wrestling / Columns
411’s Wrestler of the Week 08.10.09: Week 19
Welcome to Week 19, Year FIVE, 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 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…
The Voting~!
Ryan Byers
1) Ryouji Sai
Japanese wrestling is in the middle of a crazy tournament season, with matches in no fewer than four tourneys in four different promotions taking place this past week. Perhaps nobody looked better in tournament action than ZERO1 young gun Ryouji Sai, who won the company’s annual Fire Festival. In doing so, he pinned Masato Tanaka in the semi-finals. Tanaka had won the Fire Festival for three years running, so Sai knocking him out of contention was a particularly large feather in the young man’s cap. Top that off with a victory in the finals over fellow young gun Kohei Sato, and you’ve got a hell of a week by just about anybody’s standards.
2) Kohei Sato – Sato may have lost to Sai in the Fire Festival finals, but making it there was still a great accomplishment for him. Sai pinned Masato Tanaka to make it to the finals, but Sato accomplished a feat that was almost as impressive when he beat out Shinjiro Ohtani in his semi-final match.
3) JTG – I’ve always thought that JTG’s charisma could lead to him being a breakout singles wrestler if Crime Time ever folded, and he proved that he has the in-ring chops to do so as well in this week’s Smackdown match against Chris Jericho . . . which, oddly enough, he won.
4) Shuji Kondo
5) Kenichiro Arai & Yasushi Kanda
ARI
1) CM Punk & Jeff Hardy: An intense showdown on Smackdown once again places the spotlight on the top two wrestlers on the blue brand.
2) Legacy (Ted DeBiase & Cody Rhodes): Although the impact of the win was mitigated some by Triple H’s post match promo which mocked their efforts, Legacy did combine their efforts to win against him, and cleanly at that.
3) JTG: Defeated Chris Jericho, and as a guy who is predominantly a tag wrestler, going over a top wrestler like Jericho is major news.
4) Takao Omori
5) Tajiri
Michael Bauer
1) Christian
People thought the match was over-rated, but Christian’s match with Dreamer was one of the better no rules matches I have seen in recent times. It was a clean, definitive win over Dreamer and now hopefully a new challenger can step up.
2) JTG: He cleanly pinned Chris Jericho… I don’t believe it, but it happened.
3) John Morrison/Tyson Kidd: Another amazing match between the two.
4) Ryouji Sai
5) Dolph Ziggler
Andy Clark
1) JTG
JTG scored a big, clean win over Chris Jericho on SmackDown. Unlike Legacy’s win over Triple H on Raw it wasn’t belittled immediately afterward and added some real heat to the Unified Tag Team Title feud.
2) Ryouji Sai: Byers explained the significance of his win better than I could, but the Fire Festival remains the Zero 1’s most noteworthy addition to the wrestling calendar and winning it is a big feat.
3) Jeff Hardy & CM Punk (tie): Hardy wins a really good match, Punk cuts a great promo and a great beatdown. It seems like this happens every week and it doesn’t seem to get old. The first one of these men to blink will be your Wrestler of the Year.
4) Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes
5) Markswoggle
Larry Csonka
1) JTG
I have had my issues with the booking of Cryme Tyme in the past, and have had issues with their ring work at times, but their recent push with the Shaq appearance and feud with the Hart Dynasty has really made them feel important. This wee, they did the old “captain’s match” with one man from each team facing off before the big title match. It was a good match, JTG has a ton of charisma and is a great baby face. He scored the HUGE win over Chris Jericho, and THAT to me is the biggest thing to happen this week. Cryme Tyme has gone from the “Word Up” guys and simple novelty act for the live crowd to something I actually care about. Bravo.
2) Tajiri: A win over Giant Bernard continues his latest push in Japan. I miss Tajiri.
3) CM Punk: A good match with Jeff, and the solidification of the heel turn was most excellent.
4) Eric Young
5) Dolph Ziggler/John Morrison
Samuel Berman
1) Ryouji Sai
Won ZERO1’s annual Fire Festival.
2) JTG: An upset win over Chris Jericho.
3) Shuji Kondo: Won the AJPW Junior League.
4) CM Punk
5) Kenichiro Arai & Yasushi Kanda
Jasper Gerretsen
1) Tajiri
Funny how a match that would probably take place on Velocity six years ago is actually a huge match in Japan. Of course this isn’t a knock on Japan, as Giant Bernard has been one of the country’s biggest heels for the past few years. Even though he’s representing HUSTLE, it still looks like Tajiri is in line for quite a push.
2) JTG: Even though Cryme Tyme has never exactly been the hottest team in WWE, both from an in-ring and a booking standpoint, their recent feud with The Hart Dynasty and Jericho and Big Show has been surprisingly good. This week JTG got the biggest win of his career, pinning a multi-time world champion.
3) Ryouji Sai: Winning ZERO1’s annual Fire Festival is no small feat, but pinning Masato Tanaka to get to the finals is arguably even bigger.
4) Takao Omori
5) Dolph Ziggler
Daniel Wilcox
1) Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
Whether or not you want to argue that these guys were “buried” post-match, not a single person gave Rhodes and DiBiase a chance of beating The Game Monday night on Raw, but they did just that, and they won cleanly at that. Furthermore, with the imminent DX reunion, these guys are about to find themselves in a very high profile match on the second biggest show of the year, so all-in-all, it’s been a pretty good week for two-thirds of Legacy.
2) CM Punk: Punk may have lost to Jeff Hardy again on SmackDown, but his promo to kick off the show and assault of Hardy further help to cement his spectacular heel turn. And like Legacy, Punk has got himself into the biggest match of his career at Summerslam, a TLC match for the strap against Hardy where Punk is likely to go over in a big way.
3) JTG: A huge win for JTG on SmackDown, getting a clean victory over 5-time World Champion Chris Jericho. Like Legacy and Punk, JTG (along with partner Shad) has the biggest match of his career at Summerslam, and Cryme Tyme are rolling.
4) Eric Young
5) Jeff Hardy
Jeremy Thomas
1) JTG
I can’t think of a single reason why JTG wouldn’t get the top spot this week. Cryme Tyme’s been rocking it on the mic in this feud with Show and Jericho, and I don’t think ANYONE expected him to beat Jericho but he did. Not only did he beat him, he did it while putting forth his half of a great little match. I know, I’m as shocked as you are.
2) CM Punk & Jeff Hardy: The feud continues, and it did so this week via another great match and more great promo work by Punk. I could watch these two feud forever.
3) John Morrison: Morrison got back on the winning streak by beating Tyson Kidd in a very good match, continuing his push toward the top of the card/
4) Tajiri
5) Ryouji Sai
THE WINNERS~!
Sai wins ZERO1’s annual Fire Festival tournament and made it through some tough guys in order to do so.
Punk’s heel turn continues to run strong towards SummerSlam, bouyed by another great SmackDown match against Hardy.
A shocking win in a shockingly good match over Chris Jericho propels JTG to the top of the list this week, making him our Wrestler of the Week!
Year-End Standings~!
JTG has officially entered the top 10 off a strong finish last week and a first place win this week. Meanwhile, CM Punk and Jeff Hardy add to their point totals, and Punk is only two points behind his rival for the #1 spot! Tajiri, Sai and Cody Rhodes make their debuts and Ted DiBiase moves closer to the top 15. It’s getting close at the top now…
Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!
1. Jeff Hardy – 64 (SmackDown)
2. CM Punk – 62 (SmackDown)
3. John Morrison – 54 (SmackDown)
4. Edge – 49 (SmackDown) {INJURED}
5. Rey Mysterio – 36 (SmackDown)
6. Chris Jericho – 34 (SmackDown)
7. Randy Orton – 30 (RAW)
8. Christian – 28 (ECW)
9. Naruki Doi – 27 (Dragon’s Gate)
9. JTG – 27 (SmackDown)
11. Jerry Lynn – 24 (ROH)
12. Kurt Angle – 22 (TNA)
13. Davey Richards – 21 (ROH)
13. Eddie Edwards – 21 (ROH)
13. Mitsuharu Misawa – 21 (NOAH) {DECEASED}
Sting – 18 (TNA)
Go Shiozaki – 18 (NOAH)
Tyler Black – 16 (ROH)
Ted DiBiase – 16 (RAW)
The Undertaker – 15 (SmackDown) {INJURED}
Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
Montel Vontavious Porter – 15 (RAW)
Manabu Nakanishi – 15 (NOAH)
Batista – 15 (RAW) {INJURED}
Austin Aries – 15 (ROH)
Mark Henry – 15 (RAW)
Shawn Michaels – 12 (RAW) {INJURED}
Minoru Suzuki – 12 (All Japan)
Brother Devon – 12 (TNA)
Brother Ray – 12 (TNA)
Bison Smith – 12 (NOAH)
AJ Styles – 12 (TNA)
Tommy Dreamer – 12 (ECW)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 12 (New Japan)
Shad – 12 (SmackDown)
Samoa Joe – 10 (TNA)
John Cena – 9 (RAW)
MsChif – 9 (SHIMMER)
Jack Swagger – 9 (RAW)
Masato Tanaka – 9 (ZERO1)
Homcide – 9 (TNA)
Hernandez – 9 (TNA)
Nick Jackson – 9 (US Independent)
Matt Jackson – 9 (US Independent)
Ryouji Sai – 9 (ZERO1)
Daniels – 6 (TNA)
Matt Hardy – 6 (SmackDown) {INJURED}
Dolph Ziggler – 6 (SmackDown)
Chris Hero – 6 (US Independent)
Zach Ryder – 6 (ECW)
Evan Bourne – 3 (Raw)
The Miz – 3 (Raw)
Ken Anderson – 3 (US Independent)
Dr. Wagner Jr. – 4 (AAA)
Tara – 3 (TNA)
Booker T – 3 (TNA)
Scott Steiner – 3 (TNA)
Tajiri – 3 (HUSTLE)
Ricky Steamboat– 2 (WWE)
Portia Perez – 1 (SHIMMER)
Nicole Mathews – 1 (SHIMMER)
Ryo Saito – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Genki Horiguchi – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Soldier Ant – 1 (US Independent)
Fire Ant – 1 (US Independent)
Michelle McCool – 1 (SmackDown)
Atsushi Aoki – 1 (NOAH)
Kota Ibushi – 1 (NOAH)
Seth Green – 1 (US Independent)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 1 (NOAH)
Kotaro Suzuki – 1 (NOAH)
Cody Rhodes – 1 (RAW)
WWE, Raw, ECW and SmackDown 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 Contracted Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.
**PREVIOUS WINNERS**  Year One Winner: Ric Flair
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If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!
