How meticulous do you get with your planning?

[dexi21]

I book like a Dynastie with this mean i plan all thinks very close almost i go to extreme but this keep me in to a game for a long time. Usually i book 1 or 2 shows per day RAW and Smackdown. Is hard way but this is what i enjoy it and i play with WWE. As for PPVs i book like this the main feud i plan 2 or 3 mounths in advance and for others and minor title and every mounth but i have like for exemple The Miz© vs Seth Rollins for 3 PPV and maybe with a twist in the middle to keep it more for 4 mounths and so one. And for the big guys they never meet until a big 5 PPV like MitB, SummerSlam, SS, Rumble and Mania.

[Peria]

<p>I usually have "sketches" in my head. I'll have for example...</p><p> </p><p>

Brock Lesnar vs Nakamura for the G1 with Lesnar actually going over. But because Nakamura is so over right now it'd be stupid to squander that and Lesnar losing isn't ideal so I scrapped Lesnar even being in the G1 instead having him the 2nd Main Event title, Zero-1 World Heavyweight.</p><p> </p><p>

Basically I book my end of the year show carefully, with most of the matches falling into place but I am aware of my plans not coming to fruition well in advance and can change accordingly.</p>

[southside_hitmen]

<p>I usually book to a minimum of 2 "big" shows ahead and work backwards from there.</p><p> </p><p>

For example, if I'm playing WWE right now I have all my titles planned out to Survivor Series. Not anything crazy like weekly segments or anything but just here's the champ, here's the challengers, and if anyone is taking the belt off of them.</p><p> </p><p>

Then booking backwards, in an idea stolen straight from the Story Grid podcast (it's a novel writing podcast - good book too) I try to "turn" the action each week on my way to the PPV's.</p><p> </p><p>

So, say I'm in January on the way to the Royal Rumble. I want AJ Styles to retain against Kevin Owens for the WWE title.</p><p> </p><p>

Starting in week 1, I need the story to "move" (doesn't matter which direction for this example). I can't have both people end the show in the same place they started. So if AJ came in hot to the show after a title defense, I may have KO interfere in a tag match to cost him a win (moving AJ negative). The next week, I then have a choice. Does AJ bounce back? Does KO do something else to get under AJ's skin?</p><p> </p><p>

They key here is 2 things really:</p><p>

1) you can't do the same thing 2x (especially in a row). So KO interfering the same way and costing him a match again in week 2 is just going to annoy the audience. Maybe he attacks before the match instead? Or KO is actually in the match and beats AJ's tag partner in a pinfall. Something different. Again the story needs to move.</p><p>

2) Similar to above, you have to portray the workers are credible "threats' to one another. So again, 4 weeks of beatdowns with no response from AJ will leave the audience feeling like the babyface has no fire, they aren't on equal footing, etc.. It needs to kind of ebb and flow from week to week to see them as equals. My rule of thumb is you can't go more than 2 weeks in a row in the same direction.</p><p> </p><p>

So a rudimentary example would be:</p><p> </p><p>

"Bad"</p><p>

- KO Interferes to cost AJ Match (-)</p><p>

- KO Interferes to cost AJ match (-)</p><p>

- KO beats down AJ before match (-)</p><p>

- KO beats down AJ before match (-)</p><p>

- AJ wins at PPV (+)</p><p> </p><p>

The audience would feel like AJ's win came out of nowhere (in a bad way - not to mention tanking his momentum in the process)</p><p> </p><p>

"Good"</p><p>

- KO interferes to cost AJ the match (-)</p><p>

- KO tries to interfere but AJ sees it coming and spoils the interference (+)</p><p>

- KO beats down AJ before the match (-)</p><p>

- AJ tries to jump KO before the match but is spoiled by a 3rd party (-)</p><p>

- AJ wins at the PPV after handling the 3rd party trying to interfere (+)</p><p> </p><p>

AJ has some "gumption" in above scenario and both competitors seem on even footing. AJ is the babyface trying to do what's honorable until pushed to his limits. KO is the dastardly heel using every trick in the book to keep up with AJ.</p><p> </p><p>

Just an example, and probably more than you asked for, but that's basically how I book most of my saves.</p>

[mrwhippy]

<p>I always work backwards.</p><p> </p><p>

For example, if I'm booking WCW and it's January, I'm still looking at Starrcade and fleshing out what matches I want on that show.</p><p> </p><p>

From there I can start to develop the storylines that get me there. If my World title match is Sting vs. Flair, I'm not going to jump straight into the deep end with it 12 months in advance but I'll maybe plant the odd seed early on and maybe build to an initial match at another "A"-event like Great American Bash through something like a multi-man match or face-off; I'm not a fan of the "brawls every week" style of booking, I leave them for the rare occasions they are needed to really get some heat, or to the one out of control worker/team on the roster.</p><p> </p><p>

Once I've mapped out the season finale and the other main shows in the year, I start to develop the ins and outs of the storylines. I'm glossing over it a bit but from here, all the TV in between writes itself. I'm a bit old school in that I tend to slow burn a lot of things so I'm focusing on worker/character development and side stories for much of the time (I like to layer my stories so rather than having all Major participants going at each other every week, I create a minor one- or two-week story to get me through a TV show). I usually have 8-10 storylines active but I would be lucky to advance half of those in one "A"-TV show.</p>