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411’s Wrestler of the Week 12.21.09: Week 38

December 21, 2009 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Welcome to Week 38, 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~!
Aaron Hubbard
1) The Young Bucks
Got two huge victories in ROH over the weekend, defeating ROH Champion Austin Aries and Kenny King on Friday and Kevin Steen & El Generico in what will probably be their last match as a team. Good week to be Jackson.

2) AJ Styles: Defeated Christopher Daniels in a great World Title Match at Final Resolution.
3) Daniels & Desmond Wolfe: Yes, they both lost, but they gave great performances in losing. Plus, they had a great match against each other on Impact that had me salivating for a repeat performance.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Rey Mysterio

Chad Nevett
1) AJ Styles
He picked up the pin in the ten-man tag on Impact (well, five-man tag, really) and, then, retained the TNA world title in one hell of a defence against Daniels.

2) John Cena: He beat both CM Punk and Randy Orton in a single night to win the Superstar of the Year Slammy Award.
3) Daniels / Desmond Wolfe (tie): Valiant losing efforts where both looked fantastic after battling one another to a time-limit draw in a very good match on Impact.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Rey Mysterio

ARI
1) AJ Styles
Retains the TNA Title against Daniels on a PPV. Good enough for me for first place.

2) John Cena: Defeated CM Punk and Randy Orton in one night. Also better than Tyler Black, right New York ROH fans?
3) Kevin Steen: Great last match in the face role teaming with Generico against the Young Bucks at the ROH Final Battle 2009 show. Also best ROH heel turn since CM Punk at Death Before Dishonor III.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Eddie Kingston

THE Larry Csonka
1) AJ Styles
AJ Styles is your TNA champion, and continues to deliver as such. Picked up the win in the tag team match on Impact, and then delivered again on PPV, this time against Daniels. AJ Styles is on a roll right now, and I hope to see that continue.

2) Kurt Angle: Kurt Angle continues to be great. God bless the man, because he is falling apart, but somehow, month after month he continues to go out there and delivers top quality matches. Those who think Angle has regressed and “been shit” since leaving WWE obviously have not been watching Kurt Angle on PPV.
3) The Young Bucks: Scored two huge victories this weekend, one over ROH World Champion Austin Aries and Kenny King, and the second over STEENERICO. They also earned a TNA tryout, so the young tag team’s stock continues to rise.
4) Desmond Wolfe and Daniels
5) John Cena

Samuel Berman
1) Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe (tie)
Won the ROH World Tag Team Titles for an unprecedented sixth time.

2) Eddie Kingston: Defeated blood rival Chris Hero in a Fight Without Honor.
3) Nick & Matt Jackson: Two huge victories in ROH competition over the weekend.
4) AJ Styles
5) Kevin Steen

Ryan Byers
1) John Cena
After defeating CM Punk and Randy Orton in one night to win a tournament that also included the Undertaker, Cena earned the right to be called wrestler of the year in what is by far the biggest wrestling promotion on the face of the earth. How could it get any better than that?

2) Bret Hart: If people can vote for Hulk Hogan when he announced his return to wrestling, it makes sense to vote for Bret Hart this week given the fact that it has been confirmed that he has signed a new deal with WWE and will soon be returning as a television character. It has generated a significant amount of buzz and will mean nothing but good things for everybody’s favorite Canuck.
3) Shinjiro Ohtani & Akebono: This “odd couple” team won ZERO1’s first tag league tournament, beating the interpromotional pairing of Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki.
4) The Young Bucks
5) Naoki Tanizaki

Michael Bauer
1) Kevin Steen
Being there live, I have to give Steen the nod. Yes, his former team went 0-2, but Kevin gave us one of the best heel turns in the history of wrestling. I have never seen such emotion from wrestlers and the crowd just to turn it around and go heel that fast. Just incredible stuff.

2) Nick and Matt Jackson: The stock keeps rising for these two, with two huge victories this weekend, plus earning a second TNA tryout.
3) AJ Styles: Just another reason he is “The Phenomenal”.
4) The Briscoes
5) John Cena

Jeremy Thomas
1) AJ Styles
AJ Styles walking out of Final Resolution as World Champion was hardly a shocker, but sometimes you don’t need a major swerve to have a WOTW-worthy week. AJ had a simply phenomenal match with Daniels and successfully defended, meaning that his run as the face of the company rightly continues into 2010. Way to go, AJ.

2) Daniels: Daniels put on two great matches this week…one on Impact against Desmond Wolfe, the other at Final Resolution against AJ. This from a guy who, just a few months ago, was getting flattened on PPV by Matt Morgan. You’ve come a long way, man.
3) Kurt Angle & Tara: Angle beat Desmond Wolfe in Three Degrees of Pain, while Tara reclaimed the Knockouts Title that she probably should have already reclaimed by now. Good on them.
4) The Briscoes
5) Kevin Steen

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Kevin Steen – 10 Votes

Fifth Place…Daniels – 12 Votes

Fourth Place…Kurt Angle – 13 Votes

Third Place…John Cena – 15 Votes

Cena wins the Superstar of the Year by defeating CM Punk, then Randy Orton during a three-hour Raw.

Second Place…Matt & Nick Jackson – 17 Votes

The Young Bloods get a huge win by defeating Steen and Generico at ROH Final Battle.

Wrestler of the Week…AJ Styles – 29 Votes

The TNA World Champion has another match of the year candidate by facing off with Daniels, and walks out of Final Resolution with his title still around his waist…and as 411’s Wrestler of the Week!

Year-End Standings~!

Lots of movement in the charts this week as Kevin Steen makes his debut on the Year-End Rankings and the Young Bucks move way up the charts while lots of people shift around in the top 15. John Cena’s placement is enough to put him up at #9…ironically, tied with his long-time rival Randy Orton. Kurt Angle leaps back into the top 15 and Daniels moves ever closer to the the top list. The biggest news is the finish of AJ Styles though, as he moves into third place ahead of John Morrison and sits only ten points behind the #2 man Jeff Hardy. Can AJ catch Punk before WrestleMania?

Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!

1. CM Punk – 113 (SmackDown)

2. Jeff Hardy – 85 (US Independent)

3. AJ Styles – 75 (TNA)

3. John Morrison – 70 (SmackDown)

5. Rey Mysterio – 55 (SmackDown)
5. Chris Jericho – 55 (SmackDown)

7. Randy Orton – 53 (RAW)
7. John Cena – 53 (RAW)

9. Edge – 49 (SmackDown) {INJURED}

10. The Undertaker – 42 (SmackDown)

11. Kofi Kingston – 36 (Raw)
11. Sheamus – 36 (Raw)

13. Christian – 35 (ECW)

14. Samoa Joe – 34 (TNA)
14. Kurt Angle – 34 (TNA)

Davey Richards – 33 (ROH)
Eddie Edwards – 33 (ROH)

Ted DiBiase – 32 (RAW)
Desmond Wolfe – 32 (TNA)

Tyler Black – 31 (ROH)

Batista – 30 (SmackDown)
Naruki Doi – 30 (Dragon Gate)

Shawn Michaels – 28 (RAW)

JTG – 27 (SmackDown)
Brian Danielson – 27 (WWE)

Jerry Lynn – 24 (ROH)

Mitsuharu Misawa – 21 (NOAH) {DECEASED}
MsChif – 21 (SHIMMER)
Nick Jackson – 21 (US Independent)
Matt Jackson – 21 (US Independent)
Daniels – 21 (TNA)

Austin Aries – 19 (ROH)

Sting – 18 (TNA)
Go Shiozaki – 18 (NOAH)
Hulk Hogan – 18 (TNA)
Shinsuke Nakamura – 18 (NJPW)
Drew McIntyre – 18 (SmackDown)

Cody Rhodes – 16 (RAW)
Mark Henry – 16 (RAW)
The Miz – 16 (Raw)

Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
Montel Vontavious Porter – 15 (RAW)
Manabu Nakanishi – 15 (NOAH)
Togi Makabe – 15 (NOAH)
Hernandez – 15 (TNA)
Dolph Ziggler – 15 (SmackDown)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)
Takashia Sugiura – 15 (NOAH)
Triple H – 15 (Raw)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)

Pinky Sanchez – 12 (CHIKARA)
Minoru Suzuki – 12 (All Japan)
Brother Devon – 12 (TNA)
Brother Ray – 12 (TNA)
The Amazing Red – 12 (TNA)

Tommy Dreamer – 12 (ECW)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 12 (New Japan)
Shad – 12 (SmackDown)
Zach Ryder – 12 (ECW)
Shingo Takagi – 12 (Dragon Gate)
YAMATO – 12 (Dragon’s Gate)
BxB Hulk – 12 (Dragon’s Gate)
Keiji Mutoh – 12 (AJPW)
Masakatsu Funaki – 12 (AJPW)
Kenny Omega – 12 (US Independent)

Soldier Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)
Fire Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)

Delirious – 9 (ROH)
Jack Swagger – 9 (RAW)
Masato Tanaka – 9 (ZERO1)
Homicide – 9 (TNA)

Ryouji Sai – 9 (ZERO1)
Player Dos – 9 (CHIKARA)
Mistico – 9 (CMLL)
The Big Show – 9 (RAW)
Bobby Lashley – 9 (TNA)
Roderick Strong – 9 (ROH)

Matt Hardy – 6 (SmackDown)
Chris Hero – 6 (US Independent)
Satoshi Kojima – 6 (AJPW)
Yoshinobu Kanemura – 6 (NOAH)
Giant Bernard – 6 (NJPW)
Karl Anderson – 6 (NJPW)

Dr. Wagner Jr. – 4 (AAA)

Evan Bourne – 3 (Raw)
Ken Anderson – 3 (US Independent)
Tara – 3 (TNA)
Booker T – 3 (TNA)
Alex Shelley – 3 (TNA)
Chris Sabin – 3 (TNA)
Scott Steiner – 3 (TNA)
Tajiri – 3 (HUSTLE)
Tyson Kidd – 3 (SmackDown)
Hamada – 3 (TNA)
Eric Young – 3 (TNA)
Eric Escobar – 3 (SmackDown)
Doug Williams – 3 (TNA)
Brutus Magnus – 3 (TNA)
Yujiro Takahashi – 3 (CMLL)
Mickie James – 3 (SmackDown)

Ricky Steamboat– 2 (WWE)

Portia Perez – 1 (SHIMMER)
Nicole Mathews – 1 (SHIMMER)
Ryo Saito – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Genki Horiguchi – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Michelle McCool – 1 (SmackDown)
Atsushi Aoki – 1 (NOAH)
Kota Ibushi – 1 (NOAH)
Seth Green – 1 (US Independent)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 1 (NOAH)
Kotaro Suzuki – 1 (NOAH)
Vince McMahon – 1 (WWE)
Brian Kendrick – 1 (US Independent)
Tiger Mask IV- 1 (NJPW)
Shelton Benjamin – 1 (ECW)
Kevin Steen – 1 (ROH)