The Ultimate NXT Draft Review: 62-73

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 first 61, so we will finally close it out by going over the last twelve selections.

62-63. Joe selects Mada and Steve Cutler
Jonah: Mada looked cool as hell and apparently trained Jason Mamoa, sadly he was released.  Steve Cutler is in the Forgotten Sons. He was an NXT jobber forever, and is recently seeing some success as a member of the new group.  He’s a veteran, and as I mentioned I’m a huge mark for vets. He’s on NXT TV and actually winning matches since he’s a Forgotten Son, so he does have some potential going forward.

Joe: Jay got all of the attention, and nobody paid any mind to Lil’ Stevie. He truly was the Forgotten Son.

64-65. Jonah selects Babatunde Aiyegbusi and Carolyn Dunning
Joe: I’m going to go out on a limb and say Carolyn Dunning is no longer with the WWE since she hasn’t had a match in nearly three years since being signed. That is bad, but Babatunde Aiyegbusi is good. He is 6’10” and he can move fairly well. He doesn’t have a wide array of an offensive moveset, but he’s gigantic and competent. They have really slow played his development as he has been hitting up the house show scene for over two years without making his NXT debut, and I would guess that he will make a huge impact in 2019. I haven’t seen a ton of charisma, but he shows flashes, and at that size, he’s pretty much guaranteed to make the main roster.

Jonah: Carolyn Dunning is just patiently waiting for a track to explode on, but yeah she’s probably no longer employed.  I had actually heard of Babatunde since he was signed to the Minnesota Vikings the year before he went into wrestling. I knew he was a physical freak, which is a good thing in the WWE.  He has already made his main roster debut as the highlight of The Greatest Royal Rumble. Lio Rush also used to ride around on his shoulders, and that’s a gimmick that would get over anywhere.

66-67. Joe selects Terrance Jean-Jacques and Danielle Kamella
Jonah: So Terrance Jean-Jacques is a former Iowa wrestler and he beat his pregnant girlfriend and was released.  As I learn that the WWE takes domestic violence more seriously than many other sports, he’s a MMA fighter these days.  Danielle Kamella is Vanessa Borne who is an NXT wrestler with a character who is on TV. She mostly loses, but nice pick here to get a wrestler who is still developing.

Joe: This was my worst round of the draft. Vanessa Borne might be interesting, not even touching TJJ.

68-69. Jonah selects Jerome Turner and Bianca Blair
Joe: Jerome Turner has never had a match, so I’ll assume he’s done wrestling. Bianca Belair might be the second best pick in this entire draft, as she is UN-DUH-FEA-TED and totally awesome. She’s also married to Montez Ford which makes them the couple that the WWE wished John Cena and Nikki Bella were. She’s fantastic in the ring; she’s fantastic on the mic; she’s just fantastic, and the WWE will have to really try to mess up her career.

Jonah: Jerome Turner is just putting in the work at the Performance Center, waiting to be unleashed.  Bianca Belair is un duh fea ted, and that is a fact. She’s a physical marvel in the ring and she has great charisma.  She should be a future star especially if she’s whipping fools with her braid.

70-71. Joe selects Adrian Jaoude and Nikola Bogojevic
Jonah: Adrian Jaoude is Caesar Bononi’s tag team partner, so you’ve reunited this team.  He’s a BJJ practitioner, and gets on TV. He was also 8-3 in MMA, with his last fight being a loss to Roy Nelson which seems like a size mismatch.  He’s also 41, so he needs to get called up on the quick. Nikola Bogojevic is the other half of Heavy Machinery so way to reunite them as well. Big dude, can do the worm, good enough in the ring, and the charismatic one of the tag team.  Heavy Machinery would have a nice jump in the redraft, while Jaoude is picked before all the people who retired.

Joe: HOW DARE YOU CONFUSE ADRIAN JAOUDE AND ANTOINE JAOUDE. Antoine is over the hill, but Adrian is a spry 37 so has plenty of time to reach his full potential. There is some hope for Jaoude as he and Bononi have occasionally been hanging around Taynara Conti, so they could create a formidable stable. I still definitely could have done better. Through the main roster and NXT draft, I loaded up on talented ladies and thought I was full of them which caused me to miss out on Bianca Belair and Jonah’s last pick.

But at least I didn’t let Otis Dozovic slip through my fingers. I still don’t think Dozer has a high ceiling, as even with his charisma, it’s more goofy than important. Basically, I think he’s George “The Animal” Steele. That’s a hell of a career, but I don’t really see the guy challenging for world titles.

Jonah: What is A. Jaoude the John Anderson of Brazil?  Sorry to mix up your guys Joe, clearly he’s very important.

72-73. Jonah selects Macey Estrella and ZZ Loupe

Joe: I think what this shows is that WWE is super fucking good at finding and signing talent. Macey Estrella is now Lacey Evans and may have debuted by the time this is published. She was nearly the last pick in the draft, because all I knew was that she was a tall blonde lady. I’m not the biggest Evans fan, but she definitely has enough talent to last on the main roster for quite a while, so good for her.

At least I knew that ZZ had no future in wrestling as he sucked on Tough Enough and apparently sucked after Tough Enough as he got released before he could shit the bed in front of an audience.

Jonah: Lacey Evans is a good female wrestler who is main roster bound.  She’s pretty, jacked, and has an original character. It should work. It’s kind of hard to not end up with the worst wrestler when you have the last pick in the draft, but ZZ had some show on the WWE Network for awhile, so at least he was on TV.

Previous Installments:
Picks 1-10
Picks 11-20
Picks 21-30
Picks 31-40
Picks 41-51
Picks 52-61

The Ultimate WWE NXT Fantasy Draft - Part 2

With Smackdown moving to a live show on Tuesdays, there are plenty of rumors about an upcoming 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. So let's see what Jonah and I did for part two.

36-37. Jonah selects Sara Lee and King Constantine
Sara Lee, female winner of Tough Enough, great prospect.  Already known to a large audience from being on Tough Enough.  Now we’re getting really deep into the draft.  Joe had the advantage living in Florida, but I tried to come out swinging.  King Constantine is the total package.  Number one, he’s got an awesome name, he’s shredded as all get out, he’s a multiple time medalist in amatuer wrestling, and he’s an evil Russian.  After a year or two more of developing he’ll be ready to make his main roster debut and Putin will have probably declared war on us by then.

38-39. Joe selects Hugo Knox and Chris Girard
Chris Girard is a classic indy guy who is getting his chance in the WWE. He's going to be a good worker, and we'll see what he can blossom into when given an opportunity. Hugo Knox is a bodybuilding Brit who likes to dance. That is my jam right there. I laugh every time I see him, but it's definitely laughing with him, because he's basically dancing like he's at the club in the middle of the ring. He'll likely remain as the guy that I love way more than anybody else, but I'm still good with that.

40-41. Jonah selects Riddick Moss and Alexander Wolfe
I actually did my research on these guys.  Riddick Moss is endorsed by Finn Balor.  If Finn says you’ll be good, I believe him.  He’s also 6’2” 250 lbs. So Finn says he can wrestler and he’s got a good look.  Alexander Wolfe has made it on tv a few times as an enhancement talent, but he’s gotten in some offense.  I’ve read a lot of people praising his work, and he’s also the only German to be employed by the WWE so he expands my market into Germany as well.

42-43. Joe selects Aliyah and Thomas Kingdon
Aliyah is another attractive lady who is super young but has gotten a decent amount of matches for her age. She was highlighted on Breaking Ground, and it's clear that the WWE is excited about her potential. Kingdon is just a massive human being. No clue about anything else that he brings to the table.

44-45. Jonah selects Dylan Miley and Josh Woods
Holy crap have you seen Dylan Miley?  He’s 6’3” 285 lbs. Built like Rusev.  He’s raw, but he certainly has the look of a freaking monster.  Josh Woods has a good look, like the partial mask he wears during his entrance, then takes off after his entrance.  He’s also a 4 time All American, and a former National Champion.  That screams superstar to me.

46-47. Joe selects Bronson Mathews and Tucker Knight
Bronson Mathews won Tough Enough and seems to be really disliked by almost everyone in the WWE. Welp, we're at pick 46, so what else do you want me to do? Tucker Knight originally had trunks that looked like a diaper wrapped with duck tape. I think he got rid of those, but he was the only guy left who has gotten TV time, so I think that is worth it.

48-49. Jonah selects Jeet Rama and Kishan Raftar
I felt kind of bad not taking Tucker Knight since he’s from my hometown of Portland, Oregon, but I’m just not sold on him.  Jeet Rama is a big dude with an athletic background and a sick moustache.  He’s also Indian and teams with fellow Indian Kishan Raftar.  Raftar is also a big guy who was an amatuer wrestling background.  Most importantly, they’re Indian.  If The Great Khali can get India interested, imagine what these two can do.

50-51. Joe selects Gzim Selmani and Sunny Dhinsa
So these guys are actually a tag team, and they have these awesome masks that they wear out to the ring. They are basically Executioners. I have watched them wrestle the Ealy Brothers, and it wasn't very good. Then I watched them against TM 61, and it was really fun. There's something here, so we'll see how far they can go.

52-53. Jonah selects Chris Atkins and Dallas Harper
What happens when you look up Chris Atkins?  You find a picture of him flexing making Arnold look tiny in comparison.  He was also trained by Sgt. Craig Pittman, and he’s Australian but clearly cooler than Murphy.  Dallas Harper made his debut by talking down to the crowd and telling them that he’s 6’9” and oh so fine.  That kind of confidence gets you a spot on my roster.

54-55. Joe selects Dan Matha and Nikki Storm
Dan Matha is a large human being. That’s really all I know about him. Nikki Storm tore it up on the independents and once she debuts, she’s probably going to get a significant push to make an impact. I feel stupid for letting her fall this far, but I’m happy to have benefitted from her falling.

56-57. Jonah selects Daria and Kenneth Crawford
Daria was also on Tough Enough and is a former MMA fighter.  That bodes well for her technical abilities.  She’s also apparently friends with Maria Menoudos, so I assume they’ll be future partners in a Wrestlemania match.  Kenneth Crawford was a marine and I’m a big mark for former military members.  USA USA USA.

58-59. Joe selects Cezar Bononi and Noah Kekoa
I’ve never seen Bononi wrestle, but I did once see him cut a promo. It wasn’t good, but English is at least his second language, and even though he struggled a little, he powered through, so I was pretty impressed with the big man from Brazil. Noah Kekoa got beat up on NXT television a few weeks ago, so he is a wrestler that exists.

60-61. Jonah selects Uriel and Gabriel Ealy
Identical twins and they’re a tag team?  Look out Bashams and Neo Nazis who are in charge of TNA’s production here come the Ealys.  Once they get called up they’re definitely squashing the Usos to establish their dominance.

62-63. Joe selects Mada and Steve Cutler
Mada was on Tough Enough. Did he win? Well, no. Second place? Nope. Third? Nah. I honestly don’t even remember how early he was eliminated at this point, but he’s a big dude, and it doesn’t get much better at pick 63. Steve Cutler was in the military, I think I heard that somewhere, so let’s go for it. I’ll also make up that he’s cousins with Jay Cutler. The bodybuilder, not the quarterback.

64-65. Jonah selects Babatunde Aiyegbusi and Carolyn Dunning
I was more excited than anyone should ever be about drafting Babtunde Aiyegbusi.  There was a lot of hype about him last year.  In the wrestling world?  No, in the NFL when he signed with the Minnesota Vikings.  Clearly that didn’t work out but he’s a physical freak and that’s never a bad thing.  Carolyn Dunning was a model and a bodybuilder.  Like Joe says, can’t have enough good looking women on your roster.

66-67. Joe selects Terrance Jean-Jacques and Danielle Kamella
Terrance Jean-Jacques is a former Iowa wrestler, so he’s totally my jam. He only lasted a year, but enough Iowa rubbed off on him to become the third NXT champion with Iowa ties. Maybe you’ve heard of Seth Rollins and Big E Langston? Yeah, Iowa people are the best. Danielle Kamella has done a bunch of media things, so she should have some charisma on the microphone.

68-69. Jonah selects Jerome Turner and Bianca Blair
Jerome Turner was signed because The Rock said they should sign him, The Rock.  He’s big and a former boxer.  Also, The Rock.  Bianca Blair will be the number one heel in all of professional wrestling within a year.  She’s a crossfitter.  The gimmick I will give her is that of a crossfitter who talks about nothing but crossfit.  Straight cash homey.

70-71. Joe selects Adrian Jaoude and Nikola Bogojevic
Jonah, saying a crossfitter who talks about nothing but crossfit is redundant, as that is the very definition of a crossfitter. Anyway, these are foreigners with amateur wrestling backgrounds, so I’m guessing at least one of them will be the next Iron Shiek. Also, I didn’t want ZZ. God, I am so happy to not have ZZ.

72-73. Jonah selects Macey Estrella and ZZ Loupe
Macey Estrella has a professional wrestling background and was on the SWAT team and a former marine.  Again, I mark for the troops and being a SWAT team member her gimmick is Michelle Rodriguez from SWAT.  ZZ Loupe was the last person available.  He’s famous so I guess that’s a good thing.

We'll be back tomorrow for our final review.