Unfamiliarity Breeds Contempt

What is it about tournaments that gets everyone's panties in an uproar? Christ, you would think that we'd all have learned our lessons by now... tournaments where diverse crowds come together and mesh are recipes for disaster. A lot of times, you get guys who think their shit doesn't stink coming into a tournament, posting something that is unfamiliar to the tournament administration and then ends up losing. Then, afterwards, there's some kind of stink. This time, it wasn't so much raised publicly in the area of e-fedding by the guy who felt he was wronged, but it by two of my other fellow bloggers, Billy Ferraro and Dave Brunk.

The incident happened in something called the Total J Cup Tournament, which was entered by a bunch of people from feds that I don't know... and then Pete Russo, who entered Impulse/Randall Knox. Apparently, he got jobbed in the first round to a guy who broke some of the cardinal rules of e-fedding, some real asshole n00b shit. I read the excerpt of the RP that this guy wrote and actually bete Impulse with. He basically rewrote history for Impulse's character to retrofit the promo he had in mind for whatever opponent he had going for him. It's one thing to put on the no-sell for a guy you don't know about (one of the more annoying techniques I come across in my travels), but it's downright unfair to write someone else's character, especially someone foreign to the community.

Billy was the first to speak out, and he tore the whole operation, the organizer, the RPer (whom I wouldn't let within a 5-website radius of any tournament or fed I would theoretically run), Ben Halkum for associating with them and trying to bring them into the FW fold... Brunk then followed up with a scathing tome of isolationism, with Katz following up in the comments that the reason why it happened was because folks like me and Halkum are too nice.

Let's face it... it's basically the kind of thing that I took the WfWA to task for. The fact that objectively, Pete's beef is way, way, way, WAY more legit than the assfucks at the WfWA who bitched about Nova's talent amounting to that of a midcarder in their feds beating out the "stellar" writing of their luminaries like Khalid Jad, really doesn't make much of a difference. On the surface it's bush league, but not because they're complaining about this kind of shabby treatment.

I won't take them to task for feeling the way they do, but I will say I told you so.

I was naive once, I thought I could invite people from different communities to partake in a TEAM event and judge it fairly enough that everyone would be happy, even if they didn't win. Hey, I had PTC guys in my tournaments and they adjusted fine. Of course, it didn't hurt that they were enough good e-wrestlers coming over to give the image that they'd be treated fairly, but I can't put over the maturity of their guys that came over and even didn't place well in events enough, the straggling Chris Bagwell aside (a straggler that actually didn't get disgruntled until I left my post, actually).

So I sought out more communities, which was a mistake. I had the luxury of going to a community that featured a lot of older handlers, a lot of handlers who knew FW personalities via the fWo and Katz's headway that he made shilling for NFW over there first. And I paid the price. It took a long time for me to get my enthusiasm back, and you could say that I never fully did maybe until now.

But the thing was that the lesson was mainly public. It was there plain as day - People fear what they don't understand, and they lash out at the stranger because it's the easy thing to do, especially when the people we're talking about are younger and more stubborn in what they think is good. A tactic that most sane people think is bushleague might be considered "taking the bull by the horns" or... wait for it... "avant-garde" by some other retarded communities where dick-measuring between characters is done mainly with banners and graphics rather than writing quality.

It's because of crap like that that I don't fully disagree with what Brunk had to say. Sure, e-fed isolationism is a sad thing to practice, but it's a very welcoming strategy to practice at times. In a world where every community is different and where partnerships like the one shared by FW and PTC are few and far between, it's not worth the effort to make a bridge so that testy armies can have chances to get at someone else's throats.

That's why I give this advice. If you want to try something new, go to a different community or the like, be prepared to take a lot of shit. Carry the burden silently. Don't bitch in public when you get beat on bullshit tactics. It's bullshit, but take it to the man, and if he doesn't listen to you, fuck, it's their loss, not yours. Know that you're going into hostile territory and that you may never be able to win anyone over with a style of writing that is unfamiliar.

This is still a game dominated by the immature and the insular. FW and PTC are the exceptions to the rule. We do this for fun, and I think that the options available to us are good enough to satisfy unless you're not a fan of delays between cards and want something more regular. It's not worth it to go somewhere where the kids rule the roost and just want more fresh meat to carve up and serve to their n00bish "main eventers".

A Short-Lived Retirement

Yeah, so just in case you haven't figured out by now, I'm coming out of retirement. I know, didn't I just retire a few months ago, you Brett Favre you? Well, for one, if you call me Brett Favre, I'll punch you in the nose. Two, well... I don't have a two.

So why come out of retirement now? Why even go into retirement and make a big deal if you're coming out again in less than a year? Well, a few things. One, at the time, I was tapped for ideas and didn't really have the time to put thoughts to Notepad or the desire to be on a schedule anymore. Of course, it didn't help that I was still RPing in TEAM, EPW, A1E, NFW and LVW. Having that much of a workload, even with the given sparsity of results and RP periods, was a bit too much for me as I was still adjusting to married life and enjoying things like my Wii or watching copious amounts of wrestling and blogging about it on my other blog (bee-tee-dubya, ARE YOU READING IT YET, BITCHES?).

Two, to come out now, well, don't laugh, but my interest in "real" wrestling has sparked an interest in eW again, especially listening to the gamut of promos from following various feds from the WWE down to Chikara, some great (CM Punk, MVP, Austin Aries, Chris Jericho) and some of them terri-bad (the Young Bucks, Tyler Black, Batista, Amasis). The former inspire me to aspire to their greatness and the latter inspire me to show the bad promos how the fuck it's done.

Three, well, judging PTC's GTT7 got the fires going. Even though I prefer writing the FW/wrestling promo style over the PTC/narrative story style, I still feel like I have one more story to tell over there, which will most certainly come in GTT8 if/when it happens.

So, what does this all mean? Where am I going? Well, for now, it'll just be EPW and maybe spot appearances elsewhere. I don't want to make the mistake of spreading myself too thinly and then burning out again. When I get back in the groove or get more time, who knows. Maybe a return to A1E, my ancestral home, will be in order. Maybe I'll try NFW again, or give Billy F's NLW a shot.

It also means a more concerted effort to try and get some content going for the blog and to read more e-fed related stuff. I felt bad that I never got Project Discovery Channel up and running like I wanted to. I always thought it would be an easy content grab even if I wasn't following e-feds like I was during the height of the blog. That'll still be on the table, as well as a lot of EPW-related stuff.

So yeah, I'm officially back. Please, hold your tomatoes until I post my first RP :p

GTT7

Holy crap! I'm updating this blog!

The thing that has gotten me to dust off the "new post" button on this blog rather than the Wrestling Blog (are you reading it yet, bitches?) is GTT7. After taking two years off, many people thought that with the shift from e-wrestling to creative writing that PTC was undergoing, that there'd never be another GTT. Well, Ross and Pete have brought it back, and I have to say, they're doing a great job hyping it and promoting it. Of course, I was supposed to help them promote it, but I got caught up marking out for Chikara and CM Punk rather than PRIME and Joe the Plumber.

If you take a gander around the forum, you'll see that the bigwigs have done a fantastic job of crafting excitement and anticipation for the tournament's start. In an era where hype has become just throwing up a post in an advertisement forum, this is art. It almost made me want to break retirement to join up, almost being the operative word. (gonna tough it out for a year before even thinking about returning, btw)

While it's not much of a post, I figure Ross and Pete deserve a pat on the back for creating a vibrant and lively event surrounding their marquee tournament. Here's hoping that it's a rousing success and that as few people no-show as humanly possible.

Viva GTT!

Feedback Plz: Roderick McRatrick

The last time I took time off/contemplated retirement and then came back, I did so secretly under the guise of a deviously idiotic and amoral character known as Roderick McRatrick. I had people going for awhile, but then I revealed myself, although I'm not sure if it came out naturally or if someone *cough*Lindz*cough* forced it out of me. Ah well.

Anyway, here are some of Roddy's greatest hits. Why am I posting them? Well, because I want feedback. For a guy like myself who's known more for handling comedically biased characters (you could argue Maggot and Captain Suleimon were the only ones that didn't have a built in sense of humor about them, and even that's debatable), Roddy, to me, is my most funny work. Comedy is a lot more subjective than regular e-fedding, so I want to get feedback from all of youse out there. Without further ado:

The Debut of the Ghost of Steve Guttenberg - Scroll down for more hijinks with Homsar of HSR.com fame
Roderick in Japan
Lord Tophattington and All of Roddy's Friends
The Debut of Randy McRanderson
Vs. Dan Ryan!
The Debut of Real Ultimate Power
A Visit to Santa!
Roderick Tools a Future A1E World Champion
Roderick's First Apperance at FWC... featuring POWERMASTER~!

I want honest feedback. How does the character hold up after all these years? I want to know, because in a way, Roderick feels like my best character.

Holy Crap, I Read Three Shows Today!

Seriously, how the hell did that happen? Maybe I'm getting more attentive in my old age ;) But yeah, I guess a slow day at work will give you something to want to do to pass the time that isn't playing flash games on the Intarwebs or bait trolls on message boards. That being said, here are the shows:

NFW Brawl: Kansas City - I've been out of the loop for awhile, although I've heard about the Dorchester Stratton, Cuatro Equis and other stuff, so I was a little bit disoriented. However, I thought it was a fun read, as most NFW Brawl shows are.

PRIME Revolution 200 - If I was out of the loop on NFW, I was lost in deep space on PRIME. I recognized some of the names, but a lot of the backstory was lost on me. Tyler Rayne's gone? Jason Snow is not only in e-fedding, but is the PRIME Universal Champion (I thought he'd have abandoned eW for creative writing sans wrestling a long time ago :p)? Talk about a... culture shock (pun intended). Still, for me not knowing a whole lot of what was going on, I thought it was a good show. I loved the concept as well. I thought the Shakur-as-Rayne swerve was pretty neat too. Congrats to ShadowKat, who won the Power Play BR with Kazys Jankauskas, and now has a banked Uni Title shot. Whoda thunk it?

EPW Aggression 45 - Finally, a fed that I'm not totally lost in, seeing as how it was one of the last feds I handled in before my retirement/hiatus (?!?!). As usual, a good show from EPW, but this week, something was a bit off. For one, the beginning... where did the show intro go? We went right into a match coming back from commercial. And Sarge was on two matches on the card? Weird. Still, a good read and a good effort from all those involved. Congrats to WF for capturing the TV Title as well.

A *gasp* News Post?

Criminy!

- As what accounts to "old news", NEW and WFW have merged. I cryptically referred to the merger in a previous post, but now it's official. I think it's a good move. Paul Miller has always had loyal RPers for WFW, and now that he has help with Sean Edmunds (who has completed law school and should have more time), the fed can help with this mini-renaissance that FW.com's leagues are undergoing.

- In what is huge news, Pete Speer over at PTC has announced that GTT, PTC's premier tournament, will be coming back from hiatus this year. As a former participant, critic, fan and follower of past tourneys, I have to say that this is exciting news. Will it lure some former PTC fed RPers out of retirement and perhaps back into active competition? Maybe, maybe not, but even if it's just an outlet for currently active handlers to do something, it'll be a success.

- Another bit of PTC news, Pete has also posted the first bit of hype for PWN, which will presumably be his first foray into fedheading since stepping down from PRIME in 2006. This piece is actually portrayed as a news story from the '50s and it implies that PWN in character would have been around for at least 80 years or so. The idea is fantastic, but my fear is that much like Mat Waters' much hyped and promoted One World Wrestling, this fed will peter out after a few shows. Let's keep an eye on this, and hopefully, it will become the next PTC stalwart fed.

Moves I'd Like to See More of, Pt. 1 - Submission Finishers

E-wrestlers are so creative in the ways they come up with finishers, scour the indies for lesser known moves or just add their own flair to existing moves to make them unique. Even with that reputation in tow, there are still a bunch of moves out there that I think could get over in e-fedding. Today, I'll give you three submission holds that would be awesome finishers for any technical-minded grappler:

London Dungeon


58 seconds into this video and you'll find Nigel McGuinness' signature submission hold. It's a great ending move for a guy who likes to work the arm.

Hammerlock Beast Choker
I couldn't find a Youtube of this, but I think this could be a great choke-out move. Basically, the user puts the victim in a hard hammerlock, floats around to the front and puts the victim in a front chancery. The user grabs the hammerlock with the same hand used to put the victim in the chancery, pops back in a DDTing motion and proceeds to induce the tapout.

Horns of Aries


In the same vein as Cattle Mutilation, but a much more effective looking move. Why this hasn't caught on yet, I don't know.