By. Temper
Wrestling is a passion of mine, sure I’m well aware its staged and more of a soap opera than an actual fight, but I don’t really watch it for that. I watch because I like the personalities and the abilities of those men and women who put on the wrestling shows week in week out. But this channel I’m going to tell you about isn’t about “real” wrestling. The channel takes the concepts of promotions like WWE, TNA, ROH and puts a spin on it. What spin is that you ask? Instead of actual wrestlers, we get to watch video game characters duke it out.
VGCW or Video Game Championship Wrestling is not a new concept as creator Bazza readily admits. Bazza credits the idea to someone else by the name of Anthraxo who originally just streamed a royal rumble followed by a title match. Bazza had other ideas. VGCW is like any other wrestling tv show complete with matches, a developing story, rivalries between wrestlers (for titles or not). Through the last year and a half wrestlers have undergone changes, the sets, storylines, even use of post production aids have come into play during streams. Wrestlers range from Valve head Gabe Newell, Ganondorf, Guile, Mr. Satan (Hercule of DBZ), and even Barret Wallace of Final Fantasy VII.
Bazza used WWE’13 last year and has recently upgraded to WWE 2K14. Both games are full of bugs and pretty mediocre AI programming, and since Bazza doesn’t actually play the game these bugs and glitches are just as much part of the show as the wrestling and plot sections. Dubbed #THQuality by the fans (the now defunct THQ published WWE’13) and now renamed #2KQuality is mentioned any time a bug or something just out of the ordinary happens on screen when there is wrestling going on. But its all part of the fun. VGCW isn’t just shaped by Bazza, it is also shaped by the fans. Everything from jokes, entrances, fan art, comics, and even wrestlers can be suggested by fans and if it meets approval or over all adoptions by other fans its in.
VGCW in and of itself is a parody of your usual wrestling show, so you get things like bumbling General Managers, mystery persons terrorizing wrestlers backstage, angles involving people getting run over, and hostile takeovers by evil wrestler factions. Weekly shows, and a “Pay Per View” event, it is all there. But fans love it so much that some prefer it to the real life promotions. Me personally I like the wrestlers, the entrances and the angles, everybody on VGCW gets a fair shot be they fan favorites, newcomers, or hated villains (something the WWE is lacking).
VGCW isn't the only show on the channel. With the popularity of the main program Bazza and his crew saw the need to expand the brand Bazza’s channel now boasts four VGCW related show. The main show VGCW headed by Bazza, WVGCW (Women’s VGCW) the VGCW women’s division headed by Bryn, VGCW At Home (a Sims 3 house full of VGCW characters) heade by TheTOH and Extreme Dude Bro Wrestling, the non canon developmental show headed by JohnDudeBro. VGCW as a brand boast a wiki (VGCW.net) and an extensive google doc that has links for every show and the match card for those shows.
So whether you are a wrestling fan, a fan of satire/parody or just curious about how putting video game characters and personalities into a wrestling game and pitting them against each other has garnered such a big audience, I recommend you check out VGCW at www.twitch/tv/bazza87
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