The September Challenge

[Hailtothechimp]

So as I tried to do in the Sousa vs. iDOL thread, I shall try to do in here.

I spent a lot of time reading what caught my attention and a lot of time skimming over what really didnt. Some of the entries weren't really set up to my taste (most noteable would have to be 4, I didn't who the match was even between before I got in a bit through.) Others, there concepts were rather to off for me (2 would be my example. The feud was hot but on RAW? I doubt it good sir.)

So with those two out, I happily sat down to read a few and after I finished Entry #1, I knew I need to go no further. Lets not let my awesome bromance I have with LAW and my general liking of GBW get in the way. The format, the memebers of the teams, the awesome, awesome match that followed it. Hell, he even set up feuds to have a cross promotion war with that just won me over to no end. I couldn't get enough of it and the ending was superb. So I voted for #1 to take the victory.

My honorable mention would have to go #6. The idea of it for ECW fits, the members all work well and it was pretty damn well written. The all important countdown, the awesome entrance of RVD coming to wreck shop to pretty damn good feel of the WWE verison of ECW. But props to all who took the time to write these as writing a War Games match can't be an easy task.

[JStarr]

All right, time for some final results.

1st Place: Entry #1 (Man Behind the Mask)

2nd Place: Entry #6 (Sousa)

3rd Place: Entry #3 (Essa)

Tied 4th Place: Entries #2 and #4 (Downward Spiral and HailtotheKing)

6th Place: Entry #5 (Doughnut)

NBT, Bigal, L.C.S., and 450_Splash have been muted for five days.

Anyone who would like to continue offering feedback would be greatly appreciated, and I will do likewise when I get home from work this afternoon.

[HailtotheYo]

My vote went to Entry #3. While not the best written of the bunch, its idea is what I went for. I'd have loved to see some kind of saving grace in 2001 (which I'm guessing is the actual date, not 2011). The different corners so to speak of WCW coming together for the sake of the company would have made for the ultimate metaphor for what was really happening at the time. End the NWO, put the beast to bed, and move forward with what really is the future (represented by Mysterio). You have Sting/Flair getting the last stand for their company, the greatest angle/faction going down finally but only to a team headed by legends. DDP is the perfect middle man finally getting over the hump (fuck his title reigns, you know what I mean), and Mysterio is properly put forward as a literal "new face" of WCW.

So with the NWO buried and over with, Nash - Hogan - Hall - Syxx can be presented as individuals again and the options are limitless.

Of course, I could have made all of that up and completely missed everything .... but either way, that's what I got out of it.

[Essa]

All that was, sort of what I was going for, minus the Mysterio being the future thing. 2011 was not a typo. I was going for a WCW version of One Night Stand. I tried to keep the match VERY simplistic, taking into account everyone's increased age and all. That's why I kept it to very basic brawling, weapon shots and signature spots. I wanted it to seem somewhat authentic, and outside of Hogan taking a bump from the top rope to the mat, I think every spot included could actually happen in 2011 (barring death, or some freak accident that would render them unable to perform).

My hope was that people would see 2011, see the spoilers for the rest of the show, and during the match catch on to the fact that it was set in the future. But most apparently just thought it was a typo. But I guess that's my bad for just thinking people would catch it. I should have explained it better. I actually wrote a fairly good backstory to post along with it, with the announcement of WCW getting back together for one night at Starrcade. Then with the NWO guys attacking all the former WCW guys over the course of a couple months. I don't want to get too much into it, because some day I may want to use it as a diary backstory, but there was more to it. That being said, I didn't think it'd be fair to really do that in a competition like this. I figured it'd put everyone else at a disadvantage, seeing as how nobody else really used an intro to their match.

Either way, thanks for the vote.

[Man Behind the Mask]

I hugely enjoyed writing my entry, so to come out on top is really a massive bonus. Thanks to those that voted, especially Hailtothechimp, and of course I’ve got to recognise the contributions of conniption and reverefigure4 (even in their absence).

Given the amount of effort that I’m sure went in to all the other entries, I think people deserve a little bit of feedback. All of the writing was a really high standard, with none of the matches seeming unrealistic, dragging on, or featuring a never-ending selection of typos. In the face of perfectly acceptable use of the English language, any thoughts on the differences between each of the entries really come down to the story telling and the booking – which makes it largely about personal preference (so again I consider myself very lucky (Y)).

Entry 2: The historical context makes sense to me; if the WWF and WCW are each trying to do absolutely anything to one-up the other, then it’s logical to give away the other side’s biggest match on TV. That doesn’t mean that I think it is a great idea, particularly when the whole point of the match gets lost when it degenerates into a big run in and beatdown at the end. The write up was good, conveying the dominance of the Ministry very effectively, and leaving me with genuine sympathy for the Union members (particularly Ken Shamrock who seems to have come out with those red shorts filled with blood capsules). However, the overall setting and outcome meant this wasn’t quite to my taste.

Entry 3: Given who is involved, the rest of the card, and the mentions of a special “final” show, like HttK I hoped this was 2001. However, other references make it really look like a WCW 10 year reunion in 2011 (which would be a big turnoff). The match itself was good, but felt a bit rushed. The first five minute period was over in a flash, and the description of the action made much of it feel like a long sequence of alternating finishers. The characterisation and storytelling (e.g. Hogan being crafty and Sting with the dramatic save) were all really nice, as was the sentiment behind the booking of a WCW finale. EDIT: Essa posted just as I was about to, and I can completely see what he was going for (and it also explains the one complaint I had with the match).

Entry 4: Although the write up is shorter than some of the other entries, I found the summarising effective. There are some nice little character touches, and the match plays out in the formula you would expect. I did expect more to be made of the hole in the cage after it happened, so it ended up coming over as a bit odd. Overall, though, this didn’t really captivate me; possibly because a simple change to the finish of a match that actually happened didn’t feel that exciting.

Entry 5: Starting with two nitpicks, this was probably the only entry that could have done with a bit more proofreading, and I thought that Wargames had to finish with a submission. With that out of the way, the match built well up to the entrance and comeback from Samoa Joe. Because there was no obvious face/heel divide, it made it more difficult to build up any emotion, and that made the finish feel a bit flat (and a big surprise that the TNA champion was the one who took the fall).

Entry 6: This was probably the entry I liked the most. It really lacked only two things for me: more use of the cage (although the introduction of a weapon for each man sort of made that redundant); and a slightly stronger finish - either a really big spot (ala TLC matches) or some kind of closer call to get the heels heat before the big babyface beatdown. The touches of humour were good, the gimmicks and emotions of the wrestlers put over well, and the booking made sense.

I was really surprised that nobody else really ran with the “fantasy” possibilities that were presented. There are some groups that have never had a chance at a Wargames, like the Hart Foundation, or Hardys/Edge&Christian, and throwing together a group like Lesnar/Cena/Batista/Orton or early 90s Hennig/Dibiase/Rude/Michaels could have made for a really special match.

Picking up on what Essa said about background, I really wanted to write a load of stuff running up to the "Invasion" show, but also resisted.

Thanks to Starr for another fun competition.

[Downward Spiral]

I have to say, Man Behind the Mask was the absolute deserved winner in this one, a fantastic and unique entry drawing on two of the domes most well-known and well-loved diaries. A hearty congratulations to you sir.

To defend my entry, the date of the War Games was significant. This was the date on which Mankind was destroyed by HHH with a chair, due to Foley's extensive knee injuries. That event heralded the completely unsung end of the Union. My aim was to give them an appropriate send-off, which presented me with a real problem. The pay per view beforehand, which would have been the appropriate place for the match to take place, just happened to be the infamous Over the Edge show, which I didn't think would fly. I'm very happy with where I came, especially because I knew that the decision to put it on Raw would turn quite a few people off, but I'm quite proud of the fact that I gave the Union a decent send-off.

Essa's WCW One Night Stand was a great concept and an extremely well-written match, but like some others, I would have serious reservations about the ability of the people involved to still be able to go in that match. That alongside the time distance from the event, prevented me getting into it.

Entry 4 suffered in my estimation by havin 2 WCW/NWO matches alongside one another. That said, a really nice feelgood ending.

Entry 5. I toyed with the idea of a TNA/WWE war games but I just couldn't find the quintessential team to represent each. That's where I think this one suffered. Where was Jarrett and/or AJ Styles. I got the champion vs champion thing but I think it lost its impact as a result.

Entry 6 was all kinds of fun and a fun well written match which would have nicely rounded off the Originals/New Breed feud. Just imaging the end where the originals went ape-shit with the hardware would have been an awesome spectacle.

That all said, I'm thrilled MBTM won, and congratulations to everyone on a great contest!

[JStarr]

So yeah, a little commentary from the Arena Commish.

Entry 1: MBTM brought it strong. Dude went deep into trying to capture the LAW and GBW characters, and he seemed to hit the mark, except for Charlemagne. I could have sworn that Charlemagne stopped wearing the knight's garb once he turned heel, but maybe my memory's fuzzy there. It's only been, what, four years since RF4 wrote that turn? The ending here was sweet, even if I was a little dubious about a couple of guys leaving the cage. Azrael was a full-grown man enduring the Touch of Death as long as he did, and if there was a continuing diary behind it, that sort of thing would shoot a man to the main event with a rocket up his ass.

Entry 2: I missed the significance of DS's date as well, but even with that, a War Games on Raw would be kind of like a Hell in a Cell on Raw. Still a pretty wild kind of match, but not nearly as balls-out as it should have been if it were on PPV. This got really drummed in by the visual of Shamrock coughing up some blood, which would have forced some interesting camera gymnastics to avoid keeping such gore on TV. Now, again, I'm kind of a cage-match purist, and my objections to guys leaving the cage in Entry 1 goes double for extra guys coming in here. Even though it was a big-ass beatdown, impressively written, my personal taste didn't go all in favor of this ending.

Entry 3: I don't recall Essa giving me a heads-up as to the significance of the show, and I believe that I thought 2011 was a typo at first, too. But it was the little clues, like "frail-looking" Lex Luger and the "decade or three" comment about Ric Flair, that told me, "Huh, maybe that is what he meant." But once I got wrapped around that idea, I started to think, "geez, this match would be brutal to watch." It was extra-brawly, as Essa pointed out, and no big "holy shit" spots, plus a lot of vintage NWO antics. This was very close with MBTM's entry for best in show.

Entry 4: Anybody who reads Evolution could easily tell this was HttK's work, from the announcers' patter to the little details like the Arn Anderson "aww shit" face. It was another good match, and I dug the fact that the NWO got stepped to. It was markedly shorter, as he chose to focus more on the Sting/not-Sting conundrum more than the early portions of the match, and that may be the biggest thing that I held against it. Four entries got squashed into one paragraph, and although I realize there's only so many things to say about guys whose moves are as limited as the bunch in this match, a little more focus on the NWO's cockiness could have helped set the stage a bit.

Entry 5: Yeah, the champions v. champions thing was a hook, but as soon as I see Sheik Abdul Bashir in a match like this, I'm kinda tempted to tune out. The biggest shock was Samoa Joe being the one to take the fall, instead of...well, any of the other three members of Team TNA. More I think about it, Benjamin being the one to get the fall was surprising, too. But, there were some possibilities that could have been explored and made for a bit more compelling bout, even if Doughnut had restricted himself, say, to not using any WWE castoffs on Team TNA...which actually would have left Bashir out of it. Think about Styles, Sting, Joe, and maybe Jay Lethal or Curry Man for TNA? There were just quite a few guys in this match that I just didn't care about, which hurt my enjoyment.

Entry 6: I like the idea of using a bout like this to blow off the New Breed/Originals feud, even though the idea of WWE using a WCW match to finish an ECW feud takes a little getting used to. The format was good to me, breaking things up so you knew exactly where you stood chronologically. This was one that I really couldn't find a lot to bag on, so I'll stop trying to dig for stuff.

[Sousa]

Yeah, my original match concept was going to be a WWF '92 match set at the first SNME of the year with Flair, Sid, 'Taker, Jake, and The Mountie against Hogan, Savage, Piper, Bret, and the Bulldog. I think that would've been the better match, but I remembered that Sid teamed with Hogan at this show and was thus still a babyface, meaning I'd have to not only justify a Sid heel turn prior to the show (not too hard) but also remember the dynamics of the Jake/Roberts/Savage/Elizabeth relationship better than it turns out I did. Still, I liked the concept I came up with and did about all I could with it, but I think I was ultimately limited by my participants--Matt Striker and Kevin Thorn were non-starters, and there isn't much that dessicated old Sandman can do anymore besides swing a big stick around.

Not that I'm making excuses. MBtM did a very good job, and I thought Essa did pretty well despite the fact that his concept may have been a bit too ambitious for a no-backstories-allowed competition. Not to mention the fact that if Lex Luger is still capable of entering a ring three years from now then I'll eat my hat.

Congrats to the winner, though, and thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed mine. And to the four that didn't participate, a big hearty boo-urns. I had a power outage for a week and was living on my parents' couch, came back in a tremendous funk, worked overtime to make up for losing all of the food in m fridge, and still got mine in. For shame.