Post by crann on Jan 13, 2019 20:15:01 GMT -6
Hey everybody.
I'm not a big fan of beating around the bush, so I'm going to get right down to business here. The past few months have been rough for the UWF. We've had late shows, a decline in activity (up to and including a no-show for a world title match), and generally things seem a lot less optimistic than they were in Fall 2018.
I know a lot of this comes down to the work of staff. Frankly, I feel as though I've been dropping the ball heavily, and while Dresden has done a good job as Danny's replacement, his departure still has made a big difference here. We've also had an assistant writer announce his intention to step down and sporadic contributions from other AWs due to real-life issues. Not to mention a number of short LoAs among TTers.
The fed has navigated some choppy waters, which is what necessitates this post today. With the falloff we have seen in activity and the stresses on staff, it is looking as though the brand expansion we brought in a few months ago will have to be rolled back. To be perfectly clear, what I mean is that it looks as though the UWF will have to shrink back down to a single brand. While we've been considering this possibility for a little over a month, we decided to wait until after Judgment Day to make an official decision. That time has come, and it's looking like that's what we're going to need to do.
Here are the simple facts that have led to this decision:
Factoring in inactivity drop-offs, Revolution currently has 12 active TTers and Resistance has 13, with two of those about to go on a short-term LOA. While a brand could function with that few TTers, it does tend to lead to a lot of stale match-ups and the devaluation of certain titles. On top of this, even before the loss of a staff writer, the writing commitment for two brands was already becoming too heavy a lift for the team just due to sporadic availability and real-life demands.
If we reconcile the rosters into a single brand, we would have 26 active characters/teams, but some of those are secondary characters and one of those (my HHH) would need to be dropped if I were to stay on as head writer. Which is where step two of the solution comes into play: we introduce the much-anticipated UWF Tag Team Division. This would allow those with secondary characters the opportunity to keep their characters, while also creating a brand new opportunity for the existing stables and teams, such as the World Warriors, Gambino and Rock, and the Prime Time Players. As well, we'd be intending to keep the Prime Time Championship around as we like the gimmick, but promoting it to an intermediary championship between the Television and Intercontintental belts while also maintaining the Television Championship as the tertiary title.
So, to sum up, this is what the divisions would look like:
- Television Division
- Prime Time Division
- Intercontinental Division
- UWF Tag Team Division
- UWF Championship Division
Champions on Resistance would be given the opportunity to compete in unification matches against their corresponding champions on Revolution; ergo, the European and Intercontinental Champions would have a match, and the International and UWF Champions would have a match to determine who holds the unified belt. The Prime Time and Television Champions would maintain their hold on their titles but have more competition, while the inaugural Tag Team Champions would be determined via a tournament.
We would likely keep moving with the Revolution brand as that was and continues to be the heart of the UWF. Staff would look like this:
Crann - Head Writer
Dresden - Deputy HW
George, Bodor, Wasabi - Assistant Writers
In effect, Crann would take on most of the booking responsibilities for both brands, while consulting with Dresden on everything that doesn't involve his character. Assistant Writers would continue to contribute matches on a weekly basis and be consulted for their input on threads from time to time.
This means every writer would have one match to write a week, and if anyone needs to take a week off, we could find a volunteer to replace that writer. It halves the current workload and allows us to focus more on quality than quantity.
As for timelines, after much discussion between administration, it seems likely that we'll be looking at the Royal Rumble as the jump-off point for the reunification. While this won't necessarily mean that all belts will be unified and all loose ends tied off by the Rumble, we'll be working our way toward it.
I know that this news is bittersweet, particularly with respect to the unification of championships some of you have worked very hard to win. We'll be working hard to make sure current champions are respected in the transition, so nobody feels cheated. What I'm hoping for is that everyone still remains active, interested, and engaged in the federation as we move toward this transition. Staff remains committed to telling exciting stories and continuing the tradition of the UWF that has been going for more than six years, and we hope that all of you will remain along for the ride.
Thanks for your time.
Crann
I'm not a big fan of beating around the bush, so I'm going to get right down to business here. The past few months have been rough for the UWF. We've had late shows, a decline in activity (up to and including a no-show for a world title match), and generally things seem a lot less optimistic than they were in Fall 2018.
I know a lot of this comes down to the work of staff. Frankly, I feel as though I've been dropping the ball heavily, and while Dresden has done a good job as Danny's replacement, his departure still has made a big difference here. We've also had an assistant writer announce his intention to step down and sporadic contributions from other AWs due to real-life issues. Not to mention a number of short LoAs among TTers.
The fed has navigated some choppy waters, which is what necessitates this post today. With the falloff we have seen in activity and the stresses on staff, it is looking as though the brand expansion we brought in a few months ago will have to be rolled back. To be perfectly clear, what I mean is that it looks as though the UWF will have to shrink back down to a single brand. While we've been considering this possibility for a little over a month, we decided to wait until after Judgment Day to make an official decision. That time has come, and it's looking like that's what we're going to need to do.
Here are the simple facts that have led to this decision:
Factoring in inactivity drop-offs, Revolution currently has 12 active TTers and Resistance has 13, with two of those about to go on a short-term LOA. While a brand could function with that few TTers, it does tend to lead to a lot of stale match-ups and the devaluation of certain titles. On top of this, even before the loss of a staff writer, the writing commitment for two brands was already becoming too heavy a lift for the team just due to sporadic availability and real-life demands.
If we reconcile the rosters into a single brand, we would have 26 active characters/teams, but some of those are secondary characters and one of those (my HHH) would need to be dropped if I were to stay on as head writer. Which is where step two of the solution comes into play: we introduce the much-anticipated UWF Tag Team Division. This would allow those with secondary characters the opportunity to keep their characters, while also creating a brand new opportunity for the existing stables and teams, such as the World Warriors, Gambino and Rock, and the Prime Time Players. As well, we'd be intending to keep the Prime Time Championship around as we like the gimmick, but promoting it to an intermediary championship between the Television and Intercontintental belts while also maintaining the Television Championship as the tertiary title.
So, to sum up, this is what the divisions would look like:
- Television Division
- Prime Time Division
- Intercontinental Division
- UWF Tag Team Division
- UWF Championship Division
Champions on Resistance would be given the opportunity to compete in unification matches against their corresponding champions on Revolution; ergo, the European and Intercontinental Champions would have a match, and the International and UWF Champions would have a match to determine who holds the unified belt. The Prime Time and Television Champions would maintain their hold on their titles but have more competition, while the inaugural Tag Team Champions would be determined via a tournament.
We would likely keep moving with the Revolution brand as that was and continues to be the heart of the UWF. Staff would look like this:
Crann - Head Writer
Dresden - Deputy HW
George, Bodor, Wasabi - Assistant Writers
In effect, Crann would take on most of the booking responsibilities for both brands, while consulting with Dresden on everything that doesn't involve his character. Assistant Writers would continue to contribute matches on a weekly basis and be consulted for their input on threads from time to time.
This means every writer would have one match to write a week, and if anyone needs to take a week off, we could find a volunteer to replace that writer. It halves the current workload and allows us to focus more on quality than quantity.
As for timelines, after much discussion between administration, it seems likely that we'll be looking at the Royal Rumble as the jump-off point for the reunification. While this won't necessarily mean that all belts will be unified and all loose ends tied off by the Rumble, we'll be working our way toward it.
I know that this news is bittersweet, particularly with respect to the unification of championships some of you have worked very hard to win. We'll be working hard to make sure current champions are respected in the transition, so nobody feels cheated. What I'm hoping for is that everyone still remains active, interested, and engaged in the federation as we move toward this transition. Staff remains committed to telling exciting stories and continuing the tradition of the UWF that has been going for more than six years, and we hope that all of you will remain along for the ride.
Thanks for your time.
Crann
