This may be the most important part of successful efedding because it is the basis for everything else that you do. The character is the heart and soul of who you “are” in the efed sense. One thing you should do before making a character is looking over the roster so that you don’t repeat someone else’s character. First off, the most important part of character generation is the “Gimmick.” After that, your entrance and appearance will be complimentary to your gimmick, and as a whole the three main parts will make your character who he/she is.

The gimmick is what/who your character is. The best way to come up with a gimmick is to take some part of yourself, and amplify it. Look at hurricane in the WWE. He’s a real life Green Lantern fan… so his gimmick is that of a “Superhero.” His love for the superhero was taken up about 5 notches. Of course, if you are original and creative, you might not have to use any part of your true personality in creating your gimmick. Also, remember these three words… Detail, Detail, Detail. The more detailed your character is, the more of a sense we can get for them

When you make up an entrance, it ought to be in a format that is easily copy/pasted. You also want to write it up as people would really be seeing it happen. One thing to avoid is “We See” or “You see.” Who are We and You?

Your appearance ought to be body type, ring attire, any kind of markings/tattoos/scars/piercings, as well as eye and hair color and any facial hair. The more detailed the better. You want an appearance to give the person reading your roleplays and matches a good idea of what they’re “looking” at.

Originality is the key (unless you join one of those lame wannabe WWE feds). In everything, gimmick, entrance, appearance, etc do NOT refer to real life wrestlers. Referring to WWE, NWA:TNA, WCW or ECW guys shows a lack of originality and creativity. You want to be unique because the most successful guys are the most unique.

Realism is also key to having a successful character. Make sure what you’re coming up with is realistic. You have to remember that you’re trying to market yourself as sellable. You need to make yourself believable, otherwise, what’s the point?

The Finisher – Realism is key in creating a finisher. Don’t make a finisher that is physically impossible or would be lethal/crippling. You need to make a finisher that would be feared and respected, but not overly so. Also, sticking your Wrestling Style is quite important. i.e. If you are a 400 pound powerhouse don’t have a top rope flying move as your finisher, and vice versa.

Simplicty and Complexity – A careful balance of both is needed in everything. This includes gimmick, moves and finishers. Keep in mind that people need to visualize what you write, so detail is important, but too much detail can be a hindrance.

Roleplaying

Roleplaying is the end all be all of successful efedding. They are what matches are decided on (for the most part) in IEA. If you out roleplay your opponent, you win, no questions (UNLESS someone interferes). Roleplays are classified by three types: The Interview, The Solo, and The Casual Conversation.

The Interview – This is usually the most formal type of roleplay. It involves a formal interview style, with a reporter and your character in a studio. This is usually in a Question & Answer form.

The Solo – These are usually hard to pull off, but the good ones usually can do it. This involves the character roleplaying with no other “human” interaction. It’s just the camera and the character.

The Casual Conversation – Many people tend to use this format the most. It involves some sort of interaction with other characters, but in an informal setting. That means conversations with managers or valets, reporters, cameramen, or any other person possibly in the roleplay. Usually the setting is somewhere other than in a studio. This style of roleplaying also gives the most creative license in writing because it has less restrictions than a Solo or Interview would have

One piece of advice we have is don't stick to just one of the above styles.  Try to mix it up.  Variety can only help you. 

There are also some very important rules one must abide by if you want your roleplay to be effective:

Content – Depending on what type of fed you are in, this rule varies. For our purposes, what is allowed is basically anything that would be heard on a late night cable. Some swearing is allowed, but the word "fuck" must be censored like f**k. Also, check the gay bashing and racist remarks at the door.  So you may ask, what makes a roleplay good? Well, the following does:

Creativity/Originality – The more creative you are in scenery, wording, etc, the better your roleplay is. Good grammar and spelling is a must, because you don’t want to sound like a Neanderthal.

Relevance – Basically, your roleplay should be focused on your match at hand AND who you are feuding with (if the person isn’t in the match or if you’re actually feuding.) The more focused you roleplay is, the better it’ll come off. Also, the more you talk about your opponent and the more heat you can add to your match and/or feud the better you have roleplayed

Logic – The ability to think and use weak points in your opponents’ roleplays to your advantage is the one thing that makes your roleplays better than theirs. The more of a fool you can make your opponent look, the more successful you have been in out roleplaying your opponent.

Sticking to the Gimmick – This is also important because your roleplays reflect who your character is. Therefore, in order to be effective in roleplaying as your character, its best that you roleplay in a manner that reflects your gimmick.

Length – The rule of thumb that we’ve created is no less than 3 and no more than 5 (3-4 is ideal) pages in MS Word, 12 pt Times New Roman single spaced font. When you do a roleplay, you want to imagine just how long it would take if it were to really air. If you can’t get your point across in that length, you’re in for some trouble. On a side note, backstage interview on cards should be no longer than 2 pages. Backstage “promos” are usually quick and to the point.

Match Strategy, or Strat for short

A Strat is a “guide” that you write up to let the match writer know how you’d like your handler to handle a match. In a strat, there should be specific spots, a game or battle plan, SOME (note the emphasis on the word some) move counters, finishes, mic work, backstage attacks/interference and any tweaks to entrances etc. the following or in no order:

Game or Battle Plan – This is usually a general outline of how your wrestle will wrestle. Here you put any kind of ring psychology you’ll be using, what body parts you’ll be working on, and any kind of change in style to adapt to certain conditions or opponents. For example, you’d include that if you’re smaller than your opponent by a good amount, you’d use your speed as an advantage. Also, you’d work on the legs to make sure said big man can’t get to you. I think you get the idea

Backstage Attacks/Interference – These should be rare. Normally, the best way to generate heat is through roleplays, but every once in a while some drastic measures are needed. In your strat, if you so desire, a write up of a backstage attack or interference in someone’s match is allowed. These should be used sparingly so that they are the culmination of animosity, leading up to a final blow-off of steam in a match (or 2). Also, keep in mind that they shouldn’t be too vicious as to keep in lien with the whole realism part of efedding.

Specific Spots – Spots are certain moves or “events” that you’d like to see happen in a match. For example, there may be a hardcore match and you’d like to do a springboard DDT into a chair. That’d be a ”spot.” You also want to list some specific moves that you may want to execute through the course of the match. These should be limited in number, as well as….

Move and Finisher counters – First and foremost, it’s VERY rare that a finisher gets countered. And if it does, it’s usually at the beginning or close to the beginning of the match. So do this part accordingly. Here, you want to make a very short list of 2-4 moves you want to counter and how you want to counter them. i.e. someone may have a piledriver as a move, so you’d write up that you want to counter it with something like a back body drop.

Mic Work/Backstage Interview – Short, sweet, to the point. Think of promos you see on TV done by guys on their own, and that’s what you’re aiming for. Of course, the exceptions to the rule would be if you and another handler happen to do a co-op in ring. They tend to be longer as two people are doing the work.

Finishes – This is how you’d like to see the match end win, lose and draw. Cover al of your bases. Here you do how you’d like to win a match, or what you’ll do if you happen to lose. Quick mic work could also be included.

Tweaks to entrance – self explanatory.

Communication and Cooperation

Communication is important for MANY different reasons and the same goes for cooperation. One of things we encourage is communicating with the person you are feuding with and planning it together. Trust us on this, it shows when all parties are putting forth good effort and working together. It also leads to more ideas, etc coming about. Besides, the more you communicate with each other the more you’ll probably like the place and the people you’re working with. There’s no use in being at a workplace and sitting all by yourself without talking to others. However, you don’t need to apologize to people for getting them good in your roleplays, attacking them backstage, etc. What we stress is work together on some things (especially if forming a stable), but let some things be a surprise. Also, if you are in a stable, co-op roleplays an on-card mic work is very useful. Just some food for thought.

Wrestling Psychology

Psychology is a very important part of “wrestling.” Psychology has to deal with using logic and intelligence to dictate how a feud and subsequent matches go. Psychology is prevalent in three things – Strats, match writing and roleplays

Strats - Think of it like this. In a match, when someone uses “ring psychology” it usually means that a wrestler uses his/her strengths to dictate how a match will go. Par example, HBK vs HHH. HBK’s back is screwed up, so HHH uses ring psychology and uses HBK’s weak back to his advantage. In other words, it's what you do in a match to take control and keep on to it. There are also a few different factors to think about when using your psychology. First off, psychology isn’t limited to just in the ring. It could involved backstage attacks. Also, you must always be wary of how big the person/people are that you are attacking. Also, a little clothesline isn’t going to take down the world champ, so plan accordingly. Numbers are also important to remember. A 1 on 3 attack probably won’t be too effective

Match Writing – This is for people who are want to be and already are writers. When you write a match, it ought to have some structure to it. T can’t be just a bunch of random moves put together. You want to put yourself in the wrestlers shoes and think “If I’m this height/weight/style and my opponent is this height/weight/style, how would I defeat them” and go from there.

Roleplays - Psychology in roleplays is not much different than ring psychology. Basically what you want to do is use your intelligence to make the other person look dumb. Read the roleplays section above to understand how to achieve your goal of roleplay supremacy.

There you have it. Read this and follow it, and you’ll will as successful as one can be in the world of efedding.