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411’s Wrestler of the Week 08.23.10: Week 21

August 23, 2010 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to Week 21, Year SIX, 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…


ROH ON HDNET SPOILERS ARE INCLUDED

Larry Csonka
1) Alberto Del Rio
I am always one of the guys that begs wrestling companies to MAKE new stars, and I have to say, WWE did that last week with Alberto Del Rio. The promos were fine to lead up to the debut, but the confrontation with Rey, leading to a good and smartly worked match and MOST importantly a CLEAN finish is how you do it. The fact that Alberto Del Rio made a TOP babyface tap out in his debut like that shows that they want to strap the rocket to his ass. Who knows whether or not it will last or not, but for this week, Alberto Del Rio is the man.

2) Wade Barrett: Wade Barrett may have had a setback at Summerslam, but he recovered on Monday Night Raw with a clean victory over former Mentor Chris Jericho. That’s how you get back on track.
3) Davey Richards: Davey Richards took ROH Champion Tyler Black to the limit and defeated him in what will be a show long match for ROH TV. Is this a sign of things to come for Richards?
4) Kurt Angle
5) Kane

Ryan Byers
1) Alberto Del Rio
The man formerly known as Dos Caras Jr. south of the border made his debut on national television in the United States and, in doing so, he scored an impressive clean victory over Rey Misterio Jr. in the main event of this week’s Smackdown. Of course, this could all fizzle and Del Rio could be a nobody in a matter of weeks, but, at least for this week, he’s on top of the world and is displaying many of the tools necessary to become a player in WWE.

2) Takashi Sugiura: In the main event of this week’s big Pro Wrestling NOAH show, GHC Heavyweight Champion Takashi Sugiura retained his championship over Jun Akiyama. This was the fourth successful championship defense for Sugiura, and it was his second straight defense against a guy who would’ve been considered a league or two above him just a year ago. It looks like Sugi is definitely going to be a top guy in NOAH for the long haul.
3) Davey Richards: The majority of Ring of Honor fans probably saw this one coming, but Richards defeated Tyler Black in a reportedly very strong match at this weekend’s ROH television tapings, no doubt helping to set up Black departure from the company en route to Florida Championship Wrestling.
4) Koji Kanemoto & Tiger Mask IV
5) Serena Deeb

Michael Bauer
1) Alberto Del Rio
It seems like anyone that the WWE has faith in debuts this way. Show up, good promo, beat a former world champ in the main event. Worked wonders for many before… even if they never lived up to it. But I think Del Rio can.

2) Davey Richards: Word is the match with Black could be an entire episode of RoH on HDNet. Huge win for Richards.
3) Wade Barrett: A clean with over Chris Jericho was huge for the leader of Nexus.
4) Randy Orton
5) Kaval

Chad Nevett
1) Alberto Del Rio
Made his debut on Smackdown with some good promo work and a win over Rey Mysterio, which is… well, pretty damn impressive for a debut.

2) Wade Barrett: Beat Chris Jericho cleanly and led the Nexus to a victorious Monday night (aside from Darren Young).
3) Davey Richards: Beat ROH World Champion Tyler Black cleanly at the TV tapings this weekend, albeit in a non-title match.
4) Serena
5) Kane

Jeremy Thomas
1) Alberto Del Rio
This is a well-deserved topper for De Rios. Not only did he make his debut, get immediately involved with SmackDown’s most popular face and make him tap–cleanly–but he also looked like he belonged exactly where the WWE put him on Friday, in the upper midcard. He also had the best entrance we’ve seen in a long time and his own ring announcer. How do you not love that?

2) Davey Richards: Davey got the big win over Tyler Black at the TV tapings and this is a pretty huge win for Richards.
3) Wade Barrett: Barett beat Jericho. Cleanly. And he did so in a pretty decent match to boot. Credibility is coming in for the guy in spades lately.
4) Serena
5) D’Angelo Dinero

Andy Critchell
1) Alberto Del Rio
One of the main things I look for when I do WOTW is how a wrestler was able to elevate his/her career via accomplishments that *I* consider relevant and this week no one did that more than Del Rio. It’s been months in the making but he finally made his debut and got the clean pin over Rey-Rey. He also got his finisher over as well. PLUS he even has his own ring announcer. That is very swank! Nice work all the way around and welcome to the WWE Alberto.

2) Randall K. Orton, Esq: Another main thing I look for when thinking about WOTW is who entertained ME the most, because after all, this is an opinion piece. The guy who did that this week is my fellow St. Louisan , Randy Orton. His match with Gabriel was short but fun, mostly due to the great expressions Randy had after every kick from Gabriel. Obviously the big moment was Randy’s beat down of Sheamus and the RKOs he delivered to both Sheamus and Gabriel. It didn’t hurt that the crowd was RED HOT for all of this and I think this is definitely the most over Orton has ever been.
3) The Nexus: The third thing I look for when thinking about WOTW is who has made the most “noise” in the wrestling world whether by winning, losing, retiring, banging cheerleaders, whatever. This week the Nexus was able to get back their heat after their first loss at SummerSlam. Sure, it was done by shady means and they lost Darren Young (is that really a loss?) but they’re heels, so they are supposed to be shady.
4) Kane
5) Kaval

Ronnie LaFianza
1) Alberto Del Rio
It’s really hard to argue that anyone else should be number 1. The guy defeated Rey Mysterio by submission in his debut match. That’s huge. Hell, Mysterio was the challenger for the World title last Sunday, making this win seem even bigger. Rio made a huge impact, and if WWE.com is sure he’s going to be a big deal fairly quick, then who am I to argue?

2) John Cena: Cena accomplished something big last Monday, something that no one else was able to do, and that was to trim down the Nexus. Cena and the Nexus have been at war for months, and Cena was able to defeat Darren Young via submission, thus causing him (Young) to get kicked out of the group. The Nexus may be stronger in talent now, but they’re weaker in terms of numbers.
3) Wade Barrett/Skip Sheffield: Barrett picked up a huge victory last Monday, defeating Chris Jericho cleanly to maintain his spot as the dominant leader of the Nexus. Sheffield on the other hand defeated John Morrison in tag team action to maintain his spot, along with David Otunga’s, in the Nexus. Barrett’s win was huge while Sheffield’s win kept himself and Otunga in the Nexus, thus its double importance.
4) Davey Richards
5) Kurt Angle

Aaron Hubbard
1) Alberto Del Rio
An impactful debut that allowed him to shine on the mic and in the ring, topped off with a clean victory over Rey Mysterio makes this an easy #1. We’ll see if he can keep the momentum, but this was definitely Del Rio’s week.

2) Davey Richards: Richards defeated Tyler Black in singles competition in what is likely to be the last time we see Black in ROH (with tape delay taken into account), but ROH also finally got the ball rolling on the American Wolves vs. Kings of Wrestling program that I’ve been dying to see.
3) Wade Barrett: Defeated Chris Jericho clean on RAW, and gave the Nexus back a lot of the credibility they lost at Summer Slam with his excellent mic work. Barrett continues to shine as the group’s leader.
4) Takashi Sugiura
5) Kurt Angle


THE WINNERS~!

  • Special Mention…Serena – 3 Votes
  • Fifth Place…John Cena, Kurt Angle, Kane – 4 Votes
  • Fourth Place…Skip Sheffield, Takashi Sugiura and Randy Orton – 6 Votes
  • Third Place…Wade Barrett – 22 Votes

    Wade Barrett rebounded from Summerslam with a big win over Chris Jericho..

  • Second Place…Davey Richards – 25 Votes

    Davey Richards picked up his game at the recent ROH on HDNet tapings, and took second place this week.

  • Wrestler of the Week…Alberto Del Rio – 40 Votes

    Alberto Del Rio came into WWE and made a huge impact by making Rey Mysterio tap out in his debut match. After tons of hype, Del Rio came in and delivered in week one.

    Year-End Standings~!
    Alberto Del Rio debuts on the list along with Serena and Skip Sheffield. Wade Barrett, Kurt Angle and Randy Orton all made moves within the top 15, while Davey Richards and Kane get closer to cracking the top part of the list. Check out the updated standings to see the all of the changes…

    Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!

    1. Jack Swagger – 61 (SmackDown)

    2. Chris Sabin– 60 (TNA)
    2. Alex Shelley – 60 (TNA)

    4. Rob Van Dam – 55 (TNA)

    5. Daniel Bryan – 50 (Raw)

    6. Wade Barrett – 44 (Raw)

    7. Randy Orton – 43 (Raw)

    8. Rey Mysterio – 39 (Smackdown)

    9. Evan Bourne – 34 (Raw)

    10. The Miz – 27 (Raw)

    11. Kurt Angle – 26 (TNA)

    12. Kofi Kingston – 25 (Smackdown)

    13. Claudio Castagnoli – 24 (ROH)
    13. Tyson Kidd – 24 (Raw)
    13. DH Smith – 24 (Raw)

    Davey Richards – 21 (ROH)
    AJ Styles – 21 (TNA)

    Kane – 20 (SmackDown)

    John Cena – 18 (Raw)
    Robert Roode – 18 (TNA)
    James Storm – 18 (TNA)
    Jay Lethal – 18 (TNA)

    Togi Makabe – 16 (IWGP)
    Sheamus – 16 (Raw)
    Tyler Black – 16 (ROH)

    Madison Eagles – 15 (SHIMMER)
    Alberto Del Rio – 15 (Smackdown)
    Dolph Ziggler – 15 (Smackdown)
    Kaval – 15 (NXT)
    Edge – 15 (Raw)
    R-Truth – 15 (Raw)

    Douglas Williams – 13 (TNA)

    Chris Hero – 12 (ROH)
    Ares – 12 (US Independent)
    Tursas – 12 (US Independent)
    Minoru Suzuki – 12 (AJPW)
    Kaz Hayashi– 12 (AJPW)
    Masato Yoshino– 12 (Dragon Gate)
    Paul London – 12 (US Independent)
    El Generico – 12 (US Independent)
    Desmond Wolfe – 12 (TNA)
    Matt Hardy – 12 (SmackDown)
    Chris Jericho – 12 (Raw)
    Cody Rhodes – 12 (Smackdown)

    Mr. Anderson – 10 (TNA)
    Kazarian – 10 (TNA)

    Takashi Sugiura – 9 (Dragon Gate)
    Tigers Mask – 9 (Dragon Gate)
    Jimmy Yang – 9 (All Japan)
    Satoshia Kojima – 9 (All Japan)
    YAMATO – 9 (Dragon Gate)
    Samoa Joe – 9 (TNA)
    Jeff Hardy – 9 (TNA)
    Prince Devitt – 9 (NJPW)
    Dr. Wagner Jr. – 9 (AAA)

    Heath Slater – 6 (NXT)
    Hamada – 6 (TNA)
    Taylor Wilde – 6 (TNA)
    Nick Jackson – 6 (TNA)
    Matt Jackson – 6 (TNA)
    Bison Smith – 6 (NOAH)
    Keith Walker – 6 (NOAH)
    Bret Hart – 6 (Raw)

    Christopher Daniels – 4 (ROH)

    Skip Sheffield – 3 (Raw)
    Michael McGillicutty – 3 (NXT)
    Jon Moxley – 3 (US Independent)
    CM Punk – 3 (Smackdown)
    Percy Watson – 3 (NXT)
    Willie Richardson – 3 (US Independent)
    Marshe Rocket – 3 (US Independent)
    Acid Jaz – 3 (US Independent)

    Drew McIntyre – 2 (SmackDown)

    Shelton Benjamin – 1 (US Independent)
    Abyss – 1 (TNA)
    Melina – 1 (Raw)
    John Morrison – 1 (Raw)
    Serena– 1 (SmackDown)
    Beth Phoenix – 1 (SmackDown)
    Ted DiBiase – 1 (Raw)
    Christian – 1 (Smackdown)
    Shingo Takagi – 1 (Dragon Gate)
    Chuck Taylor – 1 (US Independent)
    Masaaki Mochizuki – 1 (Dragon Gate)
    Batista – 1 (US Independent)
    The Undertaker – 1 (Smackdown)
    Giant Bernard – 1 (NJPW)
    Karl Anderson – 1 (NJPW)
    Akebono – 1 (AJPW)
    Taiyo Kea – 1 (AJPW)
    Tasha Simone – 1 (US Independent)

  • Voting began 4.05.10
  • Year-End Rankings Key:

    WWE, Raw, SmackDown and NXT-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


    Year Two Winner: Samoa Joe


    Year Three Winner: John Cena


    Year Four Winner: Chris Jericho


    Year Five Winner: CM Punk

    If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!

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