oooo this was a really good episode! i usually either deal with burnout as a challenge or drop raw down to 2 and a half hours because that lets me still explore the roster but i can weirdly find burn out fun to book around and its more realistic i guess

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

I'm thinking either two or two and a half hours makes the most sense. I clearly embrace the burnout based on my history with some of these series haha. Glad you enjoyed the episode! Thanks as always for the kind words.

I would either cut RAW down to 2 hours, or turn off the crowd burnout. Can't wait for Smackdown!

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

We're gonna push it to two hours probably since that's a simple fix. Always appreciate you watching!

A really good first show I love how you're really incorperating events from the Royal Rumble. Not losing pop on your first show is a good sign and a thing most people can't do when doing a WWE save. Generally speaking in TEW fans can comfortably sit through three and a half hours of wrestling (including pre-show and post-show content). You can turn off this feature in preferences outside of that IDK if thngs like calm the crowd would help with this. I personally believe WWE has a stacked roster more then enough to fill 3 hours (at worse maybe make it 2 and half hours) but obviously prioritize yourself and make sure you don't get burnt out

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! It seems like I always lose pop in the first episode, so I was surprised we didn't haha. I forgot about the crowd burnout thing being tied to both shows since we taped Main Event before Raw. The roster can absolutely support the three-hour show, but we may just push it to two and a half or something to prevent the burnout. Thanks as always for the feedback!

For burned out, you need to calm them down. The Zoey and Shayna would be a good choice since it wasn't going to be great. Then, you build the crowd back.

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Always forget to do that too! That's a great point. Thanks for watching!

Did you book Main Event before Raw? If so, the game sees it as 4 hours for the live crowd and they will be burned out by the end of your main show.

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

As soon as I said that I realized that was the issue haha. Since I didn't book Main Event in the 2021 save, I forgot about it.

There can never be too much Cathy Kelley!

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Haha you have a point there!

Does the product type impact the crowd reaction? It may be that the crowd want shorter matches and more segments (or some sort of variation) or yeah, maybe amend it to two hours but I'd be interested to see you manage the struggle as it provides a bit of realism to the product. Which reminds me, will the new TV deals come to fruition. I really enjoyed Seth trying to find the silver lining in Cody's decision and use it to prop himself up. It does a good job of painting Rollins as a credible World Champion even if he isn't the guy Cody wants to face. I take my hat off to you for incorporating the Punk injury as it technically wasn't stated at the Rumble, so you could've just played it off as dirt sheet tittle-tattle. Very demoralising segment to paint his discontent, echoing what a lot of supporters feel but I think this is a real opportunity for someone like Drew to pick at the bones and use it to elevate themselves. I can imagine some good stuff to come from this. I don't know how viable it would be in real life but I'd be up for Punk appearing at Mania in some capacity like commentary? Even if it was just the World title match. I liked how you moved storylines along but also allowed us to react and digest Mania. In previous years, it's been straight onto Elimination Chamber and while I'm excited to see the build to an international premium live event, I think that you really allowed Cody, Rollins, Punk, Bayley - all the people we'd want to see - have their moment. I like how you've hit the ground running with Bron too, I think it gives Dom something entertaining to play against but also JD has an axe to grind with him too, therefore showing how fearless Breakker is by taking on one of the biggest factions in the company. Apollo feels like he ebbs and flows between whether he's generic and stuck in a rut or whether creative want to invest in him. I know you've likely outlined your plans but I'd be keen on seeing how you develop some of the 'creatively challenged'. DIY and Judgement Day was a great match for the tag division. I think you really excelled in the 2021 save at managing the tag team division (for both the men and the women). It felt pretty clear who would win the match, especially this early on in the project but I would definitely be up for seeing a rematch once DIY have had the chance to properly build themselves up outside of simply competing. I like Cathy Kelley but there is definitely more than just her on the brand - Jackie Redmond, Sarah Schrieber, Byron Saxton? The Imperium/New Day feud seems fun but it feels like injuries and momentum have plagued New Day, I think the match rating and their general charisma will help them level up but I don't know if I see this as the big story for Gunther or the IC title. I can imagine this running until the PLE, if somehow Gunther isn't being lined up as a possible contender to Rollins. Becky and Xia was a nice little match. I feel like having Becky as a challenger is always fun because it feels like she's always prepared to work her way back up the ranks as opposed to just coming in and landing a match (cough, Charlotte). Zoey and Shayna seem to be legitimising as a team, although with Kabuki Warriors so heavily involved in the bigger Damage CTRL storyline, I do question their chances at taking the titles should they face-off. I know Rhia was selling the attack by Nia but I do wish she had a bit more to say, I think she came across quite weak with the amount of damage Jax was doing and that's great for Jax and Bayley obviously doesn't lose out, but the champion felt like the smallest person in the segment. I know this is a vehicle of stopping Bayley from making a decision while reminding us that Nia is still a threat but yeah, I would've enjoyed some back and forth. "Main Event" Jey Uso returning to Raw, let's see if he's actually in the Main Event. Again, it felt natural that Drew would take the win but I'm hoping Sami has a spot somewhere, he's a great talent and I think he had such a good 2023 that it would be a shame to let him fall back down the card. Heyman in a limo feels so extra but I love it. Heyman's such a great character, so looking forward to what he eventually has to say about Cody's story and challenge. I love the potential long-term storytelling aspect of Rhodes/Punk as well, feels like a landmark moment that could be played up to far down the line.

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Always appreciate the great feedback, Ben! You think of things I don't and it helps me go back to the drawing board for certain ideas haha. Glad you enjoyed Raw and as you said, there's so much we can build off of with this roster right now. Thanks again!

I would just use lower talent or just whoever you want to feature in a calm the crowd match. Use comedy matches for people like R-Truth that helps too. Literally a minute match resets the crowd.

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Yeah I always forget about the calm the crowd matches. Gotta get better at adding those in on these long shows haha. Thanks as always for watching!

For the crowd burn out, you have to use the calm the crowd note. It says in the handbook, although i cant remember thr exact wording but it was something like if so many consecutive segments increase in score, it leads to burnout out. I think another way to game it is to have an angle with both workers off screen prior to the match. There's also the route WWE chose forever which was to put a shitty 3 minute women's match before the main event. Anytime i book IRL saves, i always drop the show length down to 1h30m to account for commercials in a 2 hour show. I make sure minute 46 features a star in some way to simulate that top of the hour channel surfing thing. Interesting show. Was hoping you'd keep Punk in action, but curious to see how your mania plans go now.

@StraightEdgeJunkie

6 ай бұрын

There's two types of burnout in the game. There's the thing you're talking about, but the other type of burnout happens after a show goes on for three and a half hours. And that can't be prevented. It's just a realistic feature where the crowd starts to get bored if the show goes on for too long, and the penalty gets progressively worse as the show gets longer. It takes into account all show tapings taking place that day. He taped Main Event before RAW, so that's why the crowd was burned out.

@chriscarnage9467

6 ай бұрын

@@StraightEdgeJunkie ahh okay. I never book shows that long so I wasn't aware of that

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Always appreciate your feedback! Adding the Main Event booking definitely sent the crowd into burnout mode, so we'll tweak some things to fix that. I have an idea for Punk that should at least keep things interesting....

Let's gooo! I would recommend you do like you did on the other save and drop Raw to 2 hours, at the very least to avoid burnout. I feel like it's so easy to burn out on a WWE or AEW save...

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

I always try to avoid the burnout we all know that I can't haha. So the two-hour Raw seems to be the choice!

Finally……. I personally turn crowd management off as PPVS would definitely burn the crowd. Yeah, it takes some of the realism out but for me, its pretty minor realism feature that I can do without Best solution though, definitely reducing from 3hr to 2hr

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

Thanks as always for the feedback! I think we'll probaly do the two hours since that seems to be an easy solution.

I was thinking. In the old WWE save, you did a full draft. I don't know how you feel about this, but maybe in this save, the big thing you do is end the brand split? I've personally just never been the biggest supporter of the idea. Your save, of course. And maybe you like the brand split, a lot of people do. But it'd be a way to differentiate from the real WWE. Of course there's the issue with the two world titles, the newer one just got introduced. But obviously there's stories to be told there. I think that especially the women's division always suffers from the split. Way more stories to tell with a full roster. The downside, of course, is that then you have 5 hours of stories to tell with the same roster, so that can be a negative.

@StraightEdgeJunkie

6 ай бұрын

Maybe as a self imposed challenge, try to get RAW to Netflix or somewhere else, away from USA - and then go to two hours? Because, in real life, it's a demand from USA. So it could be a nice little challenge. Another network might be more open to the two hours.

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

I've always been intrigued by the idea of going back to when there was no brand split. Based on the booking thus far, there are some obvious limitations with the SmackDown roster in my opinion, so it's certainly worth a thought at some point. I've never been the biggest fan of two world titles but understand why WWE does it. You're right about the women's division issues, as I think that's easily the clearest drawback of the split. Some interesting options moving forward.

Is there a february mod already?

@wrestleblake

6 ай бұрын

I'm just using the January mod and changed the start date to February so it would be after the Rumble.