RCW: In Kayfabe
Rip City Wrestling is a new, regional wrestling league based out of Portland, Oregon. It runs regular shows in the world-famous Rose Garden arena, already the home of the Trailblazers and the Winter Hawks, and now home to the hottest new wrestling league in the US.
RCW is privately-held and backed by a mystery business consortium. The mouthpiece of the organisation is Daniel Spreadbury, former President of the notorious IIWF, which was also based in Portland, Oregon in the latter half of the 1990s.
RCW aims to showcase the finest rising talent in the wrestling world to a regional — and perhaps eventually national — audience. With regular cable TV broadcasts and deals being struck to hold regular pay-per-view events, the profile of RCW is sure to rise.
RCW: Breaking Kayfabe
Sure, you know the back-story. What about the real information?
So who’s this Daniel Spreadbury guy anyway?
First, a bit of history. I was the creator and President of the IIWF, one of the most famous e-wrestling feds in the “sport’s” heydey. The pioneering IIWF ran between May 1996 and August 1998, and was perhaps the greatest star-maker that e-wrestling has ever seen. Legends such as “Outlaw” J.W. Hardin, Brian Lau’s Syndicate, Steve “the Fury” Kowalski and many others all made their names in the Double Eye.
I’ve been away from e-wrestling for many years. But my love of telling the big stories and working with great handlers hasn’t dimmed.
Why does the world need RCW?
Short answer: it doesn’t, clearly.
Longer answer: e-wrestling is clearly a hobby in decline. The corners of the web in which evidence of a hobby enjoyed by thousands of grapple-fans around the world are increasingly dusty and deserted. Most feds are now run on message boards, and the art of writing a card that has the pacing, drama and excitement of an hour or more of real, episodic wrestling action is running out. Veteran feds like Mike Beeby’s UWF are the exception rather than the rule.
But I’m convinced there’s still fun to be had in e-wrestling. There are new legends to make, new stories to tell. And I hope that in RCW we’ll be able to tell some of them!
What kind of fed is RCW?
RCW is a booked fed. That means that the story drives the match results. Match outcomes are determined not only by the quality (though not necessarily the quantity of the handler’s roleplays leading up to matches, and by the quality of the strategies and angles (again, the quality is more important than the quantity), but also by the overall direction of the storyline involving the wrestlers in the league.
Handlers are invited to contribute to the story-telling, in two crucial ways:
- Devising angles: The best ideas for telling compelling stories normally come from the handlers of the wrestlers themselves. Not every story can be told, and not every story will have the outcome desired by the handler, but contribution to devising the angles is essential.
- Writing roleplays: RCW has weekly “update” shows, in which wrestlers can move their storylines forward by way of interviews (or soliloquys!).
In the end, it’s up to the booker to decide who wins and who loses. But don’t forget that, in fantasy wrestling as in professional wrestling, it’s not all about the win-loss record. Telling compelling stories has to involve somebody losing so that they can get heat with another wrestler, and it’ll all even out in the end. But if you’re the kind of guy who worries about winning every match and will complain if your wrestler does the J-O-B, RCW may not be the league for you.
Are there any rules?
Sure, every game worth playing has rules:
- One wrestler per handler: To keep the numbers down and the focus strong, only one wrestler can be signed up per handler, for now at least
- No tag teams: Though there will certainly be occasional tag team matches in RCW, there’s no tag team championship right now, so there’s no room for tag team specialists
- No women’s division: RCW believes that compelling women’s wrestling is possible, but for the moment the focus is on the men’s singles division
- No use of RCW front-room or back-room staff in roleplays or proposed angles without prior permission: If you need an interviewer or announcer to be involved in a roleplay or an angle, make sure you clear it with the front office staff first. This just helps to ensure no continuity or characterisation problems.
- If you can’t say it on cable TV (regular cable, not HBO) you can’t say it in RCW: RCW will never make it onto network TV if it gets a reputation for potty-mouthed talent
- No racism, sexism or other prejudice will be tolerated: There’s no room for it in real life, so there’s no room for it in RCW.
Apart from that, the only rule is to have fun! If you’re not having fun, let the front-office staff know.
