411s Wrestler of the Week 03.08.10: Week 49
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 03.08.2010
AJ Styles defends the TNA World Title against three men, Batista rocks the mic on Raw, Eddie Edwards is your first-ever ROH Television Champion 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 49, 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
THIS COLUMN CONTAINS ROH TV SPOILERS
The Voting~! Ryan Byers
1) Ryota Hama
In a weird way, Ryota Hama, the former sumo wrestler who made his pro wrestling debut in November 2008, is the hottest act in all of puroresu right now. He's pinned Keiji Mutoh, he's gotten the better of AJPW Triple Crown holder Satoshi Kojima, and he even has a shot at Kojima's championship coming up on March 21. This week, this march toward that title match continued, as Hama and his partner Akebono successfully defended their All Asia Tag Team Titles against the tandem of Osamu Nishimura and - you guessed it - Satoshi Kojima with Hama pinning Nishimura. The Hama/Kojima match seemed like a novelty at first, but, the more they build to it, the more it's starting to feel like a legitimate title bout.
2) Mike the Miz - Speaking of younger wrestlers who are getting victories that nobody should expect them to get, the Miz managed to score a pinfall over Shawn Michaels this past Monday night on Raw, although it was a bit tainted by Taker-ference. For the last couple of months, this guy has been one of the most consistently entertaining acts in pro wrestling, and it's nice to see him getting some in-ring recognition for that fact.
3) Eddie Edwards - Edwards becomes the first ever ROH Television Champion this week, defeating his regular tag team partner Davey Richards in a tournament final that reminds me of Owen Hart facing the British Bulldog to create the WWF European Title many years ago. Let's see if this can turn Edwards in to a legitimate singles star instead of being the competent albeit unspectacular second half of the American Wolves that he has been for the last little while.
4) John Cena & Dave Batista (tie)
5) Kandi Kisses
Chad Nevett
1) Eddie Edwards
Became the first ROH Television Champion by beating his tag-team partner Davey Richards in a mild upset with many figuring that a meeting of the Wolves would have Richards walk away champ.
2) AJ Styles: The match may have been bad, but Styles did retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Abyss, Desmond Wolfe, and the Pope going into Monday's live Impact.
3) Edge: Beat the Big Show and continued to dominate the mic on Smackdown.
4) Batista/John Cena (tie)
5) Matt Hardy
ARI
1) AJ Styles
Retained the TNA Title in a four-way match against Abyss, The Pope and Desmond Wolfe.
2) Batista: This guy just had the best promo of his career and helped to create a major sense of anticipation for his WWE Championship match against John Cena at Wrestlemania XXVI.
3) Eddie Edwards: Won the inaugural ROH Television Title at the weekend HDNet tapings, defeating Kevin Steen and then his own tag partner Davey Richards in the finals. This is a pretty big vote of confidence in Edwards, and a huge opportunity to cement his place in ROH. You can watch these matches in a few weeks on HDNet or through the ROHBrazil YouTube channel.
4) Edge
5) Matt Hardy & Justin Gabriel
Samuel Berman
1) Eddie Edwards
Became the first Ring of Honor Television Champion with his tournament victory.
2) Naomichi Marufuji: Retained the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title over Koji Kanemoto.
3) Batista: Best promo of his career, bar none.
4) AJ Styles
5) Roderick Strong
Michael Bauer
1) Eddie Edwards
When weeks are quiet in the main two, history wins out as Eddie Edwards becomes the first Ring of Honor World Television Champion, beating Kevin Steen and Davey Richards in the same night.
2) AJ Styles: Match quality aside, it was still an impressive win.
3) Batista: Has he ever done a better promo?
4) Matt Hardy and Justin Gabriel
5) The Miz
Jasper Gerretsen
1) Eddie Edwards
While Edwards is often seen as the lesser half of the American Wolves, he picked up his biggest singles win in his ROH career when he became the inaugural television champion, making his partner Davey Richards submit.
2) Batista: With WrestleMania rapidly approaching the Animal has really stepped up, proving why he belongs in the main event on the grandest stage of them all.
3) The Miz: Proved that he's awesome enough to pin Shawn Michaels.
4) AJ Styles
5) Edge
THE Larry Csonka
1) Batista and John Cena
While I understand the praise for Batista on the promo, because it was his best, I have to give both guys credit for the segment. I will never claim that Cena and Batista are the Rock and Austin, but they are the next generation of stars, and the promo war on Monday went a long way to building to the big match at WrestleMania.
2) Eddie Edwards: Eddie Edwards becomes the first Ring of Honor World Television Champion, as he took out Kevin Steen and tag team partner Davey Richards in the same night.
3) AJ Styles: Successfully defended his title in a four way main event on Impact, and is having a good run with the title thus far.
4) The Miz
5) Naomichi Marufuji
Jeremy Thomas
1) Batista
Cena definitely carried his own, mostly with his facial expressions, but in terms of sheer character advancement and displaying how far one has advanced in their skills, Big Dave blew Johnny Boy away. This one just stunned me, because not only was it the best promo he's given, it was the one that officially defined his character beyond "arrogant guy who got pissed at Rey Rey and now hates everyone." Great stuff by Batista, and I'm hopeful to see more like it.
2) Eddie Edwards: Being the first ROH Television Champion is a big thing, no matter what certain people are bound to say.
3) AJ Styles: AJ Styles successfully defended his World Title against three other men on Impact. Can't argue much with that.
4) The Miz
5) Edge
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention Edge - 7 Votes
Fifth Place John Cena - 9 Votes
Fourth Place The Miz - 12 Votes
Third Place AJ Styles - 23 Votes
The TNA World Champion defends his title successfully against The Pope, Abyss, and Desmond Wolfe to claim the number three spot.
Second Place Batista - 28 Votes
Big Dave gives the promo of his career and gains some serious momentum heading into his match with Cena at WrestleMania
Wrestler of the Week Eddie Edwards - 34 Votes
Eddie Edwards is your NEW and FIRST Ring of Honor World Television Champion by going through Kevin Steen and Davey Richards to lay claim to the title, as well as Wrestler of the Week!
Year-End Standings~!
No new last-minute entrants in the Year-End rankings, but the Top 15 shakes up a little bit. Eddie Edwards leaps into eleventh place, while Batista jumps in just ahead of him inside the Top Ten. John Cena and Edge distance themselves from Randy Orton in point value; and with just a couple weeks left, AJ Styles moves within striking distance of CM Punk! Let the anti-Punk conspiracy theorists begin; whatever happens, this is going to be close!
Let's check out the Year-End Standings!
1. CM Punk 137 (SmackDown)
2. AJ Styles 129 (TNA)
3. Rey Mysterio 86 (SmackDown)
4. Jeff Hardy 85 (TNA)
5. Edge 74 (SmackDown)
6. John Morrison 70 (SmackDown)
6. Chris Jericho 70 (SmackDown)
8. John Cena 65 (RAW)
9. Randy Orton 59 (RAW)
10. Batista 54 (SmackDown)
11. Eddie Edwards 48 (ROH)
12. Kurt Angle 46 (TNA)
12. Tyler Black 46 (ROH)
14. The Undertaker 42 (SmackDown)
14. Naruki Doi - 42 (Dragon Gate)
We got what? Two? Three weeks left? It's going to go down to the last week I can tell you that. All AJ needs is one more third place or above finish to take the lead.
Posted By: Michael (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Eddie Edwards has had a better year than Kurt Angle?...
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 12:31 PM
I can only imagine what is gonna be said about Byers this week.
Posted By: The Fuj (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Who?
Posted By: Guest#6808 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Let's try to project out what's going to happen in the next few weeks for AJ Styles and CM Punk.
AJ Styles - will be in the main event for TNA during the relaunch of the Monday Night Wars. But can you really see either Hogan or Flair giving up the match spotlight? Do you see AJ Styles actually being able to do something in that match to get WOTW consideration? Maybe if he pins Hogan cleanly, but him pinning Abyss if Hogan turns on Abyss will not get him into WOTW consideration.
And of course - the follow-up will not be about AJ, but will be about Hogan, Flair and/or Abyss with AJ being an afterthought. Plus, you will have the reapperance of a few guys with TNA, surely enough to take away some votes from AJ whatever he does.
CM Punk - he is likely going to be advancing his storyline with Rey Rey, but there are no matches set between the two of them right now. If they have a match to set up the WM match, chances are it doesn't end cleanly. Plus, this is going to be one of the lower card events at WM, so he probably will get overshadowed by other WWE wrestlers this week.
The only way I see AJ getting the votes necessary will be to get a double cross in the whole Hogan/Flair storyline. Flair turns on AJ, and Hogan uses Abyss as his monster to try and get rid of AJ. AJ is now the face, Hogan and Flair working together to control Abyss to do their bidding (hello Abyss/James Mitchell 2004).
Posted By: SpankyHamm (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 12:48 PM
BERRRMAANNNN!!!
Posted By: Jamal (Registered) on March 08, 2010 at 12:56 PM
If you losers at 411 don't screw this up, then AJ will most likely win it all considering his exposure in high profile matches every week.
But because you guys are hungry for some CM Punk man mayo, you'll do whatever you can to make sure he wins it all. You guys at 411 are probably all growing beards too. Losers.
Posted By: Losers (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:01 PM
Hah.. if a TNA wrestler is #1 in the end, Byer's will lose his shit.
Do it!
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:07 PM
Isn't there some sort of requirement that your so-called TV show needs to be available in more than 1,000 homes before you can have a TV title?
I could film myself punching my friend. Does that mean that as soon as one person watches the footage I can now make claim to being the Tom Talker Federation Television Champion?
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:32 PM
Shit Punk! DO SOMETHING BETWEEN NOW AND MANIA TO GET NOTICED!!!
Posted By: Empire Of Ownage (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:50 PM
Stop voting for AJ Styles. He's nothing more than a spot monkey wannabe.
This site is way to biased towards TNA.
Posted By: Guest#4426 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:51 PM
Wait, does Wrestlemania count towards the end-of-year rankings? Because if so, I feel Punk still has the advantage if he has a great match with Rey.
Can't argue with the rankings this week either. Good job.
Posted By: Guest#1782 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:59 PM
VINTAGE BERMAN!
Posted By: Cole Slaw (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:09 PM
"If you losers at 411 don't screw this up, then AJ will most likely win it all considering his exposure in high profile matches every week.
But because you guys are hungry for some CM Punk man mayo, you'll do whatever you can to make sure he wins it all. You guys at 411 are probably all growing beards too. Losers."
By his own logic, I imagine the guy typing this is hungry for AJ man mayo and walking down the sidewalk with some stupid looking hood over his eyes, but he has to pull it up every few steps because he can't fucking see.
Does AJ still wear that stupid thing?
Posted By: The REAL MP (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:18 PM
Miz pins Shawn Michaels (AGAIN!!!) and isn't in first place?
Looks like RVD signed a one shot deal at 411...
Posted By: Guest#7915 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:26 PM
Here's what I predict:
AJ Pins Hogan tonight, and wins Wrestler of the year.
Posted By: Jamal (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:26 PM
"Hah.. if a TNA wrestler is #1 in the end, Byer's will lose his shit.
Do it!
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:07 PM"
But will he even acknowledge it? Otherwise that would be rather funny.
Unless things drastically change, the way Styles and Punks programs are shaping up, I would say that AJ is the odds on favorite to win it this year.
Posted By: mogamer (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:29 PM
If Byers wasn't so anti-TNA every, Styles would be ahead of CM Punk. Easily.
Posted By: Guest#0098 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 02:32 PM
This site is way to biased towards TNA.
Posted By: Guest#4426 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:51 PM
You must not read the articles here, most of the people here bash TNA twice as much as WWE.
Posted By: Kevin A (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 03:27 PM
How much longer is Jeff Hardy going to be listed as a TNA wrestler, he had a one shot apperance several months ago. Surely he should be an US independant.
Posted By: Legal Eagle (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 03:34 PM
Punk cutting promos MID Royal Rumble should've clinched this thing two months ago.
Posted By: Guest#4327 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 03:44 PM
For real from the voting don't worry about it Styles is the current TNA champ. The show is moving to Mondays barring a screw job, the TNA title has been featured prominently in almost EVERY show. Punk's last big profile match outside the elimination chamber was a tag title match that he lost. Unless you count NXT which I doubt. I don't see how AJ can't come up and win this. Unless they give Punk money in the bank a third time and he cashes it in AT Mania. Then he will be losing his spot within the next week at most two.
But while it was funny to read...you gotta question someone's hunger for man mayo when you are complaining that the guy you want isn't in the lead....just seems a little off there.
Posted By: Guest#4950 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 03:50 PM
Punk will win, but AJ deserves to win.
Both had great years, but AJ is handicapped by the fact that Byers is an imbecile, so for him to even be this close to Punk is still amazing.
Posted By: Deathpool (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 04:01 PM
I can't believe that two of you "pundits" voted for Batista or John Cena because they spoke to each other.
Look, whilst "storytelling" is a big part of pro wrestling, actually, you know, doing something physically in the ring and showcasing the "sports" part of the "sports entertainment" has to be worth far more than two of the worlds best paid wrestlers standing and talking to each other three weeks before wrestlings biggest PPV of the year.
I'm sorry, but if that was the best wrestler of the week you could come up with, it's a really sorry indictment of the state of wrestling or your capacity to watch anything other than WWE.
We all take Berman to task for nominating people the majority of the English speaking world have never heard of, but at least the vanilla midget indy spot monkeys he votes for actually compete in the ring.
For shame Larry and Jeremy, for shame.
Posted By: The Truth of it All (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 04:14 PM
How come when, having never heard of this "Eddie Edwards" gentleman who has just won a title in what many claim is the third biggest wrestling promotion in North America, does the search engine Google, arguably the worlds most popular search engine, return it's number one choice as a shite British skiier from the the Winter Olympics back in the 80's?
The wrestler Eddie Edwards, who just won this title, is clearly not as important as somebody who failed miserably in a winter olympics over 20 years ago.
That's how relevant this schmohawk is to wrestling, yet some of you saw fit to name him wrassler of the week.
If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a noise?
If Eddie Edwards wins a title and it's watched by fourteen people in attendance and some cellar dwellers on their computers who have spent there entire post pubescent existence masturbating furiously over Japanese hard hitting action and indy spot monkeys, does anyone give a flying fuck?
Posted By: SayWhatMoFo (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 04:21 PM
I like how every single person voted Eddie Edwards somewhere on their list, but somehow he's some nobody that nobody has ever heard of!
You know that Chris Jericho guy, what a schmuck, he couldn't even get on the fucking list, he got beat out by a nobody! Guess that means less than nobody's watching... what's that show called, Slapburn?
Posted By: Guest#0252 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 05:51 PM
"Isn't there some sort of requirement that your so-called TV show needs to be available in more than 1,000 homes before you can have a TV title?
I could film myself punching my friend. Does that mean that as soon as one person watches the footage I can now make claim to being the Tom Talker Federation Television Champion?
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:32 PM"
And your NEW TTF TV Champion...
Posted By: Good Guy (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 05:51 PM
"How come when, having never heard of this "Eddie Edwards" gentleman who has just won a title in what many claim is the third biggest wrestling promotion in North America, does the search engine Google, arguably the worlds most popular search engine, return it's number one choice as a shite British skiier from the the Winter Olympics back in the 80's?"
Posted By: SayWhatMoFo (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 04:21 PM
That's Eddie the Eagle to you, MoFo,
What
Posted By: s1rude (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 06:19 PM
Isn't there some sort of requirement that your so-called TV show needs to be available in more than 1,000 homes before you can have a TV title?
I could film myself punching my friend. Does that mean that as soon as one person watches the footage I can now make claim to being the Tom Talker Federation Television Champion?
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:32 PM
Do whatever you want to do Mr Talker, just be sure that it isn't within the mandated 500 yards from a school or place where children are. Once again, the writers of 411 DO NOT have to cater to the ignorance of Etards
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 07:23 PM
Fire Ant got screwed.
Posted By: Sink (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 08:25 PM
I hope WWE sign Mr Edward Edwards and pair him up with Kelly Kelly... I've got way to much time on my hands.
Posted By: Guest#2318 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 08:32 PM
I am THE only one who called Eddie Edwards winning.Check the archives.And tonight Styles can do something to take the #1 spot like pin for Hogan.
Posted By: Ted (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 08:46 PM
I'm not a ROH fan and have never heard of Eddie Edwards but he still deserves the spot, he advanced his career this week more than anyone else.
And lets put things into perspective.. of ALL the wrestlers in the standings, how many would the are actual household names in the real world? Probably 3:
Hulk Hogan
Vince McMahon
Seth Green
So yeah nobody's heard of Eddie Edwards, but that's because he's a pro wrestler.
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 10:47 PM
This site is way to biased towards TNA.
---------------------------
That's funny
Posted By: Guest#3536 (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 12:28 AM
If you account for the Byers Effect, AJ is winning already.
Posted By: Guest#1663 (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 12:40 AM
Do whatever you want to do Mr Talker, just be sure that it isn't within the mandated 500 yards from a school or place where children are. Once again, the writers of 411 DO NOT have to cater to the ignorance of Etards
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 07:23 PM
Clever. In the future I urge you to actually read what you're replying to in order to know if your pull the string, predetermined, cliche rant actually has something to do with it.
Someone's awareness of a company has nothing to do with said company's actual reach. ROH is on in very few areas. Not many people know about it in general. As a result, their overall exposure is very minute even compared to TNA.
Thus, that's why it's somewhat ridiculous for a company who has a rarely seen TV show to have a TV title.
But no. Please continue to tell people that they're stupid just because they're not in the minority.
It worked really well for the ECW zombies.
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 01:23 AM
Oh sorry Tom, I totally missed the rule on 411 where just you are allowed to sandbag ROH and no one is supposed to retaliate.........
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 02:24 PM
@SayWhatMoFo
yes, they do
it's wrestling, if it's watched it counts
Posted By: The Shockmaster (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 07:17 PM
Oh sorry Tom, I totally missed the rule on 411 where just you are allowed to sandbag ROH and no one is supposed to retaliate.........
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 09, 2010 at 02:24 PM
So, um, are you going to retaliate? Or are you just sticking with a quick, snarky comment due to a lack of a retort with any substance?
I mean, instead of just saying you're going to do something maybe you could just... oh, I don't know... actually do it?
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 10, 2010 at 01:36 AM
Glady, You sir, are one of a number of morons that pollute this site and suck the enjoyment out of the main point of commenting on the articles, which is to have conversations about professional wrestling. Ring of Honor gets attacked by you jagaloons daily with the same old worn out, ridiculous comments "I've never heard of those guyzzz" "Indy spot monkey robble robble" "If I punch my friend in the nuts then am I the Tom Talker likes to touch his friends testicles champion??" The definition of ignorance is the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. So coming on here and not only openly admitting that you are ignorant to the skills and accomplishments of an independent wrestler, but you BRAG about being ignorant. By the diarrhea that spouts from your mouth with "I've never heard of Davey Richards/Eddie Ewards or whoever it is, so they don't matter to anyone." you are basically saying "I'm not only too fucking stupid to not talk about something that I'm uninformed about, but I'm also so arrogant that I think that the writers of 411, who for the most part are great writers who are well informed on their topic, should cater to my ignorance and not give accolades to the wrestlers who deserve it, which you can't say they don't because you've already admitted your ignorance on the subject. Let me ask you this, does a match in Lucas Oil Stadium between Giant Gonzalez and Great Khali just automatically register as being better to you than a match between Austin Aries and Davey Richards in front of 1,000 people? Is a great book not a great book because it's not a New York Times Best seller? Seriously, if you were to say, I've never tried Diet Coke, but boy does it suck....... people would call you an ignorant, fucking moron. In closing, please.....stop acting like you're some kind of victim and your defending some higher cause, you were being an asshole and got called out on it, bottom line
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 10, 2010 at 04:42 PM
Glady, You sir, are one of a number of morons that pollute this site and suck the enjoyment out of the main point of commenting on the articles, which is to have conversations about professional wrestling. Ring of Honor gets attacked by you jagaloons daily with the same old worn out, ridiculous comments "I've never heard of those guyzzz" "Indy spot monkey robble robble" "If I punch my friend in the nuts then am I the Tom Talker likes to touch his friends testicles champion??" The definition of ignorance is the condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. So coming on here and not only openly admitting that you are ignorant to the skills and accomplishments of an independent wrestler, but you BRAG about being ignorant. By the diarrhea that spouts from your mouth with "I've never heard of Davey Richards/Eddie Ewards or whoever it is, so they don't matter to anyone." you are basically saying "I'm not only too fucking stupid to not talk about something that I'm uninformed about, but I'm also so arrogant that I think that the writers of 411, who for the most part are great writers who are well informed on their topic, should cater to my ignorance and not give accolades to the wrestlers who deserve it, which you can't say they don't because you've already admitted your ignorance on the subject. Let me ask you this, does a match in Lucas Oil Stadium between Giant Gonzalez and Great Khali just automatically register as being better to you than a match between Austin Aries and Davey Richards in front of 1,000 people? Is a great book not a great book because it's not a New York Times Best seller? Seriously, if you were to say, I've never tried Diet Coke, but boy does it suck....... people would call you an ignorant, fucking moron. In closing, please.....stop acting like you're some kind of victim and your defending some higher cause, you were being an asshole and got called out on it, bottom line.
Posted By: kingave66 (Guest) on March 10, 2010 at 07:00 PM
"I can now make claim to being the Tom Talker Federation Television Champion?"
Posted By: Tom Talker (Guest) on March 08, 2010 at 01:32 PM
So then , Senor Talker, I challenge you to defend your title against Me!
Posted By: El Tigre (Guest) on March 15, 2010 at 01:08 AM
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