Due to
Fictional League Pro Wrestling being completely at the mercy of the game's A.I. to make compelling stories, a traditional approach to booking really doesn't work. You can't meticulously control certain events during matches, or even control who wins. Therefore, FLPW uses a rankings system to set up matches and lead into title matches at each of the beginning-of-month specials. I don't believe there's been an article in the past describing how these rankings work in detail, so let's talk about how it works.
If you don't want to read this article in-depth, the "Too Long / Didn't Read" version is
if people keep winning they'll get title shots. There is a little more minutia than that, though.
Each division has a champion. Outside of that, there are two different titles a wrestler can have slightly below champion:
Number 1 Contender, and
Top Contender. A
Top Contender is exactly what it sounds like; through rankings matches or other events, a top contender is one victory away (usually against another top contender) from a title shot. When they do score the ability to challenge for the title, they become the number one contender. Pretty straight forward.
There is an additional rank a wrestler can obtain below the top spots, and that's
Ranked. Again, it's exactly what it sounds like; it's the first step towards becoming a top contender. When a new month begins, everyone loses their ranks, and previous top contenders simply become ranked. When a match happened between two un-ranked wrestlers, the winner will be promoted to mid rank. A ranked wrestler must defeat another ranked wrestler or a top contender to promote their rank.
For example, as of September 12th, here are the current ranks of the American division:
| Rank |
Wrestler |
| Champion
|
Marcus Gravy
|
| No1 Contender
|
Sarah Daystar
|
| Top Contender
|
Saxxymus
|
| Ranked
|
Kevin Knight
|
Since there has been only one American rankings match, Kevin Knight is the only one ranked after defeating Thomas Warren. As well, since Sarah Daystar defeated Saxxymus last Thursday, she now has Saxxymus' number one contender's spot. As more and more American division matches happen, this list will populate further with more ranked wrestlers and top contenders.
Hopefully that clear somethings up and will help you understand what's going on as we start off pretty much from scratch at FLPW, as far as the lower roster is concerned. This is why it's a big deal when high rankings matches happen. It's very difficult for an unranked wrestler to make their way up to a title opportunity since it requires consistent wins. That's why stories like Thomas Warren's US title win in 2016 was worthy of being called that year's best match.
