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411’s Wrestler of the Week 11.10.08: Week 32
Welcome to Week 32, 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…
The Voting~!
Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Chris Jericho
The Big Gold Belt is back where it belongs and that makes Jericho my clear, cut pick for Wrestler of the Week. Jericho caps off the much hyped 800th (or so) RAW by defeating Big Dave for the World Title in a cage match. In a week with a TNA PPV, Jericho gets the nod with his historic win.
2) Sting: Successfully defending a World Title on a PPV is always good enough to get you on my list. Sting did just that against AJ Styles at Turning Point, thus he is placed at #2.
3) Kurt Angle: I felt Angle/Abyss was the strongest match at the PPV and the strongest match I saw this week. Since Angle was the winner of that match he reaps the benefits.
4) Beer Money Inc
5) Kevin Nash
Andy Clark
1) Chris Jericho
On Tuesday night Barack Obama made history by becoming the first black President in the history of the United States. Unfortunately for Barack history had already been made this week as Chris Jericho became the first person in WWE history to win a World Title in a Steel Cage Match. Forty-five years and four World Titles and it had never been done until this week. Jericho was already a champion of history as being the first Undisputed Champion and now he has something else to crow about.
2) Nigel McGuinness: I normally don’t give much credence to ROH Title retentions, but Nigel went through all three other champions in ROH in a Four-Way Elimination Match to retain his title, and managed to piss off Canadians by ripping off Bret Hart’s catchphrase.
3) Jeff Hardy: After becoming the resident choker in WWE, Jeff finally showed some fire on SmackDown, laying out Miz, Morrison, Kozlov, and Undertaker.
4) Satoshi Kojima & Hiroshi Tenzan
5) Sting
Christi Csonka
1) Chris Jericho
The title is back where it belongs, far away from Batista!
2) Sting: This is the first Sting match I have enjoyed in a long time, that and he successfully defended the title.
3) Kurt Angle and Abyss: Two crazy bastards put on a great match and I liked it a lot!
4) Beer Money
5) Eric Young
Matt Short
1) Chris Jericho
Reclaimed the World Heavyweight Title on Raw in a damn fine cage match. I didn’t really expect Jericho to win it back Monday, so I was pretty surprised when it happened. I half expected some weird finish, but no, Jericho won clean. Does he make it by Cena is the big question though.
2) Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima: Since reuniting this year, this team has been hit or miss in big matches. They finally got the big win though as they claimed the G1 Tag League for the second time in New Japan beating the IWGP Tag Team Champions in the finals for the first big success of their comeback tour.
3) The Colony (Fire Ant & Soldier Ant): In a slightly less prestigious tag team tournament, the founding members of The Colony won CHIKARA’s Tag World Grand Prix, beating The Osirian Portal and Pac & Martin Stone in a three-way final. The fact that they did it on German soil away from their normal stomping grounds and impressed the European crowds in the process just adds to this win for them.
4) Randy Orton
5) Jeff Hardy
ARI
1) Chris Jericho
The man regained the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Batista in a cage match, and he did it using his smarts and a master plan that worked in spades.
2) Kevin Steen & El Generico: I’m a bit shocked that no one has mentioned the ROH World Tag Team champions as yet. ROH rode on their backs to a successful double shot in Canada as they are both the tag champions and Canuckers. Steen & Generico were the stars of both the Montreal and the Toronto show, and impressive showings in the main event plus FINALLY defeating The Briscoes in a title situation easily get them second place for me this week.
3) Nigel McGuinness: It was really a toss up between McGuinness and Sting for third place, but Nigel defended the belt twice this weekend and made it through, while Sting only did it once.
4) Sting
5) Jeff Hardy
Jeremy Thomas
1) Chris Jericho
Jericho got the surprise win to take back his World Heavyweight Title and did it in a great steel cage match. It was a clean win and cements Jericho’s stranglehold on the main event scene on Raw. Whether he will hold it past Survivor Series is tough to say–can Jericho beat the ‘E’s main man? We’ll see…but this is unequivocally his week.
2) Sting: Sting retained the TNA World Title in a pretty good match against AJ Styles to complete the Main Event Mafia’s sweep of the show. It’s nice to see the Stinger able to hold the belt for more then a couple of days, and against all odds TNA is building the storyline successfully around him and Angle.
3) Jeff Hardy: A heel turn for the Day-Glo Warrior is just what he needs to freshen him up. Hopefully this will mean good things for his career, and he’ll be more then just fodder for the uber-faces.
4) Beer Money, Inc.
5) Kurt Angle/Nigel McGuiness
Jarrod Westerfeld
1) Chris Jericho
So after a pointless win for Batista at Cyber Sunday, Jericho gains back his World Heavyweight Championship in a cage match on last week’s Raw. I guess the WWE wanted to give us all reason to boost up Jericho’s points on the WOTW year standings so went the route of handing us a pointless title dump only for Jericho to get big points this week with the title victory. I don’t know, maybe there was no real reason behind this maneuver.
2) Kevin Steen & El Generico: Impressive showings at both Canadian shows, but most importantly they finally got a win over the Briscoe’s with the ROH World Tag Team titles on the line. I’d say that’s worth noting despite the fact that they were only retaining the title, not winning them off of the ROH beloved Briscoe brothers.
3) Nigel McGuinness: Successfully defended his ROH World Title twice in a single weekend, the first in a four person elimination match and the second retention was obtained over Necro Butcher. To me that’s more impressive than simply retaining the title once over the course of this week, so kudos to Nigel.
4) Eric Young!?
5) Jeff Hardy
Samuel Berman
1) Chris Jericho
I’ll catch flack for alleged inconsistency here, but Jericho is at this moment head-and-shoulders above nearly everyone else in the wrestling business. His title win in RAW’s main event was not only an excellent cage match (his second in that environment in recent weeks), but a convincing and smart victory over perennial choke artist Batista. When I messaged The Cool Kids’ Table’s Brad Garoon (*thumbs up, cheap pop*) about the title switch on Monday, his reaction was a simple, “Thank God.” I think that says it all.
2) Nigel McGuinness: Two successful ROH World Title defenses, including his second time surviving a Four Way Elimination format with his belt hanging in the balance.
3) Kevin Steen & El Generico and Fire Ant & Soldier Ant (tie): The ROH World Tag Team Champions finally defeated the Briscoes with the belts on the line while CHIKARA’s own bested the field to win this year’s Tag World Grand Prix.
4) Austin Aries
5) Naomichi Marufuji
Michael Bauer
1) Chris Jericho
I hate to agree with everyone else, but Jericho was a surprise winner in the Cage Match to end the “800th” episode of Raw. Not only that, but he wins his World Title back to set up a match with John Cena at Survivor Series.
2) Kevin Steen and El Genrico: Two huge nights for the team, including finally being able to beat The Briscoes in their home country.
3) Beer Money Inc.: I am very surprised not more people have these guys up here after an amazing title defense over the Machine Guns.
4) Sting
5) Kurt Angle
Andrew Critchell
1) Chris Jericho
Even though it’s been bounced around a lot lately, the World Heavyweight Title is still very prestigious and meaningful and it’s now back around the waist of arguably the top wrestler in the business today. More than anything else, this title win is a validation of the complete and amazing transformation Jericho has accomplished at this stage of his career. It’s a real testament that no matter which wrestling company you follow or what style you prefer, when someone argues that Jericho is the best in the world, you can easily see why they say that.
2) The Colony – Winners of the Tag World Grand Prix, an international show with some world-class performers. The Colony is easily my favorite indy tag team and the accolades just continue to rack up for the ant guys. Beating The Osirian Portal and Pac & Martin Stone in the finals says to me that everyone knows what kind of performers the Colony are.
3) Sting – He retained the title against a super talented wrestler on PPV. You’d have to be nuts not to recognize that.
4) JOHN MORRISON
5) The Miz
Larry Csonka
1) Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho bloodies Batista in the classic steel cage match and once again saves us as he becomes the world champion once again. Now Jericho looks for revenge over the man that caused his banishment, John Cena.
2) Kurt Angle and Abyss: I think it all depends on if you like this style of match. If you do you likely loved this. It was a great match that had the crowd the whole way, maybe more than any match on the show thus far. Great heat, big moves, kick outs of all the big stuff and in the end Angle survives and Abyss isn’t hurt. Abyss takes a lot of shit but he can bring it, and as I have mentioned, he and Angle have great chemistry. I dug this match.
3) Sting: Sting retains the TNA World Title and completes the Main Event Mafia sweep at Turning Point in a match with great crowd heat, and both guys working hard.
4) BEER! … MONEY!
5) Nigel McGuinness
THE WINNERS~!
Nigel is able to survive a hard weekend of matches to walk out still holding the ROH Title!
Sting, with a little help from his friends, retains the title against AJ Styles at Turning Point!
Chris Jericho wins the world title and is back on top!
Yearend Standings~!
Chris Jericho opens up a commanding lead in the yearend standings as he now had a 39-point lead! Sting defends the title and climbs up to 8th place, while Nigel McGuinness climbs into the top 15 overall. Kevin Steen, El Generico, Kurt Angle, James Storm and Robert Roode all make small moves on the big list this week.
Let’s check out the Yearend Standings!
1. Chris Jericho – 113 (RAW)
2. Batista – 74 (Raw)
3. Edge – 64 (Smackdown) {Sent to Hell}
4. Matt Hardy – 55 (ECW)
5. Shawn Michaels – 51 (RAW)
6. HHH – 48 (Smackdown)
7. Samoa Joe – 48 (TNA)
8. AJ Styles – 42 (TNA)
8. Sting – 42 (TNA)
10. The Undertaker – 36 (Smackdown)
10. CM Punk – 36 (Raw)
12. Masato Yoshino – 33 (Dragon Gate)
13. Naruki Doi – 30 (Dragon Gate)
13. Evan Bourne – 30 (ECW) {Injured}
15. Nigel McGuinness – 29 (ROH)
Low Ki – 27 (US Independent)
Lance Cade – 27 (US Independent)
Kofi Kingston – 27 (RAW)
William Regal – 25 (RAW)
KENTA – 25 (NOAH)
James Storm – 25 (TNA)
Robert Roode – 25 (TNA)
Suwama – 24 (All Japan)
Jimmy Jacobs – 24 (ROH)
Alex Shelley – 21 (TNA)
Keiji Mutoh – 21 (All Japan)
John Morrison – 21 (ECW)
The Miz – 21 (ECW)
Kevin Steen – 21 (ROH)
El Generico – 21 (ROH)
Jeff Jarrett – 20 (TNA)
Bryan Danielson – 19 (ROH)
John Cena – 19 (RAW) {Injured}
Kaz – 18 (TNA) {“Retired”}
Chris Sabin – 18 (TNA)
Kurt Angle – 16 (TNA)
Taylor Wilde – 15 (TNA)
Homicide – 15 (TNA)
Hernandez – 15 (TNA)
Petey Williams – 15 (TNA)
Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
Ric Flair – 15 (US Independent)
Shelton Benjamin – 15 (Smackdown)
Mickie James – 15 (RAW)
Yuji Nagata– 15 (New Japan)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)
Akitoshi Saito – 15 (NOAH)
Tyler Black – 13 (ROH)
Brent Albright – 13 (ROH)
Chris Hero – 13 (US Independent)
THE Brian Kendrick – 13 (Smackdown)
Sheik Abdul Bashir – 12 (TNA)
Jeff Hardy – 12 (Smackdown)
The Big Show – 12 (Smackdown)
The Great Khali – 12 (Smackdown)
Jay Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Mark Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Roderick Strong – 12 (ROH)
MsChif – 12 (US Independent)
Jack Evans – 12 (US Independent)
Taiji Ishimori – 12 (NOAH)
Randy Orton – 10 (RAW)
Mark Henry – 10 (ECW)
Scott Steiner – 9 (TNA)
Ashley Lane – 9 (US Independent)
Nevaeh – 9 (US Independent)
Chuck Taylor – 9 (US Independent)
Volador Jr. – 9 (Mexico)
Mistico – 9 (Mexico)
Hector Garza – 9 (Mexico)
Go Shiozaki – 9 (NOAH)
Kensuke Sasaki – 9 (NOAH)
Shingo Takagi – 9 (Dragon Gate)
Michelle McCool – 9 (Smackdown)
Drake Younger – 9 (US Independent)
Awesome Kong – 7 (TNA)
Masato Tanaka – 6 (Zero One Max)
Tiger Mask IV – 6 (NOAH)
Wataru Inoue – 6 (New Japan)
Rey Mysterio – 6 (RAW)
Mr. Kennedy – 6 (Smackdown) {Injured}
Incognito – 6 (Mexico)
Erick Stevens – 6 (ROH)
Villano V – 3 (Mexico)
Blue Demon Jr. – 3 (Mexico)
Claudio Castagnoli – 3 (ROH)
Hiroshi Tenzan –3 (New Japan)
Hirooki Goto –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)
JBL – 3 (RAW)
Carlito Colon – 3 (Smackdown)
Primo Colon – 3 (Smackdown)
Naomichi Marufuji – 2 (NOAH)
Vladimir Kozlov – 1 (Smackdown)
Ted DiBiase – 1 (RAW)
Cody Rhodes – 1 (RAW)
Sonjay Dutt – 1 (TNA)
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)
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)
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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