How Do You Run Your Shows

[mike b]

OK so how do you run your cards? Are you the type that likes to just set up your matches and angles on the day of the show,or are you the type that plan out everything in advance. Do you try to keep your shows as close to real life as you can as in more matches and less angles on yr PVP shows and non PPV shows and more angles on your TV shows. As for me i used to just make out the matches on game day but now i plan them out in advance.I find it makes it much more quicker to do the shows if i know who's in the matches already. Ialso try to keep my cards like you would normally see in real life.For my PPV cards and regular shows i run about 90% matches and 10% angles keeping the angles to just ring entrance hype post match celebration and things you would normally see in real life. For TV shows i drop it down to about 70 to 60% matches depending on what type of promotion I'm using and use more of the other angles taunt set up and hype for the big PPV or card im going to have. So how do you run your shows.

[Hyde Hill]

I don't plan out the matches but I plan out the fueds, who am I going to push up and who am I going to push down. Who needs a good debut and who is griping about not being on the show etc. Its generally working towards the ppv in a big company or towards a main event in a smaller company. I keep the angle ratio the same as I don't use the editor to change it.(yet as I might go to 80 instead of 90) Its kinda hard to get all this info out here for me as I take a lot of things into account but what I said above are some of the main things.

[D-Lyrium]

Usually I pick several 'key shows' per year, wether they be monthly PPVs, or just monthly events that are more important than the others. I'll plan the main draws for those events months in advance and build to them with storylines, and add the rest of the card as I go depending on what other stories I come up with. TV shows or non-key monthlies will usually involve whatever the next step in the storylines are, with filler around them to make up the extra time. Sometimes that filler sparks an idea and a storyline is created from it. Sometimes this is a good thing, but sometimes it sparks the Maria Harry angle in LDW1. :(

[Remianen]

Since I plan worker development out months (or years) in advance, my key storylines are usually the meat of my shows. I don't use real life as an example because many real life PPVs suck, in my view. So every show I put on is the best show I can produce while still staying true to my creative vision. So, I don't try to artificially extend storylines so the matches are all on PPV. I structure my storylines in such a way that I don't need to do that. My shows are almost always booked on the day of the show, mainly because while I know what I want to get accomplished, the how can often sneak up on me. I don't like promising one thing and then finding out something else suits me better. So generally, while everything (including title reigns/changes) is usually planned out a year or more in advance, the finer details are determined as time grows shortest. Like, I know that in May of 2010, Megumi Nakajima is going to win my top title (and right now, the top title in the West) but the how is worked out as we go.

[mike b]

I can tell that MR R is a serious player and probably a darn good one to:)

[Self]

Right after every PPV, I decide the matches on the next one. I started a WWE game yesterday, and played through Summerslam. As soon as I ran that show (A*, but being a mod I don't hold myself too highly for it) I turned off the game, looked at my roster notes, and took an embarassingly long time deciding the 8 matches I want for Unforgiven. I'll use the next 4 weeks of TV to slowly meander towards that, getting the guys involved in PPV matches as strong as I can, boosting the unchained storylines I've set up for each match, booking week-to-week, pretty much on the fly, advance booking the day of the shows. If in real life I was writing wrestling, I would do things much more like Remianen, planning things way in advance. In real life I'm very character and story driven. Playing this game I become far more mathematical, far more "[I]what would give me the best score on this show?[/I]". It saddens me a little... I usually pull the match ratio's down a bit. WWE were set to 70% on TV, 90% on PPV, and I don't like to play like that. 60% & 80& is more my cup of tea. Sports Entertainment companies tend to rock using angles (when I play them at least) so I give over plenty of time to 6-minute arguments and hype videos and gimmicky crap in order to get people over. It's how I roll.

[Bigpapa42]

I have my main storylines planned out fairly well in advance. So basically the PPV matches and an idea of the events that I want to use to spur the story along (I tend to use unchained stories). The weekly matches on TV are intended to get me to the PPVs, though I sometimes get a bit too sporadic with it. I also try not to bring anyone new in without a clear idea of what their role is.

[Dischord]

Actually, until my current game everything was 'on the fly' in terms of matches and stuff. I continued stories but I went into every show unsure of just what I was going to do next. Now, I'm trying a new method. I write every show out before hand and it has actually helped a lot. It's strangely a lot more fun for me that way. I also write my own angles, which takes a hell of a lot longer, but it helps me since I know who is on the show and what they're doing, so the angles can be written towards their strengths.

[CQI13]

I tend to have one angle that will be the focus of the show for close to a year (like the nWo in real life). For example, a while back I was playing a 2002 mod (probably on 07?) where I had Big Show hold the title for a year, with the help of Heyman and lackeys, until they turned on him almost a year to the day that he won the title. I tend to take a Russo-esque approach where I try to elevate lower talent, or at least get them involved with big players. I'm a huge fan of factions, as it lets me get more people involved than would normally be. With that in mind, I do tend to plan things far in advance, usually up to a year once I'm really into a game, but at least a few months. Obviously it depends on the fed I'm using. WWE & TNA have their signature events during the year, while a fed like MAW has theirs in Dec/Jan depending on how you look at things. So I see what I start out with, and say "I want X, Y, & Z to be the champs of these divisions when the signature event rolls along." Great. How do I get there? And month by month, I work back to where I'm at. Sometimes it's easy. In my Big Show w/ Heyman storyline, it was easy because I knew he'd be champ for WM (and beyond). If that's the case, I have to work out a way for different workers to be facing him each month. I try to keep contingency plans ready, in case someone gets hurt, or signed by another promotion, or if worst case scenario, they are a heat vaccuum. If not, you could have great plans for a year in advance, but if someone goes down that was to be a big part of that, everything falls apart. As for the individual cards, I stick with 3 matches per hour of show (rounding up or down in the case of ½ hours).