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.