Choke's WWE Wrestlemania Season Fantasy Draft Notes
Posted by: choke Jan 4, 2016 | 2639 views | 6 comments
Yesterday afternoon the DroptheBelt staff held our draft party for the upcoming Wrestlemania season (it starts tonight if you didnt know!) and I thought it'd be a fun idea to do a story showing all the picks from the draft, and some thoughts/comments on each. The names of the other staff doing the picking will be withheld for fear of shame and ridicule. My picks are in Bold, however, so shame and ridicule away.
Round 1:
1) Roman Reigns
2) Dean Ambrose
3) Sheamus
4) John Cena
Thoughts on Round 1: Reigns is the only clear choice for pick #1 IMO. He obliterated the rest of the roster last season and now with the title or possibly ending up back in the hunt during this season, there's no reason to believe he won't continue doing so, barring injury. Ambrose now with a belt and also always a potential WWE title contender is a solid choice at 2 as well. I think Sheamus is a bit of a reach at #3 but with the potential to win the title back to put Reigns back on the chase, I don't find much fault in it. Cena is Cena, and given that he's just coming off a long break, I felt he was worth a grab this early. Could regret it if his workload is kept small and he only ends up working major events.
Round 2:
5) Kevin Owens
6) Big E Langston
7) Alberto Del Rio
8) Kofi Kingston
Thoughts on Round 2: I went with Owens because to me he's quickly becoming the most dependable heel the WWE has going, and he always has potential to go off the rails and get foreign object, chair, and table points. Plus he's already no stranger to gold in the WWE so titles aren't unlikely. Can't argue with Del Rio and New Day rounding out the rest round #2 as they all have belts currently and are among the top heels in the WWE right now. I obviously considered all 3 of them as options for my picks 4 and 5, but I tend to (sometimes unwisely) target those I think will chase the belts and possibly win them, than those that have them and might lose them. The nice thing about ADR and New Day is even if they do lose the titles, they should still factor in the shows quite heavily.
Round 3:
9) Xavier Woods
10) Charlotte
11) Ryback
12) Rusev
Thoughts on Round 3: I really don't like Xavier this early. I mean he picks up solid points as the third wheel of New Day, but I felt there were much better choices on the board at this juncture. Charlotte is worth taking here as she has the title, and Ryback has been a solid point getter for several seasons, so I think those are both about right. I went with Rusev as I think the sky's the limit with him as a monster heel in the WWE for the foreseeable future.
Round 4:
13) Sasha Banks
14) Braun Strowman
15) Dolph Ziggler
16) Neville
Thoughts on Round 4: Banks may have been a SLIGHT reach at 13, but I didn't have another pick til 20 and surely figured she'd be gone by then. A little bit more heart over head pick here, but if she gets involved in the Divas title hunt sooner than later it may pay dividends. Not really a fan of Strowman this early. I know they're giving him and the entire Wyatt clan a large push lately, but the fans still don't seem invested IMO. The key to that pick will be if Strowman and Harper start going after tag team gold. Ziggler and Neville are dependable faces who pick up solid points week in and week out. Can't argue with those.
Round 5:
17) Kalisto
18) Bray Wyatt
19) Paige
20) Brock Lesnar
Thoughts on Round 5: Not a fan of the Kalisto pick at all. Lucha Dragons seemed poised for some more shots at the tag belts, but I'm not sure if anyone has that much faith in them to win them at this point, do they? I'm not sold he'll get a big boost in singles wrestling, though I can understand thinking that might be the case with how much they love to show that spot from the TLC PPV. Bray Wyatt is good value in Round 5. With the rest of the Divas division seemingly getting more shine lately (Becky, Sasha, Brie) I'm not sold on Paige as a pick at this juncture. I feel she'll fade in the background the next few months. I reluctantly took Lesnar here as there are a lot of rumors of his return for the Rumble and Mania. If he wins the Rumble in 3 weeks I think the pick here will be worth it, if not I'll probably drop him as it tends not to be worth holding onto someone who is only going to wrestle once a month. Risk/reward pick.
Round 6:
21) Jey Uso
22) Jimmy Uso
23) Cesaro
24) Becky Lynch
Thoughts on Round 6: Having 2 picks in a row when I decided on Lesnar, the biggest obstacle I had to overcome in that pick was that I had the opportunity to pick up both Usos. I ultimately went with Lesnar and a single Uso because I hate being tied to a whole tag team especially if they end up having a disappointing season (I'll contradict that later). The Usos, even if they don't win the tag titles in the next 3 months, tend to earn solid points and are featured almost every week though so the more I think about it the more I think I maybe should have gone with both. If they win the belts, which is always a possibility with them, I'll especially be regretting it. Naturally the very next pick after mine went with Jimmy Uso. At pick 23 Cesaro was probably the worst pick of the entire draft. Do your research people! I'll be honest I didn't even know 100% that he was injured, but right after the pick was made, I realized I hadn't seen him on TV in what feels like months, which made me inquire to everyone if he was. Becky Lynch I think could be the steal of the draft in this position. They're definitely playing her up right now as the biggest underdog in the Divas division, and I think that'll eventually lead her to the Divas title. It might be a tad early for that though. She was on my radar, just not in the positions I was drafting.
Round 7:
25) Tyler Breeze
26) Luke Harper
27) Erick Rowan
28) Bubba Ray Dudley
Thoughts on Round 7: Tyler Breeze is another steal here. As a friend pointed out yesterday, he could be off TV in the blink of an eye, and I agree with that sentiment, but for now he's appearing on almost every show, and has gotten solid points. They just split him up with Summer and I think that's a good thing for his character. Rowan is a decent pick in the 7th round. He's sort of tied to 6 and 8 man tags but the Wyatts have been cleaning up on those. For my final two picks I went with the Dudley Boyz. Even though I think the spotlight has sort of gone off of them for the time being, I do think they'll be around through Mania, and should factor somewhat significantly against the likes of the New Day and Wyatt fam in 6-8 man tags as I mentioned about Rowan. Plus in the extremely unlikely chance they win the tags, getting them this late in the game and together would be massive.
Round 8:
29) D-Von Dudley
30) Bad News Barrett
31) Sin Cara
32) Jack Swagger
Thoughts on Round 8: Barrett had great value especially in the final round. When I look at it even now I sort of cringe that I may have overlooked him. Sin Cara I thought was an awful pick due to his recent injury, but I read some reports today that he might not miss any time. If that's the case it's a solid pickup so late in the draft. Then DTBs very own Mr Irrelevant, Jack Swagger. I think he'll be exactly that. While he might get a few victories leading up to a final match against Del Rio, I don't see him having much of an impact. For pick 32 though there's not much left to choose from so I can't argue with it.
So my team ended up being:
Cena
Owens
Rusev
Sasha Banks
Brock Lesnar
Jey Uso
Bubba Ray Dudley
D-Von Dudley
Overall I'm happy with my team at the moment. The biggest weakness is the lack of gold on my squad but I think I have some contenders at the belts. Brock will be a tough hold especially if he wrestles as little as I think he might, and I can only hope they stretch out the Dudleyz run through Mania.
Let me know how your draft went or what you think of mine in the comments! Good luck this season!