Low-key booking diary. 21CW

[Boltinho]

Having been pulled back into TEW and inspired by @The Lloyd I fired up my last 21CW game.

I've booked a month or so and had a blast doing it.  But it feels like journalling it helps with immersions.  So I thought I'd throw some notes down.

This is very much my diary, rather than a dynasty.  

[Boltinho]

I just ran the Head To Head PPV in March.  For me that's an all 1v1 event and it blew off a few feuds.

Main event:

Tommy Cornell (C) defeated Beat Bantom for the World title

This was a month-long mini-feud after Tommy vs Adam vs Eddy finished up.  Beast didn't do great in it really.   But this match hit an 82 which was a pleasant surprise and got a bit of a rub.  That'll do.

 

Adam Matravers defeated Antithesis [Harry Wilson].

There was major interference here with Dark Angel getting involved.

This storyline was basically Adam thinking he was being haunted and unsure if it was Antithesis playing silly buggers, or something else.  Again a bit of a throwaway feud.  but fun.

Harry is on his way out of the company in a week or two.

Just a 63 grade. Ugh.

 

Buff vs J-B

Hot Stuff recently split with Buff turning face.  They've been feuding obviously.  Kathleen Lee [who stuck with J-B] was a special guest ref here.  Because.

Buff won the match, but Kathleen flipped that into a DQ in a Dusty finish.

Annoyingly the match didn't grade that well [60], because Buff and J-B have terrible chemistry as opponents.  Which is very annoying.

 

Edward Cornell defeated Wade Orson.

Eddie has just started trying to recruit people to his Business banner as they've been having a tough go of it.  Yuri got chased out of the company.  BW and Doomsday have achieve nothing and messed up some interference.  Viktor is unhappy with it all.

The match was a 77 grade, so didn't make too much sense here really. Not the last time these two will fight each other.

 

Mark Adonis defeated Ricky Storm [by DQ]

This was a 70 grade.  Nice.

The Men of Steel have lost their tag belts to CSHS and this was part of that.  Ricky got so annoyed by the interference and wheedling he snapped and got DQed.  The feud continues...

 

Sebastian Koller and Jonathan Faust went to a double count-out

73 grade.

Faust has been trying to recruit Koller to his Hellbound stable [not the similarity with Eddie C and Wade].  Faust, Gravedigger, Blackheart and Bedlam had been trying to do black magic / voodoo on Koller.  The match saw a ton of interference and devolved into a brawl.  Not bad at all.

 

Show grade was an 80.  Im happy with that, but feel I could have done better if I'd placed matches better.  The gap between Adam and some of the UM talent [Ricky, Wade, Seb] is smaller than it was.

 

 

[Boltinho]

Feuds and storylines:

 

Tommy Cornell sent Beast Bantom packing.

But got attacked by Leigh Burton.  Leigh and War Machine both think an ageing Tommy is a prime target.  The champ will have his hands full against those two.

 

Eddy Cornell is getting more desperate and wants a big-name recruit.  He's going after Adam Matravers. 

The Business stable is in a bad way [Doomsday about to leave the company] and is going to fracture even more.

 

Bedlam has a new pair of challengers for his UK title: The Underdogs!

Joe and Michael are really good.  But need a good story to get involved with.  

 

Crouching Storm, Hidden Sifu [such a bad name] defend their tag titles against Men of Steel... and Absolutely Flawless

AbFlaw have been tearing it up.  they could get a good match out of a pair of toilet seats.

CSHS are similar.

 

Faust and Hellbound continue to try to get Sebastian K in their stable.  Something to do with his rockstar/debauched/European way of life.  They'll try it on with Wade too.

I need to get Bedlam out of this stable.  Or drop his UK title.  Not decided which yet.  

But Faust vs Seb vs Wade is money.  And Blackheart is one of my most talented young workers.

 

Roly Muckletruck loves being the biggest and strongest.  But he's a dour, grim Scot.  At least compared to Apollo Prince and Brickhouse Balder

Apollo and Brickhouse have brilliant chemistry.  And Apollo does great angles.  I think there's fun to be had here.

I might turn Roly at some point.  This is sort of a way to test if any of these guys can really take off a bit.  Brickhouse's horrible stamina probably rules out a really top in-ring career.  

 

The School of Pitbull learn about going after a big Beast [Bantom].

Pitbull is acting the grizzled the teacher to Evan, Beau and Skip.  He'll teach them how to hunt and trap a monster.  Or at least try.

I want to set up a gauntlet match here.

 

A few big names with no current storyline:

J-B Cash

Buff Martinez

Daniel Black Francis

 

Luke Cool, Rolling Johnny Stones, Phil Cooper and Harry Wilson are all about to leave the company

 

 

 

 

[Boltinho]

Next month's PPV is the Cornell Cup.

It's a 16-team tournament with the QFs and beyond happening at the PPV.

So we'll have 2 matches each on the next 4 21CW Wrestling shows.

 

Heel teams entering:

Leigh Burton and War Machine

Big Sexy Fabulous [Apollo Prince + Brickhouse Balder]

Hellbound [Jonathan Faust + Bedlam]

The Business [Eddy Cornell + Viktor]

The Business II [Doomsday + BW Eddie]

The Midnight stars [Gravedigger + Blackheart]

Beast Bantom + JB Cash

tbc

 

Face teams entering:

Absolutely Flawless [Kelly + Lance Martin]

Crouching Storm, Hidden Sifu

The Underdogs [Joe + Michael X]

Tommy Cornell + Roly Muckletruck

School of Pitbull [Evan and Beau]

Adam Matravers + Buff Martinez

Sebastian Koller + Wade Orson

Wildman Andrew Lee + Daniel Black Francis

 

Hopefully I can get a decent ME-level match on at least 3 of the next 4 shows out of that.  I like the odd-partner nature of some of the teams.  It's a good opportunity for the same big stars not to be winning absolutely everything.  It's tough to pin Tommy, but Roly is much more doable.

Who do you think is going to win the tournament?

Who should be the final heel team?  I'm leaning The Demolishers Compton + Langton.  Compton is Eddy Cornell's protege, so although he sucks he has likely got a good future.

 

[The Lloyd]

2 hours ago, Boltinho said:

Having been pulled back into TEW and inspired by @The Lloyd I fired up my last 21CW game.

I've booked a month or so and had a blast doing it.  But it feels like journalling it helps with immersions.  So I thought I'd throw some notes down.

This is very much my diary, rather than a dynasty.  

We should have collaborated  Glad to see this though buddy. And interestingly, as I'm currently booking my Cornell Cup... we have just THREE of the same teams entering!!

[Boltinho]

I'm not that surprised.

The roster is just so big it's very easy to go a few different ways.

And I'm definitely focusing more on random-partnerships in my version too.

I suspect with your brand split and unhappy station you've got a bit more pressure on you...

[Boltinho]

Well that sucked.  Im really annoyed with those top 2 matches' ratings.  I would have expected to hit 70 for both really.

 

J-B Cash smacking Dangermouth about a bit gets a 60.

Seb Koller squashes Smiling John Smithie - 68.

Tommy Freaking Cornell and 3 big names get just a 63?  Weird.

Tommy and Roly have zero chemistry which was a factor [and very annoying], but even so...

 

[Boltinho]

Another week of BoBW is in the record books.

 

Eddie Cornell and Viktor Beskov took on Adam M and Buff M in a Cornell Cup qual match as the main event.

It did an 82 which was awesome.  Eddie pinned Buff.

After the match the rest of the Business got involved and abducted Phoebe Plumridge.  

 

In the other Cornell Cup qualifier, Storm/Sifu beat the Midnight Stars [Gravedigger and Blackheart].

61.

Not bad, but the Stars have a lot of developing to do.

 

Leigh B, War Machine and JB Cash defeated DBF and The Underdogs.

72 grade.

The Underdogs are starting to get frustrated at not being able to get close to the Top Dogs in 21CW.

 

BW Eddie beat Edison Silva.

I wanted to give them both a little bit of screen time.  They're both good workers.  But very bland.

It graded as 62 so they can deliver. But need real gimmicks and storyline

 

And some other assorted stuff happened.  overall grade was 77 which was very strong.  BUT I feel I could've bumped it up with a couple of pure star angles.  All my top angles were groups of where people like Roly, BW Eddie, Viktor, Doomsday, Gravedigger, Blackheart etc were involved.  They need screentime and they're developing.  But they drag angles down.  I can get a 90+ with just Tommy talking in the ring.  So I should prob do that a bit more.

 

 

 

[Boltinho]

In general I'm also pretty worried about the rapid ageing of my top guys.

Tommy and Adam are losing ~1 point in most physical skills per month.  As well as the same in primary skills.  That's going to be a problem sooner rather than later.  Eddie and Faust are stable, but 36 and 37.  

At the moment Leigh can probably slide into that range.  Sebastian and Wade too but a bit slower.  Maybe Buff and maybe J-B.

Ricky Storm, Mark Adonis can get there, but they need more time.  And I like both as tag guys.

I am nowhere near as confident with War Machine, Bedlam or DBF.  Or even Viktor B.

It feels more like a "Get new stars who can replace Tommy and Adam" challenge than I thought.

Also I sort of regret turning Buff.  It made sense because I was heel-heavy, and I thought Buff vs J-B would be a good, long-term feud.  But they have awful chemistry as opponents.  And now I've thinned out my UM/M level heels [byebye RJS, Phil Cooper, Kev Jones and Antithesis] Im actually a bit heel-light.  Especially as Beast Bantom and War Machine have not demonstrated the ability to deliver at the top. 

And I definitely miss a really good heel tag team.  CSHS, AbFlawless and the Underdog are all excellent.  They don't have an obvious heel counterpart.  I might put Eddie in there if I can find him a decent partner.  J-B maybe?

[DasherTM]

What about apollo prince ? His team with brickhouse you mentionned before should do the job for a heel team and you can use that to push him to a upper-midcard status. He is great on the mic, decent in ring, far from his thirties. I book him like MJF personnally.

[Boltinho]

2 hours ago, DasherTM said:

What about apollo prince ? His team with brickhouse you mentioned before should do the job for a heel team and you can use that to push him to a upper-midcard status. He is great on the mic, decent in ring, far from his thirties. I book him like MJF personnally.

I'm definitely a fan of his.  And his skills are good.  His fundamentals are shooting up.  Primary skills growing slowly.  And as you say he's a killer on the mic.  I think pairing him with Brickhouse is a bit of a red herring to be honest.  I love their chemistry and they seem funny as a team, but in practice it just means I'm cramming Apollo into matches and angles where he can't quite shine like he should.

And that's a product of the general 21CW issue of course - there's just way, way too many big, menacing non-star workers.  You can only have so many beatdowns/intimidations per show.  And you've only got so many dudes who can spend their time quaking in their boots and getting slammed.

One of my mid-term goals is to get the number down to one upper-card brute.  And maybe one lower-card one too.

Dudes like Bedlam, War Machine and Beast Bantom need to show me they can deliver without leaning on Menace to get out of that box.

So anyway... Brickhouse is fun.  But he's a lot more Viscera than Big Show.  Which is a Bad Thing for Apollo.  Just another cul-de-sac I've worked myself into.

I might give it another 2-3 months together then split them up with Apollo getting a nice feud where he can really shine

[Boltinho]

Oh - I should also note that I'm running weekly 21CW Eurotour events.  It's a minor-level show where I send assorted midcarders on a little Monday-night jolly around Europe.

Very average shows, but we're growing consistently in the region.  And my workers pops are creeping up.

I wont bother sharing results/storylines/matches because none of that matters.  They're basically slightly-higher level house shows

 

[Boltinho]

Another show in the books [benefits of WFH].

 

Adam and Tommy C drew with Leigh B and Eddy C in a SE finish.  

Loads of interference.  Loads of chaos.  Pushing on storylines.  War Machine staged a big attack.  There's some sort of alliance between Leigh/Machine and Eddy and his crew.

Graded as a 75.  Not bad for a TV show draw, but we really need these mid-70s to be low 80s.

 

Cornell Cup quals:

Absolutely Flawless defeated Doomsday + BW Eddie

59 grade.  meh.  AbFlaw can normally get better than that out of people.  But Doomsday sucks.

 

Big Sexy Fabulous [Apollo and Brickhouse] defeated School of Pitbull [Evan Alpass and Darin Flynn as Beau Bolder is injured]

51 grade. Ugh.

But the Apollo-led intro promo was a 78.

 

Other matches:

J-B Cash def Ricky Storm by cheating

73 grade.  Thats what I expect from my UM.

 

Daniel Black Francis def Thorsten Sigurdsson 

Sigurdsson  has been in dev.  But Im letting him go.  So jobbing him out a bit

 

 

Overall show grade: 79

Solid.

 

 

[Boltinho]

So a bit of focus on my overall goals and direction...

 

My vision of 21CW is still built around a hard centre of top stars.  With a rotating cast of short-term contract guys on handshake deals.  

Without any serious competition in the UK there's just no point in paying your midcard and below silly money to be exclusive.  Bedlam does not need to earn £30k a month.

My core is pretty set, with the development plan discussed above.  So I need to get happier rinsing lower talent out a bit, letting them go and bringing them back in 6 months time.  

Sure Blackheart is 2nd on my Hot Prospect list.  But that's not worth him stinking up matches for 2 years as he gets good.

As I typed this Phil Harmonic's contract came up.  He's a lovely guy to have on the bottom of the roster.  72 basics.  79 consistency.  59 technical.  58 aerial.  65 psych...

But his pop is <20, and he can't get a match into the 40s without serious help.  

Better to let him work for CWW and SNP and bring him back down the line.

 

[The Lloyd]

1 hour ago, Boltinho said:

As I typed this Phil Harmonic's contract came up.  He's a lovely guy to have on the bottom of the roster.  72 basics.  79 consistency.  59 technical.  58 aerial.  65 psych...

But his pop is <20, and he can't get a match into the 40s without serious help.  

Better to let him work for CWW and SNP and bring him back down the line.

 

But... his entertainment skills! He'd be a better tag team partner for a Brickhouse Balder or someone like that... Win some, get his pop up... Split, feud, Harmonic goes over in the feud. Bob's your uncle.

[a0161613]

It's a great idea in theory but it falls apart in reality, right?

 

CWW & SNP do one show a month & aren't guaranteed to pick them up straight away, let alone book them. Would a B show >> Network not serve the same purpose? 

[Boltinho]

Yeah. I could easily keep him around.  But in my experience you just end up with a lower-card stuffed full of guys you like and want to develop.  And someone's got to lose right?  I prefer a rotating cast of all those guys I love and want to see employed and developing.  Rather than some of them, with loads more I can't use.

Just my preference.

And I've never been good at this game even when I was in practise!

[Boltinho]

Yeah.   So this happened:

[The Lloyd]

23 hours ago, Boltinho said:

Yeah.   So this happened:

Cliff has Compton Valence under his wing in my save... Beau is a better choice I'd say.

[Boltinho]

Well funny you should say that...

I've now got 3 proteges:

Dark Angel: Beau Bolder

Darin Flynn: Adam Matravers

Compton Valence: Edward Cornell

___

Valence also happens to be my only Next Big Thing.  

I'm thinking about running a programme about this.  A nod to kayfabe and internet chatter.  

Maybe a 3-way tag match with rookie/vet?  Maybe a 'legend in each corner!" thing.

Whaddya reckon?

 

[a0161613]

Matravers and Cornell vs two rookies would be interesting. 

[Boltinho]

OK.  About to run the Cornell Cup.

The QFs are:

Absolutely Flawless vs Hellbound [Jonathan Faust + Bedlam]

Leigh Burton + Warm Machine vs CSHS [Ricky Storm + Sifu]

House of Business [Edward Cornell + Viktor Beskov] vs The Underdogs [Joe Simpson + Michael X]

Tommy Cornell + Roly Muckletruck vs Big Sexy Fabulous [Apollo Prince + Brickhouse Balder]

 

Who wins the tournament?

Which wrestler turns on his partner?

 

[Boltinho]

Well...  The Cornell Cup was a bit of a disaster to be frank.

The final was Tommy & Roly vs Leigh & War Machine.

But tommy/Roly's terrible chemistry between proved insurmountable and the Main Event only rated as a 61.  🤢

In the SFs:

Tommy/Roly beating Eddie and Viktor was a 71.  Viktor turned face afterwards, upset at Ed's cheating and money-grabbing nature.  Viktor is now the Red Menace.  A soviet throwback.

Leigh and War Machine beat Absolutely Flawless and graded 75.  Really strong work for the Martin twins here.

In fact, the Main Event was the 2nd-worst rated match of the night [Tommy & Roly beating Apollo & Brickhouse was ropy]

SO basically my PPV was stunk up by the Tommy Cornell matches.  Which is odd.

[Boltinho]

Coming into May here's a quick update on some stuff going on:

 

Tommy still holds the belt and is beset by Leigh Burton and War Machine who just won the Cornell Cup.

They're going to have a triple threat match at London Calling.  Which I expect to be a retention.  Leading to Tommy facing both men in specialist matches. 

Tommy vs Leigh in an Ironman or I quit match.

Tommy vs War Machine in some sort of HC/streetfight brawl.

 

Adam Matravers is still trying to rescue his missus Phoebe from Edward Cornell.  

Eddy kidnapped her to try and blackmail Adam into joining his group. Which is crumbling.  It's just Eddy and BW now.  Because the Red menace is stalking Eddy in a classic Communist vs Capitalist idealism clash.  I think I might set up an Eddy alliance with JB Cash.  Some sort of money, money, money thing.

 

Jonathan Faust and Hellbound [Gravedigger and Blackheart] are still trying to steal the soul of Wade Orson.  Or Seb Koller.  Or both.

Not really sure how to end this one.  Might have a 2 vs 3 at London Calling.

Wade and Seb both need a nice, juicy feud.

 

Roly Muckletruck is getting hounded by Apollo Prince and Brickhouse Balder.

Lots of backstage ambushes and interference.  Poor Roly is never sure if he'll get a savage attack [Brickhouse] or a glitterbomb [Apollo].

We're going to have Apollo vs Roly at London Calling.

 

The Underdogs want to prove themselves as serious contenders.  They're both vying to take the UK title from Bedlam.

This will be another triple threat match at LC.

 

Crouching Storm, Hidden Sifu hold the tag belts.  But Absolutely Flawless and the Men of Steel are hot on their tails.

The Martin twins just churn out really solid matches.  I think I'm going to give them the belts.  They should be able to do a pro job as I develop some more heel teams to fight.

 

 

 

 

 

[Boltinho]

People without much going on right now:

• Daniel Black Francis
• Buff Martinez
• J-B Cash + Kathleen Lee
• Jeff Nova
• Dark Angel
• Andrew Lee
• DJ Reason

So I really like the idea of Eddy and J-B teaming up.  That would give me a solid duo there to face off with Red Menace with.