Monday 18 July 2016

The 2016 WWE Draft: Adam & Jonathon Style



WWE Draft 2016

Hello everyone and welcome to mine and Jonathon’s version of the 2016 WWE Draft. As I am writing this up it is Monday 18th July 2016 and tomorrow is the very exciting episode of SmackDown which is moving, permanently, to Tuesday night’s LIVE! The very first episode in this new, permanent timeslot will be the return of the WWE draft as RAW and SmackDown separate into two distinct rosters for the first time in five years. 

Well you just know we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to have a little bit of fun with something like this so we went out last week and drew this arrangement up (yes, I’m just getting around to writing and posting it now – I’ve been busy!). We decided first of all to set up some ground rules. We decided since we have similar tastes in many things that we would let a coin flip decide who would get first refusal on everything. So everything below this which is emboldened was the option chosen by the person who won the coin toss. For example, I won the coin toss to choose which show I wanted and Jonathon won the coin toss to choose which World Championship he wanted.

We also decided that as a result of splitting the Championship’s we realised that one show would get the women and one the tag team division. This was actually the only time we disagreed on what we wanted, he won the coin toss and chose the Women’s Division, I was delighted to get the Tag Team Division. We agreed a gentlemanly rule whereby I could choose tag teams as only one pick and in return he was allowed to pick two women for one draft pick to make it fair. This rule was not necessarily enforced so it was possible to select a single member of a tag team or for him to draft only one woman at a time (something that occurs later in the draft where both of us were trying desperately to avoid the dregs of the roster. We also made the executive decision that the three members of The New Day would be drafted together whereas Harper & Rowan where considered a tag team with Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman singles wrestlers. The Club were similar to that with AJ Styles having to be drafted as a singles competitor while Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows came as a tag team.

In addition to those rules there was sort of an unwritten rule that he would, for the most part, not pick any tag teams and I, for the most part, would not pick any women. This leads to them being picked a lot later than they probably would have been had we not had that agreement in place. This was not absolute though as he sought my permission to take two people we had noted as a tag team in order to build a stable (The Wyatt Family) whilst I sought his to take two women I intended to use as valets.

But enough about the rules, let’s get the pre-draft choosing out of the way…

Show:

Adam – SmackDown
Jonathon – RAW

Championships:

Adam – WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, WWE Tag Team Championships
Jonathon – World Heavyweight Championship, United States Championship, Women’s Championship

Commentary:

Adam – Tom Phillips and William Regal
Jonathon – Mauro Ranallo and Corey Graves

Ring Announcer:

Adam – Jojo
Jonathon – Lilian Garcia

Authority Figure:

Adam – Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
Jonathon – Shane McMahon

Backstage Interviewer:

Adam – Cathy Kelley
Jonathon – Renee Young

Now that we have sorted that it is down to the nitty gritty. Jonathon won the toss to decide who would pick first in the main draft. The main draft was drawn up of the entire recognised WWE roster with notable exceptions for multiple reasons such as part-time players (The Rock, The Undertaker – although Brock Lesnar was made available for pick, as was Chris Jericho) and the long-term injured (Tyson Kidd etc.). This roster was then to be chosen until none remained so everyone was assigned to a show. Jonathon would have first choice, whilst I would have second and third, he would then have fourth and fifth and so on. As a result of losing this coin toss I was automatically allocated first choice in the special three drafts each supplemental draft made up of current members of the NXT roster. To explain the little notes within the table below. The number on the left denotes what number pick this person was on the respective person’s roster, the name comes next followed by alignment (Face, Heel, Tweener or Kane) and finally their overall position in the draft. The supplemental draft follows on directly below. Enjoy!

The 2016 WWE Main Draft
Jonathon (1st, 4th, 5th, 8th etc.)
Adam (2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th etc.)


1.       Seth Rollins (H) (1)
1. AJ Styles (H) (2)
2.       Brock Lesnar (T) (4)
2. Dean Ambrose (F) (3)
3.       John Cena (F) (5)
3. Kevin Owens (H) (6)
4.       Cesaro (F) (8)
4. Chris Jericho (H) (7)
5.       Bray Wyatt (H) (9)
5. Sami Zayn (F) (10)
6.       Dolph Ziggler (F) (12)
6. The Miz (H) (11)
7.       Rusev (H) (13)
7. Randy Orton (F) (14)
8.       Luke Harper & Erick Rowan (H) (16)
8. Roman Reigns (F) (15)
9.       Neville (F) (17)
9. Tyler Breeze (H) (18)
10.   Sasha Banks (T) & Becky Lynch (F) (20)
10. Bubba Ray Dudley (H) (19)
11.   Emma (H) & Natalya (H) (21)
11. The New Day* (F) (22)
12.   Apollo Crews (F) (24)
12. The Club (H) (23)
13.   Charlotte (H) & Dana Brooke (H) (25)
13. Enzo Amore & Big Cass (F) (26)
14.   Alberto Del Rio (H) (28)
14. The Vaudevillians (H) (27)
15.   Paige (F) & Naomi (H) (29)
15. Lucha Dragons (F) (30)
16.   Curtis Axel (H) (32)
16. Alicia Fox (H) & Summer Rae (H) (31)
17.   Heath Slater (H) (33)
17. The Usos (F) (34)
18.   Tamina (H) (36)
18. Fandango (H) (35)
19.   Ryback (H) (37)
19. Baron Corbin (H) (38)
20.   Goldust (F) (40)
20. Mark Henry (F) (39)
21.   Sheamus (H) (41)
21. Zack Ryder (F) (42)
22.   Bo Dallas (H) (44)
22. Darren Young (F) (43)
23.   Braun Strowman (H) (45)
23. The Shining Stars (H) (46)
24.   Nikki Bella (F) (48)
24. D-Von Dudley (H) (47)
25.   Titus O’Neil (F) (49)
25. R-Truth (F) (50)
26.   Big Show (52)
26. Kane (K**) (51)
27.   Eva Marie (53)
27. The Ascension (H) (54)




The 2016 WWE Supplemental Draft (Three Picks Each)
Jonathon (2nd, 3rd, 6th)
Adam (1st, 4th, 5th)


1. Finn Balor (F) (2)
1. Shinsuke Nakamura (F) (1)
2. Samoa Joe (H) (3)
2. Austin Aries (H) (4)
3. Asuka (T) & Bayley (F) (6)
3. American Alpha (F) (5)

So what did you guys think? Agree with our picks? Disagree? Who ended up with the better roster? Will this be better or worse than the draft WWE produces tomorrow night? Have I written too many questions in a row?

We’d love to hear your answers to those questions and any comments in general. Jonathon and I are currently considering turning this into a relatively short-term booking project where we book separate shows leading up to maybe WrestleMania and then seeing whose booking was better but that is, as of yet, undecided. Meanwhile our WCW reboot booking is continuing over on Jonathon’s WCW blog and we do – I promise – have more rebooking series articles in the work. Several are already partially finished, one is completely and just needs writing up. Unfortunately, as always, real life and work etc. are getting in the way of us completing stuff and uploading it for you guys as quickly as we would like but we are doing our best and we appreciate each and every person who comes to read this or any of our blogs.

As per usual we hope you enjoyed this article and we hope to see you next time. Until then you can follow me (@watadam20) and Jonathon (@JLAspey) on twitter for further information on more projects as well as inane drivel probably revolving around wrestling, sport, Football Manager & politics. Until next time, thanks for reading!