411’s Wrestler of The Week: Dolph Ziggler Battles Sasha Banks

Welcome to YEAR TWELVE, 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, 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…

Voting period: OCTOBER 3 – OCTOBER 9

Larry Csonka
1) Eddie Edwards:
Eddie Edwards scored the biggest win of his career, defeating Lashley last week on Impact to win the TNA World Title. Eddie is a guy that has worked very hard, and seeing the outpouring of emotion online last week after his win was one of those things that makes wrestling a great thing.

2) Sasha Banks: Defeated Charlotte in an excellent match in the main event of Raw to win the WWE Raw Women’s Title.
3) Dolph Ziggler: Defeated the Miz in an excellent match at No Mercy to win the WWE IC Title.
4) AJ Styles & The Monster Matanza Cueto
5) Chris Hero

Dylan Diot
1) Dolph Ziggler:
In a loaded week, the spotlight shown brightest on Dolph Ziggler who defeated Miz in a great match to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion at No Mercy. After months of trying to re establish himself, Ziggler finally had his big moment, winning an exciting and dramatic match and living up to his name by stealing the show at No Mercy. A big moment for Ziggler worthy of the top spot this week.

2) Sasha Banks: It was deja vu as she once again defeated Charlotte on Raw to win the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. This time, they got to main event the show and made the most of it, putting on one hell of a match and now Banks once again takes her place at the top of the division.
3) Eddie Edwards: Eddie Edwards stunned the wrestling world by upsetting Bobby Lashley on Impact to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Edwards has been one of the most consistent wrestlers on the TNA roster and got rewarded with a huge championship win and now hopefully he gets to have a strong run as champion and won’t be tied down to the underdog role.
4) AJ Styles
5) Chris Hero

Rob Stewart
1) Dolph Ziggler:
In what was, for my money, the Match Of The Night at No Mercy, Ziggler defeated The Miz (and his own demons of doubt and negativity) to become the new Intercontinental Champion. More importantly, by winning (and overcoming the efforts of Maryse, the Spirit Squad, and an exposed turnbuckle in doing so), Dolph staved off a forced retirement. Ziggler has had some pretty high peaks and some equally deep valleys in his WWE career, and hopefully this victory is indicative that he’s going to remain at the top of his game for the forseeable future.

2) Sasha Banks: For the second time in the last three months, Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte on an episode of Raw to earn a reign as Raw’s WWE Women’s Champion. This last win was even more substantial because she and Charlotte competed in the main event in that match. It’s just a small step on the path there, but it’s another move closer to the ladies getting a live special main event slot. Let’s all hope Sasha can enjoy a much more fruitful run this time around, regardless..
3) Eddie Edwards: Edwards defeated Lashley to end the latter’s nearly seven month reign as TNA World Champion by reversing the champ’s attempt at a Spear. Lashley had been positively dominant the last half-a-year (including defeating Edwards at one point for the X-Division title), so this was a huge victory for Edwards.
4) AJ Styles
5) Brian Kendrick

Jack McGee
1) Sasha Banks:
Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte (again) in a great match (again) to win the WWE Women’s Title (again). It felt a bit repetitive, but considering that they got the main event spot and more than delivered, she snags the top spot this week.

2) Eddie Edwards: Defeated the dominant Lashley to become the NEW TNA Champion. A really cool moment for Edwards.
3) AJ Styles: Still your WWE Champion.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) Chris Hero

Kevin Pantoja
1) Sasha Banks:
It was hard to choose between Sasha Banks and Dolph Ziggler. Both had monumental title wins but I’m going with Sasha for one reason. Whether it felt like a warranted main event or not, Sasha Banks and Charlotte closed out Monday Night Raw, joining Lita, Trish Stratus and Stephanie McMahon (though her match involved The Rock) as the only women to do so. While this match wasn’t as good as their previous Raw outing, they more than delivered in a big main event. Sasha won her second Women’s Championship and as long as injuries stay away, she can get a nice long reign with the title.

2) Dolph Ziggler: In a match that should have absolutely main evented the Pay-Per-View, Dolph Ziggler captured his fifth Intercontinental Championship by defeating the Miz at No Mercy. He put his career on the line and things felt important. In what was arguably the match of the night, Ziggler overcame everything Miz threw at him, including Maryse’s spray and the Spirit Squad, to win. It felt like a big deal and was a feel good moment. The only real question is what happens next. Do we get the same tired Ziggler IC Title reign that we’ve seen before or is this one finally going to mean something. Hopefully, it’s the latter
3) AJ Styles: If Miz vs. Ziggler wasn’t the best match of the week, then AJ Styles vs. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose was. They opened No Mercy and had one of the better triple threat matches in recent memory. They didn’t do the tired “two men wrestle and one rests outside” stuff. All three guys were heavily involved and all did their part. AJ Styles tapped out to Cena and Dean, but since you can’t lose a match like this in that manner, things continued and Styles used a chair to get his third pinfall win over Cena. That makes AJ 3-1 against him and the one loss came in a six man tag. It was the second successful title defense for Styles.
4) Eddie Edwards
5) Matanza Cueto

RYAN WATERMAN
1.) A.J. Styles
Styles continued his streak of amazing performances, this time knocking off both John Cena and Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE World Championship — despite there being some confusion towards the end of the match. The burning question now, is who’s next to collide with Styles?

2.) Dolph Ziggler – Ziggler was seemingly just floundering around for a while prior to the brand extension. Since the brand extension though, Ziggler has seemed like a new man. He’s discovered a new-found passion, and it absolutely showed in this feud with The Miz. What an incredible match those two had on Sunday. It was, in my opinion, wrestling perfection. The storytelling was brilliant, the match was amazing, and even the interference added to the match. They just did everything right. Well, everything except for making it the physical main-event of the show.
3.) Sasha Banks – Man, anytime that Banks and Charlotte are in the ring together, it’s absolute money. Banks made history last week by becoming only the second two-time RAW Women’s Champion last week. Last night, it was announced that both her and Charlotte will make history by competing in the first-ever female Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell PPV. Next up on their bucket-list? Being the main-event of a PPV.
4.) Eddie Edwards
5.) Kazuchika Okada

Arnold Furious
1) AJ Styles:
Retained the WWE title against both John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a historic opening match main event at No Mercy. Not only that it was an excellent bout contained within WWE’s standard main event style.

2) Dolph Ziggler: Has come back from the brink of entirely disposable, just two months ago, to winning a fifth IC title. I’m tempted to also vote for the Miz for his part in proceedings. He’s been exceptional of late, especially on promos, but his in-ring has been tight and entertaining. He was the perfect foil for Ziggler, and indeed anyone else who steps up. I’m actually disappointed that Ziggler won because it ends the excellent IC title run of Miz.
3) Sasha Banks: It’s been a busy week for big matches in WWE and Sasha won her second women’s title on RAW in a patchy but exciting match with Charlotte. Seeing as RAW can’t pop a rating to save its life at the moment I can only assume the title switch is either due to create a sense of unpredictability on TV (much like the first switch) or to maintain Charlotte’s 100% PPV record. Either way Sasha has won the title and continues to impress in the developing women’s division.
4) Sammy Smooth
5) Eddie Edwards

Mitch Nickelson
1) Dolph Ziggler:
I’ve got to admit it, I did sort of buy into the idea that Dolph may be packing up his wrestling boots. He proved at No Mercy that he’s still got plenty of miles left in him in a fantastic Intercontinental Championship victory.

2) AJ Styles: He could’ve gotten the top spot from me on this week’s Top 5 for defeating both John Cena and Dean Ambrose to retain his title at No Mercy but I then I remember the fact that Ziggler didn’t tap out to two opponents at the same time. This was still a great match and ultimately a successful retention from the WWE World Champion.
3) The Monster Matanza Cueto: Dario’s brother barely held on to his Lucha Underground Championship when he defended it against Prince Puma, but it still counts – and it was a good match. Puma had him beat after hitting a 630, but Mil Muertes then interrupted the match and cost it for Puma. Matanza should probably thank him with a fruit basket from Edible Arrangements. I bet Mil and Catrina would like one of those.
4) Jado & Gedo
5) Eddie Edwards

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Chris Hero – 3 Votes

* Fifth Place…The Monster Matanza Cueto – 6 Votes

* Fourth Place…AJ Styles – 19 Votes

* Third Place…Eddie Edwards – 25 Votes

Your NEW TNA World Champion!

* Second Place…Sasha Banks – 28 Votes

Your NEW WWE Raw Women’s Champion!

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…

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Dolph Ziggler – 32 Votes

Defeated the Miz to become the NEW WWE IC Champion and saved his career…

The Standings
Here are the standings after week 27…

1. AJ Styles – 91pts

2. Prince Puma/Ricochet – 60pts

3. Dean Ambrose – 51pts
3. Lashley – 51pts

5. Tetsuya Naito – 45pts

6. Roman Reigns – 36pts
6. Rey Mysterio Jr. – 36pts
6. Dragon Azteca Jr. – 36pts
6. The Monster Matanza Cueto – 36pts

10. Will Ospreay – 33pts
10. Sexy Star – 33pts

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* Kevin Owens – 31pts

* Finn Balor – 30pts

* Johnny Mundo – 28pts
* Broken Matt Hardy – 28pts

* TJ Perkins – 27pts

* Dolph Ziggler – 25pts

* Cage – 24 pts
* Jack Evans – 24pts
* PJ Black – 24 pts
* Sasha Banks – 24pts

* Jay Lethal – 21pts
* Samoa Joe – 21pts
* Eddie Edwards – 21pts

* The Miz – 20pts

* Dash – 18pts
* Dawson – 18pts

* Kota Ibushi – 16pts
* Brother Nero – 16pts

* Nick Jackson – 15pts
* Matt Jackson – 15pts
* Kenny Omega – 15pts
* Seth Rollins – 15pts
* Drew Galloway – 15pts
* Johnny Gargano – 15pts
* KUSHIDA – 15pts
* Aerostar – 15pts

* Sami Zayn – 13pts
* Killshot/Shane Strickland – 13pts

* Shinsuke Nakamura – 12pts
* Becky Lynch – 12pts
* Son of Havoc – 12pts
* Michael Elgin -12pts
* Bobby Fish – 12pts
* Daniels – 12pts
* Kazarian – 12pts
* Mike Bennett – 12pts
* Tomohiro Ishii – 12pts
* Marty Scurll – 12pts
* Katsuyori Shibata – 12pts

* Kazuchika Okada – 10pts

* Adam Cole – 9pts
* Tommaso Ciampa – 9pts
* Heath Slater – 9pts
* Rhyno – 9pts
* Mil Muertes – 9pts
* Drago – 9pts
* Kyle O’Reilly – 9pts
* SANADA – 9pts
* Zack Sabre Jr – 9pts
* Ethan Carter III – 9pts
* Meiko Satomura – 9pts
* DASH Chisako – 9pts
* Cassandra Miyagi – 9pts
* BUSHI – 9pts

* Satoshi Kojima – 7pts
* Rusev – 7pts
* Gran Metalik – 7pts

* Fenix – 6pts
* Pentagon Jr – 6pts
* Mariposa – 6pts
* Yuji Nagata – 6pts
* Takashi Sugiura – 6pts
* Matt Riddle – 6pts
* David Finlay – 6pts

* Bayley – 4pts

* The Mack – 3pts
* Cesaro – 3pts
* Dana Brooke – 3pts
* Xavier Woods – 3pts
* Kofi Kingston – 3pts
* Big E – 3pts
* Evie – 3pts
* Heidi Lovelace – 3pts
* Dustin (Chuck Taylor) – 3pts
* Cedric Alexander – 3pts
* YAMATO – 3pts
* James Storm – 3pts
* Mark Haskins – 3pts

* Matt Sydal – 2pts
* Charlotte – 2pts

* Chavo Guerrero – 1pt
* DJ Z – 1pt
* Abyss – 1pt
* Crazy Steve – 1pt
* Zack Ryder – 1pt
* Big Cass – 1pt
* Enzo Amore – 1pt
* Karl Anderson – 1pt
* Doc Gallows – 1pt
* Rocky Romero – 1pt
* Trent Barreta – 1pt
* Timothy Thatcher – 1pt
* Jay Briscoe – 1pt
* Mark Briscoe – 1pt
* ACH – 1pt
* Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 1pt
* Taiji Ishimori – 1pt
* Hiroshi Tanahashi – 1pt
* David Starr – 1pt
* Chris Hero – 1pt

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* Voting began the week of April 4th, 2016

* 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.

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**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)
Year Ten Winner: Seth Rollins (2014-2015)

Year Eleven Winners: The New Day (2015-2016)