SWF In 2013

[Self]

You briefly mentioned Rogue. What's everyone's take on this new character for Jack Giedroyc? I'm having trouble painting a mental picture of what this English Scoundrel is. It's the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on him.

[Teh_Showtime]

The way I envision Rogue is basically as an antisocial madman who is a borderline psycho and does things just because he can, either due to his superior ability, or due to the numbers of the Chase Agency.

 

Lying, not fulfilling promises/bets, sneak attacks on random people, the whole nine yards. And if anybody wants to call him out on it, he can physically dismantle them. I actually used that part of his character to initiate the face turn of "Big Cat" Brandon James. He walked out on a tag match when partnered with Brandon for no reason (not even Chase had an idea) and it lead to Brandon eventually leaving the group before he beat Rogue at Supreme Challenge.

 

I had him pretty much decimate Christian Faith at 3 straight PPVs (he fails to lose or gain popularity, it's wonderful) to end the year and then taking off Lobby's mask for no other reason than because "he wanted to see what he looked like".

 

He's probably my favorite character to book in my SWF game, even more than his stablemate who is my current world champion.

[Bull]

You briefly mentioned Rogue. What's everyone's take on this new character for Jack Giedroyc? I'm having trouble painting a mental picture of what this English Scoundrel is. It's the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger on him.

 

I tend to book Rogue similar to Edge during his Ultimate Opportunist gimmick. A sort of guy who has all the talent in the world to get things done but still does any and everything to come out on top. Using people to his own ends and throwing them away when he no longer needs them. I see his spot in the Chase Agency as more of a means to his own end rather than actually being apart of the group.

[Eisen-verse]

A lot of great perspectives on Rogue.

 

While he's been an utter disappointment in my SWF Dynasty, I actually quite like him as a wrestler/persona. That said, this is how I look at him right now:

 

He's the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrel" in my SWF. I'm using the theme "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC to best define his perspective within the company. He's a no good, do whatever he wants, whenever he wants kind of guy. He's not one to follow rules and will simply make others lives a living hell for the fun of it (ala stealing Lobster Warrior's mask). It's as if wrestling somewhat bores him; so, he finds ways to get under the skin of almost everyone he encounters (finding more joy in that).

 

While he doesn't speak, his actions are rather crass (spitting on Hannah) and almost ALWAYS controversial.

 

With this in mind, he's a great hitman of sorts. That said, don't expect him to follow what you want entirely. He's pretty uncontrollable and will end up fulfilling his own needs (pissing others off) over getting the ultimate job you wanted done.

 

A lot of fun to write but just isn't producing grade-wise in my game.

[gord]

I have Morissette (unmasked) in a feud with Rogue. Despite the angles and matches getting at least in the high 70s -- and matches in the 80s -- the heat for the feud is totally tanking. Right now it's at 27 and the last step in the storyline was an 85-rated tag team match. I just got the note from a road agent that Rogue needs to turn, so I guess it's the fans finding him stale? Can't figure it out.

 

Anyway, I guess I need to turn Rogue. I had already semi-planned out a program where Brandon James wins the NA Title and Rogue becomes the neglected member of the group (why can't you be more like James?), so he turns face. I'm considering reuniting him with Valiant, but it doesn't really do it for me. I don't have anything for Valiant to do right now so it would benefit them both.

[Self]

A lot of great perspectives on Rogue.

 

While he's been an utter disappointment in my SWF Dynasty, I actually quite like him as a wrestler/persona. That said, this is how I look at him right now:

 

He's the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrel" in my SWF. I'm using the theme "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC to best define his perspective within the company. He's a no good, do whatever he wants, whenever he wants kind of guy. He's not one to follow rules and will simply make others lives a living hell for the fun of it (ala stealing Lobster Warrior's mask). It's as if wrestling somewhat bores him; so, he finds ways to get under the skin of almost everyone he encounters (finding more joy in that).

 

While he doesn't speak, his actions are rather crass (spitting on Hannah) and almost ALWAYS controversial.

 

With this in mind, he's a great hitman of sorts. That said, don't expect him to follow what you want entirely. He's pretty uncontrollable and will end up fulfilling his own needs (pissing others off) over getting the ultimate job you wanted done.

 

A lot of fun to write but just isn't producing grade-wise in my game.

 

I'll have to read your take on the character sometime. I read one of your shows yesterday, and really dug some of the characterization (Money, Frehley, especially Bruce).

 

My instinct with Rogue leans me more towards an intellectual, reasonable, scheming villain, as opposed to the psychopath. However, looking at the roster, there's a lot of 'intellectual' heels. Rich Money. Eric Eisen. My take on Remo is of a physical brute with a sharp mind for strategy. Perhaps I'm missing the lunatic heel on my roster.

 

On the surface, my Chase Agency is very similar to how I wrote The Elite in my CGC dynasty. Emma is a sports agent. Her clients reflect overpaid athletes in sports today. Brandon James is a big, dumb brute... but one stuffed awkwardly into a suit (or sponsorship covered tracksuit) and given generic lines to recite when the camera's on him. He's a fake, processed, manufactured product. I added a few more members with the same idea. The Chase Agency presents F.A.G as straight, thanking his "Canadian Girfriend" for giving him the strength to compete. Paul Huntingdon is presented as having an (obviously made up) blue collar upbringing. Ultimately, Emma Chase manipulating them with money and sexuality to be her pawns. She is in control. My Rogue is purposefully the opposite. He manipulates her. A roguish scoundrel with an English accent, he's the one person that turns Emma into a foolish, lovestruck girl.

 

I think eventually he'll be going face, in an anti-hero fashion. Like The Rock, I think the idea is that he becomes such a scoundrel, he's too cool to boo.

 

I'll never reunite him with Valiant. Mostly because my Valiant is a vampire now.

[SB92]

Who do y'all recommend to sign as a manager for Khoklov, I have searched high and low in the other workers and can't find someone suitable

[Eisen-verse]

Who do y'all recommend to sign as a manager for Khoklov, I have searched high and low in the other workers and can't find someone suitable

 

While it gives away a development that's coming down the pike in my SWF Dynasty, I hired Ernie Turner as Khoklov's manager. My version of Khoklov is centered around a Brock Lesnar perspective. He's someone who only competes on the terms of his handlers. That said, he and his handlers follow the money and often only come around for big payouts; keeps him as a special entity and helps to work with his limiting contract.

 

Turner is playing his handler. A rich Russian businessman who has governmental ties in his home country. He's shady to say the least,

 

While he is only at an 'E' popularity level, working with Khoklov can change that. Also, his skills are rather good and he's never been seen by SWF fans before; so, he can appear as a Supreme creation!

[Grfcboy95]

I'm thinking of breaking up the Chase Agency. I figure that with Rogue and Brandon James that there's too much ego about who the top dog is, leading one of them to turn face. Which one should I turn and should the face be victorious or should I keep the remainder of the Agency strong? I'm thinking a run at the world title for whoever wins after. I did kinda mess up my original SWF game by the way, I failed a critical objective for lobby to reach B+ popularity by the date. He was hard to push because he was in decline! So I have restarted and I'm in May.

[lazorbeak]

Not to be hard on people that want to go that route, but every time I read a variation of unmasking Lobster Warrior, I shake my head.

 

"Hey everyone, great news! I'm going to toss out one of the most successful gimmicks in wrestling history and make the character a bland, super-serious fighter who is 40 years old and lacks the charisma and star quality of my other top names! This is a great idea!"

 

It'd be up there with an idea to unmask Rey Mysterio or a great idea to completely abandon the Kane gimmick and just have him go around in black trunks as "Glenn Jacobs." Let's take away Goldust's gimmick (again) and watch as the people rally around Dustin Rhodes! The mask and the gimmick are the best things about Morisette; it's what separates him from being a blander Human Arsenal/John Anderson.

 

I get that the character can be a little tricky to book, particularly if you want a super bland, "every feud is super serious" booking style, but gimmicks evolve to the point that we don't find the Undertaker gimmick or the fact that Triple H is short for "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" to be too goofy to book around, because the audience has been conditioned to it and the characters have evolved. The same has happened with Lobster Warrior as he went from a comedy act to a stable leader to a solo super hero type.

[Cujo]

I'd probably care more about Lobster Warrior if his mask covered his face, I just can't take him seriously with that face popping out.

[Eisen-verse]

Well, it's safe to say that "Master of Puppets" was somewhat of a letdown from an in-grade perspective. Creatively, the storylines given & outcomes provided, are all rather exciting BUT the fans didn't take very well to it. I had four matches in the "C+ to C-" range (which I knew at least two of them would do so as they were 'battle royal' matches with lesser over workers). That said, that's not entirely what ultimately sunk the ship (I consider a "B-" PPV event a 'sunken ship' for sure).

 

"Master of Puppets" became the fourth most watched PPV event in 2013. Sounds great, right? Well, we're only in our 5th month. The only PPV that did worse was "When Hell Freezes Over" right as my Dynasty opened (and it didn't beat it by much). That said, I should be happy as, currently, I have the 5 top PPV's going thus far; TCW is nowhere close.

 

PPV Revenue and Ticket Sales were the lowest of 2013. Not to mention, a MAJOR drop-off from last month's PPV (losing 1.2 Million in Sales & 1.1 Million in Revenue versus "The World is Watching" last month). It should be noted that "tWiW" was, far and away, the BEST PPV in every way possible thus far in 2013; so, it is a lofty challenger.

 

On top of all of that, it's rather obvious that Vengeance can no longer draw as an in-ring competitor. He's pulled "C+" matches with great workers before his main event with Steve Frehley for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Buried Alive Match. With the title prestige still high (B+) and the match style equally impactful ("High"), I was expecting something a little better than what I got between the two. I COULD blame Frehley for not being good enough to carry him but it's rough to see Vengeance not pulling his weight alone (currently 5 years past his prime). I thought about 'protecting' Vengeance but I also knew I would get a ding for not pushing the main event match as long as a typical PPV Main Event (knowing Vengeance couldn't keep up). In the end, knowing Frehley 'couldn't' protect him (lower psych skills), it just became a typical in-ring match.

 

Going forward, as much as I love Vengeance, he's not fit for main eventing. I knew this already but the "Demon" did win the fan vote leading into the PPV.

 

Luckily, there is some considerable things coming up that will allow for Vengeance to not HAVE to step into the ring. He'll be more visible than the last month or two, as he's out of 'HELL', but won't necessarily need to tie-up with anyone; as the storyline won't really call for it.

 

All in all, just had to talk about this after booking the PPV.

 

There's 23 segments within the show so, to be honest, the results won't see the light of day for quite some time. That said, I'm going to do my best to get some work on it while on vacation this next week.

[Teh_Showtime]

I would usually tend to agree on similar matters such as people in 2010 taking the TCW title off Golden asap but with Lobby it is kind of implied that in order to be a true main event player he would need to drop the mask sooner or later. He can still be quirky or wierd or the same corny personality, because losing he mask doesn't mean just becoming super serious.

[lazorbeak]

I'd probably care more about Lobster Warrior if his mask covered his face, I just can't take him seriously with that face popping out.

 

Well, you don't really have to take him seriously- he's in SWF. And again, it's like saying you can't take Undertaker seriously because he's wearing purple gloves, so we'd better ditch the gimmick, and not, you know, just wear different gloves.

 

I would usually tend to agree on similar matters such as people in 2010 taking the TCW title off Golden asap but with Lobby it is kind of implied that in order to be a true main event player he would need to drop the mask sooner or later. He can still be quirky or wierd or the same corny personality, because losing he mask doesn't mean just becoming super serious.

 

It's kind of implied he's not going to be a main eventer, ever, and taking the mask off would expose him as being a bland, under-sized, good wrestler who has nothing to do until his contract runs out and he pops up in USPW (re-gimmicked or in a Black Reign bizarro version) or TCW (where bland is king).

[Cujo]

Well, you don't really have to take him seriously- he's in SWF. And again, it's like saying you can't take Undertaker seriously because he's wearing purple gloves, so we'd better ditch the gimmick, and not, you know, just wear different gloves.

 

Never said ditch the gimmick, just get a better mask. He looks like a scrub.

[Grfcboy95]

It's funny cos Lobby is main eventing for me with Remo for the belt... Not that he'll win. I won't take the mask off him though.

[gord]

The thought process behind my "Lobster Warrior gets unmasked" storyline is a very popular wrestler loses his identity. He gets dominated in his first loss to Khoklov, puts his mask on the line and loses a close match, gets unmasked and hits rock bottom. This starts his role as the underdog. He slowly fights his way back, the crowd gets behind him and he finally beats Khoklov. His pop jumped from 72 to 80 with that one win.

 

I, too, read the bio as "the Lobster gimmick is too silly to get a serious shot at a world title." I get good match grades with him so I'm going with this mindset for right now. Who knows what will happen in the future.

[Self]

I'm thinking of breaking up the Chase Agency. I figure that with Rogue and Brandon James that there's too much ego about who the top dog is, leading one of them to turn face. Which one should I turn and should the face be victorious or should I keep the remainder of the Agency strong? I'm thinking a run at the world title for whoever wins after. I did kinda mess up my original SWF game by the way, I failed a critical objective for lobby to reach B+ popularity by the date. He was hard to push because he was in decline! So I have restarted and I'm in May.

 

Alas, my Chase Agency ended with a whimper, not a bang.

 

I strapped the rocket to Rogue, but when he fought perpetual rivals Rich Money © and Jack Bruce for the World Title, he failed at the final hurdle. Emma Chase, already annoyed at Rogue not being a team player (not wearing the tracksuit, toying with her emotions) belittled him, but Rogue struck back, turning babyface after months of teasing, and run roughshod over the entire unit (Brandon, Huntingdom, James Prudence and F.A.G) until finally beating Marat Khoklov on PPV. He went on to challenge Rich Money as a babyface, and won. A victory short-lived thanks to someone cashing in his (MitB ripoff) Jungle King crown.

 

Left alone, I decided to end the agency. I cobbled together a bunch of babyfaces I wasn't using (Lobster Warrior, Des Davids, Eric Eisen, Awesomeness) put them with Dawn The Cheerleader, and as 'The Sunshine Squad' (the most half-arsed stable I've ever made) they eventually beat the agency in a 5-on-5 "Losing Stable Disbands" match. Meh.

 

Haven't played since, so it'll be fun deciding what to do with the members, now none (even the Platinum Blondes) can team together for at least a year.

[gord]

If Jack Giedroyc & Valiant and Joe Sexy & John Greed are both former tag champions, why don't they have tag chemistry in the game?

[Luchador Canadiense]

If Jack Giedroyc & Valiant and Joe Sexy & John Greed are both former tag champions, why don't they have tag chemistry in the game?

 

You don't have to have chemistry to tag together. It just helps.

In my ACPW game, The Gopher & The Ant actually had negative tag chemistry, so I took the straps off them quickly and put them on another team.

[Derek B]

If Jack Giedroyc & Valiant and Joe Sexy & John Greed are both former tag champions, why don't they have tag chemistry in the game?

 

There is a long history in pro wrestling of makeshift tag teams being successful... but they shouldn't be added as a tag team in a database for the most part. Short term teams or teams that are never going to stick together long enough to really earn a tag experience bonus just clog up the database with extra records that will only slow the game down in the long run. Teams like Edge/Hulk Hogan, or John Cena/Randy Orton or any number of combinations that have won the titles in the WWE over the years don't merit a database entry as a tag team. Tag experience isn't just about being involved in matches together, it's about learning to bring out the best in each other beyond what you can do on your own... that's why so few teams rarely ever get the chance to get better together than the sum of their parts, while also explaining why it's often so hard to break up a team as they'll lose one of the traits that made them so great in the first place (teamwork).

[Grfcboy95]

Were Rogue And Valiant not long term partners? i always thought they were before the split.. '13 is my first TEW so i'm not 100% of the C-Verse history really.

[Bull]

Were Rogue And Valiant not long term partners? i always thought they were before the split.. '13 is my first TEW so i'm not 100% of the C-Verse history really.

 

They became tag champs in December of 2009 and lost them in August of 2010, but weren't in the database as a team in 2010 either. Plus according to the database The Chase Agency was formed in July of 2010. So if Rogue joined around the time he and Valiant lost the titles in August, then Valiant and him were probably only teaming around 6 to 8 months if you count for some time before they became tag champs.

[Irish Wolf]

So I'm putting this here because I learned it while playing SWF and I want to share it with all you others who enjoy the company.

 

You have a ton of money, use it. I have never not once changed the settings for Band, celebrity and special set but I decided to this time. I got a C-List celebrity, a minor band and spent 100k on a special set and ran my show. Nothing during the show changed from other times I ran it and it should have ranked out at 81 or 82 according to my math, but nope all that extra stuff an expenditures of just sh of 200k for the show boosted my show rating to an 87. That's right folks can't quite get the show the way you want it still getting around your pop and not much more, you are the biggest company in the world with a huge bankroll. Spend it and watch that show rating rise.

[gord]

I'm considering putting Bruce, Money, Faith, Frehley, Remo and Vengeance in a Hell In A Cell match for Supreme Challenge. With all of that main-event talent in there, should that pull off a great match or are there TOO many involved at once? I could probably pair it down so that Frehley and Remo face off in a separate match and cut the HIAC participants down to four.