411’s Wrestler of the Week 10.02.12: Year Eight, Week 26

Welcome to WEEK 26, 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 (the voting week ins Monday through Sunday). Let’s see who wins this week…

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Larry Csonka
1) Samoa Joe:
Defeated Mr. Anderson via submission on Impact Thursday night to win the vacant TNA TV Title. Joe is not only the perfect guy to hold the title, but he also completes the TNA Grand Slam (World, X, TV and Tag Titles).

2) Ryback: He may not be everyone’s favorite, but I feel that The Ryback had one hell of a week on WWE TV. First of all he destroyed the IC Champion, the Miz, and beat him clean on Raw. Then he got the closing segment, protecting Mick Foley from WWE Champion CM Punk. Finally, he destroyed Tensai on Smackdown Friday night, closing out a very dominant week for the big guy.

3) El Generico: Defeated Kota Ibushi to win the KO-D Openweight Title at the DDT show in Japan on Sunday.
4) The Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes)
5) Big Show

James Wright
1) Samoa Joe
Joe won the TV title this week and despite the belt meaning very little until now it could actually lead to some great contests as long as guys like Joe, Anderson, Styles, Daniels and any number of other TNA talent are allowed to go after the belt on a regular basis. Unlike WWE, TNA doesn’t have too much of a vacuum when it comes to ‘true main event talent’ so usually any number of guys not in the title picture have little to do until they are thrown in their again, the TV title division could provide a very positive distraction for them.

2) Big Show: Returned; knocked out Tensi and The Funkasaurus, then defeated the Viper on Smackdown to face Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell for the World title, not too bad a return really.
3) The Rhodes Scholars: Rhodes and Sandow form an interesting duo and are already well on their way to facing Team Hell No at Hell in a Cell for the tag team titles.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) Antonio Cesaro

Greg DeMarco
1) Samoa Joe
Won the TNA Television Championship in dominant fashion against a fellow former world champ in Mr. Anderson. This belt is obviously important enough for TNA to bring it back, so they have a lot of faith in this rejuvenated Joe to reestablish its credibility.

2) Ryback: One 5-second (for the benefit of those with flash photography!) staredown with CM Punk and he’s suddenly tapped as the future. Follow that up with his biggest win so far, in convincing fashion over Tensai.
3) Big Show: Officially named #1 Contender for Sheamus’ World Heavyweight Championship after beating Randy Orton clean.
4) The Miz
5) Tara

Ryan Byers
1) The Ryback
After this week, it appears that WWE is really kicking the push of the Ryback into high gear, as he pinned the current Intercontinental Champion Mike the Miz in a non-title match and also defeated his physically largest opponent to date, Tensai, including hitting him with his marching Samoan drop in an impressive visual. (By the way, they really need to name that move.) Most important, though, was his confrontation with CM Punk, which indicates that the company is not afraid to insert the Ryback into the main event mix.

2) Mick Foley: Foley turned in the single most compelling and important performance of this week on all of WWE television, lacing into CM Punk with a passionate promo that made me forget Mick’s last several WWE television appearances, which I have found insufferable.
3) Ricardo Rodriguez: Ricardo looked really good in six man tag team action on Monday Night Raw, to the point that it reportedly inspired WWE brass to stick a mask on him to wrestle Sin Cara in a singles bout at the Smackdown tapings. There is now reportedly consideration of making his masked role a full-time affair, which brings Ricardo closer to having most pro wrestlers’ dream job, i.e. a WWE roster spot.
4) El Generico
5) The Big Show

TJ Hawke
1) El Generico
The generic luchador won the KO-D Openweight Title at the DDT show in Japan on Sunday. Generico beat Kota Ibushi in the main event for the belt.

2) Shuji Kondo : Won the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title.
3) Samoa Joe: Won the TNA TV Title, which I guess is an accomplishment.
4) The Ryback
5) The Big Show

Jack McGee
1) Ryback
Destroyed the IC Champion on Raw, saved a legend and stool tall against the WWE Champion and then destroyed Tensai. Yeah, Ryback was booked great last week.

2) Samoa Joe: Your new TNA TV Champion. Now can we go back to having that defended weekly and actually meaning something please?
3) The Rhodes Scholars: These guys are a great pair, and are a great addition to the tag division. A good win on SD and the attack on the champions on Raw gave them a strong week one as an “official” team.
4) Jeff Hardy
5) Big Show

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THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Shuji Kondo & Mick Foley – 7 Votes

Fifth Place…Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow – 8 Votes

Fourth Place…El Generico – 10 Votes

Third Place…Big Show – 11 Votes

Is the new number one contender for the World Title.

Second Place…Ryback – 20 Votes

Made the Miz his bitch and may be on a collision course with CM Punk…

Wrestler of the Week…Samoa Joe – 22 Votes

Your NEW TNA TV Champion!

Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week 26…

1. CM Punk – 101 points (WWE)

2. Daniel Bryan – 74 points (WWE)

3. Sheamus – 69 points (WWE)

4. Austin Aries – 58 points (TNA)

5. Brock Lesnar – 55 points (WWE)

6. Bobby Roode – 50 points (TNA)

7. James Storm – 45 points (TNA)

8. Samoa Joe – 43 points (TNA)

9. Bully Ray- 36 points (TNA)
9. Kevin Steen – 36 points (ROH)

Dolph Ziggler – 33 points (WWE)

Kane – 27 points (WWE)
Alberto Del Rio – 27 points (WWE)

John Cena – 25 points (WWE)

Kazuchika Okada – 24 points (NJPW)

Jeff Hardy – 21 points (TNA)
Big Show – 21 points (WWE)
Christopher Daniels – 21 points (TNA)
Kazarian – 21 points (TNA)
Kenny King – 21 points (TNA)
Christian – 21 points (WWE)

Player Uno – 19 points (US Independent)
Stupified – 19 points (US Independent)

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 18 points (NJPW)
Chuck Taylor- 18 points (US Independent)

Damian Sandow – 15 points (WWE)
Adam Cole – 15 points (ROH)
Antonio Cesaro – 15 points (WWE)
Johnny Gargano – 15 points (US Independent)
Ryusuke Taguchi – 15 points (NJPW)
Nick Jackson- 15 points (US Independent)
Matt Jackson- 15 points (US Independent)
Tyson Kidd – 15 points (WWE)
Rhett Titus – 15 points (ROH)

The Ryback – 12 points (WWE)
Masakatsu Funaki – 12 points (AJPW)
Magnus – 12 points (TNA)
AJ Styles – 12 points (TNA)
Zema Ion – 12 points (TNA)
Tensai – 12 points (WWE)
The Miz – 12 points (WWE)
Dr. Wagner Jr. – 12 points (AAA)

RVD – 10 points (TNA)

Portia Perez – 9 points (US Independent)
Nicole Mathews – 9 points (US Independent)
Rey Mysterio – 9 points (WWE)
Kofi Kingston – 9 points (WWE)
R Truth – 9 points (WWE)
Hirooki Goto – 9 points (NJPW)
Kurt Angle – 9 points (TNA)
CIMA – 9 point (Dragon Gate)

El Generico – 7 point (US Independent)
Karl Anderson – 7 point (NJPW)
AR Fox – 7 point (US Independent)

Sting – 6 points (TNA)
Taiyo Kea – 6 points (AJPW)
Masata Tanaka – 6 points (ZERO1)
KAI – 6 points (AJPW)
Adam Pearce – 6 points (US Independent)
17 – 6 points (US Independent)
Shard – 6 points (US Independent)
assailANT – 6 points (US Independent)
combatANT – 6 points (US Independent)
Colt Cabana – 6 points (US Independent)
Ultramantis Black – 6 points (US Independent)
Hallowicked – 6 points (US Independent)
Frightmare – 6 points (US Independent)

Mark Henry – 4 points (WWE)
PAC – 4 points (WWE)
Low Ki – 4 points (US Independent)

Michael Elgin – 1 point (ROH)
Cody Rhodes – 3 points (WWE)
Paul Heyman – 3 points (WWE)
Jerry Lawler – 3 points (WWE)
Gran Akuma – 3 points (US Independent)
Sara Del Rey – 3 points (US Independent)
Chris Sabin – 3 points (TNA)
Robbie E – 3 points (TNA)
Mr. Touchdown Mark Angelosetti – 3 points (US Independent)
Alex Shelley – 3 points (US Independent)
Genki Horguchi – 3 point (Dragon Gate)

Kota Ibushi – 2 point (NJPW)
AJ Lee – 2 points (WWE)

Mick Foley – 1 points (WWE)
Shuji Kondo – 1 point (Japan)
Akebono – 1 point (Japan)
Dick Togo – 1 point (Japan)
Yujiro Takahashi – 1 point (NJPW)
Tara – 1 point (TNA)
Miss Tessmacher – 1 point (TNA)
Katsuhiko Nakajima – 1 point (NOAH)
Charlie Haas – 1 point (ROH)
Shelton Benjamin – 1 point (ROH)
Layla – 1 point (WWE)
Dmitrious “The Greek God” Papadon – 1 point (US Independent)
Sami Callihan – 1 point (US Independent)
Jon Davis – 1 point (US Independent)
El Terrible – 1 point (CMLL)
Rush – 1 point (CMLL)

Voting began 4.09.12

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.

Other International 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 Year Seven Winner: CM Punk