wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Rollins On Top?

May 19, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 7 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) Seth Rollins:
Even with all of the shenanigans, Seth Rollins walked out of the WWE Payback PPV as the WE Champion. The main event was a damn fine match, and Rollins scoring the pin on Randy Orton was the right call overall.

2) Jay Lethal: Jay Lethal had a great week during the joint ROH/NJPW shows, defeating both Wanatabe and Naito to retain the ROH TV Title.
3) The Wolves (Richards and Edwards): Defeated the Dirty Heels on last week’s Impact in the first match in the best of five series for the TNA tag team titles.
4) Fenix
5) Roderick Strong

Eric Palmer
1) Shinsuke Nakamura: Nakamura had a clean sweep at ROH this week, defeating ACH, both Briscoes, Jay Lethal and Jushin Thunder Liger. I only saw the ACH match, but I have heard that the other matches were great as well. The level of talent he defeated, as well as doing it on foreign soil, is more than enough for me to give him my top spot this week.

2) Seth Rollins: Seth Rollins retained his WWE Heavyweight Championship at WWE Payback, defeating Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in what was, in my opinion, the match of the night. The great match, plus the victory, is enough to give him my number two spot this week.
3) John Cena: John Cena this week put on two matches that I thought were absolutely solid in his match against Neville on Raw and against Rusev at WWE Payback. I know the I Quit match isn’t too well received because of the finish and slow pace, but I thought it was incredibly solid throughout and might be my favorite match between the two.
4) Adam Cole
5) Jay Lethal

Ryan Byers
1) Seth Rollins:
Rollins emerges as WWE Champion after the Fatal Four Way match at the Payback pay per view. I’ve always felt that, in several regards, how you book a new champion after he wins the title is much more important to his success than how you book the title reign itself, and this was a solid win to give to the Architect of the Shield to make him feel like more of a legitimate top guy. Yes, there was liberal interference by his cronies throughout the match, but the final few minutes belonged to Rollins and Rollins alone, which let his victory still feel “clean” even though he had been saved from defeat by outside parties several times. Also, with Rollins having gotten the duke over Randy Orton, he can presumably close the book on that feud and move on to a new contender.

2) Akito: Probably one of the more underrated/under the radar wrestlers going today, Akito has had a great run as the “Extreme Champion” in the DDT promotion. He continued that trend this week, when he defeated Shigehiro Irie in a half hour long last man standing match (a rare stip for Japan) to retain his title. Also, staying true to from with his background as a technical wrestler, Akito managed to take the LMS victory with a cross heel hook of all moves.
3) The Young Bucks: The Bucks got what was, in my mind, the most noteworthy victory on this week’s series of ROH/New Japan Pro Wrestling joint shows, as they defeated the ROH Tag Team Champions the Addiction and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions the Kingdom in a triple threat match. This is noteworthy because the Jacksons are the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, and Japan is still a world where the heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions are kept very much separate and the heavyweight competitor is almost always booked to win when there is interaction between the divisions. Thus, NJPW signing off on a finish where the junior champs beat the heavyweight champs shows a lot of faith in the Young Bucks.
4) Neville
5) Ryback & Bray Wyatt (tie)

Wyatt Beougher
1) NEW! DAY!:
I know it wasn’t the most important match on the card, or the best wrestled match of the week, but dammit if it wasn’t the most fun I had watching a match all week. From Xavier Woods standing on the apron screaming “Freebird Rule” at the ref (foreshadowing the eventual finish) to the wonderful tag team moves of Kidd and Cesaro, there was so much to love about the 2/3 Falls WWE Tag Team Championship match at Payback. I know every time WWE does something cool with the tag division, half of the people watching get excited that they’re finally going to give tag team wrestling the attention it deserves and the other half are too jilted by the multiple other times we thought that and it wasn’t true, but if you ignore all of that, the WWE tag division is actually in pretty good shape right now – you’ve got a pair of awesome teams fighting for the titles (even if New Day desperately need a new tandem finishing when it’s Big E as one-half of the team), the hilarious Meta Powers, the token jobber tag teams of the Ascension and the Lucha Dragons, and what appears to be a reunited Wyatt Family (minus Bray). And, while I despise them, the John Cenas of the tag division will be back soon enough. Let’s hope that this Elimination Chamber tag team championship match is the kickoff party of #GiveTagTeamsAChance, because the seeds have been sown and the pieces are in place. And that’s a FACT.

2) Shinsuke Nakamura: The King of Strong Style had an amazing week, winning every match he appeared in for the Ring of Honor/New Japan cross-promotional shows. Nakamura is easily one of the biggest stars in New Japan, and his treatment in North America this past week was further proof that he has yet to reach his ceiling. If WWE would take notice of how NJPW has booked Swagsuke since he started his most recent IWGP Intercontinental championship reign, perhaps they could gain an understanding for how to both book a secondary title to make it feel important and also how to elevate your secondary champions to the point where they can move successfully (back) into the main event upon dropping their titles. RoH gets it, and Nakamura isn’t even one of their own.
3) Seth Rollins: Nearly every day, I see someone complaining about how Rollins has been booked, but in my humble opinion, he’s been AMAZING since the conclusion of the Ambrose feud. And while that particular feud served to start Ambrose’s descent into irrelevance, it also laid the seeds for the current incarnation of Seth Rollins, a guy who has all the skills in the world, but still relies on taking shortcuts and immediately goes into FLIGHT mode when things are looking bad for him. I suppose it doesn’t hurt that I love Noble and Mercury, and being Rollins’ lackeys gives me an excuse to see them in action nearly as frequently as when they were full-time performers themselves (and in higher profile matches/segments, to boot). 2014 was Brock Lesnar’s year, as everything that he did felt memorable and important, and while we’re not even halfway into the 2015 (or even a quarter of the way through the Wrestlemania-to-Wrestlemania season), Rollins has been that guy so far this year, from the outstanding performance in the triple threat match at Royal Rumble to the two biggest moments at WrestleMania (that wicked Curb Stomp-to-RKO sequence and, obviously, the cash-in and title win) to last night’s big win. In between PPVs, Rollins is a classic chickensh*t heel, playing the role to perfection, but when he’s forced into action, he gets the job done, which is really all that you can ask for from a non-monster heel champion.
4) Fenix
5) Ring of Honor

Kevin Pantoja
1) The New Day:
You may be surprised to find them atop this list again. I mean, this was an absolutely stacked week due to the three ROH shows and multiple WWE shows. However, I can’t understate how good they have been lately. For the second straight Pay-Per-View, they completely stole the show. They won the Two out of Three Falls match to retain the gold, while still making sure their opponents looked good. They are an absolute blast to watch. There is something about them that is just entertaining as hell, in and out of the ring. As much as I love Kidd and Cesaro, there is no better choice to hold the straps right now. Hell, even their post match promo with the champagne flutes filled with milk was gold.

2) Shinsuke Nakamura: During the big ROH/NJPW crossover this week, Shinsuke Nakamura swept his matches. He teamed with Okada on night one to defeat the Briscoes, which is big in itself. Then, he went over Jushin Thunder Liger, Jay Lethal and Mark Briscoe in a Four Corner Survival Match. To cap things off, he bested ACH on night three. That is an impressive list of people to beat in general, let alone in the span of a few short days.
3) Seth Rollins: Along with the WWE Tag Team Title match, I’d say the WWE Title match at Payback was the best thing about the show. Despite the copious amount of interference, we saw a great match. Everybody did their part but Seth Rollins gets the nod here. I was tempted to cheat and put all three Shield members here for their Triple Powerbomb and the faceoff between Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns but I decided against it. I will say that I got some early 2000’s Rock/Austin/HHH vibes from the three of them during the match. Seth even ended things with a Pedigree on Orton to retain the title. A great way to end a relatively good Pay-Per-View.
4) The Young Bucks
5) Neville

Mike Hammerlock
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
Emerged as the star of the ROH-New Japan crossover this past weekend. Lots of other contenders from the three nights of events: Roderick Strong (got a vote below), the Addiction (Chris Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), Jay Lethal, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Adam Cole (he’s back) and Kazuchika Okada. Yet Nakamura stood above them all. Wonder if how over he is in the states influences his title chances when NJPW goes back to Japan?

2) New Day: Count me among those loving New Day. Their current incarnation is 1,000% better then spandex preacher men gimmick they initially got saddled with. They’re goofy fun out of the ring and dynamite inside of it. Most of all, they’re being booked as smart. The shortcuts they’re taking are opportunistic, not designed to steal them matches they otherwise couldn’t win. Can’t wait to see them in the tag team Elimination Chamber match. They’re the best thing in the WWE at this moment in time.
3) Fenix: Lucha Underground is staggeringly consistent. The show never misses. Now that it’s established most of its talents, good matches are flowing like fine tequila. Fenix won himself the first of seven Aztec medallions this past week, which is surely leading to something outstanding. Fenix himself has become must-see whenever he wrestles.
4) Seth Rollins
5) Roderick Strong

Jack McGee
1) Seth Rollins:
Some may have not liked the way some of the match was booked, but Rollins retained the WWE title in a great main event at Payback on Sunday night.

2) Roderick Strong: Had some great showing during the ROH/NJPW shows, and may have even earned himself a shot with New Japan. Strong is having an excellent 2015, and more people need to check out his stuff.
3) Young Bucks: Had some excellent performances at the ROH/NJPW shows and continue to be the best tag team in wrestling.
4) John Cena
5) Fenix

Mike Chin
1) Seth Rollins:
Seth Rollins played his role to perfection in the Payback Fatal Fourway as a conniving heel who helped engineer a very temporary Shield reunion, played the coward, and ultimately stole the pin to continue his WWE Championship reign.

2) John Cena: Cena’s I Quit match with Rusev was about as good as it was going to be, and given that that program is presumably now at an end, it looks like the John Cena US Open Challenge is here to stay. Props to for strong work putting over Neville on Raw (incidentally, Neville just missed my list this week).
3) New Day: Between Kofi Kingston’s surprisingly reasonable heel work, Big E turning in arguably his best performances on the main roster, and Xavier Woods settling in as a surprise candidate for best talk of the year thus far, this three-man crew seems to have really found their footing, they picked up a nice win over Cesaro and Kidd, and I’m hoping they can make the most of their cowardly heel act in the Elimination Chamber.
4) AJ Styles
5) Shinsuke Nakamura

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Roderick Strong – 6 Votes

* Fifth Place…Fenix and the Young Bucks – 8 Votes

* Fourth Place…John Cena – 9 Votes

* Third Place…The New Day – 17 Votes

NEW…. DAY ROCKS!

* Second Place…Shinsuke Nakamura -19 Votes

Had a great week at the ROH/NJPW joint events…

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Seth Rollins – 32 Votes

Still your reigning and defending WWE Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week SEVEN…

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

Seth Rollins – 21 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.

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.
Angelico – 12 pts.
Son of Havoc – 12 pts.
Alberto El Patron – 12 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.

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.