411’s Wrestler of the Week 6.11.07: Week 10
Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.11.2007
Former tag team partners collide and battle for the crowd, Cade and Murdoch win tag team gold while Edge defeats Chris Benoit to solidify himself in the running! But who took the crown of 411 WOTW this time? Come on into see!
Welcome to Week 10, 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!
Daniel Wilcox
1) John Cena
The Champ toppled two of his most deadly foes at the same time on Raw, and successfully defended the title against Umaga and The Great Khali in doing so.
2) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch - Picked up the World Tag Team Championships (which now mean something!) on Raw in another good match with The Hardy's and then beat them down after the match
3) Edge - The Rated R Superstar bested Chris Benoit in the best match of the week. (That I've seen - missed Impact this week).
4) Batista
5) Bobby Lashley
JD Dunn
1) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Won the tag titles and are finally starting to generate a little heat. They've shown real growth as characters and performers over the past few months. It will be interesting to see if they get any more time than any of the other tag teams.
2) Bryan Danielson
3) John Cena
4) Vince McMahon
5) Briscoe Bros
Ryan Byers
1) Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey - This was a fairly uneventful week in the grand scheme of things, with no WWE or TNA PPVs and the booking on ROH's shows making it look like the company is in a holding pattern for the time being. As a result, I had to go with the talent that has entertained me the most this week, and that's Jimmy Jacobs & Lacey. For those of you who don't frequent ROHvideos.com, the two have been starring in a hilarious series of clips featuring them on a four day "date" in Chicago. Both performed very well (particularly Lacey), and it's to their credit that this angle has been able to go on for roughly a year and a half in ROH with no signs of growing stale.
2) Claudio Castagnoli - Won an ROH Title shot this weekend.
3) Gail Kim - Had a surprisingly good match against Traci Brooks on Impact this week.
4) Mistico
5) Vince McMahon
ARI
1) Nigel McGuinness / Bryan Danielson
For reportedly having a near perfect match taped for PPV. These guys have chemistry together, and they put in on display once again at the Ring of Honor show in Philadelphia.
2)Jimmy Jacobs: For being so awesome in the four part series of vignettes where he tried and succeeded to gain the love of his manager Lacey. Mixing humor, self-deprecation, drama and a very interesting conclusion, this video series once again reinforces the idea of Jacobs as one of the best promo men in ROH right now.
3) Lacey: For being the muse to Jacob's heart, and for holding her own in the vignettes as well.
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) Brent Albright
Bayani Domingo
1) Cade/Murdoch
Won the titles from the Hardyz and hopefully we can finally rebuild that tag division they keep saying they have on RAW.
2) El Generico - Generico had to go through THE Indy wrestler in order to hold on to the PWG title on Sunday. Proving that Generico is not just a comedy act but possibly one of the most underrated wrestlers on the Indy circuit who in '07 is finally getting his just due.
3) Briscoe Bros. - Two straight pinfalls on what used to be one of the best tag teams in all of wrestling. Not too shabby.
4) Bryan Danielson
5) Mistico
Furious
1) Cade & Murdoch. It may have been a good time to challenge the Hardys but C&M still had to beat them and did so. Their characters may have failed them but their ring skills did not. They've beaten one of the strongest teams the WWE has and now they're the champs. Decent pay off for their little 'babyface' angle too.
2) John Cena - Slew Khali a second time on Raw. This one felt even more decisive.
3) Edge - Everyone seems to be forgetting his big win over Chris Benoit on Smackdown. Edge, as a heel champion, doesn't get clean wins too often but this was a solid performance and a big win for him.
4) Mistico.
5) Randy Orton
Scott Slimmer
1) Chris Harris / James Storm – Chris Harris and James Storm get my first place vote for busting their asses and putting on an absolutely phenomenal match on Impact. Sure, the finish was lame. Sure, it's disappointing that neither of them is headed to the King of the Mountain Match at Slammiversary. Sure, the fact that they got pushed aside during the last five minutes of the show sucks monkey balls. But you know what? None of that changes the fact that these two guys put on one of the best free television matches of the year and absolutely deserve to be recognized for it.
2) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch – Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch get my second place vote for defeating their former new best friends, The Hardys, on Raw to win the World Tag Team Championships. They've finally graduated to the big time (again), and we can only hope that this time they don't get jobbed out to another pair of monsters (coughumagaandkhalicough).
3) Edge – Edge gets my third place vote for squeaking past Chris Benoit in a hot match on Smackdown. The Rated R Superstar is certainly on a roll heading into this Monday's WWE Draft.
4) John Cena
5) Randy Orton
JT~!
1) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch - Finally all of their hard work spent playing chums with the Hardys paid off in the form of the World Tag Team championship gold. They continued (along with Hardys and WGTT) to make the tag division on RAW actually seem relevant, and have now gotten some decent heat on them thanks to double-crossing everyone's favorite brothers.
2) Chris Harris/James Storm - Would have gotten 1st here, but the fact that their double count-out eliminates the both from the KOTM match holds them back. That being said, that was one HELL of a match, and I agree that it's a shame they aren't going at it at Slammiversary.
3) Edge - As mentioned, clean win over Benoit in a pretty good match.
4) Mistico
5) John Cena
Zac Calhoun
1) John Cena - The WWE Champion acted like the WWE Champion this week, beating the two most dangerous heels on the Raw roster in the same match. People might hate on creative for putting him over both guys at once, but this isn't a handicap match we're talking about. This was one-on-one-on-one, and Cena emerged victorious yet again. The last few minutes were really good, too.
2) Chris Harris/James Storm - But although the triple threat was good, it wasn't the TV match of the week; that honor goes to these gentlemen. The former AMW fucking annihilated each other and made the Impact Zone crowd beg for more brutality. They pulled out some traditionally PPV-only type spots and truly acted as if their very dignity was on the line. Awesome performances.
3) Cade & Murdoch - At Unforgiven 2005, the Redneck Wrecking Crew won their first Raw tag titles. I was in attendance in Oklahoma City and began an admiration for these two that persevered through all the horrible misuse. They have great chemistry, they compliment one another, and Trevor Murdoch is so old school he's fresh. I'm very glad they're champs again.
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) Edge
Andy Critchell
1) Cade & Murdoch - In a week like this, you gotta give the top spot to guys who won major belts and they did just that. Let's not forget just how hot the Hardys have been over the past few months so for C&M to take them down was a major feat. In addition, C&M proved to me that they belonged and I have critical of these two from the beginning so that in and of itself is a major victory.
2) John Cena - Not only did he beat the two biggest and toughest "monsters" in the WWE, but he was a big reason why the match was fun and enjoyable. He is really cementing himself as the wrestler of the year.
3) Edge - The WWE's other champion had himself a hell of a match with Chris Benoit on Smackdown and won, which for a heel is pretty big. Edge is at a point right now where excellence and great performances are expected and almost automatic so it is hard to remember just how great he is week in and week out. We need to do our best to not take him for granted.
4) Mistico
5) Randall K. Orton, Esq.
Matt Adamson
1) Cade and Murdoch - I gotta say that these two bring me back to a time where I was loving tag team wrestling. They bring me back to The Midnight Express, Rock and Roll Express, Southern Boys and the like. They won the WWE tag titles and I love how they actually made a fairly big deal about it this time around. Let's hope they stick around and entertain me for a long time.
2) Lacey - Probably the best series of vignettes in wrestling in quite a long time was this week with her and Jimmy Jacobs. It was great to see them work together like this. If Lacey had pulled off a tantrum like none other, this would have made it easily to the top for me.
3) Chris Harris/James Storm - Absolutely tremendous TV match, can't ask for much better for free.
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) Mistico
Matt Short
1) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
Finally beat The Hardys after months of trying. It's great that they're finally getting some serious recognition after spending so long jobbing to everyone and rarely appearing on Raw. Here's hoping they get a longer run as a top heel team than they did with their last title win.
2) Chris Harris/James Storm – That match on Impact was amazing. I love that this feud is still unsettled, because I'm glad to see it continue.
3) Bryan Danielson – ROH does a good bait and switch, taking Danielson out of his match with Matt Sydal due to "injury" only to have him face Nigel McGuiness for a PPV taped match. Danielson won from what all reports was an amazing match and that deserves some recognition.
4) Mistico
5) Takeshi Morishima
Mathew Sforcina
1) Chris Harris and James Storm
Sure, the ending of the match blew. But these guys, despite all the problems, put on one HELL of a match, on free TV no less, and from the dying embers of a terribly misbooked feud they have risen, like a phoenix, to where they might save TNA this month if TNA lets them, to replace Steiner's/Team 3D.
2) Cade & Murdoch - They win back the tag titles, and this time round, they have heat and stuff. It's amazing, what good booking can do for you. Here's hoping these guys make a actual go of it this time round.
3) John Cena - Superman wins. Again. Huzzah. I sense Umaga jumps ship this week, but where to?
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) Edge
SAT
1) Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch get the top slot for their win over the Hardys. I rated them a notch higher than Chris Harris and James Storm because the Harris/Storm match did not have a winner.
2) Chris Harris/James Storm - Chris Harris and James Storm get the second slot for their amazing match on Impact. They would have gotten the top slot from me if there had been a winner in the match.
3) John Cena - John Cena gets the third slot for his win against Umaga and the Great Khali
4) Bobby Lashley
5) Mistico
Ryan Mancuso
1) Mistico
Winning the Leyenda De Plata in back-to-back years gets WOTW from me. He accomplished something that guys like El Hijo Del Santo (in which the tournament was named after his legendary father El Santo), Negro Casas, Black Warrior, Atlantis and Perro Aguayo Jr. couldn't do. He did this with a badly injured shoulder and Mr. Aguila's momentum (since he is replacing Perrito) for making the finals of a reality show in Mexico. Mistico gets WOTW for coming through with all the odds stacked against him.
2) Cade/Murdoch - They sucked dem Hardyz in good and got some well deserved gold.
3) Chris Harris/James Storm - Had the best Impact match this year, but the ending hurts them.
4) John Cena
5) Edge
Mike Bauer
1) Cade and Murdoch - I'll take Larry's observation from the 4 R's, cause it sums it up perfectly. Amd I quote: "This is now the most over they have been and that is because they got to work with the Hardy's, who are perpetually over, they were made to look like a threat and finally, people were given a reason to love/hate them. THAT is how you get teams over and THAT is how you build stars. This was good stuff, minus the flubbed ending. At the very end, while on the ramp, Murdoch started pointing at random fans and yelling, "We fooled you! We fooled you! We fooled you!" God bless these gentlemen."
2) John Cena - He does it again, beating Khali and Umaga. He's gotta do something different already.
3) Jimmy Jacobs - Those videos are gold and Jacobs gets Lacey. Lucky bastard!
4) Chris Harris/James Storm
5) Bobby Lashley
B-RAD
1) Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch
They finally made it back to the top of the tag team mountain on RAW.
2) Chris Harris/James Storm- These guys put on an amazing match on impact!
3) Edge- Defeated Chris Benoit in a great match which makes me sad that Benoit won't have a program with him.
4) John Cena
5) Randy Orton
Larry Csonka
1) James Storm and Chris Harris
These guys went out on Impact, after having a MOTY type match at Sacrifice and once again delivered huge again! Their match on Impact, while there were flaws in the booking, was just awesome. Probably the best if not one of the best Impact matches ever. I loved them as a tag team, and if TNA doesn't drop the ball and they let them loose, these guys will be singles stars and most importantly, HOMEGROWN stars. VIVA the AMW blood feud!
2) Mistico - Mistico became the first ever back-to-back and 2 time Leyenda De Plata winner when he defeated Mr. Aguila in the finals at Arena Mexico last night to retain his title. He shouldn't even be working right now as his shoulder is about to fall off, but the biggest draw in Mexico is still earning his pay the hard way.
3) Cade and Murdoch – The DERVISH finally climbed back to the top and took back the titles that were stolen from them oh so long ago. They have worked hard and have earned this and I am very happy to see it.
4) Edge
5) John Cena
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Jimmy Jacobs - 18 Votes
Fifth Place…Mistico - 22 Votes
Fourth Place…Edge - 23 Votes
Third Place…John Cena - 38 Votes
John Cena defended his title against Umaga and Khali on Monday, showing his dominance once again.
Second Place…James Storm and Chris Harris - 43 Votes
Storm and Harris decided that it would be twice as nice to blow the roof off the Impact Zone as they followed up their Texas death match with another awesome match.
Wrestler of the Week…Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch - 72 Votes
But the big winners this week are the Redneck Whirling Dervish of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. They not only beat the Hardy's but took the tag titles in the process. It's been a long road back, but they have done it.
Year-End Standings~!
Jimmy Jacobs, James Storm, Chris Harris, Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade and Mistico all debut this week in the rankings for the year-end award. Some more spectacular than others, but now that they are here, they are contenders. Edge and John Cena both gained more points, as Cena opens up a small lead and Edge leaps into second for the year.
John Cena – 43 (Raw)
Edge – 37 (Raw)
Matt Hardy – 33 (Smackdown)
Bobby Lashley – 32 (ECW)
MVP – 31 (Smackdown)
Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent)
Jeff Hardy – 16 (Raw)
Samoa Joe – 15 (TNA) Kurt Angle – 15 (TNA) CM Punk – 15 (ECW) Lance Cade – 15 (Raw) Trevor Murdoch – 15 (Raw) Shawn Michaels – 15 (Raw) Santino Marella – 15 (Raw)
Elijah Burke – 12 (ECW) Deuce – 12 (Smackdown) Domino – 12 (Smackdown) Chris Harris – 12 (TNA) James Storm – 12 (TNA) Brother Ray – 12 (TNA) Brother Devon – 12 (TNA) Dick Togo – 12 (New Japan) PAC – 12 (Independent) Roderick Strong– 12 (ROH/FIP)
Batista – 9 (Smackdown) Bryan Danielson – 9 (ROH) Nigel McGuiness – 9 (ROH) Mark Briscoe – 9 (ROH) Jay Briscoe – 9 (ROH) Vito Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent) Sal Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent) TAKA Michinoku – 9 (New Japan) Yugi Nagata – 9 (New Japan)
Paul London – 7 (Smackdown) Brian Kendrick – 7 (Smackdown)
Charlie Haas – 3 (Raw) Shelton Benjamin– 3 (Raw) The Great Khali – 3 (Raw) Mistico – 3 (CMLL) Ultimo Guerrero – 3 (CMLL) Christopher Daniels – 3 (TNA) Togi Makabe – 3 (New Japan)
Jeff Jarrett– 1 (TNA) Rob Van Dam – 1 (ECW) Colt Cabana – 1 (WWE) Jimmy Jacobs – 1 (ROH) El Generico – 1 (US Independent) Chuck Taylor – 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
