Since there is an overall point system to determine the winner that could cause some issues as there would be a lot of cogs before you could really count points fairly. Here is something I thought of that could make it a fairly good seed without taking a lot of time; instead only two weeks of no points.
We need to fill 12 spots with 12 teams as there will be a weekly minimum of this amount which should translate to six matches.
Week 1, 12 teams paired randomly and fight. So we have 6 winners and 6 losers. The six winners are placed randomly into the top 6 positions (Champ 1, inner circle 3, upper middle gears 2) and the six losers are placed randomly into the bottom 6 positions (lower middle gears 2, outer ring 3, and new comer slot 1)
Week 2, We give one crank of the cogs without points being awarded.
What this gives us
- Fair seeding
- Need to win at least twice to start the scoring in the top spot
- 6 matches every week
- Only two weeks of no points.