DeMiNe0 just mentioned this to me here the other day, so it should definetely be possible.
And yes, the template calls and major parts of the coding will stay the same for v3 Final, since all there is left to it is weed out bugs and complete the Monster Arena, which is a seperate file and does not require editing of any other files than admincp/index.php
I just took a look at your file, and it looks cool indeed

I think the items should be placed below everything you have so far, because since admins can add more item categories at will, it would be bad if the items were placed somewhere else thus maybe stretching the page.