An early life of Honor...

[mikemelling]

Death and Birth: The Future of Pro Wrestling

By Mitchell Milling

 

Wrestling, as a sport, has often been ridiculed as being “fake”. This, on some levels, is correct, in others not so much. Whilst the outcomes are predetermined and the matches often scripted, it is well known that the workers or “superstars” go through levels of pain and suffering equal to boxers and stunt men. The “entertainment” side of wrestling is also ridiculed as being a farce compared to “legitimate” acting. The irony of both of those statements is clear for all wrestling fans to see. We watch as workers in the realm of wrestling put their bodies through 300 matches per year. Name any other sports where it’s competitors are “in season” 12 months of the year. The only breaks pro wrestlers get are holidays and injuries. Is this the life of a “fake” sports person. Football, Basketball, Hockey, Cricket… All have their off seasons, all have breaks. A pro wrestler’s life is to travel from city to city to competing night in, night out to entertain fans; vocal fans, fans that often don’t even like or want to see them.

 

Why am I talking about this? Because there’s a third part of “Sports Entertainment” that is often forgot; business. The pro wrestling business is a difficult cat to tame. Trends change, practices are unregulated, signings are made on impuse. Most wrestling promotions are managed and run by guys who just wanted to book wrestling. Two of the biggest companies in the world were run in exactly opposite ways yet had the same issues.

 

WCW had been a horribly mismanaged company. Eric Bischoff had been, essentially, given an open chequebook. His signings were often overpriced and his deals offered far too much creative control to be a successful company. What ensued was an era of boom followed by an era of bust. WCW’s NWO storyline had made the Monday Night Wars the single most interesting thing to happen in wrestling since the death of the territories. WCW had forced the WWF into what had to be the biggest risk they had ever taken, the “Attitude” Era. Whilst the WWF’s edgier, hard hitting programming continued to spiral into popularity with characters like The Undertaker, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Chris Jericho, The Radicalz, WCW invested in Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ric Flair, Sting and a host of superstars that had been well known for 10 years. There had been no investment in youth, no investment in quality for the future.

 

The product of WCW was failing, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the financial side of WCW was crashing as well. Time Warner had removed the financial backing that had once been provided by Ted Turner and those lucrative contracts were now becoming a drain. As we reach January 2001, rumours are circulating that law suits, large rosters and a demoralized fan base have led to WCW falling $29 million in the red. Creditors are circling like vultures and contracts are not being renewed. WCW, a company owned by one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, is failing, risking the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of workers, not only wrestlers but back office staff who have run this company on behalf of Time-Warner for years.

 

And then there was ECW…

 

This company could not have been more different. It’s roots came in the Philadelphia basement of Paul Heyman, the companies Owner, Booker, Accountant and general manager. Heyman assumed all roles in the company and ran the cult phenomenom from his purchase in 1995. ECW had been a critical success but a commercial disaster and, over time, had ran up debts of it’s own. Stories of financial mismanagement by Heyman were legendary and workers were often paid late, if at all. ECW’s demise, however, was not necessarily all Heyman’s doing. ECW had often been the route of a lot of workers into the US scene. Many spent 6-12 months in the company before disappearing off to the “Big Two”. In the case of both Mick Foley and Steve Austin, ECW had been the place they had gone when their WCW careers had ended which would catapult them into WWF stardom. Other workers slowly filtered through to WCW and WWF of their own volition. Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysierio Jnr. Had all gotten their start in ECW before heading to WCW whilst the Dudley Boys, Tazz and Rhino had all moved on, eventually, to the WWF.

 

In the end this constant turn over of workers (excluding the likes of Tommy Dreamer, RVD, Sandman etc.) had taken it’s toll on ECW as it’s TV shows were often littered with one off appearances and sudden exits. Whilst ECW fans had always and continued to be loyal, the National and International audiences that ECW had tried to attract had continued to be turned off by the ever changing atmosphere. At this moment, ECW is dealing with debt problems of it’s own. It is entirely possible that within a year, all of the WWF’s main competitors will have disappeared into the abyss.

 

So what would come next?

 

With constant speculation about the future of pro wrestling and the insecurity of one roster for all the well known international workers, it was clear quickly that the independent scene may soon be littered with cast-offs that had either not been picked up from the WWF or had been released when a better alternative had arrived from it’s competitors. As January moved on, WCW had released the likes of Hugh Morris and Rey Mysterio to save money, these superstars had moved to ECW as there was effectively no-where else to go.

 

Those damn rumours…

 

Mystery started to circulate about a promotion opening it’s doors in the tri-state region; a promotion that wanted to offer an alternative to the current promotions. WWF and WCW catered to the “Entertainment” fans and ECW fans craved the blood and guts of the smaller ECW. There were, however, a vocal group of fans who called for the competition of a company that rewarded those who could wrestle, who could work hard. The Tri-state area had always been a “hotbed” for the wrestling fan and this new company looked to take advantage of the fact.

 

Ring of Honour is born.

 

Whilst the owner of the company stayed hidden behind a veil of mystery, news of the company was not kept secret. They had, it turned out, been planning their own inception when initial news of financial problems for W/ECW originally broke. Scouting had begun with former WWE and WCW agent Terry Taylor scouting the smaller promotions around the USA, Mexico, Japan and the UK. As such, an impressive list of potential workers had leant itself to the first show being produced at the end of January. More news will be posted as it develops.

 

Had an urge to write a real life diary. Long and the short of it is as follows.

 

• I am using Genadi's 2001 Mod for this diary.
  
• I have left in the WCW and ECW bankrupcy naratives.
  
• I have set Ring of Honour to open from December 2000.
  
• I have imported the The Grand Avatar as my user.
  
• My TCW will run alongside this. Basically, I wanted to write both a TCW and ROH diary.
  
• I am starting the roster from scratch as opposed to using the real rosters with this promotion opening earlier.
  

[mikemelling]

Ring of Honor: The Evolution

By Mitchell Milling

 

Things are certainly hotting up in the Tri State area; which at this time of year is ironic. Ring of Honor have announced their 4 night opening event which will take place on the last Sunday of January and the first Monday, Wednesday and Sunday of February. All three of the events will be held at the Manhattan Centre (The Grand).

 

The events will be named as follows:

 

• The Era of Honor Begins I
  
• The Era of Honor Begins II
  
• The Era of Honor: Forever I
  
• The Era of Honor: Forever II

 

The first two nights will follow on directly from one another and will showcase a completely different set of talent on each night. The final night will showcase the best of the first two nights together.

 

Rumours have started to circulate, as they tend to do, that over the course of the three nights Ring of Honor will crown a Heavyweight, Pure and Tag Team Champions; each of which stemming from 4 sets (2 on each night) of “heats”.

 

If rumours are to be confirmed each heat will consist of 8 competitors taking part in a Quarter final, Semi Final and Final. The winner of each heat will go into the final night to take part in a further Semi Final and Final to crown the Ring of Honor Heavyweight Championship.

 

Each of the runners up from the heat will go into a “Fatal Fourway Elimination” match to determine future number one Contendership to the ROH Heavyweight Championship. The 8 losing heat “Semi Finalists” will be thrown into their own Quarter final, semi final and final leading into victory for the ROH Pure Championship.

 

Finally, the ROH Tag Team Championship will be decided between the 16 first round losers. The 16 will have a 24 hour window in which to make their alliances and must, by midnight on the Tuesday night, have entered their partnership to the ROH Championship Committee. Any workers left without a partner will be drawn randomly together.

 

There will, it has transpired, be a number of exhibition matches which will, inevitably, be tryouts for those who have not made the 32 man list that will contend for Championship gold. As such, these workers will be immediately risking the chop ad losing their status as being affiliated with Ring of Honor. It should be interesting to note that the rumoured rosters (which are being bound by court order from being released) are filled with a good mix of youth and experience and it is entirely possible that some of the more jaded ECW stars may desert the “sinking ship” before it drops into oblivion.

 

Whilst this may appear confusing, the concept is simple. Use the best 32 superstars to crown my champions, create alliances, create fueds and ensure I'll be able find out who my "best" workers are.

 

The Nights will be scheduled as follows -

 

Night 1

 

Heat 1

Quarter 1 - Worker A Vs Worker B

Quarter 2 - Worker C Vs Worker D

Quarter 3 - Worker E Vs Worker F

Quarter 4 - Worker G Vs Worker H

 

Semi 1 - Winner of Quarter 1 Vs Winner of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winner of Quarter 3 Vs Winner of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winner of Semi 1 Vs Winner Semi 2

 

Heat 2

Quarter 1 - Worker A Vs Worker B

Quarter 2 - Worker C Vs Worker D

Quarter 3 - Worker E Vs Worker F

Quarter 4 - Worker G Vs Worker H

 

Semi 1 - Winner of Quarter 1 Vs Winner of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winner of Quarter 3 Vs Winner of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winner of Semi 1 Vs Winner Semi 2

 

Night 2

 

Heat 3

Quarter 1 - Worker A Vs Worker B

Quarter 2 - Worker C Vs Worker D

Quarter 3 - Worker E Vs Worker F

Quarter 4 - Worker G Vs Worker H

 

Semi 1 - Winner of Quarter 1 Vs Winner of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winner of Quarter 3 Vs Winner of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winner of Semi 1 Vs Winner Semi 2

 

Heat 4

Quarter 1 - Worker A Vs Worker B

Quarter 2 - Worker C Vs Worker D

Quarter 3 - Worker E Vs Worker F

Quarter 4 - Worker G Vs Worker H

 

Semi 1 - Winner of Quarter 1 Vs Winner of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winner of Quarter 3 Vs Winner of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winner of Semi 1 Vs Winner Semi 2

 

Night 3

 

ROH Tag Team Titles

 

Quarter 1 - Worker 1 and 2 Vs Worker 3 and 4

Quarter 2 - Worker 5 and 6 Vs Worker 7 and 8

Quarter 3 - Worker 9 and 10 Vs Worker 11 and 12

Quarter 4 - Worker 13 and 14 Vs Worker 15 and 16

 

ROH Pure Championship

 

Quarter 1 - Heat 1 Semi 1 Runner Up Vs Heat 2 Semi 1 Runner up

Quarter 2 - Heat 3 Semi 1 Runner Up Vs Heat 4 Semi 1 Runner up

Quarter 3 - Heat 5 Semi 1 Runner Up Vs Heat 6 Semi 1 Runner up

Quarter 4 - Heat 7 Semi 1 Runner Up Vs Heat 8 Semi 1 Runner up

 

ROH Heavyweight Title Contendership

 

Heat 1 Runner Up Vs Heat 2 Runner Up Vs Heat 3 Runner Up Vs Heat 4 Runner Up

 

Night 4

 

ROH Tag Team Titles

 

Semi 1 - Winners of Quarter 1 Vs Winners of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winners of Quarter 3 Vs Winners of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winners of Semi 1 Vs Winners of Semi 2

 

ROH Pure Championship

 

Semi 1 - Winners of Quarter 1 Vs Winners of Quarter 2

Semi 2 - Winners of Quarter 3 Vs Winners of Quarter 4

 

Final - Winners of Semi 1 Vs Winners of Semi 2

 

ROH Heavyweight Title

 

Semi 1 - Heat 1 Winner Vs Heat 2 Winner

Semi 2 - Heat 3 Winner Vs Heat 4 Winner

 

Final - Winner of Semi 1 Vs Winner of Semi 2

 

I know this is a kind've long looking process but I've thought quite hard about how I would like this to go down. In real life, it might attract people to attend every show. Whilst that's not necesarily the case in game, I'm not treating this diary as completely in game focused.