Choke's Winter Season Draft Preview Part 3: The Elite
Posted by: choke Sep 5, 2013 | 1704 views | 0 comments
In part 3 of my draft preview I showcase the WWE talent you should be trying to draft
So far I've gone through the injured and the lower rung of the WWE roster, and now it's time to focus on the group that matters. The ones you will be targetting during your draft, celebrating when you score and cursing when the jimmy before you picks them up. I'm going to start right at the top.
Top of the mountain. Here's how I rank your first and 2nd round potentials
1. Daniel Bryan
2. Randy Orton - It was tough to pick which of these 2 I thought would have the most points this upcoming season. On the one hand, I think there are very good odds Orton will hold onto the belt the entire season, earning mounds of title defense, underhanded victories, and attack points along the way. The reason I'm going with Bryan as the #1 pick is because in his battle agains the McMahons and Orton I think they will be throwing tons of obstacles (matches) in his way and he will prevail in nearly every single one except the actual title matches themselves. With Sheamus and Cena out is there really another viable option for the WWE right now as the top babyface? I'll go over some potentials for that role later, but I think they're going to ride this Bryan vs the Corporation thing out for a while to come, and holders of both Bryan and Orton will benefit in the league
3. Rob Van Dam
4. Alberto Del Rio
5. Dolph Ziggler - Interesting scenario with these 3. Again with the Sheamus injury and now with Christian being out temporarily due to a concussion, it pretty much leaves RVD, Del Rio, and Ziggler as the main potentials I see for the World Title this season. I went with RVD over Del Rio simply because faces in chase mode have tended to do very well in our league as they simply get more matches than the heels and WWE loves to send the marks home happy. That being said, I can easily make a case for taking Del Rio before RVD as he's an absolute workhorse and is liable to show up on both RAW and Smackdown week in and week out and win every match. Ziggler is a little trickier and this could potentially end up being way too high for him, but I do think the WWE at least was at one point planning on having him be in a big comeback storyline to ultimately take the belt back from Del Rio. The focus has seemingly shifted off of that for the time being, but in no time I think they could be right back to it.
6/7/8. Reigns/Ambrose/Rollins - Will be very curious to see how the Shield storyline plays out. To be honest before they integrated them so heavily with HHH and the McMahons I was ready to predict them falling out of favor with the WWE, at least losing the belts and maybe not being worthy of 1st/2nd round picks. Now that they're in the top storyline of the moment, that changes things. With HHH and McMahon by their side I see the Shield still picking up tons of points, but if you draft them you better hope they're more of the match variety and not just standing outside the ring and getting attack points every so often. Ultimately they have 3 belts, and they should get some good defense points out of it during the season if anything
9. Big Show - Could be a potential steal in the early rounds considering he might be the next logical choice to go after Orton's belt. Always a factor when he's active, and could be put in a lot of "handicap" matches as punishment for ultimately standing up to the Corporation. I like his potential a lot.
10. Bray Wyatt - Now that the Wyatt clan is fully integrated into the fabric of the WWE, it's going to be a long time before we see Bray lose a match. The only thing keeping him from being higher is that I don't know if I picture him getting a belt in the next several months due to the current status of them all.
11. Ryback - They're really trying to push him into heel stratosphere right now. I see a lot of wins coming up this season
12. CM Punk - Too low for Punk? Perhaps. The issue with Punk in this game is that lately his focus is too high on revenge with a lot of talking on the mic and not enough winning matches and going after titles. I think if they go with another Brock Lesnar match, this will continue. Next season that can all change though.
The best of the rest
13. Kofi Kingston - Did you see the poster for Night of Champions? I mean I know the WWE doesn't always have posters for shows that make sense, but I find it hard to believe they'd use this image if they didn't at least plan for Kofi to be in the hunt for at least the US or IC belt sooner than later. I like his chances to win one or the other for what it's worth. Another potential steal
14. AJ Lee - I want to put her higher, but the Divas division is so unpredictable at the moment. With the success of Total Divas and with Kaitlyn still floating around somewhere, it's anyone's belt to take at the moment. AJ is too popular to just fall by the wayside though, so she should still get some healthy points
15. Curtis Axel - DISRESEPCTFUL. I mean I know he has the IC Belt and all, but so far he's been pretty uninspiring and the WWE placing him as basically a minor player in the Punk/Lesnar/Heyman feud hasn't done him any favors. He needs a good series against Kofi soon.
16. The Miz - Well, I'm not going to draft him here, but he's about as steady as they come as a point earner in this game (8th all time!), but he needs a radical change creatively for me to personally care to root for him. Okay if he falls far enough, I will pick him up, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be happy about it
17/18. Erick Rowan/Luke Harper - There's going to be a time that Bray has a singles belt, and Rowan and Harper have the tags. Unfortunately that more than likely wont be this season. I still don't see them losing a match anytime soon, the big question is, how many matches will they get?
19/20. Christian/Mark Henry - I'm putting them this low only because of uncertainty due to injuries they've recently sustained. Very little has been revealed about the recovery time for both, but from what I've seen I dont think they'll be lost for a SIGNIFICANT amount of time. More might be known closer to the season opening, but right now I personally wouldn't risk a 1st or 2nd round pick on them when you know there are guys that ARE available to be used consistently.
21/22. Kane/Cody Rhodes - You've got to suspect both of these guys will be back sometime during the season, and should receive substantial pushes when they return. The only question is: when?!
23. Damien Sandow - Money in the Bank holders have a curse in which they rarely get victories until they cash it in. The prevailing thought being that the guy is more than likely to win the World or WWE belt, so in the meantime they use him to enhance other wrestlers. Perhaps Sandow will buck that trend, but I wouldnt bank on it.
The "this is all that's left?!" group
24/25. The Usos - I was ready to rank them higher, but with the push the PTP have been getting lately as faces, I think that might steal a bit of the Usos shine. It's really between the Usos and PTP unless the WWE still goes with the Big Show/Henry tag idea they were going with around MITB. If that fizzles out due to Henry's injury, I like both of these teams potentials
26. Fandango - A hot pick to be a major player over the course of last season, Fandango for the most part was a disappointment, though he does still pick up an occasional win. The biggest problem with being a mid card heel is what opportunities do you really have when the two mid card titles are being held by heels currently?!?! Get one of those belts onto Kofi or Cody Rhodes and a whole new world of possibilities opens up
27. Wade Barrett - a complete joke of a season for Wade last go around. Major dark horse potential to turn it all around as the WWE still seems to like to have him maintain a presence even during major storylines. It's just so tough to pick mid card heels at the moment given their treatment lately
28/29. Cesaro/Swagger - and it continues
30. Big E Langston - and continues
31. Brock Lesnar - Always a tricky call. Will he even be back this season? I'd like to think so for Survivor Series, but will he have any matches otherwise? Will he even win the Survivor Series match if he gets one there? You're really just crossing your fingers and hoping he puts some people on a stretcher or mauls someone with 40 shots with a chair if you draft him.
32/33/34. Paul Heyman/Ricardo Rodriguez/Zeb Colter - Solid point getters for continuous Accompanying, Mic, and Interference points.
35/36. Kaitlyn/Natalya - I could be SEVERELY underrating Kaitlyn here as she's been a very good point getter lately, but I feel that with AJ declaring war on the Bellas and Funkadactyls (and Natalya), that she could take a backseat for a while. Natalya could be a good darkhorse pick as it seems like they might want to give her one last good run before taking her in the back and sending her packing (okay just kidding, but she just doesnt really fit in with the current crop of Divas)
37. The Great Khali - Gets at least 2 wins a season. At least its something
38. HHH - Probably deserves to be higher as I could see him getting involved in some matches down the line. Or maybe not. I'm too lazy at the moment to move him up even if I think so.
That does it for me and my extended preview. Next week be sure to check back for my Night of Champions predictions!