WWF 1987: Golden Memoirs

Mattywood · February 8, 2017

http://i.imgur.com/unB0pvQ.jpg

When I purchased my father's wrestling company, I had a vision to take this once regional wrestling territory into the stratosphere and make it a national, then global, phenomenon. But I needed the right pieces of the puzzle in place, and I had to hope, pray, say several Hail Marys, and anything else I could think of short of selling my soul that my gambles would pay off.

http://i.imgur.com/Ds0bDHP.jpg

Of course, I needed to make sure I could get the right headliners that I knew could become megastars in place to make sure my gamble paid off. And there was no bigger headliner who had yet to become a world champion than Hulk Hogan. Hulkamania had started running wild in the AWA, but Verne Gagne was still stuck in the past. Funny that he wanted to employ the likes of entertainers such as Hogan, Sgt. Slaughter and Jesse "The Body" Ventura, brutes such as the Road Warriors, Jerry Blackwell and Bruiser Brody, but yet he insisted that his top title, the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, remain in the hands of ring technicians such as Nick Bockwinkel, who was starting to battle father time by this point, or heaven forbid, himself. Frustrated with the broken promises, Hogan looked to come back to the WWF, especially since I was running the show now.

http://i.imgur.com/CIpaTU2.jpg

But as we all know, there's no Superman without Lex Luthor. There's no Batman without the Joker. There's no David without Goliath. Every great hero needs an equally great villain. And I felt there would be no better villain than Rowdy Roddy Piper. And boy was I right. After Piper blasted Captain Lou Albano over the head with that framed record, bodyslammed David Wolfe and even kicked Cyndi Lauper away inside the hallowed grounds of Madison Square Garden, you could cut the electricity with a knife. Then you could turn it up more than a thousand volts when Hulk Hogan came running down and chased the Hot Rod out of the ring.

I had a grand plan in mind, but we needed to test the waters, as it were, by airing a television special on MTV: The War To Settle The Score, where Hogan would defend his WWF Championship against Piper. The match would end in utter madness and helped set up the main event of the first ever WrestleMania: Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Hogan & T would have Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka in their corner to counter Piper & Orndorff's corner man, the Ace himself, Cowboy Bob Orton. This show was the biggest gamble of my life. I told one of my top road agents, and one of the best men when it comes to producing a finish to a match, Pat Patterson, that if this thing failed, we would all need to get our resumes put together. Thankfully, the first WrestleMania was a rousing success, and it was off to the races for us.

I knew that if I wanted this nationalization, then eventually globalization, effort to succeed, I had to know how to market the WWF brand. That's where the merchandising came in. LJN came on board to produce our various lines of toys, from those big plastic action figures you could throw at your annoying brother, to a ring that you could use to create dream matches pitting your favorite superstars against each other. Lunch boxes, T-shirts, posters... you name it. And it sold like hot cakes, especially Hulk Hogan's merchandise. Is it any wonder I made him the figurehead of my company? We even had a Saturday morning cartoon on CBS named after him. But all this success wouldn't mean a hill of beans if I couldn't put Hogan over the top with possibly the biggest match of his career.

==TO BE CONTINUED==

Mattywood · February 8, 2017

I'm doing something a bit different. I've already played well over a year of this game save using Genadi and the Mod Squad's Golden Age mod, and I'll be posting in memoir form a general recap of various events that have gone down in the WWF, as well as what's happened in the wrestling world in my save. What's great about this is that I can keep my game going without stopping it down as there is no pressure for me to write up full shows. Don't expect any prediction games for now, but hopefully down the line I can think of something to reward you all with. Right now, I just want to share my experiences with you all and hope you enjoy reading about what's gone down as much as I have enjoyed this game so far.

The_Monk · February 8, 2017

got me hooked, ive got this mod but never really played it, busy with COTT at the moment but 87 was the year I started watching WWF seriously as a kid, I was never a hulkamanic tho, although did go crazy when he did the slam heard around the world...I embraced the madness OH YEAH!!!! and then become a Warriorholic as well.

Demolition was my go to tag team and when ever I play a mod they are in they are my champions. I'll watch this closely it may just get me interested to sit down and start a 87 game, although ive always fancied the WCW path, but have never fancied the whole create a player, leave thingy that you have to do, and I don't fully understand lol

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

Mattywood · February 8, 2017

I have a feeling you'll like what I have in store for Macho Man, Ultimate Warrior and Demolition in this dynasty. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

As for going the WCW path, it's actually pretty easy now that companies can change their names, logos, etc. in the narratives. So you can set up Jim Crockett Promotions to change over to WCW if you like.

The Dynamite Sid · February 8, 2017

Really looking forward to this. I haven't played the Golden Age mod on 16 yet but it has been a big favourite for me in previous years and I'm eager to see what you have in store for some of my childhood heroes and in-game favourites.

Mattywood · February 8, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">If people thought the first WrestleMania was a gamble, those same people probably thought I had gone completely and certifiably insane when I decided we were going to have WrestleMania III inside the Pontiac Silverdome in suburban Detroit, Michigan. Not just have the event there, but sell the entire building out, no tarps... nothing (despite what some disgruntled former promoter with an axe to grind would have led a certain "observer" to believe). And there's no reason we couldn't sell the place out if the main event was Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. However, that match had some obstacles in place. Andre's body was starting to fail him, and he wasn't getting any younger. I didn't hesitate to give him the time off he would need in '86 to build toward this big match in '87. We concocted an angle where he would be "suspended" for failing to make some shows, then would later on come back as the Giant Machine (though in story, it was never proven to be him).

Then an interesting twist in the story came about. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan of all people attended the hearing for Andre to get his suspension lifted, and Andre wasn't there. When Andre was reinstated, he didn't take any matches right off the bat, and he wasn't himself. Andre was presented an achievement trophy for going undefeated 15 years, and Hogan ran in to celebrate. Then Hogan got an even bigger trophy for being champion for three years, and Andre just walked off. It was time for the most infamous Piper's Pit. Andre appeared on set, but with Bobby Heenan in tow. Heenan verbally laid into Hogan, accusing him of taking his spotlight, accusing him of stabbing Andre in the back and laughing behind his back. Hogan denied the charges, but Andre had none of it and challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania. Hogan would accept, much to the fans' delight.</div>

Mattywood · February 8, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">One of the secrets to the WWF's success has been utilizing the television vehicle to promote the upcoming big shows. For years, we had used our syndicated shows to promote our big cards while filling out the show with squash matches that would showcase the talents of our superstars. However, whether it be because more fans were becoming more sophisticated, or because of how popular we had made our superstars, there started to be demand for better matchups, at the very least for the main event of our A show at the time, Superstars of Wrestling. I knew a one hour show wouldn't be enough, so I went back into the video library and rewatched a few of our Saturday Night's Main Event NBC specials. Everything was made to feel important, and 90 minutes at that time gave everything enough time to develop.

But anybody who knows me knows that I that I don't do well with complacency. I made some phone calls to the USA Network, TSN in Canada, Sky Channel in the UK, and Seven Network in Australia and pitched the idea for a new two hour program known as The Main Event. The show would be a spinoff of the Saturday Night's Main Event specials, and you would be guaranteed to see more than one main event caliber match on the show, as well as getting to see your favorite superstars participating in story telling style segments that would help further our storylines along. We would also debut a new segment known as "The Event Center," where Ken Resnick would hype up some of the big rivalries going on, with some pre-taped promos from the wrestlers involved.

http://i.imgur.com/MTY480m.jpg

So with that, our very next edition of Saturday Night's Main Event was broadcast on NBC, and gave us the opportunity to hype up our new Main Event program. With USA Network being owned by NBC Universal, promoting the new show was not a problem. And this edition of Saturday Night's Main Event leading toward WrestleMania III had a bit of a new format, as well. Instead of starting off with the main event matches and working down to a squash match to end the show, we kicked it off with a squash match and ended with a battle royal that featured both Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan. I was able to talk Hogan into not winning this bout with allowing him to look as good as possible before Andre finished him off and threw him out, as well as reminding him that I would do everything in my power to try to talk Andre into putting him over at WrestleMania. This was also the first Saturday Night's Main Event that we broadcast on Sky Channel, broadening the outreach of this occasional event.

We also continued the Macho Man/Ricky Steamboat angle on this show when Randy Savage retained his Intercontinental Title against George "The Animal" Steele, followed up by Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat running into the ring and attacking the Macho Man as he tried to gain a measure of revenge. But we couldn't put all of our eggs in just a couple of baskets. I knew that Hogans, Andres, Pipers, etc. of the world wouldn't be around forever, and it was time for me to get serious about trying to make superstars out of the worker bees in the midcard and preliminary ranks, as well as work to put our upper midcarders over the top to get them into the main event scene. I also knew that I would need to continue to sign new talent to bolster our various divisions and the roster in general.</div>

Nobby_McDonald · February 9, 2017

I'm liking this style. It's refreshing.

Mattywood · February 10, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">Trimming the fat and shoring up our roster depth sounds like a misnomer, but it fit the plan I had in mind. I really had no use for Moondog Rex, Tiger Chung Lee, or Omar Atlas, as those guys had seen better days. The Crusher was brought in simply to help us grow the Milwaukee market, but come to find out, we did fine with the main eventers we had in place already. Outback Jack turned out to not be as advertised, so we quietly stopped doing his vignettes and let him go his merry way. I'm sure somehow his lack of talent is the fault of broken promises from me. I originally planned to have Hillbilly Jim and King Kong Bundy take part in a comedy bout with the little guys as tag team partners, but after talking with several of my trusted road agents, I thought better of it and let the brussel sprouts go on to bigger and better things... as it were. Frenchy Martin? I was going to make him Dino Bravo's manager, but it turned out they had abysmal chemistry. And Frenchy's best days as an in-ring competitor were behind him, so I let him out of his contract. Then there was Tom Magee. I really thought I had something special in him... then I found out the hard way that my initial reaction to him was because he was in the ring with Bret Hart in his first WWF match. They don't call Bret "The Excellence of Execution" simply for marketing purposes. That is a shoot if there ever was one. So after it turned out that Tom wasn't going to be the next Hogan and instead was destined to be the next David Sammartino, I cut him loose. And Brad Rheingans was being wasted by being on our roster, so I let him out of his contract as well. http://i.imgur.com/st63Utw.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/41w8d8T.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/JkG5b7W.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/p9s5mpk.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/KTqp6rt.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/dggSVBT.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/PyhrvYa.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/R2An5jX.jpg Back before that Saturday Night's Main Event that featured Hogan and Andre in a battle royal, I had gone on a hiring spree. The Midnight Rockers (who I had renamed to simply the Rockers), Owen Hart (who for a time was the Blue Blazer so I could use him to help get some heels over while getting himself over with some wins too), Madusa Miceli (who was renamed Alundra Blayze), the Dingo Warrior (who became the Ultimate Warrior), Mark Callous (who became the Undertaker), and Ted DiBiase, who got his big break in style as I made him the Million Dollar Man. Then Sherri Martel posed nude in a new publication known as XTC Magazine, so of course I had to sign her! It didn't hurt that she was fairly good in the ring and knew how to draw heat from the audience. I continued to add depth to the women's division by hiring Jake "The Snake" Roberts' sister, Rockin' Robin, as well as a few of the ladies from G.L.O.W.: Debbie Debutante (who I renamed Debra Dallas because not only was I struggling to say her last name, but so were the fans), Hollywood and Vine. http://i.imgur.com/c94Mnyb.jpg With the hiring spree out of the way, it was time to get to brass tacks and premiere our newest show on the USA Network: The Main Event. It would be live every Tuesday night, and would also air on Sky Channel, Seven Network Australia and TSN. http://i.imgur.com/1XVJ5Ma.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/st63Utw.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/KZ7YzFa.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/GGs2Y5J.jpg I wasted no time in giving four of the lovely ladies I signed a national platform to their new audience as one of my most trusted TV producers, Kerwin Silfies, put together a sexy (yet tame for our family audience) music video for Debra Dallas and Alundra Blayze, who were coined as the Sirens. Then Kerwin put together a music video package for Hollywood and Vine, who would become known as the Prankster Punks. There was a time that I thought women's wrestling was little more than a chance for the audience to take a bathroom break. Then I realized how full of crap Moolah was. I wish I had realized that when Wendi Richter was wanting to negotiate a new contract, but sometimes you have to live and learn. After others such as Velvet McIntyre, Leilani Kai, Judy Martin and Desiree Petersen got into my ear and showed me tapes of the All Japan Women's outfit that we had a working agreement with, I realized that there truly was a market for women's wrestling. Yes, Japan takes their wrestling more serious as a sport over there and what not, but the ladies they had there such as the Crush Gals were able to cross over into the mainstream. And Dave McLane's G.L.O.W. TV show had showed promise, so why not take the chance? So I would soon reactivate the Women's Tag Team Titles, but they were vacant so we could crown new champions. http://i.imgur.com/wnwL1CP.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/gKpEaH5.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/plqZa5R.jpg Also before this show, we had taped a vignette where Johnny V sold Demolition's contracts to Mr. Fuji. Then on the premiere edition of The Main Event, we had Mean Gene interview Fuji and let him do most of the talking while Demolition intimidated Mean Gene and dang near made him a nervous wreck... and sometimes I wonder if Mean Gene being nervous was a shoot! It didn't help that this same interview also featured Sika, who Fuji had acquired from the Wizard (who was better known as King Curtis Iaukea). Demolition, however, were the true stars of this vignette as I had plans for them to eventually be WWF Tag Team Champions. And it's no surprise that I would want to mold them into champions as they definitely had the championship pedigree. The team was comprised of Ax and Smash. Ax had found earlier success as the Masked Superstar and at one time was in line to be WWF Champion as I was transitioning from Bob Backlund to Hulk Hogan, but Backlund wanted to drop the title to Iron Sheik. I had no problem with that as I started thinking Sheik would be a better foil and would therefore help the kickoff of Hulkamania in the WWF be better remembered. Then there was Smash, a man named Barry Darsow who earlier was part of the NWA World Tag Team Champions in Jim Crockett Promotions as Krusher Kruschev (I'm confident I butchered the spelling). Smash originally was going to be portrayed by Moondog Rex, but way too many people in the audience recognized him. It wasn't a person here or there that just happened to be heard on camera... it was practically the whole building. Darsow, however, wasn't as recognized as he had started growing his hair out, not to mention the time he spent in the Carolinas. http://i.imgur.com/LsQFKTC.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/3VeEGb7.jpg After a wild main event match that saw "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "Adorable" Adrian Adonis go to a double disqualification with Rowdy Roddy Piper and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, we closed out the show with a contract signing between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant for their big showdown at WrestleMania III. You could have cut the tension with a knife as the crowd was hot for this one, with Bobby Heenan drawing serious heat with everything he was saying in his promo, and with Hogan getting over well with his response. However, the memory left in everyone's minds heading into WrestleMania would be how Andre violently pushed the table into Hogan's ribs, then went on the attack. My plan to make Hogan the underdog of this match was working to perfection.</div> ========================================== <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Nobby_McDonald" data-cite="Nobby_McDonald" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm liking this style. It's refreshing.</div></blockquote> Thank you, sir! I'm enjoying putting it together because I can play at my own pace without stopping down. I have given thought to giving blow by blow recap of the bigger shows such as WrestleMania, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Nobby_McDonald · February 13, 2017

That is a bit of a problem with the common writing style including my own... you're limited by one show at a time especially so when you're taking predictions.

Mattywood · February 15, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">http://i.imgur.com/bWoCBIw.jpg

WrestleMania III was everything I expected it to be and then some. A sell out crowd of 93,173 showed up to set a new, at that time, world indoor attendance record, and up to that point, the largest number of people gathered in attendance for a professional wrestling event. Yes, folks, I said professional wrestling. I know I love the term "sports entertainment," but I had always regarded that phrase in terms of the product I had always strived to present when promoting the WWF. Years later, a promoter that I had worked with named Zane Bresloff would go to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and dispute the numbers we had reported. And for some reason, Dave Meltzer ran with it. I guess if my company had been either New Japan or All Japan and I was either Antonio Inoki or Giant Baba, he wouldn't have run with Zane's tall tale, but I digress.

Speaking of Dave, I have indeed subscribed to his newsletter for years, even if I disagree with a number of his viewpoints on the business. I have always looked at myself as a competitor with fighting spirit, and seeing what Dave and his readers had to say about my product would light a fire in me to put on a better show if they felt I hadn't delivered. I save most issues in case I ever have booker's block and need to go back to an opinion piece for ideas and inspiration. So with that, I'd like to take a look back at what Dave had to say about WrestleMania III.

He liked that I kicked the show off with the Can-Am Connection defeating Don Muraco and Cowboy Bob Orton. The crowd was buzzing with excitement, and those four men helped to get the crowd going so that it wouldn't be dead.

As much as he had liked the opening tag match, he wasn't so fond of the eight woman tag match that pitted Ladies Night (Rockin' Robin and Desiree Petersen) and the Sirens (Debra Dallas and Alundra Blayze) against the Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) and the Prankster Punks (Hollywood and Vine). I knew the work wouldn't be all that great because Alundra, Robin, Hollywood and Vine were still a bit green. And I had always viewed Desiree and the Glamour Girls as worker bees: wrestlers who may not be big stars, but you know can keep a match from completely falling off the rails. Dave did note that Desiree, Leilani and Judy kept the match from completely falling apart, and he did like that I seemed to be a bit more serious now about pushing the ladies.

Next up, it was time for the Rougeaus to take on the Dream Team in what would be the last time Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine would be teaming together. I was ready to start pushing Beefcake as a babyface as his cocky heel act had grown tiresome, and there were a number of fans that had taken to him and started cheering him. Valentine was furious that I dared ask him to take the losing the fall in this one, despite the fact that he knew full well the Dream Team was about to be disbanded. Then again, he always had been a miserable grouch. But I tried to put up with him as long as I could because he was a very good in-ring worker. Anyway, I didn't budge despite Valentine's protestations, and the Rougeaus would get the victory. After the match, Valentine, Dino Bravo and Johnny V would all blame the loss on Bruti and leave him high and dry. Dave, who hadn't always been a fan of Beefcake, actually gave this match two and half stars and noted that Beefcake was working his butt off to make his babyface turn work, which it indeed did as the fans had sympathy for the way he was mistreated and blamed for a loss that his partner took after the match.

Initially I considered a six man tag match pitting Tito Santana and the British Bulldogs against former biased referee turned wrestler "Dangerous" Danny Davis and the Hart Foundation. I decided instead to split the two matches up. Davis and the Hart Foundation would both win their respective matches, thanks in part to their heelish shenanigans. In between those two matches I had booked a battle royal to get guys who had worked hard for the company but didn't have a match onto the card. That, and I wanted to help get Kamala over as the next monster for Hogan to defeat. Dave felt that the Tito/Davis match and the battle royal were okay but could've been better. However, he really dug the Tag Team Title match. He also liked the vignette I ran with Ted DiBiase, feeling that having him pay off a hotel manager to kick a family who had spent all of their earnings for their vacation to WrestleMania III so that he could have a hotel suite all to himself was a genius way to get the villainous Million Dollar Man character over.

A quick rundown of some other matches on the card that: Butch Reed defeated Koko B. Ware; Velvet McIntyre ended Moolah's reign of terror as WWF Women's Champion, which Moolah yelled at me about, but I didn't care; The Heenan Family (King Harley Race, Paul Orndorff, King Kong Bundy and Hercules) defeated Junkyard Dog, Hillbilly Jim, Superstar Billy Graham and Billy Jack Haynes; and Demolition made short work of Lanny Poffo and Ivan Putski.

Now to run down what I thought were the four biggest money matches on the show. Rowdy Roddy Piper had given hints to possibly "retiring" to go to Hollywood. However, at the WrestleMania III press conference, he said that he had decided to stick around a bit, win or lose. If he won, he could finally move on from Adrian Adonis. If he lost, he would make Adrian's life a living hell. He won, and none other than Brutus Beefcake would come down to the ring to shave Adrian Adonis bald, turning Bruti into "The Barber."

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and "Macho Man" Randy Savage stole the show in their Intercontinental Title showdown. So many near falls and false finishes that had the fans on their feet, and from what a number of concession stand workers had told several of my employees, that match, along with the main event of Hogan/Andre, were the slowest business periods for the concession areas as all the fans wanted to see those two matches. Macho Man would try to use the bell on Steamboat again while the ref was knocked down, but George "The Animal" Steele saw to it that history wouldn't repeat itself, knocking Savage down while Steamboat got back up to his feet. While Randy slowly got back up, the Dragon had perched himself up onto the top turnbuckle and came flying down with a high cross body for the three count.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the Honky Tonk Man had engaged in a bitter feud that kicked off with Honky Tonk Man blasting Jake in the head with a guitar on the Snake Pit after Jake insulted his singing. I had made sure that the guitar was broken apart and glued back together so that it would shatter on impact and not do lasting damage to Jake Roberts. He would get his revenge on the Honky Tonk Man, but not in the form of a victory. Instead, he went on a rampage and got himself disqualified as he shoved the referee down, then took Honky's guitar and smashed him over the head with it. Then he decided "Oh what the heck" and gave both Honky and Jimmy Hart DDTs for good measure. He even got Damien out and let him slither all over Honky Tonk Man and Jimmy Hart.

The reason everyone had filled the Pontiac Silverdome, though, was to see Hulk Hogan do battle with Andre the Giant. The match (or should I say rematch) they thought they would never see as all throughout the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, Andre had been a close friend to Hogan. So much so that they were like brothers. That all changed after Andre was "suspended," then had his "suspension" lifted thanks to none other than Bobby "The Brain" Heenan himself. Imagine the shock of not only Hogan, but the fans and Roddy Piper as Andre showed up on Piper's Pit in tow with his once sworn enemy, Bobby Heenan. Heenan berated Hogan, accusing him of holding Andre down and laughing behind his back. Andre emphatically challenged Hogan to a title match, and Hogan accepted. The build up continued with Andre winning a battle royal that also involved Hogan, and beating down Hogan in their contract signing. It planted seeds of doubt in many fans' minds as to whether or not Andre would do the right thing. I am proud to say that he did the honors as after an epic encounter, Hogan scooped Andre up and slammed him down to the mat; hit the big leg drop and got the one... two... three. Even though his body wasn't the same and I would need to give him time off, Andre wanted to go around twenty minutes in order to give the fans their money's worth. I knew that both Hogan and Andre could keep the crowd buzzing even with some stalling because they both knew how to work a crowd into a frenzy, and it worked. Dave actually gave the match three stars, noting how much the fans' ate the match up despite some periods of downtime.

All in all, I felt it was a successful show. But as we all know, WrestleMania isn't necessarily the end. It is only the beginning...</div>

Beejus · February 15, 2017

Successful WrestleMania! It looks like you're doing a great job at 1987 man.

Mattywood · February 15, 2017

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Beejus" data-cite="Beejus" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Successful WrestleMania! It looks like you're doing a great job at 1987 man.</div></blockquote> Thank you, kind sir! I'm looking forward to recapping all that has happened so far, especially when we get into 1988. That's all I'm going to say on that front. <img alt=";)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

The_Monk · February 15, 2017

very impressive WMIII, love this style of write up, and makes a real change from the usual dynasties

Nobby_McDonald · February 16, 2017

Let's see where this beginning leads to...

The Lariat · February 17, 2017

I'm already loving this. The Golden Age will always hold a soft spot in my heart, and after TFC's amazing 2013 diary, I'm curious as to how this alternate timeline will play out.

Also, love how there's a focus on the women. Eager to see a few more show up (come on Lioness Asuka)

Mattywood · February 24, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">http://i.imgur.com/c94Mnyb.jpg

I was proud of how WrestleMania III came off, how we set a new world indoor attendance record (again, despite what some former disgruntled promoter would have had others to believe), and how my big players came through when it really mattered. But as I had said before, we couldn't get complacent. So we hit the ground running with the first Main Event after WrestleMania. And did we ever hit the ground running, kicking off the show with the Hart Foundation retaining their WWF Tag Team Titles over the Can-Am Connection in a hard fought match, thanks in part to some chicanery.

http://i.imgur.com/W691U6T.jpg

We also used this edition of The Main Event to debut some of my new signings. I debuted Owen Hart, but not in the way people expected. With Bret Hart still being a heel, and with my plan to start Owen off as a babyface, I didn't want to bring about brother vs. brother just yet, not when I could make big bucks off that sort of angle in the future. Plus, while he would get his share of wins, I thought Owen would be useful in giving some top heels needed victories. So I put him under a hood and renamed him the Blue Blazer. I know he hated that character at first, but I explained to him it was only a temporary thing and that before too long, people (other than die-hard fans, of course) would forget about his Blue Blazer days. We ran some vignettes over the coming weeks of him "saving the day" to help hype up the character.

http://i.imgur.com/jd5Gy4X.jpg

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that while Demolition did make short work of Ivan Putski and Lanny Poffo, it wasn't Poffo that ate the pin. Rather, he turned on Putski, allowing Demolition to finish the Polish superstar off and lead to Lanny becoming the Genius. Oh, he still read poetry, but now his poems were filled with big, verbose words that the average person could not understand. And instead of making fun of the heels, his poems would now mock the babyfaces. He also proclaimed that he was looking to managing as well as wrestling on the side, and he was in search of the "perfect wrestler." During this time, I was in contract negotiations with Curt Hennig, who knew that he most likely wouldn't be utilized properly in the AWA as Verne was so stubborn that Nick Bockwinkel, who was now into his 50s, was still their World Heavyweight Champion.

I also kept some angles running past WrestleMania. We conducted a satellite interview with the Macho Man in which he would go irate when he found out he wasn't getting a rematch for his Intercontinental Title right away. Instead, Steamboat's first challenger would be the mighty Hercules from the Heenan Family. Meanwhile, Adrian Adonis swore revenge on Rowdy Roddy Piper, who had stated that he opted not to leave for Hollywood just yet as he felt he had plenty of business to conduct in the WWF. We kept the Honky Tonk Man/Jake Roberts feud going, but it almost came to a screeching halt when the results of Jake's drug test (a test everyone had to take at every show) came up positive for Oxycontin. The finish where Jake went berserk and got himself disqualified actually gave us a good out as it allowed us to have on-air "President" Jack Tunney to explain Jake's real life suspension for the drug test as Jake being suspended for his actions at WrestleMania.

After seeing what drugs had done to Fritz's company, I decided that it was time to take appropriate action on those who were caught using drugs. Some wrestlers I fined, such as Barry O, Dynamite Kid and Tom Zenk. Others I suspended, such as the aforementioned Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Billy Jack Haynes. However, there were two who I felt had seen their better days and were of no more use to the roster that I opted to fire over their positive drug tests: Junkyard Dog and the Iron Sheik. I also allowed Nikolai Volkoff to get out of his contract early as again, his best days were behind him, and he lost to Hulk Hogan on his way out the door. Nikolai didn't fail any tests, but the whole Russian villain story had worn out its welcome, and he wasn't getting any younger. And I didn't think fans would buy him as someone who all of a sudden changed his mind and loved America.

After Hogan's non-title victory, Hercules, Harley Race and King Kong Bundy hit the ring to attack him. The British Bulldogs attempted to come to Hogan's rescue, but Cowboy Bob Orton and Magnificent Muraco ran out to stop them, leading to a Hogan beatdown. This kept Hogan's feud with the Heenan Family going. Heenan would proclaim that Andre got jobbed and would return when Hogan least expected it. But in the meantime, his "Family" was going to take care of Hogan and leave what was left of him for Andre to eventually finish off.

http://i.imgur.com/e3o2jJW.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/KTqp6rt.jpg

Kevin Sullivan's wife, Nancy, who previously made a name for herself as the Fallen Angel, was brought in as Woman. She had proclaimed for a few weeks that "death and destruction" was coming to the WWF. She made good on that promise when she revealed the former Mark Callous, who had been renamed the Undertaker. Woman wouldn't stop with the Undertaker, as she would eventually take Kamala under her wing, and turned Dan Spivey from the Golden Boy into a crazed maniac.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the Rockers had debuted before WrestleMania III and seemed to be off to a successful start. And a heel turn that occurred before WrestleMania III saw the Islanders join the ranks of the Heenan Family, as the Brain had been looking for a tag team to eventually bring him tag team gold.

http://i.imgur.com/omKkPjc.jpg

Did I mention that after shaving Adrian Adonis' head at WrestleMania III, Brutus Beefcake declared that he was now "The Barber," as in Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake? We even ran vignettes of him going to barber college.</div>

Mattywood · March 7, 2017

EDIT

edited this post by mistake

Mattywood · March 10, 2017

Not even a week after WrestleMania III, Paul Roma decided to start spreading rumors about the Ultimate Warrior preying on "ring rats" (his words, not mine) after shows. I didn't feel it was a fireable offense so I elected to give Paul a stern warning, but he seemed to shrug it off. Knowing that I would possibly one day have to part ways with him, and after the recent fines, suspensions and firings of workers violating our new drug policy, I had gone on another hiring spree.

http://i.imgur.com/HEIyd7d.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/OQ6f0UX.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/tpl3iT6.jpg

In addition to some enhancement talent I picked up to help get our superstars over, I managed to pick up Curt Hennig, who I would repackage as Mr. Perfect, as well as the One Man Gang and Ray Traylor. Traylor had previously worked for Jim Crockett Promotions as Big Bubba Rogers, doing a bodyguard gimmick where he dressed like someone who would be an enforcer for the Blues Brothers. However, I found out that he used to be a prison guard in Georgia, so I decided to utilize that into his new character of the Big Boss Man. I teamed him up with the One Man Gang and gave them both Slick as their manager. The premise here was that Big Boss Man was a dirty cop who took bribes from Slick to keep One Man Gang from getting in trouble with the law.

I was hoping that Curt would either have good or neutral chemistry with the Genius, at least as far as Genius managing Curt was concerned, because I had already planned on packaging Curt as Mr. Perfect, and I had a huge push in store for him. However, he tested positive for steroids a few weeks later. I levied out a pretty hefty fine, and that got his attention as he never failed another steroids test again. Thank goodness because I had a major push in store for him being the perfect wrestler and all.

http://i.imgur.com/MTY480m.jpg

About a month after WrestleMania III, we got the green light from NBC to run another Saturday Night's Main Event television special. This particular edition of Saturday Night's Main Event would set the wheels in motion for some new feuds going from the spring into summer. I was banking on these new feuds to catch fire as I was going to attempt a summer series of PPV events. While I had started going the route of having the main event of Saturday Night's Main Event go on last, I thought it would be a great idea to actually kick off the show with a steel cage match pitting Rowdy Roddy Piper against Adrian Adonis. The story here was that Adonis had promised revenge on the Rowdy One for his head being shaved, while Piper promised to vanquish the now not-so-Adorable One once and for all. Piper would get the victory as I was phasing Adonis out.

The British Bulldogs had a score to settle with "Magnificent" Don Muraco and Cowboy Bob Orton as those two goons attacked the Bulldogs when they tried to save Hogan from a Heenan Family beat down. The Bulldogs would get the win here to end that feud as I had some plans in store for Bob Orton.

Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat retained his Intercontinental Title against the mighty Hercules, but a still bitter "Macho Man" Randy Savage attacked Steamboat after the bell! Savage really laid into Steamboat good here, and that brought out none other than Rowdy Roddy Piper himself. I felt this feud had money written all over it.

We closed out the show with Hulk Hogan successfully defending his WWF Championship against King Harley Race. Despite the loss, Race was vowing that he would get Hogan one more time.

The_Monk · March 13, 2017

looking forward to seeing the push perfect gets...he was without a dout one of the most under used guys in WWF history....id guess because he didn't look like a superehero........ Same as Jake Roberts imo.

Mattywood · March 14, 2017

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The_Monk" data-cite="The_Monk" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>looking forward to seeing the push perfect gets...he was without a dout one of the most under used guys in WWF history....id guess because he didn't look like a superehero........ Same as Jake Roberts imo.</div></blockquote> I think with Perfect, it was a case of bad timing. Around the time Vince was about to give him the ball, Warrior had already started getting huge reactions. Then the staredown between Hogan and Warrior at the 1990 Royal Rumble happened, and it was church. Even if Perfect had won the Rumble as supposedly was originally planned, Vince probably still would have gone with Hogan/Warrior for WM VI. With Jake, he himself said that he cost himself a chance to get a title run with his drug habits.

The_Monk · March 15, 2017

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Matt Shannon" data-cite="Matt Shannon" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I think with Perfect, it was a case of bad timing. Around the time Vince was about to give him the ball, Warrior had already started getting huge reactions. Then the staredown between Hogan and Warrior at the 1990 Royal Rumble happened, and it was church. Even if Perfect had won the Rumble as supposedly was originally planned, Vince probably still would have gone with Hogan/Warrior for WM VI. With Jake, he himself said that he cost himself a chance to get a title run with his drug habits.</div></blockquote> Think your def right about Mr P, although I think moving forward he'd have made a good opponent for the warrior or even Hogan but I just don't see the WWF back then ever putting the title on him as he wasn't the look. Im currently signing Mr P for JCP. im gonna team him with Rude and have called Perfectly Ravishing. they will be my dominant team until I think they both ready for mega single pushes, and become the figureheads of my company

Beejus · March 15, 2017

Good pick ups with Curt, OMG, and Boss Man. I look forward to seeing them be minor players as they feud with the Mega Powers <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

To be sure, the Towers would make some great wild brawls with Demolition if and when you turn the Demos face. And you may just be able to work with Steamboat as far as giving him some great matches against Hennig. My biggest question is: when does the Texas based booker bring in some Von Erichs?!

Mattywood · March 15, 2017

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Beejus" data-cite="Beejus" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Good pick ups with Curt, OMG, and Boss Man. I look forward to seeing them be minor players as they feud with the Mega Powers <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> To be sure, the Towers would make some great wild brawls with Demolition if and when you turn the Demos face. And you may just be able to work with Steamboat as far as giving him some great matches against Hennig. My biggest question is: when does the Texas based booker bring in some Von Erichs?!</div></blockquote> On all those fronts, let's just say that you may or may not like the year 1988. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Mattywood · March 20, 2017

<div style="text-align:center;">The month of May proved to be an eventful month, in more ways than one. We were hyping up the King Of The Ring, the first time that this tournament would be televised. While the rest of the country didn't know about the previous two tournaments because they were house shows, I knew I couldn't insult the intelligence of those who had attended those two events, as well as the handful of hardcore fans who subscribed to the newsletters and Apter magazines. So we acknowledged the first two years of the King Of The Ring with the story that it had become so prestigious that WWF President Jack Tunney felt that it deserved to be shown on television for the world to see. It would also be a two night affair so that we could showcase other big matches along with the tournament, with the first night being broadcast on the USA Network, and the second night available on a PPV basis.

The weeks leading up to the event proved to be eventful as well. Dino Bravo had tested positive for steroids and was suspended for one month. We had covered for this on television with Luscious Johnny V and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine stating that Bravo had disrespected the American flag at a recent live event and that Pres. Tunney suspended Bravo for it, and of course they felt that the kayfabe punishment was harsh. Corporal Kirchner meanwhile tested positive for marijuana, and knowing his past drug troubles, I opted to send him to rehab. And Billy Jack Haynes was getting heat with the locker room for trying to throw others under the bus to my road agents with some of the most wild ass stories imaginable. So wild ass that not even my road agents would believe them. I told Billy Jack to cut it out, but like most things with Billy Jack (or as Pedro Morales so affectionately called him, "Beeeely"), it went in one ear and out the other.

Meanwhile, I extended the contracts of both Ken Resnick and Lord Alfred Hayes, and I signed a regional wrestler by the name of Jerry Oates to play the part of Kim Chee as I wanted to get Steve Lombardi out of that gimmick. I had to give Jerry a trial run though before I signed him to a full fledged contract. He just so happened to be looking for work in an area we had ran TV in and I hired him for the night to work as an enhancement talent, then I did a test run with him under the Kim Chee get-up to see how he and Kamala interacted with each other. There was no bad chemistry to be had, so a full contract was in order.

Speaking of TV, I had wanted to get rid of Superstars altogether or figure out a way to get it onto another network. The various TV stations wouldn't let me change it to a B show, and it was pretty expensive to outright cancel it. I knew eventually I probably could, but at the moment, I didn't want to spend my money on that. So I chugged along, putting on feature matches as the main event for each show, but I knew I couldn't do it forever as I could foresee that the fans wouldn't want a show of only squash matches forever. They were fine with squashes here or there throughout a two hour show to make other superstars look good, but not a full-on squash show.

With the challenges that lay ahead, I had my King Of The Ring bracket set:</div>

-Honky Tonk Man

-Koko B. Ware

-Cowboy Bob Orton

-Jim Duggan

-"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase

-Tito Santana

-King Harley Race

-Jake "The Snake" Roberts

OOC: Alright, in honor of March Madness, this will be one of those rare instances where I will take predictions. Get your brackets together, and go ahead and post who all you think will win each match (or if there will be a draw), and who will win it all. The way the wrestlers are listed is the bracket layout: so the winner of HTM vs Koko would face the winner of Orton vs Duggan, winner of DiBiase vs Santana would face the winner of Race vs Roberts, and so on and so forth.

You get one point for each winner you guess correctly, and five points if you guess who wins it all. I will contact the winner via PM with what they get to do in the dynasty. Seeing as that my actual save is much further along than this dynasty, I won't be able to hand out prizes such as "sign worker X," "give worker X a title shot," etc. But it will be something neat nonetheless. I am open to suggestions as well.

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