411’s Wrestler of the Week 5.28.07: Week 8
Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.28.2007
Week EIGHT sees last year’s WOTY as well as Batista debut on the list, tournament wins and more!
Welcome to Week 8, 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!
Samuel Berman
1) The Iron Saints (Sal & Vito Thomaselli)
Winning IWA Mid-South's Candido Cup and the vacant IWAMS Tag Team Titles is a pretty good two weeks of work for one of the most underrated teams in the world. I saw the Iron Saints take on the North Star Express a few weeks ago in a double dog collar match and was ULTRA impressed with both teams, but specifically the Saints. It's probably only a matter of time until they appear for ROH, FIP & PWG.
2) Roderick Strong - I'm submitting this early, so this assumes he's retaining the FIP World Heavyweight Title throughout the weekend (he DID retain on night 1).
3) Chuck Taylor - Twice retained his title, including against Tank (who's Mid-South's answer to Abyss).
4) Samoa Joe
5) Josh Prohibition
Brad B.
1) Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe knocked off Sting in what could have been a dream match if not for the Russoific booking to claim a spot in the King of the Mountain Match.
2) Batista- Beat Mark Henry, Kane, and Finlay to earn a shot at Edge and the World Title.
3) Bobby Lashley- Knocked off a host of characters in a series of matches to earn the "dream" match of Lashley vs. Vinny Mac at One Night Stand.
4) MVP
5) CM Punk and Rob Van Dam
Zac Calhoun
1) Bobby Lashley
Black Lesnar was the focus of Raw this past week. He was put over no less than three people and gained a DQ victory over another. That deserves the title of "wrestler of the week."
2) Samoa Joe - While not quite as prominent as Lashley, Joe won the main event of Impact in the first ever Joe/Sting encounter and qualified for the King of the Mountain. A very good week from the defending WOTY.
3) MVP - Despite the fact that he didn't wrestle, MVP made big career steps during his US title celebration. In kayfabe and reality, all that money and interest seems to be paying off now.
4) Marcus Cor Von
5) Batista
Daniel Wilcox
1) Lashley
Even though I can't stand this guy, I have to give credit to him for pulling quadruple duty on Raw Monday night, and earning an ECW Championship title match in the process. If there had been any other really significant stuff happening this week, Lashley would not be #1.
2) MVP - In a week where the wrestling was not all-that-exciting, I must point out some of the great promo work over the last seven days. MVP's victory speech on SmackDown was his finest mic work yet and he truly did look like a star Friday night.
3) John Cena/Randy Orton - Again, for the promo work. Cena cut a really intense promo Monday night, as did Orton. Orton's promo in particular really was a good step in re-establishing the Legend Killer.
4) Samoa Joe
5) Batista
Mike Bauer
1) The Iron Saints
This week really was weak on all fronts for the big promotions, so with only one huge event happening on the Indy front, they have to get the nod from winning the IWA Mid-South Tag Titles. The Saints definitely are underrated and knocked of some good teams, including the Havana Pitbulls in Round 1.
2) Batista - Beat three men to get another shot at Edge in a Steel Cage next weekend.
3) Samoa Joe - Like it or not, he beat Sting to get to King of the Mountain.
4) Bobby Lashley
5) Roderick Strong
ARI
1) Samoa Joe
Defeated Sting to gain entry into The King of the Mountain match at TNA Slammiversary. It wasn't a totally clean win, thanks to interference from Christopher Daniels but it was a dominant one. Joe didn't even need the musclebuster or the choke to put Sting away.
2) Mike Quackenbush: Defeated Chris Hero in their first singles match for CHIKARA in over two years. This is a huge victory in the on again / off again rivalry of the pair that used to team up I believe as the "Super-Friends" but were torn asunder when Hero betrayed Quack and formed The Kings of Wrestling. Quackenbush finally has his justice and his peace. He debuted a new finishing submission to boot.
3) Scott Steiner: As horrifically under looked for his promos in TNA as he is horrifically terrible sometimes in the ring. Steiner is a guilty pleasure and once again proved it by hand delivering TNA one of its hottest angles and best promos of the year. Buh Buh did his part and Devon was surprisingly cogent and Rick, well he was the dog faced gremlin of old. However this promo was ALL about Scott Steiner. His comments about Team 3-D were awesome and well timing. The Steiner Brothers-Team 3-D dream match is now the number one draw for the Slammiversary PPV.
4) The Iron Saints
5) Roderick Strong
SAT
1) Bobby Lashley
Bobby Lashley was the main focus on RAW this week. He manages to defeat Chris Masters, Viscera, Umaga, and Shane McMahon to earn a shot at Mr. McMahon's ECW Title.
2) Samoa Joe - Samoa Joe qualifies for the King of the Mountain Match at Slammiversary by defeating Sting on Impact.
3) Batista - Batista becomes the number one contender for the World Title by beating Finlay, Mark Henry and Kane in a Fatal Fourway on SmackDown
4) The Iron Saints
5) Scott Steiner
Andy Clark
1) Batista
Won a big time Fatal Four-Way to find himself back in the SmackDown main event. Slow week everywhere else, so Batista gets the nod.
2) Bobby Lashley- Won four matches on Raw to get a shot at Vinnie Mac at One Night Stand.
3) Samoa Joe- Defeated Sting to qualify for the King of the Mountain Match where he would have to be the favorite.
4) Marcus Cor Von
5) The Great Khali
Ryan Byers
1.) Scott Steiner - People who vote for Wrestling of the Week on this website all seem to have different approaches to who they pick for their top guy. Some people pick purely in kayfabe terms, choosing the person who had the best week in storyline. Some people pick the person who had the best in-ring performance. What I'm doing this week is a little bit different than either of those. I'm picking the person who probably made his promotion the most money this week. Scott Steiner's promo on the Dudley Boys this week was damn near perfect and turned the match from another TNA ho-hum "legend vs. legend" setup (e.g. The Dudleys vs. The New Age Outlaws) to an angle that fans are actually getting excited about. It's gotten more buzz on the internet this week than the actual main event of Slammiversary, and I wouldn't be surprised if that remains the case until the PPV occurs.
2) Mike Quackenbush - See Ari's comments.
3) Bobby Lashley - I don't care if he won the gauntlet match. We all knew that was happening. I'm putting him at number three just for that AWESOME leapfrog/slam on Viscera.
4) The Iron Saints
5) John Cena
Matt Short
1) The Iron Saints
Won IWA-MS's Candido Cup and the IWA-MS Tag Team titles in the process. Sal and Vito Thomaselli have always been a strong tag team, but are now getting the attention of a wider audience, which is great for these guys.
2) Mike Quakenbush - Being the Chikara mark that I am, I can't ignore Quack beating Chris Hero at Aniversario? A nice win for Quackenbush as he finally got his revenge against Hero two years after the fact.
3) Batista - Won a not bad fatal four way on Smackdown for a shot at Edge at One Night Stand.
4) Bobby Lashley
5) MVP
JT~!
1) Samoa Joe
The week was a bit "meh", and so it comes down to who - if not winning a title - put themself in a position to win a title. Joe did so by beating a legend and is now heading into the "WrestleMania" of TNA to compete for the gold.
2) Batista - Beats Lashley here because although Bobby had to beat multiple men in multiple matches, he did so against (sans Umaga) non-legitimate contenders. Big Dave on the other hand had to do it at the same time against the likes of Finlay, Mark Henry, and Kane.
3) Scott Steiner - The TNA Tag Team Division has gone down a bit in recent months (seeming to follow in the X Division's footsteps), and Scotty took a huge step in trying to remedy that. Obviously his promo is not going to save TNA's tag ranks, but when you think about the teams and angles they had a year ago compared to what they have right now, it's hard to argue against the fact that it will definitely help.
4) The Iron Saints
5) Lashley
Larry Csonka
1) Samoa Joe
While I hated the match being on free TV, Joe beat Sting and in on his way to the KOTM match at Slammiversary. A big win for the Samoan Submission Machine.
2) Scott Steiner – Was just in his zone of greatness during the promo with the Deadlyz, good stuff and gets the big 2nd place mention.
3) The Iron Saints (Sal & Vito Thomaselli) – Tournament wins as well as tag gold are easily enough for my top 3.
4) Mike Quackenbush
5) Batista
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…MVP - 10 Votes
Fifth Place…Mike Quackenbush - 14 Votes
Fourth Place…Scott Steiner - 16 Votes
Third Place…The Iron Saints (Sal & Vito Thomaselli) and Batista - 26 Votes
Batista earned himself another shot at the World Title, while the Saints won the Candido Cup Tournament as well as the IWA MS Tag Titles. A good week for all three.
Second Place…Lashley - 30 Votes
Raw was the Bobby Lashley show, and that was al he needed for 2nd place this week.
Wrestler of the Week…Samoa Joe - 37 Votes
Joe comes out the big winner this week, defeating Sting and earning a shot for the TNA World Title.
Year-End Standings~!
The big news of the week is last year's WOTY winner finally making his debut on the list. Joe did so with the first place victory and with Slammiversary around the corner, could look to make a big move. MVP got a point and some separation for 3rd place, while Lashley made another big leap into the top 5. Batista and the Thomaselli's all debut this week as well while QUACK makes more waves with another small gain.
John Cena – 33 (Raw)
MVP – 31 (Smackdown)
Edge – 30 (Raw)
Matt Hardy – 24 (Smackdown)
Bobby Lashley – 21 (ECW)
Samoa Joe – 15 (TNA) Kurt Angle – 15 (TNA) CM Punk – 15 (ECW) Shawn Michaels – 15 (Raw) Santino Marella – 15 (Raw)
