I've just been informed by an anonymous source (codename: R. Guile) that Global Wrestling is closing its doors.
I haven't officially confirmed this yet, nor do I have the full scoop. I haven't followed Global a whole lot over the years, at least not like it deserved. It turned out some amazing talent and ran for the better part of the decade, which is an amazing feat.
But I gather James has been away for a while, and the instability has caused problems. They've also had issues with their hosting, which I can attest can drive a man insane.
If this is confirmed (I'll follow up on this with more details as I investigate) it'll simply be another step in the inevitable decline in PTC. However, much as I truly am sad to see Global go, it might not be an entirely bad thing. With interest in the game waning it might actually help strengthen the game to consolidate the talent in it into fewer feds. If those still interested in the game move to GCW, PRIME and FUSE, those feds will only benefit and what was a failing fed will have ultimately empowered the game.
Again, I'll try to dig up the full story on Global's passing. It's a shame to see it go as it's been such a big part of the game for a long time, but I suspect this is the sort of thing you'll be seeing in the months to come. Still, I think it's all just one step in the evolution of the community; not a creeping death but a restructuring.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Breaking News
Posted by Steven Caldera at 7:15 PM
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5 comments:
Here's the problem with Global guys joining all those PTC rosters: Where do they go?
Which PTC fed hasn't already tried to keep their roster between 20 and 30 right now to suddenly take in much of an influx? And then, who will take whom? Will a character like Lantlas, who IS an elf, be accepted at PRIME as an elf, or as a guy who pretends to be an elf? The people with the more specific character quirks will have to decide if they want to change their entire style of writing to keep the character fed-history and credibility. If they don't want to compromise on that, is there a place for that character in (insert fed here) or will they have to use a new character? And will that character get a fair shake at angles with all the established people within a federation depending on the timing? Or will they have to slum around at the bottom of the card with the other new guys who came over from the same fed, and wait two months when the arc ends and people's feud slots free up?
Then there's the question of whether or not the feds will run some sort of filter on the joining. PRIME could stand for more tag teams that aren't being used by a single handler who's also running a singles team. That didn't work so well in Global. GCW tends to need more teams anyway. Will there be a coordinated linking up of two compatible characters for that division?
Then there's FUSE, that seems to have a monthly influx of like 10 guys, only to have to immediately cut them from the roster for inactivity. I won't say anything about the management changes, but I will say this: FUSE seems to have waaaay more faces than heels every time I look at it. That limits who can work with whom to create angles and feuds. There's going to be a lot of people left in the background, twiddling their thumbs, because there just aren't enough antagonistic programs to go around to hype for a PPV.
We'll see how it all goes, but any federation in PTC that takes on a bunch of people, and those people stay, will probably have to get over itself and actually restructure to account for those new people. None of that "throw them into the lion's den and let them sort it out themselves" stuff.
I'm going to agree with Sky. GCW just hired a load of new talent that has a great mountain of potential. Do we have room for any more? The top of the card already has a log jam. The middle of the card is open to the last batch of newcomers we had. The bottom of the card is currently loaded with this new group. The only additions we need is tag teams, but Global had a limited tag team scene as well. Granted I would do backflips if we picked up Souls of the Black Lotus.
Global was a great fed, and I am glad for having been a part of it. Saddens me greatly to see it go.
As far as where its members will go, some have come to FUSE, and I think others will likely head to Encore (Rich/Sage Sabbot/Durian David Orthane's fed)
I'm acting under the assumption that only a small portion of the roster, the ones who are still active and hard-working, will be the ones to move to other feds.
After all, if Global were full of active, hard-working people, they wouldn't have closed.
So really the group of people I'm talking about is only in the 4-6 range, meaning MAYBE two people per fed.
And those are total guesses, because I know nothing more on the subject and haven't done much research.
Global's problems go deeper than just the issue of whether or not the roster would work (though that was a problem, yes). We were dealing with James being missing an an interim self-appointed staff that was having to put shows together without really having a firm direction for the fed in mind. We were dealing with the server going through some sort of weird upgrade process that saw the whole site revert back about a month's worth of posts, while also lock out everybody from posting on the site.
We were dealing with one cancelled PPV show (Showdown in Tokyo) that probably could not have gone down the way it was formatted, and then replaced with a separate show that was going to be a pain to find judges for, and then to write (and the judging would have had to happen before anybody could start writing the results). And all this keeping in mind that because it was decided that Global could not afford a hiatus, this replacement show to Showdown in Tokyo was pushed forward and was supposed to be written for and go down right after Xmas, even though usually everybody in eW gets those last 2 weeks of the year to dick off and take a break.
And then there was the whole issue of the boards being full of "venting" arguments that probably did nothing more than alienate people from wanting to participate in the product. And when we finally got past that and people were given the opportunity to voice constructive ideas for the future, very very very few bothered to chip in on *that* particular conversation.
So it was a lot of issues at once that did in Global.
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