wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – New Day vs. Kimber Lee

December 8, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 36 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) Princess Kimber Lee:
Princess Kimber Lee defeated Hallowicked at the CHIKARA season finale to win the Grand Championship. She becomes the 4th grand champion in the history of the promotion, and the first women to do so. While some will consider it ridiculous, in the world of CHIKARA it is believable and came off as a big deal for them.

2) Masato Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, & T-Hawk : They defeated Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, & YAMATO in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant Open the Triangle Gate Trios; Abeyance is still having one hell of a year though.
3) Tetsuya Naito and EVIL: They secured their place in the NJPW World tag league finals, and have been the focal point of the tournament.
4) Lashley
5) Matt Hardy

Kevin Pantoja
1) Tetsuya Naito and EVIL:
Boy, it’s been a really slow week hasn’t it? New Japan’s World Tag League is still going on and is probably the biggest thing currently happening. The finals are set and on one side, the duo representing Los Ingobernables are in. Tetsuya Naito and EVIL not only made the finals, but they pretty much dominated until the end, finishing with ten points, more than anyone else. They also bested their rivals, Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto in one of the better tournament matches. I don’t see them winning since I think they have something else planned for Wrestle Kingdom, but they still deserve the top spot this week.

2) Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma: The other team in the finals of the World Tag League is Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma. There has certainly been a lot of controversy surrounding Honma in the past week with the domestic abuse allegations but New Japan hasn’t seemed to change their booking plans. Makabe and Honma continue to rack up the wins and they are honestly my picks to win the whole thing. If Honma isn’t getting in any trouble, then having him and Makabe win the Tag Titles at WK10 makes sense. Makabe is still a big name and Honma is absurdly over. They’ve had a good tournament run.
3) Samoa Joe: In a pretty lame week of WWE television, the standout match was between Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa in the main event of NXT. Since joining NXT, I’ve been very “meh” on Joe. He’s a bit past his prime and wasted his best years in TNA. In NXT so far he’s been good but certainly not great. The heel turns seems to have motivated him a bit and it shined brightest against Ciampa this week. The match only went about seven minutes but it was balls to the wall and hard hitting. Joe won, gaining momentum heading into his NXT Title match at TakeOver: London in a bit over a week.
4) The New Day
5) Chad Gable and Jason Jordan

Mike Hammerlock
1) Princess Kimber Lee:
She became the 4th ever Chikara Grand Champion this weekend. If you ever get to see her, she’s a total badass in the ring. Completely belies her sparkly, flighty character. Her big night started with a team win in the Challenge of the Immortals final with her Crown & Court teammates Jervis Cottonbelly, El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr. over the Wrecking Crew, which has been Chikara’s monster faction the past two years. Kimberlee earned the win for her team, submitting the appropriately named Blaster McMassive. That earned Crown & Court what amounts to Money in the Bank opportunities at any Chikara title of their choosing. Later Kimberlee came out to take on Hallowicked, who had just beaten former champs Eddie Kingston and Icarus in a three-way match. Kimberlee submitted him and became the first female “world champion” in the business. She won’t be the last, but it was a huge night for her.

2) New Day: Carrying the WWE on their backs. Seriously, their match against the Usos and the Lucha Dragons at TLC should be the main event.
3) Jervis Cottonbelly, El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.: Heading into this year, Los Ice Creams were famous for never winning. Cottonbelly is a British fop character who espouses the principles of Gentlemania. Their win over the biggest, roughest guys on the roster is a major coup. Other major doings at Top Banana included Soldier Ant getting back his memory and reuniting the Colony. The deceased Archibald Peck also returned and was horrified to hear about his death. This makes sense because, due to a disruption in the space-time continuum, there were two Archibald Pecks.
4) Tetsuya Naito and EVIL, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma
5) Hallowicked

JUSTIN WATRY
1) Roman Reigns:
Rare WWE World Title match on RAW (didn’t win the belt of course). Massive tag team match later that evening. Oh, and an impressive showing on Smackdown against the new heel faction. While I would personally hold off on officially crowning Roman Reigns as ‘the man’ until the 2016 edition of Royal Rumble, that could be wishful thinking. TLC this Sunday may be that time.

2) Charlotte: Contrary to most, I was actually pretty satisfied with Charlotte as the face Divas Champion in WWE. While rough some weeks, it was doing okay…in my opinion. Apparently, WWE saw fit to switch her character up to feud with a face Becky Lynch and no doubt – a face Sasha Banks down the road. Fine by me. Charlotte already uses everything “Ric Flair” anyways, so why not just embrace it and turn heel? She is talented enough to make it work.
3) James Storm: Time to get him going in NXT. With talk of Austin Aries (or Gunner) being next, it only makes sense. Sami Zayn is returning as well, but we most assume he will be on the main roster in no time. Storm is next man up!
4) Tommy Dreamer
5) Samoa Joe

Mike Chin
1) New Day:
There will, sadly, come a day soon when WrestleMania season will be upon us and between part-time legends and chosen new stars, I expect for The New Day to be shunted back down the ladder, firmly entrenched in the middle of the mid-card. Until that time comes, however, Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods are making the most of their minutes as the most entertaining act in WWE, shored up with a big six-man win on Smackdown over Dean Ambrose and The Usos.

2) Princess Kimber Lee: Chikara is pretty far from the national, much less international, spotlight, but remains one of the better indies and made the bold choice to close out 2015 by crowning its very first female Grand Champion, Kimber Lee, who cashed in her Money-In-The Bank-like opportunity capture the title over Hallowicked.
3) Tommy Dreamer: A lackluster pick, no doubt, but Dreamer made a fun surprise return to help out The Dudleys against The Wyatt Family. Dreamer’s positive reception from the fans and faith from the WWE brass each confirm his place as an unlikely and underrated legend of the business. Odds are he’ll stick around to team with the Dudleys and another ECW alum against the Wyatts at TLC, and while it’s unlikely his team will go over or that Dreamer will have a long-term impact on the WWE big picture at this stage, in a quiet week, I’m giving him his due respect.
4) Lashley
5) Samoa Joe

Jack McGee
1) Bobby Lashley and Matt Hardy:
To me, Bobby Lashley and Matt Hardy have been the standout performers in the TNA World Title Series. Both picked up big wins this week, in quality matches, to send themselves to the round of 8.

2) Masato Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, & T-Hawk : The new Open the Triangle Gate Trios champions!
3) Kimber Lee: The new CHIKARA Grand Champion!
4) EC3
5) Samoa Joe

Wyatt Beougher
1) Kimber Lee:
Princess KimberLee’s Crown & Court team defeated the Wrecking Crew to win Chikara’s Challenge of the Immortals tournament in what was slated to be the co-main event of Chikara’s Top Banana show. For winning, each member of Crown & Court received a Golden Opportunity, in the form of three golden point tokens, which would then allow them to challenge for any title in the promotion. Princess KimberLee waited until after Hallowicked had defended his Chikara Grand Championship in a hard-fought match against Icarus and Eddie Kingston (the other two Grand Champions in the title’s history) and then took advantage of her Golden Opportunity to pick up a submission win, becoming the first female Grand Champion and also only the fourth Grand Champion overall. Not a bad week, considering Kimber Lee was probably best known outside of fans of women’s wrestling for being on the receiving end of what looked like an unprotected chairshot and sloppy toss powerbomb from Chris Dickinson earlier this year that garnered the duo a lot of negative attention for the ending of their intergender match in Beyond Wrestling.

2) New Day: Unfortunately, in WWE’s predictably boring booking, the New Day picking up wins over their primary competition for the tag team championship likely means that they’ll be losing the belts to the Usos at TLC; however, the fact that it’s a ladder match for the titles and that the Lucha Dragons will also be involved gives me hope that the best part (and, often times, the only good part) of WWE right now will manage to retain their titles.
3) Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma/Tetsuya Naito & EVIL: Both teams advanced to the finals of New Japan World Tag League, which is good enough for third place in an otherwise slow week.
4) ECIII
5) Suwama & Kento Miyahara

Aaron Scott
1) Lashley:
Following his destruction of Austin Aries, Lashley met and defeated Drew Galloway in the main event of Impact. The Destroyer moves one step closer to becoming World Champion.

2) Matt Hardy: Eliminated Bobby Roode as Hardy continues surprising as he looks to regain the title. With Galloway out, there is a very real chance it could be Hardy and EC3 in the finals.
3) Kimber Lee: The Princess defeats Hallowicked and becomes the first female Chikara Grand Champion. A staple of CZW and the independents, Kimber is earning her reputation as one of the best in the indie circuit.
4) Suwama and Kento Miyahara
5) Mil Mascaras

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma – 9 Votes

* Fifth Place…Matt hardy – 10 Votes

* Fourth Place…Tetsuya Naito and EVIL – 13 Votes

* Third Place…Lashley – 14 Votes

Moving on to the round of eight in the TNA World Title Series, and proving to be one of the best performers in the whole thing.

* Second Place…The New Day – 5 Votes

Because, NEW… DAY ROCKS!

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

Your NEW CHIKARA Grand Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week thirty-six…

1. John Cena – 80 pts.

2. Kofi Kingston – 74 pts.
2. Big E – 74 pts.

4. Seth Rollins – 62 pts.

5. Xavier Woods – 61 pts.

6. Kevin Owens – 58 pts.

7. Roman Reigns – 57 pts.

8. Shinsuke Nakamura – 48 pts.

9. Dean Ambrose – 45 pts.

10. Jay Lethal – 43 pts.
10. Prince Puma/Ricochet – 43 pts.

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Sasha Banks – 42 pts.

Bayley – 39 pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 39 pts.

Matt Hardy – 36 pts.

Brock Lesnar – 33 pts.

Finn Balor – 31 pts.
Mil Muertes – 31 pts.

Alberto Del Rio – 30 pts.
Cesaro – 30 pts.
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 30 pts.

KUSHIDA – 27 pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 27 pts.

Ethan Carter III – 25 pts.
Timothy Thatcher – 25 pts.
Roderick Strong – 25 pts.

Drago – 24 pts.
Fenix – 24 pts.
Kota Ibushi – 24 pts.
AJ Styles – 24 pts.
Rocky Romero – 24 pts.
Trent Baretta – 24 pts.
Michael Elgin – 24 pts.
Kimber Lee – 24 pts.

Sheamus – 22 pts.

Samoa Joe – 21 pts.
Nick Jackson – 21 pts.
Matt Jackson – 21 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 21 pts.

Eddie Edwards – 19 pts.
Davey Richards – 19 pts.

Matt Sydal – 18 pts.
Aerostar – 18 pts.
Bubba Ray Dudley – 18 pts.
D-Von Dudley – 18 pts.

Undertaker – 17 pts.

Zack Sabre Jr – 16 pts.
Togi Makabe – 16 pts.

Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.
Bobby Fish – 15 pts.
Tomohiro Ishii – 15 pts.

Kazarian – 13 pts.
Christopher Daniels – 13 pts.
Sting – 13 pts.
Bobby Roode – 13 pts.

Rey Mysterio Jr. – 12 pts.
Naomichi Marufuji – 12 pts.
Atsushi Kotoge – 12 pts.
Daisuke Harada – 12 pts.
Katsuyori Shibata – 12 pts.
Mike Bennett – 12 pts.
Matt Taven – 12 pts.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey – 12 pts.
Rich Swann – 12 pts.
Ivelisse – 12 pts.
Drew Galloway – 12 pts.
Apollo Crews – 12 pts.
Scott Dawson – 12 pts.
Dash Wilder – 12 pts.
Lashley – 12 pts.

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.

Santana Garrett – 9 pts.
Ryback – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 pts.
Sami Zayn – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.

Kalisto – 7 pts.
Tetsuya Naito – 7 pts.

Minoru Suzuki – 6 pts
Tigre Uno – 6 pts.
KAI – 6 pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6 pts.
Takashi Sugiura – 6 pts.
Charlotte – 6 pts.
King Bad News Barrett – 6 pts.
Nicole Matthews – 6 pts.
Johnny Gargano – 6 pts.
Gail Kim – 6 pts.
EVIL – 6 pts.

Neville – 5 pts.

Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 3 pts.
Madison Eagles – 3 pts.
Jay Briscoe – 3 pts.
Shingo – 3 pts.

Chris Hero – 1 pt.
PJ Black – 1 pt.
Pentagon Jr – 1 pt.
El Siniestro de la Muerte – 1 pt.
Barrio Negro – 1 pt.
Terce – 1 pt.
King Cuerno – 1 pt.
Mark Andrews – 1 pt.
Kenny King – 1 pt.
Kane – 1 pt.
Jey Uso – 1 pt.
Jimmy Uso – 1 pt.
Nikki Bella – 1 pt.
Jason Jordan – 1 pt.
Chad Gable – 1 pt.
Titus O’Neil – 1 pt.
Aiden English – 1 pt.
Simon Gotch – 1 pt.
Darren Young – 1 pt.
Kenny Omega – 1 pt.
Minoru Tanaka – 1 pt.
Tajiri – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Jun Kasai – 1 pt.
Manabu Soya – 1 pt.
Tomoaki Honma – 1 pt.