Coastal Zone Dreamin'

[daveyk]

Coastal Zone Dreamin'

It had all started so well. Named the new Head Booker for the up-and-coming Coastal Zone Championship Wrestling. Grand plans for commercial and popular success! 4 shows a month! New talent working well with some of the old talent! The shows had been solid if unspectacular and popularity was growing. The shows had just recently moved to a new venue so we could stop turning people away from the shows. Sure, we'd had more than a few miscues trying to get these hard-headed Modern fans who wanted to see nothing-but-wrestling to warm up to some of the talent by sprinkling a few interviews and videos into the mix. But overall, the shows had gone well.

So why had it all gone so wrong? Why was I sitting in Cliff Anderson's office a short 10 months later on a dreary September in 2006 being told it was all over. Could it have something to do with the fact that CZCW had been running at over a $20,000 deficit for about 3 months? Yeah, that probably had something to do with CZCW going out of business.

Suddenly, the alarm went off. The room was dark, and Eddie checked the clock. 6am, December 1, 2005. Just the horrible nightmares of a first-time head booker on the day before he actually started work.

Phew! Well, hopefully his "second" try would go a little better.

[daveyk]

December 2005

OK, no 4 shows a month for now. Gotta keep costs down while we grow popularity. Apparently this is a marathon, not a sprint. Low-cost wrestlers, and plenty of them to make sure our higher-priced guys work their tails off every time we pay them an apperance fee. And let's see if we can't figure out what these stupid fans of Hybrid wrestling want to see.

First things first. The high-priced talent goes. Sorry guys, I know it stinks, but I can't really afford to have 2 high-priced folks working at any single show, so some of you have to go. Besides, our fans want wrestling, so any of you without good Mat, Chain, Submission, and Basic skills are expendable. Unless you're willing to help me train some of the young talent we have and that we're going to bring in.

RIFs are hard on everyone. But sometimes they're necessary and they're best done all at once. So in one day, we say goodbye to Jeremiah Moose, Flying Jimmy Fox, Prince Adam, Fox Mask, Jimmy P, Donnie J, Farrah Hesketh, and EMM Moe. Hated to let Farrah go, and Cliff wasn't too pleased when I told him he'd have to handle color commentary himself for a while. I think he was more upset because he was trying to make time with Farrah. But when I asked him if he'd give me an extra $1,400 budget per show to keep Farrah there, well, he practically kicked her out the door himself.

That left a few decent folks on the roster, as well as a few pretty bad, but cheap guys. Of the guys left, Valiant and Frankie Perez will be getting the most attention and help. We're going to try to make them the stars of the future CZCW.

In the meantime, we needed some stars for now (Somehow I didn't see hanging my hopes on Snap Dragon, Plague, and Remmy Skye). So we scoured the wires for available wrestlers.

Brent Hill was the key signing. He's going to be the star of the new CZCW until one of the younger guys can take over for him. In the meantime, he has great wrestling skills and a good attitude, so we'll expect some of that to rub off. He's also going to be at most of our shows, acting as road agent for any match he isn't involved in, since we can't afford a dedicated road agent.

We also splashed out for a new pair of Main Eventers to compliment him. I'm concerned that I'm over-spending here, but downsides were low, so I decided to take a risk. So joining Brent Hill will be The Insane Heat and Rick Sanders.

We also signed a pair of decent Middlecarders to help fill out the roster: Marc Speed and Flemmy Lemming. And one jobber at the lowest imagineable salary to give these guys someone against whom they can rack up wins, Kashmir Singh.

We also took a look at our title situation.
The Coastal Zone Champion is Snap Dragon. He's going to lose that to Brent Hill as quick as possible. The Coastal Zone Tag Team Champions are The Gilbert Brothers. They're experienced and cheap, so we'll see how much we can use them before deciding what to do with the tag team championship. The Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship is a high-flying belt in a federation that's gonna keep its feet on the ground and give its fans real wrestling, so we just vacate the title, and change it to a pure wrestling Midcard title.

We gotta fill that Coastal Zone Xtreme title, so we make our first big announcement to the fans: The Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament! These folks wants wrestling and not angles? They consider themselves modern purist fans? OK, how about tournament to decide who gets the title?

We set up 2 groups of four wrestlers each to start off.

Group 1

Kashmir Singh
Flemmy Lemming
Frankie Perez
Jesse Gilbert


Group 2

Marc Speed
Joe Gilbert
Valiant
Remmy Skye


Each wrestler will face the others in their group once. The top two wrestlers in each group (based on record) will advance to a best-of-five semi-final. The winners will engage in a best-of-seven series for the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship.

With that announcement, we prepped for our first show. Just 5 wrestlers, and most of them pulling double duty. The main event is a 3-way ladder match in which Brent Hill immediately takes the Coastal Zone Championship Title from Snap Dragon.

----------
CZCW Is Comin' to Town
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 214

Tag Team: Frankie Perez/Brent Hill d Snap Dragon/Insane Heat (C-)
Frankie Perez d Flemmy Lemming (D)
Brent Hill d The Insane Heat & Snap Dragon (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

At the end of the month, Cliff Anderson shows me the balance sheet. We'd lost $949 this month. It's not good, but it was worse in my dream. We could have almost broken even if we'd left The Insane Heat out of the title match. Still at this rate, I'd have 45 months, rather than 7, before I drove CZCW $20K into debt.

With the Coastal Zone Championship Title around Brent Hill's waist and the first match of our Midcarder's tournament completed, we started looking forward to the new year.

[daveyk]

January 2006

The new year dawns cold and clear and CZCW went straight to work. Brent Hill was going to defend that new title against his Main Event compatriots to prove to the faithful that he deserved it. Having 2 of the more expensive people in each show could cause a problem on the bottom line, but we'll keep an eye on things and adjust if needed. At least one match a show would also be devoted to our Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament. We'll have at least one tag team match each show and then fill in the rest of the show around that. We've changed all our shows to 60 minute events and scheduled one per month at this point.

The New Year's Mayhem show featured Brent Hill against Rick Sanders for the belt and the first match in group 2 of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament.

----------
CZCW New Year's Mayhem
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 218

Valiant/Rick Sanders d. The Gilbert Brothers (E)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Brent Hill d. Rick Sanders (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C-
----------

Brent Hill successfully defends the belt and Valiant opens his account with a win over Marc Speed. Overall a successful show, but when your popularity in your home area is as low as ours, there's hardly anyplace to go but up.

We lost $850 this month, essentially Rick Sanders appearance fee. All right, gotta stop using two Main Eventers in a single show unless there's a very good reason. Plus, guys were getting too tired in their matches, so we have to up the number of matches we fight each show so the average length of match goes down.

***************
February 2006

Two matches for our Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament in this month's show, and since they're gonna be there fighting solo anyway, the Gilberts will fight a tag team match also. Gotta keep those matches short, I can't stand the Gilberts for more than a few minutes myself, I guarantee the audience doesn't want to see too much of them. We'll put Remmy Skye and Frankie Perez together against them. And we'll let Frankie have a fairly undeserved shot at the title against Brent Hill, mostly just so he can learn some stuff from Brent.

----------
CZCW Valentine's Day Massacre
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 214

Remmy Skye/Frankie Perez d. The Gilbert Brothers (C-)
Jesse Gilbert d. Kashmir Singh (D)
Joe Gilbert d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Brent Hill d. Frankie Perez (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C-
----------

Turns out that Skye and Frankie work pretty well together as a team, gotta make a note of that. The Gilberts, after losing as a tag team surprise everyone in the world by winning their first two matches in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament! Remmy Skye is particularly embarassed by it, but that's the breaks. Brent Hill and Frankie Perez put on a pretty good show for the folks, with Brent retaining his title. If it weren't for a dreadful match between Kashmir Singh and Jesse Gilbert, the show might have been even better overall. But what did I really expect when I put those two in the ring together?

February draws to a close. Cliff Anderson can barely contain his joy when he tells me that we actually made $505 profit this month! Looks like our booking strategy may keep us afloat long enough to get into the black.

And the first round of matches in our Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament is finished. The standings so far:

Group 1

Frankie Perez (1-0)
Jesse Gilbert (1-0)
Flemmy Lemming (0-1)
Kashmir Singh (0-1)


Group 2

Valiant (1-0)
Joe Gilbert (1-0)
Marc Speed (0-1)
Remmy Skye (0-1)


***************
March 2006

Going through the CZCW financials leads to a brilliant idea. We're bringing in about $1,700 in revenue per show on about 210 ticket sales. We can run a second show every month, and if we can keep our worker costs to about $1,700 per show we can do it without impacting our bottom line significantly. The increased exposure will certainly lead to a faster increase in popularity.

A flurry of meetings and it's decided. We'll run a second show every month. Introducing: "CZCW Weeklies"! (OK, a slight misnomer, blame the marketing department who didn't like the name "bi-monthly".) 30 minutes of action, including a match from our Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament. No main eventers, but this is still such a win-win idea, it can't miss!

The first show of March is our hour-long show. Two matches from the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament pitting the undefeated wreslters against one another. A CZCW "all-star" tag team match. And a non-title match between Rick Sanders and Brent Hill. We'll just have to watch our budget in the Weekly match, since we're running two Main Eventers here. But Rick Sanders isn't getting used enough, and I'm sure he's starting to get upset...I may have made a few too many promises when I hired him.

----------
CZCW March Lions
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 199

Valiant/Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed/Rick Sanders (D)
Frankie Perez d. Jesse Gilbert (C-)
Valiant d. Joe Gilbert (D)
Rick Sanders d. Marc Speed (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

Attendance is a little disappointing there, but OK. Despite having 4 serious guys in a tag team match, the quality was not what we would have liked. Not surprisingly, Frankie Perez and Valiant bring the Gilberts back to earth pretty handily, though the matches aren't much to get interested in. Rick Sanders defeats Brent Hill in a solid, but unspectacular match.

And so we move on to the inaugural CZCW Weekly. Valiant and Marc Speed top the bill in a match between two highly regarded midcarders. Flemmy Lemming takes on Kashmir Singh, both looking for their first win in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament. And a tag team match involves all the night's participants. (Only using 4 workers at a cost of about $1600, counting the referee.)

----------
[B]CZCW March Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 171

Flemmy Lemming/Valiant d. Marc Speed/Kashmir Singh (E)
Flemmy Lemming d. Kashmir Singh (D)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)

Overall: D
----------

The tag team match is a complete bust. Guys stepping all over each other's feet. Embarassing. Flemmy Lemming gets a win, but in a match this ugly, who remembers the winner? Who's even awake at the end? Valiant and Marc Speed give a little indication of how things are supposed to be done, but they can't salvage the overall effort which is our worst show so far. And attendance of only 171 isn't going to cover even these meager costs. Still, our popularity increased a little, so there's some positives.

Once accounting returns the numbers, we're down $582 for the month, which is an OK number but down $1,000 from last month. Not as successful as I was hoping for the new idea, either on the financial front or on the popularity front. But if we can keep losses at this level, we can still hang around for a long time while we wait for our popularity to rise.

[infinitywpi]

Reverse Tidal Booking... why didn't I think of that... pity you dropped the fliers, but at least it means there'll be something unique about your Zone!

[daveyk]

***************
April 2006

Attendance was off for our second show. I don't know if that's because the show is only 30 minutes long, because people don't want to see CZCW twice a month, or because we didn't have any marquee guys at the show. So we'll see if we can't find out this month by asking Brent Hill to work the Weekly show.

A review of our status makes it clear that we're seriously under-using Rick Sanders and The Insane Heat. Both of them have downsides on their contract and they're not happy with how much I'm using them. I can't say I blame them, so we'll see if we can't start to get them into the mix.

Our Spring Bash show features another match in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament, Rick Sanders and The Insane Heat in a matchup of title contenders, and a tag team match pairing up the marquee wrestlers at the show.

----------
CZCW Spring Break Bash
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 212

Frankie Perez/Insane Heat d. Rick Sanders/Marc Speed (C-)
Marc Speed d. Remmy Skye (D)
Frankie Perez d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Rick Sanders d. Insane Heat (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

Frankie Perez gets his second win of the tournament and is now in good position to advance to the semi-final. Attendence is back up to normal, which is good since Sanders and Heat are my two most expensive wrestlers.

We'll schedule another match in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament in our weekly show, plus Brent Hill will go against Flemmy Lemming in a non-title match. I have high hopes for Flemmy, although that name doesn't inspire confidence. I want to give him a chance to work with our best guys to see if he can improve.

----------
CZCW April Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 193

Valiant d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Brent Hill/Remmy Skye d. Valiant/Flemmy Lemming (C-)
Brent Hill d. Flemmy Lemming (C)

Overall: C-
----------

Valiant gets his second win, and Remmy Skye, who had such high hopes going in, falls to 0-2, and looks like he's on his way out at the group stage. Brent Hill and Flemmy Lemming put on a good show together. Attendance is not great, although it's better than our last weekly show.

That's the end of the good news for the month, however. We've lost $2,299 this month, and Cliff Anderson isn't too pleased about that.

But the loss of money is just a symptom of the larger problem. We simply can't maintain Brent Hill, Rick Sanders, and The Insane Heat at our present size. Rick and the Insane Heat are upset at their lack of shows and they have no momentum. And any attempt to rectify that will have to come at the expense of Brent Hill...we'll be robbing Peter to pay Paul.

So, unfortunately, changes are going to have to be made.

[daveyk]

> Reverse Tidal Booking

Not sure I get that reference, call me dense ;-)

I read your current CZCW diary with great interest as I was trying to learn the game, it's a very good read. It didn't help my first attempt where I drove CZCW out of business in record time. We'll see if I learned anything this time round.

[magichj]

Back in TEW 2004 infinitypw did what was without a doubt the best TEW2004 diary out with the orriginal Welcome to the Coastal Zone. Tidal booking was when you needed to save money by using the same workers in all matches. You'd have two singles matches and then a tag match with all the participants in the earlier singles match. infinity perfected this technique in his early game and saved a lot of money as a result.

[daveyk]

Ahhh, thanks, that makes sense.

I've heard references to the epic TEW 2004 diary, but never seen it (is it still available?).

***************
May 2006

May starts with a shakeup at CZCW. Aware that we can't sustain our three current Main Eventers, Rick Sanders and The Insane Heat are both let go. Luckily for CZCW, both men are professionals and there are no long-term hard feelings. We'll keep our eyes on both of them and on the bottom line, and when the time is right, perhaps we'll come back to them.

In their place, we bring in a bunch of no-namers that can provide cheap labor at our shows and allow us to get the decent guys we do have into as many matches as possible. Shooter Sean Deely, Steven Parker, and Sammy the Shark all join CZCW at the lowest possible salary. We also add a Midcarder who we've had our eyes on, Jacob Jett, since he's not very expensive. He gives us an option to Frankie Perez and Valiant if one of them doesn't look capable of becoming a star for the CZCW.

Valiant's contract came up for renewal, and of course we renewed. It cost us a little extra, but we're hoping he's worth it.

The last thing we did was try to organize our tag-team division. Most of our tag teams are made up of low-level guys thrown together, since I was only ever able to find one decent pairing of the higher level guys anyway. That higher level pairing is named Face Time, and consists of Frankie Perez and Remmy Skye. We're going to put the belt around their waist as soon as possible and ride them to see if we can get anything from the tag-teamers.

Other tag teams formed this month, to join Face Time, The Gilbert Brothers, and The Nightmares, include Rough and Tumble (Steven Parker, Kashmir Singh) and Shooter Cutter (Flemmy Lemming, Shooter Sean Deely).

With the shakeup completed, we settled on the schedule for our first show. Face Time are scheduled against The Gilbert Brothers for the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title. The Gilberts are also in action against Flemmy Lemming (the winner advances!) and Marc Speed in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament, which wraps up the group stages of the event tonight. Finally, we're arranging a series of matches between our top contenders (Brent Hill, Remmy Skye, Plague) to see if we can find something good on which to build at the top of the organization.

----------
CZCW Mother's Day Mayhem
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 236

Face Time d. Gilbert Brothers (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Flemmy Lemming d. Jesse Gilbert (C-)
Marc Speed d. Joe Gilbert (C-)
Brent Hill d. Plague (C+)
Remmy Skye d. Marc Speed (C-)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C
----------

Our most successful show to date, including a doozy of a match between Brent Hill and Plague, which certainly gives us some ideas for next month. And the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament ends its group stages:

Group 1

Frankie Perez (3-0)
Flemmy Lemming (2-1)
Jesse Gilbert (1-2)
Kashmir Singh (0-3)


Group 2

Valiant (3-0)
Marc Speed (2-1)
Joe Gilbert (1-2)
Remmy Skye (0-3)


Remmy Skye is a surprise loser in Group 2, especially losing that badly, with Marc Speed the beneficiary of his misfortune. So now the semi-finals are set:
SemiFinal 1: Flemmy Lemming v Frankie Perez
SemiFinal 2: Valiant v Marc Speed

So, with that in mind, we move to our Weekly show, the backbone of which remains the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament, but we're also going to be watching costs carefully and using only 4 workers for the show. Face Time will make it's first title defense, against Shooter Cutter. Frankie Perez and Flemmy Lemming will face off in their first match of the best-of-five series. And Remmy Skye and Shooter Sean Deely will pull double-duty.

----------
CZCW May Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 137

Face Time d. Shooter Cutter (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (D)
Remmy Skye d. Shooter Sean Deely (E)
Frankie Perez d. Flemmy Lemming (D)

Overall: D
----------

137 people? And a "D" overall rating, with Shooter Sean Deely and Remmy Skye stinking the joint to the rafters. We're going to rename the "Weekly" to the "Weakly" show. Frankie Perez takes an early 1-0 lead in his semifinal matchup, though the match was pretty awful.

Not surprisingly, we lose $1,402 this month, with the only good news being that it is $900 less than last month.

***************
June 2006

There's a flurry of meetings to discuss the fate of the "Weekly" shows. They are not helping our bottom line, attendance stinks, and they are, generally, doing nothing for our popularity. So much for "the idea that can't miss". I convince everyone to give the idea one last month, and if I can't turn it around in June, we'll pull the plug until we can more easily justify the shows.

We add another team into our roster of tag teams: West Side Story (Sammy the Shark & Jacob Jett), and then prepare for the month.

After their titan struggle last month, we announce a series of title matches between Brent Hill and his closest rival: Plague. We need to start generating some interest at the top of our organization and if these two can put together a series of matches like that one, it could help us out a lot, as well as validating my faith in Brent Hill. Beyond that, Face Time will defend it's tag team title, and we'll have matches in both of our Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship semi-finals.

----------
CZCW Surf Slam
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 211

Remmy Skye d. Rough and Tumble (C-)
Face Time d. Rough and Tumble (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Flemmy Lemming (D)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Attendence is where it should be, and, buoyed by another excellent match between Plague and Brent Hill (in which Brent defends his title), the show is a success. Frankie Perez takes a daunting 2-0 lead in his semi-final, which will hopefully be over mercifully soon, since both matches in it have been terrible. Valiant takes a 1-0 lead over Marc Speed, and Face Time defend their tag team title.

The Weekly show will center around a possibly deciding match between Flemmy Lemming and Frankie Perez, with a low-level tag-team match and a match-up between two lesser-know wrestlers. Costs for this show will be very low, which is the goal.

----------
CZCW June Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 190

Shooter Cutter d. Rough and Tumble (D)
Steven Parker d. Shooter Sean Deely (D)
Flemmy Lemming d. Frankie Perez (D)

Overall: D
----------

Attendance is better, though still on the low side, but the quality of matches between our Midcarders and Lower Midcarders is (perhaps predictably) not helping our popularity. Flemmy Lemming and Frankie Perez engage in another dreary match, though Flemmy pulls one back and is now behind 2-1.

Our financials show that the cost-cutting was somewhat successful, and our losses were only $527, which is a manageable level, if the shows were also helping our popularity. But, they aren't doing that, so we're better off cancelling the rest of our weekly shows until times are better for the CZCW.

So next month, we go back to one show per month...

[Goldberg]

Who is your ref? Are you still using Pee-Wee? Go with Rob Perkins, much cheaper. Any ref with ref skills of C or above will not hurt your matches...

Also Joss Thompson would be cheap, has great skills, but also has good chemistry with Marc Speed. Those two always gets me good ratings in my game. Two good technical workers. And Joss does color comentary when not in the ring. Just an idea.

Great read!

[infinitywpi]

Ahhh, thanks, that makes sense.

I've heard references to the epic TEW 2004 diary, but never seen it (is it still available?).

I swear you people are going to give me a swelled head. It's over on the .400SS forums, lemme try and find a link...

Now Entering the Coastal Zone (http://www.400softwarestudios.com/invboard/upload/index.php?showtopic=60707&hl=)

That takes it up to... 2009, I believe, when I suffered intense burnout. The dynasty continues in Welcome to the Coastal Zone (http://www.400softwarestudios.com/invboard/upload/index.php?showtopic=69962&hl=) but I don't think I quite get to 2010 before I flame out again and decide to wait for TEW2k5.

[daveyk]

Also Joss Thompson would be cheap, has great skills, but also has good chemistry with Marc Speed.

Heh, this diary is lagging a bit behind the actual game, and Joss Thompson entered the picture recently, so stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Does chemistry stay the same game-to-game? My limited sampling seems to indicate that it is somewhat randomized each time you start a game. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for the links, infinitywpi!

[daveyk]

***************
July 2006

We're only doing the one 90 minute show this month, so everything goes into it. Face Time make another title defense, against West Side Story. In the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship semi-finals, Flemmy Lemming and Frankie Perez engage in yet another potentially decisive matchup (and if history is a guide, a depressingly bad matchup) while Valiant and Marc Speed have their second matchup. Brent Hill and Plague have their second title matchup, which we can only hope is as good as their previous matches.

----------
CZCW Battle on the Beach
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 206

Flemmy Lemming d. Sammy the Shark (C-)
Face Time d. West Side Story (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Jacob Jett (C-)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Flemmy Lemming d. Frenkie Perez (C-)
Plague d Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Brent Hill and Plague, once again, engage in a barn-burner (well, by CZCW standards anyway), and lift the entire show. In that match, Plague takes the belt from Brent Hill, marking the first time since he joined CZCW that someone else has had the belt. In other matches, Face Time successfully defend their tag team title, Valiant takes a 2-0 lead over Marc Speed, pushing him to the edge of elimination, and (in the first watchable match of their series), Flemmy Lemming evens his best-of-five series against Frankie Perez at 2-2.

We've still lost $307 this month. But if we keep having shows of this quality, the increases in attendance and ticket prices will move us into positive financial territory long before our financial situation grows dire.


***************
August 2006

August will be a continuation of the policies from last month. One big show with something for everyone. Plague and Brent Hill meet again, this time with the belt around Plague's waist, can Brent Hill take it back? Face Time take on The Nightmares in a Coastal Zone Tag Team title match. Valiant attempts to put away Marc Speed and advance to the final of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament. And Frankie Perez battles Flemmy Lemming in the deciding match of their semi-final...the winner of this match gets a chance to battle for the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship.

----------
CZCW Wave of Fury
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 222

Flemmy Lemming d. Primal Rage (C-)
Face Time d. The Nightmares (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C)
Marc Speed d. Valiant (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Flemmy Lemming (C)
Plague d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Another great show, thanks in large part to the efforts of Brent Hill and Plague in a match which sees Plague defend his title. Face Time also successfully defend their title. Marc Speed pulls a match back against Valiant, and is now down 2-1. And Frankie Perez defeats Flemmy Lemming in a good match by almost any CZCW standard, taking the series 3-2, and advancing to the tournament final. Brent Hill also has a good match against Remmy Skye, demonstrating that we may be able to get good work from all three of our Main Eventers, which is worth noting for the future, when the title series between Plague and Brent Hill ends.

We've lost only $99 this month. But the best news is that our Marketing Department's research indicates that public familiarity with our product is growing along with our popularity! In particular, interest in the Brent Hill/Plague matchup and the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament have risen dramatically recently. At our month-end meetings it is decided to try reinstating the Weekly shows. It is believed that the costs will now be offset by a small increase in ticket prices and the increased attendance that we expect to follow our rise in popularity. We can therefore afford to put a few more Midcarders and Upper Midcarders into the Weekly show, which will hopefully help raise the overall quality of the show.


***************
September 2006

The first bit of business for September is contract renewals. Brent Hill is up for renewal. Thankfully he doesn't yet realize just how critical he is to the success of CZCW and only hits us up for a small increase, which we grumble about for show, but pay gladly. We also approve small increases for Kashmir Singh and Marc Speed to keep them on board.

Flemmy Lemming, however, presents an interesting dilemma. We're very fond of Flemmy and his skills. But he just doesn't seem to be working out well for us. His matches against fellow Midcarders Valiant, Marc Speed, and Jacob Jett have all been marked by a distinct lack of chemistry. And his first few bouts against Frankie Perez were extremely bad. He and Frankie did manage to have two excellent matches to close off their series, but how can I keep a guy on board when most of his matches against the guys in his area of the card are about as fun as sticking forks in your eyes? In the end, Flemmy is so cheap that we decide to renew and see if we can't find some way to fit him into the organization.

With contracts behind us, we turn our attention to September's Weekly show. We're going to limit the show to 4 wrestlers, with a tag team match and then two singles matches. But this time most everyone at the show is a Midcarder or better. Also, we'll have a tag team title match between Face Time and West Side Story to attempt to jazz up the evening.

----------
CZCW September Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 199

Face Time d. West Side Story (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C)
Frankie Perez d. Sammy the Shark (D)

Overall: C-
----------

The show is a success, given the limited goals we have for the Weekly show. Attendance is where it has generally been all along (though we expected a rise to go along with our rise in popularity), and the show's quality, while below what our main shows have been doing, is still good enough to increase our popularity. We did make one booking error, making the match between Frankie Perez and Sammy the Shark our evening's Main Event, and it was not able to live up to that. We'll start paying more attention to the order of matches from now own.

The Labor Day Brawl will use more of the same formula that has made our two most recent shows successful. Brent Hill and Plague continue their epic struggle for the belt. Face Time defends its title again. Valiant attempts to close out his Coastal Zone Xtreme semi-final against Marc Speed. And, for good measure, Frankie Perez and Flemmy Lemming reprise their match-up from last week to see if they can't re-capture some of that magic. In addition, we'll put Flemmy into the ring against Brent Hill to start the evening off. First of all, we're going to try to start each show with a "marquee" matchup to rev the crowd up, and build to a crescendo in the evening's finale. Second, we want to try to improve Flemmy by pitting him against our best wrestler.

----------
CZCW Labor Day Brawl
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 198

Brent Hill d. Flemmy Lemming (C)
Face Time d. Shooter Cutter (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Remmy Skye d. Shooter Sean Deely (C-)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Flemmy Lemming (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Attendance is average, but that's the only disappointment. Brent Hill re-takes the Coastal Zone Championship Title in yet another sterling match against Plague. Face Time defends their title. Valiant polishes off Marc Speed 3-1, and advances to a final matchup against Frankie Perez for the Coastal Zone Xtreme title. Frankie Perez and Flemmy Lemming catch lightning in a bottle a second time while Brent Hill and Flemmy get the evening off on a great note, and the overall show continues our roll of good fortune.

While our new popularity isn't translating into attendance yet (apparently attendance is a lagging indicator of popularity), the market has at least been willing to bear the increase in ticket prices, which means we were able to produce two quality shows and net out the month with only a $111 loss.

We head into the 4th quarter of 2006 with all indicators of success pointing in the right direction...

[daveyk]

***************
October 2006

Early in the month, we spot a new talent who may fit in at CZCW, so we sign him to a contract, just to add another decent low-cost worker to the pool. At any rate, Michael Gallagher joins the CZCW, no special plans for him, we'll just see how things go.

The hope for October is to build on our recent run with two shows. The Weekly show comes first, and will still feature 4 wrestlers, but with 4 matches this time out to see if an extra dose of the Midcarders can do anything for us, and to make sure we end the evening with the best two wrestlers in the ring together. Shooter Cutter and West Side Story duke it out in a tag team matchup and the evening ends with Flemmy Lemming and Jacob Jett in the ring together.

----------
CZCW October Weekly
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 215

Flemmy Lemming d. Sammy the Shark (D)
Shooter Cutter d. West Side Story (D)
Jacob Jett d. Shooter Sean Deely (D)
Jacob Jett d. Flemmy Lemming (D)

Overall: D
----------

Well, attendence is good, but the show is terrible. Nobody stands out...everybody is equally bad. Sigh, we're back to this again with the Weekly show? Perhaps it was a mistake not having any matches related to the Coastal Zone Championship or the Coastal Zone Xtreme tournament on the card?

Oh well, can't dwell on it, gotta move forward. A good show at Hallowe'en will more than make up for that effort, and we have a chance to make money this month since the Weekly brought in over 200 fans. So the Hallowe'en show will feature another title matchup between our two mainstays: Plague and Brent Hill. After taking the title back last week, this rivalry is getting very intense. Face Time make yet another tag team title defense. We'd like to have started Valiant and Frankie Perez on their Coastal Zone Xtreme series, but, due to a snafu in the booking office in which someone mistakenly advance booked semi-final match-ups for this show, we feel obligated to go ahead with a pair of meaningless matches.

----------
CZCW Halowe'en Terror
Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 158

Remmy Skye d. The Gilbert Brothers (D)
Face Time d. The Gilbert Brothers (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C)
Frankie Perez d. Flemmy Lemming (C)
Plague d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

So much for our momentum heading into the 4th quarter. The show's quality is as good as ever, with Plague and Brent Hill continuing their run of good form (Plague takes the crown back from Brent after just one month), our Midcarders doing good work, and Face Time defend their tag team title yet again in a solid, if unspectacular match.

But only 158 people show up? It seems that maybe we're not ready for two shows a month, since the second one always seems to draw less than the first. On the plus side, we only lose $523 this month, despite the dreadful attendance for the Hallowe'en show, so it could have been worse. But, once again, I'm scratching my head and trying to decide what to do about the under-performing Weekly show.

***************
November 2006

More meetings to discuss the fate of the Weekly shows and, once more, we cancel them. Instead, we're going to move our show into a larger space, The Snake Pit, to see if that might translate into more ticket sales.

In order to sweep the latest Weekly show flip-flop under the mat, the Marketing department goes into high gear advertising our two most important series: Brent Hill and Plague for the Coastal Zone Championship and a best-of-seven between Valiant and Frankie Perez to crown the new Coastal Zone Xtreme champion. From what the marketing department tells me, fan interest in both of these matchups is running high, so hopefully we can get some butts in seats.

So, CZCW embarks on a new era in a new facility with their Thanksgiving Feast at The Snake Pit. Action on all three CZCW titles is planned. Brent Hill and Plague continue their title showdown, with Brent looking to take the title back from Plague once more. Frankie Perez and Valiant get started on their Coastal Zone Xtreme series. Face Time is in action for the tag team title yet again, this time against The Nightmares. The rest of the evening is filled out with guys pulling double-duty against the lower-level guys.

----------
CZCW Thanksgiving Feast
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 415

Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C)
Face Time d. The Nightmares (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Insane Machine d. Michael Gallagher (D)
Frankie Perez d. Primal Rage (C-)
Valiant d. Frankie Perez (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

A new record for attendance, almost twice as many people as we've ever had before. The players feed off the audience and make it worth their while to have come out to see us. The matchup between Brent Hill and Remmy Skye (booked to build up some extra momentum for our other Main Eventer as we look forward to a time when someone else gets involved in the fight for the Coastal Zone Championship) gets the evening off on the right foot. The tag team matchup and the middle-of-the-card matchups, while not spectacular, at least keep things generally in the right direction. The show reaches its climax as Valiant takes a 1-0 lead over Frankie Perez and Brent Hill snatches "his" title back from Plague.

After the show, Cliff graciously awards everyone a week's break to spend some time with their families over Thanksgiving, especially since Christmas would be a working holiday this year as CZCW geared up for its double-whammy Christmas/New year's shows. My break was interrupted, however, by a phone call from Cliff asking me to come into the office.

When I arrived, my stomach sank at the, by now, familiar sight of the CZCW financials splayed out on Cliff's desk. He tossed the summary report at me as soon as I sat down and waited. I couldn't believe my eyes...CZCW had turned a profit of $2,077!

Anticipating my next sentence, Cliff spoke: "I want to see you repeat that performance for two months before we even start talking about the Weekly shows again. Just to prove it ain't a fluke."

***************
December 2006

The excitement of turning a hefty profit had to be quickly mastered, and business resumed if we were going to make our profitable status semi-permanent. Once again, action on all three CZCW titles is planned. Brent Hill and Plague match up yet again...I'm getting bored with these two fighting over and over, but the crowds are lapping it up, so let's not "fix" it just yet. Valiant takes his 1-0 lead into the series against Frankie Perez for the Coastal Zone Xtreme title. And Face Time make another title defense, this time against West Side Story. That and a few other surprises in store.

----------
CZCW Is Comin' to Town
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 460

Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C)
Face Time d. West Side Story (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Michael Gallagher d. Sammy the Shark (E)
Flemmy Lemming d. Valiant (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (C-)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

We set another new record for attendance with 460 people interrupting their egg-nog slurping to see the CZCW in action. Unfortunately, the show does not eclipse our recent efforts in terms of quality, though I feel partially to blame for booking Michael Gallagher and Sammy the Shark against each other...I suppose I should have predicted that match would have people looking for the exits. Frankie levels their series at 1-1, though the match is entirely forgettable. Thank goodness for another excellent effort from Brent Hill and Plague, in which Brent defends his title and insures that the show helps our popularity somewhat.

Cliff doesn't even have to call me to come in from the Christmas break this month. I'm waiting in his office when he shows up with a $5 espresso in one hand and the CZCW financials in the other. The news is entirely good. Our profits this month total $2,658.

I bite my tongue about the Weekly shows and head back to my office where I begin pondering how I can make 2007 even better than 2006.

[Goldberg]

Just a tought... did you switch to JIT merchandise or are you still at conservative(default)? That alone made my merchandise expenses in my USPW game go from over $20,000 to less than $2,000... no kidding... think about it if you haven't done so already.

Great read as usual!

[daveyk]

I switched to JIT production last evening, and it saved me about $2K in the first month I tried it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[mattg71]

Great read. I'm new to the game so this may be a dumb question, but are you finding certain road agent notes are lifting your matches more than others (like all out, open match, etc.), or are you not using any notes?

Have you thought about picking up Willie York when he becomes available? He's rated "A" in MMA Crossover, and seems to be the only unemployed worker with that as his main strength early in the game. In a previous CZCW (which I quit and deleted as I ran the fed into the ground in just 3 months), he always seemed to get the "clicks with..." match note whenever he was paired up against face main eventers and upper midcards. Might not fit in with your finances though.

One other thing I've done early is sign a working agreement with MAW (they're the only ones who will sign a pact right off the bat) as half their roster is filled with C+ or better technical wrestlers it seems and it has helped in filling in roster spots and one shot appearances when I need a fresh face or heel for a change of pace.

[daveyk]

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it.

are you finding certain road agent notes are lifting your matches more than others
I haven't been able to find a direct correlation between the notes and performance per se. My typical pattern with notes is:
- Open: when a low-level jobber isn't involved and I want both guys to get some advantage from the matchup
- Keep Strong: when there's a significant difference in level, for the higher level guy (not sure I'm using this correctly, but I just recently started playing with it)
- Protect: when there's a significant difference in level, for the lower level guy
- Call in Ring: when I have someone with Psychology of over B- (or so) in the match, otherwise, Script.
- All Out Match: In general I reserve this for 3 occasions: The first 1-2 matches of the evening, to get us started right. Any Title match. The last 2-3 matches of the evening, to close with a bang.

Willie York: I'll take a look at him.

sign a working agreement with MAW
I haven't signed any agreements yet, it's an area of the game I haven't explored yet. But I may have to start looking into it, if things keep going well, since I figure I may attract unwanted attention from the larger promotions for guys I don't want to lose.

[mattg71]

Thanks for the sequence on your notes. I'm going to try out your sequence and see if it makes a difference in any of my matches (many of which I don't pass notes on except who I want to win and how).

[Goldberg]

Whats the point of a working agreement if neither can sign written deals? With or without the working agreement, you can still sign all of MAW's roster anyway. So no point whatsoever.

At your level, War seems like the only company relationship that would change anything. Parent, you are too low for anyone to accept... and the other two agreements are useless at your level since you can't "steal" workers away from anyone and no chance of SWF or TCW ever signing a working agreement with a low fed like CZCW.

Open I use when, say, a midcarder that I want to push higher is facing a maineventer or uppermidcarder that I don't care much for. Therefore the top guy wins, and remains happy, but the less over worker puts up an even fight and gains overness.

When is the next game post? Can't wait to read more.

[daveyk]

***************
January 2007

The New Year brings with it a series of storms, both literal and figurative. Our booking strategy to date has worked out well for CZCW, and we're significantly in the black the past 2 months, and trending towards an overall profit since I took over. But the extremely heavy reliance on just a few guys (Brent Hill, Plague, Valiant, Frankie Perez) has caused dissension in the ranks. At least half the roster is mad at me to one degree or another.

Insane Machine, Snap Dragon, Primal Rage, Marc Speed, Joe & Jesse Gilbert, Shooter Sean Deely, Sammy the Shark, Steven Parker. All upset with how much they are being used.

I grant you, most of them have a point, although we had larger concerns at the time. But now that we're on decent financial footing, and assuming I can revive the Weekly show next month, we'll start trying to address their concerns in the next 3 months. I know I'm going to lose a few of them, since there isn't enough time to win back their trust before their contracts run out, but we'll see what we can do.

The new year, as always, brings with it the Annual Awards.

Wrestler of the Year: Tommy Cornell
Young Wrestler of the Year: Sensational Dragon
Veteran Wrestler of the Year: Optimus
Female Wrestler of the Year: Thunder Hike
Promotion of the Year: Supreme Wrestling Federation
Most Improved Promotion of the Year: North of the Border Pro Wrestling
Match of the Year: Yoshimi Mushashibo d. Mito Miwa (PGHW Night of HONOUR)
Card of the Year: PGHW Night of PRIDE

Not surprisingly, CZCW doesn't get any recognition, or place a wrestler in the Top 100. But, there's always next year...

Our goal for this month is to make around $2K profit again, so I can reinstate the Weekly show in February. We put together a show that will, hopefully, unruffle a few feathers, while still producing both quality and cash. Face Time get a break from their non-stop title defenses, but Brent Hill and Plague are back at it as are Valiant and Frankie Perez.

----------
CZCW New Year's Mayhem
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 446

Snap Dragon d. Sammy the Shark (D)
Shooter Cutter d. West Side Story (C-)
Flemmy Lemming d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Shooter Sean Deely d. Marc Speed (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Steven Parker (C-)
Valiant d. Frankie Perez (C-)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Our heavy use of the lower-level guys costs us in terms of the show's quality, though attendance is right where we want it. Brent Hill and Plague continue their epic struggle with another high-quality match in which Brent defends his title. Valiant takes a 2-1 lead in the series, but for some reason, I can't get any consistency from Valiant and Frankie Perez in terms of match quality.

Still, the show enables us to turn a profit of $2,045, so the Weekly shows are back on, starting next month.

***************
February 2007

Well, since our Marketing Department is hyping the return of the CZCW Weekly shows, we'll dump out some bad news and hope it gets lost in the noise. The damage is too far gone to convince Shooter Sean Deely, Sammy the Shark, and Steven Parker to stay with CZCW. Of the three, only the loss of Steven Parker bothers me (and that just a little bit). But we'll keep our eye on Steven and try to re-hire him when he cools down. A few months of unemployment and perhaps underuse won't seem so bad.

In their place, we pick up two new low-level guys: Rolling Johnny Stones and Joe Simmons. In addition, we resign Jacob Jett and Valiant, both with small increases, since both are necessary to our future plans. At this point, I take some time to look at the current state of the roster, and make sure everyone is where we want them.


Main Eventers: Brent Hill (H), Remmy Skye (F), Plague (H)
Upper Midcarder: Jacob Jett (H), Insane Machine (H), Frankie Perez (F), Snap Dragon (H), Marc Speed (H)
Midcarder: Primal Rage (H), Valiant (F), Flemmy Lemming (H), Steven Parker (H)
Lower Midcarder: Joe Simmons (F), Jesse Gilbert (H), Joe Gilbert (H)
Opener: Michael Gallagher (F), Kashmir Singh (H)
Enhancement Talent: Rolling Johnny Stones (F)
Tag Teams: Face Time, Gilberts, The Nightmares


We have a preponderance of heels (a 3:1 ratio) at the upper regions of this federation. Our next round of hiring will try to rectify some of that situation. In the meantime, we meet with Brent Hill and agree to turn him into a Face character in the next show. That way our fans will have a good guy Champion to root for. Also, we need one more tag team, so we pair Jacob Jett and Snap Dragon and call them the High Fliers. Pretty lame high fliers by normal standards, but for the CZCW, they are the best we have.

And so, we head into February with two shows planned. Brent Hill is going to start making a series of title defenses against other folks in the CZCW, while we await the outcome of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship series. Once a champ is crowned there, we'll get together with the Marketing folks and come up with a way to best exploit both titles and generate some further interest.

The Valentine's Day Massacre show, once again, goes into our new digs at The Snake Pit. We get our newest tag team into action against Michael Gallagher and Kashmir Singh, as we continue to search for a partnership among the lower card workers that can justify itself. At any rate, we'll start to build some cachet for the High Fliers before they go into action against our reigning champs, Face Time. Valiant and Frankie Perez square off, with Valiant ahead 2-1, and Brent Hill generously extends a title shot to Jacob Jett, based on his efforts against Frankie Perez.

----------
CZCW Valentine's Day Massacre
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 460

Frankie Perez d. Joe Simmons (C-)
High Fliers d. Michael Gallagher/Kashmir Singh (C-)
Brent Hill d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Jacob Jett d. Valiant (C-)
Snap Dragon d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Valiant d. Frankie Perez (C-)
Brent Hill d. Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

A solid show. The High Fliers open their CZCW account with a win. Valiant takes a commanding 3-1 lead over Frankie Perez. And Brent Hill gives Jett a taste of the way things are done at the upper levels in a rollicking title defense. Beyond that, big sighs of relief as attendance for the main show remains at the desired level. That should give us enough cash to cover the Weekly show and still turn a profit. And if the Weekly show can finally show some legs, we could be in for a good month.

The Weekly show is booked into the smaller Simmons Center. We expect to sell out all 300 seats, if our current attendance figures are any guide. Once again, we're going to try to keep costs down by only booking a few guys into the show, at least this first week. Toes into the water first. Face Time makes another title defense, they've had a hammerlock on the belt ever since they won it from The Gilbert Brothers. This time they take on a pairing of Marc Speed with Joe Simmons. We'll see if we can pair a Midcarder and a Lower Midcarder and find a decent tag team pairing. At the top of the card, Remmy Skye and Plague square off while Frankie Perez takes on Marc Speed.

----------
CZCW February Weekly
The Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 246

Flemmy Lemming d. Marc Speed (C-)
Face Time d. Marc Speed/Joe Simmons (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Plague d. Flemmy Lemming/Rolling Johnny Stones (C)
Remmy Skye d. Rolling Johnny Stones (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C-)
Plague d. Remmy Skye (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

Face Time defend their title for the 10th time. The show manages to help our popularity, although it is definately a poorer effort than our main show. Plus, attendance is a bit disappointing. With our main show drawing over 400 people, we fully expected to sell out the 300 seats at The Simmons Center. Perhaps attendance is related in some way to the size of the auditorium?

A quick check of the monthly figures shows a profit of $2,721. That's good news, obviously, but we definately have the sense that we're not optimizing our efforts. So we spend some time analyzing the situation.

First off, we've turned a long term profit, being over the $25K we started with. So we have some leeway to mess around.

Second, The Snake Pit costs $1,000 per show, while The Simmons Center costs $200. At our present ticket prices, that's about 50-60 more ticket sales to justify the cost. If just booking the show into the larger venue creates ticket sales anywhere near what we get for our main show, then we can easily justify the move. So a memo is drafted instructing the staff to book both shows into The Snake Pit in March.

Third, booking the Weekly show as a smaller show with as few as 4 workers hasn't seemed to be working. So a decision is made to increase the level of intensity for these shows and begin including more and better workers into the show, while still remaining somewhat conservative. With a steady $2-3K in profits each month, and the potential to draw larger crowds to the Weekly show, it's time to take some risk. No longer will the Weekly show be the red-headed step child!

That said, there are a lot of guys still very mad at me. Of those mad, two are a concern: Snap Dragon and Insane Machine. I don't really want to lose either, so next month we have to start re-gaining their trust in a big way.

***************
March 2007

The first order of business is to sew up Plague's contract. He and Brent Hill work so well together that we have to have him around.

The second order of business is to advertise a 4-way Title series. Plague, Snap Dragon, and the Insane Machine will face off with a chance at Brent Hill's title awaiting the winner of their series. That will get both Snap Dragon and Insane Machine involved in multiple shows, plus get them involved in one of the CZCW's main events. Hopefully this is the start of winning them back.

Finally, the Marketing Department hypes the fact that Valiant, with his 3-1 series lead, could win the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship at any of the events this month. You wouldn't want to miss the inaugural crowing of the Coastal Zone Xtreme champ, now would you?

The March Lions show is booked. Plague and Insane Machine will take each other on as the first match in the title series. Brent Hill also takes on Snap Dragon, in a preview of a possible title matchup, although the Title is not on the line this time. Valiant and Frankie Perez each warm up early in the evening against a lesser opponent in preparation for their match. The Coastal Zone Xtreme belt will brought to ringside where it will be on display in anticipation of a possible coronation for Valiant.

----------
CZCW March Lions
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 476

Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (C)
Valiant d. Primal Rage (C-)
Brent Hill d. Michael Gallagher (C)
The Nightmares d. High Fliers (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (C-)
Plague d. Insane Machine (C)
Brent Hill d. Snap Dragon (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Frankie Perez digs deep and refuses to allow Valiant to win the title this week, making the series 3-2 in Valiant's favor. The match saw several opportunities for Valiant go by the boards. He looks dispirited when he leaves the ring, casting a sideways glance at the title belt as it is carefully packed away. Plague looks as dangerous as ever against Insane Machine, announcing to the world that he has no intention of surrendering his status as the #1 contender for the Coastal Zone Championship. Plague is now 1-0 while Insane Machine is 0-1. Despite losing, Snap Dragon gives a good account of himself against Brent Hill, intensifying interest in his chances for a title shot and providing a warning for Plague not to look past him.

Attendance is growing steadily, so hopes are running high for the upcoming Weekly show. Our last show drew 260 people, so we're looking for anything over 300 as our target. The main draws for the March Weekly show are Face Time, making their 11th title defense and Valiant with his second chance to close out the series and take the Coastal Zone Xtreme belt.

----------
CZCW March Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 326

Snap Dragon d. Rolling Johnny Stones (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Face Time d. Rolling Johnny Stones/Michael Gallagher (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Snap Dragon (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

Face Time defend their title, as expected. Valiant, showing signs of nerves after falling short last time, loses to Frankie Perez, who grows in confidence as he levels the series at 3-3. Their next match will decide the matter and allow CZCW to crown the Coastal Zone Xtreme champion! And attendance is enough extra to justify the switch of venue. The monthly profit is up to $3,305 this month. So we deem the experiment a success and hastily dash off a memo to permanently switch all shows to The Snake Pit until further notice.

Meanwhile, Marketing cranks up the intensity for our next month in which we're sure to crown the Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion, and in which Brent Hill will take on whatever challenger emerges from the crowd, with the title on the line.

[theunholyicon]

Good to see you are trying to rely on something OTHER than Brent Hill vs. Plague in the last couple shows. I was getting sick of the other shows being that main event constantly.

Sure, it works, but it only gets two guys over, and noone would want to see that as many times as it was. Sure, Best Of Seven, special occasion or something, but not that much.

[daveyk]

That Brent Hill/Plague thing actually was a best of seven storyline, I just decided to put the title on the line each time rather than just at the end. But even so, I agree that it's time to branch out and get some other people involved.

[daveyk]

***************
April 2007

The end of an era for CZCW, as the Gilbert Brothers leave. Joe's contract (or was that Jesse, I can't tell them apart) ran out and he was too upset at his lack of use to consider re-signing. I did a spit take when I noticed that someone had signed them to contracts of different lengths...whose bright idea was that? Since they have no value except as a tag team, we decide to pull the band-aid off quickly, and terminated Jesse's contract (or was that Joe, I can't tell them apart) at the same time.

That wasn't the last bit of bad news for the day either. Apparently my hastily drafted memo was drafted a bit too hastily. Someone in the office got confused and booked the Main Show into the Simmons Center and the Weekly show into The Snake Pit. And by the time the mistake is noticed, there's nothing we can do to change it. So we swallow our anger and call a meeting. I use tiny words and even a PowerPoint slide to insure that everyone knows that all our shows go into The Snake Pit until further notice.

To make matters worse, marketing misspells "Franky" on the posters announcing the deciding match in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tourney and we have to throw away a whole batch of posters and run some more. Ye Gods! I am surrounded by incompetance!

Administrative headaches dealt with, finally, we turn to planning for the shows. For the Spring Break show, we sandwich the deciding match pitting Frankie Perez against Valiant between matches to decide who gets a shot at the Coastal Zone Championship and Brent Hill's defense of that title against Marc Speed. When someone wonders aloud what happens if Brent Hill loses the title before the other guys get their chance, I snap back that whoever holds the title will defend it, and everyone decides to just leave me alone. Plague is taking on Snap Dragon this month. A win by Plague will assure him of yet another shot at the title. Snap Dragon has to take on both Plague and Insane Machine in the same evening. A pair of wins and he'll be assured of the title shot. Insane Machine's chances are on life support.

----------
CZCW Spring Break Bash
The Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 300 (SOLD OUT)

Marc Speed d. Jacob Jett (C-)
Plague d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Brent Hill d. Frankie Perez (C+)
High Fliers d. Marc Speed/Michael Gallagher (C-)
Snap Dragon d. Plague (C+)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
Insane Machine d. Snap Dragon (C-)
Brent Hill d. Marc Speed (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Plague has been reading his own press clippings and underestimated Snap Dragon, which costs him the match and forces him to await the other result before knowing his fate. While Snap Dragon retreats backstage for a rest, The Coastal Zone Xtreme belt is led out in procession ahead of Frankie Perez and Valiant, both of whom look eager for battle. And they are. In a match that see-saws wildly between the two men, Frankie Perez emerges victorious and is crowned the Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion!

The crowd barely has time to settle before Insane Machine and Snap Dragon enter the ring. Snap Dragon looks worn from his efforts against Plague and is unable to mount an effective effort, losing to Insane Machine, meaning that everyone has 1 win and 1 loss. Since we've already advertised the upcoming title match for the Weekly show, a decision is quickly taken to throw all 4 men into the ring together and let them sort it out.

In the final match of the evening, Marc Speed makes a good account of himself, but Brent Hill is clearly sending a message to his 3 rivals that he, and his title, are not to be trifled with.

We approach the Weekly show with budget concerns. The Spring Break show sold out, but we left money on the table because of the venue error. We've got to have Brent Hill, Plague, Snap Dragon, and Insane Machine at the show, to fight for the title. So we leave our Upper Midcarders at home (giving everyone a break from Valiant and Frankie Perez) and fill the card with lower-level guys getting a chance against the big boys.

----------
CZCW April Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 429

Plague d. Joe Simmons (D)
The Nightmares d. Flemmy Lemming/Joe Simmons (C-)
Flemmy Lemming d. Insane Machine (C-)
Plague d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Brent Hill d. Primal Rage (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague, Snap Dragon, Insane Machine (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C
----------

The overall result is a decent evening, climaxing in the Coastal Zone Championship title match in which Brent Hill emerges victorious, and retains his title. We turn a profit of $2,017 this month. And we've proved the basic point that we can support two shows a month and we can use our higher-priced guys in heavier rotation and not only remain afloat, but move forward.

So we begin to contemplate the future.

We've come to an end of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship tournament and crowned a midcard champion who now needs to prove he belongs there. We've established Brent Hill as the star we wanted him to be with a main rival and several minor rivals. We've got a decent tag team with a stranglehold on the championship just waiting to be broken.

Seems like a perfect time to make some changes...

[daveyk]

***************
May 2007

Before we go making changes, let's take care of everything in the "if it ain't broke" category. Brent Hill, Frankie Perez, Remmy Skye, Marc Speed, and Kashmir Singh are all re-signed. Obviously we can't lose our two title holders, so Brent and Frankie are re-hired. Remmy Skye and Marc Speed have both been valuable and we have plans for both in the future. If Kashmir were asking for more money than he is, we'd think twice, but since he isn't, we re-hire him.

Next we hit the wires and look for new talent to join CZCW and shake things up. John Maverick joins us and is immediately placed into the roster as a Main Eventer. We're thinking that if he and Brent Hill work well together, we can transition him into a role as Brent's main rival. In the meantime, his presence allows us to move Remmy Skye into an Upper Midcard role, which feels more comfortable for him in any case. Jack Giedroyc is also brought in. He's gonna be exhausted commuting back and forth from the UK every week, but he adds some needed depth in the Midcard area...especially since Flemmy Lemming has done nothing to justify our faith in re-hiring him some months ago. Finally, we add Frankie Dee as a Lower Midcarder.

A series of uncomfortable meetings makes it clear that Primal Rage, Snap Dragon, and Insane Machine are all still pretty mad at me. I've pretty well given up on Primal Rage, we barely need him anyway, although he is half of our most experienced tag team. But I still have hopes that we can convince Snap Dragon and Insane Machine to stay with us. To that end I drag them over to the Marketing department where I show them our latest PR blitz: The Coastal Zone Championship Series!

Once per month, in a single show, the 4 top contenders will face off in a mini-tournament for a chance at the Championship in the evening's main event! Brent Hill is the champion. The 4 top contenders: Plague, John Maverick, Snap Dragon, and Insane Machine. They both look a little distrustful, but at least that announcement ends the meeting and allows me to work on the schedule for our Mother's Day Mayhem show.

The first four matches, to get the evening off on a raucous note, will be from the Coastal Zone Championship Series. John Maverick makes his first appearance against Plague, while Insane Machine and Snap Dragon face each other. With that many expensive guys in action in one show, we fill out the rest of the evening with guys lower on the card.

----------
CZCW Mother's Day Mayhem
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 476

Plague d. John Maverick (C+)
Insane Machine d. Snap Dragon (C)
Marc Speed d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
The Nightmares d. Rolling Johnny Stones/Kashmir Singh (C-)
Marc Speed d. Primal Rage (C-)
Brent Hill d. Kashmir Singh (C)
Insane Machine d. Plague (C-)
Brent Hill d. Insane Machine (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

A large crowd comes out to witness the inaugural Coastal Zone Championship Series event. John Maverick gets the crowd on its feet in a rousing early match against Plague, though Plague ekes out a win to advance. In the other matchup, Insane Machine gets past Snap Dragon. With a Plague/Insane Machine matchup to decide who gets the title shot, half the crowd is atwitter at the prospect of yet another Brent Hill/Plague matchup, while the other half is looking for the exits at the same prospect. Neither group need worry. Not only does Insane Machine surprise Plague to earn a shot at Brent Hill, but he and Brent are at their best, with Insane Machine pushing his opponent to the limit before Brent finally emerges victorious.

After just one show, fan interest in the Coastal Zone Championship Series is running high. We're tempted to throw together another one in our Weekly show, to keep the momentum going. But, Cliff looks aghast when he sees the bill from the Mother's Day show. So we settle for an underpublicized version of the same idea, this time for the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title, featuring Valiant, Jacob Jett, Marc Speed, and Flemmy Lemming vying for a shot at Frankie Perez. This will also be a critical show for Flemmy Lemming. He continues to have poor matches against everyone in his area of the organization. Face Time also make their first appearance in 6 weeks, for their 12th title defense.

----------
CZCW May Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 325

Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Flemmy Lemming d. Jacob Jett (C-)
Face Time d. Flemmy Lemming/Jack Giedroyc (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Jack Giedroyc (C-)
Valiant d. Flemmy Lemming (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C-
----------

The attendance figures are good. Face Time make their 12th title defense. And Frankie Perez and Valiant meet for a good title match which sees Frankie Perez affirms his hold on the title. Despite the mediocre show, our popularity is still helped, which is more attributable to our small size and the fact that most directions are "up" from here. Flemmy Lemming looks bad once again against Jacob Jett and Valiant. And we're already considering his position with CZCW when the trainer comes into the office to announce that Flemmy hurt his neck during the show. So we decide, "what's a little more bad news?" and Flemmy is let go.

Not surprisingly, given the expense of the Mother's Day show, our profits are down, but only a little bit. $1,789 flows in this month, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Next month, I'm going to try to figure out how to have a solid show for both shows each month.

[daveyk]

***************
June 2007

A consistent problem at CZCW is that our Lower Midcarders, Openers, and Enhancement Talent have pretty dreadful matches against everyone they enter the ring with. That's kind of OK if I decide to pair them against one another for some reason, since I expect that. But it'd be nice if the Midcard and Upper Midcard talent could have respectable matches against these guys. So we decide to begin a gradual process of upgrading our talent at the bottom of CZCW. The goal is to raise the talent up at least one level, starting at the bottom.

With that in mind we hire Joss Thompson and Duberry Excess. Being a pack rat, we keep Michael Gallagher around, re-hiring him when his contract is up. We thought long and hard about dumping him, since we'll slowly attrit our worse wrestlers away through contract non-renewal. But, not knowing if the plan is solid yet, I decide to buy myself some time, and Michael comes cheap, so what the heck.

Second order of business is what to do about raising the quality of the Weekly show. The Coastal Zone Championship Series event went over well, fan interest in it was higher than I expected, and the first show in which it appeared was the level I am shooting for. But I can't yet afford to run my Main Eventers in every show. So, unimaginitive as it may be, we start a second version of the series, this time the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Series (and fixed the typo on the name of the series in our last post). Frankie Perez holds the title at present. Valiant, Jacob Jett, Remmy Skye, and Marc Speed are the challengers.

The main show will be devoted to the Coastal Zone Championship Series, the Weekly show to the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Series.

At the Surf Slam, the 4 challengers to Brent Hill square off for a shot at his title. This time around, John Maverick is paired against Insane Machine and Plague, smarting from his last loss, is paired against Snap Dragon. The winners of these two matches will fight later in the show, with the winner of that match advancing to take on Brent Hill for the title. The losers have to pull a thankless double shift against guys lower on the card to fill out the middle of the evening. In addition, Brent Hill warms up against Jacob Jett, since the two of them have had a few good matches against each other previously.

----------
CZCW Surf Slam
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 486

John Maverick d. Insane Machine (C)
Snap Dragon d. Plague (C)
High Fliers d. The Nightmares (C-)
Plague d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Brent Hill d. Jacob Jett (C+)
Insane Machine d. Joe Simmons (C-)
John Maverick d. Snap Dragon (C+)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

John Maverick, looking to establish himself with the CZCW faithful, emerges from the pack with a convincing win over Insane Machine and a solid win against Snap Dragon. One month into his CZCW career and he's got his shot at Brent Hill and the Coastal Zone Championship. The two men square off for the longest match in CZCW's young history. Brent Hill, especially, is not in shape for it. Both men manage to give a good account of themselves, nonetheless, and Brent Hill is forced to use everything he knows to hold onto his title.

In non-match news from the show, we get several comments that commentary is not keeping up in the better matches we put on. This isn't too surprising in the color commentary, since poor Cliff is forced to do both jobs himself. But it also happened in the regular commentary as well and is the first time we've gotten the comment. We're going to file this away under the category "a nice problem to have" and deal with it later.

And, the biggest news of all, Marketing reports that CZCW is now Regional in size, and our popularity has increased once again in the SouthWest. I don't really know how being considered regional will help us, but that can't be considered bad news. The rise in popularity is obviously a good thing. If my previous experience holds true here, attendance won't rise immediately, but it won't matter because ticket prices increases will insure greater prosperity.

Still, I'm leery of making any assumptions just yet, so I decide to hold to my plans for the Weekly show, rather than bringing the big guns out for two shows this month. Valiant will take on Jacob Jett, with the winner to face whoever emerges from the matchup between Remmy Skye and Marc Speed. All leading up to a title shot against Frankie Perez at the end of the evening. In addition, we're gonna give Face Time a stiff challenge for the title against Marc Speed and Jack Giedroyc.

----------
CZCW June Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 641

Valiant d. Jacob Jett (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Marc Speed (C-)
Face Time d. Marc Speed/Jack Giedroyc (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Marc Speed (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Jack Giedroyc (C-)
Valiant d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Valiant (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

A huge crowd by our standards, almost twice what I would have expected. Face Time defend their title for the 13th time. And Valiant picks his way past his rivals to earn yet another title shot, but Frankie Perez proves to be too much for him, and the title remains in Perez's hands. For the first time, a show does nothing to help our popularity in the region.

But the increase in ticket prices and attendance raises our profits for the month to $12,987. We decide that there are no more excuses. From now on, the Weekly show will be considered fully equivalent and we're going to put the money we're making to use insuring that the fans get what they are paying for.

[daveyk]

***************
July 2007

Up-is-down, black-is-white. It's the start of a new era at the Coastal Zone. After Cliff and I finish burning $100 bills for fun, I settle in to revamp things a bit to take advantage of our new situation.

First, the show schedule is moved about a bit. The Weekly shows are all moved to the first week of each month, and each one is changed to a 2 hour show. Our main shows are all moved to the 3rd week of every month, and are similarly changed to a 2 hour show.

Second, we'll run the 4-man matches of our two Title Series' during the Weekly show. Then the top 2 from each series will face off in the regular show, and get their title shot in the same show. That will insure that each show has a fairly serious distribution of our best wrestlers, and allow me to make some good matches, even when we're not involved in our two specific title series matches. I set myself a goal of about $5K budget for workers for each show, but we'll treat that as a loose guideline.

With that in place, we set up the June Weekly event. In the Coastal Zone Xtreme Title Series, Remmy Skye takes on Valiant, while Jacob Jett and Marc Speed face off. In the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, Plague battles Insane Machine and John Maverick tackles Snap Dragon. In addition, Face Time will defend their tag team title against the High Fliers. With so many of our best wrestlers at the show to begin with, we're able to generate some purposeful "filler" matches as well, rather than the usual dreck. Joss Thompson and Michael Gallagher, young wrestlers we'd like to see do well, are given matches against John Maverick and Frankie Perez. Hopefully they can learn something while we make our top guys look dangerous. Valiant and Frankie Perez also get matches against Main Eventers (Plague, John Maverick). We hope to move them up to that strata eventually, let's see how they fare, and let's see if they can learn anything.

Satisfied with the show's booking, we tune into the local radio station, where John Maverick is doing some promotional talk radio for CZCW. I just about hit the floor when Maverick tells a caller that he can't stand Joss Thompson and the CZCW may not be big enough for both of them. Trouble is, this isn't part of the act, he's just shooting off his mouth. Even better, I just scheduled the two of them together for the June Weekly. Oh well, their both supposedly professional, we'll see how they handle it and keep an eye on both their moods for a couple months.

----------
CZCW July Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)

Att: 616

Remmy Skye d. Valiant (C)
Jacob Jett d. Marc Speed (C)
Joss Thompson/Michael Gallagher d. The Nightmares (C-)
John Maverick d. Joss Thompson (C+)
Frankie Perez d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Face Time d. High Fliers (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Valiant d. Plague (C)
Remmy Skye d. Snap Dragon (C-)
John Maverick d. Frankie Perez (C+)
Plague d. Insane Machine (C-)
Snap Dragon d. John Maverick (B-)

Overall: C+
----------

A large crowd and an excellent show crank up the volume for the CZCW. Remmy Skye and Jacob Jett win their matches and will advance to the Battle on the Beach for a chance at Frankie Perez. John Maverick and Joss Thompson, despite hating each other personally, have great chemistry in the ring and put on a match well beyond expectations. Valiant and Frankie Perez acquit themselves nicely against their Main Eventer opponents, a promising sign. Face Time make their 14th title defense in one of our best tag team matches to date. Plague gets past Insane Machine to move on to the Battle on the Beach for a chance to face Brent Hill. And Snap Dragon and John Maverick put on the best show in CZCW history, with Snap Dragon also advancing.

One of the nice things about the Title Series is that it makes my life a bit easier. The shows practically book themselves. I get a good look at everyone's capabilities against a variety of people. And after a few months of this, I expect to make some decisions about new directons in which to take CZCW. For the Battle on the Beach, we have Title series matches pitting Jacob Jett against Remmy Skye and Plague against Snap Dragon. At the end of the evening, the winners get their title shots. Fresh off such a good match last week, Face Time make their 15th title defense giving High Fliers a rematch. And we allow our two title holders to square off (in a non-title match) for a look at how well Frankie Perez can do against Brent Hill.

----------
CZCW Battle on the Beach
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 443

Remmy Skye d. Jacob Jett (C-)
Snap Dragon d. Plague (C+)
Brent Hill d. Frankie Perez (C+)
Face Time d. High Fliers (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Primal Rage d. Marc Speed (C)
Valiant d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Duberry Express/Frankie Dee d. Valiant/Marc Speed(C-)
Jacob Jett d. Duberry Express (C)
Plague d. Insane Machine (C)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Remmy Skye (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
Brent Hill d. Snap Dragon (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Crowds for our second show of the month are smaller than we'd like, especially considering what we're packing into them. But it's still plenty to insure profitability. Remmy Skye defeats Jacob Jett, but doesn't have enough left in the tank to defeat his tag team partner, Frankie Perez, for the title. Frankie has a very good night, defending both his titles, and making a good account against Brent Hill. Meanwhile, Snap Dragon denies Plague a return shot for the title, but is unable to wrest the title from Brent Hill.

And for the first time, we put on two top-quality (for CZCW anyway) shows in a month, two shows which will help our popularity significantly. And our profitiability remains high, taking in $10,238 this month. Next month we'll see if July was a fluke, or the start of something big.

[daveyk]

(After a long break, I am getting back to my CZCW game and journal.)

***************
August 2007

Cliff bounds into my office with an "efficiency expert" in tow on Monday morning, long before I have finished my first coffeee of the day. Long story short: some guy has convinced Cliff he can save lots of money on our merchandising efforts buy teaching us to use "Just-In-Time" methods of production. I wish Cliff the best of luck with these efforts and roll my eyes when they leave. I can only hope that whatever we're paying this consultant doesn't come out of my budget for talent or shows.

A few personnel issues start off the month also. Snap Dragon storms into my office to, once again, register his intense disapproval. I tell him to hang on, we have something special planned for him this month. It may be "too-little-too-late" as his contract is about up, but we're going to make one last attempt to convince him to stay.

Then it's on to planning for the Weekly Show. We have two preliminary matchups in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title series and two preliminary matchups in the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, as always, for the Weekly show. Plus we give the High Fliers (Jacob Jett/Snap Dragon) a return match against the seemingly unbeatable Face Time for the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title. That and a bunch of filler matches involving guys already associated with the show.

----------
CZCW August Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 679

Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Valiant d. Marc Speed (C)
Simmons/Giedroyc d. The Nightmares (C-)
Snap Dragon d. Joe Simmons (C)
Jacob Jett d. Frankie Perez (C-)
High Fliers d. Face Time (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Insane Machine d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Marc Speed d. Remmy Skye (C-)
John Maverick d. Valiant (C+)
Plague d. Snap Dragon (C+)
Insane Machine d. John Maverick (C+)

Overall: C
----------

In the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title series Jacob Jett and Valiant move past their opponents and will compete at the next show for a shot at Frankie Perez and his title. In the Coastal Zone Championship Title series Plague and Insane Machine squeeze past their opponents and will get their chance to go after Brent Hill. But the biggest news of the evening is that Face Time lose their Coastal Zone Tag Team Title after 15 defenses! And, would you look at that, Snap Dragon now has a title around his waist! That should make him happy, right?

Wrong.

After the show Snap Dragon announces to me that if this is the best I can do he refuses to sign a new contract and is leaving the CZCW. That's going to leave me with a hole to fill in the Coastal Zone Championship Title series and a pretty short reign for the High Fliers. Primal Rage also gives up on CZCW and leaves, though in his case, I'm barely able to stay awake during the exit interview, such is my level of concern at his departure.

Attendance is up for the show, but the overall performance is flat, despite 3 solid matches to close out the evening. Valiant is starting to demonstrate that he might be worthy of a move up in rank, as he continues to have good matches against our best wrestlers. And with Frankie Perez showing that he can hold down the Mid-card position for us, perhaps it's time to start the push for Valiant as we planned way back at the start.

The CZCW Wave of Fury puts all the titles on the line and exacts a little personal revenge. To start the evening, Jacob Jett and Valiant will square off with the winner getting a shot at Frankie Perez while Plague and Insane Machine similarly square off for a shot at Brent Hill, who is making an attempt at his 10th title defense. Then, in a series of 3 matches, we say "goodnight and good luck" to Snap Dragon. Not only will he get made to look foolish in his attempt to defend the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title, but he'll also get the same treatment in individual matches against Frankie Perez and Insane Machine. On a more positive note, we're going to pit Valiant against Brent Hill as we consider promoting Valiant.

----------
CZCW Wave of Fury
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 458

Jacob Jett d. Valiant (C-)
Plague d. Insane Machine (C)
Rolling Johnny Stones/Kashmir Singh d. Valiant/Insane Machine (C-)
Brent Hill d. Rolling Johnny Stones (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Snap Dragon (C-)
Face Time d. High Fliers (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Plague d. Kashmir Singh (C-)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (C+)
Insane Machine d. Snap Dragon (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C-)
Plague d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Jacob Jett and Plague earn the right to title shots, but where Jett comes up short, Plague is able to defeat Brent Hill and wrest the title from him. Face Time regain their Coastal Zone Tag Team Title after just 2 short weeks, taking it from the High Fliers. Snap Dragon looks completely dreadful all evening and CZCW issues an immediate press release announcing that they are "parting ways" with Snap Dragon...amicably, of course. The evening, overall, is solid though unspectacular, and attendance is up a bit from last month. The best news of the evening, from our point of view, is the match between Valiant and Brent Hill. A promotion for Valiant looks more and more likely.

With the departure of Snap Dragon and Primal Rage we re-sign Steven Parker who quit the CZCW in disgust just last February. As predicted, a few months of unemployment calmed him down. At the same time we sign a new wrestler to the scene, Fernando Elwes. I can't get the image of the Dread Pirate Roberts out of my head whenever I look at him, and maybe we can make something of that.

We don't want to anger all of our new wreslters by not using them, like we did last time. At the same time, now that we have attained "Regional" status we are thinking about going further than that. So a few phone calls later and we've booked a small venue in the Maritimes. We'll send all our low-level wrestlers there and see if they can't pry open the Canadian market for us. That's what I tell them at least.

In reality, it gives me a chance to put these guys into the ring against each other in round-robin format and see if any of them work particularly well together. As we look for a more permanent idea for our lower card guys, this provides a valuable bit of data. And I can do it in a place where, at a minimum, they can't damage our reputation.

----------
CZCW Branching Out
New Brunswick Hall (Canada)
Att: 6

Duberry Excess d. Steven Parker (D)
Joss Thompson d. Fernando Elwes (D)
Michael Gallagher d. Joe Simmons (D)
Steven Parker d. Joss Thompson (D)
Duberry Excess d. Fernando Elwes (D)
Steven Parker d. Joe Simmons (D)
Duberry Excess d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Fernando Elwes d. Joe Simmons (D)
Fernando Elwes d. Steven Parker (E)
Duberry Excess d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Michael Gallagher d. Fernando Elwes (C-)
Duberry Excess d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Michael Gallagher d. Steven Parker (D)
Joss Thompson d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Joss Thompson d. Joe Simmons (C-)

Overall: C-
----------

Mostly dreadful stuff, a little bit of decent stuff. The wrestlers come back complaining about everything: the weather, the food, the facilities, the fact that only 6 people showed up. I don't think they'll be happy doing this every month. And that's OK because I have the info I need. So I assign the Marketing Department a project: figure out what to do with our lower card wrestlers to keep them involved and develop them without destroying the chemistry our Upper- and Mid-card wrestlers have got going for CZCW.

The month ends with Cliff showing me the bottom line. I'm ecstatic to see that our overall profit for the month is $13,021. The fact that a smug Cliff points out that all of the increase in profits this month came from the Just-In-Time production methods his efficiency expert put into place only dampens my mood a little bit.

Next month, we have to figure out what to do now that the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series is lacking a participant!

[daveyk]

***************
September 2007

The departure of Snap Dragon not only breaks up one of our tag teams, it also leaves a hole in our Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, dissipates all the heat that series has been creating, and we don't have anyone available who can reasonably fill it right away. Valiant is the obvious candidate, and I plan to promote him to the upper card ranks, but he's committed to the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title Series right now. I'd like that to play itself all the way out first, since it's generating lots of heat for us. So we'll have to wait a while for that series to conclude and then migrate folks around with the least disruption possible, from a Marketing perspective.

In the meantime, we'll set up a mini rivarly round-robin with Brent Hill, John Maverick, and Plague to generate some heat that we can transfer over when Valiant joins the fun.

In other matters, Pee-Wee Germaine, our referee, is up for contract renewal. I look for someone who's available and might be an upgrade, but can't find anyone who's a better value, so we re-sign him.

And then I find out that some idiot at the Snake Pit scheduled a poker tournament into their venue on the same day as our show, meaning that the Weekly show is going to be limited to an hour this month.

The Weekly show features Jacob Jett vs. Marc Speed and Valiant vs. Remmy Skye, each looking to move on to the main show with a chance at Frankie Perez and the title. The newly reunited tag team of Rough and Tumble (Steven Parker/Kashmir Singh) return to CZCW with a title shot against Face Time. (Undeserved, yes, but we've got a paucity of good tag teams right now.) Meanwhile, Brent Hill and John Maverick take each other on, with the winner earning a shot at Plague and his Coastal Zone Championship Title in the evening's Main Event.

----------
CZCW September Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 599

Jacob Jett d. Marc Speed (C)
Remmy Skye d. Valiant (C-)
Rolling Johnny Stones/Kashmir Singh d. Frankie Dee/Duberry Excess (C-)
Jacob Jett d. John Maverick (C)
Face Time d. Rough and Tumble (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (D)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (C+)
Frankie Perez d. Insane Machine (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (B-)

Overall: C+
----------

Attendance is a little low, though I guess that's to be expected because of the scheduling snafu. Those who stay away miss a fairly entertaining evening (by CZCW standards). Jacob Jett gets past Marc Speed and Remmy Skye unexpectedly gets by Valiant, to advance in the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title Series. Rough and Tumble do nothing to justify their title shot by both losing and putting on a dreary show against Face Time. The upper card dominates the evening, however, and rescues the show from outright mediocrity. Brent Hill squeezes past John Maverick for a shot at regaining his title. Then Brent and Plague stage their best match ever in a rollicking bout that ends with Brent Hill, once again, confirmed as Coastal Zone Champion. It's hard to keep this man away from the title.

The Labor Day Brawl show is prepped and ready to go. This time John Maverick and Plague compete for a chance to dethrone Brent Hill (these three practically guarantee at least 2 good matches every evening for us). Jacob Jett and Remmy Skye follow them, with the winner taking on Frankie Perez, who is trying to defend his title for the 5th time since winning it. Meanwhile, Jacob Jett is paired with Plague (a pick-up tag team as we look for someone to replace Snap Dragon) in a title shot against Face Time. (Undeserved, yes, but you know what we're up against.) The evening ends with two more title defenses as Brent Hill and Frankie Perez look to stay at the top of their respective heaps.

----------
CZCW Labor Day Brawl
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 586

John Maverick d. Plague (C+)
Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Thompson/Gallagher d. Dee/Duberry (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Duberry Express (D)
Frankie Perez d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
Face Time d. Plague/Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
John Maverick d. Duberry Express (C)
Marc Speed d. Jack Giedroyc (C-)
Brent Hill d. Jacob Jett (C)
Insane Machine d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Frankie Perez (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C-)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Attendance for the second show is up from previous months and insures that overall attendance for the month remains stable, despite the impact of the scheduling snafu. The upper card wrestlers get the evening off to a great start and finish. John Maverick proves too much for Plague, but is unable to put Brent Hill away, and the title does not change hands. The mid-card wrestlers let everyone down, putting on flaccid performances in both their Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title Series matches, despite the fact that Jacob Jett upsets Frankie Perez to take the title away from him. You'd think a new champion would be an exciting thing, but in this case, not so much. Plague and Jett are perfectly serviceable as a tag team, even though they can't stop the Face Time juggernaut.

And so ends a month devoted to cleaning up from Snap Dragon's departure. It made my life more difficult briefly, but our profits remain healthy at $12,890 for the month.

Marketing informs me that they will present a plan for our lower card wrestlers next month, so we've got that to look forward to.

[bigguy9854]

Glad to see you back!!!! It has been a long time!!! Where have you been?:)

[daveyk]

***************
October 2007

Lots going on in the personnel office this month. We re-sign Valiant, for whom we have a promotion into the upper ranks of the federation planned. We re-sign Jacob Jett, who is doing a credible job for us in the middle of the federation (he's the current champion, for crying out loud). We also re-sign Joe Simmons, who comes cheaply at the bottom of the federation. We release Rolling Johnny Stones who has never quite taken hold and is asking for an insane amount of money relative to his worth. In his place we sign a young wrestler named Oscar Golden who, at least, comes cheap.

I've decided that the color commentary problem is becoming acute, so after letting Cliff know he's going to get a partner, I start searching for a color commentator. I'm unable to find anyone who fits the bill amongst the ranks of available workers. Then someone in the office suggests I talk to Joss Thompson about it, since he has all the attributes needed for a color commentator. So I call Joss into my office and suggest that he play a dual role for CZCW, providing color commentary whenever he's not involved in a match himself. (Jack Giedroyc can fill in on the mic for Joss' matches, since Jack is not too bad in this area either.) Joss, seeing the opportunity for a steady paycheck, agrees rapidly. Problem solved!

Then it's into meetings with Marketing. I don't want our younger stars, like Steven Parker, languishing until they grow upset and leave. I want to invest in them, get them involved, develop their ability, and move them up the ranks. Promote from within! But not in a way that hurts our growing popularity. Marketing tells me they have just the solution: The Coastal Zone Futures Title and the Coastal Zone Futures Tournament to crown our first champion! (We're still a small federation, so we don't employ the world's best Marketing people...and we get what we pay for when they recycle the same idea we used to crown our first Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion...a perfectly workable, if uninspired idea.)

So Marketing kicks into high gear, issuing a press release announcing the creation of a new Title in the CZCW, the "Coastal Zone Futures" Title, which will be competed for by the up-and-coming stars of our federation.

And now that there's a title, we need a champion. In keeping with tradition and our roots as a wrestling federation who gives these finicky modern fans wrestling packaged like sports, we offer them another tournament to decide who will be the first ever Coastal Zone Futures champion. Secretly, however, I resolve to throw in a few dirty tricks and other assorted events to see if our fans can't start warming up to some theatre mixed in with their wrestling.

Two groups of Coastal Zone Futures competitors are assembled:

Group 1:

Duberry Excess
Oscar Golden
Joe Simmons
Fernando Elwes

Group 2:

Frankie Dee
Steven Parker
Joss Thompson
Michael Gallagher

Same rules as before. Each wrestler will face the others in their group once. The top two wrestlers in each group (based on record) will advance to a best-of-five semi-final. The winners of the semi-final will engage in a best-of-seven series for the Coastal Zone Futures Championship. Two matches at each show will be devoted to this tournament.

With all of that behind us, it's on to the October Weekly. The first two "Futures" matches feature Oscar Golden against Duberry Express and Michael Gallagher against Steven Parker. The Coastal Zone Xtreme Title Series is back into action, although between this show and the next one, we're going to start the process of reorganizing the two Title Series to deal with Snap Dragon's departure. In the meantime, the Plague/Maverick/Hill threesome completes itself this month. Face Time make another title defense, this time against the pickup team of Jacob Jett and Insane Machine.

----------
CZCW October Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 461

Valiant d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C)
Oscar Golden d. Duberry Excess (D)
Valiant d. Steven Parker (C-)
Marc Speed d. Duberry Express (C-)
Face Time d. Jett/Insane (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
John Maverick d. Insane Machine (C+)
Michael Gallagher d. Steven Parker by DQ when Fernando Elwes interfered (D)
Frankie Perez d. Oscar Golden (C-)
John Maverick d. Plague (C+)
Remmy Skye d. Marc Speed (C-)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (B-)

Overall: C+
----------

A dip in attendance, but a good show nonetheless. The Coastal Zone Futures matches themselves are, perhaps predictably, a bit poor in quality, despite the excitement of having Fernando Elwes come into the ring and give Michael Gallagher an assist against Steven Parker. Because of the interference, the match was declared a DQ and won't count in the standings. Another match between the two will have to be scheduled for the next show. Jacob Jett and Insane Machine are unable to take the title from Face Time, but they show good chemistry together as a tag team, so we'll keep an eye on that pairing and possibly make it permanent. Brent Hill makes yet another title defense against John Maverick as that trio continues to drive the quality of our shows up.

Between shows, even though there are still technically two matches to go in the current Coastal Zone Xtreme Title Series, we reform that Series with the goal of moving Valiant into the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series. The participants in the second Coastal Zone Xtreme Title Series will be: Frankie Perez, Jack Giedroyc, Marc Speed, Jacob Jett, and Insane Machine. We'll close out the current series with a match between Valiant and Frankie Perez and a subsequent match against Jacob Jett for the title and start the next title series all in the same show! In the "Futures" Tournament, Steven Parker and Michael Gallagher have their rematch, while Fernando Elwes opens his tournament against Joe Simmons. All that, plus a tag team title rematch between Face Time and Jacob Jett/Insane Machine.

----------
CZCW Halowe'en Terror
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 451

Frankie Perez d. Valiant (C)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
Steven Parker d. Michael Gallagher, Fernando Elwes tried to interfere but was intercepted by Joss Thompson (C-)
Insane Machine d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Plague d. Marc Speed (C)
Jacob Jett/Insane Machine d. Face Time (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Valiant d. Steven Parker (C-)
Joe Simmons d. Fernando Elwes, Steven Parker interfered (C-)
Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher agree to watch each other's back (F)
Marc Speed d. Jacob Jett (C)
Plague d. Brent Hill (C+)
Insane Machine d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Frankie Perez regains the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title with wins over Valiant and Jacob Jett in rapid succession. Then Marc Speed and Insane Machine win their opening matches in the newly re-formed Series and will advance to the next show looking for a chance at the title themselves. Better match quality in the Futures tournament. Fernando Elwes once again tried to interfere in Steven Parker's match, but Joss Thompson left the color commentator's table and kept him away from the match, enabling Parker to come away with a clean win. Later in the evening, Parker showed up at ringside, distracting Elwes who then lost to Joe Simmons. Michael Gallagher came into the ring after the loss and he and Elwes vowed to watch each other's back against Parker and Thompson. (At least that's what I think they announced...it was hard to hear over the boos and catcalls of the disapproving fans who wanted to see more wrestling.) The tag team of Jacob Jett/Insane Machine took the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title away from Face Time. An announcement of a formal creation of their new tag team is scheduled for next month.

At month's end, the standings in the Coastal Zone Futures Tournament looks like this:

Group 1
Oscar Golden 1-0
Duberry Excess 0-1
Joe Simmons 1-0
Fernando Elwes 0-1

Group 2
Steven Parker 1-0
Michael Gallagher 0-1
Frankie Dee 0-0
Joss Thompson 0-0

Our profits decline a bit, coming in at $11,248, which is mostly due to lower-than-expected attendance and heavy use of expensive wrestlers at each show. But we're still well into positive territory, so I don't pay any attention to the minor fluctuation.

Next month: a new tag team, a new Championship Title Series!

[daveyk]

Glad to see you back!!!! It has been a long time!!! Where have you been?:)

The old story: real life interfered. Then I kind of forgot about TEW for a while. Just recently fired it up again.

[daveyk]

***************
November 2007

With Valiant now safely extracted from the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title Series storyline, we re-start the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, this time with Brent Hill, Remmy Skye, Plague, John Maverick, and Valiant. We started the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series a week after its Xtreme sister because we're going to handle things a bit differently. Instead of running the preliminary matches for each series in the Weekly show and the title matches in the main show, we'll run preliminary matches for one and the title matches for the other in each show. That way we get a better mix. And CZCW will always have a title-deciding match near the end of our shows. Plus, we can end each show with matches from our best and hottest wrestlers and the most compelling competition.

We also announce the formation of a new tag team, High Fliers II (Jacob Jett and Insane Machine). They start life as the title holders, having won it last month before their pairing was given a name. I send an aide to handle the exit interview for Rolling Johnny Stones who is leaving CZCW for greener pastures, or so he says. No matter, he's not important enough and I need to work on the line-up for this month's shows.

I want to make a habit of beginning and ending on high notes, so this Weekly show starts with matches in which marquee Main Eventers take on the top contenders from the Midcard. They should be able to put on credible matches and I can get a feel for who might be ready to step up and join Valiant. In this case, John Maverick takes on Frankie Perez and Plague takes on Jacob Jett. The Coastal Zone Futures tournament continues, with matches between Frankie Dee and Joss Thompson and Oscar Golden and Joe Simmons. High Fliers II will defend their title against Face Time and Insane Machine will battle Marc Speed for a chance at Frankie Perez. The evening ends with a match to decide the Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion and the first matches in the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series.

----------
CZCW November Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 618

John Maverick d. Frankie Perez (C)
Plague d. Jacob Jett (C)
Frankie Dee d. Joss Thompson when Fernando Elwes interferes (D)
Marc Speed d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Insane Machine d. Oscar Golden (C-)
High Fliers II d. Face Time (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Marc Speed d. Insane Machine (C)
Oscar Golden d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Valiant d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
John Maverick d. Plague (C+)
Valiant d. Remmy Skye (C-)

Overall: C
----------

Oscar Golden defeats Joe Simmons in the Coastal Zone Futures Tournament, without incident. Joss Thompson was not so lucky. Fernando Elwes showed that the grudge is not limited to Steven Parker when he came to the ring and caused Joss Thompson to lose his match to Frankie Dee. Unfortunately for Thompson, the referee did not see a thing, so Thompson is not awarded a rematch and gets his first loss in the tournament. So far it's not clear whether our fans are taking to this new theatrical type of wrestling, or whether the lower card wrestlers are just boring them. I vow to press ahead and see where this takes us, until it really starts to hurt the bottom line.

High Fliers II defend their title from Face Time, marking the first time Face Time has been without the title for more than 2 weeks since they originally won it! Marc Speed gets past Insane Machine, but is unable to defeat Frankie Perez for the title. John Maverick and Plague put on a barn-burner, but Remmy Skye and Valiant fall all over each other in the ring and close off the evening on a down note. Hmmm, did I make a mistake with Valiant? Or maybe it's time to say goodbye to Remmy Skye who has never really been much of anything or very much in my plans. We'll keep an eye on those two for at least a few weeks.

In time for the Thanksgiving Feast, it's decided that Face Time and High Fliers II need some company, so we add another tag team to the lineup. NATO, which is made up of Valiant and Jack Giedroyc, will get a chance against Face Time to get them started. Looking ahead to the Futures tournament matchups, if history is any guide, Steven Parker had better be on his guard when he takes on Frankie Dee, and Fernando Elwes should do the same when he takes on Duberry Excess. I expect some fireworks this week. The Xtreme Series starts a new round, with matchups featuring Marc Speed v Insane Machine and Jacob Jett v Jack Giedroyc. The evening ends with John Maverick taking on Valiant. The winner gets a chance at Brent Hill and his title while the loser stays in the ring to take on Marc Speed (so the winner can catch his breath).

----------
CZCW Thanksgiving Feast
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 456

Brent Hill d. Frankie Perez (C+)
Insane Machine d. Marc Speed (C)
Jacob Jett d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Steven Parker d. Frankie Dee despite interference from Elwes/Gallagher (D)
Remmy Skye d. Jack Giedroyc (C-)
NATO d. Face Time (C)
NATO Challenges High Fliers II, they accept, but will not grant a title shot (D)
NATO d. High Fliers II (C)
Duberry Excess d. Fernando Elwes, DQ when Gallagher is caught interfering (D)
Insane Machine d. Steven Parker (C-)
Valiant d. John Maverick (B-)
John Maverick d. Marc Speed (C+)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Crappy attendance seems to go hand-in-hand with CZCW's better show ratings. I'm getting tired of fewer people watching our better efforts!

Brent Hill and Frankie Perez open the evening with a rollicking match that has me wondering how long I should keep Frankie Perez in the Midcard area of the federation! The remaining midcarders also hold up their end of the bargain, posting solid matches against each other, with Insane Machine and Jacob Jett advancing from the preliminary matches.

The Futures tournament does not fail to disappoint, when it comes to fireworks, although it continues to throw sub-standard matches into the mix. Steven Parker is jumped by both Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher, but manages to beat both of them off and still defeat his actual opponent, Frankie Dee. Michael Gallagher escorts Fernando Elwes to the ring for his match, and remains at ringside to protect him. While there, he provides Fernando Elwes with an "assist" against Duberry Excess. The referee spots it and disqualifies Elwes in a match that, it is decided, will count against his record, dropping him to 0-2 and probably destroying his chances in the tournament!

The Coastal Zone Futures standings now look like this:

Group 1

Oscar Golden 2-0
Duberry Excess 1-1
Joe Simmons 1-1
Fernando Elwes 0-2


Group 2

Steven Parker 2-0
Michael Gallagher 0-1
Frankie Dee 1-1
Joss Thompson 0-1


NATO open their account at CZCW with a win against Face Time. Then Valiant surprises everyone when he grabs the mic and calls out the High Fliers II, impugning their manhood and demanding a title shot on the spot. Jett and Insane Machine can’t ignore the challenge; they agree to an impromptu match, but the title will not be at stake. It's a good decision by High Fliers II, since NATO blitzes them to post their second win.

The evening ends with three great matches. Valiant and John Maverick have as good a match as CZCW has ever seen, with Valiant eking his way past Maverick to get a title shot against Brent Hill! While Valiant rests, Maverick stays in the ring, and he and Marc Speed continue the momentum with another great match. Then Brent Hill and Valiant take to the ring for a long, exciting, see-saw battle in which Brent Hill is just able to retain his title, while Valiant serves notice that he is a force to be reckoned with.

At our end-of-the-month wrap-up meeting, Cliff shows me profits of $13,365 this month and a bank account that is practically bulging, with over $100K in reserve.

Next month: As my second year with CZCW comes to a close, a position opens up in Mexico and Cliff wonders if this is the end of the line?

[daveyk]

***************
December 2007

Holiday cheer is in the air around CZCW as Cliff hands out bonus checks to everyone for a job well done this year. When he comes into my office and gives me a pat on the back he notices an email in my Inbox from Mexican Hardcore Wrestling, who are looking for a new booker. He doesn't say anything, but I can tell he's a little worried that I might be considering applying. I am considering it. But, things at CZCW are trending in a very positive direction and who knows what kind of mess I will find at MHW? So, after a couple day's consideration, I delete the email, tell Cliff not to worry about my leaving, and settle down to the business at hand.

Two major names are up for contract renewal and no question about re-signing them: Insane Machine and Plague. Both men are integral to events here at CZCW, both have done well for us in the past. And both are in our plans for the future. Both are worth what they are asking for and I find myself with an increasing budget, anyway. Given that, we're abandoning self-imposed budget constraints on worker costs at shows. At our present rate, I believe I can afford to use whoever I like for each show and still maintain a healthy profit.

So it's down to work on the Weekly show lineup. The Future's tournament has only one match, the last match in Round 2 of the group stage, between the feuding Joss Thompson and Michael Gallagher. Both men are 0-1 in the tournament, so the loser will probably not be advancing, which should make for some bad blood inside the ring. High Fliers II, in an act designed to enrage NATO, extend a title shot to the unheralded team of Kashmir Singh and Frankie Dee, rather than to NATO who defeated them in a non-title match last month. In the Xtreme Title Series, Jacob Jett tries to get past Insane Machine to get a return shot at Frankie Perez and the title he lost several months ago. And the Costal Zone Championship Title Series starts off a new round, with Plague taking on Valiant and John Maverick taking on Remmy Skye. As an added bonus, the losers of these matches will face off against each other as part of the show's thrilling climax.

----------
CZCW December Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 655

Plague d. Valiant (C+)
Remmy Skye d. John Maverick (C)
Joss Thompson draw Michael Gallagher, Fernando Elwes & Steven Parker interfered (C-)
Brent Hill d. Oscar Golden (C)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C)
Jack Giedroyc d. Fernando Elwes (C-)
Kashmir Singh/Frankie Dee d. High Fliers II, who are counted out when NATO shows up and the High Fliers exit the ring to engage them, ignoring their actual opponents (D)
NATO Challenge High Fliers II to title match, but Face Time answer the call instead (D)
NATO d. Face Time (C)
Insane Machine d. Jacob Jett (C-)
John Maverick d. Valiant (B-)
Frankie Perez d. Insane Machine (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
Brent Hill d. Marc Speed (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

One of CZCW's largest crowds ever are treated to an evening they won't soon forget.

Upsets are the order of the day in the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, as Plague and Remmy Skye advance.

The Coastal Zone Futures Tournament match up results in a draw because all pretense to the match between Joss Thompson and Michael Gallagher is abandoned in favor of wholesale chaos when both Fernando Elwes and Steven Parker enter the ring.

Similarly, the Tag Team Title match is abandoned in chaos when NATO come to ringside. High Fliers II abandon their match with Kashmir Singh and Frankie Dee inside the ring in favor of an impromptu match up against NATO outside the ring. Eventually High Fliers II are counted out inside the ring and NATO applies a fairly severe beating outside the ring, with Jett dragging his partner to safety.

Valiant grabs the mic and demands a title shot, right then and there. Instead of High Fliers II, however, Face Time answer the call, feeling that they are being pushed aside despite their extensive title credentials. A brawl ensues between the two teams, with NATO prevailing.

At that point order is restored in time for the ending to the evening. Insane Machine brushes aside Jacob Jett to earn his shot at Frankie Perez. John Maverick and Valiant, once again, put on a thrilling match. Frankie Perez defeats Insane Machine to retain his title. And Brent Hill and Marc Speed close out the evening, with Brent Hill continuing to dominate the CZCW and provide entertaining matches while Marc Speed acquits himself nicely against the Champ.

With the holidays barreling towards us, there's barely time to catch our breath before we have to schedule our final show of 2007. The Futures tournament is, once again, trying to complete the second round of matches, with a repeat of the abandoned match between Joss Thompson and Michael Gallagher. With the feud between the two sides gaining in acrimony, this match could be as chaotic as the first one. High Fliers II continue to thumb their noses at NATO, extending a title shot to fellow heels Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher, rather than facing NATO. The Xtreme Title Series starts a new round, with everyone once again vying for their chance at Frankie Perez. And in the Championship Title Series, Plague and Remmy Skye battle for the chance at ever-dominant Brent Hill. Plus lots of other matches designed to either improve wrestlers, keep people happy, or just entertain the fans.

----------
CZCW Is Comin' To Town
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 405

Remmy Skye d. John Maverick (C+)
Jacob Jett d. Insane Machine (C-)
Marc Speed d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Brent Hill d. Fernando Elwes (C)
NATO d. Joss Thompson/Marc Speed (C)
Frankie Perez d. Plague (C)
Joss Thompson draw Michael Gallagher, Fernando Elwes & Steven Parker interfered (C-)
High Fliers II d. Elwes/Gallagher (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (D)
High Fliers say they will face the winner of a best-of-five series between Face Time and NATO (E)
John Maverick d. Jacob Jett (C)
Insane Machine d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Plague d. Remmy Skye (C+)
John Maverick d. Marc Speed (C+)
Brent Hill d. Plague (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

Once again, poor attendance for our second show of the month. Marketing needs to answer some questions about this next month.

Upsets are not the order of the day in the Xtreme Title series, as favorites Jacob Jett and Marc Speed advance.

The Costal Zone Futures Tournament match up results in another draw when both Fernando Elwes and Steven Parker enter the ring yet again. At this rate, we may never finish the tournament or get past this single match up. A whole month gone by, and the standings have not changed since last month, since no matches have been completed.

Group 1

Oscar Golden 2-0
Duberry Excess 1-1
Joe Simmons 1-1
Fernando Elwes 0-2


Group 2

Steven Parker 2-0
Michael Gallagher 0-1
Frankie Dee 1-1
Joss Thompson 0-1


High Fliers II dismantle Elwes and Gallagher to retain their title, and immediately announce to the crowd that they will extend a title shot to the winner of a 5 match series between NATO and Face Time.

The evening comes to a climax with Plague advancing past Remmy Skye, but losing to Brent Hill, who retains the Coastal Zone Championship Title.

Our profits for the month are $9,776, lower than last month because we used our best wrestlers in every show, but still very healthy. So I bid farewell to 2007 and look forward to 2008.

[the ismailite]

I just love the way this is written! The tone is great. I hate CZCW, but this is so well written, that I just have to follow it.

Good stuff!

[daveyk]

***************
January 2008

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, we had just started turning healthy profits of over $2K/month through judicious use of wrestlers, but the cost of achieving financial stability was dissension in the ranks. Nine wrestlers were unhappy, and 7 of those left the federation in the months to come. Of course, of those 7 departures, one was later re-hired (Steven Parker) and only one caused any kind of impact (Snap Dragon). And we had yet to figure out how to run two shows a month and maintain profitability.

This year, we are running 2 shows a month with profits of around $10K/month, using all of our wrestlers, and there is practically no unhappiness in the ranks. Of course, I want to branch the CZCW out of the Southwest, where we have been locked since our inception, but with all signals currently green (and Cliff happy) we will bide our time on that goal.

The only issue currently plaguing me is why attendance drops off so sharply for our second show every month. I don't know whether this is just a fact of life (people don't want to see that much of CZCW) or whether something in our booking strategy is causing the problem. At any rate, I set myself the goal of optimizing for attendance in the upcoming months.

The new year, as always, brings with it the Annual Awards.

Wrestler of the Year: Yoshimi Mushashibo
Young Wrestler of the Year: Wolf Hawkins
Veteran Wrestler of the Year: Danger Kumasaka
Female Wrestler of the Year: Saeko Hiroyuki
Promotion of the Year: Supreme Wrestling Federation
Most Improved Promotion of the Year: North of the Border Pro Wrestling
Match of the Year: Yoshimi Mushashibo d. Nobuatsu Tasuko (PGHW The King's Road)
Card of the Year: PGHW The King's Road

CZCW, not surprisingly, is un-represented among the top 100 wrestlers.

I also take a look at the state of our federation to start the new year, to make sure no changes are necessary.


Main Eventers: Brent Hill (F), Remmy Skye (F), Plague (H), John Maverick (H)
Upper Midcarder: Jacob Jett (H), Insane Machine (H), Frankie Perez (F), Valiant (F), Marc Speed (H), Jack Giedroyc (F)
Midcarder: Oscar Golden (F), Duberry Excess (H), Steven Parker (H), Joss Thompson (H)
Lower Midcarder: Joe Simmons (F), Michael Gallagher (F)
Opener: Frankie Dee (H), Fernando Elwes (F)
Enhancement Talent: Kashmir Singh (H)
Tag Teams: Face Time, NATO, High Fliers II,


Brent Hill has admirably filled his role as the "star" of the CZCW since we hired him and John Maverick has added some fire to the top of the ticket as a serious rival for Brent, while Plague is always able to throw in a good match or two also. Valiant, who we pegged early on to be one of our rising stars, has done just that and is now playing with the big boys and doing a great job at it. Frankie Perez, our other star of the future, is holding down the fort in the middle of the card, with solid support from Marc Speed and Jacob Jett. There's lots of bad blood in the lower card, with Oscar Golden and Steven Parker slowly emerging from the pack as the most interesting pair of wrestlers. Despite the fact that I haven't paid too much attention to it, I seem to have lucked into a good situation in the tag team department, with three credible teams, all capable of entertaining the crowds.

For sure, if profits continue to stay at this level (or even increase), I'm going to add some talent upgrades this year, throughout the organization. But, all things considered, I'm fairly happy with where we are now.

Except for that attendance problem...

I arrange an off-site with Marketing to discuss the issue and possible solutions. During an early session, one of the interns meekly suggests that perhaps we should consider advertising the marquee matches in advance to let people know what they are going to see before they come to the show. The silence around the table after this suggestion is made is uncomfortable, to say the least. From the look on his face, it's clear the intern believes he should have kept his mouth shut. From the look on the face of our Senior Marketing Manager and most of the professional Marketing staff, they are embarrassed they didn't suggest this idea first. I am hoping that everyone can tell from my expression that I'm wondering what they are doing with their budget if not advertising our shows in advance. From that point onward, the off-site is devoted to developing a Marketing plan around this revolutionary idea.

I duck out early, go back to the office, and start planning for the first Weekly show of 2008. We still have to get through the match up between Michael Gallagher and Joss Thompson, so that match is scheduled and it is arranged that Plague, John Maverick, Valiant, and Remmy Skye will guard the ring to insure that no one interferes. Under the assumption that we can finally get through that match, the next match in the tournament is also scheduled, with Oscar Golden taking on Fernando Elwes. Face Time and NATO square off for the first match in their best-of-five to decide who gets to face High Fliers II for the title. The Xtreme Title Series wraps up the current round, with Marc Speed and Jacob Jett fighting for their chance at Frankie Perez. And the latest round of the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series gets underway, with John Maverick taking on Valiant and Remmy Skye taking on Plague.

----------
CZCW January Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 818

Jacob Jett d. Marc Speed (C)
Plague d. Frankie Perez (C+)
John Maverick d. Marc Speed (C+)
Michael Gallagher d. Joss Thompson, ring is guarded (C-)
Face Time d. NATO, 1-0 (C)
Oscar Golden d. Fernando Elwes, Joss Thompson interferes (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Jack Giedroyc d. Oscar Golden (C-)
John Maverick d. Valiant (B-)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
Remmy Skye d. Plague (C)

Overall: C
----------

Wow! 818 people show up and I don't know whether to attribute that to the new Marketing strategy or to the lagging effects of our increased popularity. Marketing, of course, takes all the credit for the increase and I let them bask for now.

Unfortunately, the show is not one of our best. The highlight of the evening is the match up between John Maverick and Valiant, two wrestlers who put on a great show every time they meet. Plague and Frankie Perez also put on a good show for the fans, but beyond that mediocrity is the watchword.

Saved from outside interference, Michael Gallagher polishes off Joss Thompson, who is not happy about it, his chances in the tournament now ended. He gets his revenge later, however, when he trips Fernando Elwes during his match with Oscar Golden, causing him to lose and sending Oscar Golden through to the semis. It's scant revenge, however, since Elwes had already been eliminated.

Face Time are in superb form against NATO, handing them their first loss since joining forces, and taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Jacob Jett earns another title shot, but Frankie Perez maintains his stranglehold on the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title.

Finally, Remmy Skye and John Maverick win their preliminary matches in the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series.

And so we approach the New Year's Mayhem show with anxious anticipation. Will we see the typical drop-off in attendance? Or will it hold steady at around 800 people? Could I dare hope for an increase? Whoever shows up, they should get a treat. There's a guaranteed Coastal Zone Championship Title match up between Brent Hill and either John Maverick or Remmy Skye. Brent Hill is looking to make his 15th consecutive title defense! Our best midcarders are in the ring together for a new round of preliminary Xtreme Title Series matches. NATO and Face Time renew their best-of-five series. High Fliers II look to stay in good form with a title defense against Oscar Golden and Joe Simmons. Who knows what'll happen when allies Steven Parker and Joss Thompson take each other on in a Futures tournament match up? Duberry Excess and Joe Simmons take each other on in the Futures tournament, the winner advances, the loser is eliminated. All that, plus much, much more! (Apparently I've been proofing our Marketing materials too much lately.)

----------
CZCW New Year's Mayhem
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 872

Jacob Jett d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
John Maverick d. Frankie Perez (C+)
Insane Machine d. Marc Speed (C)
Steven Parker d. Joss Thompson, Thompson tanked at the end to give Parker the guaranteed win (C-)
NATO d. Face Time, 1-1 (C)
Duberry Excess d. Joe Simmons (D)
High Fliers II d. Oscar Golden/Joe Simmons (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Brent Hill d. Insane Machine (C+)
Remmy Skye d. John Maverick (C)
Jack Giedroyc d. Marc Speed (C)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Attendance is up, and once again Marketing is quick to take the credit. I'm concerned, however, because suddenly our performances are down. I finally get the butts in the seats that I want, and we're giving them thoroughly mediocre shows. Sure, we're still increasing our popularity by exceeding expectations a little. But we're missing out on the viral word-of-mouth Marketing that two truly great shows could have given us for free. OK, while everyone else at the office is popping Champagne, I will just work a little harder.

In the Future's tournament, Steven Parker and Joss Thompson entertain the folks, but then Joss Thompson lays down for Steven to insure that he goes through, since Joss has already been eliminated. Duberry Excess gets by Joe Simmons to advance to the semi-final also, although this match was not as entertaining. With just one match to go, the standings look like this:

Group 1

x-Oscar Golden 3-0
x-Duberry Excess 2-1
Joe Simmons 1-2
Fernando Elwes 0-3

Group 2

x-Steven Parker 3-0
Michael Gallagher 1-1
Frankie Dee 1-1
Joss Thompson 0-3

(x=clinched semi-final berth)

NATO even the score in their best-of-five against Face Time, while High Fliers II defeat Oscar Golden and Joe Simmons fairly easily to retain their title.

Jacob Jett and Insane Machine get past their opponents and will look for a chance to de-throne Frankie Perez next month.

Remmy Skye, our perennial underachiever, surprises everyone with an upset of John Maverick, but is unable to capitalize on the opportunity, and Brent Hill defends his title for the 15th time.

With attendance figures like this, I am eagerly awaiting a look at our monthly financials, and am not disappointed. Total profits of $22,197! About twice what we had been seeing in the previous few months. Our bulging bank account and the promise of a steady stream of increased revenue gets my mind working...

Next month: it's time to start spending Cliff's money.

[daveyk]

I hate CZCW, but this is so well written, that I just have to follow it.
High praise, indeed ;)

Thanks very much, I'm glad you're enjoying it :)

[daveyk]

***************
February 2007

It's time to start using CZCW's financial stability to my advantage. But after careful reflection and consideration of a number of different possible scenarios, I decide to keep the changes relatively small. No huge spending spree on new wrestlers. Don't fix what isn't truly broken at this point. Incremental changes so no one month has the potential to send us into a death spiral.

To start things off, I decide to give myself a little present and make my own life a little easier while improving things here at CZCW. Brent Hill has acted as Road Agent for CZCW for all matches that he isn't involved in. But when he's involved in a match, or absent from a show, it requires me to shuffle things around and find a suitable replacement. More than once I've been caught running a match without a good Road Agent. So the first outlay of cash will be to sign a full-time Road Agent for CZCW.

After scouring the wires for someone who is available and will work for us, we locate and hire Luis Montero a Road Agent out of Mexico. He costs us almost $2,000 per show, which makes him the highest paid CZCW worker (aside from Cliff), so he'd better be worth it. For starters, hopefully a dedicated Road Agent is just the tonic CZCW needs to pull us out of our slight performance slump.

Beyond his role as a Road Agent, Luis addresses two other needs for CZCW. First, he provides locker room leadership, which, I am reminded after every show, is lacking here at CZCW. Second, he is fluent in Spanish, which means I can now expand my inquiries for new talent to include Spanish-speaking wrestlers without them getting too lonely in the locker room. Since we don't do many interviews or promos here at CZCW (the fans get restless every time we attempt something of the kind) it doesn't much matter what language the wrestler speaks, so long as they can be kept happy.

The only other personnel news this month is that Kashmir Singh is leaving CZCW. I wasn't even aware he was still here.

Then it's down to the real business of planning our shows. And I'm going to make one incremental change here as well. We're going to pull back on our habit of using multiple wrestlers multiple times every night to stretch the value of our appearance fees. More appearances for everyone, fewer matches each appearance for everyone. Hopefully that will help stave off any further personnel problems from the wrestlers we care about, and may increase the fan's happiness. It's worth a try, and the extra expense shouldn't prove too troubling.

With that in mind, I set the schedule for the February Weekly. The final match up in the group stages of the Future tournament pits Michael Gallagher against Frankie Dee, with the winner advancing to the semi-final. Jacob Jett and Insane Machine battle for their shot at Frankie Perez and the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship. NATO and Face Time take a 1-1 tie into the 3rd match of their best-of-five while High Fliers II continue with a tune-up match against Steven Parker and Joss Thompson. Finally, the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series kicks off another round.

----------
CZCW February Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 813

Jacob Jett d. Insane Machine (C)
Brent Hill d. Steven Parker (C)
NATO d. Face Time, 2-1 (C)
Michael Gallagher d. Frankie Dee, Fernando Elwes interfered (C-)
Marc Speed d. Duberry Excess (C-)
High Fliers II d. Steven Parker/Joss Thompson (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C-)
Brent Hill d. Jack Giedroyc (C+)
Jacob Jett d. Frankie Perez (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
John Maverick d. Remmy Skye (C+)
Valiant d. Plague (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Another large crowd, but our performance slump continues. We squander yet another opportunity for word-of-mouth advertising by not sending all 813 people home to tell a friend about CZCW.

In the Futures tournament, Fernando Elwes insures that Michael Gallagher advances, even if he doesn't, by interfering from ringside against Frankie Dee. That ends the group stages, with the following results:

Group 1

Oscar Golden 3-0
Duberry Excess 2-1
Joe Simmons 1-2
Fernando Elwes 0-3

Group 2

Steven Parker 3-0
Michael Gallagher 2-1
Frankie Dee 1-2
Joss Thompson 0-3

And the semi-final matches are set:
Oscar Golden v Duberry Excess
Steven Parker v Michael Gallagher (Should be a doozy, filled with bile and hatred.)

NATO get by Face Time yet again, and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. High Fliers II retain their title against a pair of lesser opponents.

Jacob Jett gets by Insane Machine and yet another shot against Frankie Perez who, up until now, has looked unbeatable. Jett shatters that aura of invincibility with a commanding performance. At the end of the evening, he is being feted as the new Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion!

John Maverick and Valiant advance in the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, and one of them will get a chance to follow in Jett's footsteps against Brent Hill.

But people are still complaining to me about a lack of locker room leaders. What a bunch of babies, apparently one isn't enough, they need two people to hold their hands. Well, that will just have to wait.

So we head into the Valentine's Day Massacre show, looking to improve our performance. I call an all-hands meeting and lose my cool a bit, in an effort to motivate everyone. For the older guys who won't respond to intimidation from the boss, I end with an appeal to their sense of professionalism and a challenge to continue building on their own success in and out of the ring.

In an effort to shake things up and provide incentive for everyone to exceed expectations, I allow the Futures wrestlers to start off the evening, a slot usually reserved for marquee wrestlers. Privately, Joss Thompson, Michael Gallagher, Fernando Elwes, and Steven Parker are told, for the sake of the prestige of the title, to maintain their composure and that any interference will be frowned upon. I throw a rare 3-way match up into the mix, sending Plague into the ring against High Fliers teammates Jacob Jett and Insane Machine. Face Time and NATO are at it again, of course, with Face Time looking to stave off elimination. High Fliers II take part in yet another title defense/tune up match, this time against Duberry Excess and Oscar Golden. The Xtreme Title Series starts a new round, with a new champion and Frankie Perez involved in the preliminary match ups for the first time. And John Maverick and Valiant look for a chance to de-throne Brent Hill.

----------
CZCW Valentine's Day Massacre
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 596

Duberry Excess d. Oscar Golden, 1-0 (C-)
Steven Parker d. Michael Gallagher, 1-0 (C-)
Plague d. Jacob Jett, Insane Machine (C)
Face Time d. NATO, High Fliers II interfered, 2-2 (C)
John Maverick d. Joss Thompson (C+)
High Fliers II d. Duberry Excess/Oscar Golden (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (D)
Marc Speed d. Insane Machine (C)
John Maverick d. Valiant (B-)
Frankie Perez d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
John Maverick d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

It's like a perverse uncertainty principle...I can either have good attendance and a mediocre show or poor attendance and a good show. But I can't have both at the same time.

In the Futures tournament, Duberry Excess and Steven Parker dominate the opening matches, taking 1-0 leads. And everyone is on their best behavior.

The same cannot be said about High Fliers II who invade the ring when it looks certain that NATO are going to storm past Face Time and win the series at 3-1. Instead, NATO find themselves distracted and harried on all sides, eventually losing the match to Face Time and necessitating a deciding 5th match. Later in the evening, High Fliers II defend their title.

In a highly positive development for CZCW, Joss Thompson hints at his hidden possibility in the ring in a high-tension, high-excitement match against John Maverick. Thompson loses, but you might want to remember where you were when Joss Thompson made his first serious statement in the ring.

Frankie Perez announces his intention to regain his title by throttling Jack Giedroyc. He'll need to get past Marc Speed next month, but certainly looks on-target for a chance at revenge against Jacob Jett.

And in the two best matches of the evening, John Maverick fights his way past Valiant, then defeats Brent Hill to claim the title of Coastal Zone Champion from its perennial holder!

Given the signing of Luis Montero and our heavy use of wrestlers, it's not surprising that our profits drop to $11,472 for the month. But it's a sign of the times that nether I, nor Cliff, are at all concerned. There's more than enough in the bank and more than enough coming in to continue down the path we're on.

Next Month: Can Frankie Perez and Brent Hill re-claim their titles? And who will be the tag team champion when the dust settles?

[the ismailite]

The only other personnel news this month is that Kashmir Singh is leaving CZCW. I wasn't even aware he was still here.
Exactly what I'm talking about man!

I'm really feeling this!

[daveyk]

***************
March 2008

(Note: I made a transcribing error in my notes for last month's journal. It turns out that I had the result of the match between Brent Hill and John Maverick backwards! Brent Hill remains champion this month. I corrected last month's journal for anyone who comes to this later on. Apologies.)

As I get into the office to start the month of March, I'm feeling pretty pleased despite the driving rainstorm outside. For once, there's no one needing a raise or a new contract this month, so I figure I'll be able to focus all my energies into getting the best possible lineups into our two shows.

Cliff has other ideas.

He thinks the time is right to go after sponsorship deals, since CZCW is starting to make a name for itself. So he loads up my schedule with meetings involving every possible sponsor he can think of. I politely suggest that he handle the discussions himself, but he believes the sponsors want to feel they will have some input on the creative front to insure product placement. So they need to meet me and get a good vibe from me.

I spend most of the early part of March bouncing from meeting to meeting, talking with fat men sporting comb-overs about the natural synergy between whatever their business is (auto-body shop, rental center, pizza parlor, sports bar) and the CZCW brand of wrestling. It's painful, and not just because I realize that our current demographic is apparently a bunch of people with whom I wouldn’t want to attend a party.

More incentive to increase our popularity and increase the breadth of our demographic.

In between and during meetings, I scribble down the lineup for the March Weekly Show. Most of it is fairly easy. The match ups in the Costal Zone Championship Series are pre-planned (Plague/Valiant, Remmy Skye/John Maverick). Frankie Perez takes on Marc Speed for a chance at a return match for his recently lost title. NATO and Face Time meet in the deciding match of their best-of-five, with the winner getting a title shot later in the evening when High Fliers II assume they will be tired. And the Coastal Zone Futures Tournament semifinals continue. I add two filler matches to the evening and make sure everything is ready to go.

Did I mention that Cliff invited 10 potential sponsors to come to the show in order to impress them with our product? If not, that's probably because he forgot to mention it to me until the last minute, meaning we had to scramble to find them ringside seating.

----------
CZCW March Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 797

Valiant d. Plague (C+)
Giedroyc d. Elwes (C-)
Insane Machine d. Frankie Dee (D)
Duberry Excess d. Oscar Golden, 2-0 (D)
Michael Gallagher d. Steven Parker, 1-1 (C-)
Marc Speed d. Frankie Perez (C-)
NATO d. Face Time, 3-2 (C)
John Maverick d. Remmy Skye (C+)
High Fliers II d. NATO (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Marc Speed d. Jacob Jett (C-) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)

Overall: C-
----------

Our potential sponsors can't help but be impressed by the 800 people in attendance, but if any of them actually know anything about wrestling they will be taking their sponsorship money and running in the opposite direction at the sight of this dismal performance. The two filler matches I came up with stink to the rafters, dragging the show down by their weight along with some other dreadful stuff.

It probably didn't help that everyone came expecting to see Frankie Perez get a chance to win the title back, only to have him lose to Marc Speed in the preliminary match. Marc went on to beat Jacob Jett and claim the title for himself, but both he and Jett did not put on a championship effort, ending the show on a serious down note.

In the Futures tournament, Duberry Excess surprises everyone by jumping out to a 2-0 lead on Oscar Golden, although by the end of the match, most of the fans were probably averting their eyes. Michael Gallagher evens his series with Steven Parker in a passable match up.

NATO pulls off the effort of the evening, defeating the two best tag teams in CZCW in the same evening to win their best-of-five and the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title in the same night. The matches are solid, if unspectacular.

The Coastal Zone Championship Title Series is the lone bright spot. Two matches, two performances at the level we expect. And the good news is that Valiant and John Maverick, two of our better performers, are the ones advancing to next week.

The next morning I'm waiting in Cliff's office. None of the 10 sponsors agreed to a deal. I suggest that Cliff handle meetings with sponsors for the rest of the month and let me focus on the upcoming March Lions show. Bring sponsors to that one, I tell him, and we'll impress them enough to get them to open their check books. And I'll make sure we have seats set aside ahead of time. He agrees.

Once again, I call the troops together for a meeting. I tell them about the sponsorship deals in the works and what's at stake. Then I lay out the evening for them.

The Future semifinal matches continue. I have a little chat with Duberry Excess and Oscar Golden about their sub-standard performances to date, then ask them to spend some extra time with Luis Montero before the show. Marc Speed is the latest Coastal Zone Xtreme Champion, and the four wrestlers gunning for his crown will take on each other. Face Time tries to rebuild their title bona fides with a match up against Joss Thompson and Duberry Excess, while NATO graciously extends a rematch to High Fliers II. Finally, John Maverick and Valiant go after each other with the winner given a chance at Brent Hill and his title. I try to provide a better pair of filler matches also, giving both our champions (Marc Speed and Brent Hill) matches against lower-level opponents, in Brent's case against the up-and-coming Joss Thompson.

----------
CZCW March Lions
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 630

Jacob Jett d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Insane Machine d. Frankie Perez (C)
Oscar Golden d. Duberry Excess, 1-2 (E)
Steven Parker d. Michael Gallagher, 2-1 (C-)
Face Time d. Thompson/Excess, (C-)
Marc Speed d. Frankie Dee (D)
Brent Hill d. Joss Thompson (C)
John Maverick d. Valiant (B)
High Fliers II d. NATO (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
John Maverick d. Brent Hill (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Attendance for the second show of the month continues to show a dip, but 630 people is nothing to sneeze at. And the performance is bound to impress the sponsors sitting in the prime seats at ringside.

Given their performance to date, I arrange with Cliff to take the sponsors back stage for a private "tour" during the Oscar Golden/Duberry Excess match, so luckily only the paying fans have to watch that one. Golden pulls a match back, though I'm not sure more matches in this semifinal is a good thing. Steven Parker pulls ahead 2-1, as he and Michael Gallagher put on another credible show.

Joss Thompson and Duberry Excess provide fodder for Face Time, but little in the way of entertainment, despite the fact that they seem to work well together. Maybe some more practice and we'll have something. High Fliers II are unwilling to go quietly into the night, and surprise everyone by regaining their tag team title from NATO, just when it looked like NATO might be ready to go on a run.

Frankie Perez continues to struggle, losing to Insane Machine in his preliminary match, and will have to wait yet another week. Jacob Jett, on the other hand, wins his match and keeps his hopes for the title alive.

But it's the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series that blows the rafters off the joint. Valiant and John Maverick put on the first "B" rated show in CZCW history and then John Maverick follows that up with a solid performance against Brent Hill to win the Coastal Zone Championship.

And apparently that's enough to impress the sponsors because the next day Cliff shows me three signed sponsorship deals, which by month's end have inflated our total profits to $30,650.

Next month: Some love for the tag teams.

[the ismailite]

Looking at Maverick and Valiants last few match ratings, I'd say you've got a strong pair to build around!

Edit: Sucks that your attendance dropped for that second show though. Especially since the rating improved.

[daveyk]

***************
April 2008

Despite a few blips and bumps, things have been progressing fairly well. The Main Eventers and Upper Midcarders are all pretty well tied up with their respective Title series matches, building interest and providing anchors for each show. And the Lower Midcarders are busy with the Future Title Tournament. Some interesting and useful information has come out of all of these events, such as the intense level of competitiveness between Valiant and John Maverick, which we'll have to build on.

But it's time to turn my attention back to a project which has remained on the back-burner since I took over at CZCW: the tag teams. There was one abortive attempt to form up a whole series of tag teams, mostly taken from the lower level guys, and try to make something out of that. But lack of chemistry, lack of ability, and attrition caused an end to the experiment.

In the meantime, mostly in order to get a few guys more match work, I've blundered into a trio of tag teams (NATO, Face Time, High Fliers II) that all work well together and have generated some interest from the fans, almost by accident. So this month, I fill out the roster with a more stable and reputable group of teams to compete against our main trio.

Plague and Maverick are paired as an all-star team called Full Force. I figure they will provide a fairly serious challenge for any of our teams (based on skill alone) as they develop popularity and experience for themselves.

Joss Thompson, a wrestler just looking for an opportunity, is paired with Duberry Excess as a team called Excess Energy. I want to make sure that Thompson gets match time in as much as possible while I wait for a chance to give him a good run as a singles wrestler.

Finally, Steven Parker tells me that he has lots of experience in another fed with a wrestler named Ricky Turner as The 'A' Alliance. Ricky Turner, it turns out, is available for hire, so we get a lower card team with instant credibility and name recognition for a reasonable price.

I don't really have any specific plans yet for the tag teams, other than to mix and match things up and see what starts to develop on its own. Later in the year we'll try to form a cohesive plan for these teams.

With a full complement of 6 tag teams to play with, and no other personnel matters to suck up my time this month, I settle into planning for our April shows.

First up is the April Weekly. John Maverick is the new Costal Zone Champion, and his four rivals will be at each other's throats for a chance to topple him before he becomes as ensconced in that role as Brent Hill did. Brent, in particular, is not happy about having lost his title and is looking for revenge. Pity Remmy Skye who has to face him in the preliminary match. Jacob Jett and Insane Machine are looking for a chance at the newly-crowned Coastal Zone Xtreme Champ, Marc Speed. The best Frankie Perez can do is watch, while he challenges Plague in a meaningless filler match. Steven Parker can close out his series against Michael Gallagher and Oscar Golden and Duberry Excess renew their interminable semifinal, with Duberry leading 2-1 and everyone hoping he wins tonight and puts us out of our misery at having to watch them. Finally, High Fliers II extend a rematch to NATO, over the strenuous objection of Face Time who feel they should get in on the title picture.

----------
CZCW April Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 884

Plague d. Valiant (C+)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C+)
Marc Speed d. Fernando Elwes (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Plague (C-)
Oscar Golden d. Duberry Express 2-2 (D)
Steven Parker d. Michael Gallagher 3-1 (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Joss Thompson (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Insane Machine (C)
High Fliers II d. NATO when Face Time interfered (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Jacob Jett d. Marc Speed (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)

Overall: C
----------

A familiar story for the Weekly show: good attendance (threatening the 900 mark!) but an average show. I guess I should be happy, each of these shows increases our popularity in the Southwest. But I'd like to see C+ shows become the standard for CZCW.

In the Future semifinals, not only are Oscar Golden and Duberry Excess dreadful yet again, but Oscar evens the series at 2-2, forcing another match up. Steven Parker, by contrast, closes out Michael Gallagher at 3-1.

In the Xtreme title series, Jacob Jett restates his claim by defeating Insane Machine and Marc Speed to recapture the Costal Zone Xtreme Championship. Jett is surging where Frankie Perez is faltering.

Brent Hill dismantles Remmy Skye and Plague gets by Valiant. As thrilled as I would have been to see the possibility of another Valiant/Maverick match, the prospect of a nostalgic match up between bitter rivals Plague and Brent Hill, recalling CZCW's early days (with a subsequent match up against John Maverick) is decent comfort.

Face Time's bitter feelings about being left out of the title picture for three straight shows spill into the ring, disrupting the title match between NATO and High Fliers II. When the dust settles, NATO has absorbed too much of a combined beating, and High Fliers II are confirmed as champions, while Face Time retreat to the locker and NATO mutter darkly about recrimination.

A summit between the tag teams is called to attempt to restore order and dignity. High Fliers II will refrain from any further title defenses until we can establish a pecking order among the challengers. To start things off, Face Time will take on Full Force while NATO will square off against Excess Energy in the Spring Break Bash. Oscar Golden and Duberry Excess close out their semifinal, with the only good news being that this is guaranteed to be their last match. The challengers to the Xtreme Title series start off the final round in that Series, with everyone wondering just how far Frankie Perez has sunk. And Brent Hill and Plague tangle with each other looking for a chance at the Coastal Zone Championship Title against John Maverick.

----------
CZCW Spring Break Bash
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 547

Marc Speed d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Frankie Perez d. Insane Machine (C)
Plague d. Joss Thompson (C)
John Maverick d. Steven Parker (C)
Oscar Golden d. Duberry Excess, 3-2 (C-)
Face Time d. Full Force (C+)
Jack Giedroyc d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague (C+)
NATO d. Excess Energy (C)
John Maverick d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (B-)

Overall: C+
----------

A familiar story for the second show of the month: a drop-off in attendance and an above-average show. I suppress the rising bile and vow to just be happy that we're still making progress.

Oscar Golden completes his improbable comeback from an 0-2 deficit in a match where, even more improbably, I'm not wishing I could rip off my own head at the end. So, after months of effort, it comes down to Steven Parker and Oscar Golden in a best-of-seven series for the Coastal Zone Futures Title.

Face Time and NATO demonstrate that they are the clear favorites to take on High Fliers II, with solid matches against Full Force and Excess Energy. I'm particularly pleased that the Full Force match up went so well, based largely on the skill of Full Force. Over time, they may actually develop enough popularity and awareness to become a force in the tag team scene at CZCW.

Frankie Perez shrugs off his doubters with a commanding performance against Insane Machine to get himself back on track to regain the Xtreme Title. His next assignment is to get past Marc Speed, and after what happened to him the past two weeks, he probably won't be looking past Marc. At any rate, we're guaranteed a match up involving two former champions vying for the Xtreme Title next month.

In the evening's premier matches, Brent Hill and Plague remind everyone why they were such a popular rivalry, adding another great performance to their stellar history together. But the strain of getting past Plague proves too much for Brent Hill, who stumbles at the finish line and loses a championship match to John Maverick for the second month in a row.

CZCW's financials remain strong this month, with profits of $29,909.

Next month: The Xtreme Title series comes to a close while the Futures Tournament Final begins.

[daveyk]

***************
May 2008

After two blissful months without any personnel matters to attend to, May requires me to evaluate two of our wrestlers and make a decision. At first glance, it seems like an easy decision to re-hire Fernando Elwes and Steven Parker. Both have been a part of the Coastal Zone Futures Tournament, and Parker is one of the participants in the final. Not re-hiring him certainly seems like madness. But, seriously, what does CZCW have to show for all the effort it's poured into the younger wrestlers?

A steady stream of dreary matches that have been a drag on the rest of each evening.

I haven't even got some of the ancillary positive benefits I was hoping for, like marketable matches for our Midcard wrestlers to keep them looking dangerous, since a lot of those matches have been flaccid also.

And when Steven Parker tells me how much he is expecting in a raise...well, I almost make a decision right then and there to chuck the two of them onto the street and be done with it.

I decide to reflect on the matter, however, and get back to them. In retrospect, it's probably not their fault. I mean, what did I expect when I put two wrestlers that CZCW identifies as its worst into the ring together week-after-week? And, without a steady diet of decent wrestlers to go against, these poor guys have not improved. The fact that I dangled a title at the end of a string did garner some public interest, but was, in essence, just asking too much.

So I decide the fault is actually mine. There are just seven matches between the Futures wrestlers to go and the rest of the guys who were involved are able to work freely.

So I arrive at the office the next day, pull Steven Parker and Fernando Elwes into my office in turn and re-sign both of them.

Just as quickly, I shoo them out and turn my attention to the shows. The Weekly show marks the end of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Title Series. Jacob Jett is the latest champ after a roller coaster 4 months which saw a different champ each month. Frankie Perez and Marc Speed are the challengers, both looking to end the series with the title around their waist. Steven Parker and Oscar Golden start their Coastal Zone Futures Title best-of-seven. The Coastal Zone Championship Title series, having started a month later, starts its penultimate round. Maverick holds the title, having made his first defense last month. The May Weekly will see two early tag team matches, and a "match to be announced" which will ultimately decide who gets a chance to take on High Fliers II for the championship at the end of the night, as we continue to try to get mileage out of the tag teams. Between all that, we sandwich a pair of matches between Lower card wrestlers and Midcard wrestlers, as our training regimen for the lower card commences. And, as a "thank you" to our fans (and a way to increase Plague's sagging morale), Plague and John Maverick spice up the last part of the evening with a non-title match up between two of our best stars.

----------
CZCW May Weekly
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 774

Valiant d. Remmy Skye (C)
Brent Hill d. Plague (C+)
Face Time d. Excess Energy (C)
The 'A' Alliance d. Full Force (C)
Steven Parker d. Oscar Golden 1-0 (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Insane Machine d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
NATO d. The 'A' Alliance & Face Time (C)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C+)
Plague d. John Maverick (C+)
NATO d. High Fliers II (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (C+) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)

Overall: C
----------

No one should be surprised looking at the attendance figures and the show's quality, least of all me. I should be getting more sanguine about it by now. Hell, I can probably roughly predict the attendance and perfectly predict the show's quality for our upcoming Mother's Day Mayhem show.

Steven Parker and Oscar Golden allow me to breath a small sigh of relief by putting on a credible match, which Steven wins to take a 1-0 win. It won't win any awards, but at least it doesn't look like a slow, grinding, spirit-crushing repeat of the Duberry Excess/Oscar Golden debacle.

After Face Time and The 'A' Alliance win their tag team matches, a decision is made that we can't decide between the three top tag team challengers, so we just throw everyone in the ring together and let them sort it out. NATO emerges victorious over both Face Time and The 'A' Alliance, then seizes the opportunity and defeats High Fliers II later in the evening to regain the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title.

The filler matches (with the obvious exception of Plague/Maverick) are nothing to write home about, and probably the deciding factor in the evening's overall rating. On a positive note, it does look like the younger wrestlers can show some improvement when given a chance to learn from the pros.

In the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series, Brent Hill and Valiant beat back their opposition, and it looks like no matter how things turn out at the Mother's Day Mayhem show, this Series should provide the fireworks we expect from it.

The evening's biggest news is that Frankie Perez shakes off the lethargy that overtook him for several months and storms his way back into possession of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title, bringing the curtain down on this Series with a tremendous match against Jacob Jett.

But, for all the positives, I find myself fighting off a rising tide of depression and hoping for a Mother's Day miracle...or at least an unexpected result from the show that will allow me to shake off the lethargy I'm carrying around.

Without the Xtreme Title Series to guide the booking for the evening, I use the opportunity to search for good pairings and to prop up the little bits of sagging morale within CZCW. Many of the wrestlers who find themselves uninvolved in a Title Series match find themselves in the ring against a young wrestler. Steven Parker and Oscar Golden have their second match in the Futures best-of-seven final. NATO, still feeling bitter about events from month's past, extend a title shot to The 'A' Alliance, rather than the recently defeated High Fliers II or perennial challengers Face Time. Frankie Perez and Jacob Jett reprise last week's excellent match with a title rematch. And Brent Hill takes on Valiant, with John Maverick and the Coastal Zone Championship Title waiting in the wings for the winner.


----------
CZCW Mother's Day Mayhem
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 571

Plague d. Insane Machine (C)
Remmy Skye d. Fernando Elwes (C)
Full Force d. Excess Energy (C+)
Jack Giedroyc d. Joe Simmons (C)
Oscar Golden d. Steven Parker, 1-1 (C-)
Face Time d. High Fliers II (C)
Marc Speed d. Joss Thompson (C)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (C+)
NATO d. The 'A' Alliance (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title) (C)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title) (C)
John Maverick d. Brent Hill (Coastal Zone Championship Title) (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

No Mother's Day miracle materializes, and the show does exactly what I expect.

We see several good efforts, including an unexpectedly rousing tag team match up from outsiders Full Force and Excess Energy.

Oscar Golden levels the Futures best-of-seven at 1-1.

Frankie Perez and Jacob Jett are unable to catch lightning in a bottle two shows in a row, though Frankie does defend his Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title.

Brent Hill defeats Valiant, but his mental block against John Maverick seems to be growing as he loses a title match to Maverick for the third month in a row. Doubt may start creeping into Brent's mind if this trend continues.

Profits are down to $23,487 in May, still more than healthy. All signs are positive for CZCW. Attendance insures that we will make money every month while retaining the freedom to use our wrestlers at will. Each show is increasing our popularity, as a general rule. So why does it feel like we're in a rut and need to reinvigorate things?

I look back at where CZCW was a little more than a year ago and see some parallels. We've come to an end of the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title Series while the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series ends next month. Interest in both Title Series is fairly high and we can build off the momentum with a few of our better wrestlers benefitting in the upcoming months. We've established John Maverick as serious rival for Brent Hill and found a rivalry-in-waiting with Valiant. We've got three very good tag teams who have been trading the title back and forth for a while, with three other tag teams just waiting for their chance. Despite disappointing early returns, we have a solid crop of youngsters just waiting to be used.

So, once again, it seems like a perfect time to make changes. Instead of hoping for that miracle, we're going to go out and make it happen.

Next month: Busting out of that rut!

[daveyk]

***************
June 2008

After long and careful consideration of the problems facing CZCW (attendance, performance consistency) as well as the strengths it now has (steady revenue, cash reserves), I decide to make a few moves in an effort to break us out of our current rut.

The first two involve changing our show schedule around.

Two shows a month is too few, given our situation. More shows will increase the rate of our popularity expansion and should have either a neutral or positive effect on the bottom line. It's almost certainly not going to push us into negative territory, so this is a no-brainer and we expand our schedule to 4 shows a month.

In addition to that, we pump up the volume on our main show every month. Prior to this we've been pretty much billing all our shows equally. Now it's time to highlight the main show. We're running 3 small weekly shows each month (weeks 1, 2, 4) which are 1 hour long. The main show will be a more medium-sized show (at least compared to the big guys...from my perspective it's a large effort!) that will run 2 hours long and be booked into a larger venue, Grissom Auditorium. Hopefully that will drive more people to the main show where most of the action and best matches take place every month.

With scheduling changes behind me, I need to deal with a single personnel issue this month. Our referee, Pee Wee Germain, is up for contract renewal this month. He's done steady work for us to date, and CZCW is certainly grateful for his help. But, we can do better. Bret Graveson is available to be hired by CZCW, and while his refereeing skills are just about the same as Pee Wee's (maybe a little better) he does bring locker room leadership qualities that Pee Wee doesn't. Alongside Luis Montero, CZCW would have all the leadership it needs to keep things under control backstage. So, a decision is made and Pee Wee Germain is out, Bret Graveson is in.

All of CZCW's wrestlers are excited as we go over the booking for the first show...most of them are seeing a chance to increase their pay for the month by being involved in an extra show or two. (At least a few are equally glad to be doing one show a month someplace other than the beer-soaked environs of The Snake Pit.) I'm hoping that excitement will translate into better, more consistent performances as well as increased attendance.

The first show, booked into our standard venue at The Snake Pit, will feature only three matches that are pre-determined. Steven Parker and Oscar Golden are tied at 1-1 in their best-of-seven for the Futures title. Brent Hill, Plague, Remmy Skye, and Valiant are all involved in preliminary matches in the Championship Title Series. Beyond that, Face Time attempt to rebuild their credentials with a match against Full Force while Frankie Perez gives Marc Speed a return shot at the title.

----------
CZCW June Weekly 1
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 841

John Maverick d. Jacob Jett (C+)
Face Time d. Full Force (C+)
Steven Parker d. Oscar Golden, 2-1 (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C+) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Angle: Jett Demands a Title match (E)
Plague d. Remmy Skye (C)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

We pull a healthy number of people for the show and keep them entertained with a solid show.

Steven Parker goes up 2-1 in the Coastal Zone Futures final.

The tag team match up proves once again that Full Force are a useful team for getting solid matches while we build up their credibility and experience as a team.

Frankie Perez defends his Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title, although the match is marred by the appearance of Jacob Jett at the end to challenge Frankie Perez, insult Marc Speed, and demand another title match for himself. The crowd, typically, boos Jett out of the arena for daring to do something other than wrestling. I know this will happen in advance, but sometimes you just have to tell a story.

In the evening's dual main events, Plague and Brent Hill advance in the Championship Title Series, and will get their chance for the title at the main Surf Slam show.

The second show for June is our second weekly show and will begin to test the power of our scheduling changes. If form holds, attendance will drop off to the mid 500's. If attendance is well above that mark, we'll know our experiment is working. As for what the folks will be coming to see...

Steven Parker takes his 2-1 lead and attempts to put a stranglehold on the final series against Oscar Golden. After Jett's intrusion last week, Frankie Perez decides to just climb into the ring with both of them and settle things once-and-for-all with a three-way title match. The High Fliers II stay in practice this week with a match against the 'A' Alliance. And Brent Hill headlines the evening, with a match against Remmy Skye. Brent's a little upset about having lost his title, so I don't want to risk having him sit out a show, and he's our most consistent headliner anyway.

----------
CZCW June Weekly 2
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 780

Jack Giedroyc d. Ricky Turner (C)
Insane Machine d. Joss Thompson (C+)
Steven Parker d. Oscar Golden, 3-1 (C-)
High Fliers II d. The 'A' Alliance (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed & Jacob Jett (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C+)

Overall: C
----------

Attendance figures are above expectations and I'm cautiously optimistic that the new booking strategy is working. The performance quality dips a bit, but that's partly due to who I booked to be at the show, with the match between Jack Giedroyc and Ricky Turner serving to improve the men's morale, but not exactly exhilarating the fans.

Joss Thompson continues to prove that he is capable of having solid matches against wrestlers in the upper ranks of CZCW, with a solid performance in losing to Insane Machine.

The 'A' Alliance and High Fliers II, on the other hand, disappoint everyone with a distinctly sub-par performance.

Steven Parker races out to a 3-1 lead against Oscar Golden, and each match in this best-of-seven from now on has the potential to see a champion crowned.

Brent Hill makes short, but entertaining work of Remmy Skye.

And Frankie Perez silences his rivals and his critics by defeating both Jacob Jett and Marc Speed to retain the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title.

And so we move on to June's main show, CZCW Surf Slam at the Grissom Auditorium. There are two attendance variables in our experiment here: we've increased the size of the show and increased the size of the venue. At least once in CZCW's history increasing the size of the venue led to an increase in ticket sales (apparently some folks will come to a larger venue that wouldn't come to the smaller one). So we'll be watching the attendance figures for this show with keen interest.

Since this is the main show of the month, everything is up for grabs and everyone is in the mix. All of our big-name tag teams are in action. Steven Parker has a chance to become the first ever Coastal Zone Futures Champion with a win over Oscar Golden. NATO, who have been idle for a few weeks and watching the results of other tag team matches extend a title shot to Face Time. Frankie Perez decides to emphasize the point he made last week and extends a three-way title match to both his main competitors for a second week in a row. Finally, Plague and Brent Hill will go after each other, with the winner getting a shot to de-throne John Maverick.

----------
CZCW Surf Slam
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 929

Brent Hill d. Plague (C+)
Jack Giedroyc d. Duberry Excess (C)
The 'A' Alliance d. Full Force (C)
Oscar Golden d. Steven Parker when Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher interfered, 3-2 (C-)
Insane Machine d. Michael Gallagher (C-)
High Fliers II d. Excess Energy (C)
Valiant d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Joss Thompson d. Remmy Skye (C)
NATO d. Face Time (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed & Jacob Jett (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Success! Almost 1,000 people show up to watch the CZCW and they see the type of performance to which CZCW aspires. Now if they all go home and tell their friends...

The Coastal Zone Futures Championship belt is at ringside for the match between Steven Parker and Oscar Golden. Parker looks supremely confident until, just before the match starts, Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher come to ringside and take seats to watch the match up close. Despite the distraction, Steven Parker dominates the match until Fernando Elwes initiates an arguement with referee Brent Graveson about something, allowing Michael Gallagher to club Steven Parker in the head with the title belt, unseen. That's as close as Parker comes to the belt from that point on, as Golden makes short work of the now groggy Steven Parker to draw a match back.

Face Time enter their match against NATO with supreme confidence, but it isn't enough as NATO defeat Face Time yet again, to retain their Coastal Zone Tag Team Title.

Frankie Perez, once again, establishes his dominance in the Midcard with a title defense in a three-way match against Marc Speed and Jacob Jett.

And Brent Hill, now clearly wrestling with fire in his belly, blazes past Plague in the first match of the evening and John Maverick in the last match of the evening to regain the Coastal Zone Championship Title he clearly believes is his. Thus ends the Coastal Zone Championship Title Series.

As I arrive at work for the final week of June, the malaise that had been settling over me is lifting along with my spirits. Attendance and performances have been good all month, and our experiment seems to be working. Our title series' have both completed and the Future title will be decided in one of the next two shows. Most every wrestler will be available to me to create a new series of narratives for our fans. The landscape is open to allow my creativity to run riot.

Step one begins now. Frankie Perez is going to undertake a major series of Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title defenses against all comers. The push (which has been in the plans since I began more than 2 years ago) starts this month with a title defense against Insane Machine.

Of course, we still have to crown a Coastal Zone Futures Champion, and Steven Parker gets his second shot to become the first-ever champion against Oscar Golden tonight. Steven looks a bit shaken after his experience the last match, but he is certainly talking as if he's going to rise to the challenge.

NATO, fresh off their defeat of Face Time show no fear in taking on their other main rival, High Fliers II with the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title on the line.

Valiant has been doing yeoman's service and is still a major force for the future. At some point, we will settle him and John Maverick into some sort of story and take advantage of their blistering chemistry. For now, however, Valiant needs to gather some momentum, since his push into the Upper card ranks led to a series of defeats against the likes of Brent Hill and John Maverick. He gets a match against up-and-coming Joss Thompson (I am also feeling around for someone with chemistry with Joss who I can use to push Joss at some point) and a title shot against Brent Hill in the same evening.

----------
CZCW June Weekly 3
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 463

Valiant d. Joss Thompson (C)
Jack Giedroyc d. Ricky Turner (C)
Jacob Jett d. Duberry Excess (C-)
Oscar Golden d. Steven Parker while Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher watch from ringside, 3-3 (C-)
NATO d. High Fliers II (C+) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Frankie Perez d. Insane Machine (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

With everything trending positive all month, I was blindsided by the drop-off in attendance this week. Well, the scheduling experiment is deemed a partial success, but it's back to the drawing board apparently.

Still, the show is a good one...

Steven Parker quails at the site of Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher at ringside once again. Although they take no part in the proceedings, Parker spends most of the match more concerned with waiting for the other shoe to drop than his opponent. Oscar Golden easily walks over him to even their final series at 3-3.

NATO, once again, prove themselves the dominant tag team force at CZCW, defeating High Fliers II in an exciting match for the Coastal Zone Tag Team Title.

Frankie Perez starts his series of title defenses off with a win, pushing Insane Machine to the edge and keeping him there all evening.

Valiant takes out Joss Thompson early in the evening and gives a good account of himself against Brent Hill, although he is not able to break through and claim his first CZCW title.
-----

There's just one thing left to discover this month...how much did our new schedule impact the bottom line? Four shows means a lot of wrestlers and Grissom Auditorium is 4 times as expensive as The Snake Pit after all. As it turns out, however, I was right in thinking that it could be done without impact, as our profits remained solid at $30,010. Still, further optimization is needed to maximize our efforts.

Next month: Major news from CZCW!

[daveyk]

***************
July 2008

I spend a long time staring at our figures over the last several months, trying to make sense of things, and suddenly, the answer seems crystal clear. So clear, I don't know why it didn't occur to me previously, except to say that I am as dense as a bag of hammers.

I've always been aware that the attendance is always highest for the first show of the month and then drops for each successive show. So, obviously, we need to put our largest show first!

So we juggle our show schedule for July so the first show is the medium-sized Battle on the Beach, booked into Grissom Auditorium. After that, we run 3 weekly shows, each small, each booked into The Snake Pit. I can already anticipate that I will be better off dropping the 4th show, since it will see an attendance drop-off into the 400's. But for the first month we're going to be aggressive, and see what happens.

As the staff scrambles around to re-arrange the show schedule, I meet with Valiant about a new contract. I'm a little worried, since he hasn't yet seen the kind of push he deserves and he definitely qualifies as the best wrestler at CZCW to never have held any singles title. But Valiant is surprisingly accommodating and we re-sign him with no trouble. Joe Simmons is re-signed at the same time. He's cheap, I have no compelling reason to dismiss him, and I don’t have time for the termination paperwork or the exit interview anyway.

With high hopes, I set to work creating a compelling show for our Battle on the Beach. Once again, being the main show, everything is up for grabs, and everyone is in the mix. Steven Parker and Oscar Golden have the final match in the Coastal Zone Futures Championship Title tournament, one of them will be crowned the first-ever champ tonight. NATO continue to take on all possible challengers, with a defense against The 'A' Alliance. Frankie Perez graciously extends a title shot to Joss Thompson, who is attempting to emerge from among the lower card wrestlers and find a place higher up in the roster. And Brent Hill offers a title match to the winner of a bout between Valiant and John Maverick earlier in the evening.


----------
CZCW Battle on the Beach
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 1,741

Plague d. Jacob Jett (C)
Remmy Skye d. Insane Machine (C)
Marc Speed d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Face Time d. Full Force (C+)
Oscar Golden d. Steven Parker; Fernando Elwes, Michael Gallagher, and Joss Thompson all interfere, 4-3 (C-) (Coastal Zone Futures Championship Title)
John Maverick d. Valiant (B-)
Jacob Jett d. Duberry Excess (C)
Jack Giedroyc d. Joe Simmons (C)
Frankie Perez d. Joss Thompson (C+) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
NATO d. The 'A' Alliance (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Brent Hill d. John Maverick (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Almost 1,750 people turn out to watch CZCW, the largest crowd in our history, by far. The noise is deafening and the excitement backstage throughout the show is palpable as everyone gets a feel for what is, hopefully, the future. What's more, the performance level rises to the level of the crowd, which is lucky for me since I would have suffered and aneurism if we'd finally drawn this size crowd and then put on a mediocre show.

I was definitely a little worried at the start when none of our first three matches offered anything other than serviceable entertainment.

In the 4th match, however, Face Time and Full Force pumped up the crowd to get things rolling, with Face Time continuing to assert itself as the top contender to NATO.

The Futures Title Tournament rubber match is chaos. Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher are, once again, at ringside to intimidate Parker. Joss Thompson has had enough, however, and leaves the announcer's table to attack the both of them. That turns out to be a miscalculation, however, as he gets worked over outside the ring by the two men. Parker is forced to come to his rescue, while Oscar Golden is unsure exactly what to do. In the end, the fracas spills back into the ring and in all the commotion, Oscar Golden manages to pin Steven Parker and is crowned the Coastal Zone Futures Champion.

NATO make an unsurprising defense of their title against The 'A' Alliance, who do nothing to indicate that they deserved the title shot they were granted.

Joss Thompson gives a good account of himself against Frankie Perez, bolstering his case for promotion, despite the fact that Perez defends the title fairly easily. Thompson is not quite there yet and there are quite a few guys well ahead of him, but he is an exciting youngster who bears watching.

John Maverick and Valiant engage in yet another barn-burning match, with Maverick emerging as the victor. He is fired up for a title shot against Brent Hill, looking to recapture the title that was his briefly, but is unable to wrest the title away in the end.
----------

I spend most of the rest of the following week in meetings outside the office, which has been happening frequently for the last two months. So much so that people are starting to talk. Most of them believe I am in discussions about a job at a different federation.

The truth is, however, that CZCW has been prowling for one hot-shot hire. It occurred to me as I considered our problems and possible solutions that all of our existing wrestlers have popularity in the Southwest that is exactly on par with CZCW. That makes sense of course, since the two have gone hand-in-hand since I began growing CZCW's popularity.

So, as part of my recent shake-up, I decided to bring in a wrestler whose popularity when he walks through the door exceeds that of the CZCW. Someone so popular to start with that CZCW can ride his coat tails a bit, and possibly even use as a springboard to expand CZCW nationally.

Two caveats complicate the search: I won't break the bank and I need to find someone who will actually work for CZCW. Plus, I wanted to keep the news as secret as possible until we announce it with a splash to our fans. Hence, meetings outside the office.

I spent a good deal of June talking to JD Morgan, who is unemployed, despite his popularity. I'm not thrilled with his skills, which are less than most of the wrestlers on our roster already. But I figured since he was unemployed he would come cheap and be willing to work. Unfortunately, however, we are never able to come to terms...he's just asking for too much given what he has to offer and considering that he's unemployed. By last month's end, JD was still unemployed and wouldn't even take my calls.

So the latter part of June and the beginning of July were taken up with locating another wrestler who matched our needs. And we find our man, finally, and get him signed for even less than JD Morgan was asking. Hell Monkey joins CZCW.

I wish I could have signed him in time for the Battle on the Beach, but negotiations took longer than expected. The plan is to unveil Hell Monkey for the first time at the first July Weekly, with Cliff doing the honors and announcing that he will be getting an immediate title shot against Brent Hill that evening. Those two events bookend the show. In between, we're starting the Coastal Zone Futures Title Series, which will involve Oscar Golden, Steven Parker, Fernando Elwes, Michael Gallagher, and Joss Thompson battling each month for the Coastal Zone Futures Title, using exactly the same format as was used previously for the other two Title Series. Finally, Frankie Perez defends his Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship against Marc Speed.

----------
CZCW July Weekly 1
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 780

Angle: Cliff Anderson introduces Hell Monkey and announces that he will be fighting Brent Hill for the Championship (D)
John Maverick d. Plague (C+)
Steven Parker d. Joss Thompson (C)
Valiant d. Ricky Turner (C)
Full Force d. The 'A' Alliance (C)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. Hell Monkey (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Attendance is pretty much where we'd expect it and the performance is a good one. The crowd, as always, is less than thrilled when someone is talking instead of wrestling, but despite that, the introduction of Hell Monkey creates a buzz.

Brent Hill, it should be said, is not pleased that Hell Monkey is given an immediate title shot, feeling that he should have been forced to spend some time proving his worth before he gets a chance. And in Hell Monkey's first ever match at CZCW, Brent Hill manages to narrowly defeat him to retain his title.

In the inaugural match of the Coastal Zone Futures Title Series, Steven Parker defeats Joss Thompson.

Frankie Perez continues to look as formidable as ever, dispatching Marc Speed with relative ease to retain his own grip on the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship.
----------

Back at the office between shows, I re-arrange the roster a tiny bit to make room for Hell Monkey. Remmy Skye is dropped into an Upper Midcard role, which is a better place for him anyway, although he might not agree with that.


Main Eventers: Brent Hill (F), Hell Monkey (H), Plague (H), John Maverick (H)
Upper Midcarder: Jacob Jett (H), Insane Machine (H), Frankie Perez (F), Valiant (F), Marc Speed (H), Remmy Skye (F)
Midcarder: Oscar Golden (F), Steven Parker (H), Joss Thompson (H), Jack Giedroyc (F), Ricky Turner (H)
Lower Midcarder: Duberry Excess (H), Joe Simmons (F)
Opener: Fernando Elwes (F), Michael Gallagher (F)
Enhancement Talent: Frankie Dee (H)
Tag Teams: Face Time, NATO, High Fliers II, Full Force, The 'A' Alliance, Excess Energy


The folks from Marketing are clamoring for my attention all day, and when I finally manage to give them a few minutes, they tell me that their recent marketing studies show that our recent run of good form and the introduction of Hell Monkey combined to push us into another strata of popularity in our home region. That's good, since that means ticket prices can withstand an increase.

The lineup for the second July Weekly will feature Hell Monkey against Brent Hill yet again. Brent maintains that Hell Monkey is receiving excess consideration and should be forced to "prove" himself before being given a title shot. (Apparently Brent is forgetting his own introduction to CZCW back at the start of my tenure). His plea falls on deaf ears, however, and the match is arranged, although Hell Monkey will also wrestle early in the evening against Jacob Jett as a tune up. Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher take each other on in the Futures Title Series. Rounding things out, High Fliers II battle the oft-forgotten (for good reason) tag team Excess Energy and Joss Thompson continues to step up in rank a bit, with a match against Insane Machine.

----------
CZCW July Weekly 2
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 615

Hell Monkey d. Jacob Jett (C+)
Valiant d. Duberry Excess (C)
Fernando Elwes d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Joss Thompson d. Insane Machine (C)
High Fliers II d. Excess Energy (C-)
Brent Hill d. Hell Monkey (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C
----------

Attendance is down significantly, and what's more, Marketing tells me that our fans are complaining about the hike in ticket prices, as if they weren't the ones who set the new price, the weasels. Could the ticket price be a factor in the low attendance? Or is this just the standard steady erosion of fan support we always see as the month drags on?

Worse, despite two excellent matches involving Hell Monkey book ending the evening and the fact that the match between the two Futures Title Series contenders is uncharacteristically watchable, our performance is just mediocre overall.

The largest part of the blame belongs to Excess Energy who are unentertaining against High Fliers II... unless, of course, you want to blame me for creating the unholy pairing in the first place.

In the matches everyone came to see, Hell Monkey dispatches Jacob Jett, who responds very well to a chance against a wrestler of Hell Monkey's stature, but falls to Brent Hill who is making a case that reports of his fall from the CZCW summit were greatly exaggerated.
----------

A "brainstorming" meeting with Marketing is apparently required to take the obvious decision that ticket prices should be lowered to address our fan's concerns. While listening to suits with MBA's spew jargon for an hour, all I can think is that this is time spent which I'm going to regret on my deathbed. Besides which, given my prediction of an attendance drop-off for the fourth show in July, I'm anticipating and dreading another meeting with this batch of Cassandras sometime next week.

Oh well, at least I manage to jot down my notes for the third July Weekly while pretending to pay attention. Hell Monkey, after having the quick route to the title blocked by Brent Hill, will take the longer route and prove himself against all comers, starting this week against Plague. Joss Thompson continues his run against top tier opponents with a match against John Maverick this week. Fernando Elwes and Steven Parker match up against one another in a match that's certain to be anything but civil since the stakes involve the winner gets a Futures Title shot against Oscar Golden at August's Wave of Fury show. And after a week off, both NATO and Frankie Perez are back in action for their respective titles, against perennial contenders High Fliers II and Jacob Jett. Could Jacob Jett dethrone two champions in one evening?

----------
CZCW July Weekly 3
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 468

John Maverick d. Joss Thompson (B-)
Valiant d. Oscar Golden (C)
Fernando Elwes d. Steven Parker, Thompson and Gallagher got involved (C-)
NATO d. High Fliers II (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Hell Monkey d. Plague (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

The attendance drops just as we expected and the fans are still moaning about ticket prices.

The fans who choose to come out are rewarded with fairly good evening, starting with an electrifying match between Joss Thompson and John Maverick. Maverick is just too much for Thompson, but Thompson continues to impress the fans and myself with his ability.

In a Futures Title series brouhaha, Michael Gallagher gets involved first, followed by Joss Thompson leaving his announcing table, the referee is knocked silly, and when the dust finally settles, Fernando Elwes wins the chance at Oscar Golden.

Jacob Jett goes 0-2 on the evening, losing the Tag Team Title to NATO and the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship to Frankie Perez.

Hell Monkey is a whirlwind in the ring, proving too much for Brent Hill's long-time nemesis, Plague, and taking the first step towards another chance at Brent Hill.
----------

Since the outcome of the "emergency" meeting with Marketing about ticket prices and attendance is a foregone conclusion anyway, I tell Marketing to hold their brainstorming session without me and send someone to my office with the outcome.

While I'm waiting, Cliff brings me the monthly financials. Despite hiring Hell Monkey, CZCW turns a profit of $45,094 and our bank account broke the $300K barrier!

My reverie about hiring an army of Hell Monkeys away from the big federations is interrupted by a Marketing drone who timidly knocks on my door and announces that they decided the best course of action is to...wait for it...lower ticket prices.

Next month: CZCW starts to find its stride.

[daveyk]

***************
August 2008, Week 1

Note: A change in format here. With the number of shows I am running and the overall pace of things, a month-at-a-time recounting is too much to write at one time (and, I imagine, too much to read at one time). So from this point, I'm going show-to-show instead.

The first order of business for August is pre-ordained after looking at last month's attendance figures. The fourth show is cancelled. We're going with one main show and two weeklies until something happens to change my mind about that. We'll see this month what affect that has on attendance. Plus we decrease ticket prices again...they are only $2 higher than they were when Marketing first suggested we hike them due to our increased popularity, so hopefully this is the lowest we have to go.

The second order of business is likewise fairly easy, with Plague and Insane Machine looking for new contracts.

Plague won't be getting much of a sniff at the title anymore, with Hell Monkey, Brent Hill, and John Maverick ahead of him in my priorities. But he is able to be entertaining against all three of those guys, so he's needed as fodder for them. Plus, I still think his tag team, Full Force, may emerge eventually into the top tier. So, Plague gets a new contract.

Likewise, Insane Machine won't be getting anywhere near a singles title anytime soon. But he's a staple for both Midcard and Main Event matches and is part of one of our top three tag teams, High Fliers II. So Insane Machine also gets a new contract.

The Wave of Fury show starts off with a treat for the fans, pitting our two title holders against each other. Both Frankie Perez and Brent Hill have been fairly unassailable recently and, even though no titles are on the line, both men will be looking for some serious bragging rights. Hell Monkey begins the process of building towards a chance for the Coastal Zone Championship with a match against perennial punching bag Remmy Skye. Oscar Golden takes on Fernando Elwes with the Coastal Zone Futures Championship on the line. Fernando is still smarting from his poor showing in the original tournament and is looking to establish himself as a viable contender. NATO make another defense of their tag team title against Face Time. And our two re-signed wrestlers are given title shots. Frankie Perez defends the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship against Insane Machine and Brent Hill defends the Coastal Zone Championship again long-time rival Plague.

----------
CZCW Wave of Fury
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 1,775

Brent Hill d. Frankie Perez (C+)
John Maverick d. Jack Giedroyc (C+)
Valiant d. Joss Thompson (C)
Jacob Jett d. Ricky Turner (C)
The 'A' Alliance d. Full Force (C)
Marc Speed d. Steven Parker (C)
Oscar Golden d. Fernando Elwes, Joss Thompson occupies Michael Gallagher while Steven Parker rushes in and knocks out Elwes (C) (Coastal Zone Futures Championship Title)
NATO d. Face Time (C+) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Hell Monkey d. Remmy Skye (C+)
Frankie Perez d. Insane Machine (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. Plague (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Despite the fact that fans are still moaning about the ticket prices, they turn up in droves for the show. I begin to wonder if I should even bother reducing ticket prices, since there hasn't seemed to be any impact on attendance even when the fans complain.

Brent Hill and Frankie Perez get the evening off on the right foot with an entertaining see-saw match, in which Brent Hill eventual comes out on top.

The Futures Title Series match once again devolves into mayhem. Michael Gallagher accompanies Fernando Elwes to ringside for "moral support." The tables are turned when, in an act of cold-hearted revenge, Joss Thompson engages in a shouting match with Michael Gallagher, distracting him, Elwes, and the referee long enough for Steven Parker to rush in un-noticed and knock Fernando Elwes senseless. From that point, Oscar Golden has a cakewalk of a defense against a near-helpless opponent. Though the disgusted look on his face as he leaves the ring suggests that Golden is starting to tire of these antics tainting his title.

NATO prove too much for Face Time yet again, retaining their tag team title. Frankie Perez fares better in his singles title match, dispatching Insane Machine and retaining his title.

Hell Monkey breezes past Remmy Skye with a clinical demolition that suggests he is dead serious about getting back at Brent Hill in the future. In the present, however, Brent Hill remains dominant, defeating Plague in their title match.

Next Week: Raising up Joss.

[eayragt]

I'm really enjoying this one - and am glad that you're pulling enough of a profit to keep a big name or two! Thompson for the Futures title any tume now - as long as you've got someone who can call all of his defences!

[daveyk]

***************
August 2008, Week 2

When I get back into the office the next day, Luis Montero is waiting to see me. When he closes my office door behind us, I'm a little worried he may be here to inform me he's moving on to better things. But instead he tells me something I actually already know, which is that it's time to see what Joss Thompson is actually capable of. I agree, so he and I spend the next few hours talking things over.

After a while we bring the head of Marketing in to talk it over as well. He's horrified and needless to say that fact alone tells me we're doing the right thing. His concerns fall into two main categories.

First, who is going to handle the color commentary if Joss is in the ring? That's an easy problem to solve. Despite the paucity of practice our wrestlers get using the microphone and interacting with our persnickety fans, we have three other wrestlers who can take over the mike for Joss at any time: Jack Giedroyc, Valiant, and Jacob Jett are all able stand-ins. Besides, we have enough money to hire a full-time, dedicated color commentator if we need to.

His second concern is more valid. Joss just doesn't have enough public exposure yet to do anything significant with him. And, given the way our Futures Title Tournament went and the Series has been going, they aren't the best vehicle for generating buzz about a particular wrestler. They are useful for keeping the younger wrestlers involved, but the steady diet of matches between low level wrestlers has had predictable results and not generated anything like the kind of interest we want for anyone involved in it.

So, after a half-day's discussion, we decide for the subtle, long-term approach. We are going to withdraw Joss from the Futures Title Series, and replace him there with Duberry Excess. Then, without any fanfare to start, Joss will begin a series of matches against wrestlers up and down the roster insuring that he gets exposure at almost every show and that he starts taking part in more and more interesting matches. During the process, we'll keep our eye out for anyone against whom he seems to match up well, and perhaps start a rivalry later on.

On his way out of my office, the head of Marketing announces off-handedly that we've reduced ticket prices yet again. Now they are just $1 extra. I think about arguing whether or not it's actually necessary to do so. But, to be honest, the combination of his irritating cologne and his irritating voice has already given me a splitting headache and I don't want him spending any more time in my office than he has to. So I just nod and let him leave.

The upcoming show is our first August Weekly, booked into The Snake Pit. Planning starts as soon as my headache subsides. Joss Thompson gets a match up against Plague this week. In the Futures Title Series, Fernando Elwes takes on Steven Parker. With bad blood getting worse all the time between these guys, who knows what to expect? Full Force take on High Fliers II. Frankie Perez makes his 10th defense of the title against Marc Speed. And Hell Monkey looks to bolster his title claim with a match against Insane Machine.

----------
CZCW August Weekly 1
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 950

John Maverick d. Jacob Jett (C)
Joss Thompson d. Plague (C)
Fernando Elwes d. Steven Parker, Michael Gallagher interfered (C-)
Remmy Skye d. Oscar Golden (C)
High Fliers II d. Full Force (C+)
Jack Giedroyc d. Michael Gallagher (C)
Frankie Perez d. Marc Speed (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Hell Monkey d. Insane Machine (C+)

Overall: C+
----------

After having spent some time marvelling at the near-capacity crowd for tonight's show, I'm just settling into my seat because the show is about to start when I get a call on my cell phone from Luis Montero informing me that Fernando Elwes is late, he hasn't heard from him, they are the second match of the evening, and we've advertised the match in advance as part of the Futures Title Series marketing. I take a deep breath...there's time enough for rage at Fernando later. Right now we have to solve the problem.

Both John Maverick and Jacob Jett are here tonight for tag team matches, so I tell Luis to suit them up for an impromptu lead-off match to buy us some time.

They are both troopers, and though the match lacks anything truly special, it's perfectly serviceable and, a phone call in the middle of the match informs me, has bought us enough time for Fernando to show up.

In the next match, Joss Thompson scores a major upset over Plague, sending the audience into an uproar. Joss goes a little nuts celebrating and leaves the ring area, forgetting his announcing duties. No matter, Jack Giedroyc just stays at the table.

On the other hand, since Joss is backstage whooping it up, Steven Parker is all alone out front, and at the mercy of Fernando Elwes and Michael Gallagher. It's not a pretty sight. The referee does a valiant job of trying to maintain some semblance of order in the ring, but both Elwes and Gallagher are after Parker at every opportunity and it's only a matter of time before he succumbs.

Though High Fliers II deny Full Force the second major upset of the evening, I continue to be pleased with the performances of Full Force and make a mental note that Marketing needs to start paying attention to their popularity so I know when to take the reins off for them

Frankie Perez defends his title against Marc Speed, and I'm beginning to wonder if Frankie Perez needs a better opponent or two to challenge him more.

Hell Monkey brings the evening to a close by demolishing Insane Machine. As he stalks off stage, the fire in his eyes is unmistakable and you have to wonder if Brent Hill is starting to get worried.

Next week: Brent Hill does his talking in the ring.

[daveyk]

I'm really enjoying this one - and am glad that you're pulling enough of a profit to keep a big name or two! Thompson for the Futures title any tume now - as long as you've got someone who can call all of his defences!

Thanks very much and right back at you. I enjoy your USPW diary a lot also.

[daveyk]

***************
August 2008, Week 3

To his credit, Fernando Elwes has the good grace to be pretty upset himself about his lateness, so we let him off with a warning, though I hear through the grapevine that Luis Montero has some choice words for him behind closed doors. I've seen Luis angry, and I hope the combination of our two actions will be enough to send a message not only to Fernando but to the rest of CZCW about our expectations of professionalism.

Disciplinary actions dispensed with, I'm noting with satisfaction that the buzz among CZCW fans right now is Joss Thompson and Hell Monkey.

Joss' upset of Plague put him squarely in the public eye, and everyone is now wondering just who this young phenom is. We'll answer that question with a series of matches, and let Thompson build up his own cachet, rather than doing it for him.

The intensity with which Hell Monkey has demolished his last two opponents is threatening to make Brent Hill an afterthought at CZCW before the title is even taken from him. Brent, to his credit, is not shrinking from the challenge, and says he'll do all his talking "in the ring."

Brent starts this week by taking on fan favorite Valiant for his fifth defense of the Coastal Zone Championship. Despite never having held a singles title at CZCW, Valiant remains a threat in every match he takes part in, and Brent knows this. But a series of title defenses against "jobbers" won't do the trick as far as he's concerned. Joss Thompson steps down in caliber this week, with a match against Ricky Turner. But you have to prove that you can rise to the occasion against guys above you in the organization and still maintain form against the guys below you; unexpected losses to guys like Ricky Turner have a way of destroying momentum. In the Futures Title series, Duberry Excess and Michael Gallagher tangle with one another.

The real key here for me is the attendance figure. With only the 3 shows this month, what happens to attendance for the third show? The attendance for the second show did not drop off as sharply as it had when we were running four shows. So will I be seeing 600 people or 400 people this week?

----------
CZCW August Weekly 2
The Snake Pit (SW)
Att: 820

John Maverick d. Marc Speed (C+)
Insane Machine d. Frankie Dee (D)
Michael Gallagher d. Duberry Excess (C-)
Joss Thompson d. Ricky Turner (C)
Face Time d. Excess Energy (C)
Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C+)
Plague d. Jack Giedroyc (C)
Brent Hill d. Valiant (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

My guesses going in were completely off as CZCW enjoys another near-sellout at The Snake Pit, entirely validating our change to the schedule. And once again, the wrestlers respond with a solidly entertaining show for the fans. CZCW has really started to hit it's stride this month, both in terms of attendance and show quality.

John Maverick and Marc Speed get things off on the right foot with a rousing see-saw match in which both men look like serious contenders. But in the end there can be only one winner, and in this case that is John Maverick.

Insane Machine and Frankie Dee follow that up with a match of dubious quality, and it's a credit to everyone else that we are able to overcome it.

Michael Gallagher ruins Duberry Excess' first match in the Futures Title Series, defeating him in buzz saw fashion and, what's more surprising, without any assistance from Fernando Elwes. Gallagher and Elwes, long-time allies, will now face each other, with the winner getting a chance at Oscar Golden.

Joss Thompson maintains his form against Ricky Turner, a match that is as significant for the fact that it's entertaining despite the lack of any big names as it is for Joss' victory.

Face Time, Jacob Jett, and Plague all "get healthy" with wins over various wrestlers, leading to the Main Event.

In the Coastal Zone Championship Title match, Brent Hill looks like a different wrestler. More intense, more focused, and more driven. After 2 years of domination, he's responding to the challenge. Valiant is a formidable foe, and he looks good throughout the match and tests Brent severely. But Brent never looks like he is in serious danger of losing his title and in the end succeeds in defending. As he leaves the ring after his win, you can't help but look forward to the inevitable clash between he and Hell Monkey.

With a successful August full of consistent efforts in front of near-capacity crowds and with nothing on the schedule for the fourth week of the month, the mood around CZCW is excited and expectant.

Even Cliff is happy since we added $48,563 to our coffers this month.

Next month: When the cat's away...

[daveyk]

***************
September 2008, Week 1

Don't ask me what it is, but I have a feeling of deep foreboding as I come into the office at the start of September. Nothing specific, mind you, just a feeling in the pit of my stomach...

Cliff comes into my office with a drone who I know works over in human resources but who, for the life of me, I couldn't identify. The look on their faces doesn't do anything to ease my sense of foreboding. Nor does the first thing out of Cliff's mouth.

"Son, I hate to say this, but you gotta leave."

The shocked look on my face is met by a puzzled look on Cliff's face. I can see him replaying that last sentence in his head, and then a sudden dawn of realization.

"No, no, no. Nothing like that!"

Turns out, the drone from HR informs me, I haven't taken a single vacation day since I started in December 2005. My accrued vacation is getting serious, and I need to use some of it now or CZCW is going to get a visit from the Feds. Four weeks, to be precise, Cliff informs me, all expenses paid by CZCW. He hands me a folder full of paper: airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rental, etc. I hand the folder back and tell him I'll take the vacation, but I'll take it here in the office. Cliff shakes his head.

"Write whatever memos you need, then get out of here and enjoy yourself. Forget all about us. Don't worry, we'll take care of everything."

Eight hours later I'm on a plane, winging my way over an ocean towards a tropical paradise and trying to convince myself that everything will be just fine.

One week later, I'm enjoying a Mimosa and a Continental breakfast and reading the trade weekly. I turn to the back to get the round up from the CZCW Labor Day Brawl and cough up an entire mouthful of Mimosa.

----------
CZCW Labor Day Brawl
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 1,090

Valiant d. Marc Speed (C+)
Joss Thompson d. Duberry Excess (C)
Elwes d. Gallagher (C)*
Jacob Jett d. Insane Machine (C)
Face Time d. The 'A' Alliance (C)
Plague d. Frankie Dee (C-)
Hell Monkey d. Steven Parker (C+)
NATO d. High Fliers II (C) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Oscar Golden d. Fernando Elwes (C) (Coastal Zone Futures Championship Title)
Frankie Perez d. Jack Giedroyc (C+) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Brent Hill d. Remmy Skye (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C+
----------

Ten minutes later I'm on a phone to Cliff asking him why only 1,000 people showed up. Not to worry, he says. Just a small clerical error. It seems someone forgot to change this particular show into a Medium show and, without me there to look over the paperwork, the mistake didn't get caught. So marketing for the show was well below what it should have been, and the fans didn't show up.

Cliff tells me that he's on it. They are changing the first Weekly to a Medium show. I remind him that we also need to change the date a bit, since several of our wrestlers are not available on the night it is originally scheduled for.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of everything."

Turning back to the trade weekly, it seems like most everything else went pretty well with the evening. By all accounts it was an entertaining show for the fans.

Valiant got himself healthy against Midcarder Marc Speed to offset some of the losses he's been taking from the Main Event guys recently.

Joss Thompson got yet another win for himself, this time against Duberry Excess.

Fernando Elwes earned himself a Futures Title chance, but was not able to defeat Oscar Golden.

Face Time defeated The 'A' Alliance early in the evening while NATO defeated the High Fliers II to retain the Tag Team Championship.

Frankie Perez wiped the floor with Jack Giedroyc to retain the Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title.

Hell Monkey demolished Steven Parker while Brent Hill demolished Remmy Skye (to retain his title) as both men remain on a collision course.

I drink what's left of my Mimosa in a single gulp and reassure myself that it could have been worse.

Next Week: It gets worse.

[eayragt]

Someone forget to reschedule your event? Know the feeling (if that's what's happened), and it's time to play "lets see how many of the crowd noticed that this card isn't what they paid to see"

[daveyk]

***************
September 2008, Week 2

Despite Herculean efforts by the staff here at my resort and a fair number of liquid lubricants, I am unable to find anything that will relax me for the next week. I await the arrival of the wrestling trade weekly while time slows to a crawl. Every fiber is telling me to pick up the phone and make sure everything is going right, but I can just hear Cliff:

"Don't worry, we'll take care of everything."

A week full of restless days and nights later, it finally arrives and I immediately head for the back pages to find out how CZCW fared at our September Weekly show.

----------
CZCW September Weekly 1
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 1,900

John Maverick d. Marc Speed (C+)
Joss Thompson d. Insane Machine (C)
Michael Gallagher d. Fernando Elwes (C)
Face Time d. High Fliers (C)
Valiant d. Joe Simmons (C-)
Frankie Perez d. Jacob Jett (C) (Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship Title)
Hell Monkey d. Plague (B-)

Overall: C+
----------

A deep sigh of relief and a hand gesture to the bartender. Almost 2,000 people attended and the show was, once again, a good one by all accounts.

John Maverick bests Marc Speed to open the show.

Joss Thompson keeps racking up wins, this time against perennial Midcard contender Insane Machine.

The Futures Title Series is underway again, with Michael Gallagher denying his long-time friend Fernando Elwes a second chance to get back to the Title match.

Face Time reassert their title credential against High Fliers II.

Valiant builds on his win last week with a victory over Joe Simmons.

Frankie Perez makes the 12th defense of his Coastal Zone Xtreme Championship, outclassing Jacob Jett to continue to put distance between himself and the rest of the Midcard.

And Hell Monkey defeats Plague to remain on course towards Brent Hill and end the evening on a high note.

Another deep sigh of relief and the bartender delivers a tropical drink to my table. I take a deep gulp, notice the small blurb beneath what I had just been reading, and cough up the drink.

----------
CZCW October Weekly 2
The Simmons Center (SW)
Att: 246

Frankie Dee d. Duberry Excess (E)
Marc Speed d. Oscar Golden (C-)
Jacob Jett d. Remmy Skye (C-)
Insane Machine d. Ricky Turner (C-)
Hell Monkey d. Frankie Perez (C+)

Overall: C
----------

What the hell is CZCW doing putting on a show in the Simmons center for? In front of 246 people? One day after the Weekly show? Two shows in two days?

2 minutes later and Cliff is on the phone explaining. Everybody was focused on getting the weekly show moved to a date where wrestler conflicts wouldn't cause a problem and shifting all the marketing around. No one remembered to stop our system from automatically sending an email announcement to everyone on CZCW's mailing list for the original show date.

It wasn't until the day after the first Weekly Show that someone wondered out loud why people were buying tickets for a show that was supposed to take place that very evening.

And by the time everyone figured out what had happened, it was too late to do anything other than find a venue and hold the show as best they could. The Simmons Center was available on short notice and a show of dubious quality was hastily put together and pushed in front of the fans.

Except for the final match between Hell Monkey and Frankie Perez, a wasted pairing on a show of this size and quality (and expensive to boot), everything was utterly forgettable. Of special note however is that someone put Frankie Dee and Joe Simmons in the ring together for reasons passing understanding and the results were predictable, to say the least.

And the last thing I hear before Cliff hangs up the phone is the least reassuring thing he could possibly have said.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of everything."

Next week: A sudden horrifying realization

[daveyk]

Someone forget to reschedule your event?

This was the first month that I was actually playing after I took my long break (the rest had been simmed but not written up) and I completely forgot several important steps when setting up the shows.

My favorite blunder, however, was re-scheduling a show from Friday to Thursday (due to wrestler conflicts) and then making the colossal error of re-setting it back to its original day before simming past the original day, thereby locking myself into running a show on consecutive days with half my roster working elsewhere.

[daveyk]

***************
September 2008, Week 3

The next morning, I wake up in a cold sweat.

It suddenly occurs to me that we have 6 wrestlers who are entering the final days of their current contract, including Brent Hill and Frankie Perez! I left detailed instructions about the steps necessary to re-sign them before this enforced exile. But then, I left detailed instructions about just about everything else and look what's happened.

So, I board a plane 4 hours later and enter the CZCW offices straight from the airport.

It's like Lord of the Flies; I'm surprised there isn't a rotting boar's head on a spike at the front door. Everyone is rushing around looking frantic. Files are in disarray and paper scattered everywhere. Phones are ringing unanswered. No one even notices me enter and head into Cliff's office.

Cliff is busy on the phone yelling at someone when he notices me.

Cliff: "OK, I think you'd better start fixing things."

Me: "Fine, but if you ever send me on vacation again, I quit."

Cliff: "Son, if I ever send you on vacation again, I quit."

A half hour later, I have a handle on the situation. No one has booked a venue for this week's event, so I assign a team to cajole the Grissom Auditorium folks into getting us a date. I send out a call to all those guys whose contracts are coming up to schedule meetings. Everyone who isn't assigned to anything else is assigned to clean the place up or answer phones and messages.

In rapid succession, I move Brent Hill, Frankie Perez, John Maverick, Marc Speed, Jack Giedroyc, and Remmy Skye through my office, agreeing in record time to contracts with each. They were fairly reasonable in negotiations, but I was in no place to argue because I needed to get agreements before they left us and needed to make sure they felt wanted since no one had even mentioned contract renewal to them before my call. Well, any extra money we had to spend is all Cliff's fault.

I give myself an hour after the last meeting and quickly get a card together, it's nothing earth-shattering, but it will get us out of this month. Plague and Remmy Skye lead the evening off, while Joss Thompson, looking for his 5th straight win, is given a match against Marc Speed. Steven Parker and Duberry Excess match up in the Futures Title Series. And (what else are you going to do on such short notice?) we have title matches for the tag teams and the Coastal Zone Championship. NATO against Full Force and Brent Hill against Insane Machine.

----------
CZCW September Weekly 3
Grissom Auditorium (SW)
Att: 1,040

Plague d. Remmy Skye (C)
Joss Thompson d. Marc Speed (C-)
Steven Parker d. Duberry Excess (D)*
Valiant d. Michael Gallagher (C)
John Maverick d. Jack Giedroyc (C+)
NATO d. Full Force (C+) (Coastal Zone Tag Team Title)
Brent Hill d. Insane Machine (C+) (Coastal Zone Championship Title)

Overall: C
----------

The last show of this month, one which CZCW will be happy to forget, is a mediocre show. The attendance is actually pretty impressive for a fourth show, which is interesting.

Joss Thompson defeats Marc Speed, notching his fifth consecutive win.

Steven Parker advances to a match against Michael Gallagher in the Futures Title Series.

NATO defeat Full Force, who continue to impress as they build up credibility. Their time is coming, but for now NATO remain the kings of this federation.

And Brent Hill, unsurprisingly, defeats Insane Machine to retain his title.

The rest of the month, what is left of it, is spent getting things in the office back on track. Our profits for the month dipped to $36,472, but considering the scheduling SNAFUs and the extra show at The Snake Pit, I suppose things could have been worse.

Next Week: Hell Monkey gets antsy.