CZCW Thread

[MikeSc]

Looking at the major show schedule, I worked out a few things to do to spice up the non-angle booking stuff.

 

CZCW is basically a Japanese promotion on American soil, so I stole the tournaments.

 

At Spring Break Bash I have the finals for the Spring Break Scramble, a round-robin singles tournament with an annual "title" that is an achievement for the workers. At Revolution I have the Tag Team Revolution tuornament, which is the same thing for, you guessed it, tag teams.

 

I also put in 2 season finales. Uprising and Tidal Wave will host the winners of these matches in title matches.

 

Then I looked at the show name for December and came up with a match to fit it. Since that is the tag portion of the year, going to put a cage up, a ladder in the cage and a few wires to help the fliers and have 4 tag teams duke it out in a battle for the first pin or submission. Not going to do a title, still not sure what the reward for this would be.

 

And I want to do something like that for singles. So I think the same match type but for singles at Surf Slam.

 

I have a ton of teams building experience and I will eventually make the existing tag titles Primary and build a Secondary title for the midcard tag teams.

 

Still trying to work out who replaces Frankie Perez as the Champ. He's consistently putting on the best matches on the card still. I am leaning towards Tigre Salvaje Jr. or Extraordinario at the moment, with Tigre as the favorite. Amazing Fire Fly's gimmick was the only gimmick to get below Adequate since the start of the game, so he may or may not be a factor until after I get that fixed.

 

I picked up Blue Phantom and El Serpiente, they seem to at least be in line for Star putting on great matches within the year. Not sure either will ever be main guys, but not everyone is. Austin Smooth and Acid 2 have been tearing it up. Both look to be Stars for a long, long time.

[scmurph01]

I just reached March and I am looking to get a deal with Wrestleworld. Will I be better off broadcasting our events on the service or broadcasting Coast to Coast?

[MikeSc]

<p>Do both. More exposure is always good if you are gaining pop.</p><p> </p><p>

I just finished Welcome to the Coastal Zone and had a show rating of 81. Biggest match on the show was Frankie Perez making defense # 38(!) of the CZCW Title against Masked Cougar with an 83. That show bumped me up to 67 and I am sitting with 4.5 mil in the bank.</p><p> </p><p>

I am thinking of making a "World Title" with a different name that is only defended at major events. I have 8 Major Stars and 4 Stars, so I kind of feel the need for a rarely defended big belt.</p>

[scmurph01]

Do both. More exposure is always good if you are gaining pop.

 

I just finished Welcome to the Coastal Zone and had a show rating of 81. Biggest match on the show was Frankie Perez making defense # 38(!) of the CZCW Title against Masked Cougar with an 83. That show bumped me up to 67 and I am sitting with 4.5 mil in the bank.

 

I am thinking of making a "World Title" with a different name that is only defended at major events. I have 8 Major Stars and 4 Stars, so I kind of feel the need for a rarely defended big belt.

 

I didn't realize I could do both. I went and did and ran two tapings of Coast to Coast and they went pretty good. I'm planning on building up Air Raid Syren and give her a run with the Extreme title.

[Blackman]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="MikeSc" data-cite="MikeSc" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47627" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I just finished Welcome to the Coastal Zone and had a show rating of 81. </div></blockquote><p> </p><p> That's amazing. <img alt=":eek:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> After a few tries I had to be content with a 64 for Revolution. I do like to play realistically and will not raise my production settings (The Zone ftw! <img alt=":cool:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/cool.png.f00d2562b2c1d873a09323753efdb041.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />). As long as RIPW remains a thing your rating should be destroyed by it. <img alt=":confused:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/confused.png.d4a8e6b6eab0c67698b911fb041c0ed1.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> What match aims are you using because in this promotion there honestly isn't much you can do to manipulate things. I doubt it's even possible for me to ever get a 81 in 4 shows. </p><p> </p><p> Starting with C2C seems like a weird thing given there's no TV deal possible. I know WrestleWorld will be a thing but that shouldn't exactly be making you much money. And I'm going to have to deal with an angry priest if I somehow want to make money off of that. <img alt=":rolleyes:" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/rolleyes.png.4b097f4fbbe99ce5bcd5efbc1b773ed6.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[MikeSc]

<p>It really started with building Frankie Perez and the Cobras as unbeatable machines from day one. They get super over and constantly have white hot momentum. Building on that I used the same strategy with a bunch of others, with the occasional loss all around.</p><p> </p><p>

Namely:</p><p>

American Flash</p><p>

Austin Smooth</p><p>

Acid 2</p><p>

Al Coleman</p><p>

Christy Higgins</p><p>

Danielle Sweetheart</p><p>

Hugh de Aske</p><p>

El Hijo de Neutron Jr.</p><p>

Extraordinario</p><p>

El Jaguar</p><p>

Masked Cougar</p><p>

Tigre Slavaje Jr.</p><p> </p><p>

And those guys are all either Major Stars or Stars, depending on who has lost recently. I have 18 wrestlers in Major Star or Star, all with Red Hot momentum or better. Which is great except the fans complain when they aren't ALL on a show and I lose attendance LOL. If they take a loss it is followed by at least 2 wins to get them back on track.</p><p> </p><p>

I also spammed the big matchups a bit much and have taken to tracking which matchups I use and when much better to avoid running into big shows that need big matches and they aren't there.</p><p> </p><p>

Beyond that, you hit the nail on the head with Production Values. Those hurt you a lot.</p><p> </p><p>

A Subscription Broadcaster at Small is a nice way to gain pop at something like 3k per month. Believe me when I tell you the attendance gains will outweigh the losses by a lot.</p><p> </p><p>

Surf Slam was a 79, very much due to having to use lesser and untested matchups. And Masked Cougar, my second most consistent singles guy, being injured hurt me a lot. I did manage to push up to a 72 in SW, not sure I want to break 74 with the roster I have now. I would end up losing pop on the shows that don't go off as planned.</p>

[Blackman]

Subscription broadcaster? That really works for such a small promotion? The manual says you'd bleed from it due to not getting the threshold yet at 40 pop we start at. And you have 4 million dollars? Doesn't that bother you at all? There's no way CZCW irl (bit of ROH) would pull that off in reality.

 

So you use main event focus then? Seems to me CZCW is more of a broad roster so 3RC seems more appropriate so the off matches aren't a factor.

 

Been looking at some good rentals from COTT and so far I've compiled this list:

- CILL: Hellcat Hernandez, El Serpentio --> Both can be traded for Heartbreaker or El Jag (or even Marvel). The Wildfires can even be traded against Heartbreaker.

- EMFE: Pyro & Zebra

- MAW: The Architect

- NYCW: Riley & Masked Stranger

- IPW: Frantic

- OLLIE: McLucha III is only 260 and Phoenix II 140 (and so many other talents there).

Any other nice catches I forgot?

 

Kinda thrilled with this little game though. Immediate drama as Air Raid Siren cheated with Storm Spillane. I thought about axing her, but Storm wàs kinda the breakout star from Revolution after taking a huge bump and I don't want to piss him off. Was planning to fire the Siren anyway. Who the hell does she think she is. That's Brittney, b*tch!

[MikeSc]

<p>You do bleed from it financially. But when you hit a big show that brings up pop, it goes up by a full point due to the bigger number of people watching in your own region. It's going to depend how many shows you run per month whether it is worth it.</p><p> </p><p>

3RC is what I do. I just make sure I have 3 good matches per show and then the rest are either jobber wins for someone that needs momentum or work on a midcard guy moving up the card. Sometimes those actually outshine the "good" matches. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Sigilistic]

How long are you having your matches be?

[MikeSc]

If they have "Unimportant" workers in them, max of 13 minutes.

 

Recognisable guys go about 15.

 

Anything above that stay 20+ minutes to keep people happy.

[Blackman]

FYI: you save 7K (!) from just firing the masseuse and disabling catering for one event (for 50 people?). WTH are they eating there? Lobsters?

[Blackman]

Ok, I see what you mean. The new broadcaster does shake things up. A shame our COTT partners don't "get" that they need to increase their music production to get the benefits. Very unfortunate. I wonder what will happen if we mod the broadcaster to have lower requirements.

 

So far up to the night before our flagship event in may, we do seem to be getting 80+ matches out of nowhere because of American Flash's momentum and Frankie's awesomeness. No workers poached yet. Quite on the contrary. SWF released Zimmy Bumfhole. JUST. LIKE. THAT. And with apparently none of the other big 3 gunning for him, I simply picked him up right in time to win the COTT title from Pablo, who is really not putting in the performance anymore (damn I spend too much time playing '97 ).

 

I've mainly been pushing Frankie-Boy. Made a COTT women's title that Hellcat won at Spring Break Bash in a 10-woman mayhem. The men's event was for a title shot at Welcome, that Frankie-Boy won. Hugh DeAske is sitting on low morale from a botch from Frankie's brother, but has gained the most pop out of everyone.

[MikeSc]

Hugh de Aske is awesome. He just needs to be more consistent.

 

I just had a tag match where Mr. Lucha 3, Al Coleman and Frankie Boy all hit 85s and 86s. California Love Machine came in with a 66 and the match got rated a 69. I kind of want to job him for months despite that being his best rating ever.

[Blackman]

This ended up being my card. The cage match ended a bit brutal with both Wildcats taking bumps. (Juana, Hellcat & Masked Stranger are rentals)

 

 

It didn't end up breaking the 100k viewers. Did end up with a broken tailbone, and Masked Stranger wasn't actually able to compete for Hugh's belt due to weight restrictions. Whoops. Too bad you only find out when the card ran.

 

I refuse to up my production values. It's the Indies, damnit! We'll see whether the TV deal will doom the indies or save them.

[MikeSc]

<p>You really do have to pay attention to detail, yeah. I'd take care of the Wildcats, they are top guys for sure.</p><p> </p><p>

So Americana Jr. had been struggling to keep up with the big names fr a while in both singles and tags. Then on my last show I figured I'd pop a decent rating by re-running Americana vs. Frankie Perez for the title due to chemistry. Match came out an 88 due to a better performance by Americana than Frankie. Whodathunkit???</p>

[praguepride]

As an IPW let me just say f*** you CZCW. I am over the moon if I can hit 60 in a main event and you guys here are s***ing out 70's and 80's like they're taco bell grandes!

[merrykieran2]

<p>Just ran Hardcore Halloween which is my 2nd biggest show of the year after Welcome to the Coastal Zone. Two biggest matches were rematches from that show with the main event seeing American Flash retain his title against Frankie Perez in an incredible 30 minute Iron-Man match while in the semi main event Hugh De Aske reclaimed his Extreme title from Heartbreaker. The plan was for Heartbreaker to then win it back in a blow off third match between the two but he was poached by EILL so this was his last appearance.</p><p> </p><p>

In the opener, the former tag team partners of Frankie-Boy Fernandes and California Love machine (who has been repackaged as California Death Machine) faced off and CDM picked up the win when a "fan" (Sweet Tabitha) jumped the guardrail and onto the apron to distract Frankie. The plan in the end is to make Frankie a main eventer but I'm loving the CDM character and adding Tabitha will just help him get better.</p><p> </p><p>

Also on the card, Nathaniel Ca$ino teamed with The Inner City Express for the first time after helping them win the tag titles from Notorious the month before. Following the match, they introduced themselves as Money vs Everyone (name stolen from Riptide irl) and I really love them as a stable.</p><p> </p><p>

Fuyuko Higa also beat Air Raid Syren while James Diaz beat up a few jobbers. Really fun show. Next show will be Pablo Rodriguez last as he has been signed by USPW so I will have him lose to Bradley Blaze who I'm thinking of bringing in full time. Also randomly, Dylan Sidle the road agent was also signed so I've brought in Sam Keith to replace him</p>

[Blackman]

Can you use distraction finishes? I thought the fans hated dubious finishes? I never tried because it adds nothing if you don't use storylines.

 

Has anyone else had their workers poached? I've been lucky so far as USPW only came for the road agent (Dylan), who is easily replaced.

[merrykieran2]

Can you use distraction finishes? I thought the fans hated dubious finishes? I never tried because it adds nothing if you don't use storylines.

 

Has anyone else had their workers poached? I've been lucky so far as USPW only came for the road agent (Dylan), who is easily replaced.

 

I just take the hit on those matches because they're not the most important. Never use it during the main or semi main event but use it to advance stories I'm telling at times

[Sigilistic]

Can you use distraction finishes? I thought the fans hated dubious finishes? I never tried because it adds nothing if you don't use storylines.

 

Has anyone else had their workers poached? I've been lucky so far as USPW only came for the road agent (Dylan), who is easily replaced.

 

Marvel Malloy got poached by Burning Hammer in my game. Not Storm Spillane, mind you, *just* Marvel Malloy. Very frustrating.

[infinitywpi]

Of the 37 people currently on my CZCW roster (October 2022), only 13 were on the 2020 starting roster. The poachings, the quittings, the random deaths (yes, plural)... it's been freakin' brutal. And I kinda love it.

[MikeSc]

Multiple random deaths??? Craziness.

 

I tend to have every match finish with a real finish. I can work people's pop and momentum back up easy enough.

 

I have reached a pop of 75 or 76 and my matches now suffer from the fact that I don't have good enough announcing. Amazing Fire Fly and Danielle Sweetheart had performances of 94 and 87, which came out to a 79 after psychology and announcing penalties.

[merrykieran2]

Marvel Malloy got poached by Burning Hammer in my game. Not Storm Spillane, mind you, *just* Marvel Malloy. Very frustrating.

 

Exact same situation here. It's not that bad for me as The Cobras were very much not in my main event plans but it's left me with just Storm to use and he's kinda just been jobbed out a bit which is sad.

 

Just got a huge signing after losing one of our top stars in Pablo Rodriguez. We picked up Wade Orson after he was released by 21CW and he goes in as our top franchise player in the creative meeting. How long we have him for I can't say but will try to make the best of him while we have him

[jackwad]

Cool how different games can be. Storm has been tearing up my main events since Marvel got poached by OLLIE after I hit medium and went a little crazy offering written contracts. I like that feature where the AI might get into a bidding war with you over shared workers, it was genuinely tense wondering whether I'd get to keep either of the American Cobras since Cliff is cheap.

 

Any tips from players with longer games? One thing I'd do differently is start upgrading merch right away. As of October 2020, my profits are razor-thin due to my spending habits so I wish I had squeezed some extra profits from merch early on.

[MikeSc]

Honestly, I am starting to look at CZCW differently. It was my opening game after struggling through years of not being able to play smaller promotions in earlier games. I booked and ran the whole promotion like it was destined to fight with the big guys (and it worked).

 

Only issue is once you reach a certain point it becomes impossible to be what CZCW is. It is a successful indie that is run by a guy who believes in cooperation and being nice. To get into medium and towards large you have to sign people away from your friends. You have to hire a new announcer (I see Cliff as the heart and soul of the promotion). Honestly it feels like you are running a Japanese promotion in the Southwest. Which is fine, but it kind of goes against the basic tenets of the company.

 

I may come back to CZCW at some point and run them as a sucessful Indy that supports it's partners in the COTT and doesn't break the no-signing agreements at some point. But that is a short game and I don't know that it can be maintained. Might be a fun challenge later.