2p2 lives! I'll pick for us in a minute, deciding between two guys.

Eddie came out of a discussion between deezy and I, and how we wanted our promotion to be. He was thinking of nash as well, but I'm generally a guy who wants the top guys to be able to work well and not kill a promotion. Eddie did a real good job with the strap when he had his 7 month run during a real crap period for the company, I don't think he should be harmed by that reign. He always put on great matches at the top and can get a crowd going as either a heel or a face



Love the dibiase pick. I was talking to deezy about him and hoping to snag him with our pick in the second round. Mikey's dead on about his pre-New York stuff. Just watch some of the stuff he did in Mid-South and you'll see a big clanger that was dropped by the WWE and by the NWA in not pushing him as a title contender


IMO RVD is also way too early. His working ability got exposed in the WWF. He's a spot based worker which is perfectly fine, but doesn't work for a guy at the top, which is what we are drafting at this time in the draft

Nash, well, I just don't like anything that has to do with the man

was never a nash fan but don't think it's too bad a fit. not a big fan of andre or orton either. benoit i liked more than all of them oddly enough, but i mark out for odd choices

I think with nash, a fair amount of us know his backstage crap, so that probably brings him down a big way. In fairness to him, the initial nWo was one of the biggest angles in american wrestling and it was pulled off perfectly for a while

If the guidelines I read are right you get each wrestler at his peak. Andre's peak actually lasted from the mid-70s to the late-80s. In the last days of the territories, if what I've read is correct, no one was a bigger draw or made more money than Andre. People tend to only remember his 1987-88 WWE run, but there was a lot more to Andre.

Ugh Kevin Nash. He can't wrestle, he's horrible backstage, he's boring, ugh ugh ugh.

WRT- Andre- I have a hard time drafting any giant. I think they're impossible to book, because they basically have to dominate the fed. Once you have an Andre, he should pretty much always be in the ME scene, and you'll get bogged down with the same storylines. It's like how the WWE lets Big Show slide into the mid card, it just doesn't work to me. If I'm running a promotion, I don't want anybody so massive (or conversely so small) that I can't write them up and down the card a bit.

Probably, but I'll take the 11-12 years of amazing work anyway.

A great Orton match ... and my favorite Foley match ever as I mentioned before:

Orton/Foley, Backlash 2004
Part 1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2q...orton-ba_sport
Part 2: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2r...orton-ba_sport

dids- it depends on the giant. Andre in his prime years could actually work, and work well. There are a couple of other giants like that too. Someone like Paul Wight is a bit too limited, or more correctly, came at the wrong time in history and had the wrong booker. The thing is, with these picks right now, we generally are looking at guys who should be at the top, and it would be a massively bad move to write someone like Orton, Flair, etc in a low card spot anyway

We decided on Andre based on his total dominance during the 70s (which was unfortunately before the WM years) and the fact that most of the top 90s talent was gone. And thus we are building a totally different organization than everybody else, based largely on who is available.

And so with the 23rd pick, Team Russ-Vickrey Auction selects...

And my favorite Benoit match ever:

Benoit/Angle, Royal Rumble 2003
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnq68lcvc20
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfmIK3atbo0
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oIE4hVLRfU

I didn't think Japanese wrestlers were available. If they had been I draft Kenta Kobashi for sure.

EDIT: Japanese wrestlers who stayed primarily in Japan, I mean.

lol antonio inoreach

I also don't think Inoki is going to draw in America. I know he was ridic massive in Japan, "fought" Ali, yadda yadda ... but I don't like the pick. And again I'm not even certain he should be in the draft anyway.

The Rock had eight years, and he went second. Angle's only been around since 2000. Jericho has only been around for 12-13 years or so. At least with Andre you know you're getting 15+ years on top.

The problem with a lot of these guys is that they haven't been around long enough to know how long they'll stick around (thinking of Punk and Orton specifically).

yea, I was figuring this wasn't available to us either. If it was, then picking Inoki is a insta-pick(and kobashi would've been the first pick)

can we get the commish to rule on that? If japan is open, then deezy and I's next pick is gonna be a whole lot different

Ugh, if people are going to draft Japanese people that rarely came to the states, this draft is going to suck. It's totally against the spirit of the rules.

We can pick our backup if he's too Japan.

Orton has five solid years under his belt. The Rock was basically a 5-6 year wrestler. No reason to think Orton won't continue to be a stud for at least another few years.

i disagree as there are a ton of great wrestlers from japan, it would make things interesting and be in the spirit of the rules as they are fairly open as far as eras. But, it does look like untouchable wants it to be American based

Russ, I'd pick your backup.

EDIT: I'd prefer the draft stay North American-based. I doubt everyone in the draft is knowledgable when it comes to Japan, as well as anyone lurking/enjoying the thread.

Please do. This should be a lesson for people... this is supposed to be an American draft, it's in the rules.

You're not getting my point.

Even if Andre is great, his size is such that if written intelligently he's too dominant and too limiting on plotting.

No worker should always be in the ME scene. You need flexibility. Somebody like Flair can be a huge draw because he's a huge draw, and not because he needs to be wrestling for a belt.

IMO- if you've got an Andre and are writing intelligently- basically every storyline about him should hinge around the belt- 'cause why wouldn't the clearly most dominant person in your promotion be champion/trying to be champion.

I don't really expect everybody to agree with me, but it's how I'd run my fed.

Which means that it's against the spirit of the rules to pick someone like that

Anyone who wrestled in the US is available, though I think Inoki is spew. I don't like the Nash pick either.

We passed on Andre because of all the points people have mentioned, though I think he's fine at this point in the draft.