411’s Wrestler of the Week 05.30.11: Year Seven, Week 9
Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.30.2011
Sheamus earned a title shot on Smackdown, Eric Young won the TNA TV Title, Angel de Oro won CMLL’s tournament 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 9, 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) Claudio Castognoli
Claudio Castognoli defeated both Chris Hero and Low Ki during PWG's All Star Weekend to retain his PWG Title. While most think of Claudio as half of the Kings of Wrestling, he has been doing very well for himself as a singles competitor and continues to rule over PWG.
2) Angel De Oro: Won the first ever Forjando un Idolo tournament. CMLL looks to have big plans for this competitor, and with the way WWE seems interested in lucha talent, CMLL will have to keep working to build new stars.
3) Sheamus: Defeated Mark Henry and Christian to earn a World Title shot against Randy Orton.
4) David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty
5) The Young Bucks (aka Generation Me)
Wes Kirk
1) Sheamus
With one victory, Sheamus has now propelled himself from a mostly midcard talent back into the main event picture. His victory over Christian and Mark Henry gives him the right to be next in line to face Randy orton and potentially become a three time World Champion, and all in the span of less than two years. We've seen Orton/Sheamus before, but it will be interesting to see them compete now that Sheamus has had time to improve his technique.
2) Rey Mysterio: Rey ended RAW with a victory over CM Punk to close out the tag match where he teamed with John "Super" Cena against R-Truth and Macho Punk, giving him more momentum as he continues into his feud R-Truth. Truth seemingly is getting set for a program with Cena but as of yet, nothing has been set in stone. Rey, however, continues a large amount of momentum and I have a feeling he might get a title shot at some point soon.
3) Mr. Anderson: On Impact, Anderson was able to get into the head of Sting just enough to get him on edge, as Anderson awaits his long requested match for the gold at Slammiversary. Anderson has been molding himself into more of a heel lately, and it is interesting to see if he will combat Sting alone or finally join Immortal in an attempt to regain his world title.
4) R-Truth
5) Eric Young
Michael Ornelas
1) Claudio Castagnoli
Retained the PWG Championship against both Chris Hero and Low Ki this weekend at the STACKED PWG All Star Weekend shows. Very impressive and I honestly cannot remember the last time I was this eagerly anticipating a DVD release.
2) The Young Bucks (aka Generation ME): Retained the PWG Tag Team Championships against the RockNES Monsters and a reunited Generation Next at PWG's All Star Weekend 8. A mediocre defense and then a defense against two of Indy wrestling's elite talents.
3) Sheamus: Homeboy made himself relevant again AND he gets a World Heavyweight Championship match! Great week for the lobsterhead.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Alex Riley
Francisco Ramirez
1) Angel De Oro/Polvora
Angel de Oro went over Polvora to win the first ever Forjando un Idolo tournament. With this win and his win in the Reyes del Aire tournament it is needless to say that CMLL has huge plans for Angel de Oro. Polvora also receives a vote because he had the match of his career. It got to the point that reportedly, the crowd turned on the Technico Angel de Oro and cheered Polvora instead. Angel de Oro might of taken the prize but the end of this tournament saw both luchadore taking a big step forward in their careers.
2) Psycho Circus: Their feud with Los Perros del Mal reach a new point at the Perros del Mal 3rd anniversary show when both teams met in an elimination cage match. The final two left were Psycho Clown and Super Crazy, and in the end Super Crazy lost his hair. A huge victory in this war between the Psycho Circus and Los Perros del Mal.
3) Eric Young: A title win is a title win and E.Y. is the new TNA TV Champion.
4) Claudio Castognoli
5) Sheamus
Michael Bauer
1) Claudio Castognoli
Defends the PWG World Title twice in the same weekend. Chris Hero and Low Ki are two of the biggest names in Indy Wrestling right now and beating both is a huge deal. No doubt, with the big time being slow, he gets the nod.
2) Sheamus: Finally, he gets another title shot. Just hope it doesn't get buried under the Orton/Christian story.
3) Daniel Bryan: Great match that ended in a win over Cody Rhodes.
4) The Young Bucks (Generation Me)
5) Rey Mysterio / Eric Young (tie)
Jeremy Thomas
1) Sheamus
Sheamus has been hanging out without directionless for a bit now, just waiting for his shot. He's got it now on Smackdown in a title shot against Randy Orton. I have no doubt that Sheamus will just be one in a line of ready-made heels for Orton to work through (along with Mark Henry next, I figure) while they figure out what to do with Christian, but it's still a feather in Sheamus' cap especially during a slow week.
2) David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty: Otunga and McGillicutty are YOUR WWE Tag Team Champions after defeating the two monsters in Big Show and Kane. It's the first title win for McGillicutty; Otunga's second but he doesn't look like he'll have to hand this one over to a teammate, so it's a step up from the last one.
3) Eric Young: The match was nothing and I don't like the comedy crap they write Eric Young into, but he's always game for it and does his best to make it work. He's being rewarded with the TV Title, so good on him.
4) R-Truth
5) Claudio Castognoli
Steve Cook
1) Alex Riley
Mainstream wrestling had a couple of irrelevant title changes with irrelevant people, but nobody stepped their game up last week more than A-Ri. After getting blamed for everything by the Miz, Riley snapped and beat the holy hell out of his mentor, garnering the respect & admiration of the WWE Universe in the process. I don't know if A-Ri is going to be the next big thing, but he looked great on Monday night and showed us a side that we didn't know he had.
2) Claudio Castagnoli: Claudio defied the odds by defending the PWG title against two of indy wrestling's greatest competitors, Chris Hero & Low Ki. Castagnoli is one of the top two or three guys in indy wrestling right now, and I'd have a hard time arguing that he isn't the best.
3) CM Punk: Busted out the Macho Man Randy Savage tights and had an entertaining altercation with Bret Hart in Raw's main event. He also led his charges to the WWE Tag Team titles, so the Punker had quite the productive week.
4) Sheamus
5) Daniel Bryan
Colin Rinehart
1) Angel de Oro
He won the inaugural Forjando un Idolo tournament in CMLL, a huge singles tournament that produced a great finals match against Polvora. Oro looks to become a major player with the departure of Mistico (and now Averno).
2) Claudio Castagnoli: Defeated longtime partner Chris Hero as well as Low Ki in two title defenses this weekend in PWG, sending a message to everyone that he's going to be a very difficult man to beat
3) Sheamus: Won a title shot on Smackdown, beating Mark Henry and Christian.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Randy Orton
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention…Alex Riley, David Otunga and Michael McGuillicutty - 6 Votes
Fifth Place…The Young Bucks (aka Generation Me) - 6 Votes
Fourth Place…Eric Young and Daniel Bryan - 8 Votes
Third Place…Angel De Oro - 14 Votes
Won the inaugural Forjando un Idolo tournament in CMLL.
Second Place…Sheamus - 25 Votes
Earned himself a title shot against Randy Orton!
Wrestler of the Week…Claudio Castignoli - 26 Votes
Is still your reigning and defending PWG Champion!
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the rankings after week NINE…
Christian (WWE) – 42
Randy Orton (WWE) - 40
R-Truth (WWE) – 27 Sin Cara (WWE) - 27
Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 21 Sting (TNA) - 21
Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) - 19 John Cena(WWE) - 19
Claudio Castignoli (US Independent) - 15 Sheamus (WWE) - 15 HHH (WWE) – 15 Alberto Del Rio (WWE) – 15 Yuji Nagata (NJPW) - 15
Edge (WWE) {RETIRED} - 13
Max Buck (TNA) - 12 Jeremy Buck (TNA) - 12 MVP(NJPW) - 12 Undertaker (WWE) - 12
Angel De Oro (CMLL) - 9 BxB Hulk (Dragon Gate) - 9 Abyss (TNA) - 9 Kharma (WWE) - 9 Charlie Haas (ROH) - 9 Shelton Benjamin (ROH) - 9
The Miz (WWE) - 7
Eric Young (TNA) - 6 Daniel Bryan (WWE) - 6 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 CM Punk (WWE) - 3 Tyson Kidd (WWE) - 3
David Otunga (WWE) - 1 Alex Riley (WWE) - 1 Michael McGuillicutty (WWE) - 1 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: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:24 PM
AJ Styles should have won in 2009-10.
Posted By: aravindsamy (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:26 PM
Alex Riley didn't get his one point in the final standings!! And Claudio got 15 points in the finals...and Young Bucks got 7 for the week.
Other than that, good article as usual, love reading them weekly.
Posted By: scottysnacks (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:27 PM
Cue the TNA whiners in 3, 2, 1...
Posted By: Guest#6535 (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:33 PM
Fucking right. Love Claudio and there's no way he doesn't deserve no.1
the PWG shows over the weekend were just downright AMAZING as well.
Posted By: Guest#5094 (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 05:25 PM
Glad to see Claudio get some love here. Also glad to see Low Ki jobbed for once.
Posted By: Guest#6598 (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 05:33 PM
Young, Otunga and McGillicutty definitely deserved more.
Posted By: Bamboo Crunch (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 06:09 PM
Young, Otunga and McGillicutty definitely deserved more.
Posted By: Bamboo Crunch (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 06:09 PM
Agreed. Title wins in major federations used to guarantee high rankings. Think Alex Riley was underrated too but it's all subjective
Posted By: mr_wishart (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 06:46 PM
AJ Styles should have won in 2009-10.
Posted By: aravindsamy (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:26 PM
Well he didn't. Get over it.
Posted By: Guest#7723 (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 08:51 PM
1 - Abyss - Kinda surprised he didn't get more love this week. I actually enjoyed his match and he looked like a monster again.
2 - Angel de Oro - Big moment for Angel de Oro and CMLL.
3 - Sheamus - Earned the #1 contender match and seemed like he belongs there.
4 - David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty
5 - Eric Young
HM - Claudio Castognoli, Kurt Angle
Year End Standings:
Randy Orton 39
Christian 27
John Cena 24
R-Truth 24
Abyss 24
Slow week, honestly. Abyss cracks to top 5 for TNA.
I actually like the way my list has turned out so far. I guess I should since its my list, duh, but as much as I like Christian, Orton has had a much better year. If he keeps it up he will be hard to catch.
Posted By: rshort2001 (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 11:33 PM
Never heard of Claudio so it was clear that it was a slow week this week.
Posted By: Guest#8908 (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 02:59 AM
Slow week indeed.
The KoW would be huge in WWE, i like both those guys.
Abyss should of gotten more love.
New Nexus/Corre = Terrible end the experiment already and just push Barrett and Gabriel.
one of the columnists had a piece about who has the most upside out of the cureent youth movement and Sheamus IMO is the one the most upside.
Bully heel
Monster Face (once he gets a spray on tan)
Either way, he is credible. He can talk. He has a great moveset, very believable in his role and has the look that initially sets him apart. Plus HHH likes him. But even still, he has the intangibles.
Posted By: The Fuj (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 07:39 AM
I'm not trying to troll, but i'm shocked that Riley didnt get more love!
I often find the abuse of indie wrestlers tiresome. But this time I feel the reverse is happening.
Riley had what may turn out to be a breakout segment. In a slow week he should have made the top 5.
Posted By: roh fan (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 08:36 AM
AJ Styles should have won in 2009-10.
Posted By: aravindsamy (Guest) on May 30, 2011 at 04:26 PM
And he might have done, had he not spent a third of the year injured, a third of the year jobbing and a third of the year being in a storyline where he was licking Ric Flair's balls.
Posted By: Guest#8978 (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 04:22 PM
Hell yes! CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI!
PWG gets some recognition on 411!
PWG is the BEST indy company going today!
Posted By: Perk (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 05:19 PM
sure would be nice if this damn website would post results for PWG.....
Posted By: OFWGKTA (Guest) on May 31, 2011 at 05:28 PM
I have no love for Riley, and plenty for Bryan, but Riley was the one who deserved points for career advancement this week.
(But he still sucks in the ring.)
Posted By: Joe Schmoe (Guest) on June 01, 2011 at 05:45 PM
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