FanPost

Cageside Seats Fantasy Draft Results & Voting

A few months back, Rex Ivanovic, late of the Off The Top Rope Podcast, former CSS staff member and all around swell guy, asked the denizens of the Daily Open Thread whether they wanted to do a fantasy draft to build their own wrestling promotions. Site luminaries TMadeBurner, Vidence, and the great ReverendKain joined in, along with myself, and the date was set. The five of us would build our own wrestling promotion from the ground up with 38 picks, the only restrictions being that we had to pick two commentators and a head of creative. Beyond that, we were free to construct our rosters however we saw fit.

We were joined in this endeavor by The Boss Ain't Ratchet, who was kind enough to chronicle our picks in a spreadsheet, complete with color-coding to make it as clear as possible. To see his spreadsheet, which is highly advised, if you want to understand the rest of the post, head right here.

After 38 grueling rounds over two nights, our rosters had emerged in all their glory. The next step was to explain our rosters and our plan for the future of our promotions. To wit, here are brief summaries of every participant's plans for their roster.

Rev's promotion (ReverendKain Championship Wrestling) takes it cue from Evolve (its head of creative is Gabe Sapolsky), with a dash of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship. Representatives of each style of professional wrestling from around the globe will meet to determine who is the best. Juniors vs. Luchadores! Hoss vs. Technician! Spot Monkey vs. Psychologist! His roster will be separated into three divisions: The RKWF Championship, the promotion's main title, RKWF Style championship, to be held by the wrestler who best epitomizes his style of wrestling (and also what the promoters wants at the moment), and the RKWF Tag Team Championship, which, as one might guess, is to be contested by the best tag teams in the world, and a number of excellent stables and tag teams, including established acts like the Hardyz & the Usos, and new acts like Ghetto Strong Style, consisting of Akira Tozawa, Eddie Kingston, MVP, and YAMAMOTO, and Go Ahead and Stick the Luchas Together (hopefully a working name!), with the dynamic acts Aero Star, Fenix, and Volador Jr. Although his promotion is the only one without a women's division, he more than makes up for it with a very strong tag division and a unique premise.

TMade's Strong Style Wrestling Federation lives up to its title, in and out of the ring. The action will be hard-hitting, and the stories will get heavy. The SSWF Championship will be contested in a sixteen-man tournament featuring brutal matches like Brock Lesnar vs. Jay Briscoe and Kyle O'Reilly vs. Dolph Ziggler, sure to delight fans at home and win critical acclaim. The SSWF's midcard is just as exciting, seeing under-appreciated gems like Cody Rhodes, Tommaso Ciampa, and Dalton Castle squaring off to make a name for themselves by defending the SSWF Television Championship. The SSWF's tag division sees the dynamic act ReDRagon facing down massive killers Luke Harper and Hanson, with charismatic acts like the Realest Guys in the Room waiting in the wings. Finally, the SSWF women's division will open with a cage match between AJ Lee and Nikki Bella, showing that this promotion is nothing like what's been offered to most mainstream wrestling fans. To top it all off, this promotion will be booked by none other than Paul Heyman, the man who revolutionized wrestling in the 90s with the legendary underground phenomenon ECW.

Rex Championship Wrestling, like our other entries, will be starting off with tournaments to crown a new world champion, a new tag team champion, and a new women's champion. But you won't believe the competitors that have lined up to compete for the RCW title. Japanese luminaries like Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Shinsuke Nakamura will compete with North American superstars like Kevin Owens, Sheamus, and Johnny Gargano, and to top it all off, Candice LeRae herself will be an entrant! Could RCW see the first female world champion in wrestling history? RCW's tag division features some of the most breathtaking teams in the world. The Young Bucks will meet the Motor City Machine Guns and the American Wolves as they compete for the RCW tag team championship, with other teams like the Colony and The Mighty Don't Kneel close behind. Last but not least, we have the women's division, which sees legends of women's wrestling in Amazing Kong and Cheerleader Melissa facing off against the next generation, Charlotte and Nikki Storm. All this will be booked by Ryan Ward, who might not have the name recognition of Heyman or Sapolsky, but is a major player behind the emergence of NXT as one of the hottest shows in wrestling and a touring sensation. If he can do that with a developmental roster, imagine what he can do with superstars like Okada, Owens, and LeRae!

Roley's new organization Fuck Names Championship Wrestling (working title) features the past, present and future of wrestling meeting in one volatile promotion. Household names like John Cena go up against the megastars of tomorrow, like Roman Reigns and Uhaa Nation. Legends like Undertaker and Triple H will try to prove that they've still got it against the likes of Finn Balor and Dean Ambrose, who are looking to make a name for themselves by ending legends' careers. The promotion's top title will, like the others, be contested initially in an sixteen-man tournament. Villains like Balor, Ambrose, and Adam Cole face off against the heroes Uhaa Nation, Roman Reigns, and John Cena. The midcard will also see a great variety of wrestlers competing to get ahead and make a name for themselves in this new promotion. Japanese strong style standouts Tomohiro Ishii and Katsuyori Shibata will meet dazzling wrestlers like Adrian Neville and Low Ki, along with developing superstars in the former Fandango and Solomon Crowe. The tag division will feature the duo of Magnus and Bram, free of the constraints of a dying promotion, along with Balor and his bodyguard, Cody Hall, and sometime running buddies Dean Ambrose and Solomon Crowe. All this action will be complemented by the promotion's women's division. This will be anchored by the scorpion-kicking sensation Ivelisse and everybody's favorite Irish suplex machine Becky Lynch up against monster heels Jessicka Havok and Sweet Saraya. All this will be handled by Triple H, the future of professional wrestling in North America, while Vince McMahon is retained to provide some of his big picture expertise that has revolutionized wrestling many times over.

Vidence's professional wrestling/sports entertainment organization, which remains nameless pending further updates, has a face/heel pairing sure to be one for the ages. The eternal underdog Sami Zayn will face his new nemesis, the dastardly Seth Rollins and Stephanie McMahon, separated from her husband and father and focusing on managing this new villainous standout. Also near the top will be the new face of fear himself, Bray Wyatt, and the wrestling machine Kota Ibushi. The promotion's midcard will be anchored by Samoa Joe and Ethan Carter III, who has a manager of his own in Bruce Tharpe. The likes of Honma, Matt Sydal, and Bobby Roode will also feature here. The promotion's tag division will feature living legends the Dudley Boyz, along with the ever-entertaining Christopher Daniels and Kazarian, along with a few clients of the devious Veda Scott. In addition to these standard categories, the promotion features its very own lucha division, anchored by Kalisto and Mexican legends Negro Casas, Barbaro Cavernario, and Mascara Dorada. Finally, there's the promotion's women's division, anchored by the captain of Team Kick, Evie, as its top face, with Paige just behind, and Sasha Banks and Portia Perez as the top heels in this exciting, kick-filled division. Making sure all this stays chaotic and entertaining will be the one and only Dario Cueto, agent of chaos extraordinaire. The promotion's bookers will be the award-winning team of Jedo and Gado, with the famed wrestling mind Scott "Raven" Levy serving as head of creative.

So, ladies and gentlemen of Cageside Seats, now it's your turn. Which of these rosters do you enjoy most? Which has the best wrestlers? Which will be most likely to succeed? Vote in the poll and sound off in the comments below!

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.