[RELEASE] Shifting Sands

[Mammoth]

 

INFORMATION

Shifting Sands is a modification that starts in January, 2006. I began this modification in March, 2015 for Total Extreme Wrestling 2013, and it has since appeared in Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 and Total Extreme Wrestling 2020. That first year, I worked on it almost every day whether it was a full dedicated day - of which there were many - or just an hour or two fiddling with statistics or something equally trivial. Then updating it for TEW 2016 and then TEW 2020 became jobs all in themselves, especially the latter. Almost everything - bar the things that I’ve credited people for towards the bottom of this post - had been made from scratch, which includes every single worker, every picture, every ager, every chemistry, every relationship, every title and every title history, amongst many other things. This was done partly because I didn’t want other peoples mistakes but mianly because I wanted this modication to feel like something new rather than one of those modifications that are simply made up of a whole host of other modifications. The aim was always to make a modification that people will hopefully enjoy but I also hope that people may learn something about a period in professional wrestling that fundamentally changed the sport as we know it, which is why everyones ‘Biography’ and their ‘Employment History’ has been filled out as much as possible. This is to give YOU an insight into each and every worker in the database, whether you’ve heard of them before or otherwise. Overall? I just hope people give this a chance, and it’s a modification that’ll not only be played now but in even more versions of TEW to come. Thanks for reading this and, more importantly, enjoy.

THE GAME WORLD...

AMERICA

All that appears solid and substantial is built on the shifting sands of ceaseless transformation and unfortunately, the wrestling industry is no different. After World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fought off the challenge of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), things became a little stale but the sands of time never stay the same for too long and it seems there are some new challengers brewing. The biggest challenger is coming from the South with Jeff Jarrett’s Total Nonstop Actiong Wrestling (TNA) snapping up some of the biggest names in professional wrestling. However, a promotion closer to home and named Ring of Honor (ROH) is also turning heads. With other promotions also earning a cult following the WWE in the middle of a transition from stars of yesteryear to potential stars of the future, North America’s torch has been lit.

 

CANADA

No longer a similar force to the Untied States of America, Canada has been in the doldrums for a number of years with even the iconic Stampede Wrestling struggling to bring in the crowds. Despite the lack of success however, Canada is still producing some of the best young talent in the world and promotions like the International Wrestling Syndicate (IWS) are earning a vocal and loyal fan base. With Border City Wrestling (BCW) also earning a fair amount of fanfare due to their partnership with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Canada could potentially see a rise in the near future if all their talent isn’t snapped up.

 

BRITAIN

With the might of Joint Promotions losing its grip on British professional wrestling many years ago, a whole host of promotions have taken their own unique grip on the sports in Britain. With Joint Promotions original rival All Star Wrestling (ASW) still going strong in the North, the real fight has been between the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) and International Pro Wrestling: UK (IPW:UK) in the South. Producing some young and exciting youngsters, Britain doesn't get the coverage it got in its heyday but it's almost producing a better quality product than it ever has, no longer being a monopoly. Even promotions in Scotland and Ireland are holding their own. Developing unique relationships with promotions from around the world too, British wrestling could be on the precipice of becoming a unique hub of professional wrestling.

 

MEXICO

In the early-90s, Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA) took the lead for several years but when the Mexican economy declined in the mid-90s, the promotion scaled-back and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) started rebuilding. Starting with the famous El Hijo del Santo Vs. Negro Casas feud where Santo shocked the world by turning heel when he dressed up like Negro Casas’ brother Felino and attacked him, both CMLL and AAA continue to battle for supremacy. With Toryumon Mexico and the International Wrestling Revolution Group also in the mix, Mexico still produces some of the best and most athletic wrestlers in the world but they have some work to do if they’re to contend with North America and Japan.

 

JAPAN

With All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro-Wrestling NOAH (NOAH) battling it out for supremacy - each with their own unique stars - Japan has become one of the best places to watch professional wrestling in the world. Whilst the so-called “big three” are relying on developed stars however, the likes of Dragon Gate (DG) are relying on young and athletic wrestlers that they themselves have developed, and many of them are already considered future greats. And whilst all of this is going on, the highly unique products of Dramatic Dream Team Wrestling (DDT), Pro Wrestling ZERO1-Max (ZERO1-Max) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) all offer something very different from established. Offering dream matches, high-quality wrestling and some of the most unique story-telling professional wrestling has ever seen, Japanese puroresu is a hotbed which seems like it’ll only get bigger and better as the years advance.

 

EUROPE

While the big challenge is happening in Germany between German Stampede Wrestling (GSW) and Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), Europe as a whole is producing a quality product and some good, young athletes. Forming unique relationships with promotions from around the world as well as producing their own talent, promotions in Europe are actually becoming known around the world but whether they have neough to every compete with the promotions they regularly work with remains to be seen.

NEED TO KNOW

Mistakes - I expect there to be many mistakes, whether they’re tiny and insignificant like a spelling mistake or something more severe like a wrong picture given to the wrong person/title. There may even be a wrong date on a title history or something trivial like a statistic way out of whack. That said, I’m more than happy to fix any issues/mistakes so please inform me of them when/if you find them. I will NOT be offended because I’m expecting people to find them. The way I see it, the more mistakes that you inform me of, the better the modification will be in the long run because I can fix them and then re-release the modification into the world. Just please bare in mind that while I appreciate criticism, I will not appreciate unhelpful condemnation with no helpful tips.

Further Information - If you have any further/more accurate information on this time period, then I’d still love to hear about it. For example, if you know of a storyline which was unfolding in January, 2006 in any given promotion that I can add to ‘Starting Storylines’ then I’d love to hear about them. Or, if there is someone I’ve mentioned in a biography or someone just in general who isn’t deceased/retired who you believe was still wrestling in this time period that I haven’t yet added to the database, please inform me of them so I can add them to the database as soon as possible, providing there is enough information out there about them.

Tag Teams - I have included "Yet to Debut" tag teams, but they obviously haven’t got any experience and their "Formed" date (as far as I can remember, every team has been given a "Formed" date and although they may not be completely exact, they’re the earliest date of said team teaming that I can find) is obviously later than January, 2006. Fortunately, it’s a changeable value in the game so it’s up to you whether you wait for said date to come around or bump them up a bit.

Employment Histories - I referred to it earlier in the "Information" part but I just wanted to expand on this: every single worker in the modification has an "Employment History" of some kind unless they’re ‘yet to debut’ and this is done to give you, the player, an idea of the persons background and where he/she has spent most of their time. As you’ll no doubt see, I’ve neglected to include any past promotions which I’ve not included in the modification and this is to increase the playability of it. The way I see it, you want popularity and things of that nature to be limited to what is playable in the game. So yes, you may find a worker who should have an "Employment History" with many different promotions and therefore popularity in various regions, but unless the territory/promotion is a part of the game, I’ve neglected to include them.

Agers - Agers and pictures in general are in no way exact to the year I add to them. Rather than changing a workers picture every couple of years to reflect the ageing process, I add an ager every six years so it's more generic and as I say, the picture choice may not be perfect (it may be from a later/earlier decade in real life) but they're chosen on how old the person looks in the picture, not how old they actually are. It took a lot of time to find some pictures so to try and make that time shorter, it was much easier for me to do it this way rather than being exact. After all, that's what agers are for, right? To simulate the experience of them getting older.

Additions - I’d love to hear about anything else you’d like included in the next update, whenever that’ll come. Obviously there is a lot that could be expanded on, so I don’t want to hear "more television networks", I want to hear actual lists. So try not to be generic and actually list things that you’d like included so using the previous example, give me a list of television networks that you think would aid the modification and I’ll add them. You can list absolutely anything and I’ll take a look at it so that can be database things or even pictures you’d like to see in future updates like event pictures, logos or banners. Whatever it is, I just want to hear about it. Yes, I want critiquing on what I’ve already done but I also want to hear what will make the modification better in the weeks, months or years to come.

Credits - Thanks go to...
 

fullMETAL for his "Worker Names Database"
Taker for his narratives
Idolized for his "iNSPIRED Angle Pack"
sockpuppet for both his "Injury Mod" & his "Venue Mod"
Matt Shannon for the Match Types from his "The Main Event" mod
Derek B for his mod making guide
wrestling-titles.com for their title histories
wrestlingdata.com for their amazing website
SLAM! Sports for their equally amazing website
Macca87 for doing some more Free Pictures and, finally,
the GDS community for their help and encouragement.

 

THE RULES

 

This modification is completely freeware. Mod-makers are free to use whatever they want in their mods and every one else is free to edit the database however they please. I do ask that you credit me because this modification has taken me a really long time, and I feel like a little credit wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. However, I’m not one to kick up a fuss if I’m not given credit since this is freeware anyway so please don’t feel the need to message me if you see my stuff elsewhere. We’ll let the God’s determine their fate...

 

DOWNLOADS

DATABASE

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PICTURES

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by Mammoth

 

 

 

Quote

Grey Dog Software has recently made it very clear that we aren't allowed to link directly to donations on their forums to ensure they're covered if anything was to go wrong, but they've graciously allowed people to do it through third party websites such as social media. Therefore, I've created a Twitter account to simply link people to my (or more importantly my wife's) PayPal account. Please be aware that all my modifications are and ALWAYS WILL BE freeware and I do them because I enjoy it, but if you would like to give me something in return then it'll be truly appreciated. Thanks.

Link: Click Me
 

 

[hailthebulldog]

OH DANG!!!! Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend. Thank you Mammoth.

[theyungboomer]

Man I have been bored out of my mind all day and you come and release this. Major W. But seriously can't wait to dive into this.

[Bonafide_Bluffa]

oh?<img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/eek.png.0e09df00fa222c85760b9bc1700b5405.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" />:eek:def gonna try this after work

[aXminster]

Thanks, Mammoth. I'll be trying this db right now.

[Corey]

Oh wow, what an awesome surprise to wake up to on a Saturday morning while in a vague lockdown! Cheers for the hard work and putting this out, Mammoth!

[Evilman]

Oh my gosh, just earlier today I was looking for signs if this is coming out. What a surprise, gonna download it straight away when I get home.

[samibalor]

You are awesome!

[thecoolestjedi12]

Scrambling to my TEW2020 rn

[KillVisionPlays]

Where can we get the links?

[Jaysin]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="KillVisionPlays" data-cite="KillVisionPlays" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="53211" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Where can we get the links?</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Where it says "Click Here" really big</p>

[Sco xY2Jx]

Today is a good day! Thank you, Mammoth.

 

Edit: The first omission I've swiftly spotted looking through the data unless I'm not searching correctly, is that Matt & Nick Jackson aren't part of the data.

[Mammoth]

Today is a good day! Thank you, Mammoth.

 

Edit: The first omission I've swiftly spotted looking through the data unless I'm not searching correctly, is that Matt & Nick Jackson aren't part of the data.

No, they're the first names on my list though. I think I only added three new names to the database from TEW16 and they were owners/bookers that I needed; Tony Khan to add AEW, for example. Now I've finally updated everything for both Territory Daze and Shifting Sands however, I can now work on actual updates that'll include new workers and such like.

[Sco xY2Jx]

No, they're the first names on my list though. I think I only added three new names to the database from TEW16 and they were owners/bookers that I needed; Tony Khan to add AEW, for example. Now I've finally updated everything for both Territory Daze and Shifting Sands however, I can now work on actual updates that'll include new workers and such like.

 

Excellent news. Admittedly I fully expect a lot of AEW talent will end up on that list.

Looking forward to everything else to come, friend.

[KingJamal92]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Helllllllllllllllll Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[hyretic]

Man, you have no idea how happy I was to see this was released! I've been looking forward to this mod for a long time. Love your work

[Kijar]

Hoping to get a game up and running sooner than later, just ecstatic to have some of your work to play through at this point.

[macca87]

Mammoth you legend!!!

[Skummy]

Fantastic to see another quality mod pop up, great work.

 

First things first, there's a ton of workers in this one that I don't often see in other people's mods - love to see that, as one of my first things to do when starting a new game is go through and hire or shortlist everyone I'm interested in, and mods can start to feel a bit "samey" when you're just seeing the same names and pictures every time. That there are workers I've never heard of, not even just seeing their names pop up online or in other mods, is quite exciting. I especially like that it's well fleshed out with retired and deceased workers too - I know some people see them as just being a bit of extraneous filler, but I always like the world-building aspect of having them there.

 

Some notes I've spotted on a quick watcher game (literally just simming a couple of weeks to get a feel for things, nothing serious):

 

- Alpha Female should be able to speak fluent English and at least passable Japanese. She should also possibly have a positive relationship with Masahiro Chono, as he's her step-father.

 

- Don Callis is set as a Wrestler, but not active in either a Wrestler or Occasional Wrestler role, and his style is set to "Never Wrestles". I would suggest making him a Retired Wrestler with style set to "Entertainer", maybe?

 

- Dusty Rhodes could maybe be an Occasional Wrestler, rather than retired? He wrestled a handful of matches in 2006, on the indies and for the WWE. At present, he's a retired wrestler and I'm not able to talk him out of retirement (using the cheat code to max out user stats)

 

- Emi Sakura should speak passable, if not fluent, English

 

- Believe it or not, Ox Baker should maybe be an Occasional Wrestler - he wrestled the odd match right up until 2013 at least.

 

- Ron Simmons wrestled a few matches from 2006 onwards, so could maybe be an Occasional Wrestler, or else not set to "Never Wrestles" and stats tweaked to be easier to talk out of retirement.

 

- YOSHIHIKO could maybe be a User Character/Avatar, to prevent her from being booked as a conventional wrestler, and let players choose whether she should be in the game or not?

 

- Ophidian should be Hispanic, rather than White. He's of Puerto-Rican heritage.

 

 

 

Suggestions:

- I don't normally like to suggest workers, especially for a mod as well-populated as this once, but I love that there are some older British wrestlers (Tony St. Clair, for example) included, so it would be nice to see names like Johnny Saint (who came out of retirement in 2007), Johnny Kid and Steve Grey included. Maybe even Kendo Nagasaki, who came out of retirement briefly in 2008, and Adrian Street, who was wrestling on a fairly regular basis in 2006 in the US.

 

Similarly, it would be nice to see a few more female wrestlers for the UK scene included - a quick search on the Editor has seven women when searching "Gender: Female" and "Nationality: English", one for Scottish, one for Irish, zero for Welsh, zero for Northern Irish. I know the scene was pretty dire at the time, but just for a couple of suggestions I'd like to see Jetta and Erin Angel included as regulars on the scene from back then, and then maybe a few of the bigger names as "Yet to Debut"?

 

 

 

There's a few cases where I think you might have been a little unfair on overness, but it's consistent, so maybe just a more harshly rated mod than I'm used to in that area. Goldust, and non-American wrestlers' US overness, were the ones that struck me most - particularly Inoki and Onita, but again, it's all consistent, no one stands out particularly as under or over-rated compared to anyone else in this mod.

[Mammoth]

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for their love. It's great to see people are excited about trying it out. Has anyone seen my angle descriptions yet? I would really like to see what people think about 'em.

- Alpha Female should be able to speak fluent English and at least passable Japanese. She should also possibly have a positive relationship with Masahiro Chono, as he's her step-father.

As far as I know, she hadn't worked outside of Germany at this point, with the exception of a couple of other European countries so I thought maybe she didn't know any English yet. If you know better, I'm happy to change it. I've added a relationship with Masahiro Chono though and passable Japanese as I'm sure she learnt a bit from him. This is actually the first time I heard this but I looked it up and judging by the age of her brother and sister, I'm happy to go along with her mother having already met Chono by this point in time.

- Don Callis is set as a Wrestler, but not active in either a Wrestler or Occasional Wrestler role, and his style is set to "Never Wrestles". I would suggest making him a Retired Wrestler with style set to "Entertainer", maybe?

Just a mistake. I've now set him as retired.

- Dusty Rhodes could maybe be an Occasional Wrestler, rather than retired? He wrestled a handful of matches in 2006, on the indies and for the WWE. At present, he's a retired wrestler and I'm not able to talk him out of retirement (using the cheat code to max out user stats)

That's fair enough. I'm not really a fan of making someone an occasional wrestler when they've only made a handful of appearances since "retiring" because I don't think it should be used for that but Dusty Rhodes is a good case. I've left him retired but I've added skills and also gave him the "Can't Stay Away" attribute to make it easier to talk him out of retirement, which seems plausible for Dusty.

- Emi Sakura should speak passable, if not fluent, English

Yeah, she's done some work in the US at this point so it seems plausible that she knows a bit of English.

- Believe it or not, Ox Baker should maybe be an Occasional Wrestler - he wrestled the odd match right up until 2013 at least.

I can only find records of him working two matches in 2008 after January, 2006. As I said before, I'm not a fan of making someone an occasional wrestler if they've only worked a handful of matches in that many years so I'm much happier leaving him retired, to be honest.

- Ron Simmons wrestled a few matches from 2006 onwards, so could maybe be an Occasional Wrestler, or else not set to "Never Wrestles" and stats tweaked to be easier to talk out of retirement.

Similar to Dusty, I've added skills and suchlike so if he's talked out of retirement, he's usable. However, I've not added the "Can't Stay Away" attribute because I don't think that's suitable for Big Ron.

- YOSHIHIKO could maybe be a User Character/Avatar, to prevent her from being booked as a conventional wrestler, and let players choose whether she should be in the game or not?

Good shout.

- Ophidian should be Hispanic, rather than White. He's of Puerto-Rican heritage.

This is the first time I've heard about this, and I can't find anything after a quick search. Do you have any proof, please?

Suggestions:

- I don't normally like to suggest workers, especially for a mod as well-populated as this once, but I love that there are some older British wrestlers (Tony St. Clair, for example) included, so it would be nice to see names like Johnny Saint (who came out of retirement in 2007), Johnny Kid and Steve Grey included. Maybe even Kendo Nagasaki, who came out of retirement briefly in 2008, and Adrian Street, who was wrestling on a fairly regular basis in 2006 in the US.

 

Similarly, it would be nice to see a few more female wrestlers for the UK scene included - a quick search on the Editor has seven women when searching "Gender: Female" and "Nationality: English", one for Scottish, one for Irish, zero for Welsh, zero for Northern Irish. I know the scene was pretty dire at the time, but just for a couple of suggestions I'd like to see Jetta and Erin Angel included as regulars on the scene from back then, and then maybe a few of the bigger names as "Yet to Debut"?

Added to my list.

There's a few cases where I think you might have been a little unfair on overness, but it's consistent, so maybe just a more harshly rated mod than I'm used to in that area. Goldust, and non-American wrestlers' US overness, were the ones that struck me most - particularly Inoki and Onita, but again, it's all consistent, no one stands out particularly as under or over-rated compared to anyone else in this mod.

Yeah, I'm just very harsh. xD I caved in for this iteration of the modification and upped the skills a bit but I still like the popularity where they are.

I think Tommy Dreamer should have a developmental contract in OVW in this mod. He was a long-time OVW agent and under contract to WWE at the start of the year. WWE brought him up for the ECW relaunch later on. Speaking of which, I think it's worth creating "ECW One Night Stand" as a dormant WWE event & letting the player decide whether or not to activate it.

I'm not sure about Dreamer because he did some independent bookings before reappearing for the 'E and I can't imagine they would have allowed him to do so if he contracted to them in any way. I'm happy to add him to OVW though if you know any better, and can prove it. Adding ECW One Night Stand is a good shout though, thanks. If people want to add it themselves though, the logos are already included.

[hailthebulldog]

I'm not sure about Dreamer because he did some independent bookings before reappearing for the 'E and I can't imagine they would have allowed him to do so if he contracted to them in any way. I'm happy to add him to OVW though if you know any better, and can prove it. Adding ECW One Night Stand is a good shout though, thanks. If people want to add it themselves though, the logos are already included.

 

According to this article from Joey Styles from WWE.com, Dreamer was working for the WWE in an official capacity before ECW reopened. His Wikipedia also mentioned that he was allowed to work independent shows while he was working down in DSW and OVW.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070906003147/http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/commentary/styles/101206mep

[Mammoth]

According to this article from Joey Styles from WWE.com, Dreamer was working for the WWE in an official capacity before ECW reopened. His Wikipedia also mentioned that he was allowed to work independent shows while he was working down in DSW and OVW.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20070906003147/http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/commentary/styles/101206mep

Okay, that's brilliant. Thank you. I've now given him a contract with OVW.

[PuroJoshi]

You spoil us Mammoth, thanks as always for your excellent work!

[LoganRodzen]

This is truly a pleasant surprise.

[Rampaaage]

I see Jeff Hardy is signed with WWE despite his TNA contract not ending until summer of '06. I know there were some issues and he didn't appear on live TV that year, but he worked house shows and didn't show up for WWE until August.