wrestling / Columns

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

October 14, 2014 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR TEN, WEEK 27 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) The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards):
The Wolves are still your reigning and defending TNA Tag Team Champions, winning the Full Metal Mayhem to put an end to what was a greatly entertaining series of matches with Team 3D and The Hardys. Not only did they retain the titles and defeat two teams that set the standard for that style of match, they did so in a TV MOTY candidate.

2) CIMA, Gamma, & Don Fuji: CIMA, Gamma, & Don Fuji defeated Naruki Doi, Cyber Kong, & Kzy to become the NEW Open the Triangle Gate Champions.
3) Masayuki Kono: Masayuki Kono become the inaugural WRESTLE-1 champion this week, defeating Masakatsu Funaki in the semifinals and KAI in the finals.
4) Naomichi Marufuji
5) Samoa Joe

JUSTIN WATRY
1) Rusev:
Beating mid-card talent and playing the evil foreigner can only last so long and get you so far. It was time for Rusev (and Lana) to take that next step in WWE. Sharing the ring with The Rock was a huge deal for him and gives him more buzz than ANY segment with Big Show would have done. Now to be fair, guys like Rhyno, Tajiri, Eugene, and others have also been featured with Rocky during one of his surprise returns. It is up to Rusev to continue this momentum and keep it going after his biggest spotlight to date last Monday. Can he do it? Time will tell. The fact WWE trusted him to be in a top of the hour promo segment with The Rock is more than enough for me to be optimistic.

2) The Rock: I do not like voting for managers, valets, part-time wrestlers (etc.), unless they actually compete and/or do something major. Well, the entire week of wrestling was saved by The Rock returning to RAW. First on Raw, then on Smackdown. Seriously, rarely does one man “save” a full week of programming. He did just that.
3) Seth Rollins: Another good week as the top heel. Hopefully, he and Dean Ambrose get to headline Heck on a Deck as I have been wanting for months now. They deserve that main event showdown.
4) Dean Ambrose
5) Damien Mizdow

Mike Chin
1) Team 3D:
Bully Ray and Devon are new TNA HOFers, were victorious at Bound for Glory, made the big save at the Bound for Glory main event, and are apparently headed for one more big run in Japan.

2) The Rock: Love or hate his surprise segment on Raw, Rock was the talk of the wrestling world coming out of this past Monday’s show.
3) Samoa Joe: Joe won the best match of what was (theoretically) TNA’s biggest show of the year.
4) Seth Rollins
5) The Wolves

Greg DeMarco
1) Dean Ambrose:
Once again, Dean Ambrose is the most talked about wrestler on the planet. Ambrose locked this up on Monday when he did what no one ever gets to do—he got over on John Cena. While I don’t expect the Daniel Bryan-like movement for Ambrose like most do come WrestleMania season, I do believe his stock will only continue to rise week after week.

2) Bobby Roode: Bobby Roode defeated MVP and Kenny King to become the #1 contender to TNA’s World Championship. Outside of Austin Aries, he’s the most complained about man to not be on the Bound For Glory card. (Side note: Since the event ended 19 minute early, would to have killed then to give 15 to Roode vs. Aries? No. The correct answer is no.)
3) Samoa Joe: Samoa Joe defeated Kaz Hayashi and Low Ki in the best match of TNA’s Bound For Glory, retaining his X-Division Championship that he actually…never mind it’s not worth it.
4) The Wolves
5) Jay Briscoe

Ryan Byers
1) The Rock:
Some people on this panel may not like voting for part-timers, and some may be ignoring mainstream publicity to think that other wrestlers created more buzz, but the fact of the matter is that, this week, the Rock came, saw, and conquered. His surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw was the only thing in wrestling this week that got the non-wrestling media talking about the product, and his appearance also reminded us all that, once again, no matter how great some of the full-time roster members are, there is at least one guy who operates in a completely different stratosphere and can show them all up with a mere ten minutes of television time. Also, he set up what may materialize into one of this year’s biggest Wrestlemania matches through is interactions with Triple H on Smackdown. All hail the Great One.

2) The Usos: I think that a lot of people probably missed it, but the Usos were undefeated on WWE programming this week and as always put in a string of great performances. Plus they were the focal point of the finish of the Smackdown 15th anniversary tag team match, which, even though it was a legendary bout, will probably hold a place in history given what it represents.
3) Masayuki Kono: Wrestle-1 isn’t lighting the world on fire as a promotion, but I suppose that I should recognize the fact that they crowned the first singles champion this week, with Kono winning a single elimination tournament by going over KAI and Masakatsu Funaki on Wednesday.
4) Naomichi Marufuji
5) Damien Sandow

Mike Hammerlock
1) The Wolves:
The Match of the Week, without question, was the Full Mayhem Match for the TNA tag belts on Impact. Wolves beat Team 3-D and the Hardys to retain the belts. Everyone put their bodies on the line to deliver the match. It was TNA’s MOTY for sure. Now, it’s fashionable to bust on Impact for low ratings, but 1.1 million people watched it. That’s more than twice the number who saw Brock Lesnar beat John Cena at SummerSlam (and that’s if we’re being generous about the number of WWE Network subscribers who watched the match). Major win for Wolves and much bigger than anything for happened at BFG.

2) Dolph Ziggler: Integral in the six-man tag that stole the show on Raw, carried Bo Dallas to the best match of his career on Main Event, the Smackdown match against Rusev was done all wrong but still decent (should have been set up and presented as a much bigger deal). Crowds are erupting for him too. The guy continues to be the best wrestler on the WWE roster. Since this is called “Wrestler of the Week” and not “Skit of the Week,” I’m throwing a vote Ziggler’s way.
3) The Usos: All they do is great work. Put them in the ring with anyone and they kick the match up two notches.
4) Masayuki Kono
5) Team 3-D

Jack McGee
1) The Wolves:
The Wolves were the winners of the best match this week, defeating Team 3D and The Hardys to win the big TNA Tag Team Series of wacky stipulations and a ton of fun. It’s really a shame that TNA’s profile is so low, because the series was damn good, the finals was excellent and it really should have gotten more attention.

2) Masayuki Kono: Became the first ever WRESTLE-1 champion when he defeated Masakatsu Funaki in the semifinals and KAI in the finals. WRESTLE-1 is in its early stages, but I like to reward a title victory, especially for a first ever champion.
3) Jay Briscoe: Was the sole survivor over the weekend in the ROH Champions vs. All Stars match.
4) Naomichi Marufuji
5) The Usos

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Team 3D & Naomichi Marufuji – 6 Votes

* Fifth Place…Dean Ambrose and Samoa Joe – 7 Votes

* Fourth Place…The Usos – 8 Votes

* Third Place…Masayuki Kono – 12 Votes

Your first ever WRESTLE-1 champion.

* Second Place…The Rock – 13 Votes

Returned on Raw to take out Rusev, and then looked to set up a WrestleMania match with Triple H.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…

The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) – 18 Votes

Retained the TNA Tag Team Titles on Impact over Team 3D and The Hardys in TNA’s big tag team series.

Year-End Standings~!
Here are the standings after week twenty-seven…

1. Seth Rollins – 99pts.

2. Dean Ambrose – 79pts.

3. AJ Styles – 74pts.

4. Roman Reigns – 71pts.

5. Bobby Lashley – 60pts.

6. Eric Young – 58pts.

7. John Cena – 45pts.

8. Brock Lesnar – 43pts.

9. Kazuchika Okada – 39pts

10. Rusev – 34pts.
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Ricochet – 27pts
Kyle O’Reilly – 27pts.

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

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

Adrian Neville – 21pts.
Bad News Barrett – 21pts.

Charlotte – 18pts.
Bobby Fish – 18pts.
Cesaro – 18pts.
Bray Wyatt – 18pts

AJ Lee – 16pts.
Batista – 16pts.

Atlantis – 15pts.
Paige – 15pts.
YAMATO – 15pts
Takao Omori – 15pts
Sheamus – 15pts.

Samoa Joe – 14pts.

Bully Ray – 13pts.
Dolph Ziggler – 13 pts.
BxB Hulk – 13pts

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

KUSHIDA – 10pts.
Stardust (Cody Rhodes) – 10pts.

Havok – 9pts.
Ultimo Guerrero – 9pts.
Adam Cole – 9pts.
Luke Harper – 9pts.
Triple H – 9pts.
Yujiro Takahashi – 9pts
Masayuki Kono – 9pts
Minoru Suzuki – 9pts

Randy Orton – 7pts.
Alicia Fox – 7pts.
Goldust – 7pts.
Devon – 7pts.

Shelton Benjamin – 6pts.
Gail Kim – 6pts.
Suwama – 6pts.
Bad Luck Fale – 6pts
Biff Busick – 6pts.
Erick Rowan – 6pts.
Stephanie McMahon – 6pts.
Kalisto – 6pts.

Kenny Omega – 3pts.
Joe Doering – 3pts.
T-Hawk – 3pts.
EITA – 3pts.
Jeff Hardy – 3pts.
Bobby Roode – 3pts.
Tyson Kidd – 3pts.
Mark Henry – 3pts.
Tyler Breeze – 3pts.
Adam Rose – 3pts.
Jack Swagger – 3pts.
Sin Cara – 3pts.

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

The Miz – 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