Booking RAW: A "How-To" Guide for the Modern Soap Opera

The Nickman · May 3, 2020

Ok, so I want to preface this by saying I'm in no means trying to take away from both <a href="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545793" rel="external nofollow">christmas_ape's</a> or <a href="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545342" rel="external nofollow">The Lloyd's</a> fantastic RAW diaries, and if you haven't checked these out, please do. Some of the best new stuff we've got going around for TEW2020 right now and I highly enjoy the (very different) look both of them have taken booking my favourite C'Verse promotion.

No, drawing my inspiration from Jaded's posts in the individual promotion threads, I thought I'd do a smallish series where we look at booking the specific RAW product and seeing the kindof things that affect the ratings, and look to how we can book different cards. I won't be trying to book fantastic storylines or writing great characters like ape and Lloyd are doing such a wonderful job of, so I hope this can be enjoyed by the forum without a case of sudden "RAW overload".

I also feel like I should give a special shout-out to <a href="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545617" rel="external nofollow">foolinc</a> for his excellent dive into TEW2020, again, I'm no means trying to step on his turf here, I'm solely going to dive into booking our shows and a few alternative scenarios (that I'll describe in further detail after the first show has "aired").

So let's do this...

The Nickman · May 3, 2020

WEEK 1 JANUARY, PART 1/3, THE PRODUCT, ROSTER AND STARTING STORYLINES

So, like you should with any new product, our very first stop on our journey will be to check out RAW’s product settings. I’ve always viewed RAW’s product of Modern Soap Opera to be very similar to late WWF television, really short matches and lots and lots of angles. Our matches are only dinged for length if they’re less than 5 minutes, and the fans WILL get bored if they go long, so always keep that in mind. I’ve found 5-8 minutes works best for normal matches, with 10-12 for our Main Events, and I’ll be doing no different here.

As for angles, with a 50/50 ratio it means we have liberty to go to 65:35 angles to matches and while I won’t be pushing the envelope quite THAT far, booking angle-heavy television is what our fans want, so it’s what they’ll get.

Match focus is Regular Focus, (70% Main Event, 20% next best, 10% the rest) so we’ll be trying for a good Main Event match, while the undercard can largely be short garbage matches, which in reality is all our fickle fan base is interested in seeing. Angle focus is Highlights, meaning the average of the three best angles, so rather than trying to hit one high angle like we’d go for in TEW2016, we really do need to shoot for the moon with our promos, and hope for three really good ones to get our grades up there.

For storylines, we only need 3 storylines to have heat of greater than 50 to please the fans, and as I’m the type of booker who loves to run a lot of storylines, that shouldn’t be much of an issue at all. RAW has no event, so I like to book it as a week to week television programme where anything can happen, but players may prefer to add monthly PPV’s to revert to the more tried and true process of building storylines up to have logical conclusions at big events. I know I certainly have in previous iterations of the game with RAW.

So down to our roster, which starts off with a lot of Major Stars and Stars, and most of them can “work an angle”, which is fantastic for our product. Interestingly, my first playthrough had three of the five Major Stars drop immediately to Star, but that may have been due to the short term momentum issue that was fixed as part of Patch #7, so let’s see how that goes this time around…

Major Stars

Swoop McCarthy – for anybody who doesn’t know who Swoop is, he’s The Rock of RAW. He’s been the figurehead for five years, is firmly established in the role, he can work a promo, can do a great match and is ranked as #1 for Talk the Talk, #2 for Show Stoppers and #4 for Ring Generals. This is the guy you want to base your entire show around, build his pop via fantastic angles, and then bring everyone else up to his level by just hanging around him. Swoop starts off in a feud with Frogue Element over the RAW Television Title (the #1 title in the company), so should be your major feud starting off the game.

Maurice Jackson – Maurice Jackson is who I believe should be rapidly established as your #1 heel in the roster to have up against Swoop. He’s second in popularity to only Swoop (74 vs 80), can work a mic (#3 in Talk the Talk) and has the psychology to be able to call a match. With Frogue Element being the RAW Television Champion but only a Star, I like the idea of passing the title to Jackson to have a good Major Star vs Major Star feud between Swoop and Jackson nice and early in the save, so I think adding him to the feud with Swoop and Frogue sounds like a good idea.

Loxley Robbins – your number two babyface behind Swoop (pop of 73). Like most on the RAW roster he cuts a good promo, has fantastic Star Quality and Sex Appeal, so he’s good on the camera too. He’s a great prospect for that second storyline and starts off in one with our next Major Star…

Blake Belushi – Blake is a former tag team specialist turned heel who turned on his partner and is now pushing into the Main Event scene. Has solid Entertainment and Star Quality/Sex Appeal stats, so can work an angle well, as well as being one of our best in-ring workers at #3 on the Ring General list. Starts off in a feud with Loxley Robbins, so that’s a good one to push along to hopefully elevate one or either of the workers to challenge for the RAW Television title next.

Luke Steele – one of four big monsters on the RAW roster, as a former champion this guy should prove to be useful for when a face like Swoop gets the RAW Television Title and you want a big guy going after him. Out of the monsters on the RAW roster he’s the only one who can call a match in the ring, so he’s perfect for a future Main Event storyline. For now though we’ll set him up in a new storyline against one of our Stars Captain Wrestling II, while Swoop is busy with Frogue and Jackson.

Stars

Frogue Element – Frogue is the RAW Television champion who can work a good promo (#5 on Talk the Talk) and is our #1 Show Stopper. He’s only a Star though, so although many players may wish to build him up to the next level (with Pop of 70 he won’t take much pushing), I’d prefer to switch my main title to my number one heel in Maurice Jackson and set-up a feud for Jackson vs Swoop over the title for the next few months.

Captain Wrestling II – “The Captain” is usually top of the card in previous iterations of TEW, so he’s slipped a little bit to make way for guys like Blake Belushi and Maurice Jackson. Still, as #2 on the Talk the Talk list, there’s no reason we can’t get him back up there with a bunch of good angles and storylines. He’s also #2 in Ring Generals, so he’ll a steady hand when you want to pump out a good match or train up the young guys. As hinted previously, I’ll set the Captain up in a storyline with Luke Steele and this next guy…

Rahmel Goode – the second of RAW’s big monsters, he forms a tag team as Individuals with Luke Steele which is aptly named “Destruction”. Actually a pretty good talker for a monster, ranking at #4 in our Talk the Talk lists. The storyline I’m setting up to start the save will be he and Luke Steele constantly beating up our hero Captain Wrestling II, which can then evolve in countless fashion into other storylines (such as the Captain finds a partner, or overcomes all odds etc).

Kerry Wayne – Wayne is another former RAW Television Champion who can cut a good promo and work a good match. He starts off with a storyline with the up and coming youngster Will Beaumont against his evil “brothers” Kal and Kian Wayne designed to give Beaumont a major rub, but as an occasionally tag partner with Captain Wrestling II (the Modern Warriors), he could easily get involved in helping the Captain out against Destruction. For now we’ll keep him teamed with Beaumont and maybe consider putting the tag belts on them.

Montgomery Croft – Croft is ANOTHER former RAW Television Champion (boy, I’m getting sick of saying that) who has dropped down the card due to injury. Still, with the ability to cut a good angle and put on a good match you could really do whatever you’d like with Croft, but for now he’s in a storyline with the next bloke, and that’s where we’ll keep him.

Nathan McKenzie – I used to book “Big Mac” back in my APW days, and he was always my monster heel going up against a young Swoop McCarthy. Fast forward ten years and he’s finally made the jump to RAW, but now he’s an up and coming face. With a Menace of 80, he’s not really at the same monster level as the four “big” monsters on the RAW roster, however he can work a good match and put out an acceptable angle if necessary. I can’t really see how he’ll ever be a major star with the stacked roster RAW has, but perhaps he’ll be a good RAW Quest (the RAW secondary title) champion someday.

Nicky Gilbert – Nicky Gilbert is #3 on Show Stoppers and #5 on our Ring Generals list and is an exciting young talent who starts off in the RAW Quest storyline challenging the champion Tombstone. Good place for him to start, could potentially be built into a major star one day with great Star Quality, Sex Appeal, Psychology and able to cut a good angle. Keep an eye on him.

Other Notable Workers/Tag Teams/Stables

Tombstone – the current RAW Quest Champion. Tombstone is a typical good worker, can call in the ring, cut a solid promo, is good enough to be that heel in the midcard that beats everybody up. Starts off in a storyline with Nicky Gilbert, which we’ll probably use to put Gilbert over, without ever giving him the title (Gilbert lost the title to Tombstone, and I feel he’s destined for better things further up the card once he’s done with this feud).

God’s Gift; Alexander Banks and Spiffy Stan Standish – the RAW Tag Champions, a good team capable of putting on good matches and good promos. Perfect for our product. They don’t start off in a storyline, but I’m going to put them in an odd heel vs heel storyline with our next tag team, before eventually giving their tag titles over to Kerry Wayne and Will Beaumont.

The RAW Monsters; Manhunter and Skyscraper – these two are the other two monster heels in RAW, neither of them have particularly good Entertainment or in-ring ability, but with Menaces in the 90s they’re kindof like a poor man’s Destruction. Perfect for terrorising the midcard. They start off with Brittini Burke as a manager, so with her high Sex Appeal and good Entertainment stats, she can cut the promos that these two lack the ability to pull off. I’ll start them with an unusual heel vs heel storyline with God’s Gift feuding over the tag titles, and mainly as a way to show God’s Gift’s weasly ability to escape danger and protect their own hide and titles (intentional count-outs, escaping through the crowd, that sort of thing).

LiberTeen – LiberTeen is the significant heel stable of RAW, a “boy band” of four good looking, young workers with a manager. Not particularly good workers, but they can cut a good promo and start in a storyline with the next guys.

The Three Amigos; Col Taylor and Heath & Horton – this stable was set-up as an Alliance, with the purpose of fighting against LiberTeen with the many combinations of singles, tag, trios and four-man tag (with an additional face). This storyline is a bit “meh” for me and the one I’ve had the most trouble booking in previous saves, but I’ll keep it going for the purpose of this walkthrough.

Will Beaumont – Beaumont is slated as the “next big thing” in the company (although he doesn’t make either the NBT or Hot Prospects list for some reason), and starts off in a storyline with Kerry Wayne against his dastardly “brothers” Kal and Kian. This storyline is a great opportunity to leach some popularity for Will from Kerry, and maybe strap the tag belts to them in the near future once they and God’s Gift are done with their respective storylines.

The Wayne Brothers – these guys are a tag team of kayfabe brothers who’ve been feuding with Kerry Wayne on and off for the past few years. I don’t see them as being too special, although Kian Wayne (the younger of the two) is #2 on the Hot Prospects list, so perhaps there’s something there I cant see. Kian can cut a better promo than Kal, although Kal can call in the ring, so there’s a bit of a synergy here. My plan is just to have them prove to be fodder for Kerry and Will before both teams move on to better things. Well, one of the teams will anyway…

Honestly, there’s plenty more workers and solid tag teams in the roster, but I’ve already gone further with this then I intended. So onto the next post, where I’ll look at booking the show itself…

The Nickman · May 3, 2020

WEEK 1 JANUARY, PART 2/3, BOOKING THE FIRST EPISODE OF RAW

Ok, so now that I’ve spent WAY too long going over the product and roster, let’s get on to the actual show itself.

Recap of Starting Storylines

RAW Television Title, Swoop vs Frogue vs Maurice Jackson (Heat: 76) - as mentioned in the previous post, Frogue Element has the RAW Television Title, but I’d rather Maurice Jackson has it. So we’ll move the title to Jackson, and then transition the feud to Swoop vs Jackson to have our #1 face and #1 heel going up against each other for the big prize.

Blake Belushi vs Loxley Robbins (70) – our #2 feud, with potentially our number two heel going up against our number two face. I’ll probably use this one to build Blake up to be the challenger for the RAW Television Title when Swoop gets it from Jackson, but you may prefer to build up Loxley and have him face Jackson. There’s plenty of possibilities with these four at the top of the card.

The Captain vs Destruction (N/A) – just a typical tale of the hero (Captain Wrestling II) trying to overcome all odds against two monsters in Rahmel Goode and Luke Steele. Down the track may evolve the storyline to add a partner to the Captain to even up the odds.

RAW Tag Titles, God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters (N/A) – an unusual heel vs heel storyline designed to showcase the RAW Monsters as a terrifying force, but ultimately God’s Gift ability to escape with their RAW Tag Titles using any means necessary.

RAW Quest Title, Tombstone vs Nicky Gilbert (60) – typical mid-card feud. Tombstone won the RAW Quest Title from Gilbert and he’s trying to get it back. We probably won’t give the title to Gilbert here, but we do wish to book him well so he can advance to the next level when this wraps up.

Nathan McKenzie vs Montgomery Croft (62) – basically the up and coming McKenzie against the veteran Croft. This storyline can either be used to elevate McKenzie to the Main Event scene, propel Croft BACK into the Main Event scene or just build both workers up. Could even incorporate the RAW Quest Title in the near future, plenty of options here.

Kerry Wayne & Will Beaumont vs the Wayne Brothers (51) – the main purpose of this feud is to elevate Will Beaumont up the card by having him hang around Kerry Wayne. A good next step would be to put the RAW Tag Titles on Kerry & Will in the near future.

LiberTeen vs Three Amigos (52) – as mentioned in my previous post, a pretty “meh” stroyline which is your standard stable vs stable feud. When we get the full game I’ll probably end this one at the start, but for now I’ll keep it running.

Now remember, we only need three of these storylines to be over 50 heat to keep our fans happy, and I suspect that will be pretty easy given our angle-heavy product. Only really one or two of these should drop below 50 on any given week if we book them right. I’m a very heavy storyline booker, so I like most if not all my segments to be related to storylines, but if you don’t really like using them, you could easily cull half these storylines and still meet the requirements fairly easily. One thing you’ll probably notice is that when I book I have a pretty standard Match/Angle/Angle/Match formula, designed to close out the last match and then set up the next one.

So finally, onto booking the show…

So I’m going to book this from the bottom of the card to the Main Event, because that’s how I book. I do already know that my Main Event will be Swoop vs Frogue vs Jackson for the RAW Television Title though, with Jackson going over. With that in mind, the rest of the card goes a little like this:

Opener: We’ll start off with a 7 minute Swoop promo where he talks himself up, he’s rated on Entertainment and unscripted. We’ll also use Road Agent notes to advance the RAW TV Title storyline. This will be one of our “big three” angles, so we hope it hits high ratings.

Segment 2: Let’s then have Swoop be interrupted by Maurice Jackson and then Frogue Element. Five minutes with all three rated on Entertainment and unscripted (you’ll notice pretty quickly, I don’t script much). This sets up our Main Event title match and is designed to give Frogue and Jackson a little bit of a rub of Swoop’s pop. In total this is a twelve minute opening segment, which would be pretty consistent with WWF back in the day.

Segment 3: 1 vs 1: Cole Taylor vs Tye Liberteen. 5 minute match, Cole Taylor the victor by DQ, with CJ LiberTeen interfering as the finish and Frankie & George LiberTeen also both interfering. So essentially here LiberTeen swamps the ring and Cole gets beaten down to win by a DQ.

Segment 4: We’ll then have the standard 4-on-1 beatdown of LiberTeen on Cole Taylor where Heath & Horton make the save. This one goes for 4 minutes and everyone is rated on Fighting except Cole Taylor, who is rated on Selling (copping a beatdown). Major Success for Heath & Horton beating back four guys, Defeat for all four LiberTeens, and Minor Defeat for Cole Taylor who got beat up.

Segment 5: Backstage argument by Loxley and Blake. Just a 6 minute angle based on entertainment, both unscripted to set-up this storyline for next week. Next week we’ll probably have Loxley lose a match due to Blake’s interference.

Segment 6: 2 vs 2: God’s Gift vs The 3AM Boys. 4 minute match, Alexander Banks the victor, by pinfall, an open match but with a tainted finish because they’re heels and they cheat. I’ve also used road agent notes to advance the God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters storyline. This is just a segment to show how slimy and wily our tag champs are. The match is an open one meaning that 3AM did better than expected, but ultimately lost out to the more experienced champs.

Segment 7: God’s Gift them jump on the mic and brag about how good they are, but the RAW Monsters come out and they have to flee through the crowd. 4 minutes, God’s Gift both rated on Entertainment, unscripted, RAW Monsters both rated on Menace. Minor Success to RAW Giants, Minor Defeat to God’s Gift.

Segment 8: Swoop is backstage wishing his mate Captain Wrestling II luck in his next match. This is a 6 minute angle with a fair bit of back and forth between the two, both rated on entertainment and unscripted. I used road agent notes to continue the Captain’s storyline, for reasons soon to be known. I expect this angle to be the second of our “big three” required for the show grade.

Segment 9: Captain Wrestling II vs Louie Louis. 3 minute squash match, this is my Story Telling match (as we need one), it’s called in the ring, the Captain gets the victory, by decisive pinfall, but both Rahmel Goode and Luke Steele get given the “At Ringside” note meaning they came out, but didn’t interfere. Yet.

Segment 10: Destruction then brutally beat-down the Captain, kicking off their storyline in earnest. 4 minute angle, Goode & Steele both rated on Menace, while Captain is rated on Selling. Success for Steele/Goode, Defeat for the Captain. The reason I rated Destruction on Menace and not fighting as I expect this to just be a brutal beat-down and there’s really not much fighting involved.

Segment 11: A 5 minute Nicky Gilbert promo where he says if he wins the next match he wants a title shot at the RAW Quest Title. He’s rated on Entertainment, unscripted, and I’ve used road agent notes to continue his and Tombstone’s storyline.

Segment 12: 1 vs 1 vs 1: Nicky Gilbert vs Lynx vs Quiz Master. 6 minute match, called in the ring, open, Nicky Gilbert wins, decisive, by pinfall. Quiz Master takes the pin and during the match Nicky Gilbert gets distracted by Tombstone, who comes out to watch. I also have Quizzical Mark Question at ringside as he’s Quiz Master’s tag partner, and I absolutely LOVE that new feature.

Segment 13: Tombstone belts Nicky Gilbert over the head with the RAW Quest Title, then accepts his title challenge for next week. In previous iterations of TEW I’d now set-up the pre-booking for next week, but because you now get a penalty for not using it, I’ll pre-book this when I’m running the show and get to this angle. 4 minutes, Tombstone rated on Fighting, Gilbert on Selling, Tombstone with Success, Gilbert with Defeat.

Segment 14: Kal and Kian Wayne are picking on Will Beaumont, Kerry Wayne comes out to stick up for Will and we get a match. 5 minute angle, all four rated on Entertainment and unscripted. I should add here that I’ve added a tag team to the game “Kerry & Will” who are classified as Individuals.

Segment 15: 2 vs 2: Kerry & Will vs The Wayne Brothers. 4 minute match, Will Beaumont the victor, decisive by pinfall. Sets us up to continue the feud next week or end it and move on with our lives.

Segment 16: A lengthy backstage segment where Swoop is arguing on the phone about the health status of the Captain. 6 minute angle, Swoop rated on Entertainment, unscripted and the “Captain vs Destruction” storyline advanced through a road agent note. This is obviously our third of the “big three” angles we need for our angle score.

Segment 17: Heath & Horton promo about their Tag Title number one contender match coming up. If they beat the fearsome RAW Giants they’ll get a title shot against God’s Gift next week. 5 minute angle, Heath & Horton on Entertainment (unscripted), RAW Giants off-screen rated on Menace (as Heath & Horton are clearly slightly afraid of them) and God’s Gift off-screen rated on Overness. I’ve also used road agent notes to advance the LiberTeen vs Three Amigos storyline, because… you’ll see why.

Segment 18: 2 vs 2: Heath & Horton vs RAW Giants: 5 minute match, Manhunter gets the win by pinfall. Heath eats the pin, being distracted by Tye LiberTeen as the finish. I also have Frankie & George LiberTeen at ringside, although they could easily also have a Distract note (or not even be there). Finally, let’s add the advance “God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters” storyline as those two teams will be on a collision course next week for the gold (which I’ll have God’s Gift lose by intentional count-out and flee the arena with their titles).

Segment 19: LiberTeen taunt Heath & Horton from the top of the ramp after costing them a title shot. 4 minute angle, all six men rated on Acting, Minor Success for the LiberTeens, Minor Defeat for Heath & Horton.

Segment 20: Just another angle advancing a storyline until next week, Croft talks crap about Big Mac, who is standing behind him. Croft realises this and flees like an absolute coward. 5 minutes, Croft rated on Entertainment and unscripted, Big Mac on Menace, Minor Success for Big Mac, Minor Defeat for Croft. Let’s have them interfere in each other’s matches next week.

Segment 21: 1 vs 1 vs 1: Swoop vs Jackson vs Frogue for the RAW TV Title. 10 minute Main Event, open match, all out note, called in the ring. Jackson wins by tainted pinfall (because he’s a cheat!). I assume the game will make him pin Frogue, and that’s fine. We’ve taken the title off Frogue, given it to our number one heel, and although we may have a rematch between Frogue and Jackson, we’re ultimately gunning for a showdown and long storyline between Swoop and Jackson over the following months.

Main Event: Maurice Jackson celebrates winning the gold, plays up to the crowd, but when he turns around, Swoop is there. The show ends with them standing face to face, eye to eye. This one’s a four minute angle, I’m rating Jackson on Charisma because he’s interacting with the crowd, but Swoop is rated on Star Quality, because he’s the superstar of our roster!

And with that… we go off the air. So in our next post we’ll see how we did...

The Nickman · May 3, 2020

WEEK 1 JANUARY, PART 3/3, THE SHOW ITSELF!

Ok, down to the show itself. My gut feeling says we’re gunning for about an 80 rating, I think anything above 70 is a pass mark. So let’s see how we do!

Opener: Swoop opening promo (100 rating). BOOM! Better than I thought he’d get, that’s one in the bag for our “big three” angles for the show. Still got some work to do though, because our three top angles are rated equally, not 70:30:10 like in previous games. Swoop performed well without a script, while our announce team copped penalties for being “pretty weak” (as expected compared to Swoop, absolutely nothing to see here, as it’s a 100 freaking rated angle). The RAW TV Title storyline advances but doesn’t gain heat due to only Swoop being present.

Segment 2: Swoop gets interrupted by Frogue and Maurice (87). Wow, this did better than I thought it would too, previously this would’ve only got about a 70-odd. I think the fixes to the momentum system have something to do here with these scores. I’m more than happy with this angle being one of our “big three”. Swoop and Jackson both did well unscripted, no notes for Frogue. Doug Vallence at the announce desk was pretty weak, but again, with an 87 angle, this note doesn’t bother me. This advances their storyline and gains heat.

Segment 3: 1 vs 1: Cole Taylor vs Tye Liberteen (44). Cole got a 58, Tye got a 37, the storyline advanced but lost heat. Announcing and colour both did well, as did Raymond Royce at ringside, the manager of LiberTeen.

Segment 4: LiberTeen attack Cole, Heath & Horton make the save (45). Horton & his manager Autumn Gleeson have good chemistry, so that’s nice to know where she’ll go if Heath & Horton ever split up. Storyline advances.

Segment 5: Backstage argument by Loxley and Blake (83). Another better rating than I expected! They both looked good unscripted, Doug Vallence again looked weak, Blake benefitted from having a hot catchphrase and the storyline gained heat.

Segment 6: 2 vs 2: God’s Gift vs The 3AM Boys (40). Banks got a 60, Spiffy Stan a 62, Matt Stoppard 35 and Marcus Kerr 36. 3AM Boys (Stoppard & Kerr) got a bonus for being tag team specialists, and the announce team (both announcing and colour) boosted the match. Storyline advanced.

Segment 7: God’s Gift brag, RAW Monsters come out, God’s Gift flee (62). Alexander Banks improvised well, Spiffy Stan benefitted from a hot catchphrase, and they advanced the storyline and gained heat.

Segment 8: Swoop wishes the Captain luck (98). Honestly, these ratings are so much better than last time around, it’s great to see the momentum system fixed! Swoop’s performance was great, while the Captain performed poorly (in comparison to Swoop), but both improvised well. The Captain’s storyline has advanced, but there’s no heat yet as we used the road agent note to advance it.

Segment 9: 1 vs 1: Captain Wrestling II vs Louie Louis (55). Captain got a 62 and Louis got a 50. The announce team lifted the match and the Captain vs Destruction storyline has started.

Segment 10: Destruction brutally beat-down the Captain (73). The storyline advances and gains heat. Luke Steele looks good, but that’s because he’s a Major Star.

Segment 11: Nicky Gilbert promo (76) advances his storyline with Tombstone. Gilbert benefitted from having a groundswell of public support, I love these new features.

Segment 12: 1 vs 1 vs 1: Nicky Gilbert vs Lynx vs Quiz Master (66). This is a good match, Gilbert got a 63, Lynx had a 61 and Quiz Master a 55. Gilbert vs Tombstone storyline advanced and gained heat, Spin Doctor (Quiz Master’s manager) did good work at ringside and Gilbert benefitted from having a groundswell of public support.

Segment 13: Tombstone belts Nicky Gilbert over the head with the RAW Quest Title (66) to advance their storyline. Gilbert again benefits from a groundswell of support. He’s gonna be big.

Segment 14: Kal and Kian Wayne pick on Will Beaumont, Kerry Wayne comes out, sets up tag match (63). Everyone improvised well, the storyline advanced and gained heat, and Will Beaumont benefitted from being flavour of the month (twice).

Segment 15: 2 vs 2: Kerry & Will vs The Wayne Brothers (54). Will Beaumont was really off his game with a 50, Kerry Wayne got a 65, Jian a 48 and Kal a 52. The storyline advanced, announce team lifted the match and Will Beaumont benefitted from being flavour of the month.

Segment 16: Swoop on the phone asking about the Captain (96). The announce team did a bad job (as expected), but that means we’ve got 100, 98 and 96 for our “big three” angles for an average of 98. I’m not sure what our actual angle/match ratio is, but if we get a 70-rated Main Event I’d be expecting about an 80-85 show overall from here. Captain vs Destruction storyline advanced, but no heat due to nobody being present

Segment 17: Heath & Horton promo about their Tag Title number one contender match against RAW Giants (56). Heath was the first person all show to not do well without a script, but Horton did a “masterful job”. Colour commentary gave a boost and Autumn Gleeson helped both Heath & Horton plus had good chemistry with Horton (as we already know). Both the God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters and LiberTeen vs Three Amigos storylines advanced and gained heat, which really doesn’t make much sense considering only Heath & Horton were present.

Segment 18: 2 vs 2: Heath & Horton vs RAW Giants (42). Heath, 58, Horton 57, Manhunter 56 and Skyscraper 55. Pretty happy with the scores on the RAW Giants here, although Heath was really off his game. Heath & Horton got a bonus for being tag team specialists, the announce team both did their bit, as did Autumn Gleeson and Brittini Burke at ringside (plus Horton & Autumn’s chemistry). Both storylines advanced.

Segment 19: LiberTeen taunt Heath & Horton from the top of the ramp (44). CJ was the only LiberTeen who did well without a script, the rest bombed. Should probably script them from now on. Storyline advanced, but didn’t lose heat, so that’s good. Horton did a masterful job of interacting with the crowd and he obviously had chemistry with Autumn.

Segment 20: Croft and Big Mac angle (70). Their storyline advanced and gained heat. Good stuff.

Segment 21: 1 vs 1 vs 1: Swoop vs Jackson vs Frogue for the RAW TV Title (82). Holy crap, we should get the best score I’ve had to date playing TEW2020! Swoop got a 77, Maurice a 73 and Frogue got a 68. The storyline advanced and as planned, Maurice Jackson became RAW Television Champion by pinning Frogue Element using the ropes for leverage.

Main Event: And we finished the show with a Maurice Jackson/Swoop McCarthy stare-down for an 82 rating, which advanced the storyline. Swoop looked good, well obviously.

And the final show rating is EIGHTY-NINE! Holy crap, I didn’t in my wildest dreams imagine that. We increased our pop in 7 regions.

And here’s how the final show looks…

The Lloyd · May 3, 2020

This is great, and so helpful. I feel like RAW is an excellent place for new cverse players to start. No need to worry about those storylines. Plenty of stars. Competition in Oz, but not at the same level as RAW. The pressure is off, it's all about having fun

The Nickman · May 4, 2020

RAW WEEK 2 JANUARY CHALLENGE... NO SWOOP

So I think it’s probably fairly obvious to anyone used to booking RAW or looking at my first show, but Swoop McCarthy is a key ingredient to doing well with this promotion. And it’s obvious with my own booking, as my 89 score for Week 1 is pretty much entirely derived of three hot angles of 100, 98 and 96 featuring Swoop (for 100% of the Angle grade) and a Main Event of 82 (which represents 70% of my Match grade) also featuring our company figurehead.

So that begs the question... how would you book RAW WITHOUT Swoop McCarthy, Nickman, you smarmy prick?

Well for episode 2 of this mini-series, I’m going to do exactly that... try and book a show without Swoop McCarthy! So let’s see how we go...

This is great, and so helpful. I feel like RAW is an excellent place for new cverse players to start. No need to worry about those storylines. Plenty of stars. Competition in Oz, but not at the same level as RAW. The pressure is off, it's all about having fun

Yeah man, agreed. RAW is absolutely a great little promotion to book in TEW for anyone who likes sports entertainment and I now find the “Modern Soap Opera” product to be perfect for the way I like to book. I like it so much that I’m planning on starting a late 90s WWF save with this very product.

Glad you’re enjoying so far, hopefully you get something out of this...

foolinc · May 4, 2020

Love the start so far. Looking forward to where you take RAW.

The Nickman · May 4, 2020

WEEK 2 JANUARY, PART 1/3, RECAP OF ROSTER AND STORYLINES Roster changes Quickly scanning the roster, my five Major Stars from Week 1 are all still Major Stars ,which tells me the momentum system being fixed has come into play here, so that’s fantastic. Both Monty Croft and Nathan McKenzie have dropped from Stars to being Well Known though, and that is indeed intriguing considering all they got up to last week was a decently rated 70 angle. On closer review, it appears they’ve both dropped a category as our company has increased in pop from 69 to 70 in three of our seven regions, so that’s certainly something to keep an eye on as I expect our company will continue to grow in pop faster than our workers will. Eyeballing all of the worker’s popularity, and I can’t see anybody who’s moved a single point. Even the changing over of the RAW Television Title from Maurice Jackson to Frogue Element has made no difference to either worker’s respective pops. Recap of Starting Storylines RAW Television Title, Swoop vs Frogue vs Maurice Jackson (Storyline heat has increased from 76 to 79) - With all of the angles in the last show attached to this storyline above 80, it’s no wonder the storyline heat has increased. Jackson now has the RAW Television Title, and although he’s now on a collision course with Swoop, we won’t be using Swoop this week, so we’ll need to use Frogue Element and Jackson to continue the storyline along. It would be remiss of me to not give Frogue his rematch tonight, but we might set him up for a turn first before we unceremoniously dump him out of this storyline and move him on to greener pastures. Blake Belushi vs Loxley Robbins (70 -> 73) – our #2 feud is ticking along nicely. Their only segment to date was a backstage argument that surprised me with an 83, so time to work them into something more substantial, like interfering in each other’s business this week. The Captain vs Destruction (Starting heat: 53) – I have to say this starting heat is pretty disappointing considering we have angle scores of 98, 73 & 96 and a match score of 55, however I can only assume most of these angles didn’t count towards the storyline heat due to them pretty much being Swoop angles. I like that mechanic. Let’s have a wounded Captain call out Destruction this week to explain their attack on him last week, as we’ll need the Captain’s promos without Swoop this week. RAW Tag Titles, God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters (Starting heat: 42) – this storyline is failing our required heat of 50 to be passable for a RAW story, however we only need three above this threshold and every other storyline bar the LiberTeen/3 Amigo one gets a passing grade, so there’s nothing to worry about. For those of you that don’t like booking a lot of storylines you wouldn’t even need this one, but I like using them as an organisational tool so I’ll keep this one going for now as the RAW Giants will get their Tag Title shot and we’ll see God’s Gift weasel their way out of it. RAW Quest Title, Tombstone vs Nicky Gilbert (60 -> 66) – a good increase in storyline heat largely on the back of Nicky Gilbert’s impressive triple threat win over Lynx and Quiz Master. We’ll see Gilbert get his title shot against Tombstone this week, but it would be nice to keep his momentum going while not handing the title over (Gilbert is going places and doesn’t need a midcard belt). Intentional DQ anyone? Nathan McKenzie vs Montgomery Croft (62 -> 65) – this storyline increased by 3 points due to one solid 70 angle last week. This is one of these midcard style storylines I often struggle for ideas to book, so let’s do the old “tag match facing each other with random partners, where one of the partners eats the pin” trick. Seeing as Big Mac’s gimmick suffers pop damage from losses more than usual and Croft’s doesn’t, we’ll have Big Mac’s team win and give Croft a post-match attack to gain some of his heat back. Kerry Wayne & Will Beaumont vs the Wayne Brothers (51 -> 54) – ok, so Will Beaumont scored the big victory over the Wayne brothers last week, let’s give him a further push along the way to super stardom by handing him a singles win against the better worker in Kal. Kerry and Kian will both be involved at ringside, of course. LiberTeen vs Three Amigos (52 -> 47) – as I said last week, this storyline is pretty “meh” for me, and it’s also the only one to lose heat. Let’s end this one with a classic 3 vs 3 “blow-off” match here and now and never speak of the feud again. So, just by reviewing our storylines, it’s looks like we’ve got ourselves a show. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="48747" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div> - Maurice Jackson vs Frogue Element RAW Television Title rematch (but we’ll turn Frogue first) - Blake and Loxley will get involved in each other’s business - An obviously beaten and bruised Captain will be calling out Destruction to explain their actions - The RAW Monsters will get their RAW Tag Title shot against God’s Gift which Banks and Standish will obviously be trying to escape with their titles intact - It looks like all three RAW titles will be on the line tonight with the Gilbert vs Tombstone RAW Quest Title making up the third. Gilbert will get the win to carry his momentum on, but only after Tombstone gets himself intentionally disqualified. - Nathan McKenzie and Croft will face each other in a tag match with Croft’s partner eating Big Mac’s pin. Croft to land the post-match attack to even the ledger. - Will Beaumont to score a win over Kal Wayne, with Kerry and Kian at ringside in their respective corners. - 3 Amigos going over LiberTeen clean in a 3 vs 3 blow-off match to end their feud. </div></blockquote> Now let’s get down to booking this thing…

The Nickman · May 4, 2020

WEEK 2 JANUARY, PART 2/3, BOOKING OUR SECOND EPISODE OF RAW SANS SWOOP

So, before the show started, I was able to meddle with Swoop and Captain Wrestling II and give them a Strong Friendship. That’s a nice touch for a promotion that begins with only three positive relationships (Matty Wills & Brodie Lachlan are best friends, while Brodie is dating Matty’s sister Rose) and two negatives (Rebecca Richey has split up with Loxley Robbins and Spiffy Stan & Cole Taylor don’t like each other). I have a current backstage atmosphere of 97% with the default settings, currently not organising or paying for hotels/transport, but without more positive relationships, I will probably have to start toggling some of these perks on.

Also on the menu tonight is a face turn for Frogue Element, so we’ll set that up as our first order of business. I realise that not many RAW players will be doing this so early on, but without Swoop I need my Main Event to shine tonight, so I’m doing this solely to avoid the Heel vs Heel penalty. I prefer Frogue as a face anyway, so let’s work towards continuing the age-old Frogue vs Echo feud here.

To do this, we’ll need to turn Echo as well, and looking at his profile, he’s better as a heel anyway, so this falls nicely into our plans.

So here’s what we’ll do:

- We set Echo to turn, but keep his “mysterious” gimmick as it can be either face OR heel

- We set Frogue Element to turn, but because his “ultimate trash talker” gimmick is heel only, we’ll change him to an underdog “class clown” gimmick (I got the term from his Attributes). I haven’t had a lot of exposure to the new gimmick system yet, so let’s set the gimmick to one to the right (towards unique) and one above (towards creative) the middle of the cross-hairs.

With those bits of housekeeping out of the way, let’s move on to the show…

Ok, so we have our rough outline of our show after reviewing the storylines in the first part of booking this show. We’re trying to replicate our success from last week by hitting three “big” angles and a solid Main Event, however this is going to be quite a bit more difficult without Swoop around to carry the show.

So, reviewing our roster, it seems Captain Wrestling II and the newly crowned RAW Television Champion Maurice Jackson are our #2 and #3 on the Talk the Talk list, while Blake Belushi and Loxley Robbins put out a VERY nice 83 angle last week. We’ll be trying to rely on the four of those guys to hit some high notes along the way tonight to try and squeeze us every possible point they can get.

Opener: We’ll start the show off with Maurice Jackson coming to the ring to brag about being the new RAW Television Champion and also to tell us Swoop won’t be here due to “engine troubles”. This angle will be 8 minutes, with Jackson rated on Entertainment (all my angles will be unscripted from here unless I say otherwise) and a road agent note continuing the RAW TV Title storyline. Now, normally I’d have Swoop off-screen and rated on Overness in an angle like this, but tonight there’s no Swoop. NO SWOOP!

Segment 2: Similar to last week, Frogue Element then comes out to tell Jackson he’s using his rematch clause tonight in a 5 minute angle where they’re both rated on Entertainment.

Segment 3: 1 vs 1: Nicky Gilbert vs Tombstone ©, RAW Quest Title. First match of the night will be a 6 minute open match, called in the ring, which Nicky Gilbert will win due to intentional DQ by Tombstone.

Segment 4: We’ll follow up the match with Tombstone continuing to belt into Gilbert with the RAW Quest belt, in a 4 minute angle where Tombstone is rated on Fighting (Success) and Gilbert is rated on Selling (Defeat).

Segment 5: From there Loxley Robbins will give a typical promo where he says he needs to win to get himself back up the card, 6 minutes, rated on Entertainment and continuing his storyline with Blake by using the road agent note.

Segment 6: 1 vs 1: Loxley vs Artemis Eyre-Rochester in a 4 minute Storytelling match (that’s our one), called in the ring, with Loxley getting the decisive pinfall. We’ll also have Thurston Darcy III (Artemis’ tag partner) at ringside and have a distraction note of Blake on Loxley during the match…

Segment 7: …which obviously leads to a 5 minute beatdown from Blake (Fighting/Success) to Loxley (Selling/Defeat) to close out their story for the night.

Segment 8: The Captain cuts a promo talking about the heinous attack on him last week by Destruction. It’s 6 minutes long, he’s rated on Entertainment and they’re both off-screen rated on Menace. I'm not so sure this one will score as well as TEW's past, as Menace ratings are only rated on 25% Menace and 75% Pop. Seems like a big Menace nerf to me.

Segment 9: 3 vs 3: LiberTeen (Tye, George & Frankie) vs The Three Amigos in a 5 minute match (because it’s the shortest we can do), with Cole Taylor being the victor with a decisive pinfall and CJ LiberTeen at ringside to help watch his stablemates lose.

Segment 10: Following the match is a 4 minute angle where the Three Amigos celebrate their “big win”, where all three are rated on Charisma (as they’re interacting with the crowd) and with a road agent note to end the damned storyline.

Segment 11: We’ll now have a 4 minute pre-match promo where God’s Gift say they’re not scared of the RAW Monsters while constantly looking over their shoulders. God’s Gift rated on Entertainment, RAW Monsters off-screen and rated on Menace.

Segment 12: 2 vs 2: RAW Giants vs God’s Gift ©, RAW Tag Team titles. 4 minutes, ending with a Skyscraper victory due to intentional count out, with both Manhunter and Skyscraper dominating.

Segment 13: Backstage, The Captain tells Frogue that a true champion should “be humble”, which makes Frogue look thoughtful. It’s 6 minutes, they’re both rated on Entertainment, we’ll continue the RAW TV Title storyline using road agent notes, and we’ll attempt to turn Frogue here before the Main Event (which will also activate his waiting gimmick change). We need to activate the turn via a road agent note, as that has also changed in TEW2020 (I think I like this feature).

Segment 14: Kerry Wayne & Will Beaumont pre-match pep talk, Will says he’s pumped up and ready for the “match of his life”. Both guys are rated on Entertainment in this 5 minute angle, and a road agent note continues their storyline.

Segment 15: 1 vs 1: Will Beaumont vs Kal Wayne in a 5 minute open match with Will scoring the decisive pinfall as the finish, Kian Wayne interfering and Kerry Wayne at ringside.

Segment 16: Before Will & Kerry (both Selling, Defeat) can celebrate, Kal & Kian (Fighting, Success) beat them down with steel chairs in this 4 minute angle.

Segment 17: In a 6 minute angle, Rahmel Goode comes down to the ring and says the Captain brought their attack on himself. The Captain comes out and challenges Goode to a match, but Luke Steele blindsides him and beats him down. Goode (Minor Success) and the Captain (Defeat) are both rated on Entertainment while Steele (Success) is rated on Menace.

Segment 18: 2 vs 2: Nathan McKenzie & Rick Stantz vs Montgomery Croft & Joe Zucco in a 5 minute open match where McKenzie gets the decisive pin over Zucco.

Segment 19: And as expected, Croft with the post-match attack “with a crowbar” on Big Mac in a typical 4 minute Fighting/Selling, Success/Defeat angle.

Segment 21: 1 vs 1: Frogue Element vs Maurice Jackson © for the RAW TV Title in our 10 minute Main Event, an open match with the all out note, called in the ring with Jackson getting the win by pinfall after Echo attacks Frogue Element as the finish.

Main Event: Ending off the show we’ll have a 4 minute angle with Jackson (rated on Charisma) celebrating in the ring while Echo (Fighting/Success) continues to beat down his arch-nemesis Frogue Element (Selling/Defeat). Now seems like it would be a pretty good time to complete the Turn on Echo too (I should point out here that both my Turns will be rated as “shock” turns too, and in the future I should always try to plan them out a bit better than this), so we'll add the turn road agent note here.

And there’s our Swoopless show! I’m really not sure where this one will go, but I’m going to be considering anything above a 75 to be a pass mark, and if we can manage to top 80 without Swoop it would be sensational.

The Nickman · May 5, 2020

WEEK 2 JANUARY, PART 3/3, THE SHOW RESULTS…

And once again, with all the booking and the fussing done with… IT’S SHOWTIME!!

Opener: Maurice Jackson opening promo (88). That’s very good, I suspect this will be our best angle, but if we can get two other angles near this, I think we’re set for a high 70s card. The announce desk failed for this angle, but I won’t mention them again, as they’ll typically help out in the poorer angles and not help in the better ones (as you’d expect).

Segment 2: Frogue interrupts Jackson (85). Both guys improvised well, this is another solid start by our two top guys (for tonight anyway). Storyline gained heat (again, from now on I’ll only mention gains and losses, and not times where the storyline just advances, as every segment tonight has a storyline attached).

Segment 3: 1 vs 1: Nicky Gilbert (61) d Tombstone (58) by intentional DQ for a match rating of 66. Gilbert is still benefiting from a groundswell of public support (I wonder how long this note lasts?).

Segment 4: Tombstone beat down Gilbert despite his groundswell of public support (66).

Segment 5: Loxley Robbins promo scored an impressive 84, and he improvised well.

Segment 6: 1 vs 1: Loxley (68) d Artemis Eyre-Rochester (46) by pinfall in a 57 rated match. Storyline lost heat.

Segment 7: Blake’s post-match beatdown on Loxley scores a 77 and gains some of the heat back.

Segment 8: The Captain promo on Destruction only scores a 66. This is a bit of a let-down and as mentioned in the last post I suspect it’s due to Destruction both being rated on Menace and Menace now being scored as 25% Menace/75% Pop. It’s a lot harder to spam Menace angles now. I could have not rated those guys but sometimes that feels a little too “gamey” to me.

Segment 9: 3 vs 3: The Three Amigos (Cole Taylor (59), Heath (57 & Horton (56)) d LiberTeen (Tye (38), George (43) & Frankie (45)) by pinfall when Cole pinned Tye in a 47 rated match. Horton & Autumn’s chemistry helped as it also did in the next segment…

Segment 10: …where the Three Amigos celebrated their win in a 59 rated angle that (thankfully) ended this storyline forever!

Segment 11: God’s Gift promo about not being scared of the RAW Monsters scored them a solid 66 rating and gained heat for the storyline. Banks improvised well, while Triple S (oooh, I like that!) benefitted from having a hot catchphrase.

Segment 12: 2 vs 2: Skyscraper (57) and Manhunter (56) d Alexander Banks (60) and Spiffy Stan Standish (62) by intentional count-out in a 37 rated match. This rating really tanked due to the RAW Monsters both having a dominate note, but that’s the way their gimmicks are supposed to be booked, right?

Segment 13: Captain/Frogue backstage discussion (81). This will be our third of the “big three angles”, meaning we have an overall Angle rating of just under 85. That’s solid, but will it be enough? We also fired Frogue’s turn here (which was a complete success) and changed him to an underdog gimmick called “class clown” which received two plusses (extremely marketable and a small boost to microphone), so well done, Frogue!

Segment 14: Kerry Wayne & Will Beaumont pre-match pep talk (76), Kerry Wayne improvised well, while Will Beaumont benefitted from his flavour of the month status.

Segment 15: 1 vs 1: Will Beaumont (53) d Kal Wayne (52) by pinfall in a 46 rated match where the storyline lost heat. Again, Will Beaumont was flavoursome.

Segment 16: Post-match attack by the Wayne Brothers on Kerry & flavoursome Will scored a 56 and gained the heat back for the storyline.

Segment 17: The Goode/Captain/Steele bait-and-switch was rated at 68 and increased the heat for that storyline too.

Segment 18: 2 vs 2: Nathan McKenzie (66) & Rick Stantz (62) d Montgomery Croft (63) & Joe Zucco (40) when McKenzie pinned Zucco in a 58 rated match where Zucco was really off his game and struggled to keep up with everyone else. This match lost heat for the storyline, however we’ve discovered that McKenzie and Stantz have great chemistry as a team… interesting.

Segment 19: Croft’s post-match attack on McKenzie scored a 63 and gained some of the heat back. In hindsight I should have paused the card at the last match and added Stantz into this angle once I discovered his chemistry with Big Mac to start to build their friendship for a possible team, but ah well… lessons learned!

Segment 21: 1 vs 1: Maurice Jackson (78) d Frogue Element (69) by pinfall for the RAW TV Title in our 81 rated Main Event where Echo attacked Frogue Element as the finish to set-up their impending feud. I have to say, I’m VERY happy with this score and I think our target of 75 overall is very achievable.

Main Event: Closing angle of Jackson celebrating while Echo beats down Frogue scores a 69 and we’ll fire Echo’s turn as well, which was a complete success.

And that leaves us with a show rating of… 81 and increased pop in all 7 regions. I’m very, very pleased with this without our number one guy.

The final show screenshot:

christmas_ape · May 5, 2020

Swoopless show!

:eek::eek:

Blasphemy! There is no show without Swoop!

But I do love the idea of giving yourself different booking challenges. I imagine this week should go fairly well as even without Swoop you got that massive main event and Jackson/Frogue promos should be good enough to keep you rating high.

Edit: Posted this before I saw the show, I knew you'd still do good but 81 is great!

Jaded · May 5, 2020

81 without Swoop is phenomenal!

The Lloyd · May 5, 2020

Superb work here! Without Swoop Bodes well.

In your head Nickman, who are the top five guys in RAW?

The Nickman · May 5, 2020

Superb work here! Without Swoop Bodes well.

In your head Nickman, who are the top five guys in RAW?

Thanks everybody for the support, a little later on I'll be posting the premise for my challenge for Week 3.

Off the top of my head, I'd say the Top 5 stars for RAW are:

Swoop

Captain Wrestling II

Kerry Wayne

Loxley Robbins

Luke Steels

BUT, I think I'm heavily influenced by previous versions of TEW. In reality, Maurice Jackson should probably be in there, and probably instead of Kerry Wayne. The game probably values Blake Belushi above Captain Wrestling II as well, but come on now... it's the Captain!!

Who are your Top 5?

The Lloyd · May 6, 2020

Thanks everybody for the support, a little later on I'll be posting the premise for my challenge for Week 3.

Off the top of my head, I'd say the Top 5 stars for RAW are:

Swoop
Captain Wrestling II
Kerry Wayne
Loxley Robbins
Luke Steels

BUT, I think I'm heavily influenced by previous versions of TEW. In reality, Maurice Jackson should probably be in there, and probably instead of Kerry Wayne. The game probably values Blake Belushi above Captain Wrestling II as well, but come on now... it's the Captain!!

Who are your Top 5?

That top five is definitely the case in 2016... Nowadays, Jackson's my number two! And obviously Frogue is Champ... Blake is good, and up there too, but not top five. I'd do this:

Swoop

Jackson

Loxley

Frogue

Captain

Where 2016 they had a clear five (plus maybe Goode), in 2020 they seem to have 8-10 top workers.

Your next challenge, should be to book the show with your top five... But without the guys you omitted that are on my list. So Frogue and Jackson. They really stepped up in Swoop's absence, but can he be enough to cover for them both?

Woodsmeister · May 6, 2020

Love these how to play diaries Finisher used to do them back in the day it really helps people get into the characters and mechanics of the game, keep it up

The Nickman · May 6, 2020

Your next challenge, should be to book the show with your top five... But without the guys you omitted that are on my list. So Frogue and Jackson. They really stepped up in Swoop's absence, but can he be enough to cover for them both?

Ooooh, that’s a good one. I might do that for Week 4, as I’ve got my Week 3 challenge figured out already. Just typing up the “rules” now...

Love these how to play diaries Finisher used to do them back in the day it really helps people get into the characters and mechanics of the game, keep it up

Thanks for the feedback, mate. Yeah, I’ll do a couple more weeks until either ideas or interest runs out. It is cool looking at the different segment lengths and road agent notes and seeing just what exactly makes the promotion “tick”, that’s for sure...

The Nickman · May 6, 2020

RAW WEEK 3 JANUARY CHALLENGE... USING THE AUTOBOOKER TO BOOK A SHOW

So we all know the autobooker still has its “issues”, but can it be used to churn out a good episode of RAW? Well in today’s challenge, we’ll give it a go.

It’s a pretty basic premise, really. I’ll hit the autobooker button with an empty show and let it book a whole card. From there I’ll try and edit the card to the best show I can make, but using the following restrictions:

- all segment lengths (both matches and angles) can be edited

- pre-show segments can be brought onto the main show

- workers can be added to a segment, but ONLY if they’re either involved in a storyline, in a tag team or a stablemate of somebody already booked in the segment

- workers cannot be removed from a segment

- post-match segments can be added to the show, but ONLY if we’re short on time after the rest of the card is edited, and only if they relate DIRECTLY to the match that just finished

And with those rules in place, let’s see how we go...

The Nickman · May 7, 2020

WEEK 2 JANUARY, PART 1/3, RECAP OF ROSTER, STORYLINES AND AUTOBOOKER SHOW PREVIEW

Roster changes

We’ve had two workers drop back in perception again this week: Luke Steele is now a Star and Nicky Gilbert is back to being Well Known. Neither of these workers have lost any pop, so like last week, all I can assume is that because our company is growing in pop and our workers aren’t, they’re dropping in perception in comparison.

That’s a bit of problem.

Recap of Starting Storylines

RAW Television Title, Swoop McCarthy vs Maurice Jackson (Storyline heat stayed steady at 79) - without Swoop around, Frogue and Jackson did a good job maintaining the heat on our #1 storyline. This week we’ve removed Frogue from the storyline and have added him to the next feud…

Echo vs Frogue (No heat yet) – our latest feud between our two recently turned superstars will kick-off this week.

Blake Belushi vs Loxley Robbins (73 -> 67) – we actually lost a bit of heat here due to the 57-rated match between Loxley and Artemis Eyre-Rochester. Still, it’s well above the 50 required to beat storyline penalties and we have MANY storylines above that threshold, so no need to panic just yet.

The Captain vs Destruction (53 -> 59) – starting to gain a bit of heat in this one, we’ll see if there’s an opportunity this week to give the Captain a bit of a win seeing as he’s only suffered beat-downs to date.

RAW Tag Titles, God’s Gift vs RAW Monsters (42 -> 37) – this storyline has BOMBED with the 37-rated match between these two, due largely to the “dominate” note on both of the RAW Giants instead of the usual “open match” that I’d use to book a good match. Will see what the autobooker throws at us this week and then decide how to progress this one.

RAW Quest Title, Tombstone vs Nicky Gilbert (steady at 66) – no change in this one, the last four segments have all been solid 66s.

Nathan McKenzie vs Montgomery Croft (65 -> 61) – another storyline that’s lost a bit of heat due to a poor match but nothing to worry about here. Need to work this one towards a blow-off match between the two workers.

Kerry Wayne & Will Beaumont vs the Wayne Brothers (steady at 51 -> 54) – you could say we had the blow-off match last week, but the Wayne Brothers followed it up with a beat-down. Could go either way on whether to continue this feud or not.

Now let’s hit the autobooker button and see what we’ve got to work with…

<img alt="Autobooker.png" data-src="https://i.ibb.co/P4mTR3f/Autobooker.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />

Interesting. Here’s the immediate thoughts that jump out at me:

- As expected, all of the segment lengths are WAY too long. If we shorten them back up to the lengths we’ve been using, all of those pre-show segments will fit nicely onto the main show.

- A Main Event of RAW Giants vs Will & Kerry seems like a perfect opportunity to set Kerry Wayne and Will Beaumont up for a title match next week.

- I forgot to mention, but I’ve set up Nathan McKenzie and Rick Stantz as an “Individual” tag team due to their positive chemistry note. Looks like we’re using them already in a three man tag team.

- God’s Gift vs Heath & Horton looks like another perfect opportunity for God’s Gift to defend their titles and cheat.

Will give this one a bit more thought over a few beers and then get down to booking the show.

The Lloyd · May 7, 2020

Big Mac & Friez <img alt="

" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /> hahahaha

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