New England Wrestling Company (CornellVerse)

[Sagitta]

I was sitting on the couch flipping through the help wanted ads when my cousin Jeff called me up on the phone. "Hey, you there?" "No. Of course I'm here. What do you want?" "Remember Uncle Howard?" "Crazy Uncle Howard? With that little TV station out by the bay?" "Yea, that Uncle Howard. He died last year, and they finally managed to get his will sorted out. Seems like my pop inherited the station." "Oh, wow... congrats, I guess." "Yea, it gets better though. Seems there was a clause in the will that we had to run a weekly in-house program in order to get the rest of the estate. You have a business degree, right?" "Um... almost. I dropped out my junior year." "Close enough. You're the only one of us ever to even get that far in schooling. We need you to run a wrestling promotion for us." "Say what? Why wrestling?" "Because Uncle Howard specified so. Look, come on down this weekend and we'll explain it all to you. That is if you want in on this. If you can come up with a majority stake, you'd even own the promotion - we just need a show to air to fulfill our side of the will." "I... I'll see what I can do." I hung up the phone, and glanced down at the want ads. I'd circled an assistant manager position at a local burger joint, along with a couple labor jobs. This was going to be a no-brainer.

[Dvdmanny]

Nice start, I love Cornellverse diaries

[Sagitta]

The weekend meeting was informative, if not exactly exciting. It seemed that the wrestling clause was a favor for Howard's long-time associate Pete Harper, a skinny little CPA who had helped with Howard's finances for years. Pete would be given a salary of $1500 bucks a month to come from the promotion's coffers in exchange for a position of power within the company once it was formed. The rest was up to me. It's an odd thing. When people think you're educated they tend to expect more from you even if you are utterly clueless as I was. I'd watched wretsling on and off again through the years, but I was by no means a rabid fan. I couldn't really tell a suplex from a piledriver when I was drafted into this job with a simple phone call. I knew already I'd have to hire out for some talent who would know better than I what to do as far as booking the shows and running things behind the scenes (Pete was a little helpful, but was by means a pro). The fed would be granted a non-guarenteed slot on the station every Wednesday night at 9 which would run for two hours. The station was promoting the dickens out of the show so hopefully we had enough public awareness that we would draw at least a few people for our shows since the station wouldn't be spending anything at all beyond the airtime we would be given. I was offered $10,000 to startup, which I quickly realized was far, far too little. In perhaps one of the riskiest decisions I've made I mortgaged off my house and some land I had been left by my father up in north and sunk it into the company. After purchasing a local bowling alley and renovating it I had a studio/arena and around $100,000 left over for worker expenses. I decided to keep the arena under seperate ownership from NEWC just to be safe. Sure, it would cost us to run the show - but the money would be going into my own pockets when we did. To be honest, I didn't trust my skills at promoting a wrestling fed and wanted a fall-back plan in case it went bust. After the details were hashed out, I went with Pete to go try to find some talent. Within a week, I began having positive responses to my offers. ..... Details: New England Wrestling Company (NEWCO) Est Jan 2006 Loc: New England One TV show (Wednesdays, 9-11PM, 'Tiny' TV Network) Starting Capital: $100,000 Roster: 1 person (Pete Harper) Pete Harper: Lifetime NEWCO contract Non-wrestler Popularity: New England 10%, 0 elsewhere Skills: Mic 75% Char: 60% Acting: 45% Bus Skill: 90% Booking: 33% Languages: English (fluent), French (passable)

[Sagitta]

I had a week and a half to get together enough of a roster to run a show which would - hopefully - be passable enough to draw in some viewers. The station was advertising the heck out of the show, but I had no idea how well it would work with no people to highlight. Heck, I didn't even know what I could do given that I didn't know who I'd be hiring yet. Pete and I sat up late that first night, debating who to contact and what we should do. We decided we needed around 16 wrestlers, plus an announce team, a ref and everything else that was needed behind the scenes. After a few more cups of coffee, with daylight breaking over the Bay, we sent out our first feelers, then called it a night. It would be a few days at least until we knew who would take us up on our offers for work.

[Sagitta]

What a week! I was beginning to worry until some of the feelers Pete and I sent out began trickling back in. Some wanted too much money. I had put a cap on what we'd pay per worker at $1,000 (and even then, suspected I was being far too generous) with one notable exception, who I'll point out later. We hired not one, but two referees (just in case someone was busy elsewhere when we needed them), who introduced themselves as Baby Jamie and Robbie Sanchez. Both were from out west somewhere, and were capable - if for some reason we ever needed them to do so - of speaking on the mic as well. Our announcing team turned out to be Marv Earnest and the Brit Sue Danes. Danes was by far our most expensive hire, but between her looks and her accent I decided hiring her one would be worth the potential draw. Pete would fill in the role of an authority figure for the moment, but we both knew he'd be removed to elsewhere eventually. The rest of our roster was - distressingly - comprised almost entirely of known heels. Luckily 'known' in this business, and with this group, is a very relative thing so I quickly began assigning new gimmicks and turning quite a few to face positions. This is how our roster looked that first night that we began taping... Main Event: [B]Adam Prince [/B](nee Prince Adam) - Clean Cut (F) Adam would be our company face for the moment. Between his size and looks, I figured he'd fill the role nicely. [B]Nevada Nuclear [/B]- Weirdo (H) Nuke would be our counter to Adam. With his wild looks, I hoped he'd stand out enough to draw the fan's eyes. Upper Midcard: [B]"Flying" Jimmy Fox [/B]- Dancing Fool (F) Jimmy would be the face of our upper midcard. I figured I'd use our two other upper midcards as a foil for him, and in our rural little spot of land they'd fit that role well. [B]Champagne Lover [/B]- Ravishing (H) The Mexican Champagne Lover would (hopefully) pick up enough English over time to utilize the acting skills I knew he possessed. For now I'd give him a manager in the form of Herb Stately. [B]The Beast [/B]- Monster (H) The Beast is another Mexican. Despite his lack of any English, I figured he and Lover would be able to dominate our upper ranks. I also stuck him with Stately as a manager until he (hopefully) could pick up some English. Midcard: [B]Andrew Valiant [/B]- Patriot (F) I gave 'Valiant' a first name and kept him with the role he usually has - as a patriot. Again, a decent worker at an inexpensive price who I hoped would go far. [B]"The Natural" Eddie Howard [/B]- Legit Athlete (F) Howard is young (like most of the roster) but has potential. He's a main eventer for MAW, so hopefully someday - maybe - he'll take that roll here as well. [B]Joss Thompson [/B]- Evolution (H) What can I say? Joss is young, good looking, and extremely gifted. He's definately the next big thing (if not here, than elsewhere), so allowing him to run with that concept is a natural decision. Lower Midcard: [B]Lee Rivera [/B]- Underdog (F) Lee is a high-flyer, and his small stature makes him perfect (wespecially with Wood and Khoklov in his area of the card) for this gimmick. I could see Lee going far eventually as he's extraordinarily talented as an aerial showman. [B]Larry Wood [/B]- Armed Forces (F) I didn't hire Wood for his skills in the ring - I hired him for his skills outside of it. That said, I had a few good ideas kicking around that would utilize his skills which would require him starting off as a babyface. The armed forces gimmick struck me as perfect - especially as I could maybe draw some of the military folk from the area. [B]Marat Khoklov [/B]- Bodyguard (H) Marat doesn't speak a lick of English, so I gave him the role of being Herb Stately's bodyguard. Marat knows a little German, so hopefully I can find someone who can talk with him before he starts getting too lonely and frustrated having to use that pocket translator of his all the time. Openers: [B]Alysian Scottsfield [/B]- Biker (H) A veteran I hired to help balance out the youth on the roster. Scottsfield still has a good run in him yet I feel and may work well as a counter to some of the kids. I can see him being pushed to the point where he could work as a barrier between the undercard and the uppercard, and get the respect he deserves for his skills. [B]Joey Beauchamp[/B] - ****y Youth (H) Still fairly young, and gifted with amazing charisma and acting skills, Beauchamp will foit very well on the roster as I hope to see it. Others: [B]Raven [/B]- Equality Fighter (F) Raven Nightfall is an amazing athlete, and easily as talented as our guys on the main event. I have no qualms using her in this role, and over time hope to build a women's division around her provided a larger federation doesn't steal her away. [B]Tracy Brendon[/B] - Bitch (H) Tracy will be - for now - Raven's counterpoint. Hopefully the two will mesh well enough to put on some great matches until I can flesh out the women's roster a bit more. [B]Herb Stately[/B] - Sports Agent (Manager) (H) Herb is one of the better managers out there, and he is much needed for the guys on the roster who no speak-a de Eengleesh. [B]Jason Rogers[/B] (road agent) - no gimmick (H) Rogers was never one of the better wrestlers from what I understand, but he's fairly well respected and as such can help control the roster from the back. Besides, you never know when you may need a generic worker to run in to try to break up a fight. He also speaks fluid French - an asset if we ever try to tour up over the border in Quebec.

[Dvdmanny]

still looking good in my eyes, keep going

[Midnightnick]

This looks good so far, one suggestion. Hire Erik Strong.

[BuddyGarner]

Roster looks good but Alysian Scottfield???? He never struck me as being good. Why not Walter Morgan? He's a locker room leader.

[Sagitta]

There will be an indefinate delay for me to update this due to a crash/corruption. I'll go in and just recreate where I left off by hand via the editor, but work has me a tad busy at the moment.

[Dvdmanny]

looking forward to this being resurrected