CHRONICLES OF A FED-HEAD: Weighing In - "Should a Fed-Head win Championships?"

Don't look surprised. You guys know that every now and then that I take a break from writing about professional wrestling to talk about my journeys into the world of e-fedding - i.e. the proper term for those of us who participate in wrestling fans' equivalent of fantasy football. I haven't written much on e-federations since my series on the Rise & Fall of ZXWWF, but I want to talk about a common trend that I'm noticing in a lot of "big" e-federations that are shutting them down or causing them to fall apart at the seams.

It's come to my attention that once again that several fed-heads have be criticized for being exposed for wrong-doings as of late and being that you guys have enjoyed reading my endeavors in my first adventure into running an e-federation, I figured I’ll weigh in on this situation with my own opinion along with some examples from personal experiences.

Unfortunately, this won’t be citing anything directly from the e-federation(s) in question as I don’t know the entirety of the situation nor do I want to accused for taking sides. This is my own personal opinion and out of mere observation as a fed-head of a RP (Roleplay)-Based e-federation.

Quick backstory: So the fed-head in question assumed the role of multiple characters to establish a winning streak for himself at the top tier champion of his e-federation. None of his members nor staff were allegedly aware of this going on until it was exposed after one of their recent events’ results were posted.

In my humble opinion, this is fucked up on a lot of levels.

1. Normal Members NOR Staff Members were NOT aware of the fed-head playing multiple characters – This kills ANY, if not ALL trust between the fed-head and his members.
2. There’s GOOD and BAD reasons to make yourself the top champion when you’re running an e-fed.
3. The fed-head should be helping put OVER talent – not feeding his own ego.

In this article, this is going to be one of the RARE occasions I talk about my current e-federation, Ground Zero Wrestling Association (GZWA), instead of taking you guys down memory lane with stories ONLY about running ZXWWF as I need to cite examples from both to explore this situation.

1. Normal Members NOR Staff Members were NOT aware of the fed-head playing multiple characters – This kills ANY, if not ALL trust between the fed-head and his members. 

In my humble opinion, that’s a bit hard for me to imagine that NO ONE knew that the fed-head was juggling all of these characters except for the fed-head himself. Then again, I was naïve like that before while running ZXWWF when my own staff members were hiding a member who a banned from underneath my own nose and allowing that said person to use their accounts – that ENTIRE dilemma is chronicled in my Rise & Fall of ZXWWF series so I won’t repeat myself here. Currently, I personally monitor the Security Log (on the Admin Panel of Proboards – I suggest that any fed-head only give their most trusted staff members access to this feature) for GZWA and keep a document of all of the possible IP addresses that my members visit the forum on. Don't mind me - I'm one of those crazy fed-heads who has a ton of handwritten notebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and Word documents of results, misc. notes, and data tracking on my years of e-fedding.

I use about 4-8 different IP addresses depending on which computer I log onto at work or the different family members’ homes I access the Internet from, but for most of your members they should have maybe 1-3 main IP addresses (similar format/numbers means they are within the same household/network). Any fed-head or staff member that doesn’t monitor this (at least to SOME extent) is careless in my opinion. Depending on the security settings of your forum, most members should be able to see an IP address along with a time stamp on EVERY post on that forum by default – unless the fed-head or staff has changed that setting.

ANY of these people who I notice who are sharing the same IP address, I contact them immediately via PM on the forum and ask them to give up the ghost. An added precaution that I take with my members is that it’s listed on their accounts ALL of the characters that they are playing in my e-federation as I tend to recommend that my members don’t sign up for multiple accounts per character. I’ve ALWAYS found that to be a stupid and cheap way to up your forums’ head count. If you have faithful members having a good time they will be more than happy to spread the word about your federation.

On top of that, there’s no secret between myself and my members of who I’m handling in the e-federation. I’m playing about 2 authority figures that are currently non-wrestlers, about 6-8 support characters (commentary, impromptu interviewers for those who aren’t handled by anyone else, backstage personnel, etc.), and about 6-10 in-ring wrestlers that range from filler/jobbers in our multiple divisions to my sole entry in our women’s division, who I’m sure a lot of who I know from social media that were directed to this article know, Mariah – who just happens to be our reigning champion over the women’s division.

Before you say I’m “defending” myself or any other fed-head, let’s move onto the next section of this discussion.

2. There’s GOOD and BAD reasons to make yourself the top champion when you’re running an e-fed.

The BAD reasons

• Giving yourself or any of your character(s) an undefeated streak

Let’s be realistic here. The Undertaker’s undefeated streak along with Crimson, Baron Corbin, Bo Dallas, or Goldberg’s streak (or ANY streak for that matter) are some of the biggest sore thumbs in professional wrestling that show that this sport is rigged/fake. Matches are predetermined results and even as a fed-head or a handler, there’s only so many times that you can win before people start questioning the legitimacy of your results or the decisions of you as the fed-head.

If only we could start "Bullshit!" chants from behind our computer monitors when we're reading results like that in e-federations...

• Feeding your own ego

There’s no denying it. EVERYONE in this game has an ego. You’re lying to yourself if you say otherwise. To be a GREAT fedhead, you have to leave that at the door. If you expect people to respect you or what you’re doing with your federation then you’re going to have to do some things with your characters that you wouldn’t be willing to do otherwise.

Everyone should know about the story where I had one of my own characters job to a SANDWICH, but even less know about the time I sidelined my top guy (for MONTHS in real-time) at the cost of putting one of our top talent over in a match to fuel their heel turn. I keep saying it over and over on social media, but this game is all about give and take. Don’t be a taker – GIVE back to this game that we all love so much. It’s not hard.

• Burying your own hard-working talent out of spite or any combination of personal emotions or grudges against any other handler

I’ll be lying if I said that I get along with EVERYONE that I meet in this game or that I like everyone, but I act like a professional. If you’re serious about putting in the work then I’m going to make you look like a million bucks in our storyline/feud no matter whether it’s win, lose, or draw. 10 times out of 10 I’m going to argue you to death to let me put you over, no matter what you say.


Sure, there’s a LOT more to list, but let’s just focus on these three.


The GOOD Reasons

• ENHANCEMENT talent

If your e-federation is small and just starting out then this is a great way to get things going before you have actual bodies floating around on the roster. I personally know a lot of people trying their hand at running their own feds and being a fed-head, but don't understand that it's a LOT of damn work. You're pretty much feuding with yourself until you get a nice, comfortable number of people to fill up your roster. Most amateur fed-heads don't realize this and give up under the pressure - people will come after they see how well crafted your stories are and how dedicated you are to telling the narrative. If it's obvious that you're willing to give others a chance instead of burying everyone who enters your e-fed underneath your own characters then you're already a step ahead of the game.

If your fed is just starting out, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the fed-head’s characters all holding gold as filler, but at the same time, some people won’t even like to see that when they join a new fed that opens.

Nowadays, most veteran handlers are more skeptical to this method, but a good old fashioned tournament is a nice way to crown first-time champions as well.

It just depends on how you want to level the playing field or how you want to lay the cards on the table for your particular e-federation.

• FILLER/TRANSITIONAL Champions

I recently ran an angle where CM Punk (who was handled by me) was fighting against the authority and worked his way up the ladder towards a title match for the top title in a multiple competitor match. In the confusion, he won the title – ONLY to have the authority figures swoop in and restart/continue the match to have him lose the title mere seconds later to a MUCH more deserving individual. CM Punk hasn’t been in the title scene since this event transpired as I used that “screwjob” (along with a non-title one earlier that year) to fuel his passion for dealing with the authority figures directly. CM Punk lost his opportunity to reclaim the title he lost on multiple occasions (easily putting over the new champion instead of chopping at his legs) but remains focused on his battle against the authorities.


• To FURTHER/ENHANCE a storyline

Let’s revisit WWE’s version of ECW where Vince McMahon won the ECW title from Bobby Lashley out of spite to the rest of the ECW Originals. Rewind the clocks back and listen to how much natural heel heat that he garnered from that title change from the audience. It got the WWE Universe more engaged and more proactive into the feud. If the fed-head can inspire that raw emotion to drive his/her members to step their game up to dethrone them then I see nothing wrong with it.

Not everyone has to go this route in terms of a storytelling narrative, but you get the idea.

3. The fed-head should be helping put OVER talent – not feeding his own ego. 

This points back to why I was skeptical to having Mariah become champion in my own federation. For roughly seven years, I haven’t had Mariah win a title, despite her appearances in other federations. She was always (and will always will be…) my go-to character in terms of showcasing the best in women’s wrestling and bringing out the best in her female opponent. You can ask the former champion or any of my staff members, I was 2000% against having Mariah win, but they convinced me it was at the point where the storyline dictated a win or rather a happy ending for Mariah after all of the roadblocks and hurdles I kept throwing in her direction (I honestly had another one planned where Mariah would've been screwed out of the win just to setup her next big feud to put over someone else, but yeah, that's the type of giving person I am in this game...) to the point where people KNEW she wouldn’t win. I have a pet peeve about not letting my creative writing for professional wrestling be predictable. You know... – like just about 85% of what WWE does nowadays.

That goes without saying – I put in the work for the win. I roleplayed like everyone else alongside the rest of my members and consented to my own deadlines. I’m not part of the e-federation in question, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that fed-head did as well, but the way he went about it like he was trying to create this dynamic organically was complete bullshit. By any means, the fed-head shouldn't be chopping his/her members’ feet from underneath them nor should they taking a spot from any other deserving individual.

At the same time, I feel like there's nothing wrong with a fed-head's character(s) winning a title in his/her own federation. The fed-head shouldn't be limited on creativity with that particular handicap. If a storyline dictates it or it adds another layer to a conflict then by all means toss that element into the pot for a bit more flavor. There should be a little flexibility with this with the undercard (non-main event) titles/championships - meaning that the main event title (i.e. the top championship prize in your e-federation) should be held scared. You shouldn't tarnish that legacy by making yourself champion just to prevent other your other hard-working members from holding it. Much like the argument to not allow fed-heads to not hold titles at all, you're limiting your members' creativity. What will they aspire for or set goals to reach if there's one huge roadblock in their way, called your ego that no one is able to penetrate but you (the fed-head)?

We as fed-heads have to remember one essential thing while running these e-federations. We can win anytime we choose as we have the power to do so, but the greatest joy of this game is seeing that deserving individual win. Without question, we as fed-heads have great power in this game and it's our responsibility to use it wisely and to the benefit of the handlers who take the precise time of their lives to partake into these worlds that we have created. Fed-heads may created the body of e-federations, but the handlers of these many, many characters are the life-blood that keeps this well-oiled machine going. Without them, the fed-heads are nothing but puppeteers presenting a one-man puppet show to an empty audience.

In closing, I don't know personally what went down in that e-federation entirely but I hope whoever takes over or the members there move elsewhere where the fed-head is willing to give rather than take in terms of being a benefit to the e-fed community. I would hate to see this game die out completely thanks to people who are looking out for themselves rather than for everyone's best interests as a whole.