Well lucky for me this BTB only got started, I hope to all other bookers who lost more of their show are not to down-hearted and continue booking. I have PM ChainGangRed and waiting a reply whether he’ll be continuing this BTB with me. The backstory is posted below and our first shows (probably recaps) and new shows will be posted soon.
Background Story:
After coming of Summerslam 2005, Vince McMahon decided to analyse the WWE as a product. Undertaking intensive market research it was identified that the negatives of the WWE outweighed the positives, this being down to poor domestic sales and the continued growth of NWA-TNA. Vince McMahon decided to take action. He complied a list of what needed to be done to make WWE once again a superior product.
Vince McMahon first line of duty was re-naming the WWE:
The reason for this was being that WWE fans as well as casual wrestling fans didn't enjoy WWE and did not recognize it's "Entertainment Era." After lengthily negotiations, WWE finally came to an agreement with the World Wide Fund, (WWF) to have the WWE product re-named to WWF. By doing this WWF introduced a slogan to attract fans, known as WWF, Get the "F" In.
Vince McMahon second line of duty was evaluation of WWF Programming:
In October WWF Raw moved to the USA Network and continued at its Live Monday Night Slot. WWF continued to have Smackdown air on UPN, but with it being moved to a Friday Night Slot. WWF negotiated with UPN and came to an agreement, that now newly dubbed, Friday Night Smackdown would not move to its timeslot till October 14th, thus to coincide with WWF Monday Night Raw moving to the USA Network in the same week on October 10th, this being so that WWF could complete its last PPV, No Mercy. Vince McMahon then looked at the weekend shows of the WWF. After negotiation with UPN and USA Network to keep Velocity and Heat on each respective network an agreement was finally reached to have these both aired Saturday and Sunday Night respectively in their current time-slot. Vince McMahon decided that Velocity of Smackdown and Heat of Raw where no longer to be re-cap shows of Raw and Smackdown, but to be 1 hour shows in which it allowed younger and developing superstars have a shot, also Velocity and Heat where to be used as shows to develop lower-card feuds. In a cost-cutting procedure Vince McMahon decided to have WWF Afterburn and WWF Bottom Line both dropped and cancelled, because they hardly drew any audience, Vince McMahon though decided to go ahead with WWF Experience, which was now the re-cap show for both Raw and Friday Night Smackdown. WWF Experience remained on mid-day weekend viewing available on USA Network.
Vince McMahon third line of duty was evaluation of House-Shows and TV Tapings:
Vince McMahon decided to continue having Heat and Velocity taped before either Raw and Smackdown and aired on the weekend. He also changed the day slot of Smackdown being taped from Tuesday to Thursday, to reduce the amount of "Internet Spoilers." Vince McMahon then viewed the House-Show schedule WWF had. Reviewing ticket sales it was identified that they where considerably low, Vince McMahon decided to only have one brand House-Show per week. Raw House-Show being on Tuesday or Thursday Nights and Smackdown House-Show being on Tuesday or Wednesday Nights. Vince McMahon though decided International tours would have a range between 2-3 shows as International Fans generated more income. For overseas tours Raw's House-Shows where Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday with Smackdown being Sunday, Monday and/or Tuesday.
Vince McMahon fourth line of duty was evaluation of the Creative Team:
After what seemed like a wake up call, Vince McMahon realised that the Creative/Booking Team had no Wrestling Knowledge at all. Vince McMahon handed each of them the Pink Slip and removed Stephanie McMahon from Creative Control. Vince McMahon then re-structured the entire Creative Team, which was led by Paul Heyman and also consisted of Dusty Rhodes, Court Bauer, Jim Ross, Tommy Dreamer and Eric Bischoff. It was decided that the creative team work as a unit, rather than focusing on a particular brand. Vince McMahon also wanted his superstars to put across idea's that they believed would be good feuds. He also went by the Creative Team that he wanted the promo's now conducted by superstars to be somewhat "Shoot," thus allowing the superstars input on the promo's.
Vince McMahon fifth line of duty was the evaluations of the Pay-Per-View (PPV) Schedule:
Vince McMahon firstly decided to have preferably 12 PPV a year, equalling to one PPV a month. Though looking at the PPV's, it was identified that WWF fans where very keen on the return of King of The Ring. After much deliberation, Vince McMahon decided upon the return of King of The Ring in its previous June Slot. Though by doing this left Vince McMahon a slight problem of their being 5 Inter-Brand PPV, leaving one roster having a odd amount of own-brand PPV. Vince McMahon then decided upon adding a 13th PPV, 5 PPV being Inter-Brand, and 4 each for Raw and Smackdown. The PPV list was as followed:
January: Royal Rumble (Inter-Brand)
February: No Way Out (Smackdown)
March: Wrestlemania (Inter-Brand)
April: Backlash (Raw)
May: Judgement Day (Smackdown)
June: King of The Ring (Inter-Brand)
July: TBC (Inter-Brand)
July: Great American Bash (Raw)
August: Summerslam (Inter-Brand)
September: Unforgiven (Smackdown)
October: Halloween Havoc (Raw)
November: Survivor Series (Inter-Brand)
December: Vengeance (Smackdown)
January: New Years Revolution (Raw)
Vince McMahon sixth line of duty was the evaluations of the backroom and background staff of WWF:
Vince McMahon sat down with the Board of Directors of WWF to evaluate this. It was decided that the current Board of Directors was sufficient, though Vince McMahon decided to look at the Executive Officers of WWF. Numerous complaints from WWF Talent in regards to John "Ace" Laurinaitis, Vince McMahon removed him from WWF Talent Relations and assigned Shane McMahon to WWF Talent Relations as well as co-ordinating his media department alongside Stephanie McMahon. John Laurinaitis was placed as the Head of Road Agents of the WWF which co-ordinated backstage as well as House-Shows. The WWF Road Agents consisted of the following all of whom worked on both Raw and Smackdown:
Jerry Briscoe
Arn Anderson
Tim White
Tony Garea
Bruce Pritchard
Ricky Steamboat
Dave "Fit" Finlay
Michael Hayes
Dean Malenko
Steve Keirn
Ted DiBiase
A major turning point in the background area was Vince McMahon banning Triple H from having as much freedom and input as he previously done so. Vince McMahon wanted to reduce "Political Power" backstage and decided upon having Triple H focus more on wrestling rather than the background aspect.
Vince McMahon seventh line of duty was the evaluation of re-building the division with WWF:
Vince McMahon realised that the only division within WWF that was worth cheering about was the World Heavyweight Title and World Title Divison. So Vince McMahon went about bringing back prestige in all other divisions. Vince McMahon decided the best way to do this was to evaluate the roster which became his eighth line of duty. But it was stated that Vince McMahon had eyes for superstars he wanted each division built around, these where:
WWF Heavyweight Title and WWF Title: John Cena, Batista and Randy Orton
WWF Intercontinental Title and WWF United States Title: Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, Rob Conway and Rey Mysterio.
WWF Tag Team Titles and WWF World Tag Team Titles: TNT, MNM.
WWF Women's Title: Trish Stratus, Victoria
WWF Cruiserweight Title: Paul London, Hurricane Helms, Kid Kash
Vince McMahon eighth line of duty was the evalutation of the WWF Talent Roster:
After looking at the rosters it was decided that their imbalance between Star Power and Talent on both rosters. Vince McMahon first task was to make roster cut backs again and re-assignment of superstars to either Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) or Deep South Wrestling (DSW) for superstars he saw unready and made the jump to the main roster to quickly.
Superstars that WWF released where the following:
Candice Michelle
Gene Snitsky
Funaki
Hiedenriech
Rosey
Steve Romero
Viscera
Superstars that where re-assigned to OVW and DSW where the following:
Ashley Massoro
Chris Masters.
Eugene
Maria Kannelis.
Matt Striker
Certain amount of superstar decided rather being caught in the roster cull, they would retire. This actually worked out well for several because they now became trainers at OVW and DSW,
Superstars retired but remained with WWF where the following:
Hardcore Holly
Scotty 2 Hotty
Steven Richards
Val Venis
Thus with the release, re-assignments and retirements this did leave WWF with a reduced amount of talent. Vince McMahon then negotiated several contracts,
Superstars that where signed or called up to the main roster where the following:
Alexis Laree
Brian Kendrick
Brock Lesnar
Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley (Dudley Boyz)
Charlie Haas
C.M. Punk
Frankie Kazarian
James Gibson
Kid Kash
Matt Bentley
Mike Shane and Todd Shane (Shane Twin's)
Sean Waltman
Stevie Ray
Trinity
It was decided though due to the size of the rosters, the brand split would continue, but a draft was to occur again, where this time there was no limit on superstars to be drafted and everybody on the roster is available to move shows. The draft would occur on a WWF.com feed at Stamford, the home of WWF.
Other:
With all objectives met Vince McMahon went about meeting smaller targets. This included return of matches and the move restriction ban being lifted. Though still wary about who done the moves Vince McMahon only allowed accomplished superstars who had been using a particular move for so long to use banned moves. The top rope move ban was also lifted as it was believed it restricted Cruiserweights, thus allowing Face Paced, High Flying Matches between these superstars so that it rivalled the action of the X-Divison for NWA TNA. Vince McMahon also wanted WWF.com to continue its "Shoot Style" way of documenting issues within WWF, this meant that the Ross Report continued, as well as the Locker Room Lowdown. It was also decided upon using the development territory in favour for each brand. Superstars at OVW, would be moved to the Raw Roster and Superstars at DSW would be moved to the Smackdown Roster.
By the time all the changes had come and gone, WWF Unforgiven and WWF No Mercy had come and gone, results that followed where:
Unforgiven:
John Cena retained the WWF Title over Kurt Angle with an FU.
Carlito retained the WWF Intercontinental Title over Ric Flair, with a school boy pin and clutch of the tights.
Shawn Michaels defeated Chris Masters in a match that during the build up became Loser Leaves WWE, this was made due to Chris Masters returning to OVW for training.
Matt Hardy defeated Edge in a bloody Steel Cage Match, thus ending their feud, as WWF had high aspirations for Edge. Edge was then given time off to "sell his injuries."
Big Show defeated Gene Snitsky in a very poor match. This being Gene Snitsky final match as he was released thereafter.
Kerwin White defeated Shelton Benjamin in an surprisingly good match, which WWF decided to run with as a feud. Kerwin White picked up by using his golf club to knock out Shelton Benjamin.
TNT defeated Hurricane and Rosey to become new World Tag Team Champions, this also run to demise of Rosey tenure within WWF, as they no longer had anything for him.
Ashley Massoro and a returning Trish Stratus defeated Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle in a decent enough encounter. After this match Ashley Massoro was sent to OVW for wrestling training as Candice Michelle was released.
No Mercy:
Eddie Guerrero defeated Batista by disqualification as Brock Lesnar returned attacking Eddie Guerrero costing him the chance to become WWF Heavyweight Champion. Brock Lesnar also attacked Batista after the match. Brock and Eddie were then sent to RAW but due to it was disqualification Batista kept his title.
Undertaker defeated Randy Orton and "Cowboy" Bob Orton in a Handicap Match, with Undertaker hitting a devastating Tombstone Piledriver on "Cowboy" Bob Orton for the victory.
Chris Benoit retained his United States Championship in a very entertaining Six-Pack Challenge, involving Christian, Booker T, Rey Mysterio, Ken Kennedy and Orlando Jordan. But due to Benoit being drafted to SD the US Championship was left vacant.
MNM finally managed to defeat LOD to become new WWF Tag Team Champions. This match led to Road Warrior Animal finally retiring and Hiedenriech leaving the WWF. Johnny Nitro was injured due to a bounce Doomsday Device making MNM leave until Nitro revived and MNM would get a title shot when they returned.
Brian Kendrick became new WWF Cruiserweight Champion defeating Nunzio, due to outside interference from the Mexicools. But afterwards he was sent to RAW and left the WWF cruiserweight championship on Smackdown! to be vacant.
James Gibson defeated Paul London on his return in a very entertaining Cruiserweight Match.
In a filler match to gain control of Smackdown, Theodore R.Long defeated Palmer Cannon (Network Representative) to gain full control of Smackdown, this occurred when a returning Dudley Boyz 3D Palmer Cannon.
The Next PPV that WWF was coming too was none other than Survivor Series on Sunday 27th November. Their current dating was 10th October 2005. WWF decided that they now wanted to build up their PPV to the calibre of WWF Wrestlemania is built up. With 5 weeks to run till Survivor Series the build up of the new WWF began now, with WWF: Get The 'F' In.
Confirmed Rosters after the draft on WWF.com:
Raw:
Kurt Angle
Brock Lesnar
John Cena
Triple H
Eddie Guerrero
Chris Jericho
Chris Benoit
Rob Van Dam
Shelton Benjamin
Rob Conway
Carlito
Ken Kennedy
Tyson Tomko
Ric Flair
Doug
Johnny Parisi
Harlem Heat
William Regal and Paul Burchill
Frankie Kazarian and Matt Bentley
Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade
Heartthrobs
Alexis Laree
Christy Hemme
Sharmell
Stacy Kiebler
Trinity
Trish Stratus
Victoria
Brian Kendrick
James Gibson
Sean Waltman
Simon Dean
Smackdown:
JBL
Undertaker
Shawn Michaels
Batista
Randy Orton
Edge
Rey Mysterio
Orlando Jordan
Kerwin White
Big Show
Matt Hardy
Vito
Christian
Kane
Charlie Haas
Damaja
MNM
Dudley Boyz
Mexicools
Shane Twins
La Resistance
CM Punk
Hurricane Helms
Juventud
Kid Kash
Nunzio
Paul London
Tajiri
Lita
Melina
Jillian
Torrie Wilson
Tag Teams, Stables and Affiliates where as followed:
1) Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley: Dudley Boyz
2) Frankie Kazarian and Matt Bentley
Valet: Trinity
3) Trevor Murdoch and Lance Cade
4) Sylvan and Rene: La Resistance
5) Antonio and Romeo: Heart-Throbs
6) John Bradshaw Layfield and Orlando Jordan
7) Stevie Ray and Booker T: Harlem Heat
Valet: Sharmell
8) Psicosis, Super Crazy and Juventud: Mexicools
9) William Regal and Paul Burchill
10) Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro: MNM
Valet: Melina
11) Todd Shane and Mike Shane: Shane Twin's
12) Nunzio and Vito: Full Blooded Italians (FBI)