Choke's Summerslam Season Preview: Who to draft and when
Posted by: choke May 6, 2013 | 2090 views | 3 comments
A preview of the upcoming Summerslam Season of the DroptheBelt fantasy league.
I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled this season is upon us. Even though it's only been a few weeks since the Wrestlemania season ended, the shows have dragged even moreso than they usually do and it's just generally not as exciting or entertaining without the points aspect.
Mania season was for the most part a FaceFest, with 7 of the top 10 point getters for the season being faces instead of heels (and with one of those heels, Cesaro, taking a complete 180 in point getting mid-season). Is there any reason to believe this season will be any different? Call me naive, hell, actually I'll ADMIT I'm naive, but I say yes. With Ziggler and the Shield leading the charge, I'm hopeful that this season could be more even-keeled between points from faces and heels. Does this mean I believe that Cena, Sheamus and Orton will not be in the top 10? Of course not. It just means that my daring attempt last season to draft ONLY heels before the season started would not be the miserable failure that it was this time (though I still wouldn't risk it kids).
I'll divide this into sections:
Do not draft at any cost: These wrestlers have pretty slim chances to earn any sort of respectable points all season
Booker T, Camacho, Curt Hawkins, Ezekial Jackson, Hunico, JBL, Jerry Lawler, Josh Mathews, JTG, Justin Roberts, Lilian Garcia, Matt Striker, Renee Young, The Rock, Scott Stanford, Teddy Long, Tony Dawson, Tony Chimel, Yoshi Tatsu
Do you believe in miracles?!?! No?, then don't draft any of these guys either
Aksana, Alex Riley, Alicia Fox, Bo Dallas, Brad Maddox, David Otunga, Hornswoggle, Michael McGillicutty, Mr McMahon , Ted Dibiase, Tyson Kidd, Vickie Guerrero, William Regal
Reaches: Maybe in a deep league you'd consider one of these in a later round, but you'd still be gambling (not that there's anything wrong with that)
Darren Young, Drew McIntyre, Epico, Jimmy & Jey Uso, Jinder Mahal, Justin Gabriel, Natalya, Primo, Rosa Mendes, Santino Marella, Titus O'Neil, Zack Ryder
Note: It's tough for me to put PTP here, but I just don't see them factoring into the Tag title division this season at all with the Shield being full time now.
Late Rounders: Current guys you will end up stuck with in round 7 (also, more gambling!)
Note: From here on out the rest of this is in order from least draftable to most.
Tamina Snuka - Seems to have lost any steam she once had
Rey Mysterio - a total gamble even if you knew he was coming back. Liable to show up for one Raw and disappear for 10 more. Be very weary with this one.
Evan Bourne - Is he finally coming back? Don't take that gamble early unless you know something
Christian - ditto, though I'd rank him a little higher than Evan Bourne
the Great Khali - had a bit of a run last season. I personally don't expect that to happen this go around, but never underestimate the power of Indian viewers!
Sin Cara - One of the most frustrating wrestlers to hold at any time. When he's coming out he tends to do okay, but has that Mysterio syndrome of disappearing for long stretches
Heath Slater - still basically a jobber, but I keep thinking the heat he gets should be worth at least a small run? Okay probably not
HHH - I expect the upcoming match at Extreme Rules to be his last for a while.
Layla - seems to be in a decent position for a Divas title shot at any point, but I think it's Kaitlyn and AJ's to win or lose for the time being
Zeb/Paul Heyman - consistent small-time point getters, but will Swagger be nearly as relevant this season? And for Heyman, will Punk be around enough?
Chris Jericho - How many matches will he get in?
Undertaker - Similar to Y2J, but in a better position for points. Worth a pickup for the early point potential, but at some point he'll vanish
Ricardo Rodriguez - I keep expecting a solo run from him. He's been getting involved in a lot more matches lately and since he can actually wrestle, has picked up some wins. At worst you still get all the accompanying and interference
R-Truth - I hate even having him here. Just for personal reasons I'd say don't draft him at all, but there's a chance at a push always lurking with him I guess?
Brock Lesnar - Well he should at least get that one big win at Extreme Rules, and then whatever else they have planned for him later. Might be worth a late pick for that.
Middle of the road: Not worth considering extremely early on, but tough to pass up the deeper you go
Bellas/Cameron & Naomi - They'll definitely get their matches in, probably always aganst each other. Always a sleeper pick to get a Divas title shot as well, though I actually could see them creating a Divas tag division as well. FEAR SNUKASANA
Antonio Cesaro - Quite a drop for him, but with the way they've treated him lately I just couldn't place him any higher. I hope I'm way off on this. If he gets the belt back at any point, obviously change the order accordingly
Rhodes/Sandow - Hard for me to picture them getting heavily involved with the tag title hunt over the next 3 months, especially if you believe like I do that the Shield will eventually win those.
Clay/Tensai - With my prediction of the Shield to win the belts, other than Hell No getting their obligatory 8 chances to win them back, this is the next logical team to get a chance at them. I don't like their chances though even if they go that route, but they should pick up several wins on the way
AJ Lee - Great chance for her to win the Divas belt, but with the Divas title taking a backseat towards the end of the season (ZERO presence at Mania), even that might not make her a top pick this season
Kaitlyn - Again, it all depends on how the WWE decides to push the Divas belt this time around.
CM Punk - All depends when he comes back. Rumors say not until Summerslam, but given that wrestling rumors are right about 5% of the time on a good day, you might want to take a shot. Could be a middle round steal if he comes back in May
The Miz - He's off filming a movie, and supposedly will be back soon. Will he come back to beat Barrett for the belt shortly thereafter. I lean yes if they thrust him right back into that story. Another potential steal
Wade Barrett - With how much they buried the US and IC belts last season, it's hard to put the holders of those anywhere in the stratosphere as far as picking them. Wade should go even lower than Kofi because the Miz loss seems a little more likely than Cesaro or anyone else beating Kofi.
Kofi Kingston - That being said, there are so many potential contenders to both of these belts that it's possible they will switch hands, and quickly.
Jack Swagger - Still being included in the main event/World Title picture, but I have my doubts he'll be there long
Big E Langston - I love his potential to win MITB, or to win a US/IC belt.
Fandango - Same as with Big E. At worst I expect him to dominate the lower card for the months to come. GOTTA PLUG THOSE ITUNES SALES
Cream of the Crop: Get them, and get them early
Alberto Del Rio - Seems a little low (or high?), but obviously he was at the top of last season due to his World Championship win and reign. The question is what does that leave him with this season if he loses his rematch(es) as I expect he will?
Mark Henry - Always potential for him to sneak into the World OR WWE title hunt. I like his potential to go on a rampage and completely dominate this season as he did a few seasons back. Then again, he DID just walk away from Khali on a Main Event episode the other night. Maybe this pick is a year too early.
Kane - always reliable for points even without the belts. The big question for this season is will they survive a tag title match with the Shield?
Daniel Bryan - I say no. I rank Bryan slightly higher than Kane because I can envision a Bryan vs Ziggler feud a little easier than I see Kane/Ziggler. Basically, book it - Kane vs Ziggler at Summerslam
Big Show - When they portray him as an unstoppable monster, his point totals soar. Tough for me to see him winning a belt this season, which limits him on this list a bit
Randy Orton - Whether they turn him heel or not, he's always a consistent point getter when healthy, and the average mark crowd eats him up. I think he's the biggest threat to Ziggler's title run actually as if I had to predict it I think we see Orton vs Dolph at Summerslam
Ryback - I think we'll have to see him wrestle Cena a couple of times from this point forward, and if the WWE was smart they would have him destroy everything in his path leading up to those matches. Does he have a chance to win the WWE title? I think he does, but it's not very high.
Seth Rollins -
Dean Ambrose -
Roman Reigns - The tricky part of the Shield is that even if you believe like I do that they will win the tag belts, the question is, which 2? Will the WWE allow a revolving door that any 2 members can wrestle for the belts during their assumed reign? Remains to be seen. I put Reigns above the others because I think he's so heavily involved in most of their finishing maneuvers they've shown us so far (the triple bomb and the spear), that he's almost a lock to be one of the 2. so again, book it, Hell No vs Ambrose/Rollins.
Sheamus - The Shield has been so dominant as of late and with their extremely high potential to win the tags I put them above everyone except the World and WWE title holders. and Sheamus. Sheamus is a fucking monster in this game. He wrestles almost weekly, and wins 98% of his matches seemingly. He's always a threat to be thrust into a World or WWE title picture. BULLIES ALWAYS WIN KIDS
John Cena - Do you see him losing to Ryback? Me neither. Do you see him losing before August? Me neither. The only thing I see that could throw all this off is if he gets injured (even further, that is). From what I'm hearing his recent heel injury will not cause him to miss any further ring-time though.
Dolph Ziggler - It's that exact injury that leads me to think Ziggler is the top pick of this season. Even though I could see an argument that Ziggler has more potential opponents that could win the title off of him at a moment's notice (Sheamus, Orton, Del Rio), I think the WWE will give him at least these three months to prove that he belongs at this level. I also believe he'll simply wrestle more matches than Cena to give him that edge. Take away that heel injury to Cena though and things might have been different. GO #HEEL (see what I did there?)
There you have it. Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments