wrestling / Columns

411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.01.13: Year Eight, Week 39

January 1, 2013 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to WEEK 39, 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 runs Monday through Sunday). Let’s see who wins this week…

Larry Csonka
1) Bobby Roode and Austin Aries
Bobby Roode and Austin Aries were in a very entertaining match on Impact this past week, where each man did their best to OUT HEEL the other. It was greatly entertaining, and honestly the most entertaining thing I watched all week.

2) Stevie Richards: Won the Extreme Rising title over the weekend, beating Luke Hawx and Rhino in the same night.
3) Big Show: Big Show continues to be greatly entertaining during his latest run as Champion.
4) Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi, & Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin
5) Great Khali

James Wright
1) The Big Show
Successfully defended his World Heavyweight title on Smackdown against Alberto Del Rio and took out two other challengers beforehand, sure those challengers were Ricardo and Santino but still, the guy was the main focus of Smackdown and dominant up until the very end of the show where the whole roster had to unite against him.

2) Austin Aries & Robert Roode: Both men put on one of the best heel performances in a match for the whole year and ended 2012 with a bang, I just hope TNA go for a triple threat match at Genesis and one of the men can steal the belt off that twat Jeff Hardy.
3) Sheamus: Beat the Big Show in their Lumber Jack-Frost match on Raw and then Brogued the giant on Smackdown, almost certainly guaranteeing that he will get another shot against him for the title in the near future.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) The Great Khali

Ryan Byers
1) The Great Khali
This was really sort of a lame duck week in wrestling, with WWE not doing much because of Christmas and the major Japanese promotions not doing much because the scene over there is gearing up for the January 4 WrestleKingdom show. Because the pickings were slim, the biggest accomplishment this week is probably the Great Khali winning an almost twenty minute battle royal on WWE Main Event, which was booked to make him look like a real killer. Now he goes on to challenge for Antonio Cesaro’s United States Title next week.

2) The Jimmys: The trio of Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi, & Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin (yes, that’s his ring name) retained their Open the Triangle Gate Titles on Dragon Gate’s weekend show, probably the most noteworthy title match of the week.
3) AKIRA: Tajiri’s Wrestling New Classic promotion is so small that I normally wouldn’t vote for it here, but, again, this was a slow week, so I’ll give former NJPW star AKIRA some kudos for becoming the company’s first champion this week.
4) The Usos
5) Sheamus

Jeremy Thomas
1) Sheamus
In a slow week, Sheamus gets the #1 slot for more or less securing his eventual rematch (again) for the World Title.

2) The Big Show: Show was booked like a monster on Smackdown and it made him look like more like a force to be reckoned with than he’s been in a while.
3) Austin Aries & Bobby Roode (tie): Put together a great match on Impact in the main event.
4) Dolph Ziggler
5) Great Khali

Robert S. Leighty Jr
1) The Big Show
When booked correctly The Big Show is gun to watch, and booking him as a monster is the right way to book him.

2) Sheamus: I guess his feud with Show must continue even though I would like to see both move onto something else.
3) The Great Khali: Much like Show, The Great Khali can be useful when booked correctly and a giant winning a battle royal is a good way to show how dominant he can be. Now will be fun to see Cesaro knock him off and try to give him The Neutralizer.
4) Aries/Roode
5) John Cena

Jack McGee
1) Stevie Richards
I have been a big Stevie Richards fan since his ECW days, and have always thought that he could have been a bigger star than he turned out to be. He’s had a good career, but was never the guy so to speak, so when he won the Extreme Rising title this past weekend I was very happy for him. Sure some will chalk it up to a slow week, but I really feel that his title win was the biggest accomplishment of the week.

2) Austin Aries and Bobby Roode: Had a great match on Impact, and even though neither man is the champion, have been a good focal point for TNA recently.
3) Great Khali: Won a battle royal on Main Event to earn a shot at the US Title.
4) Sheamus
5) John Cena

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention… Ryo Saito, Genki Horiguchi, & Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin -3 Votes

Fifth Place…Stevie Richards – 9 Votes

Fourth Place…Great Khali – 14 Votes

Third Place…Sheamus – 15 Votes

His win in the Lumber Jack Frost match earned him enough votes to get into the top three…

Second Place…Big Show – 17 Votes

Still dominating as World Champion…

Wrestler of the Week…Bobby Roode and Austin Aries – 18 Votes

Delivered in the main event on Impact…

Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week 39…

1. CM Punk – 131 points (WWE)

2. Daniel Bryan – 87 points (WWE)

3. Austin Aries – 78 points (TNA)
3. Sheamus – 78 points (WWE)

5. Jeff Hardy – 75 points (TNA)

6. Dolph Ziggler – 72 points (WWE)

7. Big Show – 69 points (WWE)

8. Bobby Roode – 68 points (TNA)

9. Samoa Joe – 62 points (TNA)

10. Brock Lesnar – 55 points (WWE)

James Storm – 54 points (TNA)

Bully Ray- 51 points (TNA)
Kevin Steen – 51 points (ROH)

John Cena – 40 points (WWE)
The Ryback – 40 points (WWE)
Kane – 40 points (WWE)

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 36 points (NJPW)

Antonio Cesaro – 33 points (WWE)

Johnny Gargano – 31 points (US Independent)

Kazuchika Okada – 28 points (NJPW)

Alex Shelley – 27 points (US Independent)
Alberto Del Rio – 27 points (WWE)

KUSHIDA – 24 points (NJPW)

Seth Rollins – 22 points (WWE)
Dean Ambrose – 22 points (WWE)
Roman Reigns – 22 points (WWE)

Kofi Kingston – 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)
Damian Sandow – 19 points (WWE)

CIMA – 18 point (Dragon Gate)
Samuray del Sol (aka Octagon Jr.) – 18 points (US Independent)
Adam Cole – 18 points (ROH)
Wade Barrett – 18 points (WWE)
Chuck Taylor- 18 points (US Independent)

Hirooki Goto – 15 points (NJPW)
Masata Tanaka – 15 points (ZERO1)
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)
Portia Perez – 15 points (US Independent)
Nicole Mathews – 15 points (US Independent)
Ric Flair – 15 points (US Independent)

Karl Anderson – 13 point (NJPW)
The Miz – 13 points (WWE)
El Generico – 13 point (US Independent)
Devon – 13 points (TNA)

Big E. Langston – 12 points (WWE)
Tim Donst – 12 points (US Independent)
Sweet Saraya Knight – 12 points (US Independent)
Masakatsu Funaki – 12 points (AJPW)
Magnus – 12 points (TNA)
AJ Styles – 12 points (TNA)
Zema Ion – 12 points (TNA)
Tensai – 12 points (WWE)
Dr. Wagner Jr. – 12 points (AAA)
Texano Jr. – 12 points (AAA)
Kenta Kobashi – 12 points (Retired)

RVD – 10 points (TNA)

Rey Mysterio – 9 points (WWE)
R Truth – 9 points (WWE)
Kurt Angle – 9 points (TNA)

Low Ki – 7 points (US Independent)
AR Fox – 7 point (US Independent)
Cody Rhodes – 7 points (WWE)

Sting – 6 points (TNA)
Taiyo Kea – 6 points (AJPW)
Lance Archer – 6 points (NJPW)
Davey Boy Smith Jr. – 6 points (NJPW)
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)
Mr. Touchdown Mark Angelosetti – 6 points (US Independent)
The Great Khali – 6 points (WWE)

AJ Lee – 5 points (WWE)

Mark Henry – 4 points (WWE)
PAC – 4 points (WWE)
Genki Horiguchi – 4 point (Dragon Gate)

Michael Elgin – 3 point (ROH)
Paul Heyman – 3 points (WWE)
Jerry Lawler – 3 points (WWE)
Stevie Richards – 3 points (US Independent)
Gran Akuma – 3 points (US Independent)
Sara Del Rey – 3 points (WWE)
Chris Sabin – 3 points (TNA)
Chavo Guerrero – 3 points (TNA)
Hernandez – 3 points (TNA)
Robbie E – 3 points (TNA)
Christian York – 3 points (TNA)
Tommy Dreamer – 3 point (US Independent)

Jon Davis – 2 point (US Independent)
Kota Ibushi – 2 point (NJPW)

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)
Kenny Omega – 1 point (US Independent)
Sami Callihan – 1 point (US Independent)
El Terrible – 1 point (CMLL)
Rush – 1 point (CMLL)
Ryo Saito – 1 point (Dragon Gate)
Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin – 1 point (Dragon Gate)