I got a very interesting question on my Formspring page (BTW, have you added that to your bookmarks yet? Ask me anything! Please!) that I thought would be fleshed out better on the blog here. The question is as follows:Describe your dream fed. Who would be in it? What would the titles be? What would the big feuds be?I started to answer it on the Formspring template, but with the depth that the question required, I thought that I'd give it a whirl here and really go into details.
Let's start with the first part. "Describe your dream fed." I started to answer this on Formspring, so I'll just reiterate what I said there. My dream fed has a clear focus on wrestling, wrestlers and the personalities of the wrestlers. That isn't to say that it would be a fed solely focused on "wrestling as sport". Although I'd personally love to see EVOLVE break big or to see another major wrestling promotion try to make overtures towards that, there's something to be said about having interesting storylines that deal with things other than trying to get ahead. But basically, the shows would be centered around the wrestlers, their matches, their feuds, their promos and their conflicts.
Also, no omnipresent authority figures. If there's going to be an authority figure, it'd be a Jack Tunney-esque president who mainly lurks behind the scenes. When he/she makes an announcement, it's important. The authority figure will not be the top heel in the company like Eric Bischoff or Vickie Guerrero. The authority figure will not be a deus ex machina device for the faces like Tiffany.
I'd also eliminate the backstage segment. No, not the wrestling promo, not the standby interview or anything like that, but the segment where two or more people are talking as if there isn't a camera there. The segments that look straight out of a reality show. I've grown to hate those with a passion. I want to go as far away from the scripted bullshit model, the Vince Russo model, as I can.
So now that the mission statement is out of the way, let's get to the roster. Generally, I'd want a young, hungry roster, one that has a good grasp of how to work a wrestling match, or that is willing to learn. There would be veterans on the roster as well, as no roster should be without seasoned wrestlers to help mold the rookies and provide leadership. So, here's how my roster would shake out:
John Cena, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, MVP, CM Punk, AJ Styles, The Miz, Christian, El Generico, Austin Aries, Mike Knox, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness, Zack Ryder, Mark Henry, Low Ki, Evan Bourne, Hernandez, Kevin Steen, 2 Cold Scorpio, Scott Steiner, Tyson Kidd, Human Tornado, Eddie Kingston, Hallowicked, Frightmare, Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu, James Storm, Robert Roode, Chris Hero, Claudio Castagnoli, Luke Gallows, Colt Cabana, Beth Phoenix, Awesome Kong
With that roster, you have a mix of seasoned veterans (Jericho, Steiner, Goldust, Scorp), viable, ready-made draws (Cena, Mysterio), nuclear heels (Punk, Aries) and hungry guys before or in their primes ready to break through. There are a multitude of styles mixed in, guys who can go on the mat and guys who thrill in the air. There would definitely be a focus on tag wrestling, and yes, Phoenix and Kong are there to tangle with the men in tag team form.
As for Championships, I'd have four different titles. A World Championship would headline the fed, obviously. The next tier down would be the North American Championship, an IC-level title where midcarders and guys on the cusp would compete. As sort of a sideways-tiered title to the IC would be the Television Championship, which would have a few twists to it. For one, it would have to be defended every week on free television. All matches would have strict 10 or 15 minute time limits, and as a bonus, title reign lengths would correlate to shots at other titles. For instance, 25 weeks as Champion would get you a North American title shot, and 52 weeks a World Championship opportunity. The title belt would be less in prestige than both of the other titles, but it would be a place where everyone on the card would compete for it. Finally, the Tag Team Championships would round out the title slate.
Finally, there's the question of big feuds. To start out, I'd put the World Championship on AJ Styles in his Nature Boy, Mk. III character. He'd head up a new generation Horsemen stable with the rough-and-tumble Tyson Kidd and his power-packed kicks as enforcer, the Kings of Wrestling - Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero - as his tag team specialists and Ric Flair in the JJ Dillon managerial role. He would feud off the bat with Rey Mysterio over the title, which would produce some fine high-flying matches with perhaps a ladder match blowoff to the feud.
Another big feud would be Chris Jericho against Christian. Both guys have the charisma to produce at the main event level, and they don't need the title to produce crowd heat. John Cena would go against Mike Knox with the story being that not only is Knox Cena's equal in strength but he's outsmarting Cena at every turn. This would bring freshness to the Cena-as-underdog narrative, y'know, actually BOOKING him like an underdog that has to defy the odds, and it would elevate Knox even if he lost the blowoff match in the end.
I'd put the North American Championship on Bryan Danielson and have him face off against Nigel McGuinness, playing the role of cocky foreigner who thinks he's above the continent of North America. Evan Bourne would hold the TV Title and fend off challenges from heels and faces alike, from styles clashes against Steiner to explosive affairs against guys like Generico and Ki.
CM Punk would still be heading the Straight Edge Society with Serena as the valet, only he'd be in the thick of things for the World Championship as well as his feud partner MVP. Punk's charges, Luke Gallows and Colt Cabana, would be defending their Tag Titles against Beer Money, Inc. Both feuds would pretty much write themselves.
Down the line, other big feuds would surface, like Miz/Cena, Styles/Danielson, Punk/Mysterio, Aries/Hernandez, BethKong/Incoherence and the like. Basically, there isn't any feud out of that combination of wrestlers that would suck. The key to having a great fed is to have a roster that meshes well together no matter what the circumstances.
Just to close things out, I'd have Dusty Rhodes as the commissioner, bringing him out for a big, big pop to make his quarterly decrees. Joey Styles, Matt Striker and Lightning Mike Quackenbush are my main announce team, and I'd run with 4 hours of weekly TV (two 2-hour shows) and PPVs every 6 weeks (8 a year) with four free-TV Clash of the Champions type events (for 12 big events a year).
So there's my vision for my dream fed. You can see why I wanted to answer it here and not at Formspring. I love fantasy booking, and fleshing out a dream fed is the ultimate in that arena.
