Nostalgia

Much has been made of the seeming lack of future here in this little game of ours. I suppose I can't really argue with that any more. This blog has failed to garner the attention I was hoping it would, and most of the projects referred to within are pretty much dead.

But that doesn't mean the game is altogether bleak. While I don't think we're headed for an imminent demise, I suppose it's time to admit that we might be nearing our twilight years. If these are our twilight years, however, I think it's a great time to turn an eye backwards and reflect.

I'm quite pleased with what I've accomplished in this game. I remain hopelessly ambitious with ridiculously lofty goals, but I can't complain about where I've been. And while, with GCW doing so well these days, I don't have many moments of waning enthusiasm, those few I do are easily remedied with a quick glance through my extensive archives.

One of my fondest memories is my first; the day I joined my first fed and wrote the RP in the post below this one. Caldera was actually just my create-a-player on No Mercy on the N64, but I absolutely fantasized about being a wrestler. This was 1999 and wrestling was still hot, and I wanted to be a part of it.

The ACWF was great. Sure, it sucked, it was an email fed, but it was great. Roster of maybe fifteen, pretty sharp fedhead, it was a blast. I can honestly say that there were exactly two moments when my heart rate actually rose on account of this game: one was the PPV where I won my first World Title, the other was scrolling down the PTC website for the results of the Kimbusa/Violence Jack match in GTT3.

(I will never forget the judge who wrote that I had "outwritten, outclassed, and basically made a fool out of Violence Jack." If you are that judge, please step forward and admit the ludicrousness of that statement.)

Hell, I've still got the finish from that ACWF PPV where I beat Big Daddy Dero in a tournament final:

Jim Ross: I CANT BELIEVE THIS MAN!!!!! Big Daddy Dero somehow, kicked out right before the three and Caldera is pissed!!!! And uh-oh!!! Mr. Danger sees the chair in the ring still, and there is blood on that chair, as well as on Dero's head!

[ Mr. Danger picks up the chair. He sees that blood is on the chair as well as on Dero's head. He is shouting something at Caldera who is just looking innocent. ]

Jim Ross: Danger is putting two and two together, and he knows Caldera used that chair! He and Caldera are arguing about it!!!

Jerry Lawler: Look out! Dero is very slowly getting up, blood dripping from his face! He is a bloody mess!!!!

[ As Dero gets up, Danger and Caldera are arguing. Mr. Danger then winds up the chair, and goes to hit Caldera.. Just at the last second he stops in mid air, turns around.. and smashes the chair over Big Daddy Dero's head. The crowd gives a "uuuu" then is silent ]

Jim Ross: (pauses) WHAT THE HELL IS THIS????

Jerry Lawler: Did I just see what I think I saw?????

Jim Ross: MR. DANGER!!!!!! JUST SMASHED THE CHAIR OVER DERO'S HEAD!!!!!! Mr. Danger throws the chair to the outside, and points down at Dero and is laughing!

Jerry Lawler: What is going on JR? I can't believe this!!!!

Jim Ross: Caldera picks up Dero, and hooks both arms! He lifts him up in the air, CALDERA DROP!!!! Danger for the count. One, two, three!!!!!

[ The Sickness by Disturbed begins to play. The fans are totally disgusted as they boo and start throwing trash at the ring. Mr. Danger runs to the outside and grabs the belt. He comes back into the ring, and he and Caldera embrace with a big hug. Mr. Danger then gives Caldera the belt, and raises his hand. They hug again. ]

The Fink: Here is your winner, and the NEEEEWWWWWW ACWF World Heavyweight Champion, STEVEN CALDERA!!!!

Jim Ross: I can't believe it!!! THEY SCREWED US ALL!!!! Mr. Danger and Steve Caldera were together all along, and this makes me SICK!!!! Big Daddy Dero is bloody and beaten at the hands of Steve Caldera and Mr. Danger!! Caldera is the new champion of the world, but at what cost?

Jerry Lawler: Danger and Caldera are both walking up the ramp laughing!!! What fools everyone here is!!! They never saw this coming! What a fool you are JR!!

Jim Ross: Ah shut UP! Mr. Danger, shocks the world here tonight in Kansas City!! What a DEADLY DECISION he has just made!!! Right here in his hometown!!!!! They played each and every one of us!! Fans, our time is up. For Jerry Lawler, I'm Jim Ross saying goodnight from KC...... This is just sickening!!!!!!

[ We see a shot of Caldera holding up the belt at the entrance to the back. We then see a shot of referees helping Dero up who is laying in a pool of his own blood in the ring. Camera fades out and the show ends. ]

Gotta love that Disturbed entrance music!

That was the last time I was solely a handler. I suppose I handled Kimbusa a bit in OSW, and I did a stint in FSW. I also handled in the AWA for a while and won three world titles from '01 to '02, but GCW always dominated my e-career. So I look back to that first fed, the only time I was a true handler, and kinda appreciate the simplicity of it all. Not that I don't love being a fedhead, because I'd never be able to be a handler again. But there was something about the atmosphere, where everyone was more or less equal in their suckitude, that made the whole thing special.

Maybe that's where this blog needs to go from here. Maybe the entire game is getting to that point. Not that we all suck, but that we're all pretty darn good. And that first fed experience, those lower expectations where the only goal was to enjoy oneself, that's something special that's somehow been lost on this game.

With all the politicking and positioning, rivalries and divisive personal issues, and grand ambitions to pursue some massive WO-type organizational system, the simplicity in this game is somewhat lost. I admit that I scan the "lesser" feds on Geocities and Freewebs, look at the images made with WWE wrestlers, and wonder if maybe they've got it right and we've got it wrong.

So I suppose you can consider this a shift in intent. I'm not really concerned with creating some grand new entity to unite the e-wrestling world, because the time for such things is past. There are larger communities out there than ours, but ours undeniably has the best talent. Perhaps we need to shrink things down a bit, lower our expectations and take the game at face value. Get back to the basics where we take sheer joy out of the posting of an event, the winning of a match, and the execution of a hot angle more than the single-minded intent of getting oneself noticed.

I've always carried the spirit of the ACWF with me. GCW has undeniably surpassed it, and did so long ago. I always remembered where I came from. But in my zeal to step up as a leader for this community I might have lost sight of that heart-pumping joy I once got from this game. I think we all have, to varying degrees.

Some are, perhaps, beyond reclamation. But for those of us who still have a passion for the game, however dormant, I think we should buckle down and focus in on what we're doing and why. Perhaps it's time to forget about PTC as an interfed and focus on our own feds, and simply use PTC as a gathering place for like-minded individuals to congregate. There's still passion out there, and that's what should be targeted; this game won't be saved by some new interfed or fancy website, but rather by a rekindling of the sheer, unrestrained joy of playing the game.

I'm still a tremendous wrestling fan, but I've got nowhere to get my fix. Part of the problem with this game is that a large percentage of the people around here just grew out of wrestling. I, myself, did not. But I'd wager that there's still some hidden love of wrestling buried in anyone who would chance to read this blog. WWE certainly doesn't offer an outlet. So maybe we should stop being so cerebral, so damn talented, and get back to the basics of wrestling and have some simple fun with it.

The game can continue to innovate and our talent can continue to thrive. But now I want to look at the heart of the game rather than the structure, because that's where its soul lies.

Fear Me

Cower down, e-fedders. Steven Caldera's coming to get you:

(The camera zooms in on a solitary Steven Caldera. He sits in his dimly lit dressing room, sweat dripping froom his face. He is obviously pumped about tonight.)

Caldera- Tonight is the first ever ACWF event. I'd say that makes tonight rather historical. That means that nobody will be holding anything back tonight. Every ounce of energy from every last superstar on the roster will be expended tonight in an effort to leave their mark forever. The talent and the performances that will be displayed here tonight will be unforgettable. But while everyone else has been trash talking, trying to make themselves look like big men, I've been here, alone, getting ready for war. You have overlooked this unstopable machine, and tonight you will pay. Whatever I end up having to do tonight it will be done to absolute PERFECTION. Because that is what I'm about. Second just isn't good enough. So tonight I begin my path to become the first ACWF Heavyweight Champion. Anyone who thinks they can stop me is welcome to try. But when it's all said and done, and you're looking at the lights listening to my music, you'll have learned what it is like. . . to be beaten by the best.

That was the first roleplay I ever wrote. It was for an e-mail fed called the American Championship Wrestling Federation. The infamous ACWF Match in GCW is a tribute to my roots and the roots of fellow GCW legends Khan, The Jhub, Octavian, Mike Hardy and Khan.

I stumbled upon that thanks to the Wayback Machine today and thought I'd post it for everyone to point and laugh.

If anyone else has their first roleplays still (and I sure hope you do), I'd love to see them. It's funny just how far we've come.

I guess it just goes to show you how valuable this game can be. I went from that to being able to construct intricate storylines and characters and put them together in a compelling narrative. When my novel comes out next year and is flying off the charts, I figure I'll have come full circle. :)

I sure did suck. But in my defense, I did go on to win the World Title at our first PPV, and I've seen first-timers suck worse than that. I was the king of the crappy fedders. :)

I'm Number 2!

(Author's Note: If this post is a bit unclear and meandering... well, sorry, I'm on drugs.)

That's right, baby. Who's the number two fedhead of all time? I am.

...According to one guy...

...Who has been in and out of my fed for over seven years...

But hey, I'm gonna gloat anyway!

That said, it got me thinking again about a topic that I have been pondering for some time, but have yet to write about. While I totally disagree with the theory that e-wrestling is somehow in mass decline, I do believe that the position of the fedhead is in decline.

So the topic du jour: What makes a good fedhead?

Now, my statement that the fedhead is in decline isn't a slight to the other fedheads out there, because I think they're top notch. However, there has been some definite turnover lately. PRIME is on its fifth fedhead in as many months, and FUSE recently changed hands, too. I think the hands both feds ended up in are very capable ones, but the fact that, at least until now, there has been a seeming lack of stability at those spots seems to indicate that something is amiss.

Frankly, I think there is a very simple explanation for it: the position of the fedhead is evolving as rapidly as the game itself, and the job is much different now than it used to be. Why? Because of how the people in the game have matured, for the most part. Maybe not matured in terms of personality, but certainly in terms of responsibility and task management. We're all older now, and people don't necessarily need a fedhead looking over their shoulder. They know what they want to write and can do it with minimal supervision. This lessens the focus on the fedhead, and therefore a fed can change leaders multiple times and still come out working just fine, as long as the on-card leadership remains solid, as it has in FUSE and PRIME.

But is the fedhead really less important? I don't think so. At the risk of making this completely self-serving, I think the fedhead remains just as important today as it ever has been, and solid leadership is crucial to having a successful fed.

Want proof? Global has come under a bit of fire lately for the presence of... certain people on their roster, and Global's fedhead James has borne the brunt of it. Yet he's managed to handle those certain people and maintain a functioning fed, so I say props to him. That central leadership is crucial, and all of the successful feds have it.

But the job certainly has changed. Back in 2001 when GCW first opened, my job description certainly was different. Go back and read any edition of Meltdown numbered 1-30, and every word you'll read was written by yours truly. Yep, I did every match, every seg, and came up with almost every idea on those shows. Nowadays members typically come up with their own details, write their own segs, and I only have to write a seg or two and one match per week.

Because of the way the people in the game are now able to act self-sufficiently, the task of the fedhead has shifted from the actual physical construction of a fed to more of a management job. And that makes it far more subtle.

Now, some former GCW members would criticize me for being far too hands-on, and I've answered that with an enthusiastic "yes, I am." Though I'm not writing entire shows any more, I try to be very involved with the production of our events. And that's important to maintaining a high quality show. In fact, a big part of the reason the GCW/PRIME show fell a bit flat is because the fedheads weren't involved enough.

Much has been said about Ron's fedheadding style, but you won't find anyone (other than the most committed Caldera worshippers, who I'm convinced do, in fact, exist) that doesn't respect what he did for the game. Ron is universally heralded as the best fedhead ever to operate, and he's the standard we should all aspire to meet, at least in terms of success if not in persona. But what made him the best exactly? Well, what made him the best is what also made him hated by so many people, and it was his hands-on, dictatorial approach.

Now, I like to think I'm not quite as dictatorial as Ron was, but I certainly have adopted some of those qualities into my style. Again, this has certainly come under fire at times, but I've never wavered from my belief that it is the right way to do things. And if you ask anyone in GCW, I think you'll be hard pressed to find someone who feels I've ever actively prevented them from accomplishing what they want to accomplish.

Commenting on a previous post, Dave once dubbed my style the "hand of God approach." A bit tongue-in-cheek, but accurate. But it's not a matter of perpetuating my own little empire, as I might accuse Ron of doing. A fedhead needs to be aware of what the roster is doing so that they can coordinate those activities. Unless there is a member on the roster who routinely goes insanely above and beyond, the fedhead is the only person in a position to know precisely what everyone is doing at all times.

I haven't always been good at that. I took a very lassiez-faire approach to fedheadding in 2006, and the result wasn't pretty. GCW in 2006 was a fairly dismal place, and a big part of that was the high roster turnover we'd had. I'd brought people in from numerous different backgrounds, and the result was a fed that had several independent factions that vehemently believed their philosophy to fedding was the right one. I tried to fight it for a while, but I ended up taking a step back and attempted to let people simply do it their way.

That sounds fair, but in practice it does not work. A fed cannot be splintered like that. This is not in any way a condemnation of any one way of doing things, merely my firm belief that a fed needs one single direction for people to rally to. GCW got turned around when a lot of those dissenters left and I took back firm control and put my signature back on the fed. And again, that's not sour grapes towards anyone that disagreed with my way of doing things. The simple fact is, a fed needs one identity to be successful, and that identity needs to be embodied in the fedhead.

Ron did that better than anyone. As Pete said himself, there was never any question who was in charge and how things were going to be run. And it's true that this alienated a lot of people, but it also resulted in three of the greatest feds of all time, and carved for Ron a legacy that will last as long as this game does. That's what makes a good fedhead. A fed takes on the personality of its leaders, and the result tends to be a good one. For Global, James is extremely open and willing to give anyone a chance, and the result is a fed that is more accepting and eager than any other in PTC. FUSE is headed up by Dean, who has transformed it into a very welcoming fed with a hot, up-and-coming feel (even though they've already arrived). While I won't presume to label Matt when I don't quite have the background to do so, I do know Lindz, and she seems to emphasize precision, and the result is perhaps the most well-oiled fed around.

As for GCW, I'll leave that to the readers to label.

But the point is, all those feds have strong central leadership and a clear identity to go along with it. And all the best feds in history can be traced back to the people that ran them. Obviously this is not a slight to the people in them, because a fed can only be as good as the roster makes it. It's the members that drive a fed from potentially good to actually great. But the place of the fedhead has perhaps lost some emphasis in the modern incarnation of the game, and it deserves a bit of attention again.

I'm aware that there are a good number of people who disagree with my philosophy, but I think that anyone who still thinks I'm wrong is missing the point. Because the philosophy here isn't that my way is best, but simply that a fed needs to pick a way and go with it. If that means lots of freedom for the roster and just small guidance from the fedhead, that's fine and it can work (see tSC). If that means the total opposite, that can also work. But what those great fedheads Pete listed have in common is the fact that they have a clear philosophy and they're unwavering in their implementation of it.

But don't let me preach to you, oh reader. Please, leave a comment and let us know what qualities you admire in a fedhead, and what your perfect leader would be (assuming, of course, you're not in GCW and don't know that the perfect leader is me).

Me, In a Nutshell

So, a megalomaniac and a sumo wrestler walk into a bar...

I've only written for two characters of consequence in my stay in this game. Granted, during my time as a fedhead I've written for countless more, but the only two I've consistently handled, of my own creation, are Steven Caldera and Kimbusa. And on the surface, it would seem like they're as opposite as can be.

And that's the way it was intended, too. I'd handled Caldera for 2-3 years when I created Kimbusa. Caldera at the time was the same power-mad puppeteer he is today, if on a slightly smaller scale. When I created Kimbusa, I thought I'd try something a little different. So I went from a suit-wearing, manipulative genius to a straight-forward, colossal sumo wrestler.

But, as anyone who has ever read Mick Foley's books will tell you, the best characters are those that closely resemble the person portraying them. And in that way, Caldera and Kimbusa reveal the same aspect of my personality from two different perspectives.

Caldera loves the spotlight, he craves it and thrives in it. Kimbusa actively shies away from it; he hates it with all his being and, in fact, is the only thing preventing him from completely dominating. Caldera is fearless and ruthless; Kimbusa is ruthless but fearful. Caldera, fit, young and handsome, is everything society wants in a man; Kimbusa is everything they fear and despise.

And yet, as the characters have evolved, they've developed some interesting common threads, which were entirely unintentional. Both characters are extremely isolated, cut off from normal human contacts by their intense desires for power. Kimbusa wants the world to see his full potential, but the spotlight continues to push him down. Caldera, in his wild and relentless drive for greatness refuses to allow anyone to get close to him, for fear that anyone might cost him the slightest gain.

Now, I am not a sumo wrestler, nor am I a media billionaire. Caldera is certainly closer to what I aspire to be than Kimbusa. But if Caldera is my outward self, Kimbusa is the personification of what lies beneath.

Why do I confess this here? How does this relate to e-wrestling at large?

Well, it's because I think a large percentage of e-fedders can relate to this. Maybe your characters don't reflect you as precisely as mine do, but I'd wager that there's at least a tiny bit of you in your character. Unlike pro wrestling, e-fedders have absolute control to handle whatever character they want in any way they want. That freedom is telling, and you can probably tell a thing or two about a person by the character they handle.

But the psychology isn't important. The point here is that we all have some connection to our characters. Perhaps you're the sort that changes characters often, constantly looking for that right person to carry on with, but I'd still guess that you could find a common thread in all of them. And that means we all have an investment in this creation of ours, the game we call e-wrestling.

I had a conversation recently with Andrew, handler of Rich Rollins, that was rather telling. He gave me high praise of a match I'd written involving Rollins, pointing out how precisely I'd written the character, and I replied that, having known Rollins almost as long as Andrew has, I feel pretty well equipped to write him. And it's the truth; our characters take on a life of their own, just as Caldera and Kimbusa have evolved almost independently of my conscious influence.

That's why there's still life in this game, because there's a little bit of each and every one of us invested in it. Anyone who handles a character in this game has made that emotional commitment, deposited a little bit of themselves into the community. And that won't go away so easily. The people who didn't make that investment, they're the ones that have gone. But where the numbers have depleted, the truly committed people have risen up and become a majority.

Obviously, this isn't meant to be a jab at anyone who has quit or changed characters. Eventually real life takes precedent and the investment is better spent elsewhere. I'm certainly not trying to claim that this game deserves someone's whole emotional attention. But the point is, it's there. A large percentage of us have a vested interest in what happens to the characters we have created, because there's some part of us tied to that person's fate. In a way, we have created a very real world populated by real people, and it's that world I hope we can begin to illustrate.

As long as that emotional investment is there, this game won't just up and fizzle. True, the enthusiasm might have waned a bit, but that doesn't mean it can't come back. In talking with the majority of the community I find that there is still great passion for the game. It's simply becomes important for us to find new ways of challenging and inspiring one another to continue down exciting new avenues of creativity.

So this game isn't just about a bunch of kids pretending to wrestle on their computers. We have lives, we have responsibilities, and we have diversifying interests. But we also have little bits of ourselves still active in this game, and regardless of what you might think of the game, that fact makes it clear that this game will continue as long as we want it to.

An Eye to the Future

As has become custom, this post is mostly made in response to someone else's. Pete wrote a clarification on his post yesterday in an attempt to explain his thinking.

But my approach here isn't really one of debate, but more one of personal revelation. I feel that, if I am to be one of the leaders of a new movement in e-wrestling, people should be fully aware of my motivations and my thinking. So consider this the bearing of my e-wrestling soul.

Pete and I have developed what I feel to be a very constructive dialogue in our dueling blogs of late. I'm most happy that it turned out this way because Pete and I have worked together for a long time, and we've always challenged each other on our ideas and theories as they pertain to this game (as well as cooking and boobs, on which Pete is an authority). But of late, something has troubled me about Pete, and perhaps about a small portion of the e-wrestling community.

I've made no secret of the fact that my time in this game is nearing its end. I'm certainly not planning on leaving any time in the immediate future, but I am finally nearing graduation at Ohio State and when I get that degree, I hope to focus all my energy on a career. While I haven't advertised this for obvious reasons, I've always been honest about it to people who ask. It's not for lack of love for this game, but simply the fact that I feel I've taken a lot from this game and I can now seriously look at turning that knowledge into a profitable writing career. Yeah, I'll retire, but I'll always carry this game with me on some level, because it's made me better at what I do. And when I get my first book published, you can bet you'll see a note on the title page that reads "Ryan Murray can kiss my ass."

And yes, the game is waning, people are leaving and moving on and there is no new blood flowing in with the loss of interest in pro wrestling. But this is my source of concern as it pertains to Pete, PTC and anyone that shares his opinions: they are hopelessly pessimistic.

I'm not picking on Pete because his ideas are definitely rooted in sound logic. He's not just trying to bring down the game out of mere grumpiness. But I cannot continue to participate in this game with that attitude ruling my actions. It is true that my time in this game is limited, but why should that mean the game has to disappear when I leave? When I close my eyes, the world does not disappear. Just because I'm gone doesn't mean I shouldn't assume this game won't last forever.

My mind has admittedly begun to turn to other projects. I've got an idea for a novel I'd love to start working on, I'm exploring the possibility of a career in sports journalism, and I'm really committed to the work I do for school. Because the e-wrestling community in general has aged, I think a lot of us are beginning to look at those same sorts of goals and it's drawing us away from the game. I won't argue with anyone who looks at the situation and comes to the conclusion that the future for the game is bleak, because that's a fair assessment.

But I would also say this to you: get out. And I don't mean that maliciously or in a hateful spirit, but it's more of a challenge. If you think the game is dead in a year, and you find the state of the game quite bleak, what's the point? What are any of us working for if it's utterly futile? If you're just sitting around waiting for the game to fade away, go find something that inspires you a bit more.

But for me, e-wrestling still inspires me and the people in this game still inspire me. They inspire me to keep working hard with an eye to a limitless future. Will the game be dead in a year? Sure, it's possible. But I won't operate under that assumption. I'm going to continue to do what I do under the assumption that this game can still go on for as long as we choose to do it.

This, again, is why I remain critical of the situation in PTC and highly motivated to create something new. There are still people in this community who are very excited about the prospects for the future, and we are doing something about it. Unfortunately, some of our community leaders continue to spout this message of doom and gloom. Again, this isn't a personal attack on Pete or anyone else, because I know exactly where they're coming from. But I would suggest that anyone in this game who isn't interested in innovating and planning for a long and prosperous future should consider stepping aside to let someone new try their hand.

Pete likes statistics, so I'll offer some of my own. If four years ago the PTC/WO portion of the game contained, say, 1000 active members, maybe 50 of those were extremely talented, giving you about 5% big contributors. If today those numbers are closer to 100 but you've got 60 great contributors, that's 60% great talent. Perhaps the numbers have dwindled, but what the game lacks in breadth it makes up for in depth. This community has never been more talented nor more committed. That, to me, is cause for tremendous optimism.

Yes, interest in the game is much reduced, and it's odd to find so many people in the game comment that they really don't care for wrestling much at all. But look at this in its simplest terms: we have a community of about 100 writers, many of which are good, several of which are very good, and a handful of which are ridiculously good. Right now you could take the lowest person on any roster in PTC and pit them against the best writer of 5 years ago and have a pretty good matchup. The quantity of this game is way down, but the quality of work is vastly improved.

Which brings me back to the GCW/PRIME show. Yeah, its quality was low, and yeah, 100% of all interfed shows have sucked. But you know what? I don't care. I don't care at all, and nobody that was involved with it cares. Because it was a sign of life. If you look at it not as a show but as a declaration from a group of people, you'd see it as a loud and proud statement that there are those of us that are looking to the future of the game. Though our time in the game may be limited we are not going to operate like it is; what's the point in going through the motions until it's time to leave? Why can't we build up a grand crescendo and go out with a bang rather than a whimper?

I fully believe there is a foundation for this game for a few more years to come. Hell, it'll never fully die, even if it's only carried on in Geocities feds until wrestling rises again (and it will). But there is still passion for this game. And there are still a solid number of talented writers and hard workers ready and willing to keep things going. So while I cannot argue with the logic that the game is in dire straits, I will absolutely, vehemently argue that unapologetic pessimism has no place in this game right now. It serves no purpose other than to remind people of what they already know and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

So I'm going to continue planning big things for this game, because people out there want something new. And something new is coming. I may only have a year left in the game, but why should that be anything less than my best effort? Why can't I have high ambitions to accomplish more in this year than in any year prior? And why can't the same go for everyone else?

This blog is meant to construct and create dialogue. My entire presence in this game right now is dedicated to creating an amazing fed experience for everyone in GCW, and to utilize GCW to create an amazing experience for everyone else. The GCW/PRIME show might not have created a great show for onlookers to read, but it did something for the members of both feds. It sparked a new interest, it proved that the possibilities for this game are limitless and there's a reason to continue on. And you know what? If every interfed show to come after this one sucks, I still won't care, because at least we're putting ourselves out there trying to accomplish something, rather than sitting around lamenting the game that could have been.

I respect the hell out of everyone who's stuck with this game and worked hard over the years. Pete most of all. But anyone who is simply hanging around and waiting for the end needs to take a good hard look at what they're doing in this game. There is huge enthusiasm out there still, and that's why you're finding so many defenders of the show. They don't want to hear people say the show was bad, because they want everyone to know that that's not why they did it. We didn't make this show to make a great show (well, we did, and we will, but that's not the point). We made this show because of what it symbolizes; a new beginning for a game that had nothing new to tout for a long time.

Yeah, I've only got a year left in this game. But if you think I'm going to simply half-ass it until then with no concern for the state of the game after I leave, you're dead wrong. Perhaps I will fail miserably, and perhaps I'm overestimating the resolve of the people in this game. I guess we'll find out. But if there is even the slightest capacity left in this game for innovation and tremendous fun, I'll do whatever it takes to squeeze that out. I'm not alone in this. I talk to a number of people every day about the subject, and I know there are more out there. But this is more an extension of my own personality than anything else; there's nothing worth doing that isn't worth doing 110%. If this game isn't worth someone's full energy and excitement, that's fine. That doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to play as long as you get some enjoyment out of it. But if you're not interested in giving it your all, I think it's not unreasonable to ask that you not impede the progress of those who are trying their damnedest to make something happen.

Review of DN/GAN

A topic of great discussion now has greater fuel, and the move to a new beginning has taken its first step. Devil's Night/Great American Nightmare, the first interpromotional card of its kind, is on the air, and already it's causing some controversy.

You can read the controversy here.

Now again, I respect Pete and his opinion, but expect this post to be far less civil. Because I feel that a lot of the feedback coming from this event is wildly off base, because it's missing the point of what we were trying to accomplish with it. Did it have its shortcomings? Yes, and some were rather glaring. But in the end you can only gauge the success of a project based on your expectations going in, and from that perspective I view this event as a tremendous success.

As I posted the show late last night and have been in class since, I haven't had a chance to read through the entire show, so this won't be a segment by segment analysis. However, in assembling the show I did get a chance to look most of it over, and I've managed to get a good read on how it came out.

Now, a big criticism thus far (from multiple sources) is that the efforts of the two feds did not connect very well, making the whole event rather disjointed. My response is: what did you expect? Did you expect two feds of relative strangers, who have different styles and have never worked together before, to suddenly mesh together and create a totally fluid experience? I certainly did not, and I don't think the people involved did, either. The purpose of this event was A) to explore the logistics of creating such a show, and B) to bring people together for a fling at something totally new. This show was intended to blaze new ground and show the e-wrestling world that there's a reason to stay tuned, because the game is not sitting idle.

I was pleased with the five interfed matches that we booked and executed, but their true effect took place on a level an outside cannot fully appreciate. The purpose of this show, again, was to bring people together, and simply by virtue of having those matches we succeeded. I continued to work with Joe, Adam and Al got together, Andy and Kris worked a match, JJ and Darryl paired up, and John and Billy put on a great show. Granted, some of the actual matches didn't come out in perfect form. But how could they have? To expect greatness out of something that's never been done before is completely unfair.

Perfection and greatness is precisely what we're striving for. And I've got no doubt we'll get there eventually. But anyone who opened that show assuming that's what they were going to get, well, you deserve to be let down because you were fooling yourself.

I'm not writing this in defense of mediocrity, but rather in defense of the dozens of people who worked to make this show possible, and worked very hard. I agree that it was disjointed and did not have a great overall flow. But that is to be expected when throwing together two unique groups of people with minimal supervision and ask them to write a show. In that respect the people who should shoulder the blame most are myself and Lindz and Matt of PRIME for not fine-tuning things more. The honest truth is that, with another three days, we could have done a lot to tinker with the show and smooth out the wrinkles. But we have schedules to keep, and besides, the people involved had a good time doing it.

And in the end, isn't that the big picture truth? For the vast majority of people in GCW and PRIME, this show was downright fun, and I know that working with the PRIME roster was one of the most enjoyable and unique experiences of my career. You don't like our show? Well, that's fine, because we enjoyed making it.

But I digress.

Let's analyze the first goal, figuring out how to structurally create such a thing. This entails the very basics of the event, including how to get everything into two backstage scripts, how to sort everything out and combine two feds' shows into one. This is not something that has precedent, not something that we can turn to a wise old man and ask for guidance on. And frankly, the sheer chaos that emerges from having to concoct such a system on the fly caused some issues. In retrospect, we probably should have hammered out the details and gone over them with the rosters weeks in advance. But now we've learned.

The second goal was bringing people together, and in large part we did. There were some people on both sides who still disliked the very concept of working an interpromotional show, but the entire event was structured such that anyone who didn't want to participate in the interfed portion didn't have to. Some criticized the decision to only have a handful of interfed matches, but internally this allowed us to include everyone and leave the option there for people who wanted to cross borders. And quite a few people answered the call. What you can't tell judging from this show is that people who weren't necessarily in competition came out of their own little niches to speak to others, and we succeeded in building a bridge that did not exist before. The contrast in styles made things look ugly and there were a lot of glaring omissions, but now we know that we need at least a day after everything's in to read through and smooth it out and add the necessary content. But now we've learned.

To be quite honest, the actual, physical show itself is only a small portion of this entire project. There are so many more intangible aspects to this event that can't be seen from reading it, and only time will reveal them to the rest of the community.

Again, the criticisms of the show itself are well deserved. The confusion inherent to such a new venture caused two shows that likely would have been great independently to end up less than stellar. It was disjointed and much of what one would expect from such an event was missing, and in that respect the event itself certainly fails to live up to one's expectations.

But when you consider all the steps that went into making this show a reality, what happened at DN/GAN was really very impressive to me. You had two rosters of twenty-something people coming together, taking initiative and working together for the first time. Is that in itself not worthy of applause?

While I've lamented the fact that Lindz, Matt and myself perhaps weren't as hands-on as we should have been, this does exhibit perhaps the greatest triumph of the show. The fact that we didn't NEED to micromanage the whole event, the fact that we didn't NEED to spell things out to everyone is an amazing thing. The fact that both rosters were able to step up and open the lines of communication for themselves, to answer the call and throw themselves into such a project is a great sign for the future. And though there are still some valid criticisms coming from some people internally that wanted things done differently, that's the whole bloody point; we're learning, and GCW and PRIME were fully willing to take the extra time and effort to do something totally unique.

This show marks a great new moment in e-wrestling history, and I'm extremely pleased about that. With regards to our structural and interpromotional goals, Devil's Night/Great American Nightmare was a runaway success. Consider how bad it could have been: members of both feds could have argued their stylistic differences and driven the show into the ground; a majority of both rosters could have ignored the presence of the other altogether, refusing to bridge the gap; the show could have taken weeks to assemble with two feds trying to connect two sets of writers. There are a million ways in which this show could have utterly failed, but none of them happened. The rosters stepped up and have announced to the community that they believe in this project and are willing to do what it takes to make it work. I call that a success.

So yeah, I agree that the show fell far short of its full potential. With the sheer talent in both feds the potential for greatness is high, and I understand someone wanting that from such a show. But the PTC interfed is dead, leaving the feds to fend for themselves, and what this represents is a world in which an interfed is not needed to create unity between feds. GCW and PRIME, for one night, came together as one with hardly any pushing needed.

What's more, we've all learned some great lessons from this experience. We know now how to improve for next time, and the next show will be better. Will the next one be perfect? I certainly don't expect it to be. But it will be better, because we can take the wealth of knowledge earned from having blazed this trail and apply it to the future. The unknowns were many and the potential for failure was great, but everything came together and worked. What the show lacks in quality it more than makes up for in sheer gumption.

I understand that a good portion of the community at large might not be able to appreciate the event as it stands, because the true success of this show was on a very personal level. But I would like to personally thank each and every person that wrote even a single word for this event, that opened up their mind to a new experience and stood up and introduced themselves to a new group of people. I am so pleased to have had this experience with PRIME. I am looking forward to having the same experience with FUSE.

Frankly, had this show been perfect right off the bat, I'd have been disappointed, because nothing worth doing should be that easy. If we really want to innovate, if we truly want to push this game forward, that means taking on difficult challenges and taking our lumps as we go. The fact that there is so much more to do, that there is so much more to learn and so much potential for the future tells me that these interfed shows are worth doing, and will provide a great amount of excitement for the future.

So hate the show if you want to, I won't really blame you. But what you simply cannot hate is this show's contribution to the e-wrestling community, because this event was a very good thing.

Manifest Destiny (Or Something Like That)

I was most pleased to once again find the familiar pink slip taped to the door in Denney Hall, indicating that film class had once again been canceled. So I've returned home early to find a post by Pete at the official PTC blog, and I now have the time to respond to it.

I really hope you'll all read Pete's blog to get an idea of where this is coming from, as it is once again a direct response.

I should preface this by killing any notion that there might be even the slightest bit of animosity involved here. Pete and I have known each other for a very long time and we've worked closely together for a number of years. What that has bred is, at least from my perspective, a relationship in which we can vehemently challenge one another, and that is borne out of respect.

I should also say that I agree with every single word Pete wrote. This is not going to turn into a point-counterpoint discussion, because Pete was right about it all.

However, Pete's post was written based on a few misconceptions and snap judgments. So this post is less about trying to prove Pete wrong and more about trying to elaborate on our plans for a new "interfed" to help people better understand the difference between this plan and the former PTC.

I put quotes around "interfed" because what we're discussing is not going to be a reinvention of PTC. Most of what we're planning is an extension of what Dean and I had in mind for PTC, should we have been given the reigns, but the PTC interfed is gone and we're moving in a slightly different direction.

First comes the biggest misconception of them all: I am not, contrary to how it may seem, offering myself up as the "head" or "leader" of the new entity. There will be no single person in charge, and my opinion will carry no more weight than anyone else's. I am not trying to fill Ross's role, and nobody else will. Frankly, I don't feel anyone can replace the role Ross has filled for our entire community, because as Pete pointed out, he's the only truly neutral person we have, and that is irreplaceable. Am I biased towards GCW? Of course! I'd be doing a disservice to my fed if I were anything but. However, I admit to that fact in nearly every blog post I make, and am in no way suggesting that I become some sort of new Ron-like overlord.

Nor are we intending to merely recreate PTC under a different name. PTC did eventually flounder for the very reasons Pete mentioned, and there's no sense in beating a dead horse. However, there is a void in the game right now that needs to be filled. While I hate to continue to be critical of Ross and Pete, because I understand the situation they were in when they made the decision, closing the PTC interfed was bad for the game. With the game in a recession and professional wrestling at large giving no indication of a looming comeback, e-wrestling is in trouble. There is still a great deal of passion in the game, but the people need to see progress being made. Without a wealth of new blood flowing into the community we need something to continue to make it fresh, and that means innovation and progression rather than reduction. So don't consider that a knock on Ross and Pete, but more of a statement about the dire status of our game, something I know Pete agrees with me on.

The entity we have envisioned-- Wait, let me stop there and qualify the "we." When I say we, I mean that there are a number of people out there who I speak to regularly about this. And also, I mean to drive home the point that I am not in any way in charge of this; I'm merely attempting to publicize something that hasn't been well documented and spur some conversation in the community.

Anyway. The entity we have envisioned is more of a confederation of federations, rather than an interfed. What PTC supplied as an interfed it continues to supply as a non-interfed; basically, extra-curricular activities that provide great pure competition to the community. PTC is still serving the same basic function it always did, and so in that way PTC will, we hope, continue to be a major focal point of this community. We're not proposing to replace it, but merely to supplement it.

If you want an easy way of looking at it, consider this: In all its years, PTC created some wildly memorable and enjoyable events, but never once did it spawn a pure interfed event like Devil's Night/Great American Nightmare. All we're proposing to do is formalize that a bit, and promote further interaction between the feds directly. No intermediary, just fed-to-fed contact.

So in that way, we're not actually creating an "interfed" at all. The term "interfed" itself suggests that there is some entity playing middleman and providing some sort of neutral territory; that's not what this is. Granted, it's a subtle distinction to make, but I think it's an important one. We're just stimulating increased cooperation between feds, and providing a website to cover it all.

So there's no interfed, nobody in charge pulling strings. It's an extension of what we're doing with the GCW/PRIME show, which incidentally has shaped up wonderfully. In conceiving this show not only have we gained better cross-fed exposure, but as fedhead I've developed closer working relationships with Matt and Lindz (and many others) in PRIME, connections I wouldn't have had otherwise. And not once have we needed a neutral party to somehow guide it all; the entire process has been conducted in perfect unity, with compromises happily made in the spirit of cooperation.

With regards to the website, Pete makes a valid point that user-driven sites are doomed to failure, as evidenced by each individual website's inactivity. To that I have no precedent to cite, no evidence to present to expect anything different. But my rebuttal to that comes in a different form: e-wrestling needs this. Maybe not this specific project, but something. Some attempt to innovate and move forward, some attempt to rejuvenate, some evidence to the community that there is still tremendous passion despite our thinning numbers. I'm certainly not sitting here claiming to have all the answers, nor am I profession to be the game's sole savior. My goal is merely to bring three feds closer together so that we might feed off each other's energy.

And why shouldn't we? Many of us have made individual connections through PTC events over the years. The Kimbusa/Illustrious Face Eater feud between GCW and PRIME got its start in the Chris Williams tournament, and without that experience I might not have started talking to Joe. But why not take all those connections and use them? Why not bring the feds a little closer together in a show of solidarity to the game? I as much as anyone am fiercely protective of GCW's independence and am by no means suggesting we start merging feds, but we're all friends working in three different places to accomplish the same goal. Why not use that?

This project that I've been writing about isn't meant to reinvent the wheel. It's simply meant to construct a modest table around which each fed can sit. What this creates is an unprecedented environment of cooperation, where you literally never know who from FUSE might show up on a PRIME event, or where Steven Caldera, lord and master of GCW, has to keep looking over his shoulder because he never knows when PRIME's Lindsay Troy might show up again. Those connections make for a fresh product, a really exciting and new environment, and most importantly, plant seeds for a brighter future, rather than one in which we all work in isolation until we slowly fade away.

I certainly hope this clarifies some things. This blog simply hasn't been around long enough for me to explain it all yet, and frankly this whole thing is still merely in the "let's bounce ideas around" phase. There's much to be done yet, so my goal for this blog is fairly modest: to spark debate and conversation, and to signal that progress is being made and the game is not going to remain stagnant. In that way, I think we've already been successful.

A Whole New World

Just call Dean and I Lewis and Clark.

And I guess that would make Ryan our Sacajawea.

I've been talking to a lot of people from around this hobby for the last several months about what they want to get out of this game. We're in a transitional period, without a doubt. PTC is still alive and well but in a different form, and there's a void left in the game. There isn't a whole lot of new blood flowing in, and though the remaining feds are still doing very well, on some level the game has stagnated.

So we want to blaze a new trail, create a whole new world. What follows is a list of plans for the future of this community. A lot of these are my ideas, many were thought up by Ryan, Dean and others. So while it may appear that I'm trying to take credit for all this, bear in mind that's I've prefaced it all by giving credit where credit is due.

I am not posting this is, so much, in hopes of garnering support just yet (though I do hope this gets people excited). Really, the main purpose is to start a wider dialogue and find out what people want to see out of such a project, so that when we finally get this thing rolling we can meet everyone's expectations. This is a rather bold and ambitious plan, but this game needs something bold and ambitious.

THE WEBSITE
-Obviously, something that was missing from PTC for quite some time was a website. Sure, PTC had a website, but it sat unused for a very long time, and most of us never bothered to stop by. But rather than just aiming to build a website, one first has to understand why the previous one failed, and what needs to be done to ensure the new one is worth visiting.

Basically, the site lacked features. Structurally our game has advanced with our growing knowledge of how to make full use of the power of the internet, but the old PTC website didn't tout any of those features. If you wanted to post your fed's news you had to manually drop in and make a new post, which, simple as it sounds, wasn't worth the effort. Any information you could get on that website was more easily found on the forums. Overall, the website simply didn't offer anything new.

What we want to do is create a central hub where content from FUSE, GCW and PRIME will be readily available. The goal for this blog, and this project as a whole, is to spawn a greater sense of community between those three feds, and create a new world where those three are in direct competition. But to create such an environment, it becomes important to give members of the community a place where they can readily view and absorb a wealth of information about all three feds with a minimum of effort.

Want to know what's going on in PRIME right now? Tough to do unless you dive in and read an entire show, something that isn't necessarily appealing to the casual eye. Heard about that Jay Terror guy in GCW but can't really find anything about him? Tough to track it down unless you're familiar with how GCW works. What the new website for the three feds would allow for is the merging of all that information in one streamlined website, so that if you wanted to know what's going on in PRIME, all you'd have to do is go to that site and it would be right there in front of you.

Now, obviously, this is all fairly vague and not necessarily revolutionary. But with the powerful new scripts we have running behind the scenes of our feds (except FUSE, which is in the dark ages!), we can eliminate a lot of the effort needed to maintain and operate such a site. What Ross's orgasm-inspiring backstage script allows one to do on the fed level is eliminate the time it takes to perform menial tasks like assembling shows, editing rosters and other such jobs, freeing up that time to simply create content. Now it's time to take that same principle to the interfed level.

By taking full advantage of that script and others we can and will develop, we can integrate information from all three feds with a minimum of effort. Post a news story on GCW, and it'll automatically be posted at the interfed site. Post a column at PRIME and it'll appear on the interfed. Knowing this, it is our hope that people will be inspired to write for a larger audience and help explain the goings-on of their fed when posting news, because they will know their post will be seen by a much wider part of the community.

Also, by integrating our individual fed-level backstage capabilities into this website, a member will have ready access to submit content to the interfed site. By eliminating the extra steps it takes to contribute, people will find it much easier to keep the site flowing with content.

Obviously, any website of this sort will rely on user participation to thrive. But our plans go beyond merely posting news and columns.

To get that participation, a website must inspire the traffic needed. That's where the innovative new features are coming along. Obviously these plans are far from final (and if you want to make a suggestion, this is the place to do it!), but some of the things we're coming up with are pretty exciting.

My own personal vision for this new interfed website relates to what you might find at ESPN.com. Pete recently wrote a good blog about how wrestler rankings don't work, because there's simply no objective, universal formula for fairly calculating such a thing. But people love rankings and stats, so what to do? Well, alter your approach. This website would feature no "official" rankings, no "official" standings, no "official" show ratings. They will be presented for what they are: the sole opinion of the person providing them. ESPN.com does NFL Power Rankings every week, and they're very popular (it's the highlight of my Tuesday afternoons). But just because they rate the Cowboys above the Packers doesn't necessarily make them the better team (even though they are). It's simply the opinion of the so-called "experts" who make the things up. They're fun, but in the end they're meaningless.

So the new interfed site will present to you, the visitor, a wealth of opinion. In all likelihood I would, at that point, abandon this blog and instead contribute regular columns to an interfed site. And there's no doubt I'll have a GCW bias, and I won't apologize for it. Sure, I'm likely to rank Lia Ambrosi above Jason Snow. But my opinion won't be the official interfed rankings, it'll merely be my opinion.

Now, while opinion in and of itself might not sound all that great, it's actually what everyone is looking for. In other words, it's feedback. A big reason I think PTC events are so popular is because people love being judged and having their work reviewed, something you don't often get from your home fed. Well, this new interfed site would not only boast a wealth of opinion and feedback, but we propose to offer more direct and simple ways of getting feedback on your work.

The interfed site would feature the writing and the storylines of each fed. Ideally, in addition to consolidating the news and columns of each fed, the roleplays would be featured as well. If a PRIME member roleplays, it'll appear on the interfed site, but it will do so in a new form.

A roleplay appearing on the interfed site will also present a number of new features; the option to leave a comment, and the option to rate the roleplay on a ten-star basis. This is a very quick and easy way to leave a person feedback; when the new Wade Elliot roleplay gets posted at PRIME, you'll be able to see it at the one-stop interfed site. Then you can quickly look it over and, if you think it was good but not great, drop him a rating of seven stars. This presents a unique opportunity to get feedback not only from the members of your own fed, but from the members of the entire community. Roleplaying for all three feds suddenly becomes less a thankless task, as every post becomes a chance to find out that people are, in fact, reading your work. Even if the feedback isn't altogether positive, it confirms that people saw it, and in the end isn't that worth it?

Ryan also has some unique ideas for rating shows in a similar manner. While I'm against ever trying to produce a head to head ratings score to rank the feds, the ability to read each fed's shows and provide similar feedback presents a great opportunity to, once again, find out that your hard work has an audience.

Clearly these ideas are still in the early speculation stage, and development has not yet begun. There is still much to accomplish. But I hope this gives everyone a little preview into what is being contemplated right now. Exciting new things are on the horizon, so please continue to return to this blog. Pete's PTC Blog will be your place for PTC news, but there is a new entity being conceived, and this will be the place to learn about it.

Taxicab Confessions, Sans Taxi

I would argue that I've always been one of the most ambitious people in this game. Not just because I've always wanted to get GCW to the point of being universally heralded at the best fed there is (still my primary goal), but I'll readily admit to wanting to retire knowing that I've left a legacy behind.

My retirement is on the horizon. I've got no good read on how fast that horizon is approaching, but there is definitely a correlation between retirement and college graduation. When I first started this game I had a major advantage over the rest of the e-fedding world because not only was I a high school kid with nothing better to do, I never went to school, meaning I had an extra eight hours a day to work on the game.

Consequently, GCW grew really quickly because I was probably the most vigilant fedhead around. Literally from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep I was working on GCW, better than fourteen hours a day. Sad and pathetic, sure, but it certainly accelerated my progress as an e-fedder.

But it did more than just that. It honed my writing skills better than any day in school could have. Though the story obviously goes much deeper, it suffices to say that I learned more about writing from e-wrestling than I ever did from school. Having to set an example for a 30-wrestler roster, competing against the best and my unquestionable drive to be tops at everything I do has certainly contributed to my current academic success. Without modesty I can say that I've received several college papers back exalting my work as the best in the class.

And I owe it all to you people.

My ambition in my early years allowed me to develop into a very good writer, and I suspect you could find many people in this game who would share a similar sentiment. And this is not merely an individual growth, but growth as a group as well. Compared to when GCW first started to rise and I was exposed to the full scope of the game, the overall talent in this game has vastly expanded. There were very good writers back then, too, but the last six or seven years of competition has really expanded the skill set of our community.

My ambition in my later years is now aimed in an entirely different direction. Granted, this blog is and will continue to be directed largely at creating a tighter community among the former PTC feds, but there's a larger purpose in all of this.

As I've had sustained success as an English major at Ohio State, routinely beating the competition in the classroom like I used to do in GTT, I realized just how much of this game translates to the real world. Now, I'm fiercely protective of the barrier between my e-life and my real life. My girlfriend knows nothing of my involvement in this game, and in fact the only friend of mine that does know was once involved in it himself. I'm certainly not taking a dig at anyone that openly brags about the game, just commenting that I choose to keep my participation in e-wrestling a quiet secret.

However, the skills I've picked up along the way, skills obtained from observing and competing against my fellow e-fedders, have absolutely paid dividends in my life. Now, I'm not saying I wouldn't have turned out to be a pretty good writer, because natural talent certainly has something to do with it (stop me if I'm boasting). However, throughout the course of GCW's lifetime I've seen bad writers turn into passable writers (Mike Hardy), average writers turn into good writers (Octavian), and good writers turn into phenomenal writers (Rich Rollins). Competition hones your skills in a way that regular writing simply can't. Writing a short story on your computer and then leaving it is certainly good practice (and is something I do a lot of), but there's no substitute for being thrown into a high-profile match against amazing writers like Jeff, Andy and, to a lesser extent, Ryan and knowing you have to perform in front of a big audience that will all be reading and scrutinizing your work.

And in that way, e-wrestling gives us skills to use later in life. Because now, in the classroom, I'm constantly in competition with my peers for recognition, and I'm able to stand out above the rest because I know how to compete. When I graduate and seek a writing job, I'll know how to zone in and do my best when the pressure is on, because I've already had to meet deadlines, consider my audience, craft cohesive stories and work with others.

So that's my new ambition. I want to help this community continue to grow as writers, just as I hope to continue to grow myself. As long as I'm still in school, still learning, this game will continue to be the greatest resource for learning I have. I can say from experience that our generation is fairly mediocre at writing. I'm in a 500-level (highest for undergrad) course on the Victorian novel, and we had to spend half the day yesterday discussing the basic concepts of how to write a paper. You'd think people would know how to organize their thoughts and create well-crafted text, but they don't. A large portion of them don't even know the full basics of sentence structure and punctuation.

And in this community we can leap above all that. We e-wrestlers have aged and we have real-world considerations, but that makes this game more important, not less. Eventually we'll all outgrow this silliness of pretending to be wrestlers (or, in my case, billionaire megalomaniacs). But when we do, we'll go out into the real world with real skills that our generation desperately lacks.

E-wrestlers are going to take over the world, I tell you. When I run for President in 2028, I'll be calling all of you to fill out my cabinet.

Don't Forget About Me!

Holzerman recently posted a very good note on shortforming, and Pete responded on the PTC blog. Hey, I'm not about to be outdone when this is clearly the superior blog, so I'll post my thoughts. I'd encourage everyone to read the other two posts first, as this is a direct response.

Holzerman's post: Here
Pete's post: Here

If you're too damn lazy to read the others, here are the main points: There's always been some controversy surrounding whether or not to fully write out your matches or just "shortform" them. Holzerman used PRIME as an example and discussed how best to form a show.

PRIME is a great example because their shows are of a very high quality, but at the same time has some weaknesses inherent to their style. Now, I've never written for PRIME and I've never really been intimately tied to their community, so I can't say this for sure, but the impression I've been getting is that they very much pride themselves on quantity as much as quality. That isn't to suggest that PRIME members think length is somehow vital to success, but simply that they view their long, detailed results as a symbol of the great effort they go through to produce high quality stuff.

But there are two problems here. One, in a lot of feds these days, the number of matchwriters is shriveling. The other is that in feds like PRIME, they tend to go overboard and end up with shows so long that they cease to become manageable. While I absolutely intend to get up to speed on all current storylines in PRIME, I must confess that looking at a PRIME show is very intimidating based on the sheer volume it presents.

So do you summarize or shortform your matches to cut down on length, do you somehow cut down on segments, or is there another solution? Holzerman insisted that everyone should be able to do the segs they want, whereas Pete suggested some sort of seg management. But Holzerman brought up a good point about PRIME, that some of their segs would work just as well as roleplays.

And there's the point I made in GCW a few months ago. We had this debate in GCW and we resolved it, and I feel we've struck a great balance.

We don't shortform our matches, we write them out. We're fortunate enough to have a good supply of great, hard working matchwriters that turn up every week to contribute. But what every matchwriter needs to realize is that they aren't writing a roleplay or a segment. Granted, they're still telling a story, but it's not about the matchwriter. The matchwriter should be invisible. Instead, the match itself should be written according to the people involved in it. If it's an opening match featuring two new wrestlers, you can afford to keep it short and sweet. If it's a weekly main event, a few extra pages are good. But the point is this: for weekly events, matches serve the same purpose that segments do, they progress a story or a character. A weekly match should be there to tell that story and then end, no frills required. By just focusing on telling the story and omitting all the usual filler, you end up with a much more manageable match both for the writers and the readers, and the show shortens.

How about segments, then? Well, first of all, GCW doesn't have a solid seg cap, but I do have a policy. Nobody should really be in more than three segs per show, unless it's part of a great storyline. It is possible to end up writing too much, thereby wearing out your welcome and making your final segs tedious. So while I prefer to take it on a case-by-case basis, nobody should saturate the show with their character.

Furthermore, there's also a policy on content. I have a definite aversion to segs that end up being little more than two characters standing motionless in a room and having a conversation. Obviously these segs have their place, but they should serve a clear purpose. Though it met with some resistance, I think GCW has successfully cut down on the "character development" seg. These segs typically only pushed one or two characters and did not involve a larger storyline. And that is precisely what roleplays are for, to progress the character. When writing anything for a show you should consider your audience, and remember that a wrestler's first goal is to ENTERTAIN the crowd. If your seg is boring or simply not relevant to the pace of the show, make it a roleplay.

Every member of every fed has the right to tell the story they want, but that's why I run a roleplay fed. That gives everyone the opportunity to tell their individual story. But shows are about seeing those individual characters, taking those individual stories, and watching them interact. Any seg that doesn't entertain, serve a purpose, or otherwise contribute to the group effort isn't necessary. Now, I don't want to give the impression that I cut any seg I don't immediately get, because I don't. But I have made it clear that people should consider their audience and be completely focused on furthering some storyline with every card appearance, and they have responded.

The result of all this has been very positive. I feel GCW shows are a good length, feature a large variety of characters in entertaining and engaging situations, and it's not hard to follow the whole event and read through it. Our matches may not be epically long, but they don't need to be. The focus should not be on length or size, but on density. How much information and entertainment can you cram into the smallest possible space? Determine what you need to accomplish for an event, and then calculate the smallest size that can accommodate it. Anything more than that makes it hard to read.

Lowering expectations on match writing may sound pretty lame, but it's not. We haven't lowered our expectations in terms of quality. But the sense that every match should include the basics (introductory moves, rest holds, big momentum shifts, etc) is wrong. A weekly match just needs to do its job and move on, because even if you do take the time to write that filler people will just skim it anyway. Write the essential parts in the best way you can and be done. That makes life so much easier on the writers and makes your show a much denser and more enjoyable read.

So in that way I agree with Pete; don't shortform your matches, because the people involved deserve to have their story told and their part in the show fulfilled. But you don't need to show Wrestler X displaying his knowledge of wrestling's most basic moves and holds. I don't need to see Vivica J. Valentine perform a belly to back suplex just to remind me she knows how to do it. Tell the story, but save the detailed, thorough and realistic wrestling matches for the major events where the wrestling is all that matters.

Devil's Night/Great American Nightmare Preview

You've all heard about it by now. On November 4th, Global Championship Wrestling and PRIME will be co-hosting, for the first time ever, two Pay-Per-View events under one roof. This year, GCW's Devil's Night and PRIME's Great American Nightmare will be held on the same night in the same building, and at times, in the same ring.

But so far very few details have been released. Well, that changes now. Here is some vital information on both the kayfabe events lined up, as well as some of the behind-the-scenes, making-of goodies.

Will there be interfed matchups?
-Of course! However, this is not a purely interfed event, like you might find at PTC. PTC remains our central hub for purely interfed competition, but this show is meant to not only breed hostilities between the feds, but also to display what each fed is doing. Therefore, you'll be getting a few interpromotional bouts in addition to each fed's regularly scheduled lineup. This means you can see the storylines of GCW and PRIME, and also get some never-before-seen matchups, all in one neat and tidy PPV package.

Where will the show be posted?
-On November 4th, you'll be able to find the show on both the GCW and PRIME websites. Just view the one you think is prettier (not that that's a tough decision...).

Who is organizing the thing?
-This event is being run in complete cooperation between GCW and PRIME. I'll greedily take credit for the initial idea, but so far everything's been done together between myself and Matt and Lindz over at PRIME.

All right, then, what interfed matches are we getting?
-Rumored matches include Vivica J. Valentine vs. Tony "The Grin" Gamble, Peter Vetra vs. Hoyt Williams, Kimbusa vs. The Illustrious Face Eater, and more. Watch GCW's WorldWide this weekend and PRIME's Revolution next week to see all the buildup and find out what matches get confirmed.

What does the future hold for these types of events?
-I'm hoping that CEi here becomes a hub for these events. With the launching of the Official PTC Blog, there's now a great stop, hosted by Pete, to get information on PTC Interfed events. CEi will therefore seek its niche in organizing and examining events held directly between the conglomerate of GCW, FUSE and PRIME. Eventually the hope will be to host three-way events in a gathering of all three feds, but it's best to start small and figure out how these things should function. So far work between GCW and PRIME has been a wild success, and I have reason to believe that this show will live up to the hype. We've spawned new relationships across fed boundaries because of this event, and it's time to incorporate FUSE. A GCW/FUSE or PRIME/FUSE event should be forthcoming, perhaps before the end of the year. Right now we've got our first triple-hosted event in discussion, but we're still a little ways away from making that a reality. Look for another cross-promotional event coming up in the next couple months, and a GCW/FUSE/PRIME event coming to you in the first quarter of '08.

Why not go all-out and host a fed vs. fed supercard?
-For a number of reasons. Firstly, PTC is still the place to see members of each fed in direct competition and CEi supports that. Secondly, the concept for this show isn't centered around seeing those fed vs. fed matches, though that's certainly a big part. The concept is to create the opportunity for otherwise impossible rivalries, yes, but at the same time breed familiarity between the members of each fed. Before last month I can honestly say I'd only spoken to one or two PRIME members, and I almost never read their shows. Now I'm talking to a large portion of their roster on a regular basis and I've got a good grip on what storylines they are running. Having two shows combined into one and posting PRIME material on the GCW site (and vice versa) will provide everyone with a quick way to get familiar with their rivals. The result will be a better, closer working environment for, eventually, all three feds. With the e-wrestling community as a whole in decline, creating a tightly knit community amongst ourselves provides us with insurance for the future, expands our individual horizons and, hopefully, will strengthen the community as a whole to lengthen its life expectancy, which is rapidly waning.

I'll be happy to answer more questions is anyone has them. Just leave them in the comment box. I'm very, very excited for this event. I can't reveal more about the individual cards for a few more days, as there is still a lot to do. But I can say that I am optimistic for the success of this event and those to come, and I'm also optimistic about GCW's chances of beating the high holy hell out of every PRIME wrestler that dares to step into the ring with us.

A Brief Review

Recently I was surprised to find that Ben Halkum (I assume) had registered an account on the GCW forums to inform us that he'd reviewed GCW over at EWzine.com. I'd glanced at the site before, but this was the first time I'd ever actually looked into it deeply.

Now, I know there's some controversy surrounding the site, and I'll readily confess that I don't know the whole story... and what I do know isn't really relevant. But the site looks like a good concept; the e-wrestling world could use a few more resource sites.

I'd like to express my thanks to Halkum for the great review (I'd link you to it, but... I can't) and for taking the time to check us out. I think EWzine is a good concept. But, in light of GCW being reviewed by EWzine, I had to do a little review of EWzine myself.

Really, my problem is this: while I was very flattered by the comments, the review itself was so riddled with writing mistakes as to make it difficult to read. Not only was is tough to decipher at times, it really made the whole effort seem amateur. Nothing kills my interest in a site, any site, more than seeing bad writing. There was obviously zero time given to proofreading each entry (the other fed reviews are equally bad), and the vast majority of the errors seemed to be mere typos that could be fixed with a quick readthrough.

This isn't intended to burn Halkum, because I do appreciate the perfect score, and it isn't intended to dissuade anyone from visiting EWzine. But really, I hope those guys will take things a bit more seriously, proofread every word they publish, and make the whole effort look more professional. E-wrestling needs more resource sites, but we have no use for bad ones.

This Means War

Everyone in PRIME and FUSE can fornicate themselves with a rusty piece of metal.

Now, before you get all up in arms, allow me to explain what I mean by that.

What I mean is that you should all find a piece of rusty metal, turn that sumbitch sideways, and--

No, not that.

Let's take a little trip down memory lane. While a portion of the people in the PTC community have been late to the scene, I'd wager that the vast majority of us have been around since wrestling's glory days. That's both "real" wrestling and e-wrestling; the glory days of both coincide, and it's no coincidence.

We can all go back and look at old wrestling clips from the mid to late nineties with fondness, and even the early part of this century didn't totally suck. But I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that the PTC community, and wrestling fans in general, almost universally hate the current wrestling product on television. WWE's talent is weak and their storylines either bad or a rehash of something bad they did ten years ago. TNA is run by WCW washouts who clearly have no idea what they're doing, and aside from a few pretty bright spots their talent is a lot of WWE retirees.

But it wasn't always this dire. And if you're looking for one moment when the transition began, when wrestling's decline was in full force, it was the day Vince McMahon was seen on WCW television on the last broadcast of Nitro, telling the wrestling fans he'd bought his competition and now intended to bring an unceremonious end to wrestling's glory years with the biggest botched opportunity since Tara Reid's boob job.

So what changed? In a word, competition. What made WCW and WWF so great back in the day was that competition, that ferocious war for ratings that drove both companies to excellence. Most of us that were watching back then can claim allegiance to one company or the other; myself, I considered myself a WWF fan first and was happy to see them win the wars. Despite that, I still watched Nitro every Monday night, too, and I loved the NWO storyline, I loved heel Chris Jericho, stealer of gimmicks, and I loved their ridiculously populated main event scene. Every week the writing wasn't just meant to give you a decent show, it was intended to beat the pants off that other show. When the WWF finally pulled ahead in the ratings, WCW fired back by giving away Goldberg vs. Hogan on free television, which was a dumb business move but was a giant gift for wrestling fans.

The point is, the heavyweight battle of WCW vs. WWF was good for us. There may have been a lot of genuine animosity there, but it was good for us. Knowing that on any given week both shows would be top notch because even the slightest slipup would mean giving away ratings points was what made it the golden age of wrestling. In modern times, WWE writers can throw random crap at the wall no matter how stupid or ridiculous, because fans have no choice but to watch it. If you turned on the WWF back in 1997 and saw Jonathan Coachman chasing around a midget dressed up like a leprachaun who was also Vince McMahon's illegitimate child, would you have tolerated it? No way, you'd click right over to Nitro and watch Chris Jericho read off his list of reasons why he's better than Dean Malenko.

So, how does this explain why I want everyone in FUSE and PRIME to suffer horrible, horrible pain? I think you see where this is heading.

Part of the reason GCW vs. PRIME stands to make PTC a better place is because of the animosity it will breed. Not genuine, "I really hate that Lindz chick" sorts of animosity, but "I really hate that Lindsay Troy and I want to make her suffer" animosity. For the last couple of weeks, the PRIME logo has adorned GCW's banner, and the GCW logo complete with Caldera's handsome face has been atop PRIME's website. Why? To make the other team hate us.

And this is good. Behind the scenes it has allowed us to get to know the other side a bit better; I know that I've never spoken to a larger number of people in the game before. I've been in close contact now with a good portion of the PRIME roster, and even those I don't talk to I know how to get hold of. But I hope to breed a competitive edge, something that makes every member of every fed remember as they write for their show each week that they need to make it the best they possibly can, because you're competing with other feds that are damn sure going to be doing the same.

That competitive edge is what made wrestling so great in the late 90s, and it's what will make e-wrestling so great now in the mid 00s. But in that respect, we have one major bonus. We know each other and we can work together to take advantage of that competition and give the people what the want to see.

If someone had offered you the chance to see a WCW vs. WWF card back in 1997, wouldn't you have paid any amount of money to see that show? I sure as hell would have. But it couldn't happen, it was impossible (well, it could have happened when Vince bought the place, but I won't delve into that quagmire).

But nothing is impossible for us. At the same time that we're breeding this kayfabe contempt, we're breeding new connections with the handlers and leaders of each fed. I'd never spoken to Mattchu before the idea of this event came about, and because of it I now have a working relationship with the fedhead of PRIME. I talked to Lindz fairly often before, but now (in part, too, due to PTC competition) I speak to Joe, Nate, Al, Matt, Craig and others. The result? You're going to see matches like Tony Gamble vs. Vivica J. Valentine at Devil's Night/Great American Nightmare, and that's like getting to see The Rock vs. Goldberg when they were both still on their way up.

With respect to PTC, there isn't a lot the community can do to aid this. This is a task best left to the individuals participating in the "Big Three" of FUSE, GCW and PRIME. PTC, as presently constituted, is the perfect environment for interfed competition of a different color; Death Row Incorporated, GTT and such. But to create the sort of competition that we can feed off of directly, it should remain exclusive to the feds themselves.

Therefore, in an effort to differentiate this blog from the PTC community, I hope to shift focus a bit and dedicate my coverage to creating, maintaining and broadcasting that competition. I'll certainly continue to cover PTC events and the community itself, but my main objective will be to help forge and maintain the connections that will be vital to creating an environment like the one wrestling enjoyed in the 90s.

GCW vs. PRIME is just the first step. It will blaze a trail, and in doing so the leadership on both sides will be able to find out what works, what doesn't, and what to look for in future interfed events. From there we can get far more aggressive with our pursuit of competitional-excellence, and it is my hope to be a leader in that quest.

What we are entering is an era in which the "interfed" is obsolete. And yet we must pause to appreciate the long history of PTC and the role it played in getting us to this point. But consider for a moment the history of e-wrestling and the interfed. Back when the entire literate wrestling fanbase (at best only a third of the whole) was engaged in wrestling, the interfed was the best way to keep it all straight, and feds had to try their hardest every week because, for a member, the alternatives were plentiful. You had to go to PTC or WO to even find great feds, and even then there were great feds outside the community.

But now e-wrestling is reduced and operating on a much smaller scale. That larger structure is no longer necessary. If e-wrestling was a sprawling metropolis at the start of this century, needing one governor to stand up and lead the way through the masses, the game now is a small town where everyone knows everyone's name.

PTC ceasing operations as an interfed allows this new sort of connection to be made. PTC remains a crucial element to the equation because it allows for interaction on the forums and competition in other forms to break up the monotony (see: DRI). And I think this will become more important, because more and more often I am encountering people who don't even like wrestling any more, but stay in the game because they are writers. And the writing in this condensed version of the game is far and away the best it's ever been, meaning we've got people who can actually consider taking the skills they learned from this game and turning it into an actual career. PTC will be the place where the pure writing can be explored and exalted.

But the actual interfed is now an unspoken, unseen bond formed directly between the Big Three. And as we strengthen this bond and begin to use it, I think you'll see e-wrestling's lifespan extended quite a bit. If PTC allows the community to explore and exhibit its amazing writing skills, this new invisible interfed will allow the community to exhibit their fedding skills.

The result is an environment that promotes excellence at the absolute highest level. PTC will sharpen our writing skills while interfed competition will sharpen our commitment to our feds and our friends within them. So we're about to create for ourselves a world just like the one that made WCW vs. WWF so amazing, only we get to be friends with the members of the other companies... at least, when we're not trying to destroy them.

You love me! You really love me!

This blog has been getting a very positive response, so expect a new entry soon.

But right now all my writing prowess is being poured into GCW's Dangerous Games.

Be sure to head to GCW tomorrow when the show goes up. It'll be a good one with a lot of familiar faces.

The Future of Primetime Central

The following post stands to be a bit touchy, so I feel the need to preface it with a few words about my intent.

This is NOT intended as a slight to the people mentioned below. This is NOT intended to incite, enrage or aggravate. I like PTC, I have great respect for its history, and I have great respect for everyone involved in its operation over the years, from the big guy in charge down to the people who dedicated their time to judging PTC events.

I worry now that there will be no way to artfully avoid the potential pitfalls of writing this criticism. I do not wish to be seen as a malcontent, because I am quite pleased with the status of our game and the things we're able to accomplish in it. So please understand that this is not borne out of anger or resentment. This is merely a plead to all relevant parties to give all of us the chance to maximize our potential for fun.

That said, here comes the criticism:

PTC is not dead.

In fact, PTC is more alive than ever. We have a big interfed event coming up, IG is arguably more active than ever, we have a unified title division that is attracting great talent and interest, we have a concept competition that looks phenomenal, and GTT is going to run as usual. What, precisely, is "dead" about it?

Consider the actual physical and functional changes that have occurred since PTC "closed:"

-The Trash Talk board is now unmoderated.
-The stagnant PTC website is gone.
-Anyone may now recruit from the Free Agent board.

...And that's it. Only superficial changes were made. Now, before I continue on I think you can see the source of my concern. I won't dance around the issue: Ross (Argyle) and Pete (Pete) have been the guys in charge of PTC for some time and therefore this criticism of PTC will largely be viewed as a criticism of them.

Pete and I have worked closely together before. Pete was in GCW and that's how he got involved in PTC in the first place. He was my right-hand-man for some of our best times in 2002, and he actually ran GCW for me in the summer of 2006. I know Pete fairly well.

Ross is not a guy I know as well, though in what comparatively little interaction we've had I've been able to learn enough to know I like the guy. In fact, I like both guys. I'm excited to see Pete back out and handling again, even if Jason O'Neil has turned tail and run to FUSE.

While my criticisms of the decisions made regarding PTC's future may appear to be targeted at these guys, that's not the case. Because I feel that PTC should not be identified by its leaders alone, but by everyone active in the community. So in that respect, this criticism is aimed at myself every bit as much as it is at Ross and Pete.

Now that I've hedged a bit I can return to the point. And the point is this: PTC as it exists today is a fraud. Because it's not dead, it's absolutely thriving. The only change is that it is no longer a members-only club, and in that respect the decision to "kill" PTC was the best decision possible. The e-wrestling community at large is simply not big enough to exclude anyone. Back in 2002-3 when the game was thriving, e-wrestling had to organize itself into this sort of hierarchical structure to sort it all out. There were thousands of people in the game and visiting the communities, and the only way to make sense of it all was to put everyone in their place.

But that's not the case any more. For the most part the casual obnoxious teenage fanboy is gone, or at least stashed away quietly in the wealth of Geocities feds still running. The remaining members of the e-wrestling community are largely holdovers from the past era, and therefore there's no reason to turn anyone away.

I think the current status of PTC is a good thing, I just think it's got an unfortunate label. PTC should not be called "dead." The PTC splash page is a bit more diplomatic: PTC has "ceased trading." But why even go that far? PTC hasn't ceased trading anything. PTC is just trading on a broader scale.

The doors are open and that's a good thing. Now that the community has been restructured the way it has the rest of us have a chance to make things happen. It's happened already: Andy is very capably running the Infinite Gauntlet, my namesake is running the Unified Title division, and this allows Pete and Ross to run spot events when they have the time (see: Death Row Inc., GTT).

But what this really allows us to do is create a new reality for ourselves. The attitude that PTC is "dead" is dead wrong. PTC is dead in the same way Brittany Spears is dead. Sure, she may have lost her mind and put on some weight, but if she could just tighten up that flabby ass and find the energy again, we'd all be right back to lusting over her.

So here's the self-serving part of the column: I feel we're on the right track with this GCW vs. PRIME event. There are no hangups, no reasons why we can't just decide for ourselves to do this and do it. We decided to unite for one evening to see what happens, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Furthermore, the interest garnered from the event has led a large number of PRIME and even FUSE people to request to show up at Dangerous Games this weekend (you'll have to visit GCW on Saturday to see who). I really hope this leads to greater interaction among the PTC feds.

What needs to change is our own view of what PTC is. PTC is what we choose to make it now. My criticism of Ross and Pete here is that they chose to word the future of PTC poorly, but in reality what they've done is given us the chance to, as a community, create something altogether new. What I hope occurs here is to see PTC become a world very much like the one in which WWF and WCW operated in the late nineties. We're in competition with one another, we're the big promotions of the world, but from time to time we mix things up for the sake of seeing the matches we've always dreamed of seeing.

With PTC more a loose confederation of feds it's my hope that we use PTC itself to host events like Death Row and GTT, but that we use the feds themselves to host interfed events. GCW and PRIME are meeting under the same roof, each hosting its own event, but allowing the rosters to interact. If this is successful, and I feel it will be, I hope it provides the blueprint for the future of PTC. This will allow us to interact like never before as a community, get to know each others' feds much more intimately, and furthermore the increased cooperation stimulates the health of the feds; what's good for PRIME is good for GCW, because the better off both feds are, the bigger and better our joint show becomes.

So I hope this alters the perceptions of what PTC is right now. PTC should be the hub at which the PTC feds meet, but it's the PTC feds themselves that become the major players. We can accomplish whatever we want. PTC is NOT dead. Long live PTC.