The Wrestling Estate Fantasy Draft: Round 3

What if all the top wrestling companies in the world got together and said, “let’s blow the whole thing up and start from scratch?”

Eleven companies will then rise from the ashes, having a draft to determine how the best talent in the world will be divided up for the foreseeable future.

The draft will be conducted through email – 12 rounds. As far as the talent pool goes, all active wrestlers are available. Part-timers are usable, semi-retired wrestlers are not. (So Brock Lesnar and John Cena are fair game, Triple H, Undertaker and HBK are not.) For the purposes of this simulation, we will assume Roman Reigns does NOT have leukemia and Joey Janela’s leg is NOT broken. Some wrestlers can be taken as tag teams, but the caveat is that you have to use them in the same match.

At the end of the draft, we will also have a bonus 13th “legends” round, where you can draft one legend to appear on your show in any way you see fit. The only rule here is that the legend has to be in their present-day form, so you can’t get, for instance, Shawn Michaels from 1997. You won’t be able to draft Chris Jericho, though, as he will be able to appear on any of your shows without having to use a draft pick on him, kind of like as he does in real life, almost like a free space in bingo.

At the end of the draft, you will then submit a “2-3 hour” pay-per-view card to show how your talent would work together in your fictional wrestling company. We’ll run Twitter polls to let readers vote on who has the best roster and who created the most entertaining PPV.

The first-round picks can be found here.
The second-round picks can be found here.

Anthony Mahalis
World Wrestling Syndicate
Draft Pick #23: Cody Rhodes
He will not be misused like his time in WWE. He is one of the best in the business and he will be treated as such under my roof. My top 3 picks will make absolute magic happen with anyone.

Calvin Gibbon
Champagne Championship Wrestling
Draft Pick #24: Charlotte Flair
She has the pedigree. She has the name. Charlotte Flair has dominated the WWE woman’s division and she did it with relative ease. In Champagne Wrestling, Charlotte will bring the glamour and her natural talent to our woman’s division.

Juan Bautista
Global Championship Wrestling
Draft Pick #25: Hiroshi Tanahashi
He is the most decorated IWGP Heavyweight Champion and although an old veteran, he’s still got plenty of left in the tank. He still has a few tricks up his sleeve and also, the best air guitar.

Sam Gladen
Deep South Wrestling
Draft Pick #26: Bandido.
One of the most electric wrestlers on the lucha libre scene right now. He’s only a few years into his career and already pumping out insane matches.

Steven Jackson
International Association Wrestling
Draft Pick #27: Rey Fenix
One of the world’s most innovative and exciting pro wrestlers, Rey Fenix encapsulates the lucha libre style perfectly. A sound technician, a brave high-flyer and versatile in both singles and tag team encounters, Fenix is another fantastic fit for IAW.

Neal Wagner
Anarchy Wrestling
Draft Pick#28: The Young Bucks
Tag team wrestling will be a future stable for Anarchy and who better to lead the charge than the professional wrestling money makers themselves! Matt and Nick Jackson know that chaos and controversy make $$$ and they are the pillars of this company.

Chad Gelfand
Professional Wrestling Association (PWA)
Draft Pick #29: Ricochet
He’s one of the most athletically gifted wrestlers that we’ve ever seen and as his career has gone on, he’s only become a more complete wrestler. He just turned 30 recently, too, so he’s young enough that he could be at the top of a promotion for the next 5-10 years.

Team LeftJab
Gotham Championship Wrestling
Draft Pick #30: Lio Rush
One of the most athletic and charismatic wrestlers in the sport today. In GCW, he will return to being a major player for the world title and not a comedy act like he is now in WWE.

Jack Goodwillie
World Series of Wrestling
Draft Pick #31: Matthew Riddle
BROOOOOOOOOOO. Matthew Riddle is maybe the biggest paradox in pro wrestling. He’s a former MMA fighter, no…UFC competitor and a former factor in the 185-pound division, but his character is nothing of the sort. He is the “King of Bros,” which sounds like a gimmick a 12 year old and his friends would come up with at recess, but it WORKS. Nobody dresses like him. Nobody talks or walks like him. Nobody wrestles like him, and remember, he’s been at it for… four years maybe? Ronda Rousey recently had an awful television match just from being green and not having the practice of calling it in the ring. You never see that out of a guy like Riddle. And to top it all off, he has one of the top-5 physiques in what is still a very cosmetic-based business. The Kerry Von Erich comparisons are real, and the ceiling for Riddle could be even higher, despite already being 32. I remember him on the Ultimate Fighter, thinking he looked the part of a real douche, but began to turn as I got to know his personality more, and ultimately, became a fan watching the UFC 149 press conference where he recounts a story about a British fan spitting in his mouth on the way to the cage, saying how it was “some bull that a butter-toothed Brit would spit in the mouth of a world-class athlete.” While nobody really thought of it at the time, turns out the dude was made for pro wrestling. The latest member of the World Series of Wrestling roster, Riddle returns to Las Vegas, a place he called home during his MMA career.

Jenna Leigh
Sparkle Female Superstars
Draft Pick #32: Becky Lynch
For any woman’s company, in any country, Becky is a STAR. She is currently at the height of her powers – putting on 5-star matches and cutting sharp, incisive and often witty promos. She is gorgeous, but never uses sexuality as a pawn or bargaining chip, a slip up of many serious female competitors. She has training from all over the world and it shows, as she can go toe to toe with the best and the brightest from everywhere. She is also notoriously kind and gracious to fans. Simply put, she is an asset in every single way.

John Corrigan
SHOOT
Draft Pick #33: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Goodwillie pulled some Bischoff shit stealing Matt Riddle from my glorious SHOOT promotion. As a result, I’m signing another former UFC competitor and the current ace of MLW: Tom Lawlor. If you haven’t been keeping up with MLW, Lawlor is the highlight of the show. He delivers on the mic and in the ring, lending a ton of credibility to pro wrestling and particularly, MLW’s fight feel. We’ll be usurping that aura in SHOOT and welcome Team Filthy to the promise land.

The fourth round begins Monday.