wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week 02.08.10: Week 45

February 8, 2010 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas

Welcome to Week 45, 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) Rey Mysterio
This was a pretty quiet week in wrestling as WWE has kind of cooled down after the Rumble and simply crowned a bunch of contenders for the Elimination Chamber. While Orton deserves credit for countering the knip-up, Mysterio’s win was the most impressive from my viewpoint, as he and Ziggler had a good match. After Rey’s stellar performance last year, I’m glad to see him back in the Chamber.

2) Ryoto Hama: The young star got the biggest win of his career in All Japan this week, defeating Keiji Mutoh in a shocking upset.
3) Evan Bourne: Had the best match on television this week getting a win over Carlito. Not much in the grand scheme of things but Bourne is a sentimental favorite of mine and I want to give him credit.
4) Randy Orton & Chris Jericho (TIE)
5) TARU

Ryan Byers
1) Ryota Hama
It’s been clear for a little while now that AJPW boss Keiji Mutoh sees a fair amount in young Ryota Hama, as he’s been positioned very well for somebody who has been in the professional wrestling business for less than two years. However, this past week, we got a very strong indication of just how highly Mutoh thinks of Hama, as the former sumo pinned the legendary wrestler clean in the middle of the ring in a tag team match. This may well put Hama into contention for the AJPW Triple Crown, which would be a heck of an entertaining match.

2) TARU: Speaking of upset pinfalls, the leader of the Voodoo Murderers, TARU, pinned AJPW Triple Crown holder Satoshi Kojima to end a four-on-four elimination match between VM and Kojima’s F4 stable. The result is not just that TARU beat the man who holds one of the most prestigious titles in wrestling history but also that, per a pre-match stipulation, F4 must disband.
3) NO LIMIT: The reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions had a few wins this week, but the one that surprised me the most came this past Sunday, when they beat the duo of Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa. Hirasawa gets beaten like a drum, but I was still a bit surprised that the young champions would be going over a team that includes New Japan legend Nagata this quickly after returning from their learning excursion.
4) Isami Kodaka
5) Evan Bourne

Michael Bauer
1) Randy Orton
Of all the Chamber qualifiers this week, the match that stood out to me was Randy Orton beating Shawn Michaels. I mean, who has ever countered the kip up?

2) Rey Mysterio: Best qualifier match on Smackdown this week.
3) CM Punk: Best celebration ever!
4) Ryota Hama
5) Chris Jericho

ARI
1) Edge
He didn’t have to wrestle this week to be the center of attention in WWE on both Raw and Smackdown. Winning the Royal Rumble put a target on his back–he fended off an aggressive attack from Sheamus on Raw and went promo for promo with Chris Jericho on Smackdown while also letting The Undertaker know he wasn’t intimidated by him and would be ready to fight him if he chose. Edge is back and in a big way.

2) Bret Hart / Vince McMahon: These two hit it out of the park with their face off at the end of Raw. They both spoke with a genuine believability, which made it that much easier to become engrossed in their war of words (and the violence that followed).
3) The Pope D’angelo Dinero: A huge win against the TNA World Champion AJ Styles in a non-title match this past week on iMPACT. Pope is being thrown into the mix in the upper card and so far, so good.
4) Mick Foley
5) Rey Mysterio

The Cleric Larry Csonka
1) The Pope D’angelo Dinero
Besides being awesome just about every week, The Pope D’angelo Dinero stepped up his game last week on Impact with a non-title victory over TNA World Champion AJ Styles. The Pope is getting a chance to shine in TNA, and as long as the Hogan/Bischoff regime doesn’t sour on him, the sky is the limit.

2) Samoa Joe: On Impact, Samoa Joe cut what I like to call a “Money Promo”. Joe was awesome here, cutting likely his best TNA promo, and the only real knock I have against it is that I want to see Joe vs. Flair because he was so great here.
3) Bret Hart and Vince McMahon: These guys are clicking and letting it all go, “shooting” if you will, and the realism is what is going to make this program thrive as we are on the Road to WrestleMania.
4) Edge
5) TARU

Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Bret Hart and Vince McMahon
-Awesome promo work between these two that had the live crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Even I went crazy at him when Bret finally started throwing blows and connecting with Vince. Sure it was just one promo for an angle that is still building, but in a slow week nothing compared to this for me.

2) The Pope: A big win on Impact over the TNA World Champion in a non-title match. The new regime seem to be high on the Pope and it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.
3) CM Punk: First he got his team in a match for the Unified Tag Titles. The he gave a good promo on SmackDown leading to his match with Dave, and then gave us one of the greatest celebrations you will ever see for a guy who was handed a victory.
4) Randy Orton
5) Samoa Joe

Chad Nevett
1) “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero
Defeated TNA champ AJ Styles in a non-title match, but still made quite the impression. Definitely the biggest win the Pope has had in TNA thus far and he won it with style by putting on a good show.

2) Randy Orton: Beat Shawn Michaels in, probably, the most competitive of the various Elimination Chamber qualifying matches.
3) Chris Jericho: Beat Matt Hardy to gain an Elimination Chamber match spot and did his usual great work on the mic with Edge and CM Punk.
4) Samoa Joe
5) Ryota Hama

Samuel Berman
1) Ryota Hama
Defeated legend Keiji Mutoh in tag team action.

2) TARU: Pinned Triple Crown Champion Satoshi Kojima in an elimination match to force the disbanding of the F4 stable.
3) D’Angelo Dinero: Bested champion AJ Styles in a non-title contest.
4) CM Punk
5) Yujiro & Naito

Jeremy Thomas
1) Edge
After a great showing last week in the Royal Rumble, the key thing for Edge to do was follow up strongly. He did that exactly with a great promo on Raw and then more of the same on SmackDown to establish him firmly back in the thick of things. I loved his promo work and I’m interested to see where he goes from here.

2) D’Angelo Dinero: The Pope beat AJ Styles in a non-title match, easily the biggest win of his career. TNA has big plans for the former Mr. Burke as evident from this week.
3) Bret Hart & Vince McMahon: Bret and Vince just clicked perfectly in their segment on Raw and continued a strong build toward whatever they’re going to end up doing, and got Cena and Big Dave into the mix as well.
4) Samoa Joe
5) Rey Mysterio

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Rey Mysterio – 11 Votes

Fifth Place…Edge – 12 Votes

Fourth Place…Randy Orton – 13 Votes

Third Place…Vince McMahon & Bret Hart – 15 Votes

The Boss and the Hitman have a strong promo segment on Raw to keep their feud building toward an inevitable clash.

Second Place…Ryoto Hama – 17 Votes

Hama scores what is almost the upset of the week by pinning the legendary Keiji Mutoh in a tag team match.

Wrestler of the Week…D’ANgelo Dinero – 24 Votes

In THE upset of the week, the Pope beats AJ Styles in a non-title match and becomes our Wrestler of the Week!

Year-End Standings~!

No movement among the two battling for first place as Punk and Styles hold steady, but we get some movement below them. Rey Mysterio moves up into sole possession of third place while Randy Orton is now in seventh place. Edge is keeping his distance from the Legend Killer however with more points this week. Hama and Dinero make their debuts on the list as well. We only have seven weeks to go; can Styles catch up with Punk, or we have a Straight Edge winner by WrestleMania?

Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!

1. CM Punk – 134 (SmackDown)

2. AJ Styles – 114 (TNA)

3. Rey Mysterio – 86 (SmackDown)

4. Jeff Hardy – 85 (TNA)

5. John Morrison – 70 (SmackDown)

6. Edge – 67 (SmackDown)

7. Randy Orton – 59 (RAW)

8. Chris Jericho – 55 (SmackDown)

9. John Cena – 53 (RAW)

10. Kurt Angle – 46 (TNA)

11. The Undertaker – 42 (SmackDown)
11. Naruki Doi – 42 (Dragon Gate)

13. Shawn Michaels – 38 (RAW)

14. Kofi Kingston – 37 (Raw)

15. Sheamus – 36 (Raw)
15. Davey Richards – 36 (ROH)

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)

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)
Bret Hart – 18 (RAW)

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)
D’Angelo Dinero – 15 (TNA)

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)
Ryoto Hama – 12 (AJPW)

Soldier Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)
Fire Ant – 10 (CHIKARA)
Vince McMahon – 10 (WWE)

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)
Mickie James – 9 (SmackDown)

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)
Doug Williams – 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)
Brutus Magnus – 3 (TNA)
Yujiro Takahashi – 3 (CMLL)
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)
Brian Kendrick – 1 (US Independent)
Tiger Mask IV- 1 (NJPW)
Shelton Benjamin – 1 (ECW)
Kevin Steen – 1 (ROH)
Awesome Kong – 1 (TNA)