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Ideas for circuits/rulesets, etc

The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/19/09 at 06:36:51

Maybe this should be the thread for any circuit ideas or even the next great ruleset. Any ideas? Preferably old school but anything current is good too.
jeff the god of biscuitsPosted on 01/19/09 at 06:45:51


I am kinda considering a retro 1992 WCW circuit, after all the discussion about it the past week or so ... but with my WWE and TNA circuits that I currently run, a third just doesn't seem to work out for me :(
Snabbit888Posted on 01/19/09 at 10:22:06

I'm in the beginning phases of an old school circuit.  Since my original GCW is on a computer I currently don't have access to (I need a monitor for it) I've been working on a circuit starting in January of 1963, as current WWE did.  I had to create some wrestlers, and sure I will have to create more, but I'm having a lot of fun with it.  I'm running a card once every 4 weeks, so 13 a year TNM time in hopes that it moves quickly.  I book it about 50/50.  I'm hoping with the quick movement of it I can establish a good history for when I get to a more modern era, there's already a good long backstory.

If anyone's wondering, the wrestlers I've had to create so far are:

Gene Kiniski
Gorilla Monsoon
Skull Murphy
Brute Bernard
Danny Hodge
Larry Hennig
Miguel Perez
Mike DiBiase
Don Leo Jonathan
Boris Malenko
Waldo Von Erich
Rene Goulet

I have ran 10 cards so far.  When I get a far bigger base set, I will possibly start posting it.
megatron_85Posted on 01/19/09 at 17:14:22

an old-school ruleset might be a good idea
91Posted on 01/19/09 at 20:43:54

On 01/19/09 at 10:22:06, Snabbit888 wrote: I've been working on a circuit starting in January of 1963, as current WWE did.
I've often thought about doing something like that, but using the WWE from 1963, WCW from 1949 (yeah, I'm taking liberties there) and ECW and TNA thrown in accordingly. Who's your champ right now?
Snabbit888Posted on 01/19/09 at 21:26:25

On 01/19/09 at 20:43:54, 91 wrote:

I've often thought about doing something like that, but using the WWE from 1963, WCW from 1949 (yeah, I'm taking liberties there) and ECW and TNA thrown in accordingly. Who's your champ right now?
I might throw in some other circuits later.  I don't want to try to do too much though.  Maybe someone else can do another circuit instead.

My current champs are: (as of 10/11/63)

World champion: Lou Thesz, defeating Bruno Sammartino on 7/20/63, ***** match

United States champion: Gene Kiniski, defeating Danny Hodge on 5/25/63

World Tag Team champions: Antonino Rocca & Miguel Perez, defeating Gorilla Monsoon & Killer Kowalski in a tournament final, 2/2/63

Things are a bit slow going now because I've had to create so many wrestlers already.  There's just not a ton of good exports available for the 60's, and to a lesser extent, the 70's.
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/20/09 at 06:42:05

That would be interesting if someone tried running Jim Crockett Promotions from the start. I think Jim Crockett Sr. started running cards in the 1930s. Try finding those exports! :-)
Snabbit888Posted on 01/20/09 at 11:15:47

On 01/20/09 at 06:42:05, The TNM Members Champ wrote:That would be interesting if someone tried running Jim Crockett Promotions from the start. I think Jim Crockett Sr. started running cards in the 1930s. Try finding those exports! :-)
Ha ha.  God no.  It's been a pain in the ass enough to get these from the 60's together.  I hate creating exports and I've already had to make 12.... so far. :)
megatron_85Posted on 01/20/09 at 13:06:53

i've have some other ruleset ideas:

Sports Entertainment
Southern Style 'Rasslin
Extreme
Lucha Libre
Puroresu
ROH-Style
NWA-Style
Any Other Indy-Style

but an Old-School ruleset is a great idea
JustinPossiblePosted on 01/20/09 at 14:30:04

I'm slowly putting together a ruleset that follows my "Resurrection" of 3CW .


It should be a pretty good indy fed ruleset. But I have to work out a few kinks.
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/21/09 at 04:22:10

If I were to have an old school promotion (mid 80s) that has a one hour television show, how many wrestlers realistically should be on the roster?
TrancePosted on 01/21/09 at 04:33:59

I'm toying with a notion of starting a fed that uses both the stars of today and the icons of yesterday.

I came out with the thought, after thinking who would win a match with Batista VS Fritz Von Erich.

What do you guys think? Cool idea or not?
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/21/09 at 06:30:19

On 01/21/09 at 04:33:59, Trance wrote:I'm toying with a notion of starting a fed that uses both the stars of today and the icons of yesterday.

I came out with the thought, after thinking who would win a match with Batista VS Fritz Von Erich.

What do you guys think? Cool idea or not?
Good idea, as that was the point for TNM in the beginning. Who would win between Austin v. Hogan? Let TNM decide. That's the beauty of the game.
Snabbit888Posted on 01/21/09 at 09:25:35

On 01/21/09 at 04:22:10, The TNM Members Champ wrote:If I were to have an old school promotion (mid 80s) that has a one hour television show, how many wrestlers realistically should be on the roster?
I'd think no more than 20-24.  And if you're doing enhancement matches, even that might be a little much.
Rick GarrardPosted on 01/21/09 at 16:05:55

based on WWF of the day... you would have had a rotation of guys on the weekly jobber show... so about 24-30 not including the jobbers.  
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/21/09 at 22:07:52

On 01/21/09 at 16:05:55, Rick Garrard wrote:based on WWF of the day... you would have had a rotation of guys on the weekly jobber show... so about 24-30 not including the jobbers.
This would be a Jim Crockett Promotions type promotion. Being from the mid-atlantic originally, I'm still biased. :-) Same concept though.
Rick GarrardPosted on 01/21/09 at 23:20:08

On 01/21/09 at 22:07:52, The TNM Members Champ wrote:

This would be a Jim Crockett Promotions type promotion. Being from the mid-atlantic originally, I'm still biased. :-) Same concept though.
So a one hour "Worldwide" local program, a 1 hour Georgia Championship show at 6am on Saturday morngings, a 2 hour SuperStation WTBS program on Saturdays, and a 1 hour Sunday morning "recap" show?  ;)  j/k  

Basically a one hour TV studio program called "NWA Worldwide"... with between 2 to 4 jobber matches and 1 "studio main event" usually featuring whichever champion(s)' feuds you are highlighting that week for your arena shows...   So 18-24 seems about right.

Just remember, Pro Wrestling was the ORIGINAL Infomercial!
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/22/09 at 05:57:13

I remember when Crockett had all those shows on. Funny how I could watch all those but struggle to watch Smackdown! and ECW (I try to watch RAW mainly because of Melina, no joke).
ZedjaPosted on 01/22/09 at 15:17:12

I've recently started up 4EWA again. This time with 160 wrestlers over 5 brands. Every last wrestler is in a tag team.

The teams compete in a tournament where they all fight eachother once to get the champ.

They are also split into two singles divisions of each brand. Who from what team fights in what division was chosen at random. Every wrestler in one division will battle all the other wrestlers in that division.

The winner of the divisions will then battle it out for the title of that brand. There will be two singles titles and one tag title of each brand.

The 16 worst teams of each brand (counting both from the tag team and individual competitions) will be moved to a farmer league for that brand.

The brands:
Avalanche - Contain mostly older wrestlers (Hogan, Harley Race etc) - GM Jesse Ventura
Inferno - Hardcore wrestlers - GM Paul Heyman
Tsunami - Mostly main eventers - GM Eric Bischoff
Tempest - Young wrestlers X-Division/Cruiserweights - GM Theodore Long
Eclipse - The rest. Not bad wrestlers by any means - GM Shane McMahon

Farmer leagues (It's supposed to be quite demeaning)
Avalanche - Not named yet
Inferno - Not named yet
Tsunami - Rain
Tempest - Breeze
Eclipse - Shade

After this has been done, the winners of following year in the farmer leagues will come up to their main brand while the losers of the brands will go down to the farmer league.

This will be a yearly thing and there will be one yearly brand trade. And at one PPV the champions of each brand will battle for a special title the winners get to keep for a year.
TrancePosted on 01/22/09 at 17:08:49

On 01/22/09 at 05:57:13, The TNM Members Champ wrote:I remember when Crockett had all those shows on. Funny how I could watch all those but struggle to watch Smackdown! and ECW (I try to watch RAW mainly because of Melina, no joke).
Because Crockett didn't make their fans suffer thru stupid angles or storylines in order to sell a match.

The wrestling itself, is what sold a match
ROH, Indy, and Puro Mark69Posted on 01/22/09 at 17:19:47

On 01/22/09 at 05:57:13, The TNM Members Champ wrote:I remember when Crockett had all those shows on. Funny how I could watch all those but struggle to watch Smackdown! and ECW (I try to watch RAW mainly because of Melina, no joke).
Sitting through ECW and SD still isn't as painful and unbearable as sitting through TNA Impact
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 01/22/09 at 19:16:45

On 01/22/09 at 17:19:47, ROH, Indy, and Puro Mark69 wrote:

Sitting through ECW and SD still isn't as painful and unbearable as sitting through TNA Impact
I never watch that anymore.  I try to watch ECW when I can with DVR (great feature) because at least they have John Morrison on it.

When I watched Crockett Promotions, everything seemed like a true competition. It seemed real because the wrestlers involved treated it as such. Compare The Four Horsemen and their style to the WWF's Hulk Hogan character. The Horsemen seemed more realistic in their presentation.

And I liked the presentation of the shows itself. I'm a fan of less being better sometimes.
LillaThrillaPosted on 02/23/09 at 21:14:51

I would love to see some kind of ruleset or at least larger guidelines for running a realistic lucha or puro circuit.

Colin and Rob Bihari (both of TNM list fame) ran great lucha circuits but they were big time fans.  I've rarely ever seen anyone else even try.  I don't think I've ever seen someone run a "real style" puro circuit; it always ends up Americanized.

As far as some pretty straightforward circuit ideas I have never seen done but would love to see:
  • WCW - Millionaires Club vs New Blood: when Russo and Bischoff took over WCW booking, this was theoretically a great fued.  Start booking WCW at this point and just go forward.  The roster was insanely large at this point, I think topping over 100 wrestlers (mind you there were 6 hours of TV to fill with Nitro, Thunder, and WCW Saturday Night).
  • WCW - nWo: start the night after Bash At The Beach where Hogan was revealed as the 3rd member and go from there.
  • WCW - Starrcade done right: Bret Hart had just joined WCW and they were going to pay off the megafued of Hogan vs Sting...and WCW blew it with a botched screwjob ending that made everyone look like garbage.  Have Sting beat Hogan clean, do something useful with Bret Hart, and just go from there.  What happens to the nWo now that Hogan has lost the belt?  What do you do with Sting now that his quest is over?
  • WWE - Invasion: Redo the infamous Invasion angle but make it not suck.  Perhaps book the guys from WCW not to be second rate?  Don't debut WCW guys in WWE by having a random Booker T vs Buff Bagwell match.  Don't have Stone Cold join WCW.
  • WWE - The Fab Four Jump Ship: Benoit, Eddie, Saturn, and Malenko get their WCW releases and get signed by WWE...only to have the whole thing crash and burn on its debut night because Eddie hurt his elbow on a frog splash.  Redo the angle without the injury.  Do a new version of the Four Horsemen run wild on WWE?


Also, for a challenge, how about a wrestling circuit that plays off the popularity of MMA by being more realistic?  No more blind refs, no more outside intereference, no more nonsensical magical invisible cameras backstage capturing events that only the audience knows about, etc.  You can still have wrestlers doing pretty much the same moves, cutting promos, having weird personalities, still have hardcore matches where weapons are legal, etc.  Can you make an interesting circuit without relying on so many of the long term but  unrealistic staples of wrestling?
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 02/23/09 at 21:54:05

Josh, your MMA idea kind of reminds me of Jim Crockett Promotions save the Dusty Finishes. Everything non-WWF at the time seemed realistic to me (I should've known better).

Your point about a lucha ruleset is spot on. The problem is, lucha, and in particular, AAA, has become more Americanized (hence the Konnan in-ring promos to open the show). A ruleset on traditional lucha from years gone by would be awesome.

And you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be a ruleset in the line of suggesting which matches should happen every week. Just general guidelines on running a solid, realistic lucha promotion.
LillaThrillaPosted on 02/24/09 at 17:25:13

One other idea I had which requires a combination of circuits and a What If scenario.

For whatever reason, Hogan doesn't leave AWA for WWF. As a result, Vince's attempts to become a national commodity do not succeed. Nobody else is sufficently daring to try so wrestling remains regionalized, although dominated by several major factions. This would probably set during the 90s as a sort of alternative to the Monday Night Wars and the WWF/WCW/ECW Big 3 as we know it. On the other hand, you could even start it sometime in the 80s and chronicle how things were different from near the beginning (like what an alternative Wrestlemania I looked like).

WWF: Vince McMahon continues to run things and dominates the northeast US area and eastern Canada. But he's never managed to make a serious dent on the other major players. Assume most of the AWA guys who jumped to WWF never did.

NWA/WCW: Ted Turner's baby. Dominates the entire south, from DC to Texas. By the 90s they have gobbled up USWA/Memphis, Mid-South, and the Von Erichs' WCCW.  "Old school" style wrestling. Ric Flair is still the big draw. No Hogan & friends and no nWo.

AWA: Dominated by Hogan & friends and probably other guys who made it big in WWF in real life after jumping to WWF. Probably Bischoff booking things by this point. Dominates the Midwest.

EPW: Extreme Pro Wrestling. Instead of forming in Philadelphia like in real life, it's the west coast that is the hotbed of edgy and hardcore wrestling ala our ECW.  Maybe they even draw some inspiration from UFC with more cagefights and "legit" badasses & ex-MMA guys for non-garbage matches.  It's probably also EPW (rather than WCW, as in was in our real life) that brings luchadores to America.

I should probably try to come up with some sample rosters for this from different time periods (maybe 1985, 1990, and 1995).
The TNM Members ChampPosted on 02/24/09 at 17:57:31

That's a great idea, Josh. It's similar to a scenario from TEW. the name of which escapes me but it uses a scenario that WrestleMania was a failure.

Your writeup about NWA/WCW was great. I really wish that had happened. I miss the old school style after watching the Essential Starrcade.
King_Of_Old_SchoolPosted on 02/24/09 at 22:21:11

Does anybody remember that "What If..." thread, I think started by Critic of the Dawn, for suggestions of various scenarios for starting new circuits?? I can't find it anywhere.
JustinPossiblePosted on 02/24/09 at 23:28:06

Page 6 in the Discussion section
LillaThrillaPosted on 02/24/09 at 23:34:00

On 02/24/09 at 23:28:06, JustinPossible wrote:Page 6 in the Discussion section
http://www.tnm7.de/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.cgi?board=2;action=display;num=1149303715
King_Of_Old_SchoolPosted on 02/25/09 at 17:27:50

Cheers guys. Got a great idea for a new circuit!
PlutarPosted on 02/26/09 at 16:29:11

This is kind of sad. This was posted on June 23rd 2006:

WORSTCASE SCENARIO

Premise: The wrestling industry is in a major upswing.  WWE's ratings are slowly climbing back towards the heights they held during the attitude era, TNA is growing rapidly thanks to successful house show tours, and ECW is thriving under the WWE umbrella after a shaky start.  It's a great time to be a wrestling fan.  WHAT IF this upswing occurred all at once?  While this growth is great for the industry in general, the larger promotions eye Ring of Honor's talent pool hungrily, both to expand their rosters and to prevent their rivals from doing so.  TNA starts things off by pulling their contracted talent from ROH shows.  AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Alex Shelley and Commissioner Jim Cornette all depart in short order.  While Samoa Joe's contract allows him to ignore this edict, he quickly agrees to wrap up his ROH involvement when threatened with the loss of his winning streak at the hands of Monty Brown.  WWE/ECW notes this, and quickly signs several more hot prospects from ROH, leaving the new little promotion that could with a seriously depleted talent roster and serious competition in their key markets from ECW and TNA.
Player Promotion: Ring of Honor
Starting Date: Present
Top Stars: "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness, Jimmy Rave, Colt Cabana, Davey Richards, BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Ricky Reyes, The Necro Butcher
Tag Teams: The Briscoe Brothers, Irish Airborn, Matt Sydal and Jack Evans, The Kings of Wrestling, The Ring Crew Express
Champions: World Champion: "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson.  Tag Team Champions: Vacant.  Pure Title: Nigel McGuinness.
Special Rules:  Samoa Joe is, unfortunately, on his way out of your promotion.  He can appear up to twice a month for three months, and after that he will no longer be available to you.  Additionally, pick one tag team and three wrestlers from the above list.  All of them are unavailable to you from the start, having been signed by WWE/ECW.  This may include champions - you've already lost your Tag Team Champions to TNA.  All is not lost, however.  Pick one of the remaining wrestlers from the above list.  This wrestler is loyal to you, and will not leave your promotion under any circumstances.

Under no circumstances are you allowed to bring in any wrestlers under contract to WWE, ECW, or TNA.  If any wrestler (other than your loyal wrestler) signs with one of these companies in real life, they do so in the game as well.  Additionally, you must honor any quitting/giving notice/refusing to re-sign.  If they are not presently under contract with WWE, ECW, or TNA, you may attempt to bring them back after 1 year.

You'll want to start working right away on building up a new credible roster.  It'll take a while and a number of new names to stabilize the situation, however.  Keep in mind that your fans are extremely particular, and will not happily accept new wrestlers being catapulted to the top of the card out of nowhere.  They will have to work their way up from the lower and mid card for the crowd to seriously get behind them.  Remember, if the crowd senses desperation, they have plenty of other options available to them, so book smart.  One thing you can take advantage of is strong working relationships with foreign promotions.  You can bring 1 foreign wrestler in for a 4 month tour per year, plus up to 4 foreign wrestlers for their own doubleshot.  Finally, you can cross-promote up to 2 shows with other promotions in a given year.  Keep these options in mind and use them to discretely build new talent.

Your starting roster should look something like this, minus the wrestlers who left: "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuinness, Jimmy Rave, Colt Cabana, Davey Richards, BJ Whitmer, Adam Pearce, Ricky Reyes, The Necro Butcher, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Matt Sydal, Jack Evans, Chris Hero, Claudio Castignolli, Jake Crist, David Crist, Ace Steel, Delirious, Jimmy Jacobs, Dunn, Marcos, Flash Flannagan, Trik Davis, Jay Fury, Shane Hagadorn, Pele Primeau, Bobby Dempsey, Derrick Dempsey, Mitch Franklin, etc.

You also have Julius Smokes, Lacey, Allison Danger, and Prince Nana available as managers.

Eric "Critic of the Dawn"

Didn't this end up happening?
MamushiPosted on 03/06/09 at 17:01:55

As long as we're bringing up the "What If" subject again for circuit ideas...

Premise: In 1972 both Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba left the JWA where they had learned and honed their craft and become stars in the world of puro. But what if Inoki and Baba had not left Rikidozan's JWA and instead the federation went on through the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s as the only real national level wrestling federation in Japan. This also means that the NOAH exodus led by Misawa in 2000 never happened. Now however, in 2009 the foundation of puro is shaking as an exodus is taking place and a new contender has entered the arena. You will take control of this new federation and try to make it successful.

Without Inoki or Baba leaving JWA only one style of wrestling has been predominant in Japan throughout the last couple decades, either Inoki's strong style or Baba's king's road style. Whichever style you choose for your offshoot federation to be will alter who you have available to bring with you from JWA.

(JWA title holders are current title holder for either NJPW or NOAH and should change with the times thusly if the champions list is no longer accurate when you start your circuit)

King's Road/Arc Road
Mitsuharu Misawa has decided it's time to leave the JWA due to some internal problems and is leading a group of wrestlers out of the federation and into a new federation with a new style of wrestling, different from JWA's Strong Style which they've been booking for years strongly under the influence of Antonio Inoki.

JWA's Champions
JWA Heavyweight Champion: Hiroshi Tanahashi
JWA Tag Team Champions: Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon)
JWA Junior Heavyweight Champion: Tiger Mask 4
JWA Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: The Motorcity Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)

Staring Roster: You automatically get Mitsuharu Misawa on your roster. You may only hire wrestlers currently employed by NOAH or AJPW. Anyone who works for NJPW is off limits except for one established wrestler and two relative rookie wrestlers. (None of which may be Masahiro Chono or a JWA title holder)

Special Events: The JWA has a few yearly special events. These events are G1 Climax (A 14-man, 2 block round robin tournament held in late summer), the Japan Wrestling Cup (a 16-man single elimination tournament held in the spring), G1 Tag Climax (a 12 team, 2 block round robin tag team tournament held in the fall), and Best of Super Juniors (a 12-man, 2 block junior heavyweight round robin tournament held in late spring). You're new federation will hold some special events of it's own. These events will be a 10 wrestler, 2 block round robin tournament, a 10 wrestler, 2 block round robin tournament for junior heavyweights, and an 8 team round robin tournament.

Strong Style
Antonio Inoki along with Masahiro Chono have decided it's time to leave the JWA due to some internal problems and are leading a group of wrestlers out of the federation and into a new federation with a new styl of wretling, different from JWA's King's Road style which they've been booking for years strongly under the influence of Giant Baba and then Mitsuharu Misawa following Baba's death.

JWA's Champions
JWA Heavyweight Champion: Jun Akiyama
JWA Tag Team Champions: Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith
JWA Junior Heavyweight Champion: KENTA
JWA Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: Yoshinobu Kanemura & Kotaro Suzuki

Starting Roster: You automatically get Masahiro Chono on your roster. You may only hire wrestlers currently employed by NJPW. Anyone who works for NOAH or AJPW is off limits except for one established wrestler and two relative rookie wrestlers. (None of which may be Mitsuharu Misawa or a JWA title holder)

Special Events: The JWA has a few yearly special events. These events are Champion's Carnival (A 10 wrestler, 2 block round robin tournament held in the spring), the relatively new Junior League (A 10 wrestler, 2 block round robin tournament for junior heavyweights held in late summer), and World's Strongest Tag Team League (An 8 team round robin tournament held in the winter). You're new federation will hold some special events of it's own. These events will be a 14-man, 2 block round robin tournament, a 16-man single elimination tournament, a 12 team, 2 block round robin tag team tournament, and a 12-man, 2 block junior heavyweight round robin tournament.
Drunken FoolPosted on 03/10/09 at 16:38:58

A lucharesu ruleset would be totally awesome, or even a CHIKARA ruleset   ;D