411’s Wrestler of the Week 10.17.11: Year Seven, Week 29

Posted by Larry Csonka on 10.17.2011

Austin Aries retained the TNA X-Division Title, Velvet Sky won the Knockouts Title, Davey Richards & Rockey Romero won IWGP tag team gold 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 29, 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…

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 around WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let's see who wins this week…

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Larry Csonka
1) Masato Tanaka
Masato Tanaka of ZERO1 defeated MVP to win the IWGP Intercontinental Title. Tanaka keeps on rolling, winning titles and putting on good performances. Maybe a surprise pick, and it is to me as well as I already had the #1 set and written until someone decided he "wasn't the guy…brother." Rock on Tanaka.

2) Austin Aries: Aries had one of the best matches on the Bound For Glory PPV, and came off like a complete star due to his performance and the crowd reaction. Still your X-Division Champion, and one of the greatest men that ever lived.
3) Davey Richards & Rockey Romero: Davey Richards & Rockey Romero defeated Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi to become the new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions
4) Kurt Angle
5) Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki


Wes Kirk
1) Kurt Angle
Although the crowd greeted his opponent with chants of "Next World Champ!" among other demoralizing phrases, Kurt Angle went to Bound For Glory injured and still was able to pull off a hell of a good match with the man who had been promoted as the next big name in the company. Although he took a bad bump early on and his leg hurt so badly he needed to remove his boot at the end of the match, Angle delivered as he always does and even was able to retain the title with a slight assist from the ropes. With the guts he showed tonight, Kurt proved why he belongs as Wrestler Of The Week without a doubt.

2) Bobby Roode: Despite a defeat against Kurt Angle for the gold on his first attempt, Bobby Roode did something at Bound For Glory he never had been able to claim before and that is main event the top PPV of the year. Roode has become a star over the period of the last year and although he did get defeated it required cheating to hold him down for defeat and opens up the possibility that we'll be seeing Angle and Roode go at it again with a different result down the line.
3) Velvet Sky: Let the pigeons loose! For the first time in her career, Velvet finally captured the big one and became the new Knockouts Champion despite having the Knockouts Vice President who despises her as a referee, a champion who used her brainwashed former best friend to run interference, a formidable ex-champion in Mickie James, and the nefarious Madison Rayne who would do anything to win. Velvet was able to avoid Winter's blood mist and take advantage with a massive face-buster variation to score the pinfall and take home the first singles female title she's held in four years with TNA.
4) Hiroshi Tanahashi
5) Big Show


Greg DeMarco
1) Austin Aries
Austin Aries may have opened up the Bound for Glory PPV, but he looked like a star. In fact, if you were a new viewer for TNA, you'd think he was one of the main players. And the match itself shows just how talented Aries is. If you've seen it once, go back and watch it again, just paying attention to every little thing Aries does. Yes, he got chants from the Philly crowd because of his ROH days. But he also got chants because they appreciate just how damn good he is.

2) Velvet Sky: Career accomplishments are a big deal to me, and this week we saw Velvet Sky capture her first major singles gold in the form of the TNA Knockouts Championship. Let the Pigeons Loose!
3) Robert Bobby Roode: Bobby Roode should be an academic #1. TNA set the table for his title win with perfection, except they failed to deliver on the meal. Yes, Bobby Roode comes away looking like a legit main event star. Yes, this past week was the final step in his elevation. But the BFG finish was a disservice to Bobby Roode. #3 is a poor consolation prize. He should be #1.
4) Cody Rhodes
5) Samoa Joe, Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, Bully Ray & Mr. Anderson


R.C. Sutton
1) Bobby Roode
I'll take whatever heat people want to give me. He delivered his half of a great main event on TNA's biggest stage of the year, before the finish sucked the life right out of it.

2) Austin Aries: Great opening match, solid title defense, just another day at the office for A Double
3) Velvet Sky: The main event had the match right and the finish wrong. Velvet's win had the match wrong, but the finish right. Congrats to Miss Pigeons
4) Cody Rhodes
5) Sting


Ryan Byers
1) Tetsuya Naito
WWE was pretty lame this week and there was no way in hell I was watching a TNA PPV when it was opposite The Walking Dead's season premier, so my ballot is going to be Japan-heavy. Probably the biggest success story in Japan this week was Tetsuya Naito, who main evented a NJPW pay per view against IWGP Champ Hiroshi Tanahashi. Though Naito lost, by most accounts he looked like he belonged in the match and went a long way towards establishing himself as a top guy in the promotion for years to come. Naito has come a long way since NO LIMIT in a relatively short period of time, and I'm happy to see that.

2) PAC: In Dragon Gate this week, British wrestler PAC successfully defended the Open the Brave Gate Title for the ninth time, which is an incredibly high number of title defense wins for any champion, let alone a foreign wrestler in Japan. PAC has truly made himself into just another one of the boys in DG.
3) The Big Show: In a week of poorly, poorly booked WWE television, the Big Show was one of the few guys who came off looking like a viable main eventer in an entertaining storyline.
4) Masaaki Mochizuki
5) Masato Tanaka


TJ Hawke
1) Kotaro Suzuki/Atsushi Aoki
Won the GHC Jr Tag Titles over KENTA and Kanemaru. NOAH and NJPW protect their belts far better than TNA, so my ballot this week is surprisingly Japan heavy given that it was supposedly TNA's biggest PPV of the year.

2) Davey Richards/Rocky Romero: Defeated the excellent reigning champions, Apollo 55, to become IWGP Jr. Tag Champs. Rocky is a former Jr. Title holder but this is the first title that Davey has won in NJPW
3) Ricky Marvin: Won the vacated GHC Jr Title after Katsuhiko Nakajima vacated the title recently because of an emergency surgery.
4) Masato Tanaka: Defeated MVP for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion
5) Austin Aries: A Double was treated like a star by the live audience and retained his title clean.


Jeremy Thomas
1) Austin Aries
Aries successfully retained the TNA X-Division Title in the best match on Bound for Glory. That's enough for #1 this week for me.

2) Velvet Sky: I may or may not have huge issues with how the match was booked (SPOILER ALERT: I do), but the fact remains that Velvet has finally attained singles champion status in TNA after a long storyline building up to it. Kudos to her.
3) The Briscoe Brothers: Beat the All-Night Express to become the #1 contenders to the ROH Tag Team Titles.
4) PAC/Ricky Marvin (tie)
5) Cody Rhodes


Andy Critchell
1) Hulk Hogan
When all is said and done concerning Bound for Glory, the most significant take away is that even in 2011 at 58 years old Hulk Hogan has the ability to make the spotlight fall on him and him alone. Aside from maybe Austin Aires, Hulk Hogan was the only one who came out of Bound for Glory looking like a big star. It really is a testament to Hogan's ability as salesman and self promoter that once again he has convinced the powers that be that he should be the top babyface of a wrestling organization. The funny thing is that we all should have seen this coming. He spent the whole week leading up to the PPV on a media blitz with ESPN, talk shows, radio interviews, etc and he did a masterful job promoting himself and also burying Robert Roode. At the time the burial seemed out of place but looking at the completely foolish way TNA ended the main event last night it makes a lot more sense; Angle didn't beat anyone significant, he just beat another jobber and the BIG story is that we now have the RETURN of babyface Hogan. Hulkamania is running wild once again brother!

2) John Laurinaitis: Over the years we have all known about Johnny Ace behind the scenes and while he has been an on-air character for a few months now, this new role will put him in a position of prominence. Whether that is a good or bad thing is definitely up for debate but you can't deny that this is the biggest thing that has ever happened in this guy's career.
3) Crimson: While this guy has had maybe the most unimpressive undefeated streak ever conceived the fact of the matter is that he got a big win on PPV which is huge for Crimson's young career.
4) Tetsuya Naito
5) Velvet Sky


Chad Nevett
1) Randy Orton
He won the biggest battle royal in WWE's history, surviving 40 other men to challenge Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship. In that match, he looked strong against the champion and technically won via DQ after Cody Rhodes interfered.

2) PAC: Had another successful Open the Brave Gate Championship win and continuing to be surprisingly dominant in Dragon Gate.
3) The Miz: Along with R-Truth, the Miz was rehired by the WWE and had an impressive showing on both Monday night and, then, by nearly defeating Orton in the battle royal on Smackdown.
4) Alberto Del Rio
5) Cody Rhodes

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THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Kurt Angle, Rocky Romero and Davey Richards - 7 Votes

Fifth Place…Masato Tanaka - 8 Votes

Fourth Place…PAC -9 Votes

Third Place…Bobby Roode - 12 Votes

Had a great showing on Impact and at Bound for Glory, but came up short…

Second Place…Velvet Sky - 16 Votes

Your NEW Knockouts Champion!

Wrestler of the Week…Austin Aries - 19 Votes

Still your X-Division Champion!


Year-End Standings~!
And here are the rankings after week TWENTY NINE. Velvet Sky makes her debut on the list, while Roode, Angle and Aries all jump up and into the top 10. In a rarity, WWE was completely shut out. Here are the updated standings…

1. Randy Orton (WWE) - 81

2. Mark Henry (WWE) - 79

3. CM Punk (WWE) - 75

4. Christian (WWE) – 69

5. Alberto Del Rio (WWE) – 65

6. R-Truth (WWE) – 54

7. John Cena (WWE) - 51

8. Austin Aries (TNA) - 46

9. Kurt Angle (TNA) - 41

10. Bobby Roode (TNA) - 37

11. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 34

12. Sheamus (WWE) - 33

13. Davey Richards (ROH) - 31

14. Sin Cara {Mistico} (WWE) – 27

15. Rey Mysterio (WWE) – 26 {INJURED}


Sting (TNA) - 25

Gunner (TNA) - 24
Giant Bernard (NJPW) - 24
Kota Ibushi (DDT) - 24

The Miz (WWE) - 25

El Generico (ROH) - 21
MVP (NJPW) - 21
Daniel Bryan (WWE) - 21
Johnny Gargano (US Independent) - 21

Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) - 19

HHH (WWE) – 16
Brian Kendrick (TNA) - 16

Tadasuke (OSAKA Pro) - 15
Mr. Anderson (TNA) - 15
Kevin Steen (US Independent) - 15
Antonio Cesaro {Claudio Castignoli} (WWE) - 15
Yuji Nagata (NJPW) - 15
Edge (RETIRED) - 15
Kofi Kingston (WWE) - 15
Sara Del Rey (US Independent) - 15

Cody Rhodes (WWE) - 14

Prince Devitt (NJPW) - 12
Mickie James (TNA) - 12
Velvet Sky (TNA) - 12
Karl Anderson (NJPW) - 12
Winter (TNA) - 12
Cheerleader Melissa (US Independent) - 12
Nick Jackson (US Independent) - 12
Matt Jackson (US Independent) - 12
Undertaker (WWE) - 12
Kenny King (ROH) - 12
Rhett Titus (ROH) - 12

Kharma (WWE) – 10 {PREGNANT}

Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH) - 9
Zack Ryder (WWE) - 9
The Big Show (WWE) – 9
Sin Cara {Hunico} (WWE) – 9
Alex Riley (WWE) - 9
Angel De Oro (CMLL) - 9
BxB Hulk (Dragon Gate) - 9
Go Shiozaki (NOAH) - 9
Abyss (TNA) - 9
Charlie Haas (ROH) - 9
Shelton Benjamin (ROH) - 9
Evan Bourne (WWE) - 9
Chuck Taylor (US Independent) - 9
Mike Quackenbush (US Independent) - 9

AJ Styles (TNA) – 7
The Sheik (US Independent) - 7
Jeff Jarrett (TNA) - 7

PAC (Dragon Gate) - 6
Eric Young (TNA) - 6
Ezekiel Jackson (WWE) - 6
Escorpion (CMLL) - 6
Low Ki (US Independent) - 6

Beth Phoenix (WWE) - 4

Bully Ray(TNA) - 3
Fire Ant (US Independent) - 3
Green Ant (US Independent) - 3
Soldier Ant (US Independent) - 3
Tyson Kidd (WWE) - 3
Kelly Kelly (WWE) - 3
Hirooki Goto (NJPW) - 3
Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) - 3

Dolph Ziggler (WWE) - 2

Rocky Romero (US Independent) - 3
Eddie Edwards (ROH) - 1
David Otunga (WWE) - 1
Michael McGuillicutty (WWE) - 1
Crimson (TNA) - 1
Kazarian (TNA) - 1
Christopher Daniels (TNA) - 1
Hernandez (TNA) - 1
Anarquia (TNA) - 1
Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL) - 1
Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW) - 1
Mohammed Yone (NOAH) - 1
Dick Togo (RETIRED) - 1
Daisuke Sekimoto (All Japan) - 1
Volador (CMLL) - 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.

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**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


Year Six Winner: The Miz

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