Exciting Christian Promotion Product

[Warrior of Truth]

I wanna create a promotion that is focused on providing Christian characters but using realistic storylines and not just over the top archetypal gimmicks but rather gimmicks that would portray real people. I also want to mix in an exciting wrestling style to go with it. The wrestling style of the product is no problem but one thing I have never been able to figure how to accurately represent is the entertainment aspect of what I described above. While Family Friendly promotions have a lot of mainstream, those types of fans are not interested in subtle realistic gimmicks where people are good some of the time and bad other times not just straight faces and heels. On the other hand, the subtlety of the gimmicks and a select fanbase is associated with cult promotions but adding cult to your product is associated with darker more edgy entertainment which doesn't really fit a Christian ethic. Does anyone have any ideas on how to best represent this in TEW? I know there won't be a perfect way but what do you think would be the closest?

[James Casey]

Taking a quick look, I put Mainstream and Traditional to Medium and Modern to Key. That seems to cover all the bases you're looking for, and you can use the other features to flavour to taste.

 

No doubt someone'll say it's a horrid produvt, destined to fail, but it rejects highly risky angles and gimmicks and provides a stable base to work from, and that seems about right.

[Warrior of Truth]

To follow up, although I am still looking for other suggestions. I think the key to this may be to have nothing in my product above medium. Here is what I have come up with so far:

 

Traditional ......... Low

Mainstream ....... Medium

Comedy............. Low

Cult ................... None

Risque ............... None

Modern ............. Medium

Realism ............. Low

Hyper Realism ... None

Hardcore ............None

Lucha Libre ........ None

Pure .................. Low

Daredevil ........... None

[James Casey]

I think you do need something as a key feature - something for the fans to hang their hats on, if you will. Otherwise the shows risk being too jumbled, with no clear core to hang the other features on.

 

Still, try it and see I guess.

[FINisher]

Weird combination to say the least I mean, the words christianity and wrestling don't go together.. And come to think of it, neither does christianity and exciting. I'd say Mainstream and traditional.

[Sons of Kohral]

Weird combination to say the least I mean, the words christianity and wrestling don't go together.. And come to think of it, neither does christianity and exciting. I'd say Mainstream and traditional.

 

This made me lol

 

But seriously, I would up the Cult to heavy. Also for the vocal fanbase. You ever throw 80 Irish Catholics in a room together? You're lucky if the place hasn't burned down the next morning.

 

But yeah, you should do a diary on that. It'd be interesting and I've never seen it done.

[Self]

"Cult" implies dark, but does anything it does to the product make that neccesary? If you're looking to make subtlety key, I think that's the way to do it. Keep Risque to None and you'll be fine.

 

I would start with a base of Cult at Key Feature and Modern as Heavy. That's a product that say Subtle gimmicks Yes, risky gimmicks No. It will make it tough getting choice TV slots, so it depends how important that is to you.

 

The rest are different questions. How much Comedy do you want? Do you want to be rated more of Popularity or Performance? How much Lucha/Pure/Daredevil?

[Remianen]

"Cult" implies dark

 

I disagree. It only implies that to smarks (or people who are usually defined as such). Cult really means 'niche', as in 'isn't likely to attract a mass following' which fits Christian wrestling to a T (see: Ring of Glory). Cult stations are those who stick to programming that doesn't willingly appeal to the mass market. Think of the definition of 'cult classic'. Is Independence Day a cult classic?

 

Anyway, I agree with James Casey, you really need to have something as key to hang your hat on. Something people can expect to see as the focal point of your product.

[The Celt]

You ever throw 80 Irish Catholics in a room together? You're lucky if the place hasn't burned down the next morning.

 

 

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Looks down at floor

 

 

Aye

[Self]

I disagree. It only implies that to smarks (or people who are usually defined as such). Cult really means 'niche', as in 'isn't likely to attract a mass following' which fits Christian wrestling to a T (see: Ring of Glory). Cult stations are those who stick to programming that doesn't willingly appeal to the mass market. Think of the definition of 'cult classic'. Is Independence Day a cult classic?

 

Anyway, I agree with James Casey, you really need to have something as key to hang your hat on. Something people can expect to see as the focal point of your product.

 

I agree entirely.

[Sonfaro]

Weird combination to say the least I mean, the words christianity and wrestling don't go together.. And come to think of it, neither does christianity and exciting. I'd say Mainstream and traditional.

 

You obviously have never been to a Missionary Baptist Church.

 

And there have been a few Christian based promotions out there. I don't know any that lasted very long. But they exist. A.J. Styles and I believe Matt Morgan may have main evented one once. I know A.J. did. Ring of Glory. Vince Russo booked it. Lasted like two shows.

 

As for the product setting, I suggest Cult as your key, with a high Face/Heel divide. That will allow you to have realistic characters but a strong sense of right and wrong.

 

- Sonfaro

[Warrior of Truth]

There are many Christian promotions out there but most of them are small so many people may have never heard of them but I think Christianity and wrestling can absolutely go together since I am a Christian wrestling fan. However, I would like to explore the real lives of people rather than just the traditional good guy vs bad guy kids version of God vs Satan where all the faces are good Christians and all the heels are wretched sinners. So rather than a strong face/heel divide I would favor medium or none. While I do wanna develop characters strongly I don't want the simple gimmicks, hence the subtlety. I also would want something that draws wrestling fans so their has to be good wrestling. In other words, I want to make a product that I myself would be a fan of and old school wrestling or just entertainment without skill is not it. This will not be your typical wrestling promotion by any means. I took a look at using Cult as a Key Feature and it doesn't seem to cause any issues that would not work with a Christian federation except the ironic fact that some networks would want me on late at night but not in the afternoon. If anyone thinks of any conflicts that it might cause, definitely let me know. Also, are there others who would be interested in me doing a diary with this? If so, I might start one using C'verse in TEW 2010. No point in starting a 2008 diary now and no real world mods will be out for 2010 prolly till almost March and that may be wishful thinking considering the number of new features. Either way discussion on the product is still open.

[maskedpropaganda]

Completely off the top of my head without the game open but if I was gonna open and run a Christian Wrestling promotion I would probably tweek this alittle to find exactly what I want but something like this.

 

Traditional - Heavy

Mainstream - Medium

Comedy - None

Cult - Key Feature

Risque - None

Modern - Heavy

Realism - Low

Hyper Realism - None

Hardcore - None

Lucha Libre - Low

Pure - Medium

Daredevil - None

 

Like I said I would tinker with it but I think it is a good base to start.

[Remianen]

However, I would like to explore the real lives of people rather than just the traditional good guy vs bad guy kids version of God vs Satan where all the faces are good Christians and all the heels are wretched sinners.

 

So you want to portray characters akin to David and Samson (flawed men who experience success despite their flaws but eventually fall)? Or people like Lot's wife (the price of disobedience) who wasn't really bad but was punished the same as an evildoer? So rather than clearcut Elijah & Elisha vs Ananias & Saphyra types, you want to portray good people who occasionally do bad things (Peter, thrice denier) and bad people who occasionally do good things (post-plagues Pharoah). This is going to determine how much Pure you can add to the product. Pure on the one hand shifts the balance toward performance but too much can kill the ability to use tainted finishes.

 

I took a look at using Cult as a Key Feature and it doesn't seem to cause any issues that would not work with a Christian federation except the ironic fact that some networks would want me on late at night but not in the afternoon.

 

Networks are in the business of attracting viewers, as many as they can get. Even on a Cult channel, anime cartoons are a better draw in the afternoon than a wrestling promotion would be. Besides, a niche wrestling promotion with tons of subtlety isn't not something that would be appreciated in the afternoon. It's either primetime or late night (think: Leno, Conan, Letterman, etc).

 

All that said, prove you can draw and most networks are fine giving an earlier timeslot. But early afternoon wouldn't fit, I don't think.

 

maskedpropaganda's is good, I'd lower the mainstream a lot though. You'd take a sponsorship money hit, but you'd wind up with a product that would be based 'much more' on performance than overness, which I think is what's desired.

[Warrior of Truth]

I don't necessarily care that the workers are rated more on performance than popularity as both parts will be significant so I would say close to equal rating would be good. Remianen, you hit on some good examples, now just imagine taking those into the present day world and you got the idea pretty well. One thing I don't want though from maskedpropaganda's product is the traditional but I do like it and I really appreciate everyone's contributions. Anyone have thoughts on whether they would like to see a diary?

[Sons of Kohral]

I'd like to see one.

 

Anyway, product-wise, Strong cult, perhaps medium mainstream, heavy traditional and throw some pure or modern in there depending on what you want. That should give you an even balance of rated on popularity and performance.

 

Oh, and medium face/heel divide.

 

Oh man, I just echoed propaganda's product and I completely skipped it lol. You're going to need some traditional to outweigh the Cult pop over performance.