The Ultimate NXT Draft: Picks 81-90

Now that we just made it over halfway through (yeah, there are still that many picks to go), potential is the name of the game, but there are still some classic stalwarts that fell far and would be valuable assets to a roster. 

81. Joe selects Denzel Dejournette

Joe: A college wrestler? That’s all I need to know in order to take somebody. Wrestlers are ideally suited to transition to the pro wrestling ranks, and Dejournette showed good athletic ability while at Appalachian State. And yes, I am such a wrestling nerd that I did not need to look up this information on Denzel as I watch college wrestling like Jonah apparently watches Impact wrestling

Jonah: Well getting someone with an amateur background at this point is a good pick, but Appalachian State sucks. Back in the days when there were NCAA football games, they were one of the few teams my mighty Vandals could beat on a sim. I don’t care that they’ve since become a pretty decent football school, they’ll always be NCAA football game jobbers to me. Anyways, Denzel has the size and background to do well in the WWE, this is a good potential pick.

82. Jonah selects Nick Comoroto

Jonah: Nick Comoroto has the look. He’s a big, hairy, muscular dude who looks like he would rip your head off. In the last draft I took Lars Sullivan because he looked awesome and that worked out well. Hopefully Comoroto isn’t a huge racist, though it wouldn’t affect his career.

Joe: I can’t believe that you didn’t mention that this guy’s name is Freak Beast, and his theme music will rock your ass off. Unfortunately, he reminded me of The Renegade where he’s trying to be a scary jacked dude, but he’s not quite ripped enough to pull it off. I was still disappointed that I didn’t get him, because I start laughing every time I think about Freak Beast.

Jonah: Freak Beast!

83. Jonah selects Karen Q

Jonah: I love diversity, so I drafted another female asian wrestler. She was in ROH and TNA as well as a bunch of other independent leagues for years before coming to the WWE so I take that as a good sign that she can actually wrestle. Her gimmick appears to be super Asian stereotype right now, but we can change that.

Joe: I dropped the ball on this one. Karen Q is a very good pick here as she actually has a lot of talent in the ring. I was super racist and didn’t bother figuring out which person I didn’t like between her and Xia Li, and I paid the price. I will be rooting for Karen Q to make me rue the day I passed on selecting her.

84. Joe selects Kassius Ohno

Joe: This is one guy that NXT has not helped out. His original run in NXT, highlighted by his feud with William Regal, was phenomenal. But he didn’t look the part, and there was no sense sticking around. Then he looked even less the part, and WWE brought him back, and it feels like Bull Dempsey had a better run than the second iteration of Ohno. Still a very big guy who is very talented and actually has the skills to cut a good promo. I feel like it would be pretty easy to find something more for this guy.

Jonah: I love Chris Hero AKA Kassius Ohno, but he’s old and fat. He’s definitely underused, but really he was brought back to put over younger wrestlers. The good news is that he’s really good at wrestling so he’s a perfect job guy. He’s also a good promo as Joe mentioned. His talent makes him a top 20 pick, but his age and physique drag him down.

85. Joe selects Saurav Gurjar

Joe: This is a massive Indian man who looks like he could play the bad guy on TV or in the movies, and you may remember him from the hit show, Mahabharat, where he played Bheema, you know, the Second Pandava, Son of Kunti and Vayu, husband of Draupadi, Hidimba. It’s an unforgettable role for all of us Mahabharat Fans out there. I only saw him as part of a tag match, but with his size, he could definitely make an impact.

Jonah: He is a big Indian man, and that Indian market is important. I mean they made Canadian Jinder Mahal World Champion just because of that fact. He could also be the next Great Khali who is also a former world champion despite being less mobile than I am.

86. Jonah selects Fabian Aichner

Jonah: Fabian Aichner is a big dude who moves like a cruiserweight in the ring, probably because he was a cruiserweight in the Cruiserweight Classic before he added 30 pounds of muscle. Really, if we’re talking about taking talented wrestlers late in the draft Aichner is near the top of that list. He’s big enough to be taken seriously and is great at flying around the ring. He’s playing evil foreigner heel now, but if you gave this guy a real gimmick and push I think he would be legitimately successful.

Joe: I think the story of 30 pounds of muscle is bullshit, because he doesn’t look that much bigger, but maybe he put on a lot of fat with it.  I actually saw him have a really good match with Shane Strickland when he won the Evolve title, but other than that one specific instance, Aichner hasn’t done a ton for me. At this point, he’s a solid pick; I just don’t have much faith in him for more.

Jonah: I think he looks thick and his ariel maneuvers have impressed me, I’m very happy with the pick.

87. Jonah selects Tegan Nox

Jonah: Tegan Nox is a super talented wrestler who has had two bad knee injuries. She’s still recovering from the second one, but as Joe talked about much earlier in the draft, medical science and all. If Nox heals up, she will be a main eventer in whatever show she’s put on, probably NXT UK. This is really a steal that I was only able to have because of her health.

Joe: I will admit that the only thing I know about Tegan Nox is she was a commentator on the WWE PC Combine that I watched for like ten minutes before realizing it was maybe the most boring thing ever. After doing a cursory Google search, this seems like a good pick and one that slipped through the cracks for me since I had not seen her in person.

88. Joe selects Daniel Vidot

Joe: Vidot is a former professional rugby player who has the athletic chops and build to make it in WWE. Although I did not plan to get every Australian available, I might have done so by pure happenstance. He was signed in May of 2018, and has just started wrestling singles matches. He’s yet to get his first win, but I did see him lose to Rik Bugez once, but Bugez was the only thing memorable in that single match I saw.

Jonah: Vidot is going to get destroyed in the battle of the former rugby players whenever he faces off with Ridge Holland. Also Australia is a pretty cool country, I was even able to find a sports bar where I could watch the American football playoffs there. Anyways, this guy sucks.

89. Joe selects Mohamed Abdelfattah Fahim

Joe: I could almost repeat everything I said about Vidot, just replace rugby with boxing, and Australian with Egyptian. Also, he has never been rocked by the Bugez. But yes, I did just draft two guys with a combined zero victories.

Jonah: He’s a decent sized guy who was a former boxer and kickboxer. He’s also Egyptian and I love that diversity. I was going to take him very soon, so I have faith in this pick.

Joe: I feel like you love foreigners a little TOO much. There aren’t a ton of great foreign success stories where they became international stars. Kazuchika Okada might be the best wrestler in the world, but most wrestling fans don’t know who he is, and when he wrestled in Impact, he was a nobody.

Jonah: WWE is the only sports entertainment brand enjoyed across the world, or whatever Michael Cole said 10 times to try and justify the fact that they keep taking that sweet Saudi blood money. I do love international talent.

90. Jonah selects Marcel Barthel

Jonah: This guy is super German, I mean wow, he looks like he should come out in lederhosen. But he’s got decent size and I like what I’ve seen from him in the ring. He actually has some talent. On my show I’m bringing back all the super popular old gimmicks and making him the new “Das Wunderkind”.

Joe: I waited a little too long on snagging Barthel as he is good enough to be in the stable, Ringkampf, with WALTER, which is about as glowing of an endorsement as one can get in my eyes.

Previously in the NXT Draft:
Picks 1-10

Picks 11-20

Picks 21-30

Picks 31-40

Picks 41-50

Picks 51-60

Picks 61-70

Picks 71-80

The WWE Is Ruining... Apollo Crews

As a pro wrestling fan, it is a part of our identity to always know how to utilize wrestlers better than the WWE. If WWE would just give me, random WWE fan, a job a the company, ratings would immediately rise to the levels of the Monday Night Wars, despite how television ratings have changed as a whole over the last 20 years. But until that happens, WWE will continue ruining our favorite wrestlers, and that is why it is time to point out the error in their ways. Because of WWE's incompetence, I am literally going to pick a wrestler at random and point out how they could be better utilized, because WWE is ruining everyone in one way or another.

Today, we look at a guy that I had high expectations for, and the WWE dashed those very quickly after his call-up, Apollo Crews. And of course, I wrote this a couple weeks in advance, before he got his biggest push yet, by not only winning, but dominating, a battle royal to set up an Intercontinental Title match with Dean Ambrose. He then of course promptly lost that match, but it could be a sign of things to come. If he gets a huge push immediately, great. If not, I have an alternate option below.

Before joining the WWE, Uhaa Nation had made a decent name for himself. He wasn't considered a top indy guy at the time, but he was more seen as somebody who would be a top indy guy if he continued to work that wrestling scene. He was a very important part of both Dragon Gate and Evolve, and the WWE had seen enough to sign him to a developmental deal for 2015.

He made his debut in August of 2015 and ran through Tye Dillinger, Tyler Breeze, and even Finn Balor (by disqualification) before losing for the first time to Baron Corbin. It was a weird loss for him to get, but considering that NXT often falls into new guy stays undefeated for way too long, it didn't seem to be a big issue.

Then on April 4, 2016, he beat Tyler Breeze again on NXT...wait, no, for some reason he was already called up and this happened on Monday Night Raw. Just over half a year on NXT, and he was already up on the main roster. On one hand, good for him. On the other hand, Crews could have used some more seasoning.

And that is where the problems began. WWE, if your plan to start somebody off on the right foot on the main roster is to have them feud with the Social Outcasts, maybe just hold off on bringing them up at that point. At least Crews was able to overcome that dominant stable. After that, he came close to pushes as he was in #1 contenders matches as well as actual title matches, although he never actually won those matches. The big issue, and one that anyone who watched NXT could see, was that he never developed a personality, so it was pretty hard to get invested in anything he did.

Then he joined Titus Worldwide. You may be shocked to learn that things did not get better. They avoided giving Crews a personality, but didn't really let Titus have one either as even he wasn't allowed to give many promos, just holler a lot outside the ring as Crews wrestled inside of it.

He has now ditched Titus Worldwide, which would have been my first step to making him relevant. But the issue of never guiding him along to let him work on promos will continue to haunt him in any potential rise within the company. So how can you get the most out of Apollo Crews?

I think that the best thing you can do for him is put him in a tag team. He's an ideal hot tag guy as he's strong and explosive in his moves, but he's a good enough wrestler where he could also be the scrappy side of a tag team. I will admit that I struggled to find him the right tag partner. Chad Gable was my first thought, but I would rather just put American Alpha back together. My next thought was Finn Balor, but that seems like a really poor use of Finn Balor. Ultimately, I couldn't settle, but here were my four best options.

4. Tye Dillinger
I don't know how they fit together, but I just want something for both of these guys, and although Dillinger isn't going to amaze people with moves, he's super good at what he does, so they could put on some very good matches.

3. Bo Dallas
It would be a fun pairing with Bo living in his own world away from reality while Apollo had to come in with explosive moves to save the day. There is potential there.

2. No Way Jose
I know; it seems a little too on the nose and totally like something WWE would do, but I do think it has potential. It's two guys who were brought up too early with no real plans for either one, and two guys that show tremendous potential. I think it could be a fun dynamic and two guys that could be in the tag title picture.

1. Kassius Ohno
APOLLOHNO. Kassius Ohno has been in NXT since the beginning of time. Literally, dude was there at the beginning of NXT as a developmental brand. He had some time away on the independent scene, but he's back. Still talented, still used as a guy to get other talent over, and still nowhere closer to the big shows. This team is kind of a weird combination at first, but it's a combination that I think could work. They are made to put on great matches, and Ohno can handle the bulk of the talking while letting Crews be the exclamation point in interviews. The more I think about it; the more I like it.

Apollo Crews rose up to the main roster too quickly for his own good, but it's not a dire situation as the talent is still there, and with the right setting, he can still reach his full potential. I hope 2019 provides him that opportunity.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Bayley
Bobby Lashley
Bobby Roode
Charlotte Flair
Curt Hawkins
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Jinder Mahal
Kane
Karl Anderson
Killian Dain
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Shinsuke Nakamura
Tyler Breeze

What the WWE Should Do With Daniel Bryan

Okay, so here is my dream angle for Daniel Bryan:

Bryan continues to shoot promos on Raw, and the McMahons continue to have security to escort him out of the building. After three or four weeks, they kick him out when Antonio Cesaro and Sami Zayn come out and beat up the security guards. Cesaro is a bad guy right now, but he can explain, "This isn't about a gimmick, this is about wrestling." This is when I get fully hard, because that would totally be awesome. The angle can go in one or two ways at this point.

1. These guys just start hauling ass on people, because they are as good or better wrestlers than anybody in the WWE. They eventually face off against a team of Orton, Del Rio, and Triple H. The wrestlers are about to win when all of a sudden, Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta hits. The Shield comes strutting down the stairs. They get to the ring, Dean Ambrose takes the mic and says, "We fight for injustice. We have no beef with you guys. As you were," and the wrestlers put on some sick ass finishing move to win the match. That would be totally awesome.

2. Instead of fighting the guys the WWE loves, they have matches with each other. They bring in guys like Tyson Kidd, Kassius Ohno, and some other NXT guys and just have awesome wrestling matches. Instead of them proving themselves to the other WWE wrestlers, the other WWE wrestlers start proving themselves to the wrestlers. Dolph Ziggler starts wrestling against them. The Shield has matches against them. Hell, eventually, they could invent their own title, and this could anger Randy Orton so much that he challenges their champion to unify the belts. This would also be totally awesome.

Full disclosure: I'm just looking for an awesome way to get Antonio Cesaro a push.