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Booking Questions For The TNM Users

djmasterscooterPosted on 03/10/09 at 22:57:46

I'm about to book my WrestleMania 25 card in my WWE circuit, and am thinking about in what order to have the matches (aside from the main event which I hope yields me at least 4 stars).

The question is....

Do you book your big events based on how good you expect the matches to be?  Do you know what matches will yield low ratings and will you put them first in order to build up to decent matches?

Or does it not matter in the slightest?
91Posted on 03/10/09 at 23:06:21

I tend, after putting the main event and choice of opener in place, to try and spread everything out - the big matches be spread out, the title matches to be spread out, any tag matches to be spread out, and so forth. If I'm left with any gaps at the end where placing isn't too important, I try and work it so that I don't have too many consecutive face or heel wins.
Snabbit888Posted on 03/11/09 at 00:11:57

On 03/10/09 at 23:06:21, 91 wrote:I tend, after putting the main event and choice of opener in place, to try and spread everything out - the big matches be spread out, the title matches to be spread out, any tag matches to be spread out, and so forth. If I'm left with any gaps at the end where placing isn't too important, I try and work it so that I don't have too many consecutive face or heel wins.
Yeah. What he said.

Or you can do what Anubis always suggested and blindly book based on your perceived view of workrate and put all of your poor workrate matches early and all of your huge each/great matches at the end so the crowd is perfectly dead after the first half and too exhausted to care for the main events.
MamushiPosted on 03/11/09 at 01:32:11

Seconded.

... or thirded.

I guess.

Anyway, I tend to try and think of match importance as far as storylines and angles go first.
CarlzillaPosted on 03/11/09 at 01:33:27

I think it's best to spread things out over the course of a card. Obviously your Main Event should go last, but there is no reason that you can't stick another big match right in the middle of the card, or even as the second match.
Drunken FoolPosted on 03/11/09 at 03:28:24

What the rest said...

As you may or may not know, I'm a huge fan of indies, especially ROH and CHIKARA. However, one of my biggest beefs with ROH (at least when Gabe was running the booking) was that he placed too many big matches close together, and by the time the main event rolled around a lot of the fans at the shows were burnt out.
UnrightPosted on 03/11/09 at 15:17:51

I just book it alphabetically.  :-/
LillaThrillaPosted on 03/12/09 at 23:49:12

I try to mix up my singles & team matches and my lightweight/cruiserweight & heavyweight matches so they are distributed throughout.

I try to put my title matches near the end of the card, in reverse order of importance.  So if I was running a supercard in a circuit with a World Title, Tag Titles, IC Title, and TV title then the World Title is the main event, Tag Titles are 2nd to last, IC is 3rd to last, TV Title is 4th to last.

This isn't a hard rule though: if there's a really big non-title feud, it could be 2nd to last or even the main event.  In a similar fashion, very minor feuds will be near the beginning of the card.

I never book the order of the card based on expected match rating.
pszPosted on 03/13/09 at 00:01:26

I usually book the order of a card based on importance, with filler when needed.

Title matches/main feuds are the main events, and thus last, whereas dark matches, blowoffs, and whatnot are first. I'll also generally use early matches/dark matches for introducing new talent. (I rarely ever introduce a new person mid-to-late card, unless it's a Mystery or part of a bigger angle)
jeff the god of biscuitsPosted on 03/14/09 at 16:52:12

On 03/13/09 at 00:01:26, psz wrote:I usually book the order of a card based on importance, with filler when needed.

Title matches/main feuds are the main events, and thus last, whereas dark matches, blowoffs, and whatnot are first. I'll also generally use early matches/dark matches for introducing new talent. (I rarely ever introduce a new person mid-to-late card, unless it's a Mystery or part of a bigger angle)
yeah, that's how I book as well ... however in regards to new talent, I have been known to have their debut come later in the card if its a weekly show (Raw, Smackdown, Impact.)