Playing into your character

This week, I've noticed quite the debate going on about whether or not someone should win a match based on the fact that they didn't really "address" the match that was at hand.

Personally, I don't find this at all to be a defining factor in whether or not someone should win a match, but maybe I'm wrong for believeing so.

When I first got into this deal, that's all that I thought it was about. Wrestler A fights Wrestler B, they talk trash on each other and whoever does the better job of trash-talking wins the match. It's what I did for years as Steven Shane, and, admittedly, it brought me a great deal of success.

However, once entering the FW community and even trying my hand at another character, I've begun to feel totally different on this topic. I remember some of my LVW RPs for Web Browser didn't say shit about the match at hand, yet Browser was rather successful in LVW.

In my own fed, UCW, I see a lot of RPs that do more character development than actually talking down the opposition. It seems as though these guys really understand what this hobby is all about and that's entertainment. In the real wrestling world, people are given gimmicks and then they follow up on that. It may be sort of a lost art from what there was in the early 90s, but still, it is seen and known about.

I remember watching Papa Shango promos and wondering what the hell he was talking about damn near everytime. On the flip side, if you watched too many Ultimate Warrior promos, you began to wonder just what an annihiliation by another man's hands really looked like. Maybe that's why Shango and Warrior had such a long feud back in the day, simply to equal each other out.

Anyway, the debate was sparked this week about certain wrestlers committment to an angle that was being run. Because Wrestler A doesn't give a damn about facing Wrestler B, it means that Wrestler A shouldn't get the win because he's not even focused on the match. And I can see why someone would want to think this way.

However, where I have a problem with it is when Wrestler A's gimmick is to basically no-sell whatever it is that his opponent is doing, simply because he thinks he's that much better than everyone. It's nothing against Wrestler B. You could bring in Wrestler C and Wrestler D for a three-on-one match and Wrestler A would still think that he was that damn good and could defeat them all.

The thing I'm looking at here, and possibly looking for some feedback, is what should hold the most weight in determining who should be successful at this game we play?

I realize that everyone is going to think their own way and that it is quite possibly the way that everyone should look at it, but that's their prerogative. I'm just basically looking for a decent debate here that could really enlighten everyone on what everyone else looks for when they judge who should win a given match.

Personally, I'm looking for the guy that does the best job of making me believe his character and his committment to what he says. I know that sounds rather general, but this is the way I look at it.

For example, let's say that quite possibly the two most polar-opposite wrestlers in the world go one-on-one. Roderick McRatrick versus Beast. I love both of these characters for their given ability to do what they do best. Roderick is amazingly funny while Beast brings more intensity to the table than damn near anyone.

Now, in this example, Roderick brings absolutely the funniest stuff I've ever read from him. He throws a few shots at Beast, but his main idea is to make me roll on the floor laughing. Now, in a crazy occurrance, Beast is thrown off his game by this and still establishes his dominance and what he plans to do with the match, but doesn't really make me hate Roderick the way he does with everyone else.

Personally, I think that Roderick has done the better job of establishing his character and, therefore, gets the win in my book because his comedy was spot-on, as usual and because Beast didn't really counter his points (probably because there were none).

What about you? Do you think it's possible for a comedy gimmick like McRatrick to get over in this hobby? Or are we so business-driven that only the most focused on the goal are going to get the job done?

A little late...

Tom's including me in one of his recent blog entries inspired me to bring more to the table, as I promised about a week and a half ago when I opened this thing up.

I guess that the thing that is weighing the heaviest on my mind right now is my return to A1E. That's kind of to be expected with the amazing amount of downtime on FW Central, but the weirdest thing is that the FW boards are what has gotten me thinking about what to do with my return to the wonderful world of A1.

Within the realm that is Major Championship Wrestling, you may have noticed that Chip Friendly and "Sensational" Steven Shane are representing the Highland Park Social Club. I just put up the first RP in our thread and I must say that while it seemed off from the original Steven Shane stuff that I'm used to putting up, it was quite fun.

People everywhere may hate it, but sometimes my mind runs wild while in an altered state. Work has been killing me with the Christmas rush that all retail stores see and my new brand of comedy within the HPSC is something that really lets me get out of the "sell everything" mode. If anyone would pitch some feedback on it, it would be great because I want to know if Shane needs to be serious again or if I can be successful while trying out this new promo style.

But while all of this is going on, it's time to be a fanboy and really talk about why A1E has become so much fun once more.

On several occassions, I've worked with Dan West. Shane actually had a feud with the HPSC a year or so back and Dan and I worked really hard with everyone involved to get a good story out of it. Aside from that, Dan is one of my most reliable RPers over in UCW. If you guys haven't ever read anything by BG Bruce, you need to check it out. The stuff we've been doing between Bruce and Commissioner Cloverleaf seems to have drawn more interest from people than I had originally expected.

But that's just the thing about working with Dan West. From day one, his Chip Friendly character has been my must-read for any type of card he's on. In fact, I was catching up on the EPW threads today and read his, I believe it was, 13 line RP and I was still rolling. The fact that Chip Friendly cannot fight Joey Melton because he's helping orphans have a good Christmas is something that only Dan West can dream up.

But aside from Chip Friendly, Dan West just brings what everyone wishes they could bring to the table in a bundle of different characters. The list is really amazing: The Spoiler, Victor Molotov, Bruce, hell, Dan West can even pull off an accountant in the e-fedding world. How the hell do you pull off an accountant in tights?

Single-handedly, Dan has just made this entire return to A1E something that's really been fun for me. I'm not sure if he's up for it, but the thought of Shane and Chip teaming up to maybe finally take down the long-reigning champs of Big Dog and Dan Ryan makes giggle like a little school girl.

So, until I get some more controversial thoughts that can really spark some conversation, I'll end this little fanboy rant. I promise, I have some good issues that have been coming up, but I'm just not feeling too controversial right now thanks to a day off from hell...err, Big Lots. I'm back on the job Friday though, so maybe I can finally get some sparks flying on this thing.

Introduction

Well, I guess you can mark down The Shane as the newest member of blog fever.

I don't really have a lot on my mind right now, just got bored and figured that now was as good a time as any to start this puppy up since the Cowboys don't come on until later this afternoon. With that said, I guess we'll just do a quick background for those of you unfamiliar with The Shane and my work.

First of all, most of you will probably know me as the fedhead over at UCW on FW Central. It hasn't been the smoothest of roads over the past year or so that I've been doing this, but I must say that I'm quite happy with the way that things are going. Past endeavors into fedhead-hood left much to be desired and even more to say from a turnover standpoint.

However, I cannot say that for this fed. I believe that I have some of the absolute best handlers that this hobby has ever seen, and I'm proud of it. We haven't really lost that many wrestlers and because that, we're able to put together one hell of a product because I don't have to worry about who's going to bail on me next.

Also, I have assembled quite the crew as far as help goes and they have been phenomenal in helping me get cards out since I took over this thing by myself. Josh, Shane, Mike, and Dan have been really great with getting matches to me in a respectable amount of time with help from a few others here and there.

We're actually trying to finish up a card as we speak. The only problem is that I can't find bios for the two guys in the match I'm trying to write, leaving me with the time that is currently being used to blog. But outside of that, things have been running decently smooth and I don't really have much to complain about.

But the reason that most of you may know me is the character that I've been running for just about five years now, "Sensational" Steven Shane.

For the better part of my career, I was simply a mark for the A1 circuit. I would be lying if I said that Steven Shane had better success anywhere else. Two tag team title runs and a Cyber Title run leave me very comfortable with the way I ran my character in the A1E. The only title that alluded me was the World Heavyweight Title, but even then, I'm sure no one would criticize me for not pulling through on that.

I haven't really had that many title matches, but still, coming away empty handed can be very disappointing. However, as I said, I don't think anyone is quick to label Shane as the guy who couldn't win it. My first title match was against arguably the best "potential" champion that A1E ever saw in Euclid. No one came close to touching this guy while he had that title. I was on the BC while he had his run and it seemed like he was always winning on a squash week-in and week-out. I, however, managed to take him to a draw and to this day, that might be my crowning achievement, as horrible as that sounds. Unfortunately, Dave walked away from e-fedding before we could really get our all-out settlement, leaving me standing with an 0-1-1 record against him.

My second time around was against the longest reigning champ that A1E has ever seen in Ken Cloverleaf and my third dance was with the man who is arguably the "best ever" champion in Housefly.

After that, I left A1 and made my way to EPW before filtering out into other leagues such as CSWA, MCW, LVW, NEW, WFW, and MBE.

I'm pretty much everywhere now and there aren't too many people in this community that don't know me or even talk to me on a weekly basis. However, I didn't really have that much to talk about on this first blog entry, so I wanted to make sure that if there was still anyone scratching their heads that they could stop now.