1 The Player's Handbook

This player's handbook is TEW IX's help file. From here you can find searchable detailed information on all the different parts of the game, whether it relates to gameplay, settings, or behind-the-scenes information on how the program works. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please visit the TEW IX section of the Grey Dog Software forums where you will find a large and active community who can help you.

2 The Interface

When playing the game the interface is divided into three parts: to the left is the navigation menu, to the right is the play area, and at the bottom is the utility bar. The navigation menu allows you to quickly move to the different main areas of the game and also to advance forward to the next day (either in single days or 'multi-advancing' through many at once). You can hover over an icon if you do not know what it refers to. On most days you will only be using the main screen and the office. The main play area offers the 'home page' for each section, often allowing you access to sub-screens via buttons. The utility bar is split into four: quick office, quick workers, quick companies, and user controls. The first of those is the one you'll use most often. It gives you access to your mail and decisions, and also allows quick links to be set up to various office sub-screens. These sub-screens are exactly the same whether you reach them via the office or the quick office utility bar, but the latter means you don't have to navigate to the office each time and so saves you some clicking. You can alter the links via the Edit Layout button.

3 Your License

TEW IX is protected by the QLM license system. When you purchase the game you will receive a license code that you will need to activate in order to play TEW IX; this takes the form of a 25 character code separated by hyphens (e.g. the format XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). You should take care to retain this information and never share it with anyone other than official Grey Dog Software staff members. Your license can be active on one PC at a time, so if you wish to move to a different computer you must first deactivate the license ('free it up') so that it's available to use on the new computer. To deactivate your license you can either click the License Management button on the game's title screen or, if you don't have access to that PC any more, you can do so online via the link provided in the TEW IX Technical Support forum. If you are having any license-related issues, please visit the TEW IX Technical Support forum where you will find a detailed FAQ and / or can get help from a Grey Dog Software staff member.

4 The Calendar System

TEW IX uses Microsoft's in-built calendar and so will use your current operating system settings. This means that, for example, if you're in the US then the game should automatically recognise that you're using the MM-DD-YYYY format, whereas a British user should find that the DD-MM-YYYY format is understood. However, particularly if you are doing database editing, it is highly recommended that you stick to the international standard of YYYY-MM-DD when inputting dates as this means there is absolutely no ambiguity. Please note that the calendar system also extends to the names of months, so Spanish users will usually see Mayo rather than May. However, this does not apply to parts of the game where the month selection is pre-set (such as when assigning a start month to the database), as this always uses English month names.

5 Gameplay Basics (+)

This section is for newcomers to the series and explains some of the basic concepts that underpin TEW. Sections 5.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

5.1 The Objective Of The Game

There is no overall objective to complete in TEW; how you choose to approach the game is entirely up to you. Whether you are using the game as a framework to unleash your creativity, as the backdrop to a diary / creative writing piece that you're making, as a competitive exercise to see how well you can do, or simply as a sandbox to play in - they're all perfectly valid methods of play.

5.2 The Structure Of The Game

Each day in TEW is divided into two. First comes the afternoon section, which is where you'll handle the day-to-day running of your company (if employed); this is where you'll be making signings, scheduling shows, making investments, etc. Once all the players have finished their afternoon activities, the game advances to the evening section. This begins with all the events that are due to take place that night being run (in order of company importance) and then comes the processing section where the game world advances forward. There is no limit to how far you can advance forward in TEW, although the more data that accumulates, the slower the between-days processing will become.

5.3 Basic Hiring Of Workers

To hire a worker, first find the person in question - you can do this either by searching for them in the Workers section or clicking their face anywhere you see it to launch their profile. From there, click Negotiate. Assuming they are willing to talk to you, you may now make an offer. You can see roughly how much they'll cost in the text at the top of the screen. Once you've made an offer you will hear back within a few days. You'll either be declined by e-mail or get an acceptance. If they accept you will get a Decision (via the bar at the bottom of the screen) which you can open and choose to Accept the terms. For a more detailed look at hirings, see the Running Your Company section.

5.4 Who Should I Hire?

You should first make sure you understand your company's product; do this by going to Office > Product and reading the pros and cons list of your current selection. This will give you a good idea of what sort of worker is appropriate for your company. You should then visit your roster (Office > Roster) and take a look through it, identifying if you have any areas you feel are weak, such as a lack of major stars, a lack of rookies, a lack of tag teams, etc. You can then visit the Workers section (via the menu on the left hand side of the screen) to scout out talent. The search button at the bottom will help. Ideally you are looking for wrestlers who are popular in the same regions as your company, have the skills that apply to your company, who are available, and aren't too old, too beat up, etc.

5.5 Basic Firing / Releasing Of Workers

To fire a worker you should go into your Office (via the button on the left hand menu) and click Roster. Select the worker you wish to fire and click the Contract tab; on the right hand side of the screen is a Release button. Click this to release the worker. For a more detailed look at the firing process, please see the Running Your Company section.

5.6 Understanding Your Roster

The Office > Roster screen gives you a lot of information about everyone you employ. It is worth getting familiar with your workers and making a mental (or physical) note about who your stars are, who you think you'd like to push, etc. Having a good knowledge of your roster's strength and weaknesses and knowing who is playing what role is crucial to being a good booker. If you wish to make adjustments to someone on your roster you will generally want to click the Status tab as this displays information about the worker in a series of text descriptions and also reveals a series of buttons on the right-hand side. Many of the text descriptions, when clicked, will open the relevant section, or you can use the buttons to go there directly. These allow you to alter everything from basics like the worker's name, to their gimmick, to giving them time off.

5.7 Running A Show

To schedule a show you should go into your Office and click Events & TV. You can add or modify an event from here. The text at the top of the Office will tell you when your next event and TV show (if any) is due to happen. You would then need to advance days (using the buttons at the top of the left hand menu) until you reach that day. Once you reach the appropriate day, click to advance to the next day and you will be taken to the evening phase section. This is where you set up, book, and run your show. For a more detailed look at the process, please see the Booking And Running Shows section.

5.8 What Matches Should I Book?

As a rule of thumb, you're generally going to be booking workers of the same sort of level against each other. So Stars will fight Stars, Recognisable wrestlers will fight Recognisable wrestlers, etc. You can of course change this up, for example having a Star squash an Unimportant wrestler, but for the most part you will be keeping people to their part of the card. You do not have to match up wrestler styles or skills (i.e. you don't have to put high flyers vs high flyers), but there are a few golden rules. You rarely want to have a match in which nobody has a high Psychology value as otherwise it will fall apart quickly. Inexperienced wrestlers should generally have an experienced wrestler in the match (whether as a partner or opponent) to help them through the bout and to help teach them. You will rarely want to put two wrestlers who both have weak in-ring skills together in case they stink out the joint. If you're new to TEW, you likely don't want to do too much with road agent notes to begin with. Sticking to just picking winners and losers and giving match aims is fine for an inexperienced player. Learning to use road agent notes to their full potential is more of an advanced technique that comes with experience. Don't worry too much about making mistakes with things like match lengths or road agent notes - if you do make an obvious error then your road agent will most likely pop up to warn you and advise on how to rectify it.

5.9 What Angles Should I Book?

Every show has certain acceptable limits for the ratio of matches to angles; this is dependent on your product and is visible in the pros and cons list in Office > Product. The text at the top of the booking screen will change as you book to tell you if you are currently outside the acceptable limits. If you do need (or want) to book angles, generally you should follow reality and focus mostly on your popular workers as they are the ones who will get a reaction from the audience. You should try and book the angle to play to each worker's strengths. You don't want someone with poor Microphone skill to be talking, for example.

5.10 Are My Ratings Good Or Bad?

Each show is rated according to the segments it was made up of. Each segment gets an overall rating between 0 and 100. Different companies are rated in different ways; to find out yours, go into the Product section of your Office and see what the Match Focus and Angle Focus are; you can get descriptions of each type from the Company > Product section of this handbook. You should be sure to understand how your show rated is calculated as this is crucial information. The other piece of information you will need is how popular your company is in the region the show is being held and any other regions that the show is being broadcast to. See the Office > Size screen for this information. You are now able to understand whether a specific segment is good or bad. If it is not an important segment then the rating doesn't usually matter much, but if it is important (such as the main event) then you would ideally like for it to be rated higher than your company's popularity. If it is higher then you're exceeding expectations and will probably be able to gain popularity overall.

6 The User (+)

This section looks at the game elements that are specific to each player. Sections 6.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

6.1 User Avatars

The user's avatar is the character they are currently playing in the game world. Other than the obvious restrictions (such as not being able be hired by other companies or make independent decisions) the avatar is treated just like any other character in that they have the same skill levels and caps, effects from matches and angles are the same on them, etc. Unlike in previous games, in TEW IX avatars are not immortal, although they are immune to random deaths and cannot die before the age of 66 under any circumstance. The user will be explicitly warned when their avatar is nearing a stage where they might die, and it is recommended at this point that the user switches to a different avatar. This can be done via the Options screen, where you will find a Change Avatar button that gives various options. Note that if you continue to the point that your avatar dies, the game cannot progress until you have either chosen to leave the game (if you're in a multiplayer environment) or changed your avatar. Note that the avatar's relationships work the same way as any other character's (e.g. they will evolve over time with randomly-timed changes) and so you do not have control over this process. This means that, for example, if you play as an engaged character then you do not get to manually decide whether you get married, split up, etc.

6.2 Abandoned Avatars

During the course of the game a user may abandon their avatar (for example by leaving the game or using the Change Avatar button). In this situation, by default, the old avatar simply reverts to being a normal character, retaining the relationships and stats that the user left them with. When using the Change Avatar button, you can select what happens to the old avatar from the on-screen list of choices.

6.3 Other Differences In TEW IX

As well as the user no longer being immortal, there are several other significant changes to how avatars function in TEW IX. These changes are designed to make the avatar feel more a part of the game world and less of a special exception. In previous games the user had a User Reputation to track how they were seen by others in the game world; this no longer exists, instead the avatar uses the same Booking Reputation skill as everyone else. There used to be a User Image control that showed how the player was doing in terms of whether they were feared or not and how much loyalty they had. This no longer exists; instead, a more natural system is in place where the game evaluates things based on the avatar's personality, relationships and previous choices. Finally, note that the User Talents feature has been removed. Instead of being given these 'special powers', the avatar's skills, like everyone else's, are based on their actual personality and stats, along with how the user chooses to react to various situations.

6.4 User Controls

The user's control panel is found at the bottom of the screen and is one click to the left of the default starting point. From here the user can make adjustments to their avatar and look at stats or the user log file.

6.5 Career Earnings

The avatar's career earnings, found in the user control panel at the bottom of the screen (in User Stats) is a running total of how much the avatar has earned. This is purely a fun cosmetic feature and does not have any impact upon gameplay nor can it change the avatar's Wealth rating.

6.6 Starting Your Own Company

The user can start their own company at any time as long as they are unemployed. You can do this via the Start Own Company button in the user's information bar at the bottom of the screen. You may choose from one of four challenge levels which set the difficulty: this impacts the starting popularity and prestige of the company you found, plus the starting amount of money you will receive. The amount of money is dependent not only on the challenge level but also the user avatar's Booking Reputation (the higher it is, the more backers they can find) and Wealth (if it is Rich or higher then they can donate from their personal funds). Career earnings are not counted, it is only the Wealth rating that matters. There is no minimum Booking Reputation level or Wealth rating needed to start a company. The user should note that once you start a company you may not resign from it for the first three years.

7 Running Your Company (+)

Running your company is the primary way of playing TEW. This section goes through all aspects of how you, the player, will do that. Please note that the actual booking of shows has a separate section of the handbook devoted to it due to its depth and complexity. Sections 7.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

7.1 Hiring Workers

To hire workers, view the person in question (whether from their profile or the main workers screen) and click Negotiate. If they are unavailable, unable, or unwilling to negotiate they will tell you so at this point to save you wasting your time on offers that can't possibly succeed. Generally speaking, you will want to hire workers that fit your company's product. For example, if you are a company that is based around strong in-ring performances then you're unlikely to get much value out of a deathmatch wrestler with poor basics and psychology. When making an offer you will see the worker's estimated value at the top of the screen. This is based on their stats and is universal (i.e. it doesn't differ from company to company). Workers may end up wanting more money than their estimated value; this could be because they are simply greedy, aren't keen on your company, are responding to a booming economy, or just feel like they can gouge you for a few extra dollars. Once you make an offer the worker will remember it, so you can't simply find an acceptable figure and then 'work backwards' to the cheapest option. Note that you will not be expected to make a downside offer on a 'pay per appearance' contract if you are a Medium or smaller company. Big companies will generally be expected to offer three times the contract amount, Huge four times, and Titanic four and a half times. Once you have made an offer the worker will go away to think about it. The time it takes for them to get back to you depends on the importance of the worker in regard to the size of your company and whether or not he or she has other offers to consider.

7.2 Workers And Contract Offers

A worker will review all contract offers that they receive in the same way (whether it came from a human or AI controlled company does not make any difference to the calculation). This involves them first rejecting any that are not attractive enough, then calculating the value of all the remaining offers and accepting the one that rates highest. When we talk of the value of the contract, that does not mean that it's simply a financial rating (although obviously the amount they're likely to make is very important!). Workers will take into account many different factors, including the security that the offer represents (workers will tend to prefer guaranteed money and long-term security), their career goals, the size and prestige of the company, their relationship with the owner, booker, and locker room, the broadcasting capabilities of the company, etc. If the worker is rating a contract offer from a company they already work for (i.e. a contract extension offer) then they will also take into account their current situation: this includes their morale and how they've been used recently. If you wish to see how your offer stacks up to others, simply click Negotiate again and you can see how the worker is currently feeling.

7.3 Firing Workers

To fire / release a worker (both terms mean the same thing in TEW) you need to go to your company's Roster screen and select the person in question. Select the Contract tab and you will see a Release button. Whether you have to pay a fee or not depends entirely on the worker's current contract terms. If they're under a written contract then you'll need to pay off up to a maximum of six months of their remaining contracted time. Note that you can always release someone for free if they have chosen to sit out their contract as they are breaching the terms. Note that your company's owner can block you from releasing people, and that you are blocked from releasing anyone who is protected by a specific owner goal. You should note that releasing someone can impact the morale of other people on the roster, both for good (if they were unpopular) or bad (friends and family). Whether someone cares enough to change their morale depends on their personality and relationship to the person being released. You will usually get a message from workers who feel strongly about the proposed release via a pop-up when you press the Release button (but before you confirm the action). Releasing a worker usually means that they will not be willing to return to the company for one year (whereas if they leave because of contract expiry they will not take it personally and will usually be perfectly willing to come back again).

7.4 The Perception System

Each worker on every roster, regardless of what role(s) they play, is given a Perception rating. This is updated at the start of every show the company runs (new signings do not get a perception rating until their first show due to the fans not having seen them yet). The Perception rating is a measure of how the fans see them in terms of their importance within the company. It is important as the workers take it into consideration in many calculations, such as who they are willing to lose to, how often they can be left off shows, etc. Perception is calculated as follows. First the worker's popularity rating is created; this is the average of their popularity in the company's home region and any other region in which the company has 5 or more popularity AND is not more than 6 points of popularity less than that of the home region (in other words, it's basically all the regions of current importance to the company). This score is then modified by their current momentum - high momentum increases it (up to 20% for White Hot), low momentum lowers it (by up to 25% for Ice Cold). Secondly, the company's popularity rating is created; this uses the exact same calculation method as the worker's version. If the worker's rating is greater than the company's rating + 6 then they are considered a Major Star; greater or equal to 90% of the company's rating and they are a Star; greater or equal to 75% and they are Well Known; greater or equal to 50% and they are Recognisable; if they achieve none of those then they are Unknown. You don't need to worry about remembering any of these figures - as this is all automated you have no reason to know the exact figures, you can simply book as normal and know that people will end up in the category that their popularity dictates.

7.5 The Momentum System

Each worker has a momentum score within any company that they are employed by. This is a measure of how they're currently doing in terms of booking. It affects many things, such as their Perception rating, the level of popularity growth or decline that they're eligible for when taking part in segments, morale, etc. In general terms it goes up through wins, impressive performances, and successes in angles, and goes down with losses, poor performances, and reversals in angles. There are actually two systems at work here, long term and short term momentum. Long term momentum is the value you can see when you look at the character in your roster or on the booking screens. Short term momentum is hidden and is much more volatile - it does not take much to make it jump up or down quite dramatically. The two systems are interlinked in that the long term momentum always (slowly) heads towards the short term value. This means that the long term momentum, being less volatile, gives a good idea of how the worker has been treated over many shows, but is influenced by what has happened recently. Note that poor momentum can get reset to neutral by a particularly good gimmick change, simulating a 'reboot' of the character.

7.6 Turning Workers

To turn a worker from babyface to heel (or the reverse) view the worker in the Roster screen and either click the line of text in their status box that tells you their current disposition or, when viewing the Status tab, click the Handle Turn button. (NB If your company does not use dispositions then, naturally, you cannot prepare a turn). You will be taken to a pop-up screen where you can see notable information and have access to the Prepare Turn button. This screen will give you warnings if you are trying to turn a wrestler too soon since their last turn. You should always try and avoid turning a worker too soon as the turn will be heavily penalised otherwise. The amount of time that you need to wait between turns will differ from worker to worker and depends on how many shows that company has run since the original turn (chronological time passed does not matter). Once you've prepared a turn then every time the worker appears on-screen they will be considered to be foreshadowing / hinting at their upcoming turn. You will receive occasional on-screen messages telling you how this is going. If you do little or no foreshadowing (e.g. less than three segments) before triggering a turn then it is considered a 'shock turn'; if you do too many shock turns within a short period of time then the fans will get bored of them and each further shock turn will get penalised. To actually turn the worker fully, simply book them in a segment where they appear on-screen and give them the Turn road agent note and you will be able to trigger the change via the buttons at the bottom of the screen when that segment plays. There is no special skill or randomness to a successful turn - as long as you avoid any penalties (i.e. for it being too soon, too many shock turns in a short period of time, etc) then it will automatically be a success. Why turn workers? Mainly it is to open up a new set of opponents to work with and / or to coincide with a gimmick change. However, there is never a requirement to turn someone - there are no penalties for being a specific disposition long-term, and a worker could happily spend their entire career just as one disposition or the other.

7.7 The Gimmick System

You can see a worker's current gimmick and rating by looking at them in the roster screen and viewing (and clicking) the status box text relating to gimmicks or by using the Gimmick Details button. This generates a pop-up where you can see the information in more detail, including any associated pros and cons that the gimmick has created. The gimmick rating is important as if it is high then the worker can get bonuses in any segment they are in, while if it is low then they get penalties. To prepare a gimmick change go to the pop-up screen mentioned above and click the Prepare button (you can also adjust and cancel prepared gimmick changes from here). The on-screen notes describe how the different elements affect the gimmick change. Note that when you sign a new worker they will automatically prepare their default gimmick for use (if they have one). If a worker is debuting, going from having no gimmick to possessing one, or has an unrated gimmick then their prepared gimmick change will automatically happen the next time they are on-screen. For everybody else (i.e. people changing from one gimmick to another), you will be able to manually trigger the prepared gimmick change the next time they appear on-screen by using the buttons at the bottom of the screen when viewing the segment. When a gimmick change happens the gimmick gets an initial rating, pros and cons (these depend on the gimmick basis and have an element of randomness - not every gimmick change will generate them), and some hidden information, namely the lifespan of the gimmick, how often you can tweak it, and its maximum and minimum rating. Over time, the gimmick rating will rise until it reaches the maximum level, then pause for a while, then descend down to the minimum. This is the life cycle of all gimmicks. You will get on-screen hints during shows as to where in the life cycle the gimmick is. Every gimmick has a random number (between 1 and 10) of potential tweaks. To tweak a gimmick, visit the pop-up gimmick screen again and use the Tweak button at the bottom. Tweaking a gimmick means that you're slightly changing it - this refreshes its life span slightly so that it lasts longer and mildly adjusts the rating and hidden maximum and minimum values by a random amount. This allows you to effectively 'refresh' the gimmick, meaning you can keep the current rating and pros and cons for longer than normal without needing to do a whole new gimmick. Choosing when to tweak a gimmick is down to your judgement - do it too soon and you waste a tweak, do it too late and the gimmick may already be in steep decline.

7.8 The Morale System

A worker's morale is calculated by looking at all the existing morale incidents that are currently active and involve them. Each of these incidents is considered either positive or negative and has a (hidden) duration. As the duration decreases over time the incident becomes less and less powerful, eventually disappearing. Generally speaking, they work in order of severity - so a really severe negative outweighs multiple minor positives. The severity of a morale incident and its duration depends entirely on the type of incident and the context of when it happened and to whom. The same incident may affect two different workers in two different ways. All workers, if given enough time, will return to neutral. To view the incidents currently affecting a worker's morale, view them in the Roster screen and click the View Morale Details button; the incidents are listed to the right of the pop-up screen that follows. If a worker has negative morale there are several ways to try and address this. For example, you could give them bonuses or time off (you can do this from the roster screen), hire friends or family, or book them particularly strongly.

7.9 Growing Your Company

The first step in growing your company is to check the Size section of the Office; this will tell you the criteria for moving to the next level. Your popularity in the various regions is all that matters with regard to company size, there are no requirements for having a certain amount of money or specific production values - although, of course, if you have no money or are poorly set up then you'll naturally struggle to rise anyway. You gain popularity through running shows and achieving a strong final rating. Generally speaking, if the show's final rating was 5 or more above the company's popularity in a region in which it was held or shown then the company will gain popularity in that region. Getting more than 7.5, 10, or 12.5 points higher can bring even greater gains. Note that companies with 90 or greater popularity are a special case and they only need to match or exceed the region's popularity to achieve gains. The amount of gain on offer depends on the size of the broadcast coverage being used in each region (the region hosting the show is automatically considered to have a minimum level), with additional bonuses or penalties depending on the current level of the wrestling industry in that area. Note that a company has a maximum amount of popularity gain per region per month, with the limit based on their current size, and is also restricted by the audience size (the audience being the people in attendance plus those watching a broadcast) so that you cannot gain popularity past a certain point if the audience is too small to warrant a gain (see Natural Growth Limits in the Options section for more details). Low show ratings can cause popularity drops. If the wrestling industry is particularly low then you can lose popularity if the show rating was less than the popularity in the region, otherwise you will lose increasing amounts of popularity only if your final rating is more than 5, 7.5, or 10 points lower. The amount of loss, like the amount of gain, depends on the broadcast coverage level of the show in each region. It is important to remember that if you are running a show whose intent is different from Normal then this impacts your popularity gain / loss abilities. This works by applying a modifier to your final show rating for the purposes of the above calculations. For example, a Throwaway show alters the final rating by 36 each way (i.e. if you got a final rating of 50 then it's considered to be 14 for the gain calculations and 86 for the loss calculations, meaning it'd be very difficult for you to gain or lose anything). Lesser shows use 12 as the figure, Tour shows use 24.

7.10 Utilising Merchandising

You can view your company's current merchandising level via the Merchandise section of the office. For more detail on how this section works, please see the Merchandising part of the Companies section of this handbook. For larger companies in particular, selling merchandise can be a very important revenue stream as it's effectively guaranteed money each month. For the company-specific merchandise, your revenue is directly proportional to your popularity and the amount of fans you can bring to live shows, so the bigger you are and the better attended your shows, the more money you make. For the worker-specific merchandise there are several factors at play. First and foremost there is the worker's popularity (either worldwide or in the company's home area depending on the quality of the merchandise operation), this is used to calculate a 'base' rate. This is the modified by whether they are a face or heel (if the company uses them; heels sell much less merch than faces), their Charisma and Star Quality, their current momentum, whether they are the company's figurehead, whether they are an active wrestler or not, whether they've been seen recently (i.e. if they're out injured or aren't being used they sell less), their gimmick effects (if any), and their attributes (if any apply). Finding a worker who can sell a lot of merchandise can be a real benefit to the company, particularly when you're at the level of major companies and superstars as the figures can be very high. It can often be financially very beneficial to keep a big merchandise seller babyface, with high momentum and strongly booked, in order to maximise the income you receive from them.

7.11 Minimum Roster Size

Every company has a minimum roster size. This is the number of active in-ring wrestlers (not including occasional wrestlers) it must have on its roster to avoid looking amateurish in the eyes of the fans. You can see the current number via your assistant's notes in the office screen. If you run a show where you fail to meet the minimum roster size then you will receive a small penalty to your popularity levels. The minimum number is initially based on the company's size (Insignificant companies have no minimum) but this can be altered by the size and make-up of any brand split the company has. Wrestlers count towards the total if they are under contract and are using the Wrestler role (Occasional Wrestler does not count). It does not matter what type of contract they are under, their current status (i.e. injured workers still count), or whether they are actually used on a show. Please be sure to note that the figures used for this are NOT the same as the minimums shown in the Estimated Roster Size in the editor - the figures used there are only about the number of wrestlers to hire and fire.

7.12 Bonuses And Time Off

Workers can be given special one-off bonus payments or time off in order to improve their morale. This can be done via the roster screen by using the Give Bonuses Or Time Off button. It should be noted that you cannot cut short the time off once it has been granted. The effectiveness of a bonus depends on two factors, the amount and the worker's personality. With regards to the amount, this is considered in comparison to their current wages: the more the worker makes, the larger the bonus would need to be to raise their morale. The effectiveness of being given time off depends entirely on how long is being offered. When giving time off, it can either be paid or unpaid. Workers on written deals cannot be given unpaid time off. For paid time off, the worker gets paid even though he is not at shows (although he is not eligible for any bonuses that he would have received, and is only paid for one show per night regardless of how many take place). Unpaid time off means they don't get paid at each show but will still get their downside agreement. Unpaid time off for workers who have low pay or low downside agreements will therefore harm their morale as they are missing out. Bonuses and time off cannot be given to the company's owner, the user's avatar, or workers who are sitting out their contracts. Child companies cannot give developmental workers bonuses (although the parent can). Time off cannot be given to workers who are already absent.

7.13 Excursions

Excursions are a (typically Japanese) concept where a company sends a young worker to a foreign company to gain experience and seasoning out of the limelight. Unlike in previous games, in TEW IX excursions must be proactively started by the company, not the worker. When a worker is sent on excursion they are released (and must be paid off as normal if they would be owed money) from their current employer and join the roster of a foreign company, at which point their active areas and base location are temporarily altered for the duration of the excursion. They will return after an agreed upon amount of time, at which point they join the free agent pool. Although the worker is technically released, they will not get angry or take it as a negative event as they understand why it is happening. To send a worker on excursion you must have an agreement in place with another company where they have agreed to accept excursionary workers. You start the excursion by going to your roster screen and using the Send Away button. The receiving company can release the worker before the contract expires, although this will negatively impact their relationship with the sender. As the worker is being released to go on excursion they cannot be forced to go, it is something they must explicitly agree to.

7.14 Creative Energy And Ideas

Creative Energy (CE) is generated each time you hold a booking meeting - see the Booking Team Meeting section of Pre-Show Process for a more detailed look at how this works. As the name suggests, this represents the creativity that you and your booking team generate, and it can be spent to aid your booking. Depending on the situation, you may wish to keep some CE 'banked' as an emergency stash to make sure that you avoid failing to meet a show's CE requirements. You can never have more than 250 CE. CE can be spent to purchase Creative Ideas. This is done via Office > Booking Team or when holding your pre-show meeting. There are several types of Creative Idea available, each having a slightly different effect. However, they all have the same underlying structure which is to give you a success rating (how likely it is to work), optional restrictions on how it can be deployed, and an expiry date. If the expiry date is reached, the idea is removed at the end of the day (there are no penalties for not using an idea other than the fact that it is a waste of CE). The way a Creative Idea is deployed varies from type to type and is specified on screen.

8 The Office Screen (+)

The office screen is where the player does the majority of their day-to-day work of running their company; it's not available if the player is unemployed. This section goes through each important part of the office. Please note that some sections are copies of their respective entry in the Companies screen; the information is repeated purely so that users don't have to hunt around for information. Sections 8.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

8.1 Your Personal Assistant

Your PA is there to give you important information and to provide warnings on problem areas within your company. You can find the report on the left hand side of the screen. Please be aware that for almost all the reports you can simply click the text to quick jump to the section in question.

8.2 Brand Split

A brand split is an artificial roster division used for organisational purposes or to promote a sense of inter-company rivalry. There are no explicit pros or cons to having a brand split in game. A brand split may have between two and five brands involved, with each brand being defined by its level and focus. There are six levels. Major means that the brand has no upper limit in terms of size and is for any perception level, from Major Star to Unimportant. Showcase are brands that allow any perception level but are small in size, featuring only around 20 wrestlers. Niche brands are even smaller, with only around 15 wrestlers, and allow all perception levels except Major Stars. Minor brands have around 20 wrestlers but don't have Major Stars or Stars. Reserve brands are specifically designed to be used with the Development focus and have no upper limit to their size but can only contain Recognisable and Unimportant wrestlers. Finally, Throwaway brands have only 15 wrestlers and only use Unimportant wrestlers. There are multiple different focuses available for a brand and these tell the game what wrestlers are likely to appear on that brand. For example, a Hardcore focus will attract wrestlers who use a Brawler or Psychopath style, whereas a Veterans focus would be for older competitors. It is important to note that the brand focuses do not affect who a company hires; for example, putting a Female Wrestlers focused brand in a company that is set to only hire male wrestlers will simply result in an unusable brand existing. The brand level and focus are used to filter which wrestlers can appear on which brands, but there are exceptions: title holders will generally be put on the same brand as their title, even if they wouldn't normally be eligible, and tag team partners will usually 'follow' their partner to a brand even if they wouldn't normally go there.

8.3 Booking Team

Each company can have a booking team of up to five people. The only restriction on membership of the team is that it cannot include the head booker, and it is perfectly acceptable to have no members of the booking team. The team's job is to assist the head booker in their duties. As such, they appear backstage at every show, even if they wouldn't normally (i.e. if it's a different brand from the one they're assigned to). Booking team members are essentially rated on their Booking Skill. The higher it is, the more Creative Energy (CE) they can generate during the booking team meeting that happens before shows (see the Pre Show Process section of the handbook for more details). The advantage of having a large team is therefore that more CE can be generated. The disadvantage of a large team is that it's a pressurised situation and so relationships get tested; this means that people who would tend to become friends will generally bond more closely while people who would become enemies become bitter rivals. How two booking team members interact can be predicted to a certain extent by their personalities and existing relationships, but morale and position within the company also plays a part and there's a degree of randomness too. Finding a balanced, well-adjusted booking team can be a big boon to a company, while a dysfunctional one can cause a lot of issues. When adjusting a booking team, it's worth noting that being removed from the team will almost always result in a morale penalty that's more severe than any bonus they would have gotten from joining; it's therefore unwise to constantly chop and change the line-up. The make-up of the booking team can also generate special bonuses and penalties. For example, a team that only involves one person (the booker) can get a boost because there's no need for delegation, and a two person team that works well can also get a bonus for being a good partnership.

8.4 Chemistry

This screen stores information on all the chemistry that you have discovered during this game. It is player-specific.

8.5 Creative

The creative meeting screen is primarily designed to give you a helping hand with identifying the best five members of your roster in each of several categories. A worker appearing in these categories does not gain any special benefit from being on the list. In addition, there is also a Hidden Gems section which looks at potential signings. This list is dependent on your current product and size, and so will change depending on what company you are using and what your current situation is. In previous versions of TEW prior to 2020, the Creative Meeting also had a Time Decline section that explicitly showed which of your workers were declining from the moment they began to decline. TEW IX's Time Decline works differently, in that instead of skills declining when a worker hits Time Decline, their stat caps decline instead. This makes it harder to spot as workers can still be improving their skills even in the Decline phase of their career and puts the power in the player's hands to spot when workers are no longer performing at their peak.

8.6 Divisions

Each company has space for up to 10 custom division names. There is no requirement to use any divisions at all, they act purely as a organisational tool. Each worker can belong to one division and this allows them to be searched for on various screens. Note that a worker is linked to the division's 'slot', not the name, so if you rename a division the worker will remain part of the newly-renamed division even if it's a completely different piece of text. Division names can be left blank to effectively disable them.

8.7 End Of Year Awards

This screen contains all of the company's end of year awards. These are purely cosmetic and are calculated by the AI at the end of each year; the user cannot influence who wins each award.

8.8 Inner Circle

Each company can have an inner circle, made up of various pre-set roles, which shows who the power players behind the scenes are. For a detailed look at each role, visit that screen and click on the job title in question. There is no requirement to have any inner circle positions filled, although you'll often find workers requesting (or demanding!) certain roles over time. The advantage of having a strong inner circle is that it can be good for boosting the morale of certain people and, if the role is filled by someone competent, can make the running on the company smoother. The disadvantage is that those who are not selected to be part of the inner circle may feel slighted, particularly if a rival is given a role, and giving a role to someone who performs it poorly can actually negatively impact the locker room far worse than having nobody in the role. Given their importance, members of the inner circle will turn up backstage even on branded shows that they would normally not be eligible for.

8.9 Figurehead

Please see the Companies section where there are multiple entries giving a detailed explanation of how the Figurehead and Figurehead Heir systems work.

8.10 Product

The Product screen allows you to change your current settings. You will probably not be doing that very often, but the screen does allow you to check the pros and cons of your current set-up, which is very useful information to have. You can change your product whenever you like, but you should note that it takes a certain amount of time for it to happen (this is to 're-educate' the fan expectations) - the duration of this depends on how great the difference is between your current product and the one you want to move to. If the change is considered significant (this will be shown on-screen) then your popularity growth is hampered until the change completes. You may also change the AI Booking Style here. This affects how the auto booker will function for you, but is primarily there to be used if you leave the company. It has no bearing on your own booking and you are under no obligation to book in the way it suggests.

8.11 Roster

The Roster screen is likely going to be your most used screen in the entire game. From here you can control just about everything to do with your roster. The key part of this screen is probably the Status box. This displays context-specific information on the worker, such as their perception, momentum, morale, etc. For most of these pieces of text you can click on them to access a pop-up window where you can make changes. For example, clicking on their perception will take you to the generic alteration screen where you can change their name, manager, division, etc. Click on their disposition, if you're using them, will allow you to set up turns. Clicking their gimmick gives you access to all the various gimmick-related tools. Note that most of the roster screens are context specific, so the list of buttons (Talk To Worker, Negotiate, etc) will alter depending on whether you are the booker of this company or not. (Please also note that you can right-click the Roster button in your office to jump directly to the contract overview subscreen.)

8.12 Stables

Please see the dedicated Stables section of the handbook where they are discussed in detail.

8.13 Storylines

Storylines involve two or more workers who are considered to have an ongoing narrative. Whether a company needs storylines is decided by their current product, while the number and minimum heat level are decided by the company's size (see the last paragraph for exact figures). Any number of workers can be in a storyline as long as there are never less than two. Each person involved can either be in a Major role or a Supporting role, which defines how crucial they are to the story - a worker cannot change roles, but can be removed from the story and re-added under a different role. Each person can also be either unaligned or aligned with one of up to four sides. This lets the game know where the conflict (if any) lies. Each worker also has a success level; this is how they are doing in kayfabe terms. This can be important as it allows the game to know if one side is dominating to the detriment of the story, or if a storyline has no dramatic stakes (i.e. none of the success levels are actually changing; the story is just treading water and not really going anywhere). A segment is considered part of a storyline if the match or angle contains at least two workers from the storyline, at least one being a Major role, where they are not all aligned with each other. A segment that counts will affect the storyline's heat as long as its rating is 5 points higher or lower than the current heat of the storyline and there were two Major roles present. The one exception to this is if it's the very first segment of the storyline, in which case that will determine the opening heat. A storyline's heat can affect match and angles ratings if it is significantly higher or lower. To qualify for this effect, the segment must be part of the storyline and have two Major roles present, but only workers who have been in at least four segments of the storyline count towards this; this stops workers gaining bonuses without having earned it. Some products gives the note 'Major matches will be penalised if they don't have an associated storyline'; if this is the case, if the top two perceptions in the match are both Recognisable or greater then the match requires an associated storyline to avoid being penalised. A storyline will naturally lose heat if it is not advanced for more than two shows in a row, if nothing major (i.e. the heat is not altered at all) happens for five or more shows, if a show has three or more participants on it and they don't advance the storyline at all, or if the storyline is being completely dominated by one side. 'B' shows and Lesser, Throwaway, and Tour events do not count towards these three penalties. The following figures give, for each company size, the minimum heat level for a storyline to be considered 'hot', the minimum number that have to be active to avoid penalties, and the minimum number that have to be furthered on each show to avoid penalties: Insignificant (15 minimum heat, 1 active, 1 furthered), Tiny (20 minimum heat, 1 active, 1 furthered), Small (35 minimum heat, 2 active, 1 furthered), Medium (50 minimum heat, 2 active, 1 furthered), Big (65 minimum heat, 3 active, 2 furthered), Huge or Titanic (70 minimum heat, 3 active, 2 furthered).

8.14 Teams

Please see the dedicated Tag Teams section of the handbook where they are discussed in detail.

8.15 Titles

The Titles screen allows you to see all the championships and achievements that are attached to this company. Please be sure to note that by default you only see active titles - if you wish to look at inactive titles you must use the Search button to change the search parameters.

8.16 Tournaments

The user can make an unlimited number of elimination or round robin tournaments. These are purely for organisational purposes, there is no specific bonuses for winning (outside of the gains you'd get for a series of victories in any context), nor do the workers consider that they're in a tournament when it comes to agreeing to lose to other people.

8.17 Commentary

(NB This was formerly known as Announcing, but is now Commentary for clarity.) Each company can have up to three people at the commentary desk for any segment. You do not need to include any commentators if a show is not being broadcast, but you will incur penalties for running a segment without anyone on commentary if a show is being aired. The default teams for events, brands, and each TV show can be set via the Commentary section of the office. Play by play commentators are rated on their Play By Play skill while colour commentators are rated on their Colour skill. The highest score in each category amongst all of the commentary team is counted and the same person may provide both high scores, meaning one person commentary teams are perfectly viable. Having a weak commentator on the team does not hurt the scores of better commentators. You are also able to use guest commentators to simulate people sitting in on the broadcast team. 'Guest Commentary' is rated as 70% of their Microphone Skill. If the Guest Commentary value is greater than the worker's Colour skill, he can use that instead. This helps prevent a worker getting penalised for his performance when he is only with the broadcast team temporarily and isn't really there as a 'proper' commentator. If you have more than one person on your commentary team then they are rated on experience; this is always the highest experience level that can be found for a pairing within the three possible members. With Very Low or Low experience, the team will not reach their full potential. An Adequate level gives neither bonuses nor penalties. An Excellent rating gives a small bonus. It is therefore beneficial to find a good team and stick with it rather than constantly swapping.

8.18 Broadcasting

This screen allows you to control the broadcasting status of the company. Many of the same features can also be accessed via the Media section of the game, available via the left hand menu, for ease. For a detailed look at how broadcasters work, please see the Media And Broadcasting section of the handbook.

8.19 Coverage

This screen gives you a recap of what your company's current broadcasting coverage is.

8.20 Events & TV

You can manage your schedule from this screen. There are a couple of things to note. Firstly, if you remove an event then it is completely removed from the database - this means that you will lose any importance that it has. Generally you would want to simply change its status from active to inactive if you have an event with some importance behind it. Secondly, note that creating a TV show does NOT mean that it goes on air; you're simply creating a concept, you would need to negotiate with a broadcaster to then have it shown. The Events & TV section of this handbook goes into more detail about how cards and TV shows work.

8.21 Pre Booking

You can pre book matches or angles in advance for any event or TV show. The effects can be turned on or off via your Preferences. Note that if you have it turned on and have multiple shows on the same night, it is only the pre booking of the most important of those shows that affects your attendance. If turned on, your attendance is reduced if you do not pre book enough attractive segments to entice the audience. The game will look at the Perception levels of the workers you have booked - Major Stars contribute a large number of points, Stars slightly less, and Well Known just a few points (a worker booked in multiple segments only contributes once, and only on-screen workers are eligible). These are added up and compared to a minimum threshold. The further below the threshold you are, the bigger the penalty. Events have a higher threshold than TV shows. For TV shows and weekly events, you must book segments at least 1 day in advance for them to count, for all other situations it's one week or more. You never have to pre book for Lesser, Tour, Throwaway, or 'B' shows because the audience expectation levels are already low. If you have Bonuses turned on then, assuming you are not getting any penalties, your attendance can gain a boost if you provide extremely attractive matches. If Bonuses are off then your attendance can never go up as a result of pre booking: this is because the attendance figure is already based on the assumption that you're booking your strongest card. It is recommended you do not turn bonuses on in a multiplayer games unless everyone is using it, otherwise some players are handicapped. If you pre book a segment and then fail to deliver it, the fans can be annoyed and this may result in a penalty to your final show grade (the more star power, the bigger the penalty). This does not apply if pre booking is turned off. If turned off, the pre booking section becomes purely an organisational tool; it means that you don't have to remember what you had planned and also allows for quicker booking of events (as you can add your segment to the booking sheet with a few clicks). It does not impact attendance and you are not penalised if you fail to deliver something you pre booked. When pre booking, not all road agent notes will be available to you (notably, you cannot set up crazy bumps and stunt bumps). This is because they are context specific to the show on that night and so must be booked 'live'. Furthermore, when adding notes on winners and losers for matches, this does not mean the workers agree to those terms - they will consider whether they agree to lose on the night. Please note that you MUST use the special 'Add To Booking Sheet' button (in the Pre Booking screen) if you want the game to know that it is a pre booked segment. If you simply create the match or angle yourself it will not be registered as being a pre booking, even if the details match exactly.

8.22 Pre Booking Exceptions

Companies which are Insignificant, Tiny, or Small are exempt from pre booking penalties due to their small fan bases. They can however still get the attendance boost from pre booking extremely attractive matches. Note that companies of these sizes would still be penalised for pre booking a segment and then not delivering it.

8.23 Show History

This screen gives a recap of all the shows the company has held since the game began.

8.24 Top 100s

This screen gives various top 100 lists. These are all calculated based upon in-game stats and are purely for informational purposes, they don't have any impact outside of this screen.

8.25 Backstage

This screen gives you access to your locker room morale rating (an indication of how good or bad the atmosphere in their locker room is), information on how it was calculated, and the ability to alter your backstage rules. The locker room morale rating is created by looking at the three displayed sections - notable personalities, relationships, and other factors - with each element within those three sections increasing or decreasing the overall percentage. Different elements contribute different amounts. The relationship elements are the only ones that are limited - they can only contribute plus or minus 25% at most, whereas the other two sections have no limits. Please note that the greater a worker's perception rating, the more he impacts the backstage area; i.e. a bad-tempered main eventer is significantly worse than a bad-tempered midcarder! Ideally you should try and keep your backstage rating at a minimum of Average. Anything below that will affect the morale and performances of your workers. The lower the rating gets, the more negative incidents you will have to deal with, while a higher rating does the opposite. It is important to note that the rating you get in your office is what would happen if everyone on your roster was present; when you actually get to a show the rating may change, even drastically so, because some wrestlers may be absent and therefore are no longer able to contribute to the rating.

8.26 Child Companies

If you have one or more child companies then you can deal with them directly from the Child Companies screen. If you don't have any but wish to have them, you can either use the Investments screen to create one or you can try and takeover an existing company (by going to that company's profile and choosing Contact). You may appoint a new CEO (i.e. the 'owner') or head booker from this screen too. The CEO is generally just a figurehead as they have no real power given that you own the company. However, they will influence hiring decisions. The head booker is more important, as their booking skill will impact the child company's shows. Therefore you should look to appoint someone who is, at the very least, competent.

8.27 Company Info

The Company Info screen is where you can change basic information about your group, such as its name or logo. From here, you can also move your base region. This can only be done once every five years. In most games you will not want to do this as it means your size criteria change and you can cause a loss of size.

8.28 Contract Overview

This is a basic overview that gives financial and expiry date for contracts. A more detailed version can be found within the Roster screen. Note that double clicking a column will change how it is ordered.

8.29 Developmental

The Developmental screen lists all the workers who your company currently has under a developmental contract. You may recall them (whether immediately or delayed) from this screen, after which they'll return to your main roster.

8.30 Drug Testing

From the Drug Testing screen you can set your current level and also order specific Standard (the weaker kind) or Comprehensive (the more accurate kind) tests. The advantage of drug testing is to catch potential troubling issues before they grow into something worse. The disadvantage is that it costs money to run tests. Please note that drug testing does not apply to house shows or Touring shows (otherwise the cost would be astronomical).

8.31 Finance

This gives the company's current financial breakdown for the past year; any row that is marked with a (*) can be clicked to launch a more detailed breakdown. You can also see your financial estimates from here, which can be useful for planning ahead.

8.32 Geo Tags

For a detailed explanation of how the geo tagging system works, please see the Game World section further down the handbook.

8.33 House Shows

House shows are small untelevised live events. A company must be of at least Medium size to use house shows and must have at least twelve available wrestlers available for a show to take place. The player does not book any matches, nor are any results recorded, as the shows are not considered important. House shows do not take place on days that the company held a show, regardless of scheduling. From this screen a house show duty roster can be set - these are the workers who will take part in house shows. Only wrestlers on exclusive contracts who are paid monthly are eligible to take part. Wrestlers who are injured or away can still be set to work house shows, they will simply be automatically ignored until they return. The attendance of the house shows is severely affected if there aren't many big names included. The advantages of running house shows are primarily financial; extra money can be made from ticket sales and merchandise with relatively little in the way of expenditure. Workers can also improve their skills on house shows, although the rate is slower than if they were working on actual bookable events, and get better at speaking the local language. The player can also use house shows to look for chemistry between workers, using the booking section of the House Show screen. Finally, house shows are a good way to keep from losing popularity for not visiting / being seen in a specific region. The disadvantages of running house shows, particularly a lot of them, are that workers have less time off for rest and recovery and so they will have higher levels of wear and tear over time. Injuries can also occur, although the chance of getting hurt is less than on regular events as the wrestlers are not working as hard.

8.34 Hall Of Fame

Each company can have a Hall Of Fame, which is a list of those wrestlers and staff who had the biggest impact on the company. Unlike the Hall Of Immortals, the requirements to get into a Hall Of Fame are much lower and therefore allow even successful midcarders to get in. A worker gains points towards induction when they complete certain 'tasks', with the points dependent on what the task was and how many times they have achieved it (some tasks can only provide a limited number of points regardless of how often they are completed). You can see the criteria via the editor. These criteria and a worker's current progress are not visible during gameplay. Any player can modify any Hall Of Fame whenever they want because they're primarily cosmetic. When choosing to manually add a worker or team the user will have the option of 'induction' or 'future induction'; the difference is that the former is an immediate addition whereas the latter means the worker(s) will definitely get added upon retirement. In the criteria 'Has won primary titles' floating titles of 70 or greater prestige also count. Some tasks require the worker to win a secondary or 'equivalent floating' title - this means that the floating title must be at least as prestigious as the lowest secondary level title in the company. Some tasks will refer to 'big events' - these are defined as events that are of Normal intent and that are not weekly.

8.35 Investments

From the Investments screen you can spend your company's cash on useful (and not so useful) purchases. Investing in new companies allows you to create a child company without the hassle of taking over an existing company, while making a training facility gives you access to cheap talent on a regular basis (as well as contributing to the health of the game world). Launching or upgrading your own broadcaster means that you're not at the mercy of other broadcasters and can air whatever you want, when you want. Purchasing a retired title belt is generally only for vanity or storyline purposes, you won't be getting any return on that particular investment. Creating your own venue helps keep costs down if you're intending to run a specific region on a regular basis, because the usual hiring cost for choosing that location is reduced by 40% from normal. Donating to charity can be a useful way of improving morale. Any potential boosts are based upon the amount and type of donation.

8.36 Absences

The Absences part of the office lists all the employees who are currently absent. Depending on how the injury has been set up in the database, the user may have the option to authorise surgery on an injured worker. The risk of this depends on the injury in question and is shown on screen. If surgery is successful the duration of the injury is reduced (by up to 75%) and the lasting damage is also reduced. If surgery fails, the opposite happens. Surgery cannot be performed if there are less than three weeks remaining until the injury naturally heals.

8.37 Merchandise

This screen allows you to alter your current merchandising level and to see the breakdown of financial information. Please see the Companies section for a detailed look at how the merchandising system works.

8.38 Owner Goals

Your boss (assuming you're not the owner) can give you up to eight goals; these can be things you need to achieve or blocks on what you can do. You can see these at any time via the Owner Goals section of the office. The owner can add new goals at any time and can be affected by the owner-booker relationship (i.e. if they dislike each other the goals will tend to become harder; if they like each other, they'll tend to get easier). If you do something that would break a goal, such as offering a contract to a wrestler who has known substance abuse problems when you've been told to avoid users, then you will get an on-screen warning. You can choose to ignore the goal and do it anyway, but every time you do so you will find the owner's patience with you has lowered; once it reaches a certain point he will become so annoyed that he will not let you break any more. The owner's current patience is shown as 'Approval Rating' near the top of the Office screen. The only ways for the patience level to change are through passing or failing goals or if the owner changes (in which case you return to having full patience.) Each goal has an Importance level attached to it; this indicates how much it means to the owner. The higher the Importance, the happier the owner will be when you succeed at it but the unhappier he will be if you fail. If you fail enough goals to completely exhaust the owner's patience with you then you will be fired. Please note that 'blocking' goals only apply to negotiations that take place from that point onward; existing offers are exempt. It is also important to note that 'blocking' goals do not apply to 'first refusal' offers to graduates; as they have come through your own training facility, they are exempt.

8.39 Production

The Production screen tracks your levels in the four key areas - Production Values, Live Event Experience, Broadcast Quality, and Music - as well as that of your rivals. There's no need to visit this screen very often as if your rivals do start to cause you problems then your Personal Assistant will be sure to warn you. Falling below a rival's level in any of the four areas is bad as you will get penalised per show (the penalty is applied to your final show grade) for looking worse in comparison. The greater the disparity, the greater the penalty. For both Production Values and Broadcast Quality, the penalty would range from 3% (for being one level less) up to 7% (for being 3 or more levels worse). For both Live Event Experience and Music, the range is 2% to 6%. Irrespective of how many levels worse you are in how many areas, the total penalty can never exceed 10% of your final show grade. For Insignificant companies, rivals are companies of the same size in the same region. Tiny companies are rivals with companies the same size or smaller in the same region. Small, Medium, and Big companies are rivals with companies of the same size or one size smaller in the same game area. Huge and Titanic companies are rivals with all companies above Medium anywhere in the world. The AI can adopt one of four strategies when it comes to competing with you (and others) on production levels: doing the bare minimum, matching their rivals, trying to outmuscle their rivals, or doing cost-cutting measures. The strategy they adopt depends on their owner's financial settings, their current size, their current finances, and whether they have lost money for a number of consecutive months.

8.40 Production Values Levels

The following is a list of the levels and costs associated with Production Values. They are primarily to aid database makers but can also act as a useful reference point for regular players. The levels and costs are: Limited ($150 per month), Amateur ($500 per month and $150 per night of shows), Semi-Pro ($1,500 per month and $500 per night of shows), Professional ($7,500 per month and $1,500 per night of shows), High Quality ($15,000 per month and $10,000 per night of shows), Majestic ($50,000 per month and $75,000 per night of shows), Industry Leader ($100,000 per month and $125,000 per night of shows). Note that 'per night of shows' costs are reduced to a tenth when the show in question is a tour or house show due to their 'bare bones' nature. ('Per night of shows' means that you only pay once regardless of how many shows you are running that night.)

8.41 Live Event Experience Levels

The following is a list of the levels and costs associated with Live Event Experience. They are primarily to aid database makers but can also act as a useful reference point for regular players. The levels and costs are: Volunteers (free), Small ($2,000 per night of shows), Medium ($5,000 per night of shows), Large ($15,000 per night of shows), Professional ($100,000 per month and $25,000 per night of shows). Note that 'per night of shows' costs are reduced to a tenth when the show in question is a tour or house show due to their 'bare bones' nature. ('Per night of shows' means that you only pay once regardless of how many shows you are running that night.)

8.42 Broadcast Quality Levels

The following is a list of the levels and costs associated with Broadcast Quality. They are primarily to aid database makers but can also act as a useful reference point for regular players. The levels and costs are: Amateur ($100 per night of shows), Semi-Pro ($500 per night of shows), Hired Pro ($2,500 per night of shows), In House ($7,500 per month), Industry Standard ($75,000 per month), Cutting Edge ($150,000 per month). Note that 'per night of shows' costs are reduced to a tenth when the show in question is a tour or house show due to their 'bare bones' nature. ('Per night of shows' means that you only pay once regardless of how many shows you are running that night.)

8.43 Music Levels

The following is a list of the levels and costs associated with Music. They are primarily to aid database makers but can also act as a useful reference point for regular players. The levels and costs are: Small Time (free), Generic ($100 per night of shows), Local ($250 per night of shows), In House ($10,000 per month), Minor Licensed ($25,000 per month), Licensed ($50,000 per month), Major Licensed ($100,000 per month). Note that 'per night of shows' costs are reduced to a tenth when the show in question is a tour or house show due to their 'bare bones' nature. ('Per night of shows' means that you only pay once regardless of how many shows you are running that night.)

8.44 Merchandising Levels

The following is a list of the levels, costs and revenues associated with Merchandising. They are primarily to aid database makers but can also act as a useful reference point for regular players. The first five levels are: Ramshackle (no cost; revenue of $0.20 per fan), Amateur (no cost; revenue of $0.50 per fan, $1 per popularity point), Small Time (no cost; revenue of $1 per fan, $3 per popularity point), Growing Business (costs $750 per month; revenue of $2.50 per fan, $5 per popularity point), Comprehensive (costs $1,250 per month; revenue of $3 per fan, $10 per popularity point). The remaining five levels are: Professional (costs $2,500 per month; revenue of $5 per fan, $15 per popularity point), Industrial Scale (costs $5,000 per month; revenue of $7.50 per fan, $20 per popularity point), Enviable (costs $10,000 per month; revenue of $12 per fan, $30 per popularity point), Award Winning (costs $25,000 per month; revenue of $15 per fan, $40 per popularity point), World Class (costs $50,000 per month; revenue of $25 per fan, $50 per popularity point).

8.45 Promises

The Promises section of the office keeps track of all active promises that workers have made to you. Promises will occur either as a result of the user talking to a worker directly or because the worker came forward and volunteered. The user does not need to do anything to activate promises - when booking, they are automatically taken into account based upon context. Note that each promise is only effective once per show; for example, if Wrestler A has agreed to put over Wrestler B in three matches, that means three matches across three different shows. If you attempt to have B beat A twice (or more) on the same show, the promise only affects the first booking.

8.46 Size

The Size screen gives your current popularity and explains how you are doing in terms of meeting the various criteria. This is usually worth glancing at after each show to see how you are doing. You may also limit your size from this screen. This does not stop your popularity growing, it just artifically limits the size you can achieve. This can be useful if you want to stay at a smaller level so as not to incur greater running costs or get sucked into regional or national battles. The Size screen also shows you when you last visited and were last seen in each region. When you last visited is purely for organisational purposes, it has no other direct impact on the game. When you were last seen is much more important; if you aren't seen in a region (whether by visiting it for a show - including house shows - or being broadcast there) for a lengthy period of time then the fans will forget you and your popularity there will decay. The time before this happens depends on your popularity, ranging from 14 weeks (if you have less than 50 popularity) to 1 month (for 90+ popularity). Once forgotten, you will bleed a small amount of popularity every day until you are next seen there. (For information on how the company size system actually works, please see the Companies > Company Sizes section of this handbook.)

8.47 Ticket Prices

Your company has default pricing for events, TV shows, and house / tour shows, however, you may set specific events to deviate from this; an event's specific pricing always overrules the company's default pricing. Primarily, ticket pricing allows you to play with the balance between attendance levels and revenue. Lower prices lead to more tickets sold and greater merchandise sales, whereas higher prices give you a higher dollar-per-person ticket revenue figure but reduce your likely income from merchandise. You can use the Very Cheap and Free options to help build your company's popularity. In both cases, your potential popularity gains are raised because of the goodwill you're generating.

8.48 Training Facilities

From this screen you can control all aspects of your existing training facilities. Please see the Training Facilities section of the handbook for a detailed look at how they function.

8.49 Alliances

From the Alliances part of the Office you can found a new alliance, attempt to join an existing one, or manage your membership if you already are a member. Please see the Alliances section for a detailed look at what alliances are and how they work.

8.50 Battles

This screen gives you a report on who is involved in area and regional battles are how they are likely to do. For a detailed breakdown of how area and regional battles work, please see the Game World section of the handbook.

8.51 Talent Trades

As the name suggests, you can propose talent trades here. However, this will only be active if you have at least one eligible partner. An eligible partner is a company who you have either agreed a talent trading agreement with or who is a fellow member of an alliance which allows talent trading. If you wish to create a new talent trading agreement with a company then you should access the Relationships section of the Office to contact them and propose the idea.

8.52 Relationships

This screen allows you to view and alter your company's relationship with others. Please see the Company Relationships section of the handbook for a detailed look at how these work.

8.53 Dirty Tricks

You may attempt to play dirty tricks on other companies in order to harm their prestige, momentum, or impact them financially. Whether a trick is successful or not is based on in-built frequency tables and is the same for every company. All tricks can backfire, causing damage to the company that made them. Note that dirty tricks, whether successful or not, can impact the relationship between the companies involved.

8.54 Shortlist

Your shortlist is a collection of workers who interest you for whatever reason. Once a worker is on your shortlist it means that you will be eligible to get e-mails when significant events - such as hirings or firings - happen to them, regardless of whether you currently employ them or not.

8.55 Blacklist

Your blacklist is a collection of workers who you have no interest in. Once a worker is on your blacklist it means that he will not appear on the Characters screen, Hidden Gems report, or as a potential local hire.

8.56 Resign

Resigning from the company makes your avatar unemployed. Resignations cannot be rejected. If you're running a company that you founded, you cannot leave during the first three years.

9 Pre-Show Process (+)

New to TEW IX is the pre-show process that happens before every show that you book. You must work through the different aspects in sequence and you cannot go backward once you've completed or skipped a section. This section goes into detail about all aspects of the process. Sections 9.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

9.1 Automatic Skipping

Be aware that some aspects of the pre-show process can be automatically skipped. This can happen either because the item only happens once per evening (such as Give The Night Off) or because the user couldn't possibly do anything (such as Finalise Broadcasters if the company either has no broadcasting deals or the selection is non-negotiable).

9.2 Give The Night Off

You may choose to give any number of workers the night off, but may not choose yourself or the company's owner. Giving someone the night off is considered a neutral act (i.e. it does not have a positive or negative impact on morale) although anyone given the night off is still eligible to be upset at being left off the show like normal. The two primary reasons why you may choose to give someone the night off are: if you have nothing for them to do and want them to be available to gain experience working for other employers that night, or, so that they're not backstage and therefore can't have a negative impact on locker room morale or become involved in harmful incidents. NB: You cannot give the night off to people who are already considered away (whether due to injury, absence, etc).

9.3 Selecting Tonight's Venue Or Location

It is always assumed that companies have pre-booked their venue ahead of time - this prevents the user from having to go through the tedious job of constantly having to organise venues months ahead of schedule. In the Selecting Tonight's Venue Or Location section, the user is simply telling the game what would have been pre-booked. The pop-up screen that you see tells you how many people are likely to attend (see Attendance Levels below for how this is calculated) in each region, along with useful extra information such as how long it has been since you last held a show there. Generally you want to try and select a location that's neither too small (as you're missing out on ticket and merchandise sales) nor too big (as you'd be paying for empty seats). See the Choosing A Region section, below, for help in identifying a good place to select. Note that once you have made your choice, your selection is locked in and cannot be changed. All your shows for the rest of this evening will all be held there.

9.4 Attendance Levels

Attendance levels are calculated as follows. First, a base attendance is created. This is based on two factors: the company's popularity in the region the show is being held and the 'draw' of the show itself. For example, a one-off season finale event with maximum importance is going to be a much bigger 'draw' than a weekly event with minimal importance. To achieve the highest levels of attendance a company is required to have a minimum level of card importance and / or for it to be a finale. For this reason, a more popular company with an unimportant event can end up with a lower attendance than a less popular company running a Legendary show. Be aware that if a company is running a very high volume of shows then the fans will recognise this and attendances will switch to being based on the assumption that the events are weekly, even if they're not set that way. The base attendance is then modified by many different factors. These include: the presence of a figurehead, the size of the region, the company's current momentum, the show intent, the effect of the current economy and industry levels, whether a scandal is affecting the company, the number of regional draws on the roster (see next paragraph), audience boredom, whether the company has run many shows in this region in a short space of time (if they're Medium or larger), and the ticket price. The attendance will fall (by up to 25%) if the company does not have many (or any) regional draws working the show, and can rise (up to 50%) if there are regional draws present. Regional draws are workers whose popularity in the region is close to or greater than the company's. For example, if a company has 25 popularity in New England and they have a worker who has 80 popularity there, they will get a considerable boost in attendance due to his presence. A worker only has to be booked on the show to count, they do not necessarily need to actually wrestle. Before a show you will be given an estimated popularity. This is the game's 'best guess' as to what you will achieve, based on your available roster. You should note that your actual attendance therefore could be quite different (such as if you choose not to use any of your stars). Users who have played previous games in the franchise should note that TEW IX's attendances are generally significantly lower on average and that the very highest levels - going above 60,000 for example - are generally reserved only for the most legendary of events.

9.5 Choosing A Region

There are three main factors in deciding where to hold shows: your company's growth, when you were last seen in each region, and being eligible for certain area or regional battles. For your company growth, you would need to consult the Size section of your office. This will tell you what regions you need to build up to reach the next level (or not lose popularity in to avoid dropping a level!). The Size screen also tells you when you were last seen in each region. If you are not seen for a lengthy period of time (ranging from 14 weeks if you have less than 50 popularity to 1 month for 90 or greater) then your popularity there will start decaying. Therefore you should try and be seen (whether in person with an event, tv show, or house show, or by being broadcast there) in regions that are important to you fairly often to avoid losing hard-earned popularity. If you are Medium or above, you will receive penalties to your event attendances if you run too many shows in the same region within a short space of time (twenty eight days), to simulate the fans getting burned out. Sometimes you may wish to avoid certain regions to avoid being sucked into battles. Normally this only applies to regional battles. For example, if there is a powerful rival in another region who you know would beat you in a regional battle then you may wish to avoid holding shows there, thus avoiding going head-to-head with them.

9.6 Finalise Broadcasters

The user only has to deal with the Finalise Broadcasters aspect if it is possible for them to make a choice; it is skipped if there are no broadcasting deals available or if the selection is locked (for TV shows, for example). Once the selection is made, the user cannot go back and change their mind; this is because the broadcaster choice plays a part in later aspects (e.g. whether the show is on pay-per-view can make a difference to some incidents).

9.7 Pre-Show Incidents

Pre-show incidents are one-off events that affect the running of the show; this includes things like extreme weather conditions, equipment being lost, or security incidents at the venue. The user has no control over these incidents. It should be noted that extreme weather conditions are dependent on the region the show is being held in and what time of the year it is. For example, British regions can only get heavy snow during the winter months.

9.8 Booking Team Meeting

Once per night, and only before valid shows (not throwaway or tour events, not 'B' TV shows) you will hold a booking team meeting; this happens even if there is nobody else on the booking team (as the head booker is always present) and the effects still take place even if you choose to skip the analysis and feedback pop-up screen. The purpose of the meeting is to generate Creative Energy (CE). Each person who is present will generate a certain amount based upon their Booking Skill and then further modified by bonuses or penalties received - these are all displayed on-screen in the feedback section. The total cumulative amount is then modifed by bonuses or penalties which are dependent on how the team functions as a whole, such as chemistry and team size. The final total is added to any stored CE that was already present. Unless it has been disabled via the user's preferences, each show requires 20 CE per hour (based on the show's scheduled length). If the company's stored CE is sufficient to meet this, the amount is deducted from the total. If it isn't, nothing is deducted but the company receives a 15% penalty to the show's final grade for lack of creativity. Any left over CE can then be spent, if desired, on creative ideas to aid booking (see the Creative Energy And Ideas section of Running Your Company for more detail).

9.9 Locker Room Incidents

The number of incidents generated each night depends on your locker room morale, the number of people backstage, and their respective personalities. As you'd expect, good locker room morale tends to generate more positive incidents, bad morale equals negatives. There are two types that can occur; passive and active. Passive incidents are usually either positive or involve the 'wrestler's court' handling things internally and you cannot take direct action. Active incidents, however, will require you to choose an appropriate action ranging from the extreme (firings and suspension) to the mild (taking no action or giving a mild slap on the wrist). The effect of your choice of action depends on many factors, including the severity of the issue compared to the severity of the discipline, the personalities of the workers involved, and their relationships with each other and the rest of the locker room. There is very rarely a 'perfect' answer, and the user is encouraged to make their decision by instinct and feel rather than trying to apply a scientific approach, just like in reality. Your choice of action can have an impact on the morale, personality, and behaviour of the workers involved, and can also have knock-on effects on to the rest of the locker room. Primarily, however, the effect is on the worker being punished. They will usually get either a positive or negative reaction. The reactions are stored (behind the scenes, hidden) and, over time, will lead to both long-term effects (such as changes in personality) and short-term (such as being on their best behaviour for a while, during which time they won't get involved in other bad behaviour). It should be noted that worker personalities are impacted by these choices on a global-level; this means that the way that other players (and the AI) react to incidents also affect how a worker develops.

9.10 Address The Locker Room

You are limited to addressing the locker room once per evening, regardless of how many shows you are running. This feature allows you to exercise a degree of proactivity over locker room morale or individual relationships. It is entirely optional and there is no negative impact to skipping this section.

10 Booking A Show (+)

Booking is the act of putting together a wrestling show and is the primary aspect of TEW gameplay. This section goes into detail about all aspects of the process. Note that matches and angles have their own dedicated parts of the handbook, and the Running A Show section covers the part of the game where your booking is executed. Sections 10.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

10.1 Booking Overview

Every show is divided into segments which can either be matches or angles; 'angles' is actually a catch-all term as it covers everything that isn't a match, including interviews, video packages, special intros, etc. Segments assigned to the pre and post show can be useful for testing out workers, developing them, or just to give people ring time, but have no bearing on the show's rating. When booking matches, your strategy will depend on what the purpose of the match is. If it's your main event then you're generally going to want to try and book in a way that will maximise the rating because this will have the biggest impact on your show's overall rating. This will depend on your product, but you're almost certainly going to be wanting to use your Major Stars and Stars in these matches and book in a way that either maximises their skills or avoids as many major penalties as you can. It's important to note that you don't need to book similar styles together. There's no advantage to booking brawlers against brawlers or technicians vs technicians. You do need to pay attention to the basics of match construction though: for example, you want at least one person with enough Psychology to keep the match together, you don't want to put guys with low stamina into long matches, etc. For angles, you are looking to have people rated on skills that play to each worker's strengths. As the game doesn't 'know' what is happening in angles (it is after all just text) there's no real need for the angle to make sense, although obviously that is nice for immersion purposes. It is a good rule of thumb to follow real world booking conventions, so the bigger the star, the more angles and more time they'll get. Note that angle placement is not particularly important - whether an angle opens the show or is midway through it is irrelevant from the point of view of ratings.

10.2 Placement Mode

When on the booking screen, Placement Mode allows you to quickly re-order your segments by using Move Here and Swap commands. You can only do this to segments that have not yet been run, and you must have at least two segments available for it to be useful. When in Placement Mode, as it says on-screen, you right-click a segment to highlight it and can then move or swap it by clicking on the Move Here or Swap text next to the segment you have in mind. You can toggle Placement Mode via the button in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Alternatively, if you're not in the mode you can quickly activate it by right-clicking on a (valid) segment name. Likewise, you can quickly deactivate it by right-clicking on the segment that is currently highlighted.

10.3 Cost Per Live Show

Whenever a company has a night where they run a live show (whether that be an event, TV show, or house show) it must pay a standard amount to cover general expenses; that is, the cost of physically putting on the event. This is separate to anything in the Production section and does not include the costs mentioned in the Show Lengths section of this handbook. The cost depends entirely on the size of the company. Running from Insignificant up to Titanic, the cost per live show is: $50, $150, $250, $750, $5,000, $10,000, and $25,000. For house shows, due to their simplicity, you only pay 20% of the normal value. This cost is only paid once per night, regardless of how many shows are held. This cost is automatically taken off when you run a show, you do not have to do anything nor can you avoid it.

10.4 The Order Shows Run In

Each night the shows run in an order based on the company that is running them; each company runs all their shows, then it moves to the next company in the sequence. The order is determined by going in descending order of the hidden Importance value (see Company Sizes in the Companies section of the handbook for more detail) with money being used in the event of a 'tie-break'. The advantage of going first is primarily that you get access to any shared workers before your competitors do.

10.5 Pre Booking

You can pre book matches or angles in advance for any event or TV show. The effects can be turned on or off via your Preferences. Note that if you have it turned on and have multiple shows on the same night, it is only the pre booking of the most important of those shows that affects your attendance. If turned on, your attendance is reduced if you do not pre book enough attractive segments to entice the audience. The game will look at the Perception levels of the workers you have booked - Major Stars contribute a large number of points, Stars slightly less, and Well Known just a few points (a worker booked in multiple segments only contributes once, and only on-screen workers are eligible). These are added up and compared to a minimum threshold. The further below the threshold you are, the bigger the penalty. Events have a higher threshold than TV shows. For TV shows and weekly events, you must book segments at least 1 day in advance for them to count, for all other situations it's one week or more. You never have to pre book for Lesser, Tour, Throwaway, or 'B' shows because the audience expectation levels are already low. If you have Bonuses turned on then, assuming you are not getting any penalties, your attendance can gain a boost if you provide extremely attractive matches. If Bonuses are off then your attendance can never go up as a result of pre booking: this is because the attendance figure is already based on the assumption that you're booking your strongest card. It is recommended you do not turn bonuses on in a multiplayer games unless everyone is using it, otherwise some players are handicapped. If you pre book a segment and then fail to deliver it, the fans can be annoyed and this may result in a penalty to your final show grade (the more star power, the bigger the penalty). This does not apply if pre booking is turned off. If turned off, the pre booking section becomes purely an organisational tool; it means that you don't have to remember what you had planned and also allows for quicker booking of events (as you can add your segment to the booking sheet with a few clicks). It does not impact attendance and you are not penalised if you fail to deliver something you pre booked. When pre booking, not all road agent notes will be available to you (notably, you cannot set up crazy bumps and stunt bumps). This is because they are context specific to the show on that night and so must be booked 'live'. Furthermore, when adding notes on winners and losers for matches, this does not mean the workers agree to those terms - they will consider whether they agree to lose on the night. Please note that you MUST use the special 'Add To Booking Sheet' button (in the Pre Booking screen) if you want the game to know that it is a pre booked segment. If you simply create the match or angle yourself it will not be registered as being a pre booking, even if the details match exactly.

10.6 Pre Booking Exceptions

Companies which are Insignificant, Tiny, or Small are exempt from pre booking penalties due to their small fan bases. They can however still get the attendance boost from pre booking extremely attractive matches. Note that companies of these sizes would still be penalised for pre booking a segment and then not delivering it.

10.7 Mid-Show Booking

The player may return to the booking sheet at any point during the show. There are no penalties or other drawbacks for doing this. This can be useful for making on-the-fly changes to address injuries or other unexpected events, or to make alterations to workers. Segments that have already been completed cannot be edited or moved.

10.8 Match Lengths

A match can run for between 1 and 90 minutes, although it must meet the specific match's minimum and maximum limits. You should select a length that is appropriate for the workers (i.e. not putting unfit workers in long matches nor limiting talented wrestlers with little time) and execution (i.e. not using a slow-build in a 3 minute match). It may take some trial and error to understand what lengths suit which workers and which situations, but this is a natural part of getting to know how best to use your talent effectively. There are no explicit penalties for requiring certain matches to go to certain lengths; for example, there is no requirement for your main event to be the longest bout on the card, nor will there be a penalty specifically because your main event was short. All the bonuses and penalties that you can get from match lengths are entirely contextual to the match itself, not its placement on the card; for example, running a 5 minute main event would incur penalties, but those are the same penalties that you'd get for any 5 minute match. You always book the length to the workers and execution, not to card position. It is important to note that short matches automatically cap how high the in-ring action rating can go. The tolerance levels for this depends on the product being used. For example, the product note 'Matches less than 20 minutes have caps on how high of a rating they can achieve' means that a 19 minute match will get its in-ring rating capped at 90, a 14 minute match at 80, etc. Different products can be more or less severe.

10.9 Assigning Titles

All active titles are eligible to be assigned to be defended in a match, although their type must correspond to the match type - for example, you cannot put trios titles on the line in a 1 vs 1 bout. To assign a title, click the Titles tab on the match booking screen and select it from one of the dropdown menus. The exception to this rule is that singles titles may be defended in certain one-fall tag team contests. In these situations the title can only change hands if the current champion is pinned and it would only count as a successful defence if the champion's team wins. A match which is held for a high prestige title may receive a ratings boost of up to an extra 3%. Whether the title is defended or lost does not impact the rating.

10.10 Assigning A Commentary Team

You may have up to three people at the commentary table. If the show is not being broadcast anywhere then you do not have to have any commentary and will not get any bonuses or penalties (even if you choose to have some, although anyone you do choose can still improve their skills and increase their experience level), but having no commentary for a show that is broadcast will always result in a severe penalty (a whopping 20%). A worker on commentary will contribute both a Play By Play score and a Colour score (either their Colour value or 70% of their Microphone skill if that is higher). If both scores are 20 points or more less than the match rating (at that point in the calculation) and the show is being broadcast then they will receive a penalty (per person who is penalised). The highest Play By Play and Colour value contributed are the ones used to decide bonuses and penalties related to the match rating. There is therefore no direct benefit to having two good play by play callers or two good colour commentators as only the highest score of the two would count, although you may wish to have 'extra' people so that they can improve their skills or experience - you should note that they are still eligible for individual bonuses and penalties related to their commentary performance even if they're not contributing to the overall rating. Penalties are taken for a Play By Play or Colour score that is 20 or more below the match rating, bonuses are received for them being 20 or higher above the match rating.

10.11 Assigning A Road Agent

The road agent is the worker who is in charge of putting together the segment with the involved workers. A road agent's ability is calculated by taking the average of his or her Psychology and Experience to form an overall rating, then modifying that slightly with regard to their Respect level. For matches, a poor road agent will result in an automatic penalty to the final match rating, with up to 20% lost for a truly abysmal road agent. A very good road agent can give a slight boost to the rating. For angles, the road agent has a much smaller role and so although their performance will impact the final rating, it's a significantly smaller amount than in matches. Giving a road agent too much to do on a single show will lead to them underperforming. The amount that a road agent can handle depends on their skill level, but also the content - a long, scripted, epic match adds significantly more to their workload than a short squash match, and angles generally require more effort for them than a match of a similar length. Dark matches require far less effort. The smaller the company, the less stress a road agent is under for each segment. You can find whether a road agent is being overworked via the booking analysis page.

10.12 Assigning A Referee

Every match must have a referee to be in charge of the contest. This worker is rated on his or her Refereeing skill, with a score below 40 hurting the rating (the lower the score, the harsher the penalty) and scores over 75 boosting the rating. If the worker assigned to be referee does not have the referee role enabled then they are considered to be a special guest referee rather than a normal one. In this case, they have no impact on the match rating at all. However, the fans will get turned off (and give a penalty) if more than two matches feature a special guest referee on any one show. Giving a referee too much to do on a single show will lead to them underperforming. The amount that a referee can handle depends on their skill level, but also the content - long matches are more effort than short ones, and dark matches are far less trouble than matches on the main show. The smaller the company, the less stress a refree is under for each match. You can find whether a referee is being overworked via the booking analysis page.

10.13 Intensity And Danger Levels

All matches have hidden levels of intensity ('how hard the workers are going at it') and danger ('what the inherent injury risk is') which are automatically calculated by the AI, based on the product and the workers in the match - the AI always calculates the ideal level, therefore you are always getting the best possible impact. As it is automated, this allows the values to be changed by context (such as lowering the intensity to help a worker who is hurt or unable to work at that level) and also to incorporate the pros and cons of products in a realistic fashion (for example, by having wear and tear be an issue for particularly intensive products).

10.14 Not Specifying A Winner

If you do not specify a winner of a match then the decision will be taken by the road agent who is in charge of that segment. His or her decision is based primarily on the popularity of the workers in the match, which is then modified by the other road agent notes (for example, if someone has been set to dominate then they will be more likely to be chosen as the winner), the various worker situations (for example, someone who is declining will be less likely to be chosen), and the road agent's relationship with each competitor. Note that in title matches the road agent does NOT take into account the reign length or how many defences have been made thus far; you are not advised to leave title match winners to a road agent's discretion.

10.15 Hiring Local Workers

When booking a show you may hire a local worker by using the Hire Local button from the control bar beneath the booking screen. Local workers are those who happen to be in the nearby area (because they are based in this region and are unemployed) and are potentially interested in working for you on short notice. You may hire them for a special 'one night only' deal. Even workers who would normally be unavailable to your company can be hired this way. Workers hired this way are available for all shows that the player holds that night.

10.16 Leaving Workers Off Shows

Leaving a worker off a show may result in them complaining and taking a hit to their morale. This can either be because they missed multiple shows in a row or because they were left off an important show. Workers are only eligible to complain if they could have been on the show (i.e. they weren't working elsewhere or out hurt) and if the intent of the show was Normal. Every time they miss a valid show a hidden counter keeping track of how many times in a row they have missed is increased by one, resetting to zero once they are used. Whether a worker complains about being off multiple shows in a row depends on several factors. The main two are their perception level and whether the show is an event or a TV show; the higher their perception, the less you can leave them off, and workers are more prepared to be left off TV than major events. Generally you can leave a Major Star or Star off one or two shows in a row, four of five for someone who is Well Known, and five or six for a Recognisable worker. Unknowns have to be left off at least six successive shows to consider complaining. Their contract intention (for example, Special Attractions and Nostalgia Acts have a far higher tolerance for being left off shows than normal) also affects their thinking. Note that whether the person is a wrestler or not doesn't matter for these calculations. Whether a worker complains about being left off a specific show depends entirely on their perception level vs the importance level of the event. The bigger the event, the more people will want to be on it and the higher the damage to their morale if they're not. For example, virtually everyone on the roster will feel slighted if they're completely left off a Legendary event or season finale. There are a couple of further special factors in these decisions. If a worker is earning a comfortable downside they may be more relaxed about missing shows depending on their personality (as they're not losing out a great deal financially and may prefer to sit at home). Workers with strong egos will be particularly annoyed about being left off shows (for either reason).

10.17 Borrowing Workers

When booking a show you may 'borrow' a developmental worker by using the Borrow button from the control bar beneath the booking screen. 'Borrowing' in this context means bring them on to the main roster on a special one night deal; as they never leave the developmental territory they are therefore not required to vacate any titles that they hold, nor does their appearance count as a full debut. Once borrowed, they become available to book for all shows the the player is holding that night.

11 Running A Show (+)

This section goes into detail about what will happen when you run a show. Note that, for clarity, explanations of the various feedback messages you can receive are in their own section, Segment Feedback, below. Sections 11.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

11.1 Segment Ratings

The rating that each segment gets shows how good it was; it is a key value as not only will it be used in calculating the show's overall rating, but it is also used when calculating the effects on each worker's popularity and other stats. There are a huge number of factors that impact a segment's rating (potentially over a hundred in some cases), but there are two that are especially important as they form the 'base' rating; the popularity of each worker involved and their performance. The popularity of the worker is from the region the show is being held in. Their performance is based on their talents; in a match this will be their in-ring skills, while in an angle this is more likely to be charisma, microphone skills, etc. How the popularity and performance are combined depends on your company's product; some products 'weight' popularity as being much more important that performance, some do the opposite. When viewing a match's output, as well as the Segment Rating you will also see two additional numbers - Wrestling Rating and Crowd Rating. The former is a measure of how good the match was in terms of execution (based upon the performance of each wrestler in the match), while the latter is how heated it was for the crowd (based upon the popularity of the workers involved). These two values give you a strong indication of how good the two key aspects of the match were and are used as the basis to create the initial overall rating (how they are used and in what ratio depends on the company's product). It is important to note that this initial rating will usually then encounter multiple bonuses and penalties before reaching the final Segment Rating that you see on screen. For this reason, there can be a lot of variation between the Wrestling and Crowd rating and the final Segment. For example, it's quite possible for a match to have worse Wrestling and Crowd ratings than another on the same show and yet gain a higher final Segment Rating; this just means that the penalties and bonuses that it received were more beneficial than the other's. Almost every segment will incur a variety of bonuses and penalties; the Road Agent Report and Dirt Sheet (if enabled via the options menu) will help you find out what specific bonuses and penalties were applied. When looking at your ratings, it is important to remember that they should be taken in respect to your company's popularity and size; a 60 would be a woeful score for a main event in a large company running in a region in which they had 90 popularity, but would be fantastic for a small-sized company in a region with 10 popularity!

11.2 Match Descriptions

When viewing a match you will see that the report usually starts with comments about the crowd reaction and quality of wrestling, such as 'didn't have much heat', 'terrible wrestling', 'fantastic heat', etc. These are generated by looking at the crowd reaction value and the in-ring action value. This text is included to give you a visual guide to how well the segment did. It is important to note that this part of the report is always done in relation to the size of your company. So if you are an Insignificant company, you need far less of a crowd reaction to get 'great heat' than if you were a Titanic company. Generally speaking, you shouldn't expect too much from the matches lower down on the card - as they (usually) feature workers who either aren't particularly over or aren't very skilled (or both!), it's only natural that they will not have much heat or not feature great action.

11.3 Copy And Paste Segment Text

If you want to copy and paste the text from a segment's output (for example, to include in a diary), you can right click the text area to switch to a version that can be highlighted and copied.

11.4 Burning Out The Crowd

When you run multiple shows on a single night you are performing them to the same set of fans. No matter how good the shows are, the fans will start to get burned out if you force them to sit through a lot of content; when this happens your segment ratings will start to get penalised for audience apathy. Generally speaking, fans can comfortably sit through three and a half hours of wrestling (including pre show and post show content). Once you start going longer than this then penalties will begin happening. At first these penalties are quite small, but they gradually increase in severity. Going past the five hour mark triggers the worst penalties.

11.5 Worker Popularity Growth

The factors that affect a worker's popularity changes are the ratings of the segments they are involved in, their booking (i.e. whether they won or lost, in what context, the match type, etc), the level of the show, the number of people watching (see Popularity Growth And Viewers below), their momentum, and the company size. For non-wrestlers such as managers, they can be rated on their relevant skills to calculate a performance value and that is used as well (or instead, depending on context) as segment ratings. A worker's potential for popularity growth is limited by the size of the company that they are in. For example, if the company is barely pulling in a crowd of 100 people then that will severely limit how high a worker's popularity can rise in that environment; they're certainly not going to become a world renowned superstar no matter how hard they are pushed. Workers can automatically get some degree of popularity growth just for being on a big stage. The way this works is that a minimum popularity level is created by looking at the size of the company and the number of people watching. If the worker's popularity level is less than this, they will continue to get a small popularity boost every time they appear until they reach the minimum level. This simulates a nobody 'getting a rub' just by being on a bigger stage than usual.

11.6 Audience Boredom

Audience boredom is a hidden stat that sees the fan base lose interest if the company is just maintaining the status quo. If a big show (an event with Regular intent or an 'A' TV show) is held that is either located or broadcast within the company's home area and not a single region in the company's home area experiences a popularity change then the hidden boredom counter goes up by one (up to a maximum of ten). If any of those regions experience a gain then the counter goes down by one (to a minimum of zero). If there are no gains but some losses then the counter neither goes up nor down. Regions with 85 or more popularity are considered special cases - because their popularity is so high, as long as they don't lose popularity that counts as a gain for the purposes of this calculation. If the hidden boredom counter gets too high, the audience is said to be bored and negative effects happen; merchandise sales, sponsorship, and attendances will start to decline. The higher the boredom level, the greater the decline. This system therefore simulates the audience losing interest when a company is just going through the motions and maintaining the status quo.

11.7 Audience Apathy

Audience apathy towards a worker happens if they go a long time (in terms of the number of shows run) in a company without doing anything interesting. Unimportant workers and non-wrestlers are exempt from this. By 'interesting', this means anything that catches the audience's attention: this can include big victories, title wins or defences, particularly exciting matches, being repackaged, etc. The time since something interesting last happened to a worker is not visible to the player and is reset back to zero whenever something interesting happens. If the audience becomes apathetic towards a worker then his or her momentum will decline with every show until something interesting does happen or they become exempt (for example, by falling to Unimportant).

11.8 Final Rating

A show's final grading is primarily made up of two elements: the overall match rating and the overall angle rating. These two values are calculated depending on the Match Focus and Angle Focus of a company's product. The show's rating is then calculated by combining the two ratings. They are weighted according to the ratio of matches to angles that were on the show. For example, if a show lasts 60 minutes and only 6 minutes were angles then the show has a 90%-10% match ratio; therefore the show's rating is made up of 90% of the overall match rating plus 10% of the overall angle rating. If there were no angles, the entire show's rating is 100% based on the matches. Once the show's rating has been calculated using this method, it can then be altered further by bonuses and penalties. The final rating is what is used when dealing with the impact of the show on the company. The rating is compared to company's popularity in each region that is seeing the show; roughly speaking if the show's rating is 5 greater than the popularity then the company will gain popularity, and if the rating is less than the popularity then it will go down. Note the pre show and post show segments have no impact on a show's rating.

11.9 Company Popularity Growth

The factors that affect a company's popularity growth (or decline) are the final rating of the show, the number of people watching (see Popularity Growth And Viewers below), the ticket price (cheap / free tickets boost popularity gains), whether the product is 'trending', and the level of the industry (if it's particularly high or low). Audience boredom or a recent size fall can block positive growth. As a rule of thumb, you are looking at the final rating of the show vs. the company's popularity in that region. If the rating is 6 points or more higher than the current popularity level, the company will gain popularity there (with the higher the difference, the greater the gain). If the final rating is less or equal to the popularity level then the company will lose popularity, and again the greater the difference, the higher the value. There are exceptions to this. If the popularity level is 75 or above then the company will usually only lose popularity if they score below 75, not the actual popularity level (this stops giant companies being penalised despite running objectively good shows). In addition, for shows that are Lesser, Throwaway, or Tour, it is harder to gain or lose popularity as the target levels are widened (i.e. for a Throwaway show you would need to score far more than just '6 above' to trigger a popularity gain.

11.10 Popularity Growth And Viewers

All popularity growth is amplified if lots of people are watching in that region. By 'people watching', this is the total number of viewers regardless of method; so this is the sum of the people in the arena and anyone watching via any type of broadcaster. If less than 5000 people in a region are watching then there is no extra boost. Over 5000 then there is a slight boost, which gets greater and greater as the number of watchers increase. The maximum boost is to have 1,000,000 or more watchers in a region.

11.11 Limits On Show Amounts

All companies are limited to holding a maximum of two events and two different TV shows in a single night (multiple tapings of the same TV show count only as one). Any beyond the limits will not take place.

12 Segment Feedback (+)

Whenever you run a segment of a show you will get some degree of feedback, whether from the road agent in charge or via game-related messages. This section goes into detail about what the various types of feedback mean. Sections 12.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

12.1 Road Agent Feedback

During matches and angles you will see comments from your road agent in the Road Agent Report section at the bottom of the screen. This section of the handbook lists some of these comments and what they mean. The comments that are simply descriptions of things that happened or that are so obvious that they require no further explanation have been left out to make the list easier to scan through.

12.2 Vocal Crowd

A vocal or rowdy crowd reacting to a worker can happen with certain products if the worker's key skills are too weak. For example, in a deathmatch based product the fans would react if the worker's Brawling and Hardcore skills are low, with the lower they are, they worse the reaction. Getting this feedback means the worker's performance rating is being penalised.

12.3 Eating Up

Feedback that a worker 'took most of the offense, completely eating up' his or her opponent means that the worker in question selfishly dominated the match in order to make themselves look better and harm their opponent. This can happen depending on the worker's attributes, morale, and relationship with the 'victim'. This feedback means that the match suffers a penalty as a result and the 'victim' is eligible to take some damage to their popularity or momentum.

12.4 Made To Look Strong

Feedback that a worker made their opponent 'look particularly strong' is the polar opposite of eating them up; it means they went out of their way to make the opponent look strong. This can happen depending on the worker's attributes, morale, and relationship with the person they're helping. This feedback means that the person being helped gets a boost to their performance levels.

12.5 Don't Seem To Click

If two workers are said not to click it means that they have negative chemistry. The resulting penalty level depends on the strength of the negative chemistry.

12.6 Recent Matches

Feedback relating to 'recent matches' means that the match is considered to be repetitively booked (i.e. it's been seen many times before). Penalties will occur if the match is not as good as what has come before, with the impact getting greater the more the match has been seen in the past.

12.7 Holding Back

You will be told on-screen if a wrestler is holding back. This means that they are not wrestling to the fullest of their ability. This can happen for several reasons. For some match aims, holding back is a natural consequence of the fact that the bout isn't designed to be a top quality wrestling match. Also, wrestlers will take into account the intent of the show, so they may put in less effort on a Throwaway show, for example. It is important to note that different wrestlers will hold back in different ways or amounts. For example, when it comes to tour shows an elite-level wrestler may put in relatively little effort because he knows that he'll still be able to put on an acceptable match for that level of show, while a very poor or inexperienced wrestler may actually not hold back at all because they know that they aren't yet good enough to coast.

12.8 Phoning It In

A worker may 'phone in' their performance if they have very low morale and an appropriate personality. This will impact their performance negatively.

12.9 Type Of Match

Feedback that the type of match was poor / inappropriate for the audience means that a combination of the match aim, match set up (i.e. whether it involves tables, overhead wires, barbed wire, etc), match injury risk, and match content risk were considered a poor fit for the company's product. The level of penalty depends on how bad the clash was considered to be.

12.10 The Match Finish

Fans being turned off / hating the finish of the match relates to the product being used (e.g. using a cheap ending with a product that wants only clean finishes). The level of penalty depends on how bad the clash between what you provided and what the fans wanted was.

12.11 Worker Looked Good

Being told that a worker 'looked good out there' / shone / 'stood out' means that their performance rating far exceeded the original segment rating (before any subsequent penalties were applied to it). This doesn't give any bonuses, it simply alerts you to a worker who is doing particularly well.

12.12 Cinematic-Style Approach

When using a cinematic-style match there is a random chance of it going particularly badly or particularly well. This brings bonuses or penalties to the segment rating. There is nothing that you can do to influence this.

12.13 Crowd Management

Feedback about segments 'cooling' the crowd, getting them 'hotter', being 'poorly placed', etc, are all to do with crowd management. This refers to how the rating stacked up compared with the segments that came before it, what level the crowd's heat was at before and after the segment, and how the match aim fit with the segment's position on the show. This feedback indicates that penalties and bonuses may be involved, but also that the crowd heat is being altered (which will then knock-on to any following segments).

12.14 Looking Stale

Being told that a worker is 'looking stale' means that their gimmick is likely long overdue for a freshening up.

12.15 Young Female Demographic

Being told that a worker 'has a strong connection with the young female demographic' means that some combination of their various stats makes them particularly good at connecting with young female fans and so they get a bonus to any popularity growth that they experience.

12.16 Road Agent Performance

Feedback about a road agent not putting together the match very well or doing a good job means that their skill in the role (as usual, made up of their Experience and Psychology, with a little influence from Respect) was either particularly low or high. This is an absolute value and the segment rating has absolutely no bearing on it. For example, a road agent whose skill is rated at 25 is always going to be marked down for being poor, even if it's a 10 rated match in an Insignificant company. This feedback indicates a penalty or bonus has been applied to the overall segment rating. Please remember that the road agent's skill rating can be reduced if they are being overworked. The skill rating will get more and more penalties as the show goes on, to simulate them becoming more and more overwhelmed.

12.17 Referee Performance

Feedback about a referee doing poorly means that their Refereeing skill was less or equal to 40 (remembering that their normal skill can be reduced if they are being overworked). This is an absolute value and the segment rating has no bearing on it. So, a rating of 40 or less will get the same penalty whether the company is Insignificant or Titanic.

12.18 Commentary Performance

Feedback on a commentator's performance means that their skill level was significantly higher or lower than the segment rating as it was at the time of the calculation (which is fairly early on, before a lot of the 'extra' bonuses and penalties are applied). Therefore, unlike road agent or referee performance, the announcers are being rated in the context of the company size and segment quality, not on an absolute value.

12.19 Lack Of Selling

A note about a lack of selling occurs if the total of all the Selling in the match divided by the number of competitors is significantly less than the match rating at that point in the calculation. If the highest Selling of any of the competitors is also low then the resulting penalty is increased (i.e. having one good seller can help mitigate the damage). Battle royal matches are exempt from selling penalties.

12.20 Lack Of Psychology

The feedback about lack of psychology occurs if the highest Psychology in the match is significantly less than the match rating at that point in the calculation. Bear in mind that a talented road agent can artificially boost the highest Psychology rating a little bit, simulating their influence on putting together the match. There is a secondary penalty for 'lack of flow' / 'match dragged in the middle'; this happens if the highest Psychology rating is too low for the match length in question. For example, a match over an hour requires at least 85 Psychology. Battle royal matches are exempt from psychology penalties.

12.21 No Investment In Workers

The feedback 'The crowd were totally turned off by having a match on the main show between workers they don't have any investment in' means that you had a match between Unimportant workers, all of whom had less than Very Warm momentum, outside of the preshow - in essence, a jobber match. This would be heavily penalised. The match only needs one competitor whose perception is above Unimportant, or who is Unimportant but with Very Warm or better momentum, to avoid this penalty. This penalty does not apply to companies below Medium size.

12.22 Good Work At Ringside

A manager will be said to 'do good work at ringside' if their Charisma rating is significantly better than the match rating at that point in the calculation. It gives a small bonus to the match rating.

12.23 Off His / Her Game

The feedback that a worker was 'off their game' relates to their Consistency skill level. The resulting penalty is more severe in singles bouts due to there being less ways of hiding that they're not performing well.

12.24 Shoot Comments

A worker throwing in 'shoot comments' into an interview is the angle-based equivalent of phoning it in during a match (see earlier in this section). It again depends on morale and personality and creates a penalty to that worker's performance.

12.25 Manager Help In Angle

Feedback saying that a manager helped a client during an angle means that the client was being rated on Entertainment or Microphone and that because the manager has superior Microphone or Charisma skills they were able to artificially boost the rating.

13 Post-Show Process (+)

New to TEW IX is the post-show process that occurs after you have finished all your show for an evening. You must work through the different aspects in sequence and you cannot go backward once you've completed or skipped a section. This section goes into detail about all aspects of the process. Sections 13.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

13.1 Automatic Skipping

Be aware that some aspects of the post-show process can be automatically skipped. This will happen if there is nothing to show (such as Injury Review if there were none) or the company is not eligible (such as Media Scrum for smaller companies or where the show is not of the correct type).

13.2 Address The Locker Room

Addressing the locker room before they head home after a show allows you to pick out specific workers for praise or criticism. This allows you to exercise a degree of proactivity over individual morale or motivation. It is entirely optional and there is no negative impact to skipping this section.

13.3 Injury Review

The injury review simply gives you a recap of any and all injuries that happened during the evening's events.

13.4 Financial Report

The financial report is a snapshot of the income and expenditure from the night's shows. It is important to take into account that this is only about things that happened specifically on that evening; it won't, for example, take into account wages for workers who are being paid on a monthly basis.

13.5 Popularity Recap

You can only access the Popularity Recap if at least one region experienced a change. It is imporant to note that this means ANY change, even if it was only minor and didn't alter the (rounded up) popularity. For example, going from 52.1 to 52.2 wouldn't alter the popularity level, which would still be shown as 52, but would count and be displayed as a gain.

13.6 Media Scrum

Media scrums are where you, the head booker, sit down and field questions from the wrestling media. Scrums are only accessible for companies of Medium size or above who held a 'normal' intent show, and only if morale effects are enabled. Media scrum participation is entirely optional and there is no penalty for skipping it. Once you start a media scrum, however, you are required to stay until there are no further questions (there is a limit to how many can be asked, dependent on the company size and context, so you'll never face an overwhelming amount). The reason to take part in a media scrum, other then purely for fun, is that it can give you the opportunity to boost the morale of both the locker room and individual workers, as well as improving your own Booking Reputation skill. The downside is that you may be asked tricky questions and 'bad' answers can lead to morale issues or complaints. Note that while your answers can generate instant feedback from the locker room or individuals, this is not guaranteed - some effects may be hidden or simply are not considered strong enough to warrant a response. The questions asked and answers available are contextual. Some answers are explicitly positive, neutral or negative regardless of context, but many can have different impacts depending on the situation and person in question. The media remember previous answers and can react negatively to inconsistencies or outright lies, and can also follow-up on previous answers (either in the same media scrum or a later one). In some cases, especially if the user is clearly lying, it can lead to difficult follow-up questions where it may not be possible to avoid negative effects. Overall, users are encouraged to answer intuitively rather than trying to scientifically find the 'perfect' answers!

14 Matches (+)

This section gives a detailed look at all aspects of how wrestling matches are defined and function in TEW. Sections 14.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

14.1 Match Naming

Matches have two names, a record name and an actual name. The record name, which must be unique, is used when viewing or selecting matches such as in the editor or during booking. The actual name is what the match is called during show reports and histories. This does not have to be a unique name. This is used for cosmetic purposes to allow reports and histories to look nicer.

14.2 Match Type

The match type tells the game how many competitors are involved and what the teams, if any, are.

14.3 Match Style

Unlike some previous games in the series, TEW IX does not have a Style setting for matches. This is because the same information is contained in the match aims that the player gives via the road agent notes while booking.

14.4 Match Prestige

The match prestige is an indication of how respected (or feared!) a match is. It is used purely for searching purposes and has no other impact on the game.

14.5 Match Minimum Size

A match's minimum size tells the game what companies can utilise it. Companies which are smaller than the minimum size will not be able to book that match. This is useful for making sure that smaller companies do not start using matches that would require significant costs, space, or construction, and would thus likely be out of their price range.

14.6 Match Held

The first three places a match can be held are in the ring, inside a specially constructed set inside the arena (for example, a 'lion's den' cage structure), or backstage / in a car park. These three options are almost entirely cosmetic, the only thing the choice impacts is what moves are available to be used for the finish. The fourth option is for the match to be held on location, which means it is being filmed in a cinematic manner. This option has some restrictions and also special rules attached to it that alter the way the match is rated. The main restriction is that the show must be being broadcast for a cinematic-style match to be used. In addition, if the product does not suit these sort of matches or if the company's production values are lower than Professional then the associated penalties are so heavy that they make these matches effectively unusable. The following are the special rules (in no particular order): gimmick rating effects are more pronounced than normal for the competitors (not for people at ringside, run ins, etc) and apply even if the user has turned off gimmick effects via his or her preferences; the match rating is affected by the company's production values (Professional and High Quality are considered neutral and have no impact - lower than this brings penalties, higher brings bonuses); stamina, injury, and botch penalties are all disabled due to the match having the option of being edited; there is a bigger element of randomness to simulate the fine line between doing these sort of matches well and them turning into a mess. In all other ways a cinematic match follows the normal rules.

14.7 Match Entrances

Matches can either have regular entrances (everyone starts) or timed entances (workers come into the match at timed intervals). This is purely for cosmetic purposes as it impacts how the match report is written.

14.8 Match Rules

The match rules tell the game how the match ends. Two of these rules may need clarifying. Firstly, 'Elimination' means that a team is eliminated once any member is defeated. Secondly, 'Total Elimination' means that a team is eliminated once all of its members have been defeated.

14.9 Match Injury Risk

A match's injury risk indicates how likely the participants are to get injured during the course of the match. This should not include any crazy or stunt bumps, as these are handled by the appropriate road agent note. The injury risk of a match only forms the basic chance of an injury happening, it is further modified by the worker's resilience, their fatigue level, their drug usage, the way the match has been booked, the backstage rules for the company, and the injury frequency settings from the options menu.

14.10 Match Content Risk

The content risk measures how likely the match is to offend or shock people. For example, a barbed wire match would get a high rating. A high risk level will offend some types of fan but please others. Some workers will refuse to do matches with a high content risk, based upon their personality and attributes. Some broadcasters will refuse to allow highly risky matches to be shown on their network.

14.11 Match Name Value

If a match has 'name value' it means that it will be explicitly mentioned by name when viewing event or match histories. This is useful for 'big name' speciality matches.

14.12 Default Matches

For convenience, when a user goes to select a match during booking he will only see the default matches to begin with as these are the most commonly used ones. The user can then further expand the selection if necessary. The user is able to customise his default match selection during gameplay and this selection is unique to him or her (i.e. player 1's selection does not impact player 2's).

14.13 Basic Matches

Basic matches are those that are generic, run-of-the-mill match types that are appropriate for general use. This setting is used by the auto booker facility; when it is choosing a match type to use it will try and use a match that is both one of the user's defaults and a basic match, then just defaults, and finally just basics. This means that the player doesn't end up with unwanted match types. Basic matches have no other impact on the game. (Please be sure to note that these have nothing to do with the basic match definition used by products - those are simply matches that either just have a cage, a pole, or no set up at all.)

14.14 Match Times

Every match has a minimum and maximum length of time that it can run for; the user must book the match between these two limits. If the two limits are equal, the match is limited to run exactly that long - this would usually be used for iron man matches, for example. These minimum and maximum times indicate the bell-to-bell time. Each match also has a non-wrestling time. This covers the standard entrances and exits (special entrances and pre or post bell shenanigans should be done via angles). This is automatically added to the match's run time. For example, if a match is set to run for 25 minutes and has a 5 minute non-wrestling time then the segment will take up 30 minutes in total.

14.15 Match Set Up

Every match can have its 'set up' defined from a list of possible options; this is purely to give the player an idea of what is involved, it does not impact the gameplay.

14.16 Match Finishes

Every match must have at least one finish, which indicates how a wrestler can win. This is purely for cosmetic purposes as it affects how the match report is written.

15 Angles (+)

In TEW, the term 'angle' basically refers to any content which is not a wrestling match; i.e. interviews, skits, hype videos, confrontations, etc. This section takes a detailed look at how they work. Sections 15.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

15.1 Segment Name

The name that you give the angle segment is cosmetic; it is so that you know which segment is which in the booking screen and so that when reading past results angles have a descriptive name that makes sense to you.

15.2 Segment Length

A segment's length is automatically calculated as the sum of the lengths of its parts. If an entire angle is very short then many of its effects are severely reduced or ignored. For example, angles of three minutes or below are capped at a rating of 75, while angles of five minutes or below are capped at 88 (this is because there isn't enough time to have a legendarily good segment).

15.3 Importance

An angle's importance tells the game whether it will be saved in the show's history or not. This can be useful so that you don't clog up the history with really unimportant minor segments. The setting has no other effect.

15.4 Scripted vs Unscripted

Each angle can either be scripted or unscripted. The difference is that scripted angles tend to be 'safer'; they have less potential to go disasterously wrong but, on the flip side, they do not have the capacity to generate bursts of magic in the way that an unscripted angle can. Unscripted angles are the opposite - they're much more volatile, offering greater risk but greater rewards. Some workers are naturally better an improvising than others, but as a rule of thumb the higher the worker's skill level, the better they'll be able to cope with improvisation. Note that you cannot set some workers to improvise and others not to - the whole angle is either one or the other.

15.5 Segment Output

The user has the option of supplying their own segment output text. If the text is filled in (with as little as one character) then this is reproduced on screen when the angle is run. This can be useful for player's who like total control. If the field is left blank then the game will create custom output text based upon what is happening in each angle part.

15.6 Angle Parts

Angles consist of between one and five individual parts which are always run in sequence. A worker can appear in multiple parts and the game will take their whole body of work into account when dealing with ratings, skill increases, etc. Each angle part consists of: Name: This is purely cosmetic, to help the game and user identify which part is being selected. Length: Short angles tend to have less powerful affects and can be limited in what ratings they can achieve. Longer angles are more powerful but tend to require higher skills level from the workers involved. Location: Angles held in the ring are done to a live audience and so can benefit from the energy of the crowd but also have more capacity to go wrong. Angles held backstage or as an outside broadcast have a 'safety net' in that there's no live crowd and so workers are less likely to get flustered but also don't have the ability to feed off the energy to create magic. Note that Backstage and Outside Broadcast are functionally the same thing, both options are given for role-playing purposes. Type: This can either be Angle, Interview or Video. A video is a special circumstance in that the worker is not live and therefore is not considered to be physically on the show. As it's not live, the worker loses the ability to feed off the crowd's energy but gets the 'safety net' of being able to do retakes and so the potential for disasters is limited. Note that Angles and Interviews are functionally the same thing, both options are given for role-playing purposes. Status: The choice between Live or Pre-Taped works the same way as with choosing the video type; Live has the advantage of tapping into the crowd's energy and creating magic, whereas Pre-Taped is the 'safer' option which offers less risk but less reward. Content Type: This allows the user to specify what the angle part is meant to be doing. Some, such as Comedy, play into a product's requirements and have related bonuses and penalties. Storyline Development has a special requirement in that it must be used in a part that has a connection to a storyline otherwise it will result in a penalty. For the most part, the Content Type is used for immersion and does not need to be used (you can always leave it as Generic without being penalised), but there are bonuses on offer for using a wide variety of content across a show.

15.7 Angle Ratings

When running an angle, each part gets an individual rating based on who was involved and what they were doing. The angle then receives an overall rating that is calculated by looking at the contribution each part made, with their respective lengths taken into consideration.

15.8 Workers In Angles

You can have any number of workers in each angle part as long as there is a minimum of one. Workers can appear in multiple parts in multiple roles. Each worker must be given a role and this decides what they are rated on and how the calculation is made. The various roles are outlined in the sections below. Note that these descriptions only give a brief overview; many of them have special conditions or effects that are either being left for the player to discover or are simply left to common sense (for example, language penalties only apply to those roles where a worker is clearly going to be speaking!). Additionally, note that many of the roles have inherent limits; for example, you obviously cannot put someone in the Subject Of Video role unless the angle part is of the Video type.

15.9 Attacker

This role is rated on the worker's fighting abilities (Brawling, Puroresu and / or Hardcore) and popularity.

15.10 Background Player

This role is rated on the worker's popularity, adjusted by momentum. This is considered to be in the 'cameo' category; as a result, the worker is ineligible for certain things (like scouting increases) and many effects are either lessed or turned off because they're only a minor player.

15.11 Being Interviewed

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Microphone skill and popularity. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.12 Bodyguard

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Menace and popularity. This is considered to be in the 'cameo' category; as a result, the worker is ineligible for certain things (like scouting increases) and many effects are either lessed or turned off because they're only a minor player.

15.13 Cameo Appearance

This role is rated on the worker's popularity, adjusted by momentum. It is designed to be a short appearance and will get penalties for lengthy usage. This is considered to be in the 'cameo' category; as a result, the worker is ineligible for certain things (like scouting increases) and many effects are either lessed or turned off because they're only a minor player.

15.14 Character Development

This role is rated on the worker's entertainment abilities, primarily Charisma and Microphone, and popularity. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.15 Comic Relief

This role is rated on the worker's entertainment abilities, primarily Charisma and Microphone, and popularity. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.16 Cutting A Promo

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Microphone skill and popularity. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.17 Dramatic Acting

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Acting and popularity.

15.18 Fighting

This role is rated on the worker's fighting abilities (Brawling, Puroresu and / or Hardcore) and popularity.

15.19 Interviewer

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Microphone skill, although their popularity has some (minor) impact.

15.20 Intimidation

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Menace and popularity.

15.21 Making The Save

This role is rated on the worker's fighting abilities (Brawling, Puroresu and / or Hardcore) and popularity. Due to its nature, this role requires there to be at least one Attacker and one Victim also present to make sense.

15.22 Non-Speaking Appearance

This role is rated on the worker's popularity, adjusted by momentum. It is designed to be a short appearance and will get penalties for lengthy usage. Be sure to note that this is NOT for people in the background (that's what Background Player is for), it's a full part of the angle and will contribute significantly to the final rating.

15.23 Off Screen

This role is not rated on anything as the worker is off-screen. As they are not physically present this does not count as them being on the show. This is considered to be in the 'cameo' category; as a result, the worker is ineligible for certain things (like scouting increases) and many effects are either lessed or turned off because they're only a minor player.

15.24 Segment Host

This role is rated on the worker's entertainment abilities, primarily Charisma and Microphone, and popularity. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.25 Selling An Injury

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Selling and popularity.

15.26 Sex Appeal

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Sex Appeal and popularity.

15.27 Subject Of Video

This role is rated on the worker's popularity, adjusted by momentum.

15.28 Victim

This role is rated primarily on the worker's Selling and popularity.

15.29 Working The Crowd

This role is rated on the worker's Charisma or Microphone (using whichever is higher), and popularity, with a potential small bonus based on their Star Quality. It is affected by whether the angle is scripted or not.

15.30 Skill vs Popularity

As outlined above, for most of the angle roles the final rating is based upon a mix of their skill (at that type of role) and popularity. The ratio is usually (*) between 40:60 and 60:40, with the one that would give the highest final rating always being selected. (*) The roles being described here are: Attacker, Being Interviewed, Character Development, Comic Relief, Cutting A Promo, Fighting, Making The Save, Segment Host, Working The Crowd.

16 Companies (+)

Companies, occasionally alternatively known as 'promotions', are the primary building block of the game as they're the ones that employ workers and put on shows. This section covers all aspects of how companies function. Sections 16.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

16.1 Company Sizes

Companies can be rated as one of seven sizes, which in ascending order are Insignificant, Tiny, Small, Medium, Big, Huge, and Titanic. The criteria to reach each size is unique to the company's home region and can be found by looking at the Size section of the office or a company's profile. In all cases size is increased by gaining popularity in more and more key regions, which is chiefly done through putting on good shows. The bigger a company gets the more advantages will open up to it, such as being able to hire better workers and offer more powerful contracts. On the flip side, costs and worker demands will rise at the same time. A company's size also directly impacts its hidden Importance rating. Importance is calculated from Size and Prestige (a Small company with 0 Prestige is still more important than a Tiny company with 100), although it can also be boosted through certain investments. Importance can be a crucial value as it decides the order in which companies run their shows each night, with the most important going first. This means that the most important companies get first choice over workers who have multiple contracts, venues, local hires, etc. If a company falls from Big size it will automatically enter a 'cooling down' period; during this phase, which lasts six months, the company cannot rise back up to Big even if they achieve the necessary criteria. Companies can be set to have a maximum size, either via the editor or via the office Size screen. This can be useful for role-playing purposes, to stop a child company from rising too far, or to temporarily 'freeze' a company so that it can properly prepare itself for a rise in size.

16.2 Company Popularity

A company has a popularity rating in each of the game world's regions. These will go up and down as the game progresses. This is effectively a measure of how many people in that region know about the company and would be willing to watch their shows or spend money on merchandise. In terms of how to set popularity, this should be done in relation to the company size criteria (see previous entry) with regard to what size the database maker thinks is appropriate for the company to get realistic results. Popularity 'spills over' naturally. Please see the Game World section of the handbook, under Popularity Spillover, for a detailed description of how this process works.

16.3 Company Rankings

Companies are ranked by calculating a 'ranking score' and then ordering them from highest to lowest. The final ranking doesn't have a huge impact on the game - it is mostly to give an idea to the player about relative success, although some owner goals may directly reference it. Each company's 'ranking score' is calculated by multiplying their popularity in each region of the game world by that region's potential fan base and adding up the total. For example, if a company had 50% popularity in Great Lakes (potential fan base of 90%) then their score for that region is 50 x 0.9. Please note that there is a cap on how high a company's final ranking score can go. If more than one company reaches this limit, they will be ranked in alphabetical order (by initials).

16.4 AI Hiring

When AI controlled, a company will always try to hire enough people so that they have a certain minimum number of workers in each role. You can see an estimate of what figures are being used via the Estimated Roster button in the company editor. These minimum numbers are primarily affected by the company's size, product settings, and the owner's roster size preference. Certain situations, such as a company being in serious financal trouble and wanting to run a skeleton crew, can cause the AI to change these numbers. How often the company checks its roster and makes offers depends on its size; the bigger the company, the more often they check. Who the company tries to negotiate with depends on literally hundreds of factors; to give just a handful of examples, these include the owner and booker's relationships with the worker, whether they've been on the roster before, their stats, and the worker's location.

16.5 AI Firing

When AI controlled, a company will be mindful of the upper limits on the number of workers they'll have in each role. You can see an estimate of what figures are being used via the Estimated Roster button in the company editor. If the number of workers exceeds the max limit, the company may choose to do a round of firings to get the number back down to where it should be. Unlike with hirings, the company does not check their roster limits regularly - usually it is only once every six to nine months. However, if a new owner takes over then they may 'clear the decks'; this is a special one-off action where the company jettisons a lot of dead wood to make room for new talent. 'Clearing the decks' aside, a company will rarely make firings when in good financial health, even if massively above the limits. Generally speaking, a company will either have to have lost money for at least three months in succession OR be in debt to contemplate making a round of firings. In addition, for every ten million that the company has in the bank it will raise its upper limits for each role by a small amount, simulating the level of financial comfort they have. Please note that letting a contract expire or granting a worker's release request is NOT the same as firing and those have nothing to do with the upper limits. The workers chosen to be fired depends on many factors, including how long they've been in the company, their popularity, their relationships, and the owner's preferences. Title holders will only ever be fired in exceptional circumstances.

16.6 Home Arena

A company may be set to have a home arena (although this is a slight misnomer: it can be any location or venue, it does not need to literally be an arena). If set, this means that when the company is holding a show in the region that contains the home arena then it will always try and use it (unless it's financially inappropriate to do so). This is designed to be used for companies that have a 'spiritual home' that they tend to gravitate towards.

16.7 Prestige And Momentum

Prestige is a measure of how important or respected a company is within the game world. It rises over time with good shows and falls with poor shows or when something happens that reflects badly on the organisation (such as a scandal or failed dirty trick). This rating is primarily used so that the game knows how important stories about this company should be considered, but also factors into the Importance calculation (see Company Sizes, above). Momentum works in a similar way to prestige, except that it only reflects a company's success or failure in terms of popularity changes and is much more sensitive to change. It is both used as a visual measure of a company's current direction and also can affect some behind-the-scenes calculations such as how attractive a company is to a potential hiring.

16.8 Finances

Your current financial position can be seen via the Finance screen in your office. The same information can be found for any company by clicking on their current funds text (for example, in their profile or the Companies screen.) Hovering your mouse over a term in the financial screen will give a brief explanation. Most are self explanatory. Misc is a catch-all section that is generally related to your current size but may go up or down quite rapidly - it's often used as a balancing agent (for example, companies making huge monthly profits will get hit with large misc costs to rein them in a little). Tax is only due in months that you make a profit and ranges from 5% to 40% depending on the amount of profit. Bankruptcy will happen if a company is in debt for many consecutive months. The amount of debt is not relevant, all that matters is how many months in a row the company has a negative bank balance. The amount of months a company can last depends primarily on their current size (ranging from 6 months to three years) but that can be extended if the company has been in business for more than a decade (with the older they are, the bigger the leeway). All companies get a grace period of three years from when they first open in which their financial performance does not count towards any bankruptcy calculation. Note that it is impossible for child companies to go bankrupt as their bank balance returns to zero every month (because their parent absorbs their bank balance) and so it is completely unnecessary to try and cheat by giving them money in the editor. A company's financial performance is also key in whether they will accept a takeover attempt. As with bankruptcy, the amount of debt is not relevant, all that matter is how many consecutive times they have ended the month with a negative bank balance. Please bear in mind that finances are only part of the takeover process, some companies will refuse to be taken over even if they're in bad financial shape because of their owner's personality, their relationship with the aggressor, etc.

16.9 Locker Room Morale

A company's locker room morale rating is an indication of how good or bad the atmosphere in their locker room is. You can find your rating in Office > Backstage. The rating is created by looking at three sections - notable personalities, relationships, and other factors - with each element within those three sections increasing or decreasing the overall percentage. Different elements contribute different amounts. The relationship elements are the only ones that are limited - they can only contribute plus or minus 25% at most, whereas the other two sections have no limits. Please note that the greater a worker's perception rating, the more he impacts the backstage area; i.e. a bad-tempered main eventer is significantly worse than a bad-tempered midcarder! Ideally you should try and keep your backstage rating at a minimum of Average. Anything below that will affect the morale and performances of your workers. The lower the rating gets, the more negative incidents you will have to deal with, while a higher rating does the opposite. It is important to note that the rating you get in your office is what would happen if everyone on your roster was present; when you actually get to a show the rating may change, even drastically so, because some wrestlers may be absent and therefore are no longer able to contribute to the rating.

16.10 Hiring Rules

Hiring rules can be set for companies to restrict who can possibly be hired. These have absolutely no impact on player-run companies but the AI may never break them. They are designed to be used to help keep hirings as realistic as possible. It is recommended that database makers do not overload a company with hiring rules, as if a company is too restricted they may find it difficult to assemble a full roster.

16.11 Brand Split

A brand split is an artificial roster division used for organisational purposes or to promote a sense of inter-company rivalry. There are no explicit pros or cons to having a brand split in game. A brand split may have between two and five brands involved, with each brand being defined by its level and focus. There are six levels. Major means that the brand has no upper limit in terms of size and is for any perception level, from Major Star to Unimportant. Showcase are brands that allow any perception level but are small in size, featuring only around 20 wrestlers. Niche brands are even smaller, with only around 15 wrestlers, and allow all perception levels except Major Stars. Minor brands have around 20 wrestlers but don't have Major Stars or Stars. Reserve brands are specifically designed to be used with the Development focus and have no upper limit to their size but can only contain Recognisable and Unimportant wrestlers. Finally, Throwaway brands have only 15 wrestlers and only use Unimportant wrestlers. There are multiple different focuses available for a brand and these tell the game what wrestlers are likely to appear on that brand. For example, a Hardcore focus will attract wrestlers who use a Brawler or Psychopath style, whereas a Veterans focus would be for older competitors. It is important to note that the brand focuses do not affect who a company hires; for example, putting a Female Wrestlers focused brand in a company that is set to only hire male wrestlers will simply result in an unusable brand existing. The brand level and focus are used to filter which wrestlers can appear on which brands, but there are exceptions: title holders will generally be put on the same brand as their title, even if they wouldn't normally be eligible, and tag team partners will usually 'follow' their partner to a brand even if they wouldn't normally go there.

16.12 AI Use Of Brands

The AI will never start a new brand split or add new brands to an existing split. When given a brand split, either via the main editor or because a player has left a company, it will attempt to maintain it for as long as it can. An AI company will close down a brand if it cannot assign enough wrestlers to it to realistically keep it running, and will end the brand split entirely if the number of brands falls below two. An AI company will check its brand split before every show. It will use a modified version of the Sweep Draft that the player has access to, with the difference being that it will also check for workers who are on a brand that they don't fit and unbrand them as necessary - this means that workers will not remain on a Development brand indefinitely, for example. The AI can also use the Complete Draft option that the player has. It will use this in two circumstances. The first is if more than 10% of the roster is unbranded; this will rarely happen once the game is underway, and is specifically designed to 'fix' a situation where the database maker hasn't assigned brands properly. The second circumstance is a near-annual brand refresh that all branded AI companies will use. This helps stop the brands from becoming stale. It is usually one year from the last time the company did a Complete Draft, or one to two years after a new game has begun if no draft has taken place in the meantime.

16.13 Storylines

Storylines involve two or more workers who are considered to have an ongoing narrative. Whether a company needs storylines is decided by their current product, while the number and minimum heat level are decided by the company's size. Any number of workers can be in a storyline as long as there is never less than two. Each person involved can either be in a Major role or a Supporting role, which defines how crucial they are to the story - a worker cannot change roles, but can be removed from the story and re-added under a different role. Each person can also be either unaligned or aligned with one of up to four sides. This lets the game know where the conflict (if any) lies. Each worker also has a success level; this is how they are doing in kayfabe terms. This is just for the player's benefit to understand who is doing well, and has no other impact on the game. A segment is considered part of a storyline if the match or angle contains at least two workers from the storyline, at least one being a Major role, where they are not all aligned with each other. A segment that counts will affect the storyline's heat as long as its rating is 5 points higher or lower than the current heat of the storyline. The one exception to this is if it's the very first segment of the storyline, in which case that will determine the opening heat. A storyline's heat can affect match and angles ratings if it is significantly higher or lower. To qualify for this effect, the segment must be part of the storyline and have two Major roles present, but only workers who have been in at least four segments of the storyline count towards this; this stops workers gaining bonuses without having earned it. Some products gives the note 'Major matches will be penalised if they don't have an associated storyline'; if this is the case, if the top two perceptions in the match are both Recognisable or greater then the match requires an associated storyline to avoid being penalised. A storyline will naturally lose heat if it is not advanced for more than two shows in a row, if nothing major (i.e. the heat is not altered at all) happens for five or more shows, or if a show has three or more participants on it and they don't advance the storyline at all. 'B' shows and Lesser, Throwaway, and Tour events do not count towards these three penalties.

16.14 Figureheads

The company figurehead, also known as the 'ace' in Japan, is the worker who is positioned as the face of the company; not only do shows generally revolve around them, but they are also the primary focus of all the marketing and merchandising that the company does. A strong figurehead can massively boost business and help a company prosper. Once a figurehead has been selected the game will keep track of how long he has been in the position; it takes exactly one year for the worker to become established and for the advantages and disadvantages to kick in. The longer someone is established, the stronger the bonuses become. If the worker is removed from the position or replaced the time is broken and the one year period begins again. Once established, the figurehead process is automatic and you do not need to do anything specific other than book the worker on shows as normal. The effectiveness of the figurehead is recalculated every time you run a show and so it is possible (and likely) that workers can become more or less suited to the role over time. Only active full-time wrestlers currently perceived as being Major Stars or Stars are eligible for selection. You may keep a figurehead in place who was eligible but is not now, but as they no longer qualify they will be a liability in the role. Removing or replacing a figurehead will almost always cause a major morale hit and so you should choose your figurehead carefully and keep in mind that it's a long-term position.

16.15 Figurehead Pros & Cons

A good figurehead can significantly boost the attendance (up to a 20% gain) and merchandise sales (up to a 75% gain) of a company; in essence making a huge amount of money for you and them. The figurehead will only affect the attendance of shows that he appears on in some capacity however. He will affect merchandise as long as he has appeared on at least one show in the previous two months, otherwise he has no impact. The other advantage is that figureheads who are having a positive effect on business will also generally have high morale. There are very few disadvantages to having a figurehead; the hard part is finding a good one! The main disadvantage is the pressure on the figurehead, as if he struggles to make an impact on business then his morale will be hurt. A bad figurehead is also a disavantage as he can actually hurt attendances and merchandise sales. A figurehead who is boosting business may want significantly more money in his contract than normal to reward him for his success. Almost all workers will be very upset if you remove them as the figurehead, seeing it as a major demotion as well as a big hit to their financial position, so you can find yourself in a very tricky position if you want to replace them as figurehead with someone else due to the potential morale hit. The final disadvantage is that you are almost forced to book the figurehead extremely strongly as you cannot afford to allow him to be overshadowed by others otherwise his ability to boost business is dented.

16.16 Finding A Figurehead

Via the Figurehead screen you can see how your current figurehead is performing and also see the pros and cons of all the workers who are eligible for the position. A good figurehead must have excellent Star Quality and Charisma and be popular in all the company's key markets (regions where they are most popular). The worker must also have good Babyface Performance skills in order to appeal to fans, and actually be a babyface if the company uses a face / heel split. The figurehead cannot be saddled with a poor gimmick (if used) or low momentum. The figurehead must also compare well in comparison to the other Major Stars and Stars in the company. If there are others who have better Star Quality, Charisma or popularity then he will be less effective, especially if any of those workers is better at more than one of those categories. The more workers who are better than him at any of those criteria, the heavier the penalties against him or her. It is important to remember that you do not necessarily need a figurehead. Not having a figurehead does not bring any penalties, it simply means that you don't have the chance of gaining the bonuses that a good figurehead can bring. It is much better to have no figurehead than a bad one, as you don't get the associated penalties.

16.17 Figurehead Heirs

A figurehead heir, as the name suggests, is a worker who is being openly groomed to become the next figurehead. This is an entirely optional position and most companies likely won't have one. The advantage of having an heir is that they can serve their establishing period ahead of time so that they can immediately have an impact once elevated to become figurehead. The disadvantage is that figureheads and their heirs are natural rivals and, especially if they exist together for a long period of time, they are very likely to experience friction in their relationship. As an heir is designed to become the next figurehead, the qualities that make a good heir are exactly the same as those that make a good figurehead.

16.18 House Shows

House shows are small untelevised live events. A company must be of at least Medium size to use house shows and must have at least twelve available wrestlers available for a show to take place. The player does not book any matches, nor are any results recorded, as the shows are not considered important. House shows do not take place on days that the company held a show, regardless of scheduling. The player can set up house shows via the House Shows section of the office. Here, a house show duty roster can be set - these are the workers who will take part in house shows. Only wrestlers on exclusive contracts who are paid monthly are eligible to take part. Wrestlers who are injured or away can still be set to work house shows, they will simply be automatically ignored until they return. The attendance of the house shows is severely affected if there aren't many big names included on house shows. The advantages of running house shows are primarily financial; extra money can be made from ticket sales and merchandise with relatively little in the way of expenditure. Workers can also improve their skills on house shows, although the rate is slower than if they were working on actual bookable events, and get better at speaking the local language. The player can also use house shows to look for chemistry between workers, using the booking section of the House Show screen. Finally, house shows are a good way to keep from losing popularity for not visiting / being seen in a specific region. The disadvantages of running house shows, particularly a lot of them, are that workers have less time off for rest and recovery and so they will have higher levels of wear and tear over time. Injuries can also occur, although the chance of getting hurt is less than on regular events as the wrestlers are not working as hard.

16.19 Merchandising

Each company has a merchandising level from 1 to 10; the higher the level, the more money the company can make off its fans. You can access your company's level via the Merchandising section of the office. Here you will find the various income and expenditure values. Merchandising falls into two categories, live event and mail order. Live event is selling directly to the people who attend a show. For example, Level 5 gives you around $3 per fan, so if your attendance is 100 then you can expect to make $300 that night. Mail order is selling to your wider fan base and is done on your popularity points in each region. For example, level 5 gives you $10 per popularity point, so if you have 30 popularity in London then you can expect to make £300 each month regardless of whether you hold a show there (or anywhere) that month. Values are approximate because the economy can affect revenue (both for good and bad) and so can audience boredom. Upgrading from one level to the next requires a certain amount of time and money, with both increasing as the level gets higher. It intentionally takes a long time to go from level 1 to 10 to simulate having to put together a complex infrastructure. It should be noted that, for ease of use, your merchandise profit is net, not gross; i.e. the costs are taken into consideration. Your merchandise expenditure each month is therefore limited just to the running costs (if any) described in the Merchandise section. Also, merchandising automatically includes the distribution of events via home video, DVD, and VoD. The type of distribution will depend on the time you are playing in, so you will not see DVDs if you're playing in 1975, for example.

16.20 Worker Merchandising

Once you reach Comprehensive merchandising level your company also produces worker-specific merchandise. This acts as a separate revenue stream from the live show and mail order income and is based entirely on who is on your roster. For each worker, the amount of revenue they generate is based primarily on their popularity in each region. This is then further adjusted by their disposition, charisma, star power, momentum, whether they're an active wrestler or not, and how active they've been recently. Finding a worker who can shift a lot of merchandise can be a real boon as it can bring in a lot of extra revenue. The worker will take a percentage of whatever revenue is made from their merchandise, with the amount (if any) depending on their contract terms. The merchandise screen will show both the total revenue and how much of a cut the company made. Note that if you have not yet made it to Comprehensive level then you are producing no worker-specific merchandise (the workers are providing and selling their own) and so you will not see any individual worker sales figures.

16.21 Owners

There are three types of owner in TEW. A Lifetime owner, which is the most common, is someone who either created or inherited the company. They will not resign, cannot be sacked, can eventually pass on ownership to family members, and will stay in the business longer than usual as the company is their life's work. A Purchased owner means they bought the company outright. This has the same effect as being a lifetime owner, except that they can resign and do not stay in the business extra long (as they are not as emotionally attached). A CEO means the owner is employed to run the company rather than actually owning it, and therefore reports to a board. They can be fired, can resign, and cannot pass on ownership to family members. Via the editor, Founders can be filled in for each company, although it is only effective for companies that haven't yet opened. The founders are the workers who own the company. If available, the founders you set have a vastly increased chance of being made owner when the company first opens. If they are made mandatory and none of the owners are available (i.e. not dead, out of the business, locked down to a contract with another company, or already in a position of power elsewhere), then the company cannot open. Please note that if this happens then the company's opening date will be changed to a placeholder of 01 January 3333 (or '3333-1-1') - this is done to effectively remove the company from the game's processing whilst still leaving it in the database in case the user wishes to make edits.

16.22 Owner Goals

Your boss (assuming you're not the owner) can give you up to eight goals; these can be things you need to achieve or blocks on what you can do. You can see these at any time via the Owner Goals section of the office. The owner can add new goals at any time and can be affected by the owner-booker relationship (i.e. if they dislike each other the goals will tend to become harder; if they like each other, they'll tend to get easier). If you do something that would break a goal, such as offering a contract to a wrestler who has known substance abuse problems when you've been told to avoid users, then you will get an on-screen warning. You can choose to ignore the goal and do it anyway, but every time you do so you will find the owner's patience with you has lowered; once it reaches a certain point he will become so annoyed that he will not let you break any more. The owner's current patience is shown as 'Approval Rating' near the top of the Office screen. The only ways for the patience level to change are through passing or failing goals or if the owner changes (in which case you return to having full patience.) Each goal has an Importance level attached to it; this indicates how much it means to the owner. The higher the Importance, the happier the owner will be when you succeed at it but the unhappier he will be if you fail. If you fail enough goals to completely exhaust the owner's patience with you then you will be fired. Please note that 'blocking' goals only apply to negotiations that take place from that point onward; existing offers are exempt. It is also important to note that 'blocking' goals do not apply to 'first refusal' offers to graduates; as they have come through your own training facility, they are exempt.

16.23 Booking Team

Each company can have a booking team of up to five people, which is adjustable via Office > Booking Team. The only restriction on membership of the team is that it cannot include the head booker, and it is perfectly acceptable to have no members of the booking team. The team's job is to assist the head booker in their duties. Booking team members are essentially rated on their Booking Skill. The higher it is, the more Creative Energy (CE) they can generate during the booking team meeting that happens before shows (see the Pre Show Process section of the handbook for more details). The advantage of having a large team is therefore that more CE can be generated. The disadvantage of a large team is that it's a pressurised situation and so relationships get tested; this means that people who would tend to become friends will generally bond more closely while people who would become enemies become bitter rivals. How two booking team members interact can be predicted to a certain extent by their personalities and existing relationships, but morale and position within the company also plays a part and there's a degree of randomness too. Finding a balanced, well-adjusted booking team can be a big boon to a company, while a dysfunctional one can cause a lot of issues. When adjusting a booking team, it's worth noting that being removed from the team will almost always result in a morale penalty that's more severe than any bonus they would have gotten from joining; it's therefore unwise to constantly chop and change the line-up. The make-up of the booking team can also generate special bonuses and penalties. For example, a team that only involves one person (the booker) can get a boost because there's no need for delegation, and a two person team that works well can also get a bonus for being a good partnership.

16.24 Inner Circle

Each company can have an inner circle, made up of various pre-set roles, which shows who the power players behind the scenes are. You can alter it via Office > Inner Circle. For a detailed look at each role, visit that screen and click on the job title in question. There is no requirement to have any inner circle positions filled, although you'll often find workers requesting (or demanding!) certain roles over time. The advantage of having a strong inner circle is that it can be good for boosting the morale of certain people and, if the role is filled by someone competent, can make the running on the company smoother. The disadvantage is that those who are not selected to be part of the inner circle may feel slighted, particularly if a rival is given a role, and giving a role to someone who performs it poorly can actually negatively impact the locker room far worse than having nobody in the role.

16.25 Commentary

(NB This was formerly known as Announcing, but is now Commentary for clarity.) Each company can have up to three people at the commentary desk for any segment. You do not need to include any commentators if a show is not being broadcast, but you will incur penalties for running a segment without anyone on commentary if a show is being aired. The default teams for events, brands, and each TV show can be set via the Commentary section of the office. Play by play commentators are rated on their Play By Play skill while colour commentators are rated on their Colour skill. The highest score in each category amongst all of the commentary team is counted and the same person may provide both high scores, meaning one person commentary teams are perfectly viable. Having a weak commentator on the team does not hurt the scores of better commentators. You are also able to use guest commentators to simulate people sitting in on the broadcast team. 'Guest Commentary' is rated as 70% of their Microphone Skill. If the Guest Commentary value is greater than the worker's Colour skill, he can use that instead. This helps prevent a worker getting penalised for his performance when he is only with the broadcast team temporarily and isn't really there as a 'proper' commentator. If you have more than one person on your commentary team then they are rated on experience; this is always the highest experience level that can be found for a pairing within the three possible members. With Very Low or Low experience, the team will not reach their full potential. An Adequate level gives neither bonuses nor penalties. An Excellent rating gives a small bonus. It is therefore beneficial to find a good team and stick with it rather than constantly swapping.

16.26 Divisions

Each company has space for up to 10 custom division names, which are accessible via Office > Divisions. There is no requirement to use any divisions at all, they act purely as a organisational tool. Each worker can belong to one division and this allows them to be searched for on various screens. Note that a worker is linked to the division's 'slot', not the name, so if you rename a division the worker will remain part of the newly-renamed division even if it's a completely different piece of text. Division names can be left blank to effectively disable them.

16.27 Hall Of Fame

Each company can have a Hall Of Fame, which is a list of those wrestlers and staff who had the biggest impact on the company. Unlike the Hall Of Immortals, the requirements to get into a Hall Of Fame are much lower and therefore allow even successful midcarders to get in. A worker gains points towards induction when they complete certain 'tasks', with the points dependent on what the task was and how many times they have achieved it (some tasks can only provide a limited number of points regardless of how often they are completed). You can see the criteria via the editor. These criteria and a worker's current progress are not visible during gameplay. Any player can modify any Hall Of Fame whenever they want because they're primarily cosmetic. When choosing to manually add a worker or team the user will have the option of 'induction' or 'future induction'; the difference is that the former is an immediate addition whereas the latter means the worker(s) will definitely get added upon retirement. In the criteria 'Has won primary titles' floating titles of 70 or greater prestige also count. Some tasks require the worker to win a secondary or 'equivalent floating' title - this means that the floating title must be at least as prestigious as the lowest secondary level title in the company. Some tasks will refer to 'big events' - these are defined as events that are of Normal intent and that are not weekly.

16.28 Geo Tags

For a detailed explanation of how the geo tagging system works, please see the Game World section further down the handbook.

16.29 Drug Policies

Each company can have one of five levels of drug testing, with one of those levels being to have none at all. A low level drug testing policy means that a small random selection of workers are taken after each show and given a standard test. Standard tests are fairly good at catching heavy users, but are unreliable on lesser amounts. The problem with this policy is that its random basis means that people can slip through the cracks and avoid detection. A medium level drug testing policy means that a small random selection of workers are taken after each show and given a comprehensive test. These tests are very accurate and will catch even small amounts of drugs in a person's system. As with a low level test, the problem with this policy is that its random basis means that people can slip through the cracks and avoid detection. A high level drug testing policy means that all workers are given a standard test after each show. Standard tests are fairly good at catching heavy users, but are unreliable on lesser amounts. This policy is a very good way to deter drug use. An extreme level drug testing policy means that all workers are given a comprehensive test after each show. These tests are very accurate and will catch even small amounts of drugs in a person's system. This policy makes it almost impossible for drug users to avoid detection.

16.30 Show Priority And Order

A company's Show Priority setting gives the choice of either having all TV shows booked first or having all events booked first. In addition, the Event Order and TV Order settings allow control over which order the two types are booked. For Event Order, if in Ascending Order then the event with the lowest Importance rating goes first and the highest Importance rating last; Descending Order reverses this. With TV Order, if in Ascending Order, the TV show with the lowest Prestige rating goes first and the highest Prestige rating last; all 'B' shows are run in order before moving on to the 'A' shows. Descending Order reverses this, with the 'A' shows going first, starting with the highest Prestige rating and working downwards, then the 'B' shows.

16.31 Companies As Properties

If the 'Property Of' field of the company editor is filled in then it means that the company is owned by the Broadcaster or Media Group specified. The benefits of this are that the company gets much easier minimum quality demands on broadcast deals when dealing with related Broadcasters, but it does mean that should the Broadcaster / Media Group ever close then the company will automatically be shut down too. This option is primarily to simulate situations where a company has been formed specifically for a broadcaster's benefit.

16.32 Set To Open Date

A company can either be set to open on a specific date or given a random opening via the editor. The rate at which new companies open is influenced by many different factors, including the amount of free agents and the health of wrestling in each area, so 'random' in this context refers to the chance of them being picked, not how likely they are to debut in general. There are also 'not before' and 'not after' controls which allow an extra degree of control; these only apply to companies that have random openings, otherwise they are ignored.

16.33 Closed Date

You can set a closed date via the editor to indicate that a company has already ceased trading. This is filled in automatically during gameplay if a company is shut down for any reason. Please note that you should not give a date in the future. This does NOT mean the company will be closed on that date and will simply be ignored. The date is strictly to set companies who have already closed.

16.34 Company Web Site

You can give a company a web site address via the editor. This has no effect in the game, it is purely for database makers to make a note of good web sites to get information about specific rosters.

16.35 Logos And Backdrops

A company can have both a logo and a backdrop image specified. The logo is the main image and is used throughout the game when that company is being identified. Backdrops appear on screens where an employee is being displayed and, as the name suggests, give a company-specific backdrop behind the worker's image. This is specifically for when transparent GIF images are being used for workers; if the worker image is non-transparent, such as JPGs, then the backdrop is simply obscured from view and serves no purpose. Note that if Default Backdrops are turned off via the Options menu then the company's logo is used if no backdrop is found.

16.36 Fix Belts

You can set a company to have fixed belts via the editor. If you do, it means that the AI will never create new belts or retire old belts for that company; they will permanently only have the titles (if any) that the company starts with. This can be useful for creating specific scenarios.

16.37 Pre Alliance Membership

A company can be given pre alliance membership via the editor. This means that when the company debuts into the game world it will automatically join that alliance (regardless of whether it meets the membership criteria). This would have no effect if the company is already active when the game begins or the alliance isn't active at the time of their founding.

16.38 Company Loyalty

Every company has a loyalty setting of either Off, Normal or True Born. This tells the game the type of loyalty that a worker will get if the company uses its 'first refusal' to sign them upon graduation. It is designed to be used by Japanese companies to reflect reality. With Off, graduates don't feel special loyalty to the company. With Normal, they get regular loyalty. With True Born, they get the more powerful type of loyalty.

16.39 Young Lion System

Each company may either have the young lion system turned on or off. If it is on, it means that the fans have been trained to expect young lion workers to always lose (unless against another young lion) and will be annoyed if this is not followed. This is designed to simulate how many real life Japanese companies run. A young lion is defined as being any active wrestler who has less than 25 Experience and debuted into the game world less than 3 years ago. A worker ceases to be considered a young lion the moment either of those things are not true. There is no advantage to having the young lion system active, it is purely for simulation purposes.

16.40 Touring Companies

A company is considered a touring company if they have at least one event whose intent is set as Touring. Generally, you'll only see this in Japan. The concept of a touring company is that they run short bursts of high frequency tour-intent shows followed by a large event, then have a break where the workers have time to recuperate. The smaller shows are effectively glorified house shows and workers only receive 25% of their normal pay for working these. Touring companies have the special ability to offer touring contracts. These are covered in more depth in the Contracts section of the handbook, but are essentially special deals where the worker becomes active at the start of a tour and then leaves once the big tour-ending event is complete. While the player can hire whoever they want to go on tour, the AI will always stick to hiring foreign workers (that is, people who are based outside of the company's home area). Note that there is no specific in-game advantage or disadvantage to touring companies, they're in the game to help simulate the reality of the Japanese scene.

16.41 Corporate Headquarters

Companies can either be preset to have a corporate headquarters via the editor or they can build one during gameplay via the Office > Investments screen. The advantages of having one are that this gives an immediate one-off 10% boost to the company's prestige rating and an ongoing 25% boost to the company's hidden influence score that governs the order in which companies run their shows each night.

16.42 Physical Hall Of Fame

Companies can either be preset to have a physical hall of fame building via the editor or they can build one during gameplay via the Office > Investments screen. The advantages of having one are that this gives an immediate one-off 5% boost to the company's prestige rating and an ongoing 15% boost to the company's hidden influence score that governs the order in which companies run their shows each night.

17 Products (+)

A company's product defines its style and what content it produces; it's what makes each company unique. Sections 17.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

17.1 Current Product

A company's current product tells the game what style of wrestling is being presented to the audience. This is one of the most influential settings as it controls virtually everything about a company, from what the audience expect to see on a show to how attractive the company is to advertisers. There is a large selection of pre-written product bases to choose from; to see what each product means, please see any of the product screens as there is an on-screen description. A company can change product during gameplay and there is no limit to how many times they can do this. However, each product change takes time to complete and may only be to a related product, therefore it may take several changes over a long period of time to move to a drastically different product base.

17.2 Core Product

A company's core product is the one that best represents their 'DNA'. This is used by the game to make sure that a company does not drift too far from its inherent style.

17.3 Gender Setting

This specifies what the balance between men's and women's wrestling is in the company, e.g. which divisions are enabled and how big they are. This naturally impacts hiring, firing, booking, etc.

17.4 Match Focus

The Match Focus setting controls how the overall match rating for each show is calculated. Note that in the following descriptions, the main event is considered the last match to happen on the main card (even if there are then angles after it). With Regular focus, the rating is calculated as 70% of the main event's rating, 20% of the best match's (other than the main event) rating, and 10% of the average of the rest of the undercard. If there aren't enough matches to do this then the main event's percentage is increased to make up the difference. With Main Event Spotlight focus, the rating is calculated as 90% of the main event's rating and 10% of the average of the rest of the matches. If there is only one match then the main event is 100% of the rating. A penalty is applied if the main event has a low rating. With Three Ring Circus focus, the rating is calculated as being the average of the main event plus the two highest rated other matches. If there are less than three matches then the average of the remaining matches is used. With Ensemble focus, the rating is calculated as 40% of the main event's rating, 40% of the best match's (other than the main event) rating, and 20% of the average of the rest of the undercard. If there aren't enough matches to do this then the main event's percentage is increased to make up the difference. A bonus is applied if this results in a high rating to reward a strong overall performance.

17.5 Angle Focus

The Angle Focus setting controls how the overall angle rating for each show is calculated. With Regular focus, the rating is calculated as 70% of the highest rated angle, 20% of the second highest rated angle, and 10% of the third highest rated angles. If there aren't enough angles to do this then the highest rated angle's percentage is increased to make up the difference. With Tight Focus focus, the rating is calculated as 90% of the highest rated angle and 10% of the second highest rated angle. If there is only one angle then the that makes up 100% of the rating. If the highest rated angle did poorly then a penalty is applied. With Highlights focus, the rating is calculated as being the average of the three highest rated angles. If there are less than three angles then the average of the remaining angles is used. With Consistent focus, the rating is calculated as being the average of all the angles. A bonus is applied if this results in a high rating to reward a strong overall performance.

17.6 Face / Heel Divide

A company may choose whether to have a disposition divide or not. If they choose not to, all face / heel related effects are turned off. If it's turned on then it means workers on the roster will be either 'good guys' or 'bad guys' and will be expected to be booked accordingly. A company can be set to either use the terms 'faces and heels', 'tecnicos and rudos', 'heroes and villains', or 'blue eyes and heels' but these are all purely cosmetic touches. A disposition divide can be enforced to three levels of strictness. If it's not enforced at all, no penalties are incurred for having faces against other faces, heels vs heels, etc. If it's loosely enforced, the penalties for doing so are very minor. At full enforcement the penalties are significant. The strictness does not impact any other disposition-related things.

17.7 Men's Weight Split

If a weight split is enabled then the company's men's division (or all competitors if the company is using an intergender set-up) will be run with a Japanese-style split between heavyweights and juniors (with an editable weight limit showing where the split happens). This means that the two groups will generally be kept apart when booking. This only has an affect for AI booking. It should be taken into account that enabling a Weight Split will mean that the AI will use a much bigger roster than normal as it must have an adequate number of workers in both weight categories. Note that this only applies to the men's division (or everyone with an intergender set-up); due to the much smaller weight range for women's division competitors, no weight split is available for them. This setting has no effect if there is only a women's division.

17.8 Minis Divisions

A company can have men's and / or women's mini divisions enabled. These operate independently of the 'main' division (if one even exists). The bigger the division, the more workers will be hired to populate it.

17.9 Stables

If stables are set to No, the company will not form new stables. If set to Yes, the company will try and create and maintain a small number of stables, with the amount depending on their current size and roster depth. If set to Integral, the company will try and create and maintain a large number of stables, with the amount again depending on their current size and roster depth. The Integral setting is designed to be used primarily with Japanese companies.

17.10 Managers

If managers are set to No, the company will avoid the manager and personlity roles; they won't hire people specifically for those roles, and those that are filling (only) those roles will generally be released or fired quite quickly.

17.11 In-Ring Settings

The in-ring settings cover four options that can either be turned on or off. Spinal impact moves (such as piledrivers, brainbusters, etc) can be banned (this does not affect finishers). This has the advantage of vastly reducing the risk of botched moves resulting in injuries and also reduces the general wear and tear on the workers, but limits the available moves and so can reduce match ratings. This setting can be overwritten via the road agent notes. High-risk moves (such as crazy dives to the outside or moves on the apron) can be banned (again, not affecting finishers). This has the advantage of reducing the risk of injuries and also reduces the general wear and tear on the workers, but limits the available moves and so can reduce match ratings. This setting can also be overwritten via the road agent notes. Matches can be set to be automatically called in the ring or scripted. If enabled, the appropriate road agent note is automatically added to all matches (the user is free to remove them afterwards though).

18 Backstage Rules (+)

A company's backstage rules define how the workers are expected to behave when at a show...whether they do so is an entirely different matter. This section looks at each rule in turn. The rules can be altered via Office > Backstage. Sections 18.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

18.1 No Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking

If drugs are banned then this increases the strictness of the backstage area and can prevent a drug culture from starting but can reduce the morale of drug users. If alcohol is banned then this increases the strictness of the backstage area and can prevent alcohol related incidents but can reduce the morale of drinkers. If smoking is banned then this increases the strictness of the backstage area and can increase the morale of some non-smokers but can reduce the morale of smokers.

18.2 Arriving And Leaving Times

If all workers have to be at the venue at least three hours before the show starts then this increases the strictness of the backstage area but also lowers general morale. If the workers are banned from leaving until the main event is done then this increases the strictness of the backstage area but also lowers general morale.

18.3 Dress Code

If a dress code is enforced then all workers are expected to be smart and professionally attired. This increases the strictness of the backstage area but also lowers general morale and can reduce the morale of specific non-conformists too.

18.4 No Outsiders

If friends, relatives, and other hangers-on are banned from being backstage then it becomes a closed area for contracted workers only. This increases the strictness of the backstage area but also lowers general morale.

18.5 Catering, Masseuse, Chiropractor

If catering is provided then the cost is dependent on the company and roster size and is deducted at the end of each show. Catering increases locker room morale. If masseuses are provided then the cost is dependent on the company and roster size and is deducted at the end of each show. Masseuses increase locker room morale and can slightly reduce injury risk. If chiropractors are provided then the cost is dependent on the company and roster size and is deducted at the end of each show. Chiropractors increase locker room morale and can slightly reduce injury risk. Note that none of these occur at tour shows.

18.6 Transport And Hotels

If transport is organised then the company will handle the arrangements for workers who do not live in the region. The cost is dependent on the company size and will be deducted at the end of each show. This increases locker room morale. If the company agrees to pay the transport costs for workers who do not live in the region then the cost, which is dependent on the company size and the journey length required, is deducted at the end of each show. This increases locker room morale. If hotels are organised then the company will handle the arrangements for workers who do not live in the region. The cost is dependent on the company size and will be deducted at the end of each show. This increases locker room morale. If the company agrees to pay the hotel costs for workers who do not live in the region then the cost is deducted at the end of each show. This increases locker room morale. Note that these costs do not happen at tour shows.

18.7 Dirty Doctor

If the company makes sure a 'dirty' doctor is backstage then this less-than-ethical medical man will happily provide steroids, soft drugs, and pain killers to any worker who wants them. There is no cost to you as the workers pay for their own drugs. The advantage is that you can reap the benefits of steroid-enhanced workers; they gain physical abilities quicker, decline slower, and gain Star Power much quicker than normal. The downside is that you also have to take all the negatives that drug use brings and you also risk a major scandal if the doctor's dealings become public; this will happen if a worker dies, overdoses, or is caught in possession within a year of having being prescribed drugs by the doctor, even if the worker has since left the company or the doctor is no longer used.

19 Workers (+)

The term 'workers' covers all the characters who make up the game world, from the wrestlers taking the bumps to the road agents keeping things running smoothly. This section goes into detail about how they work. Please note that their skills and business settings have their own sections of the handbook due to their size and complexity. Sections 19.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

19.1 Talking To Workers

To talk to a worker you simply need to view their profile and click the Talk To Worker button. You can speak to anyone, regardless of whether you employ them or where they are, except if they have left the business, are deceased, or are another player's avatar. The array of possible questions is contextual, changing depending on the worker's current situation. Whether a worker will agree to something depends on their current stats, situation, and personality, but also on your influence over them. Your influence depends on your place in the game world relative to the worker. If you employ them, you automatically have a certain level of influence. If you are running a major company that can potentially employ them you will have lots of influence. If you are unemployed, or only run a small company, or they work in an entirely different game area with no desire to move, then your influence will be very small or non-existent. The more influence you have, the easier you will find it to get them to do things. So, if you are running an Insignificant company in Mexico you're unlikely to get a major Japanese superstar to do anything at all, but if you're running a global giant you will likely find it quite easy to get people to become available in new areas, change their style, etc.

19.2 Worker Styles

A worker's style is effectively a tag that tells the game what sort of in-ring style they use. It is important to note that this has NO effect on their match ratings or performance; that is always done entirely on their current skills. The reason that workers have styles is so that the AI has an understanding of how they are represented in game. It is used heavily in the AI's hiring and firing code, as well as affecting things such as what new spots they might debut in matches. A worker's style can (and likely will) change over the course of the game. This is always done in reference to their size, age, health, and current skills.

19.3 Height And Weight

Unlike previous games where a worker had a size category, in TEW IX a worker is defined by exact height and weight measurements. These are used throughout the game for things like deciding skill caps, which titles they are eligible for, hiring, etc. Weight can change over time, but only between the worker's minimum and maximum values, whilst height never changes. Male workers who are five feet or under, and female workers who are four foot ten and under, are considered to be 'minis'; this is a special designation that makes them eligible to take part in mini divisions and would change how non-mini workers view them when booking. If database makers want to change a worker's mini categorisation they can do so via the attributes system ('Counts As Mini' and 'Doesn't Count As Mini' can be found in the Misc category of attributes).

19.4 Body Shape

A worker's body shape influences a number of things from hiring and firing to their likely lifespan. Body shape can change over time, often in combination with weight changes.

19.5 Age / Birthday

A worker's age is used throughout the game, affecting everything from their ability to learn new skills to when they retire. 5 is the minimum age for a worker, although it is recommended you don't have workers younger than 16 (or better, 18) in the game world as otherwise they'll have far too long in the 'skill learning' phase. There are generally five key ages - maturity, decline, relevancy, retirement, and death. These are calculated pre-game, based on the worker's settings and their hidden destiny value, although they can be altered in-game (for example, a worker may retire later than they're meant to if they end up being very successful and having a lucrative contract). The first four of the key ages can be preset via the editor if needed. Maturity is the age at which the worker physically matures; prior to this, his physical abilities improve at a much faster rate than normal and he learns much quicker than usual. Decline is the age at which the worker starts to physically decline; after this point he will find his physical abilities and skills starting to erode. Relevancy is the age at which the worker finds himself too old to be really relevant; after this, many of his entertainment skills will start to decline as he is out of touch and too old to be seen as cool. Finally, Retirement is the baseline age at which the worker will consider retiring from active competition (it has no effect on non-wrestlers). NB If a worker's birthday is 29th February then, on non-leap years, their birthday will be considered to be the 28th for all related game effects; this stops the worker missing out on things that are linked explicitly to their birthday (like Picture Changers).

19.6 Set To Debut

A worker's debut date is when they entered the wrestling world (which is not necessarily when they first appeared on a show). A worker must be at least 5 years old at the time of their debut, although it is highly recommended that you do not have someone debut before the age of 16 (or better still, 18) as otherwise they will be learning skills far longer than expected and this may unbalance the game.

19.7 Physical Health

A worker has four health levels; Head, Body, Arms, and Legs. These will go down over time as the worker gets injured or worn down. If any of the four health levels reaches 0% then it will cause an immediate retirement (from active competition) through injury; falling below 80%, 65%, 55%, 40%, and 20% health will cause increasingly noticeable performance penalties, while being 80% or above is considered healthy with no side effects. Penalties can stack, so having very low Head and Body health is worse than having just one. Workers will experience wear and tear over time and this means their health will decline even when they've not taken an injury. The level of wear and tear per match is primarily calculated by the worker's style and the company product: a Comedy worker takes far less wear and tear than a Hardcore wrestler, for example, and being in an Extreme Hardcore company is more gruelling than Classic Sports Entertainment. In addition, wear and tear is affected by the type of match, the worker's current fatigue and ring rust levels, his current physical condition (i.e. beat up workers will take it easier), and the intent of the show (i.e. touring events are much less taxing than normal events).

19.8 Worker Default Settings

Visible in the editor, a worker's default settings include move set, gimmicks, mask, and hair. The move set and gimmick settings are used when a worker signs a new contract and allow the AI to know what basic information to give. The mask setting tells the game how respected the worker's default mask is. This comes into play if they are working in a company and using their default (i.e. not company-specific) mask as it is used to decide whether the worker will be willing to lose their mask and how much it will cost. You can either select a specific number between 1 and 100 or use one of the preset settings. The preset settings mean that the mask will be assigned a random number with a certain range. The ranges are: New (0), Weak (1-24), Medium (25-64), Great (65-89) and Legendary (90-100). A worker's mask respect level will increase slowly with each match that the worker competes in. It will always reach 70 just from working matches, but to get past that point will require them to either be getting significant wins (e.g. over workers who are relatively popular) or be in matches that get relatively high ratings. A worker's hair setting is used entirely for road agent notes when the user wants the worker to shave their head. It should be set to None if they don't have enough hair to shave. This setting can change during the course of the game as male workers naturally go bald.

19.9 Active Areas

A worker's active areas inform the game what companies are allowed to approach the worker. Larger companies can get around these blocks, but it stops lower level workers from ending up working abroad in an unrealistic manner. A worker's active areas can change over the course of a game, and will automatically update if they work in new areas. It is recommended that database makers don't make everybody active in every area; the more workers active in each area, the longer the load times will be due to the amount of processing each company will need to do when hiring.

19.10 Languages

A worker's languages are used for two things. The first is for when they talk in angles to decide whether they are understood. A worker will be penalised if a language barrier exists between them and the audience. The second is to calculate whether a worker will feel isolated backstage due to nobody else speaking the same language. Workers will learn new languages during the course of the game. This can happen either from working in a region where there's a new language to be learned (house shows contribute less gain than other shows) or if they're sharing a locker room with at least one person who speaks another languages (the number of speakers does not affect the rate of learning).

19.11 Gender ID

A worker's gender identification is mostly used for searching and for calculating things for which gender is important (such as whether they qualify for the male or female version of the end of year awards). In almost all cases, the only thing that matters is whether it is a male or female category, the subcategory rarely makes a difference. A worker's gender ID does not change during gameplay. Note that the Non-Binary category has AMAB (assigned male at birth) and AFAB (assigned female at birth) rather than a single category; this is necessary so that the game knows whether to use the male or female versions in calculations where that's a necessary distinction. However, in places where the gender ID is displayed in text, it will display simply as 'Non-Binary' without further elaboration.

19.12 Pronouns

A worker's pronouns are entirely cosmetic and just apply to text relating to them. This setting does not change during gameplay.

19.13 Sexuality

A worker's sexuality generally only matters for their interpersonal relationships and a handful of specific incidents or features (such as some products specifically looking at LGBTQ+ workers).

19.14 Race And Nationality

A worker's race is used mostly for cosmetic reasons such as finding an appropriate picture for them, it has little other impact on the game. Please note that the term 'American Indian' has been renamed since the game's initial release and is now known as 'Native American'. A worker's nationality is used in some of the AI's hiring code when deciding if a worker is considered foreign; for this reason, if a worker has a legal nationality that is different from expected it is recommended that you give them the nationality that better suits them so that they do not get classed in this way (for example, if they are clearly very much an American but were born on an army base somewhere else, American would be the better choice as nationality).

19.15 Worker Bases

A worker is always based in a specific region during gameplay. This affects which companies he is available for and his travel costs. Workers can and will move around during the course of a game, either of their own accord or because a user talked them into moving. Romantic partners will almost always move in tandem unless there's a specific reason that they can't. A worker can be preset to either be based in a game area or a specific region. If a game area is selected, the worker will be assigned to a region when the game begins; the region will be picked mostly at random, but can be influenced by his current employment status (i.e. if he works for only one small company he will likely be based there).

19.16 Competes Vs.

A worker's Competes Vs. setting indicates whether they compete against men's division or women's division competitors. This can either lock them to one, in which case they can't stray, or simply make it more likely, in which case they can perform in both but will bias towards a main one. This setting directly influences their contract's Competes In setting, which cannot contradict the worker's overall setting. This setting does not change during gameplay.

19.17 Worker Popularity

A worker has a popularity rating in each of the game world's regions. These will go up and down as the game progresses. This is effectively a measure of how many people in that region know the worker and would be interested in seeing them perform. In terms of how to set popularity, this should be done in relation to the various companies. For example, if a worker is meant to be a mega star for a specific company, generally the worker's popularity would be several points higher than the company's in each region. This will therefore make them a big draw. Popularity 'spills over' naturally. Please see the Game World section of the handbook for a description of how this process works.

19.18 Popularity Caps

Every worker has a minimum popularity level for each region in the game. This is invisible to the player. These change as the game progresses, being updated to sit at about 70% of the highest popularity the worker ever achieved in that region. These therefore stop a worker who has achieved a certain level of fame from ever descending into total obscurity. It is important to note there are no pre-calculated maximum caps on a worker's popularity (and therefore trying to 'cheat' around them via the editor is pointless). The highest popularity a worker can achieve is calculated on-the-fly every time their popularity is changed, based on the following two factors. The first factor is the size, popularity, and broadcast coverage level of the company they are working for. So, if a character is only working for an Insignificant company then they are not going to be able to become a massive star, for obvious reasons. The second factor is the worker's current skills and hidden destiny value. This works by looking at their in-ring skills and general entertainment skills and calculating a cap based off those. So someone who rates poorly in both will not be able to gain huge amounts of popularity, whereas someone who rates highly in one or both will get a very high cap (if any at all).

19.19 Biographies

A worker's biography can be set via the editor to either be static or organic. A static biography never changes; this is useful if you have written a custom piece of text. Organic biographies get updated on-the-fly when viewed in order to reflect the worker's current situation and accomplishments. Database makers should note that as organic biographies now only get updated on-the-fly (rather than the method used in previous games where they were rewritten whenever an important change happened) they no longer affect between-days load times.

19.20 Loyalty

If a worker has loyalty to a company then they will rarely accept contract offers that would cause them to leave the company that they are loyal to (it would almost always only be workers at the end of their career when offered a big money move), they are far more likely to be hired and far less likely to get fired by the company (when AI controlled), and they are extremely unlikely to choose to move on from an ongoing deal. Loyalty can either be Normal or True Born depending on the settings of the company they are loyal to. The difference is that True Born is designed to simulate the Japanese system whereby young workers who came through the system have intense loyalty to their employer. Mechanically, it does everything that regular loyalty does but, as it's more public, the worker can gain popularity more quickly in that company because the fans are more invested. Loyalty can be preset via the editor. During gameplay, loyalty is created when a company uses its 'first refusal' to sign a graduate from one of its training facilities. Loyalty can be lost when the company closes or if the worker is released (other types of departure, such as contract expiry, do not affect it) and also in situations where a worker is particularly unhappy. Later in their career, a worker may choose to abandon their loyalty in order to seek out new challenges (although this is rare).

19.21 Freelance

If a worker is set to be freelance then that means they will incorporate the Japanese freelance mentality into their career decisions. This means they will never sign deals that would tie them to a company for a significantly long period of time, they will be more open to working with companies who would normally be too small for them, and they will try to work for a large variety of companies where possible. Note that this is specifically designed to follow the Japanese model, it is not meant to be used for workers outside that area.

19.22 Worker Roles

Each worker has eight potential roles they can fill, ranging from Wrestler to Road Agent. This tells the game what positions on a roster they can fill. These can change over the course of a game. There are two sets of these: a worker's main roles (the 'master list') and a set for every contract that he or she has. A worker can only fill a specific role in a company if their 'master list' says that they can, but a worker does not have to play all the 'master list' roles in each company. The difference between Wrestler and Occasional Wrestler is that the latter is for part-time or soon-to-retire wrestlers and so the AI knows that they should not be used quite as often. On-Screen Personality is for anyone who does not fulfil a specific other role; this can be used for backstage interviewers, authority figures, etc.

19.23 Attributes

Attributes are individual items of data that allow workers to be given extra flavour or special powers. They can be assigned via the editor, newly generated workers will create their own, and attributes can be added, changed, or lost during the course of gameplay. Each attribute works differently. To get a description of what an attribute does, either click on it (if in the game) or highlight it in the editor. There are two optional states for each attribute. The first is Hidden. If an attribute is hidden then it still has its normal effects but it will not be visible to the player. Some attributes will move from hidden to visible if their effect is noticeable (such as failing a drug test or debuting a gimmick of that basis type). The second state is Permanent. If an attribute is Permanent then it cannot be lost or changed during gameplay. This is not recommended for things like addictions as it would make the worker impossible to help. You will be blocked from giving a worker clashing attributes (either explicitly or by having the clashing attribute automatically removed). If there is ever a situation where two attributes have competing effects during gameplay, the game will decide which attributes to use depending on context.

19.24 Attributes & Personalities

In TEW IX a worker's personality is assigned via the attributes system. In the default data, I have assigned almost everyone a personality this way because it's a fictional universe and so I 'know' everyone's personality. However, please note that this is not a requirement - the game can function perfectly well with few (or no) personalities at all. Not having a personality assigned just means that the worker has a neutral type and so does not have any specific pros and cons. For real world based databases it is likely better to limit the personalities to only those that are known rather than trying to give everyone, even obscure characters, a personality. This will save the creator time and will not negatively impact the game world in any way.

19.25 Regeneration

When workers retire or die they can regenerate if they have been set to have this option enabled. This means that their basic details - such as height and weight, nationality, and picture - are used to create a brand new worker who will debut around one year later. This is a good way to keep the game world populated over time. If turned on, you also have the option of regenerating without a picture or as a legacy; this means that their name gets passed on to a successor, albeit with a number (or 'Jr') added afterwards, which is useful for masked characters in particular. A worker will only regenerate once per game, so a worker who has retired will not then regenerate a second time upon death.

19.26 Outside Relationships

Via the editor (the 'Relationship' dropdown box), a worker can be set to be in a relationship with a person who is not represented in the database; the worker will not be eligible to create new romantic relationships during gameplay while the relationship remains in place. If the person they are in a relationship with is in the database it should be set to No and an appropriate record created in the Worker Relationships section of the editor.

19.27 Young Lions

A young lion is defined as being any active wrestler who has less than 25 Experience and debuted into the game world less than three years ago. It means they are still considered to be learning their trade. A young lion beating a non-young lion in a company that has the young lion system turned on would upset the fans. In companies that don't run the young lion system, whether a worker is a young lion or not has no relevance at all.

19.28 Alter Egos

Alter Egos are alternate identities that have a chance of being applied when a worker joins a new company. Priority is always given to alter egos that are assigned to a specific company. If none are available, the next priority is to use one that is assigned to a specific game area. If there are still none available then the game will go through the 'no restrictions' list. (If 'All But' is selected in order to prevent an alter ego applying to a specific company, this will be counted as being as the same priority as a 'no restrictions' alter ego.) Each alter ego has a usage setting; this is how likely this alter ego is to be chosen. The usage percentage of all the possible choices are added together to create one big total, and that is used to select the final choice. Therefore, the percentage is not literal. For example, if you had two eligible alter egos at 10% each, they would really have a 50% chance of being chosen; each being half of the 20% total. There are two exceptions to this rule. If only one potential alter ego is found and its usage percentage is less than 100 then the total is set as 100 with the remaining chance being that no alter ego will be applied (i.e. if there is only one alter ego and its usage is 25 then there's a 75% chance that no alter ego will be applied at all). The second exception is if none of the alter egos found were restricted by company or game area. In this case, a 'default' alter ego with a usage value of 50 is added to the potential selection - this is the chance that no alter ego at all will be applied.

19.29 Chemistry

Chemistry is the 'magic ingredient' that makes two workers perform significantly better or worse than their stats would indicate that they should. Chemistry naturally occurs between workers as part of the game, based on their Destiny value, and is different in each save game. Chemistry can also be preset in the editor - if it is, the preset version always takes precedent over any natural chemistry. Regardless of type, chemistry does not change over time, although tag teams do get to ignore teamwork chemistry penalties once they become sufficiently experienced (40 Experience or above). Once you 'discover' chemistry (either by 'seeing' it happen during a segment or scouting it during house shows) it will be added to your chemistry list, available from the office. Only the player who discovered the chemistry gets it added to their personal list, although other players can then discover the same chemistry at a different time. You should avoid falling into the trap of giving workers chemistry just because they have great matches together on a regular basis; if they happen to be two talented workers then the high rating is a result of their skill, not chemistry! It would only be chemistry if they were putting on matches that are a lot better than you'd think they were capable of under normal circumstances. Another trap to avoid is confusing romantic chemistry with TEW's chemistry. Just because two people are in a romantic relationship does not mean that they should have chemistry in the game - it's quite possible that two people would be happily married and have negative chemistry, the two things have no connection.

19.30 Legacies

If a worker has been set with a legacy then it means that they can potentially generate a successor to carry on their name. The legacy can then pass on to the successor's successor, and so on. This feature is very useful for having lucha masks be passed on. A legacy can only be passed on if the worker's Regeneration setting has been given as 'Yes As A Legacy', if a valid name is available at the time the successor is created, and if the worker is worthy enough. Once a year between the ages of 35 and 50 the worker will be checked; if they average at least 55 popularity in a single area and are currently an active wrestler then they are considered worthy. Each worker can only generate one successor in their career. When giving a legacy name, it should not include any indicator as to the current generation - i.e. it would not be 'Red Tiger Jr' or 'Red Tiger III', it would simply be 'Red Tiger'. The generation identifier is added by the game by looking at the 'next number' field. If Blood Relative is set to Yes then each successor will be set as a blood relative of the person he or she follows, whereas if it's Doesn't Matter then it will be random whether the relationship is created or not. If Mask is set to Yes then this means that each successor will debut with a mask. If a legacy involves a worker passing on their mask but they have since been unmasked, the newly-generated worker's picture will (if possible) be set to the mask the legacy character was wearing to begin with (either at the start of the game, when they were created, or when they were imported). Note that if more than one worker has been given the same name for their legacy, they are counted as all being linked - in effect they're all contributing to the same legacy.

19.31 Celebrities

Celebrities are a subset of workers who follow special rules regarding their behaviour and interactions with the game world. These are people who are famous because of non-wrestling based exploits and are not considered to be part of the business. It is very important to note the latter part; wrestlers who have gone on to become famous, for example as movie actors, or who were already famous and then became a full-time part of the busines should generally NOT be set as celebrities as otherwise they will behave differently than you likely want. The major special conditions that celebrities have are as follows: - Having a celebrity on a show automatically boosts attendance, with the amount dependent on their level - They cannot be hired outside of their active area(s) under any circumstance, even if Restricted Areas are turned off - Their popularity and skills do not change in relation to how they are booked - They are not considered to be backstage at shows and so do not interact with other workers or become involved in incidents - They cannot become owners or bookers nor become part of a company's booking team or inner circle - They have stricter contract demands than usual and much higher wage demands - They will only sign one deal at a time, cannot be released, will not extend it, and will then not accept further offers for an extended period of time (the bigger the star, the longer the period) - They can't be talked to by the user and will generally not change weight, style, etc, during the game - They cannot be traded, loaned, sent to development or on excursions, etc - They will leave the business much earlier than normal - They are exempt from many aspects of the game world, such as random incidents A celebrity's level, as well as influencing their affect on attendance and how often they'll sign contracts, also impacts the minimum size of company they'll deal with and how long they'll last before choosing to stop accepting offers from wrestling companies. The 'Fad' setting is for very short term celebrities who will disappear pretty quickly. NB: Be sure to note that it's the celebrity's level (i.e. A-List, etc) that determines the above effects, NOT their popularity values!

19.32 Career Goals

Each worker can have one active career goal and this affects their behaviour when evaluating contract offers. A worker's career goal can change during the course of the game. Each goal can be one of three levels; level one means that it has a relatively minor impact on their decision-making while level three has a major impact. Note that just because a goal increases a worker's interest in a specific aspect it does not mean that everything else is ignored; for example, just because they have the Fame goal and prefer to work for bigger companies does not mean that they completely ignore the financial terms of the offer! The goals are as follows: Fame (company size is more important), Money (the financial terms of the contract are more important), Stability (would prefer to sign an extension over moving on, and is less likely to want to go abroad), Social (is more attracted to companies where there are allies in the locker room), Wanderlust (wants to travel abroad if possible and does not like to stay working for the same company for very long), Novelty (would prefer to go to companies where he hasn't worked before), To Entertain (biases towards entertainment-based companies), To Wrestle (biases towards workrate-based companies), Hardcore Notoriety (biases towards hardcore-based companoes). All the goals ending in 'phile' (Americanophile, Britophile, etc) mean that the worker wants to work for companies who are based in that game area.

20 Worker Skills (+)

This section goes into depth on the skills that a worker has and how they function. Sections 20.1 and onward look at specific elements plus the important concepts of how they are learned and how caps function. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

20.1 A Note On Skill Values

In the game you will see the various skill values displayed as numbers between 0 and 100 and they are always whole numbers. It is important to note that this is just for ease of use, as 'behind the scenes' they are broken down into decimal places; i.e. a value may be 51.7 and you would see it as 51 (it's always rounded down). During this part of the handbook you will see mention occasionally of the decimal places; this is just to let you know how things operate behind the scenes, it does not mean that you should be looking for that level of detail on-screen.

20.2 Learning Skills

When a worker learns a skill it does not immediately impact his skill level; instead, it is added to his learning file and this works with a 'drip feed' method, slowly increasing the actual skill over time. A good way of thinking about this concept is to imagine it like a battery of sorts. A worker will 'charge up' his Brawling learning battery during matches and then it will drain as it slowly increases the worker's actual Brawling skill. A worker's learning 'battery' for each skill can constantly be topped up, but there is a cap to how much can be stored at any one time - this means that players cannot try and 'game the system' by putting a worker in lots of matches each show as they will quickly max out the learning. The higher the skill level, the more energy must be in the 'battery' in order to create an increase in the actual skill level. The actual values depend on which skill is being discussed. For example, it's relatively fast and easy to reach competent levels of Psychology, but to get to the higher levels, especially the very elite levels, takes a lot longer. However, Basics tend to rise at a pretty steady rate and most workers, given enough matches, will reach high levels. All skills, including entertainment skills (like Charisma), non-wrestling skills (like Play By Play), and values like Respect use this learning method. There are a handful of exceptions where a skill is directly affected, bypassing the learning, but these are generally few and far between - they include things like the effects of random incidents, steroid usage boosting a worker's strength, etc. A worker learns a skill faster if they're working with people (whether as opponents or partners) who have a higher rating than they do and, for in-ring skills, will learn quicker if the match is at least ten minutes long. It does not matter how much better the other people in the segment are, only that they're at least 1 point better (matches) or 5 points better (angles). A worker can still learn from segments even if there is nobody with a higher skill present, it's just that the rate will be slower. Note that matches must be at least 5 minutes long to trigger any learning, and a worker must be on-screen for at least 3 minutes in an angle to learn.

20.3 Skill Caps

Every worker has an invisible cap for each of his skills that tells the game how good they can possibly get. These are set at the start of the game (or when the worker is generated) and cannot be affected by the player. These simulate the worker's natural limits. These caps are considered 'soft'. This means that a worker's skill level can temporarily go past them, however, they will always eventually degrade back until they reach the cap. This effect can be used by the player as a clue to spot when a worker has reached their limit and isn't going to improve any further. Once a worker becomes old enough to start declining, the various caps will start to slowly reduce over time until reaching a minimum level (the minimum that each skill can fall to varies from worker to worker as it is based entirely on their Destiny value). As these caps reduce, the worker's skills will naturally start to follow suit over time because the maximum level they can be at is getting less and less with age.

20.4 Brawling

This is a measure of a worker's ability to work a brawl-style match. It is used to calculate a worker's in-ring performance in most match types. Like most of the basic in-ring skills, workers learn Brawling from performing in matches and do so quicker if they are working with people who have higher values than them. Brawling is one of the slowest skills to degrade once a worker enters their decline phase, meaning workers can generally still brawl to a good standard even when they're quite old. Brawling can be impacted by weight and body shape changes.

20.5 Puroresu

This is a measure of a worker's ability to work the type of match closely associated with Japan where it's a mix of stiff strikes, realistic ring work, and impactful throws and suplexes. It is used to calculate a worker's in-ring performance in most match types. In most cases it is effectively an 'alternate Brawling' in that the higher of the two values is used in any calculation. Like most of the basic in-ring skills, workers learn Puroresu from performing in matches and do so quicker if they are working with people who have higher values than them. The Puroresu skill degrades slightly faster than Brawling, but still has one of the slowest rates of any of the skills. Puroresu can be impacted by weight and body shape changes.

20.6 Hardcore

This is a measure of a worker's ability to work a hardcore style of match; it is effectively a variation on Brawling that takes into account a willingness to do more dangerous stuff. It is used to calculate a worker's in-ring performance in hardcore matches and does not generally factor into non-hardcore matches at all. Like most of the basic in-ring skills, workers learn Hardcore from performing in matches and do so quicker if they are working with people who have higher values than them. Hardcore tends to decline at a mildly faster rate than Brawling but is still quite slow overall. Some products completely turn off the ability of Hardcore to have any impact on any calculation; the product screen will explicitly state if this is the case.

20.7 Technical

This is a measure of a worker's ability to work a technical match. It is used to calculate a worker's in-ring performance in most match types, but not those that are specifically about brawling or high flying. Like most of the basic in-ring skills, workers learn Technical from performing in matches and do so quicker if they are working with people who have higher values than them. Technical is the slowest of the basic in-ring skills to degrade once a worker enters their decline phase.

20.8 Aerial

This is a measure of a worker's ability to work a match with an aerial, high flying style. It is used to calculate a worker's in-ring performance in most match types. Like most of the basic in-ring skills, workers learn Aerial from performing in matches and do so quicker if they are working with people who have higher values than them. Aerial degrades very speedily once a worker starts declining; it has the quickest value loss of any of the skills. It can be affected by injuries and size and shape changes. Workers with a high Aerial skill are also eligible for creating new high spots and getting benefits from that.

20.9 Flashiness

This is a measure of how spectacular a worker's moves are. It is used as a modifier whenever a worker's Aerial value is used, where if it is significantly higher or lower it can nudge the final value slightly in that direction. A worker learns Flashiness from being in matches, with learning being easier around people who have superior values. Flashiness degrades at a very fast rate once a worker starts declining. It can also be impacted by injuries and changes in size and shape.

20.10 Psychology

This is how well the worker understands wrestling psychology and can apply it to a match. It is one of the most important values in the game. It is relatively easy to learn to a reasonable level just from working matches, progress slows as the worker starts to get really good, and it's quite difficult to get a complete mastery of it. Working with wrestlers who have a higher rating helps a worker learn quicker. There are two sets of effects for Psychology, overall and individual. The overall effect is based on the highest Psychology rating in the match, which can be boosted slightly if the road agent's score is higher (to simulate their influence). If the highest Psychology rating is significantly less than the match rating then penalties can be given, increasing in severity in line with the size of the difference. If the highest Psychology rating is poor compared to the length of the match, this too can cause penalties to be incurred. The longer the match, the higher the Psychology needs to be to stop it dragging. Individual effects create bonuses or penalties by looking at each worker's Psychology as an absolute value (i.e. the match rating is not important). Generally speaking, if the value is 60 or less then increasingly severe penalties apply, while above 74 potentially gives bonuses. However, the value is modified by other elements such as whether the match is scripted or not and what the aim of the bout is. For example, a wrestler with 50 Psychology may have that boosted upward if he's in a scripted bout because he doesn't have to worry about improvising. Psychology also impacts each worker's performance in the match. It acts as a modifier, so high Psychology can make them perform slightly better, low Psychology does the opposite. Note that Psychology is far less impactful in battle royal matches due to their nature; it is rare to see bonuses or penalties for Psychology in these sort of matches. Psychology is one of the few skills that does not degrade with age; once a wrestler has mastered the art, he or she always has that ability to fall back on.

20.11 Experience

Experience is a measure of how much ring time the worker has had. Like all other skills it is learned; the more matches a worker wrestles (regardless of whether it is an event, a TV show, and independent show, or a house show), the quicker it will rise (angles do not have any affect on Experience). Longer matches will lead to quicker learning. It does not rise in a linear fashion - people new to the business act like a sponge and gain it quite fast, it then levels off (and sometimes slows) as they get older. Unlike most other worker skills, Experience cannot go down and is not capped: every worker will eventually reach 100 if they wrestle enough. As a (very) rough rule of thumb (which may be useful for database makers), wrestlers in the first few years of their career would gain about 0.3 Experience for every 2-3 matches they have. After that, it becomes closer to 0.2 for every 3-5 matches. Workers with low Experience (defined as 20 or less) get a penalty to their in-ring performance to simulate the fact that they are green. The penalty gets less as they become more experienced. Workers with very high experience can reduce the penalties they would receive for booking issues, such as if they get gassed or are booked poorly, because they have the benefit of knowing how to deal with it. The benefit of having at least one worker with high Experience in a match is that if something unplanned happens - for example, an injury, an audible, or a botch - then they will be able to cover it somewhat. This takes the form of lessening or removing the associated penalty that otherwise would happen. The other significant use of Experience is with road agents as it is one of the two major stats (alongside Psychology, with Respect being a less powerful third influence) that decide how good a road agent is at his or her job. It is generally unwise to use a road agent who is not significantly experienced. Road agents can gain Experience for every show that they work on in that role, although this is at a much slower rate than actually wrestling. Finally, experienced workers are significantly better at passing on their knowledge. This manifests itself in the fact that working with experienced veterans leads to a quicker rate of skill learning.

20.12 Respect

Respect measures how well regarded a worker is within the wrestling industry. It is used primarily in relation to how well a road agent performs, but also decides how important news stories about a particular worker are, and how other people in the game world will interact with them. Respect is earned as workers perform on shows. Everyone will eventually reach 50 Respect just from working shows. After that point, Respect for wrestlers rises in direct relation to their popularity and / or match ratings; for example, a wrestler whose popularity and match ratings are both below 50 is not going to be able to rise much above 50 Respect. Being in a match rated 75 or over will also help boost a worker's Respect, so someone regularly putting on matches in the high 70s or above will eventually reach 100 Respect too. For non-wrestlers, Respect rises inline with their respective skills plus fifteen; i.e. a referee with a Refereeing skill of 75 will likely end up with a Respect of around 90 over time. Respect rarely goes downwards; if it does, it is almost always due to negative random incidents. Unlike most skills, which rise quickly at first and then slow down, Respect works the opposite way; it is slow to build, but once a worker is established it becomes much easier to increase. There are some incidents and triggers that can allow a worker to gain extra Respect, either slowly or in one big jump.

20.13 Reputation

This is a measure of the worker's reputation within the business. It always begins at 50 for new workers and then slowly increases each month. It can be boosted by some events (such as being with a company for a specific amount of time) and reduced by others (negative random incidents, botching moves, etc). In terms of effect, Reputation is primarily used by the AI for hiring, firing, etc, as they will want to stay away from 'bad eggs'. It has no direct impact upon matches or angles and so is not considered a particularly important skill, more something that can be used as a warning signal about someone who is likely to be trouble.

20.14 Charisma

This is a worker's general charisma, which could be described as their ability to connect with the crowd without verbal interaction. Charisma primarily is used in entertainment-based angles, but can also give mild boosts to a worker's in-ring performance if its high enough (66 or above) and is used by managers to rate their performance. Considered quite an important skill because of how widely it is employed, a high Charisma skill will add significantly to a worker's value in terms of contracts. The AI will also tend to highly prize charismatic workers (product dependent). Charisma is learnt by being in angles and will also naturally rise over time. It tends to rise slowly at low levels and then snowball as the value rises.

20.15 Microphone

Microphone is a measure of a worker's ability to cut promos and generally employ the microphone to good effect. This skill is primarily used in talk-based angles. It is also used by managers during segments (allowing them to help their clients), and at the commentary desk as a potential replacement or proxy for the Colour skill (see the Colour section further down for more details). Learning Microphone skills is quite slow at the low levels, to simulate its fairly steep learning curve, but once a worker has become proficient the rate of learning increases. Wrestlers learn Microphone quicker if they're used in angles with workers who have a higher rating than them.

20.16 Acting

Acting is a measure of a worker's pure acting ability. There is some natural overlap with Microphone skills, of course, due to their nature. Acting is used almost exclusively in relation to performance in angles. Like the other entertainment-based skills, learning Acting tends to start off fairly slowly before rising faster once a worker is proficient at it.

20.17 Star Quality

Star Quality is a reflection of a worker's intangibles / 'X factor' / aura, the innate quality that separates the stars from everyone else. A worker cannot 'learn' Star Quality, although they can see a natural increase in it during their early career as they grow in confidence. Star Quality does not fade with age. In terms of use, Star Quality primarily adds a small boost to any match the worker takes part in (as long as it is 66 or above), is used in several Rated On categories in angles, and impacts hiring, contract values, and some random incidents. Star Quality in isolation isn't that important, but finding a talented worker who additionally also has Star Quality is generally a good thing as they tend to have great careers.

20.18 Sex Appeal

This is a measure of a worker's attractiveness. It is primarily used in eye candy matches as the basis of the worker's performance and in angle roles that are specifically rated upon it. Outside of the ring, Sex Appeal comes into play for some random incidents and is also used in relationship calculations. For managers (of any gender ID), Sex Appeal, if high, can be used as the basis of the calculation to decide their quality, which impacts how they earn Respect and their value. Sex Appeal degrades with age, sharply in some cases, and can be impacted by changes in weight and body shape.

20.19 Menace

This is how menacing the worker looks. It is not an important skill. It is used almost exclusively in angle roles that are specifically rated on it, with its other uses limited to AI hiring and some random incidents. Menace is fairly static, generally only being impacted by changes in size and shape.

20.20 Basics

This measures the worker basic wrestling skills. If it is 40 or under then the worker is eligible to get penalised for not being properly grounded. There is no benefit to having a particularly high value, so once a worker has gotten past 40 the skill can effectively be ignored. Workers will learn Basics at a steady rate just from having ring time. The Basics value does not go down with age.

20.21 Selling

This is how well a worker 'sells' the effects of moves and other physical punishment. If it is 40 or under then the worker is eligible to get penalised for poor selling in any match they wrestle in. As well as individual penalties, there can also be a penalty if the average selling of all the workers in the match is too low. This is generally calculated as the total Selling divided by the number of competitors, but a single high value can help hide the weaknesses of the others. Very high selling (75 or above) can give bonuses to a worker's individual performance in a match. Workers will learn selling just from working matches, although they learn quicker if they're in a match with someone who has a higher value. Selling degrades with age, albeit at a relatively slow rate (compared to other skills).

20.22 Consistency

Consistency measures how often the worker has a 'bad day' in the ring. The lower the rating, the more often they'll get hit with a penalty for being 'off their game'. Consistency works as a probability. In short, a random number is generated and compared to the worker's Consistency. If the random number is higher, the worker has an 'off' night and the process is repeated - failing twice in a row would mean they have a truly wretched night ('really off their game') and the penalty is more severe. If they pass the first test, they're fine and don't incur any penalties. As the process is based on probability, it means that even someone with a high rating will occasionally get penalised. The one exception to this is someone will 100 Consistency; they do not have off nights....but even someone with 99.9 Consistency can! Consistency is one of the skills that is most sensitive to age, and will drop quite sharply once a worker enters the decline phase of their career.

20.23 Safety

Safety is simply a measure of how likely a worker is to accidentally hurt an opponent. The higher the value, the safer they are. A low value means that the worker may botch a spot and potentially cause an injury; this is closely linked to the Resilience value of the potential victim. Safety rises naturally at a steady rate as a worker gains in-ring experience and will usually end up quite high. Safety is one of the few skills that does not degrade with age; once a worker is proficient, they will never lose that ability.

20.24 Stamina

Stamina essentially just measures a worker's cardio, so how long they can wrestle for before getting penalised for tiredness. A worker's Stamina value is adjusted when a match happens by how they are used (i.e. joining a match late increases their value as they aren't doing as much), the aim of the match, and the match type (i.e. you do less in a tag match as you get breaks) The longer a match is, the higher a worker's adjusted Stamina value must be to avoid penalties. The weaker the worker's value in relation to the match length, the more severe the penalty. For example, a value of 40 would produce a very minor penalty in a match that went between 7 and 10 minutes, but would be a pretty severe penalty if the match was between 35 and 50 minutes. Stamina rises primarily from working matches (the longer the match, the greater the gains) but workers can also improve it of their own accord, especially when they are younger. Some weight and body shape changes can also impact stamina. Your road agent will warn you during the booking process if the match time is going to result in a significant penalty to a worker.

20.25 Athleticism

This is a measure of how athletically gifted the worker is. Its primary use is as a modifier to match ratings; for most bouts (except things like Comedy) it will provide a minor adjustment to a worker's performance to reflect their ability to use their physical abilities well (or badly). Athleticism degrades with age and can also be impacted by things like smoking, drinking, and steroid usage. It is also sensitive to changes in size and shape.

20.26 Power

This is how physically strong the worker is. It is one of the least important stats in the game as it has no direct impact on match ratings. The Power value is used in AI hiring, when a worker is changing weight, shape or style, and in some minor calculations such as what new spots a worker may debut. Power naturally decreases with age, and will also be affected by weight and shape changes. Steroid usage also has a strong impact on Power, both in terms or raising it and keeping it at a high level even in the face of age.

20.27 Toughness

Toughness is essentially how much of a bad ass the worker is in reality. Wrestling's renowned hard men, ex-MMA fighters, and genuine shooters would all score very highly. However, it should not be seen only as being about real-life fighting skills, as to some extent it also takes into account the people who will tough it out and work through pain, etc. In-game, Toughness is primarily used in worker interactions such as backstage fights, intimidation, who becomes a locker room judge, and how they react to certain situations. Some companies will also take into account when hiring if they tend to bias toward legit hard men (and women). Toughness is not static, but it is one of the skills that moves the least. Generally it will only increase while a worker is maturing or if there's a specific random incident that triggers it, and will only decrease very slowly with age or a random incident causes it to drop.

20.28 Resilience

Resilience is a measure of how injury prone the worker is. The lower the value, the more danger they are in of receiving an injury during a match. Resilience works in tandem with the context of the match; so putting a worker with a low Resilience value in a highly dangerous match is asking for trouble, whereas someone with a high value is generally going to be safe in a basic bout. It is important to note that there is no such thing as being immune to injury, even at a score of 100. A very high value means that the chance of being injured is extremely low, but it is never entirely zero. Therefore even a person with 100 Resilience may end up getting injured several times during their career if they are particularly unlucky. Resilience naturally decreases with age, and can also be impacted by changes in size and through injury.

20.29 Play By Play

This is a measure of the worker's ability to do play by play commentary. It can be raised or lowered during a segment by the team's experience level. Play By Play is always considered in the context of the match rating (at that point in the calculation, not the final rating). Therefore a score of 50 would be very good for a match that was only rated at 10, but pretty awful for a match that was getting a 99 rating. A final Play By Play score that is 15 points or less than the match rating would generate a penalty, while a score that is 20 or more above the match rating would create a bonus. A Play By Play score of 80 or above (after team experience has been applied) can never receive a penalty under any circumstances.

20.30 Colour

This is a measure of the worker's ability to provide colour commentary. It has identical mechanics to Play By Play. During a segment, if 70% of the worker's Microphone skills would be greater than their Colour score then they use that as their Colour score instead. This allows special guests to give colour commentary even if they have 0 for Colour. Most non-colour commentators have 0 for their Colour score. If they later add Colour Commentator to their list of possible positions then, if they have 0 as their current score, a new Colour value will be generated for them based upon their Microphone skill. Only workers who are currently set as having the Colour Commentator position can improve their Colour score during segments.

20.31 Refereeing

Refereeing is simply a measure of how skilled the worker is at officiating a match. Unlike most skills, Refereeing is an absolute value. This means that the size of the company or quality of the match is not relevant to the required skill level. Please note that it is only used for workers who are set to be a Referee in the company; a worker who is not will be treated as a special guest referee when assigned to a match and their Refereeing value is not looked at (i.e. they cannot be penalised or gain bonuses). A score below 15 will get a severe penalty, below 23 is a lesser penalty, below 30 is lesser still, and below 40 is the weakest penalty. Scores over 75, 80, and 90 will get increasingly powerful bonuses. Note that if a referee is overworked, his Refereeing value gets reduced with each subsequent match to simulate their tiredness.

20.32 Scouting

Every worker has six scouting categories - in ring, physical, entertainment, performance, broadcasting, refereeing - which define how accurate skill reports will be. The lower the rating, the wider the spread of numbers. For example, at a low level you might see '30 - 70'; this means that the skill is somewhere in that range, but you don't know where. Each of the six scouting levels is hidden in game, but will slowly rise as the worker performs. However, they are linked to what the worker is doing - for example, the refereeing scout level only goes up when the worker is actually refereeing a match. The longer the segment, the quicker scouting increases. In ring scouting affects Brawling, Puroresu, Hardcore, Technical, Aerial, Flashiness, Psychology, Basics, Selling, Consistency, and Safety. Physical affects Stamina, Athleticism, Power, Toughness, and Resilience. Entertainment affects Charisma, Microphone, and Acting. Performance affects the various performance skills (babyface, heel, cool, etc). Broadcasting affects Play By Play and Colour. Refereeing only affects Refereeing. The following skills are not affected by scouting and so are always shown with full accuracy: Experience, Respect, Reputation, Star Quality, Sex Appeal, Menace, Business Reputation, Booking Reputation, and Booking Skill.

20.33 Potential

There are eight Potential values. These are visible in the Skills part of the worker editor. These are used when a new game is created (or when a worker is imported into a live game) to calculate the skill caps that a worker will receive. These function on the basis of probability; a high Potential value means that it is more likely that the worker will receive a high cap, but it does not guarantee it. Potential has no impact on the game once the skill caps have been calculated.

21 Worker Business Skills (+)

This section gives a detailed look at the business skills settings that a worker has. These impact how the worker will function in regards to being an owner or head booker. Sections 21.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

21.1 Business Reputation

This value is how respected as an owner the worker is. The higher it is, the more chance he has of getting the jobs he wants. NB: A very high or very low value can preclude them from going after jobs with very small or very large companies respectively. This value can change during gameplay in relation to the following events affecting a company which they are running: rising or falling in size, going bankrupt, making a significant monthly profit or loss.

21.2 Business Minimum Age

This gives the minimum age a worker must be to qualify as an owner; prior to reaching this age the worker's Business Reputation is effectively zero and he or she will not apply for jobs.

21.3 Personal Wealth

This value indicates how rich the worker is. This is used in two situations. Firstly, when an AI owner first takes over a company he can invest some of his own money into it; this value influences the amount. Secondly, if the user chooses to found their own company, the avatar's wealth is used to calculate how much they donate from their personal funds (this only happens if they are rated as Rich or higher). This value does not change during gameplay, and an avatar's career earnings do not affect it.

21.4 Min / Max Company Size

This value tells the game what the smallest and biggest possible sizes of company this worker is eligible to become owner of. It has no effect once a worker is already the owner (i.e. it will not cause them to resign if the company changes size outside of this range).

21.5 Roster Size

This influences the size of the roster the owner will want for his company. All roster sizes are initially based on the company's size; this value acts as a modifier to that.

21.6 Other Companies

The Other Companies setting tells the game how the worker interacts, when in the position of owner, with other companies when it comes to relationships and alliances. 'Normal' is a neutral setting. 'Protective' means that they are open to agreements that protect the company but aren't proactive or particularly open to working together. 'Open' means they are happy to work with others. 'Unifier' means that they will proactively look to create positive relationships. 'Isolationist' means that they are not overtly hostile but just want to be left alone. 'Defensive' means that they can be open to agreements that offer protection but will react aggressively if challenged. 'Hostile' means that they do not work well with others and will pick fights. 'Conqueror' means that they will actively go looking for wars and to destroy rivals.

21.7 Patience

This value influences how patient with a booker's failures the owner is. An owner with low patience is liable to fire a head booker very quickly if things start to go wrong.

21.8 Roster Turnover

This value influences how often workers are released or don't have their contracts renewed. The more people who are leaving, the more fresh faces will be brought in to replace them.

21.9 Finance

This is how the owner views money. This influences how much he will be willing to allow the booker to offer in contract negotiations, as well as affecting what owner goals he gives.

21.10 Style Preference

Owners can change their company's product settings during gameplay; this value shows what their preference is, and influences in which direction they are likely to take the product.

21.11 Owner Specialism

If the owner has a specialism in men's or women's wrestling then they will not be interested in running companies of the opposite type. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar.

21.12 Booking Reputation

A worker's Booking Reputation influences his chances of getting jobs; the higher it is, the more chance he'll have of getting to work for major companies. NB: Very high ratings can preclude him from working for very small companies. This value will rise and fall during gameplay in relation to the overall score that shows booked by that worker achieve. Note that this is a relatively slow process and it can take multiple shows to cause a visible change. Additionally, if the booker's company rises or falls in size, they are eligible for a one-off sizeable bonus or penalty to their reputation.

21.13 Booking Skill

This indicates how talented as a booker the worker is. This affects them both when working as a head booker and in terms of how much Creative Energy they can contribute when on a booking team. The lower it is, the more random the booker becomes when in charge of an AI company; this both affects his booking (making it more chaotic and worse) and his judgement when it comes to hiring. A score of 50 or less would be considered quite poor (for a head booker; it could still be somewhat useful for a booking team member), while 0 means the worker won't be considered / apply for booking positions. In addition there are three additional tiers that affect specific booking decisions: If the booking skill is less than 85 then AI bookers do not have access to the ability to give big or mega-sized pushes to workers. This hinders their ability to get newcomers over quickly or to identify and promote potential stars. If the booking skill is less than 75 then AI bookers do not have access to the ability to 'de-push' workers who are declining due to age. This means they are less able to clear their main event scene of dead wood and will likely get worse main event scores over time. If the booking skill is less than 65 then AI bookers do not have access to the ability to give any special pushes or de-pushes at all. This makes them less effective at managing their roster over time. For workers with a booking skill above 0, it will naturally rise during their prime years (their 30s and early 40s) and decline after the age of 50, irrespective of anything else (this applies whether the character is user-controlled or not). The amount of change is random. No matter how much the worker's skill declines, it can never go below 1 (i.e. they can never become fully incapable of booking).

21.14 Booking Minimum Age

This gives the minimum age a worker must be to qualify as a booker; prior to reaching this age the worker's Booking Reputation is effectively zero in relation to being a head booker and he or she will not apply for jobs. This does not affect their ability to perform as part of a booking team. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar.

21.15 Hiring Preference

This value influences the type of workers the booker will bias towards hiring to the company he is working for. This works in conjunction with the company's product. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar.

21.16 Firing Preference

This value influences which workers the booker will target first when firings are necessary. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar. 'With Brain' means that he will look to workers who are liabilities; i.e. declining with age, injury prone, hurt, or unlikely to enhance the company any further. 'With Heart' means that he will look to keep workers who are long-time servants or who are good employees. 'With Wallet' means that he will look to workers who have high pay demands. 'With Foresight' means that he will look to workers who have the least long-term potential.

21.17 Title Reigns

This value covers how often the booker likes to have title changes. The more conservative they are, the longer the reigns will be. This works in conjunction with the company's current product. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar.

21.18 Booker Specialism

If the booker has a specialism in men's or women's wrestling then they will not look for jobs with companies of the opposite type. This has no impact if the worker is being used as an avatar.

21.19 Owners Being Bookers

Sometimes an owner will also act as their own head booker. Most owners will prefer to hire someone else to do the booking job (even if they themselves are good at it), but they will rarely hire someone much worse than themselves. However, a small number of owners will prefer to do both roles. This will generally happen for two reasons: either because they've been given an attribute that specifically triggers this behaviour, or, because they have a negative personality that makes them act selfishly / egotistically and they believe they're the best person for the job (even when they're clearly not). In this latter case, most personalities will involve a tolerance level that is set in relation to the company size. For example, if it's a huge company then even a very selfish owner will still need a fairly high minimum level of booking skill in order to think that they can do the job. For a smaller company, the owner won't necessarily need to be that good of a booker. Some personalities are much worse than others for this type of behaviour and will require the owner to be truly terrible at booking before they'll see that it's better to hire someone else.

22 Worker Relationships (+)

This section gives a detailed look at how worker relationships function. Sections 22.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

22.1 Basic Structure

Unlike in previous games, in TEW IX relationships are multi-faceted, with each one being defined by four elements; Family, Personal, Romantic and Mentor / Protege. Each relationship functions as the sum of its parts, therefore it's perfectly possible to have a relationship that contains both positive and negative elements. Generally speaking, family is considered the weaker of the four; that is, if the two workers have a bad personal or romantic relationship then whether they are family or not makes no difference, but if they have neither of those then the family relationship would mean they're positively inclined toward each other.

22.2 Family

Family relationships are static. Parents and Siblings are the most powerful, Distant Relative is very weak, while the others are all very similar power levels.

22.3 Personal

In ascending order, the most powerful positive levels are Mutual Respect, Friendship, Deep Friendship and Like Family. In ascending order, the most powerful negatives are Strong Dislike, Open Hostility, Hatred and Mutual Loathing.

22.4 Romantic

In ascending order, the most powerful positive levels are Dating, Engaged and Married. In ascending order, the most powerful negatives are Divorced and Permanent Split (they are equal) and then Broken Up.

22.5 Mentor / Protege

A mentor relationship is roughly equivalent in power to a Friendship, but has the bonus that mentors can pass on tips and advice to their proteges. A mentor can form multiple protege relationships during gameplay, but proteges will almost never have more than one mentor.

22.6 Seniority

Please note that for all relationships that infer a senior and junior partner (such as a parent and child or mentor and protege), the elder worker will automatically be considered the senior.

22.7 Shifting Relationships

Each relationship has a set of hidden counters that are used to simulate gradual shifts in the Personal relationship element. For example, if two workers have a bad interaction - an argument, for example - this does not directly change their personal relationship level, instead if alters the hidden counters to indicate a negative shift. It generally will take a number of positive or negative shifts to cause the Personal relationship to change from one level to another. The more powerful the interaction, the greater the shift that will happen. For this reason, the player's avatar in particular will rarely see a single incident change a relationship entirely, it's the build-up of multiple incident responses that will create a change. Be sure to note that these relationship shifts only apply to the Personal part. The Family setting never changes, while Romantic changes in single leaps based on some hidden counters and specific incidents that can occur. Mentor / Protege only changes in relation to backstage interactions. It is worth noting that there are two exceptions to the gradual shift system. The first is that there are some (rare) game world incidents that can cause an immediate change. The second is that some player-based interactions can cause a huge shift at once.

22.8 Reporting Relationships

Please note that only significant relationship changes get logged in the News section; this is to cut down on the data bloat and associated slowdown that would happen if every single change was recorded. Lesser relationship changes only get mentioned on-screen via the internet section or via messages directly to the player.

22.9 Isolated Through Relationships

A worker can end up feeling isolated backstage if they have two or more negative relationships (with people also currently in the locker room) and no positive relationships. If the number of negative relationships they have is four or more then the penalty becomes worse. This is different from feeling isolated because of a language barrier.

23 Contracts (+)

A central part of TEW, contracts tie a worker to a specific company. This large section takes a detailed look at all the elements that make up a contract. Sections 23.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

23.1 Contract Type

Contracts can be one of two types: Written or Handshake. A written contract means that there is a legal agreement involved. The advantage for the company is that the worker is locked in to the agreed amount of money and cannot demand pay rises if he becomes more popular. The worker also cannot simply walk out, they must at least hand in their notice first. The advantage for the worker is that if they are released then they are entitled to be paid compensation. Written deals can only be renegotiated in the final 30 days of the deal. A handshake deal, on the other hand, is not legally binding and so is much looser. Both the company and worker can choose to end the deal at any point, so there is little security involved. As a result, the worker is also free to ask for pay rises whenever he or she wants. Handshake deals can be renegotiated at any time. For AI companies, they will generally only offer Written deals if the company is greater than Medium size, or, if it's Medium size and one of the following is true: they have prestige above 70, more than $10,000,000, or the owner has a business finance setting of Flashy.

23.2 Exclusive Contracts

An exclusive contract means that the worker is tied to that employer and cannot work elsewhere unless specifically allowed to (such as being loaned out). Generally speaking it is written contracts that tend to be exclusive, as an exclusive handshake deal, by its nature, is quite unstable as rivals can make exclusive contract offers of their own at any point. If a worker signs an exclusive deal then they must automatically hand in their notice to all their other existing employers who do not have an iron clad clause in place.

23.3 Ongoing Contracts

Handshake deals have the option of having their length defined as being 'ongoing'. This means that the contract does not have an expiry date and will run until either the company or worker decides to end it (at which point a standard 30 day notice period would begin). It should be noted that workers can choose to move on during gameplay without necessarily being unhappy, so if they hand in their notice it is not always a reflection on how they have been treated; often they will simply have decided to look for new challenges. Most smaller AI companies will use ongoing contracts because of the flexibility they give.

23.4 Touring Contracts

Touring contracts are exclusive to companies that run that type of schedule. They work exactly the same as normal contracts except that they do not begin until the next event marked as Start Of Tour occurs and end immediately when the next event marked End Of Tour is completed. Additionally, bonuses are not paid for tour shows. Workers will take into account that touring contracts are designed to be short when negotiating. Note that touring contracts cannot function properly if a company's schedule has not been set up with events that contain the proper Start and End points.

23.5 Wage Demands

A worker's wage demands are calculated based on many factors and take into account all the roles, whether they currently play them or not - for example, even if someone is not set to be a colour commentator, if they are amazing at that role then they'll take that into consideration. For wrestlers, the primary basis of their demands is their popularity, while for the other roles it is a combination of popularity and their skill at the role. Retired wrestlers who were popular when they were active have minimum wage demands based on popularity. A worker's skills are taken into account and can potentially boost the demands by up to 10%. Figureheads will also want more money. If a worker hasn't been used in a long time then their demands will drop over time. Please note that a worker will always value themselves at no less than 80% of the wage they're currently making of that type. So if someone is making $1000 per show, their minimum per show demands would be $800 (but it would not affect their written demands). For this reason, in extreme cases it is possible for someone's per show demands to exceed their per month value.

23.6 Contract Pay

Pay can either be monthly or per show. Monthly pay, as the name suggests, means that the worker gets a set amount each month irrespective of how many (if any) shows he works during that month. The worker gets paid on a daily basis (the total amount divided by the days in that month) under this system (this is for fairness, so that if they leave before the end of the month they are not missing out on any pay). If a worker is to be paid per show, he gets a set amount for any show that he appears on. The amount is the same regardless of how much or little the worker does on the show; it will be the same whether he gives a one minute interview or wrestles three long bouts. The one exception to this is Tour shows; as these are effectively glorified house shows and the workers aren't expected to work at anywhere near full tilt, their pay per show is only 25% of its normal value. If a worker who is being paid per show is involved in more than one show per night then his pay is discounted - effectively they are working for less in exchange for getting a lot of work all at once. For the first show they will receive their normal value. On the second show it will be reduced by 25%. On the third show it is reduced by half. For any subsequent shows past that, the pay is reduced by 75%. When filling in a worker's pay in the editor, you may leave the field blank - the game will automatically work out the recommended level when a new game is created. This is the recommended way of doing it as it means the values will be scaled correctly to the game's financial structure.

23.7 Automatic Renegotiations

When a worker retires this automatically triggers a limited contract renegotiation with his employers; this is to take into account the change in circumstance (for example, someone may be earning a big wage to compete but has now retired from competition). In these renegotiations only a very limited amount of aspects can be renegotiated, and the company has the option of agreeing a mutual contract termination.

23.8 Iron Clad Clause

An iron clad clause is effectively extra security for a company; it means that the worker is prohibited from handing in their notice. As a result, the only way that the worker can leave the company is if the contract expires or the company chooses to terminate the deal. Because of their prohibitive nature, workers will always expect a better deal (usually more money) to make up for the disadvantage of signing an iron clad contract. Iron clad clauses are only allowed for written contracts as handshake deals lack the legality to enforce the terms.

23.9 Downside Agreements

A downside agreement is a minimum amount of money that a worker is guaranteed to get each month. For example, if a worker has a downside agreement of $1000 and at the end of the month he has only earned $200 from that employer, he is entitled to be paid $800 to make up the difference. However, if he had already earned $2000 then he gets nothing extra as he has already made (more than) the minimum amount. Downside agreements are only used for contracts in which the worker is being paid per show; this is because a monthly pay structure has a downside agreement inherently built into it. Because it guarantees money even when they're not working, downside agreements are very attractive to workers and can be powerful incentives when negotiating contracts. Generally speaking, workers who are asking for $100 or less per show, or who are working for a company that is below Big size, will not expect a downside (although they'll be pleased if you do offer one!). Those working for a Big company will expect a downside roughly equivalent to working five shows a month, for a Huge company this rises to six shows a month, while those working for Titanic companies will expect seven shows a worth. Workers who are being employed specifically to be special attractions or nostalgia acts will usually be happy to work without a downside as they know that they are likely to be used sparingly.

23.10 Developmental Deals

If a worker is sent to another company on a developmental deal then the parent retains ownership of the contract (i.e. they can recall or fire them and any negotiations are their responsibility) but the worker moves to the developmental company's roster. The developmental company cannot interfere with the contract (i.e. they have no power to fire the worker or change the terms of the deal). Whilst under a developmental deal, any wages and bonuses are paid for by the parent company. Any non-contractual payments (such as giving the worker a drugs test) are paid for by the developmental company. A worker can be sent to developmental via the Send Away button on the Roster screen, assuming the company has at least one developmental agreement in place.

23.11 Notice Periods

If a worker chooses to hand in his notice, whether that is because he wants to leave or because he must leave because of a contract he has signed elsewhere, the notice period is always 30 days regardless of what type of contract he has. If the worker had less than 30 days remaining, the lesser value is used. It is important to remember that in some cases the worker can choose not to bother working a notice period, such as if he was working under a handshake deal (although, unless there were morale issues, workers will always choose to act professionally and work their notice period), in which case they leave immediately. It is also worth noting that a worker who signs an exclusive deal does not have to wait for his handshake deals to end before beginning his new job; as a result it is perfectly possible for a worker to fulfil his notice period for his handshake deals while beginning his exclusive deal elsewhere.

23.12 Release Costs

If a company releases a worker from a written contract then they must pay them compensation. The way this is calculated depends on whether they are paid monthly or not. If the worker is paid monthly, the compensation amount is their next six months' worth of monthly pay; if they have less than six months remaining on their contract then they only get that amount. So, for example, if a worker had 30 days remaining on his contract and earned $10,000 a month then the compensation is $10,000. If they had ten years left then the compensation would be $60,000 (six months multiplied by their monthly pay). If the worker is paid per show, the compensation amount is calculated in the same way as the monthly version but uses their downside agreement rather than their monthly pay; if they do not have a downside then they are not eligible for any compensation. The release costs are ignored in some special situations, for example if the worker breached the contract (by sitting it out), requested his release, or was involved in firable behaviour such as getting into a scandal or other legal trouble.

23.13 Travel Clause

If a travel clause is included in a contract then the company must pay the travel costs to bring the worker to the show, in addition to their regular pay. The amount is based on the distance between the worker's base location and where the show is being held. If a worker is on multiple shows in a single night then the travel costs are only paid once. Travel between game areas costs $200, except between USA-Mexico, USA-Canada, and Britain-Europe, where it costs $100. Long distance travel within a game area costs $50. Short distance travel within a game area costs $20. As a rule of thumb, long distance is defined as being to a region that is not covered by the spillover of the worker's base location. If the worker's base is the same as the region the show is being held in then there is no travel cost involved. There are no travel costs involved for tour shows as the workers would be travelling from show to show together.

23.14 Limited Appearances

Most contracts do not have a limit to the number of appearances a worker will make, being 'unlimited', but it is possible to have contracts that have a stated limit of between 1 and 25 appearances. The way this works is that for each show a worker physically appears on (whether wrestling or in an angle) they 'use up' one appearance, and when the limit has been reached the contract automatically ends. Note that if the worker is not physically at an event - such as only being shown in a video - then this does not count as using up an appearance. To stop this being exploited, all contracts with limited appearances that are paid monthly automatically have a minimum use of 30 days. This means that if the deal expires within 30 days of the contract's start then the worker is entitled to the amount of money they would have earned had the contract ran for 30 days. For example, if you hire someone to be paid $1000 per month and to make one appearance, then use them the following day then the contract only lasted one day before expiring; as a result, the worker would be owed 29 days' worth of his pay (around $966). This prevents 'gaming the system' of hiring someone on a large contract when there is no intention to fulfil it properly.

23.15 Momentum

Momentum measures how successful the worker has been recently (in kayfabe terms). Numerous losses, beatings, and humiliations will lower the score; victories in matches or angles will raise it. A negative score creates a 'stigma' and this means that the worker will struggle to gain popularity until he has been 'built back up'.

23.16 Contract Roles

A worker may have anywhere from zero to eight roles on the roster. This tells the game how they are to be used. Whichever roles are selected cannot conflict with the worker's 'master list' (the roles given in his profile) but do not have to match; i.e. a worker cannot be a Wrestler in a contract if he or she does not have Wrestler ticked in their profile, but having Wrestler ticked in their profile does not mean that they must be a Wrestler in a contract.

23.17 Roster Usage

Roster usage is what positions the worker is contracted for. Workers will follow this very strictly, and so you will be unable to put them in a different position unless you re-negotiate the contract. Please note that AI-controlled companies do not take the intended role settings into account.

23.18 Intended Role

The intended role is the way in which the company has promised to use the worker. Each different type has different benefits or drawbacks, except for 'Normal' which is entirely neutral.

23.19 Normal Intended Role

A normal intended role is entirely neutral, having no benefits or drawbacks, and is what the vast majority of workers will be contracted for.

23.20 Icon Intended Role

Icons will expect to be used on virtually every show and will be less tolerant of defeats.

23.21 Special Attraction Intended Role

Special Attractions will not mind only appearing rarely.

23.22 Gatekeeper Intended Role

Gatekeepers will rarely complain at losing to people at their level or above.

23.23 Passing The Torch Intended Role

Torch Passers will be happy with a limited schedule and putting over other workers.

23.24 Future Main Eventer Intended Role

Future Main Eventers will expect to be used heavily and not to be losing very often to lower-level workers.

23.25 Backbone Intended Role

Backbone workers will expect to be used heavily but will be happy to put other people over quite a lot.

23.26 Blue Chipper Intended Role

Blue Chippers will be expecting to beat most workers who are at a lower level than them.

23.27 Nostalgia Act Intended Role

Nostalgia Acts will not mind only appearing very rarely and will be happy to put most other workers over.

23.28 Developing Intended Role

Developing workers will expect to be used heavily so that they can work on their skills.

23.29 Creative Control

If a worker has creative control then he has the power to reject proposals - such as matches, angles, or specific finishes - whenever he wants. Because of its power, offering a creative control clause is a big incentive and will make a contract offer seem more lucrative to a worker.

23.30 Hiring Veto

If a worker has a hiring veto then he can block the company from hiring anyone he wants. This only applies to hiring, not contract extensions.

23.31 Wage Matching

If a worker has wage matching then if anybody is signed or re-signed to the same type of contract as him for a higher wage then his own wages are automatically increased to match their amount.

23.32 Merchandise Cut

The merchandise cut is the percentage of net sales that the worker gets from his individual merchandise, assuming that the company is running a good enough operation to be selling worker-specific merchandise.

23.33 Shows Control

The 'shows control' clause says what shows the worker is contracted to wrestle on; it does not affect their availability for angles. Workers will follow these settings strictly and so you will not be able to break the terms without re-negotiating the contract first.

23.34 Bonus Type

The bonus type is how often the worker will get a bonus payment. Per Show means that the bonus will be paid for every event or TV show appearance, whereas Per Event and Per TV Show limit the bonus to only those specific types. Tour shows never involve bonuses.

23.35 Bonus Amount

The bonus amount is how much the worker will get from the Bonus Type clause; it is a percentage of his contracted pay value (i.e. if the pay is being reduced for some reason, the bonus is based on the value before any reducers are applied).

23.36 Stored Templates

Stored templates allow you to save and apply specific contract offers thus speeding up the negotiating process. You can apply, save, and delete them via the on-screen buttons when negotiating with a worker. The amount, downside, and signing bonus are not included as they are so specific to the worker and company being used, but all other terms are. Stored templates become available to all players in all games, irrespective of the database being used.

24 Events And Scheduling (+)

Events, which can also be called 'shows' or 'cards', are any wrestling show that is not specifically a TV or house show. This section takes a detailed look at the elements that makes up an event and how their scheduling can affect the game world. Sections 24.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

24.1 AI Scheduling

The event schedule for each company is created at the start of the game and remains static from that point on (except for the specific TV-related strategies where events can be made dormant.) The reasons for this are that it speeds up the game significantly, allows database makers a huge amount of control, and means that players aren't forced to potentially create entire schedules by hand. The AI will stick to its given schedule throughout the game - it has no capacity to add new events or remove old ones. It is important that database makers bear this in mind when making databases, as a badly put together schedule could potentially sink a company. Leaving it blank and on a fixed schedule, for example, would mean it is impossible for them to run events at all without user intervention.

24.2 Player Scheduling

The player is free to alter their schedule as often as they want in any way that they want. There are no explicit advantages or disadvantages to running a particularly heavy or light schedule, although of course there are natural impacts (such as burning out your roster if running a heavy schedule or losing popularity through not being seen often enough if running a very light schedule.) The player should bear in mind that after he leaves a company the AI will have to stick with whatever schedule has been left to it. Therefore it is generally a good idea to leave the schedule in good working order to prevent accidentally forcing the AI out of business with a schedule that isn't realistically viable.

24.3 Pay-Per-View Overuse

When calculating pay-per-view buyrates, fans in each region will take into account how many pay-per-views the company has put on in the past 31 days (remembering that multi day events effectively count as a single event). The closer two pay-per-views are together, the larger the potential penalty. For example, running two 'monthly' pay-per-views within a 14 day period will trigger a pretty severe penalty. The fans take into account context during this calculation and so they understand that weekly and bi-weekly pay-per-views are, by their nature, going to happen more often; as such, companies will not be penalised if they are running this type of schedule. However, the fans will only accept one method - e.g. a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly schedule is absolutely fine, but running any two at the same time wouldn't be. So, if you ran four or five weekly pay-per-views in a month you wouldn't get a penalty, but if you also had a monthly pay-per-view then this would be problematic. For this reason, it is strongly advised that companies that run either a weekly or bi-weekly pay-per-view stick exclusively to that format and do not have additional pay-per-view content.

24.4 Event Names

Events can have a 'name postfix' and associated number. This is data that gets added to the end of the show's usual name. With a Year postfix, the current year is added to the event name. For example, 'Winter Slam' becomes 'Winter Slam 2020' with the Whole Year option or 'Winter Slam '20' with Short Year. With a Numbered postfix, the current number is added, so 'Winter Slam' would become 'Winter Slam 3'. The number is automatically increased by 1 after the event has been held. With a Numerals postfix, this works exactly the same as Numbered except that the number is displayed in Roman numerals.

24.5 Event Types

Events can be every week, every two weeks, monthly, annual, or 'special', with the former four being self-explanatory. Special events have no set schedule; once they've been run they are set to be dormant and will not be used again until the player specifically re-schedules them. This is therefore very useful for one-off or irregularly scheduled events. Note that AI-controlled companies will not bring special events 'back to life' once they have been used and so you should not fill their schedule with them.

24.6 Positioning

Events have three settings - Positioning, Positioning Shift, and Base Month - that control how their next scheduled date changes. NB: For weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly events, not all of the settings will be available (because the nature of those events makes them redundant). With the Positioning setting, 'Exact Same Date' means that the event simply retains the day number (for monthly events) or day number and month (for annual events). So, a monthly event set to Exact Same Date which takes place on July 4th will advance to August 4th; an annual event set to Exact Same Date that takes place on July 4th will advance to July 4th of the following year. The other Positioning settings situate the event within a month and should be self-evident. So, 'First Sunday Of The Month' means that the date will be whatever the date of the first Sunday in that month is. The Positioning Shift setting can be used to modify the date by a set number of days. For example, if you wanted a show to happen on Black Friday, you could use a Positioning of 'Fourth Thursday Of The Month' and a Positioning Shift of '+1 Day' to create 'the day after Thanksgiving'. Shifting can also be useful for events that are meant to happen on successive days and for setting up tours. The Base Month setting simply informs the game what month the Positioning setting is referring to. (This is needed as, via the Shift setting, an event may end up in a different month than it actually took place in.) NB: It is important to note that you should be very careful about assigning Exact Same Date to a February 29th date on an annual event; this would cause it to only happen once every four years! Similarly, be careful about assigning 'late in the month' Exact Same Dates for monthly events, as if the day number does not exist - for example going from the May 31st to the non-existent June 31st - then it will take the nearest date (June 30th in that example) and this will cause it to be on the 30th each month going forward (i.e. it does not revert to the 31st). (Naturally, this means that over time these sort of events will always end up on the 28th due to February's structure.)

24.7 Positioning Shift And Years

When using the Positioning Shift setting, it is recommended that you try and avoid using it to change years where possible. As an example of this, setting an event to be on the Last Sunday Of The Month in December and then having a shift of '+10' would, for obvious reasons, result in the event being in January of the following year. While the game can handle this, in some cases this could lead to years being skipped. This is because annual events work by adding 1 to the current year and then using the Positioning, Positioning Shift and Base Month settings to work out the appropriate day and month. Therefore, by the nature of that calculation, if Positioning Shift has been used to intentionally alter the year then it can end up moving one more year than is likely intended.

24.8 Avoiding Dates

Using the Avoid dropdown menu, an event can be set to avoid holidays in certain game areas. If the event advances and lands on a specified holiday then it will automatically be moved. If it's a weekly or bi-weekly event then it will simply skip that date entirely. In any other case the event will be held a week in advance, unless that would move it into a different month in which case it is held a week later instead. Note that events that are set to happen on an exact date do not avoid holidays, even if set to, because this obviously doesn't make any sense. For a list of what the holidays are, please see the In-Built Holiday Dates entry in the Game World section.

24.9 Advancing Events

An event's Next Scheduled Date is advanced (using the Positioning settings explained in the previous entry) in four situations: Firstly, an event is automatically advanced once it has taken place, regardless of whether it's a human-controlled or AI-controlled event. Secondly, events can be manually advanced by the player from the Office > Events & TV screen. Thirdly, at the start of the game when the world is being set up, any event that is taking place in the past will be advanced as many times as necessary until it reaches the present day. Database makers should note that this means you do NOT have to manually advance event's Next Scheduled date if you're moving a the database year forward, the game will handle this automatically. Fourth and finally, inactive events (e.g. dormant events or those attached to a company that has yet to debut) will be advanced 'in the background' on the days on which they would have been run so as to keep the schedule consistent.

24.10 Multi Day Events

As the name suggests, multi day events are designed to cover situations where shows take place across two or more successive days. How they work and their effects will now be explained. To set an event as being part of a multi day series, all that needs to be done is to fill in the Multi Day Event field with the name of the series. For example, if you had two back-to-back events called WrestleFestival Day 1 and WrestleFestival Day 2, you'd give them both the Multi Day Event text of 'WrestleFestival'. If events are on successive days and share the same Multi Day Event text (which must match exactly, although it's not case sensitive) then they are considered part of the same series. Any number of events can be part of a series. Multi Day Events do not need to all take place in the same location (or even the same game area). A series can only include events from one company (i.e. child companies cannot run events as part of a parent company's series). It is vital to understand that being part of a Multi Day Event does NOT automatically mean the events take place on successive days - it is up to the player (or database maker) to set up their schedule accordingly. A series starts when the first event with Multi Day Event text is run and ends the next time an evening is completed in which that company did not run an event that was part of the series. While a series is active, any worker complaints about being left off a show are 'suspended'; instead, they are temporarily stored. When the series ends the complaints are all reviewed and appropriate action taken. For example, if Wrestler A was annoyed at being left off the first event but did then appear on the second (or any subsequent show in the series), his initial complaint would not come into effect as he would understand that ultimately he was on the show. However, if Wrestler B was annoyed at not being on the first show and then was not on any of the subsequent shows either, his complaint would be activated AND his level of annoyance would be increased (because you not only didn't use him on one show, you couldn't even find room for him within a whole series of events!). There are three further effects of running a series. Firstly, when it comes to calculating how many shows in a row a worker has been left off (which is an important factor in deciding when they complain about not being used), all the shows in the series count as a single event (e.g. in the previous example, Wrestler A would not be counted as having missed any shows, while Wrestler B's hidden counter would increase by 1). Secondly, events within a series are considered to be one single event when calculating whether the company is over-using pay-per-views (see Pay-Per-View Overuse, above). Thirdly, overall ratings for later events in the series are compared to previous events; if they're lower then the crowd can become annoyed at the dip in quality.

24.11 Show Lengths

A show's length has two major effects. The first, naturally, is that it impacts how much content has to be delivered - regularly running very long shows can be a major drain on both the roster and your Creative Energy (CE) levels, but equally allows more talent to be developed. The second effect is on finances; the longer a show is, the more advertising revenue it can draw from broadcasters, but it will also cost more to produce. Every show has a fixed cost (simulating the set-up costs, staffing, etc) but also a variable cost that rises for every half an hour the show goes. These costs are dependent on the size of the company, and are significantly less if the show isn't being aired anywhere. The AI can use whatever show length it wants but will not actually edit the specified length of an event - this is so that if a player later takes over that company they will still have the 'intended' lengths that the database maker gave that show.

24.12 Event Intent

An event can be set to have one of four intent levels. These tell the game what the show is meant to achieve and how it is presented to the fans. A show's intent does not impact changes to the workers' popularity, only the company's. A setting of Normal means that no special advantages or disadvantages are applied and is the most common intent level. Lesser shows will get a slightly reduced attendance level and are less powerful with regards to altering the company's popularity - a show needs to be much better or much worse than normal to trigger gains or losses. This type of show is useful for events that have a relatively weak line-up or aren't being treated overly seriously. A show that has a Tour intent is specifically meant to be one of the minor shows on a Japanese-style tour. These should not be used by companies that are not running a tour schedule. These shows are not broadcast, but will be taped if the company has a broadcast deal for highlight packages. The attendances are much lower and the fans are correspondingly much more lenient - the show would have to be particularly awful to lose popularity. Effectively a glorified house show on which the workers will take it easy, all pay-per-show amounts on these shows are only 25% of normal. It is very hard for a company to gain popularity from these shows as that is not their intent. Tour shows do not impact the importance level of the event. Throwaway shows are specifically designed to be used for charity shows, one-off tributes, etc, where there is no pretense that it is a serious spectacle or that it even affects the company's continuity. Attendances will be very low and the company's popularity is very unlikely to change (unless it gets a truly dreadful or ridiculously amazing final rating).

24.13 Event Importance

An event's importance is a measure of how respected it is in the eyes of the fans. It is a numeric value, but is shown to the player in text form as one of five levels from Normal to Legendary - for this reason, importance can be increasing without it being visually obvious. An importance level of Normal does not carry any advantages, but at Above Average or higher it will increase attendance levels and viewership numbers (with the increases becoming more powerful with each subsequent level.) It is important to note that the higher possible attendance levels require minimum levels of event importance in order to be reached. For example, a Normal importance card - even when used by a company with massive popularity - will struggle to get a (base) attendance of more than 20,000 people. Note that this only affects larger attendances - a company that was only going to draw 500 people isn't affected. The importance level goes up in two ways. At Normal importance, simply holding a show (assuming its intent is not Tour or Throwaway) will increase the importance value, with bonuses available if the final rating is high. At Above Average or higher, the importance will only go up if the show is Normal intent and gets a high enough rating, with the expectations rising as the level does (to get to Highly Regarded requires a rating of at least 75, Historic needs 85, and Legendary requires 90, although the requirement lowers a little for season finales). Weekly and monthly shows cannot rise above Normal. At the very highest importance levels, your workers will become upset if they are not used on the show as they will see it as a snub; for this reason, these shows will tend to be bigger affairs or feature multi-man matches in order to cram everyone onto the show.

24.14 Season Finales

Some companies have a season finale where it is implied that current feuds and stories will end, new ones will be created, and big matches will happen. They tend to draw bigger attendances and see the wrestlers work extra hard, but the fans have higher expectations as a result. For bigger companies, season finales 'unlock' access to the very highest levels of attendance possible, and this is why they'll often spike attendance numbers dramatically (although they have to be in combination with Legendary card importance to hit the absolute peaks). It is important to note that having more than one finale per year will tend to annoy the fans and can result in a penalty to the company's momentum, attendance and the show's final grade. The exception to this is that companies larger than Medium size can run back-to-back finales without receiving a penalty as long as the shows are explicitly part of the same multi day event and they happen on subsequent days. You can see when your company last ran a season finale via your assistant's notes in the office screen.

24.15 Tour Settings

An event may be set as Start or End Of Tour. This is used in-game with relation to touring contracts, letting the game know when the AI should look to hire people to go on tour and when those contracts should expire. Multiple simultanous tours are not allowed as the game would not know which tour is being referred to. These settings are important to do properly for touring companies as otherwise they leave the company without the ability to do touring contracts.

24.16 AI Instructions

An event's AI Instructions are guidelines that the game will try and follow when either booking the show for a company under AI control or when the player chooses to use the auto booker. Please note that the AI can choose to ignore the instructions in certain emergency situations, such as if the roster is too thin to sensibly attempt it.

24.17 Fixing Locations

You may use the Fix Area / Region and Fix Venue selections to lock an event to take place in a specific area, region, or venue, which is useful if the event has a particular theme. The AI will always do its best to fulfil the restriction, although it can override it if absolutely necessary (for example, if the chosen venue has already been used by another company and so is unavailable). Note that if the destination and venue selections contradict each other, the latter will be ignored. If no area / region is specified but a venue is, the venue's region will automatically be used to guide the AI's choice - there database makers and users do not need to fill in the Fix Area / Region selection if they have specified a venue. NB If an event has a fixed placement then the geo tag system is automatically ignored.

24.18 Geo Tags

For a detailed explanation of how the geo tagging system works, please see the Game World section further down the handbook.

24.19 Dormant Shows

If a show is set to be dormant it means it is no longer in use at all; this is purely for the player's benefit as it means the show will not appear in any lists (except the Events & TV screen) unless it is reactivated, which prevents lists from becoming clogged up with old shows.

24.20 Event Extras

An event can be given extras - live music and / or a special set - to make it seem more special. This cannot be preset in the editor, and is done via the Office > Events & TV via the Modify This Event button. You can choose to have a live band play at the event. This costs extra but has the advantage of getting the crowd hotter which may help you achieve higher segment ratings. You can pay extra to have a special set designed and built for the event. This helps make the event feel important and can raise the final rating slightly. (NB Celebrities were also an option in previous games in the franchise; this has been removed now that celebrities exist in their own right.)

24.21 Show Priority

You can set your company's show priority via the Events & TV screen. This tells the game in what order shows should occur if you are booking multiple shows per night. Your first option is whether to have all your TV or all your events first. Next you may set the order of the events. If in ascending order, the event with the lowest importance goes first and the highest importance last; descending order reverses this. Finally, you may set the order of the TV shows. If in ascending order, the TV show with the lowest prestige goes first and the highest prestige rating last; all 'B' shows are run in order before moving on to the 'A' shows. Descending order reverses this, with the 'A' shows going first, starting with the highest prestige and working downwards, then the 'B' shows.

25 Television Shows (+)

Television shows can either be wrestling shows, which are tied to a specific company, or 'other', which simulates non-wrestling content. This section looks at both. Sections 25.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

25.1 'A' Shows vs. 'B' Shows

TV shows can be classed as being 'A' or 'B' level. 'B' shows are when everyone knows that it's 'second class'; nobody expects anything important to happen and so ratings are much lower and it has no effect whatsoever on the company's popularity. Workers can still gain popularity on them, however. They are generally used to give lower level workers time to develop or just to give them something to do.

25.2 Length

Like events, TV shows have a specified length and this decides how many minutes over or under the booking is allowed to go. Longer shows have a natural financial advantage in that they can generate more revenue due to the fact there is obviously more advertising time available.

25.3 Held On Vs. Shown On

TV shows have two days associated with them, the day it is actually held on and the day that it is due to be shown. If the two days are the same, the show is live, otherwise it is being shown on a tape delay. Taped shows tend to get lower viewership due to spoilers, and so a company would rarely choose to do a taped show over a live version unless they were specifically trying to avoid going head-to-head with another show.

25.4 Tape Schedule

TV shows can be done in blocks of up to four at a time; this means that they are booked on the same day, consecutively. They are always taped in the order that they are shown. Whether the first show is live or not depends on its settings (see Held On Vs. Shown On, above), while any subsequent shows in the block would be broadcast over the following weeks. The main advantage of booking in blocks is that the company can save money (as 'pay per show' workers work for less (see Contract Pay in the Contract section of this handbook) and you're only paying one set of travel / hotel costs). The disadvantages are that viewership will dwindle for each taped show (due to spoilers and the fact that it's old content), that taping back-to-back (especially four shows) can exhaust a crowd, and that workers who are on multiple shows can get tired or injured. NB: Note that title changes and matches are always recorded as having taken place on the date of the show NOT when it was broadcast, so having a title change multiple times within a taping block will leave reign lengths as being zero days.

25.5 TV Numbering

TV shows can have a number assigned to them which represents the episode number. This is purely cosmetic, and simply means that a number is appended to the name of each show to identify what episode it is.

25.6 Prestige

A TV show's prestige is a measure of how respected it is within the broadcast industry and with the fans. A show's prestige rises the longer it is on air. A high prestige show has more value to a broadcaster and so gets more leeway in regards to bad ratings. The prestige value is also used by the AI when deciding which TV shows to use; a highly prestigious show is much more likely to be chosen to be brought back than a lesser known show.

25.7 Avoiding Dates

Using the Avoid dropdown menu, a TV show can be set to avoid being held on holidays in certain game areas. If the show would be held on a specified holiday then it will automatically skip that date entirely, moving forward to the following week. Note that this only affects when a TV show is being held, not when it is being broadcast. For a list of what the holidays are, please see the In-Built Holiday Dates entry in the Game World section.

25.8 Fixing Locations

As with events, you may use the Fix Area / Region and Fix Venue selections to lock a TV show to take place in a specific area, region, or venue. The AI will always do its best to fulfil the restriction, although it can override it if absolutely necessary (for example, if the chosen venue has already been used by another company and so is unavailable). Note that if the destination and venue selections contradict each other, the latter will be ignored. If no area / region is specified but a venue is, the venue's region will automatically be used to guide the AI's choice - there database makers and users do not need to fill in the Fix Area / Region selection if they have specified a venue. NB If a show has a fixed placement then the geo tag system is automatically ignored.

25.9 Show Priority

You can set your company's show priority via the Events & TV screen. This tells the game in what order shows should occur if you are booking multiple shows per night. Your first option is whether to have all your TV or all your events first. Next you may set the order of the events. If in ascending order, the event with the lowest importance goes first and the highest importance last; descending order reverses this. Finally, you may set the order of the TV shows. If in ascending order, the TV show with the lowest prestige goes first and the highest prestige rating last; all 'B' shows are run in order before moving on to the 'A' shows. Descending order reverses this, with the 'A' shows going first, starting with the highest prestige and working downwards, then the 'B' shows.

25.10 Other TV Shows

Other TV Shows are non-wrestling broadcasts. They are not linked to a specific broadcaster. They can have an impact upon any of the eight game areas, and the impact level equates to the coverage level of a normal broadcaster; however, there are four extra sizes available to simulate the fact that these shows have a potentially much larger viewership. These types of shows exist to add colour to the game world but do also have a genuine impact - if a lot of people are watching one of these shows then it can cause lower viewership figures for any wrestling shows that are happening on the same day in the same timeslot. Other TV Shows are scheduled in the same way as regular events, in that they can be given an exact date or a more general placement (such as 'second Saturday'). If using general dates, they can also be given positional shifts (i.e. '+1') - these work the same way as for events, where the date is moved forward or backward that many days (this allows movable occasions like Thanksgiving to be simulated).

26 Tag Teams (+)

This section breaks down the elements that make up a tag team. Sections 26.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

26.1 Company-Specific Teams

Tag teams can either be company-specific or game-wide (where the Company field is set to None). A game-wide team is used for tag teams who regularly team up in more than one company. If they are brought together in a company that does not have a company-specific record for them already, they will use their game-wide settings by default. This allows a regular team to use their 'proper' team name across the world. Company-specific teams hold the information about that tag team for that particular company; these settings do not affect anywhere else. Every active tag team needs a company-specific record even if they have a game-wide version: this is because their status (active, inactive, etc) and type may be different in each company.

26.2 Team Types

There are three different team types: Permanent Unit, Unit, and Individuals. These can be further divided into active or inactive versions, depending on how each company is using them. If inactive, they have no impact on gameplay until they are reactivated. A Permanent Unit is a special type for teams who are strongly identified as always being together. They share the effects of wins and defeats in tag team matches equally regardless of who actually got pinned or submitted. Additionally, the AI will never break them up, even if one member becomes significantly more popular, and will generally try to use them only as a team. A Unit is for teams who team regularly and are known as a duo (rather than two singles wrestlers who happen to be teaming) and works in the same manner as a Permanent Unit in that gains and losses are shared equally between the members. The difference is that the AI does have the option of breaking them up if there's a good reason (such as there being potential for one or both of them to become singles stars) and the members can be used in singles situations. Individuals is a designation for situations where two singles wrestlers team up occasionally. They do not share the effects of wins and defeats, instead the person who is involved in the fall takes the lion's share of the gains or losses. The AI will treat them as two singles competitors and will have no issue breaking them up or giving them extended solo runs. The AI will generally team them up where possible in situations where it needs to use a tag team, but if one is unavailable or being used elsewhere on a show then it will happily team the other member up with somebody else if needed.

26.3 Tag Experience

Experience shows how often two partners have teamed together. The higher the experience level gets the better they will work as a pair, and this can even allow them to overcome the effects of negative chemistry once it reaches 40. Experience goes up any time the two workers team together in a tag team environment, even if they have other partners as well (such as in a six person tag team match). A team's experience is global; that is, an experience gain applies to all versions of that team, even in other companies.

26.4 Tag Finisher

Each team can have a tag team finisher assigned to them. If filled in, this is eligible to be referenced in the match output when a show is run. The finisher can also be given a short description; this is entirely for the player's benefit in order to illustrate what the move is meant to be, it has no other function.

26.5 Tag Relationships

If two workers are in an active tag team in a company and are both backstage at an event held by that company then they have an increased chance of their relationship developing. Whether this is a positive or negative development depends on the context. This simulates the fact that a tag team will likely be spending a lot of time together and so means that they're more likely to end up with a notable relationship.

27 Stables (+)

Stables, AKA factions, are groupings of workers who, usually, have a common cause or bond. This section breaks them down. Sections 27.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

27.1 Faction Stables

These are stables where there is almost always a focal-point leader who has aligned himself with a few like-minded allies. This is the most common type of stable. The strength of the stable is calculated by looking at all the members except Lackeys and Fodder, with their role informing the game how big of a contribution they make, although the leader (or leaders) is disproportionally important overall.

27.2 Brotherhood Stables

These are stables where the members are strongly linked, either by blood, close friendship, or some other unshakeable bond. They will usually not have a defined leader, but each member will instead have a specific role. The stable's strength is calculated by looking at every member, with the amount they contribute depending on their role; i.e. Fodder and Lackeys are far less important than full Members.

27.3 Cult Stables

These are stables based around a 'cult of personality', so the leader is usually a charismatic central presence. The stable's strength is entirely dependent on how the leader (or leaders) is doing, the other members of the cult are background players.

27.4 Gang Stables

These are stables where a group of wrestlers with a similar outlook have banded together. There may or may not be a leader or leaders, as gangs are just as happy to work as a unit without a specified head. The strength of the stable is calculated by looking at all the members, even the Lackeys and Fodder, with the role telling the game how big of a contribution they make.

27.5 Alliance Stables

These are very loosely knit stables, often very short-lived, where a group of wrestlers with similar goals have come together to pool their resources. The stable does not have a strength rating as it is very much a group of individuals rather than a grander concept.

27.6 Stable Details

A stable can be listed as important or not. When closed down, important stables are simply made inactive, whereas unimportant stables are deleted. The former is used for stables that are likely to be brought back as it saves typing out their information a second time. Most AI-created stables are unimportant. The minimum and maximum number of members is used by the AI to keep the stable in the right 'shape'. Please note that Support roles do not count towards this total. It has no bearing on user-controlled companies. If a stable is set to 'must involve' a wrestler then the stable will be shut down by the AI if it is ever in a position where that wrestler is not associated with the stable any more. This is useful for situations where a stable is strongly tied to someone specific. The disposition and gender settings for each stable are used by the AI to keep the stable on track. They have no bearing on user-controlled companies. The No New Members setting allows the database maker to block a stable from making additions, which can be useful for stables that have a fixed membership or where new members don't make sense.

27.7 Stable Members

Stables can have up to 18 members, each of whom must have a defined role. The role impacts how that worker's current perception and momentum affect the stable's strength. The leader is obviously the most important part of the stable. A stable can have multiple leaders. The Deputy and Heir work in identical ways in that these workers are next in line to take over the stable if the leader is removed. The 'Member' role is the default; this means that they are simply a regular part of the stable with no special designation. Muscle means that the worker is used as a weapon of sorts, and generally denotes size. Lackeys and Fodder are effectively the same in that they're for members who exist pretty much to bulk out the stable and are often there to bump for bigger names. Lackeys are slightly more important and are more likely to graduate to the Member role. The Support role is for managers, valets, etc, who are part of the stable but not in an active in-ring capacity. They do not count towards the minimum and maximum member totals.

27.8 Stable Strength

You can see a stable's current strength from the stables screen. This is calculated, based on the type of stable, by analysing the current perception levels and momentum of the members in relation to their role within the stable. This gives the player an idea of how the stable is currently viewed by the fans. The stable strength does not in itself affect anything, it's merely a visual guide to how it is being presented. Stable members do not gain any advantages or disadvantages just from being in a stable, irrespective of its strength or weakness. Members get boosts and penalties only based on how they are actually being booked. So, if a worker is in a strong stable and being booked well then obviously he will likely be getting natural benefits due to the way he is being used.

27.9 AI Stables

The AI can create and maintain stables. Creation will only take place if the product lends itself to stables (such as having some degree of entertainment), there are enough free workers to support it, and the company is already stable-heavy. The AI will always try and maintain its stables where possible, using the settings it has been given. The AI does take stables into account when booking, and will always try to group stables together, keep members from fighting each other, and not to team members with non-members. It is recommended that the user or database maker does not overload a company with either large numbers of stables or stables that have huge numbers of members, as both of these situations will cause significant numbers of potential matches to become invalid and will likely hinder the AI booking.

27.10 Logos And Backdrops

A stable can have both a logo and a backdrop image specified. The logo is the main image and is used throughout the game when that stable is being identified. Backdrops appear on screens where a member is being displayed and, as the name suggests, give a stable-specific backdrop behind the worker's image. This is specifically for when transparent GIF images are being used for workers; if the worker image is non-transparent, such as JPGs, then the backdrop is simply obscured from view and serves no purpose. Note that if Default Backdrops are turned off via the Options menu then the company's logo is used if no backdrop is found.

28 Titles (+)

Titles (AKA 'title belts', 'championships', etc) exist in almost all companies in wrestling. In this section we look at how they function. Sections 28.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

28.1 Owned By Vs. Original Owner

The Owned By setting tells the game who currently owns the title, whereas Original Owner is where the title originated. The latter is cosmetic.

28.2 Alliance Titles

An alliance title is owned by the alliance and not the company that currently possesses it. Companies can loan alliance titles (and their holders) during gameplay if they're part of the alliance. The belt always returns to the alliance after the show is over.

28.3 Title Limits

Titles can be limited by gender ID, divisions, weight, and whether the worker is considered a mini. A worker must 'pass' all these checks in order to be considered a valid holder or contender. For AI-controlled companies, if a champion becomes invalid (for example because their weight has shifted outside the limits) then they will be stripped of the belt. Note that this is checked once per month and so the change may not be immediate.

28.4 Title Level

A title's level informs the game what level of competitors should be holding or challenging for it. It refers to a worker's Perception level. Additionally, this affects the upper and lower boundaries for a title's prestige value. A 'floating' title is one that can move up and down the roster as required. These are meant to be quite rare as they are difficult to book, as naturally they tend to work 'upwards' given that it's far more likely that a high-level worker will defeat a low-level one.

28.5 Title Prestige

A title's prestige indicates how important it is. This will change over the course of the game and is directly linked to the segment ratings of matches where it is on the line, slowly shifting toward the final rating. Prestige has two main functions. Firstly, if it is much higher or lower than a match's rating then it can provide a boost or penalty. Secondly, certain levels of prestige are required for a worker to gain points towards entering the Hall of Immortals or a company's Hall of Fame.

28.6 Fix Area / Region

Titles can be 'fixed' to a certain game area (or in some cases game areas, plural) or region. This simply means that they are only eligible for use on shows held within those limits. This is specifically designed for titles where they fulful a specific geographical function, such as having a 'British championship' only defended within the British Isles.

28.7 Title Function

A title's function tells the game that it is intended only for a certain subset of the roster. This is used by the AI to ensure only valid workers hold or challenge for a title. The user is not required to obey these restrictions in their booking. Note that the age-related functions are as follows: 'Youngsters' means workers of 30 or under; 'Veterans' means worker who are 32 or older.

28.8 Title Frequency

A belt can be given a frequency for events, tours, and TV shows. This controls how likely the title is to be put in a match during that type of show. It only matters for AI shows and auto booking, a human player is free to ignore the settings entirely. There are five levels: Never, Not Often, Normal, Often, and Where Possible. Never obviously means that the belt will never be defended on that type of show, whereas Where Possible means that as long as the AI has the ability to make the match, it should. For events, Not Often means the belt has a 1 in 6 chance of being booked, Normal means a 50% chance, and Often means there's a 5 out of 6 chance. (For season finale events major belts are almost always used regardless of frequency.) For TV shows, Not Often means the belt has a 1 in 8 chance of being booked, Normal means a 1 in 4.5 chance, and Often means there's a 1 in 3.5 chance. For tours, Not Often means 1 in 10, Normal is 1 in 7, and Often is 1 out of 4. Note that those are just the chances of an attempted booking being made; if the champion isn't available then the belt can't be booked regardless of the frequency. Also, please note that as this is based on probability you will sometimes see fluke results; for example, even a belt with a 1 in 6 chance of being booked can occasionally end up on several shows in a row.

28.9 Achievements

If a title is marked as being an achievement this means that it is something you accomplish rather than a title. This is purely a cosmetic touch; if something is an achievement that you'll see text like 'X wins the BELT NAME', whereas if it isn't an achievement that you'll see 'X wins the BELT NAME title'. The difference is that the latter has the word title appended.

28.10 Annual Competitions

Annual competitions are, as the name suggests, designed to be held once-a-year at specific events. The AI will always try to fulfil these as a priority - if the AI doesn't use it, it's because it physically wasn't able to make a valid booking. Users are not required to use these titles; there is no penalty for not booking it (or booking it in a different manner).

28.11 AI Reign Lengths

When a new champion is crowned the AI creates a hidden 'reign length counter' which is a measure (in terms of number of days) of how long it intends for that champion to hold the belt. While that reign length counter is above zero the champion will retain in title bouts. Once it reaches zero, the AI will then seek to move the title on to a suitable replacement at the next appropriate opportunity. The reign length is calculated using several factors, which include: the level of the title, the company's schedule, the normal title length associated with the company's current product, the head booker's preference, and the current date (i.e. reigns are longer as you go back in time). There is also an element of randomness to make sure that there is some variance in the lengths and they do not all uniformly end after the same amount of time. There are exceptions to this system. Notably, the AI can end a title reign early, even if the reign length counter is above zero, if there is a good reason - for example, if the champion's contract is coming to an end or they're going to be leaving due to being stolen.

28.12 Title Lineages

Every title can have a lineage, which is a list of previous champions. Lineages are always shown in sequence, using the Order Number to decide what order they're shown in - number one is the first person to hold it. When filling in former champions you can give a name and also link it to a specific worker in the database. If the name given is different from the worker's default name, when shown in-game it will display in brackets that it was won under an alternate identity. You may also give a name but not link it to a worker. In this situation, the title holder will simply be displayed as the name text. This can be useful if the holder is not in the database, but can also be used for periods where the belt was suspended or retired in order to give extra information. Because the game has no way of knowing if you're referring to a person or situation when there's just text, these 'text only' reigns do not count towards any records.

29 Gimmicks (+)

In TEW the term 'gimmick' specifically refers to the (often exaggerated) character that a worker will perform as. This section of the handbook breaks them down. Sections 29.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

29.1 What Are Gimmicks?

Gimmicks are the character, role, or stereotype that a worker plays in a company. It is represented to the player in TEW IX by a descriptive piece of text, a rating, and a list of pros and cons. The name of the gimmick is there for the player's benefit, but has no real impact; there's no context to it (i.e. using 'cfcvxcvcxvxcv' as the name means as much to the game as 'Rich Snob', and having a worker use 'Tough Biker' does not mean that you'll get pros and cons related to your concept of a tough biker) and two gimmicks given the same name are not connected in any way. A worker can have default face and heel gimmicks. These are used to automatically prepare a gimmick for them when they sign for a new company. They are not essential.

29.2 Gimmicks And Products

There are three types of gimmick usage depending on a company's current product. 'All workers will be expected to be using a gimmick' means that any active participant - that is, a wrestler, occasional wrestler, manager, or personality - will be heavily penalised if they perform without a gimmick. The effects of all gimmicks in the company are active. 'Gimmicks will not be necessary, but will have an impact if used' means that there are no penalties for workers who do not have a gimmick, but any gimmicks that are used are active (i.e. their pros and cons are in effect). 'Gimmicks will have no impact' means that workers are not penalised for not having gimmicks and the pros and cons of any that are used are turned off. There is no penalty for a worker who does have a gimmick, and often it is useful to give workers gimmicks anyway in case the product changes in the future.

29.3 Changing Gimmicks

To prepare a gimmick change all the player needs to do is go into Office > Roster and either click the line of text relating to gimmicks for the worker in question or hit the Gimmick Details button. From the screen that follows you will be asked to select a gimmick name, an approach on the generic-unique / safe-creative matrix, and a basis. These three pieces of information provide the basis for the gimmick change. If the worker has no gimmick then a prepared gimmick change happens automatically the next time they appear on-screen. If they do have a gimmick, the player can activate the change manually in any segment in which they appear on-screen. As explained on-screen, the position you choose on the generic-unique / safe-creative matrix affects what sort of rating the gimmick will get, its lifespan, and the likelihood of getting pros and cons. The basis impacts what pros and cons are potentially available. You do not need to worry about a worker being suited to a gimmick; it is automatically assumed that you are choosing a gimmick that they can play and which is appropriate to your company.

29.4 Starting Gimmicks

When a worker is signed to a company they will automatically prepare a gimmick change for their debut (even if the company does not use gimmicks; see 'Gimmicks And Products' above) providing that the worker has default gimmicks assigned. They will automatically take the 'middle way'; that is, the prepared gimmick will be exactly in the centre of the generic-unique / safe-creative matrix. The player can alter (or cancel) this gimmick change in the normal manner.

29.5 Gimmick Mechanics

When a gimmick is debuted it is given a lifespan - this is a hidden value between six months and six years that indicates how long the gimmick can stay fresh. It is also given an initial rating and hidden upper and lower limits. While the gimmick is fresh, the rating will improve until it hits the upper limit. It will then stay there until the lifespan ends, after which it will slowly fall until it hits its lower limit. The player cannot see exactly when the gimmick is rising or falling, but can see clues (such as road agent notes or by seeing the rating change over time). Every gimmick has a hidden number of 'tweaks' available, between one and ten. A user can tweak a gimmick whenever they want. Tweaking a gimmick has two major effects. Firstly, the lifespan of the gimmick is refreshed, randomly, to anywhere between three months and three years. Secondly, the upper and lower limits are randomly modified - they can go up or down by a small amount. Tweaking therefore can be a useful way of prolonging or freshening up a gimmick that is either stale or not working as well as it could. Pros and cons are not affected. Awful and Poor rated gimmicks lower a worker's performance (providing gimmicks have an effect in the company). Very Good, Great and Legendary improve it. Adequate gimmicks have no impact at all on performance. With this system, the user has to make judgement calls throughout the course of a gimmick's life. For example, if a gimmick has a poor rating to begin with you could stick with it and hope the worker grows into it or you could immediately try a different gimmick and take the associated 'too soon' penalty - that may save you from some damage, but you may be bailing on a gimmick that would have become Legendary. Equally, you must make a judgement call on when to make tweaks - do you wait until the gimmick is definitely starting to fade? Before then in an attempt to pre-empt the decline? Every year, regardless of how it's doing? All could prove fruitful or backfire!

29.6 Gimmick Pros And Cons

You can view the current pros and cons of a gimmick by clicking on either the gimmick text on any of the roster or booking screens (except for companies you have no control over) or the Gimmick Details button within Office > Roster. A gimmick's pros and cons do not change over the course of its lifespan even when it is tweaked; the only way for them to change is for a full gimmick change to be performed.

29.7 Developmental Gimmicks

When a worker is sent away to a child company their current gimmick settings are saved; when they return, they will revert to the gimmick as it was at the point they left. This is to simulate the fact that the parent company's audience wouldn't necessarily be following their exploits elsewhere.

29.8 Loan Gimmicks

If a worker joins another company on loan then they will automatically start with the gimmick set up that they use in their original company, including their pros and cons. This is to simulate the fact that they're coming in as an established character. They can still be given a fresh gimmick as normal.

29.9 Gimmick Memory

When a worker leaves a company the fans will automatically remember their gimmick, in the state it was when they left, for three months. If the worker returns during that period, they are eligible for their gimmick to revert to how it was rather than starting afresh.

29.10 Gimmick Ideas

The gimmick ideas file is a collection of gimmicks that can be used when the player needs some inspiration. You may access this section when preparing a gimmick change (this is the only place where gimmick ideas are used). It will give you a list of all the gimmick ideas that suit the worker in question. Selecting a gimmick will automatically fill in the name and basis for your prepared gimmick change. The settings for gimmick ideas are purely to inform the game which workers are suited to it. The description and gimmick requirements have no impact at all on the gimmick change itself.

30 Company Relationships (+)

This section breaks down how relationships between companies function. Sections 30.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

30.1 Company Relationship Mechanics

Company Relationships keep track of the agreements and stances that different companies have with each other. This can be preset in the editor, but will organically develop over the course of gameplay. The player can directly manipulate these with negotiations either via the Relationships section of the office or via the same part of the company profile screen (they lead to the same place). When negotiating, responses are always immediate except when dealing with another player-controlled company where they may need to respond. The key elements for these relationships are the size of the companies involved, the respective owner's preferences and interpersonal relationships, the current opinion levels, and any existing allies or enemies. If Companies A and B change their relationship, all of their respective allies and enemies can potentially have their opinion levels altered and may even alter their relationships accordingly. For this reason, the player should always consider what knock-on effects may happen before making a move.

30.2 Relationship Opinion

Opinion is a measure of how happy one company is with another and influences how companies react to each other. For example, a very negative opinion would highly increase the chance that a company would choose to end a talent trading agreement or would respond to a threat by declaring war. Opinion levels always move towards neutral over time, simulating 'time healing all wounds', however this is a very slow process. Opinion levels have no effect on a player-controlled company (because it's up to the player how he or she responds) but is still tracked so that it can be used if and when the company becomes AI controlled. Opinion levels go up when two companies make a positive relationship change, when a company makes a positive interaction with another's allies or a negative interaction with their enemies, and when they make positive moves such as giving money, or sending out a worker on a developmental deal or an excursion. Opinion levels go down when two companies make a negative relationship change, when a company makes a negative interaction with another's allies or a positive interaction with their enemies, when a company defeats another in a national battle, and when they make negative moves such as using dirty tricks or sending a developmental worker back early. Please note that opinion levels still exist even if the companies have no explicit agreements or attitudes in place. This allows the game to track their interactions 'behind the scenes' and apply them to future dealings.

30.3 Approaching Other Companies

To approach another company in order to make or propose changes to your relationship, either use the Relationships button in the editor or view the company in question and click Relationships. Clicking the Negotiate button will take you to a screen where you can make your changes / proposals. Note that once you've clicked Negotiate you can then deal with any company, so you don't need to access the screen via the particular company you want to talk to.

30.4 Parents And Children

Companies can own other companies, who are called 'child' companies, either by taking them over (via the Contact button in a company's profile), creating them (via the Investments screen), or having the relationship preset at the start of the game via the editor. This relationship can only be broken by bankruptcy or by the parent company choosing to close or cut loose the child. A child company is subservient to the parent; that is, the parent owns all the workers on the roster (even if signed by the child) and may alter the child's schedule, title belts, etc, at will. The child company, if run by the AI, will be able to manage its own roster and make independent signings, but only if it is not also set to accept developmental workers; if it does accept developmental workers, the parent is entirely responsible for maintaining the roster. Lastly, and most importantly, the child company is not financially independent. At the end of each month any profits or losses it has made are absorbed into the parent's finances, leaving it back at $0 (it may not be exactly zero by the time the player views it, due to running costs and additional expenses that happen after the monthly finance round up). For this reason, it is impossible for a child company to go bankrupt unless the parent does. Unlike many of the older games in the franchise, child companies are playable. In these circumstances, the player has a lot of freedom in how he runs the company, but ultimately must accept any decisions or restrictions imposed by the parent. The player can make independent signings when running a child company, even if set to accept developmental workers from the parent. Note that owning a company does not automatically allow the parent to send developmental workers to the child. This is a separate agreement. However, as the child company cannot refuse relationship changes from the parent, the parent always has the option of creating this relationship.

30.5 Child Owners And Bookers

A user playing as a parent company can assign or change the CEO and head booker of their child company at any time via the Child Companies page in the office. It is highly recommended that these positions are not left blank as otherwise the company will struggle to function. When changing the CEO or booker, the user will automatically only be shown the candidates who are eligible and interested; all other workers are automatically removed from the list.

30.6 Sister Companies

A sister company relationship is an unbreakable bond between two companies; it means that they are always on positive terms, always considered allies, and are far more willing to engage in positive interactions with each other. This is meant to be a relatively rare relationship type - it will never happen organically in the game world - and is meant to simulate real-life companies who are closely linked to the point that they share a lot of the same workers, staff, and potentially even backstory / canon.

30.7 Friendly Attitude

If Company A has a friendly attitude towards Company B then it does not have a direct impact on gameplay, however, it does mean that they are more likely to be willing to engage in positive interactions, and are considered allies for the sake of any knock-on effects from Company B's other interactions.

30.8 War

A war is considered to be active if one or both companies have declared war. In most cases, a war will be mutual, however it is possible for one company to have war declared on it but not respond. The advantage to not responding is that this makes the war uni-directional and thus is significantly easier to end. However, it is important to remember that the war is still active even if one side does not respond. The primary and most obvious effect of a war is that it means that workers cannot be employed by both companies at once; they will always have to leave their old employer when they sign with the new, with the sole exception being if they cannot (due to being under an Iron Clad contract). Workers are aware of this and will take it into consideration when negotiating. Being at war also affects knock-on relationship effects. For example, if you make a positive interaction with another company, any company you are at war with would tend to lower their opinion of the company you interacted with. If a company goes bankrupt, any company that they are at war with gets a boost to their locker room morale, but only if the war is two-way and has been going more than a year.

30.9 Hostile Attitude

If Company A has a hostile attitude towards Company B then it does not have a direct impact on gameplay, however, it does mean that they are more likely to end up at war, less likely to be willing to engage in positive interactions, and are considered enemies for the sake of any knock-on effects from Company B's other interactions.

30.10 Talent Trading

If two companies have agreed a talent trading agreement then they have access to the talent trading screen (available in your office) and can borrow, offer, or swap workers. The same effect can be achieved by being in an alliance together (assuming the alliance uses trading) - there is no advantage or disadvantage to having both with the same company.

30.11 No Stealing

If Company A agrees not to steal workers from Company B then it means that they can negotiate with employees of Company B but cannot offer terms that would cause them to leave.

30.12 No Signing

If Company A agrees not to sign workers from Company B then it means that they simply cannot open negotiations with an employee of Company B. The sole exception to this is if the worker already works for Company A, as this would be an extension rather than a new signing and so is exempt from this block.

30.13 Accepting Excursions

If Company A agrees to accept workers on excursion then Company B has the option of proposing to send a worker over for seasoning. This is primarily for Japanese companies.

30.14 Accepting Developmentals

If Company A agrees to accept developmental workers then Company B has the option of sending workers down for whatever reason (usually to work on their skills) whenever they like, and to call them back up. This relationship can exist even if Company A is not owned by Company B. Once sent down, the worker is a normal member of Company A's roster except that they cannot be fired and it is Company B who would handle any contract negotiations. It is important to note that while the worker is away on developmental, it is the company who sent them that pays him or her, not the receiver. This includes their wages and any bonuses or additional costs (such as travel). If the developmental agreement between the two companies is broken, whether intentionally or because one company went out of business, the developmental workers are automatically returned to the sender's roster. A company can only accept developmental workers from one company (although a company can have multiple receivers), and a company cannot both send and receive developmental workers.

30.15 Doing Talent Trades

There are three types of talent trade: Trade, Offers, and Swaps. Trades mean a worker (or workers) go in opposite directions for a limited time loan period, potentially with a cash incentive on offer too. Offers mean that one side loans out a worker without getting anything in return. Swaps are permanent exchanges. In all cases, the other company will base their decision on how it would affect their roster and will rarely accept a proposal where they come off worse. Note that a worker's position with you is not necessarily relevant - just because a worker is a Major Star and champion on your roster does not mean that he wouldn't be an Unimportant rated jobber if he was traded to someone else. There are no limits to how often a company can use Talent Offers or Talent Swaps. For Talent Trades, an AI company won't trade the same worker to different companies within the same six month period, won't trade the same worker to a specific company more than three times in six months, and won't do more than ten trades in total with the same company within six months. Talent Offers do count toward these totals, Talent Swaps do not.

30.16 Why Are My Talent Trades Refused?

It is important to note that the AI controlled companies are judging workers involved in talent trades from their perspective, not yours. When you click the Why Not? button, the explanation should always therefore be taken in relation to their point of view. For example, a worker whose perception is Major Star on your roster may well only be rated as Unimportant if he was on the other company's roster (this is especially true when dealing with foreign companies), and therefore while he may be a major asset from your point of view, from their point of view he is not at all valuable. Other companies will rarely, if ever, be interested in workers who would only get a perception rating of Recognisable or Unimportant, even when nothing is asked in return. This is because from their point of view it would be a poor move - they're getting a worker who isn't going to sell any tickets or improve the show, takes a spot from a worker they do own, and they're having to pay for it! Effectively they're paying to develop your talent. For this reason, you will almost always have to offer workers who would be Well Known, Stars, or Major Stars to get an AI company to be interested in a talent trade. The one caveat to this is that a company that has a particularly friendly relationship with you may be willing to lower their expectations and accept Recognisable workers too.

31 Training Facilities (+)

Training facilities (which covers wrestling schools, dojos, and performance centres) are primarily responsible for the generation of the next generation of talent in the game world. This section breaks down how they work. Sections 31.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

31.1 Types Of Facility

Training facilities are the lifeblood of the game world and will, alongside regeneration, account for the majority of new workers who enter the game world. There are three types of facility. Wrestling schools are usually owned by a specific worker, although they can also be privately owned (which means that no specific worker is involved). Schools exist purely to pump out new graduates at a regular rate, and these workers go directly into the free agent pool. Some graduates will gain a positive relationship with the owner. Wrestling schools will be founded by workers when they retire and will be active until they die or leave the business. The worker's stats do not affect the graduates, although it will impact the initial set up of the dojo. Dojos differ from schools in that they are specifically linked to a company which automatically has 'first refusal' on signing any graduate. A graduate who is immediately signed is loyal to that company and will be considered 'true born' if that company's settings allow for that. A dojo will close when the company goes out of business. Performance Centres are effectively 'super dojos'; they do everything a dojo does, but have extra benefits. The first major benefit is that they have a much higher chance of generating graduates who are former stars from other sports (like football or MMA) and, unlike dojos and schools, can also produce non-wrestlers such as announcers and managers. The second benefit is that the company can send existing workers to the centre to sharpen their skills. Because of these extra benefits, performance centres are much more costly than standard dojos.

31.2 Affiliated With

Training facilities of the School type can be affiliated with a specific company. If they are, the company pays 25% of the facility's running costs and in return gets 'first refusal' over graduates (exactly as if it was their Dojo).

31.3 Facility Locations

The location of the training facility is important as it will have a direct impact on the graduates who are generated. Graduates are automatically based in the location of the facility (although they can and will move as the game progresses) and the areas they are allowed to work in will be based on that too. This will also have an impact on what sort of styles and languages they use.

31.4 Training Level

The training level indicates the quality of the instruction that the students get, which is made up of the number of instructors, their skill level, the equipment and rings available, and the amount of time they can give to training. The higher the level, the more likely the students are to graduate with good skill levels and potential. It is important to note that this is a matter of probability - a 100% training level does not mean that graduates will definitely be amazing or that they cannot possibly be awful, only that there is a higher chance that they will be good quality. With wrestling schools, it is important to understand that it is only the training level that impacts the student quality. The skill level of the owner, if one exists, is not relevant (although poor workers are very unlikely to open a school in the first place). The training level is cheaper to upgrade than the facility level but, due to the wages of the trainers, leads to higher monthly running costs.

31.5 Facility Level

The facility level indicates the size of the premises and how many classes it can support. This impacts how many graduates will be produced per year, with the minimum being 2 and the maximum being 12. For Performance Centres, this also controls how many workers at any one time can be sent to the facility to sharpen their skills. The facility level is far more expensive to upgrade than the training level but does not raise the monthly running costs anywhere near as much.

31.6 Wrestling Styles Taught

Each facility has a list of what styles it teaches; it may only generate graduates who are of that style. (Pre-written graduates are not affected by this restriction.)

31.7 Graduation

Graduation can either be fluid, meaning that graduates will appear throughout the year, or fixed to a specific month when an entire class will graduate all at one time. This can be altered during the game, but changes will automatically result in a twelve month block on further graduates to stop the system being cheated. Graduation may be set to No, meaning no graduations of computer generated characters takes place at all; this option is entirely for role-playing purposes, and AI-controlled companies cannot switch graduations back on if given this setting. In all cases, the number of graduates is dependent on the current facility level and the game will try to make sure that by the end of the year (defined as January to December, not from the founding date of the facility) the number of graduates matches the expected level - as such, you may experience an increase towards December. It is important to note that the number of graduates does take into account both freshly generated workers and workers who have been preset via the editor to graduate from a specific facility (by giving them a graduation record set in the future). This is different from previous iterations of the game, where the latter did not count. Also note that preset graduations are not blocked by graduation being turned off. In all cases, a brand new facility does not produce any graduates for the first twelve months because this is how long it takes for the first class to be assembled and trained.

31.8 Lack Of Graduates

There are four reasons why you may see a training facility fail to produce any graduates (assuming that you haven't simply turned off graduation entirely via the Options menu!). The first is that the user / database maker has simply turned off graduations; you can see if this is true by looking at the graduation information text on any of the training facility screens. The second is that the facility has not been open long enough (they do not produce graduates for the first year) or the graduation date has been altered (meaning there's a one year pause until the next class appears). The third reason is that the database lacks enough worker names for the area in question. If the game cannot create viable, valid names, graduates cannot appear. The final reason is that the game has picture requirements set as On in options, meaning workers require a picture to be created, and there aren't any appropriate pictures available. This is usually either because there are no pictures for that area / ethnicity at all, or, the database maker has mistakenly ticked all the Acceptable Skills boxes for every picture, making them unusable.

31.9 First Refusal On Graduates

When a worker graduates, the company that owns the Dojo or Performance Centre automatically gets the right to make a 'first refusal' contract offer to that worker; this means that other companies cannot come in and make an offer until this has been dealt with. There are some exceptions to this rule if the company in question is a child of a player-controlled company. If the child is AI-controlled, the 'first refusal' goes to the parent company, not the child - although, of course, the parent can immediately send the graduate away to the child company once signed. If the child is player-controlled, however, the 'first refusal' goes to them, not the parent.

31.10 AI Graduate Hiring

This setting simply affects how likely the AI is to take up its 'first refusal' right on a graduate.

31.11 Facility Closures

Facilities can close in one of three ways. Wrestling schools will close when the worker who owns it dies or leaves the business; schools without an owner are static and will never close. Dojos and performance centres will close when the company that owns them closes (or they choose to close the training facility). The third way is if a 'hard close' date has been assigned to the facility via the editor. In this case, the facility will automatically close on the date given, irrespective of anything else. When a facility has closed, no more graduates can be produced. If any workers have been preset via the editor to graduate from a specific facility that is no longer active then they will still enter the game world but their graduation data will be ignored.

31.12 AI Training Facilities

Computer-controlled companies can open their own dojos and performance centres during gameplay and are able to upgrade their training and facility levels as they go along. Smaller companies will rarely do this in order to save money. AI child companies will not update their facilities, but the user-controlled parent can do it on their behalf via the Settings button in the Training Facilities screen. It should be noted that the AI will not create performance centres prior to 2015.

31.13 Performance Centre Training

A company can tell any of its employees, including those in child companies, to attend a Performance Centre to sharpen their skills. This is done via the roster screen using the Performance Centre button. Once told, the worker will go there for extra training whenever they have free time and will continue to do so until told otherwise or when they leave the company. Workers who attend a Performance Centre will learn skills and languages, although at a slower rate than if they were working live shows. The skills they learn will depend on their positions, so wrestlers learn in-ring and entertainment skills, managers and personalities learn only entertainment skills, referees learn refereeing skills, etc. The rate of improvement increases the better the training level. A worker will only train at one place: if sent to multiple Performance Centres, only the first will count. Each Performance Centre can only have a certain number of workers sent there for training. The number depends entirely on the facility level. Users can send workers to Performance Centres via the roster screens. Workers can be stopped from going via the roster screens or via the main Training Facilities screen (i.e. not the one in your office, the one you access via the left hand main menu) by right-clicking the worker's name. Workers who are absent, such as through injury, do not train. They may be left as attending the Performance Centre, however, and they will resume training as soon as they are able.

31.14 Taking Over Facilities

If you have child companies you may take over their training facilities whenever you wish. You can do this from the Training Facilities screen. Simply click the Settings button and use the Take Over option. Please note that you cannot 'gift' training facilities to child companies and so take overs are one-way only.

32 Media And Broadcasting (+)

This section looks at all the elements of how wrestling shows are aired to the viewing public. Sections 32.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

32.1 Media Groups

Media groups are companies that own multiple broadcasting or publishing interests. In TEW they can own broadcasters and companies. Media groups will always tend to 'look after their own', that is to say that a company owned by a media group will generally have an easy (or easier) time getting deals with broadcasters under the same management. The opposite is also true, where a media group will not look favourably on dealing with other companies when they have their own to look after.

32.2 Owned Broadcasters

A broadcaster can be owned by either a media group or a specific (wrestling) company. If owned by a media group, the broadcaster will act favourably to companies who are under the same management and will tend to not want to deal with companies who aren't - if there are no companies under the same media group then they don't display any bias. If a broadcaster is owned by a company then that company cannot have their negotiations rejected and other companies will be automatically refused. Owning Pay-per-view, Commercial, or Public broadcasters involves running costs - the amount is dependent on the type of broadcaster and level of coverage. Subscription broadcasters incur costs and generate revenue based on subscription numbers, which are based on the company's popularity. For each region there is a popularity 'break-even point' based on the level of coverage there (these points are: Tiny (30), Very Small (40), Small (50), Medium (60), Big (65), Very Big (70), Huge (75), and Enormous (80)); If the company has higher popularity than the break-even point then they will make a profit, any less and they will make a loss.

32.3 Broadcaster Type

Broadcasters can be one of four types (Pay-Per-View, Commercial, Public, and Subscription) each of which can be either Terrestrial, Cable, or Internet. These combination of those two elements control the level of revenue and running costs, the broadcaster's expectation in terms of quality, their patience with bad ratings, and how they will negotiate. Terrestrial broadcasters are the strongest and most desirable; revenue levels are at the highest here. However, their running costs are highest, they are the most demanding about quality, are the least patient, and are the toughest at negotiations. Internet broadcasters are the weakest; revenue and running cost levels are significantly lower than their Terrestrial counterparts but they are correspondingly much more patient and undemanding. Cable broadcasters are the 'middle option', sitting midway between Terrestrial and Internet in their effects.

32.4 Pay-Per-View Broadcasters

With Pay-Per-View broadcasters each viewer is paying a price to watch the show (the price depends on the company size and whether it's a Terrestrial, Cable, or Internet broadcaster) and this provides the highest dollar-per-viewer ratio of any broadcaster. The downside is that Pay-Per-View broadcasters tend to have smaller coverage (to simulate less people being willing to pay for content) and so growth can be limited.

32.5 Commercial Broadcasters

Commercial broadcasters make their money by selling advertising to create revenue. The revenue they can generate is broken up into half hour chunks, with the amount based on the number of viewers, time slot, and broadcaster type (i.e. Terrestrial can sell advertising at a higher amount than an Internet-based broadcaster). The total amount is this half hour revenue value multiplied by the length of the show - longer shows therefore generate more money.

32.6 Public Broadcasters

Public broadcasters don't generate any revenue at all, but because there's no advertising to sit through they generally have higher levels of coverage. They're a useful avenue for companies who can generate revenue in other ways but want to build a fan base.

32.7 Subscription Broadcasters

Subscription broadcasters make their money through their subscription fees, which is reflected in a dollar-per-viewer revenue for companies. Mechanically, Subscription broadcasters are very similar to their Commercial counterparts except that they offer a slightly higher rate of revenue per viewer and the quality of each show has less impact on their viewership numbers.

32.8 Broadcaster Size

A broadcaster's size rating is used when a company loses a broadcast slot (for example due to failing to meet the minimum criteria or cancelling too many shows); broadcasters of the same (or larger) size will not be interested in dealing with the company for some time afterwards due to seeing them as 'damaged goods'.

32.9 Broadcaster Style

A broadcaster's style tells the game what sort of companies it will be willing to work with. This acts as a block of sorts, in that if the style and product clash then the company cannot deal with that broadcaster. There is no advantage to being 'well suited' to a style. Companies with no focus will display no biases. Mainstream broadcasters like companies with entertainment-based products and shy away from those that are edgy or presented as real competition. Pure Sports broadcasters like companies that present wrestling as a real, hard-hitting, athletic endeavour, whilst All Sports are very similar but are more open to allowing some showmanship too. Kids broadcasters like PG-rated entertainment products and avoid most others. Adults broadcasters (meaning aimed at adults, not that it's showing 'adult entertainment') are interested in bloody hardcore and deathmatch products, stoner-style entertainment, raunchy burlesque products, and realistic MMA-influenced styles. They tend not to go for entertainment products unless they're edgy. Sci-Fi broadcasters like entertainment-based products, may consider some hardcore-based action, but would be uninterested in companies who present themselves as being real. Horror broadcasters have a narrow remit and are only really interested in products that are explicitly bloody. Trashy broadcasters like products that are based in scripted reality and also anything that has a heavy emphasis on entertainment, humour, or angles. They won't be interested in products where the actual wrestling is important.

32.10 Broadcaster Coverage

A broadcaster's coverage indicates how many people in each region are realistically likely to tune in. This is what the game uses as a base when calculating the viewership of a show, before the figure gets modified based on the broadcaster type, the quality of the show, the timeslot, etc. It is important to note that this is not a measure of how many people *could* watch. For example, an internet site could theoretically have a billion or more viewers, but in reality they're not likely to get even a fraction of that actually doing so. The coverage levels are absolute. That means that an Enormous coverage would mean the same potential number of viewers to a Terrestrial Commercial broadcaster as to an Internet Public broadcaster. For this reason, generally Pay-Per-View broadcasters should be given smaller coverage levels to simulate people being less willing to pay for content and Public broadcasters should have higher coverage.

32.11 Calculating Viewership

The viewership for a show is calculated on a region by region basis. Firstly, the 'ideal viewership' is calculated. This is based on the broadcaster's coverage level in the region (the numbers are in the following paragraph) which is then modified by the 'potential fan base' size of that region (visible in the game world screen). Note that the viewership can be lowered if people are already watching another show (whether wrestling or not) in the same timeslot, or if time zones are a factor (such as a show being held in Europe and broadcast in North America). Going from Tiny to Enormous the 'ideal viewership' is: 10,000; 50,000; 100,000; 200,000; 350,000; 500,000; 750000; 1,000,000. Secondly, the 'draw' of the event is calculated as a percentage. This is based initially on the company's popularity; i.e. if a company is 50 popular in that region, their starting draw is 50%. This figure is then modified by the rating of the show, PPV or TV trends if applicable, the importance of the show, the time slot, the intent, and then penalties for things like running too many shows in a short space of time. Finally, a 5% variance is applied to add randomness. The 'ideal viewership' is then multiplied by the 'draw' percentage to calculate the actual viewership. So, as an example, if the region in question had Enormous coverage and a huge potential fan base then you're likely to have 1,000,000 as your 'ideal viewership'. A company that had 50 popularity in the region and ran a show that avoided any other penalties or bonuses would therefore expect to get about 500,000 viewers (50% of 1,000,000). Note that the wrestling industry strength in the area of viewership can also impact the number of people watching. If the industry is below 50% then there will be a reduction (getting worse as you get lower) and there are gains if the industry is above 80%.

32.12 Wrestling Stance

This is the broadcaster's general stance on professional wrestling and affects how they deal with companies. For example, if they're highly against then they will likely offer lesser deals and be less likely to take on new content.

32.13 Broadcaster Risk Levels

A broadcaster's risk level setting is used to determine the content that they will allow; if a company tries to put on angles or matches that are too offensive for the broadcaster then they may refuse to allow the segment to appear on the show.

32.14 Broadcaster Dates

Broadcasters have open and close dates to inform the game when they are active. For the close date, either soft or hard closes can be specified. A hard close means that the broadcaster will definitely close on that date, irrespective of anything else. A soft close means that the company will be considered closed if the game starts after that date, but that if the broadcaster starts the game active then it will not close when that date is reached. This is used so that the database maker does not have to keep updating the broadcasters when he or she wishes to change the start date.

32.15 Broadcaster Min. Requirements

Each broadcaster can have a set of minimum requirements. Any company who do not fulfil the requirements, even if they already have a show, will only have limited options; they cannot create or renew deals, all they can do is request cancellations and make minor adjustments to existing deals. The broadcaster can require that a company be based in a specific area (or area combination) or region. This is primarily used to exclude foreign companies from taking over broadcast slots. In this context, North America refers to companies based in USA, Canada, or Mexico. The minimum popularity is a two step requirement; the company must achieve the stated level of popularity in the stated number of regions. However, only regions in which the broadcaster has some coverage are eligible to be checked, and this can be further limited to being 'Only Within' a certain area (or areas) - in which case only regions within that area that also have coverage are eligible to be checked. The minimum broadcast quality, production values, and music all refer to the levels found in a company's Production section.

32.16 Broadcaster Max. Limits

Each broadcaster can be set to only be allowed to have contracts with a certain amount of companies at once and to only be allowed to have a certain number of broadcasting slots filled at once. The broadcaster will not sign further deals that would break either of those limits. This is useful if database makers want to preset broadcasters to behave in certain ways.

32.17 Broadcasting Deals

Broadcasting deals are contracts between a broadcaster and a company; they are either for a specific TV show, general events, or tour highlights. They tell the game how long the deal lasts for (in terms of time or episodes), what the time slot is, and what the terms are. Deals also have a 'purpose' field; this is purely to inform the AI what the user intended the deal to be for and is used when the AI assigns broadcasting deals to events. This does not need to be set for TV shows, which only have one possible purpose, and will usually be 'default' (i.e. used for any and all events, regardless of their intent). The contract contains values that show how much the company pays per episode, how much the broadcaster pays, and the revenue split. The first one allows companies to 'buy' their way into airtime whilst the second is for when broadcasters pay to receive content. The split shows what percentage of the revenue from the show the company gets; whether this is pay-per-view, advertising, etc, depends on the type of the broadcaster. This only refers to revenue directly generated by the broadcast, it does not include attendance, merchandise, etc. It should be noted that if a broadcaster is owned by a company then the contract will automatically be converted to be for unlimited episodes and to never expire when the game starts. For information on how tour highlights work, please see the Tour Highlights section below.

32.18 Broadcasting Deal Length

Negotiating a lengthy broadcasting deal gives a company security; even if something bad happens, such as a scandal or falling in size, there is time to overcome it before the deal needs renegotiating. The downside is that the company has less flexibility and can end up stuck in deals that are no longer beneficial. Shorter deals reverse those pros and cons, giving far less security in exchange for greater flexibility.

32.19 Exclusive Rights

Broadcasting deals may contain settings for exclusive rights. This informs the game what restrictions the broadcaster has placed upon the showing of the footage. If the broadcaster has All Coverage, this means that they will not allow another broadcaster to show the footage if they both have coverage in any region. If the broadcaster has exclusive rights to a specific area, that means that no other broadcaster can show the footage if they have coverage in any of the regions within that area. If a company signs a new TV deal with a broadcaster who is blocked from broadcasting the show to an existing deal's exclusive rights then that broadcasting deal cannot become active until the existing deal has finished. There is one exception to exclusive rights, and that is when a company retains the rights to broadcast footage on their own broadcaster. This is exactly as it sounds; if this clause is active it means that any exclusive rights are ignored when it comes to broadcasting the show on a self-owned broadcaster (regardless of what type it is). In this case, 'self owned' means that either the company owns the broadcaster or their parent company does.

32.20 Broadcaster Minimum Quality

Each broadcasting deal involved a minimum quality value; this is the minimum final rating that the broadcaster expects for any show broadcast under the deal. Every time a company fails to meet the minimum quality they will increase their broadcaster's unhappiness by one; if the unhappiness exceeds their hidden limit (based on their size and type) then they will cancel the contract. Losing a contract this way can be devastating for a company as it will become extremely difficult to negotiate new deals anywhere for at least a year due to the media industry branding you toxic - it can therefore be better to move to a 'weaker' time slot and get less revenue rather than lose your deal. (NB: Losing a television slot will primarily only affect future television negotiations, not events, and vice versa.) A broadcaster's unhappiness level is reset to zero (i.e. back to happy) whenever an extension is made or the company moves to a weaker time slot. These are the only ways in which unhappiness can be removed.

32.21 Broadcaster Changes

Database makers can set 'broadcaster changes' via the editor. These are modifiers that occur on a specific day, changing some of a broadcaster's stats. This is to allow expansions and other modifications to be simulated. Note that not all items are eligible to be changed; for example, the type and ownership of a broadcaster must remain consistent.

32.22 Tour Highlights

A tour highlight broadcasting deal is a special case and is, naturally, only for companies who use a touring schedule (it will have no effect on other companies). It is not linked to a specific TV show but instead automatically shows highlights of matches from tour shows. Having a tour highlights deal is usually quite important for a touring company as it helps offset the costs of the increased number of shows that are being run. Tour highlights work like a normal broadcasting deal, with the company making money off the broadcaster (although at a massively reduced rate compared to a full live show) and workers and the company itself potentially gaining or losing popularity in all the regions that the highlights are being broadcast to. The rates of popularity gain and loss are also massively reduced due to it only being a highlights package. If a company has a tour highlights deal then whenever they run a show that has its Intent set as Tour it will automatically be taped for broadcast - the user does not have to actively do anything as the broadcasters will automatically be filled in. All matches (except pre and post show bouts) are automatically considered to be broadcast, just as they would under a normal broadcasting deal.

32.23 Time Slots

The better a show's time slot, the more people will be watching and therefore the higher the potential revenue levels will be. Prime Time is the best, followed by Evening and Late Evening, Early Evening, Late Night, Daytime and then Graveyard. On Demand is a special variation that is linked to the company's size; at its best it's as good as Prime Time, at its worst it's even worse that Graveyard.

32.24 Taped TV Shows

While all events are live, TV shows can be taped for later broadcast. There are two ways of doing this. Firstly, each TV show has a 'held on' and a 'shown on' day: if these are the same then the show is live, otherwise the show is being taped. This is primarily for role-playing purposes as the only advantage of taping a show like this is to avoid being shown at the same time as another show that would hurt the ratings. The disadvantage is that taped shows always get lower viewership (particularly on PPV broadcasters!), with the reduction depending on what time frame you are playing in. Playing in 2015 or later, when social media is prevalent, means big reductions, whereas the further you go into the past, even going pre-Internet, the smaller the reduction is as people have less ways to communicate the results. The second way is to tape a series of TV shows on a single night. You can set how many shows you tape at once from the Events & TV screen by modifying a TV show. The first show you tape is that week's show, each subsequent show is for one week later. You can only tape as many shows as your current broadcast deals allow. The taped shows are 'locked' once taped; this means that even if the broadcaster deal(s) get cancelled or modified, or the TV show taken off air, they still get broadcast on the date they were intended for. You cannot book any more episodes of a TV show until all the taped content has been used up, even if you sign new broadcasting deals in the meantime. The main advantage of taping a block of shows at once is that you make some financial savings; you are only paying for the venue once, your production costs are massively reduced as you're only paying once per night rather than once per show (because the set, cameras, etc, are already set up), and you are eligible to discounts on the pay of workers who are paid per show and are working multiple shows that night. You also have the advantages that you only have one set of evening phase incidents to deal with, and the workers are all in one place for the duration of the taping. The two big disadvantages are that taped shows get less viewers (with the longer the gap between taping and broadcaster meaning less viewers), so you potentially give up broadcast revenue, and that you run the risk of burning the crowd out by having them sit through a lot of wrestling. With taped shows, each show counts as one appearance. Therefore if you tape four shows and use a worker who is being paid per appearance on each, you'd be paying him four times - albeit with the discounts discussed in the Contract Pay entry in the Contract section of this handbook. It should be noted that any popularity growth (for workers or the company), any ticket revenue, and most costs apply on the day of the taping. However, any broadcast revenue (or expenditure if you are paying the broadcaster) does not get taken into account until the show is broadcast.

32.25 AI Taping Strategies

The AI can change whether they tape their TV shows one at a time or in blocks. The strategy they adopt depends on three factors: their current size, their current finances, and whether or not they have lost money for consecutive months (and if so, how many in a row). Smaller companies will usually tend to go for taping in blocks to try and reduce their costs, while bigger companies will prefer live shows unless they're in real financial trouble.

32.26 Negotiating Broadcast Deals

When negotiating broadcast deals you will be able to change four different elements (the fifth, purpose, can also be changed but has no impact on the negotiations) - length, episodes, time slot, and revenue split. At the bottom of the screen is a 'live' feedback of how this impacts the broadcaster's position. Each broadcaster's responses are based on their size, type, and style in relation to the company's size, prestige, and momentum and what is being negotiated. In some cases, the broadcaster will be willing to pay for content - this is usually reserved for big broadcasters dealing with major companies. In some situations, such as negotiating with a pay-per-view broadcaster, they will never offer any money. A broadcaster may expect the company to financially contribute. This usually only happens if the company is asking for something that they aren't really entitled to, such as a better time slot than their size would allow. The cost depends on the company's size and type, and increases with the number (and level) of extras that the company is asking for.

32.27 Viewing Figures

The viewing figures for pay-per-view broadcasts and television shows are given as an International Viewership Rating (IVR); this allows figures from different game areas to be compared as they are rated the same way. To see how many viewers equates to one rating point, please visit the Options menu where you will be able to see the figures currently being used.

32.28 Breach Of Contract

If a specific number of episodes is included in a broadcasting deal then it is the company's responsibility to complete them before the deal ends. If the deal expires before that number of episodes has been completed then the broadcaster can take legal action against the company due to breach of contract and may get a large financial settlement. For tour highlights, each touring show counts as one episode completed.

32.29 Counter Programming

As mentioned in the Calculating Viewership section, the viewership that shows get on the same night in the same time slot can affect other shows. This means that counter programming is a viable strategy. Counter programming means that you intentionally run a show at a specific time so that it takes viewers away from a rival broadcast. To have an impact, it must be on the same night, at the same time slot, and get at least 100,000 more viewers in a region. The bigger the difference in viewership in each region, the higher the impact. It should be noted that the type of show isn't relevant - you could for example put a big pay-per-view on to counter-program a rival's TV show. Also, On Demand time slots are not affected by this because, by their nature, they don't rely on being at a specific time.

32.30 Does The Day Matter?

The actual day that a show is held on does not matter. That is to say, viewership is not affected whether you are on a Monday, Wednesday, or a Saturday, there is no difference to the game. Also, whilst some days trigger a special 'holiday themed' version of the website (such as Christmas, American Independence Day, etc) these are purely cosmetic and do not impact viewership (or attendance) in any way.

33 Alliances (+)

Alliances, which are effectively a companion piece to company relationships, are groupings of companies who share a common cause or goal. Here we break down how they work. Sections 33.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

33.1 What Are Alliances?

Alliances are groups where two or more companies have formally aligned themselves together for the common good. They can be preset in the editor or occur naturally during gameplay. Each company can only be active in one alliance at a time. Each alliance has one or more of six different available types; this indicates how the alliance is run and what it offers. Each alliance also has eligibility criteria. A company must meet all the necessary criteria in order to qualify to join an alliance. A company that is part of an alliance and becomes no longer eligible does not have to leave, although AI-controlled companies will often choose to. You may attempt to create a new alliance via the Alliances button in your office. Note that because a company is limited to being in one alliance at a time, you may only try to create a new alliance if you are not currently in one.

33.2 Alliance Titles

Alliance title belts are not attached to a specific company, only to the alliance itself. Members of the alliance can request to 'borrow' titles (the respective champions automatically come with them) for one night via the evening phase booking screen. Note that champions do not have to be employed by an alliance-aligned company in order to hold an alliance title, although the alliance will strip them if they are unlikely to be able to defend the title, such as if they sign an exclusive deal with a company that is not part of the alliance. (The alliance will 'check' the suitability of their champions once a month, so there may be a small delay between a worker becoming ineligible and being stripped.)

33.3 Alliance Loans

If a company is a member of an alliance that allows trading between members then they have access to the alliance loans feature, available from the Alliances section of the office. This allows a company to borrow a worker from another member's roster for one show. The advantage of this system is that it gives each member access to extra talent without needing to go through negotiations each time. The disadvantage is that each loan costs an admin fee from the alliance, which is 25% of the pay the worker would get per show, to a minimum of $20, rounded up to the nearest ten. Unlike in previous games in the series, there is no limit to how many times a member may loan the same worker or how many times from the same company. There is also no limit on how many total loans each company may make. Workers are loaned on a one show contract that lasts two months. The pay is always their standard pay per show rate, irrespective of what they earn with the company being loaned from.

33.4 Public Alliances

A public alliance means that each member's prestige and momentum can be affected by the fortunes of other members. Specifically, if a member rises in size, falls in size, or experiences financial issues then the other members will get bonuses or penalties as well.

33.5 Consortium Alliances

A consortium alliance means that the monthly profits from all the members are combined together into one 'pot' and then divided equally amongst all members. This 'spreads the wealth' and allows the profitable companies to help absorb the losses of the others.

33.6 Bordered Alliances

A bordered alliance means that no member is allowed to run shows outside of their home area (i.e. USA, Canada, etc) if another member is based there.

33.7 Territorial Alliances

A territorial alliance means that each member is only allowed to run shows in their home region.

33.8 Protective Alliances

A protective alliance means that no member can run shows in the home region of another member (unless it is also their home region).

33.9 Trading Alliances

A trading alliance means that the members will have access to the Alliance Loan feature and can therefore borrow workers from other members.

34 Game World (+)

This section looks at all the aspects that makes up the game world the user plays in. Sections 34.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

34.1 Venues And Locations

Shows are held at venues and locations. Both are held in the same file, with the difference being that venues are physical arenas which have slightly more detail while locations are geographical places within the region. There is no advantage to using one over the other. The AI will always try to use venues rather than locations where possible. All items in this file have both a record name and an in-game name; the difference is that the former is only used in the context of the editor(s), while the in-game name is what is displayed and used during gameplay. Usually they will be identical. This difference exists just for ease-of-use for database makers and it allows abbreviations or nicknames to be utilised. The main information is capacity and importance. Capacity is simply the maximum number of people who can attend. Importance has no impact on gameplay and is used purely so that the AI can bias towards using more important places. Some places can be defined as 'wrestling hotbeds'; this simulates particularly loyal wrestling fans and results in a small attendance boost. A user may own their own venue, either by having a pre-existing one or by investing in building one. The advantage of this is that the hire cost is automatically reduced by 40%. The user (and AI) may choose to use a generic venue if needed. This works exactly the same as a regular venue, except that it's capacity will automatically be worked out as the most appropriate level for the level of attendance and it does not have a proper name. There is no advantage or disadvantage to using generic venues.

34.2 Economy

Each game area has its own economy strength level which can be seen on the game world screen. Its strength is simulated by a numeric value going from 0 to 100, but the user will only ever see a textual description that reflects the current level. The economy is always either rising or falling which it will do at a steady rate. If strict boom and bust is enabled (via Options) then the economy rises and falls in a strict cyclical pattern, otherwise it can suddenly reverse direction at certain pre-defined points (whether this happens or not is random). The current economy level acts as a modifier on most financial-related processes, such as calculating sponsorship income, ticket sales, merchandise, etc. As you would expect, the weaker the economy, the less money will be available to earn. The economy in each area is not affected by the global economy, even for close neighbours - for example, there is no connection between the strength of the American and Canadian economies, nor between the British Isles and Europe.

34.3 Wrestling Industry

Each game area has its own wrestling industry strength level which can be seen on the game world screen. Its strength is simulated by a numeric value going from 0 to 100, but the user will only ever see a textual description that reflects the current level. The industry is always either rising or falling which it will do at a steady rate. If strict boom and bust is enabled (via Options) then the industry rises and falls in a strict cyclical pattern, otherwise it can suddenly reverse direction at certain pre-defined points (whether this happens or not is random). The current industry level acts as a modifier on things related to the popularity of wrestling, with the prime examples being attendance levels and viewing figures. As you would expect, the weaker the industry, the less people will want to watch wrestling. The wrestling industry in each area is not affected by any other area's, even for close neighbours - for example, there is no connection between the strength of the American and Canadian industry, nor between the British Isles and Europe. The industry is also not impacted by the performace of companies within that game area (nor if no companies are currently active); it's always the industry that impacts companies, not the other way around.

34.4 Geo Tags

The geo tag system is new to TEW IX and allows database makers the (optional) ability to make custom sub-divisions of the game's geographical regions. This system involves companies, events, and venues and locations (to save space, this handbook entry will use the term 'venues' to refer to both venues and locations). It works as follows. Each venue may have up to five geo tags of up to 30 characters each. If used, they allow the venue to be situated within specific sub-divisions of a region. For examples, let's make three venues in the Southern England region with their geo tags in brackets: Lambeth Hall ('London', 'South London', 'Lambeth'), Chelsea Arena ('London', 'West London', 'Chelsea') and London Pub (no geo tags). Companies and events work in exactly the same way. Each can (optionally) have one geo tag defined for each of the first three company sizes; Insignificant, Tiny, and Small. If a tag is given, this means that - at that size - the company should not be venturing outside that regional subdivision. To continue our example, you might have a company that is defined as 'Lambeth' (at Insignificant), 'South London' (at Tiny) and 'London' (at Small). This would simulate the company slowly expanding as it got bigger. Note that sizes above Small do not have geo tags; that is because once a company is above Small then they would naturally not be restricted below the regional structure. The way the system functions is that if the company is at a size that has an associated geo tag, the AI will only be able to go to a venue that either has the same geo tag OR has no geo tags at all. (If the company has no geo tag at that size then they have no limitations on where they can go.) So, looking at our earlier examples: At Insignificant size, our example company would be able to go to Lambeth Hall (because they share the tag 'Lambeth') or London Pub (because that venue has no tags at all). It cannot go to Chelsea Arena because that venue does have tags but does not share the 'Lambeth' tag. At Tiny, our example company can again go to Lambeth Hall (because they share 'South London') and London Pub (no tags), but still can't go to Chelsea Arena. At Small, our example company can go to Lambeth Hall (shares 'London'), London Pub (no tags), but now CAN go to Chelsea Arena because that also shares 'London'. Once past Small, the company can go to any venue within Southern England as it is no longer bound by the geo tag system. If an event has any geo tags then that is what is used for the calculation, not the company's; if an event has no geo tags filled in then the company's are used instead. It is important to note that this only applies to AI booking (the user is free to go wherever they like, whenever they like), is automatically ignored if an show has been assigned a fixed location, and, crucially, geo tags must exactly match in terms of spelling (but they are not case sensitive). Additionally, note that it doesn't matter if the same tag is shared by two different regions (such as the many Springfields in America) as, by its nature, companies using this system wouldn't be going outside their home region anyway.

34.5 Hire Costs

Using any venue or location, even a generic venue, involves a hire cost. This is the money you need to spend to book the venue and pay for security, licensing, etc. You can view the cost from the Select Venue section during the evening phase. The method for calculating the value changes slightly depending on whether you are using a venue or not. For proper venues (not generic ones), the cost is based upon the capacity of the venue and there are three tiers. Tier 1 is for capacities of 10,000 or above, and this goes from $20,000 up to $160,000 in increments of $20,000 for every 10,000 people. Tier 2 is for capacities of 1,000 or above, and this goes from $1,000 to $17,000 in increments of $2,000 for every 1,000 people. Tier 3 is for the smaller venues and goes $900 for 900 or above, $800 for 800 or above, etc, down to a minimum of $200. For locations and generic venues the same values as proper venues are used, however instead of being based on the capacity it is instead based upon the actual attendance.

34.6 Potential Fan Base

Each region has a potential fan base which can be seen on the game world screen. This is a measure of how many fans are there; although this usually corresponds to the actual population, it also takes into account the wrestling culture in that location. This value is built into the game and cannot be edited. The potential fan base takes the form of a percentage and this is applied whenever the number of fans in attendance or viewing at home is calculated. For example, if a show that would draw 50,000 is held in a region with a potential fan base of 50% then the actual attendance would be 25,000. This value is therefore used to simulate some regions being more wrestling-savvy than others and makes certain locations more key.

34.7 Limited Generic Venue Capacity

When using generic venues, there is an in-built capacity limit that is based upon the size of the region they are in. For example, a smaller region like Hawaii cannot get massive attendances. This is in-built and cannot be altered. However, note that this only applies to generic venues; database makers can happily add actual venues and locations within those regions that have much bigger capacities if they want to.

34.8 Popularity Spillover

Popularity spillover is a concept whereby a worker or company's popularity in one region influences the popularity in nearby regions. It simulates a word of mouth effect. You can see which areas and regions spillover into which others via the game world screen or via a company's size screen, together with the percentages. For example, New England has 40% spillover into the nearby Tri State. Therefore if a worker or company has 10 popularity in New England they will automatically have a minimum of 4 in Tri State too, even if they've never been there. Additionally, TEW IX introduces two variants of this, dubbed 'Extra Spillover'; Super Spillover and Ultra Spillover. These are set via the current era, with Ultra being on by default if no era is active. These bonuses apply only to workers whose average popularity in an area is at least 60. If Ultra Spillover is on then the worker gets a cumulative extra 5% to their popularity spillover into other areas once they reach 60, 65 and 70, then 15% extra at 75, 80, 85 and 90. So, at 90 and over the cumulative total extra would be 75%. Super Spillover works exactly the same way, but with the 5% values changed to 2% and the 15% values changed to 5%. This system helps simulate major foreign stars being better able to come into other markets without requiring extensive building up due to word of mouth and their status within wrestling. Spillover is in-built into the game and cannot be edited.

34.9 Regional Languages

Each region has a specific set of languages that can be understood by a large number of the residents. These are shown in the game world screen and apply to all venues that are within that region. If a worker does an angle that involves speaking, they will be penalised if they are not at least passable in at least one of the languages of that region.

34.10 Area Battles

Area battles happen on the final day of each month in any game area in which two or more companies were eligible for inclusion. A company is eligible for inclusion if it held at least one show (excluding house shows) in the game area within the past month while at a size of Big or greater and not in a 'warming up' phase after rising in size. It does not matter where the company is based or what size it is at the end of the month. The way in which each area battle is calculated depends on which of the three possible methods has been selected via the Options menu (please see the Area Battle Status entry in the Options section of the handbook for details on each). You can see the current scores via the Battles section of your office. The company that wins the battle avoids any penalties. The second places company loses half a point of popularity in each region within that game area. Third place loses one point, fourth place loses one and a half points, fifth place loses two points, while any company that finishes lower than fifth loses two and a half points.

34.11 Regional Battles

Regional battles happen on the final day of each month in any region in which three or more companies were eligible for inclusion. A company is eligible for inclusion if it held at least one show (excluding house shows) in the region within the past month while at Tiny or Small size. It does not matter where the company is based or what size it is at the end of the month. The way in which each area battle is calculated depends on which of the three possible methods has been selected via the Options menu (please see the Regional Battle Status entry in the Options section of the handbook for details on each). You can see the current scores via the Battles section of your office. The advantage of winning a regional battle is that the company's attendances in that region will be raised by 5% for the following month. Coming second has no advantages or disadvantages. Coming last means that the company's attendances in that region are lowered by 10% for the following month. Finishing in any other position means attendances in that region are lowered by 5% for the following month.

34.12 End Of Year Awards

The various end of year awards are given out on the final day of each year. Winning an award gives no in-game benefit to the winner (as they are meant to be given by an independent magazine or website and are not official or undisputed), they are purely for immersion. The awards are given based on the ratings used in the game (i.e. Card Of The Year is based on the highest final rating) but there is a small element of randomness and so there can be upsets. Also, some outside effects can influence the judges. For example, a worker who died during the year may get some extra points out of sympathy. Please note that not all awards have to be given out. If there aren't enough eligible workers to make the award competitive, no winner may be declared. Additionally, workers who win the overall male or female wrestler of the year cannot also win the veteran, young or independent wrestler of the year award. The criteria for the various awards can be found via the game's web site, in the Annual Awards section. NB Whether or not winning the Female Wrestler or Female Tag Team Of The Year counts towards the hall of immortals depends on the current era's 'immortal equality' setting; if no era is currently active, the setting is off by default (meaning they don't count).

34.13 In-Game Website

The in-game website is the information hub that is used to keep the users informed of how the game world is evolving. The following are the key dates: Prior to 1984 the 'newsletter' skin of the website is active. Between 1984 and 1996 the 'magazine' skin of the website is active. From 1997 to 2004 the lurid '90s style' / 'early internet' skin is active. From 2005 onwards the normal 'modern' skin is used. The 'special' holiday / event versions of the website (only available when the normal / 'modern' skin is in use) are: New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, Christmas, Halloween, American Independence Day, and St. Patrick's Day. Additionally, please note that there are special rules regarding the website content on the opening day of the game. If no narrative-driven content is created then the game will automatically populate the website with some basic content to stop it being empty. However, if at least one story is created via a narrative then the game will not generate this extra content. This means that database makers can fully customise the opening day's website if they want.

34.14 In-Built Historical Dates

There are a few in-built meaningful historic dates in the game. Prior to March 1985 the AI will never try and get broadcasting deals for its events (although it can for its TV shows). This is to simulate the pre-PPV era. Once March 1985 occurs, or in games that start after that point, the game reverts to its normal behaviour. Prior to 1997 the game will not mention web sites by name during stories in order to help player immersion. Similarly, 'social media' will not be mentioned prior to 2015. Prior to 1991, average AI title reigns will tend to be 25% longer. Prior to 1980 they are increased by 70%.

34.15 In-Built Holiday Dates

There are several in-built holiday dates in the game which are divided into two groups: there are the type that affect the website skin and the type that can be used in relation to scheduling. The holidays used for the website skin are purely cosmetic; the in-game website will use a different background design on these days. They make no difference to ratings, attendances, or anything like that. The dates, in chronological order, are: New Year's Day, St. Patrick's Day, American Independence Day, Halloween, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. For scheduling, events and TV shows can be set to avoid in-built holidays relating to specific game areas (see their respective entries in this handbook for further details). These holidays are defined as follows: American holidays: New Year's Day, Independence Day (July 4th), Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November), Christmas Day Canadian holidays: New Year's Day, Canada Day (July 1st), Christmas Day, Boxing Day Mexican holidays: New Year's Day, Independence Day (September 16th), Christmas Day British holidays: New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day Japanese holidays: New Year's Day European holidays: New Year's Day, Christmas Day Australian holidays: New Year's Day, Australia Day (January 26th), Christmas Day, Boxing Day New Zealand holidays: New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day Indian holidays: New Year's Day, Republic Day (January 26th), Independence Day (August 15th), Christmas Day

34.16 Inactive Areas

When creating a new game the user can deactivate up to seven game areas. Workers, companies, etc, who were exclusively active in areas that are now deactivated are stripped from the game and new content will not be generated in those areas during the game. The reason you may wish to do this is to speed up the game's loading times - the less areas that are active, the quicker the game will run due to there being less data to process. Once a game area is deactivated it cannot be turned back on during gameplay. Please note that although areas that are deactivated do not generate new content, they are still 'alive' for the purposes of revenue - i.e. a company can still broadcast and sell merchandise to people in that area.

34.17 North America

For clarity, please note that the term 'North America' within TEW refers to the grouping of USA, Canada, and Mexico.

34.18 Commonwealth

For clarity, please note that the term 'Commonwealth' within TEW (used for restricting title belts to certain areas) refers to the grouping of Canada, British Isles, Oceania, and India.

34.19 Geographical, Not Political

Please note that the game world and its inherent boundaries are set up on purely geographical lines, not political ones. In particular, the region of 'Ireland' explictly refers to the physical geographical island and should not be taken as any sort of political comment.

35 Options (+)

In this section we go into detail about each elements that is available to the player in the Options section of the game. Please note that User Preferences, which is a subset of Options, has its own section (see below). Sections 35.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

35.1 Auto Save

With auto save enabled, the game will automatically be saved whenever a player ends their turn. Please note that an auto save happens automatically between turns in multi-player games regardless of the setting.

35.2 Fast Advance E-Mails

This option controls whether or not the fast advance function will automatically stop if an important e-mail requires a player's attention. Whether an e-mail is considered important will depend on each player's e-mail settings, which can be set via their mail screen.

35.3 Return To Office

If the return to office option is enabled, the player will be taken directly to their office, not the main screen, after finishing a day.

35.4 Regeneration

If regeneration is enabled, when a worker retires or leaves the game world then he can be replaced with a new character who shares his picture and base characteristics. Please note that this relies on the character having been set to allow regeneration, which can be done via the editor. Characters who are not set to regenerate will never do so, irrespective of whether the overall regeneration setting is enabled.

35.5 Auto Fix Imbalances

This option controls whether the AI should attempt to automatically keep the game world balanced. If enabled, the game will check each area to make sure that there is at least one announcer, one colour commentator, and one referee active for each active company there. If there isn't, a new worker will be generated to fill that gap at a rate of one worker per role per month per area. If enabled, the game will also maintain the number of wrestlers. This is divided into two sections. If the area has at least one company but no active training facilities then it will aim to generate enough workers so that there are fifteen for every company. It will produce up to five per month per area. If there are no companies and no training facilities then it will aim to create an initial seed of twenty five workers (again, generating no more than five per month) to form a viable independent scene.

35.6 New Worker Highlights

If new worker highlights are enabled, whenever a new character enters the game world a news story will be generated and stored (and will therefore be available from the News section of the main screen or a worker's profile). This can be useful for keeping track of when people debuted and the levels of new workers entering the game world.

35.7 Picture Requirement

If a picture requirement is enabled, newly generated workers are only permitted to be added to the game if a valid picture in the Free Pictures file is found for them. This is useful for players who find pictureless workers to be annoying. Please note that workers who are regenerating and taking their parent's picture are not affected by this setting because they are not accessing the Free Pictures file. It is important to note that if this setting is enabled it relies on a large and varied set of Free Pictures. If there are gaps, or no available pictures at all, this would prevent any new workers from appearing and could lead to a shortage of workers and training facilities being unable to produce graduates.

35.8 Area Battle Status

This option controls whether area battles happen at the end of each month and, if so, how they are calculated. Please note that shows count toward the battle result even if the option was disabled when they took place. If area battles are decided On Best Show, the winner is the company who put on the best rated show that month. If area battles are decided On Stars, the Major Stars and Stars from each company are rated on their average popularity across the game area - the top five of those scores are averaged. Wrestlers who are away (such as through injury) are not eligible to be counted. The highest average score wins. If area battles are decided On Combined, each company gets a score that is 50% of their On Best Show rating and 50% of their On Stars rating.

35.9 Regional Battle Status

This option controls whether area battles happen at the end of each month and, if so, how they are calculated. Please note that shows count toward the battle result even if the option was disabled when they took place. The options work in exactly the same way as they do for area battles (see Area Battle Status, above) with one key difference - instead of using average popularity across a game area, only popularity from the region in question is used.

35.10 Restricted Areas

This option controls the movement of workers. If turned to Full, this means that workers can only work for companies who are based in their active areas, with the only exceptions being when they are loaned or traded short-term. If turned to Semi, the same rules apply except that Huge and Titanic companies can sign anybody. If turned Off, every worker can work for every company, irrespective of where they are based. The sole exception to this is celebrities; they always act as if Full has been chosen, even if it hasn't (this stops companies from getting a boost to attendance for a celebrity who'd be unknown to their audience).

35.11 PPV Rating Unit

The number given for this option is the unit by which PPV ratings are calculated. For example, if you set it to 500,000 (the default level) and a show gets 1,050,000 viewers, the rating would be 2.1 (500,000 x 2.1 = 1,050,000). Therefore, the bigger the number, the smaller PPV ratings will be. The number given is purely cosmetic and does not affect the actual number of viewers, nor how broadcasters respond.

35.12 TV Rating Unit

The number given for this option is the unit by which TV ratings are calculated. For example, if you set it to 750,000 (the default level) and a show gets 1,575,000 viewers then the rating would be 2.1 (750,000 x 2.1 = 1,575,000). Therefore, the bigger the number, the smaller TV ratings will be. The number given is purely cosmetic and does not affect the actual number of viewers, nor how broadcasters respond.

35.13 Injury Frequency

This option controls the base frequency with which injuries will occur. This will be further modified by what happens in-game, as if a company uses a lot of high risk matches and crazy bumps, or employs a particularly fragile group of workers, then clearly the amount of injuries will be higher than for a company that uses a safe, low-impact approach.

35.14 Randomness Frequency

This option controls the base frequency with which random incidents will occur in the game world. Note that this only applies to those incidents which specifically occur as part of the Processing Random Incidents phase. For example, it does not cover workers choosing to change body type or move house, as these are not fully random (they partially depend on the worker's stats) and take place when processing workers. The incidents that are covered are: going off to make movies or TV, starting a band, starting MMA training, going to prison, getting in trouble with the law, being caught in possession of drugs, going on hiatus or into politics, entirely random injuries, overdoses, adding or altering an existing addiction, and some of the cheating-related events.

35.15 Death Frequency

This option controls the frequency with which random deaths will occur within the game world. It is important to note that this does not impact the frequency of natural or drug-related deaths, as they are based on age and drug use.

35.16 'Kenny' Deaths

If 'Kenny' deaths are enabled, random deaths are allowed to have very unusual, often comedic, circumstances in the style of the eponymous South Park character. It has no impact on the frequency on deaths and is purely a cosmetic touch.

35.17 Strict Storylines

If strict storylines are enabled then companies whose product requires them will have their shows penalised if they do not have an appropriate number of interesting storylines running or if at least a small amount aren't advanced each time. These penalties do not apply to 'B' shows. In addition, good matches will get a penalty if they do not have an associated storyline of an appropriate level of heat (because the fans will struggle to connect to it) and matches and angles can be affected by a storyline's heat. If disabled, none of the preceding features have an effect on the game.

35.18 Strict Boom And Bust

With strict boom and bust enabled, the industry and economy levels around the game world will always follow a strict cyclical pattern of rising and then falling. If disabled, then at various points either (or both) may have a sudden change in direction and go back the way they came.

35.19 Organic Biographies

If organic biographies are enabled, new workers who are generated by the AI (please note that this does not include characters who have been pre-defined in the editor) will have organic biographies. This means that their profile will automatically be rewritten on-the-fly whenever it is viewed by a player in order to take into account their current status. If disabled, the workers will have a standard default biography that is generated upon their debut and remains fixed.

35.20 Organic Companies

If organic companies are enabled, the AI is allowed to generate entirely new companies during gameplay. This can be useful for players who like the game world to be fluid. If disabled, only companies that have been pre-defined in the editor can appear.

35.21 Dirty Tricks

If dirty tricks are enabled, companies can attempt to use underhanded tactics to hurt their rivals (via the Dirty Tricks section of the office).

35.22 Chemistry Effects

If chemistry effects are disabled, all chemistry-related features - such as between opponents or tag team partners - are turned off and have no impact whatsoever on gameplay.

35.23 Natural Growth Limits

Natural growth limits are ceilings on popularity growth that are created in relation to how many people are watching the show in each region. They are designed to stop the situation where a company could run a great show in their home area and gain large amounts of popularity elsewhere even when there weren't many viewers. The way this works is that in every region that the show is being broadcast to the number of viewers is looked at and a maximum popularity ceiling is created. No matter how good the show is, the resulting gain cannot take the popularity past that ceiling. The region the show is being held in is exempt. Regions in the company's home area have a relatively high ceiling (with a minimum of 55 even when there are less than 1,500 viewers), while foreign regions have a lower ceiling (35 being the minimum). If natural growth limits are set to full then the system works as described above - this is how the game is meant to be played. If set to weak, the same system applies but all the ceilings are increased by 20, making an easier gameplay experience. If turned off, the system is completely inactive - this is for fantasy based games.

35.24 Loading Screen Profiles

If enabled, this option means that a random worker's picture, profile and stats will appear on each evening's loading screen. If disabled, all that information is made invisible.

35.25 Background Logos

If background logos are enabled, logos and backdrops will be shown behind worker pictures on many screens. If the game world is not using a GIF format picture pack then this can be disabled to reduce loading times.

35.26 Default Backdrop

If enabled, then if a backdrop (for example, from a company or a stable) is not found then the game will use the default backdrop image (from the Defaults folder of the picture pack or, if that's not present, the skin's Graphics folder). If disabled, the game will instead look to use the main logo of that item.

35.27 Oversaturation

If oversaturation is disabled then companies cannot be penalised for running multiple shows in the same region within a short space of time.

35.28 Graduation

If disabled, training facilities are blocked from generating brand new graduates (it does not stop pre-written graduates from appearing). This is not recommended (as it effectively makes training facilities useless), but may be useful for some specific databases that have a large stock of pre-written graduates waiting.

35.29 Celebrity Generation

If disabled, the game will not seek to keep the game world's various areas stocked with a minimum level of active celebrities.

35.30 Annual Backup

With annual backup enabled, the game will automatically save the game at the end of each calendar year. The save file can be located inside the save game's Backup subfolder. These files are designed to be an emergency backup in case a save game gets corrupted, allowing the user to return to an earlier point. (Please post in the Technical Support forum in these situations to be talked through the process.) Please be aware that using annual backup will increase the size of your save game folder significantly if you are doing lots of long-term gameplay.

35.31 Sandbox Editor

The Sandbox Editor button allows you access to some 'behind the scenes' status effects / counters that usually exist in the background. Being able to remove or manipulate these removes the realism from the game but is provided for those who want a sandbox experience. This can be useful if you, for example, wanted to remove injuries or retirement plans that affect a particular story that you want to run. Please note that all the available actions are contextual and so you may get a different set of possible actions depending on who or what you are currently viewing.

35.32 Change Skin / Pictures

You can use the Change Skin and Change Pictures buttons to alter the current setting. Whilst the skin can be changed at will (as it is only cosmetic and is not linked to anything else) please note that it is generally not recommended to change the picture file unless you have good reason - this is because most databases are specifically designed to only work with a specific set of pictures, changing it means that the file names will likely not match up and you will end up with gaps / missing pictures.

35.33 Create MDB File

This Options button generates an MDB file for external use; please see the Databases And Save Games section of this handbook for details.

36 User Preferences (+)

A subset of Options, User Preferences allow the player to alter certain settings that only impact their gameplay experience, not the game world as a whole. This section breaks down each available setting. Sections 36.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

36.1 Enable Coloured Text

If enabled then the game can use coloured text to highlight certain things and to display numbers in their appropriate colour. This is the way the game is intended to be played. Disabling this is only meant for people with visual problems, and will result in the game being primarily monochrome. Please note that disabling coloured text does not remove all the colours - on some screens colours are used for headings, for example, and are fixed.

36.2 Enable Small Roster Penalty

If enabled then the player must meet a minimum roster size (based on the size of the company) or a small popularity penalty will be incurred. Insignificant sized companies are always exempt from this penalty as they do not have a minimum roster size. Note that wrestlers who are injured, have been given the night off or sent home, are suspended, or couldn't make the show due to travel issues still count as being part of the roster in regards to this penalty.

36.3 Enable Repetitive Booking Penalty

If any region sees the same match-up more than three times in a six month period, it is considered repetitive; this will result in a penalty unless the match's rating is better than the previous encounters. This only applies to 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, Three Way Singles and Four Way Singles matches.

36.4 Enable Crowd Management

Crowd management (formerly known as 'Perfect Show Theory') means that you have to book your shows to play the crowd's emotions and expectations. This is primarily done by the 'aims' of each match and how they are ordered. For example, opening the show with a match designed to calm the crowd is clearly a poor move as you're deflating the natural enthusiasm of the audience. Similarly, doing three 'epic' matches in a row would soon burn the crowd out. Ideally you want to book a good flow so that the crowd can peak at the right times.

36.5 Enable Gimmick Effects

If enabled, a worker's gimmick rating will impact their performance in matches and angles. Note that even if this is disabled, gimmicks are still given ratings; this is so that the data exists should you ever want to turn the feature back on.

36.6 Enable Owner Goals

If this is enabled and you are the head booker of a company then the owner will be able to give you specific goals for you to follow. This is the way the game is designed to be played as it forces you to occasionally change your usual style of play. This also adds more drama to the game as it becomes more of a challenge to avoid being fired.

36.7 Enable Worker Morale

If enabled, a worker's current morale will impact his performance (i.e. an unhappy worker will get penalties for matches and angles as he is in a negative state of mind) and can cause him to refuse contract negotiations.

36.8 Enable Locker Room Morale

If enabled, the current backstage rating (i.e. the harmony of the locker room) impacts every wrestler's performance in matches and angles. For example, a bad backstage atmosphere will cause everyone to perform more poorly.

36.9 Enable Dirt Sheet

If enabled, the user will see a Dirt Sheet button when viewing matches or angles during shows; accessing it will show the previously hidden bonuses and penalties that helped make up the final rating, essentially giving the user a peek into the behind-the-scenes calculations.

36.10 Enable Industry & Economy

If enabled then the industry and economy strength in the area your show is being held is taken into account; this can affect the size of the crowds that turn up, as well as the potential merchandise sales.

36.11 Enable Booking Times

If disabled, the length of the show is ignored and the user can book as long or as short as he wants. For example, a show set to run for one hour could be booked as being five minutes long or five hours long. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking. Please note that even with booking times disabled, you can still burn out the crowd from a long show and workers can still get upset if they are left off shows.

36.12 Enable Crowd Burn Out

If enabled, lengthy shows will burn out the crowd, meaning that they get less responsive and more tired as the event goes on. Disabling the feature allows shows to go as long as the user wants but removes some realism.

36.13 Enable Match Ratios

If disabled, the user does not have to meet the required ratio of matches to angles when booking. For example, the user could book nothing but matches even if 20% should be angles. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking.

36.14 Enable Scouting

If disabled, scouting levels have no effect on the game and so all worker skills are shown as their exact value.

36.15 Enable Pro Mode

If enabled, a worker's skills are never shown at a scouting level past the penultimate level, regardless of how high the scouting level is in reality. This means that from the player's point of view even established, veteran characters will always have some degree of uncertainty in what their skills are (except the skills that aren't affected by scouting at all, such as Menace). Note that Pro Mode requires Scouting to be enabled, for obvious reasons.

36.16 Enable Disposition Change Timings

If enabled, a worker cannot be turned too frequently or they will be penalised (i.e. 'the turn was too soon').

36.17 Enable Momentum

If disabled, a worker's momentum has no positive or negative impacts on the game. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking.

36.18 Enable Mandatory Event Pre-Booking

If enabled, eligible events (not including TV shows) will be penalised if the user does not provide enough good quality pre-booked content.

36.19 Enable Mandatory TV Pre-Booking

If enabled, eligible TV shows will be penalised if the user does not provide enough good quality pre-booked content.

36.20 Enable Pre-Booking Bonuses

If disabled, pre-booked content cannot result in bonuses, it can only help the user avoid penalties. Note that bonuses are only available if mandatory booking for the type of show being run (event or TV) is enabled.

36.21 Enable Pre-Book Reminders

If an angle is set up to potentially lead to a pre-booking being created, you will be reminded if you attempt to move to the next segment without first making the pre-booking.

36.22 Enable Left Off Show Complaints

If disabled, workers cannot complain about being left off shows; this makes booking far easier. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking.

36.23 Enable Match Aim Requirements

If disabled, the user does not have to worry about meeting the company's stated match aim requirements each show. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking.

36.24 Enable Overuse Penalties

If disabled, the user cannot be penalised for using a worker too much on a show irrespective of how many minutes he is used. This removes the realism but may suit players who are only interested in fantasy booking.

36.25 Enable Overuse Warnings

If enabled, the booking analysis tool will explicitly tell the player if a worker would receive penalties for being over-used on a show.

36.26 Enable Road Agent Tips

If this is enabled then, during booking, the road agent can explicitly warn the player about potential issues, such as stamina and psychology penalties, that would be incurred.

36.27 Enable Production Effects

If disabled, the user will not be penalised if any rivals have superior production levels (i.e. production values, music, etc) and broadcasters will not actively complain if a show features production levels lower than required (although it will still affect whether they want to negotiate).

36.28 Enable Lifestyle Effects

If disabled, a worker's lifestyle choices (i.e. smoking, drinking, etc) will not impact his performance in matches and angles. All other effects, such as on skill gains and losses or lifespan, remain active though.

36.29 Enable Main Event Header Mode

If enabled then the various results screens will display the main event at the top of the list, otherwise the event will be shown in the opposite order.

36.30 Enable Book Main Event First

If enabled then new bookings automatically get placed at the earliest place possible on the card. So if you booked three segments in a row, the first one you did would be in the main event slot and the last one would be the opener. This is the default as it means player naturally book their main event first and work down. If disabled then new bookings get added in the opposite direction, so adding a new booking to the main card would make it the new main event.

36.31 Enable CE Requirements Per Show

If disabled, the standard requirement of 20 CE per hour (during the pre show booking team meeting) does not happen.

36.32 Skip Give The Night Off

If enabled then the Give The Night Off aspect of the Pre-Show Process is automatically skipped, saving the user from having to right-click it.

37 Eras (+)

This section goes into detail on how eras work in TEW. Sections 37.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

37.1 What Are Eras?

Eras are preset time periods that run between two specific dates. While the game is within that period the era's settings take effect. If no era is currently active, the game uses its in-built default values. Only one era can be active at any one time. When in-game, the user can click on the date in the title bar to see a summary of which era is currently active and what the settings are.

37.2 Universal Settings

The bulk of these settings act as a percentage, where 100% is the default level. For example, changing Attendance to 1% would mean that a company that would normally attract 1000 fans would only get 10! These settings allow the database maker to significantly alter the financial model that the game runs upon but they should be used carefully - turning them up too high or low can fundamentally change the long-term viability of games. The sexuality options give the percentage chance of a worker being gay or bisexual. For example, if you give 10% for each, then a newly generated worker has first 10% chance of being set to gay, then 10% chance of being bisexual, and if neither is true then he is set as heterosexual. The broadcasting settings control how the AI will act. Under Default rules, the AI has full access to all broadcasters and there are no restrictions at all. Under None rules, the AI will not look to get any broadcasting deals at all, for events or TV. Under Pre-PPV rules, the AI will not look to get any broadcasting deals for its events. It is, however, free to get deals for its TV shows as normal. Under Strict Usage rules, the AI can only negotiate with PPV broadcasters for events, and only Commercial, Public or Subscription broadcasters for its TV shows. Under Strict Pre-PPV rules, the AI will not look to get any broadcasting deals for its events. It is, however, free to get deals for its TV shows as normal, but only with Commercial, Public or Subscription broadcasters. The written contracts setting sets whether written deals can be offered. By default, they can. Turning them off can be useful for historical simulation. The immortals equality setting tells the game whether the winner of the Female Wrestler and Female Tag Team annual awards count toward the criteria to enter the Hall of Immortals. By default, they don't. The extra spillover setting controls whether Super Spillover or Ultra Spillover apply (see the Game World section for an explanation of how these function). By default, Ultra Spillover is active.

37.3 Settings By Area

The settings by area primarily impact the gender, style, and lifestyle of newly generated workers. Note that the Other Sport setting for style indicates that the worker comes from outside wrestling; this is primarily from other sports like MMA, weightlifting, or football, but also includes non-sports like bodybuilding and fitness modeling.

37.4 Product Trends

The product trends setting tells the game what products are popular during which areas during this era. To see a description of each trend type, please use the dropdown menu in the era editor; a description is listed underneath each type. You can see in-game whether a product is currently on-trend via each company's product screen. If a product is trending then it means that when that company runs a show that gains them popularity they will get a mild extra boost to simulate fan interest. There are no penalties for not being on-trend. If no trend is active then there are no pros or cons involved. Note that the trend that applies to a show is the one currently active in the area the show is being held in. So if an American company runs a show in London, it is the trends of the British Isles, not the US, which apply.

38 Narratives (+)

In this section we go into detail about narratives. Sections 38.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

38.1 What Are Narratives

Narratives are pre-written incidents that a database maker can add to a database in order to trigger certain actions on certain events at certain times. They take the form of a trigger date range, an (optional) set of data for how the event will be displayed on the in-game main screen, requirements which are needed for it to be valid, and controls to specify the effect.

38.2 Trigger Date Range

Narratives can only run as long as the current date is between the stated date range. Specifying the same date for both ends of the range locks the narrative to a single day. Note that narratives are eligible to be triggered at the game's start point (i.e. when the user is selecting their avatar), so that can be used to generate web stories to populate the opening day's website.

38.3 Chance Of Happening

The chance of happening is a percentage that is applied on each day of the trigger date range to see if the narrative is launched and its requirements checked. Be sure to note that this is the percentage applied each day, not for the narrative's whole lifespan! So if you gave it a 1% chance of happening and a trigger date range that covers an entire year, it means you'd have a fairly strong chance of seeing it happen eventually (as it's has a 1 in 100 chance across 365 different days).

38.4 Importance

The Importance value indicates how high up the list of website stories the narrative will be (if any story is generated). The higher the value, the nearer the top of the list of stories it will come.

38.5 Single Use

As the name suggests, if a narrative is single use then it will be removed once it has taken place.

38.6 Presentation

This is how the story will be presented on the website. Leaving the headline text blank turns it off and means that no story is generated.

38.7 Requirements

A narrative can have any number of requirements. All requirements need to be met in order for a narrative to successfully run. One restriction is for a company to be Human Only or AI Only - this means that it will only trigger if the company is controlled by that type (a Required Company must be filled in for this to work). This is useful in situations where, for example, a database maker wants to pre-set a financial crash for a company to simulate a real event but does not want it to occur if a human is running them as it would ruin the enjoyment of their game.

38.8 Effects

A narrative can have any number of effects. If any cannot take place (for example, because they're illegal) then the narrative will simply continue on to the next; it does not stop the narrative from happening. For this reason, it's advised that database makers use the requirements carefully to ensure the situation is correct for an effect to happen.

38.9 Effect Strength

Some narrative effects have a strength rating between 1 and 10. The higher this value is set, the more powerful the impact of the effect becomes. For example, when using the Worker Popularity Boost effects, the worker gains 5 points for each level of strength (e.g. at a strength of 5 the gain would be 25 points). As a general rule of thumb, a strength of around 5 would create an effect that's significant but not overpowered; going higher than that would result in major changes.

39 Databases And Save Games (+)

This section goes into detail about some technical aspects of the game; how databases and save games function. Sections 39.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

39.1 Databases vs Save Games

In TEW terminology, a database is a specific scenario that can be edited via the main editor whilst a save game is the 'active' game world created from a database in which the user plays the game. It is important to note that the two files are NOT interchangeable and you will get multiple errors if you attempt to do so. Save games can, however, be used as the basis for a new database via the Turn To Database button in the Options menu (see next help topic for more details). In order to make the distinction as clear as possible, databases always have the file name TEW9.mdb, whilst save games are named TEW9Save.mdb.

39.2 Turn Save Game To Database

You may turn a live save game into a database via the Turn To Database button in the Options menu. This can only be done on the first day of the month given that all databases start then. This utility will change your save game into a functional database which you can then access via the main editor. Please note that it is not an exact one-to-one translation. For example, as the hidden 'destiny' values are randomised at the start of each new game, a new save game generated from this database will have different values from the original save game, meaning that chemistry will be different. You will also lose things like show histories, financial histories, etc. Also note that the database may need some light editing to be usable. This is because some situations that can occur in a save game are illegal in a database - for example, a wrestler may have both exclusive and non-exclusive contracts in a save game (at least temporarily, while waiting for one to expire) but this is not legal in a database because contracts cannot be set to be expiring. You will see what needs to be changed via the error messages when running a standard Data Check.

39.3 MDB Files

You may generate an MDB file via the Create MDB File button in the Options menu. An MDB (Microsoft Database) file is the database system that TEW IX uses. Creating an MDB file simply generates a specially designed version of the database that is not password protected and is laid out in a user-friendly manner. This may be useful to some users who like examining statistics in more detail. To access the resulting MDB file you must have the correct software, for example Microsoft Access, on your computer. Please be sure to note that this MDB file cannot be used as the basis for a usable database or save game! It's purely for external use.

39.4 Password Protection

Direct access to the TEW files are password protected. This is because all the necessary error checking is in-built into the game, not the database, and so direct editing of the data can render a database or save game unusable. Editing should only be done via the game's in-built editing facilities. For this reason, the password is not publicly available. We request that those who do find out the password do not share this information with others given the damage this can do. Please note that technical support will not be provided for those who corrupt their data by ignoring these warnings and we strongly advise that people do not edit databases directly.

39.5 Loading Games

You can load saved games from the main menu. If you cannot see your save game in the list it means that TEW IX could not detect it. You should first check that you are using the correct database; if your save game is being run using the Default database, then that is the database which must be active in order to load the game. You can check which database is currently running by clicking on the Database icon in the taskbar on the main screen. If you are using the correct database and yet still cannot see the save game, it is likely that one or more files have accidentally been moved. You are advised to visit the official Grey Dog Software forums and report this in the TEW IX Technical Support forums; a member of staff will help you try to recover your save game. You should not attempt to recover the game yourself unless you know what you are doing. If you experience errors once the game has loaded, then you should exit TEW IX as soon as possible, report the problem at the TEW IX Technical Support forums, and await help from a member of staff. It is very important that you do not attempt to continue playing that particular save game, as any changes that are made could cover up clues that are necessary in order to track down and correct the error.

39.6 Game Recovery

The Game Recovery button can be found in the load game screen, available via the main menu. This button takes the game back to its last back-up point, which is usually the previous Sunday. At least one week must have been completed to use this function. It is recommended that you do not use this button unless advised to do by Grey Dog Software staff; it is meant only as a last resort in case of data corruption.

39.7 Annual Backups

At the start of each completed year the game automatically makes an annual back-up. This is designed to be for emergency use for extreme cases where both a save game and its backup file have been rendered unusable. Annual backups are not intended to be used by players; if they need to be applied, it will be part of a technical support query and instructions will be given at that point. If you wish you to use the backups outside of this, please note that it is done at your own risk. Backups can be applied by copying the file and using it to replace the main save game file (while the game is not running).

39.8 File Locations

The game's basic files can be found at C:\Users\Mellish Family\Documents\Grey Dog Software\TEW9. This is where you will find the graphics, can add new skins, etc. Your save game data can be found at C:\Users\Mellish Family\Documents\Grey Dog Software\TEW9\Databases.

39.9 Multiplayer Files

Multiplayer is meant to be done 'hot seat' style, that is with all the players in the same place using the same computer. You can play multiplayer across multiple computer however. All you need to do is zip up the game's save folder (from C:\Users\Mellish Family\Documents\Grey Dog Software\TEW9\Databases\Database Name\SaveGames\Save Game Name) and send it to the next player - they should copy and paste it into the same place on their computer. Please note that it's very important to zip your files before sending them - sending unzipped MDB files is a bad idea and can cause issues. In particular, Hotmail will automatically strip unzipped MDB files from e-mails because they are a virus threat.

39.10 Adding Introductory Splash Screens

Databases can be given one or more optional introductory splash screens. These screens, which appear right before the avatar selection screen when a new game is being started, allow database makers to set the scene, which could be by giving a title page, graphics exploring the chronology and setting, etc. Please see the default database for good examples of how these are meant to work. To add introductory screens, the database maker simply needs to put the graphics they want to use in the Intros subfolder inside the Databases / 'DatabaseName' folder that they are using (i.e. so that it is next to the SaveGames subfolder - again, please see the default database for an example if you are unsure of where they go). The graphics should be 1000x500 and can be any of the usual formats. The introductory screens are always displayed in alphabetical order.

40 Editing (+)

This section goes into detail about editing, whether that is working on a mod or altering data in a database or active game world. Sections 40.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

40.1 The Main Editor

The main editor can be accessed from the title screen. This is the most powerful of the two editors and allows you to edit virtually anything that makes up the TEW game world. It is very important to note that any changes made in this editor only affect games started after that point. Save games that already exist are unaffected by changes to the 'parent' database. Please note that the mass editor tool is only available when using the new style of list; if you toggle the list to the old style the option will not be available.

40.2 The External Editor

You can access the external editor via the main editor's side menu on the left (it is not available for all sections). You can use this tool to create a MDB file containing your current data which you are then free to edit using your favourite database editing software, such as Microsoft Access. You can then go back into the external editor to apply your changes to either a specific section or the whole database. The external editor primarily uses text matching; i.e. it compares the name you've used in the external file with the name being used in the database and, if they match, it knows which item is being talked about. Note that you cannot add new workers or companies by this method. The following section of the handbook covers how each section works. Note that not every piece of data is available to be edited; for a full degree of control you need to use the main editor itself. Also, when making edits, you need to stick to TEW's 'rules'; for example, you can't make up new custom styles for workers, you must use an existing type. If you're not sure of what your options are, it is recommended that you use the provided reference list (this can be found in TEW's Documentation folder in a document called External Editor Reference List.docx). Alternatively, you could open the main editor and look at an item of that type as then you'll be able to see all the available options in the various dropdown menus. Note that terms that are in-built into the game are not case sensitive but do need to match the spelling exactly as it is used in-game (i.e. you can type 'mid south' and the game knows that you are talking about the Mid South region, but you can't refer to a specific worker in lower case if that's not how it's spelled in the database). When using an external file to update your database, the game will first check that the structure of the database is correct and apply error checking. This prevents you from bringing in invalid data. It is highly recommended that you make a back-up of your database before using the external editor, that way you can always revert to an older copy if you accidentally make any mistakes.

40.3 External Editor Categories

Below are the various categories that can be used in conjunction with the external editor and how they function: Companies: Uses text matching on initials. If no match is found, the data is ignored (you cannot add new companies via the external editor). Workers: Uses text matching on the worker's name. If no match is found, the data is ignored (you cannot add new workers via the external editor). Contracts: Uses text matching on Worker Name and Initials. If no match is found, a new record is created. Employment Histories: Uses text matching on Worker Name and Initials. If no match is found, a new record is created. Graduates: Uses text matching on the names of the worker and training facility. If no match is found, a new record is created. End Of Year Awards and End Of Year Company Awards: Uses text matching on the year. If no match is found, a new record is created. Free Pictures: Uses text matching on the picture name. If no match is found, a new record is created. The following all text match on Name and will create a new record if no match is found: Alliances, Broadcasters, Events, Gimmicks, Injuries, Show Names, Stables, Stable Names, Tag Team Names, Title Belts, Title Names, Training Facilities, Tribute Shows, TV Shows, Worker Names, Wrestling Moves. The following all text match on Record Name and will create a new record if no match is found: Alliance Members, Alter Egos, Broadcaster Changes, Broadcasting Deals, Chemistry, Commentary Experience, Excursions, Halls Of Fame, Hall Of Immortals, Injury Histories, Mask & Hair Histories, Match Types, On This Days, Picture Changes, Power 500s, Scandals, Starting Absences, Starting Injuries, Starting Morale, Tag Teams, Title Lineage, Venues & Locations.

40.4 External Editor And Dates

Please note that when using the external editor you may sometimes see the date of '01 January 1666' (or '1666-01-01'). This is the in-game code that means that the date is unknown or was not filled in, and should be used as such. The user can alternatively usually simply leave the field blank to indicate the same thing.

40.5 The In-Game Editor

The in-game editor can be accessed from the options menu, available from the navigation bar while playing a save game. This is not as powerful as the main editor because the game is already set up and running, but has the advantage that you are able to edit a 'live' game. It is important to note that any changes made in this editor only affect that specific save game, they have no impact whatsoever on the 'parent' database or any other save game (even copies of the same game).

40.6 Converting TEW2020 Databases

You can turn a TEW2020 database into a TEWIX compatible database via the button in the bottom right-hand corner of the main editor. To set it up, all you need to do is create a new database using the editor and put your TEW2020.mdb database file inside the folder you just created. If you've done this correctly, the file will appear in the list of databases to be converted when you open the converter. As TEW IX contains many features and pieces of data that don't have any equivalent in TEW2020, the converter will either use its 'best guess' as to what the correct value should be or, alternatively, simply use a default setting or not activate new features. One example of this is the relationship file; as TEW2020 only connects workers as 'blood relatives', the converter will 'best guess' whether it's meant to be a parent or sibling based upon the ages (if they're 25 or more years apart, it will assume their meant to be parent-and-child). As another examples, dates can only be given a ballpark estimate due to the different calendar systems. For this reason, although the converted database will be playable, the database maker will have to do some work to fine-tune the data post-conversion.

40.7 Database Size Limits

There are no limits hard-coded into TEW IX, however, it would be wise to not have more than 32,000 items in any specific section of the database. This is because the lists used to display information to you have an upper limit of just over 32,000; therefore, if you add too many elements, you will find it impossible to edit some items (and may cause crashes if you go significantly over the limit).

40.8 Start Data Variance

Database makers can choose to enable or disable Start Data Variance via the Database Details section of the editor. If enabled, at the start of the game all workers will have their stats (their skills, popularity, and business settings) altered by a random amount; this means that every game will be even more unique that normal. With Minor Variance each stat can go up or down by 1 point (for example, if Brawling began at 25 then it could end up as low as 24.0 or as high as 26.0). Medium Variance is up or down by a maximum of 5 points, Major Variance is 9 points, and Extreme Variance is 15 points. Each stat has the variance applied to it individually. So, its quite possible for Brawling to go up but Technical to go down, for example.

40.9 Picture Changers

NB: Picture Changers were formerly known as Agers. Picture Changers allow you to specify a new picture that will be assigned to a worker; this allows you to simulate the effects of ageing or unmasking during gameplay. Each ager has a trigger age which tells the game when to activate it. If a specific age is selected then the worker will adopt the picture specified on his birthday when he reaches that age. 'Unmasked' will be used when the worker loses their mask during a segment. 'Classic' can also be selected; this image is applied when the worker dies, regardless of how old he was, and is also used when viewing him in the Hall Of Immortals or Halls Of Fame. It is meant to represent a quintessential image of him. Finally, 'retired' is a picture that will be applied when a wrestler retires from competing. This is useful for applying 'suited' pictures for them to work backstage. For specific ages and 'retired', each Picture Changer can also be given a range of options to control what it applies to in terms of the worker's default image and / or his contracts. This allows a finer degree of control. 'Contract Name Must Match Worker Name' and 'Contract Picture Must Match Worker Picture' are self-explanatory; 'Contract Picture Name Must Contain The Text' means that the file name currently assigned as the contract's picture must contain text matching that given. For example, if you specify that it must match 'great' and the contract currently has a picture called 'The Great Avatar.jpg' then this would be accepted as it contains that text within it.

40.10 Free Pictures

Free pictures are spare head shots used to help give faces to workers who are created during gameplay; this is a useful way to use up any spare pictures you have laying about. The editor gives a selection of criteria that can be applied to each picture to make sure they are used for appropriate workers. Note that as the game has no way of recognising what a picture is, free pictures must be added by hand, there is no way to automatically add a large selection. When using the editor, you can choose to move to the 'next unused' (the picture that has not been used as an existing free picture, worker picture, or alter ego picture) or 'next alphabetically' (the picture that comes next in an alphabetical list). The 'Use Once' option means that once a picture has been assigned to a worker in a specific game it cannot then be reused - this stops duplication. The Not Seen Before and After options allow a picture to be limited to a certain time period; you can leave the box blank if you do not want to give a particular limit.

40.11 Importing

You can import data from another database from either of the two editors. This allows you to combine data from multiple sources very easily. In a lot of cases, importing is done by 'name matching'; that is, looking for the same name in both databases. For this reason, it is important to note that the text must match exactly. For example, if you have 'Tommy Cornell' in one database and 'Tom Cornell' in the other, the game will not recognise them as being the same person and you will end up with any links (such as title histories, etc) potentially assigned to the wrong 'version'. When importing companies in the main editor you may opt to import all the related contracts at the same time. You should import the appropriate workers before doing this, otherwise the contracts will not be able to be imported as there will be nothing to link them to. When importing move sets you can opt to import moves at the same time; this means that if the move set contains a move that is not already in the database then the importer will import that move first, then the move set, and make sure that they are linked together.

40.12 Soft Closes vs Hard Closes

In many places in the editor you will see the option of setting closure dates as 'hard' or 'soft'. If a 'hard' date is given, it means the item will definitely close down on the date given. A 'soft' close date is only used when setting up a new game, and is used to remove items that have already closed by the time the game begins.

40.13 Ageing And De-Ageing

You can use the mass editor to age or de-age wrestlers by a certain number of years. Please note that this literally adds or removes that many years of skill changes, therefore the database maker should be careful to exclude wrestlers who would not be active at that time. For example, you would not want to apply 5 years of ageing to a worker who would not debut until six years had passed or they'll be five years better than they should be.

40.14 Picture Limits

Please note that there is an upper limit of just over 32,000 to how many pictures you may keep in a folder. If you go above this limit then when you try to assign a picture you will find that the list is greyed out and unclickable. This is due to a limit imposed by the Windows operating system and cannot be worked around.

40.15 Logos Vs. Backdrops

Various parts of the game, such as companies and stables, allow a logo and a backdrop image to be specified. The logo is the main image and is used throughout the game when that item is identified or referenced. Backdrops appear on screens where an employee of a company is being displayed and, as the name suggests, give a custom backdrop behind the worker's image. This is specifically for when transparent GIF images are being used for workers; if the worker image is non-transparent, such as JPGs, then the backdrop is simply obscured from view and serves no purpose. Note that if Default Backdrops are turned off via the Options menu then the main logo is used if no backdrop is found.

41 Miscellaneous (+)

This section covers various elements of gameplay that didn't fit into any other section of the handbook but may prove useful! Sections 41.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

41.1 Move Sets And Moves

Each wrestler can be assigned a move set that can contain any number of moves. This is used when that wrestler wins matches to decide how the finish is described in the output text. It is purely cosmetic and it has no drawback if wrestlers are not assigned moves. Each move has a variety of settings that tell the game how it can be used, such as whether it can be done outside the ring or not, and this affects in what situations the move is considered valid for use. A move also has to be assigned to one of three types: Finishers are the moves that a wrestler will usually use to beat their opponents. Secondary finishers are the moves that a wrestler will use occasionally to defeat opponents who are much lower down the card than they are. Uber finishers are essentially super finishers and are only used on very rare occasions in big matches against very tough opponents. Maximum Weight Difference means that the victim can only be that much bigger than the person delivering the move. If the victim is lighter or the same size then this has no impact. Maximum Victim Weight is as the name suggests; the biggest weight that the victim can be in order to take the move. Each move can also be given a short description; this is purely for the player's benefit, so that obscure (or made-up) moves can be mentally pictured.

41.2 Independent Shows

Independent shows can occur in any active game area with their frequency dependent on the database settings; these can be adjusted pre-game via the editor (in Database Details) or via Game World > Edit Independent Show Settings whilst in-game. If Smart Selection is chosen for a game area then the frequency will depend on the amount of free agents in the area - the more free agents there are, the more often you'll see shows. Independent shows come in three sizes: small-time, normal, and big-time. This affects which workers are available and what the attendance will be like. Small-time shows are only for unemployed workers who do not have much popularity and are either based in the region or at least a nearby one. Normal shows also allow workers who are under non-exclusive deals and increases the maximum popularity allowed. Big-time shows allow even more popular workers to be involved and allows workers from any region in the area. Independent shows are not broadcast, but workers can still gain skills and popularity from working them.

41.3 Tribute Shows

Tribute shows are a lot like independent shows except that they tend to be built around the memory of a specific worker or company (although you can have tribute shows that don't have either specified, for example for charity shows), happen annually, have settings that allow them to do more things than a standard indy show, and can have special conditions. If a tribute show is dedicated to a specific worker then this means that any worker who has a positive relationship with them has a much greater chance of taking part, providing they are available. If a tribute show is dedicated to a specific company then only workers who have an employment history that says they worked there at some point (for at least one six month stretch) are eligible to take part. For Small and Medium sized shows, workers must be unemployed to take part. For Big shows, workers can be employed but not under exclusive contracts. Huge tribute shows have no limits on using employed workers. All other settings for tribute shows function exactly the same way as for regular events. Tribute shows can be created by the AI during gameplay when a worker dies or a company goes bankrupt. If it's for a worker, they must have had a relatively high reputation level, a good personality, and been within certain popularity levels. For companies, they have to have been big enough, had enough prestige, and been around for at least a decade. Not every worker or company that fulfils the criteria will necessarily get a tribute show, there is some randomness involved. Tribute shows can be created by the player via the options menu, by clicking the Tribute Shows button and then Add Show. There are no restrictions on what the player can create. As with independent shows, tributes shows are not broadcast, but workers can still gain skills and popularity from working them.

41.4 Shortlists And Blacklists

Every player has access to a shortlist and blacklist that are unique to them. They can be accessed via the Office screen. Your shortlist is a collection of workers who interest you for whatever reason. Once a worker is on your shortlist it means that you will be eligible to get e-mails when significant events - such as hirings or firings - happen to them, regardless of whether you currently employ them or not. Your blacklist is a collection of workers who you have no interest in. Once a worker is on your blacklist it means that he will not appear on the Characters screen, Hidden Gems report, or as a potential local hire.

41.5 Name And Text Searches

On many screens (most notably on the various roster screens) you will find a name or text search box on the left hand side of the screen above a list. You may type a piece of text into the box and press the Search button (or hit the enter key) and the list will be filtered to only show items that contains that piece of text. You can right-click the Search button to clear the selection. This feature works in addition to any search criteria that are in effect and will remain in place as long as the text box is filled in. On some screens the search is more advanced. On roster-related screens, and in the two main editors when looking at workers or contracts, the text will act in the same way as the search button found on the left-hand menu - it will search through alter egos, biographies, belt records, etc, and return any worker who has a connection to that text (this makes it easier to find people who are using alternate names, for example). Additionally, on the various news-related screens it is specifically a Text Search rather than a Name Search; this is because it looks not only at the name of each news item but also the body text too, making it more powerful in terms of finding things. Please note that some special symbols (such as #) cannot be used in these searches.

41.6 Quick Reset Of Searches

Please note that you can quickly reset the search parameters on any screen by right-clicking on the Search button. Alternatively, you can reset all searches at once by going to the user control panel (at the bottom of the screen, one to the left of the default selection) and using the Reset All Searches button.

41.7 Sticky Searches

TEW IX operates a 'sticky' search method; that is, your search parameters will remain in place even after you've left the screen. The exception to this is when you are using the editor, as that will reset once you've left the editor entirely. Note that in multiplayer mode each player has their own searches and so they will not be affected by another player's parameters.

41.8 Searching And Deceased Workers

Please be aware that deceased workers technically do not have an age, so when searching the age parameters you give do not apply to them. This is necessary because if they were still considered to have an age (i.e. ignoring the fact that they have died) then they would eventually go past the maximum allowable age value and it would be impossible to find them through a search.

41.9 Hall Of Immortals

The Hall Of Immortals is the home of the most legendary wrestlers and tag teams of all time; only the absolute best of the best get inducted. A worker gains points towards induction when they complete certain 'tasks', with the points dependent on what the task was and how many times they have achieved it (some tasks can only provide a limited number of points regardless of how often they are completed). You can see the criteria via the editor. These criteria are not visible during gameplay, although you can see a worker's current progress level towards getting inducted via the Achievements section of their profile. Note that the editor can be used to set a worker as a Future Inductee - this means that they will definitely be inducted upon retirement, regardless of whether they meet the criteria or not. In the criteria 'Has won primary titles in a Big (or above) company' floating titles of 70 or greater prestige also count. Unlike a company's Hall Of Fame, players cannot directly alter the members of the Hall of Immortals. There is no in-game benefit to being a member of the Hall Of Immortals, it's simply a cosmetic achievement.

41.10 Power 500

The Power 500 is calculated at the end of each year. It is visible via the in-game website and a worker's Achievements screen. A wrestler's position in the Power 500 does not have any impact on the game other than cosmetically. The Power 500 is calculated by creating a score for each worker - the average of the ten best match ratings they were involved in over the course of the previous twelve months - and then ranking them in descending order. A worker must have competed in ten matches to be considered eligible, and house shows do not count. Workers who died during the previous twelve months are eligible for a small 'sentimentality boost' to their score. NB: A Power 500 is only published for a calendar year if more than 75 workers were eligible to be ranked. If that was not achieved, the process is skipped.

41.11 Game World Currency

For ease of use, TEW gives all amounts in dollars. This is purely so that there is a consistency across the entire world and there doesn't need to be confusing currency conversions happening.

41.12 Financial Limits

Most financial amounts in the game have a limit of plus or negative $999,999,999. If a number goes past this, it will generally be capped either immediately or at the end of that evening's processing. For this reason, in rare situations where astronomical values are being used figures may not add up perfectly due to the capped amounts 'disappearing'.

41.13 Skins

New skins for the game can be added via the Skins folder and then applied via the Select Skin button on the left hand side of the opening screen or via the Options menu. Any custom skin MUST contain every file that the Default skin has. If any are missing or misnamed, the game will crash when it tries to locate that file.

41.14 Picture Packs

New picture packs can be added via the Pictures folder; they must match the same structure as the Default pack, which will automatically be the case if they have been created via the main editor's New Pic Folder button (as is recommended). Once added, they must be assigned to a database either via the main editor (the Database Details button) or via the Options menu (Change Pictures). Picture packs are NOT plug-and-play, their file names must match those that the various workers, companies, etc, have been assigned. Picture packs include a Defaults subfolder; this can be used to give replacements to the standard default graphics used in order to show that an item had a picture that was not found. If an image is present in this subfolder then it supersedes the use of the standard default version. To see which files are valid to be included, please see the Default version that comes with the game. Note that there is one special case within this folder; if you'd like the default 'missing worker' picture to be in GIF format, then you should include no_picture.gif and NOT no_picture.jpg (the JPG format, by default, will be used if found). In rare circumstances, a picture file may become corrupted. If this is the case, the game will not be able to display it. This may cause odd effects, such as looking at a worker and seeing the picture of the previous person you looked at instead. If you believe that you may have a corrupt picture, you should go to Options > Remote Help and use the code PictureCheck. This will launch a tool that will allow you to scan for corrupt images. Any corrupt images should be replaced and / or removed so that the game can function correctly. In the unlikely even that you are struggling to correctly install a picture folder you can use the Check Picture Folders button, located in the main editor within Database Details, to perform a scan; this will identify any issues and may help you identify your problem.

42 The CornellVerse (+)

The CornellVerse is the name of the default fictional database that TEW comes with. This section gives some technical and functional information about it. Sections 42.1 and onward look at specific elements. (You can double-click the heading, marked with (+), to expand or collapse the subsections.)

42.1 Usage Permissions

The CornellVerse is considered to be freely available for anyone to use within a 'fair usage' policy; that is, we're happy for you to modify it, make alternate versions, use it for diaries, etc, providing you are not using it for commercial purposes, for games outside the Grey Dog Software family of titles, or making money off it. If you are in any doubt, please contact us to ask before proceeding with your project.

42.2 Names And Images

Please note that the CornellVerse is a work of fiction and none of the characters are meant to represent real people, except for those handful based on forum members who have given their permission. As such, any similarities in names or images are entirely unintentional.