wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Did Cesaro Top Elgin?

November 17, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 33 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…

Larry Csonka
1) Michael Elgin:
Michael Elgin is the 2015 ROH Survival of the Fittest winner, and with that win comes an ROH World Title shot. On night one Elgin defeated Adam Cole and Moose in a three-way qualifying match, and then in the finals Elgin defeated Jay Briscoe, ACH, Silas Young, and Christopher Daniels (finally eliminating former ROH Champion Jay Briscoe) to finish the big weekend off. Elgin has said he wanted his title shot in Japan, and is rumored to get that at WK 10.

2) Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson: Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson defeated The Vaudevillains on NXT TV to win the NXT Tag Team Titles. They had a good showing in the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic, and turned those into a title shot and victory. I enjoy their no bullshit, old school approach to tag team wrestling and think they are really under appreciated.
3) Kalisto: Scored what I consider the biggest upset of the WWE World Title Tournament. I wasn’t a fan of the match overall, but it was nice to see Kalisto pick up a clean win over The Ryback.
4) Cesaro
5) Matt Hardy

Kevin Pantoja
1) Michael Elgin:
Ring of Honor held their annual Survival of the Fittest Tournament this past week. The winner this year was former ROH World Champion Michael Elgin. Elgin now earned himself a shot at the ROH World Title and champion Jay Lethal. Winning Survival of the Fittest would normally be enough to top this list, but to add to his week, it was announced that Elgin gets his title shot at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in the Tokyo Dome. Granted that will depend on the outcome of Lethal vs. AJ Styles at Final Battle, but this is huge for Elgin and ROH. Wrestle Kingdom is a huge show and Elgin got super over with the Japanese audience during his fantastic G1 Climax run earlier this year.

2) Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson: The tag team division in NXT has been the weakest point of the brand for a long time now. However, the division has certainly been improving as of late, with most of the teams on a level playing field. This week, the Vaudevillains lost their NXT Tag Team Titles to Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson. Their title win reminded me of the one by Blake and Murphy earlier this year. They kind of came from out of nowhere to win. I think they’ll have a similar reign too where it gets better as time goes on. I like the duo and their old school style. Being the only title change of the week puts them in this spot.
3) Cesaro: My favorite match of the week was the one between Cesaro and Sheamus on Raw. It was the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament. Cesaro and Sheamus always have good to great matches and this was another in a line of those. A lot of people expected Sheamus to win as Mr. Money in the Bank, especially considering Cesaro’s penchant for losing. Cesaro was able to pull out the win though and set up a match against Roman Reigns in the second round. I don’t expect to see Cesaro advance any further, but this was still a solid win for a guy that hasn’t had many lately.
4) Kalisto
5) Sasha Banks

Chad Perry
1) Michael Elgin: After a super hot week we have come back to normal. I really do not want to award this to Elgin, as he has not been a performed I have enjoyed in ROH for quite some time. However, Elgin did have the most successful week with his win at Survival of the Fittest, to which I let out a loud groan when I read. My excitement level for Lethal vs Elgin is only strong if the match does in fact happen in Japan.

2) Tajiri: Made a rare US appearance this weekend, competing in the double shot of shows for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore. This is Tajiri’s first US appearance in 2014 by my records. Both matches were treated like a big deal, along with Tajiri in general. Night 1 Tajiri teamed with Dreamer to defeat Eric Young & EC3. Night 2 Tajiri defeated Chris Hero in what had to have been a great match.
3) Eddie Edwards: While Edwards was on the losing end of his TNA Title Tournament match against Matt Hardy on Thursday night, the week was not a total wash. Saturday night Eddie, along with Davey Richards, defended their TNA World Tag Titles against the Dirty Heels in the main event of HOH11. We don’t get to see very much Eddie Edwards on the indies anymore, but when he shows up he is always ready to go and put on a great match.
4) Dawson & Wilder
5) Austin Aries

Mike Hammerlock
1) Michael Elgin:
Big weekend for Elgin, who’d been a bit of a forgotten man in ROH. He now gets to take on Jay Lethal for the ROH title over in Japan.

2) Cesaro: What if they held a WWE title tournament and only one of the first eight matches was notably good? Well, that would be the match Cesaro won.
3) The Briscoe Brothers: Beat the All-Night Express in a really good tag match on ROH TV.
4) Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder
5) ACH

Wyatt Beougher
1) Michael Elgin:
It’s tournament season! Ring of Honor’s annual Survival of the Fittest tournament had some competition this year since both WWE and TNA are currently in the midst of tournaments to crown a new top champion in each promotion. So why does Elgin, who won a tournament that merely made him the number one contender to the Ring of Honor championship, merit the top spot this week? Because Elgin was the only one to actually pick up a win in a tournament final, AND it looks like that win will get him a spot on New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 10 show in January, as Elgin said that he wants to face Jay Lethal for the championship in Japan and rumors have pegged that match as taking place at NJPW’s version of Wrestlemania. I actually really like that bit of parallelism, as the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 10 will be IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi, who won NJPW’s G1 Climax tournament back in August.

2) The Mechanics: Non-sequitur – I very much dislike the commentary team calling this team “Dash and Dawson”; they are the Mechanics, and I shall continue to refer to them as such. In a move that I certainly didn’t see coming, the team of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder upset the reigning champions the Vaudevillains to claim the NXT tag team championships. This marks the second time this year that a team used primarily as enhancement talent in NXT has won the tag team championships, with Blake and Murphy winning the title from the Lucha Dragons all the way back in January. Whether the Mechanics will go on to experience a lengthy reign like BAMF did remains to be seen, but even after a strong showing in the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic that saw them lose to eventual champions Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, this win was still surprising enough to merit a second-place finish in my voting this week.
3) Cesaro: I chose Cesaro out of all of the first-round winners in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament for the simple fact that he and Sheamus had the longest match in the first round and, in my opinion, the best. If you’ve seen Sheamus and Cesaro wrestle before, that shouldn’t be all that surprising, as they tend to bring out the absolute best in one another, and if I had any disappointment about the match, it’s only that it was saved for a semi-final match and given more time. Cesaro also got some extra consideration for handily winning the WWE.com poll for the Superstar that fans think should win the tournament, collecting 37% of the vote, with his next closest competitor also being his second-round opponent, Roman Reigns, who has 23% of the vote (both of those figures are as of Monday afternoon when I write this).
4) ECIII
5) Roman Reigns

Jack McGee
1) Michael Elgin:
Your 2015 ROH Survival of the Fittest winner, and now looking to regain the ROH Title with the title shot he earned.

2) Matt Hardy: Having a great run in the TNA World Title Series tournament.
3) Dash and Dawson: Your new NXT tag team champions.
4) Kalisto
5) ACH

Mike Chin
1) Michael Elgin:
The winner of the Survival of the Fittest tournament and new ROH title number one contender is an easy pick for the top spot in a win not a lot of other folks stood out.

2) The Undertaker and Kane: On Raw, the Brothers of Destruction got one more chance to look completely badass when they emerged from the fog and dismantled the Wyatts. I’m lukewarm on the presumptive blow off of the two aging monsters crushing the budding heel stable at Survivor Series. Just the same, taking the moment in a vacuum, it was fun bit of nostalgia, and salute to two legends.
3) Genichirio Tenryu: I grew up on the WWF, there was a long period during which Tenryu was one of the very, very few Japanese wrestlers I could have recognized, based on his appearance at WrestleMania 7. He had his retirement match this weekend, at the age of 65, opposite Kazuchika Okada, in front of a sizable audience–a milestone that feels worth celebrating this week.
4) Roman Reigns
5) Cesaro

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Tajiri, Undertaker and Kane – 4 Votes

* Fifth Place…Matt Hardy – 5 Votes

* Fourth Place…Kalisto – 7 Votes

* Third Place…Cesaro – 13 Votes

Continuing to impress, even though he’s Swiss and not over…

* Second Place…Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson – 19 Votes

Your NEW NXT Tag Team Champions!

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Michael Elgin – 35 Votes

Your 2015 Survival of the Fittest winner, and now set for an upcoming shot at the ROH Title…

The Standings
Here are the standings after week thirty-three…

1. John Cena – 80 pts.

2. Seth Rollins – 62 pts.
2. Kofi Kingston – 62 pts.
2. Big E – 62 pts.

5. Kevin Owens – 58 pts.

6. Xavier Woods – 49 pts.

7. Shinsuke Nakamura – 48 pts.

8. Jay Lethal – 43 pts.
8. Prince Puma/Ricochet – 43 pts.

10. Sasha Banks – 42 pts.

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Kazuchika Okada – 39 pts.
Roman Reigns – 39 pts.

Brock Lesnar – 33 pts.
Matt Hardy – 33 pts.

Finn Balor – 31 pts.
Mil Muertes – 31 pts.

Alberto Del Rio – 30 pts.
Cesaro – 30 pts.

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

Ethan Carter III – 25 pts.
Timothy Thatcher – 25 pts.

Drago – 24 pts.
Fenix – 24 pts.
Dean Ambrose – 24 pts.
Kota Ibushi – 24 pts.
AJ Styles – 24 pts.
Rocky Romero – 24 pts.
Trent Baretta – 24 pts.

Samoa Joe – 21 pts.
Nick Jackson – 21 pts.
Matt Jackson – 21 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 21 pts.
Michael Elgin – 21 pts.

Eddie Edwards – 19 pts.
Davey Richards – 19 pts.

Matt Sydal – 18 pts.
Aerostar – 18 pts.
Bubba Ray Dudley – 18 pts.
D-Von Dudley – 18 pts.

Zack Sabre Jr – 16 pts.
Undertaker – 16 pts.

Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.
Bobby Fish – 15 pts.
Togi Makabe – 15 pts.
Tomohiro Ishii – 15 pts.

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

Rey Mysterio Jr. – 12 pts.
Naomichi Marufuji – 12 pts.
Atsushi Kotoge – 12 pts.
Daisuke Harada – 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.
Bobby Roode – 12 pts.
Drew Galloway – 12 pts.
Apollo Crews – 12 pts.
Scott Dawson – 12 pts.
Dash Wilder – 12 pts.

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.
Roderick Strong – 10 pts.

Ryback – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 pts.
Sheamus – 9 pts.
Sami Zayn – 9 pts.
Kimber Lee – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.

Kalisto – 7 pt.

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.
Johnny Gargano – 6 pts.
Gail Kim – 6 pts.

Neville – 5 pts.

Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 3 pts.
Madison Eagles – 3 pts.
Jay Briscoe – 3 pts.
Shingo – 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.
Kane – 1 pt.
Jey Uso – 1 pt.
Jimmy Uso – 1 pt.
Nikki Bella – 1 pt.
Jason Jordan – 1 pt.
Chad Gable – 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.
Tajiri – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Jun Kasai – 1 pt.
Manabu Soya – 1 pt.
Tetsuya Naito – 1 pt.