User blog comment:Seum Dwa21/Some theories/@comment-4010415-20161016120644

"Taking away what power they have"

Yeah, pretty much. That, and what Salem said: If you divide the people, you take away their power because people are stronger when they work together.

"The list"

It's also possible that the list held info they gathered that later helped Cinder rig the matches in a way where she could get the people she wanted in the finals rounds to win. For example, she must have known about Nora's Semblance, with the way she rigged JNPR's team match to where they got a biome that produces a lightning storm and a team that has someone who uses a cattle prod. Surely that wasn't just a way for the writers to tell us what Nora's Semblance is.