Your Blogger Answers, Pt. 2

The second batch of questions is here! First, we get some more queries from "The Rage":

1. E-wrestling will probably never die, and if it does it would go out with a whimper, like a slow death. Do you agree or disagree?

Never die is a strong statement to make, but I think as long as wrestling is around and it's still moderately popular, e-fedding will be around in some form. I've actually seen more of an uptick in it lately than normal in the communities I follow. It's mostly old guys coming back after a hiatus, but that's better than people leaving and not coming back.

That being said, there's a wealth of feds out there that we all probably don't know about that are thriving, very much akin to our "old days". If PTC, FW and eWZine can manage to tap into those communities without seeming like we're elitist, then we can definitely see a boom again.

2. This isn't 2000 anymore or the era of angelfire and geocities, what would you say to the new fed head who wants to make a new fed?

Again, the angelfire/geocities crowd still exists most likely. Regardless of that, I'd say the following to that prospective fedhead:

- Don't be discouraged if people don't join your fed right away.
- Base your selling points around the quality of writing rather than Poser, website design or other cosmetic stuff.
- Be fair in your judging and don't just reward your friends for signing up

Simple enough.

3. How did you start in efedding?

I'm not C&Ping the anecdote, becuase like Healy said, it's TMI.

Anyway, I post at a site called A1Wrestling. The site had this mock Presidential election, and two posters named token_canadian and The Canadian Hitman were running on a ticket. TCH and I used to IM back and forth, and he tried to get me to vote for their ticket. I used to bust his balls about it because there was no way I was voting for a hoser ticket. After the election was over, we kept in touch, and he persuaded me to join this small, fledgling e-fed on the site called A1E.

The rest is history.

4. Will RPG ever make a comeback? Or do you think that GTT has effectively replaced RPG?

I wasn't around for RPG, so I couldn't say. That's a question better aimed at Ross or Pete.

Alright, next up is Kevin Healy, who only had one, very simple to answer question:

Will we ever see the Holzerblog Wrestler of the Month again?

Kev, you must not read very good :p

http://angloluchador.blogspot.com/2009/04/wrestler-of-month-march-2009.html

In the words of the immortal Perry Saturn, you're welcome ;)

Next up, it's FOOOOOOOOOORD~!, who asked the following questions:

1.) Any chance of trying to handle in FWO land once more? I remember you got right in as the place faultered.

He's right, at the very end, I tried to go in with the Thrillbillies, but that ended when I lost interest and the fed didn't really take off after that supposed reboot.

Aaaanyway, right now, I'd say my plate isn't full, but I think if I added an angle fed to the mix, it would overflow. It's a lot of work to be in one, and right now, I have full-time committments to A1E, EPW, LVW and NFW and part-time committments to TEAM and the CSWA. Granted, among that group, only A1E runs a schedule resembling regular, but the thing about the FW feds is that the cards all tend to be in RP at the same time.

However, never say never. As long as the fWo is around, there's always a chance that I'd show up there.

2.) How did you feel having to give up TEAM? Do you look at TEAM now and wish you were running it still? Not because of who replaced you, just because of your emotions.

Frankly, I felt good giving it up. I mean, yeah, it was my baby and everything, and no one should be happy to give a baby up for adoption, but at the end of the day, I felt like I couldn't give TEAM the proper attention it deserved on the administrative side. I didn't want to do it half-assed, but I wanted it to continue on, because I feel it's a great thing for the FW community to have.

Of course, I wish I still had time and inspiration to run it, but you'd have to add about 8 hours to the day and make matchwriting a much more enjoyable process for that to happen, but for right now, I like where it is. I also think it'll be good for me to be on the other side of the fence here for once.

3.) If you had to retire one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Benoitholic Anonymous, if only because I'd have trouble finding a new name for him. I think we were all hit hard as wrestling fans when that news broke about two years ago. I may be the only person in eW that it's affected directly like this. However, I've had an idea for a reboot of the whole Anonymous family anyway that I've been kicking around for awhile. It's just a matter of whether I really wanted to do it with JA being active in two feds and being a part of the CSWA in a limited role.

4.) If you could choose a character from another handler and force him to retirement, who would you choose?

Nova, so the rest of us could win some damn titles :)

Seriously though, it'd be very hard for me to tell someone they had to retire a character because even the ones that have been around forever are still being handled in a way where they're kept fresh. Take for example Hornet. You'd think he'd be stale as all hell right now, but Chad still finds a way to keep him interesting and to keep the story around him interesting.

Of course it helps when you're on the "one-card-every-18-months" cycle :p

5.) If you could build a federation around one handler, who would it be?

Jon Katz. No seriously.

Katz has given all of his eW time to making NFW into the juggernaut of insanity that it is today, and God bless him for it (maybe I'm thanking the wrong supernatural being... hail Satan for it?). What he and JAAAMMMARRRRRR~! *shakes fist* have done with the place is nothing short of amazing.

However, he's proven that he still has the RP touch when he went through last year's TiT with Mike Randalls. Right now, I'd start the fed, hand the ball to Katz, giving him the choice of either Randalls or Craig Miles and tell him to run with it. I don't think anyone would disagree with that, except Katz himself. Just because he's onery like that.

6.)What do you think of Ben/Tom Mason's radio shows through EWZine.com?

I haven't really given them a proper listen, but I think the idea is fantastic. Just like I had this cockamamie idea to blog about this game of ours years ago, these guys are taking the concept of podcasting/streaming radio about it, something I think is long overdue. And the fact that they get guys like Travis, Chad and others to appear on the show lends so much credence to it. Even if I don't get a chance to listen to it, kudos to them and I hope they keep on trucking.

Finally, we get to the "epic gentleman", whom I can assume is Ben Zezu judging from his questions:

1) What do you make of the activity, or lack thereof at PTC?

Meh, the activity's there. It's just concentrated either in the writing games they have or in the off-topic forums. I think that the eW forum is dead for the same reason why I've been resorting to gimmicks to get great content on the blog here. Everything that could have been said about eW has been said to some degree, sometimes several times.

I mean, how many times are you going to post a debate on whether vampires belong in e-fedding? Or how many times are you going to post about how awesome you think RPer So-and-So is? Of course, these conversations do become fresh after years of not being brought up, but I think people are to the point where they don't want to discuss the game, they want to play it. I think that bodes well for the feds that exist now as well as any start-ups that come into play.

2) Who is your favourite fWo character of this current comeback, old and new?

I have to say that I've been a bit lacking on the fWo coverage, but I do want to get into it. I've always enjoyed the fWo and the different breath it brought to the communities it touched. That being said, looking at the roster, the short list of characters I'm looking forward to following are Flyer, Impulse, Lowell, KSZ and K-Wolf.

3) Have you managed to follow ACW since it's return, if so, what are your thoughts? If you haven't, why not?

Barely, but it's not from lack of interest. You know that I spent some time there soaking up the angle fed experience, and I loved it. It's mainly lack of time and lack of convenience. I'm still trying to get my web surfing habits away from Facebook and message boards and more towards reading fed material so I can get a more balanced view of eW. ACW is definitely at the top of the list though.

4) In an average eW day, what sites do you visit?

FW, PTC and the A1E site. Some days I'll mosey over to Stanton's blog and see what he's got cooking over there. Again, I'm trying to beef that up a little bit so that I can give the angle feds and GCW a bit more play.

Again, thanks for asking, and please, KEEP ASKING! I love answering questions, even the ones that detail trying to nail cyber poon! :p

Also, bonus points go to Josh "GBJ" Kalvaledge for getting the Project Discovery Channel reference!

eW Six Pack: Best E-Fed Gimmicks Ever

Gimmick.

For some, it's a dirty word. Gimmick? I don't need a stinkin' gimmick to get over in eW. For others, like me, it's their bread and butter. I don't think I've had a character that didn't start out as a total gimmick that I've gotten over huge. Arguing the benefits of gimmicks vs. characters that are the handler turned up to 11 is a post for another day.

This post is for the best gimmicks in eW that I've at least seen, in Six Pack form. Now, a few disclaimers. One, best gimmick doesn't necessarily mean best quality. A handler could have a mediocre gimmick, but RP the hell out of it and be a top talent. Plus, most handlers run characters that are part "real" and part gimmick anyway. Two, well, there is no two, only Zuul. Now, without further ado...

The Six Best E-Fed Gimmicks Ever

1. Olivir Arsvinnar, Porn Star Viking - I want to know what was going through Strawsma's mind when he came up with this. Actually, scratch that. I'd probably be deathly afraid of what I'd find there. In all seriousness though, this is the kind of absurd gimmick that could only work in eW, which is usually populated by those smarky Internet fans whose quirky senses of humor give us characters like The Illustrious Face-Eater and Professor Tremendous. Just to give some background to the folks who don't know and are new to the blog (where I've raved before), Olvir is like Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, only instead of a caveman, he's a Viking seafarer unthawed in the modern ages. Vikings are good at a few things, some of them being pillaging, drinking, screwing and fighting, all good qualities to have if you're a professional wrestler. Well, maybe not the screwing part, but it helps with the gimmick.

It doesn't hurt that Strawsma's warped mind is the perfect vehicle for this character to roar on all cylinders, or to get in the mood of the character more, to row with the might of a thousand rowers in a Viking longboat. When Olvir is on, there isn't really a character more entertaining to read.

2. Slambo the Clown, e-Wrestling's Answer to Pennywise - This is the Bill Dempsey edition that teamed with Prisoner 187 and the HPSC, not the one that was P-187 in what was the seminal swerve in the early history of A1E.

Anyway, the evil clown gimmick was done in the WWF back in the '90s with Doink. As an aside, I always thought Doink was underrated as a heel. It got a bit too kitschy when he became face, but that's neither here nor there. Now, if you think Slambo mk II was a play off that character, you'd be sorely mistaken. Slambo wasn't really an evil clown as much as he was psychotic, downtrodden, almost subhuman. He was really a clown who was everything that a clown wasn't for most kids (who weren't afraid of them growing up :p).

There was always an underlying innocence behind every Slambo RP, like there was a gentle child behind the savage exterior, and even though he never won a World Championship (while Bill achieved that with Freakfish), I always thought Slambo was his greatest success as a character.

3. Dr. Curiosity, Mad Scientist of the Squared Circle... Literally - This is the prime example of a gimmick that can only really work on eW. If it were tried in the "real" thing, it'd come off contrived and really fuckin' goofy. However, in the e-fed universe, where in-character writing isn't limited to on-camera stuff and is often times better-written than the more outlandish stuff you see on camera for one of the big promotions, it's gold in the right hands.

Andy Hewitt's hands were, and still are, more than capable of turning lead into gold, and I bet Doc C has tried that at one point. The Good Doctor got his start in XUW, which was PTC's resident nuthouse, but he parlayed that success into a crossover smash in the fWo and more recently, NFW.

4. The Codemaster, The Blackest Brother in the Kingdom of Hyrule - Now here's a gimmick that I thought would have worked huge in the WWE. A guy who's so delusional to think that he's a video game overlord... classic. Although Mike Renner will be known for a lot of things in our extended circle before his time's up, this bombastic, video-game trivia spouting villain will rank as his most colorful character (and for a guy who created the traveling geek squad known as Mega Job... that's something).

I think what helps is that Renner probably has an unhealthy addiction to video games and video game characters. I mean, this is the guy who penned (sprited?) the webcomic In Wily's Defense. All in all, whatever fed Codemaster lands in should be grateful to get him and will always get entertaining segments that are satisfying on every level to giant nerds such as myself.

5. El Magick-O (blogger's note: the "O" is for orgasm), The Sexual Wrestling Magician - LVW was such a great concept for a fed because the city itself lends itself to gimmicks. I mean, a crapload of casinos there have some kind of theme going for them, from the Pirates of the Caribbean to scaled-down models of European landmarks. The acts that populate the stages at the lounges there often times are laden with gimmicks. You could find anything to watch in Vegas if you really wanted to, and I truly believe that LVW was a microcosm for that, something that let people try things they'd never try in another FWC fed. This is the fed that gave us the aforementioned Olvir Arsvinnar, Eastern European strongman Hans Novak, a character that was a wrestling Elvis impersonator and in the later days, an actual "dog-boy".

Aside from Olvir, the standout gimmick to me was El Magick-O (the O being for orgasm). Not that there was anything really groundbreaking about it, but it was almost the perfect gimmick to be played in a fed based out of Las Vegas. Of course, the sexual aspect was just icing on the cake, but coming from the warped mind of Mike McNichols, well, that's to be expected.

6. Lowell Dot Com, The Shillin' Villain - A devious, constantly scheming manipulator who sells advertising space on his ring attire? Handled by Devin Woods, who probably huffs as much glue as Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia but writes wrestling RPs instead of rock operas about Dayman?

Sign.Me.Up.

A cavalcade of shows~!

A1E's Warfare was the first show posted this weekend in our little circle of interest, and I have to say, I can see the marked improvements in continuity. Hopefully, they stick with the "BC card review." I know I wouldn't mind waiting one extra day to see vast improvements in card flow.

ACW Legends... this was the biggie for the weekend. Huge, huge show, with no fewer than three matches that might get some MOTY lovin' by the end of '06 (Spirit Match, Gimmick Hell, World Title Match). We also get an appearance by KSZ (~!), and a proper farewell for both SVJ and Alias *sniffle*

fWo Countdown 1... the end of the fWo? I read this show, and I really can't give any instant analysis because I really was caught off-guard by it. I have to admit that I really didn't follow a lot of the administrative storylines with Tallison and Silver Fox, and I don't have any idea what this whole Neo and guys in black shirts thing is about. So when I get some background from other folks and read the show again in proper context, I'll let you know.

Still waiting on Crash Week Six to be fully posted... and from previewing some of the stuff on there, it's going to be a remarkable upgrade from week 5. A lot of matches and good ones at that.

Plus after that, we'll get Midnight Madness and the UWA stuff too. Plus EPW Aggression should go up soon, plus AWC Fresh~! will be up Thursday.

Plus XUW Deadly Draw is later on today. I really don't know a whole lot about the roster, but I have only started following the fed, and hopefully, Deadly Draw will be a good starting point for me. I like the concept of it... lethal lottery with the winning team being rewarded... with a match against each other. Good for twisty, turny booking.

A1 Draft Analysis, Part Deux

Lindz' Silver and Gold Wrestling Federation
Dan Ryan, Kodiak Vic Creed, Joey Melton, Troy Windham, Eddy Love, Roderick McRatrick, Cameron Cruise, Dark Angel, Deacon, Mike Randalls, Alias, Sonny Silver, Rook Black, Dr. Curiosity, The Flying Frenchie, Ric Chronos, Rana Venenosa, Alex Creed

Free Agent
Codemaster, Coral Avalon

(no other additions or subtractions)

Well, this draft might have been a standout draft had it been an EWN or maybe even an FW draft. But as it stands right now it's.... curious to say the least (no pun intended)

Best Pick Roderick McRatrick, and I'm not just saying this to toot my own horn here. He was a good selection at the position he was taken.

Sleeper Picks Really, everyone, I guess, seeing that outside of Ryan, McRatrick, Melton and Cruise, none of these guys have seen the light of day in an A1 fed before they were picked in this draft.

Questionable Picks Really, everyone outside of Ryan, RMR, Melton and Cruise. I mean, it looks like Lindsay was just going for people she liked rather than people who'd win her the draft.

Overall Grade D... This was the A1 draft, not the overall e-wrestling draft. I'm familiar with all the names, but I'm betting you most voters won't be.

Justin Toner's North American Wrestling Alliance
Housefly, Gladiator, Nemesys, AJ Cirrus, Haven, Jack Gilkison, Cannibal, Cthulu, Alex Chavez, Jeff Bishop, Aussie B, El Niño, John Walker, Captain Liberty, Tommy Nero, Venom, The Iceman, Se7en

NAWA made no moves during or post draft.

A solid roster with some good tag teams and a strong main event program. Interesting to note that many of the characters taken here have sadistic streaks.

Best Pick Nemesys in the third round was an outstanding pick. One of A1E's founding fathers, and probably would have gone higher if not for frequent and prolonged hiatuses.

Sleeper Picks I guess Se7en, but only because it was a James Irish drop out of the draft special.

Questionable Picks Justin's 4th and 5th round picks, AJ Cirrus and Haven respectively, were probably taken a little higher than should have been. Cirrus might have been there in the 5th round, and Haven probably would have dropped to the middle rounds. Plus Haven without Torment is kind of a wasted pick. I'm not sure how much value he has outside of the confines of Anarchy.

Overall Grade C+. Nothing really jumping out, but nothing too bad either. Housefly/Gladiator is a proven main event program, and guys like Nemesys and JAck Gilkison should provide great fireworks in the midcard. Not so sure about the lower card though with guys like Venom and Tommy Nero.