411’s Wrestler of the Week 9.17.07: Week 24
Posted by Larry Csonka on 09.17.2007
Project 161 Revealed, Batista wins the World Title, Mesias wins the AAA Heavyweight Title, The Briscoe’s Rock ROH’s first ladder match and much more!
Welcome to Week 24 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) Batista
Wow, that was quite a surprise, but Batista has taken the title off of Khali and actually pinned the big man cleanly, something that I believe only happened thanks to John Cena with no rules. I was tempted to give RoH the 1 through 3, but that is too big to ignore.
2) The Briscoe Boys - Two amazing defenses and another MOTY candidate with Steen and Generico to main event the PPV taping.
3) Takeshi Morishima - Two solid defenses as well, including beating Danielson.
4) CM Punk
5) Jimmy Jacobs
Ryan Byers
1.) Big Dave Batista
Batista has been in roughly 90% of the World Title matches since he dropped the strap at Wrestlemania, and he's been unable to capitalize on any of those opportunities. Unforgiven was pretty much do or die for Big Dave, as his credibility would have been severely damaged if he kept on dropping matches to Khali. However, he rallied and managed to win the championship at just the right time. That's enough to get him the top spot in my book.
2.) Jimmy Jacobs - With an attack on the Briscoe brothers and a new stable behind him, it looks like Jacobs is in line to be a huge player in Ring of Honor over the next several months. I just hope he doesn't put his knee at risk by doing anything too stupid in the ring. (Though if he's going to be working with the Briscoes, needlessly risky spots are bound to ensue.)
3.) Ricky Banderas - The former WSX Champion had a big week in two different companies in two different countries. He made his long awaited on-camera debut with TNA as part of a major angle AND became the first Heavyweight Champion of Mexico's AAA promotion.
4.) Ruckus
5.) PAC
ARI
1) The Briscoes
It took five years for ROH to have their first ladder match and I think they should wait five more years until the next one because I don't think this one can be topped. The reports and buzz off of this match means this is another absolute must watch when it is available through PPV. The Briscoes not only won their title match in Detroit, but they won the finale in their rivalry against one their best opponents. Then, as expected, The Briscoes were launched into their next high profile feud against The Age of the Fall / Project 161. Jay Briscoe is the fucking man for taking a beat down like that and allowing himself to be hung like a piñata and just drip blood all over the place.
2) El Generico & Kevin Steen: It takes two to make a thing go right, as the song goes, and you can't have one tag team participating in a MOTYC without the other. Generico & Steen have been so beneficial to ROH in the last few months and have been super over in their pursuit of the tag titles. I can only see more great things in store in their future within ROH.
3) Jimmy Jacobs: Everyone had their theories, but when push came to shove, Jacobs became the Kaizer Soze of ROH. He was revealed as the leader of The Age of the Fall, possibly ROH's worst nightmare as far as a faction out to destroy the company. As awesome as it is to see Necro back in ROH, Jacobs was the mastermind and master manipulator of it all. The genius of it all is that this character evolution was staring us in the face the whole time. His promo and the big reveal at the third ROH PPV should not be missed.
4) Bryan Danielson
5) PAC
Brad Garoon
1)Jimmy Jacobs
He started in ROH as a goofball who was over in certain cities and unknown in others. He evolved into a more complex character and on Saturday night he debuted his new killer stable (of Necro Butcher and Tyler Black) while showering in Jay Briscoe's blood. The visual was amazing and the promo was great, despite what you're hearing elsewhere. Let's not forget he also defeated Chris Hero on Friday.
2)Batista: Winning the World Championship is nothing to sneeze at. Extra points for getting the belt off Khali.
3)The Briscoe Brothers: They wrestled in one of the most insane matches I've ever seen and Jay lived through being hung upside down and bleeding buckets.
4)Erick Stevens
5)Steen & Generico
Jeff Small
1) Batista
While it only took too many times, Batista has finally won the big one again. Even though Big Dave isn't my first choice as champion, I for one am looking forward to a rematch with the Undertaker!
2. The Briscoe Brothers: By everyone who witnessed the event live, it sounded like an insane match. While spot fests aren't usually my cup of tea, in a ladder match they are surely appreciated. The Briscoes might be the masters of the spot fest presently so I can only imagine (no I can't) what crazy sick shit happened in this match. The post-match angle with Jay sounded quite badass too.
3) Jimmy Jacobs: Kudos to Jacobs for reenacting the only worthwhile scene in Hostel 2. As the leader of a new stable in ROH (#65 or so), Jacobs is now being thrusted into the main event scene. Good thing that he now has a much more complex (and eviler) character to go along with this push.
4) Hornswoggle McMahon
5) Santino Marella
Samuel Berman
1) Jimmy Jacobs
Though I normally vote Jay & Mark Briscoe into the top spot when they successfully defend their belts through a weekend, this time around I just HAVE to give the top spot to new main event player in Ring of Honor, Age of the Fall leader Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs' faction beat down the Briscoes after their Ladder Match victory, and then Jacobs went on to cut one of the best promos of his career, all the while being showered with Jay Briscoe's blood. The visual and spectacle alone are going to be worth the price of ROH's third Pay-Per-View. This will become an absolutely career-defining moment for Jacobs. Oh, and he beat Chris Hero in Detroit.
2) Jay & Mark Briscoe and Kevin Steen & El Generico (tie): These men put on one of the craziest matches in ROH history, no matter which side they ended up on.
3) Takeshi Morishima: Two successful ROH World Title defenses, including a second win over top challenger Bryan Danielson.
4) Erick Stevens
5) Ruckus
Scott Slimmer
1) Batista
This was actually a tougher call than it really should have been, but in the end I have to give Batista my first place vote for FINALLY defeating The Great Khali (with a side of Rey Mysterio) and FINALLY regaining his World Heavyweight Championship. Batista has been chasing the title ever since he lost it to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 23, and now the belt is back around his waist where it belongs. Batista is the face of Smackdown, and he deserves to be acknowledged as such. He's been carrying the show for months, and in my mind that means he's actually earned his third World Heavyweight Championship. However, there are rumors that he isn't scheduled to be in the title picture at WrestleMania, so we'll have to wait and see just how long he's able to hold on to the title this time.
2) The Briscoe Brothers / Kevin Steen & El Generico: The Briscoe Brothers and Kevin Steen & El Generico get my second place vote for tearing the house down in ROH's first ever ladder match. I've never seen a ROH match and I've never seen any of these four guys wrestle, but the sheer amount of insanely good reviews for this match might just mean that this ends up being the first ROH show that I go out of my way to see.
3) Judas Mesias: Judas Mesias gets my third place vote for destroying Abyss (and the poor TNA ring) on Impact and then defeating Chessman to become the first AAA Heavyweight Champion. You've got to give credit to a guy who owned in two different promotions in the same week.
4) Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch / Paul London & Brian Kendrick
5) Finlay
SAT
1)Batista
Batista gets the top slot for winning the World Heavyweight Title in a Triple Threat Match against the Great Khali and Rey Mysterio. Batista definitely deserves the top slot because he manages to pin the unstoppable monster.
2)The Briscoes: The Briscoes get the second slot for successfully retaining the titles in a ladder match in what many have said was an insane match.
3)Takeshi Morishima: Takeshi Morishima gets the third slot for successfully defending the ROH World title twice.
4)Jimmy Jacobs
5)Ricky Banderas
Matt Short
1)Batista
How many months has Batista challenged for the title? The odds were bound to favor him at some point as he has finally regained the World Heavyweight championship.
2)Jimmy Jacobs: Jacobs is not only back, but he's being given the ball and is the leader of Project 161. This is expected to be a major angle in ROH and Jacobs is going to have to make the best it to prove that he's deserving.
3)PAC: Regained the wXw Light-heavyweight title from Dragon Kid at a Dragon Gate show this week. Not only that but he is slated to replace Matt Sydal as the Typhoon stable's token foreigner.
4) Takeshi Morishima
5)Matt Sydal/Delirious
Mathew Sforcina
1) The Briscoes/Steen & Generico- Ok, first off, I personally feel that the ROH things should count when the PPV airs. But given everyone else is voting for it now, I'll go along, but you can be damm sure I'll jump down anyone who votes for these guys again for the PPV. Anyway, an incredible match to retain belts is worth more than anything Unforgiven shoveled out, at least in my view.
2) Judas Mesias: Could this be a shift in the Lucha world? We shall have to see.
3) Batista: Wrong guy pinned the wrong guy, but whatever, good for him, I guess.
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) Takeshi Morishima
Andy Clark
1) Batista
I was sorely tempted to go against my "World Title win gets you the No. 1 spot" rule since there was a lot that needed to be recognized this week, but Batista's match entertained me at the PPV and Cena's one year reign didn't come with a rule victory (although a really fun match). Batista broke his cold streak of nine consecutive World Title Match losses by finally winning the big one. Plus he seemed to make peace with Triple H post match.
2) The Briscoes/El Generico & Kevin Steen- I MUST see this PPV when In Demand finally decides to air it. The Briscoes have been great tag team champs and the ROH Tag Titles really are the most prestigious tag belts in the business. Generico and Steen have done tremendously as challengers and hopefully they can maintain their hot streak post-Briscoe's feud. This feud has been a leading candidate for Feud of the Year for quite some time now and they've produced many MOTYC along the way, including the big Ladder Match this past weekend.
3) Hornswoggle McMahon- The Little Bastard was revealed to be, well, the little bastard on Raw and he provided one of the funniest, and in a way heartwarming, moments in quite some time. Hornswoggle may not have participated in a match but he probably entertained me more this week than anybody.
4) John Cena
5) Jimmy Jacobs
Mike Minotti
1) Batista
I didn't really think that Batista was going to win at Unforgiven, mostly due to the way he was sort of heartlessly thrown into the match. But not only did Dave win it, but also he won it by cleanly pinning the Great Khali. Looks like the WWE still has more confidence in Batista plus we thought. Plus, it looks like the great Batista/Undertaker feud is likely to continue. Maybe we'll finally get that Hell in a Cell match.
2) The Briscoes - The ROH tag team champions are doing as amazingly well as ever. The ladder match they had this week sounds like a must see (a shame that it may be a while until I'll get to see it). I really think that these two are the best champions ROH has right now.
3) El Generico & Kevin Steen - Sure, they lost the ladder match against the Briscoes, but they were still a large part of what a lot of people are calling a possible MOTYC candidate.
4) Jimmy Jacobs
5) CM Punk
Bayani Domingo
1) Batista
Yes, the Mestizo Man Beast got the job done and finally we can end this horrible little chapter known as the "Era of Khali". He also took the thing clean by taking out Rey Rey and the Pumjabi Yeti, not bad, now let's just see how long he can hold on to the title before 'taker comes sniffing around.
2) The Briscoe Bros/Steen-erico: From what I've heard, this was a ladder match for the ages and despite the feeling that this feud was lingering too long these two teams managed to pull another rabbit out of their collective hats. Ole!!
3) Takeshi Morishima: He beat the guy that goes "Choo choo", but more importantly the man most people recognize as the "Best in the World"...again.
4) PAC
5) Judas Mesias
T.G. Corke
1) Batista
Well, I predicted Batista would win and I predicted right. I'd much rather have seen Orton win the WWE belt quite honestly (especially given the DQ finish for his rematch with Cena), but Batista HAS needed this for a long time. I said it before, there's only so long you can constantly have a man losing/not winning while still in your main-event before eventually all parties become annoyed. It's funny, because I have an article planned in a couple of weeks about that old phrase, "The money's in the chase". I shall be adding this, the most poignant, five-month example of that adage.
2) John Cena: Forget the match and its finish for a moment - Cena has now had the belt for a full year. He will be sixth on the all-time list by No Mercy (overtaking Randy Savage).
3) Morishima: No explanation required. He is here by virtue of being Morishima.
4) Dylanswoggle McMahon
5) Candice Michelle
JT~!
1) Batista
This match might have fallen onto a Pay-Per-View that in my opinion completely sucked, but the fact is that I don't think anyone saw Batista just coming out of nowhere and getting the CLEAN win over Khali. I almost hate to add Rey even into the mix, but the fact is that he is a returning star getting a bit of a push, and Big Dave made sure that he was a non-factor as well. On top of that, all of this resulted in him winning (I will say it again and probably get called out again) the most recognizable World title on the planet.
2) John Cena - Yeah, I'll be the WWE homer for once, but he DID break through 39 walls of security, get his hands on Orton, AND tell Vince to his face how shit was going down. THEN, he shows up on Sunday, lets his father get a little revenge, and still leaves with the SECOND most recognizable title on the planet. Oh yeah, and that happens to secure his year long run.
3) The Briscoe Brothers - Competed in, and won, the first ever ladder match in ROH (while getting FUCKED UP and putting on by all accounts a GREAT match to do so).
4) Takeshi Morishima
5) Jimmy Jacobs
Randy Harrison
1)Batista
The Animal FINALLY wins the World Heavyweight Championship after what seemed like his 323rd title shot. Anyone winning one of the big three belts is almost a default number one, but I'm interested to see if Batista can carry this momentum forward in the weeks and months ahead and hopefully translate that into some quality matches.
2)The Briscoe Brothers: I'm a tough sell for any show that ends up having spoilers posted so far in advance but these two almost single-handedly have earned my money with their ladder match against El Generico and Kevin Steen. All accounts have this match as needing to be seen to be believed and I for one cannot wait to see it on PPV.
3)Jimmy Jacobs: I said almost single-handedly earned my money because the other reason for checking out this particular PPV will be the work of Jacobs in the post-match Briscoe beat down and the promo work introducing his new faction. Plus he brought Necro FUCKING Butcher with him so that's good enough to earn a vote from me!
4)John Cena
5)Judas Mesias
Meehan
1) Batista
Defeats one-and-a-half men (in Khali) and another half-a-challenger (in Rey) to become World Champion... yet again. In a week where not much else happened in the world of sports entertainment, I've simply gotta' show some love for the biggest title winner of the past seven days.
2) John Cena - Not because he did anything particularly noteworthy this week, but rather simply because -- just like my New England Patriots -- he proved that you can cheat AND still walk away a champion. Must be something in that Massachusetts water...
3) The Briscoes -- Successfully retained the titles + ladder match + outstanding showing = no brainer for top five recognition.
4) Judas Mesias
5) The Undertaker
Andy Critchell
1) Batista - He won the belt from one of the most dominating champions in a long time and he looked dominating in doing it. He's been given another chance to run with the ball and I hope he does well.
2) The Briscoe Brothers - The MVPs of ROH do it once again by putting on a super impressive show and winning the first ever ROH ladder match. These two are proving over and over that they are the best tag team around. Kudos!
3) Hornswoggle - the smallest man in the WWE may just get the biggest rub of all. Call it stupid if you want but the fans popped big time for the little guy like they always do and that's never a bad thing.
4) Candice Michelle
5) MVP
Stuart Carapola
1) Batista
Loathe as I am to give him the #1 spot on a weekend with so much great stuff going on in ROH, he did win a World Title and that deserves top recognition.
2)Jay & Mark Briscoe: They tied Morishima with two successful title defenses this weekend, but their second one was what was said to be an insane ladder match, following which they were thrust into the middle of what appears to be Gabe Sapolsky's new pet project.
3)Takeshi Morishima: Beat Erick Stevens and then scored a second dominating victory over Bryan Danielson at the PPV. Assuming that this will lead to a third challenge from Danielson later in the year, I feel like Danielson is now the front-runner to eventually take the title from Morishima.
4)Jimmy Jacobs
5)Undertaker
Larry Csonka
1) Batista
Batista, after what seemed like 200 tries wont he world title in what ended up being a solid match with a hot ending. I had no problem with this match at all.
2) Ricky Banderas a.k.a. Judas Mesias: Ricky Banderas a.k.a. Judas Mesias had a big week with debuts in TNA and winning the first ever AAA Heavyweight Title. Rock on dude.
3) The Briscoes: The Briscoes defend their tag titles, yet again, in ROH's first ladder match, which by all reports rocked.
4) Steen and Generico
5) Jimmy Jacobs
THE WINNERS!
Special Mention…Judas Mesias - 19 Votes
Fifth Place…Takeshi Morishima - 23 Votes
Fourth Place…Kevin Steen and El Generico - 27 Votes
Third Place…Jimmy Jacobs - 40 Votes
The mastermind behind Project 161 revealed himself and cut what was reportedly a great promo as Jay Briscoe hung from the ceiling and bled onto his.
Second Place…Mark and Jay Briscoe - 65 Votes
The Briscoe brothers not only retain their tag team titles and not only win the first ever ROH ladder match, but along with Jacobs and crew are in the biggest angle in the company. That's a good weekend.
Wrestler of the Week…Batista - 87 Votes
Batista finally delivers winning the world title in a triple threat match at Unforgiven. Not only did he win the title, but he did beat the champion in the match, not the other guy like they usually do. It appears as if Big Dave is back.
Year-End Standings~!
Mark and Jay Briscoe make huge leaps and are now in the top five in the rankings. Batista's big win vaults him from obscurity to just outside the top 10. Steen, Generico, Morishima and Mesias all make solid moves and keep their dreams alive and Jimmy Jacobs goes from the very bottom and is looking to change things as the leader and man behind the whole Project 161 deal.
-The top 10 spots are marked
1. John Cena – 78 (Raw)
2. Matt Hardy – 63 (Smackdown)
2. Kurt Angle – 63 (TNA)
4. CM Punk – 61 (ECW)
5. Mark Briscoe – 46 (ROH)
5. Jay Briscoe – 46 (ROH)
7. Samoa Joe – 43 (TNA)
8. MVP – 40 (Smackdown)
9. Edge – 38 (Smackdown) {INJURED}
10. Bobby Lashley – 35 (Raw) {INJURED}
El Generico – 28 (US Independent)
Randy Orton – 27 (Raw) Batista – 27 (Smackdown)
The Great Khali – 24 (Raw) Takeshi Morishima – 24 (ROH/NOAH)
Chuck Taylor – 23 (US Independent)
Black Machismo – 21 (TNA)
Jeff Hardy – 20 (Raw)
Brother Ray – 18 (TNA) Brother Devon – 18 (TNA) Kevin Steen – 18 (US Independent) Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent) Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE)
