evolution

WrestleLeague EVOLUTION

WrestleLeague has come a long way since its inception in 2003. Throughout its evolution, the website has flourished from a bland, unimaginative blue background with floating pictures to its present state--a sleaker, more user-friendly online habitat. The site, however, is just one component that has experienced noticeable changes. The league, itself, has grown. Following is an illustration of WrestleLeague's evolution.

Season 1

WrestleLeague was founded in March 2003 as WWE Fantasy. The first season was a five-month trial that enabled the league's two commissioners to see what worked and what didn't. Many of this season's rules were eliminated at the close of the season and replaced with a much more comprehensive set of rules to help make the league more competitive and enjoyable.

The season began with a draft that, in retrospect, was unfair to many of the general managers (GM). GMs' names were drawn, indicating the order of their draft picks for each round. (i.e., The first GM to choose had the first draft pick for each round.)

Two other noticeable differences in Season 1 were the absence of a free agent list and disabled list. As it worked, any wrestler who became injured would be removed from his general manager's team. The wrestler who was at the top of the list of people who were never drafted would then go to the team that lost the wrestler due to injury or firing from the WWE.

The points system this season was very basic. A wrestler earned one point for a win (regardless of type of win) and two points for a win during a title match.

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Season 1 Placements

General Managers
1. Matt (171 points)
2. Dan (127 points)
3. Danielle (111 points)
4. Brian (104 points)
5. Mary (92 points)

Top 10 Wrestlers

1. Eddie Guerrero (23 points)
2. Triple H (22 points)
3. Shelton Benjamin (20 points)
4. Charlie Haas (19 points)
Rey Mysterio (19 points)
6. Rob Van Dam (18 points)
7. Booker T (17 points)
8. Kane (16 points)
Tajiri (16 points)
10. Goldberg (15 points)

Season 2

Season 2 witnessed the biggest change of any season. The primary goal was to make WWE Fantasy more interactive for all those competing. A secondary goal was to make the website more user friendly, partly by providing links to external sites on which GMs could do research on the wrestling industry, wrestlers, and storylines.

A free agent list was introduced to the league, enabling GMs to add or release wrestlers of their choice. With free agency came the disabled list, which provided a means for preserving a disabled wrestler on his team.

A new point system was also implemented. Different point amounts were awarded per different types of wins.

The Collage
Every season a new collage is made to highlight the top superstars from each of the previous season's brands. As a general rule, the previous season's top-scoring wrestler earns a prominent spot in the collage. This tradition started with Season 2. Season 1's homepage was blue with photos of that season's top draft picks in a circular formation.

Season 2's collage features Eddie Guerrero, the previous season's top scorer.

Season 2 Placements

General Managers
1. Danielle (632 points)
2. Kevin (630 points)
3. Dan (577 points)
4. Matt (524 points)
5. Brian (459 points)
6. Jeff (389 points)

Top 10 Wrestlers

1. Chris Benoit (136 points)
2. John Cena (124 points)
3. Randy Orton (99 points)
4. Rey Mysterio (97 points)
5. Mark Jindrak (96 points)
6. Booker T (92 points)
7. Rob Van Dam (80 points)
8. D-Von Dudley (79 points)
9. Bubba Ray Dudley (77 points)
10. Garrison Cade (75 points)

Season 3

A major change that occurred in Season 3 was the introduction of "double point pay-per-views." All wins during co-branded WWE pay-per-views were for double points.

The addition of more GMs meant finding a way to make the league more competitive without having to severely limit the amount of wrestlers per team. To remedy this, all wrestlers were counted twice, meaning that two different GMs could have the same wrestler on their teams. When that wrestler won a match, all of those points would go to both GMs, rather than dividing them.

The Collage
Season 3's collage features Chris Benoit, the previous season's top scorer, along with many of Season 2's top superstars from each of WWE's brands.

Season 3 Placements

General Managers
1. Brian (773 points)
2. Dan (772 points)
3. Matt (763 points)
4. Jeff (669 points)
5. Danielle (590 points)
6. Chris M. (580 points)
7. Chris D. (562 points)
8. Kevin (559 points)
9. Sandy (536 points)

Top 10 Wrestlers

1. Rey Mysterio (116 points)
2. Shelton Benjamin (113 points)
3. John Cena (100 points)
4. Batista (95 points)
5. Booker T (92 points)
Kurt Angle (92 points)
7. Chris Benoit (90 points)
8. Paul London (81 points)
9. Edge (79 points)
10. Randy Orton (71 points)

Season 4

With Season 4 came two "mini-drafts." This was implemented as a means to "shake things up," making play more strategic and interesting. In a mini-draft, each GM would grant immunity to five of his wrestlers, leaving the rest of the team vulnerable to the draft. Each GM chose one wrestler from another GM's team, which was picked at random.

The Collage
As a tribute to the past superstars who helped make professional wrestling what it is today, we went against the norm for this season and decided to feature some of the WWE's hall of famers. A classic black and white look was sought with a bit of a grainy, old school feel.

Season 4 Placements

General Managers
1. Matt (990 points)
2. Brian (937 points)
3. Dan (842 points)

Top 10 Wrestlers

1. John Cena (118 points)
2. Lashley (115 points)
3. Big Show (99 points)
4. Rey Mysterio (90 points)
5. Kane (88 points)
6. Shawn Michaels (80 points)
7. Chris Benoit (79 points)
8. Kurt Angle (77 points)
9. Triple H (72 points)
10. Trevor Murdoch (71 points)

Season 5

In an effort to embrace professional wrestling, as a whole, WWE Fantasy included another wrestling promotion for the first time. With TNA's rising popularity, the promotion was added and WWE Fantasy's name was officially changed to WrestleLeague to recognize its more holistic appreciation of the business.

The Collage
Season 5 marked the first season in which Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) was included, joining WWE's Raw and SmackDown! brands, as well as WWE's ECW, which was added to the league part-way through Season 4. To highlight each of the four brands, colored strips representing each brand runs through some of that brand's wrestlers (red for Raw, blue for SmackDown!, purple for ECW, and maroon for TNA).

Since Season 3's top scorer was not included in the Season 4 collage (due to the hall of fame tribute), Rey Mysterio--as well as John Cena, Season 4's top scorer--is featured in this season's image.

Season 5 Placements

General Managers
1. Dan (1054 points)
2. Matt (1046 points)
3. Brian (860 points)
4. Justin (812 points)
5. Nathan (616 points)
6. Joe (481 points)

Overall Top 10 Wrestlers

1. John Cena (157 points)
2. Bobby Lashley (144 points)
3. Matt Hardy (128 points)
4. Jeff Hardy (123 points)
5. Batista (111 points)
6. CM Punk (108 points)
7. Umaga (88 points)
8. Shawn Michaels (85 points)
9. Kurt Angle (79 points)
10. Chris Sabin (78 points)

Top 10 WWE Superstars

1. John Cena (157 points)
2. Bobby Lashley (144 points)
3. Matt Hardy (128 points)
4. Jeff Hardy (123 points)
5. Batista (111 points)
6. CM Punk (108 points)
7. Umaga (88 points)
8. Shawn Michaels (85 points)
9. John Morrison (74 points)
10. Ric Flair (70 points)

Top 10 TNA Wrestlers

1. Kurt Angle (79 points)
2. Chris Sabin (78 points)
3. Samoa Joe (65 points)
4. Jay Lethal (62 points)
5. Robert Roode (60 points)
6. Senshi (59 points)
7. Homicide (58 points)
8. Brother Devon (54 points)
Christian Cage (54 points)
James Storm (54 points)

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