WWF - Fighting for Survival in the Cornellverse

[Sagitta]

NOTE: Don't expect steady updates to this, as I will be posting as I have time to play, and expect to be 'netless for a few months in the near future. (Though that would mean a lot of updates shortly after I return online...) Disclaimer: This is all fiction. Nobody who runs this place is responsible for the ramblings of my mind except maybe me - and I don't run anything. ********* The plane bucked and jostled in the air as it swept low over the Appalachians en route from Charleston, West Virginia towards Connecticut. On board were some of the premiere names of World Wrestling Entertainment. Most were sleeping soundly - after a while, you got used to rough air flights - while a few were sitting nervously in their seats trying not to think about the next jarring crash as the plane would bump and grind through the air. Up in the ****pit, the pilot and copilot conferred together as they planned their course through the summer storm. They weren’t worried. The pilot was a Gulf War vet who had done time over Kosovo, and the copilot had even more hours under his belt in the private sector. Out in the cabin, the lone stewardess - a matronly woman who still showed a hint of the Italian beauty she once was - quietly made her rounds between the superstars who were still awake. She was just settling down in her seat at the rear of the plane when things went weird. The cabin filled with a glaring flash of white as it had been struck by lightning - only the glow never faded. Those who were sleeping awoke almost immediately with the sudden deceleration of the plane. All were blinded as the craft groaned, shuddered and - inexplicably - came to a stop, engines dead. As the light slowly - barely, dimmed, the passengers on the flight found themselves standing together in a hazy, foggy, nothingness, their faces shrouded in mist. Before anyone could talk, a voice - detached, heavy, yet vaguely familiar to most present - spoke. [COLOR=Sienna][i]You have been gathered here for a purpose. You will soon find yourselves back in the ethereal realm, and blessed with two gifts. You are charged with bringing your talents to this world and making your mark within. Succeed, and you will be given a great reward. Fail, and die.[/i][/COLOR] “Who are you? Where are we? What do you mean?” This was Vince McMahon. Before he could continue his line of questioning, the detached voice cut him off. [COLOR=Sienna][i]SILENCE. You will find a contact upon your arrival. He knows nothing of who you are, or of what is transpiring here now. He is not to be informed. To do so will doom you all. You will find in your names more than enough funds to purchase or begin a new promotion. Your contact is to be made CEO of this business, and his word is to be law. Remember - loyalty to yourselves and to your mission is paramount. Stray from your designated path, and you WILL perish.[/i][/COLOR] “Someone got at the air tanks in the plane didn’t they...” It wasn’t clear who said this, but a humorless laugh went up from those gathered. “Screw this... I’m out of here.” That was the copilot. As the fog lifted those gathered could see him running away from the group - until he was struck down by a flare of lightning. His body went rigid, and then limp then appeared to simply dissolve into a puddle of goo that sank into the earth and was gone. Those gathered gaped in horror and instinctively stepped closer together as if to ward off a similar fate and exchanged nervous glances that quickly became double takes. “What the...” Some of those gathered crossed themselves, others grinned. Where most of those on the flight had been old, or at least older, everyone gathered looked to be around 20. Nervous grins and laughter went up again, before somebody thought to look around. “Where the hell are we?” “New Jersey, I think...”

[Sagitta]

[I]Let me start from the beginning. I was sitting in my office over in the Bronx going over some papers, and trying to decide what the hell to do with my life. Work had been getting dangerous lately, and I needed a change of profession so to speak. That’s when I get a knock on my door and this bunch of kids walk in as if they owned the place. Now, I’ve been around a while, but let me say this much - there was something outright strange about these guys right off the bat. It took me a while to figure it out, but I did. They were old. Not in a physical sense, but in the eyes. Had my grandmother still been alive, she would have probably rattled on about some Old Country superstitious folklore which any other time I would of laughed at. But not with these guys. The second thing I realized was that they were scared. Now, young people with old eyes, that’s something I don’t understand and truly don’t want to know about, but fear? Fear’s something I’ve had close, personal relations with. Growing up where I did, learning the family business, you see it. You see it in peoples’ eyes and when you get home, alone where nobody else can watch you see it in your own at times. So this group of ten or so guys - and one cute little Italian cutie - come walking in. Tell me they had my name and number, and that though they couldn’t say where they acquired it, they knew I could help them out. This is when they whip out a cashier’s check from Chase for half a million bucks, and tell me they need me to help them start up a wrestling promotion. Now, weird is weird, but as it happened, I was a fan. I grew up watching NYCW, and usually taped one of the major promotions when I remembered to at night. What was weirder was one of the papers I’d been looking at was a bad check written out to me by the guy who owned the NYCW itself. Seems they’d been having money problems and had come to me a while back for a loan. Then couldn’t pay up. It was like a puzzle was being fit together and the pieces were falling into place for me. So - and don’t ask me why - I agreed to their little arraignment. I assumed ownership of the NYCW as a silent partner, so to speak, and let this McMahon guy take apparent control. The first thing that McMahon and his cronies did was change the name of NYCW to the World Wrestling Federation. This got a kick out of me, as the ‘world’ was really only going to be New York, New Jersey and maybe Pennsylvania as that’s the only place that really knew of the outfit we were running. So anyhow, I shut the NYCW down. Six months of no activity save for the mother of all advertising campaigns. I even called in a few old favors, got us hooked up with a late-late night slot on a UHF station out of North Jersey. Probably wind up getting cancelled within a few months, but hey - exposure was exposure. Another thing I did was liquidate all my other business. I either sold it on to others in my line of work or liquidated it for cash. Sank half into advertising, half into the business for capital to run the thing. I also watched McMahon and his buddies close. They were young, but they obviously knew what they were doing. I felt that same creeping discomfort watching these young guys acting like men 20 years older, but shook it off. They were all under lifetime contracts and even though nobody knew of them, someday they would, and when they did... payoff. I know talent when I see it. So here we are, late November and getting ready to kick start this thing. Best I get on and let you know about the roster.[/I]

[Sagitta]

I’ll be noting the new guys with red text. Everyone else were holdovers from the old NYCW. It should be noted that the new guys are utter and complete unknowns, or I would have immediately tried putting them into the higher cards. [B]Main Event[/B] American Buffalo - WWF World Grandmaster Phunk Travis Century - WWF Tri-State Regional Whistler Joey Minnesota [B]Upper Midcard[/B] Steve Flash The Masked Mauler Wiley Steinway - WWF Tag Team The Big Problem Land Mass Mr. America Coyote Dynamite - WWF Tag Team Honest Frank [B]Midcard[/B] Roger Dodger Steve Austin Sammy the Shark The New York Doll John Cena [B]Lower Midcard[/B] Kurt Angle Joseph “Animal” Lauruiantis Hulk Hogan Ric Flair. [B]Openers[/B] Robert Slaughter Logan McKee (Pilot - ed) John Heidenreich [B]Enhancement[/B] Shawn Daivari Paul Levesque [B]Managers[/B] Morgan Ricci (Stewardess - ed) Willow Herb Stately [B]Annoucners[/B] Rock Downpour Marv Earnest Emma Extreme [B]Referee[/B] Michael Bull [B]Backstage[/B] Michael Cole* Joey Styles* [B]Road Agent[/B] Vince McMahon Paul Heyman * - expected to be relocated to announcing positions due to expiring contracts of current workers.

[Jaded]

This is possibly the strangest idea for a diary I've seen - looks great! Can't wait to see Joey Minnesota squash Levesque ;)

[Sagitta]

At McMahon’s insistance, I sank what was left of my free funds outside of the WWF into opening a development promotion down in the Carolinas. Partly to shut him up and partly to protect my interests, I contacted the former NYCW owner The Stomper and hired him on as head booker down there to a lifetime contract. Sometimes, its nice to have a little pull with people. I left the hirings and firings up to him, and put out an ad for a CEO for the promotion. Before long I had a former car salesman from Atlanta who looked like Colonel Sanders reborn hired on to run the thing. They named it “Southern Style Wrestling” and started making the rounds down south. Hopefully McMahon knew what he was talking about when he recommended my doing this. Back on the homefront, I had to get busy preparing for our show. The McMahon bunch are complete unknowns, so despite massive whining to push them up the card, I’m not gonna do that. Goal one for the moment will be to draw a crowd, and for that I need to rely on the Old Guard. That said, our first show went off with mixed results. [B][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=6][FONT=Courier New]NYCW After Hours[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] [B]PRESHOW[/B] [B][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Hogan v Cena v Heidenreich v Animal v Angle v Flair (E)[/COLOR][/B] Note to self: Remember to assign announcers. :( That said, an ‘E’ out of a bunch of total unknowns brawling for almost 15 minutes with no announcing? I’ll actually call this one a success. [B]AFTER HOURS[/B] I decided to open with a little T & A and sent Willow and Morgan out for a bikini contest. I used Flair as the host and despite a lot of boos from the crowd, I think it went over better than expected. (C) [B][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Paul Levesque vs Travis Century[/COLOR][/B] Tri-State Title Century squashed Levesque in under 2 minutes, which was two minutes too long. I don’t think I’ll put these two together in a ring again as they had absolutely zero chemistry. Again, no announcers hurt my ratings, but I still eked out a ‘D’. [B][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]The Sting (Roger Dodger/Sammy the Shark) v Wiley Coyote (Wiley Steinway/Coyote Dynamite) (E)[/COLOR][/B] Tag Team Titles The Sting won after Willow ran in to the ring and disrupt the match. Dodger grabbed a handful of Dynamite’s tights for the dirty win. [B][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Steve Austin v The Big Problem[/COLOR][/B] Problem finished Austin off in 6:50 via submission, but Austin put on a heck of a fight. Again, a D with no announcing is a win in my book. Willow came out and announced she was The ting’s new manager - obviously explaining her earlier interference. Unfortunately the crowd hated most of the segment. (D) [B][COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Joey Minnesota v Land Mass[/COLOR][/B] Another squash as Minnesota made quick work of the ponderous Mass in just over 2 minutes. Again, no announcers hurt my results yet I was able to garner a C- out of the segment (C-) [COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][B]Whistler vs American Buffalo - First Blood Match [/B]WWF World[/COLOR] Whistler managed to bust Buffalo open 12 minutes into the match, giving him the victory AND the World title to boot! (C-) I ended a good show with poor results (no announcers!) by sending Willow out to flash some flesh and shoot shirts into the crowd. Sadly, this was our best rated segment of the night with a B- Next week should be better as I'm starting to see how these new guys perform, and I can begin to work on a few storylines to try to hook in viewers.