HCW: Hardcore Championship Wrestling Episode 3.

The first Season of a new machinima series I am working on called HCW Hardcore Championship Wrestling. This series is meant to be played off as a small off shoot of the WWE. Here all originally created wrestlers, and some parody based wrestlers, will compete in completely undetermined matches controlled by the computer. I will set up the universe mode and let the matches and rivalries set themselves. I will use the story creator to create cutscenes and build the stories but I will craft the stories out of how the computer reacts to each other.

HCW will also have a user interactive component. Basically just by watching the show you can affect the future. As you may notice in this episode that the arena is fairly small looking. Well as the show gains views I will create bigger and better arenas to reflect the increased interest. The show will grow like a real company with rosters expanding and changing as well as the arena. Since HCW is also billed as a smaller part of the overall WWE family, as the show grows I will also include run ins from WWE superstars. So just watch the show and tell your friends to watch the show and let's bring in some changes!

This machinima is created using WWE' 13 and uses WWE imagery but is in no way licensed or affiliated with the WWE as a company. Hardcore Championship Wrestling is completely fictitious and inspired by true wrestling fandom.

HCW: Hardcore Championship Wrestling Episode 1.

The first episode of a new machinima series I am working on called HCW Hardcore Championship Wrestling. This series is meant to be played off as a small off shoot of the WWE. Here all orginally created wrestlers, and some parody based wrestlers, will compete in completely undetermined matches controlled by the computer. I will set up the universe mode and let the matches and rivalries set themselves. I will use the story creator to create cutscenes and build the stories but I will craft the stories out of how the computer reacts to each other.

HCW will also have a user interactive component. Basically just by watching the show you can affect the future. As you may notice in this episode that the arena is fairly small looking. Well as the show gains views I will create bigger and better arenas to reflect the increased interest. The show will grow like a real company with rosters expanding and changing as well as the arena. Since HCW is also billed as a smaller part of the overall WWE family, as the show grows I will also include run ins from WWE superstars. So just watch the show and tell your friends to watch the show and let's bring in some changes!

This machinima is created using WWE' 13 and uses WWE imagery but is in no way licensed or affiliated with the WWE as a company. Hardcore Championship Wrestling is completely fictitious and inspired by true wrestling fandom.

Ring of Honor 11th Anniversary Flashback Post.

So on March 2nd in 2013 I went to the Ring of Honor 11th Anniversary Show. It was a great IPPV, only the second ROH show I had been to, but one of the more entertaining shows I have been to. I don't really have much to say for this post. I went to the Anniversary show and then the TV tapings the next day and I thought I would just share some pictures from the event. Enjoy! Sorry for the sloppy arrangement!

Let's Talk TNA

Total Nonstop Action. Impact Wrestling. TNA. It goes by many names, that are all mostly the same, and is Spike TV's own wrasslin show. Now TNA is a company that has had its ups and downs throughout the years and brings in a variety of opinions, most of which tend to be negative. Now here's a little more history with me and wrestling. I watched as a kid growing up in the 90s. I saw WWF when I was younger but wasn't as into wrestling back then. It wasn't until WCW hooked me that I became a wrestling fan. The NWO and their feud with WCW was the best thing happening on television for me at the time and superstars like Sting, DDP, Macho Man, and Kevin Nash stood out to me. Sorry I was never the biggest Hogan fan. While I was hooked into WCW and playing wrestling games with my friends and wrestling in backyards and on trampolines I did eventually fall out. I watched the attitude era but remained faithful to WCW but after the bankruptcy and buy out of WCW it wast long before I just left wrestling behind all together.

Cut to eleven years later. All of my current knowledge of wrestling comes from the video games, that I still played from time to time, and then I hear about this TNA company. I don't hear much but I hear Sting and Kurt Angle are there as well as some of my other favorites (and some WCW alum) and I say what the hell, let's see what all of this is about. So like most great wrestling stories it was the right place and right time for me. I jumped in the same night in 2011 when Sting came back and beat Jeff Hardy for the title. It was serendipitous. Two of my favorite wrestlers with my old school favorite winning the title on my first time watching in eleven years?! I was immediately hooked back in. So yeah, I have a love for TNA. I've caught up on their history I own an extensive TNA DVD collection and I watch almost every week, as often as I watch the WWE. Its wrestling and I love wrestling. I see that TNA gets a lot of hate, and I can see where some people are coming from but I just don't understand.

TNA is by no means a perfect product, though. Especially not at the moment as their financial word is well known to the Internet wrestling community. But for as imperfect as TNA is, Ring of Honor and WWE have some of the same problems. The WWE feels almost creatively dead at this point. They feel a little to nose in the air, and I understand that they became a billion dollar company this way, but sometimes listening to the fans isn't  the worst idea.TNA and WWE are both sitting on some amazing talent and waisting amazing story opportunities that are just flying by right under their noses. And this brings me back to TNA; the talent. TNA, or Impact Wrestling (TNAIW?) has one of the most talented rosters that is seriously misused. They have some of the most skilled wrestlers on their roster and honestly in my opinion a lot if the times the wrestling is muh better than most of the other companies. The roster has been thinned down quite a but in the last year and somehow they still can't fit everyone onto television every week. They introduced the Gut Check, which I actually felt like as a decent way to expand the roster, but then they never used these guys! Christian York was the most promising prospect to come out of Gut Check, he put on some great matches, and then he was one of the first to leave when the cuts started! Yet they keep Jay Bradley who turns in a horrible match even when he's not wrestling in it! Sorry, I have a lot of hate Jay Bradley.

When I started watching TNA I had no reference to what the modern WWE product and only started back in when RAW went to three hours. Now I have my favorite performers on both shows but at this point I have no preferred brand of show to watch. For me its all about the superstars that I want to watch. So I know a lot of people don't like TNA but I don't understand the true wrestling fans that want to bash TNA for not being as successful as the WWE. If the matches are good who cares what the show's production is like? If you are a true wrestling fan then just watch everything! I watch WWE, Ring of Honor, and TNA. I love wrestling and I have my favorite stars to watch, I don't care where they wrestle. FCW, PWG, HOH, CZW, and any other abbreviated company you can name. While TNA isn't the best in its current state (though I would argue 2011 was an amazing year for them) I would never want to see them go away. One problem is people's perception. TNA is not here to try and take down the WWE. These are two companies that need to live in unison. We don't need competition, we just need an alternative. Even from just a wrestling standpoint TNA is a very different type of beast. WWE obviously has a bigger focus on large body superstars and the smaller guys have to do a lot to stand out. TNA offers a variety of performers with different abilities, which for me is an amazing draw. There are so many great wrestlers in TNA that would have no trouble getting overin the   WWE, like Christipher Daniels for instance, and I know plenty of WWE watchers that have never even heard of them and that's just a shame for me.

TNA has some spotty writing but they have also had some of my favorite stories. Wrestling is repetitive in its story telling, and always has been with every company. While I'm currently watching more WWE lately, I'm really hoping TNA can build up some money and ratings (which have been steadily increasing recently) and really improve enough to stick around. Recently some of their biggest stars have been forced out or left due to contract and money issues and its a real bummer. Especially to see one of the most prestigious, AJ Styles, to have to leave but I can only hope they can calm things down enough to continue and maybe bring in some new and younger talent that we haven't seen before. I compare TNA to a modern day WCW but they have already lasted longer than WCW proper ever did. As much as I love WWE I want TNA to stick around and really give me the options when I need them. I would agree its time to get Dixie Carter out of there and bring someone in who knows the business a little better. I keep my fingers crossed for TNA and everyone who works there that they will be able to find their footing and keep providing us with some quality wrestling!

So just for fun, what would I do to change things? First of all, bring back the pay-per-views! I love the One Night Only stuff because it gives us some interesting story free wrestling, but if you want to sell the PPV then you need the story. We need a reason to buy!! The PPVs' also need more draw to them. What the WWE does with Money in the Bank and Hell in a Cell and other gimmick PPVs' works really well and TNA should try something similar. Next, get rid if Dixie Carter. Sorry Dixie, I hear you're very nice but I think that's the problem. You're too nice. We just need someone in place who knows as cares more about wrestling. And how about this? Use your roster! There are some younger guys and amazing talent that have been there forever that aren't getting the treatment they deserve. Sam Shaw would get a lot more pops in your arenas if you used him and built him up. Get him in matches that will put him over because Shaw was actually one of my favorites from the Gut Check aside from York but he never gets on TV and instead gets shoved into developmental. The same thing happened with Crimson. Bring these guys on TV and use them! I can probably count on one hand how many times Sam Shaw appeared on Impact. Disappointing. And the last thing I have to bring up, too many factions! The Aces and Eights could have been great. For a time they were great. When Devon was unmasked I felt a surprise like I hadn't felt in forever. Instead they let guys go and widdled the team into a joke. And at the same time we had Bad Influence becoming Ego, and then the Main Event Mafia who were supposed to be the Aces and Eights enemies and that was ruined too. Keep it simple and keep it smart. They blew a great angle there and I only hope they find a crazy way to maybe bring it back in the future.

So TNA, (sorry I ramble) whether you love them or hate them, I just hope they are here to stay. Its a company that offers more wrestling, which is always good, and just a different type if program. It doesn't have to be a competition. Let's just have alternatives! So how do you feel about TNA. Share my thoughts or not?

Introduction and Unification

Hello everybody. My name is Jeremy Meyer and I'm an editor for the video game website Darkstation.com but more importantly I'm a huge wrestling fan, a mark for wrestling if you will. Now that I've proved my wrestling worth (nailed it) I thought you should know a little about me. Yes I'm a video game journalist, no I'm not involved in the world of wrestling aside from being a fan, but I believe wrestling lives inside the fans. So I'm writing this on December 15, the night the pay-per-view Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC) airs, though I am writing this before it goes live. Tonight is hopefully a moment of change for WWE as it marks the first time since 2002 that we are having title unification. John Cena vs Randy Orton both hold the World Heavyweight title and the WWE Championship respectively but the winner of tonight's match will walk away as the sole Undisputed Champion. This is an event I have been waiting and screaming for years!

 The title picture in the WWE has been in dire straits for a long time. One thing I feel that TNA has always done well is making their titles matter. They have a limited number of titles and I feel like they do still hold some prestige within their company, thigh TNA is something I will write a separate post about in the future. The WWE, for a long time, has had too many titles. This is something that has affected their company in some pretty negative ways. It's left a weird perception of the different levels of the roster and almost completely changed the game for the mid-card in some positive and negative ways, depending on your own opinion (mine being negative.)

 Let's face it, the Intercontinental and United States Championship mean very little. What do these titles mean when compared to each other? It's not like only US wrestles compete for the US title. It's meaningless. The US title needs to go! The Intercontinental title has been around forever and holds some prestige. The name even has some meaning, Intercontinental, a title that travels or is competed for by competitors from around the world. You can bring in feuds about a wrestler from one country trying to prove he's better than a wrestler from another, tons of compelling story ideas. However this name only works if we eliminate the name for the World Heavyweight Title. Weight classes don't mean anything in wrestling anymore. Take a guy like Bully Ray in TNA who weighs in at over 300 pounds, and then we look at someone like CM Punk who comes in about 218 and both have been great world title holders. We look at guys like the Big Show, AJ Styles, Great Khali,Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho: Weight limits don't matter anymore, it's all about the talent. Unless you are going to have a title for the little guy, we don't need a title for heavyweights. The Undisputed Champion, or the Undisputed WWE Champion (my personal preference) is the perfect way to signify the best of the best. Its undisputed after all so we know they are the real deal.

 The idea of a unified championship title in 2013 is a major step in the right direction for the WWE. It's time to start weeding out some of these belts. The way I see it you only need about five different championships. One Upper tier championship, one mid-tier championship, one set of tag team titles, one women's championship, and then one specialty title (EX, Hardcore, Television, Cruiserweight)Though a Cruiserweight title raises the weight class argument again so that one shouldn't be brought back into the mix. As much as I like the idea of splitting up the roster, we have to remain consistent. This is something that TNA has pulled off with their X Division and I say let them handle as they already do a good job of that. I say we need the Undisputed Title, the Intercontinental Title, the Tag Team Titles, the Diva's Championship, and I would love to see the return of the Hardcore Championship but with this new PG era of wrestling I think we have to go with the Television Title. This would give us more title matches on Monday Night Raw and Smackdown and also open up some interesting story concepts. TNA has actually done some great TV Title vignettes if you watch Eric Young's 2011 run. But this is all we need. Five titles, that's it! So what does this do? Well it narrows the field first of all. That Undisputed Title already gains a great amount of prestige as the one top title in the company. We have harder competition and winning it is more likely to put over a wrestler in the fan's eyes. Two, it makes the mid-card title more prestigious. Now we will care who holds the Intercontinental Title because he will be the next person we can see aiming for the top championship instead of just handing these belts across the roster for any reason at all like they are doing now. Again it's about the oversaturation! If we have less titles they mean more to the holders. Maybe next we can eliminate the US Title.

 I don't think WWE will be the only company to benefit from this. NXT is also going to get a boost. The point of NXT is to develop performers into the next level, being the WWE, and bringing them in to a narrower playing field puts them into a whole new spotlight. It's a tighter competition so a win for them on RAW or Smackdown is huge. Competition will appear a lot tougher just from the idea of having fewer chances at championship gold. So tonight we go into TLC with a match that hopefully unify the titles and creating one of the most significant events in modern WWE history (since the last time Jericho did the same thing!)

There are multiple ways the WWE might try to go about this and hopefully WWE avoids the obvious title switcharoo option just to get the WWE Title back in Cena's hands. In fact the whole backing of Cena by the WWE is another post to talk about in the future. I love Cena, but it's time to mix things up! Well needless to say I'm looking forward to TLC tonight and will probably post my thoughts about it tomorrow night if I have time. I hope to post as often as possible and would like to do some TNA and Ring of Honor coverage as soon as possible just to get my opinions known on all of the products and so repeat readers can understand my general feelings on wrestling. So what do you think of the idea of this title unification? Do you agree with me that it's a great move for the company? Or is this a doomed venture that's destined to backfire in their face? Feel free to let me know what you think. We'll talk more wrestling soon!