wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week: Did Rusev Take #1?

December 2, 2014 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR TEN, WEEK 34 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) 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…

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Larry Csonka
1) Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo:
Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo defeated KAI & Ryota Hama in the semifinals and then AKIRA & Manabu Soya in the tournament finals to win the first Wrestle-1 Tag Team titles. There can only be one first, and with not much really going on accomplishment wise, they grab the top spot for me.

2) Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura: These men defended two sets of tag titles in to different matches on the same day. On November 24th they defended the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles against Kohei Sato & Hideki Suzuki for ZERO1. Later that day they defended the GHC Tag Team Titles against Naomichi Marufuji & Mohammed Yone. Rock on tag team wrestling.
3) Rusev: Continues to be booked strong as the US Champion, surviving a 20-man battle royal to retain his title.
4) Finn Balor
5) Dolph Ziggler

Mike Chin
1) CM Punk:
I know there are folks out there who will hate this choice, but CM Punk not only grabbed headlines with his podcast appearance on The Art of Wrestling, but raised awareness of WWE personnel issues to an unprecedented level. The podcast offered a unique statement from a unique and important personality in professional wrestling history.

2) Dolph Ziggler: While it wasn’t exactly a star-making week for Ziggler, it was a fair enough follow up to his Survivor Series triumph, standing tall alongside John Cena in the Raw main event tag, and getting a countout victory over Luke Harper on Smackdown.
3) Rusev: Rusev was the lone member of The Authority’s Survivor Series team to escape all manner of indignity this week; he got an on-air interaction with Sergeant Slaughter and followed it up by successfully defending his US Championship in a twenty-man battle royal on Smackdown.
4) Finn Balor
5) Ryback

Justin Watry
1) CM Punk:
Be sure to read my NEW column on the entire CM Punk/Colt Cabana Art of Wrestling podcast. Personally, I disagreed with nearly everything he said and really felt the whole thing fell into the predictable/redundant trap of “Ex-WWE Superstar just rips the company for two hours.” However, you can read my full breakdown elsewhere. Even so, he clearly was the talk of the town this past week and as noted, it forced me to write an entire column on the topic. That counts for something, right?

2) Rusev: Good stuff on RAW. Retained his United States Championship in a battle royal on Smackdown. Kudos to WWE for making the Blue Brand relevant the past two weeks…
3) Seth Rollins: More of the same quality outings from Seth Rollins. The man continues his incredible 2014 year in WWE.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) Colt Cabana

Greg DeMarco
1. CM Punk:
Is there really anyone else? He made news this week, news that could potentially change the business as a whole. Will it? Who knows, but at a minimum he was easily the most talked about wrestler of the week. And I still consider him a wrestler, at least for these purposes.

2. Daniel Bryan: You know it’s a crazy week when CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are my top two. Bryan had a great return that made fans long for the day he steps back into the ring again.
3. Seth Rollins: With the heel world champion on the sidelines, Seth was the primary focus of the top level faces on the roster during WWE programming this week.
4. Dean Ambrose
5. Finn Balor

Alex Crowder
1) Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura:
I’m not going to rate CM Punk because he’s not technically a wrestler right now. I will not put CM Punk in the rankings until he’s actively signed by a wrestling promotion. Now onto the rankings, I may be a bit biased because Masato Tanaka is one of my favorites even into his forties! Nonetheless, anyone that can wrestle in two different promotions on the same day deserves some credit; especially, when both matches were successful title matches!

2) Rusev: I must admit I really hate battle royals and there have been too many to count this year. Still, Rusev got a victory over a lot of people in one and continues to be booked strongly. I remember a lot of people thinking Rusev would fail and it has yet to happen.
3) Dean Ambrose: Ambrose had a pretty good week in a good match with Harper. Also, he got a good effort out of Kane, which happens about as often as a comet passing. Dean had a great week and deserves some credit.
4) Seth Rollins
5) Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo

Jeremy Thomas
1) CM Punk:
I know Punk is retired of course, but for me WOTW is about who made the biggest splash in the wrestling world. And without question, that was the former Straight-Edge Superstar. I mean, what can you really say other than that he made the holiday five-day weekend very, VERY interesting. It’ll be interesting to see how WWE openly reacts to this, because I am sure that something will happen.

2) Dolph Ziggler: Ziggler’s push continued last week and while he didn’t get a rocket strapped to him, he is definitely being treated like a much bigger star than he was before Survivor Series. Good on WWE for making good on the Survivor Series push thus far.
3) Colt Cabana: Cabana may have ruined his chances at a WWE career in the remotely near future, but he is sure to have increased his profile tenfold in terms of other promotions. And I know that wasn’t his goal necessarily, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
4) Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura
5) Daniel Bryan

Mike Hammerlock
1) Dolph Ziggler:
While I still consider CM Punk a wrestler (because you’re not retired until you’re dead), he didn’t wrestle or do anything that set up a wrestling match. Meanwhile Dolph Ziggler main-evented both Raw and Smackdown and did a fine job of it. Hopefully this is all building toward something big for him. He deserves it. The man is standing out every week.

2) Rusev: Nice work winning that battle royal. He’s become more than “Rusev crush!”, which deserves some credit. He might just continue to be a major player after his winning streak is over.
3) Miz and Mizdow: Defended their newly won titles on Raw and then beat Los Matadores on Smackdown. Mizdow’s self-elimination during the U.S. title battle royal also was fun stuff. Nothing wrong with fun.
4) Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo
5) Dean Ambrose

Kevin Pantoja
1. Rusev:
While CM Punk was easily the biggest story of the week, I could not vote for him because he is no longer a wrestler. Anyway, nobody really had a standout week so I went with Rusev because retaining the United States Championship in a battle royal against pretty much the entire roster is pretty impressive. He was also involved in an important segment on Raw with Sgt. Slaughter and Jack Swagger, so a pretty good week.

2. Dean Ambrose: On Raw, Dean Ambrose stepped into the ring against Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper and they had a very good match that Ambrose won via disqualification. He was absent on Smackdown but did pick up a win over Concessions Kane on Main Event in a better match than most get with the Big Red Monster these days.
3. Dolph Ziggler: Coming off of quite possibly the biggest night of his career, Dolph Ziggler took a bit of a backseat on TV this week. On Raw, they pushed how Sting ended the Authority and didn’t give Dolph as much credit as they should. However, he did win the main events of both Raw and Smackdown. On Raw, he stood tall to close the show with John Cena and Daniel Bryan, while on Smackdownhe earned a countout victory against Intercontinental Champion Luke Harper. Solid stuff.
4. Finn Balor
5. A New Day

Ryan Byers
1) Dean Ambrose:
To address the elephant in the room, no, I am not voting for CM Punk. That’s not because I dislike Punk or disagree with the contents of his interview this week. (In fact, I agree with most of his points.) It’s because it is readily apparent that the guy doesn’t consider himself a wrestler anymore and has moved on to a new phase of his life. That said, Dean Ambrose had a pretty darn fun match with Luke Harper on Monday and an effort with Kane on Wednesday that is about as good as any effort you’re going to see against Kane these days. Plus, he won both matches, including a clean pinfall on the Big Red Monster even though they’re not presently involved in any sort of storyline together. That’s a solid week for Ambrose.

2) Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura: Sugiura of Pro Wrestling NOAH and Tanaka of ZERO1 have recently formed an interpromotional team and won the GHC Tag Team Titles promoted by NOAH and the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles promoted by ZERO1. On November 24, they pulled off a rare feat by successfully defending both sets of titles in the same day for two promotions, working on an afternoon show for ZERO1 and then an evening show for NOAH. They may be the new hardest working team in wrestling.
3) Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo: Hayashi and Kondo are the first-ever tag team champions in the Wrestle-1 promotion thanks to their win in a big league tournament this week.
4) Kotaro Suzuki
5) Daniel Bryan

Wyatt Beougher
1) Dolph Ziggler:
Be sure you check out my full breakdown of the CM Punk…oh wait, that’s not my gimmick. Anyway, Ziggler’s true star-making performance came a day before this voting period started, but I’m still giving him the nod this week based on picking up a tag team win in the main event of RAW and a (countout) win over the Intercontinental Champion on Smackdown. Hopefully the WWE creative team doesn’t squander what momentum was left for Ziggler after a fifty-five-year-old man having a forty-seven minute long staredown with a forty-five-year-old man leeched most of it away.

2) Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura: Regardless of what esteem you hold each set of titles in, defending two separate sets of titles in two different promotions on the same day is an impressive feat.
3) A New Day: I’d really like to put these guys higher, but their debut on Smackdown was corny and pretty much the antithesis of the reason that Xavier Woods was allegedly putting the group together. If they’re going to continue with this pseudo-religious gimmick, can we at least get Elijah Burke back to join the group? He knows something about the gimmick (wink wink nudge nudge) and his biggest detractor during his time in ECW is now officially on the outs with the WWE…
4) Rusev
5) Dean Ambrose


THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo – 11 Votes

* Fifth Place…Dean Ambrose – 14 Votes

* Fourth Place…Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura – 19 Votes

* Third Place…CM Punk – 20 Votes

Caused quite the stir this week with his podcast.

* Second Place…Dolph Ziggler – 24 Votes

Continues to impress with his in ring performances.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Rusev – 25 Votes

Defended his US Title in a 20-man battle royal on Smackdown.

The Standings~!
Here are the standings after week thirty-four

1. Seth Rollins – 138pts.

2. Dean Ambrose – 97pts.

3. AJ Styles – 74pts.

4. Roman Reigns – 71pts.
4. Dolph Ziggler – 71 pts.

6. Rusev – 67pts.

7. Bobby Lashley – 60pts.
7. John Cena – 60pts.

9. Eric Young – 58pts.

10. Kazuchika Okada – 45pts
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Brock Lesnar – 43pts.

Kyle O’Reilly – 33pts.

Ricochet – 27pts
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 27pts

Davey Richards – 25pts.
Eddie Edwards – 25pts.

Bobby Fish – 24pts.
Jey Uso – 24pts.
Jimmy Uso – 24pts.
Hideo Itami – 24pts.
Adrian Neville – 24pts.

Bobby Roode – 21pts.
Bad News Barrett – 21pts.

BxB Hulk – 19pts
Randy Orton – 19pts.
Bray Wyatt – 19pts

Luke Harper – 18pts.
Charlotte – 18pts.
Cesaro – 18pts.
Adam Cole – 18pts.

AJ Lee – 16pts.
Batista – 16pts.

Sting – 15pts.
Atlantis – 15pts.
Paige – 15pts.
YAMATO – 15pts
Takao Omori – 15pts
Sheamus – 15pts.
Johnny Gargano – 15pts.

Samoa Joe – 14pts.

Bully Ray – 13pts.

Ryback – 12pts.
The Rock – 12pts.
Icarus – 12pts.
Daniel Bryan – 12pts.
Chris Jericho – 12pts.
Michael Elgin – 12pts.
Jay Briscoe – 12pts.
Austin Aries – 12pts.

Stardust (Cody Rhodes) – 11pts.

KUSHIDA – 10pts.

Johnny Mundo – 9pts.
CM Punk – 9pts.
Havok – 9pts.
Ultimo Guerrero – 9pts.
Triple H – 9pts.
Yujiro Takahashi – 9pts
Masayuki Kono – 9pts
Minoru Suzuki – 9pts
Tyson Kidd – 9pts.

Goldust – 8pts.

Alicia Fox – 7pts.
Devon – 7pts.

Shelton Benjamin – 6pts.
Gail Kim – 6pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6pts.
Takashi Sugiura – 6pts.
Suwama – 6pts.
Bad Luck Fale – 6pts
Biff Busick – 6pts.
Erick Rowan – 6pts.
Damien Sandow – 6pts.
Stephanie McMahon – 6pts.
Kalisto – 6pts.
Rich Swann – 6pts.

Tomohiro Ishii – 4pts
Jeff Hardy – 4pts.

Taryn Terrell – 3pts.
Kenny Omega – 3pts.
Joe Doering – 3pts.
T-Hawk – 3pts.
EITA – 3pts.
Mark Henry – 3pts.
Tyler Breeze – 3pts.
Adam Rose – 3pts.
Jack Swagger – 3pts.
Sin Cara – 3pts.

The Miz – 2pt
Naomichi Marufuji – 2pt
Dasher Hatfield – 2pts.
Mr. Touchdown – 2pts.

Matt Hardy Hardy – 1pt
Kane – 1pt
Brie Bella – 1pt
Uhaa Nation – 1pt
Kota Ibushi – 1pt
Sanada – 1pt
Bram – 1pt
Alex Shelley – 1pt
Isami Kodaka – 1pt
Kazuyuki Fujita – 1pt
Vickie Guerrero – 1pt
Drew Galloway – 1pt
Caleb Konley – 1pt
Jimmy Susumu – 1pt
Jimmy Kagetora – 1pt
Fenix – 1pt
Kaz Hayashi – 1pt
Shuji Kondo – 1pt


* Voting began 4.15.14

* 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)