Memories
Chapter One: Army Men Toys To a Nationally Sold Wrestling Game
#PWHS #Article #Memories #WrestlingWorldCommissioner
Part Two: Wrestling World Commissioner
My next progression originated when I became friends with my Middle School History teacher, Mr Hullett, who also was an avid Sports Card collector. I’m talking about ordering in bulk many cases at a time when Topps put their Baseball and Football cards out yearly. He was a Baltimore Oriole and Colts fan, his hometown. He took me under his wing and showed me how he had invented baseball and football games based on statistics. All was needed were a couple decks of playing cards and an empty composition book. The cards would be used to see the statistical outcome of a play, and the composition book was to keep score of every game. This score keeping led to finding out actual statistics and who the stars really were in my leagues.
This was interesting to me, a statistic nut, as all .300 hitters had the same chance to hit their .300, or 40 homeruns, steal 30 bases and so on. But, as you can guess, there were some who hit well above their supposed stats, some played out just right, and of course some played below their expectations. It was an endless source of fun, not frustration, to always tweak the charts to play out the closest to real life players.
After awhile, baseball and football weren’t good enough for me. This was especially true the better I got in tweaking my charts. What followed were statistical games to attempt to capture the sports of: golf, bowling, the Olympics, Nascar, horse racing, NCAA basketball, and boxing. The hardest test was trying to capture the exciting Roller Derby; I failed on that one, lol.
Yes, along the way my favorite game was starting to form: Pro Wrestling. Without replaying all the transformations, let me tell you about this first finished product. I became the World-Wide Commissioner that ruled it all-no arguments, no appeals. I said what wrestlers were traded between the numerous territories. I decided what belts were held up, how special tourneys were to be held and who could be invited to enter the special tourneys; which were usually for some major belt.
This was no small undertaking. I had a couple thousand wrestlers divided between major and minor territories covering a good portion of the globe. There were the three major territories, mid-sized territories, and the smaller regional ones. I had managers divided out, which included some veteran wrestlers from time to time. I put certain wrestlers under masks for different reasons. I enjoyed putting lesser known wrestlers who were mainly losers in one territory and pairing them with a top manager in a new territory. They would become at least mid-card status at the very least to start with (sorta like the JC Dykes/Infernos story).
That was only the beginning. I kept rankings for singles and tags in every territory. From there I would decide my international rankings from all the champs and top competitors. (Maybe you can see why I know a little about Pro Wrestling from 1974 and back.) I would fill up composition books with match results based on statistical possibilities. I could do and record up to 250 matches per hour. Once I discovered this addiction, the other games faded into the background as I was reliving and making history all in one. I could set up all the classic matches to my heart’s content. There were enough titles available to keep anybody happy; multiple belts for singles and tag teams in every territory. It would not have been boring to any fan in any of my territories as championship belts were being defended all the time. What always amazed me was how my heart-felt favorites won time and again. It would have been an interesting ESP experiment.
This was interesting to me, a statistic nut, as all .300 hitters had the same chance to hit their .300, or 40 homeruns, steal 30 bases and so on. But, as you can guess, there were some who hit well above their supposed stats, some played out just right, and of course some played below their expectations. It was an endless source of fun, not frustration, to always tweak the charts to play out the closest to real life players.
After awhile, baseball and football weren’t good enough for me. This was especially true the better I got in tweaking my charts. What followed were statistical games to attempt to capture the sports of: golf, bowling, the Olympics, Nascar, horse racing, NCAA basketball, and boxing. The hardest test was trying to capture the exciting Roller Derby; I failed on that one, lol.
Yes, along the way my favorite game was starting to form: Pro Wrestling. Without replaying all the transformations, let me tell you about this first finished product. I became the World-Wide Commissioner that ruled it all-no arguments, no appeals. I said what wrestlers were traded between the numerous territories. I decided what belts were held up, how special tourneys were to be held and who could be invited to enter the special tourneys; which were usually for some major belt.
This was no small undertaking. I had a couple thousand wrestlers divided between major and minor territories covering a good portion of the globe. There were the three major territories, mid-sized territories, and the smaller regional ones. I had managers divided out, which included some veteran wrestlers from time to time. I put certain wrestlers under masks for different reasons. I enjoyed putting lesser known wrestlers who were mainly losers in one territory and pairing them with a top manager in a new territory. They would become at least mid-card status at the very least to start with (sorta like the JC Dykes/Infernos story).
That was only the beginning. I kept rankings for singles and tags in every territory. From there I would decide my international rankings from all the champs and top competitors. (Maybe you can see why I know a little about Pro Wrestling from 1974 and back.) I would fill up composition books with match results based on statistical possibilities. I could do and record up to 250 matches per hour. Once I discovered this addiction, the other games faded into the background as I was reliving and making history all in one. I could set up all the classic matches to my heart’s content. There were enough titles available to keep anybody happy; multiple belts for singles and tag teams in every territory. It would not have been boring to any fan in any of my territories as championship belts were being defended all the time. What always amazed me was how my heart-felt favorites won time and again. It would have been an interesting ESP experiment.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Memories: Chapter One - Part Two.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: October 27, 2015.
Article: #125.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Memories: Chapter One - Part Two.
Author: Terry Kent.
Published: October 27, 2015.
Article: #125.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Memories: Chapter One - Part Two - Read Here.
Memories: Chapter One - Part One - Read Here.
Other articles by Terry can be Read Here.