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411’s Wrestler of the Week 01.25.10: Week 43
Welcome to Week 43, 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~!
ARI
1) BxB Hulk
Retained the Dragon Gate USA Open the Freedom Gate title against Dragon Kid in the main even of DGUSA’s fourth PPV taping, held this weekend in Chicago.
2) Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino: Won the three-team elimination match at the DGUSA show over Young Bucks (Generation Me) and the heel tandem of SHINGO and YAMATO–best match of the night according to numerous sources I trust and that’s good enough for me to place it second, below the Hulk title retention.
3) Kofi Kingston: Somewhat rehabbed his recent loses and de-push by winning a higher profile tag team match on Raw pairing up with John Cena against Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes.
4) AJ Styles
5) CM Punk
Chad Nevett
1) BxB Hulk
Retained the Open the Freedom Gate Championship at Dragon Gate USA’s PPV taping on Saturday against Dragon Kid. I can’t wait to see this match when the PPV is released on DVD since both Hulk and Dragon Kid are fantastic in-ring performers.
2) Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino: This pair won a three-way elimination match at the Dragon Gate USA taping against the Young Bucks/Generation Me and Shingo & Yamato, and, as Ari said, apparently put on the best match of the night (which is always saying something with Dragon Gate USA).
3) Davey Richards: Won the FIP World Championship on Saturday night against Masaki Mochizuki.
4) AJ Styles
5) John Morrison / Chris Jericho (tie)
Samuel Berman
1) BxB Hulk
A successful defense of the Open the Freedom Gate Championship.
2) Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino: Win a crucial three-way elimination tag match.
3) Davey Richards: Defeats Masaaki Mochizuki to regain the FIP World Heavyweight Title.
4) Chris Jericho
5) CM Punk
The Cleric Larry Csonka
1) BxB Hulk
BxB Hulk successfully defended the Open The Freedom Gate Title against Dragon Kid at the recent Dragon Gate USA PPV tapings. Hulk is the man right now for the company, and deserves some attention for defending his title.
2) AJ Styles: The heel turn of AJ Styles is not something that everyone likes, but I feel that this week he did a most excellent job both in the ring, and also trying to get into his new gimmick. The rehashed poor man’s Montreal sucked, but Styles has been delivering week in and week out and has been one of the main highlights on Impact. It’s about time that AJ got featured like this.
3) CM Punk: CM Punk’s dirty hippy Jesus gimmick has been money as of late, and this week’s performance with “Serena” was excellent. The guy is one of the main reasons for me to watch Smackdown these days.
4) Davey Richards
5) Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino
Ryan Byers
1) CM Punk & Serena Deeb
Maybe I’m just not watching enough Smackdown for my own good, but I thought that Punk and Deeb were responsible for the most entertaining WWE segments of the young new year. In a week without that many major accomplishments being made, I’ll often default to who delivered the most entertaining segment of the week, and, in this case, the Straight Edgers get my vote.
2) Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano: Takayama and Sano are your winners of the NOAH Global Tag League tournament, defeating a team in the finals which included reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Sugiura.
3) BxB Hulk – I’m normally not a big fan of voting for title retention for title wins, especially for the first defense of a title reign, which is almost always a retention. However, it’s been a pretty slow week, so we’ll give the nod to Hulk here.
4) Minoru Suzuki
5) Shawn Michaels
Jeremy Thomas
1) Serena Deeb
In a pretty slow week overall, I’m giving Serena the nod for getting her call up to the dance. Serena did a great job in her segment with CM Punk and Luke Gallows on SmackDown, and sacrificed her hair in order to get on Friday Nights. I’m excited to see what the former SHIMMER star can bring to the Divas and SmackDown just pulled even further ahead of Raw in terms of their Women’s Division.
2) A.J. Styles: His heel turn is certainly a new direction for the Phenomenal One, and I don’t know if I like it yet. However, he was part of the TV match of the week (Olrando Screwjob moment aside) and defeated Kurt Angle once again to stay on top of TNA. Will it last? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
3) Angelina Love: Yes, I am giving the ladies some love this week. It’s been a slow week, what can I say? Anyway, Love made her in-ring redebut with TNA, handily defeating Madison Rayne. It wasn’t the greatest match, but it was a very solid way to bring her back and put her over strongly.
4) CM Punk/Kofi Kingston
5) BxB Hulk
THE WINNERS~!
Punk continues to add to his Straight Edge Society with a great segment on SmackDown, while AJ Styles’s heel turn is in full effect amidst a good match with Kurt Angle–albeit with an iffy ending.
Doi and Yoshino make a great showing at the DG-USA PPV Taping, beating the Young Bucks and Shingo & Yamato.
The Other Hulk retains his title at the DG-USA tapings, beating Dragon Kid and further solidifying his position as The Man of Dragon Gate America.
Year-End Standings~!
CM Punk manages to keep his ground against AJ Styles as both men gain six points to stay atop the charts; meanwhile Naruki Doi and Davey Richards enter the top 15 and Kofi moves into sole possession of twelfth place. BxB Hulk jumps up to be within Top 15 striking distance, and Yoshino and Deeb make their debuts on the list. There’s less than ten weeks to go, and it’s a close race at the top still! Who will take home the top prize?
Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!
1. CM Punk – 122 (SmackDown)
2. AJ Styles – 114 (TNA)
3. Jeff Hardy – 85 (TNA)
4. Rey Mysterio – 85 (SmackDown)
5. John Morrison – 70 (SmackDown)
6. Chris Jericho – 55 (SmackDown)
7. Randy Orton – 53 (RAW)
7. John Cena – 53 (RAW)
9. Edge – 49 (SmackDown) {INJURED}
10. Kurt Angle – 46 (TNA)
11. The Undertaker – 42 (SmackDown)
11. Naruki Doi – 42 (Dragon Gate)
12. Kofi Kingston – 37 (Raw)
13. Sheamus – 36 (Raw)
13. Davey Richards – 36 (ROH)
15. Christian – 35 (ECW)
Samoa Joe – 34 (TNA)
Eddie Edwards – 33 (ROH)
Ted DiBiase – 32 (RAW)
Desmond Wolfe – 32 (TNA)
Tyler Black – 31 (ROH)
Batista – 30 (SmackDown)
Shawn Michaels – 29 (RAW)
JTG – 27 (SmackDown)
Brian Danielson – 27 (WWE)
Keiji Mutoh – 27 (AJPW)
Masakatsu Funaki – 27 (AJPW)
BxB Hulk – 27 (Dragon’s Gate)
Jerry Lynn – 24 (ROH)
MsChif – 21 (SHIMMER)
Nick Jackson – 21 (US Independent)
Matt Jackson – 21 (US Independent)
Daniels – 21 (TNA)
Hulk Hogan – 21 (TNA)
Naomichi Marufuji – 21 (NOAH)
Austin Aries – 19 (ROH)
Sting – 18 (TNA)
Go Shiozaki – 18 (NOAH)
Shinsuke Nakamura – 18 (NJPW)
Drew McIntyre – 18 (SmackDown)
Tommy Dreamer – 18 (US Independent)
Cody Rhodes – 16 (RAW)
Mark Henry – 16 (RAW)
The Miz – 16 (Raw)
Triple H – 16 (Raw)
Hernandez – 16 (TNA)
Mick Foley – 15 (TNA)
Montel Vontavious Porter – 15 (RAW)
Manabu Nakanishi – 15 (NOAH)
Togi Makabe – 15 (NOAH)
Dolph Ziggler – 15 (SmackDown)
Bison Smith – 15 (NOAH)
Takashia Sugiura – 15 (NOAH)
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)
Masato Yoshino – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 12 (New Japan)
Shad – 12 (SmackDown)
Zach Ryder – 12 (ECW)
Shingo Takagi – 12 (Dragon Gate)
YAMATO – 12 (Dragon’s Gate)
Kenny Omega – 12 (US Independent)
CIMA – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Gamma – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Jack Swagger – 12 (RAW)
Massive Q – 12 (AWF)
Soldier Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)
Fire Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)
Delirious – 9 (ROH)
Masato Tanaka – 9 (ZERO1)
Homicide – 9 (TNA)
ODB – 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)
Bret Hart – 9 (RAW)
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)
Serena – 6 (SmackDown)
Hamada – 5 (TNA)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Awesome Kong – 1 (TNA)
WWE, Raw, ECW and SmackDown Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLUE.
TNA Contracted Wrestlers are represented in GREEN.
ROH Contracted Wrestlers are represented in RED.
US Independent Wrestlers are represented in MAROON.
Japanese Contracted Wrestlers are represented in BLACK.
Mexican Contracted Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.
Australian Contracted Wrestlers are represented in INDIGO.
**PREVIOUS WINNERS**  Year One Winner: Ric Flair
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If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!
