Foundation Wrestling Entertainment

[Quest]

[B]Foundation Wrestling Entertainment[/B] Founded in 2005 by Andrea Broderick, Foundation Wrestling Entertainment, or FWE, represents millionaire Andrea Broderick's attempt to bring the wrestling industry back to its traditions. The Foundation's meager beginnings should lead to a fresh roster but it will take quite an effort to bring the FWE to a level where it can compete with national promotions like SWF and TCW. This first post here will keep an update list of FWE's staff and workers, hopefully it's a decent reference card. I'm also posting this dynasty over at [url]www.ootpdevelopments.com[/url]. [I]Owner/Founder: Andrea Broderick[/I] Owner/founder of Foundation Wrestling Entertainment, Andrea Broderick made her millions several years ago before the dot com bubble burst. With lots of time and a fair amount of money, Andrea turned to her true love and looked to resurrect it: the wrestling industry. Andrea isn't blessed with the looks that grace some of wrestling's other female moguls but her natural charisma and talent with the microphone allows her to entertain FWE's fans as ringside announcer. [I]Head Booker: Alvin Kest (also your faithful narrator)[/I] Long-time friend of Broderick's, Kest serves as head booker for The Foundation. Kest looks for talent that mixes youthful potential and the ability to electrify a crowd. Though never seen in the ring or in front of a crowd, Kest pulls all the strings behind the scenes for The Foundation. [I]Ref: Michael Schreiber[/I] Don't let the skinny frame and the glasses fool you. Schreiber's ring presence allows him to help a pair of young wrestlers put together a watchable match.

[Quest]

[B]12/05 Monday, Week 1[/B] [B]12/05 Monday, Week 1[/B] I’m not sure what Andrea was thinking asking me to be Head Booker of the wrestling promotion she just started up. She’s the one who knows wrestling, not me. Sure, I was Chief Operating Officer of her last company but that was web development. It would seem to be a far cry from what we’re trying to do now. It’s hard to argue with her vision though, especially after all the money we made with Blue Oceans. She fronted all the money again here, $100,000 to be exact. Pretty much chump change to her all things considered and we’ve both got quite a bit of time on our hands given that we “retired” in our mid-20s. So, I’m not entirely convinced this is a great idea but we should have some fun in the process. Andrea’s not happy with the state of wrestling today. The SWF is still clearly the 800 lb. gorilla, though Tommy Cornell’s Total Championship Wrestling has made some inroads. We’re not exactly in competition with them at the moment though, given that we don’t have any workers to wrestle. We’ll have to judge our performance by what we see from other local/small promotions here in the US like Mid Atlantic Wrestling and New York City Wrestling. I’ve been pouring through writeups on the industry lately and the most comprehensive info I’ve found is at [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/cornellverse"]www.cornellverse.com[/URL]. The author is clearly a Tommy Cornell fanboy though, so take it for what it’s worth! I suppose what I had a knack for at Blue Oceans is still somewhat applicable here: finding good, cheap, young programmers right out of school. Clearly, identifying young wrestlers with the potential to become superstars is a different animal, but Andrea is counting on me to get it done. And I have to figure out how they fit together to make a coherent show for our fans. To be honest, I’m looking at that end of things with more trepidation. Andrea’s always been better at dealing with the media than I have. She’s not blessed with the great looks that you associate with women in wrestling, but stick a microphone in her face and I guarantee you she’ll entertain anyone within earshot. She’s going to be announcing our matches from ringside and I have to say that she’ll give us a good chance at entertaining our fans, supposing that we can entice a few to show up. We’ve only got one other person from Blue Oceans joining us here, Michael Schreiber. I think Mikey is a guy who is going to surprise a lot of people. He’s amazingly skinny, seems to disappear when he turns sideways. Big, thick glasses. But he’s had a passion for wrestling since he was a kid. He’s a very animated guy who is going to have a lot of fun being FWE’s referee. Before he joined us as a junior programmer, he had spent a few months in a dungeon learning the basics and psychology of wrestling. He’s really got them down pat. Physically, he isn’t built for the punishment of being a wrestler but I think he’s got a great chance to add value to our in-ring product.

[Quest]

[B]12/05 Tuesday Week 1[/B] Andrea and I spent an hour or so that morning talking about what her expectations for The Foundation really were. We agreed that the bulk of that $100,000 seed money would go toward subsidizing our early shows. Andrea, Michael, and I would draw negligible salaries with the hope of more if FWE took off. All of our “departments” would be running on skeleton budgets. Andrea would be handling video production and had a budget of just $150/month. Of course, she had some good equipment at home she had purchased for Blue Ocean. Merchandising was Mikey’s deal and he also had $150 to work with. Good enough to make a few T-shirts I suppose. I was running our marketing campaign, such as it was. With $150/month, our best bet is posting fliers in the area around our shows. Administration and finance was also my deal. Another $150/month. Believe it or not, the small budget figures don’t scare me. We started from the same position with Blue Ocean and look where it’s at now. We just have to find the same kind of niche to step into the market and blow things up. Clearly we’re not going anywhere without having some good wrestlers in the ring. We’re also not going to be able to entice any of the guys I know from SWF or TWC as a casual fan to come work for us. Combing the independent circuit is going to be the way to go. Andrea, Michael, and I locked ourselves away in the video room at our HQ here in Hartford. We’re looking at years worth of tapes here from other small promotions like the NYCW, MAW, the 21CW from the UK, and the 4C from Canada. There’s a dizzying amount of workers out there. It’s not easy separating the wheat from the chaff, especially when you’re looking for wheat that’s willing to work for peanuts. We did identify quite a few guys who we thought we could work with though. I spent the rest of the day making phone calls. Lots and lots of phone calls. I’ll be honest, I got quite a few “who the **** are you?”s in that initial round of phone calls. Evidently many of these workers had been burned in the past by start-up promotions. Most of them didn’t even want to listen to my pitch. But the ones who did seemed to be listening more intently after I had convinced them our money was real. Most of them genuinely love wrestling and had an open mind about coming to work with us. I didn’t get anything firm that day but some of the pieces of our in-ring puzzle started to come together.

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[B]12/05 Wednesday Week 1[/B] One thing we hadn’t talked about yet is how we were going to structure our show schedule. I wanted to adopt a fairly conservative schedule. We’re not going to have a lot of workers at first, we’ve got to treat them well. A show every month in and around our HQ here in Hartford seemed to me to be the way to go. It also seemed to be the best way to maximize how long our seed money will last. I don’t want to go begging Andrea for more cash every 3 months because we’re in over our heads. And don’t expect me to be writing checks either. This is her baby. Andrea was completely opposed to my ideas however. [B]She wanted a weekly show every Friday night, spread out through New England, Puerto Rico, and the South East. [/B]The travel costs alone are going to dwarf everything else in our budget. She didn’t care. It’s her money. I was at least able to convince her to drop the idea of trying to compete in the Tri-State area with New York Championship Wrestling. They’re slightly more established than us and I think we’d have serious trouble making inroads there. We’ll have 2 shows a month here in New England instead. I made a point of calling back four workers that afternoon that we were particularly excited about bringing onboard. [B]Joey Minnesota [/B]was first and foremost. Pro Wrestling Hits, a site with an eye on independent wrestling had the following to say about him: [I]“Joey Minnesota is a young guy who can brawl as well as take it to the mat, and is seen as a great prospect. He has spent his entire career with NYCW, and is considered by many to be the guy who can take the promotion to the next level.”[/I] We were hoping he was ready to take a promotion to the next level, but that it would be us rather than NYCW. Joey is only 23 but has earned a tremendous amount of respect in the short amount of time he’s been on the scene. He brawls well but on the tapes we saw a guy who exhibits outstanding wrestling basics and ring psychology and is an above average technician and athlete as well. His microphone skills aren’t anything to write home about, but he’ll put on great matches and that’s going to be what makes or breaks our product. He’s pricy for us, asking for $1300/show, but we have to take some risks along the way. [B]Darryl Devine[/B] was the second call I made that day. He plays a babyface with a rock star image perfectly. He’s got the mic skills that Joey lacks, though he’s not quite as polished in the ring. They should be perfect foils for each other. Again, he’s fairly expensive at $1100/appearance but we need talent to play off of Joey. Here’s what Pro Wrestling Hits thinks Darryl brings to the table: [I]“"Mighty Fine" Darryl Devine is a young star who is becoming well known on the independent circuit, thanks to some spectacular show-stealing performances. Some have tipped him to become a huge star.”[/I] Neither Joey or Darryl have size that matches their skills and we felt like we needed a couple larger guys to fill out the ranks at the Main Event level. [B]The Big Problem [/B]is a massive 24 year-old who has had some success in NYCW. His physical skills aren’t spectacular but he is able to menace opponents and brawl reasonably well. He’s going to be the cheapest of our initial main event level talent at $1050/appearance. Pro Wrestling Hits on The Big Problem: [I]““The Big Problem is a massive youngster, who has a lot of potential, as not only does he have size and charisma, but he can actually brawl to a decent standard. He has spent most of his young career teaming with Land Mass as "Massive Problem".”[/I] Of course, having just one big man isn’t going to do us much good. [B]Puerto Rican Power[/B] is a guy who has built a good reputation working in Puerto Rico. Barring something unforeseen he’ll be our oldest worker at 34 but his style should allow him to match up well with The Big Problem and teach him quite a bit in the process. His rep in Puerto Rico should definitely help us draw there every month. Pro Wrestling Hits: [I]“Puerto Rican Power is a powerful wrestler who has a good grasp of the basics. A national hero in his homeland, his fans worship him as one of the best of all time.”[/I]

[Quest]

12/05 Thursday Week 1 [B]12/05 Thursday Week 1[/B] [B]We’ve now got an event scheduled for a week from tomorrow![/B]Our first show. We settled on the name Onslaught for our weekly show and [B]Onslaught #1 will be taking place at Biker’s Paradise, a small club in Boston. [/B]There’s only room for 200 fans. I wish I could say we’ll bang it out, but I’m not so sure. Anyway, Michael left today to spend some time up in Boston passing out the fliers I made up. Maybe we’ll be able to drum up some interest. I’m still working the phones today.[B] American Elemental [/B]was my first order of business. He’s a hell of an athlete but considerably smaller than the guys we locked up yesterday. Still, he’s got talent that even I can’t deny. Somehow, he’s unemployed at the moment and jumped at the chance to join FWE. PW Hits: [I]“American Elemental is a young, brilliant high flier. His name and costume are a tribute to the legendary Japanese wrestler Elemental, although he has yet to wrestle in Japan.”[/I] [B]Jacob Jett[/B] is another young guy with oodles of physical talent. He doesn’t put it together as well as Elemental but I think the two of them are going to make an unstoppable pair of high flyers. PW Hits: [I]“"The Amazing" Jacob Jett is a rookie who has huge potential, already being a pretty good wrestler with very little training, as well as being great at promos. There seems to be very little that could stop him becoming a star.”[/I] [B]Champagne Lover[/B] has done most of his work in Mexico so far but he speaks a bit of English and has the intangibles of a star. As this kid gets better he could push anyone on the roster. PW Hits: [I]“Champagne Lover is one of the biggest workers in Mexico, who has managed to incorporate his astonishing agility and lucha moves into a traditional Eastern "strong style". Many see him as the "next big thing" in Mexico.”[/I] Each of them signed for a pretty standard contract for someone who has made something of a name for himself but still needs work and exposure. At only $425ish apiece these guys should provide great value to the FWE.

[Quest]

12/05 Monday Week 2 [B]12/05 Monday Week 2[/B] I talked to Michael about his luck in Boston. [B]With the economy and the wrestling industry both in a downswing, he’s having a lot of trouble finding people interested in coming to our show.[/B] I’m not too worried quite yet. It might actually be better if our first show has a small audience. There’s going to be a lot of kinks to work out. Andrea, on the other hand, is flipping out. I think she anticipated a faster response. Somedays I wouldn’t mind if she took a valium or two. It’s not healthy to be up and down like that all the time. Relax! A couple more verbal agreements with talent came through today and they’re all going to be ready to go by this Friday. A rather strange guy named [B]Dermot O’Logical[/B] was the first pickup. He seemed to be speaking in character to me over the phone. Either that or he’s actually crazy. His tapes were pretty impressive so I’m willing to give him a chance. [B]Des Davids [/B]was the star middle linebacker for last year’s BC defense that finished in the top 25. NFL scouts are still a bit puzzled as to why he opted not to work out for any teams but it looks like wrestling is in his blood. [B]Nevada Nuclear [/B]is one of those rare guys whose ring presence comes through when you’re watching him on tape. His skills right now aren’t spectacular but maybe we can bring something out in him.

[Quest]

12/05 Tuesday Week 2 [B]12/05 Tuesday Week 2[/B] Okay, it’s time to finalize the roster for this weekend. Ten guys on board is a good start and we could probably get a decent show out of them but I want to fill out the ranks a bit. More phone calls, more talent at our disposal. [B]Joss Thompson [/B]has had some real success in Britain and would like to break into the bigger US market. [B]Josh Taylor [/B]has a diverse skill set and a desire to succeed. [B]“Suicidal” Flemmy Lemming [/B]works the mat better than almost anyone else his age in the industry. [B]Nomad [/B]is a Canadian who looks and acts the part of a star wrestler, but I’m not sure his skills are where he thinks they are. [B]Leroy [/B]has decent size and brawls well. [B]Steven Parker[/B] just finished up training with a legend, Cliff Wilson. This kid wants to be a star so bad I can taste it. [B]Kashmir Singh [/B]has above average in-ring talent but is a bit older than most of our roster at 28. [B]Valentine[/B] is a pretty mediocre talent, he may just be there to do a job or two for us. Finally, [B]Zeus Maximillion[/B] rounds out our roster and is a guy who has earned respect in the ring and outside of it.

[Quest]

12/05 Thursday Week 2 [B]12/05 Thursday Week 2[/B] We’ve reached the day before the show and I think we’re in pretty good shape. I’ve got an idea of how I want the product to look in the ring and the guys who are working tomorrow are coming today for the most part. Two of the guys who arrived early were [B]Joey Minnesota and Zeus Maximillion[/B]. I was pleased to see that the pair had personalities that met their reputation. Mikey[B] asked them to work as Road Agents with him to help keep a positive vibe in the locker room.[/B] They both seemed genuinely excited about taking a leadership role in FWE. I scouted out the Biker’s Paradise. It’s a pit, as I had suspected. I suppose that’s not particularly surprising given that it only cost me $200 to reserve the ring for tomorrow night. There wasn’t anything going on when I got there so I got a chance to play with the sound system Andrea would be using to do the announcing. I’m not sure what was worse, the constant droning hum coming from their speakers or the occasional screech of feedback. The owner turned out to be a rather nice guy named Larry who pretty much looked like what you might imagine the owner of a bar named Biker’s Paradise to look like. Tattoos covered his arms and he wore his sunglasses inside, though the bar’s lighting made it difficult for me to see at all. Larry turned out to be a guy who had wrestled for awhile on the indedpendent scene. Never made it to a major federation but had seen some fine talent on the way up past him. We talked awhile and I actually learned a lot from him about what to expect as we try to get FWE off the ground. I’m looking forward to coming back to talk to him again after I’ve got a few shows under my belt.