wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week – Team AAA Battle EC3

September 8, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to YEAR ELEVEN, WEEK 23 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…

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Larry Csonka
1) Team AAA (Drago, Aero Star, and Fenix):
Drago, Aero Star, and Fenix arrived in CHIKARA for the 2015 King of trios tournament, and walked out the big winners this year. They beat The Gentleman’s Club (Chuck Taylor & Drew Gulak & the Swamp Monster) on night one, Team Nightmare Warriors (Hallowicked & Frightmare & Silver Ant) on night two and then Devastation Corporation (Blaster McMassive, Flex Rumblecrunch and Max Smashmaster) and Team Bullet Club (Styles and the Young Bucks) on night three to do so, and easily deserve the win this week.

2) Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Nick & Matt Jackson): They continue their run of successful six-man tags with a great showing at the CHKARA KOT tournament,
3) Bobby Roode: Defeated PJ Black to win the TNA KOTM title on Impact. They haven’t done a good job of making me care about the title, but Roode is a guy that works hard and still seems to be trying so I think he’ll have a chance to make me care about the title.
4) Mark Andrews
5) Charlotte

Mike Hammerlock
1) Team AAA (Drago, Aero Star, Fenix):
Beat some of Chikara’s best (including Chikara Grand Champion Hallowicked and defending KOT champs the Devastation Corporation) and the Bullet Club team of AJ Styles and the Young Bucks to win the 2015 King of Trios title. The AAA team, which most U.S. wrestling fans know from Lucha Underground, are the first non-Chikara team ever to win the KOT title. Plenty of ring legends and teams from other feds have been in the tournament, but the trio of masked luchadores triumphed where so many others have failed. Kind of fitting, since Chikara borrows so heavily from the lucha tradition. By all accounts, Team AAA lit it up all three nights and the championship match was quite the spectacle. Dedicated their win to Perro Aguayo Jr. too.

2) The Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson): Lost the KOT finals to the AAA guys, but beat some very ornery ants (Amasis’ Pharoah Ant mask is already the stuff of legend) along the way to get there. Basically put on a three-night gaudy display of talent.
3) Ethan Carter III: Bobby Roode had a better match in winning the King of the Mountain title, but EC3 has been working his tail off as the TNA champion, beating Matt Hardy and turning Jeff Hardy into his personal servant (Jeff, bring me my bath salts!). No one in the WWE, TNA or ROH was great this week, so I’m going with Carter. He’s having himself quite a run.
4) The Dudley Boyz
5) Kevin Owens

Ryan Byers
1) The Dudley Boys:
After the G1 Climax wrapping up and Summerslam weekend coming to a close, this week felt like it had virtually nothing happening. Therefore, I guess I’ll give my number one slot to the Dudleys, who continued their WWE comeback by defeating both the WWE Tag Team Champions New Day and the de facto number one contenders the Prime Time Players in separate matches on Monday Night Raw and Smackdown. Again, this isn’t the sort of thing that I would normally vote for, but there are very limited options.

2) Braun Strowman: Seriously, I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here. The week after his debut, Strowman continued to look like a monster when pitted up against some of WWE’s top babyfaces. We’ll see where he goes from here.
3) Triple H: Did you know that Triple H is the greatest wrestler in WWE history? If you don’t believe that, go listen to anybody who mentioned his name on Monday Night Raw this past week. Three solid hours of other people putting you over has to be worth something in this voting, right?
4) Kengo Mashimo & Yuki Sato
5) Manabu Soya & Jun Kasai

Kevin Pantoja
1) Team AAA:
Similar to Zack Sabre Jr. topping my list recently, another tournament winner on the indies headlines it this time around. Chikara’s King of Trios Tournament is usually a fun experience and the team representing AAA won the entire thing. Their unit consisted of Aero Star, Drago and Fenix. I don’t watch much AAA, but during my time watching Lucha Underground, I really liked Drago and Fenix, so this is pretty cool. Not only did the trio go through some of the best Chikara has to offer, but they defeated the Bullet Club (AJ Styles and the Young Bucks) to become the first ever non-Chikara group to win the tournament.

2) Ethan Carter III: Admittedly, it was a slow week for the world of pro wrestling. Ethan Carter III often gets overlooked, by me even, when it comes to this list. He, like most TNA Champions, consistently defends his title and it’s kind of taken for granted. This week, he retained the title against Matt Hardy. Not only was that a successful defense but he also won the services of Jeff Hardy in the process, making him his personal servant. There are a lot of things wrong with TNA, but EC3 remains the best part of the company.
3) Chad Gable and Jason Jordan: Outside of the New Day, there is no tag team that I like more right now than Chad Gable and Jason Jordan. Their matches have been solid, their promos have been fun and their finisher is simple, but I really like it. This week though, they had their breakout match of sorts. Main eventing NXT as part of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic against Neville and Solomon Crowe, Jordan and Gable had probably my favorite match all week long. Gable is so enthralling to watch even when he’s just working on the mat, while Jordan has the size and does some impressive things. They had a really good match, advanced in the tournament and honestly, should win the whole damn thing.
4) Bobby Roode
5) Charlotte

Greg DeMarco
1) Ethan Carter III:
It was a weird week in the world of professional wrestling, where TNA delivered an insanely terrible program that actually featured a lot of storyline advancement. EC3 is THE brightest spot each and every week for TNA. I half want the company to stick around so he can continue to entertain us on a week-in & week-out basis. And if they go under, I really hope he goes right to ROH and continues the same gimmick. His win over Matt Hardy was necessary, despite the silly Jeff Hardy storyline.

2) Team AAA: Fenix, Drago and Aerostar won the CHIKARA King Of Trios, and in doing so went over AJ Styles & the Young Bucks. It was an amazing tournament and the right teams advanced/won.
3) Bobby Roode: If anyone can make something out of the King Of The Mountain Championship, it’s Bobby Roode.
4) Sting
5) Charlotte

Jack McGee
1) Mark Andrews:
Mark Andrews had a huge weekend, as he defeated Shynron to win the 2015 Rey de Voladores during the CHIKARA King of Trios weekend. Andrews won TNA British Boot Camp, and while he has been on Impact, he has either been Spud’s little buddy, canon fodder for Tyrus or an X-Division jobber, In one weekend, CHIKARA made me care about him and showed that he can be a player of allowed. It was a huge weekend for the young lad.

2) Team AAA (Drago, Aero Star, and Fenix): Your winners of the 2015 CHIKARA King of trios tournament.
3) Bobby Roode: Your new TNA KOTM champion.
4) Charlotte
5) Dudley Boyz

Jeremy Thomas
1) Team AAA:
Team AAA pulled it out over the weekend and won the 2015 King of Trios Title against some pretty impressive competition. Great work here and a big win for them.

2) Dudley Boyz: Yeah, it really is a slow week. The Dudleys, however, are looking as energized as they’ve been in a while and have provided a lift to the tag team division, so good on them.
3) Ethan Carter III: I think the idea of winning a person’s forced services as a “personal assistant” is stupid as shit (seriously, when has that ever turned out well?), but that aside Carter continues to solidify his reign atop TNA and had a pretty decent match with Matt Hardy to boot.
4) Braun Strowman
5) Team Bullet Club


THE WINNERS~!
* Special Mention…Mark Andrews – 7 Votes

* Fifth Place…Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Nick and Matt Jackson) – 9 Votes

* Fourth Place…Bobby Roode – 11 Votes

* Third Place…Dudley Boyz – 12 Votes

Making noise following their return to WWE.

* Second Place…Ethan Carter III – 15 Votes

Still your reigning and defending TNA World Champion.

* And 411’s Wrestler of the Week is…
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Team AAA (Drago, Aero Star, and Fenix) – 28 Votes

Your 2015 KING of TRIOS winners!

The Standings
Here are the standings after week twenty-three

John Cena – 61 pts.

Kevin Owens – 48 pts.

Kofi Kingston – 47 pts.
Big E – 47 pts.

Seth Rollins – 46 pts.

Xavier Woods – 34 pts.

Mil Muertes – 31 pts.

Sasha Banks – 30 pts.

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 27 pts.
KUSHIDA – 27 pts.

Prince Puma – 25 pts.

Drago – 24 pts.
Fenix – 24 pts.
Shinsuke Nakamura – 24 pts.
Kazuchika Okada – 24 pts.
Dean Ambrose – 24 pts.
Kota Ibushi – 24 pts.
AJ Styles – 24 pts.

Ethan Carter III – 21 pts.
Nick Jackson – 21 pts.
Matt Jackson – 21 pts.
Cesaro – 21 pts.
Hirooki Goto – 21 pts.
Kyle O’Reilly – 21 pts.

Aerostar – 18 pts.
Alberto El Patron – 18 pts.
Roman Reigns – 18 pts.
Bubba Ray Dudley – 18 pts.
D-Von Dudley – 18 pts.

Finn Balor – 16 pts.
Zack Sabre Jr – 16 pts.

Jay Lethal – 15 pts.
Hideo Itami – 15 pts.
Randy Orton – 15 pts.
Matt Hardy – 15 pts.
Jeff Hardy – 15 pts.
Angelico – 15 pts.
Son of Havoc – 15 pts.
Kurt Angle – 15 pts.
Brock Lesnar – 15 pts.
Undertaker – 15 pts.

Rey Mysterio Jr. – 12 pts.
Katsuyori Shibata – 12 pts.
Mike Bennett – 12 pts.
Matt Taven – 12 pts.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey – 12 pts.
Rich Swann – 12 pts.
Ivelisse – 12 pts.
Bayley – 12 pts.
Sting – 12 pts.
Bobby Roode – 12 pts.

Becky Lynch – 10 pts.
Roderick Strong – 10 pts.

Bobby Fish – 9 pts.
Jeff Jarrett – 9 pts.
Karl Anderson – 9 pts.
Togi Makabe – 9 pts.
Sheamus – 9 pts.
Sami Zayn – 9 pts.
Rocky Romero – 9 pts.
Trent Baretta – 9 pts.
Kimber Lee – 9 pts.
Cherry Bomb – 9 pts.
Timothy Thatcher – 9 pts.

Michael Elgin – 6 pts.
Minoru Suzuki – 6 pts
Tigre Uno – 6 pts.
Samoa Joe – 6 pts.
KAI – 6 pts.
Masato Tanaka – 6 pts.
Takashi Sugiura – 6 pts.
Ryback – 6 pts.
King Bad News Barrett – 6 pts.
Nicole Matthews – 6 pts.

Neville – 5 pts.

Drew Galloway – 3 pts.
Johnny Mundo – 3 pts.
Jack Evans – 3 pts.
Cage – 3 pts.

Chris Hero – 1 pt.
PJ Black – 1 pt.
Pentagon Jr – 1 pt.
El Siniestro de la Muerte – 1 pt.
Barrio Negro – 1 pt.
Terce – 1 pt.
King Cuerno – 1 pt.
Eddie Edwards – 1 pt.
Davey Richards – 1 pt.
Mark Andrews – 1 pt.
Kenny King – 1 pt.
Kalisto – 1 pt.
Titus O’Neil – 1 pt.
Aiden English – 1 pt.
Simon Gotch – 1 pt.
Darren Young – 1 pt.
Minoru Tanaka – 1 pt.
Masato Yoshino – 1 pt.
Kazarian – 1 pt
Christopher Daniels – 1 pt
Jun Kasai – 1 pt.
Manabu Soya – 1 pt.
Tetsuya Naito – 1 pt.


* Voting began 4.06.15

* 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.


**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)

 photo Rollins WOTY_zpsozlrughk.png
Year Ten Winner: Seth Rollins (2014-2015)