European Journey (VWA 2022)

[wwesvrfan215]

This is a chance to do things better, it’s got to be.

 

This was the thought in my head as I looked out towards the Alps, when the waiter suddenly came by and told me that the one who had invited me had arrived. I stood up to greet Albert Thorpe. This was the man who had given me the reins of VWA. I didn’t know much about Mr. Thorpe and his company, just that it was a fairly mild promotion situated in Switzerland, this conversation was hopefully going to give me more insight into what I’m walking into.

 

The first thing I quickly learned was that I was the fourth booker that he had appointed in the last five years, and that he was completely fine with that as none of the others had been able to catch up to his competition in EWA and SPW. If you couldn’t get results fast and consistently you were out the door. He gave me two years to put half a million in the bank and to get us past EWA.

 

Not a ton of time, but Albert’s pitch on how the last group of veterans left the place in a much better spot before they retired left me optimistic that we could get there by the end of next year.

 

The second thing I learned was that he was not going to pay to bring in a lot of non-European based talent. He wouldn’t pay for constant flights back and forth across the world, and that anyone I brought in would either need to live nearby or be someone exceptional in my eyes.

 

This meant I would have to get picky, luckily I was able to negotiate for three I knew we could use. It would just take some convincing for Alex and my closest students to join in a much smaller promotion than they were used to.

 

The final thing I was told about was that there would be no old men or plain idiots stinking it up in the ring. If they can’t handle putting together a basic match, or were on the way to the retirement line they weren’t an option to hire. I also was not allowed to get rid of the PGHW excursionists unless they did something that could hurt the company. The guys we have now were too valuable and most of the cost was being covered to just cut them for no reason.

 

I was fine with this as keeping good relations with my old friends in Japan could help us get some of their exceptional young talent to get our boys over. PGHW was good at weeding out the headcases and training the boys to the same standards as we had at MAW.

 

After a bit more talk about some of the other promotions over lunch, he told to not get friendly with our competition as he plans to be the only game left in mainland Europe by the time he's retiring, Albert gave me the number of the agent who’s got more intimate knowledge of the backstage than he did to get the full picture. With that he paid the bill for us and gave me a good luck speech as we went our separate ways.

 

The walk to the apartment I was going to call home for the next two years gave me time to think of what I was going to do better here than at MAW. Here we won’t have wrestlers dosing each other’s drinks and threatening livelihoods over petty disputes every night. The young guys won’t get tossed under the bus by our stars. There won’t be damn criminal investigations and officers tearing down the company.

 

I won’t let that happen again. Getting Alex on board will be the first step in setting this place up to help these boys be the best they can.

 

“Good Luck Mr. Bennett.” were the words going through my mind as I closed my eyes, hoping I wouldn’t need too much to make things right.

 

OOC: Hello. This is my first time writing a diary for TEW. I will be using lavelleuk's 2022 Cverse mod.

I'm a slow and not very good writer, so I would not expect frequent updates. It will probably be on the weekends when I'm able to write a new entry.

With that out of the way, I will be playing as Lee Bennett in VWA. I plan on trying to write a small narrative on how Lee feels guilty about how a lot of guys from MAW went to USPW and got chewed up and spit out by that terrible locker room. He will be trying to keep VWA clear of bad influences, while also appeasing a boss who wants results.

I won't be bringing in many of the MAW guys, just ones who have some relationship with Lee or his partner Alexander Robinson. It would be a bit too easy bringing in someone like Bradley Blaze who would be one of the biggest stars in Europe outside of POWER and 21CW.

[AboardTheArk]

Hell yeah! VWA was the first promotion I did a save on back in TEW 10, and the european C-Verse scene is really interesting. Good luck, luckily the Bern boys are excellent building blocks. I haven't played europe in this mod but in general it's a great mod so I will be interested to see what you're cooking up. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by AboardTheArk

[wwesvrfan215]

5 hours ago, AboardTheArk said:

Hell yeah! VWA was the first promotion I did a save on back in TEW 10, and the european C-Verse scene is really interesting. Good luck, luckily the Bern boys are excellent building blocks. I haven't played europe in this mod but in general it's a great mod so I will be interested to see what you're cooking up. 

The European scene in the C-verse is the one I probably have the most interest in due to how fractured everything is, especially in this mod. The Bern Boys are definitely the guys I'm wanting to build around, I just need to find enough tag teams to justify keeping the division. You and 619's diaries were actually the ones that inspired me to write this one, so I'd like to say thank you for the support. If you have any advice, I'm all ears.

Alex and I met with Nathaniel Pross, the old road agent and our new coworker, who had revealed that the situation backstage was not in good shape. It also told us how some of the guys were feeling about the change in leadership before our first show.

 

The locker room had multiple wrestlers with inflated egos who were either just starting their careers or had bodies broken down so bad they couldn’t even run the ropes for more than a minute before keeling over. Alex and I shared looks, we had met many veterans who couldn’t accept they were done. Heck we both had been that person just a few years ago back in Canada.

 

Most of the main eventers were either deliberately keeping their distance from the others, or just trying to throw their weight around. Demanding money or complaining of being buried even when they get dropped through a table from a ladder and still having to be rolled up just to put them down.

 

It wasn’t good, but Pross told me they weren’t actively going after people. They were just a pack of loners with only one who may cause any real problems. Unfortunately, he was also our top champion. For the most part the guys were willing to let me earn their trust, they were probably the best group of European wrestlers I could get our promotion and they knew it.

 

The midcard was in much better shape with a bunch of wrestlers who while not the most charismatic could work a decent match and knew how to build a story up right. There were also less problems involving behavior as they were a more professional and laidback group.

 

A couple of the guys in this section were apprehensive about me joining, they had heard the stories of USPW, and I didn’t blame them. It would be up to me, and hopefully Alex and Pross, to build trust in every area of the locker room that this place was going to stay a good place to develop and work.

 

The undercard left us in a bind. There were a few promising individuals, the PGHW excursionists and a few twenty somethings from the region, but we also had some mediocre veterans who made fans want to head for the bathrooms when they entered the arena.  

 

The PGHW guys were coming in with some ego and downright bizarre personalities. One of them no one can even find his real name except the boss who needed it to pay him, and he was too scared to tell anyone due to how insane the guy was.

 

Nevertheless, Pross told us all the guys who had been working in PGHW were ecstatic when they heard I and Alex were coming in, some thought we still had some pull over there despite it being eight years since we last were in Japan. The others just wanted to learn from us as much as possible.

 

The final thing that would need looking at is our announce team, ref and managers. Basically, anyone who wasn’t expected to take a bump every show. The last booker for VWA was our current color guy. He had been my first call before accepting the job and seemed like a great guy, he had just been in over his head for the last year. 

 

They all seemed like good talent for the level VWA had been at for the last six years. The crew seemed well liked by the boys, the refs even bring homemade food that Pross tells me is amazing. 

 

Pross himself was mostly relaying the info to me, I couldn’t quite get his thoughts on myself or the others. The only guy he had an opinion on was the guy he personally brought in. He thought the guy was a future star. Everything else so far had been him trying to feel me and Alex out. 

 

The meeting ended soon afterward as I needed to get thinking on how the first show was going to go down, and who was still going to have a contract. Pross wasn’t forthcoming with much besides what they had been building to last year. Alex, practical guy that he was, said he was going to wait to give ideas until we knew for sure who was staying. There would be no point in making plans until that had been decided.

 

After we parted ways, I got to checking my notes and dialing the phone. The last few months at MAW had left me with a bit of scouting knowledge on some guys we had been looking at bringing in before Reviere sold us. I planned on using that knowledge to get replacements in for the bottom of our roster while cutting us down to the essentials.

 

OOC: I've already booked through the first show. The next post when it comes out will go through detailing the roster. The one after that will probably be the show itself if not a quick write up about Lee letting the others know of his plans for the month.

Edited February 27, 2023 by wwesvrfan215

[619]

Great to see @lavelleuk inspiring another dynasty. I'm not too Cverse smart outside of Oceania, so I look forward to learning more about the European scene through reading. It feels like a really fleshed out narrative with a demanding and ambitious owner hiring a booker who's no stranger to travelling but new to Europe, with that shared PGHW connection, and then Bennett's recent history motivating him to want a happy locker room, but already facing obstacles. The dynamic of the professional and capable midcard butting heads with the hard-to-please main eventers should be interesting. Good luck, and thanks for the shoutout too.

[wwesvrfan215]

OOC: I wrote far more than I expected and had to break the post into three separate parts to not make it too much to read in one sitting. I will upload them over the next few days to not swamp the thread, and hopefully give myself time to write out how the show went. With that out of the way we have ...

The Departures

 

When Pross and Alex walked into the office the next day they were greeted by my tired looking face. I had spent the better part of the night and following morning planning on who was getting cut. It was a sizable portion of the roster, nearly a fourth, at seven of the current twenty-seven being let go.

 

This brought out a rare display of emotion in Pross, worry, as he had been working with most of these guys for years. He knew that these guys were friends with some of our important pieces, including some of the staff. Matthew Macks and the refs were especially close with two of those leaving.

 

Alex had voiced some displeasure at a few of the releases, mostly that I had gotten rid of veterans who could work to build up the young guys and a semi-promising youngster we had.

 

 Night Spider had been with the company since it had opened and had been a draw just a few years ago.  Injuries derailed the guy hard, and he never was the same again. This was also Macks, a main eventer, friend he had even started tagging with recently in a bid to try and get him over again. His problem was that he had worse knees than me, and I was almost 20 years older than him. He also had an ego a mile wide. He thought being friends with Macks meant he should be going for multiple title opportunities despite being well past it.

 

Bully Benrubi was far too old and broken down to do anything besides bleed profusely from his head. At forty-one it wasn’t exciting anymore for our fans, it had just gotten sad.

 

Maxence Montigny, Elias Schneider, and David Meyer all had the same problem. They were able to wrestle decently, but they were anti-draws. The little I had been able to see of them talking or interacting with the crowd had made me imagine paint drying just to seek something more interesting to watch. Their skills in the ring weren’t all that needed as well due to the fact that most of the young guys were just as good if not better in the ring thanks to better training.

 

Milan Stuchlikova and Torpedo were young guys who may turn into decent midcarders, but at the current moment they just couldn’t hold a candle to some of the guys on the open market. Milan also had the problem of being a drama queen, he had nearly caused a few fights just by needling people for no reason.

 

Pross and Alex’s reactions were to be expected, maybe a bit stronger that I thought they’d be. We need to get some fresher, more talented, faces into the company if we are going to make a push to get to the next level instead of spinning our wheels like the last three bookers before me.

 

The next matter we would be dealing with is new signings…

[wwesvrfan215]

The Arrivals

 

Whatever reservations Pross and Alex had for my firing decisions it was close to the opposite reaction for my hirings. I had gotten seven talented young wrestlers to agree to join VWA. The eldest one was only twenty-five and seemed like he had the potential to become a star if we handled him right. We were able to expand the tag division with my proteges from MAW and two young wrestlers who had come up with a strange gimmick but were promising. We had signed a young talent from Spain who came with good physical and in ring attributes. The last one I had got could become a decent champ if he just worked on his body a little more.

 

Alex gave me a clap on the back in support when he saw the Tagg Brothers, Wolfie and Kalder had followed me across the Atlantic. He had heard me gush over their potential for the two brawling brothers from Montana for the year I had with them in MAW. Both had size and were willing to give and take beatings with anyone. They only needed to learn how to speak more often, you were lucky to get more than 5 words out of their mouths at a time.

 

Pross and many of the VWA staff had seen the Tagg brothers due to MAW being on Reverie and knew they would be able to have great matches with the teams we had remaining after letting go of so many. He did mention that some of the boys would be worried that I was going to turn the promotion into MAW lite with this signing.

 

Our next team had cut the good mood a little as Alex and Pross both mentioned that Clint and West Matthews were likely to make Albert more than a little ticked off due to being not great at telling stories in the ring. I told them not to worry, he had already chewed me out. I had been able to convince him that they were both close to what he wanted and both of them being under 21 meant they had years to improve. We all agreed they would need to change gimmicks, Welsh-Polish-Texan cowboys felt more than a little out of place in VWA.

 

Both Alex and Pross thought Frederik Fusker had potential to be a solid player for us, but only if he could bulk up. The kid looked like a string bean but had spent years at an acting academy and could play with crowds with just a few words. If he couldn’t handle the physical side, he had a future as a manager.

 

Wes Stryker came to us from UEW in Spain and was used to a much harder hitting promotion than VWA, so he came in with some legitimacy for our fans. He also had the benefit of being good, not great at nearly everything. That talent at only twenty meant he should improve tons between VWA and UEW. MAW had also been able to get film of the guy running the ropes for a solid hour without breaking a sweat, impressing all of us.

 

Our final signing had surprised Pross and most of the other promotions in Europe. Kristjan Kristiansen, the most complete free agent left on the mainland. Everyone had expected him to sign with EWA or SPW, but I knew he fit here more than both of those places. Kristjan, like most respectable wrestlers, detested the owner of EWA Byron for pulling a screw job on his son last year. He wouldn’t fit in at SPW due to the promotions bias towards the large and muscle bound, he’d have been jobbing to lesser talent he didn’t need to there. This young man oozes star power and was close to our other top talents in the ring. A few years of buildup should make him ready to be a European champion with many great matches.

 

All that was left was to look at the full picture and determine the path for the next two years.

[wwesvrfan215]

Where We Stand

 

The overview of our roster eventually came to the following.

 

Main Event

 

Kronos (European Champion) - The German is our biggest wrestler and scariest guy left after shipping out Torpedo. He's getting old and won’t last more than 10 minutes before getting gassed, but he has good fundamentals and can tell a good story with the right partner. He’s staying as we still need the monster heel every once in a while.

 

Walker Van Cleer - The Dutchman is the complete package, he can talk, pop a crowd by just raising his arms, and wrestle a paper bag to a watchable match. How a bigger promotion hasn’t signed him yet is a mystery as he could walk into the upper midcard of larger places and not look out of place. His work in GCG may eventually lead to him moving to Japan, if POWER in Russia and 21CW in Britain don’t snap him up in the meantime. We will need to use him as much as possible to grow into a regional power.

 

Marcello Ricci - If Walker is the best wrestler in VWA, then the Italian Ricci is the next closest. He is nearly his equal in every regard, even surpassing him on the mic and working crowd. He is another one we don't think will stay as he is looking for the next payday. He left UEW for us when we came with more money, so we are preparing for that day he jumps ship again.

 

Thunderbolt - A veteran Englishman who has been with us for eleven years now. He’s the guy you ask for if you need someone to pop the crowds with the most exciting offensive in the company. He’s also willing to jump off near anything and is the only main eventer we have that doesn’t need someone coddling him all the time. It might finally be time for him to make a run with the belt before he starts to decline over the next five years.

 

Matthew Macks - Another veteran wrestler, this time from Ireland. He’s another daredevil we have, though all those dives have taken a toll on him. His back is wrecked from years of ladder matches and working for 5 different promotions at once. At only thirty-three he’s looking closer to retirement than guys in their forties.

 

Midcard

 

Antonio Arias - The third best wrestler in VWA, only let down by poor crowd skills. He can make a match with a child look competitive and be the safest experience that kid would have near the ring.

 

Jason Dempsey - He’s been wrestling here nearly his entire career and has developed into a solid worker, decent promos, ring work, and a great underdog. His biggest drawback is that he’s a third the size of our champ and not exciting enough to make up for it.

 

Jasper January - A Belgian high flyer who is just under what’s necessary to make the next step to the main event slot.

 

Matt Blackburn (Swiss Champion) - The most successful PGHW excursion. He’ll do great when heading back to Japan with dependable ring work and getting the crowd involved. His lack of mic ability may let him down while here as he is wooden with anything given to him.

 

Kristjan Kristiansen - (See previous post)

 

Undercard

 

Dewsbury Hall - A decent up-and comer. He’s bland as a doorknob like the released veterans but is young enough to give him a chance to grow.

 

Jaeger Hartmann - The last signing to VWA before I signed on. He only finished training in December, but already is better than most of those we let got with the potential to become a very good upper-midcarder especially with his manager/boyfriend Markus Eisenach able to cover for his less than stellar crowd handling.

 

Koda Kumi - a PGHW excursion. He’s special, he could honestly become a champion back in Japan with his mic work and if he continues his growth in the ring. He would be a midcarder for us if not for a few problems. His great mic work is only understood by me, Alex, Blackburn, and the last excursionist. He hasn’t learned a word of German in two years. He also has an ego believing he’s the best wrestler since Champagne Lover and loudly lets everyone who can understand him know. It was the reason he was sent here without ever wrestling in Japan, to see if someone can send him back down to Earth.

 

Ricky-Jade Jones - VWA’s resident spot monkey. This kid is willing to fall through anything to get over, if only his other attributes matched his willingness to to fall thirty feet. Pross loves the kid and thinks he can make him into a European champion if he gets enough time with him. Honestly, he only still has this job to keep Pross happy. If he can pull everything together while lying on his back most nights, he may find a few opportunities waiting for him.

 

Wes Stryker - (See previous post)

 

Frederik Fusker - (See previous post)

 

Tag Teams

 

Future X (Tag Champions) - Petey Barnes and Eric Future are the most experienced tag team we have, having been together since 2010. They are on the older side, but have kept themselves healthy and will be around for the years to come. We expect them to help legitimize the division as it has only existed since 2019. Petey, if asked about his old partners, likes to mention being Adam Matravers first tag partner almost fifteen years ago.

 

The Bern Boys - Fabian Schwarz and Hans Piccard are the reason the tag division exists. It was made to get them both over, and if you see what I’m looking at you’d build a division for them as well. They are both rising superstars here and in PGHW. At only 22 they both look like future world champions anywhere in the world. Endless charisma, exceptional fundamentals, and amazing physical attributes. Both of them will end up leaving due to the big guys coming after them. Before they do, we’re going to use them as much as possible in the charge forward.

 

The Madness - Dareau Garneau and DEATHTRAP are madmen. Dareau “Eau Eau” is a veteran from Switzerland who just barely passed the bar the other vets that were let go failed. He’s not completely hopeless with the crowd and is decent enough in the ring to help the younger guys grow. We know “Eau Eau” is playing a madman, we aren’t sure if DEATHTRAP is. DEATHTRAP intimidates almost everyone in the back due to never shutting off the character. It’s a shame as he is in the same boat as Kumi regarding PGHW and Japan. We’re being asked to get him to act respectful, if not around the crowd, then to his coworkers and bosses. The team is being formed to try and give more depth to the division than the four we currently have signed. They are managed by Beth whose genius allows her to direct both the madmen into anyone that challenges them.

 

The Hot Taggs - Wolfie and Kalder (See previous post)

 

The Matthews -Clint and West (See previous post)

 

Staff

 

Carola Bianchi, Fitz Nankervish, Toto de Filippo - The refs. Carola is a recent signing recommended by Ricci due to her good work in NLPW and has potential in a striped shirt and at ringside as a manager. Fitz is the resident chef and loves spoiling the boys with food, though he did get in a sour mood when we let go of Elias due to them being good friends. Toto’s most remarkable feature is that he looks eighty years old while only just turning forty. A solid bunch of officials, we’ll be in good hands with them controlling the ring.

 

Charlie Grimssom, Dick Kerley, Noah Keller - Commentary. Charlie is the old booker, he has no hard feeling about losing the book, and our color commentator with recent addition Noah. Kerley is the straight announcer who is tasked with managing both of these very talkative men. Noah had been a member of the roster when I arrived but was far too old and slow to have much use, so he has been moved to commentary as his excellent mic work makes him a natural. 

 

Beth Bilal, Markus Eisenach - Managers. Markus has more potential and is exceptional for only starting out a month ago to support Hartmann. The only reason we may keep him is that he does this for him. Beth is the average female manager, attractive, okay at speaking and can get a crowd mad at her clients or sympathetic.

 

Lee Bennet(me), Alexander Robinson, Nathaniel Pross - The road agents. Me and Alex have known each other for nearly thirty years and were regarded as one of the best tag teams in PGHW history, winning the titles five times in fifteen years. Alex likes to sit back, relax and take his time planning out the matches with the boys, and let me handle most of the talking. The lazy ass, I kid, knows I’m the far more conversational and friendly one, and uses me to talk the guys into the crazier actions such as falling onto a crash pad, or helping guys learn how to get some color. Nathaniel has been retired since 2003 and is our best bridge with the boys, having been here for six years. We’ve been trying to reach out despite him being less experienced and slightly younger than us. So far, it’s been slow going. He’s a little wary we are going to cut him after we get more established.

 

Albert Thorpe - The owner. Pross told us he used to be more laid back before SPW, and 21CW came in and took every big name in VWA. He had been content with slow growth, but that had woken him up to the fact he needed to be hungry and vicious to get to the top in the wrestling world. He got worse after paying for the three biggest veteran names to come out of retirement backfired as they weren’t drawing as well as hoped. They left shortly after to the companies that had taken his previous main eventers. He now wants to do anything possible to get VWA in position to be the biggest company in Europe not in Britain or Russia.

[Kjarvs]

Great roster write-up, looking forward to your first show!

[wwesvrfan215]

The First Show (Cliffhanger 12)

 

Segment One: The show opens with Marcello Ricci coming down to the ring. He grabs a microphone on his way into the ring with the fans chanting for VWA’s Milanese magician. His first words are to welcome the Basel faithful back to the company’s annual winter break, saying he won’t take long. The people had come to see the best wrestlers in Europe, him not blather on.  He then speaks a bit of the recent changes, saying the locker room was filled with new faces. He says one new face had caught his eye. He wanted to welcome our newest signing, straight from his old stomping grounds in Spain. He began hyping the crowd up, getting the fans ready to welcome a “shot of Dutch Courage” Wes Stryker. Who now was making his way to the ring.

Rating (54)

 

Segment Two: The opening match of the night started with Ricci surprisingly being taken down and locked up by the newcomer Stryker, who used his strength advantage to start working on his opponent’s neck and back. Ricci would break out of Stryker’s holds, but only by making the ropes. He just couldn’t find a way around the Dutchman’s locks. That was until the younger Stryker got cocky and started trying to play to the crowd, allowing Ricci to begin using his superior striking to kick out Stryker’s legs until he dropkicked him out of the ring. Stryker came out of the exchange favoring his knee. This damage ended up being the deciding factor in the match. Stryker had caught Ricci on the top rope and was going to end the match with his patented Stryker Driver when his knee went out and allowed Ricci to DDT him and then deliver the Milanese elbow for the three. After the match Ricci helped Stryker up and had the crowd give the twenty-year-old an ovation for his first match in VWA before leaving with an arm around his defeated opponent. The cameras were able to barely make out Ricci mention training with Stryker in the future.

Rating (42)

 

Segment Three: The newcomer Markus Eisenach came out to the ring, mic in hand. The sports agent came out saying that he had made connections across the Atlantic to gain new clients alongside Jaeger Hartmann, and his new American clients had enlisted his help to make their European debuts. He then proudly introduced “VWA’s future greatest tag team” Wolfie and Kalder Tagg, The Hot Taggs. Both of the large USA natives made their way to the ring where their pretty boy opponents, The Matthews, stood also making a debut on tonight’s show.

Rating (21)

 

Segment Four: The two teams couldn’t not be much more different. The Matthews were extremely well groomed and in fact had been working on each other’s hair between trying to sweet talk the women in the front row, some of them next to unhappy looking partners. The Taggs  looked like mountain men who had just come out of their log cabin and were staring daggers across the ring. The match was distinctly worse than the opener. Both teams were trying to keep it interesting with the Taggs beating down the Mattews, who were trying to fly around to catch the larger men off guard and failing. Markus Eisenach was a sore thumb in the match, distracting his own clients almost as much as their opponents. The match ended in an anti-climactic way with the Taggs hitting a double elbow drop on West Matthews, leaving the crowd restless as they had wanted a more exciting finish to the action.

Rating (26)

 

Segment Five: Jason Dempsey is seen in the ring, saying he had been sent out to welcome the next new blood to VWA. He said he was happy to join Ricci in teaching them how things get done here. As he was talking Kristjan Kristensen came out and thanked him for the welcoming party, but things were going to be different. Jason wasn’t here to win, but to be the beginning of Kristjan’s journey to bring VWA to the peak of wrestling. Kristjan let Jason know that he should be happy to have a place in history as the first man he beat on his way to the world title. This had turned Jason into a foul mood, yelling for a ref to get in the ring so he could teach the young Finn a lesson.

Rating (28)

 

Segment Six: This match was closer to a boxing match with flying fists everywhere. Kristian repeatedly came out on top in the striking exchanges, giving Jason some bruises on his pale body, until Jason would get in the ref’s blindspot and wrench on Kristjan’s ears and joints or dig into his trunks to drag him into the ropes. The smaller Englishman could never hold the advantage despite the viciousness of his striking due to the Finn's determination and superior strikes allowing him to get behind his opponent to hit him with the Big Finnish. After the bell Kristjan tried to give his opponent respect for their match, but Jason slapped his hand away and angrily left the ring shouting at the winner, almost looking like he was going to burst a blood vessel as the crowd heard him yelling about not losing to some damn rookie.

Rating (36)

 

Segment Seven: The arena is mostly silent for the next match between Dewsbury Hall and Jaeger Hartmann. Both men were working a slow match and were seemingly trying to sap the energy from the crowd. They succeeded as after Hartmann won the arena had gotten noticeably quieter.

Rating (21)

 

Segment Eight: The ring announcer said it was time for the co-main event of the evening as the Bern Boys, Fabian Schwarz and Hans Piccard, came out to talk about the next match. They gave respect to Petey Barnes and Eric Future, Future X, and their reign as the tag team champions and the fact, they were six-time champions in Europe. They then said that despite all the accomplishments, it was time for the two Swiss sensations to become the first two-time VWA tag team champions. After that they gave an introduction for their partner, the Swiss champion Matt Blackburn.

Rating (37)

 

Segment Nine: The Bern Boys and Matt Blackburn vs Future X and Antonio Arias. The match started with Fabian and Antonio having a decent back and forth before the Spaniard took his tear off pants off mid-match and used them to blindside his younger opponent. Fabian would be knocked around for a few minutes before Piccard was brought in. He beat Antonio loopy into a blind tag to Eric Future. Eric used the crowd's hype to see the two teams faceoff to disguise the sound of him tagging Petey, allowing Future X to double team Piccard and toss him headfirst into the ring post. The impact left Hans dizzy and stumbling as he tried to get up. Petey got close to the young man as he was leaning against the ropes, checking to see if he was still good to compete before he suddenly hit a stiff series of knee strikes to his unprotected head. This action riled up Fabian and Blackburn as they tried to storm the ring to protect the injured Piccard, but the ref stopped them allowing Eric and Petey to keep getting in cheap shots. The duo’s behavior was disgusting to their partner who forced his way into the match and sent the injured Piccard back to his teammates to let in the fresh Blackburn as Fabian checked on his teammate. Blackburn took control of the match and took out Antonio with his Dragon Suplex, almost winning the match before Petey interrupted the pin and then was chased out of the ring and into the crowd by Fabian. Antonio was able to hit his Neck Wrecker due to the distraction but had been tagged behind his back by Eric who then tried to pin Blackburn. The Swiss champion was barely able to kick out and then smash a rushing Antonio, before being forced to tag back out to his last partner, the still groggy Piccard who had climbed back onto the ring apron to help. Eric, still the legal man, used the opportunity to drag Piccard outside and throw him into the ring post right until the nine count before running back inside to win by count out. The sound of the bell had drawn Fabian back to ringside, unable to catch the man who had injured Piccard, and was attempting to tend to his teammate with Blackburn and Antonio. Petey and Eric ran to the top of the ramp, celebrating like they had just won their first tag titles and stumbling around to insult the possibly concussed Piccard. Eventually, Fabian and medical staff were able to get Hans out of the arena, leaving Blackburn and Antonio to get into a shouting match about the Spaniard’s partners’ actions as they too were ushered into the back while being kept separate by the staff.

Rating (36)

 

Segment 10: Walker Van Cleer and Thunderbolt vs Kronos and Matthew Macks. The match was filled with back-and-forth action as Macks stayed in the ring for the most part, trying to hog the spotlight with his constant use of dangerous dives onto Walker and Thunderbolt, who responded in kind and eventually took control with double team moves to isolate the Irishman. VWA’s largest wrestler got tired of constant flips and rushed the ring to toss both of his opponents from the ring before carrying his partner back to their corner and tagging in. Kronos, now in the match, used his size to ground the much smaller Thunderbolt, hitting him with standard corner crushes and a bear hug. Macks, who had not liked being treated like a child, tagged himself back in when the German got too close and taunted Thunderbolt with stomps as Kronos angrily left the ring. This event directly led to the end of the match, as Thunderbolt was able to kip up and hit a hurricanrana and fling Macks across the ring and tags in Walker. Walker rushed to smash Kronos off the apron before clocking Macks with a running stomp. Thunderbolt and Walker then ascended the top rope on opposite sides of the ring and dived on Kronos and Macks respectively with stereo High Elevation Cross Bodies. Walker was able to get the three before Kronos could recover and stood victorious having beaten the European champion despite not pinning him. The show ended with Kronos flipping the announcer’s desk, saying that he can’t be beat one on one before rampaging off with his title.

Rating (44)

 

Final Show rating (40)

Edited March 5, 2023 by wwesvrfan215

[AboardTheArk]

Fun start! I liked that this show was all about the new beginning for the company instead of pretending it's business as usual just with a bunch of new people. 

[619]

I agree with the above: the show struck a good balance between establishing a new direction but not changing everything all at once, and the main event finish sets everything up nicely for the next few.

[wwesvrfan215]

21 hours ago, 619 said:

I agree with the above: the show struck a good balance between establishing a new direction but not changing everything all at once, and the main event finish sets everything up nicely for the next few.

 

On 3/5/2023 at 6:09 AM, AboardTheArk said:

Fun start! I liked that this show was all about the new beginning for the company instead of pretending it's business as usual just with a bunch of new people. 

Thanks for the support. I wanted to try and get the people that I know are going to be big for the rest of the year introduced early, so I decided to focus the majority of the time on them. It did cause damage in the middle of the show as you can see with those low scores. 
 

I am also going to do the narrative parts of the post only when major event happens backstage, or I hit a milestone. I’m not going to be able to do consistent uploads in character as Lee. I’m just not confident in my ability to make it interesting after every show, especially the ones where nothing happens. Sorry to anyone who might have been interested in that part. 
 

On the positive side, I have got a rough draft of how he rest of the year is going to go. I’m through the next show and I’m hoping to get it out before Monday.

I’ll post predictions after this as this post is already long enough.

[wwesvrfan215]

VWA The Price of Victory

 

Main Event: Kronos vs Van Cleer

Co-Main Event: Macks vs Thunderbolt

Swiss title match: Blackburn vs Antonio Arias

Other matches 

Marcello Ricci vs Frederik Fusker

Fabian Schwartz vs Petey Barnes

Jasper January vs Kristjan Kristiansen

Jason Dempsey vs Ricky-Jade Jones

Edited March 9, 2023 by wwesvrfan215

[AboardTheArk]

VWA The Price of Victory

 

Main Event: Kronos vs Van Cleer

It's an interesting conundrum given you don't have Van Cleer exclusively like the default database, but I am still leaning with him because he's that good.

Co-Main Event: Macks vs Thunderbolt

Feel like Macks is on borrowed time.

Swiss title match: Blackburn vs Antonio Arias

Building the prospect up.

Marcello Ricci vs Frederik Fusker

Giant killer rules.

Fabian Schwartz vs Petey Barnes

Bern Boys!

Jasper January vs Kristjan Kristiansen

And I even like Jasper, but there's no chance.

Jason Dempsey vs Ricky-Jade Jones

Just a hunch. Probably not.

[wwesvrfan215]

VWA: The Price of Victory

 

The show is taking place in Zurich tonight, keeping close to VWA’s home territory. A small crowd of four and a half hundred has come to watch in a small arena near the city center.

 

Segment 1: The show opens up with a massive surprise for the fans in attendance as music that hadn’t been heard in nearly three years welcomes the most famous European wrestler of the last thirty years, Louis Figo Manico. The man hadn’t been seen in VWA since he retired in 2019 and now was standing in the middle of the ring with the fans going mental at his return. Louis stood in the ring and let the cheers quiet down, playing with the crowd and toying with the idea of wrestling again. He then shut the idea down as he was over fifty now and couldn’t keep up with newer wrestlers like Ricci, Van Cleer, Stryker, and Kristiansen. He was here because he had been offered the opportunity to become co-commissioner for VWA. He paused for a moment to build the crowd waiting to hear his answer, which he said was yes, causing a massive cheer to erupt. He then went on to mention that his partner was unable to join tonight due to an emergency, but he had promised to be in Budapest when VWA visits next month. After finishing his announcement, he officially kicked off the show with a rundown of the matches on tonight’s card and introduced the first two competitors to the ring.

Rating (77)

 

Segment 2: The opening match of the night would be Jason Dempsey vs Ricky-Jade Jones. The match was a surprisingly open affair, as Jones was able to sloppily keep up with Dempsey, who was getting angrier with every counter. The match devolved when Dempsey began hitting Jones with a flurry of dirty offense, bites to the fingers, wrenching his ear, and “accidental” eye pokes, overwhelming the younger man and putting him away with a Face Waffle. Jason was only given a few moments to celebrate before his music was cut off for the man who beat him a few weeks ago, Kristjan Kristiansen.

Rating (32)

 

Segment 3: Kristjan walked his way to ring as Dempsey walked up to him, mean-mugging the entire way. He tried giving the Finn some smack talk, which was returned easily by the younger star, inviting his “steppingstone” to watch the great man he had helped launch into VWA continue his journey. This caused the Englishman to get irate and grab a nearby chair, telling Kristjan to prove it to him as he sat down in front of the crowd barrier.

Rating (26)

 

Segment 4: Kristjan’s opponent for the night would be a former Swiss champion in Jasper January. Jasper came out looking different from last time he had been seen, having dyed his hair black on the top, leaking the sides of his natural blonde hair the same. He was also carrying the flag of Flanders, highlighting his heritage. He gave the fans a show as he gave high-fives around ringside, including over an angry Dempsey who told him to get on with beating the disrespectful Finn in the ring. Jasper just gave him a smug smile as he passed by him, eventually getting in the ring to enter the match. The match itself was short Jasper had got himself caught on the top rope early and had been knocked loopy and never recovered, allowing Kristjan to hit the Big Finnish. Jason meanwhile was furious at ringside, screaming that it was a disgrace that a man who had given him multiple excellent matches in the past in Jasper had been beaten faster than it had taken Dempsey to beat regular loser Ricky-Jade Jones. Kristjan celebrated, thanking the crowd and sarcastically saying that his win was all for Jason, thanking him again for giving him his “support” on his way to making VWA a worldwide hit while Dempsey stormed off red as a tomato.

Rating (39)

 

Segment 5: Fabian Schwarz stormed to the ring with a chair and mic in hand calling out Future X, whose actions at Cliffhanger had left Piccard under medical supervision for the night and not allowed to come to the ring tonight. Petey and Eric let Fabian stew for a moment, before coming out with Petey rolling out Eric in a wheelchair, who was holding and wildly flailing his arms with a shabbily written sign reading “Hans the nose picker” hanging from his neck. They try and insult Hans Piccard for being injured, but Fabian cuts them off by sprinting at them with the chair, with both of them being chased into the crowd for a few minutes before security comes out to force them back to ringside for their scheduled match,

Rating (37)

 

Segment 6: The match itself started hot with Fabian throwing Petey around until Eric started disrespecting Hans again, distracting Fabian and letting Petey get in a few cheap shots in. Petey stayed in control for a long portion of the match, as whenever Fabian built up any momentum Eric would either lay in a sneak attack or distract the ref to let Petey cheat. The crowd which had been burning hot all night, almost burning out, cooled down. The match ended after Petey got too cocky and missed his X-Press from the top rope, letting Fabian roll him up.

Rating (38)

 

Segment 7: Eric clocked Fabian as his arm was raised and snapped Petey out of his despair to get their licks in on the young Swiss. Both members of Future X took turns throwing Fabian around ringside and, in the ring, with a few hope spots that were thwarted to keep the crowd interested, until they eventually clocked him with a double superkick. Eric held him in place as Petey hit his X-Press screaming that Fabian “wet shart” was never going to take their titles with his friend, when suddenly Hans Piccard hit the ring and threw Petey into the ring post before he could say the childish nickname he had been given. He then kicked Eric in the face and out of the ring and took a chair from ringside to smash the recovering Petey, when Eric pulled his partner out of the ring just before he was knocked out. Future X fled into the crowd as Hans screamed at them that the Bern Boys were coming for them, before he freed Fabian’s remaining leg and helped him into the back.

Rating (35)

 

Segment 8: The next match of the night would involve Marcello Ricci welcoming another VWA rookie in Frederik Fusker. The match was the shortest of the night so far as Ricci made short work of the Dane, hitting the Milanese elbow in less than five minutes.

Rating (36)

 

Segment 9:  After the match Fusker excitedly shook Ricci’s hand and asked if he could work with him like Wes Stryker had been reportedly doing. The Italian was a little put off by the younger man’s interest, but he could see the beginnings of crowd connections and gave him a pat on the back and welcomed him aboard. Fusker shouted with joy and hugged Ricci, the man looked positively star struck and his antics got the crowd to laugh at his happiness for some simple training.

Rating (37)

 

Segment 10: Thunderbolt vs Matthew Macks. These two men were the most exciting in ring talent in VWA, and both had gone all out tonight. The two seemed to almost want to outdo each other in insane spots and dives. When Macks did a shooting star off the apron, Thunderbolt did a phoenix splash, when Thunderbolt did a suicide dive through the bottom and middle ropes, Macks did a diving destroyer, etcetera. The two men from Britain and Ireland took each other to the limit, until Macks got hit with a flurry of kicks straight from a kung-fu movie, letting Thunderbolt hit the Bolt From The Blue for the three.

Rating (44)

 

Segment 11: Swiss title match, Matt Blackburn vs Antonio Arias. The match was a much slower affair than had been expected of the talent of the two men, both seemed almost tentative with each other, causing the crowd that had been burning hot for the previous match to get cooler again. The match had been going normally when suddenly Blackburn slipped off the top rope and landed directly on his head. The audience gasped at the terrible fall, and everyone waited with bated breath to see if he was still okay to go. The young man was barely able to pass the referee’s checkup and the match soon ended with Arias pinning Blackburn to win the title as the standby medical team escorted Matt towards the ambulance to take him to the hospital.

Rating (32) | Injury sustained - Blackburn (Major Concussion) out for 9 months and 2 weeks.

 

Segment 12: The Main Event, Kronos and Walker Van Cleer for the European championship. The match everyone had been waiting for, would the giant bully Kronos lose the title to the best wrestler in VWA, or would he finally take out his rival once and for all. The match was very story driven, as Kronos used his strength to toss Van Cleer around, who in turn used all of his big shots to floor the giant. Van Cleer had been able to ground Kronos for a moment, but he had been unable to end the match with the German kicking out of four High Elevation Cross Body attempts to the Dutch grappler’s dismay. To make matters worse Van Cleer had been taking damage as well, barely able to kick out of the giant’s own finisher. The deciding moment came when Kronos “accidently” threw the ref over the top rope out of the ring with Van Cleer, downing him. Kronos attempted to use this opportunity to beat his Dutch opponent with a chair, but it backfired as the chair went into his own face after a dropkick, and then again, and finally a meteora with the chair put the giant down as the ref finally recovered and counted the three.

Rating (41)

 

Segment 13: Kronos did not allow any celebrations to happen, he dragged Van Cleer out of the ring and started beating him into a bloody pulp. All who tried to help him were launched into some surprisingly sturdy “fans” in the crowd, Kronos would not be denied his revenge. The beating ended when Kronos press slammed the bloody Van Cleer through the announcer’s table, the show ending with the giant over the victor’s unconscious body.

Rating (43)

 

Show final Rating (49)

 

OOC: The first injury of the series and it's a big one. We won't get Matt Blackburn back until the final show of the year. On top of that the game called an audible and swapped the belt to Antonio. It might be karma for playing up a head injury angle in the tag division. We also have the first of two commissioners I am planning to use; they will only appear on occasion and if they have a promo slot it will be taking up only one spot on the show to not give too many outrageous scores like the opener for this show.

[wwesvrfan215]

Aftermath: January

 

A click of the phone ended the call with the PGHW representative. I had spent the better part of an hour talking to them about the news of Matt Blackburn’s status after his nasty fall. It had been a miracle that he hadn’t broken his neck, and the PGHW rep almost didn’t believe me when I told him that Blackburn had somehow made it out with a concussion. Using what little contacts, I had with the company and with Mr. Thorpe’s help we were able to make sure PGHW didn’t cut ties with us for having one of their young wrestlers get injured in my first month in charge. Blackburn himself will be on observation until he recovers.

 

In the meantime, a spot of panic had ended up causing the ref to count an unplanned pinfall for Antonio Arias to win the Swiss title. No one had been able to stop it as there had been a mad scramble backstage by myself, Alex, and Pross to get the medical crew out there to check on Blackburn. We were now left with an unplanned champion and the guy who was supposed to win was on the shelf indefinitely.

 

Despite the situation with Matt Blackburn, the rest of the month had somehow left us in a decent position. Our shows had been a success due to the work of our main eventers putting on some excellent performances. Walker Van Cleer, and Marcello Ricci were the standouts as they both moved the show along on opposite ends of the card. Walker got the European title off the rapidly aging Kronos, and Marcello was being surprisingly helpful in building up two of our new signings in Wes Stryker and Frederik Fusker. The strong building blocks these two give us will hopefully let me grow VWA into the strongest power in the German speaking areas of Europe at least.

 

The backstage situation was still up in the air as the new signings and those who hadn’t been let go had not had much time to interact yet with only two shows being held. Pross had told me the guys seemed a bit happier with the removal of some of the more troublesome members of VWA gone. He and Alex also mentioned that Louis Figo Manico, despite Mr. Thorpe grumbling about paying a guy who hadn't moved the needle the last time he was here, had brought a lot of stability due to the respect everyone in the back had for him. He was helping out Pross with keeping our guys on a tight leash, and to our knowledge we had the most professional locker room in Europe.

 

A message on my phone brought me back to the present. It was from our other general manager; they were going to make it to the next show. This was excellent news as we needed to finish setting up the changes that were coming to VWA, and they were the final piece in that puzzle. Budapest would be in for a special Valentine’s Day treat when we arrive.

[wwesvrfan215]

VWA Budapest Predictions

 

Matthew Macks vs West Matthews

Kristjan Kristiansen vs Jaeger Hartmann

Jason Dempsey vs Koda Kumi

Antonio Arias vs Jasper January

The Hot Taggs vs Ricky-Jade Jones and Dewsbury Hall

Marcello Ricci vs Clint Matthews

The Madness vs Frederik Fusker and Wes Stryker

Future X vs Fabian Schwarz and ???

[AboardTheArk]

Matthew Macks vs West Matthews

Kristjan Kristiansen vs Jaeger Hartmann

Jason Dempsey vs Koda Kumi

Antonio Arias vs Jasper January

The Hot Taggs vs Ricky-Jade Jones and Dewsbury Hall

Marcello Ricci vs Clint Matthews

The Madness vs Frederik Fusker and Wes Stryker

Future X vs Fabian Schwarz and ???