411’s Wrestler of the Week 7.16.07: Week 15
Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.16.2007
Three men make their debuts in the year-end ranking, while two very familiar faces rule the week.
Welcome to Week 15, 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!
Scott Slimmer
1) Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe gets my first place vote for winning the Match of Champions at Victory Road and winning the TNA World Tag Team Championships in the process. Joe now holds three of the four belts in TNA, but I think it's safe to say that he'd trade them all for the one belt that he doesn't hold. However, this win does help to maintain his credibility, and that's incredibly important after a few high profile losses in championship matches. Joe has to continue to be booked strong in order to carry his momentum through to his eventual TNA World Heavyweight Championship win at Bound for Glory in three months, and holding all of the company's other belts is certainly a step in the right direction.
2) Christopher Daniels – Christopher Daniels gets my second place vote for winning the 10-Man Gauntlet Ultimate X Match at Victory Road to become the Number One Contender for the X Division Championship. Bonus points for teasing a XXX reunion tour.
3) Dusty Rhodes – Dusty Rhodes gets my third place vote for cutting yet another in a career full of classic promos and putting Randy Orton in his place in the process. Despite all logic and good sense, I'm now looking forward to next week's Rhodes / Orton Texas Bull Rope Match.
4) Scott Hall
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Dr. Wagner Jr.
Michael Bauer
1) Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe
Look, everyone knows that this outcome was a forgone conclusion. But forgone conclusion or not, these two went out and won the TNA Tag Team Titles in the Main Event of Victory Road in what was a solid match and an overall very good Pay Per View. In the process, they defended their titles successfully and continues the Joe/Angle story line while winning. Granted, I don't like how it ended, but the bottom line is that they did everything right and deserve the top spot.
2) Christopher Daniels - Hey, you win Ultimate X. But you also win in the MOTN and restart the XXX stable, you gotta take the spot.
3) Chris Hero - A lot of Indy and Japan stuff this week, with Scott hall and Ultimo Guerrero and Dr. Wanger Jr. also winning big. I'll go with the Memorial Cup winner, but really you could go with any of them. Exception: KENTA & Ishimori won without fighting in the finals.
4) James Storm
5) Scott Hall
Meehan
1) Samoa Joe
Far and away, Samoa Joe nails this week hands down for the most impressive wrestling performance (on a wrestling program) in the past 7 days. Now Joe's a double champ and looking for more gold -- things are looking mighty fine for the Samoan Submission Machine.
2) John Cena - WWE showed a tremendous amount of faith putting Cena on Larry King Live this week, and 'Da Champ most certainly didn't disappoint.
3) Chris Jericho - Of all the wrestlers who've made mainstream media appearances in the past three weeks, Jericho continues to rank as the most articulate and sincere.
4) Christopher Daniels
5) Chris Hero
Andy Clark
1) Christopher Daniels
Christopher Daniels won the biggest Ultimate X Match in TNA history and reformed one of the coolest stables that they've ever had in one night. Perhaps jobbing to Sting won't kill his push after all.
2) Samoa Joe- Retained the X-Division Title and won tag team gold as well. Joe may well be on his way to holding the World Title in the not so distant future too.
3) Scott Hall- Hall made a triumphant return to semi-mainstream wrestling by winning the WWC Universal Title at the big anniversary show this weekend.
4) Chris Hero
5) Dusty Rhodes
ARI
1) Samoa Joe
For what it's worth he is now a double champion...the X Division champ and that tag champs (with a partner of his choosing). We can argue about the value of those belts (esp. the X belt), but he has the gold and that says a lot in the end. He also got back at Angle for weeks of Angle making him look like a dumb ass for weeks on end.
2) KENTA & Tajiri Ishimori: What a combo these two are! Winning the NTV Cup, the first ever NOAH round robin tournament over top-flight competition from NOAH and ROH is incredibly impressive.
3) Chris Hero: Like "Chris Hero" predicted in my column this week, the King of Cravates walked away with the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup and another award to go on his impressive list of accomplishments. The Race to the Top Tourney in ROH may be next.
4) Christopher Daniels
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Dr. Wagner Jr.
Mathew Sforcina
1) Samoa Joe
So, let's see if I can call this. Due to not being able to trust anyone else (despite Eric Young being RIGHT THERE and him needing a boost), Joe takes Angle as a champ. At the next PPV, they defend their belts successfully against, say, LAX, then Joe loses his title to Daniels thanks to, not XXX, he fights them off, but a misplaced Angle chair shot. Then at the PPV afterwards, they lose the belts when Joe attacks Angle (since god forbid one of them stick as face and the other heel), then Joe comes very close but just fails to win the world title later on. Of course, that's the pessimistic view. The optimistic has Joe winning the World Title, but like that'll happen...
2) Christopher Daniels- Won a (bastardized) Ultimate X.
3) Scott Hall- The Bad Guy is Back. And looking remarkably well, all things considered.
4) Chris Hero.
5) Senshi/Elix Skipper
Ryan Byers
1) James Storm
Yeah, some titles changed hands this week, but they were either situations in which the outcome was painfully obvious (Joe/Angle), the titles really don't mean that much (Wagner/Guerrero), or the titles change hands on a semi-weekly basis (Hall). Even though he didn't bring home a championship, the angle between James Storm and Rhino on Sunday night's TNA pay per view was the definition of awesome, and, if capitalized on properly, is the sort of thing that could bring him up to the next level in TNA once this feud ends. Compare that to his former tag team partner, who is stuck working with Dustin Rhodes, and Storm only looks better.
2) Dusty Rhodes - Rhodes' performance this week was the highlight of a dull Raw and will no doubt make his son in to a big star before the end of the year.
3) Bobby Roode - I have to give Roode big points this week for hanging with the main eventers on Impact, even if he did lose at the PPV.
4) KENTA & Ishimori
5) Elix Skipper
Mike Minoti
1) Samoa Joe
Seeing Joe hold up all three of his titles was a pretty powerful image to end Victory Road on. It'll be interesting to see who Joe picks to be his partner. Anyways, this is a good way to build up Joe while keeping Angle as champ, further establishing him as one of TNA's big players. As I've predicted before, we'll probably finally see Joe get the belt off of angle at Bound for Glory.
2) Christopher Daniels - Won Ultimate X to become the number one contender for Joe's X Division Championship. Getting to feud with Joe will be good for Daniels.
3) Chris Hero - Won the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Tournament, beating some good competition in he process.
4) KENTA & Ishimori
5) Scott Hall
SAT
1) Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe gets the first slot for winning the Match of Champions and becoming the Tag Team Champion.
2) Scott Hall - Scott Hall gets the second slot for winning the WWC Universal Title
3) Christopher Daniels - Christopher Daniels get the third slot for winning Ultimate X and becoming the number one contender for the X Division Title
4) Chris Hero
5) James Storm
Bayani Domingo
1) Samoa Joe
The man did what he was supposed to do, win the match and make the pinfall/submission for his team. Joe is destined to win the TNA Title at Bound For Glory this year and this sets up a good side story to run with till he inevitably faces Angle. Expect Angle to cost Joe one of his titles along the way, but at least this adds more intrigue as to whom it will be he loses to. Daniels for the X-Title or LAX for the tag. Wow, actually something to look forward to in TNA now. How innovative.
2) Christopher Daniels - Won the big Ultimate X match and possibly reunited with his buddies from XXX, not bad for a guy who used to be in line for a big feud with Sting that suddenly fell through, not bad at all.
3) Chris Hero - The Jeff Peterson cup is still one of the more prestigious tournaments on the Indy circuit and with his win in the WxW 16 Ct. Tournament this summer and a slot in PWG's Battle of Los Angeles, could this be the "Summer of Hero"?
4) KENTA & Ishimori
5) Scott Hall
Andy Critchell
1) Samoa Joe - I gotta give it to the big man as he is now holding most of the gold in TNA. Hopefully, this push will lead to Joe being more like his ROH self rather than TNA's version of Goldberg.
2) Christopher Daniels - Winning the 10 man Ultimate X match is a big deal and it's a good sign that maybe TNA will let him be a force again rather than stick him in non-sensical angles.
3) Cena/Jericho/Steve Blackman/Bret Hart - These guys went on Larry King and took his softball questions out of the park and made wrestling look a little bit better in the wake of the Benoit scandal. Obviously there is still a lot that needs to be done to clean up wrestling's image but these 4 helped get those efforts off on the right foot.
4) Chris Hero
5) Scott Hall
Larry Csonka
1) Samoa Joe
Joe dominates the week as he walks out of Victory Road with three title belts. He got Angle back for bitching him out and now we have the drama of who he will choose as his tag team partner. A great week for Joe.
2) Christopher Daniels – Daniels wins the Ultimate X Gauntlet and reforms XXX all in one night. Awesomeness.
3) James Storm – James Storm has really risen his stock as of late and with the post match beat down of Rhino at Victory Road, he may be the hottest heel in the company.
4) Chris Hero/Scott Hall
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Dr. Wagner Jr.
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…KENTA & Ishimori - 10 Votes
Fifth Place…James Storm - 11 Votes
Fourth Place…Scott Hall - 19 Votes
Third Place…Chris Hero - 23 Votes
Chris Hero wins the Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup Tournament, a 2-day tournament and adds that to his WxW 16 Ct. Tournament victory. It is looking more and more like the Summer of Hero as the weeks go by.
Second Place…Christopher Daniels - 40 Votes
Christopher Daniels may have lost the chance at the Sting program but rebounded nicely at Victory Road winning the #1 contendership for the X-Division Title. Not only that, but if the end of the match is any indication, he also has reformed XXX and looks to rule the X, and possibly tag divisions.
Wrestler of the Week…Samoa Joe - 54 Votes
The big man walked into Victory Road the X-Champion, and when all was said and done, he walked out of the match of champions the champion's champion as he took the tag titles with him. After a rough spot, Joe is now back on a roll and dominating TNA.
Year-End Standings~!
Ishimori and Chris Hero made debuts this week, but are totally overshadowed by the debut of Scott Hall on the list. Hall won the WWC Universal Title this past weekend and could be on the comeback trail. With his win, Joe vaults into a tie for 3rd place and the former WOTY has quickly gotten back into the mix. Christopher Daniels makes a big jump and is now just outside the top-10 as is James Storm who had a banner night.
-The top 10 spots are marked
1. John Cena – 50 (Raw)
2.Kurt Angle – 45 (TNA)
3. Samoa Joe – 42 (TNA)
3. Matt Hardy – 42 (Smackdown)
5. Edge – 38 (Smackdown)
6. Bobby Lashley – 35 (Raw)
7.MVP – 31 (Smackdown)
8.CM Punk – 27 (ECW)
9. Brother Ray – 18 (TNA)
9. Brother Devon – 18 (TNA)
9. Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent)
9. Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE)
