wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week: Styles Battles Sugiura

February 2, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 44 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…

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Larry Csonka
1) Takashi Sugiura:
Takashi Sugiura defeated Champion Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Marufuji looked to be the hero when he defeated Minoru Suzuki, but lost the title back to Suzuki-gun on his first defense. This is Sugiura’s second run with the title.

2) King Cuerno: King Cuerno defeated Fenix is a great match on the season two debut on Lucha Underground to win the Gift of the Gods Title, Not only was it a tremendous TV match, but it also gives Cuerno the right to challenge for the Lucha Underground Title. Although he seems to be part of the plan to keep Fenix away from the belt and Mil Muertes, he could be tempted as the season goes on.
3) AJ Styles: Defeated Chris Jericho on Raw and Curtis Axel on Smackdown.
4) Mil Muertes
5) Kalisto

Chad Perry
1) King Cuerno:
Even though this was a week I was looking forward to (for the return of LU), it was a very quiet week. Cuerno earns my #1 spot after kicking off the new season of Lucha Underground by defeating Fenix in a frantic and fantastic opening match to become the new LU Gift of the Gods Champion.

2) Samoa Joe & Sami Zayn: The two victors from the triple threat match to determine the number one contender for the NXT Title. This was a great match and from the sounds of it we are going to have more greatness coming from these two.
3) AJ Styles: Continued to establish himself as a WWE superstar with victories of Chris Jericho and Curtis Axel. Styles vs. Jericho has been a dream match for years and the two delivered a very good effort. I would love to see what they could do with 15 minutes on PPV.
4) Shinsuke Nakamura
5) The Rock

Dylan Diot
1) Shinsuke Nakamura
This was an emotional and very newsworthy week for Shinsuke Nakamura. The WWE officially announced that he was making his debut at NXT Takeover: Dallas and his first match generated a ton of buzz and excitement. He capped off this wild week with his farewell in New Japan, where he got an emotional sendoff from the fans and his CHAOS stablemates and was carried out of Korakuern Hall on the shoulders of Kazuchika Okada. Nakamura’s farewell to the company he was one of the top stars of for years and the beginning of his WWE career coming together makes Nakamura an easy #1 choice this week.

2) Takashi Sugiura: Takashi Sugiura defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win his second GHC World Heavyweight Championship. Suzuki-Gun cleaned house at the Great Voyage in Yokohama show, capped off with Sugiura’s big victory. The balance of power has shifted back in their favor thanks to Sugiura’s win and we’ll see how long Sugiura’s reign lasts with an eventual showdown with Go Shiozaki on the horizon.
3) AJ Styles: Styles continues to impress coming off his debut at the Royal Rumble. He picked up a big win in his Raw debut against Chris Jericho in a pretty good match and he picked up a win against Curtis Axel on SmackDown by hitting the Styles Clash for the first time.
4) King Cuerno
5) Mil Muertes

Mike Hammerlock
1) King Cuerno:
Won the Gift of the Gods belt off Fenix in the Lucha Underground season 2 kickoff off match and looked great doing it. When you’re not a 52-week show, that first match back becomes a very big deal. It set the tone for everything that comes after it, and Cuerno and Fenix had the crowd marking out. Cuerno, known as El Hijo de Fantasma in Mexico, mixes both power and aerial ability. Should be interesting to see if he cashes in his belt for a shot at Mil Muertes’ Lucha Underground title, especially now that Muertes has a (kayfabe) broken arm.

2) Ivelisse: It really should not be overlooked that Ivelisse just challenged a man for a fed title in a serious match. She beat two other guys – her trio partners Son of Havoc and Angelico – to earn her shot and she put Muertes on his back before losing. That marks a fairly enormous shift in the world of pro wrestling. We’re going to see a lot more of it. Princess KimberLee is the Chikara Grand Champion at the moment and retained this weekend via DQ. Now we’re seeing Ivelisse challenge for a top title for a nationally televised fed. Ivelisse just took a big step for womankind.
3) AJ Styles: Tough choice here between AJ and Takashi Sugiura. Gave the nod to AJ because he was the highlight of both Raw and Smackdown. Got a feeling AJ is going to be the action portion of the night for WWE programming for the foreseeable future. Sugiura advanced the Suzuki-gun vs. NOAH feud, but you’ve got to wonder why they don’t put that belt on someone not in his mid-40s (insert HHH joke here). All due respect to Nakamura, great to see him celebrated, but he didn’t exactly do anything outstanding in the ring this week. Got a lower vote for Chikara tag champs N_R_G, which retained against the Nightmare Warriors in what is getting billed as an outstanding match. Chikara might have the best, deepest tag division in the business.
4) Takashi Sugiura
5) N_R_G: Race Jaxon and Hype Rockwell

Kevin Pantoja
1) Shinsuke Nakamura:
Nobody made more headlines this week than Shinsuke Nakamura. First, news broke that Nakamura was officially joining NXT and the match that was announced for NXT TakeOver: Dallas sounds all kinds of amazing. Then, he had to have his final match in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The show was focused on him, with multiple guys giving him small tributes throughout the evening. In the main event, Nakamura teamed with his Chaos buddies Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto in a great six man tag. Nakamura got an emotional sendoff and was carried out of Korakuen Hall on Okada’s shoulders in a really cool moment.

2) Takashi Sugiura: The biggest win of the win came from Takashi Sugiura, who captured the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Naomichi Marufuji. For those that don’t remember, Marufuji just won the belt from Suzuki-Gun leader Minoru Suzuki at the end of December. Sugiura, who had a classic with Suzuki earlier in the year, turned heel and joined the Suzuki-Gun stable. Sugiura was able to dethrone Marufuji and shift the balance back to Suzuki-Gun, who dominated throughout 2015. Things certainly look interesting for NOAH in 2016.
3) King Cuerno: Of everything that happened in wrestling this week, my favorite was the return of Lucha Underground. LU was my pick for the best promotion in 2015. They always put on a fun show and it’s so different from everything else. The season two premiere was absolutely fantastic and kicked off with a great match. Fenix, the holder of the Gift of the God’s Championship, wad made to defend his belt by order of Catrina. His opponent was one of the guys I felt was a bit overlooked in season one, King Cuerno. After a really good, fast paced match, Cuerno put down Fenix to win the title. He now holds a title shot at the Lucha Underground Championship whenever he wants, but he does seem to have a deal with Catrina to not use his shot. It’ll be interesting to see this play out.
4) AJ Styles
5) Ivelisse

Mike Chin
1) Shinsuke Nakmura:
Nakamura got a hero’s send off in NJPW and is making all sorts of headlines related to his impending NXT debut, which promises many great matches in his future, the first of which looks bound for Dallas.

2) AJ Styles: WWE kept up AJ Styles’s momentum this week with a very good win over Chris Jericho on Raw and a perfectly serviceable victory over Curtis Axel on Smackdown
3) Takashi Sugiura: The new GHC Heavyweight Champion defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the title and contribute to Suzuki-Gun reestablishing itself.
4) Big Show
5) King Cuerno

Jack McGee
1) Takashi Sugiura:
Takashi Sugiura defeated Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Heavyweight Title, and put Suzuki-gun back in control of NOAH. It was the biggest title change of the week and picks up the top spot from me.

2) King Cuerno: Defeated Fenix to win the Lucha Underground Gift of the God Title, which will allow him the chance to challenge for the Lucha Underground title, if he chooses.
3) AJ Styles: Picked up two wins on his first week on WWE TV.
4) Mil Muertes
5) Shinsuke Nakmura

JUSTIN WATRY
1) Roman Reigns:
Main event winner on both RAW and Smackdown this past week and is getting the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view main event spotlight. Notice the key word in all of that is main event. In WWE. On the Road to WrestleMania. Yeah, really is no other option here.

2) AJ Styles: Beat Chris Jericho in his RAW debut and used the Styles Clash to defeat Curtis Axel on Smackdown. Now we wait to see who AJ Styles feuds with first.
3) Dean Ambrose: What separates Dean Ambrose from Roman Reigns you ask? Simple – one man actually has a chance to win; the other has simply been added to take the pinfall loss. Sorry. I still await the REAL Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar rematch…
4) Shinsuke Nakamura
5) Kalisto

Aaron Scott
1) Takashi Sugiura :
Defeated Naomichi Marofuji to earn the NOAH GHC Championship. His first run was 581 days, can this former MMA fighter eclipse his own record? The only double Champion twice in NOAH history, the chairman looks to continue his success.

2) Drew Galloway: Won Feast or Fired’s guaranteed shot at the World Champion. Galloway, who has made it his life’s passion to become World Champion earns his spot at the top of the rankings. Will 2016 finally be the year he becomes World Heavyweight Champion?
3) Ivelisse: Defeated Son of Havoc and Angelico to earn a shot against LU Champion Mil Muertes. She would lose in a valiant effort but she has proved a capable contender and stands a fair chance to become the first female holding the gold at the top of Lucha Underground.
4) James Storm
5) Crazzy Steve, Abyss & Rosemary

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Roman Reigns and Mil Muertes – 5 Votes

* Fifth Place…Ivelisse – 8 Votes

* Fourth Place…Shinsuke Nakamura – 20 Votes

* Third Place…King Cuerno – 24 Votes

Your NEW Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Champion!

* Second Place…AJ Styles – 25 Votes

Rolled in his first week on WWE TV by beating Chris Jericho and Curtis Axel.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Takashi Sugiura – 28 Votes

Your NEW GHC heavyweight Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week forty-four…

T-1. Kofi Kingston – 98 pts.
T-1. Big E – 98 pts.

3. Roman Reigns – 95 pts.

4. John Cena – 92 pts.

5. Xavier Woods – 85 pts.

6. Dean Ambrose – 78 pts.

7. Shinsuke Nakamura – 66 pts.

8. Seth Rollins – 62 pts.

9. Kevin Owens – 58 pts.

T-10. Jay Lethal – 55 pts.
T-10. Kazuchika Okada – 55 pts.

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AJ Styles – 53 pts.

Matt Hardy – 45 pts.
Bayley – 45 pts.

Prince Puma/Ricochet – 43 pts.

Sasha Banks – 42 pts.

Finn Balor – 40 pts.

Brock Lesnar – 39 pts.

Mil Muertes – 32 pts.

Alberto Del Rio – 31 pts.
Zack Sabre Jr – 31 pts.

Cesaro – 30 pts.
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 30 pts.

Ethan Carter III – 28 pts.
KUSHIDA – 28 pts.

Kyle O’Reilly – 27 pts.
Naomichi Marufuji – 27 pts.

Kalisto – 26 pts.

Timothy Thatcher – 25 pts.
Roderick Strong – 25 pts.
Sheamus – 25 pts.

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

Togi Makabe – 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.
Katsuyori Shibata – 18 pts.

Undertaker – 17 pts.

Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Triple H – 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.
Suwama -15 pts
Ivelisse – 15 pts.

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

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

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.
King Cuerno – 10 pts.

Eric Young – 9 pts.
Santana Garrett – 9 pts.
Ryback – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.

Tetsuya Naito – 7 pts.
Tomoaki Honma – 7 pts.
Johnny Gargano – 7 pts.

Shingo Takagi – 6 pts.
Taiji Ishimori – 6 pts
Minoru Suzuki – 6 pts
Tigre Uno – 6 pts.
KAI – 6 pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6 pts.
Charlotte – 6 pts.
King Bad News Barrett – 6 pts.
Nicole Matthews – 6 pts.
Gail Kim – 6 pts.
EVIL – 6 pts.

Neville – 5 pts.

Kamaitachi – 3 pts.
Carmella – 3 pts.
Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 3 pts.
Madison Eagles – 3 pts.
Jay Briscoe – 3 pts.
Hanson – 3 pts.
Raymond Rowe – 3 pts.
Kento Miyahara -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.
Mark Andrews – 1 pt.
Kenny King – 1 pt.
The Rock – 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.
Baron Corbin – 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.


* 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)