Thursday, October 13, 2005

A1 Draft Analysis, Part THRRRREEEEEEE~!

Dan West's Dan's Wrestling Company
Big Dog, Maggot, WhiteNoise, Snake*, Hayt*, Rat, Zer0, Eight, Atkins*, Cerebral, LuvGun, Captain Suleimon, Tyrone the Tidy Giant, Allworld, The Iron Duke, Mr. Buu, Chessmaster, Stinky Dead Trout*

Traded Away/Dumped
Snake, Hayt, Atkins, Stinky Dead Trout

Received in Return
Richard Farnswirth, El Tremendo, Pharaoh

Free Agents
The Artist, The Canadian Loonie, Tuss

All-around, this may be the best draft class in the bunch, and in the hands of a master booker as well.

Best Pick Nabbing Zer0 and Eight with the 7th and 8th round sandwich picks was an excellent move, especially with the run on tag teams going on. A solid, underrated team that would anchor any tag division.

Sleeper Picks Iron Duke as a wrestler is a pretty good steal in the late rounds. If Snake hadn't given up on him so easily, the Duke could have been a really good heel in A1E. In late rounds and as a wrestler, it's an excellent pick. Also, Maggot in the second round is a minor steal.

Questionable Picks WhiteNoise and Rat are very solid characters, don't get me wrong. I think, though, they were slight reaches where they were taken. Looking at the draft board and the trends of who was drafting which handlers, perhaps they weren't as bad as some other reaches.

Overall Grade A... easily the best draft of the bunch. Every pick and trade made sense.

Shane Carnes' Unbelievably Sensational Wrestling
Euclid, Prisoner 187*, Doc Silver, Dam Skippy, Leatherface, Torgo, Chameleon, Shane Weston, Kayafaber, BC Steele*, Big Wreck, Steve Savoy, JW Glenn, Jonathan Marx, Michael Cole, Sal Scantlin, The First, Mr. Hyde

Traded Away/Dumped
Prisoner 187, BC Steele

Received in Return
Chip Friendly, Jogi Fresh

Free Agents
none

Shane compiled a very strong main event, especially with the addition of Mr. Hyde in the last round thanks to James dropping out. However, after the main event...

Best Pick Prisoner 187 was a solid pick with the disclaimer that it was only Dan West's incarnation, and trading him for Chip Friendly wasn't a bad move either. Both are strong characters, although if we're only talking the DW incarnation, I'd rather have 187. However, when you factor in the rapid deterioration the character suffered under Fordyce's handling of him, Chip Friendly automatically is the better commodity.

Sleeper Picks Chameleon was always considerably underrated as a member of the Empire, a very effective heel. Getting him in the 7th round was a good pick. STeve Savoy and The First are also pretty solid late round selections. The First may very well end up as UCW's first Champion, so getting him in the next to last round is a steal.

Questionable Picks There are quite a few. First, how are you going to pick Shane Weston if you either aren't going to pick Tate or package a trade for him? Same with Big Wreck and Damon Blackburn. Breaking up tag teams like that is not a very good idea, especially with the latter when you pick the guy who didn't break out as a singles star. Doc Silver and Dam Skippy were both reaches, IMO. Kayafaber is a questionable pick in any draft in any round, considering his run as A1E Champion came when he booked himself into the match and Xavier Storm no-showed it, and furthermore, he never really defeneded the title either. Michael Cole is a pick that doesn't make sense unless you draft Jericoholic Anonymous as well.

Overall Grade C+... not a bad draft, but not really a good one either. The strong main event scene is counterbalanced by incomplete tag team scene. Hopefully Shane has something interesting to cobble a compelling tag team to challenge Torgo and Leatherface.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Future entry suggestion: The Kayafaber story.

Maybe you said all there is to be said in that one sentence, but it got my motors going (in a "I want to hear what happened with Kayafaber" kind of way).

If you don't want to, I understand, but I had to get this off my Anonymous chest.