411’s Wrestler of the Week 12.26.11: Year Seven, Week 39
Posted by Larry Csonka on 12.26.2011
Daniel Bryan dominated WWE TV, the Briscoes won the ROH Tag Team Titles, Kevin Steen officially returned to ROH 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 39, 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) Mark & Jay Briscoe
DEM BOYS. DAY ONE. MURPHY REC CENTER. CAMPBELL's CHUNKY. NOT COSMETICALLY PLEASING. But, they are the ROH Tag Team Champions once again, and that is a good thing. Congrats to the Briscoe Brothers, seven time ROH Tag team Champions.
2) Kevin Steen: Kevin Steen returned to the ring at the ROH Final Battle iPPV, winning a wild match with Steve Corino, getting reinstated to the company one year after being forced to leave, crowned himself the Antichrist of Pro Wrestling and is gunning for the ROH Title. Pretty solid week in my book.
3) Masato Tanaka: Won the annual Furinkazan round robin tag team tournament and successfully defended his IWPG Intercontinental Title by beating Tomoaki Honma.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Sheamus
Greg DeMarco
1) Daniel Bryan
This was a good week for the World Heavyweight Champion. If you watch RAW, the reaction he got with both entrances was less than I expected (especially from a Philly crowd). But he has a way of getting the crowds behind him as a match progresses, and they were reacting for him at the end. He's a rarity in the current WWE—he gets over by what he does in the ring.
2) James Storm: He's pretty much the only person who can get a reaction out of the Impact Zone fans, and that's saying something. I love that he's paired with Kurt Angle, especially as I presume he‘s going over in the end and moving on to a feud with Bobby Roode. Speaking of...
3) Jay & Mark Briscoe: #DemBoys captured the ROH World Tag Team Championships for a seventh time, and reclaim their spot at the top of ROH's tag team division—the best in the US right now.
4) Robert Bobby Roode
5) Chris Hero
Chad Nevett
1) Daniel Bryan
The follow-up to his Money in the Bank cashing in and World Heavyweight Championship victory has been strong. On Monday night, he got to win the six-man tag main event by making Alberto Del Rio tap out and, then, on Smackdown, he won the tag team main event in a similar manner. Throw in some decent promo work and he looked like a rather strong champion.
2) The Briscoes: Seven-time Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions... hell yeah.
3) Davey Richards: Retained the ROH World Title against Eddie Edwards.
4) Jay Lethal
5) Kevin Steen
Ryan Byers
1) Masato Tanaka
Things really slowed down in the US for Christmas, but they chugged right along in Japan, and they went fairly well for Masato Tanaka. Tanaka's home promotion is ZERO1, where he's a main eventer, but he simultaneously holds down a regular upper-midcard role with New Japan Pro Wrestling. This week, he had a fair deal of success in both promotions. In ZERO1, he and tag partner Fujita "Jr." Hayato won the company's annual Furinkazan round robin tag team tournament. In New Japan, he main evented a show and successfully defended his IWPG Intercontinental Title by beating Tomoaki Honma.
2) Daniel Bryan: Speaking of getting two big wins in the same week, both Raw and Smackdown ended with D-Bry tapping guys out, as he got the duke over Alberto Del Rio on Monday night and beat Jack Swagger on Friday. His title reign is already better booked than Rey Misterio's, which is honestly not something that I was expecting.
3) The Briscoe Brothers: Jay & Mark Briscoe unseated the World's Greatest Tag Team this weekend to become unprecedented seven-time ROH Tag Team Champions.
4) Tsubasa Kuragaki
5) The Young Bucks
Steve Cook
1. Daniel Bryan
Came out on top of both Raw & Smackdown main events this week, forcing Alberto Del Rio & Jack Swagger to tap out. His first main challenger for the title will be the Big Show, and although people in feuds with Show often come out of them looking worse than they did before, getting a victory over the giant by any means would do a lot to build Bryan's credibility with the WWE Universe.
2. Kevin Steen: The Antichrist of Pro Wrestling has been reinstated in Ring of Honor, and he wasted no time in getting into the ROH title picture, challenging Davey Richards at the end of Final Battle.
3. The Briscoe Brothers: Dem Boys became seven-time ROH tag team champions on Friday nights, and promos on ROH television should be much more enjoyable with them as champions instead of Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team.
4. Randy Orton/Wade Barrett (One got the edge on Raw, the other on Smackdown)
5. Zack Ryder
Jeremy Thomas
1) Daniel Bryan
First he got his big celebratory promo alongside Zack Ryder and CM Punk to start off Raw and then made Alberto Del Rio tap out in the main event six-man tag, then he moved onto Smackdown and had a really good match with Dolph Ziggler that turned into a tag match that saw him beat Jack Swagger. So far so good for D-Bry's title booking.
2) The Briscoes: Won the ROH Tag Team Titles for a seventh time, breaking their own record and beating the WGTT. That's a couple of winners to me.
3) Sheamus: Had two squash wins this week, one of which was the former WWE Champion in the Miz.
4) Zack Ryder
5) Jeff Hardy
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention…Zack Ryder & Davey Richards - 3 Votes
Fifth Place…Sheamus & James Storm - 4 Votes
Fourth Place…Masato Tanaka - 8 Votes
Third Place…Kevin Steen - 10 Votes
He's officially back in ROH, and hunting for the world title.
Second Place…The Briscoe Brothers - 22 Votes
Your NEW ROH Tag Team Champions!
Wrestler of the Week…Daniel Bryan - 26 Votes
The new world champion had a big week with wins on both Raw and Smackdown.
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the rankings after week THIRTY-NINE! The big story is Daniel Bryan leaping into the top five with his victory this week. Sheamus jumped a few spots as well, Kevin Steen cracked the top 15, bumping Cody Rhodes out and the Briscoe Brothers made their debuts on the big list. Here are the updated standings…
1. CM Punk (WWE) - 117
2. Mark Henry (WWE) - 89
3. Randy Orton (WWE) - 87
4. Daniel Bryan (WWE) - 81
5. Bobby Roode (TNA) - 80
6. Alberto Del Rio (WWE) – 74
7. Christian (WWE) – 69
7. R-Truth (WWE) – 69
9. John Cena (WWE) - 51
10. Austin Aries (TNA) - 47
11. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 43
12. Sheamus (WWE) - 42
13. Kurt Angle (TNA) - 41
14. The Miz (WWE) - 40
15. Kevin Steen (US Independent) - 39
Cody Rhodes (WWE) - 36
El Generico (ROH) - 33 Gail Kim (TNA) - 33
Davey Richards (ROH) - 32
Zack Ryder (WWE) - 33
Johnny Gargano (US Independent) - 30
Sara Del Rey (US Independent) - 28
Sin Cara (WWE) – 27 {INJURED}
Rey Mysterio (WWE) – 26 {INJURED}
Sting (TNA) - 25
Gunner (TNA) - 24 Giant Bernard (NJPW) - 24 Kota Ibushi (DDT) - 24
Steen is under ROH contract , has been for years .
Posted By: Mark (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:02 PM
Uh oh, trolls. Bryan's creeping his way back to the top. How big a collective temper tantrum are you guys going to throw if he wins? Or if Punk pulls his second? Either way, your hero, the Chinlock Messiah, isn't taking it.
Posted By: Guest#2632 (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:16 PM
At least one of the writer's is FINALLY admitting the lack of reaction Daniel "sero charisma" Bryan gets. He couldn't even get a decent reaction in PHILADELPHIA!!! That is considered one of the "smart cities" for wrestling.
Call me a troll if you want, but I(and others who bring this up) have stated a fact. The majority of fans simply do not care about Daniel Bryan. They weren't cheering because HE won, they were cheering because ADR lost. A small matter, but worth mentioning.
He only gets a reaction when there is someone to play off of(Cole).
Posted By: The Truth Shall Set You Free! (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:52 PM
that's my boy D. Bryan
Posted By: Guest#2552 (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:57 PM
Bryan deserved it this week. Won both the Raw and Smackdown main events by submission.
Posted By: Guest#4054 (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 11:25 PM
At least one of the writer's is FINALLY admitting the lack of reaction Daniel "sero charisma" Bryan gets. He couldn't even get a decent reaction in PHILADELPHIA!!! That is considered one of the "smart cities" for wrestling.
Call me a troll if you want, but I(and others who bring this up) have stated a fact. The majority of fans simply do not care about Daniel Bryan. They weren't cheering because HE won, they were cheering because ADR lost. A small matter, but worth mentioning.
He only gets a reaction when there is someone to play off of(Cole).
Posted By: The Truth Shall Set You Free! (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:52 PM
My dad watches casually and can't behind DB, I tell him how he was the best wrester in the world the last few years, but he say's he is boring. While he may get over with his wrestling in the ring he needs to do soemthing to get people behind him when he isn't wrestling. You don't want people not caring about him until 10 mins into a match, they should care the min his music hits till 5 mins after he has walked out of the ring. What he really needs is an opponent he can have good matches with, not Henry or Big Show, when the hell does Christian get back?
Posted By: Guest#9746 (Guest) on December 27, 2011 at 09:27 AM
Daniel Bryan has charisma. It's not the same generic WWE charisma The Miz has, but he has cut promos. He needs to be booked correctly and a good foil in order to get over.
Posted By: Guest#0471 (Guest) on December 27, 2011 at 12:03 PM
My dad watches casually and can't behind DB, I tell him how he was the best wrester in the world the last few years, but he say's he is boring. While he may get over with his wrestling in the ring he needs to do soemthing to get people behind him when he isn't wrestling. You don't want people not caring about him until 10 mins into a match, they should care the min his music hits till 5 mins after he has walked out of the ring. What he really needs is an opponent he can have good matches with, not Henry or Big Show, when the hell does Christian get back?
Posted By: Guest#9746 (Guest) on December 27, 2011 at 09:27 AM
This is a very good point. Think of the reaction when they hear the sound of glass shattering or the words, "IF YOU SMELLL".
Posted By: Carl (Guest) on December 27, 2011 at 01:49 PM
Uh oh, trolls. Bryan's creeping his way back to the top. How big a collective temper tantrum are you guys going to throw if he wins? Or if Punk pulls his second? Either way, your hero, the Chinlock Messiah, isn't taking it.
Posted By: Guest#2632 (Guest) on December 26, 2011 at 08:16 PM
funny you say trolls....since daniel bryans roh fans closely resemble trolls. cept they wouldnt hide under a bridge...they would get sunlight on their skin
Posted By: Guest#8223 (Guest) on December 28, 2011 at 06:36 PM
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