411’s Wrestler of the Week 6.25.07: Week 12
Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.25.2007
A new ECW, Women’s and X-Division Champion were all crowned this week! CHIKARA held their 3-day Young Lion’s Cup and crowned a new winner there! Did any of them make the cut, could one of them have won? Come on into see!
Welcome to Week 12, 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!
Mike Bauer
1) John Cena/Edge
It was a "Night of Champions" where pretty much nothing happened. I'll give the new champs the respect they deserve, but those titles are considered second rate with the way the WWE treats them. The titles that matter were each defended successfully by John Cena and Edge and both done with very heavy odds against them. Cena was in the ring with four former champions and still managed to defy the odds once again. Edge faced a desperate Batista and the "last Chance" stipulation seemed to favor Batista. So he got DQed, was made to continue, and still won when Batista showed how dumb he was. These guys deserved it and I'll explain my reasons below on the ECW Title. For the Women's Title, it's pretty much the same as the ECW Title, but with no real wrestling. So I'm sorry Candice, but with everything else this week, I can't give you any love.
2) Johnny Nitro - Yes, he won the ECW Title, but where was Chris Benoit? The ECW Title has been made to look bad and this proved it.
3) The Briscoe Brothers - They has two very, very amazing matches this week in retaining the RoH Tag Team Titles.
4) Samoa Joe (New X-Divison Champ)
5) Chuck Taylor (Young Lions Cup)
SAT
1) Johnny Nitro
Johnny Nitro gets the top slot because he wins the ECW title when he wasn't even scheduled to be in the match. The ECW title is not the most prestigious world title out there, but it is a world title in a major wrestling company.
2) Samoa Joe - Samoa Joe gets the second slot because he wins the TNA X-Division Title in a triple threat match from Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin. This win also puts him in the main event at Victory Road.
3) Candice Michelle - Candice Michelle has been on one hell of a run and she wins the WWE Women's Title from Melina. The match wasn't that good, but the important thing is that she is the new Women's champion.
4) Chuck Taylor
5) Briscoe Brothers
Ryan Byers
1) Johnny Nitro
For a weekend with a major CHIKARA series of shows, an ROH PPV taping, and a WWE PPV, it feels like very little actually happened . . . just a ton of events with very few major occurrences. That's why Johnny Nitro gets the top slot for his ECW Title win. True, being the champion of ECW at this point is roughly the equal to being the champion of WWE Heat, but it was the single biggest accomplishment of any wrestler within the last seven days.
2) Chuck Taylor - Won the CHIKARA Young Lion's Cup tournament after already having won the CHIKARA Rey de Voladores tournament earlier this year. Lately CHIKARA has been a major proving ground for up and coming Indy stars, so this bodes well for his career.
3) Chris Hero - Breaks out of the pack of the ROH midcard by winning a big gauntlet match. Also nets himself a tag win in CHIKARA.
4) Samoa Joe
5) Candice Michelle
ARI
1) Austin Aries
ARIES HAS BEEN FREED! Making his big return to ROH, Aries appeared "as a fan" at the Dayton, OH show and rumors were running wild about his possible future. At the PPV tapings the next day in Chicago, Aries ran in to stop the NRC from beating up his group The Resilience. He cut an amazing promo about coming home to ROH, signed his contract and received a hero's welcome from the crowd. Aries is super over right now and probably one of the more inspirational stories of the past week.
2) The Briscoes: Retain the ROH World Tag Team Titles against tough competition in the form of Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Sydal and then the team of El Generico and Kevin Steen. The Briscoes are man enough already, but they are on fire with their performances as of late.
3) Nigel McGuinness/KENTA: McGuinness won both of his matches this weekend AND in one of them (a tag match) managed to pin the ROH World champion Takeshi Morishima with a trademark lariat. Morishima was untouchable in his run as champion but McGuinness found an answer. KENTA had a huge win against Bryan Danielson in a much-acclaimed match to main event the Chicago show (not taped for PPV but a DVD exclusive). McGuinness, KENTA and Danielson all have claims to a ROH World title shot.
4) Chuck Taylor
5) Samoa Joe
Meehan
1) Umaga
Screw titles, storylines, or Indy shows that 99% of the wrestling audience has only *read* about -- Sunday's ppv proved that UMAGA is clearly *the* most over he's ever been in his career. Fault Santino for it all you will, but the bottom line is that the fans came out in full support of the Samoan Bulldozer despite the fact that the "smarts" had initially written him off as no more than a cheap Samoa Joe knockoff. Even in defeat, Umaga earned some of the loudest cheers of the night... and that's more than enough to warrant top honors this week.
2) Johnny Nitro -- Nabs the ECW title and puts himself at the forefront of WWE's "developmental with a TV deal" brand. And for those who'll whine about just how "devalued" the ECW title is -- relax. Lest we forget, Justin Credible and Mickey Whipwreck are former ECW champs as well.
3) Samoa Joe -- Though the X Division title might be a lateral move for him, he looks destined to headline against Kurt Angle once again.
4) John Cena
5) Edge
Andy Clark
1) Johnny Nitro
Talk about coming out of left field. A month ago Nitro was jobbing to Chuck Palumbo in dark matches. Now he's a World Champion. Sure the ECW Title isn't a MAJOR World Title, but he's still the champion of a WWE brand.
2) John Cena- Cena defended his title against four former World Champions in the match that was probably MOTN at Vengeance.
3) Samoa Joe- Reclaimed the X-Division Title and put himself in line for a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Titles.
4) The Briscoes
5) Austin Aries
Mike Minoti
1) Chuck Taylor
Won the massive CHIKARA Young Lion's Cup tournament. Check out the bracket for that tournament if you could. You'll understand how much of an achievement this is for Taylor.
2) Matt Hardy - Him and Finlay had the best match that I saw this week. Seriously, Matt's been on fire lately, and I think he is finally ready for a main event push. And if that "Batista can't challenge Edge for his title ever again" thing sticks, Hardy would be a great choice as the next man to challenge Edge for the championship.
3) Johnny Nitro - This is where I always have to stop and think. How do I determine the wrestler of the week? Should it be key-fabe, thus meaning the most important victors should get high placement? If that's the case, then Nitro would definitely be number 1. But winning the ECW Wolrd Championship in a mediocre match that had absolutely zero build up, with the fans chanting "we want Benoit" the whole time... it's kind of hard to give him too much credit. Honestly, in the long run, winning his first World Title in this manner may end up hurting him. But that's neither here or now. Winning a world title gets Nitro the number 3 spot, but the conditions surrounding his victory don't get him a higher spot.
4) The Briscoes
5) Samoa Joe
Scott Slimmer
1) Johnny Nitro
Johnny Nitro gets my first place vote for making a surprise appearance at Vengeance, putting on the match of the night with CM Punk, and winning the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. You can argue about the merits of Nitro's victory all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that he just picked up the biggest win of his career and now is (at least in theory, if not in practice) on the same level as John Cena and Edge. His tag team partner got fired and his on-screen romance dissolved, but Johnny Nitro's career has never looked brighter than it does right now.
2) Samoa Joe – Samoa Joe gets my second place vote for defeating "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin on Impact to once again become the TNA X-Division Champion. This probably had less to do with the X-Division than it did with getting Joe into the main event at Victory Road, but nonetheless it's worth acknowledging.
3) Matt Hardy – Matt Hardy gets my third place vote for defeating Finlay on Smackdown in the best match of the week (including the pay-per-view). Matt may have lost in tag team action at Vengeance, but his singles career is looking more impressive than ever.
4) Candice Michelle
5) Chuck Taylor
Stuart Carapola
1) John Cena
While a new World Champion would normally take the #1 spot for me, let's face it, the ECW Title is a glorified secondary title at this point. John Cena retained against four former World Champions in a match where he didn't have to get pinned to lose the match and the title.
2) Johnny Nitro: However, that glorified secondary title did find its way around the waist of a talented young guy who defeated another talented young guy, both of whom have a hell of a future ahead of them and may very likely have a lot of great matches against one another for years to come.
3) Takeshi Morishima: Yes, he dropped a fall to Nigel McGuinness on Friday in Dayton, but came back strong to retain the ROH World Title twice in one night in a pair of really short matches against Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce.
4) Samoa Joe
5) KENTA
B-Rad
1) Johnny Nitro
Came out of nowhere and won the ECW Championship. It was a world title win and a huge shot so he gets my #1 spot.
2) Samoa Joe- Joe wins back the X Division Champion and will have a shot at becoming a double champion.
3) Candice Michelle- I had written off Candice as just a challenger to make Melina's run longer but she proved me wrong and won the Women's Championship.
4) John Cena
5) Edge
Zac Calhoun
1) John Cena
There's absolutely no denying his dominance in the wrestling world today. He hasn't lost a match of any importance in forever, and Vengeance was no different. He went over two very established superstars and two bright up-and-comers in one night, successfully defending the WWE title in the process. Add to that it was probably the best match on the show and the main event, and there's your WOTW.
2) Samoa Joe - Four months away from Bound For Glory, TNA is already building toward Angle vs. Joe as their main event. Joe's X-Division title win and subsequent place in the "match of champions" is the first sign of this. The triple threat wasn't exceedingly good, but it served to make Joe look like a badass.
3) Matt Hardy - There's a lot of buzz surrounding Matt's possible rise to the main event on SD, and his victories over both the European badasses may be signs that the buzz is true. He and Finlay put on a near twenty-minute display where I would really expect Finlay to walk away with the win. Could Matt be subject to a bigger push than his brother for once?
4) KENTA
5) Johnny Nitro
John Gregory
1) Chuck Taylor
If we're talking sheer effort in a single week, it goes to my boy Chuck. And yes, he is my boy. The young IWA Mid-South Champion got through 7 men on Friday night (a singles match and 6-way) and beat his old friend Ricochet on Sunday to claim the Young Lions Cup. And in a broken ring no less! But when it comes down to it, Chuck deserves the win this week for two reasons other than winning. First, the Omega Driver. You must fear it. And you do fear it. Second, he made a young girl cry on Sunday and actually leave the ECW Arena. Kudos to you, Chuck!
2) Austin Aires. Talk about making an impact when no one expects it. For the past few months, Aires has been man incognito. Seldom seen, seldom heard. Stuck in a TNA contract, which he doesn't want. Then on Dayton he appears to whoop the bejesus out of Roderick Strong and the No Remorse Corps. In Chicago, he does it again, and this time on Pay Per View. He announces that he is back in ROH to stay. Well, score one for Ring of Honor. Looks like TNA better stop looking at WWE as competition, and start looking at the little promotion that can, has, and will. Now, all Aires has to do to get the Resilience a win over the NRC.
3) Matt Hardy. Hardy proved this week why he is a) better than Jeff and b) main event material. Now just bring back Matt-facts and we're set.
4) KENTA
5) John Cena
Mat Adamson
1) Johnny Nitro
So, Cena won another match, we've seen that before. Nitro on the other hand just BECAME Chris Benoit. What was the real plan for this match? I'd be interested to know, but I'm guessing that Benoit's misfortune is Nitro's gain.
2) Samoa Joe - Winning the X title may not be that big of a deal for Joe considering where he is at in his career, but it still means something.
3) Chuck Taylor - Making babies cry and winning the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup will make me a fan of anybody.
4) KENTA
5) Candice Michelle
Matt Short
1) Johnny Nitro
You know, I would have been shocked if Benoit hadn't won the ECW title going into the PPV. When he had to drop out I was pretty sure Punk would just be given the title. JOHNNY NITRO comes out the side hatch to not only fill in for Benoit, but then WINS the damn thing. Kudos to Nitro and if he's lucky he won't lose the belt right away.
2) Samoa Joe- He did win the X Division title this week and that has to count for something. He's put himself in the big champions match and furthered the storyline with Angle.
3) Chuck Taylor- Chuck won the fifth Young Lions Cup tournament in Chikara. While it isn't his biggest accomplishment of his young career winning a tournament is always good in my book.
4) KENTA
5) Austin Aries
Samuel Berman
1) Mark and Jay Briscoe
Two successful title defenses, including defeating Kevin Steen & El Generico in the main event of Ring of Honor's second PPV. Jay & Mark continue to roll through all of their competition, having now defeated every team they've faced in a 2/3 Falls contest in two straight decisions. Another match with Steen & Generico (this time a Street Fight) looms in August, as does a defense with some Japanese talent on the upcoming tour in mid-July, but it looks like for now the Briscoes have a stranglehold on the ROH tag team division.
2) Nigel McGuinness - Won falls over ROH World Champion Takeshi Morishima and current rival Chris Hero.
3) Austin Aries - Made a big impact (no pun intended) in his return home to Ring of Honor.
4) Chuck Taylor
5) KENTA
Bayani Domingo
1) Johnny Nitro
Well I'm sure no one was expecting it and to be fair I'm actually a lot more interested in ECW's main event at the moment than I am SD or TNA. Also he went over CM Punk totally clean. I bet ya literally thousands of CM Punk fans were weeping into their straight edge t-shirts on Sunday night. Right now this is shaping up to be the perfect feud for Punk that I suggested weeks ago as it's Hollywood Party Life vs. Straight Edge.
2) Chuck Taylor - With his second big tournament win in CHIKARA and his induction into the biggest heel stable on the US Indy scene Chuck is truly a Young Lion and an up and comer. Don't be surprised when you see him more prominently in RoH and PWG later this year.
3) Samoa Joe - He won the X-Title, which is something. Too bad the title is now only a mere booking vehicle now instead of the glory of what it used to be.
4) Nigel McGuiness
5) Austin Aries
Andy Critchell
1) Johnny Nitro
Hey, a win is a win is a win and Nitro won the ECW title. It doesn't matter what value YOU put on it because as far as the WWE is concerned, it's equal to the WWE and World Heavyweight Title, even if it's not booked that way. Anyway, Nitro has been hovering in the midcard for a while and this title win could be the beginning of a new and exciting direction for the Hollywood A-lister.
2) Edge/Cena - Both men retained their belts in their typical respective fashions. Edge acted like the smart, coward heel and was able to hold on to the gold despite taking some big time punishment. Cena defeated pretty much every top of the card guy on Raw to retain his title and pinned a legend in the process.
3) Samoa Joe - Won the X-Division Title in a three way on Impact making Jay Lethal's reign thankfully short. Hopefully this will be the start of an interesting direction with Joe and TNA will finally do something meaningful with him beyond just being a boring meathead. I'm not holding my breath though.
4) Candice Michelle
5) Austin Aries
Mathew Sforcina
1) Johnny Nitro
Normally, a last second sub, and a heel one at that, in a tourney for a vacant title has as much chance winning as I do of, say, nailing Angelina Jolie. Sure, you can maybe, with some effort, think of a very specific set of circumstances where it could, conceivably, happen, but it's damn unlikely. And yet, here we are, Johnny Nitro, 'World' Champ. Congrats.
2) Chuck Taylor- Ok, I fully admit to relying on our crack team of US Indy guys for these sort of thing, but enough people I trust say this is a big deal, so it's a big deal. Huzzah.
3) Samoa Joe- Great, Joe and Angle holding all 3 belts (Yes I know he who gets pin/submission picks partner, but who else can Angle and Joe trust? Eric Young?). Still, Joe as X Champ does seem...right.
4) Candice Michelle
5) KENTA/Austin Aries
Larry Csonka
1) Samoa Joe
Joe takes the X-Title, ensures himself in the main event of the next PPV, cuts a great promo and his booking and character focus is now back on track in a big way. A huge week for him and he gets the top spot from me!
2) Chuck Taylor – Won the CHIKARA Young Lions Cup, good enough for second this week!
3) Johnny Nitro – Nitro got the promotion rule behind him and as last minute replacement took the ECW title and 3rd from me this week.
4) KENTA/Chris Hero
5) Candice Michelle
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Austin Aries and Kenta - 16 Votes
Fifth Place…Mark and Jay Briscoe - 17 Votes
Fourth Place…John Cena - 28 Votes
Third Place…Chuck Taylor - 39 Votes
Chuck Taylor became the 7th man to hold the CHIKARA Young Lions Trophy. He's been creating some buzz in the IWA:MS but now with this win, he is really taking off.
Second Place…Samoa Joe - 52 Votes
Samoa Joe took back his X-Title and is set for the main event of Victory Road, and another eventual Clash with Kurt Angle.
Wrestler of the Week…Johnny Nitro - 69 Votes
The shocking winner of the week is Johnny Nitro. Nitro was a last minute replacement for Chris Benoit and walked out of Vengeance with the ECW Title. That was enough to get him first place.
Year-End Standings~!
Johnny Nitro had a huge debut this week, KENTA debuted as week, and the Briscoe's gain some more points as they continue to have a great year. John Cena defended his title and gains a bit more of a lead over Edge. Joe's second place victory break shim out of the pack and into the top mix. A very eventful week to be sure.
John Cena – 49 (Raw)
Edge – 38 (Raw)
Matt Hardy – 33 (Smackdown)
Bobby Lashley – 32 (ECW)
MVP – 31 (Smackdown)
Kurt Angle – 30 (TNA)
Samoa Joe – 27 (TNA)
Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent) Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE)
Jeff Hardy – 16 (Raw)
CM Punk – 15 (ECW) Johnny Nitro – 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) Mark Briscoe – 12 (ROH) Jay Briscoe – 12 (ROH)
Chuck Taylor – 10 (US Independent)
Black Machismo – 9 (TNA) Abyss– 9 (TNA) Batista – 9 (Smackdown) Bryan Danielson – 9 (ROH) Nigel McGuiness – 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)
Sting– 6 (TNA) Scott Steiner– 6 (TNA) Milano Collection AT – 6 (Japan)
Mike Quackenbush – 4 (US Independent)
Charlie Haas – 3 (Raw) Shelton Benjamin– 3 (Raw) Mistico – 3 (CMLL) Ultimo Guerrero – 3 (CMLL) Christopher Daniels – 3 (TNA) The Great Khali – 3 (Raw) Togi Makabe – 3 (New Japan)
Jeff Jarrett– 1 (TNA) Colt Cabana – 1 (WWE) Jimmy Jacobs – 1 (ROH) Austin Aries – 1 (ROH) KENTA – 1 (NOAH) Rob Van Dam – 1 (US Independent) El Generico – 1 (US Independent) Sherri Martel – 1 (Deceased)
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
