had been a part of Burning Hammer’s short-lived but globally broadcasted all-female promotion. She had done two nude photo shoots, both made into best-selling magazine issues around the globe. She dominated everyone when NGW still did intergender matches, so bad they had to make a separate division for her to lead in order to avoid having her face off against Khoklov. Now I was calling her to ask her to do it all over again, from the ground up and she wasn’t getting any younger. “I know it’s been a few years, but me and Nelson are planning to promote some shows under a new banner. We’ve called some of the old NGW crew and…” “Stop right there” she cut me off, her tone every bit as sharp as the kicks she used to deliver inside the ropes. “Nothing personal, Robert. I don’t have enough time left to start over from scratch, and my fee reflects that. You would be better off spending that money on a bunch of promising rookies instead while I wait for a chance to go out with a bang on the big leagues.” She was right, of course, but that last part hurt a little. Sure, NGW had just made it out of Europe and was establishing a foothold in the UK by the time it went down, it was nowhere near the size of the big American or Japanese companies, but it was better than anyone else had ever done before on the wasteland that’s been the European pro wrestling scene. I could understand not having the time to repeat the journey, but not having the faith in us being able to repeat NGW’s feat or maybe even do better? Ouch. “Right. Well, good luck with that” I responded, still in a bit of a shock. “Hope we can rank among the big leagues before you work your retirement match. Merry Christmas.” I ended the call before she could answer, then got angry at myself. What sort of a petty reaction was that? Did I just effectively call her old? And how the hell could I ever expect her to work for me in the future after such a remark? “Did you slip into promo cutting there for a bit, Rob?” Nelson piped up from the sofa where he was laying. He was unusually cheerful for what was essentially a disaster. “We just got shut down by our biggest potential star. Am I missing something or are you just having a blast out of this?” I snapped at him, before instantly regretting redirecting my anger at my best friend. Unphased, Nelson stood up and strutted his way up to me. “Hold on to this feeling, chap” he said, tapping my chest. “This is the kind of drive, the kind of fire you’ll need to take this whole thing off the ground.”

Oh Lawd, it's Shane Douglas disrespecting the NWA title all over again, isn't it?

It's the easy joke to get though. Ask yourself, why would Mitch Naess give such an interview on such a magazine? What exactly is the nature of the calls, nay, the relationship between him and Phil Vibert?

What?! GCG?! No!! #biased

“My friend, I think you’ve had one cocktail too many. NGW is dead and buried, it’s been what, over six years now!” Nelson dismissed my idea with a wave of his hand and took another sip of his own cocktail. We may have had quite a few of those, true, but they felt absolutely necessary as our bodies were getting their tan on under the relentless Greek summer sun just a few months before we both turned 40. He was still a large man, no doubt, but rocking the dad bod, and he was flabby during the end of his NGW run to begin with. Still, he had 3 runs with the top NGW title to show for it, plus two tag title runs with me by his side. He had left England to join the promotion during his rookie year and helped put it on the map. He had been in the ring with a young Tommy Cornell and his cousin Eddie, with Marat Khoklov, some of the biggest names in the business. Me, I’d left the States to train in Japan, then moved to Europe for a career mostly spent playing his sidekick. I didn’t have the greatest of legacies to look back upon, but thinking about his and where he was at now gave me the big comeback line. “And what has either of us done in these six years since?” Nelson put his cocktail down and lowered his sunglasses to look at me eye to eye. I knew I had his attention now. We’d been friends in what felt like forever. He knew I wasn’t bitter or jealous. This was coming from a good place. “Tommy and Eddie, they moved on, had good runs with larger promotions. Adam (Matravers) too. Joey (Beauchamp). “Captain Hero” Stig Svensson. Hell, Marat (Khoklov) broke the damn game! Champagne Lover’s making movies in Hollywood! And look at where we are. What we’ve done.” Nelson sat up on his recliner, hastily rearranging his beach towel. Sitting made his gut pop out even worse than before, a painful exclamation point to my words. He didn’t say anything for a while, but I knew he was thinking, hard. I’ll admit I threw Stig on purpose in that mix; he was the only man Nelson ever played second fiddle to, when we were all under his leadership in the League of Heroes. Hopefully that would make him a little more empathetic, emotionally at least. “So what do you suggest?” he finally spoke up. I knew he’d heard me the first time, so this was him asking for specifics. He’d taken the bait. I savoured every second of my dramatic pause as I put my sunglasses back on “We’re putting the band back together”

Main Event - CWI Championship - Java vs. Conner Threepwood © CT isn't losing yet Women's Championship Semi-Final - Suzanne Brazzle vs. Talia Neema The Miracle Blonde goes over the rookie Women's Championship Semi-Final - Steffi Chee vs. Steph Blake 50-50 really, but I guess you need a heel to face Brazzle Jason Patterson & Matt Blackburn vs. Bred for Battle w/ Andrew Gibson Getting the second generation monsters over, as well as the manager Nate DeMarcus vs. Charlie Corner Can't call him "The Great" if he loses The Hangman Open Challenge - ??? vs. The Hangman S.Q.U.A.S.H. Pepper Pelton vs. The Masked Mauler VII Kaaa-raaa-taaaaaaaay!

Feels like I'm walking into an existing promotion and need to ease myself into the characters and storylines. Great stuff! Also, look at those match grades! A backyard promotion indeed!

Definately liking the pre-set skill value templates idea. The starting money will certainly need to be re-adjusted, considering the new range of wages for workers. Also the yearly rewards redone to account for personality tabs. Still need more time to drop any more concrete suggestions, especially since my modding experience is close to zero.

That final banner is a thing of beauty

Oh man, missed the first show and I'd have had 100% on predictions! Hear me when I say, Threepwood is bound to be for CWI what McManus was for RMW/CWL...

That's a solid and interesting starting roster. Bred for Battle and Hardcore Inheritance included, I'll be watching how those kids develop.

Not if The Dark Rider has anything to say about it! Definately will be following this, so good to see you doing another diary moafnsteel!

Reserved my front row seat for this.

I recall looking up wrestling games that weren't the usual "fight it out inside the ring" gameplay when I stumbled upon TEW. Tried out the freeware TEW05 but with no tutorial on its end and no real knowledge about booking shows and how the business works on my end, I was thrust into the deep and trying to swim. Didn't mind the CVerse world over well known wrestlers, though it did add to the effort required. After running a bunch of promotions to the ground, I gave up. Several years later, I returned with a better understanding of the business and eventually, I managed to make a profit as RoF. That's also when I discovered these forums, specifically the Living FAQ thread that really helped me understand the game and the diaries that really gave purpose to booking and angles. Shortly after, I used a friend's TEW13 account to catch up with the game and CVerse updates, before eventually purchasing TEW16. Even though I'm not a long time player, I can safely say TEW is not only one of the most fun and addictive games I've ever played, it's also the best value for money I've gotten out of a game as it's kept me hooked and creating non stop ever since. It literally took the imminent release of TEW20 to get me off the hook. Ugh, is it Thursday yet?

Good to see you doing another CVerse diary, Lloyd. Looking forward to it.

Reminds me of how an old MAW diary began.

I mean, I did raise an eyebrow at a female being managed by a female, for some reason, but can't say I saw the rest coming. Always happy to see more OWC shows.

I'll wait until the public beta release before making any suggestions.

TEW20, expanded RockVerse AND new LondonVerse? Be still my beating heart!

A+ across the board, King Bison knocked it out of the park!

Looking forward to the new RockVerse for TEW20, with areas beyond the U.S. of A Between its inspiration (Oddworld) and the wackiness of the RockVerse, it got really weird. Don't worry, the insanity, meta humor and indy sleaze will certainly find their way to my future diaries...

I know now where my "Best Graphic Presentation" vote for April is going

Calvin: Chi-Town Urban Combat is back, they held Back by Demand and we are here to break it down for you. Jerry: Hoo boy… Calvin: Hoo boy is right, Jerry, every CTUC show has you in for a treat and the opening set the tone by introducing us to the newest faction... Club TExotico! Jerry: Everyone and their dog is in a faction these days, apparently, in CTUC. Calvin: I’ll give them credit for not going with the obvious choice though. I mean I probably expected them to team with Senora Muerte and form an all-Mexican stable, but I realized as Tyrell Starr cut the promo to introduce the group...they need him as their mouthpiece! None of them usually gets any mic time and Senora Muerte’s gimmick works best the less she talks, so going with Starr is not that bad a choice actually. w Jerry: What was a weird choice was to put them in a match immediately. Even weirder to have them win. I mean, I get you want to build them up as more of a joke and get some momentum going, but with Wrath in there and the Sins lose?! Calvin: A roll up finish, but yes, still a win for Club TExotico in a sub-standard match that was yet again ruined by Sloth being stoned out of his mind. Which explains why he also took the pin. Jerry: He’s lucky his gimmick can take it, imagine if he was normally an energetic high flyer and had to pull that off while high... Calvin: That and being friends with everyone else in his group is what’s probably seeing him phased down instead of outright fired. Sins may be doing bad in the shows but I’m told they’re having significant power backstage. Jerry: Ah, the usual high point of each show next, CTUC’s weird eye candy matches, preceded by a Devil’s Playthings promo w Calvin: It was Astrid and Arabella in action, with Lillith at ringside, against Avarice and Envy. Let me get this out of my chest, why on earth did they eliminate Avarice first? I get that you gotta give the babyface team an uphill battle, but why not take out Envy first? It’s pretty obvious Avarice is the better wrestler and she’s also the better looking of that duo. Jerry: Yeah there was a loud reaction when that happened. Not sure if it was the heels getting heat though or just fans excited to see Avarice in her lingerie. Calvin: To me it was a spot that paid off in the short run, but in the long run it was done at the expense of overall match quality. Assuming you can talk about quality in these matches, but they had a job to do and taking out Avarice first made that job harder to achieve. Jerry: At least we also got an actual wrestling match featuring women after that. Calvin: It wasn’t short on shenanigans either, Abominatrix made her entrance first and her goons attacked her opponent Hardcore Barbie as she was coming out to the ring afterwards. Jerry: It was the standard pre-match attack but it gave Annabelle the Canni-belle a chance to rush in for the save and it certainly set the tone for that slobberknocker of a bout that followed. Calvin: It was wild alright, they took the fight all over the venue and I was shocked at the spot where Abominatrix carved up Barbie’s forehead to be honest. Was it improvising and taking liberties? Did Barbie actually agree to have someone do a bladejob with a combat knife on her? This was insane and somewhat upsetting too. Jerry: They did a match worthy of every CTUC Bucket of Blood title match in the history books, I’ll give them that much and Barbie got her revenge in the end when she threw Abominatrix off a ledge before hitting the Beautiful Disaster for the pin. Calvin: CTUC delivers another of their usual two star bouts and off we went to the final, probably most intriguing angle of the show. So first it kicks off as a standard promo by the Jive Soul Bros, with the good Dr. hyping up the group and saying that he and Simba will claim the CTUC Deadly Duo straps to match Grim Reefer’s Internet title. Pretty standard stuff. Then the Bonechillers come out for a snap back and staredown, which is broken up by the Chi-Church Cult! Jerry: Yeah apparently they’re after the titles as a team now as well, because “The Messiah” is coming and he needs them to have those titles for some reason to be happy. Super cheap AEW rip-off, if you ask me. Calvin: Well I think it’s pretty obvious there are no plans to put the titles on the Cult. This is just a plug to hype up some new stable member and for the love of me, I can’t think who. Might be a new debuting wrestler. Jerry: Tossing that out to give fans something to talk about till the next show, for now there was the main event left to do, Pride defending her CTUC Baddest Bitch title against Senora Muerte! Calvin: Almost as good as their eye candy stuff and no small part thanks to the stipulation, a casket match that really fit the challenger’s character. This was a high stakes match for Pride, with her title on the line and everything to fight for. Jerry: She did, too. I’m amazed they went on for like, sixteen and a half minutes for this. Sure, it dragged at times, but I understand they had to pace themselves to build up the drama. Also to sell the casket stipulation. Calvin: Good thing they used a non-wooden casket for this match, I don’t know, was it metal? Plastic? Whatever that grey material was, it certainly had a dent after Senora Muerte was introduced headfirst onto the lid. Jerry: Indeed Calvin, a wooden casket may have looked better but if the lid got shattered during that spot, how were they supposed to end the match? Calvin: Well the match did end with Senora Muerte, pun intended, coming back from the dead a la unstoppable Undertaker at 30+ WrestleManias and putting Pride in the casket to become the new CTUC Baddest Bitch! Jerry: Two and three quarters overall, I hate to say it but CTUC shows are actually getting better over time. Calvin: As they should!