ACW Draft 2017

The 2017 ACW Draft is an upcoming special event for Anime Championship Wrestling. It is the third edition of the ACW Draft and is scheduled to take place on January 6, 2017. The show will consist of the annual draft, as well as several matches between wrestlers and their brands.

Buildup & Hype
The show's main focus is on the ACW Draft. Both the ACW Excel and ACW Impulse brands will be able to randomly draft five members of the opposing brands each, which would include anyone on the roster. The only exceptions to this rule, howerever, would be all but two of the brand's champions (Akuma, Sasuke Uchiha, Lubbock, Wave, Ryu, Ken Masters, Reiko Hinomoto, and Goten), as they held titles exclusive to their brands. Also exempt from this are Haru Glory and Kankuro, who held Road to Destiny briefcases for their respective brand's world titles. The only champions that could be drafted were ACW Television Champion Joe Higashi and ACW Intercontinental Champion Solid Snake, as both titles are interchangable and not completely exclusive to a set brand. General Managers Roger Smith and Goku are also eligible to be drafted, in which case a new general manager for that brand will be named when the new season begins.

On November 22, 2016, it was announced that the ACW Cruiserweight Championship would be defended when Goten defends the title against Ness. Goten won the title by defeating Eren Yeager at Apocalypse 2015, and had been defending the title since then as a member of the villainous Juraian-Saiyan Alliance. After the group's disbandment and banishment from ACW at the close of Animania IV, all the invading members of the JSA not signed to ACW were terminated from their contracts, while the defected memebrs signed to ACW would undergo severe punishments at the start of the season. Among the exceptions were Goten and Solid Snake, as they held ACW titles, but they would have until the start of the new year to sign new contracts or be stripped of their respective titles. The announcement of this match had confirmed Goten's new contract, as well as his punishment for his involvement in the JSA by defending against Ness, who was now on his own following the breakup of Earthbound at the start of 2015.

On November 16, 2016, ACW officially announced the signing of SEA wrestler Mighty Yukiko. Yukiko had previously competed at the ACW Direct edition of Animania IV, in a losing effort to Sakura Hagiwara. Impressed by her skill in the match, it was decided for Yukiko to be signed to the Excel brand as a part of the Glamor-X Division. On November 24, it was announced she would make her proper ACW debut in a singles match against Ino Yamanaka at the ACW Draft.

Match Card
ACW Cruiserweight Championship Goten (c) vs. Ness

Mighty Yukiko vs. Ino Yamanaka