cymru1991 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Hi everyone! This is my first try at one of these, so forgive me if my layout/ contributions are a little bit different than you'd expect! My inspiraiton for this was during a save in the 'Goldenage' mod as Dave Meltzer with UK Promotion ASW. After 3 years, my company collapsed and I was forced to resign. I promptly deleted my save out of frustration (pretty dull I know!) As a result, I've started a new save with my booking reputation and user stats as they were in my previous save and am in the process of selecting a new promotion. My first 'proper' post will be a (slightly wordy!) prologue which details my last save in order to set the scene, so feel free to ignore it and just wait for my first substantive post of this 'dynasty'. I will try and keep this updated as regularly as I can, so feel free to post observation,s comments, predicitons, suggesttions etc. as you please! Thanks for your patience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymru1991 Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Prologue: From little acorns do the mighty oaks grow... There were raised eyebrows when Dave Meltzer put his money where his mouth was and took over as owner-come-booker of the British promotion All Star Wrestling. Industry insiders were quick to ring his death knell while predicting that the wrestling journalist would find himself out of his depth when it came to managing a promotion. However, during a three-year run, Meltzer transformed the promotion into a cult attraction. Making an immediate switch towards a more realistic sports-oriented product, Meltzer turned a small-time attraction into a profitable company with an immensely popular following across the British Isles and Mainland Europe, possessing two prestigious singles titles and a turnover of five hundred thousand dollars in a single year. The company had gained profitable television exposure across the British Isles and mainland Europe on both ITV and The Sports Network with tentative PPV negotiations taking place with Network NTL. At its peak, the Promotion’s weekly 1-hour ‘World of Sport’ show was being broadcast live on Wednesday evenings on Sports Network with repeats on Friday evenings on ITV, and 2-hour monthly super-shows taking place on the last Friday of every month in front of sell-out crowds all across the British Isles. In terms of talent, All-Star was certainly rich. Beginning his reign with a host of big-time names such as Mark Rocco, Johnny Saint and Kendo Nagasaki and several promising openers in Steve Regal, Robbie Brookside and Keichi Yamada, the potential for great things from Meltzer was apparent. After continuous development in the pre-show and under card for over a year, ‘Flying’ Fuji Yamada, Steve Regal and Robbie Brookside all flourished into main event attractions who all had a run with the company’s premier strap. Under Meltzer’s guidance, Regal and Yamada featured in the upper echelons of the of the PWI500 in 1988 and 1989, with Brookside a shoe-in for a place within 12 months. The main event line-up was seemingly completed when a chance offer for left-on-the-scrapheap ‘Exotic’ Adrian Street was accepted, thus paving the way for dream matches that fans had been clamouring for. The upper-midcard was also bolstered by the addition of the time-declining Saint and Nagasaki, supplemented by British legend Tony ‘Banger’ Walsh and the much improved Terry Rudge, thus forming the perfect environment for development before graduating to the top of the bll. With the inclusion of these new stars in the main event, ASW were regularly bringing in show ratings in the early 70’s. A particular high point saw a 3-way dance main event between ‘Flying’ Fuji Yamada, Steve Regal and ‘Exotic’ Adrian Street for the ASW Heavyweight Championship draw a 79 rating in front of a sellout crowd in the Sir Matt Busby Arena. With a host of new young stars, including opener ‘Diamond’ Dallas Page and young pretender Steve ‘Sting’ Borden working his way up to the midcard, the future looked bright for All Star. However as is so often the case, the flame the shines brightest is extinguished first. Mark Rocco left the promotion at his peak to tour with NJPW and showed no interest in re-signing for ASW upon his return. Upstart company World Championship Wrestling quickly snatched up Adrian Street, Flying Fuji Yamada and Steven Regal, with ASW unable to compete with the big-money written contracts on offer. Sting was also taken by NJPW on tour, with the former beating Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation in a big money contract war. Saint and Nagasaki were now unfortunately unsuitable to carry the Main Event mantle and Robbie Brookside, although talented, was not in the same class as Regal nor Yamada when it came to carrying lesser opponents in big matches. The upper midcard were either 6 months away from fully flourishing or 6 months past their prime, which led to ASW going into freefall at a rate of knots. The resurgent Joint Promotions picked up the last remaining budding stars in ‘Banger’ Walsh, Terry Rudge and the ageing Saint and Nagasaki, leaving ASW in tatters with the heady days of 1987 and 1988 long forgotten… Worse was to come. With ITV axing the vast majority of its wrestling coverage, coupled with an ill-advised decision to leave Sports Network for pastures new resulting in massive financial losses, ASW was facing a future with minimal returns and massive costs from TV shows, a bulging roster in need of wages and a worldwide economy still in the depths of a recession. In Meltzer’s final month at the helm, ASW lost a massive $30,000. A June super-show rating in the low 50’s, (saved by a 55 main event between Robbie Brookside and John Cortez) was enough to convince Meltzer that his time in Britain was over. Faced with such insurmountable odds, Meltzer cut and ran. His reputation as booker was still high and he was going to be very much in demand. One thing is for certain- all dynasties come from humble beginnings, and Dave Meltzer wasn’t about to let a minor setback get in his way… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymru1991 Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 Chapter 1: Setting The Foundations... March week I 1987 Last night it was confirmed that Dave Meltzer took over as owner-come-booker of WWA (Mexico). The regional sized promotion, ranked 21st with $100,000 in the bank is in a state of stagnation, with no forthcoming events scheduled and a roster in need of bolstering. The promotion features an over-abundance of titles which are all subject to restrictive weight classes. This is especially prevalent in mid-card, where the presence of three belts seemingly dilutes the notion of being a ‘champion’. On the plus side, a working agreement with the UWA is in place and the promotion’s popularity across Mexico is on the verge of sufficient to give the company weight when attempting to negotiate TV deals. Noteworthy Decisions Removed the weight restrictions from belts and retired a couple of the mid-card titles, leaving 3 titles for the midcard (Area championship), Upper-Mdcard (Mexican National Championship), and Main Event (World Championship).Approached Sting for a pay-per-appearance deal- Brokered an exclusive PPA deal as an opener. Signed Antonio Pena as a road agent (firs time I've evr started a game with a promotion that doesn't have a Road Agent!)Created the weekly event WWA Lucha Libre! (weekly so as to try and prop up my popularity to broker a TV deal sooner rather than later). Saturday week I: WWA presents Lucha Libre! MX Arena Emiliano Zapata (West Central Mexico). Attendance: 1700 Pre-Show Rey Misterio Beat Sting (no chemistry there) 49 Main Card Abbie Beat Cabalero 2000 and Principie Island 42 WWA Area Championship El Cobrade II © beat Super Kendo 46 El Siocedileco beat Enrique Vera 46 Main Event WWA World Championship Negro Casas © beat Super halcon 63 Show Rating: 58 All in all I was pleased with this first show. It was good to see Sting have a decent match in the pre-show with Rey, in spite of the fact that they didn't 'click' which affected the final rating. The event was reviewed well on TEW.com and increased my popularity. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading this first installment. Feel free to post suggestions, predictions, hints and pointers etc. Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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