411’s Wrestler of the Week 1.22.07: Week 42
Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.22.2007
HBK returns to form, Kennedy rules Smackdown, GHC title changes and Lashley retains. Tons of big events in this non-PPV week, but only one man can be the 411 Wrestler of the Week!
Welcome to Week 42, 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!
Mike Bauer
1) Lashley
There wasn't a ton of goodness this week, so I have to go with Bobby Lashley who was successful in defending the ECW Title this week. The man continues to look like a powerhouse and hopefully they will finally learn and let the ma do all the talking in the ring. I give Benoit for two hole for his win over Chavo and Kennedy gets #3 as he outsmarted The Undertaker.
2) Chris Benoit
3) Mr. Kennedy
JD Dunn
1) Mr. Kennedy
Staved off the Undertaker and outsmarted Batista. I won't say he looked like a genius, but he at least looked cagey enough to outsmart the two big dogs in the yard.
2) Shawn Michaels
3) Christian Cage
Jeff Small
1) Mr. Kennedy
Just like JD said, Kennedy was not made to look like a total boob on Smackdown. The entire show has been built around him for the last few weeks and he has seemed to do a good job running with the ball. While it looks like Batista/Undertaker will happen at WrestleMania, personally, I don't think that the company should rule out Kennedy/Undertaker. Now if only Kennedy can get a good match out of Batista...
2) Kurt Angle
3) Lashley
Dan Wilcox
1) Mr. Kennedy
He's pretty much running SmackDown at the moment and is looking good doing it, and as others have said is getting the better of Taker and now Batista on a weekly basis. Michaels took out both members of Rated RKO Monday while Test lost but still managed to earn himself a title shot for the Royal Rumble.
2) Shawn Michaels
3) Test
Ryan Byers
1) Shawn Michaels
There aren't a lot of people with huge accomplishments this week, so I'll put my vote behind the man who had the best performance. The Heartbreak Kid is always great when he's cast in the role of underdog, and that casting allowed him to be exceedingly entertaining on this week's edition of Monday Night Raw. If professional wrestling is an art form, Michaels showed us Monday why he is Da Vinci, knowing exactly how much of a beating to take before staging his massive comeback, which he made look about as realistic as possible given the circumstances. It's performances like this that make me hope that HBK is the guy to wind up in the WrestleMania main event against John Cena.
2) Great Khali
3) John Cena
Samuel Berman
1) Shawn Michaels
HBK did a pretty decent one-man-show on Monday, which sadly is enough to earn him the top spot in an otherwise unimpressive week. Mr. Kennedy outsmarted two bigger (but not necessarily smarter) adversaries, which is good enough for second place. Seriously though, it's sad when all you have to do for a mention in 'Wrestler of the Week' is outsmart the Undertaker. Shawn's been doing that for like a decade now. I'll give third place to Misawa because he successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Title against Takeshi Morishima. I obviously haven't seen the match or anything, but it's certainly notable enough on paper.
2) Mr. Kennedy
3) Mitsuharu Misawa
Arnold Furious
1) Shawn Michaels
Ryan said it best when he pointed out how well Shawn performs in the underdog role. I think a lot of people out there expected too much from the WWE with that handicap match. It was almost set up for someone to save Shawn. But Shawn has never needed saving as a babyface. He's the underdog that can get the job done. Over in Japan Misawa wins again to my surprise. Morishima seemed like a lock to be taking the belt after Misawa took the title.
2) Mitsuhara Misawa
3) Chris Benoit
B-RAD
1) Marquis Cor Von
In a week that was very quiet, I gotta give the nod to the man who made his ECW debut and showed potential to be a top guy there, Marquis Cor Von. Mr. Kennedy gets my #2 spot for being booked the best out of anyone in the WWE for the past three weeks including outsmarting Batista, Undertaker, and Teddy Long on Friday, and my #3 spot goes to Chris Benoit for his United States Championship defense against Chavo Guerrero in the No DQ Match.
2) Mr. Kennedy
3) Chris Benoit
SAT
1) Mr. Kennedy
This was a slow week of wrestling, but Mr. Kennedy looked great this week. He manages to outsmart the Undertaker and Batista to keep the World Title match a one on one contest. Shawn Michaels gets the second spot because of his effort on RAW in a handi-cap match and Marquis CorVon gets the third spot because of his impressive debut.
2) Shawn Michaels
3) Marquis Cor Von
JT~!
1) Mr. Kennedy
When you shine as the brightest star on the best show on TV for the week, you definitely get the nod from me. In a week that saw limited TV time from the usual SmackDown goodness (Booker, Finlay, Hooliganz, etc), Kennedy took the ball and ran with it. He managed to keep his title shot at the rumble a 1-on-1 event, and did so by "beating" the Undertaker while avoiding The Animal Dave.
2) Christian Cage
3) Shawn Michaels
Scott Slimmer
1) Shawn Michaels
Many of you know that Michaels is my all-time favorite wrestler, so I'm thrilled that we finally have a week where Michaels can legitimately be considered the WOTW. Michaels has been a great performer, both in the ring and on the mic, throughout his career, but unfortunately he's been bogged down in asinine storylines and inane comedy matches for almost a year now. DX's feud with Rated-RKO allowed them to drop all pretense of comedy and get back to serious wrestling, and Triple H's unfortunate injury has once again thrust Michaels into the spotlight. This week Michaels worked his ass off, bled a bucket, and more than held his own against the top two heels on Raw. Michaels will always hold up his end of the bargain and make the most of any situation, so when he's booked in a serious role and made to look credible it's easy for me to give him my vote for WOTW.
2) Chris Benoit/Chavo Guerrero
3) Marquis Cor Von
Andy Clark
1) Lashley
Lashley gets my vote because I didn't think he'd actually escape with the title. I figured they'd give Test a two-week run with the belt and allow Lashley to win it back at the Rumble. Surprisingly they put Bobby over, making him look relatively good in the process.
2) Mr. Kennedy
3) Marquis Cor Von
Larry Csonka
1) Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin
Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin dethroned the Briscoe Brothers for the GHC Jr. Tag Titles this week. The Briscoe Brothers didn't have a long run, but it was an important one for their career, and the loss will now fuel the feud between ROH and NOAH so that is good stuff. Misawa retained the GHC Heavyweight title against Takeshi Morishima. Most thought this would be a quick transition run for Misawa, but the wily vet was able to hold off the young lion and retain. Finally HBK was just HBK on Raw and that's good enough for me.
2) Mitsuharu Misawa
3) HBK
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Chris Benoit and Marquis Cor Von - 8 Votes
Chris Benoit successfully defended the US Title this week with another win over Chavo Guerrero. Meanwhile on ECW Marquis Cor Von made an impressive debut and got enough love for the Special Mention spot.
Third Place…Bobby Lashley - 11 Votes
The ECW Champion successfully defended the title this week in a 3-way match against RVD and Test. He now will head to the Royal Rumble to face off with Test in a one on one match..
Second Place…Shawn Michaels - 31 Votes
Shawn Michaels, with HHH on the shelf went into a deadly situation on Raw this last week and did what he does best; he was HBK. What is next for HBK is unknown but on Monday he was on and laid out RKO by himself, so I doubt that is over.
Wrestler of the Week…Mr. Kennedy - 35 Votes
Mr. Kennedy once again was the star of Smackdown this week. He has his shot for the title and played the mind games well enough to cost Taker a shot at the title at the Rumble. He is just on right now, but is he the man to defeat the Animal?
…
Kennedy~!
Year-End Standings!
We had some changes to the top this week as Mr. Kennedy breaks into the top 15! Lashley improved his position as well, HBK finally got out of the basement and Benoit inches closer to reentering the top 15. With 10-weeks and 5-PPV's to go a lot can change and most likely will. Stay tuned!
