SCW Fantasy Draft 2019

The biggest SCW Fantasy Draft of all time! After doing 30 last year, we aimed for 35, but went to 40. Will 40 be the new standard? Is it the new record to beat next year? Or will we let this be a one-off and go back to 30, like that time they did the Royal Rumble with 40 guys? We began at 6:30pm on a Wednesday, and finished at 11am the following Sunday. Rules this year were amended so that no more than two people could be chosen at a time. And here, the results:

SCW Fantasy Draft 2019

......	Rusty Nickles	Poncho Man	Quarter Marshall
1	Samoa Joe	Daniel Bryan	AJ Styles
2	Cesaro/Sheamus	Kevin Owens	Shinsuke Nakamura
3	Sasha Banks/Bayley	Johnny Gargano	Adam Cole/Roderick Strong
4	Velveteen Dream	Kushida	Asuka
5	Seth Rollins	Brock Lesnar/Paul Heyman	Sami Zayn
6	Tomasso Ciampa	Kairi Sane/Io Shirai	Big E/Xavier Woods
7	Jay Uso/Jimmy Uso	Shayna Bazsler/Marina Shafir	Mauro Renallo
8	Ricochet	Alexa Bliss	Kassius Ohno
9	Becky Lynch	Kyle O'Reilly/Bobby Fish	Kofi Kingston
10	R-Truth	Bobby Lashley/Lio Rush	Finn Balor
11	Roman Reigns	Drew Gulak	Toni Storm
12	Andrade/Zelina Vega	Charlotte Flair	Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows
13	Ember Moon	The Undertaker	Nikki Cross
14	Viktor/Konnor	Stephanie McMahon/Triple H	Akam/Rezar
15	Ruby Riott/Liv Morgan	Ronda Rousey/Jessamyn Duke	Hanson/Rowe
16	Dolph Ziggler	Pete Dunne	Rhea Ripley
17	The Miz	Tyler Bate/Trent Seven	Drew McIntyre
18	Mojo Rawley	Aleister Black	Drake Wuertz
19	Bray Wyatt	Walter	Nigel McGuinness
20	Noam Dar	Akira Tozawa	Booker T
21	Elias	Luke Harper	William Regal
22	Bo Dallas	Shawn Michaels	Lizard Monster Hand Puppet
23	Braun Strowman	Renee Young	Fandango/Tyler Breeze
24	Vanessa Borne	Steve Corino	Baron Corbin
25	Goldust	Zack Ryder/Curt Hawkins	Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder
26	Otis Dozovik/Tucker Knight	Kalisto/Gran Metalik	Cedric Alexander
27	Jinder Mahal	Mickie James	Mark Henry
28	Tony Nese	Taynara Conti	John Cena
29	Byron Saxton	Buddy Murphy	Chad Gable/Bobby Roode
30	Vince McMahon	Adam Pearce	Rusev/Lana
31	Charlie Caruso	Bianca Belair	Lars Sullivan
32	Babatunde	The Brian Kendrick	Matt Hardy/Jeff Hardy
33	Big Show	Bruce Prichard	Alicia Fox
34	Kane	Rey Mysterio	Samir Singh/Sunil Singh
35	Heath Slater	Peyton Royce/Billie Kay	Tino Sabbatelli
36	Natalya	George Mizanin	Naomi
37	Nia Jax	Shane McMahon	Ali
38	Mike Kinellis	Mitch the Plant	Eric Young/Killian Dane
39	Rhyno	Charles Robinson	Apollo Crews
40	Titus O'Neil	Dakota Kai	EC3/Drake Maverick

Stats!

	Rusty Nickles	Poncho Man	Quarter Marshall
Male Singles Wrestlers	26	22	22
Female Singles Wrestlers	6	8	7
Male Tag Teams	4	5	11
Female Tag Teams	2	2	0
Non-Wrestlers	3	11	7
Titles Held	6	5	5
NXT Picks	5	13	6
205 Live Picks	3	4	1
Babyface Total	24	22	22
Heel Total	20	18	22
Human Being Total	47	50	53
Non-human Total	0	1	1
Picks we kept from 2018	14	13	15

Commentary Teams
Rusty: Byron Saxton, Charlie Caruso, Vince McMahon
Poncho: Renee Young, Steve Corino, Shawn Michaels
Marshall: Mauro Renallo, Nigel McGuinness, Booker T

Rusty reunited The Golden Truth.

Poncho has four of the five guys who've competed in Best of the Super Juniors.

Marshall reunited every former member of the Bullet Club.

Only one championship was left on the table: the NXT UK Tag Titles, held by James Drake and Zack Gibson.

Comparisons to the 2018 Draft:

• Poncho picked Brock 5th both years. Drew Gulak and Luke Harper were only off by one.  His #13 spot was Undertaker last year, HBK this year.  13+13=26.  Wrestlemania 26 of course featured HBK's retirement match with Taker.  Coincidence?

• Marshall picked Shinsuke 2nd and the Undisputed Era 3rd both years.  Asuka, War Raiders, and Booker T differed by one.

• The closest Rusty got were Bayley and Roman Reigns- picked 5th/3rd and 9th/11th. It could also be noted that Mojo Rawley has made the Rusty list both years in a similar position- at the 15 and 18 spots.

• Daniel Bryan was picked in a #1 spot both years.  The Usos stayed at #7, and Vince at #30.

• Despite the larger field, not everyone from last year was picked this year.  The following wrestlers from 2018 were not repeated: No Way Jose, Curtis Axel (was in the Miztourage), Shelton Benjamin, Sarah Amato, Randy Orton, Paige, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville (Absolution), and Shane Haste (with TM61).  No longer with the company are Tye Dillinger, Chris Jericho, Neville, Hideo Itami, Dean Ambrose, and Mikey Nicholls.

We all win!  Congratulations to all!

SCW Fantasy Draft 2018 Results

       Quarter Marshall                           Poncho Man                             Rusty Nickles         

1.    Daniel Bryan                                 Kevin Owens                            Johnny Gargano

2.    Shinsuke Nakamura                      AJ Styles                                   Aleister Black

3.    The Undisputed Era                      Alexa Bliss                                Rhonda Rousey

4.    Charlotte Flair                              The New Day                             No Way Jose

5.    Asuka                                            Brock Lesnar                             Bayley

6.    Samoa Joe                                     Kassius Ohno                            Authors of Pain

7.    The Usos                                       Balor Club                                 Elias

8.    Sami Zayn                                     The Broken Universe                Seth Rollins

9.    John Cena                                     Shayna Baszler                          Roman Reigns

10.  The Bar                                         Drew Gulak                               Tomasso Ciampa

11.  Rusev                                            The Iconics                                The Miztourage

12.  Triple H                                        Drake Younger                           Sasha Banks

13.  Benjamin/Gable                           Shawn Michaels                         Breezango

14.  Nicholas                                       Steve Corino                              Jinder Mahal

15.  William Regal                              Sarah Amato                              Mojo Rawley

16.  War Raiders                                  Mickie James                            Randy Orton

17.  Nikki Cross                                  Ricochet                                     Naomi

18.  Undertaker                                    EC3                                            Lars Sullivan

19.  Becky Lynch                                 Kairi Sane                                  Nia Jax

20.  Pete Dunne                                    Luke Harper                              Velveteen Dream

21.  Booker T                                       Braun Strowman                        Renee Young

22.  holograms                                     Mauro Renallo                           Tye Dillinger

23.  Nigel McGuinness                        Chris Jericho                              Ruby Riott

24.  Toni Storm                                    Paul Heyman                              Shane McMahon

25.  Neville                                          Absolution                                  Ember Moon

26.  Hideo Itami                                   Akira Tozawa                             Bobby Roode

27.  The Four Horsemen                      Titus Worldwide                        Dean Ambrose

28.  Cedric Alexander                          Michael PS Hayes                     Stephanie McMahon

29.  Alicia Fox                                      Goldust                                     Bobby Lashley

30.  Vince McMahon                            Tino Sabatelli w/Cane Hill       TM61

I thought it would take us a few days to get to 75, but we did 90 in two hours.  So fun.  The good Mania vibes are still flowin.  Who wants metrics?  Poncho has the deepest women's roster with 11, followed by Rusty at 9 (counting Renee), while I trail with 6.  I came out with the most men's tag teams with 5, Rusty's got 4, and Poncho 3.  Poncho has the most non-wrestlers by far with 7 plus Senor Benjamin, King Maxel, and a numetal band.  So maybe 14 total.  I got 6 and Rusty got 2.  I chose 18 babyfaces, 6 heels, and 6 neutrals.  Poncho chose 11 babyfaces, 14 heels, and 5 neutrals.  Rusty chose 20 babyfaces, 9 heels, and 1 neutral.  Rusty has the entire Shield.  Poncho has the most NXT talent with 7, although Rusty could've had 8 if 3 of his picks hadn't debuted on Raw this week.  I had the only non-human pick, unless the Broken Universe comes with a zoo of reincarnated generals and presidents.  Just like last time, nobody picked Dolph Ziggler or Baron Corbin.  There are a lot of great names we left on the table.  Carmella and Erick Rowan are the only current WWE title holders to not be chosen.  Poncho has 3.5 belts: both world champions, half of Smackdown tag team champions and the NXT women's champ.  Rusty has 4 belts: both midcard champions, the Raw women's champion, and the NXT champ.  I've got 4 belts: Cruiserweight, NXT North American, NXT tag team, and UK Champion.  (Raw tag titles are currently vacant.)  205 Live seems criminally under-utilized with only Gulak, Alexander, Tozawa and Neville on the board.  Feuds we could recreate... I've got Danielson and McGuinness.  Rusty has Gargano-Ciampa and Bayley-Sasha.  Poncho has Owens and Jericho (and seeing Owens and Corino on the same roster makes me warm inside).  Clearly, our promotions will all draw big dollars.  Pats on the back for everyone.

SCW Fantasy Draft 2018 Proposal

With all the Mania events behind us, and the Superstar Shakeup (tm) looming, I propose we do a fantasy draft.  Poncho and I did it in May 2016, right before the brand split, and it was really fun.  I remember Rusty bowed out because he was way behind.  No excuses this time buddy!  Here are the general guidelines:

We take turns picking.  Somebody goes first, then the next person, then the next, then the first person goes again, etc.  I don't know who should go first.  Actually, I have a die.  This will be totally fair.  I roll a... 6!  Poncho rolls a... 5!  Rusty rolls a... 3!  I swear that was legit.

Tag teams are a single pick, as long as they have a collective name.  For example, you couldn't pick the team of Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong, even though they were tagging for a little while.  Actually, Shelton and Gable don't have a name, but they tag together all the time, so that would be fine.  You guys get it.  3-Person factions also count as a single pick.  I don't think there are any 4-Person groups.  Managers count as a separate pick, so Rusev doesn't come with Aiden English, and Lesnar doesn't come with Heyman.

Anyone currently under contract with WWE is fair game.  Everyone in NXT, the main roster, or backstage people like Road Dogg and Poncho's friend Billy Kidman.

In 2016 we got to 34 picks each before we couldn't get any further- a total of 68 picks, which I'm pretty sure we did without looking up the rosters online.  There's a much bigger roster now, so I think we could each pick 25 for a total of 75.

We can use the Instagram chat thing to keep track, using the format like if I write "1 Fandango", Poncho would then post "1 Tyler Breeze" and Rusty "1 Naked Mideon".  Then I'd go "2 Street Profits", Poncho "2 Lars Sullivan", and Rusty "2 Viscera".  And on down the line, until Nick can't think of any more Corporate Ministry members.

Ya'll down?  I'm gonna shoot a "updated" text out now, and my first pick will be on Insta before ya know it.  Let's try to get it done before Raw on Monday, to see if Vince's picks are as interesting as ours are!

SCW Draft 2016

Here's the record of an epic texting session which lasted between 2:18 and 3:30 pm today between The Poncho Man and myself.  The idea was spawned in anticipation of the upcoming Raw/Smackdown roster split.  All WWE and NXT roster members were eligible, eventually including anyone else under contract with the company.  Tag Teams and Factions counted as a single pick.
68 Picks in 72 minutes made for a pretty snappy repartee which really picked me up in the middle of a dull day in front of a computer.

TEAM PONCHO                   TEAM MARSHALL

Kevin Owens     1     AJ Styles            

Shinsuke Nakamura     2     Seth Rollins                 

Wyatt Family     3     Roman Reigns   

The Club     4     Sami Zayn   

Samoa Joe     5     Sasha Banks   

The New Day     6     Brock Lesnar      

Cesaro     7     Bayley     

      Asuka     8     Chris Jericho

Enzo & Cass     9     Finn Balor         

     Paige     10     Mark Henry

Undertaker     11     Rusev             

Hideo Itami     12     John Cena      

      Kalisto     13     Becky Lynch

Social Outcasts     14     Charlotte              

    Alexa Bliss     15     American Alpha

Austin Aries     16     The Miz           

Alicia Fox     17     Apollo Crews

Gargano & Ciampa     18     Golden Truth               

TM61     19     Neville   

Mauro Renallo     20     William Regal      

Corey Graves     21     Booker T            

                          Renee Young     22     Hi-Res Graphic of Daniel Bryan

   Triple H     23     Randy Orton

  Emma     24     Breezango

Natalya & 2 Paws     25     The Revival              

                 Tyson Kidd     26     The Drifter Elias Samson

Christopher Girard     27     Kane                           

Alberto Del Rio     28     Sheamus                 

Rich Swann     29     Dean Ambrose

                 Andrade "Cien" Almas     30     Four Horsemen (Flair/Arn/Malenko)

Tye Dillinger     31     Dana Brooke     

                 Carmella     32     Sara "Del Rey" Amato

Adam Pearce     33     Fit Finlay           

Angry Mom     34     Road Dogg       

Some interesting points:

-No Dolph Ziggler or Baron Corbin, who have quietly been doing PPV pre-show matches the past couple months, with very little TV  time.  I might have picked them if I'd remembered them.

-Nobody picked any of the McMahons.

-I tried to pick Eric Young at the 25 spot, but Poncho reminded me that he isn't under contract.

-Poncho played "the numbers game" (Michael Cole's favorite game) by picking a total of 42 wrestlers, 1 interviewer, 2 announcers, and a cat.  I ended up with 31 wrestlers, 1 trainer, 2 announcers, 5 road agents/managers, and a photograph.

-I picked all 3 former members of the Shield, Poncho picked all 3 Japanese wrestlers.

There are probably more interesting points to glean from the lists, but it's time for my dinner.