MLB

W*ING USA trades Savio Vega to the WWF in exchange for CW Anderson.

I've decided to keep DK on as a manager after his retirement match, so no worries there. @jeff5819 would you be interested in Savio Vega/Kwang for CW Anderson?

Like I said, I prefer @jeff5819 keep CW Anderson but I wanted to be clear on eligibility going forward.

Yes, I know Kudo stopped in April '97. @Control21 Totally willing to accept those conditions but everybody else must follow through on their retirements. I planned for DK to be a one-off goodbye.

Yeah I was curious about retirements since @Control21 touched on it. I am dealing with a few looming retirements (Megumi Kudo, Combat Toyoda, Dynamite Kid). I drafted them with the intention of them being retired, however it might be challenging to track everybody throughout the entire project. If I could keep them beyond their retirements I will because I'd rather they not be used elsewhere. @Perfectly Straightedge

Yeah @ohtani's jacket it sounds like I'm trying to tear down Dean but #1 was a bold statement to make.

Interesting time for the magazines, you guys really broke it down well. I thought, well then why not Eddy, Rey, or Benoit as #1 but they were considered "foreign" like Misawa. Then you had Bret and Shawn as heels (and putting Bret #1 would've ruffled WWF's feathers). Austin was hurt, I see Apter's logic there. Malenko was in the right spot at the right time, I guess.

Wtf...? I didn't realize you already drafted him, my bad. @jeff5819 I was under the impression there was a 10 match rule to be considered officially active. CW had a grand total of six matches from 94 through 96 according to Cagematch. I don't have any objection to him being rostered, I wasn't clear on the criteria.

@SirEdger I signed Vampiro this afternoon.

@Perfectly Straightedge Gypsy Joe is missing from W*ING USA roster.

@Perfectly Straightedge I noticed Ricardo Morais is on the W*ING USA roster and he wasn't selected. Is that another roster spot for me?

I would've taken La Parka 100% definitely but he resembles Crypt Keeper too much. @Control21

I would've taken CW Anderson as well but he's not eligible until 1997. @SirEdger

Here, here! Glad to hear the storm passed! The game thus far has been a wonderful distraction for me! @Perfectly Straightedge Regarding my recent moves, it dawned me that being based in LA I needed to get more lucha on the roster. And I needed to get younger. To that effect, I brought in a trio of young lucha rock stars with Vampiro Casanova, Jerry Estrada, and Heavy Metal. Also, Mascarita Sagrada Jr. is one of the best on the planet and known to American fans as Max Mini. For the women's division (I am the only one booking ladies!), I brought in drop dead gorgeous Takako Inoue. Sadly, Megumi Kudo's last match was in April of 1997, so I need to be prepared to let her go! Hey @SirEdger, Buddy Landel remind you of anyone? Meltzer coming in btw LOL!

Release: Barry Horowitz, Jado, Gedo, Matt Borne (Borne Again), Kendo Nagasaki, The Vampire Warrior Sign: Buddy Landel, Mascarita Sagrada Jr., Heavy Metal, Jerry Estrada, Vampiro Casanova, Takako Inoue In addition, W*ING USA is signing Dave Meltzer to commentary. It will be a three man booth with Terry Funk, Dave Meltzer and a yet to be determined lead pbp announcer.

@Perfectly Straightedge a couple name changes: Hugh Morris = Crash the Terminator PCO = Bash the Terminator Madusa = Alundra Blayze Can I announce some releases and signings on the other thread? It appears I also have one roster spot remaining.

Austin was #3 and definitely the hottest act in the world by the end of 1997.

This is a plausible explanation as Misawa was #2. Yeah, look at his opponents. Not exactly broomsticks. That's pretty good clarification, I suspected that was the case.

I've been digging through old PWI 500's of late. I'm sincerely dumbfounded that Dean Malenko was #1 in 1997. How in the blue hell did that happen? I thought PWI was supposed to be a mark magazine! Why all the hoopla over Malenko in 1997? Dean looked like a glorified referee with some decent technical moves but they put him over Stone Cold and Kobashi!

Nick Aldis has a WWE agreement from what's being said online. I wonder if LA Knight's success influenced their thinking on Nick. Cena isn't around which I'm sure helped Aldis's case. Nick worked with Cody after he left WWE and that likely contributed as well.

Probably ought to cross off Prince Iaukea since I believe WCW selected him in the 1996 draft. Teddy Hart is a 1997 eligible rookie.

@Mr JMML outta nowhere with a badass roster! Almost W*ING-esque bringing in the Rottens, the Sheepherders, a monster like KKB and a brawler like Tommy Rich, mixed with the NJPW all-stars and shoot fighters under the Battlarts banner. It's a very cool mix of names. I thought about Hashimoto (also the Rottens were on my watchlist) but he fits the style of your roster much better.

Sick roster @Mr JMML! Belfast Bruiser, however, has already been drafted by WWF.

@SirEdger I am planning a goofball parody of WCW with a fake Sting. Won't spoil too much of the details yet and I want to see some of your programming before I reveal it. If Flair thinks he's not getting trolled because the nWo is out of the picture, he's dead wrong!

The final pick in the 1996 project draft W*ING USA selects Gypsy Joe!