Best Way to Get Someone at F- Over?

[TeemuFoundation]

What ways do you use to get someone who has zero popularity over quickly? I was thinking about someone like Sean Waltman in the WWF in 1993. Pushing him the way the WWE did would probably not work in TEW since no one lose to someone at F- popularity, and the match grades would probably suck, too, since no one would care about him.

 

Or do you think Sean Waltman in 1993 should have popularity higher than F-?

[Self]

The easiest way is always to have him beat guys more popular than him. Sure, no one wants to lose to someone with F- popularity. Sure, people are going to have morale issues. That's just the price of doing business. Sure, the match grades are going to suck, but so long as your main event & semi main are good enough, it doesn't matter if your undercard matches suck.

 

I can't say I'm an expert on 1993 Sean Waltman, but didn't he have a bit of an indy name before going to WWF? Him and Jerry Lynn were apparently hot-shots in certain territories. So he probably did have some popularity. Maybe in the E- to E+ range. Maybe just in a few regions. Go wiki him.

[cappyboy]

I can't say I'm an expert on 1993 Sean Waltman, but didn't he have a bit of an indy name before going to WWF? Him and Jerry Lynn were apparently hot-shots in certain territories. So he probably did have some popularity. Maybe in the E- to E+ range. Maybe just in a few regions. Go wiki him.

 

To a degree. Unlike Jerry Lynn, I doubt much of anybody would have known whether he was Sean Waltman or Walter Shawn at that point. But he did have a pretty big finisher v finisher feud in Global as The Lightning Kid and I think he was using similiar names in other indies at the time. So he may have other feuds of similiar stature in other places. Global was where I knew him from when he debuted in WWE. But how idenitifable he may have been prior to the E is debatable since he didn't have the singular identity beforehand. I don't know I'd go to F- with him in 93 but even and F or F+ I'd forgive on that basis.

[effigies]

In TEW, fastest way to get anybody over is:

 

Put them in a storyline, so they can get mega success and bump up at the end. Put them in angles with your main event, neutral not rated is fine. Finally, wins over more popular guys at big events/PPV. Those three can get anyone more popular in a hurry.

 

Of corse, you anger the guys they go over, and run the risk of giving them a bad personality, but that's life.

 

I like to sign people just to do the job for guys like this, until they get up to Midcard, but it is possible to do it with your regular roster. I just hate having to placate my regular guys while I work on a project.

[KnowYourEnemy]

I've had decent success with overness promos and in-match domination/disqualification losses to more over guys -- essentially, using the right finish to your advantage.

 

Pairing them up with someone who is very over and having them win tag matches, etc. on television works as well. One way to do it is to give the "project" a long tag-team title run with someone more over.

 

Two things to keep more over guys happy: If your guy has popularity in a certain region/area but isn't very over in your home region, book a show in that region, don't select a winner, and your guy will gain overness.

 

Use friendships to your advantage: Hogan is more willing to job to, say, his "strong friend" The Million Dollar Man in Rising Storms (1991 RW), and close friends can make great opponents. I always set up Hart/Perfect in '91 plays for this reason.

[sheepy]

Step 1: book him in his first match against a super over star and make it an open match. you need to give him high momentum to start

 

Step 2: set his push to lower midcard (ignore the autopush, you've decided you want him to be more than an opener).

 

Step 3: book him to go over other openers and then lower midcarders.

 

Step 4: have him go up against an upper midcarders or main eventer and put them in a storyline (short one). You will probably want your guy to lose matches in order to protect your top stars popularity but make sure you keep it open loses / close finishes. Make sure your rising star gets angles and promos where he get a success rating to keep him up.

 

Step 5: have him pick up a couple more wins over lower midcarders, if his popularity starts to get high enough then start putting him over midcarders at the bottom end of the scale.

 

Step 6: either repeat step 4 or have him ally with a upper midcard star either in a tag team or mentor angle and start giving him bigger wins.

 

That's probably as close to a formula as you can get. There are lots of variables outside your control (e.g. If match 1 bombs and he starts off with low momentum you are in trouble). You'll also need to sacrifice some more over guys popularity along the way to make your next star.

[Sons of Kohral]

Step 1: book him in his first match against a super over star and make it an open match. you need to give him high momentum to start

 

Step 2: set his push to lower midcard (ignore the autopush, you've decided you want him to be more than an opener).

 

Step 3: book him to go over other openers and then lower midcarders.

 

Step 4: have him go up against an upper midcarders or main eventer and put them in a storyline (short one). You will probably want your guy to lose matches in order to protect your top stars popularity but make sure you keep it open loses / close finishes. Make sure your rising star gets angles and promos where he get a success rating to keep him up.

 

Step 5: have him pick up a couple more wins over lower midcarders, if his popularity starts to get high enough then start putting him over midcarders at the bottom end of the scale.

 

Step 6: either repeat step 4 or have him ally with a upper midcard star either in a tag team or mentor angle and start giving him bigger wins.

 

That's probably as close to a formula as you can get. There are lots of variables outside your control (e.g. If match 1 bombs and he starts off with low momentum you are in trouble). You'll also need to sacrifice some more over guys popularity along the way to make your next star.

 

Does "open match" really help that much?

[DevinTEW13]

It really does as does protect and keep strong. I had a match between Sammy the Shark and Nicky Champion. I placed him in two angles with nicky where Nicky basically taunted the nobody (Champion was heel! Gasp). Sammy wasn't rated on anything which helped of course and his push was upper midcard as to prevent penalty. The match was booked as scripted, open match, slow build, protect Sammy, Keep Sammy strong, and decisive win(although tainted win could have been better). The match pulled a decent rating and it was a match on tv. His pop went from 26 to 33 around America.

 

That was just from personal experience though so personally yes it helps.

[AfRoMaN36]

My trick has always been to team them up with a much more over wrestler. I've been forced to do so when I created an all divas brand. I quickly realized I had next to no depth and had to get people over fast.

 

I teamed Lita with Portia Perez and Lita with Paige. The latter in both tag teams were either F's or E's when I formed those teams. I had them go over other tag teams, with the more popular wrestler getting the pin fall (so as to not piss off the opponents), and I also included them in angles with other main eventers where they'd get the rub. They gained popularity gradually, and over a year later I have two young upper midcarders.

 

There is no secret if you want to get it done overnight. You can have them go over main eventers right off the bat, but you will piss off your entire locker room and run the risk of giving the worker an inflated ego.

[ABrokenFreakinNeck]

In my WCW 1999, I got Luther Reigns from 15 everywhere to an average of about a 74 or 75 in 5 months by putting him in a stable, becoming tag team champions with a much more popular worker and gave them big wins over 1) guys that I had no longevity for and 2) cancers that I could easily dispose of if they got angry, which they almost always did. But a vacation is a nice bargaining chip.

[Dave_Scott]

I got Justin Gabriel from an E+ to A* popularity in just over a year. Made him a member in a stable, broke them up. Had him beat the leader of the stable. Gave him Money in the Bank. He did random main event feuds until the Royal Rumble where he won, eliminating the Rock and lost to Rollins at Mania for the world title, but cashed in right after the match and won the world title.

[Dawn]

This is what I did with Steve Austin in 1991, getting him from Opener to Main Eventer in 6 months:

 

After signing him on February, I teamed him with Ted DiBiase, and while I had him beat Midcarders who weren't doing much and stuff, Austin gained rubs from DiBiase by being involved with promos, with some involving people who DiBiase was feuding with. After WrestleMania, I got him to target Bret Hart, and as he got more over, his promos would start having him as a participant who got rated on entertainment (he would not be rated on anything beforehand), and being on a storyline against a Main Eventer as a major participant would also get him over masterfully. Then, I had him win the King of the Ring tournament, winning the finals against Roddy Piper, who had only a few problems with that. At that point, he was a major Upper Midcarder, and by SummerSlam, where he was on to face Bret, he was already a Main Eventer, fit to beat Bret without the latter complaining. The feud continued for another full year, and it was the biggest masterpiece to ever come out of my mind, but that's a story for another day. If you want more tips, I will gladly give some to you.

[BHK1978]

You know what I have done in the past is I stick them in the announcer's booth during dark matches or even on the actual show. I you do not have PPV or TV they will gain popularity in whatever region the show is taking place. If you do have TV or PPV their popularity will grow across the board.

[bigtplaystew]

Dont forget what domination can do for you, especially with a "Brute" gimmick. Have a guy dominate a match every TV show and you'll be surprised how fast he gets over.

 

But yea, storylines to help boost momentum is key. Having him in on-screen angles is also big. You can get away with this without the crowd getting sick of him with domination matches as they're only 6 minutes tops. Just manually set your guy's push to midcard and you're good to go.

[demondragonking]

Also don't forget to use a very over manager if you can. It's this reason that I, As USPW, always go after Emma Chase or Dawn The Cheerleader in the C-Verse.

 

A high popularity or skilled manager can work wonders over time and it's as simple as having the duo appear in segments on every show. A custom angle having the manager rated on their highest skill and the newbie not rated is something I've done on occasion as well.

[nebradska]

Not Rated angles when the participant clearly has a pretty big role in the segment seems gamey to me. Tag teams, stables, storylines, domination wins, looking strong in losses to more popular opponents are tried and true ways of working guys up the card and don't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[demondragonking]

Not Rated angles when the participant clearly has a pretty big role in the segment seems gamey to me. Tag teams, stables, storylines, domination wins, looking strong in losses to more popular opponents are tried and true ways of working guys up the card and don't leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

I'm giving him options not listed above, nothing more nothing less, and letting them decide on how to play as it's their game and ultimately their choice.

[Tiger_Moth87]

I have a steady stream of pay per appearance jobbers to feud with the new, low popularity signings. I just make sure they've got a mid-level popularity of their own and since I'm not fussed about them, I ignore their complaints and just job them out in feuds with new wrestlers.

 

It's a guarantee that a new heel with low popularity is going to feud with The Hurricane since his popularity is constantly at around the 50 mark despite barely winning a match.