wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Rollins vs. Lethal

September 22, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 25 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…

 photo WrestlerOfWeek_zps4f74fe91.jpg

Larry Csonka
1) Jay Lethal:
Seth Rollins Is going to get a lot of shine this week, which is all well and good, but for me the #1 spot this week belongs to Jay Lethal. Lethal had a busy night at the ROH All Star Extravaganza event; first he defeated Bobby Fish in the show’s opening match to retain the ROH TV Title, and then he defeated Kyle O’Reilly in the show’s main event to retain the ROH World Title. Lethal is the man right now in ROH, and is making a case to be considered wrestler of the year.

2) Charlotte: Defeated Nikki Bella at the Night of Champions PPV to win the Divas title. While Charlotte had been the NXT Women’s Champion, this was her first title on the main roster and she ended Nikki Bella’s 300+ day reign as champion.
3) Kevin Owens: Kevin Owens defeated The Ryback at the Night of Champions PPV to win the WWE IC Title. It was a good outing overall, and this was Owens’ first main roster title with the WWE.
4) John Cena and Seth Rollins
5) Gail Kim

Ryan Byers
1) Seth Rollins:
Granted, Rollins came out a loser in two high-profile matches this week, first tapping out to Sting in the Monday Night Raw main event and then dropping his United States Championship to John Cena at Night of Champions. However, I’m putting him in the top spot more for his performances this week, particularly on the PPV. He had two very good back-to-back matches, even though the Cena battle was essentially a direct copy of the one that we already saw them have at Summerslam, sans Jon Stewart run-in. I was particularly impressed with the match against Sting, which Rollins worked like an old school heel World Champion stuck in there with a limited opponent, bumping all over the ring for him in order to make him look like a million bucks. I personally feel that Rollins is a bit over-exposed on weekly programs like Raw, but, when they turn him loose to do his thing in a big match environment, he always seems to deliver.

2) Sting: Rollins was definitely the driving force in making the Night of Champions main event what it was, but the Stinger also deserves a lot of credit for holding up his end of the bargain. He put in a lot more effort than what would normally be expected for a 56 year old legend. Plus, though details are sketchy at the time I’m writing this (early Monday morning), it appears that his injury towards the end of the match was legitimate and that he still got up and waived off medical attention in order to finish the match and put over his young opponent clean in the middle. If Sting wraps up his career as an in-ring performer for WWE here, he’ll have nothing to be ashamed of.
3) Nikki Bella: Nikki SHATTERED AJ Lee’s record as longest reigning WWE Divas Champion and thereby established herself as the leader of the #DivaRevolution. Plus, she continued to be featured as the main star of the WWE/E! reality show Total Divas.
4) Kevin Owens
5) Minoru Suzuki

Wyatt Beougher
1) Seth Rollins:
Sure, Rollins lost his United States championship in a hard-fought match with John Cena at Night of Champions, but at the conclusion of the show, not only had he successfully dragged an old man who has no business being in the ring to a passable to good match, he also retained his title and avoided the threat of a Sheamus cash-in. Maybe not the ideal night for “The Man”, but still not a bad night overall, as he remains the top champion of the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

2) Kevin Owens: Yes, Owens won the Intercontinental Championship from Ryback at Night of Champions, but the real reason I have him this high on the list is because of his pre- and post-match promos, where he paid tribute to the legacy of the title by referencing the legends who held it before him, all while still coming across as the smug, arrogant jerk who initially stormed onto the main roster a few months ago. While Owens realistically should have won the United States championship from Cena months ago, if he and Sami Zayn can reinvigorate what has been a cursed championship whenever the latter man returns. Or, if Zayn is going to be out too long, a feud with Owens would be an excellent return for Daniel Bryan.
3) Nikki Bella: On RAW last week, Nikki retained her Divas title via shenanigans, going on to officially surpass AJ Lee for longest Divas Championship reign in the history of that specific belt. And while she may have lost her title to Charlotte on Sunday at Night of Champions, but to give credit where credit was due, Nikki wrestled one hell of a match, showing more psychology than I think she’s probably demonstrated cumulatively in her entire career. She worked Charlotte’s leg like a true heel, only played to the crowd in a condescending manner, and even yelled at Brie and Alicia Fox for attempting to hold the rope away from Charlotte because it might have gotten her disqualified and cost her the title. After weeks of good to great women’s matches with no story, we finally got one that was at least in the same ballpark as the fantastic NXT Women’s Championship matches in terms of wrestling AND storytelling. And while the main roster still has a way to go before they reach the bar that NXT has set, Sunday’s match gave me hope that they will reach that bar, and Nikki’s performance was a huge part of it.
4) Minoru Suzuki
5) Charlotte

Kevin Pantoja
1) Jay Lethal:
We had an interesting week where two companies had a guy with two titles defend them both in one night. Jay Lethal did so with the ROH World and ROH Television Championships at All-Star Extravaganza. He successfully opened the show by defending the Television Title against Bobby Fish. Lethal has made half of the TV Title defense in the entire existence of the belt, which is sick. He then defeated Fish’s partner, Kyle O’Reilly, with the World Title on the line in the main event. Both matches were good showings, and despite him retaining through cheap terms (a handful of tights on Fish and interference against O’Reilly), Lethal proved once again that he is the man in ROH.

2) Seth Rollins: The other double champion to make two defenses in one night was Seth Rollins. I’d say his performance was better than Jay Lethal’s, as he had to wrestle back to back matches, but he did lose one belt. First, he faced John Cena in a good match. It was a notch below their SummerSlam outing and Cena won back the US Title. Now before anyone complains that Cena isn’t my list, I preferred the matches of some other people on my list and chose to recognize people capturing their first taste of certain titles. Anyway, back to Seth, he then faced Sting and had a good match with him too. I mean, if you would have told me five years ago that Tyler Black would be headlining a PPV by facing Cena and Sting in one night, I’d have slapped you. The fact that he did so while putting on a great performance and beating Sting, is enough to put him on this list.
3) Kevin Owens: Two months ago at Battleground, Kevin Owens should have won the United States Title. I stand by that. At Night of Champions though, the WWE righted that wrong somewhat by having Owens defeat Ryback for the Intercontinental Title. I’m not one of those people who was very against Ryback being champion and I think if he didn’t get hurt or have to feud with Big Show, he could have had a good reign. Still, Owens being champion could get us back to a place where the IC Title matches were the best on the card. My biggest wish for this is that Owens gets a rather dominant run with the strap and it leads to a match against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania. It would not only be a great match but would give an IC Title match a great storyline.
4) AJ Styles
5) Charlotte

Mike Hammerlock
1) Seth Rollins:
I’ve had my issues with the WWE during the past two years, but at least they’ve got their main belt on their best talent. Rollins stole the show again at Night of Champions. The roll through superplex he hit against John Cena was a thing of beauty. He’s hitting moves and executing at an insanely high level. The match he was able to pull out of Sting (and credit to Sting for taking some serious bumps) serves as a testament to Rollins’ ability. He didn’t win both of his matches, but he put on a superstar performance.

2) Jay Lethal: Razor thin margin between 1 and 2 for me this week. Lethal beat both members of reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) to retain his ROH TV and World titles. Lethal’s being built as the champiest champ who ever champed. Next up for him is AJ Styles, who curiously does not have the ROH World title on his resume. That has match of the year potential written all over it.
3) New Day: All due respect to Kevin Owens and Charlotte, who deserve to make this list in addition to the picks I have here, but New Day matches have reached spectacle proportions. They cut the best promo of the night right before their match with the Dudleyz and they’re working character and story into their ring action like no one else on the WWE roster. When they’re on, I’m transfixed. I have no idea what’s coming next and I’ve got to see it. They didn’t have a technical masterpiece and it was a lazy DQ finish, but New Day had me hooked.
4) John Cena
5) AJ Styles

JUSTIN WATRY
1) Seth Rollins:
Even though I am against a wrestler competing twice in the same night, Seth Rollins was the perfect man to do so. Having him defend the United States Championship AND the WWE World Championship worked very well at Night of Champions. Both results were what I expected, and hats off to all three men for making it work. Since Rollins left the pay-per-view with the top prize, he earns the top vote.

2) Charlotte: It was time. I touch on this in a future column, but this was the right move. Nikki Bella gets the record, and Charlotte gets the belt. Both were winners in this scenario, and the entire division now has a new direction for the first time in nearly a year. Even if it does get tiresome after awhile, it is always cool to see Ric Flair show his emotion being so proud of his daughter. Woooooo!!!
3) Kevin Owens: First singles title in WWE. Like most of the Night of Champions card, I predicted he would beat Ryback and thankfully, it was about as clean as can be for a heel like Kevin Owens. Good for him. His one year anniversary from debuting on NXT Is right around he corner, and WOW! Major first night a NXT: Takeover, wins the title two months later, beats John Cena fair and square upon entering the main roster, and now IC Champion. Let me guess…he is getting BURIED?!?!!?!?! Right. Congrats Kevin!
4) Sting
5) John Cena

GREG DEMARCO
1) Jay Lethal:
On a weekend that’s usually dominated by a WWE PPV, Ring of Honor World and World Television Champion Jay Lethal, much like Seth Rollins, defended both of his championships. Unlike Rollins, Lethal still holds both of them today. Jay Lethal is fast making an argument for a legit “best in the world” claim with his recent performances. He defeated both members of Red Dragon (Bobby Fish in the TV title match and Kyle O’Reilly in the world title affair), and is now headed towards a showdown with AJ Styles, as well as another with Roderick Strong.

2) Kevin Owens: Owens got the second biggest win of his career so far, winning the Intercontinental Championship from Ryback. Ryback has been white-hot lately, and I hope he moves up the card. As for Owens? I’d love to see a long-term Intercontinental Championship reign where he can act as a tweener, defending against almost anyone on the roster.
3) John Cena: “Big Match John” won another title. Yay!
4) The Kingdom – Matt Taven, Michael Bennett & Maria Kanellis
5) Kane

Jack McGee
1) Jay Lethal:
Jay Lethal successfully defended the ROH TV & World Titles at the All Star Extravaganza event. I get that some will think this is just the cool vote because he’s the Indy guy, but the facts are that he’s a better booked double champion (and just world champion) than Rollins. That’s not a knock on Rollins, who has been great in the ring, but he hasn’t been booked as well as he could have been as a double champion.

2) Kevin Owens: Your new IC Champion, hopefully he’s the guy that can break the curse and give the title the run it needs.
3) John Cena & Seth Rollins: They had the best match at Night of Champions.
4) Gail Kim
5) Charlotte


THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Sting & Nikki Bella – 6 Votes

* Fifth Place…John Cena – 10 Votes

* Fourth Place…Charlotte – 11 Votes

* Third Place…Kevin Owens – 23 Votes

Your new IC Champion…

* Second Place…Jay Lethal – 24 Votes

Still the reigning and defending ROH TV & World Champion!

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Seth Rollins – 28 Votes

The Standings
Here are the standings after week twenty-five

John Cena – 64 pts.

Seth Rollins – 61 pts.

Kevin Owens – 57 pts.

Kofi Kingston – 47 pts.
Big E – 47 pts.

Jay Lethal – 42 pts.

Xavier Woods – 34 pts.

Mil Muertes – 31 pts.

Sasha Banks – 30 pts.

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 27 pts.
KUSHIDA – 27 pts.

Prince Puma – 25 pts.

Drago – 24 pts.
Fenix – 24 pts.
Shinsuke Nakamura – 24 pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 24 pts.
Dean Ambrose – 24 pts.
Kota Ibushi – 24 pts.
AJ Styles – 24 pts.

Finn Balor – 22 pts.
Ethan Carter III – 22 pts.

Nick Jackson – 21 pts.
Matt Jackson – 21 pts.
Cesaro – 21 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 21 pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 21 pts.

Aerostar – 18 pts.
Alberto El Patron – 18 pts.
Roman Reigns – 18 pts.
Bubba Ray Dudley – 18 pts.
D-Von Dudley – 18 pts.

Zack Sabre Jr – 16 pts.

Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Matt Hardy – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.
Brock Lesnar – 15 pts.
Undertaker – 15 pts.

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

Samoa Joe – 12 pts.
Rey Mysterio Jr. – 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.
Bayley – 12 pts.
Bobby Roode – 12 pts.

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.
Roderick Strong – 10 pts.
Eddie Edwards – 10 pts.
Davey Richards – 10 pts.

Ryback – 9 pts.
Bobby Fish – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 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.
Timothy Thatcher – 9 pts.

Michael Elgin – 6 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.

Neville – 5 pts.

Drew Galloway – 3 pts.
Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 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.
Nikki Bella – 1 pt.
Kalisto – 1 pt.
Titus O’Neil – 1 pt.
Aiden English – 1 pt.
Simon Gotch – 1 pt.
Darren Young – 1 pt.
Minoru Tanaka – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Jun Kasai – 1 pt.
Manabu Soya – 1 pt.
Tetsuya Naito – 1 pt.


* Voting began 4.06.15

* 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.


**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)

 photo Rollins WOTY_zpsozlrughk.png
Year Ten Winner: Seth Rollins (2014-2015)