*NEW MEMBERS* Please Read Before Posting

[Kip Whistler]

Firstly, welcome to the JWA!

If you are interested in joining please contact either Duke Mongoose or Kip Whistler and introduce yourself. This is to ensure that we can coordinate your debut and no one goes into business for themselves.

This is a roleplay fed, which means that you will be posting "in character" and "working your gimmick".

If you have something to say that is out of character, please indicate by putting "OOC" at the beginning of your post.

Regarding the name, JWA was created by board member The Jerk in summer of 2020 as the Jerk's Wrestling Alliance. This was in an attempt to tame the wild-west that was the origins of this board, with multiple bookers and no real schedule. The Jerk had to step away as booker and Yuppie VP took over, creating "Kip Whistler" to run the promotion, and keeping the JWA name. It does not stand for anything.

Matches are determined by a vote from the board members, and it is left up to the imagination of the participants to fill in the blanks as to what is happening in the match before the result is known, and to write a finish once the result comes out.
Please note that there is no requirement to write up the match. It is understood that people may not have the time or imagination to do so, and we will not penalize you as a result. This is supposed to be fun!

If you want to do an angle with someone that involves more than simply calling them out in a promo, please contact them privately and set up what you want to do, then once the angle is finalized bring it to me (Yuppie or Kip) so that I know what is going on. While surprises are a good thing in wrestling, the booker shouldn't be the one surprised, and nobody likes finding out they got jumped by someone or appeared in a promo without their consent.

We have a weekly show, JWA GLORY, that starts around 6:30pm Eastern US Time and ends on Wednesday at 6:30pm Eastern US Time. This is to allow at least 24 hours for votes, match write ups, and promos from a majority of the roster.

There are quarterly "P4V" shows, currently planned for January, April, July, and October which will have multiple matches instead of the usual one per show.

November - Early December will be the J-1 Pinnacle Tournament, a tournament similar to the NJPW G1 Climax, All-Japan's Champion Carnival, or Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix. 

We also have a Midweek Misc. thread where you can post promos between shows. How you choose to format them is up to you. Some people use "Chirpy, Digifoto, FacePic, etc." fake social media, or "JWA.com Exclusives". It's up to you. Please bear in mind that the fictional bar Killie's where the wrestlers hang out after Glory has a "no violence" policy, so avoid writing any physical conflicts as taking place there.

Feel free to take your character and promos wherever you want, but do not use any profanity, and try to avoid using any obscene content or situations. There is no room for racism, sexism, etc. on this board.

At the end of the day, remember - this is supposed to be for fun. Don't take anything that happens here too seriously and just try to enjoy the escape of being your character.

[Stanley The Weeb]

Think of this federation as roughly PG-13.

In comparison:
80's WWF: a bit between G and light PG on television.
90's WWF: PG
Attitude erra WWE: Hard PG-13, sometimes approaching R.

The federation is somewhat between serious reality and light fantasy. We have characters who can, under the right conditions, shoot "ki fireballs" and such, but they are not unbeatable by normal wrestlers.

Hope this helps.

[Shock Pillman]

For UK users the start date is 12:00 midnight

[Shock Pillman]

I see the fed as hard PG-13 ( not the former nation members ) as we have explosion angles amd my character swearing I see it as 97 WWF

[Deleted]

The original concept for the JWA was to be

STUDIO WRESTLING with extra little pizzazz

[Shock Pillman]

Now I'd say it's like Eastern Championship Wrestling about to become Extreme

[Dyno]

Dec 17, 2020 10:45:42 GMT -5 Shock Pillman said:

For UK users the start date is 12:00 midnight

Currently 11:30PM for the UK

[Thumper Moore III]

Well stated Kip. A couple of quick do’s and don’ts (these are suggestions):

DO: Proofread your post before submitting. Grammar and spelling are not super important, but at least make it so we can figure out what you’re trying to say.

DON’T: Post a novel. If it can’t be read in a minute or two, it is probably too long. (I’m guilty of breaking this suggestion occasionally.)

DO: Create supporting characters and locations as you see fit. Jackson the bartender, Veronica Chance, Mirei, the original Great Ginzu, the Vegas MMA gym, Killies Bar— they are all a part of the shared universe we’ve built. Your contributions are welcome.

DON’T: Work yourself into a shoot. Remember these are characters, not you. If your character loses a match, it’s not an indictment of you personally, just what the majority of people think is the best outcome for that situation.

DO: Collaborate with the others. Directly message someone if you want to work an angle with them. Build off the works of others, and don’t contradict what someone else already wrote— maintain continuity as much as possible.

DO: Have fun! We’re just a random group of wrestling fans (and 80MWR fans) with time on our hands and creativity to spare. Welcome to our motley crew!

[Hotshot Carston Hardcover]

In retrospect I realize I made a glaring error by not making YouPipe canon.

[Bad Luck Bradley]

Just to give a bit of an update as well as my own two cents here, I'd like to echo and clarify some of the points that Arizona and Kip made regarding the suggestions for both new personalities and existing users in the JWA. This is from my experience as a reader, a collaborator, as well as my decades of being a wrestling fan and (attempted) historian of the greatest show where lads in tiny pants slap each other silly. I will, of course, break Arizona's rule on novels.

1. Firstly, to confirm, it's great to get a shout out by other users, but it's never good to have your character used in a way you're not comfortable with or pulled into a feud without prior discussion. It's always nice to drop someone a message if you're wanting to use them or mention them in a scene, match or promo so it doesn't mess with their own plans. It means your promo can gain heat rather than being sandbagged.
   
   
2. Learn your insider terms. Wrestling isn't as mysterious as it was in the 90s. It's really easy to find a list of insider terms like Gorilla position, heel, face, work, shoot, gimmick, gig, blade, heat, sandbag etc. There's a reason they exist: it's shorthand and makes discussion easier.
   
   
3. Even though we are here to be a wrestling performer in the ring, we must be mindful that we are also playing the person behind the wrestler backstage. If you are in a program with someone, make sure that there's a plan you're both comfortable with instead of going into business for yourself. Your characters need time to grow and get momentum in order for the storyline to make sense and be enjoyable for the reader and the collaborators.
   
   
4. Don't infringe gimmicks, brother.
   
   
5. It's very important that we remember that in real wrestling, all matches are predetermined, including the finish. Here it is not so. There is a chance that a handful of votes can swing the ending, so plan for your storyline to continue regardless of the ending. Play WWF No Mercy on the N64 to see how even failures can be positive if used properly.
   
   
6. Your responsibility is to put your opponent over as well as yourself. By all means, live the fantasy of this larger than life character who dishes out disrespect, but never underplay your opponents prowess. Like Jericho says in his first book, if you call your opponent a loser and they beat you, you just got beaten by a loser... Even if you win, all you did was beat a loser.
   
   
7. It cannot be understated how important communication is. The best feuds and matches in wrestling history are (more often than not) the result of planned and choreographed programs. As Kip says, although surprise is great, the booker should never be surprised. Neither should the other wrestlers in the match!
   
   
8. Don't get angry and lash out. If you feel you are the victim of a personal attack, please speak to someone. It could be a misunderstanding (text based communication can be difficult to determine tone) and easily solved. If it's legit, then everyone can work together on a solution. It's fine to insult a character (within reason and with permission) but it is never okay to insult the writing talent of a user. There are real people behind the usernames and we just want to have fun too.
   
   
9. Don't rig the votes or conspire to gang up in a battle royale so that you or your pal can win. It is petty and removes the fun.
   
   
10. Wrestling is inherently a self-referential medium. Matches are filled with nods and winks to past events and the unwritten rules of wrestling are baked into every performance (Bret's rope is the most dangerous rope, a superkick is only worth a two count unless Shawn Michaels does it, anyone who sets up a table has to go through it etc.) Read up on past matches and see what you can make reference to. Watch OSW Reviews for a better understanding. The most fun I've had as a performer here has been when we have mirrored or repeated spots during specific scenes to add further drama.
    
    
11. Don't do a spotfest. It's lazy and there is no story or context for each event, like a comic without the speech bubbles. Each move should be logical and follow from the next. If your opponent works the knee, add a limp in. If your character fails a move, let them fail it a few times before finally landing it. Allow yourself to take a beating to put your opponent over and make your potential comeback all the sweeter.
    
    
12. Don't steal people's spots! If your opponent has planned a climactic, pivotal point in the drama, don't take it yourself! And certainly don't no-sell it. Learn from Ultimate Warrior's mistakes!
    
    
13. Learn patience. In order for a character's struggle to be one that the audience empathises with and understands, it needs to be one that they can follow and see change and evolve. Look at Hangman's evolution in AEW from a plucky upstart to losing his confidence and gaining friends, being betrayed etc. Everyone wants the belt but we need to understand the character before we can support them.
    
    
14. Please don't do Cena's five moves of doom. Learn a variety. Watch some indie wrestling. Become adept at stringing moves together. Not every move needs to be a brain buster or German suplex or tope suicida. Watch Bret and Owen chain wrestle. Watch Orange Cassidy start a match. Watch Kurt Angle finish one. (Old school wrasslers can ignore this, brother!)
    
    
15. Have fun, get involved and support each other. The best experiences I have had on this forum have been when other human beings have enjoyed what I wrote and the hardest experiences are when you put your heart and soul into something and it gets ignored and sandbagged. Comment, like, give feedback, be compassionate to yourself and be compassionate to other people.
    
    
16. Finally, regarding colour. We all love a bit of juice in a match and there's no job like a bladejob but too much of a good thing is poison. If you're wanting to put yourself over rather than look like a jobber, gigging yourself and getting claret in a match is a good way to do so. It can show the brutality of a match but also get some lovely heat on the competitors. Not everyone is a massive fan of it and I feel that less is more. It's always nice to discuss it with your opponent before you write a whole post hardwaying them.
    
    
17. If you couldn't make heads nor tails of number 16, return to number 2 until you do.

We're here to have fun, and so do!