wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Lethal on Top?

June 23, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 12 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) Jay Lethal:
Jay Lethal walked into the ROH Best in the World PPV as the TV Champion (for over 440 days) and when the show was over, he had defeated ROH World Champion Jay Briscoe (who held his title for almost a full calendar year) and now holds both titles. The match was very good, well laid out and felt as if it was presented as something extremely important. Jay Lethal, from Special K to now the man in ROH. He certainly deserves it.

2) Prince Puma: Prince Puma defeated Johnny Mundo on Wednesday’s edition of Lucha Underground to retain the title. The match was an “All Night Long/Iron Man Match,” which was well done and proof that a “one match show” can be a really good thing.
3) Roderick Strong: Defeated Moose and Michael Elgin to become the #1 contender for the ROH Title. Roderick Strong is having an awesome 2015, and if you’re not paying attention to him, you’re doing wrestling wrong.
4) Jay Briscoe and Johnny Mundo
5) Kotaro Suzuki

Mike Hammerlock
1) Prince Puma:
To borrow from David Letterman, the Puma-Johnny Mundo “todo la noche” clash was more fun than humans should be allowed. We got chain wrestling, smash mouth wrestling, hardcore wrestling and high wire wrestling all rolled into one. Both guys hit some ridiculous moves. It’s on my MOTY short list. Puma’s done a stellar job of making a brand new title one of the more coveted belts in the business. Easily the most must-see champ in the business.

2) Jay Lethal: Kevin covered the particulars of why Lethal’s ROH title win was so massive. Love how they built up and then delivered on his legitimacy. Great and deserved win for Lethal, possibly even a bigger moment for ROH. Lethal’s got a chance to kick ROH up a level. Hopefully the promotion uses him to kick off a new era. Always amazed TNA didn’t get behind this guy in a bigger way.
3) The Bullet Club (AJ Styles and the Young Bucks): Won a frenzied six-man match against Adam Cole, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett at ROH Best in the World. Now that was total, nonstop action. I haven’t seen this get much mention elsewhere, but this Bullet Club threesome will be in Chikara’s King of Trios Tournament in September and this match was a perfect advertisement for why wrestling fans should be absurdly happy about that. There may not be a better trio on the planet.
4) Kevin Owens
5) The Addiction

Kevin Pantoja
1) Jay Lethal:
There is literally no other reasonable choice here. The Best in the World main event between Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe was being billed as the biggest match in Ring of Honor history. It did have some right to that as the ROH Television Champion of over 440 days took on the ROH World Champion in a title vs. title match. Not only did it live up to the hype by being a really good match, but they pulled the trigger and Jay Lethal became just the 20th World Champion. Lethal snapped an incredibly impressive but unheralded streak by becoming the first person to pin Briscoe in over 800 days. That is pretty ridiculous. Lethal has been one of the better heels in pro wrestling in the past year or two. Seeing him go from Special K to TNA to the Black Machismo gimmick to this is something special. You could see it in his eyes when he held both titles high. “You deserve it” indeed.

2) Prince Puma: In a week dominated by the Ring of Honor Pay-Per-View, two men shined in Lucha Underground. One was Johnny Mundo but the bigger star was again, Prince Puma. Lucha Underground had an entire show based around one match, which lasted the duration of the program. Mundo has been solid in his new heel role, but Puma has been THE MAN since pretty much day one. The match was not only great, but kept my attention throughout the entire hour (or 38 minutes of actual wrestling time). It was an impressive feat and another moment to solidify how vital Puma is to Lucha Underground. He has been an excellent champion and this may have been the defining moment of his reign.
3) Roderick Strong: In 2015, there have been very few, if any, better than Roderick Strong. The man just continues to have great performance after great performance. His match with Zach Sabre Jr. at PWG’s “Don’t Sweat the Technique” is one of my favorites of the year. While the triple threat match at Best in the World against Moose and Michael Elgin wasn’t a classic, it still kicked off the second half of the show, which was great. Roderick Strong impressed more than anyone and won to become the number one contender. That sets up what should be another great match against Jay Lethal for the ROH World Title.
4) Kevin Owens
5) The Addiction

Ryan Byers
1) Jay Lethal:
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been paying that much attention to Ring of Honor over the past several years, but I know generally what’s going on, and the time Jay Lethal has spent with the company has been something that I’ve followed literally since he was “Hydro” in Special K. The guy has busted his ass from day one and has made some truly horrendous gimmicks work as well as they could (mostly in TNA), and he evolved into quite the fine professional wrestler. Now he is the Ring of Honor Champion, having defeated Jay Briscoe this weekend. This is the biggest accomplishment of Lethal’s thirteen-year career, and he is still only thirty years old, so expect much more to come.

2) Kevin Owens: Owens had two very good television performances and two more victories this week, triumphing over Dolph Ziggler and Antonio Cesaro. Owens’ momentum continues to build as we see if he can be the man who dethrones John Cena for the United States Championship.
3) Brock Lesnar: Lesnar is now apparently a full-fledged babyface and is your NEW number one contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Brock smashing things to the fans’ approval has massive potential, and I’m happy to watch it unfold.
4) Kotaro Suzuki
5) Akebono

Eric Palmer
1) Jay Lethal: I’ve been a huge fan of Lethal ever since I saw him live back in 2005. The guy is damn good and it’s about time he got a run with the ROH World Championship. Not only is he at the top of the company, but he holds both singles titles as well. He absolutely deserves this reign, and I’m excited to see where they go with it.

2) Prince Puma: Puma and Mundo had a fantastic match on Lucha Underground this week. He retained his title and couple that with the quality of the match and this should come as no surprise as a number two pick.
3) Kevin Owens: Owens continues to be the best part of WWE TV. After powerbombing Machine Gun Kelly on Raw and two more wins over Ziggler and Cesaro, he is on a serious hot streak since his call up.
4) Roderick Strong
5) Minoru Suzuki

Mitch Nickelson
1) Jay Lethal:
One moment that I will always remember from the Jay Lethal win at ROH’s Best in the World is the sight of a clearly emotional Lethal celebrating in the ring to the tune of the fans in attendance chanting “You deserve it.” Yes he did, and his capturing of the ROH World title came after an exceptional match with Jay Briscoe.

2) Prince Puma: His “All Night Long” Lucha Underground Championship defense against Johnny Mundo was a well built match that had about as much excitement as two guys could possibly cram into a one hour broadcast. His victory in this amazing match notched a quality win into his title reign, benefiting both he and the belt he’s carrying.
3) Johnny Mundo: It takes two to tango and even though Mundo lost the match between he and Puma, he wrestled like the star that he is. After gaining his lead in this Ironman match he refused to engage the champ. Even in retreat he portrayed an entertaining heel that I rooted for Puma to get his hands on. And also, that break with the house band was pretty funny.
4) Kevin Owens
5) Roderick Strong

Jeremy Thomas
1) Jay Lethal:
Won the ROH World Title, making him the holder of both ROH singles titles. Lethal’s on top of the world in the promotion and deservedly so.

2) Kevin Owens: Owens may have lost to Cena at Money in the Bank, but the booking on him hasn’t lost a step as he beat two internet favorites in Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro and was the storyline reason for John Cena not being on TV.
3) Prince Puma & Johnny Mundo: Yes, Puma got the win but both men deserve the credit for making this the easy TV match of the week. Amazing work.
4) Ethan Carter III
5) Brock Lesnar

Jack McGee
1) Jay Lethal:
The ROH TV Champion defeated the ROH World Champion at the company’s latest PPV, and is now a double champion. The match was awesome, and a fitting battle over the company’s singles titles. Well done ROH.

2) Prince Puma: Retained the Lucha Underground Title in an Iron Man Match against Johnny Mundo.
3) The Addiction: Still your reigning ROH Tag team Champions.
4) Jay Briscoe and Johnny Mundo
5) Kotaro Suzuki

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…The Addiction (Daniels and Kazarian) – 5 Votes

* Fifth Place…Johnny Mundo – 9 Votes

* Fourth Place…Roderick Strong – 10 Votes

* Third Place…Kevin Owens – 17 Votes

Bounced back from his loss to John Cena with strong mic work and victories over Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler.

* Second Place…Prince Puma – 28 Votes

Retained the Lucha Underground Title, defeating Johnny Mundo in an “all night long” match.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Jay Lethal – 39 Votes

Defeated Jay Briscoe at the Best on the World PPV, and is now the ROH TV and World Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week Twelve…

Kevin Owens – 48 pts.

Kofi Kingston – 35 pts.
Big E – 35 pts.

Seth Rollins – 30 pts.

Prince Puma – 25 pts.

Dean Ambrose – 24 pts.

Xavier Woods – 22 pts.

John Cena – 19 pts.

Roman Reigns – 18 pts.

Jay Lethal – 15 pts.
KUSHIDA – 15 pts.
AJ Styles – 15 pts.
Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Matt Hardy – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Alberto El Patron – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.

Shinsuke Nakamura – 12 pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 12 pts.
Mike Bennett – 12 pts.
Matt Taven – 12 pts.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey – 12 pts.
Rich Swann – 12 pts.
Ivelisse – 12 pts.
Sasha Banks – 12 pts.

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

Togi Makabe – 9 pts.
Sheamus – 9 pts.
Sami Zayn – 9 pts.
Rocky Romero – 9 pts.
Trent Baretta – 9 pts.
Kimber Lee – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.
Drago – 9 pts.

Samoa Joe – 6 pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6 pts.
Takashi Sugiura – 6 pts.
Ryback – 6 pts.
King Bad News Barrett – 6 pts.
Brock Lesnar – 6 pts.
Nicole Matthews – 6 pts.
Nick Jackson – 6 pts.
Matt Jackson – 6 pts.

Neville – 4 pts.

Drew Galloway – 3 pts.
Fenix – 3 pts.
Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Taryn Terrell – 3 pts.

Mil Muertes – 1 pts
Kenny King – 1 pt.
Finn Balor – 1 pt.
Kalisto – 1 pt.
Titus O’Neil – 1 pt.
Darren Young – 1 pt.
Minoru Tanaka – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Kazarian – 1 pt
Christopher Daniels – 1 pt