Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2018 15:27:06 GMT -5
And we’re back! With more entertaining stories than Sean Oliver’s Kayfabe Commentaries and without the looming threat of New Jack looking to stab some fat f*ck, you are watching another very special edition of WFWF’s Inside The Mind. I am your host Griffin Peltier and with me today is former WFWF World Heavyweight Champion Markw !
Welcome to the show.
Hi *Waves*.
You’ve been in and around the fed for just over a decade now and have made a huge mark - having accumulated impressive feats such as World champ, two-time International champion, and a three-time National champion, but what got you into e-fedding? What made you decide to join the WFWF?
Pic fedding I guess. I was about 11/12 when I joined WF, and that was a result of stumbling across pic feds. My interest in that didn’t really last but at some point I must have stumbled across the WFWF and signed up. There wasn’t really a lot of thought put into it.
What did you have in mind for the Joe Bishop character when you first created him?
I’d spent a few years (with a lot of leaves of absence thrown in) writing an awful heel in David Williams, and I think the thought process was essentially ‘let’s write a face’. Again there was nowhere near enough thought put into Joe Bishop as a character when he was created, which was reflected in the truly awful debut RP (featuring possibly the best RP feedback in WFWF history from Alex - check it out). If I did have any proper plan for Bishop prior to his second run, it wasn’t a good one.
Alex sure knew how to break it gently.
It was good for me.
What was it like winning the National Championship during that first run? Did you think you were ready for the gold at the time?
I probably did, and I probably was (in that I’m fairly sure I won the match on merit), but I wasn’t a good National Champion. Pretty sure I lost it in the first defense thanks to a no-show and then packed it in for a couple of years. I wasn’t vastly better when I won it at the start of my second run with Bishop but that time it helped me develop, the National Championship was useful in that when we had a much bigger roster it gave new guys and people who needed to develop a reason to stay interested, feel involved and it motivated us to improve.
You eventually dropped the title in your second reign to Carter Contra, another young writer who needed that division in order to grow as a writer in the fed. Did you seek out a feud with Contra? Did he contact you? How was it finally getting a larger storyline that you could sink your teeth into and develop it on the cards?
I don’t think I ever talked to Carter Contra, before or after. I was feuding with Reckless at the time, who I’d worked with a fair bit when I first came into the fed (we’d done a David Williams/Reckless/High Horror (Shawn Malakai) feud). That was okay, although I really started to enjoy myself when I got embroiled in the Xavier Pierce/Trace Demon feud leading into Battleground that year, and got a couple of one on one matches with Trace. Not so much for what was happening in the shows - that’s never been the most interesting aspect of E-Fedding to me - but I really started to appreciate RPing around that time. I’d not been a big reader of other people’s work up until that point, but Trace and Mike were putting out some great stuff that really captured me. Plus I started using the WFWF to express my mental health issues, which I’d never really talked about inside or outside of the WFWF up to that point, so it was a very important step for me both in terms of this place and in my life generally. I really started to appreciate this place then, before that it was just somewhere to waste time.
Once you changed your thoughts on the fed from being “somewhere to waste time” to being a hobby, per se, did you see a major improvement in your writing in terms of quality compared to the other competitors in the fed?
Yeah. I mean I’m not sure I really cared about the writing that much originally. Maybe that’s a false memory. But I think I essentially just cared about whether I’d won or not. Naturally when you start to care you spend more time trying to improve, and you do improve as a result. Things like starting to actually plan RPs, taking the time to do some research on my opponent, really thinking about the feedback I was getting, were very important. I mean I’ve always had issues with time management and still do, so I still rushed a lot of RPs out and had some pretty crappy stretches. But it certainly improved a bit.
Throughout the years, you’ve been seen as “the future” of the fed. Somebody who is ready to break out and take that main event spot from the ones on top. In 2014, you were voted as the Breakthrough of the Year, ditto for 2016. In 2016, you were also voted as the Most Likely to Succeed in 2017. Did the pressure of being the next big thing ever get to you? Or did you use it to enhance your writing and improve your standing on the card?
I’m not sure I really felt it. I wanted to improve, and I know there were people like Shawn who wanted me to and thought I would, but I didn’t feel any pressure to. There were more than enough very good writers here that it didn’t really matter whether I improved or not to the Fed. The only pressure was that I wanted to win matches. I did feel pressure to some extent after that Battleground event which they’d written to have Bishop stand tall at the end of the show - and I didn’t respond particularly well in the International Title tournament and S&S that followed. But then I also felt pressure having to face some of the best writers in the fed show after show with Ultimate Supremacy more recently and that proved to be a great motivator.
I want to pivot towards two other prestigious awards on the resume of Joe Bishop. In 2013, you won Feud of the Year for your rivalry with Jayson Garrett and then followed it up a year later with Feud of the Year with Dave Demento. What made it so easy for you to have these great feuds in the WFWF? Are those your favorite stories that you’ve told in the Fed?
What made it easy to have those good feuds (and in fairness basically every feud in the fed joint won the 2013 award) was having opponents who were extremely keen and full of good ideas. Feuds are not really the biggest motivator for me, although the collaborative element can be very fun, so it was really down to yourself and Garrett that those feuds worked. It was a lot of fun to watch the two of you come up with fun ideas and sit back and let people think I as the elder statesman did all the work - but I didn’t. As for whether they’re my favourite? They’re up there. I think the long terms stuff with Trace is probably my favourite feud because it played a really huge role in me shaping Joe Bishop - I enjoyed the feuds with Garrett and Demento, but they weren’t quite as significant to the character.
Who came up with the idea of the Final Revolution?
Trace. In fact he initially suggested the name ‘The New Regime’ which I (genuinely accidentally) stole as a RP title (sorry Trace), it’s a shame ‘cause that was a much better name. I can’t find the messages when it was first discussed, but I remember that it nearly didn’t happen. I think Trace suggested it shortly after Proggy and I had begun plans for Bishop to join up with Crow. Eventually though, when that angle ran its course, Trace was still up for it and we ran with it. I’m really glad we did - as Trace planned it gave me an angle that helped develop my writing - and obviously it was always likely to lead to me getting another match with him to build towards.
How did it feel to win the Supreme Gauntlet and win your first World Heavyweight Championship?
Good. I enjoyed the challenge of basically having to top myself every show because of the quality of opposition, it felt draining at the time but it was a really enjoyable concept to be a part of - I hope we see it again. It’s a shame that circumstances meant I couldn’t defend it properly, but the gauntlet was great fun to be a part of.
We’re now at the part of the show where I’ll give you the name of a character of WFWF past and present and you can share your thoughts on them. Ready?
Yep.
Shawn Malakai.
He’s done an awful lot for me. I mean we’ve had a fair bit of fun in the WFWF, but the knock on impact on my life has been fairly significant. I’d have never stuck around for the first five/six/seven years here if it wasn’t for Shawn. I got an E in GCSE English, and if he hadn’t have kept me interested in this place I’d have continued to ignore advice like ‘plan your writing’ and not got to University or been able to get a decent job. I owe him an awful lot. I can’t say Malakai was ever my favourite character or that he wrote my favourite RPs (the SB Main Event he won the title aside), but his contribution to the fed is unparalleled.
Trace Demon.
Not really had much interaction with him outside of the various Trace/Bishop stories, but they’ve been really important to my time here. He’s one of my favourites to read, in fact alongside Schneider and Scarlett Quinn, Trace is one of the first characters who piqued my interest enough that I started reading regularly. I’ve enjoyed the many occasions I’ve had the chance to test myself against him, and they’ve always been big motivators for me to try and improve.
David Brennan.
I wasn’t a huge fan (outside of RPing) initially. Probably just because he had the various spats with Shawn and I had no reason to care for him at the time. Brennan seems cool, great writer (although I think an acquired taste - took me a little while to appreciate his work anyway), I think facing him when I have time to work on it brings out the best in me, and anyone who can be bothered to regularly read and reply to basically everyone's work and help them improve is vital to this place.
Jayson Garrett.
Liverpool fan, yuck. (Would be nice to see him back though).
Drakz.
Was a very good owner, and is without a doubt my favourite writer here. Probably the only person who consistently produces work that has me in (literal) fits of laughter, looking forward to hopefully seeing him active again soon?
Dave Demento.
Really nice to see him back. Put a lot of effort into the Bishop/Demento and Bishop/Crow stories so if he returns to active competition it’ll be nice to see who he works with and what he comes up with. Plus I’m a big fan of the Inside the Mind series (apart from this one obviously), so it’s great to see that back. Also nice to have a TEW/Sims/Thunderverse ally again.
Josh Dean.
Has always seemed really nice. I think he started with Dean around the same time I started with Williams so it was very cool to see him pop up again when he did. Timing wise the opportunities I’ve had to have matches involving him didn’t work out too well for me, so it’d be good to get to work with him properly some time.
Frank Lynn.
Much like Proggy and Garrett I’ve loved working with him, because he’s full of ideas and really keen to improve. It’s been great to see him running with the Revolution since I had to take my time off and I’m very excited to see where the character goes from here and how Lynn does as owner. He clearly cares about the place so I think alongside Brennan he’ll do a great job.
Phillip Schneider.
I desperately want to get to face him at some point. Don’t think I have in the 11 years I’ve been here? One of my favourite writers here so it’d be nice to test myself against him some time. But yeah, not really had any engagement with him.
Book it, Bren and Frank. We’re going to wrap things up here in just a bit. Are there any last words you’d like to leave with our viewers?
Thanks for the feedback, constructive criticism and reading some God awful RPs to help me over the years.