411’s Wrestler of the Week 5.21.07: Week 7
Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.21.2007
Tournament Winners, a new US Champion, Cena slays a beast and other great accomplishments make for an interesting week of voting!
Welcome to Week 7, Year-Three, of 411's Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview to kick things off as we have some new rules for year three…
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 at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let's see who wins this week…
The Voting!
ARI
1) John Cena
He hath slain the monster; the monster hath been slain. Or something like that. Well, how about this--dude actually got a decent match out of Khali. Will wonders never cease?
2) MVP: The new U.S. champion is BALLIN~! A win against Matt Hardy on Smackdown and two straight falls to win the belt against Chris Benoit. Maybe he won't win the MVP of 2007, but Rookie of the Year isn't that far of a stretch.
3) Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin: For what it's worth, the Murder City Machine Guns have picked up the pace with their teaming in TNA. A huge win against Lynn and Tiger Mask with Shelley pinning Tiger Mask. Shelley winning in TNA? A new era has dawned.
4) CM Punk
5) Kurt Angle
Scott Slimmer
1) MVP
MVP gets my first place vote for capping off a great series of matches with Chris Benoit by finally defeating him for the United States Championship at Judgment Day. This is the series of matches that will be remembered for making MVP into a star, at this is the match that will be remembered for putting him over the top. WWE's top stars are dropping right and left, but this week MVP proved that he's more than capable of carrying the ball in their absence. With so many main event stars on the shelf, MVP may be poised to win more than just the United States Championship before the end of the year.
2) CM Punk – CM Punk gets my second place vote for defeating Elijah Burke in his first singles match on a WWE pay-per-view. Punk showed everyone that he's ready to be a star in WWE sooner rather than later.
3) Bobby Lashley – Bobby Lashley gets my third place vote for dismantling Jonathan Coachman on Raw, dispatching the entire New Breed on ECW, and then defeating Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Umaga at Judgment Day. He may not have regained the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, but he definitely looked dominant every time he entered the ring.
4) Kurt Angle
5) Snitsky
SAT
1) MVP
MVP gets the top slot because he wins the United States title from Chris Benoit by beating him 2-0 at Judgment Day. He also beats Matt Hardy on SmackDown.
2) Bobby Lashley - Lashley gets the second slot because he has an amazing week, but he doesn't get any gold. First, he destroys Coachman. Then, he beats the New Breed on ECW. Then, at Judgment Day, he wins the 3 on 1 handicap. Great week for Lashley
3) John Cena - John Cena gets the third slot because he gets his WWE Title back by beating the Great Khali
4) CM Punk
5) Kurt Angle
Brad B.
1) MVP
MVP gets the win over Matt Hardy in a decent match on Smackdown and the defeats Chris Benoit 2-0 in a Best Two Out of Three Falls Match for the United States Championship. He is our wrestler of the week.
2) John Cena- He made Great Khali tap and pulled off a somewhat decent match. Got to give him props.
3) Bobby Lashley- Defeated Jonathan Coachman on RAW, the New Breed on Smackdown, and The McMahons/Umaga Era at Judgment Day. If he would of won the ECW Championship he probably would of placed higher.
4) CM Punk
5) Kurt Angle
Mike Minoti
1) MVP
Won his first belt in the WWE, beating Benoit in a best 2 out of 3 falls match without taking a single fall himself. Also beat Matt Hardy on Smackdown.
2) The Hardy's - Beat Cade and Murdoch to keep their tag belts, and had what I would call the best match at Judgement Day in the process.
3) John Cena - Beat Khali, and managed to get a better match out of him than I would have thought possible.
4) CM Punk
5) Edge
Andy Clark
1) MVP
Despite the match being downright atrocious MVP finally gets his United States Title win. Ballin'!
2) Roderick Strong & PAC - PWG has earned a reputation for putting together some of the best indy tournaments in the country and this tournament looked to have the makings of some great matchups.
3) John Cena- Successfully defended the WWE Title against The Great Khali, making him tap out to the STFU no less.
4) The Hardy's
5) CM Punk
Matt Adamson
1) CM Punk
Seems odd that I'd forsake putting a title winner here in favor of somebody who didn't win a title, but CM Punk came out looking like a million bucks after his Judgment Day win over Elijah Burke.
2) Roderick Strong & PAC - Since an argument can be made for ROH no longer being an indie with their PPV deal, PWG has managed to take the spot as America's #1 indie, and this tournament showed us all why.
3) MVP - Won the U.S. Title.
4) Matt Hardy
5) Edge
Samuel Berman
1) Roderick Strong and PAC
Bested a field that included former champions Davey Richards & Super Dragon as well as Arrogance of Scott Lost & Chris Bosh to become the new PWG World Tag Team Champions. In defeating favorites Jay & Mark Briscoe in the DDT4 Tournament finals, Strong & PAC established themselves as serious champions in PWG, a nice move for a team that was only created after Jack Evans had to pull off of this weekend's shows due to commitments in Japan.
2) CM Punk - Major, defining win on PPV, though I maintain he should have lost and won down the road.
3) El Generico - Two successful title defenses against top-shelf competition.
4) John Cena
5) MVP
JT~!
1) MVP
After two months of "learning by losing", MVP finally managed to figure out enough to win his first gold in the form of the United States Championship... over CHRIS F'N BENOIT... as if that wasn't enough, he did so by taking it TWO - ZERO. Anyone who can beat Hardy (who has been much more credible lately, most recently getting a clean win over Kennedy and is still a tag champ) and two days later not only beat Benoit but not let him get a pin in a 2 out of 3 deserves the WOTW nod.
2) John Cena - Successfully defended his WWE Championship (and managed to get his belt back) while simultaneously managing to pull something resembling an actual match out of Khali, so he gets #2. Also, even though he isn't in voting, I would just like to add that it was not ALL Cena out there. Khali surprisingly pulled at least a portion of his weight.
3) Edge - It seems everyone has seemed to have forgotten Edge here because he lost to Michaels on RAW. I seem to recall that John Cena found himself in a similar loss to HBK only a few weeks ago, and nobody thinks it made him look weak. Fact is Edge main-evented RAW, cut a great promo on SD, and retained the belt at Judgment Day.
4) Lashley
5) CM Punk
Bayani Domingi
1) Roderick Strong and PAC
Outlasted tourney favorites Super Dragon and Davey Richards, then beat Doi/YOSHINO in the semi-finals, then beat the best tag team on the Indy Scene in the Briscoe Brothers to win the PWG Tag Titles.
2) MVP - Finally got the wolverine off his back and won the US title.
3) El Generico - Outlasted Kevin Steen and Dragon Gate's CIMA to retain his PWG title this weekend.
4) John Cena
5) Kurt Angle
Matt Short
1) Strong and PAC
Went through Super Dragon and Davey Richards, The Muscle Outlaw'z, and The Briscoes on their way to winning PWG's DTT4 Tournament and became PWG's new tag team champions. I'm a mark for tournaments and this one sounded great.
2) MVP - After two months of being denied, MVP finally beat Chris Benoit in a 2/3 falls match to become the new US Champion.
3) John Cena - Made the Great Khali tap and thus saved us from a Khali championship run.
4) CM Punk
5) El Generico
Arnold Furious
1) MVP
I've been saying for a while that this guy is money and now he's a money champion. Great win over Benoit although they've had better matches in the past, most notably on free TV when MVP last bagged WOTW
2) Roderick Strong & Pac. Won the PWG tournament this weekend.
3) John Cena. Made Khali his personal bitch with a smartly worked match.
4) CM Punk
5) Randy Orton
Mike Bauer
1) MVP
Wow, what a streak MVP is on and that would have been regardless of beating Matt Hardy. You know, forget the fact that he defeated Chris Benoit in a two of three falls match, the guy beat him 2-0 in a match placed in between the two World Title matches on a Pay Per View!! The fact that he is the United States Champion on top of that proves that MVP is ready for the big time.
2) Roderick Strong/Pac - Wow, let me run that list down again. Super Dragon and Davey Richards (solid), The Muscle Outlaw'z (very solid), and the Briscoe Brothers (damn!) in two nights! And like they said, they were perhaps the biggest underdogs to win the PWG Tag Tourney.
3) John Cena - Like him or hate him, the guy had a decent match with Khali and made the tree tap. Unreal.
4) CM Punk
5) Lashley
Andy Critchell
1) MVP
Proved that he deserves to carry the US Title by beating Benoit 2-0 at Judgment Day. He didn't even have to bust out the DEVASTATING Ballin' Elbow. I'm not sure how I feel about that…
2) John Cena – He beat the unbeatable giant and got a surprisingly decent match out of him in the process. If he keeps this up, people that gripe about him are finally going to have to admit it's because girls like him, not because he can't work a good match.
3) Edge – Did what he does best; acted like a coward, made his foe look good, and still came out with the win. It's Edge's world people; we're just living in it.
4) Lashley
5) Strong and Pac
Larry Csonka
1) Roderick Strong & PAC
They went through a pretty stacked field to with the PWG Tag Touney this weekend. There wins were over former champs Super Dragon and Davey Richards, The Muscle Outlaw'z, and The Briscoes, who have been on fire in 2007. They deserve some love, especially since MVP's title win was lackluster as compared to other matches he had with Benoit.
2) Matt Hardy – Continued their very fun feud with Cade and Murdoch and had the best match on the show.
3) Jeff Hardy – I already had a tie, and while he has been great in his latest run, he makes Aluminum art, so he gets a spotless.
4) MVP
5) Kurt Angle
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention… Jeff Hardy - 9 Votes
Fifth Place…Matt Hardy - 12 Votes
Fourth Place…Lashley - 15 Votes
Third Place…CM Punk - 29 Votes
Punk gets a big PPV win over his ECW contemporary Elijah Burke.
Second Place…John Cena, Roderick Strong, PAC - 37 Votes
John Cena slain the beast while PAC and Strong went through a 2-day tournament to prove that they were the best.
Wrestler of the Week…MVP - 63 Votes
He BALLED his way to the US title with a 2-0 win at Judgment Day over Chris Benoit. Call this his coming out party.
Year-End Standings~!
MVP gets the big win and leaps into a tie with Edge, although cannot get art of first place. That goes back to John Cena, who slain the beast and a tie for second this week, tossing him back into first place. Matt Hardy gets some love and is solidly in 3rd place, Punk moves up while Strong and PAC debut.
John Cena – 33 (Raw)
MVP – 30 (Smackdown) Edge – 30 (Raw)
Matt Hardy – 24 (Smackdown)
Kurt Angle – 15 (TNA) CM Punk – 15 (ECW) Shawn Michaels – 15 (Raw) Santino Marella – 15 (Raw)
Ultimo Guerrero – 3 (CMLL) Christopher Daniels – 3 (TNA) The Great Khali – 3 (WWE) Togi Makabe – 3 (New Japan) Sara Del Ray – 3 (US Independent)
Jeff Jarrett– 1 (TNA) Rob Van Dam – 1 (ECW) Colt Cabana – 1 (WWE) El Generico – 1 (US Independent) Chuck Taylor – 1 (US Independent) Mike Quackenbush – 1 (US Independent)
Voting began 4.09.07
Year-End Rankings Key:
Raw and Smackdown Wrestlers are represented in BLUE.
ECW Wrestlers are represented in GREEN.
TNA wrestlers are represented in RED.
ROH/FIP Wrestlers are represented in MAROON.
US Independent Wrestlers are represented in ORANGE
