The "Booking Committee" Thread, 2020 Edition

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

These might not all fit the bill right away, but would do so with a bit of a rework on their character/look, although it'd also depend on the size of your company as some would fit only if you don't need popular and/or talented people but can go for people who are a bit more on the "indy" side of wrestling:
Abaddon
Atticus Cogar
Caveman Ugg
Baby Allison
Nikki Cross
Karen Q/Wendy Choo
Rosemary
Ender Kara
Penta El Zero M
Jayde
Su Yung
Axel Tischer/Alexander Wolfe
Bestia 666
Big Damo
Blaxstrom
Harlow O'Hara
Jack Jester
Joe Gacy
Parker Boudreaux
Jurn Simmons
KTB
Marty the Moth
Mecha Wolf
Obariyon
Raven Creed
Vita VonStarr

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

Guys, I have a question for those of you who would be the most familiar with what we could call "latin" wrestling.

Basically, for my current save, I was given the challenge to push Lucha House Party as high as I can in WWE, with other conditions: hire or keep (and use as best as I can) every people they had a match against during their stay in WWE, hire or keep everyone named on their cagematch article (comments included) and hire or keep everyone who held a WWE title while LHP were there.
If for some reasons some workers aren't in the January 2022 mod I'm using, or if I don't find them "palatable" (for ethical reasons, like "hey, this dude has harassed many women" or "she's openly racist", etc), or if they are the owner/booker of another company, I'm also allowed to (or in the last case, have to) replace them with someone who would fill a similar role, and preferably with a similar gimmick. For instance, as there was no way I'd consider using Velveteen Dream, I was allowed to replace him with Dalton Castle, while I had to replace Turbo Floyd (that wasn't in the mod I'm using nor in others mods I have) with Anthony Greene.

With that being said, who should I use to replace Konnan ? As he's the booker of AAA in the mod, I can't sign him, but I don't really know who would fit as a replacement on-screen. Like, yes, Chavo and Vickie Guerrero could fill the bill of "Latin legend managers", but obviously gimmick wise they aren't even remotely close. Rey Mysterio, him being a wrestler notwithstanding, is in the "shortlist" of people on his own merit so can't serve as a replacement too (and again, his gimmick doesn't fit at all).
So far, my best bet would be either Vampiro or Homicide, but they're practically unknown to the WWE fans as far as I know, so I was wondering if someone had a better suggestion for "latin wrestling legend with a street gimmick that could work as a manager".

Thanks !

[Jaysin]

16 hours ago, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

Guys, I have a question for those of you who would be the most familiar with what we could call "latin" wrestling.

Basically, for my current save, I was given the challenge to push Lucha House Party as high as I can in WWE, with other conditions: hire or keep (and use as best as I can) every people they had a match against during their stay in WWE, hire or keep everyone named on their cagematch article (comments included) and hire or keep everyone who held a WWE title while LHP were there.
If for some reasons some workers aren't in the January 2022 mod I'm using, or if I don't find them "palatable" (for ethical reasons, like "hey, this dude has harassed many women" or "she's openly racist", etc), or if they are the owner/booker of another company, I'm also allowed to (or in the last case, have to) replace them with someone who would fill a similar role, and preferably with a similar gimmick. For instance, as there was no way I'd consider using Velveteen Dream, I was allowed to replace him with Dalton Castle, while I had to replace Turbo Floyd (that wasn't in the mod I'm using nor in others mods I have) with Anthony Greene.

With that being said, who should I use to replace Konnan ? As he's the booker of AAA in the mod, I can't sign him, but I don't really know who would fit as a replacement on-screen. Like, yes, Chavo and Vickie Guerrero could fill the bill of "Latin legend managers", but obviously gimmick wise they aren't even remotely close. Rey Mysterio, him being a wrestler notwithstanding, is in the "shortlist" of people on his own merit so can't serve as a replacement too (and again, his gimmick doesn't fit at all).
So far, my best bet would be either Vampiro or Homicide, but they're practically unknown to the WWE fans as far as I know, so I was wondering if someone had a better suggestion for "latin wrestling legend with a street gimmick that could work as a manager".

Thanks !

Not exactly a legend or street gimmick, but what about Dario Cueto/Cesar Duran from Lucha Underground/MLW?

He's an amazing heel and should get over quickly with his promos. 

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

That's a good call ! I thought about hiring him (and Catrina) unrelated to the shortlist of workers I have to get, but I wasn't sure how well their character work would fit in a company with a much less cinematic product. Has he been as great in MLW as he was in Lucha Underground ?

[dstephe4]

On 2/10/2023 at 11:46 PM, James The Animator said:

Brody King, Vincent Marseglia, Warhorse, Odinson, and G-Raver all fit that aesthetic.

Thank you!
 

On 2/11/2023 at 11:34 AM, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

These might not all fit the bill right away, but would do so with a bit of a rework on their character/look, although it'd also depend on the size of your company as some would fit only if you don't need popular and/or talented people but can go for people who are a bit more on the "indy" side of wrestling:
Abaddon
Atticus Cogar
Caveman Ugg
Baby Allison
Nikki Cross
Karen Q/Wendy Choo
Rosemary
Ender Kara
Penta El Zero M
Jayde
Su Yung
Axel Tischer/Alexander Wolfe
Bestia 666
Big Damo
Blaxstrom
Harlow O'Hara
Jack Jester
Joe Gacy
Parker Boudreaux
Jurn Simmons
KTB
Marty the Moth
Mecha Wolf
Obariyon
Raven Creed
Vita VonStarr

Thank you too! So much to choose from!

 

---

 

Additional question! Now that I have Malakai Black, I need a new name for him. Something similarly spooky and dark-sounding, but different enough to make his tenure in my fed different. I'm open perhaps to keeping the surname, but would need a new forename at the very least?

Any suggestions?

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

Since you intend to go with a satanic theme that will trigger reactions from your bible-loving fans, maybe you could go for the obvious, and take a look at names from famous occultists (after all, Alistair Black was more than likely a nod to Alistair Crowley), satanists, or hell, even demon names that sound plausible as "human" names ?
I'm sure you could also take a look at names from Death-Eaters in the Harry Potter universe, some would probably fit well enough and there is no need to make things more difficult than they need to be: Antonin, Corban, Augustus, Rabastan, Rodolphus, etc.

[Jaysin]

On 2/21/2023 at 9:13 AM, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

That's a good call ! I thought about hiring him (and Catrina) unrelated to the shortlist of workers I have to get, but I wasn't sure how well their character work would fit in a company with a much less cinematic product. Has he been as great in MLW as he was in Lucha Underground ?

He's still a great talker! I don't watch MLW as much as other promotions, but my buddy that watches MLW enjoys Cesar a lot when he's around

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

9 hours ago, Jaysin said:

He's still a great talker! I don't watch MLW as much as other promotions, but my buddy that watches MLW enjoys Cesar a lot when he's around

Cesar Duran it is then ! It'll even add some justification to the vast amount of luchadors I'll have in the different rosters, so it all works out in the end haha

[Yokai]

Long time lurker in this thread, first time poster. Looking for some advice in my (relatively) long term CZCW save. I'm in September of 2021 (Started January 2020) and Frankie-Boy Fernandes has been absolute money for me. He's held the top belt since August of 2020 and put on great match after great match. The problem is I feel like his reign has kind of become stale and it's holding me back from booking other things I'd like to with the title. I just can't figure out how to get it off him because he's beaten everyone there is to beat.

I was thinking of having a guy like Al Coleman get a fluke win over him for the belt and then maybe drop it a month or two later but I hate to have such a good run by Frankie end with a random loss to a guy who will just be a transitional champ.

Anyone have thoughts on how to get the belt off him?

[JrSquared]

I have hard time booking heels in long length multi title runs. Like they get a true run & then stay consistent characters but they dont really get that second or third long term title reign. Long term being 6 months or more. 

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

As said in a post a few days ago, I'm trying to replace some people in a shortlist of workers I need to hire for a challenge, and yet again I need someone's help.
For obvious reasons, I've decided to replace El Ligero in the shortlist, but I'm not convinced by any of the choices I've thought of to replace him: Kid Lykos is going to be an injury machine due to his attributes, Lion Kid is according to the mod the exact opposite of a star, Hallowicked is way too old at 40yo, and while I've thought of a few other ex-Chikara guys that would fit (Desean Pratt, Frightmare, Razerwyng) as well as Space Monkey, I'm not familiar enough with their work to pick one over the others.

So yeah, if anyone has any suggestion/opinion, it'd be much appreciated !

[MidKnightDreary]

What about Lykos II AKA Joe Nelson?

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

In ring wise, I'd have no problem with him but I'd lose the "comedy" aspect of what was Ligero doing, since in the mod he has the "Can't play Comedy" attribute. Mind you, if in real life he's actually able to do so, I'm fine with deleting it from him.
On the same vein, I've thought about just signing a funny luchador/high flyer guy from the UK that doesn't wear a mask and give him one (like, say, LJ Cleary), but I'm the kind of guy who would then not be able to continue before I found a way to give that worker a new picture with the mask on haha

[MidKnightDreary]

4 minutes ago, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

In ring wise, I'd have no problem with him but I'd lose the "comedy" aspect of what was Ligero doing, since in the mod he has the "Can't play Comedy" attribute. Mind you, if in real life he's actually able to do so, I'm fine with deleting it from him.
On the same vein, I've thought about just signing a funny luchador/high flyer guy from the UK that doesn't wear a mask and give him one (like, say, LJ Cleary), but I'm the kind of guy who would then not be able to continue before I found a way to give that worker a new picture with the mask on haha

Just take a luchador that you don't know and use their mask haha.

 

[Jaysin]

On 3/1/2023 at 5:26 AM, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

As said in a post a few days ago, I'm trying to replace some people in a shortlist of workers I need to hire for a challenge, and yet again I need someone's help.
For obvious reasons, I've decided to replace El Ligero in the shortlist, but I'm not convinced by any of the choices I've thought of to replace him: Kid Lykos is going to be an injury machine due to his attributes, Lion Kid is according to the mod the exact opposite of a star, Hallowicked is way too old at 40yo, and while I've thought of a few other ex-Chikara guys that would fit (Desean Pratt, Frightmare, Razerwyng) as well as Space Monkey, I'm not familiar enough with their work to pick one over the others.

So yeah, if anyone has any suggestion/opinion, it'd be much appreciated !

What's A-Kid/Axiom doing? He's been one of the few good things in the modern NXT

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

He's in NXT UK, about to take the Heritage Cup off of Noam Dar (who's in the shortlist too and will therefore go to NXT then main roster), as he's one of the few in the NXT UK roster who can do so while I build new people up.

[St. Templar]

On 3/3/2023 at 4:07 AM, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

He's in NXT UK, about to take the Heritage Cup off of Noam Dar (who's in the shortlist too and will therefore go to NXT then main roster), as he's one of the few in the NXT UK roster who can do so while I build new people up.

I've always been a fan of Dar's, but I lost track of him around COVID. What's he up to IRL?

St.T

 

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

I think he's still with WWE, but hasn't been seen in the ring for a while so I don't know for sure.

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

What would be a good stipulation for a match between a full-time wrestler (in my case, Cesaro) and a part-timer vet who tend to be thrown in the title match (in my case, Goldberg) ?
Basically, in my January 2022 save, the story is that in the Rumble match, Cesaro put Goldberg in the swing before eliminating him, and the veteran is far from happy because of it, considering it an humiliation. Therefore, he wants a match against Cesaro at Mania, but why would Cesaro agree to it when he could be in the Elimination Chamber and win the title that way, or really try to earn a title shot on his own ?

My initial choice was to have it be for Goldberg's career, and give a huge rub to Cesaro by having him retire forever one of the biggest names in wrestling history, but since Goldberg has a big pop and I need to use him because of the rules for this save, I decided to give the veteran a whole year as a full timer where he tries to earn a rematch against Cesaro at the next Mania, where it'll this time be for the career as a whole. However, I feel that for what is essentially "round 1", just having a classic "1v1" that Cesaro would accept without gaining anything from it doesn't seem logical, even less if afterwards Goldberg wants to get his win back. Alternatively, having it a "If Goldberg loses, he can't challenge for a World Title again" could work, but since once again Cesaro wouldn't really win anything from it, I'm not sure about it.

Any better suggestions ?
 

[St. Templar]

12 hours ago, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

What would be a good stipulation for a match between a full-time wrestler (in my case, Cesaro) and a part-timer vet who tend to be thrown in the title match (in my case, Goldberg) ?
Basically, in my January 2022 save, the story is that in the Rumble match, Cesaro put Goldberg in the swing before eliminating him, and the veteran is far from happy because of it, considering it an humiliation. Therefore, he wants a match against Cesaro at Mania, but why would Cesaro agree to it when he could be in the Elimination Chamber and win the title that way, or really try to earn a title shot on his own ?

My initial choice was to have it be for Goldberg's career, and give a huge rub to Cesaro by having him retire forever one of the biggest names in wrestling history, but since Goldberg has a big pop and I need to use him because of the rules for this save, I decided to give the veteran a whole year as a full timer where he tries to earn a rematch against Cesaro at the next Mania, where it'll this time be for the career as a whole. However, I feel that for what is essentially "round 1", just having a classic "1v1" that Cesaro would accept without gaining anything from it doesn't seem logical, even less if afterwards Goldberg wants to get his win back. Alternatively, having it a "If Goldberg loses, he can't challenge for a World Title again" could work, but since once again Cesaro wouldn't really win anything from it, I'm not sure about it.

Any better suggestions ?
 

Start it as a "man-to-man" challenge. Goldberg feels disrespected by Cesaro, and if Cesaro is the wrestler he says he is, he'll face Goldberg at Mania. Make it a simple matter of pride. You might even have a couple or three weeks where Goldberg makes the challenge, but Cesaro won't do it because he wants into the title picture. He can say that Goldberg's not as big as the title or something. Now Goldberg has to piss him off to get him to agree, so he costs Cesaro a title shot by distracting him in a key match. Cesaro is pissed and ready to fight, so he agrees to fight Goldberg at Mania.

The only motivation they need is the personal issue: for Goldberg, he feels dissed and wants revenge; for Cesaro, he's pissed that Goldberg's messing in his business and wants revenge.

It doesn't have to be any more complicated than that. Simple stories work better than convoluted ones.

The only other change I'd make is that, if you want a Mania-to-Mania build for the second match, I'd have Goldberg go over Cesaro the first time. Maybe even have Goldberg cheat to win. Either way, Goldberg wins the first match, and Cesaro wants the rematch.

St.T

 

St.T

 

[ArcheoOutOfNowhere]

Honestly, it would be perfect as a plan if it wasn't for the fact I already have a planned "Losing a match because of someone jealous distracting them" storyline somewhere else.
However, I could see it going another way: Goldberg doesn't even respect Cesaro enough to distract him during the Elimination Chamber, and instead uses his pull with the General Manager (who, for the period between the first day of January and Wrestemania, are going to rotate between different names so I can pick in kayfabe the two who booked the most voted shows by the fans). Because of that, Cesaro is forced into the match rather than have a spot in the Elimination Chamber, goes on to win at Mania nonetheless and can turn slowly heel when he realises that not only was he forced into a match he wasn't interested in against a veteran, he doesn't even earn a world title shot for his win. On the other hand, Goldberg demands a rematch to the newly appointed GM post-Mania, who simply tells him that it won't happen until it's deserved, and this time Goldberg is forced to think about his hubris and whether he still has "it".

[St. Templar]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:02 PM, ArcheoOutOfNowhere said:

Honestly, it would be perfect as a plan if it wasn't for the fact I already have a planned "Losing a match because of someone jealous distracting them" storyline somewhere else.
However, I could see it going another way: Goldberg doesn't even respect Cesaro enough to distract him during the Elimination Chamber, and instead uses his pull with the General Manager (who, for the period between the first day of January and Wrestemania, are going to rotate between different names so I can pick in kayfabe the two who booked the most voted shows by the fans). Because of that, Cesaro is forced into the match rather than have a spot in the Elimination Chamber, goes on to win at Mania nonetheless and can turn slowly heel when he realises that not only was he forced into a match he wasn't interested in against a veteran, he doesn't even earn a world title shot for his win. On the other hand, Goldberg demands a rematch to the newly appointed GM post-Mania, who simply tells him that it won't happen until it's deserved, and this time Goldberg is forced to think about his hubris and whether he still has "it".

Interesting thought process. Definitely more Hunter than Vince.

St.T

 

[dabramaitys]

Some ideas on how to handle Killer Shark would be great. Booking tough menacing dudes are always kinda one-dimensional and Hell's Bouncer is my big monster right now. But Shark has been impressive, just don't know what quite to do with him.

[Inky The Squid Boy]

19 hours ago, dabramaitys said:

Some ideas on how to handle Killer Shark would be great. Booking tough menacing dudes are always kinda one-dimensional and Hell's Bouncer is my big monster right now. But Shark has been impressive, just don't know what quite to do with him.

I'm gonna give you the same suggestion I give everyone when it comes to monster heels - Frankenstein's monster

 

You have an evil heel (be it a wrestler or a manager) control Shark for their own gain, destroying their enemies until such a time as you're ready to pull the trigger on a serious main event run with Shark - that's when it's time for him to destroy his creator because he realises he doesn't need him and then he can seriously go on a tear 

[dabramaitys]

Great suggestions from you both! Thanks a lot!