411’s Wrestler of the Week 05.16.11: Year Seven, Week 7
Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.16.2011
MVP won the IWGP Intercontinental Title, Sting retained the TNA World Title, Hiroshi Tanahashi retained the IWGP Title and more! Check out 411's Wrestler of the Week for all the details and for an updated look at the Year-End standings!
Welcome to Week 7, Year SEVEN, 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 around WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let's see who wins this week…
Larry Csonka
1) MVP
MVP defeated Toru Yano to win the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Also in the tournament, he defeated Tetsuya Naito on night 2, and Kazuchika Okada on night 1 on his way to becoming the first ever IWGP Intercontinental champion. MVP left WWE for Japan and the chance at success, and thus far, he has done very well for himself.
2) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Came to the US on the NJPW tour and retained his title in matches against Charlie Haas and Davey Richards.
3) The Miz/Mr. Anderson: Miz defeated Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio to earn a title shot against John Cena. Elsewhere, Mr. Anderson won a 25-manbattle royal to earn a title shot at Slammiversary.
4) Takashi Sugiura
5) Sting
Ryan Byers
1) Takashi Sugiura
Sugiura, the reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion for NOAH, had a hell of a weekend. NOAH was on tour in Europe this weekend, with two shows in the United Kingdom and one show in Germany. Sugiura successfully defended the GHC Title on each one of those shows, beating British wrestler Dave Mastiff on night one of the tour, NOAH wrestler Kotaro Suzuki on night two, and the very European Claudio Castagnoli on night three. This sets a record for GHC Title defenses, as these three combined with a defense last week gives Sugi four title retentions in eight days, more in such a short period of time than any prior champion. The even bigger news is that Sugiura has now beaten the record for highest number of overall defenses of the GHC Title. Kenta Kobashi held the old record at thirteen defenses. Sugiura tied him on Saturday when he beat Suzuki and surpassed the record on Sunday when he beat Castangoli, with his total now being fourteen successful defenses. Breaking the record is impressive enough in and of itself, but it's made all the more impressive by the fact that Sugiura's title reign is currently seven months shorter than Kobashi's was. Just an all-around great, history making weekend for the GHC Champ.
2) R-Truth: The absolute highlight of Monday Night Raw for me this week was the performance of R-Truth. He was oozing charisma and getting some great heat in the opening segment, and his follow-up time on the mic with Scott Stanford was as good a thirty second promo as you're going to see. This man has made himself into an absolute star over the past month, and hopefully WWE sticks with him and gets him into the title picture sooner rather than later.
3) Jerry Lawler: A-Plus performance by Jerry Lawler this week, as he played his crazed old man role perfectly and made me care about his segments with Michael Cole despite the fact that, if you had asked me before Raw, I would have told you that the feud had dragged on too long and should have been put to bed at Wrestlemania.
4) Daniel Bryan & Sin Cara (tie)
5) Montel Vontavious Porter
Wes Kirk
1) Sting
After defending his title in various triple threats and finally getting into the ring one-on-one with RVD, Sting was able to main event the TNA Sacrifice PPV and retain his title in a great match against the Whole F'n Show. Despite being 52 years of age, Sting brings it everytime he steps in the ring and got the fans chanting "this is awesome" multiple times as well.
2) Takashi Sugiura: The Global Honoured Crown champion defended his title successfully three times in one weekend and has surpassed Kenta Kobashi's record of successful retentions. The GHC Championship is a title so valuable it has its own theme song, which rocks by the way. This set of victories propels Sugiura to uncharted territory as a GHC Champ.
3) Hiroshi Tanahashi: The IWGP Champion came off two successful title defenses as well this weekend and continues to impress, bringing more prestige to the valuable IWGP championship. For those who do not know about the IWGP title, read up on it as it dates back many years and has been held by some of the top legends in wrestling.
4) Kazarian
5) Randy Orton
Michael Ornelas
1) Takashi Sugiura
When you add your name to the history books in this capacity, it deserves praise. Sugiura defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship three times in one weekend and jumped over Kenta Kobashi's record of 13 successful defenses of the title. Huge stuff here.
2) Trent Barreta/Tyson Kidd: Put on the best match on television for the second time in three weeks. Hopefully they'll cap it off with the rubber match. These two guys are helping to make Superstars the best hour of wrestling on TV now that RoH is off of HDNet.
3) MVP: Became the first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion at the JAPW/NJPW shows this weekend. The man's doing well for himself and is definitely furthering his career, which is what this column's all about.
4) Hiroshi Tanahashi
5) Kazarian
Michael Bauer
1) Takashi Sugiura
Huge accomplishment in a slow wrestling week. Defending a Japanese title 13 times is rare enough that this deserves special mention.
2) MVP: Won three times over the weekend to become the first IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
3) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Defended the IWGP Championship twice, with great matches against Charlie Haas and Davey Richards.
4) Sting
5) Prince Devitt
Francisco Ramirez
1) Takashi Sugiura
Having tied the record of 13 title defenses is a big accomplishment. For me it's big enough to take the top spot this week. Sugiura is now tied with Kenta Kobashi and all eyes are on Sugiura to see if he can break the record.
2) Sting: Some may claim he is too old to still be doing it, but the man retained the TNA, Impact Wrestling, or whatever the hell it's called, Championship over RVD.
3) MVP: The first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion isn't doing too bad since leaving the WWE.
4) Hiroshi Tanahashi
5) Kazarian
Steve Cook
1) MVP
Dude's gone from being one of the lesser people on WWE television to winning a title in New Japan. Not sure what that says about the quality of Japanese wrestling these days, but I'll give credit where credit's due.
2) Tyson Kidd: Had a great match with Trent Barreta on SuperStars and gained the services of Michael P.S. Hayes as his manager. The fact that Hayes, who's SmackDown's head writer, thinks enough of Tyson to work with him should mean good things for his career moving forward.
3) Chris Masters/Drew McIntyre: If you missed their match this week on SuperStars, you missed one of the better "TV" matches this year. Check it out on YouTube, it's well worth your 11-12 minutes. Hopefully WWE brass will take note of the work these guys are doing.
4) Zack Ryder
5) Takashi Sugiura
Chad Nevett
1) MVP
Became the first IWGP Intercontinental Title this weekend. I don't know, but I tend to take notice when a non-Japanese wrestler wins a Japanese title -- especially when it's the first champion of a particular belt.
2) Beer Money: Their surprisingly clean/dominant victory over "Cold Blooded" Matt Hardy and Chris Harris surprised and impressed me. I expected a cheap win/cheap loss/stupid swerve to finish that match. Instead, the final minutes of that match was Beer Money just kicking the shit out of those two guys.
3) Kazarian: Put on a pretty good match with Max Buck to retain the X-Division Championship
4) Takashi Sugiura
5) Mr. Anderson
Aaron Frame
1) Takashi Sugiura
He will go down in the record books above Kenta Kobashi. 14 title defenses. That's impressive considering Kobashi held the title for 735 days and Sugiura for only 525+. He's behind Jun Akiyama(589) and Mitsuharu Misawa(710) who also have 3 titles reigns each. He gets #1 because his accomplishments have outshone everyone elses this week.
2) MVP: 1st ever IWGP Intercontinental Champ. That's already leagues ahead of where he would be if he were still in the 'E.
3) Hiroshi Tanahashi: Defended the IWGP heavyweight title twice against the likes of Charlie Haas and Davey Richards.
4) Yasushi Kanda
5) Zack Ryder
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention…Kazarian - 7 Votes
Fifth Place…Tyson Kidd - 8 Votes
Fourth Place…Sting - 12 Votes
Third Place…Hiroshi Tanahashi - 17 Votes
Came to the US and successfully defended his title.
Second Place…MVP - 30 Votes
Won the first IWGP Intercontinental Title.
Wrestler of the Week…Takashi Sugiura - 32 Votes
Now has the record for the most GHC Heavyweight Title defenses, passing Kobashi's old record.
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the rankings after week SEVEN…
Christian (WWE) – 39
Sin Cara (WWE) - 27
Randy Orton (WWE) - 25
Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 21 Sting (TNA) - 21
Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) - 19
John Cena(WWE) - 18
HHH (WWE) – 15 Alberto Del Rio (WWE) – 15 R-Truth (WWE) – 15 Yuji Nagata (NJPW) - 15
Edge (WWE) {RETIRED} - 13
MVP(NJPW) - 12 Undertaker (WWE) - 12
Kharma (WWE) - 9 Charlie Haas (ROH) - 9 Shelton Benjamin (ROH) - 9 Max Buck (TNA) - 9 Jeremy Buck (TNA) - 9
The Miz (WWE) - 7
Kurt Angle (TNA) - 6 Kofi Kingston (WWE) - 6 Escorpion (CMLL) - 6 The Sheik (US Independent) - 6
Fire Ant (US Independent) - 3 Green Ant (US Independent) - 3 Soldier Ant (US Independent) - 3 Cody Rhodes (WWE) - 3 Sheamus (WWE) - 3 CM Punk (WWE) - 3 Tyson Kidd (WWE) - 3 Abyss (TNA) - 3
Kazarian (TNA) - 1 Jeff Jarrett (TNA) - 1 Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL) - 1 Mohammed Yone (NOAH) - 1
Voting began 4.04.11
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.
Posted By: awesome (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 02:55 PM
No big complaining from the peanut gallery this week.
It could of went to anyone...
BUT... Mr Kirk, The Impact Zone fans chant for any and everything. They are not the end all, be all for what makes a great match.
Gimme Chicago, Philly, NYC, Toronto or any "smart" city before the mutants of the Impact zone.
(and yes, I have been there a couple of times. I live right outside of Orlando.)
Posted By: The Fuj (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 02:56 PM
congratulations to suguira on his setting of a new record I was at both uk shows and he had two excellent matches. I can't wait to see what the backlash against this in the comments section is like
Posted By: britishfan (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:30 PM
Why oh Why do people love Zack Ryder? No charisma and no ring ability. The IWC bandwagoning is getting ridiculous - 2 years ago it was McIntyre, last year it was Cody Rhodes, Now Ryder?
This is why people hate the IWC. You take the fun out of everything
Posted By: Guest#1630 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:47 PM
I wish I knew enough about Japanese wrestling to complain about this week. Seriously though it sounds like you got it right this week.
Posted By: gpjunk (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:59 PM
This is why people hate the IWC. You take the fun out of everything
Posted By: Guest#1630 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:47 PM
That's pretty funny.
Posted By: JMAC (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 04:04 PM
That Miz picture has GOT to change. I mean, it's a good picture and all but the white background kind of makes it stand out in a bad way when compared to the prior pictures. Minor Quib.
Anyways, I don't give a fuck about MVP or Sugiura, so I'll just leave it at that. Gozzout.
Posted By: Gozzo (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 04:50 PM
Am I the only one who thinks Wes Kirk has never heard of Takashi Sugiura and Hiroshi Tanahashi, and that he only added those 2 names to his top-5 for credibility? Or to camouflage his usual TNA picks?
Posted By: Guest#4957 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 05:48 PM
"Why oh Why do people love Zack Ryder?"
Same reason they like The Miz, it's been so long they've become used to mediocrity. Expectations have been lowered over time.
Posted By: Guest#9969 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 05:50 PM
Crimson got totally screwed this week. Whatever you think of TNA, beating Abyss cleanly on pay per view was a bigger deal than MVP winning a title he probably wouldn't have bothered wiping his ass with two years ago.
Oh and Beer Money put on a hell of a show and get no mention, as did Max Buck.
Posted By: No (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 07:33 PM
Congrats to MVP for winning the IWGP I-C Belt...even though I don't understand what region or territory the IWGP I-C Belt is for. i mean seriously, is he champion of Australia, Asia or what?
Posted By: Guest#4181 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 08:32 PM
Beer Money got Snubbed.
Posted By: King Of Diamonds (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 08:46 PM
Let's piss some people off this week
1 - Sin Cara - Match of the week winner.
2 - Takashi Sugiura - a great accomplisment int the world or professional wrestling scores this man a spot.
3 - Tyson Kidd - awesome match and lets hope this push gets him somewhere
4 - MVP
5 - Daniel Bryan
HM - Kazarian
Year End Standings:
1 - Randy Orton 33
2 - Christian 24
3 - Sin Cara 22
4 - Alberto Del Rio 18
5 - Kurt Angle 16
Posted By: rshort2001 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 11:04 PM
Why oh Why do people love Zack Ryder? No charisma and no ring ability. The IWC bandwagoning is getting ridiculous - 2 years ago it was McIntyre, last year it was Cody Rhodes, Now Ryder?
This is why people hate the IWC. You take the fun out of everything
Posted By: Guest#1630 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:47 PM
That's funny, cause Rhodes and Ryder HAVE shown all those these you attempted to say they don't have. Drew McIntyre, yea, you are definitely spot on with him, that dude is an SvR CAW if I ever seen one.
Posted By: SS87 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 01:56 AM
I usually whine about Japanese wrestlers winning, but it sounds pretty well justified, and nothing special happened in America this week
Posted By: joe blow (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 03:17 AM
The fact that Flair was voted wrestler of the yea
Posted By: Every wrestling fan (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 03:21 AM
Drew is a wayyyyy better face than heel
Posted By: The fuj (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 08:25 AM
"Why oh Why do people love Zack Ryder? No charisma and no ring ability. The IWC bandwagoning is getting ridiculous - 2 years ago it was McIntyre, last year it was Cody Rhodes, Now Ryder?
This is why people hate the IWC. You take the fun out of everything
Posted By: Guest#1630 (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 03:47 PM
That's funny, cause Rhodes and Ryder HAVE shown all those these you attempted to say they don't have. Drew McIntyre, yea, you are definitely spot on with him, that dude is an SvR CAW if I ever seen one.
Posted By: SS87 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 01:56 AM"
Thank you for proving my point, as neither Rhodes or Ryder have shown anything so far
Posted By: Guest#3973 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 09:01 AM
Steve Cook.
MVP winning the 1st ever IWGP Intercontinental Title says more about WWE's piss poor booking and who they value than it says about the quality of Japanese wrestling.
Posted By: mogamer (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 09:13 AM
Drew is a wayyyyy better face than heel
Posted By: The fuj (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Can we get some Japanese wrestling on television here?
Posted By: Dude (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Most people mention the Kidd/Trent series, they say they hope for a great rubber match. I am the only person confused with people saying that when Tyson won BOTH matched. How is there a rubber matcher when Trent hasn't won vs Kidd in these matches yet?
Posted By: Still Guest#8287 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 04:55 PM
Thank you for proving my point, as neither Rhodes or Ryder have shown anything so far
Posted By: Guest#3973 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 09:01 AM
Let's see:
Interesting/standout gimmicks - Check
Good mic skills and charisma - Check
Good wrestlers - Check
"It" factor - Check
Are they over - yes, including Ryder.
Maybe you should actually watch the shows instead of just reading about them. Sure, the WWE is dearth of guys with these qualities compared to 10+ years ago, but you can't deny that they are standouts, even with most of Ryders tv time being on Superstars.
Posted By: SS87 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 05:19 PM
14 title defenses is a record?
Posted By: Comment Board Poster (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 09:22 PM
Crimson got totally screwed this week. Whatever you think of TNA, beating Abyss cleanly on pay per view was a bigger deal than MVP winning a title he probably wouldn't have bothered wiping his ass with two years ago.
Posted By: No (Guest) on May 16, 2011 at 07:33 PM
The IWGP IC title didn't exist two years ago smartass.
Forgot to contribute to this. Will next week. MVP winning the IWGP IC title IS a big deal, it's the first new title New Japan has introduced in like 20 years. Unfortunately thought hat happened the same week that Suguiura beat Kobashi's record.
Speaking of which, what the fuck NOAH. Your attendance is dying and THIS is your solution? Have Sugiura (who I do like quite a bit) beat Kobashi's record? It's almost blasphemous, Sugiura should never have come close to Kobashi's record. Oh well.
Posted By: Colin Rinehart (Registered) on May 17, 2011 at 09:34 PM
Thank you for proving my point, as neither Rhodes or Ryder have shown anything so far
Posted By: Guest#3973 (Guest) on May 17, 2011 at 09:01 AM
Yeah, Rhodes having a career making feud with Rey Mysterio can EASILY be classified as not having shown anything yet.
And have you actually seen how many Zack Ryder signs pop up on RAW and Smackdown? And this is with most of his TV time on Superstars and his own YouTube channel. The guy got over on his own pretty much. Unfortunately, WWE hasn't wanted to give him the push every one wants. I will say he still has a lot to prove as far as being in a big profile match. He's yet to have a feud that runs on tv week after week and in a PPV match one-on-one. But, I have faith he'd be able to really shine if he was given the chance. Just shut up and enjoy wrestling.
Posted By: Aaron Frame (Registered) on May 17, 2011 at 11:32 PM
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