Basic Rules:
-- Treat other players with respect and don’t be an asshole!
Seriously, I’ve made some great friends playing this game and I hope to meet more. Acadian Wrestling has always had a family feel on the OOC board and between members, and we want to see that continue. Do not start flame wars, and bully other members. This type of behavior won’t be tolerated.
-- Acadian Wrestling is run as a dictatorship. I book the shows, make the decisions and write all the results. There’s no voting committee or anything like that, just my VP Derek Harpell that I go to when I’m stuck for an idea or something like that. If you have an issue about anything, please contact me via e-mail or PM. I don’t have any problem explaining why something was done. That being said, I try to be fair to everyone.
-- HAVE FUN!!!
This Is How We Do It:
Acadian Wrestling is a small indy-style promotion based out of Halifax on the east coast of Canada. While the promotion has run shows in all ten Canadian Provinces as well as Maine and New Hampshire, 99% of Acadian Wrestling shows take place in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. This means wrestling for crowds of a few hundred people in small venues in small towns. As a result, Acadian Wrestling doesn’t have or make a lot of money and doesn’t have many of the things that promotions that routinely draw 15-thousand people have.
The typical Acadian Wrestling set up puts the ring in the middle of a local hockey rink with the ice removed, in a high school gym or a local fire hall. There is no ramp for wrestlers to walk down! There is no “Tron”, and I will fire people on the spot for using one in a promo! There are no protective mats around the ring! And there is no guard rail; if you fight on the outside you could easily wind up in the crowd.
What Acadian Wrestling does have is a sound system for your entrance music, a video wall which is made up of many small TVs. Remember the old RAW set from the early to mid 1990’s? Yeah, something like that. The video wall is sponsored by Sobeys. We also have a dry ice smoke machine and different coloured spotlights. A small pyro display may be used to open a show or for the champion, but that’s about it.
What does all that mean to you? Simple, just remember to use common sense. If you include a RAW-like entrance for your wrestler with a tron, ramp and pyro… it won’t be used, and I’ll job you for being brain dead. Your wrestler is earning a small salary in Acadian. Your character most likely has another job to make ends meet here. Don’t do promos in Brazil, Japan and France… then show up to wrestle for $50 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. It doesn’t make sense, unless you’re playing a rich gimmick. For those of you not from the area, I usually include a website link or two so you can get info on where you’re wrestling. Do a little research and keep things reasonable. Just be realistic.
Cards and Results:
Cards will be posted and pinned to the top of the Acadian Wrestling Out of Character board as long as they are active. Read it to find out who you’re going up against. All details, including RP period and deadlines, will be included in the post.
Acadian Wrestling runs a show every two weeks which airs throughout the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) on Eastlink Television. The show is live on Saturday nights.
Results are to be posted on Saturday nights (usually early Sunday morning technically). From time to time, results do run late and could be posted on Sunday or Monday. In this event I will do my best to keep everyone updated and let people know what the delay is, and when you can expect full results. Please don’t ask “When are the results going to be up?” constantly. Rest assured I don’t like late results any more than you do, and I’m working on the problem.
Every four months Acadian Wrestling holds a “Supercard”, which normally air live on Sunday nights. Again, these shows are broadcast on Eastlink Television. Acadian Wrestling has NEVER done a Pay-Per-View event, with the exception of NWA-wide events we’ve hosted such as the Lou Thesz Memorial or Super J Tournaments. The Supercards are “Carnage” (October), “A Cold Day in Hell” (January), “Blaze of Glory” and fourth with a name their either isn’t carried over, or we host an NWA event so the name is preset. Unless it is an NWA PPV… please don’t refer to an AW Supercard as a Pay Per View… it pisses me off to no end.
And finally on results, I’ve used many different types since AW first opened in 2003. Shows have been 30-40 of fully written out results, extended summary-style results with full on-cards and the like, and shows have been produced as an MP3 file so you can listen to the play-by-play. Results going forward could take any of those forms.
Let’s Talk Role Plays:
There are two kinds of role plays in Acadian Wrestling and there are two separate RP boards for them… “Interviews” and “Role plays”. This has been spawned by the evolution of RP styles, and the growing commonplace of breaking kayfabe.
“Interviews” take place in front of a camera and can be seen by everyone in the NWA. This is where you cut and promo and rip on an opponent or get a beef your character might have off his chest. You might do a studio interview with one of the staff reporters or cut a solo rant from some dark and mysterious setting. Either way, you have a message you want to deliver straight to somebody or everybody, and this is the place to do it.
“Role Plays” are for those pieces of writing where a camera isn’t around. There’s been a lot of debate about this over the years, but this is just my own personal opinion… and I run the fed J
This is a writing game more than it is a wrestling game quite often. Every moment in your character’s life that you write about isn’t on camera; that just doesn’t make logistical sense. If you’re doing a character/storyline building role play that focuses on events outside the ring… this is where it goes.
For example, my GLWA character, Joey Brannon, spent my years as a drug addict in my writing. Now, would he have an NWA camera crew following him to buy drugs? No of course not. He’d be arrested, but it was still important for me to write about it to show how it was affecting his life, in and out of the ring. Now, at the same time, being a pothead was a major part of Joey’s gimmick and opponents often took shots at me about it in their writing. Saying you saw Joey Brannon buying drugs then going and beating the crap out of dealer would be unacceptable in your RP because that’s information you don’t know. Use common sense. However, making fun of Brannon for being a pothead because “everyone knows” and “it’s all over the mark boards” or maybe finding a cell phone video of Joey going into a building in a bad neighbourhood on Youtube would all be acceptable. It’s still countering what I wrote, but it’s doing so by using common sense and a little creativity… which is much better!
Hopefully that makes things clear on this subject.
And as long as we’re talking about role plays, here’s a few more guidelines…
Acadian Wrestling has a relaxed feel, and I intend to keep things that way. We run shows bi-weekly and I never expect more than a single RP for any given show. Unofficially the rule is a one RP limit (unless otherwise stated), but it’s not set in stone. You can do as many as you like for any show, but you only have to do a single RP. This helps reduce burnout on the handlers.
RPs are judged by “Quality” over “Quantity” in Acadian Wrestling. Hence the single RP quasi-rule. A handler that does one fantastic RP will beat a handler that did three average RPs. If you RP, then your opponent does ripping on you and you wanna rip back… go for it. You won’t be penalized for it. In fact, it may be impossible for you to get across everything you want to in a single RP some weeks. But I’m not going to say, “this guy deserves to win because he did two RPs when his opponent only did one”. When I read and judge RPs I’m looking for that “it” factor. “It” could be almost anything. “It” is different in every role play. Just write something that holds my attention. Suck me in and make me want to read more. If you can do that, you’ll probably win.
And since I encourage off the wall and out of the box ideas, there are virtually no rules regarding RP content. You can curse a blue streak, but try and make the cursing contribute something to the writing. Don’t just lay down 27 “F-bombs” in a row just because you can. As long at it helps the piece you’re writing, include whatever you feel you have to in order to make a good story/promo. I once used the “N-word” twice in a role play. I debated whether or not to use it for a full day before finally posting it. The word was said by an African American character that was using it to indicate brotherhood. I tried it the other way, but it just sounded more real with the word in. And since I didn’t use it as a slur, no one had a problem with it. Another person in AW was doing a private investigator thing once, and he busted a guy for child molestation. He wasn’t sure he was allowed to write about it, but it was a solid piece with no graphic depictions. Again, as long as it has a purpose and helps your writing… do it. I don’t want to hold you back.
And feel free to use any of the staff members on the Staff page in your writing… that’s what they’re there for. Just don’t make them into retards if you do use them. They all have personalities and I’d like them to be kept in character.
Angles and Storylines:
Although role plays are ultimately what drives Acadian Wrestling, we use and encourage angles and storylines as well. Often, matches on the bi-weekly show may have angled results leading up to a major match at a Supercard.
When we reach one of those major quarterly shows, the result of a match to end a feud or for a title or something will always be decided by role plays, with the better writer walking out the winner. On a smaller show, you might out RP your opponent and still lose. If that happens, it’s to advance the story/angle/feud. Please don’t freak out and curse at me if that happens. I’m just trying to make the show interesting and worth reading. This can be avoided by talking with other handlers and developing your own angles. If nobody is helping in that department, I will create one for you and what happens week to week will be a surprise.
Bottom line, I won’t “job” anyone unless they deserve it (by like no-showing for like 3 shows in a row). But it may be possible that you will lose a match you think you should have won in order to advance a storyline. In ALL cases, this should give you something to write about next week and make your writing better, and make the game more fun because something is happening with your character.
If you ever have an issue with a result… please e-mail or PM me.
Championships:
As roster size demands, Acadian Wrestling will offer a number of championships to compete for.
As Acadian Wrestling is just one region of the National Wrestling Alliance, we do not have any “World” Championships. Acadian Wrestling also does not have any “Heavyweight” Championships. All wrestlers of all weight classes can compete for all titles.
The Atlantic Championship Title is the top title in the region. The people that holds this title is considered the best of the best. He will also receive more pay than the rest of the roster.
Often imitated, never duplicated… the Acadian Wrestling “King of…” Championship allows the wearer the unique ability to name the championship as long as he holds the title.
This title did not have any name at all when it was first competed for. AW Hall of Famer Junk Yard Jack won the initial match for it and named it the “King of the Yard” Championship. He would hold the title for months before finally being beaten by the Australian, Polecat. In a bid to mock Jack and fatten his own wallet, Polecat teamed up with the company’s major sponsor at the time, Sobeys, and became the “King of Sobeys” Champion. The title would return to the “King of the Yard” under a reign by Adam Powerhouse then was called the “King of Acadia” Championship by High Impact. By that point the “King of…” had stuck. Now, the wearer of this title can call themselves the King of… whatever they want.
The Acadian Wrestling Tag Team Championships are held by two wrestlers. These two are considered the best at tag team wrestling, and receive perks and prestige similar to the Atlantic Champion. These belts won’t be awarded until Acadian Wrestling has a larger roster or real teams.
The Acadian Wrestling Francophone Rules Championship was a specialty title that existed to promote a certain style of wrestling. Francophone Rules matches barred jumping off the top rope, piledrivers, throwing an opponent over the top rope, low blows, and the title could change hands of a disqualification. It was retired in 2004.
