Help me book a 1-Hour TV Show

[Guest mickberna]

Now, I know this should be in another folder, but I want some ideas and this is the most popular folder...

 

I'm producing a wrestling show for my senior television project at Hofstra University.  The show will be only an hour long, so I have to find a way to cram as much wrestling and enough promos to define face/heel relationships for the crowd into the time I have.  Commercials are only 1-minute long.

 

There are 3 belts, the Tag, TV, and Heavyweight, so I will likely include 3 title matches.

 

Most of the people I am working with can be found here:

Critical Mass Pro Wrestling

 

Any ideas and suggestions are highly appreciated!

[Guest HybridNetwork]

Well, for the basics: matches should be around 10-15 minutes long since you want to have three. Since you only have an hour you'll want to have 35-45 minutes of wrestling action, this should leave enough time for promos/commercials and whatnot. I can't really offer anything else seeing as how I have no clue what wrestlers will be on your tv show.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Kick off with the TV Title match, give the heel some time on the mic beforehand, but not long, keep the match to about 10 mins.

 

Tag titles next, stick to the formula of a heel team taking control of one of the face wrestlers, then do the hot tag and whatever finish you want to happen. The crowd should get the heel / face stuff fro mthe in-ring action, shouldn't need a promo. Just keep the heel team big and menacing, and the face team smaller but still credible. No more than 12 mins for the whole thing.

 

Next break up the action with a high-flying spot fest, keep them to 10 mins, but wow the crowd with some stuff and you don't need to worry about promos here either.

 

Heavyweight Title, give the heel a bit of time on the mic and take a slower approach to the match with a hot finish. Give them 15-17 minutes and you should have a great show that fits under an hour - i reckon.

[Guest Risk]

First off, please don't do the hot tag.  It is predictable and crappy.  Also, don't have all matches with the heel/face dynamic.  That gets old fast.  I say make the wrestlers like real people, some are jerks, most are not, some are greedy, some want their fair share, some don't care what someone else does, some always BUTT in when they aren't wanted, ect.  Feel free to try new stuff too, just not too crazy.

 

Don't use much cheating either, fans like to see a clean finish between athletes.  Don't have ripoff characters, unbelieve characters, or unrealistic characters.  Keep everything as full contact AS IT CAN GET.  Be unpredictable too, and original.  Don't rehash old stuff, use your OWN ideas or the ideas of your wrestler.

 

Let a wrestler play the part he is best at.

[Guest mickberna]

Well, I actually was hoping to do 4, maybe 5 matches, if one of them is a quickie, which is likely to happen.  I've been to a few of the shows they run, and believe me, the attention span of the fans is VERY low.  

 

But I obviously agree that it should all be original.  I'll probably go for a couple obvious face/heel matches, and a couple with all participants in shades of grey.  

 

Any more ideas?  

 

BTW, I'll put up a link when this show is taped and edited.  Sometime around the beginning of May.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Hot tags...

 

Sure they may be lame and cliched, but it gets the fans invovled, even if it is with disinterest.  From there they are more inclined to cheer.  Some chop spots with the 'whooo!' also gets em into it.

[Guest Risk]

Hot tags are predictable and I think fans want new stuff.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Hot Tags..

 

Not if done right.  The Wwf has em in every tag match, there it is tiresome.  Especially when its after like 2 moves.  But you can easily base a match around a single tag.  Its a classic wrestling trick and has yet to fail.  Anything to get the fans involved will be successful because fans want to be involved.

[Guest Death]

Is this a one-time deal, or weekly?

 

If it is weekly, I say hold a tournament. That is the best way to establish wrestlers in a new fed.

 

If it is a one time deal, make sure that the titles mean something. You don't want every title to change hands. Heels for the most part make better champions too. I know that is a bold statement, but when the babyface is the underdog, and the heel is built up as superman it gets the crowd in a frenzy cheering for the babyface to go over. See Honky Tonk Man.

 

I would hold off on the tag-team.. make tag-team matches few and far between, that way the crowd thinks that they are getting something special when they get a tag match.

 

Also, a faction works well for the world title. If you have a coward heel as champion, have his friends keep the belt on him at all costs. See the IV Horsemen, Triple Threat, Early nWo.