[RELEASE] 1996 Alternate History - Wrestling At War

[OGpistolpete]

This is 1996.

 

Vince McMahon is in prison.

 

His release date? The year 2000.

 

Until then,

wrestling is at war

.

 

Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels are looking like the hottest stars in town, leading Hollywood Championship Wrestling to a meteoric rise in the wrestling industry.

 

On their coattails, Bret Hart and the World Star Wrestling crew along with The Undertaker and his new dark beginning in the National Wrestling Alliance.

 

The dark horse? Shane McMahon and Paul Heyman’s new cutting-edge product of the World Wrestling Federation climbing from ruins.

 

With four years left until Vince is out of prison and, presumably, regains control of the WWF, can anybody stop the new powerhouse in HCW from taking over the industry?

 

Lore

Wrestling At War is a TEW2020 mod that begins in January, 1996. The world of wrestling is very different from what it became. Hulk Hogan remained with the AWA through its formation of World Star Wrestling. Instead of “Hulkamania”, this world experienced “Macho Madness” that swept the nation. Vince McMahon built the WWF on the shoulders of his superstar, Randy Savage, while Jim Crockett and the rest of the southern NWA stronghold responded by centralizing earlier on in the 1980’s.To the north, Verne Gagne’s AWA and Stu Hart’s Calgary territory joined forces to plant their stamp in Chicago, IL and the surrounding Great Lakes region as the predominant wrestling promotion known as World Star Wrestling. And the remaining combatants of the old Memphis and Mid-South found refuge, and potential coup, with the United States Wrestling Association. The industry changed forever in 1993, when Vince McMahon was convicted in his steroid trail of 1993, and would face an objectively horrible sentence. To serve time for the next seven-years, the WWF would crumble in the wake of fallout. Not only that, but 23-year old Shane McMahon was now in charge, and soon found controversy when he screwed frontman Shawn Michaels out of the WWF Championship while Michaels was on his way out from the WWF to join the upstart HCW in what has become known as “The Baltimore Screwjob”. In 1994, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Sean Waltman formed the foundation of Hollywood Championship Wrestling, the new primetime promotion owned by FOX, live on FOX, every Monday Night. McMahon and the WWF have found shelter with MTV, and have perhaps found a savior in a man named Paul Heyman and his new “attitude era”.

 

I hope you find enjoyment in his alternative history of mine. It is years in the making and I have spent a lot of time apart from it only to find interest in being able to simulate this in TEW2020. To me, this is an ultimate fan fic alternative history for me, as I think it combines so many different divergences in wrestling history that truly creates a realistic, yet far out there pro wrestling world. Now I’ve added Japanese wrestling lore, the survival of Rikidozan and the fate of Japanese wrestling as we know it. I’ve spent a lot of time on this mod since its initial inception and am very proud of it so I really hope people enjoy it.

 

Wrestling At War, Version 1.1

Data Download

Picture Pack Download

• Special thanks to nGo and associated individuals for work on the nGo picture pack, used as base for all worker pictures.
  
  
• Very special thanks to Mammoth for his custom belts for majority of promotions in the game. His incredible work has added another layer of depth I couldn’t have imagined.
  
  
• Thanks to iDOL for his stable logos, I was glad to incorporate a bunch of stable logos into this alternate wrestling world.
  
  

[Dalton]

Heck yeah. Can't wait to dive in!

[OGpistolpete]

Heads up I just had to reupload the data, there was one error at the start I didn't catch.

[Corey]

This sounds really interesting! Downloading now.

[Sfelk]

Not only the american backstory sounds pretty interesting (really dig the "Baltimore Screwjob" btw, guess it runs in the family, huh? lol) but i totally love the idea of Rikidozan surviving! Can't wait to explore this mod, thanks for the work man!

[Munit]

I love stuff like this. Can't wait to get my computer back to give this a go. Getting me all excited

[neslo024]

Love what I'm seeing so far. World Star Wrestling is amazing. One thing I did notice is you have Tammy Lynn Sytch is the data twice. Once as Sunny on WSW and one as an unemployed worker with her actual name. Can't wait to really dive into this.

[OGpistolpete]

Love what I'm seeing so far. World Star Wrestling is amazing. One thing I did notice is you have Tammy Lynn Sytch is the data twice. Once as Sunny on WSW and one as an unemployed worker with her actual name. Can't wait to really dive into this.

 

Thanks for that. These kind of notes are very much appreciated.

 

I will fix this in a next release, going to update in a couple of days as I scour the data for these types of errors and others contribute as well I hope.

 

Also note, Chris Candido and Sunny are set to babyface but they need to be heel as members of The Impact Players, that will be adjusted as well.

[neslo024]

Another quick thing I noticed when I was checking out the WSW roster is that Neidhart is listed as a heel and is on the sides of the impact players in their feud. I didn't know if this was intentional or not. I'll definitely try and keep an eye open for any little changes and let you know if I see any.

[OGpistolpete]

EDIT: Somehow double posted on my phone.

[OGpistolpete]

Another quick thing I noticed when I was checking out the WSW roster is that Neidhart is listed as a heel and is on the sides of the impact players in their feud. I didn't know if this was intentional or not. I'll definitely try and keep an eye open for any little changes and let you know if I see any.

 

This will be another fix I noticed as well. Thanks for that.

 

As recap:

 

Candido should be heel

Sunny should be heel

Neidhart should be face

 

This can be fixed in the contracts portion of the editor for those looking to start a WSW game.

[PFElton]

Hey OP, terrific work here. This is one of the more sensical and plausible fantasy scenarios and I just did a test game with the WWF - it was a blast.

 

My critique is that you've crammed most of the character development and action from across the era into the years of 1994 and 1995. Is there any way to talk you in to changing the starting year to 1997 or 1998? Thanks!

[OGpistolpete]

Hey OP, terrific work here. This is one of the more sensical and plausible fantasy scenarios and I just did a test game with the WWF - it was a blast.

 

My critique is that you've crammed most of the character development and action from across the era into the years of 1994 and 1995. Is there any way to talk you in to changing the starting year to 1997 or 1998? Thanks!

 

Hmm, could you explain more of what you mean?

[PFElton]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="OGpistolpete" data-cite="OGpistolpete" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="52279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hmm, could you explain more of what you mean?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I mean that across the board, all the character development and major milestones that occurred from 1995-2000 you've packed into 1994-1995.</p><p> </p><p> -Paul Levesque becoming "The Game" Triple H</p><p> -Sting adopting a Crow gimmick</p><p> -Steve Austin becoming 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, feuding with a McMahon, and winning the WWF Title</p><p> -Ken Shamrock's entry into Pro Wrestling</p><p> -Adam Copeland becoming 'Edge'</p><p> -Charles Wright becoming The Godfather</p><p> -Marcus Bagwell becoming Buff Bagwell</p><p> -The Nation of Domination storyline</p><p> -The Ministry of Darkness storyline ("The New Church")</p><p> -King Mabel becoming Viscera</p><p> -WWF's Pay-Per-View schedule from 2000</p><p> -Glenn Jacobs becoming Kane</p><p> -Bill Goldberg's entry into Pro Wrestling and the beginning of the streak</p><p> -Hulk Hogan becoming Hollywood Hogan</p><p> -A Screwjob</p><p> -Buried Alive Matches</p><p> </p><p> ^And that's all just off the top of my head. Nothing would be lost and a ton of realism would be gained if you set the start date at 1998 and spaced out some of the lore in the bio's; that way, it's much more understandable how things would've happened at an accelerated rate due to there being four major pro wrestling companies and an incredible amount of competition.</p>

[OGpistolpete]

I mean that across the board, all the character development and major milestones that occurred from 1995-2000 you've packed into 1994-1995.

 

-Paul Levesque becoming "The Game" Triple H

-Sting adopting a Crow gimmick

-Steve Austin becoming 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, feuding with a McMahon, and winning the WWF Title

-Ken Shamrock's entry into Pro Wrestling

-Adam Copeland becoming 'Edge'

-Charles Wright becoming The Godfather

-Marcus Bagwell becoming Buff Bagwell

-The Nation of Domination storyline

-The Ministry of Darkness storyline ("The New Church")

-King Mabel becoming Viscera

-WWF's Pay-Per-View schedule from 2000

-Glenn Jacobs becoming Kane

-Bill Goldberg's entry into Pro Wrestling and the beginning of the streak

-Hulk Hogan becoming Hollywood Hogan

-A Screwjob

-Buried Alive Matches

 

^And that's all just off the top of my head. Nothing would be lost and a ton of realism would be gained if you set the start date at 1998 and spaced out some of the lore in the bio's; that way, it's much more understandable how things would've happened at an accelerated rate due to there being four major pro wrestling companies and an incredible amount of competition.

 

You definitely bring up a strong list of items that have occured early, but I needed a lot of these workers to be where they are to accurately fill out the roster starting in 1996. I will admit some workers have debuted earlier than real life and some gimmicks as well, but my intention was to put these pieces in place already versus someone having to do themselves. Felt having people like Kane, Hogan, Bagwell in their places we know and love them for already to be more appealing to those checking out this mod versus having to trigger the starting points themselves. It's kind of hard for me to press the "fast-forward" button on the canon timeline without providing some explanation as to how these other companies would have skirted by between 1994 to 1998.

 

I guess my connsolation to your examples is a lot of these examples are just at the beginnings of their character story-arch. Kane has just debuted, Hollywood Hogan and Bischoff have just come together (opportunity to start their own nWo and fight Michaels and the Kliq for HCW), The Undertaker's "reign of darkness" (i.e. Ministry of Darkness) has just started, Sting was literally just buried alive and hasn't even debuted proprely as "The Crow" gimmick yet, Edge hasn't fully transformed yet from being a simple lackey for Raven, etc.

 

In pushing the "go" on a lot of these characters/storys, this was an attempt to give the canon-story of this universe more juice than simply creating the companies, providing the rosters, and letting the user piece-together their own alternate-history. I want to provide a strong structure to the rosters with a lot of context as to who and why people are the way they are.

 

The only one I wish I could have held back on was Stone Cold, but I simply couldn't find any other character or story that would have saved WWF from the serious reprocussions of the rosters deserting a failing company now that Vince is in jail (especially with so much available competition). But I would argue that also leaves a door open for Stone Cold to turn heel, famously, and/or develop another big babyface talent to fight with Stone Cold for the top spot, etc.

 

Thanks for the criticism, hopefully you will still find this mod enjoyable!

[PFElton]

I understand your reasoning, but I don't understand what is negatively affected by just changing the year to 1998 and spacing out dates of events in your lore. It makes the fantasy so much more believable. Either way, good work here.

 

EDIT: To be clear, my suggestion isn't to undo all the character advancement, just shift some dates so the advancements "fit" better, that's all.

[OGpistolpete]

Iceblaster is telling me that WSW, EARTH, and perhaps others have blank products... can anyone else confirm they are seeing this issue?

 

Here is what I have for WSW product when I load by database

 

[OGpistolpete]

I understand your reasoning, but I don't understand what is negatively affected by just changing the year to 1998 and spacing out dates of events in your lore. It makes the fantasy so much more believable. Either way, good work here.

 

Thanks PFElton, if others voice similar concerns I will definitely put into consideration!

[Thane of Fife]

Iceblaster is telling me that WSW, EARTH, and perhaps others have blank products... can anyone else confirm they are seeing this issue?

 

Here is what I have for WSW product when I load by database

 

I don't remember seeing any blank products (and opening it up, I see the same thing you do). I think Competitive Entertainment was added in a patch, so it could be that Iceblaster is running an old version.

 

(I've been enjoying the mod so far. One thing I noticed in line with what's mentioned above is that I think I saw Kimona in there twice).

[OGpistolpete]

I don't remember seeing any blank products (and opening it up, I see the same thing you do). I think Competitive Entertainment was added in a patch, so it could be that Iceblaster is running an old version.

 

(I've been enjoying the mod so far. One thing I noticed in line with what's mentioned above is that I think I saw Kimona in there twice).

 

Hmm, thanks Fife... hopefully that is the case and the DB isn't corrupt or something!

 

Thanks for note on Kimona, will update as well.

[OGpistolpete]

<p>Hi everyone,</p><p> </p><p>

Wanted to share this preview of intro slides I will be including in the database.</p><p> </p><p>

Going for a 90's magazine feel for each slide, hoping for a few per each major promotion.</p><p> </p><p>

<img alt="zTqHD0t.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/zTqHD0t.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

<img alt="Ctgf8HR.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Ctgf8HR.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Idolized]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="OGpistolpete" data-cite="OGpistolpete" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="52279" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hi everyone,<p> </p><p> Wanted to share this preview of intro slides I will be including in the database.</p><p> </p><p> Going for a 90's magazine feel for each slide, hoping for a few per each major promotion.</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="zTqHD0t.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/zTqHD0t.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="Ctgf8HR.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Ctgf8HR.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Very nice, definitely captured the black and white PWI Magazine era with those!</p>

[OGpistolpete]

More intros, including NWA Starrcade 1995 results

 

 

 

 

[Munit]

Man I'm really liking this. I can't wait for the data to get released. Sting vs Taker feud for the NWA title? Count me in.

[daddytorgo1]

Thanks PFElton, if others voice similar concerns I will definitely put into consideration!

 

I think it would make a certain amount of sense. Aside from everybody being a year or two older there wouldn't really be a downside to it. I guess for you, having to rework title lineages maybe (if those are done - i haven't DLed and checked out yet), but other than that it's pretty easy to just shift dates - I can't imagine anyone is going to say "WELL WHAT WAS IMAGINARY NEIDHART DOING IN 1997?!?!"