411’s Wrestler of The Week: Katsuhiko Nakajima Battles Eddie Edwards

Welcome to YEAR TWELVE, WEEK 29 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: OCTOBER 17 – OCTOBER 23

Larry Csonka
1) Katsuhiko Nakajima:
Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Takashi Sugiura to become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion. It was the biggest victory of the week, and coming off of a great G1 run, Nakajima has become someone that I feel I need to follow more.

2) ACH & Taiji Ishimori: Defeated the Young Bucks in an excellent match to move on in the NJPW Super Jr Tag Team Tournament, and even if they lose the tournament, they have earned themselves a title shot with the win.
3) Eddie Edwards & The Monster Matanza Cueto: Both men retained their titles this week on TV.
4) Prince Puma
5) Lashley

Mike Chin
1) Katsuhiko Nakajima:
The number one spot goes to the man who won the GHC Heavyweight Championship over in Pro Wrestling NOAH.

2) Prince Puma: Puma won the Lucha Underground main event, reasserting himself as a top player, and paying off his redemption/revenge storyline against Mil Muertes in largely dominant fashion.
3) Eddie Edwards: The TNA champ garnered some extra legitimacy with a high profile win over Cody on Impact.
4) James Ellsworth
5) Baron Corbin

Kevin Pantoja
1) Katsuhiko Nakajima:
The rare week to not include anyone from the WWE. The biggest accomplishment of the week came from Pro Wrestling NOAH. After years of being dominated by the Suzuki-Gun faction, NOAH was able to regain the title thanks to Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima as arguably the MVP of the G1 Climax this year, so to see him rewarded with his first GHC Heavyweight Title win was great. He defeated Takashi Sugiura and is most likely in line for a defense against Minoru Suzuki. Considering the NOAH vs. NJPW feud, I’d love to see Nakajima defend his title in the Tokyo Dome on 1/4, maybe against Yuji Nagata since they had an awesome match in the G1 Climax. Either way, this is an excellent win for Nakajima and hopefully represents a turning point for NOAH.

2) Eddie Edwards: Picking a second choice as tough this week but I went with the TNA Champion. Sure he didn’t rank this high when he actually won the title, but that was a tougher week. Here, he had a match that I actually went out of my way to check out. He successfully defended his TNA Title against Cody Rhodes in a match that felt like a relatively big deal. It as a really good performance by both men and a strong early defense to solidify Edwards.
3) ACH and Taiji Ishimori: Last year, New Japan’s Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament was full of pretty good matches, but nothing really good. There were three first round matches this year and one really stood out. The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, the Young Bucks, took on the winners of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Jr. Tag League, ACH and Taiji Ishimori. ACH and Ishimori are the team I’m hoping wins since they didn’t book Momo No Seishun and reDRagon are heavyweights. ACH and Ishimori surprised many by upsetting the Bucks in the second best Bucks match I’ve seen all year. ACH and Ishimori have a good chance to win it all. They should actually.
4) Prince Puma
5) Matanza Cueto

Chad Perry
1) Katsuhiko Nakajima:
I only loosely follow NOAH through results but I know that Nakajima winning the GHC Heavyweight Title is a big deal.

2) Eddie Edwards: Defended TNA World title against Cody (Rhodes) in the main event of Impact Wrestling this week.
3) War Machine: The hoss fight that pitted War Machine vs. Lee & Taylor felt like throwing on an old AJPW match. I am crossing my fingers we see these four go one more time at Final Battle in a fight without honor.
4) ACH & Taiji Ishimori
5) Prince Puma

Mike Hammerlock
1) Prince Puma:
Lucha Underground kicked into a higher gear this week (which is why it’s all over my ballot this week). Puma pinned Mil Muertes, kicking their feud up yet another notch. When the preliminaries are this good, you’ve got to figure the final act will be epic. This match served as a reminder that Puma can work stiff when the moment calls for it. Anyway you want it, Pumachet can bring it. Also enjoyed the hell out of the three-way match Drago won and Matanza Cueto’s best-ever title match (at least in terms of the crispness of his work).

2) Katsuhiko Nakajima: What NOAH needs more than anything else is a youth movement. Nakajima doesn’t constitute one all by himself, but he’s the only under-30 heavyweight on the roster. Now he’s the GHC Heavyweight champion after having come up through the junior ranks. It’s a step in the right direction for NOAH.
3) Eddie Edwards: Got a statement win over Cody Rhodes (suck it Vince) to justify his recent TNA title win. Good for him. Boston boy makes good. I can get behind that.
4) Drago
5) The Monster Matanza Cueto

Rob Stewart
1) Prince Puma:
Following the advice of Vampiro (and it will be interesting to see if those two continue developing a bond from here and if Vamp is manipulating Puma), Prince Puma gained a measure of revenge on The Man of 1000 Deaths. Puma had become convinced that he needed to get his victory back from Muertes to get his mojo back, and having accomplished that, what could the limit be for the former Lucha Underground champion?

2) The Monster Matanza Cueto: Another week of Lucha Underground, another spin of Dario’s Dial of Doom. This week, Killshot got the random call for a LU title shot. It was the first time we had seen Kill since the brutal WMD match several weeks ago, but he still seemed to be feeling the effects. Take nothing away from the dominant champ, however, who again turned away a challenger he was not specifically prepared for. He remains unstoppable.
3) Eddie Edwards: Edwards over came The Artist Formerly Known As Stardust to defend his TNA Championship in the main event of Impact this week. Earlier in the card, Lashley overcame the challenge of Moose and is the #1 contender to the strap Eddie took from him, so it appears as though the champ is going to get a chance to prove he truly is Lashley’s better.
4) Drago
5) Seth Rollins

Mitch Nickelson
1) James Ellsworth:
This makes two weeks in a row for Mr. Ellsworth taking my top spot in these weekly rankings. His WWE Title Match against AJ Styles was hilarious. It made him even more endearing as a mega underdog while helping Dean Ambrose get some psychological wins over AJ. He’s not my best wrestler of the week because he’s a technical wizard or anything but rather he’s #1 for me because he’s so much fun.

2) The Monster Matanza Cueto: He retained his Lucha Underground Championship against Killshot, who competed thanks to a lucky spin on Dario’s Dial of Death. Killshot showed some good fire but ultimately lost to the big man. Matanza will have a tall order ahead of him when he defends his belt in the upcoming Aztec Warfare match.
3) Eddie Edwards: I was looking forward to this TNA Title defense against Cody Rhodes and feel like it delivered. Eddie seems to have a lot work to do in proving many of his detractors wrong but as long as he keeps putting in the effort inside the ring, I think he’ll ultimately succeed in that task.
4) Prince Puma
5) Drago

Dylan Diot
1) Goldberg
Goldberg returned to WWE this past Monday on Raw to accept a challenge to face Brock Lesnar after a 12-year absence. Goldberg cut maybe the best promo of his career and generated the most interest and buzz in a WWE match since the Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania. Goldberg’s appearance helped Raw get its biggest audience against NFL football in some time and made his match with Brock Lesnar a must see attraction. Well see how he does in the ring but his amazing promo and the positive attention it brought to Raw makes him my wrestler of the week.

2) Katsuhiko Nakajima: The biggest In-ring accomplishment of the week goes to Katsuhiko Nakajima, defeating Takashi Sugiura to become the NEW GHC Heavyweight Champion. Nakajima has performed incredibly well since making his return to Pro Wrestling NOAH and was more than deserving of getting a run at the top man of the promotion.
3) Eddie Edwards: Eddie Edwards collected the biggest victory of his TNA World Heavyweight Championship reign, defeated Cody on Impact in a really good match. Edwards will need to continue to have strong victories over big name talent to really put over his worthiness of being TNA World Champion and this was an excellent first step in that direction.
4) Matanza Cueto
5) Seth Rollins

THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…James Ellsworth – 7 Votes

* Fifth Place…ACH & Taiji Ishimori – 9 Votes

* Fourth Place…The Monster Matanza Cueto – 15 Votes

* Third Place…Prince Puma – 21 Votes

Won a big main event over Mil Muertes on Lucha Underground…

* Second Place…Eddie Edwards – 26 Votes

Defeated Cody to retain the TNA Title.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…

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Katsuhiko Nakajima – 28 Votes

Defeated Takashi Sugiura to become the new GHC Heavyweight Champion!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week 29

1. AJ Styles – 91pts

2. Prince Puma/Ricochet – 69pts

3. Dean Ambrose – 51pts
3. Lashley – 51pts

5. Tetsuya Naito – 45pts

6. The Monster Matanza Cueto – 42pts

7. Roman Reigns – 36pts
7. Rey Mysterio Jr. – 36pts
7. Dragon Azteca Jr. – 36pts

10. Will Ospreay – 33pts
10. Sexy Star – 33pts
10. Eddie Edwards – 33pts

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* Kevin Owens – 31pts

* Finn Balor – 30pts

* Johnny Mundo – 28pts
* Broken Matt Hardy – 28pts

* TJ Perkins – 27pts

* Dolph Ziggler – 25pts
* Kazuchika Okada – 25pts

* Kenny Omega – 24pts
* Cage – 24 pts
* Jack Evans – 24pts
* PJ Black – 24 pts
* Sasha Banks – 24pts

* Jay Lethal – 21pts
* Samoa Joe – 21pts

* The Miz – 20pts

* Dash – 18pts
* Dawson – 18pts

* Kota Ibushi – 16pts
* Brother Nero – 16pts
* Katsuyori Shibata – 16pts

* Katsuhiko Nakajima – 15pts
* Nick Jackson – 15pts
* Matt Jackson – 15pts
* Seth Rollins – 15pts
* Drew Galloway – 15pts
* Johnny Gargano – 15pts
* KUSHIDA – 15pts
* Aerostar – 15pts

* Sami Zayn – 13pts
* Killshot/Shane Strickland – 13pts
* Chris Hero – 13 pts

* Shinsuke Nakamura – 12pts
* Becky Lynch – 12pts
* Son of Havoc – 12pts
* Michael Elgin -12pts
* Bobby Fish – 12pts
* Daniels – 12pts
* Kazarian – 12pts
* Mike Bennett – 12pts
* Tomohiro Ishii – 12pts
* Marty Scurll – 12pts

* 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
* Pentagon Jr – 7pts

* Fenix – 6pts
* Mariposa – 6pts
* Yuji Nagata – 6pts
* Takashi Sugiura – 6pts
* Matt Riddle – 6pts
* David Finlay – 6pts

* Bayley – 4pts
* ACH – 4pts
* Taiji Ishimori – 4pts
* James Ellsworth – 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
* Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 1pt
* Hiroshi Tanahashi – 1pt
* David Starr – 1pt

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* 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.

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**PREVIOUS WINNERS**
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)