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Ever have a wrestler who shouldn't have gotten over get really, REALLY over? Someone who you didn't even set out to book strongly and wound up being one of your big draws?

 

Here's my story- playing QAW. Lost a bunch of talent to CWA, particularly on the babyface side of things. So, I hire Olivia Diamond. She's... well she tries hard. Her stats are fine, but not something you'd look at say, "Yes, this person is going to be my next star." I just need a warm body to fill out the tecnico side and eat some pins.

Well, she winds up having great chemistry with Marianna Torres, which is actually a two birds, one stone scenario, as Pinky Perez got poached by the aforementioned CWA and I didn't have any plans for Torres yet.

Well, anyway, the auto-booker keeps putting the impromptu tandem in trios matches with my big stars, so Olivia got over by association, while also improving her somewhat mediocre skills.

Then, Torres gets poached by CWA. At the same time, I need some big stars for my main event to determine who will win the vacated World title following the retirement of Danielle Sweetheart (who, 6 months later, would go on to win Manager Of The Year, which, impressive). So, set up a 5-Way match, and throw Diamond in there, because hey, she's popular, but she'll be a perfect person to eat the loss and make a star. I don't set a winner in the road agent notes.

 

She becomes World Champ. Now, admittedly, she doesn't hold onto it very long, dropping it to Ashley Keith (of @willr0ck's Women's Revolution mod), but she's still one of my Major Stars and a strong candidate to put into the next Queen Of The Ring tournament.

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I was running a late '90's save, and I had a random gen character who debuted in 1995/1996 named Tony Davidson (I had to go back and look at when he appeared in the game, and I can't remember if it was late 1995 or early 1996). What caught my eye is that this guy ends up getting signed to every indy promotion in the game, and he's always the performance of the night in almost every show he's in. Fast forward to me starting a save as WCW in May 2001 (the one I'm currently focusing on), and I decide to import him and sign him to WCW. I put him into Wildside Wrestling, and he's immediately at Star level for Wildside. Soon, he's the top dog in Wildside, so I bring him to the main roster. Of course, now he's "favorite toy" material, so I've booked him to be my world champion. He even won Wrestler of the Year 2003, and he's carrying the top of the card.

St.T

 

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I remember downloading a who87 mod back in 2017 for a save I was doing. There were two wrestlers from wXw who didn't even have a picture available online, but I verified were actually real workers thanks to cagematch. In 4 years from 2017 they basically dominate the tag team scene in WWE. One of them was the artist formerly known as Big Daddy Walter and the other was Chris Colen. Low and behold by 2023 Walter is the uber-popular WWE champion. I honestly forget who I was playing as. Maybe I was just perpetually unemployed & just simming along just to see what would happen.

 

I literally wish I screencapped this at the time, but it's engraved into my memory. But for sure I started paying attention to Walter IRL after this. It's crazy that he actually made WWE (Well not really because he's awesome) & it would be something if he got pushed to the moon in 2023 (Which I think would also be awesome)

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2 hours ago, Titus_Sinclair1878 said:

I remember downloading a who87 mod back in 2017 for a save I was doing. There were two wrestlers from wXw who didn't even have a picture available online, but I verified were actually real workers thanks to cagematch. In 4 years from 2017 they basically dominate the tag team scene in WWE. One of them was the artist formerly known as Big Daddy Walter and the other was Chris Colen. Low and behold by 2023 Walter is the uber-popular WWE champion. I honestly forget who I was playing as. Maybe I was just perpetually unemployed & just simming along just to see what would happen.

 

I literally wish I screencapped this at the time, but it's engraved into my memory. But for sure I started paying attention to Walter IRL after this. It's crazy that he actually made WWE (Well not really because he's awesome) & it would be something if he got pushed to the moon in 2023 (Which I think would also be awesome)

Main event Walter/Gunther makes me happy.

St.T

 

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I have Garry the Entertainer as a main eventer in a performance-based company. I only hired him because he became a star in my 2016 game, and intended to use him as a mid-card worker, tagging with Hawkeye Calhoun. 

 

It looked like he'd be stuck in that role, having maxed out at 70-odd pop. However, after a gimmick change he shot up into the high 80s within just a few shows, even without any particularly big wins. My product limits comedy workers from becoming main eventers, so that must have artificially capped him until I changed his gimmick. He's very much the odd one out - all my other main eventers are great in-ring workers, while he's merely decent - but he still gets good ratings.

Edited by Donners
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This is a great thread idea.

 

My pick for this one is definitely Blackwell Bush. If you don't recognize the name, he's an Australian indy guy who has been unemployed working his trade in every single game for the past few TEW versions (he is a new worker who debuts around a year in in TEW2013). Anyway, I only play custom promotions in Australia since TEW2010 other than a few shorter games. In TEW2013, I saw his potential as a guy with decent fundamentals and strong technical skill, a midcard workhorse kind of guy. He ends up forming a team with Surfer Dude Lucas (Surf and Turf), and the duo are the focal point of my tag division in my 2013 game. Every single match I put the guy in, he overperforms, and he more than put in work teaming with my top prospect and helping him build up his resume before he inevitably becomes my top guy.
In 2016, I pick up Blackwell Bush again for my initial roster. His stats are pretty much the same as when he debuted in 2013, and with such poor entertainment skills and star power I don't expect much more than a midcard gatekeeper, wanting to keep him separate from Surfer Dude Lucas this time around. A losing streak becomes an obsession with superficial lucky charms, adding four leaf clovers to his gear and fleshing out his persona. Bush's stay in my midcard is short as he quickly turns fully heel, from a generic wrestling machine to wily heel with Sean Quartermainne representing him as he wins my top title from my top babyface Marcus Kerr and holds it for well over a year. Working with SQ, Marcus Kerr, and Rob Edwards monthly in promos saw Bush's entertainment skills shoot up to the point where he's putting out B-rated segments in my small company, something that you'd never expect just looking at his stats, even after the huge growth. After he loses the title, he helps put over some other rising main eventers like Bryant Hall (now Aukland Raider in TEW2020) and James Diaz. Mostly working as a gatekeeper, he manages to get signed with APW and win their top title. Seeing an opportunity, a routine title defense from the now-dominant, Brock Lesnar-esque James Diaz leads to Bush getting the upset win and becoming a double champ and one of my only 2-time World champs. Bush holds the title for only a couple months this time, but now he's firmly in my Mount Rushmore, a place I never expected him reaching. He's putting on B-rated matches and segments with pretty much anyone I match him with, no complaints about losing ever, a consummate professional who works dominant champ, underdog, wily heel, all with aplomb. He ends up in a rivarly/game of one-upsmanship with heel uber-athlete Leon Nameth, who won my Young Lion's Cup and was on the cusp of reaching the main event but couldn't find his footing yet. They have great chemistry as opponents, and to my shock, they have incredible chemistry as partners. Their growing respect for each other leads to ACE (their team) to being multi time tag champs, bringing the whole division up to a main-event level. Pulling the occasional A rated tag match, I saw an opportunity for a final send off from the top of the card. For my 12th season finale, Glory Days XII, Blackwell Bush miraculously wins my rumble-equivalent, main eventing the show in a face vs face match versus 3 time champ, my figurehead and Bush's long-time rival and ally, Rob Edwards. To my surprise, they pull an A as Bush passes the torch and gets one last singles run before going to back to being a staple in my tag division.
So far in 2020 I'm only 2 years in, and Blackwell Bush has actually developed pretty well just working on the indies. This time in TEW I started as a much larger company, putting Bush at the bottom of the card immediately since he has next to no notoriety. Well, to my lack of surprise, the bland midcard workhorse Blackwell Bush puts on main-event level matches in losses to all of my top stars, his performances giving me no option but to give him the ball. Rob Edwards, who in this iteration has been the rising star instead of the perennial main eventer, found himself concussed on the final lap of his star-making storyline where he would win the biggest match of his career... and there's only one man who I could think of to take his spot. I don't see a world where Blackwell Bush doesn't win, and a freak accident again puts this guy in the top of my card for two straight games, and I can't even be mad. I even went in with no intentions to push him to the top, but every single game I play this guy drastically overperforms his stats until I can't help but keep giving him the ball.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Darrell Stubbs graduated from the DeColt Power House in 1998. A skinny cruiserweight in a land of giants, he didn't seem to have much hope for success, despite promising charisma and aerial skills. Just not a great fit for the product. 

Still, I believe in training my graduates, so he bounced in-and-out of CGC for his first few years, doing jobs on pre-shows. First under a variety of randomly generated names, then as MASATO, part of a preliminary ninja-themed tag team with another Asian graduate (YOSHINO). They came. They lost. They went. But I always kept bringing them in from time to time to give them experience. 

In 2002, CGC introduced house shows, and it was during an intensive 6-month loop that MASATO started to stand out from the other rookies. Great entertainment skills. Consistent performance gains. He got Ripped. Terrible by comparison, YOSHINO was released and I tried to find something for Masato to do. Teams with Ryan Powell and Ricky DeColt fell flat, as did making him the third member of Youth Energy. In 2003, he did get some TV wins against Damian Carvill and Dog Fyte, but that was more about punishing them than pushing Masato. He left soon after, but refusing to be disheartened, soon became Due North Championship Wrestling's World Champion and starting tearing up Northern Lights Pro Wrestling. The guy had something.

Success in my promotions isn't a meritocracy. Skills mean nothing if I don't have the right story for you, and 2005 was where it finally happened for Darrell. Staunch traditionalist Eric Tyler had returned to CGC, planning to stick it to the DeColts by turning wacky gimmick babyfaces into traditional heels. Real names. Trunks. Grab a hold, kid, it's the Wrestling Reclaimation Project. As a former 'Ninja', Stubbs seemed like he'd be a good minion for a group. Someone to bump for the babyfaces and take the falls. Yet he quickly became the standout. Not just for his promos (turns out he's even better than Eric Tyler) but he was the only one who didn't have bad chemistry with the DeColts or his stablemates. Everyone else seemed to fail somewhere, but as luck would have it, his partnership with Derrick Jarrett (as 'Blackout') became vital as gatekeepers to the tag belts, staying strong and pushed consistently.

In 2006, it was time for someone in the Reclamation Project to turn babyface, and even though that was originally planned to be Ryan Powell, at this point it HAD to be Stubbs. Red Hot momentum. Better promo. Better babyface. He invented a new move that got people talking, AND started dating Jenny Playmate to help backstage cohesion. Meanwhile Powell was a chilly whipping boy struggling to stay Recognisable. Stubbs turned, rebranded himself TKT Stubbs, and beat former boss Eric Tyler at WrestleFestival.

Then, another stroke of good timing. Following the canon timeline, Youth Energy were supposed to win the tag belts in July 2006. Problem is, in this timeline, Youth Energy kind of suck. So I thought to myself "Why not Stubbs?". Blackout got back together and won the belts instead, having a series of awesome matches (and even better promo battles) with The Specialists and Club Olympus. His popularity skyrocketed, and he was suddenly in the mix for the World Title at Ultimate Showdown (every other babyface was busy) and was a strong contender to be a shock winner of the Last Man Standing Rumble. 

Heading into 2007, Darrell Stubbs is a runaway Major Star, arguably the No.2 babyface in the company given recent DeColt turns. It's only a matter of time before he drops the tag titles (and his tag partner, who has developed an unfortunate backstage feud with Steve DeColt) and becomes a singles star. His size holds him back, and the DeColt boys will always create a ceiling over his head, but who knows? At 28 he's got a lot of time ahead of him. Maybe he'll save this timeline's version of CGC. 

Edited by Self
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The AI has built Shelton Benjamin into a megastar in my 85-2012 game.  

I had him in WWF but let him ago after several big IC title reigns.  His popularity refused to go over 80 though.  He signed with KWF (Kingdom Wrestling Federation, medium sized in Australia) and instantly blew up to 90 worldwide once they signed their television deal.   He's won their main championship and tournament multiple times.  Waiting to steal him (as WCW)

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On 2/7/2023 at 11:35 AM, Zero said:

The AI has built Shelton Benjamin into a megastar in my 85-2012 game.  

I had him in WWF but let him ago after several big IC title reigns.  His popularity refused to go over 80 though.  He signed with KWF (Kingdom Wrestling Federation, medium sized in Australia) and instantly blew up to 90 worldwide once they signed their television deal.   He's won their main championship and tournament multiple times.  Waiting to steal him (as WCW)

I am all smiles tonight reading these boards. Ain't no stopping him now!

St.T

 

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I was doing a 2004 WWE save as the RAW gm, and I essentially ruined WrestleMania XX by putting A-Train in the Elimination Chamber for the RAW title, joking about having him win, then having him actually win on a dare from my co-op and thus now had to have him go into the triple threat match with Shawn and Trips. (I didn't even realize until writing that out that I had nearly copied the actual build with one major difference, didn't mean to do that, but it makes it even more funny in hindsight.)

He was then christened BASED-Train (A because he went up a letter grade, even tho that doesn't make sense, and B, because we're mentally 5 when playing this game) and I had a choice to make, do I let Shawn Michaels win, have the reign of terror go on for a little bit longer, or do I do what's BASED for business, I think we all know the Train pulled into the station that night.

Now in-game, he seems capped at 82 pop, and performances of a similar variety, even pairing him with Jenna Jameson hasn't moved the needle past that. But the matches always get 90+, he's defeated Ric Flair, The Rock, and Mankind and they all average 92, so a successful world champ I'd say.

The whole game is a tale of weird success stories not based on game but how the game has navigated our cringe. A Ric Flair incel stable (he's still in evolution, IDK why and I'm booking it.) Rhyno in La Resistance, A Trent Acid and AJ Styles Tag Team that won the titles, Colt Cabana a with a magic spoon gimmick, Bob Holly ALMOST main eventing WrestleMania, Scott Steiner joining forces with Tajiri, Scott Steiner having a 100 rated match against Shawn Michaels, Triple H getting mad and only getting a 79 when he tries to one up Shawn in wrestlemania build up, Goldberg lore leading to Nunzio of FBI fame pinning him at Wrestlemania...The list could go on...

Edited by MaiTyLer
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20 hours ago, James The Animator said:

You should have given him the Muhammad Hassan gimmick. That was originally his idea!

I shudder to think what would've happened if we made it far with him, I remember the term "anime" coming up from my co-op since he would've drafted him, but some things are truly best left unanswered.

12 hours ago, St. Templar said:

Really? Now...I have an idea...and I might have to re-sign Sabu to make it work...

St.T

 

Its even unfunnier because they'd obviously know each other, so Rhyno just has this 180 personality split and Sabu is just doing his whole Sabu thing...

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I'm doing a 2014 save in WWE. I'm currently in the final week of April 2020. In April 2019, I formed a heel stable of the Four Horsewomen (Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks), who have run roughshod over the Raw womens division. One of my goals for them was to help get Bilile Kay and Peyton Royce over. And it's worked to moderate success. They went from being in the 50s in pop to Peyton being, maybe capped at 70 (she's been at 70 for 5 months now), and Billie in the low 80s. 

 

I didn't expect Dana Brooke to come out of this as a true star though. I introduced her into the story in the buildup to a 6 woman tag between Bayley, Charlotte, and Sasha vs. Naomi, Alexa Bliss, and Billie. The Horsewoman took Alexa out of the match in a storyline injury a week or two before the match. Dana was announced as the replacement and took the fall. The next night, it was Charlotte vs. Dana in a singles match and the Horsewomen took verbal jabs at her all night about her being the replacement. Dana and Charlotte had a 99 rated match. The next week, Dana and Sasha had a 97 rated match. Both resulted in losses for Dana, but her popularity shot up. It's currently in the high 80s. I had her be in the final three in the Rumble, then she missed WrestleMania due to an injury that only keeps her from wrestling, not appearing on the show. 

 

I plan on having her win Money in the Bank announce her cash in ahead of time for the next PPV and defeating Becky Lynch for the Raw Womens Championship. 

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On 2/16/2023 at 2:23 PM, Everything Ken said:

I'm doing a 2014 save in WWE. I'm currently in the final week of April 2020. In April 2019, I formed a heel stable of the Four Horsewomen (Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte, and Sasha Banks), who have run roughshod over the Raw womens division. One of my goals for them was to help get Bilile Kay and Peyton Royce over. And it's worked to moderate success. They went from being in the 50s in pop to Peyton being, maybe capped at 70 (she's been at 70 for 5 months now), and Billie in the low 80s. 

 

I didn't expect Dana Brooke to come out of this as a true star though. I introduced her into the story in the buildup to a 6 woman tag between Bayley, Charlotte, and Sasha vs. Naomi, Alexa Bliss, and Billie. The Horsewoman took Alexa out of the match in a storyline injury a week or two before the match. Dana was announced as the replacement and took the fall. The next night, it was Charlotte vs. Dana in a singles match and the Horsewomen took verbal jabs at her all night about her being the replacement. Dana and Charlotte had a 99 rated match. The next week, Dana and Sasha had a 97 rated match. Both resulted in losses for Dana, but her popularity shot up. It's currently in the high 80s. I had her be in the final three in the Rumble, then she missed WrestleMania due to an injury that only keeps her from wrestling, not appearing on the show. 

 

I plan on having her win Money in the Bank announce her cash in ahead of time for the next PPV and defeating Becky Lynch for the Raw Womens Championship. 

This sounds amazing 

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  • 5 months later...

I have a few unlikely success stories but here are the best

I started with the Ruthless Aggression mod in 2004, currently in April 2015. So it is my longest-running save, eleven years of booking EVERY SINGLE SHOW, without running to the auto booker

After debuting in December of 2004, my biggest surprise success story was ECW Legend Steve Corino. He walked out of six WrestleManias as World Champion, whether defending or challenging, he won the Money in the Bank Ladder match, the King of the Ring tournament, and the 2009 Royal Rumble match. He also won Wrestler of the Year in both 2007 and 2008

1 x World Tag Team Champion (with Charlie Haas)
4 x WWE Champion

1 x WWE Intercontinental Champion
1 x IWGP Heavyweight Champion (which he held simultaneously with the WWE Championship in 2011)
2005 King of the Ring Winner (defeating Chris Jericho in the final)
2009 Royal Rumble Winner
1 x WWE United States Champion

2010 RAW Money in the Bank Winner (losing the briefcase to Tetsuya Naito)
2007 Wrestler of the Year
2008 Wrestler of the Year

After debuting in 2005, I didn't really have much planned for Daffney. I had her win the Women's Title the night after WrestleMania 22 but she then suffered a broken leg and was out for six months, scuppering any plans I had for her. After returning in November of 2006, she built her way back up very quickly and defeated Gail Kim to win the WWE Women's Championship at the 2007 New Year's Revolution pay-per-view. That begun my longest reign of any championship on any TEW game I have ever done. She won the title in January 2007 and didn't drop it until April 2011, holding the belt for just over FIVE YEARS. During those five years, she also became the first woman to ever win the Men's Royal Rumble match, where she challenged, but lost, to Steve Corino for the WWE Championship in the main event of Day Two of WrestleMania 27. Day one of Mania 27 had her drop the Women's Title to Ms Money in the Bank Candice LeRae, who, rather than cash in on Daffney while she was vulnerable, cashed in on an actual matchThe final title history of Daffney as of 2015 is as follows

3 x WWE Women's Champion
1 x OVW Women's Champion
2 x WWE Divas Champion
2011 Men's Royal Rumble Winner

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On 1/25/2023 at 11:59 PM, John Lions said:

This is a great thread idea.

 

My pick for this one is definitely Blackwell Bush. If you don't recognize the name, he's an Australian indy guy who has been unemployed working his trade in every single game for the past few TEW versions (he is a new worker who debuts around a year in in TEW2013). Anyway, I only play custom promotions in Australia since TEW2010 other than a few shorter games. In TEW2013, I saw his potential as a guy with decent fundamentals and strong technical skill, a midcard workhorse kind of guy. He ends up forming a team with Surfer Dude Lucas (Surf and Turf), and the duo are the focal point of my tag division in my 2013 game. Every single match I put the guy in, he overperforms, and he more than put in work teaming with my top prospect and helping him build up his resume before he inevitably becomes my top guy.
In 2016, I pick up Blackwell Bush again for my initial roster. His stats are pretty much the same as when he debuted in 2013, and with such poor entertainment skills and star power I don't expect much more than a midcard gatekeeper, wanting to keep him separate from Surfer Dude Lucas this time around. A losing streak becomes an obsession with superficial lucky charms, adding four leaf clovers to his gear and fleshing out his persona. Bush's stay in my midcard is short as he quickly turns fully heel, from a generic wrestling machine to wily heel with Sean Quartermainne representing him as he wins my top title from my top babyface Marcus Kerr and holds it for well over a year. Working with SQ, Marcus Kerr, and Rob Edwards monthly in promos saw Bush's entertainment skills shoot up to the point where he's putting out B-rated segments in my small company, something that you'd never expect just looking at his stats, even after the huge growth. After he loses the title, he helps put over some other rising main eventers like Bryant Hall (now Aukland Raider in TEW2020) and James Diaz. Mostly working as a gatekeeper, he manages to get signed with APW and win their top title. Seeing an opportunity, a routine title defense from the now-dominant, Brock Lesnar-esque James Diaz leads to Bush getting the upset win and becoming a double champ and one of my only 2-time World champs. Bush holds the title for only a couple months this time, but now he's firmly in my Mount Rushmore, a place I never expected him reaching. He's putting on B-rated matches and segments with pretty much anyone I match him with, no complaints about losing ever, a consummate professional who works dominant champ, underdog, wily heel, all with aplomb. He ends up in a rivarly/game of one-upsmanship with heel uber-athlete Leon Nameth, who won my Young Lion's Cup and was on the cusp of reaching the main event but couldn't find his footing yet. They have great chemistry as opponents, and to my shock, they have incredible chemistry as partners. Their growing respect for each other leads to ACE (their team) to being multi time tag champs, bringing the whole division up to a main-event level. Pulling the occasional A rated tag match, I saw an opportunity for a final send off from the top of the card. For my 12th season finale, Glory Days XII, Blackwell Bush miraculously wins my rumble-equivalent, main eventing the show in a face vs face match versus 3 time champ, my figurehead and Bush's long-time rival and ally, Rob Edwards. To my surprise, they pull an A as Bush passes the torch and gets one last singles run before going to back to being a staple in my tag division.
So far in 2020 I'm only 2 years in, and Blackwell Bush has actually developed pretty well just working on the indies. This time in TEW I started as a much larger company, putting Bush at the bottom of the card immediately since he has next to no notoriety. Well, to my lack of surprise, the bland midcard workhorse Blackwell Bush puts on main-event level matches in losses to all of my top stars, his performances giving me no option but to give him the ball. Rob Edwards, who in this iteration has been the rising star instead of the perennial main eventer, found himself concussed on the final lap of his star-making storyline where he would win the biggest match of his career... and there's only one man who I could think of to take his spot. I don't see a world where Blackwell Bush doesn't win, and a freak accident again puts this guy in the top of my card for two straight games, and I can't even be mad. I even went in with no intentions to push him to the top, but every single game I play this guy drastically overperforms his stats until I can't help but keep giving him the ball.


So I started again in the CVerse in Australia, what I figure will be my last CVerse game before I try out the ThunderVerse. I decided to start as a much larger company this time, as I've started from the bottom in Australia so many times I've used all of the same good wrestlers a million times. This time, I once again sign Blackwell Bush, to be a solid midcarder with upside (from my previous games). I didn't expect much from him - in my 2016 save, he hit GOLD on his entertainment skills, and went from the 20s he starts at to 70s-80s, turning into my top promo guy. In 2020 Bush is a much better wrestler at the start, but his entertainment skills are pretty dire and he's got the "Slow and Steady" attribute, which is a double edged sword - for a jobber, his match ratings in short matches are tanked, but he does better in matches 15+. So, Bush became my jobber to the stars, he wrestled all my top stars, and was putting on better matches in the pre-show than some of my main events. I tried to resist making him a main character of my company since I had done it so many times in the past, but he just kept finding himself in the right place at the right time. He hooked up with one of my interviewers Melissa Abernathy and got her pregnant, shortly after he became the protégé of Paul Green (the Original Lone Rider, and my user character's father).

Crossing paths once again, Rob Edwards, his rival from my last game, is one of my top stars and gets injured right before the blow off match for a year long feud with Echo, who was my first World Champ and is in a "Jericho-in-AEW" sort of role. Well, Blackwell Bush is the only wrestler who has a storyline reason to step in and fight Echo, and he ends up getting the rub. He has a long running storyline with Damian Dastardly, who has been my MJF character from day one. Dastardly and Bush had a fun feud which crossed over with Echo and Rob Edwards', getting all four men over, with Dastardly beating Bush in the blow off at my third season finale in the best match I've had to date, an 85. 

I think I set him up for success accidentally - to play off his lack of entertainment skills, I made his character deliberately simple. He doesn't hold grudges, he doesn't get involved in mic battles and nonsense. Blackwell Bush only cares about wrestling and competing with the best, and he is a notoriously slow starter, getting more comfortable the longer a match goes. He is my go-to guy to fill in if someone needs an ally, or someone needs to have a great match to further a storyline, or fill in for anyone because, in character, he's always looking for competition. He's yet to win a title in his career yet, but I see him picking one up when I'm in a pinch. Recently, completely unplanned, he has ended up becoming Toshiharu Hyobanshi's protege in the newest incarnation of The Golden Army.

image.png

Unlike in 2016, Bush didn't get the huge entertainment sills, but his in-ring is probably better than the 10 year world champion Bush at his prime. Blackwell Bush (along with Dexter Mattell) have always overperformed every single time I've hired them through every iteration of TEW.

Forgot to add, of the three promises I've received in my years of booking 1-2 shows a week, he got TWO of them.
image.png
No, Cap, there is no way that the mega-over babyface I poached from RAW is going to job THREE TIMES to a face midcarder in the next three months...


EDIT: Just simmed to next month and I see that he's finally made it:

image.png

His first $1 earned from his merch sales, never imagined seeing him on this list when I hired him...

 

Edited by John Lions
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I loved this write-up @John Lions. Even though almost all of my CVerse saves are in Australia, I've never booked Blackwell Bush before and, on my current save, I don't think his Hardcore skill is enough to be accepted in DIW (though arguably the lesson of your story is to never underestimate him). But you've put him over so well here that I can't wait to try him on my next save as APW or similar.

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@John Lions Thoroughly enjoyed reading through your two posts. Although I have never had the success with Blackwell Bush I like the write up and seeing long-term he developed into something.

 

Also love the name for Lucas and Bush being Surf and Turf. I want to start a game and have them tag together because of that purely. I like the fact you are doing Lone Rider and usering his son. I have once done that for a diary and always find myself wanting to go back to that pairing. 

 

Edited by HiPlus
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January 2028 Alt Cverse 2020 Save. I have a medium sized company named League of Modern Gladiators (LMG) based in the Tri State area. I grew it from all 0s across the board to medium size. We have 75 pop in the Tri State. 

 

Bret Kyle of Young and Wasted broke his neck in a match with Michael Tranter (heel) and was out of action for a year. During his absence, Taylor Norton (face) benefitted greatly from a year on his own. He was able to ally himself with our top babyface Kamikaze and win the tag titles, while also participating in major singles matches, including a shot at the World Championship. Bret Kyle eventually returns and goes scorched earth, accusing Taylor Norton and Kamikaze of moving on without him and not doing enough to avenge his injury. His new mean streak sees him choke Michael Tranter out insight the Fight Pit to get his revenge for the injury, before going on to cheat and shockingly defeat the World Champion Kamikaze and take the World Title, solidifying himself as a top level heel.

This was a case of the storyline being really interesting and justifying the title reign, even if the champion wasn't on of the best workers on the roster. Kyle was a solid wrestler after working off the ring rust, but I soon found out he would be capped at 70 popularity in the USA. Still, he held the title for a solid ~200 days. It was interesting because it was a situation where I couldn't just throw the World Champion in there with anybody and expect him to carry the segment. I needed to be creative and find ways to hide his weaknesses, as well as find ways to have him eek out wins and keep the belt so that the storyline could continue. Overall he had a solid reign and legitimized himself and Taylor Norton as main event talent. He just finally lost the title to Primus Allen. It was the third highest rated match we've ever had (87) and the main event of our biggest and highest rated event ever (89).

 

It was an overachievement for Bret Kyle that never would have happened if he hadn't broke his neck.

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My fiancé and I had a 7 year Thunderverse save going and she randomly decided that her owner character was going to be a manager of Kevin Moore (ie. Gedo and Okada). Anyways, he was pretty bad for the first three years, but in year 4 the guy just TOOK OFF. He gained like 30 points of popularity and because of that she made him the world champion and at the end of the save ended up being her Chris Jericho type wrestler where he was the gatekeeper for all young talent. 

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