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411’s Wrestler of the Week 03.30.09: Week 52

March 30, 2009 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Welcome to Week 52, Year FOUR, of 411’s Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview to kick things off as we have some new rules for year four…

Each writer chooses FIVE wrestlers 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

If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!

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 at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let’s see who wins this week…and this year!

The Voting~!
Andy Clark
1) Randy Orton
After watching the end of Raw this week I knew that there was no way anyone was coming close to Orton, at least as far as my vote was concerned. Orton was the badassiest of all the badasses this week. Let’s eee…Three on one beatdown of WrestleMania opponent. Check. DDT opponent’s wife right in front of him. Check. Kiss prone wife in front of him. Check. Hit him in the head with a sledgehammer anyhow. Check. Awesome stuff.

2) Shawn Michaels: If anyone was going to come close to Orton’s performance this week it would have been Mordec…I mean Shawn Michaels. His promo and entrance on SmackDown was great and served to add to the already high expectations for this feud.
3) Chris Jericho & Ric Flair (tie): Jericho & Flair had an awesome confrontation on Raw with a brutal beatdown that would probably have it in first place save for Orton’s McMahon attack from the same night and HBK’s great delivery on Friday. That beatdown was so great that I’m almost hoping for Flair to come out of retirement for a match at WrestleMania. Almost.
4) Team F.I.S.T.
5) Kota Ibushi

Larry Csonka
1) Kurt Angle
Over the last year, I don’t think there has been anyone more overlooked than Kurt Angle. Once again he put on an impressive performance on Impact, dominating the gauntlet in a very believable fashion. Sure he had some help from his MEM partners, but Angle was simply great in the match and deserves some recognition.

2) Samoa Joe: While not the performance of Kurt Angle, Joe looked like a monster as he came out and won the gauntlet this past week on Impact. Hopefully there will be less knife and more bad ass Joe in the future.
3) Randy Orton: Orton was great on Raw this week, showing what made him the hottest heel in wrestling before things got sidetracked.
4) Shawn Michaels
5) Team FIST (Icarus, Gran Akuma, & Chuck Taylor)

ARI
1) Randy Orton
THE baddest heel on the wrestling planet right now and what he did on Monday Night proves it.

2) Chris Jericho: The SECOND baddest heel on the wrestling planet right now and what he did on Monday night proves it.
3) Shawn Michaels: Second only to Michael Jackson with the white trenchcoat look, HBK has been awesome this week, with fun segments on television, really showing the old school “Showstoppah” fans know and love.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Team F.I.S.T.

Samuel Berman
1) Icarus, Gran Akuma & Chuck Taylor
Team F.I.S.T. won CHIKARA’s King of Trios event, a tournament that has become amongst the most prestigious in American Independent wrestling. Extra credit is due to Taylor, as the former Young Lions Cup holder and IWA Mid-South World Heavyweight Champion earned his team the tournament title by forcing a debuting “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson into submission.

2) Randy Orton: His performance on RAW was one of the best segments in all of wrestling this year.
3) Rhett Titus and Kota Ibushi (tie): The former ROH student won the FIP Florida Heritage Title while the DDT star won the Rey de Voladores and was the weekend’s breakout star for CHIKARA.
4) Eddie Kingston
5) Chris Jericho

Robert S. Leighty Jr.
1. Randy Orton
Orton is the biggest dick in wrestling right now and it is tremendous to watch. I have no clue how he tops what happened Monday, but it may be foolish to even try. The crowd asbolutely hates this man right now (well the majority of the crowd.

2. Chris Jericho: In a world without Randy Orton, Jericho would be be the biggest dick in wrestling right now. The ass kicking off Flair did so much to hype his underwhelming handicap match with the Legends at Mania.
3. Shawn Michaels: Would you really expect anything less from Shawn as we head to WrestleMania?
4. Samoa Joe
5. Kurt Angle

Michael Bauer
1) Shawn Michaels
I hate voting for guys who do promos only up top, but this week, the promos far outweighed anything in a wrestling ring. Shawn Michaels not only delievered once, but TWICE this week. And while we all know about the White Trenchcoat Mafia from Smackdown, I was just as impressed by his graveyard promo on Raw. Vintage Michaels this week.

2) Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe (tie): Dominated the Guantlet on Impact, which might have been the best match for Impact ever.
3) Team FIST (Icarus, Gran Akuma & Chuck Taylor): Winning the King of Trios tourney is a bigger deal than you think, especialy when you get Danielson to submit.
4) Rhett “Addicted to Love” Titus
5) Randy Orton

Ryan Byers
1) Team FIST
Over the last several years, CHIKARA’s big annual tournaments have become some of the most entertaining wrestling events of the year, regardless of the size of the promotion. Reports indicate that this year’s King of Trios tournament is no exception. The centerpiece of the three night event was Team FIST of Icarus, Gran Akuma, and Chuck Taylor. The threesome was already receiving a big push thanks to their ending of the carer of Worker Ant, and now they’ve got a major tournament victory under their belts as well. It seems like this will be a huge year for the Friends in Similar Tights.

2) Chris Jericho: I had to think long and hard about whether to rank Jericho or Randy Orton higher in my WWE picks for the week. At the end of the day, I decided to go with the Canadian, because I found his performance more realistic, less cartoonish, and therefore better than Orton’s.
3) Kota Ibushi: King of Trios was the main event of CHIKARA’s weekend, but they also ran their annual Rey De Voladores tournament on the undercards of those shows. The winner was Kota Ibushi, a wrestler from the tiny Japanese indy DDT who continues to make a name for himself in the United States after a well-received series of matches in ROH last year.
4) Randy Orton
5) Mike Quackenbush & Jigsaw

Andy Critchell
1) Team FIST – Of all the indy tournaments out there, Chikara’s King of Trios is by far my favorite and Team FIST (Icarus, Gran Akuma, and Chuck Taylor) have competed in quite a few but this year they finally pick up the win. WOTW is about who made the biggest splash, who was the most entertaining, and/or who advanced their career the most. A win in the KOT is a HUGE feather in the cap of Team FIST and warrants a first place vote from me.

2) Randall K Orton, Esq. – when this feud with Triple H is reviewed in the future, this past Monday will be seen as the point where it went from being just a regular feud into something really special and Orton is the main reason why. In a great bit of continuity, Orton showed that he truly had learned some tricks from Triple H during their Evolution run as having Cody under the ring is exactly what Trips would have done. The handcuff gimmick was fantastic as well and allowed for Orton to be as brutal and sadistic as possible without any repercussions from Trips. The coup de grâce though was Orton delivering the DDT to Steph while a helpless and broken Triple H looked on, and then Orton added insult to injury by kissing an unconscious Steph. With this segment Orton is now as bad and as calculating and Triple H and a real threat to take his title.
3) Chris Jericho/Ric Flair – They kicked off Raw in spectacular fashion and both were able to generate interest in a Wrestlemania match that up to this point had little heat to it. Jericho was allowed to be very brutal and effective in taking out a living legend only one year removed from being an active wrestler.
4) HBK
5) Carlito

Jeremy Thomas
1) Randy Orton
Orton’s work on Raw was absolutely phenomenal, and there’s no question that this is the kind of stuff they should have been doing all along. It gave Randy a lot of his heat and momentum back heading toward WrestleMania and he made every move and every facial expression work just incredibly well. I am once again interesting in the ‘H/Orton feud, and that in itself is a hell of an accomplishment.

2) Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe: Both Angle and Joe turned in absolutely wonderful work in the Battle Royale on iMpact and won the captainships for Lethal Lockdown. Both men do deserve more credit than they deserve, and this week I was just very, very impressed by them.
3) Matt Hardy: We had a lot of great promos this week, especially in the ‘E. Matt Hardy’s, I think, did the most for his career. He had the crowd so hugely against him and played it off just beautifully, walking a narrow tightrope of expectations and coming through just fine in the end.
4) Shawn Michaels
5) Chuck Taylor

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Kurt Angle – 16 Votes

Fifth Place…Chris Jericho – 19 Votes

Fourth Place…Shawn Michaels – 21 Votes

Third Place…Gran Akuma & Icarus – 22 Votes

Icarus and Akuma made their way through the big CHIKARA tournament, scoring major wins on the way to an overall win and heavily building on the stock fot each of them.

Second Place…Chuck Taylor – 23 Votes

As part of the Team F.I.S.T. team with Akuma and Icarus, Taylor gets the edge by being the one and only Bryan Danielson by making him submit.

Wrestler of the Week…Randy Orton – 34 Votes

Orton showed us all again why we should care about his upcoming match against the Game at WrestleMania. For that, RKO’ing Stephanie (again) and then infuriating the Game by kisisng her, Randy Orton and his mindgames become the final Wrestler of the Week for Year four!

Year-End Standings~!

Well, the year is over, and ladies and gentlemen, YOUR winner is none other than Y2J himself, Chris Jericho! He is now the fourth “411 Wrestler of the Year,” following in the footsteps of Ric Flair, Samoa Joe and John Cena…a pretty damned good crowd to be included in, to say the least. Stick with us for next week, when the tables resent and Year FIVE begins!

Final Year-End Standings!

1. Chris Jericho – 138 (RAW)

2. Edge – 112 (SmackDown)

3. Shawn Michaels – 88 (RAW)

4. Batista – 74 (Raw) {Injured}

5. HHH – 72 (SmackDown)

6. Randy Orton – 71 (RAW)

7. Sting – 69 (TNA)

8. Matt Hardy – 65 (SmackDown)
8. Nigel McGuinness – 65 (ROH)

10. James Storm – 61 (TNA)
10. Robert Roode – 61 (TNA)
10. Tyler Black – 61 (ROH)

13. John Cena – 58 (RAW)

14. Samoa Joe – 54 (TNA)
14. Naruki Doi – 54 (Dragon Gate)
14. CM Punk – 54 (Raw)

Jeff Hardy – 49 (SmackDown)

The Undertaker – 48 (SmackDown)
Alex Shelley – 48 (TNA)

AJ Styles – 45 (TNA)

Kurt Angle – 42 (TNA)

Kofi Kingston – 39 (RAW)

Chris Sabin – 37 (TNA)

William Regal – 34 (RAW)
Bryan Danielson – 34 (ROH)

Masato Yoshino – 33 (Dragon Gate)
John Morrison – 33 (ECW)
The Miz – 33 (ECW)
Evan Bourne – 33 (ECW)

KENTA – 28 (NOAH)
Montel Vontavious Porter – 28 (SmackDown)
El Generico – 28 (ROH)

Kevin Steen – 27 (ROH)
Low Ki – 27 (WWE)
Lance Cade – 27 (US Independent)
Keiji Mutoh – 27 (All Japan)

Jack Swagger – 25 (ECW)

Suwama – 24 (All Japan)
Jimmy Jacobs – 24 (ROH)
Rhino – 24 (TNA)

Jeff Jarrett – 23 (TNA)

John Bradshaw Layfield – 22 (RAW)

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 21 (New Japan)
Shelton Benjamin – 21 (SmackDown)
Chuck Taylor – 21 (US Independent)

Kaz – 18 (TNA) {“Retired” & Injured}
Brother Ray – 18 (TNA)
Brother Devon – 18 (TNA)
Shingo Takagi – 18 (Dragon Gate)

Yuji Nagata– 16 (New Japan)
Jun Akiyama– 16 (NOAH)

Taylor Wilde – 15 (TNA)
Homicide – 15 (TNA)
Hernandez – 15 (TNA)
Petey Williams – 15 (US Independent)
Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
Ric Flair – 15 (US Independent)
Mickie James – 15 (RAW)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)
Akitoshi Saito – 15 (NOAH)
Erick Stevens – 15 (ROH)
Roderick Strong – 15 (ROH)
Yoshihiro Takayama – 15 (All Japan)

Brent Albright – 13 (ROH)
Chris Hero – 13 (US Independent)
THE Brian Kendrick – 13 (SmackDown)

Sheik Abdul Bashir – 12 (TNA)
The Big Show – 12 (SmackDown)
The Great Khali – 12 (SmackDown)
Jay Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Mark Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Jimmy Olsen – 12 (US Independent)
MsChif – 12 (US Independent)
Jack Evans – 12 (US Independent)
Taiji Ishimori – 12 (NOAH)
Hirooki Goto – 12 (New Japan)

Mark Henry – 10 (ECW)

Scott Steiner – 9 (TNA)
Ashley Lane – 9 (US Independent)
Nevaeh – 9 (US Independent)
Volador Jr. – 9 (Mexico)
Mistico – 9 (Mexico)
Hector Garza – 9 (Mexico)
Go Shiozaki – 9 (NOAH)
Kensuke Sasaki – 9 (NOAH)
Michelle McCool – 9 (SmackDown)
Drake Younger – 9 (US Independent)
Eric Young – 9 (TNA)
Trish Stratus – 9 (US Independent)
Tiger Mask IV – 9 (NOAH)
Bobby Dempsey – 9 (ROH)
Kaz Hayashi – 9 (All Japan)
Christian – 9 (ECW)
Rey Mysterio – 9 (RAW)
Roddy Piper – 9 (US Independent)
Suicide – 9 (TNA)
Icarus – 9 (US Independent)
Gran Akuma – 9 (US Independent)

Awesome Kong – 7 (TNA)

Masato Tanaka – 6 (Zero One Max)
Wataru Inoue – 6 (New Japan)
Melina – 6 (RAW)
Mr. Kennedy – 6 (SmackDown)
Incognito – 6 (Mexico)

Jerry Lynn – 4 (ROH)

Villano V – 3 (Mexico)
Blue Demon Jr. – 3 (Mexico)
Claudio Castagnoli – 3 (ROH)
Hiroshi Tenzan – 3 (New Japan)
Ryuji Hijikata –3 (All Japan)
Ophidian – 3 (US Independent)
Amasis – 3 (US Independent)
Fire Ant – 3 (US Independent)
Player Uno – 3 (US Independent)
Player Dos – 3 (US Independent)
Beth Phoenix – 3 (RAW)
Carlito Colon – 3 (SmackDown)
Primo Colon – 3 (SmackDown)
Ultimao Guerrero – 3 (Mexico)

Naomichi Marufuji – 2 (NOAH)

Vladimir Kozlov – 1 (SmackDown)
Ted DiBiase – 1 (RAW)
Cody Rhodes – 1 (RAW)
Sonjay Dutt – 1 (US Independent)
Mike Quackenbush – 1 (US Independent)
Nick Jackson – 1 (US Independent)
Matt Jackson – 1 (US Independent)
Scotty II Hotty – 1 (US Independent)
Joe Doering – 1 (All Japan)
Anthony W. Mori – 1 (Dragon Gate)
GAMMA – 1 (Dragon Gate)
CIMA – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Taiyo Kea – 1 (All Japan)
Minoru Suzuki – 1 (All Japan)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 1 (NOAH)
Kotaro Suzuki – 1 (NOAH)
Zack Ryder – 1 (SmackDown)
Curt Hawkins – 1 (SmackDown)
Maryse – 1 (SmackDown)
Rob Van Dam – 1 (US Independent)
Katsuhiko Nakajima – 1 (NOAH)
Ricky Steamboat– 1 (US Independent)