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411’s Wrestler of the Week 5.07.12: Year Eight, Week Five
Welcome to WEEK FIVE of YEAR EIGHT 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
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) Kazuchika Okada
Not only did he retain his IWGP Heavyweight Title, but he also was great in a four-on-four Survivor Series style elimination match on May 5th. During that match, Okada scored three of the eliminations for his team, including an over-the-top-rope elimination of Hiroshi Tanahashi, his next challenger. He has come a long way already as champion, and I hope to see him succeed.
2) Low Ki: Defeated Prince Devitt this week to win the IWPG Jr. Heavyweight Title.
3) Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka: Defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.
4) Dragon Kid
5) Bobby Roode
Ryan Byers
1) Kazuchika Okada
This was an absolutely HUGE week for the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion. New Japan Pro Wrestling ran a pay per view taping on Thursday, and, in the main event, Okada scored his second successful defense of the IWGP belt, defeating this year’s New Japan Cup winner, Hirooki Goto. Afterwards, it was announced that former champ Hiroshi Tanahashi would get his rematch for the title in June. However, on an NJPW TV taping on Sunday, Okada sent a clear message to Tanahashi, as Okada’s team defeated Tanahashi’s team in a four-on-four Survivor Series-style elimination match, with Okada eliminating Tanahashi, as well as two other members of the opposing team. Nobody on the face of the earth is being booked as strongly and as consistently as Kazuchika Okada right now.
2) Brock Lesnar: Several people claimed that Lesnar was “dead” as a result of his loss to John Cena at Extreme Rules. Though I’m still not a big fan of the E.R. finish and feel like WWE could’ve made a lot more money with Lesnar as an undefeated beast for several months, the fact of the matter is that Brock snapping HHH’s arm this past week on Monday Night Raw was perhaps the single best thing the company could have done to rehab him. Lesnar still felt like a major star in that segment, and he still felt dangerous and unpredictable, which is his character’s whole appeal.
3) Low Ki: From late 2008 through early 2009, Low Ki was the IWPG Jr. Heavyweight Champion, but Ki signing with WWE brought an abrupt end to the title reign. Now Low Ki is back in the NJPW fold (while simultaneously working for Dragon Gate USA, an interesting political move), and he’s also back to holding the IWGP Jr. Title, having defeated Prince Devitt for the belt on this week’s PPV.
4) Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5) Dragon Kid
Gavin Napier
1) Sheamus
If anybody has been on a bigger roll in the last five months, I don’t know who it would be. Consider what Sheamus has done in the last 5 months. In 8 televised matches in December, Sheamus lost only a battle royal that was won by Hornswoggle. In January, he lost his share of televised matches, but also won the Royal Rumble. He officially challenged Daniel Bryan at the Elimination Chamber ppv, and won the World Heavyweight Championship in 18 seconds. He went on to have what I feel was match of the year so far against Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules, and this past week finally put the feud to rest (seemingly) by defeating Daniel Bryan twice in one night after Bryan won the right to face CM Punk. Sheamus is rolling right now, and I don’t look for Alberto Del Rio to stop it.
2) Kofi Kingston and R-Truth: Granted, the WWE Tag Team titles are almost worthless now, but I feel like this is a reward for both guys. For Kofi, this helps pick up some momentum after Evan Bourne’s wellness and injury issues unfairly stalled his progress. For R-Truth, I feel like it’s a reward for managing to remain inexplicably over despite the absurdity of everything he does. I wholeheartedly support the decision to put the belts on guys the fans care about and see what happens.
3) Robert Roode: 2011’s most improved wrestler defeated Mr. Anderson on Impact to keep marching towards becoming the longest reigning TNA World Champion ever.
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Low Ki
Greg Demarco
1) Austin Aries
Austin Aries’ promo opposite Bully Ray was the best stuff I saw all week. He showed that he belongs in the ring with one of the best heels that TNA has to offer. To top it off, he beat Bully Ray down, and Bully Ray didn’t mount a comeback–security had to intervene. Big rub for Austin Aries this week.
2) Daniel Bryan: Bryan beat the clock and earned a WWE Championship Match against CM Punk at Over The Limit–and once again ignited the internet.
3) Kofi Kingston & R-Truth: The tag team titles might not mean much to the WWE, but they mean a lot to me!
4) Bobby Roode
5) Low Ki
Chad Nevett
1) Sheamus
Continues to dominate by beating Daniel Bryan on Smackdown despite the injured arm and Alberto Del Rio’s interference. It looks like they’re setting him up as a strong face champion and it’s working well.
2) Daniel Bryan: He may have lost to Sheamus once again later in the week, but, on Monday, he earned a WWE Title shot at Over the Limit against CM Punk by beating out nine other guys in the Beat the Clock Challenge.
3) Kofi Kingston & R-Truth: Your new WWE Tag Team Champions…
4) Kazuchika Okada
5) Low Ki
Jeremy Thomas
1) Daniel Bryan
D-Bry turned his loss in the World Heavyweight Title match at Extreme Rules around and picked a big win as he now gets to challenge CM Punk for the WWE Heavyweight Title. I know people are probably viewing him as Punk fodder, but I wouldn’t put it past them to give him the belt considering the fact that his World Title run was very successful all things considering and the “Yes” chants have caught on like wildfire.
2) Kazuchika Okada: Defended the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Hirooki Goto and has some momentum heading into his title defense against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
3) Sheamus: Put his feud with Daniel Bryan to rest in definitive fashion and is already looking strong against new challenger Alberto Del Rio.
4) Kofi Kingston and R-Truth
5) Low Ki
Andy Critchell
1) Brock Lesnar
The way I see it, the beat down of Triple H by Lesnar is the biggest story this week and earns Lesnar the top spot. It is pretty rare for us to be allowed to see Trips look this vulnerable and it just reinforces the idea that Brock Lesnar is a murder machine.
2) Layla El: She’s only just made her return but this week she was on TV twice and both times she made quick work of her opponents. I know that some people are speculating that she is just a placeholder until Kharma comes back but for my money the belt should stay around Layla’s beautiful waist for a while longer.
3) Bobby Roode: Roode gets points for laying out not one, not two, but three of the top contenders for his championship all in one night. Granted the three guys are Anderson, RVD, and Hardy but still I think Roode came out of Impact looking incredibly strong. But while we’re here, what the hell happened to Ken Anderson? When he was in WWE winning Money in the Bank he seemed like the next great superstar. Now he is just a chubby mess that makes every match he’s in worse. Basically, as great as Roode is Anderson is equally as terrible. If Anderson still has fans out there they must be the dumbest people alive (outside of the tea party of course.)
4) Daniel Bryan
5) Kofi & R-Truth
THE WINNERS~!
Your NEW WWE Tag team Champions.
Is dominating New Japan as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion!
Is now your new #1 contender for the WWE Title.
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week five…
Brock Lesnar – 40 points (WWE)
Daniel Bryan – 27 points (WWE)
CM Punk – 21 points (WWE)
Sheamus – 18 points (WWE)
Chuck Taylor- 18 points (US Independent)
John Cena – 15 points (WWE)
Kazuchika Okada – 12 points (NJPW)
Lord Tensai – 12 points (WWE)
Bobby Roode – 10 points (TNA)
Kofi Kingston – 9 points (WWE)
R Truth – 9 points (WWE)
RVD – 9 points (TNA)
Hirooki Goto – 9 points (NJPW)
Colt Cabana – 6 points (US Independent)
17 – 6 points (US Independent)
Shard – 6 points (US Independent)
assailANT – 6 points (US Independent)
combatANT – 6 points (US Independent)
Player Uno – 6 points (US Independent)
Stupified – 6 points (US Independent)
Johnny Gargano – 6 points (US Independent)
Mark Henry – 4 points (WWE)
Low Ki – 3 points (US Independent)
Sara Del Rey – 3 points (US Independent)
Chris Sabin – 3 points (TNA)
Alex Shelley – 3 points (TNA)
Layla – 1 points (WWE)
Katsuhiko Nakajima – 1 point (NOAH)
Dmitrious “The Greek God” Papadon – 1 point (US Independent)
Sami Callihan – 1 point (US Independent)
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.
Other International Wrestlers are represented in INDIGO.
 Year One Winner: Ric Flair
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