By Graham "GSM" Matthews I am extremely excited to announce that my annual Royal Rumble Game will be returning this year! I had a lot of fun hosting it last year and figured I would bring it back. For anyone unaware of the concept of the game, here it is: You pick a number 1 through 30. Only one person can be assigned to a number, so spots are limited. Whoever draws that number in the Royal Rumble match later this month is your favorite wrestler until next year's Royal Rumble event! Since 17 is my favorite number, I drew that last year and got THE GODFATHER, which was awesome! So, you'll never know who you'll get and it's fun to participate! You won't be FORCED to like the individual you draw, but it would be nice to stick with the rules and try it out. Besides, naming a new wrestler your favorite for a year might actually make you like him more (or you might get lucky and draw someone who already is your favorite). By Graham "GSM" Matthews Three years ago today (November 17, 2010), this very website was created. I first started up my own fantasy wrestling organization entitled AJM in May 2008, which was later renamed Next Era Wrestling in early 2010. The organization's official website was done through Freewebs (now known as just Webs) for the first part of the year before coming to Weebly that November. Since then, the website has grown leaps in bounds, and that couldn't have been possible with the many thousands of people who have visited the site on a regular basis over the last three years. So, for that, I sincerely thank you. As you can see in the attached picture, all the site featured in its first few months were results from my fantasy wrestling organization and nothing much than that outside of archived articles from Bleacher Report. It wasn't until the summer of 2011 that the site was revamped, in that it began featuring links to articles from B/R as well as original content (I began writing reviews for Raw and SmackDown for N.E.W. that May). Many new tabs were added to the website in the next two years, including the weekly WWE Week in Review column, my Injection of Inspiration and Director's Cut blogs, Event Photos and more. The site also began accepting applications for writers willing to contribute work to the site at the start of 2013. By Graham "GSM" Matthews For those unaware, we held our inaugural Superstar Draft on my wrestling radio talk show SAVE US GSM this past May. It featured the active rosters of WWE and TNA. Five participants (myself included) put cards together using the people they drafted and presented their pay-per-view line-ups in early July. The competition was won by my co-host Kyle Hendie, who has earned a spot in the next Superstar Draft. Speaking of such, our next Superstar Draft will occur on the August 28 edition of SAVE US GSM at our usual time of 10/9c. Instead of featuring the WWE and TNA rosters, it will feature the Legends of the past. It will include all wrestlers in the WWE Hall of Fame (women wrestlers notwithstanding, but announcers and managers have yet to be determined) and other notable names that aren't in the WWE Hall of Fame (Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, etc.). There will be five participants in total. One of whom will be Kyle, who can either choose to participate or forfeit his spot to someone else. The other participants will be decided by a random drawing -which could be you! By Graham "GSM" Matthews Last August, I began holding a monthly trivia session entitled "GSM Trivia", where the first person to answer the question correctly won the round. The sessions were usually held on the first Tuesday of every month on my Twitter page. For the first time since August, I was unable to hold a trivia session this month due to being busy with other things. Since I'll be starting college this upcoming September, I thought it would be best to put an official end to "GSM Trivia" next month, as I probably won't have enough time to do it on a monthly basis going forward. That being said, I've have a blast doing the trivia sessions over the last year and the amount of people who have participated has only skyrocketed since the concept's debut last summer. However, coming up with questions to use for the game takes time that I no longer have. Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who has continued to visit and support Next Era Wrestling since its debut in November 2010. The website has grown a look since then, especially in recent months. With the additions of my WWE Week in Review, Pushed to Punished archive and more, the website has seen more web traffic in the last month more than ever before in history.
As we enter the new year, I'll be looking for new writers to contribute to Next Era Wrestling. The articles you write can be anything wrestling related, ranging from opinion pieces to preview pieces to anything you'd like. However, please stray away from writing reviews for Raw, SmackDown, or WWE pay-per-views, as I already cover those shows in the Columnist Corner. You don't need to be a certified journalist to write for the site, but you do need to acquire some writing skills. I don't have the time to correct grammatical errors, so please ensure your work is in its best form. Keep in mind also this a non-paying job, so this is strictly for your own experience and pleasure. If you already write for Bleacher Report and are willing to contribute your work to Next Era Wrestling, even better. The picture and title of your B/R piece will appear on the slider of the N.E.W. homepage. Once the picture is clicked on, it'll direct the visitor straight to your article on Bleacher Report. Your name and picture would also be added to the Bleacher Bloggers tab. If you're interested in writing for Next Era Wrestling, send in an application to the Contact Form with your email attached. If you receive a reply within the next few days, that means your work has been reviewed and you've been accepted to write for the site. Also, feel free to contact me on Twitter at @SAVE_US_GSM for comments, questions or concerns regarding the matter. Thanks for your time and have a happy and safe New Year. |
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