411’s Wrestler of the Week 12.18.06: Week 37
Posted by Larry Csonka on 12.18.2006
The fall out from Armageddon provides a new WOTW winner, and the year-end standings get a bit of a shakeup yet again!
Welcome to Week 37, Year-Two, of 411's Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview for those who don't know the deal…
Each writer chooses three wrestlers from any promotion and each wrestler gets a vote attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…
1st – 5
2nd – 3
3rd – 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 five vote getters get a points value for their ranking which looks something like this…
1st – 15
2nd – 10
3rd – 5
4th – 3
5th – 1
...and they go towards the 411 Wrestler of the Year award to be announced each year at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let's see who wins this week…
The Voting!
Scott Slimmer
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
This week, at Armageddon, London & Kendrick retained their WWE Tag Team Championships in what has to be viewed as the biggest win of their career. Everybody seemed to be expecting a great match between London & Kendrick and Regal & Taylor, but everybody also seemed to be expecting Regal & Taylor to win that great match and become the new WWE Tag Team Champions. And then the shit hit the fan. First Teddy Long announced that the match would now be a ladder match and hauled out a small armada of ladders. Then Teddy Long announced that there would be two other teams involved in the match: MNM and the Hardy Boyz. The match that ensued was almost certainly the best tag team match in WWE this year and featured one of the sickest, most horrific bumps since a folding chair landed in Mick Foley's mouth way back in 1998. The fact that London & Kendrick eventually picked up the win in a match like this over three teams like these makes them look all kinds of impressive. I'm giving massive credit to all four teams for putting on an absolutely amazing spectacle of a match, but I'm giving my vote for WOTW to London & Kendrick for becoming the most dominant tag team in WWE and, more importantly, actually having that mean something again.
2) The Hardy Boyz / MNM / William Regal & Dave Taylor
3) The Undertaker/Kane
Mike Bauer
1) John Cena
I was very tempted to put Chris Benoit as the #1 on my list for making me look a genius in the roundtable preview, but let's think about this for a second. John Cena wrestled and was victorious in not one, not two, not three, but four matches this week! After making Estrada look like a bitch to start Raw, he then defeated Johnny Nitro in the main event. He then goes onto Smackdown in his hometown and defeats Finlay in the main event. And then, on Smackdown's PPV, John Cena and Batista defeated Finaly and King Booker. When you go four for four, I don't care what else is going on, you are the man for the week!
2) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
3) William Regal and Dave Taylor, MnM, and The Hardy Boyz
Andy Clark
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
They retained their titles in a spectacular match at Armageddon, even outlast two bonafide tag team legends in MNM and the Hardys. Even the IWC's wet dream team of Willy and his Pet Dinosaur couldn't overcome one of the best tag teams of the modern era.
2) John Cena
3) Batista
Ryan Byers
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
London and Kendrick have had a great year. They started off on the incredibly obscure Velocity program and quickly became THE reason to watch that show, putting on quality tag matches against the likes of William Regal & Paul Burchill and Jamie Noble & Kid Kash. Eventually they got called up to Smackdown and continued to work hard there, eventually taking the Tag Titles off of MNM in a bit of a shocker. They were the workhorses of the show, consistently having great matches, even against the incredibly green team of KC James and Idol Stevens. Now, just when it looked like WWE was going to split them up, they came back and put on the best match of an otherwise lackluster PPV, retaining their titles in spectacular fashion. But they didn't just win. They managed to beat one of the biggest tag teams in WWE history - the Hardy Boys - at their own game. Here's to continued success for Londrick in 2007 . . . assuming that the company doesn't go ahead and split them up.
2) John Cena
3) Mark Jindrak/Kenzo Suzuki
Arnold Furious
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
These gentlemen stole the PPV with a little help from the other teams involved. Adding the Hardyz and MNM at the last minute gave us a great, albeit spotty, match. This match managed to eclipse everything John Cena has done this week. He's managed to win three matches in singles AND be on the winning side in the main event of a PPV. That's surely worth a little love.
2) William Regal & Dave Taylor/MNM/Hardyz
3) John Cena
ARI
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
Well, they got me to watch Smackdown (part of it anyway) for the first time in like forever, then they wowed the crowd and the PPV audience with their involvement in the Ladder match. Can't ask for much more goodness than that.
2) John Cena
3) Joey Mercury
SAT
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
They won an amazing ladder match over three other teams. And I went into the pay per view assuming that London & Kendrick were going to lose the titles.
2) John Cena
3) MNM, Hardys, Taylor & Regal
Bayani Domingo
1) London and Kendrick
I have a buddy who said he'd actually buy the DVD JUST for the ladder match. Crazy talk, I know. But hell, I guess I can't argue with that kind of logic. Or can I? Hmm....No, guess I couldn't.
2) Batista
3) Abyss
JT
1) London and Kendrick
Went out as CLEAR underdogs that everyone in the world KNEW were going to lose the belts, and .......didn't lose the belts. Not only did they not lose the belts, but also they retained them in one of the best matches I've seen all year against the likes of MNM, the Hardy's, and Regal/Taylor. I'll leave it at that because I have more to say about this match in next week's HH (cheap plug alert!).
2) John Cena
3) Hardys/MNM/Regal & Taylor
Jeff Small
1) London and Kendrick
So John Cena wrestled in four matches this past week. But really, he squashed two people on Raw and had to luxury of working with Finlay on Smackdown. So I really can't rate him above the tag team of Kendrick and London seeing as their ladder match not only stole the show at the PPV but it cemented themselves as one of the greatest WWE tag teams. Take a look back to 1999 when the No Mercy ladder match cemented the careers of the Hardyz and Edge and Christian. This ladder match will do the same for London and Kendrick and already (in my eyes) puts them ahead of their "idols", the Rockers.
2) John Cena
3) The Undertaker
Mathew Sforcina
1) London and Kendrick
First off, congrats to John Cena, winning 4 matches as well as being named Time's Co-Person of the Year. That's enough to get the #3 spot. Then, the #2 spot goes to the three men who were all named as Time Co-Persons of the Year, but also continued to participate in perhaps the best wrestling storyline going today. But the #1 spot goes to two men who proved everyone wrong, and retained their WWE Tag Team Titles in an excellent match, as WELL as being named as Time's Co-People of the Year. Well-done Hooliganz. Well done.
2) Abyss/Sting/Christian Cage
3) John Cena
Mike LaFave
1) London and Kendrick
Because of all the ppv's in a row, I had to make a choice between December to Dismember and Armageddon. I picked the former. When I returned home tonight after watching Sunday Night football at a buddies I hopped on-line to find out how the ppv went. As soon as I saw the tag match was changed to a 4-Way Ladder Match, I went on to WWE.com and ordered the ppv and watched in on-line. The enjoyed the ppv and this match stole the show! You want to talk about Getting Over, this match did it for London and Kendrick!
2) John Cena
3) Joey Mercury
Stuart Carapola
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
A lot of people went into the PPV assuming that they were going to lose the title, and then we got the ladder match thrown at us. While I feel that it should have gone on later so as not to kill everybody else's heat by not being able to follow it up, this was a star-making match. Besides having held the title for like eight months now, they beat not only their scheduled challengers, but MNM and the Hardyz as well. They've still got the title, but is there any reason to take it off of them at this point?
2) John Cena
3) The Undertaker
Larry Csonka
1) Paul London & Brian Kendrick
These boys really arrived tonight in the match of their WWE career. It also helps that they went over the Hardyz in a ladder match, so they are set. PLEASE do not break them up! Cena was on fire on Raw, and Shocker & Universo 2000 won a huge double hair match this weekend in Mexico to pick up the #3 spot from me this week.
2) John Cena
3) Shocker & Universo 2000
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Nitro, Regal, Taylor, Matt and Jeff Hardy - 9 Votes
These five gentlemen tie for fourth this week for their great performance in the Armageddon Ladder Match.
Third Place…Joey Mercury - 11 Votes
Joey Mercury got some extra love for his part in the ladder match, as having your face almost ripped off can have an affect on people.
Second Place…John Cena - 31 Votes
The CHAMP is here and was all over the place this week. A huge week on Raw, a huge win on Smackdown and a main event win in a PPV. Damn fine week for the CHAMP, unfortunately for him his good weeks always seem to come when someone else have a great week or tremendous match.
Wrestler of the Week…Brian Kendrick and Paul London - 68 Votes
Brian Kendrick and Paul London looked to be losing the tag titles and possibly breaking up heading into this event, yet they walk out tag champs and co-winners of 411's WOTW. How? Well, when you have a tremendous match, a ladder match, and defeat Regal/Taylor, MNM and ladder match aficionado's Matt and Jeff Hardy, I think you have earned the top spot.
Year-End Standings!
With his big second place finish, John Cena earns some much-needed points and leaps into 6th place in the overall standings. Jeff Hardy inches even closer to the top 15 with his finish, but it could be too late in the year to make a real impact. Joey Mercury makes his debut on the list in dubious fashion, having his face destroyed in the surprise ladder match. At least he got some respect for that. London and Kendrick snag the HUGE first place win, and finally have some points to show for their good year. Next month we have another three PPV's and as you can see, those have been causing havoc on the list. Stay tuned to see what happens as we head into the homestretch of 411's WOTW column.
The top 15 spots are marked.
1. Samoa Joe - 100 (TNA/ROH)
2. KING Booker - 90 (Smackdown)
3. RVD - 72 (ECW)
4. Homicide - 60 (ROH/TNA)
5. Kurt Angle - 54 (TNA)
6. John Cena - 45 (Raw)
7. Edge - 43 (Raw)
8. Abyss - 41 (TNA) 8. Hernandez – 41 (TNA)
10. AJ Styles - 40 (TNA) 10. Konnan - 40 (TNA) 10. Christopher Daniels - 40 (TNA/ROH)
