Welcome to the universe of professional wrestling and sports entertainment...only this isn't our universe, but an alternate one. In many ways, it is quite similar to our own. Just like in our universe, WWE owner Vince McMahon bought his competition, WCW and ECW.
But here, in this universe, there was no Invasion, no WCW/ECW Alliance. Instead, Vince McMahon decided to keep all 3 companies in business. They exist seperate from one another, but as part of one shared world - almost like a professional sports league - all abiding by one set of rules and bylaws and building their rosters from a shared pool of talent, continuing to compete and push one another to greater and greater heights.
Three men were chosen by Mr. McMahon to oversee the operations of each of his three brands: his son Shane McMahon runs WWE, Eric Bischoff oversees WCW, and Paul Heyman is in charge of ECW. In an attempt to level the playing field to the greatest extent possible, Mr. McMahon has provided WWE and WCW with access to equal resources. ECW, while still not quite as resource-rich as its two competitors, operates with a significantly larger capacity then it ever did before it was bought out by Mr. McMahon.
WCW and WWE each feature two shows per week, respectively: Nitro & Thunder, Raw & Smackdown. ECW has just one weekly program, Hardcore TV. Each promotion puts on their own respective Pay Per View event every month. Once a year, a special edition PPV is held that brings together talent from all 3 promotions as part of one event.
Once a year, all of the talent contracted to the organization is pooled and the three companies draft their rosters. The history and knowledge of championships, storylines, gimmicks, rivalries, tag teams, and stables crosses over between each promotion, even if/when partners or stablemates are drafted by different companies. Prior to the first draft, the three executives reached an agreement that, at least
for the first year, Sting would remain with WCW, The Undertaker would remain with WWE, and that ECW would automatically receive Brock Lesnar. Everyone else was part of the draft pool.
Also in existence is NXT, which acts as a shared farm system for all three companies. Each year, a small number of NXT talent "graduates" to the main draft pool, while an equal number of main pool talent gets relegated to NXT for that year. Promotions can make up to 2 "in-season" trades per draft year, and can sign up to 2 "free agents" who went undrafted and declined to ply their trade in the NXT farm system.
Something else to take note of: many of the professional wrestlers who died in our universe are alive and well in this universe. No tragic crimes of any significant severity were committed, either. A handful of wrestlers are just a little younger, and started their careers just a little bit later - or in some cases, are a little older and started their careers just a little bit earlier - than in our universe. Most of the storylines and gimmicks that took place in our universe happened here, too. But a handful of things are a little different, particularly when it comes to certain gimmicks and certain stables.
You are now entering a new universe, one where the greatest era in the history of professional wrestling didn't abruptly end and fade away, but rather continued, revived by fresh ideas and concepts.
You are now entering a universe where the Monday Night Wars never ended, instead evolving into something even better.
Welcome to the Monday Night Wars...REIGNITED!
A few things to keep in mind:
- I am starting this Dynasty Thread now, but I am through the first 3 in-game months of my Universe. In one of the reserved posts below, I will summarize the first 3 months, after which I will post regular updates as I continue to advance through the calendar.
- At this point in time, my Universe does not feature women's wrestling. This is not because I have anything against women in wrestling; I have no problem with it at all. Rather, I haven't really watched wrestling in a long time and I know next to nothing about 90% of present day wrestlers, or even the wrestlers of the last 10-15 years, for that matter. There are only a handful of female competitors included in the game that I am at all familiar with, and quite frankly, women's wrestling during the Monday Night Wars - when I was watching regularly - was more about gratuitous sexuality than it was about wrestling. I may decide to integrate women's divisions into the Universe at a later date.
- NXT has one weekly show and 4 quarterly PPVs, but I am allowing the CPU to completely handle NXT and I will not be posting about NXT other than when NXT talent "graduates" to the top levels.