411s Wrestler of the Week 12.28.09: Week 39
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.28.2009
Naomichi Marufuji wins the Super-J Cup, Rey Mysterio challenges the Undertaker, the Open the Twin Gate Titles change hands 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 39, 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) Naomichi Marufuji
This past week, New Japan Pro Wrestling revived the Super J Cup, a single elimination tournament for junior heavyweights, which produced two LEGENDARY events in 1994 and 1995 before delivering two slightly less noteworthy installments in 2000 and 2004. At least on paper, the 2009 version of the J Cup has restored the tournament to its former glory, with an insanely talented lineup featuring sixteen different wrestlers from eight different Japanese promotions. The last man left standing at the end of two nights of professional wrestling was Pro Wrestling NOAH's Naomichi Marufuji, who, by virtue of his tournament win, has earned the opportunity to face Tiger Mask IV for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. This also makes Marufuji the second repeat winner of the J Cup, as he also won the event in 2004.
2) Rey Misterio, Jr.: This was a pretty quiet week in US pro wrestling given the holidays and given a very lousy Monday Night Raw, but the brightest star in America this week was Rey Misterio. Rey Rey had a surprisingly strong match against the Undertaker, who he has not wrestled often in his WWE tenure, and he was also the man left standing tall at the end of a free for all involving himself, 'Taker, and Dave Batista. I figured that Misterio would be headed down to the midcard once he was destroyed in his Survivor Series match with Big Dave, but now it looks like he and his rival will be headed into a three-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble. I'm rooting for the little guy!
3) Takashi Sugiura: Two Japanese media outlets, Nikkon Sports and Weekly Pro Wrestling, gave out their year-end wrestling awards this year. Reigning GHC Champion Takashi Sugiura cleaned up more than anybody else, getting the Fighting Spirit Award from Nikkon, the NOAH MVP award from Weekly Pro, and the NOAH Match of the Year award from Weekly Pro for his December 6 match against Go Shiozaki.
4) D-Generation X
5) Prince Fergal Devitt
THE Larry Csonka
1) Naomichi Marufuji
Naomichi Marufuji successfully won the NJPW Super J Cup tournament, outlasting 15 other wrestlers. Marufuji now has earned an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title shot on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, when he faces Tiger Mask IV.
2) CIMA and Gamma: CIMA and Gamma defeated Shingo Takagi & YAMATO on Dragon Gate PPV to win the Open the Twin Gate Titles.
3) Yoshi Tatsu: Continues to look good and picked up a win over Jack Swagger on ECW.
4) DX (HHH and HBK)
5) Jack Swagger
Samuel Berman
1) Naomichi Marufuji
Won NJPW's Super J Cup.
2) Prince Devitt: Super J Cup finalist.
3) CIMA & Gamma: Won the Open the Twin Gate Championships.
4) Rey Mysterio
5) Takashi Sugiura
Michael Bauer
1) Naomichi Marufuji
The Super J Cup hasn't been seen in some time, but in terms of premier tournaments, it was once THE premier tournament in Japan for juniors. The 1994 tournament is still considered one of the greatest ever. Marufuji was the winner for 2009's rendition and now goes on to challenge for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
2) Jack Swagger: When you are involved in the two best matches of the week, even in losing, you deserve credit.
3) Yoshi Tatsu: A huge victory over Jack Swagger this week to advance in the ECW Homecoming.
4) CIMA & Gamma
5) Rey Mysterio
Jasper Gerretsen
1) Naomichi Marafuji
The Super J cup returned after a few years' absence with a strong field, and Marafuji emerged to establish himself as the most dominant of them all.
2) Rey Mysterio: Had a strong showing against The Undertaker on SmackDown.
3) CIMA and Gamma: Became Open the Twin Gate champions.
4) Jack Swagger
5) DX
Chad Nevett
1) Naomichi Marafuji
Won the Super J Cup, which, after not being contested for several years, is pretty big.
2) CIMA and Gamma: Became the new Dragon Gate Open the Twin Gate champions.
3) Yoshi Tatsu: Defeated former ECW champion Jack Swagger to advance in the homecoming tournament to get a shot at the title
4) Jack Swagger
5) Rey Mysterio
Jeremy Thomas
1) Naomichi Marufuji
Marufuji won the Super-J Cup this week, which is a sentimental favorite tournament of mine as it was the first real non-American wrestling I ever watched. It's a huge win and is likely mean bigger and better things for Marufuji, the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title shot not least among those.
2) The Hart Dynasty: While DX may have come out victorious on Friday Night, it was the stock of Tyson Kidd and DH Smith that rose. Outside of a brief moment where DH opened his mouth and the heat was sucked out of the arena, the duo looked good; they hit the Hart Attack on Chris Jericho and then hung with D-X for a while in the main event of SmackDown before they lost. This is a classic example of a push by looking good in defeat and hopefully will mean big things for the duo.
3) Rey Mysterio: Rey Rey battled the Dead Man on SmackDown for the World Heavyweight Title and came out looking pretty damn good, even standing tall after the three-way brawl between himself, Taker and 'Tista. It's not like a three-way match between them is new--that's the match in which Big Dave turned heel after all--but it's quite a statement for Rey Rey that he's still in the main event scene following his quick-fix surgery.
4) Yoshi Tatsu
5) Shawn Michaels & 'H (tie)
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention Shawn Michaels & Triple H - 6 Votes
Fifth Place Jack Swagger - 9 Votes
Fourth Place Yoshi Tatsu - 11 Votes
Third Place Rey Mysterio - 15 Votes
Rey Rey stands tall after a match and confrontation with the Undertaker and Batista on SmackDown.
Second Place CIMA and Gamma - 16 Votes
CIMA and Gamma win the Open the Twin Gate Titles in Dragon's Gate.
Wrestler of the Week Naomichi Marufuji - 35 Votes
Marufuji wins the return of the Super J-Cup, earning the right to challenge for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, and in doing so becomes our last Wrestler of the Week for 2009!
Year-End Standings~!
In a slow holiday week, the big movement is from Marufuji, Gamma, CIMA and Yoshi Tatsu, all of whom make their debuts on the list. Rey Mysterio moves up into sole possession of fifth place while Jack Swagger, Shawn Michaels and Triple H all inch their way upwards.
Soldier Ant - 10 (CHIKARA) Fire Ant - 10 (CHIKARA) Delirious - 9 (ROH)
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)
Yoshinobu Kanemura - 7 (NOAH)
Matt Hardy 6 (SmackDown) Chris Hero - 6 (US Independent) Satoshi Kojima - 6 (AJPW) Giant Bernard - 6 (NJPW) Karl Anderson - 6 (NJPW) Yoshi Tatsu 6 (ECW)
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)
Posted By: Jamal (Registered) on December 28, 2009 at 12:42 PM
VINTAGE BERMAN!
Posted By: Cole Slaw (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Uh oh someone from another country and that's not signed to WWE came in first.This wont end well.
Posted By: Guest#4690 (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:14 PM
Stop voting for all these no-name losers. Nobody gives a damn about them.
Randy Orton buying a soda is probbaly more important than 30-minutes matches in a gym in front of 13 people.
Posted By: WOTW my ass (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:19 PM
how the hell did Flair get wrestler of the year in 05?
Posted By: Guest#0926 (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:30 PM
Yoshi got screwed. He's the only one of these Japs I've heard of, ergo, he's the best one.
And while you lot were attempting to look smart to the business praising this Super Gay Cup (ha, get it? I write all of my material) did none of you pretentious dolts notice that Kane beat Mike Knox on Superstars? Cleanly no less! But yeah, enjoy your 15 seconds of fame you pale bingo-hall nobody!
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:45 PM
Wow...usually I defend this crap, but Swagger should have gotten more votes because he had the best match of his career against Cena. I'm not saying he should had been #1, but he should had been at least #2 or #3. Rey Mysterio had a seven minute match with Taker that wasn't worth writing home about and the result was predictable with Batista interferring. Swagger went toe to toe with Cena in a TV-quality match for 12-13 minutes and Cena didn't win in a 30 second comeback like he usually does.
Swagger had a better week than Mysterio...period.
Posted By: The IWC (Registered) on December 28, 2009 at 01:53 PM
^ Shit, so *you're* the douchey IWC the douchey IWC keep talking about!
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 02:17 PM
Stop voting for all these no-name losers. Nobody gives a damn about them.
Randy Orton buying a soda is probbaly more important than 30-minutes matches in a gym in front of 13 people.
Posted By: WOTW my ass (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:19 PM
......shut up, you ignorant little piece of shit.
Just because someone from the US that you don't know took first and second, doesn't give you the right to berate them. I'll admit that I do not know who those guys are, but Byers and Bauer basically gave us a mini-history lesson about the tournament, so I can at least give my respect to Naomichi Marufuji for winning.
The fact that you cut them down without a second thought even after what the columnists said shows just how much of an asshole you really are.
Congrats to everyone who earned their spots in the WOTW voting this week.
Posted By: Pikamitsu (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Great someone who we will never hear about again won wrestler of the week.
Two lists: one for U.S. televised promotions, the second for indies and foreign.
Posted By: Save.Us_Y2J (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 03:16 PM
Chungles is exactly the kind of person who makes being a wrestling fan in 2009 so hard. I never tell anyone that I'm a fan because I'd hate to be thought of as an ignorant, racist, homophobic, smart-ass, too-cool-for-school, ridiculous WWE mark such as that douchebag.
Posted By: MJ (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 05:24 PM
Stop voting for all these no-name losers. Nobody gives a damn about them.
Randy Orton buying a soda is probbaly more important than 30-minutes matches in a gym in front of 13 people.
Posted By: WOTW my ass (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 01:19 PM
Agreed. As already suggested a million times, make a 'WWE WOTW' and then an 'indy / foreign loser WOTW'.
Guarantee the only reason you (411) don't do this is you know you will lose all those 'hits'.
Posted By: Spot on!!!!! (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 06:08 PM
I remember coming on WOTW months ago and seeing tons of comments and some discussion below.
Now, barely 10 comments and nothing to talk abotu except how these no name japs win somehow.
Get it together guys, and vote for the real wrestlers of the week before this entire column is dead.
Posted By: 411 's Cred.... (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 06:11 PM
(skimmed through the whole article in about 10 seconds)
Posted By: Everyone (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 06:12 PM
MJ is exactly the kind of person that prevents satire ever becoming common to the American people.
He may also be a dead child-molester.
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 06:19 PM
@The IWC:That was not the best match of Swagger's career, hell, it wasn't even his best match against Cena, the draft show one was better, plus he had better matches against Christian, especially the one on ECW for the Title.
Posted By: guest #480092 (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 07:16 PM
^ Shit, so *you're* the douchey IWC the douchey IWC keep talking about!
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 02:17 PM
Yeah, had to register my name as some lame people decided to steal my name. You'll know that any post from "The IWC" as a guest is NOT the real deal.
Posted By: The IWC (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 07:29 PM
Nice to see ONE person understood why the SD tag title match happened...sure, DX gets votes for retaining, but why does only ONE vote go toward the Dynasty for being in easily their highest-profile match to date and hanging with the champs?
More votes should have gone to the Young Bucks for having their TNA tryout match. Yes, it's on this week's Impact, but the match wasn't taped, and they should get some credit for basically working their way into their highest-profile job.
At least one mention should have gone to K-ness for going heel in DG and basically turing from opening card fodder to main-event attraction (for the first time in years).
Posted By: B.W.G. (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Yay Marafuji! Best Jr Heavyweight in the world.
The Super-J cup has always delivered quality 100kg wrestling (and Gedo, but you can't have everything). Like Jeremy Thomas it was the first Japanese stuff I ever watched.
I wonder if the WWE might look at the tapes and think about bringing in Fergal Devitt to be a stooge for Ginger Hetfield?
Posted By: BlueMeanieUK (Guest) on December 28, 2009 at 09:22 PM
Marufuji wins the J cup again? that's kind of a shame that they wasted the victory on Marufuji who has won the tournament before (although it be not as prestigious). KENTA should have entered and won. Too bad there was no 1st round Marufuji/Ibushi
Posted By: Guest#9633 (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 12:43 AM
"Marufuji wins the J cup again? that's kind of a shame that they wasted the victory on Marufuji who has won the tournament before (although it be not as prestigious). KENTA should have entered and won. Too bad there was no 1st round Marufuji/Ibushi
Posted By: Guest#9633 (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 12:43 AM"
KENTA is injured at the moment. That's why he didn't participate this year.
Posted By: bluedragonx (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 11:11 AM
I've asked before and no one has ever answered.
Does anyone that votes on these (Byers, Csonka, Berman, Bauer, Gerretsen, Nevett and Thomas) have access to shows from IWGP, NJPW, Shimmer, Dragon Gate, ROH, AAA and whatever?
Here in Tulsa Oklahoma, we have WWE and TNA. I miss the 80s when we had Mid South/UWF, WCCW, NWA, AWA, WWF and wrestling on Univision. I hate that there are only two choices now.
How do you watch IWGP, NJPW, Shimmer, ROH and so forth? Do you just buy PPVs? Is something available online? Do one or more of the above air on TV in your area? Or do you just read results and go from there?
Posted By: Comment Board Poster (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 02:03 PM
If Japanese wrestling is so important, why do they not market it in the US?
Posted By: Ryan W. (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 05:02 PM
Fresh Japanese wrestling isn't that hard to find. I've already watched both nights of J-cup, for example. Who wants and searches - gets.
Posted By: verdu (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 06:31 PM
Japan doesnt market in the US because of idiots, who claim to be wrestling fans, place their US mainstream wrestlers on pedestals
ie: "Randy Orton buying a soda is probbaly more important than 30-minutes matches in a gym in front of 13 people."
Rather than watching a match, understanding the basic match psychology, and enjoying the finish...
esentially, they know, they cant sell in america, be cause the majority of viewers only care about spotfests.
Posted By: Affliction (Guest) on December 29, 2009 at 11:22 PM
No...really.
Where do you guys get your fix? Looking for a hookup here.
Posted By: Comment Board Poster (Guest) on December 30, 2009 at 02:51 PM
If CM Punk ends up winning Wrestler of the Year it will prove beyond a doubt how meaningless this whole thing really is. I'm a big fan of Punk, but a guy who spends 2 months of the year on top but then the other 10 months of the year jobbing out in the mid-card can NOT be called the "Wrestler Of The YEAR" - it's ridiculous.
Although, a quick glance at the current year-end standings should tell you everything about how worthless most of these voters and their picks are. So many ridiculous placings in there, I can't even begin to start naming them. 411Mania really has gone down-hill in the last year or two - letting in nobodies like Hubbard to write and participate was a new low.
Posted By: Truth (Guest) on December 30, 2009 at 07:40 PM
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