This document copyright © 1998 by Bryant Berggren. Permission is given to freely distribute this document so long as it is not altered in any fashion other than translation between document formats (such as ASCII, HTML, RTF, etc.), and no charge is made.
Allied Wrestling International (AWI) is the name of a fictional professional wrestling promotion of (hypothetically) national scope and interest. It is also the term for the e-wrestling league based around this fictional promotion.
E-wrestling is a Play By E-Mail (PBeM) game where players create fictional professional wrestlers and pit them against each other; it is essentially to professional wrestling what "rotisserie" leagues are to baseball.
There is a lot of stylistic differences between various e-wrestling federations active on the Internet. Some partition out real life wrestlers for use by the players; some (like the AWI) rely on original characters created by the player; some allow a mixture of both. Another difference is the choice of resolution methods: some leagues prefer to operate in much the same way as real wrestling promotions, with the head of the league plotting ("booking") the results of their cards with some input from the players; other leagues use computer programs or (like the AWI) dice-based rules similar to traditional role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons to simulate their in-ring action.
However the events of the promotion are determined, the head (or Promoter) usually takes the results and crafts them into a "television transcript" representing the card, and distributes the finished "program" to the players -- who are thus both performers and audience.
RingMaster, now in its 3rd edition, is the ruleset currently used by the AWI. The rules draw some inspiration from the WWF Adventure Game produced by Whit Publications, so players familiar with that game may adapt quicker to it.
BODYSLAM!, created by Jerone Mitchell, is a ruleset used for the AWI between 1996 and 1998. It began as a divergent revision of the RingMaster first edition; the two rulesets have evolved in different directions, but the authors remain on good terms, and thus tend to steal each other blind for ideas, with the end result of the rules being remarkably compatible.
Both of these rulesets are available for viewing in HTML on the AWI web pages:
There are a (surprisingly) wide variety of rulesets in use for various e-wrestling promotions. Within the SWA community, the most popular (David Tiemroth's SUPLEX and Jeff Berry's Fastmatch! & BlitzMatch!) are "scripting" rulesets, which determine the results on an abstract level, and then use the individual wrestlers' strategies (and the Promoter's judgement and imagination) to decide the details of the match.
The RingMaster rules allow the Promoters to implement wrestlers' strategies in a more direct and concrete fashion; strategies are used as an "instruction sheet", with match results being generated on a maneuver-by-maneuver basis. The rules act as the "laws of physics" as they pertain to the wrestling ring (or, at least, as they seem to on TV). Thus, the AWI uses RingMaster rules:
The current Promoter of the AWI is Bryce Berggren (awi@geocities.com). He is the person to contact for most day-to-day matters dealing with the AWI, including sending new wrestlers for approval, requesting matches to be placed on the schedule, and submitting strategies and flashes for upcoming cards.
Additionally, Bryant Berggren (voxel@theramp.net) is the AWI Clerk as well as being a player.
Bryant's main responsibility is the management and distribution of official AWI documents. This includes the AWI web pages, this FAQ, and the Character Kit. He also handles sundry bookkeeping tasks (tracking money, Prestige, and contendership for AWI wrestlers).
Please remember, the Clerk has no authority to make administrative decisions for AWI (or, rather, no more authority than any other player). Please do not ask him to approve a character submission for you. Please do not ask him for the results of a given match on an uncompleted card. Please do not ask him to rearrange the events on a card. Please do not send him strategies or flashes.
If you have a question or comment about the AWI that doesn't deal with the web pages, bulletin board, or bookkeeping, you must direct it through Bryce ( awi@geocities.com). Bryant will forward mail to Bryce when appropriate, but this is not the most efficient or desirable method of getting things done.
If you wish to be placed on the distribution list for AWI cards, simply mail a request to the Promoter.
If you actually want to create your own wrestler(s) to take a more direct hand, you need to obtain a copy of the Character Submission Standards -- either mail the Promoter requesting a copy, or download it from AWI Mission Control. This document will explain the restrictions and guidelines for creating characters in the AWI and getting them approved.
There are three common ways for AWI players to interact. The most frequent and most important is, of course, by e-mail. The Promoter periodically sends out an update of the Player List to all active AWI members, which includes current e-mail addresses. (Note that, for privacy purposes, Player Lists appearing on the World-Wide Web do not include e-mail addresses.)
The second method is via IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Many AWI players frequent the IRC channel #swa, on EFNet servers; for those players with IRC access, this is often a good way to negotiate matches and angles.
Finally, the AWI maintains a publicly accessible bulletin board on the World Wide Web: http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi/mb36976. (If the URL seems unwieldy, you can also reach it through the AWI Home Page). This board hosts some lively discussion, including in-character repartee, card criticisms, announcements of challenges, etc.
The AWI maintains a headquarters on the World Wide Web, AWI Mission Control: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/2060/; here you can find a number of useful documents and links, including archives of past cards, the Character Submission Standards, and the latest version of this FAQ.
The origins of the AWI can be traced back to 1986, when Bryce Berggren started a head-to-head fantasy wrestling game within his RPG circle. This federation (at first called the International Wrestling Association (IWA), then World Wrestling Association (WWA) to avoid confusion with the pay play-by-mail IWA).
When Bryce discovered the Internet in 1994, it didn't take him long to get interested in e-wrestling, which was very similar to his wrestling roleplaying games. About the same time, he started experimenting with the WWF Adventure Game from Whit Publications; it had rules reminiscent of those he was already using for the WWA, but with some new ideas worth incorporating.
Bryce opened the doors to his first e-wrestling league in December of 1994. This league, the American Wrestling Enterprise (AWE), used the WWA as background and history; the AWE initially recognized the WWA World and World Tag Team champions as its own, though these characters were retired soon after being defeated.
One of the AWE players, Jerone Mitchell, started up a league of his own, the Ultimate Wrestling Association, in the summer of 1995. The UWA used rules very similar to the RingMaster first edition. Shortly thereafter, the AWE went on hiatus due to net access problems.
Eventually, due to mutual GM difficulties, Bryce and Jerone decided to merge their leagues into one. They organized a "PPV", Union I to unify the titles in their respective leagues, and formed Allied Wrestling International.
In 1991, a number of e-wrestling federations held a large interfederational event, the E-Wrestling Summit (inspired by the real life Wrestling Summit sponsored by Antonio Inoki). This first Summit was successful enough to become an annual event; in the process, those leagues which commonly cooperated in the Summits grew to share a great deal of history and personnel. Eventually, they came to see themselves as members of an overarcing entity akin to the classic NWA (originally an alliance of more or less independent promotions sharing and co-promoting a single set of championship belts).
By 1995, this circle of leagues came to be called the Summit Wrestling Association (SWA). The term "WAIL" (Wrestling Association of Internet Leagues) was also used for some time, but fell out of use in favor of SWA. Though none of the original SWA leagues remain active today, the SWA itself still exists with different members.
Yes. Bryce Berggren petitioned the existing SWA members to make the AWE a member, and this "paperwork" (figuratively speaking -- actual SWA dealings are rather informal) was quickly edited to apply to the AWI when it was formed. The AWI does bear some sharp differences to many SWA trends, but it remains a willing participant in and donor to the interconnected history of the SWA.
In June of 1996, three e-wrestling federations all using the BODYSLAM! system -- the AWI, the Frontier Wrestling Association (FWA), and the World Organization of Wrestling (WOW) -- formed a loose agreement as the basis of increased interfed cooperation; the basic idea was that, since they shared the same ruleset, they would be able to exchange wrestlers with greater ease than more widely disparate federations (i.e. an AWI wrestler could easily play a guest role on an FWA card without undue work on the part of the handler or Promoter).
As it happened, the FWA and WOW fell into hiatus not long after the agreement was made, and so little came of it (except some misunderstandings and/or hard feelings from SWA promoters who saw the agreement as a sign of the AWI extracting itself from the SWA).
The FWA began existence as the "Fantasy Wrestling Association" in 1994, which used the computer program WLS (Wrestling League Simulator) to resolve its events. In 1996, the FWA Promoter (Eric Roy, a current player in the AWI) moved the FWA from WLS to BODYSLAM! rules for resolution; he also gave the league a new name (the "Frontier Wrestling Association"), desiring to add more verisimilitude to the proceedings. With the shift to BODYSLAM! rules, he was able to draw in new talent from AWI mainstays, both players and characters.
When the Alliance was formed, Eric chose to give the formation a more in-character basis, deciding that (within the storyline) the AWI's parent corporation (Allied Sports Entertainment) had bought out the FWA. Due to recent periods of hiatus and reboot for both the AWI and FWA, this in-character relationship has been undone, but the two federations still share a great deal of camaraderie and history; the FWA has thus long been considered the AWI's "sister federation".
In the spring of 1999, Eric Roy passed on control of the FWA to Cordell Walker, who was later forced to shut it down due to schedule conflicts. In mid-1999, Eric created a new promotion, Premier Wrestling, which seems to have revived the old FWA spirit quite nicely.
The number of AWI characters, past and present, is too extensive to include directly within this FAQ. The AWI maintains a pair of documents, the Who's Who and Who's Been directories, which detail the various competitors that have walked its square circle; these documents can either be obtained by e-mail request to the Clerk, or downloaded from the AWI Mission Control pages.
The AWI currently sponsors 5 titles:
In the past, the AWI had a Light Heavyweight championship, eligible only to those wrestlers weighing less than 240 lbs, and a Women's Tag Team championship; these titles have been placed in suspension due to lack of viable contenders.
Every fiscal cycle (roughly 2 months), the AWI Competition Committee meets to determine the relative merits of various competitors within the AWI; their final report for these meetings include a ranking of all potential contenders for the World, World Tag Team, and Women's World championships.
Wrestlers who do not appear on this list are considered preliminary competitors, and never qualify for potential title defenses (though a champion may choose to fight them anyways).
"Out of character", the Promoter draws up these lists for the league by assigning "contender points" to wrestlers based on wins and losses, prestige, past accomplishments, etc. The results of these totals are posted on the website when possible.
AWI Line of Fire is the primary network outlet for AWI wrestling, a (currently) one-hour television program airing Friday nights on CBS (just after Letterman). Line of Fire episodes are taped live along the AWI's nationwide touring schedule, usually broadcast within 24 hours.
Line of Fire features Justin Escobar as the play-by-play announcer, "Madman" Mike Marone as color commentary, and "Roadhouse" Chad Swayze as a perennially uninvited guest. It also features "The Sniper's Nest", an elevated interview area situated at the ringside edge of one entrance aisle, with a large video wall forming the back edge.
"Out of character", of course, Line of Fire exists only as text transcripts are delivered by e-mail, (theoretically) every Friday night; these transcripts form the bulk of AWI gameplay.
Justin Escobar (5'10", slender, Hispanic, black hair w/short mustache, brown eyes) started his career as the Spanish-language announcer for the AWI; he has a rather expansive knowledge of foreign wrestling promotions, which has proven helpful given the AWI's tendencies to hire away from the EMLL and Total Japan. Justin has a dry, straightforward announcing style, and may be altogether unsuited to deal with his outre broadcast companions -- not that they're complaining.
During the 70s, "Madman" Mike Marone (6'3", tanned Caucasian, average build, wild black hair w/mustache, brown eyes) provided a raging yang to the sober yin of wrestlers like "Bullet" Bob Taylor, Stan Jurgens, and the Refugee in the (now long-defunct) Global Wrestling Conglomerate; the AWI hired Marone as an announcer, probably hoping to match the previous success of Stan Jurgens as a color commentator. It didn't exactly work out as they'd hoped -- Marone isn't an acid-tongued wit, and he took a few too many blows to the head back in the '70s -- but his good-natured enthusiasm and non sequiter rantings are often entertaining in their own right.
Chad Swayze (6'0", wiry Caucasian, light brown hair, blue eyes) was once the pate de foie gras of preliminary wrestlers; entering the sport in 1992 as a former collegiate football player, Chad found that athleticism and good looks don't necessarily translate into wrestling ability -- and being pounded by better wrestlers night after night didn't seem to help. He broke the preliminary mold with a fluke win over Jack Robertson, and apparently attracted the attention of rulebreaker sensation Robbie Stevens (himself a preliminary wrestler made good); Robbie dubbed him "Roadhouse", and Chad began serving as a semi-official member of Robbie's crew. Now, Chad has appropriated a space on the Line of Fire press table, proclaiming himself "the official announcer of the 1998 Team Stevens World Tour". Swayze tries to maintain both a "tough guy" and "hip swinging dude" images, with often amusing results.
Chad Duncan (5'?", slightly overweight, African-American, close-trimmed black hair, brown eyes) was a color commentator for the UWA; since the original AWE/UWA merger, he has become the AWI's mainstay interview man, whether on location, ringside, in the locker rooms, or (now) stationed at the Sniper's Nest. Chad has a reasonably deep sense of wrestling history, and can often pull a hard question out of his pocket to put a wrestler on the spot; however, he also seems to be easily intimidated when push comes to shove, and is more likely than not to let a talkative wrestler have his time on the mike without protest.
Rod Allan (5'11", average build, Caucasian, greying brown hair, brown eyes) is the main ring announcer for the AWI, responsible for introducing upcoming matches and competitors. His verbose patter brings to mind shades of Joe McHugh, with a touch of Michael Buffer's lungpower.
The highest ranking administrator within the AWI is currently Lyle Galbraith, CEO of Geistmotif Global Telecom (GGT) and majority stockholder in the AWI. Though it's his name on the paychecks, Lyle rarely gets involved in the day-to-day operations of the league; he's mostly seen in press conferences dealing with raw business decisions.
The direct management of the league is handled by its Commissioner, Jamahn Hugo Chamberlin, who informally "inherited" the position from his father, Daki Chamberlin, one-time UWA president. Jamahn is the one in charge of levying fines, resolving disputes, and generally being "the boss".
Jamahn's decisions are complicated by the Competition Committee, a special board appointed to review AWI events and determine champions and contenders. The Committee's reports are given voice by their current chairman, Roswell Gates (6', medium build, salt and pepper hair, brown eyes), though it remains the duty of the Commissioner to actually enforce them.
It's been a rocky road getting there, but Curtis Keyes is finally and officially the AWI's Senior Referee. Son of 70's standout "Troubleshooter" Cole Keyes, Curtis is younger than you'd expect for a major official, but his lifelong close exposure to the sport and keen eye make him a tough customer for rulebreakers to deal with. IF Keyes has a weakness, it's a NBA-esque "petty fouls don't decide championships" mindset -- while he won't hesitate to toss the DQ on obvious violations, he's likely to let a little closed-fist here or manager interference there slide in a title match if it hasn't affected the match's outcome adversely.
To his credit, Tom Newman is the hardest-working official in the AWI. He'll ref the preliminary matches, he'll ref the meaningless matches, he'll ref the dangerous matches, he'll ref the matches that don't air on TV ... it's been said that if two guys start slugging it out at a sports bar, they can expect Tom to count the three. His biggest problem is, ironically, also that he's the hardest-working official in the AWI -- he has a tendency to cut corners, which means he doesn't always pick up the infractions Curtis might, and he's loathe to restart a match or reverse a decision when it might make for more work.
Brandie Mulroney may have been an equal-opportunity hire, but she's hardly disgraced the profession. She started out a little intimidated when it came to getting in the face of mean and muscular rulebreakers, but she's overcome that now. In fact, she may have overcompensated some -- she has a tendency to jaw with managers and other third-party interference when she should be paying more attention to the match in the ring.
The newest of the AWI's referees, Marcus Benjamin is a take-no-prisoners kind of ref who believes the quickest solution to an infraction is probably the best. Foreign object use means a DQ, manager interference (or perceived interference) means that person is gone, holding the ropes means the hands get kicked off, etc. He's a bit zealous in the job, but hopefully that will pass with experience.
The Launch Pad is an institution sponsored by the AWI to train potential newcomers to the sport. Most of the Launch Pad graduates serve to fill the preliminary ranks of the AWI, but occasionally one makes a bigger splash, such as the (in)famous Robbie Stevens.
The primary purpose of the Launch Pad is to provide a neutral route for players who wish to use the "Academy Graduate" background for their characters (as opposed to connecting themselves to existing characters with similar training sites, such as the Ed Carr Wrestling Academy).
As time goes by, and players get very familiar with the AWI characters, they often get into the bad habit of referring to those characters by initials or other abbreviations, which may confuse newcomers. This is a list of the most commonly used character abbreviations (some of these are defunct characters, or characters from other SWA feds which may pop up in AWI conversations).
A&E Agony & Ecstasy (rarely "Arts & Entertainment Network" :]) BBB "Bulldog" Bryan Bachman DBM Danny Boy McGill HB2K+1 Headbangers 2001 IC Intensive Care JR John Robertson (usually) L4aF Looking For A Fight LTI Lord Thomas Imperious MAJ "Mastermind" Alliyah Johnston MdH Mariposa de Hierro NBK Natural Born Killers RJJ Reverend Jeremiah James SFKBJ Streetfighting Kickboxing Joe (a.k.a. Joe Walker) STI Steve the Insane TAOKM "The Awesome One" Kerry Masters WMGG "War Machine" Greg Gardner