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.

Your Blogger Answers, Pt. 4

Yet another batch of questions to answer! The first couple from Josh Ray, FW's resident soldier overseas:

Will Sergeant ever find the time to step back into the ring, and if so, who the hell would care? :)

Just two people, me and Franklin, since you two still haven't finished that feud you started :p

What about that Drunken Tiger fellow

No one cares about Drunken Tiger :p

Actually, to answer both questions seriously, I think that if you had time to run both characters, that means you'd be home, safe and sound, and everyone in the extended FW/Blog-following community would love that.

And now, onto the main event. Jarret Aubry, of A1E and EPW fame, submitted these questions:

1) What's left for Tom Holzerman to accomplish in eWrestling?

Well, I think there's still a lot to do. I've said before that I hate it when someone ends a first-run with a character after they've captured their first World Championship, saying "there isn't anything left to do with the character". Biggest cop-out I can think of. But anyway...

First thing's first, remember the cups of coffee I had with the A1E and EPW World Championships, respectively as JA? Well, I do like me some coffee, but that usually means that there's something of more substance to go with it. I would love to get another shot at holding both belts (possibly at the same time?) and going more than just one PPV title defense with them. JA is my flagship character. Although Maggot was always 1a at the very least, it was a character concept my cousin actually came up with that I had just fleshed out. JA really is me and everything that I've done with him, from the gimmick infringement to the far-reaching family tree to the moveset has been driven by my ideas. I want to see that go as far as it can go and I want people to remember me not just for the blog or for TEAM, but for the stuff I did in RP and as an active e-wrestler, especially with JA.

As a handler, I'd also like to reach the top of the mountain in a non-NFW PTC fed and in an angle fed. Both are territories where I've dabbled in to various degrees, and I was probably on my way to reaching big heights in PTC as a member of AWC. Sadly, the fed closed just as I was hitting my stride. Both those kinds of feds present different challenges than in a FW-styled RP fed.

Another thing I'd like to do is spearhead a renaissance in tag team wrestling. I've signed up in NFW as Vive Le Quebec, and when I'm not trying to challenge for the World Championship as JA, I'd like for him to become someone people mention as a quintessential tag wrestler.

I'd also like to win a major tournament, be it the TiT, a GTT or something else that comes up. And of course, as a handler, I'd like to perform excellently in any fed that I join.

Outside handling, I still feel like I have to prove myself on the blog every time I post, be it in opinion pieces like this, show reviews or even breaking news.

2) If you were running A1E or EPW, who would be your Champions (or given the voting nature of A1E, who would you want to push towards being your Champions)?

A1E
World - Troy Douglas

I think the belt's on the right person now. The main focus in A1E right now is the gang war between the AoC and HPSC, but I don't think the World Championship should always be a prop in the main angle. Right now, it's good to have an outsider to the feud have it and then let the World Championship have its own story.

Cyber - Big Wreck

I really think it's time for him to move up the card.

Challenge - Angel of Death

He's a guy whom I think can shine with the different stipulations from week to week.

Tag Team - Various AoC and HPSC members

Right now, A1E really doesn't have a strong tag division, so the belts would be best served being a cog in the stable wars. Make them a central focus in the feud and you push not only the feud but the belts too.

EPW

World - Sean Stevens

Surprisingly, EPW really doesn't have a lot of guys who are bonafide main eventers right now. There's me, but I'm not Godbooking myself the title here :p. There's Westcott, but he's tied up in an angle with Miles, or at least he was. Stevens right now is the biggest main event name that EPW has, and I think if he were to drop it, it should be to the next big name, like say a Jared Wells or a The First or even a Fusenshoff.

Intercontinental - Fusenshoff

He just won the CoC in TEAM for crying out loud. The TV title's a nice belt to have, but I think he's gotta move up the card. The IC title is a good thing to have for an on-the-cusp star, and he could elevate the title in the process.

TV - Omega

Great new character from a seasoned angle fed character getting his feet wet in the FW world. I'm a big fan of Omega, and I think he should have some gold.

Tag - Larry Tact and Cameron Cruise

Again, the tag scene in EPW isn't that strong, but that's why Brunk put the call out. Tact and Cruise would be good anchors for the tag division while it enters a sort of rebirth/rebuilding.

3) What would your A1E and EPW dream matches/feuds be given the current rosters?

a) not involving your characters
b) involving your characters

A1E
a) Troy Windham vs. Marcus Westcott - It hasn't happened before, and it would pit two of the most legendary characters from the CSWA and A1E respectively.
b) Jericoholic Anonymous vs. Marcus Westcott - This feud needs a proper reflaring and blowing off

EPW
a) Shawn Hart vs. Felix Red - That would be the most surreal feud ever
b) Jericoholic Anonymous vs. Olvir Arsvinnar - I think I would have so much fun with this I would never want it to end!

4) Who's got the best theme music in relation to their character?

Nothing is ever going to beat Big Dog, "Bad to the Bone"

5) Predict the next move in the HPSC/AOC feud

Hmm, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Troy Windham isn't really a member of the HPSC and is probably going to reveal that he's either in business for himself or was aligned with Westcott and the AoC all along.

Again, KEEP THE QUESTIONS COMING! And thanks to everyone who's asked so far!

Your Blogger Answers, batch number one

Well, with the first two commenters, I got enough questions for a full post, so let's get started! Of course, you can still submit your questions for me to answer. In fact, I encourage it. I beg you to ask me questions, PLEEEEEASE~!

Anyway, our first commenter identified himself as "The Lurker Below" and submitted these queries:

1. Do you think any of the play-ins for the TIT stand a chance against their respective top seeds?

Well, the stock answer is that this is e-fedding, not college basketball. Upsets happen more often here mainly because the criteria for victory are so subjective and are dependant on the judge and, more importantly, how well one guy performs in a session. In basketball, if one guy has an off-night, the team can still win. In e-fedding, well, you are the team.

That being said, I can't say that I'm all that familiar with any of the work of the play-ins past their first round performances. However, among the guys who showed up, some impressed and some need work, and if you need work going up against Dan Ryan, well... you know.

2. Do you think PTC's GTT7 will be a success or not? Do you feel that changing the format of said tournament will do any good, when it's tradition has always been single eliminations.

I don't think that format will have anything to do with the success. Rather, it'll be the committment of the handlers involved. that being said, with the high number of no-shows that usually come with a GTT, it'll make it that much harder to pull off a round-robin the way it should be pulled off rather than with maybe one guy advancing because he's the only one that RPed for his region.

However, I think it was the right idea to change things up. They haven't held GTT for over a year, almost two. The landscape of the game has changed, in that I'm not sure how much "new blood" they'll get into the PTC community. We're talking about maybe having 32 or 64 as opposed to the 128+ they've gotten in the past. For the TiT, 32 and 64 works. For GTT... maybe trying something different is the order of the day.

3. Why do you think it's so hard to find an event where both promo style writers and narrative story wrters can compete and be judged fairly? It seems that in FW, promo styles are king, and in PTC it's storyline, and anyone who does differently, puts themselves at a disadvantage

Mainly because of stubbornness on both sides of the coin. Of course, the number of crossovers has been pretty good over the years, but you'll find that the mainstays on either side would rather keep to themselves and write in their style.

I'd like to think that with the ToC, I gave people the most all-encompassing tournament option around, and hopefully, Shinder keeps that going as part of the TEAM tradition. It's too bad there aren't other people as entrepreneureal (sic) as that in other communities.

4. Excluding the big brands, and always famous places like fWo and PRIME, what's a solid fed(s) with a good roster and atmosphere, but maybe not a lot of limelight, that you would like to see more people check out or apply to?

Big is a relative term, but I have three in mind that are off the beaten path, so to speak. And by off the beaten path, I mean they're not located on or affiliated with PTC or FW:

A1E - My home fed and one that's been open for about 10 years now. The roster is great, even without the recent addition of Troy Windham. The atmosphere is welcoming for the most part. It has a rich tradition and history that developed almost independant of the FW circuit until a few years ago, and the roster is smallish, so you can go in and make an impact right away.

NAPW and Rebel-Pro Wrestling - They're sister feds on the indie-scale. One is based out of Alberta and the other North Carolina. A lot of great and quirky talent resides here, and just because they're indie in scale doesn't mean they're small-time in talent. D! won the first ever Tournament of Champions, and Ravager currently holds the Challenge Championship. In fact, he's the only guy who's held it and his reign is approaching two years now. Also, the atmosphere is warm and it's probably the most grassroot duo of feds you'll find.

All three feds get press on the blog, but not a lot of people think to go there as their first choice. They should though.

5. Are tag teams in efedding a thing of the past, or a thing that can only work by creating outrageous angles? Do you feel as if people don't feel as proud to handle tag teams as they do singles? Or is it the lack of a community? or the perception that single(s) championships > team titles?

I don't think they're a thing of the past, but I think it's a lot harder to handle a tag team well than it is a single wrestler. Notice the people handling tag teams nowadays... they're usually older, more mature handlers who've done the singles thing and are looking for something else in wrestling. They're also handlers who remember when tag team wrestling wasn't treated as an afterthought or a joke by the WWE and TNA and are looking to recreate some of the classic tag divisions.

I will tell you this though, NFW has a bumpin' tag division right now, and EPW is looking for tag teams. I can tell you from experience following the latter fed that Brunk treats tag teams right. The people are out there. It's just a matter of folks dropping their preconceptions and going for it in the tag division.

6. In hindsight, when looking back at first opening TEAM, is there anything that you'd change? If so, what?

Well, when I first ideated TEAM, it was totally different from what it became. But assuming that you meant when I did the first TEAM Invitational Tournament... well, there's only one thing I'd change. I wouldn't have invited the malcontents from the WfWA into the ToC in 2007. They had a lot to do with my e-fed related malaise that followed in the wake.

Now, onto "The Rage" who asked the following queries:

1. Who do you think advanced to round 1 of TIT?

Well, certainly not Masked Violator 2, Josh Anderson or Brian Larsen *snicker*

Anyway, Shinder's going to have a tough time deciding who'll take the vacant Anderson/Larsen spot, or whether he's going to go for a bye in that situation. Although Lance Spencer went 3 to 1 on Nate Dakota, I thought Dakota was good enough to make the match close.

In the other contested play-in, I really wasn't feeling either guy... sorry "Rage" but in my honest opinion, I thought that you fell a little flat, but that the potential was there. Still, I wouldn't feel right advancing one loser and keeping the other one home without giving them a chance to do a one-RP shot for it.

2. PTC vs FW in a trash talking contest. (ICly of course) Yay? nay?

Yay if only because the guys who would come out would do it well. I'm not sure who'd do it though. Some of the PTC guys that we'd all want to see might stay home because they would feel it a waste of their time or that they'd get smoked. Some of the FW guys might stay home because they wouldn't take it seriously. But among those that I think might come out for it, it could be fun.

But then again, wouldn't the TiT count as a "trash talking contest"? ;)

3. A big, I mean big 256+ or 512 member roleplaying tournament from feds from every circle, even those email feds, and pay to play, because I hear writers from email feds > web feds. Think it could work?

Of course it could work, but it would take a dedicated group of people to run it and for all the competitors involved not to expect even short-form writeups until the later rounds. IE, it would be really, really fuckin' hard to do.

Alright, hope that answered all your questions... remember, KEEP 'EM COMIN! I'll keep answering these questions as long as you keep asking them!

Ask Your Blogger, Mk. 2

Okay okay, before I get into this round of easier reader participation, just a reminder to those whom I contacted from the last thing that I wanted to do... hang tight. I'm a hard guy to get a hold of on IM these days, but we'll get started with "Project Discovery Channel" sooner rather than later. Why is it called Project Discovery Channel? For one, I particularly enjoy the episode of the Simpsons the reference comes from (bonus points to the first person to correctly identify said episode, the character it comes from and the context), and two, why not?

Aaaanyway, a long time ago, during Blog Run Mk. 1, I fielded questions from YOU, the blog reading public and answered them on this here page. Well, I'm gonna do it again, figuring that it's an easy way to get good content on here at a time when I don't really have a lot of opinionated things to say about eW (that should change as the summer heats up and more shows start coming out), and well, because NFW's doing it too. Yeah, JN, Renner and Pete Russo have all opened up threads where you ask them questions about eW and they answer them. Also, Theresa Quaranta's handler posted a thread where he demanded you don't ask him questions, but that's neither here nor there.

Aaaanyway, because I'm a soulless, unoriginal bastard and because I really like answering questions and expounding on why I feel the way I do concerning this great game we play, I'm opening up the floor. Ask me anything, and I'll answer those questions here on this blog.

GET 'EM ROLLIN'!

Quick Hits II: PRIME CS mini-review, HOW stuff, tourney shilling and MOAR!

- CultureShock, which is PRIME's answer to the Royal Rumble, was posted over the weekend. It was a two-night affair, but given that the second night was dedicated mostly to the 60-man battle royale known as the Dual Halo, well, it fits. The backdrop for the event was Russia, which I thought was a cool little spin. Maybe this will pave the way for someone to do a Communist Russian character? Maybe, maybe not.

Night One
Night Two

Congratulations go out to Jason Snow and to Garbage Bag Johnny for winning the PRIME Universal Championship and the Dual Halo respectively. All-in-all, I thought it was a solid event, with the matches written with PBP elements being easier to read and all, but that's always the case.

- Just another reminder, signups are open for the 2009 TEAM Invitational Tournament. They close March 31st, so you do have time to get in, but we've got a little more than 25% of the spots filled so far with some primo talent. I know there's a lot of noise about GTT being resurrected, but the TIT will get off the ground before GTT does, and it's a totally different-styled tournament, so if you're crafty, you can have room for both on your palate.

- Speaking of all that noise about GTT... I'm all for it. PTC has been lacking that tournament for awhile. Furthermore (to avoid making this item sound redundant from the last one!), the braintrust has floated out the idea of a round-robin styled tournament this year. Normally, being the e-fed conservative that I am, I might shirk at the reinvention of what had become a standard for the PTC community, but hey, it's been gone for more than 18 months now, and I think that if you can't get 64+ for the event, why not shake it up a bit so it can last a little longer and in turn, feel epic like it did before without having to inflate it with scouting for new talent that might not "get" the PTC style.

- High-Octane Wrestling made some waves last week debuting their HOTv subsite, which is dedicated to their weekly television program. It's drawn rave reviews for coding and I think the content on it is pretty swanky. Good job all around to everyone involved in the fed.

- Finally, this is a call to all you faithful blog readers out there. If you would like to participate in something new for the blog, please let me know. I want to keep the details hush-hush right now, but it involves reader participation and interactive perspectives on eW from the people who choose to participate.

The Top Ten Moves of...

I've been getting big into watching wrestling moves on YouTube. You get a lot of crazy head dropping flippy shit that you don't see on the 'E. Of course, it's also a great place to pick up finishers or other signature moves for your wrestler. I've come across a few users that are really good at putting the material out there on the web to look at. Look for TheSuicidalDragon, ProWrestlingProfiles and bexproxsoxbro. Those are the guys I'm subscribed to.

Of all the features they do, one of the best is when they do "The Top Ten Moves of..." It's a great way to showcase a wrestler's non-finisher signature moves as well as let you into their big finishes. Here's an example, the top ten moves of Matt Sydal, as compiled by Suicidal Dragon. You know him better as Evan Bourne in the WWE:



Cool, huh? I wonder how many people are going to lift the Cyclorama now as their finisher :p

But it got me thinking... what if we made these kinds of lists and/or videos for our guys? Lists would be okay, but I'd love to see what we could do with wrestling video games and webcams. That's my challenge to you. Post a video on YouTube of your wrestler's top 10 moves and then send the link to me, and I'll feature it.

If you don't have access to a webcam or don't have a wrestling video game that reflects your wrestler's true moves, then just post your moves list here and maybe someone will be so kind to post the list for you.

Now, without further ado (in list form because I don't have a webcam :[)...

The Top Ten Moves of Jericoholic Anonymous

Stiff-ass, chest-reddening knife-edge chops - Self explanatory
The Balltap - A light, backhanded slap to the opponent's groin
Leonard Nimoy Special - Full-nelson/Vulcan neck pinch hybrid
Guillotine Leg Drop - Duh
Tombstone Piledriver - Duh again
Lucky Seven Suplex - JA is behind the victim, grabbing the victim's left arm with his right hand across the victim's chest and the victim's right arm between the victim's legs with his left hand
Frogsplash - Duh once more
Walls of Jericoholic - Liontamer
Lionsplash - Frogsplash off a ladder
Karelin Driver - The Russian neck drop from No Mercy. For those who've never played, it's a spiraling sharp-angled neck drop out of the deadlift gutwrench position.

Novelty

Last year, when I first ran the TEAM tournaments and other events, the response was amazing. Sure, I had no-shows. I'm not going to pretend that everyone RPed and RPed enthusiastically either, but there was enough RP going on for me to be proud of it. The second iterations, well, the TiT and ToC were still both well RPed-for. Some of the SuperShows have become a bit sparsely participated in, despite the somewhat enthusiastic turnout for people signing up for them. The absolute nadir thus far though, has been this past week in the Dupree Cup. I think there were a total of three or four matches that had participation from everyone who was scheduled to be in the match. For one meet, only one person RPed for only one team in the entire meet. One person!

For me to chide people about not being active would be pretty hypocritical, seeing as my time and energy lately has been sapped pretty bad, but at the same time, to have one team totally no-show and another team only have 1/4 representation is kinda depressing. I asked around and got a few responses. They ranged from the totally excusable (death in the family) to absurd (dropping out of the tournament because they thought they wouldn't be fairly judged), but I still haven't gotten a response from most of the people who didn't show. It makes me wonder whether the sheen is off the rose and they don't really want to come out and say it. I could understand if that was the case. I mean, I wouldn't want to tell someone that I didn't RP because I thought the novelty was gone. At the same time though, TEAM isn't a regular fed. It should always have some kind of novelty attached to it, shouldn't it?

That's one question I really don't know how to answer. On one hand, I love putting on SuperShows, I love running the tournaments, and I love having the interfed titles. On the other hand though, I'm very nonplussed about the lack of participation. It makes me wonder if the sheen is off the rose. I've been sort of fighting with myself over this in my mind, whether I was the one taking the novelty away, and it's been recently confirmed by two other minds. One is Jarret, who on his blog mentions that TEAM may be getting too much like a regular fed, and the other Karl, who suggested the same to me privately. It's not like that was coming from two bumpkins who came in with no idea of how TEAM worked. Both guys are respected RPers/handlers, and they've competed in several TEAM events before. For them to notice the same thing really drives the point home to me.

TEAM has become everything I never wanted it to become.

Seriously, I wanted to do things with TEAM that people wouldn't do in their regular feds, that people COULDN'T do in their regular feds. That's why all the secondary titles are differently gimmicked. I really don't want to have regular RP battles for titles when that kind of thing doesn't work unless you have a history going into it. The CoC, yeah, because you expect the best of the best to come up with stuff out of their asses, and a lot of times, with the sort of Victorian Era European royalty we have in the main-event pool for TEAM, you do get matchups with history. Still though, I can see now how people would get burnt out on the FFA~! Title if there's one every other week.

So, I've already decided to scale back on the SuperShows. Instead of having them all the time, scaling back on them will have fewer TEAM matches for people to feel obligated to sign up for. Having fewer of them means that TEAM matches are more likely to fall on lulls for the regular cards, and people will have time to RP.

The tournaments... well, hopefully that's just a byproduct of too many SuperShows, because if week 3 of the Dupree Cup ends up like week 2, I'll be pretty bummed out. I guess that's my question... has TEAM really lost its novelty? And can I ever get it back? I have no plans of folding this thing anytime soon, but I really would feel bummed out if people didn't get up for TEAM events.

I know this post seems a bit emo, but that's just the mood lately. I'll snap out of soon, I promise.

In a funk

As you can see by my decreased output both on this blog and in the feds themselves, I've been in a bit of a rut lately. I really haven't felt like this about eW in awhile, but it's not like I don't like doing this anymore. Far from it, I'm still amped about NEW and EPW coming off the supercard and heading into hot PPVs. I'm still excited about the Dupree Cup too. It may not show, but I am looking forward to these things. So why the doldrums then? I don't know. I do have a lot of other stuff on my plate too. Work has been kicking my ass lately. Work locally has been kinda scarce, and they've been running me to exotically annoying locales such as DC and NYC. Fun for the whole family.

The thing is, I never used to be able to empathize with people who couldn't do this because of time constraints, mainly because I've never been in that boat before. I always make concessions for them, and rightfully so. IF you feel like you don't have the time to do the things you're doing, then don't do it. Now though, I feel like I'm somewhat in the same boat. I mean, the desire's there, but the time and energy is becoming scarce. Now I know how it feels, and I can really feel for those who have to bow out because they're truly busy.

Now, this isn't some long, drawn out retirement entry. Far from it. I have committments in several feds that I plan on keeping. Thankfully for me, all the feds I'm in except A1E are on the work-friendly schedule, so I don't have to cut back any more than I have to. Plus, if I'm dropping your fed, I'll tell you to your face.

This post is more just a vent really. That, and well, I feel like the lynch mob will come after me if my blog postings get any sparser :p

Anyway, just to make this more user friendly, are you in a funk right now? If not, have you ever been in one before, and if so, how recently? Just to gauge how many people out there have felt like this before.

Answers to your questions!

Alrighty, you asked the questions and now I answer them. For the record, don’t stop asking them. I’ll still answer any questions in future posts, mainly because I can :p

First up, Sam asks:

Do you plan to do anything with the surveys (will they lead to further posts about them?) or are they just for everyone to read and have fun with?

I’d say that it’s a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. I’m a huge proponent of people having fun in with things, which is why I’m constantly frustrated reading stuff by several posters at W3:16. Many of them have forgotten that eW by nature should be fun and not overly legalistic. That’s another post for another day though.

Basically, I feel like people need to be able to speak their minds and not many of us post topics that encourage that. I thought that it would be a fun way to get the public to say what they wanted to say about this hobby they’ve invested so much time into.

At the same time, I do plan on doing something with all these surveys. It’s always good to know what your reading audience thinks and what they feel is important. That way, I can write about things people want to read about, other than show reviews which ARE FORTHCOMING! (I promise!)

Next, Michael LeQuan Flash Dove asks:

My question is: why do you handle so many "wrestlers"? There are tons in that list that are AMAZING gimmicks, but do you feel that by handling a company's roster worth of talent that you can lose focus, thus diminishing the RPs, on a whole, and cause you to never reach full potential (even though I never want to RP against JA for another year...I still have nightmares about that match)?

That’s a good question, although I do feel like I reached my full potential with Maggot and probably Roderick McRatrick too. Funny that I should mention that when I was hitting my stride with Maggot, it was in a period of personal discord with A1E where I was in limbo and not really doing anything, thus being able to focus my full attention on Maggs and MBE. When I was in with Roddy, he was the only character I was handling at the time at all. Kinda proves Dove’s point, doesn’t it?

I don’t feel like I’ve ever lost focus on the hobby in total, but losing focus in each fed has been something that bugs me off and on. Thing is, when I commit to a fed or a character, I have a very hard time going back on that commitment. Even right now with my “lighter” fed schedule (ha!), I have trouble really sinking my teeth into one character. I know I need to drop, but what fed do I drop? If I leave MBE, they have no Tag Champions. If I drop NEW, then Sean loses a main eventer and a guy on whom he can rely for something entertaining. If I drop PRIME, then I bail on plans I’ve had with Fergus for the longest time. These are the kinds of questions that I have to deal with in my own mind, and it keeps me from making decisions to pull the plug.

Of course, I go through periods where I focus on one character more than any other, so that’s why Dove still has nightmares about that first round match ;)

Next up, Sam asks another question:

Question: You handled a character named Sephiroth? There better be a golden fucking reason for that :P

Of course there’s a good reason. I thought I had a novel character concept. Sephiroth wasn’t handled as the uberpowerful badass that he was in Final Fantasy VII. He was a mentally ill young man who thought he was Sephiroth and acted like a bargain basement version of the FFVII villain. Not one of my best characters, but hey, he’s part of the lore.

Shane Gerlach had two questions. The first:

What E-fedders that had to step out of the game early do you think had a chance to be true legends in the business?

There are a few that come to mind.

Mr. Hyde - He was already well on his way with his uncanny mastery of Beast and A1E World Championship reign. He first bowed out due to computer and time issues, but when he had the chance to return, he didn’t because of self-esteem problems. He never thought he was as good as he really was, which was a damn shame, because he was one of the best. If he had stuck around, he’d have been mentioned in the same breath as Spoiler, Housefly, Beast and Freakfish in the annals of A1 eW legends.

Mikey F’n W/Rat/Mikey Nunes in general - It might be a stretch to remember, but for a damn while, he was unbeatable as Rat. He had a great character going on there, and he was really making strides as Mikey after being A1E’s running joke for awhile. I guess he just lost interest after a few years in, but he’s the kind of guy that most e-fedders should try to emulate, not in RP style but more in attitude. He always had a good outlook on things, took things in stride and always tried to improve himself. I thought he could have had a World Title or two had he stuck around and made the jump to FW like most of us A1 folks have done at some point.

Snake - Seriously, one of the greatest characters ever always being derailed by real life things happening to him. His run to the A1E title is still the single most impressive short-run that I’ve ever seen. He’s still interested in the game, but he’s planning a trans-Atlantic wedding, so I doubt he’ll ever come back in the capacity that he used to hold.

Also, I know he just recently disappeared, but if Fusenshoff’s handler doesn’t come back to e-fedding, then that is the single most disappointing derailment of a young career that I will have ever seen. With him, I never thought it was a question of if he was going to win a World Championship, it was how many and across how many feds. Shame if he doesn’t come back.

His second question:

Who do you consider the measuring sticks in E-Fedding?
Let's break that one down a little bit shall we?
a. Promos
b. Segments
c. Legacy
d. Legendary status

Promos… it’s hard to say, because there are so many gifted RPers. You can’t have any discussion without mentioning Dan West, Bill Dempsey, Gregg Gethard or JAAAMMMAAARRRRR~! *shakes fist* Nicholas. Off the beaten path, Dave Brunk has always impressed with Dan Ryan and he’s almost as impressive with Jeffery Roberts. Lindsay of course as well. PTC side, most people are going to compare themselves to Ryan Murray, Jeff Ward or Andrew Delling, and I’m not going to argue with any of those choices. I’d also add Pete Speer to that list too, a name that not many people would think of because he’s been mostly in an administrative role in the last few years.

Segments, around our arena, it’s definitely Steve Thomas, especially for Joey Melton. No one does a segment better. All around, I like Devin Woods and Seth Silveria as well.

Legacy… well I don’t think anyone will cast a legacy greater than Chad Merritt and Steve Thomas when it comes to the CSWA. No one. They are eW in some respects, at least to me and my most familiar area. They were the forefathers of FW, and believe it or not, folks, but Chad set up the MBE boards over at 1Blob, so he’s at least indirectly responsible for the A1 community of e-fedding too. I’m sure PTC and WfWA and the angle fed world have their iconic figures, and some of those figures cast similar shadows to their core group (I know Travis Beaven is pretty much THE most influential person in the angle fed world’s history, bar none), but to me, CS is where it’s at.

Legendary status, I’m taking to mean more in the IC side of things whereas legacy means OOC, so I’m going to say Dan West, Jeff Ward, Gregg Gethard and Donzilla are the guys who are the benchmarks for legendary status.

Dan West chimes in with a deuce. First one:

What “retired” handler would you most like to see return to the game and why?

Well, I have a few, and I will name them all, but the one I want to see return most is definitely Dave, Euclid’s handler. I feel like he left the game too prematurely, while he was on top, cementing his legacy. I also feel like I need to make amends with him, because when he got into the game, we were tight, but when he left, we were distant… I feel like that’s my fault. Selfish I know, but I hate creating bad blood and not fixing it. I’ve made amends with Stanton, Jarret and everyone else who deserves making up with, and I feel like Dave and I need to make amends. I’d feel better about my eW career and karma if I did.

Other handlers I’d love to see back are as follows. Jason Martin, since he’s the all-around nice guy who makes other people around him better dispositioned. That and because Shane Southern as a heel is intriguing. Kevin G., who handled PILE in MBE, not for his demeanor (he comes off as a jerk on the boards), but for the same reason why Brock Lesnar should come back to the WWE, his run wasn’t nearly close from being over. The TorgoFace Twins, because I like the way they think about wrestling. Ryan Poole, Mikey Nunes, Stan Mikita IV, Mat Harrell and Joe Seaver, because you can never get enough old school A1E guys. And finally, Bill Dempsey, because he never should have left in the first place.

His next question was similar:

Same thing but replace "handler" with "character".

Well, obviously any character associated with the above handlers, i.e. Euclid, Chameleon, Shane Southern, Vladimir Vlachinko, PILE, RAVAGE, Torgo, Leatherface, Liquid Snake, Mikey F’n W, Rat, Xavier Storm, Cannibal, Necromancer, Metal, Druid, Freakfish, Mr. Amazing!, Slambo the Clown, El Tremendo, Atkins and Pharaoh. Now, characters from active handlers that are now retired…

I’d say tops on my list would be Victor Molotov. He placed second in two tournaments that I ran (the original UXW World Championship tourney and the first ever TEAM Invitational Tournament), and his gimmick is among Dan’s strongest (which is saying something). I thought those runs left him incomplete, and he hasn’t had a defining storyline or feud, and his angle has been left open-ended. Maybe he should have been Dan’s entry into the PTC world instead of Steve Watson, although I can totally see why he went that route anyway.

Another one would be Olvir Arsvinnar. You people all know my mancrush for the character, although I have assurances that Strawsma is bringing him back though.

Lindsay’s up next, and she asks:

What name would you give the McRatrick/Curiosity/Mittens/Lowell stable in my eW survey?

Hands Across Little Timmy’s Crotch

Easy enough ;)

Next up is James Irish, whose question resembles more of a post request:

When are you going to do that theory post on comedy in e-fedding I suggested?

It actually fell off my radar, admittedly. I’ve sort of tunneled my vision towards fed based results and broadening the spectra of people in different communities, so I kinda cooled on the theory posts for a little while. Thanks to this reminder, I’ll start working on this one this week. *Waits for Katz to groan and say SKIPP’D!*

Finally for this round of “Ask Your Blogger,” we go to West Chester for the metrosexual Ryan Murray:

If you could reinvent e-wrestling, how would you do so?

That’s a good question, and it might take me awhile to come up with a serious answer. Maybe this is fodder for a larger entry. The knee-jerk reaction may be to install a vote-based system with mandatory voting so that people HAD to read RPs. You might not get a lot of participation there though.

My one really flip idea though would be to combine online gameplay with RPing and segmenting. Basically, you’d decide results by playing against each other online on Smackdown vs. Raw or something like that. Of course, the best game to do this, you can’t play online (No Mercy, unless you can do this via the Wii), but still, it would work. You do the CAW option, make your guy up to your suiting, and face off. The catch is though, that those who RP and do segments for the shows get pushed. If you’re really good at the gameplay phase, but don’t seg or write, then you don’t get pushed at all and you end up fighting curtain jerker matches. That would get people to write, and because you decide winners and losers via video game, people are more inclined to read everything. I’ve found that segments are easier to read than RPs, and people tend to agree with me, I think.

That may sound like a horrible idea to you, but you can’t tell me that if it worked, it wouldn’t reinvent eW as we know it.

Quick notes

- The answers post to the "Ask Your Blogger" post will go up once I get a few more questions. Thanks to Dove and Sam for providing some good ones thus far, but I know you guys have things you want to ask. Don't be shy, you can ask just about anything eW related. Like about my answers to the big-ass survey.

- Here's something I'd like some feedback on. How many of you out there would be interested in doing a monthly Power Poll for TEAM? It's basically like the AP college football/basketball poll, only in the interest of time and because of the numbers involved, it'll be a top ten rather than a top 25. If that's something you're interested in, lemme know.

- Remember this? Yep, it's a post on how much I thought death angles in eW were such a bad idea. Well, in a case of real life ripping off fantasy, Vince McMahon thought it'd be a swell idea to fake his own death for an angle. Brilliant, and the worst case scenario, a wrestler or former wrestler actually dying during this asinine angle, happened. Sensational Sherri passed today at the age of 49. Guess whose death got top billing on WWE.com? Yep, Vince's "passing." Ludicrous. Just goes to show that bad ideas in eW also are bad ideas in the real thing. There's no question in my mind that even the most mediocre of minds in the eW realm could book circles around the WWE at this point. That's not a good thing, since this stagnance is a huge reason why eW is perceived to be dying itself.

- Just one more quick note on the survey... I agree with more than a few of the people who answered. I really think that for as cool a move as it is and with as much a wow factor as it has, the C-4 (Burchill's version, not K-Wolf's) is totally underused in eW. You'd think that people would have latched onto this move since I've seen a total markage for flippy moves like the Destroyer and the base move off this variant, the Rock Bottom. Oh well, maybe it's a good thing it's not being overdone, because then I'd end up throwing something at the monitor every time I saw fifty characters with it in their arsenal ;)

Ask your blogger!

Alright, time to do the reader participation thing again. We did reader-suggested topics, guest columns and now I'll answer any and all questions you have for me. Just comment here and I'll answer them on the blog to the best of my knowledge.

To keep this from being a supershort entry, some notes:

- Go ahead and make some predictions on the ToC. You can do that right here. Just make a quickie prediction and a confidence level. This is for the purpose of making odds for vBookie.

- If you haven't noticed at any of the hubs, I posted a really, really long survey. If you haven't answered yet and have 20 mintues to a half-hour free, please answer it. I just love seeing what people think about eW, all the different ideas and all the questions that everyone, regardless of community, seem to be in unison about. I plan to post a similar topic every month on the hubs... although future ones won't be nearly as long as the survey :)

- Even though I haven't read the show yet, I got the spoilers from it and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Mike Dove on winning the NFW World Championship as Kin Hiroshi. The trend of good guys winning World Titles continues into 2007, and by my reckoning, there isn't anyone in this hobby more deserving of winning the big one right now than he is. This is long overdue, and it couldn't happen for a nicer guy.

What You Want (And an explanation of why I haven't been giving it to you lately)

Well, I'd like to say first and foremost thank you to everyone who's filled out the feedback survey so far. If you haven't, please do. I hope there are more readers out there who have opinions, mainly on the state of the blog. I do take suggestions to heart, and while I still do like to write about the state of the hobby and writing theories, I understand that some people *cough*Katz*cough* don't like to read that. I'm not going to stop writing about that completely, but coming from the comments I've seen so far in the feedback, many people would rather see the fed reviews and happenings reported.

Truthfully, I like to write about the happenings and show feedback myself. If I didn't, I don't think that Colossus, Coast to Coast or Golden Dreams would have gotten the attention that they did. I just really haven't had a lot of time to sit down and really dissect a wrestling write-up, even for feds that I'm in. I skim results, look for the finishes and major angles, and then it's onto the next order of business, usually RPing or organizing something for TEAM.

Yes, TEAM. Katz said that TEAM has killed this blog, and whether it's because I stopped writing about things he likes to see or my frequency has dropped down to historically slow levels (even then, compared to the rest of you blog-slackers, I'm freaking Mike Stanton, circa 2002), he could be right. Really, I've spent a lot of time making sure that my tournaments are running smoothly and that my trains are running on time. Not an unfair thing to ask of a fedhead really, but I do realize I've probably spread myself so thin across the eW spectrum that I can only really devote myself to one thing fully at a time. Then work comes along and I get tossed onto a hectic schedule where I'm commuiting 90 minutes to Freehold, NJ, and a lot of my free time gets sapped.

To say that I don't have the time though... maybe that's a misnomer. I allocate my time very poorly when it comes to eW. A lot of times, I get sucked into those theoretical debates with the mental midgets over at W3:16. I know I shouldn't, because they're not worth my time, but I can't stand to see people pontificate about things and not be pontificated back at. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. I spend a lot of time at other message boards too... time spent looking at forums that don't update very frequently. I could be looking at shows, but my mind gets so fried from work and from other things that I really don't have the energy to concentrate through an entire show nowadays. Is that my fault? Yeah, it is, but it's something that I will work on to bring you a better product.

So, in closing:

TEAM + RPing + Work + Dicking around the Internet = No fed reviews.

I can't help the first three. My duties lie to the people who RP for me, the people I RP for and of course, my real life obligations (which do far outweigh the other two). But the last one is something I need to stop anyway. Seriously, there are only so many times I can call someone out on their ignorant, misguided views on how FW feds are all "'I better than u,' 'no, EYE better than u'" and boring headlocks all the time.

So... there's a pledge from me. More constructive content, more fed reviews. But if something theoretical comes up and I feel like I want to discuss it, well Katz, you're probably just going to have to skip it :p

Guest Bloggings: Teh R3n3gade

Just when you thought that the guest bloggings stopped... they haven't! (a reminder to everyone who promised a blog and haven't delivered yet.... there's still time :p) This week, we get yet another PRIMEate (although he's a recent one... he made his PTC bones in GCW) in the from of Andrew Delling, handler of GTT5 Champion "The Renegade" Rich Rollins and Iblis. Here goes...

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The Tale of the Tape
by Andrew Delling, special guest to RRoaEL

Somebody once said "… no chance in hell," and suddenly, I was hooked.

If you're reading this entry, I'm going to assume two things; a). your childhood was spent watching the likes of Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin suplex your television on a weekly basis, and b). you couldn't get enough of it, no matter how much crap you had to swallow from family and friends. In short, if you're reading this now, you almost certainly learned to appreciate the theater of professional wrestling (not this new-fangled sports entertainment bullshit, but that good old fashioned professional wrastlin') before falling in love with the athletic, almost poetic, and undeniably hypnotic nature of the business. On a side note, aren't "real" professional sports entertaining, too? What makes pro wrestling so spectacular?

The short answer: storytelling. It isn't a dirty word, folks. It's the magic word.

Every single conceivable storyline, whether original or otherwise, has in some way been represented on Monday night television courtesy of Vincent K. McMahon. Angry protagonist looking for revenge? Check. Jealous lover looking for retribution? Check. Ambitious newcomer looking to climb the corporate ladder, regardless the cost or condition? Ditto. Lesbian adultery? Yup. Devious villains looking for new and creative ways to defile the corpse of Katie Vick? Done and double-checked.

Most people dismiss these stories as testosterone-infused flights of operatic fiction, carried out on a canvas stage surrounded by the lowest of brow and whitest of trash, but seriously… when did "opera" become synonymous with "oppression?" Fuck the critics. I'm not ashamed of my fascination with so-called low-brow entertainment. After all, if we all started condemning our baser instincts, strip clubs wouldn't be far behind on the endangered species list; tittie bars might make good company with the manatee, but wouldn't that just make us all a bunch of dumbasses?

Okay, I know what you're thinking. What the hell does all this have to do with e-wrestling? It's simple; this hobby strives to celebrate and emulate our (once) preferred form of entertainment through writing stories. Some people act it out with mattresses in their backyard, others in hotly-contested video game re-enactments, and some like to live it out through message boards and AIM conversations on the internet. Hell, for anyone reading this, at some point or another it was probably all three. I've been there, done that, and have the embarrassing backyard videos to prove it.

Our emulation of the "real" pro wrestling is so spot-on, in fact, that we've taken not only the muscles-and-spandex spectacle of Monday night television and made it our own, but we've adopted a far less endearing aspect of the business: the bullshit. The drama. The backstage bickering. The "politics."

This is a statement on the hobby as a whole: unless your name is Jesse Ventura, you have no business as a backstage politician. Feeling like you have to walk on eggshells simply so you can maintain friendships is stupid, but believe me, it happens. Don't get me wrong; a good eighty percent of the time I've devoted to e-wrestling over the past seven years has been fantastic. Without a doubt, this hobby has changed my life in ways that I'd have never thought possible. It cultivates a healthy, hands-on approach to creative writing, and whether or not you actually consider yourself a writer is irrelevant. We don't do this for money, we do this because it's passionate and sincere, and we do it on our terms. That's the very definition of art, and I'm damn proud to be part of it.

This isn't World of Warcraft (thank god). The irony of it is, it's people like us and communities like this that were the foundation of massively successful games like Everquest and its bastard spawn. Remember when online roleplaying was in its infancy, when it gave pimply D&D fans a chat room or email service to conduct their campaigns through? I remember simming, personally. "Simulation" rooms were all the rave back when AOL was actually a monthly service provider and not just a free instant messenger. This new MMO craze is just the next step on the ladder of roleplaying evolution, where big software companies are injecting our imaginations with formaldehyde and providing us with a flashy, graphics-oriented alternative. There's a huge difference between an (overly-indulged, goddamn life-sucking) MMO and e-wrestling. We create something new every time we sit down at the keyboard, because we build our own world. Blizzard fans are just playing in someone else's sandbox, and personally, they can keep their crusty catshit surprises all to themselves.

I'm not segueing any of this very well, am I? I apologize for the erratic changes of topics here, but hell, I'm just saying some things "out loud" that I've been mulling over for awhile now. Anyway, I'll cut to the chase.

E-wrestling as a whole is kinda like a Baskin Robins ice cream parlor. Our true appeal is in the variety of our styles, our flavors. The old-school script-style trash talkers are like the amaretto chocolate next to the fledgling novelist's strawberry pecan. You want a more traditional, grassroots grasp that focuses on the entertainment value instead of the writing? Try the vanilla. It's the staple of any decent sundae.

Just remember that at the end of the day, you can't make a banana split without the chocolate and strawberry, too.

On the whole, the majority of e-wrestling has been the same solid core groups of people who are the cornerstone of any given e-wrestling community. Most of us have known one another for years. We've grown up together, matured together (well…), and become a voice together. The hobby is healthier than it's ever been, and you want to know why? It isn't about playing some numbers game, about the steady decline of our "real" alternative, or even the lack of fresh meat trickling in from the digital void; it's about the evolution of the game itself, and from looking around at how far we've come, once again, I'm proud to have been around to watch it happen.

Now, watch me eat my words when the world's first eW MMO hits store shelves next Fall.

Guest Bloggings: The Malice Blog!

Our next guest blogger is none other than Al Larcher. Say what you will about him, but he's one of the most old-school guys that there is in PTC-land, and he's certainly not afraid to tell you what's on his mind, especially in the following entry. I must put the disclaimer out there, these opinions are all his own. They don't necessarily reflect what I believe in full (although I find myself saying "hell motherfucking yes" at a few of these passages). So, without further ado...

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For the Blog
by Al Larcher, special guest to RRoaEL

A hobby of hypersensitive hypocritical computer addicted adults has over run a hobby that used to flow with imagination and creativity. A game that took so many of us out of reality and into this world of wrestling most of us grew up with, has been replaced by a fucking library. Oh and not a very good one at that. As a matter of fact its more like the bargain bin of Harry’s Book store. Sure you may find a steal if you dig deep enough but that’s a lot of shit to dig though just to find that one gem.

Most of the writing out there is boring, repetitive, and just flat out bad. Oh, do I have your attention now? Hello, I’m Mr. Williams aka Hoyt aka Duke aka Al aka Asshole aka The Malice Man aka the straight shooter aka Karma aka Aldo aka Alvis aka the guy you love to hate.

Somebody called me an Internet heel which made me laugh. I don’t seek out trouble. I just don’t like to curtail the truth and, if that makes me a bad guy then I am what I am. As a matter of fact I removed myself from the general e-wrestling discussion in PTC well over two years ago. As mama once said if you don’t have anything nice to say go buy an ice cream cone. Well hell, I’m all out of ice cream and mama’s dead so listen up to what I have to say. I’ve been in this hobby for over 12 years consistently. I’ve been fired once and that was by Pete and PRIME which is enough for me to say to hell with the game. Am I a grumpy cynical jag off? You bet. But what I say is truth.

There used to be an excitement that went along with the hobby. If you were home and you rped or posted something occ you would find yourself hitting refresh every five minutes to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Guys ribbed other guys, rps were answered with other rps, and community was vibrant and real.

Nothing was off limits either as guys took us from space to hell and back again. The only rule was respect the other characters right to be that character. In other words don’t use something that isn’t yours regardless if its another character or somebody else’s writing. It wasn’t out of the question to have a guy vaporize on a show as long as everybody was ok with it. Yet even with this free range, the game was grounded in realism.

The only goal back then was to have fun and create something in the process that we the players in that fed enjoyed. The federation was a lump of clay and we all had a hand in crafting something, yet never knowing what it was we were making. E Pluribus Unum the Masonic motto of the United State translated from Latin means, “One of Many” also holds true to our hobby.

Yet today the hobby is filled with well organized and well meaning fed heads who lack any semblance of creativity. Oh sure, a few exist but they are few and far between. Nobody is willing to take chances anymore and have fun because it may GOD FORBID disrupt their four month lay out. Give me a break, hell give us all a break. Imagine if sex had to be that rigid and planned out?

Where are the matches in shopping malls? Where are the matches that take us beyond where a real fed can go? Where are the space hookers in bras? Where is are the chance that we just have to follow? Stifled and simple not in the plans.

PRIME is a great example of a fed that was cutting edge and care free. It did what it needed to do, not to impress anybody but those with in it’s wall’s who were having fun. It allowed me to grow my character and understand who my character was. The talent was always’s there but soon the names moved in, and PRIME skyrocketed. Then Sebs had to move on with his life, and PRIME was handed off. Now it has all the names yet it just seems to be going through the motions to get the shows up on time instead of having fun and bringing us something fresh.

Now I respect that its a double edged sword, where if the shows are late the fun starts to fade fast. But for Christ sake I beg all the fed heads to relax and go back to have fun and creating fresh ideas rather then just existing.

A 312 page book is fairly average for a professional writer. Yet in today’s game the average rp is about 6 pages, at about 1 per week. That’s 312 pages of writing a year. Guess what, only about 4 guys in the game are capable of consistently writing that much material that it could be published. YET EVERYBODY IS TRYING.

What you are writing is probably not very good. You may disagree, and what is good is in the eye’s of the beholder. But the fact is it probably isn’t very good. However I’m willing to bet you're a creative person who can produce something that is entertaining. AHHHH entertaining!! That is what’s been lost in the writing.

Last night I saw The Good Shepherd which was a two and half hour snorefest. Great actors, a long and presumably well written script, and Robert DeNiro directing. So what went wrong? It was simply not entertaining. I sat there for the two and half hours and I have to admit what I followed as far as the story goes, was interesting, but definitely not entertaining. I bet Rocky which has less stars, less script, and less budget is probably far more entertaining.

To entertain dosn’t mean to make laugh but rather to provoke an enjoyable emotion. Old Yeller makes me cry yet it’s enjoyable. High Noon has no humor, a predictable ending, and story we’ve all seen before, however its one of my favorite movies. A football game is enjoyable and entertaining. STOP TRYING TO BE WHAT YOU'RE NOT. Shoot to be entertaining not a writer and you will do so much better.

The problem I find with most of the RPing in e-land is the characters are there, the words are there, but the entertainment aspect isn’t. Dude, I bet your girlfriend’s diary is more interesting and enjoyable then what you are producing. Why? Real life is fascinating and with the ability to exaggerate and expand, it becomes even more fascinating. The best stuff I’ve read in e-wrestling comes from truth stretched by an imagination. Never from an imagination by itself.

The biggest void in our hobby comes from this isolationist approach to our writing. We now tell solo story’s that lack interaction in a hobby based on playing a role in a world created by another person playing a role. Instead we just play with ourselves then masturbate over our work. Great. So really e-wrestling has turned into writers' guild.

My last bitch and moan before I go off to masturbate since that sounds like a good idea is our lack of criticism. Nobody is allowed to say anything negative about anybody else’s stuff, since it came from their heart and god forbid we offend them in the process and make them feel bad. So instead nobody says anything good or bad about anybody else’s stuff, since it came from their heart and god forbid we offend them in the process and make somebody feel bad. So once again we move toward isolationism instead of community.

Its a shame but then again what do I know I’m just one guy with one opinion.

=w=

Guest Bloggings: Sky's Turn

Our next guest blogger is Skylar Green, handler of Vangellus Oxios in PRIME most recently. He's got another sort of follow up to his fellow PRIMEate Dave's blog, and like his and Shane's, this one's a must read, folks.

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Spectrum
by Sklyar Green, special guest to RRoaEL

I've spent most of my 5/6 years of e-wrestling in the Primetime Central community (and whatever was associated with it). Over that way, there's been a bit of a shift in RPing philosophy from time to time, usually not much that affects the overall movement of the feds except for community events such as iPPVs, tournaments, or the Infinite Gauntlet. But in the entire time that I've been handling over there, whichever feds that I've been in, the emphasis was on roleplaying to win matched. And the method by which you'd win an RP match in an RP fed over that way was by telling the most entertaining story with your character. You usually didn't have to make mention of your upcoming match or opponent, but there were exceptions. Normally it would be a good idea to give some kind of thought to opponents in the case of heated feuds. You dislike somebody that much and all those thoughts, or they've got hatred toward you, and it's gonna follow you home regardless. But most of the time, with exhibition matches, you could just do whatever and that would be fine enough so long as you had a good story.

Now, PTC provides satisfaction mostly for the “writing” itch, although I believe that I'm someone in a stuck-mode. Taking from David's (Snow) blog, I consider myself something of a hybrid writer, or maybe somebody who's just been writing in the 2002/2003 way if I had a choice in the matter. I've had to adapt my roleplaying, and I haven't really complained much about it, but David was spot on when he says that the “writers” have hijacked the place. I'll admit that I find I'd go nuts if I attempted to do a roleplay that's nothing but Wrestler A sitting in a dark room cutting a promo, but at the same time I do my best to connect my wrestler's story to the fact that they're actually a wrestler. It's been reflected in the last three characters that I've written.

Silvio Fiore is an old-school wrestling character. He joined his first federation (Death Row Wrestling Federation, over in Projekt X) by way of a developmental contract. The fed had him trained and in the meantime he traveled with the show, helping with the crew to set up the ring, ramp, and whatever else they had him do. The President and CEO of the fed only brought Silvio in when he thought that that Fiore could add to the product. Because of a physical condition that prevented him from feeling pain despite the fact that he was small by pro wrestling standards, they brought him in early. So he was a kid with a GED, undertrained, in over his head. The roleplays and the segments linked together to tell the story of a thoughtful, even-tempered country boy who would have to adapt to an environment that was much less friendly than what he was used to. The bulk of his rude awakening had to take place on the shows; roleplays were training and his reactions to the federation because with him driving to and from the shows and getting training in the meantime, he didn't have time in his life for much else that would involve a novel-level story progression.

In PRIME, Vangellus Oxios found a good tag team partner and friend in Scott Matthews. The man was a monster in size, and had anger problems, but he was still a down-to-earth guy who was trying to support his family and find a normal life as he really didn't have growing up. Did Oxios have crazy stuff going on in his RPs? Sure he did, but that was mostly in playful contrast to what Matthews was doing. But even so, they were both wrestling characters. Their whole team was tossed together spur-of-the-moment, and neither was much of an expert in the ring (Matthews being purely power, and Oxios being more of a kickboxer with a strong head but a weak neck). Each man was determined, however, to stick it out for the long haul and make it work. They sought out a trainer and worked to improve. They made themselves into a media-friendly group, with both men playing to their strengths (Oxios the more experienced media darling of the two). Matthews needed help with personal problems and Oxios was there for him. Vangellus came out of the closet to his 'uncomfortable around gays' partner, but Scott remained his tag partner and friend because they had both become emotionally vested in each other and seeing each other succeed as a team. Their chemistry on the show could only work as well as it did because their story was all about their bonding and trials as friends and tag partners, and their desire to improve themselves as people and as wrestlers as well, and all of that was in roleplays.

In GCW, anybody who's read my work has learned the most about Ciel in segments that I write for the show because his interactions with the other members of the roster are just as telling of his personality as if he was just at home with his family. Nowhere in my roleplays have I mentioned that Ciel doesn't like to look directly down at shorter women because it's too easy for his eyes to wander down to their chests (he avoids doing that as a sign of respect). The roleplays I've done have said nothing of him having a degree in anthropology, thus allowing him a good deal of ability to effectively analyze the meta-society that professional wrestling builds around itself. And people can scan his history or RPs all they like, but nobody would actually know that Ciel has an affinity for sitting out in the hallways and listening to his iPod before matches because that would never come up outside of work. Roleplays aren't concerned with that because he's a single father with three kids to take care of; he's dealing with homework, cooking, and other household concerns that most wrestlers don't have to worry about to such an extent. If you want to learn about what motivates Ciel to wrestle, you read his RPs. If you want to see what kind of wrestler he is, you read the shows.

I always put a premium on having a substantive link between RPs, segments, and matches. That doesn't mean that it's just got to be wrestling all the time in everything a person ever does, but at the same time I do believe that I can have the best chance of entertaining the largest audience possible if I give the wrestling aficionados something to enjoy, and give the writing junkies something to hitch their wagon to. At the same time, I never want to create a character that a person can just totally “skip” part of their presentation. If something's introduced in an RP, there's a chance that it'll influence something on the show, so hey, read that too if you liked it and vice-versa. And that being the way that I write, that's how I read as well.

Overall, that highly influences the way that I read PTC, and why I rarely give RP feedback anymore (if I do, it's just technical stuff). Don't get me wrong, I don't mind reading RPs, but for me I still work in e-wrestling because I'm trying to portray a wrestler. I can go to Ezboard or Invisionfree roleplaying areas and depict a human being who is only 5% concerned with wrestling in their lives. I mean, I always give my characters other marketable talents (Silvio Fiore could easily work crew, or scouting; Vangellus Oxios is an international product shill and successful kickboxer; Ciel trains in wrestling, writes for his local paper, and serves as a mediator within his community). Nothing's stopping them from doing other things, but they've got to absolutely, totally, 200% *love* wrestling if they're willing to put themselves through the abuse and travel schedules and personal appearances.

A lot of what I see when I look out there… I see people who really don't need to be wrestlers. Characters who are wrestling, sure, but you take a look at the stories surrounding them and I couldn't tell you for the life of me why they're wasting their time wrestling when it clearly isn't the personal or even the professional interest in their lives. What is it about them? Do they just get off on people cheering for them? Attention whores who need to have millions of eyes on them? Sadists who want the legal indemnity that wrestling often provides them? Getting rich quick is worth the short-term pain and suffering? What is it?

Go ahead, wrap your character up in a very compellingly-produced murder mystery that spans continents and has conspiracies and plot twists at every turn. Never in your life (or mine, for that matter) will I call you a bad writer because of that alone. At the same understand that I might won't care enough, based on that alone, to want you to win a match against your random opponent Bixby Briggs because the two things have no real connection. And further understand that you may have a very well-organized wrestling feud on the shows, and I'll commend you for it, but if your roleplays seem to take place in another world altogether, I'm probably not going to get the maximum enjoyment out of your e-wrestling character as I would if the two things had some kind of link.

What was I even trying to say here? Honestly, I just started typing and whatever I had in mind came onto the page. But I guess if I had a point, it would be that David was right; the writers have taken over in PTC. But that doesn't mean that nothing can be done about it. It'd be supreme hubris to consider PTC as “complete;” without anymore room or need to expand or alter its philosophies. The writers don't have to stop, but rather I consider things to have gone on a pendulum swing from one extreme to the next. Whereas in the past you have roleplays where all a guy talked about was his opponent, now you have RPs where many people don't even remind you by the end of their work for the week that their character even wrestles for a living. It's not everybody, I readily admit that. However, what I believe would be very good is to attempt to reach more of an equilibrium state reached between the two RPing styles rather than just going from one extreme to another and considering the shift to be linear and at an end to the progression. Some people have that, some people don't; I say for myself, at least, that a balance, or at least a greater emphasis on the fact that one's character is a wrestler at all (in RPs) would be a great boon to things in PTC overall and allow for another boom (even if a smaller one than before) in membership. But that's just me.

The Awards Blitz

Like I said in the previous entry, it's the end of the year and people are going awards happy, and rightfully so, I might add. Recognition spurs discussion, and discussion is always good. Of course, I have my own year-end awards that I present on my blog. I don't know how prestigious the Blog Awards are. I know there are some among you who hold this silly little thing as gospel, and I also know that a majority of the handlers of the world either don't know of this blog's existence or don't give a flipping fuck about it. That's okay, really. I'm not in it for the recognition or to be this almighty bestower of honor and prestige. For one, I don't follow nearly enough feds for me to have that claim. I mean, there are several PTC feds, a circle that I'm a member of, that I don't follow as much as I'd like (and I feel bad about it too, since I feel like I haven't given GCW a fair shake and I hear nothing but rave reviews about Global and XUW).

Two, well, I am biased to an extent, but really, we all are... we praise what we like. There is no universal objective standard to how good an RP is, but I'm sure if there were, people would still gush over what they liked over what was objectively "good." Kinda like in the way that Yngwie Malmsteen might be the most technically proficient guitar player in the world, but I'd take listening to Kurt Cobain's silly little three-chord riffs over his OMG SHRED any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Therefore, we're probably never going to see completely eye to eye about who should get what awards.

For example, I'm 99.999% sure that when I post my top 5 list for Wrestler of the Year in the awards post, The Illustrious Face-Eater/Adam Dick is going to be on there. (Where? I'm not giving awards spoilers out, bitches :p) However, there are going to be some people who would refuse to put him on a top 20 for this year. There are still others who are going to rank him #1 on their lists. Does that mean some people are more "wrong" than others? Of course not. In a hobby where how good you do is based entirely on the subjective nature of some kind of judging panel (in A1E, it's the voting populace, in GTT6, it's a panel of judges, in most feds, it's a single booker), there is no such thing as objectivity.

However, it's more than fair to ask and see what people use as their criteria for selecting awards? I open the following questions up to everyone, whether you have your own set of awards, or whether you're just nominating/voting in a process such as the MARK Awards or the ENNies, who would like to answer, even as I provide my answers underneath.

What do you look for when you name your Wrestler of the Year, or really any kind of in character award?

Basically, I look at a character, and I use the following two criteria:

1. Did I enjoy that character's body of work?
2. How much positive impact did the character have on the fed(s) he/she was in?

Of course, it gets broken down so much more than that, two especially. I look at things like major feuds, angles, segment participation, titles won, tournament work, impact across multiple feds and overall heat (the most subjective criterion there is in this hobby where the fans don't pile into the arena and chant for the guys they feel are most over!).

When you break down reason one though... well, that may sound like I'm some raving lunatic and that it gives me carte blanche to honor/discredit whomever I want. In a way, that's correct, and I don't need anyone telling me I can't do otherwise on this little space on the Internet that I call my own. Conversely though, I do feel somewhat of a responsibility to try and inject some kind of objectivity into things. Then again... I've been known to enjoy most anything, so I won't (or at least I hope I never will) throw out a character's accomplishments just because I don't enjoy it at all. Well, unless it's a character that I'm diametrically opposed to, like, say a legit vampire who insists on doing people in in the middle of the ring, or a business-exposing character who breaks kayfabe at will but gets praise and titles heaped upon him/her... but even then, characters like that are virtually non-existant. (note about the vampires... from my understanding, most vampiric characters don't really show that side in the ring even though they are acknowledged as such... so with my predilections against them, I can at least tolerate them).

I guess what I mean with reason one is that my enjoyment tends to be a tiebreaker, like in the case of, say, Garbage Bag Johnny vs. Felix Red. Their accomplishments will merit them both a lot of talk for WotY, but I'd tend to rank GBJ higher. Why? I derived more enjoyment from the character. I thought his segs were engaging and entertaining, whereas with Felix... I thought he had his share of entertaining segments, but there were also times where I didn't understand where he was going and got confused with what he was saying. No knock on the character or Barry himself. I still think he deserves recognition, but here's a case where I feel GBJ's enjoyment factor pushes him higher.

What do you look for when deciding Handler of the Year?

Basically, it's a mix of the above in-character stuff and a healthy dose of OOC stuff too. Intangibles as I like to call them. Stuff like matchwriting, feedback participation, backstage demeanor, promotion, management skills as a fedhead and assistance to the fedhead as a rank-and-file member of the fed. It boils down to dedication. I'd be more than happy to give WotY to a character and snub the handler if all he/she does is RP and maybe give consent for the character to be in an angle here or there. Conversely, I'd have no problem giving HotY to someone whose characters do dick in-character, but that person writes matches, gives feedback, offers encouraging words to fellow fedmates and helps hold together feds that might otherwise fall apart.

How much stock should you put in awards?

Only as much as you want to. If you think that winning the ENNie for Wrestler of the Year is a huge deal, then it's a huge deal. If it doesn't mean much to you, that's alright too (although the many who nominated and voted would be disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm for the award). At the end of the day, any award, be it MARK, ENNie, Blog Award or even the C. Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, is only there for fun and to spur discussion. That's all. If you take pride in the awards you win, then that's great and you're doing a great thing for the hobby and for yourself.

However, when you start throwing those accomplishments around, like a certain William Morgan does here with his cIm Wrestler of the Week Awards, it becomes cheap, tawdry and plain pathetic. As an aside, it's such a joke when he criticizes Devin for talking up his MARK Award as some phantom accomplishment. I mean, last time I checked, Russel Harder is not some phantom alias that Devin uses to give himself stupid awards; he's a respected member across all three major communities that are covered here. Morgan's cIm WotW awards all came because the Rev-Pro fanboys flooded the ballot boxes. Pot. Kettle.

Anyway... getting back on topic, awards are only what you make of them. Don't let your ego get too inflated, and don't let them get you down if you don't win them either.

And as a bonus, I throw in another question that totally contradicts the advice I gave in the previous sentence. :)

In a moment of total selfishness, what awards would you nominate your own work in the hobby for if you were so bold?

One WotY nod for The Phantom Republican, a Heel of the Year nod for Suleimon and a Tag Team of the Year nod for The 'Billies would be nice enough for me to be bold in that hypothetical situation. But awards aren't for puffing yourself up; they're for honoring others. So I would not be so bold :)

Guest Bloggings! Snow on New Blood

Our next guest bloggings comes from David Snow (I don't know his real last name :p), who handles Jason Snow. He writes on a subject that's near and dear to my heart, and I have to say, it's a must-read.

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Now and Then
by David "Snow," Special Guest to RRoaEL

Upon returning to e-wrestling after a three year hiatus, I was staggered to see the differences in the game. First of all, it seems that angle feds turned out to be just a fad after all, and the RP fed once again reigns supreme. Second, people are much more mature, but I suppose that comes along with the fact that it’s mostly the same people, only now we’re all way too old for this game. Third, the game itself has lost a lot of steam.

Around the time I left in 2003, eW was electric. Forums were buzzing with activity, and there were chats going around the clock. No matter what time of day you were able to stop in, there was always something going on to get your eW fix.

It’s not like that now.

The forums are, for the most part, looked at, but not used. The chats are reserved for rare occasions.

Originally, I just thought the game had changed; that people just weren’t as into as I remembered. But when I got into the community, I saw that wasn’t the case either. You only need GTT6 for proof of that. Even during the most active time that I was involved in eW, I’ve never seen anything generate buzz like GTT6.

I’ve talked to many people about the state of eW today as compared to the time I left, and nearly all of them said the same thing - eW will rebound when the wrestling industry rebounds. I agreed. It sounds logical, right? More wrestling fans mean more people will trickle in to eW, populating our game with new blood. The over all numbers are down, but I think everyone will agree, the bulk of the difference is in how many “new” guys are around. In 2002/2003, there were a lot of guys who’d been involved in the game for less than four months - less than two months, even. Since my comeback, I don’t think I’ve talked to one.

But that’ll change when wrestling gets popular again, right?

Well...

Rating for WWE RAW (September 30, 2002): 3.6
Rating for WWE RAW (October 7, 2002): 3.8
Rating for WWE RAW (October 14, 2002): 3.8

Rating for WWE RAW (September 29, 2003): 3.4
Rating for WWE RAW (October 6, 2003): 3.4
Rating for WWE RAW (October 13, 2003): 3.6

Rating for WWE RAW (September 25, 2006): 3.7
Rating for WWE RAW (October 2, 2006): 3.4
Rating for WWE RAW (October 9, 2006): 3.8

Lets face it. The golden age of wrestling was over a full year, or perhaps two, before the golden age of eW began.

In preparation for this article, I decided to look around at other feds. I found one of those Top-100 sites and starting going through. I was very surprised. When you look through the “geocities” and “angelfire” feds, almost nothing has changed. These feds seem as active as ever, if not, I daresay moreso. I know what you’re thinking: “I saw one of those Top-100 feds sites too, and a lot of the feds had long-since died.” All I can say is you might be looking at 2002/2003 through rose-colored glasses, because that’s what those things always looked like. Small feds rarely made it to their six month anniversary. The point is, people are still creating the feds.

I found out recently that my first ever fed has come back from the grave - not only has it come back, but it’s now bursting with activity. It has a roster of over thirty members, and that’s a conservative estimate. They’re all very active. And yes, the fed still uses real pictures and several of it’s RP’s happen in a ring.

Looking through these feds, I came to two conclusions. You can think they’re wrong if you like, but I believe that these are cold truths that we should accept.

Conclusion #1

The decline of e-fedding is an illusion.

Conclusion #2

We have hi-jacked the hobby.

Who are we?

We are the writers.

I am, perhaps, more guilty of this than any of you. I don’t watch wrestling; I haven’t watched wrestling since roughly 2002. I don’t know who the WWE champion is, and in casual conversation, I still refer to it as the “WWF.” I don’t know who the faces and heels are. If I’m flipping through the channels and I happen to see an old face from my childhood, I’ll stop to watch. Other than that, the most it will get is a quick pause, and then I’m onto the next channel.

I’m not alone. In fact, I don’t even think I’m in the minority. That’s not to say I don’t like wrestling. I think that each of us involved in the game has, at some point or another, been captivated with the sport. It is, after all, the closest thing there is to a soap opera made for males. But to say I’m a fan? No... I’m like the guy who’s favorite baseball player has long since retired. He likes the sport - you might even say he has a love for it - but it is very hard to call him a fan.

But eW isn’t about wrestling anymore - lets face it. It’s about intriguing stories that may or may not be loosely based on wrestling. The characters in eW are not really characters at all, save for a few. Ask around.

“What’s your character?”

“Oh, I handle John Smith in GWF (Generic Wrestling Federation).”

“Oh yeah, what’s his gimmick?”

“He’s a guy that was born into a terrible family where his father abused his mother. Now he’s in the middle of a plot to blow up his city because an evil congressman is trying to divert attention away from his unnatural lust for young boys.”

You know who has the best “gimmick” in that? The congressman with the unnatural lust for young boys. What we call gimmicks today aren’t really gimmicks - they’re circumstances that surround the main character. A gimmick is who the character is, not what’s going on in his life.

Again, I’m probably more guilty of this than the rest of you. That’s because I’m in the game for the writing, and often times, the most interesting characters are pretty ordinary ones that get caught up in an unordinary situation. Why? Because we’re writers, and those are the kinds of characters that people can relate to.

And damn it, have we ever gotten good.

There are a handful of people involved in PTC right now that have the talent to write a novel. They might even have the talent to write professionally. And just behind them, there are several more e-fedders who are developing at a pace that will have them in that group shortly. There are guys that I would wager large amounts of money that, given enough free time, could make it as authors. And without e-fedding, they’d probably have remained above average.

But where does this leave the average wrestling fan?

They come to PTC, looking for a good wrestling game to get involved in. They see the posers, read the news columns, check out some rankings... they’re excited. They want to get involved. But then they come to the RP section, and they find that it’s not a wrestling game at all. It’s a writing game that simply uses wrestling as its platform. They’re not interested in a writing game.

And you know what’s funny? I’ll bet many of you would have been in the same boat when you got into the game. 99% of us got into it for wrestling - I know I did. Many of us were decent writers to begin with, so as the game evolved, we didn’t have much trouble adjusting. Many of us weren’t great writers, but through practice, became good writers. Many of us were terrible writers, but because of sheer competitiveness, or perhaps simply to continue having fun in the game, we got better. Maybe it was even an accident.

I’m not being critical - I want that to be known. I’m just pointing out that this really isn’t a wrestling game anymore, and that’s probably the biggest reason for the decline.

And when I say “we’ve hijacked the hobby,” I really only mean we’ve hi-jacked the major leagues of the hobby. Because it seems that in the feds that we used to call “indy” feds, where it’s still all about the wrestling, things about the same as they always were.

It’s not about making changes, it’s about accepting the way things are. We’ll probably never get back to the heights of the “Ron days,” simply because the game has changed now. Being a wrestling fan isn’t enough to thrive in PTC now. You have to have the unique combination of being a wrestling fan/like wrestling, and being a fairly talented writer or better. That combination is a lot harder to find, and thus, new blood continues come in at a trickle.

More Random Notes

I'm chock full of random notes lately, aren't I?

- First thing's first, I got a buttload of people who want to do guest bloggings, and I've only received two. Please don't disappoint me. I'm looking forward to your bloggings so. A few hints too.

1) Stick to IC and OOC... don't switch between the two.

2) Read over your entry before you hand it in and make sure it's something you want to represent you on a site that you don't operate. I don't mean to sound like a pompous ass, but I try to maintain a level of quality on the site. I'll publish whatever it is you want published (as long as it's not an out-and-out shill, that is), but make sure it's your best.

- HOLLA! HOLLA! You thought they wouldn't make it, but they did. NFW. Wild Card action, Eastern style. I haven't read through it all yet (I also have A1E and PRIME results to slog through too), but there's an interesting segment with Kooter near the beginning. Not sure what to think of it, but it certainly blurs the lines.

- In a stunning bit of GTT6 news, Iblis, that "newcomer" to the tournament, isn't a newcomer at all, but it's Andrew Delling, handler of "The Renegade" Rich Rollins. I'm surprised at who it is, but with all the raves over the writing, I guess it's not much of a surprise. Kudos to Andrew for getting another character over, into the tournament and that far before having to bow out. He says it's his tournament finale, but he said that after he lost at first in the tourney. Never say never in this hobby ;)

- Speaking of bowing out, Sean Williams, handler of Seymour Almasy among others, is bowing out of the game for now due to pressing law school concerns. I wish him the best in his endeavors, and hopefully he comes back. He's definitely one of the most creative minds in the game.

Guest Blogger II: It's Varga Time

Our next guest bloggings comes from the infamous James Varga, known to PTC as the Infinite Gauntlet's Gillberg and employer of more characters than myself, Dan West, Bill Dempsey, Gregg Gethard and Steve Thomas combined. He's taking a break from his e-fed hiatus to give us an insight on PTC and some comments towards one Axel Action. Are they shoot? Are they work? The world may never know! Anyway, here goes...

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The Varga Voice
by James Varga, special guest blogger to RRoaEL

I bet all of you are wondering just what James Varga's been up to since he left the wrestling rings of the PTC. And now, for the ten of you out there who actually give a crap about me, here's the dirt as only I can say it.

I went to Hollywood. I am currently finishing up my first film as I type this. Now I bet a lot of you smarks out there are wondering just why in the hell would a fine specimen like myself join the ranks of the Hollywood elite? Well, it's simple really. Wrestling is fake and acting is just another part of the job.

But there's another reason I'm coming back. Throughout my career, I've had my disagreements with some limp dicks. And one of them is a man by the name of Axel Action. Action, listen to me and listen to me good. We have unfinished business, you see. Back in 2005, we were both up and coming in stars in the UWF. That's when our paths crossed and we had one of the greatest matche sin UWF history! At Live and Loud, I defeated you. Some of you may hate that fact, but it's damn well what happened.

The win was controversial, though. Two months later, I left the UWF in one of the most ugly and public incidents in that companies history. But something about what happened has been gnawing at me ever since. Someone came to me and told me that they believed that you should've won that match. The fact is Axel, we were both held back because we were different. We scared the Main Eventers. Well, actually, I pissed them off, but that's another story.

Axel, if you're reading this now, let me tell you what I have planned for you during your little match with Sledge. There is no way you are winning that match. It's impossible, so you can take this as a fact. I will not count the fall for you. You will lose, so you might as well not show up. And regardless of what happens, one thing is for sure: James Varga will kick your ass.

Now that I'm done talking about the UWF's version of Voldemort, now I can talk about the state of the PTC as a whole right now. I'm SO happy for the boys in GLOBAL. They are doing so great! How can you not love those guys? When I left with my Circus of Idiots, I told them to use my roster spots well. And boy have they ever! Pay particular attention to Alec Lancer and BloodAngel, who was a force in the NWC. Those guys are going to make an impact next year in the PTC.

I also can't believe how great PRIME is doing since the S-Man left. WOW! Great job all around guys. But what happened to GCW? They were so dominant earlier in the year and now they've fizzled out. And what happened to Rich Rollins? He lost early in the GTT tournament. Isn't it amazing how different a person can be from year to year? Maybe the competition is tougher this year, who knows? And Seymour lost TWICE in the tourney too! What the hell is going on?! That's almost as bad as me in the Gauntlet!

Two feds that don't get enough attention are the WWA and XUW. People can talk about the newer feds all they want, but these feds are steadily pacing themselves along and are quietly having good years. AWC, as always, is top notch and high class. That was such a fun place to work for. Maybe I'll talk TAN into coming back...or not. That would kill the buyrates, lol. Good memories of my times there. But what about the HSW? They don't get no respect. They have a great thing going there. Watch for them. And dont forget FUSE. Tigera is having a strong year there, but she was doing just as good in the UWF during her stint there, too. Hopefully she can keep the success going and not listen to the wrong people like she did when she was in the last federation I'm going to mention.

And lastly, the UWF is closing. How sad is that? For eight years its been around and then BAM! It's gone. I went through the same thing with the NWC back in 2004. As a special treat, I'm going to post my 10 favorite UWF matches of all time on the PTC Forums for all of you to see. Despite everything that went on there with me during my last week there, it was still a great place to work. At times, I still wonder what some people there meant when they said to me that the UWF had "diminished credibility?" That was before everything that happened. That still has me wondering what they meant by that, though. Anyway, the fact is, after FANdamonium, the UWF will be gone forever.

Guys like Jay Phoenix, Kenny Mercury, Jamie Shock, Misfit, Slasher, Luca the Imp, the Hollywood Bombshells, the Communist, Clyde, Killer Dude, Sledge, Nick Persia, Mike Montgomery, Pete the PG Tips Chimp, Chris Storm, Tessa Windsor, Foster Nackedy, Joshua Justice, Red Rock, Seymour Almasy, and Plague all busted their asses for that place while some people abused the system and used manipulative tactics to get all sorts of things to go their way through backstage manueverings and talking to their friends to get their way. They use smear tactics and try to act like heroes to the rid the UWF of people they dont like (me, for instance) to prove how much they care only to sell out and leave 2 months later. They can say things like "I'm UWF thick and through to the end" and have the gall to criticize me only to prove me right when they leave the place high and dry, showing that they don't have any class, which is what they said of me. They said I was low. Well where did they go when the UWF really needed them? They only cared about themselves and no one else. Stuff like that ruined that place in the end.

A lot of people are going to miss the UWF. I'm one of them. But no matter what anybody says or does, nothing can stop it from closing. I'm sure people reading this are saying "Varga, are you trying to start another flame war?" No, I'm not, I'm just pointing out that I wasn't the main problem there. The main problems flared up when I left and the people who really cared got stuck high and dry because of some hypocrites who don't have any business criticizing me for anything because they're just as low, if not lower than I am. But despite all the flaming and everything, there are some people who really deserve a lot of props and rep points from everybody for everything they did to help out and promote the UWF, and they are: Ryan-O, Chris, Jay Phoenix, Tristan (Alec Lancer/Nick Persia), Ed (Communist), Clyde, Sean (Almasy), James (Shock), and Mike (Montgomery). These guys are super dedicated and deserve your respect. They have mine. My name is James Varga and I approved this message. I thank you for your time.