JerryvonKramer

JTTS booking pattern Since I will be booking to my formula, the jobbers and JTTS will be on a set rota. Every week has more or less 3 shows. I'm moving monthly MSG shows to Saturdays week 1, Philly on Saturdays week 2, Boston on Saturdays week 3, often there will be a Supercard or other House Show on Saturdays in week 4. Challenge and All-Star will also both be taped on Saturdays -- and likely in the same venue as the House Show. This will cut down on costs. In fact, I've moved all live shows to Saturdays apart from Wrestlemania, which will be the only Sunday event of the year. So the schedule now looks like this: This means that every Saturday there will be three separate shows in the same building: the All-Star taping, the Challenge taping and the House Show. All-Star and Challenge will have exactly the same structure according to the formula. Every TV show therefore requires: 2 Jobbers 2 JTTS 2 stars Every House Show requires (at minimum): 1 Jobber 2 JTTS 10 stars (assuming Special attraction is a 1 vs 1) This means that in any given week, 6 JTTS will be involved. The pattern will be as follows: All-Star Week 1 1. Face JTTS 1 over heel jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Heel star over Face JTTS 2 Challenge Week 1 1. Heel JTTS 1 over face jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Face star over Heel JTTS 2 House Show Week 1 1. Face JTTS 1 over heel jobber 2. Heel star over face JTTS 3 Note that in this example week, Face JTTS 1 has had two victories. This sets him up for job duty next week, and by the same token face JTTSs 2 and 3 get built back up over the next couple of weeks. Like so: All-Star Week 2 1. Face JTTS 2 over heel jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Heel star over Face JTTS 1 Challenge Week 2 1. Heel JTTS 2 over face jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Face star over heel JTTS 3 House Show Week 2 1. Heel JTTS 1 over face jobber 2. Face star over heel JTTS 3 All-Star Week 3 1. Face JTTS 3 over heel jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Heel star over Face JTTS 2 Challenge Week 3 1. Heel JTTS 3 over face jobber 2. [star showcase] 3. Face star over heel JTTS 1 House Show Week 3 1. Face JTTS 2 over face jobber 2. Heel star over face JTTS 1 In essence the face JTTS crew work All-Star and odd-numbered House shows, the heel JTTS crew work Challenge and the even-numbered House shows. Because of this booking pattern, exactly WHO these six are is important. Need three solid JTTS guys on either side to form the core crew. I will make this initial selection now. If any of them start failing, I can scout for other talent. Face JTTS crew: Face JTTS 1 = SD Jones Face JTTS 2 = Brian Blair Face JJTS 3 = Eddie Gilbert -- will see how he does, this might be Strongbow's slot after he drops the tag strap Heel JTTS crew: Heel JTTS 1 = Johnny Rodz Heel JTTS 2 = Butcher Vachon Heel JTTS 3 = Rene Goulet The heel side is looking a bit stronger than the face side, so I may replace Blair. Let's see how he does though. This means that the remaining JTTS on the roster will all work tags: Bob Bradley and Invader #1 Johnny Riveria and Jose Luis Riveria Iron Mike Sharpe and Alexis Smirnoff (??) Tiger Conway Jr and Tony Garea Hmmmmm, at least half of these eight guys are looking for the chop. Yes, I think: Tiger Conway Jr, Alexis Smirnoff, Bob Bradley and Invader #1 ... No use for those four guys. Not when I have Fuji/Lee and the Samoans around. For the time being Garea can tag with Hennig as a face JTTS team. The Riveras can handle the heel JTTS side of things. Iron Mike Sharpe looks like the odd man out, but I am not a fan of Butcher Vachon and may end up giving that slot to Sharpe. For the time being though ... he'll be on pure jobber duty. This leaves my pure jobbers as: Charlie Fulton (face) Frankie Williams (face) Iron Mike Sharpe (heel) Israel Matia (heel) I'm not familiar with Matia but don't like the idea of him taking up a valuable place on this roster. I am going to see if I can get Mike Jackson to come in. He's currently unemployed. I've made him an offer. If he accepts. Matia is history and Fulton can work as the other heel jobber.

Plans for everyone on the existing roster Afa - will use to put over the new champs in the short term, long term I want the Samoans gone. Alexis Smirnoff - Him and Ivan Koloff have just come off a run tagging in Georgia, but I think I have more use for Ivan as a singles guy. I might keep him around for a month or so to take pins if I need a heel tagteam. Likely to be cut. Andre - his main use will be to trade with other promoters so I can have a revolving door of top talent to challenge for titles. Arnold Skaaland - completely useless guy who I have no use for, but I'm worried firing him will get heat with Vince or Vince Sr. He can do what he did in real life, manage Backlund but not actually do anything. Baron Mikel Scicluna - he's retired and is working as a road agent. I might get him to put the tights back on one or two times as a JTTS. Big John Studd - no long term plans. He can put a few faces over on his way out. Bob Backlund - Secretly, I want him gone, but I need to get a replacement as champ in -- but big stars don't grow on trees and such a replacement will need some building up. Backlund has very good in-ring skills and is over in the core towns. Will do for now. Bob Bradley - heel pure jobber B. Brian Blair - face JTTS Bruno Sammartino - currently working as a road agent, but his overness means I will almost certainly be getting him to work as a special attraction when Andre is not around. Buddy Rogers - has a contract in which he can only work as a manager. Sorry HHH, I have no real use for him. Maybe a Rogers vs. Bruno rematch if his contract will allow it. He is 60 though. Currently managing Jimmy Snuka. Butcher Vachon - heel JTTS Charlie Fulton - heel pure jobber Chief Jay Strongbow - as soon as he's lost the tag titles, face JTTS Curt Hennig - he's only 24, but I might use him in the newly pushed tag team. Will have to see who else I can get. Dan Davis - cut Dave Hebner - ref at Boston Garden David Sammartino - kept around only not to piss off Bruno, will not be part of the regular crew. Lanny Poffo in WCW treatment. Dick Kroll - ref at MSG Dick Woehrle - ref at Spectrum and for TV tapings Don Muraco - short-term he can challenge Pedro for the IC title, but long-term I want him gone. Eddie Gilbert - face JTTS Frankie Williams - face pure jobber Freddie Blassie - manager, possibly will host or co-host talk show segment George Scott - will keep him on as a road agent George Steele - I have no use for Steele at all. He can put Andre over in a few comedy matches and then get gone Gorilla Monsoon - announcer on the B-show Howard Finkel - ring announer Invader #1 - weird that he's on the roster. Heel JTTS. Can tag with Bob Bradley if required. Iron Mike Sharpe - heel JTTS Israel Maria - heel pure jobber Ivan Koloff - can have shots at MSG and Philly against Backlund. Possibly also against Pedro at IC level. But Ivan is 40 here. I MIGHT stick him in a tag team with Iron Sheik and put the straps on them as a much better version of the Volkoff / Sheik pairing. Blassie will manage. Ivan Putski - no real use for him at this point. Face JTTS, if he performs badly: fired. Jimmy Snuka - He's as over as Backlund, but I'm not sure if he needs the belt. I have to do something with Snuka. Joey Marella - second string ref for undercard matches. Mainly kept around to appease Gorilla. Johnny Rivera - will mainly be used on heel tagteam JTTS duty paired with Jose Luis. Johnny Rodz - heel JTTS Jose Luis Rivera - paired with Johnny as heel JTTS team Jules Strongbow - fired as soon as he's dropped the tag belt, will have him kayfabe injured in the match Lord Alfred Hayes - interview duty Lou Albano - strong contender to host the talk show segment. Currently managing Samoans. Masked Superstar - placeholder challenger for Backlund, but "without storyline" Mil Mascaras - third string "special attraction" behind Andre and Snuka. No actually very over and will let his contract expire. Mr Fuji - currently tagging with Tiger Chung Lee. Will keep him there at the moment as stopgap heel challengers "without storyline". Pat Patterson - since Ray Stevens is on the roster, I am considering a "one last run" angle for the two of them as the legendary Blonde Bombers. Need to see how the whole roster is looking before I decide on whether it should be as faces or heels. Pedro Morales - very stale act at this point and needs to go. But don't see any natural candidates to take the IC belt from him on the roster. Top priority to bring in a technical heel who can take it from him. Ray Stevens - see Patterson. Rene Goulet - heel JTTS Rocky Johnson - will be in the tag mix with Tony Atlas, but I don't see them as long-term solutions. Possible plan is to have these win the straps at Royal Rumble and then drop them to Patterson and Stevens at Wrestlemania. However, I think a better way round might be for Patterson and Stevens to go over the Strongbows at the Rumble and then have Johnson and Atlas get the big win at Mania. Let's see... SD Jones - face JTTS Sika - see Afa Superstar Billy Graham - of zero use to me in the ring, but he's over ... THAT'S IT!! He can present the talk show segment! I just need to come up with a name for it. Suggestions on a postcard please. "Superstar's Supershow"? Something better than that. Swede Hanson - immediate release, cut. The Grand Wizard of Wrestling - currently managing Don Muraco. The Iron Sheik - looking more likely I'll pair him with Ivan Koloff for a tag run. But Backlund also needs challengers and if I'm running with this Patterson and Stevens angle -- maybe Sheik and Koloff don't challenge for the Atlas and Johnson's straps until Summerslam. Tiger Conway Jr. - face JTTS Tiger Chung Lee - for now tagging with Fuji, long-term: cut. Tito Santana - no plans for at the moment, IC-level guy "without a storyline" Tony Atlas - see Rocky Johnson Tony Garea - already transitioning to be a road agent, he can work as a face JTTS in the tag division Vince McMahon - Main commentator Vince McMahon Sr - Senior will take the Jack Tunney role as a the President of the Company. But in the tradition of Willie Ginzenberg, he'll very seldom actually appear on air

I was getting the itch to bust out Total Extreme Wrestling 2013 again, and I thought it might be interesting to document my progress on it. In this first post I'll just be setting the scene and laying out some initial plans. Here's the scenario ... So what has old Vince Sr. left us? Faces: Heels: Non-wrestlers: Current Champs: Using a combination of top research, guesswork and pure fantasy based on what was already in there, I've also drafted a schedule for the year: Policy on Storylines There will be no more than 4 storylines in place at any given time. Typically there will be: one main event feud, one IC-level feud, and one tag-team-title feud, with the possibility of an optional fourth feud for someone like Andre. There will never be a fifth storyline. Pushes There will be no more than six pushed acts at any given time: World champ Number 1 contender IC champ Number 1 contender for IC belt Tag-champs Number 1 contenders for tag titles Everyone else in the promotion is playing a supporting role to one of these six acts. No one else gets angles or mic time apart from these guys and their managers. JvK's booking formula As a student of Vince McMahon Sr., I know that these North-East-audience types need to be conditioned. They are used to it. Everyone needs a formula. However, I can't just re-use Vince Sr's formulas. The game is changing and so a new formula -- the JvK formula -- is required. Booking of the champion Vince Sr would always bring in a heel challenger, and they'd get 3 matches at MSG: DQ, countout, clean pinfall loss. Well Vince Jr has decided he's going to be introducing his Wrestlemania concept 2 years early, and not only that, he's introducing the Royal Rumble, Summerslam and Survivor Series too. And so this changes the booking cycle. I have no "philosophy" of booking the champ as of yet. I need to figure out who the champ will be first. For the time being, I will stick with Vince Sr's formula with Backlund defending against various heels. House Shows Running at least 3-4 house shows every month. For these house shows, there will be a clear and unchanging structure. Deviations from this basic structure will be at an absolute minimum: Match 1: JTTS over jobber, 6-8 mins. This will be a routine win for a JTTS so he has some "meaning" next time he faces a star. Match 2: Star over JTTS, 8-10 mins. This will be a win for a face or heel getting pushed over an established JTTS. INTERVIEW 5-7 mins. This will be an interview with a maineventer, IC guy or tag-team. Match 3: Tag team match, 12-15 mins. This will either by the tag champs defending their titles or the number 1 challengers going over. Belt will typically only change hands on one of the four big shows. Match 4: SPECIAL ATTRACTION, 10-20 mins. This will be some point of interest. An Andre handicap match, a Bruno appearance, a battle royale, a 6-man, or maybe a gimmick match of some sort. ANGLE 5-7 mins. Either another interview or an angle. Typically this could be a setup for one of the next two matches. Match 5: IC title match, 10-15 mins. This will be either an IC title defense or else the number 1 challenger going over. Match 6: World title match, 20-25 mins. This will be either a world title defense or else the number 1 challenger going over. Supercards The Royal Rumble and Surivor Series cards will be devoted to their respective gimmick matches. Winner of the Rumble gets a special cup (and $10,000!). Wrestlemania and Summerslam will be booked as follows: Match 1: JTTS vs. JTTS, 10 mins. Two JTTSes thrown together for an opener. Crowd feel it is "special" cos these guys wouldn't usually tussle. Match 2: Star vs. star, 15 mins. Two guys who aren't doing anything else have a match for no reason. The crowd lap this up excited to see big names in action. INTERVIEW 5-7 mins. This will be an interview with a maineventer, IC guy or tag-team. Match 3: Tag-team title match, 20 mins. Champs vs. number 1 challengers. Match 4: SPECIAL ATTRACTION Match 5: IC title. 20 mins. Champ vs. number 1 challenger. INTERVIEW before final bout, 6-7 mins. Match 6: World title. 25-30 mins. Champ vs. number 1 challenger. TV shows Match 1: Opener, 5 mins. JTTS over jobber. Bog-standard low level win for a JTTS. TALK SHOW SEGMENT, 15-20 mins. Every episode will feature with a long talk show skit presented by someone like a Roddy Piper (or similar). Many angles will start here. Match 2: Star over jobber, 8 mins. Longer showcase for a pushed talent. Match 3: Star over JTTS, 15 mins. Competitive match with star coming out on top. Assessment of roster Main event / IC: Backlund, Andre, Pedro and Jimmy Snuka form the core of the babyface side of things. The top heels are Don Muraco, George Steele, Masked Superstar and Billy Graham. Upper midcard: Ivan Koloff can fill in as a perennial heel challenger for the world title, as can The Iron Sheik. The Samoans have been mainstays of the tag divisions and Chief Jay Strongbow, currently tag champ with his "brother", for some reason remains popular in the North East. Big John Studd is a servicable heel. Tito Santana is a good hand. Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson form a popular tag team. Mil Mascaras can be a special attraction for the right crowd. Rest of the card: There are guys who can fill out any number of roles here. Ivan Putski's days of use are on the wane, but he's still over. Mr Fuji can get heat. Tony Garea is on the downslide of his career, but he can still tag with just about anyone. SD Jones is a solid hand who can put heels over and is still popular with crowds. Pat Patterson, although now getting very old, can still work a good gimmick match. Relations with other companies Vince Jr is dead set against rejoining the NWA, but he has not yet declared war on anyone. His father is still around and he can rely on some good will for the time being. With working agreements in place with virtually every promotion in the world, at least initially I hope to make use of talent trades using Andre as a bargaining chip if necessary. Through this, I should be able to book practically any worker in the world for a spot show. Priorities Looking at the roster, I have set myself some aims and objectives: 1. Sign some new tag teams. The tag ranks look especially weak with an aging Strongbow and "Jules", both terrible workers, as the current champs. These guys need to lose the belts as soon as possible. Strongbow will be relegated to JTTS duty until he retires. Jules will be fired. Ideally, I want young and fresh tag teams, one heel team, one face team. I will have to scour the available talent to find people. The Samoans can stick around for a while to help put over the new face team, and Atlas and Johnson can do the same for the heel team. Looking at available talent on the roster, Curt Hennig might be paired with someone. As might Tito Santana. Eddie Gilbert at 21 is just a bit too young to be put in that spot for the time being. Possible targets: Dynamite Kid, Bobby Eaton, the Von Erichs, Terry Gordy. Short-term plan: Probably put the belts on Atlas and Johnson as a placeholder. There is no way they can stay with Strongbow. Samoans can go over on first MSG card. Atlas and Johnson can win belts at The Rumble and defend against Samoans for a while. Build a new heel team to go over at Wrestlemania. Build a new face team to go over them at Summerslam. 2. Transform IC division. The IC division looks stagnant. Pedro has had the belt for over a year. And Don Muraco is still his only notable challenger. These guys are too old and I want to phase them out. I want good workers here. Ideally I want a dynamic in-ring performer who can work with anyone, whether face or heel. Possible targets: Rick Martel, Tully Blanchard, Greg Valentine, Dick Murdoch. 3. Find a good colour commentator. Currently All-Star Wrestling and Challenge both have a three-man team of Gorilla, Vince and Lord Alfred in the booth. I don't want Lord Alfred commentating, he can fill in as an interviewer for the time being. And I don't like the idea of Vince and Gorilla being together. Vince will present All-Star (the A-show) and live events. Gorilla will present Challenge (B-show). Need colour men for both. One option is to put "myself" on commentary, but I'd rather stay behind the scenes. 4. Find a great talker to present talk show segment. I could use one of the three wise men for this -- possibly Lou Albano -- but this could also be a good spot for Jesse Ventura or Roddy Piper, who might also double as the colour man. Will see who is available. However, all of a sudden I like the idea of all THREE wise men hosting this talk show. 5. Eventually transition out of Backlund as champ. It's in the back of my mind, but not figured out a way to do this yet.

You can't just get to face me like that; I'm like Lopan or M.Bison. You got to beat someone to get to me. And Pete lost.

This was incredibly fun. Really enjoyed it. Production was nice too. Good job Johnny! It was worth the wait.

I can't see anything in my post that misrepresents anything. Or that might cause a needlessly defensive post like that to be made. Also, I have nothing against Bix, but it's an honest question. The real question is: how many hashtags translate into how many actual cancellations? Back in the day if a fanbase got pissed off enough about something, they'd stop showing up, simple as that. Now it seems to me, and to others in this thread, that the fanbase in a weird way "get off" on being up in arms about the product. They don't tune out, stop buying tickets, stop subscribing, etc., they just take their moaning to the next level. The hashtag seems to be built on the myth that modern fans are like the fans of old who stop buying tickets. But they aren't like the fans of old. Do you not think that's the case? If so, I'm interested to know the reasons behind why you don't.

I even remixed it around a 90s dance song: https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/nobody-cares-about-dominic

I listened to the first half of part 2 earlier. "Charles, do you like three ways?" Is one of the funniest moments I can remember on recent pods.

My theory on Ivan Koloff (and Dominic Denucci) is that guys who are synonymous with Bruno couldn't go in before Bruno. And now that Bruno is in we'll likely see Ivan. Probably they've forgotten about Dom

Oh shit, I've just made this exact point in another thread, didn't see this one. See post I made here. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30510-advantages-of-watching-live-verses-classic-footage/?p=5652326 I completely agree with the OP btw. I want to ask Bix if he's around: did you cancel the network? He was one of the people at the forefront of that whole thing, he was all over it. Did he cancel the network? How many peope who tweeted that and discussed it and got excitited about their chance to shit all over the WWE actually did cancel their subs? 10%? More than that or less than that? A question to be asked. Is Philly killed as a town a la Chicago in 87 after the Road Warriors didn't go over? No, they'll be back again. And again. It's a different breed of fan.

I try to watch old wrestling as much as possible as if it is "live". As in, I try not to look at who won beforehand, I try to out out of mind exactly what happened. Sometimes you can't avoid that, but I find that most of the time you can. I pop and react to near falls etc as much during 70s matches as I do watching something "live". Since I was the one who launched the attack that Will was defending on that Christmas show, the context was that him and Tim and Grimmas had spent the past 2 hours moaning and moaning about WWE, and I had to raise the question of why they continue to watch it. I've said it before, the ONLY reason people watch stuff live now is to be part of the big conversation. Let's be honest here, the awfulness of the Royal Rumble was an event. We all sat through it. But then -- and come on admit it -- everyone relished the aftermath, the discussion, the podcast with Will, Dylan, Pete and co picking through the rubble. The fall out. Twitter. The observer reaction. Etc. Etc. THAT is what sustains watching "live". It's so much more about what you're going to say to your buddies than it is about experiencing the live thing or watching good wrestling. Even if sometimes you're going to get good matches. I'm not saying all that's a bad thing, just that people should admit it. Nothing to be embarrassed about really. For all the #cancelthenetwork stuff, I wonder how many peope actually did. Do they really want to miss out on the next big twitter event induced by WWE?

http://placetobenation.com/all-japan-excite-series-4/ Can you contain your excitement? Steven and Parv watch another four matches from the halcyon days of 90s All Japan. 01/21/92 – Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada 05/22/92 – Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi 05/25/92 – Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat 05/30/92 – Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

Week 1: The Fink: And introducing first, weighing 210lbs ... Reverend Daniel Bryan! Bryan: And, I say, Oh Lordy! Praise the Lord! When I was out injured I took a look at my life and realised there's nothing left. Because I've blasting and laughing so long that even my mama thinks that my mind is gone! So everyone now, think about THE LORD. Think about the error of my ways and the error of your ways. And say Amen. Do you love God? YES! YES! YES! And one thing more ... let me introduce to you my NEW manager ... REVEREND Slick! Slick: Well yo yo yo yo yo my man! Yo PRIASSSEEE THE LORD! YES! Bryan: YES! Slick: YES! The Fink: And his opponent. Weighing 317lbs ... It's DIESELLLLL!! *Match starts. Jack knife. Diesel pins Bryan 1, 2, 3. Bitch slaps Slick*

Forgot to post this, episode 2 of "The Sprouts": http://placetobenation.com/the-sprouts-2-m-suspiria-fahrenheit-911/ Adam, Dan and Parv take a look at three more cinematic sprouts: Parv’s Pick (sprout): M (Fritz Lang, 1931) Adam’s Pick (mainstream): Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) Dan’s Pick (free): Fahreinheit 9/11 (Michael Moore, 2004) Follow on twitter: @sproutspodcast Now on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sprouts/id959936587?mt=2 --------- We have had some good feedback from reddit and elsewhere. Sound quality improved for this ep.

So as it turns out I think I'm getting about a week for free.

I'm in the UK, Doctor.

They said this in my email:

I'm pleased about getting Feb for free, although I'm not sure how that works given that I got my sub the night of the Rumble.

An experiment

The past couple of days have shown us that the worst booked match of all time is Royal Rumble 2015. But what are some other examples of atrocious booking for a match? Bret vs Yoko at Wrestlemania 9 springs to mind.

I'd argue that WWE no longer run towns often enough to ever kill them.

Were any records broken last night? Just wondering since they talked them up so much.

Here's the key counter-argument to Johnny's "inorganic work" idea ... in kayfabe terms, what the fuck is Bryan's elimination meant to say about anything? Who screwed him? He got eliminated fair and square, no cheating, no double teaming, nothing. Just a bog-standard elimination. So what's the angle? "Bryan got screwed by the booking"? That would be worse than the very very worse shit of Russo and then some. There's basically no way to make that work without booking a storyline that pulls back the curtain on how wrestling works and saying "yeah, this is scripted and fake", which even WWE in 2015 wouldn't do. There's no way in hell that was their plan. And the way that elimination was booked was so fucking terrible, that there's no real way out of it based on what happened at the Rumble. All Bryan can do as a babyface is say, "yeah, I was eliminated but next time I'll try harder". Which is about as lame as it possibly gets.

Only listened to first part, but I laughed out loud at "she's wearing the Crimson shorts!"

Weird overreaction. I saw a lot of AAs and not a lot else. Do we know that Vince is booking this? It doesn't seem like it to me at all. Because through all his years as a promoter, one thing you can say about Vince is that he never tried to get cutesy. The booking of the Rumble match was truly baffling to me, to a point where I it's hard to believe Vince was directly involved with it. If he was responsible for laying out that match, or even the bullet points - Build Bray early - Bryan enters when Bray is there - Bryan gets eliminated almost incidentally - Bray gets eliminated almost incidentally - Blah blah - Kane - Blah - Big Show - Blah - Rusev - Blah - Roman - Rock If Vince thought that was a good idea, and man-managed it himself, then yes he's lost it totally.