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Starting a fed from the past?

ggazooPosted on 05/13/03 at 01:37:35

Hey guys,

If you wanted to do a fed that started in, say, 1985, how would you do it? here's what I had in mind:

I would start in 85. Then, I would only hire wrestlers that were active by a certain year. For example, I wouldn't be able to hire Steve Austin until 89, since that's when he made his pro debut.

But my question is, would you hire "Stone Cold" or "Stunning Steve"? I'm asking beacuse if I waited until '96 to hire "Stone Cold", then it would be way to close to real life, and IMO defeating the purpose of a fanatsy fed.  

The way I look at it is, I'm hiring  the man, not the gimmick, so if "Stone Cold" came around in 89, then it would be that much more interesting.

I know a lot of guys out there are really particular about these things, but I just wanted to get some  feed back on it.
amm333Posted on 05/15/03 at 01:27:01

Sounds like a great idea.  I think that if you hire Steve Austin in 1989, you can give him whatever gimmick or character you choose.  Hell you can even get an early start on the Hollywood Blondes.    I would love to see you do a Dude Love VS Stone Cold match at Starcade 90
91Posted on 05/15/03 at 03:38:16

Funny you should say that, I've been setting up something similar lately, whereupon I start from 1985 too, but in a little more detail.

To start, I've made fictional title histories for both the WWE (even though I'm using the WWF name because it's that much cooler) and WCW (yeah, I'm ignoring the whole NWA name too and pretending it was always WCW) using a random number generator to create dates and holders up to the start of 1985. Oh yeah, I also did the Showdown at Shea shows, the first two Starcade shows and the first Parade of Champions, since they were all important cards that happened before 85 that I felt were worth chucking in.

From there, I've gathered up some 477 wrestlers and worked out approximate debut and retirement dates, but unlike where you debuted Austin in 89, I'm doing it for the points where a wrestler debuted in the majors and subsequently left the majors (by majors, I mean WWE, WCW, NWA, TNA, ECW, AWA and any large Japanese or Mexican fed). Admitedly, this suddenly leaves wrestlers available when there weren't - with Ultimo Dragon's pending return, this makes him available throughout the entire late 90's all of a sudden. Of course, the cool factor of potentially having a gimmick like Stone Cold before its time is still there - if you really want a good example, how about Mick Foley? He debuted in the WWF back in 86, making him available from there on. How cool would it have been for Hulk Hogan to have had a series of title defenses in the 80's against a maniacal heel in Cactus Jack.....

The one thing that did worry me was workrate. Yeah, Ric Flair was pretty much a 100 workrate guy during the 80's and early 90's but when 2002 rolls round, it wouldn't be right for him to still be delivering ***** matches every night so in an EXTREMELY painstaking process, using various old tape reviews from guys like Scott Keith (substituting his ratings for mine wherever my opinion differed), I worked out some approximate workrates for every wrestler from 1985 up to 2002 (and come the end of the year, I'll do 2003 too). True, in TNM, workrate isn't just the only factor towards match ratings, according to Oliver, but it'll nudge the ratings further towards what you'd expect.

So what I'll now do is simulate the WWF and WCW from 1985 up to the present day - I know I'll be taking into account WCW's demise, but I'm considering, come the time, bringing back WCW about a year after the obvious invasion angle. More likely, however, I'll bring in NWA TNA instead. I'll also bring ECW into the mix at the start of 1992 up until early 2001, and just for kicks, I'll run any AWA supercards, as well as the Super J Cups and the King of the Deatmatch, using anyone who is still available for hire (and anyone suitable - don't expect Hulk Hogan to be landing in a bed of thumbtacks in Japan anytime soon).

Oh yeah, and I'll have to update those dates too, now guys like The Road Warriors have had a match in the majors again, even if it turns out to be just the one.

And before anyone asks if I actually have a life, I've been ill lately, so with not much else to do except this or watch that thrilling King of the Ring 95 tape again, it's not a tough choice.
91Posted on 05/15/03 at 03:38:45

Geez, I did go on a bit, didn't I...