411’s Wrestler of the Week 2.19.07: Week 46
Posted by Larry Csonka on 02.19.2007
New champions and big matches, there were a lot of people deserving on nomination this week but who was able to get enough votes to win the 411 WOTW and how are the year-end standings looking? Come on into see!
Welcome to Week 46, 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!
Andy Clark
1) Takeshi Morishima
Drop TNA Stars in now in progress. Morishima managed to come in and surprisingly lose to Samoa Joe but he recouped by beating Homicide to become the new ROH Champion. It's actually a bigger deal for a Japanese wrestler to win the belt and this is probably the biggest thing to happen to that championship ever.
2) Samoa Joe
3) HBK and Cena
Mathew Sforcina
1) Takeshi Morishima
It's a real fricking shame when a wrestler strives to be the best, and then works hard and eventually wins arguably the peak of true Pro Wrestling in the US, the ROH World Title... And all I can think of is "How do I make a Takeshi's Castle/MXC joke here".
2) Samoa Joe
3) Chavo Guerrero
JD Dunn
1) Takeshi Morishima
ROH Title wins are comparatively rare, so when the title changes hands, especially against a competitor like Homicide, it's a pretty big deal.
2) Samoa Joe
3) Deuce & Domino
ARI
1) Samoa Joe
Joe wins the Gauntlet for the Gold for a title shot on TNA Impact as he preps for a potential title win against Christian at Destination X. Then he went a perfect 2-0 on the ROH Fifth Year Festival shows as he begins his farewell tour. Joe was absolutely beloved on Friday night as he accomplished the major goal of defeating Takeshi Morishima and then manhandled that no goodnik Jimmy Rave. Takeshi rebounded from a shameful loss to shock the ROH fan base and the entire wrestling world by shattering Homicide to bits and pieces and claiming the ROH World Title. The title situation is now in a state of total chaos, as anything can happen including Morishima taking the title back to Japan. Homicide may have lost the title, but he did successfully defend the belt on Friday in his hometown of NYC as well as picked up a win with LAX on TNA programming. For having fun with the ROH belt while he could and being a professional enough to do what had to be done on Saturday, Homicide deserves much respect and recognition. In other words, fuck off all haterz--Bleyyat!.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) Homicide
Samuel Berman
1) Samoa Joe
I couldn't argue with anyone who put Morishima at the top spot, but with Joe going 2-0 (including a win over our new ROH World Champion in New York City) on the weekend as well as winning the #1 Contendership to the NWA Heavyweight Title on Impact, this one's a no-brainer for me. Obviously, Takeshi Morishima, dishonorable as he may be, is my second choice this week. Lastly, let's go with Matt Sydal, who not only won the Open the Brave Gate title in Dragon Gate (basically their Light Heavyweight Title), but also successfully retained his ROH World Tag Team Titles (with Christopher Daniels) twice this weekend.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) Matt Sydal
Mike Bauer
1) Takeshi Morishima and Samoa Joe
I can't choose between the two, so I'll take them both. Samoa Joe had a great week, earning an NWA Title shot at the next Pay Per View (and it's about time), as well as huge victories over Davey Richards and Takeshi Morishima. Takeshi Morishima rebounded from his loss to utterly destroy Homicide and become the Ring of Honor champion. And since the match between these two was really good from every report, I'll let them share it. I'll put Chavo at #3 for coming out of nowhere to win the Cruiserweight Title. But Batista's heel turn was absolutely perfect and worthy of a top spot, so he also gets #3. And with a dominating week, by beating the top stars of the other big brand of wrestling several times, Cena and Michaels get #2.
2) John Cena/Shawn Michaels
3) Chavo Guerrero/Batista
Ryan Byers
1) Samoa Joe
I have to give Joe the edge over Morishima just because, when the two collided, it was the big Samoan who walked away victorious. In conventional wrestling booking, you'd think that would lead to Joe getting a title match against Morishima down the road, but we all know that he's done with the company, so I don't know what that victory was meant to accomplish. However, when you combine it with the fact that Joe also won the number one contendership to the NWA Title this week and, in doing so, carried Tomko and Scott Steiner to a watchable three minutes of wrestling, and you've got all of the ingredients necessary for a Wrestler of the Week.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) Mike Quackenbush, Shane Storm, & Jigsaw
Ryan Mancuso
1) Takeshi Morishima
Morishima has become a collector of foreign titles. First it was the WLW Heavyweight Title for Harley Race's promotion in 2003. Then it was the 3CW Heavyweight Title in England last year. Now, he adds the most well known US Indy title to his list with the ROH World Title by running through Homicide. Nakajima & Chavo get nods this week as well for ending Jr. Heavyweight & Cruiserweight title runs that lasted over a year.
2) Katsuhiko Nakajima
3) Chavo Guerrero
SAT
1) Takeshi Morishima
I'll take Morishima in the top spot for in his annihilation of Homicide. The second spot goes to Samoa Joe for earning a shot at the NWA Title and for beating Morishima. The third spot goes to Chavo Guerrero for capturing the cruiserweight title.
2) Samoa Joe
3) Chavo Guerrero
Jeff Small
1) Takeshi Morishima
Made Homicide look like a little puny bitch as he annihilated the 'Cide to win the ROH Championship. What's nice here is that no one knows whether Morishima is going to be a permanent ROH member or just a transitional champ. Should be an exciting time for all you ROHbots.
2) Samoa Joe
3) JBL
Scott Slimmer
1) Samoa Joe
Being the dominant star in any given federation is often times good enough to earn a wrester the WOTW title, but this week Joe went above and beyond the call of duty by being the dominant star in two different promotions. Thursday night he became the Number One Contender to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in TNA, and then Friday night he defeated Takeshi Morishima in ROH. Of course, the most significant part of Joe's victory over Morishima is that Saturday night Morishima rebounded from his loss to Joe and defeated Homicide to win the ROH World Championship. I have nothing but respect for ROH for showing Joe the respect he has earned and continuing to book him strong despite the fact that he will soon be leaving the promotion; we all know that there are other promotions (coughecough) that would job him as often as possible on his way out the door. Morishima gets my second place vote by becoming the new ROH World Champion in the aforementioned win over Homicide. Finally, JBL may not be an active wrestler at this point, but I'm still giving him my third place vote for coming through with an amazing performance and calling the main event of No Way Out solo after Michael Cole lost his voice earlier in the pay-per-view. I implore you to name another color commentator in the industry today that could fly solo during the main event of a pay-per-view and not crash and burn. The King sure couldn't. Neither could Tazz. Don West would be lost without Mike Tenay, and let's not even consider what would happen if Bret Ernst was left to his own devices. In my book, JBL just cemented himself as the best commentator in the industry today.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) JBL
JT~!
1) HBK and Cena
Suppose I'll be the odd man out here. These two showed up on Thursday and were an instrumental part of the main event win, then showed up on SmackDown and not only got themselves a win, but also took out the *other* main event for WM 23 to close the show, THEN showed up on a SMACKDOWN PPV and got the win in the main event. Oh yeah, and they went another week as RAW Tag Champs and one of them is the WWE titleholder.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) Samoa Joe
Stuart Carapola
1) Takeshi Morishima
For me it came down to either Samoa Joe or Takeshi Morishima. Joe won head to head, but it was a close match and even though Joe beat Jimmy Rave the following night, Morishima obliterated Homicide in front of my very eyes to win the ROH World Title in an almost completely one-sided affair. To me, that is the more impressive weekend, head to head loss notwithstanding. Joe gets second for his win over Morishima and also becoming #1 contender to the NWA Title, while Chavo Guerrero gets third for ending GREGORY's year-plus reign with the Cruiserweight Title.
2) Samoa Joe
3) Chavo Guerrero
Daniel Wilcox
1) Batista
Yes, his team got laid out on SmackDown and then lost at No Way Out, but at least he decided to grow a pair and take out The Undertaker Sunday night, and I'm hoping this fresh heel change will work out OK because no-one gave a damn about him as a face anymore. Samoa Joe became #1 Contender by winning the gauntlet on Impact and Cena and Michaels went 3 for 3 in victories this week and got the win in the main event of the PPV. Yes, there was an actual PPV last night.
2) John Cena and Shawn Michaels
3) Samoa Joe
Larry Csonka
1) Samoa Joe
While Morishima had a huge weekend destroying Homicide for the ROH title, I will have to go with Samoa Joe for #1. Joe defeated Morishima the night before Morishima won the title, won his other match against Rave and became the #1 contender for the NWA Title as well. That's a damn fine week so he gets the nod for #1. Morishima gets #2 for winning the ROH title and Chavo and Sydal get #3 for their title wins.
2) Takeshi Morishima
3) Chavo Guerrero/Matt Sydal
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Chavo Guerrero and Batista - 6 Votes
Chavo Guerrero won the Cruiserweight title at No Way Out, defeating Jimmy Yang. The reign of Helms is over, and with Rey returning could they head towards a WrestleMania battle?
Big Dave laid out the Undertaker and cost him the main event. That was enough to get him a tie for honorable mention this week.
Third Place…Shawn Michaels and John Cena - 10 Votes
HBK and John Cena stood strong at the end of the No Way Out PPV as they defeated Batista and The Undertaker. The World Tag Team Champions may have been a unit last night, but will things change now that they are firmly on the Road to WrestleMania to face each other?
Second Place…Samoa Joe - 50 Votes
The Samoan Submission Machine had a big week. He defeated Takeshi Morishima, who later won the ROH title as well as Jimmy Rave this weekend on the ROH shows. If that wasn't enough of a good weekend, he also won the #1 contender's spot for the NWA Title this week on Impact. Joe had a dominating week, and easily takes 2nd place.
Wrestler of the Week…Takeshi Morishima - 58 Votes
Takeshi Morishima may have lost to Samoa Joe, but his American debut ended up well as he destroyed Homicide en route to winning the ROH Title. He defends next weekend in Dayton and if he retains will take the ROH Title to Japan to defend against KENTA. With Joe leaving ROH, who will be able to stop the wrecking crew that is Takeshi Morishima?
Year-End Standings!
With his ROH Title win, Takeshi Morishima takes the top spot and makes a sound debut late in the year. Samoa Joe extends his lead in the top spot, and is looking like he won't be caught right now. John Cena is able to leap into the top five as HBK slides into a tie for 9th place. Six weeks, One PPV and Saturday Night's Main Event to go, as well as the conclusion of the ROH 5th Year Celebration and anything else the wrestling world has to offer. Can Joe hang on for the victory, or will someone else step up and steal the honor? Stay tuned!
