Holy shit, a giant entry

Working two jobs, one of them being full-time, is a bitch, and it totally cuts into e-fedding time. I'm really sorry I haven't found more time to update this thing, but fear not, loyal readers. I am not abandoning it, and I have no plans to, actually.

Even as I have less time to do stuff, there are still plenty of things to say about the world of e-fedding. A lot of news, controversy, you name it, we have it this week. Hopefully, this won't become a strictly weekly thing, but I hope you guys understand. I have a lot going on.

Anyway, onto the entry for today.

First up, we have a new addition to the e-fed blogring, which really is just Jeff Paternostro's blog moved from ENN's old site to Blogspot. Once again, I ask you visit him and read what he has to say from time to time. It's always good to have different voices in the e-fed community, because if I were the only one dispensing opinions, things would be dull.

Next up, I kinda hinted at something big and new coming up in the e-fed queue with my last entry, and The Big Bolich finally announced it this week. Major Championship Wrestling is coming back in a new form. Jeff brought the fed back as a place where unproven and new characters in the e-fedding world can come to make a name for themselves. Anyone who has won a World Championship anywhere on the FW circuit or in A1E or MBE cannot join. It's an ambitious idea given the propensity for some handlers not to create new characters, but it's an idea worth getting behind. Once again, as with FMLL, I really can't dedicate any time to handle in it, but I fully endorse it, and I will follow its growth on this blog.

Speaking of Bolich, I've recently heard that some pretty disparaging things were said about him as a fedhead. Basically, I've heard that some folks were saying he has no idea how to run a fed and they even said some pretty hurtful personal things towards him. Well, everyone has their faults. We all know that Jeff at times loses passion for e-fedding and can disappear into retirement, which hurts the feds he's in as a handler. As a fedhead, if he does that, it could mean disaster. HOWEVER, when he has the drive and the passion for the hobby, he is an outstanding handler and fedhead. You only need to look at his time running EPW as a testimony. I can honestly say that EPW wouldn't be what it is right now without Bolich's early guidance, and to say otherwise is petty disparagement.

Now, over in the NFW universe, it seems like the big week 8 interconference shebang has developed a case of the shoots. In both big matches, shooty sidebars have broken out. First there was the Survivor Series match where Stanton and Steve went off on a sidebar about CSWA history. This was relatively innocuous, or at least it seemed so. I haven't gotten the chance to speak to Steve or Mike about whether there were any deep-seated problems being manifested, so until I do, I can only assume that it was just historical posturing.

The other incident seemed to carry far more venom. In the Hulk-A-Thon tournament, Paul Miller and Brunk had an aside based off recent heat. Basically, everything stems from Miller's repeated shots at EPW and EPW booking in his promos and Brunk lashing out in defense of his promotion.

In either case, whether harmless or cancerous, you have to ask yourself the question... what do shoots like these accomplish? It's well-known that Mike McNichols, one of NFW's bookers, hates seeing the use of what's happened in other feds as a basis for your promos in NFW. So if you know that, why even go there? Why bring the CSWA into the equation at all? Or why keep taking the shots at EPW? It's counterproductive to the goal at hand, and that's to build for the match in NFW for that week.

Honestly, the only person I don't find much fault in with this is Brunk. Although he might have been best served not to have taken that road and just ignored it, he has a great amount of pride in his fed, as well he should. Honestly, the uneasiness could have been avoided had he taken the high road, but to tell someone they should take the high road and ignore the comments to someone who has to read/see/hear negative comments about who he is or what he does is really hypocritical, unless you yourself either have no pride in what you do, or are completely one with the universe and do not feel any reaction in your body or brain when someone badmouths something you do.

And while we're on the subject of EPW booking... they have a female character as their World Champion. So what, get over it. We don't need to hear about it in every promo when facing someone associated with the fed. You don't have to agree with it, but at least respect it enough not to sully up someone else's fed with it when you should be promoting a match.

Now I think I blew a fuse in my brain and I need to take a break. Fear not though, I have a few more ideas for entries today. So hopefully, Edmunds, you won't have to post another comment about where I've been hiding ;)

Women in E-fedding, Part Two

Back when this blog was newish, I wrote an entry defending women characters in e-fedding. Much of my reasoning behind it is the same reasoning I used in a recent AWC discussion over whether they should introduce a Women's Title or not. AWC has a fairly large contingient of female characters. Logistically, it makes sense to have their own division, but for reasons I've stated before (no handicap between male and female in writing is the biggest one), they shouldn't have one.

Instead of rehashing that argument, I figured I'd ask a hypothetical of my own.

Would I ever handle a woman character?

And that answer would be no 99 times out of 100.

To me, women characters are limited. There are only so many unique gimmicks you can do with them, and most of the unique gimmicks revolve around something to do with sex. Otherwise, you're either playing her the same way Lindz plays Troy, or you play her with a gimmick you could just as easily suit to a man. Kinda like Sasha Volkyeva (although that could be a bad example, seeing that she's an AWC NPC and not a regularly handled character).

And honestly, I don't think I'd feel right playing a female character. I mean, it's a lot easier to vicariously play characters of the same gender, but I think I'd have a lot of trouble playing a female character. I just don't know why. Which is why I think more props need to go out to Pierce Lavelle's handler, who is female, for playing the obviously male AWC Transatlantic Champion to a tee. It's very difficult to cross the gender barrier, especially given how little we know about the respective opposite sex sometimes.

The He-Man Woman Hater's Club

There are several things that annoy me in e-fedding. One of those things is the proclivity for some folks to take things more seriously than they are. I'm not talking about those who take wins and losses seriously, like those I described in a previous rant here, but those who actually treat it like it's a business. People who populate the Advertisement forums of FW, posting profiles for their characters as "free agents" waiting for people to fawn over them like they were Kevin Nash in 1996. Or people who will seriously angle politics for pushes like they were Triple H.

Or my favorites, those who push for über-realism in e-feds. Like, no stip matches, dry writeups, and my personal favorite... no women competing with men.

Those people crack me up. It's like, we're doing this thing called "fantasy wrestling" but you take the fantasy out of it. It's nuts. No imagination whatsoever. The first two offenses I listed there aren't as bad. However, it's the no women thing that drives me up a wall.

Seriously, what's the big deal if someone can handle a woman character well enough to win a match? Are people that insecure that losing to a girl would be that much of a shot to their egos? I mean, it's not like they lost to a girl in football or weightlifting. It's all linguistic.

There is no natural gender barrier in e-fedding. Why create one artificially? Why exclude people because they don't want to handle a male character when they're female? Why should Lindsay Troy be at a handicap in NFW when she's one of the top players on the East roster? It's mind-boggling.

If you can't allow yourself to suspend just a little disbelief and have a little fun, what are you doing in this hobby anyway? Women competing with men is no more unusual than some of the gimmick matches that I've seen around all the feds I've been in.

That's why they call it fantasy wrestling. So what's the fun in keeping the fantasy away from it? Especially when those afflicted are among the best in the hobby?