411’s Wrestler of the Week 08.10.09: Week 19
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 08.10.2009
Japan goes tournament crazy, JTG pins Chris Jericho, Punk and Hardy have another great match, Priceless beat Triple H and more! Check out the latest edition of 411's Wrestler of the Week for all the details and for an updated look at the Year-End standings!
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…
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~!
Special Mention…Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes - 11 Votes
Fifth Place…Tajiri - 12 Votes
Fourth Place…Jeff Hardy - 13 Votes
Third Place…Ryouji Sai - 20 Votes
Sai wins ZERO1's annual Fire Festival tournament and made it through some tough guys in order to do so.
Second Place…CM Punk - 21 Votes
Punk's heel turn continues to run strong towards SummerSlam, bouyed by another great SmackDown match against Hardy.
Wrestler of the Week…JTG - 36 Votes
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...
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)
Posted By: Cole Slaw (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 12:53 PM
I have nothing to rage at. This time.
Posted By: Guest#4174 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I know I vote on this, but JTG in the Top 10... wow... just wow...
Posted By: Tower of Bauer (Registered) on August 10, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Let's look at the top 15 by brand:
WWE Raw: 1
WWE Smackdown: 7
WWE ECW: 1
TNA: 1
ROH: 3
Dragon's Gate: 1
NOAH: 1
And another observation.
Raw main eventers: Orton (30 pts), Cena (9 pts), HHH (0 pts)
Raw upper mid-card: DiBiase (16 pts), MVP (15 pts), Henry (15 pts), Swagger (9 pts).
The reason I bring this up is that this is a perfect illustration of the problems with Raw.
These polls are an indicator of people who, for at least one week, stepped up and did something extraordinary and above expectations.
While Orton has excelled, the people he is involved with (HHH and Cena) have not stepped up their games. While technically their matches have been fine - they rarely exceed our expectations.
The upper mid-carders usually get a chance to shine perhaps 1-2 times/month as opposed to every episode. And when they've gotten their chances - they've exceeded.
Give the Swaggers, MVPs and DiBiases a chance to run with the ball.
Posted By: BobbyC (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:17 PM
YES!!! All the TNAites can finally shut up forever... JTG is higher than anyone in TNA.
Posted By: Guest#7161 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:19 PM
With Hardy likely leaving after SummerSlam, I predict either Punk or Morrison to end up with the year-end title, considering the years they've been having.
Posted By: Bman (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:22 PM
One thing that sucks about these Wotw columns is that, for the last 2 years, it is pretty obvious Edge would have won if he had stayed healthy(the whole year)... bummer for fans of the Rated R Superstar
Posted By: g1 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:23 PM
I think that JTG should move to ECW at next years draft and R-Truth should team with Shad as Cryme Tyme 2.0. I feel JTG could become a major singles player on ECW and can even maybe hold gold (or silver). He has superior wrestling to Shad and has alot of charisma and is already extremely over. JTG FOR ECW CHAMP 2010!
Posted By: The STY (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:28 PM
GERRETSEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: Phire (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:36 PM
holy crap... JTG won!
Posted By: Jamal (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 02:04 PM
So Eric Young is reinventing himself as a top heel and has NO votes, but a tag wrestler winning a singles match gets WOTW.
That makes sense.
Posted By: ScottyFlamingo (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 02:13 PM
"Posted By: BobbyC (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 01:17 PM"
Great analysis. I was going to comment on how 7 of the top 10 spots are SD wrestlers. But you did a better job than I could.
Posted By: mogamer (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 02:19 PM
your placing of christian is incorrect he has more points than jtg and doi. Christian is 8th. Other two are 10th. Jus sayin...
Posted By: a random peep (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 03:16 PM
These jap no-names should NOT be getting WOTW votes, period. The only reason these bedroom-dwelling, socially retarded "writers" vote for them is because they are all such desperate nerds that they can't face the thought of being out-geeked by one of their colleagues (Berman and Byers are the best example of this. Blind indy marks at their most deluded). Absolutely pitiful.
Posted By: Truth (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 03:27 PM
WHERE IS K-MONEY??? He would have been sickened by this weeks picks. Samuel Berman needs to be taken outside and shot.
Posted By: John S (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 04:08 PM
You know what I would love to see...
Each writer's individual WOTW year end standings. I am interested to see if Byers, Berman and others compares to Csonka, Lansdell and what not. I know this isn't feasible on a weekly basis, but perhaps a quarterly update (to correspond with each of the big 4 PPV's). Come on 411, hook this up for me.
Posted By: Royce (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 04:14 PM
Smackdown! Six v2 continues to reign!
And HA! to TNA...Naruki Doi is higher than ANY of your talent...and that's shocking considering no one cares about puro except Berman! Well, and me...on occassion.
Hell...RoH is higher than TNA right now. And that's just sad, cause RoH has had a pretty shitty summer.
Posted By: Ramsey (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 04:15 PM
These jap no-names should NOT be getting WOTW votes, period. The only reason these bedroom-dwelling, socially retarded "writers" vote for them is because they are all such desperate nerds that they can't face the thought of being out-geeked by one of their colleagues (Berman and Byers are the best example of this. Blind indy marks at their most deluded). Absolutely pitiful."
Thanks for the analysis, raging geek indy hater. You're actually apart of a very similar subset of wrestling fans -- the socially-inept, angry Internet mark. You're the guy that likes to scream other wrestling fans on the Internet because you disagree with them. The one very clear difference, though, is that you have jingoistic anger of Americans being overshadowed by foreigners. So in addition to being an angry, socially-inept Internet wrestling fan, you're also leaning towards being an angry, racist, socially-inept Internet wrestling fan. Good job. Keep up the good fight. One day the Americans will win.
Wait, 9 out of the 10 wrestlers at the top of the yearly list wrestle for American promotions? And the 10th is going to be wrestling for one soon? Really?
Nevermind, you're a stupid, ignorant sack of shit.
Posted By: Guest#9921 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 04:27 PM
How the hell did Punk get more votes than Jeff? And how in the hell did Jeff not make the list of some people? This has become a joke. People put JTG on their list and left Jeff off? What the heck! This is nothing that a joke voted on by people who obviously know nothing! NOTHING!
Posted By: THE TRUTH (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 05:14 PM
lol.. Berman hearts Cryme Time
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 05:22 PM
Good for JTG and props to Andy for putting Markswoggle on the list.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 05:50 PM
To all the fans of alternatives (which I am one of) this poll is a perfect indicator of the time we are in now. The only ones getting alternative right is the mainstream with Smackdown basically owning the poll and even still past that, the top 15 is heavily domincated by WWE brands. Indicative of the fact that BOTH TNA and ROH have been having a lean run as of late. It is really a shame because ROH should be well above this, yet TV has definately taken away from the posibility of major ROH action on the poll because the "house shows" just do not take up the majority of their planning it seems, which is fine for them as a company but defently has taken the steam out along with the change in booking style which has really made the internet buzz/steam of guys such as Black, Aries, SteenEricho which is a shame because Aries second reign should be a far bigger deal than it has been and Black may eventually suffer from what TNA did to Joe - not striking while the iron was hot.
Posted By: The Truth (Guest) (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 06:01 PM
So Eric Young is reinventing himself as a top heel and has NO votes, but a tag wrestler winning a singles match gets WOTW.
That makes sense.
Posted By: ScottyFlamingo (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 02:13 PM
We all know that Eric Young will get shit on down the line. He is a talented wrestler, but his "title reigns" ended by being stripped by "whoever is in charge for some lame reason".
Or it could be that the only action Eric Young got last week was an involvement of a riot and got his ass kicked. Yeah that deserves WotW.
Now shut the fuck up.
Posted By: Guest#3076 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 06:05 PM
CM Punk keeps losing... But keeps getting highly voted each week.. Yet, the other half of the feud is left off many people's lists.. I don't quite get it.
Posted By: This is voting is weird.. (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 06:51 PM
CM Punk keeps losing... But keeps getting highly voted each week.. Yet, the other half of the feud is left off many people's lists.. I don't quite get it.
Posted By: This is voting is weird.. (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 06:51 PM
Because Jeff Hardy is done come Summerslam, therefore he has zero chance of winning Wrestler of the Year.
Posted By: Guest#7029 (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 08:52 PM
Mark this date down as the absolute low point of the year, or maybe the last several years:
Wrestler of the Week…JTG!!!
All I can think is how bad a place wrestling must be at now, for someone as C level as JTG getting wrestler of the week. God how pathetic.
Posted By: Smoky Joe (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 11:47 PM
BYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEERS !!!!!
Posted By: Epic Fail For BYERS (Guest) on August 10, 2009 at 11:50 PM
ZERO1's annual Fire Festival tournament is overrated.
Posted By: Ichiro Fujita (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 04:26 AM
Typical bitching about the results. Here's an idea: why not read the supplemental column, find out how the panel says they base their votes, then call them out if they don't hold to their criteria?
Posted By: Guest#6671 (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Typical bitching about the results. Here's an idea: why not read the supplemental column, find out how the panel says they base their votes, then call them out if they don't hold to their criteria?
Posted By: Guest#6671 (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Because we're too damned lazy to read and we just believe that the only wrestling out there is WWE and TNA.
Posted By: Bitching Commenters (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 03:28 PM
the first 6 in the standings are smackdown guys...
Posted By: Guest#5844 (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 07:36 PM
HOW THE FUCK is Morrison ahead of Jericho, the best performer left in the wrestling industry? LOL. You're going nuts.
Posted By: Erik (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 07:49 PM
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