411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.30.12: Year Seven, Week 44

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.30.2012

Sheamus won the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan retained the World Title, the Miz played iron man and more, but who is 411's Wrestler of the week? Get all the details on who ranked where and for an updated look at the Year-End standings!



Welcome to Week 44, 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…

---

Larry Csonka
1) Sheamus
While a pleasant surprise, Sheamus came out of nowhere to defeat favorites Randy Orton and Chris Jericho to win the 2012 WWE Royal Rumble. Shemaus has been on a tear, but hasn't had much direction, but this was a huge victory for him. FELLA!

2) Daniel Bryan: Retained his World Title in a cage match against Big Show and Mark Henry. Add in his great showing character wise on Smackdown and it was a great week for Daniel Bryan.
3) Danshoku Dino: Defeated KUDO to win the KO-D Openweight Title.
4) CM Punk
5) Tara


Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) Sheamus
-All the talk was Jericho and Orton heading into the Rumble, and yet Sheamus walks out with the somewhat surprising win. It's nice to see someone new and in need of a big win like this get honors and it will shake up what looked like a predictable Road to WrestleMania.

2) CM Punk: Got to lay out Johnny Ace on RAW and then successfully defended his WWE Title in a pretty strong match with Ziggler at the Rumble.
3) Daniel Bryan: Survived being in a cage with 2 Giants to retain his World Title
4) The Miz/Cody Rhodes
5) Dolph Ziggler


Ryan Byers
1) Sheamus
Count me among the group who didn't see this one coming. It's so unexpected that there's part of me that wonders if Sheamus might not lose out on his title shot between now and Wrestlemania to allow one of the guys who everybody *thought* would win to take the championship slot. However, what we need to be focusing on right here and right now is the fact that Sheamus is your 2012 Royal Rumble winner, meaning that he goes down in the history books alongside names like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, and many more.

2) Daniel Bryan: Bryan got the first clean (based on the rules of the match anyway) successful defense of his World Heavyweight Championship on the Royal Rumble, which is cause for celebration.
3) Danshoku Dino: Dino is the new KO-D Openweight Champion in Japan's DDT promotion thanks to a win over KUDO. Dino has been the most popular wrestler in the company for a while, but now he also holds its top belt.
4) CM Punk
5) Katsuhiko Nakajima


Chad Nevett
1) Sheamus
He's going to WrestleMania! Sheamus's name was thrown around a lot as a potential winner, but usually he was predicted to have a good showing while Orton or Jericho won. His work with Jericho at the end was great and I'm genuinely curious to see what happens with him now.

2) CM Punk: Beat the odds and retained the WWE Championship is a very good match. Hell, he won the match, like, four times!
3) Daniel Bryan: Retained the World Heavyweight Championship and in completely clean fashion.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) Chris Jericho


Jeremy Thomas
1) Sheamus
The not-so-obvious Rumble winner is the obvious WOTW winner for me. Sheamus knocks off Chris Jericho to win the Royal Rumble match and is headed to WrestleMania, shaking things up a bit and making it more interesting in my book.

2) Daniel Bryan: Bryan had a clean title defense against two of the biggest guys in the company (in a literal fashion, anyway) and makes it out of January with his title reign intact. Could he make it to WrestleMania? We'll see.
3) CM Punk: I didn't think that the Punk/Ziggler match did Dolph's cred a lot of favors, but it did a lot for Punk's as he was able to take a threat like Dolph and, in a pretty good match, put him down definitively and more than once. It'll be interesting to see where Punk goes from here.
4) Chris Jericho/The Miz
5) James Storm


Tony Acero
1) Dolph Ziggler
I know, I know, Sheamus won the Rumble, and he is en route to Mania with that win under his belt, but I would feel like a bastard if I didn't give Dolph his just due. The man is the future, and his match with Punk stole a show that makes its name on one match alone. Sure, there was some overbooking, but that match was still damned good. Punk deserves tons of credit, but he already gets it. Dolph kicked tons of ass, and out matched the Rumble.

2) Sheamus: just because I put Dolph first doesn't mean that Sheamus doesn't deserve the praise that he is getting. He won the freakin Roual Rumble! It shows just how much faith they have in the guy and means someone is listening to the cries for new stars. He and Jericho had a nice mini match before the elimination an after it, he looked so elated! Such a joy to see a wrestler enjoy himself.
3) CM Punk: just as Dolph deserves praise for a good match, so, too does his opponent. Punk is every bit a wrestler as he claims to be; the Best in the World . He's bad assery personified and truly the only thing that hurt him was the booking. Even so, he and Dolph showed how exciting a match could be with the right story telling and great talent.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Brodus Clay


Greg DeMarco
1) Sheamus
The Great White Celtic Warrior won his first Royal Rumble, and what I believe to be just the latest on what will be a laundry list of accomplishments. I think we're seeing the elevation of a guy who is embarking on a Hall of Fame career.

2) Daniel Bryan: When D-Bry won Money in the Bank, people feared he'd lose in his title shot. Now he's building a title reign, and we're for him to wrestle Sheamus at 'Mania.
3) Tara: Beat Mickie James and Velvet Sky to become Knockouts #1 Contender at Against All Odds.
4) Johnny Ace
5) Kharma

---

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Tara & The Miz - 4 Votes

Fifth Place…Danshoku Dino - 6 Votes

Fourth Place…Dolph Ziggler - 8 Votes

Third Place…CM Punk - 18 Votes

Still your WWE Champion…

Second Place…Daniel Bryan - 24 Votes

Still your World Heavyweight Champion…

Wrestler of the Week…Sheamus - 34 Votes

Your 2012 WWE Royal Rumble winner…FELLA!


Year-End Standings~!
And here are the rankings after week FOURTY-FOUR! CM Punk and Daniel Bryan are battling it out for the top spot, while Sheamus jumps into the top 10 and Dolph Ziggler is now in the top 15. Tara and Danshoku Dino make their debuts on the big list.

Here are the updated standings…

1. CM Punk (WWE) - 126

2. Daniel Bryan (WWE) - 117

3. Bobby Roode (TNA) - 95

4. Mark Henry (WWE) - 89

5. Randy Orton (WWE) - 87

6. Alberto Del Rio (WWE) – 74

7. Christian (WWE) – 69
7. R-Truth (WWE) – 69

9. Sheamus (WWE) - 57

10. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 55

11. John Cena (WWE) - 51

12. Austin Aries (TNA) - 48

13. Dolph Ziggler (WWE) - 42

14. Gail Kim (TNA) - 41
14. Kurt Angle (TNA) - 41
14. The Miz (WWE) - 41


Kevin Steen (US Independent) - 39

Cody Rhodes (WWE) - 36

Zack Ryder (WWE) - 33
El Generico (ROH) - 33

Davey Richards (ROH) - 32

Wade Barrett (WWE) - 31

Johnny Gargano (US Independent) - 30
James Storm (TNA) - 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

MVP (NJPW) - 21

Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) - 19

Mickie James (TNA) - 18
Go Shiozaki (NOAH) - 18

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

Jay Briscoe (ROH) - 15
Mark Briscoe (ROH) - 15
Eddie Kingston (US Independent) - 15
Super Dragon (US Independent) - 15
Tadasuke (OSAKA Pro) - 15
Mr. Anderson (TNA) - 15
Antonio Cesaro {Claudio Castignoli} (WWE) - 15
Yuji Nagata (NJPW) - 15
Edge (RETIRED) - 15
Kofi Kingston (WWE) - 15
The Rock (WWE) - 15
Brodus Clay (WWE) - 15

Takeshi Morishima (NOAH) - 12
Jun Akiyama (NOAH) - 12
Prince Devitt (NJPW) - 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
Epico (WWE) - 12
Primo (WWE) - 12
Kenny King (ROH) - 12
Rhett Titus (ROH) - 12
BxB Hulk (Dragon Gate) - 12

AJ Styles (TNA) – 10
Kharma (WWE) – 10 {PREGNANT}
The Big Show (WWE) – 10

Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) - 9
Minoru Suzuki (NJPW) - 9
Lance Archer (NJPW) - 9
Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH) - 9
Hunico (WWE) – 9
Alex Riley (WWE) - 9
Angel De Oro (CMLL) - 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

The Sheik (US Independent) - 7
Jeff Jarrett (TNA) - 7

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

Beth Phoenix (WWE) - 4

Michael Elgin (ROH) - 3
Bully Ray (TNA) - 3
Zema Ion (TNA) - 3
Fire Ant (US Independent) - 3
Green Ant (US Independent) - 3
Soldier Ant (US Independent) - 3
Booker T (WWE) - 3
Tyson Kidd (WWE) - 3
Kelly Kelly (WWE) - 3
Danshoku Dino (DDT) - 3
Hirooki Goto (NJPW) - 3
Akitoshi Saito (NOAH) - 3
Rocky Romero (US Independent) - 3
Fit Finlay (Independent) - 3
Akira Tozawa (Dragon Gate) - 3

Crimson (TNA) - 2

Jigsaw (Independent) - 1
Hallowicked (Independent) - 1
Eddie Edwards (ROH) - 1
David Otunga (WWE) - 1
Michael McGuillicutty (WWE) - 1
Tara (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
Starbuck (International Talent) - 1
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (Japan) – 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.

---

**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!