Choke's Winter Season Draft Preview Part 2: Finding a Dark Horse
Posted by: choke Aug 30, 2013 | 1760 views | 7 comments
In part 2 of my extended season preview, I try to find some diamonds in the rough.
So for part 2, I figured I'd take a look at those wrestlers who are at the bottom of the ladder to success in the WWE. Perhaps they were at the top years ago in their prime, perhaps they never have gotten past the first rung to begin with, or perhaps they're Zack Ryder. Whatever the case may be, do any of them have the potential to break out in a future season (hello Husky Harris and Michael McGillicutty), or are they doomed to remain undraftable? Let's make some sense out of this.
Sidenote LOL of the week: DAVID HART SMITH WAS STILL ON THE ACTIVE ROSTER. How come no one ever pointed this out. He's been dead released since 2011!
Doomed:
Yoshi Tatsu/Ezekial Jackson/Hunico/Camacho/Mason Ryan/Alex Riley/Curt Hawkins - Every season when I go to do my preview, I'm shocked he's still even on the roster
William Regal - Seems to get what looks to be the start of something every few years, and then disappears again.
3MB - until they break up, these guys are forever going to be subjected to losing 3 on 1 handicap matches
Brad Maddox/Vickie/Booker T/Teddy Long/Cole/Lawler/McMahon/Ross/Johnny L - you just can't unless one of them starts getting involved in the actual matches or gets a steady managerial job
The Rock - well especially for this season. If he ever comes back it'll be for a Mania, and it will be just as miserable as it was the last time
Alicia Fox/Aksana - unless they completely reinvent them (and no, getting a new spirit hood doesnt count)
Road Dogg/Billy Gunn/Ric Flair/Mick Foley/Bret Hart/Roddy Piper/Shawn Michaels - "Legends" don't really do well in this game unless they get some sort of regular feud. You want consistency, not an occasional appearance. Drop The Belt 101.
David Otunga - A former dark horse pick of mine! Well sorta. Yeah, that turned out well.
Slight hope:
Zack Ryder - FnJimmy's favorite wrestler. Still not quite sure why the WWE never felt he was over enough for a bigger push than he got. I love that Wiki has a section for Ryder called "Return to Lower Card Status (2012-present)". Oof
Santino - God remember when Santino was on EVERY week? And actually winning matches?!?!?! Thankfully I kinda forgot most of that.
Rosa Mendes - Maybe wishful thinking on my part since I'm a fan of her look, but they'll probably reteam her with Primo and Epico (Los Matadores or whatever) and I can see her becoming a consistent (but still low) point getter
R-Truth - I mean he might get a win or two on Main Event, but I'm pretty sure his prime is well beyond him
Summer Rae - She's obviously getting a lot of accompanying points, but she also interferes nearly every match. Hell over the last month she probably scored nearly as many points as Fandango. If she starts wrestling solo, look out.
Justin Gabriel - Always good for a big spot match, but lately has been pretty much ignored. Wow, look at this. What was I smoking and does RVD have any to spare?
Bo Dallas - from wiki: "From late April 2013, the NXT audience turned against Dallas (despite Dallas not changing his character) and started booing him." and later - "By then, the NXT audience's hate of Dallas translated to them literally turned their backs on him while cheering his opponents, even heels like Cesaro and Kruger or unknowns like Mickey Keegan. Funniest fucking thing I've read all month. Clearly the WWE sees a lot of potential for him, so it might only be a matter of time before we can turn our backs to him on Raw or Smackdown.
Hornswoggle - Maybe when Leprechaun 21 is coming out they give him a small push?
Potential Dark Horses:
Eva Marie/Jojo - Eva Marie in particular, because at this point I'm not sure if Jojo can do anything well except sing. We haven't seen enough of their in ring potential, but with the success of Total Divas, I'm still of the opinion all the stars of it could get more in-ring shine as a result
Tons of Funk - I'm shocked to even bring them up in this section, but they've had a pretty dismal year so far. I think as far as this gimmick goes, its run its course, but both of these guys have the in-ring ability to get a good push at any point. I probably won't roll the dice myself until I see evidence of it though.
Epico/Primo - By now you've seen the Los Matadores promos, and as uninspiring as they are, and when the disappointment sets in once you figure out that no, this is not a promo for El Generico, you still know the WWE will probably give them quite a few wins after the debut. I think they could be a sneaky good pick for the draft in the mid/late rounds.
Bellas/Funkadactyls - In particular Brie and Naomi, and especially after AJ's pipe bomb put the Total Divas show on blast. Maybe we'll see them all start mixing it up and get involved in the Divas title chase. If so I like Brie's chances to win it the best since the Bellas are the clear stars of the show, and Brie is the better in ring talent.
Sin Cara - A frustrating guy to keep on your roster as he often pulls the Mysterio disappearing act after getting a rare win. I do think they eventually want to feud him against Del Rio and try to make him a star. I wont waste a pick outside of a VERY late round to find out though.
PTP - Here we go again. For the first several seasons of the league I was CONVINCED the PTP would win the tag belts. I think they have the charisma on the mic and can go in the ring. I then wrote them off, as most did, after the WWE started burying them. Then came Darren's announcement that he was gay. You've all noticed how he quickly started getting matches and winning after that right? Not sure if that was WWE's way of capitalizing on the publicity it was garnering, or them being worried that if he kept losing it'd make everyone start questioning why the gay guy always loses. Either way, I think that will continue for a little longer, and the WWE has also started showing a lot of people dancing the Millions of Dollaz dance in the crowd. We have a bonified Production Crew Face Turn in the works folks! I like their potential for the next several weeks. The big question is will it have fizzled by the time the new season starts? I think not. THIS IS YOUR DARK HORSE PICK OF THE SEASON (namely D Young)
Come back next week for Part 3 when I focus on the cream of the crop of the WWE (and maybe the Miz).