Creepy talking. Phrases that seemed to have been directly ripped from the Communist Manifesto. Short sentences designed to make things seem “tense.” This is Age of the Fall. This is Technological Misfire number five. It is starting now … sort of.

Now before we get into the story, there a few things that need to be explained. Ring of Honor (ROH) — the promotion which featured the Age of the Fall – is a bit different than your traditional professional wrestling organization. Unlike the WWE, ROH is more focused on the “sport” of professional wrestling than on the “sports entertainment cavalcade” we all know and love. The larger than life characters and general “sideshow atmosphere” that many expect to see has been replaced with hour long draws and a setting that feels more like a hip rock concert than a pro wrestling event. Sure, the match endings are predetermined, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not about who “wins” or loses. It all comes down to “Fighting Spirit;” the drive to keep going even though all hope is lost. While ROH did “indulge” in the excesses of sports entertainment from time to time –  gimmicks (characters) such as the “lizard man,” “Billy Idol in short shorts,” and a man famous for being really, really serious at all times were, and still are, common — it all played second fiddle to concept of Fighting Spirit. Simply put, wrestling is king. Everything else takes a backseat.

At the time of the Age of the Fall “situation,” ROH was in the midst a large-scale, over arching story that former booker (head writer) Gabe Sapolsky liked to call “Gang Wars.” The “Gang Wars” were based around one core idea: Teams of three beating the living snot out of each other for seemingly no reason. Each team was based upon a particular style of wrestling — The No Remorse Corps fought dirty and routinely cheated to win, The Vulture Squad were acrobatic risk takers, Sweet ‘n Sour Inc. were a loose parody of wrestling in the 1980’s, and so on. Around June of 2007, rumors of a new team began to swirl amongst fans. Before long, a handful of strange websites began to appear, preaching everything from “revolution” to threatening physical violence on Sapolsky and his wife. (For the record, Sapolsky is strictly a “behind the scenes” person. When he did appear on screen, it was as commentator “Jimmy Bowers.” The fact that he was mentioned by name at all was a big deal.) Fans were confused, but intrigued.

As the months wore on, the cryptic websites were discontinued for an equally cryptic blog called “Project 161.” At least three times a week, an unnamed writer would wax philosophic about everything from Fight Club to the joys of starting a “violent revolution against the status quo.” While the mystery blogger didn’t say much about the blog’s name at first, fans quickly figured out what the “161” in “Project 161” meant — it was Ring of Honor’s 161st show, scheduled for September 15th, 2007. The blog posts continued, but the fans were sufficiently hooked. Nearly everyone was waiting to see what would happen on September 15th.

I’m sorry gang, but I can’t continue this story. No, it’s not because I’m tired or have a headache. It’s due to one thing and one thing only: Nothing else really happened. With that, I figure that it would be best to jump to why I consider Age of the Fall to be a misfire of gigantic proportions.

1. Between the middle of August and the September 15th “deadline,” the only new piece of information that came about was the name of the group (Age of the Fall). That “missing month” allowed the imagination of the fans to run wild, which essentially killed the suspense. They already had their minds made up. Anything other than their own personal “dream team” would have been disappointing.
2. The team was fronted by Jimmy Jacobs, a wrestler who first got over (popular) as the “six-foot tall monster” known as the “Barbaric Berzerker.” (Jacobs is actually five foot two. Before anyone asks, yes. That character was designed to be ironic.) No one really bought that he would suddenly become an evil sociopath bent on destroying all of society.
3. Instead of being based upon a “fighting style,” Age of the Fall was based around buzzwords and yelling angrily. The last thing ROH fans wanted to deal with was a group of “characters.”
4. The original group of four — Jacobs, promising newcomer Tyler Black, cult favorite/future Wrestler star Necro Butcher, and valet Lacey — quickly ballooned to roughly ten members, including a former WWE tag team wrestler and a man with one leg.
5. It became a soap opera between Lacey, Jacobs, and top star Austin Aries. Again, fans to didn’t want a soap opera. They wanted Fighting Spirit.
6. Lacey retired from wrestling in the summer of 2008, essentially killing the little “love triangle” mentioned above.
7. The story never ended. Gabe Sapolsky was fired in September of 2008, long before any sort of conclusion was reached. Original plans had Age of the Fall lasting until at least the middle of 2009.

So what can you learn from this debacle? It all comes down to five ideas.

1. Think your idea through. - It doesn’t matter what kind of “cutting edge campaign” you or your business is running. If it’s destined to be online, then it must be planned out in minute detail. Sapolsky basically quit working on the online portion of the story after the September 15th debut, and it showed.
2. Write for your audience. – It’s relatively safe to assume that a long, drawn out saga will not appeal to a group of people that would rather be chanting “Best in the world! Best in the world!” and singing the 80’s classic “The Final Countdown” as loud as possible. That is not to say that it isn’t okay to try new things. Just remember to keep everything in perspective.
3. Never “take a break.” Ever. – You need to keep your audience on their toes at all times. Taking any more than a few days off will allow your fan base’s minds to again, run wild. Don’t bombard them with information (that’s bad as well), but don’t leave them hanging.
4. Always have a backup plan. – Lacy’s retirement put a gigantic monkey wrench in a story that was already on its last legs. If Gabe Sapolsky would have had a clear backup plan, the ride would have been a bit less bumpy for everyone involved.
5. Make sure your “payoff” is a good one. – There is nothing worse than a great story with a lousy ending. Do everything you can to make sure that that does not happen to you.

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back tomorrow to (finally) see our report on Current TV. Until then, I bid thee a fond adieu.