These are the rules for the IWL. Plain and simple, this is a game. Games have rules. Rules keep people in line and the [IWL] staff happy. People who break rules make the game less fun and the staffers very unhappy. People who follow the rules and guidelines get rewarded (matches, PPV matches, title shots, titles, hall of fame, etc.). People who don’t follow the rules get punished. (Violations, jobbings, being tossed from the IWL, Wall of Shame, etc.)

So keep in mind that while you’re participating in the IWL, you are agreeing to abide by these rules and their changes. If you don’t wish abide by these rules, then simply don’t apply.

Thanks.

Paul Williams

[IWL] Chairman/President

[ Roleplaying Rules ]

  • NEVER … EVER … RECYCLE someone else’s roleplay and try to pass it off as your own. Hell don’t even think about posting it!! If anyone catches someone else posting a roleplay on the forum and it’s later discovered it wasn’t yours… the penalties can range from being suspended to immediate removal of both the roleplay and the poster.
  • All roleplays need to be either: posted on the forum or posted as a link on the forum. The IWL forums software (phpBB3) does not allow the usage of HTML tags and therefore you have to work around bbCode. Having pretty images on a roleplay or sounds don’t help you win if it causes your page to take forever to load… actually making good roleplays do. If you would rather post them on the forums but the basic BBCode tags don’t suffice, talk to the IWL Office and work something out.
  • Do not use any other wrestler other than a wrestler you own or handle without permission. (This includes any real wrestlers. Too many times has it happened where someone took someone else character and portrayed badly to the dismay of both that handler and me.)
  • Do not post any roleplay which doesn’t even consist of a paragraph or at least 4-5 lines of dialogue. Really if you can’t think of that much to say, you probably shouldn’t be roleplaying in general or at least posting that roleplay anyway.
  • No racial slurs or jokes, PERIOD. Violating this rule will almost always end up in your immediately dismissal from the IWL.
  • Keep your roleplays at a level on par with the United States TV-14 guidelines. (Look them up at http://www.tvguidelines.com) Here’s a guideline, if they can do it on a WWE/TNA TV Show or any primetime broadcast TV show… you can do it. If it happens on the channel where you have to pay a premium fee each month to see (Showtime, HBO, Starz, Playboy)… you’re kind of pushing it.
  • Attack the wrestler, not the handler. DO NOT INSULT ANY OTHER HANDLER!!
  • Goes without saying that you are never ever to insult any IWL staff member out-of-character as try to pass it in-character!! (You will be released with no warning. Keep your OOC stuff off the roleplay forum.)
  • Do not use any WWE/WCW/TNA/ECW (either version) wrestlers. IWL doesn’t own their rights/trademarks/etc. So don’t use them. Self-explanatory. (This includes creating a character extremely loosely based off them, Stone Cold Steve Jenkins, etc.)

[ Judging Criteria for Matches ]

When judging a roleplay, three things are all that matter. Grammar, Relevance, Creativity. 

Grammar: Can the reader of the roleplay actually understand and interpret what you are writing? Or is your roleplay filled with so many spelling errors and language errors that if written in a paper and handed to an English teacher… you’d just red lines going through much of your work?

Relevance: Your roleplay is focused on a single topic or covers a bunch of related topics about your career or storyline. Your match is against the person next to you on your right, you have a PPV Match against the person on your left, but why is your roleplay focused on your dog Fifi from when you were six years old?

Creativity: It’s fantasy wrestling… but anyone can write an RP like a WWE/TNA character. Can the scorer get a feel for your character? Or are you too busy trying to get in as many Rock/Cena/Austin jokes or are trying to sound too much like Edge/Christian Cage/Jeff Jarrett that we can’t tell you two apart?

Some matches might be angled for the effect of a storyline. In some cases, without warning almost always, if your RP is great you may still lose your match in regards to a storyline or angle. If this happens, don’t worry about it. Just RP for the next battle. (However, if your opponent no-shows the match… screw the angle. You’re taking the win.)

[ Events (Televised and Pay-Per-View) ]

There are two events in the [IWL]. There are our televised OverDrive! events and our Pay-Per-View events.

OverDrive!

  • OverDrive! acts as our flagship show. This is our Monday Night Raw/iMPACT show. OverDrive is hosted weekly on Saturdays (except on Pay-Per-View weeks) with the deadline being 8 PM United States Eastern Standard Time. Results will be posted normally on Sunday or Monday with the next card being posted immediately after the results have been posted.
  • There is a roleplay limit of three per show. Any roleplays posted on the OverDrive forum in the excess will not be counted toward the match.
  • Title matches can happen here but are often saved for the upcoming Pay-Per-View.
  • These shows are written in a summarized format, but segments between matches will always be taken. (Segments must be written as a roleplay in full format and must follow the same rules as such. (see above) All segments submitted will be reviewed by the staff and almost always will be placed into an appropriate slot in the card results but this is not guaranteed.)
  • This is your wrestlers chance to build up a storyline leading to a trademark PPV battle showdown, so do your best to get booked. Let the staff know you want to be booked, issue challenges on the OOC/Challenge forum asking for a match… and etc. Do your best to get on this show!
  • All newly signed wrestlers start here in singles matches or cluster matches (called First Impressions). This is your place to show the staff where you belong. Winning or losing doesn’t matter, it’s all about presentation. (Though a win might help you in the long run.)

Pay-Per-Views (PPV’s)

  • Pay-Per-Views are the [IWL]’s chance to display what makes the IWL special. These come up but so often so anything you want to show off to everyone… DO IT HERE!!
  • PPV’s are held every six to eight weeks on cablecast Pay-Per-View on a Sunday with the deadline being 12 Noon the day of the show. The week prior to the PPV, OverDrive may be preempted on the networks so that OverDrive can serve as the pre-show to the Pay-Per-View. (Anyone not booked on the PPV can wind up on here and in some very extreme cases, those booked on the PPV can wind up on this particular OverDrive.)
  • There is a roleplay limit of five per show. Any roleplays posted on the PPV Forum in the excess will not be counted toward the match.
  • Title matches happen on these cards often! World Championships will be decided at this event but even sometimes a main event might not be the World championship defense… It might be something else like a tag match between two stables or something like that…
  • These shows will also be summarized BUT major matches or major events (like CyberSlam, King of the CyberRing, etc.) will likely have their results posted as full play-by-play results. As always segments all always welcomed. (The TV-14 rule will not apply. It’s PPV for crying out loud. But try not to go beyond TV-MA.)
  • This is it! Storylines come to a close or new ones begin!! You spent six weeks building up to this… Make sure it goes out with a bang!!
  • Very seldom will it happen where a newcomer will get signed to a match here… But you might be able to debut here in a vignette or interruption in a match or so forth. (What better way to make an impact on your new roster than to screw over the champion?)

Both events will have their cards posted well in advance. (The PPV will have it’s card built up through the month before it.) In most cases an email will be sent out from the IWL staff alerting to a new card being posted. Once the card has been posted, the roleplay boards will be cleared and posting for the new event may begin. In order to participate in events and title matches, you must roleplay. If you cannot roleplay for a short amount of time, then simply let one of the staffers know and we’ll remove you from the card. If you miss a show, and DON’T let anyone know, it will be looked at very negatively and may ruin your chances of participating in large scale matches.

[ Warning / Discipline System ]

Basically, each time you perform a no-no… you’ll receive some sort of warning.

  • If you are booked in a match, and you don’t RP and you leave no message to any admin, that’s a no-no. (You will lose your match (and title, if appropriate) and will be warned.)
  • If you start trouble in any of the forums… That’s a no-no. (This includes (but is not limited to): trolling, begging for feedback to your roleplay, linking to/promoting/spamming a promotion (read: other e-fed) that isn’t run by IWL Entertainment without permission (99% of the time… this equals ejection), whining on the forums about a loss you just got or a rule you don’t like (there’s a way to complain and not complain basically), breaking any of the roleplaying rules listed above, shooting (read: breaking character on TV because of some problem you have with the staff), posting spam on the forum, abusing the IWL email system (this will result in you being terminated… PERIOD!!).

Generally speaking, the IWL staff will issue you a warning upon discovery of the violation and will note it on your record. Penalties for violations vary among the following:

  • Forced jobbing. You will lose your match if your opponent shows up, it he/she doesn’t show up… then it’s ruled a no-contest or the match is nixed. (If you have a title and no-show, you stand a chance of being stripped with your rematch clause invalidated.)
  • Suspension. If you consistently break the rules within a period of time (normally three weeks), the staff will take it upon themselves to suspend your access to the [IWL] site including posting on the forums and participation on the match card. After being reinstated you will be placed on a probationary period of three (3) weeks. If you so much as break the simplest of these rules, you stand having your contract possibly terminated.
  • Termination. Violation of some the rules and guidelines on this page or receiving warning after warning may be deemed enough for your immediate termination.

Note: These penalties will apply to ALL of a handler’s characters. If one character gets suspended, they all get suspended. If one character gets terminated, all of that handler’s character’s get terminated.

[ Contenderships ]

Each week (almost) there will be a list of ratings and rankings for every active IWL superstar. Though this won’t be the exact list of contenders, it will give everyone an idea of where they stand in terms of receiving a title shot. At various times, title matches may be given out without having the need to become a number one contender for that title. (This will almost never be the case when it comes to the World Championship.)

In any case, the ultimate way of not becoming a title contender is rant and complain in the forums about the staff and so forth. If the staff feels you deserve a title shot, you’ll get it. Plain and simple.

[ Championships ]

There are four sanctioned championships of the Internet Wrestling League. These are the four titles that the IWL has direct control over and will be defended and decided on all IWL programs.

  • [IWL] World Heavyweight ChampionshipDating back to 2001 while the IWL was still a G-Fed, the [IWL] World Heavyweight title has changed hands several times and has ended up in controversy in others. Nonetheless, the World Heavyweight title is the top prize of the [IWL] and considered by some to be the top prize of in wrestling today.
  • [IWL] Intercontinental (Heavyweight) ChampionshipAlso dating back to 2001, the Intercontinental Championship is considered to be a prize for those who coming up in the world of wrestling and that much closer to gaining global success in the [IWL].
  • [IWL] World Television ChampionshipPreviously the [IWL] Light Heavyweight Championship, the World Television title loses the weight restriction of the latter and is considered to be the “working man’s” championship. “Working Man” being the keywords considering the fact that it’s bearer will ultimately end up defending this title on almost every single [IWL] Television event.
  • [IWL] World Tag Team ChampionshipA combination of the former [IWL] Tag Team and [IWL] Hardcore Tag Team championships, the [IWL] World Tag Team Championships now signify it’s bearer’s to be the ultimate team of wrestlers in the ring of the [IWL] and quite possibly of anywhere else.

Miscellaneous Titles:

(These are either titles that been abandoned or retired)

  • [IWL] Internet (Heavyweight) ChampionshipFormerly, the [IWL] Internet Championship stood as a standard bearer for all other champions to follow. Established in 2001, retired in 2005 when it merged with the [IWL] Intercontinental title, this title has seen it’s way around the waist of several IWL Hall of Famers including The Punisher and the man who is said to define the title, Axel Young.
  • [IWL] Hardcore TitleEstablished in 2001, retired in 2005, the [IWL] Hardcore title once stood as common ground all kinds of mayhem in the [IWL] as it’s anything goes, pinfalls count anywhere matches would go into the annals of the [IWL] archives as the most extreme ever.
  • [IWL] Womens ChampionshipEstablished in 2002, abandoned in 2004, the [IWL] Womens Championship signified the greatest ladies wrestler on the roster period. If anyone was looking for just another pretty face to look at, this title and that division would point you elsewhere

At times, the [IWL] may become a part of a network of federations and in many of those cases will control a championship belt or someone from another promotion may come to the IWL with a championship belt from their home promotion. Those titles are not sanctioned IWL championships and will not be maintained by the IWL. The individuals or groups who control those titles will have direct say in regards to the title and not the IWL and any storylines or matches regarding those need to be taken up with those. (Example of this would be the NWA World Championship… The IWL would recognize but wouldn’t have exact control of it since it has it’s own rules and so forth.)

[ The GOLDEN Rule of the IWL ]

This goes without saying… HAVE FUN!!! This is a game… Not a chance to stroke your egos with your “masterpieces of art”. Please no million and four page roleplays (and actually expect me to read all of it!!) unless you really have to. If you lose a match, suck it up and take on your next match. Don’t whine about it. If you can’t roleplay for some reason or another, please be fair to the person who is roleplaying for your match and at least alert the IWL staff so that we can not worry about you. If your here to just “win another World Championship”, please go somewhere else. There have been many e-fedders who were great that didn’t win a single world championship for years.

So all in all, please… Take this game lightly. I’m not being paid to run this site and you’re not being paid to be a part of it.

Thanks

Paul Williams