wrestling / Columns
411’s Wrestler of The Week: The Broken Hardys Battle The Bucks of Youth
Welcome to YEAR TWELVE, WEEK 26 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…
Voting period: SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2
Larry Csonka
1) The Young Bucks:
The Young Bucks defeated The Addiction and Motor City Machine Guns to win the ROH tag team titles at All Star Extravaganza. Ladder War VI was a bona fide MOTY contender, and was everything I hoped it would be.
2) Lashley: Lashley tapped out EC3 on Impact and then defeated him clean at Bound for Glory to remain the World Champion. He’s been awesome as TNA Champion.
3) Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero: Defeated the Decay in THE GREAT WAR at Bound for Glory to win the TNA tag team titles.
4) AJ Styles
5) Adam Cole (BAY BAY)
Mike Chin
1) The Broken Hardys:
I’m still on the fence about the recent creative efforts from the Hardys, but their Great War with The Decay delivered at Bound For Glory, and the brothers won in suitably epic fashion.
2) The Young Bucks: Ladder War lived up to its potential in the main event spot for ROH’s All Star Extravaganza this weekend, and The Bucks walked out with the titles.
3) AJ Styles: The reigning WWE World Champ pinned Dean Ambrose in the Smackdown main event.
4) DJ Z
5) Lashley
Kevin Pantoja
1) AJ Styles:
I really should have gone to Smackdown last week. I had a chance but decided against getting tickets and it ended up being a very good show. The main event saw AJ Styles continue his string of good to great matches. He retained the WWE Championship against Dean Ambrose in a match that wasn’t as good as their Backlash encounter, but was still very strong. It was the first successful title defense for Styles, who added another notch into his “wrestler of the year” belt.
2) Lashley: So TNA is still alive. For now at least. Their current champion, Lashley, had a great week. First, on Impact, his team defeated Team EC3 to win Lethal Lockdown. He chose a No Holds Barred stipulation for his upcoming title defense. That defense took place at Bound for Glory, where Lashley retained the TNA Heavyweight Title over Ethan Carter III with a diving spear. TNA isn’t doing many things right, but Lashley has actually been pretty money lately.
3) The Broken Hardys: The Final Deletion was one of my favorite things in all of wrestling this year. The Broken Hardys vs. The Decay then proved to be my favorite match in TNA in 2016. The two teams met in THE GREAT WAR at Bound for Glory and it was easily the highlight of the show. The match delivered in exactly the way that it needed to, fitting right in with the stuff the Hardys have done in 2016 so far. They won and captured the TNA Tag Team Titles.
4) The Young Bucks
5) DJZ
Jack McGee
1) The Broken Hardys:
They won the GREAT WAS in the most delightful and extraordinaire match at Bound for Glory. Their vessels also hold the world belts of tag team gold.
2) Lashley: He made EC3 his bitch on Impact and at Bound for Glory.
3) The Young Bucks: Won ROH Ladder War VI, which was another gloriously insane match.
4) AJ Styles
5) DJ Z
Mitch Nickelson
1) The Young Bucks:
Ladder War 6 was nuts as Matt & Nick Jackson became the winners in this destructive ROH Tag Team Championship Match. The finisher alone was bananas, which was an Indy Taker off a ladder and through a table from off the turnbuckle. The other two teams earned a spot on this list as well, but they round out the last two spots for me.
2) The Broken Hardys: The Decay came after Broken Matt, Brother Nero, Reby, Maxel, Senor Benjamin, and Vanguard 1, but in the end they were unsuccessful. The Great War had pumpkins and barb wire boards and plenty of the wacky stuff that’s made Matt and Jeff so great these days. The brothers are now TNA Tag Team Champions and remain one of the brightest stars of their show.
3) AJ Styles: This has to be the only time that I’ve contributed to 411’s Wrestler of the Week and only put one lone singles guys on the list. AJ Styles, who is not currently in any tag teams, defeated Dean Ambrose on SmackDown Live to retain his WWE World Championship.
4) The Addiction
5) The Motor City Machine Guns
Ryan Waterman
1) The Young Bucks
What a night it was for Matt & Nick, on Friday. Along with The Addiction, and The Motor City Machine Guns, they tore the roof of the building in Lowell, Massachusetts with Ladder War VI. Personally, I was in awe of that match. The spots, the danger level, the passion, it was all just a masterpiece. Those three teams put together an instant classic, that will be remembered for years to come. In the end, The Bucks of Youth limped away victorious, becoming the only team to simultaneously hold the ROH World Tag Titles, PWG World Tag Titles, and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles — on two separate occasions.
2) AJ Styles: The former Bullet Club leader has been on an absolute tear over the past four-and-a-half months in the WWE. A run that includes a pair of victories of John Cena (one of which, was clean), a WWE championship victory over Dean Ambrose, and he made his first defense last week by once again defeating Ambrose. AJ is heading into No Mercy with a boatload of momentum.
3) “Broken” Matt Hardy & Brother Nero: Despite TNA’s current financial hardships, the feud between The Hardys & The Decay has been their best story in god knows how long. Easily, Impact Wrestling’s 2016 MVP, Sunday’s Bound for Glory was the crowning moment for “Broken” Matt and Brother Nero, as the pair knocked of The Decay for the TNA World Tag Team Championship in The Great War — the best match of the night. In the span of approximately six months, the two brothers have gone from beating the hell out of each other in Cameron, North Carolina to teaming up to make The Decay’s run as tag champions…OBSOLETE!
4) Dragon Lee
5) The Usos
Arnold Furious
1) Mark Haskins:
It occurs to me that I don’t often watch the same promotions as the other voters, which is a good thing. Diversity is great in professional wrestling. It’s nice to have options outside of WWE and the European wrestling scene is arguably as good now as it ever has been. Maybe not in terms of attendance but for in-ring it’s excellent. UK stand-out Mask Haskins had another winning weekend, after taking home the Progress title last week. He won the 2016 Speed King tournament. A one-night affair featuring Matt Cross (Son of Havoc), Lio Rush, Fenix, Sami Callihan and Will Ospreay along with some up and coming UK talent. Haskins came out on top and is one of the best European wrestlers going right now, which puts him in the picture for best in the world.
2) Shane Strickland & David Starr: Another bonus of European wrestling is it presents another location for American talent, who are not being featured by the likes of ROH, TNA or WWE, to shine. Strickland and Starr have taken this opportunity with both hands and this weekend captured the wXw Tag Team Championships by winning the wXw World Tag League. It’s one of the most prestigious tag team tournaments on the planet. I’ll be checking in with a few reviews from it soon, in the meantime search for wXw Now for their streaming service, it’s one of the best in the game.
3) Pete Dunne: Pete is collecting belts right now and added the wXw Shotgun title by beating Da Mack, one of the cruiserweights featured in the CWC. This also took place during the Tag League weekend, one of the biggest weekends on wXw’s loaded calendar.
4) The Young Bucks
5) The Hardy Boyz
Rob Stewart
1) The Young Bucks:
The Bucks won the Ring of Honor All Star Extravaganza main event, defeating The Addiction and the Motor City Machine Guns to win the RoH tag team championship.
2) Bobby Lashley: Hey, Bound For Glory ended up happening! All the worry about finances keeping the show from going on were for nothing. And in the main event of the show, Bobby Lashley continued his dominant run as world champion by defeating Ethan Carter III
3) The Broken Hardys: Speaking of Bound For Glory, the Broken Hardys continued their feud with The Decay at the show. The Hardys won and became the new TNA Tag Team Champions.
4) AJ Styles
5) Adam Cole
Mike Hammerlock
1) The Young Bucks:
Mayhem is underrated. When you do it right inside a wrestling ring, like ROH did with Ladder War VI, it’s a thing of beauty. Great win for the Jackson brothers too, who are having an amazing career.
2) AJ Styles: Beat Dean Ambrose in the best free TV match the WWE has staged in a long while. More of that, please.
3) The Broken Hardys: One of the upsides of being on death’s door as a promotion is you’re willing to try some crazy shit. Giving the Hardys free rein has produced some inspired stuff.
4) Mark Haskins
5) The Worldwide Underground
THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…DJ Z and Shane Strickland & David Starr – 4 Votes
* Fifth Place…Mark Haskins – 6 Votes
* Fourth Place…Lashley – 16 Votes
* Third Place…AJ Styles – 25 Votes
Defeated Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE Title.
* Second Place…Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero – 30 Votes
Won the GREAT War to become the NEW TNA Tag Team Champions!
* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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The Young Bucks – 36 Votes
Won Ladder War VI to become the NEW ROH Tag Team Champions!
The Standings
Here are the standings after week 26…
1. AJ Styles – 85pts
2. Prince Puma/Ricochet – 60pts
3. Dean Ambrose – 51pts
3. Lashley – 51pts
5. Tetsuya Naito – 45pts
6. Roman Reigns – 36pts
6. Rey Mysterio Jr. – 36pts
6. Dragon Azteca Jr. – 36pts
9. The Monster Matanza Cueto – 33pts
9. Will Ospreay – 33pts
9. Sexy Star – 33pts
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* Kevin Owens – 31pts
* Finn Balor – 30pts
* Johnny Mundo – 28pts
* Broken Matt Hardy – 28pts
* TJ Perkins – 27pts
* Cage – 24 pts
* Jack Evans – 24pts
* PJ Black – 24 pts
* Jay Lethal – 21pts
* Samoa Joe – 21pts
* The Miz – 20pts
* Dash – 18pts
* Dawson – 18pts
* Kota Ibushi – 16pts
* Brother Nero – 16pts
* Nick Jackson – 15pts
* Matt Jackson – 15pts
* Kenny Omega – 15pts
* Seth Rollins – 15pts
* Drew Galloway – 15pts
* Johnny Gargano – 15pts
* KUSHIDA – 15pts
* Aerostar – 15pts
* Sami Zayn – 13pts
* Killshot/Shane Strickland – 13pts
* Shinsuke Nakamura – 12pts
* Becky Lynch – 12pts
* Sasha Banks – 12pts
* Son of Havoc – 12pts
* Michael Elgin -12pts
* Bobby Fish – 12pts
* Daniels – 12pts
* Kazarian – 12pts
* Mike Bennett – 12pts
* Eddie Edwards – 12pts
* Tomohiro Ishii – 12pts
* Marty Scurll – 12pts
* Katsuyori Shibata – 12pts
* Dolph Ziggler – 10pts
* Kazuchika Okada – 10pts
* Adam Cole – 9pts
* Tommaso Ciampa – 9pts
* Heath Slater – 9pts
* Rhyno – 9pts
* Mil Muertes – 9pts
* Drago – 9pts
* Kyle O’Reilly – 9pts
* SANADA – 9pts
* Zack Sabre Jr – 9pts
* Ethan Carter III – 9pts
* Meiko Satomura – 9pts
* DASH Chisako – 9pts
* Cassandra Miyagi – 9pts
* BUSHI – 9pts
* Satoshi Kojima – 7pts
* Rusev – 7pts
* Gran Metalik – 7pts
* Fenix – 6pts
* Pentagon Jr – 6pts
* Mariposa – 6pts
* Yuji Nagata – 6pts
* Takashi Sugiura – 6pts
* Matt Riddle – 6pts
* David Finlay – 6pts
* Bayley – 4pts
* The Mack – 3pts
* Cesaro – 3pts
* Dana Brooke – 3pts
* Xavier Woods – 3pts
* Kofi Kingston – 3pts
* Big E – 3pts
* Evie – 3pts
* Heidi Lovelace – 3pts
* Dustin (Chuck Taylor) – 3pts
* Cedric Alexander – 3pts
* YAMATO – 3pts
* James Storm – 3pts
* Mark Haskins – 3pts
* Matt Sydal – 2pts
* Charlotte – 2pts
* Chavo Guerrero – 1pt
* DJ Z – 1pt
* Abyss – 1pt
* Crazy Steve – 1pt
* Zack Ryder – 1pt
* Big Cass – 1pt
* Enzo Amore – 1pt
* Karl Anderson – 1pt
* Doc Gallows – 1pt
* Rocky Romero – 1pt
* Trent Barreta – 1pt
* Timothy Thatcher – 1pt
* Jay Briscoe – 1pt
* Mark Briscoe – 1pt
* ACH – 1pt
* Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 1pt
* Taiji Ishimori – 1pt
* Hiroshi Tanahashi – 1pt
* David Starr – 1pt
* Voting began the week of April 4th, 2016
* 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.
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)
Year Ten Winner: Seth Rollins (2014-2015)
Year Eleven Winners: The New Day (2015-2016)
