tips for sports entertainment feds

[gazdaman]

just wondering if any have any tips for pushing workers increasing overness ect

[LucianCarter]

One way to get a new guy (or gal) over is to put him (or her) in a tag team with a high card guy (or gal). That way they can beat mid card guys (or gals) as long as the most over guy (or gal) gets the pin.

[Condors]

the easiest way is raise overness through angles.

 

Workers with menace/microphone skills can generate their own popularity then transfer that to the best workers. Rinse and Repeat.

 

Managers who can get over can get their clients over in angles.

 

having lower level guys work with the higher level guys can work out well for the lower level guys.

 

make a tag team one guy does the mic work the other guy is the in ring skills guy they can learn from each other and help both become main event guys

you an form a heel team and a face team done the same way and have them feud.

[Bigpapa42]

Once you get the hang of it, an Entertainment becomes rather easy to book. A National or International level SE company with a very over roster is essentially TEW easy mode.

 

Condors points out the most basic thing to remember - angles. Angles can carry a show. Angles can build popularity out of thin air, which is fundamentally why SE companies are "easier". With a performance based company, its all based on in ring talent and building that is much slower and more difficult. Build your shows around storylines, angles, and your most popular talent - that will typically ensure strong show grades.

 

Not every SE company is equal. Running a regional SE fed with marginal talent isn't the same as running a cult one, which is different still from running a national one. There are factors - the overeness of your roster (as compared to your company size) and their individual skills. In Cverse terms, running the SWF probably isn't going to be exactly the same as running the USPW. In USPW, the easiest road to success is making good use of Sam Strong (very over, great talker) and your big workers in Menace angles. Big menacing guys in Menace angles and a few squash matches, then losing to an "underdog" upper card guy is an easy formula to run repeatedly. But as in almost any promotion, you need to make sure you finding the right ways to use your talent.

 

You may also need to adjust what constitutes a "great" worker for an SE company. Sure, we all love a genuine world class talent like an in-prime Shawn Michaels or Chris Jericho. They can excel in almost any promotion. But John Cena / Christian Faith / DDP type worker is gold in an SE promotion. You can even put the in-prime Hulk Hogan into this category. Good to great SQ, great charisma and very good overall entertainment skills, at least good performance skills (probably almost all B- or better, except maybe Selling), but mediocre at best top row skills. Heck, they might only have brawling at about C and everything else way below. Not to say those workers are useless in a performance promotion, but they have less value. They can be your ace in a Sports Entertainment promotion. The in-ring skills will consistently deliver solid (thought not necessarily great) match grades and the entertainment skills make every feud a money-maker. Conversely, the great technician who lacks the SQ and entertainment skills has less value than they appear. They might have really good Performance and top row skills to put on consistently solid matches, but the lack of SQ and charisma makes their popularity tough to build and they lack the entertainment skills to carry or even really push a storyline in that way. Still plenty useful - especially if you give them a mouthpiece manager and use them carefully. But not as amazingly useful as their skills initially make them appear. I would personally moreso value a monster with great menace, high SQ, hopefully good charisma, and at least not-atrocious in-ring skills. Seeing Cs and even Ds in the Performance skills can look unappealing, but those other aspects like Menace are overness-generating machines. And if a worker can consistently gain back any lost Popularity and momentum very easily, that is exceedingly helpful.

 

As for building popularity, Condors also mentions some good options. Pairing a lower card worker with someone higher up and using that is a great way. Involving them in storylines, stables, and the like. Most of the ways that the WWE does it will typically work in game, though not exactly the same.

[gazdaman]

Once you get the hang of it, an Entertainment becomes rather easy to book. A National or International level SE company with a very over roster is essentially TEW easy mode.

 

Condors points out the most basic thing to remember - angles. Angles can carry a show. Angles can build popularity out of thin air, which is fundamentally why SE companies are "easier". With a performance based company, its all based on in ring talent and building that is much slower and more difficult. Build your shows around storylines, angles, and your most popular talent - that will typically ensure strong show grades.

 

Not every SE company is equal. Running a regional SE fed with marginal talent isn't the same as running a cult one, which is different still from running a national one. There are factors - the overeness of your roster (as compared to your company size) and their individual skills. In Cverse terms, running the SWF probably isn't going to be exactly the same as running the USPW. In USPW, the easiest road to success is making good use of Sam Strong (very over, great talker) and your big workers in Menace angles. Big menacing guys in Menace angles and a few squash matches, then losing to an "underdog" upper card guy is an easy formula to run repeatedly. But as in almost any promotion, you need to make sure you finding the right ways to use your talent.

 

You may also need to adjust what constitutes a "great" worker for an SE company. Sure, we all love a genuine world class talent like an in-prime Shawn Michaels or Chris Jericho. They can excel in almost any promotion. But John Cena / Christian Faith / DDP type worker is gold in an SE promotion. You can even put the in-prime Hulk Hogan into this category. Good to great SQ, great charisma and very good overall entertainment skills, at least good performance skills (probably almost all B- or better, except maybe Selling), but mediocre at best top row skills. Heck, they might only have brawling at about C and everything else way below. Not to say those workers are useless in a performance promotion, but they have less value. They can be your ace in a Sports Entertainment promotion. The in-ring skills will consistently deliver solid (thought not necessarily great) match grades and the entertainment skills make every feud a money-maker. Conversely, the great technician who lacks the SQ and entertainment skills has less value than they appear. They might have really good Performance and top row skills to put on consistently solid matches, but the lack of SQ and charisma makes their popularity tough to build and they lack the entertainment skills to carry or even really push a storyline in that way. Still plenty useful - especially if you give them a mouthpiece manager and use them carefully. But not as amazingly useful as their skills initially make them appear. I would personally moreso value a monster with great menace, high SQ, hopefully good charisma, and at least not-atrocious in-ring skills. Seeing Cs and even Ds in the Performance skills can look unappealing, but those other aspects like Menace are overness-generating machines. And if a worker can consistently gain back any lost Popularity and momentum very easily, that is exceedingly helpful.

 

As for building popularity, Condors also mentions some good options. Pairing a lower card worker with someone higher up and using that is a great way. Involving them in storylines, stables, and the like. Most of the ways that the WWE does it will typically work in game, though not exactly the same.

 

thanks how would you book a mouth piece manager sorry for all the questions

[Bigpapa42]

thanks how would you book a mouth piece manager sorry for all the questions

 

Don't apologize for asking questions. Its an effective way to learn.

 

Typically I would just have the mouthpiece do the talking. So typically, I would run an angle where the manager is rated on Entertainment and the person being managed is rated on Overness, if they are just standing around behind them. Maybe Menace if its a big hulking type.

 

Don't be afraid to create angles to suit your needs. Its quick, easy, and more effective.

[Winter8905]

How I belive it works is that you would have an angle where a manager is with his client doing a promo/ hyping up a match or his client... think Heyman with Lesnar.

 

In game tersm you'd have The Heyman on screen rated on mic work and have the Brock with him on screen but not rated on anything..

 

The match would get high rating due to Heyman and some of that will rub off on Brock getting him more over and maybe even helping to improve his own mic work too.

[combinethresher]

Once you get the hang of it, an Entertainment becomes rather easy to book. A National or International level SE company with a very over roster is essentially TEW easy mode.

 

How long does it normally take to get people over in the ways you describe? One problem I constantly have with TEW is that it's really hard to build momentum for anyone; I'll put months of effort into someone on my roster (giving him wins, pairing him with popular workers) and his position doesn't really change all that much.

[AfRoMaN36]

How long does it normally take to get people over in the ways you describe? One problem I constantly have with TEW is that it's really hard to build momentum for anyone; I'll put months of effort into someone on my roster (giving him wins, pairing him with popular workers) and his position doesn't really change all that much.

 

How long is too long for you? Nothing happens overnight in this game. Once I hired a bunch of E and F grade indy talents to fill out an all women's brand. I decided I had to start pushing some of them in order to build a well rounded roster. This took me two years of teaming them with more popular workers and gradually putting them over to have a few of them in the A and B territory. It's extremely satisfying once you finally do build a star out of someone, but it isn't easy, nor should it be.

 

Just keep at it. Include them in highly rated angles, put them over in storylines, tag them with more popular wrestlers and you will slowly see a shift.

[combinethresher]

How long is too long for you? Nothing happens overnight in this game. Once I hired a bunch of E and F grade indy talents to fill out an all women's brand. I decided I had to start pushing some of them in order to build a well rounded roster. This took me two years of teaming them with more popular workers and gradually putting them over to have a few of them in the A and B territory. It's extremely satisfying once you finally do build a star out of someone, but it isn't easy, nor should it be.

 

Just keep at it. Include them in highly rated angles, put them over in storylines, tag them with more popular wrestlers and you will slowly see a shift.

 

Thanks for that! I probably am being a little impatient, but I keep hearing success stories in the forums about guys shooting up the roster with minimal effort, and I worry that I'm doing something wrong. If it really does take 2 years or so to build up a new crop of talent, then I'll probably be fine.

[AfRoMaN36]

Thanks for that! I probably am being a little impatient, but I keep hearing success stories in the forums about guys shooting up the roster with minimal effort, and I worry that I'm doing something wrong. If it really does take 2 years or so to build up a new crop of talent, then I'll probably be fine.

 

I can't really speak for what others are doing, but for me to do it correctly it takes lots of time. You can job out your rookie to a main eventer if you'd like, but this won't close the gap all the way, it will piss off the main eventer and will create ego problems for the rookie in the long run.

 

If that main eventer is about to leave the company however, do feel free to job them out to people on their way up.

[Bigpapa42]

Thanks for that! I probably am being a little impatient, but I keep hearing success stories in the forums about guys shooting up the roster with minimal effort, and I worry that I'm doing something wrong. If it really does take 2 years or so to build up a new crop of talent, then I'll probably be fine.

 

Every situation is going to be a little bit unique - it depends on a significant number of factors, including the random hidden Destiny attribute. Someone who gets a strong destiny roll with be easier to push up the card. In some cases, you can't keep them down. It also depends on who you pair them with, how skilled they are, how they fit the product, the Star Quality and Charisma, gimmick rating, and so on.

 

Like Afroman says, its not typically going to be a fast process with immediate payoff. Assuming you don't go for the Goldberg/Lesnar push or use them exceedingly heavily, I would say you probably aren't going to get more than one grade level per month. That would be going from a mid-C to a mid-C+. That is going to be with regular TV wins, strong angles (keeps the momentum high), and a PPV win over someone of at least equal level with solid momentum as well. Even then, its not going to happen every month. Some months the gains will be less. Over a stretch of time, the worker should see significant gains.

 

Of note, its tough to treat multiple workers in this way and have a bunch rising up the card all at once. Might be workable in a really big company but in a normal National company, I probably wouldn't be trying to do with more than 2 at once.

[lr10540]

Of note, its tough to treat multiple workers in this way and have a bunch rising up the card all at once. Might be workable in a really big company but in a normal National company, I probably wouldn't be trying to do with more than 2 at once.

 

Very true. I always get stuck trying to push 5+ guys, and you just can't do that. You have to plan out at least your number 1 story over the next 12 months. If you can't do that, then at the very least have an idea who is going to be in the title picture over the next few months. Once you figure who those are, it makes it a lot easier.

 

For example, in my game I have Paul Huntingdon in the high 80s pop due to constant pushing for the last 6 months (he starts at 66). He never loses singles matches, he has the best manager in the game cutting promos for him and he has solid camera skills so his angles are never below 70; they're generally above 80. I planned on him getting a title shot towards the end of the year so I pushed him accordingly.

 

In my undercard, I have my Shield group who gets paired in angles with Eric Eisen (who is now 90+ pop in my game) and wins trio tag matches against scrubs every week and I try to give them a trio match on ppv as well, otherwise they beat someone down om behalf of Eisen. They're going up very slowly, but they're also starting at around 20 pop. After 3 months I've got all 3 to the upper 20s, pushing 30 pop. Very slow gains, but steady as well.

 

 

It's all patience, and focusing on 1, or 2 acts. If you're trying to push unknowns, it may be better just to do 1, as they can kill your show grades.

[Guest TomTEWFAN]

Patience is key in this game. In a 2014 RW WWE MOD. I took Drew Mcintyre from 3MB and got him from 27 momentum (Opener) to 87 momentum (Upper Midcarder) in about 6 months. It takes time but it definitely helps to have the guy you're trying to put over be talented as well.

[lr10540]

What you said about momentum reminds me...

 

Put your non over talent in storylines and have them come out looking strong. Everything is easier with high momentum.

 

To further elaborate on my Shield type group; they are in Eric Eisen's story with Valiant and have a post match beatdown angle pretty much every ppv match Eisen has. They also do ambushes on tv. My point being this, they're being graded success in every angle, and despite not really working any matches, they're going to get a massive momentum boost when I remove them from the story. Granted Valiant will come out with his momentum in the toilet, but I have no long term plans for him, so I can afford to build him back up when I have a major angle for him.

 

Just repeating what I posted earlier, you can only push so many people. Eventually somebody has to lose. So long as you don't book the horrible 50/50, WWE style booking, you can get talent over. Doing a Rusev style push (when he debuted) is perfect for SE promotions in this game. Win matches, protect on the rare loss and book him in solid angles. Let him rub shoulders with the top card guys for the rub and when he's ready, give him the big win that cements his main event status, and you'll be good.

[Condors]

Get a read for your workers make a note of their popularity before and after a show. Stick to what works. Try something else if it didn't. Use custom angles made for specific situations. Some workers will be popularity magnets. They just go in front of the camera and they gain 2 points of popularity. Make a note of them and use them to get your best in ring talents over.

[cappyboy]

Love seeing this thread. It certainly shows the difference in booking styles when a thread like this gets posted.

 

And in the spirit of helping folks figure booking this product out, I'll ask about the two elements of sports entertainment that always give me the most trouble when I try to use them. The one that bugs me most is the interview show. Any thoughts on how to use it consistently? Every time I try to do one and make it like the Piper's Pit of my promotion I lose track of the darn thing and it ends up failing.

 

And for that matter, could someone give me thoughts on maintaining effective use of an on-screen authority figure? I can never keep one going whether he be a good guy like a Teddy Long would be or a heel like Vinnie Mac. I can keep stories going for the wrestlers but never the GM.

[AfRoMaN36]

Love seeing this thread. It certainly shows the difference in booking styles when a thread like this gets posted.

 

And in the spirit of helping folks figure booking this product out, I'll ask about the two elements of sports entertainment that always give me the most trouble when I try to use them. The one that bugs me most is the interview show. Any thoughts on how to use it consistently? Every time I try to do one and make it like the Piper's Pit of my promotion I lose track of the darn thing and it ends up failing.

 

And for that matter, could someone give me thoughts on maintaining effective use of an on-screen authority figure? I can never keep one going whether he be a good guy like a Teddy Long would be or a heel like Vinnie Mac. I can keep stories going for the wrestlers but never the GM.

 

I don't use talk shows often anymore. The last one I used consistently was one I made up for Tammy Sytch before she became GM of my divas brand called "Sunny Side." Basically whenever I wanted to add hype to a big match, she would interview both competitors who would have a heated exchange. Other times I would just have a feuding wrestler run in an the interviewee and trash the set.

 

As far as GM's go, I use them often. I have one for all three of my brands. Currently I have one heel (Booker T) and two faces (Sunny and Chris Jericho). The heel has a pack of his "boys" that he thinks are best for business. He'll put them undeservedly into title pictures, put faces in handicap matches against his guys and do the bidding of the Authority.

 

My faces aren't as involved in storyline. But they'll come out and put the heel in his place if he/she's getting carried away. They challenge the authority if they start to meddle in their brand.

[K-Nection]

Love seeing this thread. It certainly shows the difference in booking styles when a thread like this gets posted.

 

And in the spirit of helping folks figure booking this product out, I'll ask about the two elements of sports entertainment that always give me the most trouble when I try to use them. The one that bugs me most is the interview show. Any thoughts on how to use it consistently? Every time I try to do one and make it like the Piper's Pit of my promotion I lose track of the darn thing and it ends up failing.

 

And for that matter, could someone give me thoughts on maintaining effective use of an on-screen authority figure? I can never keep one going whether he be a good guy like a Teddy Long would be or a heel like Vinnie Mac. I can keep stories going for the wrestlers but never the GM.

 

When I have a legendary talker (ie: Joffy Laine in CV, or Roddy Piper in RW) that is when I use their segments as a talk show. There purpose is to give a pop rub to the guest and hopefully give them some entertainment skills as well. I also use these segments to set up feuds but I usually don't have the host as a direct center piece of the promotion. He may hold the #2 belt a few times but I never make him my champion unless he has the ability to carry anyone to a great match (ie: KC Glenn in CV, or Daniel Bryan in RW).

[lr10540]

Get a read for your workers make a note of their popularity before and after a show. Stick to what works. Try something else if it didn't. Use custom angles made for specific situations. Some workers will be popularity magnets. They just go in front of the camera and they gain 2 points of popularity. Make a note of them and use them to get your best in ring talents over.

 

Love seeing this thread. It certainly shows the difference in booking styles when a thread like this gets posted.

 

And in the spirit of helping folks figure booking this product out, I'll ask about the two elements of sports entertainment that always give me the most trouble when I try to use them. The one that bugs me most is the interview show. Any thoughts on how to use it consistently? Every time I try to do one and make it like the Piper's Pit of my promotion I lose track of the darn thing and it ends up failing.

 

And for that matter, could someone give me thoughts on maintaining effective use of an on-screen authority figure? I can never keep one going whether he be a good guy like a Teddy Long would be or a heel like Vinnie Mac. I can keep stories going for the wrestlers but never the GM.

 

I don't really ever do talk shows, as I don't really find them entertaining. The only one I've ever really enjoyed was The Cutting Edge, but that was likely because I was a huge Edgehead.

What I use talk shows for, on the rare times I utilize them, are basically to build hype for a match, and it's usually for a "throw away" ppv, because I find them cheesy. I utilize contract signings pretty frequently for title matches in the vein of NXT, as well as press conferences if the feud is between two extremely over guys that fans could consider mainstream. Another reason for this is I don't like using non wrestler roles, because they are so extremely played out for me, and having a wrestler with no involvement or history with the workers in the feud knocks the host down a thread. If he's an active wrestler, why isn't he fighting someone? He must suck... that kinda thought pops up for me.

 

 

As for the gm role, again, super played out for me. I have an authority guy, referencing NXT again, he's like Regal. You know he's there, but he doesn't appear very often. He'll show up for big angles, or announce a contenders tournament, or settle a dispute between title contenders if there is not a clear contender. Outside of that, I really don't like the gm role too much. I let my workers set up matches based on their personal actions. Helps character development too!

[Bigpapa42]

Love seeing this thread. It certainly shows the difference in booking styles when a thread like this gets posted.

 

And in the spirit of helping folks figure booking this product out, I'll ask about the two elements of sports entertainment that always give me the most trouble when I try to use them. The one that bugs me most is the interview show. Any thoughts on how to use it consistently? Every time I try to do one and make it like the Piper's Pit of my promotion I lose track of the darn thing and it ends up failing.

 

And for that matter, could someone give me thoughts on maintaining effective use of an on-screen authority figure? I can never keep one going whether he be a good guy like a Teddy Long would be or a heel like Vinnie Mac. I can keep stories going for the wrestlers but never the GM.

 

Interesting points of discussion.

 

To be honest, I pretty much avoided the old talk show segments for a long time. Whether it was the contemporary in-ring style (Cutting Edge, Miz TV, etc) or the old school style where you had a set. I rarely find them that entertaining on TV, so I didn't bother. But booking the AWF (ThunderVerse) for a diary game made me rethink it, as they had a very entertaining non-wrestler doing a show as part of the game canon. So I started using it regularly and with someone capable of carrying the segment, it can be fun. Although I went with the typical "shenanigans" route for the diary, I did consider having something more serious. A semi-regular segment where fans are given deeper insight into a wrestler and their character, talking about their home life a bit, aspirations, history, and past feuds. It would be more about character building than driving current stories.

 

For a long time, I was guilty of relying on the heel GM stereotype. "He's making life tough for our hero because he's just plain evil". Bah. Self made me realize its tired and sometimes better to avoid any on-screen authority figure at all. Or go with a straight, fair character. Not one that sides with the babyfaces, but makes the right call. Or the "right for business" call. The Regal on NXT style is also pretty workable - they aren't so much as good or evil, but they have biases and favorites. Their on-screen appearances are almost more about them being entertaining than necessarily driving forward the stories.

 

Another possible approach is having an authority figure do regular updates. Maybe every week. I did this in a recent PWI game, where the approach was more serious. I was thinking of how MMA would present news for coming shows. I guess it could almost resemble the old Gene Okerlund "in the control room" taped updates, but in a more contemporary way. Just a short, 3 or 4 minute taped statement from the authority, announcing coming match ups, punishments for transgressions, stipulations, etc.

[Lifeline]

I'm having a horrible time booking SE fed and being able to keep momentum's up and storylines "hot" enough. Usually I use created angles and go with the highest skill available to judge the angle performance on.

 

I usually make my own promotion and pick up some decent guys. Recently I did a 2-stable format where one side was loyal to the authority and the other side was rebelling against the authority. Built both sides identical in that there were 3 high menace, 2-3 main eventers each, a couple mouthpieces etc. But I can't seem to get anything going. I'll have moments of brilliance but mostly very very inconsistent.

[lr10540]

I'm having a horrible time booking SE fed and being able to keep momentum's up and storylines "hot" enough. Usually I use created angles and go with the highest skill available to judge the angle performance on.

 

I usually make my own promotion and pick up some decent guys. Recently I did a 2-stable format where one side was loyal to the authority and the other side was rebelling against the authority. Built both sides identical in that there were 3 high menace, 2-3 main eventers each, a couple mouthpieces etc. But I can't seem to get anything going. I'll have moments of brilliance but mostly very very inconsistent.

 

Starting out is rough. Regardless of what they're rated on, overness trumps everything. Without any overness to start from, you're going to have a hard time. Pick your couple horses and ride them into the ground, meaning push them to the moon. Once you have overness to draw from that can carry main event angles/matches, you'll be good to go as far as ratings.

 

Ultimately, having fun is number 1 though.

[Lifeline]

Is it anyone else's common practice with SE feds to join an alliance with a similar faction i.e. CZCW or NYCW, talent trade for some of their most over guys? I usually bring them in for 3 matches and let the guys I'm pushing pound the crap out of them and leech their pop. I haven't played TEW for a long time and just got back into it last week so I don't remember how to make this most efficient but I used to do it often.

 

I just can't remember if I had to use domination road agent note to get the most out of it or just a clean victory. Either way I remember sapping like 5 pop off of Fumihiro Ota each match then get rid of him after he wasn't useful for leeching anymore.

[Condors]

to get the ball rolling you can talent trade

dominating victories can work to a point with guys with charisma but at some point a clean win is better (always a safer move if their is a question)

 

imho you will get better results leaching your own roster.

Find guys who can get over in angles

have them lose to your best in ring workers

rinse and repeat

also try to get your best in ring workers good enough on the mic where they can raise their own pop in angles

 

Since you mentioned Ota, Joffy Laine, Roger Cage are guys who can work the mic, Look at your color guy he should have charisma and should gain overness as you do shows. He could become an authority figure, manager, back stage interviewer and help get guys over and help them get on the mic as well. Also if you have a seat open put one of your workers there can help them gain charisma and overness