411’s Wrestler of the Week 11.02.09: Week 31
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 11.02.2009
The Hulkster rocks the wrestling world, Kofi Kingston rocks Randy Orton's stock car and Desmond Wolfe rocks Kurt Angle! But who took home 411's Wrestler of the Week honors? Check out the full article to find out and for an updated look at the Year-End standings!
Welcome to Week 31, 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~! Aaron Hubbard
1) Kofi Kingston
There's a lot of talk about Hulk Hogan signing with TNA this week, but the biggest name in history signing with a second rate company doesn't strike me as advancing his career or legacy any. Someone who DID make a big step in advancing his career this week was Kofi Kingston. Kofi was the victim or Orton's wrath coming off the loss to John Cena at Bragging Rights, but he didn't just sit there and let Orton walk over him. Instead, he cut the best promo of his career and attacked Orton's car. Kofi is about to go on the most high-profile program of his career, and Orton isn't the type to "cling" to his spot. Kofi could very well become a huge star, and if he does, and we will all look back at this week as where it started.
2) Yoshinobu Kanemura: Won the Jr. Heavyweight Championship tournament that's been going on for two weeks. BUT, more importantly, due to KENTA's injury, his title for victory. So Kanemura won the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jushin Thunder Lyger in the final match. And if you don't know who Jushin Liger is, turn in your "smart mark" card right now.
3) Chris Jericho: Defeated Kane to earn his way into a triple threat World Title match with Big Show and Undertaker at Survivor Series.
4) Christian
5) Yoshi Tatsu/Delirious
ARI
1) Chris Jericho
Jericho has become the MVP (not Montel Vontavious, the other kind) of WWE in the second half of the year thanks to his constant involvement in major storyline and matches on both Smackdown and Raw. This week Jericho played an excellent antagonist on Raw by rubbing the "Bragging Rights" Cup in that brand's collective face. Then in an awesome moment he got when he saw the getting was good to avoid public humiliation such as The Big Show suffered at the end of the night. Yet the true genius of Jericho came during Smackdown when he was able to insert himself in the World Heavyweight Title picture by defeating Kane in an "anything Big Show can do, I can do better" moment.
2) Hulk Hogan: Just as "Nigel McGuinness to TNA" dominated last week's headlines, it was "Hulk Hogan to TNA" that dominated this week's big picture. Hogan didn't do anything in the ring and wasn't officially on the show in any "live" (or "plausibly live") capacity, but the video footage was shown, not to mention Hogan was all over mainstream press (promoting his autobiography more than TNA, but still, more often than not, TNA was mentioned during his appearances). Face facts friends, its a Hulk Hogan world in TNA and we're all about to experience it, for better or for worse.
3) Desmond Wolf: I will be officially referring to Nigel as Desmond from here on in. For the second week in a row Desmond was dominant against Kurt Angle, one of TNA's elite players. He looked strong in both a promo and in his first match against Angle, which not only main evented that edition of the show but ended when a lariat decapitated Angle and put him out.
4) Kofi Kingston
5) Christian / Yoshi Tatsu (tie)
Ryan Byers
1) Kofi Kingston
Kofi's stock continues to rise in an impressive fashion. Coming off of the Bragging Rights pay per view, I figured that he was headed into a feud with Cody Rhodes and/or Ted DiBiase, Jr. However, after Raw on Monday night, it became apparent that he was bypassing the cronies and heading straight after Randy Orton, the leader of the Legacy pack. Getting an opportunity to show off his skills against the immediate past WWE Champion is a huge step up for the former fakin' Jamaican, and, though I don't think he's the greatest wrestler in the world, I'm still more excited by what he will do with this opportunity than just about anything else in WWE right now.
2) Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson - Bernard and Anderson won the annual G1 Tag League tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling. This sets them up as the most likely team to take the IWGP Tag Team Titles off of Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley, who have held the belts and kept them out of NJPW since January of this year. This is particularly important for Anderson, who has spent the majority of his time in New Japan as "that guy who teams with Bernard just so that he can get pinned."
3) Prince Fergal Devitt & Rysuke Taguchi - Devitt and Taguchi, the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, made it to the finals of the G1 Tag League before losing to Bernard & Anderson. However, the fact that they were placed in the finals is evidence of a huge vote of confidence in them by NJPW, as generally junior heavyweights aren't depicted as successful when they go head-to-head with heavyweights. On top of that, in their semi-final match, the two defeated a team that includes Shinsuke Nakamura, the promotion's reigning heavyweight champion.
4) Yoshinobu Kanemura
5) Chris Jericho
Andy Clark
1) Hulk Hogan
Yeah sorry, I'm not no selling this one. Truth be told the real vote getter here should be "TNA" but I don't think that one would fly. Hulk Hogan is the biggest name in professional wrestling history and he is once again relevent for actual wrestling news. If promoted properly, which admittedly remains to be seen (try namedropping a bit, Hulkster) this could help TNA get even more on the map.
2) Kofi Kingston: Kingston has a really good match, and win, against Chris Jericho on Raw, but more importantly he got to stand up to Randy Orton and cut a pretty solid promo as well. This could be the start of something big for the West Ghanan Sensation.
3) Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson: Bernard & Anderson won the G1 Tag League Tournament, significantly upping their prestige on the Japanese tag team scene.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Christian & Yoshhi Tatsu (tie)
Samuel Berman
1) Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Won NOAH's Jr. Heavyweight Tournament and with it the vacant GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title.
2) Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson: Won NJPW's G1 Tag League.
3) Kofi Kingston and Desmond Wolfe (tie): Furthered potentially career-making feuds.
4) Delirious
5) Hulk Hogan
THE Larry Csonka
1) Hulk Hogan
Love him or hate him, you have to admit that the big news of the week was revolving around Hulk Hogan. The mainstream media, the late night talk shows, the internet sites all were talking about Hogan. Love him or hate him, he was the biggest thing going last week. I am going to throw up now…
2) Yoshinobu Kanemura: Yoshinobu Kanemura pinned Jushin Liger to become the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion and to win the NOAH Jr. Heavyweight League, which had been going on for two weeks.
3) Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson defeated Prince Fergal Devitt & Rysuke Taguchi in the finals of the G1 Tag League in NJPW.
4) Desmond Wolfe
5) Kofi Kingston
Robert Leighty Jr
1) Hulk Hogan
I could care less if the man didn't actually wrestle. He clearly had the biggest impact on the business this week. His signing with TNA was announced at a press conference in Madison Square Garden. That is WWE only Territory and Hogan got TNA in the door. He has been all over the news and though it has mainly been for his book, he has name dropped TNA. The ratings for Impact had a slight increase against heavy competition in the World Series, and I highly doubt it was because of Desmond Wolfe.
2) Kofi Kingston: Kofi's performance on RAW was excellent. The interview he gave was one the best ones of the year, and showed the man has some emotion to go with his skill set in the ring. A feud with Randy Orton could be great for his career. It appears he is being given the ball and hopefully he makes the most of it.
3) Chris Jericho: The most overlooked man in the wrestling in terms of what he has been treating everyone to on a nightly basis. He has been gold for well over a year night, and I think we are just used to the awesomeness that is Chris Jericho. His involvment at Survivor Series in the World Title Match easily makes the match better in every sense. It's also nice to see we are finally going to get some version of Jericho vs Taker.
4) Christian
5) Yoshi Tatsu
Shawn S. Lealos
1) Desmond Wolfe
In his second week in TNA, he KILLED Kurt Angle. He got some mic time and was great and then in the main event, he dominated Angle. He then stood triumphant over our Olympic champion in what should have been the end of the show if not for a certain press conferance.
2) The Motor City Machine Guns: I don't care if it was controversial, they beat Team 3D and look to be on their way to the tag team titles. This is awesome.
3) Hulk Hogan: The guy dominated the news this week. He will either make or break my favorite promotion, so this is the start of "something"
4) Chris Jericho
5) Kofi Kingston
Michael Bauer
1) Desmond Wolfe
This is wrestler of the week, not the Un-retirement Watch. If you want that, go read about Brett Farve returning to Green Bay. It's a toss up between my top two, but I have to give the edge to Wolfe simply because he is being built so perfectly by TNA that it shocks even me. RoH Haters, do yourselves a favor and watch this guy, then tell me that nothing good came out of there.
2) Kofi Kingston: Pins Jericho clean, gets huge momentum for a feud with Randy Orton, and simply has broken the mid-carder glass ceiling.
3) Yoshinobu Kanemura: The beneficiary of KENTA's injury, as he beat Jushin Liger to become GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
4) Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
5) Christian / Yoshi Tatsu (tie)
Chad Nevett
1) Desmond Wolfe
After an impressive debut last week, Wolfe kicked off Impact this week with a great promo and, then, beat Kurt Angle in a street fight clean in Impact's main event. Actually, he didn't just beat Angle, he destroyed him with the ref stopping the match because Angle could no longer compete. When was the last time you saw that happen? Wolfe has been set up as a possible main eventer after only two weeks.
2) Chris Jericho: Chris Jericho being on Raw and Smackdown (and ECW sometimes) is one of the best things the WWE has going for them as he followed up Bragging Rights with the suitable arrogance on Raw to rub in Smackdown's win. On Smackdown, he carried that attitude over to demanding a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship match at Survivor Series and earned it by defeating Kane. Now, the Undertaker/Big Show contest doesn't seem nearly as boring.
3) Kofi Kingston: Funny how being an Intercontinental, World Tag Team, and US champion never got Kingstom as over as losing the Jamaican accent. A win over Jericho, a burgeoning feud with Randy Orton? Finally, Kingston is showing why people have been predicting big things for him ever since his debut.
4) Christian / Yoshi Tatsu (tie)
5) Hulk Hogan
Jeremy Thomas
1) Hulk Hogan
There really isn't any other choice here, to be frank. Hogan was the talk of the wrestling world after he signed with TNA and brought Eric Bischoff with him. He did the rounds of talk shows and got the company's name mentioned more on mainstream television than it's probably been mentioned in the entirety of its history. Whether you love him or hate him, one thing is assured and that's the fact that he's going to bring huge changes to TNA in one fashion or the other. Whether he'll be the savior or destroyer of the company is another question, but for now he's undoubtedly my wrestler of the week.
2) Kofi Kingston: Kofi is in a primed spot. He's dropped his more cartoony gimmick for a character that's more an extension of his real-life self, shown us that he has some serious mic skills, and been inserted into a high-profile feud with Randy Orton and/or Priceless. Could the Jamaican from Ghana be the next guy to make the CM Punk leap into the main event? If things continue this way, it certainly looks like it.
3) Desmond Wolfe: Desmond's reign of terror over Kurt Angle continues with a nice promo on the guy and then murdering him with a lariat to end the show. He's continuing to make an impact on iMpact, and his run is already quite impressive only two weeks in.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Christian/Yoshi Tatsu (tie)
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention…Christian - 10 Votes
Fifth Place…Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson - 16 Votes
Fourth Place…Chris Jericho and Yoshinobu Kanemura - 18 Votes
Third Place…Desmond Wolfe - 22 Votes
Desmond Wolfe's big debut in TNA is followed up strongly as he rolls through in his feud with Kurt Angle.
Second Place…Hulk Hogan - 26 Votes
Hulkamania shocks the wrestling world by returning to the business, signing with TNA.
Wrestler of the Week…Kofi Kingston - 36 Votes
A new and more serious character and a high-profile feud with Randy Orton are definite signs of a star on the rise, and that makes Kofi Kingston our Wrestler of the Week!
Year-End Standings~!
Kofi Kingston is right on the heels of the top 15 after his big week, and of course the Hulkster makes his Year-End Rankings debut. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson and Yoshinobu Kanemura also make their debuts, but the bigger stories are the leaps of Chris Jericho and Desmond Wolfe in the top 15! Wolfe is not within two points of the top ten and Jericho has entered the top five! It's tightening up near the top!
Let's check out the Year-End Standings!
1. CM Punk – 107 (SmackDown)
2. Jeff Hardy – 85 (US Independent)
3. John Morrison – 70 (SmackDown)
4. Rey Mysterio – 55 (SmackDown)
5. Randy Orton – 52 (RAW)
5. Chris Jericho – 52 (SmackDown)
7. Edge – 49 (SmackDown) {INJURED}
8. AJ Styles – 45 (TNA)
9. The Undertaker – 36 (SmackDown)
10. Davey Richards – 33 (ROH)
10. Eddie Edwards – 33 (ROH)
10. John Cena – 33 (RAW)
Posted By: MaccAllDay (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 12:46 PM
I fail to see how you can be the #2 Wrestler of the Week without actually appearing on any wrestling shows. But it's your votes, not mine.
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 12:58 PM
I fail to see how you can be the #2 Wrestler of the Week without actually appearing on any wrestling shows. But it's your votes, not mine.
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 12:58 PM
That's exactly why he SHOULD be the Wrestler of the Week.
Posted By: Big Fat Fag (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:08 PM
Not enough Wolfe love.
Posted By: Guest#3629 (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:15 PM
hey Byers, how about voting for that Desmond Wolfe fellow. You know the guy you used to blow when he went by that Nigel name. So now that he works for TNA, he is suddenly a bad wrestler?
Posted By: mogamer (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:26 PM
SO far in the year-end rankings: Hogan has 12, Triple H has 2...Haha, you gotta love it.
Posted By: This Guy! (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:34 PM
I agree that Hogan definitely deserves a spot on the list because he didn't really appear on any wrestling show but was still a big news maker. But because he wasn't on the shows he shouldn't be capable of being #1.
I'd have gone with Kofi or Wolfe but whatevs.
Posted By: Ron Mexico (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:40 PM
1. Kofi Kingston
2. Desmond Wolfe
3. Chris Jericho
4. Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff
5. Yoshinubacarwax Kanyemurray
I'm surprised that people didn't put Hogan and Bischoff together - because while Hogan may make a difference on-screen, Bischoff may make a bigger difference off screen. Oh wait - this is only suppose to be about on screen wrestlers? OK... Remove Hogan and Yoshinubacarwax since neither wrestled on my screen and replace them with
4. Christian
5. Yoshi Tatsu
---------------------
And this week's Spanky Smack goes to...
Aaron Hubbard - for the following quote.
"So Kanemura won the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship, defeating Jushin Thunder Lyger in the final match. And if you don't know who Jushin Liger is, turn in your "smart mark" card right now."
Turn in your "smart mark" card as well Aaron - is it Lyger or Liger, and is it Jushin or Jushin Thunder? The worst thing you can do trying to be a smart ass is to spell someones name wrong TWICE.
Honorable mention - Jeremy Thomas.
When wrestlers are tied for 4th place, there is no 5th place. There are 6 "paying" spots (given to either an individual wrestler or a tag team) in the weekly standings. This week - there were 7 paying spots because of the 4th place tie. Bernard and Anderson should get Special Mention and there should be no 5th place finisher.
Posted By: SpankyHamm (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 01:48 PM
VINTAGE BERMAN!
Posted By: COLE SLAW (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 02:19 PM
Turn in your "smart mark" card as well Aaron - is it Lyger or Liger, and is it Jushin or Jushin Thunder? The worst thing you can do trying to be a smart ass is to spell someones name wrong TWICE.
Liger and Lyger are both acceptable and he is Jushin "Thunder" Liger so Thunder is his nick name. So ya, he was right on spelling it both ways.
Posted By: Cafka (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 02:51 PM
VINTAGE BERMAN!
(For the record, the real Cole Slaw does not put his name in ALL CAPS)
Posted By: Cole Slaw (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 02:58 PM
"VINTAGE BERMAN!
(For the record, the real Cole Slaw does not put his name in ALL CAPS)
Posted By: Cole Slaw (Guest)"
Thanks for clearing that up. You both add so much to the conversation, I didn't want to get confused.
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 03:45 PM
Samuel Berman - why do you people let him write in this column, he is a waste of space and offers nothing
Posted By: Guest#7776 (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 05:17 PM
@SpankyHamm:
Multiple people with the same vote totals have always shared the placings. While you're right that by strict definition of placings, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson were tied for sixth place and not fifth, the definition has always been this way for determine who wins in a particular week. Thanks for reading though!
Posted By: Jeremy Thomas (Registered) on November 02, 2009 at 05:31 PM
ARI
1) Chris Jericho
Jericho has become the MVP (not Montel Vontavious, the other kind) of WWE in the second half of the year thanks to his constant involvement in major storyline and matches on both Smackdown and Raw. This week Jericho played an excellent antagonist on Raw by rubbing the "Bragging Rights" Cup in that brand's collective face. Then in an awesome moment he got when he saw the getting was good to avoid public humiliation such as The Big Show suffered at the end of the night. Yet the true genius of Jericho came during Smackdown when he was able to insert himself in the World Heavyweight Title picture by defeating Kane in an "anything Big Show can do, I can do better" moment.
Seriously dude? Number 1? Jericho had an alright week, but others had better weeks.
Posted By: Guest#3124 (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 06:18 PM
Thanks for clearing that up. You both add so much to the conversation, I didn't want to get confused.
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 03:45 PM
VINTAGE MP !
Posted By: Michael Troll (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 06:27 PM
Awesome to see Bad Intentions and Jericho here this week, and Apollo 55 getting a mention was nice too...though Berman might want to let the rest of the staff know it's "Kanemaru", not whatever they all put. (On a seperate note, he's also one half of the GHC jr. heavyweight tag champs, so he's basically NOAH's junior heavyweight lord and master now).
I'm actually curious as to the number of commentators who agree with Hogan's placement here but disagreed with giving Misawa the #1 spot (basically by default) the week of his death, or vice versa...who knows how much hypocrisy you would find there.
MCMG should be placed on here every week until theie current push fizzles out...because once that happens, who knows how long it'll be before the company will give them another one.
Lastly, while you're at it, give Priceless some pity points...the way they're headed booking-wise(reverting to lackeys),they need it.
Posted By: B.W.G. (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 06:54 PM
Byers is the only writer that knows what he's talking about.
Posted By: Byers rules! (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 07:26 PM
Kinda sad. Everyone here is praising Jericho for being "overlooked", when Kurt Angle has done everything Jericho has done and more, but doesn't get the love because he works for TNA.
Posted By: August (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 08:06 PM
1. Kofi Kingston (huge advancement in his career)
2. Desmond Wolfe (massive impact)
3.Yoshi Tatsu (also being given a big push and a future star of WWE)
4.Chris Jericho (Even though he hasn't got a rivalry right now, his matches are consistent and his talking abilities are like GOD, and fingers crossed WWE make the right decision and let Chris Jericho win the Title)
5.Christian (consistent performer and very good talking abilities)
Hogan and Bischoff shouldn't even be in the list. What impact have they made? Nothing. They'll run TNA down to the ground. I dont believe a word Hogan says that he with the 'new talent'. Looks like he wants to push the stars, where as Bishoff could now be possibly behind the TNA Originals.
You can bet on it. That it 4 months, with the impact with desmond wolfe, TNA will be HUGE! (exclude Hogan)
Posted By: HBK = GoD (Registered) on November 02, 2009 at 09:11 PM
No, no, no, no. No to McG, no to HH. Wrestler of the week WRESTLES. Who's the best politician of the week? ROOSEVELT, because his name was up alot? I'm sorry, call me a purist, but if you want a best BOOKER or TALENT MOVE of the week, make that a segment. What if Russo does a grandstanding play to move to WWE? Does HE het it next week. Wrestlers wrestle. Others are BEHIND THE SCENES. Sorry iof I sound jerky.
Posted By: robot1111 (Guest) on November 02, 2009 at 11:27 PM
Considering the last two weeks none of the guest hosts got this gut name right should maybe tell you soemthing.
And the gus who are supposed ot be professional followers of wrestling falling into the same trap that he is getting some mega push doesn't speak much for their credentials or credibility. But at least some peopel did have him 4th or 5th, but would have held more wieght had he not been on the list at all until he actually got to do something in the ring again.
The guy loses his accent one week, gets to cut a 60 second promo where he almost injures himself and does splash paint all over himself and that qualifies him as wrestler of the week?
But then again in the state wrestling is in right now maybe that's all it takes, hell the number 2 guy hasnt been relevant in wrestling in a decade and didnt even appear on TV and apparently isnt next week either, so there isn't too much comptition I guess.
Every dog has his day, or week I suppose, but when Rey Mysterio is number 4 so far htis year it shows just how cumulative having bad votes can be, because this guy hasnt been relvent in the past decade either and had Eddie not died he still wouldn't be.
Posted By: Rich (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 03:00 AM
Kofi Kingston's coming out just goes to show that WWE is often clueless when it comes what to do with their wrestlers. Imagine if they let more people cut loose. Kofi reminds me of Rocky Maivia morphing into The Rock.
Posted By: Steve (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 03:31 AM
Triple H – 2 (Raw)
Tyson Kidd – 3 (SmackDown)
&
Shawn Michaels – 16 (RAW)
JTG – 27 (SmackDown)
In case anyone was wondering whether this crap has any credibility.
411’s Wrestler of the Week - more like 10 Guys who have no idea what they are talking about or have never been in a ring picking & choosing their favorites as they like for amusement.
Keep kidding yourselves that this rubbish means something , but please don't take it too seriously.
Posted By: D_X (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 06:48 AM
I'm REALLY Looking forward to a Desmond Wolfe/Samoa Joe match.
Posted By: Karatgold24 (Guest) on November 03, 2009 at 05:18 PM
"Kinda sad. Everyone here is praising Jericho for being "overlooked", when Kurt Angle has done everything Jericho has done and more, but doesn't get the love because he works for TNA."
Great point. Angle, nor TNA, seem to get any love here.
Posted By: Tim (Guest) on November 04, 2009 at 07:57 PM
