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Elite Survey #3 Results! I’m finally closing my third version of the year “Elite Survey” with a total of 58 surveys taken, which was a slight improvement over the total number of responses of the second version, but still far behind for the first iteration. Let’s get the FOURTH version over 100! It’s up and running now, so please take a few moments to fill it out HERE. What is it? Let’s turn the wayback machine to 2016 when the app was brand new. Back then we were all new to the digital trading card paradigm, though some of us have been playing the games since Topps introduced Bunt in 2012. Most players quickly discovered that not every card in the game was created equal, there were a lot of factors that determined value of any given single. Besides the obvious scarcity of any given card, the single most determining factor for value is who’s on the card itself. Certain performers are just in higher demand than others, and players will pay a premium for the “elite” wrestlers in the game. Just as there are top-of-the-card, mid-card and jobbers in the real WWE, there are the same tiers in this game. What I wanted to do back in 2016 was objectively determine which in-game performers were the most popular across the board, and thus who’s more likely to have a higher in-game value. I’ve run this survey each year of the game and I think we’ve got a really good understanding of who is really “in the elite.” Survey #2 Results Before we get to the results of the 3rd survey, check out the results of the 2nd survey that finished out 2017 HERE. Now, on with the show. I’ve listed the top 10 or so vote getters for each individual category alongside the percentage of the votes they got for that category. Remember you can vote for multiple individuals within each category, and some categories just aren’t as popular as others, so I didn’t make it mandatory to vote for them. Current Roster Males

Rank Performer % 1 AJ Styles 85 2 Finn Balor 67 3 Seth Rollins 62 4 Undertaker 52 5 Roman Reigns 48 6 Daniel Bryan 35 7 Miz 33 8 Dean Ambrose 29 9 John Cena 29 10 Kevin Owens 29

The top 3 Males remained exactly the same for the second year in a row, and AJ has now topped all 3 years of the survey. He was also the #1 vote-getter overall for the 2nd time in 3 years. Undertaker jumped 4 slots to #4 from #8 last time, while Roman dropped a slot. Daniel Bryan made a triumphant return to the WWE and charted for the first time alongside Miz who made his first appearance in the top 10 as well. Ambrose dropped a slot, while Cena moved up one. Owens returned to the list after being #4 in 2016 and failing to chart in 2017. The undisputed most popular performer in all of WWE Slam for 3 years running, the Phenomenal A….J……STYLES! Current Roster Females

Rank Performer % 1 Alexa Bliss 78 2 Becky Lynch 74 3 Ronda Rousey 64 4 Charlotte Flair 60 5 Asuka 55 6 Sasha Banks 48 7 Peyton Royce 38 8 Mandy Rose 33 9 Bayley 31 10 Carmella 29

The top two vote-getters remained static from 2017 to 2018, though Alexa dipped slightly in percentage from 81 to 78 while Becky increased from 69 to 74. Ronda Rousey made a strong debut at #3, which moved Charlotte down a notch. Asuka, Sasha Banks and Bayley all held their slots respectively, while Peyton Royce made her debut at #7. Mandy Rose moved up two spots while Carmella moved down two spots. The Goddess has been the single most popular female performer for two straight years. Is she still #1 in 2019? You betcha! NXT Males

Rank Performer % 1 Adam Cole 78 2 Aleister Black 71 3 Ricochet 66 4 Johnny Gargano 53 5 Tomasso Ciampa 42 6 Velveteen Dream 42 7 EC3 27 8 Kyle O’Reilly 15 9 Roderick Strong 15 10 Bobby Fish 11

Once again the top two remain static. Ricochet made a strong debut though and actually was the 13th highest vote getter overall for 2018. Gargano drops a slot to #4, while former #DIY partner Tomasso Ciampa makes a big move from #10 to #5. Velveteen Dream remained static, as did Roderick Strong. EC3, O’Reily and Fish made their debut. For the second year in a row Adam Cole is at the pinnacle of the NXT Males. NXT Females

Rank Performer % 1 Kairi Sane 71 2 Nikki Cross 53 3 Shayna Baszler 38 4 Candice LeRae 33 5 Dakota Kai 27 6 Lacey Evans 24 7 Bianca Belair 18 8 Taynara Conti 9 9 Aliyah 2 10 Toni Storm 2

Kairi Sane made a strong move from #4 in 2017 all the way to #1 in 2018, of course it helps that the previous top 3 all moved to the main roster. Similar help went to Nikki Cross at #2 from #5, , Baszler from #6 to #3, Bianca Belair from #9 to #7 and Lacey Evans from #10 to #6. Conti remained static, while Aliyah dropped two slots, and Toni Storm and Dakota Kai made their top 10 debuts. The Pirate Princess makes a strong move upwind to the top of the charts. 205 Live

Rank Performer % 1 Buddy Murphy 44 2 Neville 42 3 Cedric Alexander 40 4 Mustafa Ali 37 5 Hideo Itami 21 6 Noam Dar 14 7 TJP 14 8 Gentleman Jack Gallagher 12 9 Kalisto 12 10 Lio Rush 12

Clearly the survey was made when Neville was still in the WWE, he won’t appear in this category for 2019. Murphy was the clear winner here, not charting in 2017 and appearing at #1 in 2018. Cedric moved up a slot, while Mustafa Ali moved up 6 slots. Itami dropped 2, as did TJP. Gallagher remained static while Noam Dar, Kalisto and Lio Rush all made top 10 debuts. “He might not be Alexa’s main squeeze anymore, nor is he the Cruiserweight Champion either, but he’s still the most popular of the 205 Live guys.” Legends

Rank Performer % 1 Stone Cold Steve Austin 74 2 Shawn Michaels 72 3 The Rock 72 4 Bret The Hitman Hart 61 5 Edge 54 6 Ric Flair 54 7 Eddie Guerrero 52 8 Macho Man Randy Savage 50 9 Trish Stratus 37 10 Sting 37

After topping this chart for the first two years, The Rock finally drops to #3 while Austin moves into the lead from #4 (he was #2 in 2016). Shawn Michaels comes in at #2 due to his increasing screen time on WWE products, with my personal favorite Bret Hart coming in at #4, up from #9 the first two years. Edge moved up from a tie for #10. Ric Flair moved a slot, while Sting remained static. Eddie Guerrero returned to the top 10 after missing 2018 down from #5 in 2016, while Randy Savage who was also skipped in 2017 moved down from #6 in 2016. Trish Stratus dropped precipitously from #3 all the way to #9. The Rattlesnake overcame The Rock this year. Can he repeat? Two new sections for 2018 are up last. Authority and Announcers

Rank Performer % 1 Paige 72 2 Triple H 66 3 Stephanie McMahon 57 4 Renee Young 57 5 Kurt Angle 40 6 Shane McMahon 36 7 Corey Graves 32 8 William Regal 19 9 Jojo 17 10 Howard Finkel 11

This is kind of a catch-all section for performers who aren’t regular in-ring personnel or who are announcers. Obviously Paige’s retirement shot her straight to the top with Triple H and his wife Stephanie coming in 2nd and 3rd. Renee Young is the only other outstanding performer in this area. Despite no longer actively performing, Paige is still being issued in PPV sets, like Money in the Bank. This card will sell out at 100 CC, and I happened to pull one. Want it? Trade me. I collect Finn and Becky! No Longer in WWE (but have cards)

Rank Performer % 1 Emma 49 2 Austin Aries 44 3 Enzo Amore 28 4 Eva Marie 26 5 Summer Rae 9 6 Big Cass 7 7 Jack Swagger 3 8 Darren Young 2 9 Simon Gotch 1

Lastly these performers have left WWE but still have cards in the game. Not sure why I still bother, but actually just recently I saw someone in the Facebook Group “The Syndicate” who just recently decided to player collect all of Emma. There’s certainly something to be said about trying to complete a player collection when you know there won’t be any additional cards forthcoming. That said, they’re still issuing Dean Ambrose cards, and I just pulled a Big Cass card from the Prize Wheel. And then there’s Emma. Conclusions So what does all this mean? Well within each category you can see who is “elite” quite easily. But if we aggregate all the various categories, what can we see from the results?

Survey #3 Overall Rankings

Rank Performer Votes Survey 1 AJ Styles 49 WWE Male 2 Alexa Bliss 45 WWE Female 3 Becky Lynch 43 WWE Female 4 Adam Cole 43 NXT Male 5 Stone Cold Steve Austin 40 Legend 6 Aleister Black 39 NXT Male 7 Kairi Sane 39 NXT Female 8 Shawn Michaels 39 Legend 9 The Rock 39 Legend 10 Finn Balor 39 WWE Male 11 Paige 38 Authority/Announcer 12 Ronda Rousey 37 WWE Female 13 Ricochet 36 NXT Male 14 Seth Rollins 36 WWE Male 15 Triple H 35 Authority/Announcer 16 Charlotte Flair 35 WWE Female 17 Bret The Hitman Hart 33 Legend 18 Asuka 32 WWE Female 19 Stephanie McMahon 30 Authority/Announcer 20 Renee Young 30 Authority/Announcer 21 Undertaker 30 WWE Male