sMurf's WWF 98 EWR diary

[Deleted]

Reading Hawk's diary from a few years back made me want to do one. Since my WWF 96 and Chikara 2010 games are well underway, I decided to do a brand new one. The year is 1998, thee company is the World Wrestling Federation. Currently on the losing end of a war with WCW, owner Linda McMahon has reached out to booker sMurf to right the ship. Can I do it? Who the hell knows?

I am setting some ground rules for myself right off the bat, as I did in the 96 game. I am only allowed to hire people who actually ended up working for the company. I can fire anyone I want, but my goal is to utilize as much of the roster as I can. My starting roster:

Main Event: Owen Hart, Steve Austin, The Undertaker (faces), Shawn Michaels (heel)

Upper Midcard: Cactus Jack, Ken Shamrock (faces), Kane, Rocky Maivia, Triple H (heels)

Midcard: Ahmed Johnson, Animal, Chainsaw Charlie, Hawk, Marc Mero, Sean Waltman, Sgt. Slaughter, Tom Brandi, Vader (faces), Barry Windham, Billy Gunn, D'Lo Brown, Faarooq, Fatu, Jeff Jarrett, Kama Mustafa, Mark Henry, Ricky Morton, Road Dogg, Robert Gibson, Savio Vega, TAFKA Goldust, Yokozuna (heels)

Lower Midcard: Al Snow, Duke Droese, Flash Funk, Henry O. Godwinn, Justin Bradshaw, Phineas I. Godwinn, Steve Blackman (faces), 8-Ball, Bart Gunn, Bob Holly, Brian Christopher, Carl Oulette, Chainz, Dan Severn, Jacques Rougeau Jr., Jesus Castillo, Jose Estrada Jr., Kurgan, Mabel, Miguel Perez, Mosh, Recon, Skull, Sniper, Taka Michinoku, Thrasher (heels)

Openers: Duane Gill (face)

Jobbers: N/A

Developmental: Adam Copeland(Edge), Andrew Martin(Test), Glen Kulka, Jeff Hardy, K-Krush(R-Truth), Matt Hardy, Mr. Aguila, Scott Borders(Val Venis), Tori (faces), Brakus, Christian Cage, Darren Drosdov, Erin O'Grady(Crash Holly), Gangrel, Giant Silva, Ivory, Joe E. Legend(Just Joe), Kurt Angle, Prince Albert, Scott Taylor, Shawn Stasiak, Sho Funaki, Steve Bradley, Steve Williams, Tiger Ali Singh, Vic Grimes (heels)

Non-Wrestlers: Gorilla Monsoon, Mike Tyson (faces)

Managers: Sable, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Terri (faces), Chyna, Harvey Wippleman, Jackyl, James E. Cornette, Luna Vachon, Paul Bearer, Paul Ellering, Sunny, Mr. McMahon (heels)

Gonna be making some hires and fires in the next post.

[Deleted]

OK, first post has been updated with the starting roster. Now, for the firings... there actually won't be too many right away. It's more people I know I'll never use. Brawler is gone. Never gonna use him beyond jobber status. I'm keeping Aguila, but he's being sent down to developmental for now. I also have absolutely no use for Scott Putski or Honky Tonk Man, so they're also gone. As far as managers, the only one I'm not seeing a use for is Harvey Wippleman. Well, Shane and Stephanie, but I can't fire them. Terri, I feel like I can get some use out of her when I start calling people up from development.

As for development, I want to use most of those guys. In fact, Rico may be the only one I'm not feeling as of yet. So that brings us to the people I'm going to hire. Most of these guys will be developmental contracts, with a few exceptions.

Al Snow (face) *signed to an open contract on the main roster, since the first five months of 1998, he was working for ECW, while under contract for WWF*
Darren Drosdov (heel)
Duke Droese (face) *Signed to a written deal on the main roster. Am I breaking my own rule here? Maybe. I remember reading that at some point in 1997/98, he was training at Dory Funk Jr.'s camp with a lot of the developmental guys. So as far as I'm concerned, he's allowed.*
Duane Gill (face) *signed to an open contract on the main roster, as he was never a full-timer irl*
Giant Silva (heel)
Ivory (heel)
Kurt Angle (heel)
Mabel (heel) *signed to an open contract on the main roster*
Mike Tyson (face) *Non-wrestler, signed to an open contract*
Sgt. Slaughter (face) *signed to the main roster for a freakin' hundred grand. In 1998, mind you, when he was already over-the-hill...*
Sho Funaki (heel)
Steve Williams (heel) *Odd case here. He starts as an opener, but wants nearly as much as the upper midcarders to sign a written deal. I put him in developmental...*
Tori (face)

Roster will be updated with the new talent shortly...

[Deleted]

Next, gotta make a few turns. I'm fine with DOA as heels, but Headbangers need to be turned, otherwise the lower midcard tag team scene is going to be The Godwinns vs. everybody else. I'm revealing this one now, because it's not going to be part of a major angle or anything. It's just common sense, I have too many heels and not enough faces.

Now, we come to our Champions and there are a lot:

NWA North American Champion: Jeff Jarrett(Sophie says Jarrett is too good for the title and I should give the title to Al Snow.)
NWA Tag Team Champions: The Rock 'N' Roll Express
NWA World Champion: Dan Severn(Sophie says Dan isn't ready for the title and I should give it to Marc Mero instead)
WWF European Champion: Triple H(Sophie says Triple H is too good for the title and I should give it to Ahmed Johnson instead)
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Rocky Maivia
WWF Lightweight Champion: Taka Michinoku
WWF Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws
WWF World Champion: Shawn Michaels

Now, the easiest way to begin is to book as the actual WWF was booking at the time, then deviate onto my own path as I go along. I have three shows:

Monday Night Raw - Prime Time slot(11 segments)
Shotgun Saturday Night - Graveyard slot(5 segments)
Sunday Night Heat - Early Evening slot(8 segments)

Typically, I use Shotgun for my lower midcarders, and book midcard and up on Heat and Raw. So that will remain in place for this game. So that brings us to our feuds. I'm gonna run those as I go along, since I will be deviating in certain cases. So, coming up, my first show... Shotgun Saturday Night!

[Deleted]

Shotgun Saturday Night, January 3rd, 1998

Bob Holly and Bart Gunn are in the ring. They issue a challenge to any team in the back, and The Headbangers accept. (40%, Gunn and Holly each lost a point of overness, Mosh gained 1 point overness, Thrasher gained 4 points overness)

The Headbangers def. The New Midnight Express (Overall: 61%(50% Crowd Reaction, 73% Match Quality))

The Jackyl motivates Kurrgan for his upcoming match. (62%, Kurrgan gained 1 point overness, Jackyl gained 2 points overness)

Kurrgan def. Flash Funk, then beats him down post-match (Overall: 63%(52% Crowd Reaction, 74% Match Quality, Flash Funk lost 1 point overness, Kurrgan gained 2 points overness, but he's losing overness due to a weak gimmick)

Justin Bradshaw challenges Dan Severn to a match next week, it's accepted. (54%)

Show Rating: 44%(Not surprised at all. Hopefully Heat and Raw make up for it and I can build my lower midcard enough that they start garnering better crowd reactions)
TV Rating: 0.04(This is what it usually gets. Although playing as WCW, I've seen it get 0.00 and then get canceled. Although this usually leads to them getting a new show in a better timeslot a month or two later. We shall see...)

WCW fired Miss Jacqueline, so I signed her to a developmental deal. I now have 27 workers in MCW.

My Public Image dropped 6 points... ouch.

Will do Sunday Night Heat later.

[Deleted]

Sunday Night Heat, January 4th, 1998

Vince McMahon is in his office, where he announces that at The Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels will defend the WWF World Championship against The Undertaker. (83%)

Vader def. Savio Vega by disqualification, following outside interference by TAFKA Goldust. Vega and Goldust try to double team Vader post-match, but The Mastadon fights them both off. (Overall: 71%(69% Crowd Reaction, 73% Match Quality))

Backstage, Marc Mero and Sable argue, leading to Mero barring Sable from ringside during his match against Tom Brandi. (70%)

Tom Brandi def. Marc Mero after Sable came to the ring, distracting Mero and allowing Brandi to roll him up. Afterwards, Mero and Sable continue to argue. (Overall: 64%(66% Crowd Reaction, 61% Match Quality))

Paul Bearer cuts a promo, promising that Kane will be the one to finally bury The Undertaker, but is attacked by The Deadman and left in a heap. (79%)

Ahmed Johnson def. Faarooq in a Falls-Count-Anywhere match, after Rocky Maivia interferes and accidentally lays out Faarooq with the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, The Nation tries to attack Johnson, but Ken Shamrock makes the save. (Overall: 66%(67% Crowd Reaction, 66% Match Quality) Faarooq is losing overness due to a weak gimmick)

Owen Hart comes to the ring and calls out Triple H. Triple H accepts and we have a European Championship match as our main event! (86%)

WWF European Championship: Owen Hart def. Triple H by disqualification after Chyna interferes. After the match, the two beat Owen down. (Overall: 84%(88% Crowd Reaction, 75% Match Quality) the European Championship has gained in image)

Show Rating: 69%(Better, but I need to build some guys up sooner rather than later.)
TV Rating: 5.45(Heat will usually get between this and the 6.05 range. If I used all of my main eventers and upper midcarders, I would've garnered a much better rating, but at the expense of my midcard guys who need TV time to grow.)

Owen Hart wants to work with Shawn Michaels and Kane wants to work with The Undertaker.

My Public Image dropped another 4 points, putting me at 30%...