2002 Mod : What are you doing with the brand split?

[wilts]

I am assuming that there are quite a few of us playing the 2002 mod by Carlito, and I guess there are quite a few that are playing a WWF. So, if you are, then what is your plan for the brand split?

Are you going to ditch it all together?

Are you going to follow history?

Or will you do something entirely different?

 

When starting the game with WWF, I toyed with a few ideas. I thought about keeping it the same as history and gradually progressing to what I thought it should be, but then decided I didn't have the patience to lookup what the brands were and make sure they were set accurately.

I though about ditching the brand split completely, but then realised I would struggle to use everyone if it was just one brand, so I quickly ditched that idea.

 

In the end I decided on something completely different. I went for a continuation of the Invasion angle.

The way it played out is on RAW whilst announcing the brand split Vince starts yapping about how he put the competition out of business, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. Vince announces that whilst he will run RAW, he has not been informed who will run Smackdown, and the draft is basically pulling balls from a bag. So, Vince pulls out ball no1, and get The Rock, a rep for the Smackdown brand pulls out their first ball, gets Booker T.

It continues for another few balls, with the brands ending up being.

RAW

The Rock

Kurt Angle

Triple H

The Undertaker

Kane

Edge

Christian

Jeff Hardy

Matt Hardy

 

Smackdown

Booker T

Diamond Dallas Page

Rob Van Dam

Hulk Hogan

Sean O'Haire

Bubba Ray Dudley

D-Von Dudley

Raven

nWo

 

As the draft continues, Vince starts to laugh about how it seems that yet again he will be putting WCW/ECW out of business. After this the draft concludes with the remaining drafts to be completed after the show. Now, in the spirit of competition there is a 5 vs 5 match to kick off the split.

Vince attempts to interfere in the match to give RAW the win, but gets attacked by Team SD!

After the match Vince is out cold in the ring, out comes Shane and Steph to check on their father. They grab a mic, start talking, and out it comes, they will be running Smackdown. Only now, it isn't Smackdown, it is WeCW!!!! SHOCK!!! HORROR!!! They laugh and joke about how perfectly they rigged the draft, etc, etc, etc. Vince says that he won the Invasion and WCW/ECW is dead. Shane admits that Vince won round 1 and that they agreed loser leaves town, but that was only a gentlemans agreement, and in war, there is no place for a gentlemans agreement.

 

So there we have it Vince quickly renames RAW to WWF, and Shane and Stephanie rename Smackdown to WeCW. Each brand has 2 shows, and A and a B, each has its own titles. They will be run a seperate companies, but allowing for the odd 'invasion' and 'brand vs brand' match at worthy PPVs.

Also, the PPVs are split between the brands, with Royal Rumble, Summerslam, Survivor Series and Wrestlemania being joint productions. The other will run on an alternate basis.

 

So, that is how I have started out with WWF, what have you done?

[Greg McNeish]

I like that idea. It's a nice way to branch off into your own territory, without throwing everything that happened before out the window.

 

Out of curiousity, does the WeCW use old ECW & WCW PPV names? Starcade is a brand that never should have died.

[wilts]

Cheers.

Yes, current PPV structure is as below:

Jan: Royal Rumble (both)

Feb: WWF No Way Out (WWF)

Mar: Wrestlmania (both)

Apr: WeCW Spring Stampede (WeCW)

May: WWF Judgement Day (WWF)

Jun: WeCW Bash at the Beach (WeCW)

Jul: WWF Vengeance (WWF)

Aug: Summerslam (both)

Sep: WeCW Fall Brawl (WeCW)

Oct: WWF No Mercy (WWF)

Nov: Survivor Series (both)

Dec: WeCW Starrcade (WeCW)

 

Starrcade doesn't have the prestige at the moment that it should, but I am going to build it as THE ppv for WeCW.

Mania will stay as THE ppv overall, and the top ones will be the other joint ppvs.

I am trying to work out what to build as the WWF ppv, I am thinking No Mercy.

I also plan to introduce 'Clash of Champions' or 'Night of Champions' where equal/equivalent champs will go head-to-head in non title matches and also use it as the host for the King of the Ring tournament. This will probably be held at the end of May, but I'm not sure yet.

 

WeCW doesn't have much of an ECW influene in title/ppv history. It is mainly the workers on the brand and a bit more of a hardcore influence. I just didn't want to completely ignore ECW in the story, but didn't fancy running 3 fully fledged brands.

 

I have continued with the game, and the biggest question so far is 'Where does Steve Austin fit in?' WeCW or WWF?

I have bought in Eric Bischoff to run WeCW and he will announce that WeCW got Steve Austin in the draft.

Austin the goes on a rampage, basically him vs WeCW. There will be a feud for a few months between Bischoff/nWo and Austin. Eventually Austin will start no showing WeCW events and turning up in the WWF crowd. Vince will try and get Austin to WWF, but with their history it wouldn't be easy, and Eric won't exactly play ball, which will eventually lead to a match between Vince and Eric at next years Mania, with Vince getting the win and ownership of Austin's contract, leading to a continuation of the Vince/Austin feud.

 

Well, looks like no diary from this for me now that I have given away 1 of my key plans. Oh well, I wouldn't have the patience for it anyway.

 

Anyway, that is what I am doing. I am really keen to hear what others have done with the split.

 

Cheers

[Tempest Kane]

if only you had been booking the real thing *sigh*

 

thats awesome.

[wilts]

A monkey picking random cards to string a sentence together could have booked it better than the real thing, but thanks.

 

So am I really the only 1 running with WWF?

[lazorbeak]

The problem with that idea is that the WWE already tried to establish WCW as a separate entity, but most of WCW's fanbase didn't tune in and the WWF fans didn't care about WCW guys. I mean, why would I watch a show full of guys I don't care about and didn't watch when they were their own entity?

 

I also don't get the post-draft hate- to me it was a pretty clear case of WWE recognizing they had an enormous roster, but wanted to make room for their next generation of new stars. Within months of the draft you had Cena, Orton, Batista and Lesnar all getting TV time and a main event scene so stacked there was no way they could all split time on two shows and give guys like Brock Lesnar or RVD important feuds. Sure, a year later, when Raw was nobody but Triple H squashing guys like Booker T and RVD and having atrocious matches with Kevin Nash, things had soured, but it started off great, and accomplished its objectives.

[Tempest Kane]

I took one look at the WWE...the roster sized... restarted the game, simmed 1 month and went with TNA

 

I just cant do it... WWE is too much to handle, i would love to see someone realse a slightly modded version of the data with the 3 brands seperated into 3 diffrent companys (ok ECW will fail within 3-6 months but... who cares, its a mod of a mod right?)

[CW Saton]

This is a good idea. Personally I think that's what the WWE should have done after the invasion, separating WWF and WCW into two brands. Instead of alienating the former WCW audience. It seems that the whole invasion thing was just an exercise in how awesome Vince McMahon thinks he is.

 

I decide to create my own promotion in the 2002 mod. Starting with zero popularity and £1,000,000, to see how it goes.

[iMac]

This is a good idea. Personally I think that's what the WWE should have done after the invasion, separating WWF and WCW into two brands. Instead of alienating the former WCW audience. It seems that the whole invasion thing was just an exercise in how awesome Vince McMahon thinks he is.

 

 

I believe that was the original idea, before the Invasion angle even got started. That's why Shane went into Wrestlemania to fight his Dad as a face, so that afterwards it would be face Shane (and face WCW) against heel Vince (and no doubt a select band of heel cronies). I think there was even a poll on wwf.com to decide what name a WCW show would have, with the idea being it replaced Smackdown.

 

Sadly though, when they tried to give WCW a main event of it's own on Raw, it was Booker T v Buff Bagwell for the WCW Title... and it was a disaster. The match stunk, Arn Anderson on commentary wasn't much better and the fans in the arena panned it. Hence we had heel WCW and face WWF and the storyline we remember now.

 

As for the mod, I'm playing it with instead of Ric Flair being announced as the mystery buyer of Shane and Stephanie's shares, Eric Bischoff bought them instead, and he is in control of Smackdown while Vince is in control of Raw. Bischoff obvioulsly grabbed the nWo as one of his draft picks, but I'm staying away from the whole takeover angle. I haven't played a whole lot of the mod so far so I don't know exactly where I'll wind up with it yet.

[SJ_1992]

I just totally randomised the brands, I had little control over who went to which brand (exceptions were Jerry Lawler, as Raw needed a colour commentator and Vince McMahon who I put to SmackDown as Ric Flair was on Raw). The result wasn't as I had hoped...Raw ended up with 8 main eventers (Rock, Austin, 'taker, Hall, Jericho, Hogan, Big Show and my user character...who was auto pushed at main event even though I plan to use him as a manager), Smackdown with 4 (one of whom was HHH, so technically Raw has 9 main eventers...).

 

My plan is at Backlash to have a main event between HHH and The Undertaker. The Undertaker will look like he is winning before he is screwed by Kurt Angle who was sent by Vince McMahon to keep the title on HHH and thus on a SmackDown superstar. Vince will then make the Undisputed Championship a SmackDown exclusive title. The next night on RAW, Ric Flair will announce a tournament to crown their world champion, which will end at the next PPV. I'm playing with the idea of having the winner being a heel (which limits my choices to Scott Hall, Chris Jericho and me...I don't think the latter will happen) who will soon be exposed as an agent for Vince McMahon. He will then switch to SmackDown, but will be forced to defend his title against a RAW face (I'm thinking Austin, but the Rock and Hogan would also be logical) by Linda McMahon and lose it. Obviously I would make a terrible WWE writer, but hey, it's just a game! I also plan to have Benoit return to the SmackDown brand and fued with the champion (most likely it will still be HHH by that point, unless I feel Kevin Nash deserves a title reign ).

SmackDown will be used to give the younger people a chance to shine (which I need to do to fill up the uppercard...Maven vs Steven Richards to main event WrestleMania 19 ¬_¬), while RAW will be made up of more established stars. I will treat both brands as equals, but doing a random split made that a harder challenge. I'm not complaining (yet), it should be fun to see who becomes a star (I once took Shannon Moore to B+ throughout the World in a 2007 mod in TEW 07, so anyone could be a star in my game )

[Macca316]

Just started my game but in not going to have a brand split at least at the moment anyway and slowly but surely im gonna get rid of talent i dont need or dont want

[keefmoon]

I've only done a Raw and a Heat but I've done the brand and it took my ages to work it out as even and interesting without following the exact lines. The WWF really missed the ball with Jericho after becoming Undisputed Champion so my plan is to use him as a main event player, getting sick of the disrespect and targetting Hogan. Lets face it, the Jericho/Hogan segments would be godly in real life so they are gonna feud until the Undisputed Title becomes disputed and there will be tw otitles, which Jericho will win when he joins the nWo and forces them to go from being (these aren't my words but read them the other day and thought they were awesome) a mild inconvinience to the lethal dose of poison Vince McMahon promised.

 

Meanwhile Shawn Michaels will become joint owner/GM type thing with Flair until their egos result in a loser loses control match (with selected representatives) that Triple H turns heel in by costing Michaels the match, resutling in Michaels becoming a full time competitor again.

 

The thing is with this data is that while playing as WWF is relatively easy with no competition the possibilities are endless so I'm quite enjoying the challenge. So many feuds, so many new stars, so many big matches, so many underutilised people to grow in to headliners, it's a great mod.

[Gypsumstack]

I'm doing the same thing, bringing in Bischoff and having Shane and Eric rebrand Smackdown! as WCW. I actually just got done booking the draft. Here is how the top of my roster shook out after the lottery:

 

WCW:

#1. Kurt Angle

#2. Booker T

#3. Kane

#4. Kevin Nash

#5. Rob Van Dam

#6. Rey Mysterio Jr.

#7. Diamond Dallas Page

#8. Triple H

 

WWF:

#1. The Rock

#2. Chris Benoit

#3. The Undertaker

#4. Christian

#5. Edge

#6. Brock Lesnar

#7. Ric Flair

 

Notable Free Agents:

Steve Austin

Hulk Hogan

Big Show

Chris Jericho

Eddie Guerrero

Scott Hall

 

Between Raw and Smackdown I am going to just throw the midcard into their appropriate places (Kinda like my own WWE.com supplement draft) and keep a handfull of free agents for my Smackdown! theme: Signing Day!

 

WCW got an extra pick because when RVD was drafted, Vince immediately put him in a match against Benoit and Christian to get the IC title off a WCW guy. Benoit won the title, and in the name of fairness, Vince was forced to give up a pick in return for Linda allowing the triple threat match (Linda represents the company interest, the beginning of a board of directors). The extra pick gave WCW Mysterio, who just won the Cruiserweight title the night before at Backlash in his debut match. Vince wasn't happy about having another title holder drafted to WCW, but wasn't willing to give up another draft pick to keep the title.

 

The last 2 picks of the night were the big shockers with Flair going to WWF and HHH taking the Undisputed title to WCW. To get HHH(and the title) back to WWF, Vince is going to trade Flair to WCW and release the ownership rights of all WCW titles. I was going to throw Brock Lesnar into the deal and make Vince regret just tossing him, but I noticed I am stacking the WCW roster, so Brock stays.

 

I plan on holding off on any invasion until at least Surivivor Series. The idea is for WWF and WCW to continually try to top each other. If WCW had better ratings throughout the month, they are awarded the Main Event for that months PPV, until the PPVs go brand specific. I'm going to try to do what Vince should have done if it wasn't for his ego. Both sides will win some and lose some. WWF will get a big edge, then WCW will come roaring back, and vise-versa.

 

I got Sting waiting in development training people until I debut him as WCW's first outside the company free agent. I'll probably do the same with Goldberg, if he is unemployed when I feel the need to use him. I'm not in a big rush.

 

The only long term plans I have at the moment involve Summerslam in 4 months. I'm going to run HHH vs HBK about the same as Vince did it, while at the same time on WCW I'm going with Hall turning on Nash. So Summerslam will feature the explosion of both DX and the NWO. That will probably be my first cross-brand angle so I can hav a Kliq war of HHH/Hall vs. HBK/Nash.

 

Wow, now I remember why I've never done a diary. Once I get going, I can't stop.

 

I like playing as WWE because it's basically a fantasy booker's playground with all the money and talent you could want. Problem is there are so many shows to book, I usually burn out a few months in. Hopefully I can get a few years out of this, but I'm not holding my breath. You gotta give WWE credit, they don't have the luxery of just saving and coming back to it later whenever they burn out. Doing this for real would probably drive me insane.