TNMWA/RTNMLF Rules & Ideas PURPOSE TNMWA, RTNMLF, and TNMWA2k all had the same purpose - a circuit posted on the TNM Discussion List consisting entirely of wrestlers that were supposed to be representations of list members. SETUP A booker/president needs to be picked. The will keep track of all challenge matches to be ran, run the actual cards, and post the results. Number of cards per week varies depending on the number of participants and what the president is comfortable with. Usually 2 to 5. All matches are unbooked! Everyone who wants to participate makes an export of themselves and sends it in. Other people may join at a later date. TITLES Number of title varies depending on the number of wrestlers. There are always a World Title and Tag Team Titles. Other titles that have been used include generic secondary titles (ex: IC Title, TV Title), often named after deceased pro wrestlers (ex: Brian Pillman Memorial Title). There have also been a number of themed titles. At one point, people were creating alot of large exports so a Cruiserweight Title was created to reward people who made more realistic, lighter weight exports of themselves. Others have been the Hardcore Title (always defended in Random Gimmick Matches) or the King of Deathmatch Title (defended entirely in TNM-style Death Matches, where you need 3 consecutive falls to win). I think there was even a Championship Towel at one point that was defended solely in I Quit Matches. If you get alot of factions, you can also include a Trios Title (6-man tag matches) although this didn't last long in TNMWA2k. CARDS Cards are basicly posted straight to the the list or forum. No writeup is required in most cases. However, if a DQ or countout or any random interference occurs it should be noted. Some presidents allowed guys to do angles but these usually had to be written up by the person who wanted to do them and the president would just copy & paste them into the card. Run-ins during matches were not allowed (simply because this would get out of control). Anything really over the edge should be okayed with the victim first. Cards should be a combination of rankings matches, challenge matches, and mandatory title defenses. Alternatively, you could alternate cards. For example, Monday is Rankings & Titles, Tuesday is Challenge, Wednesday is Rankings & Titles, etc. RANKINGS MATCHES Rankings matches use random pairings of everyone in the circuit so they they all wrestle exactly once. These matches are non-title. If there are an odd number of wrestlers, one of the matches should be triangle elimination match so that nobody goes without a match. Also include rankings matches for tag teams (and trios teams, if applicable). A wrestler who is part of a tag team would wrestle two rankings matches - one singles & one tag. When the circuit first starts, 5 cards of nothing but rankings matches are usually ran. The president should post singles and tag rankings approximately once a week. MANDATORY TITLE DEFENSE MATCHES Titles can be defended in challenge matches, but will always be defended in mandatory defenses. How often a title should be defended depends on the title - the World Title should probably only have one mandatory defense each week while a TV title would be defended every card. If you run seperate cards for rankings and challenge matches, include these with the rankings matches. These mandatory defenses occur vs the top ranked contender by ratings. So the person with the highest singles ranking and that does not have a singles title gets a shot at the World Title, next highest ranked gets a shot at the next highest title, etc. Mandatory defenses should also occur for Tag and Trios Titles. CHALLENGE MATCHES Ah, the meat and bones of TNMWA! Challenge matches are matches that are agreed upon by members of TNMWA. They may be just normal matches or may be some type of special match or have a special stipulation. They should be agreed upon by all participants and then sent to the president. This is where the e-fed-esk part of things come in as in the past challenges have sometimes been set up by lengthy promos posted to the list/forum where the fed takes place. Challenge matches are usually agreed upon in publicly in this same fashion. Like all matches, challenge matches are unbooked and no matter how good of a promo you write or what spiffy angle you come up with it doesn't increase your chances of winning, it just makes things more fun. For the sake of not making cards too huge, a limit of challenge matches per person per card was usually imposed (usually 3). SUPERCARDS All TNMWAs include some supercards, with later versions usually having a monthly supercard. Supercards feature the usual assortment of challenge matches, usually of the fued-blowoff variety. All titles must be defended at least once, although these can be in a challenge match or as part of the themed matches. If the title holder can for some reason not find a suitable opponent, one will be assigned to him based on rankings. Themed matches were usually the backbone of the supercard and took place in addition to all other matches. Tag Team Turmoil, tournaments to get a shot at a title holder who'd been undefeated for quite some time, Iron Man tournaments, tournaments for new titles, etc. However, it was a TNMWA tradition to always hold the same supercard every November on Thanksgiving weekend. Called the Turkey Tournament, it was a loser-advances touranment featuring the lowest ranked 16 members of TNMWA to see who was truly the worst. WRESTLER EXPORT LIMITATIONS Some limiations should be imposed on exports for the wrestlers involved to keep things relatively fair since it is unbooked. Traditional limitations are: no using your Finisher as your corner move, no checking hard to pin or never submits, no created moves, and no managers. Other limitations you might want to consider: min/max height and/or weight, max combined points to be used on workrate, push, stamina, and/or charisma.