How far ahead do you plan?

[Rhaums]

Generally i'd have a season finale planned, and half the year of PPVs. Maybe a few ideas for major storyline beats on television (such as turns, new factions or title changes), but in general i'd book each show month to month.

[GretaGridlock]

I get an hour of tv time a week. I have 3 storylines that will be featured every week, and 3 titles that will be defended every week.

That means of the 4 matches (5 if I'm willing to reduce their ring time, which I rarely am.) I have a week, only a single match isn't inherently tied into what's happening next week.

I don't plan anything to be honest, but I do have to always keep next week in mind, even when booking my one-off matches. Just to avoid effort duplication.

ZEN is great at making me think SLIGHTLY ahead.

[Irish Wolf]

7 hours ago, GretaGridlock said:

I get an hour of tv time a week. I have 3 storylines that will be featured every week, and 3 titles that will be defended every week.

That means of the 4 matches (5 if I'm willing to reduce their ring time, which I rarely am.) I have a week, only a single match isn't inherently tied into what's happening next week.

I don't plan anything to be honest, but I do have to always keep next week in mind, even when booking my one-off matches. Just to avoid effort duplication.

ZEN is great at making me think SLIGHTLY ahead.

I love ZEN but I mainly use EMLL so I have to constantly think about how each storyline interacts with the others in terms of what's going on in the multiverse. It limits me because I stick to the 1 on 1 format, although I add factions, but not having to stick to the face heel divide is nice because not all villains are out for the same thing.

[Woodsmeister]

I book to Supreme Challenge if SWF or backwards from there to be exact. Or WWE it would be Wrestlemania etc

[Irish Wolf]

Another thing I thought about from booking ahead is the give the night of fuction. If I have at the very least the show that's coming up booked on a sheet before I got into the show, then I know who I am and aren't using which makes it easier to give folks the night off so much easier.

[SomeDude03]

I try to have the general outline of a story planned that'll run through anywhere between a few months to a few years, depending on the company and story, and then slowly have everything converge at a single point. Basically booking around a main character, it's risky cause they can always get injured but it allows me to quickly change stuff on the fly as long as they stay healthy.

Everything else is mostly show-to-show, though depending on the side-story I may also plan that out a few months in advance to get the ball rolling. It's probably not optimal but I just prefer a singular, long story that revolves around a main few people rather than a bunch of smaller stories that involve keeping track of dozens of people. 

[Kjarvs]

I divide my year into quarters, and pick 4 events to be my "Big Four" that I build towards, with the REALLY big matches built for 2+ quarters and finishing at my Season Finale.

If I'm running a product with weekly TV, then I start the month by building the card for the Event, then work backwards with at least 3 matches on each TV show building toward the PPV. I really like booking around stables & alliances for this reasons as it allows you to have TV main events featuring the top stars without giving away the big match on TV.

For Example:

TV1: Big Heel vs Face's Midcard Ally

TV2: Big Face vs Heel's Midcard Ally

TV3: Promo Segment ft Big Face, Big Heel & Their Allies, setting up Tag Match for next week.

TV4: Big Face & Face Ally vs Big Heel & Heel Ally Tag Match

TV5: Promo Segment ft Big Face & Big Heel, confirming singles match for PPV 

Event: Big Face vs Big Heel singles match.