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Top 10 defunct guilds

Honorable mentions: OECW, AOWW, GZW, and many others where I had great memories.

10. WWE:U
WWE: Unlimited was a nice place to be. It had a good base of regulars, many exclusive and a great structure. For some reason, I always likes Stone’s way of booking and it influenced mine, where he wouldn’t be afraid to do unusual pairings and would just not give a s**t about the outside drama as long as the people involved could deliver something good together. Only flaw of that place: the women’s division kliq. Some egos were getting out of hand and literally ruining the experience for anyone who was trying to play a female character… No wait, to anyone who was trying to play an ORIGINAL female character.

9. ICW
What’s not to love about the efforts of a bunch of new guys, coming together to create something unforgettable? Seriously, it was created at a time when RPers were divided between the clans of newbies and vets, and RPers were divided among themselves. Just the fact that they were able to take everyone in the community and just create something unique with no boundaries and generally appreciated for being so out of the box, it was really nice. Then again, it was too short-lived, although the impact-lifespan ratio was pretty high, considering that it helped reuniting those two clans.

8. WWE:TF
I put TF in here despite the guild still being “alive”, because what I’m referring to here is the pre-FFA era. Here, it falls pretty much under the same category as WWE:U, in that line of guilds with a lot of exclusives, some of them who crossed over to other guilds, some who didn’t. What was interesting about that guild was that cycles were more “free”, where you just go on with your story and have the chance to complete it at your rhythm before the PPV. It worked for a while, but then it seems like it got lost in the shuffle of the more “structured” guilds with cycles and stuff. It went out when it should have, which is totally honorable.

7. GCW
I cannot explain why GCW was so nice. It’s one of those “had to be there” guild to understand the kind of nice place that it used to be. I lasted long enough, was created by great guys and it was a lot of fun. Many people debuted there, some of them who are still with us and overall, I think it was some sort of place where, without being the #1 guild, it was known as a good place for anyone during its time and that’s what I think made it special, the fact that it was globally liked and had this “indy” vibe in the ocean of the EEW, OECW and whatnot.

6. RWA
It was MQ’s project and it lived up to the expectations of what we thought a guy like him could do, which is a crazy place with a shitload of people just going at it there and having the best of times against one another. The friendliness in there made it nice, and when it extended to a two-shows guild, it went on to be even better for the time it lasted. It was like, you had the classic brand and then the hardcore one where anything could happen, even jmfactor as champion, but that’s another story. The way it died makes me sad though, MQ went on hiatus and didn’t pass the guild to anyone although there was potential for more when it was on its way to be the top guild alongside EEW.

5. GWWF
Kudos to kjcfender for being the most successful female guild owner in here. She had a vision like no other for her project and it worked extremely well. What was cool about it is that it exploited many different aspects of wrestling and was treated as its own world, a bit like WWE with its own magazine, interviews, great use of backstage areas, it had several strengths that made it a unique experience. Only problem was that it may have gone out of the box one too many times and then fused with GZW when both should have been their own separate entities.

4. DCW
Yeah yeah, I know, I put my own guild into my top 10, how egotistical is that? Frankly, I try to stay as objective as I can and I’m forced to say that it left a positive impact just by the way people talk about it years later and how I was even pressured to bring it back many times. I was lucky I had an awesome team in that guild to make things work the way they did, and I think it worked well. The way I see it today, it was kind of a laboratory where people had enough freedom to create things and were open minded enough to receive criticism and new ideas to go with it. DCW’s biggest flaw was pushing the concepts way too far to the point where they were hard to understand, follow, and play well.

3. PAW
Back then, PAW was that guild that you wish to be part of one day. One place where the top RPers would go and have matches of epic proportions between them and just live the dream. Today, you could never recreate a concept like that and because of the great moments it created despite its “controversial” selective rule, it earns a spot in the top 3. The thing with that guild is that its biggest asset was also its biggest flaw. There was some concern about the elitism, which I understand, but given the context back then where there was a few experienced and tons of newbies, this was the place to go to RP among friends without being considered as a kliq in front of everyone else.

2. GWF
I don’t think I’ve ever seen another guild run three shows (excluding “developmental territory”) and be so successful. Majin was at the top of his game when he founded GWF and he made it a place where it was just great to be in. It had a lot of exclusives and a lot of creative freedom to create something amazing. The sad part is that it was controlled by the wrong people when Majin went on hiatus, which completely ruined the place in less time than it takes to say it.

1. EEW
Yep, I put EEW #1, and I’m pretty sure it would be at that spot for most people. Anyone from that gen has that in common: being part of EEW at some point and be involved in some awesome storylines. Plus, let’s not forget that a lot of what this community is today has to do with EEW. A shitload of us started on Speed, their developmental side, and from there we went on to bigger and greater things. EEW was a victim of the bullshit era and I’m still wondering what it would look like if it was still active today, but art of me is glad that it went out when it had to and not when it was forced to.

You know it was sad that I started in WWE:U like 2 months before the first time it became defunct. It was nicely done by Randy and Kronik, really enjoyed being there for that short period.

Number 10 is my all time favorite promo. 8 and 5 are cool in my book too.

Some of them may have happened, but for others, I wish I’d see how this would go. Also, I didn’t bother about stipulations since this top 10 is mostly about the pairings.

This top 10 is in no particular order as I think all of them have equally the potential of being awesome.

10. Marxx vs Shadow
Team Prozac against one another. Yep! Why, you may ask? Because I don’t remember it happening like, ever! Marxx and Shadow have always been on the same side (well, same side, they were WWFG’s equivalent of Team Hell No at their debuts.) So I’ve always wondered what it would be like to put them against each other in a match, considering the history of Team Prozac and how both style could blend together in one encounter.

9. Mad Dog vs Freakshow
This one would have to be a hardcore match though, because both characters are just naturally built to turn the ring into a bloodbath. It’s one of those matches where it’s not just a dream match, but one that should have happened already. Both characters share many similarities, so they would both have an idea of how the other work and would just challenge themselves to outdo each other during the next page and really push it to a point where even Mick Foley would be like “I ain’t doing that crazy s**t!”

8. Matt Shanahan vs Christina Parks
This one may seem like a weird pairing considering the history between the two characters, but that’s exactly why I think they would make great opponents for one another. The psychological side of that match, to see them getting in each other’s brain, can you just imagine the kind of promos these two would cut leading to that match, and the match itself? Not only they would play that part extremely well, but they know and like each other so much that I think their chemistry could lead to an epic encounter.

7. Matt Stone vs Brody Robinson
I think these two would be a great pair for a match because they would complete one another in many ways. On one hand you have Matt Stone, who’s always been straight to the point and really focused on the logical side of things to make something that would not just be good to read, but nice to see if it happened. On the other side, Brody adds a certain imagery in his posts that makes it extremely pleasant to read and easy to picture for anyone. So I feel like combining both together would almost create this piece of literature that would look like a Marcus Zusak novel about wrestling.

6. Saint Joey vs Kelly King
This one is another Freakshow/Mad Dog type of thing where I’m wondering why the ******** it didn’t happen!!! I mean, this one’s a no brainer, it has everything someone could ask for, aka the experience, the character depth, the writing style full of imagery, the sense of innovation, the chemistry and the desire to outdo themselves with every performance. Too bad it’s only now that we realize this was a pair that would have created a stellar encounter.

5. Nuke Fusion vs Jacob Figgins
Both at their prime, these two could have one hell of a show. During their respective eras, both stood out for the same reasons, which is the quality of their work. But at the same time, they’re both really representative of their generations, so I feel like a match between them would most certainly lead to a battle of styles and generations that would bring back memories to the oldies and enlighten the younger ones.

4. Phoenixfire vs Claire Hawkins vs Mystique vs Yukari Clepsydra
Yep, a fatal 4-way. I was thinking about it for a little while and I realized that most of those pairings happened at least once in the past 7-8 years, so why not put them all together in one match? That would lead to one crazy women’s match and, more than likely, the most epic confrontation I could potentially think of. As far as I know, all four know each other well enough through competing with or against one another for years, so they already have some kind of chemistry going on between them, therefore that’s one less thing to stress about for them as the whole thing would simply come naturally.

3. Harli vs Hunter Sullivan
Harli was probably the toughest to find an opponent for a dream match. Not because he’s not good, far from that, but because it seems like he faced everyone! He’s a real go-to guy, someone who will have a match with anyone no matter what and is versatile enough to create something good with almost everyone. So for this one, it is really the battle of the chameleons, as Hunter Sullivan was another guy who shared that same quality of adaptability. So I think putting both together would create a great moment for the fact that both would reveal the true nature and depth of their characters.

2. Mike Landry vs Brantley Summers
I think a match between these two would have the same quality as Team Prozac used to have back in the day, which is a pairing so odd that it turns into something hilarious and enjoyable. Brantley Summers expires pure fun. You feel that he has fun doing it and you can’t do anything but jump into the WOOHOO Express when you’re around him. And then you have Mike Landry, a character that is not just well built but the handler could also pull a 5-star match with a vacuum cleaner. So to put them together should lead to a good quality match and something overall enjoyable if they were to put segments into it.

1. Ryuu Sakamoto vs Chrono Clepsydra
This one reunites two of the best technical writers I’ve seen during my run here. Both of them share the same qualities, but in their own unique way: they write extremely well and their matches are always a great time for the reader, they have their own unique sense of creativity when it comes to wrestling and I think both styles would just blend extremely well together, to the point where I wouldn’t even mind to read an entire 25 pages of them going back and forth.

Haha check mikes profile i have a few Summers matches in there and they are amazing.

And the g cup had marxx vs shadow!

I would love to do Ryuu vs Chrono, and I'm sure we can tear the house down, but he'd really need to be active.

Though Summers vs Landry was essentially an entire feud for 2012, that was a pretty damn good feud too..

So far, only 2 out of 10 happened and, indeed, they were great encounters as I predicted they would be. And I don't think we shall count a video game match as the actual thing Landry wink