Total Nonstop Gameplay (Real World Chronicles: Feb 2016 w/ TNA)

Big Mark Smark · March 12, 2016

This diary is a shoot.

There are a lot of good "worked" diaries with the writer using the game to help tell a story. In fact, there are so many good ones here that I don't think the forum needs another in that style. What I'm going to do with my time (and maybe yours) is talk about the game I'm playing, what decisions I'm making, and why.

This diary is a learning experience.

I've sunk enough hours into TEW & EWR that I think I'm a decent player. There might be things I do really well that other players could learn from. There might be horrible mistakes I'm making that you can correct. Putting the way I'm playing in front of an audience allows for that kind of learning to take place.

This diary is about a game.

Although TEW sometimes resembles the real business, it has a logic of its own that doesn't really match up with what works in wrestling. My decisions will be guided primarily by in-game considerations or "what's best for business" rather than trying to be true to the real world product or talent. Although I do follow Impact, the player position in this diary is booking TNA mainly because they have an interesting gameplay position.

Dave_Scott · March 12, 2016

Love me some modern TNA! GL dude.

Big Mark Smark · March 12, 2016

Set up and opening moves

Semi-apology: This is going to be long, but that's accurate for the gameplay experience. I usually find myself making a lot of changes before finishing the first turn.

<img src="

http://i.imgur.com/gAF1HIO.jpg">

Meet the booker

I've picked Al Snow as my Avatar. I could opt for a stronger Avatar (Steamboat, Foley, DiBiase, let alone actual ring-workers) but I'd prefer not to get that much help from the starting position while still being "in the game" with my avatar. So, yeah, this is taste. As I understand it, Snow's booking a lot of TNA's matches anyway, and I like the guy. I'll give Al (and myself) an Average Reputation to avoid having to restart if I do something slightly stupid in the early going.

For User Talents, I'm focusing on three categories: Negotiating, Motivating, and Diplomacy. In my experience, workers can be left to develop their own gimmicks and backstage morale is something better manipulated through hiring policies than compensated for with leadership skills. Motivating gets 10 points as I think it's the most important talent. Most of the game is putting workers in segments and getting them to perform to their best. I split the other 15 between Negotiating and Diplomacy, with the 8 going into Negotiating. I don't intend to hire too many jerks but I'm sure someone will need to be persuaded to get off soft drugs or whatever, while saving money is pretty key.

Perfect Show theory doesn't ring true to me, so I've switched it off. I've also turned off Fog of War, mainly because I find that real world mods often have a mismatch between the bios and the stats. (I am sick of being told a guy has a good look only to find that he has low Star Quality.) As those settings make the game quite a lot easier, I'm going to leave Owner Goals on to add some spice.

TNA

TNA starts off in a bad position, which is somewhere between accurate and sympathetic to the promotion's real fortunes. Prestige is down at 30 and Momentum is just 11 - we're going nowhere fast. On the bright side, having $1M in the bank gives some financial room to manoeuvre. With only 37 wrestlers on the roster (many of whom are going to get sacked for being no-hopers), my first move is get rid of Xplosion. Impact is two hours long so there should be plenty of time to get the young guys over.

The next step is culling the non-wrestling roster:

Dixie Carter is a Negative Influence and gets six months off. (It's good to be the boss!) While she's away she won't bring down morale, when she comes back happy she won't be a Negative Influence.
The "fluff" staff (Dave Lagana and John Gaburick) have their PPAs terminated.
Pat "Simon Diamond" Kenny follows suit, as I will not tolerate a Road Agent with 58 Psychology.
Hector Guerrero moves off the Spanish Announcer's Table (which does nothing) and into a Road Agent's position. He's a good influence and has decent Psychology.
I ponder sacking announcers Josh Mathews and Mike Tenay, but don't have a replacement yet. Jim Ross is available and I could try having him work alongside Matthews to train him up. Matt Striker is also around and the modders gave him a saintly personality with strong announcing and charisma skills.
D'Angelo Dinero doesn't have the Colour Commentator role (despite being TNA's main Colour guy) but is happy enough to do the job. He's also quite Charismatic which will come as a surprise to anyone who has heard him working on iMPACT.
I can't bring myself to sack Billy Corgan and it wouldn't save any money. He lacks the skills to be an effective on-camera Authority Figure, so he might just be put on holiday.
Gregory Helms is on this weird "Road Agent only" PPA contract (using his 49 Psychology) and has been set up as a non-Wrestler with no Wrestling roles. I can't sack him or the Hardy brothers will throw a fit, so I'm going to offer him a 1 month Written deal to do... something. Maybe he can be the tea lady? (NOTE: I think Helms' actual role in TNA is closest to Manager.) To save Dixie's money, I offer Helms Creative Control (so he won't have to take part in risky segments or go to development) and promise to keep him off the House Show circuit. That keeps the cost of getting rid of him down to $1960 AND nobody gets pissed off when he leaves.

I then take a quick look at the Product. We're a popularity > performance fed, so I am going to be heavily biased towards Star Quality, especially when looking at younger workers. That informs some first steps towards culling the roster:

I take a quick look at the Women's Division. They're better than expected so I don't think I'll shut it down straight away. The "Sausagefest" factor that Adam's implementing in TEW 2016 will make me happier about Women's Divisions in general.
There's a bunch of younger guys with low Star Quality and little else to recommend them. Mandrews, Mahabali Shera, Crazzy Steve, Eli Drake, Chris Melendez, and Rockstar Spud all get shown the door.
Rebel and Marti Belle go with them, which leaves Jade to carry on the Doghouse on her own. Or not. Y'know, whatever the people want.
Trevor Lee also doesn't have a future here but he's holding the X-Division Title. In order to preserve the dignity of the belt I'll keep him on long enough to move it to someone who can do more for the company.

There'll be another round of sackings after new blood comes in. I also have expiring contracts coming up.

Davey Richards is pretty amazing in this mod. He's not a good entertainer and has unspectacular Psychology, but has everything else you could want in a Cruiserweight. I'll offer him 4 years on a Written deal, nothing less than Major TV, Future Main Eventer, Exclusively In-Ring.
Eddie Edwards is basically a poor man's Davey Richards. His strengths are less impressive, his flaws are greater. But I still think he's a good guy to have around. I offer him 3 years on a Written deal, nothing less than Major TV, Backbone of the Roster, Exclusively In-Ring.
Then there's Kurt Angle. The RNG has been kind to Kurt and said that he's only four years past his best, but the mod has put a fair bit of wear-and-tear onto the great man. He's still hands-down the best worker on the roster and so I'm going to try to persuade him to take a six month Written Deal to Pass The Torch. Kurt rather reasonably asks for Creative Control so he doesn't get jobbed out to anyone and I'll give it to him. He also gets his work restricted to Major TV events and a promise that he won't slide down lower than the Midcard. Unfortunately, he might decide we're too small anyway.

Filtering for PPAs on guys under 35 with Good Star Quality brings up the Wolves (Edwards and Richards, who I've dealt with) Drew Galloway, EC3, and Micah. That's depressing, but it can be solved.

I want to keep Drew Galloway. He's only 30 and pretty good already. His consistency is poor (50) but I have consistent workers to train him against, while his good Psychology (71) will help train other guys on the card. However, with only 68 Star Quality and 65 Charisma he is a Jobber To The Stars rather than a top guy. I'll offer him 5 years on a Written Deal as The Backbone of the Roster and limit his appearances to Major TV and above. With a relatively long deal, I'm not prepared to make it Exclusively in-ring, but I do give Drew Creative Control to protect him from being jobbed out to just anyone.
Ethan Carter III is similar to Galloway, but a bit better. He also has a weakspot in his performance skills, but it's Selling (55) and that's easier to manage. His superior Charisma (74) and Star Quality (75) are enough that he should be near the top of the card for a while. After a bit of agonising, I offer him a 3 year written deal as a Future Main Eventer, limited to Major TV Shows and Above with Creative Control. He's Dixie's (kayfabe) nephew, after all! (These conditions and my Negotiating also slashed more than a quarter off his asking price.)
And then there's Micah. He's a limited worker (best ring skills are Brawling and Mat Wrestling at 33, and he only has 46 Basics) but does have high Consistency and Safety, great Physical skills and good Star Quality and Charisma. If he was a rookie I would be all over this guy, but he's 32 and has 8 years under his belt. He's not on big money right now and if he's to improve he'll need to sign PPAs with the smaller feds. I'm going to leave Micah as-is and see how he develops.

You'll probably have noticed by now that I'm not having anyone work the B-Shows (which is why I cancelled Xplosion) or House Shows. House Shows can be useful for checking Chemistry in the Main Event - and it's tough when your "big money" PPV Headliner doesn't click - but I prefer to do my tag team experiments in the Pre-Show. Given that TNA's not eligible for battles, I think the company is better off saving money and accepting that the odd event is going to bomb due to bad chemistry. From here on out, take it for granted that nobody has to work B- or House Shows.

I also look at my male veterans on PPAs with good star quality. There's Bobby Lashley, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Matt Hardy, and Mr. Anderson. Creative tells me that Lashley (39) and Hardy (41) aren't far into age decline if at all - Awesome Kong is #5 on the list at "slippery slope" - while Roode is just on the slippery slope himself. Mr. Anderson and James Storm are higher up the Age Decline than Angle.

Matt Hardy has a slightly difficult personality (egotistical and manipulative) but his personal connections are helping to stabilise the roster. He's also a good worker with solid ring skills and pretty nice performance skills - Psychology is a relative "weak spot" at 60, but the other Performance skills are 77 or above. And he's still pretty good physically, with good entertainment stats. At 41 he's due to go into Age Decline any minute now (unless the RNG decides to make Matt the new Terry Funk!) so I just can't offer him a long term deal. After some deliberation I settle on a 1 year Written Deal As A Gatekeeper, Never Lower than Midcarder with Creative Control. I'll risk an Exclusively In-Ring deal for 12 Months.
Bobby Lashley apparently has no discernable personality. ;-) He does have good Technical skills and is a good brawler, though his Performance skills could be better. As you'd expect, he's awesome physically and has plenty of Star Quality and Menace. Despite his limitations, I think Lashley is going to be important in the near future. I offer him a 1 year Written Deal Exclusively in the Ring as a Future Main Eventer, Never Lower than Midcarder with Creative Control.
Bobby Roode is the company's #2 guy in terms of ability, and unlike Angle he's still (barely) in his thirties. However, he's signed to Global Force Wrestling, a TNA partner. I immediately move to end that relationship - a glance at the other workers on JJ's roster confirms to me that this is the right move as I definitely want to sign away several of his guys.
Mr. Anderson is a decent entertainer but a lot of his ring work is based on physicality - something that's going to be dropping quickly. His Performance skills are good but with only 54 Psychology I don't have high hopes that he'll be putting on great matches. Anderson's hatred of Randy Orton wins me over a bit and I offer him nine months on a Written Deal Exclusively In-Ring To Pass the Torch, Never Lower Than Midcarder. He gets Creative Control to keep me from being too aggressive in putting over the young boys.
James Storm is similar to Anderson, though without the Entertainment skills. I don't think that the tag team Beer Money is a good use of Roode, so his tag experience there isn't much use. I offer him almost the same terms as Anderson, but without a guaranteed place in the midcard.

Although I'm biasing towards Star Quality, there are some other skills that I want to keep on the roster.

Because Menace can be used to get a worker over, I take a look at the guys with great scores there. It's Abyss, Lashley and Tyrus. Abyss is 42 but isn't showing up on age decline. He's a pretty good worker still, so I offer him a year as Gatekeeper/Creative Control. Tyrus is alright and I think I can get good use out of him. He gets offered two years as the Backbone of the Roster.
I also want to make sure I don't drop good Performance skills. Aside from guys I've already dealt with, the ones on PPA are Bram and Mike Bennett. I'm glad I checked this filter, because I was thinking about firing Bram for his subpar Star Quality. As it is, he can probably play the role of Gatekeeper in the X-Division. Well, at 29 he won't (and shouldn't) accept that actual role, but Backbone of the Roster is close enough. I offer him a two year Written Deal. Mike Bennett is just that little bit better. He's bigger, has more Star Quality, more Psychology, he's a good influence in the locker-room, he's married to Maria Kanellis instead of being divorced from Ashley "Charlotte" Flair - you get the picture. He gets a slightly better deal, too, with three years as Backbone of the Roster.
Flicking the filter to check for young workers with decent performance skills turns up DJ Z, who is very similar to Bram in ability. I'll give him two years as Backbone, too.

Lastly, I look at the Knockouts (Women's) Division:

If the Division has a future, it's with Jade (26) and Madison Rayne (29). Jade is a better worker while Madison has great Entertainment skills. Both can work as Managers if I decide that the division is a dead end. They both get five year Written deals. (This will slow Jade's progression by taking her out of other promotions, but I think that not working for House of Hardcore is better for her career in the long run.)
Gail Kim is the champ and notably better than any of the other Knockouts. Unfortunately, she's pushing 40. I can't offer her a long-term deal even if she hasn't hit Age Decline yet, but I can give her another year as The Backbone of the Roster. Doing that makes me think I should get a working agreement with a women's wrestling promotion, but I won't sign that deal until after tying down key talents.
Awesome Kong is Gail's good friend and kayfabe rival. Unfortunately, she's started age decline at 38. I'm a little bit of a Kong mark but I can't see her playing a role here. The fact that the division has just two faces, both of them more over than Kong, convinces me to buy her out - a 1 month deal as The Backbone of the Roster with Creative Control.
Angelina Love is Davey Richards' wife and is expecting his child. I'm going to leave her on PPA until she's able to return to the active roster, but with as I'm betting on Davey I will be sure to find work for his Mrs. It doesn't hurt that she's a decent worker in the ring and has good entertainment skills.
Maria Kanellis, as mentioned previously, is married to Mike Bennett. However, she's an assett to the company in her own right for her awesome on-camera qualities and solid entertainment skills. Add in her good character backstage and she can stay with TNA as long as I have the book. Because Maria can work as a Manager as well as in the ring (and really is better as a Manager), she gets a ten year deal.
Rosemary is decent worker but doesn't have the Star Quality to go far here. She also doesn't have the Manager role (which is a slight surprise considering how TNA uses her). I'm going to leave her on PPA.
Velvet Sky is a limited but useable worker and has great on-camera qualities. Her relationship with Bully Ray might come in handy, though the bad blood between her and Sabin isn't very helpful. But fundamentally, I need her in the division because she's over. There needs to be someone other than Gail Kim who gets attention on the Knockouts and for now, that's Velvet. I offer her two years as the Backbone of the Roster.

TIP: Some of these deals had such favourable conditions that the Smart Offer was above the worker's adjusted minimum. If a worker will accept the Smart Offer's minimum, Toggle that feature and see if they'll go below. Doing this can be a little bit fiddly as the worker can hit a point where they'll just say that the offer is too low without saying what they would accept, even if you're only $10 below their asking price.

To build up the roster, I offer a barrage of contracts to the cream of the Indie scene and anyone good who I can pry out of NXT. Mainly I'm looking for younger workers with good star quality who can be built up. TNA is basically a Sports Entertainment company and most of the best Sports Entertainers are already trapped in WWE. There are a couple of older workers who get offered deals to work as Gatekeepers, though Dixie might decide to slap an age limit on me with Owner Goals. Because this mod has plenty of good female workers, I offer contracts to a few of them. I'll note who came in the door when they arrive.

Three out-of-ring workers get considered. Ricky Steamboat is going to be a good signing in most real-world mods. At this stage, it's because he's one of the best Road Agents around with a great Psychology score and saintly personality. But Ted DiBiase Sr. has been given even more psychology (93!) and has entertainment skills to boot. Both of these guys want a good pay packet so I won't hire both right now. DiBiase wins out due to his skills being more relevant and his son still being in the business, but if I set up a development territory I'll be looking for Steamboat to act as chief trainer. There's also Scott D'Amore, a less illustrious name but a solid manager who has valuable connections to some good workers. He's working for JJ at GFW, so I'll sign him if the Carters approve breaking that connection.

I'm never happy with the first turn, but I think that I'm on the right track with the plans I've made here. Time to click Advance.

Warhawk8492 · March 12, 2016

Good luck dude.

Big Mark Smark · March 12, 2016

Lead-up to first show This post covers the adjustments made on the second two turns of the game, before I get to taping day. TNA actually has Wednesdays set for taping Impact, but I have no qualms about moving that to Thursday to give myself a little more time to work with. In reality, they tend to tape once a month or so in a short "tour" style format, so Thursdays are as good as any other day. In diary terms, this will be the last "non-show" update for a while. Jeff Jarrett didn't appreciate being told that we weren't friends anymore so Global Force Wrestling has declared War! Whatever, JJ, I was going to raid you anyway. In related news, Dixie has some goals for me. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> CRITICAL: Make it to National by 2018. (Thanks.) CRITICAL: No net loss in popularity in America at the end of 2018. (Thanks!) HIGH: Davey Richards must have reached 65 momentum by mid-2017. (On it.) HIGH: Bobby Roode must have reached 71 momentum by mid-2017. (OK.) HIGH: Bram must have reached 65 momentum by mid-2017. (...OK.) AVERAGE: Can't hire or extend the contract of wrestlers with less than 53 Athletic Ability for 28 months. (That's a new one on me. Shouldn't be a problem.) AVERAGE: Can't hire Psychopaths until 2018. (Fair.) AVERAGE: Can't hire or extend the contract of wrestlers with less than 53 Toughness. (That's just common sense.)</div></blockquote> Another couple of advances and a few signings later, and I'm on taping day. The new signings to date: <ul><li>Adam Ohriner (Opener). A 3 year pro with some promise. I've signed him on a one year deal with a promise of Extensive Use. </li><li>Alissa Flash (Women's Division). A veteran women's worker better known by another ring-name. She has obligations to finish up elsewhere, but will be playing a key role in training up our Knockouts. </li><li>Barbi Hayden (Women's Division). A 6 year pro at 28, she has the looks and talent to play a supporting role in the Knockouts division. </li><li>Chris Hero (not assigned yet). You know this guy already. He's on two years as the Backbone. </li><li>Dark Dragon (Not assigned yet). An 8 year veteran of the Lucha scene. Better known by another ring name. 3 year deal. </li><li>Jesse White (Lower Midcarder). Leon White's son, with plenty of Star Quality and decent performance skills. I'm going to try to shape him into something great. </li><li>Johnny Gargano (Not assigned yet). Swiped from NXT, but he's an Indie guy with good ring skills. I'm giving him four years and plan for him to be a fixture in the X-Division. </li><li>Kelly Black (Women's Division). A 9 year pro at 29. She's better known for work in WWECW, but I think Kelly can do a good job for TNA. </li><li>Mark Haskins. (Not assigned yet.) He's a gifted English Cruiserweight, with some nice technical skills to go with his flippy stuff. At just 27, I see him as a good prospect and signed Haskins for four years. </li><li>Rhett Titus (Not assigned yet). Another talented Cruiserweight signed for four years. </li><li>Rocky Romero (Not assigned yet). I almost passed up Rocky, but he's friends with Alissa Flash and the boost to the locker room was enough to clinch him two years as the Backbone of the Roster. </li><li>Ryan Davidson (Enhancement Talent). Probably too good to be a jobber but he'll perform that role very well. I've given him four years as the backbone. </li><li>Ryan Nemeth (Opener). Better known as Nick Nemeth's brother. He still has potential at 31 after five years in the business, mainly becuase of high star quality. I've signed him for a year of Extensive Development and will see if he's going further than that in 2017. </li><li>Tiger Raj Singh (Lower Midcarder). A solid worker who seems to have been stuck with Ethnic gimmicks for too long. I've given him four years and started him off with the "Harvard Snob" (Cocky) gimmick.</li></ul> At this point, I realise that I haven't offered deals to the GFW guys at TNA. Oops. <ul><li>I offer Bobby Roode a year as a "Future Main Eventer" and he tells me that it's too late for that. Oh dear. Well, with Age Decline just started I think I can get away with giving him one year on top and offer him a deal as One of Our Icons. In fact, he'll be our only Icon. </li><li>Eric Young is one of those guys that makes me wish I could tell a worker I was signing them to be someone else's friend. Because that's the main job he's going to do here: be Bobby Roode's pal. He is talented enough to do a little bit more than that but I don't see a future in the guy once Roode's time is up. I offer him a year as Gatekeeper.</li></ul> With the new signings, I'm up to 36 workers so a few more PPAs get terminated. Say goodbye to Aiden O'Shea, Robbie E, and Tigre Uno. I also get rid of Jeremy Borash, as there's a definite limit to the number of not-bad Announcers I need in this promotion. Jessie (Godderz) is another casualty, mainly because he doesn't have enough Toughness to meet Dixie's standards. Backstage looks OK (95%) but it won't be quite that good for tonight's show. I'll throw a bit of Dixie's money at the problem and improve the conditions for now with most of the perks (except chiropractor, because I think the discipline's quackery). I'm pretty sure that the locker room's "native" morale will shoot over 100% once the rest of my new signings arrive, but just to make sure I offer Shannon Moore a short-term deal to make use of the OMEGA old boys friendships. <hr noshade size=3> Dave_Scott, Warhawk8492: Thanks for the well-wishes! Don't be afraid to tell me when I screw up, either. <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Dave_Scott · March 12, 2016

A bit gutted at all of the firings at the very start as one of the things I love most about TNA diaries is how people work with the talent at the beginning, slowly bring in new talent, and then phase the old out, slow transition. Not just fire half the roster and raid the indie scene. <img alt="

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Kijar · March 12, 2016

I wonder why you fired Tigre Uno, as TNA has put him on a pedastal, but nevertheless, you signed Haskins. Wasn't sure if I would follow completely but if you knew me, you'd know all it takes is "Shannon Moore" <img alt="

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Big Mark Smark · March 12, 2016

Impact Taping for Week 1, February 2016 It's taping day so I can't put off establishing (provisional) Storylines any longer. There are some guys who coming in who deserve some spotlight, but as a Heavily Mainsteam promotion I need try starting three hot stories on my first show. Arguably, TNA's real-world challenge would be heating up two storylines - I think EC3's complicated feud with Matt Hardy is probably getting mid-50s at the moment, but they don't have a lot else going on. The mod doesn't try to represent the feuds on Impact right now, so I have complete creative liberty. Honestly, that's not as good as it sounds. While I'm looking over the possibilities, I notice that the roster is stacked with Faces. I set up Drew Galloway to turn (he's better as a Heel anyway). The RNG has decided that EC3's recent face turn is not that recent and he could be flopped back to heel straight away. I'm really tempted but keep him as a Face for now. Here's how I've placed my bets: <ul><li>Abyss vs. Bobby Roode. Abyss is my only Main Event heel so he goes with my Franchise guy (Kurt is better on paper, but further into age decline and carrying lots of old injuries so I'm not sure I can rely on him). The company needs something hot (or at least warm) and I'm relying on these guys to provide it. </li><li>Bobby Lashley vs. Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis. Ideally, this will help Mike's skills and get the heels over a bit while fueling Lashley's momentum. </li><li>EC3 vs. Matt Hardy. I like this feud on TV and I think it should work in the game. Hardy has great selling to cover Carter's main weakness and the World Title adds interest to this feud. </li><li>Drew Galloway vs. Mr. Anderson. Drew's not good enough to justify a feud with Kurt Angle, but I do want him to feud up the roster. Anderson is the next option. </li><li>Jesse White vs. James Storm. This is pretty much a "make a guy" feud. Although Storm isn't going to improve White's Psychology, he can help out a lot with the basics and put the young guy over. </li><li>Madison Rayne vs. Gail Kim over the Knockouts belt. This is a booking 101 feud: take the division's top face and your top heel and have them fight over a strap. Gail is a lot more over and talented, qualities that I need her to pass on to Madison. Most of the other Knockouts are going to end up playing some role in this feud, either as clay pigeons or real supports.</li></ul> I'm also going to experiment with some tag teams to see if I can get a couple of guys who "click" to feud with the Wolves. On to the show! <div style="text-align:center;"><img src="<a href="http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png" rel="external nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png""></a></div> As expected the real Backstage Rating (89%) isn't as good as the theoretical level. Still good enough to swing incidents into the positive and avoid low morale penalties. Because I want to show how I'm booking and how it turns out, I'm writing my notes in before running the show, then noting how it came out in italics. My booking for the first Impact is as follows: <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Ryan Nemeth wins the X-Division Title from Trevor Lee (6 mins)</div> I set this match to be decisive, and scripted (Lee has low Psychology). There's no need for Open match because this is LMC vs. Opener and should get a squash bonus. Sadly, Ryan will not come in with big momentum for winning a belt on his debut. As expected, this was bad. Rated 31 and Trevor Lee gets penalties all over the place. In retrospect, I probably should have protected one or both of them. Nemeth's gimmick (True Born) gets a 90 rating but debuting this way hurts his momentum.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Hype Video for Kurt Angle (4 mins)</div> Consider this a desperate plea to keep watching. I'm going to use a lot of videos this show because the roster isn't anywhere near where I need it to be. Rated 72. People love Kurt Angle. I've even seen members of the IWC who still want him to go back to WWE, so this feels realistic.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bikini contest: Kelly Black, Barbi Hayden, Velvet Sky, Maria Kanellis. (5 mins)</div> Mainly this is to get momentum on the new girls, but it might help Barbi get over. Because TNA has low T&A ratings, I'd probably set the time for this a bit lower if I had the option, but whatever. Rated 64. Kelly Black gets 90 on her Diva Gimmick, Barbi Hayden becomes the perfect Girl-Next-Door.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">James Storm squashes Ryan Davidson (6 mins)</div> I just set this up as Decisive. Jobber debuts, jobber gets squashed. 52, which is really good for a throw-away match when the promotion's Popularity is only 53. Ryan gets 93 for his Lounge Lizard gimmick, justifying my faith in him.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Jesse White comes to the ring to do a Heelish sarcastic applause routine, burying Storm as a representative of TNA's useless old men. (5 mins)</div> Sports. Entertainment. This won't be that hot and I'd make it shorter if the angle pack let me. 44. As expected, this wasn't very good. Jesse white's Viper gimmick comes in at 79. I think I gave him that gimmick because I was thinking I'd like him to act a bit like Randy Orton did during the "Legend Killer" angle.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Drew Galloway tells Mr. Anderson that he's got his back (4 mins)</div> Because of course he does. Gets a 45. Galloway is being penalised for being bad at being a face. That's under control.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Jade beats newcomer Barbi Hayden (6 mins)</div> I'm not sure if the "Women's Division" push allows for jobber effects, so I've set this as open and scripted. It's a training match for Barbi and if the Bikini angle went well should move some momentum to Jade. 29. Ouch. In hindsight, I should have protected Barbi. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">The Wolves cut a promo (4 mins)</div> I don't have much else for them on this show. 40. This wasn't a disappointment, but in hindsight I just shouldn't have done it. Davey and Eddie should have either worked with a better entertainer to develop, or done ring work to use their skills. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Menace-based Hype video for The Big O (Ohriner) (3 mins)</div> On TV this probably should be shorter, but TEW doesn't always follow artistic logic. O isn't getting the Glacier treatment, but I'd like to see how he does on a pure Menace Angle before debuting him. (My current plan is to use him like a jobber for a bit to build his skills, then repackage him as a monster.) 54, which is pretty good for a guy who's basically unknown. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">The announcers discuss Jeff Hardy (2 mins)</div> JEFF HARDY STILL WORKS HERE! This is filler, but I expect it'll rate about as well as a 2 minute angle can. 51. I don't think this is even long enough to trigger significant Mic experience for the announcers. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Gail Kim defends her Knockouts Title against Awesome Kong, winning by DQ (8 mins)</div> This is set Open and has Madison Rayne attacking Gail to cause the DQ. Basically I don't care too much about Kong but want to get the Kim/Rayne program going. 47, which is about all I ask from the Knockouts. Gail is definitely not in Age Decline yet. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews gets to interview Rosemary about Abyss (5 mins)</div> Abyss is actually a better talker, but setting the angle up this way uses his Menace (95!). 48. Rosemary underperformed. There's a reason she doesn't have Manager as one of her roles. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Backstage with Bram and Eric Young (3 mins)</div> They're allies and this gives Young a chance to help Bram with his promo skills. 50. In retrospect, this should have been 4 mins if I wanted to use it to train Bram. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Matt Hardy beats Bobby Lashley in a non-title match (8 mins)</div> This is set for an Open All Out Match. Lashley gets distracted by Maria and then attacked by Mike Bennett to Keep him Strong. Strictly speaking I don't have to book an excuse for using the Keep Strong note, but as I use it quite often I think it's better if I explain it. 56. Confirmed that neither is in age decline. Hardy struggles with going all out but still nets a bonus on it. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Matt Hardy does an overboard celebration (4 mins)</div> He's really good at these antics in real life and I need the angle time. 49. Penalties for drinking, hard & soft drugs. Way to go, Matt. <img alt=":mad:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/mad.png.69834f23b9a8bf290d98375f56f1c794.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">EC3 comes down to the ring while Hardy is celebrating to confront him (5 mins)</div> Kicking off their feud with a Sports Entertainment staple. 53, hopefully that sticks as the Storyline rating!</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">The announcers talk about Kurt Angle (2 mins)</div> Sort-of testing this angle, sort of padding the angle time. 53, wasn't limited by time. Clearly the announcers - D'Angelo Dinero, Mike Tenay, and Josh Mathews - don't have the Mic skills to get this sort of angle to the best 2 minutes it could be. Not to worry, I'll have alternatives very soon.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Kurt Angle beats a debuting Tiger Raj Singh (7 mins)</div> I set this open and decisive, but neither script nor call in the ring. The idea here is to give Tiger some momentum and help his skills. 70. Thanks Kurt. Tiger's Harvard Snob gimmick comes in at 85.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews interviews Maria about Mike Bennett's attack on Lashley (3 mins)</div> Kayfabe compensation to Josh for having to spend time with Decay, also justifies him not calling the Main Event (see below). I think this angle should help Mike & Maria - at worst, it should help Mike with his Entertainment skills. 38. Everyone in this angle has low momentum and a poor gimmick. To add insult to injury, I didn't even set it long enough to be a good training angle.<img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bobby Roode comes down to do guest colour commentary for the Main Event (3 mins)</div> I think Roode is over enough that 3 mins is not excessive for this angle. 61. Thanks Bobby.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Menace-based hype video for Abyss (5 mins)</div> I picture this as something more like a dramatic entrance, to be honest. Again, I just want to capitalise on his Menace to prop up a show that I'm not that confident in. 76. Abyss is scary.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Abyss beats Mr. Anderson (13 mins)</div> This segment is all about a Drew Galloway turn. I sneaked Bobby Roode onto the commentary team (taking Josh's seat) so that Abyss gets success for their feud. Otherwise the match is Open, Scripted, Tainted Finish, Outside Interference Finish. 63. Nothing went horribly wrong with this match, but the people like Kurt Angle a LOT and don't care so much about my other guys. Drew turned with complete success! <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;">Show rating: 61</div> We ate penalties for not having enough good storylines, but increased our popularity in 26 regions. (Our best popularity is in America at 53.) Feedback was good but some viewers found it underwhelming. That sounds like TNA alright. And in even more TNA-like news, we lost money on the night, almost $35,000. I expected this - PPA is a bad model for a weekly show, and I was forking out for backstage perks. It hurts to lose money all the same. <hr noshade size=3> Dave_Scott: If TNA was doing OK right now I'd be more inclined to go slow-and-steady, but their position - quite accurately - calls for drastic action. (Also I seem to recall that TNA actually has more workers on written deals than the mod simulates, but you can only work with what you have.) I think that TEW2016 will make real world rosters more desirable with the need for more varied types of performers, but at the moment keeping guys on when they can't help the company just doesn't make sense. As far as creating a challenge goes, I probably should have given Dixie a bit more time to pick her favourites. On the other hand, there were some more releases after this show so she did have a chance to save some guys. And if I was in charge of the real TNA right now I wouldn't be shedding any tears about hurting ROH, LU, or any of the other contenders trying to make their way up to Cult. <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Kijar: Tigre Uno is pretty average in-game. Possibly too average, but again this is meant to be a game diary with decisions based on the information I get as a player. Shannon is a good hand but his future at my TNA depends a lot on the Hardy brothers behaving themselves. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Blodyxe · March 12, 2016

Great alternative diary! You did the right thing cutting the dead weight. Although I laughed when you signed Maria to a 10 year deal. First of all, TNA would probably be dead by that time. Secondly, Maria is all about the look, and she's not an asian chick like Gail Kim, she will age faster. I dunno if that's a thing in TEW as I never played for such a long time. About Tigre Uno... he just screams generic. Not in a good way like the guy who helps mexican orphans - just bland. I hope this will be updated often

crackerjack · March 12, 2016

I'll try to follow this baby. While I normally don't think diaries that try to "fix" TNA by dumping half the roster and bringing in other guys are the most accurate diary, you've already said this is strictly business. So, I'll support the direction that you've gone to, and hope that you can pull off the impossible.

If I've learned anything about playing a decent long term game with semi-modern TNA before, you're first couple of months may be a bit disappointing- TNA is too popular and the boys aren't over enough to pull off good grades(especially with a fallback like Kurt Angle gone or declining). But, you've got men/women you want to push, so best of luck!

Big Mark Smark · March 13, 2016

Impact Taping for Week 2, February 2016 There's a raft of new signings, but most of them are finishing up other business this week. For anyone counting, the names are: Adam Cole, Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels, Harry Smith, Jay Lethal, John Hennigan, Magnus, Matt Striker, Paul Lloyd Jr, Rene Dupree (ready to start as a Midcarder), Rhino, Roderick Strong, Shannon Moore (ready to start as Lower Midcarder), and Ted DiBiase Jr. (ready to start as an Upper Midcarder). Ted Jr's star quality is bad but he's a good hand and I'm signing his old man. He's also relatively over so I'm confident I can get good use out of him. I let Rosemary, Micah and Trevor Lee go to keep the roster somewhat sane. It also occurs to me that February is the month for expanding shows, so I look to move Impact into Canada on TLN. Not great, but at the moment I want to get the product shown in as many regions as I can. Despite the active roster swelling, I'm confident that TNA can afford all these guys. There are only three workers on more than $10k, and only 11 more in the $5k to $10k bracket. Confidence in locker room morale and worry over the bank balance prompts me to revoke most of the perks, leaving just catering ticked. A quick report from Creative in the wake of all that: <ul><li>The Franchise Players are still Angle, Roode, EC3, Lashley, and Mr. Anderson. There is no Next Big Thing. (Uh Oh.) The Hot Prospects are Tiger Raj Singh, Jesse White, Madison Rayne, DJZ, and Rhett Titus. </li><li>Talk the Talk is Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, Bobby Roode, D'Angelo Dinero, and Austin Aries. The Show Stoppers are Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Gail Kim, EC3, and Alissa Flash. Ring Generals are Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Alissa Flash, Gail Kim, and EC3. In other words, we're still relying on Kurt and bobby, though EC3 and (I guess) the Knockouts have plenty to offer. </li><li><a href="http://barbarablank.com/" rel="external nofollow">Kelly Black</a> tops the "Who's Hot" list. Indeed. Tiger Raj Singh and Barbi Hayden are doing very well, too, and Drew Galloway's successful turn has given him a lot of momentum. The "Who's Not" list is Bram (struggling), Gail Kim, Madison Rayne, Kurt Angle (sticky patch), and Lashley (stalled). </li></ul> On taping day, I realise that I haven't really resolved my broadcaster situation either way, but there's no way to avoid paying PPAs this week. In better news, last week's signings have arrived and both the X-Division and Knockouts Division are looking respectable. In worse news, I find that Dixie Carter does not want "his" (sic) Company working with other feds, whether that's through Company Relationships or Alliances. Thanks Dixie. <img alt=":rolleyes:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/rolleyes.png.4b097f4fbbe99ce5bcd5efbc1b773ed6.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> The lack of access to Loans will see the roster grow more than I'd intended, which will have knock-ons for the smaller companies in this save. I don't really care if I hobble ROH or LU because there's lots of little companies for male workers to develop, but I will have to be careful not to kill the women's feds. I set up a new feud between DJZ and Eric Young, basically just to get the young guy over. Ted DiBiase Jr is still available to feud with an incoming midcard face, but this week he can just work with a Main Eventer to get momentum. On with the show! <div style="text-align:center;"><img src="<a href="http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png" rel="external nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png""></a></div> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Pre-Show: Beer Money beats Dark Dragon & Rocky Romero (13 mins)</div> In theory this is a pretty awesome pre-show match, but I don't know the chemistry involved. I book it open and ask the guys to work the crowd, and slip in a distraction from Jesse White on James Storm. Their feud's running cold enough that even pre-show shennanigans should help it out. 65, so it was pretty awesome in practice. Might put this in front of a camera soon. Dark Dragon gets a 77 on his Classic Rudo gimmick, but Rocky gets an 87 for the same act. Beer Money have great chemistry, no big surprise. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Pre-Show: Wolves vs. Jesse White and Ryan Davidson (7 mins)</div> I'm testing for chemistry, but this is also a pretty good training match for Eddie and Jesse. Davey politely informs me that it's too soon for the Wolves to lose this match when I try to book Jesse as the winner - I apologise and correct my mistake. 50. Jesse gets a penalty for inconsistency but there are no other performance issues. The Wolves don't have any chemistry. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Pre-Show: Tyrus beats The Big O (6 mins)</div> A quick squash to test O for crowd problems. Should give both of these guys a bit of momentum. 44. O gets 88 on his Old School Face gimmick. No performance issues here. I start feeling anxious that I put the good stuff on the pre-show.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Rhett Titus beats Ryan Nemeth (6 mins)</div> For the second week running, the X-Division Title is defended in the opener against a debuting worker, and for the second week running the belt changes hands in a squash. With more popular workers coming in, Nemeth now auto-pushes to opener. I don't want the X-Title slumming at the bottom of the card, so it hops up to a midcarder. The only match note here is Decisive. 42. Didn't get a booking bonus. Rhett's "Putz" gimmick gets an 89, and he got a motivation bonus here. Hopefully he's a singles specialist.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bobby Roode calls out Abyss and a brawl ensues (5 mins)</div> I don't want to over-cook their feud, but it does need to keep moving. 60, poor improvisation.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Hype video for the Knockouts (4 mins)</div> This features almost the whole Women's Division (except Kong) and focuses on Sex Appeal. In theory this is playing while security get Roode & Abyss out of the ring. 61, might have got away with 3 mins here.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Maria Kanellis & Mike Bennett plot backstage (3 mins)</div> I don't have high hopes for this angle but I'll give it a whirl. 44, and Bennett improvised poorly. Could have been worse.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews interviews Bobby Roode about Abyss (4 mins)</div> I know I want this angle for the feud and for developing Mathews. In terms of the show, it might be a little soon, but it gives Roode a chance to sell the brawl and justifies Mathews being away from his desk. 55, Roode improvises well but Mathews is not very good at this.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Abyss & Bobby Roode brawl (4 mins)</div> The interview also sets this up nicely. (Real-life TNA did something a bit like this with Beer Money brawling throughout the show with Eric Young & Bram.) 62. Main eventers do well in Overness-based angles.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Madison Rayne beats Kelly Black (8 mins)</div> Gail Kim does guest colour commentary. The match is open, scripted (both workers have 48 Psychology) and ends in a tainted finish. Kelly's a lot less over than Madison so she doesn't need the protection, but I like my heels to cheat a lot. 42. Didn't click. Madison got a motivation bonus, hopefully she enjoys fighting workers bigger than her. Mike Tenay has pretty good chemistry calling matches with Gail Kim, which might eventually mean something to some other promotion.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Madison Rayne celebrates with the Sexy Dance (3 mins)</div> I would like to say that this is a taunt towards Gail Kim, but honestly I'm just trying to use Madison's looks to get her over. 68, hit the looks-based limit.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bram beats DJZ (8 mins)</div> I'll kick off the DJZ vs. Eric Young feud here with Young helping his partner get a win. Open and tainted Outside Interference (Young) Victory. 52. I forgot that I'd attached Scott D'Amore to Bram, but Scott helped this match along anyway.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Kurt Angle Video (5 mins)</div> We'll take this opportunity to remind the audience that Angle is still at TNA. 77, I think the last one of these must have been limited by time.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Backstage with Mr. Anderson (4 mins)</div> Anderson has good Entertainment skills and this is a nice change from a promo. He's wandering around pissed off looking for Galloway and payback. 52, poor improvising and soft drugs. You can see why I don't have a lot of faith in the guy.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bobby Roode and Abyss Brawl (4 mins)</div> Third time's the charm. I'd do this as one cut with the previous backstage segment with Anderson and the cameraman ducking out the way of the wild brawl through backstage. 58. I'm not sure if TEW gives a penalty for repetitive segments, but I wouldn't feel bad if it did. This rating is high enough to help me anyway.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bobby Lashley beats Tiger Raj Singh (8 mins)</div> I'm wary of Tiger eating two losses in a row but he's the best candidate to job to Lashley. The match is Open and ends in a variation on last week's Lashley match - Maria distracts Lashley, then Mike Bennett has a botched interference and hits Tiger. 57. Didn't get a penalty for botched interferencewhich I've heard some people claim tanks the ratings. It actually got a bonus for being well booked.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Announcer hype for Abyss & Bobby Roode (2 mins)</div> A recap of their running brawl tonight. 57. This segment doesn't affect the Storyline.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Tyrus hype video (Menace) (5 mins)</div> 61. I'd intended this angle to be about Abyss and switched it to Tyrus late. I could have trimmed a minute here.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Drew Galloway beats Chris Hero (6 mins)</div> Hero needs to debut in a good segment and Drew should provide that. The match is set open and ends in a DQ with an enraged Mr. Anderson carrying out a revenge attack on Galloway. 60. Galloway switches to a Gambler gimmick (85) and Hero debuts his Compassionate gimmick (85). They have pretty good chemistry and Hero got a motivation bonus.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Mr. Anderson beats down Drew Galloway (3 mins)</div> I'm torn over 3 or 4 mins, we'll see if this gets limited for time. 51. Time was fine, Anderson's drug habit wasn't.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Matt Hardy scouts EC3 (2 mins)</div> 47. Hardy pulled down penalties for all three forms of substance abuse. <img alt=":mad:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/mad.png.69834f23b9a8bf290d98375f56f1c794.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I also need to stop thinking of him as a Main Eventer - he's only Upper Midcard, despite being the champ.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">EC3 beats Ted DiBiase Jr. (13 mins)</div> I want Ted to debut with plenty of momentum and losing to a Main Eventer is a good way to get that for him. The match is open, decisive, and gets the "All Out" note as both of these guys are Driven and experienced pros. I have Hardy engage in a distraction (presumably this happens for a false finish) to pump heat into their feud. 59. Ted gets an 81 for his 2nd Gen Star gimmick. Both pull penalties for stamina and EC3 is NOT able to deal with going All Out.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Alissa Flash hits on Ted Jr (4 mins)</div> In a almost babyface like segment, a girl takes pity on a worker who's just eaten a loss. Of course, this will lead to her helping him cheat to win in the future. Like a lot of this show's segments, I'm trying to engineer a hot debut. 65. Alissa gets a 99 for her Classic Rudo gimmick. Sadly Dusty is no longer with us to call her a "Wicked Woman".</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Kurt Angle beats Rene Dupree (8 mins)</div> After last week, I'm inclined to put Kurt in the main event even when he's just beating new-comers. Rene gets an open match and will probably gain overness from this. 72. The people love Kurt. Rene gets an 84 for his Evil Doer gimmick, but has a motivation penalty here.</div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;">Show Rating 70</div> We increased our popularity across 26 regions. No penalties for storylines. Feedback is great, the show has drawn a lot of praise. The show also made money (for now - most of the workers there were on written deals). Who are we and what have we done with TNA? Despite that, our popularity only improves noticeably in Japan. Oh, that's right - we ARE TNA after all. <img alt=":rolleyes:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/rolleyes.png.4b097f4fbbe99ce5bcd5efbc1b773ed6.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> FULL DISCLOSURE: I back-buttoned out of this show when I saw that Ted Jr. was debuting with no specific gimmick (0 rating). The only change made before running the show again was to slap Generation Star on him, though some gimmick ratings came out differently on the second run. <hr noshade size=3> Blodyxe: Glad you're enjoying it so far. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> As for Maria and TNA lasting ten years? Well, whatever happens in real life, I have to believe that I can keep the company going in the save! You're right that Maria's looks will fade - I think Sex Appeal is one of the skills that starts dropping with Age Decline, unlike Charisma and Mic skills. However, Maria is a decent entertainer even ignoring her on-camera qualities, so I think she could be a useful manager in her mid-40s. Imagine something like a second coming of Sister Sherri, just without the substance abuse problems. <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> crackerjack: Thanks for tuning in. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I've played a little further down the road and I think it would be possible to do a "worked" diary with this mod's TNA. EC3, Roode and Abyss are definitely good enough to increase popularity to about 60 even if the player lets Angle go for realism reasons. That would be good enough for slow growth and slower transition. But I didn't know that when I started, and the mod & TEW don't provide any surface reasons for keeping most of the roster on. Also, I'm impatient. <img alt=":o" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/redface.png.900245280682ef18c5d82399a93c5827.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> There is the problem of momentum, but several guys up the top of the card could turn to a more natural or equally good disposition. Galloway and EC3 have been mentioned, and then there's the guy who turned on last week's Impact. <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Big Mark Smark · March 14, 2016

Against All Odds 2016

Good grief, we have a PPV this week! Why wasn't I informed? It's Against All Odds 2016, and never mind that AAO 2013, 2014, and 2015 didn't happen. Thankfully, a lot of new people are ready to work that date. Active Roster is 44 workers. There are 9 in the Women's Division. 20 in the X-Division, including the Wolves. With all the Lightweight talent arriving, I adjust the X-Division belt to "Floating" and restrict the World Heavyweight to Middleweights and above. In order to fill the midcard gap I think I'll add a TNA US Heavyweight belt (Middleweight and above), and bring back the King of the Mountain Title as a Floating openweight. The tag belts can stay as a Midcard openweight title, and I'll let the Knockouts belt Float too. (I doubt it'll get that prestigious, but why prejudge the division?) I then notice that my Momentum seems to have declined (to 9!), seemingly as a consequence of screwing around with the belts. That's unfortunate.

Ted DiBiase Sr. arrives. I set him up as Colour Commentator and fire Elijah Burke. Ted actually has a little bit less Charisma but he makes up for that in other ways. I decide here and now to run some sort of goofy angle with Ted Jr. introducing Alissa Flash to his old man. Matt Striker is also here, so I release Mike Tenay (a slight improvement on real TNA just keeping the guy on contract not doing anything). I'll keep Josh on the team to train up just in case something goes horribly wrong with Striker.

I pause for a quick run-down of gimmicks. EC3's Cocky is at 54 and creating minor problems in his matches. I consider slapping The Crow gimmick on him (it is mechanically effective) but go for True Born as a concession to realism. Similarly, Mike Bennett's "Chosen One" gimmick doesn't really work (this is pretty accurate). I swing him over to Old-School Heel, because it's what I have him doing and also because I don't intend to push him. Several Knockouts get Gimmick changes, too - there are too many Bitches and too many Cocky gimmicks. In general, I try to land my workers with Crazy, Unique, Weasel, Weird, or Wholesome, as these have no side-effects. Anyone who's definitely going to be a jobber will often get Comedy to protect them, workers who are going to soar up the card sometimes get Cocky/Cool. I have a feeling that Legit/Realistic is more important in more Modern promotions, but I can get away with the cartoonish stuff in TNA's Entertainment style.

Checking in with Creative, I notice that Christopher Daniels isn't into Age Decline despite being 44 and having wrestled for half his life. My hat's off to the Fallen Angel. The rest isn't much changed since we last touched base.

My current storyline strategy is to throw "dirt" at the wall and see what sticks. I'm going to modify that just a bit by setting up a feud between two great cruiserweights arriving: Austin Aries and John Hennigan. Jay Lethal and Christopher Daniels can feud as well. I notice that the arrival of the midcard has pushed Jesse White into an Opener position, so his feud against James Storm isn't going to work. There's no need to just drop it, but a single blow-off match tonight will do. That goes in pre-booking so I don't forget.

<img src="

http://i.imgur.com/9FUfuR2.jpg"">

Austin Aries brings in booze, but everyone's happy anyway. In all of these Pre-show matches, I'm pretty sure that the 8 min minimum match time is too long for a squash so I'll be nice to the jobbers and book these Open.

PRE-SHOW: Chris Hero beats Ryan Davidson (8 mins)

This gets Work the Crowd. It's not just feeding Hero a win for recent fortunes (though that is important) - Davidson has good enough peformance skills to teach Chris a little bit.

47. Too long for who is involved which means that the jobbers are between the devil and the deep blue sea on PPV cards. Ted Sr. and Matt Striker have pretty good chemistry when calling matches!

PRE-SHOW: Rene Dupree & Ted Jr. beat Mark Haskins & Ryan Nemeth (8 mins)

This is a chemistry probe in several ways. I want to know if the tag teams work and I'm also checking to see if Alissa works out as Ted Jr's manager.

47. Penalised for Length, because Dupreee & Ted Jr. are both UMC - I know how this works but I forgot. Haskins debuts an Old School Face Gimmick (89).

PRE-SHOW: Alissa Flash & Jade beat Barbi Hayden & Kelly Black (8 mins)

This match is pretty complicated. Firstly, Alissa is getting a chance to train the other Knockouts to her level of Performance. Secondly, I want to get Jade some momentum. Thirdly, this is yet another chemistry probe. Kelly (as the more popular face) gets Kept Strong. Barbi is Protected because she's not very good. I won't Script this match because the heels have decent to great Psychology and should be able to lead the match.

44. Jade switches to Old School heel (98). I probably could have gotten a better rating by making this match looks-based but it feels wrong to do that with a worker like Flash. Barbi Hayden is bad enough to get a penalty for her psychology and the crowd aren't reacting well to her, so I think Protect was a good idea.

Eric Young and Bram beat Johnny Gargano and Paul Lloyd Jr. (18 mins)

This isn't really a PPV match but I got caught off-guard with the timing so I'm making do. DJZ takes Josh's spot in commentary to advance his feud with Young and perhaps learn some Charisma from Ted Sr. I also give DJZ a distraction note against Eric to up his success in the storyline. The match goes Open and ends in a Tainted Finish.

49. As I said, it's not a PPV match. Johnny Gargano and Paul Lloyd Jr both debut Fan Favourite gimmicks, with and 87 and 88 respectively.

Kurt Angle promo (5 mins)

Kurt isn't fatigued but I am worried about running him down with the longer Event matches. He's a great promo so this lets him contribute to the success of the show without putting his body on the line. I won't script him because he's more likely to get an improv bonus than a penalty.

77. Kurt improvised well, though he got a penalty for his drinking.

Austin Aries beats Jay Lethal in a match to decide the #1 Contender for the X-Title (15 mins)

That quarter hour is my minimum for Medium matches in events. This gets booked Open, All Out, and ends with Christopher Daniels interfering. I'm hoping that Austin & Jay can handle All Out matches. My hunch is that the note will be a net 0 for the match.

78! I'm not really surpised, these guys are amazing workers and Aries is over. And they have Great Chemistry! Aries debuts an Obnoxious gimmick at 74, Jay is a Fan Favourite (90) and Christopher Daniels is Fearless (96). Jay suffered a penalty for Stamina but they both went All Out with no problem. The Stamina is going to correct itself, so the X-Division looks to be in very good shape.

Austin Aries goes overboard celebrating (4 mins)

I need some angle time on this show and Austin is a good entertainer. From a less mechanical point of view, I'd like the audience to be absolutely sure that he's a heel.

Pulled a 72, which may lead to me putting too much faith in the guy in the future.

Josh Matthews interviews Matt Hardy about his match tonight with EC3 (4 mins)

This is almost as good a set-up as I can wrangle for this kind of angle. Josh is starting to get over from announcing and has good mic skills. Hardy is entertaining and somewhat over, while EC3's one of our more popular workers. I let both of them work without a script to help Josh improve.

50. Hardy is still off his face, Josh improvises badly.

John Hennigan beats Rhett Titus, Roderick Strong, and Adam Cole in an Overhead Wire match for the X-Title (15 mins)

I book this one Open, All Out, Decisive. Austin Aries replaces Josh at commentary for this match to start building his feud with Hennigan. Again, I'm willing to experiment with All Out despite it being a PPV and debuts, just because I expect that most of these guys will go mixed or better with the note.

51. Hennigan gets 96 for his Rebel gimmick, Roderick Strong gets 58 as a Bad Ass (I think I forgot to change that from the default), Adam Cole gets 73 on Fearless. Lots on the Dirt Sheet. Firstly, the match style doesn't meet the crowd's expectations, so I guess we won't be doing High Spot matches in the future. Hennigan struggled going all out while Roderick Strong got a penalty for trying. Strong also has a motivation penalty, perhaps because he'd rather work in the tags. Roderick Strong also informs me that he's not a high spot guy. No problem, buddy. Despite not being as off the hook as Aries/Lethal, this match is still a modest success.

Austin & Hennigan confront each other in the ring (5 mins)

This isn't the most PPV thing to book, but Aries is a great entertainer and they should both have momentum after their debuts.

62. They both improvise badly, but this should be a good enough angle to get their feud on track.

James Storm teaches Jesse White a lesson (8 minutes)

I don't think this is long enough to over-expose an Opener. At any rate, it's buried on the card and this feud is over.

51. They should get a little momentum from ending the storyline.

Drew Galloway and his new tag team partner, Tiger Raj Singh, cut a promo (4 mins)

In theory they're getting promo time for their title shot against the Wolves tonight. (And yes, I am sorry to spring a tag title match out of nowhere. TEW In reality this segment is a taunt against Mr. Anderson, mocking him for being a trusting dupe. Again, this is unscripted to help the workers develop, though Drew should learn from Tiger in any case.

51 (tonight's magic number). Tiger improvises well, Drew does badly.

Madison Rayne beats Gail Kim to win the Knockouts Championship (8 minutes)

I book this Open, Scripted and All Out. Gail gets the Keep Strong note and I make good on that by booking a Tainted Finish involving interference by Awesome Kong. Chemistry will dictate how this feud progresses.

52. Both of them went All Out without any trouble. Madison switches to Prima Donna (80), Kong switches to Psycho (85). Madison gets her motivation bonus.

The Wolves beat The Crew (Drew Galloway and Tiger Raj Singh) to retain the Tag Team belts (15 mins)

I found that Galloway and Singh had tag experience, so they should have no or good chemistry and guarantee that this match is solid. The match gets Open, Script, and Keep Strong on both the heels. Mr. Anderson carries out a second revenge attack to cost the Crew the match. (It's a bit heelish, but I never think of Anderson as a whiter-than-white Babyface.)

58. A match between two experienced tag teams is usually a safe bet on the card. The Wolves are drawing poor gimmick penalties so I should look at that.

Bobby Lashley beats Mike Bennett (15 mins)

This is Open and All Out. I know that Lashley doesn't struggle when going All Out (from his title shot against Hardy) so the note should be a positive to the match even if Bennett does badly. The ending is a DQ with Maria attacking Lashley (probably using the High Heel of DEATH).

60. Bennett switches to Old School heel (96). Maria does good work at ringside. Both guys do well with the All Out note but get a penalty for Stamina - again, that tends to correct itself.

Mike beats down Lashley with Maria's assistance (4 mins)

I'm using the "distraction and henchman attack" angle here to represent Maria playing a less physical role in the beatdown. This also gives the male wrestlers a chance to learn from her superior Entertainment skills, while furthering the story.

38. A lot of bad gimmicks and low momentum in this angle, but I think the main problem is a lack of overness. Maria improvised badly, which wouldn't have helped.

EC3 beats Matt Hardy in a World Heavyweight Title match (23 mins)

This is Open and Slow Build - and ends in a DQ when Gregory Helms runs in to break up the match and save his old friend's Title. EC3's still a lot more over than Hardy and I have no pressing need to get Matt over, but I'd like to keep my options open with the feud. Helms gets used here because he's being paid to work at TNA this month and I have nothing else for him. Although this is important, I'm prepared to let Al Snow ("me") do the Road Agent work, but it's definitely a job for senior referee Earl Hebner.

76. YES. EC3 switches to True Born (95).

Bobby Roode beats Abyss in a Texas Death match (23 mins)

This is pretty high-end for so early in the feud but I'm not confident of them drawing without the gimmick. Even though it's Abyss, a hardcore match would tank because Bobby doesn't have the skills. The Brawling focused Texas Death Match suits both workers. It gets Open and is so long that it has to have a Slow Build. The match also gets a Clean Finish, on the principle that the fans deserve a solid finish between two main eventers on any PPV. I make sure to set Ted Sr. as the Road Agent and Earl Hebner as the Referee for this match to give it the best chance of success.

78, avoiding losing the show completely to Austin and Jay. Bobby was apparently fatigued, which I hadn't picked up on. He'll definitely be rested on Impact. Abyss is not in age decline.

Show Rating: 78

This show and increased our popularity in 19 regions. I Compliment EC3 on a Good Performance and give the same praise to Jay Lethal. Bobby Roode gets Pointed Out as a Good Example. All of them Seemed Pleased because that's what happens when you praise a worker for the first time. The show gets excellent feedback and I'm told that we struck gold. It gets a buy rate of 0.60 which makes DirecTV deeply unhappy. On the other hand, the show made a little bit of money despite me recklessly throwing $75k into add-ons, and moved our Prestige and Momentum up 1 each (to 31/10, sigh).

Lastly, Drug Testing picks up Mr. Anderson and Matt Hardy for soft drugs. I thought I didn't have Drug Testing switched on (it's expensive!) but whatever. Ken gets the Fatherly Approach and responds reasonably well ("Sorry, I'll really try harder"). Although Matt is a bit of an ass, he's not Ruthless so I try the same approach with him. He tells me "Yeah, whatever."

Thanks, Matt.

Big Mark Smark · March 15, 2016

Impact Taping for Week 3, February 2016 Magnus and Harry Smith are both ready to join the active roster. Magnus autopushes to Main Eventer, making him the youngest and cheapest member of my main event scene (he's not even 30). I think I'll set up Magnus to feud with Kurt Angle to help him develop and solidify him as a star. On the subject of storylines, the James Storm/Jesse White feud gets killed at 55 heat after three segments. Neither worker had enough success to gain momentum, but they don't lose any either. I check up on Roderick Strong's gimmick. Yeah, I didn't change it from the default and the mod had assigned Strong a gimmick he can't work properly. He's such a cool guy that he doesn't blame me for the poor gimmick, so I resolve to push him once I can change his act. The Wolves have 70s for their gimmicks so they're only taking small penalties - I'll leave them there for now to make sure I don't get a penalty for changing the act too soon. Bobby Roode is in the same boat, because he doesn't have the requirements for working as an Old School Face. (I didn't even know that there were requirements for that gimmick, but perhaps he's not Wholesome enough.) Drug Testing stops. I don't know if TNA can afford it and Low Level testing isn't that effective. Besides, Matt Hardy got to the "Some Tension" point after our little chat, and it doesn't look like the problem is widespread in the roster. I actually give some serious thought to ditching the Hardys and their friends but decide I'm being too hasty. In fact, thinking about the OMEGA guys makes me realise the lack of heel stables at my TNA. I'm going to test Jeff Hardy for a heel turn to see if it gets a negative reaction (it's not going to go well, but it might go OK with his 50 Heel Performance). While Jeff gets checked for a turn, I'll set up Drew Galloway, Rene Dupree, Tiger Raj Singh, and Magnus as a unit. All four are guys who I want to push to some extent, so the stable should give them a bit more help. I'm sorely tempted to turn the Wolves into a Freebirds type group with Roderick Strong, but I don't think that setup works for Faces... A few overness changes catch my eye. As expected, Drew & Tiger lost overness from jobbing to the Wolves. Thanks to Keep Strong, they lost less than Davey & Eddie gained. Austin Aries gained overness from his debut and now sits at #3 on the Franchise Players, bumping Mr. Anderson off the list. That's a big improvement. Madison Rayne gained 3 Overness across the US while Gail gave up 2 in the same region, again thanks to Keep Strong. Abyss gained popularity from taking a loss to Bobby Roode, so I probably could have gone without the Keep Strong note in their match. And even though he's not getting over with me, Matt Hardy is jobbing his way up the roster. TLN comes back saying that Impact is too long for them at 2 hours. I try pitching the show to CityTV, on the basis that any new deal is an improvement. In other commercial developments, I shortlist the whole WWE roster so that I can press them during contract renegotiations. WWE is my main competition and I want to wear them down by increasing their wage bill. (If this sounds ruthless, bear in mind that the outcome involves their roster getting a raise!) There are a few WWE guys on PPAs that I could try signing now: Booker T, the Dudleys, Flair, and Sting. Sting is basically dead, Flair wants too much money even though this mod was Fair to Flair by giving him 100 Star Quality in his mid-sixties, and Booker knows we're too small for him. That leaves the Dudleys as a possibility, and although my roster is pretty stacked already there is room for an experienced tag team. I'm going to put the decision off until March, when I should be able to see if they're in Age Decline by checking the progress of their physical stats. I take a quick look over the Knockouts to make sure that they are developing, and I'm pleased to see progress. Alissa Flash's tag-team match helped all three of the other women with their performance skills. Reviewing the resources in the division, I'm a little concerned that I haven't been using Velvet Sky. Despite a lack of ring skills, she's relatively Over and could pass that on to other workers. I have a couple more Knockouts coming in soon who will add a bit of star power to the division (and make Magnus happy), so the imminent loss of Awesome Kong doesn't concern me. <div style="text-align:center;"><img src="<a href="http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png" rel="external nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png""></a></div> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRESHOW: Rod Strong & the Wolves beat Dark Dragon, Rocky Romero, and Jesse White (6 mins)</div> A tune-up for all concerned. This gets Work the Crowd and Decisive and should pick up the Squash bonus. 52. Did not get a Squash bonus. I guess you can't really squash in a Trios match?</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRESHOW: Rhett Titus & Tyrus beat Mark Haskins & The Big O (6 mins)</div> Fishing for chemistry as usual. Aside from the obvious tag chemistry, I'm going to see if Madison Raynes is any good managing Tyrus. The match gets a decisive finish and is left to get the Squash bonus. 44. Madison "did good work" but again I don't see a squash bonus. Obviously that only turns up in singles matches, which isn't what I previously believed. Well, this diary was meant to be a learning experience.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRESHOW: Awesome Kong beats Barbi Hayden (6 mins)</div> Another squash, just trying to improve Barbi. I'll probably have to bring in some indie girls to job to her so that she doesn't get poor "recent fortunes". 36. Third "squash" match in a row not to get the bonus, and I know what exactly happened here. Both Kong and Barbi are pushed as "Women's Division" so neither is a jobber. I'm glad to be making all these errors on the pre-show!</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">DJ Zema Ion beats Shannon Moore (6 mins)</div> This is a scripted match. I also want to check to see if Helms is any good as Moore's Manager, even though Gregory is currently working as a Face. (In hindsight, that run-in to help Matt Hardy doesn't make all the sense in the world. I guess he did it with mixed emotions.) Eric Young slips into commentary to contribute DJZ's victory to their feud. 43. This was pretty interesting. Eric Young has awesome commentary chemistry with Ted Sr. Helms "did some good work" at ringside but the fans didn't think much of turning him heel. Shannon's Lackey gimmick got a 82, but he got a motivation penalty (pining for the tag division?).</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Backstage segment with Magnus and Kurt Angle (4 mins)</div> I picture this as Kurt giving Magnus a friendly "welcome back" and the Englishman being anything but friendly in reply. I'm confident this will rate well and give Magnus initial momentum. 70. Magnus debuts a Nobility gimmick at 79, he also improvises well. Kurt's been drinking.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Ted Sr. announces a match between the debuting Harry Smith and Bobby Roode (3 mins)</div> I have to debut Harry sometime and want him to go up against a Main Eventer. Hyping him pre debut might give him a bit of overness. 54. Ted gets his Legend gimmick on (81) and enjoys the freedom to go off-script.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Alissa Flash beats Velvet Sky (7 mins)</div> Velvet is more Over than talented, so I'm going to move some of that popularity to a better worker. I Keep Velvet Strong to help her in the match and to manipulate the Overness change here. The finish is Tainted with Ted Jr. providing a distraction. 46. Velvet gets penalties for her poor performance skills, something that this match is meant to help fix.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Madison Rayne's victory celebration is ruined by Gail Kim (5 mins)</div> Just keeping their feud going. Madison is a good enough entertainer to help develop Gail, but I think it might be a bit late in the day for that. 42. Madison improvises badly and they both have low momentum.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bram beats Ryan Nemeth (6 mins)</div> This is just a squash, but I'd like to put Ryan on TV to help him along. 44. I don't get the "well-booked squash" bonus here, either?! Obviously I just don't understand what's required to get that bonus.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Backstage segment with the Hardy brothers and Gregory Helms (4 mins)</div> As mentioned, I want to see if Jeff could turn Heel without it bombing. This gives some screen time to help explain what's going on with Helms and Matt. 43. Neither turn gets fan approval, but I might do them anyway. Jeff's improvisation was disastrous, Matt and Gregory did well, but unfortunately all of them have substance abuse problems. In Jeff's case, he's reformed, which I actually consider to be a bit worse than a live problem because it can't be reduced by interactions. Of course, brother Matt's substance abuse problems aren't getting cleaned up either...</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Hype video for Rhino, Menace-based (4 mins)</div> He's debuting tonight and is a classy guy, so I give him a little boost. At any rate, with 80 Menace so this isn't going to tank. 65. GORE!</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Christopher Daniels beats Johnny Gargano (8 mins)</div> Johnny should gain overness by losing this. Jay Lethal distracts Daniels to further their feud in a false finish situation. I add the All Out note as a test.[/b] 63. Both guys work well with the All Out note.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews interviews Ted Jr who puts over Alissa Flash (4 mins)</div> Ted has great entertainment skills despite his poor star quality. Hopefully he can train up Josh & Alissa here. 61. Ted Jr. improvises badly, Josh improvises well.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">John Hennigan takes a seat at commentary (2 mins)</div> 57. Didn't get a time penalty.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Austin Aries and Alex Shelly beat Paul Lloyd Jr. and Adam Cole (7 mins)</div> Fun fact: Lloyd is probably calling this match because he's got the best Psychology. I set it open and decisive, with Hennigan's presence on commentary feeding the segment to his feud with Aries. 65. Alex Shelly debuts his Mystic Oriental gimmick (79) - he's been working in Japan, right? <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Cole's awful psychology gets a penalty here, but hopefully we're addressing that. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Mike Bennett taunts Lashley (4 mins)</div> Sure, he lost the match, but he did beat Lashley up afterwards. And that's what really matters: beating people up. This won't be very good but I'm trying to see if Maria triggers the "manager helping" bonus when Bennett's being (not very) entertaining. 45. Mike gets all contrary and improvises well. Maria does help him. Lashley wasn't rated in this segment, so I probably would have gotten a better rating by including his Overness.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bobby Roode is destroyed by Abyss (5 mins)</div> Yep, it's a swerve. Abyss takes out Roode as he's coming down to the ring and takes his spot against Smith. I feel like I'm hot-shotting their feud with this, but then again I was counting on them to rev things up. 74. This was Menace-based for Abyss. It lifts the crowd, by which I'm sure that TEW means they're booing like crazy. Or maybe they're chanting "USA!" because a Canadian's getting beaten up?</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Abyss beats Harry Smith (7 mins)</div> Despite the temptation to book Abyss Dominant, I make this Open. Abyss gets a clean win, though. 63. Harry's Canadian Hero gimmick gets an 82. <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Backstage segment with James Storm & Bobby Roode (4 mins)</div> Roode can sell his beating from Abyss and Storm can join the feud. And to think I said I wasn't going to do anything with Beer Money! More practically, Storm might improve as an entertainer in this segment despite being in age decline. 59. Both of them improvise well, but TEW notes that Roode is carrying the segment. The game also claims that Storm is improving, but I have come to mistrust the Worker Improvements tab.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Kurt Angle joins the commentary team (3 mins)</div> Angle gets maximum time but this will still probably get time limited. 67. Didn't get a penalty for time. Huh.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Magnus beats Rhino (7 mins)</div> Kurt Angle is on commentary to feed this segment into their feud. The match goes open and all out and ends decisively to establish Magnus as a threat. 59. Probably shouldn't have put this so high up the card, but it's actually high enough rated to be a decent main event at TNA's current popularity. Magnus deals well with going all out but Rhino doesn't. Rhino also gets a motivation penalty, but at least his Raging Bull gimmick does well (90).</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Magnus is joined by his stablemates for a victory promo (4 mins)</div> This is here for flow, but I think it's a useful segment for the promotion. 54. Drew & Rene improvised well, Tiger did poorly. Rene Dupree also flags for a soft drugs habit.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Drew Galloway challenges Mr. Anderson to a match: challenge accepted. (4 mins)</div> I've put a fair bit of heat into their feud already, so now we can start building towards a match at the next PPV. This segment should help train Drew's Entertainment skills. 56. Both of them get improvisation bonuses. I pre-book a match for them at Victory Road.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">#1 Contender Match: EC3 beats Bobby Lashley (13 mins)</div> I set this up as open and Keep Lashley Strong by having Matt Hardy botch interference. The match will be All Out even though EC3 still doesn't have the Stamina - he won't get better if we don't push his limits. 57. Ouch. Even if I was determined for the Heavyweights to get the Main Event, Abyss's match with Harry Smith would have done better. The consolation is that, as mentioned earlier, this rating is higher than TNA's popularity. Both workers get stamina penalties and EC3 doesn't deal with the pressure. I might have done better leaving All Out off, but I console myself with the thought that they'll gain stamina from this match. </div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;">Show Rating: 63. </div> The angles on the show give it a boost on what I achieved in the main and semi-main events. Popularity goes up in 26 regions, and (importantly) no Storyline penalties come up. With another successful show under my belt, TNA's Momentum improves to 11. The show also made money. I haven't done a back-of-the-envelope but my feeling is that TNA should finish the month with a small loss (mainly due to overspending on the PPV and having to fork out for PPAs). <hr noshade size=3> I've played far enough ahead of what's written here to have discovered a big problem with my strategy, but I haven't changed my notes to account for hindsight. Any guesses as to what it is, and how I'm going to try dealing with it?

Big Mark Smark · March 19, 2016

Impact Taping for Week 4, February 2016

I let my last chance to renew Awesome Kong's contract go by, but I resolve not to bury her on her last night at the company. However, I have a change of heart regarding Gregory Helms and offer him a contract extension. I try giving him a deal that excludes ring work (he's a Non-Wrestler) and he says he can't see the point because his only role is Wrestler. I try giving him a deal for ring work exclusively and he has no problem with this. Somewhat piqued, I go with "Whatever is Needed" plus CC. After doing so, I try setting Helms' push to "Occasional Wrestler" and check his Morale. He doesn't want an in-ring push. IMO, this is a problem with the mod, so I crack open the editor and set Helms' roles to Personality (usually) and Manager (sometimes) with a status of Retired Wrestler, as this seems to be what he's doing these days.

That was the second thing I've patched in-game, the other being Bryan Danielson's physical condition. I lowered his Head rating down low enough to trigger his retirement. Interestingly, TEW believes that Danielson as defined in this mod would make a fine Manager, Colour Commentator, or Road Agent. Will life imitate computer games?

As the last week of February starts, WWE hold Fastlane. Their main event is Trips defending against Dean Ambrose and it goes down pretty well. NJPW run The New Beginning 2016, headlined by Okada defending his title against Yuji Nagata. Despite these successes, neither of the giants are gaining a lot of popularity. (WWE is getting over in its tertiary markets outside of North America with a hot Kevin Owens vs. Big Show storyline, while NJPW is treading water.) Everyone else is beneath me and therefore I don't want to know what they're doing lest it be catching up. ;-)

TNA's Momentum drops down to 8. I now suspect that I'm getting penalised for annoying Nippon TV with low ratings. CityTV don't want a 2 hour show either and I seem to recall that this is determined by promotion size exclusively. (i.e. TNA is Cult, therefore we don't deserve 2 hours.) I'm finding the extra time on TV useful for getting my (now-large) roster over, so I don't want to reduce the show's length. The only coverage that really matters is in the US, because that's what will push the brand back to National. With that in mind, I cancel the contract with Nippon TV. It wasn't making TNA any money and the overness we were gaining in Japan was below the level that we'd get for National Spillover. The only thing this deal was really doing (other than annoying people) was getting my talent over in Japan, and that's not particularly important right now. Hopefully that puts an end to the Momentum drops!

<img src="

http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png"">

Ryan Davidson organises a video game tournament. Backstage morale was already at 100%, though.

PRE-SHOW: The Crew (Tiger Raj Singh & Drew Galloway) beat Ryan Nemeth and The Big O (6 mins)

Set Open because the squash bonus is eluding me. This gets Work the Crowd because it's the opener on the night.

Nemeth and Big O have zero chemistry. Galloway was a shining light in this match. Ryan Nemeth doesn't know how to work the crowd.

PRE-SHOW: Maria Kanellis beats Barbi Hayden (7 mins)

I set this up as a "Diva" match, focused on eye candy. The average Sex Appeal here is 89. This is something of an experiment (which is why it's on pre-show), but it should help both workers unless it absolutely bombs. I set it as an open match with a tainted finish.

47, and TEW treats me to the euphemism "solid in-ring action" for what's going on here. Still, I'm not complaining.

PRE-SHOW: Harry Smith beats Ryan Davidson (6 mins)

Squash. I do consider Davidson an important guy, but his job is training up the roster with his performance skills.

46. Got the squash bonus because Davidson is Enhancement Talent.

PRE-SHOW: Alex Shelley beats Mark Haskins (6 mins)

More of the same. With no development company, I need to use the pre-show for training my guys.

55! Also got the squash bonus. I think the higher rating is due to Shelley's overness - he's one the most popular workers on my midcard.

Bram & Young beat Adam Cole and Paul Lloyd Jr. (7 mins)

Cole needs work on his performance skills. Bram & Young have now been set up as an occasional tag team, so I can start working on their tag experience.

54. Bram & Young are relatively over.

Mr. Anderson beats Rene Dupree (7 mins)

Kicking off with a fairly hot opener, even though I don't really believe that the opening match's quality affects the crowd all that much. The kayfabe logic here is that Anderson is fighting one of Galloway's stablemates. The shoot logic is that Dupree will get the rub from an Open match with a Main Eventer. Galloway creates a Distraction to feed this match into the feud.

58. Anderson and Dupree have good chemistry, although Dupree gets a motivation penalty here. I must remember to try him out as a tag partner for Tiger or Drew. Probably Tiger.

Bobby Roode video (Overness) (4 mins)

This segment is to sell Bobby's kayfabe injuries from Abyss. It should help the show.

64. As expected.

Gail Kim calls out Madison Rayne but the champ doesn't answer. (4 mins)

One of those storyline angles that probably isn't great for business short-term, but it won't kill the show.

43. Gail improvised badly.

Kurt Angle squashes Jesse White (6 mins)

Jesse is paying his dues here. I set the match decisive.

67. Jesse gets the privilege of tapping out to the Ankle Lock.

Magnus attacks Angle (4 mins)

Average popularity is 65, so 4 mins should be enough.

66. Both have high morale and a good gimmick, Kurt has low momentum and drinks.

Hype video for Austin Aries & Christopher Daniels vs. John Hennigan & Jay Lethal (4 mins)

I set this tag match as the main event for this show and it's a big enough deal that I'm going to hype it. The angle will only do OK (40s?) as their popularity ranges between 38 (Lethal) and 56 (Aries).

50. Better than expected.

Madison Rayne is on the 'phone (4 mins)

Madison's a good entertainer so she should get a decent rating here.

57. Bad improvising.

Abyss beats Rhino (7 mins)

Just making the big man look strong, nothing too special. It gets Open and Decisive.

62. Abyss was off his game. Rhino takes a motivation penalty again, he probably wants to be a tag wrestler.

Hype video for Magnus' stable with Drew Galloway, Rene Dupree, and Tiger Raj Singh (4 mins)

Just trying to help to guys down the bottom of this outfit.

42. That's probably only good for Tiger.

Bikini contest: Anna Bogomazova, Barbi Hayden, Kelly Black, and Velvet Sky (6 mins)

This will get good ratings and it'll help Anna B. to start off here with high momentum. TNA, T&A, TNA.

62. Anna gets a 97 for her Legitimate Athlete gimmick, which is ironic considering the angle she's debuting it in.

Josh Mathews interviews James Storm about Abyss (4 mins)

I've added Storm to the Roode/Abyss storyline, so he's going to promise some cowboy justice in this segment. I'm pretty sure that Josh will prop up this angle because Storm is not a good talker.

50. Both of them improvised well. Storm has a drinking problem.

DJZ and Roderick Strong beat Rocky Romero and Dark Dragon (7 mins)

Eric Young is slipped into commentary so that this match gets credited to his feud with DJZ. I don't expect wonders here, but I know that Rocky and Dragon have OK chemistry. (I've actually set them up as an occasional tag team so they can get experience together while being my tag job guys.) Because I've been struggling to get the squash bonus to trigger, I set this Open.

50. Should trigger some worker improvements (the game's telling me that DJZ & Rocky gained skills, but I don't believe it).

Austin Aries and Christopher Daniels taunt Hennigan and Lethal (5 mins)

With the entertainment skills of these guys, how could I not hand them the mic?

59. I'm slightly disappointed. Daniels got an improvisation bonus but has a drinking problem.

Davey Richards beats Rhett Titus (7 mins)

I'm pretty sure that I want to break up the Wolves. Davey gets a quick dip into the singles pool here in an Open All Out match.

57. Both of them got a motivation bonus, so Davey seems to agree about ending his tag team run. No problems going all out.

Alissa Flash & Ted Jr. plot backstage (4 mins)

This got added to the show because I didn't have enough angle time. It should help Flash with her entertainment skills and rate pretty well nonetheless.

64. Limited due to being looks-based and penalised for Ted Jr. having a drinking problem. Ted, the beverage is meant to go into your mouth. It's not that hard!

Bobby Lashley & EC3 beat Matt Hardy & Mike Bennett (13 mins)

I was thinking that the heels would both need solid wins next week to make up for this, but Matt actually has a win over Lashley so his recent fortunes aren't that bad. The match is set open and EC3 gets a win over Mike Bennett. I'll use the All Out note again to keep building up Stamina.

63. Lashley gets a motivation bonus, EC3 & Hardy don't deal with the pressure of an all out match but there are no stamina penalties thanks to the tag team factor. Maria and Helms do some good work at ringside.

Post-match: Gregory Helms, Shannon Moore, and Jeff Hardy run in and join the heels in a revenge attack on Lashley and EC3. (4 mins)

Although Jeff isn't going to be cleared to wrestle for months in this mod, I can still use him in angles. My feeling is that the sooner he turns the sooner he can work on his heel performance. This angle establishes "Omega Point" as a heel stable. I like "natural" stables set up with workers who actually have personal connections, as this seems to be a succesful formula in real wrestling even if TEW gives it no bonus.

43. EC3 was fantasic, Helms and Moore were underwhelming. I turn both Jeff and Helms here, despite the game warning me that they're better as Faces. I know that, TEW, I'm trying to be fresh and different. Both turns go pretty well and Jeff had 1 (one) momentum anyway.

The Hardy brothers and Helms cut a heel promo (4 mins)

Shannon Moore would just drag this down. They can rant about not being appreciated or something. Matt and Helms would be very good at this and Jeff might learn something.

46. They get 5 substance abuse penalties between the three of them - Jeff, as mentioned previously, is reformed. Matt is the most off his face of them all and perhaps this is why he improvises well while the others do badly.

Austin Aries and Christopher Daniels beat John Hennigan and Jay Lethal (13 mins)

This is Open and All Out. I'm a heel booker at heart, so the bad guys of the X-Division go over clean. Austin pins Jay, reasserting the finish from their PPV match. The chemistry would have to be catastrophic for this main event to bomb.

71. No chemistry effects. John's the only one to struggle going All Out, so I'm sure that the note made for a better match.

Show Rating: 67

This show increased our popularity in 18 regions. The drop in the number of regions affected is because I'm no longer on air in Japan. 67 is enough for great feedback and a lot of praise. Momentum goes up 12.5% (to 9 ). Finances are looking OK, but I'll report on that in more detail at the start of March. Checking in with Jeff Hardy he hasn't gained any momentum but his Gimmick has been revitalised to 96. Gregory Helms, similarly, is still on 76 Momentum but his Gimmick is up to 94.

tryker2710 · March 23, 2016

This is definitely my favourite dynasty going right now. Keep it up! Its great and its giving me plenty of tips for my own games.

Big Mark Smark · March 25, 2016

Planning for March 2016

Despite what I was saying earlier, the real story with the finances is horrifying. TNA ate a $260k loss for the month, out of a starting budget of one million dollars. Perhaps 50k of that loss is due to transitional costs (paying workers on the PPA deal in a month that they'll sign a written deal) another 70k was overspending on a PPV, and a few thousand more on drug testing I shouldn't have been doing, but that still leaves a huge shortfall. I have a sinking feeling that I've tanked this game by expanding the roster too much. This mod is quite different to eras I usually play in with fairly modest crowds, so I don't have a huge stack of ticket sales money to play with like I would in an 80s scenario. (In February, TNA sold less than 20,000 tickets over four TV shows and a PPV.) I might be able weasel my way out of this problem by using Drug Testing to fire people. But where's the fun in that?

With a bit over 700k in the bank and a forecast shortfall of about 140k a month, I have maybe five months to sort this out. That's not enough time for TNA to grow its way out of the problem, so I'll need to take action to balance the books. I cut back on the extras for production, as the core product is doing really well. Next, I consider ways to increase turnover. With my Roster this big, I can probably do a Roster Split and run extra events for revenue. This would help push TNA's popularity, too, so it's not a bad idea in principle. If I was just playing for my own amusement, I'd probably balk at this because I like to break up the grind of booking shows with office stuff, but writing the diary should break up the monotony.

The roster has 20 Heavyweights, 21 X-Division, 11 (soon to be 10) Knockouts, so a semi-split brand could work. With just one show, the TV and PPV stay universal but the company would run two (maybe three?) "tours" with non-PPV events - essentially overblown House Shows. Doing a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, I figure that I need seven extra events a month to make sure the company doesn't collapse. To fit that in, I move the Impact taping back to Tuesday (so it's a pseudo-live show, like the first of real Impact's current set of tapings). There'll be a weekly "Arena Show" on Thursdays, and each "tour" will get one of the Sundays that doesn't clash with the monthly PPV. Not that the real TNA runs monthly PPVs at the moment, but whatever. I also consider running these extra events as PPVs but decide against it. I know that TEW gives decreasing returns on each successive PPV in a month, and it's totally unrealistic that anyone could really get the fans buying half a dozen PPVs each month even if the game will let me squeeze something out of it.

Another reason to go down the Brand Split route is that I really don't know how some of the settings work. The basics of the system are clear enough, although the UI isn't great, but what does it really mean to have a Major or Minor Brand? How much does a Focus impact on Product settings? I'd like to learn more about these factors so my first draft for the tours is as follows:

High Impact Tour - This is a Major Brand with a Traditional Focus. It'll get the Heavyweights and run a Big (2 hour) show on the first Sunday of the month.
Xplosion Tour - This is the Major Brand with a Daredevil Focus. It picks up the X-Division and runs a Big (2 hour) show every third Sunday.
Knockout Tour - I'll make this my Minor Brand and I'm not sure that any focus would benefit the Women's Division, so I leave it Normal. Due to the much smaller roster, the Knockouts monthly show will have to be smaller. Checking my Product, I can go as low as 65% matches. I consider a Medium (90 minute) show but decide against it. For now, the Knockout Tour gets a Small Show (60 minutes) on the last Sunday of the Month.

I've also regularised the PPVs to be on the second Sunday of the month. This means less time to build towards marquee events like Slammiversary and Bound For Glory, but one TNA thing I'm really going to try to emulate is their slow burn booking. Unfortunately this schedule probably precludes giving Bobby Roode time off to sell his injuries at the hands of Abyss - but then, with Beer Money in Age Decline and Abyss old enough that he could start it any month, why do I want to draw out that feud? Better to have them get their matches in before they break down. (I might be trying to talk myself into this. )

In better news, popularity picked up 2 points across the US from our February shows, moving up from 53 to 55. Importance is sitting in the 49-50 range, so the trek to National will be a long one. Similarly, there are some small gains in popularity across the roster. Skill changes are mostly to performance skills or age decline. Improvements should increase with the added events.

After confronting a disaster of my own making and racking my brain to find a way out, I was not in the right mental state to book a show. I've gone a little ahead of this point, so your suggestions on how to pull things back together would still be useful.

And appreciated.

tryker2710, I'm glad you're finding the diary helpful. Taking notes is definitely helping me with figuring out things about the game, even if I'm not in a great position right now!

tryker2710 · March 25, 2016

One of the biggest problems seems to be that the most expensive people on the roster are underperforming because of substance abuse issues. That might be something you need to put out before they ruin a big main event.

Hashasheen · March 25, 2016

What database is this, BMS?

tryker2710 · March 25, 2016

This is February 2016 I'd imagine.

Big Mark Smark · March 26, 2016

tryker2710, I'll keep an eye on that. I don't think the Hardys' issues have tanked a show yet (remembering that I don't need to do better than 60s at the moment), but I probably need to let them go before hitting national. On the other hand, I can't afford to just cut them loose without moving their overness to other guys.

Hashasheen, I'm using Fleish's Real World Chronicles, February 2016 edition. Here's a link to his mods.

Big Mark Smark · March 27, 2016

Impact Taping for Week 1, March 2016 One point of unfinished business from the last update was guessing at how the Brand Focus might shift the product and trying to find Intensity/Danger match settings that will work across the board. I know that the Brand Focus does shift the requirements from past experience. (Playing as NJPW, I tried a semi-split with the Juniors and Heavyweights that's pretty similar to what I'm doing here). The High Impact Tour should be fine with the current settings. TNA already has Heavy Traditional and Data check says nothing would have to be altered at Key Feature. The Xplosion Tour is a bit of a puzzle. If the Daredevil focus (to help the X-Division guys) shifts our effective definition from None to Medium, then the Data Check wants 40% Danger. If I opted for a Modern Focus instead and it goes from Very Low up to Medium, the fans would expect 40% Danger and 20% Intensity, though this would also shift the product to Performance = Popularity. In both cases, I could definitely switch the overall Intensity and Danger settings up to what this change (might) require. I also have an option to give the Knockouts Tour a Risque Focus without any mucking around and this would probably help by allowing for edgier angles. Against my moral squirming, I change the Knockouts to Risque Focus and put the Xplosion Tour on a Traditional Focus to put off the issue of Danger & Intensity until after the first tour shows. If you know more about how Brand Focus works than I do, please pitch in! <div style="text-align:center;"><img src="<a href="http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png" rel="external nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/6Q8kQOs.png""></a></div> No incidents backstage. I'm still really concerned about the bottom line, so I spend a bit of time thinking about where to run the show. We're expecting three thousand and change in turnout, which is a difficult house in TEW2013. (Can't wait for the sliding scale of venue hire costs in '16!) I could book for a 2000 seat venue for $8k, while anything larger has to justify another $7k in hire costs. Although I'm not 100% certain, I believe that sell out crowds have a positive effect on momentum or show rating. I settle on the Convention Center Ballroom in Hartford, which seats 3,275 against an expected turnout of 3,352. While doing this, I'm heartened to see that both the industry (52) and economy (86) are rising. So long as that trend continues, I can count on circumstances to help dig me out of this hole. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRE-SHOW: Adam Cole beats Ryan Davidson (6 mins)</div> Cole really needs to work on his performance skills so I set him up with the roster's designated trainer. This gets Work the Crowd, as usual for the first match on the card. 46. Cole is still pretty bad. Davidson is still pretty good. </div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRE-SHOW: Jade beats Anna Bogomazova (6 mins)</div> I should really repackage the Russian girl as "Anna" or something. Anyway, like in the opener we've got a veteran teaching a rookie. Unlike in the opener, I set the looks-based match as Open. 42. I still find it funny to see an Eye Candy match described as having "solid in-ring action". Anna is eating penalties for low psychology, as expected.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRE-SHOW: Dupree & Singh beat Mark Haskins and Ryan Nemeth (6 mins)</div> Tiger gets the pin and this is Open. I'm pretty sure that Rene prefers tags and I want to see how he goes with Tiger. 45. No chemistry effects. Dupree doesn't get a motivation effect, which is an improvement on getting a penalty. This might be a regular team.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRE-SHOW: The Big O cuts a promo (4 mins)</div> By the numbers, he's a good entertainer. But I don't trust him to do this on-screen just yet. 47, with masterful improvisation. I'm impressed, but if that's his very best I was right to keep the guy from working in front of a camera for now. As I understand it, popularity > performance means that overness counts for 60% of the grade. O has so little overness that I wouldn't have expected over 40 as the base grade, so I guess the improvisation bonus is a modifier to the skills + overness base.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">PRE-SHOW: The Wolves & Roderick Strong beat Jesse White, Dark Dragon, and Rocky Romero (7 mins)</div> I have run this exact match before and it still works for training purposes. 54, benefitting from the tag team experience on the faces' side.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Gail Kim & Ted DiBiase Sr. in an authority angle (4 mins)</div> Gail is once again demanding her rematch. Speaking on behalf of the company, Ted Sr. says that automatic rematches no longer apply for workers over 40. But because he's such a fair guy, he'll see about organising a rematch if Gail can beat one of the new girls, right now. (I know, this diary is meant to be a shoot, but sometimes when you're shooting you gotta tell people about an angle. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> I basically want to use the authority angles without relying on Dixie or Billy. Ted Sr. can go on the Mic so I wedge him into this slot.) 60. The game tells me that Ted Sr. looked good, which comes across as a dig at Gail <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> She improvised well.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Mickie James beats Gail Kim (8 mins)</div> This is set up Open and ends Tainted when Madison runs in. I want a slower burn on the Gail/Madison feud and Mickie is so popular that losing to her should help Gail. I'm also adding Mickie to the feud to help string things out. Gotta set up the odds for Gail to overcome, right? 46. These two don't click at all. Bah. Mickie gets 93 for her Arrogant Heel gimmick, but she'll be saddled with low momentum from this mediocre debut. Should have started her off in a Bikini contest or something.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Madison Rayne debuts her bodyguard, Tyrus (4 mins)</div> The angle should go down well and I want to present Madison as a chickenshit heel. I guess I could have used Kong for the bodyguard role, but I'd already decided to let her go. 60. Madison did some good improvising.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Kelly Black beats Awesome Kong (6 mins)</div> Speaking of AK, I want her to do one last job for the company and put over Kelly. This is set up Open and I don't use Keep Strong to mitigate the Overness damage (but I don't apply a spiteful Bury note, either). 41. Kong got penalties for inconsistency and age decline. Sad.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Abyss taunts James Storm (4 mins)</div> Taunt is the stock delivery of TEW and it's always a fight not to use it. At this point in the Abyss/Beer Money feud I think it actually makes sense. 62. Thanks Abyss. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Mike Bennett beats Chris Hero (6 mins)</div> Set up Open. Bennett needs a clean win and Hero can eat the pin. 45. Didn't click, welcome to the bad chemistry show. <img alt=":(" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> Maria was helpful as ever. Hero got a motivation bonus.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Bennett and Maria taunt Lashley (4 mins)</div> They're smug about the beatdown alongside Omega Point, and for once Bennett has a clean win to celebrate. This time I'm going to throw Maria's entertainment and Bobby's Overness into the angle. Although that means that Bennett won't get managerial help, it should do better than the 43-rated taunt from last time. 37. Sigh. In fairness to me, they both got the terrible improvising note, so I don't think I expected too much.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Jay Lethal beats Rhett Titus (7 mins)</div> Josh leaves his seat in commentary to be replaced by Christopher Daniels. This match runs Open and All Out, with Jay getting a clean win. He needs the win for recent fortunes and to build himself up in the feud with Daniels. 58. We're entering the good bit of the show. Rhett had a motivation bonus.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">The Wolves appear on a talk show segment hosted by Ted Sr. (5 mins)</div> Last time I had the Wolves talk, I regretted not giving them a better entertainer to learn from. I am not yet ready to repeat that mistake. 60. Ted actually improvised badly while the Wolves enjoyed their freedom.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews interviews Bobby Roode and James Storm about Abyss (4 mins)</div> I'm not going to rely on Storm's limited entertainment skills here and the kayfabe logic would accept that Roode is in shape to appear on TV again so long as he's wearing a neck brace or something. 54. James Storm performed poorly at standing there thanks to his drinking habit. (What was he doing, swaying?) Roode was great and had masterful improvisation, Josh exceeded himself and got the same masterful note.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Drew Galloway beats Rhino (7 mins)</div> Set up Open and Call in the Ring (both guys have over 70 Psychology). Mr. Anderson comes down to take Josh's empty seat in commentary and contributes a distraction, but doesn't get physically involved this time. 58. Rhino eats another motivation penalty. Nothing else really went wrong with this match, it's just pop > perf at work.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Josh Mathews interviews EC3 who puts over Bobby Lashley (4 mins)</div> This uses Lashley's Menace and EC3's entertainment. It should work out and it feels like it fits the storylines. 63. More good improvising. EC3 looked good.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Austin Aries beats DJZ (7 mins)</div> Another Open match to help bring a guy up the roster. Eric Young shows up to help Aries win tainted. 65. Austin Aries is talented and over. DJZ gets an inconsistency penalty.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">John Cena runs out to save DJZ from a two-on-one (3 mins)</div> Wait, did I say Cena? Sorry, wrong John. It's actually Hennigan but this is a "the champ is here" segment. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> It doesn't get much time because Aries is the only really over guy in it. 47. About as good as expected.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Both DiBiases and Alissa Flash take part in a skit (5 mins)</div> This is the "Dad, I'd like you to meet Alissa" angle I promised earlier. It should rate really well by using the DiBiases' Entertainment skills and Alissa's Sex Appeal. On-screen logic would dictate that this happens at ringside. 70. Both DiBiases improvised well. Ted Jr. needs to find god and stop drinking, though.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Ethan Carter III beats Ted DiBiase Jr. by DQ (13 mins)</div> I set this Open, to end with Alissa getting Ted Jr. DQ'd. I resist the temptation to take another hit of the angle that ran immediately prior to this, but I do imagine that it's a finish with a comedic undertone. EC3 benefits because he's the Franchise. 70. Alissa helped out at ringside. Oddly, Ted Jr. doesn't get a drinking penalty in this segment. Perhaps the adrenaline sobered him up?</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Matt Hardy confronts EC3 (5 mins)</div> But I do take another hit of sports entertainment. Last time I ran this they got a 53 and both workers are a little more over now. 68. Matt Hardy still pulls substance abuse penalties, but with both workers improvising well and Gregory Helms out there to help it's not enough to hurt the segment.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Magnus beats Harry Smith (7 mins)</div> I slide Kurt Angle into commentary here, using the guest commentary for the third time in the night. But whatever, people love Kurt. Magnus wins clean in an Open match and Kurt is too honourable to interfere. 60. Mistake on my part, the last match had more Overness by some margin. Harry gets a motivation bonus.</div></blockquote> <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41005" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;">Magnus challenges Angle to a match, challenge accepted (5 mins)</div> The old "I'm the top dog here now" angle. Magnus is a decent entertainer and Kurt can teach him how to work a crowd. 78. We still wrap up the show on a high note with both workers improvising really well. I pre-book their match for Victory Road.</div></blockquote> <div style="text-align:center;">Show Rating: 66.</div> If I'd positioned my card correctly (using Aries for the semi-main and EC3/Ted Jr. for the main event), this would have been more like a 70. But for reasons I've suggested before, now is the time for that kind of mistake. 66 is really good at TNA's current level (55 in the USA) and increases the company's popularity in all 18 regions receiving the broadcast. Feedback is great and the show draws a lot of praise. It's not quite a sell-out crowd with 3,206 tickets sold and $38,472 made from the gate. (So $12 each, OK.) Next time will be a bit of a moment of truth. If I can turn a decent profit off the Arena show (and I think I can) then the company will stay afloat. If not, I will struggle manfully until I get sacked or Vince buys the place. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Hashasheen · March 27, 2016

It's looking interesting so far, especially since you're pursuing this from an out-of-character perspective. Just how popular are you in the UK, though? Would shows there be better for your bottom line?

CobheadJake · March 27, 2016

This is an enjoyable read so far and I love the way your present it. It's more in depth in the backstage stuff than a usual diary, which I find interesting. You think about things in the game a lot more than I do, as I am pretty much just a 'play and learn a couple of things along the way' type guy.

These tours should be fun though, will be interesting to see how they play out. I am really interested in who 'breaks out' and gets pushed as the face of the company, or if you choose to eventually focus on a few top names.

Keep it up!

Big Mark Smark · March 28, 2016

Arena Show for week 1, March 2016

<img src="

http://i.imgur.com/f8AKyHg.jpg" >

Eric Young and Christopher Daniels bond over their shared love of pigeons. Tyrus and The Big O bond over their love of botany. I've always assumed that these events are euphemisms, so that the reality is more like Young and Daniels out chasing women (= birds = pigeons) together while Tyrus and The Big O are enjoying some sort of herbal remedy.

At my current popularity, an event is expected to draw 5k and change. That feels close enough that it's better to book a 5k arena and sell out, rather than eating extra hire costs. The whole point of these extra dates was to make money, after all. I pick the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum in Columbus.

For booking this show, I have a bit of a dilemma. Technically, whatever I book here will feed into storylines. But realistically, it shouldn't because five thousand live viewers plus a few hundred more reading about what happened doesn't compare to Impact's direct audience of two hundred thousand plus pirate viewers. So mostly I'm going to book things that have nothing to do with the storylines, mainly a bunch of matches to train guys up. One rule for this show is that the High Impact tour is working in a couple of days, so none of my heavyweights should work long matches. That means the X Division will be main eventing. It probably also means that this show will be (relatively) awful.

Alex Shelley and Christopher Daniels beat Johnny Gargano and Paul Lloyd Jr. (15 mins)

I don't really believe in the "hot opener" theory, but I'll give it a whirl here. This is an open match to train the younger guys and push the heels.

60. Gargano got a motivation bonus. I see that the "holding back slightly" note applies here, probably because we're not on PPV.

Squash matches

Remember, this is an overgrown house show. None of these matches really deserve their own heading, and only the tag is the least bit interesting, because I don't know if there's chemistry between Strong & Edwards.

Abyss beats The Big O (6 mins) [61.]
Bobby Lashley beats Ryan Davidson (6 mins) [50.]
Magnus beats Ryan Nemeth (8 mins) [54.]
Drew Galloway beats Mark Haskins (6 mins) [53,]
Eddie Edwards & Roderick Strong beats Dark Dragon & Rocky Romero. (8 mins) [47, no chemistry, took a hefty length penalty because two midcarders = medium match, even if they're on the same side.]

Throwaway angles

Bikini Contest: Barbi Hayden, Kelly Black, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne (5 mins) [66, looks-based maximum]
Mr. Anderson interviews Bram & Eric Young (5 mins) [55.]
Beer Money Promo (4 mins) [62, carried by Roode]

King of the Mountain match: Eric Young © vs. Harry Smith vs. Chris Hero vs. Tyrus vs. Rhett Titus vs. Shannon Moore (15 mins)

Harry Smith wins this Open Match because I want the belt down in the midcard. DJZ attacks Eric Young (currently Upper Midcard) to justify a Keep Strong note.

46. I hoped for better. Took a penalty for title prestige, so hopefully Harry can lift the KotM belt up to a higher level.

Ted DiBiase Jr. interviews Matt Hardy and John Hennigan (5 mins)

I don't quite see this as a throwaway, because it's interviewing the champions of the two male divisions. Ted Jr. gets the nod to play host because he's a good entertainer and should help improve Hennigan.

59. The predictable substance abuse notes reared their collective head. Nobody got a looked good/bad note.

Kurt Angle & EC3 beat Rene Dupree and Tiger Raj Singh (15 mins)

This could at least be mistaken for a match and I expect it'll rate well due to the popularity of the babyfaces. It gives Kurt a chance to pass on his skills without exposing him to the rigors of a singles match.

59. Tiger was off his game. This was length limited to avoid exposing Tiger (LMC) - it should have gotten Main Event time due to Angle & EC3 appearing.

Kurt Angle & EC3 cut a promo (5 mins)

81! EC3 improvises well.

Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards (23 mins)

Davey's only in the midcard so I don't have to give this Main Event time. But I want to see what they can do. This gets Open and Slow Build. I think their Psychology ratings (low 60s) will probably mean that this match drags a bit and they certainly aren't good enough for Call in the Ring. But it should still rate highly. It's also a good chance to check Davey for negative motivation in the Main Event.

66. Got the "definite lack of psychology" note. Davey got a motivation bonus, he definitely prefers singles matches.

Show Rating: 66

The show increases our popularity in one region (the Great Lakes, where it was held) and got great feedback, drawing a lot of praise. TNA's momentum is now at 11 - I didn't check to see if the last Impact brought an increase, but the company probably gained 1 point for each show. More importantly, it sells out with 5000 tickets sold. The gate's value is $90k ($18/ticket). My show costs are now up to $38k, which is more than the combined hire costs for the two dates so far. TEW's obviously not telling me everything here, so I'll have to keep an eye on that figure to work out what's going on. However, even if the show cost for this event was $30k, the net was $60k and TNA will be in black just from running four of these a month on top of the TV & PPV commitments. I am greatly relieved. The "Tour" shows I talked about earlier probably aren't necessary, but I'll run them this month on the basis that they were probably announced. (The player's license to screw around with event dates without consequence is probably one of TEW's least realistic features.)

Hashasheen, the database starts TNA off with 55 overness across the USA and 40 across the UK & Canada. I don't have a good PPV option for the British Isles, so the gap's actually increasing. But as you can see above, my coping strategy was on track. (It wobbles a bit later in the month, but I've played far enough ahead to say that TNA isn't going broke. Yet. )

CobheadJake, I'm glad you're enjoying it. The storylines announced earlier should indicate some of the guys getting pushed. (e.g. Magnus being in a programme with Kurt is going to help him a lot.) Can't promise great things from the tours, but I might revive the concept later.

Remianen · March 29, 2016

WHOA! This is good stuff! Really interested to see how this turns out (especially since I know you haven't gone broke). <img alt="

" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

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