Rules and Officiating
Officiating shouldn't be a focal point of matchwriting, but it's still one of the fundamental parts of the game. Knowing how GCW officials behave can help you keep your officiating subtle but effective. More importantly, adhering to a standard set of GCW rules will aid in uniform events.The GCW Rulebook
Overall PhilosophyGCW strives to maintain a competitive and safe working environment for its wrestlers. President Caldera founded GCW to stay true to wrestling tradition, and as such all traditional rules are in place. However, knowing most fans are dissatisfied with inconclusive endings, GCW officials are under standing orders to make an effort to keep things going even when the rules are bent.
Disqualifications
Wrestlers are to be disqualified for a blatant disregard for the rules. Any intentional, calculated use of foreign objects is cause for disqualification. Incidental use of objects around the ring (such as the guardrail, steel post or ring steps) results in an admonishment, but not in DQ. If another wrestler interferes, the wrestler who benefits from the interference is disqualified.
Count Outs
Count outs suck, and GCW knows it. While some thought was given to eliminating the rule altogether, count outs remain a necessary evil. This ensures the match must stay in and around the ring. If a wrestler leaves the ring, the official begins a ten-count. If the opponent leaves the ring after the ten count begins, the count continues. If any wrestler enters the ring and then returns outside, the count is reset. GCW officials tend to count slowly as long as the action is in the immediate ring area; they are not inclined to end matches with double-countout. A wrestler can, however, win via countout if their opponent is simply unable to re-enter the ring.
Title Changes
Titles cannot change hands as a result of a countout or disqualification unless otherwise stipulated. In title matches, officials are even more reluctant to end matches in countout or DQ if it robs the challenger of a chance to claim the belt.
Rope Breaks
If a wrestler is in a pinning predicament or a submission hold, they may escape by gripping any ring rope. If a submission hold is applied and the victim reaches the ropes, the attacker has a five count to release the hold. If the attacker does not release by the five count they are disqualified. In practice, officials tend to give the attacker every opportunity to comply before actually ending the match.
Treatment of Officials
GCW protects its officials. Wrestlers are forbidden to threaten or attack an official. Doing so will result in fine or suspension. GCW officials are aware of this protection policy and therefore are not easily intimidated.
Writing Officiating
Technically you are not required to mention an official by name. Generic references such as 'the official' or 'the referee' can suffice. However, if you would like to add a touch of depth, using a referee's name and personality can do the trick.Officials should be part of the background of the match. While each official has his own personality, the GCW officiating crew are professional and aren't there to upstage the talent. Still, you can improve your match even further by incorporating each official's subtle differences. These are the sorts of nuances that can make a match come alive.
Because of GCW's protection policy, no wrestler should ever attack an official. Obviously, more aggressive wrestlers might be inclined to threaten or intimidate a referee, but because of the protection policy referees aren't likely to back down. Only the most monstrous characters will be successful in forcing an official to back down. The fact is, wrestling is the only sport where attacking a referee is permitted, and that doesn't make any sense. If an NFL player attacks a referee, you think he'll ever see the field again? If a UFC fighter hit the official, he'd be toast. It doesn't fly in real sports, it doesn't fly in GCW.
Ref bumps are a similarly taboo. Yeah, they happen, but are we to believe these referees don't know how to stay out of the way? NFL referees stand in the midst of charging linebackers and running backs and only rarely get in the way. These guys are professionals, they know what they're doing. In addition, if a ref goes down, GCW will immediately send another referee to the ring to continue the match, and that referee will see anything that happens in the interim. Try to be more creative with your spots and use ref bumps only as a last resort.
Distraction can happen, as long as it's subtle. A distracted referee is apt to miss a low blow, or some outside interference. Chair shots, however, produce a pretty distinctive sound, and yes, officials have heard it before. Just because an official isn't looking in the right direction doesn't mean he won't catch you. In summary, don't make GCW officials look like idiots, because they're not.
Overall it is very hard to cheat in GCW. This is not designed to make life more difficult; it's design to encourage increased creativity in matchwriting. Wrestling these days has settled into clichéd uses of cheating, run-ins and ref bumps that has frankly become tired. Matches have been ending unfairly for decades and nobody has figured out how to fix the system? GCW has.
The preferred method of indicating a count in progress follows:
EXAMPLE
...1!
...2!
...KICKOUT!
-OR-
...1!
...2!
...3!!!
...1!
...2!
...KICKOUT!
-OR-
...1!
...2!
...3!!!
The Referees
That being said, we've got a team of officials designed for a variety of uses. If you do need to bend things, read the following section on the individual referees and select the one most approrpiate for the situation.The officials are:
* Josh Briggs
* David Fellows
* Hal Jenkins
* Timothy Vale
* Cameron Wrigley