BAW: One man's dream

[Charasmatic Enigma]

My name is Daniel Jones, and this is the story of Big Apple Wrestling...

 

The beginnings

 

“Sorry kid, you just don’t have enough experience to take over as head booker.”

 

“But sir I...”

 

“No buts. Sorry kid, come back to me when you have a few more years in the business under your belt. Maybe then we can talk.”

 

With that The Stomper had asked me to leave his office, my dreams of becoming a head booker lying in tatters.

 

After the meeting I had gone to see my old friend Mark, who lived in a penthouse on the outskirts of New York City. I currently found myself lying on Mark’s sofa drinking beer, and recounting my interview that morning with The Stomper.

 

“So you really think you can make it as a head booker?” asked Mark as I finished.

 

“I wouldn’t have bothered applying if I didn’t think I could do the job,” I replied looking up at Mark, who was fishing another couple of beers out of the fridge, “But if I can’t even get a job at NYCW, what chance do I have?”

 

As he walked back over to the living room, Mark looked deep in thought. After a short pause, he looked me dead in the eye.

 

“Theoretically, how much would it cost to set up a wrestling promotion?” he asked.

 

“What?” I asked, surprised by his question.

 

“In theory, how much money would you need to set up a new promotion?” he repeated, before adding, “Just a local company I mean.”

 

“I don’t now... anything between 100k and half a million I’d guess. I’ve really got no idea Mark,” I replied, wondering what he was thinking.

 

Mark again looked deep in thought.

 

“I could probably give you that...” he said after another long pause.

 

“What?” I replied in shock. While it was true that Mark had a lot of money; he had inherited his father’s fortune when he had passed away recently, but up to this point Mark had just spent his money frivolously, buying new houses, fast cars and yacht’s. “Are you serious?”

 

“Sure, why not?” Mark replied, “The old man told me I should use my inheritance to invest in up and coming businesses. I’m not really into making the effort to find myself attractive investment prospects, but if you think you can be a successful head booker... well I might just take my father’s advice and invest.”

 

“What makes you so sure I’ll be a successful head booker?” I asked.

 

“You said it yourself,” Mark replied with a small grin on his face, “’I wouldn’t have bothered applying if I didn’t think I could do the job’. So are you in?”

 

I sighed, he really knew how to pull my strings.

 

“Yeah I’m in...” I said, wondering as I said it what I was getting myself into.

 

“Great,” Mark said, passing me another beer. “I’ll get onto my lawyers, and set up a company bank account tomorrow and we can begin. All I need from you is a name.”

 

“How about Big Apple Wrestling?” I suggested.

 

“I like it,” Mark said raising his beer, “To Big Apple Wrestling! Cheers.”

 

OOC: This is my first diary, so sorry if it’s a bit weak. I might have been a bit ambitious going for a 0/0/0 new company, but these are the games I enjoy playing the most... and that’s the most important thing right?

[Charasmatic Enigma]

“Danny it’s Mark, I just got off the phone to my lawyers. They reckon it will take about a couple of weeks to get the paperwork through because it’s so close to Christmas, but they reckon they can do it. Anyway I was thinking that we could use this time to our advantage. This gives you a couple of weeks to do some research. You know work out how many people you need to hire, who’s available... you know all that stuff.”

 

“Sure, I’ll get right on it.”

 

“Ok Danny, I’ll give you another call when the paperwork goes through. Don’t let me down.”

 

It was New Years Eve and it had been nearly three weeks since Mark had phoned me, and I had followed his instructions and done some research on the wrestling industry. I had found at that in the USA the wrestling industry was on the rise, which could only be a good thing for us. However the economy was falling, which could offset some of the benefits. Could have been worse though. I had also decided that I wanted to try and hire around 12 wrestlers, as well as an announcer, a ref, a road agent and maybe someone to do colour. Plenty for me to do then. Luckily I’d identified a number of targets, and all in all I felt pretty prepared. As I was looking over my notes, my phone began to ring.

 

“Hello,” I said, answering.

 

“Danny it’s Mark. The paperwork’s finally gone through! From tomorrow, Big Apple Wrestling is officially open for business!”

 

“Fantastic!” I replied enthusiastically.

 

“I’m heading to the bank this afternoon to create a company account. “

 

“Mark it’s New Year’s Eve, I doubt any bank will want to open an account today,” I reasoned.

 

“You forget,” Mark replied, “We’re in a recession. Bank’s will take any deposit they can get, even on New Year’s Eve.”

 

“I guess,” I replied, still not convinced.

 

“Oh I almost forgot, I’ve booked you a Gymnasium for two weeks time for our first show!”

 

“Two weeks?” I asked panicking, “Mark I’ve got to hire an entire roster!”

 

“Can you not do that in two weeks?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe. It will be a push though...”

 

“Sorry Danny, but it’s a non-refundable booking charge. Just do your best okay?”

 

“I’ll see what I can do.” I replied, not feeling overly confident.

 

“Good man. I’ll give you another ring this evening with the company account details. Bye.”

 

Okay two weeks to put together an entire roster... and I wanted to 'ease into' my new job. Still, I could pull it off... couldn't I?

 

OOC: Will Danny be able to pull it off, or will BAW’s first show be a complete disaster?

[Charasmatic Enigma]

Just as I was about to head out to meet some friend’s to bring in the New Year, my phone rang again.

 

“Danny it’s Mark again, and this time with good news.”

 

“What kind of good news?” I asked nervously.

 

“Well I felt bad about my mistake of booking the Gymnasium, so I pumped a bit more money into the company account than I had originally planned. I’ve put 500K in there, so hopefully that will give you enough money to play with for a while.”

 

“Bloody hell Mark, 500K’s a bit generous.”

 

“Meh, think of it as an apology. Anyway, that’s not even the really good news! Do You remember my dad’s old mate Harvey Manners?”

 

“Not particularly,” I replied.

 

“Oh,” Mark replied, sounding disappointed, “Anyway, he’s got a bit of experience in the wrestling business so I gave him a ring this afternoon, and he’s agreed to help me as my advisor.”

 

“Advisor for what?” I asked, confused as to why Mark needed an advisor.

 

“Just to make sure you’re doing your job properly. This IS a proper business after all Danny. He’s also agreed to work as an announcer, so that gives you one less thing to do over the next few weeks.”

 

I had to admit that was good news.

 

“Okay I’ve emailed you the company account details, so I want tomorrow to be your first proper day as Head Booker. Get on the phone to wrestlers, Ref’s, anything you need to sign, and I’ll see you at the first show in two weeks! Good luck Danny.”

 

“Thanks Mark,” I said as he hung up.

 

So this was it, I was finally going to begin my career as the Head Booker of a wrestling promotion... god, I hope I don’t screw this up!

 

OOC: So Mark’s found Danny an announcer, but will Danny be able to fill out the rest of the roster in time?

[Charasmatic Enigma]

I woke up late on Monday, still feeling the effects of the New Years Eve celebrations. My head was ringing, but I was still feeling excited about starting my career as a head booker. Looking over my notes about available workers, one name really stood out. I’d been a TCW fan for as long as I can remember, and Steve Gumble, or Ford Gumble as he was currently listed, had always been one of my favourites. Since he was out of work at the moment, I had to have a go...

 

Picking up my phone, I rang the number that was listed.

 

“Yeah?” came a gruff reply from the other end of the phone.

 

“Hello Mr Gumble,” I started nervously, “My name is Danny Jones and I’m the head booker of Big Apple Wrestling...”

 

“Never heard of it,”

 

“You wouldn’t have. We’re a new company being set up in the Tri State area,” I explained, “I was wondering if you would be interested in becoming one of our main talents?”

 

“What kind of product you pushing?”

 

****! I’d forgotten to set a product! I tried to explain this to Ford, but he kindly told me to stop wasting his time and hung up. I couldn’t blame the guy, who would want to sign to a company that didn’t even know what kind of product it was trying to sell?

 

Knowing I had not mad the best start to my booking career, I sat down and spent the next hour trying to work out what kind of company I wanted to promote. Just as I was putting the finishing touches to my product, I received a text from Mark.

 

‘Harvey wants to meet you. Given him your address, he’ll be round shortly. Mark x’

 

Looking around, I realised the apartment was a mess. Scrambling around, I had just about made the place presentable when there was a knock at the door.

 

I invited Harvey inside, and we began to talk about BAW. Harvey explained that he had met Mark this morning, and between the two of them they had agreed on a set of goals I needed to meet. Harvey handed me the list.

 

1. In 2 years time the company bank balance must be at least $225,000 (Critical)

2. In 2½ years, BAW must have gained popularity in the US (Critical)

3. For the first 16 months, you cannot hire anyone with a reputation of being unsafe in the ring (Average)

4. For the first 20 months, you cannot hire anyone over the age of 35 (Average)

5. For the first 14 months, you cannot hire anyone with a reputation of being fragile in the ring (Average)

 

 

As I read though these goals, I felt that most of them were fair enough. The first goal was there to make sure Mark didn’t lose his investment, fair enough. The second goal was again, fair enough. If we haven’t gained popularity in two and a half years, then I’ll have done something very wrong. With the third and fifth goals, I guess Mark’s worried about lawsuits, or paying people while they are injured?

 

The only goal I didn’t like was goal number 4. I understood that it was there to create a contrast between our roster, and the aging NYCW roster. However, I didn’t like the fact it limited me so much. If it was 45 fair enough, but 35 seemed a bit young. Still it was only listed as being fo average importance, so maybe I could get around it somehow.

 

Having established my goals, Harvey and I moved on in our discussion. He asked me if I had attempted to contact anyone yet. I told him I hadn’t, deciding to leave out the Gumble incident. Harvey then asked to see the research I had done, so I grabbed my notes about available workers and handed them over. Harvey quickly skimmed through them and seemed happy enough, moving the conversation onto the wrestling product.

 

Silent thanking every deity going, I pulled out the notes I had made that morning after my ill fated phone call, and handed them to Harvey. Working together, we came up with a final product for the company, which we called Big Apple Sports Entertainment (or BASE):

Key Features – Traditional, Mainstream, Modern

Medium – Daredevil

Low – Lucha, Realism

 

We decided to introduce a strong face/heel divide from the start, but not to introduce a women’s division straight away. In line with Mark’s goal to only hire safe workers, I decided to keep match intensity and danger levels fairly low (20 and 40% respectively).

 

Having decided on this set up, Harvey made a few notes about our product:

-This product should see wrestlers rated equally on performance and popularity

-Fan’s will expect to see proper gimmicks

-Fan’s will like simple gimmicks, but be averse to overly risky or subtle gimmicks

-This product is quite favourable to getting sponsorship

-However, it will prevent BAW from getting an afternoon TV slot if we go for a TV deal

-The product should protect BAW from any changes in the Wrestling Industry

-The ‘young lion’ system will not be taken into account

 

I had no idea how Harvey had figured any of that out, but I couldn’t argue with him. Apparently Mark had made a good move bringing Harvey in as his advisor. With both Harvey and I happy that we had created a good product, he left me to ‘begin’ my hiring spree.

 

OOC: Finally a relevant post. Will Danny be able to meet Mark’s goals, and will he make any more mistakes in the lead up to the first show?

[Charasmatic Enigma]

The first show of BAW was certainly going to be interesting. It seemed as if I had spent the entirety of the last two weeks on the phone, trying to convince one person or another to join BAW. Unfortunately most of the people I had spoken to weren’t really interested in signing with a company they had never heard of. It’s two hours until our first show, and I’ve finally managed to put together something that vaguely resembled a roster. Here’s what I’ve put together:

 

Main Eventers

Brendon Idol – 29 – Face – Fan Favourite (Wholesome)

Greg Gauge – 20 – Heel – Old School Heel (Gimmicky)

 

Upper Midcarders

Ant-Man – 20 – Face – Old School Face (Wholesome)

The Masked Outlaw (K-Squared) – 25 – Heel – Cowboy (Gimmicky)

El Ladron – 21 – Heel – Thief (Gimmicky)

 

Midcarders

Cal Sanders – 29 – Face – Blue Collar (Wholesome)

Davis Wayne Newton – 22 – Heel – ****y Youth (****y)

 

Lower Midcarder

Nigel Svennsson – 21 – Face – Man On A Mission (Unique)

 

Other Employees

Harvey Manners – Announcer – Face - 500

Tim Weightman – Colour – Heel – 200

Wilson Carlisle – Referee – 800

Jane Butler – Road Agent

 

I think there is just about enough there to put on a show... and I mean just! Looking up at the clock, I realise that I’m running out of time to put a show together. I jotted a few ideas down... yeah that could work. It’s not great, but it will have to do...

 

Predictions

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

 

OOC: Well time for the first show! Will Danny's booking career start with a bang or with a whimper?

[1234]

Backstory is seeming good so far, here is my quick picks

 

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

I prefer Ant-Man but Outlaw is more popular

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Yet again, more popular and i prefer Ladron

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

I prefer Gauge, and yet again he is more popular

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

I would want DWN to get a big win but Idol is more popular and the show needs some face love.

[BHK1978]

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

[John Lions]

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

[Zergon]

Nice start, I really like 0/0/0 diaries:).

 

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

This one is a guess but Ant Man seems to be forum favorite so I go with him.

 

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Svensson is good but currently he has no overness so he won´t win here

 

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

Main eventers usually don´t lose in their first match at least not in new promotions where no-one haven´t been build yet

 

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

Same here Idol is main eventer so he wins

[MaxxHexx]

Ant Man vs The Masked Outlaw

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

Brendon Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

[magik]

+

* Good and detailed backstory

* Nice integration of game information with Harvey

* Posts were well defined and kept the pace going from post to post

* There's a good potential in these closing OOC comments for jokes or quick information (it is a proven good thing )

 

 

-

* 500,000$ doesn't really feel like a 0/0/0 diary even 100,000$ wouldn't

* I'll wait for the first few shows, but hope for some colors or at least bold and underline depending on length in them

 

 

I'll continue reading and might post more constructive criticism.

 

You're up to a good start.

[Charasmatic Enigma]

+

* Good and detailed backstory

* Nice integration of game information with Harvey

* Posts were well defined and kept the pace going from post to post

* There's a good potential in these closing OOC comments for jokes or quick information (it is a proven good thing )

 

 

-

* 500,000$ doesn't really feel like a 0/0/0 diary even 100,000$ wouldn't

* I'll wait for the first few shows, but hope for some colors or at least bold and underline depending on length in them

 

 

I'll continue reading and might post more constructive criticism.

 

You're up to a good start.

 

Thanks for the constructive criticism. Yeah I know 500,000 is a bit much, but I was worried that if I had a bad start the diary could die quite quickly. In hindsight it probably should have been less. Yeah I agree with the formatting suggestion, I just looked over it and it all looks a bit bland. I might have a quick look over what I've done so far and see if I can improve it.

 

Also the first card should be up in about an hour, so I guess last call for predictions.

[Charasmatic Enigma]

BAW Guilty Pleasure

Week 3, January 2010

The Weston Gymnasium, New Jersey

Attendance: 9

 

Pre-Show:

When I walked into the backstage I found it to be quite frosty, with Jane Butler being noticeably distant with everyone. That’s just what I needed, my Road Agent causing problems. I hoped she wasn’t going to kick off about being the only woman in the company. In contrast Davis Wayne Newton and Nigel Svennsson seemed to be trying to cheer people up and energise them for the upcoming show. I called everyone over, and quickly ran over the show with them.

 

Main Show:

Ant-Man vs The Masked Outlaw

We open up with a standard singles match between two of our Upper Midcarders. We ask the two to go all out, in an attempt to warm up the crowd. Unfortunately the match doesn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. The Masked Outlaw looked like he was tiring towards the end, and despite picking up the win was out-shone by his opponent.

 

Winner: The Masked Outlaw in 9:01

 

Greg Gauge Promo

The crowd starts to boo as they see Greg Gauge making his way to ring with microphone in hand. He steps into the ring, and waits for the crowd to quiet down. (all 9 of them )

 

Gauge: “Well I see you’re all as happy to see me as I am to see all of you...”

 

The crowd begin to boo again. Gauge again waits for them to quieten down.

 

Gauge: “I don’t know why I’m wasting my time performing in places like this. I work for one of the biggest companies in Japan; I work for THE biggest company in Europe. Yet I find myself here in a gymnasium, performing in front of you morons. All what...”

 

He pauses and counts the crowd.

 

Gauge: “All nine of you... really? Nine people? I’m far too good for this company. I come from a legendary wrestling family! There isn’t another wrestler on this roster who comes close to my talent. I’ll prove that later on tonight when I beat ‘Cal Sanders’, and once I’ve done that I can return to Japan... and a real wrestling company.”

 

With that Greg leaves the ring to the boos of the crowd.

 

Notes: I put the angle in there to try and build some momentum for my main heel, but it didn’t go over quite as well as I’d hoped. Maybe I should have had Greg attack the crowd more directly. They obviously aren’t attached to the company yet, so didn’t react to Greg’s shots in the way I had hoped. On top of that, the crowd just didn’t seem to buy into Greg’s gimmick.

 

Nigel Svennsson vs El Ladron

Wow, did I mean to ask these two to go all out? If I did, I shouldn’t have. Both men look over their heads doing so. It was originally meant to be a cool down match, but after Greg’s promo didn’t really get the crowd going, I really needed this match to do more than this. El Ladron picked up the win, but Nigel Svennsson looked better than him out there.

 

Winner: El Ladron in 8:17

 

Cal Sanders vs Greg Guage

A slightly better match from these two, but it suffered from a cold crowd. The crowd still don’t seem to be buying into Greg Guage’s gimmick, which causes the match to suffer and may cause problems down the line. Greg Guage picked up the win in what has been the match of the night so far.

 

Winner: Greg Gauge in 9:19

 

Brendan Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

We decide to slow build this one. We let them go for 18 minutes in a no disqualification match, but it doesn’t really work out the way I had hoped. Davis Wayne Newton seems to have an off night, and the crowd is still cold. On top of that, the crowd don’t seem to buy into Brendan Idol’s gimmick, which leaves me with two Main Eventers with poor gimmicks. Brendan Idol picks up the win, and it’s ever so slightly better than the Sanders vs Gauge match.

 

Winner: Brendan Idol in 18:02

 

Match of the night: Main Event

Trash of the night: Svennsson vs El Ladron

 

Next time: A decent debut from BAW, but both of their main eventers have poorly received gimmicks. How will that affect the Championship picture? Speaking of which, the next event will see the introduction of the first title belt in BAW history.

[Charasmatic Enigma]

On Tuesday morning I have a meeting with the creative team (Jane, Harvey and myself), and Harvey informs me that he considered the show to be a success. He told me that last night’s show should see BAW’s popularity rise. He also informs me that we lost just over $5,000 on last night’s show, so I need to keep an eye on that.

 

After leaving the meeting, I picked up the local paper for the walk home. Reading it through, I found a ‘wrestling’ section. Well it wasn’t really a section, more a tiny segment in the bottom corner of a page towards the back of the paper. It simply rated the latest event of the three Tri State based companies:

 

PSW D+

NYCW D+

BAW D-

 

I was quite surprised to see us listed. Apparently one of the nine people who had attended our event was from the paper. I was even more surprised to see that we were already reasonably close to the other two Tri State based companies. Our debut show had been put together in a complete rush, but we hadn’t been too far off the competition. Maybe if we add a couple of new faces and spend a bit more time on the next show, we could get even closer?

 

--------------------------------------

Prediction Results

1234 - 4/4

John Lions - 3/4

BHK1978 - 1/4

Maxx Hexx - 1/4

 

Thanks for predicting guys. I'm thinking of maybe having a reward for top predictor. Maybe whoever's leading after five shows can pick someone I hire, or the next title challenger or something. Hopefully I can come up with something by then.

[juggaloninjalee]

This diary is making the idea of a 0/0/0 promotion interesting to run. I almost want to start a game like that.

[Charasmatic Enigma]

In the month since our first show not a lot had changed. We still had the problem that nobody knew who BAW were. On the plus side I had managed to sign a new face who would happily slot into our Upper Midcard. Mark had also received the Title belt he had ordered, which meant that I had to decide who to put it on.

 

The main problem I was facing was that none of our roster had any momentum whatsoever. Getting a crowd to believe in any of them as a champion was going to be difficult. After much deliberation, I decided that a tournament style show could help add some legitimacy to the new champion.

 

With that I decided to have four of the promotions top stars compete in a knock out style tournament over the show, broken up by a match showcasing the shows young talent. Looking at the card I had written out I felt happy with it. Hopefully the crowd would like it as much as I did.

 

Predictions

Matches for BAW Golden Opportunity:

 

Semi Final 1: Brendan Idol vs The Masked Outlaw

Semi Final 2: Greg Guage vs ???

Ant-Man vs Davis Wayne Newton

Final: Winner 1 vs Winner 2

 

For a bonus point: Can you guess my new signing?

[Zergon]

Nice first show, kepp up the good work:).

 

Semi Final 1: Brendan Idolvs The Masked Outlaw

Idol is a main eventer so he goes to finals.

 

Semi Final 2: Greg Guage vs ???

With strong face/heel divide Guage is a safe bet here even if he goes against mystery man.

 

Ant-Man vs Davis Wayne Newton

Not sure here but DWN is usually safe bet as top guy on local promotions.

 

Final: Brendan Idol vs Greg Guage

Pretty much a guess here since this could go either way.

 

No idea on your signing since I haven´t played in U.S.A myself, but it likely is a pretty big name.

 

Just for the interest are you playing with "penalty on small roster" as off. If it is on then you won´t get any overness since that penalty will be bigger than your overness gain (I think at least it is, I usually don´t have that trouble so not 100% sure about that:p).

[Charasmatic Enigma]

Nice first show, kepp up the good work:).

 

Just for the interest are you playing with "penalty on small roster" as off. If it is on then you won´t get any overness since that penalty will be bigger than your overness gain (I think at least it is, I usually don´t have that trouble so not 100% sure about that:p).

 

First up, thanks for the predictions. Secondly, yes I do have it turned on. I forgot about that when I wrote up my first 'creative meating', I could have had some fun with that

[1234]

Semi Final 1: Brendan Idol vs The Masked Outlaw

Semi Final 2: Greg Guage vs ???

Ant-Man vs Davis Wayne Newton

Final: Brendan Idol vs Greg Gauge

 

Typed up justifications but internet crashed so here's a quick sum up, Idol and Gauge win as there more popular than there counterparts, DWN is more talented and i think your pushing Gauge.

 

As for your ??? after narrowing it down a bit thinking about popularity, you stated he will be a UMC, and the fact he must be able to be a face due to your face/heel divide, stars are rated equally on performance and pop so they must be decent in the ring i am going to go for Bob Casey.

[Charasmatic Enigma]

BAW Golden Opportunity

Week 3, February 2010

The Weston Gymnasium, New Jersey

Attendance: 9

 

Pre-Show:

When I entered backstage the atmosphere felt a little better than it had at our debut show. It still wasn’t great, but it was getting better. Long may that continue! Jane was continuing to be distant, but our newest signing seemed to be fitting in very well indeed.

Main Show:

We start the show with Harvey walking out with the new belt. He explains that tonight we will have a knockout tournament to decide our first champion! He then introduces the first match.

 

Brendan Idol vs The Masked Outlaw

We start with a no DQ match. This crowd doesn’t like Brendan Idol’s gimmick either. I forgot about The Mask Outlaw’s poor stamina, and once again he was tiring towards the end. Still all in all not a bad start to the show. It was won when Idol hit the Idolizer to get the pin.

 

Winner: Brendan Idol in 10:02

Greg Gauge vs Mr Lucha III

Next we put our debuting Face against our primary Heel. Lucha puts in a very good effort, but came up just short in a decent match. In hindsight I probably should have opened up with these two, as they put on a better match than Idol and Outlaw managed. Guage’s gimmick was still bombing, but in contrast Mr Lucha’s ‘Adventurer’ gimmick seemed to go over well. Like the first match, I asked these two to go all out. Surprisingly Guage looked like he was struggling more with it than Lucha was. Gauge picked up the win after hitting a low blow behind the ref’s back before locking in the Proton Lock.

 

Winner: Greg Gauge in 8:55

 

Davis Wayne Newton Promo

Davis Wayne Newton makes his way down to the ring, with mic in hand.

 

DWN: “So let me get this straight. BAW decide to introduce their very first Championship tonight? Fair enough.”

 

He pauses for a second.

 

DWN: “And then they decide to have a knockout tournament to crown the inaugural Champion? Not a bad idea I guess.”

 

Pauses again.

 

DWN: “Then they decide to leave the most talented guy on the roster out of the entire competition? I am of course talking about yours truly, Davis Wayne Newton.”

 

The crowd begins to boo.

 

DWN: “Don’t boo, don’t boo. It’s okay, you people aren’t intelligent enough to understand “The Triple Threat”, so let me break it down for you. At 22 years old, I am the most naturally gifted athlete on the roster. It doesn’t matter what I do, I excel at it.”

 

Pauses again, as crowd boos.

 

DWN: “What you don’t believe me? Well just watch as I destroy with my so called opponent for tonight.”

 

He throws the microphone out of the ring, and begins motioning for his opponent to come out.

 

Notes: My creative team told me that Davis was the best guy we had on the mic. I’m not so sure. The crowd just didn’t buy into that promo, and seemed cold the entire way through.

 

Davis Wayne Newton vs Ant-Man

It is Ant-Man who answers DWN’s call. Ant-Man started strongly, but once Newton found his rhythm Ant-Man struggled to get back into the match. Ant-Man is another with a poor gimmick, and looked like he was struggling with my instruction to go all out. Newton’s gimmick on the other hand seems to be going over well, and it was him who picked up the win with a Fisherman’s Suplex.

 

Winner: Davis Wayne Newton in 6:47

 

Brendan Idol vs Davis Wayne Newton

For the BAW Championship

Now it was time for the main event, the winner would become the first ever BAW Champion! The championship was hanging high above the ring, well I have always been a sucker for the drama of a ladder match. The two of them go back and forth for 18 minutes, and at the end of it all Brendan Idol is standing high above the ring as your very first BAW Champion. The match was brought down by the fact the crowd was cold, and both competitors had weak gimmicks. Still in my mind it was probably the second best match of the night, just shaded by Greg and Lucha’s semi final match. It was a decent end to what was, in my mind, an improved show from our debut.

 

Winner: Brendan Idol in 18:07

 

Match of the night: Greg Gauge vs Mr Lucha III

Trash of the night: Davis Wayne Newton’s promo

 

Next time: So Brendan Idol is the inaugural BAW Champion! How will Greg Gauge react to that? Will any new challengers emerge?

[Charasmatic Enigma]

I went into the creative meeting on Tuesday morning expecting Harvey to shower me with praise. After all, Golden Opportunity had been a better show than Guilty Pleasure, and had seen the crowning of the very first BAW Champion. Instead when I arrived I found myself staring at an angry looking man.

 

“Can you please tell me,” Harvey started before I had even sat down, “Why we have so few wrestlers on the roster?”

 

“What?” I asked, surprised by Harvey’s question. What did it matter how many wrestlers we had on the roster? I hadn’t even used everyone on the last show.

 

“In your plans, you detailed signing twelve wrestlers,” he said, passing me the plan I had written two months ago, “So please explain to me why we only have nine...”

 

“Well I didn’t think it really mattered...” I began before Harvey cut me off.

 

“It makes us look unprofessional!” he snapped, “People won’t take us seriously with so few workers. Now go home, and make sure you fill out the roster before our next show.”

 

“Sorry Harvey,” I said, before turning and leaving.

 

On my walk home I picked up the local paper again to see what they thought of last night’s show. Finding the tiny segment, I eagerly read:

 

PSW C-

NYCW D+

BAW D

 

They’d upgraded us from a D- last month to a D this month! Well at least that was one piece of good news. NYCW had put on a similar quality show to the previous month. If we could keep improving, maybe soon we could match them in terms of show quality? PSW improved, but they are a bigger company than NYCW, so you would expect that. Still a D? I was happy with that as our second show.

 

When I got home, I checked the company bank balance and saw that we had lost just under $5,000 on the last show. While it still wasn’t ideal, it was a step in the right direction!

 

Next Time: Will Danny be able to sign three new workers in time for the next show?

Predictions

This Month

1234 3/4

Zergon 3/4

 

Overall

1234 7/8

Zergon 3/4

John Lions 3/4

BHK1978 1/4

Maxx Hexx 1/4

 

Once again, thanks for predicting guys

[Charasmatic Enigma]

In order to try and appease Harvey I spent the next few weeks scouting available wrestlers. Within a few weeks I had added a couple of new wrestlers to fill up our roster. None of them were particularly special, but in my defence there wasn’t a lot of talent available to me and they would at least fill up our Midcard.

 

Other than that, I just spent the month trying to work out what I wanted to do next. My most immediate concern was to build up some credible title contenders, as no-one except Brendan Idol had any sort of momentum at the moment. Maybe I could debut a couple of the new guys...

 

Predictions

Greg Gauge vs Stretch The Chicken Boy

El Ladron vs Mr Lucha

David Wayne Newton vs Nigel Svennsson

Jayson Van Pelt vs Brendan Idol

[BHK1978]

Greg Gauge vs Stretch The Chicken Boy

 

Stretch sucks beyond words...

 

El Ladron vs Mr Lucha

 

David Wayne Newton vs Nigel Svennsson

 

Jayson Van Pelt vs Brendan Idol

[Zergon]

Greg Gauge vs Stretch The Chicken Boy

No love for Chicken Boy here

 

El Ladron vs Mr Lucha

Mr. lucha was part of your best match on your last show so I assume he will pick-up a win here

David Wayne Newton vs Nigel Svennsson

As much as I like Svensson he isn´t winning here

 

Jayson Van Pelt vs Brendan Idol

Champ is kept strong.

[1234]

Posting from my phone so not really going to justify much. Sorry for the lack of order its hard to post from my phone.

 

Idol to win.

The champion needs to be kept strong in his first defence.

 

DWN to win.

I love Newton.

 

Gauge to win.

Needs momentum and Chicken boy isnt very good.

 

Mr Lucha to win.

Put on a good match last show, again needs momentum.