411’s Wrestler of the Week 3.12.13: Year Eight, Week 49
Posted by Larry Csonka on 03.12.2013
Bully Ray won the TNA World Title, CM Punk won the right to face the Undertaker at WrestleMania, Triple H returned to challenge Brock Lesnar and more! But who won 411's Wrestler of the Week? Find out inside!
Welcome to WEEK 49, 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) Bully Ray
Do you know who he is? Well, he's the new TNA World Champion, and going forward the focal point of the company. And I think that it is completely awesome because the guy has been such a good performer the past few years.
2) Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano: New Japan invaders Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano defeated Takashi Sugiura & Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Tag Team Titles at this past weekend's NOAH show.
3) Triple H: Delivered a great promo to set up the rematch with Brock Lesnar.
4) John Cena and The Rock
5) Kenny King
Ryan Byers
1) John Cena
At this time of year, when somebody does something significant to build up Wrestlemania, it trumps anything else from the world of professional wrestling. Nobody this week contributed to the Mania build more than Cena, who cut an absolute money promo against the Rock. Cena can be one of the peak performers in the industry on the mic when he's not given third grade schoolyard humor in his script, and he proved it again this week.
2) The Undertaker: Yeah, all he did was show up and do some magic tricks with the lights, but even that minimal effort got more people talking about wrestling this week than anything else, so it deserves some recognition.
3) KENTA: The reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion retained his title by defeating Maybach Taniguchi, who has been fairly hot heel in NOAH over the course of the last month or so.
4) Alberto Del Rio
5) New Age Outlaws
Jeremy Thomas
1) Bully Ray
Was it an obvious twist in the storyline? Yeah, of course it was. However, that won't stop me from giving Bully Ray his due. The man has made it to the top of a major promotion after years of fighting to be there and continues to be one of the best things going for TNA. What more do you need for Wrestler of the Week?
2) The Undertaker/CM Punk: The Undertaker showed up and instantly had everyone talking about his return en masse, while CM Punk won a fatal four way over Randy Orton, Sheamus and Big Show in order to earn the right to lose to face the Dead Man at WrestleMania.
3) Mark Henry: Mark Henry is back, splitting wigs and apparently getting ready for a WrestleMania match with Ryback. Ain't nothin' wrong with that.
4) KENTA
5) Kenny King
TJ Hawke
1) Bully Ray
Improbably became the world heavyweight champion of the second largest American promotion. I think TNA is a fucking horrible wrestling promotion, but I'm happy for Ray.
2) KENTA: Retained the GHC Heavyweight Championship
3) CM Punk: Earned a chance to end The Undertaker's Wrestlemania streak.
4) Akira Tozawa
5) Wes Brisco
Michael Benjamin
1) Bully Ray
Bully Ray just solidified his spot on the TNA roster for as long as he sees fit. World champ? Yep. Leader of the biggest heel faction in the company? Oh yeah. Good week for Bully Ray.
2) Triple H: I'm generally not a fan of Triple H's promo style. They tend to be long, plodding and extremely self indulgent. That's not the Triple H we got on Monday. He did a great job of cutting to the chase with the Lesnar story and I'm all for it.
3) CM Punk: He won a Fatal Four Way for the opportunity to wrestle The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. This is a huge deal, despite the lazy way they got from point A to point B with the match.
4) The Rock
5) John Cena
Jack McGee
1) Bully Ray
By hook or by crook, Bully Ray won the TNA world title, and is now the man in TNA. While the PPV was a weak effort overall, I do love Ray as the champion. He has been awesome for a long time, and f he can take what he has learned over the years and meld that with the ECW promos (minus the language that he cannot use on TV) he will be a heat machine for a long time.
2) John Cena and The Rock: Last year I felt disappointed by their build, as it felt as if it was all comedy and them dicking around. On Monday, these guys gave a hell of a performance, and now I actually was to see John Cena and The Rock in a rematch.
3) Triple H: Triple H gave a great promo on Raw this week, and I am looking forward to Brock vs. Hunter II.
4) Mark Henry
5) CM Punk
THE WINNERS~!
Special Mention…The Rock and The Undertaker - 8 Votes
Fifth Place…KENTA - 9 Votes
Fourth Place…Triple H - 10 Votes
Third Place…CM Punk - 11 Votes
Won the right to challenge the Undertaker at WrestleMania.
Second Place…John Cena - 12 Votes
Involved in a great promo segment with The Rock on Raw.
Wrestler of the Week…Bully Ray - 25 Votes
Your NEW TNA World Champion!
Year-End Standings~!
And here are the standings after week 49…
Undertaker - 4 points (WWE) PAC - 4 points (WWE) Genki Horiguchi - 4 point (Dragon Gate) Christian York - 4 points (TNA)
Shinsuke Nakamura - 3 points (NJPW) Michael Elgin – 3 point (ROH) Jerry Lawler - 3 points (WWE) Stevie Richards - 3 points (US Independent) Tommy End - 3 points (Independent) Scott Parker - 3 points (US Independent) Shane Matthews - 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) Tommy Dreamer - 3 points (US Independent) La Sombra - 3 points (CMLL)
El Terrible - 2 points (CMLL) Jon Davis - 2 points (US Independent) Kota Ibushi - 2 points (NJPW)
Chris Jericho- 1 point (WWE) Mick Foley - 1 point (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) Marty Scrull - 1 point (Independent) Kenny Omega - 1 point (US Independent) Sami Callihan - 1 point (US Independent) Rush - 1 point (CMLL) Ryo Saito - 1 point (Dragon Gate) Mr. Kyu Kyu Toyonaka Dolphin - 1 point (Dragon Gate) Rey Escorpion - 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.
