wrestling / Columns

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

May 26, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 8 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) Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch:
This week I give the nod to both Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch. These ladies stole the show at NXT Takeover: Unstoppable and are proving that the company CAN DO women’s wrestling when they want to do it. They had an amazing match, likely the best WWE women’s match I have ever seen. In a week full of notable events (Owens’ debut on Raw, the TNA TV situation) these ladies dominated headlines due to their performance. They stole the show, they topped headlines, and they simply delivered so they get my top spot this week.

2) Kevin Owens: If Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch didn’t have the match that they did at the Unstoppable special, Kevin Owens would have been my slam dunk pick for the top spot. The debut on Raw (with laying out John Cena included), the great work with Zayn in the main event to continue their program when Zayn returns, his interaction with Samoa Joe; it was all excellent work and he deserves all of the praise he is receiving. It was a spectacular week in his career.
3) Samoa Joe: Made waves as he debuted with NXT and set up a program with Kevin Owens.
4) Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee
5) Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico

Eric Palmer
1) Kevin Owens:
Kevin Owens easily had the biggest week in wrestling. On Monday, in his Monday Night Raw debut, Owens confronted and laid out US Champion John Cena, leading to a non-title match between the two at Elimination Chamber on May 31st. On Wednesday, he once again retained his NXT Championship over Sami Zayn by a referee stoppage, and then ended the show staring down a debuting Samoa Joe. Owens is seemingly feuding with three different guys at once. He’s been a great heel and made himself a target for the faces and is doing it incredibly well. This week showed the WWE Universe that Kevin Owens is here to stay.

2) Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch: I’m cheating here with this pick, but I have a really hard time picking one over the other. These women went out and stole the show, putting on what might be the best WWE singles match I’ve seen all year, and that includes the men. These are the kind of divas that the WWE should have been building their division on after the departures of Trish and Lita. It’s hard to see them doing well on the main roster with the way Vince books the main roster divas, but for now, Sasha and Becky are two the reasons I tune in to NXT every week. NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable just cemented that fact.
3) Raymond Rowe: Won the JT Lightning Invitational Tournament in AIW, defeating Josh Prohibition, Louis Lyndon, Nick Gage, Tracy Williams and Rickey Shane Page over two nights to win.
4) Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico
5) Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee

Kevin Pantoja
1) Kevin Owens:
Damn, it was incredibly hard to get this list right this week. There was so much going on. One man was at the center of it all, and that’s Kevin Owens. First, he appeared on Raw, seemingly to answer the US Title Open Challenge. Instead, he confronted John Cena, took him out with the popup Powerbomb and stepped on the US Title. Then, he possibly took out Hideo Itami in the parking lot. He headlined TakeOver: Unstoppable and nearly killed Sami Zayn again. He wouldn’t stop the beating, only to be interrupted by Samoa Joe. I can’t think of anyone who is more of a wanted man than Owens right now. He has been thrust into the spotlight and absolutely belongs. Whether he beats John Cena at Elimination Chamber is unknown, but for right now, he’s the most important man in all of pro wrestling.

2) Sasha Banks: You have no idea how hard it was to not give the top spot to Sasha Banks. Not only do I think that Sasha Banks is the best all around female performer the WWE has, but I believe she’s one of the best wrestlers in the world period. Male or female. She went out with Becky Lynch and stole the show at TakeOver: Unstoppable. On a show where Samoa Joe made his WWE debut, just as many people were talking about what Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch did. I was tempted to lump them here together, but Sasha retained, giving her a slight edge. She continues to deliver as NXT Women’s Champion and I expect her to make this list a lot more throughout the year.
3) Finn Balor: You know there’s a lot of buzz going around when Finn Balor can become the number one contender for the NXT Title and kind of get overlooked. While we didn’t get the Triple Threat match we were all hoping for, Finn took on Tyler Breeze in a singles match. Both men got big time special entrances, which was pretty cool. They had a really good to great match that Finn won. Now, Finn is added to the list of men targeting Kevin Owens. While he wasn’t the biggest story of the week, Finn still deserves credit for his performance and win.
4) Becky Lynch
5) Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc

Ryan Byers
1) Kevin Steen:
Two weeks ago, I put Sami Zayn in my top spot because he made his main roster debut on Monday Night Raw with a star-making performance against John Cena, the biggest name in wrestling on the face of the planet. Therefore, I almost have to put Kevin Owens on top this week, as he also made his main roster debut on Monday Night Raw with a star-making performance against John Cena, the biggest name in wrestling on the face of the planet. If anything, Owens actually had a more impressive week than Zayn did because, in addition to laying out Cena, he managed to score a match with the United States Champion on the Elimination Chamber network special AND defeated Sami to retain his NXT Championship on this week’s special show for that brand. Plus, to top it all off, his kid was the star of a really adorable Instagram video.

2) Samoa Joe: Joe set the internet atwitter this week by making his World Wrestling Entertainment debut after sixteen years in professional wrestling. Though not yet a full-fledged member of the company based on reports, it will be interesting to see what Joe can do on this stage and whether he factors in to any main roster programming given what his rival Kevin Owens is set to do this coming Sunday. On a personal note, I haven’t seen Joe wrestle consistently in something like seven years, so I’m interested to see what he still has left in the tank.
3) Akebono: Man, this was a good week for pudgy wrestlers. Akebono is your NEW Triple Crown Champion in All Japan Pro Wrestling, having defeated Go Shiozaki to claim the belt (no longer “belts”) for the second time in his career.
4) T-Hawk
5) Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch

Mike Hammerlock
1) Sasha Banks:
She’s the boss. I don’t know, as long as Vince McMahon remains in charge, that the WWE is ever going to import the supremely awesome women’s wrestling scene that exists in NXT, but we’re now hitting the “Who cares?” point with that. The NXT Women’s Championship is a more prestigious belt than the WWE Divas Championship. When have we ever seen a WWE Divas Championship match nearly as good as Banks vs. Becky Lynch? Never.

2) Kevin Owens: His match against Sami Zayn wasn’t the classic they’re capable of staging, but it was solid work. Laying out John Cena on Raw was icing on the cake. Side question, how is it a cheap shot if you’re standing right in front of the guy and he’s daring you to make a move? That was actual good booking. I’m chomping at the bit to see Owens-Cena at Elimination Chamber.
3) Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico: Lucha Underground does details like no one’s business. They “conditioned” their ladders to make them look like they’d been scavenged from a junkyard. The window to Dario Cueto’s office was still broken and covered with particleboard. When the board got knocked out, Cueto was on the phone (old style twisty cord handset) and he stayed on his phone call. Cortez Castro got dumped into Cueto’s and later emerged to hit a sweet suicida. Angelico once again stole the show with a flying missile dropkick from the platform above the ring. Ho-lee shit.
4) Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee
5) Becky Lynch

Jeremy Thomas
1) Kevin Owens:
Kevin Owens got the perhaps the biggest debut of an NXT talent on the main roster yet, as he went toe-to-toe with John Cena on the mic and then laid him out. Owens then went on to defend his title against Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Unstoppable and got a confrontation with certain debuting NXT star. With a match against Cena at Elimination Chamber that he could actually win since it’s non-title, Owens’ star rose hugely this week and it was already pretty high as it stood.

2) Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch: I had high expectations of these two at Unstoppable, but they managed to blow past even those. Banks and Lynch had an amazing match that should legitimately be considered a front-runner for 2015 MOTY thus far, easily solidifying their spots on the list.
3) Samoa Joe: The internet caught on fire this week when Samoa Joe made his debut at Unstoppable. He looks great and seems motivated, leading to the distinct possibility of huge things for Joe in WWE.
4) Akebono
5) Finn Balor

Wyatt Beougher
1) Kevin Owens:
In the Takeover: Unstoppable roundtable, I described Kevin Owens as “this unassuming chubby guy in a hand-me-down Kassius Ohno shirt and gym shorts who has no faith in himself and treats everyone like he thinks he’s better than them to hide that crushing insecurity”. Note imagine that same guy not only shows up on RAW, but he shuts down the face of the WWE for the last decade, first verbally, and then physically. Then, two nights later, he again capitalizes on his biggest rival’s mistake in order to absolutely destroy him and retain the NXT title. Not bad for arguably the least “Vince McMahon guy” ever.
2) Angelico/Ivelisse/Son of Havoc: The Lucha Underground trios champions not only retained their titles, they did so when a one-legged Ivelisse climbed a ladder to retrieve the belts. LU’s booking has been masterful thus far, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of that than “The Unlikely Trio”.
3) Sasha Banks: “The Boss” once again made the argument that NXT features the best women’s professional wrestling in North America, as she and Becky Lynch stole the show at Unstoppable, putting on one of the best women’s matches in modern WWE history.
4) Finn Bálor
5) Samoa Joe

Greg DeMarco
1) Samoa Joe
No one made a bigger splash this week than Samoa Joe. Despite rumors in every direction, he made his WWE debut for NXT (no I’m not counting his matches as a jobber) and pretty has the contract that every indy wrestler dreams of. His t-shirt is on back order through June, yet he still owns the rights to his name. Joe killed it with this one.

2) Kevin Owens Not to be outdone, Kevin Owens had one hell of a week on his own. He put on another unique and entertaining display with Sami Zayn, but not until he first left John Cena laying at #RawRichmond. Sure he’s doing the job at Elimination Chamber, but this is about this week–and it was a big one.
3) Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch (tie): Sasha Banks defeated Becky Lynch at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable on Wednesday, and put on one of the best women’s matches to ever grace WWE television. Normally you give the edge to the winner, but I feel that doesn’t give enough credit to Lynch.
4) Dean Ambrose
5) Lana/Rusev/Dolph Ziggler (tie)

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Finn Balor – 6 Votes

* Fifth Place…Ivelisse, Son of Havoc and Angelico – 11 Votes

* Fourth Place…Samoa Joe – 16 Votes

* Third Place…Becky Lynch – 21 Votes

While on the losing end, Becky Lynch showed the wrestling world why she received so much hype from those of us that saw her pre-WWE work, delivering a tremendous performance against Sasha Banks.

* Second Place…Sasha Banks – 29 Votes

The winner of the outstanding Women’s Title match at NXT Takeover: Unstoppable, Sasha Banks continues to improve at an amazing rate and may be the best all around female performer in the company.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Kevin Owens – 36 Votes

Debuted on Raw and laid out John Cena; retained the NXT Title and took out his longtime foe; that’ll do…

The Standings
Here are the standings after week EIGHT…

Kofi Kingston – 23 pts.
Big E – 23 pts.

Kevin Owens – 15 pts.
Seth Rollins – 15 pts.
AJ Styles – 15 pts.
Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Dean Ambrose – 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.

Prince Puma – 13 pts.

Shinsuke Nakamura – 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.
Xavier Woods – 10 pts.

Kurt Angle – 9 pts.
Togi Makabe – 9 pts.
Roman Reigns – 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.

John Cena – 7 pts.

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