wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week 6.22.09: Week 12

June 22, 2009 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Welcome to Week 12, 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~!

Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Kurt Angle
-I gove him the nod over Orton because it was a World Title win on a PPV, and a better match. I’m sure much will be made of the ending to the match, but Kurt is World Champ again. I also give Kurt extra points for rocking the Crosby jersey in Detroit. And again just to remind everyone: Your 2009 Stanley Cup Champions: The Pittsburgh Penguins

2) Randy Orton: Never should have lost the title in the first place, but at least he has the gold back now. The match was pretty good, and Orton won in a strong way as he pinned Show clean with the RKO.
3) CM Punk: Good week for Punk as he retains the title on RAW in a great 3 Way match, and goves over Rey on SmackDown. The slow burn on the character change has been awesome, and no matter which way this thing goes, Punk will make it interesting.
4) Beer Money Inc
5) Edge/John Morrison

ARI
1) Edge & John Morrison
They had an awesome match on Smackdown with lots of back and forth action. Not that I should have been surprised, but I was super impressed with both men. I like the prospects of a longer term feud with both men.

2) CM Punk: A title retention on Raw and a win against Rey Mysterio, plus tons of spotlight this week and fun promos that seem to be pushing his character in an intriguing direction.
3) Randy Orton: Wins the WWE Title (again) and while I’m getting a severe feeling of Deja Vu, at least he won it in a good, fun match.
4) Hiroshi Tanahashi
5) Beer Money Inc.

Andy Clark
1) Kurt Angle
In the great tradition of winning Pittsburgh institutions such as the Steelers and Penguins, Kurt Angle walked away from TNA’s second biggest show of the year as a World Champion.

2) Randy Orton: “The Viper” is once again WWE Champion after winning a fun Fatal Four-Way on Raw.
3) Ultimo Guerrero: Ultimo Guerrero becomes the first CMLL Universal Champion after outlasting all of CMLL’s numerous secondary champions.
4) Hiroshi Tanahashi
5) John Morrison & CM Punk (tie)

Larry Csonka
1) Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle finally climbs back to the top of the mountain and wins the TNA World Title for the first time in 14 months. Ironically enough the man that beat him back in April of 2008, Samoa Joe, helped him regain the title at Slammiversary. Angle’s win on TNA’s anniversary show grabs him the easy #1 nod this week fromme.

2) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Manabu Nakanisi to regain the IWPG Heavyweight Championship on June 20th to put him back on top of the mountain in New Japan.
3) Ultimo Guerrero: Ultimo Guerrero defeated Texano Jr. to become the first CMLL Universal Champion over the weekend.
4) Beer Money
5) Randy Orton

Andy Critchell
1. JOHN MORRISON – Yes, titles were won this week. Yes, other guys won this week. But I’m thinking long term here and in the long term, this week was huge for The Friday Night Delight. MORRISON has had a string of great matches but his match against Edge on Smackdown was his true breakout performance. It’s clear that WWE sees a big future for the Shaman of Sexy and so do I.

2. Randy Orton – I’m giving Orton the nod over Angle because Orton won the belt on his own. Orton is the man. He knows it, I know it, and you know it.
3. Kurt Angle – He won the TNA title with an assist from Samoa Joe. He is also the first man to defeat Double J in the King of the Mountain match. Kudos to Kurt.
4. Beer Money
5. Jericho

Samuel Berman
1) Hiroshi Tanahashi
Defeated Manabu Nakanishi to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Up next for the New Japan phenom would appear to be Pro Wrestling NOAH star Takashi Sugiura.

2) Ultimo Guerrero: Won the CMLL Universal Title by defeating Texano Jr.
3) CM Punk: Two huge wins for the World Heavyweight Champion.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Austin Aries

J.D. Dunn
1) Kurt Angle
Amid the 4-5 authority figures and general TNA nonsense, Angle reclaimed the TNA World Title… with help from Samoa Joe.

2) Triple H
He’s got a new boss’ daughter to nail, and she’s pretty hot.

3) Mick Foley
Kind of a carryover effect. Mick successfully worked the marks here (we’re all marks) and, in doing so, pushed several other stories off the front page. In the end, he got what he wanted – everyone talked about Mick Foley. Tara Ryzing/Victoria’s denial of a rumor that really wasn’t spreading is almost an afterthought. By the way, on a personal note, I want to apologize to Hayden Panattiere for the scurrilous rumors some guy made up about her having an affair with me. It’s just not true that I slept with Miss Panattiere. And therefore, it’s certainly not true that we did it at the Viper Room. That’s a damned lie. And the last thing I want is for someone to spread this rumor on her IMDB page. It. Would. Be. Wrong.

4) Randy Orton
5) Hiroshi Tanahashi

Michael Bauer
1) Suicide
Wow, how is everyone forgeting about the opening match of the card? I give him the nod in retaining the title as it was perfectly clean, had no shenanigans, and was an absolute stellar match when most people were expecting a clusterfuck spotfest.

2) CM Punk: Punk is a on a roll and grabs two more victories over Edge, Hardy, and Mysterio. This title reign already seems better than last years.
3) Kurt Angle: Not higher because I am not a fan of the ending, but he is TNA World Champ again.
4) Edge/John Morrison
5) Hiroshi Tanahashi

Ryan Byers
1) Hiroshi Tanahashi
When Tanahashi dropped the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Manabu Nakanishi a couple of months ago, my initial reaction was that this was just going to be a quick change to a) educate fans that title switches can happen at unexpected times and to b) reward Nakanishi for his loyalty to the company and for improving from being a wrestler who could barely hold Sid Vicious’ jockstrap to being a fairly solid hand. Yet, as time passed, I began to doubt my initial impression. I began to wonder to myself, “Does this mean that they have given up on Tanahashi as the ace of the company? Are they going in a completely different direction?” It turns out that the answer was no and that my initial impressions were correct, as Tanahashi regained the championship in his first opportunity this weekend. It is good to see that the era of the young ace has not ended.

2) Randy Orton – Like Tanahashi, I was a bit afraid that Orton’s time to be booked as the biggest name on Monday Night Raw was over when he dropped his championship to Dave Batista in a seven minute match and then got punked out like a complete joke by Triple H twenty-four hours later. However, as with Tanahashi, Orton dispelled all of those doubts by beating four other men to regain his championship this past Monday Night.
3) Ultimo Guerrero – It remains to be seen how much this title will actually mean, but there’s a new belt floating around down in Mexico. It’s the CMLL Universal Championship, and its first holder is Ultimo Guerrero, who won a tournament full of champions from across the country to be awarded the strap. If AAA’s recent creation of a similar championship is any indication, this sets up Guerrero to be one of the focal points of the company.
4) CM Punk
5) Fujita Hayato

Sat
1) Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle gets the top slot for winning the TNA Title at Slammiversary.

2) Randy Orton: Randy Orton gets the second slot for winning the vacated WWE Title at RAW in a Fatal Fourway
3) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Hiroshi Tanahashi gets the third slot for defeating Manabu Nakanisi and winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
4) Beer Money
5) CM Punk

Jeremy Thomas
1) Kurt Angle
Kurt gets all the credit here for surviving King of the Mountain (albeit with a bit of assistance) to become the three (or, depending on how you see it, four)-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion since the belt was split from the NWA World Heavyweight Title. You have to give it up for the man, who stands at the top of his company once again and did it in a damn fine match.

2) CM Punk & Edge: If I could, I would give this a three-way tie between Punk, Edge and Hardy. The trio put on a fantastic match on the three-hour Raw in which Punk retained, then went on to SmackDown where all three men won their respective matches. Any concern that Punk’s reign is going to go the same way his first one did are quickly being flushed away as he’s being booked strong and Edge had what was certainly the free TV match of the week (and then some) by beating John Morrison. Excellent weeks for both me.
3) Jeff Hardy: Jeff is behind the other two only because Punk got an extra win and is still champion while Edge had the better match on the Blue Brand. Jeff still did some great work this week as he rolled on toward the Bash and a face-off with Punk.
4) Beer Money
5) John Morrison

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Ultimo Guerrero – 13 Votes

Fifth Place…John Morrison – 15 Votes

Fourth Place…CM Punk – 22 Votes

Third Place…Hiroshi Tanahashi – 23 Votes

Tanahashi regains the IWGP Title that he lost just a month ago by getting his win back from Manabu Nakanishi.

Second Place…Randy Orton – 26 Votes

Orton is the WWE Heavyweight Champion once again, going cleanly over Cena, Big Show and Triple H and looking stronger than he has in months.

Wrestler of the Week…Kurt Angle – 38 Votes

There’s a new TNA World Champion, and it is none other than the Olympic Hero Kurt Angle. Angle’s win makes him TNA’s King of the Mountain and our Wrestler of the Week!

Year-End Standings~!

Kurt Angle’s win puts him just inside the top 15–in the ever-growing tie for the last spot there–and Ultimo Guerrero becomes the second wrestler from Mexico to debut on the list this year. Hiroshi Tanahashi leaps up to a spot just outside of the top 15, while John Morrison and Randy Orton move ahead into the top ten. And CM Punk is now tied with Edge for second place, just nine short points behind Jeff Hardy on the leaderboad.

Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!

1. Jeff Hardy – 40 (SmackDown)

2. Edge – 31 (SmackDown)
2. CM Punk – 31 (SmackDown)

4. Jerry Lynn – 24 (ROH)
4. Randy Orton – 24 (RAW)

6. Christian – 22 (ECW)

7. Mitsuharu Misawa – 21 (NOAH)
7. Davey Richards – 21 (ROH)
7. Eddie Edwards – 21 (ROH)

10. Sting – 18 (TNA)
10. Go Shiozaki – 18 (NOAH)
10. John Morrison – 18 (SmackDown)

13. The Undertaker – 15 (SmackDown)
13. Tyler Black – 15 (ROH)
13. Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
13. Montel Vontavious Porter – 15 (RAW)
13. Manabu Nakanishi – 15 (NOAH)
13. Batista – 15 (RAW)
13. Austin Aries – 15 (ROH)
13. Kurt Angle – 15 (TNA)

Shawn Michaels – 12 (RAW)
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)

Samoa Joe – 10 (TNA)

Rey Mysterio – 9 (SmackDown)
John Cena – 9 (RAW)
MsChif – 9 (SHIMMER)
Jack Swagger – 9 (ECW)

Chris Jericho – 7 (SmackDown)

Christopher Daniels – 6 (TNA)
Matt Hardy – 6 (Raw)
Nick Jackson – 6 (US Independent)
Matt Jackson – 6 (US Independent)

Evan Bourne – 3 (ECW)
The Miz – 3 (Raw)
Ken “Kennedy” Anderson – 3 (US Independent)
Dr. Wagner Jr. – 3 (AAA)

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)
Ultimo Guerrero – 1 (CMLL)

Voting began 4.06.09

Year-End Rankings Key:

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**