MWA - This Means War! (C-Verse Diary)

[Scapino1974]

[I][SIZE="3"]New Beginnings[/SIZE][/I] The Garrison Bar, Minneapolis, Minnesota The Mid-West Territory 11:45 PM, December 31st, 2009 [COLOR="DarkGreen"]“What ya drinkin’, hon?”[/COLOR] I glanced up at the waitress. Maybe twenty years ago, she would have been pretty enough to flirt with. But then again, twenty years ago I was only twelve, so I doubt she would have noticed me. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Coke,” [/COLOR]I replied. She gave me a startled look. Most everyone else in the Garrison were downing beers like water. A young couple had already ordered champagne, retreating to a darkened corner. I was probably the only one in the bar who wasn’t going to ring in the New Year at least pleasantly buzzed. But two years ago, I had to share a car with Rip Chord as we drove from SWF headquarters to the Theatre of Dreams in the North West territory. He passed the time telling me old war stories. Trust me, close to two days of Rip Chord’s stories of the “good old days” are enough to put anyone permanently on the wagon. As the waitress left me in my booth, I looked around the bar and sighed. How had my life come to this? Nine months ago, I had been the head booker of the Supreme Wrestling Federation. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Yet I could still hear Richard Eisen’s angry words echo in my ears. “You’re fired!” Within a week of my firing, I sold my house on the East Coast and moved back home to Minneapolis. I was able to pay cash for a modest home in Edina, a pretty prosperous suburb. I didn’t get a job; despite his lack of compassion or integrity, Richard Eisen paid me well. So I found myself in the Midwest, surrounded by soccer moms whose kids wore SWF merchandise. That was a little tough. Shortly after I moved out, I overheard two kids discussing how much Joel Kovach hated Archangel and how they believed he was just biding his time to kill him. I tried to explain that Joel and Archangel were really best friends in real life, but they didn’t believe me, and why should they? It’s not like I was on screen ever; as far as they knew, I was just some creepy guy who thought he knew something about wrestling. Eventually the boredom got to me. I considered applying for the head booking position at AAA when it became available in May. Anne Stardust wouldn’t return my calls, though. I assume she’s still sore at me for stealing Wanda Fish and Missy Masterson. I approached USPW as well, but Danny Jillefski didn’t give me the time of day either; apparently Freddie Datsun wasn’t too pleased with my handling of his career and poisoned Jillefski against me. Even after Sam Strong took over as owner, I couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone at USPW. I even briefly considered asking Tommy Cornell for my job back at TCW; it’d be hard to swallow, but becoming a ref again wouldn’t be that bad. I quickly dismissed that idea. After stealing Wolf Hawkins, Liberty, and mocking him with Joey Beauchamp, I figured it wouldn’t work. Every now and then, I was able to see some of the boys when the SWF came back to the Minnesota Colisseum. Archangel and Joel took me out for a few drinks after the show and filled me in on the gossip. My gaze was drawn to the TV. Someone had turned on America-Sports-1 and Pro Wrestling Hits was once again putting on a year end special to dissect everything that had to do with professional wrestling. I was only vaguely interested. I had already heard much of the news....

[Clarity]

Kick ass. Cant wait to see what you have in store for us this time

[xfactor9600]

I've noticed a clear attempt to take the backstories to the next level in the diary threads... this one is very good... i'll be reading.

[NickC13573]

ALLRIGHT!! Cant wait

[Jehovah]

This should be fun! Can't wait for everything to begin... again.

[BuddyGarner]

OH MY GAWD! The king is back! The king is back!

[Derek B]

For the full backstory to this diary, [URL="http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11406&highlight=scapino"]http://www.greydogsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11406&highlight=scapino[/URL] then thats the place to go :) Needless to say Mr Scapino, I'll be checking this out and stealing your show format in future. :) Derek B

[Scapino1974]

[QUOTE=xfactor9600;177399]I've noticed a clear attempt to take the backstories to the next level in the diary threads... this one is very good... i'll be reading.[/QUOTE] Well, I very well couldn't start my new diary with a phone ringing, now could i? ;) I know I said in my SWF diary that it might be a while. Setting up everything for this one didn't take quite as long as I expected, so I thought I'd just fire it up.

[shipshirt]

[QUOTE=Scapino1974;177436]Well, I very well couldn't start my new diary with a phone ringing, now could i? ;) [/QUOTE] Haha, I love the phone ringing gimmick!!! That's my schtick!! ;) Looking forward to this!

[MaxxHexx]

Your SWF dynasty was the best TEW diary ever! As a Minnesotan I would like to point out that "a modest home in Edina, a pretty prosperous suburb" is a major understatment! Just about the richest place in MN...

[NickC13573]

Now MaxxHexx Edina may be the richest place in MN but there are still modest places in the Suburb of Edina.

[Scapino1974]

[I][SIZE="3"]The Year That Was[/SIZE][/I] The show discussed some of the happenings overseas. They referred to 2009 as the year of the Japanese Invasion, discussing how there had been a big shake-up overseas as the Burning Hammer of the Wrestling Gods fractured and a group split off to form INSPIRE, whatever that was. Truth be told, aside from stealing Yoshimi Mushashibo and bringing him to the SWF, I didn’t follow Japanese wrestling too much. After going through the European, the British, the Mexican, and the Canadian promotions, they turned their attention to the United States Promotions. First they discussed the two new promotions that opened in the U.S. The first was called Babes of Sin City. The hosts derided it as not a real wrestling company, being little more than a strip club. I hadn’t heard that much about it, so it was hard for me to judge. The other promotion was founded by Professor Nero shortly after I was fired. Called Rhode Island Pro Wrestling, it had had an interesting nine month run so far. The commentators weren’t able to get anyone from RIPW to talk to them, so they could only speculate as to why Professor Nero left the SWF and formed his own company. I knew a little more than they did. It turns out that Nero was extremely upset by the way my career at the SWF ended and protested. Richard Eisen fired him on the spot. I didn’t realize I meant that much to the old man; oddly, he didn’t contact me about his new venture. He did snap up Nevada Nuclear and a few off-casts of the defunct MAW promotion though. The talked about AAA and USPW (which recently signed a deal for a TV show after Sam Strong took over the company). TCW had a relatively uneventful year that ended with a bang, namely that Nemesis was retiring from the business. The only other really notable story was that TCW had their first A-rated show in June. And then the commentators turned their attention to the SWF. They lamented the bizarre booking decisions that dominated the latter three-quarters of the year and they wondered what exactly happened to the SWF. Again, I had some of the inside scoop (not that anyone from PWHM bothered to ask me!). A week after I was fired, Richard brought in some clown named Larry Wood to be the head booker. Larry threw out every storyline I had started and began booking the shows like TCW: lots of short matches, most of which made very little sense. For some odd reason, he stopped booking Joey Beauchamp in title defenses; Joey remained the Warmaster for the rest of the year, never defending the title once. If it wasn’t so weird, it’d be funny, seeing that Joey got the title because Tim Westybrook didn’t defend it. He also seemed to love Flex and Pex, who started going by their real names. Within a month, Mikel Alonso (aka Pex) defeated Tim Westybrook out of nowhere. Later that year, Frederique Antonio Garcia became the North American Champion. I guess it worked for them. The one person who suffered from Larry Wood’s odd booking was Wanda Fish. She was only trotted out to fight Katharina Stevanovic at Pay-Per-Views. She defeated Katharina every time, but then she would disappear from SWF TV and shows until the next Pay-Per-View. It was a waste of her talent. Again, the commentators didn’t understand why someone with Wanda’s talent was being so criminally underused. I knew some of the story. From what Joel Kovach told me, Larry Wood propositioned Wanda shortly after he became head booker. Wanda refused and tried to report him for sexual harassment. Richard took Larry’s side and, when Wanda threatened to quit, he then warned her that if she did, Richard would sue her for breach of contract. Joel said Wanda was pretty miserable backstage. I couldn’t blame her. The SWF had some interesting roster changes as well. Robert Oxford was eventually released when his contract expired. Christian Faith left the SWF as well, heading north to Canada for a while before coming back six months later. Richard also stole Steve Gumble from TCW, but he also brought back some people who left over the years. Runaway Train and Groucho Bling were brought back in. The truly bizarre thing was the fact that the SWF seemed to avoid the United States territories like the plague. They went on extended British and Canadian tours, which proved to be a costly mistake. While the SWF itself was very popular in other countries, the wrestler weren’t. As a result, huge foreign audiences came to sit and watch wrestlers they truly didn’t care about. This led to flat audiences that really dragged the quality of the shows down. Because of this, the SWF lost some of its popularity. The commentators remarked that it wasn’t the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that it had been the year before. This was borne out in PWHM’s choice for the 2009 awards. The Wrestler of the Year was Tadiyuki Kikkawa from BHOTWG. Marc DuBois was named Young Wrestler of the Year. Haruki Kudo was the Veteran Wrestler of the Year. Thunder Hike was the Female Wrestler of the Year. The Most Improved Promotion was PGHW. The SWF still managed to snag Promotion of the Year, along with Match of the Year (The Bumfholes taking on Archangel and Yoshimi Mushashibo on an episode of Warzone in February). The Card of the Year was an episode of Warzone in January. The list of the Top 100 Wrestlers was pretty interesting as well. The top ten were all Japanese wrestlers, starting with Tadiyuki Kikkawa. The SWF didn’t get a representative until #22, namely Remo. Then they disappeared until Randy Bumfhole popped up at #42! In some ways, all of this made me feel a little smug. I didn’t enjoy the fact that some of my friends were doing so badly. But at the same time, I thought it served Richard Eisen right. I finally tore my gaze from the TV. It was silly to torture myself by watching more. That part of my life was over. 2010 would soon be upon me. By my watch, I had fifteen minutes of time to finish my Coke before the year was over and I could finally move on.

[MaxxHexx]

good story...

[Scapino1974]

[I][SIZE="3"]The Man In Black[/SIZE][/I] The door to the bar banged open, letting a blast of icy air blast through the room. Paulie, the bartender, shouted for whoever it was to get in or get out. I sipped at my Coke. Ten minutes left of 2009. Couldn’t get over quick enough. Someone slid into the booth across from me. It was a middle-aged gentleman wearing a black wool coat. He shook some of the snow from his wide-brimmed hat and smiled at me. [COLOR="DarkGreen"]“Are you Scapino?” [/COLOR]he asked. I shifted in my seat. It had been a while since someone had called me that. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“That depends. Who are you?”[/COLOR] [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Someone with an offer for you. A rather interesting one.” [/COLOR]He glanced around the darkened bar. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“I’ve been looking for you all over Minneapolis, but I suppose I should have checked the Garrison first. After all, this place was a hotspot for wrestling back in the 70s and early 80s before the SWF killed off all the smaller territorial promotions. As a matter of fact, I’ve heard rumors that the death blow to the territories happened right here in this booth. Richard Eisen signed Rip Chord at the Garrison after seeing him in a show here.”[/COLOR] I rolled my eyes. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Not exactly. This is where the jukebox used to be until six months ago. From what Paulie’s told me, Rip signed the contract at the booth over there.”[/COLOR] The man’s smile grew bigger. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“So you’ve been talking to Paulie about wrestling? Interesting...”[/COLOR] [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Hardly. He tells everyone about that booth. He doesn’t even know who I am.” “That may have to change. Tell me, what are your plans for 2010 and beyond? Have you given any thought to what you’re going to do with your life now that you’re free of the SWF?” “No, I really haven’t. Good night.”[/COLOR] I rose to leave. He snared me by the arm. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Hold on. I may be able to help you make that decision. “Look, let’s face it. Wrestling is in your blood now. Why else would you come to the Garrison? Why else would you so intently watch Pro Wrestling Hit’s year end review? Why else would you putter around that house of yours and not find a job in another field? You and I both know you’d go back to booking in a heartbeat if you could.”[/COLOR] I hesitated. Big mistake. His knowing smile spread even wider. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Who are you?” [/COLOR]I asked. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“A friend. Or, more accurately, I work for someone who wants to be your friend. Or, to be even more accurate than that, I work for someone who has an offer for you.” [/COLOR]The man rose. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Follow me. I have something to show you.”[/COLOR] He started for the back room. I watched him and then followed him. What the heck. It might be interesting.

[JonnyV1]

I'm gonna mark out if it's The Rev or Devorah. Could be that businessman that screwed The Survivors too. Great Start Scap, but I'd expect nothing less.

[MaxxHexx]

Another classic by scap...

[mvargus]

darn good backstory. I'm interested in seeing what you have in store.

[shipshirt]

Yeah this is some fantastic backstory. I'm quite jealous!! :) Can't wait for the shows!

[Scapino1974]

[I][SIZE="3"]An Intriguing Offer[/SIZE][/I] The man opened the doors to the Garrison’s back room. I followed him in, shooting a glance in Paulie’s direction. He didn’t like it when people nosed around in the back room without being invited. The back room had been where some of the long dead territorial wrestling promotions had held shows a few decades back. In more recent years, Paulie had rented it out for a concert every now and then. I had never been back there, but some of the regulars had told me what it was like: dank, dark, a real dive. That wasn’t what I found when I stepped through the doors. Things had been swept up, I could smell new paint, and the chairs had been set up around ... A wrestling ring? I took a few steps forward, my gaze sweeping across the room. This back room could probably seat 2,000 easily. Tucked in a corner was a collapsible video screen and a herd of cameras. The ring itself looked to be brand new. I finally turned to the man in black. [COLOR="DarkGreen"]“What is all this stuff?” [/COLOR]I asked. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“It’s yours,” [/COLOR]he said. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Or at least, it can be if you want it. The same with this.”[/COLOR] He pulled a small envelope out of his coat and handed it to me. I eyed it warily. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Inside is a cashier’s check for two million dollars.”[/COLOR] [COLOR="darkgreen"]“What?” “Well, it was either that or loading up the money into a briefcase, and that can get heavy, no matter what the movies may show you.”[/COLOR] My hands shaking, I gingerly opened the envelope and peeked inside. My eyes bulged wide. That was a lot of zeroes! I looked at it and then at him. Was this a joke? Who would give a washed up booker like me two million dollars and a ton of new equipment. I glanced around the room again, trying to figure out where they had hidden the cameras. I sputtered for a few moments. Finally, I managed to croak one word: [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Why?” “My employer is just a tad bit disgusted with the state of professional wrestling in the United States right now. Things are taking off in Japan, in Canada, in Europe and the United Kingdom, but things are kind of stagnant here. So he’s trying to shake things up, starting with you.” “But why me?” “Look at what you were able to do with the SWF. You created stars out of Tim Westybrook and Wanda Fish. You made Joey Beauchamp and Yoshimi Mushashibo household names. My employer wants to see what you can do with your own promotion. Say the word and the money, the ring, the equipment, all of it is yours. Paulie has agreed to lease some office space for you and your production team. In exchange, he hopes you’ll hold some of your shows here.”[/COLOR] The hand holding the check felt like it was on fire. Worse, my knees wobbled and I quickly sat down. I looked around the room again. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Who would do all of this?” “Like I said, a friend. A friend who wishes to remain anonymous.”[/COLOR] I studied the man’s face for a moment. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“It’s Tommy Cornell, isn’t it.”[/COLOR] The man laughed. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“After that debacle with Joey Beauchamp? No, I believe you burned that bridge quite thoroughly.”[/COLOR] I was silent, staring at the check in my hand. Finally, I spoke. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Let’s say, hypothetically, that I take this offer. What happens next?” “My employer has laid the groundwork for a viral promotional campaign: videos on YouTube, leaks to Pro Wrestling Hits Magazine, that sort of thing. He believes he can generate enough buzz to give you a good start as a regional promotion. After that, it’s all up to you. You pick the talent, you schedule the dates, you put together the shows, and you don’t have to worry about kissing up to the boss or any of his relatives.”[/COLOR] My eyes narrowed. Something was fishy here. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“What’s the catch?”[/COLOR] He smiled. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“What makes you think there is one?” “There always is.”[/COLOR] He chuckled. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Well, not so much a catch but just a warning: you have six months before things will get a little more interesting.”[/COLOR] [COLOR="darkgreen"]“Meaning?” “My employer has also purchased the rights to use the names of four out-of-business promotions. Six months from now, they will rise from the ashes. By the end of 2010, Mid Atlantic Wrestling, Coastal Zone Championship Wrestling, New York City Wrestling, and Danger and Violence Extreme will be back in business. They’re not going to get quite as much start-up money, but they will all be looking for workers, so you had better find the best right away.”[/COLOR] He took a step closer to me. [COLOR="darkgreen"]“It’s a whole new game now, Scapino. So what will it be? Do we have a deal or shall I box all of this up and offer it to someone else?”[/COLOR]

[MaxxHexx]

Take the deal!

[Clarity]

The big question is whether or not he will be able to steal Archangel

[JonnyV1]

No, the big question is if he can get Joel Kovach! He surpassed Archangel in my view. But I guess it's a personal thing.

[MaxxHexx]

Yeah, I think Joel would be better. Just not Steve Frehly. I hatted how you pushed him in your SWF dynasty.

[Scapino1974]

From ProWrestlingHits.com - [QUOTE][B][I]Major Announcement [/I][/B]- John “Scapino” Otte, the former head booker for the Supreme Wrestling Federation, surprised the wrestling world today by announcing that he is opening his own promotion. Called the Midwest Wrestling Association, it will be based out of Minneapolis. Scapino was unsure when they would be holding their first show. He was also a little hesitant to speak of how he was financing this operation. No one from the SWF could be reached for comment, but our sources indicated that Richard Eisen, upon hearing the news, blew it off and predicted that Scapino would be out of funds before the year was over.[/QUOTE]

[Scapino1974]

[I][SIZE="3"]The Background for this Diary[/SIZE][/I] This is sort of an out-of-character explanation for how this diary will work. I came up with the idea a few months ago when I heard that ‘07 was coming out. I thought it might be interesting to see how fast I can put myself in the poor house. After I was “fired” from the SWF, I ran the game forward to January of 2010 to see how the SWF would fare without me at the helm. The second post in this diary kind of describes some of what I saw. I then created a database that tried to mirror where my SWF diary game had left off. I recreated many of the characters that I had created and set up the American and Canadian promotions’ rosters as they had been. Since I hadn’t paid much attention to the promotions in Japan, the UK, Europe, or Mexico, I left their data alone. I also deleted MAW, NYCW, CZCW, and DaVE from the database and then recreated them in the new promotion slot. When they debut, I’ll edit their data to give them a little money and see who takes these new promotions. I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t set who the owners of new promotions are; I think it would be fun to give DaVE to Nemesis to see what he does with it now that he’s retired. The MWA itself is set up as follows: 1 vs. 1 - 70% 2 vs. 2 - 20% Triangle - 5% Four-Way- 5% Match/Angle Ratio - 70% Match Intensity - 55% Match Danger 30% No Women’s Wrestling Low T&A Levels Medium Heel/Face Divide Traditional - Medium Mainstream - Key Feature Comedy - Medium Cult - Very Low Risque - None Modern - Heavy Realism - None Hyper Realism - None Hardcore - Low Lucha Libre - None Pure - Low Daredevil - None Initial popularity is set at 40% in the US (with a pop to 50% in the Mid West). Canadian popularity is set at 25%. Zeroes everywhere else.