The spirit of cooperation and talent hoarding

[Control21]

I hate to go public with this, but I kinda need to get it off my chest, and it's something that's been bugging me for a while.

When someone has 65 wrestlers on their roster, constantly trades for the top draft picks every year, and perhaps enjoys the deepest roster in the game in terms of pure recognizable talent, I am baffled why they wouldn't be willing to send over two guys whose careers are defined by shoot-style and the UWF, and would be thematically in-line with what I am trying to accomplish with my promotion.

Yes, I am talking about @rainmakerrtv. Specifically, Gary Albright and Dan Severn. We've had this conversation before, but Dan Severn shouldn't be in this game as of 1991. To my knowledge, one of the previous members of Dawn of War (I think it was the guy who was running WWF for a while, shortly before I joined in 2023) decided to bring him in around 1986 or 1987, and nothing was really said about it. Of course, in real life, Dan Severn got his start as a pro wrestler with UWFi in 1993. It is what it is, but it's a funny situation. Gary Albright joined UWFi in 1991 (which we are hitting next year), and spent about 5-6 years of his career there. Arguably, Gary Albright made his name in UWFi, and that's where he became a household name.

I am frustrated that, despite being an active member of this community for 2+ years and putting in a ton of work, I am still being treated like some annoyance. I don't think I am asking for much here. It's not like I want Ted DiBiase and Bret Hart to join my roster and become shoot-stylists (as entertaining as that might be). I originally wanted Gary Albright back in 2023, but Rainmaker made a big scene out of it, and I let him have him because it was too much drama. I suppose asking nicely two years later warrants a cold response. 

At the end of the day, this is just a game with a bunch of text names we are dealing with. It's no big deal. But it should be clear I have a specific project I am running, and a specific interest in shoot-style. Considering I am a big fan of that sort of thing, it should be obvious that I would greatly enjoy using Severn and Albright, especially when they were historically involved in shoot-style (or were about to be). The fact that someone would be so guarded over these names, despite having access to endless amounts of talent, is quite baffling, to say the least. I understand people put work into constructing their booking plans, but surely parting ways with two names isn't the end of the world.

 

 

[rainmakerrtv]

OK, so you have said your piece, now I will say mine.

 

Quite a long public post about a personal matter. You start out with a bunch of particulars about me and how I run my promotion. Yes, I have 65 wrestlers, that is the roster cap so I am not doing anything wrong. Once again, me trading for draft picks is brought up, seemingly as a negative. I don't see how that is a bad thing, although it kind of goes against the narrative of me supposedly "talent hoarding" experienced wrestlers by also saying I am trading experienced wrestlers for draft picks. Yes, I have a deep roster, I earned this with a lot of diligent and consistent work over a long period of time. At the same time, I also work hard to keep it balanced and not top heavy. Yes, I do have Bret Hart and Barry Windham, but I also have the likes of Billy Black and Jimmy Del Ray. It's laughable to say I am "hoarding" all of the good talent, there has been plenty to go round, including in the shoot style circuit.

 

The post then goes on about Dan Severn and Gary Albright and their history, both in real life and in the game. Full credit, unlike the previous individual to comment, it was admitted that I was not responsible for bringing Severn into the game. Somebody else put him in the draft, and I picked him up when he was available. I even wrote it into my history, as I usually do with these oddball ones that come into the game, of what the variation from real history was (for those who can't remember, after he lost the qualifying match to Lou Banach and went to the 1984 Olympics as an alternate, he went pro instead to show the Olympic team what they were missing). Regardless of whether he should or should not have gone into that draft, he did and became a member of my roster, which he has stayed on with distinction ever since. As for Albright, he started as a pro wrestler in Calgary and ended as one, and he went onto the regular draft where I picked him up.  Jumping a head to the alleged "big scene" I supposedly made : I drafted him fair and square and had bit plans for them. Then we went through a period of 4 different writers coming on in the space of a few months who took a bunch of people from me in their expansion drafts, including Albright, then bailed out, usually in less than 2 months.  This caused a lot of disruption for my roster and plans, including having to redo one of my mega shows a week before it was set to drop. The was before the adoption of the probationary period and the rules at the time were, if someone drops out within the first few months (or, in the case of this writer, they cut someone they drafted then drop out), the drafted wrestlers go back to their original roster (if their previous writers want them). I very much wanted to get back Albright and pick up where I left off, and despite your protests, that is what happened. All perfectly within the rules and well within my rights as a writer. Yes, at this point , I agree that Severn was a questionable choice to be brought it at that time, but he went in, and he is on my roster and has been a part of our game for several years .

 

Following that is a lot of talk about how hard done by he is, how frustrated his is and is being "treated like some annoyance". I am not buying the Warren Zevon "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" routine.  From the very beginning , you have been given your pick for three whole continents worth of martial artists and shoot style workers : Asia, Europe and South America. This was with the explicit up front understanding that YOU KEEP YOUR HADS OFF THE OTHER WRITERS' ROSTERS. You have been justly given plenty of praise and appreciation for what you do. You have an incredibly cherry roster to work with . You mention the size of my roster, well, your roster is 48 wrestlers, pretty big for a Japanese Shoot Style group of the time. Has any real life Shoot style group had as big and as rich a roster as yours? Add to that, speaking of anachronisms, you have had your fair share of them as well. Volk Han never stepped foot in a RINGS event until the end of 1991. He has been a central part of your promotion for how long? At this point in time, Karelin was exclusively a Russian Olympian and would remain so for a while. Andy Hug was a kickboxer. Marco Ruas was BJJ and Vale Tudo. If there is evidence of them working in a Japanese Shoot Style at this time, I haven't found it. You mention how Albright spent most of his career in Shoot Style. Well, Taz spent most of his career as a pro wrestler. Peter Senerchia  had, what, a handful of matches in Kitao Dojo ? (I can't find a record of them, although I do have one on tape along with a match Al Snow had with KD). At this point in time, Tasmanian Devil/Tasmaniac was working Northeastern Indies like IWCCW before making his home in ECW. His shoot style career was barely a blip on the radar. And yet there he sits on your roster until you choose to send him somewhere else.

 

You have been given plenty of leeway with your promotion and roster, and, quite frankly, plenty of everything else. I don't see why I should be publicly villainized by you just because I won't simply hand over part of my roster just because you want it. I backed your request for Ken Shamrock (who was on your roster before he even debuted as a pro) to stay with you instead of going into the draft, even though he started off his career (however briefly) as a pro wrestler. I gave you Bob Backlund and Joe Malenko after I had finished with them and, although you hadn't asked for them, you did gratefully take them. I have let you use my wrestlers in special appearances. When you first asked for Severn and Albright, I said no but did offer to let them go for occasional special appearances (to which you replied that you didn't want to be "bothered with all that"). I made the same offer this time, but I shan't make it again.

 

I have been more than fair with you, as has the group as a whole. I feel a bit like Don Vito Corleone here : can anyone say when I have refused a reasonable request? I have been effectively a founding member of this project. For the past few years, I have consistently kept writing , 3 shows a week, apart from a couple of breaks early on (yes, I do take December off, but that is spent writing and preparing for the next year, and I still remain active on the group in that time). I have done my best to avoid fights, I don't think I have gone back on any deal, and I have done everything I can to think of what is best for the group as a whole, while still being sure to look out for my own best interests. I don't see why I should be publicly required, obliged, shamed or bullied into giving up the leader of one of my babyface groups and an important part of my top heel faction, just because you want it. You frame this as "spirit of cooperation", but your version of "cooperation" seems to be basically you get whatever you want. You say they would be a better fit for what you are doing, that may be true (I think they fit fine with my writing and what I am doing), but ultimately that is irrelevant. They are mine. I drafted them as per the rules of our project, they are on my roster, and they will stay there until I let them go, one way or another. You asked, I clearly and politely said no. Learn to take no for an answer.

 

[Ma Stump Puller]

dang everyone wants a piece of gary it seems