wrestling / Columns
411’s Wrestler of the Week 11.05.07: Week 31
Welcome to Week 31, 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!
Michael Bauer
1) Austin Aries
The guy was on fire this weekend. He defeated Bryan Danielson to become the #1 contender to Nigel and the ROH World Title. He then went on to beat Chris Hero to defend that right and force Larry Sweeney to face Claudio at Final Battle. Oh, and he made Shane Haggadorn look like a bitch in the process.
2) The Briscoe Brothers: Solid defense against the NRC and then they tore the house down against The Age of the Fall in a No DQ Main Event defense.
3) Misawa: If he lost a step, he didn’t show it NYC in a successful defense against KENTA. Seriously, show me any other “Over the hill” guy who would go for a suicide dive into the guardrails of Ring of Honor.
4) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
5) John Morrison
Christi Csonka
1) Tomko and Albert
I just think Tomko is great in TNA with AJ Styles, but from what Larry explains this is a huge deal. Wow, Tomko, world-renowned tag team worker, I NEVER saw this one coming. BTW, is Albert still wearing that sweater to the ring? Anyway, they rock and deserve this.
2) Awesome Kong: She bloodied and beat down Christy Hemme. This pleased me.
3) Christian Cage and Kaz: They won their tournament matches, I like both guys and we’re going to get a great ladder match at Genesis.
4) Beth Phoenix
5) John Morrison
Samuel Berman
1) Jay & Mark Briscoe
I’m obviously predisposed to voting for the Briscoe’s, but in a week where they not only defeat the No Remorse Corps, but then survive a No DQ title defense against Jimmy Jacobs & Necro Butcher it seems like a no-brainer to put them in the top spot. The Briscoe’s continue to dominate the ROH tag scene, having now held the ROH World Tag Team Titles for over seven months. A dangerous Pay-Per-View match with Davey Richards & Rocky Romero looms in Dayton later this month, as does a de facto rematch with the Age of the Fall at some point, but for now the Briscoes are the class of ROH, especially because they’re currently the only active champions in the company.
2) Austin Aries: A main event-cementing win over Bryan Danielson combined with a win over a white-hot Chris Hero means I can ignore the former Resilience leader even having to step in the ring with Shane Hagadorn.
3) Mitsuharu Misawa: Though the fans may not have liked the end of Friday’s tag team bout, Misawa reportedly more than made up for it in a successful GHC Heavyweight Title defense against KENTA.
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
Scott Slimmer
1) Tommy Dreamer
Tommy Dreamer gets my first place vote for dressing up as Paul Heyman, paying tribute to the history of ECW, and putting on the most entertaining performance of the week in the process. I usually vote for wrestlers who win championships or put on great matches, but every once in a while I have to recognize a truly memorable performance irrespective of the magnitude of the match itself. Dreamer’s portrayal of Paul Heyman may not have meant much to most WWE fans or even many of the current ECW fans, but it meant a hell of a lot to me. Tommy Dreamer is one of the last true links to the original ECW, and I absolutely loved seeing him once again acknowledge Paul Heyman’s contributions to that great legacy. You can argue that the powers that be may have forced Dreamer into the role as a way to kick Heyman in the nuts one more time, but I have to believe that Dreamer himself was playing the role out of love and respect. I marked like hell for that cell phone shot. And only the Innovator of Violence could find MULTIPLE ways to try and kill Count Nunzula with a bucket of apples. Some have said that making Dreamer play Heyman was just one more nail in the coffin of the original ECW. But for me it was a small sign that somehow, somewhere, someway, the spirit of all that made the original ECW great will always be alive.
2) Austin Aries: Austin Aries gets my second place vote for defeating Bryan Danielson to win their Best of 3 Series and earn an ROH World Championship match. It’s looking more and more like Aries definitely made the right decision when he left TNA and returned to ROH earlier this year.
3) Travis Tomko & Giant Bernard: Travis Tomko & Giant Bernard get my third place vote for defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi & Koji Kanemoto to win the G1 Tag League. Tomko & Bernard are a force to be reckoned with in Japan, and you could make the case that right now Tomko is the best tag team wrestler in the world.
4) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
5) John Morrison
Andy Clark
1) Giant Bernard & Tomko
Won the G1 Tag League and continue to dominate the tag division in New Japan. Tomko himself also had a successful TNA World Tag Team Title defense on Impact.
2) The Briscoes- Defeated the No Remorse Corps and The Age of the Fall in a No DQ Match to successfully retain their ROH World Tag Team Titles. I don’t think many people would have given them a shot against the Age of the Fall, either, plus they managed to upstage Misawa in an ROH ring.
3) Austin Aries- Defeated Bryan Danielson and Chris Hero in two big matches over the weekend, becoming the No. 1 Contender to the ROH Title in the process.
4) Mitsuhara Misawa
5) Mark Henry
ARI
1) Mitsuhara Misawa
I don’t anyone should overlook what a great weekend it was for Misawa. After all the concerns that Misawa could not and would not live up to the hype, Misawa actually did bring himself and did not forget to bring his talent and his ability to Ring of Honor. He was out there with his fellow NOAH wrestlers for thirty minutes at Glory By Honor VI Night 1. And while he didn’t log a lot of in ring time for that show, he certainly brought his working shoes to the second night in New York City. It was a very good match that surpassed my expectations of what he was capable of doing in the ring and with KENTA put on a compelling match that actually had quite a bit of drama towards the end with some stiff strikes and KENTA hitting the Go 2 Sleep AND kicking out of an Emerald Frosion. So kudos to Misawa for coming through in the clutch.
2) Chris Hero: The unsung hero (in a matter of speaking) of this weekend’s ROH show. Hero and Larry Sweeney were busy bees as the main antagonists of Glory By Honor VI. Hero and Sweeney goaded Nigel McGuinness into the ring for an impromptu title match and basically had the match and the title won if it weren’t for Nigel’s foot on the ropes. Then Night 2 he almost stole the whole show from Misawa with his over the top heel antics, false bravado and general shenanigans. It also helped that he had two very solid matches against El Generico and Austin Aries.
3) Austin Aries: Was put over very strongly this weekend by winning the best-of-three series against Bryan Danielson and then defeating Chris Hero to retain his position as number one contender to the ROH World title come Final Battle 2007 weekend in late December.
4) Bryan Danielson / Takeshi Morishima
5) Travis Tomko & Giant Bernard
Mathew Sforcina
1) Austin Aries
In a week of no huge, major accomplishments the less easily defined ones brawl it out. And overall, I think I view Aries’ wins just that smidge above everyone else, but then everyone on this list you could argue for #1.
2) The Briscoe Brothers: They kept their belts.
3) Tommy Dreamer: Despite not actually getting to see it (stupid tape), this was awesome.
4) Chris Hero/Misawa
5) Giant Bernard & Tomko
Brad Garoon
1) Austin Aries
He proved that he is capable of soundly beating ROH’s go-to guy Bryan Danielson and is on his way to a title shot on Pay Per View. He disbanded the Resilience, which in my opinion is a very good thing. The group never took off and the only disappointment to me is that Erick Stevens isn’t currently on the full time roster. Oh, he beat Chris Hero too.
2) Bernard & Tomko: Once again arguably the top tag team in Japan has another major accomplishment to brag about. They won the G1 Tag League and in doing so beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, the IWGP Heavyweight champ. This is the second time they’ve gone over the champ in a tag match (the first time was a title defense against then champion Yuji Nagata).
3) The Briscoes: Two successful tag team defenses, one against the very dominant Age of the Fall are worth celebrating.
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) Chris Hero
Matt Short
1) Mitsuharu Misawa
I will give credit where credit is due. After reports about Misawa’s lackluster appearance in Philadelphia this weekend I really felt like my doomsday warnings that bringing him wouldn’t be worth it seemed true to me. If the reports from New York City are to be believed, he more than made up for it. Misawa successfully defended his GHC Heavyweight title for 7th time against KENTA in a bang-up performance and proved he’s still got a few good matches left in him.
2) Austin Aries: Beat Bryan Danielson on Friday, winning that best of three series. Then the next night he beat the red hot Chris Hero. He earned himself a future title shot and looks poised to regain his former glory.
3) Claudio Castagnoli: Beat Naomichi Marufuji in NYC this weekend. That’s a pretty big win for Double C since wins for ROH guys over NOAH visitors are somewhat rare.
4) Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
Ryan Byers
1) Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko
I absolutely did not expect to see the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions take home a victory at the “climax” of the G1 Tag League. I figured that the titles would be enough to allow them to achieve the place in history that New Japan wanted them to achieve. However, the promotion apparently has much bigger plans for the two than I ever would have imagined, as this can only be considered part of a monster push. It may be a while before we see anybody taking the belts off of the two Americans.
2) Austin Aries – ROH has been boring me recently because of a lack of quality contenders for their championship. Aries performances against Danielson have cemented him as exactly what the promotion was missing. Bravo, Mr. Starr, bravo.
3) Mark & Jay Briscoe – I typically hate watching their matches, but I have to give them some credit, as I figured there was no way the Briscoes were getting past Jacobs and company.
4) Claudio Castagnoli
5) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
Bayani Domingo
1) Tomko & Giant Bernard
They won the G1 tag tourney against some stiff competition. These two keep rolling and it might only be a matter of time before we see them in TNA together. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
2) Austin Aries: I heard he beat some guy named ‘Bryan’ and then handed Hero his ass on Saturday night. Plus he’s going all Justin Timberlake and leaving his ‘back-up singers’ behind.
3) Briscoe Bros: NRC and AotF down, and only Rhett Titus and Mitch Franklin stand in their way to immortality.
4) Ultimo Guerrero & Atlantis
5) John Morrison
Larry Csonka
1) Tomko and Bernard
Tomko and Bernard, the current, reigning and defending IWGP Champions won the G1 Tag League, as they defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Koji Kanemoto in the finals. Tomko has improved so much over the last few years, and I actually look forward to his matches now. I never thought I would say that. He went from a guy that should never be in the ring to a very good big guy, and one that is making a name as a formidable tag team worker. He is having success in the US and Japan, and you can’t discount the success he’s having. Albert has also been great and this team is rolling.
2) Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis: These men are your new CMLL World Tag Team Champions, as they defeated Mistico and Negro Casas on Friday night to win the titles. You don’t get a lot of title changes from Mexico, and when they happen I think they need to be rewarded, so they snag the second spot this week.
3) Christian Cage / Kaz: They move onto in the fight for the right, and I expect good things judging from the spoilers. Cage is on a roll,, Kaz has a lot of confidence and they seem to want to push him, so I expect him to work extra hard here.
4) Austin Aries
5) Misawa
THE WINNERS!
The Briscoe Brothers came out of the Glory By Honor VI weekend with the tag titles in hand, and able to fend off the Age of the Fall. They continue to roll and have a good year..
Tomko and Giant Bernard have been dominant in Japan this year, and further proved that this week by winning the G1 Tag League, as they defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Koji Kanemoto in the finals.
Austin Aries scores the big win this week. He defeated Bryan Danielson, the third match in their series and now will be getting the ROH title shot he has wanted. Can Aries become the first 2-time ROH Champion?
Year-End Standings~!
With John Cena out for the rest of the voting year (they don’t expect him back before WrestleMania) the voting will continue to get very interesting. The Briscoe’s stay tied for 6th, but add some distance between them and the rest of the top 15. Aries, Tomko and Bernard all saw big jumps this week, and now Bernard and Aries are starting to knock on the door of the top 15. The next two weekends have PPV’s, and that should provide for a lot of action in the overall rankings.
–The top 15 spots are marked
1. John Cena – 78 (Raw) {INJURED}
2. Kurt Angle – 72 (TNA)
3. Matt Hardy – 66 (Smackdown)
4. Samoa Joe – 64 (TNA)
5. CM Punk – 61 (ECW)
6. Mark Briscoe – 55 (ROH)
6. Jay Briscoe – 55 (ROH)
8. Batista – 42 (Smackdown)
9. MVP – 41 (Smackdown)
10. Randy Orton – 40 (Raw)
11. Edge – 38 (Smackdown) {INJURED}
12. Nigel McGuinness – 36 (ROH)
13. Bobby Lashley – 35 (Raw) {INJURED}
14. Claudio Castagnoli – 31 (ROH)
15. CIMA – 30 (Dragon Gate)
Chuck Taylor – 29 (US Independent)
El Generico – 28 (US Independent)
Giant Bernard – 24 (New Japan)
The Great Khali – 24 (Raw)
Takeshi Morishima – 24 (ROH/NOAH)
Chris Hero – 24 (US Independent)
Austin Aries – 22 (ROH)
Sting– 21 (TNA)
Black Machismo – 21 (TNA)
Hiroshi Tanahashi – 21 (New Japan)
HHH – 21 (Raw)
Jeff Hardy – 20 (Raw)
Mike Quackenbush – 19 (US Independent)
Jimmy Jacobs – 17 (ROH)
Brother Ray – 18 (TNA)
Brother Devon – 18 (TNA)
Kevin Steen – 18 (US Independent)
Sara Del Ray – 18 (US Independent)
Shawn Michaels – 18 (Raw)
Vince McMahon – 18 (WWE)
John Morrison – 16 (ECW)
Umaga – 16 (Raw)
Masato Tanaka – 15 (ZERO-ONE MAX)
Bryan Danielson – 15 (ROH)
Christopher Daniels – 15 (TNA)
James Storm – 15 (TNA)
Ken Kennedy – 15 (Raw)
Lance Cade – 15 (Raw)
Trevor Murdoch – 15 (Raw)
Santino Marella – 15 (Raw)
Tomko – 14 (TNA/New Japan)
Ricky Banderas a.k.a. Judas Mesias – 13 (AAA/TNA)
Elijah Burke – 12 (ECW)
Deuce – 12 (Smackdown)
Domino – 12 (Smackdown)
Chris Harris – 12 (TNA)
Taku Iwasa – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Keni’chiro Arai – 12 (Dragon Gate)
Ryusuke Taguchi – 12 (New Japan)
Dick Togo – 12 (New Japan)
PAC – 12 (Independent)
Adam Pearce – 12 (US Independent)
Roderick Strong– 12 (ROH/FIP)
Abyss – 10 (TNA)
Vito Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent)
Sal Thomaselli – 9 (US Independent)
Icarus – 9 (US Independent)
Gran Akuma – 9 (US Independent)
TAKA Michinoku – 9 (New Japan)
Yugi Nagata – 9 (New Japan)
D LO Brown- 9 (NOAH)
Bull Buchanan – 9 (NOAH)
Naomichi Marufuji – 9 (NOAH)
Mitsuharu Misawa – 9 (NOAH)
Blue Panther – 9 (CMLL)
Necro Butcher – 7 (US Independent)
Paul London – 7 (Raw)
Brian Kendrick – 7 (Raw)
Hornswoggle – 6 (Smackdown)
Rey Mysterio – 6 (Smackdown)
Carlito – 6 (Raw)
Christian Cage– 6 (TNA)
Gail Kim– 6 (TNA)
Scott Steiner– 6 (TNA)
Chris Sabin – 6 (TNA)
Kensuke Sasaki – 6 (All Japan)
Milano Collection AT – 6 (Japan)
Scott Hall – 6 (Independent)
Super Dragon – 6 (Independent)
Davey Richards – 6 (ROH)
Ultimo Guerrero – 6 (CMLL)
AJ Styles– 4 (TNA)
Delirious – 4 (ROH)
Hallowicked – 4 (US Independent)
Big Daddy V – 3 (ECW)
Beth Phoenix – 3 (Raw)
Charlie Haas – 3 (Raw)
William Regal – 3 (Raw)
Shelton Benjamin– 3 (Raw)
Mistico – 3 (CMLL)
Atlantis – 3 (CMLL)
Togi Makabe – 3 (New Japan)
Tiger Mask IV – 3 (New Japan)
KENTA – 2 (NOAH)
Jeff Jarrett – 1 (TNA)
Kaz – 1 (TNA)
Super Crazy – 1 (Raw)
Colt Cabana – 1 (WWE)
The Miz – 1 (ECW)
Naruki Doi – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Masato Yoshino – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Taiji Ishimori – 1 (NOAH)
Rob Van Dam – 1 (US Independent)
Andrew Martin – 1 (US Independent)
Sherri Martel – 1 {Deceased}
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
Japanese wrestlers are represented in BLACK.
Mexican Wrestlers are represented in MAGENTA.
