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| Successful E-Wrestling Characters If you're reading this article, then there was something that must have struck your fancy about it. Let's get down to the basics. This article isn't telling you what you need to do in order to run a successful e-wrestling character. It's giving tips on what I've seen make some successful e-wrestling characters. I'm going to expand on what Shawn said a bit and reiterate a lot of what he said. |
| Shawn pretty much hit the nail right on the head with a lot of things he said. Shawn will tell you he never fancied himself as the greatest role-player, and even went as far to say he was good when he tried. Don't buy into that. Shawn's one of the better role-players I've seen on the internet because his characters, while some may have been influenced, always stood apart and could never be considered ripoffs. Let's cut to the chase. The most important rule is, don't copy what you see on Monday nights. I'd even discourage joining a "real wrestler" federation because you have limited creativity to work with as well as a big hamper in the fact that you don't know the real wrestler well enough to copy him. Don't say that you can watch and learn. You aren't paid to play that character on a day-to-day basis like the wrestlers are. That's why you create your own and give him motivation and explain why he does what he does. It's not a bad thing to look at a real wrestler and get some influential ideas. A lot of ideas are based off of what we see and are then formatted because we're different from the person we saw the idea from first. It's often been said that there are only so many original ideas in anything and the rest are just off-shoots. |
| Let's break this down. First off, get an idea for a character you want. Get a gimmick, his personality, his physical looks, and even a history. You want to make your character as real as possible in the reader's eyes. That's one of the more important factors to success. It's not the character who walks around and beats down entire gangs while talking about what he's going to do to an opponent. It's not the guy who's superman. It's the guy who's a product of his society and acts accordingly. Give your character a reason as to why he talks like he does, reacts the way he does, thinks the way he does. Make the character a product of the society you've thought up for him. One of the major aspects of a character that a lot of people look for is the gimmick. The gimmick can easily make or break a wrestler. A believable gimmick that's well done will shoot a character up. A gimmick that keeps the character limited in going no further than the boundaries of his gimmick will break a character because you'll lose interest. The readers will lose interest and skip over his roleplays. The next aspect is the wrestler's personality. Is he a face, heel, or a tweener? Is he someone who's arrogant and can't believe that there's someone out there that's better than him or does he have no problems admitting defeat without making excuses? This is the biggest influence when it comes to roleplaying and it can also make or break a character. |
| When you think of personality, it needs to mesh well with the gimmick. If it doesn't, you have a character who's not believable and a reader wondering what exactly this character is suppose to be like. For instance, you won't see a completely arrogant face. You won't see some guy who attacks everyone giving money to charity. Be realistic in this approach. Sure, there are exceptions to the rules. There need to be good reasons for it. Physical looks are important when it comes to determining how the character wrestles and what moves he does. You're not going to see a four-hundred pound guy doing springboard moonsaults, nor will you see a two-hundred pound guy power bombing the likes of a three-hundred pound monster and trying to wrestle him power-for-power. Be realistic in matching up what your character's physical attributes are and what his style is. This doesn't mean that someone who's two-hundred and forty pounds isn't restricted to having to be more of a flyer. He could be stronger than he appears. Explain why he is. History is the most important aspect and probably the funnest to create for a character. It explains why he has a certain gimmick, why he acts like he does, and possibly why he looks like he does. History, in and of itself, is self-explanatory. Again, you need to be realistic with it. It needs to make sense. A guy who was born on the streets and then worked himself up into high society may sound bland, but it's the small details that are going to interest a reader and really help mold the character. Also, never hesitate to get together with someone and include another character in your background. This will happen once a character has reached a certain point anyhow in e-wrestling, but it really can help explain things a lot better. One of the best examples I can think of is Retribution and Rob Cole. Both handlers sat down and integrated the other character into his character's background. It made the feud that much better because it explained the bad blood had been there so long as well as gave a reason why Retribution was part of a ten-man beatdown on Rob Cole. It also explained why they'd go to such lengths to destroy one another. |
| Now, let's hit the topic of roleplaying. What can you do in order to be successful here? A lot of times, new players to e-wrestling will end up making a lot of mistakes. That's from a lack of experience that some players have. It's all about trying out different methods and then finding what fits you best. This can be a long process and over time, your method may even change. I know mine has. You need to find a style that doesn't limit you. Find a character template you have fun with and stick with it. One of the major ideas of roleplaying is "quality over quantity." This is the best advice that anyone can ever give or receive. It doesn't matter how long you roleplay, but it matters what the reader thinks of it. I'll be the first to admit that it's considered hard to say what you have to say in around a paragraph and actually make it look decent. In the same respect, babbling on for 12k about nothing in particular will more than likely make the reader skip to the next roleplay. Another aspect of a character is a strategy, or commonly referred to as a strat. The strat is a major player in some booked feds because you, as the handler, tell the match writer how you want your wrestler to act during the match. You'll tell him how he'll wrestle, what his major points of offense will be, how he'll defend himself, and even throw in some spots that will "put your character over." It's another step in making your character believable. Now it comes time to pick a fed for a character. |
| Let me give you some advice. Don't always shoot for the big feds or feds that are considered the best on the internet. Sure, it's nice being in those feds. More times than not, people aren't prepared for the workload that comes along with going into a fed of that magnitude. I'll be honest when I say the EMWC isn't my favorite fed I've ever been in. Once Chris Blue reads this, I'll end up losing now, but oh well. Anyhow, the best I've ever been in would have to be the Online Wrestling Alliance (OWA) run by Stevie, who happened to run WISE this past summer. I don't know what it was, but there was a magic that was there. Anyhow, back to the topic at hand. More times than not, I've seen a lot of people join the big feds without being prepared and quit in frustration only a few weeks later. Prepare yourself. Build a solid character in a smaller fed. This is a process that can take anywhere from six months to two years. Don't rush it. You'll know when the time's right. |
| Hopefully this will help you in some way. This has been my experience in e-wrestling. That's close to a four year experience as well. I started off as a newbie who didn't know how to role-play and somehow matured to the point that a lot of people like my role-plays. It's a process that everyone goes through and still goes through. You may end up hitting a stride, but you'll start the process over again. |
| Remember the two most important factors to success, what I'd call success in e-wrestling, are fun and not taking it to seriously! |