I simmed 5 years in the C-Verse as an observer AMA

[Inky The Squid Boy]

And I intend to keep going. 

I checked in on Jan 1st of each year to see what was what at a glance. Things I picked up on of note

 

• Tommy Cornell went to SWF some time in the first 2 years and has won veteran wrestler of the year every year
• USPW remain the unstoppable juggernaut, rising to Titanic size (they did briefly fall to Medium due to popularity in the US dipping but remained #1 worldwide) re-tooling their main event scene and making megastars out of Jefferson Stardust and Spencer Spade. Despite this the 49 year old Rich Money is still booking himself strongly as champion, now in his 6th reign.
• Rocky Golden left SWF for USPW but has just re-signed with them on Jan 1st 2025. He and Nicky Champion are the SWF's top stars with ludicrous popularity between them. SWF are the firm #2 company in the world. 
• EILL dominate the end of year awards but are still unable to eclipse the US promotions in the Company Wars
• Both Mainstream Hernandez & Greg Gauge have won Wrestler Of The Year
• CZCW have ascended to being the number 3 company worldwide!
• Mexico is absolutely booming with every company being Medium size or above
• Because Psycho Circus is always held on the last day of December I have seen a lot more TCW results than any other promotion and Ernest Youngman has just had a 100 rated match with Sammy Smoke. Good for them
• The AI formed an Alliance which I don't think I've ever seen before. SAISHO formed the alliance with 5SSW and Exodus2010. They have both a women's title and a men's title but the alliance has women's wrestling fully integrated so a lot of female teams have held their tag titles.
• WINNOW came and went inside a year. FCW went bankrupt as always, unable to keep up with the demands of their rivals' production values. QPW and CCW have also gone by the wayside.
• I have Organic Promotions turned on and Harley Neill has opened up RWPW in Europe and is pushing EWA hard, even overtaking them in the company wars. Curiously their rosters share almost all the same stars (Bret Heartbreak is the top star of both companies and Harley Neill even still works for EWA)

Alright enough from me. Fire away, make me dig through this game world

Edited April 27, 2023 by Inky The Squid Boy

[Inky The Squid Boy]

1 hour ago, James The Animator said:

Where are the XDW Five now? Did Fearless Blue ever get a job?

Alas no. Blue, Deluxe and Daredevil Aero are all toiling on the indies, yet to be picked up by a name company.

Xavier Reckless is enjoying a good run with PSW though, ascending to main event status (in the 50s and 60s for Pop across the USA) and being inducted into their hall of fame alongside Antix after Antix hung up the boots.

 

Who's the fifth XDWer again?

[Jaysin]

What's Jay Chord up to?

[Matt_Black]

How many companies has EILL formed then broken a developmental deal with?

[Peria]

Wrestler of the Year last 5 years, go.

[Inky The Squid Boy]

16 hours ago, James The Animator said:

That would be Kid San Juan, fka Super Sonic.

Ah of course. After the closure of FCW Kid San Juan has found a home with L-Ring (founded October 2021) being put in a team with fellow FCW alum Colossus. They enjoyed an almost year long reign as tag champs and both are considered Major Stars (although almost everyone on the tiny promotions roster is considered a Major Star)

 

13 hours ago, Jaysin said:

What's Jay Chord up to?

Unsurprisingly Jay is doing very well for himself. He signed a 3 year extension with TCW in 2020 and then another new deal with them in 2023. Making mega money and with Pop hovering around 88/89 across the USA and Canada he has claimed 2 TCW World Heavyweight Championships and has produced a plethora of matches rated 99 or 100. TCW have even given him his own stable, The Night Watch. A cult of personality built around Jay with Elliot Thomas, Morgan Malone and the youngster Duke Freeman as his lackey. Floyd Goldworthy is also a member of the stable although curiously doesn't actually manage any of the members. I'm imagining something similar to Seth Rollins' Monday Night Messiah gimmick. Love that for Jay. Might even steal it for my own TCW save.

 

The one negative for Jay is that he sadly lost his father in June 2021. 

 

10 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

How many companies has EILL formed then broken a developmental deal with?

LOL. They had deals in place with OLLIE, MAW & FCW. FCW of course went out of business and they broke the deal with OLLIE (hostile relations now between the two). MAW's deal remains in place though doesn't appear to have ever been used (is it ever?)

 

5 hours ago, Peria said:

Wrestler of the Year last 5 years, go.

2020 - Tommy Cornell (21CW)

2021 - Greg Gauge (TCW)

2022 - Gino Montero (EILL)

2023 - Multimillionaro (EILL)

2024 - Mainstream Hernandez (SWF)

[Inky The Squid Boy]

Wow

[Aura]

How is ZEN doing in this save?

[Inky The Squid Boy]

30 minutes ago, Aura said:

How is ZEN doing in this save?

ZEN actually won most improved company 2024. They spent 2024 yo-yoing between Small and Medium size as they appear to be constantly bouncing between 64 and 65 Pop in New Zealand. They seem to be struggling to create Major Stars at that level of Pop as all their top line guys are only rated Stars at the moment and are still rated the 4th company in Oceania due to their lack of a foothold in Australia. Still, they're nice and stable, plenty of money in the bank and pumping out shows rated 70+ consistently. Be interesting to see if they can keep it going or if there are tough times ahead, however. It seems much of their success has been built on the rivalry between Pumpkin Jack and Devilfish who have traded the belt back and forth for the last couple of years, entering lots of highly rated bouts (almost their whole top ten involves both men in some capacity) but in late 2024 Jack was poached by the hated RAW.

 

It seems their big hope for the future is the Auckland Raider who they have pushed solidly since game start and has grown into a fine brawler who is now as popular as current ZEN Master Devilfish.  This pleases me as that's one of the best names/gimmicks/puns Adam has ever come up with, IMO

Edited April 28, 2023 by Inky The Squid Boy

[Vortex_13]

How's NYCW doing? They're always my favorite company.

[Inky The Squid Boy]

15 hours ago, Vortex_13 said:

How's NYCW doing? They're always my favorite company.

NYCW are steady, as always, with 6 mill in the bank, their usual deals with WrestleWorld for both weekly TV and events. Vessey and Flash are still running the show though they've updated the product somewhat from the Golden Age to Classic Sports Entertainment. They produce consistent shows in the high 60s but they seem to be struggling to expand, only briefly flirting with Medium size in January 2024 before falling back to small again. They've been the victims of frequent raids over the years and interestingly it's usually been their contemporary regional companies such as GSW, IPW and CZCW signing their talents away to exclusive deals rather than the "big league" promotions. They've lost a lot of their stalwarts like LA Star 1, Andrew Harper, Buck Winchester, Hawkeye Calhoun, Jebediah and most recently (and most damaging) Tennessee William who had of course been their main attraction and frequent Empire Champion. At one point they were even forced to vacate the Empire championship when Acid II moved north to CWA.

 

It's left them with an ageing and creaking main event scene of former big league guys in Kurt Laramee, current Empire champion Flying Jimmy Foxx & John Greed who seems to be largely carrying the promotion in terms of delivering highly rated main event matches and winning back to back King Of New York titles. Ash Campbell is their only major star under 40 though he is a great asset and is himself a former Empire Champion. They do have some younger talents at Star level with Masked stranger and Ash Barnaby really coming on strong - Stranger in particular has seen his popularity rising due to his added exposure working for CZCW. 

 

Further down the card they do still have some of their staple acts. The Boys From The Yukon are still there plugging away, now 7 time tag team champions and likely headed for the hall of fame, constantly churning out reliably high ratings. The DiMeo Family are still around but they're in relative obscurity. Denny King is a reliable midcard workhorse and has enjoyed 3 good reigns as Tri-State Champion though he's now into his 40s. I'm somewhat surprised Geoff Borne hasn't ascended higher up the card, I guess held back by his lack of star quality. Brutus Milano has fallen oddly out of favour, cycling down the card from being Empire Champion and some time challenger for the COTT Championship in 2020 to a glorified jobber. In 2024 he picked up just two victories to 27 losses. 

 

They're not going anywhere and they're still just a couple of points away from reaching Medium size again. if they can hang on to a few of their more over, younger, acts and keep build some momentum they definitely have the financial power to start locking guys into deals and seriously building up but for now they seem to be stymied. 

[Inky The Squid Boy]

6 hours ago, James The Animator said:

Has BCG surpassed PGHW to become the number-two Japanese company?

Not quite but it's a matter of time. My beloved PGHW are really in a mess. They're firmly still medium sized and have no worries with cash flow but their roster is beyond threadbare. Only Kozue Kawashima & Masaru Ugaki are Major Stars and they're not getting any younger. Beyond that only Seiji Jimbo is regarded as a star. Their main events consist almost entirely of pairings of those three men and Magnum Kobe. They've lost almost all of their viable younger talents like Kobayashi, Ring Generals & Yano and Kikuchi to BHOTWG raids but even worse, after Shuji Inukai stepped down as booker in November 2021 the new man with the pencil, Bairei Yasujiro, saw fit to shockingly release true born stars Akinori Kwakami, Tetsunori Yasuda and KitoGuchi. Ryoma Muruyama also retired around this time meaning that their roster has been more or less gutted. They've done well building young guys like Daigo Goya, Nobuyo Hikichi and Hirobumi Takimoto but they're no substitute for world class workers like KitoGuchi.

 

BCG meanwhile are doing what they always do, riding the super workers Funakoshi, Furusawa, Okamoto and Bunrakuken Torii to ever greater heights. Currently Medium size with a boat load of cash and popularity steadily rising still they're well on their way. Okamoto and Funakoshi have traded the big belt between them since game start, Okamoto dominating their Top 10 matches, even entering some bouts in the high 80s and low 90s. Bunrakuken Torii and Furusawa have had to settle for being perennial challengers for the main title as well as some Sole Survivor wins. Torii has won the Maeda Grand Prix 3 times since game start. They've got a really strong cast of "second tier" guys too like Big Bruiser Findlay, Blast Ikoma and Yoshinaka Taku who are all Challenger Series winners and can be relied on as strong challengers for the world championship. 

 

I think the fact that the Sole Survivor Championship is now rated more highly than the PGHW Glory Crown is an indicator of which way the wind is blowing and what the match quality looks like in the respective companies. 

 

For the record BCG are actually number 4 in Japan as 5SSW have risen to third and aren't slowing down any time soon. You can't argue with Fuyuko Higa. Not for long.

[Inky The Squid Boy]

One little note, as of January 2025 Swoop McCarthy (RAW) and Landon Mallory (VWA) are the only active figureheads in the game world. 

[FellaLibby]

I gotta couple questions for yeah.

First, how many people passed away? Any big notables?

Two, how are my ultra boys: The Rock City Stars and Roderick Remus doing in 5 years?

And three, has CWA died yet?

[GreatreDRagon]

Is Dreadnought any good yet?

Has Yuta Isono signed anywhere or is he still toiling on the indies?

[DinoKea]

I'd be interested to know where Fro Sure, Riley McManus and Nelson Callum ended up

[HarmonyOfDissonance]

What are Prime Time Jack Pryde and Zippy Deverell up to? Still chilling in the indies? 

[Inky The Squid Boy]

On 4/30/2023 at 10:53 PM, FellaLibby said:

I gotta couple questions for yeah.

First, how many people passed away? Any big notables?

No huge shockers. I think Petr Novak is probably the most noteworthy, dying of a drug related incident at 42. He'd been cut loose by USPW by then and was just working the indies. The Cold Warriors were inducted into the USPW Hall Of Fame after his death. Alex Braun was working as Booker for L-Ring when he passed at 61. Other than those two the only real names are a handful of legends. Micky Starr, Rip Chord, Marcus McKing, El Patron.

In total 22 characters have died since game start.

On 4/30/2023 at 10:53 PM, FellaLibby said:

Two, how are my ultra boys: The Rock City Stars and Roderick Remus doing in 5 years?

The Rock City Stars have surprisingly done absolutely nothing at all in the whole game. No runs anywhere, just working the indies and touring their music. 

Roddy is faring better. Being used essentially as a jobber to the stars he's a solid midcard presence for TCW (the highlight a 99 rated match tagging with Frankie-Boy Fernandes opposite Greg Gauge & Aaron Andrews) but he's seen his popularity steadily rise over the previous 12 months and is now sitting at 70-72 across the USA. His contract is up in 4 months and his stock has never been higher so it'll be interesting to see if he gets big money to stay in TCW or if he moves on to try and become a main eventer elsewhere

On 4/30/2023 at 10:53 PM, FellaLibby said:

And three, has CWA died yet?

On the contrary they're thriving. Rising to Big size in 2021 and staying there ever since. They could be better financially - their £5,000,000 bank balance is lower than a lot of much smaller companies but with Brooke Tyler and Aaron Knight on top, constantly churning out 99 rated bouts, they've got no worries.

[Inky The Squid Boy]

On 5/1/2023 at 9:48 AM, GreatreDRagon said:

Is Dreadnought any good yet?

Has Yuta Isono signed anywhere or is he still toiling on the indies?

Dreadnought's stats are only so-so. His fundamentals have improved some but they leave a lot to be desired. 

Yuta hasn't had a run anywhere but he's getting himself over on the indies anyway, more or less doubling his popularity across Japan since game start. He's even had a couple matches rated better than 50 over the years. WLW, Exodus or even the struggling PGHW could do worse than picking him up. I'm sure it's just a matter of time til he finds a home.

On 5/1/2023 at 10:15 AM, DinoKea said:

I'd be interested to know where Fro Sure, Riley McManus and Nelson Callum ended up

Fro Sure jumped from GSW to IPW in 2021 and has become one of their star attractions, holding the IPW Championship 3 times. He's really starting to make a name for himself now with his popularity rising to the 50s across the USA during the last 12 months (62 in his home region in the South West). He's been with Lethal Ring since day one too and accounts for 4 out of their top 10 matches, including the highest rated match the company has ever produced. He's not locked into a deal so I would expect him to graduate to one of the national companies before too much longer.

Riley McManus is another L-Ring alum spending a year there from 2023 to November when he was signed by TCW. He clearly made quite the impression in NYCW where he became a triple crown champion - he held the Empire title from October 2020 all the way to January 2022. He's enjoying a decent little push in TCW too. They've given him a gimmick a very marketable babyface gimmick and he's racking up plenty of wins on TV and he even had a 90 rated banger with Jay Chord in the first round of the King Of Kings tournament. He's done very well for himself.

Though not as well as Nelson Callum. Nelson traded the PSW Championship back and forth with Ernest Youngman until both men were signed by TCW in late 2021. Nelson spent the first 2 years with the company mainly doing jobs or working the pre-shows and the B shows. After a while he was placed in the villainous stable The Cure with Monty Trescarde and Nick Booth (Dusty Ducont was a member of the group but has since been put out to pasture by TCW). Clearly acting as a group of upstart younger workers looking to claim their moment in the spotlight, all three men got pushed pretty solidly from around mid-2023 onwards and Nelson captured the tag team championships with Nick Booth in 2024 holding them from April to December (he also seemed to work almost exclusively PPV matches in 2024). He's now up to 71 Pop across the US. I'll be interested to see if he plateaus now or if he can keep the momentum going and ascend to Ernest Youngman's level (Ernest won the King Of Kings in 2024 and is firmly established as one of TCW's top acts)

12 hours ago, HarmonyOfDissonance said:

What are Prime Time Jack Pryde and Zippy Deverell up to? Still chilling in the indies? 

Alas yes, both are still toiling in obscurity

Edited May 2, 2023 by Inky The Squid Boy
Spelling

[Inky The Squid Boy]

Who fancies a 2025 digest?

Mainstream Hernandez makes it 2 in a row winning his second Wrestler of The Year Award. CWA continue their success winning Show Of The Year & Company Of The Year, Brooke Tyler continuing to carry the banner for the promotion with another year of 99 rated matches (She's got to crack 100 one of these days!). 

The world of Puro was in mourning as BCG owner and all around legend Yoshifusa Maeda passed away. BCG remain in good hands as the legendary Yoshimi Musashibo became owner of the company, giving the pencil to Dark Eagle. The loss of their legendary founder hasn't put them off their stride or shaken things up too much as they continue producing great matches and great shows with their crop of top class workers. Bunrakuken Torii finally broke the hegemony that Funakoshi and Razan Okamoto held over the BCW World Title. Checking the guys out in detail though its becoming clear that carrying the company with hard hitting bouts year in and year out is taking its toll on their four pillars. The condition of Torii and Funakoshi both has deteriorated to the 50s for every part of their body. This seemingly hasn't affected their match ratings. Yet. Yoshinaka Taku continues to steadily build popularity and saw his win rate dramatically increase in 2025. Noazone Goto has developed into a really super solid worker with fantastic psychology and is on the cusp of stardom. The 28 year old Hisanobu Sakiyurai enters 2026 as the Challenger Series Champion. Graduating from the Roaring Lion Dojo in 2021 he already boasts very impressive Puro and Technical skills and had a real breakout year in 2025. It might be that BCG need to pull the trigger on one of these younger men sooner rather than later.

 

Elsewhere in Japan PGHW continue their seemingly irreversible slide into mediocrity. Seiji Jimbo recaptured the Glory Crown and the main event scene remains all about he, Ugaki, Kawashima and Kobe. Checking the average match quality for each man shows a steady downward trend year on year and it's evidenced as PGHW failed to produce a single bout rated 85 or better in 2025, for the first time since game start. The King's Road is no longer the gold standard in puro match quality and while they continue their strategy of steadily building young home grown talent (Hikichi, Masatochi Kamimura, Daigo Goya and a host of Dojo graduates now make up the bulk of the roster and are developing quite nicely) it does feel like something drastic needs to change to give the company some upward trajectory. 5SSW and BCG are now nipping at their heels in terms of Pop across Japan.

 

One company that we haven't taken a look at in this thread yet, who do refuse to stand still, is BHOTWG. Their roster is an embarrassment of riches with every major Japanese star on their books. Neverthless when World Champion Munemitsu Senmatsu was forced to vacate his championship through injury they took the opportunity to make a new top line star, slapping the belt on Tatsuya Toshitara. His reign got off to a slow start with the quality of title matches noticeably dropping off but he ended the year on a high entering a 95 rated title defence against Taro Shionoya. BHOTWG did lose one big player though as KC Glenn made the curious career move of going from perennial BOSJ contender and Jr Heavyweight champ to jobbing to 41 year old Oliver Kobb in CWA. 

 

USPW and SWF still sit firmly atop the tree worldwide and CZCW are shockingly still ranked third, though their show quality and match quality have dipped ever so slightly over the past year and it shows as their popularity is beginning to shrink across the USA. Charity Sweet is currently the Coastal Zone champ and is one of the biggest stars in all of the USA with popularity 80 almost nationwide. 

 

Checking in with some of the talents we looked at earlier: 

• Fro Sure fulfilled the prophecy and signed with USPW.
• Riley McManus had another good year in TCW, steadily rising in popularity as a solid midcarder.
• Nelson Callum's star continues to rise, his Pop now in the high 70s after recapturing the TCW Tag Team Championships with Nick Booth.
• Roderick Remus did indeed re-sign with TCW and has been rewarded with the first singles title of his career, claiming the Television Championship in November. 
• Zippy Deverell found gainful employment, first with the upstart Kanzen and then with NYCW. 

 

 

 

Companies out of business: KCCW, ACPW

New Companies: Rocky Mountain Wrestling, Kanzen

[Slim_mcsmooth]

Where is TCW ranked now that CZCW has taken over 3rd?

[Matt_Black]

How are QAW and 5SSW doing?

[Goliath764]

How's Ant-Man doing?

[Inky The Squid Boy]

8 hours ago, Slim_mcsmooth said:

Where is TCW ranked now that CZCW has taken over 3rd?

TCW are number 4 worldwide at Big size but are number 3 in the US. CZCW are ahead of them worldwide as they're solidly in the 40s for Pop in every region of the world outside of the US whereas TCW only have a real presence in the US and Canada.

 

2 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

How are QAW and 5SSW doing?

QAW are a star factory. They've developed and turned out some of the biggest stars in the USA now, all poached by CZCW, CAW and USPW. Despite constant raids they're right on the brink of Medium size and are still growing and developing new talent.

5SSW are doing even better. Behind only PGHW and BHOTWG (and it's only a matter of time before they overtake PGHW) they're in the ascendency. They've essentially ridden the Birds Of Prey to ever greater heights, both of whom are becoming big stars in Japan and Fuyuko Higa is one of the best workers in the world. At 35 the Birds are in their prime and should guarantee many more years of success for the company.

 

 

[Inky The Squid Boy]

1 hour ago, Goliath764 said:

How's Ant-Man doing?

I'm glad you asked cos he's always one of my faves but I hadn't actually checked in on him. He had been doing well but with the demise of QPW and ACPW in the last 2 years he has found himself suddenly in the wilderness. He had a good run, in 2024 he held both the QPW World title and the ACPW Jr Heavyweight title simultaneously and has seen his popularity in Quebec soar to 71. With Pop like that (and decent numbers elsewhere in Canada) and good charisma it's not out of the question that CWA will take a chance on him, he is only 36 after all but I think that's his only chance at the big time. His name value in the US is respectable (between 27 and 31 Pop) but I think his opportunities there will be limited.