Roster History

[Deacon]

"Rising Star" Justin Locke

Justin is JW's spoiled nephew. Raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, Justin is an only child and favored grandchild of the Locke matriarch. Justin's love of wrestling led him to training to be a wrestler, and given his uncle ran things, it made his infusion into the Circuit that much easier, just like much in his life.

Justin sees himself as a star. One of his influences, if you can call it that, comes from when I played the fW game in the CSWA. A new member joined up and immediately started asking how long until they could fight for the top spot. It crossed me as funny, and I never forgot it, even using a similar line for Justin in some of his dialogue. But as far as actual wrestlers who influenced his personality - perhaps a bit of early Jericho, late Owen Hart, and a touch of Santino. He's a comedy character with an antics chart for gameplay to match. Justin's look was easily inspired by Kurt Angle or Jack Swagger, which might not match the comedic element, but given I gave him a touch of history in Missouri state High School wrestling, I thought it appropriate...

Justin's importance to what transpires is key. JW had a chance to infuse the Circuit with more actual talent, but as he planned to bring in top stars, the Locke family influenced JW to let Justin on the roster. This will have wide-reaching effects on the story, both for JW and for the Circuit. And who knows, it might have an impact on Justin to...

 

[Deacon]

BST - 2nd Expansion


High Flyer

We cannot start this without rehashing a bit of Justin Locke's history (listed above). Remember how several stars were passed over in favor of giving Justin a sizable salary? Well, the 2 that make it into this expansion were passed over (w/ several more remaining). Obviously, both are now signed.

Ford, fwrestling.com member, created High Flyer, though the character's current name doesn't go by that moniker. I'll leave any details of how Ford came up with the character to him, if he so desires. From my end, I was working on the "Justin storyline" and wanted a few different types of wrestlers to include in that story. I felt the need for a babyface, high flying, acrobatic style wrestler in the vein of an HBK-type. Initially, I tried making up a character. I could've probably done so, but as I was working on it, I was seeking advice from another fwrestling.com member about the game, and realized that I was trying to create a unique character where one already existed. I then approached Ford who agreed to let High Flyer in the game.

Flyer's inclusion in the expansion was, in a word, spectacular. Ford wrote an initial "writing prompt" as part of the agreement of the character's inclusion. From there, we began plotting (if you can call it that) how to introduce him. I believe I wrote a prompt of my own using the commentators, sent it to Ford, who then added the Flyer sections of dialogue to BST. I then did a re-edit that gave it a bit of flow. In this case, I know Flyer got over as Ford would want because he did it. Doing so brought back memories of our work in fWo and easily made my job of getting Flyer over tons easier.

One thing of note Ford added to the character's MDG history was a tie into Tsunami Shiretsu. It's hidden, but tied the two characters together brilliantly. I'd already let Ford know that my plan involved a program with Tsunami. During the commentator section, he mentioned the fact that Flyer didn't like Tsunami due to a previous history where Flyer lost a "mask vs. mask" match to the Japanese hardcore icon. It's an idea I hope to mine in future expansions.

 

[Deacon]

Lynch

A pencil sketch by DJ Coffman was actually included in the Basic Set, even though the character wasn't being used. I would like to say this was purposeful, to more easily tie it into the "Justin Locke storyline" but that'd be a lie. I only put it in there because I liked it and thought others would be impressed as well. That, and it fit the section I placed the artwork in. However, as with many things, it worked out perfectly when I did brainstorm the Locke story and need a character for it. I'm trying to recall where Lynch initially started. I think I had a player of the RP fed I ran who used the tag line of "Guns don't kill people, (insert character name) kills people." I liked it, and initially had the person tagged to be in the game, but they flaked (it happened several times, unfortunately) and so I adapted the character into what I wanted, but that's just a guess.

Fast forward to now, my initial plan for this "uber-technically skilled wrestler" spot was to go to someone else's creation, an fwrestling.com member, however when things didn't pan out, I slid Lynch in and began working out a history that would tie him into the Circuit. One of my favorite characters, Contessa, had an implied history. She wore masquerade masks and had a mysterious history of her own. My wife created her, and so most of Lynch's story came about in conversations with her (she tolerates a lot). I thought we could begin dropping Contessa's proverbial mask by introducing a family member, and doing so would tie Lynch in and give him an immediate feud as he created challenges for Contessa, and therefore her overbearing beau - Nigel Hawthorne. From there, I just needed to setup what type of technical wrestler I wanted, and I went the MMA route. That worked well because I needed a "guest referee" for the Blind Faith match in the BST expansion, and Lynch fit that mold well.

 

[Deacon]

The Crag

This was a result of a new match type - the Blind Faith match - where each wrestler had an ally able to help during the match. I put Vin Everest in it and needed someone to go with him. Since I hadn't given him any allies, and everyone else was involved in a match, additionally wanting Everest to have someone who could really give the Deacon trouble, I decided on a completely masked character called the Crag who was a bit like Diesel was to HBK. A twist with the Crag exists in the 2nd expansion, so I'll leave that hidden right now. And as I work toward the next expansion, I'll add another twist or three.