The Fedhead Report Card

A fed may not be only as good as its fedhead, but the man or woman heading the thing up definitely plays a huge role in your enjoyment of the fed. So, let's rate them, shall we? Once again, no ratings for TEAM (because I'd give myself an A+ and you'd all hate me for it) or EPW (because I'm so heavily involved, it wouldn't be objective). Also, I'm not rating CSWA or WFW in the active fed section, because they're clearly not active right now (that may change for WFW if Superbowl of Wrestling EVER gets posted). I'm also going to post their matchwriting grades again, and in a few cases, the grades will be changed (mainly for the incomplete ones, but there will be a change for at least one of the other feds too).

A1E Fedheads: The A1E Booking Committee (Roger Albrecht, Jarret Aubry, Phil Banet, Andrew Gilkison, Shane G.)

Ever since I've joined A1E, the fed has been run by at the very least two people (Rog and Jim "Kayafaber" Sirigos), but more than likely, it has been by committee of mostly five people. Several people have come and gone from that committee, including myself, Mat Harrell, Ryan Poole, Dave Euclid, Shane Carnes and even Bill Dempsey among others. The only member who's remained constant has been Roger. Because of that, the fed has always maintained the same basic character it has since the beginning, but the constant revolving door of BC members can make it hard to nail down a definitive direction for more than just a few months.

Honestly, I'm not a fan of the booking by committee approach anymore. That being said, however, A1E does it as well as anyone could hope for right now. Still, the obvious holes in the booking; nonsensical submission losses, misplaced run-ins and random matches; it still seems to me that there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Would A1E be better served with fewer committee members though, especially with the culture that has persisted for so long in the fed? That question may never be answered.

Grade: C+
Matchwriting Grade: C+ (improved from a C- originally... there has been a marked improvement since the original MWRC was posted)

ACW Fedheads: ...not really anyone, really

ACW really doesn't have a fedhead. Ever since Devin Woods quit the post a week into his tenure, ACW has been in "inmates running the asylum" mode. Devin, Cimon, Seth Silver, Roland (who may or may not be the headless Thompson gunner :p), Mike Renner, Michael Dupin and Oz have been doing alot of the administrative stuff, and really, everyone in the fed has an input into what's going on. They've reached a sort of happy equilibrium where everyone's at least somewhat happy, but there's also a lot of confusion and some sniping, especially when it comes to the posting of shows and clarification of deadlines.

Bottom line is, ACW running as well as it is right now is either some huge fluke of every personality there meshing in cosmic accordance or it's everyone working together, putting ego aside to get shit done. The optimist in me has me leaning towards the latter.

Grade: B-
Matchwriting Grade: B+ (Didn't grade them last time... I've actually gotten a hold of the writing style, both in reading and writing. A fine collection of writers, although the main drawback and the main thing keeping them from an A is the tendency to make matches a little too long, though not as bad as they did in tSC.)

AWC Fedhead: Pierre Hyde

I won't mince words here. Hyde is OUTSTANDING as a fedhead. He's a superb manager, but he doesn't make the fatal error of attempting to micromanage. AWC's punctual schedule is due to Hyde's work at writing matches and getting people to write matches. He's a fair judge, and he tries to make sure everyone who at least tries has a story. The only minus, if you can say that, is that he's barely ever on AIM, but that's negated since he always answers PMs and e-mails. AWC is in great hands with Hyde steering the ship.

Grade: A
Matchwriting Grade: B-

LVW Fedheads: Mike Stanton and Paul Kobylarz

In the same vein as Hyde, Mike and Ybok do a lot for LVW, and it shows, seeing that LVW right now is the hottest ticket on FW.com. They've collected a great set of handlers, and they also do what not many other fedheads are willing to do in giving handlers ideas for characters. In a fed like LVW, you need to have that kind of guidance from the top guys seeing that there are certain types of characters who will and won't fly in the fed.

The only drawback I see is that there's a tendency sometimes to have Jack House steal the show. Even if House has never gone over a non-fedheaded character, it doesn't look good when he's the major focus of the non-match segments of the show. STill though, it's not that bad, and House is a damn good character who would get over huge in other feds.

Grade: B+
Matchwriting Grade: B+ (Incomplete last time... the matches are short, sweet and to the point, which is more than I can ask for. The only problem I have is that they lean on DQ finishes too often.)

NEW Fedhead: Sean Edmunds

Sean is a good people person, very personable and someone whose fed you certainly want to join. He's also got great ideas bookingwise, and he's certainly not afraid to be edgy yet not smart enough not to be edgy for being edgy's sake.

But his biggest drawback is the reason why NEW has lagged so much in the last 18 months. He takes on too much of a workload when it comes to matchwriting. It's fine to want to write all your fed's matches, but with Sean's real life workload, it's nrealistic for him and selfish for all of us to expect him to drop all of that and work on RAUCOUS non-stop. He has gotten a matchwriting aide, but he's proven to be unreliable, at least in my view. Hopefully, Sean can find some kind of solution.

Grade: B-
Matchwriting Grade: B-

NFW Fedheads Jon Katz (major), Mike McNichols, Jamar Nicholas

I know I've cooled on the NFW praise on here in the last few months, but it's not because they weren't doing a good job. I didn't want there to be a backlash :p

Seriously though, it begins again right now. Katz seriously deserves a medal for overseeing the huge project that is Season Two. I'm convinced anyone else would have quit by now. Yes, there may be a lag between shows, but it's not because of Katz; unlike NEW or WFW, NFW is written largely by committee.

The only other problem is that the fedheads' characters, mainly Craig Miles, Mike Randalls and Eddie Mayfield, are visible on the show, but they rarely ever go over other folks without either their consent (remember, NFW West is the angle fed part) or without good reason. Plus, there are so many other folks who are contributing stuff to shows that their characters don't overshadow the non-fedheaded characters.

This NFW project could have fallen flat on its face with other leadership, but it hasn't, and that's because of Katz. I don't think there's a better fed-manager out there.

Grade: A
Matchwriting Grades: B+ (East) A- (West)

UCW Fedheads: Dan Scifo, Shane Carnes

Current lag due to the ENN server thingy aside, Dan and Shane have done a great job getting their startup off the ground. In the recruiting department, they've gotten a great mix of fed originals (like The First and BG Bruce), midcarders being elevated (IrishRed, Cameron Cruise) and main event level guys who are putting over the originals and midcard guys (Dan Ryan). They've also stepped it up with the matchwriting, and I like what they're doing in regards to their angles.

Of course, they do have some problems with lag even without server issue and while the matchwriting has improved, it still seems a bit choppy in places.

Grade: B
Matchwriting Grade: B+ (huge improvement since the original report card)

Now that concludes the active feds. Here are grades for three "classic" or inactive feds that I think are pertinent here.

CSWA Fedheads: Chad Merritt, Steve Thomas

When they're open, they run good stuff. Chad and Steve are also both very attentive to their handlers. However, if the fed's never putting out cards then we can't get a glimpse into how well they do things. There are very few feds that generate the interest that the CSWA does on name alone, but it's on the fedheads to justify that interest with cards.

I've advocated before for the VPs to step up, and they do need to. I know I dropped the ball myself since I was named a VP, so part of the blame goes to me.

Grade: C+
Matchwriting Grade: B

MBE Fedheads: Dan West, Bill Dempsey, Jeff Paternostro, Bobby Rodriguez, several others

This may be unmitigated nostalgia speaking, but I can't think of a better-run fed than MBE in their golden period. They were the exception to the committee rule, as they really had at least two great minds in Dan and Bill and one person who knew how to deal with people and was able to be a spokesperson for the fed in Bobby on the committee all the time. They were the fairest in booking, and there really wasn't a single thing that they did that I disagreed with.

They knew how to play to everyone's strengths, including their own. And while the best, mythic characters in the fed were fedheaded characters (side note: I don't have a problem with fedheads having characters in vote-feds because everyone decides who wins, not just the fedheads... just in case you missed that the last time I mentioned it here :p), but they never hesitated to get into programs that led to them putting other folks over. I can honestly say that Maggs wouldn't be the character he is if it weren't for Bill playing his foil as Freakfish. Freakfish made Maggot, and for that I'm always going to be grateful.

And they did that for a host of other characters as well. Andrew Gilkison, Webweaver, Mr. CableAccessTV, PacoTheWetback, Duchess, AussieB, Rat, and even in the MBE Cup with IrishRed... the list goes on.

Once again, this might be more glowing than it should be because of unmitigated nostalgia, but I think you can ask most people who were involved in MBE and they'll at least somewhat echo what I said here.

Grade: A+
Matchwriting Grade: B+ (Short, sweet and to the point, although at times, they could be too short.)

WFW Fedhead: Paul Miller

Paul has a great following of handlers in WFW, and that counts for something. Having handler loyalty speaks to you as a fedhead, and that's a huge plus.

However, I can't ignore the sometimes screwy booking, the choppy matchwriting or the way he posts the card, which is conducive to lag and breaks up the continuity of the shows.

Grade: C
Matchwriting Grade: C-

Finally, I'm going to write blurbs on two new feds who haven't run their first shows yet and are still in the recruiting phase. No grades for these guys, just a rundown of their fedheads based on what I know about them.

FMLL Fedhead: Ryan Aston

When looking at Ryan's positives alone, you can't help but expect great things for FMLL. A lucha fed is something that hasn't been tried in a long time (if you don't count Ryan's and Angel's first attempt at starting up FMLL in 2004), and Ryan has a good ear for booking traditionally with a flair for the bizzare.

However, I can't ignore the times Ryan has disappeared completely from the FW world, and that concerns me in regards to him being a fedhead. That could also hurt his recruiting, but I would hope that people at least give him and FMLL a chance instead of not joining just because they're afraid of him disappearing.

MCW Fedhead: Jeff Bolichowski

Teh Bolich has experience as a fedhead, as he was a co-head with Brunk in EPW for awhile. In my humble opinion, he did a good job, and I think when he's motivated, he can provide great direction for any fed.

My main concerns are that Jeff also has a tendency to burn out very quickly and he can sometimes be abrasive with folks he doesn't see eye-to-eye with. Once again, these are legitimate concerns, but hopefully, they're not concerns that will keep people away. I think that just like with Ryan, Jeff's positives highly outweigh the negatives.

The matchwriting report card

Matchwriting: many people think it's the most important part of any fed. I'd be hard pressed to disagree, although I do think booking and your RPing staff play large roles (in an angle fed, bar none, matchwriting is most important)

But has anyone really stepped back and examined the matchwriting for various feds? I don't believe so. Most of the time I see matchwriting discussed on forums, it's platitudes for feds. No one really critiques them outside of IMs, where I've heard and dispensed many criticisms.

SO here we go with some matchwriting criticism for all the feds I'm familiar with, outside of Empire Pro Wrestling, where I'm the matchwriting assistant. I really can't look at them objectively, seeing that I've virtually written entire cards for them before, and I can honestly say that I think I've influenced most of the matchwriters for the fed.

So without further ado...

A1E

Honestly, I think matchwriting for A1E is subpar, and it has been for quite some time. I really can't put my finger on it. I think it's gone through periods where it was too self-indulgent (and trust me, when I was on the BC/matchwriting staff, I was DEFINITELY guilty of that). Right now, many matches seem rushed. I also don't really like how they implement their style of alternating declarative narrative/PBP. I think the PBP parts that come in seem out of place. I do understand why it might seem like that, seeing that the staff is dedicated to getting cards out on time. Sometimes they get good matches, like JA/Farnswirth or Maggot/Big Dog, but a lot of times, they seem dry. Another problem is their continunity between segments. A lot of times, you'll see a match, then one or two segments, and then the next match will pick up like they were going seamlessly from match to match instead of having the segments in between. I think A1E could use some work to get to higher levels where they could balance timeliness, which they're great at, and quality.

Grade C-

NFW East

I really can't do NFW as a whole, because each conference is intrinsically different. I do write for NFW, but I usually stick to my own matches. If anyone writes the bulk of the matches for the East, it's Mike McNichols. Stanton and a few others contribute from time to time, and for the most part, it's a solid crew. THey also suffer from the self-indulgence strain at times, especially McNichols. They tread a fine line. I think Ryan/Manson was a little over the top. Ryan/Red was really good though in a clever way. I like when they throw off-kilter stuff in there. BUt I think if they have it in their mind to make a match an instant classic, it suffers a bit from overkill.

Grade B+

NFW West

If Jamar wrote every NFW West match, there'd be one card a year cuz he'd burn himself out too quickly or not have the time ;). But if he had the inspiration and time, every NFW West card would be immaculate. If Jamar and Katz split the NFW West cards, they'd still be an A at the very least. But they don't. Jamar writes one match a card tops, but you cna't blame him. Katz writes a lot, and I mean A LOT for the West. When he writes PBP, the matches are good... rill good. But when he writes them prose narrative, or when we get Pants getting in on the prose narrative match train the result is more confusion than entertainment. It's not necessarily a bad thing that Pants' style is so different. I mean, he's got balls, posting matches in flashback, but it doesn't gel with me. Same with a lot of the PTC/angle circuit writers who came over. I mean, I don't doubt that the Almasy/Rook Black match was packed with psychology and mind numbing high spots that would have translated more than perfectly into the ring. It's just I can't get into the style. When I read a wrestling match, I can't read it as book style and envision what's going on. I need to see it done PBP, like I'm imagining the guys calling the the match, hearing Kerry and Hollywood in my head calling the match. But I will admit that they put a lot of time and effort into the matches.

And thankfully, Katz is the one writing the majority of the matches ;)

Grade A-

WFW

A lot of people praise WFW for solid matchwriting... I'll put it bluntly, I don't see it. For one, I think there's too much CAPSLOCK going on. There's definite overselling to the point where 85% of the match is the announce team screaming at the top of their lungs. The writing is also too choppy and doesn't flow as well as it should. The sequences in the ring are solid at times, and there's good psychology, but you can't tell that at times because the actual writing doesn't convey it as well as it should. Another strike against them is the way the cards are posted. Sometimes they go like days between posting matches. You don't get a good flow for the card. Even if you post the card without a match, you get a better flow than if you have matches go up over the course of a week. WFW's definitely on the overrated side when it comes to matchwriting.

Grade C-

NEW

I think Edmunds takes some hints from WFW when writing NEW matches. There's definitely a penchant for overselling. I think a lot of this is shown through the way that no-showers are written, ie, given any more than a token kick or punch. But I think the writing mechanics are alot better. I like the NEW announce team for RAUCOUS. I also think there's enough creativity going with some of these finishes that I think NEW can become a leader on FWC for matchwriting quality. As it stands right now, they're still behind NFW and probably the CSWA, but that's not a bad place to be.

Grade B-

CSWA

Ah yes, the grand ol' fed. I almost went incomplete, but I thought back to the cards during the UNIFIED tournament and Anniversary, and there was a lot of good stuff going on. I think the matches are prone to ramble sometimes, but it's never too too bad. I think what hurts CS the most is the inactivity of the fed. Once they get a good push going, it skids to a halt because Chad has to go on business trips. Chad says he hopes to rectify this with the new restart, and we can only hope it does.

Grade B

LVW

They've only had one card, which is far too few to judge objectively. But the first card was a good card, and if they build from that, we may have a leader in the clubhouse when NFW Season 2 ends and if Katz/JN decide not to do a third season.

Grade Incomplete

UCW

Shane and Dan show a lot of promise with their cardwriting, but there lacks a certain panache with the matches. I can't really put my finger on it, because the effort is definitely there, as is the psychology. Maybe it's the announce crew, I don't know. But these guys are getting better rather than worse at their craft, which is always good.

Grade C+

AWC

AWC has a ton of talented writers, but most of them seem to excel at character building segments rather than matches. Not to say the matches aren't good, but they seem a little dry. I have a lot of trouble getting through them sometimes and this is due to the style used, which like A1E, is a hybrid of declarative prose and PBP. the PBP portions are easier to palate; I rather enjoy the Kern/Marx/Smith announce team, especially Smith. However, when they switch to the block paragraphs describing the ring action, it gets a bit tedious. I would suggest switching to straight PBP if they think their writers can give the announcers that much personality.

Grade B-

ACW

Once again, the prose narrative style doesn't quite wet my palate as much as PBP does, but this is not to say that the ACW matchwriters don't take care to make each match as action packed as possible. I think though, that the way the matches are written, it makes it easier to miss plot developments and miss out on some details, which may take away from the out-of-match segments, something ACW writers excel at.

Grade Incomplete, because I'd rather not grade them on their matchwriting style if I haven't mastered reading it yet

fWo

See ACW, only I think their matches are easier to read sometimes.

Grade Incomplete, because I'd rather not grade them on their matchwriting style if I haven't mastered reading it yet