Thursday, September 2, 2021

The TWB Draft: The Results of the Draft

Which territory got this as their top feud?
Photo Credit: WWE.com

You know the story so far. The McMahon family and WWE braintrust have been compromised to a perman... I mean, they're in jail. The post-apocalyptic landscape of wrestling is in disarray. Luckily, six regional promotions have sprung up to fill the void in North America under the central authority of the Federal Wrestling Bureau. As a review, those six promotions are as follows:
  • International Wrestling Federation (Northeast and Maritimes)
  • World Ass Championship Wrestling (Southeast)
  • Midwest Federation of Wrestling (Midwest and Central Provinces)
  • Lone Star Wrestling (Texas and the Southwest)
  • Rocky Mountain Wrestling (Mountain States and Provinces)
  • Pacific Championship Wrestling (West Coast and Hawaii)
These promotions got together and drafted 25 wrestlers out of the greater pool of signed talent to major North American companies as well as any independent wrestlers working primarily in the United States and Canada. The results yielded some pretty interesting rosters to start out with. The rules were simple. Anyone who wasn't injured to the point of retirement was eligible. A promotion could pick one member of a regular tag team and reserve the other member for their next pick. If they passed on the other tag team member, that wrestler was put back into the pool. Everything went swimmingly, as there were no fistfights between any of the promotional staff. One might say no bad blood would be a failure, but the real battles will take place on their various programming timeslots.

For those who are familiar with fantasy football, you'll recognize the process. The FWB picked the first round order at random and then reversed it for round two. The order would go for 23 more rounds, a process called a "serpentine draft." There were a lot of picks that made sense, and there were a fair share of surprises. Here's how the draft played out:

Round 1
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Bryan Danielson
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Roman Reigns
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - "Hangman" Adam Page
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Bray Wyatt
5. International Wrestling Federation - Brock Lesnar
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Claudio Castagnoli/Cesaro

Basically, there are no real surprises, although each pick comes with their own caveats. Danielson is Danielson; everyone knows his quality. He is winding down though. Reigns has owned Smackdown for a year, but this run has come on the heels of several false starts. Hangman is over as hell, but he hasn't been crowned yet. Is taking him this high projecting too far? Wyatt might have been the safest pick at four, but can he do something other than sPoOkY? Lesnar is talented and fearsome, but how much is he willing to work? Finally, Castagnoli is a workhorse and someone with star potential ahead of his push almost constantly, but is he more valuable than someone like Kenny Omega or Bobby Lashley? I'm not answering any of these questions here, because I am also judging, but these are all valid questions that people need to ask.

Round 2
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Eddie Kingston
2. International Wrestling Federation - Pentagon, Jr.
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Sasha Banks
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - CM Punk
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Becky Lynch
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Adam Cole

The west coast will get Chikara's hottest feud ever. Kingston feels like a small surprise in round two, but it's a solid bookend to their round one selection. Penta is not a shock given how much he carried Lucha Underground. Banks being the first woman selected was slightly shocking, but it's not like the number one woman on my board, Lynch, went too far after her. The Punk pick was prescient since the draft actually happened before he returned to AEW. Cole rounding out the first cycle makes sense given that he's now a huge free agent.

Round 3
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Kevin Owens
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Baron Corbin
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Jon Moxley
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Cody Rhodes
5. International Wrestling Federation - Rey Fenix
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Bianca Belair

Corbin going ahead of Mox was a bit of a surprise, but then again, the Baron is doing the best character work of his life right now. Owens is a no-brainer pick. Rhodes has cache, even though he's teased retirement. Fenix might be the best wrestler in the world right now, and Belair might be the next megastar in the biz.

Round 4
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Meiko Satomura
2. International Wrestling Federation - Tommy End/Malakai Black
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Nick Gage
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Britt Baker, DMD
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Big E Langston
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - WALTER

At the end of four rounds, you can see the kinds of companies that these territories would become, and over the next 21 rounds, those visions would be fleshed out. I'm not going to give commentary out of any of these other rounds, but you can see for yourself and see how these rosters initially fleshed out.

Round 5
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Dax Harwood
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Xavier Woods
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Montez Ford
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Drew Gulak
5. International Wrestling Federation - Miro
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Asuka/KANA

Round 6
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Keith Lee
2. International Wrestling Federation - Santana
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Bobby Lashley
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Angelo Dawkins
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Kofi Kingston
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Cash Wheeler

Round 7
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Jade Cargill
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Sami Zayn/Remi Sebei
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Bayley
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Rush
5. International Wrestling Federation - Ortiz
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Rhea Ripley

Round 8
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Orange Cassidy
2. International Wrestling Federation - Jacob Fatu
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Wardlow
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Matt Jackson
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Shinsuke Nakamura
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Damien Priest

Round 9
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Thunder Rosa
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Shayna Baszler
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Nick Jackson
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Tay Conti
5. International Wrestling Federation - Finn Balor
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - AJ Styles

Round 10
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Io Shirai
2. International Wrestling Federation - Tommaso Ciampa
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Ruby Soho
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Alexa Bliss
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Drew Galloway/McIntyre
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Charlotte Flair

Round 11
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Andrade El Idolo
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Seth Rollins
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Pete Dunne
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Matt Cardona
5. International Wrestling Federation - Timothy Thatcher
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Jordynne Grace

Round 12
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - PAC
2. International Wrestling Federation - Sheamus
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Biff Busick/Oney Lorcan
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - The Rock (this pick made the Discord honk like geese)
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Courtney Rush/Rosemary
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Dakota Kai

Round 13
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - MJF
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Mustafa Ali
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Jey Uso
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Omos
5. International Wrestling Federation - Buddy Matthews/Murphy
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Ricochet

Round 14
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Toni Storm
2. International Wrestling Federation - Alex Shelley
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Serena Deeb
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - John Cena
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Danhausen
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Jeff Cobb

Round 15
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Chad Gable
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Billie Kay/Jessie McKay
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Naomi
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Bill Goldberg
5. International Wrestling Federation - Chris Sabin
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - "Swerve" Isaiah Scott

Round 16
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Kamille
2. International Wrestling Federation - Kyle O'Reilly
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - LA Park
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Randy Orton
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Braun Strowman
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - OTIS

Round 17
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - "Filthy" Tom Lawlor
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Effy
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Hikaru Shida
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Fred Yehi
5. International Wrestling Federation - Josh Alexander
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - KUSHIDA

Round 18
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Nikki Storm/Cross/ASH
2. International Wrestling Federation - Tyler Bate
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Chris Dickinson
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Nyla Rose
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Allie Kat(ch)
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Powerhouse Hobbs

Round 19
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Ronda Rousey
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Colt Cabana
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Kenny Omega
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Homicide
5. International Wrestling Federation - Trent Seven
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Tenille Dashwood

Round 20
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Rey Mysterio
2. International Wrestling Federation - Ricky Starks
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Hachiman/Hideki Suzuki
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - The Miz
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Fandango
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Kris Statlander

Round 21
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Grado
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Tyler Breeze
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Luchasaurus
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - AR Fox
5. International Wrestling Federation - Alex Hammerstone
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Mil Muertes

Round 22
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Ember Moon
2. International Wrestling Federation - Raul Mendoza
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Arez
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Jimmy Uso
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Johnny Gargano
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Bronson Reed

Round 23
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Calvin Tankman
2. Lone Star Wrestling - WARHORSE
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Samoa Joe
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Mickie Knuckles
5. International Wrestling Federation - Santos Escobar
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Jordan Devlin

Round 24
1. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Willie Mack
2. International Wrestling Federation - Joaquin Wilde
3. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Joshua Bishop
4. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Jungle Boy
5. Lone Star Wrestling - Mansoor
6. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Jay Briscoe

Round 25
1. Rocky Mountain Wrestling - Mark Briscoe
2. Lone Star Wrestling - Suge D
3. World Ass Championship Wrestling - Kay Lee Ray
4. Midwest Federation of Wrestling - Gnarls Garvin
5. International Wrestling Federation - Sammy Guevara
6. Pacific Championship Wrestling - Leyla Hirsch

So that's the whole draft. When I come back with the next post-McMahon landscape update, there will be free agent signings, staff signings, and roster judging. Keep your eyes peeled.