Fantasy wrestling

Fantasy wrestling is an umbrella term representing the genre of role-playing and statistics-based games which are set in the world of professional wrestling. Several variants of Fantasy Wrestling exist segregated by the way they are transmitted (through websites, message boards, e-mail, postal mail, or face-to-face), the method in which the storyline is determined, via roleplay, "angles", strategy- or statistics-based systems, etc.) and how the roster is composed (characters created by the players).

Fantasy wrestling's roots lie in the play-by-mail wrestling games often featured in professional wrestling magazines that became prominent in the mid-to-late 1980s during one of professional wrestling's boom periods. In the early 1990s, the advent of national bulletin board services like Prodigy, AOL, and Compuserve allowed players to use e-mail and bulletin boards to more easily trade information and post roleplays. As technology progressed and the internet evolved, fantasy wrestling enthusiasts took advantage, using websites and newsgroups to connect and build broader communities for gameplay.

History and Progression

Play-by-mail

Early versions of the game began in the 1980s using play-by-mail formats. A player ("handler") often controlled his wrestler’s success by creating a move and then e-mailing it to an adjudicator. Based on the moves and any strategies applied the adjudicator would then decide the outcome. Play-by-mail leagues often included a 'pay to play' model where handlers paid a fee per match and/or 'strategy' applied.

Online Bulletin Boards

Fantasy wrestling underwent a paradigm shift in the early 1990s as the game moved from play-by-mail to nationwide message boards based on PRODIGY, AOL and Compuserve. Originally connected to message boards focused on professional and amateur wrestling, fantasy wrestling's popularity caused specific subforums to be created on PRODIGY's Wrestling BB and AOL's Grandstand. The change in available access and speed from mail to online boards created significant changes in the game. Roleplay became a significant part of the hobby. Instead of simply choosing moves, handlers could now voice their wrestlers through roleplay, creating "promos" against opponents. Many stat-based systems found ways to integrate roleplay as a factor into determining match winners. Eventually, roleplay became the primary factor for many leagues.

The Web

As fantasy wrestling moved from individual ISPs to the World Wide Web beginning in 1994, roleplay became a larger factor in the operation of leagues and determining results, eclipsing the stat-based system.

The first websites featuring fantasy wrestling began to pop up as the World Wide Web started to develop.

As the web matured, so did sites devoted to the hobby. By 1998, sites like FWLNet/IWO-Online, EMWC, NWC and FantasyWrestling.com (now FWrestling.com) had shifted users from AOL, PRODIGY and other services to the Web proper. The formerly text-based hobby began to integrate Poser images of created wrestlers, animated videos, audio shows and vlogs.

Current

Fantasy wrestling continues to evolve. Traditionally, most roleplays (referred to as "promos") revolved around more traditional pro-wrestling topics, focused on trash talking an opponent and hyping an upcoming match. In recent years, roleplay has melded with creative writing, including more detailed stories and progression.

Sites devoted to fantasy wrestling leagues, news and resources have continued to grow. As of March 2012, the top sites ranked by Alexa devoted to fantasy wrestling/e-wrestling included: EFedKnights.com, Roughkut.com, FWrestling.com, EWzine.com, and FedWars.net.

During the early parts of the 21st century the hobby has taken to many websites and can be seen throughout such social networking sites Freewebs, Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace.

Pro Wrestling Companies in Fantasy Wrestling

In 2004, World Wrestling Entertainment began its own fantasy wrestling game focused on selecting WWE Superstars as part of a team and receiving points based on their involvement on the WWE television shows. WWE singled out "real wrestling" E-Feds who used the names and likenesses of WWE Superstars and began sending them cease-and-desist letters. WWE later disbanded its fantasy wrestling game.

Between 2005 and 2006, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling also operated their own fantasy wrestling game. The game operated from the promotion's message boards and was based on real wrestlers. The game never gained notoriety and was removed along with the message boards from the promotion's website in late 2006. In June 2011, TNA relaunched their fantasy wrestling game as a part of their Impact Wrestling campaign.

E-Wrestling

E-Wrestling' has evolved as a term for an internet variation on creative roleplay, based on the world of professional wrestling. The basic premise is that the player (also called a handler) creates a character, and manages his or her career in a fictional professional wrestling promotion, called an E-Federation (or E-Fed).

Much like the term "e-mail" became the abbreviation for electronic mail, the term "e-wrestling" became common in the mid-to-late 1990s once fantasy wrestling moved from a primarily play-by-mail format and instead began to use online bulletin boards, then internet service providers (ISPs) and ad hoc webpages.

Game Derivatives

Fantasy wrestling leagues (e-feds) operate using a number of different settings and systems to determine results.

The most prominent system is through roleplaying, where competitors will post pieces of creative writing with the producer of the best piece being named the victor. There are many different styles of roleplays used, ranging from extensive dialogue, "shoot" pieces, scripted and structured, novelic-style stories. There are often limits and deadlines associated with these types of promotions.

Match Writing EFeds are based on you and your opponent collaborating to create the best match possible. Working with one another to try and create the best match possible meanwhile trying to gain the victory is the best simulation of a real life Wrestling Federation as Superstars look to move through the ranks and gain Championships.

Angle (or storyline orientated) promotions focus only on angles/storylines/plots involving the handlers. These promotions require competitors to manage numerous aspects of their angles, constantly adding ideas and interviews with the most interesting and well planned of angles determining the winner.

Statistics-based leagues often use a points system or a dice system. While systems vary widely, the match typically takes place as a statistics-based game where varied dice may represent a wrestling move, control by a player, etc. In more common systems, wrestlers begin with a certain number of points and roll for control. The wrestler winning control then executes a move (based on another dice roll) worth a certain number of points, which are then deducted from the opponent's total. Once a wrestler's total points gets low enough, his opponent may use control to roll for a pinfall.