wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Cena Battles Nakamura

September 29, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 26 of 411’s Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview of the rules to kick things off for us as a reminder…

Each writer chooses FIVE wrestlers (although ties and tag teams are allowed, and more on a special occasion) from any promotion and each wrestler gets a point total attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1

Then we tally up the votes and the official 411 Wrestler of the Week is crowned. But wait, there’s more! Each week the top SIX vote getters get a points value for their ranking which looks something like this…

1st – 15
2nd – 12
3rd – 9
4th – 6
5th – 3
6th – 1

…and they go towards the 411 Wrestler of the Year award to be announced each year around WrestleMania. This will be posted every Tuesday (the voting week runs Monday through Sunday). Let’s see who wins this week…

 photo WrestlerOfWeek_zps4f74fe91.jpg

Larry Csonka
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
Shinsuke Nakamura is once again the IWGP IC Champion, defeating Goto at the Destruction in Kobe event. They were the main event, and had a damn fine main event match, once where they seemed to put all of the pieces together. Nakamura will next defend against Karl Anderson, and is reportedly on track to battle AJ Styles at WrestleKingdom.

2) Susumu Yokosuka & K-Ness: Susumu Yokosuka & K-Ness defeated Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa to wit the Dragon Gate Summer Adventure Tag League.
3) Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge: Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge defeated TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado to win NOAH’s G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League tournament.
4) Kenny Omega
5) Tiger Mask IV

Kevin Pantoja
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
The biggest news coming out of the two Destruction shows this week was that Shinsuke Nakamura is once against the IWGP Intercontinental Champion. He’s become synonymous with that belt and is the main reason that it has been elevated to the level that it has. Earlier this year, he lost it to Hirooki Goto before also losing the rematch at Dominion in July. During the G1 Climax however, he defeated Goto, earning him another shot. Nakamura was able to hit a big time Boma Ye and entered his fifth reign with the belt. You have to figure that he will carry it into Wrestle Kingdom and co-headline alongside the Tanahashi/Okada main event against a big name. I’m hoping for Styles/Nakamura in the Tokyo Dome.

2) reDRagon: reDRagon went 2-0 during the NJPW Destruction shows. On Destruction in Okayama, they defeated Mascara Dorada and Jushin Thunder Liger in what was a bit of a warmup match. It was a decent match but was just setting them up for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title defense in Kobe. They faced the Time Splitters. I went in expecting the Time Splitters to win considering KUSHIDA had just dropped the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title in Okayama, but reDRagon retained in a really fun match. It wasn’t on the level of their best work (Power Struggle last year), but it was still good and capped a strong week for Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish in Japan.
3) Togi Makabe: The first Destruction show this week was the one in Okayama. The main event of the show was for the NEVER Openweight Championship, held by Togi Makabe. I badly wanted Kota Ibushi to win the title here but it was not to be. Despite this, they delivered a strong main event and showed that they deserved a headlining spot. The match was hard hitting and damn good, with Makabe having to alter his finisher slightly to win since Kota had him well scouted. Makabe’s team may have lost at Destruction in Kobe, but his main event win was enough to crack the top three.
4) Ethan Carter III
5) Matt Sydal

Ryan Byers
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
After what has felt like a very slow month, pretty much every Japanese promotion had something going on this week. I wish I could do more to acknowledge the smaller companies, but New Japan truly is the King of Sport at this point, and they put on two loaded cards. The winner of the top match of the week was Shinsuke Nakamura, who regained his IWGP Intercontinental Title from Hirooki Goto. Karl Anderson is Nakamura’s next challenger, but that feels like more of a transitional feud, and I am interested to see what the long game is for Shinsuke. Perhaps he will spin off from the Anderson match to face fellow Bullet Club member AJ Styles?

2) Togi Makabe: If I was surprised by one result this week, it was Makabe’s NEVER Title victory over Kota Ibushi. This may be a sign that there will be renewed focus on the directionless gorilla.
3) Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada: The former Osaka Pro team reunited and won NOAH’s junior heavyweight tag team tournament this week.
4) Kenny Omega
5) Tiger Mask

Mike Hammerlock
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
New Japan dominated this week. Nakamura won back the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Hirooki Goto. Classic case of overwhelming force beating outstanding resolve. Like Kevin, I’m hoping this leads to Nakamura vs. AJ Styles, though a Wrestle Kingdom rematch with Kota Ibushi would be all kinds of groovy too.

2) Togi Makabe: Everyone gets to look good when they face Ibushi and the Unchained Gorilla is no exception. The NEVER Openweight Championship is having itself a very good year. The quality of the matches for the belt this year has been consistently high.
3) reDRagon: The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is so much better than the heavyweight version. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish this week defended their belts against a personal favorite of mine, the Time Splitters (any team with Alex Shelley is going to be awesome). The match was, predictably, a blast. In other tag news, the ’80s tribute team of N_R_G (Hype Rockwell and Race Jaxon) beat Chikara’s monster team, the Devastation Corporation, to win the Campeonatos de Parejas belts, which is why you see the vote below.
4) Drew Galloway
5) Hype Rockwell and Race Jaxon

Mike Chin
1) John Cena:
Hate all you want, John Cena pinned the WWE World Heavyweight Champion clean in the main event of Raw to successfully to defend and further re-establish the credibility of the United States title.

2) Shinsuke Nakamura: The new and now five-time IWGP Intercontinental Champion struck gold and has all kinds of high profile possibilities ahead of him in Japan.
3) Drew Galloway: Galloway won his way into a TNA world title shot at Bound For Glory in the main event five-way match on this week’s Impact.
4) Kane
5) Paige

GREG DEMARCO
1) John Cena:
John Cena followed up on capturing the United States Championship via pinfall over the sitting World Heavyweight Champion by successfully defending the United States Championship via pinfall over the sitting World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins. If we did WWE Power Rankings, he’d have to be #1 over the world champ.

2) Ethan Carter III: The TNA World Heavyweight Champion defeated Rockstar Spud in what’s being called one of the best matches of 2015 to date. He heads towards Bound For Glory with a ton of momentum, important as the company needs a bright spot right now.
3) Kane: The Big Red Demon Director of Operations returned in a big way, revealing Monday that his character is either suffering from multiple personality disorder, or really messing with the minds of everyone around. Kane’s career is definitely coming to a close, and his last storyline might be his most entertaining.
4) Drew Galloway
5) Shinsuke Nakamura

Jack McGee
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
Defeated Hirooki Goto in a great match at NJPW’s Destruction in Kobe event to reclaim the IWGP IC Title. They were the main event of the show and put on one of the best matched of the September tour.

2) John Cena: I absolutely hate the booking, but with that being said, John Cena once again defeated the WWE World Champion, and clean as a sheet.
3) Drew Galloway: Your NEW #1 contender for the TNA World Title, and will now main event Bound for Glory against EC3.
4) Kenny Omega
5) Tiger Mask IV

Jeremy Thomas
1) Shinshuke Nakamura:
Won the IGWP Intercontinental Title from Hirooki Goto to mark his fifth reign with the title.

2) Paige: No, of course it wasn’t a CM Punk-level “pipe bomb” promo. Arguably, it wasn’t even AJ Lee-level. But Paige’s heel turn and promo on Raw added some storyline to the Divas Revolution following Nikki’s record-breaking reign and set things out for an interesting title match coming up. The Divas Revolution will need stories and not just shuffling through various iterations of matches, and this came across well.
3) Drew Galloway: Drew won a TNA World Title shot at Bound For Glory against Ethan Carter III on Impact, which is enough for #3 in a fairly slow week.
4) ReDRagon
5) Jun Akiyama

Wyatt Beougher
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
While I think it’s absolutely time to pull the trigger and make the King of Strong Style the new ace of New Japan, or at least give him enough time at the top of the card to see if that’s as feasible as most NJPW fans think it is, winning back the title that he is basically synonymous with is enough to earn the top spot this week. Like most of my compatriots, I’m hoping that Karl Anderson challenging for Nakamura’s title is just a way to transition us to Nakamura/Styles, but regardless of who he faces for the rest of the year leading up to Wrestle Kingdom, it will most definitely be entertaining.

2) reDRagon: I’m narrowly giving Fish and O’Reilly the second spot over their heavyweight counterparts for the simple fact that my markdom for Alex Shelley demands that I show preference for anyone who beats him (or, in this case, the Time Splitters). reDRagon continue to make a case for themselves as far as being the best tag team in the business, and the potential for New Day/reDRagon or Vaudevillians/reDRagon just makes me wish that all of those rumors earlier in the year about WWE and NJPW running a crossover show were true.
3) Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows: The Bullet Club pairing retained their IWGP heavyweight tag team championship against TenKozy. No shame in that, but also not enough to put them any higher on the list this week.
4) Ethan Carter III
5) John Cena


THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Kenny Omega – 6 Votes

* Fifth Place… Ethan Carter III – 8 Votes

* Fourth Place…Togi Makabe – 11 Votes

* Third Place…Drew Galloway, reDRagon (Fish and O’Reilly) – 13 Votes

The new #1 contender for the TNA World Title and still the current IWGP Jr Tag Team Champions.

* Second Place…John Cena – 15 Votes

Once again defeated WWE World Champion

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

 photo Nakamura WOTW_zpsztciz6tm.png

Shinsuke Nakamura – 40 Votes

Your NEW IWGP IC Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week twenty-six

1. John Cena – 76 pts.

2. Seth Rollins – 61 pts.

3. Kevin Owens – 57 pts.

4. Kofi Kingston – 47 pts.
4. Big E – 47 pts.

6. Jay Lethal – 42 pts.

7. Shinsuke Nakamura – 39 pts.

8. Xavier Woods – 34 pts.

9. Mil Muertes – 31 pts.

10. Sasha Banks – 30 pts.

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 27 pts.
KUSHIDA – 27 pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 27 pts.

Prince Puma – 25 pts.
Ethan Carter III – 25 pts.

Drago – 24 pts.
Fenix – 24 pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 24 pts.
Dean Ambrose – 24 pts.
Kota Ibushi – 24 pts.
AJ Styles – 24 pts.

Finn Balor – 22 pts.

Nick Jackson – 21 pts.
Matt Jackson – 21 pts.
Cesaro – 21 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 21 pts.

Aerostar – 18 pts.
Alberto El Patron – 18 pts.
Roman Reigns – 18 pts.
Bubba Ray Dudley – 18 pts.
D-Von Dudley – 18 pts.

Zack Sabre Jr – 16 pts.

Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Matt Hardy – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.
Brock Lesnar – 15 pts.
Undertaker – 15 pts.
Bobby Fish – 15 pts.
Togi Makabe – 15 pts.

Kazarian – 13 pts.
Christopher Daniels – 13 pts.
Sting – 13 pts.

Samoa Joe – 12 pts.
Rey Mysterio Jr. – 12 pts.
Katsuyori Shibata – 12 pts.
Mike Bennett – 12 pts.
Matt Taven – 12 pts.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey – 12 pts.
Rich Swann – 12 pts.
Ivelisse – 12 pts.
Bayley – 12 pts.
Bobby Roode – 12 pts.
Drew Galloway – 12 pts.

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.
Roderick Strong – 10 pts.
Eddie Edwards – 10 pts.
Davey Richards – 10 pts.

Ryback – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 pts.
Sheamus – 9 pts.
Sami Zayn – 9 pts.
Rocky Romero – 9 pts.
Trent Baretta – 9 pts.
Kimber Lee – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.
Timothy Thatcher – 9 pts.

Michael Elgin – 6 pts.
Minoru Suzuki – 6 pts
Tigre Uno – 6 pts.
KAI – 6 pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6 pts.
Takashi Sugiura – 6 pts.
Charlotte – 6 pts.
King Bad News Barrett – 6 pts.
Nicole Matthews – 6 pts.

Neville – 5 pts.

Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 3 pts.

Chris Hero – 1 pt.
PJ Black – 1 pt.
Pentagon Jr – 1 pt.
El Siniestro de la Muerte – 1 pt.
Barrio Negro – 1 pt.
Terce – 1 pt.
King Cuerno – 1 pt.
Mark Andrews – 1 pt.
Kenny King – 1 pt.
Nikki Bella – 1 pt.
Kalisto – 1 pt.
Titus O’Neil – 1 pt.
Aiden English – 1 pt.
Simon Gotch – 1 pt.
Darren Young – 1 pt.
Kenny Omega – 1 pt.
Minoru Tanaka – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Jun Kasai – 1 pt.
Manabu Soya – 1 pt.
Tetsuya Naito – 1 pt.


* Voting began 4.06.15

* Year-End Rankings Key:

WWE Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLUE.

TNA Contracted Wrestlers are represented in GREEN.

ROH Contracted Wrestlers are represented in RED.

US Independent Wrestlers are represented in MAROON.

Japanese Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLACK.

Mexican/Lucha Underground Contracted Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.

Other International Wrestlers are represented in INDIGO.


**PREVIOUS WINNERS**

Year One Winner: Ric Flair (2005-2006) (Shortened year, starting September 2005)


Year Two Winner: Samoa Joe (2006-2007)


Year Three Winner: John Cena (2007-2008)


Year Four Winner: Chris Jericho (2008-2009)


Year Five Winner: CM Punk (2009-2010)


Year Six Winner: The Miz (2010-2011)


Year Seven Winner: CM Punk (2011-2012)


Year Eight Winner: CM Punk (2012-2013)


Year Nine Winner: Daniel Bryan (2013-2014)

 photo Rollins WOTY_zpsozlrughk.png
Year Ten Winner: Seth Rollins (2014-2015)