The NOTBPW Thread

[bookerman]

Since NOTBPW is probably my favorite promotion, I'll get things rolling with an overview of how they start 2016. In terms of product, nothing has really changed. Still a 90/10 wrestling/angle split for shows. Very much an old school promotion. The fans like clean wins and not a lot of shenanigans.

 

In terms of losses from the roster, Dan Stone, Dan Stone Jr (I always referred to him as DSJ), Jeremy Stone, and RK Hayes are no longer available. Senior Stone has retired from wrestling. DSJ is running the House of Stone dojo and Jeremy is now the booker. Losing Hayes hurts since having him around as a upper MC heel gatekeeper was always useful. There is one other HUGE loss which I'll address shortly.

 

Additions include numerous younger talents for the LMC/Opener spots. The biggest additions are Shooter Sean Deeley from CGC and Duane Stone returning from Japan. He plugs right into the UMC of NOTBPW and is already in a storyline with Owen Love and the Natural. Duane is less of a flyer now and more resembles DSJ/Jeremy in terms of his technical work. Neither is a superstar on the mic, but their in-ring work makes them very useful. Alexander Robinson and Lee Bennett have also joined the roster which helps bolster the tag ranks. One or both might be in time decline so use them wisely

 

The biggest change which might go unnoticed is that Tommy London, the head announcer, retired. This means at the outset you're starting off with an announcing crew that has very low experience and a new, mostly unknown announcer. This results in one or more penalties to matches for poor announcing/experience/etc.

 

The backstage area is awesome and depending on who you sign, you won't have to deal with any negative backstage problems for the most part.

 

NOTBPW has no figurehead at the start. There really is only one choice available and you need to get creative to pull it off.

 

NOTBPW is in a National battle with USPW and lacks the star power to really win. That could make for some tough months if they lose

 

Champions

 

Canadian - Tim Westybrook (beat Duane Stone) - starts in storyline with Duane Stone and Steve DeColt

 

TV - Cameron Vessey (beat Jacob Jett)

 

Tag - Brown/Haynes (beat Robinson/Bennett)

 

Womens -Sally Ann Christanson (beat Brooke Tyler)

 

 

Possible Signings

 

Peter Michaels - announcer - he was a scapegoat for SWF's fall but their loss is your gain. He's rated as 90 in announcing and while he will need time to build experience, your matches won't get dinged any longer

 

Ricky DeColt - he's going to be expensive and may require some special clauses, but adding a 31 year old who already is over in Canada, is related to someone on your roster, and can work NOTBPW style is worth it.

 

Ross Henry - comes available in February - former football player who is HUGELY over already in the US (72). Needs in-ring work but can be very useful in getting bigger names from other US feds (TCW - Troy Tornado for example) to come in and challenge for the NOTBPW World title. Henry hopefully gets some experience and improvement while being loaned out.

 

Tag teams - at the start there are only 5 established teams on the roster, 3 face and 2 heel. Signing a team or two and finding some workers with good tag chemistry would help the division and open things up a bit

 

Booking NOTBPW

 

I think step #1 is to get the World title off Westybrook. He's kinda like Rocky in 2013 where he's not quite at the level he needs to be to hold the strap. I'd get it on to Steve DeColt using the storyline they have and then work on getting DeColt to turn face. Steve is unfortunately the only possible figurehead on the roster and it is preferred that he be a face for that role. This can also tie in nicely to using Ross Henry to bring in big name "outsiders" to challenge face DeColt for the belt. Have your outsiders beat Deeley or McFly or Duane Stone to earn a shot. DeColt and outsider go to a draw. In the end, DeColt comes out as the winner. You could even go with a heel manager continuing to bring in hired help to take out DeColt.

 

Step #2 is prepare the next wave. Vessey with the TV title is begging for a long run of defenses before moving into the upper end of the card. Keep putting him against skilled midcard and below faces each week to build him up. When you think he's ready to advance, have him drop the title and then run a "challenge series" with some of the face UMC/ME. 5 or so matches vs McFly/Duane/Deeley/Westybrook/etc to see how he stacks up. Have him finish 2-3 or 2-2-1 or something to give him some hurdles to climb. He's 28 so there is plenty of time for him to get where he needs to go.

 

Jared Johnson, Hugh Ancrie, Mark Griffin, and Sonny Wildside represent some solid 25 and under prospects on the roster. If you grab Greg Gauge or someone of his ilk, you'll have more possible people to slowly move up the card. You've also got guys like Erik Strong, Jacob Jett, and Flash who can contribute as well.

 

Overall

 

NOTBPW isn't in horrible shape despite losing 2 world class workers. There is enough talent to keep things going in the ring while the rest of the card slowly moves up. If the chance presents itself, this is one locker room that could absorb a super worker with a bad personality and keep on trucking. Booking will have to be very deliberate to get guys moving up the card to a place skill wise where they can hang with the McFlys and Bloodstones of the world.

 

In my first game, Sean and Johnny had bad chemistry and so did DeColt and Duane. This basically killed two of the starting storylines. However, adding McFly to the Decolt/Duane/Westy story and Duane to the Sean/Bloodstone story then removing them from where they started seems to have taken care of the issue. Consider it transitioning from one feud to another. McFly gets first crack at DeColt with the belt while Johnny can show Duane how he retired his brothers (in story terms).

[Blackman]

I always liked NOTB. Haven't looked at their current position but I wouldn't focus too much on the figurehead position. NOTB seems like an organisation that doesn't need one or even wants one.

 

The women's division is no longer your free ticket to good matches since USPW started a women's division in 2013, so that's out of the picture.

 

If I'd book 'em now I'd still focus on the basics (literaly good basic skills).

[Skywalker1976]

In what World are we living where a DeColt is figurehead in NOTB (;

[bookerman]

In what World are we living where a DeColt is figurehead in NOTB (;

 

As someone who loves NOTBPW and the Stones, saying DeColt should be the figurehead was a tough sentence to type.

 

I went back and reviewed the other candidates. Most are dinged for lacking charisma. Westybrook is the closest so it's possible with some growth in overness he might work.

 

In regards to the National battle with USPW, signing Kozolv would be a good idea. His overness in Canada is very good (mid 80s) and he can provide a worthy foil for Westybrook/McFly/Duane as he goes up the card and then a source of overness for them and others on his way back down.

[Kingster]

What you could do to win the national battle with NOTB is to get a working agreement with another big company and trade one of their stars. TCW was the only promotion to accept and I went for the obvious choice and got Rocky Golden, which immediately put me ahead of USPW. Might be a bit cheap and gamey, but it works.

[holydogg]

Any tips for having great main events? So far, I cap to "B" rated matches with great workers like DeColt, McFly or Bloodstone.. :\

 

Slow build, call in ring, quite long (30+ minutes).

Tried epic / spectacle focus.

[Verbalcody]

Im losing about 960,000 a month as notb from marketing and its bankrupting me. My shows seem to be doing alright, what can help

[bookerman]

A couple of other things I've found playing NOTBPW:

 

1 - Backstage rules -catering and travel/hotel are all turned on. This could run up the budget pretty quick. I've turned catering off for now to see how it goes

 

2 - There is Free-to-Air Channel in Canada with Big coverage that is open to negotiations at the start. I created a 1 hour A show on Mondays for it and it's initial rating was almost double what the Wednesday night show gets. You can call it NOTBPW Showcase or something and use it to run big matches or special showcase events. Another channel in Canada has small coverage in the UK so I put my show on that broadcaster as well

 

3 - I may drop the heel/face divide to open up more match options. For instance, Westybrook needs to be built up if he's going to have the top belt. That means putting him over Bloodstone and DeColt as well as the Can-Am Blondes and even that might not get him over enough. Removing the heel/face divide allows him to work with McFly and Duane Stone as well. I'm a big fan of mid 90's AJPW style booking. For Westybrook to cement himself as the top dog, he's got to beat ALL of the other top dogs. I can see giving him wins over Duane and Bloodstone in title defenses before losing to either DeColt or McFly. That should get him to be the #3 guy overall with a win/defense over Duane and defense over JB. Having Steve/Sean still left to conquer gives him something to work towards with DeColt likely being his biggest challenge.

 

Deeley is in the same boat. He can only take out so many of the UMC heels like Frost/Blondes before he will need new obstacles. A nice series of matches vs Duane should give him a boost.

[TakerNGN74]

I'm four monthes into my NOTBPW save (currently May 2016) and the first major thing I did was take the world title off of Tim Westybrook. I always thought Westybrook was a good mid to upper card hand but he's not world champion material. The new World Champion is Shooter Sean Deeley and I hope to give him a lengthy run with the belt. I kind of feel weird about doing a major title switch so soon but it had to be done.

 

Has anyone had any luck with Westybrook as champion or did you guys end up doing the same thing I described above and with whom?

[vince123]

I'm four monthes into my NOTBPW save (currently May 2016) and the first major thing I did was take the world title off of Tim Westybrook. I always thought Westybrook was a good mid to upper card hand but he's not world champion material. The new World Champion is Shooter Sean Deeley and I hope to give him a lengthy run with the belt. I kind of feel weird about doing a major title switch so soon but it had to be done.

 

Has anyone had any luck with Westybrook as champion or did you guys end up doing the same thing I described above and with whom?

 

Im playing with NOTBPW myself and im in May too. I kept Tim as champion and he is giving me 80 rated title matches. i first had him win a 3 way with Steve and Duane(pinning Duane) and then Steve(keeping Steve strong) and boosted him to 87 pop. only problem for Tim is that he is in decline so this will be his only run with the belt for me. Im going to give the title to Duane after he turned heel at the Ed Henson by attacking Tim after his Loss in the Cup. After this i will probably give it to a Face turned Steve or Ricky.

 

Pop wise i have Steve at 92, Duane 90, Tim at 89, Bloodstone at 86, Sean at 82, Vessey at 73, Deeley at 74 and Ricky DeColt at 82. Also managed to Sign Edd Stone away from TCW

 

Women's division is als going nicely with Sally, Brooke and Lauren around 50 pop and the rest close behind.

 

Only problems i have is that i stuck to long with Curran because i was hoping he would improve(he isn't for me) so i now hired Michaels as my announcer.

second thing is that my owner wants me to push Omar Brown, Mighty Cavanaugh and John Maverick

[TakerNGN74]

Im playing with NOTBPW myself and im in May too. I kept Tim as champion and he is giving me 80 rated title matches. i first had him win a 3 way with Steve and Duane(pinning Duane) and then Steve(keeping Steve strong) and boosted him to 87 pop. only problem for Tim is that he is in decline so this will be his only run with the belt for me. Im going to give the title to Duane after he turned heel at the Ed Henson by attacking Tim after his Loss in the Cup. After this i will probably give it to a Face turned Steve or Ricky.

 

Pop wise i have Steve at 92, Duane 90, Tim at 89, Bloodstone at 86, Sean at 82, Vessey at 73, Deeley at 74 and Ricky DeColt at 82. Also managed to Sign Edd Stone away from TCW

 

Women's division is als going nicely with Sally, Brooke and Lauren around 50 pop and the rest close behind.

 

Only problems i have is that i stuck to long with Curran because i was hoping he would improve(he isn't for me) so i now hired Michaels as my announcer.

second thing is that my owner wants me to push Omar Brown, Mighty Cavanaugh and John Maverick

 

How did you manage to sign Edd Stone? I tried but he wouldn't do it even though Dan Stone Jr. is my user character so the family hatred shouldn't exactly matter.

[Derek B]

How did you manage to sign Edd Stone? I tried but he wouldn't do it even though Dan Stone Jr. is my user character so the family hatred shouldn't exactly matter.

 

Why would it not matter? He hates you, it doesn't matter that you are possessing his body, he still hates you.

[vince123]

How did you manage to sign Edd Stone? I tried but he wouldn't do it even though Dan Stone Jr. is my user character so the family hatred shouldn't exactly matter.

 

Simple for my UC i choose Victoria Stone-McFly so the 2 where he has problems with are nowhere near the roster

[sandman22]

<p>I've never played the C-Verse before but figured I would try it and am now a month into my save with NOTBPW. </p><p> </p><p>

I had Steve DeColt and Duane Stone meet in a #1 contender match with DeColt winning. Stone was on color commentary during the title match and accidentally cost Westybrook the match and NOTBPW Canadian Championship. This would be the start of Westybrook's heel turn.</p><p> </p><p>

I booked Westybrook and Stone in a couple tag matches after the title change with Westybrook abandoning Stone in the first one. In the second tag match he apologized to Stone, promising he would have his back, but instead turned on Stone and attacked him. This will lead to Jeremy Stone <em>(my user character)</em> booking a number one contender match between Westybrook and Stone which Stone will win, setting up Steve DeColt vs Duane Stone for the NOTBPW Canadian Championship where I'll have DeColt win due to interference from Westybrook. During this time, I managed to sign Ricky DeColt and had him debut as a face. In his first show he congratulated his big brother for winning the NOTBPW Canadian Championship which is the start of Steve DeColt's face turn, so I can make him my figurehead. </p><p> </p><p>

My future plan is to have Westybrook demand a title rematch but Jeremy Stone will say no due to him interfering in the previous title match, so he attacks Ricky DeColt leading to Steve coming and saving him, officially turning face and setting up Westybrook vs DeColt II.</p><p> </p><p>

I'm still trying to learn the roster and figure out what I want to do with the tag team division, but right now I have no idea what to do with the women's division. I'm going forward with the Johnny Bloodstone vs Sean McFly feud and plan on having Bloodstone win the feud, so he can go on to feud with DeColt over the NOTBPW Canadian Championship. Cameron Vessey is going to have a long reign with the NOTBPW TV Championship doing open challenges until he's ready to move on to challenging for the NOTBPW Canadian Championship.</p>

[MarslArts]

Thanks for the thread. The informations in here are already pretty usefull. I gonna give NOTBPW a try and even think about making a "let's play" about it.

 

I'm curious about the Henson Memorial Cup - how do you book it normally and what's the story behind it?

[March]

They were bought out by SWF in January 2018 in my current game. Anybody else seeing stuff like this?

[MarslArts]

Oh another question that comes to my mind: the roster is pretty stacked at the beginning. In order to get new talent in, who do you get rid off?

[bookerman]

Oh another question that comes to my mind: the roster is pretty stacked at the beginning. In order to get new talent in, who do you get rid off?

 

I don't cut anyone. If you're not interested in the women's division, you can cut them but everyone else serves a purpose. Some can be used to put others over while others can be used to train up the next generation.

[bookerman]

After playing some games with them, NOTBPW might be the most influential fed at the start of the game, at least for North America. Here are a few reasons why:

 

1 - Able to afford and use Khoklov - not only can you grab someone who has 80+ overness in the US and Canada, but he can help you win the Canada National Battle AND help TCW with the US National battle (that's #2). He has plenty of uses for NOTBPW besides matches. Menace angles, bodyguard angles, talent trades. He's worth his salary. If it's a big concern, sign him to a 6 month or 1 year deal.

 

2 - Helping TCW - of the 3 big US promotions, only TCW will do a working agreement with NOTBPW. These has a big effect on both promotions. First, NOTBPW now has access to workers like Rocky Golden and Wolf Hawkins via talent trades. Having these guys on your roster helps win the Canada National battle in January. If you followed #1, TCW adds Khoklov to it's roster which puts them ahead of SWF and USPW for January. You can also send some of your upper and mid guys there for exposure. I've been able to send Might Cavanaugh and Cameron Vessey as well as McFly and Khoklov. In return, you can use Rocky and Wolf to boost angles and hopefully put some of your talent over before the loan ends. Knocking out USPW and helping TCW should allow NOTBPW to do their own thing for a while without having to constantly worry about National Battles. Also gives them a leg up on signing any name talents that become available if USPW and SWF are at Cult.

 

3 - Written deals and talent trades - this is where you start running your fed like a English Premier team. Signed Greg Gauge to a written deal? Great, loan him back to MAW for 5 shows. Since he comes in as Enhancement or Opener, you probably won't be running him up the roster yet. He gets to work somewhere else and continue to develop while you keep his rights. I was able to get a Working Agreement with OLLIE and since the regional restrictions were removed, I signed Mr Lucha III. He came in to NOTBPW as enhancement, but he has near 50 overness in Mexico. I traded him for someone low on their roster for 5 shows. The first OLLIE show he Main Evented for the top title. He lost, but he got a quality match and more exposure. He's still available when I need him, but he gets to work other places and improve as well. I'll probably do something similar with Ross Henry when he debuts. Sign him and then loan to TCW until I'm ready to use him on the main roster.

 

All of this is in addition to the immense talent already on the roster. I got unlucky and most of my 40+ year olds are on Time Decline. They can still get decent ratings, but I'm going to need to use guys like Rocky and Wolf to get the high grades most likely.

[redgiant]

They were bought out by SWF in January 2018 in my current game. Anybody else seeing stuff like this?

 

Same, but in 2020. SWF also bought out NYCW.

[moafnsteel]

I was thinking about starting my first ever NOTBPW Game, however I really do not like the generic name, anybody have a good name that they have changed it to, that keeps the "essences" of NOTBPW?

[Blackman]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="moafnsteel" data-cite="moafnsteel" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41364" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I was thinking about starting my first ever NOTBPW Game, however I really do not like the generic name, anybody have a good name that they have changed it to, that keeps the "essences" of NOTBPW?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Seems a little immersion-breaking to change the name as the in-game text (bios etc) still refers to NOTBPW.</p><p> </p><p> Maybe Maple Pro Wrestling? MPW sounds right and is not a mouthful like NOTBPW.</p>

[The Celt]

<p>I haven't played as NOTBPW yet but I plan to: Long term, what's the deal with their TV deal? Is that one the player should stick with or try to change? </p><p> </p><p>

Normally I play regional indies so I've never been great knowing what to do with TV deals.</p>

[MarslArts]

<p>I've started playing as NOTBPW (I even made a

</p><div class="ipsEmbeddedVideo"><div><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLMgJQaoM9D5Mec9vWzKkpGF5UOvGTSaSO" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div> out of it) and although playing NOTBPW feels great I fail to grow the company. I haven't gained any momentum yet and I seem to be unable to win the national battle against USPW.<p>

What would be the best tactic to grow NOTBPW?</p>

[bookerman]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="MarslArts" data-cite="MarslArts" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41364" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I've started playing as NOTBPW (I even made a <div class="ipsEmbeddedVideo"><div><iframe width="200" height="113" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLMgJQaoM9D5Mec9vWzKkpGF5UOvGTSaSO" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div> out of it) and although playing NOTBPW feels great I fail to grow the company. I haven't gained any momentum yet and I seem to be unable to win the national battle against USPW.<p> What would be the best tactic to grow NOTBPW?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> To win the National Battle consistently, you need to </p><p> </p><p> A - Sign Marat Kholkov - offer him and Peter Michaels contracts the first day</p><p> </p><p> B - Create Talent Sharing alliance with TCW. Use Khoklov and McFly to bring in guys like Rocky Golden, Wolf Hawkins, Bryan Vessey, etc. </p><p> </p><p> Golden and Khoklov are usually enough to put you first in the National Battle. Just make sure that Rocky is on your roster at the end of the month so he gets counted</p><p> </p><p> Also shortlist the following rosters - SWF, USPW, TCW, RIPW, CZCW, MAW, FCW, CGC, OLLIE, SOTBPW, PGHW, and BHOTWG. Yes, that's a lot of feds but it will help you keep track of who is becoming available and other happenings. In my game, I've been able to pick up Scythe, Flying Hawaiian, Spencer Spade and Laksunna from RIPW for not much. Also signed Paul Huntington and Greed from SWF.</p><p> </p><p> Hope that helps.</p><p> </p><p> Feel free to PM me to bounce ideas around.</p>