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#61
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Thanks guys. I knew people were reading - the view counter is awfully high for the number of posts.
And I probably will be back with some type of project at some point, angel. I've actually gotten back into playing TEW regularly after a bit of a break. But no solid plans at this point. Just enjoying the no writing load, as its been nearly a full year since I haven't had a project that I was working on. 
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#62
04-19-2012, 10:49 AM
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Epilogue Part 1 As I have stated, I never really expected to end this so quickly. Only going a few months of recaps and barely 200 posts feels like something of a failure. As you will see, it was not a lack of plans or ideas that killed this project off. Between the ideas I had and how awesome my readers tend to be, I figured this one could probably pass my previous WCW Empire project for length. In retrospect, I guess I did have some initial doubts. This is really the first project I've done that didn't have some type of "basis" to fall back upon. All my early projects were based on TEW games, as was the first WCW project I ran. The first chapter of Empire was fantasy booked, but based on "reality" up to divergence point in March of 2001. So it always felt like there was that base. But when I decided to take a break from Empire and the idea of doing this skip-ahead first started floating through my muddled mind, the lack of a base was a bit of a concern. Six years of evolution from where "reality" ended... that's a long time. A lot of change. Then the ideas started to flow and I realized that doing the jump-ahead to 2007 was the only way I could go forward. In the end, the lack of a base wasn't really a factor at all. I'm going to post a bunch of the ideas I had going forward. Some are very solid plans while others are ideas that had yet to be cored down to actual plans. I'm hoping that giving a detailed "where things were going" epilogue will bring some sense of closure for you readers. I know it does for me as the writer. That said, there's no real clear, easy, and direct way to lay it out. So I'll try to organize things as best I can. Some things will be mentioned in passing, but detailed later. And if there are things that I don't explain that you want to know more about, feel free to ask. World Heavyweight Championship I won't get too detailed here, as some of the feud details will be explained later. Many of the switches were not set in stone when looking beyond the end of 2007. The feud between Cabana and Punk over the belt would run two more matches - another unclear finish at The Great American Bash, then Punk going over clean in a bloody cage match at Bash at the Beach. The feud would end there... for the moment. But it would remain one of those back-burner feuds that could be brought back to life at any given point, or turned into a partnership (though not a trustone one) for a time. The Great American Bash would be the debut of Punk's next feud... Chris Jericho. He would actually win the belt from Punk at the Evolution pay per view in August. The two would feud through most of the rest of 2007 (though Jericho would defend the belt against others) and Punk would likely win the belt back at Starrcade. That one isn't set in stone but there is a good chance. 2008 would probably see a few shorter reigns. Not moving the belt around every two months, but not necessarily every run being six-months or longer either. Swagger would be a world champion by late 2008 or early 2009. Styles would get another run, and Samoa Joe could (though I would probably try to find a way to keep his run surprisingly short). Other first time world champions would be Bryan Danielson, Paul Burchill, Nigel McGuiness, and probably Antonio Bank$. Obviously these wouldn't be short-term plans - some of these might not happen until 2010 or even 2011. The intent, even with the belt moving a bit more, would mostly be to continue to protect the belt with strong champions, most of whom were get decent reigns. That said, it would be unlikely to see one run a full year again, as I think that can be tough to book well over the whole period. CM Punk I had some key plans in the near future for Punk. It was going to be based on the Summer of Punk II from the WWE last year, though some of it was planned even before that. In June, Punk would cut something of a shoot promo on Nitro by telling the fans that his WCW contract was expiring in two months and that he was about to become the hottest free agent in pro wrestling history. Which would be true. In subsequent promos, Punk would claim he had been contracted by the WWE with a lucrative offer, as well as other organizations. This wouldn't be entirely ripping off what the WWE did, as Punk wouldn't rip on his situation in WCW as much as he did with the E. Nor would it have the "will he win the belt?" aspect, since he was already the champion. But it wouldn't really be presented as a "I'm taking this belt with me" kind of deal - the issue at hand would be Punk potentially leaving, with that being seen as a huge loss for the company. But there was another key dynamic that would be at play in the situation. You may recall how Punk developed into a star with the AWA (though not under a developmental contract) before getting a deal with WCW. There was a very specific reason for that. In June, the AWA would begin hyping the signing of a "huge former AWA star", claiming it would change the landscape of professional wrestling, etc etc. Fans would obviously connect the dots and assume Punk was going to jump back to the AWA for a huge money deal from Dusty Rhodes. There would be tons of rumors - that the AWA had secured a national TV deal and so on. The huge return for the AWA was going to turn out to be the return of Hulk Hogan. Punk would sign a very lucrative extension with WCW, though he would lose the belt to Jericho in August. There were a few reasons for using this as a storyline. First and foremost was to bring in some "realism" to WCW. Not something I want to go overboard with, but it's the kind of thing that can get fans really intrigued if done well. The idea being that Punk wanted more creative freedom if he was going to resign (though not necessarily creative control), so he wanted to use the contract as a storyline to see if Storm and the creative team would let him actually say what he wanted. And they did. The other reason is the idea of consequences. I've mentioned before that an idea I like to explore is that there are consequences. Not just on-screen in a booking sense, but in terms of the product as well. Since the first Empire project, WCW has walked a line between tradition and modernity. They have a product that harkens back to the NWA style in many ways, yet they remain very modern in others - the characters and storylines, the cruiserweight division, all the young talent. Traditional and modern are not values that automatically conflict, yet they can at times. That conflict was a theme I wanted to explore going forward. And Punk, by representing the changing ideals of wrestling talent, would be a significant catalyst in that. I had some great (in my opinion, at least) quotes from "shoot interviews" with Punk where he would talk about vets telling him backstage that bringing up his contract on-screen and talking about leaving was bad for the company ("but I'm not WCW - I'm CM Punk") while many of these same vets couldn't be bothered to help him out or give him advice when he was just another lower-card nobody. It wouldn't turn into a simple "old versus young" backstage clash, but rather a gradual conflict of ideals between certain individuals. Punk just seems like a natural lightning rod for that kind of situation. He's a "vanilla midget" with tattoos and a gimmick that a lot of old-timers apparently "don't get". Punk would likely win the WHT back at Starrcade 2007. He would feud with the Four Horsemen in late 2007 and early 2008, That feud would be set off by Punk overlooking the Horsemen when forming a team for a War Games match at Fall Brawl. Punk's feuds with Joe and Cabana would be "permanent" feuds in that they could flare up again at any time - though with Joe, there would be a large degree of respect between them while with Cabana, there would never really be friendship or trust ever again. Although many readers seemed to think Punk was heading for a heel turn, he probably wouldn't actually turn heel for a long while. Perhaps a psueo-turn sometime in late 2008 if he ended up feuding with Jack Swagger. Chris Jericho Right from the very start of this project, I wanted to have someone "Jump ship" from the WWE (at least to some extent) to WCW. Someone notable who still would have value to the WWE but for certain reasons, ends up with WCW. I quite honestly considered almost everyone who was at least a midcarder for the WWE at some period in the 00s. A few were pretty much automatically eliminated because I had "done that" (Lesnar, HBK, Austin) or because I didn't think I could make them leaving the E feel realistic (Triple H, The Undertaker, The Rock). I wanted to rebuild Mark Henry into a monster, but the WWE went and did that. "Newer" stars like John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista... they certainly intrigued but they didn't feel right because they've never been anything but WWE stars. Bringing back ex-WCW talent like Big Show, Mysterio, Benoit, or Eddie Guerrero appealed to a small degree but not enough to pursue... and especially when considering what happened to Eddie and Benoit. Kurt Angle definitely intrigued. After all the consideration and suggestion I got, I pared it down to three possibilities - Edge, Christian, or Jericho. And as much as I liked the thought of the other two, it was probably always going to be Jericho. It just works too perfectly. He became a near-star with WCW before he jumped to the WWE and became a true star. He's good friends with the Head Booker of this version of WCW. He left the WWE in 2005 and actually returned in late 2007, so the timing was perfect. Chris Jericho was going to debut at Bash at the Beach 2007 as a shock, immediately moving into a feud with world champion CM Punk. I would think Jericho would get some cheers from fans off the start, but he would be playing the "pretend babyface" heel. He would proclaim that he returned to WCW to save the promotion and give them kind of champion they could be proud of so that can stop being embarrassed by the fact that they are WCW fans, earning boos yet acting as if he's still being cheered. I think it would be easy to imagine Jericho heeling it up to the max as the super-arrogant "rock star" who feels he has earned the right to be worshipped by the fans. Jericho would carry the World Heavyweight title from August until at least December, feuding with Punk the whole time. He would align himself with Rhino and Rob van Dam (more on him later), and form a team to take on Punk's team in a War Games match at Fall Brawl. After losing the title, he would remain at the top but not always necessarily in the world title scene. He would not likely carry the belt at all in 2008. But the possible feuds are endless - a feud with Sting through the spring leading to a match at Great American Bash2008 being one likely plan. Jericho would probably get another run with the belt in 2009, but he would also move more toward working part-time - a bit like Sting, he takes several months away at a time to pursue outside interests and then returns for a feud or two. Bringing back Jericho wasn't "necessary" in that sense that he was truly needed by WCW by 2007. But rather, it felt like finishing off an aspect of his career that got cut off due to the crap WCW had back in '99. This would give him a chance to finish it out properly and with endless amounts of creative and character freedom, and I think he would excel if allowed to be his entertaining and in-ring best for a couple of years before he begins to take some time off. As well, I should probably point out that Jericho returning and his feud with Punk was planned well before he actually did return for the WWE. Jack Swagger When I say Swagger was a key guy going forward, I very much mean it. His story arc was one of the first ideas I had for this project when I decided to redo WCW, and it was a key reason I decided on the end of 2006 as the point to jump forward to on this chapter of it. I actually really considered moving up his debut date but stuck with it (sorry Jim) and just fast-forwarded his progress a bit. Swagger's story arc was going to be one of corruption and deliverance. And, if the project continued on long enough, possibly redemption. It was an arc that would run several years and would, I hoped, be key storyline for the promotion. A defining storyline. Readers who pay attention to such things likely noted that almost all of my upper-card babyfaces in WCW had some "flaws". Some character traits that are, fundamentally, negative and therefore a bit heelish. The arrogance of Punk was mentioned often enough for some readers to think he would going to turn heel. Styles developed the required degree of arrogance as a Horsemen, but also took to the basic ideals of the Horsemen - winning at all costs. Bryan Danielson would be similar, though with less emphasis on being materialistic. BankS is brash and somewhat materialistic. Joe as a face hasn't differed much from the smashing machine he was as a heel. There were a few reasons none were absolute babyfaces and why I keyed on this (perhaps a bit overmuch at times). One was to make the characters a bit less one dimensional. It was also so that the entertainment aspects of WCW felt modern rather than overtly old school. But moreso than anything else, it was so that when someone did come along who was a fundamentally pure babyface, they would stand out all the more. And Jack Swagger is that guy. Swagger was intended to be the kind of pure babyface that would make Hulk Hogan and John Cena look dastardly. Intelligent, good looking, athletic, powerful, hard-working, confident, respectful, honorable, charismatic, highly patriot, skillful, and above all, successful... I wanted to encompass within the Swagger character many of the fundamental American ideals. He would basically be the prototype for the perfect modern American male. And then add in the lisp to make him a bit less than perfect. It would be taking the basic formula that the WWE used so well with Hogan and Cena but using a guy who is more diverse and skilled in the ring, in at least some ways. To be honest, I don't know that Swagger could really pull it off, nor whether he would ever approach Angle-in-his-prime in-ring skills, but it's a fantasy project... The basic arc would go something like this... Swagger would win the TV title in June. Sometime in the summer, he would introduce his girlfriend as his ring valet (Taylor Wilde). In the fall, he wins the United States championship. He would have a "prove yourself" feud against Sting at Starrcade where he would get a boost by going over Sting. That would be the point where he would start to be really heavily hyped on-screen as the "future of World Championship Wrestling". 2008 would see three things - he would join the Four Horsemen (at least for a time), have some issues with his girlfriend (see below), and win the World Heavyweight title late in the year. The Horsemen membership would be for a short time, as he would take the spot vacated by Danielson (more on that later) for a period. The idea of making him a Horseman for a period would be to add to his accomplishments, but moreso to introduce some character decay. Some cracks begin to show in the pristine foundation of Swagger as Flair and Styles introduce him to the lavish lifestyle and material wealth that comes with being a top star. They also educate him on the idea of winning by any means is still a victory. which he very slowly adopts. The "issues" with his Taylor Wilde would be a storyline for similar reasons. This was suggested by Ed. Swagger would find out from "someone anonymous" that Wilde is not from actually from "East Carolina" as she claims, but from Toronto, Canada. He's obviously upset because his beloved lied to him... yet the question becomes why she felt the need to lie. The reason would be because she believed he is xenophobic and doesn't trust non-Americans. And she's right - he's more bothered by the fact that she's Canadian than she lied to him about it. Another character flaw. And other crack. Since it was far into the future yet, I had not yet decided on the exact sequence and manner... but sometime after winning the WHT, Swagger would turn heel. It might be right after winning it for the first time in late 2008, or maybe when he won it for a second time late in 2009. But he would finally turn heel. It wouldn't be as unexpected and shocking as Hogan turning with to form the N.W.O. But it would be a big moment, I hoped. I had a few ideas of exactly how it would have happened but since I may use those ideas in other projects, I'll just say that it was intended to be a pretty big "oh my god" moment. Swagger ends up aligned with Raven (as a mentor-manager) and Jericho. At some point, it would be revealed that Raven had a strong hand in the corruption of Swagger. That he slowly worked to bring down the young man because he "wanted to destroy something beautiful". While it's doubtful I have managed to continue the project to the point where that all played out, a very tentative plan was to have an extended heel run by Swagger give way to an eventual quest of redemption. By 2013 or 2014, he would be the long-time WCW ace (alongside one or two others) with a number of WCW World Heavyweight title reigns to his name. He would never be able to go back to being the pure good guy again, but I had a few ideas on how he would be able to redeem himself in the eyes of the fans. Bryan Danielson When I decided to make "American Dragon" a key guy, I knew he would eventually get the world title in WCW. That was before his WWE win and great recent run as a heel, though I believe most fans would have bought it regardless. That said, I was going to make him work for it. I wanted it to be something he really had to work for over a period of time, so that him finally winning it would feel like a huge payoff. So no "Money in the Bank" style shortcuts... at least for AmDrag. Danielson was heading toward a split with the Horsemen, as everyone could tell, but it was not going to be quick or easy. Danielson would not want to simply walk away from the Horsemen because he believes the stable represents something, but that the other current members have forgotten and lost that. So he keeps trying to redeem the stable and his stable-mates. It obviously doesn't work. The likely breaking point would be the Fall Brawl War Games match, where Danielson would accept a spot on Team Punk, but since Styles and Flair feel he's betraying the Hormsen, they finally turf him. That leads into a feud with Styles - and likely a loss at Starrcade to Styles. The sequence was not finalized, but a possibility would be something like Punk wins the belt at Starrcade, feuds with Jericho for a short bit, then Styles, losing the belt to Styles in the spring. Then have Danielson go over Styles in the summer. Another possibility, if Danielson won the WHT later in 2008, would be to have him then lose it very shortly to Swagger in some "cheap" manner - perhaps cashing in a "Money in the Bank" style open contract. Despite Swagger still being a babyface at that point, it would be a title win that the fans wouldn't love, which would contribute to his heel turn somewhere down the line. It wouldn't be particularly fair to Danielson but it would contribute to the underdog nature. More to come...
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#63
04-22-2012, 01:14 PM
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Epilogue Part 2 Styles, Storm, and Whitmer were all guys I saw as "permanent", long-term members of the Horsemen. Flair was as well, though he was already wrestling very very rarely and was more a manager than an active competitor by 2007. Far enough down the road, things could have changed with any of them except Flair, but it would have been a few years.AJ Styles & the Horsemen The intent with Styles was to always keep him on the cusp of the main event scene. He wouldn't always be main eventing, nor always in the main event scene, but I wanted to keep him close, so that at any point, he could move right back into that role. He would always be kept strong enough to be a credible challenger for the WHT at any given point. I did not want to do like TNA has tended to and shove him all the way back down into the midcard at times, having him compete for the US title and such (unless there was a very specific storyline I was building). Styles would be "protected" to a large degree, with the intent being that if he was to be put in a world title match at any point in time, the fans would buy him as a legitimate challenger for the belt without having to do much build to get him there. The fourth spot that Danielson leaving would open up would likely not be filled on a "permanent" basis, at least for a long time. Beyond Swagger likely taking the spot for a time in 2008, there were some other interesting options... Bank$ could be the first black Horseman... Jericho could join for a shot period to set up some storylines going forward... Nigel McGuiness was an intriguing possibility... Perhaps Booker T to be the veteran voice. Even Rhino could come in as the monster enforcer. In some ways, the Horsemen should have been heels right from the start. But that didn't work with the circumstances at the time plus I think a new version of the Horsemen would get cheers off the start. I was gradually turning them heel. The whole situation with Danielson getting turfed would likely complete the switch. I believe the overall attitude and approach of the Horsemen makes being heels a bit more natural for the group. By late 2007, the group would be full-blown heels, as they end up feuding with Punk by the start of 2008. Samoa Joe Joe would actually end up teaming with Punk on occasion through the summer and fall of 2007, as they developed an on-screen friendship built on mutual respect. That would not prevent them from facing each other when the time came for it, though. Since Joe never really did get his one-on-one rematch with Punk (unless you count the one where Rhino interfered), he would eventually get one in early 2008 once Punk had the belt again. WCW would still give fans a "trilogy" between the two, but over an extended period of time. I think a dominant monster is always going to suffer a bit after they lose and that aura is somewhat taken away. The desire to build up some great feuds and some new stars over 2007 and 2008 would likely keep Joe away from the world title. He would probably get involved upon occasion but not too often - since he's not likely to win it, I wouldn't want to have him losing every time he goes for the belt. As well, Joe was a guy I wanted to have spend some time in Japan on-loan. So he would disappear for several months in 2008 or maybe 2009, putting on a great run with New Japan and probably working a few shows with Pro Wrestling NOAH. Raven After returning in June 2007, Raven would cut a promo about how he had "lost his smile" and his passion for wrestling after losing to Flair at Starrcade '06... But that he found it when he saw all the young talent in WCW, young talent who could benefit from his life experiences and mentor-ship. Raven seems a bit less heelish as he returns and unifies his Flock. He would move to a Flair-like role, where he's actually wrestling quite rarely. As mentioned, Raven would play a key role in the entire corruption of Jack Swagger storyline. He would manipulate Swagger to remove him from the righteous path of goodness that he began on. The end game for Raven would be nothing more than proving how much he can affect things simply through sheer force of personality and will. At some point, Raven would take over the Head Booker position from Storm. It would be due to Storm retiring to spend more time at home with his family. As the number two for WCW creative, Raven would simply slide forward. Rob Van Dam My initial plan was to have a shock debut for RVD at Bash at the Beach. He would get an immediate title shot at Punk at the Great American Bash... but lose clean. There were a couple reasons behind it - one was to reinforce that succeeding in WCW was not easy, but also swerve things a bit (the idea being that fans would get wind that there was a big debut coming, which would actually be Jericho but the surprise debut of RVD would obscure that a bit). But the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. It would have meant shortening the Punk-Colt feud, plus having him lose in his first major match would have just looked like it was burying someone from the competition, even though that was not the intent. So that plan got scrapped. The amended plan was to bring RVD into WCW in the fall, most likely as a surprise member of Jericho's War Games team. After that, he would work a part-time schedule because of his wife, possibly moving to a full-time schedule in 2009 or 2010. There was also a possibility that I may have held off and not had Van Dam join WCW at all. He would have made a great acquisition for the AWA, so that was a possibility... Frankie Arion The plan with Frankie was to have him go 0-63 in WCW before he finally won a match. Some guy named Kenta Kobashi started out the same way. And the intent was exactly the same - to create a fiery, "never say die" competitor who is never ever easy to defeat. And thought it might seem backward, having him lose but always fight hard does establish that. Now, I never planned to turn Arion into Kobashi... though maybe the cruiserweight division's version of Kobashi. The "surprise" that Low Ki had promised once Arion did win would be a tag team partner. The combination of Ki and Arion would do good things, winning the Cruiserweight tag belts in the fall of 2007. Arion would learn a ton from one of the cornerstone CW division guys and that would be a catalyst for him finding more success as a singles competitor as well. But it wouldn't last that long as Ki was going to depart WCW sometime in late 2007 or early 2008. Part of a division shake up and backstage storyline (see below). I had not yet decided just how far I was going to go with Arion. At the very least, he was going to be a solid mid-level cruiserweight whom would always put up a helluva fight. If the fans (okay, readers) took to him, he could go further - perhaps to the point of being a perennial CW title contender who got on PPV with reasonable frequency. Cruiserweights So there were going to be some changes coming. Jamie Noble was finally going to move out of the division in the summer, very likely forming a tag team with Trevor Murdoch. That would likely mean Noble would no longer being booking the division, though I had not settled on his replacement yet. Low Ki would be out of WCW by sometime in late 2007 or perhaps early 2008, as continued tensions over him working too stiff would eventually result in him getting angry and quitting. I was pretty loathe to lose Low Ki but it makes sense in a few ways. It generates a bit of roster turnover, it creates some backstage issues, and its puts another real talent out there - he could end up helping out ROH, TNA, or the AWA. Maybe all three. Beyond that, Fergall Devitt might move out of the division at some point in 2008. Same with Alex Shelley and Paul London. I believe that no matter how much talent you have in a division, it needs to change over time. Having talented workers like Kaz Hayashi and Rocky Romero perennially stuck in CW tag teams does seem kinda wrong... but I like those teams and switching things up for the sake of it feels... random. Kanyon There were some interesting possibilities moving forward beyond that. I'm sure most of you readers know, but Kanyon came out of the closet in 2008, one of the few admittedly homosexual pro wrestlers. From what I've read, he felt this was held against him through his career. He was also bipolar and took his own life in 2010. I was considering the idea of having him sue WCW after he leaves, claiming his sexual orientation was held against him... but when you add in his mental health issues and his death, it's a pretty sensitive area to tread on, so I might have just left it alone after he left. Though similarly unhappy at being moved down the card, Booker T would stick around and probably take a backstage role as he wrestled less. Dos Caras Jr The man now better known as Alberto Del Rio, my intent was to keep him under the mask. My thought was that it was something different, plus I could see a masked luchadore with a well-known mask being hesitant to lose the mask for WCW, given their history and because they are still below the WWE. Given his size, Caras would not be a cruiserweight but a “heavyweight”. He would be pushed moderately hard, winning the TV title a few times through late 2007 and early 2008, then perhaps the US title by mid to later 2008. One of the main purposes of having Dos Caras come in was, as I mentioned in a recap, to create a new Mexican star to help WCW break into that market to some degree. Keeping him under the mask complicates things a bit, because it becomes tougher to project emotions under the mask. It can be done and El Generico's work over the past couple of years shows how much one can babyface sell even while wearing a mask. That is essentially what I would be having Dos Caras Jr do. On a long enough time-scale, losing the mask in some type of on-sceen storyline is likely. Hellcats Lacey would become the first ever Queen Hellcat as she cheats her way past Sara Del Rey in the tournament finale. She would quickly lose the title (or crown or whatever I decided to use) to SDR, who would become the monster heel Hellcat and rule the division. The tentative long-term plan was to basically run through several cycles of monster heel Hellcats. Sara Del Ray would be the first. Vanessa Kraven would be the second. The third would possibly Isis the Amazon, the atrociously unskilled 6'9" blond from NXT. The whole monster heel eventually being toppled is simplistic booking but I think it would be effective and engaging booking. The cycles would not simply be repeated, either. For example, I considered having Del Ray managed by Larry Sweeney. He's rude and abusive toward her and fan sympathy builds, so she turns face when she turns on him. But in response, he brings in Vanessa Kraven, the new monster heel Hellcat. The intent with introducing the Hellcats was to basically look to exploit a relative gap in what was being offered at the time. Similar to how TNA did with the Knockouts. TNA would have the KO's here but a much lower-profile so the opportunity would be there for WCW to offer fans something that the WWE really didn't even at that time - legitimate female wrestling. The WWE did make better use of the Diva's back in 2007-2008 than they do now, but they still used plenty of "sexy". Whereas the Hellcats division would be about talent in the ring first, then looks and character. The AWA Themes I try to work with certain themes in most of my projects. They are not always overt and plainly obvious, but they are usually there. For the first part of Empire (the first chapter, if you will), I explored the ideas of recovery using elements of addiction recovery. For this project, I wanted to explore the conflict between ideals. Particularly (as mentioned) between a traditional approach and a more modern approach. Obviously, mainly as it applies to the pro wrestling business. I don't believe that those ideals automatically conflict, but in some situations, they can and do. This was not going to be simply about “old versus young” but rather a clash of different ideals about the wrestling business. You hear or read certain stories (such as Punk apparently losing his first world title to Undertaker very quickly because he didn't want to wear a suit “like a champion should”, or young workers being considered disrespectful if they don't follow the edict of introducing themselves and shaking hands with all the veterans in the locker room when they go in for the first time) and realize that such conflict can and does happen. I realized that would probably be the case pretty early into my WCW planning of the first chapter. In terms of on-screen product, I was in many ways taking things backward. It would be relatively similar to the late 80s approach, both in terms of athletic in-ring style and relatively simple story-telling. There is also a pretty strong veteran presence in WCW, though that waned a bit over time. But there are a lot of young workers, especially by the 2007 jump, and many are pretty high up the card. The conflict would be a backstage, behind-the-scenes thing and a series of incidents rather than one long, continual tension. It would not likely bleed through on-screen much as it was not at all intended just to be an “old versus young” conflict like the New Blood versus Millionaire's Club that WCW ran back in 2000. It is something that would likely would have continued for as long as the project ran. Regrets At this point, I can really only claim two notable regrets from the combined overall Empire project. For note, neither of these is really significant enough for me to likely take another swing at WCW from this period. Not unless a somewhat different history arc for the promotion inspires me. The first regret is turning things to "serious" so quickly after WCW was sold in March of 2001. Basically, the goofy booking ended at that point. Sure, there were a few dumb, egregious booking mistakes - notably the Road Warriors and reforming the NWO - but the goofy, silly, inane stuff that turned WCW into wrestle-crap legend in the 1999-2001 period was mostly gone. I regret that. The transition away from that stuff should have been more gradual. I think that would have been fun to write and it very likely would have been fun to read. That said, I don't know that the approach would have worked that well. Starting off with a fair amount of goofy, silly, and even bad stuff on-screen and then transitioning to a more serious product may have been somewhat jarring for the reader and I don't know that it would have been that effective. So in that sense, it's a regret that only goes so far. The second regret is a bit more substantial. Looking back at the whole of these two WCW projects, I think my biggest mistake was going through most of 2001 and 2002 with monthly recaps. To some degree, I think I burned myself out on that period. Booking WCW through that transition period isn't something I love (despite doing it in two different projects now). That was part of the reason I ended focusing a bit too much on the business side of things and less on the creative, on-screen side. Booking the likes of Goldberg, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, and Scott Steiner in 2002 only holds so much interest for me. Now given that this is a fantasy project, the obvious solution would simply be to find reasons for all those who don't interest me much to leave the promotion, resulting in a roster that I am entirely interested in. But an ideal roster in a short period of time isn't ideal to me either - it would feel too quick, unrealistic and I would quickly lose interest in the project (which I know from experience). I am a prisoner of my own designs. So I definitely should have used annual recaps for at least 2001 and maybe 2002 as well, allowing me to keep what felt like a realistic time-line for change to happen to the promotion. To be honest, that second regret is a factor in any potential project I look at. Even before I started the WCW Empire project, I had considered a few options. Something like TNA (from a few possible starting points) or a WWE project from a significant number of possible starting points... Any of the options I consider, I tend to come to the same conclusion - that booking at that exact starting point only interests me so far and it's the booking further on (when the roster and product have changed somewhat) that appeals. And its also that realization that makes most of these options unlikely. Not unless I find a scenario that really resounds with me. And that's all, folks. As always, if you have questions, ask.
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#64
04-22-2012, 01:46 PM
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So let's talk about the Small Three, aka TNA, ROH & AWA. TNA at this point seems to be fairly similiar to TNA around 2003/04. A major mix of ex-WCW/WWE/ECW stars and a few homegrown guys. I'm surprised that you actually intended for them to have a women's division. If you had to give a rough draft, where would you place TNA among the Small Three and who would be their big names? Same question concerning AWA and ROH, and what plans you had for the Hogan Renaissance?
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#65
04-22-2012, 09:10 PM
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As for those three, sure, I can provide some more detail. The reason that I decided to keep all three is basically that I think there's market space for them to all survive. Perhaps not thrive, but survive. And I like the idea of an active scene of smaller promotions, as that helps develop the new talent, but gives some vets more places to work. The AWA was going to separate itself from the other two, at least for a time. Through later 2007 and the first part of 2008, they would do pretty well. Get on national TV, pop a couple of decent PPV buy-rates, draw some good crowds (particularly in Chicago and Minnesota), and look like they are heading for national status. But they would top out around mid- to high-level Cult (in TEW terms), then fall back pretty quick. The "Hogan Renaissance" would really be not that much different than what TNA did, except at that point, Hogan would still be able to work in the ring a bit more. He comes in to great hype, and it draws some fans for a time. But I don't think Hogan would really draw much more than a nostalgia pop so its a brief moment for the AWA. So they go back to having to build up popularity the "old fashioned" way. They end up close to where TNA would be, which is high-Regional, low-Cult range. One idea I had for late 2008 would be to have the AWA work with TNA for some type of promotional invasion angle. Have TNA "invade" the AWA. Its well-booked off the start and with the AWA having decent TV coverage, they get some attention. It looks like it could be a hot angle to help both companies, but it ends up falling apart when they can't agree on things going forward, so there's no payoff and it just kinda ends. You are correct - TNA would be similar to where they were in 2003-2004. And they wouldn't grow that much. The company would be built around Jarrett, Bagwell, Jindrak, Abyss, Shane Douglas, Steve Corino, and a few others. Not really folks who will draw. The X-Division would have less available talent, so that wouldn't be a major draw either. There were a couple of reasons I figured TNA should still have the Knockouts. For one, it does give them something different. Up until WCW actually introduces the Hellcats, they would be the only US promotion to have a fairly serious women's division. Well them, plus SHIMMER, which is very niche. Plus, by having the KO division, it kept me from using all those talents and simply making the Hellcats a slightly modified version of them. ROH would be the lesser of the three. They would end up being more of a niche promotion and they wouldn't grow as they did because the available talent they made use of is mostly not available. They would probably stick to the Tri State area for the most part.
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#66
04-23-2012, 06:52 AM
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The idea I had for my TNA was that instead of a women's division or an x-division, they elected to go with a hardcore division, using the bulk of ex-ECW and current CZW/XPW guys to fill it up. I figured it'd be their defining trait. WCW would have cruiserweights and women wrestlers, WWE were the sports-entertainers with all the big names coming in for part-time deals, XWF would be family friendly, and ROH would be pure wrestling. I'd thought of making commentary on the overloaded Eastern US wrestling scene... Quote:
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#67
04-23-2012, 09:23 PM
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Having the AWA return isn't really a "natural" idea, given how long ago the territorial promotion folded. I was actually pretty skeptical about the idea at first, and its pretty debatable how much name value it would really hold in the region by 2003. But I liked the idea and I ran with it.
MyNetworkTV or a smaller sports-specific channel. Fox Sports Net, ESPN2, or something along those lines. Not a station with high visibility, nor would they likely get promoted much, or even a decent broadcast slot. I had also thought of having HDNet adding a show from another promotion on some kind of late-night slot, just for the possible conflict it would add. Given how Hogan has only really ever focused on getting himself over, I have honestly never really got behind the idea of him running his own promotion. At least someone like Flair - as terrible as his business decisions have been - booked WCW for some periods of time. I honestly never thought of TNA with a heavy hardcore focus. It would make sense in a few ways, particularly the "gritty" approach TNA apparently tried to use in the early going. I never did anything with Cornette because I quite honestly couldn't decide on the "right" spot for him. I was leaning toward having him be part of the new AWA project. He was tempting to bring in WCW but I don't know that he would have fit in with the current creative team, even if he would have fit with the overall product.
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