Invasion - Booking

[UKMMA101]

Hey Guys,

 

Have any of you booked an Invasion type storyline, have you got any advice?

 

I was looking to do a game were WWE bought TNA, and TNA invaded WWE. This would eventually lead to TNA getting their own 'Brand' or the top stars being split between Raw and Smackdown and a new show for X Divions stars and Cruiserweights being held during the week.

 

The tricky part of booking it is the heel/face divide, is the only way to make all the invaders heels?

 

Any advice would be great.

 

Many thanks

[soxfan93]

I did an nWo invasion in my 1996 game. I stole everyone I could from WWF:

 

Scott Hall

Kevin Nash

Owen Hart

Paul Levesque

Steve Austin

Sean Waltman

Curt Hennig

Shawn Michaels

Ted DiBiase (manager)

 

After about 6 months of booking it (I used the outsider gimmick and set them all to heel) I lost interest in that game. It just became boring booking the nWo.

 

I can't really give you any advice. I had a plan, I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but I never got there.

 

The best part was my WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Dean Malenko.

[Self]

It's not the only way, but it strikes me as the WWE way. WWE are the 'home' team to their audience, so they're the babyfaces. Invaders are the heels.

 

However, you could leave a few guys on the Impact side babyface, the ones who you want to be cheered after the brand split (possible example, AJ) You just have to be careful there that you keep them out of important matches, where the 'strange' babyface/heel divide could hurt match ratings. Saving them for midcard affairs against other crowd pleasers. I'm imagining the RVD/Jeff Hardy stuff in the WWE/WCW/ECW invasion. I'd have the top, main event TNA guys be heels though. Strong heels to work main events.

 

And unless you can really separate them out into their own "I don't care about the invasion" feud, I'd turn all the WWE guys babyface, or send them home for a few months.

[UKMMA101]

Thanks for the help guys,

 

What would you do about the 'Brands' during the invasion? Would you keep Raw/Smackdown as different teams/brands or do away with the brands during the Invasion?

[Harmor]

You could ofc, notice this would be cheating btw, go into the editor, look up WWE under promotions, go to product and set face/heel divide to none. That'd allow you to do whatever you want without having to worry about heels and faces. Notice - you can obviously change your product IN-GAME as well, which would NOT be cheating, but changing WWE's product from face/heel strong to none in one go would get you quite the penalty because fans would crap all over such a drastic overnight change.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'm currently doing an invasion the other way round, where a WWE Invasion led by Jimmy Hart and Jeff Jarrett have invaded TNA, complete with Arn Anderson as their authority figure, a new WWE Championship belt (my save started in 2002 when the WWF had the Undisputed Championship), a monthly pay per view event called Attitude and even now a main pay per view show called WWE In Your House.

 

All of the people part of the WWE Invasion are set as heels in my angle, while the vast majority (but not all) of the TNA people are faces.

 

The big difference with mine though is there is actually no business buy out. This has all been done of wrestlers and people signed that got released by WWF/WWE, including Al Snow, Christian Cage and John Layfield amongst others.

 

I'm about two thirds of the way through my planned version for the angle and I'm enjoying it and I think those who read my dynasty are too.

[Self]

Thanks for the help guys,

 

What would you do about the 'Brands' during the invasion? Would you keep Raw/Smackdown as different teams/brands or do away with the brands during the Invasion?

 

Early on, I'd keep the brands. RAW guys are on RAW. Smackdown guys are on Smackdown. Impact guys are unbranded, appearing on every show and kicking ass. Especially in the beginning phase where dudes are running in from the crowd, working outside the rules. I'd keep the WWE guys separate as long as possible. It makes them weaker, which makes it easier for the TNA guys to kick their asses. Eventually you could 'unite' the WWE factions to expel the invaders. I'd be more likely to move their focus onto one show (Smackdown) and leave RAW as a more traditional thing.

[Mkelm44]

Hey Guys,

 

Have any of you booked an Invasion type storyline, have you got any advice?

 

I was looking to do a game were WWE bought TNA, and TNA invaded WWE. This would eventually lead to TNA getting their own 'Brand' or the top stars being split between Raw and Smackdown and a new show for X Divions stars and Cruiserweights being held during the week.

 

The tricky part of booking it is the heel/face divide, is the only way to make all the invaders heels?

 

Any advice would be great.

 

Many thanks

 

When I do an invasion style storyline, the first thing I do is not change people's heel/face divide. Otherwise I screw myself up for later when an entire brand is heels or faces. Instead what I do is actually create several storylines that run concurrently. This will require some serious long-term planning to make sure that the storylines all reach their proper conclusion at the right time but also that some are hot while others build...

 

So to use the WCW Invasion as an example (and I'm doing this from memory of the time period and the mod):

 

Authority Figures

WWF: Vince McMahon- Heel, Mick Foley (who was on again off again as commissioner) Face

WCW: Shane McMahon-Face, Eric Bischoff Heel

 

WWF Champ: Stone Cold Steve Austin

WCW Champ: Booker T

IC Title Champ: Kane

US Title Champ: Booker T/Chris Kanyon

WWF Tag Title:Dudley Boyz

WCW Tag Title Natural Born Thrillers

WWF Light Heavy: X-Pac

WCW Cruiser: Shane Helms

 

The basic premise I use is that the belts are valuable and now you have people wanting them not only for the glory of their company but also for themselves. So you get Scott Steiner continuing his fued against Booker T for the WCW Belt, but also the Rock getting involved. Stone Cold Steve Austin would defend the WWF Title as a heel not only against Kurt Angle but also involved in the feud might be Goldberg. This sort of action happens up and down the chain for pretty much every belt. For belts which might not have as much competition or no equivalent (WWF Light Heavy, WWF Euro, WWF Hardcore) I basically compete them as one division, so Billy Kidman might be fighting X-Pac while Rey Mysterio will be feuding with Shane Helms.

 

The other thing I do with this is have "grudge" matches between the companies. Ric Flair/Sting might end up in a feud with a heel Chris Jericho/Chris Benoit team as the WCW standard bearers versus the pissed off Ex-WCW guys. DDP and Undertaker might get involved in a feud not over Taker's horse faced wife but a usual wrestling stuff, with Kane and Big Show backing him up versus Bam Bam Bigelow and Kane backing up DDP (the Jersey Triad!!!).

 

Then with everyone's histories, why not have defections? Big Show decides he liked being the Giant better and takes an offer from Bischoff to join team WCW for a WCW title shot against Booker. Ric Flair gets upset being denied a title shot and jumps ship back to WWF where he says to be the man you have to beat the man and your olympic freakin gold medalist takes him up on that?

 

Then what do you do with the NWO... not the bloated WCW version... the original NWO... maybe they decide to take out everyone. They attack the Rock and Booker T in a match.... then later on challenge the Hardy Boyz and the Natural Born Thrillaz for the tag titles.

 

One thing I tend to do fairly early is have a match for control over a tv show... usually Smackdown for me while the B shows like Heat become a lower-card free for all. In kayfabe terms I justify it as Shane O Mac wanting a show just for WCW talent, in game terms I usually need it to build up some of the more talented but less over WCW guys to take the place of the more over but less talented WCW main event. Since you don't take a hit from wrestlers not appearing on their brand shows, I'll have WWF guys show up on it, but maybe not the main eventers. So I'll have an early grudge match for the rights to Smackdown which becomes Thursday NITRO! Turn King of the Ring into a Clash of Champions with the most wins by one side getting smackdown... have it come down to Booker v. Austin with Booker getting a cheap win via interference from a defector or perhaps a tie with each side getting the same # of wins and then a deciding 6 man Tag Match.

 

Here's a few game tips I would suggest:

1)Respect the WCW and it's legacy- the problem WWF had was it devalued the WCW so by the time it ended, nobody cared about these guys. You'll need guys who are both talented and over to keep this going for a while.

 

2. Keep balanced rosters with a mix of heels and faces on both brands.

 

3. Use defectors wisely to balance out rosters... WCW Television champion Jim Duggan announces an open challenge and WWF Euro Title holder Eddie Guerrero takes it and quickly defeats Duggan to not only change sides but unify the belts. He then cuts a promo against Vince saying that he left WWF for the same reason he left WCW- that he got tired of big guys holding him down, but Shane O Mac invited him to jump and show the world what he's got. He goes on to defend the TV title boosting his popularity and the belts and giving WCW a very talented guy at a time they are weak. The WWF roster at the time had more talented guys than WCW did and WCW is going to need the workers to carry the load and take over from the aging main eventers and the less talented guys.

4. Come up with reasons to mix the rosters and get guys over... why not use June to have a king of the ring with 4 WWF guys and 4 WCW Guys and then put over a WCW guy to get the boost from the tourney title win... Rey Mysterio or Raven for example. The guy with the boost now has a reason within his own brand to fight bigger name guys who are jealous of his victory.

5. Only do one or two iconic clash at a time... People's Champ v. People's Champ (Rock v DDP) shouldn't happen at the same time as Icon Sting v. Phenom Taker or Flair/Hogan/Goldberg versus Austin and they shouldn't start and end at the same time.

6. Don't forget about the guys who had left WCW but were still around- the Road Warriors for example. Have Shane-O invite them back. This increases the size of the roster without having to worry about booking defections.

7. Use your development system. There's a lot of guys who have talent but need to be developed further, and a lot of guys who are going to run out of gas in the next 12 months. Scoop up talented guys and lowercarders who aren't busy and develop them. That way less talented guys like Duggan can be replaced. Eventually you should have enough talent to start an ECW brand seperate from either WCW or WWF.

8. Think very very long term. In real life the invasion was about six months, ending at Survivor Series... there is no reason this shouldn't go on for a couple of years in the game.

[Hive]

I've been thinking about doing such an invasion several times. What I was thinking of doing:

 

1) Incorporate TNA into WWE as a third brand, Impact - with it's own TV show.

 

2) Have some heel TNA guys attack face WWE guys at their shows, perhaps only one of the shows at first.

 

3) Have some heel WWE guys retaliate at Impact against innocent TNA faces who are actually trying to stop the TNA heels.

 

4) Have this going on back and forth for a while untill it is revealed that some surprise outside guy - someone like Paul Heyman, perhaps, a good talker at least - is behind all this, and that the invading heels from both TNA and WWE are all working together with him.

 

5) Have the top faces from each side bury the hatchet and unite to stop this scheming faction, possibly culminating in a Survivor Series match.

 

6) The heel invaders win and take full control of RAW as a result, forcing many WWE workers to Smackdown and Impact while a small band stay to fight it - eventually being joined by Smackdown and Impact people.

 

7) Have the evil heel group finally defeated and spread them out between the three brands.

 

 

...of course, this is all different from the "one whole promotion is evil and invades the other" concept and may not be what you're looking for. But I think it's a fresh take on an invasion instead of doing it the McMahon way.

[Phantom Stranger]

Theoretically, Invasion booking when you own the new company should be handled the exact same way you'd handle a big new heel stable coming in, except that they'll fight your heels as well (which is simulated fairly easily by putting invading faces up against invading heels), provided only you intend that big new heel stable to be a big deal even once it's 'broken up'.

 

I have some specific ideas I want to try at some point - quite a while ago, my TCW diary was going to be followed by a real-world diary where the basic pitch was "With the buyout of TNA, Vince McMahon has assigned a new head writer with specific instructions to make sure that THIS InVaSiOn washes away the fans' hatred for the previous incarnation. Beginning the night after Wrestlemania, by the next Wrestlemania at least three TNA talents need to be established at each level of the card in a way the fans will buy" but gradually I became less and less keen on trying that.

 

When I do, it will likely be a diary, so...

[Nest]

Years ago, I had a storyline like that on TEW 05, I was playing with TNA.

 

WWE went from Global to Cult, so fired a lot of wrestlers, and a year after that bankrupted.

 

So I was able to sign at the same moment a lot of WWE wrestlers month after month.

 

The best thing to do is to considere a strong identity for both groups, then, the babyface/heel does not matter the most (depending of your product), because it just depend of the stable the wrestler is in.

About a time, you will have all your wrestlers, either in the home promotion faction, either the invaders faction, which will be babyfaces or heel.

 

And because of those identities for each group, turns can have sense.

For example, Kurt Angle or Mr Anderson joined the Invaders, but CM Punk joined the TNA Originals.

 

About the titles, even if it doesnt really matter, it's just helpful to have more championships if you have more wrestlers.

For example, during my Invasion storyline, around 2 years, I had a WWE for a TNA title (with unification at the end).

WWE World Heavyweight for TNA World Heavyweight

WWE Intercontinental for TNA X Division

WWE Tag Team for TNA World Tag Team

WWE United States for TNA Television

WWE Divas for TNA Knockout

 

And at the end, when the roster got back to a normal size after some contract expiring, have a standard number of championships.

 

For the roster after 2 years, this was around 60 % of wrestlers I had before the Invasion, 30 % of wrestlers that came as Invaders (despite some of them turned) and 10 % of new wrestlers.

 

 

 

 

In your case, if you want to have a special brand "TNA", I would advice you to read Nobby_McDonald's Dynasty "TNA's New Beginnings II", because he has something similar.

WWE invaded TNA.

TNA got the weekly TV Impact show and WWE got a weekly PPV.

It might give you some ideas.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Almost Nest. I dropped the weekly WWE pay per view after just one week because the buy rate was awful due to viewer burn out. I instead created a second monthly pay per view called Attitude (a reader's competition win choice of name) which ran at the right kind of buy rate level. After a few months, the WWE Invasion now has a 'regular' monthly pay per view of their own, with WWE In Your House replacing Hard Justice this year I'm in.