Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2014 20:07:58 GMT -5
Not to spam up the WFWF.com thread with these. Follow this on Twitter: @insidethemindwf
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2014 20:08:38 GMT -5
Welcome to the debut episode of Inside The Mind. Our first guest is a legend here, on these parts of the boards. He is the longest reigning WFWF World Champion of all time at a total of 367 days... He is Prophet of Ash! (Otherwise known as God).
To start things off, would you mind giving us a little look into the man that is Prophet of Ash?
In what regard?
A little synopsis of who you are and why you come e-fed?
I started with WFWF years ago as an attempt to become a better promo writer for other projects I was working on. Match writing is something that's always come naturally to me to an extent, but promos, especially for many different characters, was something I had problems with for a long time. WFWF was an opportunity, to me, to improve my writing in a "risk free" space. I could get expriemental and it wouldn't effect my "main projects"
You mentioned many different characters, what came to mind when you started writing?
Originally, Obo the Hobo was a crazy gimmick. He was supposed to be more like an early Mankind, deranged, twisted, insane.. Never spoke clearly, slurred words. That lasted all of like two shows, because Percy joined in and we became a tag team. While serious promos were okay, we found we could write comedy and jokes a lot easier and the overall product was better. In regards to "many different characters", that's more in referance to my other projects than here. The only other character I ever did in WFWF was Dead Idol. He was supposed to eventually be revealed as Schneider, which is why he had the mask. I was going to phase out Schneider as a character, push Dead Idol, then lose the mask somehow to show they were always one and the same.
It's evident that you got the knack for writing multiple characters as you finished off your last run with the Decaying Society? Was there an inspiration for them?
I've heard comparisons to The Flock a lot but that was never my intention. When I started writing the Decaying Society angle, I was deeply embedded into Charles Manson stuff. Books, documentaries, his music. I wanted to learn as much as I could about Manson and particularly his life that led up to the murders. Manson surrounded himself with followers to do his dirty work for him, and he mind washed them all. He picked people who were otherwise defective and used their defects to his advantage. That was the primary goal of the Decaying Society, to replicate that in a wrestling perspective.
It came out real well. One man in the Decaying Society was Tommy Staxx. Do you see something in him? What was the reason for you bringing him in?
I loved that by happenstance, he kept losing. He was out matched in his first like, 6 matches. I loved that.
So he was a perfect fit?
I wouldn't say a perfect fit, but he fit the bill for what I wanted. I originally wanted a tag team and a girl. Originally, when I laid it out, it was going to be a tag team and Alexis under Meg's control, but life came first and she had to make an exit, so I adjusted the story to have New Kylie enter. But too many things changed along the way and it got to the point where it was pointless to have New Kylie wrestle
Was the tag team going to be original created characters? Or pre-existing writers on the board?
Pre-existing writers. I approached a couple of people to do it but they all had plans that it'd disrupt. The reason I wanted a small stable of people underneath me was because it'd make booking to PPVs a lot simplier. Let's say I was facing David Brennan. On week one, the match is announced and he faces someone else. On week two, he faces one of the tag team guys. Week three, he faces the other one, week four it's a tag team match against my underlings and if there's a week five it could be something like a two on one or a six man tag with whoever my tag team is feuding with. It'd make it possible to do a month of matches without ever having the main event touch.
Spoken like a true booker. Reading back, you've written tons of matches for the PPVs, shows and the such. What is your favorite match you have ever written? E-fed or not.
I loved the tables, ladders, chairs, scaffold, cage match I wrote between me and Wayne McGuirk in 2007. It was a great match with the gimmicks and the story we wrote heading into the PPV really came to a head at the conclusion of the match. I'm very fond of the match I wrote against Hutton Brown the first time, because it was one of the first one on one ladder matches I've ever written and I think it came out really well, especially working the hand psycology that we laid out in the weeks leading up to Superbrawl. I think the Double Jeopardy match was one of my better matches and it's unfortunate that it was won by a triple no show. The spot where Hutton got killed off of the top rope through all the plunder was going to happen, win, lose, or draw. If I won the match, that's how he was eliminated. If he beat me in the first fall but didn't go over, I was going to come back out, wipe him out in that way, then give an easy win to either Kyzer or Raider, and if he won, I was going to kill him and then kill either Kyzer or Raider, to set up Schneider/Hutton 3. But since Raider no showed and hasn't been seen since, Hutton announced ahead of time that he was leaving and wouldn't be showing, and Kyzer got ahold of me and said he wouldn't be showing since the other two weren't, I went ahead and wrote the death spot, stole Hutton's elbow pad to set up a match if he ever did return, then did the deal with Raider.
Outside of WFWF, I've written a three way tables, ladders, and chairs match that I'm extremely proud of. It was written in I want to say 2005 or 2006 and it still holds up to the stuff I'm writing today. I wrote a torneo cibernetico, eight on eight elimination match, that was very good and could've been a huge flop but luckily wasn't. I'm very proud of a Wargames match I did, and I recently wrote a one on one match to main event a PPV that was one of the best things I've ever written.
I'm hoping the match I've been writing for me and Drakz at Superbrawl will live up to the expectations that these matches leave.
You truly have a knack for writing sick, but creative, spots in the death style matches. Do you usually try and take the stuff seen from Japan, BJW, and mix it with the American stuff? Is there a European influence mixed in?
My problem is I've seen everything. I don't have cable TV, Netflix or anything like that by choice, so whenever I'm at home, I'm either watching TV shows on DVD, movies, or mostly wrestling. Not just hardcore stuff, but about anything I can get my hands on. I have somewhere in the range of 40,000 wrestling DVDs, so I've literally seen everything or at least it feels like it. So coming up with original spots can sometimes be a challenge because even if it's original to the WFWF, it's something I've seen elsewhere at some point.
For character elements, I've plucked things from a lot of my favorite wrestlers. The Beverly Kills 90210 is Chuck Taylor's Omega Driver. When I added it as a finisher in 2007, no one had seen anything like it. I stole the skewers from Masada and the syringes from Thumbtack Jack. I wanted to do a lot more with syringes in my feud with Kyzer, but he kiboshed a bit of it for judgement. When I come up with really nasty deathmatch spots, a lot of times they're inspired by stuff I've seen in horror movies adapted to wrestling. I love horror movies and have seen hundreds. Horror and gore run hand and hand.
Essentially, you've written the internet's wet dream of the perfect wrestler. Favorite Indy promotion going today?
AIW, Absolute Intense Wrestling out of Ohio. I think they're the best thing going today. They took a lot of the "super match" elements that IWA Mid South used to do in 2004-2005, but haven't killed the territory with over booking. They also don't run from Louisville to Chicago like Ian tried to do, instead staying in a central location and one building in Cleveland. I think they've got a lot better and consistant booking than ROH and they do more of the dream matches that people really want to see than PWG.
I also really like ACW, Anarchy Championship Wrestling, out of Texas, but they suffer from poor DVD distro. They're shows at one point were almost a year behind. Now they're only about five months behind, but it's hard to follow a company's storylines when they are so far behind real time. ACW has the benefit of being so far removed from everywhere else that they have their own roster and guys really don't overlap. The Submission Squad, ACH, Rachel Summerlyn and Jessica James, Scot Summers, and a few guys who really made a name for themselves at the first National Pro Wrestling Day but haven't really broken out otherwise all come from ACW.
Looking back now, you mentioned in the Battleground PPV Card thread that the matches should be written before RPs are due. Do you still stand by that point?
Yes. There is no reason matches can't be turned in before the show roleplay time is up. Then if someone drops the ball, it doesn't hold the entire federation up while someone else writes the match. You write the match to a certain point, then alternate finishes for whoever the winner is. There's very few matches that can't be written beforehand. The big battle royals and the first time match that I booked of Double Jeopardy, and even Double Jeopardy was written beforehand up to just before the first elimination. Then when I found out Hutton was leaving, I wrote the first elimination and the majority of the match with Raider.
Since we covered you favorite matches, what is your favorite RP that you have ever written? Is there another fedder's RP that you consider your favorite?
Mein Kaempfe was one of my favorite things I wrote, for the arching story. It was never supposed to be two roleplays but after people complained about how long "With a Little Help from my Friends" was, I split it in half. I like a With a Little Help From My Friends a lot because it's the best competitive roleplay I've ever written. All of my PPV roleplays since returning have been knockouts, I think, because they had the previous four or five roleplays leading into them.
If you could give one piece of advice to new fedders on how to improve their writing, what would it be?
write backwards. Write the conclusion of whatever your story is first, then write everything that leads up to it. I don't mean write the entire roleplay out, but know all the key points you need to hit with your blow off and set them up. Have things set up four or five roleplays in advance that you can referance back to. Then when you get to your big finish, things look a lot more crisp because you've been telling the exact same story for a cycle of roleplays.
Seeing as you are one of the best to come here, who do you see making a huge impact in the future?
It's hard to say. It's almost impossible to see the way people are going to evolve. The media they consume and how it will effect them. If someone is watching nothing but Family Guy and Three Stooges, they aren't going to evolve well into a serious, dark, brooding character. If someone is watching nothing but Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, they're going to have a hard time pulling off a hipster gimmick.
Do you have a favorite RPer at the moment? What makes them so special to you?
To be perfectly honest, I've barely read anything since I left. I've had a lot going on professionally that needed my full attention and the little downtime I've had lately, I've been completely burnt out and in no mood to read or write anything. If I had something like an iPad and could read roleplays at work on my breaks, I'd probably get a lot more read around here.
What is your biggest accomplishment in the WFWF? Writing in general?
I'd like to say publishing the works that I've written and turning this writing stuff into something that can pay my bills, but unfortunately Amazon made getting their payments approved so difficult that it was impossible for me to do. I'd say holding the WFWF Heavyweight title for longer than anyone else has in the history of the WFWF would have to take the cake, for WFWF accomplishments. Writing in general it would be getting paid to write. For most of 2011 and 2012, about a year in total, my "real job" was writing for a website that is no longer around. Recaps and reviews of various wrestling and MMA, mostly.
Who is your favorite opponent of all time here in the fed? One fedder that you knew would bring the best out of you and you knew you coud write a great match against.
Kyzer It's worth pointing out that I answered this question before you were finished typing it. I knew a feud with Kyzer was going to be money. I constantly called him out during my 2007 reign as champion, hoping I could bait him into returning to face me. I called him and Johnny Michaels out. I like Kyzer. I don't like Michaels. I wanted to humiliate Michaels, and I'm disappointed that he left before I could smash him. He was a top guy around WFWF solely because he was the one booking the federation.
If you were promised a match with him, would you take it?
I don't think there would be much reason for us to have another match, unless there was another feud laid out from the bottom up. Certainly not a TV match. We finished a lot of our story with the no rope barbed wire match and then were one of the few feuds in WFWF history to back to back main event PPVs.
In that RP for It's Super Effective, you used some Japanese in there. Is the Japanese wrestling influence the thing that has helped you propel as being able to write storylines?
Not really. Japanese wrestling helped get me involved with a lot of other aspects of Japan. I started watching BJW because a friend gave me a tape of Matsunaga and I was blown away. This was shortly after the CZW/BJW feud had ended, so I could watch a lot of the CZW guys that I was already familiar with, Zandig, Nick Mondo, Nick Gage, The Backseat Boys, in BJW. I started learning Japanese so that I could understand Japanese commentary, but it's sort of branched to other forms of media. I got way into the anime, High School of the Dead, and was watching them subbed before the English release. For anyone wondering, stay FAR AWAY from the OVA, it's not worth it. As a horror fan, I've got into a lot of J-horror too. A Japanese horror called Death Tube is one of the most genuinely frightening movies I've ever seen for it's absolute realism within today's society. Think Hostile empowered by online streaming. When I'm on Youtube, I watch a lot of channels ran by Westerners about Japanese culture, like Sharla in Japan, Rachel & Jun, kanadajin3, and for a while when he was actually updating it, Nick Mondo's personal channel.
Do you take all these types of influences and bring them into your characters. Seeing as you have written Samantha Schneider (@samanthaanarchy) as that kind of girl who references these types of anime, on her Twitter page.
Loosely, Samantha is based on my ex girlfriend. At least elements. Then bits and pieces from my neices too for her immaturity. I also work around a lot of high school kids now, so I get first hand perspective on how to write them. I do write Samantha as liking a lot of the things that I do, but that's because it's almost impossible to write about something that you know nothing about.
Is Schneider just an extension of your real self? Seeing as you have the KMFDM link as well as knowing the different wresting styles.
Schneider is me magnified. I feel like the way Schneider handles his fame, by being a recluse and paying someone else to do all of his work for him outside of what he's famous for, is exactly how I would handle fame. I wouldn't drive anywhere, I wouldn't spend my time doing minor things like making sure the internet bill was paid.. I'd play a lot of video games and stay away from anyone who might bother me. As a whole, I'm disgusted with pop culture for the most part and the obsessions with stalking celebrities and I feel like if I was famous on a worldwide scale, I'd be the type to just knock the piss out of someone shoving a camera in my face when I was trying to leave the airport or something.
While yelling "Are you recording this?". Am I right?
Some of my very good friends are indy wrestlers. I'm not going to name names because it's not important, but I've been on long car rides before with them. They came into town from another show, met us, and we rode five hours to the show we were going to. When we got where we were going, tired, already worn down, hungry, having to pee, and achy, we were MOBBED by fans. I had two bags slung over my shoulders and was staying right behind them and walking through this mob, everyone reaching out to touch them, to high five them and whatever, was horribly stressful for ME. I was just going to watch the show, I didn't wrestle, and at the end of the night I was completely beat, just from the travel. I really don't know how they do it week in and week out.
So, if this was all real and you were Phillip Schneider, you'd move to Switzerland?
I'd probably move to Denmark if I was moving to Europe. I've got friends in Denmark already. But I'd probably stay somewhere around here as a recluse. I'm currently living in a really small town and I like it. If I don't want people to see me, I can go days without seeing anyone.
Changing back to e-fedding, you've got the monkier of being a badass and telling it straight when big arguments break out. (Case in point: Battleground Card), do you really care about your image on the board?
I have an abrassive personality as a whole. The owner of my company loves it, and loves that if someone is screwing up around me, in no uncertain terms they'll be told to knock it off and to stop whatever it is that I'm displeased with. I was hired in for a management role because of that. I've never been willing to alter my personality to gain friends, because if I did, the people I was gaining would eventually see the "true me" and leave anyways. I surround myself with people who realize that yes, I am an ass hole, but I'm also loyal, truthful, and I'm not going to start crap with people for no reason. I specifically do not have a Facebook account, because all people do on there is start crap with each other.
"I don't mean to be mean but it's all I can be, it's just me"
Well, thank you for your time to let us go somewhat into your mind and your thoughts. Wnat to give the readers one closing message?
Stay tuned. I'm not dead yet.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2014 20:10:07 GMT -5
Seeing as the first episode of Inside The Mind was a complete success, we here at ITM Studios have decided to reach to the man, the myth and the ruler of the McGurk familia... veronicaaaahhhh!
(-It's PERSON! xD)
To start things off Mikes, what got you into e-fedding and why do you stick around?
I started initially because I wanted to learn how to write, how to properly write. I was around fifteen-sixteen, I finally decided to give story-telling and creative writing a serious go. And what got me interested was that I didn't have to make up characters at all, I could just start out using the CAWS I'd make over and over again on the old SmackDown! games. I never thought they had a purpose other than serving as video characters until I found WFWF.
So, the WFWF was a way to flesh out those guys and gals you had made?
Totally! I grew-up on wrestling video games, so I've seen their evolution first hand. I started with Royal Rumble for the Sega Genesis and when Acclaim got around to making War Zone- a game that for once gave me the choice of actually making my own wrestler, that was it for me! It came to a point where outside of maybe four-five wrestlers, I'd just totally disgregard the in-game roster for my own creations. And it wasn't too long before I started thinking up angles and feuds to take my characters to.
You've always had firm control over your characters, what character of yours is your favorite to write for? Seeing as you've done an old man in Wayne, to a teenage girl in Scarlett, a worrysome mum in Vanessa, to the teenage Slanted and Enchanted and now the highest blooming flower I've seen.
... Penny! She's my <3 too haha
It really depends on my mood... I kinda think of the characters as little extensions of myself- they all have little bits of me inside them. And while I do make it a point to give them their own narratives and history, especially when it comes to characters I see a long-running relationship with, there are times when a character will just randomly "speak" to me. I hope that makes sense.
It makes sense on my end. Most recently, you've started writing with other fedders here. Who is your favorite writer to work with? Who do you see being the next breakout star?
Proggy is pretty cool. Granted, I should really tak the time to go on the boards a little more and be more interactive. I was really hoping to see something out of Joe Bishop, especially with the kind of momentum he was ganing into the last pay-per-view. It was watching someone start to really find themselves and just express it.
Right now though it's Proggy. The kid is just hungry and he's at the a point where he just wants to improve and just show everyone what he's got in him. It's hard to not be drawn by that determination- and I'm not saying that because we're gangstas on GTA Online.
From my understanding, you, Proggy and Shadow all had a huge storyline planned for post SuperBrawl. Would you mind sharing some information on that?
We were planning to build our characters into a stable together that would look to dominate the WFWF- like all good stables are supposed to. It kinda started with me kinda playing around with the idea of Penny and Reverend Shadow teaming up. Ad then as we started just talking about this, we hooked up with Proggy and we decided that it was going to be the second coming of Holocaust. This time around, they would have been a supergroup who boarderd on the chaotic good. And we went pretty far into it... Rev had big plan coming in for Shadow, Me and Proggy were supposed to start a tag team and had we won the titles like we were supposed to, we were gonna split it with Rev and defend it under Freebird Rules. We came up with all sorts of great stuff.
You had big plans on feuding with the good Reverend heading into SuperBrawl, want to give us a sneak peek on what was to come?
That was going to be so epic!
Rev and I never had a proper feud with each other. Like granted, we faced off a couple times before but it was nothing we really delved into. And it's a shame because Wayne and Reverend Shadow are two characters that really would have brought out the best in each other naturally. We were going to build into a Last Man Standing-Steel Cage match at SuperBraw and it would have started as Reverend Shadow influencing Scarlett towards a direction that Wayne didn't completely approve on and we were going to build it from there. it was something we were just going to go all out on.
We never had the chance to really build ourselves into it due to outside commitment, but we were going into it with every intention of making it our finest moment- we wanted to set a new level for storytelling. Rev's my best friend. I mean, I can see where people might get the wrong impression of him at the start, but he's a really great guy once you start to get to know him. The man is my brother-in-word/writing partner. And it would have been so amazing to have worked with him in the WFWF.
Who would you consider your best opponent here in the WFWF? The one fedder who brought the best out of you.
Obo- without question. I've had the pleasure of feuding with him twice and he's just someone who's so naturally creative and surprisingly giving when you work with him and he's got a great mind for wrestling which shows when you read his work. He's always brought out the best in me and each time I think about how his performance, it's the kind of thing that makes me wanna improve on my own craft and step up.
If you could give one piece of advice for new fedders on how to improve, what would it be?
READ! Read everything. I mean, learning basic punctuation and paragraph formation is pretty simple stuff, but unless you have no command on how to connect any of that to the story you're telling, you're screwed.
Reading helps in such a big way. Not only do you experience a writer and their story, but you also learn small tricks here and there that could always benefit you're work in the biggest the way.
In terms of coming up with characters, it's okay to start off a little basic, but as you go along try to give them some humanity. Make the feel and don't be afraid about expressing yourself through them.
All the characters in the WFWF come from a pretty real place when you think about it. And I've always felt that what hinders a lot of people from really developing is the lack of honest to goodness emotion.
Once you've got an emotionally centered character, you've got the closest thing to another human being. And above their attitude and standing, where they're coming from matters the most because it really dictates where they're eventually going.
And that's something as a reader we natrually wanna be a part of. We wanna see them at their highest and their lowest, and we wanna feel exactly what they do as their dealing with it.
Everything I do involves writing that it's kinda hard to seperate myself from it. Currently, I'm a creative writing enrichment teacher, my students are between the ages of six and thirteen. I pretty much teach them how to write stories, with our sessions culminating with a DIY storybook. So that's something I have a lot of fun with... My kids come up with the craziest crap, though. I've got one kid who started writing stories about cannibalistic gummybears.
I've written articles for different magazines and newspapers and I'm currently focusing on my fiction. The plan is to have a series based around Penny released by the end of the year.
All this happened too because I had the WFWF- that's where I learned how to write. I wouldn't have a career if it wasn't for that place.
On a wrestling related end, I'm finally starting up a wrestling promotion with a few others. We recently helped REINA put together a Puroresu show last month, and that was just a dream come true.
Right now, we're planning to bring in someone from Canada on May to train our guys and hopefully, by August we should be running shows. And depending on how things look, we wanna book a big show on January with some names from the Indies and Japan.
On the subject of Indy wrestling, who is your favorite Indy wrestler at the moment?
Can I list five?
Yeah man, for sure.
1 & 2: Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews... DUH!!! The Canadian Ninjas are my favorite tag team right now. Portia's got amazing psychology and Nicole is such a a strong worker.
3. MASADA: The dude's just beast! I bringed out on his CZW and Big Japan stuff awhile ago and became an instant fan.
4. Mia Yim: Her TLC with Greg Excellent is one of my favorite matches ever. I got to see her live last month, and aside from being incredibly talented in the ring- there's just something about her that just makes you an instant fan, she knows how to work a crowd up.
5. Eddie Kingston: The guy just brings it and you can just feel it when you watch his stuff. He's the kinda worker I'd imagine dominating his own little territory.
Back on to the fed, is there anything you think you haven't accomplished? What is left on your e-fed bucket list?
Hmmm, if time allowed for it I'd love to come back to feud with a couple people here and there. I actually prefer working on a lower level on the card, just simply because it's just a lot more fun, so if I ever came back, I'd probably spend a lot of time there.
Who would you want to feud with on the undercard? Anybody specific that interest you?
I'd love to do stuff with DevilKiller, since he does seem like someone who's just itching for a strong feud. Brad is another person I'd kill to have a feud with. Given the nature of our characters, I think we could have a really fun and entertaining feud going on.
Since we are going on and on, it's best we close shop soon. Music question, classic rock or grunge?
Grunge! Pearl Jam, Nirvana, TAD, L7, Screaming Trees, SoundGarden, Alice In Chains, The Gits... I've been obsessed with Grunge since I was a teenager
I respectively disagree. Well Mike, thank you for the interview and being a guest on Inside The Mind. In closing, any last words for our viewers?
Thank you for having me KNOCK KNOCK...
|
|
|
Post by Markw on Feb 20, 2014 3:07:53 GMT -5
I was really hoping to see something out of Joe Bishop, especially with the kind of momentum he was ganing into the last pay-per-view. It was watching someone start to really find themselves and just express it. Ah the summer holidays, how I miss those days.
|
|
|
Post by Prophet of Ash on Feb 20, 2014 8:51:42 GMT -5
these are a fun read
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2014 16:11:28 GMT -5
And this is yet another huge episode of Inside The Mind. This week we will feature a very special shoot with the former WFWF Owner and current mod... Ace Bennett!
First off Ace, what got you into e-fedding and why did you stick around?
Well, back a few years ago someone posted a thread on the Lounge about joining the WFWF. I forget who it was exactly, it was either Shawn, Thunder, or Trace, but that doesn't really matter. I was more of a lurker back then other than dabbling in sims here and there and I had lurked WFWF a couple times. I figured it was a good opportunity to start seeing as a few others had joined and I wouldn't be the only newbie at the time.
You did have writing experience though, seeing as you came from Sims. Did that kind of give you a better advantage when you debuted over the newer guys?
Not really, to be honest. Sims is a different beast altogether and when I debuted I was pitted against some pretty tough competition. I faced XWA guy Tempest in the only match he showed for us in what was probably one of the most one-sided matches ever. Aaron Ashton was another guy who debuted back then, and he was way better than me as well. It was a little discouraging seeing all these "new" guys being so good, but I kept to it.
Since we're getting into other characters right away, who is your favorite character to work against? Or work with for that matter?
The thing is, even though I was around for so long, I didn't really have any full blown feuds. I wish I had got to do something more fleshed out with Shawn other than the mini-feud with Samael, but if I had to choose someone it would be the combination of Flaps, Braden Munroe, and Nate, who was the person who wrote Valerie Evans. Those are the three guys that helped me grow as a writer a lot. Back in the day, we would all hop on to MSN Messenger and just chat for hours at a time about anything and I feel like that time when I was National Champion for five seconds and facing all of them was probably the highlight of my career, story wise. Really wish I had got to work with more people in a more fleshed out way though.
Out of the fed right now, who would you want to feud with the most?
That's really tough too. I mentioned Shawn already in a more fleshed out way. I was going to have a feud with Crowe/Prog centering around the kidnapping of Demento leading up to the Superbrawl main event and that was probably going to be fun as well. I really want to see what the up and coming guys like Garrett and Landon can do in a full blown feud, so those two guys would be top choices as well. And of course, Nitta and Cross, but they aren't really as into it as they used to be, and I'm sure they'd be the first ones to tell you that.
You mentioned up and comers, who sticks out the most to you as being THE next star in the fed?
I think the guy that gets overlooked the most is Garrett. He's got a really fun and entertaining character to read. I mean, you have the obvious choices like Crowe and Landon, but I feel like what Garrett is doing is underappreciated in the place and I really feel like he's only two or three pieces away from really making an impact as an upper-midcard, main event type guy.
You were once in this role such as Garrett, Landon, Crowe, what's your best advice to guys like them to take that next step to break the glass ceiling?
I think the best thing that I did was really just take one piece of advice at a time. I know it seems overwhelming when all of these incredibly talented writers come at you with all of this advice to improve you work at the same time, and it may seem like you can't possibly do all of the things that are suggested. For example, I remember one week getting a few comments but the one that stuck out to me was to consider improving my vocabulary so that my descriptions would flow better. I really ran with that one, while keeping the others in mind when I did my next piece and I feel like that helped me from being too scattered and all over the place.
How did you come up with Ace Bennett? Has being able to keep him fresh really helped you in writing him?
It was 2008 when I first signed up, so that would make me 15 I believe? At the time, I was just really excited to get writing with the WFWF and start winning championships and all that good stuff. I just thought of a cool name and had a little vague idea of what to do with the character at the time. Early on, I would do my RPs one at a time without really thinking much about the future or story archs or anything like that, and it came off poorly. So in my second run, I really wanted to start a solid direction, and that was where the split personality thing came from. In my last run, I wanted to relate more to Ace so I gave him a girlfriend and a desire to go to college and everything. I feel like my writing improved as time went along, until I wasn't feeling it anymore that is of course.
Will we see an Ace Bennett return? Will it continue with the current story, or another differing one?
Ace (and Drew) are in college right now. Writing for WFWF really wore me down with tests, and work and a girlfriend and social events and playing Pokemon all balanced out, writing for the WFWF just seemed less important. Maybe in the future something will spark and I will have that drive that I had specifically in my second run, but as of right now it's looking like Ace has faded off into the sunset with Christine and isn't looking back.
From what I understand, you played a significant role in the improvement in Progs. Would you mind explaning how you helped?
I really enjoy helping the new guys. I feel like I can give better advice to them than the long-timers like Schneider and Trace who have won everything and I could never beat. Progs was just a guy who was really intent on getting better and would take every piece of advice in stride and use it to make his work better. We would talk about his pieces that he wrote before he posted them and I'd give him advice on them. I think it helped both of us to be honest, as I think my writing in this period was better as I found myself analyzing other's more.
As a reader, where was the general idea of the Demento/Bennett relationship going to go?
I'm not really sure, I know that Demento was going to end up with Alicia at some point, although that was more up to him where that aspect of the relationship would end up. I think it would've been a fun partnership and I really believe had it worked out we could've been tag champs (not that it takes much to be tag champs) if it had've gone through. If I had to put an analogy on it, probably like an older/younger brother type relationship.
Seeing as you developped storyline relationships with both Demento and Shawn Malakai, do you like co-writing over writing alone?
They both have their strengths. Writing colaboratively really helps because you can use both writer's strengths to cover up the weaknesses. At the same time, what you write really isn't fully yours, which is why I like to do the semi-collaborative things where the only thing that is really the same is the dialogue. I do like writing stuff by myself as well, because when I do that I get ideas like the split personality thing and other crazy/fun ideas like the Goku RP.
When you write, is there any specific things you do? Like listening to music? Have a TV show on?
Not really, I just have to be in a certain zone to write for longer than a few minutes. Sometimes I'll literally sit there staring at a blank document, knowing full well what I want to write, but it just doesn't come out because I'm not ready to. When I'm in that zone, I can write a whole RP pretty quickly.
Out of all your RPs, what has to be your favorite, of yours, of all time?
I think my Streak Destroyer RP against Schneider stands out, but also the one where I wrote two scenes going on at the same time using a table. Things like that that were creative and fun to do. I like to be different, and I feel like those two pieces got me noticed by some of the higher up guys and made them realize that I'm more than just the next up-and-coming flash in the pan.
If you had to pick the best RP of all time from what you've read in the WFWF, what would it be?
Probably something from Schneider, Kyzer, Drakz, or EBR. Those four guys are the ones I really tried to read a ton from because I felt they were just that much better than everyone else. Then you had guys like Brennan, Trace, Rev, Mike and Hutton who always put out awesome stuff as well, and could bring it to those top guys on any given night. I feel like that second group are the type of guys I wanted to be like, and I feel like I almost reached there, but not quite.
If you could have dream match against anybody in the fed, past to present, who would it be?
I'd like a second shot at Reverend Shadow to be honest. My first match against him was like my fourth match on the main roster, so obviously I was outmatch. I always admired his creativity an his willingness to take risks and do things that you wouldn't regularly think could be done with RPs. That was something I tried to do with my work as well, so I feel like it'd be a good pairing.
If you could team with one person for a dream match, who would that individual be?
Someone I haven't teamed with in the past? Probably Braden Munroe. He's a hilarious guy, and working out a storyline with him back in the day was one of my fondest memories of WFWF and RPing a whole. Either him or Malakai because we talk ALL the time and he's developed into one of my better friends despite the fact I've never met the guy, but I've teamed with Shawn already so that's why I said Braden.
To finish things off Ace, what advice would you give to the newest of sign-ups?
Have fun with it. That's really the most important thing. If you're not having fun with it, then don't bother really. That's why I stopped writing, it wasn't fun for me anymore. It became about other things, and that bothered me so I just walked away.
Thanks for your time Ace, got any last words before we finish things off?
Best inactive mod ever. Oh, and if anyone ever needs advice, I'm just a PM away. I know I don't post as much as I did before, but I'm always lurking the boards so I'll see the message.
|
|
|
Post by Sleazyness on Mar 7, 2014 17:44:50 GMT -5
Awesome read.
It would be cool to do this seen as how im new and such.
Very cool share.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2014 19:03:10 GMT -5
And this is yet another huge episode of Inside The Mind. This week we will feature a very special second shoot interview with the "God".... PROPHET OF ASH!
While this is proggy's deal, for this one I've sort of taken it over myself. The only real flaw I could come up with the last one I did and the reason I asked for a second interview is that we didn't really cover a majority of my "WFWF career" and thus missed a lot of the juicy stories, subjects, and HEAT~!. It's understandable that Proggy wouldn't know this stuff, because most of it happened 7-10 years ago and the records kept on the message boards are minimal at best.
So let's get started shall we? First things first, mind talking about your first time winning the Tag Titles and the funny sotry with it?
WFWF has always been "write your own angles". So when Percy first joined the WFWF.. he had either had one match, or was just debutting.. We decided we wanted to feud for the tag team titles. It's goofy and egotistical, but we were young and inexprienced in efedding. We wrote a segment for a show where we literally stole the tag team title belts. Walked into the locker room, took the title belts, and started calling ourselves the tag team champions. Remarkably, the owner/s at the time, I want to say Dazz? Did not say a word about this.. and in fact booked the next show to be a three way tag team tables, ladders, and chairs inside of a Hell in a Cell, for the tag team titles. Incredibly overkill gimmick, but it was the TV main event. Now keep in mind, I've been in WFWF for like 3 shows at this point. Percy had either had one match or no matches at all, and all of a sudden, we're main eventing the TV, in a title match. The other two teams were plagued by no shows, so by process of elimination... We were now the WFWF Tag Team champions
Next on the list, why did you quit the first time?
The first time I left the WFWF, myself and Percy both quit. It was almost immediately following Flaps taking over (who, for the rest of this interview, I'll be calling by his character name of Johnny Michaels because Flaps is a stupid name). Like all new owners, he started shaking things up when he took over and immediately rubbed me the wrong way. With teenage rebellion, I said screw you, I quit.
The problem was, Percy and I were still the tag team champions and unlike today, WFWF was booked to be a lot more real and serious, so when the tag team champions suddenly no longer work for the federation, it poses a problem. Johnny Michaels' solution to this was to just go full steam ahead with the planned matches, and we lost the titles on the next show via double no show.
Then you came back and had a feud with ATM. Mind going in detail on this?
We were gone for I think like three months? Two months? WFWF was a different beast back then with almost weekly shows rather than monthly shows, so being gone for several months actually meant you disappeared for a few programs worth of shows. Where as, I've been gone for almost a year and have essentially only missed one full program worth of shows.
We finally returned to WFWF when we were promised better angles and more control over our characters. Part of the reason we left was something similar to what happened recently, with someone other than us controlling our characters on show, but it was a much bigger incident. Our "contract" to return said we'd get control over what was going on, and would be clued into our angles before hand.
Our first angle back was a feud with ATM. ATM was Johnny Arsenic, Justin Tyme, and Meg. It was a very tailor made feud for Los Hobos, because ATM's gimmick were spoiled rich kids, where as the Los Hobos troupe (at the time, Obo, Percy, Thunder, & Ashley Hobo as a manager) were hobos. The feud was a lot of fun and actually played into Los Hobos leaving, as part of "the negotiation of our return" seen Los Hobos given a winnebago, which we called the Win a Bagel. ATM stole the Bagel, vandalized it, and dumped it into a river. It was extremely goofy, but it worked and set up a fun PPV match. The graphic survives in the archives. It was a "Money, Cash, Ho..Bos" match.
And then you won the tag titles for the second time, how was that?
When we won the tag team titles for the second time, it actually meant something because we actually WON them. We didn't just say "oh, we're the tag team champions now" then beat people who were on their way out of the federation and just happened to hold the tag team titles because no one had challenged them for the titles. And when we won the tag team titles the second time, the WFWF was at it's peak of tag team wrestling. There were no less than like eight or nine tag teams. The tag team division was strong enough that the adformentioned ATM/Hobos feud did NOT involve the tag titles. It was an undercard tag feud. When we won the tag titles for the second time, we also became the first team to win them twice.
And then there were some unusual circumstances that made you lose them, what happened there?
Having won the tag titles twice, Percy and I felt there wasn't much for us to do as a tag team any more. We were writing comedy stuff and while it was fun, we were seeing what it took to succeed in the WFWF at the time and that was strong, character driven, serious roleplays. Percy and I had a discussion with Michaels and told him we wanted to feud with each other. Break up Los Hobos and morph both of our characters into something completely different.
Again, we're still the tag team champions though and the titles had to be dropped. So a match was booked against The Holocaust. And this is new to everyone except maybe Rev because I think I told him in 07.. The match was thrown. It was pre-determined that Percy and I were losing. But unlike a lot of "works", the Holocaust weren't in on it. They just knew they were booked in a tag team titles match, and that they won. So it's a weird trivia fact that Percy and I lost the tag team titles twice, without losing a competitive match.
And then you went on to a money feud with Percy. How was this?
It was a career defining feud for me. Percy and I worked really well together because I understood his character (having written it for like 2 years at this point) and he understood mine, so we knew the barbs to throw at one another. The match itself was extremely violent. It was the first really violent match that I had been in, in WFWF. I specifically told Michaels to make it really violent, because that was the direction I wanted to take Obo in. He went in a weird direction, using LIQUID NITROGEN in the match in addition to stuff like light tubes, thumbtacks, etc. While people have criticized my writing as being excessively violent when I started using syringes and stuff, I can't think of anything I've ever written that would've legitimately murdered someone. In the match between Percy and I, Johnny Michaels wrote my head being dipped into a drum of liquid nitrogen.
And then with your feud with tha CBT, what made it so historically relevant?
He couldn't beat me. No matter what CBT did, he could not beat me. We had tag matches, singles matches, three way matches. We had a death match in a one off federation I created. We had word limit matches on house shows. He couldn't beat me. I beat CBT seven different times. 7-0. It became hysterical, because CBT loved to talk crap out of character and go on this long winded tirades about nothing and would still talk crap to me when I consistantly defeated him no matter the enviroment or stipulations.
You won your first International Championship a short while later, why is it not on the record books?
So WFWF used to run shows about once a week. The weekly TV show legitimately was once a week and the monthly PPVs legitimately were once a month. There was an "international tour" at one point that had five shows in two weeks. The federation used to be REALLY busy. Unfortunately, results often weren't posted until after the next card was already up. Figure out how you would write a roleplay without having any idea if you won or lost your last match. A card called "Devil's Night" sticks out to me in particular. The roleplay period was to end around Halloween, with the card being a Halloween card. The results were posted in like January. And there were a dozen or so shows between those. How do you continue cohesive writing in that realm? As an owner, Johnny Michaels was not well liked and was making all sorts of irrational decisions that were effecting the federation, the late results being the biggest one. After holding up the entire federation for months with his nonsense, he finally stepped down.
Kyzer can talk more about this if you ever do an interview with him, but Johnny Michaels refused to give the ownership position to Kyzer and Drakz, despite Drakz being "the top guy" at the time and Kyzer being the most exprienced in roleplaying. Instead he gave the book to Trent Draven and Man of the Hour Josh. When Michaels left, there was a show waiting to be posted, which featured a six way ladder match for the International title. Everyone no showed that match, champion included, except me. So by no show, I would've won the International title. Draven and Josh started trying to finish the incomplete results to get things back on track, but quickly realized they were both incredibly ill suited to run the federation. This is when I was given the house shows board to run. Trent and Josh gave up being owners after about a week, and Kyzer & Drakz took over. Their first act was pissing on everything Michaels had done and putting up basically a joke show. Drakz drove a tank through the side of the building. Justin Tyger got murdered. All the titles were renamed to jokes and most of the matches booked didn't happen, including the ladder match.
I'll mention one name frome time to time, go on about them: Johnny Michaels.
I do not like Johnny Michaels.
I think at this point in the interview that's a forgone conclusion and I think anyone who's followed me for any length of time knows bits and pieces why because I semi regularly mention it out of character and I've used it for in character motivation before. As a means to get myself fired up for really passionate speeches.
In addition to the previous poor booking decisions that I've already covered.. In addition to bailing and leaving me high and dry on my first championship win, Johnny Michaels did something that is unbelieveably obnoxious to me. He booked himself to the top and stayed there. At a time when the federation was running shows almost every week, he would have a match maybe once a month. This after booking himself to win the World title.
I'm going to go into a little bit of a detour here to explain this. When you're booking a wrestling e-fed, you've got a certain bit of control over the entire federation of characters. You're making matches and you're determining who gets pushed. It's a real tricky scenario when you're also booking your own characters. It's the Dusty Rhodes effect. If you're the top star, you should be booked that way, but you also shouldn't be booking yourself to be the top star if that makes ANY SENSE AT ALL.
Flaps made Johnny Michaels the top star of the WFWF. He booked himself into a title feud and when he won the title, he rarely defended it. He out and out dodged people who he knew would beat him (specifically Kyzer) and was reluctant to even give people who had been with the federation for a long time and earned their spot a shot, like Drakz. When he did face Drakz and he wasn't involved in the judging at all, he was defeated cleanly and unanimously.
So after nearly killing the federation through his inept booking and being publicly shamed, he disappears. Obviously. But he has the nerve to come back later. A couple of times, in fact. He came back once in 2007 or 2008 when I was the champion and I called him out. I knew I was a better writer then than he was when he was the champion. But he refused to face me. here I am, the champion, the top star, and I'm making challenges to HIM. And he backed down. Then his most recent run, as "Mr. Chicken Nugget". What a ing joke. I'm going easy on the f word, much easier than I typically do on message boards and especially in real life because the WF censor for it is obnoxious, but there are some instances where the f word is needed and that is one of them. Here's a guy who was "the top guy" in WFWF and at that time, the longest reigning Heavyweight champion, because of his own defensive booking.. And he returns as a ing chicken nugget? him and the horse he rode in on. His mediocrity and general shadiness is why it meant so much to ME to become the longest reigning Heavyweight champion the WFWF has ever had, not that I have it, but that he DOESN'T have it.
You mentioned the House Show scene, how did you run those?
I ran two different versions of the house shows. Originally, the house shows were created to keep people busy as time between shows grew. Short meaningless matches, usually with word limits on the roleplays. I evolved the house shows into more of a developmental project. All of the new guys came to the house shows for their first matches and feuds. There was even a house show title. At first, it was just called "The House Show Title" but it became the Hardcore X title and got integrated into the main WFWF. Booking the house shows, I booked and wrote both Trace and Shawn's first matches.
What did it mean for you to win the International Championship for the "actual" first time?
It was pretty big for me because it was the first singles title I won. It was the "Ham Shank" championship because it was under the Kyzer/Drakz reign of insane, but it was the International title. This was one of the many matches I defeated Tha CBT in. Possibly the first. It was a big deal for me because as the International champion, I was now "the number two guy" in WFWF. And this was a time when Kyzer was the Heavyweight champion, so a lot of people seen that as something they'd never accomplish, until he left.
And then you feuded with Reverend Shadow for the Heavyweight title, mind going on detail on that, including the significance of the first no rope barbed wire match and that PPV?
So Kyzer leaves. There's now an opening for the World Championship again (no longer the Intergalatic Spaceman Championship). CBT & Rev take over ownership from Kyzer and Drakz and create a tournament. it was either eight or sixteen guys. I think it was eight. It ended with me and Rev for the title.. ....and I lost.
I had come a long way since Obo the Hobo and writing comedy matches and roleplays. I was now just "Obo" and was basically the same character I've been writing since I returned, just not as refined. It was around my title win that I introduced Samantha. And one of the funniest things with Samantha started. Samantha, in present day, is 15 (or 16) years old. Looking at Schneider's date of birth, that's impossible. He would've impregnated her mother when he was 13. This is because when Samantha was introduced, she was about five years younger. In 2007, when was four or five. The feud with Rev, that lasted two PPVs, seen him as a slightly sinister man manipulating the young Samantha. he took her to the park, sent her gifts.. it bordered on creepy, but at the same time it was awesome. There was a bit of pay off to this, with Obo using a thumbtack bat that Samantha made, on Rev in the no rope barbed wire match.
The no rope barbed wire match was very cool to me and is one of my career highlights for a number of reasons. CBT was a huge ROH mark. He wanted the WFWF to be ROH. So for him to agree to a death match to blow off a feud was pretty nuts in itself. But to top it off, and this was a surprise to me until I seen the graphics, the PPV was called "Forever Unscarred". I've been a huge Nick Mondo fan since about 2002 and when I was changing my screen name and email, I chose ForeverUnscarred, not just because of Nick Mondo, but also because of Mondo's explaination behind what unscarred means, and why he got unscarred tattooed on himself. Unscarred, in his words, means that no matter what comes at you, no matter what hits you, you don't let it get you down. You don't carry burdeons in life. You remain unscarred. So for me to see my email, as the name of the PPV, where I'm main eventing in a match that directly benefits my character, for the World title, was really surreal.
As a side note of surrealism, Smart Mark Video put out a Best Of and Shoot Interview of Nick Mondo in 2011 and called it.. "Forever Unscarred: The Nick Mondo Story". I had NEVER heard ANYONE say the phrase "forever unscarred" before I started using it, and know it's not "a thing" because I have the accounts for it on AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, and did for eBay and Youtube. I've ordered a bunch from SMV using this email, and have communicated with Mondo himself with this email, so clearly all parties involved seen my use of it..
You quit as World Champion, but never missed a show. Want to explain?
CBT and I used to talk on an almost daily basis. I think a lot of people know that I understand wrestling and booking very well, and anyone who's put together an angle with me will tell you, I have very distinct ideas of what works and what doesn't, why it won't work, and if you propose something that isn't going to work, I'm going to shoot it down and then tell you how we can do it, and make it work. Following the no rope barbed wire match, CBT had this absurd idea that we "bring the wrestling back", and the next feud be myself and him, for the title, ending in a PURE WRESTLING RULES match. He was an ROH mark. Now keep in mind, at this point, I am "The King of Gore" Obo. I've just started calling myself "Your Heretic Hero". I just won the world title in no rope barbed wire. From a character stand point, WHY ON EARTH WOULD I ACCEPT A PURE WRESTLING RULES MATCH? Not just a match with no stipulations, but a match where the stipulation directly means for a more clean match? Obo, the character, would never take that sort of match and I, the writer, didn't see CBT as the top challenger. So after things escalated, I told him if he was going to book the fed this way, he'd be booking it without me.
I was gone for like two days, before he got ahold of me and told me if I wanted to return, I'd be facing Wayne McGuirk and I could book the feud however I wanted. Never missed a show and as far as anyone outside of CBT knew, I never left.
Another name: The Deville.
This is a fun one. This is the type of stories that people will tell when the WFWF is gone and just memories. Pierce Deville came to the WFWF and instantly set the place on fire, because he was writing these roleplays that were incredible. They were not only very well written and long roleplays, but also had these little easter eggs built in. Like the first letter of each paragraph would spell out a hidden message. And unlike a lot of new guys, he was also very involved in the out of character realm of WFWF instantly.
He approached me after he had been around for a few shows about creating this tag team. he had a few names in mind, but we settled on "F*ck You", because we were sending a big f*ck you to everyone involved with WFWF. I wasn't the champion any more, but was still looked at as a top guy. And Deville was probably the #2. So for us to be teaming up was basically what The New Epoch did to modern day WFWF.
There was a tag team gauntlet open invitation match for the tag titles on I want to say a PPV but it may have just been a regular show because I don't think we lasted long enough as a team for multiple PPVs and despite us both having other matches on that show, we entered that with crazy roleplays, and won the tag titles.
So after a while, it somehow comes out that The Deville was plagerizing. The guy we knew as Pierce Deville did not write any of the content he was posting and simply had a bank of stuff saved back. That's why he needed another top guy to be a tag team partner to him. Because that's what the writing called for. We, within the WFWF, actually found the real Pierce Deville and talked to him. As it turns out, the dude in the WFWF was criminally insane and had been e-stalking the real Deville for years. Needless to say, he was immediately fired and blackballed from the WFWF. Despite my protests and me having done nothing wrong, we were stripped of the tag titles (meaning, three tag title wins, zero actual competitive matches with tag title losses)
It says here something about being "Tag Team Champions" with EBR. Explanation?
After Deville got fired, CBT & EBR won the tag titles. Either directly after or the next reign. And they were basically holding the titles because EBR was a good writer because for most of the matches, CBT was either no showing or just putting up participation pieces. I was talking to E a lot around this time and basically said, I'm going to be your new partner. I was angry that I had been stripped of the titles and CBT wasn't doing crap anyways. I wanted to duplicate what Percy and I had done years before, where I started just saying I was the tag team champion and eventually people accept it. But EBR never fully embraced it so it never took off.
And then you left for a second time "for good"?
The tag team title thing had me angry. And not just because I lost a title, but because it messed up my other storyline too. As F*ck You, Deville and myself were heading into a World title match. The story was that we were going to destroy the other two people in the match, then fight it out amongst ourselves for who was the new World champion. That was the early angle. But when Deville left, it became a three way dance, with no real angle. The whole federation was in turmoil. And I was being given answers to things that weren't really suitable for the questions, basically dismissive answers about everything. There was finally a big blow up between me and Alex Sean and I left.
Another name... Alex Sean.
I actually threatened to sue Alex Sean. 100% factual. When I left WFWF, I told him point blank, do not use my characters any more, for anything. He took a "whatever, I'll do what I want" stance. I told him again, do not use them. I have copyrights on them. And I do.
When I was in high school, I was in advanced classes for most of high school. One of the classes I took was advanced economics and one of the things we covered, at length, was intellectual property and it's defense. At the time I was writing a lot of stuff for both WFWF and elsewhere on the internet, so it became my realitive talking point, and something I got counsil for from the teacher. Should I protect this stuff? And he said point blank, absolutely, you should. So in 2006, I applied for and was granted a copyright on "HLM Media Inc". Which stood for Half Life Media Inc. I don't know why I chose that. It covered the video editing projects I was doing, and I have DVD releases circulating that have the HLM logo, for the copyright, the writing I was doing, and basically anything else that I produced creatively.
So when Alex Sean starts saying he's going to use my characters without my permission, I tell him I'll sue him. It's taken as a big joke, "OH I'LL SUE YOU" but I was being 100% serious and was within my legal rights, though if it would've went to court it would've surely been dismissed as frivelous and nonsense since WFWF makes no profit, though the advertising revenue from Ringside Collectibles could probably be brought into play.
Here's another name: Calvin Lee.
When I left WFWF, Calvin was the only person I really talked to any more from the federation. Which is really weird since Calvin and Alex have always been close and I legitimately hated Alex. I talked to Calvin for long periods of time almost every night, about all sorts of weird subjects that weren't efedding, and he actually introduced me to a couple of really cool people that he knew in real life. We drifted apart and eventually just quit talking all together, but I kept in touch with two of the people he introduced me to for several years after that.
If by chance Calvin is actually reading this, and paid any attention to my last run at all, he'd agree that a lot of Samantha is based off of one of these people. Her traits.
Why did you leave for over three years in one period of time?
Regularly, when I was talking to Calvin, he tried to get me to come back and a few times, I wrote return promos. But with the differences between Alex and I and a constant conflict I had with someone outside of WFWF who was a mod on WF, it was almost impossible for me to return to WFWF. It's pretty much the reason I abandoned the "Obo" name entirely when I returned, because due to falsifications from this now ex mod, any time anything was posted by me about Obo, the account was instantly banned.
Next on my list is yet another name: Trace Demon.
So when I returned, the first feud I wanted was Trace Demon. Because when he was almost brand new, he scored an upset on me in a match where I wasn't really putting in full effort, and in the time I was gone, he became the World champion and one of the "top guys". Unfortunately, the feud I had with Trace went VERY badly. I laid out a pretty specific feud for what needed done, what promos needed to be turned in, how both characters needed to react.. I turned in all of my promos.. and Trace did nothing. So I adapted the story, to try to cover for the missing piece.. And Trace did nothing. He wouldn't even respond to my PMs at this point. So I went into salvage mode and turned in a segment meaning to save the feud the best as I could. I got into a really intense place with Schneider and cut a very "real" promo.. Trace turned in an in ring promo that had nothing to do with the feud at all, or anything in the WFWF at all. His character came to the ring, joked around with the fans, and then left. Not only did it not help the story that was being told for our feud, it was directly determental.
So we have our big blow off match. I beat him. Good roleplays all around. The feud is over and I don't want to ever work with Trace again because it's been a headache to face him... And then he starts talking crap, in character. If he had talked crap, in character, before.. then we would've got a better feud out of it all together. It was completely infuriating to me. We had our blow ups publicly over it. He says he was in a weird place at the time. I'd be okay with maybe trying to do another feud with him if the scenario was right. It's water under the bridge now.
You also wanted to talk about the Johnny Knight feud, go on...
The Johnny Knight feud almost ended my run with WFWF. After the horrible feud with Trace, I was given Aaron Ashton to feud with. He's a guy that was "on the rise" and facing me would be good for him, I was told. We lay out a feud, he's very good with communication, all is well. We start the feud.. And all of a sudden he's banned from the forums for something that happened elsewhere on the boards. After everything I went through before, I wanted NO PART of this type of crap. But he returned, and to avoid getting banned again, changed his name to Johnny Knight. Except now, he's pretty non responsive to everything. Nothing really moves forwards, at all.. I ended up writing an extremely violent and one sided match as our blow off because he no showed the blow off match and I was angry, and since you can't smack people through the internet, my best recourse was to make his character fall onto a lot of glass and never throw a punch.
What did you think of your feud with Hutton Brown, and why is it significant?
So since I came back, I have two bad feuds. both Trace and Johnny Knight went as badly as a feud could go. Going into Superbrawl, I get paired with Hutton Brown. Hutton was the National champion and it was a way to cool me down I think, and throw me a bone. Give me my Grand Slam championship, basically. When we started laying out the feud, Hutton, having seen the match I wrote that essentially murdered Johnny Knight, politely asks for no death match stuff. I agree. It wasn't really called for in this feud. So we come up with this feud where I would attack him and injure him, then work the same injury over and over. I proposed a ladder match as a blow off because there haven't been a lot of ladder matches in WFWF history. The feud basically went, Kylie gives Hutton "a birthday present", which was a jab at Trace Demon for the previously mentioned off topic, random, feud ruining promo, because he talked in that promo about it being his birthday. Hutton says it's not his birthday, but opens the gift anyways.. and is attacked by a snake. Snake bites his arm. And we're off to the races. Leading up to Superbrawl, I picked apart his arm over and over. And it gave a great angle because how can someone truthfully climb a ladder with one arm?
The match itself was great because both Hutton and myself really brought it. I think we stole the show for Superbrawl that year with roleplay quality and I KNOW the match I wrote stole the show. It was incredible because it was a National title match. This meaningless, pointless belt.. and all of a sudden the best match with the best developed feud on the biggest show of the year is for this title.
What did it feel like to win the WFWF championship for a second time?
The title win for me was validation. Because when I was gone, I was still observing the fed and I was seeing a lot of roleplays "on top" that I knew I could outdo. It just so happened, my first WFWF World title shot was also my very first match with Kyzer. I had wanted to face Kyzer since he started. I believe the match that I won the WFWF title from him was the first time Kyzer lost "a competitive match". I know he had a worked match loss to Rev. It was also only the second no rope barbed wire match in WFWF history.
Throughout the years, you and Mike's characters have interacted a lot. What do you think of this?
It's really funny that one of Mike's characters was the one to end my record setting reign as World Champion. Mike and I have a lot in common as writers. The way we develop stories is very similar. Mike is someone I used to talk to a lot and we share a lot of the same views about wrestling as a whole. I think the Wayne McGuirk vs. Obo feud in 2007 was probably the best feud I had with Obo. I'm a bit disappointed that our match at Psycho Circus couldn't have been one on one, with no offense meant to Mak Cross or Cam Nitta. It just would've been MUCH easier for me to develop an interesting story one on one with Mike. Not just "too many hands in the pot ruin the stew" either. Because while four way feuds are terribly hard to develop, Mike and I were at a character crossroads. Our stories for Psycho Circus were almost identical from different perspectives. For him, it was Scarlett crying out for her father's attention and wanting to win the title, to impress him, and him wanting her out of wrestling.. And for me, it was Samantha doing anything she could to get Phillip's attention, and him having tunnel vision on only wrestling. It's really weird that we came up with this since we didn't talk about it at all.
And we're near the end. A question on a lot of people's mind is why did you leave this go around?
I write best when I'm challenged. When I have something I'm aiming for. My feuds with Hutton and Kyzer prove that. When I left a year ago, there wasn't really anything left in the WFWF that was a challenge to me. Drakz or Brennan were the two "big feuds" to me and they were both on their leaves of absense. I was also creatively burnt out. For two years, I wrote week in and week out, never missing a show. I think by the end, my writing started to suffer because of this.
I'm also an extremely busy person. While we've been doing this interview, I've had to pause every ten minutes or so to switch over stuff on my computer. I work full time at a pretty physically and mentally taxing job and also maintain my own small business. On the side, I'm trying to get my Youtube channel for Japanese pro wrestling off the ground. And I have other writing interests (that have been similarly neglected recently). On top of all of that, I'm a freelance video editor and will often take on gigs to produce DVDs for people. That kind of stuff does go ahead of stuff like WFWF, because it helps to pay the bills.
I often have days when I'm working on stuff literally from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. There is no time left over. Then almost every night, I leave stuff to work while I sleep, so I can milk extra time of hours worked while I'm sleeping. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I almost instinctively check my computer, make sure everything is going okay, and turn things over.
Thanks again for yet another great shoot interview. Do you have any last words for our readers?
The end is the beginning is the end.
|
|
|
Post by sonstuds on Mar 8, 2014 19:42:33 GMT -5
And then you left for a second time "for good"? The tag team title thing had me angry. And not just because I lost a title, but because it messed up my other storyline too. As F*ck You, Deville and myself were heading into a World title match. The story was that we were going to destroy the other two people in the match, then fight it out amongst ourselves for who was the new World champion.Child please. A bit of an hyperbole there man. Just look at the quality of the RPs, angles, and shows compared to where it was. We very clearly got the WFWF back on track. You really took that too seriously, and while I don't remember where or how it first started, yes he was just saying he was going to book you to get a reaction and for our own amusement. I mean, did you really think we would book you in a main event angle for a PPV when you're not even in the fed just for convenience's sake when you've left before the angle even started? Or go through the effort to book you just to bury you because Alex wanted to be a petty? Or that Thunder and I would go along with it? (well maybe in 2004 when me and Al were like 15 we would have done that, but we were 18/19 at that point).
|
|
|
Post by Kyzer on Mar 9, 2014 3:44:50 GMT -5
And then you left for a second time "for good"? The tag team title thing had me angry. And not just because I lost a title, but because it messed up my other storyline too. As F*ck You, Deville and myself were heading into a World title match. The story was that we were going to destroy the other two people in the match, then fight it out amongst ourselves for who was the new World champion.Child please. A bit of an hyperbole there man. Just look at the quality of the RPs, angles, and shows compared to where it was. We very clearly got the WFWF back on track. You really took that too seriously, and while I don't remember where or how it first started, yes he was just saying he was going to book you to get a reaction and for our own amusement. I mean, did you really think we would book you in a main event angle for a PPV when you're not even in the fed just for convenience's sake when you've left before the angle even started? Or go through the effort to book you just to bury you because Alex wanted to be a petty? Or that Thunder and I would go along with it? (well maybe in 2004 when me and Al were like 15 we would have done that, but we were 18/19 at that point). And Frazier goes down!!! The Champ has won again!!!
|
|
|
Post by Prophet of Ash on Mar 9, 2014 13:34:29 GMT -5
You really took that too seriously, and while I don't remember where or how it first started, yes he was just saying he was going to book you to get a reaction and for our own amusement. I mean, did you really think we would book you in a main event angle for a PPV when you're not even in the fed just for convenience's sake when you've left before the angle even started? Or go through the effort to book you just to bury you because Alex wanted to be a petty? Or that Thunder and I would go along with it? (well maybe in 2004 when me and Al were like 15 we would have done that, but we were 18/19 at that point). It's one of those times when you've got to know how to read people. When someone is already pissed off enough that they want nothing at all to do with you and would rather quit entirely than to continue to deal with you, that's when you've won in trolling and you stop. Alex didn't get that and just kept going. I know this is going to come as a shocking revelation to people here, but I've got a temper and I don't tend to act reasonably when I've gone off the deep end.
|
|
|
Post by sonstuds on Mar 9, 2014 14:24:08 GMT -5
You really took that too seriously, and while I don't remember where or how it first started, yes he was just saying he was going to book you to get a reaction and for our own amusement. I mean, did you really think we would book you in a main event angle for a PPV when you're not even in the fed just for convenience's sake when you've left before the angle even started? Or go through the effort to book you just to bury you because Alex wanted to be a petty? Or that Thunder and I would go along with it? (well maybe in 2004 when me and Al were like 15 we would have done that, but we were 18/19 at that point). It's one of those times when you've got to know how to read people. When someone is already pissed off enough that they want nothing at all to do with you and would rather quit entirely than to continue to deal with you, that's when you've won in trolling and you stop. Alex didn't get that and just kept going. I know this is going to come as a shocking revelation to people here, but I've got a temper and I don't tend to act reasonably when I've gone off the deep end. You're really over analyzing the entire situation man.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2014 18:50:09 GMT -5
And this is yet another huge episode of Inside The Mind. This week we will feature a very special second shoot interview with the legend... REVEREND SHADOW!
I thought you said there would be gummy bears?
I had to bait you in somehow.
-Stares quietly-
Let's get this started shall we. First of all, how did you get into E-fedding?
Actually a school friend at the time. Brad; some people know him around here. Anyways, I was dating a friend of his at the time, and we got to know eachother. I wrote a bit here and there, nothing in the way of fiction at the time. Just poetry, and prose. So he asked if I wanted to join, and at first the whole concept was lost on me. After I got involved, I fell in love with WFWF. I did do a bit of efedding other places, but the only real home I have had in the community is this place.
Who did Brad RP as?
At the time, he was Kronic, Black Widow, and Vivica. He has been numerous characters, and I really dont remember all their names honestly.
Seeing as you mentioned Kronic. What was the driving force in the creation of the Holocaust stable?
Nothing inspiring. Honestly we just were friends, and wanted to start a stable. Grant you, at the beginning it was just Brad and I..but he had three active characters so we were able to keep a steady look as a full stable. Yea, nothing special.
Has the idea of returning Holocaust ever cross your mind?
You know well, and good, that I did recently. Anyways, yea as part of the grand scheme of it, at SB we were going to unite a new one. Featuring Mike, Progs, and I as the beginning team. After much personal debate, I departed, and mike did as well. After that, it all got scrapped and thrown under the rug.
That said, I wouldnt again now anyways. It was a fun idea, but I am not sure the execution would have been worth the effort. Sometimes the nostalgia is more of an aftertaste you cant recreate again. Holocaust, and the premise, is still special to Reverend Shadow as a whole, and his career, and I am happy with what we did at the time.
What is your thoughts on the start of your career here in the WFWF?
Mostly overhyped mess of potential, and poor execution. Alot of my original run in WFWF was pandered to me. As Obo said, alot of my matches were set up for me to win, and honestly that is just something I tried to push past.
When I first started, most of my work was guided by flaps, and then eventually I was subject to Kyzer. In honesty I dont think I had a clue what I was doing at the time anyways. They kept seeing me move up the ladder, and I just doddled along high on my own flatulence. Eventually I got nautious, and left.
All and all, I am probably one of the more overrated characters/legends, roaming around.
In essence, you were the product of the machine?
Basically, though I hate how that sounds. I think I had alot of raw potential, but I wasnt very good at all. Honestly, my Scars and Stripes win was a pretty terrible roleplay. Yea, I was creative at times, but I dont actually know why I was being pushed generally. That didnt mean that I didnt try to live up to it later; I think I have on some level.
Or have tried hard to.
Going back to that Scars and Stripes, who would you have picked to win it?
I couldnt even tell you who all was in it. I just know that in the grand scheme, I probably won because they wanted to see me pushed. haha
Seeing as one of my previous guest got into this subject, what were your thoughts on Flaps (Johnny "Movie Man" Michaels)?
At the time, I actually frequented conversation with him. I liked him well enough, then again I was just going with the flow. I didnt really have a clue how everything worked, but when you are winning tag titles, and moving up the brackets; you dont question much.
I do remember the epic wait on results, and general refusal to hand off the federation.
From your time in the fed, bar yourself, who was the best owner or team of owners and why?
Wouldn't pick myself anyways. But best of all the ones I have seen, definitely Kyzer and Drakz. No one mixed it up like they did, and no one really had put their character into ownership yet; so that hadnt burnt out its welcome yet.
They, again, were pushing me hard. So I loved them for that, but I generally liked the way they handled the shows, the amusing sense you got from their stuff backstage. I dont know that era was definitely one of excess. haha
Since we're on that path, give us your honest thoughts on Michael Kyzer.
Probably one of the most influential efedders for myself, and many others. But Kyzer also instilled a sense of what writing was to me, and that spoke volumes more than just the effedding. His roleplays were stories, and I wanted to write just like him; obviously.
After awhile, I stuck with writing, but I would have to say that Michael Kyzer the character, and his handler, both struck a chord that continues to ripple into every piece of writing I put together.
You got the chance to feud with Kyzer, mind explaining what you thought of that whole experience?
Joygasm; seriously best word for it. crap, I can't even remembe the feud. I do remember getting strung up on a cross, with barbed crown, high over the ring.
In truth, it was a dream come true at the time, but I wasnt ready for it. He easily put me down, but then I was feud with him again. As obo stated, I was set to win the rematch. He ended up having to step down. I took over with CBT, and the tourney happened; ending in Obo and I.
Did you enjoy your run with ownership with tha CBT?
I enjoyed ownership, I did not enjoy CBT. Our partnership as higher authority was extremely one sided. I did my best work in the area of delegating positions in WFWF for people; mostly because I had a terribly lazy co-owner.
I had a team of writers just for matches that didnt get volunteers. The results werent the best, but everything moved. I advertized, made deals, moved people in(even if most were short lived). We were active with a house show card secondary, and everything was mostly due to the others that I had helping me. So many names, and yea CBT basically made our cards, or half the time did....a segment now and again.
He was LAZY...
So, what are you honest thoughts on CBT?
Fun Guy; Terrible Owner; Long Winded and Confusing. haha
Really, that is honest as my thoughts get on him...
I'll name a guy, and you give me your thoughts on them. Ready?
Go for it.
Phillip Schneider?
Crazy fun to feud with, and a little out there when it comes to writing some of the more riske stuff in the federation. I think our feud worked because of the difference in dimensions that we always elaborated on. Where he was grit, I was always trying to find poetry...etc.
I think he is also probably the single most dedicated person to the federation; when he is around. One of the big reasons my ownership was a tad smoother, and I had alot of fun working with him in general.
We definitely have always differed in how we handled things, and I can guarantee you we have butted heads on occasion. He is still ans awesome rper, and dedication is off the charts.
Next person is Mike.
Awesome friend, and just general good guy. I love mike like a brother, and we started around the same time. He and I have known eachother through our work, and over the last couple years have become good writing pals.
The rper that is mike, is something amazing to me. I know not everyone gets his stuff, or understands why it kind of meshes. I just have always been a big fan, and we have had a chance to write together both in, and out of, the fed. Great writer, and tons of creativity.
His sensibilities between violence and romance; carrying a taste of fantasy and just a crazy mix of it all. I dont know, but I will always be enamored with my good friend, and his work.
How about Trace Demon?
I dont have any huge personal grievances, but I can't say I know that guy all that well. For while we worked together in an off shoot rp place I created called City of Animus. Besides that, and just the fact I have always thoughts him talented; I don't know him all that well.
As an owner, he isnt best, isnt the worst. Then again, most of that is based on personal opinions that probably have more to do with nostalgia again. I like him well enough .
How about Shawn Malakai?
I think he is dedicated to the federation, and I admire that. However most of the time I can honestly say I dont agree with him. His past in a rough one with the fed, and it is an up and down thing. I think he tries, and always has, but it still is a rocky thing. I wont go into huge detail, just alot differences in stance. Then again; I dont really get along with a ton of people in general; let alone in the fed...
Let's go with one of the new guys... Proggy.
He lacks alot of direction, but is full of potential. Alot of the time I go by where I see potential in people, and proggy has it by the bushels. I think alot of it is he is young, and needs to read more, and experience more to really see the misguided moves. But we have all been there, those of us that have made it can tell you that it isnt easy. You will screw up alot, and I think this kind of where Proggy sets.
As a handler, he is a good kid, and again...tons of creative potential. I just hope it doesnt ever go to waste.
As I've read, you and Proggy were going to feud heading into Scars and Stripes. Why did you pick him in an idea to feud?
I wanted to give him a push, that was the general idea. I needed something to hold me over and until mike and I's feud got some grounding. Progs seemed like he could used the attention on a good base of writing. I just wanted to provide him a small boost.
If you could come back and feud with a newcomer, who would that be?
Probably Landon/Slappy. Hes shows some amazing skills, and even though I dont comment anymore, I still keep up with him.
Did you enjoy your most recent run in the fed?
I did actually, and though they were hugely not involved in the federation. My puppetmaster 2 parter was super fun to write, and plot. I actually put alot of thought into my last run. If you go through and read all of the rps I had, you can see hints, and resolutions, and easter eggs, and just some cool rps. I am doting a bit, but I feel like my last run was alot of fun, even if it was hugely off topic when it came to the federation.
I've seen in a post of yours the hashtag, #WatchersAreComing, what was that all about?
Failed return of Holocaust, which I talked about earlier.
Why did your most recent run fall apart?
Mainly, I am more interested in writing, than I am in wrestling; effedding. It took some wise thoughts for me to realize it, but I needed to walk away. Besides my own personal writing projects, and work, I just dont really have time. It was fun, but I dont belong rping in WFWF anymore.
You were going to be in a Hell in a Cell match against Wayne McGurk at this year's SuperBrawl, knowing this... Is there a way we could get a snipit of that match?
Mike might have some pieces of what he had started writing, but I dont have any. I know that the match was going to be huge, and definitely was intended to out do the main event if possible..haha
Well, thanks for the interview. Got any last words for our dearest readers?
If you love writing, or feel inspired to write; don't stop. No matter what others might say, just keep writing in some form. I love the craft, and definitely would never want to see potential stray from it, if it can be helped.
Peace
|
|
|
Post by Kyzer on Mar 15, 2014 1:48:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the mad respect from the Reverend. He and Schneider were pretty much the only two people I actively tried to mentor/help around here during my first run. I always felt he was a better writer than he thought but that seems to be a common trait among the humble geniuses. I wouldn't know personally. He was the only reason I attempted my first ill-fated return which incidentally involved my first match with Schneider. Reverend Shadow is definitely among one of my most respected peers over the decade or so I have been active around here.
|
|
|
Post by Markw on Mar 19, 2014 12:02:50 GMT -5
Any more of these lined up Proggy?
Really enjoying them.
|
|
|
Post by bad guy™ on Mar 19, 2014 12:55:26 GMT -5
Any more of these lined up Proggy? Really enjoying them. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
Post by Markw on Mar 19, 2014 12:57:42 GMT -5
Any more of these lined up Proggy? Really enjoying them. Stay tuned. Yeah I've sneaked on to Proggy's forum and read it since I posted that.
|
|
|
Post by bad guy™ on Mar 19, 2014 12:59:45 GMT -5
Stay tuned. Yeah I've sneaked on to Proggy's forum and read it since I posted that. That was a fake interview. The real one was about how much I hate British RPrs who are fans of Leicester. Just saying.
|
|
|
Post by Markw on Mar 19, 2014 13:11:01 GMT -5
Yeah I've sneaked on to Proggy's forum and read it since I posted that. That was a fake interview. The real one was about how much I hate British RPrs who are fans of Leicester. Just saying. Wow someone's jealous that my one sports team is going to win more trophies than his 12+ teams.
|
|
Deleted
Joined on: Apr 24, 2024 6:38:32 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2014 13:17:20 GMT -5
Stay tuned. Yeah I've sneaked on to Proggy's forum and read it since I posted that. I've changed forums. I don't know what you read, but it must be old and never going to be used.
|
|