#Fantasy Booking

[pec-claw-addict]

POV: you’ve been booked to wrestle this hunk in the ring. You’ve been ordered to put him over and take a loss and you’re not happy about it. It’s just come to your attention that he has notoriously sensitive pecs that will give him a spontaneous erection, if squeezed and manipulated in just the right way. You’re not sure how to best navigate this.

[aerodaltonimperial]

New stories are brewing, and you know what that means: it’s time for a deep dive ring post!

Now, obviously Danielson is going to go out on his back and put someone over on his way out, but who that ends up being is still up in the air. Given the looming retirement (and his contract being over), I assume he’s going to be dropping this belt sooner rather than later. The three people currently circling the title belt are all heavily connected in kayfabe, which is really cool and offers us a lot of possibilities for how things could all shake down. But we’ve also got several upcoming events within this same group that may need to be accounted for. So let’s look at some of these!

Alright, so heading into the fall and the World Title sphere, we have Bryan Danielson holding the belt, and our three people of interest:

Christian Cage, who won the Casino Gauntlet at All In and has an open challenge to use whenever he’d like,

Darby Allin, who won the Royale at Blood & Guts and has the challenge at Grand Slam in New York, and

Jack Perry, who answered Bryan’s open call and will presumably be challenging for the world title at All Out in a week and a half.

It’s hilarious how much these three are connected in kayfabe, all with varying levels of undying hatred (or something else, depending on your perspective). Now, worth noting that despite running the Jack 2.0 story last fall with Nick Wayne, AEW has never addressed the elephant in the room of how Christian stole a new protégé and replicated Jack’s entire situation. This is likely because he was out for the entirety of that story. But they ran so closely that his ghost hovered over the whole thing despite them only ever mentioning his name during those months, like, once.

We also need to look into two looming events that will eventually happen, but where and when we don’t know, connected to these players:

Luchasaurus will turn on Christian (I think we’re closer than we have been in awhile, due to him coming out as Luchasaurus in the Gauntlet, even though it was a bait & switch)

Jack is going to splinter from the Elite (he’s been used as far too much of a loose canon to remain with them for too long)

Now, I’m under no delusions that Jack is going to actually win the belt at All Out haha. I mean, would it be amazing? Yes. And could they do a lot of legitimately fascinating things with it? Also yes. But the probability is quite low, and I’m of the belief that this match may be something of an apology for cutting the coffin match short at All In. Being very honest, of the three of them, the person I see most likely to win (if any of them even will, which we have to consider that all three of them may lose only to have someone else entirely come in and actually take the belt from Bryan) is Darby. However. There are many cool possibilities being set up here.

Something to think about is that it’s very possible they are going to have Bryan not drop until WrestleDream, since that’s his home area, and that’s not until the end of October. They could just run him until then and have Swerve take the belt off him there, it’s completely within the realm of possibility. But it’s worth mentioning that Darby is also billed from Seattle, and last year he lost to Christian at WrestleDream so he may be due up for a win. Again, this doesn’t really work timing wise, since his title shot is guaranteed at Grand Slam, so either they pull him out of that entirely by October, or something keeps this storyline going until then.

We could have a situation where one of the other two muddles with the Jack v Bryan match so that Jack loses (possible). We could have a situation where nothing out of the ordinary happens at all, and Jack loses, and then Darby loses, and then Christian challenges Bryan and either wins or loses, and none of them overlap (boring, but totally, totally possible). We could have a situation where only two of the three ever end up connecting throughout this (also possible).

BUT. We also could have a storyline that manages to not only pull all three of them into the web, but ALSO manages to work in both of those looming events to the larger narrative, and I think that would be super fucking cool, so I wanna talk about it here hahaha. 

We have Jack challenging Bryan at All Out. Jack loses, but how? Let’s say interference. Let’s say Christian interference, since that’s such a festering wound for Jack. He’s pissed. He blames the Bucks for not coming out and stopping it (which we assume they wouldn’t, given them working with Christian already), which is what splinters them. This puts Jack on his own, still with the TNT title, just a furious, unhinged mess. He’s also a walking target without the Bucks to protect him, and is going to need to find other people fast.

Darby faces Bryan for the title at Grand Slam. Loses, either clean or also because of interference: Luchasaurus, maybe, on behalf of Christian? Or Nick, running that particular storyline back. As soon as Darby loses, Christian calls in his opportunity. Bryan’s probably been hit with, like, seventeen coffin drops and handfuls of thumbtacks at this point. He’s exhausted. Christian wins easily, gets the World Title. He is insufferable, and we love him.

Remember that Darby also doesn’t have anybody in his corner right now, with Sting out. Darby wrestles a lot, and will probably be on, like, every show, so his record could get really good again, really fast. He already had a shot, but that was against Bryan, and Christian’s got the belt now. He challenges Christian for the world title at WrestleDream. It looks like he’s about to lose, and then… interference. Jack interference. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all: Jack helps Darby win, to get back at Christian for making him lose. (In all honesty, they have run this as so much of a blood feud that having them team up seems not unlikely, and also it would be insane and awesome. They really don’t often make teams of Heel/Face combos, but I think Better Than You Bay Bay proved that it’s a really, really solid thing to do.)

And then, a double betrayal: Luchasaurus turns on Christian. Jurassic Express reunited, only they get to be a trio with Darby, cause I think we should get the Fossil Express we dreamed of last year. (AND THEN! Trios champs! Haha, just kidding, they don’t need that many belts. … or do they.) And from here, you set up a whole host of possible feuds/stories: Jack v Nick, which I know has to eventually happen; Luchasaurus v Christian, what a pop that would get; Darby v Swerve, when Swerve comes back for his belt again; Jack & Darby v the Bucks, simply because why would we not want to see this; heel Jurassic Express v literally anyone on the roster except FTR, ‘cause no more; Luchasaurus v Okada, just because it would fucking slap. Copeland v Jack, once Cope is back from injury and wants his TNT belt back. Endless possibilities!

Anyway, I’m sure this won’t happen, but writing it out made me happy, which was really the point here. Aside from just noting that they have once again put these players in a bubble with each other to allow their stories to interweave a bit, and I’m delighted even if they don’t actually touch (tips) here. Fantasy booking is half the fun with wrestling, lol.

[ijustthinkevilunoisneat]

Concept: Hangman beats the crap out of JJ and when he is just about to also hurt Karen, Dark Order's theme song hits, they are the ones to stop it. In promo packages, you have them talk about how Jeff was there for them at their lowest, when everyone abandoned them. You show BTE clips of how Hangman avoided Dark Order, Uno tried to reach out but Hangman distanced himself from them. This was the final straw. He has gone too far and they are here to knock some sense into him. I'd love it to be Uno in particular to be the person representing Dark Order in all of this. He was the one Hangman attacked before All In.

Just something I came up with, doesn't have to happen. Just that there is so much confusion around their original break up because it was quite poorly handled that it would be fun for it to come back around. Hangman was the one who distanced himself from Dark Order, Dark Order didn't do anything wrong in that situation.

[wrestlingisfake]

Broke: Hangman should have gotten the title shot at All In, because Hangman is the one chasing Swerve

Woke: Hangman should win the title shot at All In, and Swerve should retain the title, so Hangman can keep chasing Swerve

Bespoke: Hangman should win the title shot at All In, but Swerve should lose the title, so that Hangman will commit war crimes on Bryan, just to win the only thing that will make Swerve chase Hangman.

[queenielacy]

I feel like Roman demolishing them will give him a false sense of security but Jacob will come back and destroy him and he’ll realize (or Paul will convince him) that he needs his family so OG bloodline gets back together.

[unseenbox]

Okay so here are some plot threads hanging over MJF vs Will Ospreay's match at Wembley. Will these come into play? Idk. But there's a lot of stuff going on in the background here.

Will Ospreay continues losing big matches because he refuses to use the tiger driver 91.

Pac has a title shot for the international championship.

Will Ospreay left the Don Callis family, who have been generally hanging around the vicinity and Kyle Fletcher remains part of it.

MJF fought Adam Cole here last year, where they seemingly reconciled after the match. MJF continues to not be over the break up and Adam Cole is posting about him/the belt on social media.

Home town booking adds a +10 buff in the home town wrestler's favor. However, there are a lot of wrestlers from the UK, see: Pac's title shot. Could more people be added to this match?

[unintentionaloracle]

I think my ideal Jey and Jimmy reconciliation is like if Jey gets called in for WarGames or something but he's not doing it for Jimmy or Roman it's like for whoever else is on the team doesn't matter who rn (or like "I'm setting up a good life for myself on Raw I don't want Bloodline 2.0 around to take it from me" or even a good ol' "we attacked you to keep you out of our business but it just drove you to join oops" all that matters is they aren't forgiven)...

Then at some point Jey and Jimmy are the only ones standing for their team and on instinct they fall back into their tag team rhythm, laying out Bloodline 2.0 for a while, then they have a Charlotte and Becky-eske hug of like "bro I forgive you".

Then after the match Jey goes back to Raw, so we still get that reconciliation but Jey can stay his own man and Jimmy can have a chance to find/build his identity outside of Jey and The Bloodline.

[armchairlegdrop]

The nWo rises again with the ultimate twist. Let's Fantasy Book RAW Reunion 2019! #WWERaw

[dalekofchaos]

Fantasy Booking:WCW never goes out of business

In March of 2001, AOL TimeWarner sold off WCW and all it's trademarks, championships, many of it's wrestlers and their entire tape library to the World Wrestling Federation. This happened, because on top of WCW's declining ratings in the Monday Night Wars (thank you SO much Vince Russo), AOL had no interest in airing wrestling on TNT anymore.

So now, we explore an alternate timeline of events, where Eric Bischoff and Fusient Media, beat the WWF in purchasing WCW from AOL TimeWarner in spring of 2001.

So now, Bischoff has basically paid out of pocket to keep WCW out of the hands of the uncaring WWF and it's monster of a CEO. So, what now? Well, WCW would most likely be nearly broke at this point, and would have very little money left to spend. Many lower-card wrestlers would likely get benched, and weekly shows would ALL get cancelled. This includes: Nitro and Thunder!

WCW would be forced to do what TNA did initially in our timeline: do PPV's ONLY, until they could find a new channel to air their weekly programming. Now, it just so happens, that later that same year, the WWF's flagship show: Monday Night Raw, would leave it's traditional home: the USA Network, to begin a four year stint on Spike TV. The USA Network experienced a HUGE loss with this change, and that's where WCW would step in. WCW even in it's worst days, were getting higher weekly ratings than TNA did in it's PRIME. So, needless to say, a now wrestling deprived USA Network, would pick up Nitro and the Monday Night Wars would be BACK ON.

Throughout all of this, Scott Steiner and Booker T, would likely remain on top of the mountain in WCW. Due to many wrestlers getting released, the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team titles would likely be retired, as would the Hardcore title. With Nitro's re-airing, WCW bring back the Television championship, which is put on the line in a tournament which is won either by a creatively deprived mid-carder (Billy Kidman), or a promising rookie (AJ Styles).

Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash would most likely NOT return to this new WCW. Instead, like many other wrestlers, they would sit at home and let their AOL TimeWarner contracts expire and would most likely join the WWF in early 2002 like they did IRL. Sting on the other hand, I could imagine returning to weekly programming, along with Diamond Dallas Page. DDP was willing to join the WWF IMMEDIATELY after WCW's cancellation IRL, so I think he'd come back to WCW instead of waiting it out. As for Sting, WCW was his home and he refused to join the WWF for many years. I think his loyalty would shine through, and he'd return as well.

Rey Mysterio Jr would wait out his contract like IRL and would get offers from both WWF and WCW. He'd agree to return to WCW, only if they gave him his mask back. Whether Bischoff agrees is up to him and him alone. Hopefully he lets him have it back.

AJ Styles, at least I HOPE, would remain employed by WCW. I think at this point in his career, Styles wouldn't dare leave a company like WCW, that could really help him get a foot in the door. His tag partner, Air Paris, would most likely be released. I think anyone could see Styles potential even this early on, and he'd be worth keeping in the long run. Hopefully, Bischoff would agree with me on that.

WCW's ratings would DEFINTELY increase throughout the 2000's. They'd actually be able to compete with WWE in my opinion, both because fans started losing interest in WWE frequently throughout the decade, and WCW has a LOT more legitimacy as a company than TNA did. TNA lost the second Monday Night War so definitively, because people couldn't take them seriously. WCW with it's rich history, is a very different story.

Now, when considering WCW in the long run, we have to sit back and ask ourselves, what wrestlers would NEVER join WCW? Well, here's a list of wrestlers I think wouldn't be on the table for WCW:

The Undertaker - Similar to Sting with WCW, Taker is a WWF man through and through. There's no WAY he would ever jump ship.

Kane - Same reason as the Undertaker.

Stone Cold Steve Austin - Austin would hold a grudge against Eric Bischoff for his unjust firing in 1995 while he was out with injury. Even when he walked out on the WWF in 2002, Austin wouldn't be caught dead on WCW programming.

The Rock - Rock's loyalty to the WWF would remain intact. The WWF made him a star, and he wouldn't forget that. Plus, WWF would finance his early films like IRL, making him a WWF-lifer.

Eddie Guerrero - Guerrero hated the way he was treated in WCW, hence why he left them in 2000. Would be unlikely to ever return, even when WWF briefly fired him.

Chris Benoit - Benoit also left WCW in a huff in 2000 for the same reasons as Eddie. Even being crowned WCW World champion, wasn't enough to keep Benoit around, so I see no reason why he'd budge.

Randy Orton - Bob Orton Jr never went to WCW during the Monday Night Wars, and I couldn't imagine him doing so in the early 2000's either. So therefore, his son Randy, would only get his wrestling career opportunity in WWE.

Batista - Had previously been rejected from the WCW Powerplant, and was told he would never make it in the business. Batista would NEVER forget that, and wouldn't think twice about joining and staying with the WWE instead.

Daniel Bryan - William Regal and Shawn Michaels trained him to wrestle. He would of course want to join them in WWE.

The Miz - WCW wouldn't even let him in the door, let's be honest.

I'm sure there's plenty of other people I'm missing, but for now let's go with this.

Now, I do believe WCW would operate somewhat like TNA did in its early years. Apart from the PPV-exclusive format WCW would operate with throughout most of 2001, it would also likely feature a lot of the same wrestlers. However, it's also important to note, that TNA would NEVER exist in this timeline. Jeff Jarrett formed it because WCW shut down and he knew WWF wouldn't want him after what he pulled in 1999. So, he formed TNA, so he'd have a non-WWF promotion to call home. In this timeline, WCW never closes, so Jarrett remains in WCW and TNA is never formed.

In 2004, Brock Lesnar would be picked up by WCW. Brock left WWE IRL in 2004, because they're schedule was too much for Brock to handle. WCW prided itself in it's lighter schedule, and Brock would be the biggest free agent in wrestling. Lesnar would agree, on the condition that he be given extended periods of inactivity in order to pursue the NFL (and later UFC), which WCW would agree to do. Anything to get Lesnar. In fact, I'd bet that many UFC fighters would join WCW. Eric Bischoff has a real appreciation for MMA and other contact sports, and we'd likely see a lot of UFC/WCW cross-promotions.

WCW throughout the 2000's, would also likely hire all the big indie stars not signed by the WWE. CM Punk is a definite in my opinion. Although, I could also imagine Punk joining WWE instead, since Paul Heyman was the one who vouched for him, and Heyman was in WWE, NOT WCW. However, if WCW values wrestling (which it normally did), then WCW would come knocking on Punk's door.

Samoa Joe would be a definite yes for WCW. I'm honestly surprised Joe ever went to WWE, considering how rude Jim Ross apparently was to him early in his indie career. With no TNA, Joe would go to WCW and would quickly rise to the main event.

Kurt Angle would likely join WCW in 2006, after leaving the WWE like he did IRL. He'd be a MAJOR signing for WCW, and would definitely help further boost ratings.

Other people I could imagine joining WCW throughout the years include:

Bobby Lashley

Drew McIntyre

Seth Rollins

Jon Moxley

Lance Archer

Big Show

AJ Lee

Charlotte Flair

Gail Kim

Awesome Kong

Cesaro

Jay Lethal

Richie Steamboat

Again, I'm sure I've missed a lot of people, but these ones all stick out to me personally.

Some effects WCW's presence would have on WWE, include the fact that Evolution would never be formed (at least not in the same way). There's a VERY real chance that Triple H and Shawn Michaels could both have joined WCW, if Hall and Nash had decided to stay in WCW. If not, then Ric Flair definitely would've stayed in WCW, and Evolution might not have happened at all.

Another thing is that John Cena might never have become a big deal. WWE came very close to firing Cena, and there's a chance that because of the butterfly effect, Stephanie McMahon never discovers his rapping ability, and Cena is fired. If that's the case, Cena probably wouldn't have gone to WCW, since they wouldn't see much value in a kid who at the time, had no visible charisma and was fairly average in the ring.

Cody Rhodes also never would've joined WWE or formed AEW. Dusty Rhodes and Goldust would've stayed in WCW instead of joining the WWF, and thus Cody would be trained in the WCW Powerplant and debuted on Nitro in 2007. Cody would be treated a LOT better than IRL, and would've become one of WCW's biggest players of the 2010's. No mistreatment by WWE, means no Stardust, no American Nightmare, no AEW, and no run in WWE period. Cody would be WCW-bound for life.

The Hardy Boyz would also be WCW-bound. Jeff was fired from WWE in 2003 after refusing to go to rehab. He'd be a hot free agent that WCW couldn't possibly pass up. Matt would join him in 2005, when WWE fires him for his online post about Edge and Lita's affair.

Ring of Honor would still exist, but probably wouldn't rise to prominence like IRL, since ROH became popular because of WCW's demise. When WCW shut down, people yearned for an alternative to WWE. But now, WCW is still around and thus ROH is a lot more obscure. If WCW got to a point of getting rich again, I could imagine them buying it out like Tony Khan did IRL. The wealth of talent ROH could provide WCW with would be INSANE.

Now, if CM Punk DID join WCW, then he never would've retired in 2014. He would be likely treated a little better, get no staph infection, and would remain active throughout the entirety of the 2010's. He'd probably never marry AJ Lee sadly, although I could imagine Lee going to WCW, since WWE's women's division was AWFUL for a long time. Then again WCW's wasn't that much better honestly, though hopefully that would change in this timeline.

The nWo would absolutely be revived at some point, with new members. CM Punk would be a FANTASTIC nWo leader.

The WWE as a whole, would probably be a better overall product. Vince wouldn't get an inflated ego from purchasing both ECW and WCW, and would still operate like he did in the Attitude Era. WWE would still lose viewers after the deaths of Eddie and Benoit. WWE would still go PG and despite the ongoing Monday Night Wars, Vince McMahon CLEARLY has mental health problems in real life, so it wouldn't stop him from micromanaging. WWE would remain out of touch with it's fans and continue pushing wrestlers that fans don't like. With Edge, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Undertaker and Batista all leaving WWE in 2010 and 11, plus with Cena possibly never becoming a main eventer, WWE suffers a LOT in the early 2010's, helping WCW gain even more fan support with better promos and matches.

WCW would form a working partnership with NJPW, which would really help them even more, since it would get them wrestlers like Kenny Omega, Shinsuke Nakamura, Jushin Liger, Jay White and Kazuchika Okada to perform on Nitro. Just IMAGINE THAT.

By today, WCW would be more popular than WWE and AEW in our timeline. It would get millions of viewers a week, and WWE would likely become a shell of it's former self. The wrestling landscape is a lot healthier, with viewers and performers having a different place to watch/wrestle, that was actually on WWE's level. TNA suffered because it was a lesser promotion, with a short history, and a roster of WWE's leftovers. Plus it was run by Vince Russo and Dixie Carter. Ugh.

WCW surviving would've been the best thing possible for wrestling as a whole. We can blame Vince McMahon, for yet another thing he robbed the world of. Thank you so so much Vince. We REALLY appreciate it.

The current champions for WCW are as follows:

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Cody Rhodes

WCW United States Champion: Seth Rollins

WCW Women’s Champion: Charlotte Flair

WCW World Television Champion: AJ Styles

WCW World Cruiserweight Champion: Adam Cole

WCW World Tag Team Champions: FTR

[pepperstreak]

The way I see it either max will turn on Cole and it'll further solidify that MJF is a tiger that just can't change his stripes. Which is good, it's always good to have solid characters with consistent character traits, there's comfort in that....

Or

Cole could turn on Max, and we can watch MJF go through the agonies because he got hit when his guard was down. He finally trusted someone enough to actually be kind to them. The trust issues that would come out of that?

[ellejellehell]

Julia Hart, Skye Blue, Brody King, Buddy Matthews, Malakai Black vs Toni Storm, Mariah May, Luther, John Cruz, Angelico. Intergender Blood and Guts.

The House of Black

vs

The House of Black and White

check please

[pepsi-maxwell]

like literally if this blind tag tournament doesn't lead to orange and darby vs adamjf, reprising like three feuds, what the fuck are we even doing here

[piledrivemytombstones]

My brain is filled with what if imagines scenarios for if CM Punk comes to WWE.

Like what if he comes back as a heel and starts bullying almost everyone on the top.

Like he could make fun of the way Seth Rollins dresses by dressing the way he does and saying how anyone that thinks Seth’s way of dressing is cool will never be able to dress like that because Seth is flaunting his richness. And then he tells the prices for everything he’s wearing, which makes Seth take the mic away from punk.

Yes. I want the heel Punk back. He’s an amazing face yes, but I love watching him being an evil bitch who hates everyone.

And taking that gimmick right now would be perfect because he’s so polarizing after AEW

I actually have a lot of fantasy promos and bookings if he does come back.

I could post some ig but like always

I’m not sure if anyone cares

[wrestlingisfake]

I don't want to jinx it, but it'd be pretty badass if Mercedes Mone debuted on AEW tomorrow and revealed she's joining the Elite with Okada and the Young Bucks.

Or it'd be badass if the Young Bucks thought they had her locked in, but then she turns them down and embarrasses them, so they have to recruit a different woman who gets a big push as the Elite's anti-Mone hunter.

[sheinthatfandom]

I know it’s probably not but I would actually really like it if the mystery person in the tournament is not hangman or Ospreay. I’d much rather have ELP or someone else from one of the other companies.

Especially if ELP beats Jeff and jay beats Rey like…. Do you see the vision??

Plus the thought that someone from new Japan could win the tournament and get a shot at the companies world title is just delicious. Won’t happen because TK hates me but still.

[unseenbox]

Alright so hear me out. Adam Cole gets kicked out from Undisputed Kingdom because he got too cocky and failed to realize that they've been planning this all along and/or got tired of his shit.

He is surrounded by figures in black about to whack him with a chair and send him to the shadow realm. He calls for help...

And this time no one comes or begs to be hit with the chair instead. Because Max isn't there this time.