411s Wrestler of the Week 01.04.10: Week 40
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 01.04.2010
The AJPW World Tag Team Titles change hands, Tommy Dreamer gives us one last match, ODB wins the Knockouts Number One Contender Tournament 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 40, 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) Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki
This week was perhaps even more dead in the United States than Christmas week was, so, once again, I wind up relying heavily on Japan. This week, the super-team of Keiji Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki won the All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Titles. This comes hot on the heels of Mutoh and Funaki winning the promotion's prestigious Real World Tag League tournament. These two things taken together set up the Mutoh/Funaki team to be a major focus of AJPW for 2010, perhaps feuding with and ultimately putting over a younger duo.
2) Jun Kasai: Many Japanese promotions celebrate the New Year by holding battles royale. This year, none of those matches was bigger than the one held on a show jointly promoted by the indy groups Big Japan Wrestling, DDT, and Kaientai Dojo. It featured ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT entrants and lasted over EIGHT-FIVE MINUTES. At the end of the day, deathmatch king Jun Kasai stood tall as the victor.
3) Kaz Hayashi: Former Michinoku Pro and WCW star Hayashi successfully retained his All Japan Pro Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Title for the seventh time, defeating Masanobu Fuchi. Very few champions in Japan these days are holding their titles for that number of defenses, and perhaps even scarier is the fact that it doesn't look like there is anybody who could take the belt off of Kaz anytime soon.
4) Munenori Sawa & GENTARO (tie)
5) Emi Sakura
ARI
1) Rey Mysterio
I hope fans are taking note of the run Rey is having these past few weeks. He has been featured well on Smackdown, not only pinning Batista, but going toe-to-toe with Undertaker and coming out the winner of the three way brawl he, Batista and Taker had on the show last week. As for this week, not only did he have a really fun match against Chris Jericho (those two continue to have that magic when they are opponents) but he also went on to win the Beat the Clock challenge by playing a very effective mind game on Batista. Rey is proving that sometimes the little guy can prevail against the odds.
2) ODB: Won the TNA Knockouts Tournament on New Years Eve and earned a title match for the January 4th Monday Night iMPACT!
3) Tommy Dreamer: He didn't win his last WWE match against Zack Ryder, but he did give a hell of a last effort PLUS had one of the classier farewells in recent wrestling history. Dreamer was a favorite of mine in the original ECW and while he didn't achieve many great heights in his WWE run, he certainly made his last appearance there a memorable and touching moment.
4) CM Punk
5) Chris Jericho
Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Tommy Dreamer
-I'll give to nod to Dreamer because of his emotional send off on ECW. Tommy is the heart of soul of ECW, and it was a great send off he was given by the WWE. That doesn't happen to everyone, and I think even if Tommy heads to TNA he won't burn any bridges. It's only fitting that Tommy went out putting someone over because that's what he always done. Thanks for giving us fans everything you had Tommy.
2) Rey Mysterio: Won the Beat the Clock challenge and seems like a Rumble Match with Taker is coming. I really hope they keep Batista out of this match because seeing Taker/Rey on PPV is actually pretty intriguing.
3) Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki: I normally don't go crazy with wrestling outside the States, but this was kind of a slow week. Winning titles on any continent is always a plus.
4) ODB
5) Vince McMahon/Shawn Michaels
Chad Nevett
1) ODB
Beat Traci, Awesome Kong, and Hamada in one night to become the new number one contender for the TNA Knockouts Championship. That's a pretty impressive line-up of women that ODB went through.
2) Rey Mysterio: Won a rather good match against Chris Jericho and screwed over Batista to win the Beat the Clock challenge and earn another title shot against the Undertaker. Granted, that shot isn't guaranteed anymore, but, still, quite the accomplishment.
3) Hamada: Worked her ass off and nearly won the Knockouts tournament, but came up short.
4) Chris Jericho
5) Tommy Dreamer
THE Larry Csonka
1) Keiji Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki
Earlier this year, Mutoh and Funaki won the Real World Tag League tournament and have now followed it up by defeating Taiyo Kea and Minoru Suzuki to win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles. Things in the US, both mainstream and independent were very quiet, so for me, there was no competition for the top spot.
2) ODB: ODB defeated Traci Brooks, Awesome Kong and Hamada to claim the #1 contender's spot. She will challenge tonight on Impact for the Knockouts Title.
3) Hamada: Hamada was the highlight of the Knockouts Tournament on Impact last week. She had a fine match with Madison Rayne, a very good match with Roxxi and then delivered again in the main event against ODB. The woman is awesome, and I hope that she gets more match time, because she always delivers.
4) Rey Mysterio
5) Tommy Dreamer
Samuel Berman
1) Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki
Won the AJPW World Tag Team Titles as a followup to their Real World Tag League victory.
2) Kaz Hayashi: Another successful defense of the AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title.
3) Rey Mysterio: The new top contender to The Undertaker's title.
4) Tommy Dreamer
5) ODB
Michael Bauer
1) Tommy Dreamer
It was a pretty quiet week both stateside and overseas, so I give the nod to Tommy Dreamer with the send off he got on ECW. Dreamer may have lost, but his loyalty to wrestling profession was well rewarded. Thank you Tommy!
2) Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki: No team is hotter in Japan right now, as they win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles.
3) Rey Mysterio: I hate the controversy bull around this, but for now, he is #1 contender to the Dead Man.
4) ODB
5) Jun Kasai
Jeremy Thomas
1) Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki
Mutoh and Funaki win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles, proving that they are truly on a roll. I'm always happy to see Mutoh win titles, so good on them.
2) Jun Kasai: Dude, if you survive 108 other people in a single battle royale, you place here. End of story.
3) ODB & Tommy Dreamer (tie): ODB wins a chance at regaining her Knockouts Title by winning the big New Year's Eve Impact Tournament, while Tommy Dreamer ends his WWE run with class and style.
4) Hamada
5) Rey Mysterio
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention Hamada - 8 Votes
Fifth Place Jun Kasai - 9 Votes
Fourth Place Tommy Dreamer - 20 Votes
Third Place ODB - 21 Votes
A win in the New Year's Eve Knockouts Tournament gives ODB a show at regaining her Knockouts Title.
Second Place Rey Mysterio - 22 Votes
Rey Rey is on a roll over the past few weeks, and continues it this week by winning the Beat the Clock challenge.
Wrestler of the Week Keiji Mutoh & Masakatsu Funaki - 27 Votes
Mutoh and Funaki win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles and, with the biggest title change of the week, become this week's Wrestlers of the Week!
Year-End Standings~!
Jun Kasai and ODB make their debut on the year-end standings this week, while Hamada moves up a point, Tommy Dreamer leaps up to eighteen points and Mutoh and Funaki jump up to be just a bit outside the top fifteen. The big story though is Rey Mysterio, who has jumped over John Morrison and A.J. Styles to end up in the number three spot, though he's still a good ways behind CM Punk. Things are tightening up toward the top, but will it be enough?
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) Hamada 4 (TNA)
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) Eric Young 3 (TNA) Eric Escobar 3 (SmackDown) Doug Williams 3 (TNA) Brutus Magnus 3 (TNA) Yujiro Takahashi - 3 (CMLL) Mickie James 3 (SmackDown) Jun Kasai - 3 (Big Japan)
