naiwf Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 NWA: Memphis is one of many of the "fringe" promotions to fold and come back to life at some point throughout NWA's illustrious history, which dates back to the late '40s, though many fans of NWA Worldwide weren't alive when the Tennessee based promotion was a somewhat major player in the late '60s/early '70s, and only know its greatest success of that era, Jerry 'The King' Lawler, and its current incarnation which is just about 7 1/2 years old. The modern NWA: Memphis is the brainchild of one of the few legendary promoters in the business, Jerry Jarrett. Although the original 'Double J' achieved moderate success with Mid-South Wrestling, the Continental Wrestling Association, and his joint venture with Lawler, the United States Wrestling Association, it wasn't until early 2002 that he finally struck gold. With the sports entertainment themed WCCW/NWA: NY war over for three years, and NWA: Hardcore City alienating fans of "traditional wrestling" as they continued to push the envelope, Jarrett gave it one last try by going into business with a few other Southern legends as he convinced Lawler, Terry Funk & 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes to pool together their funds and try to bring back the style of wrestling that they loved. Although times were lean in the beginning with only moderately successful stars like an aging Funk, Jeff Jarrett, Dustin Rhodes & The Smoking Gunns on the roster, fans began to watch as simple, "old school" wrestling was once again available on the national level, at least on PPV. With no regular TV deal in place, NWA: Memphis explored a weekly PPV model for that first year, but they nearly ended up driving themselves out of business because their market share was so low. In a stroke of pure genius, their top announcer Joey Styles suggested taping events to be broadcast on the internet. Styles' ability to build up their characters and put forth Jarrett's vision was a big factor in their rise, and when the decision was made to add Lawler to the "booth", NWA: Memphis hit its stride running as they offered the best of old school and new school. What Memphis lacked in big names, it made up for in determination, heart, and a willingness to take risks as they essentially gave the bulk of their current roster their "big breaks". With homegrown stars being made as the promotion was growing, Memphis was rapidly becoming a hot commodity. Although they have created their fair share of questionable characters like the Wild Samoans, the rebel flag wearing James Gang, a mafia style stable of wrestlers all named Johnny, and most notably Ronaldo (later 'The Suntanned Superman' Ron Killings), Jeff Jarrett's African-American manservant, Memphis has managed to stay true to their mission goal in that they let the wrestlers wrestle and use storylines to fill in the gaps for the most part. Memphis continued to show slow and steady growth eventually gaining a national TV deal just two months before the blockbuster deal that saw NWA: Hardcore City & WCCW agree to work together. Realizing that he'd have almost no chance to beat that kind of powerhouse, Jarrett managed to join in on the deal by sacrificing his autonomy and the crown jewel of NWA: Memphis, an internet show hosted by the top announcing tandem in the business, Styles & Lawler. While most fans watched all of the major NWA shows (WCCW Monday Nitro, Wednesday night's Hardcore Heaven, and Memphis' Friday Night Impact) regularly, there was no doubt that fans of all branches enjoyed the chance to listen to Styles and Lawler comment on all the happenings in NWA Worldwide as Styles had another brilliant idea when he created a live internet show the first Saturday of every month from 4-6 PM EST. With clips from events from Tokyo to Mexico City to Calgary and all points in between, that one monthly show gave fans a chance to catch up on what they were missing elsewhere as well as get a second glance at some of the best events in Memphis during the past 30 days or so. When they eventually added in viewer participation segments like live calls, e-mails, and live in studio interviews with NWA: Memphis stars it only became a more popular source of both information and entertainment for the NWA Worldwide fanbase. It was known that Bischoff in particular coveted the opportunity to have more of an involvement with this program when he saw what a simple 15 minute chat with Matt Hardy was able to accomplish in terms of rallying the fans behind a specific wrestler. As part of the reshuffled NWA Americas promotion, Memphis and NWA: HC ran their shows back to back in a single night three hour taping on Tuesdays (with the order alternating every week) which allowed both companies the chance to focus their action more, since they were no longer competing with WCCW Nitro's ability to trot out enough stars to fill up 2 hours every week. Some say that Memphis made out like bandits on the deal as they were able to have Styles and Lawler on air more than any other announcing team, kept their stellar tag ranks intact, and had the ability to save money on their TV taping schedule while only losing out on a bit of PPV time for some of their "still not ready for primetime" undercard. Therefore it wasn't surprising that Memphis was able to take the hit of the NWA Americas collapse in stride. The only thing that remains to be seen for this group is whether or not they can ever create a star that measures up with the NWA World Championship level workers strewn throughout their competition since Jeff Jarrett is NOT that guy and no one else they've ever promoted has come close. ---------------------------------- The history of NWA: Memphis' Championships and major feuds 2002 Formed on May 10, 2002, but not debuting until June 19th, NWA: Memphis didn't have much in the way of feuds in its first 6 months of action as Jeff Jarrett was the undisputed king of the company thanks to his relative youth and well, his obvious ties to the head booker. We did however manage to see the early seeds of what would become a major rivalry between Jarrett and his servant Ronaldo, and the beginning of Brian James' transformation from a wigger to a rebel flag wearing racist. James showed up to the October 2nd event with a black eye and "stitches" in his forehead claiming that a group of "coloreds" had attacked him the night before, going so far as to question Ronaldo about his whereabouts the night before "'cause you looked like that one that suckerpunched me outside the club!". This led to Ronaldo's first in ring action a month later, and Jarrett eventually tossing him aside as he began to use the James Gang as back up, when Brian's "cousin" Jamie James entered the promotion. 2003 The second event of the year saw the James Gang become the first NWA: Memphis Tag Team champs in the new regime by defeating Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, The Smoking Gunns & The Wild Samoans in a surprisingly well wrestled fatal fourway. Ronaldo ended up changing his name, piercing himself a few times and returned as Ron 'The Truth' Killings ultimately ending Jarrett's 1st run as champion when a friend of his, the 6'2 280 pound Alpha Male took The James Gang out at the end of one of the most hotly contested title matches Memphis had ever seen, even going back to its first incarnation. Killings' reign didn't last very long as Jarrett quickly regained the title with a little help from his special enforcers twin towers Ron & Don Harris aka The Tennessee Enforcers. Jarrett then went and sabotaged the James Gang leading his team to a title victory as Jarrett wanted "all the stroke 'round here!". Fans began to really give it to Jarrett around this time as he dominated most of Memphis' TV time and seemingly squashed all threats with help from the Enforcers. It was at this time that The Jersey Boys (pronounced Joy-zee) showed up, a group of pretty boy Italians borrowing HEAVILY from The Sopranos TV show. Since all of the original members were named Johnny they all adopted nicknames as Johnny Stamboli became Johnny The Bull, Johnny Cena became Johnny C-Note and Johnny Parisi became Johnny The Swinger. C-Note was the breakout star of the group, coming dangerously close to taking Jarrett down, but failing as Jarrett once again overcame the odds with assistance from his allies. 2004 The Smoking Gunns finally ended the Tennessee Enforcers' reign as champ, but Jarrett was still holding onto the Heavyweight Title with a deathgrip that caused many to lose interest in the product's top of the card matches. Realizing that there was a huge, and ever growing backlash against him, Jarrett brought in a handpicked heir to his throne as he gave young Allen Jones a chance to shine in a rehash of sorts of the Ronaldo storyline as Jones was his image consultant. Jones couldn't get the fans to stop hating Jarrett, who then asked Jones if HE thought he could handle the pressures of being the NWA: Memphis Heavyweight Champion in a promo. Jones surprised everyone by saying yes, and took the title from Jarrett CLEANLY in June ending a 1+ year run for Jarrett. The problem was that Jones was made to look like a fool after that match as Jarrett interfered on his behalf on most nights stating that HE wanted to beat Jones for the belt and that no one else would have that opportunity. Needless to say, Jarrett ended up getting the belt back as Jones suddenly disappeared from TV for the rest of the year. The tag titles were passed around a bit to compensate for the lack of flexibility in the heavyweight ranks as Killings changed his name yet again now going by 'The Suntanned Superman' as he teamed with The Alpha Male, and new teams made some strides as The Soldiers of God (Azrael, Gabriel & Christian Daniels), The Matthews Boys (Joey & Josh) & The Last Dragons (American & Ultimate Dragon) all debuted and made immediate contributions as The Tennessee Enforcers were also pulled from TV with little to no explanation. The James Gang doubled in size from two to four when Brian and Jamie were joined by their cousins, a pair of sisters named Crazy Daizee & Lacey Mae James. 2005 A fifth member was brought into the James Gang when Jamie was hurt after they dropped the titles as Kid James became yet another cousin. Allen Jones returned with flashier ring attire and moves as AJ Styles, a rib on the always well dressed Joey Styles. This character seemed destined to fail as he was again placed into a feud with Jarrett ultimately leading to Jarrett dropping the belt to Styles' secret ally, major acquisition Jeff Hardy. While Jeff didn't do much to improve business, his ability to convince management to give his brother Matt another chance turned out to be the biggest coup for Memphis to date as Matt cut a heartfelt shoot on their internet show a month before he returned to the independent scene (the NWA 20 @ 20 will explain this story in full). With a few of Matt's other friends working here as Gregory Shane Helms & Shannon Moore joined the company a few months earlier, Matt ended up choosing Memphis over WCCw, NWA: HC, NWA: CS and NWA: Tokyo. With Matt on the roster the fans DEMANDED a new champion and got one when he destroyed Jarrett on one of their last shows of the year, generating the loudest reaction of the last 3 1/2 years. The tag division was still a strong selling point as they had a handful of teams in legitimate contention for the NWA World Tag Titles, with The Future Boys (Frankie 'The Future' Kazarian & 'The Future' Chris Sabin) making the most noise of their rookie tandems. 2006 & 2007 'Crazy' Daizee James brought Memphis some notoriety as the first champion in the female only LLPW promotion based in Canada, but 2006 will be known as the year where Memphis had to fly solo again as the NWA Americas experiment failed. NWA: Mexico City's vicious war with Eric Bischoff's WCCW forced NWA: Hardcore City & NWA: Memphis to go back to running shows on their own. Fortunately, Memphis found their stride in the last year and a half and have put themselves on the verge of competing on the same level with WCCW, NWA: NY, NWA:HC, NWA: LA and NWA: Mexico City. The Hardy Boys have grown from being a pair that the fans have always liked to two superstars capable of headlining a successful promotion as Matt and Jeff have run with the ball farther than anyone thought they could. Matt's arrival in late 2005 and dominance as Heavyweight Champion was Memphis' hottest story until the duo won the Tag Titles and eventually vacated them when Jeff turned on Matt by helping Johnny C-Note finally win the first Heavyweight Title of his career, claiming that he was tired of living in Matt and Nora's shadow. A bitter feud between the two ran the course of a whole year and ended with Matt finally reclaiming the title from Jeff. The two brothers reconciled after the match, but now faced serious threats to the top spots from former champs C-Note, a resurgent Allen Jones/AJ Styles, as well as the hottest prospect in the promotion, Austin Aries who made a huge name for himself by forcing 'El Terror de Tijuana' Tito Ortiz to submit in an interpromotional match that all but stole the show at Starrcade '07 and ended up earning the 2007 NWA International Match of the Year honors. The James Gang also did Memphis proud by winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles in July of 2007 and bringing them to the promotion as compensation for losing the NWA World Cruiserweight Title when Christian Daniels jumped ship to NWA: NY. 2008 NWA: Memphis eventually lost control of the NWA World Tag Team Titles and had to rebound by creating some new stars. They were able to do that when they brought in a man Jerry Jarrett had discovered and promptly decided to push to the top. Born Oleg Prudius, Jarrett decided to pair up the Russian machine with Alex Kozlov as his older brother/bodyguard Vladimir Kozlov. They quickly went on to capture the Tag Team Titles but Alex was pretty much tossed aside as soon as they dropped the belts as Vladimir has risen through the ranks with one punishing victory after another. Similarly, Johnny The Body went on to capture his first Heavyweight Title as he surpassed Johnny C-Note in terms of favor with Jarrett and is being groomed to be one of the major players along with the Hardys, Aries, The Alpha Male and Vladimir Kozlov. It is interesting to note that while Jeff Jarrett hasn't held the Heavyweight Title for just over 3 years now, the fans STILL have never quite gotten over his initial monster push that turned some against him permanently. 2009 This was a year that saw some of the old guard in Memphis get shunted aside as both Smoking Gunns didn't get renewed contracts, Fatu retired, opening things up for Samoa Joe, and in the biggest news of all Jeff Jarrett walked away from his on screen position after the vast majority of the upper card threatened to leave when he was planning on reclaiming the Heavyweight title because he didn't think the fans wanted to see these younger guys dominating the action. Ironically, business picked up shortly after Austin Aries defeated Jarrett in a match to determine the # 1 contender. Aries then asserted himself as the top guy in the promotion with his first Heavyweight Title reign, but he was eventually dethroned by Vlad Kozlov who saw his time as champion end at the hands of Jamie James in one of the most shocking upsets in the history of Memphis. The tag team ranks saw some new blood hold the titles as well as The British Gladiators, America's Most Wanted & The Terminators joined the ranks of brand new champions as every single person or team that won an NWA: Memphis title in 2009 did so for the first time. While Memphis is still trying to find a superstar they can take full credit for, they certainly have been able to do the whole "out with the old, and in with the new thing" better than anyone else in the US in the last 12-18 months. NWA: Memphis Heavyweight Title History 7/3/02 - 3/19/03 Jeff Jarrett (won a 10 man battle royal to become the first champion) 3/19/03 - 5/28/03 Ron 'The Truth' Killings 5/28/03 - 6/16/04 Jeff Jarrett [2] 6/16/04 - 9/17/04 Allen Jones 9/17/04 - 5/29/05 Jeff Jarrett [3] 5/29/05 - 8/17/05 Jeff Hardy 8/17/05 - 12/11/05 Jeff Jarrett [4] 12/11/05 - 7/21/06 Matt Hardy 7/21/06 - 2/25/07 Johnny C-Note 2/25/07 - 7/22/07 Jeff Hardy [2] 7/22/07 - 1/27/08 Matt Hardy [2] 1/27/08 - 4/20/08 AJ Styles [2] 4/20/08 - 11/23/08 The Alpha Male (won the title thanks to interference from The Talia Madison) 11/23/08 - 4/12/09 Johnny The Body 4/12/09 - 8/9/09 Austin Aries 8/9/09 - 12/13/09 Vladimir Kozlov 12/13/09 - current Jamie James NWA: Memphis Tag Team Title History 1/15/03 - 6/25/03 The James Gang (Brian & Jamie James, won a fatal fourway to become the initial champions) 6/25/03 - 3/10/04 The Tennessee Enforcers (Ron & Don Harris) 3/10/04 - 5/26/04 The Smoking Gunns (Bart & Billy) 5/26/04 - 8/4/04 'The Suntanned Superman' Ron Killings & The Alpha Male 8/4/04 - 10/29/04 The James Gang [2] 10/29/04 - 1/19/05 The Smoking Gunns [2] 1/19/05 - 4/24/05 The Soldiers of God (Azrael & Christian Daniels won the titles, but they defended them with Gabriel in random combinations) 4/24/05 - 8/28/05 The Wild Samoans (Samoa Joe & Fatu) 8/28/05 - 11/20/05 The Last Dragons (The American Dragon & The Ultimate Dragon (Low-Ki) 11/20/05 - 6/25/06 The James Gang [3] 6/25/06 - 7/22/06 The Hardy Boys (vacated the day after Jeff turned on Matt) 8/18/06 - 2/25/07 The Jersey Boys (Johnny The Body & Johnny The Swinger won a fatal four way to claim the vacant titles) 2/25/07 - 8/26/07 The Future Boys (Frankie 'The Future' Kazarian & 'The Future' Chris Sabin) 8/26/07 - 2/15/08 OMEGA Team (Gregory Shane Helms & Shannon Moore) 2/15/08 - 6/22/08 Alex & Vladimir Kozlov 6/22/08 - 9/21/08 The Wild Samoans [2] 9/21/08 - 3/8/09 The Jersey Boys [2] (Johnny C-Note replaced Johnny The Body in the tag team when Johnny The Body won the Heavyweight Title) 3/8/09 - 5/10/09 The British Gladiators (Gladiator Goliath & Gladiator Oblivion) 5/10/09 - 10/11/09 America's Most Wanted ('Wildcat' Chris Harris & 'Cowboy' James Storm) 10/11/09 - current The Terminators (Doug 'The Machine' Basham & Jay Lethal) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 NWA: LA brings Lucha Americana to Los Angeles NWA: Los Angeles was one of three promotions born during the June 2006 NWA Executive Board meeting. With NWA Americas on the verge of collapsing there were some fears amongst the executives that both NWA: Hardcore City & NWA: Memphis would face major issues as they extricated themselves from their working agreement with the much larger WCCW. As a result the board decided to expand in three regions, the South East, the Midwest and the South West. After much deliberation the order was set with NWA: Detroit being the first group that would be rolled out in October of 2006 and then NWA: Los Angeles following three months later (January 2007) and finally NWA: Florida three months after that in April of '07. Amazingly enough about 60 years after the inception of the NWA, Los Angeles owns the distinction of being the first ever branch with its headquarters on the West Coast of the United States. While the now defunct NWA: Hawaii was further west than LA is, it was limited in terms of the area it could recruit due to the isolated nature of the islands and that is one of the primary reasons for its demise. LA on the other hand was able to tap the thriving SoCal indy market and managed to find a nice array of talent thanks to the style they were hoping to present and the fact that a myriad of unsigned workers were used to working in the area. The quantum leap up from emerging market to potential national powerhouse took place when Eddie Guerrero accepted the offer to become a co-owner of the company just days after dropping his share of the NWA World Heavyweight Title at Starrcade '06. Guerrero was able to bring along Vampiro, who was one of his longtime rivals from Mexico City and LA's windfall continued when former 2x NWA World Tag Team Champion Lance Storm came out of retirement and decided to make his way to California as well. Although these three were getting up there in years they were never overexposed in this part of the US and the fans were rabid to see some of the biggest names in NWA Worldwide's past up close and personal. With Guerrero, now a 2-time World Heavyweight champion, still in the mix for the NWA World Title, the tag team divison has also had one of its members already solidified amongst the industry's elite. The diminutive 2006 WCCW Diva Search contestant Chrissy Rivera proved to be the last piece of the puzzle for The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez & Homicide), who emerged from nowhere to become the 2007 NWA International Tag Team of the Year after winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles and also becoming the first ever NWA: LA Tag Team Champs. Although LAX dropped the World titles in 2008, they are still in contention to regain the belts and have helped elevate some of the other teams in Los Angeles. There is no doubt that LA can continue to promote its top singles wrestler and tag team as the cornerstones of their promotion, but they do need to bring some opposition up to their level eventually if they ever want to be a legitimate threat to NWA: NY & WCCW. ---------------------------------- The history of NWA: Los Angeles' Championships and major feuds 2007 There was no reason for Eddie Guerrero not to be the centerpiece of NWA: LA as he was far and away the most marketable name on the roster from its inception. Therefore, it was not a surprise when he picked up the Heavyweight Title by winning a tournament which concluded on their second ever monthly event in February. With Eddie in place a TV deal came quickly and Lucha Americana, a not so subtle dig at his former employer, broadcast for the first time in March. With their TV show in place, that's when the LAX took off and went from a tag team that had received limited success in the indies straight to the top as they became a ratings smash and helped cement The Havana Pitbulls as a legitimate tandem when the Pitbulls beat them for the LA version of the Tag Team Titles a couple of weeks before Hernandez & Homicide won the World Tag Titles. Guerrero eventually dropped his Heavyweight Title to Vampiro in one of the wildest brawls ever seen in the state of California as both men were bloodied beyond recognition in a Steel Cage match that saw Vampiro eventually cuff Guerrero to the cage before escaping. This match was a 2007 MOTYC for all of NWA Worldwide and again proved that LA was going to be a factor someday. 2008 The bloodbath between the former NWA: MC mainstays took a lot out of Vampiro and his stint with the title was short as he suffered a major concussion which had gone undiagnosed for about 6 weeks. He dropped the title back to Guerrero and then spent about 4 months on the sidelines recovering which set Lance Storm up to be Eddie's newest threat. Storm and Guerrero hadn't wrestled each other since 1993, and it was clear that the ring rust Storm had accumulated during his retirement was the difference between the two as Eddie beat him the first two times they squared off for the title. However, the third time proved to be the charm as Storm won the belt in October in a classic. The Pitbulls were beaten by a bunch of "ants" as The Colony used their numbers to steal the titles a couple of months before being crushed by a resurgent LAX. The most memorable portion of that match was the Chrissy Rivera top rope double stomp on Fire Ant which ultimately won her team the match, but also broke her right ankle in the process. The LAX didn't waste this opportunity though as Rivera has managed to incorporate her crutches into their offense on more than one occasion. Los Angeles is on the verge of big things, and only need to acquire a few more "names" before they'll be able to compete with the East Coast titans of NWA: NY & WCCW. 2009 Eddie Guerrero's renewed drive and focus led to perhaps the best year of his storied career as he won the NWA International Wrestler of the Year award for a second time after holding the NWA World Heavyweight Title for roughly the last five months of the year. Since Eddie was busy pursuing the top title in Worldwide, he didn't spend much time worrying about the NWA: Los Angeles Heavyweight Title which changed hands from one Storm to another shortly before both men lost their minds after becoming friends. Shortly after The Great Sasuke defeated Devon Storm for the belt, the two men named Storm started to team up together on a consistent basis, and when a fan came to the arena with a sign calling them The Storm Troopers a brand new gimmick was born. On the very next Lucha Americana episode the two men came out to the Star Wars Imperial March song dressed in full Stormtrooper regalia, including helmets and guns. Needless to say, the SoCal fans who appreciate comedy as much as anyone fell in love with this and they particularly loved it when the Storms would force choke opponents into submission. What they didn't love though was when The Storm Troopers turned heel and took the NWA: Los Angeles Tag Team Titles after declaring anyone who cheered for them "losers, virgins and nerds!" Lance Storm in particular heeled it up by being completely serious in the ring despite his attire and claiming that his hometown was once again Calgary . . . Alberta, Canada instead of "a galaxy . . . far, far away". NWA: LA still has a nice blend of comedy, lucha libre and hypercompetitive workers, and that's why many tap them as a potential NWA International Promotion of the Year in the next few years. NWA: Los Angeles Heavyweight Title History 2/25/07 - 11/25/07 Eddie Guerrero 11/25/07 - 2/24/08 Vampiro 2/24/08 - 10/26/08 Eddie Guerrero [2] 10/26/08 - 5/16/09 Lance Storm 5/16/09 - 7/11/09 'Dangerous' Devon Storm 7/11/09 - current The Great Sasuke NWA: Los Angeles Tag Team Title History 2/25/07 - 7/22/07 The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez & Homicide) 7/22/07 - 3/23/08 Havana Pitbulls (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero) 3/23/08 - 5/25/08 The Colony (Soldier Ant & Worker Ant, though the team regularly included Fire Ant and one of the others) 5/25/08 - 3/14/09 The Latin American Xchange [2] (def. The Colony for the titles in an impromptu 6 person match) 3/14/09 - 6/20/09 Havana Pitbulls [2] 6/20/09 - 11/14/09 The World's Sexiest Masked Men (Excalibur & Super Dragon) 11/14/09 - current The Storm Troopers (Devon & Lance Storm aka Storm Trooper Devon & Storm Trooper Lance) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 13, 2010 Author Share Posted May 13, 2010 Like its neighbor south of the border, NWA: Hardcore City is another renegade promotion that managed to tap into the pulse of the American fans as the '90s were marked by a culture widely influenced by an attitude captured in the "grunge" movement and generally rebellious tendencies. Hardcore City was founded as Eastern Championship Wrestling, and struggled from its 1992 inception until August 27, 1994. During its first two years, and under the helm of Tod Gordon, ECW poorly marketed itself as an alternative to the "big time" feel of the other major US branches, but it ended up coming across as a bush league promotion that struggled with the stigma of being a poorly funded, poorly thought out idea. Why would anyone watch a cheap knock off with no name talent when you could tune into World Class Championship Wrestling, who had the biggest stars in the world and a budget about 100 times greater than ECW's? Gordon was wondering that as well when he requested Paul Heyman's assistance in booking a big show called Ultra Clash '93 (on September 18, 1993) at the ECW Arena in Philadelphia. Heyman shook up the company with that event, and created a buzz that a Gordon led ECW had yet to capture. Over the coming months Heyman gained more and more control of the "book" and turned ECW into an underground phenomenon. What Heyman knew was that Eastern Championship Wrestling didn't have the right sounding name for his ideas, so he went to the NWA board and petitioned for a name change. That request was denied, and enraged Heyman to the point where he orchestrated quite possibly the most offensive angle in the history of NWA Worldwide! On July 23rd, 1994, then ECW star, 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas defeated Eddie Guerrero for the NWA World Cruiserweight Title in a move that many viewed as the NWA handing ECW its version of an olive branch. On the surface, everything seemed peaceful, but it was only five weeks later that Heyman and Douglas shocked the world by having Douglas toss the title in a garbage can and simultaneously proclaiming himself the Hardcore City World Champion as ECW split from the NWA! Needless to say, the NWA was livid, but the more they tried to bury the fledgling Hardcore City, the more they fueled its fire. Heyman had found a way to make a mark on the wrestling world that would never be forgotten and notched a monumental victory against "the man" when the NWA paid him upwards of $20 million to rejoin just two and a half years later when they realized that Hardcore City's style was something that fans were falling in love with, and that bringing Heyman's creation back into the fold would finally give the organization a chance to showcase the hottest act in the world, 'Superstar' Steve Austin! From that time until 1999, NWA: HC was one of the three most important branches in NWA Worldwide alongside NWA: CS & WCCW. However, NWA: HC later took a couple of major hits when Austin left for WCCW, and more importantly when Nora Greenwald died in one of the most horrific scenes in pro wrestling history in 2003. Although NWA: HC was no longer the internet darling of the bunch after that incident, it was still one of the most viable promotions in NWA Worldwide, which made its decision to partner up with its former rival WCCW, and NWA: Memphis in 2004 all the more puzzling. Rumor has it that Heyman felt that he had already exhausted all of the possibilities that hardcore wrestling could provide and that he had numbed the fanbase to its ultraviolent ways. However, when compared to the glitzy style of WCCW, and the old school feel of Memphis, even a greatly watered down NWA: HC would still seem relatively edgy. While some viewed Heyman as a sell out for becoming part of NWA Americas, there is no doubt that NWA: HC regained its edge when Heyman released a series of shoot promos on Eric Bischoff in late 2006, which caused the NWA Americas experiment to come to a brutal end. While Heyman has struggled to make new singles stars ever since Austin left, his Midas touch with tag teams is still evident as Degeneration X haS been named the 2008 & 2009 NWA International Tag Team of the Year and have held the NWA World Tag Team Titles twice in addition to their 3 stints with Hardcore City's version of the titles. ---------------------------------- The history of NWA: Hardcore City's Championships and major feuds 1994 Shane Douglas may have put Hardcore City on the map, but it was his feud with Raven, the PERFECT character to sum up NWA: HC's mission statement that made Hardcore City a powerhouse. These two were able to cut some of the best promos heard during this era, and also backed it up with some of the most barbaric matches in the history of American pro wrestling. 1995 & 1996 Interestingly enough, it was the beer swilling, unfiltered cigarette smoking Sandman who ended Douglas' reign as champion as Heyman realized that Douglas/Raven would sell tickets whether it was for the title or not. NWA: HC then created one of its weirdest stars ever as former ring crew member Mikey Whipwreck captivated the attention of the crowd with his willingness to take ridiculous bumps, and was rewarded for his efforts with perhaps the least likely major title run in NWA Worldwide history. Whipwreck was destroyed just a few weeks later when recent acquisition 'Superstar' Steve Austin beat him to a bloody pulp at the 1995 edition of November 2 Remember. Eventually, the audience had had its fill of Douglas/Raven and after Raven finally beat Douglas to end their 2 year long grudge, he moved onto a feud with Austin. 'Superstar' Steve Austin proved to be a master manipulator though as he brought in "someone from Raven's past", a man we'd later find out was named Tommy Dreamer. As a group, Austin and Dreamer dominated ECW, and went on to become its first ever tag team champs, ironically beating former rivals Raven & Douglas. 1997 & 1998 Austin had become a star of such a high magnitude when 1997 rolled around that Heyman ultimately could no longer afford to pay him without losing most of his other stars, and THAT is why Heyman opted to sell his company back into the NWA umbrella. Realizing that his personal pride was not as valuable as what Austin could provide him, Heyman sucked it up and proved to be a genius as Austin's aura created stars out of Dreamer, the new tandems of The Eliminators, The Gangstas & The Dudleys and especially Raven when the enigmatic loner FINALLY became champion at November 2 Remember '97 ending the run Austin had begun at the very same event 2 years earlier. It didn't matter much for Austin though, as he became NWA: HC's first ever NWA World Champion at Starrcade '97 when he defeated 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit about a month later. In the meantime, Raven then embarked on another lengthy feud with Dreamer this time, and was shocked to see Austin turn on Dreamer to prevent Tommy from becoming champ. Austin then defeated Raven, leading to the unlikely alliance of Raven & Dreamer who ended up seriously injuring Austin in a match by cracking one of his vertebrae with an errant tandem chairshot. This was not the first chairshot gone awry in NWA: HC history, but it was the most famous until the tragic incident in 2003 which we will get to later. Austin's injury also soured the NWA Championship Committee from relying on NWA: HC to look out for the interest of any potential World Champions in the future as Austin was forced to vacate the title on the same show where Taz made his debut. 1999 & 2000 Heyman lost confidence in Raven and Dreamer for ruining his plans, and hurting his one true superstar so he promptly jobbed them out until Austin returned in January of 1999. Shane Douglas had benefitted the most from the burial as he claimed a second run with the title, but soon lost it to Austin whose momentum had not been diminished at all. While The Dudleys had already cemented themselves as the top tag act in the US, NWA: HC caught a big break when 'Cactus' Jack Foley left NWA: Tokyo and set the company on its ear by knocking off Austin in a brutal cage match at the 1999 November 2 Remember. Foley was a perfect fit for the hardcore style here after years in Japan, and momentarily surpassed Austin in terms of popularity within the company. This fact didn't sit well with Austin who then caused a major controversy by jumping ship to WCCW a few weeks after dropping the title to Foley, never to return again. Fortunately, Heyman was able to create a couple of new stars when he brought in Rhino Richards & Justin Credible in early 2000, and paired them up as the Impact Players. NWA: HC also got some more talent from Japan when Tajiri & Masato Tanaka debuted later in the year. 2001 & 2002 Taz put an end to Foley's year plus long run as champ, but tore a bicep in the process forcing Heyman to hotshot the title back onto Douglas, who dropped it back to Taz once he was fully healthy. After being almost nonfactors on TV since the Austin incident, Raven & Dreamer paired up to win the Tag titles, but they were simply used as fodder for the Impact Players. Two of the men who had initially made NWA: HC a hot commodity were then released, their careers ultimately being the victims of one horrible spot as Austin, now one of the biggest stars in the industry, all but had them blacklisted from NWA Worldwide for accidentally breaking his neck. Taz had a great first legitimate run as champion improving business in all facets, but eventually dropped the belt to Rhino Richards at the 2002 November 2 Remember as Richards was now viewed as one of the best big men in the business, while Taz went on to team up with Douglas as their chemistry on screen led Douglas to turn face for the first time in years. Richards was so hot that he was given the honor of headlining Starrcade '02 against NWA World Champion Chris Jericho, and although he lost, he proved that he could be relied upon as the future of the company. That event proved to be NWA: HC's coming out party as The Dudleys became 2-time NWA World Tag Team Champions after dropping the titles one year earlier. 2003 & 2004 The "dark days" of NWA: HC will always be remembered for the death of Nora Greenwald at the 2003 Living Dangerously Pay Per View. Greenwald and bitter rival Amy Dumas had often battled for the NWA Women's World Title, and Heyman was ecstatic when he was able to get the NWA Championship Committee to let them continue their feud in a Steel Cage Weapons match on the March 15th event. Greenwald had shown an affinity to competing in dangerous matches as she had often wrestled against men in NWA: NY quite often thanks to her real life relationship with Matt Hardy as the duo were one of the most popular tag teams on the East Coast. Days before her passing, Greenwald noted that she had been most proud of the fact that she'd never been injured in her career which dated back to 1997. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Dumas lived up to her reputation as one of the most reckless women ever to wrestle as she hit Greenwald so hard with a chairshot to the back of the head that Nora went down immediately and never got back to her feet. The situation was worsened as we later found out that Greenwald likely could have been saved if she had just arrived at the hospital a couple of minutes sooner, but during the commotion Heyman hesitated, and by the time the cage door had been unlocked Greenwald was already losing the fight for her life. This death had a tremendous impact on the industry as Dumas never wrestled again, Hardy went down a self destructive path for nearly two years before finally cleaning his life up and becoming one of the most inspirational men in the business, and NWA Worldwide permanently retired the Women's World Title after naming Greenwald its immortal champion at an emotional ceremony at Starrcade '03. Dean Malenko & Rob Van Dam ended up joining NWA: HC after leaving NWA: Calgary Stampede and embarked on one of the best tag team feuds ever with the Dudleys as the final NWA: CS tag champs did battle with the NWA: HC & NWA World Tag Team Champions in a series of matches that solidified the Dudleys as the best in the business. Eventually Malenko & RVD took the NWA World Tag Team titles from the Dudleys at Starrcade '03, and the Dudleys were forced to take some time off after dropping the Hardcore City Titles to Taz and Douglas who had put their careers on the line in order to receive the title shot. It was during their hiatus that Heyman felt as though the Dudleys had in a way crippled his tag ranks as they held the titles for more than 5 of the 7 years from the start of their first reign until the end of their seventh. Malenko & Van Dam never did win the Hardcore City titles which surprised many considering their status, but all was forgiven when Van Dam ended up beating Rhino at the 2004 November 2 Remember, ending a 2 year reign. Freelance specialists, The Acolytes settled into NWA: HC's territory during the time NWA Americas was being formed and brought a breath of fresh air to the tag ranks. 2005 With the Dudleys moving over to the WCCW branch of NWA Americas late in '04, and Van Dam ultimately failing as champion when he couldn't shake the stigma of being a tag team specialist, Heyman had little choice but to have one final run by 'The Franchise', who retired shortly after dropping the belt to Richards 10 years to the week that he lost it for the first time. RVD seemed to back into his second title run as Richards got hurt just a month before the 2005 November 2 Remember. With that in mind Van Dam reclaimed the title, but that didn't stop fans from beginning to wonder if Heyman has lost the magic touch he had for most of the last decade despite arguably creating the most recognizable individual wrestler (Austin) and tag team (Dudleys) in wrestling history. 2006 & 2007 The NWA Americas experiment did not work as NWA: Mexico City waged a vicious war on Eric Bischoff's WCCW during the last half of 2006, eventually forcing NWA: Hardcore City & NWA: Memphis to go back to running shows on their own. While NWA: HC did better than WCCW right after the split, they lost a lot of momentum when they were splitting their TV taping schedule with NWA: Memphis who gained the most from the brief Americas ordeal. As other stars around the country took off, Heyman's crew seemed to regress quite a bit and aside from Abyss & The Last Dragons making it big during these two years not much of significance happened. Rhino Richards remained the focal point of the singles action although he was not nearly as hot as he once was thanks to being exposed for being undersized when compared to the monsters that were part of WCCW during the Americas run. The fans finally grew sick of The Dudley Boys and Heyman had to cut ties with them early on in 2007. 2008 It seems as though 2008 will be remembered as the end of the Rhino Richards era as he was beaten for the Heavweight Title by Taz, and then started being phased out of title contention as the year progressed. Ultimately he was let go in similar fashion to The Dudleys before signing on with NWA: Detroit, while Abyss became the focal point of the singles ranks. While there was definitely room for improvement in terms of marketing singles stars, the tag team division seemed to be as competitive as ever thanks to The Acolytes, Degeneration X, The Last Dragons & The Orient Express all being in the mix for the NWA World Tag Team Titles. 2009 Paul Heyman once again found himself in a bit of a jam with his booking as Degeneration X spent the majority of the year with at least one set of Tag Titles on them as they were the NWA World Champs for all but 4 months and also spent the first 4+ months of '09 with the Hardcore City version of the belts as well. Alex Shelley & CM Punk's popularity became a bit of a hindrance as they realistically had no threats on the roster until he decided to pair up Rob Van Dam & Taz to take the HC titles from them. It was around this time that Serena Deeb ended up replacing Tori at their side, and D-X generally appeared on Hardcore Heaven just to cut promos and keep the World Tag Titles visible as Heyman was forced to rebuild his roster thanks to a few notable retirements. Abyss split away from The Tormented as he started arguing with Nate Hatred & Penny Dreadful after dropping the Heavyweight Title to John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw, who was forced into singles action after his long time tag team partner, Ron Simmons, called it quits. Abyss stayed in the spotlight though as he paired up with Mistress Belmont, a dominatrix style character who stalked him for months. Bradshaw's reign was solid, if unspectacular and he ended up passing the torch to Masato Tanaka in a brutal match. Tanaka though was just a stopgap measure as he ended up dropping the title to American Dragon. It had been rumored for quite some time that Dragon was on Heyman's shortlist of potential singles stars, and that rumor became a reality when Ultimate Dragon broke his right leg. With some new blood holding his main singles title, Heyman decided he'd do the same with the tag straps as a Philly based stripper named Annie Social led her team of Danny Havoc & Drake Younger to the titles. The trio now known as A.D.D. seem like they could be poised for big things, but that could all change if D-X ends up dropping the NWA World Tag Titles they regained at Starrcade. NWA: Hardcore City (World) Heavyweight Title History 8/27/94 - 4/15/95 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas 4/15/95 - 10/25/95 The Sandman 10/25/95 - 11/18/95 Mikey Whipwreck 11/18/95 - 11/22/97 'Superstar' Steve Austin 11/22/97 - 7/25/98 Raven 7/25/98 - 3/27/99 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas [2] 3/27/99 - 11/20/99 'Superstar' Steve Austin [2] 11/20/99 - 3/24/01 'Cactus' Jack Foley 3/24/01 - 3/24/01 Taz (Taz won the belt from Foley then lost an impromptu match to Douglas after tearing his bicep in the first contest of this unplanned double dip) 3/24/01 - 8/25/01 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas [3] 8/25/01 - 11/23/02 Taz [2] 11/23/02 - 11/27/04 Rhino Richards 11/27/04 - 3/19/05 Rob Van Dam 3/19/05 - 4/16/05 'The Franchise' Shane Douglas [4] 4/16/05 - 11/19/05 Rhino Richards [2] 11/19/05 - 2/26/06 Rob Van Dam [2] 2/26/06 - 3/25/07 Rhino Richards [3] 3/25/07 - 10/31/07 Abyss 10/31/07 - 3/23/08 Rhino Richards [4] 3/23/08 - 8/24/08 Taz [3] 8/24/08 - 3/22/09 Abyss [2] 3/22/09 - 7/19/09 John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw 7/19/09 - 9/20/09 Masato Tanaka 9/20/09 - current American Dragon NWA: Hardcore City Tag Team Title History 3/23/96 - 12/20/96 'Superstar' Steve Austin & Tommy Dreamer (defeated Raven & Shane Douglas to become the inaugural champs) 12/20/96 - 3/15/97 The Eliminators (Perry Saturn & John Kronus) 3/15/97 - 4/13/97 The Dudley Boys 4/13/97 - 6/20/97 The Eliminators [2] 6/20/97 - 10/18/97 The Dudley Boys [2] 10/18/97 - 12/6/97 The F.B.I (Full Blooded Italians/Tracy Smothers & Little Guido) 12/6/97 - 11/20/99 The Dudley Boys [3] 11/20/99 - 1/9/00 The Eliminators [3] 1/9/00 - 3/24/01 The Dudley Boys [4] 3/24/01 - 4/28/01 Raven & Tommy Dreamer 4/28/01 - 10/27/01 The Impact Players (Rhino Richards & Justin Credible) 10/27/01 - 3/23/02 The Dudley Boys [5] 3/23/02 - 7/27/02 The F.B.I [2] 7/27/02 - 7/26/03 The Dudley Boys [6] 7/26/03 - 10/25/03 The Impact Players [2] 10/25/03 - 3/27/04 The Dudley Boys [7] 3/27/04 - 9/25/04 Taz & Shane Douglas 9/25/04 - 5/28/05 The Acolytes (Ron Simmons & John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw) 5/28/05 - 9/24/05 The F.B.I [3] 9/24/05 - 3/8/06 The Acolytes [2] 3/8/06 - 7/23/06 The Last Dragons (The American Dragon & The Ultimate Dragon (Low-Ki) 7/23/06 - 9/13/06 Degeneration X (Alex Shelley & CM Punk) 9/13/06 - 7/18/07 The Tormented (Abyss & Nate Hatred) 7/18/07 - 1/16/08 The Last Dragons [2] 1/16/08 - 6/22/08 Degeneration X [2] 6/22/08 - 9/21/08 The Orient Express (Jimmy Yang & Masato Tanaka) 9/21/08 - 4/19/09 Degeneration X [3] 4/19/09 - 11/15/09 Rob Van Dam & Taz 11/15/09 - current A.D.D. (Danny Havoc & Drake Younger, the A comes from their manager Annie Social) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 14, 2010 Author Share Posted May 14, 2010 I'm going to post the last couple of bios tomorrow and then try to upload the game over the weekend. I'm more or less happy with everything I can test out as NWA: NY is insanely aggressive, Tokyo draws huge crowds and everything else seems good. The few things that I can't test out with the demo are somewhat important though as I can't see how the ratings look for more than 4 episodes of TV shows, if the AI applies for/gets new TV shows and how the finances look after a month. What I'm hoping is that a few people who download the mod can just sim through the first two months and let me know what they see in terms of TV show news. I'm also interested to see if the finances need to be tweaked as I tried to give the cult feds that are on the cusp like HC, LA & Memphis more than the amount they needed to possibly offer written deals and had to upscale the larger promotions accordingly. I'll take one last look at the starting rosters to see where I need to add refs, announcers etc, though I may end up gearing certain user characters to fill those roles. I haven't decided yet. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions feel free to let me know within the next 48 hours or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 14, 2010 Author Share Posted May 14, 2010 NWA: Texas/World Class Championship Wrestling: Where Legends Are Born NWA: Calgary/Canadian Stampede is often regarded as the gold standard by which all NWA Worldwide branches should be measured due to its consistent excellence, the high quality talent they produced, and the number of great matches that NWA: CS wrestlers put on over the years, but the fact is that no one manufactured bigger name stars at a greater clip than World Class Championship Wrestling which was known as NWA: Texas until 1991. WCCW has seen more than its fair share of upheavel over the years as it was a traditional Southern Style promotion in the '60s, '70s and '80s, changing direction slightly in 1982 when Richard (Flair) Fleihr became its head booker. Fleihr was widely perceived to be one of the most talented men in pro wrestling from his 1972 debut until he broke his back in three places in a 1981 plane crash. At the time of the accident, the first 'Nature Boy' of the modern era had already been a 7-time NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion and was well on his way to becoming the greatest wrestler of all time, but his career was cut short after a failed attempt at rehabbing his back post surgery. A 6'7 inch tall, 302 pound mountain of muscle from Venice Beach ended up inheriting Flair's spot as 'Terrible' Terry (Bollea) Hogan adopted some of Fleihr's gimmick before becoming Hollywood Hogan, one of the most hated men to ever step into the squared circle. Hogan's initial run at the top of NWA: Texas ended after just a year when he jumped to Vince McMahon's WWF. However, McMahon made the tragic mistake of attempting to market Hogan as an American hero by the name of Hulk Hogan. Not only did the gimmick draw immediate ire from fans who thought the Hollywood character was better, but Marvel Comics won a lawsuit claiming copyright infringements over using the name "Hulk". The royalty included $100 per wrestling match featuring Hulk Hogan, 0.9% of the gross on Hulk Hogan projects, and 10% of any money the WWF received from Hulk Hogan appearances (or 10% of Bollea's money if the WWF didn't collect a fee). Naturally when WrestleMania bombed, Hogan ended up losing his shirt as his WWF contract was largely based on the success of major events. Hogan promptly jumped back to NWA: Texas in '86, but Fleihr and others no longer trusted him to be the face of the promotion and instead went in another direction as 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden became the man that was chosen to carry the company into the NWA Worldwide era. While Borden was not the technical wrestler that Flair had been, he had an unmatched charisma and the new 'Nature Boy' ended up becoming the most popular wrestler in the world for more than a decade as he always showed respect to the fans, his opponents and most importantly the business that had made him a star. Although Bret 'The Hitman' Hart was the inaugural NWA World Champion, it was Borden that brought a legitimacy to the title as he went on to hold it a staggering 6 times, far more than anyone else. Ironically, Borden's dominance of the World Title from the mid '80s to mid '90s ended up creating the only other recognized World Title in NWA Worldwide's illustrious history as Borden was elected the first WCCW World Champion in July 1991 (while in the midst of his 3rd reign as NWA World Champion) when the company was purchased and renamed by multi-billionaire Ted Turner. The main reasoning behind this decision to allow a "rival" World Title was that Turner's superstation TBS was able to give the NWA its major entrance into the national television market. It didn't take long for other TV and PPV deals to follow, with StarrCade '93 (headlined by Borden dropping the NWA World Title back to Randy 'The Macho Man' Savage a year after taking it from him) being the first PPV offered in the comfort of one's own home. After 1994's monumental Hart/Borden feud, 'The Nature Boy' spent some time trying to break into Hollywood, but ultimately failed at becoming an action star before making one last run as NWA World Champion in '96. After dropping the title to 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit on 6/28/97, Borden finished out the last few months of his contract by trying to make a star out of Paul Levesque, a man who struggled with the lofty expectations he carried with him for nearly five years before fully realizing his potential. A lesser man would likely have ended up becoming a footnote in wrestling history, but Levesque is determined to be seen as being on Borden's level before his career is over. With Borden gone to NWA: CS and Levesque taking a break in early 1998, WCCW lost a bit of steam as the majority of the top stars in NWA Worldwide were working elsewhere with Eddie Guerrero making his name in NWA: MC, Steve Austin carrying NWA: HC to unseen heights and Chris Benoit opting to tour Japan rather than settle down with WCCW. At this point in time Flair was stripped of the book, meaning that someone else would decide WCCW's direction for the first time in over 15 years as a man named Eric Bischoff took over. Bischoff truly proved to be someone willing to go the extra mile as he courted stars from all over, eventually bankrupting upstart NWA: NY which had been WCCW's main rival in terms of national exposure for the last five years. He then lured the bulk of their stars over and turned WCCW into the epitome of "Sports Entertainment". With the arrivals of superstars the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Hugh Morrus, The Undertaker, The Diamond Stud, Lex Luger & Prince Anoa'i on the scene, the years between 1999 and 2001 in WCCW revolutionized the business as a whole as Bischoff was able to succeed where McMahon had failed 13 years earlier as he claimed the expired copyright to WrestleMania and created a rival to Starrcade's importance with a blockbuster card on June 25, 2000. Levesque eventually went to NWA: CS to hone his skills against the greatest wrestlers in the world, and when he returned (midway through 2003), shortly after Bischoff pulled off a major coup by signing Kurt Angle he held the majority of the biggest stars in the world all on his roster. While many thought this would lead to the end of many NWA branches, it turned out to backfire on Bischoff as he now had more big names than he knew what to do with. It was this dilemna which led Bischoff to the realization that he needed more TV time and the ability to spread his talent around. It isn't really known whether Bischoff contacted NWA: Hardcore City's Paul Heyman or if it was Heyman that started the talks, but when they struck an agreement to co-promote events it was perhaps the most significant behind the scenes deal in NWA Worldwide history. Less than a month later, the head of NWA: Memphis Jerry Jarrett joined in creating the NWA Americas brand. While WCCW was the cornerstone of the Americas brand, everyone involved benefitted from the deal as there was a more balanced spread of the best talent, and each branch still held its own unique style while moving forward. The "super branch" also carried with it the added bonus of drawing in some of the best workers from the other NWA Worldwide affiliates who wanted the chance to capture the NWA World Titles which were all firmly in the possession of NWA Americas. However, the NWA Americas experiment did not work as NWA: Mexico City's Konnan waged a vicious war on Eric Bischoff's WCCW during the last half of 2006, eventually forcing NWA: Hardcore City & NWA: Memphis to go back to running shows on their own. While NWA: HC did better than WCCW right after the split, they lost a lot of momentum when they were splitting their TV taping schedule with NWA: Memphis who gained the most from the brief Americas ordeal. Things started to spiral downward for Bischoff on the day that WrestleMania VII was set to take place with a Main Event of Chris Jericho vs The Rock for Jericho's NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In the months leading up to WrestleMania, Bischoff taunted Konnan's promotion and tried to get his headline superstar Eddie Guerrero to leave Mexico City on that night, as his handshake contract was set to expire as soon as NWA: MC's summer blockbuster Triplemania was over. Knowing that Guerrero coveted the NWA World Title Bischoff offered Guerrero a title shot as soon as he showed up, but this attempt failed as it was Jericho who no showed Bischoff's event and appeared at Triplemania instead! Guerrero ultimately won the title by pinning Jericho and was declared the NEW Heavyweight Champion of the World . . . but this unexpected title change sparked a major controversy the next morning when Bischoff threatened to pull WCCW out of NWA Worldwide if The Rock was not declared the new champion since he was scheduled to meet Jericho that night. In Bischoff's mind Jericho forfeited the title by not showing up and therefore his match with the Guerrero was irrelevant as far as the title was concerned. The NWA Executive Board was split on this issue and while they tried to come to a resolution, BOTH Konnan and Bischoff decided to go with their guy being the "undisputed" NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Ultimately the Board decided that each promotion would have their man (or anyone who beat them) recognized as champ until Starrcade '06where the two would unify the belt(s). As expected, both owners threatened to have their man no show at Starrcade because they were wary of being double crossed which led to the inclusion of 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit into the match as he was the rightful # 1 contender to the title. Benoit won the title by pinning both men and once again became the hottest free agent in the world. WCCW then managed to do what it did best, and slaughtered its main rival with a devastating 1-2 punch within two weeks of the conclusion of Starrcade. Sources indicate that Bischoff GAVE NWA: Los Angeles the money and incentives it needed to lure Guerrero away from Mexico City as he had no use for Eddie, but just wanted to spite Konnan for all the trouble he had caused. He then threw a boatload of money at Benoit to guarantee that the Canadian would sign with WCCW, and let The Giant and his hefty contract go to Mexico City, just in time to execute the killshot. With Guerrero gone and Benoit spurning his offer, Konnan was building Mr. Benjamin up as the heir to his Heavyweight title and once he was on the verge of capturing it, Bischoff swallowed his pride and offered Benjamin "the biggest contract in the history of NWA Worldwide" in June of 2007. Benjamin signed it and left behind both his girlfriend and tag team partner (Melina & Ron Killings) as he felt he had no other choice. With the top of his cards decimated by Bischoff's scheming, Konnan eventually took his foot off of the gas pedal and stopped warring with the much larger and more powerful WCCW. Bischoff was on top of the world again . . . for about 2 months. With Mexico City finally behind him, Bischoff now faced an old, familiar rival as the reborn NWA: NY started to make moves in the ratings and most importantly in developing "A" level talent. In a bit of a shocker, 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels career took off and he ended up beating Benoit for the NWA World Heavyweight Title on August 19th giving NY control of the top title for the first time in its existence. Bischoff was livid and lashed out at anyone who crossed his path, and rumor has it that WCCW was teetering on the edge of internal collapse when they were dealt a heavier blow later that month when Brock Lesnar & Randall Orton opted not to re-sign with WCCW and instead went to New York where they assumed they would be able to finally emerge from the lengthy shadows of superstars like Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Paul Levesque, Steve Austin & The Rock. Bischoff's mental state was said to be "the worst anyone had ever seen" from him in his 10 years as the driving force behind WCCW and he made another political power play when he again threatened to pull WCCW from Worldwide unless one of his men took the title from Daniels. The Executive Board seemed to cave in as Mr. Benjamin won the belt and became the first NWA Triple Crown winner in April '08. Bischoff calmed down and seemed to be making amends with some of his employees, but another titanic outburst was set to take place later that year. At Starrcade '08, one of Bischoff's few failures came back to bite him as Brock Lesnar defeated Benjamin, reclaimed the title for NWA: NY and tore into Bischoff saying that he never would have had the chance to be "THE MAN" in WCCW because he wasn't in his 40's yet like the rest of those "broken down has beens!". That shoot video brought an incredible amount of attention to NWA: NY who now possessed both the NWA Heavyweight & Cruiserweight World titles, leaving Bischoff with nothing as Heyman and Hardcore City had the Tag Team Titles. Although WCCW had the legacy and resources to get back on top, many in the industry wondered if Bischoff was suffering from burn out as he was so personally invested in everything WCCW did. Others believed it was time for the company to make a change at the top because Bischoff had "lost it", and needed to be removed for the betterment of the promotion. But WCCW management stuck with him until WCCW WrestleMania X (headlined by yet another Austin/Rock match where Austin ended up retiring because he couldn't win the title) did the lowest buyrate of all 10 WrestleManias and NWA: LA's Eddie Guerrero recaptured the NWA World Heavyweight Title. At that point, Bischoff couldn't sweet talk his way out of trouble and he was replaced by Austin as the on screen owner of the company. While that move temporarily spiked the ratings, it's now been 5 long years since WCCW was named the NWA International Promotion of the Year, NWA: NY is on top of the world and WCCW finds itself with a roster that is top heavy with men 35+ years of age who have suffered from overexposure during the Bischoff years. ---------------------------------- The history of NWA: Texas/WCCW's Championships and major feuds 1985 NWA: Texas was the second official member of NWA Worldwide, and always promoted itself as such although executives technically signed on later in the same day that the now defunct NWA: Southern States (Florida & Georgia) branch did. In any event, the early days of NwA: Texas were largely shaped by the tag team divison which may have been the richest in NWA history boasting such names as The Road Warriors, The Original Midnight Express, The Rock n' Roll Express, & The Minnesota Stretching Crew at the top of their cards. They also had the benefit of being able to slowly groom 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden to be a national star as he handled the NWA: Texas Heavyweight Title for the 3rd time, while Theodore Maximillion DiBiase III split his time between his NWA: SS home, and NWA: Texas which gave him the exposure necessary to contend for, and eventually become just the 2nd ever NWA World Champion. 1986 & 1987 Dibiase's 1st NWA World Title run lasted throughout all of '86 (when he won NWA International Wrestler of the Year honors), as he, Hogan, Borden and NWA:SS stars Harley Race & 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes largely shared top billing in singles action throughout the entire South, though the rivalries between those men were often upstaged by one of the best feuds of the era as Rick Rude & Ricky Steamboat brought a completely different sense of style and flair to events. Another Rick, Martel, and Chico Santana joined the tag team ranks as did the hard hitting duo of Stan 'The Man' Hansen & Bruiser Brody, and a very undersized pair of high flyers, Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty aka The Midnight Rockers. No one would have ever guessed that the lesser talented, 6 foot tall, 180 pound Michaels would ever go on to become NWA World Champion some 13 years later, but then again history has shown that just about anything could happen in the early days of NWA Worldwide, especially in Texas. Fleihr's brilliance as a booker was evident as he was somehow able to successfully juggle the on and off nature of a shared World Champ in DiBiase, Borden's ascent to the top, 'Hollywood' Hogan's return, and the impressive tag team roster with a skill that some say hasn't been matched at any time since. 1988 & 1989 Borden finally rose to the pinnacle of pro wrestling when he defeated DiBiase for the NWA World Title at StarrCade '87, and held it for over a year before losing it to the psychotic Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, a man who inspired fear in those who opposed him, as well as many fans. It wasn't until years later that drugs were revealed to largely be responsible for Roberts' deranged character as he was in and out of rehab in the early '90s. However, this two year stretch saw him as the most hated man in the business, and ultimately led to one of the nicest stories of the time as Arn Anderson left behind his tag team career after Roberts "broke" Borden's neck with a DDT on the concrete in their title match. Anderson's mission to stop Roberts was thought of by most fans of the era as an inspirational story of friendship that only intensified when Anderson suddenly turned on Borden after dropping the title to him at StarrCade '89. Anderson and Borden wrestled many a match after this time, but Anderson preferred his role as a secondary character and never was in the World Title picture again, though his career as a tag team specialist took off again shortly thereafter with another Anderson, Ole. Jannetty's run as NWA World Cruiserweight Champ came to an end with the arrival of perhaps the most innovative wrestler of the era, 'Super Fine' Scotty Stein(er), a powerhouse who could fly with the best of them. Stein was so talented that he ended up dropping the Cruiserweight Title because Fleihr knew he could easily join the ranks of NWA: Texas Heavyweight Champs, and he did just that. 1990 & 1991 After making him prove his loyalty over the last few years, Fleihr finally had confidence in 'Hollywood' Hogan again and pushed him heavily as the # 2 man behind Borden. Hogan eventually claimed his first NWA: Texas Heavyweight Title and went on to feud with NWA: SS star Randy 'The Macho Man' Savage, a man who was like a brother to him behind the scenes. The two went on to make a lot of money for both territories and ended up launching themselves into the NWA World Heavyweight Title scene as a result. The tag ranks were growing a bit stale as many of the top tag teams didn't stay in any specific region for long with almost all of them spending time in Texas, NWA: SS and even NWA: Tokyo which has largely been relying on gaijin tag teams ever since The Titans of Terror (Bam Bam Bigelow & Super Vader) had made their stamp on the wrestling world in the mid to late '80s. The loss of the crown jewel squad, the Road Warriors hurt the most, leading to Fleihr coming up with a tandem that essentially ripped off the Road Warriors' character and style, as Demolition came into being shortly after the name change to WCCW. While the initial response to Ax & Smash was weak, the duo ended up becoming the hottest act in American tag team wrestling within 8 months after their arrival. 1992 & 1993 With Hogan and Savage's elevation, Borden took a bit of a demotion from the national spotlight, but again saved the territory with his 5th run as NWA: Texas Heavyweight Champion selling out shows throughout '92. 'The Nature Boy' went on to unify the NWA: Texas, NWA World & WCCW World Titles at StarrCade '92 and that feat still remains historic as he is the only man to hold the United States version of the 'Triple Crown' of pro wrestling. Borden ended up losing the Triple Crown piece by piece and things were not looking good as the singles ranks had not created any new stars in years. Some argued that the branch had too many singles titles, which eventually led to WCCW Owner Ted Turner officially abandoning the NWA: Texas Heavyweight Title, shortly after it was won by relative newcomer to the region, Sid Vicious in a move that did not endear him to diehards who had followed that particular belt for nearly 30 years! Borden ended up going to Canada shortly after this, and many were unsure how much longer the Texas territory would be significant when its top name, and top title disappeared within 6 months of each other. 1994 This was the year that WCCW nearly went under as Borden was gone, Hogan went to Tokyo, DiBiase retired and the tag ranks were in shambles. Fleihr basically was forced into shifting gears as he did his best to try and create stars on the fly, by trying to make names out of perennial midcarders and tag team wrestlers like Shawn Michaels who became a ****y punk by the name of 'The Heart Break Kid', and Rick Martel dubbing himself 'The Model'. While both were elevated, neither set the world ablaze, and Sid Vicious ended up becoming the top name in the promotion despite his relative lack of overall skills. With NWA: NY catching fire with crazy gimmicked wrestlers like The Undertaker, The Diamond Stud, I.R.S., 'The Total Package' Lex Luger & Prince Anoa'i on their roster WCCW was dying a slow death until they were saved by a 7'2 400 pound Giant! This 23 year old rookie burst onto the scene by winning his first 173 matches, ultimately taking the WCCW World Title in the process. The threat of his streak being ended was enough of a draw to pull WCCW back ahead of NWA: NY, although the two branches did battle until WCCW's inevitable win five years later. 1995 & 1996 'The Nature Boy' returned after his Canadian and Hollywood excursions, and was the man to end The Giant's undefeated reign of terror, but eventually dropped the WCCW World Title back to the monster as Fleihr realized Borden was aging and that he could make anyone who beat The Giant a star. Borden put over The Giant, and then didn't appear much on WCCW TV until he ended up losing the NWA World Title for the 6th and final time. Michaels, Martel and Vicious climbed back up the ranks after their first pushes stalled. The unlikely tandem of Diamond Dallas Page (formerly the manager of NWA: NY's Diamond Stud) & Rigor Mortis added a spark to the tag division despite Mortis' similarities to NWA: NY's Undertaker. Demolition's 5 year run in the promotion came to an end as they decided to end their careers in Tokyo where the touring schedule was easier to handle. Fleihr received his second blue chip prospect in WCCW's renaissance when Michaels convinced him to sign 'The Protoype' Paul Levesque, who started his 1996 run as a former bodybuilder that claimed he was the prototype for the modern wrestler. 1997 & 1998 With Levesque's massive musculature, and surprising agility he quickly became a factor in WCCW as well as the national scene, but the youngster couldn't handle the pressure and nearly suffered a nervous breakdown after claiming his 1st WCCW World Title late in '97, defeating The Giant, who had now only lost two matches in his career. The 28 year old Levesque was widely regarded as a good guy behind the scenes, and caused a dip in morale in the lockerroom when he had to take some time away from the business after dropping the title to his buddy Michaels. Levesque's departure left a huge hole in the top of the card, and that's when Ted Turner's longtime assistant Eric Bischoff devised a plan that saw him oust Fleihr from his position and irrevocably shift the balance of power when he was able to lure Dwayne Johnson & Hugh Morrus away from NWA: NY when their contracts expired in March of 1998. The incredibly charismatic Johnson was then repackaged as The Rock, a brash character who referred to himself exclusively in the 3rd person. His feud with The Giant provided many comedic moments, and a few standout matches as well. Bischoff then had the presence of mind to soften The Giant's character a bit and used him primarily as a fun loving big man instead of an unstoppable juggernaut. He gave that role to the 6'2 280 pound bruiser who now called himself The Laughing Man, and the two former pro football players took to their new characters perfectly. With a revitalized top of the card and increasingly improving ratings, WCCW continued to pilfer talent from NWA: NY as The Diamond Stud, Lex Luger & Prince Anoa'i (Yokozuna) made their way to WCCW by the end of the year with their characters and names intact thanks to all three working under those identities prior to signing on with the New York based promotion. The Undertaker was no more, but the man who played the character ironically dealt the deathblow to NWA: NY when he left with the NWA: NY Heavyweight Title in his possession as Kevin Nash appeared sans make-up on a 1998 episode of WCCW Nitro making a mockery of Vince McMahon's foolish effort of keeping him by allowing him to win the title despite the fact that Nash's contract ended the day after he won it. Bischoff really stuck it to McMahon by mocking The Undertaker gimmick by hiring a masked man to follow Nash around, calling himself The Pallbearer. Surprisingly, the fans took to them and they became a dominant tag team which had originally started off as an inside joke. 1999 & 2000 Levesque's return in early '99 gave WCCW yet another monster star on the roster as they continued to roll with the former NWA: NYers, Michaels, The Giant and their tag division on fire. So when the year was coming to an end and vignettes of "The Millenium Clock" suddenly began to appear, no one knew exactly what to expect, though common thought at the time was that Kurt Angle would be the man to appear at the end of the countdown. Needless to say when 'Superstar' Steve Austin showed up instead of Angle at 11:07 PM at the conclusion of a special WCCW Friday Nitro on December 31st, 1999 the wrestling world was in a frenzy! With Nitro back on its regular Monday schedule, the January 3rd, 2000 edition set a record with a mindblowing 10.3 rating as everyone was salivating at the chance to see the biggest star in the industry on the top rated wrestling program in the US. Austin's arrival was nothing short of a windfall for WCCW which was shattering previous marks for PPV buys and revenues as well as TV ratings by wide margins. June 25th 2000, saw Bischoff present WCCW WrestleMania I, and The Rock/Austin Main Event broke every possible PPV mark as the buyrate was nearly 1 full point higher than the record set at StarrCade '94 when 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden & Bret 'The Hitman' Hart waged their epic battle which saw Hart became NWA World Champion for the 2nd time. However, it was not all good news for the promotion though, as Angle did end up spurning Bischoff's advances citing that more TALENT was in Canada and that was where he wanted to be. 2001 & 2002 Levesque left to join NWA: CS with Bischoff's blessing at the end of the year because Austin was still white hot, and he knew that would buy him some time. WCCW TV saw the formation of the mammoth team of The Giant & Prince Anoa'i, who were possibly the first ever comedic duo of men who could legitimately break any wrestler in half as they were billed as weighing "nearly half a ton!". Austin, Rock, Michaels and The Laughing Man carried the promotion for a while before fans began to hunger for some new stars just to shake things up. Their requests were answered when WCCW bore witness to a new generation of the Minnesota Stretching Crew as Shelton Benjamin & Brock Lesnar entered the promotion in early '01, ultimately defeating the colossal duo of The Giant & Anoa'i and establishing themselves as one of the best teams in the world. Their pairing didn't last very long though as seeds were planted from early on that Benjamin was the more talented member, but Lesnar was more marketable. It was during their initial feud that Benjamin adopted some of the traits of the militant black soldier gimmick that has made him a star to this day. Also coming into the fold at this time was Randall 'The Vandal' Orton, a 3rd generation star who got over thanks to his "Vandal TV" segments which saw Orton pull pranks on other wrestlers, and expose certain things to the public in a pseudo shoot style. "Vandal TV's" most memorable segment was one where the very chaste Nora Greenwald was seen slipping into a shower where she then engaged with Matt Hardy in a passionate kiss. Internet fans had known that the two were a couple since their meeting in NWA: NY in 1998, but WCCW's less savvy fans were stunned to see Greenwald in this different light. Almost instantly, the two became huge fan favorites and ended up teaming up for quite some time, even capturing the WCCW Tag Titles for a two week run as their romance was a huge story. Nora pinning the nearly 500 pound Giant because he didn't want to hurt her despite catching her in the midst of her front flip cannonball finisher from the top was one of the most memorable images of 2002, at least until 2 weeks later when Greenwald showed her tremendous heart and desire to be perceived as an equal to the men by taking a Bansai legdrop from the 600 pound Prince as they reclaimed the titles! 2003 & 2004 Levesque eventually returned towards the middle of '03, and set his sights on the WCCW World Title, but this time he came with back up, an imposing bald headed genetic freak known simply as 'The Animal'. Levesque used 'The Animal' to get back on top of WCCW, but his time there came to an end when a "Vandal TV" segment saw Levesque bragging to an off camera friend on a cell phone that 'The Animal' was just "another moron with a million dollar body, and a five cent brain!". Levesque tried to deny it, even going so far as to claim that he was set up, but 'The Animal' didn't buy it and put Levesque through the announce table in a segment that turned the big man into a monster babyface overnight. Bischoff wisely held off on 'The Animal's' push to the top though and paired him with Orton as both casually changed their characters over time citing an Evolution that was happening in the business. Orton, the newly renamed Dave Batista, and soon to be ally Lesnar then went on to become one of the top drawing stables in the history of WCCW as Orton won his first WCCW World Title, and the Batista/Lesnar team won the Tag Titles. They later went on to feud with former rivals Levesque and Benjamin. The Rock later joined the mix citing that it was HE who was the most important 3rd generation star in the industry. While The Triple Threat/Evolution feud singlehandedly powered WCCW through this two year stretch, it also caused some frustrations in the locker room as other stars like Austin, Michaels, The Laughing Man, The Giant and mid '03 acquisition Kurt Angle began to grow upset with their relative lack of TV time and PPV exposure. 2005 To this day, no one knows whether it was Bischoff or Paul Heyman that initiated talks which began NWA Americas, but we do know that Bischoff's motivation arrived in the form of a near exodus, the likes of the one he had orchestrated about 5 to 6 years earlier from his bitter rivals in NWA: NY. With most of his top stars coming to the ends of their huge deals the NWA Americas alliance saved WCCW from falling into disarray, though Bischoff didn't really do much to spread his talent around in its brief existence. That is primarily the reason that Americas failed, although most will tell you that Bischoff's focus on eliminating NWA: Mexico City was more significant. Rumor has it that Heyman & Jarrett repeatedly went to Bischoff in hopes of procuring some of his talent for their shows and they were routinely denied. Bischoff's inability to "play well with others" and the stigma of being nothing more than a talent hoarder with a huge checkbook was what ultimately ended NWA Americas as no one ever got the chance to see if it was Bischoff's mind or Turner's money that made WCCW the cornerstone in NWA Worldwide. 2006 & 2007 Eric Bischoff finally ran into forces greater than himself as he very nearly had a nervous breakdown thanks to his war against Konnan leading to NWA Americas falling apart, the infamous "Chris Jericho Doublecross" AND NWA: NY returning all within the span of 6 whirlwind months between December 2005 and the conclusion of WrestleMania VII in June of 2006. While Bischoff was able to rebound and ultimately slap Mexico City's advances away, his focus on "killing the competition" left him wide open to internal revolts. The television product became increasingly stagnant as the WCCW World Title went from Levesque to Austin to The Rock, three men who had largely been carrying the promotion since 2000. The petty nature of Bischoff's reaction to getting double crossed by Jericho, when he was trying to get Eddie Guerrero to do the same thing to Konnan also saw fans become hostile to Bischoff's product. In an effort to freshen things up, Adam Copeland was finally given his big push to the top, though he was only able to win the title AFTER The Rock had defended it against Chris Benoit moments earlier. The fans didn't love the execution of this "Money in the Bank" idea, but it was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back for both Orton and Lesnar who had grown tired of never getting the chance to be put on the same level as guys like Austin, Levesque & The Rock. When WCCW finally lost control of the NWA World Heavyweight Title to NWA: NY, Bischoff really started to become difficult to work with as he absolutely refused to go in a new direction and was adamant that one of his "megastars" (or one of his world famous tantrums) would bring the title back to his promotion. Seeing the writing on the wall, Brock Lesnar & Randall Orton left for NY, and Bischoff was on the verge of trying to stop a mutiny. 2008 If there was any hope that Bischoff was going to change directions, it was quickly erased as Benoit and Jericho became first time WCCW World Champs though neither had much of a reign to speak of as "The Big Three" were still all over the TV product. When The Rock tore his right bicep that was when Bischoff finally had to think on the fly and bit the bullet. He put his ego aside and gave Mr. Benjamin a legitimate chance to carry the promotion. And that's exactly what he did. Benjamin had an 8 month reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champ to complete The NWA Triple Crown, and in the midst of that he was also the WCCW World Champ for 5 months. With ratings stabilizing, Benjamin dropped the WCCW World Title back to Jericho who had been cutting one amazing promo after another for the majority of the year and it seemed as though Bischoff finally realized that he needed to get away from the stars of the '99-'01 peak period if he wanted to handle the emerging threat from New York. Everything was going great until Starrcade '08 when Brock Lesnar defeated Benjamin for the most prestigious prize in Worldwide and it became evident that the NWA Executive Board saw NWA: NY and not WCCW as the way to go forward in 2009. Bischoff has not been seen since the day after StarrCade and many believe that he's no longer able to use the threat of pulling WCCW out of Worldwide to his advantage as the leadership have finally grown tired of being held hostage by Bischoff and his demands. WCCW still has the most star power in NWA Worldwide, but it is aging and unless Bischoff (or someone else) does something soon, we may just see NWA: NY put WCCW out of business this time. 2009 As you know by now 2009 was not a good year for WCCW. They are no longer the # 1 promotion in NWA Worldwide, Mr. Benjamin had knee surgery and missed the majority of the year, Eric Bischoff was forced out after a decade plus in charge, and perhaps most significantly Steve Austin retired and was then pressed into on screen duty as Bischoff's replacement about 6 weeks later. The locker room, which was never ideal, has descended into chaos as a bunch of aging superstars have done everything they could to keep themselves in the spotlight and there's no room for anyone to truly advance to the next level. As such it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the WCCW World Title was basically a year long prop in the Austin/Rock & Jericho/Rock feuds while two stars were paired up to dominate the tag team ranks as Adam Copeland & 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit formed Team Canada and won the belts at WrestleMania. Heading into 2010 Mr. Benjamin is the only guy at the top of the card under 35 years of age, and none of the 40+ crowd seem all that eager to step aside. The youngest people on the roster are former Diva Search contestants who don't have a lot to offer and the DSW development system has pumped more stars into NWA: NY than it has into WCCW. While the future isn't bleak, there are many in the business who think WCCW is heading toward the same fate as its Canadian neighbor, NWA: CS. That comparison doesn't seem that outrageous when you consider that NWA: CS once was the top promotion in NWA Worldwide, that it routinely put out great matches, but at some point it simply stopped producing new talent and saw its biggest names go on to compete elsewhere. WCCW World Title History 7/4/91 - 3/21/92 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden (awarded due to his status as the current NWA World Heavyweight Champion) 3/21/92 - 8/22/92 Rick Rude 8/22/92 - 12/19/92 Randy 'The Macho Man' Savage 12/19/92 - 7/24/93 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden [2] 7/24/93 - 11/20/93 Hollywood Hogan 11/20/93 - 2/19/94 'The Heart Break Kid' Shawn Michaels 2/19/94 - 6/25/94 Sid Vicious 6/25/94 - 10/30/95 The Giant 10/30/95 - 12/21/96 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden [3] 12/21/96 - 11/15/97 The Giant [2] 11/15/97 - 4/25/98 'The Prototype' Paul Levesque 4/25/98 - 9/26/98 'The Heart Break Kid' Shawn Michaels [2] 9/26/98 - 5/24/99 Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) 5/24/99 - 2/26/00 The Laughing Man 2/26/00 - 6/25/00 The Rock [2] 6/25/00 - 6/24/01 'Superstar' Steve Austin (this was the record setting WCCW WrestleMania I Main Event) 6/24/01 - 10/28/01 Paul Levesque [2] 10/28/01 - 12/22/02 'Superstar' Steve Austin [2] 12/22/02 - 6/23/03 The Rock [3] 6/23/03 - 3/28/04 Randall Orton 3/28/04 - 8/12/04 Shelton Benjamin (vacated due to injury) 9/26/04 - 6/26/05 Kurt Angle (def. Orton in the finals of a 16 man tournament) 6/26/05 - 12/17/05 The Rock [4] 12/17/05 - 6/25/06 Paul Levesque [3] 6/25/06 - 12/31/06 'Superstar' Steve Austin [3] 12/31/06 - 6/24/07 The Rock [5] 6/24/07 - 10/28/07 Adam Copeland (won a title shot earlier in WrestleMania VIII and cashed it in to defeat The Rock after an epic match with Chris Benoit) 10/28/07 - 1/27/08 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit 1/27/08 - 6/28/08 Chris Jericho 6/28/08 - 11/22/08 Mr. Benjamin [2] (Benjamin retained the NWA World Heavyweight title and won Jericho's WCCW World Title at WrestleMania IX) 11/22/08 - 3/22/09 Chris Jericho [2] 3/22/09 - 9/27/09 The Rock [6] (He ended up retiring Austin in a title vs career match at WCCW WrestleMania X) 9/27/09 - Chris Jericho [3] NWA: Texas Heavyweight Title History 1984 - 4/27/85 'Mean' Gene Anderson [3] 4/27/85 - 11/30/85 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden [3] 11/30/85 - 12/14/85 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes [2] 12/14/85 - 3/23/87 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden [4] 3/23/87 - 7/25/87 Harley Race 7/25/87 - 12/19/87 Rick Rude 12/19/87 - 12/17/88 Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat 12/17/88 - 6/17/89 Rick Rude [2] 6/17/89 - 2/17/90 'Super Fine' Scotty Stein 2/17/90 - 1/26/91 Hollywood Hogan 1/26/91 - 9/21/91 Rick Rude [3] 9/21/91 - 2/20/93 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden [5] 2/20/93 - 5/22/93 'Super Fine' Scotty Stein [2] 5/22/93 - 6/15/93 Sid Vicious (title abandoned) NWA: Texas/WCCW Tag Team Title History 1984 - 10/19/85 The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) [3] 10/19/85 - 3/22/86 The Original Midnight Express ('Loverboy' Dennis Condrey & 'Ravishing' Randy Rose) [2] 3/22/86 - 9/20/86 The Midnight Express ('Sweet' Stan Lane & 'Beautiful' Bobby Eaton) [2] 9/20/86 - 6/27/87 The Road Warriors [4] 6/27/87 - 9/26/87 The Rock n' Roll Express (Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton) 9/26/87 - 12/19/87 The Original Midnight Express [3] 12/19/87 - 9/24/88 The Minnesota Stretching Crew (Arn & 'Mean' Gene Anderson) [2] 9/24/88 - 12/17/88 The Road Warriors [5] 12/17/88 - 6/24/89 The Titans of Terror (Bam Bam Bigelow & Super Vader) Note: Bigelow & Vader won both the NWA World Tag & NWA: Texas Tag Titles, while retaining the NWA: Tokyo Tag Titles at StarrCade '88 6/24/89 - 10/21/89 Stan 'The Man' Hansen & Bruiser Brody 10/21/89 - 4/28/90 Rick Martel & Chico Santana 4/28/90 - 12/15/90 The Midnight Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) 12/15/90 - 9/28/91 The Andersons (Arn & Ole Anderson) 9/28/91 - 2/27/93 Demolition (Ax & Smash, lost the titles when they were DQ'ed in a match that would allow the title to change hands on a DQ) 2/27/93 - 6/27/93 The Andersons [2] 6/27/93 - 3/21/94 Demoliton [2] 3/21/94 - 7/4/94 Rick Martel & Chico Santana [2] 7/4/94 - 9/25/94 The Andersons [3] 9/25/94 - 2/26/95 Harlem Heatwave (Booker & Stevie Ray Jenkins) 2/26/95 - 8/27/95 Demolition [3] 8/27/95 - 3/24/96 Diamond Dallas Page & Rigor Mortis 3/24/96 - 7/28/96 Demolition [4] 7/28/96 - 12/30/96 Harlem Heatwave [2] 12/30/96 - 5/25/97 Diamond Dallas Page & Rigor Mortis [2] 5/25/97 - 10/26/97 The Diamond Stud & 'The Total Package' Lex Luger 10/26/97 - 2/22/98 Harlem Heatwave [3] 2/22/98 - 12/7/98 Diamond Dallas Page & Rigor Mortis [3] 12/7/98 - 12/6/99 Kevin Nash & The Pallbearer 12/6/99 - 6/25/00 The Diamond Stud & 'The Total Package' Lex Luger [2] 6/25/00 - 1/28/01 Kevin Nash & The Pallbearer [2] 1/28/01 - 3/26/01 Diamond Dallas Page & Rigor Mortis [4] 3/26/01 - 10/29/01 The Giant & Prince Anoa'i 10/29/01 - 3/4/02 The Minnesota Stretching Crew (Brock Lesnar & Shelton Benjamin) 3/4/02 - 11/11/02 The Giant & Prince Anoa'i [2] 11/11/02 - 11/25/02 Matt Hardy & Nora Greenwald 11/25/02 - 7/27/03 The Giant & Prince Anoa'i [3] 7/27/03 - 3/21/04 Evolution (Dave Batista & Brock Lesnar) 3/21/04 - 11/1/04 The World's Greatest Tag Team (Kurt Angle & Shelton Benjamin) 11/1/04 - 3/27/05 Evolution [2] 3/27/05 - 3/28/05 (Rob) Conway & (Lance) Cade Note: Conway & Cade won the titles on a Sunday PPV, and were then challenged by Angle & Benjamin at the start of Nitro the next night. WGTT ended up winning the titles, making Conway & Cade the shortest reigning NWA: Texas/WCCW Tag Team Champions to date! 3/28/05 - 9/29/05 The World's Greatest Tag Team [2] Note: WGTT were stripped of the titles when Benjamin turned on Angle on an episode of WCCW Nitro the day after they lost the NWA World Tag Titles to The Dudley Boys. Although they won the match that night on Nitro and defended their titles, Benjamin injured Angle with an assist from NWA: Memphis star 'The Suntanned Superman' Ron Killings. By NWA Worldwide rule, failure to defend a title within 30 days leaves the titles vacant and this was the first day outside of the 30 day window. 10/23/05 - 1/22/06 The Black Panthers (Mr. Benjamin & 'The Suntanned Superman' Ron Killings, won an 8 team title tournament) 1/22/06 - 10/16/06 Kevin Nash & The Pallbearer [3] (Nash was injured during the match with Doring & Haas leading to an unexpected title change) 10/16/06 - 10/29/06 Doring & Haas 10/29/06 - 6/24/07 Evolution [3] 6/24/07 - 11/23/07 Conway & Cade [2] 11/23/07 - 1/27/08 The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark) 1/27/08 - 9/28/08 The Royal Alliance ('King' Booker Jenkins & 'Lord' Steven Regal) 9/28/08 - 2/22/09 The Quebecers (Franky & Rene Dupree) 2/22/09 - 6/28/09 The Briscoe Brothers [2] 6/28/09 - current Team Canada (Adam Copeland & 'The Canadian Crippler Chris Benoit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpapa42 Posted May 14, 2010 Share Posted May 14, 2010 I have yet to play the mod, but I must say that I love the thought and creativity behind the stories of each promotion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 14, 2010 Author Share Posted May 14, 2010 Vince McMahon's is easily the most compelling story in the history of North American pro wrestling. Lesser men than he would have packed up their bags and called it a career when his grand vision, the original WrestleMania was a colossal bust on March 31st, 1985, but that was not an option for Vince. When the World Wrestling Federation went under later that year many assumed we'd seen the last of him, but that simply wasn't the case. It took him nearly 3 1/2 years to return, but when he did (with Donald Trump as his new backer) he almost staged the greatest comeback in pro wrestling history. With Trump's cash on his side, McMahon bought his way back into the NWA, and caught a tremendous break as NWA: NY's arrival coincided with 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden's neck being "broken" in a storyline with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts. McMahon was still adamant that "Sports Entertainment" was the key to the future and he all but threw large sums of money at well known wrestlers such as former NWA World Champions Theodore Maximillion DiBiase III, 'Superstar' Billy Graham & Roberts himself when his deal with NWA: Texas expired. McMahon added a few NWA: Texas and/or NWA: Southern States legends like Harley Race & 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes whose contracts were open or expiring in order to procure some more talent, banking on the idea that their star power could cover up for the fact that he was going to need some time to eventually create his own recognizable characters. Once he had a decent sized roster, McMahon then embarked upon coming up with some truly wild gimmicks, with the idea that "Bigger is Better!". While this style didn't pay immediate dividends, McMahon didn't have to rush anything as he knew Trump would wait to see a return on his investment. By the time 1991 rolled around Vince went about continuing his plan to pilfer workers coming up to the end of their deals, and finally started to make some real noise when he managed to get The Road Warriors to sign a 2 year deal in the midst of a push to the NWA World Tag Team Titles. The tag division heated up when McMahon paired together two workers who had been recently repackaged as Ray Traylor became known as The C.O. (Corrections Officer), and 'Fabulous' Jacques Rougeau became his Canadian equivalent of sorts, as he was now known as The Mountie. In a highly controversial move, one episode of NWA: NY's Saturday Night Showdown ended with these two savagely beating the only black members of the roster, Ron Simmons & 'Playboy' Butch Reed. The extent of their facial "injuries" was so bad that the duo ended up wearing masks to cover their faces. The former NWA World Champions then added a female manager by the name of Nancy Dauss who appeared on TV as Woman, a dominatrix type character who led the newly renamed Doom out to the ring on chain linked leashes. Whether or not Vince intended for this to look like two huge black men being treated like animals or slaves by a petite white woman, no one knows for sure, but their racially motivated feud with the two law enforcement characters was one of the shining examples of what Vince's mind could come up with as it was a hot button topic for quite some time. McMahon seemed to be right when he said "no publicity is bad publicity" as ratings were up almost on a parallel level with criticism of the product at the time. The product continued to enjoy high ratings and suffer from bad taste as vignettes began airing of a character with supernatural powers rising from a grave in a scene straight out of a bad horror movie. There is no real reason that The Undertaker should have ever succeeded, but Vince apparently could do no wrong at this time as he also struck gold with a 600 pound sumo wrestling prince (Prince Anoa'i), an evil tax man (I.R.S), a piss poor knockoff of Al Pacino's Tony Montana character in Scarface ('The Diamond Stud' Ramon Martinez, later shortened to just The Diamond Stud), and McMahon's most asinine character of that era, a pornstar known as 'The Total Package' Lex Luger. Amazingly enough, these characters were viewed as a more fun alternative than what NWA: Texas was presenting, even after they officially changed their name to WCCW. With his army of weird characters and insistence on pushing the limits of taste, McMahon came oh so close to putting WCCW under in 1994. Ironically, it was McMahon's own style that came back to finish him for the second time as WCCW tried to steal some of their thunder by adding a bunch of outlandish gimmicks to midcarders. Some say that McMahon dropped the ball when he had the chance to sign Paul Wight, but didn't think he would get over when it was clear that he was always going to be compared unfavorably to a true legend in the business, the giant known simply as Andre. History reminds us however that Wight, now known as The Giant, was largely responsible for saving WCCW, and putting McMahon out of business. Sadly, NWA: NY dying a slow agonizing death was much more damaging to McMahon's psyche than the WWF's abrupt demise had been a decade or so earlier. The jumps away from NWA: NY were slow and innocuous at first as former manager Diamond Dallas Page left The Diamond Stud's side and went on to star in the WCCW tag ranks. McMahon also lost ground when he was also unable to sign "can't miss prospect" 'The Protoype' Paul Levesque, a man whose gimmick and physique would have fit perfectly with Vince's vision. It was around this point in time where McMahon's top homegrown stars began to notice that not only was WCCW paying their wrestlers more for working less dates, but that they were also starting to put NWA: NY further and further behind in the ratings war. March 1998 was the beginning of the end as the wildly popular and successful Dwayne Johnson & Hugh Morrus followed the allure of cash and working on a bigger stage when they jumped ship to the "enemy". When those two achieved even greater notoriety as The Rock & The Laughing Man, the writing was on the wall. It didn't take too much longer for The Diamond Stud, Lex Luger & Prince Anoa'i to follow suit with their names and gimmicks intact for the most part. With five of his top 10 workers gone in just a few months NWA: NY was hanging on by a thread, that was finally snipped when The Undertaker appeared on a 1998 episode of WCCW Monday Nitro just one day after winning his 5th NWA: NY Heavyweight Title, despite the fact that his contract expired that Sunday night. With Kevin Nash now working for WCCW and his top title in shambles, Vince McMahon's dream died. Again. NWA: NY continued to promote shows, but everyone knew that they'd lost the battle except for McMahon and Trump, a man who had shown no interest in the NWA: NY product as long as it was turning a profit. When revenues hit an all time low, the two had a huge blow up, with Trump pulling his funding early on in 1999. With no money left to pay his workers, McMahon promoted his final event at the legendary Madison Square Garden on March 28th, but even though everyone knew this would be the last show by the company and tickets were basically 1/10 the price they had been when NWA: NY was at its peak, Vince was only able to sell roughly 1,500 of the 19,763 tickets available. The final match was basically something McMahon probably should never have done, but still has a place in history as Matt Hardy met real life girlfriend, and on screen ally, Nora Greenwald for Hardy's NWA: NY Heavyweight Title with Hardy winning at 12:19, although it gave Greenwald the honor of being the only woman ever to Main Event a PPV anywhere in NWA Worldwide. While the show was well received critically because everyone who had stayed loyal to Vince gave it their all, McMahon knew there was no chance he would ever be able to become involved with pro wrestling again, and sadly took his own life with a single gunshot wound to the head in one of the MSG offices as he couldn't stand failing as spectacularly as he had twice. McMahon's death stained WCCW's victory, but ultimately was forgotten about by the end of the year as he hadn't been one of the more popular promoters thanks to his questionable tactics and behavior over the years. McMahon is survived by his wife Linda, son Shane (who now works for Trump), and daughter Stephanie (the only one of his heirs who joined the business) as she currently works as a backstage interviewer/part time announcer in NWA: Memphis. ---------------------------------- NWA: NY version 2.0 Common sense would dictate that a company that collapsed less than 5 years after its peak wouldn't be worth much, but Donald Trump is not a man who often takes no for an answer. Hot off of the heels of a successful run with NBC's The Apprentice, Trump got the itch to get back into the wrestling game in the middle of 2005. So he enlisted the help of his longtime personal friend 'Hollywood' Hogan and the two eventually managed to convince enough people in the industry that they could make it work as WCCW was starting to struggle to keep everyone happy when NWA Americas emerged. The major issue that NWA: NY had to deal with this time around is that there were very few big names they could sign since almost everyone of signficance was already tied up to longterm written deals. This forced Hogan to bring in people who were largely past their prime (Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Randy Savage, Rick Rude & Shane Douglas), those who had been blacklisted for the most part (The Outcasts aka Amy Dumas, Raven & Tommy Dreamer), or workers who were around near the tail end of NWA: NY's first stint (Dustin Rhodes, Jerry Lynn, Mark Henry & Sean Waltman). The strategy worked to some degree as they drew audiences who were nostalgic for the wrestlers they grew up watching, but Trump's biggest move was opening up his wallet and signing 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels away from NWA: Memphis a few weeks after he became the NWA World Cruiserweight Champion for the third time. With Daniels on board, they started making major moves in terms of ratings and Trump continued to collect champions through questionable means by stealing away NWA: Tokyo's 'Cactus' Jack Foley as well. With that duo in place and the development of some young cruiserweights, namely Jack Evans, Spanky & Teddy Hart, the promotion started to become known as the unofficial home for the NWA World Cruiserweight Title even after Daniels dropped the belt and moved up to NY's Heavyweight ranks which was becoming much younger as all of the "old guard" was phased out. It was becoming clear that NWA: NY was on it way back, but their arrival was "complete" so to speak when they snagged two of the brightest young stars in all of NWA Worldwide when they signed both Brock Lesnar & Randall Orton away from WCCW. The two were upset with the lack of upward mobility available in WCCW and wisely decided to jump ship in the middle of 2007. Along with Daniels, Lashley and their cruiserweight division they have finally surpassed WCCW as the # 1 North American branch and to some extent the top of the heap in NWA Worldwide although NWA: Tokyo makes more money since they have almost zero expenses given that they don't travel overseas and have great TV deals in place. The history of NWA: NY's Championships and major feuds (since the rebirth) 2006 From the December 2005 restart NWA: NY seemed to be a hodgepodge of things old, new, discarded and undiscovered. There really was no rhyme or reason to the roster except that Hogan and Trump needed bodies and they went for some with name value, and others who could be marketed based on their look or talent. Although Hogan was well past his prime he became the first Heavyweight Champ in the new NWA: NY, but his reign was short as a trio of workers who had been blacklisted reappeared in vicious fashion. Raven, Tommy Dreamer & Amy Dumas savagely beat Hogan at the end of the PPV where he won the title and stalked Hogan for a full month until he decided he'd had enough and offered them all jobs if they could beat him and his two most trusted allies, Randy Savage & Jake 'The Snake' Roberts in a Six Person tag match in March. Of course, Roberts turned on Hogan and joined The Outcasts after they won the match and were now officially "employed" by NWA: NY. With Roberts now at their side, the beatings continued and Raven eventually took Hogan's belt and then made him retire a few weeks later when he successfully defended the title in a match that saw Hogan put his career at stake. Raven's run at the top was quite successful but he eventually lost control of The Outcasts as Roberts was phased out of the group (and later the promotion) after a phantom "injury" and Dreamer got jealous that Raven was in the spotlight and the fact that Dumas was always at Raven's side. Although Dreamer challenged for the title a few times he never won it. He did however injure Raven's ribs in a brutal title defense and set him up to eventually drop the title to rising star Bobby Lashley who had achieved some recognition in NWA: Mexico City but burst onto the scene within months of his arrival in New York. 2007 Lashley seemed to be almost unstoppable as he knocked off one opponent after another with an incomparable mix of power and speed, but the "rookie" was not quite prepared for the mind games he would have to deal with as 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels decided to move up in weight class and pursue the Heavyweight Title. Daniels' plan was brilliant as he hired muscle to do his dirty work for him and was one step ahead of Lashley at every turn leading up to their first actual match in late January. Daniels used Lashley's aggressiveness against him and wore the bigger man down before ultimately beating him for the title. Daniels's stock would soar from that point as his ability to wrestle and cut amazing promos brought him into contention for the NWA World Heavyweight Title by the middle of the year. Although Daniels dropped the NY Heavyweight Title back to Lashley he became just the third man in the history of Worldwide to win both the NWA Cruiserweight & Heavyweight Titles in his career (The Great Muta & Eddie Guerrero being the others) when he defeated WCCW's 'The Canadian Crippler' Chris Benoit on August 19th. WCCW was teetering on the edge of internal collapse when Daniels won the title, but they were dealt a heavier blow later that month when Brock Lesnar & Randall Orton opted not to re-sign with WCCW and instead went to the competition where they assumed they would be able to finally emerge from the lengthy shadows of superstars like Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Paul Levesque, Steve Austin & The Rock. They were correct as they did their own spin on The Outcasts arrival from a year and a half earlier as they were brought in with Tammy Sytch, the original WCCW diva who was a HUGE star in the '90s before falling on hard times. The trio bashed WCCW whenever possible and quickly became fan favorites because they spoke so negatively about the competition. Lesnar eventually won the NY Heavyweight Title from Lashley just a couple of days before the year ended, and the strain on the partnership of the former Evolution members became evident as Lesnar became more and more ****y with each passing day. 2008 Lesnar eventually turned on Orton and put him on the shelf with a horrific beatdown in late January on the same day that Spanky finally became the NWA: NY Cruiserweight Champion ending an almost 21 month deathgrip that Jack Evans & Teddy Hart had over the belt. This championship became entangled with the NWA Cruiserweight Title which was undisputed from Starrcade '06 to Starrcade '07. In an ironic twist, both Lesnar and Spanky lost their belts on May 25th as Orton got revenge for his former ally's betrayal in the best way possible and Carlos Colon Jr. spat in the face of WCCW by proving that cutting him from his DSW developmental deal was a mistake. The symmetry of championship reigns continued as both titleholders were once again upended on the same day on October 26th with Daniels reclaiming the title that launched his career, and yet another DSW dropout claiming the Cruiserweight Title as Mike Mizanin aka The Miz blossomed into a surprisingly competent worker after spending most of the last two years competing with and against some of the best workers in the world. NWA: NY's finish to 2008 was a spectacular one as they were involved in two of the biggest matches at Starrcade '08 where Brock Lesnar lifted the NWA World Heavyweight Title from his former Minnesota Stretching Crew tag team partner Mr. Benjamin, who had done the impossible as he became the first ever Triple Crown winner when he won that title from Daniels earlier in the year. Lesnar's promo after winning the belt drew a few hundred thousand hits by the end of the year as he tore into Eric Bischoff saying that he never would have had the chance to be "THE MAN" in WCCW because he wasn't in his 40's yet like the rest of those "broken down has beens!". Earlier that evening, Teddy Hart became a 2-time NWA World Cruiserweight Champion when he took the title from Spanky and stated that his goal was to "reunify my belts!" sending a clear message to The Miz that he wanted all of the gold once more. 2009 This may be remembered as the year that the tide turned and NWA: NY became the clear cut # 1 promotion in NWA Worldwide as they claimed their second straight NWA International Promotion of the Year honors. One of the biggest angles they ran took place after Raven retired in March and became the owner of the company citing "the fine print" in his contractual agreement from way back in 2006 when he retired Hollywood Hogan. With Lesnar carrying the NWA World Heavyweight Title for the first 7 months of the year, the NY Heavyweight Title changed hands in one of NY's hottest rivalries as Daniels & Lashley continued to tear it up. Lashley eventually became the first 3-time champ since the rebirth, but his reign came to a shocking end on the August 26th edition of RAW when he was accidentally knocked out by Nigel McGuinness in what was supposed to be a squash match. Realizing that they'd stumbled onto something big when they heard the crowd roar in approval, Nigel dropped his first name and changed his gimmick from being a technical wizard to a bare knuckle brawler a few days later on Saturday Night Showdown. The crowd took to McGuinness and he ended up running with the belt for about 3 months before dropping it to the veteran brawler 'Cactus' Jack Foley in one of the most brutal hardcore matches in the history of New York. Meanwhile, Teddy Hart held onto the NWA World Cruiserweight Title for a year and a week before he dropped the belt to Mistico as he put up his title against the NWA: Mexico City Lucha Libre Title. Rumor has is that management is seriously considering moving Hart up to the heavyweight ranks because they think he could become an even bigger star if he picks up some more high profile wins. With Hart out of the picture, and Jack Evans out with an Achilles tendon tear, the NWA: NY Cruiserweight Title saw three men rise to the top as 'Suicidal' Matt Sydal took the belt from The Miz before dropping it to Justin Angel, yet another man who had originally come through the DSW development territory. At that point he was known as Justin Gabriel and was deemed a "can't miss" prospect in DSW. He burned some major bridges though when he opted out of re-signing, even when he was offered a full WCCW contract. In a matter of weeks he was on NWA: NY television as Justin Angel, working alongside 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels and Daniels helped guide him to championship glory. Angel eventually dropped the belt to the high flying Kofi Kingston, but is still in the hunt as he's one of the most talked about stars in NWA Worldwide as fans see some sort of poetic justice that NY has been propelled to the top thanks to people who left WCCW of their own free will such as Angel, Colon, Lesnar, Miz & Orton roughly 15 years after WCCW began to destroy NY by stealing their stars. It's also worth noting that NWA: NY opened up a developmental camp, NWA: Tri-State in Philadelphia at the tail end of the year, a move that some fans saw as them going all out to wipe out their nearest competition. With NY's popularity on the rise, rumor has is that they will aggressively pursue whatever talent they feel can help them continue to crush WCCW and also pre-emptively prevent Hardcore City or anyone else from catching up to them in ratings or revenue. As we approach the 25th Anniversary of the original WrestleMania, we may finally see NWA: NY's initial architect Vince McMahon's vision of North American pro wrestling finally come true. NWA: New York Heavyweight Title History 4/23/89 - 1/28/90 Theodore Maximillion DiBiase III (won an 8 man tournament to become the inaugural champion) 1/28/90 - 6/24/90 'Superstar' Billy Graham 6/24/90 - 8/26/90 'The American Dream' Dusty Rhodes 8/26/90 - 7/28/91 Theodore Maximillion DiBiase III [2] 7/28/91 - 11/24/91 Hercules 11/24/91 - 3/22/92 The Barbarian 3/22/92 - 11/29/92 The Undertaker 11/29/92 - 5/23/93 Prince Anoa'i 5/23/93 - 11/28/93 The Undertaker [2] 11/28/93 - 7/4/94 Prince Anoa'i [2] 7/4/94 - 11/27/94 'The Total Package' Lex Luger 11/27/94 - 1/29/95 The Diamond Stud 1/29/95 - 11/26/95 The Undertaker [3] 11/26/95 - 7/28/96 Dwayne Johnson 7/28/96 - 11/24/96 'The Total Package' Lex Luger [2] 11/24/96 - 7/27/97 Hugh Morrus 7/27/97 - 2/22/98 Dwayne Johnson [2] 2/22/98 - 6/28/98 The Undertaker [4] 6/28/98 - 9/27/98 'Lord' Steven Regal 9/27/98 - 9/28/98 The Undertaker [5] (title vacated the next day when The Undertaker left the company) 10/25/98 - 1/24/99 Jeff Hardy (won an 8 man tournament for the vacant title) 1/24/99 - 3/28/99 Matt Hardy (promotion folded) --------- 1/22/06 - 4/23/06 Hollywood Hogan (won an 8 man tournament to become the first champion after the restart) 4/23/06 - 9/24/06 Raven (def. Hogan for the title, and subsequently forced Hogan to retire in a title vs career rematch) 9/24/06 - 1/28/07 Bobby Lashley 1/28/07 - 7/22/07 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels 7/22/07 - 12/30/07 Bobby Lashley [2] 12/30/07 - 5/25/08 Brock Lesnar 5/25/08 - 10/26/08 Randall Orton 10/26/08 - 3/22/09 'The Fallen Angel' Christian Daniels [2] 3/22/09 - 8/26/09 Bobby Lashley [3] 8/26/09 - 11/22/09 (Nigel) McGuinness (accidentally knocked out Lashley during what was supposed to be a squash match for the champ) 11/22/09 - current 'Cactus' Jack Foley NWA: NY Cruiserweight Title History 4/23/06 - 10/22/06 Jack Evans (won the title by recovering it from above the ring in a match against Sean Waltman, Spanky & Teddy Hart) 10/22/06 - 8/26/07 Teddy Hart (became the self proclaimed "Undisputed" Cruiserweight Champion as he also won the NWA World Cruiserweight Title on 12/16/06) 8/26/07 - 1/20/08 Jack Evans [2] (lost the NWA World Cruiserweight Title to NWA: Memphis' Johnny The Body on 12/17/07) 1/20/08 - 5/25/08 Spanky 5/25/08 - 10/26/08 Carlos Colon Jr. 10/26/08 - 2/22/09 The Miz (won the title thanks to an assist from Christy Hemme) 2/22/09 - 7/26/09 'Suicidal' Matt Sydal 7/26/09 - 9/27/09 Justin Angel 9/27/09 - current Kofi Kingston NWA: New York Tag Team Title History 1/27/91 - 10/27/91 The Road Warriors (Hawk won a 20 man/10 team battle royal where the winning participant and his partner would become the inaugural champs) 10/27/91 - 3/22/92 The C.O. & The Mountie 3/22/92 - 8/23/92 Doom (Ron Simmons & 'Playboy' Butch Reed) 8/23/92 - 11/29/92 - The Road Warriors [2] 11/29/92 - 3/28/93 Money Inc. (Theodore Maximillion DiBiase III & I.R.S.) 3/28/93 - 8/29/93 Doom [2] 8/29/93 - 12/11/93 The Powers of Pain (Hercules & The Barbarian) 12/11/93 - 5/29/94 The C.O. & The Mountie [2] 5/29/94 - 11/27/94 The New Blackjacks ('Blackjack' (Kendall) Windham & John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw) 11/27/94 - 3/26/95 Team OMEGA (Matt Hardy & Gregory Shane Helms) 3/26/95 - 8/27/95 The Smoking Gunns 8/27/95 - 3/24/96 The Hardy Boys 3/24/96 - 11/24/96 The Acolytes (Ron Simmons & John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw) 11/24/96 - 1/11/97 OMEGA Team (Gregory Shane Helms & Kid Dynamo (Shannon Moore) 1/11/97 - 7/27/97 The Hardy Boys [2] 7/27/97 - 3/29/98 The Acolytes [2] 3/29/98 - 11/29/98 The Hardy Boys [3] (titles abandoned) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 14, 2010 Share Posted May 14, 2010 Ok, i officially love you Naiwf, having Nigel know out Lashley legit is brilliant. I only wish he was champion when the game started. No rush as i couldnt play the mod for a few weeks anyway, but any rough idea when this will be released? Edit-Sorry just saw you mentioned this on the last page...will be sure to play it as soon as i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 15, 2010 Author Share Posted May 15, 2010 I ended up buying the game last night and ran a test year to see how things went and I liked what I saw with the exception of a lack of movement for people with enough talent not to end up in development and a few too many 90+ matches. I'm going to have to look through the contracts and be less liberal with the loyalty tag, but in case you're interested here's what came up. Wrestler of the Year - Eddie Guerrero [would be his 3rd, 2nd straight] Young Wrestler of the Year - Armando Flores [he was a TEW '05 generated character that won 3 straight in the game I played with this mod for a diary] Veteran Wrestler of the Year - Chris Benoit Female Wrestler of the Year - Melissa Anderson [would be her 2nd, '08 winner] Promotion of the Year - WCCW [would be their 12th, first since '04] Most Improved Promotion of the Year - LLPW Match of the Year- Mistico def. Christian Cage [99 rating] Card of the Year - Lucha Libre Sept. Week 2 episode that was highlighted by Mistico/Cage YE TOP 20, promotion, (previous ranking) 1 - Eddie Guerrero - LA (1) 2 - The Rock - WCCW (7) 3 - Dave Batista - WCCW (NR) 4 - Chris Benoit - WCCW (5) 5 - Adam Copeland - WCCW (36) 6 - Masahiro Chono - Tokyo (28) 7 - Steve Corino - Tokyo (59) 8 - The Great Muta - Tokyo (19) 9 - The Great Sasuke - LA (NR) 10 - Tito Ortiz - MC (26) 11 - Yuji Nagata - Tokyo (88) 12 - Christian Cage - MC (10) 13 - The Pallbearer - WCCW (NR) 14 - Mistico - MC (21) 15 - Shawn Michaels - WCCW (11) 16 - American Dragon - HC (9) 17 - Booker Jenkins - WCCW (47) 18 - Mr. Benjamin - WCCW (2) 19 - Paul Levesque - WCCW (48) 20 - Manabu Nakanishi - Tokyo (NR) I'll fix what I think needs to be fixed and then sim another year. If that looks good I'll upload the mod. If not, it'll probably be another few days at most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Young Wrestler of the Year - Armando Flores [he was a TEW '05 generated character that won 3 straight in the game I played with this mod for a diary] Is he the only non-real character in this mod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 16, 2010 Author Share Posted May 16, 2010 Is he the only non-real character in this mod? I think so. I was playing as Mexico City with the '05 version and he was generated a month into the game. He was either 18 or 19, Mexican, and had crazy skills in addition to high charisma and star quality so I signed him and paired him up with Milano Collection and they went on to become two of my best young workers on the roster. There were a couple of other created characters I signed over the 3 1/2 years I played but they all sucked. One guy had immense potential but his stamina maxed out at something less than 20 which rendered him useless. I may add one fake person as a user character in addition to "ghosts" of all the dead people in the database (Davey Boy Smith will become the British Bulldog, Giant Baba will become Shohei Baba, Nora Greenwald will become Molly Holly and Vince McMahon will become Mr. McMahon) and perhaps Goldberg just because he's the biggest star not in the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 Here are the major changes to prominent characters from around the world. The name they are listed under is the one you probably know them as, the promotion is the one they work for and then there's a brief bit of info about them. CHARACTER/GIMMICK/NAME/POPULARITY/SKILL CHANGES Allison Danger (NWA: NY) - Allison Corino was her brother's manager/valet in NWA: Tokyo for years, but left to make a name for herself American Gladiator Crush (WCCW) - When the show was cancelled Gina Carano turned to pro wrestling when Bischoff offered her a huge contract American Gladiator Justice (NWA: FL) - Justice Smith, a Tough Enough dropout, went onto a career as an American Gladiator before returning to pro wrestling American Gladiator Steel (NWA: MC) - Former MMA fighter Erin Toughill got into business after seeing Gina Carano & Justice Smith succeed. Was the 2009 NWA International Female Wrestler of the Year as a rookie thanks to her dominance, which is largely due to being engaged to NWA: MC's biggest star, Tito Ortiz. Angelina Love (NWA: FL) - Angel Williams never became one of the Beautiful People, that gimmick went to Allison Wonderland & Barbie Blank Bam Neely (NWA: NY) - (Justin) Bam Bam LaRouche is a 6'7" 275 pound bruiser who was obviously inspired by the legendary Bam Bam Bigelow Big Show (NWA: MC) - The Giant's 173-0 streak saved WCCW from going under years ago and was largely responsible for them winning the war with NWA: NY Bill Demott/Hugh Morrus (WCCW) - The Laughing Man is one of the biggest stars in the business, massively over thanks to a Goldberg like skillset/charisma Bobby Roode/Rude (NWA: CS) - claims to be 'Ravishing' Rick Rude's nephew, has the porn star 'stache and ladies man gimmick Brutus Magnus (NWA: Memphis) - Gladiator Oblivion portrays a similar character to the one he did on the UK version of the American Gladiators show Carlito (NWA: NY) - Carlos Colon Jr. was a blue chip prospect, but couldn't cut it in DSW. Stuck with it and is a big piece of NY's Cruiserweight division Cheerleader Melissa (NWA: MC) - Melissa Anderson is arguably the best American female worker alive. Has become a major star in NWA: MC Chris Masters (NWA: LA) - Chris Mordetzky seemed to have everything going his way until he was arrested for a DUI on the morning that he was to wrestle on his first WCCW PPV. Reinvented himself as 'The Masterpiece' Chris Masters in LA CM Punk (NWA: HC) - has had a major alcohol and drug problem which led to him being passed over for years, is part of Degeneration X with Alex Shelley Daffney (NWA: NY) - She struggled to make it in the business, but found her spot on the reborn NWA: NY roster as a semi-active wrestler Darren Young (NWA: Memphis) - For years Fred Sampson toiled the indies, but someone in NWA: Memphis noticed an uncanny resemblance to Johnny C-Note and they opted to bring Sampson is as the first black member of the Jersey Boys, where he was given the not so subtle name Johnny The Black Dolph Ziggler (NWA: FL) - 'Slick' Nick Nemeth was part of The Spirit Squad in NWA: FL, but eventually turned on the team and is poised to be a singles star Drew McIntyre (WCCW) - Drew Galloway quickly worked his way through DSW and now finds himself on the WCCW roster. Ekmo Fatu/Jamal/UMAGA (NWA: D) - Has worked under a series of different names including Ekmo, Ekmo Fatu, Fatu, Jamal and now UMAGA. Ezekiel Jackson (NWA: D) - Big Zeke is a Suge Knight style mobster in Detroit Franky The Mobster (WCCW) - is Rene Dupree's "cousin" Franky Dupree Gregory Shane Helms (NWA: Memphis) - never became the Hurricane, is a babyface in the mold of the original Hardy Boys Hollywood Hogan (NWA: NY) - became a star, but not anywhere near the level he was because he chose the WWF and was punished for it Jack Swagger (WCCW) - Jake Hager worked his way to WCCW by going through their DSW developmental territory Jamie Noble (NWA: Memphis) - Jamie James is a key member of the confederate quartet, The James Gang with "cousins" Brian, Kid & Lacey Mae in Memphis JBL (NWA: HC) - John 'Blackjack' Bradshaw debuted as part of The New Blackjacks with 'Blackjack' (Kendall) Windham in NWA: NY in '94. A decade plus later he's still kicking ass as part of The Acolytes with Ron Simmons Jesse (DSW) - Ray Gordy is training in DSW. Jillian Hall (NWA: D) - is her old Macaela Mercedes character, never went blonde or under the knife for new boobs John Cena (NWA: Memphis) - Johnny C-Note is part of Memphis' Jersey Boys. Is more of a stereotypical Italian, less wiggerish John Morrison (NWA: Memphis) - Won TE III and appeared a couple of times on WCCW programming. Is now in NWA: Memphis as part of The Jersey Boys JTG (NWA: D) - J.P. Money is one of Big Zeke's "associates" (read: dealers) Jushin 'Thunder' Liger (NWA: Tokyo) - a jobbing generic Jr. Heavy in Japan who is more famous for training Michinoku, Nakamura & Tanahashi Justin Credible (NWA: FL) - PJ Polaco left his name behind when he was let go by NWA: Hardcore City Justin Gabriel (NWA: NY) - Justin Angel was deemed a "can't miss" prospect in DSW. He burned some major bridges though when he opted out of re-signing. Kane (WCCW) - The Pallbearer wears Kane's old mask but has always been a top face thanks to his association with The Undertaker/Kevin Nash Kelly Kelly (WCCW) - The 2008 WCCW Diva Search winner, 'Beautiful' Barbie Blank, was only 21 when she claimed the title Kevin Nash (WCCW) - was the Undertaker Kid Kash (NWA: Memphis) - Kid James is a key member of the confederate quartet, The James Gang with "cousins" Brian, Jamie & Lacey Mae in Memphis Kyra Gracie (WCCW) - Was brought into WCCW to showcase Gina Carano's talents, but is now the more popular one of that pairing Low Ki (NWA: HC) - The Ultimate Dragon carries himself like a thug today, but got famous as a masked wearing "big little man" Maryse (NWA: MC) - 'Fabulous' Marie Rougeau got her start working in NWA: Mexico City as LuFisto's cousin Matt Hughes (NWA: D) - this MMA superstar left the UFC for pro wrestling when he realized he could make more money and have a longer career Michael Tarver (WCCW) - Tyrone Evans (his name in the database) went through WCCW's developmental system and is now working on WCCW as Michael Tarver. Mick Foley (NWA: NY) - 'Cactus' Jack Foley, wrestles full time Mickie James (NWA: Memphis) - the old school Alexis Laree, refused a deal with WCCW and was blacklisted for years because she didn't want to get a boob job. Was eventually signed after Daizee Haze left for Detroit. Mr. Kennedy (NWA: D/NWA: FL) - Ken Anderson is a Midwest indy veteran. Appeared as an enhancement talent on a few occasions at WCCW events over the years Muhammad Hassan (NWA: D) - Mark Copani didn't like the racist character he was given and quit DSW before going on to become a star in Detroit. Nick Dinsmore (WCCW) - not a retard Orlando Jordan (WCCW) - renamed Orlando Garnett, now known as O.G. aka an "original gangsta" 'Pretty' Paul London (WCCW) - failed at his chance to become a model, wrestles only to make money Portia Perez/Xtasis (NWA: MC) - worked as a masked luchadora in NWA: MC before losing her mask to Melissa Anderson Primo Colon (NWA: NY) - Eddie Colon teams up with his real life brother Carlos Jr. Randall 'The Vandal' Orton (NWA: NY) - part Alex Shelley's videotape gimmick, part GTV, a well liked babyface with potential to be the face of NWA: NY Rikishi (NWA: Memphis) - Fatu plays the character he did in The Headshrinkers Rosey (NWA: D/NWA: FL) - Matt Anoai plays the character he did in 3 Minute Warning Samoa Joe (NWA: Memphis) - old school, barefoot style Samoan ala The Headshrinkers Santino Marella (NWA: CS) - Anthony Carelli is one of the few bright spots in NWA: CS where he is on the verge of becoming the biggest star they've had since Benoit left years ago Sarita (NWA: MC) - Sarah Stock/Natasha Graves has been incredibly busy in recent years as parts of the NWA: CS & LLPW rosters before signing on with NWA: MC where she has been involved in storylines both with and against Christian Cage since 2006 Skip Sheffield (WCCW) - Ryan Reeves (his name in the database) spent years in development with DSW before finally getting called up to WCCW where he now goes by the name Skip 'Silverback' Sheffield. Stephanie McMahon (NWA: Memphis) - lovable face due to her father's passing Sting (WCCW) - 'The Nature Boy' Steve Borden retired, but was essentially Ric Flair's character after Flair retired in 1972, the top star in the history of the business. Was brought in as a road agent recently Steve Austin (WCCW) - blond haired technical master, a mixture of his WCW persona with his WWF popularity TAKA Michinoku (NWA: MC) - The Great Michinoku is basically as successful as the real Liger Taylor Wilde (NWA: MC) - Shantelle Taylor was brought in during the tail end of the 'Fabulous' Marie Rougeau/LuFisto feud The Messiah (NWA: HC) - 'The Innovator of Violence' William Welch lost part of his thumb in a barbed wire match that made him an icon in hardcore wrestling circles, a heel Tommy Dreamer for the most part The Undertaker (NWA: Tokyo) - Mark Calloway is a generic biker who was never able to make it big Tito Ortiz (NWA: MC) - is arguably the biggest star in Mexican wrestling since his debut, one of the most over workers on a global scale Triple H (WCCW) - Paul Levesque was 'The Prototype', is a well liked and respected career long babyface Velvet Sky (NWA: M) - The Talia Madison helped lead The Alpha Male to the NWA: Memphis Heavyweight Title Vladimir Kozlov/Oleg Prudius (NWA: Memphis) - was brought in to be his "brother" Alex Kozlov's bodyguard Yokozuna (WCCW) - still alive and known as Prince Anoa'i, think of a mixture between his old character and King Haku, a career long babyface too Juvy & Psicosis still have their masked wrestling characters ACTIVE HERE/NOT IN THE REAL WORLD or INACTIVE HERE/ACTIVE IN THE REAL WORLD 2 Cold Scorpio (NWA: MC) - (El) Scorpio is getting up there in age, but is still a valuable part of the Mexico City roster Al Snow (DSW) - is the head trainer for DSW, the WCCW Developmental territory Bas Rutten (WCCW) - Rutten is an excellent color man who surprised many when he left PRIDE for WCCW Nitro at the end of '05 Bill Goldberg isn't in the database since I gave The Giant his streak and The Laughing Man his gimmick Bobby Lashley (NWA: NY) - still active as a wrestler Brock Lesnar (NWA: NY) - still active as a wrestler Chris Benoit (WCCW) - still alive, selfish, manipulator who led to the demise of Canadian wrestling by leaving the fed that made him a star for no reason Chris Candido - still alive Curt Hennig (NWA: MC) - still alive, a manager/road agent Eddie Guerrero (NWA: LA) - still alive, shocked everyone when he left NWA: MC for Los Angeles where he is now a partial owner as well as an active wrestler Finlay (LLPW) - David Finlay is a road agent in LLPW Heath Slater - doesn't exist in the database because I think he sucks Ivory (WCCW) - Lisa Moretti is a road agent Josh Matthews (NWA: Memphis) - ended up becoming a wrestler instead of an announcer Kanyon (WCCW) - Rigor Mortis is still alive Lance Storm (NWA:CS/NWA: LA) - Storm came out of retirement Lita (NWA: NY) - Amy Dumas's chairshot killed Nora Greenwald. Riddled with guilt she wasn't seen for years, but her part in NWA: NY's Outcasts made her a bigger name than ever and helped NWA: NY compete with WCCW Molly Holly - Nora Greenwald died in the middle of a match with Amy Dumas Monty Brown (NWA: Memphis) - The Alpha Male is a former NFL player who came to prominence as a friend of Ron 'The Truth' Killings in NWA: Memphis Rick Rude (NWA: NY) - still alive, a manager Road Warrior Hawk (NWA: Tokyo) - still alive Shelly Martinez (NWA: MC) - manager who is amongst the biggest stars in Mexico Tammy Sytch (NWA: NY) - Sunny's looks, with Tammy's well known drug problems, got hot again Taylor Matheny (NWA: NY) - got into the wrestling business to be closer to her husband Brian Kendrick aka Spanky Taz (NWA: HC) - wrestles full time, never became an announcer Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy - still alive Test (NWA: Memphis) - still alive Trish Stratus (DSW) - Patricia Stratigias is a trainer for DSW, the WCCW Developmental territory Ultimo Dragon isn't in the database since I renamed Low-ki The Ultimate Dragon Vince McMahon - committed suicide Brian Pillman & Owen Hart are also still alive but retired I probably missed a few people. If there's anyone you can't find just let me know and I'll tell you where to look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genadi Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Really, really impressive what you've created naiwf! Can't wait to play and please let me know if there's anything you need from any of my mods that can save you time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 http://rapidshare.com/files/388247651/NAIWFDom__10.rar I'm aware that WCCW churns out MOTYC level matches routinely but with their product and individual wrestlers being some of the most famous in the world it's about where I wanted it since they're getting by on aging megastars hogging the spotlight. Other than that, I like everything else and I hope to get some idea of how things turn out when people start booking and can "mess things up" from the way the AI sims the world. I included all of the pics/belts/logos I had in case people want to assign them to things I didn't. Let me know what you think when/if you get a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannonj123456789 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 LEGEND, nuff said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Had a quick scan everything looks good, although i dont know who i will start as. Am running a year sim now to get a feel of how the AI handles everything. Will probably post the results in here. Sim Results- Wrestler Of The Year - Eddie Guerrero Young Wrestler Of The Year - Armando Flores Veteran Of The Year - Chris Benoit Female Wrestler Of The Year - Sarah Stock Promotion Of The Year - WCCW Most Improved - NWA:LLPW Match Of The Year - The Great Sasuke defeats Eddie Guerrero Card Of The Year - WCCW Monday Night Nitro - Highlights Included Mr Benjamin brawling with The Rock, Paul Levesque brawling with Adam Copeland, Benoit beating HBK and an A* match between Jericho and Angle Stampede are at national, with Sean Morley still reigning champion and Bobby Rude as Jnr. Heavyweight Champion. Best match was Anthony Carelli defeating Lance Storm. Detroit are at Cult, Rhino's reign was ended in week 1 losing the belt to Copani, who in turn lost it to Claudio late in December. Claudio was involved in the top 9 matches in the company, his best coming against Donovan Morgan. Hero ended Jimmy Jacobs reign as Jnr. Heavyweight Champ in November. Taz is running rampant in Hardcore City, he is half of the NWA Tag Champions and HC Tag Champions with RVD, and also hold the Heavyweight title ending the run of AmDrag in late December. Three A* matches came in HC, American Dragon beating Taz topped the lot, with AmDrag defeating RVD, and The Tormented defeating The Last Dragons was third. In LA Hernandez is champion, ending Sasuke's reign in November. The unlikely team of Chavo Guerrero and Excalibur are tag champions. LA put on 9 A* matches, 6 99 rated matches included, i cant be bothered to list them all but the top 3 were Sasuke defeating Eddie Guerrero, Eddie Guerrero beating Sasuke and Eddie Guerrero beating Hernandez. The Shock A* was Chavo and Excalibur defeating Sasuke and Eddie. In Memphis Jamie James is still champion, and the Hardy's are tag champions, with there reign starting in January. The best match was Johnny The Body (Johnny Nitro) defeating Kid James (Kid Kash) in an A match. Mexico City are at International. Mistico is still NWA Cruiserweight Champion, and the Giant is still heavyweight champion. Tito Ortiz teamed with Mistico for a tag title run from Febuary to December, before losing the belts to Lati Lover and Christian. There were 8 A* matches in Mexico, with the best being Mistico beating Tito Ortiz. New York have fallen to cult, few title changes took place, Orton is still NWA world champion, Foley is still NY Champion, and The Miz is Cruiserweight champion since January. No A* matches here, with Lesnar beating Daniels being the best match, and somehow Daniels got an A match out of the Miz. Tokyo ditched the Jnr. Heavyweight belt before Devitt could even make a single defence. Corino is Champion ending Tanahashi's reign in december, Morgan and Bernard ended Chono and Muta's tag title reign in September, but Chono still holds the Triple Crown. WCCW are the global force and easily the #1 promotion. 12 is the unlucky number for champions as every champion only managed 12 defences before losing their belt. Edge ended Jericho's reign in October and is still champion, however the tag titles had several changes. Copeland & Benoit lost their belts in march to HBK and The Rock, who lost them back to Copeland And Benoit in July. But Late in december HBK and the Rock won the belts back. There were atleast 10 A* matches, sadly the best was Jericho vs Rigor Mortis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 That should help. I did three different one year test runs and came up with the following. Three different guys won the main honor, three different women won their top prize, and three different promotions held the card and the match of the year. The other stuff is fairly static, but I think that'll change once people start booking their own shows. 3rd attempt WOTY - Chris Benoit [this would be his 3rd] YWOTY - Armando Flores [i guess he's a lock to win in an AI simmed year] VWOTY - Shawn Michaels [probably next in line since Benoit won the main one, unless someone can win both and I just haven't seen that] FWOTY - Mayumi Ozaki [sENDAI is stacked with great talent] POTY - WCCW [see Flores] MIPOTY - LLPW [ditto] MOTY - Chris Benoit def. Dave Batista [99 rating] COTY - NWA: LA Fallout PPV ------------------- 2nd attempt WOTY - Dave Batista [He teamed with Angle for most of the year, sneaky] YWOTY - Armando Flores [i guess he's just that good] VWOTY - Chris Benoit [see above] FWOTY - Hikaru [another huge surprise] POTY - WCCW [a repeat performance] MIPOTY - LLPW [ditto] MOTY - Christian Daniels def. Teddy Hart [99 rating] COTY - WCCW Monday Nitro episode ------------------- 1st attempt WOTY - Eddie Guerrero [would be his 3rd, 2nd straight] YWOTY - Armando Flores (he won 3 straight in the game I played with this mod for a diary) VWOTY - Chris Benoit FWOTY - Melissa Anderson [would be her 2nd, '08 winner] POTY - WCCW [would be their 12th, first since '04] MIPOTY - LLPW MOTY - Mistico def. Christian Cage [99 rating] COTY - Lucha Libre Sept. Week 2 episode that was highlighted by Mistico/Cage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 That should help. I did three different one year test runs and came up with the following. Three different guys won the main honor, three different women won their top prize, and three different promotions held the card and the match of the year. The other stuff is fairly static, but I think that'll change once people start booking their own shows. Im starting a 2nd year sim, will post the results as soon as i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-laz- Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 thanks for this, wasnt expecting it so soon edit: ok i gotta ask why is cm punk 75% drinking, hard drugs and law problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 thanks for this, wasnt expecting it so soon edit: ok i gotta ask why is cm punk 75% drinking, hard drugs and law problems naiwf stated it when he was going through the character changes " has had a major alcohol and drug problem which led to him being passed over for years". I guess in this he gave into peer pressure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-laz- Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 i mainly ask cos i put the strap on him and he overdosed on me the next day. now i got a dead champ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 i mainly ask cos i put the strap on him and he overdosed on me the next day. now i got a dead champ Ow...that sucks. I will check at the end of the year im simming to see if he's still alive for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiwf Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 Punk OD'd in one of my sims too, but he didn't die. In that same run, RVD was NWA: HC champ when he died of natural causes. Maybe Heyman's cursed? That game was pretty exciting since Mr. Benjamin blew out his knee (again) and was out for 12 months and a couple of other big names were hit with lengthy injuries. I meant to mention this earlier, but I don't have many of the company defaults to have lots of title changes. If you prefer title changes to happen more frequently, feel free to mess around with the owner/booker preferences before you start a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-laz- Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 iv never had this before eric bischoff took over detroit and declared war on me http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v194/-Laz-/war.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1234 Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Year two - Wrestler Of The Year - Chris Benoit Young Wrestler Of The Year - Io Shirai (She had a good MC Womens Title run late in 2010 and is the current champion) Veteran Wrestler Of The Year - Shawn Michaels Female Wrestler Of The Year - LuFisto Promotion of the Year - WCCW Most Improved - NWA Florida Match Of The Year - Team Canada (Adam Copeland & Benoit) defeated The Rockers (The Rock & Shawn Michaels) Card Of The Year - NWA : MC Guerra (Topped by Counterpunch (Mistico & Tito Ortiz) vs Amazingly Awesome (Latin Lover & Christian Cage)) Stampede have been able to reach International, but are still ranked 10th, Anthony Carelli won the title in January but lost it in August to Petey Williams. The Jnr. Heavyweight title was lost by Roode in February in to Aaron Idol who lost it to Chance Beckett after only one defence, but in August Black Dragon won the belt and is the current champion. Detroit are still at cult, Claudio was champion until July, until he lost the belt to the current champion Mark Copani. Chuck Taylor has been Jnr. Heavyweight champion since beating Chris Hero in April. Down in Florida Nick Nemeths 18 month championship reign was ended by James Storm in April. Hardcore City have made it to International, despite not having a single title change in the entire year. Taz and RVD still hold both the NWA and HC Tag Championships, with Taz still the Heavyweight Champion. In LA the shots are being called by the L.A.X. Hernandez is world champion, and Hernandez and Homicide are the tag champions, after beating Chavo and Excalibur. Similar domination is occuring in Memphis, this time its Jamie James(Noble). Jamie James still hasnt lost the title from the start of the game, and they ended the Hardy's tag title reign in April 2011. Mexico City have made it to Global, but are only 7th in the rankings. Mistico is still the NWA Cruiserweight champion, The Giant's heavyweight reign was brought to an end in December 2011 after leaving for Hardcore City, with La Parka beating Mistico to crown a new champion. The team of Latin Lover & Christian lost the tag titles to Mistico and Tito Ortiz in July 2011, with the team still holding the belts. New York are still at cult, but ranked 2nd in the rankings. My favourite title change came in New York with the NY Heavyweight Title being given up by Mick Foley, who for some reason left. To crown a new champion Jack Evans squared off against Paul Burchill, and Evans came out on top, so Jack Evans is the NY Heavyweight champion. Orton still holds the NWA belt and The Miz is hanging onto the Cruiserweight belt. In Japan, Steve Corino's title reign was finished before it started, after 0 defences Muta decided he wanted the belt after Corino didnt defend the belt for 3 months. Muta is still champion. Muta wanted the double and was crowned tag champion in April with Chono, however lost the belts back to Morgan and Bernard in december. Chono is still the triple crown champion. In the #1 promotion in the world, WCCW, 12 was the unlucky number for yet another world champion. Adam Copeland made it until July, with 12 defences before losing the title to The Rock, who is still the champion. However the world title proved a hinderence to his and Shawn Michaels tag title reign, as a month later in august back to Adam Copeland and Chris Benoit. The only thing that could be changed is, like you said, title reigns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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