411’s Wrestler of the Week 7.30.07: Week 17
Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.30.2007
Orton was dominant, Steiner cut a great promo, AJ beat Abyss, Danielson won PWG gold and Claudio won the RTT tournament. Only one man can take the top spot, who was it? Click.
Welcome to Week 17 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!
Dan Wilcox
1) Randy Orton - The Legend Killer had an impressive night on Raw, first beating Cody Rhodes in a good match and then putting Dusty Rhodes in the hospital after a kick to the head. But his biggest achievement this week was being named number 1 contender to John Cena's WWE Championship. Orton sent a message to the champ by dropping him with an RKO at the end of the show.
2) Matt and Jeff Hardy - Both Hardys had good weeks. Jeff beat Mr Kennedy on Raw in a very good match and took out Umaga with a steel chair during the main event. Matt was victorious in a tag team match on SmackDown, teaming with Ric Flair against Chris Masters and MVP, and then challenged MVP to a rematch for the United States title.
3) AJ Styles - Pinned Abyss after an entertaining No Disqualification bout.
4) Hornswoggle
5) CM Punk
Andy Clark
1) John Cena
John Cena won the Champions Only Match on Raw, defeating the World Tag Team Champions and Intercontinental Champion in a Handicap Match. He also successfully retained his WWE Title over Shawn Spears in what was supposed to be the biggest show in OVW history.
2) Claudio Castagnoli- Claudio won the Race to the Top Tournament in ROH. Coupled with his NWA World Title semi-final appearance in a few weeks as well as his upcoming ROH Title shot against Takeshi Morishima and he is one of the hottest wrestlers on the indy scene.
3) Jerry "The King" Lawler- Lawler has been great in his role as the old school king of wrestling opposing the new king in King Booker. He's made their upcoming match on Raw a big time showdown and it'll be interesting to see how much they let him get in on Booker. Plus, Lawler is back in Memphis feuding (in real life) with Sal Corrente and (in kayfabe) with a returning Sid.
4) The Briscoes
5) Randy Orton
Matt Adamson
1) Claudio Castagnoli
I am extremely please with Castagnoli taking the ROH Race to the Top Tournament. He is one of those guys that belongs at the top of the card in a promotion like Ring of Honor. Nice choice!
2) Randy Orton - I never thought the day would come when I would begin to enjoy him. Maybe it's because there's nobody else on Raw that's impressing me lately.
3) AJ Styles - In an uneventful like this one, I had to pull a rabbit out of my hat and give TNA a little support because I've been enjoying Impact a great deal.
4) The Briscoes
5) El Generico
Matt short
1) Claudio Castagnoli - Won ROH's Race to the Top Tournament. Being the tournament mark that I am that's an easy number one spot. Claudio has impressed me since the first time I saw him and I'm glad that he's going to get a shot at the top of ROH.
2) Randy Orton - Orton has been rebuilding his credibility as a top heel and now he's getting his shot at Cena. Should be an interesting build.
3) AJ Styles - A good win over Abyss this week.
4) El Generico
5) John Cena
ARI
1) Claudio Castagnoli
The Race to the Top Tournament winner going through four men in two days and what was called an incredible final match against El Generico. Claudio has become a top tier player in ROH.
2) El Generico: The only thing more shocking about Chris Hero not making it to the finals was who actually did. El Generico was the spoiler of the tournament. He came into the show as an underdog, but he hustled and worked his way up to the top. If you weren't before, you need to start taking Mr. Ole very seriously. The PWG champion was also set to defend his belt against Bryan Danielson as of this writing.
3) Jeff Hardy: Hardy has looked at the top of his game for months now, but mad props for having an awesome match at Great American Bash and then wrestling the next night, crashing and burning and getting right back up. Hardy is receiving massive crowd pops and I think he could be a legitimate contender for the WWE title at this point, as opposed to 2002 in his series against The Undertaker.
4) The Briscoes
5) Scott Steiner
Samuel Berman
1) Claudio Castagnoli
The Most Money Making Man in wrestling turned in a champion's performance in this weekend's Race to the Top Tournament, proving himself to be the class of an impressive field. Castagnoli now builds nothing but positive momentum as his shot at Takeshi Morishima's ROH World Title moves closer. Whether or not Claudio walks out with the title in a couple of weeks, one thing is now clear: he is going to be a main event player in Ring of Honor for a good long while. I just hope they don't start calling him "Mr. Race to the Top".
2) Jay & Mark Briscoe - Defeated top singles contenders Nigel McGuinness & Bryan Danielson and then decimated an elite field to reassert their dominance.
3) El Generico - Improbably defeated tournament favorite Chris Hero during his run to the Race to the Top Tournament Finals.
4) Roderick Strong
5) Jack Evans
Mike Minotti
1) Claudio Castagnoli
It's a shame we rarely get to see tournament style wrestling from TNA or the WWE these days. Good to know ROH still puts them on. Winning a tournament is always a huge deal in my book, so Claudio gets the number one spot this week.
2) Randy Orton - It took awhile, but it looks like Orton is finally back in the WWE title scene. His upcoming feud with Cena may some day be seen as a turning point in his career. Let's just hope he doesn't poop in a bag or something and ruin it for himself.
3) Jeff Hardy - Won a good match against Mr. Kennedy, and brought the hurt to Umaga. That really is pretty significant. We don't see too many individuals go out of their way to attack Umaga. I think Jeff has a good chance of beating Umaga at Summerslam, which would be a huge push in the right direction for his singles career.
4) El Generico
5) Hornswaggle
Ryan Byers
1.) Claudio Castagnoli
Everybody else has already said it, but he was put over huge by ROH this weekend in winning numerous matches to capture the Race to the Top tournament. I didn't think he'd win it because he already *was* pretty close to the top even without this victory, but Claudio proved me wrong. However, if this creates a new main eventer, I'm all for it, because ROH's mix of Morishima/Danielson/McGuinness/Japanese guest star on show after show after show is getting tired.
2.) Great Khali - Put on the single most entertaining performance on wrestling television this week. I loved that party.
3.) Randy Orton - I believe he was named the number one contender to some championship somewhere.
4.) Booker T/Jerry Lawler
5.) CM Punk
SAT
1) Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio Castagnoli gets the top slot for winning the Race to the Top tournament.
2) Randy Orton - Randy Orton gets the second slot for defeating Cody Rhodes, taking out Dusty Rhodes, and becoming the number one contender.
3) Bryan Danielson - Bryan Danielson gets the third slot for winning the PWG Title from Generico.
4) John Cena
5) AJ Styles
Mathew Sforcina
1) Claudio Castagnoli
Despite the fact this should have made him ROH PPV or US or North American champion or some such, the Money Man emerged victorious. Huzzah.
2) Bryan Danielson- Ok, it's not exactly a 'world' title, really. But then, there's not that many real world titles out there right now. It's the PWG belt. That's still a fairly big accomplishment.
3) Randy Orton- So we might end up with Randy Orton, Great Khali and Johnny Nitro as the 3 Champs in WWE? Wonderful...
4) John Cena
5) El Generico (DANGERIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUS!)
Bayani Domingo
1) Bryan Danielson
Danielson not only beat Necro Butcher in a "Street Fight", but later in the "main event" that he muscled his way into, beat El Generico for the PWG championship. He also managed to salvage a decent RoH showing by captaining the winning team in the $10K challenge match. Now it will be interesting to see if the "Big Green Belt" shows up in RoH any time soon.
2) El Generico - Made a 'Cinderella' run to the finals of the RT3 tournament, but had the clock strike midnight on him as Claudio took the whole darn thing. He also managed to win the PWG Tag titles with his RoH partner/nemesis Kevin Steen before falling to AmDrag and losing his World Title belt. He went 4-2 in 6 matches this weekend. Hopefully he'll get a well-deserved break this week.
3) Claudio Castagnoli - He won the RT3 tournament despite an impressive field. Still, not good enough to crack my Top 3 considering that although he won a tourney, that isn't a guarantee of anything more...yet.
4) AJ Styles
5) Randy Orton
Mike Bauer
1) Claudio Castagnoli
The only reason Danielson is not #1 is the fact that he did lose a match this weekend. Claudio never lost a match and ended winning the Race to the Top Tournament, defeating Hallowicked, Quackenbush, Jack Evans, and El Generico.
2) Bryan Danielson - He did lose in the Main Event on Friday, but he makes up for it in winning a wild $10K Challenge Match and the PWG Heavywight Title. He still has momentum going into the RoH Title shot next month.
3) Randy Orton - The new #1 contender to John Cena did things his way on Monday.
4) El Generico
5) Scott Steiner
Larry Csonka
1) Claudio Castagnoli
Claudio ran the field and is not the top of the race winner. A new main event guy is what ROH needed, and I am glad it was Claudio.
2) Randy Orton - Orton had a hell of a week, defeating Cody, destroying Dusty and being named the #1 contender.
3) AJ Styles/Bryan Danielson – AJ had a very entertaining week as a character and also beat Abyss in the main event of Impact. Bryan Danielson snags more gold winning the PWG gold from El Generico.
4) Scott Steiner
5) El Generico and Kevin Steen
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Jeff Hardy, John Cena, Mark and Jay Briscoe - 10 Votes
Fifth Place…AJ Styles - 15 Votes
Fourth Place…Bryan Danielson - 19 Votes
Third Place…El Generico - 20 Votes
El Generico had a hell of a weekend with a tremendous run in the ROH Race to the Top tournament and also won PWG Tag Gold with Kevin Steen.
Second Place…Randy Orton - 36 Votes
It is hard to argue with the week that Randy Orton had. A domination of Cody Rhodes, destruction of father Dusty Rhodes and finally taking out John Cena and named #1 contender, all in one night.
Wrestler of the Week…Claudio Castagnoli - 57 Votes
This week's big winner is the man that made it through the two-day ROH Race to the Top Tournament. Many felt that Claudio was right on the cusp of the big time in ROH, and this cements it.
Year-End Standings~!
John Cena and the Briscoe Bothers all gain a point to solidify their positioning, while Jeff Hardy's point gets him closer to the top 10. El Generico and Bryan Danielson both make big jumps in the rankings as they claw their way from the bottom. Randy Orton gets the stank off of him and debuts with a dominant 2nd place finish and speaking of debuts, Claudio made a huge impact wining the Race to the Top tournament and earns the top spot this week.
-The top 10 spots are marked
1. John Cena – 63 (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. Mark Briscoe – 22 (ROH)
9. Jay Briscoe – 22 (ROH)
Brother Ray – 18 (TNA) Brother Devon – 18 (TNA) Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent) Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE) The Great Khali – 18 (Raw)
