Hi Max

Firstly, I like this design and I do think it has potential. You might want to make the jaws a little wider to give you a better shot of grabbing larger bots, but it's unique enough to have a good shot at getting chosen & I could definitely see it winning a few fights at least. The only thing that concerns me is when you grab someone if their wheels are at the back they could still touch the floor depending on their design. If you made the front wedge longer, or possibly used forks either side of the grabber, you might be able to mitigate this somewhat, as well as give you an easier time keeping your front on the floor.

Regarding components, if you look at the Bristol Bot Builders website https://bristolbotbuilders.com/parts.html they have a good list of recommended components, including servos & escs. I'd also suggest checking out ranglebox. https://ranglebox.com/# I'm putting together my first BW myself & I bought my motors & escs here (I went with the 10a).

1000rpm motors & servos are usable options and probably the easiest to work with but there are definitely stronger ones competitively. Admittedly I'm no expert regarding BW's so I can't suggest specifics but I know most of the BW community are on the Bristol Bot Builders & unofficial Robot Wars facebook group so you could ask there. If it were me I'd use the servos & 1000rpm motors for now, go to a few events, get the physical aspect of the design nailed down first, then if you feel you need to upgrade the internals from there.