The Ultimate NXT Draft Review: 21-30

In June of 2016, so now nearly two and a half years ago, Lukewarm Jonah and I got together to do an NXT Fantasy Draft. We are going to focus on the NXT roster as the transition from NXT to the main roster or just the progression within NXT provides some fascinating talking points. Although we did a fairly good job, there were definitely some big time misses and some amazing steals. We've already broken down the top 20, so let's tackle picks 21-30 today where things went REALLY well for me.

21. Jonah selects Angelo Dawkins

Joe: I love the Street Profits, so much so that I saw them win their first Tag Team Championships at an Evolve show. They are so much fun, but Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins are the Black Rockers, and sorry, Angelo, you ain’t the Heartbreak Kid. It’s still a fine pick, and we are in the 20s, so it’s not like you can look up at the Moon, have a Dream, and come up with The Idol this late in the draft.

Jonah: The Street Profits are amazing, that’s a fact.  That being said, there are obviously better choices made after this.  In a redraft, Dawkins by himself probably falls about 10 spots, however if The Street Profits are kept together the Early 20’s is probably where they should go.  He’s half of a super over tag team, and while Ford is the better of the two, Dawkins is no slouch.

Joe: In comparison to Montez Ford, Dawkins is the definition of slouch. He’s fine, but if the Street Profits broke up, I do not see a path for him that leads to the main roster.

Jonah: Dawkins brings the swag like nobody can, don’t mean to brag what about it yeah?

22-23. Joe selects Andrade “Cien” Almas and Adrienne Reese

Jonah: Geez Joe, you saw my pick of Gargano and Ciampa and felt like you needed to hit two home runs at some point.  I knew you wanted Almas badly, so I let you have him like Tyson Kidd in the main roster draft. I like you too much to break your heart.  These are obviously both amazing picks, so let’s talk about Andrade’s first 6 months or so on NXT TV. I described him as being dressed as a member of Los Boricuas who joined the American Males.  His finisher was a running tea bag. He was floundering badly. Then came Zelina Vega to save the day. Almas was one half of my favorite wrestling match ever against Gargano at Takeover, so he’s obviously recovered.  On the main roster he’s been putting on great matches against main eventers in losing efforts, but he should have a bright future. If Almas comes with Vega, he may very well be top 5 in a redraft, at least top 10. Adrienne Reese is better known as Ember Moon, another great wrestler.  She was overshadowed by Asuka when they were both in NXT, but she still carved out a good spot for herself. She won the NXT women’s belt and gets good TV time on RAW. She’s not Almas, but she’s still a future Women’s champ on the main roster and moves up a good amount in a redraft. I like her more than Nia Jax for instance, so I think she’s in the 10-15 range in a redraft.  Excellent round Joe, almost as good as getting Gargano and Ciampa in the same round.

Joe: Interesting talking point. Who will have the better WWE career, DIY or Almas and Moon? At this point, I’m probably taking Moon over someone like Bayley, because the crowd seems to like her, but they have been given no reason to care about her. But if the fans are given a reason to care, the pop that she gets on her finisher could make her a special talent. Almas is great in the ring, has a great look, has a great presence, but his ceiling is pretty low since he doesn’t speak English as his first language. As someone who has thoroughly enjoyed jumping into NJPW, I disagree with this concept, but it is the WWE way. I still think he’s a future World Champion, but more of a transitional champion as opposed to a champion who runs the division for six months. DIY is already telling their most interesting story in NXT, and it’s tough to capture that sort of magic twice. I would still say those picks would have the higher ceiling but also a much lower floor.

24-25. Jonah selects TM61

Joe: Had we done this a couple weeks ago, this still would have been a solid pick as I really liked The Mighty as a heel tag team to counter balance all of the love that most NXT guys get. Then, we found out that Nick Miller had been released by the WWE, which really hurts their chances at tag gold. I think Shane Thorne is the better talent, but right now, I have no idea what the future holds with this pick.

Jonah: Not sure why Nick Miller got released, hopefully he requested it.  I looked at this pick and was still pretty happy with it when we started talking about reviewing this draft.  Sure the guys missed some time due to injury, but they were still one of the best tag teams in NXT. Absolutely crushed it against AOP in the finals of the Dusty Classic and they looked bound for stardom.  They went heel, got their dope name of The Mighty back and things seemed good. Apparently, another guy from their stable of The Mighty Don’t Kneel just got signed, so maybe Thorne will be tagging with him soon.  He’s still got a decent chance at a future career, so this isn’t a terrible place for him to be taken, but you crushed it with one of your next picks.

26-27. Joe selects Patrick Clark and Tino Sabbatelli

Jonah: What can you say about Patrick Clark?  He was a random guy who lost Tough Enough at this time.  He turned into the Velveteen Dream, one of the best characters in NXT.  He also crushes it inside the ring. I like that he’s still in NXT because he’s super young, and you might as well let the guy get as good as possible if you don’t have any plans on the main roster.  He’s frequently mentioned as one of the guys in NXT that full timers and legends want to work with. He’s a top 10 pick in the redraft, almost a guaranteed star, though it will be depressing to see how the main roster screws him up.  Tino Sabbatelli was in a rising tag team with fellow ex NFLer Riddick Moss and they were doing pretty well. The team made sense, they had their gimmick down, and they were improving in the ring. Naturally, the team got broken up for no reason and I don’t think Tino has been on TV since.  Good potential, good look, great entrance music, just get the tag team back together and they will make the main roster.

Joe: I’m not saying it will happen, but if you told me Velveteen Dream had the best career of anyone on this list, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. His progression has been absolutely incredible, and you can tell that this guy understands wrestling psychology far better than most and fully embodies his character in promos and in the ring. There’s not much more to say about him except that he’s incredible.

Even as a heterosexual male, I can recognize that Tino Sabbatelli has an ass that don’t quit. His workrate is a different story.

Jonah: Velveteen Dream is in the running for number one pick, but Balor might still edge him out.  Dream will be awesome.

28-29. Jonah selects Billie Kay and Peyton Royce

Joe: Every time I make a prediction for the women’s division, it involves The IIconics going over, so I love this pick more than any reasonable person should. They are Australia’s greatest treasure, and I am so happy they are in our lives. My heart tells me they are top-10 picks, but my brain says this is probably right around where they should be. But they’re great, and if the world ever catches on to how great they are, the sky is the limit.

Jonah: The IIconics are a good pick.  Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are better in the ring then they show on TV, and they are IIconic outside of the ring and on the mic.  If the WWE ever gets their long rumored Women’s Tag Belts, the IIconics have to be in the championship scene all the time. At least one of them will win the World Championship at sometime, possibly both.  I’m surprised by Joe thinking this is a good place for them, I think they move up in a redraft. They’re not top 10, but they should be top 20, they’re good wrestlers and characters on the main roster. They will be successful in the future.

30. Joe selects Mandy Rose

Jonah: Mandy Rose, I figured she was blond Eva Marie so I didn’t care about her.  I was wrong. Rose isn’t a horsewoman or Asuka or Ember Moon, but she certainly isn’t Eva Marie.  She’s decent in the ring and she has an amazing look. I could do without Corey Graves having a heart attack every time she comes out, but she’s a good character.  Eva Marie who can actually wrestle at an average level is a great place to be. She’s improved wildly and could end up being very good in the ring, while still having an incredible look.  She’s not going to be Trish Stratus, but remember this was the path that Stratus took. Started out as eye candy, worked hard to be a real wrestler. Rose definitely moves up in the redraft at least a few spots, and only a few spots because we have so many people moving up.

Joe: She’s already right there with Trish Stratus. Trish came along during my formative years, so I can never say anyone lives up to her, but realistically, they’re the same. They’re both attractive blondes, right at the same level of in-ring work, and both have a very natural charisma. Trish developed hers to a higher level, but Rose isn’t far behind. And where Trish was at the ceiling of in-ring work, that same level is probably slightly below average these days. I could have just said attractive blonde, and you could assume a big push coming in the next couple years.

Previous Installments:
Picks 1-10
Picks 11-20

The WWE Is Ruining... Andrade "Cien" Almas

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, I want to talk about a personal favorite of mine, Andrade "Cien" Almas.

Almas made his name in his home country of Mexico, wrestling for CMLL while having a few stints in NJPW under the name and mask of La Sombra. In fact, La Sombra was a part of Los Ingobernales before there was ever such thing as a Los Ingobernales de Japon. Anyway, it turned out that he was not wearing a mask due to La Parka disease and is actually a handsome devil who was signed by the WWE and originally wrestled under his own name of Manny Andrade at the beginning of 2016.

On February 26 of that year, I saw the best match I have ever seen at an NXT house show when Sami Zayn and Andrade. Usually those matches are pretty bland, but those two decided to go out in the middle of the show and put on an absolute clinic. This was what started my Andrade fandom. A hilarious note about this show is that The Vaudevillains dominated two jobbers in Patrick Clark and Kenneth Crawford, aka Velveteen Dream and Montez Ford, the two guys who may have the highest ceilings of anyone in NXT.

Luckily, after about six months, his name was changed to Andrade "Cien" Almas since Manny Andrade is the most Mexican jobber name of all time. Shortly after that, he made his TV debut, beating Noah Ponjes, now known as "The Finest" Kona Reeves. He was up and down after that, getting built up only to lose big matches and then go spiraling back down the card. He wore suspenders and a stupid hat, but he was supposed to be a babyface, and it just didn't work.

Finally, instead of winning, he started losing. But instead of being disappointed about losing, he just didn't care and would just party with chicks after losing matches. Finally, Zelina Vega became his manager to set him straight, and he eventually won the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover in November of 2017.

Let me also remind you what his title reign was known for, and that is for retiring Johnny Gargano from NXT. Yo, Johnny Gargano is still cruising around NXT, and had he been retired, he never would have been able to attack Aleister Black, and Candice LeRae could have been Candice FREAKING LeRae instead of Mrs. Gargano. Although Aleister Black would end his title reign WrestleMania weekend, Almas was ready to debut on Smackdown shortly after that.

When he got to Smackdown, he did what any future superstar would do, and that's start a feud with Sin Cara. But after that, he's actually wrestled the best in the WWE with matches against AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, and Rey Mysterio. He hasn't won any of them, but at least they're letting him wrestle really good wrestlers.

Honestly, it's too early to tell whether the WWE is ruining Andrade Almas. His NXT Title run was after a losing streak to some pretty unimpressive names. At least he's now losing to important names. If they just use him to have good matches with their top names, they are missing the boat, because even without fluent English, he has a star quality to him. I will say that Zelina Vega is incredibly important as a mouthpiece to help him get over early on, but even dumbass WWE fans should be able to see that this guy is the shit.

So what should the WWE do to help Almas fulfill his potential? I would say the biggest thing is don't do it half-assed. Even if Almas only gets wins over low-level talent for a while and loses to the big names, that's totally fine. But eventually, you have to give him that big surprise win over AJ Styles or Daniel Bryan, and then you need to be ready to put the rocket on him and just have him start whooping ass, finding ways to shock people for victories. I see no reason the guy can't be a World Champion, and he actually has the in-ring talent to put on memorable main event matches.

Oh, and if you could put him in a long-term feud with Sami Zayn, I certainly wouldn't be mad about it.

Other Wrestlers WWE Is Ruining
Alicia Fox
Bobby Lashley
Charlotte Flair
Dana Brooke
Dash Wilder
Ember Moon
Kane
Karl Anderson
Kofi Kingston
Luke Gallows
Mickie James
Mojo Rawley
Nia Jax
Peyton Royce
Randy Orton
Scott Dawson
Tyler Breeze

The 41 Best Matches of WrestleMania 33 Weekend - 20-11

I am about five months younger than WrestleMania. After 30 years of being a wrestling fan, I made my first trip to WrestleMania out in San Jose/San Francisco for WrestleMania 31. It was pretty damn incredible. I know that makes me a giant nerd, and I am totally cool with that. Wrestling doesn't need to be cool, because it is hilarious and occasionally awesome. Two years later, it came to Orlando, and since that is less than two hours away, I knew that I would be making my second WrestleMania trip. Starting on Thursday, I saw WrestlePro, the WrestleCon Supershow, NXT Takeover, and of course, WrestleMania 33. Although I may be a nerd about wrestling, even I have to tap out after four nights of events, so I chose not to go to Raw or Smackdown. But I still saw a hell of a lot of wrestling, and we have now made it to the top half of the rankings, with 20-11, featuring a whole lot of hot ladies action and a battle royal.

20. NXT - Aleister Black def. Andrade “Cien” Almas
My biggest issue with this match is that I was way too hyped for it. I had heard great things about the man formerly known as Tommy End, and Andrade Almas is my jam. It was still a good match, but since I know these guys can do more, it was still disappointing. But special shoutout to adjusting the chin before the execution kick by Black. That is sweet.

19. Wrestlecon Supershow - Angelico and Jack Evans def Sammy Guevara and Flip Gordon
It was when Angelico came out that I realized that I think I have seen every major male character from Lucha Underground wrestle outside of Mil Muertes and Drago. So that’s nice. Honestly, Flip Gordon was the only guy I hadn’t heard of, and he was super impressive, so good for you, Flip Gordon. The match was a lot of fun, followed the basic tropes of tag team wrestling, and the good guys (although I’m not sure if you can ever call Jack Evans a good guy) prevailed.

18. NXT - Women’s Championship -- Asuka (c) def. Ember Moon
This match was a total come-down match after the amazing tag match at the NXT show, but it still told a solid story, and both wrestlers got their offense in. They had me believing that a new champion would be crowned, only to take that moment away. That’s frustrating in a good way.

17. Wrestlecon Supershow - Bobby Lashley def Jeff Cobb
Hoss fight. I will always support a good hoss fight.

16. Wrestlecon Supershow - Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy def Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr
I honestly don’t think this match was much more than five minutes, but it was nonstop action. They didn’t really take any breaks, and they didn’t waste any time with any tags, as all four guys just kind of battled it out. It wasn’t anything super special, but it was a fast-paced, fun match, and sometimes that’s all you need.

15. WrestleMania - Raw Women's Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match: Bayley (c) def. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
This match probably deserves to be higher, but the endings were incredibly goofy in person. Since they didn’t get the turnbuckle all the way off, it looked like basic moves turning into pins. But outside of that, it was pretty great. Nia Jax got to be a total hoss, and Charlotte showed why she is the most physically gifted woman on the roster. WWE, especially at Mania, understands how to pace an exciting match with lots of people in it, and this was no different, and it could have been ten spots higher if the turnbuckle had come off and I understood what was going on during the match.

14. Wrestlecon Supershow - TLC match: Brian Cage def Johnny Mundo
I will always fully support Johnny Mundo, even if he is repeatedly giving the crowd the finger. I guess I also realized that I will also always support Cage who is a physical freak who seems to always put on good matches. This was a good match that bumped up to very good due to the fact that Brian Cage powerbombed Taya off the top rope through a table, and then Johnny Mundo speared Melissa Santos through a table. Also, there was a damn Steiner Driver, the most brutal/totally awesome move in wrestling.

13. WrestleMania - WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Neville (c) def. Austin Aries
This was a great way to start off the matches at WrestleMania. Aries has been great since coming back from injury, and good for him for being the first guy ever to benefit from being injured as it gave him an avenue to show his personality before showing off his wrestling skills. That’s super complimentary, but still, Aries can’t hold a candle to Neville who is doing his damnedest to drum up interest in the Cruiserweight division. Still, Neville’s so good that he can transition back out of the Cruiserweight division back into the Heavyweight division with little trouble. I mean, don’t sell him beating Brock Lesnar, but it’s pretty easy imagining Neville beating guys like Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, or Kevin Owens to become a champion.

12. Wrestlecon Supershow - 20 man DDT Ironman Title Battle Royal
This thing was just loaded with a ton of talent, and a ton of hilariousness, and Battle Royals are always awesome, and since this was done as Royal Rumble style with guys entering every minute, it was even better. This one didn’t disappoint. It started off with Joey Ryan taking on Colt Cabana, and that got followed with the slow-motion tactics of Kikutaro, which did not work as well as he would have liked. Matt Striker lasted about 30 seconds, so about twice as long as his wrestling career in WWE. Then you had the legends come out with 2 Cold Scorpio legitimately hurting himself, Billy Gunn taking a ton of steroids, but god bless him, he looks great. Shane Douglas is most definitely not on steroids. Kevin Thorne is still vampirey, but not nearly as awesome at it as Gangrel who just seemed really happy to be there. Hurricane Helms was handing out chokeslams like they were candy until he ran into Abyss. Oh yeah, and Mr. Hughes was there, and he still sucks, but his sunglasses stayed on the entire time. Somehow all of these paled in comparison to #20, one half of The Rockers, Marty Jannetty, who could barely make it to the ring because he was so hammered. The crowd got a “Marty’s Wasted” chant, and Jannetty couldn’t stop giggling. Gangrel had to gently drop him out of the ring just so he wouldn’t hurt himself. It looked like Joey Ryan would find a way to retain after he flipped Moose out of the ring using nothing but the strength of his penis, but he got surprised by Swoggle who threw him out to become the HeavyMetalweight champion.

11. NXT - NXT Championship -- Bobby Roode (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura
So this match wasn’t destined to be some life-altering classic match. Bobby Roode is a good wrestler, but he’s a much better performer than actual wrestler. Shinsuke can tear it up with the right opponent, but he’s another guy that’s more of a performer than a wrestler. Still, this match was as good as it was going to get with these two. They had me legitimately believing the nearfalls and surprised/disappointed (just because I knew that Shisnuke was leaving) at the ending. Shinsuke’s gone, and Roode reigns supreme on NXT.

5 NXT Superstars Ready to Breakout in 2017

NXT is kind of my jam. I am way more into it than the big time WWE. It's partially that large arena shows aren't nearly as much fun as crummy little gyms with 300 people in them. Through that, I've gotten a good look at the superstars of NXT and have a pretty good idea who is going to take a big leap forward in 2017. Now, I won't be pointing out how awesome guys like Shisunke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, or Samoa Joe are, because those things are pretty clear. Instead, I'm going to look at guys who may be doing some good things, may be doing some bad things, or may be doing no things and how their fortunes can improve in 2017.

Andrade "Cien" Almas
Almas was the inspiration for this article, as he is someone who is awesome to see in person but he hasn't really translated that to NXT TV yet. At house shows, he consistently puts on the best wrestling match of the night (his match against Sami Zayn was the best match I've seen at any NXT house show). I'm glad he's a heel now since he has a natural arrogance that I think will serve him well. He's the most well known guy on this list, but he's been middling around since debuting, and I think by the end of the year he will have had at least one main event run.

Patrick Clark
I really didn't like Patrick on Tough Enough. He seemed like kind of a tool, and after seeing him at NXT, he might be a tool, but it's starting to work for him. I still miss his USA pants, because I fully support anybody who brings back the Rick Rude airbrushed tights. And I'm not sure if his Prince gimmick is going to work, but it's one of those things where he's making weird shit work. That's tough to do. He's not boring, and I don't know how far he's going to progress this year, as he's probably still years away from anything involving the main roster, but I think he can become a consistent presence on television by the end of the year, likely as somebody you love to hate.

Montez Ford
Formerly Kenneth Crawford, he now has a cool new name, gold chains, and Angelo Dawkins as a buddy. Oh, and most importantly, he has imitable dance moves. Now, they are going to be badly imitated, but white people are going to love badly imitating his dance moves. White people love the feeling of looking cool without the actual execution of looking cool. Also, Ford is just fun in the ring. Him and Patrick Clark had a really fun match at the last show that I went to, and that's not easy when the fans don't have any real characters to latch on to. They are two unknowns and had the whole crowd into it, and two other lesser known NXT wrestlers had a match later that night and the crowd was completely dead. I think Ford and Dawkins will be showing up soon on NXT TV and doing some good work this year.

Mandy Rose
I wanted to pick a female wrestler, but I didn't want to go with an obvious choice like Nikki Cross or Ember Moon. That really didn't leave me a whole lot of options. That's not to say that there aren't talented women, just that picking out who is going to be the one to take a big step forward from their current position is difficult. I'll go with Mandy Rose, because not only is she incredibly good looking, she's also showing some aptitude for wrestling. I have a hard time believing she's not going to get a pretty big push this year.

Akira Tozawa
And I figured I should also take a cruiserweight for my picks. For this, there are plenty of guys to choose from since they've only really acknowledged the existence of like four guys. I think there are some obvious ones like Cedric Alexander or Jack Gallagher, but I figured I'd go a little deeper. I almost went with Noam Dar, because I laugh out loud every time he talks about Alicia Fox, but I'm going with Tozawa based off seeing him live at the last show I went to. He's a guy who is going to chop the crap out of guys and is willing to take it right back. A lot of times foreign wrestlers struggle getting over with crowds, but him yelling "ACH" during his matches will definitely catch on. It caught on with the three kids (probably ranging from ages 3-10), as they were doing it through his match and for the following five minutes. Their parents seemed terrified at the new fun thing they had learned. I just hope that adults can be as open minded as those children were. If so, Tozawa could have a big impact this year.

The Ultimate WWE NXT Fantasy Draft Review

With Smackdown moving to a live show on Tuesdays, it appears we are going to have a good old-fashioned brand split for the WWE. Instead of waiting for the WWE to pull off a disappointing draft routine, the ultimate tag team, Lukewarm Jonah and Hott Joe, came together this past week to have an old fashioned WWE Fantasy Draft. Our goal is to create the best possible roster to create a successful, moneymaking product.

We knocked out the main roster in parts one, two, and three, with a review added at the end. But this week, we focus on NXT. With 73 superstars, we had to break it into two parts, with part one earlier this week and part two yesterday. Today is the conclusion where we discuss our thoughts more in-depth and wrap this thing up.

Jonah: So let's get this started, if you were in my position, how would you have handled the first few picks?

Joe: I think you have to go Balor with the first pick. Since he's been around for a while, people have gotten less impressed since he's not the hot new thing anymore, but he's great in the ring, and The Demon gimmick is about as unstoppable as Goldberg. As for the next two, my preference was American Alpha over Joe and Asuka. I'm not a big Samoa Joe fan. Joe's style is based on him being physically dominant, and I just don't know if he can do that when he gets to the main roster and looks small next to guys like Randy Orton. I would have been really bummed if I would not have gotten Alpha. After that Itami makes total sense, but I'm not an Aries guy at all. Did you have any thoughts on how the first nine picks went down?

Also, as I stated last week, the depth of the main roster shocked me, and this week, the lack of depth in NXT shocked me as well. The draft got really interesting for me at 10, what are your thoughts about those 10-20 picks?

Jonah: NXT is very talent heavy at the top.  I decided to go with Finn Balor.  He's got it all.  The look, the gimmick, the in ring talent.  He's a guaranteed star.  10 is definitely where things got interesting.  The picks up until that point are almost all guaranteed stars.  Outside of the top 10, you realize that there's not a lot of people left.  Alexa Bliss is great, and I love Tye Dillinger and have for years.  I wanted a push for him and Jason Jordan back when they were a tag team.  The Revival is still strong tag team, and they should be a tag team for life.  I see them being successful in the future.  I think No Way Jose needs a serious gimmick change, but he's got a good look and is good enough in the ring.  Nobody likes Mojo, and I think you took him too high.  If he comes with Gronk he may be worth that selection.  Carmella was a good pick and I'm a big fan of Gargano and Ciampa and think they'll be the next wrestlers pushed, especially when you look at the terrible depth in NXT.  I think you did great at building your women's division, but I think I got the better overall talent and my tag team division is extremely strong with my two teams.  What are your thoughts on the 10-20 picks?

Joe: Asked for his comments on Jonah, Mojo Rawley repeatedly screamed, "HE AIN'T HYPE," so tough break for you, Jonah. Because I can reunite the Hype Bros with my roster. I obviously acquired a ton of women's talent, so I'll have plenty of people to squash Rosa Mendes and Eva Marie on the main roster. I'm not totally sure what I think about No Way Jose, but there is something there. He's got likability, and that's a valuable commodity. As for your side, Ciampa's solid, but I feel like Gargano gets a lot of credit just because he came from the indy wrestling scene. It's not like he was really a star in any way, it was kind of a random signing, and somebody they care so little about that he can still wrestle on other cards. Having a couple workers like The Revival is good to have around, but I don't think you got your second tag team until later in this draft. So talk about your favorite pick in the 20s, and if it's not TM 61, talk about them instead.

Jonah: I may not be hype, but I'm still a more talented wrestler than Mojo.  Of course my favorite pick in the 20's is TM 61.  Big time tag team that fell way too far.  In a couple of months they'll probably be challenging American Alpha for the NXT tag team titles.  The Revival can't fight American Alpha every month.  That match they had with Gargano and Ciampa was great and announced their arrival.  Who was your favorite pick in the 20s?  For your picks, I like Andrande Almas, I knew you'd take him, but I thought I might be able to steal him away.  Guy has had a lot of success and will be over pretty quickly.  I also maintain that your pick, Tino Sabatelli, has butt implants.

Joe: I never watched TMDK (now TM 61) in their matches overseas, but they are a ton of fun in the ring. Nick Miller (can we change his name so he doesn't share it with a character on New Girl?) and Shane Thorne both have an overwhelming amount of in-ring charisma. Saying all that, I'm still happy with my decision to take Andrade Almas. He is the hottest of fire in the ring, and if this draft would have happened in a two months, he'd be a top-10 pick. Adrienne Reese has the coolest finisher in wrestling and further strengthens my stranglehold on women's wrestling. And considering that Tino has muscles in places that I don't, yeah, those have to be implants. Are there any other wrestlers that have been on television that stand out to you, good or bad? The next 20 picks were filled with wrestlers we have seen for brief periods in one way or another. Is there anybody that stands out to you, good or bad?

Jonah: I relate Nick Miller with the Nick Miller from New Girl.  I hope that's his entire character.  I like my picks of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.  They've shown plenty of potential to be the next group of women in NXT.  I also put Liv Morgan in there as well.  I think Blake and Murphy were a great steal for you, but Rich Swann will be a big deal in no more than a few months.  Sawyer Fulton has all the potential in the world if they actually decide to use him.  I also like what I've seen out of Chris Gerard, and I've read great things about him.  Alexander Wolfe has looked good in his TV appearances and I've read some great reviews about him.  Tucker Knight is the one guy I don't really like.  I don't like his look and his in ring skills aren't impressive.  I got to see him win a match and was very underwhelmed by him.

Joe: Jonah, I think what this has taught me more than anything is how damn impressive your optimism is. You typed that, "Sawyer Fulton has all the potential in the world." Were you high when you wrote that? Like, he's fine, but the last time I saw him at a house show, he was in a Heavy Metal tag team with Alexander Wolfe. They were basically The Ascension adjacent. And Rich Swann is fine, but I don't think he's destined to be a big deal, unless Ricochet is secretly wearing Rich Swann's skin all of a sudden. Oh man, now I'm being a negative nancy. Liv Morgan and Mandy Rose are both really hot, and Rose does seem to be finding her character. And Tucker Knight used to wear a duck tape diaper, so mad respect for that. Oh, and I almost forgot Hugo Knox. Not sure if you've seen him, but you will love him, as he is a British bodybuilding club dancer, and it is AMAZING. Do you have thoughts on those final 20 picks? There are some super obscure names in there, although there may be some potential as well.

Jonah: Can I find optimism in the last 20 picks?  Of course I can.  Lots of amateur wrestling accomplishments in both our sides.  Some great foreigners, lots of fun stuff.  Now if you want to know who the greatest of the bunch is going to be it's Babatunde Aiyegbusi.  He's a physical marvel that took the same road to the WWE as Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, through the Minnesota Vikings.  Jerome Turner is big and has the support of The Rock so he's a guy to watch out for.  Terrance Jean Jaques was an Iowa wrestler and I know that's important, but it's something I feel is teachable.  When you talk about guys who are very impressive based on their appearance I'm going with Dylan Miley.  He looks like a more muscular Rusev.  

Joe: Well, I'll let you be optimistic for both of us, as the only thing I can really add is people are excited about Nikki Storm, but I have only seen her once and couldn't judge a lot off of it.

After 191 picks (118 for main roster), this experiment is finally over. I have to say this has been one of the more fun projects for the blog. I honestly think drug rehab should involve fantasy drafts to replace the highs, because hot damn do I get excited for these things. For NXT, I think it's pretty clear that there will never be a brand split, because I think six months into it, I'd be putting on best-of-7 series with Nakamura and Tucker Knight (it would be a sweep). It seems that 22-25 are the picks we're most excited about. For you, it's TM 61, and for me, I'm already all-in on Andrade "Cien" Almas and Adrienne Reese. Ultimately, I think this one is fairly close, you geared more towards the Indy darlings, and I geared more towards charisma and the ladies. I'm obviously more excited about my roster, but of course I am, I wouldn't have drafted these people if I wasn't.

I don't think we'll ever agree on who had the better main roster, but it's pretty clear that we focused on different things. I focused on mainstream appeal, as I feel that my roster will dominate the second half of the WrestleMania card. With Big Match John, Triple H, Taker, and Brock, the only big match I'm not guaranteed is the World Title match. The downside with my roster is the latter three are part-timers, but I think that could be a benefit as it gives me time to build up guys like Neville and Apollo Crews instead of getting stuck in a rut of main event guys are main event guys and midcard guys are midcard guys.

What are your closing thoughts?

Jonah: Whew 191 picks.  That was fun, I'm glad I found someone as into it as I am.  You have the star power for right now, but as you said your guys are part time.  They're also old as hell.  Undertaker might have one or two more matches in him at most.  Triple H will only wrestle a couple more matches as well, I think at least.  Brock can leave at any time and decide to be President of the United States or whatever his next goal will be.  Cena should be around for another few years, and he's the one I really do feel bad about missing out on, but I missed out on him by taking guys who can main event Wrestlemania for at least the next 10 years.  Don't forget when Cena made his big return this Monday the response was very meh until Styles came out, then the crowd got excited to see the two of them face off.  Owens is just so good at everything.  He's not musclebound, but once he turns face again and is doing planchas to the outside, he'll be hugely over.  Orton is still a huge name, and as you said, Rusev should already be a main eventer and will be around for a long, long time.  The first 16 people that I took are either already main eventing, or are already in the upper midcard.  After that I added lots of talent that has been underused.  My roster is strong top to bottom, from the men's division, to the women's division, to the tag division.  I added to the depth through the NXT draft, but yes we definitely have to keep our rosters together in NXT.  I'd say your draft looks more appealing on paper, but like I said, my first 16 picks are super over and talented.  That's 8 feuds plus an undercard with talented wrestlers.  We are both very strong, and if the draft actually went down this way and had two talented bookers in charge of the roster, the WWE would know what it's like to feel successful again. 

Joe: Can't wait to see how they screw it up.