A lot of wrestling fans spend their free time participating in e-feds, otherwise known as e-Wrestling or Fantasy Wrestling. This blog is to explain what an e-fed is, for those of you who may be unfamiliar.

Anyway, where should I start…? How about a description lifted from Wikipedia:

Fantasy Wrestling

Fantasy wrestling is an umbrella term representing the genre of role-playing and statistics-based games which are set in a Fantasy Wrestling company. 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 was composed (characters created by the players).

Granted that makes it sound dull, but it’s not. Not if it’s done correctly, anyway.

The basic idea is that you create your own wrestling character, work out their own backstory, create their friends and family, decide on their personality, create a list of moves they use and chose their strengths and weaknesses. You apply to join an e-federation (e-fed) and if they accept you they will give you a match on their next show.

Then you write roleplays (rp’s). These can take various formats from interviews, in-ring segments, backstage skits or more intricate stories away from wrestling. They generally have to be related to the match that you have, so talking about your opponent etc. But it also gives you the opportunity to work on your own story and develop your character.

These rp’s are then graded, different e-feds do this in different ways. For example sometimes the boss grades everything themselves, other times there is a group of graders. In the e-fed that I have previously competed in they encourage everyone to grade everyone else and send their votes to the boss in secret.

Then the grades are added up, or averaged, and the person with the highest score will win the match. Matches are generally written up by set people and presented along with all the other matches in a TV style write-up.

Some e-feds welcome ideas for the matches themselves, ie tell them what moves you want your character to try or tell them how they would react to certain situations. They sometimes allow you to write your own matches, or at least contribute parts to them. This all allows for further development of your character.

Other e-feds do not use a graded rp approach, instead deciding results based on how it would best further the storyline that the two handlers (people writing for the characters) have created. These are called Angle-based e-feds and encourage people to work with each other in creating their own feuds and storylines.

If you’re a decent enough writer, creative enough and make the effort to create a good story you will be rewarded with title shots, a chance to become the champion of that particular e-fed. Some e-feds are linked and have inter-fed shows and matches.

The one I participated in is called the Millennium Wrestling Alliance (MWA). I have had several characters there over the years, achieving quite a bit of success. My main character, Tim Worthington, is now a Hall of Fame inductee with two World Championships to his name. Another character, Veronique, started a story that didn’t reach its conclusion for seven years! There really is a great deal of fun that can be had with this past-time. It’s great for wasting time, for meeting new people with similar interests, for honing your creative writing skills and for having great fun!

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, take a look at some of the following websites:

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