Go Not Gently Into That Coastal Zone

[infinitywpi]

They say this business takes a toll on you. Not just your body -- lord knows I never got in the ring myself -- but mentally. The planning, the curveballs, the straight-up crisis after constant crisis... I had had enough. I had moved across the country, had a kid, gotten married, gone bankrupt, changed jobs so many times, gotten separated, then divorced... I had passed my breaking point, lapped it, and passed it again. Life demanded too much time and attention and something had to give.

 

So I left.

 

And never looked back.

 

Until that one fateful day he knocked on my door. I hadn't expected him, of all people -- although the green hair, white facepaint, and purple suit were a nice homage, I felt -- and I certainly wasn't expecting him to hold out a simple scrap of scribbled-on paper.

 

"I think you and I are destined to do this forever," he said, somehow adding a bit of childish sing-songing to the quote that made it feel almost threatening.

 

Against my better judgement, I took the offered paper and read the scribbles. I'm pleased to officially announce that my next game with Grey Dog Software will be Total Extreme Wrestling 2020, it read.

 

"Ryland, you son of a bitch. I'm in."

 

 

Welcome to the Coastal Zone.

[infinitywpi]

Ah, Coastal Zone Combat Wrestling. Or is it Championship? It depends on how old you are, I guess. Even 'the old guard' call it Championship now.

 

So, what exactly is CZCW?

 

CZCW has been called many things. Upstart. Modern. Overhyped. Destined for greatness. Destined for failure. When the world was enjoying Big Men Hitting Each Other, they pioneered 'Normal Men Flipping Around'. Unfortunately, when it started getting popular, others took the idea and did it better. They've done multiple groundbreaking things -- 'importing' lucha and Japanese talent to the US, treating inter-gender matches as no different than any other -- but every time something becomes 'the next big idea', other companies grab it and make it their own.

 

CZCW is part of the Confederation Of The Territories (COTT), alongside Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (MAW), New York City Wrestling (NYCW), Invincible Pro Wrestling (ICW), and Original Lucha Libre Is Eternal (OLLIE).

 

They have earned the nickname 'The Eternal Indy' by never falling so far they need to fight to survive, but never thriving enough to really be something bigger. CZCW is where young wrestlers go to make names for themselves, and older wrestlers go to show they still have what it takes.

 

---------------------------------------

 

And now, a lot of work that might be for nothing. Why? I'll tell you later.

 

The Staff

• Cliff Anderson, owner and announcer, is one of the few 'genuine good people' in the wrestling business. He founded the company, and his personality is why so many have trusted the Zone to do something for their career.
  
• Fox Mask, former star of CZCW who -- despite trying -- never made it big anywhere else. Currently head booker, occasional color commentator, occasional road agent.
  
• Pee-Wee Germaine, senior referee and merchandise maven. Everyone loves him.
  
• The Guru, color commentator. Former wrestler, former big-league manager, former CZCW booker.
  
• Dylan Sidle, former wrestler who became CZCW's road agent thirteen years ago after a bad concussion.
  
• Quincy Jargon, wrestling fan and rookie referee.
  

 

The Stars

• Frankie 'P-Dawg' Perez, innovator of stiff striking; feels old with all these damn kids around. Current CZCW Champion.
  
• Masked Cougar, the living personification of the Zone's blend of American, Lucha, and Puro.
  
• "The Priest of Pain" Pablo Rodriguez, lucha vet and former head booker of SOTBPW before new ownership forced him out. Current COTT Champion.
  
• The American Cobras (Marvel Malloy and Storm Spillane), one of the busiest tag teams on the indy scene. Best friends since childhood, current COTT World Tag Champs.
  
• "Mr. Submission" Al Coleman, a former midcarder, he made it to the main event by outlasting all the other options -- and then made the most of it.
  
• American Flash, a smallish luchadore who overcame the odds to become a champion
  

 

The Others

• The Well-Known: Notorious (Carlos Barerra & Miguel Riviara), CZCW Tag Champs and brawlers. The Wildcats (El Jaguar & Tigre Salvaje Jr), lucha tag team that also works for CILL. Frankie-Boy Fernandez, the home-grown CZCW-For-Life talent ready for the next phase of his career. "Birdman" Matt Sparrow, first wrestler to start blogging, never really connected with the fans, is now probably too old to ever hit the big time. Brittney Hollywood, manager for the American Cobras, and dating one of them.
  
• The Recognizable: Inner City Express (Jay Becker & Malik Cash), a dominant tag team in Canada that can be somewhat sloppy. "CLM" California Love Machine, another home-grown talent and former/sometimes partner of Frankie-Boy. "Californian" Chet Chavez, another home-grown talent who isn't as good as he wants to be. "Chairman" Simon Waves, see note for Chet Chavez, also his new tag team partner. Willow, their manager and company seamstress. Heartbreaker, a luchador looking for his last shot at fame. "Dirty Dog" Jonnie Perez, P-Dawg's little brother who tries way, way too hard sometimes. Waylon Walls, a decent brawler who doesn't stand out.
  
• The Unimportant (... ouch!) : Bullseye, charismatic but sloppy, and Walls' new partner. Air Raid Syren, graceful rookie. "Sinner" Amy St. James, technical rookie. Ellie DeGrazia, suplexing rookie. Eureka LaBella, technical flying rookie (and also, unlike the last three, male -- the name fooled me at first too). "Dread Pirate" Hugh deAske, Canadian all-arounder who works for pretty much everyone and current CZCW Xtreme Champion. Juliet Balconi, up-and-coming actress. Kira Lee, devastating striking rookie. Onslaught, zone-trained luchadore. Skye Hermosa, gifted technical-flier ready to grow. Swipe Romero, luchadore who paid his dues and is ready for more. Tony deWonderful, young throwback wrestler with no personality. "Magic Monkey" Zel Quinn, flying rookie with unlimited potential.
  

 

---------------------------------------------

 

In conclusion, CZCW is right where it does best: A few old hands and a lot of youngsters looking to make names for themselves. In the right hands, yet another generation of stars will be able to say they came from the Zone.

 

... in the right hands...

 

Of course, all this could change. Why? Because who wants to live through the first few months of 2020 -again-? It was bad enough the first time!

 

We're starting in January of 2021!

 

... which means the only post between now and the game actually going on sale will be a quick recap of what's happened in January and February, and quite possibly some of those people I typed out summaries for won't be there anymore, but hey, that's the price you pay for such an innovative dynasty technique like simming an entire year before taking over as booker...

[Jaded]

Oh my GOD! Oh my GOD!!

 

SUPER excited to see you back in the Zone, infinity.

[Morti]

So excited to read this!

[foolinc]

Super excited to see this back. Can't wait to see what "happy accidents" happen during this run with CZCW.

[kanegan]

Reserved front seat for this. Can't wait.

[TLLK]

Yessir

[Unregistered]

Super happy and excited to see this! Have been reading these since the beginning, and I was worried there may not be one this release! I'm slightly sad we won't be seeing it start from the beginning, but whatever keeps you interested! <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

[infinitywpi]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Unregistered" data-cite="Unregistered" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47575" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I'm slightly sad we won't be seeing it start from the beginning, but whatever keeps you interested! <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Ah, you misunderstand. You'll see everything from the start -- the start just won't be until January 2021. Unless something weird happens in the meantime.</p><p> </p><p> ------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p> Anyway, a quick primer on some Coastal Zone concepts. These may not be 'Cornellverse Canon' but it's how I roll.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Theme Music</strong></p><p> You don't get theme music in the Coastal zone unless a) you've won a title here, b) you're holding a title in a same-sized or larger company, or c) you're well-known enough that your music alone is enough to pop a Coastal Zone crowd. Otherwise, you need to earn your music with a title win. </p><p> </p><p> <strong>Tidal Booking</strong></p><p> Tidal Booking was created by Cliff Anderson as a cost-saving measure back in the 90s and is, at its core, a slightly more complicated version of the 2-o-3-falls match. Used exclusively for the CZCW Tidal Tag Titles, the original concept was that a challenging tag team would have two singles matches, each member of the challenging team facing one of the current champions. If they couldn't win at least one match, they didn't deserve a Tag Title match. If they won one of the matches, they would get a title match later in the show.</p><p> </p><p> This worked fine for years, until some booker (who shall remain nameless) decided to compress things a bit and blend it with a 'Three stages of hell' match, where the first two falls were singles matches and the final fall, if needed, would be a tag match. In 2007, Remmy Skye and Frankie Perez won the Tag Team Titles by winning both singles matches (against Citizen X and Insane Machine, respectively). The fans felt cheated out of a tag match and decided (quite rightly) that the idea of winning tag team titles in singles matches wasn't a good idea. </p><p> </p><p> <em>Presenter instructions: Display a frame of Big E winning the tag titles in a triple-threat singles match on Smackdown, pause for audience laughter, then continue.</em></p><p> </p><p> That booker's not around anymore, and Tidal Booking has returned to a "1-of-2-falls" match concept, where a pair of singles matches are fought to 'qualify' for a title shot. If both matches are lost, no title shot; if one is won, title shot. If both are won, it doesn't automatically win you the titles, but it certainly gives you the morale advantage -- only twice in Zone history has a defending team recovered from losing both singles matches and been able to rally to retain their titles later that night.</p><p> </p><p> <strong>Triangle Tournament</strong></p><p> The Triangle Tournament is a quasi-semi-annual event that usually occurs when we have no clear current contender for the CZCW Title (and, occasionally, the Xtreme Title). Usually taking place over an entire show, three triple-threat matches are held, with the winners facing each other in one final triple-threat match. Cliff doesn't like doing these too often, because nine people for four matches is more expensive than eight people for four matches, but fans enjoy them for their fast-paced action and the fact that the wrestlers have to innovate to match each match feel different.</p>

[foolinc]

Tidal Booking in 2020 could be a bit more challenging as you can't temporarily boost the push of the competitors for the night without potentially angering the fans. Same goes for single night tournaments.

 

Not that I would do anything like that.

[Hashasheen]

You know, it took me a while to realize that Tidal Booking is basically WCCW's captain matches on spot shows where the Von Erichs would wrestle twice in singles matches before wrestling a tag match.

[infinitywpi]

So, it looks like we'll have to wait a bit before getting into the meat of the action, so some insight into where the world is as we start this thing...

 

The State of the World (As Pertains To Wrestling)

Since we're mainly interested in the United States for this dynasty, I can tell you right away that things are pretty bad. The economy is at 33 and slowly rising, but the wrestling industry is at a shocking 14... and still falling. The coming year is probably going to be pretty harsh, as the only people still following wrestling are the die-hard fans... and we know how hard it is to please die-hard fans.

 

Worldwide, wrestling is actually doing... mostly okay; Mexico is the lone exception, with the industry rated at 18 and falling. The UK has 29 and rising, Europe 24 and rising, Japan 58 and falling, and Oceania... we'll mention them in a moment.

 

Economy-wise, the world has been better. Mexico is okay at 62, but falling. Europe is 38 and falling, the UK is 32 and falling, Canada is 17 and falling, and Japan is -5- and still falling.

 

In other words, it's probably a bad time to get into the wrestling business. The one exception is Oceania, with an economy of 87 and a wrestling industry of 85, both rising. So believe me, there's a good chance that when my one-year 'watcher' period is up I may just take over CZCW and move it to Sydney or something. Or not. I'm trying to do this somewhat organically...

[Nightshadeex]

Oh goody!

[foolinc]

I mean it still would be a Coastal Zone.

[ReapeR]

And all is finally right in the world again. Welcome back!!!

[infinitywpi]

And now, our first update from the watcher portion of the dynasty.

 

January 2020

 

Frankie Perez wins Indy Wrestler of the Year for 2019. To show you just how important this, he is... not even on the list of the 100 most popular wrestlers in the world. Or even just in the USA. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even make the top 100 in the Southwest. (Pablo is on those lists tho; #78 in the world, #98 in the USA.)

 

CZCW Revolution sees Johnnie Perez take the Xtreme Title from Hugh de Aske and Frankie Perez retain in a four-way over Flash, Cougar, and Coleman.

 

February 2020

 

CZCW Vendetta has a lot of rookies on the pre-show. We also have Johnnie retaining over CLM, Frankie retaining over Coleman, and a main event of Pablo defeating Cougar.

 

A week later, Storm Spillane was caught with illegal steroids. How will this change the young man's career? Well... we don't know yet, 'cause that's our two months.

 

See y'all once the game releases!

[tryker2710]

The absolute agony of having to wait another 2 weeks for this may just kill me, although as an English Lit student I do appreciate the Dylan Thomas reference in the title that I may just be persuaded into living to see the game's release.

[infinitywpi]

March 2020 (Now on Patch #15)

 

Storm Spillane's career seemed to be doing just fine; this month he moved to Mexico to be closer to OLLIE, and he still co-holds the COTT and BCG tag team titles (the latter of which he won last month, apparently) with Marvel Malloy.

 

Also, we've learned that the news is not going to tell us everything that happened to everyone on the roster, so we'll have to check it ourselves. Fun!

 

Pablo Rodriguez has a good month, showing up in OLLIE on a one-shot deal for a six-man match.

 

Independant wrestling goes -huge-in Hawaii, with a card with -20- (!!!) matches on it.

 

CZCW Uprising was a decent show: Jonnie Perez retained the Xtreme Title over Frankie-Boy Fernandez; Pablo retained the COTT Heavyweight Title against Coleman, Sparrow, and Flash; and Frankie Perez defeated Masked Cougar to retain the CZCW Title.

 

Oh, and apparently the Zone is now available on WrestleWorld. So we'll see how that changes things... given that EVERYONE seems to be on WrestleWorld. It's us, MAW, QAW, NYCW, APCW, PSW, FCW, IPW, and GSW. That's a Who's Who of American and Canadian smaller companies.

[Astil]

Very interesting premise, always enjoyed the WttCZ threads.

[Wonk]

Wonderful news to see this back.

[infinitywpi]

April-May-June 2020 (now on Retail)

 

Two new Coastal Resort graduates join the Zone, the light-techie-flippy Peter Broughton and the kinda-coasted-through-training Larry Brisco.

 

The Zone's very own 'Ravishing Red' Juliet Balconi (... I just got that... dammit, Ryland...) is going to film a cameo on a popular TV show! That can't take more than, what, a week?

 

No title changes happen during these months, but Frankie Perez and Pablo Rodriguez seem to be competing to see who can have the better match every night.

 

July-August-September 2020

 

Now things are beginning to happen. Hugh de Aske gets hired away by USPW; Marvel Mallow gets signed by TCW, but they leave Storm Spillane alone; El Jaguar and Swipe Romero both just let their contracts expire and leave.

 

GSW decides to add some Zone flavor to their roster, adding Carlos Barerra, Frankie-Boy Fernandez, Frankie Perez, and Miguel Rivera to their roster.

 

You want new champions? We got new champions! We got -all- new champions! Matt Sparrow takes the Xtreme Title off Jonnie Perez; Masked Cougar takes the COTT Title off Pablo Rodriguez; The Beach Boys (Chett Chavez and Simon Waves) grab the Tag Team Titles from Notorious; and Frankie-Boy Fernandez takes the CZCW Title from Frankie Perez.

 

... that last one... yeah, we're pretty sure the booker is mocking us. 'cause accidentally selecting the wrong Frankie to win a title match sounds like something we would have done back in the day...

 

On the next Coastal Zone: With all-new Champions, how will the Coastal Zone handle The Month Of WTF? And for the first time in a long time, something that happened to a fictional wrestler in a simulated game has made me very, very sad.

[Doctor Crunch]

I am so happy to see this diary. Your Welcome to the Coastal Zone diaries are actually what brought me to TEW.

[infinitywpi]

Time to wrap up the 'Watcher' part of this dynasty. We know you're all waiting for the good stuff and how I can screw all this up...

 

October-November-December 2020

 

October was the kind of month I would have expected if I was actually playing, not just watching. The good news is that Al Coleman and Willow are dating.

 

The bad news? Chet Chavez? Carlos Barerra? Jonnie Perez? Tony DeWonderful? All gone. The Guru? Gone. Dylan Sidhe? Gone. Fox Mask was now head booker, 50% of the announce team, and the sole road agent.

 

... Cliff must love that, three jobs for one salary...

 

Oh, and Storm doesn't show up for Hardcore Halloween, leading to lots of rumors... we find him a few days later, so everything's okay, but damn if we weren't expecting the worst.

 

Also in here, the Zone hired on a few new names. Cali Slick, from GSW and Deadly Deadshot, from IPW.

 

With Chet Chavez gone, the Inner City Express (Becker & Cash) win the vacant Tag Team Titles over Gangster Nation (Bullseye & Walls). MAtt Sparrow keeps defending the Xtreme Title against the younger crowd, hopefully teaching them a few things in the process. Cougar and Frankie-Boy keep having great matches, retaining their respective titles.

 

... and Christmas Cage Chaos had no cage matches. That -also- feels like something I would have done.

 

For the year, the Zone has grown ever-so-slowly, just 1-2 points in a few places. They're also down thirty grand due to a horrible April-May-June where sponsorships from their WrestleWorld show weren't quite enough to offset the costs yet.

 

The main problem with the roster is the tag team division. The champs are a great team; all our other teams are thrown-together teams except for the California Dreams (Kira Lee and Skye Hermosa), and they're still working on getting better.

 

How is the world changing? Well, BHOTWG takes Promotion of the Year and has become Big; USPW has fallen to Medium. TCW and CWA both rose to Big and then dropped back down to Medium.

 

So, there we are. The simmed 2020. On New Year's Day, the database is saved and a new game started, and so the fun will begin!

 

... oh, right. The thing that majorly bummed me out.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, please rise as we have a traditional ten-ring-bell salute to the man, the myth, the legend... Jim Force, taken too soon in October 2020.

[infinitywpi]

January 2021

 

It was a crisp New Year's Day when I walked in to CZCW Headquarters (AKA the small non-gym area that was attached to the Coastal Resort training facility). I walked right up to Cliff Anderson and stated the obvious. "You're losing money."

 

He looked back at me and said, "Who are you?"

 

"Oh, right, different timeline... I've been watching. You've lost money this year. And if you keep it up, the Zone is out of business in three years, tops. But I have a solution for you. Hire me, as head booker, and I'll make sure you stay profitable."

 

"... Fox Mask already books the shows, and he's doing okay."

 

"I'll work for free."

 

"So does he! Well, technically, I only pay him for announcing..."

 

I froze. I was not expecting that. Money is usually the best way to convince Cliff to do anything, in any timeline, dimension, reality, whatever you want to call it. "How well does he handle the unexpected? He's okay with the tools you have... but you're going to lose a lot of those tools this year." I bluffed. I figured it was a good bluff; everyone loses the people they rely on eventually.

 

Cliff stared me down for a few moments.

 

"... and I will put money in an escrow account that will cover any money you lose while I'm booking."

 

"Welcome aboard, Mister...?"

 

"Just call me The Infinite Avatar. Now, let's get to work..."

 

-----------------------------

 

My plan had been to just go straight to booking my first show. But seeing a new guy in charge, Storm Spillane took me aside for a conversation. He was looking for more money -- and you never want to ask Cliff for that, you want to ask the next guy in charge.

 

Part of me wanted to tell him to stop buying steroids and he'll have money again. But part of me felt sorry for the guy. One mistake. And now his tag partner was in the big leagues and he was still here. And it turns out he could be getting twice as much as we're paying him, so we agree. We're already planning how to use him on the next show.

 

... a show where he's working for someone else instead. Dangit.

 

… And it takes me ten minutes trying to figure out how to book a match before realizing I have to set the broadcaster to WrestleWorld first.

 

This is not a good omen.

 

--------------------------------------

 

Revolution 2021

 

We open with Bullseye winning a four-way over Eureka, Brisco, and Onslaught (37). Simon Waves defeated California Love Machine and Zel Quinn (35). The COTT Tag Titles are defended as Diaz and Tokoeka defeat Waylon Walls and Miguel Rivera (41). Deadly Deadshot defeated Al Coleman (51). Matt Sparrow & Air Raid Syren def. Heartbreaker & Juliet Balconi (42). The Inner City Express retain the CZCW Tag Tiles over California Dreams (39). Cali Slick defeats Peter Broughton, but has to work for it (41). Frankie Perez and Pablo Rodriguez defeat Masked Cougar and Tigre Salvaje Jr (58). And in our main event, FrankieBoy Fernandez retains the CZCW Title over American Flash (58).

 

Final show rating: 56. Iiiiii bombed compared to what the AI booked in the last year. They were getting shows in the 60s with main events in the 70s. My problem? Apparently I need longer matches -- and Fox is stressed to the max trying to Road Agent everything for the night. I guess we know we need to make at least one hire before our next show… on the plus side? Nearly 74,000 viewers!

 

--------------------------------------

 

Annnnd IPW has decided they really, really don’t like us now. Well, that’ll be… interesting…

 

So, we need a road agent. We don’t want to hire someone who works elsewhere, and we want someone fairly local (As much as I’d love to bring in Super Ninja, flying him out from Japan could get expensive). Dylan left us for no reason, so that leaves us with exactly one option. Fabulous Frank, you’ve got a job offer.

 

Oh. Hrm. Cliff gave us some goals. Let’s see… Two years, eight months to gain some popularity. Or really, “Don’t screw up for two years.” Okay. We can do that, we hope. And we can’t hire Comedy wrestlers or MMA Crossovers. Not a problem, boss!

 

It seems like -everyone- wants more money. Maybe because I’m the new guy. I agree to all of it; worst case, I start booking less people. And I may have to; it’s a lot of pay raises, and they’re all at least double.

 

Kira Lee and Air Raid Syren get jobs with QAW; good, twice the matches, twice the learning, right?

 

That went well for a first month. We even made a little money. I’m sure all these pay raises will have no effect on us whatsoever.... … … … I’m sure…

 

On the next Coastal Zone: We hire our first new wrestler, and perform an emergency title change.

[praguepride]

Back in the booker’s seat again! Welcome back!