wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Did Styles Take #1?

February 17, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR TEN, WEEK 45 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…

Larry Csonka
1) AJ Styles:
At the New Beginning in Osaka event, AJ Styles defeated champion Hiroshi Tanahashi to capture the IWGP Title for the second time. Styles had a great 2014, and really thrived in NJPW and many, including myself, felt that his title run was cut short. I love the fact that he’s getting a second run with the title, and shows that NJPW has a ton of faith in him. I love watching Styles continue to thrive in Japan, and in a loaded week, he captured the top spot for me.

2) Kevin Owens: Two months to the day of his NXT debut, Kevin Owens destroyed Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover; Rival to win the NXT Title. Owens won via referee stoppage in what came off as he most dominant win possible, and is off to a tremendous start in NXT.
3) Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma: At the New Beginning event in Sendai, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma to win the vacant NEVER Openweight title. They had a truly awesome match, one that is one of the very best I have reviewed thus far in 2015 and should be in contention for MOTY when the voting time rolls around. The layout and work were excellent, and this ended up as a beautiful display of violence.
4) The Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr.)
5) Sasha Banks

Ryan Byers
1) AJ Styles:
Styles defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi earlier this week to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This establishes that Styles is more than just a flash in the pan for New Japan and that he’s going to be a regular top guy for the promotion for quite some time. This also gives AJ a special distinction in the history books, as he is only the third foreign-born wrestler in the nearly thirty year history of the IWGP Title to hold it on more than one occasion, the others being Vader and Scott Norton. AJ is a completely different style of wrestler than either Vader or Norton, but he’s just as effective in terms of playing the role of the company’s American antagonist.

2) Tomohiro Ishii: Ishii is once more the NEVER Openweight Champion but, perhaps more importantly than that, he put on the best match of the week by a longshot, which is a damned impressive statement in a week that featured big singles matches from the likes of Sami Zayn, Kevin Steen, Hiroshi Tanhashi, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, and many more.
3) Kota Ibushi: Due to his unique dual contractual status, Ibushi pulled double duty on major shows this week, first pinning Tomoaki Honma on NJPW’s New Beginning in Osaka show before moving on to Sendai where he teamed with Tetsuya Naito to go over Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba. From there, Ibushi main evented the latest major show for DDT, his original home promotion, where he defeated HARASHIMA in the main event to become the KO-D Openweight Champion. If he stays healthy, 2015 could be the year of Ibushi.
4) Killer Elite Squad
5) Tomoaki Honma

Mike Hammerlock
1) Tomohiro Ishii:
Built like a fire hydrant. In fact, there’s some fire hydrants taller than Ishii, but he’s relentless in the ring. Paired with Tomaki Honma for the vacant NEVER Openweight Championship (that Ishii lost last month to the currently out of commission Togi Makabe), Ishii regained that belt in what’s being called not just a MOTY contender, but perhaps the best match of Ishii’s career. History will render judgment on his career, but all credit to Ishii and Honma for putting the “strong” in strong style. Honma also wrestled the match of the night, against Kota Ibushi, the previous evening in New Japan’s two-night New Beginning event, so he’s got a vote below.

2) AJ Styles: Apparently the Japanese are taking a shine to American exports. AJ won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time in a year. They didn’t blow people’s minds like Ishii and Honma, so I’m stopping short o giving AJ the top spot. It’s his own fault for setting an impossible standard. Yet 2015 is shaping up to be another excellent year for the phenomenal one.
3) Kevin Owens: Won the NXT Championship exactly two months after his debut by wearing out Sami Zayn. It wasn’t a ***** match (they can, have and will do better), but it told a great story. Owens got on top of Zayn and beat him silly. Even in a near-catatonic state, Zayn refused to lay down or give up. Most impressive thing about Owens is how quick he can deliver an impact move. All roads now lead to Owens vs. Finn Balor, who beat Adrian Neville to become the #1 contender. Can’t wait.
4) Tomoaki Honma
5) Finn Balor

Kevin Pantoja
1. Kevin Owens:
This has to be one of the hardest weeks to make these choices ever. A lot has happened but the thing I have to put at the top was Kevin Owens winning the NXT Championship. The guy has only had three televised matches but vaulted of the top of the brand. His mach was Sami Zayn featured storytelling at its finest and was another in a string of fantastic matches from NXT on their specials. He came out looking like an absolute monster as he destroyed Sami until the referee had to call for the bell in an impressive performance.

2. AJ Styles: Since leaving TNA AJ Styles has rejuvenated his career. He won the IWGP Heavyweight Title last year before recapturing it this week against Hiroshi Tanahasi. With the fact that the Bullet Club seems to have a stranglehold on the titles in NJPW, I can see Styles having a pretty sustained run with the gold.
3. Sasha Banks: Yup, I’m going there and putting her in third. I realize that Tomohiro Ishii had a match of the year candidate but as a big fan of Sasha Banks, I had to show her love. The girl loves the business and she finally won the NXT Women’s Championship. With the SHIMMER Title, it’s the belt that I consider to be the pinnacle of women’s wrestling. Banks went out with Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley and had a fantastic match. She pinned the champion to win, which was unexpected, and her celebration was very emotional.
4. Tomohorio Ishii
5. Finn Balor

Mike Chin
1) Kevin Owens:
It was a tight week for me, between Owens and Styles vying for the top spot. I’m giving Owens the duke for what was quite arguably the biggest win of his career to date. His dominating victory over Sami Zayn at Rival offers the impression that WWE is taking him very seriously.

2) AJ Styles: Styles regained the IWGP Championship as he continues a superb run in Japan.
3) Daniel Bryan: We can debate the positive outcomes and limitations of the booking this week on Smackdown, but regardless, Bryan got to shine alongside Roman Reigns in consecutive matches over the last forty-five minutes, in which Bryan more often than not picked up the duke.
4) Sasha Banks
5) Alberto El Patron

Jack McGee
1) AJ Styles:
Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight title. This is Styles’ second reign with the title, and he looks to make 2015 as great as he made his 2014 with a huge title victory. Styles in on top once again for New Japan, and could be in store for a long title run.

2) Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma: On February 14th we had what many, myself included, as considering a five star, match of the year candidate from these men. Their match at the NJPW New Beginning in Sendai event was pure magic, and will be hard to beat when the end of the year comes.
3) Kevin Owens: Defeated Sami Zayn in an awesome match at the latest NXT special to win the NXT Title.
4) Sasha Banks
5) Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr

Arnold Furious
1) Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma:
Three PPV’s into 2015 and New Japan have already put on three, in my opinion anyway, ***** matches. The latest saw an absolute war between Ishii & Honma. The wonderful storyline they’ve got going with Honma is that he’s the nearly man of the company. Initially overlooked for this spot and ditched into a meaningless tag match after being defeated by Kota Ibushi in Osaka, Honma rose to the occasion. I went into the match unspoiled and the heroic fashion in which the two men did battle was nothing short of magnificent. It was reminiscent of Honma’s storyline at the G1 Climax last year and Honma’s ongoing storyline of not quite being able to win the big one. Ishii threw himself into the match with reckless abandon to make it just that little bit more special. Seeing the match develop and reach a crescendo of violence was one of my best experiences of watching wrestling in years. Okada & Tanahashi told a great story at Wrestle Kingdom but this was something else. I loved every minute.

2) Kota Ibushi: Two big wins this week for Ibushi. First over plucky underdog Honma to establish himself as a heavyweight wrestler, since moving up from the Junior Heavyweight division that he was too good for. Then he went on to DDT at the weekend and won their KO-D title, beating incumbent champion HARASHIMA, who’s dominated the belt for over a year. The icing on the cake was a tag team win over Yano & Sakuraba in Sendai where he showed remarkable chemistry with Saku, a guy who’s not had the best of matches in New Japan. After Wrestle Kingdom people were suggesting it would be Ibushi’s year. This week really solidified that.
3) AJ Styles: It’s hard to overlook AJ’s achievement this week, winning the IWGP title for a second time, but compared to the work of the guys above him on my picks he didn’t have the best of times in the ring. The bout with Tanahashi was largely spoiled by an ambling first half and the interference from Bullet Club. It’s not so much the interference that bothered me but that Tanahashi must have known it would happen and only brought Captain New Japan as backup. Has he got no friends? Anyway, AJ Styles has had a terrific year and deserves the title as much as anyone but the match wasn’t a classic. Hence he’s third and not top, in my estimation.
4) Shinsuke Nakamura
5) Finn Balor

Alex Crowder
1) AJ Styles:
This was an incredibly though week to make picks. Someone is getting left out of the top 3 no matter what I do! In my head, the whole top 4 is tied. If only I didn’t have to make picks in order. This is the one time where I must flip a coin for everyone in the top 4. AJ Styles as the top pick does not hurt. AJ Styles is becoming a mainstay in NJPW. Any gaijin that can win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on multiple occasions is to be respected. AJ Styles is doing fantastic in NJPW. I always knew he was good, but now I realize he is one of the best. Nothing can deny that.

2) Tomohiro Ishii: Ishii and Honma both put on incredible performances Honma in a way is the Mikey Whipwreck of NJPW as he never seems to win. Still, I must admit he garners such sympathy. I found myself cheering for him to win throughout the match. I saw some reviews that questioned Honma’s involvement, but I hope the match spoke for itself. This was the best match of the week on a busy week. Ishii brought it as well. Ishii puts on great match after great match. Ishii regains the NEVER Championship in another hard-hitting performance. Kudos to both men, but Ishii gets the nod, since he came out victorious. Also, I hope both men get in further in their careers this year after that performance.
3) Sasha Banks: The NXT Women have put on multiple 4 star matches. It is so rare that I have seen a 4 star women’s match outside of Manami Toyota and the other Joshi legends (not saying they are that good, but you get the point). Let’s not forget that most fatal 4 ways are mediocre too. This was a great fatal 4 way. As for Sasha Banks, she is slowly becoming the best women’s wrestler in all of the WWE. It was a great moment; especially, with all the emotion she showed in winning. That makes a title meaningful. Also, I must give Charlotte credit for looking dejected when losing the championship. Sasha had to win this before she became Lex Lugered. Sasha will continue to tear things up in NXT and I cannot wait to see it play out. Check this match out even if you hate women’s wrestling. Kevin Owens deserves credit too. Kevin and Zayn continued their feud and it was great. What a surprise. These two will probably have another great feud in the big leagues. Kevin Owens with his victory becomes the monster of NXT. The referee stoppage was great in my opinion too! I wish there were more spots to put Kevin Owens in the top 3.
4) Kevin Owens
5) Tomoaki Honma

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Kota Ibushi – 7 Votes

* Fifth Place…Sasha Banks – 11 Votes

* Fourth Place…Tomoaki Honma – 16 Votes

* Third Place…Kevin Owens – 22 Votes

Your NEW NXT Champion.

* Second Place…Tomohiro Ishii – 27 Votes

Won the vacant NEVER Title in a MOTY candidate.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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AJ Styles – 35 Votes

Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to regain the IWGP Title!

The Standings~!
Here are the standings after week forty-five…

1. Seth Rollins – 163pts.

2. Dolph Ziggler – 119pts.

3. AJ Styles – 104pts.

4. Dean Ambrose – 98pts.

5. Roman Reigns – 95pts.

6. Bobby Lashley – 87pts.

7. Brock Lesnar – 70pts.

8. Rusev – 67pts.

9. John Cena – 66pts.

10. Eric Young – 58pts.
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Kazuchika Okada – 54pts

Daniel Bryan – 52pts.

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 45pts

Kyle O’Reilly – 41pts.

Ricochet/Prince Puma – 40pts

BxB Hulk – 37pts

Bray Wyatt – 35pts

Bobby Fish – 33pts.

Kevin Owens – 27pts.

Adrian Neville – 26pts.

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

Jey Uso – 24pts.
Jimmy Uso – 24pts.
Hideo Itami – 24pts.

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

Randy Orton – 19pts.
Alberto El Patron – 19pts.

Finn Balor – 18pts.
Sami Zayn – 18pts.
Jay Briscoe – 18pts.
Luke Harper – 18pts.
Charlotte – 18pts.
Cesaro – 18pts.
Adam Cole – 18pts.
YAMATO – 18pts

AJ Lee – 16pts.
Batista – 16pts.
Jeff Hardy – 16pts.
Tomohiro Ishii – 16pts

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

Samoa Joe – 14pts.

Icarus – 13pts.
Bully Ray – 13pts.

Ryback – 12pts.
The Rock – 12pts.
Chris Jericho – 12pts.
Michael Elgin – 12pts.
Austin Aries – 12pts.
Shinsuke Nakamura – 12pts.

Stardust (Cody Rhodes) – 11pts.

KUSHIDA – 10pts.
Cage – 10pts

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

Kota Ibushi – 8pts.
Goldust – 8pts.

Alicia Fox – 7pts.
Devon – 7pts.
Matt Hardy Hardy – 7pts.

Shelton Benjamin – 6pts.
Gail Kim – 6pts.
Takao Omori – 6pts.
Jun Akiyama – 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.
Tomoaki Honma – 6pts

Shane Hatse – 3pts.
Mikey Nicolls – 3pts.
Go Shiozaki – 3pts.
King Cuerno – 3pts.
Mil Muertes – 3pts.
Kenny Omega – 3pts.
Cyber Kong – 3pts.
Joe Doering – 3pts.
Hirooki Goto – 3pts.
Katsuyori Shibata – 3pts
T-Hawk – 3pts.
EITA – 3pts.
Mark Henry – 3pts.
Tyler Breeze – 3pts.
Adam Rose – 3pts.
Jack Swagger – 3pts.
Sin Cara – 3pts.
Sasha Banks – 3pts.

The Miz – 2pt
Wesley Blake – 2pt
Bubby Murphy – 2pt
Naomichi Marufuji – 2pt
Dasher Hatfield – 2pts.
Mr. Touchdown – 2pts.

Kane – 1pt
Brie Bella – 1pt
Uhaa Nation – 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
HARASHIMA – 1pt